Natick Town (part 2 of 2)

The cloud which Eliot in his later years saw resting over his cherished work did not lift, but lather darkened, after his decease. In 1693 one writes, '^ Since blessed Eliot's death the Natick church 18 much dwindled." Daniel Takawampbait had been ordained as their teacher, probably when Eliofs age took him from active service. Judge Sewall's interleaved almanac, under date of July 29, 168S, says : ''The first Ind ordeyned Miuest was Daniel of Natick."

But the light was waning. In 1698 two pastors were chosen by the legislature to visit all the native plantations and report their state. Here tiiey found a church of seven men and three women, ''their pastor Dan^ Takawampbait (ordained by the B^v and holy man of God, John Eliot deceased) who is a person of great knowledge. Here are fifty-nine men, and fifty-one wo-> me6, and seventy children under sixteen." In 1699 they inform the legislature that their house was &llen down, and ask leave to assign John Collar, Jr., a little nook of land in their plantation, in recompense for his building another meeting-house. Two hundred acres, after some delay, were granted him. Takawampbait died September 17, 1716, aged sixty-four, as his humble stone on the sidemlk informs us. Two Indians preached transiently after him ; the last record of such Was in 1719. The ten members of 1698, as the church probably added none, may all have passed away in the next twenty years.

Natick had been a purely Indian settlement. The town records were written at one time in their language by Tliomas Waban, son of Eliot's first

At a public meeting. May 4, 1719, certain persons, twenty in all, of those six Speens, and another, a woman, were declared to be " the Only and True Proprietors of Natick."

In 1720 John Sawin erected a saw-mill first on the river, but soon removed it to the brook named after him. His father, Thomas of Sherborn, made a grist-mill for the Indiahs as early as 1686.

Some time later the dam just above the bridge was made. The little island was then the south bank of the stream, but a freshet once'fohnd a short cut, and to-day the new channel 'is rather the wider of the two.

Eev. Oliver Peabody (Harvard, 1721) was engaged as an Indian missionary by the same society that assisted Eliot. He took a mission service which eleven men, it is said, had declined. His first sermon was preached August 6, 1721. A meeting-house must have been built, as a proprietors' meeting in September granted Moses Smith of Needham forty acres on the southwesterly side of Pegan Hill for finishing the meeting-house.

Mr. Peabody found the original church extinct, and no records preserved. Therefore, December 8, 1729, a new church of three Indians and five whites was formed, Bev. Mr. Baxter of Medfield, whose daugiiter, Haimah, Mr. Peabody had married, preaching the sermon. And our Indian missionary was ordained a fortnight later at Cambridge. He built his house on the Sherborn road, on a knoll commanding a fine river-view. Traces of the cellar may yet be seen. The Indians brought two young elms, and planted them as friendship trees in his front yard. They stood about a century.

In 1728 the proprietors had voted "that Bev. Mr. Peabody, during his continuance in the work of the ministry in Natick, have the sole use and improvement of the Ministerial Lot," a hundredacre tract on Pegan Plain, the very heart and business centre of Nntick to-dav ; also " tliat there be a Contribution for y* B«v. Mr. Peabody the last Sabbath in ever}' month, Lieut. Wamsquan to hold the box."

Our Indian pastor must have been a good pieacber, for in 1732 he preached the Artillery flection Sermon, which was printed at Boston by T. Fleet

Thomas Sawin had a mill in Natick, and may liave sojourned here awhile ; his son John has been thought to be the first white resident^ though others Iiad lands from the natives before him. Mr. Peabody, in 17*26, speaks of his lonesome life, as his nearest English neighbor was a mile away.

Captain David Morse, son of Captain Joseph, of Sherbbm, moved to Natick, and built upon the site where now Mr. Asa Caswell resides. . This was aboat the year 17£7. He became first captain of the white military company. Jonathan Carver, who has given name to the hill back of the hotel, was among the early settlers. Ebenezer Felch lived in tlie north part of the town. He was an active citizen, filling various offices acceptably, such, as schoolmaster, surveyor, proprietors' clerk, and the first English deacon of the church.

Th^ village^ officers until 1733 were all Indians, the fir^t whites elected being John Sawin, constable, and Thomas Ellis, titliing-man. No Indian be^ a town o£&ce after Natick became a parish.

In 1698 the plantation had no ^schoolmaster; and only one child, out of seventy under sixteen years of age,'Could read. But in 1731 - 82 Ebenezer Felch received six pounds for teaching, and four pounds the next year. Four years later the town sold one hundred and fifty pounds' worth of common Imids, 'Mhe income and yearly interest whereof to be toward the maintenance of a school in Natick/' In 1746 it was voted not to have a school, but they spent eighty-five pounds for parish ammunition. Two years after the inhabitants grew wiser,, and appropriated forty pounds, Old Tenor, for a reading and writing school. . In 1743 The church felt the wave of Whitefield's influence in New England. Their pastor wrote that within two years about fifty persons, Indians as well as whites, were added to the church.

As the white population increased, Natick plantation became by legislative act a precinct or parisl|, January 3, 1745. But the Indians lost their citizenship, and were henceforth under guardians. They, could not sell their land without permission of the General Court. Many a petition for that object is on the state files.

document reads: ''An assessment of £12 10«. l)eing a tax granted and agreed upon by ye inlmbitants of Natick, regularly assembled, to give to the Rev. Mr. Peabody, as a Gift Money, by the subscribers, January y* 21*, 1746-47, each person's proportion to said Bate."

We have a complete list of the Indian families in 1749, adults and childnm in each household, - one hundred and sixty -six in all: forty-two on the south side of the river by Dedham, sixty-four south of Saw-pit Ilill on Pegan Plain; sixteen west of Saw-pit Hill, and twenty-six southeast

/Hie present First Church was organized at the Centre^ with twenty-three members, in February, 1802, aud for about thirty years was the only religious society in town. Bev. Freeman Scars, the first pastor, was ordained January 1, 1806, and died, lamented, June 80, 1811. His monument in Dell Park was erected in 1873.

Bev. Martin Moore succeeded him, being pastor from 1814 to 1833. The most of the ministerial lot, an hundred acres given by the Lidians in Mr. Peabody's day, was now sold. It covered the present business centre of Natick. The proceeds largely form the ministerial fund now. Mr. Moore was a sound divine, aud fond of antiquarian resealrcli. His New Yearns Historical SeYmoti, January 5, 1817, and Life of Eliot possess much m^t. At his dismissal in 1833 the church numbered one hundred and seventy members. The Sabbath school began in April, 1818. ]ilr. Moore edited the Boston Recorder after leaving Natick, and, dying in 1866, lies buried in Mt. Auburn.

Bev. E. D. Moore followed from 1838 to 1838. A new church was built in 1835. Bev. Samuel Hunt preached from 1839 to 1850. He afterwards became private secretary to the Lite Vice- President Wilson, rendering valuable assistance in some of his published works. July 23, 1878, he followed his distinguished associate into the otlier world.

During the ministry of Bev. Eiias Nason, the well-known historical writer, from 1852 to 1858, a new church was built, the third oil tlie same site. Bev. Oiarl^ M. Tyler (1859 to 1867) and Rev. Jesse H. Jones bring tlie list do\ni to the present pastor, Bev. F. Jf. Peloubet, installed January 17, 1872. In 1875 a new brick edifice of fine proportions replaced the church consumed in the great fire of January, 1874.

In 1828 the Unitarian (Eliot) Church, Soutli Natick, was built and dedicated, whose semi-centennial was observed November 20, 1878. This sanctuary stands upon the spot of Eliot's church. Its first pastor, ordained Febrnarv 17, 1830, was Bev. J. W. Tliorapson, D. D., now of Jamaica Plain, Bev. Alexander Young of Boston prciichiiig the sermon. Nine pennanent ministers have followed him. Bev. H. Alger filled the desk nearly fourteen years, the house being improved by adding tlie chancel, spire, and clock. Bev. J. P.

The recent semi-centennial commemoration was a day of historic interest. Valuable papers were read by the pastor on the previous houses of worship built on this spot, and by Bev. Mr. Alger on the history of the present edifice. Beminiscences were given by former pastors and older members, and expressions of good -will by visiting friends. Voices were heard that were musical in the choir fifty years ago. We hear, from one who remembered, that the weather, a pouring rain, corresponded to that on the day of original dedication.

The Methodists worshipped a long time just across the line, on the 6dge of Needham and Weston. But in 1834 they organized at Natick, dedicating their first house July 4, 1884. It became' the toAvn-house in 1868, and went down - or up* - in the flames of Januarj' 18, 1874. The vestry of the new and beautiful house is now used.

In 1848 the Baptists began services at South Natick, removing in 1851 to the centre of the town. Their church stands south of the Common. Bev. A. E. Beynolds is their able and devoted pastor.

The John Eliot (Orthodox) Church, South Natick, was formed in 1859, under Bev. £. £. Strong as pastor. In the fall of 1862 they entered their pleasant sanctuary. Bev. Pearse Pinch, the present jxistor, was ordained July 25, 1878.

The increase of the foreign element of the population soon introduced the Boman Catholic worship. The congregation of St. Patrick's occupy the enlarged house, originally sold by the Firwt Church to the Universalists, and by them, on their disbandment, to the Catholics in 1860. At South Natick also is another prosperous congregation.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church was formed in 1871. They entered their house of worship in 1875, which was consecrated December 13, 1877. Bev. B. B. Giftbrd officiates as rector.

AVe have seen that the school and church at Nntick at the first used the same room. Pietv and learning were closely associated. Eliot's IndiiEiu teacher wrote for copies in the scholars* writingbooks the questions and answers in the Catechism.

For some time prior to 1819 the town rais^ annuallv 8600 for schools. After 1820 select schools, giving instruction in the higher branches," were taught by John Angier, Charles Forbush, Bev. Daniel Wight, Bev. Samuel Damon, and J. W. Bacon. During the winter of 1837 tlie centre district school was successfullj conducted j by a joang man, Henry Wilson, who became an educator in a wider sphere. In 1852 the town established a high school, appropriating § 1,000 for its support Tliis school has enjoyed able teachers and trained capable pupils; but it never had & suitable domicile till the spring of 1878, when it occupied tlie new and attractive buikling on East Central Street Abner Bice was its first principal, serving ten years. Mr. P. C. Baston is the present incumbent Judge Bacon, one of the committee at the starting of the high school, gave a fitting address at tlie dedication of the new edifice, March 28, 1878. Some of our graduates take a college course. Harvard being usually their choice; but move follow some handicraft of industry or skilled labor. There are three grammar schools, and the last enumeration of children of the school age was seventeen hundred.

We may just name the Sawin Academy, crowning Sherbom's central hill, since it originated and is endowed by the legacy of Miss jMartha Sawin of South Natick. Tlidt institution realized from her estate 940,000.

William Biglow (now spelled Bigelow) should be mentioned here. He graduated the second scholar at Harvard, 1794; was ^BK poet in 1799. He studied theology with Bev. Mr. Thayer of Lancaster, and preached some in prominent pulpits, but never settled as a pastor. He carried on a successful school in Salem, and was master of the Boston Latin school, from 1805 to 1814. In later years one mfirmity marred his power. He was an easy writer. He published his history of Natick in 1830. He wrote also a history of Sherbom, and was a frequent contributor to the pa[)ers and magazines. He died in 1844, and rests with his generation in the old cemetery at South Natick.

Literary and scientific associations and free libraries also do an educational work among the people. In 1835 thirteen young men formed the Natick Debating Society. Most of its members have shone in after-life, - Austin Bacon, the indefatigable antiquarian ; Judge J. W. Bacon ; Editor E: C. Morse; A. W. Thayer, American Consul at Trieste, and author of a life of Beethoven written in German ; and, primns infer pares, Henry Wilson. Their meetings in the old school-house aided much in developing skill and power in spoken or written argument. To the future senator, his work-bench and debating-club became his college and profesrional school.

The Ladies' Social Library b^an at South Natick in 1836^ and has contributed to the intelligence and culture of that vilbge. In 1870 Mr. Oliver I^on presented to the society their neat little building as a memorial of the interest his kitely deceased wife had always felt in the libniTj. It stands under the maples, close by the Eliot Monument. Their collection will soon be merged in the new library.

The Historical and Natural History Society at Soutli Natick was started in 1870. Its name indicates the intent of its founders, - scientific investigation and local historical research. It was incorporated in 1873 as the Historical Natural Histotr and Library Society. In the destroctive fire of March, 1872, its collections were cousumedj induding certain anriquarian treasures, the soondii^- board of Person Badger's pulpit, his wife's satin slippers, a pair of venerable shoe-buckles, etc AU the society's stuffed specimens were destroyed, a fine pobr bear having been put on the shdves only the evening before. An extensive collection of ferns was lost But the society Ims risen from this disaster to greater prosperity. Papers of historic and scientific interest are read quarterly. Mr. William Edwards, an active member, a loving and reverent student of nature, has a very fii^ collection of ferns. The society has a good cabinet of South American birds gathered for them in Guiana by one of their members, an ornithologist, Mr. A. L. Ribcock of Sherbom. Tliere are also stuffed animals, minerals, shells, some Itidian 'stone impleinents, and relics from aboriginal graves. Its library numbers nine hundred and twenty-five volumes. It possesses some ancient and curious books and pamphlets. Rev. H. Alger has long been its efficient president. By the munificent bequest of the late Oliver Bacon, Esq., the society will soon have a fire-proof building in connection with the Bacon Free Library. The ground-plah makes the building in the form of a Greek cross. B. G. Shaw is the architect.

The Natick Social Librarv was founded abont 1810. A catalogue shows fifty-two proprietors and ninetv-four volumes. No books were added after 1820, and in 1840 the society became extinct.

The CitJzetis' Library was established February 10*1847. Five huudred dollars were subscribed in five-dollar shares. Its catalogue of 185^ counts four hundred and thirty-two volume?. February 11, 1857, it was given to the town as the foundation of 8 town library, " provided Natick appropriates ttree hundred dollars the first year for books, and one huudred dollars annually aftenrards, also a room for the library, and choose and pny a librarian." The town accepted the proposal, and in April the Citizens' Library, with four hundred and eighty-three volumes, became the town's property. The town library thus originated, iu 1859 had 1,741 volumes. Tliis was transferred in 1S74- to the Moise Institute, bringing tliat organization its 3,154 volumes. . .

In June, 1862, Miss Utary Ann Morse died. Her will gave nil her estate to found a public librai; for the ose of all the inhabitants of Katick. If the town accepted the bequest, then five trustees, to sen-e five years, were to take the estate and execute the intent of the will. The town accepted, and chose Willard Drury, John W. Bacon, Horatio Alger, John 0. Wilson, and Elisha P. Hollit, trustees ; and this board has been thrice re-elected. A friend thus writes of Miss Morse: "Mary Ann Morse was the third child and only dnngbter of Rcuel Morse and Mary Parker, bom June 18, 1825, and died June 30, 186ii. She was of the eighth generation in. a direct line from Snmnel Morse, boni in England in 1585, who was the first of tliis name emigrating to this country. He came tg Xew England in 1635, and settled in Dedham. )Iiss Mary Anik lilorse had two brothers, who both (lied before her. They were all bom in the brick house then standing on the spot where the library now is, but moved to Clarendon Street to give the site for the present fine edifice. Her t&icher, when Afiss Morse was a girl of fourteen, speaks of her excellent health, kind disposition, and fair abilities. Her later years were spent in the family of Dr. Ir* Busseil, now of Wuichendon, who influenced her moch in the final disposition of her property." Within the library, facing the stoiicaae, a marble memorial tablet bears this inscription : -

Bat her generosity came near being thwarted. Id 1864 the town rescinded their acceptance, declined the bequest, and instructed the trustees to resign. These applied to the Supreme Judicial Court for instruction as to their duty, and the case iros heard by the fnll bench at the January term, 1865. A report of this can be found 10 AUen'a Beports, and is interesting as being the first case in this coantry wheie it has been held that a beqaest to establish a public IJbraiy for the use of all the inhabitants of a town IS a public charity, which the courts will not allow to (&i\ by reason of any misconduct or neglect of any of the parties charged with the trust. Tlie appraised value of the estate was about S 17,000, with several thousand dolkts of debts. Yet the skilfnl financial manngement of Captain Drury, the treasnier, enabled the tnis>. tees in 1872 to have about 343,000, besides a large lot on which to place the new libtaiy building. Tiie plan was drawn by George B. Tliayer of Boston. Tlie beautiful edifice was completed, and dedicated, with an address by Judge J. W. Bacon, December 25, 1873. It is a two-stoiy brick structure, of Gothic style, with light granite trimmings. The whole number of volnmes, February 1, 1879, was 10,099.

The trustees hold funds to the sum of 812,500, the income of which may be appropriated for the purchase of books alone. Other eipenaes the town pays. Among the treasures of this library is a copy of Eliot's Indian Bible.

tick we know not, bat the Natick Observer made its appearance April 5, 1856^ and went through at lost six volumes. TAe Naiick Times, Vol. I. No. I, is dated October 28, 1864, and lasted certainly five years. Tie Naiick Bulletin, a wideawake weekly, reached its tenth anniversary November, 1879; while its vigorous competitor. The Naliek Ciiizea, came into being in December, 1877. Both are able papers.

Tarious kinds of manufactures have engaged the industry of our people. The dam at South Natick gives a fall of nine feet. On the canal formerly stood Curtis' paper-mill, now owned and operated by tbe Boston Flax Leather Company. They control the entire water-power, and their land was the planting-ground of the first settlers. They employ fourteen men, Mr. J. B. Sewall being their efficient superintendent. The little ishmd midway the dam Mrs. Stowe makes the young men^s aitudyplaoe in her Oldtoton Folks. The grist-mill hums its vell-accented song. Years agone a paper-mill and a plaster-mill were in one building here; indeed, the tpot has been a mill-site over a century. Brickmaking was successfully pursued many years on the west shore of Lake Cochituate. A hat establishment, now extinct, did a good business. A long three-story building near the railroad shows where one of the enterprising citizens has made his fortune, and given work to many in the extensive baseball factory of Harwood and Sons.

But the largest business here, as in other towns of Eastern Massachusetts, has been shoemaking. Tho original manufacturer, Mr. Asa Felch, died in Apiil, 1878. He first made sale shoes in 1827. Later his brother Isaac became a partner, and those of the family name still follow the business. The thriving suburb of Felchville thus got its name and growth. Mr. Felch manufactured brogans, sitice Natick's staple production; his workshop was a^ room in his house. He took apprentices, whom he instructed. William Bent, founder of the house of W. and J. M. Bent, of Cochituate, served with him. Mr. Asa Felch is said for years to have kept no books, remembering all his affairs. lit. WUliam Coolidge, Albert Xeighton, and Edward Walcott, in the West Part, and George C. Whitney, Mr. Kimball, and David iL Whitney, at the Centre, were in the shoemaking trade before or by 1830.

bench are as out of place now as our grandsiie'a flintlock muskets, or grandmother's swingii^ cranes in the great fireplace. On Saturdays a one-horse wagon took the week's work to Boston^ bnnging home new stock. Mr. Kimball kept the only store at the Centre, on the present Common facing the yellow church. His shoe-shop was upstairs. Biglow's Hisiorj/ names several handicrafts pursued, but has not a word about shoemaking, soon to be the making of Natick.

In 1830 there were two post-offices, - at South Natick and on the Worcester Turnpike. Tliree roads intersected Natick, - the Worcester Turnpike, in the north part, the Central Turnpike, and the Old Hartford Road, through South Natick. The following account carries ns back to the day when our fathers travelled : "On the Worcester Turnpike, the great southern mail each way daily. Several other mail and accommodation stages are frequently passing. On the Central Turnpike, Boston and Hartford Telegraph line of stage coaches every day but Sunday, up one day, down the next. On the Old Hartford Boad, Boston, Mendon, and Uxbridge dailv line of coaches, and continues on to Hartford three days in the week, and back the other three." On each of the three highways stood the old-time tavern, its hanging sign swinging aloft, ofierhig refreshment to man and beast.

For the next twenty years the shoe-business greatly increased. Its originators here enlarged their operations ; left rooms at home or small sheds for the commodious shops ; instead of a few apprentices, they sought workmen by tens and twenties; and new firms sprang up. Natick leaped from the slow growth of a farming town to quick increase. Stores, houses, and ihliabitants doubled. Until 1830 the population liad added from forty to ninety every decade. The increase from 1820 to 1830 was five per cent; from 1830 to 1840, fortyfour per cent; between 1840 and 1850 the population more tlian doubled, and nearly doubled again during the next ten yea^. As labor-saving machine? were used in shoemaking, the several operations were subdivided among cutters, bottomers, dressers, and stitchers.

In 1831 two enterprising dealers took their goods by water to New York. So hard was the voyage, it was feared tliat they were lost ; but they arrived and prospered.

When the railroad was opened in 1885 the Centre outgrew other parts of the town, and was known as Natick, the older village being called South Natick.

History Of Mzddl3Sssx Coukty

In December, 1833, a young nun of Farmiflgfam, "S. H., valked thence to Nfttick. On arriving, &ni7 Wilaon engaged' with a manoficturer, giring fire mratlts* labor to learn the business. In a few weeka he bought back his time and began for bimsdl He once started to make fiftjr pairs of shoes without sleeping, and almost succeeded. In 1836 he Tisited Washington for his health. As an operatife Wi. Wilson was industrious, alert, economical, and temperate. ^leu worked then twelve or fifteen hoora a day. From doing a journeyman's work he became in 1838 an employer, doing business ten years. In 1847 he employed one hundred and nine penoos, wlio madeover two thousand cases of shoes.

He resumed business for a year and a half, till his' election as United States Senator in 185o. As a mannfactnrer he was honest and fair-dealing, sympathizing with the workmen, for he himself had worked as one. But his ambition was in another direction than business and wealth.

Edward Walcott was a personal friend of Mr. Wilson. He is largely identified with the business growth of Natick. He was a manufacttirer at first, but afterwards became interested in real estate. He bnflt the Watcott Block, and at his death was much missed. A fully equipped slioc-factory runs almost as much machinery as a cotton-mill. In tlie beginning all the operations were hand-work, but now eadi part has its ingenibosmachine;' and aomeni or eight of these cliUtering inveutioni do the work. Onoe a pair of shoes signified three hours' labor.

The first shop at South Natick began in 1S40. Fonr large shops at one time were busy hives; btt two were burned, and business fell-' off. Uan; make shoes in little shops, getting stock from the large dealers. Mr. Pfeitler has leceutiy built a fine workshop.

The Harrison political campaign brqught Hear; Wilson into his sphere of life-work. An acceptable platform speaker, he won notice as " the Nstick Cobbler," Occasional defeats when nominated for office only led at lost to higher promotioa. He was state representative in 1841> state senator in 1844, major> colonel, brigadier-general in the state militia, delegate to the National Conventioo in 1848, from which he and Clmties Allen v^hdrew, and an unsuccessful Free-Soil nominee for governor. But his meridian was not yet leaAhed. In 1855 he became a aeuator in Coogiess, the colleague and comrade of Charles Ssmner. Both were stanch patriots, who did splendid aervioe ia the nation's critical hour. Mr. Wilson attained the vice-presidency on General Grant's second nomination, and was the third Massachoaetts man to fill that chair.

Upon the north side of the Common stands the Soldier's Monument, dedicated July 4, 1868. We read eighty-nine names of our townsmoi who died in the war. Natick sent some three hundred men. Many went in the 13th regiment. Company H, and in the 39th regiment. Company I. This monument is flanked in front and rear by four brass twelveponoders. Standing between two churches, and near a school-house with five hundred pupils, it it a memorial to old and young of patriotism and sacrifice. General Wadsworth Post 63, G. A. B., is in a flourishing condition.

Before us lies a printed sheet, entitled, "Fteha C, - to be sung at the Tea I^rtr given in the Town-Hall at Natick, Oct. 28, 184«, for the purpose of raising means to purchase a copy of Eliof s Indian Bible, to be preserved in the Archives of the Town."

A note reads : " N. B. The Psalm in the Natick dialect is copied from Mr. Eliot's ttanslatitm of the Psalm, bound up with his Indian Bible, llw English transUtion of the same Ftelm ia fmn the

Next year, by the efforts of Professor Franc a D.D., of Cambridge vho wrote Elots Ife m parks' American Biog aphj/ Oliver Bacon Esq and Ber. Thomas B. Ga ne t of Soutl ^at ck a mouoment of sandsto c ris reared memory of EGofs work an the little ])ark, on the site of the lodian barial-ground, Itard by the location of the Lidiui church. The obelisk bears in front thia simple inscription : -

Cictober 8, 1851, was celebrated as Xatick's bi-ceotennial. Incorporated as a town but seventy years before, this anniversary commemorated the earliest settlement. The festival included an address by Professor Stowe, himself bom near the old oak, a procession, and a banquet ^-ith speeches, one being delivered by Kov. Geoi^e Copway, an Ojibway Indian. Tlic supposed portrait of Eliot, recently brought from Englaiij by Hon. William Wbitiiig, hung before the pulpit, h. young f»irl of sixteen, a line-il descendant of the Natick Indians, sat among the guests.

tcuic link with the paat, was cut down. This act provoked great indignation. A bwsuit followed, which was settled b the offenders aga'nst poblip opinion paying the costs, and planting trees in the public green. Tlie present Ehot Oak, just east of the Unitarian Church, is in better preservation than its fallen brother of the forest primeval. Tradition links these trees with the Indian missionary. Longfellow has a fine sonnet to the Eliot Oak.

" Tlinii ancient Onk I whose myriad leaves ire loud With soDnds of unintelligible speech, Souuds as of surges on a abinglj beach. Or inultitudiaous murmurs of a crowd ;

Witli some mysterious gift of tougues endowed Tliou spcakcst a diffcreut dialect to each ; To iiic a language tbat no man can. teach. Of n lost race long vanished like a cbud.

Sam Ijiwson, the good-natnred, lazy story-teller in OUfoiPH Folk*, put his blacksmith's shop under this tree. It was removed when the church was built. We saw a missionary from Turkey gathering its leaves as mementos of a hallowed tfpot; and one midsummer afternoon a few years since, a well-known citizen, leaning against its trunk, took his own life.

There stands an ancient wide-spreading elm on the load near Cochituate, said to cover with its shade a space one hundred and fifteen feet wide. Those who knew these trees in "auld lang syne/' the Natick residents of fifty years, held a very pleasant gathering February 7, 1879. ^

The town has three modem cemeteries. Glenwood, at South Natick, was opened in 1852, Bev. Mr. Alger delivering the address. Dell Park lies a mile west from the First Church, a pleasant natural aite, an^ judiciously beautified. Bev. Samuel Hunt gave the consecrating address July 8, 1849.

Townsmen and strangers alike seek the grave of Henry Wilson. While vice-president he died at Washington in his official apartment, adjoining the Senate-Chamber, November 22, 1875, and was borne with ' eulogies, processions, and mournful music from the Capitol to be nobly received by his adopted commonwealth in the Doric Hall of the State-House. ' There, over the Sabbath, he lay in state, - the statues of Washington and Andrew, his companions; the torn and blackened battleflags of the Massachusetts regiments (his own gallant 22d too), in crape around him. After fitting honors there, the state gave up the remains to his townsmen, who completed the funeral ceremonies in which a weeping nation had participated. Private services were held at bis home, and a thronged public memorial service at Concert Hall. And so, as the sun of November 30 sank beneath the horizon, they laid him beside his kindred, - his saintly wife and only son, who died in the army. Whenever we gather in our beautiful hall, the portrait of Wilson looks down serenely on the assemblage, and his memory shall ever make '' our faith in goodness strong.'^

We name, too, the North Graveyard beyond Felchville, and the South Natick Burial-ground, where sleep the ministers of the last century. Mr. Peabody's stone, with a Latin epitaph, is here. This ground, the first English burial-place, was set apart in 1731, and the oldest monument bears the date of 1730. There were two other burial-places, one on Pond and South Main streets, the other where stands the post-office. Only older citizens or the antiquarian know their places now.

before the Unitarian Chureh and the hotel was a graveyard. ' We daily ride and walk over the bones of Natick's earlier inhabitants. The stone of Takawampbait, Eliot's successor in the ministry, still stands against the sidewalk fence. In laying pipes for the water-works a number of skeletons were exhumed, also a small copper kettle, a heavy flaskshaped bottle, a sleighbell, beads, and trinkets, now to be seen in the Historical Rooms.

The American town of any size has and needs its fire-brigade. Tliree hand-engines with a hookand-ladder truck constituted the old fire department. * We now have two fine steamera, the ladder company, and two hose companies. With so many wooden buildings at the business centre, jk large fire there was often predicted. Tuesday morning, January 13, 1874, it came. Starting on Summer Street, comer of North Main, the flames leaped upon Clark's Block and Walcott's shoe-factory. A building across Main Street caught, and stores, halls, houses, and the Congregational Church went down. Its spire was the last to bum, and just before its fall the bell struck three sad strokes. Nearly forty buildings were consumed, ^nd die loss was estimated at 8500,000.

Such a calamity roused the town to secure a better water-supply. Dug Pond (Pegan has been suggested as a fitter name) supplies water, pumped and forced two miles to the reservoir on Broad^s Hill from which pipes run through the centre to Cochituate line and to South Natick. Water was first let on August, 1875, and at South Natick September 1, 1877. That village had its great fire in Mareh, 1872, consuming a block of stores, houses, and Bailey's Hotel. But the eneigy of the people rebuilt at once larger and better than before. Bailey's new hotel is as comfortable a hostelry as a man could ask. The locality has been a tavern or hotel for a century. Mine host Chamberlain, of Adams House (Boston) repute, once kept hotel here.

The Cochituate aqueduct crosses the extreme north section of Natick, and the Sudbury fiiver conduit runs through its southern part. Two tun^ nels, the Bockland Street 1,760 feet, and the second 1,575 feet, bored through the solid rock of Carver Hill, are fine specimens of engineering skills

Clark's Block covers the space of a block on Main Street, with fine stores and convenient haUs for general uses. Natick's growing prosperity is seen in the new streets and residences on' Walnut Hill, overlooking the workshops, schools, and