Westfield City (part 4 of 4)

and pattered from window to window, and even up the garret stairs to see where the sky was red, and guessed where the fire was, and everyone who could, "went to the fire" and was envied rather drowsily by those who went back to sleep.

It is hard to understand how the young people of today can get along without Bates's Pond and the Canal. Bates's Pond was on Pleasant Street, between Mr. Rockwell's (now Sackett's) house and Pearl Street - a safe fishing place for child and fish, the safest of skating places for small children and quite large enough for less public practice, whence one advanced to the canal, the "salon" of skating-dom, as well as the arena.

Near the Academy from whose old belfry the bell cast by Paul Revere rang out a call as important as the call he gave to the sleeping patriots, was the old canal a close second and assistant to that "match factory." Here many a school boy shyly put on some girl's skates, and advanced thence to paying other and fonder attentions. Here budding chivalry slipped and slid into favor, and skill in curves and edges showed off to eyes that "rained the prize."

Once a man called on my grandfather with a scheme whereby canal and ponds should be so developed as to make Southwick Ponds "the Port of the world." My father and Henry L. Dawes were "two days and nights breasting the stormy Southwick seas" on their way to Yale in 1837. To us Southwick Ponds was a charming peaceful haunt for afternoon and evening with lilies resting on its breast and Manatick keeping guard. The old flat-bottomed boats gave us our earliest rowing lessons, and the homeward drive behind the fast little mares over the dusty plains made "the end of a perfect day."

The church services have changed much in fifty years. They are less simple, a semblance of ritual has crept in, and music is less spontaneous. The church choir for many years was a power in the land. Everybody went to church as a matter of course - many children to three services. A hymn-book still exists in which there is a list on a flyleaf of the number of times each letter occurs on the tablet to the Reverend Edward Taylor, and the thrill is unforgotten when the question was whispered along the pew: "If he was eighty-seven when he died, how old was he when he

A few mothers allowed their children to read Sunday School books during sermon time, and Dr. Davis was considered ultra-liberal when he said he was glad to see a pew full of quiet children whose mothers could give him their attention. He always wore a swallow-tailed coat. He was kindly and yet as I look back I smile at the halo of magic which seemed to surround him. My mother told me that one night I got into a state of terror after I had gone to bed, for fear that I should go to hell. She came up and vainly tried to soothe me, but I wailed out: "Oh, I wish Dr. Davis were my papa!" My mother went down stairs and my father came up and talked to me. Of course I don't remember what he said, but hell had no further interest for me, save in a spectacular way. I asked him later what he said, and he replied: "I don't know; probably my best advice, given as infants' food, ' Face the music.'"

Sunday observance was much more strict, and other people's souls more watched on Sunday than now. One Sunday, word came that the cattle had got out of the pasture on Montgomery Mountain, and my father went up to see about it, taking some of the children with him. On our return the worshippers were passing our house on the way to afternoon church, and my parents blushed when their youngest called out, holding up a pail of berries: "Oh, mamma, we got two quarts!"

When Dr. Davis died, the Sunday School sat in the high "chapel" and the big doors were raised. The Sunday School marched to the cemetery. Some who were too young were taken with their parents in carriages, but it was a matter of pride to think oneself old enough to trudge along the dusty road. I remember seeing a baptism just below the iron bridge. Often, in recent days, when passing that spot, I think of the changes in religious customs, as well as of the changes in the bed of the river.

When Abraham Lincoln Died

It was an early spring, and that April day was fair. My cousin Lucy Gillett and I had accomplished several successful slides down the icehouse roof, - gymnastic feats in connection with the cherry tree which grew nearby were always part of the sliding, - and we were sitting in the sawdust by the door, giggling and planning the next prank.

Our grandfather came up the lane, and stopped before us, solemnly and sadly. He said: "Little girls, how can you laugh today? A great and good man has gone. " It made a profound impression, which was no doubt what he intended.

Two H Undred And Fiftieth Anniversary

Socially we had a very good time as children, in our 'teens, and later. The supper parties and cousin parties and the few dances were all good of their kind. Sewing societies met at private houses before the Parish Houses were built, but the Second Church Chapel was a seat of instruction and entertainment as it was so commodious and convenient. There was always a party somewhere on Thanksgiving evening. One year when we were grown up we had a leap-year party. Once there was a masquerade party, of which the costumes remain to this day. The Dandelion Club was our supreme attempt at Society with a Big S, although we had sporadic New Year's calls, and I remember once when the college boys came home we had twelve parties in a fortnight.

We had instruction of many kinds. As children we went to a private school in Flint's block, Miss Kingsley's school in Mr. Hull's basement, and then to the Green District schools. I believe them to have been poorly heated and ventilated, but who cared then? Though one year, when we had a parsimonious committee-man who bought "slabs," we were almost frozen. The "magic" feeling must have been with us when my cousin and I rang Dr. Davis' door bell and with our reader, arithmetic and geography, asked him to examine us, and see if we could not go from the intermediate school to the grammar school. He gravely opened the books and asked us questions and wrote a note to the effect that we should go up higher. This we presented and were rather troubled heroines, for it made quite a disturbance, as others of the class wanted to go also. I can see the tears of annoyance now on the teacher's face. It was a casual sort of school committee, perhaps, but the committee-men when they visited the school were looked at with such awe as mere man has seldom caused.

Grandsires And Grandsons

One day in the late seventies, my father (Samuel Fowler), found in his grandfather's (Samuel Fowler) account book the entry "Azariah Mosely, potatoes." At the next town meeting he said to the grandson of that Azariah, who also bore the name of Azariah Mosely, - "You never paid me for those potatoes." Mr. Mosely was astonished. "Paid you? I never bought a potato in my life!" My father quietly said: " I have the entry in a book at my house. " When town meeting day came again, Mr. Mosely came to my father and said: "I went home and told my wife and she agreed that we had never bought any potatoes of you or anybody else. I said to her, 'If it was anybody but that Sam Fowler I'd deny it all,' but," he said, "you told me once that I should see the water playing higher than the First Church steeple. I looked at you and thought, 'Has the man gone plumb crazy?' but I've seen the water playing higher than the church steeple, and I'll pay for the potatoes." My father asked him to his library and together they pored over the old page, dated 1773, and the entries in pounds, shillings and pence, and Azariah Mosely said to Samual Fowler, "Our grandfathers never thought their grandsons of the same names would be reading this all these years afterwards."

To the generation older than ours no homage paid can be too great. What they accomplished, what they surmounted, seems almost beyond belief. They kept so true a balance, socially, domestically, intellectually, and spiritually, that every breath we draw should be a tribute to their individual and composite character.

We have been unfortunate in that many of our best sons have gone away. Few parents and fewer children now look upon their places of residence as destined to be their future home, but we are fortunate in that new ones have come to stay. A lady of Buffalo was asked a few years ago whether a clergyman, spoken of as a possible candidate for one of our pulpits, would find congenial, intellectual companionship. "Intellect?" she exclaimed, "Poetesses in Westfield are as common as milkmen in Buffalo. I repeat it," she said; "I have traveled much but I have never seen a group of women to compare with the women of Westfield." A friend of mine said she had made up her mind that the Garden of Eden must have been in the vicinity of Westfield, because so many lives are linked to it.

For Westfield the prayer of Agur seems to have been answered, "Give me neither poverty or riches." Perhaps this is the reason why things are done simply and naturally in a straightforward way, which is "sui generis." This peculiar thing, this Westfield feeling, goes with her children and survives even an occasional dissatisfaction of which the returning ones may be conscious. It comforts, it stimulates, and it sustains. It flourishes in the garden of our hearts, and flowering perennially, it sweetens life.

Samuel J. Fowler

The High School used to be kept in the first story of the Town Hall. A very pleasant place for the scholars, because whenever there was a town meeting there was such a row in the second story that school had to be dismissed since it was impossible to hear what was said on account of the racket overhead. That was a great school !

On the first day of the term the teacher would ask the boys what they were going to study and one after another would answer: "Arithmetic, grammar and geography." Finally the teacher got tired of hearing that and said: "Now I've had enough of this arithmetic, grammar and geography. You boys have come here year after year and studied arithmetic, grammar and geography, and if you haven't learned those things it is because you haven't brains enough to take them in. Now we won't have any more arithmetic, grammar and geography in this school. You have got to take something else. Take astronomy or algebra. At any rate arithmetic, grammar and geography cannot now be taken." And they weren't.

Lessons were not always learned in that school. I remember once all the boys in the class failed and the teacher lined them up with their faces toward the blackboard which covered the wall; then he made circles about three inches higher than the boys' noses and said to each: "Put your nose in the ring." Which they all proceeded to do, standing on their tip-toes to do it. That position becomes very tiresome and painful after a while, so the boys reached one way and another until they struck an eraser, whereupon they would rub out the circle the teacher had drawn and make another two inches lower, so that they could stand on their heels and still keep their noses in the ring. But when teacher observed that their heels were on the floor he sauntered around and immediately raised the boys by an application of the heavy ruler he carried in his hand.

A boy misconducted himself once, but he had been thrashed so often that the teacher knew it would do no good; so the boy was sent out of school to get a sapling to be punished with. He returned after a half day's absence with a young pine tree about twenty feet long and two inches in dimaeter at the butt, with the bark nicely stripped off, and handed this to the teacher who quietly told him to take his seat.

Massachusetts

"We inadvertently omitted to state at the proper time how badly the Eureka ball club of this city was beaten in their second match for the junior championship of Western Massachusetts, this time by the Woronoco Club of Westfield.

Bertha Mansfield Freeman

The request for "reminiscences of Westfield days" from one who so quietly slipped away into that Other Room, comes now like an opportunity that cannot be allowed to pass.

To one who spent only the years of childhood in Westfield the backward glance makes Westfield seem like a wondrous playground. There was enough of country, so that one was never cramped for room or stifled for lack of air. There was enough of city, so that the circus and the merry-goround, the musicale and the party did not pass us by and leave us too provincial. We seemed to have a blending of social ingredients which served to make up a childhood full of fragrant memories.

In the spring we went up the Blandford Road in Mr. Hull's ice cart, and off into the fields for the sweetest of the Mayflowers, the wonderful trailing arbutus. If it happened to be late enough, we would fill our baskets with wild strawberries and the "Youngsters" of the wintergreen. Behind the trees and the knolls and an occasional barn we played hide-and-go-seek, counting: "Eeny, meeny, miny mo, pesky-lony, bony stro, hull-gull boo! Out goes you ! " or perhaps we varied it with : "Catch a nigger by the toe, if he hollers, let him go."

When May first came and we had been preparing for days with scissors and colored tissue papers, we went forth hanging May baskets, darting out and home again fast, for fear of losing the fun of chasing the basket-hanger at our own door. The thirtieth came, and we decorated the Soldiers' Monument and walked behind those noble veterans of that other war before our time, little thinking what awful war we were to know.

When graduation time came we went in groups to the pastures and the hillsides, for that flower of flowers, shrub of shrubs, the mountain laurel and sometimes, not far away, we could find the pink azalea.. When a single spray reaches us now and then, we recall the masses of it which we used to bring home. The tragedy of the flood time is lost in the wonderful experience that the days brought. First the schoolhouse basement was full of water and the school yard a sea of boards, boxes and sheds, so that avenue of fancied torture was closed and we could revel in fishing with the garden rake for the vegetables needed for dinner from the top cellar stair, or better yet go boating up our own street, catching treasures as they floated past. The devastation sat lightly on us, to whom floods furnished holidays. The settled spring brought marbles - maybe we played for keeps - and kiteflying from many a hilltop. Telephone wires did not exist to catch our

Our simple children's parties, our church Strawberry Festivals, and the Sunday School picnics at Southwick Ponds, formed a great part of our social life which was wholesome if not always stimulating. Once somebody came from afar to train us, and we held in Music Hall what to us were remarkable theatricals - where Bobby Shaftoe, in memory thrills us still, who "came from sea with silver buckles on his knee." Who can forget the Firemen's Muster when the old-time tub vied with the modern engine in throwing the mighty stream? We marched the streets, and knew almost every one we met.

When the fall days came, where could be found more glorious colorings than our hills provided? What could compare with a sunset from Pine Hill with all the blending of autumn foliage? And who does not remember the cider mill on Silver Street, where without hindrance we sucked the cider through a straw, and afterwards were generously fed nearby with doughnuts and butternuts?

We recall the awesome Yellow Day (September 6, 1881). The schools were closed. President Garfield lay dying, and prophets said this was the end of the world, but we still lived on.

Shall we ever forget those crisp, clear Saturdays when we filled the hayrack with shouting boys and girls with bulging baskets, and started for the chestnut trees over the Berkshire Hills. In the glow of the setting sun we " piled " back into the hayrack loaded with nuts, tired and bur-scratched, but radiantly happy. As we creaked down the hills toward home snatches of song, with "Co-ca-chee-lunk, chee-lunk, chee lay-lee" and "Rig-a-jigjig" announced our coming.

Not even Toytown and its modern sports could equal the joys of Westfield in the winter. King Street, with a child or more in every house, had unexcelled coasting, with double-runners flying by in close succession; some of them gorgeously upholstered, and decked with fancy steeringgear. When we feared the street was getting too much cut up, we used to turn the hose on at night and find beautiful glare ice in the morning, and no motor-car obstructed our gay course.

The canal was our skating pond and there we watched the Chinese boys cut figure 8s. They, with many others, had been sent by their government to be educated in this country and were general favorites.

Friday nights when there were no lessons to learn we gathered in somebody's big kitchen, made pop-corn balls, pulled molasses candy and - walked home in the moonlight.

The vivid nights of the torchlight processions stand out clearly in our recollections. We decorated our windows in red, white, and blue paper and put candles in the windows, if the marching was in behalf of our particular, political party, but if not, our windows were ominously dark.

Katharine Gibbs Allen

After my older daughter's visit to Westfield on the occasion of the dedication of the Abner Gibbs School, she said to me: "But, Mother, Westfield is a city, and you have always talked as though you were brought up in the country!" And so, probably, I had, for the Westfield of my childhood was a New England village and fortunately is so still, in appearance.

We of the village proper were a homogeneous group, - nearly all of American ancestry, with little distinction of rich and poor, all going to public school together. When I came to be a teacher myself, I realized that, perhaps owing to our having a Normal School in the town, our schools were up to the best educational standards and in advance of those of many towns in the state. As I name our teachers over, is it not a remarkable succession of fine, devoted men and women and a type of teacher that in general seems to be passing? There was no systematic religious training in those schools, but there was there a most definite religious training by precept; yes, but more powerfully still by the example of noble lives, whose influence has been a light and a guide to our path ever since.

It is of these schools and of the teachers who made them that I want to leave a record, imperfect as it will be, on the pages of the memorial of that most worthy celebration of the 25Oth Anniversary of our " Mount Auburn, loveliest village of the plain."

My first day as a pupil in the primary room of the Silver Street School, was also the first day of Charles Thayer, Fred Norton, Esther Fowler and Margaret Atwater. We all kept on together and were graduated at the same time from the High School. What more lovely person could we have had to start us on our road than Miss Lucy Foote? How well I feel the atmosphere of joy and love which surrounded her; how well I remember our eagerness to take home each night the little piece of paper with the "Good" written upon it. Once only did I have a "Bad" to take home. I have entirely forgotten why I had it, but I am sure that whatever reproof she would give would be given so tenderly that it would leave no sting. Soon she was married to Mr. Myron Lloyd who had been my father's boyhood friend in Blanford, and Mrs. Marshall took her place.

Next in the intermediate room of the Silver Street School was Miss Julia Noble, a fine type of woman, faithful and devoted. For years I had the picture she gave me for excellence in some test on the multiplication tables, and I remember with gratitude her taking me home several afternoons

Our next promotion to the grammar school, or School of Observation - and it was not until some time afterward that I knew what that long word meant - brought us under Mr. Haldeman, a very kindly man, and Miss Morse, an inspiration and example to us of the graces of life. I was the type of child who appealed little to her, but I wish we might nowadays have more who had her background, to be with our children in the public schools.

The four years of High School was the longest period we spent in any one school, and there the strongest impression naturally was made. Of the many teachers of this period, those who stand out most prominently are Mr. Pratt, fresh from his studies at Amherst; Miss Holton, with an enthusiasm for mathematics which she communicated to me; Miss Reed, an untried saint; Miss Fowler and Miss Kneil.

Miss Carrie Norton, while not a teacher in the school, was virtually one during those years and made a deep impression upon us through her untiring efforts to provide us with social good times which should be, at the same time, educational. I well remember such an evening spent at her home where the subject was Venice. She gave us of her best and got our best from us.

I did not know Miss Fowler so well then nor love and appreciate her so much as I have come to since. But it was quite a wonderful thing to have a young girl - as she really was at that time, though we thought her old enough - with her background, education, her experiences of travel and of social advantages, come in to make part of our school life. She brought in a breath from a world of greater beauty and greater refinement than we had known before. The young people of my sister's class attached themselves to her most devotedly.

It is to Miss Kneil, aside from my father, that I owe the greatest debt that I owe to any teacher. She was my ideal and I have the picture of her still clearly in mind as she walked down the aisle of the church with my father at the High School graduating exercises, and of how my heart went out to her in love and in recognition of all that she was. I considered her the best informed person of my acquaintance and it is partly through my trying to be like her, as I thought, that I know a little about so many things and nothing much about any one thing. She probably was a master of her subject, but it was never her scholarship that impressed me.

I was rather a sad child, - or such I seem to myself now. Her sympathy sometimes secretly and always silently expressed was part of the loving, brooding sympathy of the Father for all his children. It was given in such a way that I could never have made any recognition of it if I had known how. I hope she may have felt, in her hours of trial, the love and sympathy of those she had helped. May she know that I know her many kindnesses and that with many others I bless her memory.

And over all my school days and through all was my father. My growing up was marked by my being allowed to go to a more and more distant corner to meet him coming home from school. The way he held the school by the force of his personality expressed in morning talks, in personal appeals, and in his own simple, religious, unselfish life, I shall never cease to think was something very fine, very unusual, and very wonderful.

Addison L. Green

Where are one's reminiscences of Westfield to begin, and where are they to stop? One might dwell lovingly upon the days when the town pump stood at the north end of the Green, when the whole town nestled in the valley and only scattered farms dotted the surrounding hills, when watermelons grew on the plains toward Southwick, and Mr. Fowler made butter-scotch and sold it to an enthusiastic clientele of school children. These were the days when the Westfield River in flood burst its dikes and the lower town became a muddy Venice. Following the flood the work of reconstructing the dike began and the High School boys turned out to help, inspired alike by patriotism and a desire for the splendid compensation of two dollars per day. Their zeal was attested not alone by lamed backs and blistered hands, but also by the fact that the professional laborers, unwilling to follow their pace, threatened to quit unless the boys were discharged, and so the boys went back to school. At this period, and indeed, for a considerable period afterward, the canal paralleled the tracks of the "Putty Railroad" - a real canal filled with water that froze early in the winter and furnished the first skating of the season, not only to the boys and girls of the High School, but to all the boys and girls of the town. However, it ran so close to the school that its pupils seemed to have a special interest in the canal's icy surface. Has any one yet determined why this railroad was called the "Putty Railroad?" Was the road so loosely built that it might be likened to something held together by putty, or did its builders potter, or, as we sometimes say in Yankeeland, "putter" around during its construction?

In those far-away days John H. Haldeman was principal of the Green District School and Abner Gibbs of the High School. Mr. Haldeman had the faculty of personal intimacy with each of his scholars, and this gave him much more accurate knowledge of their several capacities and inclinations than that generally possessed by teachers. He had an unusual ability for imparting knowledge, a distinct sense of humor, a quiet dignified manner, a real interest in his pupils' welfare, and a character that left its impress upon the character of all who were under him. His interest in his pupils did not cease when they left the Green District School but followed them through life.

In the days when Mr. Gibbs was principal of the High School the old Academy Building formed a part of the High School Building. Most of us remember its bell tower, its distinctive New England architecture, and some of us remember its walls, scratched or cut with the names of men long since passed to their fathers, - names that mean much in Westfield, of Bates and Noble, of Loomis and Fowler, of Taylor and many others.

Mr. Gibbs, himself, was doubtless the most forceful personality that the High School has ever known. Tall, gaunt, with eager, compelling eyes, sanguine disposition, enthusiastic in his work, unremitting in his effort, a dynamo of nervous energy, he has left his features and character indelibly impressed upon the memory and the character of his pupils. His work and influence were not bounded by the walls of the High School, but extended throughout the town. This was partly (but only partly) the result of lectures that he used to give upon scientific, semi-scientific and popular subjects to the townspeople, in which he frequently applied his learning to every day problems and discussions. I remember one dealing with food, cooking, and digestion - its title has escaped me - in which he stated that the popular notion then prevailing that it was dangerous to eat lobster and ice cream at the same meal was nonsense, a statement that created much comment in the households of the town. He believed that a certain amount of candy was good for growing boys and girls, and so stated to their parents. This was very popular doctrine with the younger generation and was frequently quoted by them in the family circle.

Mr. Gibbs possessed much sympathy, practical sense, a capacity for seeing the other fellow's position, and the kind of enthusiasm that is infectious and almost sure to touch a responsive cord in the hearts of others. To illustrate, his enthusiasm in chemistry was such that it inspired some of his pupils to do a great deal of extra work. Two of them, at least, in my class voluntarily toiled at night in the High School laboratory and performed practically all of the experiments that could there be performed which were outlined in their text-book.

He had to an unusual degree the faculty of inspiring a pupil to make his best effort by creating in his mind a feeling that it would disappoint Mr. Gibbs if he did not do so. He had a sense of humor, although it was rather dry and repressed. I remember coming up from Latin class one day and on the way picking up a tiny mouse which, upon reaching my seat, I dropped upon the floor without any particular thought of consequences. In a moment the school was in an uproar. Girls were standing on the seats and boys were making a vociferous effort to capture the mouse. For some time Mr. Gibbs was sure that the mouse had been released by another pupil and calling him by name, directed him to stand up and began to tell him most vigorously what he thought of the proceeding. Of course there was nothing for me to do but to arise and explain that I was the guilty party. Mr. Gibbs became silent, the school was expectant, but after a moment or two of consideration, instead of taking me in hand as I expected, he told me he would see me after school. When we met he looked at me for some time, saying nothing, but with a twinkle in his eye, then finally he said: "You did the right thing to own up so promptly, but don't you think it was rather a silly performance?" I admitted it was. Mr. Gibbs said: "That is all," and the incident was closed. In my judgment he accomplished a great deal more than if he had talked for a long time.

Graduates of the High School, after going to college, where they were brought into competition with graduates of the best secondary schools, were apt to find themselves surprised at the knowledge they possessed of parliamentary practice, and by their comparative ability to debate and to take part in class meetings and things of that kind. This was due largely to the High School Lyceum and to the secret societies which were then a part of the school life. The Lyceum met once a week of an afternoon, was conducted according to Robert's Rules of Order or Cushing's Manual, and its exercises consisted of debates, recitations, essays, etc. A critic was appointed, and at the close of the other exercises made such criticisms as he or she was capable of making upon the work of the afternoon. The secret societies were Greek letter societies, but their mysteries lay wholly in the significance of their names, the password and the grip. They were in reality literary societies, extending the work of the Lyceum. Whatever objections to such societies may exist in other places, or may have existed at other times, in the High School, there was nothing objectionable to them in my day, and much that was highly beneficial. It used to be a favorite "stunt" for the presiding genius of the society to call a man on the floor, and then hand him a subject upon which it was his duty to speak for three minutes, or five, or ten, perhaps, as the subject seemed to demand. The facility acquired by some of the boys in this impromptu work was surprising. Among other things there were formal debates, and the question of woman's suffrage, the eight-hour day, and the respective merits of the pen and sword, were frequently decided. All business matters were seriously considered, so that the question of holding a "peanut Bum," and appropriations from the treasury therefor, was settled by the closest application of parliamentary rules.

Speaking of the Lyceum naturally recalls the Atheneum. It is difficult for those of the elder generation to think of the Westfield Atheneum still existing without Phineas Buell to manage it. What a democratic institution it was. There was no need to fuss there with cards or with clerks to find one's books. One might go by himself anywhere and do as every book lover does and ought to do, pull down from the shelves the books fancied, look at them as long as he liked, read what he pleased, and then repeat. If one laughed too loud at the story of Tom Sawyer and his fence, or shuddered too deeply over the horrors of the "Watchers at the Threshold," there was no jarring voice to mar the delight either of his joy or of his fear, but a sympathetic librarian helped him out of his embarrassment by a kindly pressure upon the arm, and a sympathetic interest in his reading. Many were the wise suggestions that he gave to our younger generation as to authors and books, suggestions that were really introductions; and who can forget the man who has introduced him to Thackeray, to Dickens, and to Scott? Mr. Buell was much interested in phrenology, and I remember once introducing him to my grandfather. He immediately viewed our heads, remarked upon the similarity of their conformation, and stated that any one familiar with phrenology could tell our relationship. We went away, never explaining that it was a case of step-grandfather.

Among the names scratched upon the walls of the old Academy Building was that of Gillett. There are some men who fire the imagination of the young, and one of them was E. B. Gillett. I was quite young when I heard him speak in public, but I have yet a clear recollection of a striking countenance, acquiline features, powerful but pleasing voice, and impressive manners. Probably it was contrast that fixed this recollection so firmly in my mind, because the town was later visited by Benjamin F. Butler, who was then a candidate for the governorship of Massachusetts. Perhaps one expects too much of an ex-general and a gubernatorial candidate, but how far short of Mr. Gillett did he seem to me in dignity, appearance, language and thought!

Is elocution still taught in the High School? If so, who succeeds Miss McKenzie? Do the pupils still practice enunciation as she taught it in "Oh Thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my father!" Is voice tremor still taught in "Pity the sorrows of a poor old man whose trembling limbs have borne him to your door? " The elocutionary work of the school used to be (very likely it is now, but I am speaking of the past) of a high order. Mr. Pratt, who was instructor in Latin and Greek, helped in this work and did much to give a decidedly elocutionary slant to the ambition of boys and girls alike, a slant that persisted for many years - indeed, it may persist now. Mr. Pratt was a quiet, effective teacher, a gentleman, with a twinkle in his eye and a dry wit that helped largely to encourage his pupils in times of stress, and to console them in times of adversity. He was a very real influence in the school.

No mention of the High School is complete that omits the name of Sarah Kneil. Her work and her influence were alike of the highest order. As pupil and teacher for four years, and later as fellow teachers in the same school, her work and her personality impressed me vividly. I remember how amused she was one St. Patrick's Day, when the principal of the school basely deserted the other teachers and stayed away. The traditions of the school demanded that there be a lively demonstration on that day. As the sole male teacher, I was in charge. The school assembled verdant in green sashes, neckties and blouses, and, if I had not heard their footsteps coming up the stairs during devotions, "Ned" Miller and "Charlie" Little would have appeared in green coats and trousers. They were waylaid, however, upon the stairs and never permitted to reveal their glory to an expectant school. Returning to the schoolroom, we finished devotions and then it was firmly insisted that all articles of green be removed, and their resumption that day was forbidden under threat of direct penalties. Upon opening school in the afternoon we found that while these orders had been literally obeyed, everyone was then resplendent in orange.

Many are the changes during a period of fifty years. Little, if any, arbutus is now to be found in Lloyd's Woods, yet once it was the custom on " May Day" for the pupils of the lower grades to go out in a body to hunt for Mayflowers, and they usually went to "Lloyd's Woods," where an abundance of arbutus was sure to be found. Later in the season pink lady's slippers could be found in the same woods. How much farther from the Town Hall have arbutus and lady's slippers since retreated? Can one still gather wild grapes - say a bushel of them - just across the river from Crane's Mill? And then the trout - there's the real test! It is hard to realize that once upon a time the brooks close at home, such as Powder Mill, Tannery, Sandy Mill, even Hundred Acres Brook, yielded trout, and, on good days, a good basket to a patient fisherman. Hundred Acres Brook, you know, is just the other side of Little River and is very close to the center of the town. One misty day in May, when there was one session in the High School, there was taken from that brook in the afternoon, following the close of school, a creel nearly full of trout - good sized fish, light colored, almost silvery, with subdued spots - such trout as from time immemorial have run up from the sandy bottom of Little River into its tributary streams.

No more lovable character ever lived in Westfield than Henry Fuller, lovable for his honesty, the genuine kindliness of his disposition, and for his absent-mindedness. While teaching in the High School I was studying in his law office during vacations, and came to know him intimately. "Squire" Fuller always wore a silk hat and dark coat after the old school of lawyers, carried a cane, and invariably entered his office on mornings smoking a cigar. He was practically certain to lay down his hat, his cane, and his cigar upon his desk, and then his cane was practically certain to fall upon the floor, and the cigar when resumed, had about an even chance of having its lighted end placed in Mr. Fuller's mouth, evoking his favorite exclamation: "By Godfrey! By Godfrey!" He had a very high sense of duty to his clients, and was very loyal to their interests.

Do the young people of the present generation have as much genuine fun as did those of these older times? One doubts it. Probably the things then called fun would not seem so now. How many of the young people today would enjoy getting up at daybreak and driving out to Southwick Ponds for pond lilies, and returning home in time for school. Yet the recollection of some such mornings, when the girls provided sandwiches and cocoa and we drove in the early sunrise out across the plains to Southwick, comes back to me again and again when I am on the trout streams at early dawn in the Northern woods. The enjoyment of those days was not of the automobile, moving-picture shows, or dances in hotel lobbies. There were dances enough, to be sure, sleighrides and bus-rides to Blandford, to Russell, and to Salmon Falls, and dancing there to the tune of Ben Chadwick's concertina and under the inspiration of his prompting; dancing likewise in the big hall out at Frank Atwater's, the same hall where we all understood that George Washington was once entertained. Then there were the excursions, sometimes called picnics, along the various beauty spots that line the little River as it comes tumbling down the rocks from the "dry bridge." There was not only some, but there was a great deal of social life among the young people of the town then, and some of us believe that it was more vivid and enjoyable than it is now, because its enjoyment was dependent upon the capacity of the young people to amuse themselves, and led them to develop their own resources.

After all, the "Old Town" is always the "Old Town," because there is no place like home. As the years progress, the farther one is removed from its activities, the firmer do recollections of the home town remain in one's mind. Does anybody born of Westfield ever see a whip, whether in a wagon or offered for sale in a shop, that he does not examine it to make sure that it was made in Westfield and to find out who made it?

A landmark for the countryside, With stone-like figures carved in wood. (Perhaps the worker had in mind Some English homestead left behind), We held it dear in heedless pride. We cared, but did not care enough ; And one day, ere we were aware, Through fault of none, or fault of all, The Doorway was no longer there!

Will bring the heart to aching-point, Too great demands, too little tact, May strain the tie to breaking-point. We care, but do not care enough;

Source changes here: from Westfield's Quarter Millennial Anniversary Official Souvenir ... Published in Connection with the 250th Anniversary on the Founding of the Town of Westfield, Massachusetts, Under the Supervision of the Souvenir Program Committee, William F. Lyman, Chairman, by Plummer, Edgar Holmes, Ed. [from Old Catalog], published 1919; 2,871 words in this source stream.

Westfield Bottling Co

devised for the Aiitomobilist. Folds and unfolds instantly. Top shaped to lit the hand. Easy to handle when full. Easy to pour from. Made of heavy waterproof canvas. Nothing: to get out of onier. Can be carried under front cushion or in door pocket or

J. W. Tryon & Sons

ORGANIZ.ATION: This firm orsani/e.i business at Southfickl, Mass., in LS84, under tirm name. Barber, Cargill & Cook. In 1890 it was moved to Westfield and the firm name changed to Cargil Cook (S: Company. In 1<)(),S, Harvey J. Cleveland, who was then treasurer and general manager of the Standard Whip Company, be rame interested in the concern and the firm name was changed t( Cargil], Cleveland & Company. In 1907, the business of .Alfred nibble, who was one of the pioneer manufacturers, was purchased i^nlaiging the firm's manufacturing facilities. In 1911, the .A. ]. Truitt Whip ('iim])any of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was purchase and was mo\eil to Westfield and was also consolidated with Cargil Clexeland iS: Conipaiu'.

Westfield Co Operative Bank

THIS bank was incorporated December 13, 1881, and the following officers were elected: President, M. P. Breckenridge; vicepresident, J. S. Clark; secretary, O. C. Towle; treasurer, David M. Chase; attorney, F. W. Fisk; directors, I. N. Weston, George L. Danks, E. L. Goodnow, John G. Schmidt, Henry Mullen, H. A. Parsons, A. W. Fairchild, H. Westcott, J. A. Lakin, W. C. Clark, Edwin Hedges, Charles Hedges. F. W. Fisk, \V. H. Whitney. C. J. Bradley.

Two hundred and fifty shares were sold at the first meeting. It was largely through the efforts of Mr. Breckenridge, who at the time was superintendent of the H. B. Smith Company, that this bank was organized.

Mr. O. C. Towle. who was elected secretary of the organization and afterwards secretary and treasurer, served until December, mOO, when J. H. Clark, the present treasurer, was elected secretary and treasurer.

^-^HE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF WESTFIELD, No. 190. the Old- ^i^ est National Bank in the Commonwealth, was organized Feb. 2rt, 1<S6,3, with 7] Charles A. Jessup as President, and George L. Laflin as Cashier, the latter ^^T^ being shortly succeeded by Henry Tlooker, who was Cashier until 1895. Charles A. Jessup, George L. Laflin, Cutler Laflin, tlerman Latlin and Henry Hooker constituted tlie Board of Directors. The capital of the bank was .S75,(K)().

In 186.5, it merged with the Westfield Bank, a State institution which was incorporated in 1851 with a capital of $160, U(K). The capital was increased to ."Si.!!), ( )( )(), which is the present capital of the l)ank. The bank also has a surplus and undivided ])rofits of ."tij-SlVX)!). Its present officers are as follows: S. A. Allen, President; Joseph A. Kenyon, Vice-President; Loring P. Lane, Cashier. S. A. Allen, Joseph A. Kenyon, Loring P. Lane, H. M. VanDeusen, D. F. Doherty, F. R. Parks, Robert Gowdy, IIarr>' C. Lane, and Charles B. Warren constitute the Board of Directors.

The Woronoco Savings Rank takos much pride for the part it has borne in the upbuilding- of the town. Believing that the bank was organized primarily as an institution in the interest of the citizens of Westfield, its officers have always endeavored to keep it as such. The fact that preference has always been given to local borrowers, regardless of the rate of interest offered by out-of-town borrowers or of conditions governing the investment market, proves its loyalty to the town.

Growth Of Deposits And Surplus

The secret of our success is Service. There is no work so small or humble or unpleasant that we won't condescend to do it, if it will help _ the peoiile who do business with us. Our incentive is that Bible verse, " Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant."

Woronoak Farms Co

1919 - 135 Guernsey Cattle ; 40 Double Standard Polled Herefords (the only large herd in New England) ; 40 Hogs ; 0 Horses ; Operates 1600 Acres of Land ; Employs 20 Men ; Incorporated February, 1917, as

Ox Court StRTt is situated Wcstricld's most inlluculial iiolcl, "Tlic Van Deusen Inn." Cosy and li(iniclil<e, it is the yearly aliode of many prominent husint-ss men and women of the town.

In I'Ml, ronstiiution was started by Henry M. Van Deusen and his son, Spenrer Van Di'usen, and after several years ot hard work on tiieir |)art, with a large force ol workmen ihis connnodious structure

Welcome To Westfield

E TAKE PLEASURE in extending our welcome to you. Our business was founded by Mr. Thos. .1. Cooley in 1881, at the corner of Church and Elm Streets. Mr. Charles E. Cooley became a partner in 1888, and the business was moved to its present location in Parks Block, under the name of Cooley Brothers. Upon the death of Mr. Charles E. Cooley, in 1912, Mr. Luther E. Hollister became a partner, and the firm name has since been The Cooley Brothers Company.

Hotel Bismarck

TTOTKI. lUsMARCK. Depot Square. -*- '^ stands as a monument to John C. Huschmann's successful enterprise and remarkable ability as a business man. Born March 14. IS-i-l. he gained what education he had by personal application, hartl work, and perseverance.

In 1860, Mr, Huschniann established the wholesale tobacco business that has ever since borne his name. In the early sixties he bought what was known for many years as The Railroad House, and which he conducted along with a coal. wood. ,ind ice

John C. Buschmann The Buschmann Warehouses

In l''t«i the Bismarck Hotel was opened" giving Westfield its finest and most modern hotel - the hotel being conducted by 1 homas M. Buschmann until his death on January 12, l'.)n,S. I-'rom that time on the r.i^in.uck llotrl has been run by August Buschmann & Co., and considered Westfield's most up-to-date hotel.

H. S. Eaton Clothing Co

Began business in Westfield March 1, 1S<)(), in the Lane & Loomis Block under the firm name of Brigham, Eaton & Co. Moved to more commodious quarters in the Lakin-Hall Block in 1(S97, and in 1*X)4 incorporated as the H. S. Eaton Clothing Company.

P'^ R( )M a small and LinpntuiUiDUs beginning, the business now known as Hcarn & Company, which was started in 18'X? by John J. Hearn, has grow'n to be one of the leading Home Furnishing houses in Western Massachusetts.

Gradually outgrowing its old quarters on School street the firm acquired, in 1912, the property at the corner of Him and Thomas streets and erected thereon the handsome four-story Columlnis Building, which is. an ornament to our leading business street, and one of the finest mercantile establishments in this section of the state.

Hearn & Co. occupy the 'greater part of the building and carry .i high-grade stock of Home Furnishings including a splendid assortment of Standard Furniture, Rugs, and Draperies.

Their honorable business methods have won for them cm i - increasing {)ublic confidence, bringing each year not only a larger \olume of Westfield tradi', but .i liljeral patronage from surrounding cities and towns.

Westfield is to bi' congratulatid upon ha\ing a store of this character which ranks with [the best in cities manv times larger than Westfield.

IIJS GKNKRAL HARDWARE STORE was established March 15, 1872, by David Eaiiibertoii and E. D. Loomis. After three months, Mr. Laniberton sold his interest to Mr. Loomis, who loiidui led the Ijusiness for twelve years, then selling to \V. H. Wolcott and C. E. Williams. Later, Mr. Woleott sold his interest to Mr. Merritt Van Deiisen. In April. 18*^n, the business was bought liy Gladwin and Noble Bros. Later, Mr. James R. Gladwin continued the business alone until his death

And Facilities For Dispensing, The Public Is Assured

JITH THEIR EXTENSIVE STOCK OF DRUGS, CHEMICALS AND PHARMACEUTICALS. COMBINED WITH AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE AND FACILITIES FOR DISPENSING, THE PUBLIC IS ASSURED OF THE HIGHEST GRADE OF PRESCRIPTION WORK A RELIABLE PLACE FOR ANYTHING THAT IS TO BE HAD IN A FIRST-CLASS DRUG STOR E

W. A. Smith

In February, 1913, I started in business on a sewing table in my bedroom. At that time I was living on a farm, two miles from a \illage. Tliat year I had 4(1 customers.

Mosely& Maschin Wfstfield. Mass

j^TT Arthur C. Mosely, President af this Corporation, has hern ennaged in the Flitnihiiuj, ^*i-^ Heating, and Sheet Metal Business in this town si7ice 1S93, and combined his business with that of'Daniel L. Hood, of i? Main Street, in 1909, forming the present Corporation in connection with George L. Maschin, who had been iritli Mr. Hand for eight years. Prompt service at reasonable prices is the aim of this rorporation . Phone.

James H. Whittemore

Mr. \\ hitteinore came to Weslluld in r)()6 as Asst. Supt. for the Metropolitan IJfe Insurance Co. He held several positions with the Metropolitan, and was promoted to Deputy Supt. early in 19III, and resigned in December, I9IS, to enterthc Real Kstatc liusiness. His sons, Howard M. and Harold Whittemore, will be associated with him in the liusiness.

Rooms 7-9 Commercial Block

The companies represented by the Agency include the largest and most reliable in the various lines of insurance with combined assets totaling

Nash'S Bakery

R. NASH, one of tne oldest merchants in town, located here in 1871, on Main Street, and in 1877 moved on to Broad Street. In 1909 he sold the property to the Government, on which part of the Post Office Is now built; Mr. Nash then hunt a new Bakery on Dudley Avenue, where he is now located.

IVyvlR. HALL bought the Henry Holland Pharmacy in September, 1906, and was located in the Holland Block for five years. ... In 1911 the Gillett Block on the corner of Elm and School Streets was bought by Mr. Hall and the Pharmacy was moved into that locaticn. ... The store has carried on the Holland standard of the Best in Drugs and allied lines, and given the best possible service to an ever-increasing and appieciati\e patronage. ... This modern Pharmacy is entitled to a visit from all former Westfield residents, who will enjoy the distinctive service it gives.

||N l'>14, F. P. ROUETTE established on Church St., a store for the sale of Automobile, Motorcycle and Bicycle Supplies. He also acts as agent for Columbia Bicycles and Indian Motocycles.

All Kinds Op Repair Work The Prescription Store

This store was opened as a Drug Store by Eavvard G. Crotty, a graduate of the H. Holland Store, on February 16, 1911. The site was (ormerly the shoe store of B. F. Lewis ©'Son, and later taken over by H. R. Smith with the same line. Alter the death of Mr. Smith, it was opened as an ice cream parlor and confection store and continued as such until 1911, when it opened as a Drug Store with a full line of Drugs, Chemicals, and : Drug Sundries, Ice Cream, Soda and Cigars rHE outstanding automobile feature of today is the saneness in the use of cars. This is aptly illustrated b)' the fact that more than lOd.dUU Model 90 cars have already been put to work by responsible citizens.

Vou too can practice the thrift spirit and still benefit by motlern motor car accommodations and conveniences by ordering your Model 90 at once.

Bailey Garage

jN I'XnRAV L.BARTLEXT opened a General Insurance and Keal Estate Office at his present location, 106 Elm Street. Since that lime he has sold more than four hundred pieces of real estate, and liuilt up one of the largest general i-nsurance agencies in town. He writes fire insurance policies for the Sun Insurance Office (the oldest insurance company in the world), and such well-known old American companies as the Aetna Fire Insurance Co. , and Automobile Insurance Co., of Hartford; the Fire Association and County Fire Insurance Co., of Philadelpliia; tlie Mercantile Insurance Co. of America, and the Detroit F. & M. Insurance Co. He has huilt up a large automobile liability business and for that class of insurance represents the Aetna Life Insurance Co., the Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., Maryland Casualty Co., and Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Co,

Edward Ii. Hull Leveille'S Welding Shop

Since 1813 this Store has been the Trading Center of Westfield and Neighboring Towns, and Occupies Its Original Location in the First Brick Business Building Erected in Westfield.

The Womam'S Shop

RIGINALLY founded in 1885 by Albert Steiger and the late Ralph D. Gillett, doing- a general dry goods business under the firm name of Gillett & Steiger. Its career is generally considered as remarkably interesting, as it was in reality the lirth of the Steiger System of stores, to-day one of he largest and most successful retail dry goods lusinesses in the East. Mr. Steiger has always aken a deep per.sonal interest in this s.tore, as it /as his initial venture into business.

The Woman's Shop is indeed fortunate in being fiiliated with the Steiger System, which, through s tremendous purchasing power, enjoys an unsually advantageous position in the world markets.

Lf.Ert Steiger Co Insurance

was established in 1877 by Mr. H. D. Pease, who moved here from Hazardvtlle,Conn., and located at 14 Summer Street. In 1881 he moved to the north side of Thomas Street, and later built on the south side of Thomas Street. In 1913 a new plant was built at the rear of 41 Jefferson Street, w^hich is now known as the Westfield Laundry Company, J. W. Barnes, President. From 1877 to about 1887 the Westfield Laundry was the only laundry in Westfield.

The Westfield Laundry Company The Bryan Hardware Company

I^J^ N the earlier fifties Whitman C& Fletcher conducted a I small hardware store on the corner of Elm and Church mhh Streets, occupying the Whitman Block. After many changes in name, the firm is now kjiown as THE BRYAN HARDWARE COMPANY. Whitman CSb Fletcher were succeeded by William O. Fletcher, who later formed a partnership with L. R. Norton under the firm name of Fletcher CSb. Norton. Later, Mr. Norton assumed the entire control of the business.

Years afterward, Bryan CfSi, Gladwin bought out the business of L. R. Norton; later, Mr. Gladwin retired from this firm, the business being continued by Mr. Bryan, who afterwards formed The James H. Bryan Company, with Fred F. Shepard as manager. In 1914 it was incorporated as The Bryan Hardware Company, with Fred F. Shepard, President, Silas C. Pomeroy, Vice-President, and Charles S. Mills, Treasurer.

Westfield, Mass

Has records of all New England families, and is prepared to furnish pedigrees nd Colonial and Revolutionary War Records at reasonable fees. Has had thirtyix years' experience in research and abstract work in all kinds of records.

W. p. Kyle and William S. Marsh established the Troy Steam Laundry, being one of the most reliable laundries in town. William S. Marsh, the present manager, has grown up with the business, and has brought the plant up from a small beginning to where it is now

"A customer once had is always held," is the motto of this firm. Ex- Chief George L. Miner at the present date is No. 2 on the list, starting with this concern over thirty years ago.

Cud Worth'S Express

We are in our 12th year iiandling Furniture and Pianos, Freight and Baggage. We employ only men who are thoroughly experienced in handling these classes of goods, and are in a position to guarantee satisfaction. We solicit your orders.

P.Aking To Order

\ SSOCIATED with the history of Westfield is the remarkable f\ growth of the New England Whip Company, which has been notable and unprecedented, and this company is to-da>- the leading roncern of its kind in the world, i)uilt on its own original foundation md enterprise, and controlling nearly one-half the entire whip business

Organized only about a quarter of a century ago by Eugene Doherty tnd Daniel F. Doherty it started operations as the smallest of some twenty-odd concerns then engaged in the manufacture of whips, and .vhile Westfield was always the center of the whi[i business, still many

To-day only a few of these concerns remain and practically none lutside of Westfield, so that the entire whip business of the country, « to speak, is centered in this town, and Westfield is trulv the "Whip "ity" of the United States.

Through the progressive policy of its management and its manufacure of highest grade goods, the New England Whip Company has established a reputation and character that has successfully secured

Its factory, shown in the cut on the opposite page, has an average daily production of between fifteen and twenty thousand whips, and the name of Westfield borne on their lalicls is carried through distribution to every city, town, and hamlet in the United States.

Few people realize that the manufacture of whips involves such a wide variety of raw materials, including most of the standard products of the Ignited States in its cotton yarns and sheetings, iron spikes and loads, copper wires and mountings, together with wood products, leather, cornstarch, glue, oils, \arnishes, turpentine, and numerous other articles, making a total of over fifty different kinds of raw material used in the manufacture of a single whip. From the Dutch Indies and other points in the Far East comes its basic raw material, rattan, of which hundreds of tons are annually imported, and from Calcutta its India Iniffalo hides for its rawhide centers, from the Arctic regions whalebone, and it goes to other far parts of the world in the importation of articles in its manufacture.

While motor transportation marks decided effect on the whip industry, still the New England Whip Company has passed through such transition with constantly increasing business, and to-day holds position as one of the important industries of the town of Westfield.