NEW HAVEN.
The City of Elms.--First Impressions.--A New England Sunday.--
A Sail on the Harbor.--Oyster Beds.--East Rock.--The Lonely
Denizen of the Bluff.--Romance of John Turner.--West Rock.--
The Judges' Cave.--Its Historical Association.--Escape of the
Judges.--Monument on the City Green.--Yale College.--Its Stormy
Infancy.--Battle on the Weathersfield Road.--Harvard, the Fruit
of the Struggle.
Leaving New York by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, we
found ourselves, at the end of a three hours' ride, in New Haven, the
beautiful "City of Elms."
Everything here bears the impress of New England, with the special
peculiarities of Connecticut, land of smart sayings and of the
proverbial wooden nutmegs and oak hams. Stepping from the cars, my ears
were first saluted by the salutations of two genial Yankees, one of
whom, I inferred from the conversation, had just arrived from
Bridgeport, and the other at the depot had awaited his coming.
Compliments were passed by the latter, who saluted his friend with--
"Well, old boy, where have you been all summer? I see you have got your
dust full of eyes."
The reply to this salute was in entire harmony with the interrogation,
and both walked away from the station, amusing each other with odd
maxims and witty retorts.
It being our intention to remain several weeks in New Haven, we decided
to take up our abode at a private house, and with this object in view
we started in pursuit of suitable accommodations. It was soon discovered
that in the matter of board we were competing with "Old Yale," students
always being preferred, owing to the prospect of permanency.
A reconnoissance of several hours, during which we saw more stately elms
than I ever expect to see again in so short a period, brought us to 66
Chapel street, where we were pleasantly lodged, with an excellent table,
and favored with a Yankee landlord from the classic banks of the Rhine.
Universal quiet on the streets, and an inexhaustible supply of brown
bread and beans at the breakfast table, was an unmistakable evidence
that we had reached a New England Sunday. After breakfast, the weather
being fine, I was invited to accompany some young gentlemen in a sail
down the harbor. Being uncertain as to the propriety of such a
proceeding on the seventh day, I was promptly assured that the Blue Laws
of Connecticut would not be outraged in case I had taken a generous
ration of brown bread and beans before starting.
A ride of half an hour, with but little wind in our sails, carried us
down through the oyster beds, to a point nearly opposite the lighthouse
at the mouth of the harbor. A novel sight, in my judgment, is a
multitude of oyster plantations staked out in such a manner as to show
the proprietor of each particular section his exact limit or boundary.
To those of my readers who are familiar with hop-growing regions, I
would say that an oyster farm is not unlike a hop field which seems to
have been suddenly inundated by water, leaving only the tops of the
poles above the surface. Oyster raising is one of the leading features
of New Haven enterprise, and the Fair Haven oysters, in particular, are
regarded among the best that are cultivated on the Atlantic coast. On
our return trip up the harbor the tide was going out, and as the water
was extremely shallow in many places, and also very clear, we could see
oysters and their less palatable neighbors, clams, in great abundance. I
was strongly tempted to make substantial preparation for an oyster
dinner, but on being informed that such a course would be equivalent to
staking out claims in a strange water-melon patch, I concluded to
desist, and contented myself with seeing more oysters in half an hour
than I had seen in all my life before.
EAST ROCK.
One of the famous places of resort in the neighborhood of New Haven is
East Rock, an abrupt pile of red-brown trap rock, lifting itself up from
the plain to a height of four hundred feet. The summit of this
monumental pile spreads out in a wide plateau of twenty-five or thirty
acres, sloping gradually back towards the meadow lands which border the
winding Quinnipiac River. It is owned and occupied by a somewhat
eccentric individual, rejoicing in the name of Milton Stuart, who
related to me the story of his life in this strange locality since
taking up his abode here, some twenty years ago. On being told that I
would commit to paper some account of my wanderings about New Haven, he
seemed to take an especial pleasure in showing me his grounds and
telling me everything of interest concerning them.
With ready courtesy he pointed out a heap of stones on the western
slope of the bluff, which he said was all that remained of a hut
formerly occupied by one John Turner, who made a hermit of himself on
this rock, years ago, all because the lady of his love refused to become
Mrs. Turner. He met her while teaching in the South--so the story
ran--and all his energies seemed to be paralyzed by her refusal to
listen to his suit. He came to East Rock and built this wretched hovel
of stone, where he lived in solitude, and where one morning in that long
ago, he was found dead on the floor of his hovel. How many romances like
this lie about us unseen, under the every-day occurrences of life!
WEST ROCK
is a continuation of the precipitous bluff of which East Rock is one
extremity, and is about a mile further up the valley. It is not so high
nor so imposing as East Rock, and the view from its wooded top fades
into tameness beside the remote ocean distance and the flash of city
spires to be seen from East Rock. But it makes up in historical interest
what it may lack in other attractions; for here, about a quarter of a
mile from its southernmost point, is located the "Judge's Cave," famous
as the hiding-place of the regicides who tried and sentenced King
Charles the First, in the seventeenth century.
On the restoration of Charles II to the throne of his father, three of
the high court which had condemned the first Charles wisely left England
for the shores of the New World. Their names were Goffe, Whalley and
Dixwell. Whalley was a lieutenant-general, Dixwell was a colonel, and
Goffe a major-general. These noted army officers arrived at Boston, from
England, July twenty-seventh, 1660, and first made their home in
Cambridge. Finding that place unsafe, they afterwards went to New Haven.
The next year news came from England that thirty-nine of the regicide
judges were condemned, and ten already executed, as traitors. An order
from the king was sent to the Colonial governors of Massachusetts and
Connecticut, for the arrest of the judges. They were thus compelled to
fly for their lives, and sought refuge in the cave on West Rock, which
afterwards bore their name. Here they lived concealed for some time,
being supplied with food by Richard Sperry, who lived about a mile west
of the cave. The food was tied up in a cloth and laid on a stump near
by, from which the judges could take it unobserved.
One night they beheld the blazing eyes of a catamount or panther,
peering in upon them at their cave, and were so frightened that they
fled in haste to the house of Mr. Sperry, and could not again be induced
to return. Several large boulders, from twenty to thirty feet in height,
thrown together, doubtless, by some volcanic convulsions, unite to form
the cave.
Dixwell afterwards lived in New Haven, under an assumed name, and the
graves of all three may now be seen, at one side of Centre Church, on
the City Green.
The following inscription is on a marble slab over the ashes of Dixwell,
erected by his descendants in 1849:--
"Here rests the remains of John Dixwell, Esq., of the Priory of
Folkestone, in the county of Kent, England. Of a family long
prominent in Kent and Warwickshire, and himself possessing large
estates and much influence in his county, he espoused the popular
cause in the revolution of 1640. Between 1640 and 1660 he was
Colonel in the Army, an active member of four parliaments, and
thrice in the Council of State; and one of the High Court which
tried and condemned King Charles the First. At the restoration of
the monarchy he was compelled to leave his country, and after a
brief residence in Germany, came to New Haven, and here lived in
seclusion, but enjoying the esteem and friendship of its most
worthy citizens, till his death in 1688-9."
The little brown headstone which first marked his resting place bore
only his initials and the date of his death:--
"J. D. Esq.
Deceased March Y^e 18th in Y^e 82^D Year of his age 1688/9."
That was all--his name being suppressed, at his request.
The headstones of Goffe and Whalley are marked in the same obscure way.
Yale College adds largely to the importance of New Haven, and the
elegant new College buildings now in process of erection, built of brown
freestone, cannot well be surpassed in style of architecture. "Old Yale"
was originally a small school, established in Saybrook by Rev. Thomas
Peters, who lived at that place, and who bequeathed his library to the
school at his death. It soon acquired the title of the "Illustrious
School," and about the year 1700 was given a charter of incorporation
from the General Assembly, making it a college.
It was named Yale, after its greatest benefactor, who was at that time
governor of one of the West India islands. The historian, Dr. Samuel
Peters, who wrote nearly a hundred years ago, said that Greek, Latin,
Geography, History and Logic were well taught in this seminary, but it
suffered for want of tutors in the Hebrew, French and Spanish languages.
He remarks, incidentally, that "oratory, music and _politeness_ are
equally neglected here and in the Colony." The students, numbering at
that time one hundred and eighty, were allowed two hours' play with the
foot ball every day, and were seated at four tables in the large dining
room. This ancient historian says the college was built of wood, was one
hundred and sixty feet long and three stories high, besides garrets. In
1754 another building, of brick, one hundred feet long, with double
rooms and a double front, was added. About 1760 a chapel and library
were erected, which was described as being "very elegant." The "elegant"
structure of a hundred years ago will soon be discarded for the new one
of brown freestone.
In the year 1717 the seminary was removed from Saybrook to New Haven,
but it had a hard time in getting there. A vote was passed to remove the
college from Saybrook, because, as the historian says, Saybrook was
suspected of being too much in sympathy with the Church of England and
not sufficiently alienated from the mother country. But there was a
division in the vote, the Hartford ballot being in favor of removing the
college to Weathersfield, while the New Haven party declared in behalf
of their own city. A small battle grew out of this split between the
Weathersfield and New Haven factions. Hartford, in order to carry its
vote into execution, prepared teams, boats and a mob, and privately set
off for Saybrook, seizing upon the college apparatus, library and
students, which they carried to Weathersfield.
This redoubled the jealousy of the "saints" at New Haven, who thereupon
determined to fulfill their vote, and accordingly, having collected a
mob, they set out for Weathersfield, where they seized by surprise the
students and library. On the road to New Haven they were overtaken by
the Hartford faction, who, after an inglorious battle, were obliged to
retire with only part of the library and part of the students. From this
affair sprang the two colleges, Yale and Harvard.
The Massachusetts Bay people acted the part of peacemakers, and settled
the difficulty between these two hostile factions, which resulted
finally in placing the college at New Haven. So it seems our Puritan
ancestors had their little disputations then, much as our Alabama and
Arkansas brothers do now.
What a flaming head-line that college battle doubtless furnished the
bulletin boards and colonial press of 1717! Imagine a column beginning
with this:--
_Sharp Fight on the Weathersfield Road!_
_Large Captures of Students!_
_New Haven Victorious!_
But out of revenge for the victory, the sons of Hartford were not sent
to Yale College to be educated. No, rather than go to Yale they went
much further away, at greater expense, and where fewer educational
advantages could be obtained. What were such disadvantages, however,
compared to the satisfaction of standing by their party and ignoring the
New Haven vote?
But old Yale grew and flourished, despite the stormy days of its
childhood, and has now a world-wide reputation. Many distinguished men
of letters call her "Alma Mater," and in all their wanderings carry her
memory green in their hearts.