"In 1832 the population was 1300, but by the census just taken the town
shows but 568 inhabitants. This decadence is attributable to emigration
and the railroads. Its wealth has consisted chiefly in the men and women
who have here been reared and educated for lives of usefulness. Indeed
few towns of equal population have sent out so many who have honored
themselves and their native town as Heath. Its Puritan characteristics
have lingered like a sweet fragrance, and their influences are still
felt. From this little hamlet have gone out into other fields a member
of Congress, two judges, ten lawyers, thirteen ministers, twenty-nine
physicians and many teachers; twenty-three natives have been college
graduates, and thirty-eight, not natives have also been collegians. If
the women have not occupied as public position as the men, they have
been no less useful. Forty-five have graduated from various seminaries
and several have become well known missionaries and teachers. It was in
this town, too, that Dr. Holland spent his early life."
* * * * *
August 19.--Twelfth annual gathering of the Needham family, descendants
of John Needham, who built the Needham homestead at the cross-roads
known as Needham's Corner on the Lynnfield road at South Peabody, Mass.
John Needham was famous in his day and generation as the builder of the
solid old stone jail in Salem in 1813, the same massive structure which
has just been remodeled. Back of him in the time of the Puritans, there
were George Needham and his three brothers and a sister, who came to
Salem very early in its infancy, and whose lineal descendants scattered
all over New England, John Needham died in 1831 at the age of
seventy-three. At the family gathering six generations were represented,
and a large number of the branches of the family as well--the Needhams,
the Newhalls, the Browns, the Stones, the Nourses, the Galencias and
others.
* * * * *
August 26.--Centennial celebration of Rowe, Franklin County, Mass. Like
Heath, the town was incorporated in February, 1785. The historical
address was by Hon. Silas Bullard of Menasha, Wis.
* * * * *
W.T. Spear has just finished a history of North Adams which he has spent
a long time in compiling. He has written the history of the town from
the time of its settlement in 1749 to the present time, and says he has
gleaned many facts from old town records which have never been
published. He will publish his work in small book form and sell it at
fifty cents a copy.
* * * * *
F. Wally Perkins, a topographical engineer in the employ of the United
States coast and geographical service, is making a geographical survey
of the Connecticut river from South Deerfield to its mouth. Part of the
expense of this survey is borne by the government and the rest by the
state, the object being to locate certain topographical and geological
features in the valley.
* * * * *
It has not been definitely stated where in Boston the proposed statue of
William Loyd Garrison will be placed, but it will either be in West
Chester Park or Commonwealth avenue, with a preference for the latter.
The city engineer is now engaged in making plans for the pedestal, which
is to be of hammed Quincy granite, about ten feet in height. In the
statue Mr. Garrison is represented sitting in an easy chair apparently
at peace with all the world, the great struggle in which he was a
prominent figure having been brought to an end. Beneath the chair lies a
file of the Liberator, which suggests the iron will of the man in his
conflict with slavery, and the strength of his purpose is further shown
in the following inscription on the side of the pedestal "I am in
earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retire a
single inch; I will be heard."
* * * * *
The General Court has a double survival in the State Legislature and the
town meeting. And the most curious part of this survival is that the
Legislature of this State still retains some judicial functions. It is,
we believe, the only State where this is the case. The Legislature of
Massachusetts retains the name of the General Court, but contents itself
with purely legislative work while our own Legislature is still Supreme
Court in equity. This has descended to it as an inheritance from the
General Court of colonial times.--New Haven (Conn.)_News_.
* * * * *
From the annual report of Major C.W. Raymond on the improvement of
rivers and harbors in Massachusetts it appears that the cost of the
improvement of Newburyport harbor during the year was $31,560, and
$9,868 remains available. The object of the improvement is to create,
at the outer bar, a permanent channel one thousand feet in width, with
a least depth of seventeen feet at low water. The amount required for
the completion of the project is $205,000, provided the entire sum is
appropriated for the next fiscal year. It is proposed to expend the
money in the rapid completion of the jetties already under construction.
* * * * *
The proceedings of the Bostonian Society at its annual meeting in
January, 1885, have just been published in pamphlet form. It embraces
much valuable data. The illustrations consist of a fine heliotype view
of the Old State House, from the east end, the home of the Society;
and a copy of its well-devised seal, in the heraldic coloring. The
experiment of a cheap pamphlet giving a summary historical sketch of the
Old State House has been successful, and another similar publication is
contemplated.
* * * * *
Rebecca Nourse, who was the first person hanged as a witch at Salem, in
1692, notwithstanding her repeated affirmation of her innocence, has
just had a monument erected by her descendants. On one side of it is the
legend concerning her, and on the other these lines of the poet
Whittier:--
"O Christian martyr, who for truth could die,
When all about thee owned the hideous lie.
The world, redeemed from superstition's sway,
Is breathing freer for thy sake to-day."
* * * * *
In his address at the unveiling of Ward's statue of "The Pilgrim,"
erected in Central Park, New York, by the New England Society in the
city of New York, Mr. George William Curtis said:--
"Holding that the true rule of religious faith and worship was written
in the Bible, and that every man must read and judge for himself, the
Puritan conceived the church as a body of independent seekers and
interpreters of the truth, dispensing with priests and priestly orders
and functions; organizing itself and calling no man master."
* * * * *