Full text of "The Berkshire jubilee"

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THE

BERKSHIRE JUBILEE,

CELEBRATED AT

PITTSFIELD, MASS.

AUGUST 22 AND 23, 1844.

ALBANY :

WEARE. C. LITTLE.

E. P. LITTLE, PITTSFIELD.

1845.

tEiftred according to Act of Congress, i.i the year 1S45, by
E. P. LITTLE,
in the Clerk's office of the District Co.rt of the Northern Dist.ict of New-York. J

crvXTTF^^miU^^^AND CO. PRtNTKRS, ALBANY.

At a meeting of the Sons of Berkshire, at the close of the Jubilee,
August 23, 1844, Judge Betts presiding, it was voted unanimously,

That the thanks of this meeting be presented to the Rev. Dr. Hopkiivs,
to Joshua A. Spencer, Esq., and to the Rev. Dr. Allen, for their able
and acceptable performances, consisting of a Sermon, Oration and Poem,
and that they be respectfully requested to furnish a copy of the same for pub-
lication.

Voted, That a committee be now raised to superintend and publish a
Book containing the proceedings of this Jubilee, including the Speeches,
Odes, Hyams and Sentiments, and such other matter as they may deem pro-
per, and at as early a day as convenient.

Voted, That this committee consist of the following gentlemen, viz :
The Rev. J. TODD,
" " E. BALLARD,

CHARLES SEDGWICK, Esq.,
WILLIAM C. BRYANT, Esq.,

HENRY L. SABIN, M. D.
(Attest,)

James D. Colt, 2d,

Secretary.

IxA^TRODFCTIOI.

Berkshire is the large western county of Massachu-
setts, extending from Connecticut to Vermont, some-
thing like fifty miles in length, and containing somewhat
over forty thousand inhabitants. On the east lie the
Green Mountains, which shut it away from the rest of
Massachusetts. On the west are the Taghcannic
Mountains, which separate it from New- York. It is a
region of hill and valley, mountain and lake, beauti-
ful rivers and laughing brooks — the very Piedmont of
America. Till the rail-road was completed, and the iron
horse came puffing and snorting up over these moun-
tains, Berkshire had very little intercourse with the
rest of " the Old Bay State." Most of its business was
done at New-York, while with New- York people it had
none but a business intercourse. A community thus
secluded, and educated amid scenery surpassingly
lovely, breathing the mountain air, and drinking the
waters Avhich flow in thousands of rills down their
mountain sides, till they form the Housatonic or
"river of the hills," — must love the home of child-
hood. For the last fifty years, Berkshhe has been
constantly sending out her sons and daughters to
other parts of the land to find new homes. In the
meantime her own College has grown up, officered
almost wholly by her own sons, till its name is among
the very first in the land, and the old homestead has
been steadily advancing in Avealth, enterprise, educa.

lATROOUCTION.

tion and morals. One of the oldest towns has just
celebrated its centennial anniversary. Probably it
would be impossible to find a county in the whole
land in which there is more of the home feeling than
in Berkshire ; and wherever you go, if you can hail
from this " garden of the Bay State," you are sure to
find a warm welcome. Her sons are everywhere fill-
ing the highest posts of influence and respectability.
No less than eight of these sons have been in Con-
gress at the same timie, and we believe the same num-
ber were on the Bench as Judges in a neighboring
State, at the same time. Scattered over the land,
these emigrant sons have ever yearned towards the
homes of their fathers. By a sort of electrical excite-
ment they seemed ripe for a gathering at once. A
committee was raised in New-York to correspond with
a similar committee in the county, and to make prepa-
rations for celebrating a Jubilee.

The following letter, addressed to a gentleman in
Pittsfield, was the first received from the committee
in New- York.

New-York, June, 16, 1843.

Dear Sir — We have recently had a meeting here
of the native and former residents of Berkshire county,
to deliberate on the question whether it is best to
endeavor to call home, at some spot in the county this
summer, those who have migrated from this favored
locality, for the purpose of renewing acquaintance and
strengthening our attachments to our natal soil.

A committee was appointed to inquire of the pre-
sent residents in the county what they would think of
such a movement. It has been suggested that we
have a sermon, a poem, an oration and a dinner, or great
tea party, where we may talk ad libitum.

INTRODUCTION. \f

Allow me, as one of the committee, to ask you to
think of this matter and consult others around you,
and then give us your counsel. The main points on
which we want information are these : —

1. Is such a ^social gathering desirable and practica-
ble in itself?

2. Would the citizens of the county take an interest
in such a meeting ?

3. If yea, when and where should the meeting be
held?

4. What, in your judgment, should be the exercises
of the occasion ?

That such a meeting at some time would be attended
Avith pleasing and useful results, I can hardly question.
It would make that old American Piedmont (Berkshire
county) still more honorable and influential than she
now is.

Yours truly,

J. C. BRIGHAM.

On receiving this first communication from the New-
York committee, the following answer was returned.
It was addressed to the committee, and is inserted
because it explains the origin of the Jubilee, and the
feelings and views of those who moved in it.

PiTTSFiELD, June 19, 1843.

Dear Sir — At a very respectable meeting of the
citizens of this place, a letter from yourself, addressed
to one of our number, in relation to a meeting of the
former residents of Berkshire county, to be held in the
county at the present or following season, was com-
municated.

After a discussion, in which all the bearings of the
subject were seen, it was unanimously resolved that
such a meeting is highly desirable, and the following

10 INTRODUCTION.

gentlemen were chosen a committee to address the
committee in New-York, viz : Rev. John Todd, Thom-
as B. Strong, Julius Rockwell, Lemuel Pomeroy,
Jason Clapp, James D. Colt, E. R. Colt, Edward A.
Newton, Rev. Edward Ballard, George N. Briggs, H.
H. Childs, Phinehas Allen, O. P. Dickinson, and Thom-
as A. Gold.

In compliance with this resolution and in accor-
dance with our instructions, as well as our own feel-
ings, we beg leave to tender our congratulations that
such a meeting is in contemplation. In every point
of view in which we look at it, we feel that such a
meeting must be highly interesting at the time, and
no less Liseful in its results. The sons of old Massa-
chusetts have reason to revere and love their native
soil. She was the mother and the nurse of a mighty
nation. In the very cradle, her children had to fight
the battles, and use the wisdom, of mature manhood.
And while the descendants of the Puritans who landed
on her rocky coast have gone abroad, and amount to
nearly five millions of souls, she holds on her way
with her soil trodden by the free, and the air of her
beautiful mountains still breathed by a noble race of
men. Her hills, her valleys, and her laughing streams
remain as they were, save that the former are greatly
beautified by the hand of man, and the latter are
pressed into his service and made the source of in-
creasing wealth. Her Saxon hand, too, hath opened
a path through her mountains of rock, and the iron
horse climbs up and goes down what once seemed to
be almost impassable barriers of nature.

But that which is the pride of Massachusetts is her
sons and her daughters. They constitute her glory,
whether they remain here to beautify and enrich the
old homestead, or whether they go out to expend their

• INTRODUCTION. 11

indomitable energies under sunnier skies and on richer
plains. Among these, Berkshire has furnished her full
share — sons who would honor any parent. These we
should rejoice to see gathered in the bosom of their
mother, to hold a day of congratulations and sweet
reflections. We love these sons and daughters none
the less because they have gone from us, and we wish
to have the home of their childhood live green in their
memories. We would bind them through their affec-
tions, to the place of their birth, and have their me-
mories linger among these scenes, and their hearts
warm at the thought of their early homes. The chain
that binds them to us is more than golden, and we
would have its links grow brighter and stronger.

We would cordially respond to your proposal, then,
and in the name of our fellow-citizens, and at their
unanimous request, respectfully invite your committee
to call such a meeting, to be held at Pittsfield, at as
early a day as possible.

Of the convenience and suitableness of holding the
meeting here, we need not speak. In making this
invitation we are certain that we express the mind
and feelings of the inhabitants of this town, while we
most cordially invite the meeting to share our hospi-
tality, to command our aid, and to feel that they come
among none but warm friends.

While we thus extend this invitation and express it
as our opinion that this is the most convenient and
suitable place, we trust we should be not the less ready
to co-operate, should your committee judge otherwise.

We would respectfully suggest to your committee
that they immediately fix upon the time and place ;
that they make the invitation as general through the
papers and as particular by letter, as possible; that
they have the meeting long enough to secure the ends

12 * INTRODUCTION.

proposed ; that they appoint a committee of arrange-
ments in the county, to see that all things are ready
and the whole county is moved to the gathering ; that
among the exercises there be a sermon, an oration and
a poem in public ; a public dinner or large tea party
at which our mothers, wives and daughters may be
present, and at which one poem shall be recited and
extemporary speeches made, &c., and that the com-
mittee should invite and receive suitable hymns to be
sung ; such original poetry we m.ean, as we doubt not
would be offered in abundance, and of a quality that
is too high for praise.

We would have it an occasion of deep, cherished
joy, such as will move Old Berkshire — the memory
of which will thrill in after days ; and we hope it will
be every way worthy her glorious soil and of her sons
and daughters. Let it be the lighting of a beacon on
these hills that will show that the watch-tower of
affection is still tenanted, and that the flame of love
has not yet begun to grow pale.

In the name of our fellow-citizens we tender you
our high regards.

In behalf of the committee,

J. TODD, Chairman.

At a subsequent meeting of citizens of the different
towns in the county, the above committee, much en-
larged, were elected as the County Committee, and
after correspondence with the gentlemen of New- York,
it was finally settled that the Jubilee should be held ;
that Pittsfield should be the place ; and that the 2 2d
and 23d of August, 1844, should be the time. The
arrangements finally made were, that on Thursday,
the 22d, the committee from New- York and the county
committee should meet at the Town Hall, at eleven

INTRODUCTION. 13

o'clock, A.M., where greetings and courtesies shall be
passed. The preparations to receive the new comers
were,

1. Every house, table, room, and chamber in Pitts-
field was to be at the service of the guests, and even
in the neighboring towns the same was done. No
pains, time, or money was spared in making the fires
burn brightly on the hearth-stones of each family.
This part, like many others, cannot be printed.

2. Preparations were made to have the stranger-
guests call on the citizens of Pittsfield without cere-
mony, and meet old faces as tjiey passed from house
to house.

3. A register was prepared in which the emigrant
sons of Berkshire might insert their names, time of liv-
ing in the county, present place of abode, or any other
memoranda.

4. A stand and seats sufficient to contain between
three and four thousand people, was erected on a beau-
tiful hill just west of the village, and which command-
ed an enchanting view in all directions. " The river
of the hills," (Housatonic,) kissed the foot of the hill,
while the lofty " Grey Lock " on the north, seemed to
look down upon us as if he was the stern guardian of
the valley, and father of all the beautiful mountains
which lay around.

5. The Hev. Mark Hopkins, D.D., President of Wil-
liams College, was appointed to greet the returning
sons and daughters in a sermon.

6. The Hon. Joshua A. Spencer, of Utica, was ap-
pointed to deliver an oration.

7. Music, secular and sacred, was provided. Odes
and songs had been written in great abundance, and
of superior excellence. One of the first bands in the

14 INTRODUCTION.

country was secured and brought on the groimd for
the occasion.

8. A poem was assigned to the Rev. AVilliam Allen,
D.D., of Northampton, and also minor poems to others
of acknowledged poetical talents.

9. Provision was made for speeches, sentiments, &c.

10. A dinner, (at which his Excellency, Governor
Briggs, was to preside,) all dressed and cooked in Bos-
ton, and transported with all necessary furniture on the
rail-road, was provided on the delightful grounds for-
merly known as " the Military grounds," and now
occupied by the Young Ladies' Institute. The tables
were spread under a canopy, and capable of seating
over three thousand people. The whole to be con-
ducted on the strictest principles of the temperance
reformation, sobriety, cheerful and dignified friendship.

Such were the measures adopted to welcome hearts
that had been throbbing at the thought of the gather-
ing all over the United States. In every part of the
land little plans had been laid by which to bring fami-
lies and friends together, and have friendship renew
the oil in her lamps. It was to be the gathering of a
great family.

It now remains to conduct the reader through the
various services of the occasion, and give him the
opportunity to partake of the mental productions
which the Jubilee called out. The Jubilee itself cannot
he printed or described. At the urgent request of many,
though at the expense of typographical beauty, the
several exercises will be inserted in the order of their
occurrence, so that they may, as far as possible, by
association, bring back to the memory of those who
were present, the pleasurable emotions then enjoyed.

COMMITTEES.

NEW- YORK COMMITTEE.

SAMUEL R. BETTS,
MARSHALL S. BIDWELL,
J. C. BRIGHAM,
D. D. FIELD,
R. S. COOK,

THEODORE SEDGWICK,
WILLIAM C. BRYANT,
ORVILLE DEWEY,
RUSSEL C. WHEELER,

MASON NOBLE,
THOMAS EGLESTON,
ROBERT CENTER,
H. P. PEET,
JOSEPH HYDE,
RUEL SMITH,
DRAKE MILLS,
EDWARD WILLIAMS,
WILLIAM SHERWOOD.

COMMITTEES IN BERKSHIRE.

OKIGINAL COMMITTEE OF FOURTEEN :

Rev. JOHN TODD,

THOMAS B. STRONG,
JULIUS ROCKWELL,
LEMUEL POMEROY,
JASON CLAPP,
JAMES D. COLT,
E. R. COLT,

EDWARD A. NEWTON,
Rev. EDWARD BALLARD,
GEORGE N. BRIGGS,
H. H. CHILDS,
PHIKEHAS ALLEN,
O. P. DICKINSON,
THOMAS A. GOLD.

The following g'entlemen were subsequently added to the above Committee:

EZEKIEL BACON,
NATHAN WILLIS,
HOSEA MERRILL, Jr.,
THOMAS F. PLUNKETT,
JAMES ROOT,
ELIJAH BOBBINS,
JOHN WELLER,
ABEL WEST,
HENRY ROOT,
JARED INGERSOLL,
THEODORE HINSDALE,
JABEZ PECK,
RICHARD C. COGSWELL,
PARKER L. HALL,
TITUS GOODMAN,
JAMES FRANCIS,
CHARLES CHURCHILL,

JAMES D. COLT, 2d,
THEODORE POMEROY,
HENRY COLT,
THADDEUS CLAPP,
GEORGE S. WILLIS,
PHINEHAS ALLEN, Jr.,
ROBERT COLT,
WM. M. WALKER,
DAVID CAMPBELL,
E. P. LITTLE,
GEORGE P. BRIGGS,
GORDON McKAY,
TIMOTHY CHILDS,
CHARLES BUSH,
ROBERT POMEROY,
ALANSON P. DEAN,
EDWIN CLAPP,

16 COMMITTEES.

SAMUEL A. CHURCHILL, CALVIN MARTIN,

ETHAN JANES, OLIVER S. ROOT,

OTIS PECK, GEORGE W. CAMPBELL,

HENRY HUBBARD, ROBERT CAMPBELL,

WALTER LAFLIN, FRANKLIN ROOT,

ENSIGN H. KELLOGG, ROBERT FRANCIS, Jr.

AUXILIARY TOWN COMMITTEES.

LEMUEL POMEROY, Pittsfield.
HENRY H. CHILDS, "

CHARLES SEDGWICK, Lenox.
HENRY W. BISHOP, "

HORATIO BYINGTON, Stockbridge.
EDWARD BURRALL, "

INCREASE SUMNER, Great Barrington.
WASHINGTON ADAMS,
EDWARD R. ENSIGN, Sheffield.
ARETAS RISING, "

GEORGE HULL, Sandisfield.
LESTER FILLEY, Otis.
SETH J. NORTON, New Marlborough.
WILBUR CURTIS, Egremont.
SAMUEL GATES, West Stockbridge.
WILLIAM BACON, Richmond.
DocT. FREELAND, Becket.
WILLIAM E BRAYTON, Adams.
THOMAS ROBINSON, "

FRANKLIN 0. SAYLES, South Adams.
R. PICKET, Alford.
RUSSELL BROWN, Cheshire.
JOHN CHAMBERLIN, Dalton.
MONROE EMMONS, Hinsdale.
ASAHEL BUCK, Jr., Lanesborough.
OLIVER NASH, Peru.
SNELLUM BABBIT, Savoy.
SAMUEL FARGO, Jr., Tyringham.
PHILIP FAMES, Washington.
DANIEL N. DEWEY, Williamstown,
ASAHEL FOOT, Jr., "

WILLIAM PORTER, Jr., Lee.
ALEXANDER HYDE, "

RODMAN HAZARD, Hancock.
SILAS M. GARDNER, "
PHINEHAS HARMON, N. Ashford.
DANIEL MOWREY, Florida.
Maj. RICE, Clarksburgh.
IRA CHUTT, Mt. Washington.
C. BALDWIN, Windsor.

COMMITTEES.

FINANCIAL COMMITTEE.

JULIUS ROCKWELL,
ENSIGN H. KELLOGG,
PHINEHAS ALLEN, Jr.

COMMITTEE OF RECEPTION.

THOMAS A. GOLD,
O. S. ROOT,
E. R. COLT,
GEORGE P. BRIGGS,
ROBERT COLT.

OFFICERS OF THE JUBILEE.

president:
His Excellency Gov. BRIGGS.

VICE-PRESIDENTS :

HENRY H. CHILDS,
GEORGE HULL,
EZEKIEL BACON,
SAMUEL R. BETTS,
DODDRIDGE CROCKER,
MARSHALL S. BIDWELL,
WM. P. WALKER,
CHARLES A. DEWEY,
NATHAN WILLIS,
JOHN WHITING,
LEMUEL POMEROY,
CYRUS STOWELL,
EDWARD A. NEWTON,
JOSIAH Q. ROBINSON,
PHINEHAS ALLEN,
RUSSELL BROWN,
HENRY HUBBARD,
SAMUEL ROSSITER,
WILBUR CURTISS,
HENRY W. BISHOP,
JAMES D. COLT,
KEYES DANFORTH,
JOHN MILLS,
OLIVER P. COLT,

CALVIN MARTIN,
RODMAN HAZARD,
JASON CLAPP,
ISAAC HILLS,
CHARLES SEDGWICK,
JOHN CHAMBERLIN,
HARVEY P. PEET,
JAMES LARNED,
WILLIAM PORTER, Jr.,
DANIEL N. DEWEY,
HORATIO BYINGTON,
THOMAS ROBINSON,
LESTER FILLEY,
INCREASE SUMNER,
PARKER L. HALL,
HOMER BARTLETT,
EDWARD STEVENS,
SAMUEL GATES,
ELEAZER WILLIAMS,
JOS. QUINCY,
THOMAS F. PLUNKETT,
JONATHAN ALLEN,
DIODATUS NOBLE.

chaplains:
Rev. S. SHEPARD, D.D., Rev. JOHN ALDEN,

Rev. JAMES BRADFORD, Rev. D. D. WHEEDON.

Rev. SAMUEL B. SHAW,

FIRST DAY.

AUG. 22.

RECEPTION MEETING

Aw informal meeting' of the emigrant sons and the present residents of the
County, took p^ce at the Town Hall, at 11 o'clock, A.M. Mr. Todd,
Chairman of the County Committee, called the meeting to order, stated the
arrangements which had been made, and introduced Thomas A. Gold,
Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Reception to the New York Committee.
Mr. Gold welcomed our friends as follows:

Fellow- Citizens, Sons of Berkshire from abroad :

Brethren — As we meet on this unprecedented and joyful oc-
casion, let us gratefully acknowledge the beneficent hand of Provi-
dence. It is with no common emotion of satisfaction and happi-
ness, as the organ of the Reception Committee, and in behalf of the
natives and citizens of Berkshire, I tender to you our most sincere
and heart-felt congratulations. We meet you with open doors and
open hearts and wide stretched arras, to welcome you to your na-
tive soil.

Welcome, thrice welcome, brethren of old Berkshire, to all the
hospitality and friendship which we, who have been spared to oc-
cupy the old domain, can bestow on you and yours. It is a cir-
cumstance of momentous import with your brethren at home, to
have witnessed in their brethren from abroad, that fraternal at-
tachment to the places of their nativity which suggested this happy
— this eventful meeting. Let that spirit, and that heaven-born
feeling that prompted it, kindle with increasing and permanent
ardor, devotion and sincerity, and may it endure so long as the
beautiful hills of Berkshire shall retain their verdure, and the in-
numerable fountains upon them (emblematic of our friendship,)
continue to throw out their pure and sparkling streams, that render

20 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

our sweet vale the most delightful spot on earth. What though
among the large number of Berkshire's sons who have emigrated
to other states and other kingdoms, there may be found (as the
common allotment of man,) here and there a fallen spirit, we say
to you come, to all, come, " the fatted calf is killed ;" come, all
things are ready ; come, drink at the pure fountains of Old Berk-
shire, that renuire nothing artificial to make them sweeter or more
palatable, and drink deeper at the fountain of love and good feel-
ing that shall gush forth on this joyful occasion. This convoca-
tion is calculated naturally to awaken mingled feelings of sorrow
and of joy; for who among us can fail to remember our fathers
and brothers who are not with us, but whom we hope to meet on
an occasion infinitely more joyous than this. *

When we advert to the bright side of the picture in our histori-
cal contemplations, well may we indulge an honest pride, and
without charge of vanity, speak of the noble deeds and virtuous
doings of Berkshire's noble sons in other states and other countries.
You would not perhaps bear with me on this toj)ic, in the gratifi-
cation of my own feelings, should I dwell on those characters, the
honor and pride of Old Berkshire, who have honored us and them-
selves more in their successful exertions to ameliorate and improve
the condition of man, very many of whom as a partial reward of
merit, have been elevated to or yet hold high stations in the gift
of the people, and many more w^ho have been deservedly distin-
guished in ethics, history, poetry, the arts and sciences, and the
" literary world." In all these particulars, no State or section of
country has been more highly blessed, or the character of Berk-
shire elevated by her worthy sons, than our neighboring State of
New-York. Brethren, it is not surprising that you should feel
desirous to return to greet us with your good feelings, and shed
down upon us the influence of your virtues and honors. To all
this you will meet a sincere response. Glorious event! Let it
have its legitimate influence in reviving and perpetuating a deeper
interest in our individual welfares, and it shall be a bright spot in
the history of our country — be productive of increasing joy and
happiness in all coming time — an example worthy of imitation,
and thus shall it tend to unite and bless our whole nation.

RECEPTION MEETING. 21

The Rev. R. S. Cook, of the New- York Committee, responded to the ad-
dress of the Chairman of the Committee of Reception, nearly as follows :

Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Berkshire Committee :

The duty of acknowledging the kind and cordial welcome you
have extended to the sons of Berkshire, was assigned to the dis-
tinguished Chairman of our committee, the Hon. Judge Belts. In
his unexpected detention, I am called upon by my associates to
perform the pleasing task.

The occasion which has assembled us, is believed to be altogether
unique. The elements of interest differ widely from those which
enter into the ordinary gatherings of the people. No sectarian or
partizan zeal; no selfish or ambitious purpose has called us from
our business and our homes. We have left all political prejudices
and animosities, and all business, cares and troubles behind us, and
have devoted these few days to social and patriotic feeling. We
have come from the mountains of the north and the plains of the
south ; from the cities of the east and the prairies "of the west ;
from the four quarters of the land we have come to our Berkshire
home^ to revive the friendships and associations of boyish years,
and live over again in memory and imagination, the days of our
youth. From the plough and the shop; from the counter and the
office; from the bar and the bench; from the walls of learning and
of legislation; from the field of benevolent enterprise and from the
pulpit, we have come. We have come to revisit the old home-
stead; to drink from the old oaken bucket; to gather fruit from the
old orchard and berry field; to catch the speckled trout from the
old mountain brook; to hunt the squirrel and the partridge in the
same old forest; to climb the same old hills and mountains, and
breathe the pure exhilerating Berkshire air. We have come to
look again upon the old red school-house and the academy and
the college, where many of us received the rudiments or the more
advanced stages of the education which has fitted us for our vari-
ous stations in life. We have come to take our place in the old
meeting-house, and to perform a pilgrimage of affection to the
graves of the loved ones of other days. But " the fathers," where
are they '? Where are the venerable pastors — the Catlins and
Aliens and Hydes of our youthful days ? And where the Walkers
and Sedgwicks and Danforths, before whose j^atriarchal forms ir-
reverence was rebuked, and the hoary head was honored '? They

22 BEKKSHIKE JUBILEE.

have gone to their rest : may they be succeeded worthily by the
resident sons of Berkshire !

Here we are ! Thanks to God that we are here ! Look upon
your sons, Berkshire, and see if they have disgraced their honored
parent. Cast your eye around upon these manly forms, these am-
ple foreheads, these beaming and now melting eyes. You can see
at a glance that they are all cold water me?!, and a large propor-
tion are pious men. Many occupy places of distinction. I recog-
nize many whom I have seen presiding in the halls of justice ;
others are well known in the National and State legislatures; many
others have distinguished themselves at the Bar, and others still in
the sacred profession. Some have returned from their toils among
the distant heathen, and in visiting the place of their nativity, they
have come to the cradle of Ainerican Missions.

But there are hundreds, and probably thousands, who are not
here, some of whom are occupying equally important and honored
stations. The Secretary of State, several of the members of Con-
gress, and many of the judges of the state of New-York; the Chief
Justice of Michigan; the U. S. District Judge of Indiana; profes-
sors in the Theological Seminaries at Columbia, S. C, and New-
ton, Mass., and many, many others who might be named are not
with us. We regret that they are not: and so will they, when
they know that while the mountains and the rivers are what they
always were, the heart of Berkshire has grown a great deal larger,
and that it beats with a mightier throb towards its emigrant sons.

The question has often been asked, where did the idea of this
Jubilee originate? This may be a fitting occasion for answering
that question. A gentleman whose official relation has led him to
travel extensively in this country, and who was brought into con-
tact with a great number of intelligent men, found those in influ-
ential and useful stations in nearly every principal city and State,
who hailed from Berkshire. Returning to the county, as he always
did once or twice each year, he found the people of a particular town
ignorant of the fact that distinguished men had emigrated from
adjacent towns; and the emigrants themselves were unaware of
the Berkshire origin of men with whom they were familiar in com-
mercial, political or ecclesiastical circles. The idea was conceived
five or six years ago, of bringing together the emigrants from this
county, with the view of forming a band of brotherhood between

RECEPTION MEETING. 23

them; awakening on the part of the citizens of the County, an
interest in the fame and usefulness of its sons, and furnishing an
illustration of the influence which New England is exerting on the
country and the world. Wherever the idea has been suggested,
it has been cordially approved. The time for its realization has
been delayed for various reasons, but chiefly with the hope of such
relieving prosperity as the country now enjoys. A year ago last
April, he had the pleasure of meeting our respected Orator (Hon.
J. A. Spencer,) in the rail cars west of Albany, and the thought
occurred that he had been named as one of Berkshire's honored
sons. The inquiry was made whether he retained any attach-
ment for his native county? " Yes," said he, "it is a part of my
religion to go back there once a year." The plan for this gather-
ing was suggested, and he entered into it with all his heart. A
programme for the occasion was made on a card, essentially as it
is now arranged. On the return of the individual of whom I
speak, to the city of New-York, he met the late lamented Col.
Stone, who promised and gave the aid of the Commercial Adver-
tiser in forwarding the plan. When preparing an article for the
Journal of Commerce, suggesting a meeting of the emigrants resi-
dent in New-York, it became necessary to have a title, and the
" Berkshire Jubilee" was first written. Some of my associates
of the Committee have been mainly instrumental, in conjunction
with the efficient Berkshire Committee, in securing that consum-
mation in which we rejoice to-day.

I have a single suggestion to make, said Mr. C, in concluding
these desultory remarks. Though this is the first, it will not be
the last County Jubilee. Hampshire and Hartford and Benning-
ton and Hillsboro' and Kennebec counties may have theirs. Let
them be held from year to year. A blessing will be in them all.
A feeling will be awakened which can only be satisfied with a
general gathering of the emigrant tribes of New England. The
suggestion then, is, that there be a New England Jubilee at
Bunker Hill in 1850, and that the Governors of the New England
States, and the Presidents of the New England Colleges, be a
committee to send out a call for the great convocation. It is time
that the world should know what is the influence of the Puritan
stock and Puritan Institutions,

In behalf of the New-York Committee and the emigrant sons of

24 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Berkshire, I accept and thank you for the generous welcome with
which we are received. The preparations made are on a scale of
characteristic hospitality. The greeting we have received is more
than a compensation for the sacrifices made in coming, as many of
us have, a thousand miles or more to attend this festival.

May the blessing of the Most High rest on these beautiful hills
and fertile valleys : and may those who abide here, and the thou-
sands who shall yet go forth hence to people and to bless other
States and lands, dwell under the shadow of the Almighty, until
we all " return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting
joy shall be upon our heads."

At two o'clock, P.M., the procession was organized at the Park
in the centre of the village, and moved to the hill prepared for the
exercises, in the following order, accompanied by music.

ORDER OF PROCESSION.

1. President of the Day and Sheriff of the County.

2. Vice-Presidents.

3. Speakers.

4. The Clergy.

5. New-York Committee.

6. Berkshire County Committees.

7. Faculty of Williams College.

8. Faculty of Berkshire Medical Institution.

9. Emigrant sons and former residents of Berkshire.
10. Citizens of the County.

WILLIAM C. PLUNKETT, of Adams, Chief Marshal.

Assistant Marshals.

Grenville D. Weston, Dalton. Albert G. Belden, Lenox.

William Williams, Stockbridge. Henry H. Cook, "

Charles M. Owen, Lee. Jabez Hall, Adams.

Stoddard Hubbell, Lanesborough. Charles W. Hopkins, G't Barrington.

Russell A. Gibbs, " William B. Saxton, Sheffield.

Justus Tower, " Philip Eames, Washington.

Levi Goodrich, Pittsfield. William Waterman, Williamstown.

Amos Barnes, " Moses Day, Otis.

Charles Churchill, " Henry Putnam, Hinsdale.
Jabez Peck, "

PUBLIC EXERCISES. 25

We now insert the exercises as they took place on the afternoon
of Thursday, August 22d.

1. ANTHEM.
Wake the song of jubilee !
Let it echo o'er the sea !
Now is come the promised hour;
Jesus reigns with sovereign power !

All ye nations join and sing,
" Christ, of lords and kings is King !"
Let it sound from shore to shore,
Jesus reigns for evermore !

Now the desert lands rejoice,
And the islands join their voice;
Yea, the whole creation sings,
Jesus is the King of kings.

2. PRAYER. By the Rev. Dr. Shepard.

3. SINGING. Psalm. Tune— Majesty.

Our land, O Lord, with songs of praise

Shall in thy strength rejoice;
And, blest with thy salvation, raise,

To heaven their cheerful voice.

Thy sure defence, through nations round,

Has spread our wond'rous name;
And our successful actions crowned

With dignity and fame.

Then let our land on God alone

For timely aid rely;
His mercy, which adorns his throne,

Shall all our wants supply.

Thus, Lord, thy wond'rous power declare,

And thus exalt thy fame;
Whilst we glad songs of praise prepare

For thine Almighty name.

)-5

A SEEMON,

DELIVERED AT PITTSFIELD,
AUGUST 22, 1844,

ON THE OCCASION OF

THE BERKSHIRE JUBILEE

By mark HOPKINS, D.D.

SERMON.

And this is the Berkshire Jubilee ! We have come
— the sons and daughters of Berkshire — from our vil-
lages, and hill sides, and mountain tops ; from the dis-
tant city, from the far west, from every place where
the spirit of enterprise and of adventure bears men —
we have come. The farmer has left his field, the me-
chanic his work-shop, the merchant his counting-room,
the lawyer his brief, and the minister his people, and
we have come to revive old and cherished associations,
and to renew former friendships — to lengthen the
cords and strengthen the stakes of every kind and
time-hallowed affection.

And coming thus from these wide dispersions, un-
der circumstances which must carry our minds back
to the first dawnings of life, and cause us to review all
the path of our pilgrimage ; coming too as natives and
citizens of a State on the eastern border of which is
Plymouth rock, what so suitable as that our first pub-
lic act should be to assemble ourselves for the worship
of the God of our fathers, and our God, and to do honor
to those institutions of religion through the influence of
which, chiefly, we are what we are, and without which
the moral elements in which this occasion has origi-
nated could not have existed. Coming thus to cele-

32 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

brate a local thanksgiving — local in one sense, but
extended in another, since this day our family affec-
tion is thrown around a whole county, — how fit is it,
while we look back on all the way in which God has
led us, while our kind feelings towards our fellow men
are awakened and strengthened, that we should suffer
all the goodness of God to lead us to him — that we
should adopt, as I am sure every one of us has reason
to do, the language of the Psalmist, and say, "Return
unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee."

This passage of Scripture, which I have selected as
my text on this occasion, will be found in the 116th
Psalm and the 7 th verse :

" UeTURN UNTO THY REST, O MY SOUL; FOR THE LoRD
HATH DEALT BOUNTIFULLY WITH THEE."

These w^ords assert a fact, and contain an exhorta-
tion based on that fact. We will first attend to the
fact ; and then to the exhortation.

The fact asserted is, " The Lord hath dealt bounti-
fully with thee." And here, in accordance with what
has already been said of the propriety of our assem-
bling thus, the first thing which I notice is the agency
of God in the prosperity of men. The assertion is,
*' The Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee."

The Bible differs from all other books in its recog-
nition of God in every thing. There we not only
find it formally stated that in him we live and move
and have our being, that not a sparrow falls to the
ground without him, and that the very hairs of our

SEBMON. 33

heads are all numbered ; but we find an incidental
reference to him of all those events which are usually
attributed to natural causes. There we find no per-
sonification and deification of the laws of nature, or of
any principles or agencies to come between the crea-
ture and God. There we find no identification of God
with the Universe on the one hand, and no exclusion
of him from it, under the pretence of exalting him, on
the other. He is there represented, indeed, as in the
midst of his works, but as being as distinct from them
as the builder of the house is from the house. He is
represented as the proprietor of all things, as sustain-
ing and controlling all things, and as furnishing by his
all-pervading agency the only donditions on which any
subordinate agency can be exercised. Do the Israel-
ites triumph in battle ? It is God who gives them the
victory. Does an enemy come up against them? It
is God who brings him. Famine, and pestilence, and
great warriors are the scourges of God. It is his sun
that he causeth to rise upon the evil and upon the good ;
and his rain that he sendeth upon the just and upon the
unjust. " He hath made the earth by his power, he hath
established the world by his wisdom, and strietched out
the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his
voice there is a multitude of waters in the heavens,
and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of
the earth ; he maketh lightnings with rain, and
bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures." His are
the " corn and the wine, and the oil and the flax."
His are the beasts of the field, and the cattle upon a

34 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

thousand hills, and he exercises a providential control
over all. What he giveth his creatures they gather ;
" He openeth his hand ; and they are filled with good.
He hideth his face, they are troubled; Hetaketh away
their breath, they die and return to their dust." If any
are, in adversity, it is because God tries and would
correct them ; if any are in prosperity, it is because
God hath dealt bountifully with them. Is success the
result of strength and skill ? that strength and skill he
gives. The most wise and skillful, not less than the
most fortunate, has reason to render thanksgiving and
praise to him.

It is this fact of the universal, absolute, and entire
dependence of all creatures upon God, a fact elemen-
tary to all true religion, which places us in the pecu-
liar relation which we hold to God as a Father, which
lies at the foundation of gratitude for the past, and trust
for the future, of which we would feel at all times, but
especially at this time, a deep, abiding, and practi-
cal sense. "Whatever of goodness and mercy have
followed us ; whatever of prosperity, and success, and
enjoyment have been ours, we would to-day look back
upon the way in which God has led us, and ascribe it
all to him. We would say it is because " the Lord
hath dealt bountifully with us."

Thus recognizing the agency of God, we next en-
quire for a moment, what it is for him to deal boun-
tifully with us. This would seem to require but little
explanation, but it must be noticed in connexion with
what has just been said of that agency, lest the evil

SERMON.

which results from the negligence and folly and vice
of men, should be imputed to the provisions and agency
of God.

When God is said to deal bountifully with men,
reference is sometimes had to the original endow-
ments which he bestows upon them. Thus, if we
compare man with the brutes, we find him possessed
of a commanding intellect, and reason, and conscience,
of which they are entirely destitute. These he has
received from God, and God may be justly said to have
dealt bountifully with him in bestowing them. So
also, if we compare men with each other, we find them
possessing every variety of constitution and natural
gifts, and of some it may be said emphatically and pre-
eminently, that God hath dealt bountifully with them.

But in general, when we speak of God's dealing
bountifully with men, we do not refer to the original
endowments and capabilities with which they are fur-
nished. These are taken for granted, and the bounty
of God is made to consist in his bestowment of those
external gifts by means of which all the faculties and
capabilities of man are developed, and in which they
find their true enjoyment. Scarcely more dependent
is the seed upon the rain and the sunshine to cause it
to germinate and grow, than is man upon means and
influences external to himself, and to a great extent
independent of himself for growth and enjoyment.
God is an independent being. He suffices unto him-
self He is infinitely happy in himself, and is depend-
ent in no degree upon any external adjustment, or

BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

upon any correspondence to him of things without.
Hence no accident can reach him, no change can
affect him. In this respect his mode of existence is
totally different from that of all created beings. Crea-
tures, probably from the necessity of the case, are de-
pendent upon God. It is the glory and happiness of
rational and moral creatures that they are dependent
upon him directly and immediately as the only object
to which their faculties correspond, and which is capa-
ble of calling them fully forth, and giving them com-
plete satisfaction. But in many respects, we, and pro-
bably all creatures, are dependent, not immediately
upon God, but upon other things which he has created
and placed in certain relations to us, and upon God
through them. " Every species of creature," says
Bishop Butler, " is, we see, designed for a particular
way of life, to which the nature, the capacities, tem-
per and qualifications of each species are as necessary
as their external circumstances." And I may add,
that their external circumstances are as necessary as
their capacities, tempers, and qualifications. "Both,"
he continues, " come into the motion of such state or
way of life, and arfe constituent parts of it. Change
a man's capacities or character to the degree in which
it is conceivable they may be changed, and he would
be altogether incapable of a human course of life, and
human happiness, as incapable as if, his nature con-
tinuing unchanged, he were placed in a world where
he had no sphere of action, nor any objects to answer
his appetites, passions, and affections of any sort. One

SERMON. 37

thing is set over against another, as an ancient writer
expresses it. Our nature corresponds to our external
condition. Without this correspondence there would
be no possibility of any such thing as human life and
human happiness, which life and happiness are there-
fore a result from our nature and condition jointly,
meaning by human life, not living in the literal sense,
but the whole complex notion commonly understood
by those words."

According to this view, the highest idea we can have *
of the bounty of God in his dealings with his creatures
would be — not, as is commonly supposed, that he should
give them large possessions that should be subject to
the control of their will, not that he should give such
possessions at all — "For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things that he possesseth," —
but that for every internal want, susceptibility, faculty,
there should be its corresponding external object by
means of which every want might be supplied, every
susceptibility met, every faculty be trained to its highest
expansion, and receive the fullest enjoyment of which
it was capable. The provision, with given faculties,
of such external objects is what we commonly mean by
bounty; and if the expansion and enjoyment of the
faculties would flow from the relations in which they
are placed spontaneously, and without effort of ours,
we are apt to think the bounty would be increased.
Perhaps this would be so in a perfect state. Perhaps
it will be so in heaven — and perhaps it will not. But
it is not so here, and it cannot be in a world intended to

38 BERKSHIKE JUBILEE.

be a place of probation, or of discipline. Here God
makes the provision, but man must apply it in accor-
dance Avith those laws which he has instituted. God
makes the provision, and how wonderful is it ! How
infinite, how varied, how exact are the corresponden-
cies between the susceptibilities and powers of living
beings, and the objects around them ! In no point of
view does the universe of God present a more pleasing
object of study. Yes, God makes the provision, and
though men should apply it unwisely, or not at all ;
though they should, as they do, pervert his gifts to
their own unhappiness, yet it may still be said that
" The Lord hath dealt bountifully with them."

We now proceed to the assertion on which I wish
chiefly to dwell. The Lord hath dealt bountifully with
thee. In illustrating this, I shall be expected to dwell
chiefly on those manifestations of goodness which are
suggested by the peculiar occasion on which we have
met. But these, as common to us all, cannot reach
the heart as would those more particular instances of
the Divine goodness of which we have had individual
experience. In these we find the deepest and truest
grounds of thankfulness. How affecting to some of us
must the remembrance of these be ! while there is not
one, whether we have wandered abroad and now re-
turned, or whether we have remained, who cannot
adopt, each with an application peculiar to himself,
the language of the verse succeeding the text arid say,
" For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine
eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." The re-

SERMON. 39

membrance of these individual mercies let us cherish;
and I recall them now, that that remembrance may-
lie warm about our hearts, and give an interest to those
more general instances of goodness of which I must
speak.

I observe then, first, that God has dealt bountifully
with us in the provision he has made for our physical
wants. By this I mean, not merely that we have been
free from actual want, and the fear of it, — that " bread
has been given us, and that our waters have been sure,"
— but I mean the supply and arrangement of all those
substances and agencies by which the physical man
is brought to the greatest perfection. How great is the
variety in the same species of vegetables and animals,
as they are sustained by different nutriment, and are sub-
jected to diversities of climate ! How great, from the
same causes, is the diversity in the races of men ! Ori-
ginally God made all men of the same blood to dwell on
the face of the earth ; but now we see the dwarfed Lap-
lander, the small-eyed, high-cheeked, swarthy Tartar,
the black and wooly headed Hottentot, the slender and
delicately formed Hindoo, the tall lithe form of the
American Indian, and our own fair race before Avhom
those Indians have melted away. Of these varieties
of the human race, some, whether beauty or power be
regarded, come nearer the standard of a perfect physi-
cal organization than others. Some climates, some
articles of food, some modes of life are more favorable
than others to the full growth and perfection of the
animal frame. A temperate climate, pure mountain

40 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

breezes, clear springs of water and running brooks, and
an abundance of nourishing food, which is yet yielded
only to the hand of an industry that fully developes
and compacts and hardens the frame, seem to be the
chief conditions of its perfect expansion. And which
of these is wanting to those who dwell in these val-
lies, and upon the sides of these hills ? We can in-
deed boast no superiority here over many others. In
some respects, and at some seasons, others may have
advantages over us. We hear them, speak of the sunny
south, and of the milder and more fertile Avest and
southwest. But the bounty of God as bearing on the
physical frame is relative, not merely to passive' en-
joyment, but, from their reaction upon that frame, to
habits of active industry and of virtuous self-denial ;
and history furnishes no example of a people possess-
ing a soil more fertile and a climate more bland than
ours, who have not degenerated and become luxurious
and effeminate. No doubt the landing of the Pilgrim
Fathers where they did, was ordered of G-od. If they
had landed at New Orleans, the result would have
been widely different. Nor does it follow, because
those who go out from us to regions of greater ease and
more abundant wealth say they would not return, that
it will be as well for their children of the second and
third generations. But without attempting to measure
with exactness that which does not admit of it, we
are so favored that I suppose there is no where a spot
where an occasion like this would draw together a
company of people who would on the whole be supe-

SERMON. 41

rior to those before me, in their physical aspect and
organization. No doubt there is room for improve-
ment. The physical man is not here or elsewhere
what it will be when men universally shall learn and
obey the laws of temperance in all things, the great
organic laws of God. But let its do this, and we are
within that range of agencies through which the high-
est perfection of man may be reached, and if so, it may
be truly said that " God hath dealt bountifully with us."

I observe again, that God has dealt bountifully with
us in granting us those aspects of nature, and those in-
fluences of society by which we have been surrounded.
Nature and society — these, next to the Spirit and word
of God, are the two great agencies for calling forth that
higher life of man, that life of thought and emotion,
of taste and affection, which comes forth from the
lower animal life as the flower from the stalk and the
enfolding leaves. Each of these has its appropriate
office, and compared Avith these, what is technically
called education is comparatively inefficient.

Man is not thrown into the lap of nature simply that
she should supply the wants of his animal frame. No,
she has voices in which she speaks to him, and a
countenance of varying aspects upon which he may
look. To these voices and aspects there are spirits
that are attuned, and the child is to be pitied Avho is
shut out from nature, or who has not felt a wild and
undefinable delight as he has entered the deep woods,
and heard the note of the wood bird, and gathered
moss and strange flowers ; as he has seen and fled

42 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

before the coming storm ; as he has looked at the rain-
bow spanning the heavens; as he has climbed the
mountain top and gazed on the wide prospect beneath.
To such an one, rightly educated, there is not a single
aspect or mood in which nature can be found, from
the quiet reverie of her summer noon, to the passion
of her storms and tornadoes, in which his spirit does
not sympathise.

But while nature has sounds of melody and sights
of beauty for all, how diverse are those which she
presents by the shore of the ocean, on the level or
rolling sea of the western prairie, among the wild and
desolate rocks of the White Hills, or among the green
mountains and hills and vallies of our own Berk-
shire ? Nor is it possible, where there is mental deve-
lopement, that this diversity should be without its effect
upon it. From the variety of soil and climate which it
involves, this diversity Avill not only produce a diffe-
rence in the habits and occupations of life, but also in
all the associations, and so far as the conceptive facul-
ty is concerned, in the whole web and texture of our
mental being. From what can our ideal world of
forms and colors be framed but from the little actual
world that surrounds the horizon of oiiv childhood ?
No doubt there are those upon whom, from the hard
pressure of animal wants, or the withering effects of
oppression, or from early absorption in the rounds of
fashion, or from sensuality and vice, the finest sce-
nery makes no more impression than the shadow of
the cloud as it passes over the rock. It is melancholy

SERMOIs . 43

to hear the author of " Letters from Abroad," saying,
" I have never seen people that seemed to me merer
animals than the Swiss peasants amid their sublimest
scenery." Still, there will be those every where, and
where culture is general there will be many, from whose
minds the tinge and coloring given by early scenes can
never be entirely removed. And when these scenes
are remarkable for grandeur or beauty, how strong is
the impression which they often make ! How does it
become incorporated into our very being, and the love
of them become a passion ! So has it been in Swit-
zerland. It has been the Swiss soldier alone whom
home sickness has unfitted for duty; in his regiments
alone, has it been forbidden to play the air that re-
minded him most of his native mountains and vallies.
So it has been among the Highlands of Scotland ; and
so, to some extent, has it been with us. No doubt the
call for this meeting has originated, in part, from a
yearning to behold again these familiar scenes — be-
cause the hillside, and the old house, and the tree by
it, and the encircling mountains had become a part
of our being, and would come back in our sleeping or
waking dreams. I know how it is with you, my
brethren from abroad. You wanted to see again these
old mountains. How often have I heard those who
have gone from us to the west, say how they longed
to see mountains.

And here certainly, in the scenery of the County,
God has dealt bountifully with us. I am willing to
make every allowance that ought to be made for our

44 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

own feelings, I am willing to confess that this scenery
is more beautiful to us because it is ours. I should be
sorry if it were not so. I envy not that philosophical
generality which would root up all the early green of
the soul, and if there are any here who bless them-
selves in having done so, I wish no communion with
them. But making every allowance that ought to be
made, it must be conceded that in no County in the
State, and in few in the Union will there be found
more fine scenery than in this of ours. On its southern
border we have Taghcannic mountain with its Bash-
bishe. Then we have those " gray old rocks,"

" That seem a fragment of some mighty wall
Built by the hand that fashioned the old world
To separate the nations, and thrown down
When the flood drowned them."

And then we have Gray Lock, the highest point in the
State, giving a view that for vastness and sublimity is
equalled by nothing in New England except the White
Hills. And then how much of beauty there is in a
ride through the length of the County whether it be
when the green of summer is in its full freshness, or
when

" The woods of Autumn all around our vales
Have put their glory on."

Probably most of us have read, for it used to be in a
New-England school book, of that journey of a day that
was the picture of human life. And if it were given
to us to make the journey of a day that should be, not

SERMON. 45

in its events, but in its scenery, the picture of our lives,
where should we rather choose to make it than through
the length of our own Berkshire ? What could we
do better than to watch the rising sun from the top of
Gray Lock, and his setting from the Eagle's Nest?

It is in connexion with such physical conditions,
and such scenery as this, aided by our New England
institutions, that there has sprung up a race of men of
whom we are justly proud. Here, to mention only
those now in office, originated the present Chief Ma-
gistrate of the State, and one of the Judges of its Su-
preme Court. Here those many distinguished and
useful men from abroad, whom we welcome to-day.
Nor have those been wanting who have illustrated the
literature of our country. To say nothing of others, it
is perhaps remarkable, secluded as this County has
been, that the three American writers most widely and
justly celebrated in their several departments, have
lived and written here. It was in the deep quiet of
these scenes, tbat the profoundest treatise of our great-
est metaphysical writer was produced. It was here
that the powers of our "truest poet," one, who in his
own line of poetry, has not been excelled since the
world stood, became known, and came to their matu-
rity ; and here are still entwined, greener by time, the
home affections of one whose social qualities have giv-
en her a place as eminent in the hearts of her friends,
as her power and grace of style, and her universal
sympathy with all that is human, have given her as
an author in the public estimation.

46 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

But however much there may be in nature of com-
panionship and instruction for man, she yet does not
meet the demand which he cannot but feel for sym-
pathy, and affection, and rational discourse. If man
may be said to sympathize with her, she cannot be
said to sympathize with him. If man speaks to her
she does not answer him. She continues evermore
working over and over again the same processes ; she
walks on in her perpetual round, and heeds not the
wants, or the woes, or the joys of her children. The
cry and the smile of infancy, the laugh of childhood,
the twilight voice of plighted love, the desolation of
the widow and the fatherless, the bridal party and the
funeral procession are alike to her. She heeds them
not. Alike in the forest where no eye sees her, and
by the human habitation, she paints the flower, and
plies the " tiny shuttle" with which she weaves the
web of the leaf When the eye that has looked upon
her with the most enthusiasm, is closed in death, she
does not weep. Man needs something more than this;
and how different from this is that countenance of the
mother into which the child that lies in her lap looks
up! How different from those inarticulate voices of
nature which we are so slow to interpret, is her voice
that so early finds its way into all the chambers and
recesses of the soul ! Here is another world which is
not only comprehended by us, but which comprehends
us. Here opens upon us that great theatre of human
life where the turbulent desires, the stormy passions,
the thousand sympathies, and hopes, and fears, and

SERMOX. 47

the beautiful affections of the soul of man are called
forth.

But far less diversified is the face of nature in its
action upon the spirit of man, than is that of human
society. As the land and the water are divided into
continents and oceans, so there are general divisions
of mankind, into races marked by features differing
scarcely less than those of the frigid and the torrid zone.
These races are again divided into nations having cha-
racteristics which cannot be mistaken, and these na-
tions are subdivided into provinces, states, counties,
neighborhoods; and in each of these a nice observer
will find, however difficult it may be to express it, a
difference of character which must become a condi-
tion of growth, and a ground of diversity for those
who are formed under its influence. This diversity is
indeed continued to individuals, so that no where
more than in character do we find a more striking
manifestation of essential unity appearing under the
forms of an infinite variety. Not, I will just say here,
that I believe it is circumstances alone that make the
man, but the cause of this diversity is to be found in
the action and reaction of the free and personal pow-
ers and of the circumstances in which they are
placed.

And if God has dealt bountifully with us in respect to
the physical conditions and aspects of nature, so has he
in respect to the great features of that society by which
we have been surrounded. These great features are
those which belong to the society of New England.

48 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

We are it is true upon the border of New England^
but we are of it, and we cherish a love for it no less
ardent than those who dwell around the spot where
it was first peopled, and where its great heart beats.
We are of New England. We love her soil, we love
her institutions, we love her people. We think that
the great features of her society, both presuppose and
tend to cultivate the highest powers of man m orefully
than any others.

Among these are, 1st, that absolute equality of right
which is declared by the Declaration of Independence
to belong to all — the right to use our faculties, and
pursue our happiness in any way we may choose, so
long as we do not interfere with the rights of others.
2d, A security of every man, however humble, in the
enjoyment of this right, and of the results of his own
labor, such as has been rarely enjoyed ; which never
can be enjoyed under a despotic government ; nor under
a government like ours if the public morals should
deteriorate, or agrarian principles, or mob law should
become prevalent. 3d, A great practical equality —
the possession of the whole country by freeholders in
farms of a small or moderate size, and the absence of
any social distinctions which can prevent any young
person from finding his true position. Labor is hon-
orable, and if some are degraded by ignorance, indo-
lence and vice, it is their own fault or that of their
friends, and not of our institutions. A fourth feature,
which is also one of the causes of those preceding, is
a universal diffusion, theoretically universal, and to a

SERMON. 49

great extent practically so, of the education of common
schools, and to as great an extent as practicable of the
higher and of the highest means of intellectual cul-
ture. A fifth feature, and one which has been more
operative than any thing else in giving its peculiarities
to New England character, is the religious element
infused into society by the Pilgrim Fathers, and which
has come down from them. Of this element the pro-
minent characteristic, as it seems to me, was, the cul-
tivation of reverence towards God and the State, with-
out a nobility in the State, and without forms in reli-
gion.

Berkshire was not indeed wholly settled by the de-
scendants of the Puritans, but it was chiefly, it was
sufficiently so to give direction, and tone, and charac-
ter to society. In almost every town there was a con-
gregational church and no other, and according to the
simple rites of that, the people worshiped. In con-
nexion with this worship there was a deep and per-
vading reverence in society for the worship and the in-
stitutions of God. The ministers of God were reve-
renced ; the Sabbath day was reverenced ; parents and
the aged were reverenced. The young were taught
to " rise up before the hoary head, and to honor the
face of the old man." There was great purity in fa-
milies, and family government was efficient. There
the young were not merely taught their duties theo-
retically, but, what is of far more importance, those
habits of obedience and of industry were formed which
are necessary to make good men and good citizens.

50 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Then the laws were reverenced. They were made by
the people, but the idea was unknown that any irregu-
lar assembly of people could be above law, or that
they could abrogate it except by constitutional forms.
AVith the existence of individual property and the fa-
mily state, it is impossible to conceive institutions of
government or of religion more simple, or attaining
their end more effectually ; and it is impossible to ad-
duce another instance in the history of the world, in
which the principle of reverence has been equally de-
veloped from an intellectual apprehension of the sim-
ple majesty of those things which all forms are intend-
ed to represent, and an impression of which all ap-
peals to the senses are intended to produce.

Here it is that we find the true dignity of the Puri-
tan character. There is that in God and his works, as
man stands here with the cope of heaven above him ;
as he looks out into a peopled universe, and into infi-
nite space ; as he sees the mountains lifting ujd their
heads, and the heaving ocean, which, in a mind right-
ly constituted, must produce reverence ; and the same
feeling is appropriately called forth by the manifesta-
tion of magnanimity and goodness; by whatever is
noble, or venerable, or godlike in man. Without this
feeling, man, in this world of God, is like an animal
with horns and hoofs turned loose in a well furnished
and well arranged house. He has no perception of
uses or proprieties, and you must either restrain him by
fear, or influence him in some way by the grosser per-
ceptions of sense. This feeling is then manifested in

SERMON.

its purest and highest forms, when, without the inter-
vention of any superstition, or merely human rites, or
pomp of art, man is brought into the nearest and most
intimate communion with God and his works, and
worships him in spirit and in truth. With this feel-
ing our Puritan ancestors were deeply imbued. Rising
above the ordinary objects of ambition, wishing for no
power except that which is connected with the sim-
plest organization by which the objects of society can
be realized, they found their dignity and happiness,
not in what they possessed, or in the power of their
will over others, but in what they were as the crea-
tures of God, in the reverent cultivation of their affec-
tions as before him, and in the prospect of immortali-
ty ; and thus they became, in the great features of their
character, specimens of the very highest style of man.
Looking at a people, not simply as possessed of refine-
ment and civilization, a high degree of which may
consist with heathenism, but as truly cultivated in
those faculties which are distinctively human. I think
the highest point is reached when a pervading reve-
rence, and the principles and affections necessarily
connected with that, are called into action by spiritual
objects and their relations, with the least possible ap-
peal to the senses.

Since their day we have made great progress in the
arts, in refinement and civilization, but have probably
receded in that in which consists the true dignity and
the highest culture of man. God seems to have raised
them up for a special purpose — to infuse a leaven into

52 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

the whole fermenting mass of this continent ; and as
a mighty wave, when the tide is coming in, flows on
far beyond the rest and then recedes, so they, in the
agitations of those times, seem to have been borne up
to a point, which, from the general level of spiritual
culture in the world, could not be retained. Accord-
ingly the ebb came ; perhaps it is the ebb tide that is
flowing yet; but we look for a mightier movement
when the waters of salvation shall rise and overflow,
and lie as a quiet sea reflecting the image of heaven.

It is, indeed, the fundamental question of the pre-
sent day, whether the principle and the reverence that
are necessary to the greatest strength and beauty of
society, can be preserved in connexion with the sim-
plicity of our civil and religious institutions. Men
will not be trampled upon, nor will they have their
sensibilities and their taste outraged. If there is not
a general state of things that will secure them against
this, they will retire behind a standing army, and be-
hind forms. Relatively to certain states of society,
these may be necessary ; and we ought to choose them
for the sake of the liberty and the religion which
may exist in connexion with them. But in such a
state of things we should feel that the highest ideal of
society was not reached, and we should be constantly
apprehensive that both liberty and religion would be,
as they have so often been, overlaid and crushed by
that which ought to nourish and protect them.

But whatever the future course of events may be,
the past is secure ; and God has dealt bountifully with

SERMON. 53

US in permitting us to live to the extent we have,
under the influence of such a past. It has been shown,
and nothing can falsify the record, that man may be-
come so capable of self-government, that is, of imme-
diate subjection to principle and to God, both in state
and in cjiurch, as to accomplish as fully as they have
ever yet been, all the legitimate objects both of the
church and the State.

Nor has this County been behind the general stand-
ard of New England, or of our own State in the fruits
which might be expected from such a state of things.
Here there has been general intelligence, security, and
order. Here have been churches that have walked in
the faith and order of the Gospel. Here have been
christian pastors who have done honor to their pro-
fession, and been models in it. Where shall we find
more able divines, or better pastors, or men of a wider
and holier influence than Edwards, and Hopkins,
and "West and Hyde? No where has the standard
of ministerial character and acquirement been higher.
Here too there has been a spirit of benevolence most
diftusive, and unrestricted by a regard to sect. It is
well known that if means are needed to carry on the
great cause of education, or of benevolence generally,
there is no place to which men come with the same
confidence, and the same success, as to New England.
It is chiefly among her hills that those streams rise,
that flov/ over the west, and over heathen lands, to
make glad the city of our God. In this respect, so far
as I have the means of comparison, this County

54 BERKSHIRE JUiJILEE.

hath whereof to glory, though not before God. The
Berkshire and Columbia Missionary Society was form-
ed Feb. 21st, 1798, and so far as I know was the^first
missionary society formed in New England, if not in
this country. The Connecticut Society Avas formed in
June of the same year, and the Massachusetts Society
in May of the year following. The formation of these
societies so near the same time, shows that the spring
had come over the land, but the fact that this was
formed first, shows that Berkshire was among the ear-
liest and most sunny spots. This society existed and
was efficient till within a few years, when it was ab-
sorbed in larger societies. This was a Home Mission-
ary Society, and when it is remembered that here was
formed the first Foreign Missionary Society, and, I may
add, the first Agricultural Society, it will be seen
that important movements have originated among us.
The statistics of benevolence, except in connexion
with the Bible Society, I have not the means of ascer-
taining. From these it appears that the donations of
the Berkshire society to the parent society, have been
larger than those of any other society, whether of a
county or of a State, with the exception of the State
society of Virginia which exceeds it by between two
and three thousand dollars only ; and with the excep-
tion of four State societies, and those in the city of
New- York, the whole remittances of this society, are
larger than those of any society in the Union. In
some, and indeed in most of the States, there are coun-
ty societies formed, but this society has given more as

SERMON. 55

a donation to the parent society than the whole State
of Vermont. And these facts are the more remarkable
when we remember that all this has been done with-
out any expense of agencies. The parent society has
sometimes been represented at the annual meeting,
but has never had an agent to traverse the County. I
can hardly suppose it would be so, and yet I know of
no reason to suppose that the comparison would not
be as favorable to the County, if we had the means of
comparing the statistics of the other great benevolent
operations of the day.

This may seem more immediately to concern those
who have remained in the County; but I am speaking
of the results of those influences under which we have
been nurtured ; and it is not to be doubted that our
brethren who have gone out from us, have been equal-
ly liberal. And if we have been blessed with the
means of giving, and have been practically taught the
great truth that " it is more blessed to give than to re-
ceive," how could God have dealt more bountifully
with us ? How much better is it to be nurtured amonsr
a plain people who give liberally for the objects of be-
nevolence, rather than among those whose resources
are either hoarded, or spent in the selfish ostentation
of fashion ! The heavens give their rain as they form
it, and the noblest use of wealth is to dispense it as it
is gathered, to refresh the waste places of the earth.

The features of society, and influences from it of
which I have now spoken, we share in common with
much of New England. There are others which be-

56 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

long to us as the inhabitants of Berkshire. Unlike
most counties, Berkshire, having a peculiar geological
formation, is a place by itself, separated from the rest
of the world by natural boundaries ; it has also been a
good deal secluded ; and while we have been a New
England people, our business intercourse has been with
New-York. Each of these circumstances has had its
influence upon us, so that between us and our fellow-
citizens of the eastern part of the State, there is a per-
ceptible difference. To the first two circumstances
mentioned, together with the beauty of our scenery,
is owing that County feeling in which this occasion
originated; and in connexion with these, if not in
consequence of them, there has been extensively among
us that happy combination of a cultivation and taste
and refinement no where exceeded, with genuine sim-
plicity and heartiness of character, which gives to so-
ciety its highest charm.

But that the whole influence of these circumstances
has been favorable, I would by no means assert, nor
would I represent the aspect of society as better than it
is. Seclusion is not always connected with innocence
and simplicity. On the contrary there may often be
found in such situations, ignorance, and narrowness;
and inveterate prejudice, and low vice. Small and
secluded villages, little clusters of houses among the
mountains with some place where intoxicating drink
is sold, are often, if we except the dens in the cities,
as wretched and hopeless places as are to be found on
earth. These we have had, and still have. They are

SERMON. 57

as remote bays into which the current of reform and
improvement sets back slowly. Owing in part, to the
influence of these places, we are behind some others
in the great Temperance Reformation. That cause has
made encouraging progress here, and its present as-
pect is hopeful, but I blush to say that there are still
those among us who seem bent on continuing a traffic
which, in enormity and moral turpitude may fairly
be ranked with the slave trade. It is owing in part,
to our seclusion also, that the recent movement in
favor of our common schools has been more ta^dy and
inefficient than it should have been.

But while we feel and regret these and other evils
which a strange or an unfriendly eye might notice,
we feel that they are slight in comparison with the
bounties of Providence, and the civil and social bless-
ings with which we are surrounded. We still rejoice
to feel and say

" This is our own, our native land."

These are our fathers and mothers, our brothers and
sisters, our wives and children, our schools and
churches ; these are our mountains, and vallies, and
lakes, and streams ; our skies, and clouds, and storms ;
and we feel that in casting our lot among them, God
has dealt bountifully with us.

"^^^e now proceed to the second part of the subject,
and consider the exhortation — " Return unto thy rest,
O my soul." There is, my friends, a rest to the soul.
Rest, rest — O ! said one, that I had Avings like a dove,

58 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

then would I fly away and be at rest. And who has
not said thus — at rest from turbulent passions and
uneasy desires, from perplexing doubts and anxious
fears, at rest from the annoyances and evils that come
from the misconduct of others ; at rest, not in mere
quiescence, but in full fruition — and this rest is in
God alone.

I have stated in the former part of the discourse
how it is that our enjoyment arises, not independently
from our constitution taken by itself, but from rela-
tions and correspondencies between that and other
things which God has created. He has constituted a
relation between the organ of taste and food, between
the ear and sound, between the eye and light, between
the atmosphere and the lungs, between the whole ani-
mate and inanimate creation and the capacities and
wants of man, and from these sources man may de-
rive, and in proportion as he conforms himself to the
constitution of God, will derive, a subordinate and
temporary good. But as an ultimate good, there is no
correspondence between the soul and any created
thing. In them the soul cannot rest. As containing a
true and permanent good, they are all as broken cis-
terns that can hold no water. No, God did not make
us to be satisfied with the creature. In the fulness of
his condescension, in the richness of his benevolence,
in the yearnings of his paternal love he would take us
to his arms ; he proposes himself as our true good and
final rest. It is indeed, a pleasant thing to behold the
sun; very glorious is he as he coraeth out of his chara-

SERMON. 59

ber, and bathes earth and heaven in his light; but
upon the soul that knows God and rests in him, there
shines a light that is above the brightness of the sun.
To him there is another morning risen upon the high
noon of all created glory. That glory must fade. The
sun himself must be quenched, but as the eye of filial
love is strengthened to behold them, the splendors that
surround the throne of God increase and brighten, and
shall do so forevermore. Around that throne the noon-
tide of glory eternally reigns, and as the eye of the
child of God drinks it in, his peace will be as a river,
and he will exclaim, this, this is my rest. Such is
the rest of the soul. To such a rest Ave are invited.

It is this great and fundamental truth — that there
is no true rest for the soul of man except in God that
needs to be proclaimed at all times, and every where.
Look at the restlessness of individuals and of society,
look at the billowy ocean of the past as seen in histo-
ry, and what does it indicate but that the true rest of
man has not been found. See the world busy in let-
ting down empty cups into wells that are dry, or drink-
ing to " thirst again ;" see individuals passing through
all the stages of poverty and of wealth, of neglect and of
distinction ; see states assuming every form of govern-
ment from the freest democracy to the most abso-
lute monarchy, and yet there is, and there will be
" overturning, and overturning, and overturning," till
men find the true rest of their souls, and he whose
right it is shall assume his spiritual and perfect reign.

Yes, it is to such a rest that we are invited ; and how

60 BERKSHIRE JUBILEK.

affecting is the motive by which the invitation is urged !
" For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee."
And my friends, in view of what has been said, may
I not urge this motive upon you? How much more
when I call to your remembrance his Redeeming Love !
In the reason here given, we see how diiferent is the
temper of a good man from that of the children of the
world. How common is the feeling that in our adver-
sity we must go to God — that we will, when we have
nothing else left to enjoy, seek him ; but when we are
in prosperity, how apt are we to lose sight of God and
to rest in the enjoyment of his gifts. This is the great
practical mistake, the infinite guilt of man, and the
world never can be in a right state, till men can
not only enjoy God in himself, but in his gifts; till
they learn that the good gifts of God are best enjoyed,
and then only answer their true end, when they lead
us to him. Nothing can be more utterly false, or more
disastrous, than this separation of cheerfulness and
rational enjoyment from the remembrance and the
presence of God; nothing can more dishonor him
whose smile brightens creation, whose presence makes
heaven. But thus is he dishonored. A necessary
condition of the pleasures of the w^orld is forgetful-
ness of God. Like our first parents in the garden,
men would hide themselves from him. The conscious-
ness of his presence in the midst of such pleasures as
they choose would be to them " as the shadow of
death." His religion, the blessed religion of Christ,
instead of being like the light, not indeed always the

direct object of thought, but as an element pervading
and irradiating all social intercourse, is regarded by
them as the antagonist of their chosen enjoyments.
From enjoyments of which this is the spirit, whatever
may be the form, men who would be christians, truly
such, must separate themselves. They must find God
in his mercies; when he deals bountifully with them,
their souls will return unto their rest. They can seek
no enjoyment upon which they cannot ask the bless-
ing of God. They can mingle in no scenes in which
the remembrance of him would be unwelcome, and
they must labor, and pray, and be content to be re-
garded as over strict, till there is such a change in the
moral elements, that reason, and conscience, and the
affections, and taste, shall predominate over the pas-
sions and appetites of men, and till men can enjoy the
good gifts of God as dutiful children under the eye of
an affectionate parent. It must be made to appear, it will
be made to appear, that there is no antagonism be-
tween the temperate use of God's gifts and the highest
social enjoyment.

It was in the hope that this occasion might do
something towards bringing forward a consummation
so desirable, that I was willing to take part in it ; that,
in connexion with this sacred service, I was willing to
be the organ of my fellow-citizens to welcome home
those who had gone out from us. And this I now do.
Natives, and former citizens of Berkshire, I welcome
you — not to bacchanalian revels, not to costly enter-
tainments, not to the celebration of any party or

62 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

national triumph, but to the old homestead, to these
scenes of your early days, to these mountains and val-
lies, and streams, and skies, to the hallowed resting
places of the dear departed ; I welcome you to the
warm grasp of kindred and friends, to rational fes-
tivity — to the Berkshire Jubilee.

So far as I know, this gathering is unprecedented.
More than any thing else in modern times, it reminds
us of those gatherings of ancient Israel, when the
tribes went up to Mount Zion ; and if we look to the
future, it cannot fail to remind us of that greater gath-
ering, of that better home, of those higher joys which
there shall be when " they shall come from the East,
and the West, and the North, and the South, and shall
sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of God." With that great assembly may we
all be gathered. Amen!

PUBLIC EXERCISES. 63

5. ANTHEM. Tvi^z-— Denmark.

Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy ;

Know that the Lord is God alone ;
He can create, and he destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and form'd us men;

And when, like wandering sheep, we stray' d,
He brought us to his fold again.

We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs ;

High as the heavens our voices raise ;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,

Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise.

Wide — as the world, is thy command,

Vast — as eternity, thy love ;
Firm — as a rock, thy truth must stand,

When rolling years shall cease to move.

A POEM,

DELIVERED AT

THE BERKSHIRE JUBILEE,

AUGUST 22, 1844.

By WILLIAM ALLEN, D.D.

A POEM.

The Sons of Berkshire here in mighty throng,

And many drawn from home 'neath distant sky, —

What heaves our bosoms with emotions strong?
What burning thoughts now kindle up each eye 1

II.
We stand amidst the scenes of early days: —

Our brook and river, hill and mountain-height.
On meadow, field, and lake once more we gaze,

Which fill'd our heart in youth with pure delight,

III.
The Rainbow's wondrous arch first saw we here,

On gloomy sky when setting sun outshone, —
Its hues of blue, and gold, and red all-clear, —

God's sign no second flood the earth shall drown.

IV.
First heard we here the Robin's song of joy,

Outpouring from the tree at early morn;
The Bluebird here first charm'd our gazing eye,

And sacred Swallow on swift wing upborne.

V.
Here first in infancy the look of love.

Dearer than rainbow's hues, pure bliss conferr'd:
Here first affection's voice, as from above,

Struck sweeter on our ear, than song of bird.

70 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

VI.

Yon Saddle-Mountain in its azure hue,

All-mingled with the thoughts and scenes of yore,

Oh, with what joy it rises to thy view,

Son of Pontoosuc ! at thy home once more 1

VII.
So every Son of Berkshire turns his eye

To some old mountain-head, of much-loved form,
Majestic rising in the cloudless sky,

Or turban'd thick with drapery of the storm.

VIII.
And each reveres some venerable tree.

Beneath whose shade was scene of sweet delight.
Like our Old Elm, which joyful here we see.

Though lightning-ploughed, still towering in its height.

IX.

Where'er we wander, led by various fate,
Whate'er of grace or grandeur there may be.

There's nought elsewhere so lovely and so great: —
Our heart, unwandering, Berkshire, turns to thee !

Their Alpine heights sublime the Swiss may boast,
In dazzling whiteness glittering in the sun; —

'Tis sterile grandeur, bound in ceaseless frost,
And unapproach'd, like despot's dreary throne.

XI.

Beneath the tropic sun each wide-spread plain
Of luscious fruits may heaviest burden bear;

But asks the eye for swelling hill in vain.
And pestilence is winged on evening's air.

POEM. 7j

XII.

Our mountains, wood-crowned, cheer the gazing eye, —
Whence bursting rills in constant murmurs flow:

Health vigorous walks beneath th' untainted sky,

And peace and joy our heaven-bless'd dwellings know.

XIII.
We love the stream, the lake, o'erhung with wood,

The fields of green and cool recess of grovej —
'Tis symbol-scene of purer, sweeter good,

Fore'er enjoyed in the high heavens above.

XIV.
We come to think of what our Fathers were, —

Of Mothers, Sisters, Brothers, here of yore;
To breathe again our Childhood's fragrant air.

And Childhood's loveliest home to see once more.

XV.

We come to strengthen in our inmost mind

Our child-learned principles, all good and truej

And here to worship, in one band entwin'd,
In Father- land our Fathers' God anew.

XVI.

As aged Jew his holy city seeks.

Holding first place within his weary soul.
So, Berkshire! on our eyes thy splendor breaks,

And wakes the feelings, that refuse control.

XVII.
Our Fathers' Sepulchres! — Are they not here.

O'er many a hill and vale wide-scattered round?
No more their venerable forms appear ;

But memory brings them from the turf-clad ground.
I

72 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

XVIII.

We seem to see again their lofty brow,

Calm and yet firmly fix'd; their steadfast eye,

Yet beaming mildly; and their head of snow,
With all their worth and reverent majesty.

XIX.

These mountain-circled valleys for their home

They chose, where silver lakes outspread are seen,

Where rush the numerous streams and dash in foam,
And Housatunnuk winds through meadows green.

XX.

The Red-Man's land they gain'd by purchase fair.
And them by light of truth they sought to save: —

The remnant now, — such fruits of zeal and care, —
Have Christian home near Winnebago's wave.

XXI.
Here first, a hundred years ago and more,

A Mission-School, on Housatunnuk's stream,
To wilder'd men explain'd the Christian lore.

And cheer'd their gloom by heaven's effulgent beam:

XXII.

Their Teachers Sergeant^ polish'd and refined.
His heart all-burning with a holy flame;

And Edwards too, the man of mighty mind,

The world's great teacher still, — illustrious name!

XXIII.
We glory in this spot, which gave us birth.

Where first God's wonders burst upon our sight: —
No fairer region doth the wheeling earth

Turn up from darkness to the sun's blest light.

POEM. 73

XXIV.
How beautiful is Nature? How the eye

Lights up. with joy at all the varied scene; —
Hill, vale, and stream, and wood, and calm blue sky,

The harvest field, and mead in living green ?

XXV.

And when the pulses of each tree are dead.
Or beating feebly, checked by chilling frost,

What gorgeous hues on every side are spread,
Shaming the Italian pencil in its boasf?

XXVI.

Nature is but God's glorious temple vast,

With hosts of cheerful worshippers around : —

And, while this temple stands, the song shall last,
And earth shall hear and heaven reflect the sound-

XXVII.
The rushing brook, the tuneful, blithsome bird,

The busy hum of insects on the flower,
And solemn voice of grove, by breezes stirred; —

These are but hymns to God's eternal power.

XXVIII.

All Nature constant works to some great end: —

The giant sun doth life and joy uphold;
Dew, rain, and stream the richest blessings send;

And verdant, blossom'd tree yields fruit of gold.

XXIX.
Amid these various scenes, O man, rejoice.

And willing join in Nature's service blest: —
'Tis thine to raise thy clear, articulate voice,

And of this host to stand as sacred priest.

74 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

XXX.

Then, Son of Berkshire! who dost joyful move

In beauteous, peerless temple of thy God,
Lift up thy grateful, ceaseless song of love.

And work for truth, and bear the fruits of good!

XXXI.

Amidst the charms of Nature they, who dwell,
Where all is loveliness, and joy, and peace, —

Ah, how can they such peace and joy dispel,
And by their guilt such loveliness deface?

XXXII.

Where purest crystal waters murmur round,
No turbid stream of vice should ever flow;

Nor float upon the air an evil sound.

Where blithsome birds their melodies bestow.

XXXIII.
In such a temple, reared by matchless power,

Ne'er should polluting thought or wish intrude;
But praises flow to^God each circling hour, —

The offering of the soul's deep gratitude.

XXXIV.

Not Tempe's boasted vale e'er shone so bright,
With trees so broad, with grassy turf so green:

Each Mountain form, uptowering in his might,
Stands as the giant-guardian of the scene.

XXXV.

Old Greylock at the north uplifts his head.
And kindly looks on Learning's vale below;

And southward, Washington, of bulk outspread,
O'erpeers rich plains, where winding rivers flow.

POEM.

XXXVI.

Trace up thy current, Deerfield, to its source,

And, Westfield, thine, — by smoke-horse travers'd now, —

By many an arch bestrided in its course; —
Your springs well forth from Berkshire's wood-crown'd brow.

XXXVII.

Then Hoosuc westward takes his joyful way.
To mingle with broad Hudson's noble tide;

While southward, where the ocean-monsters play,
Flow^s Housatunnuk, river of our pride.

XXXVIII.
Thus Berkshire's Sons are scatter'd far and near,

Each tide of good to sw^ell, wherever found, —
From Virtue's fountains starting pure and clear.

And pouring blessings on our land around.

XXXIX.

Of men, who stir the eloquent debate

In legislative halls; of those, who weigh
The right in scales of justice, and the State

Know how to govern in an honest way; —

XL.

Of strong-arm'd sons, who delve in learning's mine.
And those with power to win reluctant heart;

Of daughters too, whom taste and skill refine,
Who weave the tale of truth with gentle art,

XLI.

Berkshire may boast; — yet 'tis a nobler pride,
That thousands of her unknown sons are wise.

Contented with their lot, ne'er turn'd aside
From holy path, that leads up to the skies.

76 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

XLII.

The heaven-dyed violet in its native shade
Fragrance diffuses through the forest gloom:

No flower in royal garden is arrayed
Like our white water-lilly in its bloom.

XLIII.

No foot of slave e'er treads our sacred soil, —
No culture here, compel I'd by cruel blows:

We deem it health, and joy, and w^ealth to toil;

'Tis heaven's command, and heaven reward bestows.

XLIV.
None here the forms of industry deride: —

All-glittering in the clod the plough to hold;
From liberal hand the seed to scatter wide,

And plant in many a hill the maize of gold: —

XLV.

To gather in the fruits, the earth hath borne:

The scythe to wield, where waves the grass in light;

To ply the careful sickle; and the corn

To husk in merry mood; — 'tis pure delight !

XLVI.
The herds, the fine-woolled flocks to feed and train;

To watch the shuttle, as it quickly flies;
Deep in the mine to trace the metal's vein,

The rocks to quarry in the open skies:

XLVII.
In graceful shapes the marble blocks to mould

And stubborn wood; the milky treasures press;
Iron with strength of arm to turn to gold: —

These various toils fail not to enrich and bless.

POEM. 77

XLVIII.
Poor, listless man of indolent repose,

Of unknit frame and mind of feeble might !
Come, taste the good, which industry bestows.

And work out health, and power, and sweet delight.

XLIX.
'Tis toil, that braces both the frame and mind: —

In wrestling with the wind the tree grows strong;
Mantled with green the stagnant pool we find,

But pure the streams, which murmuring rush along. ]

Is there a spot upon this earthly ball,

Where brighter beams of truth are shed around.

Where showers of heavenly dew more frequent fall.
And richer fruits of faith and love are found ?

LI.

Is there a mountain-guarded vale below.

Where many a thousand purer spirits move, —

More bless'd with streams of good, which ceaseless flow, —
With eyes more fix'd on glorious hopes above 1

LII.
Let not thy birth-soil waken evil pride.

But rather kindly counsel bring to thee, —
That to this scene thy heart be full-allied.

So Eden and its tenant shall agree.

LIII.
Ah, how canst thou withstand the influence here, —

The incitements to all goodness, that abound, —
The voice of Nature in its tones so clear.

And all her lovelieess diffused around; —

78 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

LIV.

The memory of the illustrious, holy dead, —
Their pure example drawing to the right, —

Their winning words, their warning note of dread,
Their final prayer, as fled they from thy sight; —

LV.
The power of truth, that as a river flows.

The heaven- ward summons of the Sabbath bell; —
Ah, how canst thou such influence here oppose.

Yet hope with all the good in heaven to dwell?

LVI.
It is the Church, our paradise hath made, —

The truth, the grace, the power of God on high;-
The holy Church, — not in one dress arrayed, —

But one in faith, in love, in piety.

LVII.
Beneath our soil is found the iron ore, —

But iron strength of soul is better far:
Our hills are marble pure, — but pure much more

Is stainless beauty, bright as evening star.

LVIII.
Both strength and beauty, dignity and grace

In Berkshire's peerless vale delight to dwell: —
May nought such joyous harmony deface,

Or charms of innocence and love dispel.

LIX.

Our Fathers blaz'd the trees along their way; —
No other path to this our heritage! —

Their aim to find enlargement, and to lay
Foundations solid for a future age.

POEM.

LX.
The forest falls before their sturdy blows;

Their shining plough-share revels in the soil:
Full soon the desert blossoms like the rose,

And plentifulness rewards their patient toil.

LXI.
Wealth was not all they sought; for they would train

Their children in the path, which leads on high: —
Hence quick the School-House rises on each plain,

And sacred Temple points up to the sky.

LXII.

Nor trembled those brave men, when reckless foe
Approach'd the northern entrance of their vale:

They met him at the gate, and struck the blow,
That turn'd the invader's boast to piteous wail.

LXIII.
Themselves descended from the Pilgrim band,

Who from the May-Flower slept on Plymouth rock,-
The same their spirit ; and their strong right hand

Freedom maintain'd, nor fear'd opposing shock.

LXIV.
Their trust was in that good and mighty Power,

Who turns the tide of battle from the strong;
Nor fail'd their hearts, in many a sacred hour,

To lift up grateful praise and holy song.

LXV.

Oh, height of Bennington! thy battle-field
Witness'd the joyful triumph of the right:

O'er sacred fire-side bliss it spread a shield.

And taught the Hessian hireling freedom's might.
K

BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.
LXVI.

Can they, who fell the forest, bend the knee,
And crouch beneath a distant tyrant's nod?

Can they, who breathe the mountain air so free.
Quail to a man, as if he were a god?

LXVII.

Freedom, like temperance, loves the crystal fountains;

At vain restraint, like rushing stream, she mocks:
And, eagle-like, she dwells among the mountains

In fastnesses of steep and thorny rocks!

LXVIII.
Shall we not catch our Fathers' patriot zeal,

Which bore the battle-shock, the foe o'erthrown, —
And like them ever seek our Country's weal, —

Its light, and peace, and joy, and high renown?

LXIX.

No more may war's alarms be heard! no more
May blessed freedom pay the price of blood!

May Peace e'er hold her dwelling on our shore,
And Righteousness be like o'erflowing flood !

LXX.
Ask we, as virtue's meed, for earthly fame, —

The shout of mortal worms, who soon must die?
Shall history bear the glory of our name

Down to a dark, unknown futurity?

LXXI.
Of spirits lost and entered on their doom, —

The blood-stained heroes of our warring sphere, —
In their abode in deepest dungeon's gloom

Can earth's applausive notes e'er reach the ear?

POEM. 81

LXXII.

Give me a name, whose record is on high, —

The honor, which by holy deeds is won; —

Give me the fame, which truly ne'er shall die,

Imperishable as God's eternal throne!

., )
LXXIII. "''

Such is the fame our buried Fathers hold.

Though few among them heard applauses loud:

In silent path of duty they grew old.

Then calmly were they wrapped in winding shroud.

LXXIV.

Yet lofty was their hope; and, as one said.
When in the final conflict called to strive, —

So felt they all, as breath and spirit fled, —
" Say ye, I die ? — I'm just about to live! "

LXXV.

Oh, noble speech! My Father! it was thine, —
First preacher here, — Pontoosuc's guide on high!

How bright around did his example shine *?
How fit the Pastor teach his flock to die 1

LXXVI.
Our Fathers! Should their names my lips recall,

Ye sons of Berkshire, in your hearing now, —
The magic words would every sense inthrall.

While pride and love would sit on every brow!

LXXVII.
Ye bear their names: — O, then, their virtues bear; —

Self-sacrificing zeal for Country's good,
Uprightness, kindness, truth, and temperance rare, —

To law submission, and the fear of God.

82 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

LXXVIII.
Yet patriot-martyrs claim remembrance due: —

Williams, fair learning's patron, — name of pride, — ■
Struck down, as victory to his banners flew, —

Hopkins and Brown , — these for their country died.

LXXIX.

Their grave was on the field, where warriors strove:
No chisell'd stone keeps record of their doom; —

But in our reverence, gratitude, and love.

In Berkshire's heart they have uncrumbling tomb!

LXXX.

Full many a form now rises in my thought
Of heroes, who the beams of peace beheld,

Who shared the blessings, which their courage bought,
And went down to the grave all-white with eld; —

LXXXI.
Of venerable men, who by the scale

Of equal justice hush'd unworthy strife; —
Of Christian heroes too, ne'er known to quail

In contest for the truth and heavenly life, —

LXXXII.

Men, deem'd no idlers in their Master's field, —

Whose deep research, whose science, faith, and lovcj

And fervent utterance of the truth reveal'd

The ransom'd souls, — their crown, — shall tell above.

LXXXIII.
But these to weave, with others, in my strain

Were task, to which no end would soon be nigh,
For idle is the toil, the effort vain

To count the stars, which deck the evening sky.

POEM. 83

LXXXIV.
Old men! I feel with you life's pulses fail:— ^

Full two score suns have made their circuit due,
Since first in this my native, much-lov'd vale

My trembling lips truth's silver trumpet blew.

LXXXV.

Where now the fair and good, then in my eye ?

This day recalls them from the gloom of night:
The past revives; the distant now is nigh;

And shadowy forms come forth in memory's light.

LXXXVI.
Had ye a Mother 1 Ye old men, white-haired!

And on that mother's lap your flaxen head
It was your wont to lay ? — Now, unimpaired.

Her face ye see; her form though with the dead!

LXXXVII.

Had ye a Sister, with sweet eye of blue,

Loved as an angel in a by-gone day ?
In thought your lips are on her cheek anew,

Though 'neath the green-turf moulder'd all away !

LXXXVIII.
Had ye a Daughter in her freshest bloom ?

Had ye a Son in youth's first dignity 1
And have ye placed them in a lowly tomb ? —

They live, they shine now in your aged eye!

LXXXIX.

In these past scenes ye live of grief and joy:

From these to future ones your hearts go forth, —

Your children's children gleaming on your eye, —
New-springing forms of beauty and of worth.

84 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

XC.

And on your faith yet future scenes outbreak,
To you and all the good and righteous given, —

When ye and they, who sleep, from dust shall wake,
With all God's holy ones your Home in heaven!

XCI.
If many a wild-flower in the forest dies,
Think not, its form is lost, forever gone: —
' In beauty, at the spring's return, 'twill rise.

From living root or safe-lodg'd seed new-born.

XCII.
Then weep not for the dead, the righteous dead,

Though in a lowly grave their ashes rest:
Their spring will come; and from their humble bed

In glory will they rise, forever blest!

XCIII.
O, day of hope! the broken heart that heals,

And on the faded eye its beams outpours;
Great day, which all deep mysteries reveals,

And to the soul its treasures lost restores!

XCIV.
O, day of joy ! when all the ransom'd throng,

Innumerous as the stars, that shine above,
As " mighty thunderings" shall raise the song, —

' All glory to our God, whose name is Love!

XCV.
' And praises to the Lamb, the Word, the Son,

With vesture cloth'd, all dipp'd in crimson blood !'-
And thus the song through circling years shall run.

As surges on the shore of ocean's flood.

POEM. 85

XCVI.

ComCj come, blest day! when buried ones again
In beauty and in love shall meet our eyes, —

Our raptur'd Toices mingling in the strain
Of heaven's o'erjoyed, eternal harmonies!

XCVII. ,

The Fathers in their Children live again,

In noble deeds^and spirit, as in name, —
(The past and future link'd in golden chain, — )

Their steadfast faith, and zeal, and love the same.

XCVIII.

Where widely spread the shades of pagan night.
And vice and doleful wo have fix'd their throne, —

There have the Sons of Berkshire borne the light;
There are they toiling, till their crown is won.

XCIX.
If one, a child of genius, I may name,

Of my own flock a lamb in this green mead; —
Lamed, though fall'n in youth, has deathless fame;

And still for truth his eloquence shall plead.

Daughters of Berkshire, where may they be found
The holy teachers of their Master's word? —

Go, where the Turk, whom turban'd guards surround,
Holds o'er a race of slaves his sharp-edg'd sword : —

CI.

Go, where in distant isles volcanic fires

Break forth in torrents as of molten gold.
And where fierce, savage men, whom truth inspires,

The wonders of a Savior's love behold: —

86 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

CII.

Goj where in western wilds the Indian race
In furious troops are seen to rush along,

And pierce the shaggy bison in the chase; —
An outcast race, the victims of our wrong: —

cm.

Daughters of Berkshire! To such fields ye fly:
Thus are ye scatter'd as the lights of earth, —

As stars of goodness in the evening sky, —
Beyond all praise and worthy of your birth!

CIV.
Our Fathers! Here they lived and here they died, —

Adorn'd with virtue, pious, faithful, free; —
Bequeathing us, as they death's path-way tried,

The precious, glorious boon of Liberty!

CV.

Then we, their Sons, no recreants will prove.
Apostates from the path, in which they trod, —

Nor ingrates to the sacred names we love; —

But followers in their steps, which lead to God!

CVI.

Ne'er shall their Sons the truth's they loved, despise;-
Redemption by the heaven-descended One,

Though slain, yet soon up-rising to the skies, —
O'er death and hell the matchless victory won: —

CVII.

The Holy Spirit's renovating power,

With love to God and man which fills the heart; —
The guard of Providence each circling hour; —

A heavenly Home, where friends shall never part!

POEM. 87

CVIII.
Our Fathers' Sepulchres! farewell! farewell!

Thus too may we find peaceful, glorious rest!
And as our children on our memories dwell.

May they too thrill with joy and call us blest!

NOTES

Stanza VI. — Saddle-Mountain, lying in VVilliamstown and Adams, is the highest
mountain in Massachusetts, being about 2,800 feet above the valley at the college
and about 3,580 feet above tide water at Albany. As seen at the north from Pitts -
field at the distance of 20 miles, it is an object of great beauty.

Stanza VIII. — The venerable Elm, which stands in the centre of the public
square in Pittsfield, is 126 feet in height, and its trunk is 90 feet ere the limbs branch
out. It was a tall forest tree, when the town was first settled nearly a hundred years
ago, and was spared while the trees around it were cut down. At that time it could
hardly have been less than 100 years old. Possibly its age now may be 250 years.

To the great grief of the citizens, especially of those, who were born beneath its
shade, it was struck by lightning some years ago and a strip of bark was torn off its
whole length. Some of the branches also exhibit marks of decay. Yet it may live
for years to come. An oak in Russian Poland, cut down in 1812, was estimated to
have a thousand rings or layers, or to be a thousand years old.

Stanza XXXV. — Grcylock is the highest peak of Saddle -Mountain at the northern
extremity of the county. Mt. Washington is the highest of the Taconic range of
mountains; it lies at the south-western corner of the county, west of Sheffield, and is
about 2,400 feet above the valley, and 3,150 above the tide water of the Housatunnuk
river.

Stanza XXXVII. — The Indian name HoMsatoTinwfc is written in difierent ways, —
Housatonic, Houssatonnoc, Housatonuc, and Hooestennuc. This last form is prefei red
by Dr. Dwight, who, in his Travels, says it means over the mountain; but this is proba-
bly a mistake, for the Stockbridge word for mountain is W'chu, or in the Mohegan of
Eliot's Bible, Wadchu, the plural of which is Wadchuash. This has no resem-
blance to Hooestennuc. Moreover Hubbard, in his Indian Wars, writes the name
Ausotunnoog, which seems' to be the pural of some animate word, — the plural of
which was formed by og, «g, or uk, as the plural of inanimate words was formed by
ash. It is remarkable, that none of the teachers of the Indians have in any of their
writings given the meaning of the word. As to its farm, it was written Housatun-
nuk by Sergeant, their first teacher, and by Mr. Hopkins in his Historical Memoirs
of the Housatunnuk Indians, published in 1753.

Stanza LXIII. — The Pilgrims, who commenced the settlement of New-England
at Plymouth in 1620, may be considered as the representatives of all the early settlers
of New-England, and thus be regarded as the fathers of all, who descended from any
of the early settlers.

Stanza LXXVIII. — Col. Ephraim Willia7ns commanded a regiment in the second
French War, and at the head of a scouting party of 1200 men was killed by the French
and Indians in an action near Lake George Sept. 8, 1755, aged 41. Though his

90 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

party retreated to the main army, a memorable victory over the enemy was gained
on the same day, the Baron Dieskau being taken prisoner. Col. Williams gave a
liberal bequest to found a free school in Williamstown, which was converted into a
college, bearing his name. Very recently the generous donation of ten thousand dol-
lars has been made to this college by Mr. Amos Lawrence of Boston.

Col. Mark Hopkins of Great Barrington, the grandfather of President Hopkins of
Williams College, was an able lawyer, who engaged earnestly in the defence of his
country. He died at White Plains, Oct. 26, 1776, aged 37.

Col. John Brown, of Pittsfield, a lawyer, was distinguished in the revolutionary
war. He was killed in an ambuscade of the enemy at Stone Arabia in Palatine,
New-York, Oct. 19, 1780, aged 36. Of his children there survives only Mrs. Huldah
Butler of Northampton, now at an advanced period of life, but who was present at
the Jubilee. His son Henry C. Broun, who died in 183S, was Sheriff of the coimty.

There was yet another officer of merit, who died during the war, Lieut. Col. Tho-
mas VVilliama of Stockbridge, the son of Dr. Williams of Deerfield: he died at
Skanesborough July 10, 1776, aged 30 years. Capt. Chapin was killed at Williams-
town in the French war July 11, 1756; and Rev. Whitman Welch of Williamstown,
a chaplain, died near Quebec March 1776, aged 36.

Stanza LXXX. — Some of the conspicuous soldiers and patriots of Berkshire, who
survived the campaigns in which they served their country, are the following :

Gen. Joseph Dwight of Great Barrington, commanded the artillery at the capture of
Lewisburg in 1745; he died June 9, 1765, aged 62. He was judge both of the county
court and of probate. He married the widow of the Rev. John Sergeant.

Dr. Timothy Childs, a surgeon in the army, and a distinguished physician, died at
Pittsfield Feb. 20, 1821, aged 73.

Col. Joshua Danforth, of Pittsfield served as an officer during the revolutionary war;
during his whole life he was engaged in various public offices, the duties of which
he discharged with great fidelity. He died Jan. 30, 1837, aged 77.

Gen. John Fellows of Sheffield commanded a regiment in 1775, He was sherifi" of
the county. He died Aug. 1, 1808, aged 73.

Col. Simon Lamed, of Pittsfield, was an officer in the war of the revolution and
sherifiE of the county. He died Nov. \G, 1817, aged 61.

Gen. John Patterson of Lenox commanded a regiment of minute men in 1775, and
marched to Cambridge after the battle of Lexington. He assisted in the capture of
Burgoyne.

Col. Oliver Root of Pittsfield was with Col. Brown at Palatine in 1780. He died
May 2, 1826, aged 75.

Gen. David Rossiter of Richmond commanded a company of minute men in 1775.
He died March 8, 1811, aged 75.

Col. Benjamin Simands of Williamstown was a soldier in the French war of 1746.
He died April 11, 1807, aged 81.

There were also two Indian captains, Daniel Nimham and Timothy Yokun, who did
good service to their country.

Stanza LXXXI. — The following were some of the judges in Berkshire: —

Theodore Sedgwick, L.L.D. of Stockbridge, was a judge of the Supreme Court of
Massachusetts. He had been a distinguished member of congress. He died Jan. 24,
1813, aged 66.

Judge Daniel Dewy of Williamstown, was also a judge of the Supreme Court, and
was a representative in tlie 13th congress. He died May 26, 1815, aged 49.

Judge John Bccon of Stockbridge was the minister of the old South Church in Bos.
ton from 1771 to 1775. He was afterwards a member of congress and presiding
judge of the court of common pleas. He died Oct. 25, 1820, aged 82.

Judge Nathaniel Bishop of Richmond was for many years register of probate, and

NOTES. 91

judge of the court of common pleas from 1795 to 1811. He died Feb. 1, 1826, aged 75.

Judge William Walker of Lenox was many years judge of probate and judge
of the county court. In his old age he made great eiforts in the cause of temperance.
He died a few years ago.

These faithful magistrates were fresh in the memorj' of the writer; but there have
lived many others, as judges Dwight, Williams, Woodbridge, Ashley, Marsh, Whiting,
Skinner, and JSoble, who in a history of Berkshire will not be forgotten.

Stanza LXXXII. — The following is an alphabetical list of most of the deceased
Ministers of Berkshire. It will not be inferred, that all of them died in the towns of
which they were once the ministers. An account of the remarkable influence of reli-
gious truth under their faithful preaching, would make an interesting volume. In
one instance eighty persons, at the same time and place, made a public profession of
their belief in Jesus Christ and were received as members of the church.

Caleb Alexander, D.D., New Marlborough, died 1828, aged 70 or more.

Thomas Allen, Pittsfield, died 1810, aged 67.

Joseph Avery, Tyringham, died 1814, aged 70.

David Avery, Windsor, died 1819, upwards of 70.

Adonijah Bidwell, Tyringham, died 1784, upwards of 60.

Gideon Bostwick, Episcopalian, Great Barrington, died 1793, aged 50.

Sylvester Burt, Great Barrington, died 1836, aged 54.

Jacob Catlin, D.D., New Marlborough, died 1826, aged 68.

Daniel Collins, Lanesborough, died 1822, aged 83.

John De Witt, D.D., Lanesborough, died 1831, aged 41.

Edwin W. Dwight, Richmond, died 1841, aged 50.

Jonathan Edwards, Stockbridge, died 1758, aged 54.

Ebenezer Fitch, D.D., president of VVms. Coll. died 1833, aged 76.

Ralph W. Gridley, Williamstown, died 1840, aged 46.

Edward D. Griffin, D.D,, president of Wms. Coll. died 1837, aged 67.

Theodore Hinsdale, Hinsdrle, died 1818, aged 80.

Samuel Hopkins, D.D., Great Barrington, died 1803, aged 83.

Jonathan Hubbard, Sheflield, died 1765, aged 61.

Alvan Hyde, D.D., Lee, died 1833, aged 65.

Ephraim Judson, Sheflield, died 1813, aged 76.

John Keep, Sheffield, died 1785, aged 35.

Walter King, Williamstown, died 1815, aged 57,

Aaron Kinne, Alford, died 1824, aged 79.

John Leland, Peru, died 1826, upwar«ls of 70.

John Leland, Baptist, Cheshire, died 1841, aged 85.

Joseph L. Mills, Becket, died 1841, aged 53.

Zephaniah S. Moore, D.D., president of Wnis. Coll. died 1823, aged 52.

David Perry, Richmond, died 1817, aged 71.

John Sergeant, Stockbridge, died 1749, died, 38.

Thomas Strong, New Marlborough, died 1777, aged 61.

Job Swift, D.D., Richmond, died 1804, aged 61.

Seth Swift, Williamstown, died 1807, aged about 55.

Whitman Welch, Williamstown, died 1776, aged 36.

Peter Werden, Baptist, Cheshire, died 1808, aged 80.

Stephen West, D.D., Stockbridge, died 1819, aged 83.

Elijah Wheeler, Great Barrington, died 1827, aged 53.

Samuel Whelpley, West Stockbridge, died 1817, aged 51.

These ministers difTered in their philosophical theories, or in the metaphysics of
theology; but they agreed in what they regarded as the elementary and chief princi-
ples of the Gospel, and in preaching them faithfully. Several of them were learned
and eminent writers. Indeed, it is believed, that in the little territory of Berkshire

92 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

of the extent of 50 miles by 20, there have lived ministers, who have produced more
books on metaphj-sical theology, than liavebeen produced by all the other metaphy-
sical writers of this western continent. I have reference to the writings of Dr. Hop-
kins, of the two Edwards', of Dr. West and Dr. Griffin, and to three volumes by Rev.
Henry P. Tappan.

Stanza XCIV.— To prevent misapprehension it may be proper to mention, that
the author preached his first sermon in his Father's pulpit, July 29, 1804, more than
40 years ago ; but, spending afterwards a few years at Cambridge as an officer of the
College, he was not settled at Pittsfield as the successor of his Father, until Oct. 10,
1810. Asking a dismission in 1817, his successors in the ministry have been Rev.
Heman Humphrey, D.D., subsequently the president of Amherst College; Rev. Rufus
W. Bailey, subsequently the head of a Seminary in South Cai'olina; Rev. Henry V.
Tappan, subsequently a professor in the University of New- York; Rev. John W.
Yeomans, D.D., subsequently the president of a College at Easton, Pennsylvania;
Rev. H. N. Brinsmade, D.D., now of Newark, New- Jersey; and Rev. John Todd,
the present minister, afl of whom are living.

Stanz a XC VIII. — The following Missionaries were natives or citizens of Berkshire :

Frederic Ayer, to the Ojibwas.

Nathan Benjamin, at Athens, in Greece, 1838.

Josiah Brewer, at Smyrna, 1826.

J. C. Brigham, South America.

Dr. EUzur Butler, Clierokees.

Daniel S. Butrick, Cherokees.

Cyrus Byington, a lawyer, Choctaws.
■ Josiah Hemingieay, Cherokees.

Harvey R. Hitclicock, Sandwich Islands.

Ebenezer Hotchkin, Choctaws.

Benton Pixley, Osages.

David ^Yhite, died at Cape Palmas, 1837.

One of the earliest and most eminent missionaries to the east, Gordon Hall, was
educated at Williams' College, and was a preacher at Pittsfield in 1810. He embarked
in 1812 and died in 1826.

Stanza XCIX. — Sylvester Lamed, the first minister of the First Presbyterian
Church in New Orleans, was the son of Col. Simon Lamed of Pittsfield. During my
ministry in that town he made a public profession of his belief in Jesus Christ, and
became a member of the church in 1813. He died at New Orleans of the yellow
fever on his birth day, Aug. 31, 1820, aged 24 years. " His Life and Eloquence," by
R. R. Gurley was published in 1844; nor in that book is there any exaggeration of
his remarkable talents, and endowments, and qualifications to do good in the great
city of the south. There was a remai-kable cluster of young men, the graduates of
Middlebury College, who died in early life; — Rev. Sylvester Larned, Professor Solo-
mon Metcalf Allen, Rev. Levi Parsons, Rev. Pliny Fisk, and Rev. Joseph R. Andrus:
to these, and to Professor Alexander M. Fisher, his friends. Rev. Carlos Wilcox, a
writer of great merit, who himself died in 1827, alludes in the following elegiac
lines, — regarding them as once assembled at Andover Theological Seminary.

" Ye were a group of stars, collected here,

Some mildly glowing, others sparkling bright ;
Here, rising in a region calm and clear.

Ye shone awhile with intermingled liglit ;

Then, parting, each pursuing his own flight
O'er the wide hemisphere, ye singly shone ;

But, ere ye climbed to half your promised height,
Ye sunk again with brightening glory round you thrown ;
Each left a brilliant tracli, as each expired alone."

NOTES. 93

Stanza C. — Probably the following is not a complete list of the Daughters of Berk-
shire, who have gone out as missionaries : —

Anna Burnham, to the Choctaws, 1822.

Mrs. Eunice G, Jones, wife of Abner D. Jones, Choctaws.

Mrs. Elizabeth M. Rogers, wife of Edmund H. Rogers, Sandwich Islands.

Emily Root, N. Y. Indians at Seneca.

Mrs. Mercy Wliitney, wife of Samuel Whitney, Sandwich Islands.

Mrs. Jjifiif A IFiSTic;-, wife of Samuel Wisner, Cheroliees.

Besides these. Miss Salome Danforth, the daughter of Colonel Joshua Danforth of
Pittsfield, is at the head of a flourishmg female Protestant Boarding School in the
village of Bournabut, six miles from Smyi-na — the only school of the kind in the Turk-
ish empire; — and the chief patrons and supporters of this school, it is believed, are
ladies of Pittsfield.

Last Note. — In the delivery of this Poem a few stanzas relating to the living
sons of Berkshire were introduced, by the advice of a friend, in order to promote the
good fellowship of the occasion; but, after answering this temporary purpose, they
are properly omitled in this publication, as they were not designed to be a part of
the poem. Some introductory lines are also omitted; and some names, which were
interwoven in the text, will be found in the notes.

PUBLIC EXERCISES. 95

8. HYMN. Tune— 0/d Hundred.

(The whole Congregation uniting.)

Command thy blessing from above,
O God ! on all assembled here ;

Behold us with a Father's love,
While we look up with filial fear.

Command thy blessing, Jesus, Lord !

May we thy true disciples be :
Speak to each heart the mighty word,

Say to the weakest " Follow me."

Command th}r blessing in this hour,
Spirit of Truth ! and fill this place

With humbling and exalting power,
With quickening and confirming grace.

O thou, our Maker, Savior, Guide,
One true, eternal God confest;

May nought in life or death divide

The friends in sweet communion blest.

9. POEM, by Palmer.

THE MOTHER. LAND'S HOME'CALL.

BY WILLIAM PITT PALMER,

We miss the swallows' graceful wing

When autumn leaves grow pale and sefe.
But with the first soft gale of spring

Her purple plumes again appear :
Green isles that crown the southern main

Smiled sweetly on their minstrel guest;
Yet all their gorgeous charms were vain,

To wean her from her mountain nest.

But ye whose truant feet have coursed

Afar o'er alien lands and seas,
By no imperious instinct forced

To seek for sunnier skies than these —
Why turn ye not ? ah! wherefore let

Strange scenes your charmed fancies bind 1
Ah, why for long, long years forget

The homes and hearts ye left behind ?

O spurn at last ambition's chain

Around your better natures wrought,
Nor longer swell the eager train

Of fame or fortune's Juggernaut !
Return, and boyhood's faded spring

Shall bloom round manhood's homeward track;
And memory's refluent sunshine fling

The shadow from life's dial back!

9S BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

The grove's lone aisles shall ring again

With music of their vernal choirs.
While gaily on from glen to glen

The wild brooks sv^eep their silvery lyres:
And love shall ply her tenderest art,

Sweet home her sweetest aspect wear.
That wearied mind and wounded heart

May find a sure Bethesda there.

Come seek the scenes of boyish glee,

The haunts of youth's sedater hours,
And, dearer yet, the trysting-tree

Still wreathed with love's immortal flowers:
Come muse where oft in years gone by

O'er kindred dust ye bent the knee,
And feel twere almost sweet to die.

Since that green turf your couch shall be!

RESPONSE OF THE HOME-COMERS.

BY WILLIAM PITT PALMER.

Hail, Land of Green Mountains! whose valleys and streams
Are fair as the Muse ever pictured in dreams;
Where the stranger oft sighs with emotion sincere, —
Ah, would that my own native home had been here !

Hail, Land of the lovely, the equal, the brave.
Never trod by the foe, never tilled by the slave;
Where the lore of the world to the hamlet is brought,
And speech is as free as the pinions of thought.

But blest as thou art, in our youth we gave ear
To hope when she whispered of prospects more dear.
Where the hills and the vales teem with garlands untold.
And the rainbow ne'er flies with its jewels and gold.

Yet chide not too harshly thy truants grown gray

In the chase of bright phantoms that lured us astray;

For weary and lone has our pilgrimage been

From the haunts of our chidhood, the graves of our kin.

Nor deem that with us, out of sight out of mind
Were the homes and the hearts we left saddened behind:
As the hive to the bee, as her nest to the dove.
These, these have been ever our centre of love.

Yes, when far away from thee, Land of our birth.
We have mused raid the trophies and Tempes of earth,
Our thoughts, like thy spring-birds flown home o'er the sea,
Tn day-dreams and night-dreams have still been with thee.

11. DOXOLOGY.

12. BENEDICTION.

SECOND DAY.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23d, 10 O'CLOCK, A. M.
1. SINGING. Ode—" The Pilgrim's Return:'

BY HON. EZEKIEL BACON.

[Wriitcn for the occasion.]
I.

Hark ! from our " Father-land" Ave hear.

Its fond inviting voice ;
" Haste to your natal Jubilee,

And with my sons rejoice."

II.
We come, we come, from distant climes,

With joy to greet the day,
And in thy sacred temples here

Once more our vows to pay.

III.
[We come from Maine's stern rock-bound coast,

From homes upon the deep,
From where the Vine and Olive blooms,

The balmy zephyrs sleep.]

' IV.
[Where'er our wandering feet may roam,

Where'er our lot is cast.
To thee, dear land, our hearts still turn,

Our first love, — and our last.]

102 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

[For on thy fair and fostering soil
Our cradled limbs were rocked ;

To thee our early years were given,
Our ripe affections locked.]

VI.
And though the bosoms kind that nursed

Our infancy may rest
Within their " dark and narrow bed,"

In clay cold vestments drest ;

VIl.
The temples where we humbly knelt

No more may lift their spires ;
And in the old paternal halls

May cease their wonted fires ;

VIII.
Yet long those sainted names shall live,

" The memories of the just;"
The holy Fanes our feet have trod,

Though mouldered long in dust.

IX.
Still in these pleasant, peaceful vales,

Temples more glorious rise.
As through their hallowed portals pass

Fresh Pilgrims to the skies.

2. PRAYER, by Rev. D. D. Field, D D.

PUBLIC EXERCISES. 103

3. SINGING. Song. Tune— "Come to the Sunset TreeP

BY A LADY.

[Written for the occasion.]

Come to the old roof tree, —

To thy childhood's happy home, —

To the hearts which beat for thee, —
Beloved wanderer, come !

Come ye of the unbowed head, —

Ye of the joyful breast, —
Come where your feet have sped

In childhood's sweet unrest.
Come to the purling stream.
Come to the pebbly shore,
Come, for the sunny beam
Laughs brightly as of yore.
Come to the old roof tree,

To thy childhood's happy home,
To hearts which beat for thee, —
Beloved wanderer, come !

We know that on many a heart

Sorrow hath left its trace ; —
We know that care hath robb'd

The bloom from many a face ; —
But come to the father's door,

Come to the mother's love.
For here is joy once more

Meet for the blest above.

Come to the old roof tree, &c.

104 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Perchance the grave is green

Of those you held, most dear ;
But come where their love hath been —

For their spirits linger near !
Come to the sacred mound, —

'Twill raise the heart above
To the better home they've found

With the pure and true above.
Come to the old roof tree, &c.

Come, though the gray-hair' d sire

Sleep 'neath the coffin lid, —
Come, though the mother's grace
From thy longing gaze be hid ;
Come to the old roof tree

And ben^ the knee in prayer,
Thou shalt go forth more pure
For having worshiped there.
Come to the old roof tree,

To thy childhood's happy home,-
To the hearts which beat for thee,
Beloved wanderer, — come !

4. ORATION, by Hon. Joshua A. Spencer.

AI ORATIOI,

PRONOUNCED AT PITTSFIELD, AT

THE BEEKSHIEE JUBILEE,

AUGUST 23, 1844.

By JOSHUA A. SPENCER.

ORATION.

We have come in answer to a Mother's call. The
dispersed sons and daughters of Berkshire have return-
ed to their own hill country, and to their early kindred,
and Ave have altogether come up to our Jerusalem to
worship. It is a meeting of kindred spirits which has
broken up the deep fountains of our hearts, and they
are gushing forth in streams of love, and joy, and gra-
titude.

Filled with these emotions, in justice to my own as
well as to your feelings, I can address you only as

Fathers, Mothers,
Sisters, Brothers,

Friends ; for in these relations alone have we been
welcomed, and none beside can feel our joys. Since
our return we have seen the sun rise, and set where it
rose and set to the eyes of our childhood — have looked
upon the green hills " which we beheld in the days of
our youth," have visited the old dwellings of our
fathers, looked into the well and seen face answering
to face in water, but not to the face of youth ; we have
drank from the old moss grown bucket, " trod the path-
way to the old pasture, to the orchard, to the mea-
dow ; have rambled over our old nutting and hunting

no BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

and fishing grounds; " Slaked our thirst at the same
perennial spring or gurgling rill, and tasted the winter
green plucked from the woody hill side — we have
loitered around the old school house, looked into it,
but saw not the smiling school-dame," nor our little
school fellows. We have ran over the racing ground
of our boyhood, and bathed in the same stream. We
have worshiped in the same " meeting house," and
heard preached the Gospel of peace. We there met a
few familiar faces, many half recognized countenan-
ces, but more who were strangers unto us. In early
morning, or in the evening twilight, we have gone to
the resting place of our departed friends, read there
the inscriptions on monuments erected in parental, fra-
ternal, and filial affection, listened to the " small still
voice " speaking firom the grave, and our hearts held
sweet, silent converse with their blessed spirits which
seemed hovering there. In all these scenes has indeed
been awakened

" The memory of joys that are past,
Pleasant and mournful to the soul."

Until this our return, we did not fully realize how
ardently we love "our own, our Native land," and our
"kindred who have remained here to beautify the old
homestead," while we have gone out to expend our
energies in other portions of this land. We have come
to rejoice with you while "we are gathered at the
hearth of our Mother to hold a day of congratulations
and sweet recollections." And with grateful hearts
have we found that you " love us none the less be-

ORATION. Ill

cause we have gone from you." And your hearts'
desire shall be satisfied, for " the home 6f our child-
hood does live and will live green in our memory." It
is the joy and pride of our hearts to feel and acknow-
ledge with you, that " the chain which binds us to
you is more than golden, and we too, would have its
links grow stronger and brighter." Let it be extended
until it shall encircle the whole earth and bind togeth-
er our common brotherhood.

How true is it my friends, that " the sons of old Mas-
sachusetts have reason to revere and love their native
soil. She is the mother and nurse of a mighty people.
She does indeed hold on her way with her soil trodden
by the free, and the air of her mountains still breathed
by a noble race of men. Her hills, her vallies and her
limpid streams remain as they were,', but even these
shall not endure as long as shall the great principles
which lie at the foundation of her institutions.

It is now nearly two hundred and twenty-four years
since our Pilgrim Fathers reached the bleak coast of
this " new world," and effected a landing at the con-
secrated " Rock of Plymouth," with a wide waste of
water on the one side, and a wilderness w^aste on the
other. The history of their sacrifices, their sufferings
and their achievements is familiar to us all. It will
remain so to after generations as long as grateful hearts
shall beat in American breasts. They came freighted
with riches more enduring than gold, more precious
than pearls — a knowledge of the true, the great prin-
ciples of religious and civil liberty, resolved on their

112 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

maintenance at every sacrifice. These principles they
carefully planted in the soil of their chosen home, wa-
tered them with their tears, and guarded them with
their prayers. They took deep root, have had a steady
growth, and will, under the protection of a righteous
God, continue to spread until they cover the whole
earth.

After the memorable event just mentioned, more
than one hundred years elapsed and Berkshire re-
mained an unbroken forest, peopled only by a few red
men along the banks of its beautiful Housatonic. Not
until 1725, did our bold hardy ancestors efiect a settle-
ment within its borders. Sheffield has the honor of
affording an asylum to the pioneers, and of being the
first incorporated town. Among these fearless men
were Noble, Austin, Ashley, and others whose names
will be revered by their descendants, while the history
of our country remains.

True to the great principles of the Pilgrims, the Ge-
neral Assembly in its grant of two townships of which
Sheffield is a portion, directed its commissioners to re-
serve lands for the first settled minister, for the future
support of the Gospel, and for the maintenance of
schools. This was no novel evidence of the wisdom
which distinguished the councils of the Colony, and
has since done the Councils of the State ; and con-
ferred such enduring benefits and blessing upon man-
kind. Religion and universal education have always
occupied a prominent place in the deliberations and
acts of our time-honored sires.

ORATION. 113

Great Barrington and Egremont, at that early day
forming part of Sheffield, were settled soon after. Here
have lived the Ingersolls, the Hopkins', the Whitings,
the Iveses, and other time-honored names.

In the history of Stockbridge, there is much of in-
terest. Here, soon after the commencement of the
white settlements, on the Housatonic below, under the
kind care of their white fathers, were gathered the
scattered families of the "River Indians." In 1734,
Mr. John Sergeant, their first missionary, became their
spiritual teacher, and Mr. Timothy Woodbridge their
schoolmaster. Efforts were early made to enlarge the
means of instruction by the aid of the manual labor of
the pupils. The Rev. Dr. Watts and Captain Coram,
lent their aid to raise funds in England, and the Prince
of Wales, Mr. Hollis, and many other distinguished
men contributed to the funds of the mission.

On the demise of Mr. Sergeant, the renowned Presi-
dent Edwards became his successor, assisted by other
distinguished men. It was here he composed his
great work on the Will.

Among the good men connected with this benevo-
lent enterprise, Capt. John Koukapot's name deserves a
place. He was a native, as brave as he was faithful,
and as religious as he was brave.

The immediate fruits of these labors of love, were
the rearing of many educated men who shared in the
ecclesiastical, the civil, and the military concerns of the
times ; in the efficient aid of the tribe in the war of the
Revolution, and in the security afforded to the surround-

114 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

ing white inhabitants against the hostile incursions
of other tribes of Indians by their presence, their known
fidelity, watchfulness and bravery. Soon after the
peace of 1783, this tribe of Indians removed to a tract
of land given them, by the Oneida nation in the State
of New-York. This they called New Stockbridge.
Upon this fertile spot of six miles square, with the
younger Sergearit for their minister, they continued to
reside until the year 1822. With many of the leading
men of this little community, I became acquainted soon
after 1811 ; and it affords me pleasure to bear testimony
to their high character for industry, sobriety, intelli-
gence and integrity. Their example furnishes a beau-
tiful illustration of the benign influence of civilization
and the Christian religion upon the red man of the
forest, and high evidence of the faithfulness of those
good men who were employed as their instructors.
The nation still exists as a distinct community near
the head of Green Bay, with most of the Oneidas for
their neighbors, where with faithfulness under God's
blessing, they maintain their praiseworthy habits and
character.

The first printing press established in the County, in
1788, was at Stockbridge ; and from it not the " star
in the East," but the "Western Star" appeared to
shed its mellow light upon Berkshire's hills. Not long-
after, issuing from a press in Pittsfield, the "Sun"
arose in the firmament of this County, and its rays
gilded the hill tops, and illuminated the vallies. Among
my earliest recollections is the post-rider bearing these

ORATION. 115

lights of the mind. Methinks there can now be heard
in the distance, the sound of his horn announcing his
welcome approach.

Here too, at an early day, other lights appeared and
shone in their brightness, in the sacred desk, at the
bar, on the judicial bench, and in the halls of legisla-
tion. Among them a long catalogue of names might
be enumerated, but it is unnecessary. They live in
history, and in the memory of their descendants. Of
these " many daughters have done virtuously, but one
excellest them all." She has done honor to her illus-
trious sire, to her sex, and to our country. " Her
works do follow her."

Compared with the rapid peopling of the great west,
the settlement of Berkshire was slow. But it was pro-
gressive and onward. The same noble race of men
which first entered its borders with strong arms, reso-
lute hearts, and dauntless courage, penetrated its deep
forests and laid them low. In the vallies and on the
hill-sides, the cleared fields and the waving grain ap-
peared. While yet only the log house was their dwell-
ing place, the meeting house and the school house were
neither forgotten nor neglected. The minister of the
Gospel was at his labor, and the schoolmaster was
abroad in the land. What else than that which we
have seen and do now see, could be the fruit of such a
beginning ?

The settlement of the northern towns was conside-
rably retarded by the frequent incursions of the Indians
from Canada. These occasioned the building of Fort

216 . BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Massachusetts in Adams, and a smaller fortification in
Williamstown before the first French war. Under the
protection of these forts, after the close of that war in
1748, and while they were commanded by Col. Ephraim
Williams the younger, the settlement of the northern
towns commenced. In Lenox in 1750, in Pittsfield and
Williamstown in 1752. But as late as 1755, the set-
tlers were compelled to flee before the stealthy foe and
take refuge in Stockbridge, with the loss of some of
their number. These severe trials did not entirely
subside until several years afterward. The treaty of
peace between England and France in 1763, brought
them to a close. Before this period settlements had
commenced in most of the towns of the County. Six
only however were then incorporated. From this
time until the commencement of the war of the Revo-
lution, Eastern Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island, gave up many of their resolute sons and daugh-
ters to people this Switzerland, and the wilderness was
soon converted into fruitful fields. But peace did not
long continue. They were however found equal to
every exigency. The Colonial difficulties with the
mother country had not been unobserved by them.

The world has heard of the fame of the Congress of
1776, and scarcely less known are the memorable pro-
ceedings of the Mecklenburgh convention of 1775.

But earlier than either of these, on the 6th day 1774,

a Congress of Deputies of the several towns in this
county, convened at Stockbridge, of which John Ashley
was chosen President, and Theodore Sedgwick was

ORATION. 117

appointed Secretary. Sixty members were in atten-
dance. The names and the transactions of this band
of Patriots should be as well known and as familiar to
the sons and daughters of Berkshire, as is the declara-
tion of our National Independence.

Among much other business done, a covenant was
agreed upon and recommended to be signed by the
people of the County, engaging with each other " not
to import, purchase, or consume any goods, wares, or
manufactures arriving in America from Great Britain,
until their charter and constitutional rights should be
restored.

" To observe the most strict obedience to all Consti-
tutional laws and authority.

"To promote peace, love, and unanimity among
each other.

" To take the most prudent care for the raising of
Sheep and Flax, and the manufacture of clothes and
linen, and to withhold all dealings and transactions
with those persons who should refuse to sign or ob-
serve the covenant."

And they recommended and set apart Thursday, the
14th July, for a day of fasting and prayer, to implore
the divine assistance that he would interpose and in
mercy avert those evils with which they were threat-
ened.

In after years similar conventions were held, in
which the condition of the County and the country
were considered, and measures for promoting the ge-
neral welfare recommended.

118 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

That which shows as well the rapid growth of the
County after the close of the French war, as the rea-
diness of the people for determined action, is the
raising of two regiments of "minute men" in this
same year ; the one commanded by Col. John Patter-
son of Lenox, and the other by Col. John Fellows of
Sheffield. These men were not misnamed. On the
18th April, 1775, the battle of Lexington was fought!
news of it reached Berkshire, (not by the rail-road,)
on the 20th, at noon. At sunrise the next morning.
Col. Patterson's regiment, completely equipped and
uniformed, were on the march to Boston. Fired by
the same spirit. Col. Fellows' regiment with equal
promptitude and appointment, proceeded to Roxbury.
Many of these brave men remained in the service to
the close of the war. Nor did Berkshire at any other
time, nor in any emergency during the fearful struggle
falter in her duty. As she then shared in the sacrifi-
ces made upon her country's altar, so does she now in
the glory of her achievement.

At length, as is well known, peace came. But 1783
witnessed no sudden recovery of prosperity. After a
few years of manly struggle to bring plenty out of de-
stitution, the people of this County, in common with
those of the State, were put to a new trial of their pa-
triotism. In 1786 domestic insurrection raised its
fiendish form, sundering the ties of kindred and friends,
and threatening anarchy throughout the entire State.
But here again were our fathers found equal to the
emergency. Prompt and energetic action soon dis-

ORATION. 119

persed and put to flight the insurgents, but not with-
out the loss of life in the principal battle, which was
fought at Sheflield, on the 27th Feb., 1787. Quiet
was soon after restored, but the evils inflicted were not
so speedily cured. Asperity and division in families.
Churches, and Society, occasioned by this outbreak,
required years to wear away. Of the insurgents, four-
teen were tried for treason, convicted, and sentenced
to death. But to the honor of our Country, history
will record that even in the infancy of our institutions
as well as in their manhood, no life has been taken by
the hangman for political offences.

But let us turn from this painful incident in Berk-
shire's history, to the pleasant contemplation of anoth-
er, which speaks peace and good will to men. Its
record is among the brightest pages of her history,
and its gentle influences are felt not only here, but in
every quarter of the globe.

Col. Ephraim Williams, to whose name, allusion has
already been made, as is well known was the founder
of the seat of sound learning in this County. He fell
in the service of his country as the commander of a
regiment, on the 8th of September, 1755, near the
shores of Lake George, when only forty-one years old.
For several years he had followed the ocean, and had
made many voyages to Europe, but had relinquished
this pursuit prior to the first French war in 1744. In
this war he was greatly distinguished for his bravery
as the captain of a company in the army of New Eng-
land for the Canadian service. Soon after its close

120 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

he was appointed to the command of the line of Mas-
sachusetts Forts on the west side of the Connecticut
river, and made his head-quarters principally at Fort
Massachusetts. In its vicinity he was the owner of
considerable tracts of land, and witnessed the com-
mencement of their settlement. The strong affections
of his generous heart were drawn out towards the fel-
lers of the forest, for he saw and felt their dangers,
their privations, their hardships, and their sufferings.
He resolved to be their benefactor, and he became the
benefactor of mankind. On his march to the northern
frontier, on the 22nd July, 1755, a few days before his
death, he made his will. By this, after bequests to his
kindred, he directed " that the remainder of his land
should be sold at the discretion of his executors with-
in five years after an established peace ; and that the
interest of the monies arising from the sale, and the
interest of his notes afid bonds should be applied to
the support of a free school in a township west of
Fort Massachusetts forever, provided the township
when incorporated should be called Williamstown."

This trust has been most faithfully executed; for
notwithstanding the almost uninterrupted continuance
of war from the lamented death of this good man, un-
til the close of the Revolutionary struggle in 1783, we
find these trustees as early as 1785, making applica-
tion to the Legislature, for a law to enable them more
fully and beneficially to carry into effect the high pur-
poses of their appointment. An act incorporating a
free school was passed, and nine trustees were ap-

ORATION. 121

pointed. A lottery for its aid was granted, which re-
alized $3,500. The inhabitants subscribed $2,000
more, and in 1790 an edifice was erected. The next
year a school was opened under the care of Mr. Ebe-
nezer Fitch.

The people of Williamstown, influenced by a most
commendable desire fully to carry out the object of
the founder, in 1793 petitioned the legislature to erect
the free school into a college. The prayer was grant-
ed, accompanied with a farther endowment of $4,000.
Thus was brought into existence within ten years after
the close of a long desolating war, this favorite seat of
learning of which Berkshire may be justly proud without
reproach. Its onward course for fifty years, is a name
and a praise in the whole earth. The light of its
thousand educated men has not been hid. Their's
and our country's history will be written together.

In 1807, Samuel J. Mills, Gordon Hall, and James
Richards, were pupils there. Often in lonely retire-
ment on the banks of the Hoosac River, their young
hearts communed together, and their united prayers
for the heathen ascended to the throne of grace. They
were heard and answered.

In 1808, in one of the rooms of the college, a society
was formed by them and a few other kindred spirits,
for sending a mission to the heathen. For its com-
mencement they wrestled until 1810, when on the
27th June of that year, Adoniram Judson, Samuel
Nott, Jr., Samuel J. Mills and Samuel Newell, submit-
ted their views to the general Association of Massa-

122 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

chusetts, and sought the advice and counsel of the fa-
thers of the church. Immediately the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was organized
by that body of naen, and commenced its great work.
The hearts of these young men were already prepared
to obey their Master's command — " Go ye into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature." They
went, and with what zeal, fidelity and success they
fulfilled their mission, need not here be told. They
are written in the history of the church. The broad
stream of benevolence which here commenced its
steady flow, has already borne its life-imparting influ-
ence to the islands of the sea, and to the uttermost
parts of the earth. The heathen are made glad in its
coming, and clap their hands for joy. But who can tell
what will assuredly be done through this instrumen-
tality? That is reserved for the unfoldings of eter-
nity.

May not Berkshire too, well rejoice in the prosperity
of her Metropolitan village ? Not the first to begin,
but the first in the course ol all the lovely places of
business activity and quiet retirement within her bor-
ders. Pittsfield's long well shaded streets, her deeply
embowered dwellings with their spacious pleasure
grounds, wear the distinctive and charming livery of
New England village scenery. Here is the home of
comfort, refinement, and, as we well know, of hospita-
lity. In the midst of the enchantment, her far famed
elm lifts its lofty branches to meet the sun in his com-
ing.

ORATION. 123

" Wise with the lore of centuries
What tales, if there were tongues in trees,
That giant elm could tell."

With what pleasure would we listen in silence to its
teaching ? We might perhaps inquire, how long ago
its young geim peered above the surface ? At what
early day the birds nested and caroled in its branches ?
When the red man first rested at its foot ? In what
year it lifted its head above its surrounding fellows
and became their king ? How these one by one at
long intervals, or in quick succession fall ? How ma-
ny " winter's winds have whistled through its branch-
es," since it became the forest king ? What was done
amidst these hills before the light of civilization
dawned upon them? But 'tis dumb — it will not an-
swer ; and we will console ourselves with the reflec-
tion that we are not the first of our race whose ques-
tions have failed of solution.

With pleasure too, have our eyes seen that of which
we had before heard — these seats of science and learn-
ing. Let the knowledge of this Medical Institution go
forth with healing in its wings. Let all live and flour-
ish. Let their usefulness be commensurate with their
fame.

But that which has greatly rejoiced the hearts of
Berkshire's guests is, that we have everywhere wit-
nessed surprising improvements in all the departments
of life. " Her hills, her vallies and her limped streams
do in truth remain as they were ; but the former are
greatly beautified by the hand of man, and the latter

124 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

pressed into his service, and made the source of increas-
ing wealth." And her people ever true to their inter-
ests, will still farther press them into their service, and
draw still greater wealth from the same unfailing
source.

Berkshire may justly claim the honor of having
formed and established the first Agricultural Society in
our country. This was incorporated in 1811, under
the active and influential agency of the Hon. Elkanah
Watson, then a resident of the County. It has ever
since held its annual fair at Pittsfield, in the month
of October in each year, and has exerted a powerful
and highly beneficial influence upon the great and
diversified agricultural interests of the County not only,
but of our country at large. Its legitimate fruits are
strong and abiding friendship and good feeling among
the people : the better cultivation of the soil, the beau-
tifying of the farms, the great improvement of all
kinds of domestic animals, and of household manufac-
tures, and the vast increase of production ; the well
deserved reward of ingenuity and industry.

These few leading incidents in the settlement, his-
tory, and present condition of Berkshire, have been
brought before our minds on the present occasion only
by way of remembrance, that we may contemplate in
broad contrast the privations and sufferings of its early
settlers, and the benefits and blessings everywhere
enjoyed by their descendants ; so that thankfulness
and gratitude may fill our hearts.

Nor has Berkshire, in common with all New Eng-

ORATION. 125

land, been wanting in expansive benevolence. She
has not withheld her offspring froin going forth to peo-
ple other portions of our country, carrying with them
the principles and habits of their Fathers. In every
State of the Union, and in almost every hamlet, they
and their descendants are now found and known ; and
wherever they are, their impress is seen and felt.

We live in an eventful age. Since the commence-
ment of our National existence, we have witnessed
greater advancement in the arts of civilized life, than
had been beheld in centuries before. The application
of steam to the purposes of navigation, to locomotion,
to every department of Mechanics, forms an epoch
more marked than any other since our Savior's advent.

The middle ages of the Avorld are distinguished by
the discovery of the Magnetic Needle, enabling distant
nations to hold easy intercourse with each other, and
converting the wide ocean which before lay waste,
into a great highway ; on which nautical science has
drawn every line, and marked CA^ery point. And by
the invention of printing, which freighted their ships
with the combined knowledge of the world, making
it the common property of all. But who can recount
the increased power for doing good which steam has
imparted to this invention and to this discovery ?
The power press — the steam ship — the rail-road car.
From the one, as from the sun in the firmament, the
light of intellectual man is radiated, and by the oth-
ers, almost with the celerity of light, it is borne across
ocean and continent.

126 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

All these means for advancing National greatness
and individual prosperity and happiness, are by the
providence of God, placed in our young and vigorous
hands. With them we are to demonstrate the great
problem "that man is capable of self government," — •
that the American people, without kings or nobles, can
at the same time be rulers, and ruled according to their
own will, without change of dynasty, and without
decay. How this can best be done, concerns us and
our children.

Our government, unlike any other, commenced its
existence with all its proportions fully developed.
The wisdom of mature manhood laid its foundations
deep and strong, built thereon the superstructure, and
put all its parts in harmonious movement. The great
builders have gone to their reward, and we have suc-
ceeded to the inheritance. Our's is the humbler,
though little less responsible duty of its preservation,
with such improvements as experience shall suggest,
and to transmit it to our children not only unimpaired,
but strengthened and improved.

How better, indeed how else can this high duty be
discharged than by a careful study of the elements of
New England character, and by the maintenance and
preservation of their combined whole in all its symme-
trical proportions ?

Here with the light of History is found the distin-
guishing difference between ours and all the free gov-
ernments of antiquity, and the reason why they are
long since only known in History, or by their ruins,

ORATION. 127

and why we may indulge the hope, yea the confident
expectation, that our's shall endure while time endures.

Their people were pagans, idolators, their temples
and their gods were alike, of their own creation. We
are Christians, and worship the uncreated, the living
and true God. They and their temples and their
deities have come to nothing. Our God ever lives and
reigns. Their religion was a Mythology built upon
the sand. Our's is the religion of the Bible, built upon
the E-ock of Ages. It endures from everlasting to
everlasting.

Let then the Bible be our study as it was that of
our Fathers. Let its light shine, not of its burning
leaves, but of the principles which dwell in it. Let it
be to us and to our chidren a pillar of cloud by day
and of fire by night, to lead us not to our promised
land, but in our land already possessed.

Without a knowledge of the Bible, all will agree
that there can be no religious liberty. It seems to me
almost equally clear that without religious liberty,
civil liberty cannot exist. Hence it is plain that the
study of the Bible is alike indispensable to the civilian,
to the statesman, and to the teacher of religion. A¥here
else with equal success, can be learned the absolute
and relative rights and duties of men or of govern-
ments ? Where is it recorded on the pages of History,
that tyrants have ever effectually conquered and sub-
jugated a people whose liberties and virtue were found-
ed on the word of God ? His government over his
intelligent creatures is instituted in infinite benevo-

128 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

lence for their benefit. Such too should be the great
end and aim of all civil governments and laws.

Civil liberty does not depend so much on the remo-
val of all restraint from men, as in the due restraint of
the natural liberty of all. It deals with men as social
beings, and teaches them how to enjoy their own,
without infringing upon another's rights. How much
they are to surrender for the sake of securing the en-
joyment of the residue. It teaches obedience to the
law, and promises protection and security in the en-
joyment of life, liberty and property.

There can be no free government which is not
founded on the great principle, that all that is valuable
in civil institutions, rests on the intelligence and virtue
of the people. This acknowledges the right, and en-
joins the duty of the people to understand their public
interests, and to adopt such means in conformity to
law, as in their judgment will best promote them.

These responsible duties can never be well dis-
charged, nor these great rights secured, without regard
to another element of the New England character —

That of universal education. Next to religion, this
subject lies nearest the heart of every New Englander.
It is so interwoven with his very nature, that it is car-
ried with him wherever he goes, and its benefits and
blessings are inherited by his children.

Your school houses, your academies, and your col-
leges, and the means for their support furnished by
private munificence and public law, bear ample testi-
mony that New England holds on her course with firm

ORATION. 129

Htep and onward advance. Will she not feel her
obligation always to provide a great fountain of reli-
gion and knowledge, from which fresh supplies may-
be drawn and borne by her sons and daughters who
are yet to go forth to people the mighty west, with
which to infuse new life and energy into those who
have gone before ? While this obligation is fulfilled,
New England may look abroad in our land, and with
sincere pleasure and thankful heart, contemplate the
influence she has exerted, and will through all coming
time exert upon the destiny of our country. No bounds
have been set to the amount of good which can and
will be done by the harmonious working of her prin-
ciples, her habits, and her ingenuity.

Compared with the life of other nations, our sun has
not yet risen : its light is now only seen gildino- the
eastern horizon. It may not rise in our day. At the
close of how many centuries it will reach its meridian
height, and what will be the condition of our country
then, is not given to us to know. But reasoning from
the past to the future, and keeping in mind the accele-
rated momentum imparted by modern improvements,
the conviction is forced upon the mind, that come
when it will, it will be far above and beyond the lofti-
est imaginings of the most comprehensive intellect.

These views have not been taken to pamper indi-
vidual vanity or national pride, but to impress more
deeply upon our minds the solemn responsibilities
which rest upon each of us as sons and daughters of
the Pilgrims — as American citizens — and to stimu-

130 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

late us to renewed exertions to meet them with manly
firmness.

It is obvious to the most superficial observer that
physical and intellectual man in their career, have in
this our day far outran religious man. Indeed so
mighty, so diversified, so wonderful have been their
achievements, that there is reason to fear that self de-
pendence is fast taking the place of dependence on
God for all that we are and all we desire. Neither
head wind, nor the tide, nor the strong current of our
mighty rivers, any longer impede their navigation, and
the broad Atlantic has become as a ferry.

With equal facility, and with still greater celerity,
do we ascend the hills and the mountains, and glide
across the plains, making our whole country as one
neighborhood, and bringing our distant friends almost
within our call.

With these developements of physical and intellect-
ual power our people are absorbed, and have become
impatient of restraint. For real or supposed defects
in our laws or systems of government, they have not
waited for the application of constitutional remedies,
but nullification and violence have too often taken their
place. Here lies our danger, and for the remedy, let
the religious man be aroused to his duty, and send
forth deeper and broader streams of the Bible's soft-
ening, peaceful influences. Let the religion, and the
example of our Pilgrim Fathers take a stronger hold on
the hearts of men, and constantly remind them that
obedience to the laws of our country, and respect for

ORATION. 131

the civil magistrate, are among the first and highest
duties of every citizen.

"Where, upon the face of the w^hole earth, if not in
New England, in the " Old Bay State,^' in our own
dear " Berkshire," amidst these hills, peopled as they
are by a homogeneous race of men, can the great
principles on which the stability and perpetuity of our
government rest, be at the same time garnered up and
diffused through our land ? This is an employment
where the mind and the heart may labor together in
concord with full assurance of their reward. Though
the profane may rave, the sceptic sneer, and the infidel
scoff, the countenance of the believer shall not blanch,
nor his step falter, nor his course be turned aside.
Steadily, peacefully, and onward, shall be his way,
drawing all men unto it.

Not to detain my indulgent auditors longer from
the enjoyment of the other appointments of the day,
where a richer " feast of reason and flow of soul "
await us, allow me to inquire, when will the sons and
daughters of Berkshire hold another "Jubilee?"
Never certainly another first Jubilee ; that pleasure is
vouchsafed unto us, but another Jubilee ? Whether it
shall be in our day, or be reserved for our children, or
children's children we know not; but come when it
will, we do know they will find a hearty welcome.
These beautiful hills by which we are surrounded,
shall not be more enduring, than shall be the love their
people bear for their absent kindred.

In conclusion, my friends, let us offer our united

132 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

thanks unto Grod, that our birthplace was in the midst
of these hills — our existence in this eventful age of
the world, and this free country our home. Long, long,
forever may it be the home of the free and send forth
the true spirit of intelligent, civil, and religious liberty
to other lands and other countries, and be a name and
a praise in the whole earth.

ODE.

WRITTEN FOR THE BERKSHIRE JUBILEE,

BY MRS. F. K. BTJTLER.

Darkness upon the mountain and the vale,
The woods, the lakes, the fields, are buried deep,
In the still silent solemn star-watched sleep.

No sound, no motion, and o'er hill and dale
A calm and lovely death seems to embrace
Earth's fairest realms, and Heaven's unfathomed space.

The forest slumbers, leaf and branch and bough,
High feathery crest, and lowliest grassy blade ;

All restless, wandering wings, are folded now.
That swept the sky, and in the sunshine play'd.

The lake's wild waves sleep in their rocky bowl.

Unbroken stillness streams from nature's soul,

And night's great, star-sown wings, stretch o'er the whole.

'7
'J

In the deep trance of the hush'd universe,
The dark death mystery doth man rehearse.
Now, for a while, cease the swift thoughts to run
From task to taskj tir'd labor overdone
With lighter toil than that of brain, or heart,
In the sweet pause of outward life takes part:
And hope, and fear, desire, love, joy, and sorrow,
Wait 'neath sleep's downy wings, the coming morrow.
Peace on the earth, profoundest peace in Heaven,
Praises the God of peace by whom 'tis given.

134 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

But hark! the woody depths of green

Begin to stir,
Light breaths of life creep fresh between

Oak, beech, and fir:
Faint rustling sounds of trembling leaves

Whisper around,
The world at waking, slowly heaves,

A sigh profound;
And showers of tears, night-gathered in her eyes,
Fall from fair nature's face, as she doth rise.

A ripple roughens on the lake.

The silver lilies shivering wake,

The leaden waves lift themselves up, and break,

Along the laurelPd shorej
And woods and waters, answering each other, make

Silence no more.

And lo! the east turns pale!
Night's dusky veil

Thinner and thinner grows;
Till the bright morning star,
From hill to hill afar.

His fire glance throws.
Gold streaks run thro' the sky,
Higher and yet more high

The glory streams;
Flushes of rosy hue
Long lines of palest blue.

And amber gleams.

From the black vallies rise
The silver mists, like spray,
Catch, and give back the ray,

With thousand dyes,
Light floods the Heavens, light pours upon the earth.
In glorious light, the glorious day takes birth.

ODE, 135

Hail to this day! that brings ye home

Ye distant wanderers from the mountain land,
Hail to this hour! that bids ye come

Again upon your native hills to stand.
Hail, hail! from rocky peak,

And wood embowered dale,
A thousand loving voices speak.

Hail! home-turn'd pilgrims hail !
Oh, welcome ! from the meadow and the hill

Glad greetings rise.
From flowing river, and from bounding rill.
Bright level lake, and dark green wood depths still.
And the sharp thunder-splinter'd crag, that strikes
Its rocky spikes
Into the skies.

Grey-Lock, cloud girdled, from his purple throne

A voice of welcome sends.
And from green sunny fields, a w^arbling tone
The Housatonic blends.

Welcome ye absent long, and distant far!

Who from the roof-tree of your childhood turn'd,
Have waged mid strangers, life's relentless war.

While at your hearts, the ancient home-love burn'd

Ye, that have plough'd the barren briny foam,
Reaping hard fortunes from the stormy sea.

The golden grain fields rippling round your home.
Roll their rich billows from all tempests free.

Ye, from those western, deadly blooming fields.
Where Pestilence in Plenty's bosom lies.

The hardy rock-soil of your mountains yields
Health's rosy blossoms to these purer skies.

136 BERKSHIHE JUBILEE.

And ye who on the accursed southern plain,

Barren, not fruitful, with the sweat of slaves
Have drawn awhile the tainted air in vain,

'Mid human forms their spirits' living graves,
Here, fall the fetters, by his cottage door,

Lord of the lordliest life each peasant stands,
Lifting to God, as did his sires of yore,

A heart of love and free laborious hands.*

On each bald granite brow, and forest crest.

Each stony hill path, and each lake's smooth shore,

Blessings of noble exil'd patriots rest.
Liberty's altars are they evermore.

And on this air, there lingers yet the tone,
Of those last sacred words to freedom given.

The mightiest utterance of that sainted one.

Whose spirit from these mountains soar'd to Heaven,

Ye that have prosper'd bearing hence with ye.

The virtues that command prosperity;
To the green threshold of your youth, ah! come!

And hang your trophies round your early home>

Ye that have suffer'd, and whose weary eyes

Have turn'd with sadness to your happier years,

Come to the fountain of sweet memories!
And by its healing waters, dry your tears.

Ye that departed young, and old return,

Ye who led forth by hope — now hopeless come,

If still unquenched within your hearts, doth burn
The sacred love and longing for your home:

* This stanza was omitted in the reading, as it was thought not to be in strict har-
mony with the occasion. Ed.

ODE. 137

Hail, hail!

Bright hill and dale,

With joy resound!
Join in the joyful strain!
Ye have not wept in vain.
The parted meet again,

The lost shall yet be found!

And may God guard thee, oh, thou lovely land!

Danger, nor evil, nigh thy borders come.
Green towers of freedom may thy hills still stand.

Still, be each valley, peace and virtue's home :
The stranger's grateful blessing rest on thee,
And firm as Heaven, be thy prosperity!

Hon. Ezekiel Bacon read " The Stockbndge Bowl," by Mrs.
SiGOURNEY, of Hartford. By way of illustrating the title prefixed
to the article it is proper to mention that the " Stockbridge
Bowl " is the fanciful but very appropriate title bestowed by Miss
Sedgwick in some of her writings upon a beautiful sheet of water,
forming a pond, in the north part of the town of Stockbridge.

[Furnished for the occasion, by the Authoress.]

THE STOCKBRIDGE BOWL.

The Stockbridge Bowl! — Hast ever seen

How sweetly pure and bright,
Its foot of stone, and rim of green

Attract the traveller's sight ? —
High set among the breezy hills

Where spotless marble glows.
It takes the tribute of the rills

Distill'd from mountain snows.

You've seen, perchance, the classic vase

At Adrian's villa found,
The grape-vines that its handles chase,

And twine its rim around.
But thousands such as that which boasts

The Roman's name to keep.
Might in this Stockbridge Bowl be lost

Like pebbles in the deep.

It yields no sparkling draughts of fire
To mock the madden'd brain,

As that which warm'd Anacreon's lyre
Amid the Tean plain — •

140 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

But freely, with a right good will
Imparts its fountain store, —

Whose heaven-replenished crystal still
Can wearied toil restore.

The Indian hunter knew its power.

And oft its praises spoke,
Long ere the white man's stranger-plough

These western vallies broke;
The panting deer, that wild with pain

From his pursuers stole.
Inhaled new life to every vein

From this same Stockbridge Bowl.

And many a son of Berkshire skies,

Those men of Noble birth.
Though now, perchance, their roofs may rise

In far, or foreign earth, —
Shall on this well remembered vase

With thrilling bosom gaze,
And o'er its mirror'd surface trace

The joys of earlier days.

But one, that with a spiritg-lance

Hath moved her country's heart,
And bade, from dim oblivion's trance

Poor Magawiska start.
Hath won a fame, whose blossoms rare

Shall fear no blighting sky,
Whose lustrous leaf be fresh and fair.

When Stockbridge Bowl is dry.

PUBLIC EXERCISES. 141

SINGING. Words by Mrs. Sigourney.

[Written for the occasion.]

They come! they come! by ardent memory led,
From distant hearth-stones, — a rejoicing train.

And hand in hand with kindred feeling tread
Green Berkshire's vales and breezy hills again.

Back to the cradle of their own sweet birth.
Back to the foot-prints of their flowery prime,

Where, in the nursery of their native earth.

They caught the spirit of their mountain clime;

The free bold spirit, that no chains can bind,
The earnest purpose that no toil can tame,

The calm, inherent dignity of mind.

The love of knowledge and of patriot fame.

They bring the statesman's and the student's dower,

The honors that to rural life belong.
Of sacred eloquence the soul-felt power,
' The palm of science and the wreath of song.

And thou, blest Mother! with unfrosted hair,
Still made by age more beautiful and strong, —

Pour a glad welcome, at thy threshold fair,
And breathe thy blessing o'er the filial throng.

Enfold them warmly in thy fond embrace,
And with thy counsels of true wisdom guide.

That like themselves, their yet uncounted race,
May be thy glory, as thou art their pride.

ODE.

BY MRS. L. HYDE.

To hills that cradled childhood's home.
To vales where kindred ashes sleep.
Gathered from far and near we come
Our jubilee of love to keep:
Touched by one sympathy, a brother band
And proud, on Berkshire's soil as ours to stand.

Her verdant slopes and fertile plains,
Each fairy wood-embosomed lake,
Her quiet hamlets, sacred fanes.
Her men that lofty station take.
With those whose metnory comes from olden time
Like mountain shadows, giant and sublime.

Her fir-crowned, and her classic heights
To Sedgwick's name and page allied;
The choicest garden of delights
Stretched far along the river side;
Scenes of the wild and sweet and grand combined,
In moral beauty rich, and rich in cultured mind;

These still we claim, we breathe this air,
And feel the blood with quickened flow
Thrill through the frame long worn with care,
And lend the cheek a youthful glow;
Yes, though these brows^may show the_.touch of time,
Life's first attachments yet are in their prime.

144 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Were not the voices in our dreams,

When where dark sluggish waters roll,
Of these our live bright mountain streams,
Free as thought's current in the soul;
Fond Children of the hills, afar we pined
Clear, leaping brooks, and rock-born flowers to find.

We view with fixed and moistened eye

YoH summit, in its grandeur lone,
A spell to call back years gone by;
Fair Science, this thy godlike throne,
And holy thoughts, which earth more blest have made
In youthful bosoms, woke beneath its shade.

Southward, stern guardian of a vale

As Tempe fair, old Monument
Lifts his bare brow, all scarred and pale;
His name with song and story blent,
A legend of the roaming red man's days
Embalmed in our own gifted Bryant's lays.

In solemn quiet by the stream.

Or pointing from hill-top to heaven.
Speaks the white marble, " life's a dream;'"
Our hearts to tender musings given
Are with the dead, and buried treasures trace
By snowy shaft, or modest tablet's place.

To these the passing tribute paid,

Joyful the living friends we greet
At the same altar-hearth who prayed
Or sat with us in learning's seat;
With whom, in halcyon days, delighted eye
We turned on laughing earth and sunny sky.

ODE. V 1^

How heart with heart is mingling here, —

As we our varied paths retrace, —
How vanished scenes all re-appear,
Called up by some familiar face;
Forth to the light of day come forms that dwell,
Prisoned in memory's deep and wondrous cell.

Old friends are seated side by side.

In smiles and tears embrace again
The household scattered long and wide;
From distant city, prairie, main.
From learning's halls, from honor's high career.
From toils that earth's dark wastes reclaim and cheer,

The sons of Berkshire here return

A chaplet on her brow to wreathe.
Afresh to fill affection's urn;

Warm hearts in sweet communings breathe
Praise for these social joys, so richly given,
A fragrant incense, borne on song to Heaven.

It is a scene of interest rare.

This lovely village shows to-day;
Gem of our mountain, region fair.
Thou may'st exult in this display
Of worth and talent, in this glow of soul
O'er crystal water, not the maddening bowl.

Nor all in vain we trust may be

This pause along life's hurrying way,
Deep fountains of the heart, set free.
May blend in streams of love to-day,
And God and man, their course approving, trace
In wide and blessed influence on our race.

146 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

We part, this friendly gathering o'er,

"With precious stores for memory's hoard;

There is for us one meeting more,
-/ But not around the festive board:

Go we to live for that great day alone,
When time is done, and set the judgment throne*

<^-

^yy

^^ r^ ^i^

'7^^

PUBLIC EXERCISES. 147

SINGING. Words by Mrs. Hemans.

For the strength of the hills we bless thee,

Our God, our fathers' God!
Thou hast made thy children mighty

By the touch of the mountain sod.
Thou hast fixed our ark of refuge

Where the spoiler's foot ne'er trod,
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,

Our God, our fathers' God!

We are watchers of a beacon

Whose lights must never die;
We are guardians of an altar

'Midst the silence of the sky;
The rocks yield founts of courage

Struck forth as by thy rod —
For the strength of the hills we bless thee,

Our God, our fathers' God!

For the dark, resounding heavens.

Where thy still small voice is heard;
For the strong pines of the forests.

That by thy breath are stirred;
For the storms, on whose free pinions

Thy spirit walks>vabreftd^ <-
For. the strength of the hills we bless thee.

Our God, our fathers' God!

For the shadow of thy presence.

Round our camp of rock out-spread;

For the stern defiles of battle.
Bearing record of our dead;

148 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

For the snows, and for the torrents,
For the free heart's burial sod,

For the strength of the hills we bless thee,
Our God, our fathers' God!

8. BENEDICTION. By Pres. Hopkins.

FAC-SIMILE OF THE DINNER TICKET.

jwisa^®®^

in%nm 22 mh 23, 1844^
GOV. BRIGGS, PRESIDENT.

COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS IN CITY OF NEW YORK.

\ Sam'l R. Betts,
l J. C. Brigham,
1 Theo. Sedgwick,
I Ortille Dewey,

Lemuel Pomeroy,
ri. H. Childs,
Charles Sedgwick,
Henry W. Bishop,
H. Byington,
Edward BuRRall,
J. Sumner,
W. Adams,
Samuel Farqo, Jr.
R. Hazard,

Robert Center,

Marshall ■^. Bidwell, Mason Noble,

Drake Mills, D. D. Fikld, Thomas Eggleston,

Edward Williams, R. S. Cook, H. P. Peet,

William Sherwood, Russell C. Wheeler. Joseph Hyde,
Wm. C.Bryant, R.Smith.

BERKSHIRE COMMITTEE.

JOHN TODD, Chairman
E.Rice, P. Eames,

E. V. Ensign,
A. Rising,
George Hull,
L. Filley,
William Porter, Jr
Alexander Hyde,
P. Harmon,
C. Baldwin,
S. M. Gardner,

Ira Schutt,

Wilbur Curtiss,

S. Gates,

William Bacon,

C. J. Freeland,

William E. Brayton, A. Buck,

Thomas Robinson, O. Nash,

F. O. Sayles, S. Babbitt,

S. Norton,

D. N. Dewey,
A. Foot.
R. Picket,
Russell Brown,
J. Chamberlin,
M. Emmons,

FINANCIAL COMMITTEE.

Julius Rockwell, Ensign H. Kellogg, Phinehas Aelen, Jr

SINNER TICKET, AUGUST 23, 1 O'CLOCK.

THE DINNER.

On adjourning at 2 o'clock, P.M., from the hill on which the
morning exercises had been held, the company moved to the old
" Military Grounds," now occupied by the Young Ladies' Institute,
where a large tent was spread to receive the guests to the family
gathering. We have tried to give a representation of the scene
by the plate prefixed. The tables were admirably arranged and
calculated to accommodate over three thousand persons. Nearly
that number actually took seats at the tables, while thousands
stood around the fences to see the spectacle and hear the speeches.
The company consisted of about an equal number of both sexes.
The exercises at the dinner were designed to be diversified, where
the gushings of thousands of warm hearts at the family meeting
might be poured out.

On a raised table, in the centre, at the head, were the Presi-
dent Gov. Briggs, Joshua A. Spencer, Esq., Judge Bacon, and oth-
ers. A blessing was asked by Rev. Dr. Shepard. The Addresses
were extemporary, and are preserved by the care of Mr. William
J. Niles, of Spencertown, N. Y.

The cloth having been removed. His Excellency Hon. George
N. Briggs, Governor of this Commonwealth, rose and addressed the
immense audience as follows:

Brothers of Berkshire! I should do injustice to my own
feelings, if I did not in the outset declare to you the deep feelings
of gratitude which pervade my bosom at the expression of your
kindness which has placed me at the head of this family table.
The Committee of arrangements have put into my hands a schedule

154 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

marking out what remains to be done at this family gatherings
and as the respectability of all families depends, very much upon
their good order and conduct at the table, you are requested to
observe during the residue of the ceremonies the strictest order;
for if I am not mistaken, in such a family as this, before the sun
goes down you will have first rate speaking. There are some
" boys here that can do that thing up well." I see by this ar-
rangement that there are to be some introductory remarks by the
President. I hardly know, my brothers and sisters, what to say
to you. Foreigners have said, that when we get together here in
this Yankee land we always talk about ourselves. Now I should
like to know upon this occasion, what else can be talked about;
for I think it is very bad policy for families when they are toge-
ther, to talk about other folks! (Laughtei.) It is very right for
the children when they come home, to talk about the old home and
fireside, and when they cluster about the old people, they have a
right to talk of what has taken place during their absence. They
have a right to inquire who is married, who is dead, and who is —
runaway ! if they please.

Here have come together around this family board, sons and
daughters, whose residences are scattered over the surface of
eighteen of these twenty-six States. We may well say to our-
selves, (and if there are strangers here they will indulge us in say-
ing so,) that we must be rather a promising family to have our
children spread thus far and wide over the four quarters of this
great land, and gathered together again on an occasion of this kind.
We have heard, brothers, from our friend yesterday in sober
prose, and from our other friend in cheerful poetry — we have
heard much about the history of our good old mother Berkshire.
They Avent back to her origin as a County, alluded to some events
in her history, talked of her loved and interesting children, spoke of
her beautiful scenery, and of the spirit and enterprise of her sons
and daughters; and they had a right to talk so. It was said to-
day, that within twelve hours after the news of the first act of ag-
gression at Lexington reached this valley among these mountains,
the Sons of Berkshire were on their way to the point of danger.
That is matter of history. And it is no less true, that from that
moment till the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, there was
no day, no hour, no battle fought of any consequence in that great

THE DINNER. 155

struggle for independence, where not only Massachusetts men
were not found, but where there were not found also Berkshire
men mingling in the fight.

A little incident relating to that bold and fearless attack upon
Ticonderoga, I will name to you. The Connecticut Legislature,
or some of the dauntless ones there, conceived the idea of surpri-
sing Ticonderoga, and they sent up some right men through this
region of country to hold consultation as to what plan of arrange-
ments should be fixed upon. They came here to the village of
Pittsfield, and in an old house where Willis' store now stands,
and where lived the maternal grandfather of my friend at this end
of the table, (Dr. Childs,) they held consultation, and there his
grandfather James Easton, John Brown, and other faithful men,
matured a plan of operations. Some were to go to Jericho, now
Hancock, and secure some choice spirits; and before the country
knew it, Ticonderoga had surrendered at the demand of Ethan
Allen, on an authority which they dare not question. Col. John
Brown was a citizen of this town; he went to Quebec and was
there with Benedict Arnold; while there, with his sacagious eye,
he pierced through the covering and discovered the traitor. Be-
fore he returned home some difficulty arose between them, and
Brown published him as a coward and traitor. Afterwards his
true character was developed. You know the history of John
Brown; he sleeps at Stone Arabic, where he fell in that murder-
ous attack of the Indians upon the Mohawk. And he sleeps no*
there alone; many a Berkshire Boy fell with him. From our lit
tie sister town of Lanesborough, three of her sons perished in that
bloody conflict; many a Berkshire mother's heart sunk within her
at the news of that day's work. Bennington! they were there
too; Berkshire was alive when she heard that her neighbors on
the north in the Green Mountain State were in danger, and she
poured through the gorge of the mountain beyond Williamstown,
her brave sons; and many of them were in the fight, and many
Berkshire men fell there. That same Lanesborough lost three
worthy soldiers in that battle. And so it was, as I said before,
they mingled in all the great fights, they flew to every portion of
the country where danger bade them. Out of the 69,000 soldiers
which Massachusetts furnished to that war, (and that was one-third
of the whole number, 220,000, furnished by all the States in the

156 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

American Revolution,) this, our native County, furnished her full
proportion. Berkshire men were at the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. I knew a good old man — peace to his ashes! — who
was through that whole revolutionary struggle. He was a brave
soldier and a true son of Massachusetts; and Vv^as as honest and
just in peace as he was firm and courageous in war. In that
dreadful winter, at Valley Forge, he suffered with his fellow sol-
diers. The last time I saw him, he gave me the whole history of
the battle of Yorktown. He was there during the preceding sum-
mer, and discharged many an important and confidential trust con-
fided to him by La Fayette. And I saw that good old man meet
in this village his brave and generous old commander. Fifty years
had passed since they fought together, the old man had toiled
away in his shop at Lanesboroagh, and when he heard that La
Fayette was to be here, his heart beat high with the pulsations of
youth, and he said he must see his General once more. He came
down and met him under yonder elm, and when he mentioned an
incident which served to awaken old associations, they clasped
each other and wept like children. His name is David Jewett —
a name which has never gone abroad on the wings of Fame, but he
was one of those who resembled more the corner stone of the
building which the world never sees, than he did some more orna-
mental but less important part.

And so we went through the Revolution. Well, in the last war,
(for I am now talking about the soldiers of Berkshire,) so long as
the name of the " Bloody 9th " shall endure, so long the valor of
Berkshire soldiers will be borne in mind. We have had an Indian
war in Florida, and oh! what a rich and costly sacrifice Berkshire
has offered upon that altar. Our own young Lt. Center, from this
Pittsfield, fell by a bullet from a Seminole rifle; and our Childs
spent some three or four years amidst the bogs of Florida, and al-
most fatally impaired one of the finest constitutions in the world.
During all his course in that most inglorious war, he never did an
act of unnecessary cruelty, or was guilty of perfidy towards the
hunted Indians of the Florida everglades.

It was said yesterday, my friends, and it is true, that the first Ag-
ricultural Society in the United States, was organized in Berkshire?
It is now in full and prosperous operation, and there is no class of
citizens in this County who have not reaped benefit from it; the

THE DINNER. 157

farmer, the mechanic, the laboring man, and the professional man.
Our agriculture is improved, our manufactures are fostered, our me-
chanical arts benefited, the social feelings have been cultivated
and enlarged among all our inhabitants. During the thirty-three
years of the existence of this Society, which has been a period of
political commotion and excitement unparalelled in the history of
this or any other country, there never was a time when politics in
any form have been introduced upon either of the days of our
Agricultural Fair. Though for the last forty years we have been
almost equally divided into political parties, there has been less
bitterness of feeling among partisans, and a kinder and more bro-
therly spirit among our citizens, than in almost every other sec-
tion of the country. We have shown that " every difference of
opinion is not a difference of sentiment."

Here all denominations of religion exist. Who has ever seen
among the different persuasions, more harmony and Christian good
will prevailing than in this very County of Berkshire?

I was admonished by the Committee that one part of the ar-
rangements is that speeches must be short. We should make the
best speeches in the fewest words. 1 have spoken in a desultory
manner; my heart is too full for connected thought, or studied
speech. Brothers, we have come together, (and thank Heaven
that we have lived to see this happy occasion,) to mingle our feel-
ings and rekindle our affections at this family altar. We have
come in the fulness of our joy, to talk to and of one another, to
enquire of each others' welfare, to say how Ave have fared during
our long separation. We know that our brothers from abroad
bring back good tidings of the counties where they dwell; stran-
gers have shown them kindness. Our hearts have been made glad
to hear of their prosperity in every part of this goodly land.
The south and the west have dealt kindly with them. During the
time I was honored with a seat in the House of Representatives of
the United States, I met in every Congress Berkshire men. In one
House of Representatives there were eight members v;ho were
Sons of Berkshire. Wherever her sons are found, whether in
honor or humility, they remember their good old Mother w'ith
affection. Well, here we are once more together in the old home-
stead, amidst all the joyful and endearing associations which have
been so touchingly described yesterday and to-day.

158 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

In the freshness of this gushing joy a sad reflection comes over
the mind, that this glad Jubilee will be the last that many of us
will ever witness. Of the present we are secure, and for its bless-
ings we thank Heaven around this family table. You have come,
my friends, to walk in the green meadows over which your boyish
feet once ran with the lightness of the roe, to ramble over the
pasture where once you lingered after the returning cows — to look
into the old well and see its dripping bucket, to gaze upon that old
apple tree where you gathered the early fruit, to walk on the
banks of the winding stream and stand by the silver pool over
which the willow bent and in which you bathed your young
limbs, to visit the spot where with your brothers and sisters you
gathered the ripe berries — to look upon that old school house
where you learned to read and to spell, to write and to cypher,
where sometimes you felt the stinging birch — to re-ascend that well
remembered rock upon which in mirth and play you spent so many
happy hours, to see if it looked and appeared as it used to, to
walk once more up the alley of that old church where you first
heard the revered and loved Parson preach and pray — and you
have come to visit the peaceful graveyard, to walk among its
green mounds and drop the tear of affection and friendship upon
the silent resting place of loved ones who sleep there. You have
come here to rekindle at this domestic fireside the holy feelings of
youth. To all these we bid you welcome! Welcome to these
green vallies and lofty mountains. Welcome to this feast, to our
homes, to our hearts. Welcome to every thing. Once more I
say, welcome!

I give you for a sentiment,

The County of Berkshire — She loves her institutions and
her beautiful scenery, but feeling the sentiment and borrowing the
language of the Roman mother, she points to her children and
exclaims, " These are my Jewels."

I call upon brother Bidwell, a true Son of Berkshire, for a
speech or a sentiment, or both.

THE DINNER. 159

Hon. Marshal S. Bidwell of New- York, then took the stand,
and spoke nearly as follows:

My Friends! In taking this position, in compliance with the
request of friends by whom I am surrounded, I do so chiefly for
the sake of setting a good example, which I hope may be followed
by others who shall be called upon to succeed me. I have not
come here prepared to make any speech. I have come here sim-
ply to enjoy one of the dearest wishes of my heart — that of re-
visiting, after a long absence, and with interruptions, after an ab-
sence of many, many years in a foreign land, the scenes and the
friends of my childhood. I come, 1 know, with the same senti-
ments and feelings which are experienced by the thousands around
me; and it does rejoice my heart to stand here, as His Excellency
our honored President has said, a Son of Berkshire. It is the
proudest title to which I have ever aspired, and I cannot tell you
how I have been gratified at coming back again amid these beau-
tiful hills and valleys, and this now auspicious sky, and re-breath-
ing that air, which is so well calculated to give an impulse to the
sentiments and feelings that are cherished by every one who loves
human liberty and human happiness, under a government of laws.

I have told you I have not come here to make a speech, and I
intend to verify what I have said, by simply offering in place of
it, a sentiment felt, I am persuaded, by every son and daughter of
Berkshire here present —

The scenes and friends of our childhoodl

Where is there a person whose heart does not beat quicker in
the midst of such hallowed associations. The love of our native
place is the universal law of nature. It is a law which is felt and
obeyed, even by the inanimate world. The lofty and stately palm,
which flourishes amid the burning sands of the tropics, is withered
when transplanted to the frigid zone; and the moss which dis-
plays in such beauty and such microscopic wonder the powers of
he Almighty Creator in the northern regions, cannot exist when
a'ansplanted to the midst of tropical suns. And so it is with eve-
ry order of animate nature. The eagle loves its solitary nest, be-
cause it is his native home; and all animals, even the ferocious
beasts of prey, in the deserts of Africa, love them, because they
are their native home. But how much more powerfully is this

160 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

sentiment felt by man, gifted with reason, and capable of enjoy-
ment in the highest degree of the noble and social affections! How-
does he love the scenes of his childhood! and that universally, no
matter where his lot be cast; he loves it because it is his native
place. But with how much more force, should this sentiment
be felt in our hearts, blessed with such a home, and such na-
tive scenes, and such glorious and kindling associations connect-
ed with them, when we recur to them, not because of the luxuri-
ous display of the fine arts, not because they are scenes of glory in
the estimation of the warrior, with his " garments rolled in blood,"
but because they are so beautiful and so picturesque, and because
the simple and stern virtues, have brought together such a family
as we witness here this day, where order and decorum are associa-
ted in so high a degree with social enjoyment, and with the dis-
play which we have had yesterday and to-day of intellectual
worth. I am therefore sure, my friends, when I propose this sen-
timent, it will find a ready echo, in all these bosoms around me.

One of the most gratifying things connected with this Jubilee,
is, that it has power almost (I speak it with no spirit of levity,
much less of profanity,) of working miracles. It brings back the
old forms of the lamented, who have preceded us to the world of
spirits. It raises the dead. It is not you, my friends, beloved
and honored, whom I see here, by whom alone I am surrounded.
No: there are glorious forms around me; dear and loved ones on
every side are springing up, as if by magic, in the midst of all
these scenes in which we now associate. Those who were the
friends of our childhood, the fathers whom we revered, how can
we see them again breathing as it were around us, and blessing us
for a time at least by their revered presence. Brethren, sisters,
dear friends whom we have cherished in our hearts, are here not
forgotten in our Jubilee. They cannot sit down at our table
with us, but thanks be to God, we can from the bosoms where
they have long dwelt, revive them here, and see them in all their
attraction, beauty and blessedness. I therefore conclude, Mr.
President, by repeating the sentiment.

The friends and the scenes of our childhood !
Sentiment by Drake Mills, Esq., of New-York :
Old Berkshire — Her fair fame, a passport for her sons wher-
ever they go — her principles, a guarantee of success whatever
they do.

THE DINNER. 161

The President announced that a poem Mould now be delivered
by Dr. Holmes of Boston.

Dr. Oliver W. Holmes rose in his place, but was greeted with
cries from various parts of the audience, to come to the centre of the
ground, so as to be heard by all. The President said — And I suo--
gest to the gentleman to follow the example of our good friend
who preceded him, and get upon the table, which is an advance-
ment upon former feasts, where the tendency was rather to get
tinder the table. (Cheers.)

Dr. Holmes accordingly took the table and requested to be
allowed before he opened the very brief paper in his hand, to as-
sure his friends of the reason why he had found himself here.
It shall be short, (said he,) but inasmuch as the company express
willingness to hear historical incidents, any little incident which
shall connect me with those to whom I cannot claim to be a broth-
er, seems to be fairly brought forward. I will take the liberty
to refer to one. One of my earliest recollections is of an annual
pilgrimage, made by my parents to the west. The young horse
was brought up, fatted by a week's rest and high feeding, prancing
and caracoling to the door. It came to the corner and was soon
over the western hills. He was gone a fortnight; and one after-
noon — it always seemed to me it was a sunny afternoon — we saw
an equipage crawling from the west, towards the old homestead*
the young horse who sat out fat and prancing, worn thin and re-
duced by a long journey — the chaise covered with dust, and all
speaking of a terrible crusade, a formidable pilgrimage. Winter
evening stories told me where — to Berkshire, to the borders of
New-York, to the old domain, owned so long that there seemed
a kind of hereditary love for it. Many years passed away, and I tra-
velled down the beautiful Rhine: I wished to see the equally beau-
tiful Hudson. I found myself at Albany; a few hours ride brought
me to Pittsfield, and I went to the little spot, the scene of this pil-
grimage — a mansion — and found it surrounded by a beautiful
meadow, through which the winding river made its course in ten
thousand fantastic curves; the mountains reared their heads around
it, the blue air which makes our city pale cheeks again to deepen
with the hue of health, coursing about it pure and free. I recog-
nized it as the scene of the annual pilgrimage. Since that I have
made an annual visit to it.

1G2 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

In 1735, Hon. Jacob Wendall, my grandfather in the maternal
line, bought a township not then laid out — the township of Pon-
toosuc — and that little spot which we still hold, is the relic of
24,000 acres of baronial territory. When I say this, no feeling
which can be the subject of ridicule animates my bosom. I know
too well, that the hills and rocks outlast our families; I know" we
fall upon the places we claim as the leaves of the forest fall, and
as passed the soil from the hands of the original occupants into
the hands of my immediate ancestors, I know it must pass from
me and mine; and yet wiih pleasure and pride I feel 1 can take
every inhabitant by the hand, and say, if I am not a son, or a
grandson, or even a nephew^ of that fair County, at least I am
allied to it by an hereditary relation. But I have no right to in-
dulge in sentimental remarks. (Cries of " go on, go on.")

Dr. Holmes read the poem as follows, which was received with
continued and hearty cheers.

Come back to your Mother, ye children, for shame,
Who have wandered like truants, for riches or fame!
With a smile on her face and a sprig on her cap,
She calls you to feast from her bountiful lap.

Come out from your alleys, your courts and your lanes,
And breathe, like young eagles, the air of our plains:
Take a whiff from our fields, and your excellent wives
Will declare it's all nonsense insuring your lives.

Come you of the law, w^ho can talk if you please,
Till the man in the moon will allow it's a cheese,
And leave " the old lady, that never tells lies,"
To sleep with her handkerchief over her eyes.

Ye healers of men, for a moment decline

Your feats in the rhubarb and ipecac line;

While you shut up your turnpike, your neighbors can go,

The old roundabout road to the regions below.

You clerk, on whose ears are a couple of pens,
And whose head is an ant-hill of units and tens;
Though Plato denies you, we welcome you still
As a featherless biped, in spite of your quill.

THE DINNER. 163

Poor drudge of the city, how happy he feels

With the burs on his legs, and the grass at his heels;

No dodger behind, his bandanas to share,

No constable grumbling " You mus'nt walk there."

In yonder green meadow, to memory dear,

He slaps a musketo and brushes a tearj

The dew-drops hang round him, on blossoms and shoots,

He breathes but one sigh for his youth and his boots.

There stands the old school-house, hard by the old church-
That tree at its side had the flavor of birch;
Oh sweet were the days of his juvenile tricks.
Though the prairie of youth had so many " big licks."

By the side of yon river he weeps and he slumps.
The boots filled with water, as if they were pumps;
Till sated with rapture, he steals to his bed.
With a glow in his heart and a cold in his head.

'Tis past — he is dreaming — I see him again;
His ledger returns as by legerdemain;
His neck-cloth is damp, with an easterly flaw.
And he holds in his fingers an omnibus straw.

He dreams the shrill gust is a blossomy gale,
That the straw is a rose from his dear native vale;
And murmurs, unconscious of space and of time,
"A. 1. Extra-super — Ah, is'nt it prime!"

Oh! what are the prizes we perish to win.

To the first little " shiner" we caught with a pin!

No soil upon earth is as dear to our eyes

As the soil we first stirred in terrestrial pies!

Then come from all parties, and parts, to our feast.
Though not at the " Astor," we'll give you at least
A bite at an apple, a seat on the grass.
And the best of cold — water — at nothing a glass.

164 BEKKSHliiE JUBILEE.

Judge Dewey was introduced to the meeting, and said —

Mr. President, Gentlemen and Ladies — I come from the
eastern portion of the circle represented here, in obedience to a
notice which has been circulated by the gentlemen originally, as I
understand, from the city of New-York; and the first thing that
occurred to me, was how it happened gentlemen from New-York
were coming here to take possession of this fair soil of ours. Sure-
ly, gentlemen, the time was, when such an array of enemy, official
or unofficial, coming into this fair valley of the Housatonic by vir-
tue of their rights under the Dutch, would not have been tolera-
ted: and the only reason "why we are now satisfied is, that * *

Come to scrutinize these names a little closely, I found them
all kin of ours, come here not to drive us from this plain posses-
sion of ours, but as friends to take us by the hand — and as friends
we take them by the hand. I am grateful for the invitation; I
think it was done up in the best manner. I have received for the
coming week, the 28th August, in the town of Framingham, a no-
tice wherein are requested all the descendants of one Richard Ha-
ven to a general gathering, and in this invitation are included all
the descendants in any way connected with him by marriage, and
all who ever expected to be! (Laughter.) Now, my friends from
New^-York, you have not done this thing well ! here you find an
improvement upon you. (Laughter.) Judge Dewey stated that
he was not a native of Berkshire, but of Hampshire; but alluding
to the fact that in 1761, the former was a part of the latter County,
and that he had spent so large a portion of his life here, said he
felt that he was a native of Berkshire.

This is a joyous occasion, (said he,) a happy family, and it is de-
lio-htful to come here from all parts of our common country and
mino-le together, and take by the hand the friends of our early
days, and here again to pledge anew our devotion to their inter-
ests and to the common interests of our common country. To
this County my early associations have ever closely and warm-
ly attached; from this County I have received much to fill my
heart with gratitude, and I always turn to it as to the happy spot
on which I would rest my eyes as the last resting place of those
friends of my early days, near and dear to me, who have gone be-
fore me. On the present occasion we come back glorying, not in

THE DINNER, 165

the spirit of vain boasting, I hope, but glorying when we see how
great have been the productions of this County of every kind, whe-
ther in agriculture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, and in intel-
lectual acquisitions. In the learned professions we turn with
proud satisfaction to Berkshire, and find we have sent forth more,
far more than our adequate proportion of the population of this
country.

Permit me, Mr. President, for a moment to refer to what Berk-
shire has done in relation to filling judicial stations. You have
furnished, are you aware of if? a Judge for Pennsylvania, long ho-
nored and respected there, and now in office; a Judge for Michigan;
a Chief Justice for New-York, and one for Queen's Bench at Mon-
treal. We have furnished those who have occupied seats in Con-
gress to a very great number, as was mentioned by our honored
President, eight at one time. There are no less than five from
Williamstown, native and reared in our town, who have been ho-
nored by this public station before the country, and who have sus-
tained themselves ably and faithfully.

You have not only those great natural objects and the endear-
ing associations connected with them in which you may glory, but
you may glory in these inhabitants. Look at the interest they
have in schools, in colleges, in the great works of improvement,
and at the zeal and devotion with which they labor for the good
of mankind. When I look at all these things, I come back here
with pleasure to acknowledge that this is the County in which, not
where I drew my native breath, but where I received my early edu-
cation and principles, and whatever may have fitted me for use-
fulness in the station I now occupy; and I have only time now to
say to you that my ardent prayer is, that rich as this County is in
the beauty of its scenery, in the variety and value of its natural
productions, in its mechanic arts, in its agriculture and manufac-
tures, long may it be rich in the love of civil and religious liberty,
long may here endure the great principles which we have derived
from our Puritan fathers, purifying and protecting us to the latest
generations.

166 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Sentiment by Thos. Allen, of St. Louis, Mo.:

The Natives of Berkshire —

" They love their land, because it is their own,
And scorn to give aught other reason why;
Would shake hands with a king upon his throne,

And think it kindness to his majesty;
A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none."

Hon. John Mills.

Mr. President — The Sons of Berkshire who hail from my
native place, the town of Sandisfield, have conferred upon me
the honor of saying a few words in their name on this occasion.

That town cannot boast of its fertile and extended vallies, like
those through which meanders the beautiful Housatonic, nor has
it any thing so grand and imposing in its scenery, as to excite the
special admiration of the passing stranger. It has enough, however,
of natural scenery, of mountain, stream and valley, to be kept in
lively recollection by all, who in their early years " run upon its
hills, or waded in its mountain streams from morning sun till dine."
In reference to those now resident there, I shall suppress all feel-
ings of personal friendship, and only say, that we claim for them
an intelligence and moral worth equal to that which distinguishes
the population of the other portions of your County. The emi-
grants from that town are numerous, and are dispersed through
most of the States of the Union. Most of them are engaged in
agriculture — many of them have " names well known on change "
as enterprising and successful merchants — a few only, are of the
legal or medical profession, but a large number are clergymen —
all of respectable, and some of them of high standing in their pro-
fession.

We all feel, Mr. President, that " it is good for us to be here."
Pleasant has been the interchange of civilities and congratulations.
Pleasant the participation in the refined hospitality of the citizens
of this delightful village. But a more enduring good will result
from this meeting. Our good resolutions are here strengthened
and confirmed, and we shall return to our respective homes and
stations in society, stimulated with the firm resolve, that whatever
influence we possess shall be devoted to promote and advance the
best interests of the community in which we reside.

THE DINNER. 167

If ever there can be a public occasion, when the undisguised
language of the heart should be freely uttered and kindly receiv-
ed, this surely may be regarded as such. As one of the members
congregated around the family hearth, I will not fear that the
indulgence I may give to my thoughts will here encounter either
ridicule or frigid criticism. Electing you, sir, and this respectable
audience ray confessors on the occasion, I intend, therefore, in all
that relates to Berkshire or Sandisfield, connected with my own
feelings, to " make a clean breast of it."

We all feel love for our common country — a stronger attach-
ment for our native State and County, and stronger still for the
particular locality where we were born. But it is not, I believe,
till life is considerably advanced, that we feel any particular soli-
citude as to the place where it may terminate; and I doubt whe-
ther those who have the good fortune to spend their days where
they were born, are conscious of the true cause that gives the
charm to that locality. If there be in this village one who was
here born, and has here passed his days, — one who has survived
the friends and companions of his youth, he will tell you, that the
remnant of life can more happily be spent here than elsewhere,
and would probably assign as the reason, that here are the graves
of his fathers, and here too he desires to make his own. But re-
move him permanently to some other section of the country, and
he would soon be sensible of another cause for this local prefer-
ence. The place to which which we may suppose him removed,
might have charms, if possible, superior to your village. From
his window or in his walks, the most delightful scenery should
be presented to his view, and he should be able fully to appreciate
its beauties; still there would be something wanting — the eye
would no where rest on certain well known objects of inanimate
nature, intimately entwined with his earliest iijppressions. " Where,
(he would exclaim,) where is the great ehn around whose trunk,
and in the shade of whose branches I gamboled with my youthful
companions sixty years ago ? Where the beautiful curve-crested
mountain range in the west 1 The higher elevation at the north,
and those in the east 1 Elevations on which I gazed with admir-
ing wonder before my tongue was able to articulate their names.
Elevations, the view and contemplation of which gave the first
impress of grandeur and sublimity to my imagination." Such

168 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

won Id be the language of his heart, and could you place the Alps
or the Pyrenees in position most favorable for effect upon his vision,
they would be inadequate substitutes for those I have named, —
" the form and size" of which, with their garniture of light and
shade, would be blended with, and in fact constitute a part of his
moral existence.

May I be indulged in bringing the subject home to myself ?

It is now more than thirty years since I left my native town.
Driven out — mercifully driven out by " poverty like a strong man
armed," to seek my fortunes elsewhere. Of my sojourn, it is
sufficient for my present purpose to say, that for the last eight
years my home has been in a pleasant town on the banks of the
Connecticut. If during the first twenty-five years of the period
named, it had at any time been proposed that I should return to
Sandisfield, and there spend the residue of my days, the pro-
position would have been extremely repugnant to my inclination.
But recently a change in that respect has " come over the spirit
of my dream." Now it is, that when I go upon the elevations
east of our village, and stop to admire, as I always do, the beau-
tiful panorama spread before me, embracing the Connecticut and
the valley of the Agawam also, and my imagination aiding my
natural vision, gives me a view of the towns, and villages, and
cities on either side that river, from its source to its mouth, I can-
not but feel grateful and happy that my lot is cast in that delight-
ful valley. And yet sir, I never leave the spot without turning
my eyes to the mountain range constituting the boundary between
Berkshire and Hampden, and reflecting with no ordinary emotion,
that further to the west, on the same mountain range, is the place
of my nativity. It may appear strange, that one thus situated,
who, as his wants are few and limited, has nothing to desire but
that the residue of his days may be as happy as those that are
past, should be willing to make his home in a place where winter
never fails to " linger in the lap of spring." But, sir, it is in the
season when " w^inter holds her undisputed reign," that the feel-
ings I am endeavoring to describe, return upon me most forcibly.
I have no difficulty, Mr. President, in accounting for that strong
attachment w-hich the Laplander is said to manifest for his coun-
try, although it has apparently nothing to recommend it but its
fields of ice and mountains of snow. For who that was born and

THE DINNER. 169

bred upon the mountains, can efface from his memory, or would
do so were it possible, the impressions of awe and sublimity-
produced by witnessing the progress or listening to the raving
snow storms of winter ? Hence it is, that in a winter's night,
when the tempest which sweeps with wild fury over the western
mountains, descends upon our valley with mitigated violence,
my thoughts wander up those mountains " to the scenes and the
home of my childhood." Then follow the reminiscences of the
first twenty years of my existence, with the vivid impressions of
" time, place and circumstance." These, clustering thick and fast
upon the memory, invariably excite the desire, that as life there
commenced, there too should be the scene of its termination.

But I will pursue this train of thought no further, as it may not
meet the slightest response from any other heart. Yet I fancy,
that when my younger friends, now eager in the pursuit of the
glittering objects before them, shall in a few years more relinquish
the chase as hopeless or vain, or having grasped the objects de-
sired, find them but ashes or bubbles, and when their thoughts shall
be turned into the channel of retrospection, they may then find,
springing up in their own bosoms, feelings similar to those I have
attempted to delineate. ^

In conclusion, may I venture to give a word of advice to oiir
friends who are permanent residents in the County?

My friends, be happy and contented where you are, and not se-
ver the connection with your native or adopted County, without
strong and imperative necessity for the act. Dream not of remov-
ing to the west, or to any other point of the compass, nor listen
for a moment to those occasional whisperings of avarice, that by
disposing of your possessions here, and purchasing lands in the
new states or territories, you will promote the interests of your
children.

In regard to the great responsibilities resting upon you, as per-
manent citizens of the County, nothing need be said, as the prese7it
and the past give reasonable assurance for ihefiiture. The moral
influence of your example we doubt not will so lell upon the pre-
sent, and indirectly upon succeeding generations, that when our
descendants, soon to be scattered over this vast country, shall here-
after visit these pleasant vallies, and the no less delightful hills
and mountains of Berkshire, they may be welcomed theii, as we
are now, by an intelligent, moral and happy community.

170 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Sentiment by C. B. Gold, of Buffalo —

A kind remembrance of the Sons and Daughters of Berkshire,
providentially detained from our Jubilee.

Sentiment by Reuel Smith, of New-York —

Old Berkshire — With her green hills and smiling vallies —
Distinguished alike for her free and liberal institutions, her intel-
ligent, free and independent citizens — Her Pilgrim Sons have
abundant cause to rise up and call her blessed,

Theodore Sedgwick, Esq., of New-York, was called on by the
President, and rose in his place, but numerous and urgent calls
brought him to the table in the centre.

This, for a free country, (said he,) is what I call rather despotic,
not only to insist that a man shall talk, but to assign even the
place which he shall occupy. I had really hoped, where there
are so many refulgent luminaries, to be permitted to twinkle in ob-
scurity; but although I had not very well considered the subject,
a man must have in his bosom, not a heart, but an iceberg, if he
finds nothing to ulter on an occasion like this. This seems very
much more than a Berkshire Jubilee — great as it would be in that
respect. This body of men are but a delegation of that vast fami-
ly which New England has sent forth to people the west, em-
blematic of that more than royal progress which the sons of New
England are makins; now towards the Pacific. These representa-
tives here of other lands, of other portions of our country — we
mio-ht call on them to tell how they have fulfilled the trust re-
posed in them — whether they have preserved those great princi-
ples of order, law, and civilization which came in the sacred cas-
ket of the May Flower. Mr. President, you no doubt are as firm
a foe to any hereditary privileges, as I can be. You, no doubt,
agree with the poet, when he says,

" Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere,

From yon blue heaven above us bent,
The gardener Adam, and his wife.
Smile at the claims of long descent."

But, no doubt, you are enough of a farmer to believe in the
value of stock — in the value of breed, and you are no true son of

THE DINNER. 171

Massachusetts, if you do not prize as you ought the breed to which
you belong. I am not a son of this County. Dear as my attach-
ment to it isj happy and proud as I am always among those who
are so well called " The mountain men of Berkshire," by what
Lord Thurlow calls " the accident of an accident," I was born
among the Xnickerbockers — at that great city rising with so much
rapidity at the mouth of the Hudson. I hope then to be allowed,
(and under these circumstances I hope to have the credit of im-
partiality,) to say a very few words concerning what this Country
owes to Massachusetts, and to her Capital. Here, standing upon
this soil, among a people happy, more happy perchance than them-
selves are aware, in that blessed equality upon which all our insti-
tutions rest — here, the idea of a Republic is safe, guarded by re-
ligion, by law, and by that same equality. While, sir, the people
of New England remain, while their institutions last, our liberty
and our Union are as firm as Saddle Mountain. And how much
do we all owe to that great Capital at the end of the State, which
seems in some extraordinary manner to have preserved the purity
of country morals; whose merchants, far above the merchant prin-
ces, not only support their own institutions with unrivalled mag-
nificence, but lend their money with a gallantry belonging to ano-
ther profession, to other enterprises. This rail-road, of which you
have just heard the whistle, and which, in the vastness of the na-
tural impediments surmounted, is superior to any of the similar
works of New England — this rail-road, owes its existence to the
gallant liberality of the merchants of Boston. That little city,
third or fourth in size, possesses institutions which stand with-
out a rival in the country. After a further reference to the
enterprise, and to the intellectual and moral advancement of the
citizens of Boston, Mr. Sedgwick remarked, that he was aware he
had spoken of New England in somewhat a peculiar position, he
knew he was before the eyes, almost under the eye, he might
say, of one of the most intelligent sons of Old England, (Mr.
Macready.) He had also in his eye a formidable Dutchman, (Mr.
Colden,) in whose bosom he somewhat feared there might be some
rankling at the praises he had attempted to bestow upon New
England. He was aware that he had been so inadequate in the
treatment of his theme, tjiat his audience wo:. Id need to excuse
him, and he therefore gave:

172 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

The stock of New England — It is the stock of Old Englandj
their virtue, their intelligence, with equality added.

The President remarked that as this family intended fair play,
and as the gentleman who had last spoken had alluded to the gen-
tleman from Old England, (Mr. Macready,) they would be glad to
hear from him in his own defence.

Mr. Macready then came forward and took his place upon the
stand, and spoke as follows:

Mr. President and Gentlemen — I could almost say brothers,
though not of Berkshire — for I can assure you the heart of an Eng-
lishman — of those who carry with them intelligence and proper
feelings, beats as warmly towards their kindred, towards this coun-
try, and towards its institutions, as the best American could possi-
bly desire. I am taken wholly unawares. The delight I have
felt in all I have seen in making, I may say, the circuit of your
beautiful and great country, has brought me here to see at a social
meeting, that spirit carried out which I have viewed through your
institutions, forensic and commercial. I really cannot pretend to
make a speech to you. I will only in reference to the feelings of
brotherhood, which, believe me, exist in the bosoms of English-
men, (and I would that I had the power of eloquence to dispos-
sess from those minds who doubt it, the idea of anything hostile
existing in England towards the prosperity and growth of this coun-
try,) if you will allow me, recite in place of the few unconnect-
ed, and perhaps almost unintelligible words I might utter, a very
short poem which will express to you what I myself feel in com-
mon with so many of my own countrymen. It is a little fable,
and though of Eastern, of Arabian origin, it speaks to the hearts
of many — I hope of all —

Abon Bed Adhem, (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room.
Making it rich and like a lily in bloom.
An Angel writing in a book of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
" What writest thou V The vision raised his head,

THE DINNER. 173

And in a voice made all of sweet accord,

Answered, " The names of those who love the Lord !"

" And is mine one f said Ben Adhem. " Nay, not so,"

Replied the Angel. Abon spoke more low,

.But cheerly still; "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

The Angel rose and vanished. The next night

He came again, with a great weakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blest;

And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!*

Mr. CoLDEN, of New- York, being next called upon by the Pre-
sident, expressed the happiness with which he should respond to
the appeal that Jiad been made by his friend, (Mr. Sedgwick,) but
asked to be excused on account of a hoarseness, which he said
rendered it impossible to do justice to his own feelings, or to the
occasion. If, however, he might be permitted to express one sen-
timent before he sat down, it would be: The patrimony which you
are now in possession of, is one which I, as a descendant of the
Dutch, believe I have a rightful claim to. I hope and I trust,
from what I have for these two days seen, from what I have seen
before, and from what 1 feel, from what my friend on my right
has felt, and from what every witness of this brilliant, this soul-
cheering spectacle must feel — that it is impossible that the patri-
mony of the Dutch can degenerate in the hands of the Berkshire
breed.

Without attempting any farther expression of my feelings, I
give you the toast which I received this morning from a gentle-
man in Stockbridge, and which I was deputed to deliver to this
meeting —

The banks and braes and bonny Briggs of Berkshire.

• The Committee have received divers hints and criticisms as to the Theology of
this beautiful piece of poetry, as well as a multitude of good advice in relation to
what should or should not be inserted in this book. As to the objection — that this
fable makes the love of men of as much value as love to the Supreme God, — we feel
its full force; and while we would not, of course, send men to Leigh Hunt to study
Theology, yet surely we may admire what is beautiful, and not contract Berkshire
hospitality by excluding that which made a real and an admired part of the occasion.
Then as to the matter inserted or excluded from this work, few can have any idea of
the difficulties attending the compilation. They have only to say, that all things con-
sidered, they have done the best they could, and if their readers do not admire their
judgment, it is hoped they will their decision.

174: BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Sentiment by Dr. Goodrich, of Brooklyn, N. Y. —

Old Berkshire — Our honored Mother; while she welcomes
us, Ave will embrace her; while she cherishes, we will love her;
and this day's welcome and this day's joyousness, shall but rivet
the chain that binds us to her forever.

Sentiment by President Humphrey, of Amherst College —

Berkshire — A good County to go from; but a better one to
return to.

Sentiment by Josiah Quincy, Esq., of New Hampshire —

The Children of Berkshire resident in the Granite State,
TO THE home and FRIENDS OF THEIR EARLY DAYS — From the stern-
ness and sublimity of their mountain fastnesses, they turn with
new delight to the softer scenery and more fertile vallies of their
birth place, thank God for its faithful hearts, and pray that its
household fires may burn on brightly forever.

David D. Field, Esq., of New-York, w^as called upon and
addressed the meeting.

Mr. President and Friends — I did not come here, I assure
you, expecting to be called upon to make a speech, and I am
not prepared to make a speech. I can only say to you a few
words from the fulness of my heart. When we came here this
morning — indeed when we arrived yesterday, I believe all felt
that if it rained it would be a great misfortune — that a cloudy
day would not do for the Berkshire Jubilee. Well, it came with
clouds, but there was not a cloud upon our hearts: it has all been
sunshine there. We have been into it, and now that you have
been greeted by Berkshire, the sky has cleared away, and the sun
has come out upon the old hills as bright as you ever saw it in
your boyhood. Can you ask for morel Why should w^e be
afraid of clouds? Do we not know — those of us w^ho were edu-
cated here, how often w^e have trudged to school and from school
through storm, and wind, and sleet, and snow. Well, we w^ent
on, and did not regard it; we got home, and found a cheerful fire-
side; w^e found the next day bright, and went on our w^ay rejoic-

THE DINNER. 175

ing. So it has been with us here, and so, I trust, it will always
be. ,?. Those clouds have gone; those of you who are from a dis-
tance, and who have not yet seen your old County, will see it
soon in its freshest and most gorgeous beauties. The clouds are
rising from the valley, and before the morrow they will pass from
the mountain, and you will see those mountain tops in all their old
beauty, as they greeted you in your early days. My friends, look
about you, see what you have — what you have come to enjoy.
How much is there changed! The great features of nature are
here so much more enduring than any thing man can make, that
notwithstanding man has been at work here for a hundred years,
nature remains the same, and the great features of the County are
not changed. If the old missionary who came first into this val-
ley, one hundred and seventeen years ago, could now look into it,
he would know the spot from the old landmarks which nature has
made, and which man cannot obliterate.

As I have before remarked, I desire to present you wdth a sen-
timent, and a sentiment to which I beg leave to make a few pre-
paratory remarks. I have often thought it was a peculiar privi-
lege of those who had gone from Berkshire, to have gone young
men. It has so happened — happened from the features of the
County, from our own position, that most of us who emigrated
from this County, went away in early manhood. This I conceive
to have been a great advantage. I conceive it gives us not only
familiarity with this most excellent scenery, but it gives us the
impression which we could not have got in many other parts of
the country, of the sort of society which is peculiarly the product
of American institutions. If I were to point out to a foreigner
any where in this country, an example of a community whose so-
cial law and beauty were what I should say should be the produc-
tion of American institutions, I should point out the County of
Berkshire. It is around us — it is at our feet — it is the spectacle of
that social equality without rudeness, accompanied by refinement
such as I apprehend few parts of this country can show.

Fellow-citizens — young men living in such a community, with
such influences of scenery and of social law — can it be otherwise
than that all of us should have gone away, deeply impressed with
the scenes which we have left, and that we should carry them
with us as long as our hearts continue to beat? Yes, you may

176 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

take the prattling boy in the earliest years of his life — take him
from your mountains and send him where you please, send him to
the sunny south, send him to the farthest mountain, to the circle
of civilization, plant him in the most remote island, and I will
undertake to say, that ever, so long as he lives, will he cherish
among the first recollections of his heart, what he remembers of
his natal soil, and the circumstances of his boyhood. Yes : and if
nature retains her own, he will totter to his grave with the recol-
lection fastened upon him of what he has seen and known here —
and if ever there come more serious moments over him, he will
recollect

" the old mansion, and the accustomed hall,

And the remembered chambers, and the place,
The day, the hour, the sunshine, and the shade,
All things pertaining to that place, and hour,"

and he will go down to the grave with little upon his heart so
deeply engraved as the recollection of his early life in the valley
of the Housatonic.

My friends, I have said already more than I intended, and there-
fore I will sit down with offering you my sentiment, only observ-
ing that we come back — those of us who have gone out in exile,
to look upon that which our eyes behold, and which many of us
thought we should never behold again — we come back with feel-
ino-s partly of joy, and partly of sorrow, for there are sad recol-
lections as well as joyous ones. The air, methinks, whispers the
voice of our kindred, and their spirit seems to beam upon us in
the holy light of these hills. My friends, I offer you this senti-
ment —

The Children of Berkshire — They have only to be steadfast
in the principles into which they were born. (Cheers.)

Professor Dewey, of Rochester, N. Y.
I rise, Mr. President, as a son of Berkshire, a descendant of the
earliest settlers of the County. I have been imbued from my ear-
liest days with the principles of our Puritan ancestors. I was
taught to honor by my works, our lineage. When the children
of the family, with which it is my honor to have become connected,
heard the call for the Sons and Daughters of Berkshire, to return

THE DINNER. 177

and keep with you the Jubilee, they began by their action to prove
that they still love the scenes of their earlier days, these moun-
tains and vallies; and these ten children, with their parents, have
met on this Jubilee, and w^ith their husbands and wives, to greet
you to-day.

Of those who have gone out from your County, Mr. President,
there are two classes. The first emigrated in their childhood or
youth, and have made their homes in other lands. They come
back to enjoy the luxuriance of your County in the homes of their
fathers; but, if it is natural for men to be attached to their honies^
as has been so often asserted, their attachments are in other val-
lies, beside other streams, and amid other scenery. They return
to rejoice w^ith you on this occasion, but with very different feel-
ings from those who emigrated in the middle of life. These form
the second class; and w^hile they may have found themselves hap-
pily surrounded with new friends, they look on these hills and
vallies as their home^ and as having become in their eyes more
beautiful than ever before. Here they were educated to the admi-
ration of this mountain scenery; here their tastes and views were
formed. As they have seen some slow meandering stream makinp-
its dull way along the plain, they have said, as I heard a true
daughter of Berkshire far in the west say, as she looked on such a
rivulet, and thought of her home in these hills, this is not the
streamlet^ such are not the stones and pebbles of JVew England.
Yes, sir, these emigrants love their old home more than ever, and
some of them perhaps hope to return under some fortunate change
of circumstances, and place themselves again in this land of their
nativity. Is it true that it is natural for men to love their homes'?
and is this the case with the men of England, of France, of Switz-
erland, and even of Lapland? There is something besides scenery
and place, which lies at the foundation of this love. It is not the
place of our birth, its mountains, rivers, external scenery. Much
as I have loved, and still love, all these scenes, so splendidly pre-
sented before us, I ask, sir, is it these that have made New Eng-
land what she is — that have made Berkshire what she is — that
have spread over the land such a noble people? Go to the Ply-
mouth Rock and look at those Pilgrim Fathers: did they not bring
in the May Flower all that has ennobled our land, before they had
seen these hills and vallies — those elements, which have made

178 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

our fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, wives and husbands,
the glory of our land? The physical system may be hardened and
strengthened by the influence of scenery and climate, but there
must be a mightier power, a more potent principle to operate, or
you can never make ?nen, never can make JVew England me7i, can
never make such sons and daughters as are the glory of Berkshire.
But give to a man the elements of knowledge of himself — let
him know that he has a mind and heart and soul — that he has
been created to equal rights and privileges with his fellows; let
him know and feel his responsibility to God and man — instil in-
to him moral and civil and religious principles — and you have
the elements of freedom and greatness. These elements, if they
can find room to expand, will ennoble man everywhere.

What mountain scenery made Franklin what he was ? or made
Washington the " Father of his country ?" What mountain air
inspired the spirit of Patrick Henry 1 Passing still farther to the
sunny south, the Marions, the Sumpters, and the thousand names
dear and glorious, possessed of the spirit of New England in their
day, not originated by mountains and lakes and streams, but based
on principles purer and more glorious. These it is, that distin-
guished New England — that distinguished the Sons of this Coun-
ty, and these are the elements which are to be preserved and ex-
panded and extended, till they shall have free course over the
land and xhe world. While politicians foretell disunion and
change of government, and all the consequences they delight to
portray when their own party shall not be predominant in the
land; my common sense enquires, what other government than that
of freemen could exist in New England, and probably over our
land ? We 7nust be republicans. Possessed of equal rights as we
are, we can be no other; and more mighty must be that scourge of
God w^hich must pass over our land, than has ever swept over any
people, before any other government — before any other principles
than those in which we have been cradled, which we celebrate to-
day, and which are our glory, can prevail among us. Washing-
ton ! he could not but have been a patriot, when he had once en-
tered on the career of liberty. The glitter of a crown must have
been spurned. The country was too full of noble spirits. Could
he have removed those around him, the whole country, hill and

THE DINNER. 179

dale, would have teemed with myriads more. The principles of
our Puritan Fathers had become the life-blood of the land.

It is one of the early and late corruptions of our religion, Mr,
President, to maintain that man is man only by divine rightj that
it is the jus divinum that makes kings and nobility, and fastens
upon the necks of the people the yoke which presses upon them.
Now the great principle which we have been carrying out in all
our free institutions is, that the jus divinum makes every man by
nature a freeman, and endows him with the inalienable rights of
life, liberty, and the»pursuit of happiness. Let this divine right
be maintained and extended, and the glory which rests upon us
will roll onward, westward and eastward, northward and south-
ward, over our world, and the world will be blest. Long before
another .Jubilee shall come, I shall have passed to the grave; and
the desire of my heart, which I now leave with you, is, that of
the thousands which greet us to-day, each one may find himself,
as God calls him from these loved scenes, passing away to a home
in a brighter and better world.

A song was here sung by several young men, with preat power
and appropriate expression —

Far away, o'er the mountains,

Far away, o'er the mountains, ^

Far away, o'er the mountains.

From our own pleasant home;
Drawn by ties which never
Aught on earth can sever.
Binding closer ever,

To old Berkshire we have come.

Long time ago we parted.
In life we had just started,
Young, strong, and ruddy-hearted.

From our old Berkshire home;
Every one a brother,
Son's of one kind mother.
Ne'er was such another.

Now to greet her we have come.

180 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Aye true to our relation,
Through the whole of the nationy
We've follow'd our vocation,

And we now homeward come;
Over lands and oceans,
Pedling Yankee notions,
Morals, law, and lotions,

Of our ancient Berkshire home.

Oft fortune was untoward, ,
Oft darkest storms have lowered,
But we have never cowered.

True sons of Berkshire home;
Evil ever chiding.
Over trouble striding,
By our faith abiding.

Welcome us, as back we come.

Then earnest be our greeting!
Then pleasant be our meeting !
For though old time is fleeting,

And distant we must roam;
For all stormy weather,
, Courage we must gather.
Since we are together.

In our ancient Berkshire home.

Now three cheers altogether,
Shout Berkshire's children ever,
Yankee hearts none can sever.

In old '^Massachusetts Bay;"
Like our sires before us.
We will swell the chorus,
Till the Heavens o'er us
Shall rebound the loud huzza,

Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah.

The President next read the following tribute to the memory of
Dr. Channing, by a lady of Berkshire :

It is a circumstance in the history of Berkshire, which should

THE DINNER. 181

not be forgotten on this occasion, that one of the best and greatest
men our country has produced, spent the last months of his life
here, and that he delivered to a Berkshire audience his last public
address. Our climate and our beautiful scenery contributed great-
ly to his health, and to his enjoyment. He loved our hills and
rallies, our streams and lakes. Their beauty gladdened his
soul, and helped to swell the anthem which it sent up perpetually
to the Creator, not altogether in secret, for its music was written
on his countenance. He rejoiced greatly in the thrift, the well-
being, moral and physical, of our people. To him every man
was a indeed a brother, and to Berkshire men and Berkshire wo-
men, he had that nearer feeling which residence gives toward a
people among whom one's lot is cast even for a short period. It
was his own proposal to deliver an address in Lenox, upon the
first of August, 1842. He thought it fitting to commemorate that
anniversary, and he believed that the voice of rejoicing over the
proclamation of freedom to the captive, would find an echo among
our hills. No one w^ho heard him will forget that day, that bright
clear day, and the pleasant assembling together of a people who
appreciated the occasion and the man; whose eyes were fastened
with delight from the beginning to the end of a long discourse,
upon that countenance so full of the inspiration of faith, hope and
charity; whose ears drank in every tone of that voice, uttering
what proved to be its death-song, in strains as earnest, eloquent
and touching, as if he had known it to be his last. " It is finish-
ed," might aptly have been its concluding words; it was the last
beautiful act of a most beautiful and useful public life — and the
last utterance of all, was an invocation for the coming of that
kingdom, the spread of which the speaker had so faithfully labored
to promote.

There is one passage in that discourse, which the people of
Berkshire should often recal. It is as follows: " Men of Berk-
shire! w^hose nerves and souls the mountain air has braced, you
surely will respond to him who speaks of the blessings of freedom,
and the misery of bondage. I feel as if the feeble voice w^hich
now addresses you, must find an echo in these forest-crowned
heights. Do they not impart something of their own power and
loftiness to men's souls'? Should our Commonwealth ever be in^
vaded by victorious armies, Freedom's last asylum would be here.

182 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Here may a free spirit, may reverence for all human rights, may
sympathy for all the oppressed, may a stern, solemn purpose, to
give no sanction to oppression, take stronger and stronger posses-
sion of men's minds, and from these mountains may generous im-
pulses spread far and wide!" God grant that this appeal, made
by a voice nov^^ hushed in death, may meet a perpetual response in
the hearts of our people, from generation to generation, while
time shall endure! May they not be satisfied with the distinction
of being natives of Berkshire, but strive in whatever clime, under
whatever circumstances they may be placed, to wear always the
Berkshire badge — Industry, Uprightness, Humanity.

Allow me, Mr. President, to propose the following sentiment —

The Memory of Dr. Channing — May the Sons of Berkshire
never be found wanting, when weighed in the balance which he
so trustingly held up for them.

Sentiment by the Rev. J. C. Brigham, D.D., of New-York —

In this County, I am happy to say, I was born, and here receiv-
ed my collegiate education. Since entering professional life, cir-
cumstances have led me to visit in person all the States of our Union,
with two exceptions, as well as the several Spanish Republics, and
three of the kingdoms of the old world. Wherever I have gone
it has been my aim to enquire as to the comforts, habits, intelli-
gence, morals, temporal and future prospects of my fellow men.
As a commentary on the whole, I am prepared to offer with great
sincerity, the following sentiment —

Berkshire of the Bay State — Take it all in all, there is no
better place in which to be born, to live, and to die.

Sentiment by Hon. Timothy Childs, of Rochester, N. Y. —

Mr. President — I do not rise to discharge the duty assigned to
me in the order of exercises; the day is too far spent, there are too
many here who desire to relieve, by a few words, their full hearts
to allow me to do more than to give a sentiment. This meeting
is one of deep interest; it cannot, I think, but be one of lasting
good. We have heard recounted the deeds, the virtues, the suf-
ferings of our Fathers, we have looked again upon the scenery of

THE DINNER. 183

our native homes, we have revived all the joyous associations of
childhood and youth, and the effect must be good, and only good.
Whatever of virtuous purpose or principle may have attended us
in our emigration, must receive new vigor from the events of this
day. We all feel that the example of the Fathers of Berkshire
rests upon their children, with the solemnity of a religious obliga-
tion; we all feel at this moment that it would be criminal to dis-
honor their history; and now that we are about to pronounce the
words of parting, and turn our faces to our distant homes, let us
carry with us, deeply engraved on our minds, this sentiment —

The Emigrant of Berkshire — Wherever may be his lot, or
whatever its duties, let him never forget ithat he cannot be de-
linquent without being degenerate.

Sentiment by Dr. L. A. Smith of Newark, N. J. —

Our friends who are not with us on this occasion —

" Absent or dead, still let a friend be dear ;
A sigh the absent claim, the dead a tear."

Sentiment to the memory of the late Dr. Hyde, of Lee, by W.
P. Palmer —

Saint! in thy loss we learn this blessed lore

That not to breathe, is not to be no more!

Oh no; to those whose days like thine have passed

In self denying kindness to the last.

Remains, unfading with the final breath,

A green and sweet vitality in death!

Sentiment by Silas Metcalf, Esq., of Kinderhook, N. Y.

"The Yankees and the Dutch — The Western Rail-road has
broken down the distinction of caste, — the commingling of blood
cannot fail mutually to improve the stock."

Sentiment by T. Joy, Esq., of Albany —

The return of the Sons of Berkshire — Though under cir-
cumstances exactly the reverse from that of the Prodigal yet

their sires killed for them the fatted calf.

184 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

Sentiment by D. C. White wood, of Michigan —

The ANNUAL CROP PRODUCED IN OlD BERKSHIRE PMloSOphcrS,

Orators, Statesmen, Merchants, Physicians, and Professors — may
the crop increase until she has enough for her own consumption,
and a large surplus for export, and on every cargo she consigns
to the ports of Michigan, the Woolvereens will pay her a heavy
export bounty.

Sentiment by the Rev. Joshua N. Danforth, of Alexandria,
D. C—

We stand here to-day, numbering forty in relationship — twen-
ty-five of us the direct descendants of David Noble, of Williams-
town, the upright judge — the exemplary christian. His name and
memory, like those of our immediate parents, we regard as a sa-
cred legacy, by which we are enriched, and of which we are not
ashamed. If the spirit which dwelt in the bosom of the fathers,
shall he transmitted through the sons to our posterity, we, like
them, shall not have lived and died in vain.

The scenes w^e witness to-day, are indeed impressive. Genius
is pouring out his treasures with a generosity suited to the great
occasion. Poetry is weaving her most beautiful garland. Friend-
ship brings her costly offerings to this altar. Even History has a
portion in the reminiscences of this auspicious day. The Muses
and the Graces have conspired to honor the occasion. And if the
joys of the living must necessarily be mingled with those sorrows
which affection pays to the dead, the depth of the emotion attests
the value of the tribute. Some of us are devoted to the law:
some to the ministry of reconciliation: all, we trust, are found in
some sphere of activity and usefulness. Some are in the far west;
others in the far east. One walks on missionary ground, dwell-
ing in an Asiatic clime, and consecrating the energies of her heart
and life to that Redeemer who has loved us all, and given himself
for us. As this is a family gathering, something may be pardoned
to a family feeling in the mention of these particulars. If I may
be permitted to give expression to my feelings in the form of a
sentiment, it should be —

The Home of our fathers, revisited to-day in our persons — our
hearts never depart from it. The Graves of our fathers — they

THE DINNER. 185

contain our richest earthly treasures. The Memory of our fathers
— let it be green as the vernal verdure of those graves.

Rev. Orville Dewey, D.D., of New-York, took the stand in ac-
cordance with the invitation of the President. He said he had got his
travelling coat in his hand, and taken his staff. He was sensible
that the time had come for them to part, and I give you ray pro-
mise, (said he,) that I wnll not detain you long. Yet I think, sir,
that this occasion has some significance on w^hich it may be worth
our w^hile to spend a moment ere we leave it. This immense mul-
titude, this sea of faces around me, what do they mean? Sir, they
mean that we are called here by the power of a single sentiment,
and I am delighted to recognise that powder — am delighted to see
in our New England — in our scheming, contriving, calculating
New England, an immense assembly like this gathered together,
not to build a rail-road, nor bolster up any party, but gathered as
I may say, for nothing in particular. (Laughter.) We are draw^n
together by the power of a mere sentiment. I have travelled all
over New England wdthin a few weeks past, and have seen from
one state of it to another, a strong heart — beating in reference to
this very occasion. I am disposed sometimes to say that the tem-
perate zone of the earth is the very torrid zone of feeling. It is so
at least of the home feelings. I believe, powerful and wdde spread
as is the political agitation of the present moment, that no party
mass meeting could have drawn so many from far and near to it,
as this great domestic mass meeting. (Cheers.) I say we are
called together by a mere sentiment; we have come, not for our
own interest nor a supposed advantage — not to help forw^ard any
political, commercial or scientific object. These have their pla-
ces: but they do not occupy our attention to-day. We have come
upon a pilgrimage to the shrine of our nativity. This is the fes-
tival of our nativity. It was a happy thought, I think, to send
out the invitation to this meeting; and, I w'ill say I have been,
"ot surprised, but struck, to observe the hearty and enthusiastic
response to the call which is given in this immense assembly. It
came to us scattered over the extent of a country almost equal to
half of Europe; it found us in the city, spread over the prairies of
the west, by the shores of the northern lakes; it found us engaged
with many cares and labors — one at his farm, another at his mer-

186 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

chandise, one studying his brief, another ministering to his people;
but when we heard that invitation, what was the talismanic agen-
cy that broke the spell and determined us to obey it ? It was like
the song of the Scotch maiden,

" The woods in which we dwelt pleasantly rustled in the song,
And our streams were there with the sound of all their waters."

It has been said that in this wide country, continually inviting
to new settlements, and with the almost nomadic habits of our
people, the sentiment of home is likely to be weakened. I
will not contend that point formally, but will ask those who have
returned after many years' absence to their native home and fields,
whether the sentiment of which I speak has died or is likely to
die 1 I am quite sensible that we are likely to wear this theme
threadbare. We must talk about our home. It is that in which
all our thoughts and feelings concentrate now. But is it possible
to wear out this theme 1 No : these homestead acres which give
back the lessons of our childhood; these fields in which are writ-
ten the memories of past pleasures; these hedges which warbled
sweet melodies to our youthful ear, the barn roof on which we
once heard the rain patter; these lowly porches on which we sat
when the day went down; the hearth-stone that first echoed to the
name of "father," "mother," — all are themes of delight, ever
green, ever fragrant.

We may have found wealth, splendor, fame, elsewhere; but there
is no spot of earth like this. If I express my ow^n feelings, all
other aspects wear an air of strangeness and foreignness in com-
parison with these. And yet, after all, I feel how utterly vain
are my efforts to express this sentiment. There is something coil-
ed up in this sentiment which I cannot unfold. It reminds me of
an anecdote of one of the venerable fathers of the church in this
County — Dr. West, one of the most learned, pure, gentle spirits
that ever lived. I recollect one day of hearing a little child read
the Scriptures. Its voice had nothing remarkably impressive, it
was a child's voice. I found myself moved in the most extraordi-
nary manner, and yet unable to tell why, for I understood not
what she uttered. On a few moments' reflection I discovered that
the tone of that little child's voice was like the voice of Dr. West
in prayer. So I think it is with home affections; we are moved,
we can scarcely tell why, at the sound of the word home. It is

THE DINNER.

187

good for us to cherish these affections. Anteeus, the child of Terra
and Neptune, of earth and sea, only on the earth could be strong,
could draw his replenished energies, enabling him to hold contest
with the foe ; and thus it is we turn hither on the waves of life,
we spread our sails for the haven of honor, but after all, the re-af-
forded strength and courage to fight with perils is drawn from the
home affections.

One word more, and I will relieve your attention. If it could
so have happened that we who are gathered together had met as
travellers in the heart of Asia, and if an urn of earth taken from
these fields around us could be placed upon the board around which
we were gathered, of that sacred earth we should make our altar
and over it, pour out our homage, and when we parted, I doubt not,
we should be glad to take a handful of that earth to be a holy talis-
man, a sacred relic to cheer us on our way. So in the journey of
life we have met to-day to pay our homage of thanksgiving, and
when we part we will take a breath of home affection, as it were
a bit of earth, to be a pleasant inspiration and memory in time to
come.

The President introduced to the meeting Hon. Julius Rock-
well, who, (he said,) though a Connecticut boy, is a Berkshire
man. Mr. Rockwell having taken the stand, said —

Mr. President — When you took your place there, I thought
sir, you told us you were to follow a chart or plan laid before you:
and you will find no such thing as you last read upon it. It was
my honorable distinction here, to be entrusted to present to this
meeting a sentiment from another mind.

Sir, you have rightly said, I am not one of Berkshire's Sons.
But I have done all I could to make my position better; and I
say to every young man who hears me, go and do likewise, (cheers;)
for with the most persevering exertions, I tell him, he can obtain,
if he be not too late, a Berkshire wife! (Great cheering.).

One of the gentlemen who has spoken here, has told you how
fortunate it is in young life, to go from Berkshire ; I can tell him
how fortunate it is in young life to come to the County of Berk-
shire. Another gentleman, with great beauty and power, spoke
of the feeling that pervades every heart on this occasion, as the
feeling of the young eagle returning to the eagle's nest. What

188 BERKSHIRE JUBILEE.

think you is the feeling of the eagle mother as she sees her young,
strong in pinions, strong in all that becomes and ennobles their
kind, returning to their mother's nest? O! in other days, — those
days when the rights of man demanded that one nation should be
arrayed against another, — they came back with the eagle beak all
crimsoned with blood! God upheld and blessed them as they
struggled, and toiled, and conquered, and rejoiced together. But
now! they come back with the same strong wing, the same pierc-
ing eye, to tell us of their achievements on other fields and in
other things, and to exhibit them here. They have received their
warm welcome ; and a pity it is, that this occasion may not last
as long as the fair sun which now blesses it, continues to shine.
But I may not trust myself to say more. I present you the sen-
timent of one who, though not born or bred in Berkshire, is here
to-day in mind and in heart, and whose pen all know. It bears
the initials of" L. H. S.," and all know it belongs to Mrs. Sjg-

OURlSfEY.

The Old Bay State —

You scarce can go, where streamlets flow.

In prairie, or western glen.
Or among the great, in halls of state.

But you'll find the Berkshire men:
May the blessing of health and well spent wealth,

And stainless names await
(With the treasur'd glee of this Jubilee,)

The Sons of the Old Bay State.

L. H. S.

The sentiment of Mrs. Sigourney having been read, a young la-
dy from the centre of New-York, immediately offered the follow-
ing sentiment impromptu —

You scarce can go, thro' the world below,

But you'll find the Berkshire men:
And if you rove the world above,

You'll find them there again.

THE DINNER, 189

SONG:

[Composed by a member of the Young Ladies' Institute, and sung by the Young
Ladies of the School. The whole company joined in the chorus.]

Glad sounds of joy are on the air,

And shouts rise loud and free,

Our quiet vale resounds with mirth

And hearts o'erflow with glee.

For days of auld lang syne, dear friends,

For days of auld lang syne.
We'll have sweet thoughts of kindness yet
For days of auld lang syne.

Thrice welcome^ brothers, wanderers, all

Who filially have come.
Our voices high in song we raise

And bid you welcome home!