Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

564 SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
Ilemans, entitled " Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers." After the services at the
church, the procession was reformed and marched to the Town Hall, where a
collation was served, and brief speeches made by invited guests and others.
The late George Bliss presided at the Town Hall. Edward Everett, then governor
of the Commonwealth, was present at the celebration with his military staff, and
other distinguished citizens from abroad. Robert C. Winthrop was here as one
uf the governor's aids.
It was my fortune, then a young man, to be present, and to unite in the re-
joicings of that time. In the words of the orator of that day, "the occasion
was one of deep and joyful interest, one on Avhich to do homage to the memory
of our fathers, to examine the record of their history, and to bow in humble
gratitude to Heaven that we are descended from a most worthy ancestry." In the
same spirit let us enter upon the present occasion. As this day is particularly
an anniversary of the original settlement of the town, 1 propose, in this address,
to confine myself to the circumstances attending that settlement, with some notice
of the men and women who bore a part in it, without attempting to detail at
length the subsequent history of the town through the two centuries and a half
that have followed. Any attempt at such a detail an'ouM require a volume, and
could not fail to try the patience of the hearers and exhaust the strength of the
speaker.
The return of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of
such a town as ours is an event that will justify us in suspending for the time
our ordinary pursuits, that we may recall to mind the origin of the town, and
note the contrast between its humble beginning and its condition at the present
moment. It must be interesting, and ought to be useful to us as a people, to re-
view the circumstances that gave birth to this place, which we call, and are proud
to call, our home, —•
a place to which we are bound by so many ties of interest
and affection, and around which so many of our hopes cluster.
We find ourselves to-day the occupants of one of the most delightful spots in
the world. No valley fairer than tliis of the Connecticut can be found any-
where, — no soil yielding the cultivator a richer return for his labor, — no
streams that contribute more freely their forces to propel the machinery that
gives life and activity to the mechanic arts, for which this valley is so famous,
and which furnishes so much employment to the capital and industry of its
residents.
Two centuries and a half ago this lovely valley was a waste, inhabited only
by the savages that roamed through its wilds. It is hard for us to realize that
in this valley, and on these charming hillsides, now so rich in the tokens of
civilization and culture, the rude wigwams of the red men were once seen,— that