Part 2

The business of the town is such as the local demands would naturally create, and in addition are the large manufacturing interests, at Ballard Vale: the Tyer Rubber Company, the Stevens Mills of Marland Village, and the Mills of Smith, Dove, & Co., the makers of the well-known "Andover Thread." All these firms have secured such a reputation for their goods that while a period of business depression may lessen the profits it has little effect upon the number of hands employed. The present population of Andover is 5,711. The growth of the town is not rapid, but has been more so of late than formerly. The student and business elements steadily increase, and the farm-houses in the remote parts of the town are favorite summer resorts of such persons as business connections keep close to Boston, but who wish to escape the heat and noise of the city.

The number of voters is 893, and of a total vote of 468 upon the question, "Shall licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors in this town?" the recent declaration was Yes, 141, No, 327. The desire for improvement in the town can easily be inferred from a statement of the appropriations for the current year. They amounted to $77,283.67, of which the following are items:--

_Voted_ to appropriate the following sums for the different departments: For schools, $10,700; school-houses, $1,800; school-books, $1,000; sidewalks, $1,000; removing snow, $800; town-officers, $2,500; town-house, $600; fire department, $3,500; street lamps, $950; printing and stationery, $500; Spring Grove cemetery, and avails of sales of lots, $300; Memorial Day, $175; State aid, $1,400; additional pay to soldiers, $600; almshouse expenses, $4,500; almshouse, relief out of, $3,000; repairs on almshouse, $500; hay-scales, $50; State tax, $6,000; county tax, $6,000; adjustment of taxes, $500; discount on taxes, $2,000; abatement of taxes, $400; interest on notes and funds, $2,000; insurance, $200; miscellaneous, $1,500; fire-engine for Ballard Vale, $4,000; highways and bridges, $10,000; water-supply, $10,000; tree-planting, $100; new streets, $625; etc.

For six years past--1880-85--the taxes have averaged only $7.25 per $1,000,--on a low valuation of property. For healthfulness the town stands near, if not quite at the head of the list, in the vital statistics of the State. When the writer was about to make Andover his place of residence he was heartily congratulated by a friend: "People never die in Andover," said he, "from disease. They live on, and on, and on, until their friends weary of them, and shoot them." No one has been shot recently in Andover, and some have died; but the town is remarkable for its healthfulness. In 1885 there were 81 deaths, and the average age was 48+ years; while 40 were 60 years old, and upwards; 27 were over 70; 24 were over 75; 13 were over 80; 4 were over 85, and 2 were over 90. The records of the largest Sabbath school in town show only three deaths of persons under 20 years of age, for at least eight, and possibly ten years. The two funerals which the writer last attended were of persons aged 89 and 101. The Catholic priest informs me that an entire year has passed without the occurrence of death in his parish. To show that the statistics of 1885 are not exceptionally favorable to the name of the town, let us take a longer period,--say of six years, 1879-85. During this period the death-rate has been 14.45 per 1,000, which gives an average number of deaths for each year, of 79; and within this period 159, deaths have been of persons over 70 years of age. Since the new year came in 15 persons have died, and the average age of 5 was over 90 years.

Each of the nine churches in Andover has an interesting history. Of these five are of the Congregational order, and their enrolled membership numbers 1,099, nearly one-fifth of the entire population. When to this is added the membership of the Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist and Catholic churches it is probable that one person in four, of whatever age or nationality, is a member of some church. The enrolment of the Sabbath Schools is about the same as that of the churches.

This is owing partly to the fact that the "foreign element" in Andover consists largely of Scotchmen, who love the kirk; and also because the educational facilities of Andover are such as to draw hither persons of intelligence, and of literary tastes and habits.

The town is well supplied with libraries. The Memorial Hall was built to commemorate the Andover defenders of the national flag, and contains a free reading-room, well supplied with current issues of the press, and a free public library, containing 5,259 pamphlets, and 9,185 volumes, to which additions are constantly being made.

In 1865 the Library building of the Theological Seminary was erected, through the generosity of Mr. John Dove and Messrs. John and Peter Smith, at the cost of $60,000. It was named "Brechin Hall," from their native town in Scotland.

Its shelves contain more than 43,000 volumes, the gentlemen who built the library having given large sums for the purchase of books. On its walls hang the portraits of many of its founders and professors, and on the lower floor is a valuable museum and reference library. Besides these are various private libraries; and there is a community of taste, which brings all valuable books to the town in some connection.

Another educational element is that of the public lectures. The People's Course is a thrifty annual, which, each autumn, provides a series of ten entertainments at merely nominal prices. During the past year there has also been a course of Emergency Lectures; and various others, upon many topics, detached from the established courses, are of frequent occurrence. Abbot Academy provides its annual and popular series of public "Piano Recitals," under the oversight of its efficient professor, S. M. Downs.

Phillips Academy has its annual contests for the "Draper Prizes" and the "Means Prizes," and a year seldom passes in the history of the Theological Seminary without one or more courses of special lectures, in addition to those which are in constant progress, under the regular instructors of this and of the other institutions. Nor should the anniversaries, with all the strangers and alumni they bring, the stir they make, the congratulations and the partings, be forgotten.

So it is that all the important phases of our best American life are found in the history and enterprise of this illustrious town. Here one may find the house in which have lived seven generations, the head of the family bearing the same name; and the home of the recent immigrant. The educational and business interests are nobly conducted and carried to great success, and the current life is representative of good old customs and earnest strivings for the best things.

A careful study of Andover life, such as Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D., had evidently made before writing his address for the dedication of the Memorial Hall, leads one to feel, what he has so well stated:--

"The more we look into the history of Andover the more we feel how thoroughly it is a characteristic New England town. If I wanted to give a foreigner some clear idea of what that excellent institution a New England town really is, in its history and in its character, in its enterprise and its sobriety, in its godliness and its manliness, I should be sure that I could do it if I could make him perfectly familiar with the past and the present of Andover."

JAMES OTIS, JR.

BY REV. H. HEWITT.

Goethe's famous saying, that "Talent forms itself in solitude; character, in the stream of life,"[G] has often found striking exemplification both in the narrow sphere of individual existence, and on the broader and more conspicuous stage of national affairs; but perhaps the truth it contains has seldom been more amply illustrated than during the stormy days of the American Revolution. Great political convulsions sift peoples as the wind sifts the wheat on the summer threshing-floor, bringing into prominence their best as well as their worst features. They furnish occasion for the development and display of all that is noblest in mankind, and they offer equal scope and opportunity to all the baser susceptibilities and passions of our nature. They furnish a broader platform on which to act, and originate more exciting topics to occupy and elevate the mind, than are afforded by an orderly and undisturbed condition of society; and they are certainly better fitted to create that energy of will and heroism of purpose without which nothing noble, beneficent, and lasting can ever be accomplished.

[G] "Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille, Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt."

Never, perhaps, has this effect been produced in a more impressive manner, or to a fuller extent, than during the anxious years when the American colonies were slowly feeling and fighting their way to the status of an independent nation. A new order of manhood appeared, shaped by the dangers and difficulties of the time. The crisis called for men of courage and capacity, of wise council, of prompt and decisive action, and these men were forthcoming, as if providentially prepared for the hour and the occasion. Of these, one of the earliest on the scene, and, for a time, one of the most eloquent and able of the popular leaders, was James Otis, Junior. Though, in consequence of the sad affliction that darkened and distressed his later days, his labors in the cause of American independence were prematurely closed, and he was not permitted to share in the consummation of the conflict in which he had played so prominent, and spirited, and successful a part, he still deserves to be remembered with gratitude and affection by the nation, now grown big, at whose birth he so nobly played the part of midwife. James Otis was born at Great Marshes, now known as West Barnstable, February 5, 1725 (old style, February 5, 1724). His ancestor, John Otis, came from England about the year 1657, and settled in the town of Hingham. The family was from the first distinguished by public spirit, and by aptitude for places of trust and responsibility in the public service. Besides the important offices of Judge of the Common Pleas and Judge of Probate, John Otis had the honor of holding a seat in the Council of the Province for more than twenty years. His son, James Otis, born 1702, stood equally prominent in his public capacity, being a distinguished member of the Bar, an officer of the Militia, a Justice of the Common Pleas and of Probate, and a Councillor of the Province. He married Mary Allyne, by whom he had a large family, James, the subject of this sketch, being the eldest and most celebrated. Samuel Allyne, the youngest of the thirteen children, served for some time as secretary of the Senate of the United States. The eldest daughter, Mercy, displayed an aptitude for politics and literature, in which she acquired considerable reputation in those unquiet and exciting days, vigorously indorsing and seconding the action of her brother, and her husband, James Warren, in the Provincial Council. She was the anonymous author of "The Group," a stinging political satire, published in 1775, and in 1805 she produced a "History of the American Revolution."

Of the habits, character, and status of Otis, as a student at Harvard, whither he went in his fourteenth year, little is known, except what has descended to us in the shape of anecdote, such as the story of his playing the violin for a small party of young friends on one occasion, and suddenly stopping the dance by dropping the instrument, and exclaiming, "So fiddled Orpheus, and so danced the brutes." He, however, managed to graduate with honors in 1743, and to carry off his Arts degree in 1746. About two years after leaving college he commenced the study of the law in the office of Jeremiah Gridley, a lawyer of some repute, who, later on, as Attorney-General, defended the famous "apple of discord," the "Writs of Assistance," which Otis so brilliantly and successfully impeached. He resided for a short period, 1748-9, in the town of Plymouth; but the place of Pilgrim fame was at that time too slow and dull a place for the quick and active mind and ardent and ambitious temper of the rising young lawyer, and he removed to Boston, soon to be absorbed with the duties and difficulties of a large and lucrative practice, and esteemed and admired as one of the brightest ornaments of his profession. Nor was the public confidence in him misplaced, or his popularity without warrant. Governor Hutchinson, who knew him only in the capacity of a powerful personal and political opponent, was yet obliged to yield homage to his public and professional virtues, frankly declaring that "He never knew fairer or more noble conduct in a pleader than in Otis; that he always defended his causes solely on their broad and substantial foundations." Among other stories and items of fact put forth in evidence of his contempt of the pettifogging and professional lying so common in these degenerate days, is the following: Being engaged on one occasion to recover the amount of a bill which was alleged by the defendant to have been paid, he discovered, quite accidentally, among his client's papers, as the trial was proceeding, a receipt in full for the demand before the court. The paper in question had fallen into his client's hands in some way or another, and he was villanously using this advantage to wrong his neighbor. As soon as Otis detected the trick his indignation burst forth like a scorching flame, "You are a pretty rascal!" he said; "_there_ is a receipt for the very demand now before the court."

Otis' happiness, however, such as it was, lay outside his home. His marriage with Ruth Cunningham, which took place in 1755, was far from being happy. Incompatibility of temper, and radical and stubborn differences in political principle and sentiment, were the main ingredients in the chalice of bitterness and woe which both, doubtless, helped to fill. His only son, a youth of promise, entered the navy as midshipman, and died at eighteen. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married a loyalist, Captain Brown, who was wounded at Bunker Hill,--an alliance that much distressed him. The sad fortune of his second daughter, Mary, was another source of grief. She had married Benjamin Lincoln, eldest son of General Lincoln, who received the sword of General Cornwallis at the surrender of Yorktown,--a young lawyer of considerable promise; but he died at twenty-eight.

It is necessary to remember that in the great drama of the Revolution, Otis was only one of many distinguished actors, and that, in order to appreciate the part he played so well, we shall require to give a brief and rapid sketch of the political situation at the time. The sudden assertion of the spirit of liberty, which the British Parliament and the Provincial Legislature, acting under its direction and control, strove to check and subdue, was the awakening of the colonial communities, not simply to a consciousness of their political rights, but, also, of a new-born power to maintain and defend them. During the first hundred years of colonial history King and Parliament, occupied with affairs of an absorbing character at home, knew little, and cared even less, about the fate and fortunes of the men and women, who, for the sake of conscience and religious freedom, had left the land of their birth and best affection, and were engaged in a heroic contest with nature, on a wild, desolate, and distant coast. The early colonists were left to a liberty almost as unfettered as the wild animals and savage tribes whom they dislodged from their native forests. When, however, the infant communities had grown strong and prosperous, and had initiated a system of commerce which bade fair to become expansive and lucrative, they at once attracted the attention of the State authorities in the land of their origin. When the conflict with Parliament began, the rights and immunities claimed by the American colonies, were not matters of statute and charter. The prescriptive right, which is founded in long-established custom and usage, rather than in positive enactment, was the ground of resistance to the encroachments of the Provincial Executive. When James Otis, in pleading against the "Writs of Assistance," said, "Taxation without representation is tyranny," he stated a great political principle; he indicated the great palladium of popular liberty; but deeper than that principle, in the hearts of the colonists, lay the sense of uneasiness at the prospect of having the privileges of one hundred and fifty years in any way compromised, disturbed, or imperilled. This was the spirit of Franklin, in his "Hints for a Reply to the Protest of the Lords against the Repeal of the Stamp Act:" "I will freely spend nineteen shillings in the pound," said he, "to defend my right of giving or refusing the other shilling; and, after all, if I cannot defend that right, I can retire cheerfully with my little family into the boundless woods of America, which are sure to afford freedom and subsistence to any man who can bait a hook or pull a trigger." This was the spirit of Otis when he complained that Parliament regarded the British colonies in America rather as "a parcel of small, insignificant conquered islands, than as very extensive settlement on the continent," with a future of unlimited development in store. This, too, was the spirit of Hawley, when, with a boldness outstripping that of Otis himself, he said, "The Parliament of Great Britain has no right to legislate for us." The latter sentence is memorable as being the first instance in which the power of the British Parliament was distinctly denied in a colonial legislature.

Still, side by side with these strong assertions of independence, there existed curiously enough an almost equally strong feeling of reluctance to sever the long-standing relation between the colonies and the mother country. England was still "home," even in the language of James Otis, as is clear from his correspondence, in which he speaks of certain legal decisions as being "sent _home_ for approbation." Though all were agreed as to the character and tendency of such acts of the imperial legislature as the Stamp Act, the Revenue Act, the Port Bill, and the Billeting Bill, hopes were entertained to the last that some method of solution would be eventually discovered that would avert the disaster of revolution. "In America," said Rev. Andrew Elliot, a popular and much-respected minister in Boston, "the people glory in the name, and only desire to enjoy the liberties of England." And he added, significantly enough, "Oppression makes wise men mad." Even Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Randolph, as late as 1775, expressed his decided preference "to be dependent on England under proper limitation, to being dependent on any other nation, or on no nation whatsoever." "We strongly enjoin you," said the Pennsylvania Assembly, November 9, 1775, largely influenced by Farmer Dickenson, in its instructions to its delegates, "that you, in behalf of this colony, dissent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our mother country, or a change of the form of this government." In almost identical words the Assembly of New Jersey expressed its dread of "separation from England." "For what are we to encounter the horrors of war?" asked a writer in the _New York Gazette_, April 8, 1776, as quoted by Mr. Oscar Straus, in his admirable little work on "The Origin of the American Republic." "It is a form of government which Baron Montesquieu, and the best writers on the subject, have shown to be attended with many mischiefs and imperfections, while they pay high encomiums on the excellency of the British Constitution. The Continental Congress has never lisped the least desire for independency or republicanism. All their publications breathe another spirit." What strong ground the _Gazette_ had for the above statement will be seen from the words of the address sent to the British Parliament and People by the Congress of Delegates which met on the 5th September, 1774, at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. "You have been told," says the Congress, "that we are impatient of government and desirous of independence. These are calumnies. Permit us to be free as yourselves, and we shall esteem a union with you to be our greatest glory and our greatest happiness."

It is always the unexpected that happens, however, and, strange as it may appear, in little more than a year after the publication of the warnings of the _New York Gazette_, and the strong deprecations of leading colonists, the first decisive and irrevocable step towards revolution of the government and the autonomy and independence of the colonies was taken. On July 4, 1776, the Rubicon was passed: the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed.