Deerfield Street
Nothing of special importance has happened here for some time. We need new
life and a greater variety of activity. Old Virginia was said to have lived
six months on oysters, and the other six on past recollections. In our case,
tobacco literature fills every phase of social life, while past recollections
specially include the "Flower of Essex" and the "Fathers in the
Wilderness." Gen. Hoyt and Dr. Stephen W. Williams devoted a great amount
of time to antiquarian research; many pages they have written concerning pioneer
warfare with Mr. "Lo! the poor Indian!" and Col. Elihu Hoyt published
a little book. called, we believe, the "Deerfield Captive." And George
Sheldon is writing a history of Deerfield, while Nathaniel Hitchcock gives a
good share of his time to the study of antiquity. All this is well--very well.
We need variety: we need farmers, mechanics, tin-peddlers, poets, artists, antiquity
hunters, and last, but not by any means least, we need--"Pocumtuck."
At any rate, he thinks so, and sincerity of belief should be respected,--at
least, the sincerity part of it. Messrs. Sheldon and Hitchcock have, during
the past few years, given the early inhabitants such a thorough handling that
those "old covies," if they are looking on, must have come to the
conclusion that they were "some," if not more, in their day and generation.
Let no Mrs. Grundy infer from any sportive sentence in this that we are making
light of the sufferings, the toils, the privations, of the fathers and mothers,
who laid on so broad and secure a foundation, the cornerstone of New England
civilization. If the Athenians sometimes wearied of hearing Aristides called
"the Just," it by no means indicated a lack of reverence for his integrity
and his talents. Past recollections are fitting and beautiful in their place;
but we would like to see this portion of the town more alive to the necessities
of the present time. We need mechanical industries which will send a fresh breeze
through dry bones and conservative stagnation. Such an establishment as neighbor
Arms at South Deerfield, or a manufactory of almost any description, would do
more for Deerfield Street than five solid cords of musing over Indian battles,
or a string of monuments commemorating them from Pine Hill to George Fuller's
cranberry lot.
Last Monday evening the people here had an antiquity feast. Prof. James K.
Hosmer, of Antioch (O.) college, gave a lecture upon the "Legend of the
Old St. Regis Bell." Like everything from his pen, it was both ingenious
and beautiful. Mr. Hosmer, probably, has a stronger hold upon the affections
of Deerfield people than any other living man. But many who earnestly wished
to hear him refused to do so, because it was announced in the printed posters
that "the proceeds of the lecture would be appropriated toward erecting
a monument over the grave of those who were killed at the destruction of the
town in 1704." Mr. Hosmer had nothing to do with the monument plan; he
gave the lecture because he was invited. Of course the proceeds would cover
a very small portion of the expense of a respectable monumen--such an one as
those who are troubled with "monument on the brain" would like. It
is well to have monuments when they are really needed. The writer of this used
his pen several times in behalf of our beautiful soldiers' monument. But it
is very proper for people to know when to stop in this monument business. This
year the taxation in Deerfield has been greatly increased over any previous
time. Taking the heavy taxation and the general tendency to all sorts of extravagance
into consideration, we can see no sufficient reason for the erection of a monument
over bones which have been pulverized more than a hundred and fifty years. Deerfield
Street can not, or will not, support a blacksmith's shop! Would it not be well
to have the latter first? A cheap monument would be worse than none; and if
there are any who desire an expensive one, it seems to us they are the proper
persons to pay for it. There is a large marble shaft at South Deerfield to perpetuate
the memory of Capt. Lathrop's men. On the Common in Deerfield Street, a splendid
work of art, with a granite soldier on top, tells the tale of our brave boys
who fell on Southern soil, or died of starvation at Libby and Andersonville.
At the Pocumtuck hotel can be found the old "Indian door," inclosed
in a glass case, with friend Canning's splendid tribute to it framed and attached.
It cannot be said out people have been backward in antiquity matters. If any
visitor wishes for information concerning the early history of the town, he
will find either neighbor Sheldon or neighbor Hitchcock a complete encyclopedia
of Connecticut Valley antiquity.
The fathers did their work faithfully and well. Like everything human they
had their good qualities and their bad ones. Their story we have all learned
and committed to memory; and granite monuments, should they pierce the skies,
would not increase our respect and admiration. William Wirt has told us that
no tombstone ever marked the grave of Patrick Henry, and still his name and
eloquence do not seem to be quite forgotten. The best way to honor the worthy
dead is to copy their good example and deal justly with the living. POCUMTUCK. |
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