Literary Medford.
[Read before the Medford Historical Society by Louise Peabody Sargent, April 17, 1911].FROM the beginning of Medford's history her records have always shown much intellectual activity among the people. The beautiful natural surroundings, the lakes and woods and river, have formed an environment favorable to a love of letters.
The earlier inhabitants prevented the invasion of the town by large manufacturing interests and thus attracted a class of residents that found leisure for more or less cultivation of the arts and sciences and literature.
In the early days the church was the center of literary interest, and most of its ministers have left some printed record behind them. The Rev. Benjamin Colman, who preached in Medford in 1693, was a model of literary excellence in his sermons. Rev. Ebenezer Turell, who occupied the Medford pulpit from 1724 to 1778, published a pamphlet on ‘Witchcraft,’ and ‘A Direction to My People in Relation to the Present Times,’ which plead for a religion founded on truth and soberness rather than one arising from emotion. Even more in advance of the times was a discourse in favor of inoculation for smallpox. In 1741 he published ‘A Memoir of the Life and Death of the Pious and Ingenuous Mrs. Jane Colman Turell, who died at Medford, March 26, 1735, aetat 27.’ Most of the quaint prose and poetry was collected from her own manuscript, and his part of the work included a sketch of her father, the Rev. Benjamin Colman.
Many discourses of the Rev. David Osgood were published from 1784 to 1824, one especially notable in 1783, ‘Reflections on the Goodness of God in Supporting the People of the United States Through the Late War.’ [p. 2]
He was famous for his political sermons; the ‘Devil Let Loose,’ on the French Revolution; an ‘Election’ sermon; a ‘Eulogy on George Washington,’ and others. His daughter, Miss Lucy Osgood, wrote a memoir of Charlotte Ann Haven Brooks, and left many interesting letters written in a marked literary style.
The Rev. Converse Francis published several orations, a ‘History of Watertown,’ and Lives of John Eliot and ‘Sebastian Rale’ for the ‘Library of American Biography,’ 1795-1872.
The Rev. Charles Brooks wrote a ‘History of Medford’ in 1855, one of the first of the Massachusetts town histories; ‘Biographies of Eminent Men and Women,’ two volumes; ‘Letters of a Foreign Correspondent’; a ‘Daily Monitor’; a ‘Prayer Book’; ‘Prussian System of Education’; ‘System of Education in Holland’; a book on Ornithology, and many sermons and lectures. He was a pioneer in the cause of training teachers for their work; by his constant writing and lecturing on the subject, caused the normal school system to be adopted in Massachusetts.1
The Rev. Andrew Bigelow published a minute account of his travels in North Britain and Ireland, also a journal of a tour through Malta and Sicily; and many sermons.
The Rev. Nathaniel Hall published sermons and discourses.
The Rev. John Pierpont, poet and author, was one of the most celebrated divines of Medford. He wrote the ‘Portrait’ in 1812; ‘Airs of Palestine,’ 1816, published with added poems in 1850; ‘Sabbath Recreations,’ 1839; ‘Lays of the Sabbath’, 1850; ‘Pilgrims of Plymouth,’ 1856. He was deeply interested in the cause of education and compiled a number of readers for use in schools. The ‘American First Class Book’ is one of the most notable books of its kind and still sought. On his stone [p. 3] at Mount Auburn is carved the words, ‘Poet, Patriot, Preacher, Philosopher, Philanthropist.’
The Rev. William Henry Furness was a distinguished theologian whose sermons were published, best known for his books, ‘Jesus,’ and ‘Jesus and His Biographers.’
The Rev. Caleb Stetson wrote many tracts, and his sermons and discourses were printed.
The Rev. Elihu Marvin edited the Congregational Review and a temperance paper, the Daily News.
The Rev. Hosea Ballou, President of Tufts College, wrote the ‘Ancient History of Universalism,’ many pamphlets, and edited several hymn books. His sermons and newspaper articles have been reprinted.
The Rev. Edward B. Hall wrote a ‘Memoir of Mary L. Ware,’ ‘Life and Character of Samuel Howe,’ and the ‘Atonement.’
The Rev. Elias Nason published several biographies, a gazetteer of Massachusetts, and edited a hymn book.
The Rev. E. C. Towne printed many of his sermons.
The Rev. James L. Hill, retired from the ministry, now devotes his entire time to literary work. He has written the ‘Growth of Government’; ‘Seven Sorts of Successful Sunday Evening Services,’ 1904; an election sermon preached before the Governor and Legislature in 1878, and numerous pamphlets on religious, social and historical topics.
The Rev. Frank Ilsley Paradise is the author of ‘The Church and the Individual,’ a book that has received wide and favorable comment.
David Atwood Wasson was one of the most notable preachers of his time. He wrote ‘Christianity and Universal Religion,’ and a volume of poems. Since his death his essays, critical, political and religious, have been collected and published. A volume of his letters in manuscript, written to and presented by Thomas Wentworth Higginson to the Medford Public Library, are of great interest. [p. 4]
The Rev. Henry C. DeLong, who began his pastorate in 1869 and is still preaching, has published a memorial of Miss Lucy Osgood, and written many articles. His scholarly sermons should be printed. No more unique and faithful record of the citizens of Medford could be made than the choice words he has so fitly and honestly spoken in memory of one and another as they have passed on.
Medford was early chosen as a fitting location for many private schools. In 1790 William Channing Woodbridge started a school that at one time numbered ninety-six girls and forty-two boys. He published a ‘Modern School Geography,’ with atlas; ‘Woodbridge & Willard's Geography, Physical and Political, for the Use of Higher Classes,’ and edited the ‘Annals of Education.’
Dr. Luther Stearns, father of George L. Stearns, opened a school in 791 that ‘became the leading Academy of the United States,’ to quote the opinion of the time.
Susannah Rowson, famous as the author of ‘Charlotte Temple,’ ‘Lucy Temple,’ and ‘Sarah,’ moved her large school to Medford in 1800, when she wished its girls to have the advantages of a country life. She also wrote a volume of poems and an abridgment of ‘Universal Geography.’
Dr. John Hosmer, John Angier, A. K. Hathaway, Miss Ann Rose, Miss Hannah Swan, Mrs. Newton, and others, carried on large and successful private schools for many years.
Mystic Hall Seminary, in the fifties, trained young ladies in
Composition, Criticism, Moral and Intellectual Philosophy and Horseback riding. English branches, French and Latin languages, Ancient languages and Mathematics. Penmanship and Bookkeeping. Spanish and German, Drawing and Dancing, Embroidery, Needlework, Phonography, French conversation. Singing, Harp, Guitar, Piano and Organ. Painting in Oils and Papier Mache, Monochromatic, Grecian, Oriental, Potichomania, Painting in Water Colors, Wax fruit and flowers, Inlaying [p. 5] of Pearl, Leather Work, Head drawing, Crayon or Colored. Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene.
The course comprises four departments, the physical, the moral, the mental and the graceful. Boarding pupils, including all the comforts of home, use of carriages, saddle horses, salt water bathing, gymnasium, bowling alley, and all the privileges of day scholars, Spanish, German and Italian extra, three hundred dollars a year.
Quoted from year book.
Names of the pupils enrolled in these schools have always been and are found among the literary people of the town, thus showing an influence that has been carried down through generations.
Free public schools were founded in Medford in 1670; in 1776 the people voted that ‘the master instruct girls for two hours after the boys are dismissed,’ but not until 1834 was it decreed that the ‘girls shall enjoy equal privileges therein with the boys throughout the year.’ This may have been one reason for the prevalence of private schools for girls and for boys and girls. This edict was not carried out, however, until the high school was organized in 1835, one of the first three free schools in the State for both sexes, devoted to the higher branches of learning. This school has proved an important factor in the intellectual life of Medford. Numbers of its teachers and pupils have distinguished themselves in art, science and letters. Thomas Starr King, author of ‘The White Hills; Their Legends, Landscape and Poetry,’ 1859, said to be ‘the most complete work of its kind in existence,’ a forerunner of the modern nature books, taught one of the public schools of Medford for several years.
Lorin Low Dame, whose quickening power guided the high school for twenty-seven years, spent his leisure in adding to the world's knowledge of flowers and trees. ‘The Flora of Middlesex County,’ ‘Typical Elms and Other Trees of Massachusetts’ and the ‘Hand-book of the Trees of New England, with Ranges throughout the United States and Canada,’ are valuable monuments [p. 6] to his exact observation and industry. Elizabeth Gleason Bigelow, a pupil, made many careful drawings to illustrate the ‘Hand-book of Trees.’
Rosewell B. Lawrence has written a complete handbook of the Middlesex Fells, with maps; and a series of letters of travel, ‘Egypt and the Holy Land.’
The Rev. Bradley Gilman, a high school graduate of 1875, now a Unitarian clergyman, is the author of ‘From a Parsonage Porch,’ ‘Back to the Soil,’ ‘Roland Carnaquay,’ and juvenile stories under the name of Walter Wentworth.
Helen Tilden Wild, who has done such valuable work in historical research, has written a book, ‘Medford in the Revolution,’ 1903.
Horace Joseph Howe, engineer, wrote many newspaper articles, and discussions in scientific magazines. His pamphlet, ‘Piles and Pile Driving, New and Old,’ is used as a reference book in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; one on the ‘Rotherhithe Tunnel’ was written for and presented before the Institute of Civil Engineers in London at their request; ‘Some Notes on the Replacement of the Superstructure of the Harlem Ship Canal Bridge’ was presented with lantern slides before the American Society of Civil Engineers and contains much historical as well as scientific interest.
Charles Edward Hooper, another high school graduate, has written a delightful book, ‘The Country House,’ full of original designs, photographs and descriptions that tempts immediate building.
William Cushing Bamburgh has written ‘Echo and the Poet’ and ‘Giacomo,’ both volumes of verse.
One notable contribution to the science of living has been made by Louise Brigham in a book called ‘Box Furniture,’ which tells just how to make any furniture needful for kitchen, dining-room, living-room, bedroom, library, office, school-room, from the ordinary packingboxes of commerce. The necessary tools and materials, [p. 7] with directions for using, are plainly given, that all who read may make.2
Mrs. Fannie Merritt Farmer, author of the ‘Boston Cooking School Book’ which was said to have had the largest circulation of any book in the Medford Public Library one year, ‘Chafing-dish Possibilities,’ Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent and ‘What to Have for Dinner,’ is another high school graduate and proud of it, as Medford is of her.
Persis Hannah, a recent graduate, writes under the pen name of Ruth Cameron for one hundred and twenty newspapers each day, one of the widest audiences of any woman journalist. Some of these essays have been published by this syndicate in book form.
Ernest Bacheller has written two books used in Normal Art Schools—the ‘Principles of Design’ and ‘Design in Theory and Practice,’ with a personal directness and freshness of treatment unusual in text-books.
From the days of William Woodbridge and Susannah Rowson until now, Medford people have been writing text-books. Benjamin Franklin Tweed, principal in one of Medford's schools, and afterwards professor at Tufts College, wrote several text-books on English grammar and composition, and was editor of the Massachusetts Teacher. Ephraim Hunt, at one time superintendent of schools, published a ‘Geometry for Grammar Schools.’ Charles H. Morss, who held the same position, edited a ‘Book of Fables,’ by Horace E. Scudder, and the ‘Heroes of Asgard.’ He has written many papers, ‘Practicability of the Extension of High School Influence,’ ‘Development of the Public Schools of Medford’ and a ‘Memorial of Lorin Low Dame,’ and delivered many lectures.
George E. Davenport made a valuable collection of ferns, which he gave to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, where it is known as the Davenport Herbarium. [p. 8] He wrote for the Botanical Gazette, on botanical nomenclature, many monographs on ferns, on which subject he was a recognized authority. He delivered a lecture with lantern slides, on the Middlesex Fells many times for the benefit of the Fells, and poems and essays of his are to be found in periodicals.
Mrs. Josephine L. Richards made herself an authority on native wild flowers and ferns, and described them so graphically in ‘Wild Flowers and Ferns,’ 1893, that the reader could discern them for himself.
Mrs. Etta Austin Macdonald, at one time superintendent of Brockton schools, and her sister, Miss Mary Frances Blaisdell, have issued an instructive set of school readers for young children, the first, ‘The Child at Play’; the second, ‘Child Life in Tale and Fable’; third, ‘Child Life in Many Lands’; the fourth and fifth, ‘Child Life in Literature.’ The selections are chosen from the best literature in an original manner, and the workmanship is excellent. ‘Play Time,’ ‘Story-book Friends,’ ‘Wide-awake Primer and First Reader,’ ‘Polly and Dolly,’ are other books for young readers by the same authors. In collaboration with Mrs. Julia Dalrymple, Mrs. Macdonald has written ‘Kathleen in Ireland,’ ‘Manuel in Mexico,’ ‘Rafael in Italy,’ and ‘Une San in Japan.’ Mrs. Dalrymple is the author of two delightful books for children, ‘Make-believe Boys’ and ‘Little Me Too.’
Mabel Priest Rust is joint compiler of ‘Song Echoes from Child Land,’ for use in the kindergarten.
Freeman Clarke Coffin, engineer, wrote a scientific work, ‘Graphical Solution of Hydraulic Problems,’ but his real words lie deep in the hearts of his workmen and friends.
George T. Sampson has a pamphlet on ‘Railroad Organization.’
John C. Rand compiled a book of short biographies of prominent men called ‘One of a Thousand.’
Edward Baxter Perry, the blind pianist, has written a [p. 9] book for music lovers and teachers entitled ‘Descriptive Analyses of Piano Works,’ aesthetic as opposed to structural analysis of the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Saint-Saens and others. ‘Stories of Standard Teaching Pieces’ is another of his books.
Miss Emily Hallowell has made musicians her debtors by transcribing many songs of the Southern negro as she heard them, and publishing them under the name of ‘Calhoun Songs.’ Olive Dame Campbell has made a like important contribution to literature and music by writing out words and tunes of old ballads as they are sung in the Southern mountains by the descendants of the English, Scotch and Irish who settled there.
Tufts College has been another strong intellectual force in Medford. Charles Tufts of Somerville, who inherited Walnut Hill, then a barren tract, said he meant some day to set a light on it. His words have proved true, for the college set on the hill he gave for that purpose, has been a center of education and culture throughout its history, and has added many illustrious names of both teachers and pupils to literature and life.
Hosea Starr Ballou wrote a biography of Hosea Ballou, 2d, the first president of Tufts College, and many addresses. Rev. Elmer H. Capen, president of Tufts College from 1875 to 1905, published many articles and sermons, a tribute to John Boyle O'Reilly, wrote a history of Tufts College and of Universalism for the ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica,’ and a ‘Bible History.’ The present president, Dr. Frederick W. Hamilton, is the author of ‘The Church and the Secular Life,’ and many essays. Alaric Bertrand Start edited a ‘History of Tufts College.’ Prof. Amos Emerson Dolbeare, the eminent electrician, wrote many scientific works, and magazine and newspaper articles: ‘Chemical Tables,’ ‘Art of Projecting Matter—Ether and Motion,’ ‘Modes of Motion,’ ‘Natural Philosophy.’ Prof. J. Sterling Kngsley has written many scientific papers, and is editor of the American Naturalist. Prof. Gardener Chace Anthony is the author of a series of [p. 10] text-books known as the ‘Technical Drawing Series.’ Rev. Warren S. Woodbridge is the author of ‘Christ in the Life,’ and many articles. Edwin A. Start, Executive Secretary of the American Forestry Association, has written many articles and lectured on forest preservation. Lawrence Boyd Evans, professor of history, has edited the writings of George Washington, first of a series on the writings of American statesmen, and a series of ‘Handbooks of American Government,’ illustrating the polity of different states.
Hollis Godfrey, head of the Science Department in the Practical Arts School of Boston, is the author of an ‘Elementary Chemistry,’ and the ‘Health of the City,’ a clear, concise statement of the problems that rise from city life, with practical solutions for settling them; a book to be studied. The chapters are, respectively, Air, Water Supply, Food of the City, Food of the Individual, Water and Waste, Ice, Sewer Gas and Plumbing, City's Noise and City Housing. The text of the book is:
‘Whether we wish it or no, to keep ourselves we must be our brother's keeper. Only when we strive to guard our neighbors are our own walls secure.’He has also written an unusual story called ‘The Man Who Ended War,’ and two juvenile stories, ‘For the Norton Name,’ and Jack Collerton's Engine.
Prof. Leo Rich Lewis and Leon Ryder Maxwell compiled ‘The Assembly Praise Book.’
Ruth Dame Coolidge is a contributor to periodicals, the editorial page of the Boston Transcript, and has given a course of lectures on architecture.
In the January number of the present year of the Tufts College Graduate is an appreciation by Prof. Charles St. Clair Wade, of the personality and the poetry of Grace Harvey Lane, who lived her all too short life in Medford, graduating from the Medford schools and Tufts College. Her poetic translations won great praise. Professor Shipman said she had mastered [p. 11] the technique of composition, but her own poems describing the things she saw from her window, ‘The Swamp,’ ‘The Redwing,’ ‘The Veery,’ ‘Evening Primroses,’ are the true expression of her life.
Suggested by “Chantez! La nuit sera breve,” in ‘Par le Glaive,’ by Jean Richepin:
Lullaby, the sun is going—
Comes an old man up the stairs,
For a cap the night mists flowing,
And a cloak of dreams he wears;
Lullaby, the sun is going.Lullaby, the stars are shining—
Like a shadow stealthily
Through the nursery door he's creeping.
Tiptoe—barefoot—peeping sly;
Lullaby, the stars are shining.Lullaby, the moon is beaming—
Gently smiling, soft he throws
Golden sand of dream-land gleaming,
On the lids that will not close.
Lullaby, the moon is beaming.Lullaby, soft winds are breathing-
Now the old man's gone away;
Dream wings round the sleeper wreathing
Cradle him till comes the day.
Lullaby, soft winds are breathing.
In 1825, through the suggestion of the Rev. Andrew Bigelow, a social library was formed in Medford, ‘promotive of good morals,’ and ‘to aid in the diffusion of valuable information.’ This was merged into a free public library in 1856, through the generosity of the stockholders, and was added to from time to time by gifts from private citizens. This library was useful to those who knew how to take advantage of its privileges, but it was not until the advent of Miss Mary Sargent and her sister, in 1891, that it became a power in the daily life of the community. Since that time good books have been put directly into the public schools, the age limit of use of the library has been abolished, a children's department has been organized, the public has been admitted to the stack room to make choice of books, special students have been assisted in all possible ways, books relating to current events have been listed at appropriate times, wise counsel given to readers by helpful word and suggestive bulletins, educational exhibits in art, handicraft, domestic science and other human activities have been given at frequent intervals. Through their wisdom and diligence the library has become an actual possession of, and a liberal education to, the people of Medford. It has aided and supplemented the work of church and school and formed another uplifting incentive to high endeavor. The collection and arrangement of books written by people who have lived in Medford was one of the many valuable and unsought services Miss Sargent gave the library.
This bookcase of Medford authors has since been catalogued and found to contain over two hundred volumes, representing seventy-nine writers, exclusive of the fourteen volumes of the Medford Historical Register and its many contributors. Medford has added few great names to the history of literature, but is unique in having [p. 13] so many busy people who give their leisure to literary pursuits.
Webster defines the word literary as ‘versed in, or acquainted with literature, well learned, scholarly,’ also ‘occupied with literature as a profession.’ First and foremost, I would name in love and reverence Miss Mary Sargent; versed in literature, with an intimate knowledge of books and who made that knowledge of the utmost service to all. She wrote valuable papers relating to her profession, of which she was one of its most eminent members; and in collaboration with her sister, ‘Reading for the Young,’ 1890.
One of the most renowned people, and certainly the most prolific writer of Medford was Lydia Maria (Francis) Child, a sister of Rev. Converse Francis. Her first novel, ‘Hobomok,’ published in 1824, when she was only twenty-three years of age, was a great success, and was soon followed by the ‘Rebels’ in 1825. She edited a periodical for children called ‘Juvenile Miscellany,’ afterwards published as ‘Flowers for Children.’ ‘The Frugal Housewife’; ‘Evenings in New England,’ 1826; ‘First Settlers of New England,’ 1829; ‘The Girl's Own Book’; ‘The Coronal’; ‘The Mother's Book,’ 1831; and the ‘Ladies' Family Library,’ four volumes of short biographies, followed in quick succession. Some of her books reached twenty-five editions and were translated and printed abroad.
In 1833 she wrote a pamphlet, ‘An Appeal for that Class of Americans Called Africans,’ which cost her her popularity as woman and writer. She never faltered in her work for the anti-slavery cause, however, but left her home and went to New York to edit the ‘Anti-Slavery Standard,’ wrote ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself,’ ‘Life of Isaac T. Hopper,’ and ‘Letters from New York’ and newspaper articles daily against slavery. She wrote for all time; the ‘Mother's Book,’ but for the diction, might have been written yesterday; we have not yet gone beyond her vision. [p. 14]
She excelled in many lines—juvenile literature, fiction, essays, history, biography, domestic science. A further list of her books are ‘Philothea,’ 1836; ‘A Brief History of the Condition of Women in Various Ages and Nations,’ two volumes, 1854; ‘Fact and Fiction’; ‘Aspirations of the Spirit’; ‘The Freedmen's Book,’ 1865; ‘Progress of Religious Ideals Through Successive Ages,’ three volumes, 1869; ‘Romance of the Republic,’ 1867; ‘Autumnal Leaves,’ 1857; ‘Looking Toward Sunset,’ 1865; ‘Biographies of Good Wives’; and ‘Letters,’ collected after her death.
Maria Gowen Brooks was born in Medford in 1794. She went abroad, met many famous people, and achieved an international reputation for her poetry—‘Judith, Esther, and Other Poems,’ 1820; ‘Zophiel,’ 1825; and an ‘Ode to the Departed.’ Robert Southey was said to have given her the name Maria del Occidente, which she used as a nom de plume. She wrote a novel in 1843 called ‘Idomen,’ supposed to have been autobiographical. Many believed her to have been the original of the ‘Woman in White,’ by Wilkie Collins.
Dr. John Brooks, one of Medford's most distinguished citizens, delivered an oration before the Society of the Cincinnati in 1787; a ‘Eulogy on George Washington,’ 1800; ‘Discourse Before the Humane Society,’ 1795; and a remarkable ‘Farewell to the Militia of the Commonwealth’ in 1823, all of which are in print. Of his inaugural address, when governor of Massachusetts, President Monroe said, ‘I am willing to take the principles of that speech as the basis of my administration.’
Among other early writers we find Timothy Bigelow, lawyer, many of whose orations from 1767 to 1790 have been preserved, and a ‘Journal of a Tour to the Falls of Niagara,’ reprinted.
Samuel Hall was editor of the Essex Gazette, New England Chronicle, Salem Gazette, and Massachusetts Gazette, 1768-1807. [p. 15]
Edward Brooks was a contributor to the ‘North American Review.’ A unique pamphlet was written in 1847 by Abijah Baker—‘The Ark, Ships and Shipbuilding, with a Brie History of the Art,’ and a register of vessels built in Medford.
James Gilchrist Swan wrote ‘Life in the Northwest,’ in 1857, and later the ‘Amoor River.’ He was the author of many monographs on ethnology and made himself an authority, through observation, on the customs and languages of the Northwestern Indians. Much of his work was given to the Smithsonian Institution, and he filled many important public positions. Judge Swan presented the collection of Indian relics and curios to the Medford Public Library in 1880.
In 1856, a Medford lad of seventeen, Nathaniel Holmes Bishop, with forty dollars in his pocket, shipped before the mast and sailed to Buenos Ayres. From there he tramped, with a caravan of natives and aliens, over the Pampas, the Cordilleras, crossed the Andes through the snow, dangerously alone, landed in Chili, where he shipped again for the long voyage around Cape Horn, and reached home with five additional dollars in his pocket. The journal of this ‘One Thousand Mile Walk Across South America’ is of thrilling interest, and filled with geographical and ethnological data and descriptions of the flora and fauna of the countries he traversed. His interest in natural history was the incentive for making this unusual journey, and he brought home with him a rare collection. He also wrote the ‘Voyage of a Paper Canoe, from Quebec to New Orleans, via the Hudson River and Atlantic Waterways,’ and ‘Four Months in a Sneak Box,’ both records of personal experience.
In 1853 a volume of short stories, essays and poems by Louise J. Cutter were collected and published after her early death and named ‘Cypress Leaves.’
Elizabeth M. Hall compiled a book on ‘Practical American Cookery and Domestic Economy’ that would repay study, even in the changed conditions since 1856. [p. 16]
Elizur Wright, a man of words as well as deeds, translated ‘La Fontaine's Fables,’ 1859, and wrote ‘Savings Bank Life Insurance,’ 1872, and ‘Trap Baited with Orphan,’ 1878. His daughter Ellen published his appeals for the Middlesex Fells and the forests, with a sketch of what he did for both.
Richard Price Hallowell was the author of ‘Quakers in New England,’ 1870; ‘Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts,’ 1883; ‘Pioneer Quakers in Massachusetts,’ 1887.
Mrs. Anna Davis Hallowell edited the ‘Life and Letters of James and Lucretia Mott,’ 1884.
John Ward Dean, whose long and valuable services as librarian of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society has made all investigators in that most patient of studies indebted to him, has written a ‘History of the Gerrymander,’ 1892; ‘Descendants of Thomas Deane,’ 1883; ‘Memoir of Rev. Nathaniel Ward’; ‘Memoirs, Rev. Michael Wigglesworth’; ‘Hon. Daniel Messinger’; ‘Charles Wesley Tuttle,’ and with Hon. Daniel Messinger, ‘The Messinger Family in Europe’; and with Charles Wesley Tuttle, ‘Capt. Francis Champernowne.’
David Henry Brown, a worker in genealogy, wrote ‘Simon and Joan Clarke Stone and Three Generations of Their Descendants.’
James Madison Usher published the ‘History of Medford,’ by the Rev. Charles Brooks, in 1855, and revised and enlarged it afterwards up to the year 1886. Edward Preston Usher wrote ‘The Church's Attitude Towards Truth,’ 1907, and a memorial sketch of Roland Greene Usher, to which is added a genealogy of the Usher family in New England.
Henry Grosvenor Cary wrote ‘The Cary Family in England’ and the ‘Cary Family in America.’
Thomas Brooks compiled the family record of Jonathan and Elizabeth Brooks.
The writings of Frank Preston Stearns cover a wide range of subjects—art, literature, criticism, biography, political science. In 1888 he edited a book on John [p. 17] Brown, by Herman von Holtz, for which he was singularly fitted through his personal knowledge of John Brown. In 1895 he published ‘Sketches from Concord and Appledore,’ and in 1905 ‘Cambridge Sketches,’ both intimate biographies of famous men. In 1892 appeared ‘Real and Ideal in Literature,’ and in 1897 ‘Modern English Prose Writers.’ He also wrote ‘Four Great Venetians’ and the ‘Midsummer of Italian Art;’ a ‘Life of Otto von Bismarck;’ ‘Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne;’ the ‘Life and Public Services of George Luther Stearns,’ his distinguished father; and ‘True Republicanism.’
Miss Annie H. Ryder, who has conducted a private school in Medford for a dozen years, is the author of two inspiring books of essays, ‘Hold Up Your Heads, Girls,’ and ‘Go Right On, Girls,’ and has compiled ‘New Every Morning,’ a day book of selections appropriate for girls.
Joseph Edgar Chamberlin, editor, who originated the Listener column of the Boston Transcript, published two volumes selected from it, wrote a monograph on ‘John Brown,’ included in the ‘Beacon Biographies,’ and a book of curious interest entitled ‘The Ifs of History.’
Some notable briefs on the Division of Medford and other cases, by Judge Benjamin Franklin Hayes, have been published for reference and are to be found in the Medford Authors' bookcase; also stirring speeches by Col. Norwood P. Hallowell, and an article on ‘American College Athletics’ by J. Mott Hallowell.
The ‘Proceedings of the Two Hundred and Seventyfifth Anniversary of the Settlement of Medford’ were issued by the Publishing Committee in 1906. The addresses, poems and various events of the four days celebration are fully recorded and form a very interesting and valuable volume of nearly three hundred pages. This book is prefaced by a very complete though necessarily brief history of Medford from the day of its settlement to the time of the anniversary (June 15, 1905). The author, John H. Hooper, has given a concise and [p. 18] clear account of Medford's beginning, its people, its industries, its roads, bridges and buildings, its churches, schools, institutions and societies in ninety pages, a labor of love for his native town.
The Medford Publishing Company also issued during the time of the celebration a souvenir volume called ‘Medford, Past and Present,’ which is a credit to the writers and an honor to the city. The contributors of the various articles are John H. Hooper, Moses Whitcher Mann, Herbert A. Weitz, Helen Tilden Wild, Mrs. M. Susan Goodale, Charles E. Bacon, Elizabeth J. Joyce, George S. Delano, Irving Farnum, Mortimer E. Wilber, Allston P. Joyce and others.
A copy of the costliest book in the world is owned by the library, one hundred of which were made for distribution only, at the cost of one thousand dollars each. Other copies were sent to the King of England, the Queen of Holland, the Emperors of Germany, Russia, China and Japan, and to famous museums and libraries in different parts of the world. This book describes and illustrates the marvellous collection of jade, giving a chronology of the mineral's life and history, that Reginald Heber Bishop, a native of Medford, presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
George Savary Wasson, son of David Atwood Wasson, is the author of three volumes of short stories, ‘Cap'n Simeon's Store,’ published in 1903; ‘The Green Shay,’ in 1905; and ‘Home from Sea,’ in 1908. Many others of his stories have appeared in the Atlantic, the Outlook, and other periodicals. He is a marine artist, familiar with the men and the scenes of the Maine coast. He formed a habit of making a note of the stories he heard from time to time, and offered the records thus formed to his neighbor, William D. Howells, as material for his work. Howells replied to him as did Henry James to George Du Maurier under similar circumstances, ‘Write them yourself.’
Sarah Warner Brooks was the author of three volumes [p. 19] of poetry—‘Blanche,’ published in 1858; ‘St. Christopher, and Other Poems,’ in 1859; and the ‘Search of Ceres, and Other Poems,’ in 1900; also a volume of criticism, ‘English Poetry and Poets,’ in 1890. She wrote two volumes of short stories, ‘My Fire Opal, and Other Tales,’ 1896, and ‘Poverty Knob’ in 1900. ‘Alamo Ranch’ appeared in 1903, and ‘A Garden with House Attached’ in 1904. Four of these books were written after she was seventy-eight years of age and the last one in her eighty-third year.
Mary B. Carret, whose childhood was spent alternately between the Island of Cuba and the Royall House, wrote, in 1899, ‘The Little Hero of Matanzas.’
Louise Winsor Brooks made one of the wisest and most delightful books for children ever written, accessible to English readers by translating ‘Heidi’ from the German of Johanna Spyri. She also translated ‘Veronica’ and ‘Rico and Wiseli’ by the same author.
Mabel G. Foster, at one time a Medford school teacher, has written a novel of the Italian quarter called ‘The Heart of the Doctor,’ and essays on Italian life and literature, art and history.
Mary Augusta Kellogg is the author of ‘Leo Dayne,’ a novel.
Amy Woods has written many magazine articles, and in 1905 a book called ‘Mr. Penwiper's Fairy Godmother.’
Marion K. Loud, another young woman born in Medford, is the author of ‘A Picnic on a Pyramid.’
Susan Marr Spalding, author of the ‘Wings of Icarus’ and ‘Winter Roses,’ volumes of poetry, famous as the author of the poem called ‘Fate,’ chose Medford as her home the last five years of her life, and lies in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Catherine Wilder Fellowes Paradise wrote juvenile literature for periodicals. ‘Little Theocritus,’ a poem, is reprinted in Stedman's ‘Anthology of American Poetry,’ and ‘On a Volume of Dante,’ is included in Higginson's ‘American Sonnets.’
Maud Kilbourn Wellington has published a volume of ‘Rhymes.’
Mary L. Wyatt, for many years a correspondent of [p. 21] the Springfield Republican, wrote ‘Verses for Little Citizens,’ a volume of temperance rhymes.
Mary Harlow Hayes has written many poems and sonnets, occasional and inspirational, that deserve a wider audience.
Caroline E. Swift is the author of many brilliant occasional poems, club papers and articles for magazines.
The verses of Charles H. Loomis have often graced the pages of the Historical Register and the Medford Mercury and have been collected and privately printed.
There are many young journalists in Medford doing excellent work—Persis Hannah, Eleanor Ladd, Frank Lovering, Mortimer Wilber, Charles T. Daly, and others.
Medford has reason to be proud of, and grateful to its Historical Society for putting into permanent form so much of the literary work of its members, setting aside the historical interest entirely. The fourteen volumes of the Medford Historical Register contain many valuable articles written by Miss Mary Sargent, James A. Hervey, Thomas S. Harlow, Lorin Low Dame, Abby Drew Saxe, Parker R. Litchfield, Benjamin F. Morrison, David H. Brown, Charles Cummings, Dr. Charles M. Green, Rev. Henry C. DeLong, John H. Hooper, Moses Whitcher Mann, Charles H. Morss, Myra Brayton Morss, Helen Tilden Wild, Anna D. Hallowell, Eliza M. Gill, Caroline E. Swift, William Cushing Wait, Walter H. Cushing, Fred H. C. Woolley, Benjamin Pratt Hollis, Herbert N. Ackerman, Mrs. J. M. G. Plummer, Grace L. Sargent, Charles H. Loomis, Ellen Wright, and many others.
The annals of the Shakespeare Club, started in 1866 by Miss Alice Ayres, forms a distinguished chapter in the literary history of the town. For thirty-four years a modest little reading club has studied literature, history, and problems of the day. The numerous essays written by its members, if published, would be found worthy of the greater recognition. For several years the programs of the Medford Women's Club were furnished [p. 22] by its members; many subjects were thoroughly studied and many interesting papers written that merit preservation. All these societies and others have produced good literary work that would add to the value of the bookcase of Medford authors if placed there. It would show appreciation of the work Miss Sargent so wisely began, and be a help and stimulus to others, could these poems and essays be collected and given into the custody of the librarian.
The work of church, school, library and club has been, after all, the work of the many noble men and women, all through the history of the town, whose lives and words have stimulated thought and action; its preachers, teachers, home makers, who have understood the fine art of living and made Medford a place where people could live as they chose to live, in freedom of thought and independence of action, with leisure devoted to uplifting work. Such a past and present should presage an even greater future for literary Medford.
