New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-10-30
ADAMEXEDs
A Massachusetts Town Frozen to Death by
the Chilling Grandeur OF an ex-Presi-


the Chilling Grandeur Of an ex-Presi-
Dental family.
Quincy Letter to the Cincinnati COMMERCIAL
Quincy is one of the finished towns of the
Commonwealth. Although only nine miles
from Boston, and in the direct line of ok
pansiOn, its boundaries touching the city
limits, it has been lying fallOw ard going to
seed for many years. The granite quarrles,
to which leads the first railroad built in
America, make great scoops in the hills to
the west. At the north, close to the city,
little colonies are settling under the aus
pieces of land spectators and promptly pc
titiOning for separation from the antlquated
borough; and on the harbOr side strenuous
efforts are made each season to arouse
water-place fever, with uniform lack OF sue
cess. But the centre of Quincy itself de-
flea innovation. and will continue to defy
il. The chief cause of this absence OF lie
il the fact that the Adamses own and
hold fast to such large tracts of the
most valuable land. Ali along the crest Of
most slightly hill in the centre of the
town, which would attract fine residences
we're it possible to purchase, clumsy post
and rail fences mark it as Adams property.
Broad meadows in the most fertile lOcali-
ties are unpurchasable, being let on long
leases by the Adamses. Everywhere the
prudent foresight of John Adams is seen in
unimproved property, left to fatten OF it
self and all alone for his descendants.
Were the clutch OF his family to be removed
from the ancestral acres, Quincy would
spring into an immediate importance and
blossom out as one OF the ivellest, where it
is now one Of the deadest, of Bostcn's sub
urbs.
There is an alIpervading Adams flavor
about the place. As one approaches by rail,
he rides past the Adams meadows and
orchards, to avoid trespassing on which the
town road was recently laid out with
long detOur. Next comes the old home
stead, the presidents house" OF late years
capped with mansard roof to the utter de-
struGtion Of it's antique LONELINESS. Close
at hand is the fire-proOf stone library, put
up a year or two since by Charles Francis
Adams to store his own and his fathers and
grandfather's papers. From the summit of
a hill looks down the new residence Of one
of the sons; and to the left is the Adams
academy, in which bequest Of old John
Adams has just found its monument.
This academy has a history almost as
curious as that of Franklin's famous legacy.
In John Adams day. New England's learn
ing was theology, and to that study all
others were made to tend. Its doctors
were doctors of divinity, and its students
were those who could cOnsUrue Isaiah in
the original Hebrew. Education was not
to be obtained for the asking, and every
thing was as different from now as you
please. With as little prescience of the ad-
vance of society as that shown by the
printer philosopher, John Adams deter
mined to give the youth of distant genera |
tions an opportunity of acquiring knowl- |
edge for which they would bless his mem |
DRY, and in his last will and testament des |
ignated a certain tract of land from |
whose lease the income should be set |
aside until a certain sum should &C. |
crue, when an academy should be es- |
tablished, at which Hebrew, Greek and |
Latin should be taught free to young men
Of Quincy. Moreover, the curriculum of |
study might be extended by the introduce
ton Of such branches of scholarly education
as might be determined upon by the clergy
men, lawyers and physicians Of Quincy
But Hebrew was imperative. Two years
ago the fund had accumulated, and q mar
velOus wonder of architecture arose on a lot
that had laid open and unOccupied in the
heart of the town waiting for John Adams
academy. The building stood vacant for
ong months. puzzle to every one, until at
ast subscription was raised for public
library, and one of the rooms was occupied
for that purpose, cart load of pamphlets |
and patent Office reports being sent down
from the Adams mansion as a contribution
to the reading of the public An attempt to
establish a school there has recently been
ndde, DuI as a UulGIOn 100 Is uemanueu' Jne
public schools absorb what would perhaps
tend toward John Adams benefaction, al
though they do not teach Hebrew. The
building stands as monument of the ad-
vance that education has made beyond the
dreams Of even great men.
There are very few objects in Quincy that
have not the Adams name connected with
Them. the great gloomy stone church that
stands in the central square is the adams
Temple" The second Adams kindly pre-
,ented the stone of which it is built if the
ociety would quarry it, dress it. and build
he church. The munifcent offer being &C
,epted, the church edifce is converted into
mausoleum of the two Presidents, their
bodies resting in the vault beneath the pull
pit standing between the crimson draDed
ables that testify to the fact of seputure
md to the donors of the deceased.