The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-09-08


thought at once suggested? There is
scarcely an age in English history
wanting in this title.
There was a Rutland in the days of
driving out King James II from Eng
land, and he may have been in mind.
But is it not equally reasonable to
think that the name of the new NUM-
eipality was only part of the system
which gave to the township OF Wor-
cester county with hardly an exception
reproduced English place name.
There may have been those v no hoped
to keep nearer the old by naming the
new home Rutland
When that monumental enterprise
which is to mark the end of the old into
the growing of the new century, the
Victorian history, shall have reached
the shire of Rutland, we may expect to
find in its genealogical gleanings some
names allied to those which early APP
pear upon the records of this township.
The story of a township brings US
face to face with the men and women
who, through the years of its infancy,
went in and out toiled, suffered
triurnphed and died here All of us can
fancy the appearance of the 90 men
who, at the beginning of the last cen
fury, took up lots on this enIinence, see
them cutting away the forest and
throwing open to the sunlight, lands
that had listened to the murnurings
lof the pines and hemlocks from the be-
ginning. Their love Of liberty led them
to resist every attempt to curtail their
privileges.
Their representative in the general
court was instructed to use his efforts
to.secure the repeal of the stamp act in
1I65. Col. Murray, for 20 years their
representative in Boston, was an ar
dent supporter of the king. The town
did not hesitate to instruct and censure
him when he went counter to the will
of the people, and finally they warned
him that a return to their midst would
be fraught with unpleasant conse-
quences to himself thus compelling
him to go into exile with the Briton
when he retired from Boston. mo
consequences, they wrote to Murray
ARE SO dreadful to a free people as that
Of being born slaves"
Rutland's chief claim to repute today
is that she claimed as a citizen that
noble participant in the struggle for
liberty. Rufus Putnam, and she still
points to the roof that sheltered him in
those early days. The occasion which
calls together so many of the towns
people and makes welcome such a num-
Der Of those who come back, as it WERE
| to the old flreside, is one In which the
corporate rather than the Individual
The speaker drew an Interesting pic
ture of the old and the new Rutland,
both equally Of credit to the common
wealth. Fortunately the town is not
as yet divided into two ewer-separating
classes, the employers and the en-
ployed. 1t still keeps near that Edenic
period of Americas life, when every
man had to work or starve, when every
man was rated according TO his ability.
4 The poor of Rutland have not grown
poorer nor the rich richer to the extent
| that separation seems possible. Hence
the greater freedom from public scandal
and absolute before the law, citizens,
irrespective Of birth, color, creed or
rearing. Rutland is a magnificent ex-
ample Of the beneficial results Of our
] system of town government that is I'M
excelled in all the world
Buckminster, Blake and others attest
the interest always held in letters here,
The arranging of school districts in 1856
was under the direction of Gen. Rufus
Putnam as chairman.
Upon the first floor of this structure is
a room, set apart for your free public
| library, which in Massachusetts goes
| hand in hand with the public school.
Good old Peter Whitney tells US 1t is in
valuable history of Worcester county
| that even before his writing the people
! had established library of the value
| of 80 pounds. Considering that the
state law under which so many librar-
les have been established in recent
! years makes a donation of only 800
worth of books, this raising of $3.50 so
i soon after the revolution speaks vol
umss for the character of the people
| of VN time. In the fulness of time we
may expect generous additions and the
first floor front viii be used for a IL
brary only till some more prosperous
| man, who is now saying proudly, II
was born in Rutland, Mass" be-
queaths, or, better still, In his life, ap-
plies the amount necessary to add yet
another ornamental structure to those
| which begirth your common
1t is time for us to have done with
| ephcmeral work. that we begin to build
| for time,if not for eternity, that to our
edifces we give the stamp of duration
as well as of near-eye catching beauty,
and in this building today opened for
the first time for public occupancy we
think we see some, if not all these
| qualities. Alike creditable to commit
| tee, architect and building, it stands
! structure representing in the highest
! degree the intelligence and progress of
the century, building wherein mind
and morals must receive the highest
| culture, capstone, the GROWING glory
of a town, her library, her school her
forum, beautiful for situation, the joy
of the whole EARTH
For many years the edifice now
abandoned has echoed the voices Of
your best and most distinguished citi-
zens. Here your great political, social
and military events have found a be-
ginning. Here has been debated every
issue that has concerned Rutland for
over 60 years. So deeply has its exist
ence sunk into the lives of your citizens
| that it would not be strange if, like
Downward, some of you reached these
improved conditions with a sigh. Here
in the new building we find the public
school and the free public library. Your
representatives appeared before the
| general court and asked the privilege
of mourning Indebtedness beyond the ie-
gal limit for the purpose of erecting
1 this building for school and other pur-
poses, with the understanding that the
generation which today enjoys its ben
eft shall in the ensuing 20 years have
the privilege Of assisting in it's pay
ment
On the 14th day of June, 1898. Gov.
Roger Wolcott set his name to the act
which rendered possible the result be-
fore it, What happy combination is
that which places beneath one roof the
process of making and developing citi-
zens and the arena in which said citi-
zens may eventually exercise the free
mems privileges. You in Rutland help
make the vast averages of more than
S18, 900 that Massachusetts applied to
school privileges last year And you
have been doing your part ever since
those early days when, in obedience to
public laws, your ancestors set off one
sixty-third of the original grant Of land
| to be reserved for the maintenance of
schools, though IL might be said that
you would get off very cheaply If no
larger proportion Of your tax levy were
applied today. 1t is. l believe, nearer
one-third than sixty-third