The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-12-10
ALL H0N0RS TO
FOREM0THERS
Continued from Page H.

the old election days, of ordination din
lners, and balls and of the hilarity of
the clergy One of the most marked
events in the New England town." he
said, was the ordination services. In
Connecticut grand ordination balls were
given and there was always an Ordina-
ton dinner served in the tavern or in
a large barn, and the tables were gen
erously supplied with toddy. They had
what Mark Twain would call pretty
wet dinners, and the young people, even
among the clergy, were disposed to
make a jolly time of them"
Speaking of the free use Of various
liquors in those days, DR.. Parker said
that our modern Congregational ban
Iquets would have seemed very dry af-
fairs to the forefathers. But" said
Dr. Parker, among the Puritan clergy
there were beyond all question men,
hale hearty, jolly, full of jocosity, and
as jolly as they were Cody What
Jokes they perpetrated even in the pull
pit" I think 1t but reasonable to sup
pose that some Of the people of the
parish We're like them.
Then the Puritans were gentle and
lenient upon every subject but re-
ligion. The mildness of the Puritan
legislation upon every other subject
was remarkable. They were a people
full of affection, and the objects of
their love We're around them. Doubtless
there were doleful deacons and mourn
ing ministers but they were hearty.
wholesome, gentle people as well to
whom their religion was more than
their theology-as is always the case
with truly religious people.
They would be unable to understand
the modern considerations Of their lot
and the question rs life worth living"
never occurred to them.
'Puritanism had just the fineness of
grain and firmness of fibre which made
it capable of the highest culture"
DR.. Parker closed with a stirring ex-
hoTtation to become more intimately
acquainted with the real Puritan char
| acter. Why" he said. Should our
I children study the romance of Esther
and remain ignorant of Margaret Win
| throp? What are the labOrs Of Samson
to those Of John Eliot? He who guided
/ the exodus from Egypt also guided the
| Pilgrim and the Puritan hither across
| the sea. His dealings with them in the
New England wilderness are no less
| instructive than His dealings with
| Israel in the Arabian desert. There
! were men among them faithful as
Abraham, resolute as Jacob, pure and
| gentle as Joseph. valiant as Joshua
| and upright as Samuel. There were
/ becca, lovely at Ruth, devoted as
| Jeptha's daughter and patriotic as
Deborah.
/ Let us call to remembrance the
/ names. services and sacrifices of these
/ acknowledgement worthless of New
| England, whose claim upon our honor
| and gratitude is so supremacy valid
| and unsDeakably sacred
| President Barry then introduced Mrs
/ Archibald Mo- 7yJlla oh hn a osly
/ ing along the same line as DR.. Parker
| in regard TO the women of Puritan
! days, said: II nave sometimes beer
! called PuritanicaI because I maintain
/ that undue luxury Is the greatest men
ace to the comfort and happiness os the
/ homes Of the present day. Bat the
| fathers have TO work unremittinglv ia
| keep up this luxury, and the mothers
/ are slaves to conventionality and fash
/ ion. There is never q moment of tran
guilty.
THE same qualities which we honor
| In our fOremothers are in the young
women of today. but they often receive
/ too tender protection from the respon-
sibilities and burdens of life 10 develop
the deeper and stronger qualities Of the
Puritan women
I In closing, Mrs. McCullagh referred to
/ Miss Stone. held in captivity by brig
! ands as exemplifying the Puritan
/ qualities by the heroic way IN which
/ she is bearing her Imprisonment.
I John S. Gould was next called upon
| to bear testimony to the good qualities
Of the women Of the present day. Mr.
I Gould. however. persisted in going ever
farther back than DR.. Parker and
showed by a number Of historical ref
I erences to English law that the condi-
/ ton of women was Lowry at the time
+ the Pilgrims came to Plymouth.
with the free air there came a re-
/ bound as it were. and under the in
| creasing burden Of political and social
duties women developed, grew in wo-