The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-01-24
SAVE OLD SOUTH CBURCH

The ground on which the "Old South
| stands was the dwelling place of Gov
| Winthrop. Benjamin Franklin was
| baptized in this meeting house. The
| voices of Adams and Hancock and War
| rem and Washington have been heard
| within it's walls. You will see, back of
| the pulpit platform and below the
| quaint old sounding board, the very
| window through which Gen. Joseph
| Warren came to deliver his famous Or
| alton on the anniversary of the Boston
massacre, because the crowd in and
around the church was SO great that
| he could not enter by the door.
In this church were held some of the
| great meetings leading up to the fam
| Gus Boston tea party" Indeed, it was
| from this sanctuary of freedom" as 1t
| has been called, that the band of men
| disguised as Indians started for the
| wharf to board the ships and throw
| over board the taxed tea that had ere
ated such a turmoil in Boston. If you
should follow the exact route taken
by that band of ''Mohawks' on that
eventful December day in the year 17T3
you would finally reach a modern build
ing on the site of Griffin's wharf az
which lay moored on December Is, 1913
the three British ships with cargOes of
tea. This house bears a tablet COM
memorating the famous Boston tea
party which threw the cargoes into
the sea,
Did you ever hear the story of how
the "Old South was "saved?" ReVer-
ence for historic landmarks did not
run so nigh thirty or forty years ago
as it does today, and in our centennial
year of 1876 it was proposed to sell the
"Old South" simply for the value of its
bricks and timbers, and tear it down.
that a modern business block might be
built on its site. Indeed, it was sold
knocked down" at auction--to a bid
der for the meager sum of $1,315!
Suddenly a wave of patriotic feeling
swept over the city of Boston The
papers and some of the people began
to protest against the tearing down
of the old sanctuary of freedom and
a movement was set on foot to raise
funds to buy the church from it's pur-
chaser, and to buy also the ground on
which it stood. This good plan might
never have succeeded had it not been
for one noble and loyal woman in Bos-
ton, Mrs. Mary Hemenway of hallowed
memory. When the difficulty of secur-
ing funds for the purchase of the old
Westinghouse became known to her
she came forward with a gift of $780,
600, and thus the old Westinghouse
was saved, to stand as an object lesson
to the children of future generations
Having given such a large sum to
help, save the "Old South meeting |
house Mrs. Hemenway felt that it |
should be something more than a mere |
silent monument. She determined that |
1t should be real, living force in our
country, and particularly for the child |
rem of Boston. She determined that it |
should renew and increase its fame as |
a temple of freedom, and it's sacred
walls should again echo and re-echo |
to the sound of patriotic utterances,
and that some of these utterances
should come from the lips of the boys
and girls of Boston; and thus the "Old
South lecture course and the "OId
South prizes We're established. Each
year a prize of $40 and another of s25
are given to the graduates of the Bos-
ton high schools who write the best |
essays on historic or patriotic topics II
The committee having this work in
charge announces the subjects in June
Just before the schools close. and the
competitors must submit their ESSAYS
he following January. Then on Wash
tons birthday there is a patriotic
gathering of the school children of Ros-
ION in the old Westinghouse, and the
names of the prize winners are an
lounced.-St. Nicholas