Norwich bulletin., 1909-07-05
SOME ROOTS OF
 OUR cITYs CHARACTER
As Found Imbedded in History of Nor.
 wioh, by Rev. G. u. Ewing.


 Sunday morning, church which Is as
 old as the town, Rev. George H. Ew-
 ing, pastor, took as his topic, Some Roots of Our City's Character, and
 preached from Isaiah 2s:1: In that
 day shall this song be sung in our
 land: We have a strong city: salva-
 ton will he appoint for walls and
 bulwarks. He said:
 If the story of Norwich has any vi-
 tai significance whatever, it Is to be
 found in the contribution which our
 fair city has made toward the realiza-
 tion of Christ's kingdom on earth.
 Cities, like human beings, have an el-
 ement of personality. No two are alike, and each has it's own individu-
 ality. Public buildings and palatial
 residences do not make a city. Char acter makes city. I purpose to point out some roots of that character as they lie snugly imbedded in the his- tory of Norwich.
 1. First, observe the debt we owe to the first founders of our town. When Major John Mason and Rev. James
 Fitch and their 33 companions left the town at the mouth of the Connec- ticut and came to the beautiful wild land at the head of the Thames, they impoverished a Saybrook, but by the sterling qualities of their character they permanently enriched Norwich. The first pastor of this church was no mere ecclesiastic. He was man of God, lover of souls, zealous and indefatigable pastor, a devoted mis- sionary to the Indians. The other of the two leading founders was a man of no less weight. Three times a pio- neer hero, once at Dorchester, again at Windsor, and third time at Say brook, he was not deterred by his threescore years from casting in his lot f1V- fnTTr ffr47a rr-ffh n 1nrurf For eight years he was deputy gov ernor and for two years acting gov- ernor of Connecticut. For years men of such caliber were moulding the town that 250 years ago nestled in this 1 lovely valley. Truly our greater debts
 are payable not to mountains or rivers but to men and moral principles. From them we have acquired not only a fair name in which to glory, but a solid character to sustain through years as yet unborn.
 2. The character of Norwich is firmly rooted in religion. In those
 early years church and state were one. The leading men in the political
 society were the leading men in the
 ecclesiastical society. Practically all
 the founders were also church mem-
 bers. The whole settlement was em- phatically Christian brotherhood. For sixty years so closely were town and church knit together that the affairs of both were recorded in one book. The universal textbook for school chill dren was the New England Primer, which contained the Westminster cat echism. Whatever we may have to say for or against the wisdom of our fathers in their strict observance of l the Lords day we cannot deny that they were men of conscience. Their
 religion was no veneer. It was the | most important part of their lives. With the march of the centuries fash
 ions have changed. The Puritan Sab bath has retired to the background. Church going is not the universal GUS 1 tom 1t once was. The outward forms of religion do not bulk so large as
 in the olden days when social rela- tions were simpler. Yet who shall say that the great spiritual realities which underlie religious forms are growing dinner or losing their force?
 3. The character of this fair city lies rooted in her loyalty to state and nation As a pioneer town of a pio-
 neer colony, and as a growing and busy city under the stars and stripes we
 have never forgotten that we are part of a greater whole. When the bur dens of settlement were most severe into abeyance. The committee of
 safety appointed by the governor in 1775, consisted of nine persons, of
 whom three were Huntingtons from Norwich: When the war was waging with all its dreadful carnage, George Washington could find no man in all the country better fitted for the of-
 flee of brigadier general than our own
 Jedediah Huntington. The two great wars in which our country has been engaged were schools of patriotism at
 once for those on the firing line and
 for those who at home prepared the sinews of war. This spirit has been
 wrought into the warp and wool of our
 life. It has become a part of our character
 If by some high act of imagination we could uncentury ourselves and lock
 down upon our present-day NorwiA II from the vantage point of distant years
 l am confident we should see more
 clearly than now we can how marvel
 ously the hand of God Is moulding the
 affairs of our city to His own eternal honor.