Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-09-18

vital interest to Maine. Mr.. Deane has also q
very interesting note upon Col. John Black.
He says.
Some time prior to my fathers settlement
| IN Ellsworth. John Black, young English
man, settled there as deputy agent OF the
tracss Of aea T Hns owned yers
=! counties, called In common phrase 1.-THE
Bingham purchaser. The acquaintance be-
and which lasted
uninterrupted till my fathers death.
wse Black was the name by which he
He was not only one Of the best business
men ever known in Maine, but he was finely
educated and accomplished in the elegant
The land of his birth. He was good
drauRhtsman, and an amateur painter Of no
mean skill. Though not large in stature, he
was very noticeable In appearance, and In
his personal address be was graceful and
polite and possessed OF most courtiy manners.
IN all respects he was noble man and a most
excellent gentleman. His management Of the
great trusts OF the Bingham estate was
| characterized by the strictest diligence and
| naeiity' as well as the most scrupulous hon
| esty."
This town and this church have always
held Col. Black and his descendants in
honor and affection. An interesting
account Of him is found In the Maine
Historical society archives in volume
OF the Maine Historical Magazine. The
magazine contains also fine picture,
Illustrating his commanding presence and
striking face. I should like to speak in
much greater detail, and with more personal
mention. OF the men who founded Ellsworth;
the ancestors Of so many now in this presence.
At the end Of a century, they stand out more
clearly and sharply than ever in our imagina-
tion and in our hearts.
| I hope they all know that their works have
lived after them. hope Melatish Jordan and
Samuel Dutton, Jchn Back and the other noble
men whom we commemorate can look down
over the great battlements and see the goodly
line of their sons and daughters, to the third
and fourth and fifth generation. as they pass
across the little span OF one hundred years.
More than a passing word ought to be said
about the individuality and sterling qualities
Of these early settlers and their sons. They
had that rarest kind OF wisdom which DR.. Hyde
has described as that which appreciates the
point of view OF the people with whom 1t
comes in contact; which instinctively takes
into account the subtle conditions making up
any social situation. This people have al
ways had this practical wisdom. this abiding
common-sense. These men have never been
| tSoNttoNa hott utttAsiy tuhu ny al houoIeu
son of Ellsworth, and of this church, Henry
Crosby Emery. He says;
This people treasured their own ideas and
! methods of life. not always knowing how they
| differed from those of the great world, and in
| no case caring much. Whether their stan
dards were better or worse, they were indie
| pendenty arrived at, and they were applied
TO all men; TO themselves and the strangers
1 within their gate. Whether rich poor,
learned or ignorant, famous or obscure, the
Ia mad f.r nj hA
| measures up TO the local standard. and left
| with serene indifference IL he does rot. And
so 1t Is among themselves. There are no
sharp distinctions OF wealth, no large cities.
no CULTS between neighbors. The chief
| sources OF wealth are the forest and the sea,
those two grim destroyers OF all artificial
these characteristics is rough charity,
| which. while not always avoiding rather
brutal condemnation OF what onends, SIN
grants ungrudging credit to what is worthy,
| and judges man by the best that he can
| show and not the worst
THE men OF the coast, furthermore, possess
| that strange serenity of temper which comes
from wrestling with the sea. They learn
early the lesson that impotence and fretful-
where It iisteth and when it listeth; it
| brings the fog, or drives 1t away, regardless
of mans purposes. And SO they learn to, face
| all vicissitudes OF life with a serene fortitude
| born of hard experience"
There was abu ndant reason why the men OF
| THIS StCtlOn suoulu DC the KIM OF men mr.
Emery has pictured; they were born to be re-
membered. have already told you whence
they came. They were the products of two
| great civilizations. They were the descend
ants of the British royalists who, under
| Gorges, came to Richmond's island in the last
days OF the stuarts. They were the sons, too,
| of the Puritans, who few years later came
from Massachusetts bay to Maine; and so
4 -, 81. ~ rho ,x,fs
| Cromwell, and in the Revolution. laid the
4 foundation of England's representative gov
eminent. These two elements met and
mingled in Maine; their type shows markedly
in the men who came to Union river. shall
| speak little more in detail of this mingling
of blood in Maine.
| But must hold to my Ellsworth story OF
one hundred years ago. This church was
| formed at the transition stage in Church
history. The Unitarian element was just 60
ing off from the Congregational church. Par
son Smith, the great Portland minister of
his time, had just died in l7s5. after minis
try of sixty eight years, speak Of him with
some detail because he represents the type
of the ministers of his time.
| Rev. DR.. John Carroll Perkins has given an
| interesting analysis of his character. He
describes him as not remarkable for learning,
nor of unusual intellectual powers, nor of
very fine spiritual insight, but natural
| leader. In the midst of his work in the
| church, he found time to attend to business,
| and to acquire an estate; so that, when
| Mowatt destroyed the town, Parson Smith
preached for years without salary. He was
one OF the best educated men of his time. He
kept up his association with Boston and
| with Harvard, going back and forth by sloop
or horseback several times year.
Let us look for a moment into his meeting
house. No clergyman then read the scrip
lures in the meeting house except for eregesis.
The clergyman could read passages of the
| scriptures and comment upon them, but he
( could not read thom as part of the service.
| Such reading was regarded as part of the
liturgy, and as savoring of Episcopacy. The
Congregational service, consisting princi-
| pally of the prayer and the sermon, was not
thereby usually cut short Often, in Parson
Smiths diary, we fihd this comment after
| morning service: "A very full meeting.