LITERARY SOCIETIES OF LYNN, pgs. 234-255

     When the writer began the foregoing sketch of the Silsbee Street Society his purpose was simply to present some of the leading features of an organization somewhat marked in its characteristics, and which gave it a local fame beyond that hitherto gained by any similar association. But this work expanded on his hands, and its significance in illustrating the literary aspects of our ancient town, and its important bearing upon the education of our community, led him to give a greater prominency to this peculiar phase of intellectual activity as it has shown itself in our midst. While the debating society, or "lyceum," as it is often called, is an American, and more especially a New England, institution, similar societies have existed among us to such a degree that they may be regarded as a peculiar product of our community. Within the last half century hardly less than a score of these societies, some of them in active operation for many years - and several of them simultaneously - have been organized within the limits of Lynn; while others having a briefer existence followed each other through successive years.

     In West Lynn there were several of these societies, and many of our prominent citizens were members. Hon. George Hood, Hon. Thomas B. Newhall, James R. Newhall, the historian, Rev. F. P. Tracy, Rev. Joel S. Bacon, Jeremiah C. Stickney, and some others, belonged to an association known as the "Franklin Club." It was organized in 1836 or '37.

     An association specially worthy of mention was formed in 1842. This was called the "Natural History Society." Its purpose was to encourage the study of natural history, and to this end a collection of minerals, and curiosities in every department of this science, was made by the members, and others interested in promoting this branch of knowledge. Its membership included a large number of our professional men, especially physicians. Dr. William Prescott was specially active in organizing this movement, and with him were associated Drs. James M. Nye, Daniel Perley, Joseph B. Holder, Charles O. Barker, Edward L. Coffin and Asa T. Newhall. Besides these gentlemen of the medical profession, the following well-known citizens gave their time and influence to advance the interests of the society, Thomas B. Newhall, James R. Newhall, Benjamin F. Mudge, William B. Oliver, and many others, who contributed more or

benefits of this well-organized association. Measured by results, this society did a great work for its members. It was not only a debating society, it was a school in the broadest sense; one in which the moral, mental, and social faculties were constantly disciplined.

     In 1850 an association was formed in the same section of the town which took the name of "The Exploring Circle." It was scientific rather than literary in its character, though its members cultivated all fields of inquiry. It was specially devoted to the investigation of topics of local interest in Lynn, and in the immediate neighborhood - geological, historical, and antiquarian researches, old roads, old houses, and ancient landmarks, and every question, illustrating the history, manners, customs, traditions, as well as the political, religious, educational, and social condition of the people who settled here some two centuries and a half ago - all these subjects received attention at the hands of the members, who gave at their semi-monthly meetings, reports of their investigations.

     This society took an annual excursion to some locality in the neighborhood having a scientific or historical interest; and whatever was gathered on these occasions was made to contribute, in some way, to the general good of the whole. The four original members were Stephen D. Poole, Cyrus M. Tracy, John C. Houghton and Joseph M. Rowell. To these names were afterward added Gardiner Tufts, Edward Poor, Samuel Guilford, George W. Rogers, Wilbur F. Newhall, Edward Johnson, Jr., William P. Sargent, John T. Moulton, David N. Johnson and Albert S. Rowell. This society still keeps up its organization. It is the oldest literary association in the city, having had an existence of thirty consecutive years.

     Soon after the Washingtonian movement of 1840 several debating societies sprang up, having for their main object the discussion of the temperance question. The existence of many of these was of short duration, several following successively during the next ten years.

     About 1849 a society called "The Gnomologian Society" was formed - mostly by young men of West Lynn. Its officers were - President, Theodore Attwill; Vice-President, David N. Johnson; Secretary, Nathaniel H. Stevenson; Treasurer, Edward Johnson, Jr. ; Editor, Nathaniel J. Holden. The following gentlemen were also members of this Society: Charles C. Spinney, Samuel Spinney, James E. Oliver, Charles H. Aborn, Thomas P. Nichols, Daniel C. Holder and John Jameson.

     Somewhat later than 1850 an organization known as the "Adams Association" was formed, composed, for the most part, of the members of the old Silsbee Street Club. This had a short but brilliant career.

THE YOUNG MEN'S DEBATING SOCIETY.

     This Society was organized on the 28th of September, 1852. The meeting for organization was held in the vestry of the Silsbee Street Church, before mentioned as the headquarters of the old Silsbee Street Club, and the record states that it was called by members of the "Old Gnomologian Society" - an organization then recently disbanded.  The record is not clear as to the number or names of those present, but the writer's recollection, and the allusions made in the minutes, enable him to give the following alphabetical list as - in all probability - the persons having the honor of founding this institution: Theodore Attwill, David N. Johnson, Edward Johnson, Henry Moore, James E. Oliver, Charles A. Shorey, Nathaniel H. Stevenson and Gardiner Tufts. At this meeting, Theodore Attwill was chosen Chairman, and John H. Crosman, Secretary. On motion of David N. Johnson, a committee was chosen to draw up a constitution, and this committee reported a constitution and by-laws at the next meeting, and the same were accepted. The following list shows the roll of members, as their names stand on the journal of the society, containing the records of the first two years -President, Nathaniel J. Holden; Secretary, John H. Crosman; Treasurer, Edward Johnson; officers for the first six months; Phillip A. Chase, David N. Johnson, James E. Oliver, Lyman I. Holcomb, Samuel A. Wood, Charles A. Shorey, T. F. Noyes, George A. Crosman, Charles A. Taber, George A. Hood, Nathaniel H. Stevenson, Theodore Attwill, William H. Barry, Sidney C. Bancroft, Gilbert Hawkes, Abner C. Goodell, John R. Hunt, John Jameson, John Winslow, William A. Attwill, Joseph A. Steele, A. Osgood Attwill, Joseph Davis 2d, F. M. McCutcheon, A. P. Pierce, Walter B. Allen, Eben Parsons, William A. Frothingham and Jesse L. Attwill. Still later , many others joined this society - among them Nathan Clark, David H. Sweetser, John A. Sweetser and William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., - until the membership included not less than fifty persons. Several in the above list had been members of the High School, which sent out its first graduating class in 1852, and which was followed through the successive years of this period by a class increasing from fifteen to thirty members annually.

     As already intimated, several members of the Silsbee Street Club belonged, in after years, to other societies of a similar character. Hence, we find a few names of the most prominent individuals of this older society on the list of honorary membership, preserved in the records of the Young Men's Debating Society; and several others were accustomed to attend its meetings, and take part in its debates. Among those who, as honorary members, or as visitors participating in the discussions, were several of our foremost citizens, some of whom, in after years, held high official positions. Most of the following names will be recognized outside the limits of our city: Hon. John B. Alley, Hon. Edwin Walden, Col. Gardiner Tufts, Hon. James N. Buffum, Prof. Benjamin F. Mudge, Prof. Charles C. Shackford and Addison Davis.

     If the writer were to assert that this Society had more talent than was found in the old Silsbee Street Club, a fierce growl of dissent would, doubtless, be heard from some of the veterans of this famous institution; but it cannot be denied that there was more scholarship and general culture among its members. Here were found college graduates, college students, and, in the later years of the society, not less than a score of High School graduates. The discussions were marked by a closer observance of parliamentary rules, and some of the experts in this science were willing to debate points of order, irrespective of time, place, or weather. An elaborate order of exercises regulated the proceedings of each meeting, and standing committees were appointed to report topics for discussion. A manuscript paper, called "Our Oracle," was read monthly, containing the wit and wisdom of members, displayed in essays, wise and otherwise, hairsplitting metaphysics, mathematics the most abstruse, conundrums which everybody gave up at once, and various indescribable compositions, each line beginning with a capital, and ending with a word that rhymed with some other. This was called poetry. It ranged from the vilest doggerel up to a kind that was never mistaken for Milton's. The debates of this society were often attended by crowded audiences. On anniversary occasions an extensive programme of exercises was carried out. One of these anniversaries was held in 1856, in Sagamore Hall, then the largest hall in the city, next to the Lyceum Hall, built in 1841. The large audience assembled expressed the highest satisfaction with the various exercises, which included an oration, a poem by one of the members, and the reading of "Our Oracle" by the editor. If the testimony of those present, and of the press, is to be taken, the members who took part in this performance had no reason to complain.

     This society run its course through the stormiest period of the anti-slavery controversy. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill, in 1850, and the angry discussions that attended it - the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1854, and the assault on Charles Sumner, in the Senate chamber, in 1856, roused the nation, and arrayed the North and the South in hostile attitude against each other. It is not surprising, therefore, that this question was often discussed by members of the club, and that a debate somewhat like the following was frequently heard.

A DEBATE IN THE YOUNG MEN'S CLUB.

     The question is one declaring the justice and expediency of the immediate abolition of slavery. The president ,has stated the question, and announced the speaker who was to open the debate.

     "Mr. President - The resolution before us states a self-evident proposition, and but little time is needed to set forth truths that appeal to the common instincts of mankind. What right has one man to enslave another? The question carries its own answer with it. Is it because the slave is black, and ignorant, and defenceless, and his oppressor white, educated, and powerful? The common sense of mankind revolts at the base suggestion. On what other grounds can the system of slavery be defended? Perhaps we shall hear that political expediency is sufficient to justify its perpetuity, or, at least, is sufficient reason to resist its sudden overthrow. But political expediency is not sufficient to justify such an utter perversion of justice. Slavery is the embodiment of every villainy. Nothing can justify it. But it is needless to debate a proposition so self-evident. I will give way for my opponent."

     The president announces that Mr. - has the floor, as the member appointed in the negative.

     "Mr. President - It is time that this question was discussed on its merits. Slavery is to be justified because it is the best thing under existing circumstances - the best thing for the black man as well as for the white man. We've had enough of this sickly sentimentality about the wrongs of the slave. He is better off in slavery, because he does n't know how to take care of himself, or will not take care of himself. Look at his history! What has he ever amounted to? What sort of a figure has he cut in the world's civilization? What has he done? Nothing. He was a barbarian as far back as we ever heard of him, and wherever we find him in contact with the superior races he always appears as a menial - a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. Egyptian hieroglyphics reveal his social position as it was thousands of years ago. He there appears as the slave of his superiors; and he has done no better ever since. He has been ranging over the continent of Africa through unrecorded ages, and what monuments has he left behind him? What has he taught the world in architecture, sculpture, painting, or in any of the arts of civilization? What records has he left behind him? What has he done for law, literature, or science? Nothing. He lives in miserable huts, eats roots, and vile reptiles. He is, and always has been, a naked, ignorant savage, and he seems to be incapable of  anything above the rudest civilization. We hear great lamentations over his condition as a slave. Why, Mr. President, he never amounted to half as much in his native land. We are told that slavery breaks up the marriage relation, and we hear doleful stories of the sundering of domestic ties. What sort of marriage relations did he have in Africa? And what were his domestic ties? All this talk about the African's sensibilities in these matters is too shallow to deceive anybody that knows anything about him. He has improved by his contact with the white man, and he is immeasurably higher in the scale of being, as we find him in the Southern States, than he ever was in his native jungles. Every once in a while we hear, Mr. President, of West India emancipation, as though there was anything encouraging about that experiment. What do we see there ? We see them lapsing back into utter barbarism. They are too lazy to work, and the Islands are going to ruin. Look at Jamaica; her exports fallen to almost nothing. Coffee, sugar, and other tropical products, she used to export by millions in the days of slavery. Now all there is to boast of is a certain spice that grows wild in the woods, which the blacks find time to gather, but which costs no labor to cultivate. So much for his ability to get a living unaided by the directing hand of a superior race. In the scale of human intelligences he is a child, to be kept under tutelage. In this way, only, can he fill his place in the economy of society. But this subject is so broad, Mr. President, that in the brief time allowed me I can only touch the surface of the question. I will give way for others."

     Two or three members are now on their feet, having already shouted -" Mr. President!" The floor is assigned to Mr. -

     "Mr. President - We have listened to the gentleman's defense of the infernal system of slavery, and what does it come to? It is as good a defense as can be made, and yet what is its logic; and where does its doctrine carry us? It is the logic of the robber, and the doctrine has been the doctrine of tyrants in all ages; and where does it lead us? The strongest nation, thinking itself the most advanced in civilization, enslaves the weakest because it does not make a good show in the world's commerce, or cannot boast an ancient civilization, with its ruins of temples, and its monuments of art; and so when the weak nation cannot satisfactorily answer the question - 'What do you amount to? ' the stronger takes it 'under tutelage,' and improves its commerce, and lifts it to a higher plane of civilization by enslaving it. The old Caucasian race, of which we consider ourselves the 'bright consummate flower,' the race that built the pyramids, and filled the earth with ruins, attesting its power, and also its decay, has been in successive centuries enslaver and enslaved, now standing on the highest pinnacle of the world's civilization, and now descending to the lowest depths of barbarism and degradation ; savages who performed horrid and bloody rites, lived in the wilderness, and clothed themselves in the skins of beasts. What has the gentleman to say of his Saxon ancestors, who lived so long in the German forests that Tacitus tells they were called the 'children of the soil?' What improvement did these 'shaggy demons of the wilderness' - as Carlyle calls similar hordes of barbarians who followed Tamerlane - make through these countless centuries? What monuments did they build? What were their exports? What treasures of literature did they leave behind them? What sort of a 'figure did they cut' in the world's civilization up to the time when, emerging from their caves and dens, this horde of savages descended upon the coast of Britain? And what sort of a figure did those other barbarians cut- Goths, Huns, and Vandals, offspring of your boasted Caucasian race - up to the time when, with torch and battle-ax, they descended upon Southern Europe, and destroyed the monuments of science, literature, and art, that the civilization of fifteen centuries had bequeathed to man? I need not tell the gentleman what was the character and modes of life of these 'demons' of the forest as far back as history gives us a glimpse of their savage life. How much was their barbarism in advance of the barbarism of the African tribes? And yet we see these Saxon, and other pirates, changed by new conditions, until at last they became leaders in the world's advancing civilization, and carved for themselves an imperishable name. The gentleman does not seem to see that he upset the foundations of his argument, when he told us how much less of a savage the African is under the tutelage of his white master in the Southern States, than he was in his 'native jungles.' If we have seen so much progress in the last two hundred years - a mere speck in the world's history - by his contact with the white man, himself degraded, as Jefferson tells us, as he always is by playing the part of a tyrant- what may we not expect to see under the most favorable conditions possible, when cycles of time shall have been added in which to work out his regeneration.

     But we have had enough of this miserable mercenary logic, that weighs its coffee, and sugar, and cotton, and strikes a balance between exports and imports. The doom of slavery is sealed. The handwriting is on the wall. The civilization of the nineteenth century, that just begins to comprehend the significance of the Christian declaration, that God has made of one blood all nations to dwell on the face of the earth, has settled this question beyond the power of a mole-eyed political economy to reverse. When the first French revolution swept slavery from the colonies of France, in obedience to the doctrine of our Declaration of Independence, the knell of slavery was struck, and its echoes were heard around the world. Toussaint taught the great Napoleon that the armies of France could not forge again the fetters of the black man. Then followed the destruction of slavery in the colonies of every commercial nation in Europe, Spain alone excepted. Does the gentleman suppose that this tide will not reach us? Are the champions of slavery so besotted with prejudice as to think that they can turn back the hand that marks the world's progress on the dial of time? The enlightenment of the nineteenth century will settle this question in the only way it can be settled - on the basis of justice, and the rights of man. The age that has given us the locomotive and the electric telegraph, an age ripe with revolutions, and above all an age that makes clearer and clearer the duties man owes to his fellow man, shall bring this 'sum of all villainies' to a speedy end, and American liberty be no longer a 'hissing and a by-word among the nations.' "

     The president's hammer announces that the gentleman's time has expired. The shouting from three or four who wish to speak makes it difficult for the president to tell whose voice first struck his ear; but he decides to give it to Mr. -, who had not spoken.

     "Mr. President- The gentleman who spoke last made a very plausible argument on his high moral ground; but it won't do. The darkey has never amounted to anything, and he never will. The gentleman on the negative put this matter right. Wherever we find the black he appears as a slave or a savage. Phrenology settles this question. Just look at this African; with his forehead sloping away on a line with the bridge of his nose. Do n't you see that all his brains, pretty much, are behind his ears? How long, do you suppose, it would take to bring him up to a level with the white man? The gentleman in the affirmative told us what progress we might expect this black race would make, judging from what he has done in the Southern States. That is easily explained. He has got some white blood in his veins. We hear about these smart darkeys. Why, Mr. President, they're half white, you note it where you will. Your real African does n't improve. If he had, he'd have showed it somewhere. What have they done as a race? In Africa, his home, he has always been an ignorant savage, and out of Africa he has always been a slave. What does this show? It shows that when he's among white men he must be taken care of. If he is n't, he'll run wild. The experiment in Jamaica, which the gentleman alluded to, illustrates the case. It was found that all the exports there fell off except pimento, and what do you suppose the reason was that the crop of pimento did n't fall off? I'll tell you. It grows wild, Mr. President, and thrives better when not cultivated; and so you see the darkeys have just gumption enough to gather it, but they're too lazy to raise anything that needs care or work. Now, suppose you abolish slavery down South, what'll the blacks do with themselves; or what 'll you do with them? You'll have the biggest elephant on your hands that you ever had. But as there are a number who want to speak, Mr. President, I'll say no more at present."

     A motion is now made that all present be allowed to take part in the debate, which is carried.

     The shouts of two or three members now reach the ear of the president, who decides that Mr. - has the floor.

     "Mr. President - There was something which both gentlemen, who spoke on the negative, forgot to mention when they told us about emancipation in Jamaica. They forgot to tell us that the exports of the Island began to fall off long before the emancipation of the slaves; and so, whatever that fact signifies, it is not wholly attributable to the abolition of slavery. They forgot to tell us another thing. They forgot to tell us that, while the exports fell off after the blacks obtained their freedom, the home consumption of the Island increased. In other words, the slaves produced more coffee, sugar, and rum for export under the lash than they did when free; but that after they were free they got more to eat and drink, and if they labored less, they were lashed less. Who does n't know, that knows anything about this subject, that neither black man nor white man works any more than he is obliged to under the burning, enervating rays of a torrid sun? There is another thing the gentlemen forgot to tell us. They forgot to tell us that the planters, and their backers in England, did all they could to make emancipation a failure; and that as fast as these old Bourbons, who learned nothing, and forgot nothing, died off, the industry of the Island, that had been disturbed by the social revolution through which it had passed, resumed its accustomed channels."

     Other members followed with short speeches, which presented almost every phase of a controversy that was agitating all sections of the country, and which found utterance through the press and pulpit, in the halls of Congress, and at political gatherings, in stores and workshops, and at the corners of the streets, and wherever men met for the interchange of opinions.

     The last regular meeting of the society was held January 6th, 1859.

     The "Library Association" was formed in 1855. Soon after its organization it made provision for debates, to which the public were invited. Some of the most prominent members of the Young Men's Society, and of the Silsbee Street Club, took part in the discussions. This feature of the association continued but a short time.

     In 1857 the first "Christian Association" in Lynn was organized. Thomas P. Richardson was its first president. John C. Houghton was president during the second term, followed by Stephen D. Poole. The rooms of the association were those occupied by the Library Association. There was a reading room for the use of members, containing newspapers, and a choice collection of books; and during a portion of the time, a debating society was one of the prominent features of the organization. The membership of the association was quite large, comprising many well-known citizens. It disbanded about 1870.

     A literary association known as the "Athenian Club" was organized March 8th, 1858. Prominent among the members of this society were T. Harlan Breed, Samuel Gale, Jr., George D. Sargeant, Charles C. Richardson, Micajah N. Goodridge, P. W. Butler and John W. Berry. Several others, hardly less interested in its welfare, were enrolled as members of this club, whose membership included some sixty names. It had ten years of active life running through the stormy period of the great civil war, which furnished topics of the most exciting character for discussion at their weekly meetings. A varied programme of literary exercises was provided, including a manuscript paper. Its anniversary occasions, combining both social and literary entertainment, were marked features in its history. Its last meeting was held March 2d, 1868.

     A society called the "Irish Literary Association" was organized in the spring of 1859. Its membership was made up of many of our most prominent adopted citizens. Daniel Mullen, Daniel Fenton, Patrick Lennox, Michael Donovan and Daniel Donovan were chief among the organizers of this society. Later, James Phelan, James Riley, Thomas McAloon, the Healey brothers, William Shepard, John F. Donohoe, Timothy Donovan, Patrick J. Eagan, Dennis Horgan and Edward Mahon joined the association, and gave it their support. Mr. McAloon was specially active in promoting its interests. It held weekly meetings, and its constitution provided for a varied programme of exercises. Debates, declamations, the reading of a manuscript paper, formed part of the literary entertainment. These meetings were free to the public. At the outbreak of the civil war in 1861 many members of this association enlisted in the military service, as volunteers in the Massachusetts twenty-eighth regiment. The organization disbanded in the Fall of 1873.

     The "Everett Debating Club," composed of High School graduates, was formed June, 1870. Among its leading members were John R. Baldwin, Fred P. Goldthwait, A. W. Edgerly, Frederick B. Graves, Charles J. H. Woodbury, A. B. Breed and William H. Gove. Its constitution provided for an elaborate order of exercises - debates, a manuscript paper, declamations and other literary entertainments. Their meetings were well attended, and their anniversary occasions, which displayed a high order of literary talent, attracted large audiences from the most cultivated classes in the community. Its last regular meeting was held in the Winter of 1879, but the organization is still kept up.

     Several literary societies not included in the above list, and having but a short existence, have been organized during the last ten years. Associations of this character are constantly being formed, some of them, doubtless, destined to a prolonged existence.