Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

municating any reminiscences that still linger in my memory, or facts received from others.

"Dr. Cutler's benevolent, genial, and handsome face, his tall, well-proportioned, portly figure, dressed in a black velvet suit of coat and small clothes, black silk stockings, and silver knee and shoe buckles, was very grand to my childish eyes. His manner was of the old style, courtly type, so rare in these days. His courtesy, though dignified, was affable and alluring. His fine social nature was enlarged and cultivated by his free hospitality, that seldom left a vacant seat at his table; and which, he used to say, should be extended to an equally liberal horse-pitality.

"He married, early in life, Miss Mary Balch, daughter of Rev. Thomas Balch, of Dedham, who possessed a not less amiable and hospitable disposition. Her figure was small and her manner graceful; her complexion a clear brune, while his was a pure blond, with ruddy checks.

"Unambitiously settling in a small village, in 1771, called Ipswich Hamlet, not even incorporated, his salary was proportionally limited. I think it never exceeded $450, as the annual amount, with perquisites of wood and other favors, as was the custom; but a handsome income was the result of boarding and teaching candidates for college, and pupils in bookkeeping and navigation from Newburyport, Salem, Ipswich, and other towns in the county. Social and genial, he was a lover of good cheer; his table never lacked abundance or variety, and this was the time when the flow of soul was swiftest, and the dessert was enlivened with a hoarded anecdote, or the relation of a droll incident, or experience. This habit he encouraged as a sanitary measure to create the laugh that waits on appetite, for a merry laugh was his delight.

"It was always a joyful anticipation to us (the children of Dr. Joseph Torrey, and of our father, Deacon Fitch Poole, who married Dr. Cutler's daughters, and the families were near neighbors in Danvers, now Peabody) when we were allowed permission to go to Hamilton, a drive of nine miles, and we always claimed the privilege on the old election day for the Governor, which was the last Wednesday in May. The five boys of the Doctor, the eldest of whom was Rev. Dr. Joseph Torrey,

of the Vermont University, who became a distinguished scholar and accomplished linguist, reading sixteen languages before he graduated at Dartmouth, and after added thereto, with enough of our more miscellaneous family to crowd into two vehicles, usually composed the party.

"As we passed the parsonage, and drove around the large area between this and the church, the first object we saw was the cottage of Jesse, the gardener, a freedman, whom Dr. Cutler brought from Washington. He was an honest, goodnatured mulatto, who, with a polite greeting, set us on terra firma, and with balls and fishing-tackle proceeded to devote himself the entire day to the enjoyment of the boys, leading the way to the pond not far distant.

"Dr. Cutler was deeply interested in horticulture, and his large garden was adorned with many beautiful exotics, and his orchards were enriched with rare and choice fruits. His passionate love of flowers was not satisfied with their dissection and classification, but he enjoyed their beauty and fragrance as well. Besides the special pets that required annual renewal, various vines, not then common, were trained about the house. Over the porch on the south side, fronting the garden, I recollect a thrifty trumpet flower, its brilliant clusters supported by a large trellis. The porch nearer the street was embowered in the more modest honey-suckle, which on a summer morning sent its fragrance through all the house. On the same side, near the window of the front sitting-room, a tall, welldeveloped moss-rose was lovingly domesticated. In a recess in this honey-suckle porch hung a large barometer, whose subtile movements with childish curiosity we watched, morning and evening, for indications of fair weather. The varied soil on the estate favored the cultivation of rare trees and shrubs, that are found only in their indigenous localities. Here grew the pawpaw and persimmon by the side of strange foreign plants; and in a swamp, not distant, flourished a transplanted magnolia, and in the garden a large tulip-tree. He introduced from England and successfully cultivated the buckthorn, a living, charming substitute for the dead, barren stone wall.

"The study was a large, low-studded room in the south

west corner of the third story, overlooking the hills and dales within a large circumference. The spacious study-chair, placed in front of the cheerful Franklin stove, was furnished with a movable slab, on which his sermons were written. In a corner of the study stood a large celestial globe, of eighteen inches diameter, and our wondering eyes were never weary of criticising the forms, and tracing the progress of the heavenly menagerie. Microscopes revealed wonderful things, and with broader magnifiers we liked to frighten ourselves and each other by the contortions of our homely faces. So there was no lack of amusement, and every visit was educational, drawing out at least a large amount of curiosity, as the basis of that by which in after life it would be gratified.

"Our winter sleigh-ride visits, returning after the long social evening by moonlight, are pleasant memories; sometimes, as on Thanksgiving, embracing both parents and children of both families, and meeting there Uncle Temple and his family. The large, square parlor, the glowing radiance of the huge hickory fire that illuminated every countenance; grandmother, with her sweet face and ladylike manner, sitting near the fire; grandfather, in his large arm-chair under the mirror opposite the fire, and the space on either side filled with his children and happy descendants, engaged in merry, entertaining conversation, made an attractive picture of an old family circle.

"I was, perhaps, ten years old when I first saw Grandfather in the pulpit. The small plain church was well filled with substantial farmers and their respectable families, all on about an equal footing as to rank and worldly possessions; the Minter's, the Lawyer's, and the Doctor's families constituting the acknowledged aristocracy. A quiet, peace-loving people, living together in all neighborly kindness and unity. As the Rev. Dr. arose to commence the service, I was surprised to see him enveloped in a flowing black silk surplice, with the clerical broad muslin bands. After the patient audience had sat through the two hours' service with no extra warmth but that each supplied to himself (for it was winter), we were dismissed with the usual benediction. Instead of the rushing process by which churches were often vacated, the congregation silently and reverently stood in quiet expectation. Dur

ing this impressive pause, their pastor was deliberately preparing to leave the church. As he passed down the aisle, he was greeted with a respectful bow from every pew, which with head and hand he gracefully returned; and, when he had reached the door, the people slowly retired.

"He was subject for many years to paroxysms of asthma, such as might have discouraged a less resolute man in the same circumstances. For several years before his death, he was compelled to deliver his sermons in a sitting posture in the pulpit. As I once suddenly opened a door in his house, I was transfixed to see him standing with his hands firmly pressed on the top of a chair, and his large strong frame quivering with the futile effort to fill his lungs with the reluctant air.

"Without undue haste, he was always ready and decided in action. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Hamilton, he made a short address to the minute men before they marched to meet the enemy, and in company with Rev. Dr. Willard rode on horseback to Cambridge as the British were retreating into Boston. Subsequently, he received a commission as chaplain in the army.

"He was prompt in the discharge of ecclesiastical, as well as secular duties. Once, at a meeting of the Salem Bible Society, a question arose whether it should be opened with prayer. The discussion began to wax warm, when Dr. Cutler, who was presiding, rapped on the desk, and said: Gentlemen, while the propriety of the duty is being discussed, the duty might have been performed-let us pray.'

"Dr. Cutler knew, personally, many of the distinguished men of his day, among whom were Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Jefferson, and others famous in the political and scientific world. His acquaintance was sought by intelligent foreigners; of these was Count Castiglioni, a distinguished Italian, who traveled in the United States in 1785-7, and afterward published a book in which he speaks of Dr. Cutler. His intercourse with Lafayette was during the war. When making the tour of this country in 1825, two years after Dr. Cutler's death, Lafayette inquired for him, spoke of a pleasant visit at his house, and recounted with much animation the cir

cumstances of their first acquaintance on Rhode Island, where, he said, Dr. Cutler acted as his Aid-de-camp in 1778."

The reminiscences of persons who knew Dr. Cutler, show the estimation in which he was held by his contemporaries. Hon. Allen Dodge writes of him:

"Dr. Cutler was a remarkably neat man, both in his person and in all his surroundings. His fields, and his garden-and he had one of the finest in the whole region, filled with a great variety of plants and trees-his barn, sheds, and other premises, were always in order. A place for every thing, and every thing in its place, was his invariable motto. One of his students, still living, tells me that the room in which the boys studied was kept in the neatest order, and they had to observe a strict regard to neatness, or when he came into the room they incurred his displeasure. As he had many distinguished guests to entertain-and no man was ever more hospitable, not to strangers only, but to all of his people, no matter how poor or humble-he was particularly anxious to have the table set with due regard to order and gentility, thus evincing his respect for his guests.

"My grandfather, Colonel Robert Dodge, of Hamilton, who was in the war all through the Revolution, a brave and publicspirited man, was ever the devoted and intimate friend of Dr. Cutler, and supported his election (to Congress) most earnestly. That the Doctor did not neglect the spiritual wants of his people during his absence at Washington, letters still preserved abundantly prove. Indeed, his people knew his superior qualifications, and felt highly honored in having their pastor selected for this important office."

Dr. B. F. Browne, of Salem, writes:

"When I was quite a lad, and had been ordered by my father (who then occupied a house in Pleasant Street, in this town) to trim a tree in front of his house, while engaged in this work I sawed off a large limb, which, in its descent, came in contact with a gentleman who was passing. My impression is that he bent under the collision; at any rate, I remember that his hat fell, or was knocked off. My father, witnessing the transaction, came out and began to reprove me in severe language, when the gentleman interposed to avert my father's

« VorigeDoorgaan »