Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of Concord Fight, April 19, 1875

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SUNDAY SERVICES. The scale of preparation had been such, that it was hardly possible for the assembling of guests to be confined to one day. As early, therefore, as Saturday, April 17, the Ransom Guards of St. Albans, Vermont, escorting Hon. Asahel Peck, the governor of that state, and his staff, arrived by a special train, were met at the depot by the reception committee, and marched down the main street to the hotel.1 On Saturday, also, in the evening, President Grant and Messrs. Fish, Belknap, Robeson, and Delano of his Cabinet, who visited New England to testify to the great national importance of the events here celebrated, came from Boston as the guests of Judge Hoar. Friends and relatives from all parts of the country filled the houses of our towns people, and the public accommodations were stretched to their utmost. Sunday, April 18, was a chilly, gray day. The town was quiet, considering the large numbers of visitors who filled the streets, and crowded the churches. The Portland Mechanic Blues, escorting Hon. Nelson Dingley, jr., the governor of Maine, and his staff, arrived early in the morning; and this company, with the Ransom Guards and the Concord Artillery, attended church in the morning and afternoon. The street decorations had been put in position. Up and down the streets, private and public bu1ldings were festooned with flags and streamers. The two mammoth tents overlooked the town from beyond the river. Against the vast background of the principal celebration, the modest services at the old meeting-house on Sunday attracted little public notice, yet they seem to us worthy of remembrance. The religious spirit was strong in the colonies. William Emerson, the pastor of this church, was an eye-witness of the fight at the Bridge, and by hisexamp...