1 THE LONG 19TH CENTURY IN GREATER RHODE ISLAND “History ... does not refer merely to the past ... history is literally present in all that we do.” — James Baldwin, 1965 “UNNAMEABLE OBJECTS, UNSPEAKABLE CRIMES” GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS PERIOD 1. “Greater” Rhode Island would include relevant regions connected with the local culture, such as Block Island and the other channel islands that used to be considered part of this colony, contiguous areas such as New Bedford in Massachusetts, etc. “Rhode Island” had been for a long time an ambiguous designator, as it might refer to the moderately sized island in Narragansett Bay, or it might refer to the entire colony of which said island was a part, together with the extensive Providence Plantations on the mainland shore. Also, since the period of that ambiguity, there have been significant trades of land and towns between Rhode Island and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — such as the entire city of Fall River. You need to deal with it. HDT WHAT? INDEX RHODE ISLAND ROGUE ISLAND 1846 In England, the beginning of George Cruickshank’s COMIC ALMANAC, as well as of the Reynolds’s Miscellany. THE RHODE-ISLAND ALMANAC FOR 1846. By Isaac Bickerstaff. Providence, Rhode Island: Hugh H. Brown. THE PROVIDENCE ALMANAC FOR 1846. Providence. Henry Thoreau had in his personal library the 1846, 1849, 1850, and 1851 issues of AMERICAN ALMANAC AND REPOSITORY OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE (Boston: Grey & Bowen). ALMANAC FOR 1846 ALMANAC FOR 1849 ALMANAC FOR 1850 ALMANAC FOR 1851 4816 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX ROGUE ISLAND RHODE ISLAND William Cooper Nell organized a Young Men’s Literary Society. He lectured, in New Bedford and Providence, Rhode Island, about the new Charles T. Torrey Monument in Mount Auburn Cemetery. Granville Olney of Saylesville was brought before the Rhode Island Court of Common Pleas for being behind in his rent payments to Anthony B. Arnold of Providence for use of the Olney Thread Mill in Lincoln Woods. The court record suggests that the Machine Shop activity and the Thread Mill activity were linked. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 4817 HDT WHAT? INDEX RHODE ISLAND ROGUE ISLAND 4818 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX ROGUE ISLAND RHODE ISLAND In Rhode Island, Byron Diman was in charge. The Providence Post Office issued a postage stamp: “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 4819 HDT WHAT? INDEX RHODE ISLAND ROGUE ISLAND James Stevens drew a map. Here is Jamestown, Rhode Island: 4820 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX ROGUE ISLAND RHODE ISLAND Here is a typically negative attitude toward Quakers in the arts, as expressed during this year in an epistle of the London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends: “...we believe [music] to be both in its acquisition and its practice, unfavourable to the health of the soul.... Serious is the waste of time of those who give themselves up to it.... It not unfrequently leads into unprofitable, and even pernicious associations, and in some instances to a general indulgence in the vain amusements of the world.” There had come to be more lay opportunities for education than had previously been the case, and some Friends had begun to send their children to secular academies rather than to the Quaker school. In this year the School Committee reported that “The improved condition of schools, both public and private, within the limits of New England, may seem to have diminished the necessity of placing our children in the Boarding School; but we believe that most of these schools will be found to exercise an influence adverse to the simplicity and purity of our Christian profession, and many of them to expose the susceptible minds of our youth to those corrupting associations from which it has ever been the concern of Friends carefully to guard them.” Also, the New England Yearly Meeting was splitting apart, into conservative followers of Friend John Wilbur of Hopkinton and liberal followers of English traveling minister Friend Joseph John Gurney, and this was having an impact on the school’s attendance (attendance for the year ending in 1844 had been merely 55, which was less than in any year since the school had been in operation at Providence). In an attempt to cope with the ongoing problems at their Yearly Meeting School in Providence, Rhode Island and elsewhere, the New England Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends established a General Committee on Education. This new committee was charged to give their personal attention closely to the school, meeting on campus monthly, attending instruction during school hours and “witnessing, advising, and directing in relation to the process of instruction.” The members of the committee were charged to enter into free intercourse with both the young scholars and their teachers, and would “judge of the standing and progress of the children.” An anonymous Philadelphia publication celebrated the lives of Christ, Friend George Fox, Friend William Penn, Friend Robert Barclay, Friend William Edmundson, Friend Edward Burroughs, Friend James Parnel, Friends Francis Howgill and Hubberthorn, Friend Isaac Penington, Friend Richard Sellers, Friends Mary Dyer and William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson and William Leddra, Friend William Coddington of Rhode Island, and Friend Robert Hodgson: THE ANCIENT BANNER; OR Brief Sketches OF PERSONS AND SCENES IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF FRIENDS. _______________________________ “THOU HAST GIVEN A BANNER TO THEM THAT FEARED THEE, THAT IT MAY BE DISPLAYED BECAUSE OF THE TRUTH.” Psalm 60,—4. _______________________________ PHILADELPHIA: JOSEPH KITE & CO., PRINTERS, No. 50 North Fourth Street. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 4821 HDT WHAT? INDEX RHODE ISLAND ROGUE ISLAND 1846. _______________________________ THE ANCIENT BANNER. In boundless mercy, the Redeemer left, The bosom of his Father, and assumed A servant’s form, though he had reigned a king, In realms of glory, ere the worlds were made, Or the creating words, “Let there be light” In heaven were uttered. But though veiled in flesh, His Deity and his Omnipotence, Were manifest in miracles. Disease Fled at his bidding, and the buried dead Rose from the sepulchre, reanimate, At his command, or, on the passing bier Sat upright, when he touched it. But he came, Not for this only, but to introduce A glorious dispensation, in the place Of types and shadows of the Jewish code. Upon the mount, and round Jerusalem, He taught a purer, and a holier law,— His everlasting Gospel, which is yet To fill the earth with gladness; for all climes Shall feel its influence, and shall own its power. He came to suffer, as a sacrifice Acceptable to God. The sins of all Were laid upon Him, when in agony He bowed upon the cross. The temple’s veil Was rent asunder, and the mighty rocks, Trembled, as the incarnate Deity, By his atoning blood, opened that door, Through which the soul, can have communion with Its great Creator; and when purified, From all defilements, find acceptance too, Where it can finally partake of all The joys of His salvation. But the pure Church he planted,—the pure Church Which his apostles watered,—and for which, The blood of countless martyrs freely flowed, In Roman Amphitheatres,—on racks,— And in the dungeon’s gloom,—this blessed Church, Which grew in suffering, when it overspread Surrounding nations, lost its purity. Its truth was hidden, and its light obscured By gross corruption, and idolatry. As things of worship, it had images, And even painted canvass was adored. It had a head and bishop, but this head Was not the Saviour, but the Pope of Rome. Religion was a traffic. Men defiled, Professed to pardon sin, and even sell, The joys of heaven for money,—and to raise Souls out of darkness to eternal light, For paltry silver lavished upon them. And thus thick darkness, overspread the Church As with a mantle. At length the midnight of apostacy Passed by, and in the horizon appeared, Day dawning upon Christendom. The light, Grew stronger, as the Reformation spread. 4822 Copyright 2013 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX ROGUE ISLAND RHODE ISLAND For Luther, and Melancthon, could not be Silenced by papal bulls, nor by decrees Of excommunication thundered forth Out of the Vatican. And yet the light, Of Luther’s reformation, never reached Beyond the morning’s dawn. The noontide blaze Of Truth’s unclouded day, he never saw. Yet after him, its rising sun displayed More and more light upon the horizon. Though thus enlightened, the professing Church, Was far from many of the precious truths Of the Redeemer’s gospel; and as yet, Owned not his Spirit’s government therein. But now the time approached, when he would pour A larger measure of his light below; And as he chose unlearned fishermen To spread his gospel when first introduced, So now he passed mere human learning by, And chose an instrument, comparable To the small stone the youthful David used, To smite the champion who defied the Lord. Apart from human dwellings, in a green Rich pasturage of England, sat a youth, Who seemed a shepherd, for around him there A flock was feeding, and the sportive lambs Gambolled amid the herbage. But his face Bore evidence of sadness. On his knee The sacred book lay open, upon which The youth looked long and earnestly, and then, Closing the book, gazed upward, in deep thought This was the instrument by whom the Lord Designed to spread a clearer light below And fuller reformation. He appeared, Like ancient Samuel, to be set apart For the Lord’s service from his very birth. Even in early childhood, he refrained From youthful follies, and his mind was turned To things of highest moment.