All of which we ask in the name and grace of Christ, our Lord and Redeemer.
Amen.
The company then repaired to its site, and after depositing the box in the concrete base the stone was placed in position by the President, assisted by workman Kelley.
Symbolical of the varied talents which are brought into the work of the Society, the mortar used in its setting was of a composite character.
Water having been taken from the city supply, the reservoir on College hill, Mystic lake and Spot pond, was mixed with salt water from the river and the soft rain water that fell on the previous evening.
This was used in tempering, and finally poured upon the stone by our Secretary, who also provided the beautiful wreath of salvia and bouquet of wild flowers that lay upon it. The President applied the plumb and level, and finding it correct, with a hammer struck three blows, declaring it well, truly and safely laid, adding,
May the Giver of all good
The heads that plan endue with
polluted by the factory drainage of Woburn and Winchester, its use for domestic service was at once abandoned.
For a time it was kept in commission for emergency, but this was not for long.
The engine last installed was taken to the works at Spot pond and the newer boilers removed.
The others remained for some time, and within a few years have gone to the junk dealers, as also the three duplex pumps that used to have extra duty on Monday, when Charlestown, like other places, had that as was and enough of it by gravity, instead of this eternal pumping.
But he did not forsee the end that came in time rather than in eternity.
Not all the extensive construction is now useless, however.
The reservoir on the hill is connected with Spot pond (which was raised several feet higher) and the water flows downward through the force main to the gate-house in West Medford, where an iron main (laid beside the brick conduit to Sherman street) conveys the water to Arlington.
There, a mile up
of Mistick, using the name that Governor Winthrop wrote in his diary under date of June 17, 1630,
We went up Mystick River about six miles.
Dudley, in his letter to the Countess of Lincoln on March 28, 1631, tells of settlers at Watertown, on the Charles river, and
some of us upon Mistick, which we called Meadford.
And again Winthrop tells—
The Governor and others went over Mistic River at Medford two or three miles among the rocks to a very great pond which they called Spot Pond.
In these three instances, the earliest known, the river is called by name, the name the aboriginal dwellers gave it, Missi-tuk, abbreviated and modified a little to suit the English lips.
The Indian name of the Charles river was Quinobequin, the adjective quin meaning long, and certainly appropriate.
Trumbull gives the origin of Mistick thus—
Tuk in Indian denotes a river whose waters are driven in waves by the tides or winds.
With the adjective missi, great, it forms Missi-t
Whitmore brooks, as well as over their various bridges.
There horses and cattle could drink or the family carriage be washed.
Mr. Woolley has preserved a view of the first-named in his picture of the second meeting-house.
Time was when the town-pump was indispensable and its condition carefully noted by the fire engineers.
To such, a necessary adjunct was the old-time watering-trough, kept full by the laborious effort of each comer, though some thoughtless ones did not fill it. After Spot pond water was introduced, the old troughs disappeared and drinking fountains of various patterns were installed.
In the square, and at West Medford, a big iron vase with a lamp-post rising from its center made an ornamental feature, but was too frail to withstand the shock of the heavy pole of a two-horse truck.
The former gave place to a circular and substantial structure of granite, and the latter to a section of heavy water-main set upright in the ground and partially filled with concrete
cidentally we notice that the initial charge is written To 4 Bo—then a t crossed several times—wls.
The English money reckoning was still in vogue, as it was somewhat within our remembrance.
Two and thrippence was the charge for the eats at Blanchard's, morning, noon and night alike.
Probably December 2 was a cold morning, but the four directors that had breakfast were fortified (or thought they were), by the modest allowance of one pint of bitters, ere they set out on the rocky road by Spot Pond.
But they came back with reinforcements, for nine sat down to dinner, and, strange to say, only four bowls of toddy.
As Blanchard had Entertainment for Man and Beast the charge of one and six for Horss completed the charge for that day, each day's charge being separated by a line drawn across the unruled page.
The next charge is interesting; two horses did the eating and (presumably two) men the drinking, the particular vanity of one being a mug of flip, probably smaller than the t
ad, shared in the general ruin, and was cut in two, moved and made into dwellings.
Some factories were built, and houses along Union street, which people called Back street.
The Branch canal was back of that and became a dumping and drainage place.
We find no reversion of title when disused for two years.
Probably the Proprietors sold it (as did the Middlesex) in closing up their affairs.
The unsanitary conditions that were created were more evident with the introduction of water from Spot Pond in 1871, and the Branch Canal figures considerably in the reports of the Board of Health in the early seventies.
At last the nuisance was abated.
Along its course are the Teel carriage factories, the city stables, Water and Sewer Department buildings, and lastly the extension of Mystic Valley parkway.
Across and beside the river are the Cradock dam and lock of concrete masonry, erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
During their construction there stood a few rods away the las
ered through a single spout as shown It was a man's job to operate it and fill the big trough from which the horses and cattle drank.
We of present day Medford never see an ox in our streets; horses are becoming rare.
What do the generality of Medford children know of pumping water?
They would be helpless if set down thirsty in Medford square as it was a century ago. The useful fixture known as the town pump disappeared nearly fifty years ago, soon after the introduction of water from Spot pond.
A great iron vase, by courtesy styled a drinking fountain, took its place.
Though it never drank nor become drunk and upheld a lantern to illuminate the way for those who did, it proved too fragile for its purpose, and soon gave way for one of granite.
That, after years of use, has disappeared at the suggestion of the State Board of Health—for sanitary reasons.
At time of present writing, and for several weeks, Medford square has been in a state of upheaval by the relaying of railwa
Sewage in Mystic river.
The efforts of the town of Medford to prevent the Pollution of the Mystic river by discharge of sewage therein.
AFTER the introduction of Spot pond water into Medford, the subject of sewerage became uppermost in the minds of our citizens.
In March, 1871, the subject was referred to the selectmen, and they were authorized to employ an experienced engineer to plan a thorough system of sewerage throughout the whole town, and to make a survey and outline map showing the principal drains and trunk conduits.
In accordance with this vote the selectmen employed Mr. Clemens Herschel, who made a study of the problem, with plans and map as instructed.
Mr. Herschel's report was submitted to the town at the November meeting in 1872, and in June, 1873, the selectmen were instructed to report a system for the apportionment of cost upon abuttors and upon the town, action upon which was indefinitely postponed when report was submitted to the town.
This latter action w
lectrics and auto machines, and the dignified demeanor of former citizens is replaced by the bustling nervous energy fostered by modern conditions.
Houses of historic association on the old highways have been demolished and hundreds of homes for our new citizens are being built in places formerly never dreamed of as residential districts.
Even the physical aspect of the place has become altered.
The river above Cradock bridge has been changed and some of the marshes are disappearing.
Spot pond has a different look, and the forests around it, where were once wood-cutters' paths, are now the Middlesex Fells pierced by roads for pleasure driving.
Hills have been levelled and great boulevards laid out on all sides that offer wonderfully fine views at all seasons, by day or night.
In this direction we can honestly confess we see the march of improvement.
For those who have known former generations the following facts are presented concerning a few houses and those who lived in t
feet at its end) which corresponded to the depth of the school lot, but much elevated.
Against this wedge was the battery building placed, and a little farther away from High street is now the Historical Society's home.
Since its building, by an exchange of land, the diagonal boundary has been eliminated and during recent months the original telephone building has been much enlarged.
Governors avenue is a double street with grass plot between, beneath which is the great water main to Spot pond.
Beyond and eastward from the society's home is the spacious building of the Medford Women's Club, and, last year, was erected the modern apartment house called The Bradlee.
There is room yet for more improvements and the changes are going on.
Treasures and a man.
On a pleasant afternoon, recently, I made a pilgrimage to one of Medford's many historical shrines.
Upon cautiously opening the door of the building to which I had just applied a large key, I was instantly met by a gust
