VOL. XXIX.

FEBRUARY, 1904

No. 5

NEWTON TALBOT

AN ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT CAPEN IN THE COLUMBUS AVENUE CHURCH, FEBRUARY 6, 1904

Christian Friends: We are all mourners here together today around the open grave of our friend,-a man whom we honored and admired for the things that he has done, and the great and strong qualities of his mind, and whom we loved for the gentleness and sincerity of his spirit. It is a remarkable life that has now closed its earthly career. Four score years and ten -save one—is in itself an achievement. But to have lived these ninety years in the most notable century that the world has seen "since the morning stars sang together," to have seen with cleareyed vision all its great events, to have seen them as they were, and in their relations, with all their deep significances, to have been himself a part of them, rendering no inconsiderable service in securing the results which history has treasured, is more than an achievement; it is a rare privilege such as is only now and then given to the most favored of the sons of God.

This life was remarkable from its very beginning and at every point. I was born and reared in the same town in which he was born and reared. I can remember in my earliest childhood hearing my elders speak of this remarkable young man, who had already done wonderful things, and who gave high promise for the future. I can remember-I was eleven years old then-when, in his early manhood, he joined that great company of adventurers which in 1849 pushed its way through the wilderness and over the Rocky mountains, across the isthmus of Panama, and even around Cape Horn, to lay open the gold fields of California-an enterprise which has changed the financial standards of the world, and given an impulse to industry. and commerce such as they never received before in the whole progress of civilization-and to lay the foundations of a great Christian commonwealth on the Pacific coast.

Having performed his share in that work he returned to Boston. He entered here the service of the United States as an inspector of customs. Here he gave evidence of that fidelity which characterized him in all the subsequent relations of his life, both public and private. Soon after he was chosen an alderman of the city and made president of the board. It was during his term of office in this relation that he devised the plan for the sinking fund which is still in operation, and which has given a high rating to the securities of the city in all the money markets of the world. Then he was elected a street commissioner, and served the city for a decade in this capacity. It was the most important decade that the city has known in the entire process of its unfolding and development from the beginning of its settlement. During this period a large part of the city was swept clean by a devouring conflagration. As a result of that calamity streets had to be rebuilt, widened, straightened, the grades in many instances changed, and new thoroughfares constructed. All this had to be done with an eye to the growing demands of traffic, and the vested interests and rights of property holders. The work was accomplished with such excellent judgment that its wisdom has never been questioned. At the same time new areas of vast dimensions were just making ready for population and commerce. The Back Bay flats had been filled, and new territories from the suburban districts had been added to the jurisdiction of the city by annexation. Great avenues had to be laid out and built, together with the connecting and subsidiary streets. Here, too, was a demand for the fullest knowledge and the highest sagacity, because the important principle of damages and betterments was involved, while the region was to be fitted to meet the necessities of a mighty population. This accomplishment has scarcely ever been the subject of unfavorable criticism. I think it is no exaggeration to say that no man has lived in the city of Boston during the last fifty years who has rendered it a nobler service, or who has more enduring monuments of his service in the developments of the city itself.

But his service was not wholly of a public character. He had important connection with charitable organizations whose functions are semi-public. He was a member of the Massachu

setts Charitable Mechanics Association. He was chosen president of the society, and afterwards its treasurer. When he assumed office the society was under a burden of debt, so that its usefulness was crippled, and its existence endangered. He grasped the problem with the strength of a giant. He cleared the obstacles away and placed the institution on a sound financial basis. He did a similar work for the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Nor was his service here a financial one only. He was interested in the researches for which the society exists, and made important contributions to them. He was a genealogist of highest distinction. I doubt if during his life there was a man in Massachusetts who carried a greater amount of accurate genealogical knowledge than he did under the mighty dome of his brain.

But his most distinguished service of this character was that which he rendered to Tufts College. He may be regarded, perhaps, as one of the founders of this institution. He was an active member of this parish. He was the contemporary and friend of Thomas A. Goddard, Richard Frothingham, Oliver Dean, and Silvanus Packard. He was deeply interested in the movement for the establishment of the college. He was elected a trustee in 1868. From that time on he has given to it an interrupted and unselfish devotion. In 1886 he became treasurer, and now for nearly twenty years the college has enjoyed the full measure of his financial wisdom. It is difficult for me to speak of him in this relation without being personal. When I became president of Tufts College twenty-nine years ago, there was scarcely a member of the board of trustees who had had university training. The two men, John D. W. Joy and Newton Talbot-they were indeed as one man,-who have been my lieutenants throughout, by whose active co-operation I have accomplished whatever I have been able to do for the college, were both of them selfeducated. Mr. Talbot never had any other form of training than that of the district school in Massachusetts seventy-five years ago. The last thirty years constitutes an epoch in which education has been making its greatest strides and undergoing its greatest modifications. I cannot begin to express the wonder which I feel at the way in which these two men comprehended