Cambridge as Village and City 301 



Cambridge during those two centuries of rural ex 

 istence. Such strengthening and unfolding of the 

 spirit is the only work that is truly immortal. In 

 a town like ours the material relics of the past are 

 inspiring, and it is right that we should do our best 

 to preserve them ; but they are perishable. The 

 gambrel-roofed house from the door of which Pre 

 sident Langdon asked God s blessing upon the men 

 that were starting for Bunker Hill, in later days 

 the birthplace and homestead of our beloved Auto 

 crat, has vanished from the scene ; the venerable 

 elm under which Washington drew the sword in 

 defence of American liberty is slowly dying, year 

 by year. But for the spiritual achievement that 

 has marked the career of our community there is 

 no death, and they that have turned many to right 

 eousness shall shine in our firmament as the stars 

 forever and ever. t 



In contrasting the Cambridge of the nineteenth 

 with that of the two preceding centuries, the first 

 fact which strikes our attention is the increase in 

 the rate of growth. In 1680 the population of 

 Cambridge seems to have been about 850, and the 

 graduating class for that year numbered five. In 

 1793 the population not counting the parishes 

 that have since become Brighton and Arlington 

 was about 1200, and there was a graduating class 



