Il6 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



given the scene. Of course the plain old town-centre of Groton, 

 where Governor Boutwell lived, is an entirely different matter. The 

 governor, in his little yellow frame house, like Dr. Holmes at Beverly 

 Farms, might have dated his correspondence "By the Depot." 

 Hard by is the rather pretentious red brick town hall, with white 

 trimmings (not of marble, however), and the procession of digni- 

 taries and magnates gathered to do him the last honors had but a few 

 rods to walk up a straight road from the depot. 



It is an altogether creditable weakness, the loyalty to locality which 

 always shows itself, the Listener has noted, particularly strong in 

 natives of Groton. Here was General Bancroft of the Elevated Rail- 

 road, for example, out of his loyalty to the old town and his venera- 

 tion for its first citizen absenting himself from his president's office in 

 town and giving freely of his organizing and administrative genius in 

 providing for all the details of the public obsequies and civic honors 

 down to purveying an unlooked-for luncheon to all on the special 

 train, which itself must have been put on through his influence. 

 Considering the distance between Governor Boutwell and General 

 Bancroft in years, in politics, and in worldly status, the loyalty and 

 affection he showed for town and aged statesman, made a most touch- 

 ing bit of a demonstration how, in spite of all we say about the blind, 

 overmastering worship of material success among the younger genera- 

 tion of America, a finely typical representative of those generations 

 does bow to something besides success and materialism. Nothing 

 could be more convincing ; and nothing could excel the perfect fitness 

 in its absolute simplicity and genuineness of the town's service in 

 the Town Hall. With orators galore upon the platform and digni- 

 taries four deep, the services were left entirely to the four Groton 

 ministers and the School, and what could surpass in completeness or 

 simplicity the Unitarian minister's tribute to this trait of Mr. Bout- 

 well's character : " Simplicity is the model of expression which is 

 inseparable from a truth-loving nature. Ostentation and love of 

 display indicate some complexity of motive or some obliquity of 

 spirit. Plainness of manner bears witness to the singleness of heart. 

 The man who exalts truth above all things moves directly to his 

 object. He selects his words not for the purpose of adorning thought, 

 but for the purpose of giving it precise expression. He determines 

 upon his actions not with a view of impressing men, but with the object 

 of fulfilling the impulses of his heart. In dealing with such a nature 

 one does well to stand on the firm ground of sincerity, to dis- 



