A necrology of the physicians of Lowell and vicinity, 1826-1898 : prepared for the Massachusetts North District Medical Society / By David N. Patterson.

  • Patterson, D. N. (David Nelson), 1854-1908.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A necrology of the physicians of Lowell and vicinity, 1826-1898 : prepared for the Massachusetts North District Medical Society / By David N. Patterson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    the attention of an audience with a grasp that is given only to the few. He had a fine j)ersonal ai3pearance. His manner was self-possessed, full of grace and dignity, and, what was far better, he had at all times, and under all circumstances, the complete contKjl of his menta] powers. His voice, though sonorous, was yet soft, and, when touched by his ardent nature, it became sympathetic, and fell upon the ear like music. His manner of delivery was deliberate. He used but few gestures, and those few were always significant, the verv embodiment of dignity and conscious strength. A gentleman who had fre- quenth^ heard him speak has said, ^'His greatest x>erfec- tion was his style; his sentences, though aj)parently prompt and unpremeditated, were in a classical mould that no meditation could improve. His speeches were mostly of a political nature, and of course characteristic of the i3eriod in which he lived. It was in 1818 or 1819 that a political division occurred in Dracut, and for many years the two parties known as the Whigs and the Federals, passed through a crisis which is described as being of a most bitter char- acter. Dr. Hildreth early connected himself with the Federal party, and to it he gave his best efforts. Though in a minority, on no occasion was he ever knoAvn to jDrove false to the i^rinciples that he advocated, and in which he firmly believed. In gathering reminiscences of his life no one instance of his political career is more often referred to than his reply to a speech made by Hon. Abbott Law- rence during the presidential campaign of 1818. Both of these speeches were made in the Centre Meeting-house in Dracut, and within a few evenings of each other. The reply of Dr. Hildreth is said to have been one of the most crushing and effective rejoinders conceivable.*' It was soon after repeated in Tewksbury before a much larger audience, where, if possible, the enthusiasm it created exceeded that on its first delivery in Dracut. On several occasions he delivered the oration at the anniversary of our national independence in the towns in this vicinity.* As an orator on such occasions his services were hiohlv * In 1829 he delivered a Fourth of July oration in the Universalist Meeting House then standing on Chapel Street in this city.