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NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

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ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY
WASHINGTON

   FoumlMl 18^6
Section
Number
23.J13.&L.-..
Form 113c, W. D.. S. G. O.
 (Revised June 13, 193GJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HISTORY       ifc
OF THE
Memorial  Fountain
Erected to tbe /Bbcmor^ of
RODERICK ADAMS WHITE, M.D.

          BY HIS WIFE

    ELIZABETH HUNGERFORD WHITE

           AND THE

 Dedicatory Service, Sept. 6, 1892
m r/.'nl^ w;,i .Mii'i'-T?:!
       HARTFORD, CONN.
Press of The Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company
          1893 
/oo
 /893
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
 BETHESDA, MARYLAND  20014' 
RODERICK ADAMS WHITE. M.D..
                         WAS  BORN
                      IN ENFIELD OCT.
                  24, 1809.  HE PRACTISED
              MEDICINE IN THE TOWN OF SIMS-
       BURY FOR NEARLY FIFTY  YEARS.  HIS DEATH
OCCURRED DECEMBER 2, 1887.  HIS FUNERAL SERVICES WERE
     HELD IN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.   THE REV.
           HORACE WINSLOW,  THE REV. D. STUART
              DODGE, AND THE REV. CHARLES
                   PITMAN CROFT OFFI-
                          CIATED. 
 
     TRIBUTE  TO THE MEMORY
                       OF

Dr.  RODERICK  ADAMS  WHITE.

         By Rev. Charles Pitman Croft.
    At last the blow that so many have been dreading has
fallen upon us, and we are following to the grave the  body
of him whom we all honored and loved, who was to us the
kind physician, the trusted  neighbor, the beloved friend.
We pause a  brief hour in our journey thither to pay our
tribute of friendship and love, to look upon  his benign,
familiar face, and say a few kindly words over his dear silent
body — not that he needs our broken speech, but our  souls
and all that is within us demand opportunity to pay the
homage that is due.  I do not believe there ever lived a man
in this town who was more familiarly known in these homes
and more honored and respected by all classes than our good
and ever faithful Dr. White.  Springing from Puritan stock,
he possessed superior endowments specially fitting him for
the work to which he was called and in which he made life
a fair and honorable success.  He had a nature that was fine
and pure,  a  mind quick and responsive, and as the years
have rolled away the people have followed him and trusted
him  and called after him and loved him.  We have ever
recognized in  him *a gentleman, quite of the old school,
polite, kind, benevolent, and of few words.
    Dr. White was born in Enfield, this State, seventy-eight
years ago the twenty-fourth  day of October last.  Coming
from the old  Puritan stock he inherited many characteristics
of the early settlers of our country.  Strong and determined 
                           6

when once he set his face to a mark, surely, if not easily,
overcoming early disadvantages he decided upon his course
in life and pursued it with unflagging interest.  By dint of
economy and hard work, he laid in early life the foundation
of his professional career, and trained  his mind to thought
and study, and kept his heart open  and welcome to  all the
good angels that wait upon a soul bent on doing good.  He
received his medical education at Pittsfield and New Haven,
and began the practice of  medicine more  than fifty years
ago.   He spent a short time in Manchester, this  State, and
a few years in Granville, Mass., coming to  this town  about
forty-five  years  ago.   In 1844  he married Miss Elizabeth
Hungerford of Wolcottville.  They established their home
among us and from that day to this  the good  doctor and his
faithful wife have been held in the highest esteem  among
the people — living a plain, honest life, full  of' kind deeds to
all the families of this vicinity.
    I am not here to say what the good doctor would never
allow to be  said — that he was great as the world measures
greatness.   He never made much excitement  in the world,
on the  contrary, avoided  excited  states  and feeling; he
looked at all things with a cool, clear head.   He was not
given to commotions and strifes.  He  was not an agitator,
nor a theorist, nor fond of controversy, nor anything  that
seemed like differing from others, but rather he cultivated
the fraternal feeling and was fond of good fellowship with
men ; and everything that tended to  make the community
better and  bind the families in closer union received his
sanction and support.  He had the instincts of a true, refined
man in that he never obtruded his opinions upon others,
never insisted upon his own personal rights at the sacrifice
of others' rights and  feelings, but yielded,  sometimes we
thought too  readily yielded, to the selfishness and almost im-
positions of  others.  He was so reticent and modest that he
seemed to depreciate himself.  Alas! is it not  often the case
that such men live in retirement, and the world never knows
their worth, while men of far inferior minds, far less worthy,
crowd themselves to positions of prominence.   Dr. White
was the soul of honor, and he scorned pretence and sham in
his profession, and in whatever engaged his attention.  He 
7
 had no tricks to  play  upon people, if they wanted his ser-
 vices, all well and good, he at once became anxious for their
 safety and welfare,—if they preferred another to help them
 in suffering he was the same true man and allowed no word
 of  censure to pass his lips.   He never  thrust out his hand
 to smite any man.  His nature was so gentle  and his  spirit
 so  patient that under the severest provocations he allowed
 no unkind word to escape him.  He was habitually consider-
 ate of others, and was careful that his  judgment of  others
 had no  bitterness and his words no venom.  His fine sense
 of  honor led him to identify himself with the cause  of the
 weak.  He could not  give  offense and was grieved  when
 others were offended without cau
     In fact, his influence was exerted  toward peace, never
 outspoken and demonstrative, but willing and firm, and the
 same spirit characterized him in all the varied relations of
 life.   What he  was at home and off duty,  he was  every-
 where ;  the same dignified, modest bearing possessed him.
 What he was to-day he was  yesterday and all  other days,
 and if you ask me how he died, I  will say exactly as he had
 lived,— quiet, peaceful, undemonstrative.  There was never
 any flutter in his movements while living and none in  dying.
 He impressed you as a man who knew  what  he  was about
 while living,  and that same calm undisturbed looking on,
 was apparent as he lay quietly breathing his last.  He talked
 of the event of dying with no more anxiety apparently, than
 he would of a journey to another land — and why should he ?
 He had done his work and done it well,  and now was  listen-
 ing to a higher call. The best preparation for dying is right
 living.
     All time is holy time to such a man, and  Sunday is no
 holier than Wednesday.   Duty is  the sacred  altar and the
 suffering and sorrow  of others his churchly opportunity.
 He met death as a man whose motives and aims were right,
 and probably felt the solemn weight of  life's duties no more
 as he  faced the unseen, then when he was standing  by the
 bedside  of  his  patient.  Such a man feels at all  times
 that he  is linked to the Infinite  God  above him and he
 drinks in the Infinite thought about  him.   He  does not
profess anything; his religion, like his  calling, is a part of 
8
himself — an atmosphere in which he lives.   The doctor was
the same affable  gentleman one year with another and in
one place as another.  Whether visiting the sick  or attend-
ing churchly duties, or mingling in civil and ordinary affairs,
he impressed you with his quiet, dignified  bearing and his
uniform courtesy.  In connection with his medical practice*
it has been said that  he never crowded the poor for compen-
sation, yet  ever ready to respond  to their call upon him.
No doubt his benevolent nature was often  taken  advantage
of, but he was patient under it all and never threateningly
said, " Pay  me what thou owest."   In matters of  church he
was unselfish but interested.  The ministers had in  him a
faithful if  not  an enthusiastic support.  He spoke  well of
them and was pained at any slight given them, or at any un-
just criticism upon their work.
    In the  early years of his practice the doctor became in-
terested in religious things.  Into his religion he carried the
same sense of honor and right that characterized him in all
other relations.   Truth his governing motive  everywhere.
Piety the right  performance of a common  duty, and spiritu-
ality was the indwelling of Divine truth appearing again in
the outward man, in exaltation and righteousness of charac-
ter, and character was his word and aim.   I am glad that I
can hold him up  before  you as a Christian.  His was a life
from its earliest days in which we should hardly expect any
marked  religious change  and yet at different  times  he
seemed to  have been the subject of  deep  religious experi-
ences.  I have already said his words were few when he came
down to the last trial.  He faced the inevitable as one  pre-
pared for the best inheritance.  How fortunate that  a man
attends to the solemn concerns of  his soul  while  his  reason
is unclouded, and no fears crowding upon him.  Why do we
feel so sure of his future ?  I can give no better answer than
that contained  in those confident words of Scripture, " The
world passeth away  and the lust thereof, but he  that doeth
the will of God abideth  forever."   We feel sure  then  that
for him, life is all retouched  again ; for him there  is  life,
progress, and enduring  satisfaction,  for the simple  reason
that while  on earth  he began  the  true life  that knows no
end and no diminution of power.   There is no break in life's 
9
continuity.  What is rooted here comes to fruitage there.
Death  is only a point in existence,  a promotion of soul,  a
rekindling of genius.
    And now we bid our kind friend  and beloved physician
farewell, for a day.  We shall meet him to-morrow.   We
stand for the last time over his silent  body, but with the
sweet assurance that death has not touched the better  part.
His life-current was ever moving toward better things  and
better states, rather than toward self, and now will survive
this physical change and re-appear in the beauty and grand-
tier of  the heavenly world.  His familiar figure disappears
from our streets in the dimness  and mystery  beyond.   We
follow his departing steps and seem almost to outline his
face and form in the country which lies beyond the boundary
of death — for we know that he lives forever, and we behold
him moving onward to richer and grander experiences.   We
shall miss his familiar figure on our streets; we shall  miss
his welcome visits  in  our homes;  we  shall miss his  kind
and benevolent face in  our congregations ; we shall think
of him and call after him when  darkness and shadow brood
our homes ; we shall call to mind the days that he stood by
us, and helped us bear our disappointments and sufferings.
Into our homes he has gone when we were trembling with
fear.   He has been with us when we were prostrated, and
identified himself with us in our suffering, watched with us
many of our loved ones pass away, and folded their hands in
death.  How  unspeakably dear to us  such ministries  and
such ministers.  The family physician has a warm place in the
affections of the home.  He comes when danger is at hand,
when the heart is  pressed with anxieties and eager for  a
word of comfort.  He comes at  all times and seasons.   He
knows  how to ease pain, to soothe sorrow, and make death
more bearable.   If he  has the hope of a Christian and can
point the sufferer  to  a better  world he has  a marvelous
power : he becomes the good physician, the kind nurse, and
Christian minister.  His profession at  once  becomes the
greatest of all professions.
    Faithful Luke and good   physician  are  synonymous
terms.   Fidelity is  a marked  characteristic of a real  born
physician.   He stops not to measure his steps ; the cry of 
10
pain and suffering is the divine call to  him.   He listens to
the story of helplessness and offers relief.  We need  Chris-
tian physicians in our  families, men of Christian character
and reverent bearing.  Men who respect the ordinances of
religion and know how to  apply the tender ministries of
faith.  The good  physician, moving about the sick room
with ease of motion and grace of tender speech, is certainly
one of God's best gifts to the world of suffering mankind.
    So we bid adieu to our beloved neighbor  and friend,
and drop our tears of sorrow over our kind Christian  physi-
cian.   We  loved him for what  he was in himself and  for
what he was to us.  Pleasant will be our memories of the
faithful Doctor White.   Long will his  name abide in  our
homes. Never will we forget his self-sacrifices, his long,
fatiguing journeys by night  and  day, through winter's storm
and summer's heat in response to our call.  We shall  never
forget his gentle ministrations to our dear ones,  many of
whom have been gathered into the home beyond.
    Pleasant are the paths that are behind us but we shall
lose nothing as we walk  on in  faith and hope and  trust.
The millenium is onward and not rearward.  Brighter days
are yet to  come.  We have had only whispering hints of
God's revelations to this world.   There are  no failures in
the divine plan.  No retrograde movements for the soul that
is immured in God's thoughts.  Be sure of it, every honest
life is finally and eternally triumphant, and no merit shall
go uncrowned.  May God help us in the coming years, and
as we go into the awful  mystery  of the future may we have
a quiet but strong faith in Jesus the Christ.
REV. EDWARD HUNGERFORD'S HISTORY OF MRS. WHITE.
    Mrs. Elizabeth Hungerford White was born in Wolcott-
ville, now called Torrington, Connecticut, in the year 1817.
Her father, John Hungerford, was for a long time one of the
leading manufacturers of the place — at first of woolen goods,
and afterwards of  rolled brass  and brassware.  The latter
industry  was  the  pioneer of the  great metal industries,
which have made the wealth of the Naugatuck valley.  Her 
II
mother, the first wife of John Hungerford, was Elizabeth
Webster of Harwinton, in the same State.  A brother by
the same marriage was named after the father, and by the
second marriage of her father, after the  early death of her
mother, a large circle of  brothers and sisters was gradually
formed in the old  homestead on the village green.   Here
Elizabeth  grew to  young  womanhood, and developed a
taste  for  reading  and for such accomplishments  as  were
within reach of the young country misses of the time.   Her
school advantages were of the better class, and her friend-
ships were choice.  A large circle of young ladies, growing
up in the  same and neighboring communities,  entered into
relations  of intimacy with  her, the interest of which  con-
tinued  through life.  When  twenty-seven  years  old she
was married to Dr. White,  and immediately removed with
him to the scene of his practice in Weatogue  and the sur-
rounding  regions.  Here the pair spent the remainder of
their  lives, seldom going far away, and  living  in  the  quiet
of the country physician's home.  In her earlier years  Mrs.
White was active as a member of the social circle to which
she belonged, and especially in connection with the church
of which  she was a member.  In later  years some tenden-
cies manifest in her younger days  developed gradually into
increasing infirmity of body, until at last she became a suf-
ferer, confined to her house, and dependent in large meas-
ure on the kindly care of her husband and the  faithfulness
of a single female  servant.   During all these  years of de-
privation  she exhibited unusual self-control and patience,
and her taste  for literature was a continual relief from the
weary monotony of a forced inactivity.  She survived her
husband by but little more than two years, and in her will
she made  provision for  the memorial  fountain, in connec-
tion with  the dedication of which this sketch is issued.
The  motives  that  inspired this provision were worthy of
the character which Mrs.  White  had  always   maintained.
With them neither the desire for show nor an  ambition for
notoriety  could find place.   Among the  gifts she wished to
make for  religious purposes she felt it  to  be fitting that a
life of  prolonged  and honorable  usefulness,  such as was 
12
 that of her husband, be held up as an example, and that in
 doing something  to perpetuate the  memory of it she was
 contributing to the perpetuation  of a moral power.   The
 plan of such a fountain as this  appealed to those higher
 religious and moral traits which  gave beauty and consist-
 ency to her retired and simple life.
     Mrs. White survived her husband about two years, and
 in her last will made the following provision :
    " I desire to leave a memorial of my late husband in the commu-
 nity where he so long lived and practiced his profession, and for that
 purpose I have determined that it would be suitable and proper to erect
 in the village of  Weatogue a memorial fountain, supplied with running
 water ; and I, therefore, give  and  bequeath said other part  to my
 brothers Edward and Frank, and to  my neighbor  and friend, Charles
 P. Croft, in trust, to be used and expended in erecting, at a place to be
 determined by them,  in the  village of Weatogue, a memorial fountain
 of such design and material as they shall think  proper, and in supply-
 ing the same with running water."
     In accordance with this provision, the trustees named
 above selected the  design of the present fountain.  It was con-
 structed  by the W. N. Flynt Granite Company of Monson,
 Mass.  The material is of  dark Monson   granite of  even
 color.   The rock-work around the  foundation is built of rip-
 rap.  The polished die is eight-cut on three sides, and made
 to receive the  two  marble panels ;  Esculapius (bas-relief) on
 one side, and  the  Healing  Serpent (bas-relief)  on another,
 and Portrait Medallion (bas-relief), Dr. and Mrs. White, on
 another ; and on the remaining side  the following inscrip-
 tion :
                         In Memory of
                    Roderick A. White, M.D.,
                      WHO DIED Dec. 2, 1887.
               The  beloved Physician of this  town
                    for nearly fifty years.
                     Erected by his wife,
                 Elizabeth Hungerford White.
                    Defunctus adhuc mi?iistrat.
     The  large basin is  octagonal,  and  is  eight-cut  and
moulded, with a lion's head cut in solid on  each angle, with
|-inch holes drilled through mouth  for  the  proper  dis-
charge of water.   The three shafts between  the  three top
basins are cut, and  each space between  basins  is of one
stone.   The three  upper basins  are  circular, and  moulded 
*3
and carved.   Curb for ground basin is circular in plan, and
about thirty feet in diameter.
    The water supply for the fountain  is  brought  from
springs on  the land  of Rev. D.  Stuart Dodge, about one
mile away.
    The Dedicatory  Services were  on Sept.  6, 1892, at 2
p. m., and were largely attended by  the friends  of  Dr. and
Mrs. White.
    The following programme was carried out:

                  ORDER OF EXERCISES.
                      Music by the Band.
Opening Address and Welcome, .    .   Rev. D. S. Dodge, President.
Prayer,.......Rev. Mr.  Hoag, Simsbury.
                 Music by the Simsbury Band.
Historical Address,   .    .    Dr. Gurdon IV.  Russell, Hartford.
Address,........Dr. Horace Fuller.
                           Music.
Address — The Fountain — its design, etc., and
   presentation in behalf of Trustees,   Rev. Edward Hungerford,
                                             Burlington, Vt.
Address in behalf of Citizens,  .    .    .    Rev. Horace Winslow.
                           Music.
Address,.......Dr. Stearns, Hartford.
Address,.......Dr. Storrs, Hartford.
Address in behalf of Connecticut Humane Society,
   read by Rodney Dennis, Pres., or  Dr. G. P. Davis, Vice-Pres.
                           Music.
Address.....Mr. Frank Hungerford, New Britain.
Brief remarks by
     W.N. Flynt of Monson, Rev. C.E. Stow e, and Rev. C.  P. Croft.
                           Music.
     Concluding by Band playing and Audience singing America.
    REMARKS OF THE CHAIRMAN, D. STUART DODGE.

Ladies and Gentlemen :
    It is the pleasant duty assigned me to-day, to extend to
you all a cordial welcome and to introduce to you the friends
from  other places, who have come to unite with us in this
joyous celebration.
    The traveler in the Orient often finds in the great cities,
in the shady places of broad valleys  and along the slopes of 
14
the mountains, flowing fountains, sometimes costly and beau-
tiful, erected to perpetuate the memory of some benevolent
and well-known man.  The busy inhabitants or weary trav-
elers slake their thirst at the gushing waters and learn to link
their gratitude with the name carved upon the stone above
them.
     With something of this feeling the monument before us
has been placed at this  roadside.  Certainly  it is typical of
what he loved to do, whose  name  it bears,  to add to  the
comfort and happiness of all who dwell in this entire region ;
and this, we trust, is to be the mission of this fountain.
     We recognize in it  also another indication of the truer
and better sentiment now asserting itself in this country,
and claiming that monuments can appropriately be raised to
others than exclusively  military heroes.  There are heroes
in other walks of life,— men and women — who have exhib-
ited, in their finest quality, the virtues that  ennoble  hu-
manity and bring blessings to all.
   v In this sacred circle, we are reminded  to-day, members
of the  Medical Profession often occupy conspicuous places.
The man  whose  name is upon our lips made no pretension
to greatness.  He was not a  brilliant surgeon nor a gifted
specialist.  When such services were needed, he unhesitat-
ingly sought the aid of his  distinguished brethren in  our
neighboring city.
     Dr. White was only a good old-fashioned country doc-
tor.  But  how much that implies !  What  a well-rounded
familiarity with the ordinary ills that afflict our race !  What
readiness  in the use of  common  remedies !  What quiet
courage in meeting  emergencies  single-handed!    What
knowledge of the homes of the district, of the children that
fill them,   of nervous and  worn mothers and feeble  old
men !
    How well he knew  every road  and with what patience
and self-denial he made  his way from house to house, trusted
and beloved by all!
    Who  will ever  forget meeting the old man as he drove
through the woods or over these hills upon  his unceasing
rounds ?  And when he  had reached the house and tied his
faithful horse to the hitching-post, with what dignity he 
15
would bring in the well-worn saddle-bags and after his kindly
social greetings and careful professional inquiries,—his diag-
nosis was usually right, too — who will forget how seriously
he would adjust his spectacles and weigh out or pour out the
health-giving potions !
    When the call of duty came, he never thought of spar-
ing himself.  Cold and stormy nights  often saw him tracing
his way along  these lonely roads; — sometimes no doubt
when he had too good  reason  to believe it was only a case
of baby's first tooth or because Tommy had spent that after-
noon under an apple tree.
    Dr. White's character  had also,  and  in no meagre de-
gree,  what we may rightly term "the beauty of holiness."
He would have been the last to claim any superiority of re-
ligious  gifts or  attainments, for he  was  most honest and
modest in all thought of himself ; but it was always noticed
that his tall and venerable form was rarely missing from the
familiar place in the village church ;  and when he entered a
stricken household, he was sure to bring into the sick chamber
something of the brightness and strength of the Christian
faith.
    We  are glad to have this  monument near our  village
school.   Not many feet from where we are now gathered —
just at the crossing of these roads, once stood the  district
schoolhouse, where many,  who afterwards  reached some
prominence, learned their  first lessons, and, perhaps, their
last.  If I may  be permitted a personal  allusion, it was at
this school my own grandfather,- Anson G. Phelps,  agonized
over Webster's spelling book and the Rule of Three.  In his
declining years, when his  grandsons  were studying at New
Haven, he once laughingly said to us,  " It  is all very well for
you boys to talk of Yale College ; but if you had only gradu-
ated  at  Weatogue  College there might  be  some hope  of
your amounting to something."  Now we  want the boys and
girls who attend the school over there, to "amount to some-
thing,"— and we believe the presence  of this monument will
be a daily reminder that they too can live true and useful
lives and leave  their names cherished in the homes of this
community, and perhaps  be known  in  the wider world
beyond. 
i6
    It is  likewise to be  understood that, in erecting this
fountain, no disparagement is intended towards other honor-
able methods of providing a water supply.  We speak with
all  reverence  of  that venerable institution so dear to the
heart of every school boy,  particularly  upon declamation-
day, " the old oalcen bucket, the iron-bound bucket that hung
in the well."
    The long " sweep " of a comfortable sample of just such
an ancient well looks over upon us from the other side of
yonder road.   Trailing vines are tenderly draping its aged
form as it gracefully retires from business ; and you can see
how it wears  a smile of  welcome  for  the happy successor,
which we here to-day install.
    For the graceful proportions and solid material of our
monument we owe much to the combined  taste and judg-
ment of all the Trustees ;  but it is  no disparagement to his
associates to say that our chief thanks are due  to  the one,
who, though not a relative, enjoyed for so many years the
warm personal confidence of Dr. and Mrs. White, and whose
energy and public spirit have  brought this work to a suc-
cessful completion,— our  friend and fellow-townsmen, the
Rev. Charles Pitman Croft.
    I wish, likewise, to call  your attention to the fact that
the drinking fountain, which is the  serviceable annex of this
monument, has not only  facilities  to  make the refreshing
water accessible  to the school children  or to weary way-
farers, and a trough where horses  can drink without incon-
venience  to themselves  or  their  drivers, but  it also has
special arrangements for thirsty  dogs, who are too often
neglected.
    This humane feature  has been added at the desire of a
lady who  lives near the fountain and is known  to us all as
the tender friend  of every dumb  animal. In fact, if the
over-worked horses and abused dogs and cats of the land
could only be told how earnest a champion they have in this
modest hamlet, they would make haste to hold here a general
convention and pass unanimous resolutions of thanks for her
unfailing interest in their necessities ; and, after adjournment,
they would all want to spend  their remaining days under
her protecting care. 

-7 -Vy
v?as*
-4.-4*. 
 
'7
    And, now, it is most fitting, upon such an occasion, that
we should give public expression to our devout recognition
of the Giver of every good gift in providing for our use the
abundant springs, which supply this fountain with pure and
living water.   We will, therefore,  ask  the  Rev. Mr. Hoag,
Pastor of the Methodist Church,  at Simsbury, to lead us in a
prayer of thanksgiving.
              PRAYER BY REV. E. C. HOAG.
    Almighty God, our heavenly Father, it  is fitting that
we recognize Thee in  all the events of life,  and especially
in those events that come to us with the enriching benedic-
tions  of  Thy  grace.  We  remember  in this hour that
" every good  and every perfect gift" cometh from  Thee.
As individuals and as a community we are always in Thy
thought, always  the recipients of Thy loving favor — so
much so that we are constrained to  say, as we think of  our
relation  to  Thee, " Surely goodness and mercy have  fol-
lowed us all our  days."  We thank Thee for the largeness
and  fullness  and constancy of Thy blessings.  They  are
ever coming to us through unexpected  avenues, and they
come always as gladdening and helpful ministrations  to all
Thy creatures.  They are such as remind us  continually of
the gracious and  all-prevailing fatherliness  of  Thy  heart.
They show us the " abundance of Thy goodness " ; they re-
veal the certainty of Thy promises ; they merit more of our
gratitude than we are wont to return unto  Thee.   In  the
amplitude of Thy blessings we feel sure  that Thou art de-
sirous of our happiness, and we see that Thou hast planned
largely for our comfort and well-being.
    We have  come before Thee  to  commemorate the gift
of one who has " gone the way of all the earth " ;  of one
who devoted his life, while here, to the alleviation of  a suf-
fering humanity.   And this service we  think of as accept-
able in Thy sight,  for it was in imitation of the Great Phy-
sician whom Thou didst send into  the world, who  " went
about doing good," healing  both body and  soul.  We feel
sure that Thou art well pleased with all the ministries that
2 
i8
men, following in  the  footsteps of Thy Son, are  given to
for the good of humanity.
    In this fountain which we  accept and dedicate to-day
do we  gratefully recognize a continuation of the ministry
of its giver to this community.   " He being dead, yet speak-
eth"in the  refreshing water that comes  flowing through
the channels of this fountain into  our midst.  But back of
all that is human and visible in this  gift would we recog-
nize the hand of God.   Thou art the inspiration  of  all the
philanthropies of men.  They  are  an outgrowth  of  our
Christian  heritage. They are prompted by the  goodly
spirit of the gospel of  Thy Son, which as a leaven  perme-
ates the  human  heart, and works out  through it  Thy
gracious and beneficent designs.   We trace  all our bless-
ings and rich inheritances back to Thee, and we  accept
them with gratitude as from Thy hand.
    And now, while we wait in Thy presence, thankful for
the occasion that has brought  us  here, we remember the
words of the Son of God, who said : " If any man thirst, let
him come unto Me and drink."  We come, O  Christ, and as
we come we remember also that Thou offerest the " Living
water," of which if any man drink he shall never thirst.
And " the water which Thou givest shall  be  in him a well
of water  springing up  unto everlasting life."  Evermore
give us from this source !  And as we shall come here, from
time to time, in the future, resting for a moment under the
shadow of this fountain, and quenching our thirst from its
flowing stream, may we be led  to  realize  our need of the
purer water of life ; and so may this earthly fountain preach
unto us the gospel of the divine Son of God.   Amen.
        ADDRESS BY GURDON W. RUSSELL, M.D.
    I do not obtain  as much  of  the  early history of  Dr.
White  as I wished, and considerable investigation  has  not
added much to the few points which were well known.  If
so much difficulty occurs with those whom we have known
for a long time, how much greater must it be when we look
back a hundred or two years, and seek to learn all that con- 
19
 cerns  them of public or domestic life.  Probably if I had
 lived in this town and had sought out many of its inhabit-
 ants, much more information  might have been gained, and
 especially about  his early life, of which I know  but little.
 But I doubt if much would have been learned  from his lips,
 for he was not one of those communicative men, whose talk
 is greatly concerning themselves, and who are ever ready to
 give you  a  history  of  their lives,  without hesitation  or
 abbreviation.  And this would arise, certainly with our friend,
 from no desire of concealment, but from a sense of modesty
 and an unwillingness to speak, or to think, much about him-
 self.
     Roderick Adams White was born in Enfield October 24,
 1809.  He was the  son  of Roderick  White,  a  native  of
 Springfield, Mass., and Delight (Bement) White, daughter of
 Dennis and Lydia (Adams) Bement.  Of his early  education
 I  have learned no particulars, but it is to be supposed  that
 he had some academical instruction to fit him for the profes-
 sion which he afterwards adopted.  His father removed to
 Hartford some time during his  boyhood, and was  known to
 me  about 1833 or '34, and  his son probably lived there  in
 1831, for I have  heard that he was a student in the office of
 Dr.  Amariah Brigham for a time.   He received his medical
 diploma from Yale  College in 1832, and his name appears
 among the physicians in  Hartford of  the  same  year.  In
 1833 and 1834 he was in  practice in Manchester, from which
 place he removed to East Granville, Mass.  About 1842 he re-
 moved to Simsbury, and became associated with Dr.  Shurtleff,
 whose place he took after his death.  He married, Novem-
 ber 4,  1844, Elizabeth W.  Hungerford, of Wolcottville, born
 in 1816, daughter of John Hungerford and Elizabeth Weston.
 In this town he remained the rest of his life, going in and out
 among you, doing his business in a modest, quiet, unpretend-
 ing way, a way which is known to  most of those whom I am
 addressing, much better than I can tell them about.
     I knew Dr. White for many years, and was accustomed
 to meet him not  unfrequently, in cases which were difficult,
or supposed to be difficult.  For it  is much to his credit, and
to the credit of any physician,  that he should be willing that
his cases should be seen by another, if so desired by friends, 
20
even if he himself has no doubts, or considers that there is
no danger.  From a somewhat extended opportunity, I can
say that I think no one has suffered in reputation who has
willingly consented to a desired consultation, but really has
gained by wishing a divided responsibility.   Those few of my
acquaintances who have manifested  a  reluctance, or who
have consented only at the last moment, have, I fear, neither
satisfied themselves, nor gained the good opinion of  their
friends.  Dr. White was no such man  as this, and,  as far as
is known, was ever willing that his patients should be grati-
fied.  The secrets of the consulting room are not to be talked
about openly, for  there  each one is  supposed to  open his
bosom as to a friend, and without finding  fault, to  seek out
the quickest, the best, and the most pleasant method of cure.
In such a spirit we came together, he giving briefly a history
of the case, his theory of the  disease, and the remedies he
had used.   He was not a man of  many words, but what he
spoke he spoke intelligently, in good, sound English terms,
without holding back, or rendering it necessary to  draw the
information from him reluctantly, as you  would draw out a
tightly-pressed cork from a bottle.   In all of our intercourse,
which lasted for many years, there  was nothing of unpleas-
antness which occurred, nor a divided opinion which it was
necessary to combat with many words, nor an irritated feel-
ing which was shown among the  friends.  In all this, there
was no dependence or sense of inferiority  felt  on the one
hand, nor of superiority on the other.  It  is such conduct as
this which  redounds to  the honor of the  profession,  and
makes us truly feel that we are brothers, willing at all times
to help one another.
    And this matter of conduct came to him, I  suppose, not
merely  because  he  possessed  a  quiet, undemonstrative
nature, but  because he had reasoned out the  truth, that a
straightforward way of dealing, with no  concealment,  and
no exaggeration, was the honest and just way, and so always
the best.  If he was ever injured in his feelings, and prob-
ably he was, for as a tribe we are somewhat given  to over-
sensitiveness, he had the happy faculty of concealing it, and
was not disposed to make it worse by making it public.  If
there  is anything which seems to give supreme delight to 
21
many, it is a knowledge of the differences or quarrels which
exist among men.  It may fairly be supposed that they are
more  gratified than they would be if the quarrel was one of
their own.  On one occasion only did he complain  of the
treatment by another practitioner who, apparently, purpose-
ly had supplanted  him, and then  it was  in no bitter  terms,
but with a quiet and gentlemanly  reproach, which was very
natural and becoming in him, but which was not as serious
as was  deserved.   The good nature of  our friend  was so
manifest that he showed his Christian spirit by slight recol-
lection of ills or of  injuries.  The  bodily afflictions of men
are sore and heavy, but they are often temporary and may
be recovered from, but the mental ones "sting like an adder,"
and may last for a lifetime.
    Dr. White was  a patient, sensible practitioner ; he was
of fair talents, and was fairly educated in his profession.  It
would be folly to claim for him the high endowments of a
scholar, or that he  was a student of extended research ; his
education had not made him such; but he improved the oppor-
tunities which came within his reach, and was disposed to
think for himself.   And so it happens,  not unfrequently,
that these quiet, undemonstrative  men possess a rare judg-
ment  concerning disease, and of  the best remedies appro-
priate to its cure.   It is not always the men who  are most
learned in the books who become the most judicious in prac-
tice.  Far be it from me to say a word against the acquisi-
tion of  knowledge  arid a close  study of disease, but there
belongs to some  men a certain aptness or tact in the ap-
plication of knowledge, which, while it  is not possessed by
every one, is yet a  very important factor for success in our
profession.  Happy is he who  understands fully all that
he has  learned, and is able to bring it into practical use.
    As a  physician he was judicious in prescribing, and con-
fined himself to those remedies with which  he was familiar,
and of whose powers he was well assured.  With these he knew
what could be accomplished, and was content to employ them.
As a consequence, new theories  of disease,  and the highly
extolled virtues of new drugs, were received with something
of incredulity, or were distrusted until time and employment
by others  had established their reputation.  If any  experi- 
                           22

ments were to be performed, he preferred  that they should
be made by those who had more faith than  himself.  He
was not the one to lead in new fashions in medicine, or in
the new fashions in anything else.   So conservative was his
nature that he held fast to that which he knew to be good,
until it was established that there was something which was
better, and then he adopted  it and made  use  of it, as he
ought to have done.   Such a man is firm in his  medical
views, his religion, and his politics ; we know how reliable
he is and where we shall always find him.  The discoveries
and improvements in  the medical  art have been so great
within the last fifty years that a man constituted as was Dr.
White, may be excused if he  does not adopt all  of them at
once.   The vagaries of men who are " as unstable as water "
had no attractions for him.  Their pretended discoveries are
often  no discoveries at all, being merely the opinions and
theories which have, long ago, been refuted and laid aside.
In medicine, as in all other  arts, a  calm consideration will,
in general, bring us to a  correct conclusion.  If Dr. White
was not one of those who joined the crowd in any new doc-
trine, he was perfectly willing to follow when  it  satisfied his
sound common sense.
    He was not, I suppose, a very ambitious man, fond of
notoriety and  public talk.  He loved his home, his town, his
profession.   Though not unmindful of matters  beyond his
immediate  border, yet  he did not  allow himself to be so
absorbed by their consideration that he was neglectful of
those which were  nearer to  him.   Unselfish  and peaceful,
he bore in mind the instruction of the Catechism, " not to
covet or desire other  men's  goods, but to learn and labor
truly to get mine own living, and to do my duty in that state
of life unto which it shall please God to call me."  It is not
likely that he  thought much about himself, or the considera-
tion which would be given him, after he was  gone.  If one
acts truly and wisely, he need not be troubled with any such
idea ;  the reputation will take care of itself, and  his true
place will be  found.   " Many a man sleeps unhonored."   I
quote from what was lately  said  at a  meeting  of  the
brethren : 
2 3
    " Many a man sleeps unhonored who is worthy of honor; the remem-
brance of many a physician, perhaps of a majority, remains only with
those who were personally acquainted with him.  Whatever of good ser-
vice he has  done will meet its reward hereafter.  We need not worry
about the place we shall hold in the world's history, for these places are
held by but a few, and those not always the most worthy.  Let us there-
fore use wisely the talents which are given us and see to it that through
us no reproach shall fall upon our noble profession."

     What  was said of  Dr. White, by  the Rev. Mr. Croft  at
the time of his burial, is so  just and  true that I cannot for-
bear to quote it:
    " He never made much excitement in the world;  on the contrary, he
avoided excited states and feeling; he looked at all things with a cool,
clear head.  He was not given to commotions and strifes.  He was not
an agitator, nor a theorist, nor fond of controversy, nor anything which
seemed like  differing from others; but rather he cultivated the  fraternal
feeling, and  was fond of good fellowship with men; and everything that
tended  to make  the community better, and bind the families  in closer
union, received his sanction and support.  He had the instincts of a true,
refined  man, in that he never obtruded his opinions upon others, never
insisted upon his own personal rights at the sacrifice of others' rights and
feelings, but  yielded, sometimes, we thought, too readily  yielded to the
selfishness and almost impositions of others.  He was so reticent and
modest that  he seemed to depreciate himself."

     I have confined myself mostly to my impression of him
as a medical man.   Others  doubtless will  speak  to  you  of
his general character as a good neighbor, a kind  friend, an
intelligent citizen of this pleasant  town.  I could not  well
refuse the  request  which has  brought me here to-day,  to
say a few words in respect of my friend, and in honor of this
occasion.   The tender  sentiment  of his partner for many
years, has erected this Fountain as a memorial in his honor.
The  pure water which flows from it should  ever be  a  con-
stant witness of the  purity of his life.   The flood of sunlight
pouring its  brightness upon this lovely  valley to-day, is but
the type of that glory which shall ever be the portion of him
who has walked in " peace and quietness " upon earth.
         " How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
           A youth of labor with an  age of ease;  .   .  .
           But on he moves to meet his latter end,
           Angels around befriending virtue's friend; 
24
'' Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
 While resignation gently slopes the way;
 And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
 His heaven commences ere the world be past."
         ADDRESS BY HORACE S. FULLER, M.D.
    Standing here to-day in  the  midst of this beautiful
valley, which in  the  days of yore may well have delighted
the eyes  and stirred  the heart of the warrior chief  as he
watched his savage tribes from yonder rocky seat;—viewing
the placid,  life-giving river flowing at our feet, with  the
verdure-clad hills stretching away on the one hand, and the
rugged rocks of Talcott Mountain rising  abruptly on  the
other; — with these surroundings to  temper the summer's
heat  and soften the  winter's blast,  we may well wonder
what occupation a disciple of ^Esculapius  could find here.
But, when we think of the derivation and  meaning  of  the
word Doctor (that is teacher), we realize that he is of use in
every locality, however  healthful,  for the best doctor is
not alone he who cures, but he who teaches how to prevent
disease.
    When  I first met Dr. White he was already past  the
meridian of life, and my consultations with him were during
his declining years.   He was genial  and dignified, a man
of few words, but of decided opinions, which were worthy
of great consideration on account of  his large experience.
Even in his last years he was desirous  of learning whatever
was new in his art.  Although he was slow  to use new rem-
edies, he listened with attention to  the suggestions  of  his
younger brethren, and adopted such of them as his  judg-
ment approved.  He  was respected by the profession and
loved by those who came under his care.  Faithful  to  the
end he continued in his chosen work until his last summons
came, when " sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust,"
he approached his grave,
          " Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
           About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
25
    Dr. White was a connecting link betwen the past and
the present.  He lived in  a great transition period, both in
the theory and the practice of Medicine.  During his profes-
sional  life the most important  medical discoveries were
made ;  he was  educated  in  a time when general blood-
letting was in common use, but in less than a score of years
the lancet was almost unknown.  Anaesthesia, the greatest
gift of  man  to man, was discovered by one of our own citi-
zens, and surgery was  robbed of its terrors ; the hypoder-
mic syringe first entrapped "tired nature's sweet  restorer,"
and compelled her to sit upon the eyelids of sleepless and
suffering man ;  the germ  as  a cause of disease was  estab-
lished, and agents  for destroying it came into general use ;
countless remedies were recommended, and a few of them
have stood the test of time.  Thus, the practice of medicine
became greatly changed, and  the duties of the physician in-
creased.  The prevention of disease became more  prom-
inent ;  the physician, and  especially the country physician,
becomes the teacher, and  in  this way the benefactor of the
community in which he lives.
     A  distinguished professor once declared  that he  was
ashamed to say that he was sick, because it was a confession
that he had done something wrong.  It  is true that the
individual is largely responsible  for his own sickness,  and
the state for that of the  community.   We have  seen how
small-pox, which once decimated cities and was a  terror
to the world, has been nearly stamped out, and could be en-
tirely so did not stupidity and ignorance prevent ; diphthe-
ria, that most dreaded scourge, would be of rare occurrence
if  good sanitation  and complete isolation  was  enforced ;
fevers could be greatly diminished if all would adopt proper
precautions  in  regard to  environment  and the  purity  of
drinking water.   We saw a few years ago how much France
did in resisting cholera by establishing a cordon of soldiers
around  it, and  how she thus saved  her  own capital  and
adjoining countries from the pestilence.  We see to-day what
ignorance, fanaticism,  and anarchy have done in Russia,
where  hospitals were destroyed and physicians killed, and
the infected populace let loose  to spread  cholera over
Europe, and to send it to our  shores ;  and may we not hope 
26
to see how the  intelligence  of  our physicians may stay
its onward march among our own people.   Now, who but
the physician  is to educate the people and show them the
means of preventing disease ?  He  may be paid for allevi-
ating pain and restoring health, but  that is but a small part
of his work ;  he is to teach you how to regulate your diet,
how to remove from your homes all  sources  of infection,
and how to secure the purest water and prevent it from pol-
lution.  In this  way the physician becomes your instructor
and benefactor.   Such was Dr. White's mission among you.
What more fitting memorial then, could there be to him and
his  benevolent wife than this fountain, surmounted as it is
by the mythical founder of the Healing Art, holding in his
hand the symbol of returning health, while  its  ever-flowing
water may well remind us of that benevolence which ends
not with their lives, but will continue to benefit generations
to come ?
             Some would choose a brazen statue,
             Some a marble bust, forsooth ;
             We, this running fountain offer,
             Symbol of perpetual youth.
       ADDRESS BY REV. EDWARD HUNGERFORD.
    I trust that I may be pardoned if, as I stand amid these
surroundings, I recall those early college  days, when I used
to spend some of my vacations in riding through the woods
and open fields of  this  beautiful valley, and  over  these
hills ; or in wandering through the meadows, and fishing in
the brooks, where, I presume, trout no more  are found.   In
those days of my stay in the home of my sister I remember
how her husband,  returning from  his  professional visits,
was sometimes met by the anxious inquiry of the wife after
this or that patient in whose serious  illness she could  not
fail to bear her share of interest.  In those days I marked
the qualities that characterized Dr.  White during the whole
of his life — a great loyalty to  his ideal  of  his profession,
an  absence  of  all  show, an honesty above pretense, and a
scientific spirit  above quackery.  I  assent to  and rejoice in
those modest estimates of the man that have found expres- 
27
sion here to-day, and I find in them the true significance of
the memorial which a loving wife has  caused to be erected
to his memory.  This fountain  is not a tribute  to excep-
tional  intellectual  ability or  professional skill,  nor  to a
reputation won under the stimulating competitions of city
life ; it is a memorial of that modest worth which a man
may show in a retired  community removed from competi-
tive ambitions ; of  loyalty to an ideal  preserved through
fifty years of self-sacrificing activity among these homes —
an activity inspired  by a sense of duty that did not stop to
consider whether sufferers could  pay if they would, or would
pay if they could, but worked  on to the end in beneficent
and kindly ministries.   I rejoice  in this fountain because it
is a memorial of a plain  country doctor — a recognition of
that kind of greatness that does  not too often win recogni-
tion among us, but that is not seldom manifested in rural
life, far  away from the  rushing crowd, by those who  are
divinely  appointed to  places  comparatively  obscure,  in
which they determine to  stay and labor because they will
be true to  their lot.  To  do  this, caring little for applause
or for pecuniary gain, but mindful of  honesty and  truth
and the affections of humble  homes, deserves all  the honor
that we can  bring to a country doctor by our celebration
here.
    I rejoice, too, in that this monument is a fitting recogni-
tion of a profession the members of  which are too seldom
honored by memorials of  this kind; and I  congratulate  the
physicians who have come here to participate in these cere-
monies on this public  commemoration of  the life-long ser-
vice of one of  their brethren.  Who  can  tell how much is
signified by fifty years  of such service as was rendered  by
Dr.  White ?   What days of  weary toil among  these hills
and valleys, under the noonday heat of summer, or in  the
bitter cold of  winter?  AVhat exhaustion through physical
and mental strain, intensified by a sympathetic nature — an
exhaustion that  was too  often  denied  relief  in nature's
sweet restorer on account of the sudden call of distress that
sent  the  toiler out again into the  night  and  the storm?
What a record has been made here by this long period of 
28
service — a record which draws from all hearts an earnest
approval of this public recognition !
    To the perpetuation of the memory of such a life this
massive structure of granite has been erected out of  a con-
jugal affection, which we have endeavored to symbolize by
that double medallion  carved  upon its base ;  and to this
memorial use we  now  dedicate  it.   We dedicate it as a
token  of that peaceful  union of two lives, that were per-
mitted to flow on together through so many years, in an
age of, we fear, too  fickle  affections — a happy example of
domestic  purity, contentment,  and helpfulness.   We dedi-
cate it to  the honoring of that profession of which Dr.
White was a worthy member, and which he adorned  by his
many  virtues and  by  his  scientific spirit.  Very appro-
priately has the  profession chosen for its symbol the  figure
of Esculapius, whose serious and thoughtful face looking into
the far distance we have here copied from an antique model.
What an honorable roll  of  names does that profession claim
from the Grecian annals, through the Arabian list of phy-
sicians, who were also philosophers, down to the Middle Ages
of Europe and to our own  time !  It is a record of devotion
to science and humanity, of sacrifices  made and perils en-
countered, whether in the search for knowledge by the dis-
section of the dead, or in ministries to the living smitten by
pestilence.  To be  a member of such a profession  is an
honor which any of us might covet  ; to have been a worthy
member of it deserves praise beyond our poor  resources of
language  to  bestow. To  the honoring of that profession
we dedicate this fountain with its fluent ministries.
    And we dedicate it to the beneficent work it shall  do for
this  community ;  to its  educational   influence  over the
pupils who from generation to  generation shall gather in
yonder schoolhouse,  and who shall  play around this conse-
crated green, and shall dabble in these  crystal waters, while
they think of the possibilities here suggested to a life spent
in obscure though manifold services.  We dedicate it  to the
neighbors and friends who  shall pass  along this  highway,
and turn to drink, or to  let their dumb creatures drink, of
this bountiful  supply.  Even the dogs  shall find  provision
for their thirst in the basin placed within their reach. 
29
    And may we not dedicate it, dear friends, to that wider
public, to the travelers from  distant places who, on foot or
riding or  driving, shall pass  this way in  the  dust and  heat
of long summer days, and shall be glad at the sight of this
dripping, stream  as  it flows for  their refreshing.   To  all
these of this present day and of  the days  to  come — yes,
may we not  say  of  the ages to  come? — we dedicate this
structure, which  we have made  beautiful  and strong  in
order that it may well fulfill  its mission.   Oh ! long may it
stand untouched by vandal hands and  unharmed by anv
disorder  of  civil  commotion, or by any  catastrophe  of
nature !   Long may these waters flow,  and may  all  who
listen to their murmur discern therein the words which we
have not inappropriately caused to be engraved at the close
of yonder inscription :
                Defmtctus adhuc mini strut!
          ADDRESS OF REV. HORACE WINSLOW.
     In behalf  of the people of the town, and especially of
 Weatogue, I would state that it is with profound respect for
 the memory of Dr. and Mrs. White, and an appreciation of
 the generous endorsement of Mrs. White's purpose by these
 brothers, and their co-operation for the  completion  of  the
 work,  we accept this beautiful  fountain.
     This community realized  a great  and sore loss when
 Dr.  and Mrs.  White were called  hence  to their heavenly
 home.   For  fifty years the Doctor  had been the guardian
 of the health of this town.  For  this period  it was  on  his
 arm that the people relied when  disease made its attack.
 They recognized his professional ability, and his noble man-
 hood.  All this is fresh in our  minds to-day.  We miss  his
 presence in our streets, his cheer and gladness in our homes.
    In the  interest of  humanity and the welfare of social
 life, physicians hold an important position, and I know of
 no body of men who more nobly honor their profession.
    When an epidemic or contagious disease invades a com-
 munity, the physician is first thought of, and his presence
is  cheer and gladness.   He goes  everywhere, among the 
30
 rich and the poor alike, in the day and  in  the  night, in  the
 heat and in the cold, with pay or without  pay.   He goes
 promptly at the call of  the rich  and the poor, to those who
 pay and those who cannot pay, and to such as are too mean
 to  pay when they can.  The  members of  this profession
 are conspicuous as manifesting a  noble  manhood.   Such
 was Dr. White.   This half century is filled with testimony
 to the high  regard in which  he was  held  by the people of
 this town.   Homes all  through  these valleys and on these
 hills have been  recipients of  his self-denying and  generous
 service.
     It is fitting that this memorial structure  is located here
 at Weatogue, for it was  here that the  Doctor  made his home
 for these years.
     A long  line  of physicians who honored their profession
 and had gone hence before him, resided here, and I am told
 that all the principal practitioners of  the town, and as I
 judge, from the  first resided at Weatogue ;  and  not till Dr.
 White was  no  more seen in our streets,  and  the- accom-
 plished and  promising young physician located at Simsbury,
 did the change come. And it may be well  for us to accept
 the  results  of  modern evolution,  and congratulate  our
 northern neighbors on  the possession of a resident practi-
 tioner.
    There is also a fitness in the location  of this fountain
 here at Weatogue, as it is but perpetuating the  Doctor's
 work for the good of the people, causing it to pass on into
 the ages.  The water which supplies  this  fountain is from
 living  springs — inexhaustible.   It flows through the cold of
 winter and the heat of summer — not simply for this foun-
 tain and  for travelers, both man and beast, but abundant
for the people of this locality.   It can come into  all these
homes a refreshing stream of life, continually reminding us
 of "the beloved physician."
    It is well to  hold in  mind the notable deeds of the past,
and to honor the men having been uplifting forces in the
cheer, comfort, and health of  the community.
    The  fifty years' service  of Dr. White, with a long list
of like-minded  men preceding him, is  deserving of recog-
nition, and there is an appropriateness in this graceful foun- 
3'
tain erected to his memory — beautiful  in  its fashioning, a
fountain of living water, symbolizing the Doctor's work ;
for it was in saving human life and making that life more
abundant, that he served.
    We live not in a dead but  a  live world, and our mate-
rial surroundings should be in harmony with social culture
and intellectual elevation, and our streets and homes should
indicate the presence of  refinement.
    God has thrown  up around us in material nature grand-
eur  and  magnificence ;  hills beautiful,  and  mountains
sublime ;  dotted the land with lakes and woven it with
brooks ; and monuments erected to  the memory of noble
helpers who have gone on before  us should be an  addition
to the material attraction of their surroundings, as it is in
this noble gift.
    We accept the trust committed to us, and we will guard
this fountain with religious  zeal,  allowing  no vandal hand
to mar its beauty ; and on through  the generations, as  the
living waters shall flow, it will be a testimony to noble lives
that have blessed the people.
         REMARKS OF HENRY  P. STEARNS,  M.D.
    It was not my good  fortune to know much of the life of
Dr. White, but I understand that during the years in which
he went in and out among this people he made the record of
a good physician.
    It is fitting that such a life be honored ; and what more
appropriate for  the purpose than a  fountain of water.  As
the sight of the good physician  is most welcome to the sick,
so is the sight of water to the thirsty.  Whose heart has not
been quickened in its action at the sight of it, whether in the
sparkling cascades which tumble down these hillsides or in
the majestic sweep of the billows of  the ocean?  We live
and breathe by its influence and our  bodies  are held in a
kind  of solution by its  pervasive  power.   Hence  in  the
very first account  we have of the habitation of the race
it is stated  that "a river  went  out  of Eden to  water the
garden."
    The historian,  in presenting  a  resume of the achieve- 
                           5-

ments of one of the three greatest kings who ever ruled over
the Hebrews, says that " he had exceeding riches and honor ;
and he made for himself treasuries  for silver, and for gold,
and for precious stones ; and for spices, and for shields ; and
for all manner of pleasant  jewels ;  storehouses also for the
increase of corn, and wine, and oil ;  and stalls for all manner
of beasts, and cotes for  flocks.  Moreover he provided him
cities, and possessions of flocks and  herds in abundance, for
God had given him substance very  much."  And finally, as
if  it was the greatest of all his achievements, he says that
the king dammed up the water courses of the river Gihon
and brought the  water down in  another way  to the west
side of the royal city, where he constructed a great fountain
or pool.
    The emperors of Rome brought water to the city from
the distant mountains, and filled it with fountains, and pools,
and with every form of luxuriant baths,  and their names
have come down  the ages linked with the history of these
great achievements.
    Such useful monuments, erected either by those whose
names they bear, or by their friends, therefore, have the
sanction both of civilization and  antiquity.  I do not, how-
ever, remember to have heard or read of a fountain  being
erected in honor of a physician.  Such an indication of
esteem and honor seems, in this country, at least, to  have re-
mained for this  day and  place.   And yet what could be
more appropriate ?   From time immemorial water has been
the synonym for  cleansing and healing.   It is meted out to
us in our earliest and  latest experiences of earth.  So, too,
it  is the physician who stands by us at  the two gateways
of earthly existence.  He welcomes  us to both the joyful and
sad experiences of life, and helps  us sometimes in our pas-
sage to the next life.  He it is who stands by us in our hours
of extremest need  and suffering.   He  lulls us into the
blessedness of  an unconscious sleep ere he cuts our flesh,
saws our bones, or extracts our cuspids.  He explores with
curious eye and  delicate touch the secret recesses of our
chests, and plunges  painless needles and sutures  into the
texture of our  vital parts.  He bathes our feverish  brows
and moistens our parched tongues.   He passes on in closest 
33
 companionship with us into the realm of mind, and when
 reason totters, listens to the discord of our delusions.  He
 answers the question which Shakespeare asked so many
 years ago, " Who shall minister to the mind diseased ?" by the
 breaking of fetters and chains; loosing those who are bound
 and placing them in homes of beauty  and amid gardens of
 loveliness.  He listens to our sad secrets if we have any, and
 comes into a closer relation to our poor weak humanity than
 any  other human being.  He  may speak to  us at times
 a more joyful message  than  any other person in the wide
 world, and, alas !  it becomes  his duty sometimes to give us
 the saddest.   He  is the friend of the poor and the rich, and
 ministers to all alike, in conditions  of suffering.  He sees
 humanity at its worst and its weakest,  and no  man bears in
 his heart  so many  sad memories of his fellowmen.  He
 wrests hope from the jaws of despair  and bears a smile in
 the presence of death.   Ah ! who  can tell what has been
 done for him by the good physician ?
    Again, I say that it is fitting that such a life be honored
 by a  fountain of living water.  Scientists tell us that the be-
 ginnings of life occur in water, that bioplasmic substance
 with  life in its simplest forms is found  buried  in its depths,
 where it germinates, and whence it radiates in all the infinite
 varieties which cover the earth.  It is the good physician
 who  watches  for  the first movement  in  the  human form
 divine which announces its presence, and for the last which
 tells of its departure.  His lifelong study is how he ma)r best
 conserve it, and no human life is so  useless in his view that
 it is not worthy of his best effort to save it.
    The good deeds of your  physician-friend will live long  .
 in what you have consummated here to-day.  The sick will no
 longer listen during the weary hours of the silent night for
 the sound of his coming footsteps.   No more words of hope
 or comfort will he speak to the despondent.  He has gone
 where there shall  be  no  more sickness nor pain,  and where
 no inhabitant shall say,— I have need  of a physician.  But
 you will be reminded by this emblem so refreshing to look
 Up0n — So pure, so symbolic of life — of the good deeds he
has done  among  you, and the  record of which  we  may
believe has been written in the book of life itself.
        3 
36
and beauty.  And while it pays a fit tribute of love and re-
spect to your old friend and  physician, it also  honors the
profession at large ; so that we are  most heartily moved to
join with you in these dedicatory rites.
   We appreciate the fitness of  this place for  this monu-
mental tribute, in the very  pivotal center of his  life  and
activities, and in  the  midst of all this beauty of surround-
ings.   On  the  summit of  yonder  mountain I have  often
looked out  over this valley to the mountains  beyond.   And
I have been as much enchanted and uplifted by the view as
when standing upon  some  Alpine heights I have looked
down into the valley of the Rhine, the Rhone, or the  Arve.
There, indeed, I saw more of sublime,  sometimes of awful,
grandeur — those mountain tops crested with the snows of
eternal winter, and those valleys so  profound that objectiv-
ity was lost.  But from these mountain summits all stands
out in beauty of form and outline — the meadow, the field,
the hamlets, the groves, the highways,  and the meandering
river — all  girded in  with these mountains  round about,
which, when they feel the vernal breath, hasten to put on the
verdure of  summer — a glorious picture in a glorious setting.
This monumental fountain  complements the  picture.  It
calls to mind the lines of Edmund Spenser in the " Faerie
Queene " :
         1' And in the midst of all a fountain stood
          Of richest substance that on earth might bee."

    In the midst of all let the fountain stand, in memoriam,
to tell to the generations unborn  the simple story of the life
to which we dedicate it.  Had he done  some  great  and
heroic deed, had he marked out some new pathway in medi-
cal science, had he made some great discovery whereby his
name would have been heralded  over  the world, you  might
have chosen some other design.   But in the quiet of his life,
continually day and night ministering to the wants and to
the relief  of his fellow-citizens, what better design could
you have chosen than that which, in its use, meets the most
imperative want of our natures ?
    Again let  us repeat what we have already said, that
as this  fountain honors him,  so  it  will  our  profession. 
 
 
37
You could  not have  a higher or more worthy object of
your regard.   No  profession or department of study  has
made such progress in the last forty years.   The discovery
of anaesthesia to abolish suffering has driven pain and groan-
ing from the earth.  The discovery of the germ origin of
disease stays the plague and the pestilence.  The cholera has
again left its old home on the Ganges, and has advanced along
the highway of  pilgrimages to Persia and Russia, and invaded
civilized Europe.  But here we believe it can only be spo-
radic.  Europe has found its germ origin, knows its method
of invasion, and how it can be limited.  These things illus-
trate  a wonderful  progress in our profession ;  it can,  not
only bind up the wounds of every-day life, but  can  say to
the plague and the pestilence, thus far and no further.
    Let the fountain remain to give to all the dwellers here
its object-lessons in beauty.  The longer it stands, so much
the more will it grow in beauty, and  in harmony with  the
loveliness in which it is placed.  I know not how to define
the beautiful;  how much is  due to form and outline, to
blending  of colors, to the nicety of adaptation to use, or to
the inherent virtues of the good and the true.  While it is a
blending of all these fundamental  qualities, who  can give
the varying atomic proportions ?   We know the  beautiful
when we see it before us as in this fountain ; and you, ladies,
know also that  when  you place some beautiful object in
your parlor or  drawing-room some  ugly thing goes  out.
What would Paris be without  her Place de la Concord, her
Champs Elysees, and her Palace Royal ?  And what would
these beautiful places  be without  their magnificent foun-
tains ?   Versailles, where Louis XIV expended  fabulous
sums (said to be two hundred million  dollars) in palace, in
gardens, and in fountains, would probably be abandoned to-
day by republican  France except for her renowned foun-
tains — the  most magnificent in the world.
    Likewise this fountain will serve as an object-lesson in
sanitary  progress  and purity, as  well  as  in beauty.   Dr.
White, you may remember, when he found a case of typhoid
fever  or any malignant disease in any of these dwellings,
looked to  the water supply.  He sought to find the contami-
nating sources. 
38
    The great question  that is being studied most to-day
the world  over  is how to keep  the water supply of  our
dwellings and that flowing through the country pure  and
sparkling as this fountain.  Some of you can remember this
Farmington River when it was clear and pellucid, but now
it  is growing from  year  to year murky with impurities ;
your fish are dying.  But the bubbling springs, the rivulets,
and the rivers should be as pure as this crystal fountain.
This can be done when man, instead of  turning the impuri-
ties of earth into the channels of our rivers, will let the
solar influence transform them into food for vegetative life.
Unless this is done the rivers are  polluted, and miasm as a
fog covers the valleys.  What  can be done when the towns
and States at the head-waters of our rivers, and over which
we have no control, are accessory to the pollution ?  And  it
is a long look ahead before public opinion can command na-
tional legislation.
    But this fountain will minister refreshment and strength
to the  weary traveler, to  the  tired  laborer, and  to all,
man and beast;  only let memory in thankfulness and  love,
keep and hold the name here enshrined.  And may Heaven
vouchsafe  to us  all,  as  we lift   our eyes  whither we
trust  he has gone,  in reverent faith  and hope, to get  a
clearer  view of  the  apocalyptic vision of " a pure river of
water of life, clear as crystal,  proceeding out of the throne
of God  and of the  Lamb," and  to hear that Voice, none
other than  the  Divine, saying, " Let him that  is  athirst
come, and  whosoever will let him take the  water of life
freely."
           ADDRESS OF  MR. RODNEY DENNIS,
         President of the Connecticut Humane Society.
                   Read by G. P. Davis, M.D.

    This celebration is one of great interest to the members
of the  Connecticut Humane  Society, over  which  State
organization I have at present the honor to preside.
    To-day, this ancient and historic town, in these formal
proceedings, pays tribute  to the thoughtful generosity of a 
39
 beloved citizen and physician, together with his wife, who,
 dying,  delegated to their survivors the  welcome task of
 erecting this enduring memorial.
     For well nigh fifty years, Dr. Roderick Adams White
 drove through  this beautiful Farmington  valley, and  up
 and down these picturesque hillsides, in the assiduous prac-
 tice of a profession that has for its prime object the relief of
 human suffering.  He fell at last  at  his post, engaged in
 the contest against pestilence and  disease.   And yet, how
 soon such  men are  forgotten, except by those who fought
 by  their side the same  battle, and at  the family hearth
 where blighted hopes are crushed.
     When the warrior, covered with blood from  the battle-
 field, is borne back in the chilly embrace of death, a grand
 funeral  pageant proclaims his greatness  to the world, and
 his deeds are  emblazoned on the drooping flags which are
 borne along  with the cortege.   But when  the  physician-
 soldier falls in  combating  the  ruthless tyrant,  often  in
 forms which cause the warrior's cheek, who has fought his
 hundred battles, to blanch  and his  soul  to  quail, no dirges
 are sounded for him, no paeans  are chanted in honor of his
 bravery, and  over his  tomb  no " storied urn or animated
 bust " is raised.
     We can well conjecture that the instinct of compassion,
 warm within the breast of  the  good physician, was con-
 stantly stimulated by the practice of his noble profession,
 until a purpose  was formed  in his mind to include in his
 humane solicitude, for  those  who survived and those  who
 should come after him, the  wants and  comforts of the ani-
 mal creation.  Perchance, the  fidelity and patience of his
 own horse  prompted him to wish to leave here, beside this
 familiar highway, a testimony to his grateful recognition, of
 the help and companionship of  a  well-loved servant.   This
 wish, by the co-operation of  his  wife, has  materialized in
 the practical form before us which this day you dedicate.
 This fresh  flowing water, accessible alike to the citizen and
 the wayfarer,  to the birds of  the air and the thirsty animal,
brings refreshment to all and  inspires a feeling of gratitude,
which may not be less  real because it  must be wordless, in
the inhabitants of the sky and field. 
40
    As  civilization  advances, the growth of humane senti-
ment becomes more and more evident.  Organized preven-
tion  of  cruelty  and suffering  takes its  place  among the
Christianizing forces and  finds a support among the best
people of every caste and belief, and in nearly every clime.
    From the same source whence springs  the impulse of
compassion toward the human  race, must come the feeling
of pity for the animal creation.
    The Queen of England,  Frances Power  Cobbe, and
many others prominent among the  just and tender-hearted,
have voiced the sentiment that no  civilization  is complete
which does not include and protect all  the dumb and de-
fenseless of  God's creatures.   According to Henry Ward
Beecher :  " Society owes to the horse a debt of gratitude a
thousand times greater than it does to thousands  of men
who abuse him.  He has ministered to progress ; has made
social intercourse possible where otherwise it  would have
been slow and occasional or altogether impossible.  He has
virtually extended the strength of man, augmented  his
speed, doubled his time, decreased his burdens, and, becom-
ing his  slave, has released him from drudgery and made him
free. For love's sake,  for the sake of social life, for eminent
moral reasons, the horse deserves to be  bred and cared for
with scrupulous care."
     The fame of this community has extended beyond these
embosoming hills.  Names familiar on this  village street,
and under these outlying roofs for generations, have been
long honored in the  councils of  the  nation   and of  the
commonwealth, as well as in the army and in the marts of
trade, while lives of conspicuous ability and integrity have
been and are crowned with  all that wealth and culture can
bestow. The streams and rills of  charity that this wealth
has supplied have flowed into and blessed  the lives of the
 deprived and disadvantaged, both at home and abroad, and
 the names of the donors are written in grateful hearts here,
 and anon by the pen of the Recording Angel in the Book of
 Life.
     Whatever of these treasures any of us possess or obtain,
 it is our privilege to  consecrate.  We,  in turn, as did  the 
4'
forefathers who sleep in yonder churchyard  the  sleep that
knows no waking — we, too, when we join the innumerable
procession, can leave behind us, as they have, and  as good
Dr. White did, each in  his own way, memorials  which are
grateful, helpful, and enduring.
         ADDRESS BY F.  L. HUNGERFORD,  ESQ.

    Mr. F. L.  Hungerford, a brother of Mrs. White, after
referring to the  desire Mrs. White had  expressed to him in
her lifetime, to  provide a  snitable  memorial  for her hus-
band, and the  circumstances  under which her  will was
made, and expressing the thanks of the  trustees to the town
of Simsbury for providing a  permanent location  for the
fountain,  to the several land-owners who  had donated  a
right of way for carrying  the water, and especially to  Mr.
D. Stuart  Dodge, who, in various ways, had  generously
assisted the trustees in carrying out  their undertakings,
proceeded as follows:
    If it is true, as some suppose, that our friends who have
gone from this life are acquainted with what is transpiring
upon the  earth, Dr. and Mrs. White must be interested in
these exercises  in which  many of their loved friends  and
neighbors are taking part.
    Your presence here to-day is indicative of your respect
and  esteem for your beloved physician, who, for so many
years, by  day  and by night, visited the homes of this peo-
ple for  miles  around, bringing  relief to the suffering  and
consolation to the afflicted.
     The erection of this memorial  fountain and these exer-
cises in which we are engaged, would,  however, be simple
mockery were there not behind it  all a life  so full  of self-
sacrifice and service that,  by common consent, these  neigh-
bors and friends could attest that it was fittingly typified by
this  pile which we have to-day dedicated to its memory.
     The  lesson to  be  learned from Dr. White's life  and
from these exercises seems to me to be this: That that life
is most beneficent and  approaches most nearly to the ideal
4 
42
of true greatness that is most helpful to others.  So far as
I know, Dr. White, never  in his lifetime, did anything that,
according to the world's  idea, was very great, and certainly,
he never received much of the  world's honors; but in his
allotted place, for a long  period of years, he so faithfully
and devotedly gave himself to the ministrations of others,
that, when his friends sought some fitting symbol of his life,
it was best found in this fountain with its constantly  flow-
ing and refreshing water.
    I take this occasion to emphasize  what I have chosen
to call  the lesson of Dr. White's life, because, in these days,
true greatness  and  the highest  success is  supposed  so
largely to consist in high-sounding titles or in high places,
whereas, to my thinking, it consists in none  of  these things
at all.  If this  enduring monument, in telling the simple
story of the life it commemorates, shall, to some degree,
teach to the youth of coming generations the great lesson,
so true and yet so hard to learn, that he is greatest who
serves  his fellows most  and best, it  will bless the people of
this community, not only or most by its refreshing waters,
but by inspiring them  and those who come after them with
new zeal  to deal kindly, to be  charitably disposed one  to
another, and to live unselfishly. 
 
 
 
 
 
WZ 100 W587H 1893




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NATIONAL LIMADV OF MEDICINC