blocked the possible call. He did not want an associate—any associate. So the search died there and then.
Shortly after the door closed at Mount Vernon, the congregation of the Centre Congregational Church at Haverhill, Mass., opened its door. Either Boston's Mount Vernon or Haverhill's Centre would have been an excellent church for him.
Haverhill, some 60 miles north of Boston, was a bustling town on important land and water highways. Son Henry describes this town:
Fairly homogeneous in population, its inhabitants principally engaged in the manufacture of shoes, it had not then passed into a position of such commanding importance in that line of industry as it now occupies, nor had it then been made the battleground for the fierce conflicts between capital and organized labor of later years. Many of the operatives at this period were still of native stock, the influx of French Canadians then having hardly begun. The congregation of the Centre Church was in part made up of the better class of these operatives, cutters for example, whose work demanded sufficient intelligence to gain for them good wages.1
The record book of Centre Church contains the minutes of the Ecclesiastical Council called for the examination and installation of the Rev. Mr. Hyde:
Pursuant to letters missive from the Centre Congregational Church, Haverhill, an Ecclesiastical Council was convened at the vestry of that church, November 15, 1870 to assist in the examination, and if thought advisable, the installation of Rev. Charles M. Hyde as Pastor of said church. . . . .
After prayer by the moderator, the Council listened to the reading of the documents relative to the dismissal of the Pastor elect from his former charge, the call of the Centre Congregational Church to become their Pastor, and his acceptance of the same. The Council then proceeded to the examination of the candidate, first as to his Doctrinal belief and then as to his religious experience; at the close of which it was voted that the Council "be by themselves." The Council being by themselves, it was voted that the examination "be deemed satisfactory and that we proceed to the Installation of the candidate in the P.M."2
After installation he plunged not only into the problems of the church but also lined up with educational forces in the community. "Dr. Hyde, for so he was familiarly known in the later years of his life, possessed the happy faculty of original suggestion. . . to comparatively few is it given to see passing events in their true perspective and seize on those worthy of distinction."3
The Haverhill pastorate, in and of itself, was an effective crusade for Christ, deeply appreciated by a grateful following, but for purposes of narrative, relatively unexciting. Attention is therefore given in this Haverhill period to other services he rendered.
He was Haverhill's most community spirited leader in efforts involving education and charity. He engaged in a broad sweep of town interests—the rehearsal for an incomparable drama of acts and scenes that he would later stage in Hawaii.
Temperance does not classify strictly as either a church or community activity. It is a combination of both, and unlike either is an activity where the zeal of the crusader is the indispensable ingredient for success. The Rev. Mr. Hyde had not mixed in temperance causes until he reached Haverhill. Likely enough he had never witnessed drinking or its effects comparable to what he was now seeing. The problem was acute in this manufacturing area; but with the intuitive touch of the crusader he became highly successful in fashioning approaches and solutions in the best temperance tradition.
The Monday Evening Club of Haverhill had been formed about the time Hyde was at Princeton Seminary. Shortly after his arrival in Haverhill he was tapped for membership.4 Usually composed of 20 men, intellectual lights, it met monthly with programs composed of impromptu comments on the current social science scene climaxed with a major paper or essay. This latter item was usually a carefully prepared literary effort of the membership, each one taking his monthly turn.
A club of this nature could be found in many towns throughout New England, but was certainly a traditional adjunct of Massachusetts towns. Hyde had formed a club akin to this in Brimfield—a Book Club where the men met and discussed literature of all ages. To accept membership in the Haverhill Monday Evening Club was like transferring from one club to another. The whole exposure to this idea would later find him restless in Honolulu until he could round up a small group of reasonably compatible individuals and start another Monday Evening Club under the name of the Social Science Association.
His participation with these twenty "social scientists" in the pursuit of literary and cultural objects illustrates his widening intellectual curiosity. A list of his impromptu Five Minute Talks excerpted from the minutes clearly pictures his mind at work:
The French cession of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany
A recent will provides for the ringing of a bell periodically for all time
Dr. Bacon's article on Railway Legislation
Affairs in Japan
New discoveries in the Polar Sea by Captains Olaf and Johnson
Bulgarian visitor's description of wine culture
Philosophy of Herbert Spencer
Fascination of the scenery of the St. Lawrence and its rapids
Pulmonary subjects find relief in Colorado parks
Accuracy of engineering in the Hoosic Tunnel
Life of Powers the sculptor
Dr. Schleimann at the site of ancient Troy
Attachment of Fitz Greene Halleck for a Quaker lady
"Et tu Brute" not historical but original with Shakespeare
Wide differentiation and variety mark this list which is far from complete. Even this sample shows a remarkable range of human interests.
In the essays (called Exhibits in the minutes) Hyde donned a cloak of hard dry fabric. He prepared two essays in his six years at Haverhill and in these treated controversial subjects head on. In the Darwinian Theory of the Origin of Species, he contended that the hypothesis quite failed to establish its own obligations or to explain conflicting phenomena and was on the whole quite unable to withstand a careful criticism. This essay roused animated discussion!
The other essay dealt with the "Nature of Suffrage, its rightful qualifications and practice and the Safeguard of Popular Government." Here was Hyde the teacher using the blackboard to develop his theme graphically. His unsurprising conclusion was that "hope for good government lay in selecting upright nominees."
Aside from any other benefits, this Monday Evening Club was a totally different pulpit than the one at Centre Church. Here he could maintain a layman's dialogue with his fellow townsmen on nonreligious subjects.
Public education was another interest. He was a member of the Haverhill School Committee for 1872 and 1873 representing Ward 4. "During his term of office, the Committee decided to vacate the Old Haverhill Academy Building that had been used as a high school since 1837 and to build. The new building, 'the long-looked for Canaan,' was occupied in 1874."5 Generally the Committee was concerned about the qualifications of teachers and examinations of pupils. The Rev. Mr. Hyde was a "visiting" committee member, stopping in at schools and classes with some regularity.
A private school, Bradford Academy, appointed him to its Board of Visitors, a group formed in 1863 to take over from the trustees the annual check on student progress. This school stood on the other side of Haverhill's Merrimack River, away from the town proper. His first appointment was at the bottom of the roster in 1872. He moved rapidly to the top of the list. In his last year in this assignment, 1876-1877, his residence was listed from Boston.
"The Board of Trustees were overly conservative . . . apathetic . . . elected for life . . ."6 The School, founded in 1803 was, despite its trustees, a strong academic force in the Haverhill area. On one occasion, he reported he "had never seen more thorough work in Latin at any school or college."
The public library drew his attention also. He rejoiced in successful overtures to obtain a $30,000 grant for a new free public library from the Hon.