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THE
GRANITE MONTHLY
A New Hampshire Magazine
DEVOTED TO
HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, LITERATURE,
AND STATE PROGRESS
VOLUME XXVII
CONCORD, N. H.
PUBLISHED BY THE GRANITE MONTHLY COMPANY
1899
N
9^42
G759
v,2 7
Published, 1899
By the Granite Monthly Company
Concord, N. H.
Printed, I/lustratcd, ami Electrotyped by
Rum/ord Printiug Company (Riiin/ord Press^
Concord, New Hampshire, U. S. A.
The Granite Monthly.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXVH.
yuly — December, i8gg.
A Blue and White Bowl (poem), Laura Garland Carr
Admiral Dewey [poem), George Bancroft Griffith
Admiral Dewey Welcomed to Norwich, Col. Henry O. Kent
A Leaf from New Hampshire's Unwritten History, Carrie M. Nay
Among the Sandwich Mountains, Rev. George L. Mason .
A Night's Adventure, Bert P. Doe ......
Annett, Albert, The Making of a Town. Being Some Account of the
tlement. and Growth of the Town of Jaffrey
A Pioneer Family, C. F. Burge
A Sire of the Olden Time (poem), Clara B. Heath .
Austin, Marion L.. Retrospection (poem) .....
A Verse (poem), Adelaide Cilley Waldron
Baker, Alfred E., Come to the '-Old Home V^kkv.''' (poe//i)
Ballou, Hosea, Rev. S. H. McCollester, D. D
Boscawen's Historic Sites, The Marking of, John C. Pearson
Boyd, Merrill. In the Year of Our Lord 1900
Brown, H. W., M. Sc, Stoss and Lee : or, A Chapter on Glaciers
Brush, Frederick, Storm on the New En(;land Coast (poem) .
Burge, C. F., A Pioneer Family ......
Burke, Doris L., Ricketty Ann's Contribution
Carr, C. E., New Hampshire Sends Greeting To-day (poem) .
Note the Good (poem) .......
Carr, Laura Garland, A Blue and White Bowl (poem)
On a Hillside (poem) .......
Carter, Rev. N. F., New Hampshire Home Week Greetin(;s (poem)
Clark, Adelbert, Mount Washington ......
Set
274
PAOB
I 10
248
3CO
219
267
67
288
382
46
106
360
137
26
-» - ->
JD-
273
288
I 12
220
J3
I 10
154
291
{&*d^0
IV
CONTENTS.
Colby, Frederick Myron, Our Banner (poem)
To THE Sphinx ......
Come to the "Old Home \<I-^^\^"' (poem), Alfred K
CoNTOOCOOK River (poem), Edna Dean Proctor .
Comerford, Ethel F.. The Snowfall (poem)
Corning, Hon. Charles R., Governor Rollins .
Darling, Alice O., Going to Market (poem)
Dewey, Ad.miral (poem), George Bancroft Griffith
Dewev, Admiral, Welcomed to Norwich, Col. Henry O. Kent
Doe, Bert P., A Night's Adventure .
Dyer, Josiah B , New Hampshire Industrie.s — Ouarrvin(; and Stone-Cutting 207
Baker
Eastman, Hon. Samuel C, Hon. John Hav — A Summer Sojourner
Edna Dean Proctor, Harlan C. Pearson .
Ela, James H., The Elas in New Hampshire .
Exeter of To-dav, The. Edwin W. Forrest
P'irst Religious Service in Concord, Josepli B. Walker
Forrest, Edwin W., The Exeter of To-dav
Going to Market (poem), Alice O. Darling
Griffith, George Bancroft, Admiral Dewey (poem)
Home (poem) ......
Welcome Home (poem) ....
Hay, Hon. John — A Summer Sojourner, Hon. Samuel C. Eastman
Hadley, E. D., Vindication of the Army of West Virginia (or
Corps), at the Battle of Cedar Creek, Oct. ig, 1864
Harlan, Laura, Home Again with Cupid
Miss Campbell's Christmas
Heath, Clara B., A Sire of the Olden Time (poem)
Home (poetn), George Bancroft Griffith .
Home Again with Cupid, Laura Harlan
HosEA Ballou, Rev. S. H. McCollester, D. D. .
In the Home of his Ancestors with Whittier, Caroline C. Lamprey
In the Year of Our Lord 1900, Merrill Boyd ....
Eighth
Shea
287
249
106
176
345
121
30
248
300
106
Jaffrev. The Making of a Town. Being Some Account of the Settle-
ment and Growth of the Town of Jaffrey, Albert Annett
Jenks, Edward A., Old Home Week — Newi'ORt, N. H. (poem) .
Kent, Col. Henry O., Admu^al Dewey Welcomed to Norwich
Little. A Pioneer Family, C. F. Burge ....
Lord, C. C, Those Who Have Come Home To-ni(;ht (poem)
Mason, Rev. George L., Among the Sandwich Mountains
McCollester, Rev. S. H., D. D., Hosea Ballou .
McMiller, J. Walton, On Rockingham Electrics
Miss Campbell's Christmas, Laura Harlan
Monadnock in October (poem), Edna Dean Proctor .
41
132
303
183
309
183
30
248
130
153
41
280
147
378
382
130
147
360
141
26
67
163
300
288
249
267
360
323
378
178
CONTENTS.
V
Morrison', Hon. Leonard Allison, Franklin Worcester
Mount Washington, Adelbert Clark .......
Mrs. Pettigrew's Venture, Willametta A. Preston ....
Nay, Carrie M., A Leaf from New Hampshire's Unwritten History
New Hampshire Home Week Greetings (poem) Rev. N. F. Carter .
New Hampshire Industries — Quarrying and
New Hampshire Necrology
Abbott, George .
Ashley, Walter O. .
Barnard, George W.
Beattie, Thomas C. .
Berry, Rev. Augustus
Bowman, Alonzo
Clark, Rev. George Faber
Clement. Dr. Allen B.
CoLBURN, William W.
Cutting, Freeman
Davis, Hon. Walter S.
DiNSMORE, Hon. Thomas
Eaton, Rev. G. F.
FuRBER, Rev. Daniel L., D. D.
Gilbert, Dr. John H.
Hatch, Albert A.
Hill, Daniel E.
Hobart, J. Bryon
HoRNE, Rev. John R., Jr.
Huntington, Hon. Newton
Jenks, Dr. Thomas L.
Knapp, Hon. William D.
Langdon, Miss Fanny E.
Mason, David
Moore, Geo. W.
Paige, David S. .
Pearson, Clarence Henry
Pearson, John H.
Perkins, Commodore George H
PiLLSBURY, Hon. Charles A.
Pray, Dr. M. W.
Rowell, Maj. Edward T.
Sinclair, John G.
Sherburne, George M.
SOULE, H. D.
Stewart, Walter H.
Stilson, Daniel C.
Thurston, Rev. James
True, Bradley .
Veazey, Hon. Harry Lawrence
Weeks, Hon. James W.
Whittier, Josiah H. .
Stone-Cutting, Josiah B. Dyer
63, 117, 179, 251, 3
3
291
^i
219
154
207
6, 383
319
319
320
318
317
317
179
319
318
318
385
386
253
385
117
180
319
179
318
118
384
386
320
64
118
64
253
316
384
251
118
180
63
179
117
386
179
252
^54
251
^53
VI
CONTENTS.
New Hampshire Necrology (Contmned):
WiGGix, Samuel Adams ........
Williams, Gen. Charles ........
Wood, Rev. John .........
Wright, George J. .
New Hampshire Sends Greeting To-dav (poem), C. E. Can- .
New Hampshire's Share in a Great Enterprise, Edward N. Pearson
Note the (jOOD [poem), C E. Carr .......
Old Home Week — Newport, N. H. (poem) Edward A. Jenks
On a Hillside (poem). Laura Garland Carr ......
On Rockingham Electrics, J. Walton McMiller ....
Our Banner (poetn), Frederick Myron Colby .....
Pearson, Edward N., New Hampshire's Share in a Great Enterprise
Pearson, Harlan C, Edna Dean Proctor .....
Pearson, John C, The Marking of Boscawen's Historic Sites
Preston, Willametta A., Mrs. Pettigrew's Venture
Proctor, Edna Dean, Harlan C. Pearson .
Proctor, Edna Dean, Contoocook River (poem) .
MONADNOCK IN OCTOBER (poevi) .
The Hills are Home (poem)
Quarrying and Stone-Cutting, Josiah B. Dyer
Ouint, Katherine Mordantt, The Birthplace of Whittier's Mother
Retrospection (poem), Marion L. Austin ....
Ricketty Ann's Contribution, Doris L. Burke .
Robinson, Hon. Henry, Birthplace of Governor Rollins
Rockingham Electrics, On, J. Walton McMiller
Rollins, Birthplace of Governor, Hon. Henry Robinson
Rollins, Governor, Hon. Charles R. Corning
Sanborn, Dr. Charles Henry, of Hampton Falls, F. B. Sanborn .
Sanborn, F. B., Dr. Charles Henry Sanborn of Hampton Falls .
The Smiths and Walkers of Peterborough, Exeter, and Springfield
Sandwich Mountains, Among the. Rev. George L. Mason
Shea, Caroline C. Lamprey, In the Home of his Ancestors with Whittier
Smith, Clarence Milton, The Angler's Joys (poem) ....
Storm on the New England Coast (poem), Frederick Brush
Stoss and Lee : or, A Chapter on Glaciers, H. W. Brown, M. Sc.
Swaine, C. Jennie, The E.xpected Guest (poem) ....
The Angler's Joys (poetn), Clarence Milton Smith ....
The Birthplace of Whittier's Mother, Katherine Mordantt Quint
The E.xpected Guest (poem), C. Jennie Swaine .....
The Elas in New Hampshire, James H. Ela .....
The E.xeter of To-day. Edwin W. Forrest .....
The Food Habits of the Owls, Clarence Moores Weed .
The Hills are Home (poem), Edna Dean Proctor ....
The House of the First Minister, J. B. Walker ....
74,
ii8
383
64
179
220
47
351
163
376
323
287
47
132
137
31
132
176
178
131
207
257
46
1 12
127
323
127
121
35
223
267
141
266
352
359
266
257
359
183
347
131
166
CONTENTS.
VI 1
The Making of a Town. Being Some Account of the Settlement and
Growth of the Town of Jaffrev, Albert Annett
The Marking of Boscawen's Historic Sites, John C. Pearson
The Old New England Hills (poem), D. H. Walker ....
The Smiths and Walkers of Peterborough, Exeter, and Springfield
F. B. Sanborn ..........
The Snowfall (poetn), Ethel F. Comerford ......
The Warblers and Vireos in their Economic Relations, Clarence Moores
Weed
Those Who Have Come Home To-night (poejii), C. C. Lord
To the Sphinx (poem), Fred Myron Colby ......
Waldron, Adelaide Cilley, A Verse (poem) .......
Walker, D. H., The Old New England Hills (poem) ....
Walker, Joseph B., First Religious Service in Concord
The House of the First Minister .......
Walker, Rev. Timothy. The House of the First Minister, J. B. Walker
Weed, Clarence Moores, The Food Habits of the Owls ....
The Warblers and Vireos in their Economic Relations
Welcome Home (poem), George Bancroft Griffith .....
Whittier, In the Home of his Ancestors with, Caroline C. Lamprey Shea
Whittier's Mother, The Birthplace of, Katherine Mordantt Quint
Worcester, Franklin. Hon. Leonard Allison Morrison ....
67
302
223
345
157
249.
249
Vindication of the Army of West Virginia (or Eighth Corps), at the
Battle of Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864, E. D. Hadley . . . 280
139
302
309
166
166
347
157
153-
141
^57
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Tne GraniTC Aortmm.
Vol. XXVIL
JULY, 1899.
No. I.
HON. LEONARD ALIvISON MORRISON.
By Franklin Worcester.
ACING
a
northeast snow
storm
in
the inclement
mouth
of
March, I jour-
neyed
to
Canobie Lake,
am, to
call
upon a friend.
whose acquaintance I made in the
New Hampshire senate of iSSy-'Sg.
When I took him by the hand I saw
by the twinkle of his eye, expressive
of mirth and the finest sensibilities,
that although the physique might be
impaired the virility of the mind re-
mained intact.
The senate of 18S7 contained sev-
eral men of distinct individuality and
force of character. Among those
who have gone, let us hope to a high-
er and better life, is the staunch and
undaunted Langdon, and the enter-
prising and philanthropic Richards.
Of those who survive, I shall confine
myself to my friend, Leonard Allison
Morrison, who was able to furnish
me the desired data.
On an island, romantic and wind-
swept by every ocean breeze, lying
upon the northwest coast of Scotland
and separated from the mainland by
a strip of most turbulent waters a
few miles in width, is the earliest
and first known home of the Morri-
sons. In the Island of Lewis, in the
district of Ness, near the Butt of
Lewis, they have, from time im-
memorial, had their home.
Black, in his charming story of
"Sheila; a Princess of Thule," has
made this ibland forever famous,
and has thrown around the heaving
waters, which smite its rocky coasts,
a never-dying charm.
The late Capt. F. W. L. Thomas,
of the royal navy and vice-president
of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot-
land, for years a resident of the local-
ity, and perfectly familiar with all
parts, with the language, the people
and their traditions and history, has
given a graphic account of the family
in his " Traditions of the Morrisons,"
the substance of which has been in-
corporated by the subject of this
sketch in his " History of the Mori-
son or Morrison Family."
In the passing years many branches
of the Morrisons passed over to the
mainland of Scotland, and from there
spread to all parts of the world.
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
John Morison, a sturdy Scotchman,
removed from Scotland to the county
of L^ondonderry, Ireland, previous to
1688, and he and his family were of
the number of Scotch Protestants,
who, during the celebrated Siege of
Londonderry, 1 688-' 89, were driven
beneath the walls of the city, and
eventually admitted within the walls,
when, with the other defenders, they
endured the horrors of starvation.
In 1720, or a little later, he re-
moved to Londonderry, N. H., with
his last wife, Janet Steele, and their
young children, where he died in
1736. His sons, Charter James
Morison (2) and Charter John Mori-
son (2), had preceded him in 17 19.
This John Morison ( i ) , who died in
1736, was the ancestor of Leonard
Allison Morrison, through Charter
James Morison (2), and his wife
Mary Wallace, his son Lieut. Samuel
Morison (3), a soldier in the French
War, and his wife, Martha Allison ;
their son, Dea. Samuel Morison (4),
a soldier of the Revolution, and his
wife, Mrs. Margaret (Dinsmoor) Ar-
mour, of Windham. Their son was
Jeremiah Morrison (5), who mar-
ried Eleanor Reed Kimball, the
parents of Leonard Allison Morrison
(6). In the veins of the latter the
blood of Scot and Puritan flows
equally commingled. On his father's
side his descent is purely Scotch, he
being related with the Arwins, Orrs,
Cochrans, Wallaces, Steeles, Dins-
moors, Allisons, McKeens. On his
mother's side he is of purely English
descent, being related to the Puritan
families of Massachusetts, — the Kim-
balls, Scotts, Hazeltines, Days, Ha-
zens, Andrews, Harrimans, Reeds,
Tafts, Parks ; the latter three fami-
lies of Mendon or Uxbridge, Mass.
He was reared in a conscientious
Christian home. It was a home
where, each morning, the family was
gathered together, the chapter from
Holy Writ was read, and prayer
ascended from the family altar.
Thrice, each day, as the family
gathered at the social meal was the
Divine blessing implored. Each
Sabbath as it came around, so regu-
larly was the family found in its ac-
customed place in the sanctuary and
in the Sabbath school, unless pre-
vented by illness or some serious
matter. It was in one of those strict,
conscientious, religious homes, which,
a generation or more ago so numer-
ously abounded on these hillsides and
in these valleys of New Hampshire,
and which constituted the strength
and bulwark of the Granite state,
that lessons of love, of truth, of jus-
tice, of right, of hatred, of wrong, and
injustice were installed into his mind
in his youth and became a part of
his being.
Those early lessons have not been
forgotten or ignored. He admires
courage. He is quick to applaud
the right and resent the wrong. He
could easily stand for what he be-
lieved to be right, even if he stood
alone. He has never been afraid of
defeat or of being in the minority,
and some of his successes have been
what he has espoused, a forlorn hope,
and won success from apparent de-
feat. Firm and constant in his
friendships and mental makeup, he
clings to a friend or a cause to which
he is committed with great tenacity.
He abandons neither till absolutely
obliged to do it by the logic of
events. The cares of life came upon
him early.
Before his sixteenth year, by the
HOME OF LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
feeble health of his father, the care
of the farm and responsibility for its
management fell largely upon him.
His two elder brothers, Christopher
Merrill Morrison and Edward Pay-
son Morrison, those buds of promise,
who had prepared for college, were
taken ill with consumption and
passed away in the brightness of
their youthful promise. A little
later his loved father joined them, and
he was deprived of his wise counsel.
His mother, sister, and himself now
comprised the reduced family circle,
and before his twentieth year, the
homestead, which had been owned
by the family for a century and a
score of years, became his by inheri-
tance, and which he still retains. In
1866, his mother joined those who
had passed over the river. His sis-
ter, Margaret Elizabeth Morrison,
soon after married Mr. Horace Park,
and has always lived in Belfast, Me.
He was educated in the public
schools of his native town of Wind-
ham, at the academy of Gowanda,
Catteraugus county. New York, and
at the seminary at Northfield, now
Tilton. His strong desire was for a
collegiate course and a professional
life, but untoward circumstances pre-
vented the fulfilment of the dreams
and fond ambitions of his youth.
He occupies and owns the ancestral
acres at Windham. Always has he
taken a deep and abiding interest in
the public affairs and prosperity of
his town. He believes that fair play
is the fairest of all fair mottoes, that
a man should follow closely and
strictly the leadings of his conscience
and his ideas of right in public and
in private life.
He was a selectman in iSyi-'ja,
and in those years was a trustee and
aided in the establishment of the
Nesmith Free Public library. There
were four trustees who labored with
him. They were Rev. Joseph Ean-
mon, James Cochran, Hiram S. Re}^-
nolds, and William D. Cochran.
The books were selected, placed in
the library, and when ready, the
library was formally opened by a
dedication. Hon. John C. Park, of
Boston, Mass., made a ver)^ able ad-
dress. Mr. Morrison, whose heart
was in it, evinced it by an address
delivered on that occasion.
A little later a library catalogue
was prepared and distributed to the
citizens, and he was one who aided
in its preparation. The library now
exceeds 3,200 volumes.
Before the establishment of that
library, for many years he availed
himself of the use of books from a
fine circulating library in lyawrence,
Mass., and from them derived great
profit and delight. Thus unknown
to others or himself, he was prepar-
ing for that important work that he
has done.
Up to 1877 he lived the life of a
farmer besides being engaged in the
wood and lumber business, but he
had dreams of something different,
of public life and foreign travel.
The year mentioned was marked by
circumstances, slight in themselves,
which became the beginning of a
new life. "A pebble in the stream-
let sent, has turned the course of
many a river." He has always been
a lover of literature. In that year
he was chosen to edit a local paper,
known as TIic Windham Chiviiide,
which he did. It was a small affair,
but it opened up a correspondence,
and was the commencement of the
literary work of his after life. It
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
led also, indirectly, to his two some-
what extended tours of European
travel and the accompanying works
of travel. Another slight and sin-
gular circumstance will be here re-
corded to show how simple an event
may affect one's after life.
The massive gates of circumstance
Are turned upon the smallest hinge,
And thus some seeming pettiest chance
Oft gives life its after tinge.
He has always taken a deep and
abiding interest in political events
and in the decision of public ques-
tions. In the year mentioned he
was a delegate to a political conven-
tion, and accidentally was placed on
the committee of credentials. He was
an unknown man in a political circle,
but did not long remain so. He be-
longed to no clique, and advocated
what he believed to be right. The
committee had been in session but a
short time when he found himself in
a sharp and earnest contest. Two
sets of delegates appeared from a
section of the largest municipality of
the district. Only one set were, of
course, entitled to seats in the con-
vention, and he espoused with ardor
the cause of those whom he believed
were justly entitled to their seats.
The chairman of the committee, who
was from that place, had the decid-
ing vote, and decided against Mr.
Morrison, but said to him quietly,
" You are right, but, in order to
smooth things over locally, I shall
have to vote against you."
During the progress of the conven-
tion, the ones who had most sharply
made the contest with him, and who
had supposed he had belonged to a
clique, came to him saying they had
found out his position, commended
his action, and hoped they would
meet him again next year. They
did meet the next year. These men
were now his warm friends, and
through their influence and of others
whom he met, he was made presi-
dent of the convention. Upon tak-
ing the chair he made a speech, of
which a copy w^as requested by the
editor of the local paper, which ap-
peared with proceedings of the con-
vention, and was sent broadcast over
that section of the state. The con-
test of the committee in 1877 led to
the presidency of the convention of
1878 ; the speech and its publication,
which brought him before the peo-
ple, led to the train of events which
landed him in the state senate and
gave him whatever political promi-
nence he has attained.
For fifteen years he presided in the
annual town-meetings. The duties
of a presiding officer came easily, and
there was a charm for him in public
speaking. For nearly thirty years
he has been justice of the peace ;
was an enumerator of the Tenth
United States census in 1880, one
of the auditors of Rockingham
county in i886-'87. He has al-
ways been a Republican in politics,
and was a member of the Republi-
can State Central committee in 1881-
'82. In 1884 he was elected a mem-
ber of the house to serve from 1885-
'87. In his legislative and other
contests he arranges carefully his
line of action. He studies men and
his opponents, and looks ahead to
see what will probably be their line
of attack or defense, and makes his
preparations to meet their attack or
make his own. He is an uncomfort-
able antagonist for he never knows
when he is defeated, and never ac-
knowledges a defeat. He may have
8
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
a temporary set-back, but he is after
his opponents again at the first
chance. This has been repeatedly-
shown in his public and legislative
experience.
During the session of the legisla-
ture of 1885, when he was a member
of the house, a leading opposition
paper {Manchester Union) aptly said
"Mr. Morrison of Windham is a
man of positive convictions. Ample
study, research, and travel have
ripened his thought and sharply
outlined his opinions. Like all men
of his class, he is liable to run coun-
ter to popular sentiment, but he is
honest to the core, and he serves the
state well in his general capacity and
as chairman of the committee on edu-
cation."
He was a new member in that ses-
sion, but he was somewhat known,
and he was appointed chairman of
the committee on education, an hon-
orable position for a new member.
In the debates he participated when
he had views which he thought
should be expressed, but never for
the sake of talking. At one time,
several bills, some of which he had
introduced, and others in which he
was interested, w^ere before the house.
Gen. Oilman Marston of Exeter was
a member. He was a blunt, brusque
man of unquestioned honesty, but
one who had many admirers and
friends. One day he met the subject
of this sketch on the street, and with
that peculiar gesture with his index
finger, which he often used when
addressing the speaker, he said,
' ' You have several bills before the
house, haven't you?" "Yes."
Then the general enumerated them,
one by one, and exclaimed with an
adjective in his expression, more
forcible and expressive than pious or
polite, "You'll be lucky if you get
any one of them through ! " and off he
went. Mr. Morrison was vejy lucky.
A very important bill of the ses-
sion was the bill establishing the
"Town District of Schools." It was
introduced by a member of the com-
mittee on education and referred to
that committee. The chairman was
strongly in favor of the bill, as were
the best educators and the most in-
telligent and best read men in the
state. But it was a great innovation
on the school customs and laws of
the state, made a most radical change
in them and was greatly ahead of
public sentiment. School affairs
were in a bad condition. Radical
measures were a necessity. This
was w^ell known to its advocates.
It was thoroughly discussed in pub-
lic hearings in the state house, and
before the committee, and a day and
hour at length assigned for its con-
sideration in the house. The chair-
man of the committee was greatly
interested in its success and carefully
prepared a plan for its progress in
the house.
When the appointed hour arrived
the galleries were packed, the judges
of the supreme court, the senate, and
distinguished men of the state filled
seats by the speaker, and the ro-
tunda in front of the speaker's chair.
Upon the calling of the house to
order, as chairman of the committee
on education having the bill in
charge, he called the bill from the
table and opened the debate with
a carefully prepared and forcible
speech, pleading its merits and urg-
ing the passage of the bill. Others
fell into line, the leading members
urged its passage, and those who
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
were not often participants spoke in
its favor, and there was no lull in the
proceedings. There was a great in-
terest and about 6 p. m. the roll was
called and the bill passed by about a
two-thirds vote.
It subsequently passed the senate,
received the signature of the gover-
nor and became the law of the state.
It was probably the most important
step for the educational interests of
the state for half a century.
The transition period was unpleas-
ant, as all such periods are. It made
something of a commotion in the
state and his course upon this ques-
tion and for the valued policy insur-
ance law cost him some votes when
he was a candidate and was elected
senator two years later.
In 1886 he was elected state sena-
tor from the Londonderry district,
No. 20, to serve from June, 1SS7, to
June, 1889. In the senate he was
made chairman of the committee on
education and served on the com-
mittee on engrossed bills, on agricul-
ture, on state prison, and industrial
school. In that body, as elsewhere,
his course was direct and outspoken
upon public questions.
The Hazen bill (railroad bill) was
the most important bill of the session.
It was kept dallying along nearly
through the session, and hearing
after hearing took place before the
committee. At last it passed both
branches of the legislature by nearly
a two-thirds vote. Then it came
before Governor Sawj^er, who vetoed
it. The excitement was intense.
Mr. Morrison voted in favor of the
bill and thought the governor had
no valid excuse for his veto.
The adulteration of foods is one of
the most obnoxious evils of the day.
The adulteration of the one article of
lard, it was claimed, was robbing the
people of New Hampshire of half a
million of dollars a year beside giv-
ing the consumer a spurious article
when he bought a pure article. A
bill was introduced to prevent the
sale of the adulterated article for a
pure article. If a person wanted
"compound lard" let it be marked
as "compound lard," and bought
and sold as such, and a package
marked as "pure" compel the seller
to have it " pure." To this bill Mr.
Morrison gave his earnest support by
speech and vote. It was one of the
most warmly contested bills of the
session. The agents of the Chicago
manufacturers of spurious lard were
there in force lobbying for its defeat.
After a stubborn contest it failed to
pass.
Later in the session, Mr. Morrison,
fearless of defeat, and with character-
istic directness, introduced substan-
tially the same bill in the senate, but
in a new form.
The former conflict had been so
sharp and stubborn that it was a
matter of surprise to the senate that
the bill was reintroduced in its new
form. A senator sitting near him
said, "Senator Morrison, I am sur-
prised that a man who has as much
sense as j^ou have, shouldn't have
more sense than to reintroduce that
bill, for you will certainly be de-
feated."
Morrison quietly replied, "De-
feat doesn't frighten me. I have
been defeated before and then came
out ahead at last."
This statement was prophetic of
the issue. The bill was just, and
after a sharp contest it passed both
branches of the legislature. In the
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X
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
II
senate Mr. Morrison made a speech
in its support. It was terse, direct,
and strong in its denunciation of the
great commercial fraud which un-
scrupulous manufacturers were per-
petrating on the public. It attracted
some attention, was published iu two
or more publications, and some six
thousand copies were scattered in all
parts of the land. He had led a for-
lorn hope and was successful.
In a review of the session and of
the senators, a leading paper of the
state thus spoke of him (the Man-
chester Mirror): "The scholar of
the senate was Morrison of the lyon-
donderry district, and with his schol-
arship he had good sense and a per-
sistency in what he believed to be
right, which made him a valuable
and successful senator. The rescue
and passage of the famous lard bill
was his work, and it was a feat few
would have undertaken, and no one
else could have performed, and his
earnest defense of the school bill,
which, as chairman of the education
committee in the house, he piloted to
the statute book in 1885, had much
to do with the defeat of all attempts
to defeat it this year."
While he has always been strongly
interested from early years in public
questions, yet he has been equally
attached to literature and history.
He loved history and the writings of
the world's best authors afforded
him the keenest delight. The well
rounded and flowing periods of
Macaulay and the beautiful senti-
ments of the poets have a great
charm for him. For years he was
more of a reader than writer. Thus,
unknown to himself or others, he
was preparing himself for the impor-
tant work which he has done and is
doing. It is a field of labor into
which he had not long dreamed of
entering, but was drawn into it by
chance, or more properly by Provi-
dence, and for twenty years his life
has been earnestly devoted to histori-
cal research, travel, and elucidation
of these brilliant themes ; and has
prepared and had published works of
value in these lines in quantity and
quality, perhaps second to none in
the state.
' ' The Morison or Morrison Fami-
ly; " " History of Windham in New
Hampshire ; " " Rambles in Europe :
In Ireland, Scotland, England, Bel-
gium, Germany and France, with
Historical Facts Relating to Scotch-
American Families," gathered in
Scotland, and in the north of Ire-
land ; "Among the Scotch- Irish ; a
Tour in Seven Countries;" "His-
tory and Proceedings of the Celebra-
tion of the One Hundred and Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Incorporation of
the Settlement of Windham in New
Hampshire," held June 9, 1892;
" Supplement to the History of Wind-
ham in New Hampshire," 1892;
" Eineage and Biographies of the
Norris Families," from 1640 to 1892 ;
" The History of the AHson or Alli-
sons in Europe and America," A. D.
1136 to 1893; "The History of the
Sinclair Family in F^urope and
America," for eleven hundred years,
to 1896; "History of the Kimball
P'amily in America from i634-'97,
and of its Ancestors, the Kemballs
or Kemboldes of England," in two
volumes, and 1,290 pages, by Leonard
Allison Morrison and Stephen Pas-
chall Sharpies; "Poems of Robert
Dinsmoor," " the rustic bard," com-
piled and edited with foot-notes ;
"Dedication Exercises of the Arm-
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HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
13
strong Buildiug for Nesmith I^ibrar}',
Windham, N. H.," January 4, 1899.
Early in life he commenced writ-
ing for the press, and has been a con-
tributor since 1S61. In 187S he be-
gan his literary life in sober earnest
by commencing his " History of the
Morisou or Morrison Family," pub-
lished in December, 1880. Eleven
hundred volumes were issued, and
copies soon found their way into the
college libraries and larger public
libraries and into all parts of the
United States, Canada, Great Brit-
ain and Australia. It was well re-
ceived and the edition was quickly
exhausted.
It takes a person of a rare com-
bination of intellectual and other
solid qualities to make an interest-
ing and successful family historian,
or a traveler, and author of books of
travels. He must have literary
ability, patience to search for months
or years to find a missing link or
prove a fact ; unbounded persistence,
with the exactness necessary to col-
lect and put in shape the facts that
such a history should contain. As a
traveler he must have a trained,
quick eye to see, a disciplined mind
to appreciate, a retentive memory to
hold, a power of description and a
grace of diction to portray, to make
things real and interesting to his
readers. He must take them into
his confidence, make them his com-
panions in his wanderings by land
and by sea. How far our subject
has succeeded, let his success testif3^
as will the voice of the press.
The Literary World, in reviewing
it, "The Morrison History," July 2,
1 88 1, said " It has secured a perma-
nent place in the historical literature
of the country. A very creditable
volume it is, well planned, well pre-
pared, well illustrated, and well
printed and bound. Its early his-
tory is unusually rich in tradition,
and some of the stories of the heredi-
tary judges of Lewis, given in the
opening pages, are diverting. We
commend them to romancers in
search of material for out-of-the-way
places."
"The New England Historical
and Genealogical Register," April i,
1 88 1, in its review said, "It is in-
tended to present all that the author
could obtain by the most assiduous
research and correspondence concern-
ing the genealogy of the various
branches of the Morrisons in this
country and also concerning their
Scotch ancestry. The larger part of
the book is devoted to the posterity
of the Scotch- Irish settlers of the
name at Londonderry, of whom there
were several. Their descendants
have done honor to the sturdy race
from which they descended. The
work is a model of industry and is
arranged in a clear and intelligible
manner, besides having excellent in-
dexes."
The volume represents a vast
amount of careful labor well be-
stowed and judicially performed. In
its preparation the author traveled
more than 2,000 miles and wrote
over 2,500 letters. No possible chan-
nel remained unexplored.
This was his first book, upon
which he had spent three years of
toil. Without taking any rest or va-
cation he commenced the " History
of Windham in New Hampshire,"
his native town.
The aged people were few who
knew the early history of the town ;
tradition was fast dying out and he
14
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
felt that no time was to be lost. For
three years he gave this work his un-
remitting attention and the work was
published at the close of 1883, a
book of 872 pages and 60 pages of
illustrations.
In a review of it Oliver Stebbins,
in the " New England Historical and
Genealogical Register," says, "This
is an exceedingly interesting and
elaborate history of another one of
the little group of New Hampshire
towns of which Londonderry was the
parent settlement, and which owed
their origin to the efforts of those
grand and sturdy old Presbyterian
Covenanters who emigrated from Ire-
land and Scotland at the beginning
of the last century ; — those brave,
self-sacrificing patriots whom no
sufferings could subdue, no threats
could terrify, no bribery could tempt,
nor persecution cause to waver in
their devotion to their simple faith."
The reviewer confesses that he
never can read the account of the
heroic defense of the town of Lon-
donderry, in Ireland, with its little
garrison of seven thousand men
against the whole Catholic force of
James II, supported by an army sent
by lyouis XIV of France which has
been so graphically described in the
histories of the New Hampshire
towns of Londonderry, Antrim, and
Windham, without feelings of in-
tense enthusiasm, although he him-
self comes from Puritan stock.
The title of Mr. Morrison's book
indicates in some measure the labor
bestowed upon and the interest taken
in the subject. On nearly every
page there is evidence of patient and
painstaking research and unremitting
toil.
The Literary World in its review
August 13, 1883, thus speaks of the
" History of Windham," stating that
two thirds of the book was " devoted
to a history of Windham families,
famil}^ b}^ family, of whom about 200
are included, arranged in alphabeti-
cal order. These family histories
contain an immense store of genea-
logical material, the collection of
which must have required an inex-
haustible industry and patience."
It was reviewed by numerous
papers in a commendatory manner,
well received by the public, and the
edition was quickly exhausted.
In 1882 he wrote a condensed his-
tory of Windham for the " History
of Rockingham and Strafford Coun-
ties." In recognition of his services
to family and local history, Dart-
mouth college, in 1882, conferred
upon him the honorary degree of
Master of Arts.
Mr. Morrison has not only been a
student and writer of history, but has
been something of a traveler. He
has traveled much in this countrj^
and Canada and has spent two sum-
mers in Europe.
The summer of 1884 was spent in
Europe in travel and historical re-
search. Some time was spent in the
Scotch settlements in the north of
Ireland. Those localities were vis-
ited from which came many of the
first settlers of Londonderry and
other towns in New Hampshire, and
which were made forever sacred by
their heroism, sufferings, and sacri-
fices. The old historic city of Lon-
donderry, in the defense of which his
ancestors participated, was visited
and became familiar ground. He
visited the noted cathedral in which
Episcopalians and Presbyterians wor-
shiped during the siege of 1 688-' 89,
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
15
though at different hours in the day.
A most interesting episode came to
him in connection with it. The
writings of Mrs. Cecil F. Alexander
were familiar to him. Some of her
poems he could repeat from memory.
But of her as a person or of her life
historj' he knew nothing. Her
poem, "There is a green hill, far
away, far away," and her "Burial
of Moses," "By Nebo's Lonely
Mountain," are familiar to the Eng-
lish speaking race, and her religious
hj^mns are sung every Sabbath in
multitudes of American churches.
Wishing to consult the ancient
records of the cathedral which were
in the charge of the lyord Bishop Al-
exander, he called at the palace to
obtain permission of the bishop.
Then he learned that the gifted poet,
Mrs. Cecil F. Alexander, was the
wife of the distinguished bishop and
was then in England. He ascer-
tained the singular fact, that he had
crossed the ocean and by accident
had entered the house and seen
something of the home life and sur-
roundings of the soulful poet, one of
the sweetest singers of the English
tongue.
" My Lord " was a charming man,
a poet, too, able and eloquent, simple
as a child. One who would readily
lead captive the hearts of men. He
is now the head of the Episcopal
church in Ireland. He readily
granted access to the records, and
for three days Mr. Morrison was in
the private study of the Dean of
Derry consulting them. He was the
guest and was much indebted for
courtesies to Hon. Arthur Eivermore
from New Hampshire, the American
consul, and his attractive wife.
He consulted libraries in different
parts of the kingdom and made the
acquaintance of interesting people.
Some time was spent in Dublin in
that vast repository of the valuable
records of Ireland, "The Four
Courts."
The historic libraries of London-
derry and Belfast gave him valuable
information. He traveled from the
South to the North, from the East to
the West of that land of greenness
and of beauty ; he visited her famous
lakes, cities, and world - renowned
causeway, and was delighted with it
all, save the poverty, wretchedness,
and misery of many of her people.
On leaving Ireland, the temporary
home of his ancestors, he thus speaks
in his " Rambles in Europe," etc.,
"As we steamed out of the harbor
(of Larne) I glanced back upon the
retreating laud upon which Nature
had poured out her riches and her
charms so lavishly. Farewell sweet,
beautiful Ireland ! Farewell your
high mountains, your green hills,
your lovely valleys, and sweet flow-
ing rivers ! I bid 3'ou all adieu.
" My desires to be in Scotland, the
fatherland, were too strong to be
longer repressed. I longed to gaze
upon her historic mountains, to
breathe her bracing air, and to press
my feet upon her soil. As the boat
speeded upon her way out of the sil-
very sea rose the bold outlines of the
Scottish coast. As the shades of
evening fell, bolder and more dis-
tinct came the high headlands, when
night brooded over the silent moun-
tains. I was in the home of my
forefathers. Thus I passed into
vScotland."
Scotland has been the home of a
great and intellectual people. It is a
wonderful thing to have claims upon
i6
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
a nationality whose traditions and
memories have been glorious. Scot-
laud had strong attractions to him.
There was magnetism in her moun-
tains, charms in her turbulent waters.
Weeks were passed amid historic
and famous scenes. The country
was traversed in many directions
from the English border to the wind-
swept shores of the Island of lyCvvis,
and the bleak shores of the North
Sea with its chill winds and beating
for a journey among the Western
Islands, around which William Black,
by his facile pen, has thrown such a
fascination. As he passed out of the
harbor of Oban, on the retreating
shores, as lofty sentinels stood the
mountain peaks of Ben Nevis and
Glencoe. Without stopping at the
island of Mull, skirting the island of
Skye, he reached the far north .shore
of the Island of lyewis and entered
the harbor of Stornoway, the chief
The Druidical Stones at Callernish.
billows. The land of Burns was
visited, and in Ayr he made the
acquaintance of Miss Beggs, a niece
of the poet, a lady with black hair,
keen black eyes, and a strong, intel-
lectual face, and very pleasing were
her expressed memories of her fa-
mous uncle. Mr. Morrison became
familiar with famous places on the
Clyde, and Glasgow, the classic city
of Edinburgh and Sterling, and
passing through the Highlands he
reached Oban on the Western coast.
He took the steamer Claymore
cit3^ The city had wonderful at-
tractions for our tourists. In the
words of Whittier in the poem of
Abram Morrison,
" From gray Lewis over sea
Bore his sons their family tree.
" Of wild tales of feud and fight
Witch and troll and second sight,
Whispered still when Stornoway
IvOoks across its stormy bay.
Still the home of Morrisons."
It has been the home of the Mor-
risons for many centuries.
Hardly had he reached his hotel
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
17
before Norman Morisou, the post-
master of the city, was announced
and gave him the warmest welcome
to Stornowa3^
This island William Black has
made famous by his Sheila, a prin-
cess of Thule. He visited the
Druidical stones at Callernish, of
much celebrity and great antiquity,
and other places of historic interest,
crossed the stormy Minch and from
Inverness passed through the Cale-
donian canal and its chain of lakes
to Glasgow, a journey of unrivaled
beauty. He ascended Ben lyom-
mond, passed over the Scottish lakes,
through the Pass of Glencoe, that
"Vale of Weeping." After vi-siting
Sterling, Edinburgh, Peebles, he
passed to the "Debatable Land,"
near the English border, where lived
the clans of Little, Johnson, Chis-
holm. Maxwells, and others. He
was in the old home for many cen-
turies of the Armstrongs, or from
1235, the home of that redoubta-
ble border chief, " Gilnockie " Arm-
strong, and saw in a museum his
great and might}- sword. Some
American branches of the name
claim descent from him.^ He vis-
ited the English lakes and the de-
lightful country at Keswick, Amble-
side, Windemere, and all the sec-
tions made sacred forever as the
residence of Mrs. Hemans, the sweet,
sad poetess, of Wordsworth, Harriet
Martineau, Coleridge, and Southej'.
In 1887, as a result of his travels
and investigations, were published
his " Rambles in Europe, in Ireland,
Scotland, England, Belgium, Ger-
many, Switzerland, and France.
With historical facts relating to
' George Washington Armstrong, Esq., of Brook-
line, Mass., claims descent from "Gilnockie."
xxvii— 2
Scotch-American families gathered
in Scotland and the north of Ire-
land." Two thousand four hundred
copies were printed. This was an
octavo volume of 351 pages with
illustrations. It was well received
and had many reviews.
The Exeter Ncics- Letter says,
"His style is direct and forcible
with frequent passages showing a
poetic appreciation of the beautiful
in nature and the romantic in his-
tory. The weird wilderness of the
far Northland, the glories of the
Castle Rhine and the ice-bound Alps,
the artificial richness of Paris and
Brussels, are all brought before us
in vivid description."
One seldom tires of foreign travel-
ing who has a taste in that direction.
In 1889 Mr. Morrison made his sec-
ond visit to Europe, traveling exten-
sively in Ireland, Scotland, Wales,
England, France, Switzerland, and
Ital}'. He was in Londonderry,
Ireland, and one bright, sunny Sab-
bath he perambulated the walls of
the ancient part of the city. In
writing of this he said, "It was a
singular and thrilling coincidence for
me to remember as I gazed on the
streets, the cathedral, the walls, the
River Foyle, and the hills beyond
that at that very July day and hour,
just two hundred years before, my
ancestors and relations, with their
friends and kindred, were wdthin the
city in the direst extremity, enduring
the horrors of starvation ; that they
walked those streets ; looked forth
with famished eyes upon the same
cathedral, the same walls, the same
river, and surrounding hills, and
were waiting with unspeakable long-
ing for succor to come, which came
at last."
i8
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
He made interesting discoveries
relating to the Scotch in Ireland,
which are recorded in his succeed-
ing volume relating to his trav-
els.
While in Scotland, he went to the
far Northland of Caithness to Thurso
and Wick. The heather was in full
bloom and covered the hillsides wnth
a beautiful purple. For long dis-
tances the mountains w^ere bare ex-
cept as covered by this mantle of
beauty. It was a treeless country.
This city, Thurso, was the birth-
place of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, one
of our generals in the Revolution.
There is the fine old castle of Neb-
ster, built about 1660, and situated at
the mouth of a river and amid groves
planted by human hands. That, and
its vast estate of sixty thousand
acres, is owned by Sir J. L,. Toll-
mache Sinclair. He and his fathers
before him, for generations, have
been members , of parliament. It
is the country seat of the family.
There General Grant was royally
entertained when visiting Thurso.
It was a pleasure to Mr. Morrison
to meet the Sinclair family at lunch
one day as their guest. Among
those he met were Maj. Clarence G.
Sinclair, Archdeacon Rev. William
Sinclair, chaplain to the queen and
vicar of St. Stephen's church, West-
minster, I^ondon, and ladies of col-
lateral lines of the family. All parts
of the castle were shown him by Rev.
Mr. Sinclair, Family portraits of
members of the family for 250 years
hung from the walls. Trophies of
the chase were there, while old
armor, guns and weapons of defense
were everywhere apparent. From
the top of the castle there was a won-
derful view. In the distance over
the turbulent w^aters he saw the
mountains of the Orkney islands.
While a guest at the hospitable
home at Wick of George Miller
Sutherland, F. S. A., he was shown
by his host an autograph letter of
the late Cardinal Newman, dated
August 21, 1887, in which he said
that while at sea June 16, 1833, he
wrote the h3'nin which all the world
admires, "Lead Kindly Light. "
In describing the country of Caith-
ness, Scotland, Mr. Morrison speaks
of it in his "Among the Scotch-Irish ;
and Through the Seven Countries : "
" Caithness, as a whole, is treeless
and one's eye will sweep over tracts
bounded only by the horizon where
hardly a tree will greet the vision.
" I have passed in the autumn from
the depths of Canada, through Ver-
mont and New Hampshire, when the
great stretches of mountains, hill,
valley, and plain, covered with hard-
wood growths, were ablaze with au-
tumnal glory ; where the leaves of
every tree presented all varieties of
color and were tinted with every form
of beauty, and the eyes feasted on a
scene of rapturous loveliness beyond
the skill of the writer to portray in
words or painter to place upon endur-
ing canvas.
"In Caithness was another and dif-
ferent scene of beauty, not the golden
tinted leaves on millions of forest
trees but the purple loveliness of vast
tracts of moorlands, where plain, val-
ley, hillside, and mountain slope was
in the glory of a purple robe, more
beautiful than any woven by weav-
er's loom for monarch's apparel. It
was the purple of the full blooming
heather, worth a journey across the
Atlantic to behold."
Leaving the enjoyments of the far
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
19
uorthlaud, he passed southwest
through the entire length of Scot-
land, England, to the sunny slopes of
Normandy, France, visiting many
places made famous by William the
Conqueror; the Paris exposition,
thence to the glories of the Alp-land,
Switzerland, and to classic Italy, over
its lovely lakes and its famous cities
of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome,
Naples, and the long buried city of
Pompeii. Of that this sketch is too
meagre to speak.
While in London some time was
spent in the British museum and lis-
tening to debates in parliament. On
his return to the United States he
w^rote "Among the Scotch-Irish;
and Through Seven Countries," a
book of mingled description, and
published in 1S91. It is a com-
panion to "Rambles in Europe,"
etc. It was well received and called
forth favorable reviews. One says,
' ' The tour described extended from
Caithness, Scotland, on the north, to
Rome, Naples, and Pompeii on the
south. The reader catches glimpses
of tantalizing brevity of noble cathe-
drals, battle memorials and world-
famous structures, of fertile land-
scapes, hills clothed in purple
heather, ice-bound summits, and
azure lakes. He is permitted to
linger fondly at times on historic
spots hallowed by memories of some
of the world's greatest acts of genius
and of courage. Everything is
described as seen by a true Yankee's
shrewd, independent, observant eyes,
but seen also with a deep apprecia-
tion of the picturesque in nature and
of the noble in human achievement."
After this book was issued, his pen
did not rest. At one time he had
portions of five different works in
manuscript. In 1S92, he issued
"The History and Proceedings of
the One Hundred and Fiftieth An-
niversary of the Incorporation of
Windham in New Hampshire, held
June 9, 1892," which was published
by the committee of the town.
Those who took part in the exer-
cises, of which he was president and
gave an address of welcome, were
Rev. Augustus Berry and Rev. B. E.
Blanchard. Between 1,500 and 1,800
people shared in the festivities of that
occasion.
A very able historical address was
given by Hon. James Dinsmoor, of
Sterling, 111., who was a native of
the town. Among the other ad-
dresses were one by Gov. Hiram A,
Tuttle, Evarts Cutler, Esq., Rev.
Samuel Morrison, Hon. George Wil-
son, William C. Harris, Esq., Rev.
William E. Westervelt, William H.
Anderson, Esq., Rev. Warren R.
Cochrane, D. D., Hon. James W.
Patterson, Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury„
Hon. Frederick T. Greenhalge, af-
terwards governor of Massachusetts^
and Hon. J. G. Crawford.
The speaking was excellent. A
very nice poem was read from Mrs,
M. M. P. Dinsmoor. The vocal
music was furnished by the " Wind-
ham Glee Club," a club which had
retained its honored name and or-
ganization for thirty- six years. The
instrumental music was finely ren-
dered by a band from Haverhill,
Mass. It was an honored day and
one to be remembered with pride by
all those present.
In the same year was issued his
' ' Lineage and Biographies of the
Norris Family, i640-'92." Of this
the " New England Historical and
Genealogical Register" of July, 1873,
20
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
says, "It is a well compiled and
handsomely printed book.
The author has had much experi-
ence in writing books on local and
family history. He has given us in
the book before us a very full record
of the descendants of the Hampton
(N. H.) emigrant. The book is well
printed, and illustrated with numer-
ous portraits. It is well indexed."
In 1893 he completed and had
printed the "History of the Alison
or Allison Family in Europe and
America." It is the record of a
strong and intellectual Scotch family.
Some of its branches came direct
from Scotland, while others passed
to Ireland, and came from there to
the United States. Some of its mem-
bers were martj-rs for the Solemn
League and Covenant in Scotland.
Others continued the struggle for reli-
gious liberty in Ireland, while still
others crossed the ocean and main-
tained the successful famil}- struggle
on American soil."
A review (November 23, 1S93, the
Statesmaii) says, "Mr. Morrison has
done his work with abilit}- and fidel-
it}'. He has studied diligently and
written intelligently. Travel and
research made the foundation of a
strong structure, which is a credit to
the builder, and the family in whose
name it stands. A great deal of the
world's most important history had
been epitomized within the three
hundred odd pages of the volume,
and there is much beyond the genea-
logical records to interest and in-
struct. In arrangement the work is
a model of clearness, and its infor-
mation is available for the hasty ex-
amination or the leisurely study.
Twenty-five illustrated pages lend
attractiveness to the volume, which
is clearly printed, handsomely and
durably bound in cloth."
Other families claimed the atten-
tion of Mr. Morrison's historic pen.
The vSinclair, St. Clair, famil^^ an
old ai:d illustrious one in Europe,
with prominent and able offshoots in
American soil. After long and dili-
gent research it was w^ritten, and
issued from the press in 1S96. It is
a book called the " History of the
Sinclair Family in Europe and
America for Eleven Hundred Years,"
a book of 516 pages of printed mat-
ter with 63 pages of illustrations.
It includes many branches of this
widespread patronymic. Many
prominent personages of the name
in Great Britain are mentioned, into
whose libraries it has gone. It was
reviewed by the " New England His-
torical and Genealogical Register."^
A very lengthy article appeared in
the NortJicrn Ensign, Wick, Scot-
land, July 28, 1896, by Thomas Sin-
clair, M. A., of Torqua}', England,
author of "The Siuclairs of Eng-
land." In the opening sentence he
says, "A practised hand at historical
genealogy for man)^ years, Mr. Mor-
rison's latest work is a monumental
book about the lineage which he has
this time chosen to treat." John
Sinkler (name spelled phonetically)
of Hampton and Exeter, New Hamp-
shire, in 1658, and his descendants of
ten generations, are given for 260
years, which includes the well-known
representativ^es of the state of the
past and present, and many others
in Scotland and over the land. Gen.
Arthur St. Clair, who was a promi-
1 Roland William Saint-Clair, of Auklaud, New-
Zealand, author o( " The Saint-Clairs of the Isles,"
procured this work, and by the permission of Mr.
Morrison took and incorporated seveutj'-five pages
of his work in " The Saint-Clairs of the Isles," his
work being all of the surname of Sinclair.
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
21
nent actor iu the Revolution, and
his asceudauts and descendants, is
another prominent branch, whose
genealogy and history are fully given.
"The History of the Morison or
Morrison Family" was finished by
Mr. Morrison in i8So, which gave the
record of his father's family for gen-
erations. He then determined to
write "The History of the Kimball
Family," in memory of his mother,
who was Kimball before marriage.
This was upon his mind, and he
had been gathering information ever
since. When in England, by search-
ing the public records, he discovered,
located, and visited the home parish
of the Kimballs in the parish of Rat-
tlesden, county of Suffolk, England,
which his ancestor, Richard K^-m-
ball, left in 1634. The work was a
stupendous one. It was seventeen
years from its commencement to its
completion. During its progress, he
discovered that Prof. Stephen P.
Sharpies of Cambridge, Mass., was
also engaged on the same historical
subject. Thinking that better re-
sults could be secured by working
together, they formed a literary and
business partnership upon it, and
brought the work to a completion in
1897, and issued a "Supplement"
in 1898. The history is a large book
of 1,290 printed pages, with 54 pages
of illustrations, and 1,000 copies
were printed.
The next venture of Mr. Morrison
was a second edition of the poems of
Robert Dinsmoor of Windham, self
styled the "Rustic Bard." He was
a brother of the elder Gov. Samuel
Dinsmoor of New Hampshire. An
edition of his poems, many of them
written in Lowland Scotch dialect,
which was understood and spoken
for more than a hundred years by
the descendants of the early Scotch-
blooded settlers, from Scotland and
Ireland. Many of his poems had
never been printed. Mr. Morrison
carefully examined them all, rear-
ranged, compiled, edited, and printed
all of worth, with a large number of
explanatory notes, and published it
in 1898. Copies went to all parts of
the country, and some found their
way across the water to the old sod
and native heath of the family.
This literary and historical work
has completely absolved his mind
and he has engaged in it with great
enthusiasm and delight.
He was elected a life member of
the New Hampshire Historical so-
ciety in 1893 ; is a member of " The
Scotch-Irish Society of America,"
and was elected vice-president for
New Hampshire in 1894, and re-
elected in 1895 and 1896. He is an
attendant and a contributor to the
support of the Presbyterian church.
He has never assumed the hymeneal
vows.
The last book (a small one) was
" Dedication Exercises of Armstrong
Building, for Nesmith Library,
Windham, New Hampshire, Jan-
uary 4, 1S99." His connection with
it shall be told in his own words.
" I consider it an honor that I was
permitted to take so active a part in
the library's establishment, one of
the three institutions of the town
which will endure.
"Life has dealt kindly with me,
that I could help and could state the
way the 'Armstrong Memorial Build-
ing ' was hastened to completion ;
and at the dedication exercise held
January 4, 1899, that I could occupy
the position, when the library en-
GEORGE WASHINGTON ARMSTRONG.
Giver of the ''Armstrong Memorial Biiiidiiig,'" of IVitui/iam, iVeiv Hamfs/iire.
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
tered its career of greater usefulness
than ever before. Then after the
* Dedicator}' Exercises ' a sum of
money was put into my hands, by
one of the good friends of the library,
which I invested in books. All this
was a heartfelt joy and a great de-
light.
"Col. Thomas Nesmith having by
will left three thousand dollars to the
town of Windham, N. H., for the
establishment of a library, the town,
having at a legal town meeting duly
accepted that gift, took the initiatory
steps for the establishment of the
library in April, 1871.
" The first instalment of books was
purchased on May 9, 187 1. The
books were placed in an anteroom
prepared for the purpose in the up-
per town hall. The library in-
creased and another apartment had
also to be used. Things w^ere in
this unfortunate condition when the
incipient steps were taken which led
to the erection of the 'Armstrong
Building' for the Nesmith library,
which were in this wise :
"Knowing that George Washing-
ton Armstrong liked to read such
works as the reports of the New
Hampshire library commissioners, as
those interesting ones gave an ac-
count of each library in the state, of
which an account could be given, —
their size, their prosperity, kind of
building possessed, and whether they
were a gilt or otherwise, — and hav-
ing received the third biennial re-
port, I procured another copy and
forwarded it to him. There were
descriptions and illustrations of li-
brary buildings, many of them the
gifts of public-spirited citizens, show-
ing how the resources of wealth had
been consecrated to the public good ;
and a suggestion was made that it
would be a fitting opportunity for him
to give a memorial library building
for the Nesmith library in Windham,
the old home of his ancestors.
"The idea was new to him; it
had not entered his mind ; and,
when writing me soon afterwards, he
asked me what I meant. I replied,
June 24, 1897 : ' When I sent you
the report, with the buildings of
various libraries, I meant what I
said. — that it would be a very fine
and fitting thing for you, a descend-
ant of some of our early settlers, to
give it a library building in memorj-
of your fathers ; ' and the matter was
dropped. Nothing further was said
on the subject till he visited me on
the afternoon of May 2, 1898, when,
in the course of conversation, he
broached the subject of the erection
of a Nesmith library building for the
town.
"I had supposed the subject had
been dismissed from his mind ; but
he had been thinking about it, and
the more he thought the more he
was impressed with the plan to do it,
in very loving memory of his ances-
tors. He said — much to my sur-
prise and joy — that he had concluded
to do it.
' ' When it was announced that a
building for the Nesmith library was
to be built, a sense of thankfulness
for the kindness of the donor per-
vaded all hearts. A town meeting
was called to meet June 25, 1898,
and they voted to accept the gift of
Mr. Armstrong,
"He had wisely decided to build
of field stone a solid, substantial
structure, and William Weare Dins-
moor, of Boston, Mass., was selected
as architect."
24
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
^iM^'^^if^mMMMWi^mM^mm^mwmm^sMsm.i.
«l-„i, lA.i i,.UAUiU»AMJj^
..IPBSS'iti.,
MIZSMITH LIBKAUY-
CnOUGl VVASlillCGlOK AnWi;lJU»»!C «i LUlOOJCLlKL. l!iAi;i;/iOl!UM 1 "J*.
;U 1 t:! t-) V I , I 1 1 I. U; , J (i I'
( ) (U; /. J,!' .'.i 1 1! <>(; t.:i'(;l;l!-0K.
The Bronze Tablet.
The building was finished. In the
Memorial room is a bronze tablet
bearing this inscription in burnished
letters :
NESMITH LIBRARY.
This building is a gift to the town of Wind-
ham, New Hampshire, from George Washing-
ton Armstrong, of Brookline, Massachusetts,
MDCCCXCVIII, in memory of his paternal
ancestors, residents of Windham, and descend-
ants of Gilnockie Armstrong, the famous bor-
der chieftain of Cannobie, Scotland, some of
whose family emigrated to the north of Ireland
in the seventeenth, and to this country in the
eighteenth century. Presented at the sugges-
tion of Leonard Allison Morrison, of Windham.
Rev. James Pethick Harper, Pastor; John
Edwin Cochran, Town Clerk ; Augustus Leroy
Barker, George Henry Clark, Joseph Wilson
Dinsmoor, Selectmen; — Trustees of Nesmith
Library. William Wear Dinsmoor, Architect,
of Boston, Mass.
On the walls are three large,
well-chosen pictures, masterpieces of
ancient architecture, pleasing and in-
.structive ; they are the Coliseum at
Rome, the Acropolis at Athens, and
the Forum at Rome.
In this same room, at one side of
the arch, is a large, fine picture of
George Washington Armstrong.
PROGRAMME.
Prayer, by Rev. James Pethick Harper.
Speech, by President Leonard Allison Morri-
son.
Introduction of Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury.
Address, by Hon. Albert E. Pillsbury.
Introduction of William HenryAnderson, Esq.
Speech, by William Henry Anderson, Esq.
Remarks by Rev. Augustus Berry.
Presentation of keys, by George Washington
Armstrong, Esq., to Rev. James Pethick Harper.
Reception of the keys, by Rev. James Pethick
Harper.
Remarks, by William Calvin Harris, Esq.,
and reading of resolutions of thanks to George
Washington Armstrong.
Vote on resolutions.
Presentation of beautifully engrossed resolu-
tions to George Washington Armstrong.
" America," sung by the audience.
Exercises closed with the benediction, by
Rev. Augustus Berry.
HON. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.
25
SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT, LEON-
ARD ALLISON MORRISON.
"Fellow-citizens: We will dedi-
cate this beautiful building to-day.
This is the first time the town has
ever had a public library building
presented to it in its 180 years of
living history. You have a house,
from cemented cellar to painted roof,
from stern to stern, which is dry,
and the most thorough that can be
built.
' ' You have some of the best mate-
rial in existence, that with which the
rich erect costly mansions in our
cities. It is so firm, so compact, so
substantial, so durable, its strong,
rugged wall will be as lasting as the
solid ledge on w^hich it stands.
"The work is done; it is well
done, and not done too soon. One
of the most pleasing thoughts of this
happy moment is that it is an his-
toric act. It is an act that has the
immutable stamp of an earthly im-
mortality upon it. We, with all our
hands have wrought, and all our
hearts have loved, must pass away;
but this building and this library, we
hope, will not pass away. Other
hands will tend it ; other feet will
press the gravelly road to reach this
favored spot ; other persons will read
and consult the volumes of this
librar5^ This library complements
the common school, and leads to
higher education and broader cul-
ture.
" It will preserve, in loving re-
membrance, him whose kindly
thought placed it here in memory
of his fathers. He speaks with the
silent eloquence of deeds.
"To his ancestors it is dedicated.
' For them each evening hath its shining star,
And every Sabbath day its golden sun.'
" We think of them and all their
rugged lives have earned for us.
"Mr. George Washington Arm-
strong has presented us this build-
ing. It is tasteful ; it is strong ; it
is beautiful. We tend our thanks
for his munificent gift.
"Mr. William W. Dinsmoor, the
able architect, has watched over
every detail from start to finish.
Nothing has escaped his notice. It
is all there ; and he has our most
profound thanks.
"The President, I^adies, and Gen-
tlemen : We have one here to-daj^
not a son of old Windham, but a
sort of grandson, whose mother,
Elizabeth Dinsmoor, was a native,
and before her marriage a resident,
of this town. I have the satisfaction
of introducing the ex-attorney-gen-
eral of Massachusetts, Hon. Albert
E. Pillsbury of Boston, Mass., who
will now address you."
It is well to say that the dedica-
tory exercises were all that could be
desired.
The homes of men show somewhat
of their tastes and desires. The resi-
dence of Mr. Morrison at " Stornoway "
is no exception. His home is a hospit-
able one. The walls about the high-
ways have been relaid, the fields
have been freed from stone, and the
abundant acres are rich with grass.
In 1876 he celebrated the centennial
by setting out one hundred shade
trees, lining the road in three
directions with them. Twenty-three
years have passed away, and these
have become large and stately, and
furnish to all abundant shade.
IN THE YEAR OF OUR EORD 1900.
By Merrill Boyd.
E appeared strangely hand-
some as he stood there be-
side the great oak mantel.
His clearly cut features had a
look of iron determination, uncom-
mon in so young a man. Men said
of Kenneth Stanley, presidential can-
didate, that he had all the tenacity
of a bulldog. They erred in their
metaphor. His was a grasp of steel
within a glove of silk. He never
flinched. He never mistook. He
resembled fate in his directness and
inexorableness. A friend never flat-
tered, an enemy never deceived, him.
The day had been one of triumph,
for he had received official informa-
tion of his mission to lead a great
political party to victory or defeat.
Eater he had been closeted with the
party leaders. The broad lines of
part}^ polit}^ had been formed. All
seemed of good omen for the cam-
paign. The contest was to be sharp
and brilliant, and upon the young
leader, to a large degree, w^ould lie
the burden of the assault. Yet the
soul of Kenneth Stanley was thril-
ling with impatience at the very
thought of the affray, for upon it he
had. staked his whole future.
As the evening came on he had
strolled alone beside the great sea,
rejoicing in its power. The dark,
gray cliffs of the Atlantic towered
majestically. A night-hawk swooped
down with its weird cry. Sternly
and. remorselessly the great waves
beat against the opposing rocks.
The salt spray dashed about him.
In the distance a bell buoy rose and
fell, rose and fell. And in some
strange fashion it had comforted him
as he turned homeward.
Now he stood alone in his diml^^
lighted .stud}^ leaning heavily against
the mantel, and, for the first time
in years, thinking of his childhood
days. Once more he was a boy, play-
ing gleefully near the great sea, and
beside him was Kitty, brown-handed,
brown-eyed little lassie, the com-
panion of so many youthful joys and
sorrows. Again there was the old
home, fragrant with Eastern roses,
and the starlit presence of a mother's
love.
The years glided by, happy, jo}--
ous years for the most part, and he
must leave for the old college whose
very name had to him the ring of
sincere and noble manhood. Boy
that he was, a shrinking terror seized
him at the thought of the new world.
Then his college life began, and will
he ever forget that ? After a cursory
inspection he judged it to be all
jollity and good fellowship. He was
young, you see, so he quickly fell
into the habit himself. All traces of
sadness in his home life were care-
fully hidden. Even the choking
loneliness for that home was stifled.
Why ? Simply to meet the tradition
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD igoo.
27
that college is a place of uninter-
rupted pleasure. In about two 3'ears
the boy passed through his period
of doubt and unbelief. All the old
moorings seemed slipping away. He
yearned for his peaceful thoughts of
former days, yet he concealed his
tormenting unrest with a smiling
face. The time drew near when he
must leave the old college. Once,
twice, 3'ea, thrice, the hand of
God removed members of his class,
and his heart was weary within him.
But custom demanded good cheer,
and so he obeyed.
On a bright June night the
Seniors, his class, gathered for the
last time around the fence to sing
the old songs. And, though his
eyes were dim, and a lump icould riso.
in his throat, he remained outwardly
composed. A half hour later, he
entered his room, lighted only by the
moon, in time to hear a stifled sob-
bing. On the window seat lay his
room-mate, the jolliest, most reckless
member of the class, crying as if his
heart would break. The boy, a boy
no longer, stole softly to his side, and
heard, like a revelation, the story of
another life that had been apparently
joyous, while inwardly bearing a
lonely sorrow. And two souls at
least thought it no disgrace that the
pain of 3'ears should find expression
in burning tears of sympathy.
His new life in the world began.
He worked with a splendid enthu-
siasm. He kept straight at the
mark of his ambition. A single op-
portunity was the crucial test of his
success, and he met it well. In a
great amphitheatre was gathered a
vast audience of workmen whose
faces were sullen with despair. Ken-
neth Stanley rose to address them.
At first he spoke calmly, but it was
the quiet before a mighty storm.
Soon his flashing eyes betokened his
intense earnestness. Tow^ering like
a giant, with massive form and dark-
ening brow, he hurled forth his de-
nunciation of their employers' con-
duct. His words resembled, not the
rushing river, but the thunder of a
cataract. Then his voice sank al-
most to a whisper. Simply, mourn-
fully, he wailed for their shattered
hopes. Again, in a lofty burst of
pathos, he upheld their honor and
integrity, but pleaded for peace. The
faces of that audience were bathed in
tears of sympathy.
The victory was brilliant, instant.
From one end of the land to the
other accounts of the matchless elo-
quence of the young orator were
trumpeted. The great army of labor
greeted him as their champion. His
political associates recognized their
opportunity, and, in a convention
of tremendous excitement, gave him
an overwhelming nomination to the
presidency.
So to the young leader there
comes a procession of faces once
dear, now lost, and an undefined
longing for the days that are no
more. To every brave soul once in
life comes a consciousness of its own
terrible solitariness. Such a moment,
even in the hour of triumph, had
come to Stanle}^ with a dull sense
of pain that agonized. He realized
dimly that something was lacking in
his life perhaps never to be acquired,
yet he must face his duty.
Suddenly he was conscious of a
presence. Some one had entered
unannounced. He turned quickl}'
toward the caller. Men had said of
Stanley that he could judge a man's
28
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD igoo.
dress and soul at one glance. Yet
here was a sharp contradiction, for
Stanley, as he gazed at the man's
form before him, not for a moment
thought of dress or soul. The eyes
of the stranger were so familiar.
Where had he seen them ? They
were curiously like those of his
mother in their gentle light. He felt
that he would never tire of gazing
at them. But courtesy demanded
action.
" Please be seated," he said. The
stranger gave a simple motion of
refusal.
" I have known you before," ven-
tured Stanley.
" Yes," was the answer in soft but
startlingly clear tones, "you have
known me."
"And my life is known to you? "
"Yes, I know it."
Stanley was struck by the direct-
ness of the reply. It was plainly
asserted that his entire history was
known by a stranger, yet there came
to the young leader no thought of
contradiction. Somehow it seemed
the most natural thing in the world
that the stranger should know all.
Then Stanley did, what for him
was a remarkable thing. He asked
a direct question concerning man's
opinion of himself. Did it arise from
the feeling of desolation upon him ?
God knows. Our duty is but to
record the fact.
"And has my life been a success ? "
For a moment there was silence.
Then came the reply.
"As men reckon success, yes. As
God, no."
A great wave of self pity came
over Stanley's soul. Somewhere he
had read, with contempt, that men
in battle had often been known to
confess to the hilts of their swords.
Now he realized their feeling. He
felt that he could pour forth his
whole heart to this quiet visitor. In
quick, impetuous tones he began :
* ' Once I would have said the
same. I have had my ideals, but
they are changed. My dearest
friend and I discussed for days the
meaning and purpose of life. Con-
fident of my position, I even dared
to descend from the rugged heights
of my own belief, and to stoop to
the dark valley of my friend. With
glowing words I painted the joy and
nobility of life. I employed phil-
osophy and poetr}^ and religion to
attack his position. But I was not
wise enough or good enough to let
my claims rest there. My arguments
took on something of the nature of
the lower level. I even went further.
I dared to confront and to attempt
to refute the brilliant arraj^ of doubt-
ers and agnostics. Suddenly a great
darkness fell across my mental vision.
I tried to force it from me. In vain.
I, myself, no longer believed. I
doubted."
" I know," said the stranger, softly,
"I know." Somehow the words
gave comfort to Stanlej^'s wounded
soul. He went on more quietly :
"And so I have lived on, fighting
and doubting. Was it wrong to
change my ideals ? Did I not mis-
take my duty ? Is not an ideal
merely a lighthouse to show the
way, but never to be reached. Many
there are who strive toward it that
they may weep out all memory of
toil and agony. And yet though
they seek for it, and strain their eyes
for it, and sob for it, they never at-
tain unto it. Often, in the distance,
they see it, and, for a moment the
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD igoo.
wail dies out of their voices, but it
eludes them with increasing pain."
Stanley was gazing imploringly at
the stranger now.
The reply came in the same,
steady tones. "There is something
higher in life than to follow one's
own leading, though that aim be
high. To lower one's ideals is a
most pitiful failure, for then some-
thing has gone out of the life never
to be regained."
Stanley had moved a step toward
the speaker, and was listening as to
his own condemnation. He felt that
the clear eyes before him were read-
ing his very soul.
" But, oh ! " he cried, "how shall
I know the true ? ' '
"The true will live," was the
answer in tones of such authority
that Stanley believed. Others might
suggest. This stranger knew.
Like a vivid flash Stanley remem-
bered his proposed campaign, how
that he was to appeal to the lower
passions of the poor to attack the
more affluent classes. Yet he never
thought of telling that to the
stranger, feeling that it was all
known. A straight line of care ap-
peared across the candidate's brow.
Leaning heavily against the mantel,
he spoke slowl}^ as though weighing
every word, j^et dimly conscious that
any excuse he might give would be
in vain.
" The poor are oppressed and there
is no one to comfort them. They
pass through hunger and endless toil
and sorrow, yet they see no hope.
They are cheated with lying words,
but no one says, ' Restore.' Justice
is perverted and there is no avenger.
Are not they justified in cursing
their rulers and their God ? "
Once Stanley had seen a mother,
with dumb agonv in her streamine
eyes, bend for the last time over her
child upon whose white brow had
fallen the kiss of the angel. And
at this moment the pain exhibited
in the stranger's face recalled the
sight, only the pain seemed more
terrible.
"True," was the answer, "there
is no one to minister to their bodies,
but there is one who observes ; there
is a comforter to their souls. Yet
are you not a ruler of them, and are
you not bringing a message of
despair? And, although your mes-
sage is true do you not seek your
own profit without thought for the
souls of the poor ? "
Stanley was speechless. His throat
seemed parched. Even in those few
minutes he seemed to have aged.
Again the clear tones went on :
"Bear a message to the people,
whether they will hear or refuse to
hear. Tell them that before man's
laws, or commands, or wishes, is the
voice of God. If a man is just and
has oppressed none, is a giver of
bread to the hungry and walks in
God's judgments, he shall surely
live. But if he has ground down the
needy, feeds not the poor, and fol-
lows not God's precepts, he shall die..
Say that a nation may wax strong
in wealth, and fleets, and standing
among the peoples of the earth, but,
if it forgets God it shall die, for as
is a man so is a nation. Beyond the
love of home, or kindred, or countrv
is the love of God, and the love of
man is the love of God."
" The message is old ! " cried Stan-
ley. His voice was strained and
wearied. " It has been told to men
for thousands of years, and they have
30
GOING TO MARKET.
uot heeded it. They will not heed it
now."
"Truly, trul}', the message is old,"
came the reply, "but right is right
through all ages. So is sorrow aud
sin and death and duty. Then carry
the message. Let God care for the
resuk."
Stanley buried his face in his
hands. A minute later he looked
up with an expression of patient en-
durance that was pathetic. And lo !
his visitor departed, leaving as it
were a terrible void. For a moment
Stanley hesitated. Then he turned
resolutely to his desk and wrote hur-
riedly but with masterly power.
A day later the letter of acceptance
of Kenneth Stanley, presidential can-
didate, was telegraphed into every
nook of this great country. It con-
tained no mention of man's greed or
man's wrongs, but only a call like a
trumpet note to the people to remem-
ber duty and God. And men said
that day throughout the nation that
the message was like unto that of a
prophet of old.
GOING TO MARKET.
By Alice O. Da)- ling.
I hied me to the market with
A basket full of sighs ;
The sweetest, saddest, loveliest things,
And cried, " Who buys ! Who buys ! "
Only one old dyspeptic bought,
And I went bankrupt on the lot.
A bigger basket full of laughs
I carried into town,
A basket piled and rounded up
Yet light as thistle down.
I 'm blessed, for all the jolly rout,
If I can tell what 'twas about.
L,o, men of every trade and tongue.
Of every clime and lot,
The scholar and the ditch-digger.
The fool and wise man bought.
I built a palace with the gold
For which these jolly laughs were sold.
MRS. PETTIGREW'S VENTURE.
Bv Willaiiietia A. Preston.
il |^^S»^ JUMPING gold mine!
A two- acre frog ranch !
Why didn't he call it a
frog pond and done with
it? Millions in it ! I do n't believe
it, there now."
Squire Pettigrew was reading aloud
the headlines of his weekly paper, in-
terspersing them with remarks of his
own. It was the only way, he main-
tained, of getting the news in a nut-
shell, and what did anybody want of
more ?
" What was all that about, Simon ? "
inquired Mrs. Pettigrew, bringing in
a dish of apples. The Squire prided
himself upon having one tree of ap-
ples that would keep their flavor until
midsummer.
"Why, it's nothing but a frog
pond. Some fool thinks he is going
to make his fortune rai.sing frogs.
He don't know, twice. There is as
much sense in raising a lot of hedge-
hogs."
" But if folks wanted them and was
willing to pay for them ? ' ' persisted
Mrs. Pettigrew.
"That's all you women know,"
exclaimed the Squire, taking an ap-
ple from the dish and stalking to the
door.
Mrs. Pettigrew waited until her
husband was out of hearing, then she
took up the paper and read the arti-
cle in question. An idea had oc-
curred to her. Was not this the
golden opportunity for which she
had looked so long and vainly ?
Sqviire Pettigrew was what is called
a " near man," not a miser. He be-
lieved in living well and keeping up
a good appearance, but the old ad-
age of a penny saved being a penny
earned, was the keynote of his life.
Mrs. Pettigrew often sighed for a
chance to do a little earning rather
than so much saving. Jessie, her
eldest daughter, a bright, pretty girl
of sixteen, wanted to go to the acad-
emy at the village, but her father
would not consent. A district school
was good enough for him and it must
answer for his children. But the
mother wanted her daughter to have
the best that could be obtained. She
had lain awake many a night trying
to contrive some way of earning or
saving the first term's tuition. For
if Jessie could have but one term she
might then be able to teach and so
pay her own way. But saving had
been carried to the point of an exact
science in the Pettigrew household.
The poultry clothed the family, the
butter paid the grocery bill. Every
dollar from the fruits and vegetables
had its part to play in the economy of
the home. But if the frog pond
could only be made a source of profit
instead of annoyance. Many and
many a time had she wished the
earth would open and swallow it up.
Now it seemed to her excited fancy
what the paper had called it, a jump-
ing gold mine. Frogs ! There must
be hundreds if not thousands of them,
to judge from their unearthly croak-
MRS. PETTIGREW'S VENTURE.
ing. Slie could not sleep for planning
when and how she would put her
scheme into effect.
After the dinner work was done,
next day, Mrs. Pettigrew, impatient
of further dela}', harnessed old Doll
and drove to Hingham and straight
up to the front door of the new hotel,
then filled with city boarders. Ty-
ing her horse to a convenient post,
she took from the back of the wagon
a covered pail containing a dozen
struggling frogs and marched up the
front steps, apparently undaunted by
the number of people staring at her.
"I want to see the proprietor,"
she said firmly, yet wishing the earth
would open and hide her from sight,
as the frogs began their music.
" He has gone to the city, Madam.
Is there anything I can do to serve
you ? ' ' inquired an elderly gentle-
man perceiving her embarrassment.
" Why, I heard that the folks out
here was in a taking for frogs,
though what they want of the slip-
pery critters is beyent me, so, as
we 've got the biggest frog pond in
Chelton county, I brought some over.
I thought it was a good time to rid
the pond of the pesky things."
The gentleman shook his head re-
provingly at his companions, who
were convulsed with laughter, then
turning to Mrs. Pettigrew, whose face
was growing painfully red,
" Come around to the other side of
the house," he said, taking the pail
from her hand and leading the way
to the side porch. " I think we will
not be interrupted here. Now tell
me all about it."
Again Mrs. Pettigrew repeated her
story of frogs to spare, and lifting
the cover of the pail showed what
she considered fine specimens.
The gentleman managed with diffi-
cult}' to conceal his amusement.
'■ I do not suppose they could use
them here," he remarked kindly.
'• We like the sort of things you eat,
berries, eggs, cream, but there are
people who consider frog's legs a
great treat."
■'How can I find them?" asked
Mrs. Pettigrew eagerly. "You see
this is the only thing on the farm I
can call my own. If I sell eggs or
chickens, or fruit, the Squire is sure
to call me to account for every penny.
My Jessie, as good a girl as ever
lived, wants to go to the academy.
Then she could teach and help edu-
cate the 3'ounger ones. The Squire
says the district school was good
enough for him and it must do for
his children, and he with money at
interest. But I mean to circumvent
him yet if I can only make that old
frog pond do its share."
" But you say nobod}^ wants them ? "
she added, as an afterthought.
" I don't think we could use them
here, but I am going to the city to-
night. If you like to leave these
with me, I will see what I can do. I
will let you hear from me in a day or
two. My name is L,orimer, Charles
Ivorimer."
"Judge lyorimer," exclaimed Mrs.
Pettigrew, almost aghast at her au-
dacity, as she recognized the name
of the great man the Squire was con-
stantly quoting. She could only ac-
cept his offer with murmured thanks
and get home as quickly as she could.
On the evening of the third day,
however, Judge Lorimer called. The
Squire felt highly honored. He did
not know he had his wife and the
frog pond to thank for the interview.
They had a pleasant social evening
MRS. PETTIGREW'S VENTURE.
33
with no thought or word of business,
but just as he was taking his leave,
the judge handed Mrs. Pettigrew a
letter.
As soon as she was at liberty she
took it to her room and opened it.
There was the pay for her first frogs
and an order for all she could send
with explicit directions for packing
and shipping.
Thereafter her leisure hours were
spent in depleting the pond of its
best inhabitants, while the even-
ings were devoted to social life, such
as she had never enjoyed. The
Judge became a frequent caller, and
with him frequently came one and
another of the ladies from the hotel.
The Judge gave his invitations with
care, but his friends were not slow^ to
recognize Mrs. Pettigrew's worth,
and to appreciate the Squire's pecu-
liarities.
Judge Lorimer finally convinced
Squire Pettigrew that times had pro-
gressed since his youth, and that to-
day education stood hand in hand
with nione}^ as a power in the world.
That it was, in fact, the surest in-
vestment that could be made.
It was with a very shamefaced
manner, as if caught doing some for-
bidden act, that the Squire handed
Jessie enough to pay her expenses
for a year. And his manner was not
much more self assured next morn-
ing when he told Bennie to harness
Doll and carry his sister to school.
"You might as well take your
books and see if you can learn any-
thing," he added gruffly, "there
wont be time enough to amount to
anything on the farm before its time
to go for her."
" But I expected to walk. Father,"
said Jessie, not knowing how to take
this new departure.
"Do you s'pose I want you com-
ing home all tired out ? No, I want
you to study as if your life depended
on what you learn, no half way
works, remember. And when you
get home, there '11 be enough to do,
there always has been," and again
the Squire took refuge in his sanc-
tum, the barn.
xxvii— 3
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Concord, N. H., 1846.
DR. CHARIvES HENRY SANBORN OF HAMPTON FALLS.
By F. B. Sanborn.
EW HAMPSHIRE lias had
its full share of eminent
physicians and surgeons, and
the Sanborn family, origi-
nally of New Hampshire, but now
dispersed throughout the United
States and Canada, has furnished
many of this profession. More than
forty doctors are named among the
2,200 Sanborns included in Victor
Sanborn's genealogy of the family,
lately published ; but Dr. Sanborn
of Hampton Falls was the first of
his immediate line to take up the
medical profession, which he prac-
tised, in his native region chiefly,
for forty-three years, after graduating
at the Harvard Medical school in
1856. Among his thirty-two class-
mates there, mostly younger than
himself, were Dr. C. E. Briggs of
St. Louis, Dr. Alfred Hosmer of
Watertown, Mass., Dr. Ezra Par-
menter of Cambridge, Dr. F. A.
Sawyer, Dr. Robert Ware, and Dr.
James C. White of Boston, with
others who rose to distinction. More
than half of this class are now dead,
the latest decease being that of Dr.
Sanborn, on the i6th of May, at his
residence in Hampton Falls, where
he spent the greater part of his long-
life. He was born there, October 9,
1 82 1, in the old house built by his
grandfather's grandfather in 1743,
and on the farm where all his ances-
tors had lived for nearly two hun-
dred and twenty years. His own
farm of thirty acres was part of the
original Sanborn estate, coming into
his hands by purchase, after it had
been in other ownership for a cen-
tury ; but his father's farm was
handed down by inheritance from
DR. CHARLES HENRY SANBORN.
37
generation to generation, from its
original settlement, about 1675.
On this farm Dr. Sanborn was
brought up, and became skilful in
its labors of all kinds,— planting,
sowing, haying, threshing with the
ancient flail, harvesting, wood-cut-
ting, plowing, and the care of ani-
mals of all sorts. His father being
an orchardist, and having originated
a new variety of apple, the " Red
Russet," at one time Charles be-
came a book agent, to sell the fruit-
book which described this among
other apples ; but the adventure did
not please him, and he returned to
the farm, — working there, or for
some other farmer, in summer, and
teaching school in winter at Kensing-
ton, Kittery, and elsewhere. He had
qualified himself by private study for
better teaching than was then usual
in the common schools, and it was
from him that I acquired, about 1841,
when I was ten and Charles twenty,
the rudiments of L,atin and of
French, to which, half a dozen years
later, he added German, which also
he taught me, — for up to 1850
neither of us had ever attended any
but the connnon school, and that
only for some thirty weeks in the
year. But the farm labors were not
severe, allowing us mucli leisure for
shooting, fishing, swimming, chess-
and card-playing, and most of all, for
reading and private study, to which
we were both addicted from child-
hood. Charles was also a good
mathematician and draughtsman,
and skilful at mechanics, which I
could never master; although, still
under his instruction, I learned to
make women's shoes for the lyynn
manufacturers, and, with the pro-
ceeds of the only box I ever com-
pleted, paid the cost of a walking
trip to the White Mountains in Sep-
tember, 1850. At that time, and
for several years before and after,
Charles worked at that industry for
a portion of the year ; it kept him
near home, where he usuall)' pre-
ferred to be, and gave him money
for books, newspapers, and such
political expenses as he might in-
cur; for he was an active politician,
on the anti-slavery side, from 1845
for a dozen years, and had a hand in
the check and final overthrow of the
old-line Democracy, which ruled
New Hampshire for thirty years,
and in which both he and I were
brought up.
Charles Sanborn left the party of
his father and grandfather (for some
account of whom see the Granite
MoNTHi^Y of October, 1S98) in com-
pany with John P. Hale, then in
congress, Amos Tuck, Porter Cram,
and other leaders of the Democrats
in Rockingham and Strafford, in the
winter of 1844- '45. He was then
but two and- twenty, but he had
studied politics for years, and was
an energetic ally of the older men
who, in 1846, carried the state
against Franklin Pierce, Moses
Norris (our mother's first cousin),
Charles Gordon Atherton, and the
other sachems of the pro-slavery
Democracy in New Hampshire. His
friend, George Oilman Fogg, editor
of the Independent Democrat, which
had been started in Concord in 1845
to aid in the political revolt, being
chosen secretary of state in June,
1846, Charles Sanborn was appointed
by him assistant secretary, and com-
bined work in the state house with
a share of the editorial tasks at the
Democrat office. He resided in Con-
38
DR. CHARLES HENRY SANBORN.
cord for a good part of the year,
and there sat for this earliest por-
trait of him, which well represents
him at the age of twenty-five. Al-
though but thirteen years old when
the party division took place, in
1845, I followed my brother into the
new party, and became a faithful
reader, and afterwards a contributor,
of the Independent Democrat, — my
first contribution being a version of
Buerger's "Wild Huntsman" from
the German, which was printed there
in 1849, before I was eighteen.
Charles remained active in the anti-
slavery party for more than ten
years, and twice represented Hamp-
ton Falls in the legislature ; he also
acquired the then new art of pho-
nography, and at times reported
the legislative proceedings, speeches,
etc., for the Concord or Boston
dailies. He was one of the few
members of the house who thwarted
the Democratic plans for leaving
Mr. Hale out of the United States
senate, and helped re-elect him the
next year.
By this time, i853-'54, Charles had
decided to study medicine and began
to prepare himself for the medical
lectures in Boston, where, at gradua-
tion, in 1856, his unusual age (34),
and his wide reading and experience
of life gave him some advantages
and made up for the lack of an
earlier systematic course of instruc-
tion. Although no college alumnus,
he was a better scholar than most
graduates are, and his habits of ob-
servation, of reporting, and of writ-
ing served him well.
His medical knowledge, however,
which became very extensive, was
mainly acquired during his long
practice in those towns where he had
tilled the land, taught school, drilled
the militia, — for he became a lieuten-
ant, like his first American ancestor,
John Samborne of Hampton, — can-
vassed for elections, and performed
all the functions of a young citi-
zen. He knew every household for
miles around, and was on familiar
terms with all. Nor could he, after
trying Washington, Kansas, and
Massachusetts, feel himself so much
at ease anywhere as where his ances-
tors had lived for more than two cen-
turies. He therefore settled down to
the comparatively humble practice of
a country doctor, combining with it
the care of his small farm, and as
much business in the probate court
and elsewhere for his neighbors and
patients as they asked him to do.
He had already held most of the
town ofhces successively, and when
the Civil War came on he was able to
render much service to the town and
its soldiers, either professionally or
in the management of its war busi-
ness. His visits to the Virginia
camps, in the heat of summer and
the inclemency of winter, injured his
own health permanently, so that for
the last thirty years he had been an
invalid, and for the years beyond
threescore and ten, he was more ill
than most of his patients. Yet he
continued to care for them, and made
his last visit, five miles away, but
three days before his own death, of
heart failure.
Dr. Sanborn was that rather un-
usual character, a man of rare talents
and quick sensibility without ambi-
tion. He ever reminded me of that
saying of Oceanus to Prometheus in
the Greek drama, — "Always thou
wert more wise for others' sake than
for thine own." His plan of life in-
DR. CHARLES HENRY SANBORN.
39
volved much care aud service for
those about him, and little for him-
self. This, to be sure, is the charac-
ter of the good physician, and it was
this turn of mind, perhaps,, that drew
him into that philanthropic profes-
sion, after severe disappointments in
early life had removed those personal
objects for which the many strive.
Those experiences gave the grave
cast to his handsome features which
appears in his earliest portrait, and
is hardly deepened by age and illness
in the latest, which shows him sitting
in his parlor, after the death of his
wife and his two elder children, oc-
cupied with reading, except as he
paused long enough to allow his
daughter's friend to take this like-
ness. Yet he was hardly ever mel-
ancholy in the common scope of that
word ; a fund of humor had been
given him on which he drew for
those amusing thoughts which he
could clothe in the most mirth-pro-
voking words, either of prose or
verse. He wrote well and much,
though seldom with a view to wide
publication, and when not playfully,
with a severe emphasis that ex-
hibited the exacting nature of his
ethics. His affections were deep
and tender, — if wounded, they some-
times made him unjust, but never
toward those who needed his practi-
cal aid. His way of life laid most of
those who knew him under some ob-
ligation to him — few more than the
writer of this imperfect sketch. But
he seldom made claim to any return,
dealing in his practice and in all the
affairs of life so that no member of
his little community has been more
missed at death, or more kindly re-
membered. He married, in 1862,
and of his three children but one.
Miss Anne lycavitt Sanborn, survives
him.
<^^,
HON. JCHN HAY.
I
M
The Fells."
HON. JOHN HAY— A SUMMER SOJOURNER.
B^y Hon. Saiiniel C. Eastman.
EW HAMPSHIRE has had
and deserved the reputation
of being a good state to be
born in. The rugged Gran-
ite hills have not always furnished so
alluring fields for young ambition as
the larger cities and the more fertile
and more populous states, so that the
additional comment has often been
made that it is also a good state to
emigrate from. Whether this is true
or not, New Hampshire is justly
proud of her sons who have left their
native state in early youth and made
a name for themselves on new soil
and amid new surroundings.
New Hampshire has other attrac-
tions. It is a good state to come to
for those whose permanent homes are
elsewhere. From St. Eouis, from
Chicago, from Washington, from
New York, from Boston, the tired
toilers of the ' ' busy haunts of men ' '
seek recreation and comfort in their
summer homes under the shadow of
Monadnock, on the shores of Winni-
pesaukee and Sunapee, in the White
Mountains, and on the shores of the
Atlantic, at Rye and Hampton. We
gladly welcome all such guests and
rejoice in their welfare and renown
and claim them as, at least, half citi-
zens of the Granite state.
Among them is Col. John Hay.
Though he has a house in Washing-
ton, and a home in Cleveland, where
42
HON. JOHN HAY— A SUMMER SOJOURNER.
lie keeps his legal residence, it is on
the shores of Lake Sunapee in New-
bury that he lives for a part of the
year as a matter of choice and not of
business. He is the owner of an ex-
tensive domain, to which he has re-
cently made additions, on one of the
most beautiful of the sloping shores of
the lake. To the beauty with which
it is endowed by Nature, he has added
increased attractions by the roads and
paths, which have been laid out un-
der his supervision, until there is not
a more attractive spot in the whole of
New Hampshire.
It is now several years since he
built his commodious and elegant
villa in the colonial style, to which
additions have been made from time
to time. Since then there has been
no summer in which this home of his
choice has not been occupied by him-
self or his family for at least some
portion of the time. His wife and
daughters are as fond of the locality
as he is.
John Hay was born in Indiana, in
1838. He received his early educa-
tion in that state, but entered Brown
university in an advanced class in
1855, at which time one of his prede-
cessors in the office of secretary of
state, Hon. Richard Olney, was also
a student in the senior class. It is
not recorded that they then and there
talked over the future and discussed
their course of conduct while con-
ducting the affairs of the nation in
the most important office of the coun-
try, except that of president. In
college, John Hay was soon distin-
guished for many of the qualities
which have made him prominent in
the world. Naturally the scholastic
View of Sunapee Mountain, from the, Porch of "The Fells.
HON. JOHN HAY— A SUMMER SOJOURNER.
43
view from "The Fells," looking East.
life brought his literary gifts more
prominently to the front than those
which have enabled him so success-
fully to perform the public duties
which have since fallen to his lot.
As an essayist and speaker, he
speedily took the first rank, while as
a comrade and associate, he was uni-
versally popular, in spite of the fact
that he entered a class where ties
were already formed.
He was the poet on class day and
his first verses possess the character-
istics which made his alma mater
call on him to commemorate the one
hundredth anniversary of its founda-
tion. The closing lines are,
As we go forth, the smiling world before us
Shouts to our youth the old inspiring tune,
The same blue sky of God is bending o'er us,
The green earth sparkles in the joy of June.
Where 'er afar the beck of fate shall call us,
'Mid winter's boreal chill or summer's blaze,
Fond memory's chain of flowers shall still en-
thrall us.
Wreathed by the spirits of those vanished
days.
Our hearts shall bear them safe through life's
commotion,
Their fading gleam shall light us to our
graves,
As in the shell, the memories of ocean
Murmur forever of the sounding waves.
After graduation. Colonel Hay
studied law in Springfield, III., and
was admitted to the bar in 1861. He
came to Washington at the inaugura-
tion of President Ivincoln and was
with him as assistant secretary until
his death, except when, as his adju-
tant and aide-de-camp, he was in the
field with General Hunter and Gen-
eral Gilmore.
After the war was ended. Colonel
Ha)' entered upon his career as a
diplomatist, being secretary of lega-
tion to France in 1865, and then, in
44
HON. JOHN HAY— A SUMMER SOJOURNER.
terms of about two years in each, to
Austro-Hungary and Spain. It was
during his term in the latter country,
in 1869 and 1870, that he wrote his
" Castilian Days," which at once es-
tablished his reputation as an author
of the first rank.
He returned home to become an
editorial writer on the New York
In 1897, he was appointed ambas-
sador extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary to Great Britain,
from which ofhce he was recalled, in
1898, to be appointed to his present
ofhce of secretary of state.
It will be seen that he has filled
his of^cial positions for about two
5'ears each. We may hope that this
View from "The Fells," looking West.
7'iibiinc, being editor-in-chief for five
months. After five years' service in
this capacity, he removed to Cleve-
land and while there took an active
part in the presidential campaign.
In 1879, he again resumed his
diplomatic labors as assistant secre-
tary of state, retiring in 1881, when
he represented the United States at
the International Sanitary congress
at Washington, of which he was
president.
sequence will now be broken and
that no such limit will be placed
upon his remaining in his present
position, the duties of which he dis-
charges with such signal ability.
Besides fulfilling all of his public
duties, in connection with John G.
Nicolay, Colonel Hay found time to
write the history of the " I^ife and
Times of Abraham Lincoln," one of
the most valuable contributions yet
made to the history of the Civil War.
HON. JOHN HAY— A SUMMER SOJOURNER.
45
It is a most comprehensive work, re-
quiring great labor and careful re-
search, and also one for which the
two authors were eminently fitted by
their official and personal relations to
our great president.
Aside from this labor of love, his
single volume of prose is matched by
a single volume of poems. Is there
a fatality about the number two in
his life ? The volume of poems, pub-
lished in 1890, contains his dialect
poems, "Jim Bludso," " Little
Breeches," and the others, which at
once established his reputation at
home and abroad, and his poems of
travel, of incident, narrative, and
emotion, and translations. They
make one wonder why his muse is
silent. Or is it that he has his
drawer full, laid aside for nine years
to fulfil the rule of Horace and to
appear later ? I^et us hope that the
cares of state will not be so great as
to divert him from the duty which.
as author and poet, he owes to his
fellow-countrymen and the world.
While Mr. Hay has essayed with
success the lighter vein of the hum-
orous as well as the poetry of love,
affection, and sentiment, he has, like
all his predecessors, also adopted the
form of the sonnet. We cannot do
better than to end this brief sketch
by quoting,
TO w. H. s.
Esse qnani I'ideii.
The knightly legend of thy shield betrays
The moral of thy life ; a forecast wise,
And that large honor that deceit defies,
Inspired thy fathers in the elder days,
Who decked thy scutcheon with that stnrdj*
phrase,
To be ratlter than seem. As eve's red skies
Surpass the morning's rosy prophecies,
Thy life to that proud boast its answer pays.
Scorning thy faith and purpose to defend,
The ever-mutable multitude at last
Will hail the power they did not compre-
hend, —
Thy fame will broaden through the centuries ;
As, storm and billowy tumult overpast,
The moon rules calml}' o'er the conquered
seas.
^Memories sweet to the heart abound
}
In the fading life of this pale wild rose.
Memories that speak of £k joy profound,
More radiant and grand than the suns reposel
I mind me yet where this pin(i rose swayed
Laughingly nodding to you arid to me,
Sweet rose, it knew not that|its mandates obeyed
Determined its death in ourjruture to be. ^
iitter sweet, when the l^^artjij^
Andxiouds areiowcring and lire is too lon^,
Thiwose,]^hose power ahi^rt was made glad.
Gives the highlight touch to a past love song.
^j)
^oirittn L' Justin,
»ISE
By Edivard N. Pearson.
KW HAMPSHIRE'S share
iu many great enterprises
has been so important that
her history could not well be
written without trespassing upon the
annals of other states and other lauds,
to whose prosperity New Hampshire
born men and women have contri-
buted largely. In science, letters,
and the arts, in business, theology,
and statesmanship, in the ordeals of
battle, and in the pursuits of peace.
New Hampshire has contributed
more than her share of the leaders of
the nation. It is not, therefore, with
the intention of heralding some new
achievement that this present record
of New Hampshire prominence is
made, because it is not new for New
Hampshire men to have had to do
with the greatest enterprises of their
kind, but it is done because it is
noteworthy that three of the most im-
portant positions in an enterprise
calling for executive ability of the
very highest order, should be filled
by three men of New Hampshire
birth.
The Boston Terminal Company
has built, owns, and operates the
largest, most costly, and most com-
plete railroad terminal in the world,
and the chairman of the trustees,
Charles P. Clark, its manager, John
C. Sanborn, and its treasurer, Charles
F. Conn, were born in New Hamp-
shire, two of the three were educated
at her beloved Dartmouth, and all of
them cherish the deepest affection
for the state of their nativity. The
positions are held by them by no for-
tune of birth, and for no reason other
than that in all the great field from
which choice of men to plan and per-
fect and control such a vast under-
taking could be made, they were the
best equipped by ability and experi-
ence for the work to be done.
Chairman Clark stands in the very
front rank of the world's great rail-
road men, and New Hampshire
proudly claims him as a son. His
ancestry represents much of success
in the professional and business life
of two centuries of New England's
history, and it is interesting to trace
the line from Hugh Clark, the Eng-
lish emigrant of the first half of the
seventeenth century, through eight
generations, to the subject of this
sketch.
Hugh Clark (i) was born in 1613,
emigrated to America, and was liv-
ing in Watertown, Mass., in 1641 ; he
died in Roxbury, Mass., July 20,
1693. His son, Uriah (2), born
Jime 5, 1644; married in October,
1764, Joanna Holbrook of Braintree ;
died July 26, 1721, and was buried
in the old graveyard near Mount
Charles P. Clark.
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
49
Waiting Room.
Auburn. His son, Peter (3), was
born March 12, 1693, and married
Deborah Hobart of Braintree. Upon
his tombstone in the old cemetery at
Danvers, Mass., may be read the fol-
lowing inscription :
Here lie entombed the Remains of The Revd.
Peter Clark
For almost 51 years the Painful, Laborious and
Faithful Pastor of the first Church in this
town.
He was a Great Divine, well established in the
orthodox Doctrines of the Gospel.
His writings on man}- important subjects will
Transmit his name with Honour to Posterity.
An accomplished Christian : well e.xperiened
in all the Graces of the Divine L,ife.
The most exemplary Patience, Humility, and
Meekness were illustratively Displayed in his
character as a Christian.
He was born March 12, 1693. Graduated at
Haivard College in Cambridge in 1712. Or-
dained Pastor of the first church in this Town
June 5, 1717.
He lived much esteemed and respected by
men of learning and Piety and after a long life
spent in the service of Religion, He died
much lamented on June 10, 176S.
.Ft.\tis 76.
xxvii — 1
His son, Peter (4), was born Oc-
tober I, 1720; graduated at Harvard
in 1739; married October 22, 1741,
Anna Porter of Danvers, Mass., and
died in Braintree, November 13,
1747. His son, Peter (5), was born
February 4, 1743 ; married October
20, 1763, Hannah Hpes of Braintree,
and removed to Dyndeborough, Janu-
ary 23, 1775. He enlisted in the
Continental Army in 1775, and was
commissioned captain of the Ninth
New Hampshire regiment. At the
Battle of Bennington he commanded
a company of sixty men and dis-
played great bravery, being the sec-
ond man to scale the British breast-
works. Captain Clark also partici-
pated in the defeat of Burgoyne at
Saratoga in 1777. He sat in the
New Hampshire legislature for many
successive terms and was deacon of
the Congregational church from 1783
%-
John C. Sanborn.
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
51
Women's Waiting Roonn.
until his death, October 14, 1826,
aged 83 years.
Captain Clark's son, Peter (5), was
born September 27, 1764 ; married in
July, 17S3, Elizabeth Punchard of
Salem, and died in I^yndeborougli,
February 3, 1851. His son, Peter
(6), married Jane Aiken in 1809;
lived in Francestovvn, Nashua, and
Boston ; was distinguished for his
enterprise and public spirit, especially
in connection with the railroad in-
terests of New England, and died
December 25, 1853. His son, Peter
(7), was born April 29, iSio ; gradu-
ated from Dartmouth college in 1829,
and studied law at Yale. He mar-
ried. May 28, 1834, Susan, daughter
of Nathan and Phebe (Walker) Eord
of Kennebunkport, Me., and resided
in Nashua until his death. May 29,
1 84 1. He was a prominent citizen
of Nashua, and at the time of his
death was chairman of the board of
selectmen of Nashua, and treasurer
of the Concord railroad.
His son, Charles Peter Clark (8),
the head of the Boston Terminal
Company, was born in Nashua, Au-
gust II, 1836, and was educated at
Dartmouth college, class of 1856.
On October 21, 1S57, he married
Caroline, daughter of Samuel and
Elizabeth Spring Tyler. During the
War of the Rebellion Mr. Clark
served with distinction in the United
States navy. He entered in Septem-
ber, 1862, as acting ensign ; served
in the West Indies and East Gulf
blockading squadrons ; was twice
promoted, and was honorably dis-
missed in December, 1865, as acting
volunteer lieutenant commanding,
having commanded the ironclads.
Charles F. Conn.
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
53
Carondclct and Bcii/on, of the Missis-
sippi squadron.
After the war, Mr. Clark was in
business in St. L,ouis for a short time,
and then became a partner in the
Boston firm of Dana Bros., who were
engaged in the West Indies trade in
sugar and molasses. In 1S71, he
began his railroad career, becoming
a trustee of the Berdel mortgage
of the Boston, Hartford & E^rie ;
istration the corporation has become
one of the largest and strongest of its
kind in the country. A natural se-
quence of its vastly increased busi-
ness was the construction of the new
Terminal, in the conception and crea-
tion of which President Clark was
the leading spirit.
John C. Sanborn, manager, was
born in Northfield, September 13,
1842, son of Dr. Samuel Roby and
Train Shed, looking in.
from 1873 to 1879, he was vice-
president and general manager of
the New York & New England ;
from 1 88 1 to 1883, second vice-presi-
dent of the New York, New Haven
& Hartford; from 1883 to 1886, again
with the New York & New England,
as its president, and in 1887 became
president of the New York, New
Haven & Hartford, a position which
he has filled to the present time with
brilliant success. Under his admin-
Clarissa Thayer Sanborn. His edu-
cational advantages were limited to
the common schools and Hollis insti-
tute, South Braintree, Mass. The
foundations for a successful career
were laid in the few years which
were spent in the schoolroom, and no
better example of a self-educated man
can be pointed out than is Manager
Sanborn. While a lad of only six-
teen, in 1858, the first step of a rail-
road career which has led to one of
George B. Francis, Resident Engineer.
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
55
Tram Shed, looking out.
the most importaut positions in the
New England states, was taken.
The Old Colony railroad, in whose
employ so many men of New Hamp-
shire birth have made their reputa-
tions, was the avenue toward his suc-
cess, and his service with that com-
pany was continuous and faithful as
station employe, brakeman, baggage-
master, conductor, Boston station-
master, transportation-master, and
general train master until the lease
of the road, in 1S93, to the New
York, New Haven & Hartford. On
the latter date Mr. Sanborn was
made superintendent of the Ply-
mouth division, a position from which
he was taken when the greatest
honor of his career was bestowed
upon him, — his selection as manager
of the Boston Terminal Company.
In the last-named position Mr. San-
born visited the great terminals in
Europe in quest of information which
might be useful in the construction
and management of Boston's mag-
nificent station, which was to be
made the largest and finest in the
world.
Mr. Sanborn served his country
bravely as a soldier in the Union
army during the War of the Rebel-
lion. In the first regiment which
Massachusetts sent to the front, the
Fourth, we find him enrolled as a
corporal in Co. C, and later a lieu-
tenant in Co. B, Forty-third Tiger
regiment, taking part in all its num-
erous engagements, and remaining
with it until its term of service had
expired. Eater on he was commis-
sioned a captain of volunteers by
Governor Andrew. Mr. Sanborn is
a fine specimen of rugged manhood,
56
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
and the honors which his own faith-
ful efforts have won for him rest
easily upon hira. Mr. Sanborn
numbers warm friends by the thou-
sands, but his success in life brings
satisfaction to many more who know
him only by reputation, but who ad-
mire the qualities which have been
conspicuous in the highly honorable
career of this self-made man.
prising if the contrary were true.
Charles F. Conn was born in Con-
cord, Nov. 1 1, 1865, and fitted for col-
lege in that city, graduating from
Dartmouth in the class of 1887.
During his college course he devoted
some of his vacations to learning
the practical side of railroading, and
when his education was obtained it
was not surprising that a good posi-
Midway, looking East.
Charles F. Conn, treasurer of the
company, bears a name which is
known and respected by New Hamp-
shire people at home and abroad.
His father, Dr. Granville P. Conn, is
recognized as one of the leaders of
the medical profession, not only of
New Hampshire but of the United
States. Perhaps Dr. Conn's emi-
nence as a railroad surgeon had
nothing to do with the son's choice
of a career, but it would not be sur-
tion was awaiting him in a Boston
transportation office. Promotion was
gained rapidly, and in 1892 he was
honored with the responsible posi-
tion of auditor of the Old Colony
Steamboat Company. His selection
as treasurer of the Terminal Com-
pany was the logical outcome of his
success in a position which had
brought him into association with
the gentlemen who were to make a
choice of the best man for the place.
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
57
Mr. Conn has amply demonstrated
his capability for his new position,
and the great financial interests en-
trusted to him are managed in a
manner which displays rare natural
ability, aided by experience in posi-
tions where his thorough training,
quick perception, and sound judg-
ment have been potent factors in
winning success.
west bank of Fort Point channel, is
an admirable one for many reasons,
and as one approaches the building
from any direction its proportions are
impressive.
Opposite the end of Federal street
is the main entrance and central
architectural feature of the station.
The building extends from the
entrance south along Atlantic ave-
Wlidway, looking West.
THE STATION.
It is not our purpose here to at-
tempt a minute description of Bos-
ton's magnificent railway terminal.
The illustrations which accompany
this article, show, better than words
can tell, the magnitude, the con-
venience, and the beauty of the great
structure. The location, at the junc-
tion of Summer and Federal streets
with Atlantic avenue, and on the
nue 792 feet, and east on Summer
street 672 feet. The central portion
is a large five-story building, of
which the first story is given to sta-
tion uses, and the upper four stories
are used as offices.
Of the central, curved portion, 228
feet in length, two stories form a
strong base, in which are three great
entrance arches, and the upper three
stories are treated as a colonnade.
The columns are four and one half
58
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
Train Shed, showing Bumpers.
feet in diameter, and forty-two feet
high. Above the colonnade the en-
tablature and parapet, broken by the
small projecting pediment, carry the
facade to a height of 105 feet from
the sidewalk. Above all, and at the
centre, is that necessity to railroad
stations, the clock, with a dial 12
feet in diameter. The top of the
clock case bears an eagle wnth wings
partly spread. Across the wings the
eagle measures eight feet. Over
each of the two piers which mark
the entrance is a flagstaff, 60 feet in
height.
All of the curved portion is built of
Stony Creek granite, and nearly all
the remaining front is of this stone,
but on each side of the colonnade the
granite is relieved by large, dark buff
mottled bricks. On the central por-
tion the granite is pointed and cut.
but the remaining ashlar is rock
faced, laid in regular courses.
The total length of the five-story
front is 875 feet ; of the two-story
building along Atlantic avenue, 356
feet ; of the two-story building on
Summer street, 234 feet ; on Dor-
chester avenue, the building con-
tinues 725 feet, two stories high.
The total length of the front on three
streets is 2,190 feet.
Along Atlantic avenue, the first
story is the outward baggage room,
with doors all along the street, pro-
tected by an iron and glass awn-
ing, wide enough to shelter bag-
gage teams as well. On the Sum-
mer street front the waiting-room
is marked by large arched window
openings, and beyond is the main
exit, a wide thoroughfare at the end
of the waiting-room. Beyoud the
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
59
main exit the building is but two
stories high. At the corner of Sum-
mer street and Dorchester avenue is
the carriage concourse. Beyond the
carriage way, on Dorchester avenue,
is the long room for inward baggage.
In front of the entrance, in the
centre of the sidewalk island, is a
monumental granite lamp- post, 43
feet high, with several arc lights.
The entrance itself is a thorough-
fare 92 feet wide, lined with polished
Stony Creek granite. Four great
columns of polished Milford granite,
three feet and four inches in diame-
ter, support the ofhce floors above.
The ceiling is of white enameled
bricks, with girders incased in white
marble.
The end of the train house is
termed the midway. Opening from
the midway at the right is the par-
cel room ; next, the entrance from
Atlantic avenue, which is also the
entrance to the stair and elevator
hall to the offices above ; and along-
side the train shed is the outward
baggage room, 562 feet long and 26
feet wide. At the left are lavatories,
telegraph and telephone offices ; a
ticket office, with 1 1 sales windows
toward the midway and 16 openings
on the opposite side into the waiting-
room.
The waiting-room is convenient to
trains, of ample dimensions, 225 feet
long, 65 feet wide, 28}^ feet high,
and out of the line of traffic. The
floor is of marble mosaic. The walls
have a high dado of enameled bricks,
and a polished granite base — above
the dado the walls are of plaster.
There are three great doorways of
polished Milford granite, and two
verde antique marble drinking foun-
tains. The room has a rich modeled
stucco coffered ceiling, with beams
four feet deep, and carries well the
Signal Bridges in Yard, with Power-House in the Background.
6o
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
Train Shed, from Yard, January
399.
electric light fixtures, which are in
excellent keeping with the ceiling,
and give to the room an adequate
diffused and unobtrusive light.
At one corner of the waiting-room
is the entrance to the women's room.
This room is 34 feet by 44 feet, most
comfortably furnished with rocking
chairs, easy chairs, lounges, and
tables, and for the children, cribs
and cradles.
At the eastern end of the waiting-
room is the passage to Summer street
from the midwa}', the main exit from
the train house. On the opposite
side of the exit, and also facing the
midway, is the lunch-room, 67 feet
by 73 feet, with marble mosaic floor,
and wainscoted with enameled bricks.
Beyond, and at the corner of the
lunch-room, is a stair and elevator
hall to the dining-room, on the second
floor. The east side of the train
shed is flanked by the room for in-
ward baggage, 507 feet long and 26
feet wide.
The building above the first story
is used for offices and employes.
Conductors and trainmen have rooms
in the Dorchester avenue wing, and
the remainder of the second story is
occupied by the Boston Terminal
Company. The entire third story is
occupied by the Boston & Albany
Railroad, and the fourth and fifth
stories are occupied by the New
York, New Haven & Hartford Rail-
road.
The first plans made contemplated
only a single floor for train service,
but after arranging as well as possi-
ble for the various controlling fea-
tures, making numerous studies for
the exclusion of baggage trucks from
the passenger platforms, and devel-
oping several ways of expeditiously
handling electric cars, it was found that
such unusual features tended to use
up space, and attention was directed
to the possibility of divorcing the sub-
urban, or short distance service, from
the long distance service, and plac-
ing the former at a different level,
thus doubling the room for tracks.
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
6i
7ram Shed, from Yard, July I, 1899.
on certain areas. This was found to
be feasible, and the great suburban
traffic which the station must handle
was provided for in an immense base-
ment story, with platform room for
25,000 people.
lyoop tracks, two in number, con-
nect with the main tracks at points
about one half mile from the station,
and enter the station at one side of
the steam tracks, and at a grade
about 17 feet beneath them. As
they enter, thej^ spread, so that
there is a large platform between the
tracks. This central platform lies
immediately below the midway on
the main floor, and is connected with
it and with the main waiting-room
by stairs. It is designed to be the
loading platform, and is the right
platform for all trains. The unload-
ing is designed to be done on the
outside platforms. The capacity of
the two loop tracks is sufficient to
allow the sending out of a train a
minute, or 2,000 trains in and out
each day of 18 hours.
Some conception of the details
which have to be attended to, both
in planning, building, and managing
such a structure, may be gained
from the following statistics :
Total area of terminal land, about
35 acres ; total area covered by build-
ing, about 13 acres ; maximum length
of main station, 850 feet ; maximum
width of main station, 725 feet ; aver-
age length of main station, 765 feet ;
average width of main station, 662
feet; area of main station, 506,430
square feet ; area of awnings, outside
of buildings, 46,000 square feet ;
height of main station from sidewalk
to top of eagle, 135 feet; length of
express buildings, 712 feet; width of
express buildings, 50 feet ; length of
power buildings, 569 feet ; width of
power buildings, 40 feet ; total length
of buildings on street front, 3,300
feet ; length of train shed proper,
602 feet ; width of train shed proper,
570 feet ; height of train shed over
all, 112 feet ; area of midway, 60,000
square feet ; area of connecting roofs,
62
A GREAT ENTERPRISE.
17,500 square feet ; length of waiting
room, 225 feet ; width of waiting
room, 65 feet; height of waiting
room, 28j4 feet ; total length of
tracks, about 15 miles ; total num-
ber of tracks entering the station, 32 ;
of these, 28 are on main floor, and
four in the shape of two loop tracks,
on lower floor ; length of tracks
under roof, four miles ; number of
tracks through throat in yard, 8 for
main floor, 4 for lower floor; total
cars that can be set against platforms
on lower floor, loop station tracks,
60, all under roof ; seating capacity
for these cars, 28,104 people; capaci-
ty of express yard against platforms,
26 express cars, and 12 mail cars;
total capacity of mail and express
yard, 116 cars; capacit}^ of other
yard tracks, 93 cars; total of 613
cars.
In connection with the station,
there are 235 arc lights, enclosed
^1
weight of rail, 2,800 tons ; number
of double slip switches, 37 ; number
of switches, 252 ; number of frogs,
283 ; number of semaphore signals,
150; number of signal lamps, 200;
number of levers in tower No. i, 143 ;
number of levers in tower No. 2, 11 ;
number of signal bridges, 9 ; total
number of trains to use new station
when fully opened, 737 per day ;
number of 65-foot passenger cars
that can be set against platforms on
main floor of station, 344, 252 under
roof ; number of 40-foot passenger
pattern ; 6,000 incandescent lights,
1,200 of which are in the main wait-
ing room ; 25 electric elevators, 209
water closets, 138 urinals, 118 set
bowls, 5 shower baths, 106 fire sup-
ply outlets, 14 water metres, 29 stor-
age vaults, 43 toilet rooms, 215 office
rooms, 1,000 window shades, 200,000
pounds sash weights, 120 connections
for supplying gas to cars, 36 ticket
windows, 95 baggage- room doors, 69
express building doors, 10 steam
boilers, 4 electric generators, 9 com-
pressors, 45 electric motors, 20 heat-
NEW HAMPSHIRE NECROLOGY.
63
iug and ventilating fans, 25 steam about 200 acres of painting, reduced
engines, and i traveling crane. to single coat.
The material used to complete The inscriptions cai'ved in the
the work approximates : forty-three granite wall of the entrance give this
thousand spruce piles, 15,100,000 information:
common brick, 487,000 medium
brick, 846,000 enameled brick, 74,000
cubic 3'ards concrete, 32,000 cubic
yards stone masonry, 30,000,000
pounds steel, equal to about 1,200
car-loads ; 200,000 cubic feet of cut
stone for building, or 500 car-loads ;
75,000 barrels Portland cement,
20,000 barrels Rosendale cement,
8,000 barrels coal tar pitch, 6,500
barrels prepared asphalt, 850,000
pounds tarred paper, 450,000 pounds
sheet copper for roof trimmings,
5,000,000 feet yellow pine timber,
16,000 pounds solder, 10 acres of
gravel roofing, 150,000 square feet
wire glass, 40,000 pounds of putty to
set the same. There are 56,000
square yards water-proofing and
Note.— The illustrations for this article are made from photographs by W. H. Weller, of Boston
MDCCCXCVII.
This building' erected by
The Boston Terminal Company
Composed of
The Boston & Albany Kailroad Company,
The New England Railroad Company,
Boston & Providence Railroad Corporation,
Old Colony Railroad Company,
The New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail-
road Company.
MDCCCXCVII.
Josiali Ouincy,
Mayor of Boston.
The Boston Terminal Company.
Samuel Hoar, Royal Chapin Taft,
Charles Peter Clark,
Charles I.oughead Covering,
P'rancis Lee Higginson,
Trustees.
George B. Francis,
Resident Rngineer.
Norcross Brothers, Builders.
Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge,
Architects.
',„^M i
JOHN G. SINCLAIR.
John G. Sinclair, a time-honored resident of ISethlehem, died at his simmier
home, June 27, after a brief illness. He was born in Barnstead, March 25, 1826.
After following a country merchant's life for several years he prepared for college
at Newbury, Vt., institution, but owing to business ambition gave up the college
idea and soon attained an enviable business reputation.
Mr. Sinclair represented the town in the state legislature six different terms,
and was elected senator one term, and once was Democratic nominee for United
States senator. In 1866, '67, and '68 he was Democratic candidate for governor,
and was chairman of the state delegation in the National Democratic convention
in x868. He was the father of Col. Charles A. Sinclair, who died in April.
64 JV£IV HAMPSHIRE NECROLOGY.
REV. JOHN WOOD.
Rev. John Wood, a prominent Congregational clergyman, died at Fitchburg,
Mass., July 7, aged nearly 90 years. He was a native of Alstead, a graduate of
Kimball Union academy, Amherst college, class of '36, and of the East Windsor
Theological institute. He was ordained at Langdon, in 1840, where he was pas-
tor nine years. After pastorates at Townsend, Vt., and Wolfeborough he became
agent of the American Tract society of Boston, and later filled a similar position
in New York city. He removed to Fitchburg in 1879, where he has since re-
sided. He was married twice and leaves a widow and daughter.
DAVID S. PAIGE.
David S. Paige died at his home in New York city of a complication of
troubles, at the age of 85 years. Mr. Paige was born in Hopkinton in June,
1814, his mother being a daughter of Capt. William Stinson of Dunbarton. He
had the limited opportunities for education common in those days, and at an
early age he went to Boston, and after his father's death located in New York,
where his habits of thrift and enterprise stood to a good purpose. He entered on
a hotel career in West street, where later he built and managed Paige's hotel, op-
posite where important steamship lines landed passengers and cargoes. His wife
was an English lady of means, who well seconded his efforts. Two daughters
and several grandchildren survive.
Mr. Paige was a popular man, member of the New York legislature, and for
many years a member of the school board of the city. He never forgot his native
town and state, and his frequent visits, until hindered by failing health, were
enjoyed by him very much. A sister, Mrs. Harriet Huntress, of Concord, is the
only family survivor. Mr. Paige was a grand representative of that Scotch-Irish
people, whose force of character, strong and self-reliant traits, have ever been so
conspicuous and successful, traits that always win.
DAVID MASON.
David Mason, a native and life-long resident of Bristol, died at his home in
that town on June 26. He lacked but a day of being 79 years of age. In early
life he was pilot in the river gang engaged in rafting lumber and spars down the
Merrimack to Lowell, making that trip annually for seventeen years.
In 1852, in company with Capt. G. W. Dow, he began the manufacture of
strawboard, and since 1855 he had devoted his entire attention to the wood pulp
and white paper business, in which, in company with B. F. Perkins, of Bristol,
under the firm name of Mason, Perkins &: Co., he was extensively engaged in that
town. The company controlled the Newfound Lake Power company's stock of
Bristol, which has one of the best water privileges in the state. He was also one
of the heaviest stockholders in the Bristol Aqueduct company, and a member of
the Bristol Savings bank, and was identified with other business enterprises.
Mr. Mason was an uncompromising Republican, had held the office of select-
man, and for three terms represented the town of Bristol in the legislature. He
leaves a wife, Elvira (Gurdy) Mason, and only a short time ago buried his only
daughter. He leaves other near relatives.
Mr. Mason was a member of the Methodist church, and he had at all times
been untiring in his efforts to further the interests of Bristol, and was held in high
esteem as one of its solid and substantial business men, who have contributed so
much to its present prosperity and success. He was a member of the Masonic
order.
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Vol. XXVII.
AUGUST, 1899.
No. 2.
THE MAKING OF A TOWN.
BEING SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH OF THE TOWN
OF JAFFREY.
By Albert Annett.
HE earliest recorded history
of the region about Monad-
nock has to do with savage
forays upon the frontier of
Massachusetts in the old French and
Indian wars. For more than a cen-
tury after this isolated peak on the
northwestern horizon appeared to the
view of the incoming white race, the
wilderness upon which it looked
down remained unbroken for miles
around.
It seems to have been a landmark
to '^the migrator}^ tribes, known far
and wide, and it served to steer their
course from the Connecticut to the
Merrimack and to the ponds that lay
between. It was a mountain fast-
ness, to which the frontier settle-
ments in Massachusetts looked with
apprehension and alarm. It was no
groundless fear that retarded the
progress of settlement, for all those
old; frontier towns to the south of
Monadnock have their record of In-
dian war and alarm, of houses and
crops destroyed and families carried
away captive.
In the year 1706 a company of
rangers from the old town of Groton
went up to Monadnock bent upon
the gentle pastime of hunting for
Indian scalps. When the sun was
an hour high they made their camp
for the night, and like experienced
woodsmen they sent out scouts to re-
connoitre and guard against sur-
prise. Meanwhile those in the camp
drummed with their hatchets on the
trees to guide the outposts and pre-
vent their becoming lost in the gath-
ering darkness.
The scouts had not proceeded far
before they discovered signs of the
enemy that filled them with alarm.
Near a brook two of them found
tracks which one declared to have
been made by Indian dogs, the other
said that they were the tracks of a
she wolf and her whelps.
The drumming on the trees be-
came alarming, and they were sure
68
JAFFREY.
that they heard it answered from an-
other camp. They became fright-
ened and made their way back to
their company. Other scouts came
in in equal alarm. They declared
that they had seen the P'rench and
Indians in great force, a thousand in
number. The commander ordered
the company to fall back from their
position. The awfulness of their
situation in the unbroken woods be-
relate, not four men were found to
risk their lives for the good fame of
Groton that day. On his return
home the commander was tried by
court martial for his disorderly re-
treat, and by that means an account
of one of the many expeditions into
the wilderness about Monadnock has
been preserved.^
A few 5^ears later a bounty equiva-
lent to about forty pounds sterling
Mam Street,
neath the shadow of the dark moun-
tain was sufficient to fill the imagina-
tions of even these brave men with
dread. A panic ensued ; the officers
made some attempt to halt the flee-
ing men but their calls were un-
heeded, and none were swift enough
to overtake them in their stampede.
A few of the bravest stuck to their
position. Lrieutenant Tarbell was
the hero of the occasion. He threw
his hat on the ground and declared
that with four men he would face the
entire force of the foe, but, sad to
was offered by the governments of
New Hampshire and Massachusetts
for Indian scalps, and under the
stimulus of this beneficent act rang-
ing parties were organized to scour
the woods of New Hampshire. A
letter written by the governor of Con-
necticut at the time states that it was
the purpose of the friendly Indians of
Connecticut to look for scalps in the
country around Monadnock. What
luck attended them is not known.
But another long-continued obsta-
' Grotoii in the Indian wars.
JAFFREY.
69
cle to the occupation of the lands
about Monadnock is to be found in
the interminable controversies over
questions of civil jurisdiction and
title to the land.
The grant of the province of
Massachusetts Bay extended "three
miles to the northward of the Merri-
mack river and of any and every
part thereof." But the course of
the river was then supposed to be
When the northerly bend of the
Merrimack was made known, and
the boundaries described in the
grants were found to be impossible
lines, the province of New Hamp-
shire, contending for the intent of its
grant, claimed a westerly course,
leaving the river at the place where
it turns to the north, and extending
from that point across the Connecti-
cut to the state of New York.
Jaffrey Centre Street.
from west to east, and in the year
1629, when the province of New
Hampshire was granted to John
Mason, a merchant of London, his
territory was bounded by the Mer-
rimack river for a distance of sixt}'
miles and the course was described
as westerly to "His Majesty's other
possessions" (New York). Subse-
quent grants or patents were issued,
many of which were also based upon
an imperfect knowledge of the ge-
ography of the country and they
served to make the confusion worse.
Massachusetts on the other hand,
holding more nearly to the letter of
the grant, claimed all the territory
between the Merrimack and Connecti-
cut rivers as far north as ' ' where
the rivers of Pemigewasset and Win-
nipiseogee meet," and to fortify her
claim by occupation she granted
townships in this disputed territory
to her volunteer soldiery who had
participated in the expedition under
Sir William Phipps, in 1690, against
the French in Quebec.
Among these Massachusetts grants
JAFFREY.
71
was a township of irregular shape,
described as "lying to the south-
west of the Grand Monadnock."
This township, which comprised a
large part of what is now Rindge and
Sharon, together with a portion of
the southeastern part of Jaffrey, was
granted in 1736 to the veteran sol-
diers of Rowley, and was known as
Rowley Canada.'
Peterborough was granted three
years later to a company, most of
whom were residents of old Concord,
Mass. They were allowed their
choice of the vast unallotted lands to
the north, and selected a tract six
miles square lying " east of the great
Monadnock hill," that for one hun-
dred years had bounded their hori-
zen in the northeast. This township
also included a portion of the present
town of Jaffrey. Other townships
were granted in the disputed terri-
tory by the legislative acts of Mas-
sachusetts but they were remote
from the locality considered in this
sketch.
Finally the present division line
between New Hampshire and Massa-
chusetts was established by a royal
decree in 1741, and five years later,
the Masonian patent having been re-
vived and confirmed, all the vast
tract granted to John Mason more
than a century before became by
purchase the propert}^ of a company
of gentlemen of wealth and influ-
ence, thereafter known as the Ma-
sonian proprietors, most of whom
were residents of Portsmouth, in
New Hampshire. With a view of
avoiding litigation and the ill will of
the people, the new proprietors gen-
erally quit-claimed their interest in
the townships already settled and
'History of Riudge.
devoted their attention to the unim-
proved portions of their estate.
Col. Joseph Blanchard, one of the
Masonian proprietors who was se-
lected to portion out the new terri-
tory into townships and to act as
agent of the association in this enter-
prise, was a masterful character and
few men have left their mark in such
enduring lines upon the w'orld. In
the year 1755 he commanded the
New Hampshire regiment in the
campaign against Crown Point, and
though the object of the expedition
was not attained, yet his regiment
did valiant service and gained last-
ing fame in severe conflicts with the
French and Indians at Fort Edward
and in the vicinity of Lake George.
In this famous regiment was a com-
pany commanded by Capt. Peter
Powers of Hollis, one of the pro-
prietors of Jaffrey, and also a com-
pany of the celebrated Roger's Rang-
ers, having as a lieutenant young
John Stark, destined to undying
fame as the hero of Bunkei Hill and
Bennington. With such rugged ele-
ments of civilization, Joseph Blan-
chard was a master spirit, and as a
maker of geographical divisions he
moved with the same elemental force.
From the west line of the old Pet-
erborough township he had a clear
field, and we may imagine that it was
while standing on some hillside near
the Peterborough line and peering
out over the tree-tops toward Monad-
nock, waiting silently in the west,
that his thought foreshadowed the
towns that now fill the valley. What
was the distance across to the great
Monadnock hill ? To include that
in the new townships would depre-
ciate their value. How much room
had he to the north and south ? Dis-
JAFFREY.
tances were estimated, and the letter
has been preserved wherein he re-
ported to the proprietors that he was
about to la}' out three townships of
like dimensions, five miles from north
to south, and seven miles from east
to west.
The space proved too small for the
towns he had in mind, but he was a
mighty man as has been said, and
to gain room he shouldered the old
Massachusetts township of Peterbor-
ough, with all its inhabitants and
proprietors buzzing like hornets in
his ears, three fourths of a mile to
the east, carrying it on to the side of
the East mountain ; the old township
of Rowley Canada was sent where
Tyre had gone, and the triplet towns
of Rindge, Jaffrey, and Dublin made
their first appearance upon the map
of the world. It seems to have been
his intention in transplanting the old
township of Peterborough to gain
space for his new towns in the more
desirable land of the valley, but still
there was not room and as, with all
his mightiness, he could not budge
the great Mouadnock hill, the town-
ships of Jaffrey and Dublin were
perforce laid over the top of it, with
all its waste land, making them
nearly two miles to the west of a
right line with their sister town of
Rindge.
These new townships, with others
afterward granted, were designated
as the Monadnock townships, and
Jaffrey received the name of Middle
Monadnock, Monadnock No. 2, or
sometimes Middletowu. F'rom this
point we deal with the middle town-
ship alone. Here was raw mate-
rial for the town maker, — thirty-
five square miles of primeval forest
broken only by the mountain sum-
mit and here and there by the gleam
of a woodland lake. From a spring
on the mountain side a stream
trickled down and wound its way
through the woods till it met another
from a high basin in the hills to the
south, and together they formed the
Contoocook with its sites for future
mills. But the unoccupied wilder-
ness could yield no returns to the
proprietors ; to make townships of
their real estate and thereby enhance
its value, they must have in each
geographical division the entire out-
fit of a town, selectmen, tythingraen,
husbandmen, housewrights, mill-
wrights, and many handicraftsmen
more ; but above all, a meeting-house
and settled minister, and to supply
these lacking elements, in 1749, they
granted the township to Jonathan
Hubbard of lyunenburg, and thirty-
nine others most of whom were resi-
Cutter s Hotel
JAFFREY.
73
dents of Dunstable (now Nashua
and Mollis.)
But the new proprietors had no
notion of performing the rough work
of pioneers. They, too, were pro-
moters and speculators, and the
names of many of them are found
in connection with the development
It had been specified in their grant
that three shares, or rights, should
be appropriated for public purposes,
' ' one for the first settled minister in
said township, one for the support of
the ministry," and "one for the
school there forever." And for the
profit of the original proprietors.
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Summer Boarding-house of Mrs. Lawrence, Jaffrey Centre.
of other towns. The first meeting of
this syndicate, called "The Proprie-
tors of Monadnock Township, No.
2," was held at the house of Joseph
French in Dunstable, early in 1750,
At this meeting Capt. Peter Powers
was entrusted with the work of sur-
veying the township, and Jacob Law-
rence and William Spaukling were
appointed a committee to lay out a
road from No. 2 (Wilton) through
Peterborough Slip (Temple and
Sharon) to the new township. In
the following summer, in order that
the township might be divided in
severalty among the proprietors, it
was divided into lots of approxi-
mately one hundred acres each, three
of which constituted a settler's right.
eighteen shares drawn by lot were
reserved to them and "Aquited from
all duty and charge Until improved
by the Owner." It was required of
the new proprietors, " provided there
be no Indian war," that within four
years from the date of the grant forty
of the shares " Be entered upon and
three Acres of Dand at least Cleared
Enclosed and fited for Mowing or
Tillage, and that within the term
of six Months then Next Coming,
there be on each of said forty Shares,
a House Built, the Room Sixteen
feet square at the least, fitted and
furnished for comfortable dwelling
therein and Some Person Resident
therein and Continue Inhabitancy
and Residence there for three years
74
JAFI^REY.
theu Next Coming, with the addi-
tional Improvement as aforesaid of
two Acres Each Year for each Set-
tler." It was furthermore required
that within the period of six years,
" a Good Convenient Meeting House
be Built in said Township as near
the Center of the Town as may be
traces of the road that they laid
out may still be found. In the
bottom of a mill pond at Squantum,
that has been flowed for more than
one hundred and twenty-five years,
traces of an old road have been
found, and from that place it may
be followed along the east side of the
East Jaffrey, Main Street.
with Convenience and Ten Acres of
I^and Reserved for Publick Uses."
"All White Pine trees fit for Masting
His Majesty's Royal Navey Growing
on said Track of Land ' ' were also
reserved to his majesty and his
heirs and successors forever ; but
there was a family quarrel in after
years that involved this portion of
the estate, and some of these old
hereditaments of the king, charred
by the fire that cleared the settler's
farm, yet lie in long, moss-covered
mounds in the sapling woods.
No record of the work of the road
builders can be found, and it is
probable that no survey of their
route was ever made. They proba-
bly followed the old trail, and many
Garfield hill, and again on the north
side of the turnpike at the place
formerly owned by James Newell in
Sharon. Here the location of the
road is made unmistakable b}^ a well
and traces of the dwelling place of
Joel Adams, the first settler, ten or
fifteen rods north of the present road.
Then after passing the ' ' old Blood
place " the road crosses the ridge be-
tween the mountains over bare ledge,
a short distance south of the present
road to Temple through Spofford
Gap. Very few stones were removed
from the track, and it must have re-
quired not only endurance, but skill,
to bring over this rough trail teams
loaded with household goods. The
supposition that this was the loca-
lAFFREY.
75
tion of the first road is further sup-
ported by the statement in the His-
tory of Jaffrey that in 1752, the year
following the laying out of the road,
a settlement of short duration was
made by eight persons in the south-
eastern part of the town.
But following the grant of the town
came ten years of war and alarm,
and, in spite of their best endeavors,
it was not until the year of 1758 that
a permanent settlement was made,
lyasting peace was finally assured
by the surrender of the French in
Canada in 1760, and a mania for
occupying new lands seemed to take
possession of the inhabitants of the
older towns.
The pioneers of Jaffrey were de-
signed for the business. lyike the
first settlers of Peterborough, most
of them were descendants of the
Scotch Presbyterians who came to
America from the north of Ireland.
These people settled in Maine, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Pennsyl-
v^ania, and North Carolina, and wdth
their sturdy strength in clearing
away the woods, and the fighting
blood that they furnished for the
Revolutionar}^ struggle, they were a
godsend to the new world.
One company of these emigrants
settled in Lunenburg in Massachu-
setts, another obtained a grant in
New Hampshire, and founded the
?*
Long Pond.
Long Pond.
town of Londonderry, and from these
two sources came most of the pio-
neers of Peterborough and Jaffrey.
Many interesting anecdotes of these
people are told in the History of Peter-
borough. They were shrewd and
industrious, but according to all ac-
counts they drank prodigious quanti-
ties of rum, and their frequent merry-
makings were never dull whatever
their other shortcomings may have
been. No hasty conclusions should,
however, be drawn from their drink-
ing habits and rough ways. Those
were remnants of old heathendom
that even their strong religious prin-
ciples had not had time to overcome.
They were on the upward road and it
was admitted even by their Puritan
neighbors of Massachusetts that " they
held as fast to their /Z;^/ of doctrine
as to their pint of rum." That they
did not practice all the austerities of
the Puritans led to a misunderstand-
ing of their character and purpose.
They brought with them an indom-
itable love of freedom, hardihood and
mental acuteness, and withal, a relig-
ious zeal differing more in outward
manifestations than in spirit from that
of the Puritans. P'ollowing quickly
upon their devotions they found a
time to sing and a time to dance, and
these diversions served to lighten the
76
JAFFREY.
hardships of the wilderness. The
vigor of the race has extended
through many generations and many
successful Americans trace with pride
their descent from a Scotch-Irish an-
cestry.
The first permanent settler in town,
according to his own statement, was
John Grout. He came first from Lun-
enburg but had lived for a time in
Rindge. He settled on the town right
drawn by Joseph Emerson on the low-
land at the foot of the Squantum hill,
as early as 1758. But the place did
not suit him. It was cold and frosty
and unsuited to cultivation ; and ac-
cordingly with thrifty eye he looked
about him in the forest, where he
appeared to be monarch of all he sur-
veyed, and found the old clearing
that Moses Stickney had made before
the Indians drove him away five years
before. This was south of Gilmore
pond, probably on the farm now
owned by Henry Chamberlain. Here
Grout set to work and according to
his later report to the proprietors en-
dured "hardships too many to be
here set forth."
The Grouts were a famous family,
even before John o' Groat gave his
»:'*
name to the northern extremity of
Scotland, and perhaps no more gifted
family was ever connected with the
history of Jaffrey. John Grout was
a lawyer and a man of classical ed-
ucation, such as we should hardly
expect to find doing the rough
work of a pioneer. He was also,
unfortunately, a litigious character
and was often at odds with his neigh-
bors. He was given to writing peti-
tions for favors to the proprietors, and
these papers are remarkable for skill
of composition, as well as notable ex-
amples of correct spelling in those
times when the phonetic method so
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Village Elm.
generally prevailed. There is plainly
an unwritten chapter in the life of this
man and something like peevishness
discernible in his writings may indicate
that some thwarted ambition or failure
made him, with his education and
undoubted abilities, a dweller in the
woods. His abilities were inherited
in good measure by his thirteen chil-
dren, but it may be doubted if the old-
er ones ever lived with him here not-
withstanding his frequent mention of
his large family in his petitions to the
proprietors. He died in the year 1771,
and tradition says that he was buried
where the town house now stands, a
fitting monument to the first settler
of the town. The oldest son of the
lAFFREY.
77
East Jaffrey, from the South.
family, Major Hilkiah, settled at
Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and a
sketch of his life reads like romance.
In 1755 he was attacked by the In-
dians and his companion was killed
while he escaped by his strength and
fleetness of foot. His young wife,
and three small children, were taken
captive and sold to the French in
Montreal. In three years she was
ransomed but was compelled to leave
her children behind. Hilkiah, the
eldest, never returned and afterwards
it appeared that he had been adopted
by the Indians. It is said that he
took the name of Peter Westfall and
passed his life with the Cattaraugus
Indians, who made him their chief,
and that he was progenitor of the dis-
tinguished family of Westfalls in the
state of New York. Of the other
.sons, John Grout, Jr., was a success-
ful lawyer in Montreal, Elijah was a
commissary in the Continental army,
and a justice of the peace when that
title was a distinguished dignity.
Joel, also, was an officer in the Amer-
ican army and a leader in the political
affairs of his state, and Jonathan, the
most widely celebrated of the family,
was a lawyer of great ability, an
officer in the Revolution, and a mem-
ber of congress under the administra-
tion of Washington. He is said to
have been a very handsome man and
a friend of the leading spirits of his
time. Jehosaphat was a leading cit-
izen of Keene and sheriff of the
county, and Solomon, the only one
who remained in Jaffrey, serv^ed as
selectman and was prominent in town
affairs.
But the marked characteristics of
the family were not least strikingly
displayed in Abigail, the youngest
daughter. She became the wife of
Col. Nathan Hale of Rindge, who
commanded a regiment in the patriot
army and died a prisoner of war in-
side the British lines on Long Island.
On the death of her husband, the
management of his large estate de-
volved upon her, and she proved her-
self a capable woman of affairs. She
was a woman of overflowing kind-
ness of heart, but of strong and
78
JAFFREY.
assertive character and unyielding
when her convictions of right were at
stake. The new Declaration of Inde-
pendence she applied unerringly to
her individual rights, and she was
perhaps the original woman's rights
agitator in America. She held that
taxation without representation was
tyranny, and rather than pay taxes
which she regarded as unjustly as-
sessed she spent a winter in jail.
For the first three years of his resi-
dence here, according to Grout's
by on the farm that Dana S. Jaquith
now owns. Alexander McNeal settled
near the centre of the town, and al-
most before a road was built we find
him keeping an inn. According
to the early records he was prom-
inent in public affairs but his rep-
utation is clouded by a vote of the
town in 1779, " that Alexander Mc-
Neal should not keep tavern." His
name does not again appear and it
is probable that this reflection upon
the character of his. establishment
East Jaffrey, from the Baptist Church.
report, he and his family w^ere the
only inhabitants of the town, and if
this be true then 1755 must be ac-
cepted as the date of his arrival, for
in 1758 John Davidson from Dondon-
derry had come, and day after day,
through the stillness of the woods
Grout must have heard to the north-
east the crash of falling trees.
Soon after, Matthew Wright from
the same place made a clearing where
the farm of Charles W. Fasset now
is, within a mile of Grout's door.
Francis Wright, his son, settled near
so offended him that he left town.
William Mitchell, another Scot,
settled on the farm now of William
McCormack. James Nichols, John
Swan and Thomas Walker, George
Wallace and Robert Weir were
among the first to arrive. William
Turner settled on the Baldwin place,
still owned by his descendants.
Northeast of the centre of the town-
ship, three more Turners, Solomon,
Joseph, and Thomas, were among
the first to fell the trees in those
parts.
JAFFREY.
79
Four Caldwells came to towu. It
is supposed that they also were from
Londonderry but they had lived for a
time in Peterborough, where one of
them taught school. John Borland,
first a farmer and afterward a miller,
made a clearing near the place that
W. E. Nutting now ow^ns. William
Smiley became a neighbor of Grout
on the shore of Gilmore pond. Hugh
Dunlap's land joined Grout's on the
west. Near by was Joseph Hodge
who gave to Hodge pond its name.
Main Street, Showing Library and Banl<.
He it was who killed a catamount
when he came on a prospecting trip
to the township. Where Eleazer W.
Heath now lives, John Gilmore made
a cabin. This was the most thickly
settled part of the town. In the ex-
treme southeast, near Grout's former
settlement, Ephraim Hunt from old
Concord built a mill, and Daniel
Davis cleared a farm. In the south-
west, on the farm last occupied by
Seth D. Ballon, John Harper, who
afterward won fame as a soldier,
built himself a home. At the centre
of the town, on the Eucius A. Cutter
farm, lived Roger Gilmore, a typical
good townsman. From morning till
night the sound of the ax was heard
and the smoke from the burning
" choppings " darkened the sun.
Matthew Wright, one of those who
came from Londonderry to Jaffrey,
is said to have been a man of unusual
ability, but a preacher of infidel doc-
trines and a corrupter of youth. It
is related that on his death-bed he
called his son Francis to his side and
told him "to tak the big jug and
gang down to New Ipswich and get
it filled with rum, and when I am
buried give the poor divils all the
rum they want." It is fair to say
that the " History of Jaffrey" tells a
story of another sort, to the effect
that a neighbor once stopped at
Wright's house to escape a shower,
and was detained for the night.
While there the family knelt as was
their custom for the evening prayer,
and wdien on rising the old man
noticed that his neighbor had not
knelt with the rest, he was filled
with righteous indignation. " Ye 're
A Shady Road.
no better than a Papist," said he,
" an' did it not rain so hard I 'd turn
ye out of my house this very night." .
The first story is, however, circum-
stantially told, and collateral evidence
of its truth is given which makes it
seem likely that the story from the
Jaffrey history has straj'ed from its
relation to some more worthy man.
We shall, perhaps, not be far wrong
in giving it a general application to
the character of the first settlers of
the town.
In 1769, John Grout and Roger
8o
JAFFREY.
Gilmore made a report to the pro-
prietors upon the condition of the
settlement. There appears to have
been at this time not far from thirty
settlers, nearly all of them the Scotch-
Irish pioneers. They had borne the
brunt of the battle with the wilder-
ness, but they seem to have been
not so well suited to the amenities of
organized society, and, as the popu-
lation increased, many of them sold
their rights to new-comers from Mas-
sachusetts and followed, the receding
tionary fame, had also been a resi-
dent of this town.
With the assistance of these men
a petition was prepared to the gov-
ernor and council, asking for such
corporate privileges as had been
accorded to other towns in the prov-
ince. They employed Enoch Hale
as their agent, and their petition,
which was dated 1773, recites, " That
the Said Township is now setled with
more than forty Families, And many
more that have begun Settlements
'^n;i.-^
^^^1.,
'*i1^"J
East Jaffrey, from Mower's Hill. Peterborough and Temple Mountains in the Distance.
frontier. Those that remained, the
Gilmores, Turners, Davidsons,
Hodges, Harpers, Smileys, and
Wrights, became prominent in the
affairs of the town. But with the
growth of population, the inhabi-
tants began to feel the need of
some established form of govern-
ment. Capt. Jonathan Stanley, who
had borne a prominent part in the
settlement of the town of Rindge,
had lately brought to the sister town-
ship his help as an organizing force.
For a year or two his son-in-law, Col.
Enoch Hale, afterward of Revolu-
that they will shortly remove on,
That they are destitute of the legal
Privileges & Franchises of Corporate
Towns, whereby they suffer many
Inconveniences for Want of Town
Officers, and especially at this Time,
when they are taxed for the Support
of the Government, but cannot le-
gally assess or collect the same, and
are also unable to warn out any Poor,
idle Vagrants, That too frequently
force themselves into New Towns,
to the manifest Injury of such Towns
in particular, & the province in Gen-
eral."
[AFFREY.
Si
The petition of the inhabitants was
favorably received and on the 17th
day of August, 1773, a charter was
duly granted by John Went worth,
captain-general, governor, and com-
mander-in-chief in and over His
Majesty's province of New Hamp-
shire, and as it happened that George
Jaffrey, one of the Masonian proprie-
tors, was a member of the governor's
council at that time, the name of the
township was changed in his honor
from Mouadnock No. 2, or Middle-
town, to Jaffrey.
The first town-meeting alter the
incorporation was held for the elec-
tion of town officers at the house
of Francis Wright, innholder, on the
farm at present owned by Dana S.
Jaquith. At this meeting, Capt.
Jonathan Stanley, William Smiley,
and Phineas Spaulding were chosen
selectmen, and Roger Gilmore, tytli-
ing man. A second meeting was
held during the same month "and
Eighty Pounds was voted to be ex-
pended on the roads and Six Pounds
Lawful Money" to support the gos-
pel in said town.
If the amounts seem dispropor-
tionate, it must be remembered that
roads were at least a means to grace
aud must of necessity receive first
consideration. The close relation
Residence of Will J. Mower.
A Glimpse of Thorndii<e.
xxvii— 6
existing between the two appropria-
tions is shown by a vote of the town
in 1779, providing a new road "for
Abram Bailey to get to meetting."
It is not to be supposed in this case
that Abram Bailey's spiritual con-
dition was such as to be a matter of
town concern, for he was an active
man in the service of the church ,
but, rather, that in asking for this
means of communication, this truly
good man had placed above all
material considerations the advan-
tage of attendance on public worship.
The town system of government
seems to have been spontaneously
evolved from the needs and charac-
ter of the people of New England.
It was a system that allowed every
man his say ; any other would have
been intolerable to them. The old
Scotch-Irish pioneers delighted in
town-meeting, with its opportunities
for eloquence and wrangling, as they
did in a religious disputation or a
free fight. They were men of good
reasoning powers and no subject was
so weighty that they feared to tackle
82
lAFFREY.
*.-»T*^
Mountain House.
it. Both the .state and federal con-
stitutions they critically dissected in
town-meeting, and finding provisions
ihat they feared might become op-
]:)ressive in each of these instruments,
they were at first rejected by vote of
the town. In those days the people
ruled aud a common practice in town-
meeting was to choose a committee
to instruct the representative to the
general court, the instructions being
first submitted to the town for ap-
proval. In 1 78 1, when a conven-
tion was called to organize a system
of government for the state, William
Smiley was chosen to represent the
opinions of the town of Jaffrey, and,
apparently reposing unlimited con-
fidence in his powers, they "Voted
to instruct the Man chosen not to
have a governor." The name had
unpleasant associations and was of-
fensive to their ears. The man
chosen seems to have been equal to
the demands imposed upon him, and,
as will be remembered, the title of
the chief magistrate of New Hamp-
shire was for many years, not gov-
ernor, but president. In the years
immediately following the incorpora-
tion of the town came the Revolution-
ary struggle. Those were stirring
times and not less than five town-
meetings were sometimes held in a
single year. The machinery of gov-
ernment that in times of peace had
run with friction and clatter settled
down smoothly to work under the
added load of these troubled j^ears.
On the essential questions of the day
there was no difference of opinion.
They took turns in the exercise of
authority as well as in service in the
field.
Residence of A. A. Spofford.
JAFFREY.
83
In the year 1774, they chose a com-
mittee ' ' to draw a covenant to be
signed by all those who stand to
maintain the Priveleges of our char-
ter." This action is worthy of notice
as having been taken more than two
years before the famous Association
Test was generally adopted in sur-
rounding towns. A copy of this cov-
enant is not. on record, but there is
no evidence that there was a single
Tory in the town of Jaffrey during
the Revolutionary struggle.
At a convention held at Keene in
1774, certain recommendations had
been made to the towns, the exact
nature of which is not known, but it
Residence of Hon. Peter Upton.
is supposed to have been in harmony
with the advice of this convention
that the town in 1775 voted unani-
mously "to visit Mr. Williams of
Keene," which action Hon. Joel
Parker in his centennial address at
Jaffrey styled " an extraordinary
civility." Mr. Williams was a Tory
and it can hardly be supposed that
the townspeople would have gone so
far afield in their missionary zeal if
they had found similar duties nearer
home.
The forms used in warning town-
meetings are significant of the feel-
ing of the times. For a meeting held
early in the year 1775 the constable
was required in the usual form, "In
His Majesty's Name to notify and
Warn all the Freeholders and Inhabi-
tants." In August of the same year,
following Bunker Hill and lyCxing-
tpn, but nearly a year before the
Declaration of Independence, "His
Majesty's Name" was conspicuous
by its absence. In 1777 the form
appropriately became, " In the Name
of the Freemen of this State." In
1778 this thrilling summons was sent
forth, " In the Name of the Freemen
of the United States of America,
Greeting." In 1779 the highest
reach of their aspirations was ex-
pressed in their warrant, "In the
Name of the Government and people
of the United States of America."
All the New England towns founded
prior to the Revolution have an inspir-
ing record in that strife, and Jaffrey,
though having only three hundred
and fifty-one inhabitants at the out-
break of hostilities, is entitled to hon-
orable mention with the rest. A
stock of powder, lead, and flints was
early provided and the town-meetings
were much concerned with measures
for the protection of their privileges.
The alarm from Lexington reached
84
lAFFREY.
Residence of ' Leonard F. Sawyer.
the town too late to call out the will-
ing volunteers, but Jaffrey with its
small population, is credited in the
state records with eleven men in the
battle of Bunker Hill. Most of these
were members of the company of Capt.
Philip Thomas of Riudge, of which
John Harper of Jaffrey was first lieu-
tenant. Harper lived far back among
the hills (the Ballou farm, near resi-
dence of George A. Underwood) but
when the alarm of I^exington aroused
the people to arms,, no conscript officer
was required to look him up. He
seems like Job's war horse to have
snuffed the battle afar off. He started
at once for the scene of the conflict
and on the twenty-third of April we
find him with the company named
and honored with the second position
in command. He was with his com-
pany at the battle of Bunker Hill,
and history records that he lost his
hat on that fateful day. It was a
mishap that might suggest undue
haste in quitting the place, but we
are not permitted to entertain any
unfavorable suspicions, for a military
board of appraisal adjudged it an hon-
orable loss and fixed his remuneration
at twelve shillings which w^ould indi-
cate that the hat was his best. Other
Jaffrey soldiers who were awarded
compensation for loss were Dudley
Grifiin for a coat and shirt and Jacob
Pierce for a more complete outfit,
consisting of a " coat, a shag great
coat, and pack." Benjamin Dole,
the wolf hunter, is credited with the
loss of the company's bread, from
which it may be inferred that he was
commissary and had paid out money
of his own for supplies that were des-
troyed. An explanation of most of
these losses may be found in a letter
of Captain Thomas which shows that
Residence of Lewis W. Davis.
his company before the battle was
quarteied in some of the houses of
Charlestown, and it is probable that
these supplies were lost in the burn-
ing of the town. Seventy-three sol-
diers from the town of Jaffrey served
in the Continental army, and though
the term of actual service was in
many instances short, yet the num-
ber indicates something of the sacrifice
and patriotic spirit of the inhabitants.
A curious incident of the times is
found in the action of a town-meet-
ing called in 1775, " To see if the
Town will Purchiss a stock of Salt for
the prisint year. Whereas Capt.
Coffeen has sent down his security to
Purchis the Salt and the town may
have it if they think Proper." For
the further consideration of the meet-
ing it was proposed, "To see how
they will defray the Charges of bring-
JAFFREY.
85
ing up the Salt if Purchased and
think on a Proper way to divid it that
each one maj' have his proper share
of said Salt." This prudent move of
Captain Coffeen, and others, met with
the approval of the town and it was
" Voted to Bye a town stock of Salt
this year."
But the maintenance of the army
created an incredible drain upon the
resources of the people, and many a
poor family saw their dearest posses-
sions sacrificed to satisfy the demands
o<f the tax-gatherer. In 1781, "700
hard Dollars or 700 bushels of Rye "
was voted "to Purchis the town's
quota of Beaf for the army." A large
contribution of New England rum
was also levied on the town and in
answer to an inquiry from the select-
men as to how it should be provided.
Residence of Dr. O. H. Bradley.
the freemen in town-meeting assem-
bled vouchsafed the laconic reply,
"that the selectmen should purchis
the rum the Best way they can or Git
a man to Do it."
If there is an3-thing suggestive of
modern methods in this action of the
town, it may be said that the old vote
has never been repealed and may
still be construed by some as a gen-
eral regulation upon the subject.
Following the incorporation of the
town the number of inhabitants was
largely increased by immigration
from Massachusetts. The new arri-
vals were men of enterprise and
possessed in an eminent degree the
New England genius for govern-
ment. There were among them law-
yers and men of education in other
professions. The records of the town
became more regular and formal, and
during many years they might ser^'e
as models of neatness and accuracy.
Among the settlers from Massachu-
setts of honorable record was Phineas
Spaulding. He had heard of the
rich lands about Mouadnock, and
with all his worldly goods loaded
into an ox cart, he came to town
about the year 1772 and settled in
the old school district. No. 5. At
the first town-meeting he was chosen
selectman and mah}'^ honors were
conferred upon him during the suc-
ceeding years. His son, Levi
Spaulding, became a celebrated mis-
sionary to India and lived a life of
rare devotion and usefulness. A de-
scendant of Phineas Spaulding in the
third generation, Hon. Oliver E-
Spaulding, born in Jaffrej' near the
old homestead, at present holds the
important position of first assistant
secretary of the treasury of the United
States.
Residence of Juiius E. Prescott.
86
fAFFREY.
Up the River, East Jaffrey.
At about the same date to the old
school district, No. i (M. A. & B. G.
Wilson farm), came Benjamin Pres-
cott, with an ax in his hand and a
bag of beans on his back. He was a
born leader of men, and in his new
field he cut a wide swath. He was a
magistrate, legislator, deacon, colo-
nel of militia, farmer, tavern keeper,
turnpike director and contractor, and
out of these varied employments he
accumulated a large fortune for his
time.
During the first years of his resi-
dence in town he lived in a log house,
and when, in 1775, he raised his two-
story frame house, a company of sol-
diers from Riudge on their way to
Boston stopped and helped with the
work, and George Carlton, one of
their number, was, a few days later,
killed in the battle of Bunker Hill.
In the year 1774, to the same part
of the town, came John Eaton, a man
fit to rank with the minister in solid
worth to the community. He suc-
ceeded Ephraim Hunt in the owner-
ship of the first mill at Squantum,
and, without doubt, he immediately
became the handy man of the town.
An old account book or journal kept by
him during his previous residence in
Bedford, Mass., has been preserved,
and it gives many glimpses of the
life of those times. It is a home-
made book with covers of shaven
oak held together with leathern
thongs, and in it he set down not
only business transactions, but rid-
dles and matters of local interest.
His spelling, if not to be taken as
evidence of his accuracy as a work-
man, ma}^ at least, be regarded as a
proof of his marvelous versatility.
Residence of Charles L. Rich.
[AFFREY.
87
He was a man of many trades and
his book affords evidence of his use-
fulness and the variety of his deal-
ings.
The following extracts, taken at
random, are suggestive of the simple
neighborly life of the times: " wid.
richerson is in dat to me for day
work sider niill." "Jonathan Este
is in dat to me for making a cart."
"Samuel Flint Let me have a pach
of mell and again I had a par of mit-
tons of his wife, and again I help him
part of a day pach his barn."
He made "tuggs," and "collers,"
and sleds ; ' ' dugg ' ' graves and
made " corfens ;" he plastered chim-
t^, A
Summer Residence of Joseph E. Gay
neys ; made "casement," "leach"
tubs, " ches prese," and " exaltrees ; "
mended "saddels," and made plows
and "siesnaths," besides other arti-
cles too numerous to mention. He
often changed work with his neigh-
bors, and occasionally lent his
" mear " to go a journey. But when
we come to his purchase of a " yeard
and a half of read cloth to make me a
chaket," we seem to have a picture
of the man in full feather, gay as a
blackbird with a dash of red on its
wing.
During a part of his residence in
Bedford, he managed, on shares, a
saw- and grist-mill for two sisters,
evidently maiden ladies of means,
Gilm.ore Pond, from the Residence of Joseph E. Gay.
into whose possession the property
had come by inheritance, and, in
spite of the proverbial formality of
those grave old times, we find the
amazing entry " reconed with the
gals," when he recorded a settle-
ment in his book.
"November the 5 day, 1774, I
brought my fammely into Jaffrey,"
says the book, and from other
sources we learn that on his arrival,
he sawed boards, ground grain,
made flax wheels, repaired big
wheels, and in all the lines of his
multifarious talent, made himself a
useful member of society.
Peter Davis, who married John
Eaton's daughter, was a man of kin-
dred genius with his father-in-law.
He took up his residence near Long
pond, where he made clocks to regu-
late the affairs of the community.
Tradition says that he put eighteen
barrels of cider in his cellar one fall,
and, with the help of his son, drank
it all before spring. But it must be
remembered that those were neigh-
borly days, and, besides, the pur-
chase of a clock being a transaction
of importance, would be naturally
attended with much deliberation.
About the year 1772, Joseph Cut-
ter came, the first of a name that was
destined to fill much space in the
history of the town. He was a man
88
lAFFREY.
The Ark.'
of great undertakings, who minded
his own affairs and prospered there-
by. After clearing the farm at pres-
ent owned by Solomon Garfield, he
moved yet further into the woods
and took up a large tract of land
near the foot of the mountain. Here
he felled the giant trees, built a log
cabin, and continued adding to his
domain until he became the largest
landed proprietor and heaviest tax-
payer in the township. He had a
family of ten children, and five of his
sons he established upon farms in
different parts of the town. His
mountain farm he divided between
two of his sons, and afterwards he
became a taverner at the center of
the town. His tavern was kept in
the house at the north side of the
common, at present owned by Robert
R. Endicott, Esq. This is all that
remains of the former hostelry, "a
large pile of buildings," that fur-
nished ample accommodations for his
many guests.
Joseph Cutter, Jr., like his father,
was a man of patriarchal type. He
had a large family of children and
a wide estate. With singular pre-
science of future times, he built the
commodious dwelling at present
owned by Joel H. Poole. "Who
hmW. the ark?" ran the question in
the catechism of the day. "Joe.
Cutter built the ark," was the ap-
proved reply. And the ark it has
been called to the present time.
He was one who builded better than
he knew, and the place, under the
shadow of the Grand Monadnock,
has become famous under the man-
agement of Joel H. Poole and his
son, descendants of the first settler,
as a resort for health and rest for
summer visitors to the town.
Road to " The Ark."
To the centre of the town came
another Cutter, John the tanner, who
at once became one of the foremost
men of the town. Over to the north,
near the Dublin line, lived Abel
Parker, a patriot of Bunker Hill, and
a commanding figure in county and
town affairs. His sons were men of
distinguished ability in business and
the profession of law. Dr. Adonijah
Howe lived on the present Shattuck
farm, and his fame as a physician
extended to all the towns around.
In the southwest again, Jereme Un-
derwood, a soldier of the Revolution,
town officer and carpenter, hewed
long timbers for the substantial farm
buildings in vv'hich his grandson,
George A. Underwood, lives to-day.
Ebenezer Hathorn came to town
as early as 1775, and settled where
Will J. Mower now lives. He was a
soldier and could tell of hair-breadth
escapes in the old French and Indian
JAFFREY.
89
wars. He made steelyards iu Jaffrey,
in order that his fellow-townsmen
might not cheat each other, and
some of the useful instruments that
he made have regulated the barter
of many generations, and are in
unquestioned service at the present
day.
Col. Jedediah Sanger settled near
the mountain, and a road was laid
out to his "chopping." He was a
great man during his brief stay in
town, but he went early with the
march of empire westward, and fixed
his name forever in the land by
founding the town of Sangerfield in
the state of New York.
Of the rugged men who rough-
liewed the town from the wilderness,
there were many more deserving of
lasting remembrance and honor, but
space forbids even a mention of their
names. They were the wall builders
Sugar Lot of J. H. Poole & Son.
and have left their sign-manual
upon the hills that they cleared
so that all who pass may read
of the manner of men they
were.
But better than volumes of
history to tell of the life of
the early inhabitants is the
sight of one of the unchanged
houses in which they lived.
Passing the Underwood farm,
and going toward the steep slopes
of Gap mountain you come at the
end of a grass grown road to the
house of Thomas Dunshee, one of
the pioneers. Here is a place where
time has been asleep through all the
changes of a hundred years. It is
as if some kindly spirit had held it
under a spell, to give to the later
times a glimpse of the lives of the
fathers, so rugged, simple, and sin-
cere. The old house that has never
known clapboards or paint has been
turned by wind and sun to a softened
shade that art could not improve.
Behind the house a rustic well-sweep
swings the cool bucket from the well.
In the kitchen is the fireplace and
the crane ; no stove was ever brought
inside its doors. On the great beams
overhead hangs the old musket that
served iu the training days, and has
laid low many a marauder of the
barn and field.
Before this great fireplace the past
seventy-five years, with all its pro-
gress, vanishes like a dream. The
place was for man}' j-ears the home
of Ezra Baker, who, with his wife,
is shown by the fireside in the illus-
tration with this sketch. They kept
the old house through a long and
useful lifetime, as it came to them,
and left it in possession of their son,
Milton Baker, who with true appre-
Interior of the Residence of Ezra Baker.
90
[AFFREY.
■%i
^;^^:-v';4^J fe^
Monadnock — Half Way Up.
ciation of its character, carefully
guard it from change.
The character of the rapidly in-
creasing population was a matter of
great importance, and very early we
find the town taking measures for
the restriction of immigration. They
did not care for numbers, but were
very particular about the brand, and
all who were unlikely to become self-
supporting citizens were served with
summary warning by the constable
to depart forthwith. This action was
taken under the provision of a law
designed to prevent the indigent and
the vicious from becoming charges
upon the slender resources of the
town.
In connection with this old custom
one instance is of interest. In 1781,
John Fitch, an old man broken by
the storms, had come to town to live
with his son who had settled on the
farm now owned by Benjamin Pierce,
Esq. But his son's means did not
assure his support, and so the old
man was warned to depart, and was
carried by the constable, as we sup-
pose, to his former place of residence
in Ashby, Mass. He had been a
man of action, and had borne the
brunt of battle in the Indian wars.
His house had been an outpost on
the frontier, and had been garrisoned
by the province and partly sustained
from the public treasury. While
here he was attacked ' by a force of
eighty Indians. Only two men were
with him at the time, and after these
were killed he was obliged to sur-
render to save the lives of his family.
With his wife and five small chil-
dren, among whom was Paul Fitch,
the settler in Jaffrey, he was carried
captive to Canada. After many suf-
ferings he was ransomed, and with
^A
UBR/i
^';^
y
JAFFREY. .... 91
his family, except his wife who died the towns and the defence of the,*
on the way home, he returned to the State," was one of the sights of tiraifl-
scene of his former labors. He be- ing day for'^nialiy years-. ^ '__^^-^"
came a man of wealth and distinction In 18 14 the famons-'J'aSrey Rifle
iu his times. He was a large land- Company was organized and it con-
holder, and his name was often found tinned in existence until 1851. P'or
j»i
in the registry of deeds. He gave his
name to the town of Fitchburg, and
many honors have been rendered to
his memory by the thriving city that
has grown from the town. He was
many years it was the best drilled
company iu the Twelfth regiment of
militia, and the first on the muster
field.
A company of nineteen soldiers
impoverished by the depreciation of from Jaffrey served at Portsmouth in
the currency in the Revolutionary the War of 1812 ; two enlisted for
period, and during his last years was the War with Mexico, and one hun-
assisted by the town where he had dred and fifty-one for the War of the
his home. Among the ironies of
time it would be hard to find one
more keen than this, that, after so
many 3'ears, in the towai that had
no room for him, railroad trains,
blazoned with his name (Fitchburg
Railroad), the symbol of a prosperity
of which they never dreamed, daily
pass iu sight of the place from
which, in his old age and poverty,
the constable warned him to depart.
But the warning out seems after
a few years to have become a per-
functory affair, and many men who
had been honored on their arrival in
town with that first punctilious call
from the constable, remained, not-
withstanding, to become prosperous
and influential citizens.
Very early in the history of the
town a train band was established,
and in 1786, authority was granted
for a company of Light Horse to be
made up in this and adjoining towns,
and according to the petition, with
the consent of all interested, the chief
command was the portion of ' ' our
trusty friend and well-disposed Citi-
zen, Namely Peter Jones." This or-
ganization so "highly Necessary for
the better regulation of the Militia in
The Old Meeting-house.
Rebellion, a record of which the town
may be justly proud.
But the choicest history of the old
New England towns is woven about
the meeting-house and the minister.
"What a debt," says Emerson, "is
ours to that old religion, which in
the childhood of most of us still
dwelt like a Sabbath morning in the
country of New England, teaching
privation, self-denial, and sorrow."
The chief fact about a people has
been said to be their religion, and it
remains incontestably true that to
the old country churches much of
the influence of New England upon
the character and progress of the
nation has been due.
92
lAFFREY.
It was one of the provisions of the
charter of the town that " a good and
convenient meeting-house should be
built." The meeting-house was to
the early inhabitants of New Eng-
Fiibt Cunyregational Church and Parsonage,
Jaffrey Centre.
land like the Temple to the Israelites
of old. On the year following the in-
corporation of the town in considering
the subject of a meeting-house, it was
voted "to build one near the senter
this and the ensueing year." The
length of the house was fixed at fifty-
five feet, the width at forty-five, and
the height to the roof at twenty-seven
feet. These were goodly dimensions
when the size of the town was con-
sidered, but at a later meeting this
vote was reconsidered, the length
was increased to sixty feet, and it
was voted to have a porch at each
end of the house.
It was provided that the great tim-
ber of the house should be hewed
before winter, and that the house
should be raised b}' the middle of
June in the following year. It was
to be well "under Pined with good
stone and lime . . . the lower
floor lead Duble and Pulpit like that
in Rindge meeting house," and all
to be completed within one year from
the raising of the trame.
There is a tradition that the meet-
ing-house was raised on the 17th of
June, the day of the battle of Bunker
Hill, but Hon. Joel Parker in his
centennial address has furnished evi-
dence that the raising was nearer to
the time fixed by vote of the town.
Jeremiah Spofford was the master
carpenter in the framing of the house,
and it is said that on his return to
his home in Massachusetts on the
day following the completion of his
work, he heard the firing at Bunker
Hill as he rode through Townsend,
and that evening from the Westford
hills he saw the light of Charlestown
burning. We are loath to part with
the old tradition but whatever the
date there has been no greater day in
the history of the town.
A supply of all provisions and
utensils needful had been ordered by
vote of the town, but as often hap-
pens some most essential things were
overlooked, and it was left to the
forethought of Capt. Henry Coffeen
to provide the necessary barrel of
rum. He had been a carpenter at
the raising of the meeting-house in
Rindge and knew the indispensable
requirements of such an occasion.
Baptist Church.
But for the sake of being authentic
and precise, it must be said to our
humiliation and sorrow that the barrel
of rum lingered long in the category
of benefits forgot, and it was more
JAFFREY.
93
than five years before the public-
spirited captain was paid for ' ' the
Barral of Rum and two Dollars Sil-
ver money he lycnt the town."
It may be assumed that every able-
bodied man in town was present and
ready to work besides the elder ones,
who came to see and to give counsel,
and the boys who passed the inspirit-
ing drink. Jeremiah Spofford was
master workman and Captain Cof-
sight, and had it happened in other
times, among a people more imagina-
tive, or fallen in the way of a histo-
rian with less regard for truth, it
might, perhaps, have been said that
a spirit in flaming vestments came
down when the day was done to bless
the work.
As might have been supposed from
the character of the congregation, they
were not readily agreed in the choice
Congregational Parsonage.
feen. Captain Adams, and many
more were his competent assistants.
John Eaton was there to help with
his unfailing skill, and we may be-
lieve that on such a gala occasion
he was conspicuous in his red cloth
"chaket."
To raise the great timbers was a
work that required strength and skill,
and was not unattended with danger,
but before night it was safely done,
and as a crowning ceremony before
the eyes of the workmen and the
populace John Eaton stood on his
head upon the high ridgepole of the
skeleton frame. It was a marvelous
Congregational Church.
of a minister. Many candidates ap-
plied, but no minister was settled for
several years. Perhaps the town
was too exacting, but from the
record the cause of the delay does
not clearly appear. In 1780 they
were still without a minister, and
in their extremity they talked of re-
considering a former vote that " No
Comittee shall imply no minister ex-
cept those that Preach upon Proba-
tion." Such a vote would certainly
seem to demand revision, but let it
not enter the thought of any one that
any dangerous latter day doctrine is
implied in this. The minister alone
94
fAFFREY.
was a subject for probation iu those
orthodox days.
Mr. Caleb Jewett was at this time,
after probation, accepted by both
church and town. A call w^as ex-
tended to him and for his " Incour-
agement " it was voted to give as
salar)^ seventy pounds, lawful money,
"to be paid to him after the rate of
Rye at four shillings per bushel,
Catholic Church.
Indian Corn at three shillings four
pence per bushel, Beef, Poark, But-
ter and Cheese as they were in the
years 1 774-' 75." But with all this
encouragement Mr. Jewett did not
see fit to accept the call, and the
flock was still wdthout a shepherd.
But their disappointment was con-
secrated to their good , for in the fol-
lowing year the committee on ' ' Sup-
plies of Preaching" found at the
commencement exercises at Dart-
mouth college a young divinity stu-
dent by the name of Laban Ains-
worth, who possessed a combination
of wisdom and grace that fitted him
for ministry and leadership among
such a people. They engaged him
to preach. He passed successfully
the period of probation, and was ac-
cepted by both church and towm.
The management of the church ser-
vice in those days even to the small-
est details was a matter for debate in
town-meeting. In 1778, in the midst
of war's alarm, the freeholders and
inhabitants in town-meeting assem-
bled, took up the matter of services
on the lyord's day, and made choice
of " William Smiley to read the
psalm and likewise chose Abrani
Bailey and David Stanley to tune
the psalm." They also voted to
sing a " verce at a time, once iu the
forenoon and once in the afternoon."
Occasional lack of harmony is sug-
gested by a vote of the town a few
3^ears later that "Jacob Balding
assist Dea. Spofford to tune the
psalm in his absence or inability to
set it."
The meeting-house was finished
after the fashion of the day with
galleries on three sides, square box
pews, and a pulpit elevated and
dignified, under a sounding-board
of huge dimensions suspended from
the timbers above. The walls of
the pews, or " sheep pens," as irrev-
erent tradition has called them, were
surmounted by a banister or balus-
trade, and the only means of getting
a view of their surroundings for the
boys and girls was by peeping be-
tween the spindles over the top of the
pews. On each side of the enclosure
were hinged seats that were raised
when the congregation rose during
singing or prayer, and in the middle
a chair was often placed in which the
head of the family or perhaps gran'sir
or grandma sat. It was an arrange-
ment admirably calculated to preserve
the decorum due to the occasion, as
from this centre the arm of authority
JAFFREY.
95
could carry swift discipline to both
points of the compass.
The early records speak of the
"men's side and women's side," but
it seems that such a division was not
long maintained. It probably refers
to the first seats erected in the
meeting-house before the pews as
family comparlments had been built.
Three of these old seats on each side
of the broad aisle were retained as
free seats, after the pews were built
"Sacred to the memory of Violate, by sale
the slave of Amos Fortune, by Marriage his
wife, by her fidelity, his friend and solace.
She died his widow, Sept. 13, 1802, a. 72."
If tradition may be trusted, the
church service of the old time was
far fess forbidding than many have
supposed. In the high gallery, as the
3'ears passed, a bass viol was heard.
" Dagon " it was called in oppro-
brious epithet after the old god of
the Phillistines, but nevertheless it
Baptist Parsonage.
and were occupied by the poor and
aged of the parish.
The singers occupied the centre of
the gallery, and to the right and left
were more free seats that were filled
by the boys from the overflowing
pews, under the watchful eye of the
tything man. Under the high pulpit
was a slip for the deacons and elders,
and perhaps as a mark of distin-
guished consideration, a pew for
negroes was set apart. The indi-
viduals thus honored were doubtless
Amos Fortune, the tanner, and his
wife. Violate, whose epitaphs in the
old churchyard eloquently tell the
story of their lives.
"Sacred to the memory of Amos Fortune,
Who was born free in Africa, a slave in America.
He purchased his liberty. Professed Christian-
ity, Lived reputably, died hopefully, Nov. 17,
1801, a. 91."
^m
The Ainsworth Parsonage, now the Summer Residence
of Rev. Frederick W. Greene.
held its place and sometimes a conse-
crated fiddle helped also to tune the
sacred psalm. When the singing be-
gan the congregation rose and faced
the choir, and when the last note of old
Dundee had floated upward into rest,
an instant of pandemonium ensued,
as, with clatter and clang, the old
hinged seats dropped into place.
When silence once more reigned,
the minister arose. He was a man of
strong frame and venerable aspect.
And sitting near the preacher, be-
hind the sacred desk, with his great
ear horn raised, that no word of
promise might be lost, was Jacob
Pierce, the old hero of Bunker Hill.
The sermons, though often doc-
trinal, were never long, and they
met with the approval of the people
through a pastorate that for duration
96
JAFFREY.
has perhaps never been equaled iu
the church in Atntrica. For seventy-
six and one half years Labau Ains-
worth was minister of the church iu
Jaffrey, and he died at the great
age of one hundred years, leaving a
memory that is a priceless possession
to the town that he served.
The Third New^ Hampshire Turn-
pike Road, by a charter granted by
the legislature in 1799, obtained a
right of way through this town.
stage, wagon, phaeton, chariot, or
coach, all must stop and pay their
toll before the creaking gate would
swing to let them pass. There were
teamsters from Vermont, often ten or
fifteen together ; farmers with their
loads of truck, and a little keg of
cider stowed under the seat for their
solace and cheer. Their horses, it
must be said, were often sorr}- jades,
and their harness marvelously con-
structed from straps and bits of string.
Summit of Monadnock, Showing Glacial Action.
The road was in many ways greatly
beneficial ; it diverted through traffic
from Vermont from the neighboring
towns, and made tavern-keeping a
lucrative occupation. It also made
accessible to the farmers the markets
of Boston for the products of their
farms.
Processions of varied and wonder-
ful composition were daily halted at
the gates. On a bill-board so that
all might read were posted the rates
for animals of the various sorts, and
for carts according to the number
of wheels, — sulky chair or chaise,
There were droves of cattle and
razor-back hogs, flocks of turkeys
and sheep, all moving with dull un-
consciousness along the fatal road
to its end iu the shambles of Brigh-
ton. But grandest of all were the
mail coaches of the "Old Mail
and Despatch lyine," that passed
daily, often with six horses on a
gallop, between Boston and Keene.
George and Bob Nicholas, the latter
familiarl)' and admiringly called " Old
Nick," were drivers of great renown
along the turnpike in those days ; and
it was an ambition exalted enough for
JAFFREY.
97
Residence of K. N. Davis, formerly the old
Prescott Tavern.
any healthy boy that he might some
day fill their honored place. In the
busy season of travel the old road
presented a panorama of constant in-
terest and change, and a truthful
man who remembered those days
has declared that Barnum's Greatest
Show on Earth was never a circum-
stance to the caravans that passed
along the turnpike in those stirring
times.
There were famous taverns in Jaf-
frey in the turnpike days ; those most
frequently mentioned in the stage reg-
isters were Prescott's and Milliken's,
both commodious brick houses, one in
the east part of the town, and the other
in the west. (Residence of K. N.
Davis and summer residence of Mrs.
Pratt.) It was a custom of many of
the teamsters to carry their provi-
sions for the journey, and it was
not uncommon to see them sitting by
the bar-room fire eating the Johnny
cake and doughnuts that they had
taken from home ; but he was a
small-souled man who did not patron-
ize the bar of the hostelry liberally
for liquid refreshments during his
stay. One frugal man from Jaffrey,
it is said, took his little keg of
cider with him to the fireside to save
the expense of " flip," and some of
the teamsters about the place slyly
burned out the bung with the logger-
xsvii- 7
head that was heating in the coals,
and his precious liquor flooded the
bar-room floor.
The question of allowing to cor-
porations privileges upon the public
streets, which at present is disturb-
ing so many municipalities, was
summarily disposed of in Jaffrey.
For a large part of the distance
through the town the turnpike had
been laid over pre-existing roads ;
and it was an intolerable grievance
to the people that they should be
compelled to halt and pay toll where
they had a prior right to pass. A
toll gate had been erected on the
bridge by which now stands the cot-
ton factory in East Jaffrey, and in
spite of the advantages of this new
line of travel, a vote was passed
directing the selectmen to move the
gate off the bridge near Deacon Spof-
ford's mill. But nothing was done,
and the inaction of the selectmen
was by some ascribed to the undue
influence of certain prominent men,
who were stockholders and directors
in the turnpike corporation.
At a second town-meeting a reso-
lution was adopted censuring the
selectmen for their neglect of the
duty assigned them. A new board
of selectmen was elected and "sol-
emnly enjoined to remove the gate
White Brothers' Mi
98
JAFFREY.
aforesaid, with everything apertain-
ing to the same which said inhabi-
tants view to be a public nuisance,
within twenty-four hours from this
time ; and again in case said pro-
prietors shall have the temerity to
erect another gate on or across any
part of the public road through this
town which was used as such before
sd proprietors were incorporated,
then, and in that case, the said
selectmen are hereby enjoined to re-
first mill on this privilege was built
about the year 1770, by John Bor-
land, one of the Scotch Irish pioneers.
On May i, 177S, Borland sold his
mill property to Dea. Eleazer Spof-
ford of Danvers, Mass., and soon
after removed from town. Deacon
Spofford made many improvements,
and at once became a prominent citi-
zen of the town. Hon. Joel Parker
said of him " that he was a tall gen-
tleman of grave demeanor, pleasant
One of Many Pretty Roads.
move the same as often as there shall
be any gate erected." Such em-
phatic commands were not to be
evaded, and that night, or soon
after, by some persons unknown, the
toll gate and all that ' ' apertained
to the same ' ' was torn down and
thrown into the river.
Lawsuits followed but the gate
was never again erected in the town
of Jaffrey. It was carried across the
border into Sharon, where it con-
tinued to hold up the traveling pub-
lic for many years.
The mills at East Jaffrey have
been a mainstay of the town. The
smile and kind heart. His mills
were complete for their day. In the
grist-mill was a jack, which, if it was
not the progenitor, was the prototype
of the modern elevator in hotels and
stores. It was worked by water
power to carry the wheat as soon as
it was ground to the bolter in the
attic. A ride in it with his son
Luke, then miller, but afterwards
clergyman, was a treat to the boys
who brought wheat to be ground."
His sawmill, too, it is said,
possessed improvements over any
other then known, and it was while
watching, one day, some marvelous
/AFFREY.
99
contrivance about the mill that a
negro, who was probably Amos For-
tune, the tanner, asked with mingled
astonishment and appeal, " Why,
Massa Spofford, couldn't you get
up a machine to hoe corn ? "
Ainsworth R. Spofford, a son of
Luke Spofford, the young miller,
became the efficient librarian of con-
gress in after 3'ears. Deacon Spof-
ford lived in the house at present
owned by Aaron Perkins, and his
house and mill, with the house of
William Hodge, now the residence
of E. B. Crowe, appear to have made
up the west section of the village of
his day. Joseph Lincoln had a
clothier's shop near the site of Web-
ster's tack manufactory, and Abner
Spofford was a blacksmith in this
section of the town.
About the beginning of the present
century the spinning of cotton by
machinery began to receive attention
in this country. In 1808, the first
cotton mill in New Hampshire was
built at New Ipswich, and soon after
a like enterprise was launched in
Peterborough. Jaffrey was not to be
outdone by her neighbors. She
possessed citizens of enterprise and
intelHgence, and while here as in
many other places, the mills were
bitterly opposed on the ground that
''^'^'''H^
.4.-^*
School-house, East Jaffrey,
School-house, Jaffrey Centre — Old Melville Academy.
the labor-saving machinery would
deprive the poor people of a means
of support, yet these fallacious argu-
ments did not deter these more pro-
gressive men from their purpose, and
in the year 18 13, a company, consist-
ing of Dr. Adonijah Howe, Samuel
Dakin, Artemas Lawrence, Nathaniel
Holmes, Jr., of Peterborough, Caleb
Searle, William Hodge, John Stevens,
and Samuel Foster, was incorporated
under the name of "The First Cot-
ton and Woolen Factory in Jaffrey."
In December of the same year the
company purchased of Deacon Spof-
ford his mill property, together with
some adjoining tracts of land, and on
the premises they erected the old
wooden mill which is still remem-
bered by many citizens of the town.
This mill, according to an old gazet-
teer, had a capacity of one thousand
spindles.
The machinery is said to have
been made by Nathaniel Holmes, Jr.,
of Peterborough, and Artemas Law-
lOO
fAFFREY.
I
N. W. Wluwtr s Biock.
189S the business was largely in-
creased by an addition to the East
Jaffrey mills, and at the present time
three hundred and twenty-five hands
find constant employment in the cot-
ton mills of White Brothers in this
town.
About the year 1758, Ephraim
Hunt, a young man who hailed from
the historic town of Concord in
the province of Massachusetts Bay,
rence of Jaffrey, who was a black-
smith. Holmes had learned the
trade by working in the lately-estab-
lished mills in Peterborough.
The incorporated company carried
on the business for twenty-one years,
and in 1834 deeded the property to
William Ainsworth, a son of Rev.
Laban Ainsworth, who, soon after,
deeded the saw- and grist-mill to
Samuel Patrick, and three years later
the cotton mill became the property of
Solomon Richardson, Perkins Bige-
low, and Edwin Walton.
In 1844, the cqtton factory came into
the possession of Alonzo Bascom and
others. Alonzo Bascom was born in
Hinsdale, but came to this town from
Palmer, Mass. He was a man of
marked ability and enterprise. He
found business in the new-bought
mills at a standstill, but by his
energy he gave it new life. He
largely increased the capacity of the
old Cheshire mill, and built the new
brick mill in East Jaffrey. He died
in the midst of a successful career in
September, 1872.
After one or two other changes
both the East Jaffrey and Cheshire
mills came into the possession of
the White Brothers of Winchendon,
Mass., about the year 1884, and their
occupancy has been one of uninter-
rupted activity and progress. In
Residence of S. H. Mower.
built a mill at Squantum, where he
sawed lumber and ground grain.
This is said to have been the first
mill in town, and tradition tells of
settlers with pack horses coming for
fifteen miles by marked trees to bring
their grist to his mill. Other mills
have replaced the old mill of Eph-
raim Hunt, and have continued in
operation to the present time. On
the Contoocook river, near the Peter-
borough line, M. I^. Hadley has suc-
ceeded to the ownership of one of the
old-time mills. Here he manufac-
tures turned-chair stock, and by
superior workmanship has gained a
patronage that keeps him constantly
employed. On the site of the old
lyincoln and Foster fulling mill is
the manufactory of the Granite State
Tack company, where, with improved
machinery and the best skill, tacks
and shoe nails are made that for
quality challenge the best in the
JAFFREY.
lOI
world. Many other mills in differ-
ent parts of the town, in which
a great variety of work has been
done, have gone with the changes
of time.
The mills of Jaffrey are located at
the head waters of the busiest stream
in the world, and the water that here
performs its first work helps drive the
turbines of Manchester, IvOwell, and
I^awrence on its passage to the sea.
The Contoocook is a most exemplary
stream, and its praises have been too
long unsung. Association with good
men, from the days of Deacon Spof-
ford till now, has made it, like a
sacred river of Judea, tamed in the
writings of Josephus, a Sabbath-
keeping stream, as any one may see
who drives along its banks by the
Peterborough road and contrasts its
^^^^ I 1^ II
Store of Goodnow Brothers & Co.
Sunday quietness with its week-day
hurry and foam.
But a sketch of a New England
town would be essentially lacking
without some mention of its stores.
From the earliest times the store-
keepers have been men of influence.
They have been generally the ready
men of the communit}-, with both
tongue and pen, and in Jaffrey as in
other towns of old New England, it
has been in the country store that
public opinion has been formed and
questions of town and national policy
discussed.
There is a tradition that the first
storekeeper in Jaffrey was a man by
the name of Breed, but the location
of his emporium is not known. The
storekeepers named in the first re-
corded tax-list in 1793, are Joseph
Thorndike and David Sherwin.
Thorndike was a merchant at the
centre of the town in the house now
owned by Dr. Phelps, and Sherwin' s
store was at Squantum, where the
house of Thomas Anuett now stands.
Thomas Sherwin, a son of David
Sherwin, was master of the famous
English High School in Boston. He
aided in the establishment of the In-
stitute of Technology, and was inti-
mately connected with many associa-
tions for the advancement of learn-
ing. His name has been greatly
honored in the city that he so faith-
fully served.
Squantum with its sawmill, grist-
mill, fulling mill, blacksmith shop,
tavern, and store was an earlj' centre
of trade, and the business established
by David Sherwin was continued for
more than half a century. But the
centre of the town held many advan-
tages as a centre of trade, and for
many years the largest stores were
Residence of Waiter L. Goodnow.
I02
JAFFRE\.
there. Among the other names long
and honorably connected with the
mercantile business of Jaffrey, in the
past are Paysou, Lacy, Duncan, Up-
ton, Foster, Bascom, and Powers.
In the early part of the present
century the village of East Jaffrey
A Summer Camp.
was a local habitation without a
name. It possessed neither meeting-
house nor store — not even a tavern
to slake the thirst of the wayfaring
man, but with the building of the
cotton mills a village sprang up like
the gourd in Jonah's dream, and it
has grown to overshadow the town.
The stores of Jaffrey are a credit to
the town, but the bustle and enter-
prise of these later daj's have been
the death of philosophy and the old
settle and whittled-bottomed chair
have gone to the limbo of outworn
things.
During the greater part of the first
half of the present century, in the lit-
tle house at present owned by John
F. Wheeler, lived Aunt Hannah
Davis, one of those unique characters
for which New England is famed.
In her the stars conspired to produce
a genius. She was a granddaughter
of John Eaton, the master of many
trades, and a daughter of Peter
Davis, aforesaid, maker of wooden
clocks. She never troubled her
mind about what occupations were
open to women, but, obedient to her
genius, she invented and manufac-
tured the nailed bandbox, and be-
came, thereby, a benefactor of her sex.
Who does not see in her work a lin-
gering trace of the red jacket, as
well as the product of three genera-
tions of inventive genius and manual
skill? The bandbox, besides being
the sacred repository of the treasures
of womankind, was the trunk and
satchel of those days.
Aunt Hannah's bandboxes were
substantially made, the bottoms from
boards of light, dry pine, and the
rims from spruce, shaved from the
log or bolt with a heavy knife. This
work required the strength of a man,
and the help of her neighbors was
employed in getting out the scab-
bards or scab-boards, as they were
called. From this point, with con-
trivances of her own invention, aided
by a marvelous manual dexterity,
she formed the box and finally fin-
ished it with a covering of paper of
varied and ornamental design. She
owned as a part of her equipment a
wagon of the prairie schooner type,
covered with a canopy of white cloth.
And when a shopful of her wares
had been accumulated she loaded her
wagon to the roof, hired a sober-
minded horse of her neighbors and
set out for the factory towns where
finery did most abound.
An old newspaper clipping in the
possession of Mrs. S. Willard Pierce,
who was a friend and helper of Aunt
Hannah in her enfeebled old age,
describes the factory girls of those
JAFFREy.
\ox
daj's and their bandboxes, which, it
is said, were made by Hannah Davis
of Jaffrey, and within the memory of
many now Hving the tops of the
stage coaches that run to the factory
towns were often covered with the
product of her shop. In the large
towns of Manchester and Lowell she
was well known, and when, as was
her custom, she halted her van at
the mill door at the hour of noon she
was sure of eager customers and a
lively trade. She is remembered,
while many of greater pretension are
forgotten, for her unique individual-
ity, her good works and sincere piety,
as well as for her unusual skill, and
her name has been honored by a me-
morial window in the Baptist church,
of which she was a devoted member.
Among the later names that have
brought honor to the town is that of
John Conant, a farmer of Jaffrey,
whose benefactions to public and
religious institutions aggregrated
more than one hundred thousand dol-
lars, seventy thousand of which was
a gift to the Agricultural college of
New Hampshire. Conant Hall at
Dartmouth, and the Conant High
school of Jaffrey were founded upon
his bequests and named in his honor.
Whe-e shy Contoocook gleams."
Shattuck Farm.
As for the men of the present time,
their record is best read in the well-
kept farms, the mills and stores, and
all those manifestations of enterprise
and thrift that have given Jaffrey a
good name among the towns of the
state. A summary of progress after
nearly one hundred and fifty years of
history, shows a population of ap-
proximately eighteen hundred souls,
with all the varied elements that
make up a complete and progres-
sive town. There are prosperous
farms, banks, railroad, telegraph
and telephone, mills, where up-
wards of four hundred hands find
constant employment, stores that are
hardly excelled in the smaller cities,
a public library, good schools, five
churches, all well supported, hotels
and boarding houses that furnish ac-
commodations for the transient guest
as well as for the hundreds of sum-
mer visitors who come to enjoy the
unexcelled attractions of the place as
a summer resort.
Nature has so grouped her beauties
here that very few towns in New
England possess greater advantages
and attractions as a summer resort.
Here is a land of pictures of infinite
variety and charm. Jaffrey abounds
in shady drives. Her roads, if not of
the latest build, are attractive as Na-
I04
fAFFREY.
ture's ways, and many of them yet
follow with alluring curves the ' ' trod
way " of the bridle path or the blazed
trees of the settlers' trail.
The territorial limits of the town
that have remained unchanged since
the days of Joseph Blanchard, were
in 1787 threatened by certain de-
signing men of Sliptown (afterward
Sharon), who petitioned the General
Court for the annexation of a strip
of land one mile in width from the
east side of Jaffrey. In a vigorous
remonstrance the inhabitants of Jaf-
frey represented to the law makers
of the state that they had no terri-
tory to spare, and in the course of
their weight}' argument they said :
' ' Moreover their is a Verry great
mountain in this town and a great
Number of Large ponds which ren-
ders about the fourth part thereof
not habitable, besides a great deal of
other wast Land which makes the
habitable part of this town but barely
sufficient to maintain our minister
and support our publick priveledges."
Residence of Charles R. Kittredge.
But times have changed, and the
waste land, the large ponds, and the
very great mountain that troubled
the thrifty hearts of the pioneers,
have come to be the choicest pos-
sessions of the town. As some great
genius lends of his fame to the place
that gave him birth, so it will be
always the chiefest fame of Jaffrey
that Monadnock mountain is there.
The glory of Monadnock is its
isolation. It stands apart from its
brothers of the north and west as if
in some far time it had been sep-
arated from them by some grim, re-
lentless feud. Many of the famous
" Uprose Monadnock in the northern blue, a mighty minster builded to the Lord."
JAFFREY.
105
peaks of the world stand shoulder
to shoulder with dead altitudes, or
brood in eternal hopelessness over
some desert plain. But Mouadnock,
with its rugged, rock-rent sides, is
planted in a world of green hills and
rich vallej's gemmed with a profu-
sion of woodland lakes. From the
rocky summit, on every side, thrifty
farm buildings are seen clustering
here and there into villages, with
steeples and towers. And sometimes
on a windless day the sound of a
mowing machine, like a cricket in
the grass, floats faintly to the sum-
Residence of Russell H. Kittredge.
mit with its suggestions of remote-
ness and the mystery of life. Again
the littleness of the far-off world
comes over one as he watches a
trailing line of smoke that marks the
creeping progress of a tiny railroad
train along the " town sprinkled " val-
ley. It is a dream of New England
realized.
The hill would not go to Mahomet,
and so Mahomet went to the hill.
With each return of summer the
prophet's miracle is repeated here.
From far and near the people come
to receive the largess of Monadnock,
promised through Emerson, its priest
and bard :
" I will give my son to eat
Best of Pan's immortal meat,
Bread to eat and juice to drain ;
So the coinage of his brain
Shall be not forms of stars but stars,
Not pictures pale but Jove and Mars."
Can any part of the world promise
better things than these ? What
place will leave in memory a brighter
picture than this by Edna Dean
Proctor, of Monadnock in autumn
with its groves and streams?
" Up rose Monadnock in the northern blue,
A mighty minster builded to the Lord !
The setting sun his crimson radiance threw
On crest and steep and wood and valley
sward,
Blending their myriad hues in rich accord ;
Till like the wall of heaven it towered to
view.
Along its slope where russet ferns were
strewn,
And purple heaths the scarlet maples flamed,
And reddening oaks and golden birches
shown, —
Resplendent oriels in the black pines framed,
The pines that climb to woo the wind alone,
And down its cloisters blew the evening
breeze,
Through courts and aisles ablaze with autumn
bloom,
Till shrine and portal thrilled to harmonies
Now soaring, dying now in glade and gloom.
And with the wind was heard the voice of
streams, —
Constant their Aves and Te Deums be, —
Lone Ashuelot murmuring down the lea.
And brooks that haste where shy Contoocook
gleams
Through groves and meadows broadening to
the sea.
Then holy twilight fell on earth and air,
While all the lesser heights kept watch and
ward
About Monadnock builded to the Lord."
IP- *
Beyond Monadnock.
COMK TO THE "OLD HOME WEEK."
By Alfred E. Baker.
Come to the " Old Home Week,"
Come to your native mountains,
Come where your heart may seek
The waters from living fountains.
Come where the memory 's green
With the love that knows no parting,
Come where the joy is seen,
In the tears that know no smarting.
Come where the streams are flowing,
With the honey of love and the milk of truth,
Come where in Concord growing.
Is the tree of eternal youth.
Daughter and son, husband and wife,
Father and mother and all.
Out of the sorrow and care and strife.
Obeying the Father's call.
Then will the home-coming glorious be.
And the " Old Home Week " the new year^make.
As we drink of the font of Love's liberty.
And of our Father's welcome home partake.
A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE.
By Bert P. Doe.
r happened one night in the troubles of the day, and soon after
chill month of February. The the clock proclaimed the waning
sun had long ago cast its final hours of the evening I left friends
ray on the cold, cheerless and gay scenes, and after a short
earth. A pearly moon from a cloud- walk in this ideal winter evening air,
less sky, together with the flickering I was in my own room ready to
stars, which dotted the dark arch drown life's fluctuating scenes in a
above, lighted up the winter scene few hours of sleep, then so welcome
without a speck of warmth. All was to my hot and restless brain. Only a
hushed without. few quiet hours, I realized, and an-
I was weary with the cares and other day of strife would dawn.
A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE.
107
I hastily took a last glance at
the pearly moon and the quivering
shadows stirred by a lazy breeze from
the south, and pulled the curtain
aside. I had not been in my downy
couch long before I was lost — lost in
slumber, so dear to tired brain and
throbbing nerves. Then I was borne
away, as if by some unseen magic
power, to scenes new to me. I stood
on a high cliff at the entrance of a
large, elegant, white mansion ; be-
fore the door stood an old man, with
gray locks hanging low on his fore-
head. His frame was thin and
wasted, and the bones in his hands
and legs were plainly visible. At
his feet stood an hour-glass, such as
I have seen pictured on the pages of
old almanacs, and hanging over the
doorway behind him was a scythe,
long of handle, and the blade long
and narrow, glistening in the rays of
the sun.
He greeted me with a wan smile
and extended his bony hand. Re-
membering the pictures I had seen,
it flashed across my mind that he
was Father Time, and the house was
his mansion.
"My lad," he said, "come in, now
is the only time as long as the earth
continues to revolve that you will
find me at my home. Now all is
quiet in your land — all have ceased
to grow old — the progress of all
things is stagnant. Only this once ;
never before has this happened, nor
never shall it again. Come in and I
will show you through my mansion,
large and fine."
I stood still, half in wonderment,
half in fear. "No, I cannot stop,"
I said, "I am weary, my head is
throbbing from hard labor and my
nerves are tired. I am looking for a
place to rest — to rest for an hour or
two only, so I can gird myself for
harder tasks."
"Ah ! my boy, there is no rest in
this land," he replied, and I noticed
that a shade of sadness flickered
across his wasted face. "But come
with me," he continued, " and I will
show you how the inhabitants of
these regions obey my commands."
I hesitated no longer and walked
to meet him where he stood at the
doorway. I felt a strange sensation
creep over me as I neared his weird
form, for he seemed to me an un-
earthly being. As I came within
his reach he extended his pallid and
wasted hand to me, which I clasped.
It was cold as ice.
Pointing to the scythe above the
door, he continued, " That scythe,
my boy, has reaped a harvest that
any reaper might well be proud of.
It has cut away generals, statesmen,
law^yers, and merchants, who have
aspired fame through me — through
Time, the greatest of all agents in
the universe. My boy, I have lived
for centuries," he went on, "I am
older than those blue summits which
rise above those dusky clouds," he
said, pointing his skeleton-like finger
to the west.
' ' I have crumbled away princely
halls and stately mansions ; I have
instigated the people of all nations to
bloody war, and I have soothed their
fevered passions in sweet peace. It
was I who built your own nation
where you dwell ; I saw it when it
was in its infancy and kept a vigilant
eye on its progress. Ah ! I cannot
begin to tell you all I have done. It
is a long, long story."
As he finished I thought his eyes
were moist. His words seemed to
io8
A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE.
have a sad effect on me for I, too,
felt like crying.
We both stood in silence for some
time, and then he led the way into
his mansion. "Well, come," he
said, " and we will be soon cheered
up." I followed him through a long
spacious hall, the brilliancy of which
was unprecedented to me. At the
opposite end he pulled the latch of a
door which swung open, and before
me was a scene replete with wonder-
ment and awe.
In a wide and fertile valley was a
large herd of beautiful horses of two
colors — black and white. They were
contentedl}^ grazing ; there was no
guard or keeper. Their shiny coats
glistened in the rays of the sun,
which beat perpendicularly down on
the herd. It formed a beautiful pic-
ture. The slopes of the green moun-
tains also glistened in the sun's
rays ; soft, fleecy clouds floated high
in the blue arch above, flecking the
green landscape with lazily moving
shadows. I stood and gazed on the
scene in wonderment. The old man,
too, was silent. Thus we stood for a
short time. At last Old Time, rais-
ing his right arm to a shelf above his
head, clutched a long thin bugle,
tarnished by age, and dusty from its
long rest on the shelf. Slowly he
raised it to his thin lips, and I stood
eagerly waiting to hear its notes re-
verberate over the level valley and
up the distant green mountains. But
before its notes broke the stillness he,
turning to me, said,
' ' Those horses represent the good
and bad souls which formerly in-
habited your land. There are men
of all nationalities among them, some
had become famous, and others,
taken in their youth before they had
become known to the world, — doc-
tors, lawyers, clergymen, statesmen,
merchants, and manufacturers, are all
mingled together in the herd below.
As they enter my palace they are
transformed into animals and then
left to graze in my pasture lands
until my trumpet sounds, which is
the signal for them to pass on to an-
other world, — the good to the celes-
tial region, and the bad to the shades
below."
As he finished speaking he again
raised the trumpet and blew a long,
clear blast. It was a weird sound,
such as I have never heard before,
and caused a strange sensation to
creep over my frame.
I turned my eye to the horses be-
low ; for an instant they raised their
heads and looked in the direction
from which the sound came. Then
what a thundering of hoofs followed.
It was a wild stampede. As if by
magic the}^ became separate, the
black in one herd and the white in
the other ; away to the east sped the
black, and to the west the white, all
the time gaining speed as they neared
the mountains. The old man and I
stood and watched the flight in
silence. Dimmer they grew as the
distance increased, and soon a gap
in the mountains put an end to our
view. We turned our eyes from the
direction of the fleeing horses down
into the fertile valley. The horses
had gone. It seemed still and lonely.
Old Time at last broke the silence.
"Another host of souls gone into
eternity," he said, and he turned and
replaced his trumpet into its long
resting-place. "To-morrow," he
continued, " I shall traverse your
regions and seek more souls for my
valley. I shall get them from happy
A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE.
109
homes, from stately mansions, from
hospitals, prison cells, and the high-
ways. Perhaps you yourself, at the
next blast of my bugle will be flying
with the horses over yonder moun-
tains."
I gazed steadfastly into his gray
ej'es as he was talking, and, as he
concluded, I thought he appeared
nervous and uneasy. " Well, my
boy, I must bid you adieu," he be-
gan again, and I again clasped his
icy hand as I had done when I
first met him. As soon as he re-
leased my hand he was gone. I
knew not where he went or how he
vanished. I delayed no longer in
his mansion but proceeded straight
to the door by which I had entered,
and a feeling of fear crept over me
for I feared that I might be en-
trapped in his halls, but no, as I
neared the door it swung open for
me to pass out into the open air and
warm sunshine. As I strolled again
down the pathway I turned and
looked back on the mountains to
the westward. They were as green
and beautiful as when the herd of
horses passed from view behind
them, but over their summits was
gathering a dark and dingy cloud
of huge proportions. It was rapidly
moving towards the zenith, and the
sun, which was close to it, would
soon be obscured. I hastened my
steps to reach my home — which
seemed near-by — before the darkness
could overtake me. I had traveled
but a short distance when the dingy,
black cloud put the earth about me
in shadow, and all was inky black-
ness. It was a wonderful transfor-
mation — from day into night — black,
silent night.
A feeling of fear such as I had
never felt before was creeping over
me. I stood still ; I dared not pro-
ceed for fear of coming in contact
with some strange, frightful object.
Neither did I dare to look behind for
I knew not what I should see. I
glanced to the west, and as I turned
my head a vivid flash of lightning
lighted up the landscape, followed
almost instantly by an appalling peal
of thunder. My knees trembled, and
large, cold drops of perspiration
stood on my forehead. I was grow-
ing weak, and it seemed as if I
should surely sink to the earth be-
fore long. The lightning flashed
almost incessantly, and a continual
roll of thunder echoed over the
mountain peaks.
Above the din of the thunder's
roar I could distinctly hear the shrill,
weird notes of Old Time's bugle, but
by the flashes of the lightning I
could see no herds of horses fleeing
from the level valley to the sloping
green mountains.
At last I proceeded ; the hailstones
beating in my face caused a sharp
pain, and I groped about wildly to
see if I could clutch something for
support. I walked on in this man-
ner for some distance, but there was
no lull in the raging of the storm.
I could only see before me bj^ the
flashes of lightning. As the light
of one flash, brighter than the others,
lighted up the gloom before me I
thought I saw an object standing to
the left. I quickly turned towards
it, but I had gone but a few steps
when the ground under me was
snapped asunder and I was hurled
headlong down a steep chasm. It
seemed as if I fell for yards and
yards. It was a horrible sensation.
At last I reached the end of the
no
A BLUE AND WHITE BOWL.
terrible fall, — all my senses were
gone. For awhile I knew nothing.
At last when my shattered senses
crept back to me I opened my eyes.
Before me was standing Old Time,
with the same wasted form and wan
countenance. Clutched in his bony
hand was the hour-glass and over
his shoulder was the long glistening
scythe. The storm had lulled. The
sun was shining among the black,
jagged clouds which were floating
away to the eastward. The rain-
drops were glistening on the green
foliage in the rays of the warm sun
like costly jewels. " Come, my boy,"
said Old Time, extending to me his
bony hand, '' yo\xx days in yoMX land
are over. Come to my mansion and
green valley." But I shrank back.
" No ! No ! " I cried. This aroused
the old man to ire. His kindly
eyes now glistened with anger, and
his feeble limbs grew knotted with
muscles.
He grasped his scythe and raised
it high above the gray locks of his
head. I knew that, with a mighty
swing, he was about to cut me down.
I knew not what to do. My weakly
condition would not permit me to
grapple with him and try to stay
the blow. I tried to cry for mercy,
but my tongue clove to the roof of
my mouth and not a sound could I
utter. Finally I gave up and fell
back. Is was a horrible sensation,
lying there and awaiting the stroke
of the scythe. Just then I was
nearly blinded by the sun flashing
into my eyes from the hour-glass.
His uplifted scythe never fell, for the
glare of the sun from the hour-glass
aroused me from my slumber. It
was a winter sun which had just
wheeled its broad disk over the
eastern hills and sent its full glare
into my eyes.
My night's adventure only lingered
in memory.
A BIvUE AND WHITE BOWI..
By Laura Garland Carr.
'Tis small and thin with scarce a trace
Of beauty tint or line of grace.
Two ugly cracks, from some mishap,
Ivike rivers pictured on a map, —
That no device of art can hide, —
Run aimlessly adown the side.
One little push, one careless pass.
And it might lie a shattered mass.
So frail and shell-like it appears,
Yet it has served a hundred years.
When great-grandmother, young and gay,
Went housekeeping in the old way,
No doubt this bowl, with other delf,
Was placed in line upon a shelf
Of that " red dresser " which we know
A BLUE AND WHITE BOWL.
Figured iu kitchens long ago.
And we are sure there was no lack
Of shining pewter at the back.
From its high place it could o'erlook
The big, wide kitchen's every nook.
And much that happened there below
We great-grandchildren wish to know.
Ah, if this bit of pictured clay —
By art unknown — could now portray
The quaint, old scenes that passed in view
While it was yet unstained and new !
Could show great-grandma as she worked —
For well we know she never shirked
A household duty, great or small —
But kept a watchful eye on all.
And was it true — as has been told —
Was she a bit inclined to scold ?
One old-time quilting we would see,
A candy pull, an apple bee,
An evening when the neighboring folk
Came in to sing, gossip, and joke,
Eat apples, popped corn and — why frown ?
Let good, hard cider wash it down.
And all the while the firelight's glow
Their queer, old homespun garbs would show.
And, dancing o'er the dingy walls
In many fitful flares and falls —
Dim in the darkness would reveal
The clumsy forms of loom and wheel,
With hanks of yarn and woolly rolls
Hanging from wooden pegs and poles.
From winter, summer, autumn, spring,
How much this ancient bowl could bring
From great-grandmother down to me
If it could speak, could hear and see !
What folly this ! Pray is not all
That constitutes this earthly ball
Old, older far than tribe or race.
Older than date of man can trace ?
Some things withstand dissolving test
A little longer than the rest.
But in good time all, all will fill
A place in Nature's grinding mill
To be reshaped in other mold.
And then again be "young " and "old."
Ill
RICKETTY ANN'S CONTRIBUTION.
By Doris L. Burke.
ISS Susan Ann Tuttle was
hastening home from
church through the soft
February sktsh. She was
a Httle old lady. Her thin, sweet
face was shaded by a scoop bonnet,
with a skimpy black veil tied in a
pitiful knot. Long afflicted with St.
Vitus' dance she had come to be
known as Ricketty Ann.
The condition of the roads made
cautious walking expedient, and
Ann's overshoes leaked. Yet she
hurried on unmindful of the fact that
she had already gone over them
twice in the melting snow.
The minister had said that hun-
dreds, possibly thousands, of people
were dying of starvation in Cuba,
and that a collection would be taken
for them on the next Sunday even-
ing. A dollar was sufficient to sup-
port one adult or three children for
one month.
"The poor little children," Ann
thought tearfully. "A dollar would
keep three of them a month."
If she might only give a dollar !
When she had reached home she sat
down to count the contents of her
rusty pocketbook before kindling a
fire in the tiny cracked stove. There
was even less money than she had
feared. She could spare but a few
pennies. She sighed faintly. "It
would be so beautiful to give a dol-
lar. Maybe I could if it had n't been
for the rheumatics in my hip. It
does cost so to be sick."
She resolved to do without butter
and tea for a while that she might
save a few extra cents.
Ann sighed again as she looked
out of the window and saw the peo-
ple going home from church. Most
of them were able to give so easily.
For instance, there was John Hart
who enjoyed the distinction of being
the rich man of Dunsettbury. A
dollar, even twenty dollars, would be
nothing to him she thought.
But Mr. Hart's mind was dis-
tracted to-day by financial anxieties.
As he sat in his heavily furnished
library that afternoon, he accused
himself of having done a criminall}^
foolish thing during the past week.
His severe New England ethics had
always frowned upon speculations of
any sort, but in a moment of fool-
hardiness he had jnelded to the temp-
tation to swiftly enlarge his mighty
bank account.
His conscience had feebly disap-
proved all along, and now it up-
braided him vehemently, for last
night's paper had quoted his stock
below par. It meant a loss of thou-
sands of dollars if he were obliged to
sell at that figure, and he trembled
to think how much lower the shares
might fall.
Three generations of well-fed,
penurious ancestors are not calcu-
lated to give one much sympathy for
the hungry, and Mr. Hart was duly
surprised that he must needs recall
Dr. Seelyes's solicitation for the
RICKETTY ANN'S CONTRIBUTION.
113
starving Cubans at that particular
season. Nevertheless the heart rend-
ing pictures and descriptions which
he had seen from time to time, re-
curred to him with redoubled force,
and resolutely persisted in com-
mingling themselves with his busi-
ness apprehensions.
The anthracite was beginning to
glow redly in the dusk, the twilight
shadows had lengthened until they
enveloped the stout man in the com-
fortable Morris chair, and the pale,
young moon looked timidly through
the windows. It was a propitious
hour for fine resolves, and the good
angel being abroad at that time, sug-
gested to Mr. Hart a possible way
out of his troubles.
He would make an offering to the
fa!es. Too skeptical to believe in the
efficacy of such an arrangement, and
yet superstitious enough to get com-
fort from it, he solemnly covenanted
with himself that he would send one
hundred dollars to the Relief fund
should he be able to secure a certain
margin on his stock. Extremely
nervous about the success, and thor-
oughly troubled about the righteous-
u(.ss of his hazardous investment, he
had been led into making this muni-
ficent and unparalleled promise.
The succeeding Wednesday night
Mr. Hart sat again in his library.
He did not look like a man who had
cleared $3,000 on Y. P. K. stock in
less than a week. For although at
four o'clock his broker had tele-
graphed that the shares were sold
and the returns safely placed, there
yet mingled with his joy a disturbing
memory.
In vain he endeavored to persuade
himself that a promise made under
such peculiar circumstances could
never be considered binding. Con-
science whispered that a promise was
a promise, and John Hart was a very
honorable man.
But to give away one hundred dol-
lars at once ! One hundred dollars
was more than he had given awa}^ in
all his life. Moreover he had been
put to extra expense lateh'. There
was that lost pocketbook. which had
contained valuable papers and the
futile advertising for its recovery, the
new carriage house, and some repairs
on his business block.
And those Cubans were nothing
more nor less than Spaniards any-
way. Doubtless, many of them
richl}' deserved what they were get-
ting. It was not at all certain that
the persons who needed and deserved
help would get it. Furthermore, he
was chary of beginning benevolences
on such a large scale. There was
no sa3'ing what great expectations it
might arouse. The}^ would be ask-
ing him to found a hospital or build a
church next. Having thus lost him-
self in a glow of indignation at the
grasping ways of philanthropists in
general, and Cuban sympathizers in
particular, Mr. Hart settled himself
to the evening journal.
But he could not forget that as a
man of honor he should do as he had
stipulated. Again and again that
ev-ening he went over his arra}' of
arguments, and from them he de-
duced many others.
He told himself that he was not
under obligation to any person or
power in this matter. The broker
had received a fery liberal percent-
age, and he had looked ver}^ closel}^
after the buying and selling himself.
Some men would have held the
stock for still further advances and
sxvii— 8
114
RICKETTY ANN'S CONTRIBUTION.
then lost every dollar. It was surely
most inexpedient for him to exhaust
his nervous force on such an incon-
siderate question as this.
" I shall use my own judgment
about what I can afford to give," he
said, doggedly, to himself. "I'll
settle the matter by sending Dr.
Seelyes a check this very hour. It
seems to me that about five dollars —
yes, I think five dollars — would be a
very liberal contribution."
Mr. Hart pulled out his check
book. His pen paused for a moment
after writing the "5."
" It would be easy to make it 50,"
the good angel whispered. "Five
dollars is an exceedingly small sum
from a man who has made three
thousand in six days."
But Mr. Hart signed his name and
sealed his envelope with decision.
' ' They may think themselves
lucky. Ordinarily I should not have
felt called to give more than a nickel.
If everybody is as liberal as I have
been I 'm thinking Dr. Seelyes would
open his eyes pretty wide. But they
won't be."
Mr. Hart began to feel better while
making this cheerful reflection.
"They won't be," he repeated,
with conviction. "I estimate there
won't be three persons out of the
whole congregation who'll give as
much as that. If they all did as
well as I 've done the collection
would amount to — lyCt me see how
much the collection ivozdd amount to.
There must be about sixty members.
Now if each one would do his duty
as well as I 've done mine there
would be three hundred dollars from
this one church."
Mr. Hart found this mental arith-
metic highly agreeable, and imme-
diately plunged into broader calcula-
tions which involved the county and
state.
The next morning, however, Mr.
Hart endeavored in vain to convince
himself that ev^en five dollars was
more than could be reasonably ex-
pected of him.
"You promised, you promised,"
the inward monitor whispered un-
ceasingly, and Mr. Hart remembered
uncomfortably that he had often said
a promise made to one's self was as
obligatory as any other. He was in
this mood of mingled satisfaction
and uneasiness when the trim maid
announced a visitor.
"There's an old lady to see you,
sir," she said. " I told her you was
always busy in the forenoon, but she
says, if you please, it's important."
" I,et her come in," said Mr.
Hart.
A little, bent, old figure followed
the servant across the wide hall.
" What can I do for you, madam? "
asked Mr. Hart. " I have the impres-
sion that I 've seen you before."
" Yes, sir," assented Ricketty Ann
eagerly, " I see you go by real often.
I come to bring you this."
From her limp, old-fashioned va-
lise Ann drew a very battered mud-
stained and water-soaked affair. But
notwithstanding its sad condition Mr.
Hart recognized it joyously.
"My wallet!" he exclaimed.
" Well, well, how did you happen to
find that?"
"It was yesterday when I was
coming across the avenue. I saw it
sticking up through the snow by the
walk. My eyes aint what they w.is
once, but I says to myself that aint
a stick, nor yet a leaf. I was sur-
prised enough when I see what 'twas.
RICKETJY ANN'S CONTRIBUTION.
115
There was a sight of them doc}--
meuts, and some of 'em was pretty
well soaked. But I spread 'em out,
and they got nice'n dry by mornin'.
Soon as I see it was your pocket-
book I says to myself, I '11 take it
over first thing in the mornin'. Mr.
Hart must be real worried about all
them papers bein' lost."
Mr. Hart finished the inspection of
his papers, and then his revolving
chair wheeled toward Ricketty Ann.
' ' You have done me an invaluable
service, madam. The most of these
papers were extremely important.
I am very greatly obliged to you,
Mrs. — . Did you tell me your
name ? "
"Miss Susan Ann Tuttle, sir," Ann
answered with quavering dignity.
Her heart was beating high with
tremulous hope. Once she had re-
ceived twenty-five cents for finding
a plated brooch. And Mr. Hart had
said the papers were valuable. If
he would only give her a dollar !
Then she could send something
worth while to the Relief Fund.
She began to pull on her darned
mittens slowly.
Mr. Hart's hand was in his pocket,
and his fingers had closed over a
quarter irresolutely.
" I do not like to be beholden,"
he was thinking. "Yet she seems
to be a very worthy person, and I
am not sure how she would take the
offer of money. Besides that adver-
tising is going to cost me heav}-."
Ricketty Ann's quick ear caught
the clink of the silver as he dropped
the quarter back to its place. He
had changed his mind ; he was not
going to give her anything after all.
Nevertheless she waited longingly.
Mr. Hart fingered his pocketbook
with painful indecision. At last he
opened it hesitatingly. A vision of
greenbacks glimmered before Ann's
eyes. She felt that her dream of a
dollar bill had become a reality.
Impetuous words of thanks rose to
her lips.
"Oh, sir," she began gratefully.
The next moment she stopped,
covered with crimson confusion.
Mr. Hart had closed his pocketbook,
and was regarding her with grave
interrogation.
" I beg pardon," he said question-
ingly.
Ricketty Ann's poor, slow wits
scattered right and left.
"I was jest a goin' to say — "
She paused again growing pinker
every moment. Her eyes were on
the floor in distracted perturbation,
and Mr. Hart followed her glance.
He could hardly help seeing that
her overshoes must leak and that
her shawl was only an illusion. He
thought he understood her unspoken
wants.
" I do not like to be beholden,"
he reflected again, " and those papers
were worth big money to me."
With extreme reluctance he drew
forth a two dollar bill. It had been
a crisp new one and he looked at it
tenderly, half deciding to return it to
its fellows. But Ann's hand was al-
ready outstretched, and her pinched
face was radiant.
"Get some real heavy ones," ad-
vised Mr. Hart as he pushed back
the portieres, "and I woirld have a
shawl, too. That one seems hardly
suitable for winter wear."
"Oh, sir, I didn't mearr that,'''
gasped Ricketty Ann, amazed at
the magnitude of his misconception.
But Mr. Hart had bowed her down
ii6
RICKETTY ANN'S CONTRIBUTION.
the imposing steps aud the heav}'
door was closed behind her.
She tripped through the iron gate-
way with swift, glad steps. The snow
seemed to glide from under her feet.
" It's come. It's come," she whis-
pered exultingl5^ " Nobody but the
dear Lord k no wed Jioiv I 'd wanted to
put a dollar into the box come next
Sunda}' night. And here 's two dol-
lars — two dollars — two dollars."
She clutched the bill more tightly.
At thought of the overshoes and
shawl she laughed jo3'Ously.
' 'T would n't be right for me to be
buying rubbers when folks are starv-
ing, and spring only six weeks off."
Ann was naturally of a hopeful
disposition and she as summarily dis-
missed Mr. Hart's suggestion of a
shawl.
"Maybe we aiut going to have
much more cold weather, and my
shawl aint so very thin. It was a
good shawl in its day. Mr. Hart
won't care. I '11 tell him how 't was.
It 's likely he '11 do something hand-
some himself."
Mr. Hart, however, was thinking
moodily of his two dollar bill and
hundred dollar promise.
There were subtle distinctions in
Dr. Seelyes's Sunday night prayer-
meetings. Long custom had deter-
mined which particular portion of
the congregation should occupy the
beginning, middle, and end of the
service. On the evening of the
Cuban collection the various strata
were especially prompt, and the
choir sang lustily during the brief
intervals. But after a time there
came the deplorable prayer-meeting
lull.
The good little girl who sat priml}^
beside her mother examined wnth
interest the penu}" which had been
prudently tied in the corner of her
handkerchief. The nervous man
looked at his watch, and the ner^^ous
woman stole a glance at the clock —
under pretence of looking for a hymn
book — and wondered it the baby
would wake. Mr. Hart, unaccus-
tomed to pra3^er-meetings, sat sleepil}^
in his dusky corner and w^ondered for
the eleventh time why he had come.
" There are a few moments left,
friends," observ^ed Dr. Seel5'es. " I
wish we might hear from all."
This customary remark was the
signal for certain elements of the
assemblage to fasten wraps and pull
on overshoes.
Suddenly there was a little stir of
interest down by the door. Rickettj-
Ann had risen and was talking in an
animated treble. Two dollars was a
small fortune to her — poor soul — and
she tried to tell how glad she was
at being able to give so much. In
her simple way she said, " The Lord
meant for the Cubyans to have it
but he let me send it to 'em because
he knew I wanted to so."
A little hush of reverence aud
shame stole over the congregation as
she sat down. Some of the people
had the grace to realize how much
of the spirit "for value received"
was accustomed to permeate their
prayers and praises. John Hart
watched with feelings that defied
description while Ricketty Ann
poured the contents of her pocket-
book into the box. He was thor-
oughly, wondrousl}' ashamed of him-
self. He hastily pnlled out his long
pocketbook. There was a hundred
dollar bill inside, and he put it into
the box as the collector passed up
the aisle.
H. D. SOULE.
Henry Dexter Soule died suddenly at his home in Manchester, July i6. Mr.
Soule was born in Manchester, June i, 1857, attended the public schools and was
graduated from the High school in 1875. He was connected with the advertis-
ing department of the Alirror for many years. With the business men he made
friends from the start, and he had the faculty of holding their friendships. His
genial manner and warm-heartedness made him popular in all circles. He was
one of the most affable men in the city, and his judgment and discretion made
him a leader at all times.
As a Mason Mr. Soule's career was the most noteworthy. In May 6, 1885,
he took his entered apprentice degree in Lafayette lodge, No. 41, of that city,
June 3, the fellow craft, and September 25, of the same year, was made a Master
Mason. The chapter degrees were taken in Mt. Horeb Royal Arch chapter,
Mark, May 25, 1886, Past, June 9, M. E., October 13, and R. A., November 8 of
the same year. The council degrees were taken in Adoniram council. Royal,
January 23, 1887 : Select, January 28 and Sup. Ex., February 25 of the same
year. The orders of Knighthood were conferred in Trinity commandery, March
8, 1887, March 23, and June 14 of the same year. The Scottish Rite degrees,
Lodge of Perfection, March g, 1893, Council, April 6, Chapter, April 6, he receiv-
ing the 32d degree May 25 of the same year. Mr. Soule was twice elected emi-
nent commander of Trinity commandery, his reelection being on June 28. He
was also Past T. I. M. of Adoniram council, being in the chair in 1895.
Mr. Soule made one of the most successful eminent commanders Trinity ever
had. Particularly able was his management of the pilgrimage to the triennial
conclave to Pittsburg. Had a less active man been at the head of the command-
ery at the time the affair would have failed. He was also an active member of
the Ancient Essenic order, being the first excellent senator of Manchester senate.
In politics he was a Republican, and was serving the city for the second term
on the school board. He was chairman of the important committee on fuel and
heating, of the sub-committee on evening schools, and a member of the committees
on the Lincoln and Lowell-street schools. He took a deep interest in all school
matters, and was one of the most agreeable and pleasant members of the board.
He, at one time, was a letter carrier connected with the Manchester post-ofiice.
He was also a member of the Cadet Veteran association, and of the Sons of Vet-
erans camp. He leaves a widow and one brother.
DR. JOHN H. GIIvBERT.
Dr. John H. Gilbert, one of the best known physicians and one of the oldest
medical examiners in Massachusetts, died at his home in Quincy, August 3, after
ii8 NEW HAMPSHIRE NECROLOGY.
a long illness. Dr. Gilbert was born in Atkinson 66 years ago, and was a gradu-
ate from Dartmouth and Tremont medical colleges. He began practice in Wey-
mouth, where he remained ten years, when he removed to Quincy. He was
prominently connected with organizing the Quincy City hospital and the board of
health. In 1882 he was appointed medical examiner for the Quincy district, a
position he held up to his death. He leaves a widow and one son.
DR. M. W. PRAY.
The recent death of Dr. M. W. Pray removes a familiar face from the ranks of
Boston's dentists. Dr. Pray was born in Lebanon some 70 years ago and re-
moved to Boston when a young man. He is survived by a widow, one son and
two daughters, a sister and two brothers, one of the latter being Dr. J. E. S.
Pray of Exeter.
GEO. W. MOORE.
George W. Moore, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, pioneers of Lenawee
county, Michigan, a man of sterling worth and integrity, a staunch and life-long
Democrat, and a man universally loved and respected, passed away at his home
in Medina, Mich., July 21, at the age of 85 years. He was born in Peter-
borough, April 13, 18 14. His old home never lost its attractions for him, for he
came alone at 84 years of age to see it once more.
HON. NEWTON S. HUNTINGTON.
N. S. Huntington died at his home in Hanover, August 2, at the age of 77
years. He was cashier of the Dartmouth National bank, which he founded, and
at the same time was treasurer of the Dartmouth Savings bank. During many
)ears, and until his death, he had been president of both institutions, represented
the town in the legislature in i858-'59 in the house, and was in the legistature con-
tinuously from i885-'97, being always prominent on committees, and during
many years chairman of the banking committee.
He was a quiet, persistent, forceful man, who, by diligent and conscientious
effort, made a large place for himself not only in the community where he made
his home, but in the wider field of public life. As a legislator he was valued for
the safety and prudence of his judgment, and his long service in both branches of
the general court made many friends who will learn of his death with regret.
SAMUEL ADAMS WIGGIN.
Samuel A. Wiggin, a native of Portsmouth, died at the Georgetown University
hospital. District of Columbia, recently, aged 67 years, from injuries received in
falling down a flight of stairs at "Fernwood," his home in the suburbs of Wash-
ington. The unfortunate man did not recover consciousness after his injury.
Mr. Wiggin was for many years a clerk in the departments at Washington, and
last served as a clerk in the pension office. During the time Andrew Johnson
occupied the White House Mr, Wiggin was his private secretary. He had con-
siderable literary talent, contributed articles for various magazines and news-
papers, and was the author of a number of poems, some of which may be found in
" The Poets of Portsmouth," and in the files of the C/iroiiic/c, for which paper he
was a frequent contributor in the sixties.
GOVERNOR ROLLINS
Tnn CiRARITE AORTMOT.
Vol. XXVII.
SEPTEMBER, 1899.
No.
GOVERNOR ROLIvINS.
By Hon. Cliarles R. Corning.
His
RANK WEST ROLLINS,
forty-fifth governor of the
state, was born in Concord,
the 24th of Febriiar}^ 1S60.
father was Edward H. Rol-
lins, late a congressman and a sena-
tor of the United States, and widely
known as a Republican leader. His
mother was Miss Ellen West, a na-
tive of Concord, and a daughter of
an old-time merchant of the town.
Heredity to public office while un-
recognized in our republic is never-
theless not uncommon to our prac-
tices. We naturally turn to the
Adams family as an illustration of
this fact where both father and son
held the highest office in the repub-
lic, and following closely is the Har-
rison stock which gave to the LTnited
States a Revolutionary leader whose
son and great-grandson became chief
magistrates of the country. Here in
our own state we have had the Bell
family furnishing three governors
and as many United States senators
to add dignity and lustre to public
councils. We see this fittingly illus-
trated in the career of the present
chief magistrate. Nothing, there-
fore, would seem more natural to a
son of the late senator than political
aptitude and ambition.
In the days of the governor's boy-
hood there was no place in the state,
the Eagle and the Phenix hotels in
Concord excepted, where politicians
were so accustomed to meet to talk
over affairs of moment as in the
quaint, old-fashioned house on North
Main street beneath whose roof Gov-
ernor Rollins first saw the light of
day. This ancient dwelling is no
longer standing, but within its apart-
ments political leaders made political
history in the three decades from
1855 to 1885, as it had never been
made before. No wonder then that
with surroundings like these politics
became a subject of early interest
and accomplishment to the young ob-
server.
Those that knew Senator Rollins
recognize more than one of his
characteristics in his son. Among
the senator's strongest traits was his
122
GOl'ERNOR ROLLINS.
deep and abiding love of his native
state, his constant attention to its
interests, and his persistent and life-
long striving in its behalf. His last
senatorial duties were directed to the
erection of a pubHc building in Con-
cord, and a lasting memorial to his
industry and fidelity may be seen in
the stately court-house and post-office
ornamenting the city of his residence
and sepulchre.
In the public schools of his native
town young Rollins began his educa-
tion, supplementing it by private tutor-
ing wnth Mr. Moses Woolson, who in
his day ranked among the most thor-
ough and masterful teachers in New
England.
Under the stimulating discipline of
this teacher Mr. Rollins was fitted
for the Institute of Technology at
Boston, and entered the class of '8i.
After leaving that institution he en-
tered the Harvard L,aw school, fin-
ishing his studies in the office of the
late John Y. Mugridge in Concord.
In August, 1882, he was admitted to
the bar at the general law term.
Law, in the concrete as well as in
the abstract, did not prove wholly to
his tastes, and the young attorney
was not long in finding out his dis-
inclination for the serious pursuit of
his profession. In those days of pro-
fessional probation I saw a good deal
of him, for we began law at the same
time, and it was easy to predict that
jurisprudence was not to be his life's
work. Even then his mind was in-
clined to business affairs, while his
tastes went out strongly toward lit-
erature. In a year or two the un-
equal struggle ceased ; the freshly-
lettered sign of attorney- at-law came
down, his literary predilections were
made secondary, and with firm reso-
lution he devoted himself to that
most sensitive and insistent of call-
ings — banking. The well-known
house of E. H. Rollins & Son
had already been established with its
principal office in Concord, but in-
creasing business demanded exten-
sions, and as vice-president of the
company, Frank W. Rollins became
the manager of the branch in Boston.
To-day this banking house is one
of the widest known in the United
States, with offices east and west
employing scores of clerks and
agents, enjoying the best of reputa-
sions, and reflecting the highest
credit on its managers. Those that
know^ the secrets of banking know
how much of this prosperity and
standing is directly due to the con-
stancy and skill of the banker-gov-
ernor. Again, those that are know-
ing to the conditions of successful
banking understand the demands it
makes on its managers, the inexor-
able attention and devotion to in-
cessant detail, the watchful eye and
resporisive courage, in short, the
incompatibility of that calling with
another wdiolly dissimilar.
Yet in the face of these com-
mon obstacles, Mr. Rollins, true to
those early tastes in literature, has
not been dumb to the promptings
of the siren of fiction. His activity
in writing stories and novels and
in well-turned translation from the
French, has been one of the notable
incidents of his career. We recog-
nize the expression of literary talent
in his writings, and with it we detect
the ingenuity of plot and situation
and the smooth current of his style.
Among his published writings are
" Ring in the CHff," " Break o' Day
Tales," "The Twin Hussars," and
MRS. ROLLINS
124 GOVERNOR ROLLINS.
" The Lady of the Violets," the last ecessors he served no apprenticeship,
named coming out in 1897, ^^d meet- he underwent no novitiate, for his
ing with an appreciative reception, first public office secured to him a
Besides banking and story writing position second only in title and rank
the governor's catholicity of occupa- to the one he now occupies. In
tion is curiously shown in his fond- November, 1894, Mr. Rollins was
ness for military life and the prac- chosen a state senator from the
tical experience it affords. In the Concord district, and on the assem-
days of his studentship, at the Insti- bling of the senate in January, he
tute of Technology, he took an active became its president. Four years
part in the military exercises of the later, as is well remembered, the
school, serving for some time as first Republican state convention nomi-
lieutenant of cadets. As early as nated him for governor, and in
1880 he enlisted in Company C, of November, 1898, he was duly elected
the Third regiment, N. H. N. G., by the people. His inauguration to
and continued as a member of the office took place in January of this
organization for several years. In year.
1890 he was appointed on the staff As governor of New Hampshire
of General Patterson commanding his views on public affairs have been
the brigade, and served successively expressed without hesitation, and the
as judge advocate and as assistant more original they are, the wider
adjutant-general with the rank of they have spread, until his name is
lieutenant-colonel. His affection and known from shore to shore,
interest toward the State National As his Fast Day proclamation
Guard is no wise lessened by his made of the state a battle-ground
present station, and that this is fully of varying opinions so his "Old
understood by the guardsmen was Home Week" will make of the old
abundantly proved by their warm state a delightful festival of fra-
welcome as the governor and staff ternity and love. This conception
rode upon the camp ground at the on the part of the governor is the
last encampment. Governor Rollins white mark of his administration,
is the first one among our recent To call attention to the charms of
chief magistrates who knows the the state is no new thought of Gov-
strength and defects of our citizen eruor Rollins. He long ago recog-
soldiery by actual service and expert nized the probabilities of New Hamp-
observation, and it is no secret that shire's future, as we all do, but he
had circumstances been favorable, he went further and called attention to
would have urged on the last legis- certain accessories calculated to in-
lature some radical changes respect- crease and to hasten the coming of
ing our state militia and have done pleasure seekers. Good roads are as
his utmost to carry them to a sue- essential as good order if we mean to
cessful conclusion. make the most of Nature's dowry, so
In the game of politics his career good roads has long been his favor-
has been distinctively unusual. I ite theme. Ahead of the time he
believe it is unparalleled in the an- surely is, yet he points the certain
nals of our state. Unlike his pred- way. He possesses in full measure
o
I
O
z
DC
UJ
>
O
UJ
I
126
GOVERNOR ROLLINS.
the courage of his enthusiasm ; he
believes in object lessons near at
home, and he enforces his ideas by
unwearying activity. It was, in-
deed, a happy moment when the pic-
ture of returning sons and daughters
became a reality in his mind, and he
moulded into form the idea of this
beautiful festival of the Granite
state. The sentimental and the prac-
ticable in one is the meaning of Old
Home Week. "I would have,"
said the governor, "every town and
city in the state make up lists of
all its native born sons and daugh-
ters living in other states and send
them an urgent invitation to be pres-
ent through the week."
We, who are part of the soil of our
native state, welcome this sugges-
tion, but scarcely one among us all
feels what it means. Fortunately,
the success of the plan depends on
sentiment, and sentiment of this sort
is largely measured by the memories
of youth and the years of separation.
Therefore, the words uttered by
Governor Rollins falling like seed on
rich soil have produced abundant
harvest. Among the thousands
dwelling beyond the state borders,
particularly those living on the far-
ther banks of the Mississippi and the
Missouri, the invitation to Old Home
Week touched as never before the
chords of sentiment and affection
and quickened in their breasts the
loves of their childhood. The profit
and generous action throughout the
state attests the sensible popularity
of the governor's views, while the
unvarying response of our sons and
daughters beyond the gates proves
what Old Home Week means to
them.
In public and in private he has
urged on the people the necessity of
taking hold and carrying out all
measures looking to the benefit of
the state. No son of the Granite
state looks with forebodings on its
future, and least of all the present
chief magistrate. He says officially
what he has long been saying as a
private citizen, and if his utterances
now have wider scope and bring
speedier results, the gain and pleas-
ure to New Hampshire and its peo-
ple are his complete rewards.
In social life Governor Rollins finds
the fullest enjo^aiient. He was a
leader in the organization of the
Wonolancet Club of Concord and its
first president, and is a member of
the Derryfield and the Calumet in
Manchester, the Puritan and the
University in Boston, besides other
societies in this and other states.
In Masonry he holds the 3 2d de-
gree.
On December 6, 1882, he married
Miss Katherine W. Pecker of Con-
cord. The son of this marriage, a
young man of some twelve years,
attends the public schools of his
native city. In religious associa-
tion, the governor is a member of
the Episcopal church, and is at the
present time a vestryman in S. Paul's,
Concord.
BIRTHPIvACK OF GOVERNOR ROLIvINS.
By Hon. Henry Robinson.
ENEATH the spreading
branches of grand old
guardian ehns, opposite the
New Hampshire Historical
Society building, on North Main
street, in the city of Concord, and an
appropriate companion to that inter-
esting depositar}' of curiosities, stood
an ancient house, around whose his-
tory cluster many fond memories.
It was the birthplace of Hon.
Frank W. Rollins, the present popu-
lar chief executive of the Granite
state.
It was a part of the property of the
estate of the late United States sena-
tor, Hon. Edward H. Rollins, and
for fourteen years after her marriage
was occupied by his only daughter,
wife of Hon. Henry Robinson, pres-
ent postmaster of Concord, and their
family.
The sacred old home subsequently
was deemed unsuitable for further
occupancy, and, a few years ago,
was reluctantly abandoned and left
to be torn down and removed from
its splendid site, where it had stood a
landmark for almost a century.
No record remains of its origin ;
nobody can furnish any definite in-
formation of its erection. It belonged
to prehistoric Concord. It was one
of the very oldest and most remini-
scent structures in this community,
the pennant at the masthead of a
submerged generation.
In 1817, it was remodeled from a
public building to a private resi-
dence. To trace its history, even
since then, would fill a volume, but
there are man}^ still alive who have
pleasant recollections of the lovel)',
late Mrs. Nancy West, the mother
of Mrs. Edward H. Rollins, one of
the most estimable women that ever
128
BIRTHPLACE OF GOVERNOR ROLLINS.
lived. For mau}^ 3'ears she was the
cultured and noble-hearted hostess
of that old-fashioned mansion, and
was the accomplished leader of town
society and generous charities.
There her daughter, the late Mrs.
Edward H. Rollins, formerly Miss
Ellen West, was born, with her twin
brother, the late Capt. John M. West,
during many years of his life con-
nected with the management of the
Old Dominion Steamship company,
of Petersburg, Va. Their sister, the
late Clarissa Anne, who was after-
ward Mrs. William P. Hill, of Con-
cord, was born there, as were their
brothers, George Montgomery West,
Francis Sparhawk West, Charles
Haynes West, and Montgomery
West. Isaac William Hill, son of
the late Mrs. William P. Hill, who
has been for many years clerk at the
Concord Gas &. Electric Eight com-
pany, was born there, as were the
five children (one deceased) of Mrs.
Rollins. Her four surviving children
are Edward W. Rollins, of Denver,
Col., Frank W. Rollins, of Concord,
the present governor, Montgomery
Rollins, of Boston, Mass., and Miss
Helen M. Rollins (Mrs. Henry
Robinson), three of whose children,
Ethel Rollins Robinson, Marjorie
Sawyer Robinson, and Rupert West
Robinson, were born there. A
complete genealogical narration of
the numerous births, marriages, and
deaths in the old place would make a
considerable record.
It was to this memorable residence
that Senator Rollins came, a poor
boy, from the town of Rollinsford, to
engage in business. It was here
that he was married, and here was
his beloved home throughout all the
events of his honorable and success-
ful public career. From the old front
steps, the stones of which still remain
in place, he made his famous speech
to his friends and fellow-townsmen,
when serenaded and complimented
upon his election to the national sen-
ate, the highest tribute of honor, re-
spect, and confidence that the en-
thusiastic people of his native state
could give him.
As is well known, Mr. Rollins was
one of the very first and most zealous
organizers of the Republican party
of New Hampshire, and the early
meetings of the local leaders in the
important movement were many of
them held in the library of the an-
cient house, and there, too, through
later years were held some of the
most significant and consequential
conferences within the history of the
state.
President Franklin Pierce made
his home for a time there. He was
then a law partner of the late Judge
Asa Fowler, and they had their office
in the bank building, now that of the
New Hampshire Historical Society,
across the way. Three hundred feet
down the street stood the old court-
house in which Ezekiel Webster fell
dead. This was then the business
square of the place, and the Rollins
house was used for an office by
Samuel Sparhawk, secretary of state,
and by other state officials, at some
time prior to th^ erection of the state-
house, which was begun in 18 16.
The original John West, who re-
modeled the house, was town clerk
for years, and held his office in it.
The post- office was also held in a
store in it for a time, under Gen.
Joseph Eow, as postmaster. He was
the first mayor of Concord. Indeed,
the old house was the central busi-
BIRTHPLACE OF GOVERNOR ROLLINS.
129
ness block of the picturesque village,
and therein various public gather-
ings were held, and all the important
town and county affairs conducted.
After the death of Mr. West, his
estimable widow entertained a few
disitnguished boarders, generally
lawyers, attendant upon court or
legislature. It was the headquar-
ters of the venerable Judge Nesmith,
of Franklin, Judge Greene, of Hopkin-
ton, grandfather of Hon. Herman W.
Greene, and Chief Justice Richardson,
Hon. George Y. Sawyer, of Nashua,
and others of eminence. The first
time that Att.-Gen. Mason W. Tap-
pan came to Concord, his father,
grand old Ware Tappan, led him, a
little boy, to that house, to leave him
in tender care while he attended to
law business. Mr. Tappan was a
frequent visitor there afterward, es-
pecially after Mr. Rollins became
prominent in politics, and during the
anti-slavery agitation, but he never
forgot or tired of telling of his first
visit. Nearly all the court judges in
those days stayed there at some time
or another. The great fires of hos-
pitality roared up those big chim-
neys, and they burned on as brightly
throughout the long proprietorship
of Senator Rollins, and how well
they were subsequently kept alive by
those near and dear to him, others
may tell. Hon. Ichabod Bartlett,
Judge Joel Parker, late of Cam-
bridge, and Benjamin French, of
Washington, formerly boarded there,
and Bishop Alexander Griswold was
entertained there. Speaker Colfax
and United States Senator John P.
Hale were guests there, and Gov.
Nat. Baker was a frequent visitor.
There was the original constitu-
tion and signatures in the Know-
Nothing movement. There many
a political caucus and convention
was anticipated, and many a candi-
dacy conceived. During the con-
gressional and senatorial experiences
of Mr. Rollins, it was the resort of
the prominent men of all parties.
He was the chairman of the Repub-
lican State committee, and afterward
a member of congress during the
most important epoch of our national
existence, and the old house became
historic, reminiscent, and sacred,
from the old Gass's tavern clock at
the head of the front stairs, way
through to the circular mill-stone
cover to the well in the back yard.
It contained the finest and most valu-
able political library in New F^ng-
land.
General Lafayette was entertained
in that very house. There was the
chair in which he sat. Speaker Col-
fax once sat in it, and so did Henry
Ward Beecher, and Theodore Tilton,
and Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, and
General Sheridan, and other promi-
nent characters whose names are
familiar.
The big brass knocker on the front
door, now at the residence of Post-
master Robinson on South Spring
street, many times announced such
prominent men as Gen. Gilman
Marston, Col. John H. George, Hon.
Jeremiah Smith, Col. Daniel Hall,
Hon. George G. Fogg, Hon. N. G.
Ordway, Gen. Walter Harriman,
ex-Gov. Person C. Cheney, and
many others whose names figure
conspicuously in public history and
affairs.
The grand old house in which the
present governor first saw the light
was a big feature in the narration
of public events during the last half
I30
HOME.
century. Its story fully told would
be a romance worthy of general read-
ing. Scattered almost everywhere
are good men and women who can
date there some experience in their
lives. United States Senator Wil-
liam E. Chandler came hither an
awkward j'outh, and his son, William
D. Chandler, boarded there. Hon.
James O. Lj'ford, present naval offi-
cer at Boston, courted his wife and
got political inspiration there. Mr.
Rollins had a thousand-and-one
friends and acquaintances and call-
ers, and Mrs. Rollins, who inherited
from her mother a fascinating faculty
of graceful and generous hospitality,
was always the centre of an admiring
circle of lady friends.
" 'T was a home of welcome no one could doubt,
Whose latch-string hung invitingly out,
And many a stranger supped at its board
While blazing logs in the chimney roared."
HOME.
By Geo7-ge BaHcroft Griffith.
Camillus, whom Rome exiled, often sighed
P'or the loved haunts that fate to him denied ;
Demosthenes, on lone cliff by the sea,
With eyes turned homeward, wished that he was free ;
And great Confucius looked back on Eoo
With breaking heart, and penned his sad adieu.
Immortal Dante pictured in his dreams
When old and homeless his dear native streams.
All men, in ev'ry age, have loved their home,
Whate'er their lot, where'er they chanced to roam ;
Have wept to see, though many years have flown.
The roofs and towers they fondly called their own.
Ah ! while the brain with varied thoughts can deal,
The throbbing heart has warmth or power to feel.
The love of home is by all lips confest.
And burns, a sacred flame, in every breast !
J^^r^'^
■^
THE HILLS ARE HOME.
[Written for New Hampshire's " Old Home Week," August, 1899.]
By Edna Dean Proctor.
Forget New Hampshire? By her cliffs, her meads, her brooks afoam,
With love and pride where 'er we bide, the Hills, the Hills are Home !
On Mississippi or by Nile, Ohio, Volga, Rhine,
We see our cloud-born Merrimack adown its valley shine ;
And Contoocook — Singing Water — Monadnock's drifts have fed.
With lilt and rhj^me and fall and chime flash o'er its pebbly bed ;
And by Como's wave, yet fairer still, our Winnipesaukee spread.
Alp nor Sierra, nor the chains of India or Peru,
Can dwarf for us the white-robed heights our wondering childhood knew —
The awful Notch, and the Great Stone Face, and the Eake where the echoes fly,
And the sovereign dome of Washington throned in the eastern sky ; —
For from Colorado's Snowy Range to the crest of the Pyrenees
New Hampshire's mountains grandest lift their peaks in the airy seas,
And the winds of half the world are theirs across the main and the leas.
Yet far be^'ond her hills and streams New Hampshire dear we hold :
A thousand tender memories our glowing hearts enfold ;
For in dreams we see the early home by the elms or the maples tall,
The orchard-trees where the robins built, and the well by the garden wall ;
The lilacs and the apple-blooms make paradise of May,
And up from the clover-meadows floats the breath of the new-mown hay ;
And the Sabbath bells, as the light breeze swells, ring clear and die away.
And Oh, the Lost Ones live again in love's immortal year !
We are children still by the hearth-fire's blaze while night steals cold and drear ;
Our mother's fond caress we win, our father's smile of pride,
And, " Now I lay me down to sleep," say, reverent, at their side.
Alas ! alas ! their graves are green or white with a pall of snow,
But we see them yet by the evening hearth as in the long ago,
And the quiet churchyard where they rest is the holiest spot we know.
Forget New Hampshire ? Let Kearsarge forget to greet the sun ;
Connecticut forsake the sea ; the Shoals their breakers shun ;
But fervently, while life shall last, though wide our ways decline.
Back to the Mountain- Land our hearts will turn as to a shrine !
Forget New Hampshire ? By her cliffs, her meads, her brooks afoam,
By all her hallowed memories — our lode-star while we roam —
Whatever skies above us rise, the Hills, the Hills are Home !
"■■^
^^L.
0i
i
\
EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.
By Harlan C. Pearson.
HE successful poem of oc-
casion is oue of the most dif-
ficult of literary products.
England's laureates have less
often added to, than detracted from,
their fame by the manufacture of
verse required from them by their
position. From the hundreds of
such poems vi'ritten every year in
our English language those that sur-
vive can be counted on the fingers of
one hand.
But to this rule of inadequacy there
are brilliant exceptions. lyowell's
wonderful ' ' Commemoration Ode ' '
is one that will come instantly to the
mind of the reader. It seems to me
beyond doubt that another will be
found in the poem written for New
Hampshire's first " Old Home Week "
by Miss Edna Dean Proctor, and
published, by permission, in this
number of the Granite Monthly.
Governor Rollins is to be congratu-
lated on his wisdom in choosing Miss
Proctor, from the many who might
claim the honor, as the informal poet
laureate of the state on this signifi-
cant and inspiring occasion. To
Miss Proctor herself are due the
thanks of all sons and daughters of
New Hampshire, all past and pres-
ent residents of the Granite State,
for her cheerful compliance with the
wishes of the chief executive and for
the beautiful poem in which she has
EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.
133
placed a new laurel crown of song
upon the brow of the commonwealth.
No other living poet of New
Hampshire birth, with the possible
exception of Thomas Bailey Aldrich,
possesses in any such degree as does
Miss Proctor the genius and the tech-
nique for vital verse. And in the ap-
preciation of that for which New
Hampshire stands in the world's ac-
counting ; in admiration for the past,
in love for the present, and in hope
for the future of the state, she is pre-
eminent.
Celia Thaxter sang of the sea at
the Shoals ; Whittier painted for us
the marshes at Hampton, the lakes
at Squam, and the mountains at
Franconia ; Richard Hovey has
paid tribute to the great hills ; but
Miss Proctor voices in verse the
spirit of the whole state from the
forests of the north to the spindles of
the south, from the meadows of the
east to the shore cliffs of the west.
This loyal and talented daughter
of New Hampshire was born at Hen-
niker. The Proctor family removed
to that town from Manchester, Mass.,
near the close of the last century,
and settled upon a high hill over-
looking " Contoocook's bright and
brimming river." Her mother, Lu-
cinda Gould, was a descendant of the
Hiltons and Prescotts of Portsmouth
and Hampton.
Edna Dean Proctor was educated
at South Hadley, Mass., where she
distinguished herself as a brilliant
scholar. She taught drawing and
music at Woodstock, Ct., for several
years, and was afterwards governess
in the family of Henry C. Bowen in
Brooklyn. In 1856 she published a
collection of the most striking and
valuable thoughts from the sermons
of Henry Ward Beecher. She took
notes at first for the sake of friends
in the west, who were rejoiced to
receive these choice extracts. Soon
she was besought to publish them.
She made her selections with great
judgment and good taste, and "Life
Thoughts" sold marvelously, not
only in this country but in England.
Two 3^ears of her life were spent
abroad, traveling with a Brooklyn
family. She was well prepared by
previous reading and study for this
delightful experience, and no one
ever enjoyed such a trip more keenly
or made better use of it. Although
fascinated by eastern scenes she pre-
ferred to write only of Russia, and
her "Russian Journey" has always
been much admired. Eongfellow .
was especially charmed with it, and
showed appreciation of its author's
descriptive pieces by including sev-
eral of them in his ' ' Poems of
Places."
When the Civil War came, arous-
ing her patriotism to a white heat,
her national poems, such as "The
Stars and Stripes," "Compromise,"
" Who's Ready," and others, stirred
the hearts of the boys who wore the
blue to deeds of valor in the great
struggle for country and freedom.
Her "Mississippi" brought her let-
ters of congratulation from Lincoln,
Chase, and others.
Two of her later poems, "Colum-
bia's Banner " and " Columbia's Em-
blem," are exceedingly popular.
The latter is a ringing, spirited ap-
peal for maize as our national floral
emblem, and has received the en-
dorsement of multitudes throughout
the country. Her " Song of the An-
cient People " is universally con-
ceded to be the grandest poem ever
134
EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.
written of the aboriginal Americans.
The late Mary Henienway was so
inspired with its depth, pathos, and
historical significance, that she gave
$2,500 to have it illustrated.
Twenty years ago the late Hon.
James W. Patterson said of Miss
Proctor, " It was my good fortune to
be her friend and schoolmate in our
academic years, and to be associated
with her later as a teacher in Con-
necticut. I think I know Edna
Dean Proctor thoroughly, and I
believe her one of the purest and
noblest of her sex. Hers was a fore-
most famil}^ of our native town, and
her mother a woman of great refine-
ment and rare qualities of mind and
heart. Edna resembled her mother
in personal appearance and mental
characteristics. She had the same
grace of form, the same classic fea-
tures, and the same large, dark,
thoughtful eyes. In the galaxy of
school-girls in which she moved she
shone with special lustre. She was
one of the sweetest, most stainless,
and brilliant of them all. The intel-
lectual products of the woman are
legitimate fruits of the genius of the
girl. The beauty of her character
is as worth)'- of admiration as the
music-spirit of her poems, and that
should satisfy the aspirations of any
woman."
In a biographical sketch by Miss
Kate Sanborn, written about the
same time, and published in No. i,
Vol. 3, of the Granite Monthly,
from which other liberal extracts
have here been taken, one brilliant
daughter of New Hampshire paj's this
tribute to another: "As a poet she
[Miss Proctor] is remarkable for her
earnestness and enthusiasm, and the
elaborate finish of each verse. She
is a careful writer, often changing a
line many ways, until the perfect
rhythm and most desirable word is
'attained. It would be impossible for
her to feign anything. What she
writes comes straight from her heart
and must be expressed. For her
intimate friends she will recite her
own poems at times, and it is a great
pleasure to listen to her deep, rich
voice, and watch the changing ex-
pressions of her beautiful face, lit up
with such rare dark eyes as are sel-
dom seen out of Italy. She has a
wonderful memory, never seeming to
forget dates, or names of persons and
places, or what she has read. She
is self-sacrificing, sympathetic, re-
sponsive, and loyal to the core. She
is a woman of whom New Hampshire
may well be proud."
Miss Proctor now resides in Fram-
inghani, Mass., but spends much
time in Boston and Washington in
winter. She has traveled widely
and never fails to visit her native
town and state when opportunity
offers.
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-'OMtO? TMi Tfi3rll.X)"3 'B^iEAT ORATORS/
'XBtrl-y ^^^t) WnOM, >10>^ AND FOREVER.
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»-SF««-w *•**— 'v'<cy*^»'^''''w<g'^ap r «M M ff
-^ TT TRt TOTm OF aosOAWKN 4^,
THE MARKING OF BOSCAWKN'S HISTORIC SITES.
Z>y yc;//« C. Pea f son.
T its aunual meeting in March,
1899, the town of Boscawen
appropriated a sum of monej^
to mark historic sites within
the limits of the town. The idea, so
far as this town is concerned, origi-
nated with the late Judge George W.
Nesniith of Franklin. He suggested
to the late Charles Carleton Collin,
historian of the town, the propriety
and educational usefulness of preserv-
ing in some outward form the rich as-
sociations that cluster about so many
spots in Boscawen 's comparatively lim-
ited area.
Neither Judge Nesmith nor Mr.
Coffin had the happiness of seeing
their hopes in this direction realized
during their lifetimes, but if they
could, in spirit, revisit Boscawen on
its Old Home Day, Friday, September
I, they w^ould find handsome bronze
tablets telling the significance of eight
different localities in the town.
One marks the birthplace of Gen-
eral John A. Dix, senator, governor,
cabinet member, minister to France,
who contributed to American patri-
otism that famous sentence, "If any
one attempts to haul down the Ameri-
can flag, shoot him on the spot."
The house on Boscawen Plain in
which he was born is now the sum-
mer residence of Rev. A. A. Berle,
D. D., of Boston, Mass.
Just north of this residence is the
site of the first office in which Daniel
Webster, greatest of the sons of New
Hampshire, practised law, coming
down from his uativ^e place, the ad-
UMIT"? 57ATt3 SENATOR-^^
r?,0^ ^1 \ iMi -r?! THIRTEEN "VeA^S,
Si:Dr!i7\?,T Of U. 3. TREASURY "
i.Sc!4- 13 33. '■(,
"3 IT TIE TOW!» Of aOSCAWCN "
EIRTHPLiLG£ CL-
•HON. MOODY G&Rlriiffi.
BORN APKlL.6.^.t. LiiC*.
„;: EDITOR. BAKk'ER.
'■'■■>OfT,LEqii§^AJOR AK13 SC^c:^^.
V0VE|N0R OF NEW KAkciSikaiZ
1885 - lS©7»v
^
138
BOSCAWEN'S HISTORIC SITES.
joining town of Salisbury', with the
ink still fresh upon his Dartmouth
diploma.
The house where William Pitt
Fessenden was born, also on the
Plain, was destroyed by fire several
years ago. George H. Carter has a
new house on the old site, and in
front of this will be placed the mem-
orial to the distinguished member of
congress, senator, and secretary of the
treasury.
The birthplace of Moodj^ Carrier,
governor of New Hampshire, was the
house on the Plain now owned and
occupied by Mrs. Benjamin Dow. In
the old stage-coach days it was the
famous West tavern.
About a mile and a half north of
Boscawen Plain was the home of Rev.
Dr. Wood, the town's first minister
and a notable figure in its earl}^ his-
tory. The place is now owned by
Royal Choate.
Charles Carleton Coffin, journalist
and traveler, novelist and historian,
was born on Water street, on the
road leading to Corser Hill, Webster.
The buildings are gone, the house by
fire and the barn by a tornado the
present summer. The memorial will
be placed in front of the site of the
house. The propert}^ is now owned
by Mr. Marden of Waltham, Mass.
The site of the old fort, built
b}^ the early settlers for protection
against the Indians, was near the
residence of Henry H, Gill, over-
looking the broad intervals along the
Merrimack river, east of Boscawen
Plain. A pile of loose stones has
marked the spot and near it will be
placed the bronze tablet.
The remaining site to be commem-
orated, that of the first Congregational
meeting-house in the fo7V)i of Bos-
cawen, is just west of the cemetery
on the road from Boscawen Plain to
Water street.
The formal placing in position and
dedicating of these markers is ex-
pected, at this writing, to take place
m
i
1
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■"ITSTDslA-M OT;.; 3€S-C.AWSN.
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CHniSLATC'^,. A^ln Bl'31?<lt-3S MAN.
?vr -'Ari.]0
■■z: x: =,5l?'Hd1-Al3 ^113 NATIVE- TOWN.
•
■^ /f "It rcWM or OlSSCAWEfl
* RESlCiZkCE Ci-
•
.„Rev.Sauuizl\a)bgd
1-, .
D.D.
^gl^ADUATE OF DARTluabVLa Cot-uZ^
.£ l::s.
^pjhlB. MINISTER IK ECSC.^VvE.^ i:S
L, ISSc.
JPJ|C^, - A VEAClrlER;.
■P^^eIj^KD PU.£lLlC- l^lvQ'AC
I'Cl^.
jw^ -. ~~":,..... ....-..,,.__
•
on Boscawen's Old Home Day, Fri-
day ,^ September i. At that time the
work of the committee, appointed by
the voters of the town to take the
matter in charge will be ready for
the public approval or censure. The
committee is composed of John C.
Pearson, E. E. Graves, M. D., John
E. Rines, Frank E. Gerrish, and
George E- Pillsbury.
In the matter of the manufacture
of these tablets the committee cor-
responded with parties in Boston and
New York doing such work, and in
the end found it t® be much to the
advantage of the town to give the
contract to the Whitney Electrical
A VERSE.
139
,>;liH7i?^G House
tllRNES A.DVr7S8.
M^MiiiMil
•CgccTta Vi TW TCWH or
SS?M»^" • *
n,IIW»ll»L!i
Instrument company of Penacook, by
whom they were made and at whose
works the photographs for this article
were taken. It is a matter for pride
that New Hampshire has within her
borders a manufacturing plant that
can turn out such work, so excellently
done, at very reasonable prices. In
this, as in all the company's different
lines of work, their motto is, "The best."
The tablets will be set on stone,
either boulders or split granite, and
so placed as to be easily read from
the highway.
While Boscawen claims no partic-
ular merit for its action in this re-
gard, or novelty for the idea, it is,
nevertheless, the first town in New
Hampshire to preserve the memory
of so mau}^ of its historic sites in
such enduring form. If its example
should be widely followed by the
cities and towns of the state the re-
sult would inure greatly to the en-
hancement of patriotism, the educa-
tion of youth, and the pleasurable
profit of tourist and visitor.
^1 rORT. .^
%
A,T). 173S. ^^t
•nnMD'^.«:o feet square?
■'li'lLT OF HEWN LOGS.
QMa
A VERSE
TO vSING TO "AMERICA" IN OLD HOME WEEK.
By Adelaide Cilley IValdroii.
All hail to thee, we sing,
And homage true we bring,
O native land.
Thy well-won fame we share.
Thy noble name we bear.
And ever proudly wear
Our birthright grand.
TH£ NOTMAK PHOT; -■--•-
IN THK HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS WITH WHITTIER.
By Caroline C. Lamprey Sliea.
There is Whittier whose swelling and vehe-
ment heart,
Strains the strait-breasted drab of the Quaker
apart,
And reveals the live man, still supreme and
erect.
Underneath the bemummying wrappers of
sect ;
There was nice a man born who had more of
the swing
Of the true lyric bard and all that kind of
thing."
AID Lowell iu his brilliant
" Fable for Critics," and
while he points out the
faults and foibles of others,
he has only words of love and praise
for the gentle bard of New England,
who has done so much to immor-
talize its character and scener}'.
He has left many pen pictures and
told several stories of the home of
his ancestors, having felt, no doubt,
a kinship with its inhabitants past
and present.
" When heats as of a tropic clime
Burned all our inland valleys through."
The poet loved to escape awhile
" From the cares that wear the life away
To eat the lotus of the Nile,
And drink the poppies of Cathay."
And no better place could he find
than wnth the life-giving winds of the
Atlantic, which, while they lure to
repose, impart vigor anew to tired
man. So beyond the river, where
he might look back on the beauti-
ful and many-shaded marshes, with
numberless ponds, and across the
sand hills to Great Boar's Head he
pitched his tent on the beach, that
he might hear
". . . the bells of morn and night
Swing miles away their silver speech,"
within the steeples of old Newbury-
port, and there look upon the scenes
described in "The Wreck of River-
mouth." In the same tent was read
that tale of the early Colonial days,
with its beautiful pictures of sea and
shore, and description of the old
superstitions.
No more charming spot may be
found than that where
" Rivermouth rocks are fair to see
By dawn or sunset shone across.
When the ebb of the sea has left them free
To dry their fringes of gold-green moss,
For there the river comes winding down
From salt-sea-meadows and uplands brown.
* ^:- * * ^ *- * * 3»^
" And fair are the sunny isles in view
East of the grisly Head of the Boar,
And Agamenticus lifts its blue
Disk of a cloud the woodlands o'er.
And southerly when the tide is down,
'Twixt white sea waves and sand hills brown,
The beach birds dance, and the gray gulls
wheel
Over a floor of burnished steel."
The ever-shifting clouds as they
hurr\- through the sky send color
after color chasing over the wave,
until the sea becomes one vast opal,
fringed by the white-crested billow,
as it sings on the shore.
Man}' a story is told of Hampton
river. Many a young man has gone
forth in health and vigor, to be
caught b}' the deceitful winds, and
142 IN THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS WITH WHITTIER.
wrecked on the treacherous ledge,
and the south wind which follows
the storm, bears on its wings the
moan of the buoy, on Newburyport
bar, a requiem for the dead.
A wreck of the olden time was
the poet's theme, with its picture of
beauty — its tale of storm, death, and
witchcraft
". . . in the old Colonial days,
Two hundred years ago and more,
A boat sailing out on the summer sea
Veering to catch the land breeze light,
With the Boar to left and the Rock to right,"
bore a goodly company on its way to
Boston, in the fall of 1657. The
persons were Robert Reed, sergeant;
William Swaine, Emanuel Hilliard,
John Philbrick, his wife Ann, and
daughter Sarah ; Alice Cox, and
John, her son. And the records
speak of what happened in the fol-
lowing quaint language :
" The sad hand of God upon eight
psons going in a vessell by sea
from Hampton to boston, who were
all swallowed up in the ocean soon
after they were out of the Harbour."
Tradition on which Whittier
founded his verse has it, that one
Goody Cole, witch-wife, caused the
wreck.
She, poor old woman sitting in
her little cot alone by the marsh,
looked across to the "landing" and
saw the sailing of the vessel, and the
black cloud in the sky portending
the storm.
Turning to her fire, she stirred
up the embers, and in the kettle of
water hanging on the crane she
placed a wooden piggin. As the fire
blazed bright, and the water boiled,
she said, "the water is the angry
sea, the piggin is the boat, if it sinks
they are lost ; ' ' and with one eye on
the fire, and the other on the squall
as it struck the white sail, she saw
her own madly-tossing vessel sink
out of sight in the seething cauldron,
and muttered, " the rogues are gone."
" The skipper hauled at the heavy sail ;
God be our help,' he only cried,
As the roaring gale like the stroke of a flail.
Smote the boat on its starboard side.
*********
" Goody Cole looked out from her door ;
The Isles of Shoals were drowned and gone,
Scarcely she saw the Head of the Boar
Toss the foam from tusks of stone.
She clasped her hands with a grip of pain,
The tear on her cheek was not of rain :
' The J' are lost,' she muttered, ' boat and crew ;
Lord forgive me ! mj' words were true ! ' "
Goody Cole was hated and feared.
It w^as said that she was in league
with the devil, and the young people,
peering through the latch-string hole,
after dark, declared that she held con-
verse with him, in the shape of a lit-
tle black imp who wore a red cap.
It was testified in court several
years before the Rivermouth wreck
that she " bewitched good-wife Mars-
ton's child," and that a person " was
changed from a man to an ape, as
Goody Marston's child was." She
was charged with saying of calves
that ate her grass, that " she wished
it might poysen them or choke them,"
and of the calves, " not one was ever
seen afterwards."
Abraham Drake deposed in court
to the loss of " two cattell," and the
" latter end of somer I lost one cowe
more." For all of which and other
deeds she was sentenced to be
whipped and imprisoned during her
natural life.
Her trial began in 1656, and fol-
lowing the third trial, she was im-
prisoned in Boston until 1671. After
her release the inhabitants of the
town were ordered to support her.
IN THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS WITH WHITTIER. 143
each taking a week in turn to pro-
vide her with food and fuel.
She was again arraigned for ap-
pearing as a dog, an eagle, and a
cat, and the Salisbury court ordered
her to Boston to await trial. After a
few months the following decision
ended her case :
" In y'' case of Unie Cole now pris-
oner att y'' Bar not Legally guilty
Acording to Inditemeut butt just
ground of vehement susprisyon of
her havering had famillyarryty with
the devill Jonas Clarke
in the name of the rest."
She passed the remainder of her
days in Hampton, it is hoped, in
peace. When she was buried crossed
stakes were driven down over her
cofhn, and rocks were heaped upon
it, that she might be held fast at
last.
" O Rivennouth Rock, how sad a sight
Ye saw in the light of breaking day !
Dead faces looking up cold and white
From sand and sea-weed where they laj' ;
The mad old witch-wife wailed and wept,
And cursed the tide as it backward crept :
' Crawl back, crawl back, blue water-snake,
L,eave your dead for the hearts that break ! '
" Solemn it was in that old day.
In Hampton town and its log-built church.
*********
" And Father Dalton, grave and stern,
Sobbed through his prayer and wept in turn."
And the old witch standing by
"... let the staff from her clasped hands fall.
' Lord forgive us ! we 're sinners all ; '
And the voice of the old man answered her ;
'Amen ! ' said Father Bachiler."
Father Bachiler was one of Whit-
tier's earliest American ancestors.
The settlers of Hampton were Puri-
tans of the same spirit with the May-
flozcer pilgrims, and they brought
with them their pastor. Rev. Stephen
Bachiler, who was a man of gentle
blood. He went first to Holland,
and was preceded in this country
by his daughter Theodate, and her
husband Christopher Hussey, from
whom the poet was descended.
He began his ministry in Lynn.
Being a "liberal Puritan," he dis-
pleased many of his people ; petty
quarrels arising, he went to Ipswich,
from whence he traveled on foot at
the age of seventy-six years, a dis-
tance of nearly one hundred miles to
Cape Cod, but being unsuccessful
here on account of the poverty of the
people he returned, and finally set-
tled in Winnecunnet, " which shall
be called Hampton," in 1638, with
his followers.
The "log-built" church was
erected on the green, where succes-
sive churches stood for two hundred
years, and the people assembled to
worship at the call of a bell, which
was the gift of their pastor.
"Father" Dalton was summoned
to assist the ancient minister, but so
different were their temperaments,
that they could not agree, and many
of the people siding with the new-
comer, charge after charge was pre-
ferred against Mr. Bachiler.
At length the people of Exeter pro-
posed to gather a church, and invited
Mr. Bachiler, then over eighty years
old, to take charge of it, but the gen-
eral court interfered, and the "in-
habitants of Excetter " gave up their
church .
Mr. Bachiler's buildings being-
destroyed by fire about this time,
he went to Strawberry Bank (Ports-
mouth), where he sued the town of
Hampton for "wages," obtaining a
verdict in his favor.
In 1655 he returned to England
with his grandson, Stephen Sam-
144 ^^ THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS WITH WHIT TIER.
borne, and he died at Hackney, two
miles from London, in his one hun-
dredth year.
It will be seen by the above date
of his return to his mother country,
that he could not have been present
at the funeral of the victims of the
Riverniouth wreck.
It is said that " Father" Bachiler
had prominent dark eyes which were
transmitted to many of his posterity,
Daniel Webster's being mentioned
among others.
A careful historian summing up
the Rev. Stephen Bachiler's charac-
ter concludes thus, " He was a good
and useful man," being of an inde-
pendent and liberal mind, "he re-
fused to bow to unreasonable man-
dates," making himself "enemies in
high places."
" Father Dalton continued his min-
istry until his death, at the age of
eighty-five years, ' a faithful and
painful laborer in God's vineyard.' "
Of the names of those recorded as
lost or being wounded in the wreck,
only those of Philbrick and Batchel-
der remain in the town of to-day,
though they are common enough
elsewhere.
The Hon. Tristram Dalton, United
States senator from Massachusetts,
was of the third generation, from a
brother of " Father" Dalton.
Christopher Hussey's son, Stephen,
grandson and namesake of " Father"
Bachiler, settled in Nantucket, as
did Richard Swayne, father of Wil-
liam, being one of the proprietors of
the island. He left Hampton soon
after his son's death.
A son of John Philbrick settled in
Groton, Mass.
So as I sat on Appledore,
In the caltn of a closing summer day,
And the broken lines of Hampton shore
In purple mist of cloudland lay,
The Riverniouth Rocks their storj- told ;
And waves aglow with sunset gold,
Rising and breaking with steady chime.
Beat the rhj-thm and kept the time.
" The beacon glimmered from Portsmouth bar.
The White Isle kindled its great red star,"
which preludes the stars of heaven
as it trembles on the eastern horizon,
the first star to come after the setting
sun, and "signal twilight's hour."
In the same tent on the beach the
poet heard of the "ghosts on Haley's
Isle," who begged a " passage to old
Spain."
"For," said an ancient dame of
the town, who had once been a
" Shoaler," as she related the legends
of the isles, "the spirits of the dead
guard the graves and the treasures
buried there. My own father found
coin in the rocks. He used to go out
and dig for the heft of it, and when his
spade struck the chest, there would
come a low mumble and roar in the
earth, and down out o' sight would
go the chest. Though he dug many
times he never outwitted the ghosts."
Once more in the "The Chang-
ling," we see the superstition of
those old days, and again is Goody
Cole charged with evil work, though
the prayer of Goodman Dalton re-
stores to her right mind his young
wife, and she begs that the old
woman bear not the burden of her
charge :
" Then he said to the great All-Father,
' Thy daughter is weak and blind,
Let her sight come back and clothe her
Once more in her right mind.'
'Now mount and ride, my goodman,
As thou lovest thy own soul ;
Woe 's me if my wicked famine
Be the death of Goody Cole ! ' "
IN THE HOME OE HIS ANCESTORS WITH WHITTIER. 145
Sometimes the poet came to the
home of his ancestors another way
than from Salisbury to the sands, for
he said,
" On, on, we tread with loose-flung rein our
seaward waj-,
Through dark green fields and blossoming
grain,
Where the wild brier- rose skirts the lane,
And bends above our heads the flowering
locust spray."
On his road thither he passed the
little Quaker meeting-house, one of
the oldest, built in 1701, in what is
now Seabrook. Prior to this it was
recorded of the Quakers that thirteen
persons, all of Hampton, " were con-
victed before this court for y*' breach
of y'' law called Quakers meeting,"
in 1674.
The sum of sixty-six pounds and
four shillings was raised for the meet-
ing-house, and here the Quakers
from Hampton, Salisbury, and Ames-
bur}' held their meetings, until the
Friends meeting-house was built four
years later in Amesbury, the quar-
terly meeting still continuing in
Hampton.
L,ess than iox\y years before this
was executed the cruel order of Capt.
Richard Waldron in the town.
" At last a meeting-house came in view,
A blast on his horn the constable blew ;
And the boys of Hampton cried up and
down,
' The Quakers have come ! ' to the wonder-
ing town."
Three helpless women, "Vaga-
bond Quakers," Ann Coleman, Mary
Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, tied
fast to the tail of a cart, received
there ten lashes each on the bare
back.
Let us hope the fear of authority
compelled the deed in Hampton, and
that pity made the blows light, but
"The tale is one of an evil time
When souls were fettered and thought was
crime,
And heresy's whisper above its breath
Meant shameful scourging, and bonds and
death."
The Society of Friends, afterwards
established in Hampton, grew and
spread out, and we find them, in 1728,
contributing five pounds, ten shillings
towards repairing a Boston meeting-
house.
At a monthly meeting in Hamp-
ton in regard to a communication
received from a quarterly meeting,
the following decision was reached
as to the wearing of wigs.
"}'• y'-
Wearing of Extravegent Superflues
Wigges Is all to Gather Contreary to
truth."
As the poet drove on he passed the
" Moulton House," not far from
where dwelt Witch Cole. Stately
and grand, though shorn of its
former ornamentation both within
and without, it has stood for more
than a hundred years, and by its
doors Washington halted on his jour-
ney to Portsmouth to pay his re-
pects to General Moulton.
In the dim vista between now and
its past is many a picture of stately
dame and haughty squire, while
there walks unseen the troubled
spirit which seeks again its earthly
abode when night has hushed the
world to slumber.
From the numerous legends, the
memory of which haunts the old man-
sion, Whittier has selected the tale
of two wives. For mau}^ a time, no
doubt, he heard the oft-repeated
story of the first wife with stately
mein and ghostl}^ step, who rustled
in stiff brocade over the broad stair-
way, where but a short time before
she held full swaj^ in the flesh.
146 IN THE HOME OF HIS ANCESTORS WITH WHIT TIER.
" Dark the hall and cold the feast,
Gone the bridesmaids, gone the priest ;
*********
" All is dark and all is still.
Save the starlight, save the breeze
Moaning through the gravej-ard trees ;
And the great sea waves below.
Pulse of midnight beating slow.
" From the brief dream of a bride
She hath wakened at his side.
******* **
" Ha ! that start of honor ! why
That wild stare and wilder cry !
*********
" Spare me, spare me, let me go !
" But she hears a murmur low.
Full of sweetness, full of woe.
Half a sigh and half a moan, —
' Fear not, give the dead her own ! '
Ah ! the dead wife's voice she knows !
That cold hand whose pressure froze,
Once in warmest life hath borne
Gem and band her own hath worn.
*********
" Ah, the dead, the unforgot!
From the solemn homes of thought.
Where the Cyprus shadows blend
Darkly over foe or friend.
Or in love or sad rebuke.
Back upon the living look."
The poet has taken more license
with this story than in any other of
his Hampton pictures.
The first wife was the mother of
eleven children, and the second, no
longer a girl when she married the
stern old man, but a woman of
thirty-five.
The story of the rings taken from
the bride's fingers by the ghostly
hands of the first wife, is well
known in the old town. And years
ago, when some gossip bolder than
the rest ventured to ask the second
Mrs. Moulton if the rumor which
had come to her ears was true, she
could win from her lips no denial.
Those less prone to believe in the
power of spirit or ghost, declared it
was the "general" himself, whose
conscience rebuked him for haying
bestowed on his new spouse the
gems which his own fair daughter
should have worn after her mother.
However, it is a pretty tale, and
lends a charm to the old mansion
to this day known as the "haunted
house," though it is only one of
many a strange story told of the
place.
Good-by to pain and care ! I take
Mine ease to-day ;
Here where these sunny waters break.
And ripples this keen breeze, I shake
All burdens from the heart, all weary thoughts
away."
He lov^ed to sit by the mighty
deep, and dream of the past — of the
future — and no doubt he gave many
a backward glance to his forefathers,
who came to the little town so many
years before — charging the very sin
with the might}^ purpose which
brought them thither, and leaving
posterity, who should go forth into
all parts of this broad land, carrying
the grand principles which have
made it the best spot on earth for
man to dwell.
Not many j^ears before his death
Whittier spent a few days in a hotel
at the foot of the bluff close by
the sea, and with his usual modesty
and retirement kept his room except
wdien he chose to wander on the
"floor of burnished steel" bej^ond.
It was probably his last visit to
Hampton beach.
" So then beach, bluff, and wave, farewell !
I bear with me
No token stone or glittering shell.
But long and oft shall memory tell
Of this brief, thoughtful hour of musing by
the sea."
With loving hand he held the pen,
when he told the legends of old
Hampton, and pictured the beauty
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
147
of sea and shore, and with loving
heart he turned to the home of his
ancestors to die.
Within a stone's throw of the man-
sion, where Meshech Weare lived,
and Washington once lodged, at
Hampton Falls Hill, is the Gove
mansion, where the poet spent his
last days, and may it stand for
future generations to say, " here died
our own New England bard."
". . . when times's veil shall fall asunder
The soul may know
No fearful change, nor sudden wonder,
Nor sink with weight of mystery under,
But with the upward rise, and with the vast-
ness grow."
Note. — All historic quotations are taken from Dow's " History of Hampton.'' All quotations
from Whittier are from the following poems : " The Tent on the Beach," " The Wreck of River-
mouth," "The Changeling," " How the Women Went From Dover," "Hampton Beach," "The
New Wife and the Old."
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
By Lama Harlayt.
ERGUSON came into the
oi^ce two hours late with an
unpleasant taste in his mouth
and the hint of a headache
lurking about his eyes. It was all
very fine winning a great case, with
the handsome fee that accompanied
it, but the after celebration had
proved more of a bore than other-
wise, and Ferguson had been unable
to extract as much enjoyment as his
guests seemed to from the wine and
the supper for which he had paid in
honor of his good fortune.
This morning, unrefreshed by his
sleep, jaded and nervous, he began
to wonder what there was in the
world worth living for, and just what
was his excuse for existence anyway.
Involuntarily he looked in the glass
to see if he were growing old, and
felt of his arm to find if his muscles
had become soft.
The senior partner looked up with
an unwonted smile as Ferguson en-
tered the private office. It was the
first time in the history of the firm of
Furnel & Ferguson that the junior
partner had not preceded the senior
in appearing at the office in the
morning. But this senior, like all
others, had been a junior once him-
self and remembered j^et the winning
of his first great case.
So Furnel would not have been
surprised had Ferguson not appeared
at all this day, and wdien Ferguson
did come in Furnel noticed with hid-
den amusement the air of ' ' morning
after" repentance worn by his junior.
148
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
"Congratulations, my boy," said
the older man cordially. "I had no
chance last night to tell you how well
3'ou managed the case, but you did
excellently. It was a brilliant piece
of work. I — we were all proud of
you."
"Thank you, sir," replied Fergu-
son, standing a bit straighter in
spite of himself. He was still young
enough so that a word of praise went
a long ways with him, and he had
never heard his cool, self-repressed
senior speak quite so enthusiastically
of anj^thing before. " We were on
the right side and we had good luck."
" Law is not as potent a factor in
law as in some other professions," re-
marked Furnel dryly. " I am afraid it
would never have won your case if it
had not been supported by some good
authorities."
" That is true, sir," assented Fur-
nel, with a smile.
There was silence for a minute
while the older man regarded the
younger keenly. Then he said ab-
ruptly, " You must take a good long
rest, now, Ferguson. You have
well earned it and you need it. You
are not at all in good shape this
morning.
"Well, you see, sir," explained
Ferguson, rather shamefacedly,
" some of the boys insisted last night
on celebrating our victor}-, and as I
don't usually travel at so fast a pace
I suppose I show the effects of it to-
day. I '11 be all right to-morrow."
"Pshaw! That isn't it," said the
senior partner impatiently. "You
will never celebrate enough to hurt
you any. You have been working
too hard and too steady for too long
a time. You are getting stale.
Why, you haven't had a good vaca-
tion since you came into the firm.
Now I want you to go somewhere —
— it makes no especial difference
where — and drop all thoughts of law
books and law business for at least a
month, three months if you will. I
insist on you're doing this as a per-
sonal favor for me."
"You are very kind, Mr. Furnel,"
replied Ferguson, promptly, "but I
really don't think I need a vacation,
and if I did I can't imagine where
I would go to enjoy one. I do n't
seem to have any interests outside of
Chicago."
"Go out to the Rockies and kill
some big game. Go down to my
ranch in Texas and mix in a round-
up. Go East and see the real swells
at Newport. Go back to the old
town where you were born and look
up the girls you used to beau home
from prayer-meeting. Probably some
of them have named their babies after
you."
The old gentleman turned to his
desk, signifying that the discussion
was over, and Ferguson, with a
laugh that was half a sigh, picked up
a pile of letters awaiting his atten-
tion. The top one bore a peculiar
red and blue stamp that caught his
eye at once. He had never seen one
like it before, and he prided himself
on being something of a philatelist
at that. "What exposition has got
to the stamp issuing stage, now, I
wonder?" said he to himself, and
let the other letters lie unopened
while he devoted himself to decipher-
ing the inscription on this one.
"Old Home Week! What the
deuce is Old Home Week?" was
his final mental query. Opening the
envelope and unfolding its contents
he read as follows
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
149
The Winniepauket Old Home Week Associa-
tion cordially invites you to participate in its
observance of
OLD HOME DAY
by a basket picnic at Great Pond (if stormy in
Grange Hall) Tuesday, August 29, 1S99, at 10
o'clock. Public exercises at 1:30, including
music and speaking.
Very respectfully,
E. B. Weston, President.
C. I,. Flint, Secretary.
" E. B. Weston, president," he
mused. "That must be old Deacon
Weston, And C. ly. Flint, secre-
tary? Why, that is Carroll Flint,
who cut me out with Marion Gray.
I wonder if she married him finall3^
I never got cards."
Ferguson shook himself out of his
fast-approaching day-dream and asked
his senior, " Have you heard any-
thing about this New Hampshire Old
Home Week, Mr. Furnel ? "
"Yes, indeed," was the reply.
' ' The papers have referred to it fre-
quentl}'. Is that an invitation you
have there ? ' '
Ferguson handed over the docu-
ment and the other read it carefull3^
"That does sound good," he said,
as he handed it back. "A basket
picnic on the shores of the pond !
I can shut my eyes and see the good
things they '11 have to eat. Bless me,
I wish I had been born in New Hamp-
shire instead of Pennsylvania. But
of course j'ou will go, Ferguson.
It's quite providential. Just as you
needed some definite place to visit up
comes this invitation. Why, man,
they '11 ask you to speak in the ' pub-
lic exercises at i : 30.' "
"The Jackson will case is hardly
of such national celebrity as that,"
said Ferguson, "but I believe I will
make a flying trip back for that day,
just to see what the old town looks
like and to find out how Deacon
Weston has managed to keep alive
so long."
So the next day but one found
Henry H. Ferguson, Esq., ensconced
in the smoking compartment of a
Wagner car, with his back to the
setting sun, and a determination on
his mind not to think of the ofhce
again until he once more set foot in
Chicago.
Through the Indiana prairies as the
daylight waned ; watching the lights
of Ohio cities pierce the black even-
ing ; wakened at night in Buffalo,
where the engines changed ; gazing
at the rich lands of central New
York from the window of his berth ;
down the Hudson in the glory of a
perfect da3% and then — New York.
Two days later Ferguson escaped
from the colony of old college chums
he had discovered in the Metropolis,
and with the comfortable sense of
putting temptation behind him was
whirled away towards Boston. His
friends in New York had laughed at
the Old Home Week idea, and his
determination to take part in it, and
he himself was inclined to believe
that a week in New York with such
competent guides would be more
entertaining than a trip to Winnie-
pauket. Nevertheless, having once
made up his mind to go back for Old
Home Day he was determined not to
be kept away by all the allurements
of Gotham.
So he was settling himself content-
edly to read " David Harum," when,
glancing over the top of the book,
the rich brown hair of a girl half way
down the car caught and held his
eye. The poise of the head, the
heavy coils of the hair, the stray
curls above the dainty collar, all
pleased his cesthetic sense, and fully
I50
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
as often as once in each chapter he
caught himself looking up to see if
his presumabl}^ fair fellow-passenger
was still in her seat.
Jolting across Boston from the
south terminal to the north, and just
catching the White Mountain ex-
press, he had almost a shock of
pleased surprise when he looked
down the parlor car and saw the
same brown hair and regal head. If
Ferguson had been like most men
he would promptly have sauntered
through the car and secured a front
as well as rear view of this fellow-
passenger who had engaged his at-
tention. He, however, preferred
not to run the risk of dispelling the
illusions of beauty and grace which
he had half unconsciously formed.
Presently, too, as the brakeman be-
gan to call out well-remembered New
Hampshire names, Nashua, Man-
chester, Concord, his thoughts cen-
tered upon the town that had been
his old New Hampshire home, and
in the throng of memories, bitter and
sweet, the minutes sped swiftly.
Winniepauket next, sir," said the
porter, and Ferguson came to him-
self with a start. As he descended
from the stuffy car and stood on the
little station platform, unchanged in
a dozen years, the cool night air
fanned his face wnth what seemed to
him his first welcome home.
The one hack, of which the village
boasted, was filled, inside and box
seats alike, before he reached it. So,
nothing loath, he set out on the well-
remembered half-mile walk to the
Webster Inn, now so called because
there in his salad days the Jove-like
Daniel had passed many hours of
relaxation from the duties of his bud-
ding law practice.
As Ferguson strode along, beneath
the great elms that arched the road-
way, over the bridge and up the hill,
the soft moonlight illumined with ap-
propriate indistinctness long forgot-
ten scenes of his boyhood and earl)'
manhood.
There was the brick schoolhouse
whither he had been led in fear and
trembling at the tender age of five,
not to leave it until the classic portals
of Dartmouth opened before him.
There was the white church with the
tall spire, where, on every Sunday
he had attended morning service,
Sunda3'-school, and prayer-meeting.
There was the little store, with the
stone hitching posts in front, over
whose counter he had passed many a
penny in exchange for peanuts and
cand^^ There was Squire Graj^'s
mansion looming up among its senti-
nel maples, square and bluff and
stern, like the old squire himself.
The Squire never liked Ferguson,
and Ferguson, in turn, hated as well
as feared the Squire, even before the
latter opened his front door one even-
ing quite unexpectedly and found his
daughter and Ferguson sitting very
close together on the steps. To-
night, after a dozen years, Ferguson
could feel almost as intensely as at
the very moment the impotent rage
and resentful shame which filled him
when the old Squire said : ' ' Clear
out, you bo}', and don't come 'round
here botherin' me and mine no more."
Carroll Flint was the squire's fav-
orite, Ferguson remembered, and
probably he had finally succeeded in
winning Marion for himself.
Just as Ferguson reached this point
in his mental autobiography and just
as he stood across the street from the
old Squire's house, the hack stopped
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
151
at its entrance, and once again the
big front door swung open. This
time it was not Squire Gray who was
framed in the square of light but Car-
roll Flint, portly and bearded, but
still Carroll FHnt.
Ferguson quickened his pace at
the sight, and when, ten minutes
later, he blew out the kerosene lamp
in his room at the inn a vague sense
of disappointment overlaid his first
impressions of Old Home Week.
Rising bright and early next morn-
ing, he faced, with a dismay that
turned to delight, the heavily-laden
breakfast table. Blackberries and
cream, "raised biscuit," fried chicken,
and baked potatoes disappeared in a
way that would have made urbane
Francois, best of waiters at a certain
Chicago club, stare in astonishment.
Breakfast over he paid tribute to vil-
lage tradition by leaving his cigarette
case in his rooms and buying instead
a half dozen of the landlord's cigars.
Then he struck out, away from the
village main street and up a hilly
side road that skirted the base of
"The Mountain."
Over a stone v/all and through a
pasture where Mayflowers used to
grow ; in among sweet fern bushes
and blackberry vines ; by the bould-
ers on which chestnut burrs used to
be hammered open with rocks ; up a
short, steep ascent — and Ferguson
looked once more upon a scene that
had held him rapt more than one
hour of even his busy, boyhood days.
A drop of a thousand feet and below
him pastures and fields stretched
away, dotted here and there with
grazing cows and horses. The high-
way, in stagecoach days a turnpike,
wound a white ribbon between field
and field. In the distance the sand-
banks that marked the slow curving
course of the river stood out on the
blue horizon like blotches of yellow
paint thrown on by a careless artist.
A mile to the south the blue smoke
from the factory chimneys curled
lazily up and the white spire of the
church pierced a mass of green tree-
tops. Through the clear air came
the sound of whistle and bell as the
mountain express paused a moment
at the station, then dashed away to
the north.
Ferguson stood like a statue for
minutes, drinking in the peaceful
beauty of the wide prospect. For
the moment he was a boy again,
wondering what lay beyond the
sandbanks and the hilltops. Deter-
mined to retain the mood of the
moment as long as possible he de-
scended a little way to a well-remem-
bered nook, where, years ago, Marion
Gray had heard him say good-by, the
day after his abrupt dismissal by her
father.
As he turned a corner of the ledge
he saw that someone had been before
him. A marvelous, flower-covered
hat had been thrown carelessly on
the ground and its owner leaned
against a boulder, her back to Fer-
guson. Once more he saw the brown
hair and the regal neck he had ad-
mired on his journey. He stepped
on a dry twig and the noise made the
woman turn so that he could see her
face. It was Marion Gray.
She started as she saw who it was,
then extended her hand with a smile.
"Welcome back to the mountain,
Mr. Ferguson," she said.
"Thank you, Mrs. FHnt," repHed
Ferguson, who was far from being as
composed as his companion.
She lifted her eyebrows in surprise
xxvii — 11
152
HOME AGAIN WITH CUPID.
as he spoke, and opened her mouth
to answer. Evidently changing her
mind she bit her hps and was silent.
" Is Winniepauket's Old Home
Week a success?" he asked pres-
ently.
"Indeed, it is," she said. "The
Griffiths have come clear on from
San Francisco, and the Dodges from
Minneapolis. Minnie Quimby has
brought her husband up from New
Orleans, and Frank Miller, with all
his millions, is on from New York.
But the star of the occasion is that
red-headed, freckle-faced little Mar-
tin boy that was always under foot.
Don't you remember? "
Ferguson remembered very well.
' ' He was appointed to the naval
academy the year after you gradu-
ated from college, and the little
scamp got through there just in time
to be ordered on duty with the ships
at Santiago. He did something
there to make himself more or less
famous, and then was sent to Ma-
nila. Now he 's home for the first
time since the war, and Winnie-
pauket's Old Home Week has re-
solved itself into a Martin glorifica-
tion. Not even the winner of the
great Jackson will case can divide
with him the public attention."
" How did you hear about that? "
asked Ferguson, quickly.
"Perhaps I keep better track of
my old friends than they do of me,"
she said demurely. "When I was
last in Chicago and heard of the ris-
ing young barrister, Henry H. Fer-
guson, Esq., I quite expected the
honor of a call from him, but I was
disappointed."
"You in Chicago?" exclaimed
Ferguson in surprise. " But when ?
And how should I — "
' ' Do you go to the theatre often ? ' '
interrupted the girl.
"No, not often. Occasionally.
Why ? ' '
" Do you remember a play, ' The
Sorrows of Susan,' two season ago ? "
"Yes, I think so. One of Froh-
man's companies, was it not? Why,
5'es, that was the play that new
actress, Anita Arnold, was in. I
remember how sorry I was to miss
it."
"Then you didn't see it ? "
" No. Why?"
" Because I w^as Anita Arnold."
Ferguson stared in blank amaze-
ment. "You on the stage? You
Anita Arnold ? What do you
mean ? "
The girl laughed a little at his sur-
prise. "It is quite a long story,"
she said. " When father died his af-
fairs w^ere in such shape that their
settlement left little for mother and
us girls but the old place. As the
oldest I w^ent out to make my own
living. I tried teaching school, I
tried shorthand, I tried demonstrat-
ing a new 'food,' I tried church choir
singing, and finally I got a start on
the stage. That was in the fall of
'95. I was an understudy that sea-
son, played a small and not particu-
larly pleasant part the next year, and
in '97 I got my chance. That was
the year I expected to see you when
I came right to your doors."
"You surely would if I had
known," returned Ferguson with sin-
cere regret in his voice. " But 3'ou
have left the stage ? "
" Yes, I have got a little start in a
new line of late. Did you happen to
read ' Captives of Chance ' in the
Pacific last year? "
" You do n't mean to say you wrote
WELCOME HOME.
153
that!" F'erguson's doubt was too
plainly mauifested in his tone for
real politeness, but his companion
did not mind. She was thoroughly
enjoj'ing her little triumph over her
old mate. "And I'm writing them
another for next year under con-
tract," she added.
Ferguson was fairly overcome by
this avalanche of surprises. "But
your marriage. Where does that
come in?" he blurted out.
The girl turned very red. "To
whom do 3'ou think I am married,
Mr. Ferguson? " she said.
"Why, to Carroll FHnt. I cer-
tainly saw him standing in the door-
way of your old home last night."
"You did, and he lives there, but
through his marriage to ni}^ sister
Anna, not to me. He was very kind
to us all after father died, and it was
a genuine love match between him
and Anna."
Ferguson's spirits sailed aloft like
hot air balloons. " Is it true ? " he
cried eagerly. "And your are really
still—"
" Marion Gray," said the girl look-
ing down.
Ferguson was at her side in a step.
"Marion, do you remember what I
asked you here twelve years ago ? "
"Yes," said the girl.
" You would do nothing that would
cause your father sorrow, you told
me."
" Yes," said the girl.
"Marion, I was a poor boy then
and you were a rich man's daughter.
To-day I am a struggling young law-
yer and you are already a famous
woman. But, Marion, I want to ask
you again the question I asked you
here twelve years ago. May I ? "
" Yes," said the girl.
"Marion, I gave you then the
whole of a boy's heart. It has al-
waj's been yours. It is to-day. And
now it is a man's heart, full of love
for you. Marion, will you marry me ? "
"Yes," said the girl.
And after all Ensign Martin,
U. S. N., was far from monopoliz-
ing the interest at Winuiepauket's
Old Home Day basket picnic.
WELCOME HOME.
By George Bancroft GrijffitJi.
I 've seen the countless sparkling threads
Of waters rich with rainbow hues.
And stood where Shoshone's bosom sheds
Its changing, matchless diamond dews,
But never beauteous arc of light.
Or glittering, bead-like, tossing foam,
Shone like her tear of pure delight
When mother hailed her wand'rer home !
NEW HAMPSHIRE HOME WEEK GREETINGS.
By Rev. N. F. Carter.
New Hampshire, noble mother of us all,
Whose name is sweet as Eove's triumphal psalms,
Arrayed in all her wealth of summer charms.
Is stretching out her open, wide-spread arms
To bless her children gathered at her call !
Her sons and daughters coming from afar,
Forgetting for the time life's fretting cares,
Are back to breathe once more her wholesome airs,
Revive fond memories, and learn how fares
Her household, what the signs of promise are.
Ten thousand voices, ringing cheer on cheer.
Give royal welcome now to every guest,
Come from the north, or south, or east, or west,
Back to the homeland, longest loved and best,
Most glad, yea, more than glad to see all here !
Our cordial greetings leap from honest lips,
Bespeaking fires of love in kindred souls
Glowing to speed the way to worthy goals.
Over which Time its wave of glory rolls.
Like that of suns that never know eclipse !
Here stand, as high and rugged as of yore,
Our mountains first to greet the morning sun.
East kissed by sunsets when the day is done,
Our grand old mountains, sacred every one,
The guardians of our homes forevermore !
From their bold summits out on every hand
Run landscapes beautiful as eye has seen.
Inlaid with crystal lakes in silver sheen.
And streams like silver ribbons fringed with green, —
A view to rival any fairy land !
A land of royal homes for raising men
To match her mountains, peers of any race,
Eike Webster, Greeley, Sullivan, Stark, and Chase;
And fairest daughters fitted well to grace
Such homes in city, or in mountain glen !
NEW HAMPSHIRE HOME WEEK GREETINGS. 155
No honored place in liigh or lowly life
They have not filled with credit to the state,
In priceless blessings made her rich and great.
Her growing fame has reached the Golden Gate, —
No heroes braver in the battle's strife !
What teeming land in all the circling earth
New Hampshire has not in her children blest ?
What tidal wave of glory, east or west,
Has not her symbols blazoned on her crest.
Recounting to the world her sterling worth ?
God bless the dear old state, her children bless,
As hand clasps hand, and e^^e meets eye to-day,
And hearts with tuneful raptures have their way
With joj'S of fellowship, whose sovereign swa}^
Shall fill with courage when new burdens press !
God bless her homes, her schools and churches all,
True sources of her greatness and her lame,
Nursers of hope, like torches all aflame,
To banish darkness, save from sin and shame,
Speed heavenward ere the evening shadows fall !
The need is still of men to smite the wrong.
As one in word and deed, not once nor twice.
But always ; with heroic sacrifice
Wage long and holy war to free from vice ; —
Strong for the right, for ever}^ virtue strong ;
Of noble women, who, with patient will
Shall train the young to wisdom's pleasant ways,
Illumine with their graces coming days.
With good deeds win them highest meed of praise
As they with glory every household fill !
For all the blessings of the honored past.
For all our wealth of homes whose silent power
Has wrought the glory of this favored hour, —
Pledge we to-day our meed of holy dower
To bless the world as long as time shall last !
Majestic as her rock-ribbed mountains stand,
Fair as her summer fields and forests are ;
So ever may her children, near or far.
In storm and shadow, under sun or star.
Stand forth the pride and joy of ever}' land !
THE BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER.
Copyright, /SgS, hy C. M. Wi'cii.
THE WARBLERS AND VIREOS IN THEIR ECONOMIC
RELATIONS.
By Clarence Moores Weed.
THE AMERICAN WARBLERS.
HE beautiful plumaged and
sweet-voiced American war-
blers {Sylvicolidac) form next
to the largest family of our
native birds. Nearly all of them are
small — the great majority being less
than five inches long — and as a
group they are abundant and widely
distributed, migratory and iusect-
iv^orous. In manj^ species the plum-
age varies greatly with the age and
sex of the individual. There are
about sixty North American repre-
sentatives of the family. " With tire-
less industry do the warblers be-
friend the human race," writes Dr.
Elliot Coues, " their unconscious
zeal plays due part in the nice ad-
justment of nature's forces, helping
to bring about that balance of vege-
table and insect life without which
agriculture would be in vain. They
visit the orchard when the apple and
pear, the peach, plum, and cherry
are in bloom, seeming to revel care-
lessly amid the sweet-scented and
delicately tinted blossoms, but never
faltering in their good work. They
peer into the crevices of the bark,
scrutinize each leaf, and explore the
very heart of the buds to detect,
drag forth, and destroy these tiny
creatures, singly insignificant, col-
lectively a scourge, which prey upon
the hopes of the fruit grower, and
which if undisturbed would bring his
care to naught. Some warblers flit
incessantly in the terminal foliage
of the tallest trees ; others hug close
to the scored trunks and gnarled
boughs of the forest kings ; some
peep from the thicket, the coppice,
the impenetrable mantle of shrub-
ber}' that decks tiny water courses,
playing at hide-and-seek with all
comers ; others more humble still
descend to the ground where they
glide with pretty mincing steps and
affected turning of the head this
way and that, their delicate flesh-
tinted feet just stirring the layer of
withered leaves with which a past
season carpeted the ground."
The black and white creeping
warbler, sometimes called the black
and white creeper, is abundant in
most wooded region portions of
eastern America, extending west-
ward to Dakota and Nebraska. It
resembles the creepers and nut-
hatches in its manner of taking
food, searching every cranny and
crevice of the bark of trees for the
insects sheltered there, occasionally
chasing for short distances moths
or other creatures frightened from
their hiding places ; and sometimes
scrutinizing the foliage like other
warblers. The nest is placed on or
near the ground, very often on a
rocky ledge. Four or five young
are reared. The insects eaten by
158
WARBLERS AND VIREOS.
the bird belong mostly to species of
small size.
Seventeen Wisconsin specimens
had eaten 5 ants, 20 small measur-
ing worms, and i other caterpillar,
4 moths, 5 two-winged flies, i cur-
culio, and 15 other beetles, 7 bugs,
a caddis-fly, and a small snail, be-
sides more than a hundred insect
eggs. One Nebraska bird had swal-
lowed 41 locusts and 12 other insects,
together with a few seeds.
The blue yellow-backed warbler is
a beautiful little bird which spends
much of its feeding time among
the topmost twigs of the tallest trees.
It is common in eastern America,
and is fonnd as far west as the
Rocky mountains. In New England
it has been observed feeding on may-
flies, measuring worms, and spiders ;
in Wisconsin 6 small insects were
taken from a single stomach, and in
Nebraska it has frequently been seen
picking up locusts and other insects.
The Nashville Warbler is found,
occasionally at least, throughout al-
most the whole of North America,
specimens of it having been taken
as far north as Greenland, as far
west as Utah, Nevada, and Cali-
fornia, and as far south as Mexico.
Its chief distribution, however, is in
the region east of the Mississippi
river, where it is a regular migrant,
breeding as far south as the northern
counties of Illinois and the central
portion of New England. The nest
is placed on the ground. The only
food records we have show that two
Wisconsin specimens had eaten 4
small, green caterpillars and some
other insects not identifiable ; and
that one Nebraska fledgling had de-
voured 21 locusts and several other
insects, while the adult birds have
frequently been seen feeding on
locusts.
The Tennessee warbler is an ex-
tremely migratory species that passes
regularly and abundantly through
the Mississippi Valley states during
its spring and autumn migrations.
It also occurs sparingly west to the
Rocky mountains and east to the
Atlantic ocean. It breeds in the far
north and winters, in part at least,
in South America. It searches dili-
gently for the insect mites that in-
fest the foliage of trees, seeming to
have a special fondness for aphides,
42 of which have been taken from
the stomach of three of these birds.
Among the other food elements of
thirty-two specimens there were
found 2 small hymenoptera, 13 cat-
erpillars, 15 two- winged flies, 13
beetles, 35 small bugs, and 1 1 in-
sect eggs. Four fifths of the food
of one bird shot in an orchard in-
fested by canker worms consisted
of these pests. Tennessee warblers
have also been seen feeding on small
grasshoppers.
This, however, is one of the very
few warblers against which a charge
has been brought by the fruit-
growers. In some sections it is
known as the "grape-sucker" be-
cause it probes ripe grapes with its
little beak, presumably to get at the
juice. Testimony on this point ap-
pears to be conclusive, and consid-
erable injury occasionally results.
There can be no doubt, however,
that in the aggregate the bird does
vastly more good than harm.
The yellow-rumped warbler or
Myrtle bird is an exceedingly^ hardy
little creature, often enduring the
rigors of a New England winter
when its congeners are basking in
WARBLERS AND VIREOS.
159
the sunshine of the South. It is
distributed over a large North Amer-
ican range, and is abundant in all
sorts of situations, especially during
the spring and autumn migrations.
It breeds regularly in the far north,
sometimes nesting, however, in the
northern tier of states and in lower
Canada. According to Ridgway it
is a common winter resident in
fectly at home throughout the whole
of North America from the tropical
regions of the south to the arctic
lands of the north. It is a famil-
iar and confiding bird, associating
freely with civilized man, and. build-
ing its neat nest of vegetable fiber
in the trees of the orchard, park,
family residence, and public thor-
oughfare. Four or five eggs are
The Yellow-rumped Warbler.
southern Illinois. Of twenty-one
specimens studied by King, "one
had eaten a moth ; two, 21 caterpil-
lars — mostly measuring worms ; five,
14 two-winged flies, among which
were three crane-flies; fifteen, 48
beetles ; one, 4 ichneumon flies ; one,
a caddis-fly ; and one, a spider."
The yellow warbler or summer
yellow-bird is probably the most
abundant and widely distributed
member of its famil^^ It seems per-
usually deposited in the nest, and
when an additional one is left by a
skulking cowbird, the warblers, with
a wisdom beyond, their size, add
another story to the nest and begin
again their domestic duties, leaving
the stranger eg^ and if necessary
some of their own to go unhatched.
The food habits of the yellow
warbler are all that could be de-
sired. It freely visits farm premises
and feeds on minute insects of many
i6o
WARBLERS AND VIREOS.
kinds. Two thirds of the food of
five Illinois specimens consisted of
canker worms, and most of the re-
mainder was an injurious beetle.
An equal number of Wisconsin birds
contained small caterpillars and bee-
tles ; and from various other speci-
mens, spiders, myriapods, moths,
bugs, flies, grasshoppers, and other
insects have been taken.
The black-throated green warbler,
which is especially characterized by
having a jet black chin, throat, and
breast, is abundant in New Eng-
land, and extends westward to Ne-
braska, breeding in pine trees
throughout the northern portion of
its range. Its food is obtained
among the branches of tall trees,
largely upon the wing, and consists
of a great variety of small insects,
including caterpillars and larvae of
man}' kinds, curculios and other
beetles, small bugs, and various hy-
menoptera. An idea of the number
of insects they consume may be ob-
tained from the statement that the
stomachs of five birds taken in Ne-
braska during June contained ii6
small locusts and 104 other insects —
an average of 44 to each bird. Sev-
enty per cent, of the food of one
Illinois specimen consisted of canker
worms.
The beautiful American redstart
is a much commoner species in most
of the northern states than would be
supposed by those who have paid
no special attention to the study of
birds. Living amidst the foliage of
the tallest trees, it is seldom seen,
except by those looking for the war-
blers found in such situations. The
redstart is the flycatcher of the inner
tree-tops, capturing on the wing the
numerous insects that flit about
among the branches and occasionally
taking a caterpillar hanging by a
thread or crawling on a twig. The
food of the few specimens that have
been critically examined consisted of
small two-winged flies, a few para-
The Yellow Warbler.
Cot>vright, fSgS, hy C. M. Weed.
WARBLERS AND VI R EOS.
i6i
sitic hymenoptera, an oc-
casional small bug and
some minute larvae. Seven
Nebraska specimens had
eaten i6i small locusts and
117 other insects.
The handsome little Ma-
ryland yellow-throat is
found throughout the
United States from the
Atlantic to the Pacific
oceans, and in many local-
ities is one of the most
abundant of the warblers.
It especially affects the
shrubbery about standing
or running water, where it
can be found throughout
the summer busily search-
ing for insect food. It
often visits orchards, where
canker worms and other
caterpillars are greedily devoured,
forming in three cases on record
four fifths of the food. The little
case bearing caterpillars of the gen-
us Coleophora and its allies are
often eaten, while moths, two- winged
flies, beetles, grasshoppers, leaf-hop-
pers, bugs, dragon-flies, hymenoptera,
and insect eggs are all included on
the bill of fare. The young are
sometimes fed with small grasshop-
pers.
lyike the yellow warbler this species
sometimes outwits the cow bird by its
intelligence. Mr. A. W. Butler thus
describes the three-storied nest of a
yellow- throat in his possession : "In
the original nest had been deposited
the &%% of a cow bird, then within
that nest and rising above it the yel-
low-throat had built another nest,
which also became the depository of
the hope of offspring of this un-
natural bird ; again the little war-
The Blackburnian Warbier.
bier constructed a third nest upon
the other two, burying the cow bird's
^ZZ, and in this nest laid her comple-
ment of eggs."
These examples will suffice to make
manifest the fact that the warbler
family is one of extraordinary econo-
mic value, the members of which are
immensely useful in checking noxious
insects, and with very few excep-
tions have no injurious habits. It
is particularly gratifying that these
charming birds, whose song and
plumage draw to them the good-will
of all intelligent people, should show
so well that utility and beauty are
not alwavs dissociated.
THE VIREOS OR GREENI.ETS.
The vireos or greenlets are univer-
sally recognized as among the sweet-
est of feathered songsters. They are
small birds, modest in manners and
l62
WARBLERS AND JIREOS.
dress, very different from the shrikes
to which the ornithologists claim
they are closely related. This is
exclusively a new world family com-
posed of half a dozen genera and a
little over half a hundred species ;
only one of the former, the genus Vi-
reo, and thirteen of the latter occur in
the United States. Of these thir-
teen species about half are common
over a considerable area. In color
our forms are mostly greenish-olive
or gray above and white or yellow
below. They build slightly pendent
nests in trees, migrate southward in
autumn, and are almost exclusively
insectivorous. They are more often
heard than seen. "Clad in simple
tints that harmonize with the ver-
dure," writes Dr. Coues, "these gen-
tle songsters warble their lays un-
seen, while the foliage itself seems
stirred to music. In the quaint and
curious ditty of the white- eye in the
earnest, voluble strains of the red-
eye, in the tender secret that the
warbling vireo confides in whispers
to the passing breeze, he is insensi-
ble who does not hear the echo of
thoughts he never clothes in words."
The red-eyed vireo seems to be the
most abundant, widely distributed
species of the genus. It is found in
all the states except those of the ex-
treme west, and in summer some-
times migrates as far north as Green-
land. It prefers woodlands to the
cultivated fields, but occasionall}^
finds its way to parks and orchards.
It commonly seeks its food among
the foliage and branches of trees and
shrubs, sometimes chasing moths and
other flying insects for short dis-
tances on the wing. It is universally
recognized as a great insect eater ; an
excellent idea of its food may be ob-
tained from Professor King's studies
of fiftj'-four Wisconsin specimens :
' ' From the stomachs of eighteen of
this species were taken 15 caterpil-
lars, 5 other larvae, 8 beetles, among
them 5 weevils and i long-horn ; 70
heteropterous insects, among them
67 chinch bugs; 16 winged ants, i
ichneumon, 5 dragonflies, 2 dip-
terous insects, one of them a large
horsefly ( Tabanus ai rains) ; 3 small
moths, 2 grasshoppers, i aphis, i
chrysalid, 2 spiders, and 7 dogwood
berries. Of 36 other specimens ex-
amined, 15 had eaten caterpillars; 2,
other larvae ; nine, beetles, among
them 2 ladybird beetles ; 3, grass-
hoppers ; 2, ants; 2, moths; 4, uni-
dentified insects ; and 7, fruits or
seeds, among which were raspber-
ries, dogwood berries, berries of
prickly ash, and sheep berries."
During locust outbreaks in Ne-
braska four fifths of the food of this
vireo has been found to consist of
these insects.
The warbling vireo frequents culti-
vated fields, orchards, and the vicin-
ity of houses much more than the
shyer red-eye. It is an abundant
species in most states, and is highly
insectivorous. Its food consists
chiefly of caterpillars, including
such destructive species as the can-
ker worm, beetles of various kinds,
among them the twelve-spotted cu-
cumber beetle, and occasionally a
lady bird, crane-flies and other two-
winged flies, grasshoppers, bugs,
and sometimes dogwood berries.
The young are known sometimes to
be fed with grasshoppers. Canker
worms formed forty-four per cent, of
the food of three specimens shot in
an orchard infested by these pests.
The vellow-throated vireo is a
OLD HOME WEEK— NEWPORT, N. H. 163
laro-er bird than either of those found as far west as the base of the
above mentioned. It is common in Rocky mountains. It usually haunts
the eastern region of North America, clearings where there is much under-
and feeds on caterpillars including brush. Dr. Brewer reports that it
measuring worms, moths, weevils, feeds on canker worms, and DeKay
and other beetles, grasshoppers, leaf- says it eats insects and berries. No
hoppers, and various flies. It evi- precise records of the examination of
dently is a highly beneficial bird. the stomach contents appear to have
The white-eyed vireo is abundant been published, but its diet is prob-
in the eastern states as far north as ably similar to that of the other
Massachusetts, and is occasionally species of the genus.
OLD HOME WEEK— NEWPORT, N. H.
[Poem read August 29, iSgg.]
By Edivard A. Jenlcs.
A radiant morning of the Long Ago, and June
Was at its best. The bluest of o'erarching skies,
Flecked with soft boats upon a tideless, waveless sea,
And wind-swept with the breath of Power invisible.
Bent wistfully above the unconscious world, and seemed
To take, in her capacious arms of mother-love,
The whole round world. The birds were organized in one
O'ervvhelming orchestra, that made the forests ring
With yet unpublished symphonies ; and all the fields
And meadows, full of flashing wings, and violins
And drums and flutes, wiled the rapt soul away — away —
Beyond the beck'ning mountain-tops, a prisoner
In rippling chains of untaught songs and melodies.
A farmhouse, comfortable, hospitable, calm—
Of paint and ornament serenely innocent —
Was hidden 'mong the peaceful hills. Gigantic elms.
Contented maples, guardians for a century,
Stood watchful at the open door ; and softest winds
Played hide-and-seek with birds and humming bees among
The leaves and twigs, while the long fingers of the Sun
Just touched the finger-tips of all the living things
Secluded there, and waltzed to the swinging music.
The voices of the farmer's boys in far-off fields,
In tones familiar to the lumbering ox-team,
Came lilting o'er the shining grass ; and nearer still
1 64 OLD HOME WEEK— NEWPORT, N. H.
The homely conversation from the poultry-yard —
Full of unconscious happiness and deep content —
Mingled in perfect harmony with cadences
From spinning-wheel and spinner, as deft fingers turned
The flying wheel, and guided the soft thread upon
The willing spindle, just inside the open door.
Alas ! — sad was the day ! — there came a time when one
By one those splendid boys and girls, full-fledged and strong,
Climbed over all the loving barriers of that
Old nest, and flew away into the wide, wild world, —
Where softest winds forever blow from Carib seas,
And oranges and pineapples and figs and dates
Smile in your thirsty face, and say in loving tones
" Kiss me, and eat ! " and some to wild Pacific shores
And mountains, where the streams run golden sands, and where
From hill and topmost peak you see the ponderous Sun
Disrobe himself and sink into I^ethean depths
For night's most calm repose ; and some to wheat-fields fair
And broad — great seas of billowy grain, of promise full
For hungry worlds in waiting ; and some to where
The city's ceaseless din drives out the memory
Of home and mother-love and father-care, and all
The dear entanglements of youth, and love, and heaven.
Alas ! — sad was the day ! — there came a time, after
The cruel lapse of half a hundred hurrying years,
When one by one that band had crossed The Great Divide
In search of homes not made with faltering human hands —
Yes, all save one — and he a white-haired man whose brow
Showed many a well-turned furrow from Time's sharp plowshare ;
Who could not drive the great ox-team again afield,
Nor send the giants of the forest thundering
Groundward ; who could no longer break the untamed colt
To harness or to saddle, nor pitch the fragrant hay
From load to mow. Oh ! where were now the glory and
The strength of his once lusty manhood !
'T was June again : the old man sat beneath the vine
His own strong hands had reared. He leaned his tired head
Upon his staff, — and all the years passed languidly
Before his vision ; — saw the dear old home beneath
The trees ; saw the same birds, and heard the very songs
His ears had reveled in a thousand times in boyhood ;
The fragrance of the lilacs overwhelmed him, and
The tears dropped sadly on his wrinkled hands ; he heard
The bleating of the lambs beyond the pasture bars ;
OLD HOME WEEK— NEW PORT, N. H. 165
He saw the cows come winding down the rocky slope,
And heard the foamy milk zip-zipping in the pail ;
He saw his sisters and his brothers — every one —
Just as thej^ used to gather round the sunset door,
And chased them o'er the lawn in most hilarious mood ;
He pla3^ed " Hi Spy " with them when all the chores were done ;
He heard his father's kindly voice in prayer, and then,
Across the silence, " Rock of Ages, cleft for me," —
It was his mother's voice — O God ! to hear it once
Again ! He knew the wish was vain — except — perhaps —
Above
Just then a voice came ricochetting o'er the hills
From far New Hampshire's open doors — a bugle call —
Come home ! — and see the dear old valleys once again !
Come home ! — and climb the old familiar hills once more,
And see how grandly beautiful the Old Home is !
Come home ! — and wander through the fields of tasseled corn.
And roast the luscious ears as in your boyhood's prime !
Come home ! — see how the red and yellow apples taste
That hang upon the trees you loved to climb so well !
Come home ! — wade all the pebbly brooks where once you fished,
And then recount the triumphs of your fishing-rod,
And all the wonders of the pool wherein you swam !
Come home ! — and see the zig-zag lightnings flash across
The clouds, and list the thunders crack the mountain's crest !
Come home ! — and see 3'et once again the country church
Where your bare feet, tanned brown, perchance, have often trod,
And the old schoolhouse where your jackknife carved your nanit !
Come home ! — and see old friends — perhaps some still abide —
And make the welkin ring with songs of other days !
Come home ! — and see how Progress marks the dear old town, —
How all the beauty — all the good — have riper grown !
Come home ! — and be for one brief week a boy again.
And drink the bubbling laughter from the cooling spring !
Come home ! — and wander through the drowsy Cave of Dreams
To the muffled patter of the rain-drops on the roof !
Come home ! — and visit that dear spot where calmly sleep
The father, mother, that you fondlj^ loved in days
Gone by, and ne'er shall see again, and lay your head
Upon the soft green turf that kindly covers them !
Come home ! — Come Iwjjic ! — Come home !
And when the old man roused himself from that sweet dream.
His eyes were full of love-light ; tears were on his lashes ;
And brokenly he said, — " I— will — go — home ! "
THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST MINISTER.
Ly y. B. Walker.
HIS house, mentioned by Mr.
David Watson, in his Con-
cord Directory of 1S44, as
' ' the oldest two story house
between Haverhill, Mass., and Cana-
da,"^ was erected by the Reverend
Timothy Walker, the First Minister
of Concord, when New Hampshire
was a British Province, and its peo-
ple were subjects of King George the
Second. To aid in its erection, his
fellow-citizens, on the i6th of Janu-
ary, 1733/4, made him a grant
from their common treasury of fifty
pounds.'
Its life spans the several periods of
King George's and the last French
and Indian wars ; of the Revolution-
ary War and the establishment of the
government of the United States ; of
the War of 1S12 and of that with
Mexico ; of our Civil War and of our
war witli Spain. It has witnessed
the relinquishment, by France and
Spain, of substantially all of their
1 The correctness of this statement is neither
affirmed nor denied.
2 At a meeting of the Inhabitants and Freehold-
ers of Pennj' Cook, holden on the i6th day of Janu-
ary 1733/4 it was
"Voted that there .should be Fifty Pounds given
to Mr. Timothy Walker for building of him a
Dwelling House in Penny Cook provided that he
gives the Inhabitants and F'reeholders a Receipt
that he has received in full for his Salary in times
past until this Day for the Decay of Money it not
being equal to Silver at Seventeen Shillings the
Ounce."
Ruiii/ord Town Records, printed vol., p. 13.
THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST MINISTER.
167
immense colonial areas on this hemi-
sphere.
During the first of the wars above
mentioned, the people of Rumford
lived more or less of the time in gar-
risons. Within the one whose walls
enclose this house dwelt eight fami-
lies, besides that of the First Minis-
ter. Watch and ward was main-
tained day and night, and the dis-
charge of a musket from its sentry
box indicated to all who heard it the
approach of the Indian enemy. ^
From these garrisons, the men
went out armed to their work, on
'Garrisons in 1746.
" Province of \
New Hanipe. \
We, the subscribers, being ap-
pointed a Committee of Militia for settling: the
Garrisons in the frontier Towns and Plantations
in the Sixth Regiment of Militia in this Province,
by his Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq.,
Governor, &c, having viewed the situation and
enquired into the circumstances of the District of
Rumford, do hereby appoint and state the follow-
ing Garrisons, viz. :
The Garrison round the house of the Reverend
Timothy Walker, to be one of the Garrisons in sd
Rumford, and thafthfe following inhabitants, with
their family's, viz:
Capt. John Chandler,
Abraham Bradley,
Samuel Bradley,
John Webster,
Nathaniel Rolfe,
Joseph Pudney,
Isaac Walker, Jr.,
Obadiah Foster,
be and hereby are, ordered and .stated at that
Garrison."
Extract from Report of Committee, May 75, IJ46.
First Meeting-house in
xxvii— 12
Families quartered at the Garrison of the First Minister,
1745.
week days, and with their families to
their block house, to worship, on
Sundays. The First Minister prayed
and preached with his gun beside
him.- Gospel and gun were near
companions in those days. Indeed,
even yet, the gunpowder age has not
fully passed.
The frame of this
house is mainly of
pitch pine and white
oak. Its boarding
and inside woodwork
aie of white pine. It
originally consisted of
a two story front, forty
feet long and twenty
feet wide ; and of a
one story ell, about
twenty feet square.
Each was covered
with a gambrel roof,
2 " 1746, June 24, Wm. Stick-
ney brought up my new gun,
and my mare from Andover."
Diaries of Rev . T. Walker, p. ij
i68
THE HOUSE OE THE FIRST MINISTER.
House of the First Minister, I 734.
battened with birch bark, and shin-
gled. It had three chimneys, two
of brick, and one of stone laid in clay
mortar and plastered within and with-
out with clay and chopped straw. In
these were six fireplaces of ample di-
mensions; that in the kitchen having
before it a hearth of granite ten feet
long, still in use, and polished by the
feet of the family generations of the
last one hundred and sixty-five years.
A quaint correspondence, in 1757,
between the First Minister and his
son, then teaching school at Brad-
ford, Mass., relative to painting "ye
outside" of it has been preserved.^
1 "Am now to inform you yt we have hitherto got
along with good success with ye House & find we
shall have a comfortable and handsome one, if we
can get thro with it, but finding several species of
materials to fall short, have determined upon a
journey to Boston. * * * One article we have at
present under consideration is, whether or no to
paint ye outside. Am advised to it by ye best
Judges & particularly Col. Rolfe."
Walker Papers, vol. i,p.5.
Building in which the New Hampshire Legislature held its Fi'st Session in Concord, 1782.
THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST MINISTER.
169
,0.
?
0% cr7^A^fr€^/s^i,./y (^A ,
^?'?.
^-3^
2
Ut- iie^^ c^^/Y'Cm^^' ^>^
-V
.4^. ^
4fc-/rr
^/^^
Bill of Sale of Slave Girl Rose,
The conclusion then reached is not
known. Seventy years ago it wore a
coat of light drab paint upon its
walls, and of white upon its cornices,
corner-boards, and casings. These
remained unchanged until 1848.
The interior was not completel}^
finished until 1764, when the title to
the township had been confirmed to
its occupants by a second decision of
the King in Council, and a legal con-
test of forty years was substantially
ended. Then, tradition says. Dea-
con Webster, of Bradford, Mass.,
came to Rumford and spent the sum-
mer in constructing the front stair-
way, with its ornamental rail and
balusters, and the paneled dadoes of
the upper and lower halls.
The room partitions were largely
wainscoting, the window sashes were
heavy and glazed with small panes of
seven by nine glass, those of the first
story being protected by inside shut-
ters of wood.
The Legislature met in Concord
for the first time on the 13th day
of March, 1782, at the old North
Church. As there was no means of
warming it, an adjournment was im-
mediately taken to a room prepared
for it, in a building still standing on
the west side of North Main street
and numbered 225 and 227.^
1 This house then stood upon the east side of Main
street, about four rods south of the house of the First
Minister.
Count Rumford.
From the original in the Royal Iiistitutioii, Loniiott.
I JO THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST MINISTER.
During its session, the First Minis- the first floor and eight on the sec-
ter placed at the use of the state offi- ond, with a Hberal interposition of
cials in attendance such portions of closets, hall ways and entries. One
his house as they required. The portion of the attic was devoted to
president, Meshech Weare, with the bins for the storage of grain, and
Honorable Council, occupied the another to a small sleeping room,
north front chamber ; the secretary In the remainder was kept a miscel-
of state, Ebenezer Thompson, the laneous collection of farm and house-
sitting-room ; and the state treasurer, hold utensils not in active use —
Nicholas Oilman, the south front weaving machinery, spinning-wheels,
chamber. swifts, flax-combs, etc. It was the
The First Minister lived to occupy most attractive place in all the house
/■f- -v-jf '--,•- ■;■ ^ {^/ .•*»*.. o. •-«>««. x' ^ . • . ' - . )
'^^T /2 //-ef ■^i^^^^^y'T-r^^nt^ ^^^e^*^- ^i<5^^.^.<5^ r'tyA^e>^i. ^y-T-t^i^x^ ^y^'^i't^-^^ ^ -^r-z^ /a. =
-ruc/"^/ />*/ ^^^<a^^«^' ^.^fixY^/^ .~ z*'*^ £^ /^*^ ^ J/.f^i/:f^ ^'Tt^Z. tJtycCt ^^ac^ z-»t^
(Ar^^l ^rr.f-n:://^i^.
Extract from Letter of Benjamin Thompson to his Father-in- Law, the First Mmister.
his house until September i, 1782, for the children, with the exception
when he died, having completed a of the pantry.
pastorate of nearly fifty-two years. Beneath the first floor were two
Upon his decease, its ownership cellars, one for the storage of meats,
passed to his son. Judge Timothy vegetables, etc. ; another, for uses of
Walker, who, with his wife, occu- which recollection speaks charily,
pied it the remainder of their lives, mildly hinting that, had the Maine
To them were born fourteen children, liquor law then been in force, it
It can be no surj^rise, therefore, that might have furnished a fit repository
its enlargement became imperative, for its archives.
This was secured by doubling the The wainscoting and other wood-
length and height of its ell. work of the several rooms bore differ-
As first remembered by its present ent colors ; that of the parlor and sit-
owner, it contained seven rooms on ting-room chamber being green ; of
THE HOUSE OE THE EIRST MINISTER..
the sitting-room, light bkie ; of the
front hall, parlor chamber, and old
people's bedroom, white ; and of the
kitchen, red.
Around this kitchen, as a centre,
revolved the general econoni}^ of the
household. Its red color gave it a
cheerful tone ; its wooden window
shutters, a sense of secnrity ; its am-
ple display on open shelves of crock-
ery, pewter and wooden ware, a com-
fortable intimation of good cheer, while
its huge fireplace, brick oven, and
swinging crane, loaded with a graded
line of pots and kettles, asserted
the famil3^'s dependence upon its
cook.
The six doors of this room, like
the gates of ancient Rome, opened in
all directions ; one to the back room,
a second to the deep closet, another
to the old people's bedroom, still an-
other to the pantry, another still to
the vegetable and meat cellar, and a
sixth to a side entry and thence out
doors ; while, through the capacious
flue of its chimne}', the sailing clouds
might be observ^ed in the daytime,
and the sparkling stars at night.
Here, in old colonial times, when a
mild slavery existed in New Hamp-
Sarah, Couritec.i of Rumfoid.
From n Painting by Kcllcrlioffm-, 17Q7-
shire, Rose^ and Violet domineered
over their gentle mistress within,
just as Prince lorded it over his mas-
ter, the first minister, on his farm
without. Here Eph. Colby, the town
bully, rehearsed his exploits, boast-
ing that he feared no man on earth
save Parson Walker. Occasionally,
at nighfall, a strolling Indian, melan-
cholly representative of a vanishing
race, found welcome in this plain
kitchen. Here he loosened his belt,
fed to his fill, rolled himself in his
blanket, and upon its floor slept
soundly before the fire which never
went fully out.
At the decease of the second pro-
prietor, Judge Timothy Walker, the
house descended to his youngest
son. Captain Joseph Walker, and
still later, to the present proprietor.
With the exception of a slight en-
largement and modifications, easily
recognized, it remains as above de-
scribed. It has sheltered six genera-
tions of the First Minister's family,
Rolfe and Rumford Asylum.
Once the Residence of Count Ritm/ord.
' How many slaves the First Minister owned in
the course of his life does not appear. Three bills
of sale of such property have been preserved, of
one of which the illustration, p.. 169, is-ta facsimile.
172
THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST MINISTER.
Prof. Samuei F. B. Morse.
and, by God's blessing, the oil in the
cruse and the meal in the barrel, has
never failed. During the first forty
years of its existence, its occupants
were loyal to the cross of St. George.
Since 1776, they have gloried in the
stars and stripes.
The first two owners of this house
were much engaged in public affairs.
The First Minister was not only
the spiritual leader of his people,
but quite often a temporal advisor
in their business matters as well.
Many of the legal documents relat-
ing to these, which have been pre-
served, are in his handwriting. He
was their agent in the celebrated
Bow Controvers3^ before mentioned,
which involved the title to their en-
tire township, and lasted forty years.
During its continuance, he made
three journeys to I^ondon in prose-
iMuf I II wtjb I »^ur
I ij 1 li I y
House of the First Minibtet.
THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST MINISTER.
173
Mrs. S. F. B. Morse.
the
cution of their claims before
king in council.
For more than sixty years, the
judicial and multifarious other duties
of Judge Walker kept him in close
touch with all the affairs of his town,
and with many of the state, which
he had aided in creating.
These varied relations of its occu-
pants brought to this house, during
the first one hundred years of its
existence, visitors almost numberless,
raanj' of whose names receive fre-
quent mention in their diaries.
Here, for half a century, the First
Minister entertained his clerical
brethren. Here, as visitors, re-
peatedly came General John Stark,
sometimes accompanied by his wife
{nee Elizabeth Page), to whom the
first minister had united him in mar-
riage. Here, also, were welcomed
Major Robert Rogers, the ranger,
Capt. Peter Powers of Coos, Col.
Joseph Blauchard, Col. John Goffe,
Capt. Calel) Page, Capt. Phineas
Stevens, and many others, much of
whose talk was of French and Indian
wars in which they had been or
were then engaged. Under the same
roof, a little later, with his neigh-
bors. Col. Thomas Stickney, Col.
Benjamin Rolfe, Capt. Joshua Ab-
bott, and Capt. Benjamin Emery, his
only son, Timothy, his sons-in-law,
Capt. Abiel Chandler, and Dr. Eben-
ezer Harnden Goss, all, subsequently,
participants in the Revolutionary
struggle, near at hand, the First
Minister discussed the varying pros-
pects of that inevitable contest.
Here, too, the old patriot strove, but
in vain, to detach from his entau-
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria.'
From a Painting by Keller lioffer, Munich, lyqy.
' It was under the patronage of Charles Theodore,
the E.ector of Bavaria ( 17S4-1799), that Count Rnin-
ford made many of the scientific researches and in-
stituted many of the social and civil reforms which
secured to hi'iu high position and lasting fame.
174
THE HOUSE OF THE FIRST AHNISTEK.
glement with the royal cause the
husband of his eldest daughter, Beu-
janiin Thompson, now known to the
world as Count Rumford.
In later years, his son and suc-
cessor. Judge Walker, welcomed
to the hospitalities of his paternal
home, friends of his own generation.
Anions these were President Meshech
Weare, Secretary Ebenezer Thomp-
son, Treasurer Nicholas Oilman,
Countess Nogarola.^
Front n Painting hy Kellerhoffcr, TilutiicJi, I7Q~.
Governor John Langdon, Col. Eben-
ezer Webster, the father of Daniel,
while later still, its doors swung
' The Countess of Nogarola became the chaperon
of the Countess of Rumford when at the age of
about twenty-one having left America, where she
had been born and educated, she joined her father,
then a widower, at the Bavarian court, in Munich.
They ijecame fast friends, and wlien the latter was
about to return to her native land in 1799, the Count-
ess of Nogarola presented to her, then in London,
an oil portrait of herself of which this is a copy.
Of this portrait she thus speaks in a letter dated
February 12, 1799: " Je suppose qu' a '1 heure qu' il
est vous aurez re<;u mon Portrait, une vue de la
mer que j' y ai fait ajouter (qoique je ne la trove
pas parfaitement execut^e) vous rappellera que
mes penses sont bien souvient, tourn6es vers cet
element qui nous sepere." The Countess of Noga-
rola and the Countess of Baumgarteu were sisters.
open to Countess Rumford, to Prof.
Samuel F. B. Morse," of telegraphic
fame, and husband of his grand-
daughter, to Governors William
Plumer, Benjamin Pierce, and Isaac
Hill, besides numberless others,
whose names it would not be eas}-
to number.
Its third proprietor, Capt. Joseph
Walker, had military tastes, and, in
the early part of the century, com-
manded a company of horse, com-
posed of persons living in Concord
and several of the adjoining towns.
Tradition says, that meetings of the
company were warned by verbal
notices given the Sunday before, to
such members as were present for
worship at the Old North meeting-
house, which by them were com-
municated to the others not there
present. It also says that more or
less of the members who lived at a
distance came mounted to the resi-
dence of their captain the night be-
forehand, and that to such, the hos-
pitality of his house was freely
extended, and to their steeds, the
horsepitality of his barns. It further-
more asserts that, when the supply
of beds proved insufficient, as it
sometimes did, the less fortunate,
unbuttoning their waistbaud.s, laid
down upon the floors and "endured
hardness as good soldiers."
At the death of its second mistress,
in 1828, the house contained a re-
spectable library, the result of the
gradual accretions of nearl}' a cen-
tury. The division of her estate
among her heirs-at-law caused a dis-
persion of its volumes, as complete
2 Professor Samuel F. B. Morse was married, Sep-
tember 29, 1S18, to Lucretia Pickering Walker, a
daughter of Charles Walker, Esq.,— for many years
in the practice of law in Concord, — and a grand-
daughter of Hon. Timothy Walker.
THE HOUSE OE THE FIRST MINISTER.
175
as did the deportation of the mem-
bers of the ten tribes of Israel by
Shahnaneser.
lyittle knowledge of its contents
has survived, other than that of in-
ference, from the character of a
few volumes which a long effort has
reclaimed from their exile. These
indicate that it may have been
largely theological and miscellaneous.
Among these may be found the
Westminster Catechism, An Exami-
nation of Edwards on the Will, four
volumes of Caryl's Job, Coleman's
Sermons, Religio Medici, Baxter's
Saint's Rest, a first edition copy of
Belknap's History of New Hamp-
shire, a volume of the Tattler, to-
gether with enough others to bring
the number to a score or thereabouts.
As these stand together, in their
dark, leather covers, in a corner of
the present library, their expression
appears one of sadness. While glad,
apparently, to get back to their old
home, they seem to mourn more the
absence of their former companions,
than to rejoice in the welcome ac-
corded them by the larger company
now about them.
The few pictures, which formerly
hung upon the walls of the house,
shared the fortune of the books just
mentioned. Those now scattered
through its different rooms have
been gradually gathered from differ-
ent sources by its present occupants ;
mostly from the collections of the
Countess of Rumford and of Judge
Nathaniel G. Upham, the father of
its present mistress. The large one
of the woman and child, over the
front hall stairway, was painted in
Paris, about twenty years ago, by
Charles Walker Eind, a grandson of
Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, and
the little encaustic painting on cop-
per, in the poet's corner of the li-
brary, is a copy of Prof. Morse's
portrait of his wife ; painted when
she was about twenty years of age.
Nearly all the portraits and some of
the other subjects in oil are the
works of German and English artists.
The few water colors and prints are
of various ages and from different
sources. Of the former, the two
Countess Baumgarten.
From a Painting by Kcllerhoffer, Munich, ijq'.
Bavarian landscapes, above the man-
tel of the sitting-room, were pre-
sented to Count Rumford by the
ladies of Munich, in recognition of
his .services in causing the neutrality
of Bavaria to be recognized by the
contending armies of the French and
Austrians, in 1796. The three early
prints of Trumbull's paintings of the
Death of Gen. Montgomery, of the
Battle of Bunker Hill, and of the
Declaration of Independence were
purchased of the artist's executor.
CONTOOCOOK RIVER.
176
soon after his decease. They are
largely interesting as specimens of
American art, at the close of the
last and the beginning of the present
centur}'.
And the furniture which was in
the house in 1828, encountered the
same dispersion which came to the
books and pictures.
The small stone in front of the
house records the names of the
families assigned to the garrison
built around it in 1746. The large,
round stone beside the driveway, is
the horse-block formerly attached
to the Old North meeting-house in
which the first minister preached
from 1 75 1 to 1782. In that period,
many of the good wives of the parish
rode to meeting on horseback, seated
upon pillions behind their husbands.
Tradition has it that its purchase
was effected by their joint contribu-
tions of a pound of butter apiece.
The elms in front of the house
were planted by the First Minister
on the second day of May, 1764.
On this seventeenth day of June,
1899, they are in a fair state of
health, growing old, indeed, but
gracefully and with a tenacious vigor
which makes slow their decline.
Horse-block of Old North Meeting-house
CONTOOCOOK RIVER.
By Edna Dean Proctor.
Of all the streams that seek the sea
By mountain pass, or sunny lea,
Now where is one that dares to vie
With clear Contoocook, swift and shy ?
Monadnock's child, of snow-drifts born.
The snows of many a winter morn
And many a midnight dark and still.
Heaped higher, whiter, day by day,
To melt, at last, with suns of May,
And steal, in tiny fall and rill,
Down the long slopes of granite gray;
Or filter slow through seam and cleft
CONTOOCOOK RIVER. 177
When frost and storm the rock have reft,
To bubble cool in sheltered springs
Where the lone red-bird dips his wings,
And the tired fox that gains their brink
Stoops, safe from hound and horn, to drink.
And rills and springs, grown broad and detp,
Unite through gorge and glen to sweep
In roaring brooks that turn and take
The over-floods of pool and lake.
Till, to the fields, the hills dehver
Contoocook's bright and brimming river !
O have you seen, from Hillsboro' town
How fast its tide goes hurrying down.
With rapids now, and now a leap
Past giant boulders, black and steep,
Plunged in mid water, fain to keep
Its current from the meadows green ?
But, flecked with foam, it speeds along ;
And not the birch-tree's silvery sheen,
Nor the soft lull of murmuring pines,
Nor hermit thrushes, fluting low,
Nor ferns, nor cardinal flowers that glow
Where clematis, the fairy, twines,
Nor bowery islands where the breeze
Forever whispers to the trees.
Can stay its course, or still its song ;
Ceaseless it flows till, round its bed.
The vales of Henniker are spread.
Their banks all set with golden grain,
Or stately trees whose vistas gleam —
A double forest — in the stream ;
And, winding 'neath the pine-crowned hill
That overhangs the village plain.
By sunny reaches, broad and still.
It nears the bridge that spans its tide —
The bridge whose arches low and wide
It ripples through — and should you lean
A moment there, no lovelier scene
On England's Wye, or Scotland's Tay,
Would charm your gaze, a summer's day.
O of what beauty 'tis the giver —
Contoocook's bright and brimming river !
And on it glides, by grove and glen.
Dark woodlands, and the homes of men,
With calm and meadow, fall and mill ;
ijS MONADNOCK IN OCTOBER.
Till, deep and clear, its waters fill
The channels round that gem of isles
Sacred to captives' woes and wiles,
And eager half, half eddying back,
Blend with the lordly Merrimack ;
And Merrimack whose tide is strong
Rolls gently, with its waves along,
Monadnock's stream that, coy and fair,
Has come, its larger life to share.
And to the sea doth safe deliver
Contoocook's bright and brimming river
MONADNOCK IN OCTOBER.
By Edna Dean Proctor.
Uprose Monadnock in the northern blue,
A mighty minster builded to the lyord !
The setting sun his crimson radiance threw
On crest, and steep, and wood, and valley sward.
Blending their myriad hues in rich accord.
Till like the wall of heaven it towered to view.
Along its slope, where russet ferns were strewn
And purple heaths, the scarlet maples flamed.
And reddening oaks and golden birches shone, —
Resplendent oriels in the black pines framed,
The pines that climb to woo the winds alone.
And down its cloisters blew the evening breeze.
Through courts and aisles ablaze with autumn bloom,
Till shrine and portal thrilled to harmonies
Now soaring, dying now in glade and gloom.
And with the wind was heard the voice of streams, —
Constant their Aves and Te Deums be, —
Lone Ashuelot murmuring down the lea.
And brooks that haste where shy Contoocook gleams
Through groves and meadows, broadening to the sea.
Then holy twilight fell on earth and air,
Above the dome the stars hung faint and fair.
And the vast minster hushed its shrines in prayer ;
While all the lesser heights kept watch and ward
About Monadnock builded to the Lord !
rt:':ii''"r""."""fr"t
GEORGE M. SHERBURNE.
George
M. Sherburne, a veteran of the Rebellion, died Friday, August 4, at
his home in Pittsfield. He was born in Gilmanton 57 years ago, and enlisted in
Co. I, Sixth regiment, N. H. Vols., November 28, 186 1. He was one of eleven
children, eight of whom are now living,
DANIEL C. vSTlLSON.
On August 21, at Somerville, Mass., was ended the life of Daniel C. Stilson,
the inventor of the "Stilson" wrench. He was born in Durham, March 25,
1830, and was a highly skilled mechanic.
REV. GEORGE FABER CLARK.
A life of long and faithful service in the temperance cause, a life devoted to
all that was pure and manly, filled up with large service to his parish and his
townspeople, was that of Rev. George Faber Clark, who died in his eighty-third
year, at West Acton, Mass., on July 30.
A native of Dublin, he was graduated at Harvard Divinity school in 1847,
after a preparatory course at Exeter. He was ordained at the Unitarian church
of Charlemont and preached for some time in that and neighboring towns ; sub-
sequently he was settled over the church in Stow, then in Mendon, and in Hub-
bardston. He was deeply interested in local history and biography, writing a
valuable history of Stow.
J. BYRON HOBART.
J. Byron Hobart, one of Somersworth's highly esteemed and most respected
citizens, passed away at his home on High street, August 12, after a lingering ill-
ness from paralysis. He was born in Groton, October 28, 1840, and received an
education in the public schools of his native town. While yet a young man he
removed to Manchester, where he remained a few years, coming from that place
in 187 1 to this city, where he was employed by the Great Falls Manufacturing
Company, and for many years held the position of second hand over the weaving
room in No. 3 mill. In politics he was a Republican, although he never became
actively engaged in them. He was a member of Libanus Lodge of Masons of
Somersworth, and of Mechanics' Lodge of Odd Fellows of Manchester. He is
survived by a widow and a son, Paul.
GEORGE J. WRIGHT.
George J. Wright, the veteran locomotive engineer, died at his home in Brad-
ford, August 28, after a long illness. Mr. Wright was born in Melvin's in War-
ner, and soon after the Northern railroad was opened he secured employment
thereon as a section hand. Later he was taken on an engine, and was promoted
to the position of engineer after serving his time as a fireman. He ran for a time
on the Northern, and was then transferred to the Claremont branch, where he
continued until about eight years ago, when he retired. He is survived by a wife,
one son, George B., two brothers, Eben and Robert, and a sister living in Minneap-
olis, Mr, Wright was well known in this city and vicinity, and was highly esteemed.
i8o NEW HAMPSHIRE NECROLOGY.
ALBERT A. HATCH.
Albert Alanson Hatch died at his home in Somersworth August 23, after an
illness of several months. He was born at Gilford, September 10, 1823, his
parents being Eben and Mary (Hatch) Hatch. His parents early removed to
North Berwick, where he attended the public schools. He began work with the
Great Falls Manufacturing Company in April, 1844, and was overseer in the
weaving room for years, later having charge of the reeds. September 15, 1S53,
he was married to Sarah E. Lord, daughter of Oliver Lord, of South Berwick, who
died two years ago. They had four children, all of whom are now living, —
Charles E., Mrs. Helen Legro, Etta W., and Emma C, of Somersworth. One sis-
ter, Mrs. Thomas Weymouth of North Berwick, also survives him.
Mr. Hatch was a constant attendant at the Congregational church in this city.
He was a prominent member of Washington Lodge, I. O. O. F., and was a past
grand. He also held the office of warden of Granite State Commandery,
U. O. G. C. Years ago he belonged to the Banner Guards, a company of militia
which was well known in its time. In politics he was a Republican, and a sturdy
one, too, though he never sought to hold public office.
MAJ. EDWARD T. ROWELL.
Maj. Edward T. Rowell, president of the Lowell, Mass., Courier-Citizen Pub-
lishing Company, died August 4, on a train en route from Boston to Swam-
scott, where he and his family had been spending the summer. Death was sup-
posed to have been due to heart failure. He was born in Concord, August 14,
1836. After passing his boyhood on a farm, he fitted for and entered Dartmouth
college, graduating in 1861. His business partner, the Hon. George A. Marden,
was a college mate when he graduated.
The Fifth New Hampshire regiment was being recruited and he enlisted. He
was given a second lieutenant's commission in Co. F, Second regiment, Berdan's
Sharpshooters, and received rapid promotion, being made first lieutenant, captain,
major, and finally lieutenant-colonel, although he did not muster in with the lat-
ter. He was wounded at Gettysburg and again at Petersburg.
After the war Major Rowell was for some time engaged in the iron business
at Portland, but in September of 1867, with Mr. Marden, who was in his regi-
ment, he purchased the Lowell Courier and Weekly younial. Together they ran
those papers until a few years ago, when a company was formed and the Lowell
Citizen absorbed. Major Rowell being the business manager, and Mr. Marden the
editor. Both have retained similar positions in the stock company.
The papers they conducted reflected their political sentiments. President
Grant, in his second term, appointed Major Rowell postmaster at Lowell, and he
was successively reappointed by Presidents Hayes and Arthur. Governor Robin-
son made him state gas commissioner, and he held the place for five years. In
1897 he was elected representative to the legislature, and again in 1898.
In 1890, Major Rowell was elected president of the Railroad National bank
of Lowell, and since served in that capacity for three years. He was commander
of Post 42, G. A. R., and served as delegate to state and national conventions of
the order. He was one of the committee sent to Washington at the time of Gen-
eral Butler's death, to escort the body to Lowell, General Butler having been a
member of that post.
He was president of the Ayer Home for Women and Children and the Lowell
General hospital, and was an officer in the Kirk Street Congregational church.
Major Rowell, in September, 1870, married Miss Clara, daughter of George
Webster of Lowell, who survives him. Three children have been born to them,
one of whom, a daughter, is living.
^4^^'^^'^^
Tme CiRARirn
"^1 1
ITMOT.
Vol. XXVII.
OCTOBER, 1899.
No. 4.
Mary E. Crosby. C1iji>. iJuuittr.
Anderson's Coal Schooners.
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
By Edwin It'. For 7' est.
u
T was Oliver Goldsmith who
sang of " Sweet Auburn, love-
liest village of the plain," but
Goldsmith had never seen
Exeter, and he was partial to Eng-
lish, or, shall we say, Irish scenery
anyway. The American Goldsmith,
who shall make this beautiful New
Hampshire town thus immortal, is
still hidden 'neath the veil of ob-
scurity, but sooner or later he will
appear, for the inspiration of the
beautiful old town is such that no
poet could long resist its spell, and
the Tennyson, the Eongfellow, or the
Arnold of to-morrow will recognize
its beauty and sing its praises even if
the Tennyson, the Eongfellow, and
the Arnold of to-day have been sin-
gularly silent upon that subject.
The average article upon Exeter
begins with Wheelwright and ends
with Phillips Exeter Academy. A
score more or less of histories of
1 84
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
Exeter have I perused, and in them those sturdy, God-fearing, Indian-
all, without a variation of a hair,
have I found this order traversed.
I hate ruts, and hence I shall not
travel in this one. My interest and
the great public's interest in Exeter
is in Modern Exeter not Ancient
hating, Bible-loving, money-making,
Yank-producing pioneers than my-
self. There were giants in those
days, and in New Hampshire, as
in Massachusetts, they laid broad
and deep the foundations for a
Andersen Snapshots.
Exeter — in the Exeter of to-day, in
its schools, in its highways, in its
business men, and in its tax rate,
and not in the Exeter of 1638, and
in the Rev. John Wheelwright, es-
timable man as he may have been.
Far be it from me to appear dis-
respectful to the fathers. No man
yields a larger meed of praise to
church without a bishop, and a state
without a king. But, after all, the
greatest study of mankind is man,
and it is the men who made the
Exeter of to-day rather than those
who made it yesterday or the day
before with which we have to do.
New England, out of all of the
different sections of the United
THE EXETER OF '1 0-DAY.
185
Coi. R, N. Elwel
Gen. Wiliiam P. Chadwick.
States of America, has a distinctive
personality. Her founders left their
impress upon her, and although we
have been overrun since by the Gaul
and the Hun, by the bond and the
free, the Yankee stamp, the Puritan
hall-mark, is still there.
And in New England certain
towns stand out conspicuously. Of
such are Newport, R. I., once a
great seaport, thought to be a possi-
ble rival to New York, now deterio-
rated into a watering-place, the
home of millionairedom and boasting
" cottages," whose splendor makes a
European potentate's mouth water
with envy. Salem, Mass., once the
greatest shipping port on the Atlan-
tic coast, whose Crowninshields and
Brookhouses had bottoms in every
dock and sails on every sea, now
a center for tanning hides and dress-
ing morocco, content to vegetate
on vanished glory. Newbury port,
which has stood still since 1820,
when she was one of the most
J! T. liif-'gs. Mary K. lr.isl>.v.
Anderson's Coal Schooners.
"^m^
I
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
187
famous cities on our coast, is now
only known by the superior quality
of her famous rum. Half a dozen
others might be mentioned, but the
list does not include Exeter. Honor-
able and ancient in its history as any
of the others, progress and improve-
ment has ever been its motto, and
to-day while it has the fine old flavor
that always attaches to a community
boasting a continuous history of 260
years, it has, too, enough of the mod-
ern commercial spirit to bring it up
to date, and to make it a worthy
associate of its more modernly-settled
neighbors.
And chiefly among the influences
that have tended to keep the town
modern in spirit, while preserving
the best of its hallowed memories of
the great men who were nurtured
here, and who, growing to greatness,
passed away without their fellow-
townsmen really recognizing the pre-
eminence to which thev had reached.
'/
m
I
Hon. Thomas Leavitt
Hon. John D. Lyman.
— we say chief among these influ-
ences is Phillips Exeter Academy,
one of the greatest, if not the greatest
fitting school in the country. For
years Phillips Andover and Phillips
Exeter vied, but the theological
trend of the former, and the cosmo-
politan character of the latter have
tended of late to emphasize to a
marked degree the differences be-
tween the two institutions. The
academy dates back to 1781, when
it was incorporated, and on January
7, 1782, tollowiug, Dr. John Phillips
conveyed to the trustees a large
amount of land in different parts of
the state, the whole amounting to
about $60,000, an independent for-
tune for those days, and fully as
much as a grant of a million dollars
would be to the school to-day. The
regulations which he made were lib-
eral and progressive, and thanks to
this spirit the school has prospered
HARLAN P. AMEN, A. M.
I'rn/a'pa! of PInUips Excicr Acadrviy.
THE EXETER OE TO-DAY.
189
and grown marvelously. The school
grounds comprise as beautiful a spot
as America can boast, and the build-
ings, all of which have been erected
since 1872, and which comprise be-
side the main adminis-
tration building, Soule
hall, Lawrence house,
Peabody hall, Abbott
hall, the principal's res-
idence, gymnasium,
physical laboratory,
chemical laboratory,
etc., etc., form as com-
plete a school home as
can be found in either
Europe or America. Be-
side the main grounds,
the academy owns sev-
en acres of level, sandy
land used for athletic
sports. Phillips Exeter puts no pre-
mium on weaklings. It believes in
educating brawn as well as brain.
Its boys are a hardy and a self-reliant
lot. In its season the chrysanthe-
mum hair of the football player is
Hon. Charles Marseilles
as popular here as it is at Harvard
or Yale or Pennsylvania.
The boys are taught to be manly,
to take as well as to give, and to
always remember that while the
world listens with one
ear to the man who
has something to say,
it listens perforce with
both ears to the man
who is strong enough
to compel its attention
while he says it. I do
not mean to say by this
that brutality or plug-
uglyism is encouraged.
No school is freer from
these un-American
qualities. A premium
is simply put upon a
virile race, upon a race
that shall be able in the twentieth
century, as it has been in the nine-
teenth, to hold its own with all the
world, a race that shall produce its
Grants, and its Shermans, and its
Sheridans, and its Deweys, its Samp-
County Solicitor L. G. H.iyt.
Sheriff John Pendtr.
I go
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
sons, and its Schlej's, as well as its
Websters and its Hales, its Beecliers
and its Talmages.
For this reason the gymnasium at
Phillips Exeter is not neglected any
more than the chemical laboratory,
and neither is elevated above the
other. A sound mind in a sound
body is Principal Amen's motto.
The school has an endowment of
over half a million, and among the
graduates are no less than forty gov-
tlie Robinson Female Seminary,
founded by William Robinson, a
native of Exeter, who went south
during the Civil War, settled at
Augusta, Ga., became rich, and
dying, left the town of Exeter
$250,000 for the establishment of a
school for girls.
This institution, founded at the
time that the higher education of
women commenced to become popu-
lar, has done a great work in prepar-
Robinson Female Seminary.
ernors of states and members of con-
gress, including the immortal Web-
ster, twelve cabinet and foreign
ministers, twenty- five judges of the
higher courts of the nation, sixty-one
college professors, including nine
presidents, thirty- six authors, and
over 1,200 members of the learned
professions— truly a magnificent
record. There are no less than
thirty-six endowed scholarships, and
the trustees add the price of tuition.
Ranking alongside Phillips P^xeter
in its great educational work, stands
ing the girls of the present genera-
tion for their life duties. Cooking
and home sanitation cut as important
a figure as music, mathematics, or
rhetoric. The graduates of the
school are fitted for the duties of the
wife and mother as well as for those of
the teacher and the librarian. The
arts and sciences of the household
are not neglected as they are in some
fitting schools to make a fine lady,
who with her knowledge of French
and music and embroidery is almost
as useless as she is fine.
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
191
lu addition to the seminary and
the academy the town has a complete
system of schools of the highest order,
including an excellent high school.
It is not strange that Exeter should
be intellectual.
Religion and education go hand in
hand always, and it is not strange to
find the town amply provided with
sanctuaries, in which able and bril-
liant clergymen expound from week
to week the word of God. There are
came as near being the Established
Church of the New World as it could
and miss it. But that it did miss it,
Methodism and Baptistism and Uni-
tarianism and Universalism and all
the other isms can eloquently testify.
Its members, however, were among
the rich and the influential and the
important men in almost every com-
munity, and Exeter was no excep-
tion. The First Congregational
church, indeed, as an organization,
w.
Squamscott Hotel.
no less than eight such structures in
town, representing in alphabetical
order the Advent, Baptist, Congrega-
tional, Catholic, Episcopal, Metho-
dist, and Unitarian denominations.
The Baptists have an elegant house
of worship, and the First Congrega-
tional have one hallowed b}^ many
years of memories, the present edi-
fice having stood more than one
hundred years, its first century expir-
ing in 1898. The Orthodox church
in New England, as the Congrega-
tional church was formerly known,
dates back to the very settling of the
town, and for man}^ years the town
clock and the town bell were kept in
the church tower, and thus its singu-
larly close relations to the commu-
nity were emphasized.
The Second Congregational church
is a direct outgrowth of the visit to
this country of Whitefield, the cele-
brated evangelist, fifty members of
the First church who supported him
withdrawing to found the second
place of worship. In 1813 the church
was formally organized, and in 1823
192
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
John A. Brown.
erected its first meeting-house. It is
now known as the Phillips Congrega-
tional church and its new sanctuary
is one of the finest in southern New
Hampshire. The Baptists date back
to 1800, the Methodists to 1830, the
Catholics to 1842, the Advents to
1852, the time of the Millerite excite-
ment, the Unitarians to 1854, and the
Episcopalians to 1865. All seem to
be planted in fruitful soil and to be
exercising a marked influence for
good upon the community.
The town in addition to these two
moralizing and spiritualizing influ-
ences boasts a third humanizing in-
fluence in the shape of a handsome
free public library.
This institution starting in 1853
with $300, has now over 10,000 books
on its shelves and is housed in one of
the finest buildings in town. This
structure also serves the purpose of a
soldiers' memorial hall, there being
inscribed on marble tablets in its ves-
tibule, the names of the gallant sons
of Exeter who won deathless fame
and imperishable renown upon the
battle-fields of the Southland that our
Union might continue to exist one
and indissoluble through all coming
time.
Dr. Charles A. Merrill and Mrs.
Harriet M. Merrill gave the institu-
O. H. Sleeper's Jewelry Store.
tion $10,000, the interest to be used
in buying books, and there have
been other gifts not as extensive, but
still very acceptable.
Besides the churches, schools, and
library, the town has some ver}^ hand-
some, modern, and up-to-date public
buildings. One of the handsomest is
the county records building. This is
built of brick in the old Colonial style,
and its handsome front and inviting
entrance form a picture not easily
erased from the mind. The town
hall is a substantial two-story brick
structure with a tower and with a
handsome portico in front. The
Rockingham county court-house is
the most ambitious structure in the
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
193
town. It is built of brick with a
magnificent tower and a large bow
window on the front. It is hand-
somely located on Front street and its
commanding appearance attracts the
attention and admiration of all vis-
itors.
The residential streets are lined
with trees and are faced by some of
the most commodious mansions in
southeastern New Hampshire. The
large number of old colonial houses
that Exeter boasts make it unique
among early New Hampshire settle-
ments. The pioneers of this section
were many of them well-to-do and the
C. E. Burchstead, M . D. V.
result is seen in the old family home-
steads which line Exeter's beautiful
thoroughfares. Among the number
are the Peavey house, the Oilman
mansion occupied by Mr. John T. Per-
ry, "the oldest house in town," now
occupied by Miss Harvey, and the
Judge Smith mansion. The Oilman
mansion is one of the historic houses
of Exeter just as the Oilman family
is one of the historic families of New
Hampshire. The house was erected
by Nathaniel Eadd in 1 722-' 23. In
1743 it wac5 purchased by the great-
great-grandfather of Mr. Daniel Oil-
man and in the due course of time it
became the property of that cele-
brated governor, John Taylor Oilman,
who held ofhce eleven consecutive
years, and then after an interim was
elevated to that most important posi-
tion for three years longer.
The business blocks, like the pub-
lic buildings, are handsome, commo-
dious and up-to-date structures, are
built largely of brick and reflect
credit upon this conservative and yet
progressive old town.
The valuation of Exeter at the
close of the last fiscal year was
$3,247,482. Its tax rate was $20 on
the $1,000, and its net indebtedness,
$69,768.64.
The town is strong naturally on
the social side. Its society is diver-
sified of course, as is that of everj^
^^^
Batchelder's Stationery Store.
194
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
Fellows's Box Factory.
New England town with 250 years of Benjamin Pierce, governor, Matthew
history behind it, but nowhere is it
stronger than in its secret fraternities.
There are a large number of these
and their members vie with each
other in extending the bonds of fel-
lowship, assistance and enjoyment,
for which purpose the several organi-
zations sprung into being.
The chief manufacturing industries
of the town are the Exeter Manufac-
turing Company's cotton mills, the
Gale shoe shops, the Exeter Machine
Company, the Exeter Brass Works,
and Fellows's box factory. These
cover a large territory which is a
veritable hive of industry abounding
during six days of the week, with
men and women actively employed
at remunerative w^ages.
The Exeter Manufacturing Compa-
ny, manufacturers of cotton sheetings
and fine cambrics, was chartered in
1827, the charter bearing the names of
Harvey, president of senate, Henry
Hubbard, speaker, and Richard Bart-
lett, secretary of state. The mill
was started in 1830 with 5,000 spin-
John H. Fellows.
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
195
dies and 175 looms, which was grad-
ually increased to 25,000 spindles and
600 looms. The main building is
three stories in height, 350 feet long,
and one half 92 feet wide, and the
other 72 feet. A side extension for
repair shop and cloth room 100 feet
by 36 on ground, same height as
main building. A high basement
under all the buildings adds greatly
to the floor space, where are located
finishing departments and water
Exeter News- Letter Building.
wheels. In addition to the buildings
enumerated there are large, brick
storehouses, engine and boiler and
picker buildings adjoining. Power
is secured by four 36-inch water
wheels, and a fine compound Allis
engine of Soo horse power steam,
is supplied by three large vertical
«fc*-..-
?f-
McKey's Clothing Slore.
boilers communicating with a huge
octagon brick chimney. The officers
of the Exeter Manufacturing Com-
pany are president from i827-'29,
John Houston ; i829-'38, John Har-
vey; i838-'50, Samuel T. Arm-
strong ; i85o-'55, James Johnson ;
i855-'72, Samuel Batchelder ; 1872-
'76, Albert T. B. Ames; i876-'89,
Eben Dole; i8S9-'92. William J.
Dole, Jr.: i892-'93, John J. Beh ;
i893-'96, Wilham J. Dole, Jr ; 1896,
Hervey Kent, the present incumbent.
From 1830 to 1S95 there have been
but three agents of the concern, John
Eowe, Jr., served twenty-nine years,
James Nims for nearly three 3'ears,
and Hervey Kent for thirty-three
years.
The capacity of the mills was
doubled in i873-'74, and it was even
The Newfields Bottling Works, Newfields, N. H.
196
THE EXETER OE TO-DAY.
further gradually increased up to its
present size. The failure of Dale
Brothers & Company, who had a
controlling interest in the stock,
caused embarrassment, and there
were disastrous fires in 1887 and
1893, which may have been blessings
in disguise, as it gave the company
the opportunity to thoroughly refit
the mills with the most highly effec-
tive modern machinery, so as to get
results as to quality and cheapness
not possible with the machinery of
the old mill.
In 1895 George E. Kent pur-
chased a large interest, and he has
since been prominent in the manage-
ment, being elected general manager
in 1895, and treasurer and agent in
1898. In 1897 the Exeter Manu-
facturing Company leased the Pitts-
field mills of Pittsfield, owned by
George E. Kent, and the two plants
are run as one concern with nearly
40,000 spindles and 1,000 looms.
The capital stock of the company is
•A
$325,000, divided into 6,250 shares
of $50 par value.
The goods are sold by the commis-
sion house of Converse Stanton &
Company, New York, Boston, and
Philadelphia. The present officers
of the company are Hervey Kent,
president ; George E. Kent, treas-
urer and agent ; George B. Goodale,
clerk ; directors, Herve}^ Kent, George
E. Kent, Charles A, Appleton,
Walter M. Brewster, and John E.
Gordon, the last named having died
since last election.
The mills annually consume over
5,000 bales of cotton, and turn out
about 7,500,000 yards of fine cottons.
I
i
A. M. Trefethen.
Dewhirst's Barber Shop.
A recent writer in endeavoring to
show up the muddy character of the
Chicago river, from which the Windy
city draws its water supply, albeit far
out in the lake, says of it that in
order to be kept pure the water
should be sprinkled, at least, once a
day. The water of Exeter has not
IHE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
197
reached that stage as yet, but to tell
the truth it is not as pure as Ccesar's
wife, neither is it as far above sus-
picion. It compares favorably with
the water supply of the average New
England town, but Exeter is indeed
fortunate in possessing in its midst
a water supply that is absolutely
Shoe Store of H. Jelna.
pure and can be utilized, if desired,
by everybody. We refer to the ar-
tesian well of the Exeter Machine
Works. The output of this well has
already been put into commercial
use in the town, and its employment
is gradually extending among all
classes. Its purity and sparkling
qualities have indeed attracted atten-
tion outside of Exeter, and it is now
in general use throughout the state.
The well, at the instigation of Mr.
W. Burlingame, the treasurer, was
sunk in order to supply the works
with pure drinking water, but the
well proved such a gusher that a
supply far greater than was needed
by him was forthcoming from the
xxvii— 14
H. F. Dunn.
start. Knowledge of Mr. Burlin-
game's lucky strike spread rapidly,
and as a result another new industry
was accidentally added to the town,
viz., the supplying of water for
commercial purposes. The well was
drilled through 100 feet of solid rock,
and water, colorless, odorless, and
sparkling, was encountered 150 feet
from the earth's surface. The water
has been analyzed by eminent analy-
tical chemists of Boston, and Dr.
Edmund R. Angell of the state
board of health of New Hampshire.
Professor Angell says that the car-
bonates of magnesia and soda and
sulphates of magnesia in it impart
some medicinal properties to it.
Prof. Henry Carmichael declares
that it is not only soft and sparkling
but suitable for all uses. Mr. Bur-
lingame contemplates extending the
use of the water to some convenient
and easily accessible points through
pure block-tin pipes. Among those
who highly recommended it are Dr.
198
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
A. S. Langley.
Nute, chairman of the Exeter board
of health, Mr. Joseph Manning of
the Squamscott, who uses it exclu-
sively on his table, and several
prominent physicians in Concord and
elsewhere.
Exeter is fortun-
ate not only in her
educational, histor- -' .
ical, and naturally
picturesque attrac-
tions, but also in
her mercantile in-
dustries, and in her
strong virile men in
every walk in life.
In the educational
line no man in Exe-
ter exceeds in pop-
ularity and worth
the scholarly head
of Phillips Exeter
academy, Prof. Harlan P.
Amen, and ranking along-
side of him is that notable
educator, Prof. George A.
Went worth, the celebrated
mathematician and compiler
of mathematical works.
Among the leading physi-
cians of the town are Dr.
W. G. Perry, Dr. W. H.
Nute, and Dr. E. L. Saw-
yer. No sketch of Exeter
would be complete without
reference to Hon. E. G.
Eastman, the efficient and
scholarly attorney-general of
the state. Judge John E.
Young of the supreme court,
the venerable and highly
esteemed Hon. John D. Ly-
man, Hon. Thomas Leavitt,
Gen. William P. Chadwick,
Hon. Charles Marseilles, the
nestor of New Hampshire
journalists. Gen. S. H. Gale, the head
of the Gale Bros, shoe factory, is, of
course, one of the town's leading citi-
zens, and another, known all over the
state, is Col. R. N. Elwell, the popu-
i'l i mm
Hotel Whittier, Hampton, N. H.
THE EXETER OE TO-DAY.
199
in If I PI ii
W^lPi'-* "■'^
Chase's Hotel, Rockingham Junction, N. H.
lar and efficient collector of the port.
Hon. W. H, C. Follansby, the coun-
ty treasurer, is another strong man of
whom it can be said that no pent-
up Exeter contracts his powers.
Eben Folsom, the treasurer of
the Exeter Brass Works, is an
old-time resident of the town,
and with John H. Fellows, the
proprietor of Fellows' box facto-
ry, has done his share towards
building up the communit5^ An-
other progressive manufacturer
is Daniel Oilman, the proprietor
of the Exeter Rubber Step Mfg.
Co. Another gentleman who is
actively engaged in developing
Exeter is Mr. A. E. McReel, the
popular and highly efficient gen-
eral manager of the Exeter,
Hampton & Amesbury Street
Railway.
Hon. A. S. Wetherell, the
druggist, and one of the best
known citizens of Exeter, is a
son of the old town by adop-
tion, having been born in Nor-
ridgewock, Me.,
October 5, 1851.
Mr. Wetherell was
a representative in
the state legisla-
ture from Exeter
in 1893 and 1895,
and in the latter
year was chair-
man of the rail-
road committee.
He was in busi-
ness in one store
for twenty - three
years, but in 1896
established him-
self at his present
location, building
a new store. He
is deservedly popular among his
townsmen, and it is believed higher
honors yet await him.
J. E. Knight, the druggist, is an-
R. D. Bjro?e.
200
THE EXETER OE TO-DA\ .
Hervey E. Kent.
other well-known citizen who be-
lieves New Hampshire is a good
state to emigrate into, coming here
in 1870 and entering Phillips Exeter.
He has been in business in the town
since 1884. Mr. Knight occupies
the exalted position of thrice
illustrious master of Olivet
Council, Royal and Select
Masters. He is also a mem-
ber of DeWitt Clinton Com-
mandery of Portsmouth, and
district deputy grand master
of the grand lodge for this
section of the New Hamp-
shire jurisdiction. He is a
32° Mason, and a member of
Edward A. Raymond Consis-
tory of Nashua.
John A. Brown, the secre-
tary and treasurer of the Exe-
ter Cooperative bank, is a na-
tive of Exeter, having been
born here in 1857, graduating
at Phillips Exeter in 1875,
and receiving the degree of
A. B. at Harvard in 1879.
He has been a member of
the school board since 1886,
and a member of the board of
trustees of the Robinson Female
seminary since 1889. He is also a
member of the public library com-
mittee.
Albert S. Eangley, the well-known
"■Jr^'
Exeter Manufacturing Company.
IHE EXETER OF TO-DAY.
20I
J. E. Knight's Drug Store.
merchaut, is only twenty-eight years
of age, but his rapid strides forward
have placed him among the leading
young business men of Rockingham
county. He was born in Newmar-
ket just twenty-eight years ago, and
was educated at Epping and Exeter.
He was in business in Epping with
his father for a number of years,
after which he went to Boston and
New York to acquire metropolitan
methods. He was married in 1893
to Miss Alice E. Norris, only daugh-
ter of Haven Norris, the well-known
Epping shoe manufacturer. He is
prominent in the councils of the
Democratic party of the state, and
was its candidate for register of pro-
bate at the last election, polling a
handsome vote. He is prominent in
Pythian circles, and is also identified
with other secret societies.
O. H. Sleeper is the leading jew-
eler of the town. He is a Weare boy
and came to Exeter fifteen years ago.
He has a thriving trade.
H. F. Dunn, one of the prominent
grocers, was born in Weston, Mass.,
in 1850, and came to Exeter in 1876.
He has been in the same store in bus-
iness since. He has three stores and
does a flourishing business. He has
been identified with the Exeter Park
Eand Company for ten years and in
that position has had much to do with
developing the town.
Edward V. McKey, the popular
clothier, was born in Salem in 1853,
and came to Exeter in 1892 and built
the McKey block, the first modern
block in town. He can claim the
credit of having started the boom for
modern business blocks in Exeter.
R. D. Burpee is the leading baker
of this section, starting in business in
E. H. Fuller.
I'i'iotogra/>/ier.
202
THE EXETER OE TO-DAY.
Town Hall.
Exeter in 1892, and making a success
from the start. He has a large es-
tablishment and numbers Exeter's
representative citizens among his cus-
tomers.
H. Jelna, the boot and shoe dealer,
was born in 1855 in Three Rivers,
Canada, and came to Exeter in 1886.
He has been in his present store thir-
teen years. He is a member of the
Board of Trade and is actively inter-
ested in town affairs.
Dr. C. E. Burchstead, M. D. V., is
a graduate of Harvard Veterinary
school and practised in Boston five
years prior to coming to Exeter. He
has made a study of surgery and his
contributions to veterinary and medi-
cal journals have received special
comment. He is a member of the
Veterinary Society of Massachusetts.
Charles H. Dewhirst, the collegiate
barber, is a Lawrence boy, where he
was born in 1864. He came to Exe-
ter in 1892 and since his location here
he has practically gained a monopoly
of the business men of the town.
Other prominent and progressive
merchants and business men who
have done much to build up
Exeter include James H. Batch-
elder, stationer; H. W. Ander-
son, coal and wood dealer ;
A. M. Trefethen, stable and
liveryman, and J. E. Manning,
the new manager of the Squam-
scott.
The town has always been
fortunate in its near-by shore
resorts and since the construc-
tion of the electric street rail-
way the patronage of one of
these, the Hotel Whittier, has
largely increased. This is one
of the old-time hostelries of this
section, and its cuisine as well
as its hospitality has long been not-
ed. Its surroundings as well as its
location render it an ideal stopping
place. Another popular hostelry is
that at Rockingham Junction, con-
ducted by E. E. Chase. It is well
patronized not only by Exeter people
but also by travelers in this section.
I. A. Herrxk.
Fiihlishcr of the Exeter Gazette.
77^5" EXETER OF TO-DAY.
203
Among the industries of the ad-
joining towns whose business rela-
tions are closely connected with Exe-
ter is the Newfields Bottling Works,
managed by John Torrey. Mr. Tor-
rey not only has a complete up-to-date
plant in every particular including a
patent bottle washing machine with a
capacity of 1,800 revolutions a min-
ute, but also owns his own water-
works. He has a four-story building
with elevator and makes twenty-four
papers in the United States. Its in-
fluence and friendship is sought on all
sides and its character has made a
powerful impression on the affairs of
the county and of the state.
Thus stands Exeter — a model New
Hampshire town filled with bright,
brainy, progressive men. Eooking
back on three centuries of growth , it
looks forward also to the next one
hundred years, determined to keep its
record as honorable, as inspiring, and
High Street.
different flavored extracts. He em-
ploys seventeen people and has a ca-
pacity of 400 dozen bottles a day.
No town in the state is more fortu-
nately situated with reference to its
newspapers. These are two in num-
ber, the Exeter Gazette, managed by
Israel A. Herrick, and the Exeter
News-Letter, owned by John Temple-
ton. The Nezvs-Letter deservedly
stands at the head of the weekly
journals of jNew Hampshire and is in
fact one of the ablest edited news-
as spotless during that period as it
has during all the generations that
are now numbered with the past.
George E. Kent was born in Som-
ersworth, December 31, 1857, being
the son of Hervey Kent, at that time
superintendent of the Great Falls
Manufacturing Company. When Mr.
Kent was four years old, in 1862, the
famil}' moved to Exeter, where they
have since resided. Mr. Kent attend-
ed the public schools in the town,
graduating from the High school in
GEORGE E. KENT.
THE EXETER OF TO-DAY. 205
1S57, and from the Worcester Poly- 200 hands. Beside the plant at Pitts-
technic Institution of Worcester, Ms., field, there are valuable water-povv-
in 1878, with the degrees of B. S., C. ers in the towns of Alton, Gilman-
E., having taken the full civil engi- ton, and Barnstead, which serve as
neering course. In the fall of 1878, reservoirs in times of drouth. In May,
Mr. Kent entered the employ of the 1895, Mr. Kent, having purchased a
Exeter Manufacturing Company, at controlling interest in the Exeter
the daily wage of 80 cents per day, Manufacturing Company, became its
which was doubled under contract general manager, dividing his time
with his father, who was treasurer and between Pittsfield and Exeter, and on
agent of the mills, to pay the son an October i, 189S, was elected treasurer
equal amount to the regular wage and agent, a position filled by his
schedule. After spending time in father so acceptably for thirty- three
various departments of the concern in years. Mr. Kent leased his Pittsfield
which he as a boy had been familiar, mill to the Exeter company, and the
in May, 1879, an opportunity arose in two plants are run as one concern,
an unexpected quarter. The owner with about 40,000 spindles and 1,000
of the Pittsfield mills, of Pittsfield, looms, giving employment to five hun-
wrote to Mr. Kent, senior, asking him dred hands.
to recommend a man to take charge In addition to his manufacturing
of his concern, as his agent was on his interests, Mr. Kent, on the death of
death-bed. As a result of an inter- Hon. John J. Bell, was appointed ad-
view with Mr. Hovey, who naturally miuistrator of his estate, which con-
was looking for an older man with sisted of a large personal and real
more experience, it was decided to estate in Exeter, Manchester, and
give the young man a trial, with the North Woodstock, in the latter place
understanding that the father would taking in the well-known Deer Park
come to the rescue in case of an emer- hotel. Mr. Kent has been identified
gency. On May 6, 1879, Mr. Kent with many financial and business en-
took charge of the Pittsfield mills as terprises, being one of the few who
agent, filling the position acceptably successfully emerged from several
for nearl}^ twenty years. During this Southern booms. Mr. Kent is a
period the mills were doubled in size, director in the following companies :
and six dams were built, the largest Suncook Valley Railroad, Pittsfield
over three hundred feet long, with a Aqueduct Company, Pittsfield Gas
fall of twenty-two feet. In the fall of Company, Pittsfield Savings Bank,
1896 Mr. Hovey decided to retire from Exeter Banking Company, and the
active business, and accepted an offer Exeter Manufacturing Company. He
from Mr. Kent for the entire property, was state auditor during the gov-
and it was turned over to him on Jan- ernorship of Hon. H. A. Tuttle. In
uary i, 1897. The Pittsfield mills is 1884 Mr. Kent married Addie C. Gale
a cotton factory of 12,000 spindles of Pittsfield, and they have a family
and 322 looms, making a fine shirt- consisting of one daughter and three
ing, and giving employment to some sons.
xxvii — 15
CO
UJ
_l
O
X
_l
_J
<
Q
<
NEW HAMPSHIRE INDUSTRIES.
SECOND PAPER.
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
By Josiah B. Dyer.
INTRODUCTORY.
HE purpose of this article is
not to teacli practical men
the rudiments or the higher
branches of their trade, but,
as plainly and concisely as possible,
explain to those unacquainted with
it, the methods used by practical men
in quarrying and cutting stone; so
we avoid anything which might con-
fuse the reader, but in as plain lan-
guage as possible tell the story so
that anyone may understand. We
might use very different language, as
used in the trade technically, but our
readers might not understand it and
become confused, and our object be
lost. That the subject of quarrying
and stone-cutting is not understood,
we very often find in conversation
with parties outside the stone trade,
even in stone districts. Some seem
to entertain the idea that it is very
simple and requires no skill, but we
think after reading this article that
those who have such an idea will find
that to excavate a cutting through a
rock is ver)^ different from quarrying
out a stone for a stone-cutter or
sculptor.
Some years ago in the city of
Brooklyn, N. Y., during a debate
on matters connected with stone, one
of the speakers said that it required
no skill to quarry stone, anybody
could blast it out. On being asked
if he ever saw a quarry, and whether
he knew the difference between ran-
dom and dimension stones, he ac-
knowledged his ignorance, and that
all he knew of quarrying was what
he had seen done in blasting out
cellars, and clearing away rock in
grading the new streets of the city.
The extent of his knowledge of quar-
rying tools was a large drill, striking
hammer, pick, shovel, and dump
cart, and his idea of a quarryman
was that he knew enough to drop
his pick and shovel when the whistle
was blown to quit work. He was
surprised to learn that there is a. dif-
ference between excavating and quar-
rying, and that it required skill of
no mean order to be a good quarry-
man. There are others who have
similar ideas of quarrying and quar-
ry men, which those who have lived
in quarry sections wonder at when
they hear them expressed.
QUARRYING.
The story of a stone in its progress
from its natural bed in a mountain
to a paving block in a street, a part
of a building, or a statue, is a story
of skill and patient endurance, dan-
ger and anxiety, from the time the
first blow is struck on a drill to re-
208
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
move it from the mountain until it
is placed in the position designed
for it.
Quarrying is a lotter3\ The blanks
are more numerous than the prizes.
What has appeared to be a sure
thing has turned out to the con-
trary, and an abandoned quarry
shows plainly to experienced men
the blasted hopes and lost capital
study. He understands the use of
explosives and is familiar with pow-
der and dynamite, but an enumera-
tion of all the knowledge required
to be an expert quarrj^man would
probably be doubted by those who
only see him, as they consider,
mechanically striking the head of a
drill with a hammer, or hoisting on
a derrick ; so we refrain from enlarg-
Sheet yuarty, with Modern Steam Drills,
of those who have tried and failed
to develop what they fondly hoped
would prove a bonanza.
A good quarryman has a knowl-
edge of geology and often gives
pointers to professors of geology in
their investigations. He is a fear-
less man, facing danger every day
from explosions or falling rocks.
He has a knowledge of the stratum
and cleavage of rocks from daily
ing on the skill necessary to become
an expert quarryman.
Prospecting for quarries is carried
out with as much enthusiasm as pros-
pecting for gold mines. Frequently
the owner of a piece of land finds
rock on it and gets the idea that he
has valuable stone on his property,
and brings a small piece to a quarry-
man for his opinion of it. If the
quarryman is not satisfied with its
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
209
Hoisting Machine.
appearance, he wastes no time about
it ; but if he is satisfied that it is
worth investigating further, he visits
the place where the rock is, taking
with him a few necessary tools and
makes his tests, either by blasting or
splitting off some larger pieces. If
the rock is a boulder, it is easy to
quarry ; but if beneath the surface
and in sheets, then the skill of the
quarryman is shown, and he pro-
ceeds to act in a scientific manner.
The earth over the rock, if any, is
cleared away, a hole drilled, and a
blast made after it has been deter-
mined on the best place to make
such blast. A derrick is erected
and the waste rock dumped where
it will not interfere with future opera-
tions. Derricks are worked by hand
or steam, a hoister where steam is
used being constructed so as to
operate several derricks. Seams are
traced and headings located for fu-
ture guidance.
The mode of quarrying depends on
the stone to be quarried, whether
granite, marble, freestone, or lime-
stone, each requiring peculiar meth-
ods. Our space being limited, we
confine this article to granite alone.
The rock is, in general, first started
by holes being drilled and explosives
used to dislodge it from its natural
bed. There are various methods of
blasting and the quarryman decides
on which method will best answer
his purpose. Where particular care
is not necessary, a large hole is
drilled by hand or steam power, and
when the hole is drilled to the re-
quired depth, it is thoroughly dried
of the water used in drilling it, the
fuse inserted, and powder poured
into it, the strength of the charge
necessary to accomplish the purpose
designed being determined by the
good judgment of the quarryman.
After sufficient powder has been
placed in the hole, the remaining
portion of it is filled with sand or
loam, allowing for air space, and
tamped down tight with the tamping-
bar, the fuse is lighted, and the quar-
rymen retire to a safe place to await
the result of the explosion. Dyna-
mite cartridges are also used for
blasting. Frequently the charge
fails to explode, and again the skill
of the quarryman is shown in re-
?t>
}
f.\
Quarrymen Drilling Holes for Blasting.
2IO
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
■■V' ■: - i-
^'^-:-:.
Boulder Quarrying,
moving the old charge so as to insert
a new one. This operation is one
of the most dangerous parts of quar-
rying, as a spark of fire caused by
friction often explodes the charge,
and the quarrymen engaged in the
work, having no time to escape, are
killed or maimed for life by such
explosions. Where there is steam
power in a quarry, the holes have
been blown out by steam, thus avoid-
ing danger of explosion.
Much depends upon how the blast
is made. In the first place the direc-
tions in which a blast will break any
kind of rock from the drill hole are
but three, and sometimes four, unless
the explosive be too quick and forci-
ble in its action. The limited num-
ber of directions in which the rock
is most liable to break is determined
by the structure of the rock and the
shape of the drill hole. Quick-acting
explosives like dynamite have a ten-
dency to shatter the stone. Coarse
gunpowder is preferred by many, but
this is seldom used further than to
detach large masses, which are split
into smaller pieces by means of
wedges and half-rounds. Sometimes
a number of holes are drilled on a
line and fired by means of electricity.
Some large operations in blasting
have been done with tunnels, as at
Graniteville, Mo., and lyong Cove,
Me. In every locality the structure
of the rock must be studied to take
advantage of the cleavage and nat-
ural joints. There must be at least
one free end and a front to allow the
block to move outwards, and the ends
are often cut off by end joints. Hori-
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
211
zontal joints called beds occur in
most cases. When the cleavage is
not very marked it is called the
grain, and when it is more decided
it is called the rift ; there is, also,
the end grain, which is the toughest
part of the rock.
There are different forms of holes
used in blasting. An elliptical hole
ensures a straight break. A lewis
hole is most commonly used ; it is a
three-cornered hole, two of the cor-
ners being on the line of the desired
fracture. The Knox system of blast-
ing, which has been the cause of con-
siderable litigation at law for in-
fringement on patent, is the boring
of a hole, and then with a reamer
making two V grooves directly oppo-
site each other on the line of the frac-
ture desired, the hole being shaped
thus < >.
After a blast has been made it
sometimes becomes necessary to
move a large block without break-
ing, which it is impossible to move
with a derrick. A seam blast is
made for this purpose, which is done
by charging the crack made by the
hole blast with powder and explod-
ing the charge which moves the
block without shattering it, owing to
the charge not being tamped tight as
in a hole. In the invention of the
steam drill, where large blocks are
needed, they are often channeled out
to avoid the risk of spoiling by blast-
ing. In this process holes are drilled
with the steam drill on the three
sides of the stone to the required
depth, as closely together as possible,
and the core remaining between the
holes afterwards cut away, thus re-
leasing the block at the desired size
without shattering it.
After the large block has been de-
^^
if » If
IJSbb
Quarry, showing Modern Method of Railroad Track Into Quarry.
212
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
tached from its bed and it is desired
to reduce it to smaller sizes in the
most economical manner without
wasting more than possible, wedges
and half-rounds, sometimes called
plugs and feathers, are used. The
architect who plans a building of
any description to be of stone shows
in his plans each stone. The sizes
of these stones are given to the quar-
ryman, who enters them in his book,
and as he quarries each one checks
his chalk line or marked desired
curves, he, or his assistants, with
hand hammers and small drills, drill
a series of holes the length of the
line about three inches deep and
from two to three inches apart, and
where the stone is a very thick one,
larger deep holes are drilled between
the small holes about three or four
holes apart or more according to the
quarryman's judgment, to lead the
fracture of the smaller ones through
One of the Largest Stones Quarried in this Country.
// ivas b4 fret long, nearly S feet square, and iveigkcti 310 tons.
it off so as not to duplicate it. Hav-
ing the required sizes he measures
the large block, and, comparing with
the sizes on his book, calculates how
to split it to the bCvSt advantage, and
then with chalk, line, rule and
square, lays out the different sizes he
can see in the block, for an expert
quarryman can see every stone he
desires to get out of the block before
he marks his lines on it, unless in
splitting some should be spoiled
through the split going contrary to
his expectations. Having snapped
the stone and prevent it from running
out and spoiling the stone. The
holes being drilled the wedges and
half-rounds are inserted into the
holes, the half-rounds are shaped so
that one side fits the semi-circle of
the hole, the other side being fiat for
the wedge. The half-rounds are
thicker at the bottom than at the top.
The wedges are made flat on each
side and thicker at the top than at
the bottom. The wedges and half-
rounds being inserted in the hole,
the wedges being in line with the
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
213
chalk line on their straight sides, the
heads of the wedges are driven down
by a large striking hammer, the
force of the blow is regulated by the
quarry man, and the thick part of the
wedge being forced down into the
thick parts of the half-rounds causes
the stone to split open. In splitting
stones a line of holes are sometimes
drilled down the side also, a line hav-
ing been marked for the desired frac-
ture. The wedges in the side are
driven from the top downwards so as
to lead the fracture from the top
holes down through the stone on the
line marked on the side.
In splitting dimension stone allow-
ance is made for any deviation from
the chalk line, and to allow for the
stone-cutter to finish it to the re-
quired design. Generally about
two inches is allowed in quarrying,
but it depends on the nature of the
stone, and the quality of the work
required on the dressed stone, — if
for rough work sometimes no allow-
ance is made, but the judgment of
the quarryman decides on what he
considers a necessary allowance in all
cases. To split dimension stone
there is often considerable waste, and
the skill of the quarryman is often
taxed to get out a stone at the re-
quired dimension and have it clear of
defects of knots, seams, and stripes.
The waste is either thrown over the
dump, or where the quarry is near
a city the waste stone, technically
called "grout," is often utilized for
foundations for buildings, bridges,
worked up into paving blocks or
crushed for macadamizing purposes.
In splitting random stock the same
process is gone through, only the
quarryman, not being limited to
special .sizes, splits the stone to the
best advantage with the least possi-
ble waste. A poor quarryman often
wastes more stone than he is worth,
so it can be readily seen how much
depends on a thorough knowledge of
quarrying to become an expert quar-
ryman.
PAVING CUTTING.
Where paving blocks are made the
paving cutter splits the stone by the
same process as the quarryman does,
and then with hammers breaks it
to the desired sizes, finishing the
small blocks with a reeling hammer,
sometimes called a reel, giving the
desired lines and removing the lumps
so that they may be laid more closely
together in the street. , Where he
quarries the stone himself the place
he works in is called a motion.
STONK-CUTTING.
After the dimension stones are re-
moved from the quarry they are taken
to the stone-cutter's shed, where they
are raised on blocks, known as banker
blocks, to a suitable height for the
stone-cutter to get round it and work
to the best possible advantage. A
diagram is given the stone-cutter with
the required finished sizes and sketch
of design, with name of cutter, time
of hankering, numbers or letters of
stone, and of " courses" on plan, and
blank spaces for time of finishing and
cost of cutting marked on it, by which
he is guided in his work and a record
kept for future reference. He then
proceeds to lay out his stone so as to
get the desired design out of it with
the least amount of labor, which is
often a difficult matter from various
causes, and requires study through a
stone being small or having some de-
fect. This reminds us that we heard
214
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
of a Concord school teacher who told
her pupils that it required no skill to
cut a stone, but it did require skill to
build a house. If she had studied a
little more, she would have learned
that it required considerable skill to
cut a stone so that a mason could lay
it in a building, and she would not
have been considered as an inferior
teacher by the parents of the children
to whom she claimed to be teaching
object lessons. Accuracy of dressing
is essential for first-class work so that
the pressure may be equalized and
cracking avoided. After the cutter
has laid "out his stone, he finds out
the three lowest spots in the surface,
and cuts in with his hammer and
chisel three plumb spots on the three
lowest corners, and then takes it out
of wind by lowering the fourth or
highest corner to a perfect level with
the other three by the use of winding
blocks and straight edges placed on
top of them, and by sighting them
bringing both straight edges on a
perfect line with each other. Having
got his plumb spots he then snaps
chalk lines between the plumb spots
and breaks the stone to the line with
a hand hammer and pitching tool, or
if there is a large amount of waste to
be taken off it is broken to the lines
with a large striking hammer and
bull set, one man holding the bull set
to the line and guiding the break, and
another man striking its head with
the hammer. After the line has been
broken as straight as possible he then,
with hand hammer and chisel, cuts
draft lines connecting the four corner
plumb spots, thus forming the out-
lines of the plane surface, after which,
with hammer and point, he roughs off
the surface, making due allowance
for the work required. If it is a bed
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
215
he points it down level with his draft
lines, and is not so particular as if it
is for face work, and where there is
much rough to take off, he plugs it
off where necessar)^ by drilling plug
holes with a drill and using wedges
and half-rounds as used in quarrying.
Where it is face work more care is
necessary : it must be pointed free
from holes, and allowance made for
pieces and screwed firmly together,
the stock having holes for the handle
and for the screws to hold the blades
in position. The blades are of thin
sheet steel of different thicknesses,
and the name given to the hammer
shows how many blades are in a given
space, as four or twelve blades to an
inch. The first surface being com-
pleted the other parts are worked from
A Typical Stone-Yard.
finishing to the required finish. After
the surface is pointed it is then pean
hammered down, and then hammered
according to the finish desired with
bush hammers. The coarsest ham-
mers being used first after the pean
hammer, and the other grades in suc-
cession. The different bush ham-
mers are known as four-cut, six-cut,
eight-cut, ten-cut, and twelve-cut.
The bush hammer is a tool made in
it, and an edge chiseled after being
chipped straight with a chipper and
straight edge where it is a square side.
The stone being turned with the sec-
ond surface to be worked on top, the
cutter then from the chiseled line at
the edge cuts plumb spots on the
opposite corners, using square and
winding blocks, and proceeds in a
similar manner as on first surface to
get it perfectly level, or with a square
2l6
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
for a guide draws a square line from
the edge and chisels a draft line with-
out cutting in plumb spots and using
his winding blocks. For marking
lines where the chalk and line cannot
be used, camwood is generally used.
After he has his lines chiseled around
the side he proceeds to finish it in the
same manner as the other surface.
Very often two men cutting the same
kind of a stone will not take up the
stones in the same manner, but the
same result is accomplished in the
end. Great care is necessary to avoid
knocking off the corners and break-
ing out pieces of the edges. If the
stone is molded or beveled, patterns
are used. The "members" of the
mold are cut in at each end by the
use of a profile or template which is a
reverse of the mold. The profile, tem-
plate or pattern, is made by a pattern-
maker, on large jobs, of wood or zinc.
After the profile is cut in at each end,
the superfluous stone is worked off and
finished with points, chisels, pean,
and bush hammers, as in straight
work, and in addition to these other
tools are required on molded work,
such as Scotia hammers, bush chisel,
and various shaped chisels, and pean
hammers, to facilitate cutting difficult
parts of the molding. Great care is
necessary in cutting in the template
or bevel at the ends so that the stones
will come together without trimming
in the building, but often with the
greatest care on the part of the cutter
trimming is necessary so as to have
the joints show the mold continuously,
through the fault of the mason in set-
ting. It may seem to an onlooker
that it is a simple thing to chisel a
line or bush hammer a stone, but
care and skill are necessary from the
time the stone is placed on the banker
until it has passed inspection, has
been ' ' tried up, ' ' and the paint mark,
with the letter or figures of its position
in the building, as shown on the plan,
is placed on it by the person in charge.
Stones for polishing are hammered
to the desired shape and then sent to
the polishing mill, and after being
polished are returned to the cutting
shed, if more work is to be done on
them, but if no further work is re-
quired, they are boxed up ready for
shipment.
In lettering, the letters are traced
on the stone and the cutter, with his
lettering tools, which are smaller
chisels and points than ordinarily
used, either chips away the superflu-
ous stone for raised letters, or sinks
them with the corners of his chisel
into the surface of the stone, if for
sunk letters. In carving, it depends
on the nature of such carving, whether
a model is first made, or the carver
works from his drawing ; but gener-
ally, a model is first made in plaster of
Paris and the carver takes his points
from the model ; much also depends
on his eyes and skill. Too much
space would be required to enter into
fuller details of lettering, carving, and
sculpture.
Of recent years pneumatic tools,
worked by compressed air, are used
to a considerable extent for carving,
lettering, and skimmed work, in large
establishments. Surfacing machines
are also used for cutting a plain sur-
face, which finish and bush hammer
it. Saws are also used for plain work
by which square, oblong, or beveled
blocks are sawn to the required dimen-
sions, and either polished or bushed
by steam power. While in freestone
and marble, moldings are cut by
machinery, entirely supplanting hand
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
217
work, np to the present no machine
has been invented to cut moldings on
granite, except certain forms on col-
umns and circular work. Columns,
urns, vases, and circular work are to
a considerable extent turned out on
specially constructed turning lathes.
In some large establishments, where
it can be done to advantage, the
■work is divided into different de-
te?'
Pneumatic Cutting.
partments, some men cutting plain
work, others molding, others letter-
ing, and others carving ; the stone in
some cases being taken from the man
who squares it up and transferred to
the letterer or carver to finish. While
in general a carver can take a stone
in its rough and complete it, there are
those who cannot cut a decent plain
stone, their inclination being against
plain work, and there are cutters who
cannot carve but can cut a first-class
plain or molded stone.
TOOI< SHARPENING.
Tool making and tool sharpening
is a necessary part of the stone trade.
An ordinary blacksmith, while he
may be able to make the tools required
in quarrying and stone-cutting, in
general is unable to sharpen and tem-
per them so as to stand the cutting of
granite. Tool sharpening is practi-
cally a trade by itself, as it requires
considerable experience to gain a
thorough knowledge of the temper
required for the tools to cut the differ-
ent grades of granite, and to sharpen
the different varieties of tools, as for
instance, the thin blades of a twelve-
cut hammer require considerable skill
to sharpen and temper exactly so as
to prevent their warping, to have them
straight, temper neither too hard nor
too soft, and to avoid flaws. Nothing
tries a cutter's or quarryman's temper
more than to have poor tempered
tools ; his temper requires considera-
ble previous tempering to prevent his
exploding into language more forcible
than polite wdien his tools break or
are too soft. An expert tool sharpener
saves considerable expense to his em-
ployer b}^ his knowledge of steel and
tempering it.
POLISHING.
Where polishing is required the
stone, after being hammered roughly,
is taken to the polishing mill. Where
there are several stones to polish a
bed is made by the different upper
surfaces being laid exactly level with
each other, and all joints or openings
filled with plaster of Paris, and firmly
bound together so that no shifting
may occur while it is being rubbed
down. This requires considerable
nicety of adjustment as the rubbing
must be equal on each stone, for if any
of the stones shift the rubbing will be
unequal, and such inequality might
spoil a stone. Where a stone is large
enough to be polished by itself, the
adjustment can be more easily accom-
plished. After the bed is prepared it
2l8
QUARRYING AND STONE-CUTTING.
is first rubbed down to bring the sur-
face free from tool-marks and holes,
either with sand or chilled iron, and
water being placed on the bed ; then
either a revolving iron wheel or a
large iron bar with a rubbing plate of
iron attached, is placed on the chilled
iron or sand and worked by steam
power. Sand was formerly used en-
tirely, but of late years very little of it
is used, having given place to chilled
iron or shot. The wheel is guided
around the bed by the man in attend-
ance so as to ensure equal distribution
of the necessary pressure to grind
down the surface. After the neces-
sary rubbing has been accomplished
the sand or chilled iron is washed off
and emery of different grades put
under the wheel to smooth the surface
before the final polish. After being
sufficiently rubbed with emery the
surface is cleaned, and either the same
wheel bound with thick felt, or a
wheel exclusively used for the pur-
pose bound in felt, is placed on the
surface and putty powder placed
under it and wetted with water to the
consistency of a paste. The wheel is
used the same as before, and as the
friction produces heat so the polish is
brought out, and when in the judg-
ment of the polisher no more can be
done, the stone is removed from the
bed. As in other stages skill and
good judgment are necessary to deter-
mine when the stone has been suffi-
cientl}^ rubbed down and all ' ' starts ' '
removed, otherwise they will show
through the final polish ; and to know-
when the stone is sufficiently rubbed
and polished before washing off the
chilled iron and putty powder, requires
considerable experience to avoid wast-
ing the materials. Some parts of a
stone which machinery cannot reach
are polished by hand, and also some
small work, such as bands, etc. The
principle of hand polishing is the same
as steam polishing. Some men make
a specialty of hand polishing.
BOXING.
After a stone is finished and ready
for shipment it is boxed up in lumber,
strips being placed around the edges
and firmly bound with hoop iron
nailed to the lumber, so as to protect
the corners and edges from
damaged in transit.
being
Polishing by Machinery.
A I.EAF FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE'S UNWRITTEN HISTORY.
By Carrie A/. Nay.
HE fact is deplored hy the
historian that a fund of in-
teresting and valuable leg-
endary lore is being lost past
recovery by the impossibility of dis-
covering just how and where to seek
the hidden treasures which would so
enrich the archives of history.
Men and women, famous in litera-
ture, come out from the disturbing
elements of city life, living weeks and
months in country homes, seeking
and hearing quaint incidents which
they weave into charming stories,
yet they rarely strike the keynote
inducing the loquacity of a New
Englander to give away the family
legends of the valor and courage of
his ancestors, — an inheritance of
which he is justly proud — to any
stranger within his gates. Hence it
is an indisputable fact that ere an-
other half century has passed but
slight trace will be left of the charm-
ing romance of our nation's history.
That a story, easily verified, yet
dating back to the Colonial times of
one hundred and fifty years ago, has
come to my knowledge, also that I
can have the privilege of recording
so noble an illustration of the potent
power of courageous fidelity to im-
press itself so that centuries cannot
erase it, I consider my great good
fortune.
As we look abroad over the sunny
hillsides of New England it taxes
our imagination to realize that our
ancestors, who once lived where we
now dwell in plenteous comfort, were
surrounded by dangers dire, from
savage beasts, and yet more savage
men. Not in vain was the discip-
line. Their environment gave them
nerves of iron and muscles of steel,
with a knowledge of woodcraft which
made them well-nigh invincible.
Although the inhabitants of the
little township of Peterborough had
enjo5'ed singular immunity from the
hardships and cruelty from Indian
warfare which had harassed their
neighboring townships, yet they
dwelt in the midst of alarms and
were keenly alive to the sufferings
which beset their less fortunate neigh-
bors ; hence when a call came to or-
ganize a company to proceed against
the Indians nine young men, the
very flower of the youth of Peterbor-
ough, enlisted with the unfortunate
company known as "Rogers' Rang-
ers."
Among the company was one Rob-
ert McNee, the eldest son of a num-
erous family. He was remarkable
for his massive frame and great
strength, as well as for his affection-
ate devotion to his friends and home.
Shall we picture the anguish of his
mother's heart or his father's grief
as their eldest child
"Their staff on which their years should lean,"
was hurried away to meet an un-
known peril ?
220
NEW HAMPSHIRE SENDS GREETING TO-DAY.
Among his comrades was one
whom he loved and trusted, — not a
Hercules as was McNee, but lithe
and nimble, and their friendship was
as that of David and Jonathan.
Hence the hours were not altogether
unpleasant as the}^ struggled for-
ward through forest and morass on
their dangerous mission. But the
time came when their love was to be
tested, even as gold cast in the fur-
nace, for, caught in deadly ambus-
cade by their foes, naught but flight
could save their lives.
Robert McNee could easily have
saved himself, but his friend faltered
and weariness overcame him ; with-
out assistance he could go no farther.
Would McNee leave him ? Never !
Possibly he could save both ; just a
little help, then both might escape.
Thus he reasoned, and, with here
and there the double burden of bear-
ing him forward with compelling
arms, McNee pushed onward. But,
alas, exhaustion had seized even his
powerful frame, and their vindictive
foes were close upon them ! But his
friend was restored only to realize
with breaking heart the sacrifice
which had been made for him on the
altar of Love, and could he accept
the offering ? No, they would perish
together ! He was now in advance,
and as he reached a hilltop he turned.
McNee seeing the act, with ringing
voice, called " Go forward ! " just as
the tomahawk of a pursuing savage
was buried in his brain. With a sad
heart the lonely man plodded on his
dangerous homeward way. With
one other he lived to reach Peter-
borough, and to the friends so anx-
iously awaiting them told of the no-
bility of heart and mind of Robert
McNee, gone forever from their for-
est home, but with the noble record
that he feared death less than dis-
loyalty. Was not the commendation
justly his, of One who said, " Greater
love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friend ? "
NEW HAMPSHIRE SENDS GREETING TO-DAY
[Andover Old Home Week Celebration, August 30, 1899.]
By C. E. Carr.
From her forests and meadows supernal.
From her shores where the wild waves play,
From her hills and mountains eternal,
New Hampshire sends greeting to-day !
Restless with myriad fingers
Her streams clap their hands in glee,
And her hills where sweet memory lingers
Re-echo her greeting to thee.
The winds through her valleys are calling.
They are singing in maple and pine,
And voices of sweet waters falling,
Are summoning thee and thine.
NEPV HAMPSHIRE SENDS GREETING TO-DAY. 221
Silent and hushed are her spindles,
Her factories, looms, and wheels,
But her breast with the old love kindles.
And swells with the pride she feels.
To her children all she sends greeting,
Where 'er through the world they may roam,
For them is her loving heart beating
While to-day she w'elcomes them home.
" Nursed at her bosom of granite,"
With a hand of love and steel
Their duty she 's marked on the planet, —
To work for their country's weal.
She stands for the Spirit of Progress,
She stands for the Spirit of Right, —
Her journey lies forward not backward,
Her march, toward the clearer light.
About her she gathers her children.
But leaves each his own work to do : —
Some will make laws for the nation.
Some " carry water and hew,"
Some will be heard in the forum,
Some found on the tireless sea,
Some in the turmoil of battle.
And some ever silent will be ;
But whatever in life be their calling.
With her they have only one test, —
'Tis not the world's rising or falling.
But, " Son, are you doing your best? "
Is Liberty's spirit found with her?
Try her children wherever you will,
Hear the voice of her Daniel forever,
Count her dead at Bunker Hill.
Her breezes forever are blowing,
Her mountains forever shall stand.
Forever, her children's hearts glowing
For freedom, for God, and for land.
Then come back to her mountains and waters,
Come back to hamlet and glen.
Come back, oh, ye sons and ye daughters,
And greet your mother again !
xxvii— 16
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS OF PETERBOROUGH, EXETER,
AND SPRINGFIEED.
By F. B. Sanborn.
lEElAM SMITH, of Mon-
eymar, in northern Ire-
land, on his father's side
Scotch, and English by
his mother, emigrated to New Hamp-
shire with the Scotch-Irish who set-
tled Derry and Londonderry, Nnt-
field (now Manchester), and the
Monadnoc townships, round the
mountain of that name. He was
in Peterborough (named for the gal-
lant earl of that century) before
1750, and there married, December
31, 1 75 1, Elizabeth Morison, grand-
daughter of Samuel Morison and
Margaret Wallace (of Sir William
Wallace's race), who had suffered in
the famous siege of Derry. Eliza-
beth herself was born in London-
derry, N. H. She inherited and
transmitted from her mother, accord-
ing to family tradition, "all the wit
and smartness of the Morisons and
Smiths." Her most illustrious son,
Jeremiah Smith, son of William, was
born in a log house, near the present
Smith homestead (which was built
in 1770), Nov. 29, 1759; he was one
of a large family, very few of whose
descendants now remain in Peter-
borough, which they almost founded,
and long controlled, or shared its
control. His elder brother, James
Smith, of Cavendish, Vt., was the
father of Sarah, who married James
Walker, Esq., of Rindge, and was
the favorite niece of Judge Smith ;
a younger brother, Samuel vSmith,
built the first factory in Peter-
borough, and drew down the scat-
tered village from the hilltops to the
lovely valley where it now nestles,
around the windings of its two
rivers.
Jeremiah, who lived to be called
"the handsomest old man and the
wittiest wise man" in New Hamp-
shire, was early designated for a stu-
dious and distinguished career.
Without neglecting the rude labors
of his father's great farm, he read
and remembered everything that
came in his way. At twelve, when
he ' ' could reap as much rye in a
day as a man," he began to study
Latin with an Irish hedge-school-
master ; at seventeen he entered
Harvard college, but was drawn
away for two months to fight under
Stark at Bennington. His captain,
Stephen Parker of New Ipswich, the
next hilltown, on the morning of the
fight ordered the lad upon some duty
that appeared to be safe, not wishing
to have his neighbor's boy killed in
his first campaign. But when the
battle was hot, and Stark was charg-
ing the Hessian intrenchments. Cap-
tain Parker saw Jerry Smith by his
side. "What are you here for?"
" Oh, sir, I thought I ought to follow
my captain." His gun was disabled
by a British bullet; he caught
another from a dying comrade, and
224
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
fought on till night; and then helped
guard the Hessian prisoners in the
Bennington church. Remaining at
Cambridge two years, he was so
little pleased with his instruction
under Dr. Langdon (a wise scholar,
but with no gift for managing a
college), that he migrated to Rutgers
college in New Jersey, and there
brilliant young Hamilton, to whose
party in Congress he finally attached
himself, when sent from the Hills-
borough district in 1790 to represent
New Hampshire at Philadelphia,
where Washington was then carry-
ing on the government. In the inter-
val between 17S1 and his congres-
sional life he had studied law at
The Smith Homestead, Peterborougn.
graduated in 1780, about the time
(August 30), that Dr. lyangdon with-
drew from his thankless labors to the
little parish of Hampton Falls, where
he spent the last seventeen years of
his worthy life.
IvCaving college in debt, Smith
remained at home for two years, and
in that time, while driving cattle for
Washington's army to Peekskill, he
there met for the first time, the
Barnstable and Salem, had private
pvipils, taught in a young ladies'
school, and in Andover had among
his pupils Dr. Abbot, afterwards of
Exeter, and Josiah Quincy ; been
admitted to the bar at Amherst,
N. H., in 1786, against the wish of
Joshua Atherton, grandfather of the
democratic senator, and for three
years, i788-'90, represented his na-
tive town in the state legislature
at Concord. Such rapid promotion
for so young a man — he was not
quite thirty-one when chosen to
Congress — would have been remark-
able, had he not been well known
and won the confidence of his towns-
men and constituents by his integ-
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS. 225
At the age of thirty, then (June
17, 1790), Smith was a member of
the legislature for the third time,
and was to conduct an impeachment
against Hon. Woodbur}^ Langdon,
one of the handsomest and ablest
men of the time in New Hampshire,
Judge Woodbury Langdon.
rity, wit, eloquence, and good looks ;
the last a thing never to be despised
in the contention for popular honors.
It w-as this confidence which caused
him to be chosen for the prosecution
of his old college president's cousin,
the elegant and influential brother of
Gov. John lyangdon of Portsmouth.
and then a justice of the highest
court. Of Judge Langdon's char-
acter, William Plunier, afterwards
United States senator and governor,
has given a varying opinion, but at
the impeachment, he favored the
accused, and voted against it. Four
years earlier, Plumer made this con-
226
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
tribution to Judge Langdon's biogra-
phy, which, in its main facts, was
probably correct :
" In the commencement of the Revolution,
Woodbury L,angdon, Esq., was a Tory; one of
the five who signed a protest against the war.
In 1775 he embarked for England, and was
often closeted by the British minister. On his
return to New York he was well accommodated
in a British frigate. At New York the British
imprisoned him ; but it is now understood that
it was done to produce an opinion here that he
was friendly to our Revolution. His princi-
ples are formed by his interest, and his con-
duct has changed with the times. He has
been both Whig and Tory ; when he became a
Whig, he inveighed with bitterness against the
Tories. He is certainly a man of strong men-
tal powers, of a clear, discriminating mind.
He is naturally arbitrary, and has strong preju-
dices. His sense of what is right, and his
pride, form a greater security for his good be-
havior, than his love of virtue."
In 1790, Mr. Pkimer, perhaps from
a closer knowledge of Langdon,
thought better of him, and disliked
the impeachment, which he thus
characterized :
" Articles of impeachment were exhibited
against Woodbury Langdon for his not attend-
ing the superior court in three counties, par-
ticularizing Cheshire. Previous to this, long
and fruitless, though virulent, attempts had
been made to remove him from office, un-
heard, and without notice, by an address of
both houses to the President and council. The
resolve to impeach passed the house by a
small majority. The articles, after much
debate, were molded into form, and carried
to the senate who had resolved themselves
into a court of impeachment, to meet July 28,
1790, at Exeter, for trial. ... I have lately
paid Mr. Langdon a visit. His intuitive
genius enabled him to give a more accurate
account of the proceedings of the legislature at
their last session, than nine tenths of the mem-
bers present are able to do. He appeared to
have a perfect knowledge of the part each
member acted respecting the address and im-
peachment; the cunning and duplicity of
Sherburne was insufiScient to veil his conduct
from the discerning eye of the judge. The
more I see and know of Langdon, the more I
admire his wit, penetration, judgment, and
decision ; few men exceed him. If he con-
siders an object worthy of his attention, he
pursues it with such unremitted attention as
seldom fails of success. Those who have the
best means of information, and are accustomed
to think for themselves, are not satisfied with
the impeachment ; they consider it as flowing
from motives not honorable."
The associates of Smith in the
conduct of this impeachment were
Edward St. Loe Livermore and Will-
iam Page ; they went before the
New Hampshire senate, January 28,
1 79 1, prepared to prosecute the of-
fender, who was not present, and
therefore was not arraigned. The
elaborate speech of Smith was proba-
bly not delivered ; it contained the
substance of the charges, expressed
with some wit, and is worth citing,
in part :
" A judge must disengage himself from all
other business and employment, and devote
himself to the duties of his office. There is a
dictum in one of the books of reports, which, I
suppose, will pass for very good law in this
court, 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,'
you cannot be a judge and a merchant. 'T is
easy to guess, in this contest, which will get
the mastery ; if we look into the book of
human nature, we shall find it written in
very legible characters (Page i) that interest
will prevail; and that our judge will be more
solicitous about fitting out his brig, than about
settling a knotty point of law. He will be too
apt to be disposing of a cargo, when he should
be dispensing justice. One end of legal deci-
sion is to satisfy the parties ; but the parties
never will be satisfied unless their cause has
been coolly, deliberately, and fully heard.
This a judge will never do, if he is entangled
with private affairs; the parties think, and
have been heard to say, that when the Hon-
orable Judge Langdon's brig goes to sea, he
will be more at leisure. ... If the brig
sails, or arrives, in term-time, the inhabitants
of Cheshire and Grafton need not expect to see
the honorable judge. These are facts I do not
mean to exaggerate."
The truth was that Woodbury
Langdon, like his brother, the illus-
trious patriot, John lyangdon, who
was so many times governor of New
Hampshire, was a prosperous mer-
chant, owning and sailing vessels
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
227
from Portsmouth, and had more re-
gard to his own ventures, at limes,
than to the public convenience. But
he was a fair judge, notwithstanding,
and was not to be discredited by a
conviction and dismissal from office.
He had just been appointed by
Washington as federal commissioner
of accounts, at Philadelphia, by
reason of his acquaintance with
financial affairs, and he sent in his
Judge Jeremiah Smith.
resignation as judge in New Hamp-
shire before his opponents could \ry
him. Accordingly, late in Januarj'-,
1 79 1, Mr. Livermore, one of the
managers of impeachment, offered,
in the House at Concord, of which
he and Smith were members, this
vote, which passed :
" Resolz'ed, That the Managers appointed by
and in behalf of the House of Representatives
to manage the impeachment exhibited by this
House against Woodbury L,angdon, Esq., be
instructed to enter a nolle prosequi to said
itnpeachnient."
The Senate, meanwhile, which was
to try the impeachment, had been
thinking better of it, and on the
17th of February, 1791, informed the
house that " Ebenezer Smith, senior
senator in the chair, and Nathaniel
Peabody, Ebenezer Webster" (father
of Daniel), "John Bell, Amos Shep-
pard, Peter Green, Nathaniel Rogers,
Sandford Kingsbury, and Joseph Cil-
ley, Esqs., being present" (nine sen-
ators out of twelve), "when the
Senate for a moment reflect that the
full force of a resolve or address, if
carried into execution, can operate
no further than to effect a removal
from office ; and that Mr. Eangdon
hath accepted of an important ap-
pointment under the authority of the
United States, which renders it in-
convenient for him to execute, and
highly improper that he should any
longer hold said office as a justice
of the superior court ; and that Mr.
Langdon, impressed with these senti-
ments, or some otJier motives, hath,
by a letter of the 17th of January,
actually resigned said office, — the
Senate, taking all circumstances into
consideration, unanimousl}' voted,
That it is not their duty to concur
with the honorable House in their
resolve or address asking for Mr.
Langdon 's removal."
Commenting upon this whole af-
fair, Plumer, in a letter to Judge
Langdon, said (March 26, 1791),
"Thus ended this mighty fuss, —
disgraceful to the state, and vexa-
tious to you. John Sam Sherburne,
who last summer considered the
prosecution as a popular measure,
has lately been more cautious ; in
the house he has voted with your
friends, though he has manifested
too much indifference to be con-
sidered as one of them. George
228
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
Gains has beeu friendl}-, and did
everything a man of his feeble in-
tellect was able to do. George
Wentworth, your other Portsmouth
representative, always voted with us,
and that was as much as he was
capable of doing. Col. William
Page and James McGregor were the
most bitter and persecuting'; they
dealt in slander and calumny, both
in public and private. The Presi-
dent (Josiah Bartlett) was in favor
of the impeachment, but opposed to
the address of removal. Nathaniel
Rogers was zealous for j'ou. Had
the trial proceeded, some of the
senators would have voted against
you. Christopher Toppan (of Hamp-
ton), Nathan Hoit, and Bradbury
Cilley were active in your favor.
Timoth}^ Farrar is appointed your
successor. I do not know him, but
from his character he will be judi-
cious and useful."
Judge Smith long outlived Judge
L,angdon, who was more than twen-
ty years older, and who died in
1805. After three congressional
terms of two years each, and one
session of a fourth, Smith, who
had married in Maryland Miss
Eliza Ross, daughter of Mrs. Ariana
(Brice) Ross, of Bladensburg, at the
end of his third term, and visited
Washington at Mt. Vernon, removed
with his bride to Exeter, N. H.,
where much correspondence was had
as to what house he should occupy.
Writing to his friend Smith, Jan-
uary 12, 1797, William Plumer of
Epping said :
"Yesterday I was at Exeter, and conversed
with Parker, Peabody, Conner, etc., upon pro-
curing a house for you. The mansion-house
of the late General Folsom, with eight or ten
acres of land, may be rented for $135 per
annum. The house in which Dudley Odlin
lived may be had cheaper ; 'tis about 80 rods
west of Lamson's tavern, a pleasant, healthy
situation. It needs considerable repairs, but
maj' be purchased cheap ; the governor (Gil-
man) has the care of it. The houses in which
Conner and young Odiorne lived may be had
on reasonable terms ; they are west of Emery's
office, but I think they would not suit you."
In a letter to Miss Ross, a month
before the wedding, Smith said, " My
correspondent at Exeter has just
written me that we can have a house,
which he thinks will answer our pur-
pose, for $40 a year. From the price
I conclude it must be a very ordinary
house ; but perhaps it will serve our
purpose for a year or two, till we can
accommodate ourselves better, either
in buying or hiring."
He failed to get the Folsom " man-
sion," and yet did not content him-
self for a dozen years with so cheap
a house as he thus mentioned.
Finally, in 1809, after holding the
important offices of district attorney.
United States circuit judge, judge of
probate for Rockingham, and chief
justice of New Hampshire (1802 to
1809), he purchased the fine estate,
a little west of the village, on the
road from Exeter to Epping and
Nottingham, which is associated with
him in the recollections of his
friends.
The house, a large and substantial
one, built by a Captain Giddings
and represented in the next view,
was much improved by the judge,
and beautified by trees and gardens,
while a magnificent wood of primi-
tiv^e pines, oaks, and maples covered
the rear of his farm of 150 acres.
He first occupied this during his
single year as governor, when he
defeated the brother of his prede-
cessor on the bench, the impeached
Judge Eangdon, by the small ma-
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
229
Exeter House of Judge Smith.
jority of 369 ; but in the following
years he was defeated by Governor
Langdon with majorities of 1,157 in
1 8 10, and 3,045 in 181 1. These in-
creasing negatives were hints to
Judge Smith that he should with-
draw from politics, and he devoted
himself afterwards to the law, to lit-
erature, and to the social and family
affections, by which he is now best
remembered.
His eldest child, Ariana Smith,
was the charm of his Exeter home,
and the unqualified delight of her
father and friends. Born December
28, 1797, and dying of consumption,
June 20, 1829; she was of a gentle
and accomplished nature, as unusual
as her name then was in New Eng-
land. She had inherited that from
a Bohemian branch of her grand-
mother's family, the Brices of Mary-
land ; and her cousin, Mrs. James
Walker of Peterborough, who was
with Ariana Smith in her last ill-
ness, gave this cherished name to her
own daughter born in the following
November. Something of the same
character must have gone with the
name from the description which Dr.
Morison, the cousin and biographer
of Judge Smith, gives of this ever-
lamented daughter :
" Existence was to Ariana Smith a continual
romance. Her personal appearance was pecul-
iar to herself, — a clear, white complexion, con-
trasting with her long black hair and eyelashes,
— large, blue eyes, looking out with animation
from a countenance always calm, indicating
both excitement and repose, — all were such as
belonged to no one else. She laughed, wept,
studied, went through the routine of house-
hold cares, — was not without some portion of
feminine vanity, — loved attention, and was not
indifferent to dress, — and yet she was like no
one else. Her voice, subdued and passionless,
contrasted singularly with the fervor of her
words. Her enthusiasm might have betrayed
her into indiscretion, but for her prudent self-
control ; and her rare good sense might have
made her seem commonplace but for her en-
thusiasm. She had a feminine high-minded-
ness. She was equally at home among differ-
ent classes of people ; with the most eminent
she betrayed no consciousness of self-distrust,
and with the humblest no pride or condescen-
sion. Her cook she regarded not merely as a
faithful servant, but as a sister ; the poor stu-
dent, unformed, bashful, and desponding, soon
felt at ease with her, looked with more respect
on himself, and began to feel new powers and
hopes. The charity which thinketh no evil
was not in her so much a cherished principle,
as an original endowment ; disturbed some-
times by momentary jealousies and rivalries,
by wrongs received or witnessed, but quickly
recovering itself, and going cheerfully along its
pleasant path."
230
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
An American Portia.
In the absence of any adequate
portrait of this lady, or of her elder
cousin, Mrs. Sarah Walker, I have
found, among the types of English
beauty and grace, a face and pres-
ence which recalls both to my fancy,
— the lady of whom Charles Howard
wrote these verses :
Here is there more than merely common spell
Of rosy lips and tresses darkly streaming ;
O thou, by fairy Nature gifted well,
What is it in thy picture sets me dreaming?
Thee, fair as Portia in her beauty's prime.
And true, or Beauty's smile hath lost its
meaning,
Thee may Regret, that sullen child of Time,
Pass, as she goes her sad tear-harvest gleaning !
Surviving his wife and all the chil-
dren of his first marriage, Judge Smith
married again at the age of seventy-
two ; and this second Mrs. Smith,
mother of Judge Jeremiah Smith, now
a law professor in Harvard University
(born in 1837), kept up the hospi-
tality of the Exeter home, and, after
her husband's death in September,
1842, of the still larger estate in Eee,
N. H., where many friends will
remember visiting her. During her
residence in Exeter, which the
Smiths left in the spring of 1842, the
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
231
Walkers of Peterborough, to be near
their kinsman. Judge Smith, and the
youths, James and George Walker,
there fitting for college, took a house
not far from the Judge's, where they
lived two years. Mrs. Sarah Wal-
ker, born at Cavendish, Vt., in 1795,
and married to James Walker in
1819, was, as Dr. Morison says, "A
woman greatly beloved by all who
knew her. There was no one out of
his immediate family to whom Judge
Smith was more tenderly attached.
They died of the same disease, and
within a few weeks of each other."
Writing to her from Virginia in 1836,
he said, "You were always dear, and
now, in the midst of the Alleghanies,
are dearer than ever. The higher
we ascend, the better we love one
another. So be it, for this is the
greatest earthly good." Writing to
another niece, Ellen Smith, in 1839,
he said, " Have you heard that your
friend, Miss A., is going to instruct
in an academy at W.? and it is said
the situation was procured for her by
Mrs. Walker. Is there to be no end
to the good deeds of that woman ? "
She was indeed one who lived for the
good of others, and whom those who
knew her could not praise enough ;
as her husband said, " Everybody in
Peterborough loved her, and most
of them were under some obligation
to her." Few of her letters have
been preserved ; but her daughter
cherished the last she received, on
her birthdaj' in 1841 :
" My Dear Ariana : Twelve years ago this
very evening I first pressed you to my bosom,
fervently thanking that Good Being who, in
answer to my prayers, had given me a daugh-
ter. O, I shall never forget the joy which
filled my heart when your happy brothers first
greeted their little sister, how their eyes glis-
tened with joy and love when they were per-
mitted to take you in their arras ! Your father,
too, looked with delight upon his infant
daughter; I believe he nursed you more than
both your brothers. I was feeble during your
first year, and very often went to bed too weary
to sleep, but your smiles paid for all ; and I
looked forward to the time when you would be
my companion, friend, and helper.
"The world was bright to me then, but sor-
row came. My poor mother died ; then my
dear brother John, and to fill my cup of bit-
terness, my darling James was taken from
me.' Can you wonder that I am changed ?
Oh, no ! But though our kind Father in
Heaven has seen fit to afflict me. He has not
left me comfortless. Though he has taken one
dear child from me, two others, equally dear,
are yet spared to bless and comfort me.
' In August, 1S40.
Exeter Street in I 838.
JAMES WALKER. ESQUIRE.
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
233
" O, my dear Ariana, if 3^011 knew how very
anxious I am to see you grow up a good and
useful woman, you would, from this time for-
ward, try to amend every fault, and, by a care-
ful attention to the happiness of others, secure
your own.
" [Peterborough] Nov. 8th [1S41J, 11 o'clock,
Eve."
Mrs. Walker died the next year ;
Ariana being then at school in
father (born in 1784, died Dec. 31,
1854), was a native of Rindge, and a
first cousin of Dr. James Walker,
president of Harvard university, and
of Dr. W. J. Walker of Charlestown,
Mass., a distinguished physician,
whose bequests have enriched Am-
herst college. The father, grand-
father, and uncles of Mr. Walker
Birthplace of Geo'ge and Anna Walker.
Keene. She was of the warm-
hearted, musical, sympathetic Scotch-
Irish race, akin to the Smiths, Mori-
sons, Wilsons, Moores, etc., of that
stock. Her brother, William Smith,
I knew in later years, the kindest,
most amiable of men, born atid living
in Cavendish.
James Smith Walker, oldest child
of James Walker, died while in Yale
college, at the age of nineteen. His
were soldiers or officers in the Revo-
lution ; he was a student in Dart-
mouth college along with Daniel
Webster, graduating in 1804, two
years after Webster. He chose law
for his profession, and settled in
Peterborough about 18 14.
A brother. Rev. Charles Walker,
was for years a Congregationalist
minister in New Hampshire and
Massachusetts, dying in Groton,
234
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
Mass., in 1847. 'Squire Walker,
as he was generally termed, soon
acquired the confidence of the peo-
ple of his native region, as Judge
Smith had done, though a very dif-
ferent man, with few popular quali-
ties. His innate justice, sterling
integrity, and firm opinions won re-
spect, and his management of causes
and of property entrusted to him
made him successful in his pro-
fession. His marriage with Sarah
this house his two younger children,
George and Anna, were born, and
from it they tripped, hand in hand,
to the foot of the hill, near the man-
sion of Samuel Smith, the Judge's
manufacturing brother, to attend the
private school of Miss Abby Abbot
(now Mrs. H. Wood). She was a
niece of the village pastor, Dr. Abiel
Abbot (born 1765, died 1S59), whose
lovely garden and orchard, by the
riverside, overseen by the belfry of
Dr. Abbot's Orchard.
Smith, whose uncles and cousins
were the leading men in Peterbor-
ough, gave him social standing, and
his simple wa}^ of life suited the hab-
its of that town of " plain living and
high thinking." In his early mar-
ried life he occupied one of the older
houses of the present village, — the
Carter house, on the steep hillside
overlooking the Contoocook from the
northeast, and commanding that no-
ble prospect of Monadnoc which (with
a slight variation for the point of
view), appears in our engraving. In
the church where he ministered so
long, appears in our engraving. This
was the noontime playground of
Anna and her cousin. Abbot Smith,
who lived with his grandfather Abbot,
and from this hill town went to Exe-
ter, Harvard, and the Divinity School
before taking pastoral charge of a
church at Arlington, where he died.
The two cousins studied and read
French and German together in later
years, but in the decade from 1832
to 1842 were learning the E)nglish
branches, under the direction of that
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
235
famous Abbot famil3^ who all seem
to have been destined for the educa-
tion of the young. Dr. A. Abbot
was a first cousin of Dr. B. Abbot,
for fifty years the head of Exeter
academy, where, among his later pu-
pils, were James and George Walker,^
as among his earlier were Webster
and General Cass. It was Dr. Abbot
of Peterborough, then preaching at
Coventry in Connecticut, who per-
suaded Jared Sparks, the future his-
torian, but then a carpenter in Mr. Ab-
bot's parish, to go to the school at Exe-
ter; and he carried the young man's
box, slung under his parson's chaise,
to the academy, while Sparks went
on foot the whole way. This was in
1809, and Abiel Abbot was on his
v/ay then to visit his brother. Rev.
Jacob Abbot (also a good teacher),
who had succeeded President Lang-
don in the parsonage of Hampton
Falls in 1798. Miss Abbot, the
teacher of the Walker, Smith, and
Abbot children at Peterborough, was
the daughter of Jacob Abbot, and the
elder sister of Miss Mary Anne Top-
pan Abbot, who became the second
wife of James Walker.
It was thisnuitermarriage between
the Abbot and Walker families that
gave me the privilege of my first
acquaintance with Ariana Walker.
Her stepmother had a sister, Mrs.
Porter Cram, married in her father's
old parish of Hampton Falls, and the
eldest daughters of that family be-
came the dear friends of Ariana, who
often visited them, as well as her
friends at Exeter and Eee, sometimes
spending weeks in the quiet rural
scenery of the Hamptons, which she
had loved when a child at Exeter.
1 James entered at Exeter in 1S33, and George in
1S36, both at the age of 12.
In the winter of 1 849-' 50, Miss Cram
(now Mrs. S. H. Folsom of Winches-
ter, Mass.) had visited Peterborough,
and told her friend, always interested
in poetry and romance, about a boy-
poet at Hampton Falls — a school-
mate of hers, — giving some samples
of his verses at the age of seventeen.
Miss Walker, then just twenty, took
a deep interest in this youth from his
verse and prose, and in the following
summer, returning her friend's visit,
she expressed a wish to see him.
The two sat and looked at each other
across the little church (July 22,
1850), and Miss Walker wrote on
her fan the favorable comment she
wished to make for the friend beside
her. The youth of eighteen was no
less affected at this lovely vision, and
the next evening called on Miss
Walker at the ancient farmhouse
where she lived.
As it happens, I know exactly,
from Anna's own pen, what was her
attire when I first saw her, at church
in Hampton Falls, in her white bon-
net, and the same evening in her
"pink barege." Writing to her step-
mother from Springfield in June (1850)
she said, —
' ' I have two new dresses, — a morn-
ing dress and a pink barege ! The
latter is very pretty ; I am doubtful
if it will be becoming, — but no )nat-
ter. My bonnet is a French lace,
trimmed with a white watered rib-
bon ; in the inside a ' ruche ' of white
lace, dotted with blue, and with blue
strings. So you have me, — dress,
bonnet, and all."
(Eater.) " Do you care about the
vanities f and would you like to know
of my dress at Mrs. Day's party, where
I had a pleasant evening? I wore
my pink dress, made low in the neck,
236
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
"O^-^-^^^^
with a lace jacket coming close up to
the throat, — short sleeves, with short
undersleeves of lace, made like a
baby's, — white gloves and my ' wed-
ding ' shoes." (That is, the shoes
she had worn at her brother's wed-
ding, the previous November.) " I
had white and scarlet flowers in my
hair, and a beautiful bouquet on my
arm. They say I looked my veiy
prettiest, — which isn't saying much;
and even I agree that the pink dress
is decidedly becoming, — which Sarah
Walker considers a 'little triumph'
for her. So much. Mother dear, for
the outward, which Father may pass
over if he pleases."
I saw her in the pink, without the
flowers and the white slippers, and
soon after in blue, which she more
commonly wore, and with which she
is most associated in my memory.
The date was July, 1850. The
impression on both our hearts was
instantaneous, and never effaced ; it
led to memorable conversations in
the summer evenings, and two weeks
later to the remarkable analysis of a
nature not easy to read, and which
only time could unfold to the general
comprehension, or even to the youth
himself ; but which was strangely
open to the sibylline insight of this
fascinating person,
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
237
F. B. Sanborn at Twenty-one.
THE CHARACTER OF F. B.
EIGHTEEN.
AT
Mind analytic, the intellect predominating
and governing the heart ; feelings do not often
obtain the mastery. Intellect calm and search-
ing, with a keen insight, equally open to mer-
its and demerits. Much practical ability and
coolness of judgment. He is unsparingly just
to his own thought, and is not easily moved
therefrom. With great imagination he is not
at all a dreamer, or if he is ever so, his dreams
are not enervatirig and he has power to make
them realities. He is vigorous, healthy, strong.
Cal unless of feeling as well as of thought, is a
large element in his nature ; but there is fire
under the ice, which, if it should be reached,
would flame forth with great power and inten-
sity. Imagination rich and vivid, yet he is
somewhat cold ; wants hope, is too apt to look
on the dark side of things.
Has great pride. It is one of the strongest
elements of his character. Values highly inde-
xxvii— 17
pendence, and thinks himself capable of stand-
ing alone, and as it were apart from all others ;
yet in his inmost soul he would be glad of
some autlwrity upon which to lean, and is in-
fluenced more than he is aware by those whose
opinions he respects. There is much religion
in him. He despises empty forms without the
spirit, but has large reverence for things truly
leveienceable.
He is severe, but not more so with others
than with himself : yet he likes many, endures
most, and is at war with few. His feelings are
not easily moved, loz'es few — perhaps )io7ie
with. e>//l/!(siasin. He is too proud to be vain,
yet will have much to stimulate vanity. He
fancies himself indifferent to praise or blame,
but is much less so than he imagines. He is open,
and yet reserved ; in showing his treasures he
knows where to stop, and with all his frank-
ness there is still much which he reveals to
none.
Has much intellectual enthusiasm. Loves
wit, and is often witty ; has much humor too.
238
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
sees quickl}- the ludicrous side of things, and
though he wants hope is seldom sad or despond-
ing. Has many noble aspirations yet unsatis-
fied. Still seeking, seeking, groping in the
dark. He wants a definite end for which to
strive heartily ; then his success would be sure.
Much executive power, executes better than he
plans.
I,oves the beautiful in all things. He has
much originality ; his thoughts and tastes are
peculiarly his own. Is impatient of wrong,
and almost equally so of inability. Is gentle
in spite of a certain coldness about him ; has
strong passions in spite of his general calm-
ness of intellect and affection. A nature not
likely to find rest, struggle is its native ele-
ment ; wants a steady aim, must work, standing
still is impossible ; but he must have a great
motive for which to strive.
Aug. ^tli, jSio.
Many contradictions in this analj-sis, but not
vwrc than there are in the character itself.
This forecast of character was made
after several long conversations, of
which Anna (we soon got beyond the
formality of titles) preserved a record
in her journal, for she had formed the
journalizing habit in childhood, and
had it confirmed by the fashion of the
day, among her Boston friends. Of
our first evening (July 23), she
wrote:
" F. stayed until eleven, and j'et I was
neither weary nor sleepy, but rather refreshed
and invigorated. He excused himself for stay-
ing so late, but said the time had passed rap-
idly. Cate seemed very much surprised that
he had spoken so freely to a stranger ; I think
he himself will wonder at it. The conversation
covered so many subjects that I could not help
laughing on looking back upon it ; he might
have discovered the great fault of my mind, a
want of method in my thoughts, as clearly as I
saw his to be a want of hope. But talking with
a new person is to nie like going for the first
time into a gallery of pictures. We wander
from one painting to another, wishing to see
all, lest something irnest should escape us, and
in truth seeing no one perfectly and appreci-
atingly. Only after many visits and long fa-
miliarity can we learn which are really the
best, most suggestive and most full of mean-
ing ; and then it is before two or three that one
passes the hours. So we wander at first from
one topic of conversation to another, until we
find which are those reaching farthest and
deepest, and then it is these of which we talk
most. My interest in Frank S. is peculiar ; it
is his intellectual and spiritual nature, and not
himself \.ha.t I feel so much drawn to. I can't
say it rightly in words, but I never was so
strongly interested in one where the feeling
was so little perso>ial."
It is not only at locksmiths that lyove
laughs ; he has an especial and inti-
mate smile for the disguises which
affection assumes in the minds of the
j^oung. From those happy evenings
the future of the new friend occupied
that gentle heart more than all other
interests. She thought and planned
for him wisely, and with the tact and
generosity of which she alone had
the secret ; while his affection for her
easily persuaded him to adopt the
course of study and of life which she
suggested. Their correspondence
continued when she went onward to
her friend, Miss Ednah Littlehale
(Mrs. E. D. Cheney), at Gloucester
and Boston, and it was at Ednah's
convalescence from a severe illness,
that the declaration of 3^outhftil love
found her, in her friend's apartment.
So early and so bold an avowal fixed
the fate of both ; they could never
afterward be other than lovers, how-
ever much the wisdom of the world
pleaded against a relation closer than
friendship. But the world must not
know the footing upon which they
stood ; even the father and brother
must imagine it a close friendship,
such as her expansive nature was
so apt to form, and so faithful to
maintain. One family in Hampton
Falls and one friend in Boston were
to be cognizant of the truth ; and it
was not clear, for years, to the self-
sacrificing good sense of the maiden,
what her ultimate answer to the
world might be. Hence misunder-
standings and remonstrances from
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
239
^1 Mil Eli
Peterborough in 1854.
those naturally dear to her, but not
the dearest ; and on her part the
most complete and unselfish devo-
tion to the lover who would not re-
nounce her, when she set before him
illness, and the sacrifice of worldly
success as the dower she must bring
him. She had been suddenly at-
tacked, in March, 1846, with a pain-
ful and ill-understood lameness, which
kept her for years from walking
freely, and was accompanied by ner-
vous attacks which often seemed to
threaten her life. This affliction had
interrupted her education, and made
her more dependent on the service of
others than her high spirit could al-
ways endure ; it also drew forth from
her brother George, five years older
than herself, a tender regard and con-
stant care which, since the death of
her mother, before she was thirteen.
had inspired the most ardent sisterly
affection. Her need of love was en-
hanced by her limitations of health,
and these also tended to develop in
her character that patient sweetness
which her portrait so well presents.
Yet all this made it more difficult for
her to decide the issue of betrothal
and marriage.
After nearly four years of this pleas-
ing pain of thC' heart, — this striving
to satisfy every claim of love and
duty, — when betrothal had been pub-
licly declared, and marriage was only
waiting upon time, she thus gave her
allegory of the past and the future of
our relation to each other :
THE STORY OF THE BOY AND HIS
PIPE.
" In a lonely valley among the hills, where
there were but few people, lived a beautiful
boy ; he tended his father's sheep among the
240
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
The " Little Lake Near By.
hills, and labored for him in the fields. These
people led very simple lives, and the boy had
only one treasure, which he loved above all
other things, — a sort of pipe, curiously carved
with beautiful figures, and furnished with
many silver keys. When he was a babe at his
mother's breast, an angel had one day come
and laid this pipe in his cradle, and from that
time he had kept it constantly near him.
While he was a child he loved it because of
its silver keys, which shone so bright in the
sunshine, and seemed to light up all the room,
and for the many curious figures carved upon
it, among which he was always finding some-
thing new and wonderful. But, as he grew
older, he discovered that by breathing into this
pipe he could produce strange and sweet
sounds, — sweeter and more beautiful than any
he had ever heard, even from the birds who
sang in the forests among the hills. When he
had made this discovery, he said nothing of it
to any one, but took his pipe up into the most
distant hills, where he kept his father's sheep,
or out into the far-off fields, and there played
over and over again these notes which had so
much delighted him, adding new ones thereto,
until at last he could play many most sweet
strains of music, which he now perceived lay
hidden in the pipe the angel had brought him.
At first, and for a long time, he did this only
when among the distant hills, or far off from
all neighborhood of men, but gradually, as he
became more confident in his own skill, and
more accustomed to the music which he made,
he used to play more openly, wherever he
might chance to be, and especialh' at even-
ing, sitting before his father's cottage, or, still
oftener, by the shores of a little lake near by,
on whose banks grew many flowering shrubs
and waving trees, and which bore white water-
lilies upon its bosom.
" Here he would often sit and play until late
in the night, and all who heard his music loved
it, and praised him much for the skill which
brought it forth out of this little wooden pipe.
To them it was neither beautiful nor wonder-
ful, and not different from any common shep-
herd's pipe, except for its silver keys. But one
day as he sat playing among the hills a bird
stopped to hear him, and when he had ended
she said : ' Who gave thee thy pipe and taught
thee how to play upon it?' 'When I was a
child,' he answered, 'an angel brought it and
laid it in my cradle, and I have taught myself
to play on it.' Then the bird said, shaking its
head wisely, ' What thou playest is indeed very
sweet and pleasant to hear, but there is far
nobler music hidden in thy pipe, and thou
canst not find it until thou hast learnt the use
of all the keys.' So saying, the little bird flew
away. The boy looked at his pipe and was
sorrowful, for there were many keys which he
knew not how to use, nor could he discover,
though he tried often and often and played
more than ever before in his life. And at times
all the sweet strains he had prized so much be-
fore became as nothing to him, so much did he
long for the nobler music concealed in his pipe,
which he could not draw forth.
"Filled with these thoughts, he went one
THE SMITHS AND WALKERS.
241
evening down to the shores of the small lake,
and sat there dejectedly, leaning his head on
his hand, with his pipe lying silent by his side.
When the flowers saw him so sad, they were
grieved in heart, and said to him, ' Why art
thou sad ; and why dost thou no longer play as
thou hast been used to do, coming down to
us?' But he said, ' I do not care to-night to
play upon mj' pipe, for I know there is far
sweeter and nobler music hidden in it, and I
cannot find it because I know not the use of
all the keys. Why should I dishonor it by
playing so imperfectly on it? '
"Then the flowers all spoke to him, com-
forting him, and some praised the music he
had made, and ' did not believe there could be
any so much sweeter hidden in the pipe ; ' and
they spoke so flatteringly of what he had done,
and so lauded his skill, that he might well
have been in some danger of forgetting (for a
time, at least) all that the little bird had told
him of the nobler music he had yet to learn.
But when there was a silence, a little reed that
grew close down to the waterside, and bore
pale white flowers, some of whose leaves were
torn or broken by the wind, began to speak.
' Yes,' she said, ' it is true that thou playest
very sweetly, and we have all loved to hear
thee, and have kept the tones in our hearts ;
but it is also true that far nobler and sweeter
music is hidden in thy pipe. And since the
angel of God has entrusted it to thee, thou
canst not find rest in thy soul until thou hast
learned the use of all the silver keys, and can
call forth all the hidden power of melody which
is shut up within it.' This she said in a quiet,
calm voice ; and when she had ended the boy
raised his head from his hands. ' Thou art
right,' he said, ' I believe that thou art right ;
but how shall I find a way to do this ? ' 'To
him whose will is fixed,' answered the flower,
' there is always a way ; but listen, and I will
tell thee. I am only a little reed, but I know
some things which are hidden from thee, and
that which I know I will tell thee. Bid fare-
well to thy father and thy mother, take thy
pipe in hand and follow the little path which
leads southward out of the valley, over a high
mountain. Beyond that mountain is a country
very different from this, where many people
dwell together, and among them thou wilt find
some who will teach thee the use of the
silver keys ; but the hidden music thou must
find thyself, for this pipe is thine own, and
thou only canst play upon it. Be faithful and
brave, and all shall be well with thee ! '
" Then the boy's face flushed with feeling,
and his eyes gleamed. ' All that thou hast said
tome I will do,' he said, and rising, walked with
firm steps to his home. When morning had
come, he bade farewell to his father and
mother, and, taking his pipe in his hand, pre-
pared to set out on his journey. But first he
went down again to the shores of the little lak