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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Grandfather's Chair, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Grandfather's Chair
+
+Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+Posting Date: October 5, 2008 [EBook #1926]
+Release Date: October, 1999
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WHOLE HISTORY OF GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR
+
+or TRUE STORIES FROM NEW ENGLAND HISTORY, 1620-1808
+
+
+By Nathaniel Hawthorne
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+     AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+     PART I.
+
+     I.    GRANDFATHER AND THE CHILDREN AND THE CHAIR
+     II.   THE PURITANS AND THE LADY ARBELLA
+     III.  A RAINY DAY
+     IV.   TROUBLOUS TIMES
+     V.    THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ENGLAND
+     VI.   THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS
+     VII.  THE QUAKERS AND THE INDIANS
+     VIII. THE INDIAN BIBLE
+     IX.   ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND
+     X.    THE SUNKEN TREASURE
+     XI.   WHAT THE CHAIR HAD KNOWN
+     APPENDIX. EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF JOHN ELIOT
+
+
+     PART II.
+
+     I.    THE CHAIR IN THE FIRELIGHT
+     II.   THE SALEM WITCHES
+     III.  THE OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL
+     IV.   COTTON MATHER
+     V.    THE REJECTED BLESSING
+     VI.   POMPS AND VANITIES
+     VII.  THE PROVINCIAL MUSTER
+     VIII. THE OLD FRENCH WAR AND THE ACADIAN EXILES.
+     IX.   THE END OF THE WAR
+     X.    THOMAS HUTCHINSON
+     APPENDIX.     ACCOUNT OF THE DEPORTATION OF THE ACADIANS
+
+
+     PART III.
+
+     I.    A NEW YEAR'S DAY
+     II.   THE STAMP ACT
+     III.  THE HUTCHINSON MOB
+     IV.   THE BRITISH TROOPS IN BOSTON
+     V.    THE BOSTON MASSACRE
+     VI.   A COLLECTION OF PORTRAITS
+     VII.  THE TEA PARTY AND LEXINGTON
+     VIII. THE SIEGE OF BOSTON
+     IX.   THE TORY'S FAREWELL
+     X.    THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
+     XI.   GRANDFATHER'S DREAM
+     APPENDIX. A LETTER FROM GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON
+
+
+
+
+AUTHOR'S PREFACE
+
+IN writing this ponderous tome, the author's desire has been to describe
+the eminent characters and remarkable events of our annals in such a
+form and style that the YOUNG may make acquaintance with them of their
+own accord. For this purpose, while ostensibly relating the adventures
+of a chair, he has endeavored to keep a distinct and unbroken thread
+of authentic history. The chair is made to pass from one to another
+of those personages of whom he thought it most desirable for the young
+reader to have vivid and familiar ideas, and whose lives and actions
+would best enable him to give picturesque sketches of the times. On its
+sturdy oaken legs it trudges diligently from one scene to another, and
+seems always to thrust itself in the way, with most benign complacency,
+whenever an historical personage happens to be looking round for a seat.
+
+There is certainly no method by which the shadowy outlines of departed
+men and women can be made to assume the hues of life more effectually
+than by connecting their images with the substantial and homely reality
+of a fireside chair. It causes us to feel at once that these characters
+of history had a private and familiar existence, and were not wholly
+contained within that cold array of outward action which we are
+compelled to receive as the adequate representation of their lives. If
+this impression can be given, much is accomplished.
+
+Setting aside Grandfather and his auditors, and excepting the adventures
+of the chair, which form the machinery of the work, nothing in the
+ensuing pages can be termed fictitious. The author, it is true, has
+sometimes assumed the license of filling up the outline of history with
+details for which he has none but imaginative authority, but which,
+he hopes, do not violate nor give a false coloring to the truth. He
+believes that, in this respect, his narrative will not be found to
+convey ideas and impressions of which the reader may hereafter find it
+necessary to purge his mind.
+
+The author's great doubt is, whether he has succeeded in writing a book
+which will be readable by the class for whom he intends it. To make a
+lively and entertaining narrative for children, with such unmalleable
+material as is presented by the sombre, stern, and rigid characteristics
+of the Puritans and their descendants, is quite as difficult an attempt
+as to manufacture delicate playthings out of the granite, rocks on which
+New England is founded.
+
+
+
+
+GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR.
+
+
+
+
+PART I. 1620-1692.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. GRANDFATHER AND THE CHILDREN AND THE CHAIR.
+
+GRANDFATHER had been sitting in his old arm-chair all that pleasant
+afternoon, while the children were pursuing their various sports far off
+or near at hand, Sometimes you would have said, "Grandfather is asleep;"
+hut still, even when his eyes were closed, his thoughts were with the
+young people, playing among the flowers and shrubbery of the garden.
+
+He heard the voice of Laurence, who had taken possession of a heap of
+decayed branches which the gardener had lopped from the fruit-trees,
+and was building a little hut for his cousin Clara and himself. He heard
+Clara's gladsome voice, too, as she weeded and watered the flower-bed
+which had been given her for her own. He could have counted every
+footstep that Charley took, as he trundled his wheelbarrow along the
+gravel-walk. And though' Grandfather was old and gray-haired, yet his
+heart leaped with joy whenever little Alice came fluttering, like
+a butterfly, into the room. Sire had made each of the children her
+playmate in turn, and now made Grandfather her playmate too, and thought
+him the merriest of them all.
+
+At last the children grew weary of their sports, because a summer
+afternoon is like a long lifetime to the young. So they came into the
+room together, and clustered round Grandfather's great chair. Little
+Alice, who was hardly five years old, took the privilege of the
+youngest, and climbed his knee. It was a pleasant thing to behold that
+fair and golden-haired child in the lap of the old man, and to think
+that, different as they were, the hearts of both could be gladdened with
+the same joys.
+
+"Grandfather," said little Alice, laying her head back upon his arm, "I
+am very tired now. You must tell me a story to make me go to sleep."
+
+"That is not what story-tellers like," answered Grandfather, smiling.
+"They are better satisfied when they can keep their auditors awake."
+
+"But here are Laurence, and Charley, and I," cried cousin Clara, who was
+twice as old as little Alice. "We will all three keep wide awake.
+And pray, Grandfather, tell us a story about this strange-looking old
+chair."
+
+Now, the chair in which Grandfather sat was made of oak, which had grown
+dark with age, but had been rubbed and polished till it shone as bright
+as mahogany. It was very large and heavy, and had a back that rose high
+above Grandfather's white head. This back was curiously carved in open
+work, so as to represent flowers, and foliage, and other devices, which
+the children had often gazed at, but could never understand what they
+meant. On the very tip-top of the chair, over the head of Grandfather
+himself, was a likeness of a lion's head, which had such a savage grin
+that you would almost expect to hear it growl and snarl.
+
+The children had seen Grandfather sitting in this chair ever since they
+could remember anything. Perhaps the younger of them supposed that he
+and the chair had come into the world together, and that both had always
+been as old as they were now. At this time, however, it happened to be
+the fashion for ladies to adorn their drawing-rooms with the oldest and
+oddest chairs that could be found. It seemed to cousin Clara that, if
+these ladies could have seen Grandfather's old chair, they would have
+thought it worth all the rest together. She wondered if it were not
+even older than Grandfather himself, and longed to know all about its
+history.
+
+"Do, Grandfather, talk to us about this chair," she repeated.
+
+"Well, child," said Grandfather, patting Clara's cheek, "I can tell you
+a great many stories of my chair. Perhaps your cousin Laurence would
+like to hear them too. They would teach him something about the history
+and distinguished people of his country which he has never read in any
+of his schoolbooks."
+
+Cousin Laurence was a boy of twelve, a bright scholar, in whom an early
+thoughtfulness and sensibility began to show themselves. His young fancy
+kindled at the idea of knowing all the adventures of this venerable
+chair. He looked eagerly in Grandfather's face; and even Charley, a
+bold, brisk, restless little fellow of nine, sat himself down on the
+carpet, and resolved to be quiet for at least ten minutes, should the
+story last so long.
+
+Meantime, little Alice was already asleep; so Grandfather, being much
+pleased with such an attentive audience, began to talk about matters
+that happened long ago.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE PURITANS AND THE LADY ARBELLA.
+
+BUT before relating the adventures of the chairs found it necessary to
+speak of circumstances that caused the first settlement of New England.
+For it will soon be perceived that the story of this remarkable chair
+cannot be told without telling a great deal of the history of the
+country.
+
+So Grandfather talked about the Puritans, {Foot Note: It is more precise
+to give the name of Pilgrims to those Englishmen who went to Holland and
+afterward to Plymouth. They were sometimes called Separatists because
+they separated themselves from the church of England, sometimes
+Brownists after the name of one of their eminent ministers. The Puritans
+formed a great political as well as religious party in England, and
+did not at first separate themselves from the church of England, though
+those who came to this country did so at once.} as those persons were
+called who thought it sinful to practise certain religious forms and
+ceremonies of the Church of England. These Puritans suffered so much
+persecuted in England that, in 1607, many of them went over to Holland,
+and lived ten or twelve years at Amsterdam and Leyden. But they feared
+that, if they continued there much longer, they should cease to be
+England, and should adopt all the manners, and ideas, and feelings of
+the Dutch. For this and other reasons, in the year 1620 they embarked on
+board the ship Mayflower, and crossed the ocean, to the shores of Cape
+Cod. There they made a settlement, and called it Plymouth, which, though
+now a part of Massachusetts, was for a long time a colony by itself. And
+thus was formed the earliest settlement of the Puritans in America.
+
+Meantime, those of the Puritans who remained in England continued to
+suffer grievous persecution on account of their religious opinions. They
+began to look around them for some spot where they might worship God,
+not as the king and bishops thought fit, but according to the dictates
+of their own consciences. When their brethren had gone from Holland to
+America, they bethought themselves that they likewise might find refuge
+from persecution there. Several gentlemen among them purchased a tract
+of country on the coast of Massachusetts Bay, and obtained a charter
+from King Charles, which authorized them to make laws for the settlers.
+In the year 1628 they sent over a few people, with John Endicott at
+their bead, to commence a plantation at Salem. {Foot Note: The Puritans
+had a liking for Biblical names for their children, and they sometimes
+gave names out of the Bible to places, Salem means Peace. The Indian
+name was Naumkeag.} Peter Palfrey, Roger Conant, and one or two more had
+built houses there in 1626, and may be considered as the first settlers
+of that ancient town. Many other Puritans prepared to follow Endicott.
+
+"And now we come to the chair, my dear children," said Grandfather.
+"This chair is supposed to have been made of an oak-tree which grew in
+the park of the English Earl of Lincoln between two and three centuries
+ago. In its younger days it used, probably, to stand in the hall of the
+earl's castle. Do not you see the coat of arms of the family of Lincoln
+carved in the open work of the back? But when his daughter, the Lady
+Arbella, was married to a certain Mr. Johnson, the earl gave her this
+valuable chair."
+
+"Who was Mr. Johnson?" inquired Clara.
+
+"He was a gentleman of great wealth, who agreed with the Puritans in
+their religious opinions," answered Grandfather. "And as his belief was
+the same as theirs, he resolved that he would live and die with them.
+Accordingly, in the month of April, 1630, he left his pleasant abode and
+all his comforts in England, and embarked, with Lady Arbella, on board
+of a ship bound for America."
+
+As Grandfather was frequently impeded by the questions and observations
+of his young auditors, we deem it advisable to omit all such prattle
+as is not essential to the story. We have taken some pains to find out
+exactly what Grandfather said, and here offer to our readers, as nearly
+as possible in his own words, the story of the Lady Arbella.
+
+The ship in which Mr. Johnson and his lady embarked, taking
+Grandfather's chair along with them, was called the Arbella, in honor
+of the lady herself. A fleet of ten or twelve vessels, with many hundred
+passengers, left England about the same time; for a multitude of people,
+who were discontented with the king's government and oppressed by the
+bishops, were flocking over to the New World. One of the vessels in the
+fleet was that same Mayflower which had carried the Puritan Pilgrims to
+Plymouth. And now, my children, I would have you fancy yourselves in
+the cabin of the good ship Arbella; because, if you could behold the
+passengers aboard that vessel, you would feel what a blessing and honor
+it was for New England to have such settlers. They were the best men and
+women of their day.
+
+Among the passengers was John Winthrop, who had sold the estate of
+his forefathers, and was going to prepare a new home for his wife and
+children in the wilderness. He had the king's charter in his keeping,
+and was appointed the first governor of Massachusetts. Imagine him a
+person of grave and benevolent aspect, dressed in a black velvet suit,
+with a broad ruff around his neck, and a peaked beard upon his chin.
+{Foot Note: There is a statue representing John Winthrop in Scollay
+Square in Boston. He holds the charter in his hand, and a Bible is under
+his arm.} There was likewise a minister of the gospel whom the English
+bishops had forbidden to preach, but who knew that he should have
+liberty both to preach and pray in the forests of America. He wore a
+black cloak, called a Geneva cloak, and had a black velvet cap,
+fitting close to his head, as was the fashion of almost all the Puritan
+clergymen. In their company came Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had been
+one of the five first projectors of the new colony. He soon returned to
+his native country. But his descendants still remain in New England; and
+the good old family name is as much respected in our days as it was in
+those of Sir Richard.
+
+Not only these, but several other men of wealth and pious ministers were
+in the cabin of the Arbella. One had banished himself forever from the
+old hall where his ancestors had lived for hundreds of years. Another
+had left his quiet parsonage, in a country town of England. Others had
+come from the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, where they had gained
+great fame for their learning. And here they all were, tossing upon
+the uncertain and dangerous sea, and bound for a home that was more
+dangerous than even the sea itself. In the cabin, likewise, sat the Lady
+Arbella in her chair, with a gentle and sweet expression on her
+face, but looking too pale and feeble to endure the hardships of the
+wilderness.
+
+Every morning and evening the Lady Arbella gave up her great chair to
+one of the ministers, who took his place in it and read passages
+from the Bible to his companions. And thus, with prayers, and pious
+conversation, and frequent singing of hymns, which the breezes caught
+from their lips and scattered far over the desolate waves, they
+prosecuted their voyage, and sailed into the harbor of Salem in the
+month of June.
+
+At that period there were but six or eight dwellings in the town; and
+these were miserable hovels, with roofs of straw and wooden chimneys.
+The passengers in the fleet either built huts with bark and branches of
+trees, or erected tents of cloth till they could provide themselves with
+better shelter. Many of them went to form a settlement at Charlestown.
+It was thought fit that the Lady Arbella should tarry in Salem for
+a time; she was probably received as a guest into the family of John
+Endicott. He was the chief person in the plantation, and had the only
+comfortable house which the new-comers had beheld since they left
+England. So now, children, you must imagine Grandfather's chair in the
+midst of a new scene.
+
+Suppose it a hot summer's day, and the lattice-windows of a chamber in
+Mr. Endicott's house thrown wide open. The Lady Arbella, looking
+paler than she did on shipboard, is sitting in her chair, and thinking
+mournfully of far-off England. She rises and goes to the window. There,
+amid patches Of garden ground and cornfield, she sees the few wretched
+hovels of the settlers, with the still ruder wigwams and cloth tents of
+the passengers who had arrived in the same fleet with herself. Far and
+near stretches the dismal forest of pine-trees, which throw their black
+shadows over the whole land, and likewise over the heart of this poor
+lady.
+
+All the inhabitants of the little village are busy. One is clearing a
+spot on the verge of the forest for his homestead; another is hewing
+the trunk of a fallen pine-tree, in order to build himself a dwelling;
+a third is hoeing in his field of Indian corn. Here comes a huntsman
+out of the woods, dragging a bear which he has shot, and shouting to the
+neighbors to lend him a hand. There goes a man to the sea-shore, with
+a spade and a bucket, to dig a mess of clams, which were a principal
+article of food with the first settlers. Scattered here and there are
+two or three dusky figures, clad in mantles of fur, with ornaments of
+bone hanging from their ears, and the feathers of wild birds in their
+coal-black hair. They have belts of shellwork slung across their
+shoulders, and are armed with bows and arrows, and flint-headed spears.
+These are an Indian sagamore and his attendants, who have come to gaze
+at the labors of the white men. And now rises a cry that a pack of
+wolves have seized a young calf in the pasture; and every man snatches
+up his gun or pike and runs in chase of the marauding beasts.
+
+Poor Lady Arbella watches all these sights, and feels that this New
+World is fit only for rough and hardy people. None should be here but
+those who can struggle with wild beasts and wild men, and can toil
+in the heat or cold, and can keep their hearts firm against all
+difficulties and dangers. But she is not of these. Her gentle and timid
+spirit sinks within her; and, turning away from the window, she sits
+down in the great chair and wonders whereabouts in the wilderness her
+friends will dig her grave.
+
+Mr. Johnson had gone, with Governor Winthrop and most of the other
+passengers, to Boston, where he intended to build a house for Lady
+Arbella and himself. Boston was then covered with wild woods, and had
+fewer inhabitants, even, than Salem. During her husband's absence, poor
+Lady Arbella felt herself growing ill, and was hardly able to stir
+from the great chair. Whenever John Endicott noticed her despondency he
+doubtless addressed her with words of comfort. "Cheer up, my good lady!"
+he would say.
+
+"In a little time you will love this rude life of the wilderness as I
+do." But Endicott's heart was as bold and resolute as iron, and he could
+not understand why a woman's heart should not be of iron too.
+
+Still, however, he spoke kindly to the lady, and then hastened forth
+to till his cornfield and set out fruit-trees, or to bargain with the
+Indians for furs, or perchance to oversee the building of a fort. Also,
+being a magistrate, he had often to punish some idler or evil doer, by
+ordering him to be set in the stocks or scourged at the whipping-post.
+Often, too, as was the custom of the times, he and Mr. Higginson,
+the minister of Salem, held long religious talks together. Thus John
+Endicott was a man of multifarious business, and had no time to look
+back regretfully to his native land. He felt himself fit for the New
+World and for the work that he had to do, and set himself resolutely to
+accomplish it.
+
+What a contrast, my dear children, between this bold, rough, active man,
+and the gentle Lady Arbella, who was fading away, like a pale English
+flower, in the shadow of the forest! And now the great chair was often
+empty, because Lady Arbella grew too weak to arise from bed.
+
+Meantime, her husband had pitched upon a spot for their new home. He
+returned from Boston to Salem, travelling through the woods on foot, and
+leaning on his pilgrim's staff. His heart yearned within him; for he was
+eager to tell his wife of the new home which he had chosen. But when he
+beheld her pale and hollow cheek, and found how her strength was wasted,
+he must have known that her appointed home was in a better land. Happy
+for him then--happy both for him and her--if they remembered that there
+was a path to heaven, as well from this heathen wilderness as from the
+Christian land whence they had come. And so, in one short month from her
+arrival, the gentle Lady Arbella faded away and died. They dug a grave
+for her in the new soil, where the roots of the pine-trees impeded their
+spades; and when her bones had rested there nearly two hundred years,
+and a city had sprung up around them, a church of stone was built upon
+the spot.
+
+Charley, almost at the commencement of the foregoing narrative, had
+galloped away, with a prodigious clatter, upon Grandfather's stick, and
+was not yet returned. So large a boy should have been ashamed to ride
+upon a stick. But Laurence and Clara had listened attentively, and were
+affected by this true story of the gentle lady who had come so far to
+die so soon. Grandfather had supposed that little Alice was asleep; but
+towards the close of the story, happening to look down upon her, he saw
+that her blue eyes were wide open, and fixed earnestly upon his face.
+The tears had gathered in them, like dew upon a delicate flower; but
+when Grandfather ceased to speak, the sunshine of her smile broke forth
+again.
+
+"Oh, the lady must have been so glad to get to heaven!" exclaimed little
+Alice. "Grandfather, what became of Mr. Johnson?" asked Clara.
+
+"His heart appears to have been quite broken," answered Grandfather;
+"for he died at Boston within a month after the death of his wife. He
+was buried in the very same tract of ground where he had intended to
+build a dwelling for Lady Arbella and himself. Where their house would
+have stood, there was his grave."
+
+"I never heard anything so melancholy," said Clara.
+
+"The people loved and respected Mr. Johnson so much," continued
+Grandfather, "that it was the last request of many of them, when they
+died, that they might be buried as near as possible to this good man's
+grave. And so the field became the first burial ground in Boston. When
+you pass through Tremont Street, along by King's Chapel, you see a
+burial-ground, containing many old grave-stones and monuments. That was
+Mr. Johnson's field."
+
+"How sad is the thought," observed Clara, "that one of the first things
+which the settlers had to do, when they came to the New World, was to
+set apart a burial-ground!"
+
+"Perhaps," said Laurence, "if they had found no need of burial-grounds
+here, they would have been glad, after a few years, to go back to
+England."
+
+Grandfather looked at Laurence, to discover whether he knew how profound
+and true a thing he had said.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. A RAINY DAY.
+
+NOT long after Grandfather had told the story of his great chair, there
+chanced to be a rainy day. Our friend Charley, after disturbing the
+household with beat of drum and riotous shouts, races up and down the
+staircase, overturning of chairs, and much other uproar, began to feel
+the quiet and confinement within doors intolerable. But as the rain came
+down in a flood, the little fellow was hopelessly a prisoner, and now
+stood with sullen aspect at a window, wondering whether the sun itself
+were not extinguished by so much moisture in the sky.
+
+Charley had already exhausted the less eager activity of the other
+children; and they had betaken themselves to occupations that did not
+admit of his companionship. Laurence sat in a recess near the book-ease,
+reading, not for the first time, the Midsummer Night's Dream. Clara was
+making a rosary of beads for a little figure of a Sister of Charity,
+who was to attend the Bunker Hill fair and lend her aid in erecting
+the Monument. Little Alice sat on Grandfather's footstool, with a
+picture-book in her hand; and, for every picture, the child was telling
+Grandfather a story. She did not read from the book (for little Alice
+had not much skill in reading), but told the story out of her own heart
+and mind.
+
+Charley was too big a boy, of course, to care anything about little
+Alice's stories, although Grandfather appeared to listen with a good
+deal of interest. Often in a young child's ideas and fancies, there, is
+something which it requires the thought of a lifetime to comprehend. But
+Charley was of opinion that, if a story must be told, it had better be
+told by Grandfather than little Alice.
+
+"Grandfather, I want to hear more about your chair," said he.
+
+Now, Grandfather remembered that Charley had galloped away upon a stick
+in the midst of the narrative of poor Lady Arbella, and I know not
+whether he would have thought it worth while to tell another story
+merely to gratify such an inattentive auditor as Charley. But Laurence
+laid down his book and seconded the request. Clara drew her chair nearer
+to Grandfather; and little Alice immediately closed her picture-book
+and looked up into his face. Grandfather had not the heart to disappoint
+them.
+
+He mentioned several persons who had a share in the settlement of our
+country, and who would be well worthy of remembrance, if we could find
+room to tell about them all. Among the rest, Grandfather spoke of the
+famous Hugh Peters, a minister of the gospel, who did much good to the
+inhabitants of Salem. Mr. Peters afterwards went back to England,
+and was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell; but Grandfather did not tell the
+children what became of this upright and zealous man at last. In fact,
+his auditors were growing impatient to hear more about the history of
+the chair.
+
+"After the death of Mr. Johnson," said he, "Grandfather's chair came
+into the possession of Roger Williams. He was a clergyman, who arrived
+at Salem, and settled there in 1631. Doubtless the good man has spent
+many a studious hour in this old chair, either penning a sermon or
+reading some abstruse book of theology, till midnight came upon him
+unawares. At that period, as there were few lamps or candles to be had,
+people used to read or work by the light of pitch-pine torches. These
+supplied the place of the 'midnight oil' to the learned men of New
+England."
+
+Grandfather went on to talk about Roger Williams, and told the children
+several particulars, which we have not room to repeat.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. TROUBLOUS TIMES.
+
+"ROGER WILLIAMS," said Grandfather, "did not keep possession of the
+chair a great while. His opinions of civil and religious matters
+differed, in many respects, from those of the rulers and clergymen of
+Massachusetts. Now, the wise men of those days believed that the country
+could not be safe unless all the inhabitants thought and felt alike."
+
+"Does anybody believe so in our days, Grandfather?" asked Lawrence.
+
+"Possibly there are some who believe it," said Grandfather; "but they
+have not so much power to act upon their belief as the magistrates
+and ministers had in the days of Roger Williams. They had the power to
+deprive this good man of his home, and to send him out from the midst of
+them in search of a new place of rest. He was banished in 1634, and went
+first to Plymouth colony; but as the people there held the same opinions
+as those of Massachusetts, he was not suffered to remain among them.
+However, the wilderness was wide enough; so Roger Williams took his
+staff and travelled into the forest and made treaties with the Indians,
+and began a plantation which he called Providence."
+
+"I have been to Providence on the railroad," said Charley. "It is but a
+two-hours' ride."
+
+"Yes, Charley," replied Grandfather; "but when Roger Williams travelled
+thither, over hills and valleys, and through the tangled woods, and
+across swamps and streams, it was a journey of several days. Well,
+his little plantation has now grown to be a populous city; and the
+inhabitants have a great veneration for Roger Williams. His name is
+familiar in the mouths of all, because they see it on their bank-bills.
+How it would have perplexed this good clergyman if he had been told that
+he should give his name to the ROGER WILLIAMS BANK!"
+
+"When he was driven from Massachusetts," said Lawrence, "and began his
+journey into the woods, he must have felt as if he were burying himself
+forever from the sight and knowledge of men. Yet the whole country has
+now heard of him, and will remember him forever."
+
+"Yes," answered Grandfather; "it often happens that the outcasts of one
+generation are those who are reverenced as the wisest and best of men by
+the next. The securest fame is that which comes after a man's death. But
+let us return to our story. When Roger Williams was banished, he appears
+to have given the chair to Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. At all events, it
+was in her possession in 1687. She was a very sharp-witted and
+well-instructed lady, and was so conscious of her own wisdom and
+abilities that she thought it a pity that the world should not have the
+benefit of them. She therefore used to hold lectures in Boston once
+or twice a week, at which most of the women attended. Mrs. Hutchinson
+presided at these meetings, sitting with great state and dignity in
+Grandfather's chair."
+
+"Grandfather, was it positively this very chair?" demanded Clara, laying
+her hand upon its carved elbow.
+
+"Why not, my dear Clara?" said Grandfather. "Well, Mrs. Hutchinson's
+lectures soon caused a great disturbance; for the ministers of Boston
+did not think it safe and proper that a woman should publicly instruct
+the people in religious doctrines. Moreover, she made the matter worse
+by declaring that the Rev. Mr. Cotton was the only sincerely pious and
+holy clergyman in New England. Now, the clergy of those days had quite
+as much share in the government of the country, though indirectly, as
+the magistrates themselves; so you may imagine what a host of powerful
+enemies were raised up against Mrs. Hutchinson. A synod was convened;
+that is to say, an assemblage of all the ministers in Massachusetts.
+They declared that there were eighty-two erroneous opinions on religious
+subjects diffused among the people, and that Mrs. Hutchinson's opinions
+were of the number."
+
+"If they had eighty-two wrong opinions," observed Charley, "I don't see
+how they could have any right ones."
+
+"Mrs. Hutchinson had many zealous friends and converts," continued
+Grandfather. "She was favored by young Henry Vane, who had come over
+from England a year or two before, and had since been chosen governor
+of the colony, at the age of twenty-four. But Winthrop and most of the
+other leading men, as well as the ministers, felt an abhorrence of her
+doctrines. Thus two opposite parties were formed; and so fierce were the
+dissensions that it was feared the consequence would be civil war and
+bloodshed. But Winthrop and the ministers being the most powerful, they
+disarmed and imprisoned Mrs. Hutchinson's adherents. She, like Roger
+Williams, was banished."
+
+"Dear Grandfather, did they drive the poor woman into the woods?"
+exclaimed little Alice, who contrived to feel a human interest even in
+these discords of polemic divinity.
+
+"They did, my darling," replied Grandfather; "and the end of her life
+was so sad you must not hear it. At her departure, it appears, from
+the best authorities, that she gave the great Chair to her friend Henry
+Vane. He was a young man of wonderful talents and great learning, who
+had imbibed the religious opinions of the Puritans, and left England
+with the intention of spending his life in Massachusetts. The people
+chose him governor; but the controversy about Mrs. Hutchinson, and
+other troubles, caused him to leave country in 1637. You may read the
+subsequent events of his life in the History of England."
+
+"Yes, Grandfather," cried Laurence; "and we may read them better in
+Mr. Upham's biography of Vane. And what a beautiful death he died, long
+afterwards! beautiful, though it was on a scaffold."
+
+"Many of the most beautiful deaths have been there," said Grandfather.
+"The enemies of a great and good man can in no other way make him so
+glorious as by giving him the crown of martyrdom."
+
+In order that the children might fully understand the all-important
+history of the chair, Grandfather now thought fit to speak of the
+progress that was made in settling several colonies. The settlement of
+Plymouth, in 1620, has already been mentioned. In 1635 Mr. Hooker
+and Mr. Stone, two ministers, went on foot from Massachusetts to
+Connecticut, through the pathless woods, taking their whole congregation
+along with them. They founded the town of Hartford. In 1638 Mr.
+Davenport, a very celebrated minister, went, with other people, and
+began a plantation at New Haven. In the same year, some persons who
+had been persecuted in Massachusetts went to the Isle of Rhodes, since
+called Rhode Island, and settled there. About this time, also, many
+settlers had gone to Maine, and were living without any regular
+government. There were likewise settlers near Piscataqua River, in the
+region which is now called New Hampshire.
+
+Thus, at various points along the coast of New England, there were
+communities of Englishmen. Though these communities were independent of
+one another, yet they had a common dependence upon England; and, at so
+vast a distance from their native home, the inhabitants must all have
+felt like brethren. They were fitted to become one united People at a
+future period. Perhaps their feelings of brotherhood were the stronger
+because different nations had formed settlements to the north and to the
+south. In Canada and Nova Scotia were colonies of French. On the banks
+of the Hudson River was a colony of Dutch, who had taken possession of
+that region many years before, and called it New Netherlands.
+
+Grandfather, for aught I know, might have gone on to speak of Maryland
+and Virginia; for the good old gentleman really seemed to suppose that
+the whole surface of the United States was not too broad a foundation
+to place the four legs of his chair upon. But, happening to glance at
+Charley, he perceived that this naughty boy was growing impatient
+and meditating another ride upon a stick. So here, for the present,
+Grandfather suspended the history of his chair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ENGLAND.
+
+The children had now learned to look upon the chair with an interest
+which was almost the same as if it were a conscious being, and could
+remember the many famous people whom it had held within its arms.
+
+Even Charley, lawless as he was, seemed to feel that this venerable
+chair must not be clambered upon nor overturned, although he had no
+scruple in taking such liberties With every other chair in the house.
+Clara treated it with still greater reverence, often taking occasion to
+smooth its cushion, and to brush the dust from the carved flowers and
+grotesque figures of its oaken back and arms. Laurence would sometimes
+sit a whole hour, especially at twilight, gazing at the chair, and, by
+the spell of his imaginations, summoning up its ancient occupants to
+appear in it again.
+
+Little Alice evidently employed herself in a similar way; for once when
+Grandfather had gone abroad, the child was heard talking with the gentle
+Lady Arbella, as if she were still sitting in the chair. So sweet a
+child as little Alice may fitly talk with angels, such as the Lady
+Arbella had long since become.
+
+Grandfather was soon importuned for more stories about the chair. He had
+no difficulty in relating them; for it really seemed as if every person
+noted in our early history had, on some occasion or other, found repose
+within its comfortable arms. If Grandfather took pride in anything,
+it was in being the possessor of such an honorable and historic
+elbow-chair.
+
+"I know not precisely who next got possession of the chair after
+Governor Vane went back to England," said Grandfather. "But there is
+reason to believe that President Dunster sat in it, when he held the
+first Commencement at Harvard College. You have often heard, children,
+how careful our forefathers were to give their young people a good
+education. They had scarcely cut down trees enough to make room for
+their own dwellings before they began to think of establishing a
+college. Their principal object was, to rear up pious and learned
+ministers; and hence old writers call Harvard College a school of the
+prophets."
+
+"Is the college a school of the prophets now?" asked Charley.
+
+"It is a long while since I took my degree, Charley. You must ask some
+of the recent graduates," answered Grandfather. "As I was telling you,
+President Dunster sat in Grandfather's chair in 1642, when he conferred
+the degree of bachelor of arts on nine young men. They were the first in
+America who had received that honor. And now, my dear auditors, I must
+confess that there are contradictory statements and some uncertainty
+about the adventures of the chair for a period of almost ten years. Some
+say that it was occupied by your own ancestor, William Hawthorne, first
+speaker of the House of Representatives. I have nearly satisfied myself,
+however, that, during most of this questionable period, it was literally
+the chair of state. It gives me much pleasure to imagine that several
+successive governors of Massachusetts sat in it at the council board."
+
+"But, Grandfather," interposed Charley, who was a matter-of-fact little
+person, "what reason have you, to imagine so?"
+
+"Pray do imagine it, Grandfather," said Laurence.
+
+"With Charley's permission, I will," replied Grandfather, smiling. "Let
+us consider it settled, therefore, that Winthrop, Bellingham, Dudley,
+and Endicott, each of them, when chosen governor, took his seat in
+our great chair on election day. In this chair, likewise, did those
+excellent governors preside while holding consultations with the chief
+councillors of the province, who were styled assistants. The governor
+sat in this chair, too, whenever messages were brought to him from the
+chamber of representatives."
+
+And here Grandfather took occasion to talk rather tediously about the
+nature and forms of government that established themselves, almost
+spontaneously, in Massachusetts and the other New England colonies.
+Democracies were the natural growth of the New World. As to
+Massachusetts, it was at first intended that the colony should be
+governed by a council in London. But in a little while the people had
+the whole power in their own hands, and chose annually the governor,
+the councillors, and the representatives. The people of Old England
+had never enjoyed anything like the liberties and privileges which the
+settlers of New England now possessed. And they did not adopt these
+modes of government after long study, but in simplicity, as if there
+were no other way for people to be ruled.
+
+"But, Laurence," continued Grandfather, "when you want instruction on
+these points, you must seek it in Mr. Bancroft's History. I am merely
+telling the history of a chair. To proceed. The period during which the
+governors sat in our chair was not very full of striking incidents.
+The province was now established on a secure foundation; but it did not
+increase so rapidly as at first, because the Puritans were no longer
+driven from England by persecution. However, there was still a quiet
+and natural growth. The Legislature incorporated towns, and made new
+purchases of lands from the Indians. A very memorable event took place
+in 1643. The colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and
+New Haven formed a union, for the purpose of assisting each other in
+difficulties, for mutual defence against their enemies. They called
+themselves the United Colonies of New England."
+
+"Were they under a government like that of the United States?" inquired
+Laurence.
+
+"No," replied Grandfather; "the different colonies did not compose one
+nation together; it was merely a confederacy among the governments: It
+somewhat resembled the league of the Amphictyons, which you remember
+in Grecian history. But to return to our chair. In 1644 it was highly
+honored; for Governor Endicott sat in it when he gave audience to an
+ambassador from the French governor of Acadia, or Nova Scotia. A treaty
+of peace between Massachusetts and the French colony was then signed."
+
+"Did England allow Massachusetts to make war and peace with foreign
+countries?" asked Laurence.
+
+"Massachusetts and the whole of New England was then almost independent
+of the mother country," said Grandfather. "There was now a civil war in
+England; and the king, as you may well suppose, had his hands full at
+home, and could pay but little attention to these remote colonies. When
+the Parliament got the power into their hands, they likewise had enough
+to do in keeping down the Cavaliers. Thus New England, like a young and
+hardy lad whose father and mother neglect it, was left to take care of
+itself. In 1649 King Charles was beheaded. Oliver Cromwell then became
+Protector of England; and as he was a Puritan himself, and had risen
+by the valor of the English Puritans, he showed himself a loving and
+indulgent father to the Puritan colonies in America."
+
+Grandfather might have continued to talk in this dull manner nobody
+knows how long; but suspecting that Charley would find the subject
+rather dry, he looked sidewise at that vivacious little fellow, and saw
+him give an involuntary yawn. Whereupon Grandfather proceeded with the
+history of the chair, and related a very entertaining incident, which
+will be found in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS.
+
+"ACCORDING to the most authentic records, my dear children," said
+Grandfather, "the chair, about this time, had the misfortune to break
+its leg. It was probably on account of this accident that it ceased to
+be the seat of the governors of Massachusetts; for, assuredly, it would
+have been ominous of evil to the commonwealth if the chair of state had
+tottered upon three legs. Being therefore sold at auction,--alas I what
+a vicissitude for a chair that had figured in such high company!--our
+venerable friend was knocked down to a certain Captain John Hull. This
+old gentleman, on carefully examining the maimed chair, discovered that
+its broken leg might be clamped with iron and made as serviceable as
+ever."
+
+"Here is the very leg that was broken!" exclaimed Charley, throwing
+himself down on the floor to look at it. "And here are the iron clamps.
+How well it was mended!"
+
+When they had all sufficiently examined the broken leg, Grandfather told
+them a story about Captain John Hull and the Pine-tree Shillings.
+
+The Captain John Hull aforesaid was the mint-master of Massachusetts,
+and coined all the money that was made there. This was a new line of
+business, for, in the earlier days of the colony, the current coinage
+consisted of gold and silver money of England, Portugal, and Spain.
+These coins being scarce, the people were often forced to barter their
+commodities instead of selling them.
+
+For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he perhaps exchanged
+a bear-skin for it. If he wished for a barrel of molasses, he might
+purchase it with a pile of pine boards. Musket-bullets were used instead
+of farthings. The Indians had a sort of money, called wampum, which was
+made of clam-shells; and this strange sort of specie was likewise taken
+in payment of debts by the English settlers. Bank-bills had never been
+heard of. There was not money enough of any kind, in many parts of the
+country, to pay the salaries of the ministers; so that they sometimes
+had to take quintals of fish, bushels of corn, or cords of wood, instead
+of silver or gold.
+
+As the people grew more numerous, and their trade one with another
+increased, the want of current money was still more sensibly felt. To
+supply the demand, the General Court passed a law for establishing a
+coinage of shillings, sixpences, and threepences. Captain John Hull was
+appointed to manufacture this money, and was to have about one shilling
+out of every twenty to pay him for the trouble of making them.
+
+Hereupon all the old silver in the colony was handed over to Captain
+John Hull. The battered silver cans and tankards, I suppose, and silver
+buckles, and broken spoons, and silver buttons of worn-out coats, and
+silver hilts of swords that had figured at court,--all such curious old
+articles were doubtless thrown into the melting-pot together. But by far
+the greater part of the silver consisted of bullion from the mines of
+South America, which the English buccaneers--who were little better than
+pirates--had taken from the Spaniards and brought to Massachusetts.
+
+All this old and new silver being melted down and coined, the result
+was an immense amount of splendid shillings, sixpences, and threepences.
+Each had the date, 1652, on the one side, and the figure of a pine-tree
+on the other. Hence they were called pine-tree shillings. And for every
+twenty shillings that he coined, you will remember, Captain John Hull
+was entitled to put one shilling into his own pocket.
+
+The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint master would have
+the best of the bargain. They offered him a large sum of money if he
+would but give up that twentieth shilling which he was continually
+dropping into his own pocket. But Captain Hull declared himself
+perfectly satisfied with the shilling. And well he might be; for
+so diligently did he labor, that, in a few years, his pockets,
+his money-bags, and his strong box were overflowing with pine-tree
+shillings. This was probably the case when he came into possession of
+Grandfather's chair; and, as he had worked so hard at the mint, it was
+certainly proper that he should have a comfortable chair to rest him
+self in.
+
+When the mint-master had grown very rich, a young man, Samuel Sewall by
+name, came a-courting to his only daughter. His daughter--whose name I
+do not know, but we will call her Betsey--was a fine, hearty damsel,
+by no means so slender as some young ladies of our own days. On the
+contrary, having always fed heartily on pumpkin-pies, doughnuts, Indian
+puddings, and other Puritan dainties, she was as round and plump as a
+pudding herself. With this round, rosy Miss Betsey did Samuel Sewall
+fall in love. As he was a young man of good character, industrious in
+his business, and a member of the church, the mint-master very readily
+gave his consent.
+
+"Yes, you may take her," said he, in his rough way, "and you'll find her
+a heavy burden enough!"
+
+On the wedding day, we may suppose that honest John Hull dressed himself
+in a plum-colored coat, all the buttons of which were made of pine-tree
+shillings. The buttons of his waistcoat were sixpences; and the knees of
+his small-clothes were buttoned with silver threepences. Thus attired,
+he sat with great dignity in Grandfather's chair; and, being a portly
+old gentleman, he completely filled it from elbow to elbow. On the
+opposite side of the room, between her bride-maids, sat Miss Betsey. She
+was blushing with all her might, and looked like a full-blown peony, or
+a great red apple.
+
+There, too, was the bridegroom, dressed in a fine purple coat and
+gold-lace waistcoat, with as much other finery as the Puritan laws and
+customs would allow him to put on. His hair was cropped close to his
+head, because Governor Endicott had forbidden any man to wear it below
+the ears. But he was a very personable young man; and so thought the
+bridemaids and Miss Betsey herself.
+
+The mint-master also was pleased with his new Son-in-law; especially as
+he had courted Miss Betsey out of pure love, and had said nothing at all
+about her portion. So, when the marriage ceremony was over, Captain Hull
+whispered a word to two of his men-servants, who immediately went out,
+and soon returned, lugging in a large pair of scales. They were such
+a pair as wholesale merchants use for weighing bulky commodities; and
+quite a bulky commodity was now to be weighed in them.
+
+"Daughter Betsey," said the mint-master, "get into one side of these
+scales."
+
+Miss Betsey--or Mrs. Sewall, as we must now call her--did as she
+was bid, like a dutiful child, without any question of the why and
+wherefore. But what her father could mean, unless to make her husband
+pay for her by the pound (in which case she would have been a dear
+bargain), she had not the least idea.
+
+"And now," said honest John Hull to the servants "bring that box
+hither."
+
+The box to which the mint-master pointed was a huge, square, iron-bound,
+oaken chest; it was big enough, my children, for all four of you to play
+at hide-and-seek in. The servants tugged with might and main, but could
+not lift this enormous receptacle, and were finally obliged to drag it
+across the floor. Captain Hull then took a key from his girdle, unlocked
+the chest, and lifted its ponderous lid. Behold! it was full to the brim
+of bright pine-tree shillings, fresh from the mint; and Samuel Sewall
+began to think that his father-in-law had got possession of all the
+money in the Massachusetts treasury. But it was only the mint-master's
+honest share of the coinage.
+
+Then the servants, at Captain Hull's command, heaped double handfuls
+of shillings into one side of the scales, while Betsey remained in the
+other. Jingle, jingle, went the shillings, as handful after handful was
+thrown in, till, plump and ponderous as she was, they fairly weighed the
+young lady from the floor.
+
+"There, son Sewall!" cried the honest mint-master, resuming his seat in
+Grandfather's chair, "take these shillings for my daughter's portion.
+Use her kindly, and thank Heaven for her. It is not every wife that's
+worth her weight in silver!"
+
+The children laughed heartily at this legend, and would hardly be
+convinced but that Grandfather had made it out of his own head. He
+assured them faithfully, however, that he had found it in the pages of
+a grave historian, and had merely tried to tell it in a somewhat funnier
+style. As for Samuel Sewall, he afterwards became chief justice of
+Massachusetts.
+
+"Well, Grandfather," remarked Clara, "if wedding portions nowadays were
+paid as Miss Betsey's was, young ladies would not pride themselves upon
+an airy figure, as many of them do."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE QUAKERS AND THE INDIANS.
+
+WHEN his little audience next assembled round the chair, Grandfather
+gave them a doleful history of the Quaker persecution, which began in
+1656, and raged for about three years in Massachusetts.
+
+He told them how, in the first place, twelve of the converts of George
+Fox, the first Quaker in the world, had come over from England. They
+seemed to be impelled by an earnest love for the souls of men, and a
+pure desire to make known what they considered a revelation from
+Heaven. But the rulers looked upon them as plotting the downfall of all
+government and religion. They were banished from the colony. In a little
+while, however, not only the first twelve had returned, but a multitude
+of other Quakers had come to rebuke the rulers and to preach against the
+priests and steeple-houses.
+
+Grandfather described the hatred and scorn with which these enthusiasts
+were received. They were thrown into dungeons; they were beaten with
+many stripes, women as well as men; they were driven forth into the
+wilderness, and left to the tender mercies of tender mercies of wild
+beasts and Indians. The children were amazed hear that the more the
+Quakers were scourged, and imprisoned, and banished, the more did the
+sect increase, both by the influx of strangers and by converts from
+among the Puritans, But Grandfather told them that God had put
+something into the soul of man, which always turned the cruelties of the
+persecutor to naught.
+
+He went on to relate that, in 1659, two Quakers, named William Robinson
+and Marmaduke Stephenson, were hanged at Boston. A woman had been
+sentenced to die with them, but was reprieved on condition of her
+leaving the colony. Her name was Mary Dyer. In the year 1660 she
+returned to Boston, although she knew death awaited her there; and,
+if Grandfather had been correctly informed, an incident had then taken
+place which connects her with our story. This Mary Dyer had entered
+the mint-master's dwelling, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and seated
+herself in our great chair with a sort of dignity and state. Then she
+proceeded to deliver what she called a message from Heaven, but in the
+midst of it they dragged her to prison.
+
+"And was she executed?" asked Laurence.
+
+"She was," said Grandfather.
+
+"Grandfather," cried Charley, clinching his fist, "I would have fought
+for that poor Quaker woman!"
+
+"Ah, but if a sword had been drawn for her," said Laurence, "it would
+have taken away all the beauty of her death."
+
+It seemed as if hardly any of the preceding stories had thrown such
+an interest around Grandfather's chair as did the fact that the poor,
+persecuted, wandering Quaker woman had rested in it for a moment. The
+children were so much excited that Grandfather found it necessary to
+bring his account of the persecution to a close.
+
+"In 1660, the same year in which Mary Dyer was executed," said he,
+"Charles II. was restored to the throne of his fathers. This king had
+many vices; but he would not permit blood to be shed, under pretence of
+religion, in any part of his dominions. The Quakers in England told
+him what had been done to their brethren in Massachusetts; and he sent
+orders to Governor Endicott to forbear all such proceedings in future.
+And so ended the Quaker persecution,--one of the most mournful passages
+in the history of our forefathers."
+
+Grandfather then told his auditors, that, shortly after the above
+incident, the great chair had been given by the mint-master to the
+Rev. Mr. John Eliot. He was the first minister of Roxbury. But besides
+attending to the pastoral duties there, he learned the language of the
+red men, and often went into the woods to preach to them. So earnestly
+did he labor for their conversion that he has always been called the
+apostle to the Indians. The mention of this holy man suggested to
+Grandfather the propriety of giving a brief sketch of the history of the
+Indians, so far as they were connected with the English colonists.
+
+A short period before the arrival of the first Pilgrims at Plymouth
+there had been a very grievous plague among the red men; and the sages
+and ministers of that day were inclined to the opinion that Providence
+had sent this mortality in order to make room for the settlement of the
+English. But I know not why we should suppose that an Indian's life is
+less precious, in the eye of Heaven, than that of a white man. Be that
+as it may, death had certainly been very busy with the savage tribes.
+
+In many places the English found the wigwams deserted and the cornfields
+growing to waste, with none to harvest the grain. There were heaps
+of earth also, which, being dug open, proved to be Indian graves,
+containing bows and flint-headed spears and arrows; for the Indians
+buried the dead warrior's weapons along with him. In some spots there
+were skulls and other human bones lying unburied. In 1633, and the year
+afterwards, the small-pox broke out among the Massachusetts Indians,
+multitudes of whom died by this terrible disease of the Old World. These
+misfortunes made them far less powerful than they had formerly been.
+
+For nearly half a century after the arrival of the English the red men
+showed themselves generally inclined to peace and amity. They often
+made submission when they might have made successful war. The Plymouth
+settlers, led by the famous Captain Miles Standish, slew some of them,
+in 1623, without any very evident necessity for so doing. In 1636,
+and the following year, there was the most dreadful war that had yet
+occurred between the Indians and the English. The Connecticut settlers,
+assisted by a celebrated Indian chief named Uncas, bore the brunt of
+this war, with but little aid from Massachusetts. Many hundreds of the
+hostile Indians were slain or burned in their wigwams. Sassacus, their
+sachem, fled to another tribe, after his own people were defeated; but
+he was murdered by them, and his head was sent to his English enemies.
+
+From that period down to the time of King Philip's War, which will be
+mentioned hereafter, there was not much trouble with the Indians. But
+the colonists were always on their guard, and kept their weapons ready
+for the conflict.
+
+"I have sometimes doubted," said Grandfather, when he had told these
+things to the Children,--"I have sometimes doubted whether there was
+more than a single man among our forefathers who realized that an Indian
+possesses a mind, and a heart, and an immortal soul. That single man was
+John Eliot. All the rest of the early settlers seemed to think that the
+Indians were an inferior race of beings, whom the Creator had merely
+allowed to keep possession of this beautiful country till the white men
+should be in want of it."
+
+"Did the pious men of those days never try to make Christian of them?"
+asked Laurence. "Sometimes, it is true," answered Grandfather, "the
+magistrates and ministers would talk about civilizing and converting
+the red people. But, at the bottom of their hearts, they would have had
+almost as much expectation of civilizing the wild bear of the woods and
+making him fit for paradise. They felt no faith in the success of any
+such attempts, because they had no love for the poor Indians. Now, Eliot
+was full of love for them; and therefore so full of faith and hope that
+he spent the labor of a lifetime in their behalf."
+
+"I would have conquered them first, and then converted them," said
+Charley.
+
+"Ah, Charley, there spoke the very spirit of our forefathers." replied
+Grandfather. "But Mr. Eliot a better spirit. He looked upon them as his
+brethren. He persuaded as many of them as he could to leave off their
+idle and wandering habits, and to build houses and cultivate the earth,
+as the English did. He established schools among them and taught many
+of the Indians how to read. He taught them, likewise, how to pray. Hence
+they were called 'praying Indians.' Finally, having spent the best years
+of his life for their good, Mr. Eliot resolved to spend the remainder in
+doing them a yet greater benefit."
+
+"I know what that was!" cried Laurence.
+
+"He sat down in his study," continued Grandfather, "and began a
+translation of the Bible into the Indian tongue. It was while he was
+engaged in this pious work that the mint-master gave him our great
+chair. His toil needed it and deserved it."
+
+"O Grandfather, tell us all about that Indian Bible!" exclaimed
+Laurence. "I have seen it in the library of the Athenaeum; and the tears
+came into my eyes to think that there were no Indians left to read it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE INDIAN BIBLE.
+
+As Grandfather was a great admirer of the apostle Eliot, he was glad to
+comply with the earnest request which Laurence had made at the close
+of the last chapter. So he proceeded to describe how good Mr. Eliot
+labored, while he was at work upon the Indian Bible.
+
+My dear children, what a task would you think it, even with a long
+lifetime before you, were you bidden to copy every chapter, and verse,
+and word, in yonder family Bible! Would not this be a heavy toil? But
+if the task were, not to write off the English Bible, but to learn a
+language utterly unlike all other tongues, a language which hitherto
+had never been learned, except by the Indians themselves, from their
+mothers' lips,--a language never written, and the strange words of which
+seemed inexpressible by letters,--if the task were, first to learn this
+new variety of speech, and then to translate the Bible into it, and to
+do it so carefully that not one idea throughout the holy book should
+be changed,--what would induce you to undertake this toil? Yet this was
+what the apostle Eliot did.
+
+It was a mighty work for a man, now growing old, to take upon himself.
+And what earthly reward could he expect from it? None; no reward on
+earth. But he believed that the red men were the descendants of those
+lost tribes of Israel of whom history has been able to tell us nothing
+for thousands of years. He hoped that God had sent the English across
+the ocean, Gentiles as they were, to enlighten this benighted portion of
+his once chosen race. And when he should be summoned hence, he trusted
+to meet blessed spirits in another world, whose bliss would have been
+earned by his patient toil in translating the word of God. This hope and
+trust were far dearer to him than anything that earth could offer.
+
+Sometimes, while thus at work, he was visited by learned men, who
+desired to know what literary undertaking Mr. Eliot had in hand. They,
+like himself, had been bred in the studious cloisters of a university,
+and were supposed to possess all the erudition which mankind has hoarded
+up from age to age. Greek and Latin were as familiar to them as the
+bab-ble of their childhood. Hebrew was like their mother tongue. They
+had grown gray in study; their eyes were bleared with poring over print
+and manuscript by the light of the midnight lamp.
+
+And yet, how much had they left unlearned! Mr. Eliot would put into
+their hands some of the pages which he had been writing; and behold! the
+gray-headed men stammered over the long, strange words, like a little
+child in his first attempts to read. Then would the apostle call to him
+an Indian boy, one of his scholars, and show him the manuscript which
+had so puzzled the learned Englishmen.
+
+"Read this, my child," would he say; "these are some brethren of mine,
+who would fain hear the sound of thy native tongue."
+
+Then would the Indian boy cast his eyes over the mysterious page, and
+read it so skilfully that it sounded like wild music. It seemed as if
+the forest leaves were singing in the ears of his auditors, and as the
+roar of distant streams were poured through the young Indian's voice.
+Such were the sounds amid which the language of the red man had been
+formed; and they were still heard to echo in it.
+
+The lesson being over, Mr. Eliot would give the Indian boy an apple or
+a cake, and bid him leap forth into the open air which his free nature
+loved. The Apostle was kind to children, and even shared in their sports
+sometimes. And when his visitors had bidden him farewell, the good man
+turned patiently to his toil again.
+
+No other Englishman had ever understood the Indian character so well,
+nor possessed so great an influence over the New England tribes, as the
+apostle did. His advice and assistance must often have been valuable
+to his countrymen in their transactions with the Indians. Occasionally,
+perhaps, the governor and some of the councillors came to visit Mr.
+Eliot. Perchance they were seeking some method to circumvent the forest
+people. They inquired, it may be, how they could obtain possession of
+such and such a tract of their rich land. Or they talked of making
+the Indians their servants; as if God had destined them for perpetual
+bondage to the more powerful white man.
+
+Perhaps, too, some warlike captain, dressed in his buff coat, with a
+corselet beneath it, accompanied the governor and councillors. Laying
+his hand upon his sword hilt, he would declare that the only method of
+dealing with the red men was to meet them with the sword drawn and the
+musket presented.
+
+But the apostle resisted both the craft of the politician and the
+fierceness of the warrior.
+
+"Treat these sons of the forest as men and brethren," he would say;
+"and let us endeavor to make them Christians. Their forefathers were of
+that chosen race whom God delivered from Egyptian bondage. Perchance he
+has destined us to deliver the children from the more cruel bondage
+of ignorance and idolatry. Chiefly for this end, it may be, we were
+directed across the ocean."
+
+When these other visitors were gone, Mr. Eliot bent himself again over
+the half-written page. He dared hardly relax a moment from his toil. He
+felt that, in the book which he was translating, there was a deep human
+as well as heavenly wisdom, which would of itself suffice to civilize
+and refine the savage tribes. Let the Bible be diffused among them, and
+all earthly good would follow. But how slight a consideration was
+this, when he reflected that the eternal welfare of a whole race of men
+depended upon his accomplishment of the task which he had set himself!
+What if his hands should be palsied? What if his mind should lose its
+vigor? What if death should come upon him ere the work were done? Then
+must the red man wander in the dark wilderness of heathenism forever.
+
+Impelled by such thoughts as these, he sat writing in the great chair
+when the pleasant summer breeze came in through his open casement; and
+also when the fire of forest logs sent up its blaze and smoke, through
+the broad stone chimney, into the wintry air. Before the earliest bird
+sang in the morning the apostle's lamp was kindled; and, at midnight,
+his weary head was not yet upon its pillow. And at length, leaning back
+in the great chair, he could say to himself, with a holy triumph, "The
+work is finished!"
+
+It was finished. Here was a Bible for the Indians. Those long-lost
+descendants of the ten tribes of Israel would now learn the history of
+their forefathers. That grace which the ancient Israelites had forfeited
+was offered anew to their children.
+
+There is no impiety in believing that, when his long life was over,
+the apostle of the Indians was welcomed to the celestial abodes by the
+prophets of ancient days and by those earliest apostles and evangelists
+who had drawn their inspiration from the immediate presence of the
+Saviour. They first had preached truth and salvation to the world.
+And Eliot, separated from them by many centuries, yet full of the same
+spirit, has borne the like message to the New World of the west. Since
+the first days of Christianity, there has been no man more worthy to be
+numbered in the brotherhood of the apostles than Eliot.
+
+"My heart is not satisfied to think," observed Laurence, "that Mr.
+Eliot's labors have done no good except to a few Indians of his own
+time. Doubtless he would not have regretted his toil, if it were the
+means of saving but a single soul. But it is a grievous thing to me
+that he should have toiled so hard to translate the Bible, and now the
+language and the people are gone! The Indian Bible itself is almost the
+only relic of both."
+
+"Laurence," said his Grandfather, "if ever you should doubt that man is
+capable of disinterested zeal for his brother's good, then remember how
+the apostle Eliot toiled. And if you should feel your own self-interest
+pressing upon your heart too closely, then think of Eliot's Indian
+Bible. It is good for the world that such a man has lived and left this
+emblem of his life."
+
+The tears gushed into the eyes of Laurence, and he acknowledged
+that Eliot had not toiled in vain. Little Alice put up her arms to
+Grandfather, and drew down his white head beside her own golden locks.
+
+"Grandfather," whispered she, "I want to kiss good Mr. Eliot!"
+
+And, doubtless, good Mr. Eliot would gladly receive the kiss of so sweet
+a child as little Alice, and would think it a portion of his reward in
+heaven.
+
+Grandfather now observed that Dr. Francis had written a very beautiful
+Life of Eliot, which he advised Laurence to peruse. He then spoke of
+King Philip's War, which began in 1675, and terminated with the death of
+King Philip, in the following year. Philip was a proud, fierce Indian,
+whom Mr. Eliot had vainly endeavored to convert to the Christian faith.
+
+"It must have been a great anguish to the apostle," continued
+Grandfather, "to hear of mutual slaughter and outrage between his own
+countrymen and those for whom he felt the affection of a father. A few
+of the praying Indians joined the followers of King Philip. A greater
+number fought on the side of the English. In the course of the war the
+little community of red people whom Mr. Eliot had begun to civilize was
+scattered, and probably never was restored to a flourishing condition.
+But his zeal did not grow cold; and only about five years before his
+death he took great pains in preparing a new edition of the Indian
+Bible."
+
+"I do wish, Grandfather," cried Charley, "you would tell us all about
+the battles in King Philip's War."
+
+"Oh no!" exclaimed Clara. "Who wants to hear about tomahawks and
+scalping knives?"
+
+"No, Charley," replied Grandfather, "I have no time to spare in
+talking about battles. You must be content with knowing that it was the
+bloodiest war that the Indians had ever waged against the white men; and
+that, at its close, the English set King Philip's head upon a pole."
+
+"Who was the captain of the English?" asked Charley.
+
+"Their most noted captain was Benjamin Church, a very famous warrior,"
+said Grandfather. "But I assure you, Charley, that neither Captain
+Church, nor any of the officers and soldiers who fought in King Philip's
+War, did anything a thousandth part so glorious as Mr. Eliot did when he
+translated the Bible for the Indians."
+
+"Let Laurence be the apostle," said Charley to himself, "and I will be
+the captain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
+
+The children were now accustomed to assemble round Grandfather's chair
+at all their unoccupied moments; and often it was a striking picture
+to behold the white-headed old sire, with this flowery wreath of young
+people around him. When he talked to them, it was the past speaking
+to the present, or rather to the future,--for the children were of a
+generation which had not become actual. Their part in life, thus far,
+was only to be happy and to draw knowledge from a thousand sources. As
+yet, it was not their time to do.
+
+Sometimes, as Grandfather gazed at their fair, unworldly countenances,
+a mist of tears bedimmed his spectacles. He almost regretted that it was
+necessary for them to know anything of the past or to provide aught for
+the future. He could have wished that they might be always the happy,
+youthful creatures who had hitherto sported around his chair, without
+inquiring whether it had a history. It grieved him to think that his
+little Alice, who was a flower bud fresh from paradise, must open her
+leaves to the rough breezes of the world, or ever open them in any
+clime. So sweet a child she was, that it seemed fit her infancy should
+be immortal.
+
+But such repinings were merely flitting shadows across the old man's
+heart. He had faith enough to believe, and wisdom enough to know, that
+the bloom of the flower would be even holier and happier than its bud.
+Even within himself, though Grandfather was now at that period of life
+when the veil of mortality is apt to hang heavily over the soul, still,
+in his inmost being he was conscious of something that he would not have
+exchanged for the best happiness of childhood. It was a bliss to which
+every sort of earthly experience--all that he had enjoyed, or suffered
+or seen, or heard, or acted, with the broodings of his soul upon the
+whole--had contributed somewhat. In the same manner must a bliss, of
+which now they could have no conception, grow up within these children,
+and form a part of their sustenance for immortality.
+
+So Grandfather, with renewed cheerfulness, continued his history of the
+chair, trusting that a profounder wisdom than his own would extract,
+from these flowers and weeds of Time, a fragrance that might last beyond
+all time.
+
+At this period of the story Grandfather threw a glance backward as far
+as the year 1660. He spoke of the ill-concealed reluctance with which
+the Puritans in America had acknowledged the sway of Charles II. on
+his restoration to his father's throne. When death had stricken Oliver
+Cromwell, that mighty protector had no sincerer mourners than in New
+England. The new king had been more than a year upon the throne before
+his accession was proclaimed in Boston, although the neglect to perform
+the ceremony might have subjected the rulers to the charge of treason.
+
+During the reign of Charles II., however, the American colonies had but
+little reason to complain of harsh or tyrannical treatment. But when
+Charles died, in 1685, and was succeeded by his brother James, the
+patriarchs of New England began to tremble. King James was known to
+be of an arbitrary temper. It was feared by the Puritans that he would
+assume despotic power. Our forefathers felt that they had no security
+either for their religion or their liberties.
+
+The result proved that they had reason for their apprehensions. King
+James caused the charters of all the American colonies to be taken away.
+The old charter of Massachusetts, which the people regarded as a holy
+thing and as the foundation of all their liberties, was declared void.
+The colonists were now no longer freemen; they were entirely dependent
+on the king's pleasure. At first, in 1685, King James appointed Joseph
+Dudley, a native of Massachusetts, to be president of New England. But
+soon afterwards, Sir Edmund Andros, an officer of the English army,
+arrived, with a commission to be governor-general of New England and New
+York.
+
+The king had given such powers to Sir Edmund Andros that there was now
+no liberty, nor scarcely any law, in the colonies over which he
+ruled. The inhabitants were not allowed to choose representatives, and
+consequently had no voice whatever in the government, nor control over
+the measures that were adopted. The councillors with whom the governor
+consulted on matters of state were appointed by himself. This sort of
+government was no better than an absolute despotism.
+
+"The people suffered much wrong while Sir Edmund Andros ruled over
+them," continued Grandfather; "and they were apprehensive of much more.
+He had brought some soldiers with him from England, who took possession
+of the old fortress on Castle Island and of the fortification on
+Fort Hill. Sometimes it was rumored that a general massacre of the
+inhabitants was to be perpetrated by these soldiers. There were reports,
+too, that all the ministers were to be slain or imprisoned."
+
+"For what?" inquired Charley.
+
+"Because they were the leaders of the people, Charley," said
+Grandfather. "A minister was a more formidable man than a general, in
+those days. Well, while these things were going on in America, King
+James had so misgoverned the people of England that they sent over to
+Holland for the Prince of Orange. He had married the king's daughter,
+and was therefore considered to have a claim to the crown. On his
+arrival in England, the Prince of Orange was proclaimed king, by the
+name of William III. Poor old King James made his escape to France."
+
+Grandfather told how, at the first intelligence of the landing of the
+Prince of Orange in England, the people of Massachusetts rose in their
+strength and overthrew the government of Sir Edmund Andros. He, with
+Joseph Dudley, Edmund Randolph, and his other principal adherents, was
+thrown into prison. Old Simon Bradstreet, who had been governor when
+King James took away the charter, was called by the people to govern
+them again.
+
+"Governor Bradstreet was a venerable old man, nearly ninety years of
+age," said Grandfather. "He came over with the first settlers, and had
+been the intimate companion of all those excellent and famous men who
+laid the foundation of our country. They were all gone before him to the
+grave, and Bradstreet was the last of the Puritans."
+
+Grandfather paused a moment and smiled, as if he had something very
+interesting to tell his auditors. He then proceeded:--
+
+"And now, Laurence,--now, Clara,--now, Charley,--now, my dear little
+Alice,--what chair do you think had been placed in the council chamber,
+for old Governor Bradstreet to take his seat in? Would you believe that
+it was this very chair in which Grandfather now sits, and of which he is
+telling you the history?"
+
+"I am glad to hear it, with all my heart!" cried Charley, after a shout
+of delight. "I thought Grandfather had quite forgotten the chair."
+
+"It was a solemn and affecting sight," said Grandfather, "when this
+venerable patriarch, with his white beard flowing down upon his breast,
+took his seat in his chair of state. Within his remembrance, and even
+since his mature age, the site where now stood the populous town had
+been a wild and forest-covered peninsula. The province, now so fertile
+and spotted with thriving villages, had been a desert wilderness. He was
+surrounded by a shouting multitude, most of whom had been born in the
+country which he had helped to found. They were of one generation, and
+he of another. As the old man looked upon them, and beheld new faces
+everywhere, he must have felt that it was now time for him to go whither
+his brethren had gone before him."
+
+"Were the former governors all dead and gone?" asked Laurence.
+
+"All of them," replied Grandfather. "Winthrop had been dead forty years.
+Endicott died, a very old man, in 1665. Sir Henry Vane was beheaded, in
+London, at the beginning of the reign of Charles II. And Haynes, Dudley,
+Bellingham, and Leverett, who had all been governors of Massachusetts,
+were now likewise in their graves. Old Simon Bradstreet was the sole
+representative of that departed brotherhood. There was no other public
+man remaining to connect the ancient system of government and manners
+with the new system which was about to take its place. The era of the
+Puritans was now completed."
+
+"I am sorry for it!" observed Laurence; "for though they were so stern,
+yet it seems to me that there was something warm and real about them.
+I think, Grandfather, that each of these old governors should have his
+statue set up in our State House, Sculptured out of the hardest of New
+England granite."
+
+"It would not be amiss, Laurence," said Grandfather; "but perhaps clay,
+or some other perishable material, might suffice for some of their
+successors. But let us go back to our chair. It was occupied by Governor
+Bradstreet from April, 1689, until May, 1692. Sir William Phips then
+arrived in Boston with a new charter from King William and a commission
+to be governor."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE SUNKEN TREASURE.
+
+"AND what became of the chair?" inquired Clara, "The outward aspect of
+our chair," replied Grandfather, "was now somewhat the worse for its
+long and arduous services. It was considered hardly magnificent enough
+to be allowed to keep its place in the council chamber of Massachusetts.
+In fact, it was banished as an article of useless lumber. But Sir
+William Phips happened to see it, and, being much pleased with its
+construction, resolved to take the good old chair into his private
+mansion. Accordingly, with his own gubernatorial hands, he repaired one
+of its arms, which had been slightly damaged."
+
+"Why, Grandfather, here is the very arm!" interrupted Charley, in great
+wonderment. "And did Sir William Phips put in these screws with his own
+hands? I am sure he did it beautifully! But how came a governor to know
+how to mend a chair?"
+
+"I will tell you a story about the early life of Sir William Phips,"
+said Grandfather. "You will then perceive that he well knew how to use
+his hands."
+
+So Grandfather related the wonderful and true tale of the sunken
+treasure.
+
+Picture to yourselves, my dear children, a handsome, old-fashioned
+room, with a large, open cupboard at one end, in which is displayed
+a magnificent gold cup, with some other splendid articles of gold
+and silver plate. In another part of the room, opposite to a tall
+looking-glass, stands our beloved chair, newly polished, and adorned
+with a gorgeous cushion of crimson velvet tufted with gold.
+
+In the chair sits a man of strong and sturdy frame, whose face has been
+roughened by northern tempests and blackened by the burning sun of
+the West Indies. He wears an immense periwig, flowing down over his
+shoulders. His coat has a wide embroidery of golden foliage; and his
+waistcoat, likewise, is all flowered over and bedizened with gold. His
+red, rough hands, which have done many a good day's work with the hammer
+and adze, are half covered by the delicate lace ruffles at his wrists.
+On a table lies his silver-hilted sword; and in a corner of the room
+stands his gold-headed cane, made of a beautifully polished West India
+wood.
+
+Somewhat such an aspect as this did Sir William Phips present when he
+sat in Grandfather's chair after the king had appointed him governor
+of Massachusetts. Truly there was need that the old chair should be
+varnished and decorated with a crimson cushion, in order to make it
+suitable for such a magnificent-looking personage.
+
+But Sir William Phips had not always worn a gold-embroidered coat, nor
+always sat so much at his ease as he did in Grandfather's chair. He was
+a poor man's son, and was born in the province of Maine, where he used
+to tend sheep upon the hills in his boyhood and youth. Until he had
+grown to be a man, he did not even know how to read and write. Tired
+of tending sheep, he next apprenticed himself to a ship-carpenter, and
+spent about four years in hewing the crooked limbs of oak-trees into
+knees for vessels.
+
+In 1673, when he was twenty-two years old, he came to Boston, and soon
+afterwards was married to a widow lady, who had property enough to set
+him up in business. It was not long, however, before he lost all the
+money that he had acquired by his marriage, and became a poor man again.
+Still he was not discouraged. He often told his wife that, some time or
+other, he should be very rich, and would build a "fair brick house" in
+the Green Lane of Boston.
+
+Do not suppose, children, that he had been to a fortune-teller to
+inquire his destiny. It was his own energy and spirit of enterprise, and
+his resolution to lead an industrious life, that made him look forward
+with so much confidence to better days.
+
+Several years passed away, and William Phips had not yet gained the
+riches which he promised to himself. During this time he had begun to
+follow the sea for a living. In the year 1684 he happened to hear of a
+Spanish ship which had been cast away near the Bahama Islands, and which
+was supposed to contain a great deal of gold and silver. Phips went to
+the place in a small vessel, hoping that he should be able to recover
+some of the treasure from the wreck. He did not succeed, however, in
+fishing up gold and silver enough to pay the expenses of his voyage.
+
+But, before he returned, he was told of another Spanish ship, or
+galleon, which had been east away near Porto de la Plata. She had now
+lain as much as fifty years beneath the waves. This old ship had been
+laden with immense wealth; and, hitherto, nobody had thought of the
+possibility of recovering any part of it from the deep sea which was
+rolling and tossing it about. But though it was now an old story, and
+the most aged people had almost forgotten that such a vessel had been
+wrecked, William Phips resolved that the sunken treasure should again be
+brought to light.
+
+He went to London and obtained admittance to King James, who had not yet
+been driven from his throne. He told the king of the vast wealth that
+was lying at the bottom of the sea. King James listened with attention,
+and thought this a fine opportunity to fill his treasury with Spanish
+gold. He appointed William Phips to be captain of a vessel, called the
+Rose Algier, carrying eighteen guns and ninety-five men. So now he was
+Captain Phips of the English navy.
+
+Captain Phips sailed from England in the Rose Algier, and cruised for
+nearly two years in the West Indies, endeavoring to find the wreck of
+the Spanish ship. But the sea is so wide and deep that it is no easy
+matter to discover the exact spot where a sunken vessel lies. The
+prospect of success seemed very small; and most people would have
+thought that Captain Phips was as far from having money enough to build
+a "fair brick house" as he was while he tended sheep.
+
+The seamen of the Rose Algier became discouraged, and gave up all hope
+of making their fortunes by discovering the Spanish wreck. They
+wanted to compel Captain Phips to turn pirate. There was a much better
+prospect, they thought, of growing rich by plundering vessels which
+still sailed in the sea than by seeking for a ship that had lain beneath
+the waves full half a century. They broke out in open mutiny; but were
+finally mastered by Phips, and compelled to obey his orders. It would
+have been dangerous, however, to continue much longer at sea with such
+a crew of mutinous sailors; and, besides, the Rose Algier was leaky and
+unseaworthy. So Captain Phips judged it best to return to England.
+
+Before leaving the West Indies, he met with a Spaniard, an old man, who
+remembered the wreck of the Spanish ship, and gave him directions how to
+find the very spot. It was on a reef of rocks, a few leagues from Porto
+de la Plata.
+
+On his arrival in England, therefore, Captain Phips solicited the king
+to let him have another vessel and send him back again to the West
+Indies. But King James, who had probably expected that the Rose Algier
+would return laden with gold, refused to have anything more to do with
+the affair. Phips might never have been able to renew the search if the
+Duke of Albemarle and some other noblemen had not lent their assistance.
+They fitted out a ship, and gave the command to Captain Phips. He sailed
+from England, and arrived safely at Porto de la Plata, where he took an
+adze and assisted his men to build a large boat.
+
+The boat was intended for the purpose of going closer to the reef of
+rocks than a large vessel could safely venture. When it was finished,
+the captain sent several men in it to examine the spot where the Spanish
+ship was said to have been wrecked. They were accompanied by some
+Indians, who were skilful divers, and could go down a great way into the
+depths of the sea.
+
+The boat's crew proceeded to the reef of rocks, and rowed round and
+round it a great many times. They gazed down into the water, which was
+so transparent that it seemed as if they could have seen the gold and
+silver at the bottom, had there been any of those precious metals there.
+Nothing, however, could they see, nothing more valuable than a curious
+sea shrub, which was growing beneath the water, in a crevice of the reef
+of rocks. It flaunted to and fro with the swell and reflux of the waves,
+and looked as bright and beautiful as if its leaves were gold.
+
+"We won't go back empty-handed," cried an English sailor; and then he
+spoke to one of the Indian divers. "Dive down and bring me that pretty
+sea shrub there. That's the only treasure we shall find."
+
+Down plunged the diver, and soon rose dripping from the water, holding
+the sea shrub in his hand. But he had learned some news at the bottom of
+the sea.
+
+"There are some ship's guns," said he, the moment he had drawn breath,
+"some great cannon, among the rocks, near where the shrub was growing."
+
+No sooner had he spoken than the English sailors knew that they had
+found the very spot where the Spanish galleon had been wrecked, so
+many years before. The other Indian divers immediately plunged over the
+boat's side and swam headlong down, groping among the rocks and sunken
+cannon. In a few moments one of them rose above the water with a heavy
+lump of silver in his arms. The single lump was worth more than a
+thousand dollars. The sailors took it into the boat, and then rowed back
+as speedily as they could, being in haste to inform Captain Phips of
+their good luck.
+
+But, confidently as the captain had hoped to find the Spanish wreck,
+yet, now that it was really found, the news seemed too good to be true.
+He could not believe it till the sailors showed him the lump of silver.
+
+"Thanks be to God!" then cries Captain Phips "We shall every man of us
+make our fortunes!"
+
+Hereupon the captain and all the crew set to work, with iron rakes and
+great hooks and lines, fishing for gold and silver at the bottom of the
+sea. Up came the treasure in abundance. Now they beheld a table of solid
+silver, once the property of an old Spanish grandee. Now they found a
+sacramental vessel, which had been destined as a gift to some Catholic
+church. Now they drew up a golden cup, fit for the King of Spain to
+drink his wine out of. Perhaps the bony hand of its former owner had
+been grasping the precious cup, and was drawn up along with it. Now
+their rakes or fishing-lines were loaded with masses of silver bullion.
+There were also precious stones among the treasure, glittering and
+sparkling, so that it is a wonder how their radiance could have been
+concealed.
+
+There is something sad and terrible in the idea of snatching all this
+wealth from the devouring ocean, which had possessed it for such a
+length of years. It seems as if men had no right to make themselves rich
+with it. It ought to have been left with the skeletons of the ancient
+Spaniards, who had been drowned when the ship was wrecked, and whose
+bones were now scattered among the gold and silver.
+
+But Captain Phips and his crew were troubled with no such thoughts as
+these. After a day or two they lighted on another part of the wreck,
+where they found a great many bags of silver dollars. But nobody could
+have guessed that these were money-bags. By remaining so long in the
+salt water, they had become covered over with a crust which had the
+appearance of stone, so that it was necessary to break them in pieces
+with hammers and axes. When this was done, a stream of silver dollars
+gushed out upon the deck of the vessel.
+
+The whole value of the recovered treasure, plate, bullion, precious
+stones, and all, was estimated at more than two millions of dollars.
+It was dangerous even to look at such a vast amount of wealth. A
+sea-captain, who had assisted Phips in the enterprise, utterly lost his
+reason at the sight of it. He died two years afterwards, still raving
+about the treasures that lie at the bottom of the sea. It would have
+been better for this man if he had left the skeletons of the shipwrecked
+Spaniards in quiet possession of their wealth.
+
+Captain Phips and his men continued to fish up plate, bullion, and
+dollars, as plentifully as ever, till their provisions grew short. Then,
+as they could not feed upon gold and silver any more than old King Midas
+could, they found it necessary to go in search of better sustenance.
+Phips resolved to return to England. He arrived there in 1687, and was
+received with great joy by the Duke of Albemarle and other English lords
+who had fitted out the vessel. Well they might rejoice; for they took by
+far the greater part of the treasure to themselves.
+
+The captain's share, however, was enough to make him comfortable for the
+rest of his days. It also enabled him to fulfil his promise to his wife,
+by building a "fair brick house" in the Green Lane of Boston. The Duke
+of Albemarle sent Mrs. Phips a magnificent gold cup, worth at least five
+thousand dollars. Before Captain Phips left London, King James made
+him a knight; so that, instead of the obscure ship-carpenter who had
+formerly dwelt among them, the inhabitants of Boston welcomed him on his
+return as the rich and famous Sir William Phips.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. WHAT THE CHAIR HAD KNOWN.
+
+"Sir William Phips," continued Grandfather, "was too active and
+adventurous a man to sit still in the quiet enjoyment of his good
+fortune. In the year 1690 he went on a military expedition against the
+French colonies in America, conquered the whole province of Acadia, and
+returned to Boston with a great deal of plunder."
+
+"Why, Grandfather, he was the greatest man that ever sat in the chair!"
+cried Charley.
+
+"Ask Laurence what he thinks," replied Grandfather, with a smile. "Well,
+in the same year, Sir William took command of an expedition against
+Que-bec, but did not succeed in capturing the city. In 1692, being then
+in London, King William III. appointed him governor of Massachusetts.
+And now, my dear children, having followed Sir William Phips through
+all his adventures and hardships till we find him comfortably seated in
+Grandfather's chair, we will here bid him farewell. May he be as happy
+in ruling a people as he was while he tended sheep!"
+
+Charley, whose fancy had been greatly taken by the adventurous
+disposition of Sir William Phips, was eager to know how he had acted
+and what happened to him while he held the office of governor. But
+Grandfather had made up his mind to tell no more stories for the
+present.
+
+"Possibly, one of these days, I may go on with the adventures of the
+chair," said he. "But its history becomes very obscure just at this
+point; and I must search into some old books and manuscripts before
+proceeding further. Besides, it is now a good time to pause in our
+narrative; because the new charter, which Sir William Phips brought
+over from England, formed a very important epoch in the history of the
+province."
+
+"Really, Grandfather," observed Laurence, "this seems to be the most
+remarkable chair, in the world. Its history cannot be told without
+intertwining it with the lives of distinguished men and the great events
+that have befallen the country."
+
+"True, Laurence,'" replied Grandfather, smiling; "we must write a book
+with some such title as this: MEMOIRS OF MY OWN TIMES, BY GRANDFATHER'S
+CHAIR."
+
+"That would be beautiful!" exclaimed Laurence, clapping his hands.
+
+"But, after all," continued Grandfather, "any other old chair, if it
+possessed memory and a hand to write its recollections, could record
+stranger stories than any that I have told you. From generation to
+generation, a chair sits familiarly in the midst of human interests, and
+is witness to the most secret and confidential intercourse that mortal
+man can hold with his fellow. The human heart may best be read in
+the fireside chair. And as to external events, Grief and Joy keep a
+continual vicissitude around it and within it. Now we see the glad face
+and glowing form of Joy, sitting merrily in the old chair, and throwing
+a warm firelight radiance over all the household. Now, while we thought
+not of it, the dark-clad mourner, Grief, has stolen into the place of
+Joy, but not to retain it long. The imagination can hardly grasp so wide
+a subject as is embraced in the experience of a family chair."
+
+"It makes my breath flutter, my heart thrill, to think of it," said
+Laurence. "Yes, a family chair must have a deeper history than a chair
+of state."
+
+"Oh yes!" cried Clara, expressing a woman's feeling of the point in
+question; "the history of a country is not nearly so interesting as that
+of a single family would be."
+
+"But the history of a country is more easily told," said Grandfather.
+"So, if we proceed with our narrative of the chair, I shall still
+confine myself to its connection with public events."
+
+Good old Grandfather now rose and quitted the room, while the children
+remained gazing at the chair. Laurence, so vivid was his conception of
+past times, would hardly have deemed it strange if its former occupants,
+one after another, had resumed the seat which they had each left vacant
+such a dim length of years ago.
+
+First, the gentle and lovely Lady Arbella would have been seen in the
+old chair, almost sinking out of its arms for very weakness; then Roger
+Williams, in his cloak and band, earnest, energetic, and benevolent;
+then the figure of Anne Hutchinson, with the like gesture as when she
+presided at the assemblages of women; then the dark, intellectual face
+of Vane, "young in years, but in sage counsel old." Next would have
+appeared the successive governors, Winthrop, Dudley, Bellingham, and
+Endicott, who sat in the chair while it was a chair of state. Then
+its ample seat would have been pressed by the comfortable, rotund
+corporation of the honest mint-master. Then the half-frenzied shape
+of Mary Dyer, the persecuted Quaker woman, clad in sackcloth and ashes
+would have rested in it for a moment. Then the holy, apostolic form of
+Eliot would have sanctified it. Then would have arisen, like the shade
+of departed Puritanism, the venerable dignity of the white-bearded
+Governor Bradstreet. Lastly, on the gorgeous crimson cushion of
+Grandfather's chair would have shone the purple and golden magnificence
+of Sir William Phips. But all these, with the other historic personages,
+in the midst of whom the chair had so often stood, had passed, both in
+substance and shadow, from the scene of ages. Yet here stood the chair,
+with the old Lincoln coat of arms, and the oaken flowers and foliage,
+and the fierce lion's head at the summit, the whole, apparently, in as
+perfect preservation as when it had first been placed in the Earl of
+Lincoln's hall. And what vast changes of society and of nations had been
+wrought by sudden convulsions or by slow degrees since that era!
+
+"This Chair had stood firm when the thrones of kings were overturned!"
+thought Laurence. "Its oaken frame has proved stronger than many frames
+of government!"
+
+More the thoughtful and imaginative boy might have mused; but now a
+large yellow cat, a great favorite with all the children, leaped in
+at the open window. Perceiving that Grandfather's chair was empty, and
+having often before experienced its comforts, puss laid herself quietly
+down upon the cushion. Laurence, Clara, Charley, and little Alice all
+laughed at the idea of such a successor to the worthies of old times.
+
+"Pussy," said little Alice, putting out her hand, into which the
+cat laid a velvet paw, "you look very wise. Do tell us a story about
+GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR!"
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX TO PART I.
+
+EXTRACTS FROM THE LIFE OF JOHN ELIOT,
+
+BY CONVERS FRANCIS.
+
+MR. ELIOT had been for some time assiduously employed in learning the
+Indian language. To accomplish this, he secured the assistance of one of
+the natives, who could speak English. Eliot, at the close of his Indian
+Grammar, mentions him as "a pregnant-witted young man, who had been
+a servant in an English house, who pretty well understood his own
+language, and had a clear pronunciation." He took this Indian into his
+family, and by constant intercourse with him soon become sufficiently
+conversant with the vocabulary and construction of the language to
+translate the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and several passages
+of Scripture, besides composing exhortations and prayers.
+
+Mr. Eliot must have found his task anything but easy or inviting. He was
+to learn a dialect, in which he could be assisted by no affinity with
+the languages he already knew. He was to do this without the help of any
+written or printed specimens, with nothing in the shape of a grammar or
+analysis, but merely by oral communication with his Indian instructor,
+or with other natives, who, however comparatively intelligent, must from
+the nature of the case have been very imperfect teachers. He applied
+himself to the work with great patience and sagacity, carefully acting
+the differences between the Indian and the English modes of constructing
+words; and, having once got a clew to this, he pursued every noun and
+verb he could think of through all possible variations. In this way he
+arrived at analyses and rules, which he could apply for himself in a
+general manner.
+
+Neal says that Eliot was able to speak the language intelligibly after
+conversing with the Indian servant a few months. This, in a limited
+sense, may be true; but he is said to have been engaged two years in the
+process of learning, before he went to preached to the Indians. In that
+time he acquired a somewhat ready facility in the use of that dialect,
+by means of which he was to carry the instructions of spiritual truth to
+the men of the forest, though as late as 1649 he still lamented his want
+of skill in this respect.
+
+Notice having been given of his intention [of instructing the Indians],
+Mr. Eliot, in company with three others, whose names are not mentioned,
+having implored the divine blessing on the undertaking, made his first
+visit to the Indians on the 28th of October, 1646 at a place afterwards
+called Nonantum; a spot that has the honor of being the first on which
+a civilized and Christian settlement of Indians was effected within
+the English colonies of North America. This name was given to the high
+grounds in the north, east part of Newton, and to the bounds of that
+town and Watertown. At a short distance from the wigwams, they were met
+by Waban, a leading man among the Indians at that place, accompanied
+by others, and were welcomed with "English salutations." Waban, who
+is described as "the chief minister of justice among them," had
+before shown a better disposition than any other native to receive the
+religious instruction of the Christians, and had voluntarily proposed
+to have his eldest son educated by them. His son had been accordingly
+placed at school in Dedham, whence he had now come to attend the
+meeting.
+
+The Indians assembled in Waban's wigwam; and thither Mr. Eliot and his
+friends were conducted. When the company were all collected and quiet,
+a religious service was begun with prayer. This was uttered in English;
+the reason for which, as given by Mr. Eliot and his companions, was,
+that he did not then feel sufficiently acquainted with the Indian
+language to use it in that service.
+
+The same difficulty would not occur in preaching, since for this, we may
+suppose, he had sufficiently prepared his thoughts and expressions
+to make his discourse intelligible on all important points; and if he
+should, in some parts, fail of being, understood, he could repeat or
+correct himself, till he should succeed better. Besides, he took with
+him an interpretor, who was frequently able to express his instructions
+more distinctly than he could himself. Though the prayer was
+unintelligible to the Indians, yet, as they knew what the nature of the
+service was, Mr. Eliot believed it might not be without an effect in
+subduing their feelings so as to prepare them better to listen to the
+preaching.
+
+Mr. Eliot then began his sermon, or address, from Ezek. xxxvii. 9, 10.
+The word wind, in this passage, suggested to the minds of some, who
+afterwards gave an account of this meeting, a coincidence which might,
+in the spirit of the times, be construed into a special appointment of
+Providence. The name of Waban signified, in the Indian tongue, wind; so
+that when the preacher uttered the words, "say to the wind," it was as
+if he had proclaimed, "say to Waban." As this man afterwards exerted
+much influence in awaking the attention of his fellow savages to
+Christianity, it might seem that in this first visit of the messengers
+of the gospel he was singled out by a special call to work in the cause.
+It is not surprising that the Indians were struck with the coincidence.
+Mr. Eliot gave no countenance to a superstitious use of the
+circumstance, and took care to tell them that, when he chose his text,
+he had no thought of any such application.
+
+The sermon was an hour and a quarter long. One cannot but suspect that
+Mr. Eliot injudiciously crowded too much into one address. It would
+seem to have been better, for the first time at least, to have given
+a shorter sermon, and to have touched upon fewer subjects. But he was
+doubtless borne on by his zeal to do much in a good cause; and, as we
+have reason to think, by the attentive, though vague, curiosity of the
+Indians.
+
+Thus ended a conference three hours long, at the end of which the
+Indians affirmed that they were not weary, and requested their visitors
+to come again. They expressed a wish to build a town and live together.
+Mr. Eliot promised to intercede for them with the court. He and his
+companions then gave the men some tobacco, and the children some apples,
+and bade them farewell.
+
+A fortnight afterwards, on the 11th of November, Mr. Eliot and his
+friends repeated their visit to the wigwam of Waban. This meeting was
+more numerous than the former. The religious service was opened, as
+before, with a prayer in English. This was followed by a few brief and
+plain questions addressed to the children, admitting short and easy
+answers. The children seemed well disposed to listen and learn. To
+encourage them, Mr. Eliot gave them occasionally an apple or a cake; and
+the adults were requested to repeat to them the instructions that had
+been given. He then preached to the assembly in their own language,
+telling them that he had come to bring them good news from God, and
+show them how wicked men might become good and happy; and, in general,
+discoursing on nearly the same topics as he had treated at his first
+visit.
+
+
+
+PART II. 1692-1763.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE CHAIR IN THE FIRELIGHT.
+
+"O GRANDFATHER, dear Grandfather," cried little Alice, "pray tell us
+some more stories about your chair!"
+
+How long a time had fled since the children bad felt any curiosity to
+hear the sequel of this venerable chair's adventures! Summer was now
+past and gone, and the better part of autumn likewise. Dreary, chill
+November was howling out of doors, and vexing the atmosphere with sudden
+showers of wintry rain, or sometimes with gusts of snow, that rattled
+like small pebbles against the windows.
+
+When the weather began to grow cool, Grandfather's chair had been
+removed from the summer parlor into a smaller and snugger room. It now
+stood by the side of a bright, blazing wood-fire. Grandfather loved a
+wood-fire far better than a grate of glowing anthracite, or than the
+dull heat of an invisible furnace, which seems to think that it has done
+its duty in merely warming the house. But the wood-fire is a kindly,
+cheerful, sociable spirit, sympathizing with mankind, and knowing that
+to create warmth is but one of the good offices which are expected from
+it. Therefore it dances on the hearth, and laughs broadly throughout the
+room, and plays a thousand antics, and throws a joyous glow over all the
+faces that encircle it.
+
+In the twilight of the evening the fire grew brighter and more cheerful.
+And thus, perhaps, there was something in Grandfather's heart that
+cheered him most with its warmth and comfort in the gathering twilight
+of old age. He had been gazing at the red embers as intently as if his
+past life were all pictured there, or as if it were a prospect of the
+future world, when little Alice's voice aroused him. "Dear Grandfather,"
+repeated the little girl, more earnestly, "do talk to us again about
+your chair."
+
+Laurence, and Clara, and Charley, and little Alice had been attracted
+to other objects for two or three months past. They had sported in
+the gladsome sunshine of the present, and so had forgotten the shadowy
+region of the past, in the midst of which stood Grandfather's chair. But
+now, in the autumnal twilight, illuminated by the flickering blaze of
+the wood-fire, they looked at the old chair, and thought that it had
+never before worn such an interesting aspect. There it stood in the
+venerable majesty of more than two hundred years. The light from the
+hearth quivered upon the flowers and foliage that were wrought into its
+oaken back; and the lion's head at the summit seemed almost to move its
+jaws and shake its mane.
+
+"Does little Alice speak for all of you?" asked Grandfather. "Do you
+wish me to go on with the adventures of the chair?'
+
+"Oh yes, yes, Grandfather!" cried Clara. "The dear old chair! How
+strange that we should have forgotten it so long!"
+
+"Oh, pray begin, Grandfather," said Laurence, "for I think, when we talk
+about old times, it should be in the early evening, before the candles
+are lighted. The shapes of the famous persons who once sat in the chair
+will be more apt to come back, and be seen among us, in this glimmer and
+pleasant gloom, than they would in the vulgar daylight. And, besides, we
+can make pictures of all that you tell us among the glowing embers and
+white ashes."
+
+Our friend Charley, too, thought the evening the best time to hear
+Grandfather's stories, because he could not then be playing out of
+doors. So finding his young auditors unanimous in their petition, the
+good old gentleman took up the narrative of the historic chair at the
+point where he had dropped it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE SALEM WITCHES.
+
+"You recollect, my dear children," said Grandfather, "that we took leave
+of the chair in 1692, while it was occupied by Sir William Phips.
+This fortunate treasure-seeker, you will remember, had come over
+from England, with King William's commission, to be governor of
+Massachusetts. Within the limits of this province were now included the
+old colony of Plymouth, and the territories of Maine and Nova Scotia.
+Sir William Phips had likewise brought a new charter from the king,
+which served instead of a constitution, and set forth the method in
+which the province was to be governed."
+
+"Did the new charter allow the people all their former liberties?"
+inquired Laurence.
+
+"No," replied Grandfather. "Under the first charter, the people had been
+the source of all power. Winthrop, Endicott, Bradstreet, and the rest
+of them had been governors by the choice of the people, without any
+interference of the king. But henceforth the governor was to hold his
+station solely by the king's appointment and during his pleasure; and
+the same was the case with the lieutenant-governor and some other
+high officers. The people, however, were still allowed to choose
+representatives; and the governor's council was chosen by the General
+Court."
+
+"Would the inhabitants have elected Sir William Phips," asked Laurence,
+"if the choice of governor had been left to them?"
+
+"He might probably have been a successful candidate," answered
+Grandfather; "for his adventures and military enterprises had gained him
+a sort of renown, which always goes a great way with the people. And he
+had many popular characteristics,--being a kind warm-hearted man, not
+ashamed of his low origin nor haughty in his present elevation. Soon
+after his arrival, he proved that he did not blush to recognize his
+former associates."
+
+"How was that?" inquired Charley.
+
+"He made a grand festival at his new brick house," said Grandfather,
+"and invited all the ship-carpenters of Boston to be his guests. At the
+head of the table, in our great chair, sat Sir William Phips himself,
+treating these hard-handed men as his brethren, cracking jokes with
+them, and talking familiarly about old times. I know not whether he wore
+his embroidered dress; but I rather choose to imagine that he had on a
+suit of rough clothes, such as he used to labor in while he was Phips
+the ship-carpenter."
+
+"An aristocrat need not be ashamed of the trade," observed Laurence;
+"for the Czar Peter the Great once served an apprenticeship to it."
+
+"Did Sir William Phips make as good a governor as he was a
+ship-carpenter?" asked Charley.
+
+"History says but little about his merits as a ship-carpenter," answered
+Grandfather; "but, as a governor, a great deal of fault was found with
+him. Almost as soon as he assumed the government, he became engaged in
+a very frightful business, which might have perplexed a wiser and better
+cultivated head than his. This was the witchcraft delusion."
+
+And here Grandfather gave his auditors such details of this melancholy
+affair as he thought it fit for them to know. They shuddered to hear
+that a frenzy, which led to the death of many innocent persons, had
+originated in the wicked arts of a few children. They belonged to the
+Rev. Mr. Parris, minister of Salem. These children complained of being
+pinched and pricked with pins, and otherwise tormented by the shapes of
+men and women, who were supposed to have power to haunt them invisibly,
+both in darkness and daylight. Often in the midst of their family
+and friends the children would pretend to be seized with strange
+convulsions, and would cry out that the witches were afflicting them.
+
+These stories spread abroad, and caused great tumult and alarm. From the
+foundation of New England, it had been the custom of the inhabitants,
+in all matters of doubt and difficulty, to look to their ministers for
+counsel. So they did now; but, unfortunately, the ministers and wise
+men were more deluded than the illiterate people. Cotton Mather, a very
+learned and eminent clergyman, believed that the whole country was full
+of witches and wizards, who had given up their hopes of heaven, and
+signed a covenant with the evil one.
+
+Nobody could be certain that his nearest neighbor or most intimate
+friend was not guilty of this imaginary crime. The number of those who
+pretended to be afflicted by witchcraft grew daily more numerous; and
+they bore testimony against many of the best and worthiest people. A
+minister, named George Burroughs, was among the accused. In the months
+of August and September, 1692, he and nineteen other innocent men and
+women were put to death. The place of execution was a high hill, on the
+outskirts of Salem; so that many of the sufferers, as they stood beneath
+the gallows, could discern their own habitations in the town.
+
+The martyrdom of these guiltless persons seemed only to increase the
+madness. The afflicted now grew bolder in their accusations. Many people
+of rank and wealth were either thrown into prison or compelled to flee
+for their lives. Among these were two sons of old Simon Bradstreet, the
+last of the Puritan governors. Mr. Willard, a pious minister of Boston,
+was cried out upon as a wizard in open court. Mrs. Hale, the wife of
+the minister of Beverly, was likewise accused. Philip English, a rich
+merchant of Salem, found it necessary to take flight, leaving his
+property and business in confusion. But a short time afterwards, the
+Salem people were glad to invite him back.
+
+"The boldest thing that the accusers did," continued Grandfather, "was
+to cry out against the governor's own beloved wife. Yes, the lady of Sir
+William Phips was accused of being a witch and of flying through the
+air to attend witch-meetings. When the governor heard this he probably
+trembled, so that our great chair shook beneath him."
+
+"Dear Grandfather," cried little Alice, clinging closer to his knee,
+"is it true that witches ever come in the night-time to frighten little
+children?"
+
+"No, no, dear little Alice," replied Grandfather. "Even if there were
+any witches, they would flee away from the presence of a pure-hearted
+child. But there are none; and our forefathers soon became convinced
+that they had been led into a terrible delusion. All the prisoners on
+account of witchcraft were set free. But the innocent dead could not
+be restored to life and the hill where they were executed will always
+remind people of the saddest and most humiliating passage in our
+history."
+
+Grandfather then said that the next remarkable event, while Sir William
+Phips remained in the chair, was the arrival at Boston of an English
+fleet in 1698. It brought an army which was intended for the conquest of
+Canada. But a malignant disease, more fatal than the smallpox, broke out
+among the soldiers and sailors, and destroyed the greater part of them.
+The infection spread into the town of Boston, and made much havoc there.
+This dreadful sickness caused the governor and Sir Francis Wheeler,
+who was commander of the British forces, to give up all thoughts of
+attacking Canada.
+
+"Soon after this," said Grandfather, "Sir William Phips quarrelled
+with the captain of an English frigate, and also with the collector
+of Boston. Being a man of violent temper, he gave each of them a sound
+beating with his cane."
+
+"He was a bold fellow," observed Charley, who was himself somewhat
+addicted to a similar mode or settling disputes.
+
+"More bold than wise," replied Grandfather; "for complaints were carried
+to the king, and Sir William Phips was summoned to England to make the
+best answer he could. Accordingly he went to London, where, in 1695,
+he was seized with a malignant fever, of which he died. Had he lived
+longer, he would probably have gone again in search of sunken treasure.
+He had heard of a Spanish ship, which was cast away in 1502, during the
+lifetime of Columbus. Bovadilla, Roldan, and many other Spaniards were
+lost in her, together with the immense wealth of which they had robbed
+the South American kings."
+
+"Why, Grandfather!" exclaimed Laurence, "what magnificent ideas the
+governor had! Only think of recovering all that old treasure which had
+lain almost two centuries under the sea! Methinks Sir William Phips
+ought to have been buried in the ocean when he died, so that he might
+have gone down among the sunken ships and cargoes of treasure which he
+was always dreaming about in his lifetime."
+
+"He was buried in one of the crowded cemeteries of London," said
+Grandfather. "As he left no children, his estate was inherited by his
+nephew, from whom is descended the present Marquis of Normandy. The
+noble Marquis is not aware, perhaps, that the prosperity of his
+family originated in the successful enterprise of a New England
+ship-carpenter."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL.
+
+"At the death of Sir William Phips," proceeded Grandfather, "our chair
+was bequeathed to Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, a famous schoolmaster in Boston.
+This old gentleman came from London in 1637, and had been teaching
+school ever since; so that there were now aged men, grandfathers like
+myself, to whom Master Cheever had taught their alphabet. He was a
+person of venerable aspect, and wore a long white beard."
+
+"Was the chair placed in his school?" asked Charley.
+
+"Yes, in his school," answered Grandfather; "and we may safely say that
+it had never before been regarded with such awful reverence,--no,
+not even when the old governors of Massachusetts sat in it. Even you,
+Charley, my boy, would have felt some respect for the chair if you had
+seen it occupied by this famous schoolmaster."
+
+And here grandfather endeavored to give his auditors an idea how matters
+were managed in schools above a hundred years ago. As this will probably
+be an interesting subject to our readers, we shall make a separate
+sketch of it, and call it The Old-Fashioned School.
+
+Now, imagine yourselves, my children, in Master Ezekiel Cheever's
+school-room. It is a large, dingy room, with a sanded floor, and is
+lighted by windows that turn on hinges and have little diamond-shaped
+panes of glass. The scholars sit on long benches, with desks before
+them. At one end of the room is a great fireplace, so very spacious
+that there is room enough for three or four boys to stand in each of the
+chimney corners. This was the good old fashion of fireplaces when there
+was wood enough in the forests to keep people warm without their digging
+into the bowels of the earth for coal.
+
+It is a winter's day when we take our peep into the school-room. See
+what great logs of wood have been rolled into the fireplace, and what a
+broad, bright blaze goes leaping up the chimney! And every few moments a
+vast cloud of smoke is puffed into the room, which sails slowly over
+the heads of the scholars, until it gradually settles upon the walls and
+ceiling. They are blackened with the smoke of many years already.
+
+Next look at our old historic chair! It is placed, you perceive, in the
+most comfortable part of the room, where the generous glow of the fire
+is sufficiently felt without being too intensely hot. How stately the
+old chair looks, as if it remembered its many famous occupants, but yet
+were conscious that a greater man is sitting in it now! Do you see the
+venerable schoolmaster, severe in aspect, with a black skullcap on his
+head, like an ancient Puritan, and the snow of his white beard drifting
+down to his very girdle? What boy would dare to play; or whisper, or
+even glance aside from his book; while Master Cheever is on the lookout
+behind his spectacles? For such offenders, if any such there be, a rod
+of birch is hanging over the fireplace, and a heavy ferule lies on the
+master's desk.
+
+And now school is begun. What a murmur of multitudinous tongues, like
+the whispering leaves of a wind-stirred oak, as the scholars con over
+their various tasks! Buzz! buzz! buzz! Amid just such a murmur has
+Master Cheever spent above sixty years; and long habit has made it as
+pleasant to him as the hum of a beehive when the insects are busy in the
+sunshine.
+
+Now a class in Latin is called to recite. Forth steps a rowel
+queer-looking little fellows, wearing square-skirted coats and
+small-clothes, with buttons at the knee. They look like so many
+grandfathers in their second-childhood. These lads are to be sent to
+Cambridge and educated for the learned professions. Old Master Cheever
+had lived so long, and seen so many generations of school-boys grow up
+to be men, that now he can almost prophesy what sort of a man each boy
+will be. One urchin shall hereafter be a doctor, and administer pills
+and potions, and stalk gravely through life, perfumed with assafoetida.
+Another shall wrangle at the bar, and fight his way to wealth and honors
+and, in his declining age, shall be a worshipful member of his Majesty's
+council. A third-and he is the master's favorite--shall be a worthy
+successor to the old Puritan ministers now in their graves; he shall
+preach with great unction and effect, and leave volumes of sermons, in
+print and manuscript, for the benefit of future generations.
+
+But, as they are merely school-boys now, their business is to construe
+Virgil. Poor Virgil! whose verses, which he took so much pains to
+polish, have been misscanned, and misparsed, and misinterpreted by so
+many generations of idle school-boys. There, sit down, ye Latinists. Two
+or three of you, I fear, are doomed to feel the master's ferule.
+
+Next comes a class in arithmetic. These boys are to be the merchants,
+shopkeepers, and mechanics of a future period. Hitherto they have traded
+only in marbles and apples. Hereafter some will send vessels to England
+for broadcloths and all sorts of manufactured wares, and to the
+West Indies for sugar, and rum, and coffee. Others will stand behind
+counters, and measure tape, and ribbon, and cambric by the yard. Others
+will upheave the blacksmith's hammer, or drive the plane over the
+carpenter's bench, or take the lapstone and the awl and learn the
+trade of shoemaking. Many will follow the sea, and become bold, rough
+sea-captains.
+
+This class of boys, in short, must supply the world with those active,
+skilful hands, and clear, sagacious heads, without which the affairs
+of life would be thrown into confusion by the theories of studious and
+visionary men. Wherefore, teach them their multiplication-table, good
+Master Cheever, and whip them well when they deserve it; for much of the
+country's welfare depends on these boys.
+
+But, alas! while, we have been thinking of other matters, Master
+Cheever's watchful eye has caught two boys at play. Now we shall see
+awful times. The two malefactors are summoned before the master's chair,
+wherein he sits with the terror of a judge upon his brow. Our old chair
+is now a judgment-seat. Ah, Master Cheever has taken down that terrible
+birch rod! Short is the trial,--the sentence quickly passed,--and now
+the judge prepares to execute it in person. Thwack! thwack! thwack! In
+these good old times, a schoolmaster's blows were well laid on.
+
+See, the birch rod has lost several of its twigs, and will hardly serve
+for another execution. Mercy on his, what a bellowing the urchins make!
+My ears are almost deafened, though the clamor comes through the far
+length of a hundred and fifty years. There, go to your seats, poor boys;
+and do not cry, sweet little Alice, for they have ceased to feel the
+pain a long time since.
+
+And thus the forenoon passes away. Now it is twelve o'clock. The master
+looks at his great silver watch, and then, with tiresome deliberation,
+puts the ferule into his desk. The little multitude await the word of
+dismissal with almost irrepressible impatience.
+
+"You are dismissed," says Master Cheever.
+
+The boys retire, treading softly until they have passed the threshold;
+but, fairly out of the schoolroom, lo, what a joyous shout! what a
+scampering and trampling of feet! what a sense of recovered freedom
+expressed in the merry uproar of all their voices! What care they for
+the ferule and birch rod now? Were boys created merely to study Latin
+and arithmetic? No; the better purposes of their being are to sport, to
+leap, to run, to shout, to slide upon the ice, to snowball.
+
+Happy boys! Enjoy your playtime now, and come again to study and to feel
+the birch rod and the ferule to-morrow; not till to-morrow; for to-day
+is Thursday lecture; and, ever since the settlement of Massachusetts,
+there has been no school on Thursday afternoons. Therefore sport, boys,
+while you may, for the morrow cometh, with the birch rod and the ferule;
+and after that another morrow, with troubles of its own.
+
+Now the master has set everything to rights, and is ready to go home to
+dinner. Yet he goes reluctantly. The old man has spent so much of his
+life in the smoky, noisy, buzzing school-room, that, when he has a
+holiday, he feels as if his place were lost and himself a stranger in
+the world. But forth he goes; and there stands our old chair, vacant
+and solitary, till good Master Cheever resumes his seat in it to-morrow
+morning.
+
+"Grandfather," said Charley, "I wonder whether the boys did not use to
+upset the old chair when the schoolmaster was out."
+
+"There is a tradition," replied Grandfather, "that one of its arms was
+dislocated in some such manner. But I cannot believe that any school-boy
+would behave so naughtily."
+
+As it was now later than little Alice's usual bedtime, Grandfather broke
+off his narrative, promising to talk more about Master Cheever and his
+scholars some other evening.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. COTTON MATHER
+
+Accordingly, the next evening, Grandfather resumed the history of his
+beloved chair.
+
+"Master Ezekiel Cheever," said he, "died in 1707, after having taught
+school about seventy years. It would require a pretty good scholar in
+arithmetic to tell how many stripes he had inflicted, and how many birch
+rods he had worn out, during all that time, in his fatherly tenderness
+for his pupils. Almost all the great men of that period, and for many
+years back, had been whipped into eminence by Master Cheever. Moreover,
+he had written a Latin Accidence, which was used in schools more than
+half a century after his death; so that the good old man, even in his
+grave, was still the cause of trouble and stripes to idle schoolboys."
+
+Grandfather proceeded to say, that, when Master Cheever died, he
+bequeathed the chair to the most learned man that was educated at his
+school, or that had ever been born in America. This was the renowned
+Cotton Mather, minister of the Old North Church in Boston.
+
+"And author of the Magnalia, Grandfather, which we sometimes see you
+reading," said Laurence.
+
+"Yes, Laurence," replied Grandfather. "The Magnalia is a strange,
+pedantic history, in which true events and real personages move before
+the reader with the dreamy aspect which they wore in Cotton Mather's
+singular mind. This huge volume, however, was written and published
+before our chair came into his possession. But, as he was the author
+of more books than there are days in the year, we may conclude that he
+wrote a great deal while sitting in this chair."
+
+"I am tired of these schoolmasters and learned men," said Charley. "I
+wish some stirring man, that knew how to do something in the world, like
+Sir William Phips, would sit in the chair."
+
+"Such men seldom have leisure to sit quietly in a chair," said
+Grandfather. "We must make the best of such people as we have."
+
+As Cotton Mather was a very distinguished man, Grandfather took some
+pains to give the children a lively conception of his character. Over
+the door of his library were painted these words, BE SHORT,--as a
+warning to visitors that they must not do the world so much harm as
+needlessly to interrupt this great man's wonderful labors. On entering
+the room you would probably behold it crowded, and piled, and heaped
+with books. There were huge, ponderous folios, and quartos, and little
+duodecimos, in English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and all other
+languages that either originated at the confusion of Babel or have since
+come into use.
+
+All these books, no doubt, were tossed about in confusion, thus forming
+a visible emblem of the manner in which their contents were crowded into
+Cotton Mather's brain. And in the middle of the room stood table,
+on which, besides printed volumes, were strewn manuscript sermons,
+historical tracts, and political pamphlets, all written in such a queer,
+blind, crabbed, fantastical hand, that a writing-master would have
+gone raving mad at the sight of them. By this table stood Grandfather's
+chair, which seemed to have contracted an air of deep erudition, as if
+its cushion were stuffed with Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and other hard
+matters.
+
+In this chair, from one year's end to another, sat that prodigious
+bookworm, Cotton Mather, sometimes devouring a great book, and sometimes
+scribbling one as big. In Grandfather's younger days there used to be a
+wax figure of him in one of the Boston museums, representing a solemn,
+dark-visaged person, in a minister's black gown, and with a black-letter
+volume before him.
+
+"It is difficult, my children," observed Grandfather, "to make you
+understand such a character as Cotton Mather's, in whom there was so
+much good, and yet so many failings and frailties. Undoubtedly he was
+a pious man. Often he kept fasts; and once, for three whole days, he
+allowed himself not a morsel of food, but spent the time in prayer and
+religious meditation. Many a live-long night did he watch and pray.
+These fasts and vigils made him meagre and haggard, and probably caused
+him to appear as if he hardly belonged to the world."
+
+"Was not the witchcraft delusion partly caused by Cotton Mather?"
+inquired Laurence.
+
+"He was the chief agent of the mischief," answered Grandfather; "but
+we will not suppose that he acted otherwise than conscientiously. He
+believed that there were evil spirits all about the world. Doubtless
+he imagined that they were hidden in the corners and crevices of his
+library, and that they peeped out from among the leaves of many of
+his books, as he turned them over, at midnight. He supposed that these
+unlovely demons were everywhere, in the sunshine as well as in the
+darkness, and that they were hidden in men's hearts, and stole into
+their most secret thoughts."
+
+Here Grandfather was interrupted by little Alice, who hid her face
+in his lap, and murmured a wish that he would not talk any more about
+Cotton Mather and the evil spirits. Grandfather kissed her, and told her
+that angels were the only spirits whom she had anything to do with.
+
+He then spoke of the public affairs of the period.
+
+A new War between France and England had broken out in 1702, and had
+been raging ever since. In the course of it, New England suffered much
+injury from the French and Indians, who often came through the woods
+from Canada and assaulted the frontier towns. Villages were sometimes
+burned, and the inhabitants slaughtered, within a day's ride of Boston.
+The people of New England had a bitter hatred against the French, not
+only for the mischief which they did with their own hands, but because
+they incited the Indians to hostility.
+
+The New-Englanders knew that they could never dwell in security until
+the provinces of France should be subdued and brought under the
+English government. They frequently, in time of war, undertook military
+expeditions against Acadia and Canada, and sometimes besieged the
+fortresses by which those territories were defended. But the most
+earnest wish of their hearts was to take Quebec, and so get possession
+of the whole province of Canada. Sir William Phips had once attempted
+it, but without success.
+
+Fleets and soldiers were often sent from England to assist the colonists
+in their warlike undertakings. In 1710 Port Royal, a fortress of Acadia,
+was taken by the English. The next year, in the month of June, a fleet,
+commanded by Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, arrived in Boston Harbor. On
+board of this fleet was the English General Hill, with seven regiments
+of soldiers, who had been fighting under the Duke of Marlborough in
+Flanders. The government of Massachusetts was called upon to find
+provisions for the army and fleet, and to raise more men to assist in
+taking Canada.
+
+What with recruiting and drilling of soldiers, there was now nothing but
+warlike bustle in the streets of Boston. The drum and fife, the rattle
+of arms, and the shouts of boys were heard from morning till night.
+In about a month the fleet set sail, carrying four regiments from New
+England and New York, besides the English soldiers. The whole army
+amounted to at least seven thousand men. They steered for the mouth of
+the river St. Lawrence.
+
+"Cotton Mather prayed most fervently for their success," continued
+Grandfather, "both in his pulpit and when he kneeled down in the
+solitude of his library, resting his face on our old chair. But
+Providence ordered the result otherwise. In a few weeks tidings were
+received that eight or nine of the vessels had been wrecked in the St.
+Lawrence, and that above a thousand drowned soldiers had been washed
+ashore on the banks of that mighty river. After this misfortune Sir
+Hovenden Walker set sail for England; and many pious people began to
+think it a sin even to wish for the conquest of Canada."
+
+"I would never give it up so," cried Charley.
+
+"Nor did they, as we shall see," replied Grandfather. "However, no more
+attempts were made during this war, which came to a close in 1713. The
+people of New England were probably glad of some repose; for their young
+men had been made soldiers, till many of them were fit for nothing else.
+And those who remained at home had been heavily taxed to pay for the
+arms, ammunition; fortifications, and all the other endless expenses of
+a war. There was great need of the prayers of Cotton Mather and of all
+pious men, not only on account of the sufferings of the people, but
+because the old moral and religious character of New England was in
+danger of being utterly lost."
+
+"How glorious it would have been," remarked Laurence, "if our
+forefathers could have kept the country unspotted with blood!"
+
+"Yes," said Grandfather; "but there was a stern, warlike spirit in
+them from the beginning. They seem never to have thought of questioning
+either the morality or piety of war."
+
+The next event which Grandfather spoke of was one that Cotton Mather, as
+well as most of the other inhabitants of New England, heartily rejoiced
+at. This was the accession of the Elector of Hanover to the throne of
+England, in 1714, on the death of Queen Anne. Hitherto the people had
+been in continual dread that the male line of the Stuarts, who were
+descended from the beheaded King Charles and the banished King James,
+would be restored to the throne.
+
+"The importance of this event," observed Grandfather, "was a thousand
+times greater than that of a Presidential election in our own days.
+If the people dislike their President, they may get rid of him in four
+years; whereas a dynasty of kings may wear the crown for an unlimited
+period."
+
+The German elector was proclaimed king from the balcony of the
+town-house in Boston, by the title of George I.; while the trumpets
+sounded and the people cried amen. That night the town was illuminated;
+and Cotton Mather threw aside book and pen, and left Grandfather's chair
+vacant, while he walked hither and thither to witness the rejoicings.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE REJECTED BLESSING.
+
+"COTTON MATHER," continued Grandfather, "was a bitter enemy to Governor
+Dudley; and nobody exulted more than he when that crafty politician was
+removed from the government, and succeeded by Colonel Shute. This took
+place in 1716. The new governor had been an officer in the renowned Duke
+of Marlborough's army, and had fought in some of the great battles in
+Flanders."
+
+"Now I hope," said Charley, "we shall hear of his doing great things."
+
+"I am afraid you will be disappointed, Charley," answered Grandfather.
+"It is true that Colonel Shute had probably never led so unquiet a life
+while fighting the French as he did now, while governing this province
+of Massachusetts Bay. But his troubles consisted almost entirely of
+dissensions with the Legislature. The king had ordered him to lay claim
+to a fixed salary; but the representatives of the people insisted upon
+paying him only such sums from year to year as they saw fit."
+
+Grandfather here explained some of the circumstances that made the
+situation of a colonial governor so difficult and irksome. There was not
+the same feeling towards the chief magistrate now that had existed while
+he was chosen by the free suffrages of the people, it was felt that as
+the king appointed the governor, and as he held his office during the
+king's pleasure, it would be his great object to please the king. But
+the people thought that a governor ought to have nothing in view but the
+best interests of those whom he governed.
+
+"The governor," remarked Grandfather, "had two masters to serve,--the
+king, who appointed him; and the people, on whom he depended for his
+pay. Few men in this position would have ingenuity enough to satisfy
+either party. Colonel Shute, though a good-natured, well-meaning man,
+succeeded so ill with the people, that, in 1722, he suddenly went
+away to England and made Complaint to King George. In the meantime
+Lieutenant-Governor Dummer directed the affairs of the province, and
+carried on a long and bloody war with the Indians."
+
+"But where was our chair all this time?" asked Clara.
+
+"It still remained in Cotton Mather's library," replied Grandfather;
+"and I must not omit to tell you an incident which is very much to
+the honor of this celebrated man. It is the more proper, too, that you
+should hear it, because it will show you what a terrible calamity the
+smallpox was to our forefathers. The history of the province (and, of
+course, the history of our chair) would be incomplete without particular
+mention of it."
+
+Accordingly Grandfather told the children a story, to which, for want of
+a better title, we shall give that of The Rejected Blessing.
+
+One day, in 1721, Doctor Cotton Mather sat in his library reading a book
+that had been published by the Royal Society of London. But every
+few moments he laid the book upon the table, and leaned back in
+Grandfather's chair with an aspect of deep care and disquietude. There
+were certain things which troubled him exceedingly, so that he could
+hardly fix his thoughts upon what he read.
+
+It was now a gloomy time in Boston. That terrible disease; the
+small-pox, had recently made its appearance in the town. Ever since
+the first settlement of the country this awful pestilence had come at
+intervals, and swept away multitudes of the inhabitants. Whenever it
+commenced its ravages, nothing seemed to stay its progress until there
+were no more victims for it to seize upon. Oftentimes hundreds of people
+at once lay groaning with its agony; and when it departed, its deep
+footsteps were always to be traced in many graves.
+
+The people never felt secure from this calamity. Sometimes, perhaps,
+it was brought into the country by a poor sailor, who had caught the
+infection in foreign parts, and came hither to die and to be the cause
+of many deaths. Sometimes, no doubt, it followed in the train of the
+pompous governors when they came over from England. Sometimes the
+disease lay hidden in the cargoes of ships, among silks, and brocades,
+and other costly merchandise which was imported for the rich people
+to wear. And sometimes it started up seemingly of its own accord, and
+nobody could tell whence it came. The physician, being called to attend
+the sick person, would look at him, and say, "It is the small-pox! Let
+the patient be carried to the hospital."
+
+And now this dreadful sickness had shown itself again in Boston. Cotton
+Mather was greatly afflicted for the sake of the whole province. He had
+children, too, who were exposed to the danger. At that very moment he
+heard the voice of his youngest son, for whom his heart was moved with
+apprehension.
+
+"Alas! I fear for that poor child," said Cotton Mather to himself. "What
+shall I do for my son Samuel?"
+
+Again he attempted to drive away these thoughts by taking up the book
+which he had been reading. And now, all of a sudden, his attention
+became fixed. The book contained a printed letter that an Italian
+physician had written upon the very subject about which Cotton Mather
+was so anxiously meditating. He ran his eye eagerly over the pages; and,
+behold! a method was disclosed to him by which the small-pox might be
+robbed of its worst terrors. Such a method was known in Greece. The
+physicians of Turkey, too, those long-bearded Eastern sages, had been
+acquainted with it for many years. The negroes of Africa, ignorant as
+they were, had likewise practised it, and thus had shown themselves
+wiser than the white men.
+
+"Of a truth," ejaculated Cotton Mather, clasping his hands and looking
+up to heaven, "it was a merciful Providence that brought this book under
+mine eye. I will procure a consultation of physicians, and see whether
+this wondrous inoculation may not stay the progress of the destroyer."
+
+So he arose from Grandfather's chair and went out of the library. Near
+the door he met his son Samuel, who seemed downcast and out of spirits.
+The boy had heard, probably, that some of his playmates were taken ill
+with the small-pox. But, as his father looked cheerfully at him, Samuel
+took courage, trusting that either the wisdom of so learned a minister
+would find some remedy for the danger, or else that his prayers would
+secure protection from on high.
+
+Meanwhile Cotton Mather took his staff and three-cornered hat and
+walked about the streets, calling at the houses of all the physicians in
+Boston. They were a very wise fraternity; and their huge wigs, and black
+dresses, and solemn visages made their wisdom appear even profounder
+than it was. One after another he acquainted them with the discovery
+which he had hit upon.
+
+But the grave and sagacious personages would scarcely listen to him.
+The oldest doctor in town contented himself with remarking that no such
+thing as inoculation was mentioned by Galen or Hippocrates; and it was
+impossible that modern physicians should be wiser than those old sages.
+A second held up his hands in dumb astonishment and horror at the
+mad-ness of what Cotton Mather proposed to do. A third told him, in
+pretty plain terms, that he knew not what he was talking about. A fourth
+requested, in the name of the whole medical fraternity, that Cotton
+Mather would confine his attention to people's souls, and leave the
+physicians to take care of their bodies. In short, there was but a
+single doctor among them all who would grant the poor minister so much
+as a patient hearing, This was Doctor Zabdiel Boylston. He looked
+into the matter like a man of sense, and finding, beyond a doubt,
+that inoculation had rescued many from death, he resolved to try the
+experiment in his own family.
+
+And so he did. But when the other physicians heard of it they arose
+in great fury and began a war of words, written, printed, and spoken,
+against Cotton Mather and Doctor Boylston. To hear them talk, you would
+have supposed that these two harmless and benevolent men had plotted the
+ruin of the country.
+
+The people, also, took the alarm. Many, who thought themselves more
+pious than their neighbors, contended that, if Providence had ordained
+them to die of the small-pox, it was sinful to aim at preventing it. The
+strangest reports were in circulation. Some said that Doctor
+Boylston had contrived a method for conveying the gout, rheumatism,
+sick-headache, asthma, and all other diseases from one person to
+another, and diffusing them through the whole community. Others flatly
+affirmed that the evil one had got possession of Cotton Mather, and was
+at the bottom of the whole business.
+
+You must observe, children, that Cotton Mather's fellow-citizens were
+generally inclined to doubt the wisdom of any measure which he might
+propose to them. They recollected how he had led them astray in the old
+witchcraft delusion; and now, if he thought and acted ever so wisely, it
+was difficult for him to get the credit of it.
+
+The people's wrath grew so hot at his attempt to guard them from the
+small-pox that he could not walk the streets in peace. Whenever the
+venerable form of the old minister, meagre and haggard with fasts and
+vigils, was seen approaching, hisses were heard, and shouts of derision,
+and scornful and bitter laughter. The women snatched away their children
+from his path, lest he should do them a mischief. Still, however,
+bending his head meekly, and perhaps stretching out his hands to bless
+those who reviled him, he pursued his way. But the tears came into his
+eyes to think how blindly the people rejected the means of safety that
+were offered them.
+
+Indeed, there were melancholy sights enough in the streets of Boston
+to draw forth the tears of a compassionate man. Over the door of almost
+every dwelling a red flag was fluttering in the air. This was the signal
+that the small-pox had entered the house and attacked some member of the
+family; or perhaps the whole family, old and young, were struggling
+at once with the pestilence. Friends and relatives, when they met one
+another in the streets, would hurry onward without a grasp of the hand
+or scarcely a word of greeting, lest they should catch or communicate
+the contagion; and often a coffin was borne hastily along.
+
+"Alas! alas!" said Cotton Mather to himself, "what shall be done for
+this poor, misguided people? Oh that Providence would open their eyes,
+and enable them to discern good from evil!"
+
+So furious, however, were the people, that they threatened vengeance
+against any person who should dare to practise inoculation, though it
+were only in his own family. This was a hard case for Cotton Mather, who
+saw no other way to rescue his poor child Samuel from the disease. But
+he resolved to save him, even if his house should be burned over his
+head.
+
+"I will not be turned aside," said he. "My townsmen shall see that I
+have faith in this thing, when I make the experiment on my beloved son,
+whose life is dearer to me than my own. And when I have saved Samuel,
+peradventure they will be persuaded to save themselves."
+
+Accordingly Samuel was inoculated; and so was Mr. Walter, a son-in-law
+of Cotton Mather. Doctor Boyleston, likewise, inoculated many persons;
+and while hundreds died who had caught the contagion from the garments
+of the sick, almost all were preserved who followed the wise physician's
+advice.
+
+But the people were not yet convinced of their mistake. One night a
+destructive little instrument, called a hand-grenade, was thrown into
+Cotton Mather's window, and rolled under Grandfather's chair. It was
+supposed to be filled with gunpowder, the explosion of which would have
+blown the poor minister to atoms. But the best informed historians are
+of opinion that the grenade contained only brimstone and assafoetida,
+and was meant to plague Cotton Mather with a very evil perfume.
+
+This is no strange thing in human experience. Men who attempt to do the
+world mere good than the world is able entirely to comprehend are almost
+invariably held in bad odor. But yet, if the wise and good man can wait
+awhile, either the present generation or posterity will do him justice.
+So it proved in the case which we have been speaking of. In after years,
+when inoculation was universally practised, and thousands were saved
+from death by it, the people remembered old Cotton Mather, then sleeping
+in his grave. They acknowledged that the very thing for which they had
+so reviled and persecuted him was the best and wisest thing he ever did.
+
+"Grandfather, this is not an agreeable story," observed Clara.
+
+"No, Clara," replied Grandfather. "But it is right that you should know
+what a dark shadow this disease threw over the times of our forefathers.
+And now, if you wish to learn more about Cotton Mather, you must read
+his biography, written by Mr. Peabody, of Springfield. You will find it
+very entertaining and instructive; but perhaps the writer is somewhat
+too harsh in his judgment of this singular man. He estimates him fairly,
+indeed, and understands him well; but he unriddles his character rather
+by acuteness than by sympathy. Now, his life should have been written by
+one who, knowing all his faults, would nevertheless love him."
+
+So Grandfather made an end of Cotton Mather, telling his auditors that
+he died in 1728, at the age of sixty-five, and bequeathed the chair
+to Elisha Cooke. This gentleman was a famous advocate of the people's
+rights.
+
+The same year William Burner, a son of the celebrated Bishop Burnet,
+arrived in Boston with the commission of governor. He was the first that
+had been appointed since the departure of Colonel Shute, Governor
+Burnet took up his residence with Mr. Cooke while the Province House was
+undergoing repairs. During this period he was always complimented with a
+seat in Grandfather's chair; and so comfortable did he find it, that,
+on removing to the Province House, he could not bear to leave it behind
+him. Mr. Cooke, therefore, requested his acceptance of it.
+
+"I should think," said Laurence, "that the people would have petitioned
+the king always to appoint a native-born New-Englander to govern them."
+
+"Undoubtedly it was a grievance," answered Grandfather, "to see men
+placed in this station who perhaps had neither talents nor virtues to
+fit them for it, and who certainly could have no natural affection
+for the country. The king generally bestowed the governorships of
+the American colonies upon needy noblemen, or hangers-on at court, or
+disbanded officers. The people knew that such persons would be very
+likely to make the good of the country subservient to the wishes of the
+king. The Legislature, therefore, endeavored to keep as much power as
+possible in their own hands, by refusing to settle a fixed salary upon
+the governors. It was thought better to pay them according to their
+deserts."
+
+"Did Governor Burner work well for his money?" asked Charley.
+
+Grandfather could not help smiling at the simplicity of Charley's
+question. Nevertheless, it put the matter in a very plain point of view.
+
+He then described the character of Governor Bur-net, representing him
+as a good scholar, possessed of much ability, and likewise of unspotted
+integrity. His story affords a striking example how unfortunate it is
+for a man, who is placed as ruler over a country to be compelled to aim
+at anything but the good of the people. Governor Burnet was so chained
+down by his instructions from the king that he could not act as he might
+otherwise have wished. Consequently, his whole term of office was wasted
+in quarrels with the Legislature.
+
+"I am afraid, children," said Grandfather, "that Governor Burner found
+but little rest or comfort in our old chair. Here he used to sit,
+dressed in a coat which was made of rough, shaggy cloth outside, but of
+smooth velvet within. It was said that his own character resembled that
+coat; for his outward manner was rough, but his inward disposition soft
+and kind. It is a pity that such a man could not have been kept
+free from trouble. But so harassing were his disputes with the
+representatives of the people that he fell into a fever, of which he
+died in 1729. The Legislature had refused him a salary while alive;
+but they appropriated money enough to give him a splendid and pompous
+funeral."
+
+And now Grandfather perceived that little Alice had fallen fast asleep,
+with her head upon his footstool. Indeed, as Clara observed, she had
+been sleeping from the time of Sir Hovenden Walker's expedition against
+Quebec until the death of Governor Burnet,--a period of about
+eighteen years. And yet, after so long a nap, sweet little Alice was a
+golden-haired child of scarcely five years old.
+
+"It puts me in mind," said Laurence, "of the story of the enchanted
+princess, who slept many a hundred years, and awoke as young and
+beautiful as ever."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. POMPS AND VANITIES.
+
+A FEW evenings afterwards, cousin Clara happened inquire of Grandfather
+whether the old chair had never been present at a ball. At the same time
+little Alice brought forward a doll, with whom she had been holding a
+long conversation.
+
+"See, Grandfather!" cried she. "Did such a pretty lady as this ever sit
+in your great chair?"
+
+These questions led Grandfather to talk about the fashions and manners
+which now began to be introduced from England into the provinces. The
+simplicity of the good old Puritan times was fast disappearing. This was
+partly owing to the increasing number and wealth of the inhabitants,
+and to the additions which they continually received by the arrival and
+settlement of people from beyond the sea.
+
+Another cause of a pompous and artificial mode of life, among those who
+could afford it, was that the example was set by the royal governors.
+Under the old charter, the governors were the representatives of the
+people, and therefore their way of living had probably been marked by a
+popular simplicity. But now, as they represented the person of the king,
+they thought it necessary to preserve the dignity of their station
+by the practice of high and gorgeous ceremonials. And, besides, the
+profitable offices under the government were filled by men who had lived
+in London, and had there contracted fashionable and luxurious habits
+of living which they would not now lay aside. The wealthy people of the
+province imitated them; and thus began a general change in social life.
+
+"So, my dear Clara," said Grandfather, "after our chair had entered the
+Province House, it must often have been present at balls and festivals;
+though I cannot give you a description of any particular one. But
+I doubt not that they were very magnificent; and slaves in gorgeous
+liveries waited on the guests, and offered them wine in goblets of
+massive silver."
+
+"Were there slaves in those days!" exclaimed Clara.
+
+"Yes, black slaves and white," replied Grandfather. "Our ancestors not
+only brought negroes from Africa, but Indians from South America, and
+white people from Ireland. These last were sold, not for life, but for
+a certain number of years, in order to pay the expenses of their voyage
+across the Atlantic. Nothing was more common than to see a lot of likely
+Irish girls advertised for sale in the newspapers. As for the little
+negro babies, they were offered to be giver away like young kittens."
+
+"Perhaps Alice would have liked one to play with, instead of her doll,"
+said Charley, laughing.
+
+But little Alice clasped the waxen doll closer to her bosom.
+
+"Now, as for this pretty doll, my little Alice," said Grandfather, "I
+wish you could have seen what splendid dresses the ladies wore in those
+times. They had silks, and satins, and damasks, and brocades, and high
+head-dresses, and all sorts of fine things. And they used to wear hooped
+petticoats of such enormous size that it was quite a journey to walk
+round them."
+
+"And how did the gentlemen dress?" asked Charley.
+
+"With full as much magnificence as the ladies," answered Grandfather.
+"For their holiday suits they had coats of figured velvet, crimson,
+green, blue, and all other gay colors, embroidered with gold or silver
+lace. Their waistcoats, which were five times as large as modern ones,
+were very splendid. Sometimes the whole waistcoat, which came down
+almost to the knees, was made of gold brocade."
+
+"Why, the wearer must have shone like a golden image!" said Clara.
+
+"And then," continued Grandfather, "they wore various sorts of periwigs,
+such as the tie, the Spencer, the brigadier, the major, the
+Albemarle, the Ramillies, the feather-top, and the full-bottom. Their
+three-cornered hats were laced with gold or silver. They had shining
+buckles at the knees of their small-clothes, and buckles likewise in
+their shoes. They wore swords with beautiful hilts, either of silver, or
+sometimes of polished steel, inlaid with gold."
+
+"Oh, I should like to wear a sword!" cried Charley.
+
+"And an embroidered crimson velvet coat," said Clara, laughing, "and a
+gold brocade waistcoat down to your knees."
+
+"And knee-buckles and shoe-buckles," said Laurence, laughing also.
+
+"And a periwig," added little Alice, soberly, not knowing what was the
+article of dress which she recommended to our friend Charley.
+
+Grandfather smiled at the idea of Charley's sturdy little figure in such
+a grotesque caparison. He then went on with the history of the chair,
+and told the children that, in 1730, King George II. appointed Jonathan
+Belcher to be governor of Massachusetts in place of the deceased
+Governor Burner. Mr. Belcher was a native of the province, but had spent
+much of his life in Europe.
+
+The new governor found Grandfather's chair in the Province House. He was
+struck with its noble and stately aspect, but was of opinion that age
+and hard services had made it scarcely so fit for courtly company as
+when it stood in the Earl of Lincoln's hall. Wherefore, as Governor
+Belcher was fond of splendor, he employed a skilful artist to beautify
+the chair. This was done by polishing and varnishing it, and by gilding
+the carved work of the elbows, and likewise the oaken flowers of the
+back. The lion's head now shone like a veritable lump of gold. Finally
+Governor Belcher gave the chair a cushion of blue damask, with a rich
+golden fringe.
+
+"Our good old chair being thus glorified," proceeded Grandfather, "it
+glittered with a great deal more splendor than it had exhibited just a
+century before, when the Lady Arbella brought it over from England. Most
+people mistook it for a chair of the latest London fashion. And this may
+serve for an example, that there is almost always an old and timeworn
+substance under all the glittering show of new invention."
+
+"Grandfather, I cannot see any of the gilding," remarked Charley, who
+had been examining the chair very minutely.
+
+"You will not wonder that it has been rubbed off," replied Grandfather,
+"when you hear all the adventures that have since befallen the chair.
+Gilded it was; and the handsomest room in the Province House was adorned
+by it."
+
+There was not much to interest the children in what happened during
+the years that Governor Belcher remained in the chair. At first, like
+Colonel Shute and Governor Burner, he was engaged in disputing with the
+Legislature about his salary. But, as he found it impossible to get a
+fixed sum, he finally obtained the king's leave to accept whatever the
+Legislature chose to give him. And thus the people triumphed, after this
+long contest for the privilege of expending their own money as they saw
+fit.
+
+The remainder of Governor Belcher's term of office was principally taken
+up in endeavoring to settle the currency. Honest John Hull's pine-tree
+shillings had long ago been worn out, or lost, or melted down again;
+and their place was supplied by bills of paper or parchment, which were
+nominally valued at threepence and upwards. The value of these bills
+kept continually sinking, because the real hard money could not be
+obtained for them. They were a great deal worse than the old Indian
+currency of clam-shells. These disorders of the circulating medium were
+a source of endless plague and perplexity to the rulers and legislators,
+not only in Governor Belcher's days, but for many years before and
+afterwards.
+
+Finally the people suspected that Governor Belcher was secretly
+endeavoring to establish the Episcopal mode of worship in the provinces.
+There was enough of the old Puritan spirit remaining to cause most of
+the true sons of New England to look with horror upon such an attempt.
+Great exertions were made to induce the king to remove the governor.
+Accordingly, in 1740, he was compelled to resign his office, and
+Grandfather's chair into the bargain, to Mr. Shirley.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE PROVINCIAL MUSTER.
+
+"WILLIAM SHIRLEY," said Grandfather, "had come from England a few years
+before, and begun to practise law in Boston. You will think, perhaps,
+that, as he had been a lawyer, the new governor used to sit in our great
+chair reading heavy law-books from morning till night. On the contrary,
+he was as stirring and active a governor as Massachusetts ever had.
+Even Sir William Phips hardly equalled him. The first year or two of
+his administration was spent in trying to regulate the currency. But
+in 1744, after a peace of more than thirty years, war broke out between
+France and England."
+
+"And I suppose," said Charley, "the governor went to take Canada."
+
+"Not exactly, Charley," said Grandfather; "though you have made a pretty
+shrewd conjecture. He planned, in 1745, an expedition against Louisburg.
+This was a fortified city, on the island of Cape Breton, near Nova
+Scotia. Its walls were of immense height and strength, and were defended
+by hundreds of heavy cannon. It was the strongest fortress which the
+French possessed in America; and if the king of France had guessed
+Governor Shirley's intentions, he would have sent all the ships he could
+muster to protect it."
+
+As the siege of Louisburg was one of the most remarkable events that
+ever the inhabitants of New England were engaged in, Grandfather
+endeavored to give his auditors a lively idea of the spirit with which
+they set about it. We shall call his description The Provincial Muster.
+
+The expedition against Louisburg first began to be thought of in the
+month of January. From that time the governor's chair was continually
+surrounded by councillors, representatives, clergymen, captains, pilots,
+and all manner of people, with whom he consulted about this wonderful
+project.
+
+First of all, it was necessary to provide men and arms. The Legislature
+immediately sent out a huge quantity of paper-money, with which, as
+if by magic spell, the governor hoped to get possession of all the old
+cannon, powder and balls, rusty swords and muskets, and everything else
+that would be serviceable in killing Frenchmen. Drums were beaten in
+all the villages of Massachusetts to enlist soldiers for the service.
+Messages were sent to the other governors of New England, and to New
+York and Pennsylvania, entreating them to unite in this crusade against
+the French. All these provinces agreed to give what assistance they
+could.
+
+But there was one very important thing to be decided. Who shall be the
+general of this great army? Peace had continued such an unusual length
+of time that there was now less military experience among the colonists
+than at any former period. The old Puritans had always kept their
+weapons bright, and were never destitute of warlike captains who were
+skilful in assault or defence. But the swords of their descendents
+had grown rusty by disuse. There was nobody in New England that knew
+anything about sieges or any other regular fighting. The only persons
+at all acquainted with warlike business were a few elderly men, who
+had hunted Indians through the underbrush of the forest in old Governor
+Dummer's War.
+
+In this dilemma Governor Shirley fixed upon a wealthy merchant, named
+William Pepperell, who was pretty well known and liked among the people.
+As to military skill, he had no more of it than his neighbors. But, as
+the governor urged him very pressingly, Mr. Pepperell consented to shut
+up his ledger, gird on a sword, and assume the title of general.
+
+Meantime, what a hubbub was raised by this scheme! Rub-a-dub-dub!
+rub-a-dub-dub! The rattle of drums, beaten out of all manner of time,
+was heard above every other sound.
+
+Nothing now was so valuable as arms, of whatever style and fashion they
+might be. The bellows blew, and the hammer clanged continually upon the
+anvil, while the blacksmiths were repairing the broken weapons of other
+wars. Doubtless some of the soldiers lugged out those enormous, heavy
+muskets which used to be fired, with rests, in the time of the early
+Puritans. Great horse-pistols, too, were found, which would go off with
+a bang like a cannon. Old cannon, with touchholes almost as big as
+their muzzles, were looked upon as inestimable treasures. Pikes which,
+perhaps, had been handled by Miles Standish's soldiers, now made their
+appearance again. Many a young man ransacked the garret and brought
+forth his great-grandfather's sword, corroded with rust and stained with
+the blood of King Philip's War.
+
+Never had there been such an arming as this, when a people, so long
+peaceful, rose to the war with the best weapons that they could lay
+their hands upon. And still the drums were heard--rub-a-dub-dub!
+rub-a-dub-dub!--in all the towns and villages; and louder and more
+numerous grew the trampling footsteps of the recruits that marched
+behind.
+
+And now the army began to gather into Boston. Tan, lanky, awkward
+fellows came in squads, and companies, and regiments, swaggering along,
+dressed in their brown homespun clothes and blue yarn stockings. They
+stooped as if they still had hold of the plough-handles, and marched
+without any time or tune. Hither they came, from the cornfields, from
+the clearing in the forest, from the blacksmith's forge, from the
+carpenter's workshop, and from the shoemaker's seat. They were an army
+of rough faces and sturdy frames. A trained officer of Europe would
+have laughed at them till his sides had ached. But there was a spirit
+in their bosoms which is more essential to soldiership than to wear red
+coats and march in stately ranks to the sound of regular music.
+
+Still was heard the beat of the drum,--rub-a-dub-dub! And now a host of
+three or four thousand men had found their way to Boston. Little quiet
+was there then! Forth scampered the school-boys, shouting behind the
+drums. The whole town, the whole land, was on fire with war.
+
+After the arrival of the troops, they were probably reviewed upon the
+Common. We may imagine Governor Shirley and General Pepperell riding
+slowly along the line, while the drummers beat strange old tunes, like
+psalm-tunes, and all the officers and soldiers put on their most warlike
+looks. It would have been a terrible sight for the Frenchmen, could they
+but have witnessed it!
+
+At length, on the 24th of March, 1745, the army gave a parting shout,
+and set sail from Boston in ten or twelve vessels which had been hired
+by the governor. A few days afterwards an English fleet, commanded
+by Commodore Peter Warren, sailed also for Louisburg to assist the
+provincial army. So now, after all this bustle of preparation, the town
+and province were left in stillness and repose.
+
+But stillness and repose, at such a time of anxious expectation, are
+hard to bear. The hearts of the old people and women sunk within them
+when they reflected what perils they had sent their sons, and husbands,
+and brothers to encounter. The boys loitered heavily to School, missing
+the rub-a-dub-dub and the trampling march, in the rear of which they had
+so lately run and shouted. All the ministers prayed earnestly in their
+pulpits for a blessing on the army of New England. In every family, when
+the good man lifted up his heart in domestic worship, the burden of his
+petition was for the safety of those dear ones who were fighting under
+the walls of Louisburg.
+
+Governor Shirley all this time was probably in an ecstasy of impatience.
+He could not sit still a moment. He found no quiet, not even in
+Grandfather's chair; but hurried to and fro, and up and down the
+staircase of the Province House. Now he mounted to the cupola and looked
+seaward, straining his eyes to discover if there were a sail upon the
+horizon. Now he hastened down the stairs, and stood beneath the portal,
+on the red free-stone steps, to receive some mud-bespattered courier,
+from whom he hoped to hear tidings of the army. A few weeks after the
+departure of the troops, Commodore Warren sent a small vessel to Boston
+with two French prisoners. One of them was Monsieur Bouladrie, who had
+been commander of a battery outside the walls of Louisburg. The other
+was the Marquis de la Maison Forte, captain of a French frigate which
+had been taken by Commodore Warren's fleet. These prisoners assured
+Governor Shirley that the fortifications of Louisburg were far too
+strong ever to be stormed by the provincial army.
+
+Day after day and week after week went on. The people grew almost
+heart-sick with anxiety; for the flower of the country was at peril in
+this adventurous expedition. It was now daybreak on the morning of the
+3d of July.
+
+But hark! what sound is this? The hurried clang of a bell! There is the
+Old North pealing suddenly out!--there the Old South strikes in!--now
+the peal comes from the church in Brattle Street!--the bells of nine or
+ten steeples are all flinging their iron voices at once upon the morning
+breeze! Is it joy, or alarm? There goes the roar of a cannon too! A
+royal salute is thundered forth. And now we hear the loud exulting shout
+of a multitude assembled in the street. Huzza! huzza! Louisburg has
+surrendered! Huzza!
+
+"O Grandfather, how glad I should have been to live in those times!"
+cried Charley. "And what reward did the king give to General Pepperell
+and Governor Shirley?"
+
+"He made Pepperell a baronet; so that he was now to be called Sir
+William Pepperell," replied Grandfather. "He likewise appointed both
+Pepperell and Shirley to be colonels in the royal army. These rewards,
+and higher ones, were well deserved; for this was the greatest triumph
+that the English met with in the whole course of that war. General
+Pepperell became a man of great fame. I have seen a full-length portrait
+of him, representing him in a splendid scarlet uniform, standing before
+the walls of Louisburg, while several bombs are falling through the
+air."
+
+"But did the country gain any real good by the conquest of Louisburg?"
+asked Laurence. "Or was all the benefit reaped by Pepperell and
+Shirley?"
+
+"The English Parliament," replied Grandfather, "agreed to pay the
+colonists for all the expenses of the siege. Accordingly, in 1749, two
+hundred and fifteen chests of Spanish dollars and one hundred casks of
+copper coin were brought from England to Boston. The whole amount was
+about a million of dollars. Twenty-seven carts and trucks carried this
+money from the wharf to the provincial treasury. Was not this a pretty
+liberal reward?"
+
+"The mothers of the young men who were killed at the siege of Louisburg
+would not have thought it so," said Laurence.
+
+"No; Laurence," rejoined Grandfather; "and every warlike achievement
+involves an amount of physical and moral evil, for which all the gold in
+the Spanish mines would not be the slightest recompense. But we are to
+consider that this siege was one of the occasions on which the colonists
+tested their ability for war, and thus were prepared for the great
+contest of the Revolution. In that point of view, the valor of our
+forefathers was its own reward."
+
+Grandfather went on to say that the success of the expedition against
+Louisburg induced Shirley and Pepperell to form a scheme for conquering
+Canada, This plan, however, was not carried into execution.
+
+In the year 1746 great terror was excited by the arrival of a formidable
+French fleet upon the coast It was commanded by the Duke d'Anville, and
+consisted of forty ships of war, besides vessels with soldiers on board.
+With this force the French intended to retake Louisburg, and afterwards
+to ravage the whole of New England. Many people were ready to give up
+the country for lost.
+
+But the hostile fleet met with so many disasters and losses by storm and
+shipwreck, that the Duke d'Anville is said to have poisoned himself in
+despair. The officer next in command threw himself upon his sword and
+perished. Thus deprived of their commanders, the remainder of the ships
+returned to France. This was as great a deliverance for New England as
+that which Old England had experienced in the days of Queen Elizabeth,
+when the Spanish Armada was wrecked upon her coast.
+
+"In 1747," proceeded Grandfather, "Governor Shirley was driven from the
+Province House, not by a hostile fleet and army, but by a mob of the
+Boston people. They were so incensed at the conduct of the British
+Commodore Knowles, who had impressed some of their fellow-citizens,
+that several thousands of them surrounded the council chamber and threw
+stones and brickbats into the windows. The governor attempted to pacify
+them; but not succeeding, he thought it necessary to leave the town and
+take refuge within the walls of Castle William. Quiet was not restored
+until Commodore Knowles had sent back the impressed men. This affair was
+a flash of spirit that might have warned the English not to venture upon
+any oppressive measures against their colonial brethren."
+
+Peace being declared between France and England in 1748, the governor
+had now an opportunity to sit at his ease in Grandfather's chair. Such
+repose, however, appears not to have suited his disposition; for in the
+following year he went to England, and thence was despatched to France
+on public business. Meanwhile, as Shirley had not resigned his office,
+Lieu-tenant-Governor Phips acted as chief magistrate in his stead.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE OLD FRENCH WAR AND THE ACADIAN EXILES
+
+IN the early twilight of Thanksgiving Eve came Laurence, and Clara, and
+Charley, and little Alice, hand in hand, and stood in a semicircle
+round Grandfather's chair. They had been joyous throughout that day of
+festivity, mingling together in all kinds of play, so that the house had
+echoed with their airy mirth.
+
+Grandfather, too, had been happy though not mirthful. He felt that this
+was to be set down as one of the good Thanksgivings of his life. In
+truth, all his former Thanksgivings had borne their part in the present
+one; for his years of infancy, and youth, and manhood, with their
+blessings and their griefs, had flitted before him while he sat silently
+in the great chair. Vanished scenes had been pictured in the air. The
+forms of departed friends had visited him. Voices to be heard no more on
+earth had sent an echo from the infinite and the eternal. These shadows,
+if such they were, seemed almost as real to him as what was actually
+present,--as the merry shouts and laughter of the children,--as their
+figures, dancing like sunshine before his eyes.
+
+He felt that the past was not taken from him. The happiness of former
+days was a possession forever. And there was something in the mingled
+sorrow of his lifetime that became akin to happiness, after being long
+treasured in the depths of his heart. There it underwent a change, and
+grew more precious than pure gold.
+
+And now came the children, somewhat aweary with their wild play, and
+sought the quiet enjoyment of Grandfather's talk. The good old gentleman
+rubbed his eyes and smiled round upon them all. He was glad, as most
+aged people are, to find that he was yet of consequence, and could give
+pleasure to the world. After being so merry all day long, did these
+children desire to hear his sober talk? Oh, then, old Grandfather had
+yet a place to fill among living men,--or at least among boys and girls!
+
+"Begin quick, Grandfather," cried little Alice; "for pussy wants to hear
+you."
+
+And truly our yellow friend, the cat, lay upon the hearth-rug, basking
+in the warmth of the fire, pricking up her ears, and turning her head
+from the children to Grandfather, and from Grandfather to the children
+as if she felt herself very sympathetic with them all. A loud purr, like
+the singing of a tea-kettle or the hum of a spinning-wheel, testified
+that she was as comfortable and happy as a cat could be. For puss had
+feasted; and therefore, like Grandfather and the children, had kept a
+good Thanksgiving.
+
+"Does pussy want to hear me?" said Grandfathers smiling. "Well, we must
+please pussy, if we can."
+
+And so he took up the history of the chair from the epoch of the peace
+of 1748. By one of the provisions of the treaty, Louisburg, which the
+New-Englanders had been at so much pains to take, was restored to the
+King of France.
+
+The French were afraid that, unless their colonies should be better
+defended than heretofore, another war might deprive them of the whole.
+Almost as soon as peace was declared, therefore, they began to build
+strong fortifications in the interior of North America. It was strange
+to behold these warlike castles on the banks of solitary lakes and far
+in the midst of woods. The Indian, paddling his birch canoe on Lake
+Champlain, looked up at the high ramparts of Ticonderoga, stone piled
+on stone, bristling with cannon, and the white flag of France floating
+above. There were similar fortifications on Lake Ontario, and near the
+great Falls of Niagara, and at the sources of the Ohio River. And all
+around these forts and castles lay the eternal forest, and the roll of
+the drum died away in those deep solitudes.
+
+The truth was, that the French intended to build forts all the way
+from Canada to Louisiana. They would then have had a wall of military
+strength at the back of the English settlements so as completely to hem
+them in. The King of England considered the building of these forts as a
+sufficient cause of war, which was accordingly commenced in 1754.
+
+"Governor Shirley," said Grandfather, "had returned to Boston in 1753.
+While in Paris he had married a second wife, a young French girl, and
+now brought her to the Province House. But when war was breaking out it
+was impossible for such a bustling man to stay quietly at home, sitting
+in our old chair, with his wife and children, round about him. He
+therefore obtained a command in the English forces."
+
+"And what did Sir William Pepperell do?" asked Charley.
+
+"He stayed at home," said Grandfather, "and was general of the militia.
+The veteran regiments of the English army which were now sent across the
+Atlantic would have scorned to fight under the orders of an old American
+merchant. And now began what aged people call the old French War. It
+would be going too far astray from the history of our chair to tell you
+one half of the battles that were fought. I cannot even allow myself to
+describe the bloody defeat of General Braddock, near the sources of
+the Ohio River, in 1755. But I must not omit to mention that, when the
+English general was mortally wounded and his army routed, the remains
+of it were preserved by the skill and valor of George Washington."
+
+At the mention of this illustrious name the children started as if a
+sudden sunlight had gleamed upon the history of their country, now that
+the great deliverer had arisen above the horizon.
+
+Among all the events of the old French War, Grandfather thought that
+there was none more interesting than the removal of the inhabitants
+of Acadia. From the first settlement of this ancient province of the
+French, in 1604, until the present time, its people could scarcely ever
+know what kingdom held dominion over them. They were a peaceful race,
+taking no delight in warfare, and caring nothing for military renown.
+And yet, in every war, their region was infested with iron-hearted
+soldiers, both French and English, who fought one another for the
+privilege of ill-treating these poor, harmless Acadians. Sometimes the
+treaty of peace made them subjects of one king, sometimes of another.
+
+At the peace of 1748 Acadia had been ceded to England. But the French
+still claimed a large portion of it, and built forts for its defence.
+In 1755 these forts were taken, and the whole of Acadia was conquered
+by three thousand men from Massachusetts, under the command of General
+Winslow. The inhabitants were accused of supplying the French with
+provisions, and of doing other things that violated their neutrality.
+
+"These accusations were probably true," observed Grandfather; "for
+the Acadians were descended from the French, and had the same friendly
+feelings towards them that the people of Massachusetts had for the
+English. But their punishment was severe. The English determined to tear
+these poor people from their native homes and scatter them abroad."
+
+The Acadians were about seven thousand in number. A considerable part of
+them were made prisoners, and transported to the English colonies. All
+their dwellings and churches were burned, their cattle were killed,
+and the whole country was laid waste, so that none of them might find
+shelter or food in their old homes after the departure of the
+English. One thousand of the prisoners were sent to Massachusetts; and
+Grandfather allowed his fancy to follow them thither, and tried to give
+his auditors an idea of their situation.
+
+We shall call this passage the story of
+
+THE ACADIAN EXILES.
+
+A sad day it was for the poor Acadians when the armed soldiers drove
+them, at the point of the bayonet, down to the sea-shore. Very sad were
+they, likewise, while tossing upon the ocean in the crowded transport
+vessels. But methinks it must have been sadder still when they were
+landed on the Long Wharf in Boston, and left to themselves on a foreign
+strand.
+
+Then, probably, they huddled together and looked into one another's
+faces for the comfort which was not there. Hitherto they had been
+confined on board of separate vessels, so that they could not tell
+whether their relatives and friends were prisoners along with them.
+But now, at least, they could tell that many had been left behind or
+transported to other regions.
+
+Now a desolate wife might be heard calling for her husband. He, alas!
+had gone, she knew not whither; or perhaps had fled into the woods of
+Acadia, and had now returned to weep over the ashes of their dwelling.
+
+An aged widow was crying out in a querulous, lamentable tone for her
+son, whose affectionate toil had supported her for many a. year. He was
+not in the crowd of exiles; and what could this aged widow do but sink
+down and die? Young men and maidens, whose hearts had been torn asunder
+by separation, had hoped, during the voyage, to meet their beloved ones
+at its close. Now they began to feel that they were separated forever.
+And perhaps a lonesome little girl, a golden-haired child of five years
+old, the very picture of our little Alice, was weeping and wailing for
+her mother, and found not a soul to give her a kind word.
+
+Oh, how many broken bonds of affection were here! Country lost,--friends
+lost,--their rural wealth of cottage, field, and herds all lost
+together! Every tie between these poor exiles and the world seemed to be
+cut off at once. They must have regretted that they had not died before
+their exile; for even the English would not have been so pitiless as
+to deny them graves in their native soil. The dead were happy; for they
+were not exiles!
+
+While they thus stood upon the wharf, the curiosity and inquisitiveness
+of the New England people would naturally lead them into the midst of
+the poor Acadians. Prying busybodies thrust their heads into the circle
+wherever two or three of the exiles were conversing together. How
+puzzled did they look at the outlandish sound of the French tongue!
+There were seen the New England women, too. They had just come out of
+their warm, safe homes, where everything was regular and comfortable,
+and where their husbands and children would be with them at nightfall.
+Surely they could pity the wretched wives and mothers of Acadia! Or aid
+the sign of the cross which the Acadians continually made upon their
+breasts, and which was abhorred by the descendants of the Puritans,--did
+that sign exclude all pity?
+
+Among the spectators, too, was the noisy brood of Boston school-boys,
+who came running, with laughter and shouts, to gaze at this crowd of
+oddly dressed foreigners. At first they danced and capered around them,
+full of merriment and mischief. But the despair of the Acadians soon
+had its effect upon these thoughtless lads, and melted them into tearful
+sympathy.
+
+At a little distance from the throng might be seen the wealthy and
+pompous merchants whose warehouses stood on Long Wharf. It was difficult
+to touch these rich men's hearts; for they had all the comforts of the
+world at their command; and when they walked abroad their feelings were
+seldom moved, except by the roughness of the pavement irritating their
+gouty toes. Leaning upon their gold-headed canes, they watched the scene
+with an aspect of composure. But let us hype they distributed some of
+their superfluous coin among these hapless exiles to purchase food and a
+night's lodging.
+
+After standing a long time at the end of the wharf, gazing seaward, as
+if to catch a glimpse of their lost Acadia, the strangers began to stray
+into the town.
+
+They went, we will suppose, in parties and groups, here a hundred, there
+a score, there ten, there three or four, who possessed some bond of
+unity among themselves. Here and there was one who, utterly desolate,
+stole away by himself, seeking no companionship.
+
+Whither did they go? I imagine them wandering about the streets, telling
+the townspeople, in outlandish, unintelligible words, that no earthly
+affliction ever equalled what had befallen them. Man's brotherhood with
+man was sufficient to make the New-Englanders understand this language.
+The strangers wanted food. Some of them sought hospitality at the doors
+of the stately mansions which then stood in the vicinity of Hanover
+Street and the North Square. Others were applicants at the humble wooden
+tenements, where dwelt the petty shopkeepers and mechanics. Pray Heaven
+that no family in Boston turned one of these poor exiles from their
+door! It would be a reproach upon New England,--a crime worthy of heavy
+retribution,--if the aged women and children, or even the strong men,
+were allowed to feel the pinch of hunger.
+
+Perhaps some of the Acadians, in their aimless wanderings through the
+town, found themselves near a large brick edifice, which was fenced in
+from the street by an iron railing, wrought with fantastic figures. They
+saw a flight of red freestone steps ascending to a portal, above which
+was a balcony and balustrade. Misery and desolation give men the right
+of free passage everywhere. Let us suppose, then, that they mounted the
+flight of steps and passed into the Province House. Making their way
+into one of the apartments, they beheld a richly-clad gentleman, seated
+in a stately chair, with gilding upon the carved work of its back, and a
+gilded lion's head at the summit. This was Governor Shirley, meditating
+upon matters of war and state, in Grandfather's chair!
+
+If such an incident did happen, Shirley, reflecting what a ruin of
+peaceful and humble hopes had been wrought by the cold policy of the
+statesman and the iron band of the warrior, might have drawn a deep
+moral from it. It should have taught him that the poor man's hearth
+is sacred, and that armies and nations have no right to violate it. It
+should have made him feel that England's triumph and increased dominion
+could not compensate to mankind nor atone to Heaven for the ashes of a
+single Acadian cottage. But it is not thus that statesmen and warriors
+moralize.
+
+"Grandfather," cried Laurence, with emotion trembling in his voice,
+"did iron-hearted War itself ever do so hard and cruel a thing as this
+before?"
+
+"You have read in history, Laurence, of whole regions wantonly laid
+waste," said Grandfather. "In the removal of the Acadians, the troops
+were guilty of no cruelty or outrage, except what was inseparable from
+the measure."
+
+Little Alice, whose eyes had all along been brimming full of tears, now
+burst forth a-sobbing; for Grandfather had touched her sympathies more
+than he intended.
+
+"To think of a whole people homeless in the world!" said Clara, with
+moistened eyes. "There never was anything so sad!"
+
+"It was their own fault!" cried Charley, energetically. "Why did not
+they fight for the country where they were born? Then, if the worst had
+happened to them, they could only have been killed and buried there.
+They would not have been exiles then."
+
+"Certainly their lot was as hard as death," said Grandfather. "All that
+could be done for them in the English provinces was, to send them to the
+almshouses, or bind them out to taskmasters. And this was the fate
+of persons who had possessed a comfortable property in their native
+country. Some of them found means to embark for France; but though it
+was the land of their forefathers, it must have been a foreign land to
+them. Those who remained behind always cherished a belief that the King
+of France would never make peace with England till his poor Acadians
+were restored to their country and their homes."
+
+"And did he?" inquired Clara.
+
+"Alas! my dear Clara," said Grandfather, "it is improbable that the
+slightest whisper of the woes of Acadia ever reached the ears of Louis
+XV. The exiles grew old in the British provinces, and never saw
+Acadia again. Their descendants remain among us to this day. They
+have forgotten the language of their ancestors, and probably retain no
+tradition of their misfortunes. But, methinks, if I were an American
+poet, I would choose Acadia for the subject of my song."
+
+Since Grandfather first spoke these words, the most famous of American
+poets has drawn sweet tears from all of us by his beautiful poem
+Evangeline.
+
+And now, having thrown a gentle gloom around the Thanksgiving fireside
+by a story that made the children feel the blessing of a secure and
+peaceful hearth, Grandfather put off the other events of the old French
+War till the next evening.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE END OF THE WAR.
+
+IN the twilight of the succeeding eve, when the red beams of the fire
+were dancing upon the wall, the children besought Grandfather to tell
+them what had next happened to the old chair.
+
+"Our chair," said Grandfather, "stood all this time in the Province
+House. But Governor Shirley had seldom an opportunity to repose within
+its arms. He was leading his troops through the forest, or sailing in
+a flat-boat on Lake Ontario, or sleeping in his tent, while the awful
+cataract of Niagara sent its roar through his dreams. At one period,
+in the early part of the war, Shirley had the chief command of all the
+king's forces in America."
+
+"Did his young wife go with him to the war?" asked Clara.
+
+"I rather imagine," replied Grandfather, "that she remained in Boston.
+This lady, I suppose, had our chair all to herself, and used to sit in
+it during those brief intervals when a young Frenchwoman can be quiet
+enough to sit in a chair. The people of Massachusetts were never fond
+of Governor Shirley's young French wife. They had a suspicion that she
+betrayed the military plans of the English to the generals of the French
+armies."
+
+"And was it true?" inquired Clara.
+
+"Probably not," said Grandfather. "But the mere suspicion did Shirley a
+great deal of harm. Partly, perhaps, for this reason, but much more on
+account of his inefficiency as a general, he was deprived of his command
+in 1756, and recalled to England. He never afterwards made any figure in
+public life."
+
+As Grandfather's chair had no locomotive properties, and did not even
+run on castors, it cannot be supposed to have marched in person to the
+old French War. But Grandfather delayed its momentous history while he
+touched briefly upon some of the bloody battles, sieges, and onslaughts,
+the tidings of which kept continually coming to the ears of the old
+inhabitants of Boston. The woods of the North were populous with
+fighting men. All the Indian tribes uplifted their tomahawks, and took
+part either with the French or English. The rattle of musketry and roar
+of cannon disturbed the ancient quiet of the forest, and actually drove
+the bears and other wild beasts to the more cultivated portion of the
+country in the vicinity of the seaports. The children felt as if they
+were transported back to those forgotten times, and that the couriers
+from the army, with the news of a battle lost or won, might even now
+be heard galloping through the streets. Grandfather told them about
+the battle of Lake George in 1755, when the gallant Colonel Williams,
+a Massachusetts officer, was slain, with many of his countrymen. But
+General Johnson and General Lyman, with their army, drove back the
+enemy and mortally wounded the French leader, who was called the
+Baron Dieskau. A gold watch, pilfered from the poor baron, is still in
+existence, and still marks each moment of time without complaining of
+weariness, although its hands have been in motion ever since the hour of
+battle.
+
+In the first years of the war there were many disasters on the English
+side. Among these was the loss of Fort Oswego in 1756, and of Fort
+William Henry in the following year. But the greatest misfortune that
+befell the English during the whole war was the repulse of General
+Abercrombie, with his army, from the ramparts of Ticonderoga in 1758. He
+attempted to storm the walls; but a terrible conflict ensued, in which
+more than two thousand Englishmen and New-Englanders were killed or
+wounded. The slain soldiers now lie buried around that ancient fortress.
+When the plough passes over the soil, it turns up here and there a
+mouldering bone.
+
+Up to this period, none of the English generals had shown any military
+talent. Shirley, the Earl of Loudon, and General Abercrombie had each
+held the chief command at different times; but not one of them had won a
+single important triumph for the British arms. This ill success was not
+owing to the want of means: for, in 1758, General Abercrombie had fifty
+thousand soldiers under his command. But the French general, the famous
+Marquis de Montcalm, possessed a great genius for war, and had something
+within him that taught him how battles were to be won.
+
+At length, in 1759, Sir Jeffrey Amherst was appointed commander-in-chief
+of all the British forces in America. He was a man of ability and a
+skilful soldier. A plan was now formed for accomplishing that object
+which had so long been the darling wish of the New-Englanders, and which
+their fathers had so many times attempted. This was the conquest of
+Canada.
+
+Three separate armies were to enter Canada from different quarters.
+One of the three, commanded by General Prideaux, was to embark on Lake
+Ontario and proceed to Montreal. The second, at the head of which
+was Sir Jeffrey Amherst himself, was destined to reach the river St.
+Lawrence by the way of Lake Champlain, and then go down the river to
+meet the third army. This last, led by General Wolfe, was to enter the
+St. Lawrence from the sea and ascend the river to Quebec. It is to Wolfe
+and his army that England owes one of the most splendid triumphs ever
+written in her history.
+
+Grandfather described the siege of Quebec, and told how Wolfe led his
+soldiers up a rugged and lofty precipice, that rose from the shore of
+the river to the plain on which the city stood. This bold adventure was
+achieved in the darkness of night. At daybreak tidings were carried to
+the Marquis de Montcalm that the English army was waiting to give him
+battle on the Plains of Abraham. This brave French general ordered his
+drums to strike up, and immediately marched to encounter Wolfe.
+
+He marched to his own death. The battle was the most fierce and terrible
+that had ever been fought in America. General Wolfe was at the head
+of his soldiers, and, while encouraging them onward, received a mortal
+wound. He reclined against a stone in the agonies of death; but it
+seemed as if his spirit could not pass away while the fight yet raged so
+doubtfully. Suddenly a shout came pealing across the battle-field. "They
+flee! they flee!" and, for a moment, Wolfe lifted his languid head. "Who
+flee?" he inquired.
+
+"The French," replied an officer. "Then I die satisfied!" said Wolfe,
+and expired in the arms of victory.
+
+"If ever a warrior's death were glorious, Wolfe's was so," said
+Grandfather; and his eye kindled, though he was a man of peaceful
+thoughts and gentle spirit. "His life-blood streamed to baptize the
+soil which he had added to the dominion of Britain. His dying breath was
+mingled with his army's shout of victory."
+
+"Oh, it was a good death to die!" cried Charley, with glistening eyes.
+"Was it not a good death, Laurence?"
+
+Laurence made no reply; for his heart burned within him, as the picture
+of Wolfe, dying on the blood-stained field of victory, arose to his
+imagination; and yet he had a deep inward consciousness that, after all,
+there was a truer glory than could thus be won.
+
+"There were other battles in Canada after Wolfe's victory," resumed
+Grandfather; "but we may consider the old French War as having
+terminated with this great event. The treaty of peace, however, was not
+signed until 1763. The terms of the treaty were very disadvantageous
+to the French; for all Canada, and all Acadia, and the Island of Cape
+Breton,--in short, all the territories that France and England had been
+fighting about for nearly a hundred years,--were surrendered to the
+English."
+
+"So now, at last," said Laurence, "New England had gained her wish.
+Canada was taken."
+
+"And now there was nobody to fight with but the Indians," said Charley.
+
+Grandfather mentioned two other important events. The first was the
+great fire of Boston in 1760, when the glare from nearly three hundred
+buildings, all in flames at once, shone through the windows of the
+Province House, and threw a fierce lustre upon the gilded foliage and
+lion's head of our old chair. The second event was the proclamation, in
+the same year, of George III. as King of Great Britain. The blast of the
+trumpet sounded from the balcony of the Town House, and awoke the echoes
+far and wide, as if to challenge all mankind to dispute King George's
+title.
+
+Seven times, as the successive monarchs of Britain ascended the throne,
+the trumpet peal of proclamation had been heard by those who sat in our
+venerable chair. But when the next king put on his father's crown, no
+trumpet peal proclaimed it to New England. Long before that day America
+had shaken off the royal government.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THOMAS HUTCHINSON.
+
+NOW THAT Grandfather had fought through the old French War, in which our
+chair made no very distinguished figure, he thought it high time to tell
+the children some of the more private history of that praiseworthy old
+piece of furniture.
+
+"In 1757," said Grandfather, "after Shirley had been summoned to
+England, Thomas Pownall was appointed governor of Massachusetts. He was
+a gay and fashionable English gentleman, who had spent much of his life
+in London, but had a considerable acquaintance with America. The new
+governor appears to have taken no active part in the war that was going
+on; although, at one period, he talked of marching against the enemy
+at the head of his company of cadets. But, on the whole, he probably
+concluded that it was more befitting a governor to remain quietly in our
+chair, reading the newspapers and official documents."
+
+"Did the people like Pownall?" asked Charley.
+
+"They found no fault with him," replied Grandfather. "It was no time to
+quarrel with the governor when the utmost harmony was required in order
+to defend the country against the French. But Pownall did not remain
+long in Massachusetts. In 1759 he was sent to be governor of South
+Carolina. In thus exchanging one government for another, I suppose he
+felt no regret, except at the necessity of leaving Grandfather's chair
+behind him."
+
+"He might have taken it to South Carolina," observed Clara.
+
+"It appears to me," said Laurence, giving the rein to his fancy, "that
+the fate of this ancient chair was, somehow or other, mysteriously
+connected with the fortunes of old Massachusetts. If Governor Pownall
+had put it aboard the vessel in which he sailed for South Carolina, she
+would probably have lain wind-bound in Boston Harbor. It was
+ordained that the chair should not be taken away. Don't you think so,
+Grandfather?"
+
+"It was kept here for Grandfather and me to sit in together," said
+little Alice, "and for Grandfather to tell stories about."
+
+"And Grandfather is very glad of such a companion and such a theme,"
+said the old gentleman, with a smile. "Well, Laurence, if our oaken
+chair, like the wooden palladium of Troy, was connected with the
+country's fate, yet there appears to have been no supernatural obstacle
+to its removal from the Province House. In 1760 Sir Francis Bernard, who
+had been' governor of New Jersey, was appointed to the same office in
+Massachusetts. He looked at the old chair, and thought it quite
+too shabby to keep company with a new set of mahogany chairs and an
+aristocratic sofa which had just arrived from London. He therefore
+ordered it to be put away in the garret."
+
+The children were loud in their exclamations against this irreverent
+conduct of Sir Francis Bernard. But Grandfather defended him as well as
+he could. He observed that it was then thirty years since the chair had
+been beautified by Governor Belcher. Most of the gilding was worn off
+by the frequent scourings which it had undergone beneath the hands of a
+black slave. The damask cushion, once so splendid, was now squeezed
+out of all shape, and absolutely in tatters, so many were the ponderous
+gentlemen who had deposited their weight upon it during these thirty
+years.
+
+Moreover, at a council held by the Earl of Loudon with the governors of
+New England in 1757, his lordship, in a moment of passion, had
+kicked over the chair with his military boot. By this unprovoked and
+unjustifiable act, our venerable friend had suffered a fracture of one
+of its rungs.
+
+"But," said Grandfather, "our chair, after all, was not destined to
+spend the remainder of its days in the inglorious obscurity of a garret.
+Thomas Hutchinson, Lieutenant-governor of the province, was told of
+Sir Francis Bernard's design. This gentleman was more familiar with
+the history of New England than any other man alive. He knew all the
+adventures and vicissitudes through which the old chair had passed,
+and could have told as accurately as your own Grandfather who were the
+personages that had occupied it. Often, while visiting at the Province
+House, he had eyed the chair with admiration, and felt a longing desire
+to become the possessor of it. He now waited upon Sir Francis Bernard,
+and easily obtained leave to carry it home."
+
+"And I hope," said Clara, "he had it varnished and gilded anew."
+
+"No," answered Grandfather. "What Mr. Hutchinson desired was, to restore
+the chair as much as possible to its original aspect, such as it had
+appeared when it was first made out of the Earl of Lincoln's oak-tree.
+For this purpose he ordered it to be well scoured with soap and sand
+and polished with wax, and then provided it with a substantial leather
+cush-ion. When all was completed to his mind he sat down in the old
+chair, and began to write his History of Massachusetts."
+
+"Oh, that was a bright thought in Mr. Hutchinson," exclaimed Laurence.
+"And no doubt the dim figures of the former possessors of the chair
+flitted around him as he wrote, and inspired him with a knowledge of all
+that they had done and suffered while on earth."
+
+"Why, my dear Laurence," replied Grandfather, smiling, "if Mr.
+Hutchinson was favored with ally such extraordinary inspiration, he made
+but a poor use of it in his history; for a duller piece of composition
+never came from any man's pen. However, he was accurate, at least,
+though far from possessing the brilliancy or philosophy of Mr.
+Bancroft."
+
+"But if Hutchinson knew the history of the chair," rejoined Laurence,
+"his heart must have been stirred by it."
+
+"It must, indeed," said Grandfather. "It would be entertaining and
+instructive, at the present day, to imagine what were Mr. Hutchinson's
+thoughts as he looked back upon the long vista of events with which this
+chair was so remarkably connected."
+
+And Grandfather allowed his fancy to shape out an image of
+Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, sitting in an evening reverie by his
+fireside, and meditating on the changes that had slowly passed around
+the chair.
+
+A devoted Monarchist, Hutchinson would heave no sigh for the subversion
+of the original republican government, the purest that the world had
+seen, with which the colony began its existence. While reverencing the
+grim and stern old Puritans as the founders of his native land, he would
+not wish to recall them from their graves, nor to awaken again that
+king-resisting spirit which he imagined to be laid asleep with
+them forever. Winthrop, Dudley, Bellingham, Endicott, Leverett, and
+Bradstreet,--all these had had their day. Ages might come and go, but
+never again would the people's suffrages place a republican governor in
+their ancient chair of state.
+
+Coming down to the epoch of the second charter, Hutchinson thought of
+the ship-carpenter Phips springing from the lowest of the people and
+attaining to the loftiest station in the land. But he smiled to perceive
+that this governor's example would awaken no turbulent ambition in the
+lower orders; for it was a king's gracious boon alone that made the
+ship-carpenter a ruler. Hutchinson rejoiced to mark the gradual growth
+of an aristocratic class, to whom the common people, as in duty bound,
+were learning humbly to resign the honors, emoluments, and authority of
+state. He saw--or else deceived himself--that, throughout this epoch,
+the people's disposition to self-government had been growing weaker
+through long disuse, and now existed only as a faint traditionary
+feeling.
+
+The lieutenant-governor's reverie had now come down to the period at
+which he himself was sitting in the historic chair. He endeavored to
+throw his glance forward over the coming years. There, probably, he saw
+visions of hereditary rank for himself and other aristocratic colonists.
+He saw the fertile fields of New England proportioned out among a
+few great landholders, and descending by entail from generation to
+generation. He saw the people a race of tenantry, dependent on their
+lords. He saw stars, garters, coronets, and castles.
+
+"But," added Grandfather, turning to Laurence, "the
+lieutenant-governor's castles were built nowhere but among the red
+embers of the fire before which he was sitting. And, just as he had
+constructed a baronial residence for himself and his posterity, the fire
+rolled down upon the hearth and crumbled it to ashes!"
+
+Grandfather now looked at his watch, which hung within a beautiful
+little ebony temple, supported by four Ionic columns. He then laid his
+hand on the golden locks of little Alice, whose head had sunk down upon
+the arm of our illustrious chair.
+
+"To bed, to bed, dear child!" said he. "Grandfather has put you to sleep
+already by his stories about these FAMOUS OLD PEOPLE."
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX TO PART II.
+
+ACCOUNT OF THE DEPORTATION OF THE ACADIANS.
+
+FROM "HALIBURTON'S HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF NOVA SCOTIA."
+
+AT a consultation, held between Colonel Winslow and Captain Murray, [of
+the New England forces, charged with the duty of exiling the Acadians,]
+it was agreed that a proclamation should be issued at the different
+settlements, requiring the attendance of the people at the respective
+posts on the same day; which proclamation should be so ambiguous in
+its nature that the object for which they were to assemble could not
+be discerned, and so peremptory in its terms as to ensure implicit
+obedience. This instrument, having been drafted and approved, was
+distributed according to the original plan. That which was addressed
+to the people inhabiting the country now comprised within the limits of
+King's County, was as follows:--
+
+"To the inhabitants of the District of Grand Pre, Minas, River Canard,
+&c.; as well ancient, as young men and lads:
+
+"Whereas, his Excellency the Governor has instructed us of his late
+resolution, respecting the matter proposed to the inhabitants, and
+has ordered us to communicate the same in person, his Excellency being
+desirous that each of them should be fully satisfied of his Majesty's
+intentions, which he has also ordered us to communicate to you, such as
+they have been given to him. We, therefore, order and strictly enjoin,
+by these presents, all of the inhabitants, as well of the above-named
+district as of all the other Districts, both old men and young men, as
+well as all the lads of ten years of age, to attend at the Church at
+Grand Pre, on Friday, the fifth instant, at three of the clock in the
+afternoon, that we may impart to them what we are ordered to communicate
+to them; declaring that no excuse will be admitted on any pretence
+whatever, on pain of forfeiting goods and chattels, in default of real
+estate. Given at Grand Pre, 2d September, 1755, and 29th year of his
+Majesty's Reign.
+
+"John Winslow."
+
+In obedience to this summons four hundred and eighteen able-bodied men
+assembled. These being shut into the church (for that, too, had become
+an arsenal), Colonel Winslow placed himself, with his officers, in the
+centre, and addressed them thus:--
+
+"GENTLEMEN:
+
+"I have received from his Excellency Governor Lawrence, the King's
+Commission, which I have in my hand; and by his orders you are convened
+together to manifest to you, his Majesty's final resolution to the
+French inhabitants of this his Province of Nova-Scotia; who, for almost
+half a century, have had more indulgence granted them than any of his
+subjects in any part of his dominions; what use you have made of it you
+yourselves best know. The part of duty I am now upon, though necessary,
+is very disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know it must be
+grievous to you, who are of the same species; but it is not my business
+to animadvert but to obey such orders as I receive, and therefore,
+without hesitation, shall deliver you his Majesty's orders and
+instructions, namely--that your lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds
+and live stock of all sorts, are forfeited to the Crown; with all other
+your effects, saving your money and household goods, and you yourselves
+to be removed from this his Province.
+
+"Thus it is peremptorily his Majesty's orders that the whole French
+inhabitants of these Districts be removed; and I am, through his
+Majesty's goodness, directed to allow you liberty to carry off your
+money and household goods, as many as you can without discommoding the
+vessels you go in. I shall do everything in my power that all those
+goods be secured to you, and that you are not molested in carrying them
+off; also, that whole families shall go in the same vessel, and make
+this remove, which I am sensible must give you a great deal of trouble,
+as easy as his Majesty's service will admit; and hope that, in whatever
+part of the world you may fall, you may be faithful subjects, a
+peaceable and happy people. I must also inform you, that it is his
+Majesty's pleasure that you remain in security under the inspection and
+direction of the troops that I have the honor to command."
+
+And he then declared them the King's prisoners. The whole number of
+persons collected at Grand Pre finally amounted to four hundred and
+eighty-three men, and three hundred and thirty-seven women, heads of
+families; and their sons and daughters, to five hundred and twenty-seven
+of the former, and five hundred and seventy-six of the latter; making in
+the whole one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three souls. Their stock
+consisted of one thousand two hundred and sixty-nine oxen, one thousand
+five hundred and fifty-seven cows, five thousand and seven young cattle,
+four hundred and ninety-three horses, eight thousand six hundred and
+ninety sheep, and four thousand one hundred and ninety-seven hogs. As
+some of these wretched inhabitants escaped to the woods, all possible
+measures were adopted to force them back to captivity. The country was
+laid waste to prevent their subsistence. In the District of Minas alone,
+there were destroyed two hundred and fifty-five houses, two hundred and
+seventy-six barns, one hundred and fifty-five outhouses, eleven mills,
+and one church; and the friends of those who refused to surrender were
+threatened as the victims of their obstinacy.
+
+In short, so operative were the terrors that surrounded them, that of
+twenty-four young men, who deserted from a transport, twenty-two were
+glad to return of themselves, the others being shot by sentinels; and
+one of their friends, who was supposed to have been accessory to their
+escape, was carried on shore to behold the destruction of his house
+and effects, which were burned in his presence, as a punishment for his
+temerity and perfidious aid to his comrades. The prisoners expressed the
+greatest concern at having incurred his Majesty's displeasure, and in a
+petition addressed to Colonel Winslow intreated him to detain a part of
+them as sureties for the appearance of the rest, who were desirous
+of visiting their families, and consoling them in their distress and
+misfortunes. To comply with this request of holding a few as hostages
+for the surrender of the whole body, was deemed inconsistent with his
+instructions; but, as there could be no objection to allow a small
+number of them to return to their homes, permission was given to them to
+choose ten for the District of Minas (Horton) and ten for the District
+of Canard (Cornwallis) to whom leave of absence was given for one day,
+and on whose return a similar number were indulged in the same manner.
+They bore their confinement, and received their sentence with a
+fortitude and resignation altogether unexpected; but when the hour
+of embarkation arrived, in which they were to leave the land of their
+nativity forever--to part with their friends and relatives, without the
+hope of ever seeing them again, and to be dispersed among strangers,
+whose language, customs and religion were opposed to their own, the
+weakness of human nature prevailed, and they were overpowered with the
+sense of their miseries. The preparations having been all completed, the
+10th of September was fixed upon as the day of departure. The prisoners
+were drawn up six deep, and the young men, one hundred and sixty-one
+in number, were ordered to go first on board of the vessels. This they
+instantly and peremptorily refused to do, declaring that they would
+not leave their parents; but expressed a willingness to comply with the
+order, provided they were permitted to embark with their families. This
+request was immediately rejected, and the troops were ordered to fix
+bayonets and advance towards the prisoners, a motion which had the
+effect of producing obedience on the part of the young men, who
+forthwith commenced their march. The road from the chapel to the shore,
+just one mile in length, was crowded with women and children; who, on
+their knees, greeted them as they passed with their tears and their
+blessings, while the prisoners advanced with slow and reluctant steps,
+weeping, praying, and singing hymns. This detachment was followed by the
+seniors, who passed through the same scene of sorrow and distress. In
+this manner was the whole male part of the population of the District
+of Minas put on board the five transports, stationed in the river
+Gaspereaux, each vessel being guarded by six non-commissioned officers,
+and eighty privates. As soon as the other vessels arrived, their wives
+and children followed, and the whole were transported from Nova Scotia.
+The haste with which these measures were carried into execution did not
+admit of those preparations for their comfort, which, if unmerited by
+their disloyalty, were at least due in pity to the severity of their
+punishment. The hurry, confusion, and excitement connected with the
+embarkation had scarcely subsided, when the Provincials were appalled
+by the work of their own hands The novelty and peculiarity of their
+situation could not but force itself upon the attention of even the
+unreflecting soldiery; stationed in the midst of a beautiful and fertile
+country, they suddenly found themselves without a foe to subdue, and
+without a population to protect. The volumes of smoke which the half
+expiring embers emitted, while they marked the site of the peasant's
+humble cottage, bore testimony to the extent of the work of destruction.
+For several successive evenings the cattle assembled round the
+smouldering ruins, as if in anxious expectation of the return of their
+masters, while all night long the faithful watchdogs of the Neutrals
+howled over the scene of desolation, and mourned alike the hand that had
+fed, and the house that had sheltered them.
+
+
+
+
+PART III. 1763-1803.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. A NEW-YEAR'S DAY.
+
+ON THE evening of New-Year's Day Grandfather was walking to and fro
+across the carpet, listening to the rain which beat hard against the
+curtained windows. The riotous blast shook the casement as if a strong
+man were striving to force his entrance into the comfortable room. With
+every puff of the wind the fire leaped upward from the hearth, laughing
+and rejoicing at the shrieks of the wintry storm.
+
+Meanwhile Grandfather's chair stood in its customary place by the
+fireside. The bright blaze gleamed upon the fantastic figures of its
+oaken back, and shone through the open work, so that a complete pattern
+was thrown upon the opposite side of the room. Sometimes, for a moment
+or two, the shadow remained immovable, as if it were painted on the
+wall. Then all at once it began to quiver, and leap, and dance with a
+frisky motion. Anon, seeming to remember that these antics were unworthy
+of such a dignified and venerable chair, it suddenly stood still. But
+soon it began to dance anew.
+
+"Only see how Grandfather's chair is dancing!" cried little Alice.
+
+And she ran to the wall and tried to catch hold of the flickering
+shadow; for, to children of five years old, a shadow seems almost as
+real as a substance.
+
+"I wish," said Clara, "Grandfather would sit down in the chair and
+finish its history."
+
+If the children had been looking at Grandfather, they would have noticed
+that he paused in his walk across the room when Clara made this remark.
+The kind old gentleman was ready and willing to resume his stories of
+departed times. But he had resolved to wait till his auditors should
+request him to proceed, in order that they might find the instructive
+history of the chair a pleasure, and not a task.
+
+"Grandfather," said Charley, "I am tired to death of this dismal rain
+and of hearing the wind roar in the chimney. I have had no good time
+all day. It would be better to hear stories about the chair than to sit
+doing nothing and thinking of nothing."
+
+To say the truth, our friend Charley was very much out of humor with the
+storm, because it had kept him all day within doors, and hindered him
+from making a trial of a splendid sled, which Grandfather had given him
+for a New-Year's gift. As all sleds, nowadays, must have a name, the
+one in question had been honored with the title of Grandfather's chair,
+which was painted in golden letters on each of the sides. Charley
+greatly admired the construction of the new vehicle, and felt certain
+that it would outstrip any other sled that ever dashed adown the long
+slopes of the Common.
+
+As for Laurence, he happened to be thinking, just at this moment, about
+the history of the chair. Kind old Grandfather had made him a present of
+a volume of engraved portraits, representing the features of eminent and
+famous people o f all countries. Among them Laurence found several who
+had formerly occupied our chair or been connected with its adventures.
+While Grandfather walked to and fro across the room, the imaginative
+boy was gazing at the historic chair. He endeavored to summon up the
+por-traits which he had seen in his volume, and to place them, like
+living figures, in the empty seat.
+
+"The old chair has begun another year of its existence, to-day," said
+Laurence. "We must make haste, or it will have a new history to be told
+before we finish the old one."
+
+"Yes, my children," replied Grandfather, with a smile and a sigh,
+"another year has been added to those of the two centuries and upward
+which have passed since the Lady Arbella brought this chair over from
+England. It is three times as old as your Grandfather; but a year makes
+no impression on its oaken frame, while it bends the old man nearer and
+nearer to the earth; so let me go on with my stories while I may."
+
+Accordingly Grandfather came to the fireside and seated himself in the
+venerable chair. The lion's head looked down with a grimly good-natured
+aspect as the children clustered around the old gentleman's knees. It
+almost seemed as if a real lion were peeping over the back of the
+chair, and smiling at the group of auditors with a sort of lion-like
+complaisance. Little Alice, whose fancy often inspired her with singular
+ideas, exclaimed that the lion's head was nodding at her, and that it
+looked as if it were going to open its wide jaws and tell a story.
+
+But as the lion's head appeared to be in no haste to speak, and as
+there was no record or tradition of its having spoken during the whole
+existence of the chair, Grandfather did not consider it worth while to
+wait.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. THE STAMP ACT.
+
+"CHARLEY, my boy," said Grandfather, "do you remember who was the last
+occupant of the chair?"
+
+"It was Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson," answered Charley. "Sir Francis
+Bernard, the new governor, had given him the chair, instead of putting
+it away in the garret of the Province House. And when we took leave
+of Hutchinson he was sitting by his fireside, and thinking of the past
+adventures of the chair and of what was to come."
+
+"Very well," said Grandfather; "and you recollect that this was in 1763,
+or thereabouts, at the close of the old French War. Now, that you may
+fully comprehend the remaining adventures of the chair, I must make some
+brief remarks on the situation and character of the New England colonies
+at this period."
+
+So Grandfather spoke of the earnest loyalty of our fathers during the
+old French War, and after the conquest of Canada had brought that war to
+a triumphant close.
+
+The people loved and reverenced the King of England even more than if
+the ocean had not rolled its waves between him and them; for, at the
+distance of three thousand miles, they could not discover his bad
+qualities and imperfections. Their love was increased by the dangers
+which they had encountered in order to heighten his glory and extend his
+dominion. Throughout the war the American colonists had fought side by
+side with the soldiers of Old England; and nearly thirty thousand young
+men had laid down their lives for the honor of King George. And the
+survivors loved him the better because they had done and suffered so
+much for his sake.
+
+But there were some circumstances that caused America to feel more
+independent of England than at an earlier period. Canada and Acadia had
+now become British provinces; and our fathers were no longer afraid of
+the bands of French and Indians who used to assault them in old times.
+For a century and a half this had been the great terror of New England.
+Now the old French soldier was driven from the North forever. And even
+had it been otherwise, the English colonies were growing so populous
+and powerful that they might have felt fully able to protect themselves
+without any help from England.
+
+There were thoughtful and sagacious men, who began to doubt whether a
+great country like America would always be content to remain under the
+government of an island three thousand miles away. This was the more
+doubtful, because the English Parliament had long ago made laws which
+were intended to be very beneficial to England at the expense of
+America. By these laws the colonists were forbidden to manufacture
+articles for their own use, or to carry on trade with any nation but the
+English.
+
+"Now," continued Grandfather, "if King George III. and his counsellors
+had considered these things wisely, they would have taken another course
+than they did. But when they saw how rich and populous the colonies had
+grown, their first thought was how they might make more profit out of
+them than heretofore. England was enormously in debt at the close of the
+old French War; and it was pretended that this debt had been contracted
+for the defence of the American colonies, and that, therefore, a part of
+it ought to be paid by them."
+
+"Why, this was nonsense!" exclaimed Charley. "Did not our fathers spend
+their lives, and their money too, to get Canada for King George?"
+
+"True, they did," said Grandfather; "and they told the English rulers
+so. But the king and his ministers would not listen to good advice. In
+1765 the British Parliament passed a Stamp Act."
+
+"What was that?" inquired Charley.
+
+"The Stamp Act," replied Grandfather, "was a law by which all deeds,
+bonds, and other papers of the same kind were ordered to be marked with
+the king's stamp; and without this mark they were declared illegal and
+void. Now, in order to get a blank sheet of paper with the king's stamp
+upon it, people were obliged to pay threepence more than the actual
+value of the paper. And this extra sum of threepence was a tax, and was
+to be paid into the king's treasury."
+
+"I am sure threepence was not worth quarrelling about!" remarked Clara.
+
+"It was not for threepence, nor for any amount of money, that America
+quarrelled with England," replied Grandfather; "it was for a great
+principle. The colonists were determined not to be taxed except by their
+own representatives. They said that neither the king and Parliament, nor
+any other power on earth, had a right to take their money out of their
+pockets unless they freely gave it. And, rather than pay threepence when
+it was unjustly demanded, they resolved to sacrifice all the wealth of
+the country, and their lives along with it. They therefore made a most
+stubborn resistance to the Stamp Act."
+
+"That was noble!" exclaimed Laurence. "I understand how it was. If they
+had quietly paid the tax of threepence, they would have ceased to be
+freemen, and would have become tributaries of England. And so they
+contended about a great question of right and wrong, and put everything
+at stake for it."
+
+"You are right, Laurence," said Grandfather, "and it was really amazing
+and terrible to see what a change came over the aspect of the people the
+moment the English Parliament had passed this oppressive act. The former
+history of our chair, my children, has given you some idea of what a
+harsh, unyielding, stern set of men the old Puritans were. For a good
+many years back, however, it had seemed as if these characteristics were
+disappearing. But no sooner did England offer wrong to the colonies than
+the descendants of the early settlers proved that they had the same kind
+of temper as their forefathers. The moment before, New England appeared
+like a humble and loyal subject of the crown; the next instant, she
+showed the grim, dark features of an old king-resisting Puritan."
+
+Grandfather spoke briefly of the public measures that were taken in
+opposition to the Stamp Act. As this law affected all the American
+colonies alike, it naturally led them to think of consulting together
+is order to procure its repeal. For this purpose the Legislature of
+Massachusetts proposed that delegates from every colony should meet in
+Congress. Accordingly nine colonies, both Northern and Southern, sent
+delegates to the city of New York.
+
+"And did they consult about going to war with England?" asked Charley.
+
+"No, Charley," answered Grandfather; "a great deal of talking was yet
+to be done before England and America could come to blows. The Congress
+stated the rights and grievances of the colonists. They sent a humble
+petition to the king, and a memorial to the Parliament, beseeching that
+the Stamp Act might be repealed. This was all that the delegates had it
+in their power to do."
+
+"They might as well have stayed at home, then," said Charley.
+
+"By no means," replied Grandfather. "It was a most important and
+memorable event, this first coming together of the American people by
+their representatives from the North and South. If England had been
+wise, she would have trembled at the first word that was spoken in such
+an assembly."
+
+These remonstrances and petitions, as Grandfather observed, were the
+work of grave, thoughtful, and prudent men. Meantime the young and
+hot-headed people went to work in their own way. It is probable that the
+petitions of Congress would have had little or no effect on the British
+statesmen if the violent deeds of the American people had not shown how
+much excited the people were. LIBERTY TREE was soon heard of in England.
+
+"What was Liberty Tree?" inquired Clara.
+
+"It was an old elm-tree," answered Grandfather, "which stood near
+the corner of Essex Street, opposite the Boylston Market. Under the
+spreading branches of this great tree the people used to assemble
+whenever they wished to express their feelings and opinions. Thus, after
+a while, it seemed as if the liberty of the country was connected with
+Liberty Tree."
+
+"It was glorious fruit for a tree to bear," remarked Laurence.
+
+"It bore strange fruit, sometimes," said Grandfather. "One morning in
+August, 1765, two figures were found hanging on the sturdy branches
+of Liberty Tree. They were dressed in square-skirted coats and
+small-clothes; and, as their wigs hung down over their faces, they
+looked like real men. One was intended to represent the Earl of Bute,
+who was supposed to have advised the king to tax America. The other was
+meant for the effigy of Andrew Oliver, a gentleman belonging to one of
+the most respectable families in Massachusetts."
+
+"What harm had he done?" inquired Charley.
+
+"The king had appointed him to be distributor of the stamps," answered
+Grandfather. "Mr. Oliver would have made a great deal of money by
+this business. But the people frightened him so much by hanging him in
+effigy, and afterwards by breaking into his house, that he promised
+to have nothing to do with the stamps. And all the king's friends
+throughout America were compelled to make the same promise."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE HUTCHINSON MOB.
+
+"LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON," continued Grandfather, "now began to
+be unquiet in our old chair. He had formerly been much respected and
+beloved by the people, and had often proved himself a friend to their
+interests. But the time was come when he could not be a friend to
+the people without ceasing to be a friend to the king. It was pretty
+generally understood that Hutchinson would act according to the king's
+wishes, right or wrong, like most of the other gentlemen who held
+offices under the crown. Besides, as he was brother-in-law of Andrew
+Oliver, the people now felt a particular dislike to him."
+
+"I should think," said Laurence, "as Mr. Hutchinson had written the
+history of our Puritan forefathers, he would have known what the temper
+of the people was, and so have taken care not to wrong them."
+
+"He trusted in the might of the King of England," replied Grandfather,
+"and thought himself safe under the shelter of the throne. If no dispute
+had arisen between the king and the people, Hutchinson would have had
+the character of a wise, good, and patriotic magistrate. But, from the
+time that he took part against the rights of his country, the people's
+love and respect were turned to scorn and hatred, and he never had
+another hour of peace."
+
+In order to show what a fierce and dangerous spirit was now aroused
+among the inhabitants, Grandfather related a passage from history which
+we shall call The Hutchinson Mob.
+
+On the evening of the 26th of August, 1765, a bonfire was kindled in
+King Street. It flamed high upward, and threw a ruddy light over the
+front of the Town House, on which was displayed a carved representation
+of the royal arms. The gilded vane of the cupola glittered in the blaze.
+The kindling of this bonfire was the well-known signal for the populace
+of Boston to assemble in the street.
+
+Before the tar-barrels, of which the bonfire was made, were half burned
+out, a great crowd had come together. They were chiefly laborers and
+seafaring men, together with many young apprentices, and all those idle
+people about town who are ready for any kind of mischief. Doubtless some
+school-boys were among them.
+
+While these rough figures stood round the blazing bonfire, you might
+hear them speaking bitter words against the high officers of the
+province. Governor Bernard, Hutchinson, Oliver, Storey, Hallowell, and
+other men whom King George delighted to honor, were reviled as traitors
+to the country. Now and then, perhaps, an officer of the crown passed
+along the street, wearing the gold-laced hat, white wig, and embroidered
+waistcoat which were the fashion of the day. But when the people beheld
+him they set up a wild and angry howl; and their faces had an evil
+aspect, which was made more terrible by the flickering blaze of the
+bonfire.
+
+"I should like to throw the traitor right into that blaze!" perhaps one
+fierce rioter would say.
+
+"Yes; and all his brethren too!" another might reply; "and the governor
+and old Tommy Hutchinson into the hottest of it!"
+
+"And the Earl of Bute along with them!" muttered a third; "and burn
+the whole pack of them under King George's nose! No matter if it singed
+him!"
+
+Some such expressions as these, either shouted aloud or muttered under
+the breath, were doubtless heard in King Street. The mob, meanwhile,
+were growing fiercer and fiercer, and seemed ready even to set the town
+on fire for the sake of burning the king's friends out of house and
+home. And yet, angry as they were, they sometimes broke into a loud roar
+of laughter, as if mischief and destruction were their sport.
+
+But we must now leave the rioters for a time, and take a peep into the
+lieutenant-governor's splendid mansion. It was a large brick house,
+decorated with Ionic pilasters, and stood in Garden Court Street, near
+the North Square.
+
+While the angry mob in King Street were shouting his name,
+Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson sat quietly in Grandfather's chair,
+unsuspicious of the evil that was about to fall upon his head. His
+beloved family were in the room with him. He had thrown off his
+embroidered coat and powdered wig, and had on a loose-flowing gown and
+purple-velvet cap. He had likewise laid aside the cares of state and all
+the thoughts that had wearied and perplexed him throughout the day.
+
+Perhaps, in the enjoyment of his home, he had forgotten all about the
+Stamp Act, and scarcely remembered that there was a king, across the
+ocean, who had resolved to make tributaries of the New-Englanders.
+Possibly, too, he had forgotten his own ambition, and would not have
+exchanged his situation, at that moment, to be governor, or even a lord.
+
+The wax candles were now lighted, and showed a handsome room, well
+provided with rich furniture. On the walls hung the pictures of
+Hutchinson's ancestors, who had been eminent men in their day, and were
+honorably remembered in the history of the country. Every object served
+to mark the residence of a rich, aristocratic gentleman, who held
+himself high above the common people, and could have nothing to fear
+from them. In a corner of the room, thrown carelessly upon a chair, were
+the scarlet robes of the chief justice. This high office, as well as
+those of lieutenant-governor, councillor, and judge of probate, was
+filled by Hutchinson.
+
+Who or what could disturb the domestic quiet of such a great and
+powerful personage as now sat in Grandfather's chair?
+
+The lieutenant-governor's favorite daughter sat by his side. She leaned
+on the arm of our great chair, and looked up affectionately into her
+father's face, rejoicing to perceive that a quiet smile was on his lips.
+But suddenly a shade came across her countenance. She seemed to listen
+attentively, as if to catch a distant sound.
+
+"What is the matter, my child?" inquired Hutchinson.
+
+"Father, do not you hear a tumult in the streets?" said she.
+
+The lieutenant-governor listened. But his ears were duller than those
+of his daughter; he could hear nothing more terrible than the sound of a
+summer breeze, sighing among the tops of the elm-trees.
+
+"No, foolish child!" he replied, playfully patting her cheek. "There is
+no tumult. Our Boston mobs are satisfied with what mischief they have
+already done. The king's friends need not tremble."
+
+So Hutchinson resumed his pleasant and peaceful meditations, and again
+forgot that there were any troubles in the world. But his family were
+alarmed, and could not help straining their ears to catch the slightest
+sound. More and more distinctly they heard shouts, and then the
+trampling of many feet. While they were listening, one of the neighbors
+rushed breathless into the room.
+
+"A mob! a terrible mob'!" cried he. "They have broken into Mr. Storey's
+house, and into Mr. Hallo-well's, and have made themselves drunk with
+the liquors in his cellar; and now they are coming hither, as wild as so
+many tigers. Flee, lieutenant-governor, for your life! for your life!"
+
+"Father, dear father, make haste!" shrieked his children.
+
+But Hutchinson would not hearken to them. He was an old lawyer; and he
+could not realize that the people would do anything so utterly lawless
+as to assault him in his peaceful home. He was one of King George's
+chief officers and it would be an insult and outrage upon the king
+himself if the lieutenant-governor should suffer any wrong.
+
+"Have no fears on my account," said he, "I am perfectly safe. The king's
+name shall be my protection."
+
+Yet he bade his family retire into one of the neighboring houses. His
+daughter would have remained; but he forced her away.
+
+The huzzas and riotous uproar of the mob were now heard, close at hand.
+The sound was terrible, and struck Hutchinson with the same sort of
+dread as if an enraged wild beast had broken loose and were roaring
+for its prey. He crept softly to the window. There he beheld an immense
+concourse of people, filling all the street and rolling onward to his
+house. It was like a tempestuous flood, that had swelled beyond its
+bounds and would sweep everything before it. Hutchinson trembled; he
+felt, at that moment, that the wrath of the people was a thousand-fold
+more terrible than the wrath of a king.
+
+That was a moment when a loyalist and an aristocrat like Hutchinson
+might have learned how powerless are kings, nobles, and great men, when
+the low and humble range themselves against them. King George could do
+nothing for his servant now. Had King George been there he could have
+done nothing for himself. If Hutchinson had understood this lesson, and
+remembered it, he need not, in after years, have been an exile from his
+native country, nor finally have laid his bones in a distant land.
+
+There was now a rush against the doors of the house. The people sent up
+a hoarse cry. At this instant the lieutenant-governor's daughter, whom
+he had supposed to be in a place of safety, ran into the room and threw
+her arms around him. She had returned by a private entrance.
+
+"Father, are you mad?" cried she. "Will the king's name protect you now?
+Come with me, or they will have your life."
+
+"True," muttered Hutchinson to himself; "what care these roarers for the
+name of king? I must flee, or they will trample me down on the floor of
+my own dwelling."
+
+Hurrying away, he and his daughter made their escape by the private
+passage at the moment when the rioters broke into the house. The
+foremost of them rushed up the staircase, and entered the room which
+Hutchinson had just quitted. There they beheld our good old chair facing
+them with quiet dignity, while the lion's head seemed to move its jaws
+in the unsteady light of their torches. Perhaps the stately aspect of
+our venerable friend, which had stood firm through a century and a half
+of trouble, arrested them for an instant. But they were thrust forward
+by those behind, and the chair lay overthrown.
+
+Then began the work of destruction. The carved and polished mahogany
+tables were shattered with heavy clubs and hewn to splinters with
+axes. The marble hearths and mantel-pieces were broken. The volumes of
+Hutchinson's library, so precious to a studious man, were torn out
+of their covers, and the leaves sent flying out of the windows.
+Manuscripts, containing secrets of our country's history, which are now
+lost forever, were scattered to the winds.
+
+The old ancestral portraits, whose fixed countenances looked down on
+the wild scene, were rent from the walls. The mob triumphed in
+their downfall and destruction, as if these pictures of Hutchinson's
+forefathers had committed the same offences as their descendant. A tall
+looking-glass, which had hitherto presented a reflection of the enraged
+and drunken multitude, was now smashed into a thousand fragments. We
+gladly dismiss the scene from the mirror of our fancy.
+
+Before morning dawned the walls of the house were all that remained. The
+interior was a dismal scene of ruin. A shower pattered in at the
+broken windows; and when Hutchinson and his family returned, they stood
+shivering in the same room where the last evening had seen them so
+peaceful and happy.
+
+"Grandfather," said Laurence, indignantly, "if the people acted in this
+manner, they were not worthy of even so much liberty as the King of
+England was willing to allow them."
+
+"It was a most unjustifiable act, like many other popular movements at
+that time," replied Grandfather. "But we must not decide against the
+justice of the people's cause merely because an excited mob was guilty
+of outrageous violence. Besides, all these things were done in the first
+fury of resentment. Afterwards the people grew more calm, and were more
+influenced by the counsel of those wise and good men who conducted them
+safely and gloriously through the Revolution."
+
+Little Alice, with tears in her blue eyes, said that she hoped the
+neighbors had not let Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and his family be
+homeless in the street, but had taken them into their houses and been
+kind to them. Cousin Clara, recollecting the perilous situation of our
+beloved chair, inquired what had become of it.
+
+"Nothing was heard of our chair for some time afterwards," answered
+Grandfather. "One day in September, the same Andrew Oliver, of whom I
+before told you, was summoned to appear at high noon under Liberty Tree.
+This was the strangest summons that had ever been heard of; for it was
+issued in the name of the whole people, who thus took upon themselves
+the authority of a sovereign power. Mr. Oliver dared not disobey.
+Accordingly, at the appointed hour he went, much against his will, to
+Liberty Tree."
+
+Here Charley interposed a remark that poor Mr. Oliver found but little
+liberty under Liberty Tree. Grandfather assented.
+
+"It was a stormy day," continued he. "The equinoctial gale blew
+violently, and scattered the yellow leaves of Liberty Tree all along the
+street. Mr. Oliver's wig was dripping with water-drops; and he probably
+looked haggard, disconsolate, and humbled to the earth. Beneath the
+tree, in Grandfather's chair,--our own venerable chair,--sat Mr. Richard
+Dana, a justice of the peace. He administered an oath to Mr. Oliver that
+he would never have anything to do with distributing the stamps. A vast
+concourse of people heard the oath, and shouted when it was taken."
+
+"There is something grand in this," said Laurence. "I like it, because
+the people seem to have acted with thoughtfulness and dignity; and this
+proud gentleman, one of his Majesty's high officers, was made to feel
+that King George could not protect him in doing wrong."
+
+"But it was a sad day for poor Mr. Oliver," observed Grandfather. "From
+his youth upward it had probably been the great principle of his life to
+be faithful and obedient to the king. And now, in his old age, it must
+have puzzled and distracted him to find the sovereign people setting up
+a claim to his faith and obedience."
+
+Grandfather closed the evening's conversation by saying that the
+discontent of America was so great, that, in 1766, the British
+Parliament was compelled to repeal the Stamp Act. The people made great
+rejoicings, but took care to keep Liberty Tree well pruned and free
+from caterpillars and canker-worms. They foresaw that there might yet be
+occasion for them to assemble under its far-projecting shadow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. THE BRITISH TROOPS IN BOSTON.
+
+THE NEXT evening, Clara, who remembered that our chair had been left
+standing in the rain under Liberty Tree, earnestly besought Grandfather
+to tell when and where it had next found shelter. Perhaps she was
+afraid that the venerable chair, by being exposed to the inclemency of a
+September gale, might get the rheumatism in its aged joints.
+
+"The chair," said Grandfather, "after the ceremony of Mr. Oliver's oath,
+appears to have been quite forgotten by the multitude. Indeed, being
+much bruised and rather rickety, owing to the violent treatment it had
+suffered from the Hutchinson mob, most people would have thought that
+its days of usefulness were over. Nevertheless, it was conveyed away
+under cover of the night and committed to the care of a skilful joiner.
+He doctored our old friend so successfully, that, in the course of a few
+days, it made its appearance in the public room of the British Coffee
+Houses in King Street."
+
+"But why did not Mr. Hutchinson get possession of it again?" inquired
+Charley.
+
+"I know not," answered Grandfather, "unless he considered it a dishonor
+and disgrace to the chair to have stood under Liberty Tree. At all
+events, he suffered it to remain at the British Coffee House, which
+was the principal hotel in Boston. It could not possibly have found a
+situation where it would be more in the midst of business and bustle, or
+would witness more important events, or be occupied by a greater variety
+of persons."
+
+Grandfather went on to tell the proceedings of the despotic king and
+ministry of England after the repeal of the Stamp Act. They could not
+bear to think that their right to tax America should be disputed by the
+people. In the year 1767, therefore, they caused Parliament to pass
+an act for laying a duty on tea and some other articles that were in
+general use. Nobody could now buy a pound of tea without paying a tax to
+King George. This scheme was pretty craftily contrived; for the women
+of America were very fond of tea, and did not like to give up the use of
+it.
+
+But the people were as much opposed to this new act of Parliament as
+they had been to the Stamp Act. England, however, was determined that
+they should submit. In order to compel their obedience, two regiments,
+consisting of more than seven hundred British soldiers, were sent to
+Boston. They arrived in September, 1768, and were landed on Long Wharf.
+Thence they marched to the Common with loaded muskets, fixed bayonets,
+and great pomp and parade. So now, at last, the free town of Boston was
+guarded and overawed by redcoats as it had been in the days of old Sir
+Edmund Andros.
+
+In the month of November more regiments arrived. There were now four
+thousand troops in Boston. The Common was whitened with their tents.
+Some of the soldiers were lodged in Faneuil Hall, which the inhabitants
+looked upon as a consecrated place, because it had been the scene of a
+great many meetings in favor of liberty. One regiment was placed in the
+Town House, which we now call the Old State House. The lower floor of
+this edifice had hitherto been used by the merchants as an exchange. In
+the upper stories were the chambers of the judges, the representatives,
+and the governor's council. The venerable councillors could not assemble
+to consult about the welfare of the province without being challenged by
+sentinels and passing among the bayonets of the British soldiers.
+
+Sentinels likewise were posted at the lodgings of the officers in many
+parts of the town. When the inhabitants approached they were greeted by
+the sharp question, "Who goes there?" while the rattle of the soldier's
+musket was heard as he presented it against their breasts. There was
+no quiet even on the sabbath day. The quiet descendants of the Puritans
+were shocked by the uproar of military music; the drum, fife, and bugle
+drowning the holy organ peal and the voices of the singers. It would
+appear as if the British took every method to insult the feelings of the
+people.
+
+"Grandfather," cried Charley, impatiently, "the people did not go to
+fighting half soon enough! These British redcoats ought to have been
+driven back to their vessels the very moment they landed on Long Wharf."
+
+"Many a hot-headed young man said the same as you do, Charley," answered
+Grandfather. "But the elder and wiser people saw that the time was not
+yet come. Meanwhile, let us take another peep at our old chair."
+
+"Ah, it drooped its head, I know," said Charley, "when it saw how the
+province was disgraced. Its old Puritan friends never would have borne
+such doings."
+
+"The chair," proceeded Grandfather, "was now continually occupied
+by some of the high tories, as the king's friends were called, who
+frequented the British Coffee House. Officers of the Custom House, too,
+which stood on the opposite side of King Street, often sat in the chair
+wagging their tongues against John Hancock."
+
+"Why against him?" asked Charley.
+
+"Because he was a great merchant and contended against paying duties to
+the king," said Grandfather.
+
+"Well, frequently, no doubt, the officers of the British regiments, when
+not on duty, used to fling themselves into the arms of our venerable
+chair. Fancy one of them, a red-nosed captain in his scarlet uniform,
+playing with the hilt of his sword, and making a circle of his brother
+officers merry with ridiculous jokes at the expense of the poor Yankees.
+And perhaps he would call for a bottle of wine, or a steaming bowl of
+punch, and drink confusion to all rebels."
+
+"Our grave old chair must have been scandalized at such scenes,"
+observed Laurence; "the chair that had been the Lady Arbella's, and
+which the holy apostle Eliot had consecrated."
+
+"It certainly was little less than sacrilege," replied Grandfather; "but
+the time was coming when even the churches, where hallowed pastors had
+long preached the word of God, were to be torn down or desecrated by
+the British troops. Some years passed, however, before such things were
+done."
+
+Grandfather now told his auditors that, in 1769, Sir Francis Bernard
+went to England after having been governor of Massachusetts ten years.
+He was a gentleman of many good qualities, an excellent scholar, and a
+friend to learning. But he was naturally of an arbitrary disposition;
+and he had been bred at the University of Oxford, where young men were
+taught that the divine right of kings was the only thing to be regarded
+in matters of government. Such ideas were ill adapted to please the
+people of Massachusetts. They rejoiced to get rid of Sir Francis
+Bernard, but liked his successor, Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, no
+better than himself.
+
+About this period the people were much incensed at an act committed by a
+person who held an office in the Custom House. Some lads, or young men,
+were snowballing his windows. He fired a musket at them, and killed a
+poor German boy, only eleven years old. This event made a great noise
+in town and country, and much increased the resentment that was already
+felt against the servants of the crown.
+
+"Now, children," said Grandfather, "I wish to make you comprehend the
+position of the British troops in King Street. This is the same which we
+now call State Street. On the south side of the Town House, or Old State
+House, was what military men call a court of guard, defended by two
+brass cannons, which pointed directly at one of the doors of the above
+edifice. A large party of soldiers were always stationed in the court
+of guard. The Custom House stood at a little distance down King Street,
+nearly where the Suffolk Bank now stands, and a sentinel was continually
+pacing before its front."
+
+"I shall remember this to-morrow," said Charley; "and I will go to State
+Street, so as to see exactly where the British troops were stationed."
+
+"And before long," observed Grandfather, "I shall have to relate an
+event which made King Street sadly famous on both sides of the
+Atlantic. The history of our chair will soon bring us to this melancholy
+business."
+
+Here Grandfather described the state of things which arose from the ill
+will that existed between the inhabitants and the redcoats. The old
+and sober part of the townspeople were very angry at the government
+for sending soldiers to overawe them. But those gray-headed men were
+cautious, and kept their thoughts and feelings in their own breasts,
+without putting themselves in the way of the British bayonets.
+
+The younger people, however, could hardly be kept within such prudent
+limits. They reddened with wrath at the very sight of a soldier, and
+would have been willing to come to blows with them at any moment. For it
+was their opinion that every tap of a British drum, within the peninsula
+of Boston was an insult to the brave old town.
+
+"It was sometimes the case," continued Grandfather, "that affrays
+happened between such wild young men as these and small parties of the
+soldiers. No weapons had hitherto been used except fists or cudgels. But
+when men have loaded muskets in their hands, it is easy to foretell that
+they will soon be turned against the bosoms of those who provoke their
+anger."
+
+"Grandfather," said little Alice, looking fearfully into his face, "your
+voice sounds as though you were going to tell us something awful!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. THE BOSTON MASSACRE.
+
+LITTLE ALICE, by her last remark, proved herself a good judge of what
+was expressed by the tones of Grandfather's voice. He had given the
+above description of the enmity between the townspeople and the soldiers
+in order to Prepare the minds of his auditors for a very terrible event.
+It was one that did more to heighten the quarrel between England and
+America than anything that had yet occurred.
+
+Without further preface, Grandfather began the story of the Boston
+Massacre.
+
+It was now the 8d of March, 1770. The sunset music of the British
+regiments was heard as usual throughout the town. The shrill fife and
+rattling drum awoke the echoes in King Street, while the last ray of
+sunshine was lingering on the cupola of the Town House. And now all the
+sentinels were posted. One of them marched up and down before the Custom
+House, treading a short path through the snow, and longing for the
+time when he would be dismissed to the warm fireside of the guard room.
+Meanwhile Captain Preston was, perhaps, sitting in our great chair
+before the hearth of the British Coffee House. In the course of the
+evening there were two or three slight commotions, which seemed to
+indicate that trouble was at hand. Small parties of young men stood at
+the corners of the streets or walked along the narrow pavements. Squads
+of soldiers who were dismissed from duty passed by them, shoulder to
+shoulder, with the regular step which they had learned at the drill.
+Whenever these encounters took place, it appeared to be the object of
+the young men to treat the soldiers with as much incivility as possible.
+
+"Turn out, you lobsterbacks!" one would say. "Crowd them off the
+sidewalks!" another would cry. "A redcoat has no right in Boston
+streets!"
+
+"O, you rebel rascals!" perhaps the soldiers would reply, glaring
+fiercely at the young men. "Some day or other we'll make our way through
+Boston streets at the point of the bayonet!"
+
+Once or twice such disputes as these brought on a scuffle; which passed
+off, however, without attracting much notice. About eight o'clock, for
+some unknown cause, an alarm-bell rang loudly and hurriedly.
+
+At the sound many people ran out of their houses, supposing it to be an
+alarm of fire. But there were no flames to be seen, nor was there any
+smell of smoke in the clear, frosty air; so that most of the townsmen
+went back to their own firesides and sat talking with their wives and
+children about the calamities of the times. Others who were younger and
+less prudent remained in the streets; for there seems to have been a
+presentiment that some strange event was on the eve of taking place.
+
+Later in the evening, not far from nine o'clock, several young men
+passed by the Town House and walked down King Street. The sentinel
+was still on his post in front of the Custom House, pacing to and fro;
+while, as he turned, a gleam of light from some neighboring window
+glittered on the barrel of his musket. At no great distance were the
+barracks and the guard-house, where his comrades were probably telling
+stories of battle and bloodshed.
+
+Down towards the Custom House, as I told you, came a party of wild young
+men. When they drew near the sentinel he halted on his post, and took
+his musket from his shoulder, ready to present the bayonet at their
+breasts.
+
+"Who goes there?" he cried, in the gruff, peremptory tones of a
+soldier's challenge. The young men, being Boston boys, felt as if they
+had a right to walk their own streets without being accountable to a
+British redcoat, even though he challenged them in King George's name.
+They made some rude answer to the sentinel. There was a dispute, or
+perhaps a scuffle. Other soldiers heard the noise, and ran hastily from
+the barracks to assist their comrades. At the same time many of the
+townspeople rushed into King Street by various avenues, and gathered
+in a crowd round about the Custom House. It seemed wonderful how such a
+multitude had started up all of a sudden.
+
+The wrongs and insults which the people had been suffering for many
+months now kindled them into a rage. They threw snowballs and lumps of
+ice at the soldiers. As the tumult grew louder it reached the ears of
+Captain Preston, the officer of the day. He immediately ordered eight
+soldiers of the main guard to take their muskets and follow him. They
+marched across the street, forcing their way roughly through the crowd,
+and pricking the townspeople with their bayonets.
+
+A gentleman (it was Henry Knox, afterwards general of the American
+artillery) caught Captain Preston's arm.
+
+"For Heaven's sake, sir," exclaimed he, "take heed what you do, or there
+will be bloodshed."
+
+"Stand aside!" answered Captain Preston, haughtily. "Do not interfere,
+sir. Leave me to manage the affair."
+
+Arriving at the sentinel's post, Captain Preston drew up his men in a
+semicircle, with their faces to the crowd and their rear to the Custom
+House. When the people saw the officer and beheld the threatening
+attitude with which the soldiers fronted them, their rage became almost
+uncontrollable.
+
+"Fire, you lobsterbacks!" bellowed some.
+
+"You dare not fire, you cowardly redcoats!" cried others.
+
+"Rush upon them!" shouted many voices. "Drive the rascals to their
+barracks! Down with them! Down with them! Let them fire if they dare!"
+
+Amid the uproar, the soldiers stood glaring at the people with the
+fierceness of men whose trade was to shed blood.
+
+Oh, what a crisis had now arrived! Up to this very moment, the angry
+feelings between England and America might have been pacified. England
+had but to stretch out the hand of reconciliation, and acknowledge that
+she had hitherto mistaken her rights, but would do so no more. Then
+the ancient bonds of brotherhood would again have been knit together as
+firmly as in old times. The habit of loyalty, which had grown as strong
+as instinct, was not utterly overcome. The perils shared, the victories
+won, in the old French War, when the soldiers of the colonies fought
+side by side with their comrades from beyond the sea, were unforgotten
+yet. England was still that beloved country which the colonists called
+their home. King George, though he had frowned upon America, was still
+reverenced as a father.
+
+But should the king's soldiers shed one drop of American blood, then it
+was a quarrel to the death. Never, never would America rest satisfied
+until she had torn down the royal authority and trampled it in the dust.
+
+"Fire, if you dare, villains!" hoarsely shouted the people, while the
+muzzles of the muskets were turned upon them. "You dare not fire!"
+
+They appeared ready to rush upon the levelled bayonets. Captain Preston
+waved his sword, and uttered a command which could not be distinctly
+heard amid the uproar of shouts that issued from a hundred throats. But
+his soldiers deemed that he had spoken the fatal mandate, "Fire!" The
+flash of their muskets lighted up the streets, and the report rang
+loudly between the edifices. It was said, too, that the figure of a
+man, with a cloth hanging down over his face, was seen to step into the
+balcony of the Custom House and discharge a musket at the crowd.
+
+A gush of smoke had overspread the scene. It rose heavily, as if it were
+loath to reveal the dreadful spectacle beneath it. Eleven of the sons
+of New England lay stretched upon the street. Some, sorely wounded, were
+struggling to rise again. Others stirred not nor groaned; for they were
+past all pain. Blood was streaming upon the snow; and that purple stain
+in the midst of King Street, though it melted away in the next day's
+sun, was never forgotten nor forgiven by the people.
+
+Grandfather was interrupted by the violent sobs of little Alice. In his
+earnestness he had neglected to soften clown the narrative so that it
+might not terrify the heart of this unworldly infant. Since Grandfather
+began the history of our chair, little Alice had listened to many tales
+of war. But probably the idea had never really impressed itself upon
+her mind that men have shed the blood of their fellow-creatures. And
+now that this idea was forcibly presented to her, it affected the sweet
+child with bewilderment and horror.
+
+"I ought to have remembered our dear little Alice," said Grandfather
+reproachfully to himself. "Oh, what a pity! Her heavenly nature has now
+received its first impression of earthly sin and violence. Well, Clara,
+take her to bed and comfort her. Heaven grant that she may dream away
+the recollection of the Boston massacre!"
+
+"Grandfather," said Charley, when Clara and little Alice had retired,
+"did not the people rush upon the soldiers and take revenge?"
+
+"The town drums beat to arms," replied Grandfather, "the alarm-bells
+rang, and an immense multitude rushed into King Street. Many of them
+had weapons in their hands. The British prepared to defend themselves. A
+whole regiment was drawn up in the street, expecting an attack; for the
+townsmen appeared ready to throw themselves upon the bayonets."
+
+"And how did it end?"
+
+"Governor Hutchinson hurried to the spot," said Grandfather, "and
+besought the people to have patience, promising that strict justice
+should be done. A day or two afterward the British troops were withdrawn
+from town and stationed at Castle William. Captain Preston and the eight
+soldiers were tried for murder. But none of them were found guilty.
+The judges told the jury that the insults and violence which had been
+offered to the soldiers justified them in firing at the mob."
+
+"The Revolution," observed Laurence, who had said but little during the
+evening, "was not such a calm, majestic movement as I supposed. I do
+not love to hear of mobs and broils in the street. These things were
+unworthy of the people when they had such a great object to accomplish."
+
+"Nevertheless, the world has seen no grander movement than that of our
+Revolution from first to last," said Grandfather. "The people, to a man,
+were full of a great and noble sentiment. True, there may be much fault
+to find with their mode of expressing this sentiment; but they knew no
+better; the necessity was upon them to act out their feelings in the
+best manner they could. We must forgive what was wrong in their actions,
+and look into their hearts and minds for the honorable motives that
+impelled them."
+
+"And I suppose," said Laurence, "there were men who knew how to act
+worthily of what they felt."
+
+"There were many such," replied Grandfather; "and we will speak of some
+of them hereafter."
+
+Grandfather here made a pause. That night Charley had a dream about the
+Boston massacre, and thought that he himself was in the crowd and struck
+down Captain Preston with a great club. Laurence dreamed that he was
+sitting in our great chair, at the window of the British Coffee House,
+and beheld the whole scene which Grandfather had described. It seemed to
+him, in his dream, that, if the townspeople and the soldiers would but
+have heard him speak a single word, all the slaughter might have been
+averted. But there was such an uproar that it drowned his voice.
+
+The next morning the two boys went together to State Street and stood on
+the very spot where the first blood of the Revolution had been shed. The
+Old State House was still there, presenting almost the same aspect that
+it had worn on that memorable evening, one-and-seventy years ago. It is
+the sole remaining witness of the Boston massacre.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. A COLLECTION OF PORTRAITS.
+
+THE NEXT evening the astral lamp was lighted earlier than usual,
+because Laurence was very much engaged in looking over the collection of
+portraits which had been his New-Year's gift from Grandfather.
+
+Among them he found the features of more than one famous personage who
+had been connected with the adventures of our old chair. Grandfather
+bade him draw the table nearer to the fireside; and they looked over
+the portraits together, while Clara and Charley likewise lent their
+attention. As for little Alice, she sat in Grandfather's lap, and seemed
+to see the very men alive whose faces were there represented.
+
+Turning over the volume, Laurence came to the portrait of a stern,
+grim-looking man, in plain attire, of much more modern fashion than that
+of the old Puritans. But the face might well have befitted one of those
+iron-hearted men. Beneath the portrait was the name of Samuel Adams.
+
+"He was a man of great note in all the doings that brought about the
+Revolution," said Grandfather. "His character was such, that it seemed
+as if one of the ancient Puritans had been sent back to earth to
+animate the people's hearts with the same abhorrence of tyranny that
+had distinguished the earliest settlers. He was as religious as they, as
+stern and inflexible, and as deeply imbued with democratic principles.
+He, better than any one else, may be taken as a representative of the
+people of New England, and of the spirit with which they engaged in the
+Revolutionary struggle. He was a poor man, and earned his bread by
+a humble occupation; but with his tongue and pen he made the King of
+England tremble on his throne. Remember him, my children, as one of the
+strong men of our country."
+
+"Here is one whose looks show a very different character," observed
+Laurence, turning to the portrait of John Hancock. "I should think, by
+his splendid dress and courtly aspect, that he was one of the king's
+friends."
+
+"There never was a greater contrast than between Samuel Adams and John
+Hancock," said Grandfather. "Yet they were of the same side in politics,
+and had an equal agency in the Revolution. Hancock was born to the
+inheritance of the largest fortune in New England. His tastes and
+habits were aristocratic. He loved gorgeous attire, a splendid mansion,
+magnificent furniture, stately festivals, and all that was glittering
+and pompous in external things. His manners were so polished that there
+stood not a nobleman at the footstool of King George's throne who was a
+more skilful courtier than John Hancock might have been. Nevertheless,
+he in his embroidered clothes, and Samuel Adams in his threadbare coat,
+wrought together in the cause of liberty. Adams acted from pure and
+rigid principle. Hancock, though he loved his country, yet thought quite
+as much of his own popularity as he did of the people's rights. It is
+remarkable that these two men, so very different as I describe them,
+were the only two exempted from pardon by the king's proclamation."
+
+On the next leaf of the book was the portrait of General Joseph Warren.
+Charley recognized the name, and said that here was a greater man than
+either Hancock or Adams.
+
+"Warren was an eloquent and able patriot," replied Grandfather. "He
+deserves a lasting memory for his zealous efforts in behalf of liberty.
+No man's voice was more powerful in Faneuil Hall than Joseph Warren's.
+If his death had not happened so early in the contest, he would probably
+have gained a high name as a soldier."
+
+The next portrait was a venerable man, who held his thumb under his
+chin, and, through his spectacles, appeared to be attentively reading a
+manuscript.
+
+"Here we see the most illustrious Boston boy that ever lived," said
+Grandfather. "This is Benjamin Franklin. But I will not try to compress
+into a few sentences the character of the sage, who, as a Frenchman
+expressed it, snatched the lightning from the sky and the sceptre from a
+tyrant. Mr. Sparks must help you to the knowledge of Franklin."
+
+The book likewise contained portraits of James Otis and Josiah Quincy.
+Both of them, Grandfather observed, were men of wonderful talents and
+true patriotism. Their voices were like the stirring tones of a trumpet
+arousing the country to defend its freedom. Heaven seemed to have
+provided a greater number of eloquent men than had appeared at any other
+period, in order that the people might be fully instructed as to their
+wrongs and the method of resistance.
+
+"It is marvellous," said Grandfather, "to see how many powerful writers,
+orators, and soldiers started up just at the time when they were wanted.
+There was a man for every kind of work. It is equally wonderful that men
+of such different characters were all made to unite in the one object
+of establishing the freedom and independence of America. There was an
+over-ruling Providence above them."
+
+"Here, was another great man," remarked Laurence, pointing to the
+portrait of John Adams.
+
+"Yes; an earnest, warm-tempered, honest and most able man," said
+Grandfather. "At the period of which we are now speaking he was a lawyer
+in Boston. He was destined in after years to be ruler over the whole
+American people, whom he contributed so much to form into a nation."
+
+Grandfather here remarked that many a New-Englander, who had passed his
+boyhood and youth in obscurity, afterward attained to a fortune which he
+never could have foreseen even in his most ambitious dreams. John Adams,
+the second President of the United States and the equal of crowned
+kings, was once a schoolmaster and country lawyer. Hancock, the first
+signer of the Declaration of Independence, served his apprenticeship
+with a merchant. Samuel Adams, afterwards governor of Massachusetts, was
+a small tradesman and a tax-gatherer. General Warren was a physician,
+General Lincoln a farmer, and General Knox a bookbinder. General
+Nathaniel Greene, the best soldier, except Washington, in the
+Revolutionary army, was a Quaker and a blacksmith. All these became
+illustrious men, and can never be forgotten in American history.
+
+"And any boy who is born in America may look forward to the same
+things," said our ambitious friend Charley.
+
+After these observations, Grandfather drew the book of portraits
+towards him and showed the children several British peers and members of
+Parliament who had exerted themselves either for or against the rights
+of America. There were the Earl of Bute, Mr. Grenville, and Lord North.
+These were looked upon as deadly enemies to our country.
+
+Among the friends of America was Mr. Pitt, afterward Earl of Chatham,
+who spent so much of his wondrous eloquence in endeavoring to warn
+England of the consequences of her injustice. He fell down on the floor
+of the House of Lords after uttering almost his dying words in defence
+of our privileges as freemen. There was Edmund Burke, one of the wisest
+men and greatest orators that ever the world produced. There was Colonel
+Barry, who had been among our fathers, and knew that they had courage
+enough to die for their rights. There was Charles James Fox, who never
+rested until he had silenced our enemies in the House of Commons.
+
+"It is very remarkable to observe how many of the ablest orators in the
+British Parliament were favorable to America," said Grandfather. "We
+ought to remember these great Englishmen with gratitude; for their
+speeches encouraged our fathers almost as much as those of our own
+orators in Faneuil Hall and under Liberty Tree. Opinions which might
+have been received with doubt, if expressed only by a native American,
+were set down as true, beyond dispute, when they came from the lips of
+Chatham, Burke, Barre, or Fox."
+
+"But, Grandfather," asked Lawrence, "were there no able and eloquent men
+in this country who took the part of King George?"
+
+"There were many men of talent who said what they could in defence of
+the king's tyrannical proceedings," replied Grandfather. "But they had
+the worst side of the argument, and therefore seldom said anything worth
+remembering. Moreover, their hearts were faint and feeble; for they
+felt that the people scorned and detested them. They had no friends,
+no defence, except in the bayonets of the British troops. A blight
+fell upon all their faculties, because they were contending against the
+rights of their own native land."
+
+"What were the names of some of them?" inquired Charley.
+
+"Governor Hutchinson, Chief Justice Oliver, Judge Auchmuty, the Rev.
+Mather Byles, and several other clergymen, were among the most noted
+loyalists," answered Grandfather.
+
+"I wish the people had tarred and feathered every man of them!" cried
+Charley.
+
+"That wish is very wrong, Charley," said Grandfather. "You must not
+think that there is no integrity and honor except among those who stood
+up for the freedom of America. For aught I know, there was quite as
+much of these qualities on one side as on the other. Do you see nothing
+admirable in a faithful adherence to an unpopular cause? Can you not
+respect that principle of loyalty which made the royalists give up
+country, friends, fortune, everything, rather than be false to their
+king? It was a mistaken principle; but many of them cherished it
+honorably, and were martyrs to it."
+
+"Oh, I was wrong!" said Charley, ingenuously.
+
+"And I would risk my life rather than one of those good old royalists
+should be tarred and feathered."
+
+"The time is now come when we may judge fairly of them," continued
+Grandfather. "Be the good and true men among them honored; for they
+were as much our countrymen as the patriots were. And, thank Heaven,
+our country need not be ashamed of her sons,--of most of them at
+least,--whatever side they took in the Revolutionary contest."
+
+Among the portraits was one of King George III Little Alice clapped her
+hands, and seemed pleased with the bluff good-nature of his physiognomy.
+But Laurence thought it strange that a man with such a face, indicating
+hardly a common share of intellect, should have had influence enough on
+human affairs to convulse the world with war. Grandfather observed that
+this poor king had always appeared to him one of the most unfortunate
+persons that ever lived. He was so honest and conscientious, that, if he
+had been only a private man, his life would probably have been blameless
+and happy. But his was that worst of fortunes,--to be placed in a
+station far beyond his abilities.
+
+"And so," said Grandfather, "his life, while he retained what intellect
+Heaven had gifted him with, was one long mortification. At last he grew
+crazed with care and trouble. For nearly twenty years the men arch of
+England was confined as a madman. In his old age, too, God took away
+his eyesight; so that his royal palace was nothing to him but a dark,
+lonesome prison-house."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. THE TEA PARTY AND LEXINGTON.
+
+"OUR old chair?" resumed Grandfather, "did not now stand in the midst
+of a gay circle of British officers. The troops, as I told you, had been
+removed to Castle William immediately after the Boston massacre. Still,
+however, there were many tories, custom-house officers, and Englishmen
+who used to assemble in the British Coffee House and talk over the
+affairs of the period. Matters grew worse and worse; and in 1773 the
+people did a deed which incensed the king and ministry more than any of
+their former doings."
+
+Grandfather here described the affair, which is known by the name of
+the Boston Tea Party. The Americans, for some time past, had left off
+importing tea, on account of the oppressive tax. The East India Company,
+in London, had a large stock of tea on hand, which they had expected
+to sell to the Americans, but could find no market for it. But after a
+while, the government persuaded this company of merchants to send the
+tea to America.
+
+"How odd it is," observed Clara, "that the liberties of America should
+have had anything to do with a cup of tea!"
+
+Grandfather smiled, and proceeded with his narrative. When the people
+of Boston heard that several cargoes of tea were coming across the
+Atlantic, they held a great many meetings at Faneuil Hall, in the Old
+South Church, and under Liberty Tree. In the midst of their debates,
+three ships arrived in the harbor with the tea on board. The people
+spent more than a fortnight in consulting what should be done. At last,
+on the 16th of December, 1773, they demanded of Governor Hutchinson that
+he should immediately send the ships back to England.
+
+The governor replied that the ships must not leave the harbor until the
+custom-house duties upon the tea should be paid. Now, the payment of
+these duties was the very thing against which the people had set their
+faces; because it was a tax unjustly imposed upon America by the English
+government. Therefore, in the dusk of the evening, as soon as Governor
+Hutchinson's reply was received, an immense crowd hastened to Griffin's
+Wharf, where the tea-ships lay. The place is now called Liverpool Wharf.
+
+"When the crowd reached the wharf," said Grandfather, "they saw that
+a set of wild-looking figures were already on board of the ships. You
+would have imagined that the Indian warriors of old times had come back
+again; for they wore the Indian dress, and had their faces covered with
+red and black paint, like the Indians when they go to war. These grim
+figures hoisted the tea-chests on the decks of the vessels; broke them
+open, and threw all the contents into the harbor."
+
+"Grandfather," said little Alice, "I suppose Indians don't love tea;
+else they would never waste it so."
+
+"They were not real Indians, my child," answered Grandfather. "They
+were white men in disguise; because a heavy punishment would have been
+inflicted on them if the king's officers had found who they were.
+But it was never known. From that day to this, though the matter has
+been talked of by all the world, nobody can tell the names of those
+Indian figures. Some people say that there were very famous men among
+them, who afterwards became governors and generals. Whether this be true
+I cannot tell."
+
+When tidings of this bold deed were carried to England, King George
+was greatly enraged. Parliament immediately passed an act, by which all
+vessels were forbidden to take in or discharge their cargoes at the
+port of Boston. In this way they expected to ruin all the merchants,
+and starve the poor people, by depriving them of employment. At the
+same time another act was passed, taking away many rights and privileges
+which had been granted in the charter of Massachusetts.
+
+Governor Hutchinson, soon afterward, was summoned to England, in order
+that he might give his advice about the management of American
+affairs. General Gage, an officer of the old French War, and since
+commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, was appointed
+governor in his stead. One of his first acts was to make Salem, instead
+of Boston, the metropolis of Massachusetts, by summoning the General
+Court to meet there.
+
+According to Grandfather's description, this was the most gloomy time
+that Massachusetts had ever seen. The people groaned under as heavy a
+tyranny as in the days of Sir Edmund Andros. Boston looked as if it were
+afflicted with some dreadful pestilence,--so sad were the inhabitants,
+and so desolate the streets. There was no cheerful hum of business.
+The merchants shut up their warehouses, and the laboring men stood idle
+about the wharves. But all America felt interested in the good town of
+Boston; and contributions were raised, in many places, for the relief of
+the poor inhabitants.
+
+"Our dear old chair!" exclaimed Clara. "How dismal it must have been
+now!"
+
+"Oh," replied Grandfather, "a gay throng of officers had now come
+back to the British Coffee House; so that the old chair had no lack of
+mirthful company. Soon after General Gage became governor a great many
+troops had arrived, and were encamped upon the Common. Boston was now
+a garrisoned and fortified town; for the general had built a battery
+across the Neck, on the road to Roxbury, and placed guards for its
+defence. Everything looked as if a civil war were close at hand."
+
+"Did the people make ready to fight?" asked Charley.
+
+"A Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia," said Grandfather,
+"and proposed such measures as they thought most conducive to the public
+good. A Provincial Congress was likewise chosen in Massachusetts. They
+exhorted the people to arm and discipline themselves. A great number of
+minutemen were enrolled. The Americans called them minute-men, because
+they engaged to be ready to fight at a minute's warning. The English
+officers laughed, and said that the name was a very proper one, because
+the minute-men would run away the minute they saw the enemy. Whether
+they would fight or run was soon to be proved."
+
+Grandfather told the children that the first open resistance offered
+to the British troops, in the province of Massachusetts, was at Salem.
+Colonel Timothy Pickering, with thirty or forty militia-men, prevented
+the English colonel, Leslie, with four times as many regular soldiers,
+from taking possession of some military stores. No blood was shed on
+this occasion; but soon afterward it began to flow.
+
+General Gage sent eight hundred soldiers to Concord, about eighteen
+miles from Boston, to destroy some ammunition and provisions which
+the colonists had collected there. They set out on their march on the
+evening of the 18th of April, 1775. The next morning the general sent
+Lord' Percy with nine hundred men to strengthen the troops that had gone
+before. All that day the inhabitants of Boston heard various rumors.
+Some said that the British were making great slaughter among our
+countrymen. Others affirmed that every man had turned out with his
+musket, and that not a single soldier would ever get back to Boston.
+
+"It was after sunset," continued Grandfather, "when the troops, who
+had marched forth so proudly, were seen entering Charlestown. They were
+covered with dust, and so hot and weary that their tongues hung out
+of their mouths. Many of them were faint with wounds. They had not all
+returned. Nearly three hundred were strewn, dead or dying, along the
+road from Concord. The yeomanry had risen upon the invaders and driven
+them back."
+
+"Was this the battle of Lexington?" asked Charley.
+
+"Yes," replied Grandfather; "it was so called, because the British,
+without provocation, had fired upon a party of minute-men, near
+Lexington meeting-house, and killed eight of them. That fatal volley,
+which was fired by order of Major Pitcairn, began the war of the
+Revolution."
+
+About this time, if Grandfather had been correctly informed, our chair
+disappeared from the British Coffee House. The manner of its departure
+cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. Perhaps the keeper of the Coffee
+House turned it out of doors on account of its old-fashioned aspect.
+Perhaps he sold it as a curiosity. Perhaps it was taken, without leave,
+by some person who regarded it as public property because it had
+once figured under Liberty Tree. Or perhaps the old chair, being of a
+peaceable disposition, has made use of its four oaken legs and run away
+from the seat of war.
+
+"It would have made a terrible clattering over the pavement," said
+Charley, laughing.
+
+"Meanwhile," continued Grandfather, "during the mysterious
+non-appearance of our chair, an army of twenty thousand men had started
+up and come to the siege of Boston. General Gage and his troops were
+cooped up within the narrow precincts of the peninsula. On the 17th of
+June, 1775, the famous battle of Bunker Hill was fought. Here General
+Warren fell. The British got the victory, indeed, but with the loss of
+more than a thousand officers and men."
+
+"Oh Grandfather," cried Charley, "you must tell us about that famous
+battle."
+
+"No, Charley," said Grandfather, "I am not like other historians.
+Battles shall not hold a prominent place in the history of our quiet
+and comfortable old chair. But to-morrow evening, Laurence, Clara, and
+yourself, and dear little Alice too, shall visit the Diorama of Bunker
+Hill. There you shall see the whole business, the burning of Charlestown
+and all, with your own eyes, and hear the cannon and musketry with your
+own ears."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. THE SIEGE OF BOSTON.
+
+THE next evening but one, when the children had given Grandfather a full
+account of the Diorama of Bunker Hill, they entreated him not to keep
+them any longer in suspense about the fate of his chair. The reader will
+recollect that, at the last accounts, it had trotted away upon its poor
+old legs nobody knew whither. But, before gratifying their curiosity,
+Grandfather found it necessary to say something about public events.
+
+The Continental Congress, which was assembled at Philadelphia, was
+composed of delegates from all the colonies. They had now appointed
+George Washington, of Virginia, to be commander-in-chief of all the
+American armies. He was, at that time, a member of Congress; but
+immediately left Philadelphia, and began his journey to Massachusetts.
+On the 3d of July, 1775, he arrived at Cambridge, and took command of
+the troops which were besieging General Gage.
+
+"O Grandfather," exclaimed Laurence, "it makes my heart throb to think
+what is coming now. We are to see General Washington himself."
+
+The children crowded around Grandfather and looked earnestly into his
+face. Even little Alice opened her sweet blue eyes, with her lips apart,
+and almost held her breath to listen; so instinctive is the reverence of
+childhood for the father of his country.
+
+Grandfather paused a moment; for he felt as if it might be irreverent
+to introduce the hallowed shade of Washington into a history where
+an ancient elbow-chair occupied the most prominent place. However, he
+determined to proceed with his narrative, and speak of the hero when it
+was needful, but with an unambitious simplicity.
+
+So Grandfather told his auditors, that, on General Washington's arrival
+at Cambridge, his first care was to reconnoitre the British troops with
+his spy-glass, and to examine the condition of his own army. He found
+that the American troops amounted to about fourteen thousand men. They
+were extended all round the peninsula of Boston, a space of twelve
+miles, from the high grounds of Roxbury on the right to Mystic River
+on the left. Some were living in tents of sailcloth, some in shanties
+rudely constructed of boards, some in huts of stone or turf with curious
+windows and doors of basket-work.
+
+In order to be near the centre and oversee the whole of this
+wide-stretched army, the commander-in-chief made his headquarters at
+Cambridge, about half a mile from the colleges. A mansion-house, which
+perhaps had been the country seat of some Tory gentle man, was provided
+for his residence.
+
+"When General Washington first entered this mansion," said Grandfather,
+"he was ushered up the staircase and shown into a handsome apartment. He
+sat down in a large chair, which was the most conspicuous object in the
+room. The noble figure of Washington would have done honor to a throne.
+As he sat there, with his hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed
+sword, which was placed between his knees, his whole aspect well
+befitted the chosen man on whom his country leaned for the defence of
+her dearest rights. America seemed safe under his protection. His face
+was grander than any sculptor had ever wrought in marble; none could
+behold him without awe and reverence. Never before had the lion's head
+at the summit of the chair looked down upon such a face and form as
+Washington's."
+
+"Why, Grandfather!" cried Clara, clasping her hands in amazement, "was
+it really so? Did General Washington sit in our great chair?"
+
+"I knew how it would be," said Laurence; "I foresaw it the moment
+Grandfather began to speak."
+
+Grandfather smiled. But, turning from the personal and domestic life of
+the illustrious leader, he spoke of the methods which Washington adopted
+to win back the metropolis of New England from the British.
+
+The army, when he took command of it, was without any discipline or
+order. The privates considered themselves as good as their officers;
+and seldom thought it necessary to obey their commands, unless they
+understood the why and wherefore. Moreover, they were enlisted for so
+short a period, that, as soon as they began to be respectable soldiers,
+it was time to discharge them. Then came new recruits, who had to be
+taught their duty before they could be of any service. Such was the army
+with which Washington had to contend against more than twenty veteran
+British regiments.
+
+Some of the men had no muskets, and almost all were without bayonets.
+Heavy cannon, for battering the British fortifications, were much
+wanted. There was but a small quantity of powder and ball, few tools
+to build intrenchments with, and a great deficiency of provisions
+and clothes for the soldiers. Yet, in spite of these perplexing
+difficulties, the eyes of the whole people were fixed on General
+Washington, expecting him to undertake some great enterprise against the
+hostile army.
+
+The first thing that he found necessary was to bring his own men into
+better order and discipline. It is wonderful how soon he transformed
+this rough mob of country people into the semblance of a regular army.
+One of Washington's most invaluable characteristics was the faculty
+of bringing order out of confusion. All business with which he had any
+concern seemed to regulate itself as if by magic. The influence of his
+mind was like light gleaming through an unshaped world. It was this
+faculty, more than any other, that made him so fit to ride upon the
+storm of the Revolution when everything was unfixed and drifting about
+in a troubled sea.
+
+"Washington had not been long at the head of the army," proceeded
+Grandfather, "before his soldiers thought as highly of him as if he had
+led them to a hundred victories. They knew that he was the very man whom
+the country needed, and the only one who could bring them safely
+through the great contest against the might of England. They put entire
+confidence in his courage, wisdom, and integrity."
+
+"And were they not eager to follow him against the British?" asked
+Charley.
+
+"Doubtless they would have gone whithersoever his sword pointed the
+way," answered Grandfather; "and Washington was anxious to make
+a decisive assault upon the enemy. But as the enterprise was very
+hazardous, he called a council of all the generals in the army.
+Accordingly they came from their different posts, and were ushered into
+the reception-room. The commander-in-chief arose from our great chair to
+greet them."
+
+"What were their names?" asked Charley.
+
+"There was General Artemas Ward," replied Grandfather, "a lawyer by
+profession. He had commanded the troops before Washington's arrival
+Another was General Charles Lee, who had been a colonel in the English
+army, and was thought to possess vast military science. He came to the
+council, followed by two or three dogs which were always at his heels.
+There was General Putnam, too, who was known all over New England by the
+name of Old Put."
+
+"Was it he who killed the wolf?" inquired Charley.
+
+"The same," said Grandfather; "and he had done good service in the old
+French War. His occupation was that of a farmer; but he left his plough
+in the furrow at the news of Lexington battle. Then there was General
+Gates, who afterward gained great renown at Saratoga, and lost it again
+at Camden. General Greene, of Rhode Island, was likewise at the council.
+Washington soon discovered him to be one of the best officers in the
+army."
+
+When the generals were all assembled, Washington consulted them about
+a plan for storming the English batteries. But it was their unanimous
+opinion that so perilous an enterprise ought not to be attempted. The
+army, therefore, continued to besiege Boston, preventing the enemy
+from obtaining supplies of provisions, but without taking any immediate
+measures to get possession of the town. In 'this manner the sum met,
+autumn, and winter passed away.
+
+"Many a night, doubtless," said Grandfather, "after Washington had been
+all day on horseback, galloping from one post of the army to another,
+he used to sit in our great chair, rapt in earnest thought. Had you seen
+him, you might have supposed that his whole mind was fixed on the blue
+china tiles which adorned the old-fashioned fireplace. But, in reality,
+he was meditating how to capture the British army, or drive it out of
+Boston. Once, when there was a hard frost, he formed a scheme to cross
+the Charles River on the ice. But the other generals could not be
+persuaded that there was any prospect of success."
+
+"What were the British doing all this time?" inquired Charley.
+
+"They lay idle in the town," replied Grandfather. "General Gage had been
+recalled to England, and was succeeded by Sir William Howe. The British
+army and the inhabitants of Boston were now in great distress. Being
+shut up in the town so long, they had consumed almost all their
+provisions and burned up all their fuel. The soldiers tore down the Old
+North Church, and used its rotten boards and timbers for firewood. To
+heighten their distress, the small-pox broke out. They probably lost far
+more men by cold, hunger, and sickness than had been slain at Lexington
+and Bunker Hill."
+
+"What a dismal time for the poor women and children!" exclaimed Clara.
+
+"At length," continued Grandfather, "in March, 1776, General Washington,
+who had now a good supply of powder, began a terrible cannonade and
+bombardment from Dorchester Heights. One of the cannon-balls which he
+fired into the town struck the tower of the Brattle Street Church, where
+it may still be seen. Sir William Howe made preparations to cross over
+in boats and drive the Americans from their batteries, but was prevented
+by a violent gale and storm. General Washington next erected a battery
+on Nook's Hill, so near the enemy that it was impossible for them to
+remain in Boston any longer."
+
+"Hurrah! Hurrah!" cried Charley, clapping his hands triumphantly. "I
+wish I had been there to see how sheepish the Englishmen looked."
+
+And as Grandfather thought that Boston had never witnessed a more
+interesting period than this, when the royal power was in its death
+agony, he determined to take a peep into the town and imagine the
+feelings of those who were quitting it forever.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. THE TORY'S FAREWELL.
+
+"ALAS for the poor tories!" said Grandfather. "Until the very last
+morning after Washington's troops had shown themselves on Nook's Hill,
+these unfortunate persons could not believe that the audacious rebels,
+as they called the Americans, would ever prevail against King George's
+army. But when they saw the British soldiers preparing to embark on
+board of the ships of war, then they knew that they had lost their
+country. Could the patriots have known how bitter were their regrets,
+they would have forgiven them all their evil deeds, and sent a blessing
+after them as they sailed away from their native shore."
+
+In order to make the children sensible of the pitiable condition of
+these men, Grandfather singled out Peter Oliver, chief justice of
+Massachusetts under the crown, and imagined him walking through the
+streets of Boston on the morning before he left it forever.
+
+This effort of Grandfather's fancy may be called the Tory's Farewell.
+
+Old Chief Justice Oliver threw on his red cloak, and placed his
+three-cornered hat on the top of his white wig. In this garb he intended
+to go forth and take a parting look at objects that had been familiar to
+him from his youth. Accordingly, he began his walk in the north part
+of the town, and soon came to Faneuil Hall. This edifice, the cradle of
+liberty, had been used by the British officers as a playhouse.
+
+"Would that I could see its walls crumble to dust!" thought the chief
+justice; and, in the bitterness of his heart, he shook his fist at
+the famous hall. "There began the mischief which now threatens to rend
+asunder the British empire. The seditious harangues of demagogues in
+Faneuil Hall have made rebels of a loyal people and deprived me of my
+country."
+
+He then passed through a narrow avenue and found himself in King Street,
+almost on the very spot which, six years before, had been reddened by
+the blood of the Boston massacre. The chief justice stepped cautiously,
+and shuddered, as if he were afraid that, even now, the gore of his
+slaughtered countrymen might stain his feet.
+
+Before him rose the Town House, on the front of which were still
+displayed the royal arms. Within that edifice he had dispensed justice
+to the people in the days when his name was never mentioned without
+honor. There, too, was the balcony whence the trumpet had been sounded
+and the proclamation read to an assembled multitude, whenever a new king
+of England ascended the throne.
+
+"I remember--I remember," said Chief Justice Oliver to himself, "when
+his present most sacred Majesty was proclaimed. Then how the people
+shouted! Each man would have poured out his life-blood to keep a hair of
+King George's head from harm. But now there is scarcely a tongue in all
+New England that does not imprecate curses on his name. It is ruin and
+disgrace to love him. Can it be possible that a few fleeting years have
+wrought such a change?"
+
+It did not occur to the chief justice that nothing but the most grievous
+tyranny could so soon have changed the people's hearts. Hurrying from
+the spot, he entered Cornhill, as the lower part of Washington Street
+was then called. Opposite to the Town House was the waste foundation of
+the Old North Church. The sacrilegious hands of the British soldiers had
+torn it down, and kindled their barrack fires with the fragments.
+
+Farther on he passed beneath the tower of the Old South. The threshold
+of this sacred edifice was worn by the iron tramp of horses' feet;
+for the interior had been used as a riding-school and rendezvous for a
+regiment of dragoons. As the chief justice lingered an instant at the
+door a trumpet sounded within, and the regiment came clattering forth
+and galloped down the street. They were proceeding to the place of
+embarkation.
+
+"Let them go!" thought the chief justice, with somewhat of an old
+Puritan feeling in his breast. "No good can come of men who desecrate
+the house of God."
+
+He went on a few steps farther, and paused before the Province House.
+No range of brick stores had then sprung up to hide the mansion of the
+royal governors from public view. It had a spacious courtyard, bordered
+with trees, and enclosed with a wrought-iron fence. On the cupola that
+surmounted the edifice was the gilded figure of an Indian chief,
+ready to let fly an arrow from his bow. Over the wide front door was a
+balcony, in which the chief justice had often stood when the governor
+and high officers of the province showed themselves to the people.
+
+While Chief Justice Oliver gazed sadly at the Province House, before
+which a sentinel was pacing, the double leaves of the door were thrown
+open, and Sir William Howe made his appearance. Behind him came a throng
+of officers, whose steel scabbards clattered against the stones as they
+hastened down the court-yard. Sir William Howe was a dark-complexioned
+man, stern and haughty in his deportment. He stepped as proudly in that
+hour of defeat as if he were going to receive the submission of the
+rebel general.
+
+The chief justice bowed and accosted him.
+
+"This is a grievous hour for both of us, Sir William," said he.
+
+"Forward! gentlemen," said Sir William Howe to the officers who attended
+him; "we have no time to hear lamentations now."
+
+And, coldly bowing, he departed. Thus the chief justice had a foretaste
+of the mortifications which the exiled New-Englanders afterwards
+suffered from the haughty Britons. They were despised even by that
+country which they had served more faithfully than their own.
+
+A still heavier trial awaited Chief Justice Oliver, as he passed onward
+from the Province House. He was recognized by the people in the street.
+They had long known him as the descendant of an ancient and honorable
+family. They had seen him sitting in his scarlet robes upon the
+judgment-seat. All his life long, either for the sake of his ancestors
+or on account of his own dignified station and unspotted character,
+he had been held in high respect. The old gentry of the province were
+looked upon almost as noblemen while Massachusetts was under royal
+government.
+
+But now all hereditary reverence for birth and rank was gone. The
+inhabitants shouted in derision when they saw the venerable form of the
+old chief justice. They laid the wrongs of the country and their own
+sufferings during the siege--their hunger, cold, and sickness--partly to
+his charge and to that of his brother Andrew and his kinsman Hutchinson.
+It was by their advice that the king had acted in all the colonial
+troubles. But the day of recompense was come.
+
+"See the old tory!" cried the people, with bitter laughter. "He is
+taking his last look at us. Let him show his white wig among us an hour
+hence, and we'll give him a coat of tar and feathers!"
+
+The chief justice, however, knew that he need fear no violence so long
+as the British troops were in possession of the town. But, alas! it was
+a bitter thought that he should leave no loving memory behind him. His
+forefathers, long after their spirits left the earth, had been honored
+in the affectionate remembrance of the people. But he, who would
+henceforth be dead to his native land, would have no epitaph save
+scornful and vindictive words. The old man wept.
+
+"They curse me, they invoke all kinds of evil on my head!" thought he,
+in the midst of his tears. "But, if they could read my heart, they would
+know that I love New England well. Heaven bless her, and bring her again
+under the rule of our gracious king! A blessing, too, on these poor,
+misguided people!"
+
+The chief justice flung out his hands with a gesture, as if he were
+bestowing a parting benediction on his countrymen. He had now reached
+the southern portion of the town, and was far within the range of
+cannon-shot from the American batteries. Close beside him was the bread
+stump of a tree, which appeared to have been recently cut down. Being
+weary and heavy at heart, he was about to sit down upon the stump.
+
+Suddenly it flashed upon his recollection that this was the stump of
+Liberty Tree! The British soldiers had cut it down, vainly boasting
+that they could as easily overthrow the liberties of America. Under its
+shadowy branches, ten years before, the brother of Chief Justice Oliver
+had been compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of the people by taking
+the oath which they prescribed. This tree was connected with all the
+events that had severed America from England.
+
+"Accursed tree!" cried the chief justice, gnashing his teeth; for anger
+overcame his sorrow. "Would that thou hadst been left standing till
+Hancock, Adams, and every other traitor, were hanged upon thy branches!
+Then fitly mightest thou have been hewn down and cast into the flames."
+
+He turned back, hurried to Long Wharf without looking behind him,
+embarked with the British troops for Halifax, and never saw his country
+more. Throughout the remainder of his days Chief Justice Oliver was
+agitated with those same conflicting emotions that had tortured him
+while taking his farewell walk through the streets of Boston. Deep love
+and fierce resentment burned in one flame within his breast, Anathemas
+struggled with benedictions. He felt as if one breath of his native air
+would renew his life, yet would have died rather than breathe the
+same air with rebels. And such likewise were the feelings of the other
+exiles, a thousand in number, who departed with the British army. Were
+they not the most unfortunate of men?
+
+"The misfortunes of those exiled tories," observed Laurence, "must have
+made them think of the poor exiles of Acadia."
+
+"They had a sad time of it, I suppose," said Charley. "But I choose to
+rejoice with the patriots, rather than be sorrowful with the tories.
+Grandfather, what did General Washington do now?"
+
+"As the rear of the British army embarked from the wharf," replied
+Grandfather, "General Washington's troops marched over the Neck, through
+the fortification gates, and entered Boston in triumph. And now, for the
+first time since the Pilgrims landed, Massachusetts was free from
+the dominion of England. May she never again be subjected to foreign
+rule,--never again feel the rod of oppression!"
+
+"Dear Grandfather," asked little Alice, "did General Washington bring
+our chair back to Boston?"
+
+"I know not how long the chair remained at Cambridge," said Grandfather.
+"Had it stayed there till this time, it could not have found a better or
+more appropriate shelter, The mansion which General Washington occupied
+is still standing, and his apartments have since been tenanted by
+several eminent men. Governor Everett, while a professor in the
+University, resided there. So at an after period did Mr. Sparks, whose
+invaluable labors have connected his name with the immortality of
+Washington. And at this very time a venerable friend and contemporary of
+your Grandfather, after long pilgrimages beyond the sea, has set up his
+staff of rest at Washington's headquarters."
+
+"You mean Professor Longfellow, Grandfather," said Laurence. "Oh, how I
+should love to see the author of those beautiful Voices of the Night!"
+
+"We will visit him next summer," answered Grandfather, "and take Clara
+and little Alice with us,--and Charley, too, if he will be quiet."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X. THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.
+
+WHEN Grandfather resumed his narrative the next evening, he told the
+children that he had some difficulty in tracing the movements of the
+chair during a short period after General Washington's departure from
+Cambridge.
+
+Within a few months, however, it made its appearance at a shop in
+Boston, before the door of which was seen a striped pole. In the
+interior was displayed a stuffed alligator, a rattlesnake's skin, a
+bundle of Indian arrows, an old-fashioned matchlock gun, a walking-stick
+of Governor Winthrop's, a wig of old Cotton Mather's, and a colored
+print of the Boston massacre. In short, it was a barber's shop, kept by
+a Mr. Pierce, who prided himself on having shaved General Washington,
+Old Put, and many other famous persons.
+
+"This was not a very dignified situation for our venerable chair,"
+continued Grandfather; "but, you know, there is no better place for news
+than a barber's shop. All the events of the Revolutionary War were heard
+of there sooner than anywhere else. People used to sit in the chair,
+reading the newspaper, or talking, and waiting to be shaved, while Mr.
+Pierce, with his scissors and razor, was at work upon the heads or chins
+of his other customers."
+
+"I am sorry the chair could not betake itself to some more suitable
+place of refuge," said Laurence.
+
+"It was old now, and must have longed for quiet. Besides, after it had
+held Washington in its arms, it ought not to have been compelled to
+receive all the world. It should have been put into the pulpit of the
+Old South Church, or some other consecrated place."
+
+"Perhaps so," answered Grandfather. "But the chair, in the course of its
+varied existence, had grown so accustomed to general intercourse with
+society, that I doubt whether it would have contented itself in the
+pulpit of the Old South. There it would have stood solitary, or with no
+livelier companion than the silent organ, in the opposite gallery, six
+days out of seven. I incline to think that it had seldom been situated
+more to its mind than on the sanded floor of the snug little barber's
+shop."
+
+Then Grandfather amused his children and himself with fancying all the
+different sorts of people who had occupied our chair while they awaited
+the leisure Of the barber.
+
+There was the old clergyman, such as Dr. Chauncey, wearing a white wig,
+which the barber took from his head and placed upon a wig-block. Half
+an hour, perhaps, was spent in combing and powdering this reverend
+appendage to a clerical skull. There, too, were officers of the
+Continental army, who required their hair to be pomatumed and plastered,
+so as to give them a bold and martial aspect. There, once in a while,
+was seen the thin, care-worn, melancholy visage of an old tory, with a
+Wig that, in times long past, had perhaps figured at a Province House
+ball. And there, not unfrequently, sat the rough captain of a privateer,
+just returned from a successful cruise, in which he had captured half
+a dozen richly laden vessels belonging to King George's subjects. And
+sometimes a rosy little school-boy climbed into our chair, and sat
+staring, with wide-open eyes, at the alligator, the rattlesnake, and the
+other curiosities of the barber's shop. His mother had sent him, with
+sixpence in his hand, to get his glossy curls cropped off. The incidents
+of the Revolution plentifully supplied the barber's customers with
+topics of conversation. They talked sorrowfully of the death of General
+Montgomery and the failure of our troops to take Quebec; for the
+New-Englanders were now as anxious to get Canada from the English as
+they had formerly been to conquer it from the French.
+
+"But very soon," said Grandfather, "came news from Philadelphia, the
+most important that America had ever heard of. On the 4th of July,
+1776, Congress had signed the Declaration of Independence. The thirteen
+colonies were now free and independent States. Dark as our prospects
+were, the inhabitants welcomed these glorious tidings, and resolved to
+perish rather than again bear the yoke of England."
+
+"And I would perish, too!" cried Charley.
+
+"It was a great day,--a glorious deed!" said Laurence, coloring high
+with enthusiasm. "And, Grandfather, I love to think that the sages
+in Congress showed themselves as bold and true as the soldiers in the
+field; for it must have required more courage to sign the Declaration of
+Independence than to fight the enemy in battle."
+
+Grandfather acquiesced in Laurence's view of the matter. He then touched
+briefly and hastily upon the prominent events of the Revolution. The
+thunderstorm of war had now rolled southward, and did not again
+burst upon Massachusetts, where its first fury had been felt. But she
+contributed her full share. So the success of the contest. Wherever
+a battle was fought,--whether at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton,
+Princeton, Brandywine, or Germantown,--some of her brave sons were found
+slain upon the field.
+
+In October, 1777, General Burgoyne surrendered his army, at Saratoga,
+to the American general, Gates. The captured troops were sent to
+Massachusetts. Not long afterwards Dr. Franklin and other American
+commissioners made a treaty at Paris, by which France bound herself to
+assist our countrymen. The gallant Lafayette was already fighting for
+our freedom by the side of Washington. In 1778 a French fleet, commanded
+by Count d'Estaing, spent a considerable time in Boston harbor. It marks
+the vicissitudes of human affairs, that the French, our ancient enemies,
+should come hither as comrades and brethren, and that kindred England
+should be our foe.
+
+"While the war was raging in the Middle and Southern States," proceeded
+Grandfather, "Massachusetts had leisure to settle a new constitution of
+government instead of the royal charter. This was done in 1780. In the
+same year John Hancock, who had been president of Congress, was chosen
+governor of the State. He was the first whom the people had elected
+since the days of old Simon Bradstreet."
+
+"But, Grandfather, who had been governor since the British were driven
+away?" inquired Laurence. "General Gage and Sir William Howe were the
+last whom you have told us of."
+
+"There had been no governor for the last four years," replied
+Grandfather. "Massachusetts had been ruled by the Legislature, to whom
+the people paid obedience of their own accord. It is one of the
+most remarkable circumstances in our history, that, when the charter
+government was overthrown by the war, no anarchy nor the slightest
+confusion ensued, This was a great honor to the people. But now Hancock
+was proclaimed governor by sound of trumpet; and there was again a
+settled government."
+
+Grandfather again adverted to the progress of the war. In 1781 General
+Greene drove the British from the Southern States. In October of the
+same year General Washington compelled Lord Cornwallis to surrender his
+army, at Yorktown, in Virginia. This was the last great event of the
+Revolutionary contest. King George and his ministers perceived that all
+the might of England could not compel America to renew her allegiance
+to the crown. After a great deal of discussion, a treaty of peace was
+signed in September, 1783.
+
+"Now, at last," said Grandfather, "after weary years of war, the
+regiments of Massachusetts returned in peace to their families. Now the
+stately and dignified leaders, such as General Lincoln and General Knox,
+with their powdered hair and their uniforms of blue and buff, were seen
+moving about the streets."
+
+"And little boys ran after them, I suppose," remarked Charley; "and the
+grown people bowed respectfully."
+
+"They deserved respect; for they were good men as well as brave,"
+answered Grandfather. "Now, too, the inferior officers and privates came
+home to seek some peaceful occupation. Their friends remembered them as
+slender and smooth-checked young men; but they returned with the erect
+and rigid mien of disciplined soldiers. Some hobbled on crutches and
+wooden legs; others had received wounds, which were still rankling in
+their breasts. Many, alas! had fallen in battle, and perhaps were left
+unburied on the bloody field."
+
+"The country must have been sick of war," observed Laurence.
+
+"One would have thought so," said Grandfather. "Yet only two or three
+years elapsed before the folly of some misguided men caused another
+mustering of soldiers. This affair was called Shays's war, because a
+Captain Shays was the chief leader of the insurgents."
+
+"Oh Grandfather, don't let there be another war!" cried little Alice,
+piteously.
+
+Grandfather comforted his dear little girl by assuring her that there
+was no great mischief done. Shays's war happened in the latter part of
+1786 and the beginning of the following year. Its principal cause
+was the badness of times. The State of Massachusetts, in its public
+capacity, was very much in debt. So likewise were many of the people.
+An insurrection took place, the object of which seems to have been to
+interrupt the course of law and get rid of debts and taxes.
+
+James Bowdoin, a good and able man, was now governor of Massachusetts.
+He sent General Lincoln, at the head of four thousand men, to put down
+the insurrection. This general, who had fought through several hard
+campaigns in the Revolution, managed matters like an old soldier, and
+totally defeated the rebels at the expense of very little blood.
+
+"There is but one more public event to be recorded in the history of
+our chair," proceeded Grandfather. "In the year 1794 Samuel Adams was
+elected governor of Massachusetts. I have told you what a distinguished
+patriot he was, and how much he resembled the stern old Puritans. Could
+the ancient freemen of Massachusetts who lived in the days of the first
+charter have arisen from their graves, they would probably have voted
+for Samuel Adams to be governor."
+
+"Well, Grandfather, I hope he sat in our chair," said Clara.
+
+"He did," replied Grandfather. "He had long been in the habit of
+visiting the barber's shop, where our venerable chair, philosophically
+forgetful of its former dignities, had now spent nearly eighteen not
+uncomfortable years. Such a remarkable piece of furniture, so evidently
+a relic of long-departed times, could not escape the notice of Samuel
+Adams. He made minute researches into its history, and ascertained what
+a succession of excellent and famous people had occupied it."
+
+"How did he find it out?" asked Charley; "for I suppose the chair could
+not tell its own history."
+
+"There used to be a vast collection of ancient letters and other
+documents in the tower of the Old South Church," answered Grandfather.
+"Perhaps the history of our chair was contained among these. At all
+events, Samuel Adams appears to have been well acquainted with it. When
+he became governor, he felt that he could have no more honorable seat
+than that which had been the ancient chair of state. He therefore
+purchased it for a trifle, and filled it worthily for three years as
+governor of Massachusetts." "And what next?" asked Charley.
+
+"That is all," said Grandfather, heaving a sigh; for he could not help
+being a little sad at the thought that his stories must close here.
+"Samuel Adams died in 1803, at the age of above threescore and ten.
+He was a great patriot, but a poor man. At his death he left scarcely
+property enough to pay the expenses of his funeral. This precious chair,
+among his other effects, was sold at auction; and your Grandfather, who
+was then in the strength of his years, became the purchaser."
+
+Laurence, with a mind full of thoughts that struggled for expression,
+but could find none, looked steadfastly at the chair.
+
+He had now learned all its history, yet was not satisfied.
+
+"Oh, how I wish that the chair could speak!" cried he. "After its long
+intercourse with mankind,--after looking upon the world for ages,--what
+lessons of golden wisdom it might utter! It might teach a private
+person how to lead a good and happy life, or a statesman how to make his
+country prosperous."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. GRANDFATHER'S DREAM.
+
+GRANDFATHER was struck by Laurence's idea that the historic chair
+should utter a voice, and thus pour forth the collected wisdom of two
+centuries. The old gentleman had once possessed no inconsiderable share
+of fancy; and even now its fading sunshine occasionally glimmered among
+his more sombre reflections.
+
+As the history of his chair had exhausted all his facts, Grandfather
+determined to have recourse to fable. So, after warning the children
+that they must not mistake this story for a true one, he related what we
+shall call Grandfather's Dream.
+
+Laurence and Clara, where were you last night? Where were you,
+Charley, and dear little Alice? You had all gone to rest, and left old
+Grandfather to meditate alone in his great chair. The lamp had grown so
+dim that its light hardly illuminated the alabaster shade. The wood-fire
+had crumbled into heavy embers, among which the little flames danced,
+and quivered, and sported about like fairies.
+
+And here sat Grandfather all by himself. He knew that it was bedtime;
+yet he could not help longing to hear your merry voices, or to hold a
+comfortable chat with some old friend; because then his pillow would be
+visited by pleasant dreams. But, as neither children nor friends were
+at hand, Grandfather leaned back in the great chair and closed his eyes,
+for the sake of meditating more profoundly.
+
+And, when Grandfather's meditations had grown very profound indeed,
+he fancied that he heard a sound over his head, as if somebody were
+preparing to speak.
+
+"Hem!" it said, in a dry, husky tone. "H-e-m! Hem!"
+
+As Grandfather did not know that any person was in the room, he started
+up in great surprise, and peeped hither and thither, behind the chair,
+and into the recess by the fireside, and at the dark nook yonder near
+the bookcase. Nobody could be seen.
+
+"Poh!" said Grandfather to himself, "I must have been dreaming."
+
+But, just as he was going to resume his seat, Grandfather happened to
+look at the great chair. The rays of firelight were flickering upon it
+in such a manner that it really seemed as if its oaken frame were all
+alive. What! did it not move its elbow? There, too! It certainly lifted
+one of its ponderous fore legs, as if it had a notion of drawing
+itself a little nearer to the fire. Meanwhile the lion's head nodded
+at Grandfather with as polite and sociable a look as a lion's visage,
+carved in oak, could possibly be expected to assume. Well, this is
+strange!
+
+"Good evening, my old friend," said the dry and husky voice, now a
+little clearer than before. "We have been intimately acquainted so long
+that I think it high time we have a chat together."
+
+Grandfather was looking straight at the lion's head, and could not be
+mistaken in supposing that it moved its lips. So here the mystery was
+all explained.
+
+"I was not aware," said Grandfather, with a civil salutation to his
+oaken companion, "that you possessed the faculty of speech. Otherwise I
+should often have been glad to converse with such a solid, useful, and
+substantial if not brilliant member of society."
+
+"Oh!" replied the ancient chair, in a quiet and easy tone, for it had
+now cleared its throat of the dust of ages, "I am naturally a silent
+and incommunicative sort of character. Once or twice in the course of
+a century I unclose my lips. When the gentle Lady Arbella departed this
+life I uttered a groan. When the honest mint-master weighed his plump
+daughter against the pine-tree shillings I chuckled audibly at the joke.
+When old Simon Bradstreet took the place of the tyrant Andros I joined
+in the general huzza, and capered on my wooden legs for joy. To be sure,
+the by-standers were so fully occupied with their own feelings that my
+sympathy was quite unnoticed."
+
+"And have you often held a private chat with your friends?" asked
+Grandfather.
+
+"Not often," answered the chair. "I once talked with Sir William Phips,
+and communicated my ideas about the witchcraft delusion. Cotton Mather
+had several conversations with me, and derived great benefit from my
+historical reminiscences. In the days of the Stamp Act I whispered in
+the ear of Hutchinson, bidding him to remember what stock his countrymen
+were descended of, and to think whether the spirit of their forefathers
+had utterly departed from them. The last man whom I favored with a
+colloquy was that stout old republican, Samuel Adams."
+
+"And how happens it," inquired Grandfather, "that there is no record nor
+tradition of your conversational abilities? It is an uncommon thing to
+meet with a chair that can talk."
+
+"Why, to tell you the truth," said the chair, giving itself a hitch
+nearer to the hearth, "I am not apt to choose the most suitable moments
+for unclosing my lips. Sometimes I have inconsiderately begun to speak,
+when my occupant, lolling back in my arms, was inclined to take
+an after-dinner nap. Or perhaps the impulse to talk may be felt at
+midnight, when the lamp burns dim and the fire crumbles into decay,
+and the studious or thoughtful man finds that his brain is in a mist.
+Oftenest I have unwisely uttered my wisdom in the ears of sick persons,
+when the inquietude of fever made them toss about upon my cushion. And
+so it happens, that though my words make a pretty strong impression at
+the moment, yet my auditors invariably remember them only as a dream.
+I should not wonder if you, my excellent friend, were to do the same
+to-morrow morning."
+
+"Nor I either," thought Grandfather to himself. However, he thanked this
+respectable old chair for beginning the conversation, and begged to know
+whether it had anything particular to communicate.
+
+"I have been listening attentively to your narrative of my adventures,"
+replied the chair; "and it must be owned that your correctness entitles
+you to be held up as a pattern to biographers. Nevertheless, there are a
+few omissions which I should be glad to see supplied. For instance, you
+make no mention of the good knight Sir Richard Saltonstall, nor of the
+famous Hugh Peters, nor of those old regicide judges, Whalley, Goffe,
+and Dixwell. Yet I have borne the weight of all those distinguished
+characters at one time or another."
+
+Grandfather promised amendment if ever he should have an opportunity to
+repeat his narrative. The good old chair, which still seemed to retain a
+due regard for outward appearance, then reminded him how long a time
+had passed since it had been provided with a new cushion. It likewise
+expressed the opinion that the oaken figures on its back would show to
+much better advantage by the aid of a little varnish.
+
+"And I have had a complaint in this joint," continued the chair,
+endeavoring to lift one of its legs, "ever since Charley trundled his
+wheelbarrow against me."
+
+"It shall be attended to," said Grandfather.
+
+"And now, venerable chair, I have a favor to solicit. During an
+existence of more than two centuries you have had a familiar intercourse
+with men who were esteemed the wisest of their day. Doubtless, with your
+capacious understanding, you have treasured up many an invaluable lesson
+of wisdom. You certainly have had time enough to guess the riddle of
+life. Tell us, poor mortals, then, how we may be happy."
+
+The lion's head fixed its eyes thoughtfully upon the fire, and the
+whole chair assumed an aspect of deep meditation. Finally it beckoned to
+Grandfather with its elbow, and made a step sideways towards him, as if
+it had a very important secret to communicate.
+
+"As long as I have stood in the midst of human affairs," said the chair,
+with a very oracular enunciation, "I have constantly observed that
+Justice, Truth, and Love are the chief ingredients of every happy life."
+
+"Justice, Truth, and Love!" exclaimed Grandfather. "We need not exist
+two centuries to find out that these qualities are essential to our
+happiness. This is no secret. Every human being is born with the
+instinctive knowledge of it."
+
+"Ah!" cried the chair, drawing back in surprise. "From what I have
+observed of the dealings of man with man, and nation with nation, I
+never should have suspected that they knew this all-important secret.
+And, with this eternal lesson written in your soul, do you ask me
+to sift new wisdom for you out of my petty existence of two or three
+centuries?"
+
+"But, my dear chair "--said Grandfather.
+
+"Not a word more," interrupted the chair; "here I close my lips for
+the next hundred years. At the end of that period, if I shall have
+discovered any new precepts of happiness better than what Heaven has
+already taught you, they shall assuredly be given to the world."
+
+In the energy of its utterance the oaken chair seemed to stamp its
+foot, and trod (we hope unintentionally) upon Grandfather's toe. The old
+gentleman started, and found that he had been asleep in the great chair,
+and that his heavy walking-stick had fallen down across his foot.
+
+"Grandfather," cried little Alice, clapping her hand, "you must dream a
+new dream every night about our chair!"
+
+Laurence, and Clara, and Charley said the same. But the good old
+gentleman shook his head, and declared that here ended the history, real
+or fabulous, of GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX TO PART III.
+
+A LETTER FROM GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON NARRATING THE DOINGS OF THE MOB.
+
+TO RICHARD JACKSON.
+
+BOSTON, Aug. 30, 1765.
+
+MY DEAR SIR, I came from my house at Milton, the 26 in the morning.
+After dinner it was whispered in town there would be a mob at night, and
+that Paxton, Hallowell, the custom-house, and admiralty officers'
+houses would be attacked; but my friends assured me that the rabble were
+satisfied with the insult I had received and that I was become rather
+popular. In the evening, whilst I was at supper and my children round
+me, somebody ran in and said the mob were coming. I directed my children
+to fly to a secure place, and shut up my house as I had done before,
+intending not to quit it; but my eldest daughter repented her leaving
+me, hastened back, and protested she would not quit the house unless
+I did. I could n't stand against this, and withdrew with her to a
+neighboring house, where I had been but a few minutes before the hellish
+crew fell upon my house with the rage of devils, and in a moment with
+axes split down the doors and entered. My son being in the great entry
+heard them cry: "Damn him, he is upstairs, we'll have him." Some ran
+immediately as high as the top of the house, others filled the rooms
+below and cellars, and others remained without the house to be employed
+there.
+
+Messages soon came one after another to the house where I was, to inform
+me the mob were coming in pursuit of me, and I was obliged to retire
+through yards and gardens to a house more remote, where I remained until
+4 o'clock, by which time one of the best finished houses in the Province
+had nothing remaining but the bare walls and floors. Not contented with
+tearing off all the wainscot and hangings, and splitting the doors to
+pieces, they beat down the partition walls; and although that alone
+cost them near two hours, they cut down the cupola or lanthorn, and they
+began to take the slate and boards from the roof, and were prevented
+only by the approaching daylight from a total demolition of the
+building. The garden-house was laid flat, and all my trees, etc.,
+broke down to the ground.
+
+Such ruin was never seen in America. Besides my plate and family
+pictures, household furniture of every kind, my own, my children's, and
+servants' apparel, they carried off about L900 sterling in money, and
+emptied the house of everything whatsoever, except a part of the kitchen
+furniture, not leaving a single book or paper in it, and have scattered
+or destroyed all the manuscripts and other papers I had been collecting
+for thirty years together, besides a great number of public papers in
+my custody. The evening being warm, I had undressed me and put on a thin
+camlet surtout over my waistcoat. The next morning, the weather being
+changed, I had not clothes enough in my possession to defend me from
+the cold, and was obliged to borrow from my friends. Many articles
+of clothing and a good part of my plate have since been picked up in
+different quarters of the town, lint the furniture in general was cut to
+pieces before it was thrown out of the house, and most of the beds cut
+open, and the feathers thrown out of the windows. The next evening,
+I intended with my children to Milton, but meeting two or three small
+parties of the ruffians, who I suppose had concealed themselves in the
+country, and my coachman hearing one of them say, "There he is!" my
+daughters were terrified and said they should never be safe, and I was
+forced to shelter them that night at the Castle.
+
+The encouragers of the first mob never intended matters should go this
+length, and the people in general expressed the utter detestation of
+this unparalleled outrage, and I wish they could be convinced what
+infinite hazard there is of the most terrible consequences from such
+demons, when they are let loose in a government where there is not
+constant authority at hand sufficient to suppress them. I am told the
+government here will make me a compensation for my own and my family's
+loss, which I think cannot be much less than L3,000 sterling. I am not
+sure that they will. If they should not, it will be too heavy for me,
+and I must humbly apply to his majesty in whose service I am a sufferer;
+but this, and a much greater sum would be an insufficient compensation
+for the constant distress and anxiety of mind I have felt for some time
+past, and must feel for months to come. You cannot conceive the wretched
+state we are in. Such is the resentment of the people against the
+Stamp-Duty, that there can be no dependence upon the General Court to
+take any steps to enforce, or rather advise, to the payment of it. On
+the other hand, such will be the effects of not submitting to it, that
+all trade must cease, all courts fall, and all authority be at an end.
+Must not the ministry be excessively embarrassed? On the one hand, it
+will be said, if concessions are made, the Parliament endanger the
+loss of their authority over the Colony: on the other hand, if external
+forces should be used, there seems to be danger of a total lasting
+alienation of affection. Is there no alternative? May the infinitely
+wise God direct you.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Grandfather's Chair, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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