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diff --git a/28013.txt b/28013.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9bed60 --- /dev/null +++ b/28013.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4623 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Old New England Traits, by Anonymous + +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: Old New England Traits + +Author: Anonymous + +Editor: George Lunt + +Release Date: February 6, 2009 [EBook #28013] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD NEW ENGLAND TRAITS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, Darleen Dove and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + OLD NEW ENGLAND TRAITS + + EDITED BY + + GEORGE LUNT + + ... this story's actually true. + If any person doubt it, I appeal + To history, tradition, and to facts, + To newspapers, whose truth all know and feel. + BYRON + + NEW YORK + PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON + Cambridge: the Riverside Press + 1873 + + + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by + GEORGE LUNT, + in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: + STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY + _H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY_. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The Editor of this little volume does not deem it incumbent upon him to +explain in what way the author's manuscript came into his possession. He +hopes it may be enough for him to say, that the writer believed himself +to be the only person whose memory retained most of the incidents and +anecdotes herein recorded; and a long and familiar acquaintance with his +character enables the Editor to state, that entire credence is due to his +narrative of facts, written down as occurring within his own knowledge +and to his relation of whatever he alleges himself to have derived from +others. A slight veil of mystery seems to have been originally thrown +over the story; especially in regard to the names of persons; but, as all +who are familiar with the locality will at once recognize its general +features, the Editor has thought it best, for the benefit of others not +so well informed, to make all proper explanations on this point in the +Index. + +Sometimes, New England has been spoken of as devoid of the elements of +romance; but perhaps this idea may be owing to the fact, that the means +of presenting a different aspect of the case have not been sufficiently +investigated. A similar impression has prevailed in respect to Roman +history and literature, whether fabulous or otherwise; and the fathers of +New England, at least, have been thought to have exhibited some of the +traits, especially the simplicity and severity of character, which +distinguished those more ancient worthies, whose names and deeds have +been so long famous. But without making other citations, I may remark, +that I am scarcely acquainted with a poem more thoroughly romantic in +conception and sentiment, than "Gallus," the tenth eclogue of Virgil; +and Macaulay, in his "Lays of Ancient Rome," has turned some of its +legends to fine poetical account. Where can be found, for instance, a +prettier, or more suggestive picture, than the passage in his "Virginia," +which some inspired painter might make immortal upon canvas, as it is in +verse:-- + + "With her small tablets in her hand, and her satchel on + her arm, + Home she went bounding from the school, nor dreamed + of shame or harm." + +Perhaps, the solemnities of the colonial history of New England may have +overshadowed much of whatever poetical interest might be discovered in +its private annals. It depends upon the reader, whether the present +narrative may be thought in some measure to qualify the imputation in +question. + + G. L. + + +OLD NEW ENGLAND TRAITS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +It was the winter of 18--, between fifty and sixty years ago. Certainly +the winters of New England began earlier and were more severe than they +have seemed at a later period. After the fervid heat of summer has become +subdued by the progressive changes of the season, no atmosphere could be +clearer, purer, more exhilarating than the prevailing tone of our October +days, and this kindly influence, as if by way of preparing the human +frame for the gradual approach of winter, generally extends, with +occasional stormy intermissions, through November, and often very far +into the frosty domain of December itself. And such snow-storms as we +once endured! It may be alleged, that distance of time forbids accuracy +of comparison, and that masses of snow, which appeared vast to a child, +would not seem so immense to a full-grown man, and were really no more +huge than some of those with which winter nowadays envelopes the ground. +But facts within my memory do not admit of such an explanation, for I +distinctly recollect the driving storm which continued for days and piled +its accumulating heaps against the front of our dwelling-place, so as +entirely to cover the windows of the lower story of the house, and to +rise above the main door which was of ordinary height, and that at length +we were released from this imprisonment by means of an archway to that +entrance, dug through the drift by the friendly efforts of an opposite +neighbor.[1] + +Our deliverer was a superannuated seaman; inspired partly, no doubt, by +the good-heartedness formerly, at least, thought to be characteristic of +that class of men, and, partly, by respect for the memory of my father, +who had been dead for some years, in the early prime of life, leaving +behind him the best of reputations as a shipmaster and a man. Perhaps Tom +Trudge had, at some time, sailed under him. I well remember the +triumphant air with which this ancient mariner introduced himself into +the kitchen, where all the family was assembled, doffing his tarpaulin, +flourishing his shovel, and cutting one or two capers, in token of his +hilarity at the accomplishment of his somewhat arduous job. Of course, +there were profuse thanks and congratulations on the occasion; but I +recollect only, that, after the second glass of grog furnished by my +mother,--a refreshment to which Tom was only too partial,--he executed +another spring from the floor, snapped his fingers and cried, "Tired, +ma'am!--not a bit of it! For all I've done to-day, by the blessed +binnacle I should think nothing at all of jumping over a meetin-us,--yes, +a meetin-us, ma'am!" to the amazement, at the idea of such a feat, of +certainly all the younger fry who were present at the ceremony. + +The town in which we lived was one of the very oldest of the New England +settlements. Its situation is uncommonly beautiful, upon a slope +descending from a moderately elevated ridge towards the bank of a noble +river, which of late years has furnished more motive power to various +manufacturing establishments in the towns and villages, which have sprung +up on its borders, than any other stream in the world. At the time of +which I write, there was not a mill throughout its whole extent. It is +told, that Louis Philippe, when a fugitive in this country, in his youth, +passing up the road which leads mostly along the margin of the river to a +point where the first falls interrupt the navigation, pronounced the +scenery the most beautiful he had ever seen. The river was then chiefly +famous for the rafts of admirable timber which it sent down from the +primeval forests above, for the construction of the unsurpassed ships +built near the town, and for the commerce flourishing upon its bosom and +extending to every quarter of the globe. It was idle enough, in +comparison, at a later period. + +Early in the present century, and for a long series of years in the past, +no town on the American coast surpassed it in commercial enterprise and +activity. The habits and traditions of the place were well calculated to +nurse a hardy race of seamen, and their reputation for skill and courage +was well known throughout the maritime world. Persons are very apt to +look at some direct circumstance, nearest at hand, for the cause of +events, which may after all result from much more remote contingencies. +So, at first, in the days of the declining trade of the town, they said +the obstruction to its commerce was owing to the sand-bar at the mouth of +the river. But the bar had been there from time immemorial; and though it +is true that modern-built vessels, with their cargoes, could not pass +that barrier, as ships of lesser tonnage were formerly accustomed to do, +yet the main cause for this decay of business was to be found in the +growth of the capital of the State, and the greater facilities for the +transaction of business which exist in larger than in smaller places. + +But the bar itself was always of very dangerous passage in boisterous +weather, and often the daring pilots of the station, than whom none upon +the coast were more competent and courageous, were exposed to extreme +peril, in their small craft, in returning to the river, when they had +been on the look-out for inward-bound vessels in the bay. + +It so happened that a schooner in which I was a passenger, when a +youngster, was detained outside the bar, and was likely to be detained +for several hours, waiting for the tide to make. A young pilot, +accompanied by his still younger brother, came alongside in their +whale-boat, and having some acquaintance with me invited me to sail with +them to town; and, having been some time absent from home, I gladly +accepted their offer. Their boat was under a single low sail. The breeze +was fresh and the day fair, though I could not but be aware, as we bowled +along towards the bar, that a retreating storm had left some indications +of its past presence in the tossing foam that sprang upwards as the waves +dashed upon that treacherous heap of shifting sand. The pilot sat in the +stern-sheets of the dancing boat, steering steadily with an oar. His +brother tended the sail, and I was crouched amidships. As we approached +nearer the scene of commotion, our younger companion assumed a station +in the bow of the boat and began to sound with an oar. This looked a +little formidable to a landsman; and soon turning his head in the +interval of hastily pushing his implement into the water, the bowsman +called out to his brother, "Joe, are you going to try it?" Joe made no +sign, but steered steadily on. Again and again the sounding oar went +rapidly down, and I suppose at last to the bottom, and again the young +man cried out with renewed energy, "Joe, are you going to try it?" Joe +uttered no word, but chewing his quid, looked steadfastly forward. In a +moment a heavy wave struck the boat, drenching us plentifully, but not +filling her, and bounding up, staggering a little, she dashed on, and +with another like slap or two, we were over and in fairly smooth water. +Had the boat struck bottom, she would have been instantly dashed to +pieces and we should have met the sad fate of others who, before and +since, have been drowned and lost to sight forever in that seething +tide. + +In a conversation with a very eminent English novelist, of profounder +skill and more permanent fame, in my opinion, than any other since Scott, +he expressed his surprise at the solid aspect of the city of Boston, in +which we had met, on the day after his arrival in this country, upon his +first lecturing tour. He had enjoyed the best opportunities of viewing +"men and cities," not only in Europe, but in various parts of the farther +East. I took the liberty of replying that Boston had been growing nearly +two centuries and a half, and inquired if he expected to see wigwams, or +even those slighter fabrics which betoken the earlier stages of advancing +colonization. He said, "No, of course not; but it had quite as +substantial an appearance as an English city." But it is to be remembered +that the persons who came to this country, at first, and from time to +time, afterwards, were already civilized, and brought with them and +transmitted to their descendants much of the knowledge and many of the +habits, peculiarities, and even the traditions of their ancestors "at +home." Our town, too, looked old; though far from being so substantially +built as Boston. + +In fact, while reading the fragment of Scott's autobiography of his +earlier days, and Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences," one might almost think +that their descriptions of character and manners, in so ancient a city as +Edinburgh, were in many respects but a recapitulation of popular ways and +even of personal oddities in our own respectable American town. +Especially, the great novelist's vivid narrative of the desperate street +conflicts between the lads of the several quarters of the "auld town," +revives many boyish recollections. In my youth, the division was into +Northenders and Southenders; but as our own residence was in the central +part of the town, we stood, as it were, between two fires. The conflicts +usually took place in the winter, when the snow was on the ground, and +though heartily engaged in, and sometimes quite too rough for play, were +generally good-natured enough to avoid any very serious danger to life or +limb. In the higher schools, the lads were drawn from every quarter of +the town; but upon dismissal for the day, or upon the afternoons of +Wednesday and Saturday, when no school was kept, the partisans of the +several sections offered combat which was seldom refused. The usual +weapons were snow-balls, which were sometimes, I regret to say, dipped in +water and frozen over night, and kept in some secure place to await the +expected battle, and occasionally a pebble, the missile commonly used by +the Scottish combatants, was inserted,--a practice which was almost +universally condemned. Very seldom did we come to a hand-fight, for a +spirited "rush," when either party felt strong enough for it, was almost +always followed by a rapid retreat on the other side. But woe to the +luckless stripling whose headlong courage carried him far in advance of +his companions; for upon a sudden turn of affairs he was a captive, and +down in an instant, and mercilessly "scrubbed" with snow by a dozen ready +hands, until the rallying host of his compatriots advanced vigorously to +the rescue. The normal alliance of us middle-men was with the +Southenders, though a good deal rougher than ourselves; and in times of +truce a solitary boy would walk a little gingerly through their quarter, +as errands or family occasions led him that way. But the principal +commercial interests centered in those parts of the town, and if, upon +the breaking out of determined warfare, we could secure, in the capacity +of leader, the services of some lubberly boy who had made a voyage, even +a mere coasting trip, to sea, though I remember that these were +sometimes far less adventurous in the field than those who had no +experience of the perilous deep, the issue of the contest was not for a +moment doubtful. The forces of our adversaries melted away, like the snow +with which they fought, at the very presence of a champion supposed to be +of such redoubted prowess. The dependence of those adverse combatants was +rather upon some of the younger hangers-on at the ship-yards, in their +territory, for such a casual auxiliary. Sometimes, the elements of +military skill would be displayed. While the two forces were closely +engaged, a flanking party would make a sudden rush up some short +by-street, and then the complete demoralization and panic-flight of the +warriors thus newly assailed was something truly disastrous to behold. + +Of course, we enjoyed the ordinary boyish sports of boating, swimming, +and skating in the season for it; or, of a pleasant afternoon, would roam +away "over the hills," as the phrase ran, huckleberrying, perhaps, or +gathering penny-royal and other wild herbs for the old folks at home; to +be dried and reserved for future occasions. For, in those days, a garret +would hardly be considered complete, without bunches of these simples +hanging from the beams by strings, or stored away in paper-bags. In the +fall of the year, we had another resource, long since interdicted by the +owners of farms in the neighborhood of populous towns. This was the +pleasure of nutting; for the urchins of those days regarded these kinds +of fruit, growing on trees in the fields, as a sort of _ferae natura_ and +free to every passer-by; though the more surly proprietors, even then, +took much pains to circumvent and capture the lads, as they returned with +their poles for beating the branches and with their loaded bags, borne by +two or three of them, hanging by the middle across those implements. +Sometimes, predatory bands proceeded in force and defied the farmer on +his own ground. The story was told of one luckless individual who went +nutting alone and was caught and imprisoned, for a time, in the cellar of +the farm-house, but mischievously contrived to set all the taps of the +cider-barrels running, before he was released. These excursions led us +often to the Devil's Den, an excavation in an abandoned ledge of +limestone, in a solitary situation at some distance from the town, and +guarded, now as then, by three rather spectral-looking Lombardy poplars, +which to us boys had a sort of mystic and undefined significance. Here we +procured bits of serpentine, interspersed with veins of _rag-stone_, as +we denominated asbestos, which, strangely enough, we used to chew. I +suppose that no boy ever went to that place alone, and a sort of solemn +ceremony attended his first visit with his older playmates, to a scene +bearing an appellation ominous enough to call up every vague dread of his +youthful heart. The approach on these occasions was rather circuitous, +through the pastures, until an elevated mass of stone, standing quite +solitary, was reached, designated as "Pulpit Rock." To the summit of +this, the neophyte was required to climb, and there to repeat some +accustomed formula, I fear not very reverent, by way of initiation, and +supposed to be of power to avert any malign influences to which the +unprepared intruder upon the premises of the nominal lord of the domain +might otherwise be subjected. For these youngsters the ordinary means of +education were abundantly supplied, and the girls, too, had their Academy +for those who aspired to something beyond the common range; and when, at +a later period, I became conversant with their circle, I must say that I +have never known young ladies of better manners or more cultivated minds. +As an evidence of more expansive benevolence than usual, and of +profounder interest in the affairs of the great world abroad, I remember +that when the class of students in Goldsmith's Ancient History came to +recitation, one young lady burst into a torrent of tears. The astonished +teacher anxiously inquired into the cause of her emotion. In the midst of +her sobs she ejaculated, "Oh, that good man, Socrates! To think they +should have treated him so!" She was finally soothed; but considering +that the incident in question was of a rather remote date, this +ebullition of feeling evinced a generous sympathy with a victim of past +injustice, truly worthy of a philanthropic mind. + +It is still a town of stately mansions upon its principal street, and one +more beautiful can scarcely be imagined. The magnificent elms, of the +graceful American kind, which line its borders, have always been reckoned +a feature of extraordinary beauty. Of late years, special means for +supplying and preserving this elegant and useful kind of embellishment of +the streets have been provided by the liberal bequest, for this purpose, +of Mr. John Bromfield, a native of the town, but long a respected +merchant at the capital of the State. A conspicuous house standing upon a +gentle elevation, at some distance from the street, with pleasant grounds +in its front and rear, was appropriately named by its original proprietor +"Mount Rural," though not, perhaps, with the most exact observance of the +requirements of grammatical construction. Still, it has some authority +for being considered idiomatic, for does not "Pilgrim's Progress" tell us +of the "Palace Beautiful?" And doubtless many other instances might be +cited of the substitution of an adjective for a noun. At all events, the +worthy owner, who built his house in the most approved style of former +New England architecture, spacious, square, and with projecting windows +in the roof, made some pretensions to classical allusion; for cultivating +extensive gardens in the rear of his dwelling, he placed for an +inscription on his front wall,-- + + "Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poma,"-- + +a citation which, it is to be feared, would be taken rather as +encouragement to mischievous urchins, if any of them understood it, +rather than as a warning to abstain from the fruit. + +Near the extremity of the opposite quarter of the town still stands an +ancient edifice of solid stone, with a couple of stories of porch of the +same material, approached by a lane, bordered with trees, leading some +distance from the highway, and constituting, with some modern additions, +the dwelling-place of a considerable farm. It boasts an age of more than +two centuries, as appears by the figures above its entrance, and was +apparently built for defence, when precautions against Indian incursions +were thought necessary, though afterwards used as a powder-house; and +tradition has it that, on one occasion, an explosion took place by +night, which blew away a part of the side wall, lifted the bed on which a +negro woman, the slave of the occupant, was asleep, bore her safely +across the road, and planted her, bed and all, upon the spreading +branches of an apple-tree, without injury. An early owner of the place +was the ancestor of one of the recent Presidents of the United States, +and it was known, until quite a modern period, as the PIERCE Farm. + +Not many years ago, there still remained at the corner of a street, +between the points just designated, one of those ancient houses not +common in this country, the second story resting on heavy beams, which +showed themselves in the outside walls, and the walls of the long, low +dwelling filled in with a coat of dark plaster braced by wooden +cross-pieces, like those of Shakespeare's birthplace at Stratford. The +handsome houses before alluded to were the residences chiefly of +merchants, or sea-captains, who had retired from their maritime or +commercial occupations with a competence, or of prosperous professional +persons.[2] But a competence in those frugal days was an insignificant +sum in comparison with the fortunes of our own time, scarcely approaching +the annual income of the shoddy-masters, who now regulate the avenues of +social and so-called aristocratic life. Indeed, I was once informed by an +old inhabitant, that the richest person in the town, near the close of +the last century, was assessed upon only ten thousand dollars' worth of +personal property. But I think there must be some mistake in this +statement, unless the rate of taxation was exceedingly low; for this same +prosperous merchant devoted twenty times as much as that reputed capital +to certain pious uses, during his protracted life-time, and still left +forty times as much at his decease. Doubtless in those better days, the +inevitable "rates" ("death and rates," they used to say, "were certain") +were so small as to press but lightly upon the incomes of individuals in +moderate circumstances, and the means of getting at the exact measure of +a man's worldly "worth," had not reached their present degree of +perfection. Indeed I may state, upon unquestionable authority, that, late +in the first quarter of the present century, a highly respected trader of +the town, who lived genteelly and was taxed upon a supposed capital of +eighteen thousand dollars, waited upon the assessors and blandly told +them, "Gentlemen, I have been more than usually prosperous the last +year, and am willing you should tax me upon an additional thousand." +Such combined integrity and disinterestedness was the theme of universal +commendation; but when the old gentleman went to another reckoning a few +years afterwards, his heirs had the benefit of an estate nearer one +hundred thousand dollars in value, than the limited capital which had +contributed its quota to the public burdens. In a word, I have heard my +Aunt Judith say, that in her youth it was usual for respectable young +women to take service with more thriving neighbors or friends, for the +annual allowance of their board and a single calico gown, at four and +sixpence a yard,--as the price was before mills were established on our +own ground. + +I cannot help referring more particularly to some of the families of the +town, who imparted to it a well-founded reputation, not surpassed, if +equaled, by that of any town or city in the land; for instance, there +were the Lowells, who gave name, afterwards, to that wonderful city of +spindles, which enjoys as world-wide a standing in the annals of +manufacturing enterprise as the old-world Manchester of a long-anterior +date, and one of whom, amid the desolate ruins of Luxor, struck by the +hand of fatal disease, conceived the idea of establishing that noble +Institute which bears his name, and will convey it to future grateful +generations; a name, too, which has so resounded in the popular +literature of the day. Then, there were the Jacksons, famous in mechanics +and in two of the learned professions; Charles Jackson, the erudite and +upright judge, and James Jackson, one of those skillful and truly +benevolent physicians, whose memory is still in the hearts of many +surviving patients. The Tyngs, too, resided there, long honorably +connected with colonial history and still represented by descendants of +national repute. Amongst other remarkable individuals was Jacob Perkins, +the famous inventor, who at an advanced age ended his useful career with +no little foreign celebrity in the great city of the world. I have read +lately of his successful exhibition of his wonderful steam-gun, in the +presence of the Duke of Wellington and other competent judges of the +experiment, and know not what national prejudice, perhaps, or other +casual reason, prevented its adoption.[3] In science, too, we had +Master Nicholas Pike, an ancient magistrate, whose arithmetic held its +ground throughout the country, until it was superseded by that of Master +Michael Walsh, which received the high commendation of so capital a +judge, in matters of calculation, as the old land-surveyor and finally +head of the nation, Washington. Master Walsh was an Irishman by birth, +though "caught young," as Dr. Johnson remarked, to account for any +distinction acquired by natives of Scotland; and he displayed much of +that impulsive temperament imputed to the people of Erin's Green Isle. He +dressed in the old style, his gray hair gathered into a queue, and +wearing top-boots to the last. He was an excellent classical scholar, as +well as mathematician. The pupils he prepared for college did justice to +his instructions, and some have acquired great eminence in the several +professions and in the conduct of important national affairs. As an +instance of his patriotic attachment to his adopted country, upon +casually meeting, late in life, a certain writer of the town, after a +cordial salutation, he added with a slight dash of the brogue, "I thank +ye for the Red and the Blue!" The young person was a little taken aback, +not remembering the allusion, for a moment, when the old gentleman +repeated emphatically,--"The Red and the Blue, ye know--Tom Campbell." It +was in reference to a couple of stanzas, addressed to the United States +by that great lyric poet, scarcely equaled in his day, namely:-- + + "United States! your banner wears + Two emblems: one of fame; + Alas! the other that it bears + Reminds us of your shame! + + "The white man's liberty in types + Stands blazoned by your stars: + But what's the meaning of your stripes? + They mean your negroes' scars." + +To this the American had retorted:-- + + "TO THE ENGLISH FLAG. + + "England! whence came each glowing hue, + That tints yon flag of 'meteor' light,[4]-- + The streaming red, the deeper blue, + Crossed with the moonbeam's pearly white? + + "The blood and bruise,--the _blue_ and _red_,-- + Let Asia's groaning millions speak! + The _white_,--it tells the color fled + From starving Erin's pallid cheek!" + +The verses were at first circulated as above set down. Campbell +afterwards altered the two first lines of the second stanza into:-- + + "Your standard's constellation types + White freedom by its stars," etc.,-- + +impairing it, as some will think, both in force and in whatever poetical +expression it may have originally had. Poets are apt to make similar +mistakes, frittering away the first glow of thought and language, in +revision. Has not Tennyson thus injured "The ride of the six hundred?" +and did not Campbell himself half spoil "Hohenlinden," by taming its +phraseology down into a supposed superfluous accuracy? For example, he +first wrote,-- + + "'Tis morn, but scarce yon lurid sun + Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun," etc. + +It occurred to him, or some "stop-watch critic" suggested, that the sun +itself was not actually "lurid," on that celebrated occasion, and he +accordingly changed the expression to "level," thus signifying a mere +natural phenomenon; and, besides the sacrifice of a fine poetical +expression, forgetting that the sun must have appeared actually "lurid" +through the interposition of "the war-clouds, rolling dun." Nor is this +the only instance of misapplied fastidiousness in that splendid and +stirring piece. + +Then, there was the Rev. Dr. Spring, father of that celebrated clergyman, +Dr. Gardiner Spring, of New York. He had been a chaplain in the army of +the Revolution; and when I, as a boy, pulled off my cap to him in the +street, I fancied there was something a little military in his polite +salute in return. The good Doctor held to what were called Hopkinsian +tenets, a special form of strict orthodoxy; and it was alleged that, +differing from the ordinary practice of religious people in the town, +and construing literally the record of the Creation, "The evening and the +morning were the first day,"--the Saturday evening was observed with +primitive strictness in the family, while on Sunday evening, after +sunset, the excellent matron assumed her knitting-work, or attended to +whatever secular occupation she chose. I have often thought, and it seems +likely, that the name of Swett--that of one of the most eminent and +excellent physicians of his day, in our community, and who in fact fell a +sacrifice to the faithful discharge of his professional duty--was the +same as Schwedt, borne by the Prince de Schwedt, well known at the court +of Frederick of Prussia (so called) the Great. The good Doctor examined +the throat of a yellow fever patient, in a vessel lying at quarantine +ground in the river, and inhaling his infectious breath, went home +declaring he had taken the disease, of which he shortly died. The efforts +and liberality of his son, the late Colonel Samuel Swett, in promoting +the establishment of the Public Library of the town, though himself long +a resident in the capital of the State, will forever endear his memory to +the inhabitants. The daughter of another distinguished physician, Dr. +Sawyer, was Mrs. George Lee, who gained no little reputation by her +"Lives of the Ancient Painters," and especially by a book which attained +great popularity under the title of "Three Experiments of Living." I +should do great injustice to a list of noted personages--to some of whom +allusion is made elsewhere in these pages, and which might be extended, +if consistent with the objects of this work, were I to omit mention of a +lady, Miss Hannah F. Gould, whose poetical productions gained her +well-deserved applause and many friends, and some of whose highly +pleasing verses still retain their hold upon public esteem. Reflectively, +too, we might claim some share in the distinction of the most popular +American poet of our own day; for the direct ancestors of Longfellow +were natives of our immediate vicinage. I had no intention, certainly, of +offering any tribute to the living in these memorials of the past; but +one name inevitably suggests itself, better known on 'Change, in London, +than in the place of his birth. I speak of William Wheelwright, a lad, at +the period to which these sketches refer, long resident abroad, though +occasionally brought home by the obligations and affections of family +ties, to whose enterprise, and arduous, untiring pursuit of his object +are owing steam navigation and railway lines in the southern part of this +Continent, and to whose praise the whole South American coast will +respond. + +There were others and many, of high personal character and local +reputation, and not a few of strongly marked characteristics, whose +names, perhaps, would scarcely sound familiar to modern ears; but I +cannot pass over one wealthy merchant, distinguished for his strong +common sense and decided individuality, as well as for a success in +business scarcely equaled in this country, in his day,--the well-known +William Bartlett, to whose judicious bounty the chief theological +seminary of the State and its principal Academy for the instruction of +youth owe so much toward the assurance of their permanent foundation. + +Nor should the memory of Oliver Putnam fail of a record, who, long absent +from his native town, provided by his will for a generous bequest, upon +which a Free School of the highest character has been long established. +Nor should due tribute be forgotten in honor of George Peabody, who, +remembering those days of his youth which were passed in acquiring habits +of business in the place, distinguished its Public Library by a +munificent gift. + +There had been many other men of marked character and great local +influence: Tracys, Daltons, Greenleafs, Davenports, Hoopers, Bradburys, +Johnsons, Coffins, Bromfields, Crosses; and many more, doubtless, might +be thought worthy of mention. Among those named above, Nathaniel Tracy +was one of the wealthiest merchants of his day, elsewhere referred to in +this narrative as suffering immense losses by his advances to the +government, when its needs were great and its credit was low, and in +other ways. Tristram Dalton was a Senator of the United States from +Massachusetts, in the First Congress under the Constitution; and +Theophilus Bradbury, afterwards appointed to the bench of the supreme +court of the State, was a member of the Federal House of Representatives +during a part of Washington's administration. Indeed, from some of the +early inhabitants of the town are descended not a few of the principal +families in the capital of the State; and its representatives, by some +tie of original or later connection, are scattered throughout the whole +country. + +I linger somewhat longer and lovingly upon this preliminary part of +whatever story I may have to tell, because I am aware of nothing in the +literature of New England which furnishes precisely similar +reminiscences, and because pictures of past manners, if truthfully +portrayed, can hardly fail to be both interesting and useful. We heard +plentiful stories, in our youth, of a higher style of living in colonial +days, of coaches kept by the upper class of citizens; of their slaves, +whom we knew in their emancipated condition as gardeners and waiters in +general; of the cocked hats, the gold-embroidered garments, the laced +ruffles of the gentlemen, and the highly ornamented, but rather stiff +garniture in which the ladies with their powdered heads saw fit to array +themselves, as they now present themselves to us on the living canvas of +Copley. It was in the handsome residence of Mr. Dalton, long after his +decease, that I saw hangings of gilded morocco leather on the walls of +the principal room,--a substitute for the wall-paper in common use, and +which I have never seen or heard of in any other instance, in the United +States. + +Our collector of the customs was peculiarly one of this class of +gentlemen of the old school. He was a person of very warm temperament and +of remarkable characteristics; an ardent Democrat, who, upon the +accession of President Jefferson, had succeeded Colonel W----, the first +collector of the port, appointed by Washington, under whom he had served +with distinction in the Revolutionary War. The residence of the latter, +and the office of customs itself, in those simpler days, were in the +house which was afterwards the birthplace of the writer of these +sketches. To that war the successor of the old soldier principally owed a +large fortune, which he had accumulated as the result of his privateering +adventures; and it is said that the prizes came in so plentifully, that +once he lifted up his hand and declared, "O Lord, it is enough!" However +this may be, it is certain that not long afterwards his riches gradually +vanished, and he was compelled to seek and obtained the office upon which +he supported his declining days. Though "aristocratic" enough in his own +personal character and demeanor, he was not naturally in much favor with +the grandees of the old Federal town; but they stood in awe of him, +nevertheless; for he had been very rich, and in his less prosperous days +was still a person of the most impulsive and resolute spirit. His +appearance in public was very marked. His person was manly and his +countenance singularly striking. He dressed in black, his small-clothes +terminating in white cotton stockings down to his gouty foot. On his +white head, decorated with a queue, was his three-cornered hat. He seemed +to take a pride in walking up the principal business street of the town, +at the time of high "'Change," and paying attention to no one, to utter +his not always very conciliatory thoughts aloud, in regard to his +contemporaries and matters in general, as he threw out sideways the gouty +foot aforesaid, on his way to the one o'clock dinner, which was the +fashion of the time. + +But the Revolutionary War exhausted the fortunes of many prosperous men +of the day; and the story is told of one very rich merchant, who could +drive in his own carriage several days' journey--when such a journey over +difficult roads was hardly so much as could be accomplished by "the +hollow, pampered jades of Asia,"--and sleep in his own house every night. +He lent immense sums, for the time, to the Revolutionary government, +received what he could recover in depreciated currency, and failed. At +the period of my narrative, the country was suffering from the +consequences of another war, and the once active commerce of the old town +was reduced to the lowest ebb. It was then that active emigration began +from the sterile soil of New England--since rendered so much more +productive by intelligent cultivation--to the fertile region known as +"The Ohio;" just as, not much more than half a century ago, people talked +of "The Coos country" in New Hampshire, and within a few years we spoke +of the "Far West," brought at length within the compass of ordinary +travel and civilization. + +As a picture of the rigors and extremities, I fear only too common, of +early New England life, among its hardy agricultural population, I +present extracts of a letter received from a venerable friend, a few +years ago, who from the depths of poverty, having emigrated in his youth +to wild lands not very far West, had risen to comparative wealth, which +he devoted to useful purposes. In fact, the son of an extremely poor +Vermont farmer became, by his own energy and integrity, the possessor of +a competent fortune, which enabled him, with views far surpassing the +immediate claims of this transitory world, to build a church and to +establish a flourishing educational institution, destined long, I trust, +to dispense infinite blessings to future generations. Thus, after some +preliminary matter, he proceeds to say, under date of March 16, 1866:-- + + "My father was one of the poor men of Vermont. When I was a small + boy I have pealed many a birch broom for a sixpence.[5] My Father + could get one shilling for what he made, take them on his back, + carry them four or five miles, sell them, bring home a little meal, + or a little bread, sometimes a half bushel Potatoes. My mother + would go two or three miles, and do a washing, bring home at night + a loaf of wry bread, and a small peace was all we had for supper + and a smaller Piece in the morning. Sometimes we was allowed one + Potato roasted in the ashes--no Hearth in the old log-House. My + mother has stirred butter in a tea-cup with the point of a knife, + to keep her little children from starving. My Father had about half + acre of oats--poor fence--the old cow got in the oats and died. + Then came the pinch--we as little children had to flee to the woods + to get something to sustain life--no schools, no meetings--nothing + but hunger and despair. I lived with my Father until I was + twenty-one years old. After I was sixteen my Father improved a + little in living. When I was a little over twenty-one I got me a + wife--we was both Poor--three knifes, three forks, three teacups, + three chairs, a poor bed--hardly could we keep house. But our + courage was good--my wife always standing by me, through all my + trouble and trials--shoulder to shoulder--heart & hand, from the + day of our marriage until the day of her Death. No man never had a + better wife than I had--always kind to the Poor and to all her + relations. She is now in the Grave Yard, and my judgment is, she is + well prepared for the next world--and for the good feeling I have + had for her for over fifty-six years, I have Erected a monument + over her grave weighing 7 tons, and twenty-one feet high--it is a + splendid monument--cost me over $600.00. + + "On the Eighth day of last July the Bishop confirmed 28 in our + Church at the ---- everything in good order--the singing was + complete--my Voice is still heard above all the singers and I still + stand at the head of the choir--I am only 77.--On the 16th day of + last October, Previous notice being given, the wardens and Vestry + met at my house--one minister was also present, a Lawyer being + called to do the business. At 2 o'clock, P. M. I commenced handing + over Deeds of land, Buildings, Bonds, mortgages, money & furniture, + to the amount of nineteen thousand and five hundred Dollars, the + use and interest only to be used for the Church and the ---- + Institute; but in case there should be a failure of the Church & + school, for seven years, at any one time, then the Property to go + back to my Heirs. + + "I have been schooling from 7 to 11 Poor children, yearly--I am now + not schooling as many--my school is doing well--we have a good + minister and he is a good Preacher. The Church is doing well. I am + now commencing one more building, 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and + three stories high, for the convenience of more room for Boarders + in the ---- Institute. + + "I wrung more Bells at the fall of Richmond than any man in the + United States, which they was all purchased with one man's money--7 + was the number, 4 large ones & 3 small ones--it is true I was a + little opposed to the War--but no matter. The Brick Church and the + Buildings I built for the ---- Institute now with Interest cost me + now over $43.000. They are all Paid for and I am out of Debt. I + have furnished every stick of wood for the Church, and have carried + the most of it in since it was built. I still wring the Bells on + all occasions." etc. etc. + +There is, perhaps, a touch of the garrulity of age in this good man's +recital; but I consider his record of his early life, slight as it is, +yet too strikingly suggestive to be left to chances which might await a +private letter. Indeed, the character thus displayed is surely equal to +that of the best of the old Romans, in the middling class of life, +enlightened too by a living faith of which they had no conception; and +the sketch gives fair warrant for the conclusion, that, in point of manly +simplicity and integrity, the traits and the trials of those elder +worthies who helped to settle our republican institutions have not been +overdrawn. + +----- + [1] As I set down these reminiscences I observe the + following paragraph in a Boston daily paper of November + 27, 1872:-- + + "NOVEMBER SNOW. Fifty-two years ago to-day there were + twenty-eight inches of snow on a level in the vicinity + of Portsmouth, N. H." + + [2] The late Mr. George Wood, of Washington, a native of our + town, in some highly interesting _Memorabilia_, formerly + published, says: "The aristocracy were not on High + Street, as now, but on Water Street, and more at the + South than the North end, as the old houses give + evidence to this day. The Johnsons, Jacksons, + Davenports, Coffins, Greenleafs, Bartletts, Pierces, + Hoopers, Tappans, Todds, Carters, Lunts, Marquands, and + others of wealth, were on Water Street or near it. There + were their grand houses and fine gardens, and it was not + till they thought of retiring from business that they + removed to the West-end or up-town, as gradually as they + always do in all places." + + [3] After resigning his office of judge, which he had held + for only a few years, but administered with + extraordinary ability and integrity, Judge Jackson went + abroad for relaxation, and a letter from a gentleman in + London to a friend on this side the water says,--"Two of + your townsmen, Judge Jackson and Jacob Perkins, now fill + the public eye of England, and are the subjects of + public and private conversation." + + [4] "The meteor flag of England," etc. Campbell. "Ye + mariners of England." + + [5] These brooms are made by peeling strips from the stump, + which are fastened below. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +I should scarcely deem it expedient to enter at much detail into the +eccentricities of our good townspeople, though it seems to me that in our +own street I could recall enough to make a pretty sizable volume. + +But one feature of the times deserves a passing notice. I refer to the +inconsiderable number of insane persons, compared with the sad increase +of that unfortunate class in our own day, and the manner in which they +were treated. Of course, a more widely extended population multiplies the +sum of every description of disease. Besides, our ancestors were a +hardier race than their descendants, more inured to the regular routine +of physical toil, less given than the men and women of the present day to +hurtful indulgence, and far less exposed to the disturbing excitements of +business and pleasure. So far as I know, there were but two really +insane persons in our population of some seven or eight thousand, though +doubtless certain others were more or less "light-headed." One of those +two was sullenly crazy, and accounted dangerous, and therefore subjected +to physical restraint; the other, generally harmless, roamed through the +town at his own will, calling occasionally upon the acquaintance of his +better days, and making magnificent promises of the benefits he intended +to bestow, "when his ship came in." If I had inherited only a moderate +dividend of the proceeds of the successive ships and their cargoes, which +he promised my mother, on the above favorable contingency, usually +calling her out from dinner to whisper to her these magnificent promises, +more to her alarm than satisfaction, though being a woman of spirit she +put a brave face upon it--I should look down upon a Rothschild, an Astor, +or a Vanderbilt with natural contempt. Sometimes, incarceration was +thought necessary, also, in his case; and I have a vivid recollection of +the place of confinement allotted to each patient. + +This was in the yard of the almshouse, for state and county asylums had +not then been thought of, and the strong wooden building in which they +were placed consisted of two apartments, perhaps twelve feet square, one +above and the other beneath the surface of the ground; the latter, in +fact, a dungeon with one barred window on a level with the yard. Here +they passed their gloomy hours as they might, in solitude and darkness, +scarcely relieved by light from without, with nothing to alleviate the +horrors of their condition, and probably considered in a state too +hopeless to admit of any remedy. The tenant of the upper cell was +comparatively lively, on the occasion of resort to his window for +conversation, or out of curiosity, which was freely permitted; but his +neighbor in the dungeon was dangerous; and I can never forget the terror +inspired by a sudden and vicious attempt made by him to seize the legs of +us children through the bars, as we stood conversing with the inmate of +the room above. Science and humanity have done very much, in modern +times, toward the restoration of such unhappy beings, who are in a +majority of cases susceptible of cure, or of improvement enough to +warrant their return to domestic life. But it is to be feared we are yet +far behind, in this country, the more enlightened and effectual methods +pursued for this purpose in some other civilized nations. + +On one side of the street above alluded to lived for a long time, in my +boyhood, an ancient shoemaker entirely alone; and as he guarded his +residence with great secrecy and sold none of his wares, curious people +were puzzled to understand how he supported existence. He was known to be +partially deranged. Mischievous boys, sometimes, gathered in numbers, +would often assail his door with stones, standing ready for a start. But +if they were on the watch, so was Pettengill, from previous experience, +waiting behind his door with a heavy wooden bar in his hand, and giving +instant chase to the flying urchins, would send the bar rattling at their +heels. One day, after a season of unusual quiet, one of our lads anxious +to penetrate his mystery, ventured to knock gently at the barred portal, +was admitted, and expressed his wish to purchase a pair of shoes. The old +man opened several chests containing the articles sought for, and finally +selected a pair which proved a fit; but upon his visitor's making known +his readiness to buy, the maker deliberately returned them to their +receptacle, locked it fast and gravely declared, that he did "not like to +part with them, for fear of spoiling his assortment." + +The next building was occupied by a respectable English couple as a +dwelling-place, with a small grocer's shop in front. They had no +children, except one strapping son of the old lady by a former husband, +grown to man's estate, and whose business seemed to be to lounge about +the premises in drab small-clothes; for I never saw him do anything. The +old lady might be seen of a morning, with iron pattens on her feet and +her clothes tucked up, mopping the floor of the shop; but in the +afternoon much more genteelly attired in silks of an ancient fashion. Mr. +Brown was a very quiet, inoffensive person, the wife a little +high-strung. It is certain that they had occasional domestic bickerings, +perhaps about the young man in the knee-breeches; for on one occasion it +is alleged that the old matron was overheard to address her spouse, with +a slightly Hibernian accentuation,--"Brune, Brune, ye case-knife looking +son of a gun! I married ye neither for love, nor for money, but the pure +convanience of the shop!" As these worthy people have long ago passed +away, there seems no scandal in detailing this little family incident. + +Directly opposite these premises was a large old-fashioned house, still +standing, and, a century before, the residence of the minister of the +First Church. It was long afterwards occupied by a noted magistrate for +the trial of small actions, who served many years as town-clerk, and was +an energetic orator at town-meetings and in parish affairs. A culprit was +once brought before him for stealing a gentleman's set of new shirts. The +fact was stiffly denied. "A pretty story," said the accused party, "that +I should take his shirts!" An official scrutiny, however, soon exhibited +him standing with the half dozen articles of attire, one over another, +upon his person. "What a villain!" said the astonished justice. "Why +didn't you tell me you was a villain and save the time of the court, of +the witnesses, and the spectators, by owning up you were a villain, in +the first place?" + +The citizens of the old town were pretty thorough Puritans, by +inheritance and inclination, at the middle of the last century. But the +minister of the First Church was, in his day, a gentleman noted for his +liberal tastes and accomplishments. He had a picture painted on a broad +panel over the fire-place of his library, representing himself and +several others of the cloth sitting around a table, in the full +canonicals of wig, gown, and band, before each a foaming mug of ale, and +each supplied with a tobacco pipe from which rolled volumes of narcotic +fumes. At the top of the painting was a legend in the Latin language, of +which the following is, I believe, a correct copy,-- + + "In essentialibus unitas, in non-essentialibus libertas, in omnibus + charitas." + +They appeared to be having a jolly time, and evidently considered the +slight indulgences to which they were addicted among the moral +non-essentials, however necessary to their physical comfort. In this +picture, which is still extant, the rules of perspective were not +rigorously obeyed. In fact, the table is considerably tipped, whether +supposed to result from some sudden hilarious movement on the part of the +reverend compotators or owing to want of skill in the artist, I am not +able to testify. Indeed, the manners of the times had not then attained +their present professed strictness in regard to the use of exhilarating +liquors, and I have inspected a tavern-bill rendered to the principal +citizens, for articles of this sort consumed on some joyful public +occasion, at a much later period, the amount of which in quantity, though +not in price, would astonish a modern city council. + +At the corner of the street stood an ancient tavern, the principal +establishment of the kind in the place, at which in staging times all the +stage-coaches from Boston and the eastward hauled up to change horses. +It was kept by the father of the popular host of one of the best known of +the long-established New York hotels. I well remember seeing a +considerable body of British sailors halted there for refreshment, under +guard, on their way to some prison in the interior, during the War of +1812. They were true British tars of the traditional type, with immense +clubs of hair, tied up with eel-skins and hanging short and thick down +their necks. They seemed in no wise depressed by their condition and in +fact were treated extremely well, for the general feeling of the town was +decidedly adverse to the war. I also remember a gathering in front of the +tavern, when the evening coach was expected, with the idea of mobbing an +unpopular general officer who was to pass through by that conveyance. But +a better sentiment was inculcated by the more orderly portion of the +assembly, and the obnoxious warrior was not molested, otherwise than by +expressions of dislike, either upon alighting, or when taking his place +to resume his journey. Politics ran very high at the time, almost to the +entire suspension of social relations between the differing parties,--the +Federalists, who opposed the war, and were accused of unpatriotic +sympathy with the cause of the enemy, and the Republicans, often +stigmatized as Jacobins, who were charged with the principles and designs +which had given impulse to the great French Revolution. Doubtless these +parties shared, on the one side and the other, in the hereditary enmity, +long since allayed if not altogether extinguished, between England and +France. But whatever might be the general turn of political sentiment, +both sides felt a patriotic pride in the success of the American arms. +Hence, it is probable, the temper of the crowd assembled to do dishonor +to the unlucky general. While the Republicans were indignant at a +supposed needless national disaster, the Federalists could scarcely +rejoice at it; and thus the moderation of the latter tended to restrain +the former from the display of any actually violent demonstration. At the +same period, there was formed, among the older administration men of the +day, a veteran military organization, of those beyond the ordinary age of +military service, well-known locally under the significant appellation of +the "Silver Greys." The corps was composed of elderly merchants and +traders and retired sea-captains, and their drills manifested at least +the ambition of military prowess. Their opponents alleged that their +company was formed for merely political purposes, and to overawe the +town; but their own doubtless more just solution of the matter was, that +their object was to aid in repelling invasion, in the unlikely case that +the British troops should land upon their own borders. They gave more +promise, certainly, of efficient service, should danger arise, than +could be expected of the superannuated Trojans chief of Priam's court, as +their catalogue is translated by Pope from the living record of Homer:-- + + "Here sat the seniors of the Trojan race, + Old Priam's chiefs and most in Priam's grace; + The king the first, Thymoetes at his side, + Lampus and Clitias, long in council tried, + Panthus and Hicetaon, once the strong, + And next, the wisest of the reverend throng, + Antenor grave and sage Ucalegon, + Leaned on the walls and basked before the sun; + Chiefs who no more in bloody fights engage, + But wise through time and narrative with age, + In summer days like grasshoppers rejoice, + A bloodless race, that send a feeble voice," etc. + +The town had suffered everything from the war and the interdiction of +commerce in which it had been most actively engaged, preceding the event. +Multitudes were absolutely ruined, and the gaunt wolf stood grinning at +almost every other threshold. Among the memorials of that great struggle, +it may be as well to mention the rusted cannon planted for posts at the +corners of certain of the streets, the breech sunk in the ground and a +bomb-shell fastened in the muzzle. At such a time, it is not strange that +force occasionally took the place of law. + +I could recall not a few instances in which, under the impulse of +political resentment, passion got the better of judgment. One day, the +marshal of the United States, in his cocked hat and with other official +insignia, entered the tavern I have mentioned, in quest of a fugitive +from justice. He inquired of a person whom he met in the public +apartment, if he had lately seen one Captain E----, who, it seems, on +some supposed provocation, had only thrown a custom-house officer into +the dock in one of our eastern harbors. The person addressed by the +marshal said that Captain E---- had just passed down the street, and when +the marshal turned to pursue the culprit, that individual, who was no +other than the one just addressed, slipped out of another door, ran by +the stable in the rear of the tavern and called upon Jem Knox, the +hostler, to harness a chaise with all speed and to follow him forthwith +in his flight. It appears, that the story of the captain's adventure was +already pretty well known in the public places of the town, and as a +visit of the marshal from Boston was a very extraordinary event in a +place usually so quiet, a prying character who was upon the spot asked +him if he was not looking for Captain E----. Upon receiving an +affirmative reply,--"That's the man," said he, "you have just spoken to." +The marshal started in pursuit and the captain had called out to such +persons of his acquaintance as saw him running, that he was chased by a +United States' officer. Half way through the street, one Clement Starr, a +stalwart Englishman, who lived at the spot and whose sympathies, +political and otherwise, were with the weaker party, seized the marshal +by the collar and insisted upon knowing what was the cause of the +considerable tumult which the outcry--"Stop him!" had raised. Escaping +this obstacle, the poor marshal was soon afterwards clasped in the +vigorous embrace of a spirited matron, who stood on her door-step as he +passed, and, besides being an acquaintance of the captain, was of the +same political proclivities as those of the retreating mariner. + +While tearing himself away from this lively lady, Knox drove furiously +by, pulled up as he overtook the fugitive, who, as a witness of the +affair told me, tumbled into the chaise, and was soon out of the reach of +the threatening danger. Whether he was ever taken afterwards, or what +became of the prosecution, I have never heard. + +Not far from us lived a worthy widow, with a family of children, and on +one occasion she was heard to mingle rather curiously an office of +devotion with a somewhat severe threat of domestic discipline. It was a +day in summer, and the windows being open, a passer-by heard her +objurgation. It seems the family had assembled at the dinner-table, and +her oldest son began by making premature demonstrations toward the +provisions, when his mother emphatically addressed him: "You Bob Barker, +if you stick your fork into that meat before I've asked a blessing, I'll +be the death of ye!" + +There was a worthy shipmaster, also, who used to trade to Hayti, when +that stalwart colored person, Christophe, was the Emperor, who used to +say, "Put a bag of coffee in the mouth of h----, and a Yankee will be +sure to go after it." On one occasion, so the story ran, Captain H---- +complained of some insult from one of Christophe's ragged soldiery. The +fact reached the ears of that potentate, who desired to stand well with +Americans, and our townsman was summoned before him. He found in the +presence of the monarch the whole body of the scanty force on duty in +the town. "Can you pick out the man who insulted you?" asked the sable +autocrat. Captain H---- pointed him out; but beginning to fear the +infliction of some punishment too severe, attempted to extenuate the +offence. "Stop!" cried Christophe, and called the soldier near him. "Do +you say this was the man of whom you have told me?" "Yes, sir, it is," +replied the alarmed captain; "but"--In an instant Christophe had drawn +his sword, and with one blow struck off the head of the unlucky culprit. +The terror of the accusing party, at such a sudden and bloody +consummation, may be partly imagined. He procured his clearance as soon +as possible, and I believe made his future voyages to waters under a less +summarily sanguinary domination. + +We had also a _soi-disant_ nobleman, of really the humblest extraction, +and ignorant to a singular degree, but known by his eccentricities far +and wide, who, on the score of a little money accidentally amassed, +proclaimed himself, by an inscription beneath a wooden statue of himself, +in front of his residence,--"LORD OF THE EAST, LORD OF THE WEST, AND THE +GREATEST PHILOSOPHER IN THE WESTERN WORLD." He decorated his court-yard +with an extraordinary amount of lumber of this sort, in the shape of +human beings, and dumb creatures of many sorts, each statue standing upon +its separate pillar, to the intense admiration of the gaping rustics who +visited the town to inspect it; and he fairly beat the Scottish Earl of +Buchan, who was infected with a similar mania. Upon an arch directly +opposite his front door, he had placed Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. +Adams, on the right, was bareheaded, and upon an inquiry by some one why +this distinction was made, since Jefferson's chapeau was in its place, +the great "lord" replied: "Do you suppose I would have anybody stand at +the right hand of Washington, with his hat on?" He was said, also, upon +certain hilarious occasions, celebrated in a tomb which he had +constructed under a summer-house in his garden, to have indulged in the +mastication of bank-bills between slices of bread and butter, doubtless +to the envy of his boon companions; not, as might be inferred, of the +better or richer classes, though, considering all things, it is perhaps +needless to hope that these current symbols of value were a little +cleaner than most of those of modern date. All this statuary rubbish, +however, was long ago removed; and the house and grounds, by the taste of +the present owner, have since ranked among the most pleasing objects of +inspection in the town. + +This notably low and singularly eccentric character, as I have remarked, +fairly beat that other oddity,--in a different class of life and +contemporary with him,--the Scottish Earl of Buchan, elder half-brother +of Lord Chancellor Erskine. That nobleman was possessed with a passion +for the busts of persons, eminent or otherwise, not dissimilar to that of +our New England "lord" for wooden statuary, and perhaps was actuated by +equal vanity, though a person of real literary accomplishment, and in no +sense, except as mentioned, to be put in comparison with the other. He +displayed to his visitors a large and most incongruous collection of +these objects of art in a sort of grotto excavated in his garden, thus +reversing, however, the more conspicuous procedure of his brother +connoisseur, who exhibited his assemblage of rarities in his front yard. +The Scottish Earl, certainly, had some literary pretensions, while the +"lord" Timothy, who could neither read nor write with ordinary +expertness, honored the Muses, also, by affording countenance to a poet. +Whether this patronage extended to much material sustenance may be +considered doubtful, since this son of Apollo generally stood in the +market-place, when not wandering away to other parts, for the disposal +of his wares, dressed in semi-clerical habiliments, himself being of a +singularly grave aspect, and retailed frightful ballads of his own +composition, and small wares of various kinds from a basket on his arm. +It is questionable whether any of these literary productions survive to +the present day; and I fear that not one of them had any spark of that +vitality, potent to influence popular sentiment, which Fletcher of +Saltoun attributed to the songs of the people. + +In the centre of this market-place--a space inclosed on all sides by +various shops or stores, and for some unaccountable reason styled "Market +Square," since its irregular outline much more resembled a truncated +triangle--stood the town pump, on the spot originally occupied by the +meeting-house of the First Church, already mentioned. On two sides of the +pump were set the wonted hand-carts of two superannuated individuals, +whose gingerbread, candies, and apples were the delight of such urchins +as were lucky enough to have coppers to buy with; for those convenient +mediums of exchange were not too plentiful among boys in 18--, and +frequently not with their parents either. These old men were the +undisturbed possessors of the ground, wheeling their vehicles to the spot +at early morning, and standing by them all day, though they never seemed +to me to be driving a very thriving business. + +But the glory of the Square was during the week before +Thanksgiving,--then, as now, appointed for a day late in November, when +it was often difficult to make one's way through the throng of teams, +and especially sleighs, loaded with poultry fattened for the occasion, +and sometimes venison and abundance of other commodities for domestic use. +The mention of sleighs leads me to recur to a former remark upon the +earlier approach of winter in those times; for the employment of sleighs +implies the presence of snow upon the ground; and the farmers had +frequently driven from a great distance, "up country," from parts of +New Hampshire and Vermont, even from the borders of Canada, perhaps a +hundred and fifty or two hundred miles and more away, to attend the market +in our town; sometimes as many as a hundred loaded country sleighs, or on +other occasions as many wagons, in a single day. The construction of the +Middlesex Canal, connecting the waters of the Merrimack with those of +the Charles, diverted the main part of this traffic to Boston; and +railways finally conveyed to the capital most of the remainder which +came from any considerable distance. Wistful eyes, in the presence of +these heaping dainties, were sometimes averted, no doubt, from a +consciousness of empty pockets; yet there were always generous hearts +and bounteous hands to meet the exigencies of every neighborhood; and +we may be sure that no householder of decent repute, however poor or +unlucky, and probably few others, even if a little tarnished in the +moral world's esteem, lacked some kind friend who saw to it, that the +accustomed turkey or chickens smoked on the board before the eyes of +his hungry children on that day, at least, of all the year. + +But, unless respectable legends are to be peremptorily discredited, an +incident once took place in this Market Square, of which I doubt if any +other New England town can show the parallel. I am about to relate a +statement made to me, not many years ago, by an elderly gentleman of +excellent character and standing, a justice of the peace and of the +quorum, and a devout member of the Orthodox Church. The story was told +with all gravity and implicit confidence in its truth; and some may think +it exhibits in a striking light the extent of human credulity and the +imperfection of human testimony: "My father," said this worthy person, +"has often told me of being in Market Square when a man, a woman, and a +little dog appeared, and soon collected quite a crowd by the exhibition +of feats of jugglery. At length, after a due collection of tribute from +the standers-by, the man produced a ball of cord from his pocket, threw +it into the air, and began to ascend it, hand over hand. The woman +followed, and after her the little dog. While the crowd was gaping, in +expectation of the return of this mysterious trio, some one drove into +the market-place and inquired the occasion of this unusual congregation. +Upon being informed, he said, that he had just met such a party on the +road, about a mile from the town." I had read the most extraordinary +accounts, by British officers and others, of exhibitions like this, which +they alleged they had often witnessed in India. I remembered one, in +particular, where tigers and other unwelcome guests, and even the +somewhat unwieldy bulk of an elephant, had seemingly been brought down, +before their eyes, upon a cable fastened by some mysterious agency far +aloft; for I suppose it behooved to be made fast in some inconceivable +region of the upper air. But that a similar demonstration could have been +made in a sober New England town, at noonday, could scarcely fail to "put +me from my faith." It impressed me, however, as at least an extraordinary +relation, coming from such a source; and happening to meet another +ancient and equally reputable friend on the same day, one, too, who had +been much about the world in the capacity of a navigator to foreign +climes, I took occasion to relate to him the strange narrative which I +had just heard. "Oh," said he, "there is no doubt about it; my mother has +often told me she was present and saw the whole transaction." "In the +mouth of two or three witnesses," says the Scripture, "shall every word +be established." In this case, it will be observed, the witnesses were +two, but both at second-hand. I shall not vouch, therefore, for anything +except that, as Scott says, "I tell the tale as 'twas told to me,"--and +it may be set down as one of these veritable legends which all persons +are at liberty to reject or accept, as they please. I expect to try the +faith of the reader still further before I have finished this historical +sketch. People often tell us, nowadays, that vulgar superstitions are +altogether things of the past. This may be so in public; but I imagine +that in private there is a lurking tinge of it in every human bosom. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +In maritime towns, at a season of the year when there is no inducement +for them to wander into the fields, boys who have nothing else to do, on +play-days, are very apt to lounge, more or less, on the wharves and in +the Market Place. When quite a youngster, I witnessed a scene on the spot +last named, the incidents of which are as vivid in my memory as at the +moment when they occurred, more than half a century ago. Though the +commerce of our town had very materially declined from its former +condition of wonderful activity and enterprise, it was still kept up with +considerable semblance of its former spirit, and, besides our native +vessels, a foreign ship occasionally sailed up our beautiful river. A few +miles beyond the stream, in the neighboring State, dwelt a population +chiefly agricultural, a portion of which, pursuing the avocation of +small farmers and fishermen, alternately, for they were directly on the +borders of the sea and somewhat isolated in their position, besides, were +certainly a little wild in character and habits; though I am told that +great improvement among them, in these respects, has taken place of later +years. We called them "Algerines," from which epithet, more opprobrious +than probably just, our estimate of their pretensions to civilization may +be inferred. It was the practice of these people to bring their fish in +whale-boats to our market, which was the nearest to their homes, and to +dispose of this fruit of their often perilous labors either for money, or +for such commodities as they required. I was standing, one afternoon, +near a group of foreign sailors, believed to be Spaniards, with the +natural curiosity of a boy, and rough-looking specimens of humanity they +certainly were. It seemed that they had fallen into dispute with the +crew, some three or four men, of an Algerine boat, and though the +language on one side and the other was altogether unintelligible to the +parties, the tones were uncommonly high. Doubtless, the Spaniards were +resenting some insult offered by the Algerines,--prompted by that sort of +jealousy and dislike with which the lower classes of English blood have +been in the habit of regarding those of other nationalities. The quarrel +seemed especially at its height between one of the Spanish crew and a +young man of remarkable stature in coarse seaman's dress, with a great +bush of long yellow locks hanging over the collar of his jacket, whose +name it appeared was Souter. The Spanish champion had drawn an ugly +looking knife, from which unfamiliar weapon, flourished so near his +person, the Algerine instinctively flinched. At this critical moment, the +patriarch of the Yankee crew, a tall, gaunt old man, with grizzled hair, +stepped into the arena, and, seizing the foreigner by the collar, cried +out,--"Now I'll bet Tom Souter" (pronounced Saouter) "could take this +'ere fellow right here by the collar and shake every g---- right aout of +him,"--using a more vulgar phrase, and suiting the action to the word so +vigorously that the reeling and astounded Spaniard was glad enough to +relinquish the field and to slink away crestfallen with his companions. + +As a further illustration of the ways of our neighbors, I will give one +more anecdote of an affair which occurred years afterwards. Not far from +the hamlet of our friends, the Algerines, but within the borders of +Massachusetts, was another settlement, on the outskirts of a thriving +village, the male inhabitants of which also followed the calling of small +farmers and fishermen, some of them diversifying these pursuits by the +occupation of shoemaking, at the ungenial season of the year. They were +industrious, and far less rude than their compatriots, to whom reference +has just been made. At this point lived three young men, hard by each +other, and brothers, of the name, I will say, of Lowe. One day a tall and +respectable looking old gentleman called upon the writer of this history, +announcing himself as Colonel Lowe, and the father of the three young men +in question. He had formerly commanded, it seems, a regiment of militia, +and had a sort of semi-military bearing. He was now in great agitation +and distress, occasioned by some trouble in which his sons were involved, +through forcible resistance to the civil authorities of the Commonwealth, +and he required the professional services of the writer for their +defence. He justly regarded it as a case likely to lead to very serious +consequences, and particularly dreaded for the young men the disgraceful +punishment of the State Prison. It was a case to elicit every degree of +sympathy for the worthy Colonel, and to prompt every effort for his +relief. The facts, as they appeared at the trial before the Court of +Common Pleas, were quite picturesque. A constable had appeared with an +execution against one of the young Lowes, in the matter of a claim which +he disputed as unjust; but without giving the peace-officer opportunity +to discharge his duty, he was driven from the ground by the trio, in +mortal terror of his life. The execution of the process was then +undertaken by a somewhat fantastic country deputy sheriff; who was +ordered off as he attempted to approach the parties in defence, and +between them and the officer there was a good deal of raillery, which had +an important bearing upon the final result of the trial. At length, the +elder brother Lowe drew a line with a stick across the road and defied +the officer to pass it, which he declined to do, but at once made good +his retreat, smothering his indignation at such a rebuff, until he could +give it vent in more safety than the existing circumstances warranted. +Such reckless conduct was not to be endured, and no doubt the deputy was +laughed at by his neighbors for his failure to carry his purpose into +effect. The majesty of the Commonwealth had been insulted in his official +person, and he determined to summon a _posse comitatus_, to vindicate the +power and dignity of the law. Stories in the country, especially those +involving any extraordinary incidents, sometimes fly faster than in town, +and accordingly these young rebels forewarned, no doubt, of the peril in +prospect, prepared themselves, as well as they could, to resist the more +formidable invasion presently to be expected. Before daylight, one +morning, the mustered force of some twenty men, variously armed, led by +the valiant sheriff's officer, cautiously drew near the premises, in the +hope of catching the culprits asleep. The brothers were too quick for +their visitors, however, and evidently having been on the watch had +retreated to a barn, securely fastening the door, and awaited the +approach of the enemy. They had with them certain weapons, which were +exhibited in the court, consisting of ancient rusty halberds and +spontoons, probably borne in turn by their gallant father, in his several +gradations of military service. As they were summoned to surrender, a +musket was discharged out of a window of the barn, over the heads of the +assailants, occasioning considerable confusion in their line. Assuming +courage, at length, axes and crowbars were brought into requisition, and +the door was forced. As the attacking party entered, however, the Lowes +let down the stairs leading to the story above a heavy broad cart-wheel, +and as it bounded clattering towards the floor below, the assailants fled +out of doors in a panic, and taking advantage of their disorder, the +Lowes, disregarding the vast disproportion of numbers, rushed upon them, +and a regular melee began. It is thought, that the smaller party would +have been victorious, but for an ugly blow on the head of the youngest +brother, which felled and disabled him; whereupon his associates escaped +unmolested and he was taken helpless into the house, where he remained +until the time of the trial. Of course, the jury found him guilty, for +the facts of the case were patent; but it was taken up, by exceptions to +the ruling of the Judge, into the Supreme Court, in which, though it +would be irreverent to intimate that the justices entered at all into the +humor of such a Donnybrook Fair sort of scrimmage, yet, after argument, +and it is presumed in consideration of some provocation on the part of +the sheriff's deputy, especially the needlessly warlike and really +ridiculous aspect he impressed on the affair, leading the young men to +look upon it rather as an invitation to play their part, than as a +serious purpose to violate the law, the sentence imposed was only a few +months' imprisonment in the common jail. The prosecution was never +enforced against the brothers, and never was more lively gratitude +displayed, than at the escape of the convicted culprit from sentence to +the ignominious seclusion of the State Prison. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +A term of the Court of Common Pleas was always held in the town in the +month of September, and "court week" was a regular time of holiday for +the pupils of the higher schools. Some of us attended upon these solemn +proceedings with extraordinary interest, especially when criminal cases +were before the court. I know not how it is, but suppose it to be the +expected revelation of incidents, as in the plot of a novel, which draws +crowds together, in most uncomfortable contiguity in a courtroom, +whenever a culprit, especially one of more than usually notorious +antecedents, is put upon his trial. While most of the old-fashioned +lawyers of the Essex Bar were more than respectable for professional +acquisitions and legal skill, there were persons among them of +distinguished ability and character; and real eloquence seldom fails to +prove peculiarly fascinating to youthful hearers. Who could forget, for +example, with what rapt attention he listened, at a somewhat later date, +to the glowing language and was stirred by the honest warmth of +Saltonstall, incapable by nature of attempting to make the worse appear +the better reason; or watched that marvel, the matchless ingenuity of +Choate, whose faculties shone brightest, the more apparently hopeless was +the cause at stake; or thrilled with profound admiration, under the +resistless influence of Webster's force and closeness of argument, +rising, with due occasion, to the highest point of eloquent illustration, +when some more than usually important matter for adjudication by the +court called him from the ordinary sphere of his great practice to the +forum of a comparatively inferior tribunal. + +Years afterwards, when I had the honor of a place at that Bar, I was much +struck with the testimony of a respectable witness, a farmer named +Sheldon, who lived near Beverly Corner, upon an indictment of a fellow +for burglary, in entering Mr. Sheldon's house by night and taking the +money from his pockets in his sleeping chamber without disturbing the +occupants. One of the earliest questions proposed to him was,--"How did +the robber gain entrance to the house?" and, by the way, the man had been +previously employed as a laborer by the farmer. "I suppose he came in by +the usual way," was the answer. "He came in by the door, do you mean?" +"Yes." "How did he get it open?" "I suppose he lifted the latch." "Do you +mean to say, that the door was not fastened?" "Yes I do; we never fasten +it." The culprit was convicted upon various satisfactory testimony; but +the incident betokens a state of security, at that period, and a rarity +of flagitious offences, which puts to shame the demoralization of our own +day. For the house in question stood on the high road and was scarcely +more than half a mile distant from a populous neighborhood, and within +less than three miles of a town with many thousands of inhabitants. + +Strangely enough, considering the want of precaution on the part of the +farmer, coming down, doubtless, from a still simpler period of social +life, not half a mile from Mr. Sheldon's house stood a solitary +habitation upon a desolate tract of land, and also near the highway, +which at a time not long subsequent had acquired a very evil reputation; +and with this house became connected circumstances which some may think +scarcely admit of the solution of merely accidental occurrence. At the +autumnal term of the court just indicated, when I had become a young +practitioner at the bar, a certain vixenish old beldam was put upon trial +for the offence of maintaining this ill reputed establishment. Her +demeanor was singularly exceptional; for she did not scruple to interrupt +the proceedings with the most fluent billingsgate, and upon receiving +sentence berated the presiding judge in language betokening an +extraordinary depth of desperate hardihood. Inquiry revealed the fact, +that her solitary house, standing upon an elevated plain of some extent, +the ground rising from the shores of Wenham Lake, in front but little +removed from the road, and the space in its rear interspersed with +scattered groups of funereal pines, had been the resort of various +desperadoes, several of whom had suffered punishment for their crimes, +and one of them had not long before committed suicide in jail, to escape +public execution for a most atrocious murder. + +Late one day, in the beginning of the following Spring, I happened to be +called upon to proceed to Boston, distant some forty miles, upon the +sudden requirement of certain business to be transacted the next morning +in the city. It was before the railway was in operation, and to +accomplish the object in view I was to drive this considerable distance +in a chaise, at night and alone. I was accustomed to this mode of +locomotion, in my attendance upon the several sessions of the courts in +the county, and the idea of fear never entered my mind. Accordingly, +starting about dusk, at half past ten o'clock of a starlit night, I had +reached a point in the journey where the road rises by a gentle ascent to +the plain, on which stood "the house of evil counsel." All at once, the +scene and the narrative of the previous Fall flashed upon my mind. Before +leaving home, I had bethought myself of a brace of pistols in my +possession, which I had loaded and placed in the pockets of my overcoat. +And now comes the remarkable circumstance to which I have already +referred. These weapons had been borrowed of a friend, months before, +when in the midst of an unusually exciting election for a member of +congress, continuing some two years, and stirring up extraordinary rancor +in the minds of some of the partisans of the several candidates, I had +been threatened with violence, if I should attend the polls. I had +notified my opponents that I should vote at a certain hour, on the +appointed day, and placed these pistols in my pocket, by way of defence; +but nothing inconsistent with my freedom of political action in fact +occurred. This was the only time in my life that I had carried such +implements, which were then put aside in the drawer of a bureau, and I +have never thought it worth while to take them since, except on the +occasion now referred to. I had thus provided myself with them, on an +entirely different occasion, and took them with me, on a sudden thought, +as I was about to proceed on my journey, more in the spirit of youthful +bravado, than with any other motive; for the roads, at that period, were +considered perfectly safe, by night as well as by day. As I have +remarked, the thought of the shrewish and abandoned old woman, of her +house and its evil companions, occurred to me, as my horse slowly +ascended the rising ground towards the plain. In a few minutes I was in +the neighborhood of a habitation which I looked upon rather with +detestation than any emotion of alarm; when what was my astonishment to +behold a man--the sound of the wheels of the chaise being doubtless +audible at some distance in the clear, still night--come out of the gate +in front of the house and station himself in the middle of the somewhat +narrow highway. In fact, the stranger was within a rod of the vehicle, +and must either be driven over or move out of the way. At this unexpected +encounter, I own that my heart, as the saying is, jumped into my mouth; +but I instantly drew and cocked my pistol, and the click probably +disturbing the nerves of my proposed assailant, he turned aside without +offering further molestation. In a few minutes, the lamps of the +mail-stage, as it turned Beverly Corner on its way eastward, were a +grateful spectacle, and my onward journey was pursued without other +adventure. The driver of that stage afterwards informed me, that the +trunks strapped to the rear of their coaches had more than once been cut +off in that very neighborhood, and that on one occasion beams had been +placed in the road so that the carriage would have been overturned, +unless they had been discovered in time, and doubtless had been so placed +for purposes of robbery. I inquired, why investigation did not take place +on the spot; but the reply was, that the passengers were in haste to get +on, were unarmed, and perhaps timid, and preferred to remove the +obstacles and proceed upon their way. The contrast, however, is +striking, between the habit of a farmer to leave his door unfastened at +night and the machinations of rogues not a quarter of a mile distant, who +could be guilty of such crimes. I believe, however, that the existence of +such a nest of villains was quite exceptional at that period, and unknown +to the farmer, and that his sense of safety, without the most ordinary +means of protection to his premises, was at that time the rule. The +reader may draw what conclusions he pleases from the facts of my own +personal narrative. + +I have remarked that politics, never stagnant in our ancient communities, +at the period of my story, oftentimes grew extremely warm, and then every +leading citizen took his personal part. Nor is it strange that the +survivors of those who had borne their share in the Revolutionary War, +who had the traditions, at least, of their fathers who served with the +New England troops, and followed the gallant and generous Wolfe up the +formidable heights of Abraham, and after the victorious field which cost +that true hero his life, stood triumphant, under the Red Cross banner, +upon the subjugated ramparts of Quebec, should exhibit marked +peculiarities of character; should hold fast to strong opinions; and +indeed should manifest that individuality and originality of thought and +action which is scarcely witnessed in the promiscuous crowd of our own +tamer times. Instead of that indifference, the bane of a republic, among +the upper class, the result of accumulated wealth and luxurious habits, +the chief men of both parties stood at the door of the Town Hall, on days +of election, distributing votes, and encouraging the timid and the +doubtful, and their influence was effectively felt in the direction of +public affairs, which now seem mostly to be left to the management of the +least competent, and often the most ignorant, mercenary, and corrupt. I +firmly believe that the equal, if not preeminent position long maintained +by Massachusetts, among rivals vastly superior in territory and +population, was owing to the active interest formerly taken by her +leading men of all professions and occupations in the politics of the +day, and that thus the sources of political well being were kept +comparatively pure. At present, these men take their political opinions +from the newspaper they read, and trouble themselves very little further +about a matter in which their own stake, one would think, would rouse +them to exertion, from the promptings of enlightened self-interest, if +not from the more generous emotions of public spirit. + +On one occasion, when some eager dispute had arisen, as to which of the +two parties actually preponderated, for the balance sometimes wavered +from one side to the other, it was determined to poll the town; that is, +to assemble all citizens entitled to vote in the Town Hall, to divide +them personally according to their several politics and by actual count +to ascertain which was the strongest in point of numbers. I happened to +be present, as a boy who heard political questions discussed with +animation at home, and was curious to witness the scene, which was one +really of the intensest interest. The selectmen occupied their tribune, +at the head of the Hall, and the meeting was presided over by their +chairman, a man of imposing height and general personal development, with +flowing white locks, who commanded the respect of all parties. His father +had been a soldier of Wolfe, and he and his associates were on the +Federal side. When the parties were arranged for the enumeration, one +worthy individual, who kept the principal tavern of the town, stood +hesitating, at the end of the hall, between the two files; for, in fact, +both parties of necessity made use of his house, by turns, in +commemoration of some public event, or for festive purposes, which, to +tell the truth; were frequently coming round; for the liquor was both +better and cheaper than in these degenerate days. I shall never forget +the start which the sonorous voice of the chairman gave me, as he bawled +out,--"None of that, Jenkins; we can't have any shirking here; you must +take one side or the other,"--and he did, amidst the tumultuous laughter +with which the Hall resounded. The contest was a good-natured one, and I +have no doubt which party proved victorious, considering that the +prevailing sentiment of the town was pretty well evidenced by the +political leanings of the _Board_; but at this late day it is of little +consequence to authenticate the fact. + +The father of the sturdy chairman had set up the tavern, after returning +from the expedition to Quebec, which he called the WOLFE HOUSE, in +memory of his commander, General James Wolfe, who is presented in such a +pleasing light in Thackeray's "Virginians," and, as a noble-minded man +and true hero, deserved all which could be said in his praise. In after +days, and I believe it is still there, the sign was suspended in front of +the hotel, which took the place of that destroyed by the "Great Fire." +The brave general wore his red coat and cocked hat, all through the War +of the Revolution and that of 1812-14, without molestation from colonial +rebels, or Yankees fighting against the mother country, by land and by +sea. The tavern was kept for a long time by a shrewd and active host, who +had a keen eye to the main chance. Among his dinner guests were farmers +who attended market, and others, content to take their meals at half +price, after the chief company had finished that repast. Of these was one +Major Muncheon, somewhat celebrated for his remarkable powers of making +away with whatever the table furnished. One day, Wilkins, the host, who +was addicted to a slightly nasal intonation, addressed him, when he had +just risen from his seat,--"Major, I can't dine you any more for +twenty-five cents." "Why not?" asked the well-satisfied trencherman. "I +tell you, Major," said his host, "the very vegetables you've eaten cost +two and three pence" (37-1/2 cents), "saying nothing of the meat and +pies." "Pho! Wilkins," remonstrated the farmer, "it's only the second +table." "Second table!" replied the host; "why, Major, if you had sat +down to the first table, there wouldn't have been no second." + +But if parties in those times were often hotly opposed, there was one +occasion, every year, when a broader sentiment of patriotism warmed the +hearts of all in the fellowship of a common cause. The Anniversary of +Independence was duly commemorated by appropriate exercises for +considerably more than half a century in our spirited town, and with a +general loosening of party ties on the occasion, until the War of 1812, +when the parties conducted separate celebrations, though the orators were +always only too apt to tighten them again by untimely political +allusions, in the narrower sense of the phrase.[6] + +On one of these anniversaries, the orator expectant we will call Mr. +Moses, a member of the Bar, who had already acquired distinction and was +afterwards a leader in his profession, well known in the county of Essex. +It was in reference to this gentleman, that an ambitious colored person +of that day instructed the shoemaker he employed, that he wanted "his +boots to have as much creak in them as Squire Moses's." On the day before +the services were to take place, the orator repaired to the meeting-house +appointed for the purpose, in order to rehearse his performance, and +having mounted the stairs to the pulpit by a back-entrance, and probably +wearing boots, at this time, of less distinctive resonance, did not +attract the attention of an old woman who was on her knees scrubbing the +broad aisle. The speaker had a melodious and ringing voice, and began, I +suppose,--"Friends and fellow-countrymen!" "Oh, lud-a-mercy!" cried the +ancient female on the floor, starting to her feet, with uplifted hands. +The occupant of the pulpit was a very polite person. "Oh, don't be +alarmed, madam," cried he; "it's only Moses." "Moses!" screamed the +woman--"Moses is come! Moses is come!" and not much to the credit of a +piety which ought to have felt so highly favored by a vision of the great +prophet, rushed from the church into the street in an agony of terror, +spreading consternation in the neighborhood by her outcries, until the +mystery was speedily cleared up. + +----- + [6] Of all these productions I have seldom seen one equal to + the printed sermon preached by Rev. Mr. Murray, of our + Old South Church, upon the Proclamation of Peace;[A] + for its array of various interesting information upon + the condition and prospects of the country, and for + soundly patriotic views, enforced with fervid and + striking eloquence. In one respect, it could scarcely be + surpassed. We have heard of the protracted discourses of + the old Puritan divines, in both countries with which + most of us claim origin, and like them Mr. Murray's + sermon must have consumed at least two hours and a half + in the delivery. He was educated at Edinburgh and was no + doubt a native of Scotland. + + [A] 1783 + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +I know there are those who will kindly regard these reminiscences of +things, trifling, it may be, in themselves, but affording a glimpse of +manners perhaps already forgotten by most or all of those who were +formerly more or less conversant with them, and which may prove of some +interest in the future. We had spent our Thanksgiving at home, in the +year 18--, but went all together to the farm of our uncle Richard, who +was of the Episcopal Church, for the celebration of Christmas; for many +of his persuasion, at that time, regarded "Thanksgiving" pretty much as +the Highlander, in Scott's novel, did "ta little government Sunday, tat +tey call ta Fast." He was a well-to-do farmer, at a place within easy +reach of the town in which we lived, and where very few were at all +rich, even according to the former moderate standard of wealth, and most +people were poor, or at least depended on their daily labor for their +daily bread. Those were very hard times following upon the war; and that +had followed fast upon the Great Fire, which reduced to ruin almost the +entire central business part of the town. Our family had suffered private +losses, too, by a swindling failure on an extensive scale,--a rare +incident in those days;[7] and again by the embargo and the war, most +of my mother's limited means having been invested in one vessel after +another, employed in the coasting trade, and this source of income at +length stopped altogether. Still, people bore up bravely against these +misfortunes, and showed quite as much spirit and hardihood as in these +latter times, and got along decently, after a fashion. To be sure, the +proclamation of Peace, a few years before, had revived all hearts; though +I heard of a washerwoman engaged in her avocation, while the bells were +ringing, who, on learning the cause of jubilation, peevishly +exclaimed,--"Peace! peace! what's peace, when there's no water?"[8] Our +Thanksgiving had been a cheerful one, though colored, as such +anniversaries are likely to be, with recollections of the absent, or the +dead; for the memory of my father was always present to my mother, then +and during a long widowhood of almost half a century, and my older +brothers were at sea. My mother was an excellent housekeeper, and we had +plenty of the usual belongings of the festival, so eagerly looked forward +to by the young, and something to bestow upon others not so well +supplied. It was the practice of some of this class to knock at the doors +of those thought to be better off, on the evening before, begging +"something for Thanksgiving;" and, by way of a joke, the children of +comfortable neighbors and friends would often array themselves in +cast-off bizarre habiliments, and come in bands of three or four to the +houses of those whom they knew, preferring the same request. Ordinarily, +the disguise was readily detected. Sometimes the little mimics would come +in, and keep up the show and the fun for a while; but for the most part +their courage failed them at the threshold, and they scurried away, +shouting for glee, almost before they got any answer to their mock +petitions. It was a queer fancy, thus to simulate poverty; but kings have +sometimes done so. Did not James of Scotland find amusement in roaming +through a portion of his domain, as a "gaberlunzie-man?" Yes--and even +composed a famous ballad to celebrate his exploits in this humble way. In +the evening, we had a lively company, regaled with nuts, apples, and +cider; and my grandmother, who indulged in the old-fashioned practice, +that is for females, of smoking a pipe, sat in the chimney-corner, where +a genial wood-fire was brightly blazing, for coal was then a thing +unknown in family consumption, duly furnished with the implement, and +sometimes called out to us,--"A-done, children, a-done," when in anywise +annoyed by us, and occasionally would sing us an old song, of which I +remember only "Robert Kid" and "A galliant ship, launched off the stocks, +from Old England she came," etc.; and, often when a storm was raging +without, repeating to us the rhymes,-- + + "How little do" (pronounced doe) "we think, or know, + What _the_ poor sailors undergo." + +But we had a livelier time at Uncle Richard's; for there were more of us +and merrier. Of course, those of the household who could be spared from +domestic duties had attended service in the morning, and some of us from +the town had also appeared at church; for though our branch of the +family were now Presbyterians, we remembered that our common ancestor and +the company who came over with him, a couple of centuries and more before +that time, were of the Church of England, only protesting against the +abuses which had crept into it; and Uncle Richard carefully preserved, +with the genealogy of the family on this side the water, the Orders in +Council, prescribing for the passengers, by the "Mary and John," of which +my ancestor was one, then lying in the Thames, in the year 1633, amongst +other regulations, the daily service to be observed on board, according +to the ordinances of the Prayer Book. + +No doubt the dinner was all which the domestic celebration of the +festival imports, for the farm was well stocked with every description of +creature, and with most other things needful for the purpose; but I may +be excused if I remember none of the particulars, now that so many years +have intervened. I know that Uncle Richard always prided himself upon his +excellent cider, and there is little question that there was a due +allowance of spirits, which most persons of fair means kept, in those +days, in decanters openly ranged upon the parlor sideboard. Indeed, about +the same period, while I was a student at a famous Academy not many miles +distant from our own home, the English teacher, an orthodox clergyman of +high repute, who cultivated a few acres of land at the place where he +lived on the outskirts of the town, invited a few of the pupils, myself +in the number, to assist him in making hay, one play-afternoon. The boys +had a good frolic, and, after work was ended, our master treated us to +milk-punch, a highly agreeable, but rather exhilarating beverage. Our +uncle's house was of the old-fashioned New England description, +pleasantly facing the south, with a high-peaked roof, which descended, +in the opposite quarter, to not much more than a man's stature from the +ground. In front was a spacious green yard, leading on one side to the +garden for vegetables and trees of the choicer kinds of fruit, and +sprinkled here and there with bunches of gay flowers; and at the entrance +gate by the road two magnificent elms, of an age and height which denoted +that they must have given shade to several past generations from the +summer heat, flung out drooping branches which extended a very great +distance from the parent trunks. After dinner, our host entertained us +with a narrative of his recent visit to the capital town of Boston, to +testify, in company with a former neighbor, now resident there, in behalf +of his hired man, Jasper Towne, of English birth, who having, duly and at +a long term beforehand, declared his intention, in proper form, was at +length, after a continuous residence of fourteen years in the United +States, admitted by the Federal Court to all the rights and privileges +which free citizenship could confer upon him. The scene in court my uncle +thought peculiarly solemn and impressive. The candidate for the franchise +was strictly questioned by the presiding justice, in open court, with +regard to his origin and his past life. The witnesses were subjected to a +similar scrutiny as to his character and habits, and their judgment of +his fitness for the responsible position and the new duties he was about +to assume. When this part of the transaction was completed, the oaths of +renunciation of allegiance to every foreign power, prince, or potentate +whatsoever, and the oath to support the Constitution of the United States +were administered to him by the clerk in a manner to fix it in his mind +that it was a very serious business, indeed, in which he had just been +engaged. Thereupon, the judge addressed him in language of congratulation +and counsel, and our newly-made fellow-countryman respectfully departed +from the tribunal, conscious that he had attained no mean privilege and +had secured a safeguard, like that, by the declaration of which the +Apostle of the Gentiles stayed the uplifted hands of his persecutors, and +caused them to tremble at the thought of misuse or degradation inflicted +upon a Roman citizen. Now, I believe, whatever is left of the ceremony +upon such occasions is slurred over in a clerk's office, or the part +performed in court scarcely attracts the attention of the magistrate upon +the bench. The moral of this change of practice may be left to the +reflection of the judicious reader. But it was something then to be, or +to be made an American citizen. + +Not long before this, there had been an earthquake, which, though of +brief duration, had caused no little alarm,--a terrific sound always, +however slight the shock,--and in this instance making houses tremble +and shaking down various articles from their places of deposit. In the +early days of the colony, these phenomena were not uncommon, and are said +to have been of no little power in this part of New England. Uncle +Richard described the recent one as rumbling under the frozen ground +leading to his barns, as if a line of heavily-loaded wagons had rolled +over it. Being something of a philosopher, and better educated than usual +at the time, he explained the cause of such physical occurrences to us +young ones. + +"The fact is," he said, "the water in certain parts of the earth becomes +intensely heated and lets off a quantity of steam of amazing expansive +power. It is like a tea-kettle, which if you shut the nozzle tight, may +either throw off the lid with great force, or the kettle itself bursts +with the strain upon it. So the steam, under the earth, heated by central +fires, and gaining immense volume and power, seeks the hollows in its +neighborhood, and rushes into them with a force which produces the +concussion and the rumbling sound; and the shaking of the surface which +we perceive is really like the commotion in the tea-kettle and the +trembling of the vessel when the steam has no vent. It is an awful +thought that we thus live over the action of these subterranean fires; +but they are in the control of the Almighty, and all we have to do is to +submit to God's will and merciful providence." + +St. Paul's Church, of which Uncle Richard was a vestryman, owed its +origin to the separation of certain persons from the Congregational mode +of worship, and the formation of a society for the resumption of the +Protestant Episcopal pattern, as long ago as the year 1712. Their place +of worship they named Queen Anne's Chapel,[9] in honor of the +sovereign "at home," the last of the direct Stuart line, whose royal +person, it is said, having grown too unwieldy to permit horseback +exercise, she was in the habit of following the hunt, of which she was +passionately fond, driving herself, helter-skelter, in a one-horse +chaise. She has the credit of having bestowed some endowment upon the +Chapel, and the Bishop of London presented it with a bell; which, if all +accounts be true, still hangs in the steeple of a congregational +meeting-house within the precinct of the "Plains," where the Chapel once +stood. For that edifice, probably not having been very substantially +built, and being situated on a barren tract of land, afterwards known as +"Grasshopper Plains," and, for the convenience of the scattered +parishioners, placed at a distance from every one of them, and hence +subject to various causes of dilapidation, especially when St. Paul's, +within the town, was in process of construction, at length fell to ruin; +and the bell was carried privately away--so runs the tale--and was long +buried in the ground, but has now for many years summoned the people to a +style of worship which would have appealed in vain to the good Bishop of +London for any such donation. It may be supposed that it could not be +identified, after its interment, and perhaps the obliteration, naturally +or otherwise, of its peculiar marks; or the successors of Queen Anne's at +St. Paul's, built about thirty years after the former, would have +reclaimed their property. + +The motives of those who thus revived the relation of their ancestors +with the Established Church were not altogether pious; but the fact +incontestably proves, that after nearly a century of separation from that +establishment, the objections to it, in the minds of many of the children +of the colonists, were by no means insurmountable. Indeed, it was about +a question of parish taxation that they differed with their +co-religionists. The place selected for the meeting-house was so far +distant from the homes of many of the parish, that they could not attend +without great inconvenience, and yet they were required to pay the parish +rates for the support of the minister. They remonstrated and appealed in +vain to the civil authorities in the colony and to those in England, for +relief; for the law was clearly against them, unless they chose to +conform to the doctrines and discipline of the Established Church. +Finding nothing in the Thirty-nine Articles inconsistent with the faith +they professed, they easily reconciled themselves to the ceremonies, and +thus succeeded in their object of removing from their shoulders an +involuntary burden. + +As may be imagined, at first and for years afterwards, they remained but +"a feeble folk," regarded with suspicion and dislike by the more +narrow-minded of their contemporaries, though the days were long gone by, +when an Episcopalian, especially if suspected of a leaning towards +Popery, was set in the pillory or the stocks. The Church, however, had +been long flourishing, in my youth, and I was always particularly +impressed when I attended service there, as I always did on Christmas +Day, with the organ, an instrument utterly unknown in our other places of +public worship, and with the comfort diffused by the large Russian stove +which projected from a corner of the building; while we, for long years +afterwards, shivered in our meeting-houses of a cold Sunday. To be sure, +the younger children carried their mothers' hand-stoves, constructed of +tin in a frame of wood and pierced with holes in the top, to let out such +heat as could be communicated by a small pan of coals covered with ashes. +But for the male part of the congregation, who despised such a luxury, +it was almost impossible to avoid occasionally striking the benumbed feet +together, and sometimes the clatter was almost as considerable, as in +letting down the seats after the long prayer, especially if that proved +to be a very protracted exercise. But I have known young ladies so +indifferent to the severity of the weather, as to attend meeting, on very +cold days of winter, with bare arms. What would delicate ladies, who, +wrapped in warm furs, listen to service in a heated church, think of such +exposure now? On one particular occasion, however, our minister announced +the text,--"Who can stand before His cold?" and closed the services with +the usual blessing, a little to the dissatisfaction, I think, of the more +staid members of the congregation, who having come through cold and snow, +or a furious wintry storm, it might be, to hear a sermon, were not +altogether contented to miss the expected edification, or perhaps the +opportunity of criticising the discourse. Indeed, I know not what my +respected great grandsire, an elder of the church in his day, would have +said to such defection from spiritual needs towards indulgence in carnal +comfort. For it is said, that when some less searching and thorough-going +preacher of the word exchanged with our minister, or casually officiated +for him, the old gentleman tottered out of the meeting-house, leaning on +his staff, and with elevated eyebrows muttered pretty audibly to those +near him,--"Peas in a bladder--thorns under a pot--no food to-day!" And +however it might be with many of his neighbors, not the minutest particle +of the quality of original Puritanism had been shaken out of his system +by the changes of the times. The family tradition is, that before the +sunset of Saturday everything necessary for the support of nature upon +the Sabbath was cooked and in readiness. Whether he allowed the +accustomed beans and rye and Indian bread to remain in the oven subject +to the working heat, over Saturday night, I am not able to certify. But +in the intervals of public worship on Sunday,--a term, by the way, which +he would have scorned to employ,--the family was assembled and ranged +around the walls of the room, and the reading of Scripture, or of some +well-worn book of devotion, was proceeded with, while the head of the +family sat in the centre, with a stick in his hand long enough to reach +the head and shoulders of any inattentive or unquiet child. + +----- + [7] When a trader failed, as was rarely the case at that + primitive period, his sign was taken down at night, to + the wonder of the public in the morning, and he remained + fast locked from the sheriff, or too inquisitive + callers, in his house, until the disposition of his + creditors became known,--dependent upon their confidence + in his good intentions, or their sympathy with his + unexpected misfortunes. + + [8] An anecdote quite parallel to this is to be found in the + now late lamented Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences." He + relates, as a specimen of the cool Scottish + matter-of-fact view of things, the following + communication of a correspondent:-- + + "The back windows of the house where he was brought up + looked upon the Greyfriars' Church that was burned down. + On the Sunday morning in which that event took place, as + they were all preparing to go to church, the flames + began to burst forth; the young people screamed from the + back part of the house, 'A fire! a fire!' and all was in + a state of confusion and alarm. The housemaid was not at + home, it being her turn for the Sunday 'out.' Kitty, the + cook, was taking her place, and performing her duties. + The old woman was always very particular on the subject + of her responsibility on such occasions, and came + panting and hobbling upstairs from the lower regions, + and exclaimed, 'Oh what is't, what is't?' 'O, Kitty, + look here, the Greyfriars' Church is on fire!' 'Is that + a', Miss? What a fright ye geed me! I thought ye said + the parlor fire was out.'" + + [9] It was, I believe, the oldest Episcopal Church in + Massachusetts, with the exception of King's Chapel, in + Boston, a small wooden structure, which stood upon the + place where the stone edifice of that name is now + situated. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +An aged friend, years ago deceased, who had seen much of the world, once +observed to me, that he had never seen a more "scrupulous people," to use +his expression, than our Presbyterian congregation. The clergy of the +town were always distinguished, at a period when to be a clergyman was to +be much more an object of reverence than in these latter days, and when a +boy in the street would scarcely venture to pass one, on the opposite +sidewalk, without pulling off his cap. But they set their people an +excellent example, though they did not always escape the censure of the +over "scrupulous." For instance, Mr. Murray, the accomplished scholar and +divine to whom reference has already been made, was known to take no +dinner in the interval of public worship, substituting for that repast a +slice or two of bread and a few glasses of wine. Why such a fact, when +everybody drank more or less wine, or something stronger, every day of +the week, should have alarmed the conscience of Miss Betty Timmins, a +maiden lady of a certain age, it seems difficult to conjecture. +Nevertheless, she made a solemn call, one day, upon her pastor, and with +such apology as she could muster for impertinence--at length out with it: +"I must tell you, reverend sir, they do say you drink." "Drink! Miss +Timmins," said Mr. Murray; "to be sure I do, don't you? How can anybody +live without drinking?" and the discomfited spinster retreated. Mr. +Murray had a fund of humor. The parsonage was close by the house of his +parishioner, the sheriff, and the adjoining jail and whipping-post in the +charge of that officer, and in the last illness of the minister the +official was in the habit of taking him to a drive. Once, as he was +getting into the chaise, a friend passed by and he called out, "If you +see any one inquiring for me, tell him the last you saw of me I was in +the hands of the sheriff." But after his time, and at the period of which +I am writing, we had no less than three English ministers settled in the +town, all educated upon the foundation of the celebrated Countess of +Huntington. I recall, with vivid recollection, the figure of one of these +worthies who called himself an "Independent," as he proceeded to meeting +on a Sunday: his high cocked hat, his flowing, black curled locks,--more +in the cavalier than the Puritan fashion; his long blue cloak over his +clerical gown, his bands, his knee-breeches,--objected to by a fastidious +young lady, as "short pantaloons,"--his square shoe-buckles, and his +ponderous cane. His person was somewhat short and thick, whence "lewd +fellows of the baser sort" sometimes irreverently called him the "The +Jack of Clubs." But he was a really good man, with the most powerful +voice I remember to have heard, and he preached, always an unwritten +sermon, but with heads set down, anything but smooth things to his +numerous congregation. Towards the close of his life he used to remark, +that when he first came to this country, the topic of sermons was "Jesus +Christ and Him crucified; now it was nothing but niggers and rum." He was +good at retort. Early one Monday morning he was going home from the +market, with some mackerel which he had just purchased strung upon his +cane. "Mr. Milton," said some passer-by, "them mackerel was caught +Sunday." "Well," was the reply, "that ain't the fishes' fault." + +One burden of this worthy minister's Sunday prayer, during the sessions +of Congress and of the State legislature, was, "Counsel our councillors, +and teach our senators wisdom." By many of the stronger faith of an elder +day, his fervent supplications were believed to exercise a specific +influence upon the atmosphere, particularly in bringing needed rain at a +dry time. I have often heard it said, after the drought had continued a +good while,--"Well, Milton has prayed for rain and now we shall have it." +This reminds me of an anecdote appropriate to the topic, in that very +entertaining book, Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences of Scottish Life and +Character." At one time when the crops were much laid by continuous +rains, and wind was earnestly desired in order to restore them to a +condition fit for the sickle,--"A minister," he says, "in his Sabbath +services expressed their wants in prayer, as follows: 'O Lord, we pray +thee to send us wind, no a rantin' tantin,' tearin' wind, but a noohin', +(noughin?) soughin', winnin' wind.'" In like manner, I have heard of a +prayer preferred by a somewhat simple New Englander, who was overheard +offering his petition behind a clump of bushes in a field: "O Lord, I +want a new coat--good cloth--none of your coarse, flimsy, slimsy, sleazy +kind of stuff, but a good piece of thick, warm, comfortable +broadcloth--such as Bill Hale wears." + +It must be admitted that the reverend person was rather rough in manner; +but he had a truly kind heart. Like John Wesley, he was unfortunate in +his domestic relations; a circumstance which doubtless tended somewhat to +lessen the amiability of an originally good disposition. But, +notwithstanding his various trials and we fear conflicts at home, no one +questioned his piety. Indeed, one well acquainted with his character and +experiences, when his death was announced, at once exclaimed,--"What a +change! From pitching skillets, to handling harps!" There could be no +greater contrast than in the person and character of our long and +well-beloved Presbyterian minister, graceful in person, courteous and +affable in demeanor, accomplished in ancient learning and in that +portion of English literature which is styled classical; a devoted and +affectionate pastor, a most able and persuasive preacher; of whom +President Dwight, of Yale, is reported to have said, that there had been +scarcely such a writer of pure English since Addison. With the exception +of some failure of physical powers, towards the close of his life, he +retained these admirable characteristics and accomplishments to the end +of his more than ninety years. He always preached in gown and bands, with +black gloves upon his hands, his nether limbs encased in small-clothes +and silk stockings, until in later life he adopted the prevailing mode. +We always knew when he intended to preach, because through several +intervening yards and gardens we could see from our house the light in +his study, at a distance, of a Saturday night. His morning discourses +were usually admirable expositions of Scripture delivered without notes; +his afternoon sermons were written exercises, and we so depended upon +both, that it was a disappointment when we discovered that he was to +exchange, by the absence of the usual light. He would descend from the +contemplation of the highest themes, which address themselves to human +reason and imagination, and from the relaxation of reading "Tully," or +Horace, or Pope, who was a special favorite with him, to the preparation +of his fire-wood for domestic use, and doubtless this accustomed +saw-horse practice tended very much to the promotion and continuance both +of his bodily and mental health. In my childhood, he taught me and other, +I fear, reluctant pupils all we were capable of learning of the +Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism, contained, at that time, in a +small but miscellaneous volume called the Primer. He was a great lover of +the writings of Cowper, which name, in the English manner, he always +pronounced Cooper, and of the Psalms and Hymns and the lyrical +productions, in general, of Dr. Watts; and long after I had grown up, he +pointed out to me a verse in one of those Hymns, remarking upon a point +which I do not remember to have seen noticed elsewhere, that it presented +the finest specimen of alliteration in the language, as follows:-- + + "How vain are all things here below, + How false and yet how fair! + Each pleasure hath its poison too, + And every sweet a snare." + +The eventual condition and standing of our Episcopal Church may be +inferred from the fact, that its Rector, in early times, was chosen +Bishop of the diocese, a dignity which he long piously and humbly +enjoyed. Along the beautiful street on which St. Paul's stood, and in its +immediate neighborhood, were some of the more elegant residences of the +town, and an air of superior gentility seemed to pervade the precinct, so +that some caviller saw fit to call it St. James's, in allusion to the +Christian name of the excellent Rector who succeeded the venerable +Bishop. He was, indeed, a most devoted churchman, looking upon all +persons outside of his communion as sheep wandering from the fold, and +used to say, that he considered the whole town as really belonging to his +parish. He was a person very highly esteemed for his piety and sincerity, +and as evidence of this repute, and of liberality on both sides, he +preached, by invitation, and read the service in the Presbyterian +meeting-house, on one occasion, at least, when our minister was absent +and his own pulpit was supplied. We were then under another pastor; but +some years before this manifestation of truly Christian toleration a +controversy arose between the Rector and our Presbyterian clergyman, in +regard to the obligatory observance of Christmas. It was conducted in the +newspaper of the town, then published only on two days of the week, and +to the multitude of readers appeared more spirited than edifying, as is +the case with most polemical disputes. The worthy Episcopal Doctor had +asserted on Christmas Day, that the observance of that festival was of +universal Christian obligation. The Presbyterian Doctor took up the +cudgels to demonstrate, that, although it was proper and reasonable +enough to keep the day, as a matter of religious edification, like a +lecture-day, for example, by those who saw fit to do so, yet there was no +authority, in this respect, binding upon the consciences of those who +chose to disregard it. Both of the disputants were acknowledged gentlemen +and scholars; but after much argument and learning wasted upon the +subject, it is to be feared that the controversy, through the medium of a +public journal, between two such highly respected controversialists, on a +topic of religious practice, only gave too much occasion to the scoffer. +Indeed, Johnnie Favor, the Episcopal sexton's helper, one of those +persons, reputed half-witted, who sometimes make very apposite remarks, +observed,--"Well--Christmas here, or Christmas there, I'm not so +narrer-contracted as to like to see the surplices of two such good men as +your Doctor and my Doctor draggled in the dirt." + +Certainly, a tone of unusual refinement pervaded the better educated +class of the community in the old town, at the period of this relation, +and not a little stateliness of manner was kept up by some of the older +families. Indeed, I think they would compare very favorably in point of +intelligence and manners, with persons of a similar class, as described +by the great authorities heretofore referred to, and others, who have +given us vivid pictures of social life in the Scottish capital. To be +sure, the colonial days of distinct social rank had long gone by. But, +half a generation before, the town had been one of the most flourishing +and wealthy in New England, and to the counting-houses of its principal +merchants young men resorted, even from the capital of the State, to +learn the art and practice of business. Those who filled the several +learned professions were persons of the highest eminence in their several +callings,--drawing pupils around them who afterwards, and on wider fields +of action, attained great names and some of whom occupied the loftiest +civil positions in the land. + +Among the students, for example, in the office of that great lawyer and +judge, Chief Justice Parsons, while he practised at the Bar, and who +subsequently attained eminence, were John Quincy Adams, afterwards +President of the United States, and Rufus King, afterwards Senator in +Congress from the State of New York, and twice Minister Plenipotentiary +to Great Britain; and Robert Treat Paine, so celebrated in his day, as +an orator and poet.[10] Of one of these eminent persons I heard a +story, formerly, from a friend of very high character as a man and a +lawyer, the late Hon. William Baylies, of West Bridgewater, +Massachusetts. It seems that while Mr. King, then a young man, was in the +practice of his profession in Boston he was detained in attendance upon +court at Plymouth, until late on Saturday evening. It was necessary for +him to be at home seasonably on Monday morning, and accordingly he +mounted his horse early on Sunday, the ordinary mode of travel, in those +days, and proceeded leisurely on his way. It was summer time; and in +passing through the township of Hanover, in Plymouth County, he +approached a plain wooden structure by the roadside, in which, as he +could see by the assemblage within, the door and windows being open, that +it was a time of religious service. Alighting, out of deference to the +character of the day, he hitched his horse and quietly entered the +building. It proved to be a Quaker meeting, and perfect silence +prevailed. At length tiring of this state of things, Mr. King arose and +began to address the assembly upon topics suitable to the day. He was an +uncommonly handsome young man, and then and ever afterwards distinguished +for extraordinary powers of eloquence. The Quakers listened with mute +amazement and admiration to the discourse of some twenty minutes' +duration, when the speaker slipped out, remounted, and proceeded on his +journey. The incident was the occasion of great and mysterious interest, +for a long time afterwards, in the quiet country neighborhood. No +imagination could conceive who the wonderful speaker might be, and many +insisted it must have been, indeed, "an angel from heaven." Some years +afterwards, at the session of a Constitutional Convention in +Massachusetts, Mr. King rose to make a motion. He had no sooner begun, +than a Quaker member started up from a back seat, and, carried away by +the first glimpse at solution of the long-standing mystery, cried out, +"That's the man that spoke in our meetin'." + +Provision for the instruction of youth was liberal, and not long +previously the most famous, and I believe the longest established +academy of the day, flourished in the immediate neighborhood, in all +its glory. Of the school-books then in use, I cannot but think that +one in particular, Murray's English Reader, was a better manual than any +other which has since been produced. For it was mainly made up of extracts +from the writings of the best authors, in the best age of English +literature, and I can answer that its lessons were calculated to make +impressions on the youthful mind, never to be forgotten. But the +prevalent idea, of late years, seems to have been to nationalize +school-books, so as to narrow their teachings, and thus to make our +future fellow-citizens partisans instead of men. But literature and +learning are confined to no age or nation; and meaning in no sense to +say a word which could abate the ardor of manly patriotism in any +bosom, it is certain that much is to be learned from the history of +other people beside our own; and I suppose there are standards of high +intellectual attainment in the past,--in poetry and eloquence, and +various ranges of thought and expression,--which never have been and +are not likely to be surpassed. The deluge of modern transitory +literature had not then begun to flow. But, to say nothing of the +"Scottish Chiefs," and "Thaddeus of Warsaw," over the pages of which, +doubtless, millions of youthful eyes have formerly shed copious tears, +we had Miss Edgeworth's writings, those of Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, the +novels of Charlotte Smith, the Memoirs of Baron Trenck, and, perused a +little stealthily, Peregrine Pickle and Roderick Random; and in poetry +Henry Kirke White and Montgomery were favorites; nor am I ashamed to say, +that Cottle's "Alfred" was read aloud at our fireside of evenings, with +an interest due to the story, perhaps, as much as to its poetical +ability. Original American productions were few; the importation of +new works from abroad was not large, and the demand for reprints a +good deal limited. But we had the well-known books of sterling value at +command, and our publishers occasionally favored us with new editions. +One of my early studies was Guthrie's Grammar of Geography, a +ponderous volume of English manufacture, which belonged in our family; +and I was fascinated with Pope at almost as early an age as that in +which he first "lisped in numbers." I see, by the way, that Forster, in +his Life of Dickens, quotes from a letter of Scott, in which he refers +to the scarcity of books at Edinburgh in his time. + +In connection with this reference to our means of intellectual +cultivation, I am reminded of an incident illustrative of a faculty +commonly attributed to Yankees, that is New Englanders, though there is +reason to believe that some other parts of the country are quite as +liberally gifted with the qualities of "Yorkshire." It affords a striking +instance of shrewdness on the one side, and of lamentable deficiency of +it on the other. This was before the town had exchanged its original +simpler mode of regulating its municipal affairs for the form of a city +government. On a certain occasion the School Committee became +dissatisfied with the master of one of the higher schools, after a brief +trial of his qualities, and, as delicately as the subject permitted, +requested him to resign his place. The master was not a native of the +town, or of the "region round about," so that it was a mere question of +qualifications, real or otherwise, between himself and his employers. He +demurred, unless his salary were paid him for the unexpired considerable +part of the year for which he alleged himself to have been engaged; but +finally consented, if the chairman of the committee would only furnish +him with a certificate of honorable discharge. The chairman, at this easy +rate of saving the town's money, wrote it, without suspicion of its +effect. Thereupon, the master read it, put it into his pocket, and by +virtue of the document, demanded payment of the sum in question. It was +paid; and the triumphant master forthwith proceeded-- + + "To fresh woods and pastures new." + +The state of things, in regard to our reading resources, was before the +modern facilities for gadding about existed; and while those who find +time lying heavy on their hands can now steam it a hundred miles to make +a morning-call, journeying was then both more tedious and more expensive, +seldom undertaken except as an affair of business, or with the deliberate +purpose of a long-concerted visit; and a good part of the day was +consumed in travelling half that distance by public conveyance. The +consequence was, that people's pleasures, with their duties, laid mostly +at home, or near at hand. Hence family and friendly ties were more +closely drawn. The better feelings of our nature were, I think, deeper, +than when scattered over a wide but thin social surface; just as the +water in a well is more concentrated, than if diffused in the basin of a +pond. To some extent, therefore, wholesomely isolated, besides the +ordinary round of not very formal visiting parties, there were reading +circles, for those who were prompted by intellectual yearnings, +frequented by young ladies and gentlemen, married or single, at which +passages from the better class of books were read aloud by such of the +male members as felt competent to the exercise, by turns. In fact, taking +into view the intelligence, the inexpensive accomplishments, and the +unaffected manners of the fairly educated among us, it has not fallen to +the lot of most persons to meet with any society more really agreeable. +St. James's, however, and the congregation of the successors of those who +founded the First Church, who had at length become what was called +"liberal," in contrast with the orthodoxy of the rest of the town, +aspired to a higher degree of gentility and accomplishment than the +commonalty; and, in evidence that we were not bigoted, my mother would +sometimes allow me, when a boy, and desirous of some change, to attend +service of an afternoon, at the latter place of public worship with some +friends of the family who waited upon its ministrations. Of the +diversions of the common people I particularly remember one under the +curious name of a "Joppa Jine" (join); to which I allude from the oddity +of its name, derived from a part of the town so called by the river-side, +when several families of neighbors and friends contributed their +respective quota of a common feast, and repaired to the island at the +mouth of the river to enjoy a day of leisure and merriment. + +In a certain class, the ancient pronunciation of many English words was +maintained, doubtless brought by the ancestors of New England families +from "home," and transmitted to their descendants; such as _airth_ for +earth, _fairm_ for firm, _sartain_ for certain, _pint_ for point, en_vy_ +for envy, _ax_ with the broad _a_ for ask, _housen_ for houses, _his'n_ +and _her'n_ for his and hers, _rare_ for rear; as, for instance, the +horse _rares_ up; and sounding the _l_ in would. Common enough names, +too, were clipped or contracted in English fashion. Thus, the names of +Norwood and Harwood became Norrod in sound and Harrod in spelling; and +the name of Currier, whether with any reference or not to the French +_Cuir_, for leather, was not long since uniformly pronounced _Kiah_, with +the long _[=i]_; Thurlow was strangely transformed into _Thurrill_; and +Pierpont, often formerly spelled Pierpoint, with entire neglect of its +derivation, was pronounced _Pearpint_, by old-fashioned people, the first +syllable approximating to the original formation of _pierre_. + +In connection with this modification of language, I observe in a daily +paper how much a worthy old lady puzzled her minister, for a moment, by +inquiring the meaning of "silver shiners for Diana," in the Bible; but a +good deacon, at an evening meeting in the chapel of their house of +worship, in our town, sadly disturbed the gravity of the religious +assembly, by reading it _silver shins for Dinah_! + +----- + [10] The late Mr. Edward Everett is authority (with me) for + the story, that on the occasion of the visit of + Washington to New England, in 1789, Parsons was + appointed to deliver the address of welcome, on the part + of the town, and said to his students, "Well, boys, I am + to make this address. Now, go to work and write it, and + I will deliver the best." He chose the one prepared by + Adams. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +I trust it will not be thought inappropriate to the allusion already made +to our reading circles, if I here insert a _jeu d'esprit_, the production +of one of the members, indicating a certain forwardness in the sphere of +literary investigation, and affording a plausible solution of a literary +problem, which had been so long shrouded in mystery, namely, the true +narrative of "Old Grouse in the Gun-room." + +This is the name of the story to which Goldsmith alludes in his comedy, +"She Stoops to Conquer." Mr. Hardcastle, the host of the occasion, in +preparation for the dinner he is about to give his guests, charges his +rustic servants that if he should say a good thing at the table, they are +not to burst out laughing, as if they were a part of the company to be +entertained. Diggory, thereupon replies to his master,--"Then, ecod, +your worship must not tell the story of 'Ould Grouse in the Gun-room.' I +can't help laughing at that--he! he! he!--for the soul of me. We have +laughed at that these twenty years--ha! ha! ha!" Mr. Hardcastle admits, +that this pet narrative of his may properly be considered an exceptional +case. On the other hand, it has uniformly foiled the researches of +critics and commentators to ascertain what this story really was which +"Squire Hardcastle," in the exuberance of his own enjoyment of it, gave +them the liberty to laugh at, if they liked. It has been generally +supposed, indeed, that the story itself was, in fact, non-existent, and +that the ingenious author of the play merely invented the title in order +to show off the uncouth peculiarities which it was his object to +display. + +Now, it so happens, that the means are not wanting for the solution of +this mystery, and in illustration of the life of a writer and a man so +interesting as Goldsmith, I am glad to be able to clear up the critical +embarrassment. Years ago, the writer of this article fell by chance into +the company of Miss Goldsmith, grandniece of Mrs. Johnson, who was +housekeeper of old Mr. Featherston, of County Kerry, Ireland. She knew +the story in question very well, and it is gratifying to be able to +verify the authenticity of the allusion of a great poet and writer in +general, of whom Dr. Johnson has said, in those familiar words in his +epitaph, that he touched nothing which he did not adorn, and whose +character has been very much misunderstood, chiefly by reason of the +misrepresentations of Boswell. This parasite of Johnson, who has given us +one of the most entertaining books of biography ever written, was jealous +not only of Goldsmith's literary reputation, so far as it might rival +that of his special idol, but also of the real hold which Goldsmith, +because of his simplicity as well as his genius, had upon the affections +of the great moralist. While he was himself admitted to the high literary +society which he frequented, on terms of sufferance chiefly, Boswell took +every pains to disparage poor Goldsmith. The poet, whose writings possess +a charm so seldom paralleled, it must be allowed, gave no little occasion +for depreciation, by his want of firmness of character; and Boswell +maliciously set forth all his singularities and weaknesses in the most +ludicrous point of view. Whoever will take pains, however, to read his +delightful "Life" by John Forster, will find the general impressions on +the subject very materially corrected, and will see, that, if the +hard-driven bard had many faults, he had also many virtues, which, as +Lord Bacon remarks, is "the posy of the best characters." + +But to the veritable story of "Old Grouse in the Gun-room." It seems, +according to the narrative of Mrs. Johnson, that the family of Mr. +Featherston were seated at the tea-table, at the close of a chilly day, a +bright fire blazing on the hearth, and the servants, as usual, being in +attendance. On a sudden, a tremendous crash was heard in a distant part +of the ancient mansion, followed by a succession of wails of the most +lugubrious and unearthly character, which reverberated through the +echoing passage-ways of the house. Whatever the cause of the sounds might +be, there was no doubt they were of the most horrifying description. The +family, consisting of the 'Squire, a maiden sister, and one or two +younger persons, jumped from their seats in the utmost consternation, +while Patrick and the rest of the domestics rushed from the room in a +state of terror more easily to be conceived than described, and huddled +together in the kitchen, as far as possible from the occasion of their +fright. + +Imagine a lonely country-house, a quiet and well-ordered family seated +at their evening meal, after dark, of a somewhat gloomy day, the +apartment imperfectly lighted by the glowing fire, and according to such +conveniences for the purpose as old times ordinarily afforded; the +conversation, perhaps, turning on such unexciting topics as the weather, +past, present, and to come, or the thoughts reverting, it may be, to such +mundane topics as the expected game of whist or backgammon,--and the +scene suddenly broken in upon by the most startling and terrific sounds, +which seemed to result from no intelligible cause, and for which it +seemed impossible to account by reference to any merely human agency. The +young folks, after their first scream of terror, sat dumb, pale, and +utterly helpless. + +"It's the Banshee!" screamed Aunt Nelly, sinking back, in a faint, into +her chair. + +"It's the devil, I believe," cried the 'Squire, who, notwithstanding age +and infirmity, retained a good deal of that original pluck, which had +formerly distinguished him as an officer in his Majesty's military +service. "Yes, it is the devil, I verily believe; and there is no way but +to send for the priest, to get him out of a house that never was troubled +in this way before. Where are those sneaking curs?" as Patrick and the +rest in a body peeped into the room through the door they had forgotten +to shut in their flight, and too much frightened to stay quietly +anywhere. "Patrick," called out the 'Squire, "go at once for Father +O'Flaherty." + +At this moment, another preternatural yell, long-toned and of the most +mournful cadence, burst upon their ears, and the dismayed servants fairly +tumbled over each other and sprawled and scrambled through the passage, +in their haste to get away. The 'Squire followed and ordered Patrick +forthwith to mount Sorrel and hasten for the priest, at the village, a +mile or more away. + +"O Lord! your worship," cried that valiant man-of-all-work,--though aided +in the day-time by two or three assistants from the village,--"O Lord! +your worship! only ask me anything but that"--as, of course, on such +occasions people are ready to do all but the very thing which the +exigency demands,--"O Lord! your worship's honor! I couldn't for the +world go round _that_ corner of the house, to get to the stable; but if +Nancy here--now Nancy, darlint, I know you will, honey--if she'll only go +with me, I'll run for his reverence as fast as my poor legs, that's all +of a tremble, will carry me"--shrewdly reflecting, as did Nancy also, +that the farther they left the house behind, they left the danger, too. +This affair being hastily arranged, as the two ready messengers proceeded +towards the door, a quick step was heard upon the gravel, followed by an +emphatic knock, and the embodied household fell back with renewed +trepidation; when fortunately who should it be but Father O'Flaherty +himself, who found the 'Squire, his family, and servants all huddled +together in the hall. + +"Good-evening to you, 'Squire," said he; "and faix, what is the matter +that you all look so pale? The holy saints forbid that any ill luck has +come to this house!" + +Again, rang echoing through the open doors and empty rooms the same +portentous sound, rendered none the less terrific that its tones were +partly subdued by distance. "Holy Father!" exclaimed the priest, crossing +himself--"what is that? Has Satan dared to cross this blessed +threshold?" + +Upon this, half a dozen tongues began to relate the circumstances of +terrors only too manifest; but Mr. Featherston silenced them, and +proposed to Father O'Flaherty to accompany him to the investigation of +the mystery. Accordingly they solemnly proceeded towards the scene of +alarm, the 'Squire having provided himself with a long-disused sword +which hung over his mantel-piece, and the priest, more spiritually, +brandishing his cross, and muttering "_Vade retro, Satanas!_" and such +other exorcisms as occurred to him on the way. The whole body of the +inmates of the mansion followed, closely though tremulously, upon the +footsteps of the advanced guard, and, indeed, afraid to be left behind. +As they reached the neighborhood of the door, whence the sounds appeared +to come, there was a truly awful noise of scampering round the room and +pattering, as it were, within. + +"The saints defend us!" cried the priest, falling back, as this new +demonstration was responded to by the screams of the females, who sank to +the floor, in the extremity of their terror, when another horrible yell +sounded close at hand. + +"It's he, I verily believe," said the priest; "the holy saints be about +us! It's he, I wager. Lord, forgive us! for I heard the sound of his +hoofs. But where's the dog?" + +"The dog!" cried the 'Squire. "Why didn't I think of that before! Open +the door, I say, Pat, you cowardly vagabond!" + +At this instant, there was a tremendous bounce against the door, which +forced the latch, and out tumbled Old Grouse, capering among the party, +who still screamed and scattered out of his way, not yet convinced that +the Evil One was not loosed and bodily among them. + +The relieved household at length returned to their interrupted +avocations, and Pat declared to the folks in the kitchen, that all the +while he knew it was the dog, only he kept up the fright for the sake of +the joke. It seemed that the 'Squire had been out with his gun that day, +and had shut the big dog which accompanied him into the gun-room, upon +his return. The dog, no doubt fatigued with his excursion, had stretched +himself out in a corner of the room, where various articles tending to +his comfort lay disposed. He had remained, until tired of his confinement +he had risen, and fumbling about had thrown down an ancient heavy shield, +which produced the first cause of alarm, no less to himself than to the +household. The moon shining through the window had attracted his +attention, and he began to bay, as dogs sometimes will. The sudden +fright, and the distance of the gun-room from the family apartment, +served to modify the intonation, and in his confusion of mind Mr. +Featherston failed to recognize his voice. "Indeed," said he, "I never +knew the whelp to bay before." + +As time wore on, and the story had often been told by him, it lost none +of its original features, except, perhaps, the remembrance of his own +agitation. But the fright of the family and his domestics, the assent of +the priest to their superstitious fears, and the mortal terror which +overwhelmed them, when out bounded the shaggy black monster of a dog and +in an instant was pawing them all round, in his ecstasy of escape, and +whatever else was ludicrous in the adventure, was oftentimes related by +the 'Squire, with all the aid it could derive from a somewhat lively +imagination and considerable power of native eloquence. + +And now, if I have only invented this story of "Old Grouse in the +Gun-room," for the entertainment of my readers, I have at least attached +a tale, which may be thought to have some plausibility, to a famous +title, which has run through the world, for so many years, without any +tale at all. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +In a note at the end of Chapter V. of "Waverley," Sir Walter Scott +remarks:--"These introductory chapters have been a good deal censured as +tedious and unnecessary. Yet there are circumstances recorded in them +which the author has not been able to persuade himself to retract or +cancel." So if, in giving certain loose hints rather than sketches of +characters and manners in a very interesting town, ardently beloved by +all who have ever had any near connection with it, during a former +generation of its inhabitants, I should be thought to have set down too +many "unconsidered trifles," I can only shelter myself under the shadow +of his great name, and plead that I had not the heart to leave them out, +as they occurred to my memory while writing; and however they may lack, +as they necessarily must, the storied value of Sir Walter's fascinating +fictions, they have at least this merit,--that every narrative and +anecdote in these pages is a veritable fact. + +I should not wonder, however, if a couple of stories or so, which I am +about to relate, were looked upon as purely fictitious by the +philosophical reader. I do not pretend that the facts stated were within +my own experience, only that I positively heard them related by persons +of the strictest veracity, who were actual observers or actors in the +transactions of which they professed to give an account. People ridicule, +nowadays, when in company, the superstitions of earlier times; though it +is not unlikely that the nerves of some of the boldest contemners of +marvellous manifestations, once universally accepted as true, might still +tremble, if alone and under circumstances calculated to awaken +apprehension and to puzzle the understanding. Notwithstanding the +accepted theory, that the very pretence of witchcraft, for example, was +exploded a hundred and fifty years ago, and the idea of an apparition, in +spite of Dr. Johnson's belief, and that of others as wise and stout as +he, would be scouted as preposterous in cultivated circles, I believe +that there are many places in New England where undoubting faith in both +superstitions still prevails, and I know that within a third part of the +period above mentioned, very many creditable persons in a certain place +in New England accepted the strangest occurrences of both kinds, upon the +supposed evidence of their sober senses. + +We will imagine, then, that we are sitting in a circle around the +fire-place in Uncle Richard's spacious kitchen, on the evening of +Christmas-day, the room lighted only by the blazing logs upon the hearth, +the glow of which glanced along the walls and drew brilliant reflections +from the brightly-scoured dishes and other utensils of metal, which +stood ranged upon the shelves. We were quite a party, and had made merry, +according to our fashion, during the day. Uncle Richard was himself the +most conspicuous of the group. I have said that he was well-to-do, and he +was certainly a gentleman in spirit and bearing. The black dress which he +assumed on Sundays, and other occasions of public importance, set off his +figure well, and his white hair gathered into a pig-tail behind and tied +up with a ribbon by some one of his daughters, of a morning, gave him a +venerable appearance, at least in the eyes of us youngsters, beyond what +the actual number of his years warranted. For I have observed that those +who may have seemed to us approaching the verge of old age, in our youth, +begin to look almost like coevals again, as we ourselves have advanced in +the stage of manhood. Aunt Judith, on the other hand, who was a maiden +lady of a certain age, was dressed with all the care and neatness which +somewhat scanty means enabled her to apply, and, as I am about to produce +her as a witness, I feel it incumbent upon me to asseverate, that, being +a devoutly religious woman, I have never met in my life with a more +conscientious and scrupulously truth-telling person. After tea, my uncle +had requested the young people present to sing a new Christmas Hymn, not +to be found in the Prayer Book, but the production of a devout poetical +acquaintance, in the performance of which he joined with a bass voice of +singular compass and melody. + + THE CHRISTMAS HYMN. + + How hallowed grew the night, + When the auspicious light + Of heaven descending shone along the plain; + And wondering shepherds heard + The soul-inspiring word, + That swelled exultant the celestial strain! + + "Peace and good-will to earth, + For, lo, a Saviour's birth!" + So the high song addressed the simple swains; + "The gates of life again + Open to guilty men, + For God, the God of love, eternal reigns!" + + What though all earth was still, + And no ecstatic thrill + In wakening lands the gracious message hailed; + Yet through heaven's highest cope + Echoed immortal hope, + And hell's dark caves beneath trembled and wailed. + + Let then creation sing,-- + Hail, sovereign priest and king! + Blest be thy holy name and holy Word! + Hail, Son of God Most High, + Helper forever nigh,-- + Hail, Prince of Peace and universal Lord! + +The conversation, at such times, is very apt to run into story-telling, +among those who have any stores of memory, or are possessed of inventive +faculties, and often turns upon such inexplicable incidents as might well +bewilder the imaginations of simple country folks. My uncle gave us an +account of a lad not long before in his employ, who laughed at the idea +of supernatural appearances, and was indeed afraid of nothing. "The young +scamp," said he, "though I don't know why I should call him so, for he +was as honest as he was bold,--appeared so thoroughly fearless, that it +sometimes looked like mere bravado (I am afraid he pronounced it +_brave-ardor_); and a companion who also lived with us resolved to put +his courage to the test. Accordingly, at dusk one evening, when Jack was +about to lead the horse to the pasture, he provided himself with a sheet, +and placed himself on one end of the crossbeam which rested on the rather +high posts of the gate. Jack came whistling along, leading the horse, +and, opening the gate, slipping off the halter, gave the animal a slap +with it; and as he shut the gate cocked up his eye at the elevated +figure. "And as for you, Mr. Devil," says he, "you may sit there just as +long as you please." A decent respect for the proprieties of his position +kept the scarecrow quiet until Jack was well on his way to the house +which was not far distant. Pretty soon the door was burst open, and, to +our alarm, some one tumbled in upon the floor in an agony of terror, as +we soon discovered, pale as a ghost and scarcely able to speak. As soon +as he recovered some degree of self-possession, he could barely stutter +out,--"When Jack got out of sight--I turned to get down--and there sat +another one, on the other post--looking just like me!"[11] + +A great deal was thereupon said about the power of the imagination and +the effect it was likely to have upon one who had placed himself in such +an equivocal situation, and the terrors which, under its influence, might +naturally revert to him, who in an excited state of his own nerves had +endeavored to inflict such terrors upon another. Hereupon there was a +general call upon Aunt Judith, from the youngsters present, to tell us +something about reputed witches in her younger days,--a subject in regard +to which she was said to be able to make some remarkable statements, +though as yet we had never obtained from her any satisfactory information +about it. She seemed a little reluctant to indulge our curiosity. + +"As to witches," said my uncle Richard, gravely, "I don't know. Whether +the denunciations of them in Holy Writ are intended to apply to any +actually supernatural power possessed by them, or only to the pretence of +it,--and both are mischievous in their effect on the popular mind,--I +shall not undertake to say. It is certain that the poor old women who are +thus stigmatized seem to have little power to help themselves in this +world, or, if real tamperers with the powers of darkness, any enjoyable +expectations from the other. But this I do know, that I was riding, not +many days since, with my lawyer, a man of considerable acuteness, though +a little eccentric at times, coming from K--'s Island, where we had been +on some business; and as we neared the turn of the causeway to the main +road, he pulled up the chaise, jumped out, and placing himself on a broad +flat rock by the road-side, began violently to dance up and down and to +shake his clothes. 'Good Heavens!' cried I, 'are you mad?' 'Oh, no,' said +he, resuming his seat, 'but my mother always told me, that whenever I was +coming away from K--'s Island, I must stand upon that rock and shake the +witches off!'" + +"But your story, Aunt Judith! your story," we all cried out, and after a +little more hesitation the good woman _prit la parole_, as Madame de +Staeel so often phrases it in "Corinne." + +"When I was a grown-up girl," said she, "I and my older sister, who had +lost her husband at sea, lived with my mother, who was also a widow. We +had few of this world's goods, but health and energy enough to take care +of ourselves. At one time, we moved into half a house, in a decent +quarter of the town, the other part of which was occupied by an old woman +called by the neighbors 'Granny Holt.' Coming from a street of the town +at some distance, we had heard nothing that I remember about her; but the +day had not gone by, before it was made fully known to us by such +acquaintances as we saw, that we had taken up our abode in the same house +with a person of a very crabbed disposition, whom all the neighborhood +looked upon as a witch. This was not very agreeable news, but we tried +to make the best of it. Our house was near the river-side, and we were +surrounded by the families of those who followed the sea, and we +endeavored to flatter ourselves with the idea, that idle tales of +marvelous things are very common among that class of population; and that +the stories we heard were mere gossip, as we whispered to ourselves, for +fear of being overheard through the thin partition which divided us from +the other tenant. But, 'No!' said one of our callers in a low voice--one +of the Pearse girls (a young lady, by the way, about seventy, but Aunt +Judith was of a certain age); 'I tell you it's as true as a sermon in the +meetin'-house. You'll soon find out what she can do. Why, there's young +Stout, as fine a lad as ever walked the streets, or stood by the helm of +his vessel in a gale o' wind; and look at him now, pale and cadaverous, +and walking round people's gardens, on the edge of narrow fences where +nobody but a rope-dancer, with a pole in his hands, could keep his +balance, and a hundred more such antics; everybody knows she bewitched +him.' + +"'But what for?' we asked. + +"'Oh, they had a quarrel, and pretty soon he began to cut these capers.' + +"My sister Ann, the widow, however, who had always a brave spirit, +declared that she did not care a fig for all the witches in Christendom; +but I must own that I was very much alarmed. You may be sure, we none of +us much liked this sort of greeting, on the first day of our entering +into our new habitation, and we prepared to retire early, my mother, who +was a truly pious person, trusting to the only sure defence. Upon going +to my chamber, I found there was no fastening to the door; in fact the +handle itself was quite out of kilter, and it could not be shut tight. I +moved up to it, therefore, a chest of drawers, putting some things on +top, and thus brought the door close. I was just about to blow out the +candle to get into bed, when I heard a scrambling in the chimney, and you +may believe it or not, but it's the solemn truth--a black cat jumped from +the fire-place, ran and leaped a-top of the things I had placed against +the door, put her paw upon the handle of it, gave me one sidelong glance, +opened the door itself and passed out. I was too frightened for anything +but to wrap myself thoroughly in the bedclothes, and trembling with +terror, at last fell into a troubled sleep." + +"Are you sure, Aunt Judith," said my uncle Richard, "that the cat did not +go under the bed?" + +"I tell you, as plainly as I see you now, I saw her open the door, look +round at me with that malicious kind of expression, go out and shut the +door behind her; and in the morning everything I had piled up against it +was unmoved." + +"It must have been the ghost of a cat, then," said my uncle; "but did +anything else happen, afterwards?" + +"Yes, in a few days we had got a baking ready and the oven heated, when +the old woman came in with an armful of wood, threw it down on the +hearth, and said she wanted to bake. The oven was for the use of both +parts of the house; but we told her as soon as we had got through she +should have it. She went off muttering, and when we thought our batch was +done and went to take it out, it was burned just as black as a coal." + +"I am afraid," said my uncle, "you let it stay in too long, or the oven +was too hot." + +"You may laugh as much as you please," replied Aunt Judith, with spirit, +"but I tell you what I actually saw with my own eyes. We did not stay +longer in that house than we could find another place; but before we left +something took place which perhaps you'll not find it so easy to explain. +Young William Stout's folks had been so troubled about him, and the +doctors said they could do nothing, that they determined to try a +'project.'" + +I may as well explain what Aunt Judith's modesty prevented her from +doing; that a "project" was to inclose a certain liquid emanation of the +afflicted person in a phial tightly stopped, and to put it over the fire +in a pot to boil. Of course, as in the case of the sympathetic remedies +described by Sir Kenelm Digby and practised by him, as the contents of +the phial boil, the witch burns, and she is inevitably detected by the +scorching she gets and the scars it leaves behind. It is from this +circumstance, undoubtedly, that the nursery rhyme derives its +authority,-- + + "Hinx minx, the old witch winks, + The fat begins to fry," etc. + +This is precisely the operation of the process in question. + +"Accordingly," continued Aunt Judith, "the Stout folks made all their +preparations, in company with some trusty neighbors; the doors were +fastened, and exactly at twelve o'clock the 'project' was begun. +Everything went on well; but, as often happens in such cases, something +was forgotten, or the witches' master interferes; for it seemed, after a +while, that more water was wanted, and one of the company took the pail +to go to the well for it. As he cautiously opened the door, there to +their horror stood Granny Holt, in the darkness of midnight! She came in +grinning and complimenting, and without expressing surprise at finding so +many persons together, at such an unusual hour, or making any inquiry as +to the reason, she said, 'one of their folks was taken sick and seeing a +light there, she had come over to beg some herbs.' There was the end of +the _project_, and I don't know as it was ever tried again." + +"Were you there, yourself?" asked Uncle Richard. + +"No, I can only swear to the black cat and the burnt pies; but everybody +in our neighborhood knew all about the project and Granny Holt's breaking +it up." + +We had become pretty well stirred up by this time, but as is likely to be +the case under such circumstances, were eager for whatever other marvel +might be forthcoming; for no matter how intelligent or incredulous the +circle of hearers may be, there is something strangely fascinating in +these weird stories. People may affect indifference "amidst the blazing +light of the nineteenth century;" but I think that of a dark night, in a +lonely spot, the starting up of so familiar a creature as a white horse, +for instance, would set the strongest nerves into perturbation, at the +idea of something ghostly. Indeed, Addison declared in his day, that +there "was not a village in England that had not a ghost in it; the +churchyards were haunted; nor was there a peasant who had not seen a +spirit." + +"Well, Aunt Judith," said Uncle Richard, "these wonderful things seem to +have very much gone by, in our day, or else people, for some reason, take +less notice of them than formerly. Witches, nowadays, are characters +entirely unknown, except," he gallantly remarked, "for the sometimes +really inexplicable fascinations of members of your own sex; and, except +in one singular instance, I have known of no appearances which could not +be rationally accounted for. I have heard my father, however, tell of one +which, according to the tradition, manifested itself, one hundred years +ago or more, upon a bridge, over the Ipswich River, in our Essex County +town of Topsfield, and was the terror of all the country round. He +appeared in the shape of a monstrous hog, taking his station, at night, +in the very centre of the bridge; and those who had occasion to cross it, +on horseback or on foot, were either fain to turn back, as he encountered +them, bristling and snarling, or rushed by, if their occasion demanded +it, in a state of extraordinary trepidation. At length, Parson Capen, the +worthy minister of the town, riding up to the bridge one evening, saw the +spectre in his usual position. Nothing daunted, in virtue of his holy +office, the good man thus accosted him: 'You that were once an angel of +light, ain't you ashamed to appear in the shape of a dirty swine?' This +expostulation was too much for the foul fiend, who at once jumped over +the railing of the bridge into the river, and was no more seen." + +Amongst others of the few guests of the evening was a young gentleman, a +member of one of the learned professions, who was accounted an +intellectual person and was of rather grave demeanor. Though known to +have been the author of occasional verses which gained applause, he would +not have been thought likely to be the subject of any extraordinary +hallucination. He was an intimate friend of our family, and on certain +occasions of unusual excitement, if not danger, in the midst of the +various adventures of young people, had shown a singular firmness of +nerve and presence of mind, and was thought to be in fact insensible to +fear. He had listened to the story of the bold lad who saw the supposed +apparition on the gate-post, and to that of the Topsfield spectre, with +much the same interest as that which Marmion exhibited at Sir David +Lindesay's narrative of the appearance of the beloved Apostle to King +James in Linlithgow. Apparently induced by a similar irresistible impulse +to that which drew from the redoubted warrior of Scott's fascinating poem +the rehearsal of his nocturnal adventure, our guest volunteered a +relation quite as remarkable. + +"I will tell you a story," said he, "of something unaccountable which +once happened to me, though the circumstances are still so vivid in my +memory, that I look back upon it with a sort of superstitious dread, and +feel a decided reluctance in appealing to the sympathy of others, in +regard to an incident which seemed exclusively addressed to myself and +was confined to my own sole experience. + +"In my senior year at College, now as you know, not many years since, I +was appointed by my class to prepare for delivery, on what is called +Class Day, a literary exercise,--in fact a poem, in anticipation of the +usual Commencement performances, and was at home, during the preceding +long vacation, making ready for this event. The writing of poetry for +public recitation before a critical audience is a rather exacting +occupation, and my ambition was naturally excited to do the best in my +power. Indeed, the work absorbed all my faculties; but I preferred to +write during the still hours of the night, rather than amidst the +ordinary distractions of the day, spending that period, usually, +wandering in the neighboring fields and woods, or in other diversions. +The season was summer, and I was sitting one night at an open window, +committing to paper such thoughts as occurred to me, by the light of a +single candle,--for lamps were then not very common and gas was entirely +unknown. Outside, there was not a sound, for the whole town was buried in +profound sleep, and our own household was in the same state of repose. It +was just on the stroke of twelve. Our house was a very ancient one, +though I never heard that there was anything peculiarly remarkable in its +history. Sitting thus, and thus engaged in serious, solitary +contemplation, the sudden fall of something heavy in the garret overhead +gave me a momentary start. I could compare it to nothing but to the +effect likely to be produced by something as solid as a smaller +description of cannon-ball, though it afterwards appeared to have +attracted the attention of no one else in the family. Supposing that +some article of furniture had accidentally fallen, the noise of which had +been rendered more noticeable by the perfect stillness of the night, I +pursued my occupation, until I felt disposed for sleep. On the following +night, while engaged in the same way, and at the same midnight hour, came +the same heavy, sharp, distinct thud upon the floor directly above my +head. I was disposed to philosophize on the subject, and, though the +coincidence was certainly peculiar, I still conceived that this unusual +sound, at such an unusual hour, might be attributed to some natural +cause. Perhaps, a heavy cat might have jumped down from beams above, on +both occasions, and the noise was magnified by the otherwise unbroken +stillness, though so far as I remember we kept no such cat of our own. I +am sure that the idea of anything supernatural scarcely occurred to me, +or was dismissed with derision. Nevertheless, the circumstances were +peculiar enough to induce me to make a thorough examination of the garret +on the following morning, and I was struck by the fact, that it was +perfectly bare of any article of furniture above my chamber, or in the +neighborhood of that part of the attic, which could have fallen. I was +naturally a good deal perplexed at an occurrence for which there seemed +no rational means of accounting, but I kept my own counsel. On the third +night, at the same hour, when the clear bell from the steeple of a +meeting-house not far distant had just tolled twelve, came the same +sudden, single, distinct sound of a fall on the floor, directly over my +head. I will not say as Marmion did, on the occasion above referred +to,-- + + "'I care not though the truth I show,-- + I trembled with affright.' + +"On the contrary, though not a little disturbed by incidents so +unaccountable, and rendered by the interruption quite unfit to pursue my +occupation further, I deliberately undressed, said my prayers, put out my +candle, and went to bed. It was a bright starlight night, and the two +windows of my chamber made objects within indistinctly visible. No sooner +had I laid my head upon the pillow, than through a door at the foot of my +bed appeared a slowly moving figure, turning the corner of the bed and +approaching the side of it upon which I lay. I could distinctly see its +outlines, and it seemed to me apparelled like a monk, with a hood drawn +over its features, and long trailing garments. As Eliphaz the Temanite, +under similar circumstances, has related,--'the hair of my flesh stood +up.' But I did not quite lose my self-possession. As the figure came +nearer, I instantly threw off the bedclothes and jumped towards it into +the middle of the room,--and it was gone! Though startled enough at so +strange an occurrence, I reflected that it must be an illusion produced +by some casual disorder of the natural faculties, and returned to bed +and slept as usual until morning. But the next day I was much more +disturbed in recalling the several circumstances of this extraordinary +visitation. The repeated previous heavy blows upon the floor, and their +apparent consummation in the vision I supposed myself to have seen, made +me, as Othello says, 'perplexed in the extreme.' On that day I told my +mother the story; she laughed at the idea of supernatural appearances, +perhaps to quiet her son's emotion; but she said she was afraid of no +ghosts, proposed an exchange of chambers, and this accommodation at once +took place. But though I finished and delivered the poem in question, I +continued to muse by myself upon what had occurred, unwilling to speak to +any one about it. It was many months before I recovered from the shock to +my nervous system. Reflecting upon it at the time, again I summoned +whatever philosophy I had at command, as well as I could. I conceived +that possibly in the excitement of verse-writing, in the silence of the +night, some tenseness had affected the drum of my ear; that hearing, or +imagining that I heard some unusual sound, amid the perfect stillness +around me, a continuous disordered state of physical functions had +produced a similar effect at a correspondent hour; and that this +experience not unnaturally culminated in the spectral visitation." + +We heard the story in terror, and put little faith in the theory of +explanation. + +"But," said my uncle Richard, himself a good deal amazed at the +narrative, "did anything happen afterwards, to account for what you have +told us?" + +"Nothing whatever," replied our friend. + +"Did you ever sleep in that chamber again?" + +"Yes, some years afterwards. It so happened that during several weeks in +the summer, our whole family except myself, was away. My mother was in +close attendance upon sick members of my sister's family. My brothers +were at sea, and even our ordinary servant was dismissed for the +occasion. When the time for rest arrived, it was my habit to let myself +into the house, to proceed to the same chamber, usually without a light, +and go to bed. One night, putting my hand upon the pillow, I felt +something soft and started back, but again reaching forward, the object +proved to be a dove that had flown into the open window, and securing it +without difficulty I gave that symbol of innocence immediate release. +Perhaps, it was my former visitant in a less forbidding form. But this, +as well as the other, passed into the course of ordinary events." + +I need not say, that we had listened to this extraordinary narrative with +rapt attention and in breathless silence. Our friend had told his story +with emotion, certainly, but still with serious deliberation, and +exhibiting no undue signs of excitement. No one seemed disposed to make +any observation upon it, and indeed most of the company were utterly +incapable of the effort of speech. In a few moments, he remarked that he +would quote to us a brief passage from Dante's great poem which was +applicable to the subject, and did so as follows:-- + + ... "Now, O reader! mark, + And if my tale thou slowly shalt receive, + Thy doubt will cause in me no great surprise, + For I, who saw it, scarcely can believe."[12] + +"But, Uncle Richard," was now the cry, "you said you had once seen an +apparition, or something like one; please tell us all about it." + +"I certainly saw something strange," said he, "on more than one occasion, +which has never yet been accounted for; and I suppose it is now too late +to expect it. If it was really a matter of concert and collusion, the +motive for it has never been discovered. You remember the open space in +town, in front of the Reverend Mr. ----'s meeting-house. Your house, as +you know, Jemmie," addressing me, "looks directly up the street towards +this square, and to the somewhat old-fashioned mansion opposite the +meeting-house. On one side of the square was a small dwelling, occupied +by several distant relatives of ours; Aunt Midkiff (Metcalf), Aunt +Foggison (Ferguson, so called), and her sister, Miss Samples (Mrs. +Semple), with the daughter of our Aunt Foggison, Mrs. Lane, and her only +child. You remember, sister," addressing my mother, "that you have told +me, that one night, after you had gone to bed, your lamented husband +stood at the window looking up the street towards the old house above, of +which he had a complete view. Upon your asking what detained him, he +called you up, and it was evident to you both that one chamber of the +house was in a light blaze. Persons appeared to be moving rapidly around +it, and, as it were, pulling down the curtains of the bed, which looked +as if on fire. After a little time the appearance gradually ceased, and +your husband remarking that he would inquire in the morning of his +neighbor, a highly respectable lawyer, who occupied the house, what was +the cause of the extraordinary spectacle of the night before, he also +retired. But upon putting the question to his acquaintance on the +following morning, he seemed astonished, and utterly denied that anything +unusual had taken place in the chamber, which was the one occupied by +himself and his wife, or that they had been at all disturbed during the +night. + +"Now all this," continued my uncle, "is quite consistent with the +supposition, that this gentleman may have had some secret motive for +concealing the fact of a threatened conflagration, pretty sure, if +known, to become the town talk and perhaps to expose him to inconvenient +inquiries; and though a strictly moral and religious man, he may have +thought that the circumstances warranted a direct denial of the matter, +seeing it was, as it turned out, an affair of purely domestic concern." + +My mother, I thought, looked at my uncle a little anxiously, and seemed +about to make a movement for our departure; but we urged him to tell us +to what strange thing he had referred, and why he had so particularly +described the situation and characteristics of this square, as if there +were something more in relation to it which it might interest us to know; +for you may be sure our mother had never mentioned to us children +anything likely to alarm us. + +"I am afraid," said he, at last "that something, which really did happen +in front of the house I have spoken of, will startle you young folks, and +perhaps it is foolish to relate it, as you seem already quite excited +enough; but I will premise by saying, that I will only tell you what I +saw myself, or heard from those upon whose word I could implicitly rely; +and, moreover, that I do not believe in ghosts, however singular the +facts in question may appear. Of course, you know, sister," addressing my +mother, "my calls at your house were sometimes in the evening, after +attending the market or to other business during the day. It was during +one of your husband's absences at sea, that we were sitting around the +fire of a wintry night, when a lively neighbor, a lady who took much +interest in whatever was going on, came in evidently in a state of +agitation, and taking her seat, with very brief greeting, broke out with +the exclamation, 'There he is again!' I did not understand what this +meant, but it was soon explained to us that, for a week or ten days past, +some person, or figure, or whatever it might be, had been observed +walking fore and aft, in front of the house opposite the meeting-house, +at a certain hour of the evening, and though many had passed, no one had +recognized him, nor did he take any notice whatever of any one whom he +met. He was said to wear a pea-jacket buttoned to the chin, and a glazed +hat, as if prepared for any kind of weather; or, as the gossips +afterwards said, indicating the fact that he was the forerunner of the +loss of not a few masters of vessels residing in the neighborhood, who +perished at sea during the storms of that season. I took my hat and went +out to see if I could discover anything uncommon. It was a moonlight +night, with a light fall of snow upon the ground. As I passed up the +short street to the square, Aunt Foggison's chamber window was thrown +open, and her daughter's voice was plainly heard berating the supposed +spectral night-walker. 'What are you doing there, you good-for-nothing +scamp, you?' cried she, in a voice that must have reached any mortal +ears; 'why don't you go home to your family, if you've got any family, or +wherever else you belong, instead of stalking up and down here, +frightening honest folks out of their senses?' Overcome perhaps by the +vigor of her expostulation, the window was shut down with a slam. As I +advanced, though I certainly had a full view of a human-looking figure +upon its round and at no great distance either, and my senses had been +confirmed by the objurgations addressed to it by our worthy relative, +when I actually reached the ground of his perambulations, prepared to +seize a single man by the collar and learn what he was about, it is +certain that he was no longer visible. I returned to the house and made +report of my unsuccessful doings, and unhitched my horse and drove home. +I learned, a few days afterwards, that the figure regularly appeared, +giving one sign of vitality by a regular tramp--tramp--tramp--upon the +frozen ground, so far as any one was disposed to listen, and spreading +consternation throughout the vicinity. The affair at length became +unendurable. Women were afraid to go into the street, and, for that, a +good many men too, and it was really so serious, that, as I learned, it +was resolved to form what is called, I believe, a cordon, and gradually +approaching the place simultaneously from every avenue, so to inclose him +that escape would be impossible. Being much acquainted with the people of +that part of the town, I was invited to join the company, and accordingly +drove in seasonably for the purpose. Certainly, most sober people +believed the whole was but some trick, which it only needed reasonable +pains to discover and defeat. The mysterious figure, it seemed, continued +to walk, ignorant of or indifferent to our devices. + +"There were three main avenues, by streets, to the premises, together +with a narrow passage way leading from one of the streets to another. At +the appointed hour we duly assembled on our several stations. Our +director was 'a rude and boisterous captain of the sea'"--(for Uncle +Richard could sometimes be poetical, at least in the way of quoting +Shakespeare). "It had been arranged by him that, being on our posts, at a +fixed moment, we should move rapidly up the several avenues and so join +forces as to form a circle inclosing the open space, and gradually +contracting our company, if the rogue was then within our compass we +should have him sure. The arrangement had been made in profound secrecy, +and if any there were traitors, I was not aware of it. Sure enough there +was our guest on his usual stroll. As our circle speedily drew in, and +just as hands were stretched out to seize him--presto, as the jugglers +say--he was gone!" + +"By the jumping gingerbread!" exclaimed Thurlow, our uncle's hired man, +springing from his chair by the wall, outside of our family +party,--seeing this was Christmas night. + +"Oh dear sus!" cried Sally Bannocks, our own particular help of many +years, from the like position. + +"Our detective band," resumed my uncle, "looked at one another in +amazement, and after some hard swearing from a few of the roughest, and +the exchange of a hasty 'good-night,' dispersed, as far as convenient in +companies of two or three, and departed, a good deal disconcerted, to +their several places of abode. The same experiment was tried on two or +three other occasions, as I was informed by friends, with no better +success. Spectre or not, he always found means to elude them; and there +were always those who, having no other means of accounting for his +evasion, insisted upon it that he must have had confederates among those +who sought to arrest him." + +"Could he not have escaped slyly into the house?" asked some incredulous +inquirer. + +"That was hardly likely, with so many eyes upon him. Besides there was +nobody there but women and children, excessively alarmed themselves, the +husband, Captain Y----, being at sea, and one of those who was afterwards +known to have been lost with all his crew, upon nearing our dangerous +coast." + +"But why did not the city government make a piece of work of putting an +end to such a scandal?" inquired a doubter in spectral visitations. + +"Well, I suspect a whole body of police could do little towards capturing +an actual ghost; and then, too, there was at that time no city and no +such force. Our town government consisted of mostly ancient citizens, and +three or four constables, all of whom, probably, preferred to remain +quietly and comfortably at home, instead of venturing out into the wintry +night air, to hunt up ghosts." + +"Why didn't somebody try the effect of a bullet?" inquired another. + +"Well, shooting was a rather violent remedy; and as for firing at a +ghost, I believe every one was afraid." + +"Wasn't it strange, considering that he must have had some particular +object in haunting that spot, and was likely, therefore, to be found out +by some of the neighborhood by his face, or dress, or figure, or gait, or +in some way or other, if a real person, that he never was recognized?" +asked another of our evening guests. + +"It was strange enough," said my uncle; "but few, if any, got very near +him, and they perhaps, casual passers-by, who paid no attention to the +fact. As for him, he only walked steadily backward and forward, turning +neither to the right nor to the left, except at each end of his beat; +replying to no interrogatories, and appearing utterly unconscious of any +epithets or railings which from a distance were hurled at him. Only one +man ever professed to have seen his face." + +"Who was that, uncle?" we all eagerly exclaimed. + +"Late one stormy night, when the snow was falling fast," continued my +uncle,--"and one would suppose that any reasonable creature of flesh and +blood would wish to be safely housed,--an hostler named Dobbin, who had +charge of a stable at one end of the street, was trudging home, swinging +a lantern in his hand, to the small house in which he lived, at a little +distance beyond the now pretty notorious 'Ghost's Walk.' As he approached +the spot, there, to be sure, was the object of terror, taking his usual +exercise. 'Now,' as Dobbin told the story, 'thinks I to myself, I'll play +you a trick, mister, and find out who you are, if I can. So, jest slyly +unfastening the door of the lantern, as I met him, I flung the door wide +open and held it up to his face, and I says, says I, "A stormy night, +friend." I thought I should know him, and guess I should if ever I do +see him again, which I don't want to, I tell _you_; and may I hope to +die, if ever I saw that face before. He looked pale, and his eyes, as he +fixed 'em on me, had what I call a sort of a stony glare. He never opened +his mouth, but just looked. It was only a glance, as it were, for I never +was so frightened in my life, and jest dropped lantern and scampered away +home as fast as my legs could carry me.'" + +"Lud-a-massy!" screamed Sally Bannocks, on the verge of hysterics,--and +some of the rest of us were not far from that condition. We were mostly +on our feet, and as my mother insisted upon our bidding "Good-night," +Uncle Richard proposed, after a further trial of his capital cider, to +harness his horse and drive us home in his covered wagon. But it was a +fine night and, though getting rather late, we concluded that it would do +us more good to take the air, in the mile or two of the walk to town. In +the course of our preparations for departure, and in answer to a variety +of questions, our uncle informed us, that the mystery was never cleared +up, nor the trick, if trick it were, ever discovered. As to the tale of +such a person as Dobbin, we might place what reliance upon it we saw fit; +and though the motive seemed certainly difficult to see, it might have +been, after all, a well-contrived piece of deception, to be sure, a very +laborious and unaccountable one, concealed by the collusion of parties in +the secret. How long the ghost continued to walk he did not know; but it +finally disappeared, and the house had been inhabited by respectable +people ever since, who had suffered no disturbance. + +We reached home after a brisk walk, crossing rapidly--and with now and +then a furtive look--the very premises so haunted in other days, and +"Thanks be to Praise!" ejaculated Sally Bannocks, as we entered and +closed the door. The house was cold, after having been shut up all day. +We quickly separated to our several chambers, and as I laid my head upon +the pillow and was soon sound asleep, I too, murmured to myself, "Thanks +be to Praise!" + +----- + [11] Jack's composure has a parallel in that of an old-time + Scottish clergyman, as the story is told by Dean Ramsay. + On returning home late from a dinner abroad his way led + through the churchyard, and some mischievous fellows + thought to frighten him. One of them came up to him + dressed as a ghost, but the minister coolly inquired, + "Weel, maister Ghaist, is this a general rising, or are + ye juist taking a daunder frae yer grave by yersel?" + + [12] _Inferno_, Canto xxv., Parsons's translation. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +The following papers, marked I., II., III. are copies of those discovered +among family documents in the house of Mr. H. W. S. Cleveland, of Salem, +Massachusetts, several years ago. They were communicated by him to the +late Mr. Henry Lunt, formerly a merchant of Boston, father of the late +highly distinguished Rev. Dr. William Parsons Lunt, who died, much +lamented, while on his travels, at Akaba, in Arabia. How these documents +came to be deposited in Salem, it is not easy to say. It is probable, +however, that copies were brought over by the "Mary and John," or the +"Elizabeth and Dorcas," which appear to have wintered in Boston, after +their arrival, the passengers, or such of them as saw fit and were +permitted, proceeding to Ipswich, the following year (1634) and thence to +the plantation which they called Newbury. It is likely, therefore, that +the papers which concerned the passengers of those vessels might be +taken to Salem, perhaps during Governor Endicott's administration, and +placed in the hands of some official person at that place, so as to be +more accessible to the home of the people in question, instead of being +retained at Boston, the journey to which from Newbury was in those days a +long and tedious one, to be made on foot through the wilderness. + +To many persons the abstract of the Charter of Charles I., which is a +very liberal one, can hardly fail to be interesting. The Orders in +Council, referred to in the text, are still more so; while the list of +passengers by the "Mary and John" comprises many names still to be found +in Newbury. Many more familiar names will be found among those of the +company which came by the "Elizabeth and Dorcas." It will be seen that in +the list given are the names of Thomas Parker, an eminent divine, and of +James Noyes, his nephew; the first the long respected pastor of the +church and the other the "teacher" at Newbury. + + + + +I. + + +An Abstract of His Ma^{ty's} Charter for incorporating the Company of the +Mattachusetts Bay in New England in America, Granted in the 4th yeare of +His Highness' Reign of England, Scotland France & Ireland, Anno. Domini +1628-- + +And we do further of our especial Grace, certain Knowledge & mere mocion +for us our Heirs & Successors--Give and Grant to the said Governour & +Company & their Sucessors for ever by these presents, That it shall be +lawfull & free for them & their Assigns at all & every Time & Times +hereafter out of any of our Realms or Dominions whatsoev^{r}, to take +lade carry & transport for in & into their voyages, & for & towards the +said Plantation in New England all such & so many of our Loving Subjects +or any other Strangers that will become our Loving Subjects & live under +our Alleigeance as shall willingly accompany them in the said Voyages & +Plantations, And also Shipping, Armour, Weapons, Ordnance, Munition, +Powder, Shott, Corn victuals & all manner of Cloathing, Implements, +Furniture, Beasts, Cattle, Horses, Mares, Merchandizes & all other things +necessary for the said Plantation and for their use & Defence & for Trade +with the People there & in passing & returning to & fro, any Law or +statute to the Contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding--And without +paying or yielding any custom or Subsidy either Inwards or Outwards, to +us our Heirs or Successors for the same, by the space of seaven years +from the Day of the Date of these Presents--Provided that none of the +said Persons be such as shall hereafter by Especial name be restrained by +us, our Heirs or Successors---- + +And for their further Incouragem^{t} of our Especial Grace & favor--we Do +by these presents for us, our Heirs & successors yield & grant to the +said Governour & Company & their successors & every of them their Factors +& Assigns that they & every of them shall be free & quit from all Taxes +Subsidys & Customs in New England for the space of seaven years, and from +all Taxes & Impositions for the space of Twenty one years upon all Goods +& merchandizes at any time or times hereafter Either upon Importation +there, or Exportation thence, into our Realm of England or into any of +our Dominions, by the said Governour or Company & their successors, their +Deputys, Factors & Assigns or any of them except only the Five Pounds +p^{r} Centum due for Custom upon all such Goods & Merchandizes as, after +the said seaven years shall be expired, shall be brought or imported +into our Realm of England or any other of our Dominions according to the +Ancient Trade of Merchants, which Five Pounds p^{r} centum only being +paid it shall be thenceforth lawfull & free for the s^{d} Adventurers the +same Goods & Merchandizes to export & carry out of our Dominions into +Foreign Parts without any Custom, Tax or other Duty to be paid to us our +Heirs or Successors or to any other officer or officers or ministers of +us our Heirs or Successors,-- + +Provided that the said Goods & merchandize be shipp'd out within thirteen +months after their first Landing within any part of the said Dominions-- + +This is a true Copy of His Ma^{ties} Letters Patent aforesaid--Custom +House London 30th January 1633 Anno. R. Caroli Nono-- + + JOHN WOLSTENHOLME, _Collector_. + + + + +II. + + +ORDERS IN COUNCIL. + +_New England,--At Whitehall the last of February, 1633._ + +Present: + + Lo. Arch. Bp. of Cant. + Earle of Kelley. + Lo. Keep^{r}. + Lo. Cottington. + Lo. Privie Seal + M^{r}. V. Chamb^{r}line. + Lo. High Chamb^{r}line. + M^{r}. Compt^{r}. + M^{r}. Secretary Wyndibank. + +Whereas by a Warr^{t}. bearing date 22nd of this Present, the sev'all +ships following bound for New England, and now lying in the River of +Thames were made staye of untill further order from their Lo'pps. viz., +The Clement & Job, The Reformation, The True Love, The Elizabeth +Bonadventure, The Sea Flower, The Mary & John, The Planter, The Elizabeth +& Dorcas, The Hercules & The Neptune. + +Forasmuch as the masters of the said ships were this day called before +the Board & several Particulars given them in charge to be performed in +their said voyage, amongst which the said masters were to enter into +several Bonds of One Hundred Pounds a piece to His Maj^{s}tys use before +the Clarke of the Councell attendant to observe & cause to be observed +and putt in Execucion these Articles following viz: + +1. That all and every Person aboard their Ships now bound for New England +as aforesaid, that shall blaspheme or profane the Holy name of God be +severely punis'h't. + +2. That they cause the Prayers contained in the Book of Common Prayers +establisht in the Church of England, to be said daily at the usual hours +for Morning & Evening Prayers & that they cause all Persons aboard their +said ships to be present at the same. + +3. That they do not receive aboard or transport any Person that hath not +Certificate from the Officers of the Port where he is to imbarke that he +hath taken both the Oathes of Alleigeance & Supremacy. + +4. That upon their return into this Kingdom they Certify to the Board the +names of all such Persons as they shall transport together with their +Proceedings in the Execu'ion of the aforesaid Articles--Whereunto the +said M^{rs}. have conformed themselves--It was therefore & for diverse +other Reasons best known to their Lo^{pps}. thought fitt that for this +time they should be permitted to proceed on their Voyage, and it was +thereupon ordered that Gabriel Marsh Esq^{r}. Marshalle of the Admiralty, +& all other His Maj'ty's Officers to whom their said Warr^{t}. was +directed should be required upon sight hereof to discharge all & every +the said Ships, & suffer them to depart on their intended Voyage to New +England--EX. JON. MEANTYS. + + + + +III. + + +_The names of such Passengers as took the Oathes of Supremacy, and +Alleigeance to pass for New England in the Mary & John of London Robert +Sayres Master,_ + +24th Mar. 1633. + + William Trace (Tracy) + John Marshe + John Luff + Henry Traske + William Moudey + Robert Sever + Thomas Avery + Henry Travers + Thomas Sweete + John Woodbridge + Thomas West + Thomas Savery + Christopher Osgood + Phillip Fowler + Richard Jacob + Daniel Ladd + Robert Kingsman + John Bartlett + Robert Coker + William Savery + John Anthoney (left behind) + Stephen Jurden + John Godfrey + George Browne + Nicholas Noyce + Richard Browne + Richard Reynolds + Richard Littlehall + William White + Matthew Hewlett (Hercules) + John Whelyer + William Clarke + Robert Newman + Adrian Vincent. + + +The 26th day of March. + + Nicholas Easton + Richard Kent + Abraham Mussey + William Spencer + Henry Shorte + William Hibbens + William Ballard + Matthew Gillett + William Franklin + John Mussey + Thomas Cole + Thomas Parker + James Noyce + John Spencer + Richard Kent + Joseph Myles + John Newman + William Newbey + Henry Lunt + Joseph Pope + Thomas Newman + John Newman. + +For which we gave certificate, together with five others, which are said +to be left behind to oversee the Chattle to pass in the Hercules viz. + +The names of the Passengers in the Hercules of London, John Kiddey +Ma^{r}. for New England. + +These six Passengers took their Oathes of Supremacy & Alleigeance the +24th March and were left behind the Mary & John, as intended to pass in +y^{e} Hercules--viz: + + John Anthony } Cert, the six first + Robert Early } to Mt'er Sayers as + William Satcome } intended. + Thomas Foster } Secondth to Mr. + William Foster } Kiddey to pass in the + Matthew Hewlett. } Hercules. + + 16th April, 1634. + Nathaniel Davyes + George Kinge + Thomas Rider + William Elliot + William Fifeilde + Henry Phelps. + +18. These proceedings were Copyed out of an Olde Book of Orders belonging +to the Port of South'ton but now remaining at the Custom house in +Portsmouth the 6th Day of December 1735. + + Per THOMAS WHITEHOUSE. + + + + +IV. + + +In regard to the costume which prevailed, among persons of wealth and +standing in New England, within a century, I quote a descriptive passage +from a history of Newburyport, by Mrs. E. V. Smith, published in 1854, as +follows:-- + + "With the incoming of the nineteenth century, garments more in + conformity with present fashions took precedence of three-cornered + hats, long coats with immense pocket-folds and cuffs, but without + collars, in which the men of the eighteenth century prided + themselves; with their buttons of pure silver, or plated, of the + size of a half-dollar, presenting a great superfluity of coat and + waistcoat when contrasted with the short nether garments, ycleped + "breeches," or "small-clothes," which reached only to the knee, + being there fastened with large (?) silver buckles, which ornament + was also used in fastening the straps of shoes. The gentlemen quite + equalled the ladies at this period in the amount of finery, and the + brilliancy of colors in which they indulged. A light blue coat with + large fancy buttons, a white satin embroidered waistcoat, red + velvet breeches, silk stockings, and buckled shoes, with a + neckcloth, or scarf, of finely embroidered cambric, or figured + stuff, the ends hanging loose, the better to show the work, and + liberal bosom and wrist ruffles (the latter usually fastened with + gold or silver buckles), were usually considered a proper evening + dress for a gentleman of any pretension to fashion. The clergy and + many other gentlemen commonly wore black silk stockings, and others + contented themselves with gray woollen. The boots had a broad fold + of white leather turned over the top, with tassels dangling from + either side. The clergy frequently wore silk or stuff gowns and + powdered wigs. The ladies usually wore black silk or satin bonnets, + long-waisted and narrow-skirted dresses for the street, with long + tight sleeves, and in the house, sleeves reaching to the elbow, + finished with an immensely broad frill; high-heeled shoes, and + always, when in full dress, carried a profusely ornamented fan. The + excessively long waists, toward the close of this period, were + exchanged for extremely short ones; so short, that the belt or + waist was inhumanly contrived to come at the broadest part of the + chest. But no fashion of dress was so permanent as other customs + clinging to particular eras. Anciently, as now, fashions were + changed more or less extensively every ten years, though certain + broad characteristics remained long enough to give specific + character to the costuming of the eighteenth century." + +The writer is accurate enough, no doubt, in her general description; but +what lady could give an entirely correct account of a gentleman's attire? +Knee-buckles, for instance, were almost necessarily small, instead of +"large"; it may be questioned whether top-boots were ever decorated with +tassels, a single article of that sort often hanging at the front of a +different kind of high boot, worn long after the beginning of the present +century; and as to the silk gowns of clergymen, it is but a very few +years since they began to be disused in the pulpit by Presbyterian and +Congregational ministers. About forty years before the present period, +many gentlemen wore dresses of the cut described by Mrs. Smith, though of +a more subdued color,--black, blue, or drab. Not long after the +beginning of the present century, a chief magistrate of Massachusetts, +Gov. Gore, made a sort of progress through the State, in imposing style. +His elegant, open carriage was drawn by four handsome and spirited +horses, and he was attended by his aids and several outriders. The +governor was a gentleman of fine personal appearance, and was attired in +the highest style of contemporary civil costume, with his white hair +gathered behind into a satin bag, and his aids were in undress military +costume. He was a "Federalist," and this demonstration cost him his +election the next time; for, though a man of brilliant ability and high +personal character, he served but one year. At a date fifteen years +later, I saw the "Democratic" governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Eustis, in +attendance upon the Commencement exercises, at Harvard College, dressed +much in the fashion of half a century earlier; namely, coat and waistcoat +with broad flaps, small-clothes, ruffles at his bosom and wrists, a +cocked hat of the old style, and a steel-hilted rapier at his side. Ten +years afterwards, one of the best governors the Commonwealth has ever +had, Mr. Lincoln, who served the State in this capacity for nine several +terms, wore also a distinguishing costume, but more conformable to modern +fashions. About the ruffles to his shirt-bosom I am sure, and feel much +confidence, from memory, in regard to black small-clothes and black silk +stockings, and his hat was always decorated with a black cockade. +Nowadays a governor's appearance scarcely distinguishes him from any +ordinary person in the crowd. + +The cocked hats, however, and much of the costume of the eighteenth +century, continued to be worn by the survivors of Revolutionary officers +and some others, during the first quarter of the present century and +afterwards. + + + + +V. + + +The subjoined interesting sketch of an ancient dwelling-house and of a +family which has inhabited it for several generations, was furnished by +a distinguished friend, Thomas Coffin Amory, Esq., of Boston, who +traces his ancestry on the maternal side to the family in question. Nor, +in producing this highly interesting sketch, could I overlook Joshua +Coffin, the historian of Newbury and a resident of that town, from the +originally extensive territory of which various adjacent towns were +eventually formed. He was possessed of many amiable qualities and +inspired by the true antiquarian spirit, and laboriously pored among +the not very carefully kept early records of the original settlement, and +brought much out of chaos well calculated to illustrate its former +history. Mr. Amory has, on various occasions, shown the spirit of a +careful historical student and of an intelligent and zealous antiquary. +His recent contributions to that excellent periodical, "The New England +Historical and Genealogical Register," which has become of inestimable +value, as a collection of facts illustrative of early New England +history and biography, have given great pleasure to multitudes of +readers,--especially his vivid and graphic descriptions of certain +ancient and storied mansions in Boston and Cambridge, and of their former +inhabitants. Let us hope that researches of such abundant interest and +value will soon claim and gain a still larger share of the public +attention in a collected form. + + MY DEAR SIR,--In your reminiscences of Newburyport you must not + forget Joshua Coffin its historian,--one of the best of men, whom + no one knew but to love. I see him now as he came to visit me + several years ago, when he was representing his native town in the + General Court, a fresh, hale, cheery gentleman, full of pleasant + anecdotes relating to the past. He owned and occupied the Coffin + mansion, which had been the abode of seven generations of his + family and name. Out of its portals had issued numberless admirable + men and women, and from among the former, a large share of college + graduates, at Harvard and other New England colleges, of lawyers, + clergy, and soldiers, to do good service in their day and + generation. + + At his suggestion, I visited this ancient dwelling which was + erected about 1649, by Mr. Somerby, the widow of whose progenitor + Tristram Coffin, Jr., married. This Tristram was the eldest son of + another Tristram, first of the race in America, who not many years + before, in 1642, came over from Brixton, near Plymouth, in + Devonshire, bringing with him his mother, and two sisters,--Eunice + who married William Butler, and Mary who became the wife of + Alexander Adams, of Boston. He brought with him also several sons + and daughters, to whom were added others born to him on this side + the ocean. His family in the home country had shown the same + tenacity and steadfastness, exemplified by their long continued + residence at Newburyport; for at Alwington and Portledge in Devon, + they had flourished, if not from the flood, from periods very + remote; for according to the historical statement, the Normans when + they came over in the eleventh century found them there, and left + them unmolested; and there still dwell their descendants in the + female line, who have assumed their appellation of Pine Coffin, one + of the house of Pine having married the heiress of the family + estates. + + Tristram the elder, and his sons James and Stephen, were among the + nine who purchased the island of Nantucket from the Earl of + Stirling in 1659, and went there to dwell. Their descendants have + ever since been respectable and greatly multiplied, and not only on + that island but all over the country, having since been estimated + by thousands if not tens of thousands. Their usual average of + children has been half a score, and from their numerous progeny and + great longevity, we may judge what vigor was in the race. One of + them, William, son of Nathaniel, son of James, cruised over many + seas, as commander of a merchantman, and becoming interested in a + Boston maiden, Ann Holmes, settled about 1720 in the provincial + capital, where among other offices he filled with credit to himself + and his name was that for many years of warden of Trinity Church. + He died before the Revolution, leaving many children; most of his + sons at that period becoming refugee loyalists, they and their + descendants taking high rank in the British military and naval + service. John, son of Nathaniel, was a distinguished officer in the + Carolinas, and afterwards became Major-general. His brother, Sir + Isaac, early became distinguished on the ocean, was an Admiral, + Member of Parliament, and created a Baronet, which latter rank was + also bestowed on Thomas Astor, son of William, the eldest son of + the warden. Several others of the name and blood then and since + have filled with distinction posts of honor and respectability in + the civil service of the mother country at home, in Canada, and in + India. + + But this is a digression. The only connection of the Nantucket + branch with Newbury is that old Tristram lived there for a brief + period, before repairing to his island home, and his son (the + younger of the name of Tristram, the family name of a grandmother) + and his posterity occupied the old mansion down through seven or + eight generations, and still dwell beneath its roof. At the time of + its erection the edifice must have been among the most elegant, as + its good state of preservation proves it to have been one of the + most substantial of its day, when the notion, prevailing in + England, that oak was the most suitable material of the forest for + dwellings, governed in their choice, with less reason, our + American planters. It was built in the mode common to the period, + round a vast brick chimney-stack, ten or twelve feet square. The + principal apartment, now divided into two, possessed, as did also + the kitchen, one of those spacious fireplaces which are the marvel + and envy of these degenerate days, when a hole in the carpet has + superseded in many households the family hearth. It is pleasant to + think of the groups that in the olden time clustered around them; + charming people, whom we know by tradition, and who are remembered + by many associations. + + The house possesses various other apartments of size and + pretension, and has answered well the needs of the successive + generations that have occupied it, not only as a spacious and + commodious abode, but one sufficiently elegant to satisfy the + advancing standards of taste and refinement. Among the marked + features of the building are several small casements, lighting + closets and staircases, which give variety to the monotonous + symmetry of windows all of a size, one on top of another, and where + all the openings for egress or light are in straight lines and of + equal dimensions. It is many years since my visit, and I hope you + will see it, for much that was peculiar, and made a weird + impression at the time, has passed out of mind. If the trickles in + my own veins do not mislead, the present proprietors will be glad + to have pleasure afforded to the reading community, even by this + inadequate description of a house which has such claims to be + known, if, as you intimate, you purpose to place this account of it + in your Appendix. They will not consider it a liberty if I repeat + what some one not long since told me of an interesting relic of the + past discovered on its walls, a statement which might be related + almost in the same words of the house of MacPhaedrics at + Portsmouth. + + Not many years since it was concluded to repaper the hall, the + walls of which were covered with several thicknesses of paper which + had from generation to generation been pasted one upon another. It + was thought best to remove them all, and when a large party of + young people, home for the holidays, were gathered for a dull week + of weather under its roof, they determined to amuse themselves by + stripping off the various layers of previous decorations, + preparatory to the new one intended to take their place. Underneath + them all was discovered, painted on the wall, artistic designs of + figures and foliage, such as were common in the days of the + Stuarts. All antiquarians are familiar with the similar + discoveries at Portsmouth, to which allusion has been made. + + There are not many houses in America which have been so long owned + and occupied by the same name. The old brick mansion near + Portsmouth, of the Weeks family, the Curtis house at Boston + Highlands, Fairbanks at Dedham, Pickering at Salem, were + contemporaries in the period of the construction, and have + descended from sire to son as has this of the Coffins. + + The house is pleasantly placed, and commands fine views from its + windows. Even in winter it must be, if not a cheerful, an + interesting abode to dwell in. In duller days, when skies are + leaden, and the more you see around you the less you like it, its + dreamy look of age and strangeness within and without may have a + somewhat depressing influence. The aches and agonies of so many + generations may gain an ascendancy over the exuberant joys that + made their life worth living. It would sometimes seem that if + fondness for the supernatural must be indulged, an old edifice like + this would prove a haunt more attractive, and certainly more + appropriate, for ghost and apparition than any school-room, however + noted for its spells. Yet notwithstanding some lugubrious + associations connected with the family patronymic, phantoms would + have to tread softly and whisper low if they invaded its precincts; + for the vigorous vitality of its occupants and their cheery tones, + if up to the traditional standard of their race, would exorcise the + very king of spectres himself, should he venture to stalk about at + the noonday, or revisit the glimpses of the moon in its ancient + chambers. + + + + +VI. + + +I might have mentioned, as one of the amusements of childhood, the +throwing of a piece of paper upon the embers of our wood-fire, for we had +no coal in those days, and watching the gradual extinguishment of the +sparks, likening it to a congregation entering the meeting-house. "There +they go in," we would say. "There's the minister;" and as the final spark +disappeared,--"Now, the sexton has gone in and shut the door." I speak of +this only as a curious illustration of English ways traditionally +surviving in New England. Thus Cowper tells us:-- + + "So when a child, as playful children use, + Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news, + The flame extinct, he views the roving fire,-- + There goes my lady, and there goes the squire; + There goes the parson, O illustrious spark! + And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!" + + + + +VII. + + +Several allusions having been made in the text to the "Wolfe" Tavern, I +am able to present the following original bill of lading, constituting an +incident in relation to the famous expedition to Quebec, and evincing at +least a more formal recognition of a superintending Providence, than is +the custom of more modern days:-- + + 12 Oxen, + 6 Horses, + No. 29 to 32. 4 Hogshd. Corn, + 10 Baggs Corn, + 10 Baggs Meal, + 2 Carts with Furniture, + 500 feet Boards, + 1 pr. Smiths Bellows, + 1 Box Smiths Tools, + 1 Anvil, + 1 Camp Kettle + 10 Ox Yokes, + 70 Bundles of Hay, + 2 Handpumps, + 18 Pails, + 4 Tubbs, + 2 Shovells, + 4 Barr's Water, Settled. + +Shipped by the Grace of God in good Order and well Condition'd by Thomas +Hancock, by order of His Excell'cy Major General Amherst, in and upon the +good sloop call'd the "Endeavour," whereof is Master under GOD, for this +present Voyage, William Clift, and now riding at Anchor in the Harbour of +Boston, and by God's Grace bound for The Expedition up the River St. +Lawrence, to say, Twelve Oxen, Six Horses, Four Hogshead and Ten Bags of +Corn, Ten Bags of Meal, two Carts with their Furniture, Five hundred feet +of Boards, One Pair Smiths Bellows, One Box Smiths Tools, One Anvill, One +Camp Kettle, Ten Ox Yokes, Seventy Bundles of Hay, Two handpumps, +Eighteen pails, Four Tubbs, Two Shovells, Four Barrells Water; being +mark'd and number'd as in the Margin, and to be delivered in the like +good Order, and well Condition'd, at the aforesaid Port of ---- (the +Danger of the Seas only excepted) unto His Excell'cy Major General Wolfe, +or to his Assigns,----or they paying Freight for the said +Goods----Nothing----with Primage and Average accustom'd. In Witness +whereof the Master or Purser of the said sloop hath affirmed to Two Bills +of Lading, all of this Tenor and date; the one of which Two Bills being +accomplished, the other one to stand void. And so GOD send the good sloop +to her desired Port in Safety, _Amen_. Dated in + +BOSTON, _May 14, 1759_. + + WILL^{M}. CLIFT. + + + + +VIII. + + +On my occasional visit to Boston, I usually put up at the Eastern Stage +House, perhaps because it was there that the stage-coach by which I +arrived at the city discharged its passengers. It was an old fashioned +establishment, which but for the absence of galleries, might remind one +of the famous Tabard Inn, from which Chaucer's pilgrims set out. For its +capacious yard, in which the passengers alighted, and where they +remounted for their homeward journey, was approached through a narrow +cross street, and in its ample stables the stage-horses took their rest +and refreshment. The front entrance to the tavern was under an archway on +Ann street, loyally named for the old queen; for which title was not long +ago senselessly substituted the unsuggestive appellation of North street. +It has long since given place to more modern edifices. It was a +comfortable place of temporary residence, and in illustration of former +manners I remember one practice which I have never seen elsewhere. At the +plate of each guest, at dinner, was placed a small decanter of brandy, +holding I suppose half-a-pint of that liquor, and for which no extra +charge appeared in the bill, which account itself was moderate enough +compared with the inordinate hotel reckonings of the present day. + + + + +IX. + + +In small matters, as well as in great, history repeats itself. Thus, the +anachronic emotion of Miss ---- (on page 17) finds its parallel in +"Facetiae Poggii," written at Florence, in the year 1450, of which the +following story is one:-- + +"Cyriac of Ancona, a wordy man and much given to talk, was once deploring +in our presence the fall and ruin of the Roman empire, and seemed to be +vehemently grieved at it. Then Anthony Lusco, a most learned man, who +also stood by, said, jeering at the silly grief of the fellow, 'He is +very like a man of Milan, who, hearing on a feast day one of the race of +minstrels, who are wont to sing the deeds of departed heroes to the +people, reciting the death of Roland, who was slain about seven hundred +years before in battle, fell at once a-weeping bitterly, and when he got +home to his wife, and she saw him sad and sighing, and asked what was the +matter, "Alas! alas! wife," he said, "we are as good as dead and gone." +"Why, man," she answered, "what dreadful thing has befallen you? Take +comfort and come to supper." But he, when he went on sobbing and sighing, +and would take no food, and his wife pressed him to tell the cause of his +woe, at last said, "Don't you know the bad news I have heard to-day?" +"What?" asked the wife. "Roland is dead, who alone was the safeguard of +Christendom." On which his wife tried to soothe the silly grief of her +husband, and yet, with all her tenderness, could scarce get him to sit +down to meat.'"[13] + +The effect of the ballad, however, upon the worthy man of Milan reminds +one of the historical incident, recording the effect of song, celebrated +anew in one of the stanzas of Childe Harold:-- + + "When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse, + And fettered thousands felt the yoke of war, + Redemption rose up in the Attic Muse, + Her voice their only ransom from afar; + See! as they chant the tragic hymn, the car + Of the o'ermastered victor stops: the reins + Fall from his hands--his idle scimitar + Starts from its belt--he rends his captives' chains, + And bids them thank the bard for freedom and his strains." + + + + +X. + + +The ancestor of Colonel Edward Wigglesworth, mentioned in the text, an +officer of the Revolution, highly esteemed by Washington, was Rev. +Michael Wigglesworth, author of "The Day of Doom," published in the last +quarter of the seventeenth century, and reprinted in London; a dreadfully +dismal, but edifying poem, and not without a certain horrifying merit. + + + + +XI. + + +Were it within the scope of this work, I might furnish a catalogue, by no +means meagre, of inhabitants formerly distinguished in their day and +generation. For example, I have heard it stated as a curious fact, that, +not far from the beginning of the present century, each of the three +Professors of Harvard College, namely, Professors Webber, afterwards +President; Pearson, and Toppan, were natives of Newbury. + + + + +XII. + + +I could hardly dismiss this volume from my hands without some reference +to the means of public information furnished by the newspapers of the +town. Of these, there have been, since "The Essex Journal," soon +afterwards merged in "The Impartial Herald," and first published in 1773, +between thirty and forty attempts to establish newspapers; but the +"Herald," the successor of those before-named, for many years conducted +as a semi-weekly journal, and since the year 1832 as a daily paper, has +alone steadily maintained its ground. It has always been distinguished +for the editorial ability displayed in its columns, and for a care +bestowed upon its several departments, which gave it a high reputation, +scarcely surpassed by that of leading journals in our larger cities. + +"The Essex Journal" was begun by Isaiah Thomas, who in the course of a +year sold his interest in it to Ezra Lunt; and he, after two years, +obeying another call to public service, sold it to John Mycall. The first +of these began life in the humblest condition, without schooling of any +kind, it is alleged; taught himself to read and write, and after a time +removed to Worcester, became connected with a noted paper there, the +"Massachusetts Spy," at length accumulated a handsome fortune, for the +times, much of which, after a long life, he bequeathed to the Antiquarian +Society of Worcester, and a portion to Harvard College, and other +literary institutions. He was the founder, also, of the American +Antiquarian Society. He became a writer and educator of much repute. + +Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, Mr. Ezra Lunt was the +first man who volunteered, in the meeting-house, when the minister, Rev. +Mr. Parsons, exhorted his parishioners to military service; was chosen +captain of the company, with which he was present in command at Bunker +Hill, and afterwards was raised to the rank of major. He took part in the +battle of Monmouth Court House, when the British army, under Sir Henry +Clinton, retired with much difficulty and loss before Washington, and +used to relate the particulars of the well-known rebuke administered by +that great chief to General Charles Lee for his hasty retreat from the +advanced post, which had been assigned him. He declared himself to have +been close by at the moment, and to have heard the energetic language +used on the occasion. After the war, he received his allotment of land, +and settled upon it, at Marietta, Ohio. + +Mr. Mycall was a person of much natural capacity and shrewdness, with +certain eccentricities of character, and kept up a little politic mystery +about himself. He once engaged a well-known carriage-maker of the day to +build him a chaise, which it was agreed should be finished at a certain +time. When the specified period arrived, the vehicle was not forthcoming. +Enduring a similar disappointment several times, and expressing himself +strongly about it to the offender, that individual promised it to him +positively at a certain date, _if he was alive_. Even then, it was not +delivered; but what was the astonishment of the faulty party to read in +his newspaper the next morning, "Died, yesterday, P. B., chaise-maker," +etc. In a state of boiling indignation he rushed to the street, and on +the way to the office of publication called the attention of various +acquaintances to the wrongful statement, which, it appeared, no one had +observed. Entering the office, he inquired, with much feeling, how Mr. +Mycall could have published such a paragraph. "Did you not promise me," +said the editor, "that my chaise should be sent home, on such a day, if +you were alive?" "Well, supposing I did?" "Why, then, of course, you must +be dead!" Taking up a copy of the paper from his desk, and examining the +obituary notices, "But," said the editor, "there is no such statement +here." The bewildered chaise-maker hastened home to examine his paper +anew; and it appeared, on inquiry, that the account of his decease was +printed only in his own copy; a gloomy jest, which was soon much relished +by the community. + +Indeed, the town became for a time a noted place for the publication of +standard works, and books of various descriptions. It was here that the +well-known Mr. Edmund M. Blunt, who subsequently removed to the city of +New York, published his valuable and famous "American Coast Pilot," and, +afterwards, the no less useful "Practical Navigator." + + + + +XIII. + + +In attestation of the remark, on page 144 of the text, that an antiquated +pronunciation of many English words prevailed long in New England, after +it was disused in Old England, and was brought by the colonists from the +Mother Country, see the criticism of "Holofernes" upon innovations in +pronunciation, in Act V., Sc. 1, of "Love's Labor Lost," showing the +state of the case in Shakespeare's time. + + + + +XIV. + + +In closing this Appendix, which might be extended to almost any length, +as recollections which did not occur to me in writing the body of the +work come up, I cannot omit a remarkable use of the American language, +let us say, since the Czar once so denominated the English tongue. It was +upon the part of a town constable, perhaps as nearly of the Dogberry type +as could be imagined. I was standing in the town hall, at a moment +preliminary to a public meeting. A knot of youngsters had been joking one +another, when this authoritative official approached. All but one +speedily retired before the awful presence. "Master Constable" addressed +the lingerer: "_Disperge_,"--a difficult operation for an +individual,--"_disperge_, I say; we can't have no _burlash_ here!" + +Even Shakespeare might have been glad of such an opportunity to enlarge +the cacology, by actual hearing, of some of his most amusing characters. + +----- + [13] Quoted in Dasent's "Jest and Earnest." London, 1873. + + + + +INDEX + + + Academy, of good standing, 137 + Adams, J. Q., 134 + Addison on English Superstition, 176 + Adventure of American Sea-captain with Christophe, Emperor of Hayti, 61 + "Algerines;" their Quarrel with Foreign Sailors, 74 + Ancient Elder, 120 + Ancient Episcopal Church; its former Rector, Bishop of Massachusetts, + 114, 130 + Apparition, an, 184 + Aristocracy, 21 + Aunt Judith, 23 + Aunt Judith's Narrative of Witchcraft, 169 + + Balaklava Charge, 28 + Bar, dangerous, 6 + Bartlett, William, 33 + Beggars, mimic, 106 + Beverages, formerly, 96 + Bishop Bass, 130 + Bold Youngster, 165 + Books, some that we read, 138, 139 + Borderers, 74 + Boyish Sports, 14 + Bradbury, Judge, 34 + British Orders in Council, 108 + Bromfield Legacy, 18 + Buchan, Earl of, 63 + + Campbell, "Tom," 27 + Cannon for street posts, 58 + Capen, Parson, 178 + Characteristic Letter, 40 + Christmas Evening, 161 + Christmas Hymn, 163 + Christophe of Hayti, 61 + Clergy of the town, 122 + Clergyman, Scottish, 166 + Collector Marquand, 37 + Collector Wigglesworth, 36 + Comparative value of money, 21 + Congregation, "Scrupulous," 122 + Consequences of war and embargo, 57 + Court of Common Pleas, 83 + Cunning expedient, 22 + + Dalton, Tristram, 34 + Damage of war, 38 + Dana, Rev. Dr., 128 + Dangerous bar, 6 + Devil's den, 15 + Dexter, "Lord," 63 + Dexter's poet, 66 + Dinah for Diana, 145 + Discourse of Rev. Mr. Murray, 99 + Dissatisfied washerwoman, 104 + Dogberry and Verges, 198 + Domestic, Scottish, 104 + + Earl of Buchan, 63 + Earthquakes in former times, 113 + Edinburgh, similar habits in, 10 + Elder, an old-fashioned, 120 + Emperor of Hayti, 61 + English Clergymen, 124 + English Reader. Are modern text-books as useful?, 137 + English superstition, 176 + Enterprise, Maritime and Commercial, 5 + Extraordinary images, 63 + + Failure, swindling, 103 + Favor, Johnny: his opinion of polemics, 133 + Few insane persons, and the treatment of them formerly, 45 + Fights of boys, 10 + Fine trees, 17 + Fire, strange, 190 + Fire, the "great," 103 + Foot-warming process, 118 + Former Rector of St. Paul's a Bishop, 130 + Former severe winters, 1 + Former solemn proceedings in naturalization, 110 + Fourth of July, 98 + Fright of an old woman, 100 + Fugitive Sea-captain and a lively chase, 58 + + Ghost, reputed, 180 + Gould, Miss Hannah F., 31 + Gourmand, a, 98 + Great Fire, 103 + Greys, Silver, 56 + Grouse, Old, story of, 146 + Growth of Episcopal Church, 130 + + Habits in Edinburgh, 10 + Habits, jovial, of old times, 96 + Hardships of early times, 40 + Hay-time treating, 109 + "Hinx-minx," origin of, 174 + Hohenlinden, 28 + Holt, Granny, 169 + Home, return to, 202 + How they used to "break," 103 + Huntington, Countess of, and her Seminary, 124 + Hymn, Christmas, 163 + + Images, extraordinary, 63 + Indifference to cold, 119 + Inquisitive spinster, 123 + Insane persons, few, 45 + Internal trade, 67 + Introductory chapters to Scott's novels, 159 + + Jackson family, 24 + James, King of Scotland, 106 + Johnson, Samuel, Dr., 26 + "Joppa Jine," 144 + Jovial habits of old times, 109 + Judith, Aunt, 23 + July 4th, 98 + + King James of Scotland, 106 + King Louis Philippe, 4 + King, Rufus, 135 + + Lee, Mrs. George, 31 + Longfellow, 32 + Lowells, The, 24 + + Magistrate and culprit, 51 + Mansions, remarkable, 18 + Manufacturing establishments, 4 + Maritime enterprise, 5 + Market Square, triangular, 66 + Marquand, Collector, 37 + Massachusetts, Diocese of, 130 + Meeting-houses--stoves and organs, 118 + Merchant, rich, 34 + Milton, Rev. Mr., 124 + Mimic beggars, 106 + Money, comparative value of, 21 + "Moses is come!," 100 + Murray, Rev. Mr., 99 + Murray's Reader, 137 + + Naturalization, etc., 110 + New England pronunciation, 144 + New England superstition, of old, 160 + Novelist, English, his surprise, 9 + Nutting, etc., 14 + + Old-fashioned hospitality in beverages, 109 + "Old Grouse," story of, 146 + Old Peddlers, 67 + Old Woman, fright of, 100 + Orders in Council, British, 108 + Organ of St. Paul's, 118 + Origin of "Hinx-Minx," 174 + Our Town, 5 + + Paine, Robert Treat, 134 + Parson, Capen, 178 + Parsonage and its curious picture, 52 + Parsons, Chief Justice, 134 + Particular Shoemaker, 48 + Peabody, George, 33 + Peace of 1783, 99 + Peddlers, old, 67 + People of St. James's, 131 + Perkins, Jacob, 25 + Personal part of leading citizens in politics, 94 + Persons, distinguished, 34 + Picture, curious, 52 + Pike, Nicholas, 25 + Polemics, 132 + Political hostilities, 55 + Poultry in profusion, 67 + Practice, modern, of naturalization, 110 + Professional persons, etc., 83 + "Project," what it is, 174 + Putnam, Oliver, 33 + + Quaker meeting, 136 + Queer contrast of language, 61 + + Railways and their influence, 142 + Ramsay, Dean, and others, Reminiscences of, 10 + Reader, Murray's English, 137 + Reading parties, 142 + Refinement of certain classes, 133 + Reputed apparition, 192 + Respect for the clergy, 29 + "Retort courteous," 27 + Rev. Dr. Dana, 128 + Rev. Mr. Milton, 124 + Rev. Dr. Morse, 131 + Rev. Mr. Murray, 122 + Rev. Dr. Spring, 29 + Richard, Uncle, 162 + + Sabbath, how kept, 120 + Sailing adventure, 7 + "Salt," ancient, 3 + Saturday and Sunday evenings, 30 + Scenery on the river, 5 + School books, etc., 137 + Schoolmaster, a shrewd, 140 + Scott's Autobiography, 10 + Scott's reply to certain critics, 159 + Scottish domestic, cool and faithful, 104 + "Scrupulous" congregation, 122 + Scrupulous shoemaker, 48 + Severe winters, 1 + Shipbuilding, etc., 5 + Silver Greys, 56 + Singular companion, 168 + Singular night adventure, 87 + Snow-storm in old times, 2 + Social security, 85 + Stage-house, 53 + St. James's, 143 + Story of an apparition, 179 + Story of bold youngster, 165 + Stove in Church, 118 + Street fights of boys, 10 + Striking adventure of Rufus King, 135 + Surprise of Thackeray, 9 + Swett and Schwedt, 30 + Swindling failure, 103 + Sympathetic young lady, 17 + + Tennyson's "Charge at Balaklava," 28 + Text instead of sermon, 119 + "Thanks be to Praise!," 202 + Thanksgiving, 105 + Timber and shipbuilding, 5 + "Tom" Campbell, 27 + Topsfield spectre, 177 + Town-meeting and resolute chairman, 96 + Trade, internal, of the town, 67 + Traders, small, 67 + Treating in hay-time, 109 + Trees of great beauty, 17 + Triangular Market Square, 66 + Tyng Family, 24 + + Uncle Richard, 162 + United States after a runaway, 58 + Unterrified clergyman, 166 + + Verges and Dogberry, 198 + Vulgarian of the nouveaux riches, 62 + + Wages, low rate of, 23 + Walsh, Michael, 25 + What a "project" is or was, 174 + Wheelwright, William, 32 + Whipping-post, 123 + Wigglesworth, Colonel, 36 + Winters, severe formerly, 1 + Witchcraft, and Uncle Richard's opinion of it, 167 + Wood's account of the aristocracy., 21 + + Yankee acuteness, 141 + Young persons sent to the town for education, 134 + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + Archaic, variable, and misspelled words and punctuation + inconsistancies have been preserved as printed in all of the + quoted material with one exception. This includes all poetry, + quotations, letters, and documents. + + The one exception is in the poem Childe Harold, a section of + which is quoted in the Appendix, Section IX. The word =scimeter= + was changed to =scimitar= because it is spelled correctly in the + original poem by Lord Byron located at PG, + EText-No. 5131, Canto IV, Stanza XVI. + + The following changes were made to the original text. The + correction is enclosed in brackets: + + Page 106: and they skurried away [scurried] + + Page 116: but the fact incontestibly proves, [incontestably] + + Page 187: My mother was in close attendance upon sick members of + my sister's family? [changed punctuation to a period] + + Page 230: Fall from his hands--his idle scimetar [scimitar] + + The following word has been found in both hyphenated and + unhyphenated form in the original text: road-side (roadside). + The original hyphenation has been preserved. + + Footnotes have been numbered consecutively and have been placed + at the end of each chapter. + + Superscripted letters in the original book and the HTML version are + represented by ^{} in the text version. + + The "long i" macron is respresented in the text as [=i]. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old New England Traits, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD NEW ENGLAND TRAITS *** + +***** This file should be named 28013.txt or 28013.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/1/28013/ + +Produced by Roger Frank, Darleen Dove and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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