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. THE POPULAR HISTORICAL SERIES
POPULAR HISTORY OF
BOSTON
BY HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.
.
٢
DOROTHY HANCOCK'S RECEPTION.
A
POPULAR
HISTORY OF BOSTON
. BY
HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH 11
AUTHOR OF "ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN EUROPE," "ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN CLASSIC LANDS," "ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE ORIENT," " POPULAR IHISTORY OF AMERICA," ETC.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
COPYRIGHT AUG 30 1894 0
OF CONGRESS
F WASHINGTON
34916-2
BOSTON
ESTES AND LAURIAT PUBLISHERS
Fre . B99
Copyright, 1881, 1894, BY ESTES AND LAURIAT.
Aniversitu Press : JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
PREFACE.
SOME ten years ago the writer of this volume came to Boston, a stranger, for the purpose of reading in the Public Library and obtaining work as a journalist. Becoming deeply interested in works of local history, especially in those of Drake, and being unacquainted with society, he resolved to visit all the old historic places in and about Boston, in hours needed for exercise, and to study their associations.
About a year ago the publishers asked him to prepare a young people's history of Boston, and to seek to make it popular and entertaining, after the methods of the " Zig- zag " books. It was a pleasure to attempt this work, as it revived the memories of the solitary walks ten years ago, and brought into use the material then collected.
This book does not seek to follow the common historic methods, but to be as entertaining as possible while impart- ing information. The elaborate works of Drake, Shurtleff, Quincy, and the noble "Memorial History " fully cover the subject for the scholar and the adult reader of means and leisure, but hardly meet the wants of popular reading
vi
Preface.
and the young. Hence stories, incidents, poems, and pic- tures have been freely used. We hope that the reading of this volume may at least create an interest for the study of the larger works we have named, and tend to develop that honest pride in our local history which is essential to the best citizenship.
28 Worcester Street.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF ST. BOTOLPH 15
II. WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF ST. BO- TOLPH'S CHURCH IN LINCOLNSHIRE 31
III. WHEREIN IS GIVEN AN ACCOUNT OF WILLIAM BLACK- STONE, A RECLUSE, WHO WAS THE FIRST SETTLER OF BOSTON . 39
IV. WHEREIN IS CONTAINED THE STORY OF LADY AR- BELLA JOHNSON 47
V. WHEREIN ARE RELATED SOME INCIDENTS OF THE LIFE OF GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP, THE FOUNDER OF BOSTON 57
VI. WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF SIR HENRY VANE, ANNE HUTCHINSON, AND THOSE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS OUT OF WHICH GREW LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND OPINION 85
VII. WHEREIN ARE RELATED SOME STORIES OF A NER- VOUS DISEASE CALLED WITCHCRAFT .
109
VIII. WHEREIN IS SHOWN HOW THE COLONY BECAME A PROVINCE I37
IX. WHEREIN ARE TOLD SOME STORIES OF OLD COLONY TIMES 151
X. WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF THE TIMES OF THE ELEVEN ROYAL GOVERNORS AND OF THE OLD PROVINCE HOUSE 169
viii
Contents.
PAGE
CHAPTER XI. THE TIMES OF THE ELEVEN ROYAL GOVERNORS
AND OF THE OLD PROVINCE HOUSE, CONTINUED . 189
XII. THE EVE OF REVOLUTION . 205
XIII. BUNKER HILL
243
XIV. THE SIEGE OF BOSTON
253
XV. THE STORY OF HOLLIS STREET MEETING - HOUSE AND CURIOUS OLD MATHER BYLES, THE ROY- ALIST . 283
XVI. FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY
XVII. THE ANTISLAVERY STRUGGLE 293
309
XVIII. THE BOSTON OF TO-DAY 323
XIX. THE PLEASURE RESORTS AND THE BEAUTIFUL SUB- URBS OF BOSTON 349
XX. THE OLD BOSTON SCHOOLS 36g
XXI. THE ASSOCIATIONS OF BOSTON POETRY
389
XXII. ASSOCIATIONS OF WHITTIER'S POETRY
421
XXIII. THE CONCORD AUTHORS AND THE ASSOCIATIONS OF THEIR WORKS 439
XXIV. MOUNT AUBURN 455
INDEX
475
.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Dorothy Hancock's Reception
PAGE Frontispiece
Monks at Study .
16
Lincoln Cathedral 17
Preaching the Gospel to the Saxons
21
Ruins of an Ancient Abbey
25
A Saxon Priest destroying an Idol
27
St. Botolph's Church
33
Charles I. .
35
Cotton Memorial Chapel
36
William Blackstone's House
39
Trimountain
40
On the Banks of the Charles
41
Sailing from England .
48
Sir Richard Saltonstall
49
The First King's Chapel .
51
Winthrop's Fleet in Boston Harbor
53
John Winthrop .
59
Winthrop and Dudley
63
First Meeting-House
65
Winthrop fording a Stream .
67
Revels at Merry-Mount .
68
Miles Standish discovers the Revellers at Merry-Mount 69
Endicott cutting down Morton's May-pole 73
A Lost Settler found . 77
Indians returning a Lost Child 80
The Harbor of Boston 81
Henry Vane . 86
Burial of the King 88
Execution of Charles I. 89
X
List of Illustrations.
PAGE
Oliver Cromwell
91
Roger Williams appealing to the Indians 93
Cutting out the Red Cross . 95 The Stocks 96
John Endicott 97
The Pillory . 99
Whipping Quakers at the Cart's Tail in Boston IOI
Old Elm and Quakers' Graves 105
Witches
109
Witchcraft at Salem Village 113
Cotton Mather .
II7
Martha Corey and her Persecutors .
121
The Old Elm
125
A False Alarm . 129
Increase Mather
133
Governor Leverett
1 38
The Old Feather Store . I39
Charles II. 141
Sir Edmund Andros .
143
Governor Andros a Prisoner
147
Nix's Mate .
153
Charles chasing the Moth .
1 57
Old-time Courtesies
163
Elder Brewster's Chair
166
Queen Anne . I71
The Province House . 175
Franklin
178
King's Chapel, Tremont Street 179
George I. .
183
Franklin's Birthplace 185
Faneuil Hall 191
The Old South Church 193
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes 195
The Frankland House 198
The Liberty Tree . 200
Map of New England about 1700 201
Bostonians reading the Stamp Act . 207
The Hancock House 210
Adams opposing the Stamp Act from the Old State House . 211
152
Massacre at Bloody Brook
xi
List of Illustrations.
PAGE
Destruction of the Tea .
217
Provincials rallying at Concord 221
Conflict at the North Bridge
223
Section of Bonner's Map, 1722
227 231
Christ Church .
235
From Bonner's Map, 1722
237
Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill
245
The Battle of Bunker Hill .
249
The Washington Elm
254
View from Beacon Hill, Boston
255 258
Plan of the Investment of Boston
259
Pine -Tree Flag .
262
Washington's Treasure-chest .
263 269
Plan of the Town of Boston, 1775
273
Boston with its Environs, 1775-76
277
The Old Hollis Street Church
283
From Bonner's Map, 1722
285 288
Mather Byles
Lafayette 297
Daniel Webster 300
Washington Irving
304
Mr. Garrison in the Hands of the Mob
311
Theodore Parker .
314
First Subscriptions for Soldiers' Families
315
Fort Sumter
317
Massachusetts Sixth in Baltimore
318
State House
325
Corner of Washington and Milk Streets, before the Great Fire .
328
" Summer Street a Wall of Flame "
329
" The Old South stands "
333
Henry Wilson .
335
Soldiers and Sailors' Monument .
336
Map of Boston in 1838 337
Skeleton of Mammoth 343
Statue of Edward Everett . 35I
Northmen on an Expedition
357
The French King troubled at the Approach of the Northmen · 363
John Hancock
The Holmes House
George III. .
xii
List of Illustrations.
PAGE
The Old Pedagogue
370
Ear Pincers . . 37 1
John Lovell .
Charles K. Dillaway 377
379
First Latin School, School Lane 380
The English High and Latin School
381
Benjamin Franklin
391
Charles Sprague 392
The "Old Brick " Church .
395 "Elmwood," the Home of Lowell 407 James Russell Lowell 409
Oliver Wendell Holmes
4II
John G. Whittier . 421
The Carwitham View of Boston, about 1730
425
An Old-time Husking Frolic 433
Ralph Waldo Emerson 439
Nathaniel Hawthorne 442
The Old Manse 443
Thoreau's Hut
444
Margaret Fuller (Countess Ossoli) 449
Ossoli Memorial 456
Entrance to Mt. Auburn Cemetery 457
Spurzheim Monument 459
Bronze Statue of Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch 460 The Chapel . 461
The Story Statue 462
Charles Sumner's Sarcophagus
465
Louis Agassiz 467
The Agassiz Boulder 468 .
The Tower
470
Jared Sparks 47 I
" KIND hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." TENNYSON
YOUNG FOLKS'
HISTORY OF BOSTON.
CHAPTER I.
WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF ST. BOTOLPH.
IF you will look at the map of England, you will see on the right hand the great maritime county of Lincolnshire. Its shores are washed by the North Sea. The coast from the river Humber to the Wash is low, and embankments are built as a protection against the stormy tides.
It is a district of wonderful fertility, bountiful gardens, luxuriant meadows, and rich grazing-lands, whereon are seen the finest horses and cattle of England. The people here from the time of the Norman Conquest have been remarkable for their intelligence and heroic and independent spirit. The Wesleys lived here, and most of the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony came from this place.
The capitol of the county is Lincoln, famous for its beau- tiful cathedral, which has three great towers, one of which is three hundred feet high. The celebrated old bell, "Tom of Lincoln," once rang sweetly from one of the towers.
The coast is very dangerous, and in early times a good abbot who befriended people in peril became a patron saint.
16
Young Folks' History of Boston.
This benefactor was St. Botolph. He was the good abbot of Ikanho,1 and became very favorably known for his pious and benevolent deeds about the year 655.
The name Botolph or Botulph is made up of two Saxon words, boat and ulph, meaning boat help, an inspiring sound
MONKS AT STUDY.
to storm-tossed mariners. One of the churches in Alders- gate, London, was dedicated to this saint, also a church at Colchester, the ruins of which are now seen.
After a life of beneficence in the rude times when Chris- tianity was being established in England, the " holy man "
1 Ancient name of Boston.
111
LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.
19
St. Botolph.
655.
died, and his remains were entombed in St. Edmund's Monastery, Bury.
The abbot was so good in his life that it was supposed that his remains would be of equally good influence after he was entombed.
We have a curious story to tell you about this founder of Old Boston, whose piety and charity gave the name to our city.
There were dry seasons at Bury. The wells became low, the lowing of cattle for water was heard in the pastures, the gardens withered, the fields turned brown. At these dry seasons the people called upon the monks to do something to bring rain.
What could the poor monks do?
The monks of St. Edmund's Monastery remembered the sanctity of St. Botolph. They resolved to take his coffin from the tomb and carry it about the streets in a procession, and see if that would not bring rain.
The pious experiment was entirely successful : rain came, and so the saint was even more highly esteemed than before his decease, and whenever it began to be a little dry the monks of Bury in early times would carry about the streets, in a long, dark procession, the coffin of good St. Botolph.
There must have been occasions when the clouds did not promptly respond to the attractions of the good saint's bones, and possibly in some such way the relics lost credit. We cannot tell. St. Botolph has been allowed to rest in peace for a thousand years. Whatever we may think now of the influence of the ceremony in bringing rain, we cannot but respect the faith in God and in the power of a pious and benevolent character that underlay the pleasant fancy, for it was this confidence that made men morally strong in Saxon times, and helped our ancestors to be what they were in a more enlightened age.
20
Young Folks' History of Boston.
" The History and Antiquities of Boston " (England), by Pishey Thompson, published in 1856, a copy of which may be found in Harvard College Library, contains long extracts from the Chronicles of John of Tynemouth, in which are given many beautiful incidents of the life of St. Botolph. John of Tynemouth was rector of St. Botolph's Church, Boston, in 1518.
Mr. Thompson, in his History of Boston, thus speaks of the saint : -
" St. Botulph and his brother, St. Adulph, flourished about the middle of the seventh century. They were of noble family, and were sent very young into Belgic France, where, according to the testimony of Bede, our ancestors in those days usually sent their children to be educated. The broth- ers Botulph and Adulph, having been initiated in the disci- pline and austerity of a monastic life, took the religious habit, and became famous for their learning, zeal, and spiritual labors. The fame of St. Adulph having reached the French king, he was by that monarch exalted to the government of the church of Maestricht in Belgium, the duties of which station he filled with such ability as to attract the most unqualified eulogies of the writers of his time."
The Chronicles of John of Tynemouth thus continue the story : ---
" But the blessed father Botulph was disposed to return to Britain. Now there were in the same monastery in which he was staying two sisters of Ethelmund, King of the East Angles (having been sent thither for the sake of the monastic discipline), who, understanding that the blessed man was wishing to return to his own country, impose upon him cer- tain commands to be carried to the king, their brother. Having passed over the sea, he is honorably entertained by the king, who, having heard the pious petitions of his own sisters that he should grant Botulph a piece of ground to
y
1
PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO THE SAXONS.
23
St. Botolph.
680.
build a monastery for the love of the divine reward, he gave his kind consent. . . . The venerable, father chose a certain uncultivated place, deserted by man, called Ykanho."
The story is a charming one, and goes on with an inno- cence truly Herodotean : -
" Now that region was as much forsaken by man as it was possessed by demons, whose fantastic illusion by the coming of the holy man was to be immediately put to flight, and the pious conversation of the faithful substituted in its place, so that where up to that time the deceit of the devil had abounded, the grace of our beneficent founder should more abound. Upon the entry, therefore, of the blessed Botulph, the blackest smoke arises, and the enemy, knowing that his own flight was at hand, cries out, with horrid clamor, saying : 'This place which we have inhabited for a long time we thought to inhabit for ever. Why, O Botulph, most cruel stranger, dost thou try to drive us from these seats? In nothing have we offended you, in nothing have we disturbed your right, what do you seek in our expulsion? What do you wish to establish in this region of ours? After being driven out of every corner in the world, do you expel us wretched beings even out of this solitude ?' "
But the blessed St. Botolph was not to be entreated by evil spirits. He made the sign of the cross, and addressed them heroically, and put them all to flight, - a scene worthy of a painter.
The Chronicles give a series of charming incidents illustrat- ing the humility of the saint, his beautiful sympathies, and harmony of character.
Say the Chronicles, in regard to the time of his decease : -
" At last, when God called, he was delivered from the prison of the body on the 15th of the kalends of June, A. D. 680, and is buried in the same monastery which he had erected."
·
2
24
Young Folks' History of Boston.
Of the stories of miracles performed at his tomb, here is a beautiful one from the Chronicles, which, if it were true. would indicate that saints have a care for their bodies after death : -
" In the time of Edgar (959-975), St. Ethelwold, the repairer of monasteries, obtained leave of the king to trans- fer the bodies of saints from the places and monasteries destroyed by the pagans, to the monasteries erected in his own time.
"Now the Monastery of Ykanho (Ikanhoe-Boston) had been left destitute as an abode of monks, and destroyed by the persecutors of St. Edmund, the king, but it was by no means deserted by the devotion of the faithful. The place known to the inhabitants was held in great reverence, but it was saved in the divine offices of a single priest.
" Now when a certain monk, with many others at the command of St. Ethelwold, had come to the tomb of St. Botulph, and had collected his precious bones and wrapped them in fine linen, and, having raised them on their shoulders, were endeavoring to carry them away, they are fixed with so great a weight that by no effort can they move a step.
" The cloisters of the altar resound with a loud noise, as if to intimate the teaching of God's grace.
" The monk aforesaid recollects of the things he has heard, that the blessed Adulph, the bishop, was buried with his brother.
" They raised this brother's body out of the earth ; they then were relieved of the weight, and carried both bodies with them to St. Ethelwold, rejoicing.
" He assigned the head of St. Botulph to the monastery of Ely, but reserved for himself and his cabinet of royal relics a portion of the rest of his body ; and what was left he con- ceded to the Church of Thorney, together with the body of the blessed Adulph."
G.GRANDSIRE.
RUINS OF AN ANCIENT ABBEY.
27
St. Botolph.
6So.
The accounts of St. Botolph (or Botulph) are as beautiful as fairy stories, and would be a pleasing subject for a more extended article than we give here. My readers, I am sure, will be pleased to know that Boston received its name from one so greatly beloved and esteemed.
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" THOUGH ages long have passed Since our fathers left their home, Their pilot in the blast, O'er untravelled seas to roam, - Yet lives the blood of England in our veins ! And shall we not proclaim That blood of honest fame, Which no tyranny can tame By its chains ?
" While the language, free and bold, Which the bard of Avon sung, In which our Milton told How the vault of heaven rung, When Satan, blasted, fell with all his host ; While this, with reverence meet, Ten thousand echoes greet, From rock to rock repeat Round our coast ;
" While the manners, while the arts, That mould a nation's soul, Still cling around our hearts, Between let ocean roll, Our joint communion breaking with the sun ; Yet, still, from either beach, The voice of blood shall reach, More audible than speech, ' We are One ! ' "
WASHINGTON ALLSTON.
CHAPTER II.
WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF ST. BO- TOLPH'S CHURCH, IN LINCOLNSHIRE.
THE city of Boston was founded by gentlemen ; not sons of a decayed aristocracy ; not persons using wealth to gain. wealth ; not adventurers in search of gold; not romantic dreamers in quest of a fountain that would restore to them their lost youth. It was indeed founded by gentlemen of wealth, but they were men who turned their backs on luxury for moral principle and peace of soul.
The American traveller who reaches Liverpool in an Atlan- tic steamer may take the Manchester, Lincoln, and Sheffield Railway, and in a few hours find himself in the town of Boston, from which the founders of our Boston came.
The borough resembles Holland in many respects. Here red-tiled roofs, like those of Rotterdam, are seen ; and quaint gables and small windows. Dutch-looking vessels lie in the harbor. It contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants. St. Botolph's Church is its principal architectural ornament. Our Boston contains nearly four hundred thousand inhabi- tants and two hundred churches. Old Boston is proud of her daughter, and the traders love to speak of her on market days. She has a right to be proud, for the daughter grew strong by following the instructions of a wise and worthy mother.
32
Young Folks' History of Boston.
The ancient name of Old Boston was Ikanho, or Icanhoe. St. Botolph was abbot of Ikanho. America has named her towns and public buildings for nearly all the interesting places in the Old World mentioned in history, song, and fable, but Ikanho does not appear among them.
The town is situated on the river Wytham. The church was begun in 1309. Its tower, which can be seen forty miles at sea, is three hundred feet high.
This tower was anciently used as a lighthouse. For hundreds of years the sailors on the North Sea saw it blazing over the coast, and blessed the memory of St. Bo- tolph.
The old church, as tested by the funeral services of the Princess Charlotte, would hold more people than any single church in New Boston. Five thousand people assembled there on the occasion of the memorial service for the prin- cess.
Here John Cotton, vicar of Boston, preached twenty years. Here Isaac Johnson and Lady Arbella listened to his fervid preaching.
John Cotton was born in the town of Derby, 1585. His father was a lawyer. He was graduated at Trinity College. He was descended from noble families, and received the most thorough training for whatever duty he should be called to fulfil.
He was one of the independent spirits who refused to conform to the ritual imposed upon the Church by Arch- bishop Laud. He regarded the ritual as superstition, and he appealed to the Bishop of Lincoln and Earl of Dorset to protect him from persecution. He pleaded his unselfish and blameless life. The Earl of Dorset told him that " if his crime had been drunkenness or uncleanness or any lesser fault," he could be pardoned ; but non-conformity could not be overlooked. He advised him to fly. Charles I. was on
KILBURN
ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH.
.
Church went out for ever when Cotton left the town." The people used to say, " The old lantern in St. Botolph's church " in the wilderness." wrong ; he therefore fled from Old Boston to found a new .... CHARLES I.
. ..... .
..........
44 ...
-
..... ..
....
.......... ..
.............
.....
................
... ...
..........
Charles I.
crown his manhood by yielding to what he believed to be English gaols with Non-conformists. Cotton would not dis-
the throne at this time. Archbishop Laud was filling the
35
36
Young Folks' History of Boston.
But the lamp of religious freedom that was kindled in St. Botolph's shines to-day in thousands of sanctuaries whose influence fills the Western world !
COTTON MEMORIAL CHAPEL.
Some years ago Edward Everett and a number of liberal American people restored a chapel of St. Botolph's Church, at a cost of about three thousand dollars, and placed in it a tablet, with an inscription in Latin by Mr. Everett, to the memory of John Cotton.
"OUR ancestors have left no Corinthian temples on our hills, no Gothic cathedrals on our plains, no proud pyramid, no storied obelisk, in our cities. But mind is there. Sagacious enterprise is there. An active, vigorous, intelli- gent, moral population throng our cities, and predominate in our fields ; men, patient of labor, submissive to law, respectful to authority, regardful of right, faithful to liberty. These are the monuments of our ancestors. They stand immutable and immortal, in the social, moral, and intellectual condition of their descendants. They exist in the spirit which their precepts instilled, and their example implanted." - PRESIDENT QUINCY.
1
4
*
I
1
1
CHAPTER III.
WHEREIN IS GIVEN AN ACCOUNT OF WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, A RECLUSE, WHO WAS THE FIRST SETTLER OF BOSTON.
THIS picture does not bear much resemblance to the houses on Bea- con Street, to the Hotels Brunswick or Vendome. It looks small indeed as compared with the new Post Office or City Hall, yet it was the first house ever built in Boston.
The house stood on the west side of Beacon Hill, and a lovely situa- tion it must have been WILLIAM BLACKSTONE'S HOUSE. in summer time, looking out upon the forests on the river Charles, the harbor, and the pine-shadowed hills of the Mystic. There were very pure springs of water here, one near the place where is now Louisburg Square, another where is now Spring Lane.
Its sole inhabitant was William Blackstone. He was a hermit, or at least he loved solitude better than society. He was a royalist, a firm Episcopalian, and believed, as did King
40
Young Folks' History of Boston.
Charles and Archbishop Laud, in the divine right of kings to rule, without any parliaments to vex them or share the responsibility. He did not like the Puritans, their principles, or ways, but he was still a very kind-hearted and benevolent man, as you shall presently be told.
He was a graduate of Emanuel College, Cambridge. Nearly all of the first settlers of Boston had received a col- legiate education. He began life as an Episcopal clergyman. He came to America soon after the Pilgrims, and settled at Shawmut, as Boston was then called, in 1623. Here he lived in seclusion, having only Indians for neighbors, for nearly seven years. He was at this period between thirty and forty years of age.
A part of the emi- grants who came to Salem formed a settle- ment at Charlestown. Shawmut, now Boston, then presented the ap- pearance of three high hills. The settlers at Charlestown called it Trimountain.
In the summer of 1630, a great sickness broke out among the settlers at Salem and
TRIMOUNTAIN.
Charlestown. Many died. The sickness was attributed to unwholesome water.
When William Blackstone heard of the distress, he invited Winslow and his friends to remove to Boston, telling them how pure and healthful were the springs at that place. The invitation was accepted, and settlers from Salem and Charles- town began to build around the three pleasant hills.
ON THE BANKS OF THE CHARLES.
A
43
William Blackstone.
1633.
But William Blackstone did not like his new neighbors, whom he had so cordially invited to the healthful springs in their distress. He was so ungracious as to sneer at them as " my lord neighbors," and he sold all his land to them, except six acres, and removed again into the wilderness in 1633. He settled at Rehoboth, Rhode Island. Blackstone River received its name from this pioneer.
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