USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Boston, September 17, 1880 > Part 10
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69. W. D. LATHROP furnished a display of Indian customs, travelling methods, ete., made by one Indred residents of Newton, Weston, Waltham, Watertown, and other places, admirably representing a band of nomadic North American Indians, nearly all on horseback, and in full costume, with war-paint, feathers, etc. They were under the command of John M. Fiske, in the elaborate costume of an Indian chief. Almost every conceivable kind of Indian costume, as well as the manners and customs of the aborigines, were faithfully represented. There were warriors armed with bows and arrows, or flintlock guns ; squaws, with pappooses strapped to their backs ; an Indian drag, made of rough tent-poles loosely bonnd together, bearing a young war- rior and his squaw, in full war costume, and followed by an old squaw on foot ; a white woman as prisoner mounted on a horse, which was led by an Indian boy as a precaution against her escape, and closely guarded ; the dead (?) body of an "old Continental" strapped to the back of a horse, and bobbing up and down in a ludicrous manner as the animal jogged along. Some of the
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horses (evidently very tame) were driven with nothing for a bridle except the bits and reins attached. This preceded -
70. E. B. STRATTON AND LADY, who followed in the old colonial style of travel, on saddle and pillion, and in the peculiar dress of the olden time, contrasting the ancient with the present mode of travel. The latter was exhibited by
71. S. A. STEWART, in the form of a horse and carriage, with complete and elegant modern outfit.
72. JORDAN, MARSH & Co.'s display was led by Gilmore's celebrated band of New York, numbering eighty-five pieces, including the drum corps, brought from New York for the occasion by the firmn. After the band rode Messrs. E. D. Jordan, Charles Marsh, J. C. Jordan, and E. D. Jordan, Jr., in an elegant two-horse carriage. Then came the entire force of male clerks em- ployed in the firm's stores, numbering six hundred men and boys, divided into three regiments. The men were uniformed in black dress-suits, with army hats and white gloves, with blue badges ; the boys were in blue serge dress-suits, with small caps of the same material, their officers being in black. The dif- ferent companies were headed by banners bearing appropriate mottoes. Pre- ceding the cash-boys was the firm's drum corps, twenty-five pieces. Both men and boys were well drilled, and marched in fine order. But the portion of this display attracting most attention was the ship of state, named " May- flower," and containing as living freight thirty-eight blooming young ladies (employés of the same establishment), representing the different States of the American Union. The ship was drawn by four span of fine bay horses, in gold-mounted harness, and driven by M. W. Haskell. The ladies all wore white dresses and hats, with blue silk sashes bearing the respective State names. Four carriages, occupied by the leading employes of the firm, brought up the rear.
73. F. GELDOWSKY displayed on a wagon, drawn by four caparisoned horses, some magnificent chamber-sets.
74. CHICKERING & SONS had two wagons : the first drawn by four horses, and the other by two, and each covered with a canopy of red, white, and blue. The first was surmounted by a flag, and bore a modern Chickering full grand piano, such as are used in concerts, encased in rosewood with faney carvings. On the second vehicle was a small, square piano, made by this company in . 1823, of mahogany and rosewood, inlaid in brass ; in fact, one of the finest made at that time. The inelegant shape of the latter instrument, and its straight legs, contrasted with the magnificent pianoforte which preceded it,
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indicated the great improvements which have been made during the past fifty years in this class of musical instruments.
75. GEORGE G. PAGE & Co. made a display of packing-boxes.
76. MURDOCK'S LIQUID FOOD Co. exhibited a caravan, drawn by two horses, containing two Durham oxen, weighing three thousand four hundred twenty-one pounds, and two Cotswold sheep, three hundred twelve pounds, with signs on the same.
77. T. M. WIDDEN & Co. made a good exhibit of furniture.
78. COBB, BATES & YERXA's large caravan consisted of ten of their horses, - eight black and two bay, -drawing a vehicle constructed so as to represent their large store on Washington street. The box on the wagon was constructed twelve feet long, eight feet wide, and ten feet high, on the sides of which was painted a perspective of the building, and in the centre was a carpeted and furnished room, occupied by four men in uniform, who dis- tributed twenty-five thousand elegant cards during the procession. The driver was also in uniform ; he had quite enough to do to manage the five pairs of red, white, and blue " ribbons." The horses were gayly decked with plumes, flags, and rosettes. The vehicle was showily decorated with flags and bunting, and was laden with chests of tea.
79. C. II. GRAVES & Soxs' wagon was laden with a lemon-squeezing machine, labelled, " Our beginning," and a huge bottle of Hub punch about eight feet high.
80. HOITT, RUGG & Co., the New England agents of the Buffalo Scale Company, showed the improvements made in weighing apparatus by means of two machines mounted on a platform wagon. One was a simple even- balanced beam hanging on a plain, upright pillar, with platforms two and a half feet square, suspended by ropes from the ends of the beam. On one platform rested several cases of merchandise consigned to General Alden and others of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The ancient contrivance was con- structed of wood in the most primitive style. The other scale was of the well-known Dormant warehouse pattern, with double brass beam, iron pillars, ete., seen in many warehouses of the present day.
81. FITZPATRICK & NoON were represented by a canopied wagon, laden with chamber furniture.
82. POTTER & WRIGHTINGTON'S team, on which a number of men were employed cutting and packing codfish, was quite an attraction on account of the curiosity of the performance.
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83. FRANK FERDINAND made a unique display of house furnishings, comprising a building of which the corner-posts were rolls of carpet, and the roof was covered with carpets.
84. WILLIAM BLAKE & Co. exhibited a church-bell, weighing one thon- sand two hundred seventy-two pounds, just cast for a church in a distant part of the State. As the bell passed over the route, its clear, melodious tone was frequently tested by the striker on the wagon. There was also displayed a silken banner, on the front of which was a portrait of Paul Revere, and on the reverse a representation of brass founders and finishers. (This banner was carried in the procession at the dedication of the Franklin statue, twenty- four years ago.)
85. HARRISON, BEARD & Co. made a fine display of modern furniture, combining taste and utility.
86. MARTIN, SKINNER & FAY contributed a fine exhibit in two wagons, the first showing, in a log cabin, the style of shoe-making in 1630. A settler and his family were busy at various occupations, the wife carding and spinning wool, the daughter binding shoes. A travelling cobbler was represented measuring and making shoes. The interior of the cabin was furnished in the olden style. The second wagon represented shoe-making in 1880. Machines in actual operation, power being supplied by a four-horse engine, were shown cutting patterns, uppers, linings, and soles, heeling, stitching, lasting, pegging, nailing toes and shanks. Shoes were buffed, treed, dressed, finished, laced, and packed ; all in the style in which they are daily made at the factory, at an average of fifteen pairs for each operator, while by the old methods one pair a day was doing well for one man.
87. B. P. CUNNINGHAM & Co. were represented by a four-horse team. loaded with various articles of house-furnishing goods.
88. II. W. BERRY, agent for Kranich & Bach's and Steck & Co.'s pianos, had two beautifully draped and decorated four-horse teams, the first drawing one of Kranich & Bach's grand pianos, and the second one each of Steck & Co.'s and Kranich & Bach's.
89. WM. P. SARGENT & Co. exhibited, on a large caravan drawn by four fine horses, a collection of their finest carriages, and in front of it was driven, for the sake of contrast, the chaise in which, in 1824, Gen. Lafayette rode as the guest of the authorities of Portsmouth, N.II. The authenticity of this relic was attested by a certificate. It appeared driven by the ven- erable colored man who occupied the seat on the memorable occasion above
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referred to, and with occupants habited in the custom of one hundred years ago.
90. HENRY F. MILLER's piano-forte exhibit was comprehensive. A first team contained a show of the materials used in piano-forte construction arranged on a series of shelves in the form of a pyramid. This was sur- mounted by a gilded dome, with a pole from which floated a banner inscribed " Boston collects materials from all parts of the world for her piano-forte manufacturers." On the platforms were a pair of elegant elephant tusks, eight feet long, from Africa ; felts, buckskin, and wire from Europe ; lumber, iron, wool, leather, and turpentine, from North America ; rosewood, from South America ; gums, from Asia ; and ebony, from the East Indies. Other articles, such as varnish, display of piano-forte hardware, etc., were shown. A second four-horse wagon contained a fine parlor grand piano-forte, just completed, over which was a gayly decorated canopy, and a banner inscribed " Boston sends her piano-fortes to all parts of the world for the advancement of art and civilization."
91. BARDWELL, ANDERSON & Co. made a good display of extension tables, etc., as a suggestion of the range of the furniture business.
92. BURKHARDT'S BREWERY was represented by a six-horse open wagon, profusely decorated with flags, plumes, bunting, etc. In the body of the wagon was a throne constructed of lager-beer kegs, upon which sat King Gambrinus in all his glory.
93. Jons S. BLAm exhibited on a two-horse wagon the six mechanical powers as practically used, viz. : the lever, inclined-plane, wheel-and-axle, screw, pulley, and wedge. Their use was shown by moving a block of granite up an inclined-plane - supposed to have been the original mode of raising large bodies- by means of the inclined-plane, lever, pulley and roller (or wheel) ; by a block of granite raised by plank serews, using only the screw and lever; by the clamping of a column, producing friction sufficient to sustain the weight above, as was demonstrated in the moving of Hotel Pelham in 1869 - in which, also, the lever and serew only were employed ; by a frame derrick in common use by builders, combining the pulley, wheel and axle ; and by splitting a granite block with a wedge.
94. THE AMERICAN FIRE HOSE MANUFACTURING COMPANY exhibited, on a large wagon drawn by six splendid horses, an old hand-engine. On each corner of the vehicle was a column of coiled hose, surmounted by a nozzle.
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SETTLEMENT OF BOSTON.
95. THE BOSTON BELTING COMPANY appeared with a four-horse wagon, on which were exhibited samples of their superior heavy goods for mechanical purposes, including an immense rubber belt, seven-ply, forty-two inches wide, two hundred and eighty-two feet long, and weighing between three thousand and four thousand pounds ; also rolls of their largest rubber-hose, valves, packing, etc.
96. CLARK & BUCKLEY exhibited two splendid sets of chamber furniture, one being unfinished in order to show the superior quality of wood of which it was made.
97. GEORGE C. GOODWIN & Co.'s exhibit showed a pyramid twenty feet high, shaped so as to resemble the Saratoga trunk-scene in " Evangeline," surmounted by a platform, from which two boys distributed elegant cards. The tablets composing the pyramids were large glass signs of different colors, representing druggists' articles for sale by the exhibitors.
98. CHAUNCEY THOMAS & Co. displayed two wagons, containing carriages and materials. The first load, drawn by two horses, exhibited a chariot body manufactured about one hundred and fifty years ago by Adino Paddock, the planter of the time-honored "Paddock elmis." In striking contrast with this was a coupé of the newest and most elegant pattern manufactured by this firm. Another effective contrast was afforded by the exhibition of a new sleigh, together with one about a century old. The second load, drawn by three horses, contained carriage materials, axles, springs, hubs, spokes, felloes, and wheel-stocks.
99. E. B. VANNEVAR & Co. exhibited all kinds of ship and yacht work and appliances, in brass, copper, ete., their wagon being rigged like the deck of a ship.
100. FRAcis Low & Co., riggers, exhibited a pile of old wooden blocks and pulleys, made by Daniel Adams, and used to " heave down" the frigate "Constitution " in 1797; to lower a siphon at the Boston Water Works in 1848 ; for the same purpose at Salem in 1827; and to hoist the 81-ton gun at the South Boston Iron Works in 1874. They are still in a remarkable state of preservation.
101. The HALE & KILBURN MANUFACTURING Co. made a fine exhibit of parlor folding-beds, chairs, etc.
102. G. (. DUNKLEE & Co. showed a nicely-finished new " Golden Eagle " furnace, a handsome parlor-stove, and a cooking-range.
103. BAGNALL & Loup displayed a great variety of tackle, blocks, etc., in a wagon constructed to represent a ship with three masts.
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104. C. C. BRIGGS & Co. exhibited two (upright and square) pianos.
105. The S. W. BROWN FURNITURE Co. made an exhibit of carved chamber furniture.
106. JonN ROESSLE had a big team of eight horses, on which rode a lager-beer cask of immense size, surmounted by King Gambrinus himself, and surrounded by characters representing all nations. There were placards on the side of the wagon, one of which read in rhyme : " Two hundred and fifty years ago, there was no lager beer ; but now the people better know, and love the German bier."
107. HERBERT HI. HAM exhibited the aerial elevator and fire-escape, drawn by four gray horses.
108. THE BOSTON LEAD MANUFACTURING COMPANY made an interesting exhibit of its productions. Two large wagons, decorated with flags and bunt- ing, were required. In one were melting-pots all ready for corroding the lead, and at one end were samples of lead after corroding, just as taken from the bed. There were the products of pure white lead, red lead, litharge, and pig lead. The other wagon was weighted with samples of lead pipe, tin-lined lead pipe, tin pipe, and sheet lead, all made up into different forms.
109. A. F. LEATHERBEE exhibited a load of handsome shingles.
110. SAMUEL D. HICKS & Sox had three single teams, one of which carried a device displaying copper house-cornices, and the others copper bath- boilers, Austin's expanding water-conductor, and Mihan's dome ventilator.
111. THE MAGEE FURNACE COMPANY made an extensive display of their latest patterns of stoves and furnaces on two of their largest vans. The whole exhibition was designed to represent their show-rooms. There were thirty-one different patterns of stoves exhibited, all blackened, polished, and in work- ing order, as also were the furnaces. The front wagon was drawn by six horses, and bore the sign, " Magee furnaces, ranges, and stoves ; " while the second, drawn by four horses, was marked, " Magee cooking and heating stoves, for every use and clime" - all in illuminated letters.
112. SARGENT, GREENLEAF & Co. displayed, on a wagon decorated with bimting and flags and drawn by six horses, five safes of the Sqnaires & Pratt manufacture.
113. The wagon of the BOSTON ETNA RUBBER MILs was drawn by four horses, and filled with employés, dressed. in different costumes, made from India rubber, at their own factories, and distributing envelopes containing fabries showing the perfection to which they had carried this industry. The
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SETTLEMENT OF BOSTON.
operatives, while passing, were inflating rubber pillows, air-beds, invalid cushions, life-preservers, and air-work generally. The rear of the wagon was filled with cases of water-bottles, toys, combs, piano-covers, tarpaulins, mats, etc.
114. CUMMINGS, KENNEY & Co. made a very handsome show of black- walnut lumber in the log, etc.
115. EDWARD PAGE & Co. exhibited a monster leather belt, one hun- dred feet in length, and three feet in width. In addition a very pleasing display was made of smaller-size belting, etc.
116. MOSES POND & Co., stoves, furnaces, etc., contributed a mounted cloth-roof house, with ornamental iron cresting, showing the system of ventila- tion used by the firm. The various styles of stoves and furnaces dealt in by the firm were also shown.
117. The SUFFOLK BREWING Co. made a display of kegs of malt, sacks of hops and grain, etc.
118. E. B. BADGER & Sos exhibited a large copper still, copper bath- boilers, sugar-house coif-pipes. etc., and two men at work making small copper vessels.
119. CLARK & SMITH showed an immense hewed log of mahogany, measuring twenty-three feet long and three feet square, and weighing six tons, drawn by six horses in tandem.
120. RussELL & BURKE exhibited various kinds of pumps in operation.
121. NEWTON, NORTON & Co. made a display of brick-making. There were two wagons, on the first of which was a brick press at work ; on the second, workmen modelling fire-brick tiles, varying in size from nine inches long to eight feet square, and brick trays such as are used for preparing the pulp in paper manufactories. Fifty workmen in uniform followed on foot.
122. M. DURANT & Soxs had two wagons, the first of which bore a cider-press, and the second a lot of apples. The manufacture of cider was shown.
123. RUETER & ALLEY's wagon carried a big tank surrounded by hops and grain, representing the brewing business, over which was a sign with the lettering : .. Last year the brewers paid twelve millions to the government."
121. GEORGE CURTIS showed a lot of pine planks and shingles.
125. Monas & IRELAND had in the line a four-horse team, ornamented with plumes, bells, and elegant trappings. drawing a heavy load of sales of various sizes. There was shown one of the safes of fifty years ago. a wood-
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lined, rudely riveted contrivance, with massive key, and in contrast one of the heavy burglar-defying and fire-proof safes of modern make. The smaller styles of office safes were also shown.
126. THE BOSTON ELASTIC FABRIC COMPANY sent their team. drawn by four horses, wearing covers made of elastic thread. used for weaving purposes. In the centre of the wagon, and high above the other goods, was a large rubber belt, twenty inches wide, three hundred and sixty feet long, and weighing more than one thousand pounds. Tastefully arranged below and around this belt were all kinds of rubber hose, square and round steam packing, pure sheet packing, tubing, blankets for calico printing, and a large and handsome variety of all kinds of rubber goods used by manufacturers and mechanics. At the back of the wagon was a display of rubber thread for woven elastic goods.
127. THE WHITTIER MACINE COMPANY contributed a large team, of six horses, drawing one of their elevator machines, a duplicate of that just placed in Hotel Vendome. It was a double-screw, double-rope hoisting-machine. which raises the elevator car. The whole turn-out was tastefully trimmed with bunting, flags, etc.
128. THE RUTLAND MARBLE COMPANY exhibited a slab of Rutland (Vt.) marble, eleven and one-half feet long, also finished curbing. headstones. and building marble, surmounted by a monument of evergreen and flowers.
129. GEORGE L. DAMON was represented by a six-horse caravan. bearing his largest folding-door safe, with combination lock, which measures seven and one-half feet by six feet, and weighs five tons, on top of which was placed, by way of contrast, the smallest size safe manufactured at Mr. Damon's establishment, weighing only two hundred and fifty pounds. These safes were elaborately ornamented, and alongside them stood an old style " Bull's Eye " or ". Knob" safe, fifty years old, and provided with a very large key. The wagon was decorated with flags and surmounted by an eagle, and the horses were decked with plumes and flags. Behind the caravan marched one hundred workmen, in columns of four, led by a drum corps. The men were in uniform, with caps and badges.
130. Jons W. LEATHERREE made a display of all kinds of manufactured lumber.
131. GEORGE W. & FRANKLIN SMITH showed an immense iron cohn. handsomely finished, for the Boston Post Office and Sub-Treasury. weighing seven tons ; also an ornamental pile of some twenty-five columns, all made at one casting. in green-sand moukl.
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132. Jons HARINGTON & CLARK made an elegant display of granite and marble work. A four-horse dray contained two highly polished and ornamented urus of Maine granite, valned at $1,000 each, designed for Forest Hills and other specimens of granite work, including an urn of Connecticut granite, and a tablet of polished black granite. In marble there was an orna- mental tablet of Norman design, and another of the Gothic style, etc.
133. L. M. HAM & Co., iron-workers, contributed a team on which was a modern prison-cell door. seven by four feet, with improved lock.
131. HOWARD SNELLING & Co. showed three of their patent coal-wagons, by means of which they are able to discharge a load of coal quickly into a window or coal-hole across the widest sidewalks.
135. Gro. T. MeLAUTmx & Co., made an extensive machinery display. It consisted of five teams, showing a forty-five horse Hoadley portable-engine ; an eighty and a six horse MeLauthlin's patent drop-tube safety steam-boiler ; an elevator exhibit, showing a passenger car, a freight elevator car and elevator machinery ; mining machinery, especially a crushing and a milling machine, water- wheels, showing as built in 1852, and successive improve- ments ; and last, a twelve-horse mounted Hoadley engine. The display was handsomely decorated.
136. TI: PEARSON CORDAGE Co. showed an immense roll of large rope, together with samples of all sizes of rope and cord, oakum, etc.
137. THE BAY STATE IRON COMPANY's exhibit was headed by a regiment of five hundred men, the employés of the corporation, wearing blue blouses and caps lettered in gilt, inscribed .. Bay State Iron Company." They carried a banner inscribed " Bay State Iron Company Workmen." with the State shield upon the front, and on the reverse, " Children of Tubal Cain, Masters of the Mightiest of Metals - Iron." The men marched in a solid column of files of eight. They escorted a carriage containing four of the veteran employés of the company. Then came a large, gayly decorated wagon, drawn by six handsome gray horses. It contained two immense plates of boiler-iron, form- ing two sides of an equilateral triangle. The plates measured 150 X 963 inches, and weighed eighteen hundred pounds each. Upon the wagon were also bindles of sheet-iron, which the company has just commeneed to manu- facture. They were inscribed, " The first sheet-iron made in Boston." Suspended from the apex of the two boiler-plates was a large sheet of iron of about the same thickness as newspaper. The whole display was most interesting.
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138. WHITTEMORE BROTHERS' display of fari and garden tools and other agricultural implements, in a large team, attracted much attention. The machine known as Clark's traction-wheels steam-plough is designed for ploughing six or more parallel furrows at the same speed with which a team of horses or oxen will turn a single line of earth. The Oliver chilled-plough was the principal feature of the exhibit, which in variety included all modern labor- saving appliances for tilling the soil.
139. WHITELEY, FASSLER & KELLY exhibited one of their reaping- machines in motion.
140. Jons HI. LASKEY showed a self-levelling dining-table for vessels, with a company of diners sitting about the table to illustrate its practicability.
According to the consolidated reports there were fourteen thousand five hundred and six men, and three hundred and twenty-five vehicles in the procession.
The route was four and one-fifth miles in length, and the time occupied by the procession in passing a given point was three and one- half hours.
The procession was reviewed at Arlington street by the Com- mander-in-Chief, and at Berkeley street by the Chief Marshal. The decorations along the route were numerous and beautiful. Columbus avenue, which was decorated by the concerted action of the residents, presented a particularly fine appearance. Every vacant lot on the streets through which the procession passed was utilized for the erection of an observation stand. Many of them contained chairs for fifteen hundred or more spectators, ranged in regular tiers one above another, from which the pageant could be viewed in comparative comfort. The seats sold readily, at good prices. Besides these many private resi- dences had platforms erceted in the front area, for the accommodation of the family and visitors. When some particularly attractive feature in the procession reached one of the great public stands, and the mass of spectators greeted it with cheers and waving of handkerchiefs, the scene was most inspiriting.
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