USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Milford > History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881 > Part 48
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. Gov. John A. Andrew, April 3, 1861. . Gov. Alexander H. Bullock, Mar. 31, 1868. . Gov. William Gaston, March 23, 1875. . Gov. William Claflin, Feb. 3, 1869. . Gov. Alexander H. Rice, Jan. 27, 1876. Gov. William Claflin, Sept. 28, 1869.
. Gov. John A. Andrew, March 16, 1864. Gov. John A. Andrew, March 30, 1864. · Gov. John A. Andrew, April 7, 1865. ·
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POLICE COURT, POST-OFFICES, ETC.
THE POLICE COURT AND ITS OFFICERS.
By the politeness of Judge Charles A. Dewey, I have been fur- nished with the following brief history of our police court and its officers : -
" For many years before there was a police court, cases [civil aud crimi- nal] were tried before Clark Ellis and John Erskine [whose names appear in the foregoing list of justices]. A police court was established in May, 1854, under the name of the Police Court of the Town of Milford; and John S. Scammell, Esq., was appointed as the first justice. Judge Scammell retained the office but little more than one year, when he resigned, giving way to the special justice, Lyman Maynard, who held the court for the ensuing two months. The vacancy was filled in Sept., 1855, by the appoint- meut of Sullivan Thayer. Judge Thayer continued in office till June 30, 1859, when he also resigned. He was succeeded by Ebenezer Bradbury of Newburyport, formerly Speaker of the House of Representatives. Judge Bradbury held the office till June, 1861, when the court was abolished ; the Legislature having passed an Act by which the matter was submitted to the Town. Adin B. Underwood, T. M. Daggett, W. P. Burbank, Henry L. Parker, and George Bradbury were successive clerks of the police court; but in 1860 the office of clerk was abolished.
"From July, 1861, to March, 1864, criminal cases were tried before C. A. Dewey, trial-justice, and civil causes before various justices of the peace.
" In March, 1864, the police court of Milford was re-established, no pro- vision being made for a clerk. Charles A. Dewey, Esq., was appointed standing justice, and Abraham Mead, Esq., special justice.
" In July, 1872, this police court also was abolished, and in its place was established the Third District Court of Southern Worcester, the judicial dis- trict including the towns of Milford, Upton, and Mendon. Judge Dewey was again appointed standing justice, and James R. Davis, Esq., and Charles E. Whitney, special justices ; which offices they all continue still to hold."
Among the officers for some time conspicuous in bringing business before the courts are Deputy Sheriffs Joseph D. Hunt, Samuel W. Hayward, and Augustus W. Keene.
POST-OFFICES AND POSTMASTERS.
Until the spring of 1814 our town had no post-office, and prob- ably received most, if not all, of its mail matter through the office at Mendon Town. March 7, 1814, a post-office was established at South Milford, designated simply as Milford, and Samuel Penniman appointed postmaster. His successor was Samuel Leeds, jun., ap- pointed May 20, 1818. His successor was C. M. Penniman, appointed Jan. 4, 1827. Meantime, largely through the exertions of Pearley
426
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
Hunt, Esq., the post-office first designated as Milford Centre was es- tablished, and he appointed postmaster, Feb. 10, 1823. He kept it in his own mansion, still standing in the westerly corner formed by the junction of Pond and Main Sts. There was then a considerable num- ber of citizens, who, for various reasons of a controversial nature, did not favor the new office, and for a while put themselves to cost and trouble in having their mail-matter brought to them from Penniman's. I am told that Esquire Hunt's first quarterly return to Government was only about one dollar. But time wrought its wholesome changes, and the day of small things was gradually succeeded by cheering results. Feb. 12, 1829, after much effort, the titles of the two post- offices were changed. Milford became South Milford, and Milford Centre simply Milford. The succession of postmasters following the change of designation has been as follows : -
At So. Milford.
APPOINTED.
Josiah N. Daniell
Oct. 8, 1834.
Purcell Penniman
. April 9, 1836.
Aaron C. Cook .
. March 21, 1840.
Jesse E. Razee .
. Aug. 29, 1843.
Henry S. Ballou
. July 23, 1845.
Alexander Ballou
. Nov. 28, 1845.
Samuel W. Gilbert, jun.
. May 29, 1849.
Edwin S. Thayer
. April 5, 1852.
Alvan A. Sweet .
. Dec. 3, 1852.
Samuel W. Gilbert, jun.
. Dec. 27, 1854.
Stephen D. Angell
. April 7, 1865.
H. B. Fisk .
July 11, 1867.
At Milford.
APPOINTED.
Pearley Hunt
. Feb. 12, 1829.
Hiram Hunt
. May 2, 1844.
William Crocker
. June 4, 1849.
Zelek Darling
. Feb. 7, 1853.
Edwin Willis
. May 20, 1853.
Zelek Darling
·
June 21, 1854.
James H. Barker, April 19, 1855; re-appointed, March 25, 1856, and March 26,1860.
Adam Hunt April 20, 1861; again July 7, 1865.
James H. Barker
. Nov. 17, 1866.
George Porter Woodbury
· . March 28, 1867.
George G. Pond .
April 21, 1869; again March 18, 1873.
3
427
OUR LAWYERS AND PHYSICIANS.
At Hopedale.
APPOINTED.
Established, and Ansel H. Harlow
. May 13, 1861.
George Draper .
. Jan. 5, 1863.
All our post-offices are useful, paying, and profitable, but of course that in the Centre pre-eminently so. When we compare our mail accommodations with those of 1814 and the preceding years, the contrast seems amazing, but perhaps not more so than some other contrasts in the great change of circumstances.
I have deemed it proper, as a closing appendix, to add a list of our lawyers and physicians.
OUR LAWYERS.
John S. Scammell commenced 1840, and still continues.
Leander Holbrook, sen., commenced 1847, and still continues.
Allyn Weston commenced 1851, remained but a few years. Thomas G. Kent commenced 1853, and still continues. Adin B. Underwood commenced 1854, removed to Boston 1856. Hamilton B. Staples commenced 1855, removed to Worcester 1869.
George G. Parker commenced 1856, and still continues.
Henry E. Fales commenced 1863, and still continues. Charles A. Dewey commenced 1866, and still continues. James R. Davis commenced 1870, and still continues. Leauder Holbrook, jun., commenced 1877, and still continues.
Gustavus B. Williams commenced 1877, and still continues.
Joseph H. Wood commenced 1877, and still continues.
Others, not recollected, may have sojourned in town transiently.
OUR PHYSICIANS.
I shall include three or four as virtually ours, though residing a few rods outside of our territorial limits, because they practised largely among our inhabitants. I begin with
Allopathists.
John Corbett, sen. (corner of now Bell), commenced about 1703 or 1704; d. 1726.
John Corbett, jun. (corner of now Bell), commenced about 1727; d. 1794. Samuel Leslie Scammell, sen. (from Eng.), commenced about 1738; d. 1753. Samuel Leslie Scammell, jun., commenced about 1760; d. 1805.
John Scammell (set. finally in Bell) commenced about 1782; d. 1845.
Elias Penniman (So. Milford; little practice) commenced about 1745, to 1784; emigrated.
Daniel Thurber (Mendon side So. Milford) commenced about 1787; emi- nent; d. 1836.
428
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
Elias Parkman (So. Milford; little practice) commenced about 1794; d. 1828.
Lazarus Ball (hardly to be reckoned) commenced about 1785; d. 1827.
Isaac Brigham, perhaps commenced about 1792; d. 1825.
Gustavus D. Peck perhaps commenced about 1810 or 1811; left 1835 or 1836.
Albert J. Bellows (with Dr. G. D. Peck), perhaps 1828 to 1830; transient. Addison S. Peck (with and after his fr. G. D. Peck), perhaps 1833 to 1837 or 1838; transient.
Allen C. Fay commenced 1836; d. 1880.
James Fiske commenced 1835 or 1836; d. 1843.
Francis Leland took Dr. Fiske's place about 1843, and left for the war 1861.
John Barnes (from Eng.) commenced here 1854, and still continues.
William M. Parker commenced 1858, and still continues.
F. O. Cornish not ascertained; brief continuance.
John W. Hutchins not ascertained; brief continuance.
Dixie C. Hoyt not ascertained; brief continuance.
Gustaff L. Friedrich not ascertained; brief continuance.
Charles Warren not ascertained; brief continuance.
William J. Clark commenced before 1872; still continues.
John M. Eaton commenced before 1872; still continues.
Joseph Allen Fay commenced about 1867; still continues.
Thomas W. Flatley commenced before 1872; d. not long since.
John J. Cochran commenced before 1878; brief continuance.
Independent Eclectics.
Butler Wilmarth came to Hopedale 1844; killed at Norwalk Bridge, Conn., 1853.
John H. Hero, now of Westboro', practised briefly about 1850, etc.
Dwight Russell commenced in Mil. 1855, and still continues.
Botanics.
Alexander Scammell commenced 1833; d. 1858.
Mrs. Ann A. Scammell succeeded her husband in his profession many yrs .; now retired.
Royal Cummings, commencement and duration of practice not ascertained. He was here some time before and after 1869. Since deceased.
One or two others of the same school transiently here.
Homcopathists.
Miss Emily Gay, at Hopedale, several years before and since 1872.
Charles D. Herbert, a little while before and after 1872.
Konrad Scheffer, before and since 1875; and still continues.
Henry Thayer, for a brief residence about 1879; soon removed.
429
PHYSICIANS, DENTISTS, ETC.
Clairvoyants.
Edwin A. Pratt commenced here 1865 or 1866; still continues.
Mrs. James Elliot, some time before and after 1875.
Joseph V. Partridge, for several recent yrs .; and continues.
Surgeon Dentists.
Albert A. Cooke commenced here 1852; d. 1880.
George L. Cooke, partner twenty yrs. with A. A. Cooke, commenced 1852 to 1854; and still continues.
Gideon Dickinson, physician and dentist, commenced 1857, and still con- tinnes.
George P. Cooke, son of A. A. Cooke, and his successor, has been in practice eight or ten yrs.
Female Midwives.
Mrs. Ann A. Scammell, from 1858 downward; now retired. Mrs. Susan B. Gardner, for about the same period; now retired.
It will hardly be expected that my dates are exact throughout the foregoing lists of lawyers and physicians, or that I have included every temporary practitioner. But I have made them as complete and reliable as the data at my command seemed to allow. Many of these professionals will appear in Part II., with their family records and biographical sketches.
430
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
CHAPTER XVII.
OUR CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS, ORATIONS, POEMS, ETC.
Indebtedness of the Historian to the Publishers of "The Milford Journal" for their Masterly Reports of both the National Centennial Celebration in 1876, and the Municipal one in 1880. - I. The Most Important Portions of Proceed- ings selected from their Published Report of the National Celebration; viz., Prefatory Annunciation; Executive Committee of Arrangements; Officers of the Day; the Grand Parade; at the Town-Hall; Mr. Ballou's Address, etc .; On the Park; Evening Entertainment; General Deportment. - II. The most Important Portions of Proceedings selected from their Published Report of the Municipal Celebration; viz., Preliminary Preparations; Relics and Antiquities; at the Depot Grounds, etc .; the Procession; the Decorations; at the Tent, etc .; Hon. A. C. Mayhew's Remarks; Address of Welcome by Samuel Walker, Esq .; Dinner; Act of Incorporation read by Hon. Henry B. Pierce, Secretary of State; Original Hymn sung; Gen. Adin B. Underwood's Address: Original Poem by Hon. Charles Thurber; Hymn sung; Toasts; Evening Assembly and Rev. Mr. Howard's Poem; Fireworks; Letters of Absent Invitees; Notes and Incidents.
T THIS chapter is composed entirely of proceedings which took place at our two centennial celebrations ; viz., the national one of July 4, 1876, and the municipal one of June 10, 1880. The publish- ers of " The Milford Journal," at much expense of effort, and great credit to themselves, issued masterly reports of the proceedings which transpired at both these celebrations. And the historian, as well as general public, owes them a large debt of gratitude for the truthful- ness, completeness, and excellence of those reports. I have extracted from their issue of July 5, 1876, and from that antedated June 9, 1880, what I deemed the most important and suitable portions for this chapter. These appear in order under their proper captions.
I. - THE NATIONAL CENTENARY. PREFATORY ANNUNCIATION.
The one hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was, on Tuesday, appropriately and patriotically observed in every part of the United States. From the forests of Maine to the mines and gardens of California, in populous cities and scattered villages, everywhere, the people seemed impressed with the
431
NATIONAL CENTENARY 1876.
centennial fitness of the demonstration ; and an unprecedented observ- ance of the day was carried out. In foreign countries and at foreign courts, wherever Americans found themselves, the stars and stripes, as bright and glittering as when only a day old, were raised, and saluted in the style peculiar to the " universal Yankee nation."
In Milford was held the most successful and imposing Fourth of July celebration ever witnessed in this vicinity. Nearly all the resi- dents remained in town during the day, and the neighboring vicinity sent large delegations to witness the ceremonies. From the booming cannon's opening roar at sunrise, until the last rocket in the evening, the exercises were carried out in a manner most thoroughly interest- ing and satisfactory. The committees in charge labored with inde- fatigable zeal to make the day's doings successful. The music was excellent ; though we, in common with many others, missed our favor- ite home-band. As a whole, the parade far exceeded our anticipa- tions. Dinner and speaking were really excellent. Rev. Ballou's address, which we are pleased to lay before our readers entire, is a remarkable effort, considering the limited time allotted him for its writing, and is worthy of preservation as an historical document. In the evening the fireworks attracted a great crowd, who expressed universal satisfaction and approval.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
Hon. Aaron C. Mayhew.
E. C. Claflin.
Charles F. Claflin.
Zimri Thurber.
George G. Parker.
W. H. Cook.
· C. W. Wilcox. Henry E. Fales.
John Stratton.
J. H. Barker.
George P. Cooke.
J. B. Bancroft.
Daniel Hudner.
Albert E. Matthews.
William F. Draper.
James Conklin.
A. Murdock.
David S. Murphy.
T. G. Kent.
To better facilitate the arrangements, the following gentlemen were selected as -
SUB-COMMITTEES.
Oration, Reading of Declaration of Independence, and other Literary Exer- cises. - Hon. A. C. Mayhew, W. H. Cook, J. B. Bancroft.
Bells, Salutes, and Fireworks. - Asaph Withington, P. M. Hunt, J. W. Winn.
Music. - Zimri Thurber, Daniel Hudner, C. W. Wilcox, C. J. Thompson
432
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
Public Entertainment. - George G. Parker, John Stratton, George P. Cooke.
Finance. - E. C. Claflin, T. G. Kent, C. F. Claflin, G. P. Cooke, John Stratton, S. C. Sumner.
Procession. - H. E. Fales, Lawrence Reade, A. S. Tuttle.
Dinner, Tent, and Grounds. - Z. C. Field, J. H. Barker, A. Murdock.
Police. - J. R. Davis, Zimri Thurber, Lawrence Reade.
Printing, Decorations, and Press. - S. C. Sumner, W. H. Scammell, A. E. Matthews, G. P. Cooke, C. W. Wilcox.
Invitations. - Hon. A. C. Mayhew, W. H. Cook, J. B. Bancroft.
This committee have had the general supervision of the celebration. The following gentlemen were selected as -
OFFICERS OF THE DAY.
President. - Hon. A. C. Mayhew.
Toast-Master. - T. G. Kent, Esq.
Orator. - Rev. Adin Ballou.
Chief Marshal. - Gen. W. F. Draper.
THE GRAND PARADE.
MILITARY SOCIETY, CIVIC AND TRADE DEMONSTRATIONS. - TRIUMPHAL MARCH THROUGH A CROWDED STREET BRILLIANT WITH DECORATIONS. - THE LINE IN DETAIL.
After the morning exercises, there was a short respite; but after breakfast the streets began to be crowded again, soon presenting an unusually animated appearance. Those who had business to attend to, hurried by ; while those on pleasure bent promenaded up and down, gazing in at the gayly-decorated, rainbow-hued stores, dressed in holiday grandeur.
Early in the forenoon there was a gathering in the vicinity of the park, near the Mansion House ; and the several divisions of the pro- cession began arriving.
Promptly on time the procession began forming in line, and was arranged in the following order : -
ESCORT. Platoon of Police; M. W. Edwards, Chief. Chief Marshal, Gen. W. F. Draper.
Aids. - Maj. J. H. Barker, Capt. C. W. Wilcox, Capt. William Emery, Lieut. A. S. Tuttle, S. C. Sumner, James F. Stratton, George A. Draper. Cavalcade of 22 horsemen ; Eben Draper, Chief. Fitchburg Cornet Band, 21 pieces; W. S. Russell, Leader.
Mayhew Guards, Co. F, 10th Reg't M. V. M. Lt. W. Walsh in command. Post 22, Grand Army of the Republic. H. J. Bailey, Acting Commander.
433
THE PROCESSION.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
Board of Engineers: William Gilman, Chief; Julius Woods, Asaph With- ington, Andrew Bagley, Joseph Bancroft, Moses Day. Washington Engine Company No. 1, 30 men; J. H. French, Foreman. Wide Awake Hose Company, 16 men; A. Willis, Foreman. Hibernian Brass Band of Milford, 20 pieces; L. C. Shepard, Leader. North Star Engine Company No. 4, 32 men; R. L. Johnson, Foreman. Milford Steamer No. 1, 14 men; Albert Murdock, Foreman. Excelsior Hook-and-Ladder Company, 14 men ; F. J. Powers, Foreman. Aaron Claflin Steamer No. 2, 14 men ; E. B. Washburn, Foreman.
Hopedale Extinguisher, 12 men ; Charles E. Pierce, Foreman. Invited Guests, Officers of the Day, and Executive Committee, in carriages.
THE TRADES. Hopedale Machine Company. Hopedale Foundry. A. S. Tuttle, Furniture. George G. Parker, Insurance.
ROUTE OF MARCH.
Through Main St., to Hollis, South Main, Main, South Bow, North Bow, Main, Exchange, Congress, Pine, School, Pearl, to the town- hall. The distance is about two and a third miles.
Frequently along the route the procession was enthusiastically cheered. It was the general opinion that it was the handsomest dis- play made in Milford for years, the various organizations presenting a fine appearance.
Arriving at the town-house, the Fire Department, the Grand Army Posts, and Trades withdrew from the procession.
AT THE TOWN-HALL.
REV. A. BALLOU'S ADDRESS. - READING THE DECLARATION. - MUSIC, AND OTHER EXERCISES.
The procession arrived at the town-hall shortly after eleven o'clock. The hall was completely filled ; not an unoccupied seat remaining, either on floor or in gallery. The platform was occupied by the officers of the day, invited guests, executive committee, clergymen, Masonic and Ladies' quartets. The Fitchburg Band occupied a position on the right of the platform, and the Milford Hibernian Band on the left. At 11.25 o'clock the first-named organization opened the exercises with music, after which Rev. M. Richardson made an earnest and patriotic prayer. The double quartet sang the "Centennial Ban- ner Song," which was warmly applauded. Hon. A. C. Mayhew then
434
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
introduced Rev. E. A. Perry, who read the Declaration of Independ- ence. The reading occupied eleven minutes, and was enthusiastically cheered at its close, being followed with the singing of " Loyal Song " by the Masonic quartet. The president then introduced " the Rev. Adin Ballou, an old and worthy citizen of the town, who will deliver the oration of the day."
REV. A. BALLOU'S ADDRESS.
FELLOW-CITIZENS AND FRIENDS, - This Centennial is a grand eli- max of civic wonders. It is a vast aggregative celebration of unprece- dented national developments. Human history records no parallel to such precocious growth. No former century ever witnessed such mag- nificent political experiences on the face of the earth. A most wonder- ful nation, forty millions strong, inhabiting a most wonderful expanse of territory, amid the oceans, recently a waste howling wilderness, but now full of populous cities and towns, - with most wonderful civil- ized institutions, that challenge the admiration of the world, - stands forth a colossal and florid youth in the amphitheatre of our race, at the age of only one hundred years. The sun never smiled on its rival. In vain we stretch the wings of our imagination to reach the height of these wonders, or to comprehend their scope. Happily we are excused from the attempt. Congress and the President have con- descended to recommend that we limit the horizon of our contempla- tions to our own local municipality. We can comprehend this, and perhaps find its contents sufficiently interesting for a half-hour's enter- tainment.
CENTENNIAL GREETING.
While, therefore, we do not forget the splendid metropolitan dem- onstrations at Philadelphia, around the shrines of the world's prog- ress, nor the thousands of kindred celebrations, whose responsive echoes thrill our country, we will content ourselves mainly with what concerns the march of Milford in its upward career. In doing so, its inhabitants have no occasion to be ashamed of their history ; for although its beginning was humble, and its short-comings have not been few, it is not least among the thousands of the American Israel. Its improvement will average with that of the nation, and transcends that of many municipalities whose early promise was far brighter.
Here, then, we assemble to-day in the heart of a little territorial area, containing about twelve thousand acres, in the south-easterly section of Worcester County, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, thirty-one miles south-west from Boston, and eighteen miles south- east from Worcester. Its mean level above the tide-waters of the
435
MR. BALLOU'S ADDRESS.
Atlantic is about four hundred and seventy-three feet, the utmost high- land being nearly six hundred and thirty-eight feet, and the lowest water outlet three hundred and eight. It was the north-easterly por- tion of the eight miles square purchased for the old Mendon proprietors of the Nipmuck Indian sachems by Moses Payne and Peter Bracket, April 22, 1662. They paid therefor £24. In 1690 the selectmen of Mendon bought of later chiefs the additional territory, ever since called the North Purchase, for £3. We may, therefore, set down the origi- nal cost of Milford, as purchased of the Indians, at not more than $45, - a very cheap piece of real estate, in view of present worth.
Very few settlers occupied this area prior to the year 1700. Then they began to flow over Neck Hill from Mendon in considerable num- bers, gradually exterminating the wild beasts and odious reptiles that abounded, felling the heavy forests, and clearing for themselves pro- ductive farms on hill-top, valley, and plain.
In 1741 they had become numerous and ambitious enough to form a precinct separate from mother Mendon on the old hill, and were corporately known as the Easterly or Mill River Precinct of Mendon. They forthwith proceeded to settle the Rev. Amariah Frost as their minister, and to erect a meeting-house forty by thirty-five feet, with posts of about eighteen feet in height, suitable for a gallery of the fashion then in vogue.
MEAGRE RESOURCES.
But such was the meagreness of their resources, that their meeting- house was a mere shell at the ordination of Mr. Frost, Dec. 21, 1743, with only a temporary floor and seats, unceiled, unplastered, ungal- leried, and without a pulpit ; and it took them some ten years to give it a decent completion. That pioneer generation were hardy, indus- trious, frugal, enterprising people. They were addicted to independ- ence of thought and action, and characterized from the outset by that spirit of dash and drive which has always distinguished their suc- cessors. But they had small educational and literary advantages. Down to the national birth in 1776, and until after the precinct be- came a town in 1780, not a single schoolhouse graced their domain. Their nearest approach to such an attainment was a vote, passed in 1750, to erect an educational edifice sixteen feet square, with seven- feet posts. This vote defaulted ; and ten years later, when an attempt was made to renew it, a flat negative silenced the motion. Meantime, with the exception of occasional scanty public schooling granted by Mendon to the people of its outskirts, private rudimentary schools * alone were taught within our limits. These were of the humblest sort, and kept in the homely dwellings of the old landholders.
436
HISTORY OF MILFORD.
Among the best specimens was one taught in the ancient Setlı Chapin house, a little south of Hopedale, the site of which is now quite obliterated, by Alexander Scammell, afterwards Revolutionary adjutant-general. This was in the year 1762, when he was a student in Harvard University. There he had perhaps twenty pupils, seated on rude planks behind extemporized counters, whose rough boards rested on barrels or stout saw-cuts from tree-trunks. Those pupils had rare privileges for their day ; which were probably appreciated, improved, and enjoyed as well as our present favored youth do theirs. One of them, talented and apt, became, while yet in his teens, the teacher of a similar institution. This was Adams Chapin, afterwards a man of distinction among his fellow-citizens. In 1766 he was invited by his uncle, Moses Chapin, the ancestral resident and owner of what, in our times, is called the Dea. Nathan Chapin place, just north of our Town Asylum, to be preceptor of a seminary under his roof. In that ancient domicile of humble dimensions, whose doors swung on wooden hinges, and had only wooden latches, with every thing else in keeping, our young principal took charge of his dozen or fifteen pupils, and successfully taught " the young idea to shoot." There again were the seats, counters, and furnishings, even coarser and ruder than those before described at grandfather Seth's. And the text-books, my young auditors, would ill compare with the dainty surfeit you have been accustomed to con and recite from in your commodious schoolhouses. But the learners were neither dullards nor idlers. They made the most of their opportunities. In 1780 the . same teacher taught a school of the same sort in the widow Lawrence house, so called, now corner of Green and Elm Streets. It was then owned by a Mr. Sumner. I need only tell that the Rev. Dr. Stephen Chapin, afterward president of Columbian College, in the city of Washington, was then eight years of age, and learned the alphabet in that schoolroom.
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