USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV > Part 76
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1 [The only authoritative life of Mr. Mason is one written by George S. Hillard, in 1873, from material furnished by the late Robert M. Mason, Esq., his son, and privately printed. It is only the last chapter of this book which covers his Boston career, and Mr. Hillard was fortu-
nate in knowing him from his coming. Mr. Mason died in October, 1848, aged a little over eighty. In Mr. Hillard's opinion, Mr. Mason " was perhaps the greatest lawyer that ever prac- tised at the Bar in New England."- ED.]
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ments were in a plastic state; and the War of 1812 devolved upon him the duty of almost creating the American doctrines of admiralty and prize law. His capacity for labor was immense; he acquired easily, and poured forth · his knowledge with wonderful fluency. As Judge of the Supreme Court,
JOSEPH STORY.1
Professor in the Dane Law School at Harvard College, and the writer of a small library of treatises upon legal topics, - all which functions he com- bined through many years of his busy career, - he seemed almost to live
1 [This cut follows a likeness by Gilbert Stuart, painted in 1819, and bequeathed by the judge to Harvard College, where it now hangs in Memorial Hall. See Mason's Gilbert Stuart, p. 260. A statue of Story, sitting, by his son W. W. Story, is in the chapel at Mount Au- burn; and a bust of him (1846) by the same is in Memorial Hall, Cambridge. This same son published the authoritative Life and Letters of Joseph Story in 1851. The likeness in this book follows a crayon by his son, drawn after
Story's death ; and in Vol. II. p. 555, there is a list of the likenesses of him. An autobiog- raphy is contained in his Miscellaneous Works, 1852. Charles Sumner paid a tribute to him, which is printed in his Speeches ; and in Pierce's Life of Sumner there is much light thrown on their friendly intercourse. George S. Hillard printed a memoir in Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., April, 1868. Mr. Webster's estimate, pronounced be- fore the Bar on the day of Story's funeral, will be found in his Works, ii. 297. - ED.]
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THE BENCH AND BAR IN BOSTON.
a triple existence. Yet whatever he took in hand he carried through with surpassing thoroughness. Elaboration was his chief characteristic. He achieved exuberance generally without re- dundancy, and displayed an enormous · range of learning without often exposing himself to the charge of pedantry. Al- though appointed by Madison, Judge Story took the Federalist view concerning the proper method of interpreting the Constitution; and fortunately his powerful influence was thrown always in happy unison with that of Marshall, in favor of broad and liberal Lawyer. construction. This was the natural habit of his mind, and rapidly wore out some youthful predi- lections which he had en- tertained for the fanciful stand with Gold relief, and alluring, but unsound and impracticable, tenets of the Jeffersonian school of legists. Wit and hu- a mor were hardly traits of Judge Story. He could enjoy a joke well enough, to COUPLETS FROM A POEM BY STORY IN THE SUMNER COLLECTION. but seldom endeavored to make one. He was as genial and kindly as he was learned, with a wise, benevolent face, but of a serious nature. Fortu- nately he had the good sense, or happy instinct, Advice Wherecan you speak, remember every cause to understand his own Stands net an eloquence, but stands on laws. Pregnant in matter , in express in brief, Leb every sentence and gifts, and never to under- Loose declamation many deceme the crowd, more strik up, as it grows more low. And Lem take anything which he could not do well.
The nearest approach to a good story which is told of him is this: He loved to lie late in his bed, but VOL. IV .- 76.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
boasted of being always wide awake so long as he was out of it. President Quincy, of Harvard College, and John Quincy Adams, on the contrary, were gravely " addicted to the vice of intemperate early rising." One day these two gentlemen made a sort of complimentary visit, to attend one of Judge Story's lectures at the law school. But ere long they both fell sound asleep, to the no small amusement of the students. Story, not at all discomfited, stopped short, pointed to the slumberers and said: “Gen- tlemen, you see before you a melancholy example of the evil effects of early rising." The burst of laughter which followed quickly broke the dreams of the worthy old sleepers.
Contemporary, friend, and professional rival of Webster was Rufus Choate, whose name still awakens in those who knew him memories more stirring and vivid than can be aroused by the mention of any lawyer of any age or any country. He was the magician of the Bar; about whom everything that any one remembers or has heard seems weird, strange, and wonderful. No definition of the word genius could be drawn so narrow as to exclude his brilliant, singular, fascinating, powerful mind. Not without distinction in public life, a scholar steeped in the literature of ancient and modern days, an able lawyer in arguments to the judges in banc, yet his pre-eminent distinction was as an advocate. His power over a jury was as masterful as his method of obtaining and exercising it was peculiar. His classical allusions, his extravagant and often grotesque imagery, his wild, impossible fancies, his excitable manner, his fervid, impetuous rush of speech, would have seemed to one judging a priori to be far removed from the uncultivated mind and dull intelligence of the average panel. Beautiful and noble as were his more labored productions, much of what he said in court, when put into print and read quietly at the fireside, seems not only lacking in persuasive or convincing qualities, but almost meaning- less, and sometimes even absolutely ridiculous. But criticism is paralyzed before the compelling facts which repeated themselves week after week through his many long years of active professional life. His sway was not less complete over his educated fellow-citizens than over rustic jurors, who presumably did not fairly comprehend one sentence in ten. The test of success, the glory of victory, were his. His tactics in trying a case were often said to be Napoleonic; he left no precaution uncared for to secure success, and then fought with an intensity, an energy, an élan which seemed to render such precautions superfluous. He was never discouraged; he never ceased to struggle. Not till the sheriff had the execution in hand, did Mr. Choate ever regard a case as hopelessly lost. Not unnaturally, he was a more distinguished counsel in weak than in strong cases. A desperate chance roused all his faculties; but a plethora of strength in his case seemed to confuse him. So long as he practised in Essex County, not a client of his was ever convicted in criminal proceedings. People began to say that he was the scourge of society; that behind his ægis crime could flourish uncontrolled. In the famous Tirrell cases, which he
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THE BENCH AND BAR IN BOSTON.
tried in Boston, and in which, it will be remembered, the famous defence of somnambulism -was set up, he even exasperated many respectable and intelligent citizens by his success in securing the acquittal of a debased
1
Rufus Chunk 1
fellow, of whose guilt, in the specific offences charged upon him, the whole community was satisfied.
A famous instance of Mr. Choate's reckless extravagance of suggestion, - effective at the time, but seeming almost absurd afterward, - was fur-
1 [This cut follows an engraving after South- worth & Hawes's photograph, which is given in Brown's Life of Choate, where it is called the best likeness of him in repose; but credit is given to Ames's likeness, now at Dartmouth College, for its representation of him in action ; and to Brackett's bust for " spirit," and to Ball's bust for " dignity, force, and truthfulness." Parker's Reminiscences has a striking full-face
portrait of Choate, following also a photograph by Southworth & Hawes.
Mr: Choate's literary productions were pub- lished, with a memoir by Professor S. G. Brown, in 1862, three years after his death, and the Me- moir, with additions, was separately issued in 1869. This is the authoritative account, having the sanction of the family, and being based on his private papers. The full picture of his wonderful
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
nished in the earlier of these cases. After the defence had all been put in, the Government were permitted to call a witness whom they had then just laid hands upon. Commenting upon this, Mr. Choate said : -
" Where was this tardy and belated witness, that he comes here to tell us all he knows and all he doesn't know, forty-eight hours after the evidence for the defence is closed? Is the case so obscure, that he has never heard of it? Was he ill, or in custody? Was he in Europe, Asia, or Africa? Was he on the Red Sea, or the Yellow Sea, or the Black Sea, or the Mediterranean Sea? Was he at Land's End, or John O'Groat's house ? Was he with commissioners on our north-eastern boundary, drawing and defining that much vexed boundary line? or was he with General Taylor and his army at Chihuahua, or wherever the fleeting south-western boundary-line of our country may at this moment be ? No, gentlemen ! he was at none of these places, comparatively easy of access ; but - and I will call your attention, Mr. Foreman, to the fact, and urge it upon your consideration - he was at that more remote, more in- accessible region, whence so few travellers return, - Roxbury ! "
Mr. Choate's reputation for success in assisting criminals to escape from the just punishment of their crimes once put him in an embarrassing position. He was cross-examining a government witness, a seaman who was testifying against his comrades, charged with stealing money. He had said that Mr. Choate's client instigated the theft. "What did he say?" asked Mr. Choate ; " tell me how and what he spoke to you." "Oh," replied the sailor, " he told us there was a man in Boston named Choate, who would get us off even if we were caught with the money in our boots." This was discom- fiting; the court-room echoed with the roar of laughter. Mr. Choate alone showed no sign either of amusement or of displeasure, but continued with even tranquillity, as if nothing peculiar had occurred. It will always be a source of regret that Mr. Choate did not appear in the trial of Pro- fessor Webster, for the murder of Dr. Parkman, the most famous crimi- nal cause ever tried in New England. The story goes that he was solicited to undertake the defence, but refused to do so; that Franklin Dexter went to see him, hoping to persuade him to change his mind, and spent a whole afternoon in his library laying the case before him, and urging him. Choate paced up and down the room. Finally he turned to Mr. Dexter, and put to him one question. What it was is not known, but it touched a vital point. The reply was such that no further inducements could shake his fixed resolution.
The name of Choate acts like a talisman upon those who knew him; the word brings light into their eyes, and they think and talk of him without
personality can be made out only by gleanings from the recollections of many persons, some of the most important of which are the following : Edward G. Parker, Reminiscences of Rufus Choate, 1860; Edward Everett, address, in Works, iv. 178; George S. Hillard, in New American Cyclo- pædia; George Lunt, Three Eras of New Eng- land, etc. (as a lecturer) ; N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., October, 1861 (his lineage) ; Ed-
win P. Whipple, in American Review, 1847, or, Essays and Reviews, ii. (critical), and Harper's Magazine, November, 1878, also separately (rec- ollections) ; Atlantic Monthly, July, 1860, Janu- ary, 1863; North American Review, January, 1863 ; Hours at Home, November, 1866; Na- tional Quarterly Review, 1873; American Law Review, October, 1876 (reminiscences) ; Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., August, 1859. - ED.]
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THE BENCH AND BAR IN BOSTON.
readily stopping. Biographies, articles, addresses, have perpetuated his memory and fed the flame of curiosity ; but no one has ever yet drawn the man, - a task which, perhaps, is as impossible as to describe color or scent
CHIEF-JUSTICE LEMUEL SHAW.1
by words. His traits have not been, and cannot be, captured by a biog- rapher and imprisoned in a book; but airy and sprite-like they ever flit away before the advancing pen, and refuse to be caught by it, however
1 [This cut follows a photograph, taken by Whipple & Black, in 1858. The Editor is in- debted to Samuel S. Shaw, Esq., for the follow- ing memorandum : -
"There is no likeness of Chief-Justice Shaw of earlier date than the bust by S. H. Clevenger, modelled in 1839, in the possession of the Boston Atheneum, a copy of which fills a niche in the Supreme Court room at Boston. It was taken in his 59th year, and is an admirable portrait. The artist, whose career was cut short by a premature death in
1843, excelled in the fidelity of his likenesses. His resi- dence in Boston was short, and it is probable that he saw the chief-justice only as a sitter in his studio. He has given much of the animation which lighted up his face when conversing on subjects which interested him. A daguerreo- type of the four judges who then composed the full bench of the Supreme Court was taken by Litch & Whipple in 1845, from which enlarged photographs have been made. It is chiefly interesting as suggesting his appearance before the arrival of old age.
" A daguerreotype taken by Southworth & Hawes in 1854 has recently been enlarged in photographs, which have
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
fervidly it may race after them. If one could lay hands upon them, the most charming volume ever yet written would see the light.
One cannot resist speaking a few words of Choate in a paper like this, though it may perhaps seem unfair to single him out almost alone from among his eminent contemporaries. Judge B. R. Curtis, Chief-Justice Lemuel Shaw, Judge Lemuel Tham 1824 Peleg Sprague, are but the beginning of a long list of jurists and advo- cates who adorned the Bench and Bar at Boston during this period. But a mere catalogue would be uninteresting, and to give more than a cata- logue within any reasonable limits would be impossible. Moreover, it is not easy, possibly not wise, to undertake to speak freely of persons whose widows and children are still among us, and many of whose rivals and contemporaries, equally worthy of notice, still survive. Therefore it is, perhaps, quite as well that our allotted limit is already reached, or in- deed passed.
John T. Shore fr.
attracted much attention from the picturesque effects ob- tained from a strong vertical light and deep shadows. It is a three-quarters length, faces directly front, and, though somewhat fantastical and removed from reality, is iin- pressive.
"The large photograph by Whipple & Black taken in 1858, the chief-justice being then 77 years old, will prob- ably be more generally recognized as a good portrait by those who now remember him than any other, - Hunt's excepted. In it all the furrows and wrinkles of old age are conspicuous, and their harsh effect is heightened by the dark color of the hair, which was natural, and remained but slightly changed to the end. The implacable severity of this picture would produce a false impression on those who had no means of correcting it, but it is on the whole very lifelike.
" The great, full-length portrait by Hunt, and its attend- ant studies and sketches, belong to the history of art in this country. It was painted in 1859 at the request of the Essex Bar Association, and put in place under the supervision of
the artist on December 22 of that year. He had under- taken the task with enthusiasm, and the result was accepted by the Bar and the public at large as a complete .success. The committee, represented by the Hon. Otis P. Lord, reported their satisfaction in having 'a most faithful and true delineation of the form and features of Chief-Justice Shaw,' and attested to posterity its exact 'fidelity.' The justice of this verdict lias apparently never been questioned by any critic. In the smaller sketches by Hunt, much esteemed by those who own them, there should be noticed an exaggeration of details, especially of the nose, amount- ing to caricature were it not for the dignity of the whole figure. The bust by King, in the Boston City Hall, was executed after the decease of the chief-justice from pictures and photographs.
" Besides the foregoing, one or two oil portraits of 110 value and several photographs, single or grouped with others, were taken, which merit no special comment." -ED.]
CHAPTER XII.
THE HORTICULTURE OF BOSTON AND VICINITY.
BY MARSHALL PINCKNEY WILDER, PH.D., President of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
A S to the fruits of this region previous to the coming of the colonists we know but little.1 Whether Leif and Thorwald, the Scandinavians, did or did not land on our shores in the tenth century, as the Sagas have it, to find grapes so abundant that they gave this land the name of Vinland, we still know that, the vine was found on our coast by Champlain six hun- dred years afterward, and that it prospers through twenty-five degrees of latitude; and should the phylloxera continue its devastations in Europe, our continent may become, literally, the Vineland of the world. No nation possesses such wonderful resources for the culture of fruits; no people have made such rapid progress in the science of pomology; and to Boston and vicinity may be traced primarily the widespread interest in horticul- ture throughout our continent. Nor has this enterprise declined. Massa- chusetts retains her renown for her skill in horticultural science, and her interest in its advancement.
The earliest account that we have of the fruits and flowers of New England is given by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, where, in addition to In- dian corn and other grains, they also found indigenous fruits and flowers. " Here are grapes," wrote Governor Edward Winslow in 1621, " white and red, and very sweet and strong also; strawberries, gooseberries, raspber- ries ; plums of three sorts, white, black, and red, being almost as good as a damson : abundance of roses, white, red, and damask, single, but very sweet." 2
The first orchard of which we have any note was that of the Rev. Wil- liam Blackstone (Blaxton), planted on the west slope of Beacon Hill.3 In Lonsdale, Rhode Island, whither he removed in 1634, there may still be seen near his favorite resort, "Study Hill," remains of trees planted by him, and from which were disseminated apples, now under cultivation, by the name of Blackstone. The first planting of fruits by the colonists of
1 [See Dr. Asa Gray's chapter in Vol. I., on
2 Young's Chronicle of the Pilgrims, p. 234. " The Flora of Boston and its vicinity."-ED.]
3 [See Vol. I. p. 84 .- ED.]
.
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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Massachusetts Bay, we believe, was the orchard of Governor John Endicott of Salem, about the year 1628. From this nursery we find that as late as 1648 Endicott sold five hundred apple-trees to William Trask, for which he received two hundred and fifty acres of land, -an acre of land for two apple trees; a noble illustration of the appreciation in which fruits were held by the colonists at that time. The planting of fruits by the colonists under Governor Winthrop was begun, we presume, soon after their arrival in 1630, for we find that seeds and stones of fruits are particularly men- tioned among their outfits.
Next to Blackstone, Governor Winthrop was the most prominent in the horticulture of Boston, having, in addition to his farms at Governor's Island and on the Mystic River, a garden opposite the foot of School Street, and adjoining his house.1 Winthrop had frequent correspondence with Endicott in regard to fruit-trees, as also had his son John, Governor of Connecticut; and we read of a good store of pippins from Governor Winthrop's garden. The colonial Legislature granted to Governor John Winthrop Conant's Island in Boston Harbor, afterward known as Governor's Island, on condi- tion that he should plant thereon a vineyard, and should pay as rent there- for a hogshead of wine. Whether this vineyard was planted or not we have no means of ascertaining; but the contract was afterward altered to make the rent two bushels of apples a year, - one for the Governor, and one for the General Court.
One of the ancient gardens of Boston of which we have a distinct record is that of Gamaliel Wayte, in Summer Street, - the present site of the store of C. F. Hovey & Co.2 He came over with Edward Hutchinson, and is called a planter, which probably meant farmer or gardener; the latter most likely, for we find by the Book of Possessions that this land is described as Wayte's Garden, and we know that it was noted for the superior excellence of its fruits. This was planted as early as, or before, 1642.3 Gamaliel seems to have been one of our earliest horticulturists, and long possessed the ability not only to plant but to eat his fruits ; for Judge Sewall, in his diary, states
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1 [See Vol. I. pp. 138, 161, 481 .- ED.]
2 [See Vol. II. p. xxxi, No. 81. - ED.]
8 Letter of the Hon. Thomas C. Amory. This estate passed into the hands of Leonard Vassall, thence to John Hubbard and Frederick W. Geyer. Here once resided, in the family of Mr. Geyer, Mrs. Maryatt, whose gardens at Wimble- don were at one time the finest in England for their beauty and variety of flowering plants ; and we may reasonably conjecture, says Mr. Amory, that "the taste and skill that produce such marvels were nurtured and fostered in her earlier days among the flower-beds of Summer Street." She died in 1855, at the age of eighty- one. This estate passed, in 1800, to Samuel P. Gardner, Esq., the father of our respected mer- chant and fellow-citizen John L. Gardner ; and from him the latter probably inherited his love
of those fruits and flowers which for many years have distinguished his conservatories in Brookline, and graced the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Of this estate the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop remarks : "No garden in Boston had finer fruit fifty years ago, and it was cultivated and cared for with the highest intelligence and skill. The best speci- mens of all the old varieties of pears were to be found there, and Mr. Gardner had a peculiar art of preserving them from decay and bringing them out after the season for them was over." How many of Wayte's, trees or plants survived till these grounds came into the possession of Mr. Gardner we know not; but we have a dia- gram of the garden and the lists of its fruits in 1811, and as late as 1870 there was an old pear tree in the yard which was in a thrifty condition.
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THE HORTICULTURE OF BOSTON AND VICINITY.
that he lived to the age of eighty-seven, and not long before his death was blessed with several new teeth.
Passing over a hundred years, of whose horticultural history little record remains, we find in the Philosophical Transactions (London, 1734) a paper communicated to the Royal Society by the Hon. Paul Dudley of Roxbury, Chief-Justice of Massachusetts, entitled " Some Observations on the Plants of New England, with Remarkable Instances of the Power of Vegetation," which gives us an account of the size and culture of fruits and vegetables growing in Roxbury in 1726, as follows : -
" The Plants of England, as well as those of the Fields and Orchards as those of the Garden, that have been brought over hither, suit mighty well with our Soil, and grow here to great Perfection.
" Our apples are without Doubt as good as those of England, and much fairer to look to ; and so are the Pears, but we have not got all the Sorts.
" Our Peaches do rather excel those of England; and then we have not the Trouble or Expense of Walls for them, for our Peach Trees are all Standards ; and I have had in my own Garden seven or eight Hundred fine Peaches of the Rare-ripes growing at a Time on one Tree.
" Our people of late Years have run so much upon Orchards, that in a village near Boston, consisting of about forty Families, they made near three Thousand Barrels of Cyder. This was in the Year 1721. And in another Town, of two Hundred Fam- ilies, in the same year, I am credibly informed, they made near ten Thousand Barrels. Some of our Apple Trees will make six, some have made seven, Barrels of Cyder, but this is not common ; and the Apples will yield from seven to nine Bushels for a Barrel of Cyder.
" A good Apple Tree with us will measure from six to ten Foot in Girt. I have seen a fine Pearmain, at a Foot from the Ground, measure ten Feet aud four inches round. This Tree in one Year has borne thirty-eight Bushels (by Measure ) of as fine Pearmains as ever I saw in England. A Kentish Pippin, at three foot from the Ground, seven Foot in Girt ; a Golden Rossetin, six Foot round. The largest Apple Tree that I could find was ten Foot and six Inches round ; but this was no Graft.
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