suffrage rights upon the women of the state, because of the general interest she has taken in the equal suffrage cause for many years, and her strong love for the old state in which her father was born, in which many of her kindred have their home, and in which her summer days were passed for many years, at Portsmouth, at Rye Beach, at Dublin and, notably, at Wilton, which was her father's summer home for the last fourteen years of his life. Mr. and Mrs. FitzGerald have three daughters-Anne, Rebecca and Susan, nine, six and three years of age respectively, the two eldest being public school pupils. Warner, N. H. A LIFE STORY By L. Adelaide Sherman I will sing of spring, and the flowers and trees, I will sing of wonderful, beautiful things. I will sing of the promise of days to come, Of honor and fame, with their hopes and fears, Of wisdom's heights where my feet shall roam(And some will listen, I know, I said) I will sing of the glory of future years. I will sing of love, for this sweetest theme In the June-sweet bowers where I wait and dream (And you will listen, dear heart, I said) I will sing for him whom I love the best. I will sing the song of an aching heart- I will sing of the peace that comes at last I will sing of the path that leads to the star. HISTORIC INNS By Eva F. T. Staniels [Read before Rumford Chapter, D. A. R., of Concord, N. H.] The most modern hotels of the present day cannot compare relatively in importance with the ordinaries, or inns, opened in the early settlement of our country by order of the General Court and under the direct jurisdiction of the minister and the tithing man. These worthies were given authority to enforce the laws which prohibited the inordinate sale of liquors. As the inns were often required by law to be situated next the meeting house, many a pleasant nooning did our ancestors spend before the hospitable fire. The landlords were men of distinction, being often the local magistrates, and the tavern in Ipswich was presided over, in 1771, by the grand-daughter of Governor Endicott, thus showing that some of the best families in New England were represented in this business, also showing that women were appointed innkeepers, so well did they perform their duties. These houses were primitive affairs, often having but two rooms and a lean-to, and frequently travellers had difficulty in securing beds. One's dinner cost sixpence by order of the General Court, regardless of quantity or quality, the landlord and his wife often acting as host and host ess at the table. Several of these taverns bore unique signs, one in Medford representing two old men shaking hands and bowing. This gave to the place the name of Palaver's Tavern, which proved so offensive to the inn-keeper that he substituted another and more appropriate design, in the form of a fountain pouring punch into a large bowl. This Fountain Tavern had substantial platforms in two large shade trees connected with each other and the house by bridges. In these tree rests, the traveller might sit, cool and remote among the branches, drinking tea or a substitute and watching horsemen and pedestrians come and go. One ancient inn, in Byfield, Mass., was kept by "Old J. P." as he was familiarly called from the fact that these initials were stamped on the barrels of rum with which his cellar was filled. This tavern of Jeremiah Pearson was a lively centre on Muster days, and many a yarn was spun across the board in the Independence Hall, so christened at the dinner given the returned troops after the Revolutionary War. Copied from one of the favorite signs of England, "The Bunch of Grapes" formerly hung from a tavern of that name in State Street, Boston. It was made of baked clay, brought from England, and a portion of this sign can be seen in the Essex Institute, Salem, while two bunches of the grapes are stored in a steel vault in the Masonic Temple, Boston, for the Masons take every precaution to preserve this old relic of the inn, in which all the meetings of the oldest benevolent association in New England were held in 1767 and 1768. Here also the first president of the United States stayed. The tavern of "Bunch of Grapes was moved to Congress Street, and here General Stark came after his victory at Bennington. A sign verse which hung in front of Mother Red Cap Inn, Holway, England, and which was reproduced on ancient signs in America, savors strongly of our dear old Mother Goose. Old Mother Red Cap, according to her tale, lived twenty and one hundred years, by drinking this good ale. "It was her meat, it was her drink, and medicine beside, and if she still had drunk this ale, she never would have died." Although a few of the original New England taverns still exist, many of those now standing are more recent ones, built on the same site, and bearing the same name. The house at Stockbridge, Mass., first built in 1773 on the stage route between Boston and Albany, was a large and popular hotel when burnt in 1896. In the public room of the present tavern, rebuilt on the old site is a collection of old-fashioned furniture, crockery, and bric-a-brac, considered by collectors of the antique the best in the country. The Wayside Inn at Sudbury, Mass., made famous by Longfellow's "Tales of the Wayside Inn," was the assembly place of the soldiers after the battle of Lexington. Wright's Tavern of Concord, Mass., calls to mind a thrilling scene when Major Pitcairn, the British commander, stirring a glass of brandy with his bloody finger, the morning before the battle of Concord, boasted that he would thus stir the blood of his enemy before night. Salem was the possessor of several inns The Ship's Tavern, the Salem Coffee House and Thomas Beadles' Tavern, where the preliminary examinations in witchcraft were held. The first temperance inn was opened in Marlboro, N. H., when liquor was of prime importance in all taverns. This innovation was looked upon with disfavor by drivers of stage-coaches and loud were their lamentations; being assured, however, that coffee and tea would be served them, the tavern became one of the most popular in New England, and thus our first coffee house was started. picturesque taverns in all Essex County is Ferncroft Inn, Danvers; the views from the piazza are unsurpassed in beauty and grandeur. It would puzzle the heads of our modern architects, should they attempt to duplicate the architectual designs of this ancient structure, erected in 1692, with low ceilings and heavy oak cross beams, that make the six-footer duck his head, while the broad fire-places easily accommodate seven foot logs. Ancient china, books and prints are here in profusion, with two arm chairs, once the property of Robert Burns. The paper on the office walls is Shakesperian; old English landscapes are in the hall, while hunting scenes and sports of "Merrie England" delight the eye in the dining room. front of the inn is an exact reproduction of the home of Anne Hathaway. The The Boynton Tavern, in old Newbury, was presided over by a very eccentric man. One of his sons, who was born while the tavern was being torn down, was named Tearing; the second son, coming when an addition to the inn was under way, was named Adding. Mr. Boynton was the inventor of the first silk reel, and groups of mulberry trees were set out, furnishing proper food for the worms, and some of these trees are in a flourishing condition on a farm in Byfield. The "West Parish" of Boxford boasted for many years an old tavern that was erected in 1776, where the militia met to be reviewed. The fine country inn, now located in "East Parish" was refitted from an old tavern by Deacon Parker Spofford. Here the first post-office was kept, mails being brought by the stage-coach. The mails were taken to the church and distributed by Mr. Spofford to people living at a distance. Even in those days the good deacons used drawing cards for church services, it seems. In the town of Danvers stands the One of the quaintest and most old Berry Tavern, built in 1741. This public house has been maintained continuously from that time, being at the present day a thoroughly equipped hotel. Our own City of Concord can boast its share of historic taverns. Its first public house was a development of James Osgood's garrison, on the east side of North Main street, just south of the junction with Depot street. This refuge from danger became gradually a house for entertainment, and thither were borne the slain in the fight with the Indians, on the Hopkinton road, August 11, 1746an indication that its shelter was then a place of common rendezvous. Asa McFarland, in an article entitled "Memorials of Olden Time, printed in the Statesman of February 14, 1845, says he was told by an old citizen that the Prince de Tallyrand was in Concord, a lodger at the Osgood tavern, during his exile from France, 1793-1795. There was a tavern long ago at the corner of North Main and Church streets, kept by Benjamin Hannaford, who dwelt there as early as 1777. The earliest south end tavern was that of Samuel Butters, a portion of which remains, numbered 131 South Main street; it is mentioned as being a tavern as early as 1780. In its late years it was called the Concord Railroad House. It was there that the red coated company of troopers in the Eleventh regiment disbanded, and in one, of its rooms, February 3, 1795, a meeting was held for the organization of the corporation which built the lower or Pembroke bridge. There was in the last century a Kinsman House, kept by one Aaron Kinsman, who served as captain in a New Hampshire regiment at Bunker Hill and owned an eight-acre estate, with a good frontage on North Main street, opposite School. On this site he kept a hotel before 1790, when he married a Hanover widow and moved to the college town. The property was sold to George Hough, in 1791, who maintained there a printing office. In 1817 it went into the owner ship of Joseph Low. The Stickney Tavern, which bore on its sign a picture of a bold Indian chief, was on Main street, just north of its junction with Court. Broad gardens and orchards surrounded it, enclosing ground now covered by Court street, as well as a part of City Hall square. Its site came near being chosen in 1816 as the place for the state house. The tavern was a plain, spacious New England mansion and William Stickney opened its doors to travellers, January, 1791. Both lines of Boston stages drew rein at Stickney's, and its crescentshaped driveway turned off Main street, as far away as Pitman street, and returned almost as far north as Chapel. In March, 1798, there was a ball at Stickney hall to celebrate the ordination of a pastor for the old North Church. The hours of dancing parties at Stickney's were seemly, for the newspapers of 1808 make mention of such assemblies to begin at 5 p. m. Gale's Tavern obtained mention as early as 1797, and as late as 1832. It was at the north corner of North Main and Warren streets, and was kept by Benjamin Gale. The house numbered 250 North Main street, was a portion of the Washington Hotel in the early part of the nineteenth century. President Monroe was entertained there in 1817. The teamsters who frequented this tavern half a century ago were accustomed to pay fifty cents for supper, lodging and breakfast. This included a cigar and a glass of rum. John P. Gass, a young man of twenty-seven, was the landlord of the Columbian Hotel. It had abundant room, and in 1830 stages to Boston, Portsmouth and Haverhill departed from its doors. This hotel was destroyed by fire in 1869. Another Concord hotel, around which pleasant memories cluster, was the Phenix, built by Abel Hutchins on the site of his burned dwelling and opened in 1819. This house was destroyed by fire in 1856, and the existing hotel, which has been run in connection with the Eagle, since 1890, was built upon its site. The original Eagle Coffee House was built in 1827, on the site where the Eagle Hotel now stands. In Grecian hall, connected with this property, the notable Jackson ball was held in 1828; also the first public dramatic entertainment ever given in Concord. There were noted names on the books of the Eagle-Andrew Jackson, who neglected the dainties and ate bread and milk; Benjamin Harrison, Levi P. Morton, Jefferson Davis and others. The rates at the Eagle may be taken as specimen charges of the better hotels. From 1840 to 1850 they were one dollar a day; tourists to the mountains paid one dollar and fifty cents, and if a guest looked like a real millionaire two dollars was timidly suggested. For more than thirty years the American House was a grateful abiding place to many travellers. It stood on the north corner of North Main and Park streets, and the names of many noted men could be found on its registers. The Elm House stood for nearly half a century on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets. Many others could be mentioned. of more or less celebrity, but time will not permit. Could we, for a short time, bring before us pictures of the young farmers on their way to Boston, from all parts of New England, on their jumpers, or long sleds, where they heaped the corn, grain, bundles of yarn, homespun cloth, etc., which were to be exchanged for other merchandise; of the severe storms they encountered, making them willing prisoners for a while at these hospitable houses; of the buxom lasses met and ofttimes made the partners of their joys; of the merry making in the long winter evenings, would not all this compare favorably with the present mode of enjoyment of our young people; and does it not make us wish for a glimpse of some old time inn? For No longer the host hobbles down from his rest In the porch's cool shadows to welcome his guest With a smile of delight, and a grasp of the hand, And a glance of the eye that no heart could withstand. When the long rains of autumn set in from the West, The mirth of the landlord was broadest and best; And the stranger who paused over night never knew If the clock on the mantel struck ten, or struck two. Oh! the songs they would sing and the tales they would spin, As they lounged in the light of the old fashioned inn; But the day came at last when the stage brought no load To the gate, as it rolled up the long, dusty road. |