Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times

by Charles Carleton Coffin

  II.

  FIRST DAY IN BOSTON.

  Farmers from the towns around Boston were already in the market-placearound Faneuil Hall the next morning when Robert drove down from theGreen Dragon.[11] Those who had quarters of beef and lamb for salewere cutting the meat upon heavy oaken tables. Fishermen were bringingbaskets filled with mackerel and cod from their boats moored in thedock. An old man was pushing a wheelbarrow before him filled withlobsters. Housewives followed by negro servants were purchasing meatsand vegetables, holding eggs to the light to see if they were fresh,tasting pats of butter, handling chickens, and haggling with thefarmers about the prices of what they had to sell.

  [Footnote 11: The market was held in the open space around FaneuilHall, in which were rails where the farmers from the surrounding townshitched their horses. It was bounded on one side by the dock where thefishermen moored their boats.]

  The town-crier was jingling his bell and shouting that Thomas Russellat the auction room on Queen Street would sell a great variety ofplain and spotted, lilac, scarlet, strawberry-colored, and yellowpaduasoys, bellandine silks, sateens, galloons, ferrets, grograms, andharratines at half past ten o'clock.

  Robert tied Jenny to the hitching-rail, and walked amid the huckstersto see what they had to sell; by observation he could ascertain thestate of the market, and govern himself accordingly. Afterinterviewing the hucksters he entered a store.

  "No, I don't want any cheese," said the first on whom he called.

  Faneuil Hall.]

  "The market is glutted," replied the second.

  "If it were a little later in the season I would talk with you," wasthe answer of the third.

  "I've got more on hand now than I know what to do with," said thefourth.

  Robert began to think he might have to take them back to Rumford. Hesaw a sign, "John Hancock, Successor to Thomas Hancock," andremembered that his father had traded there, and that John Hancockwas associated with Sam Adams and Doctor Warren in resisting theaggressions of the king's ministers. Mr. Hancock was not in the store,but would soon be there. The clerk said he would look at what Roberthad to sell, put on his hat, stepped to the wagon, stood upon thethills, held a cheese to his nose, pressed it with his thumb, tappedit with a gimlet, tasted it, and smacked his lips.

  "Your mother makes good cheese," he said.

  "My sister made them."

  "Your sister, eh. Older than yourself?"

  "No, younger; only seventeen."

  "Indeed! Well, you may tell her she is a dabster at cheese-making. Doyou want cash? If you do I'm afeard we shall not be able to trade,because cash is cash these days; but if you are willing to barter Iguess we can dicker, for Mr. Hancock is going to freight a ship to theWest Indias and wants something to send in her, and it strikes me thesugar planters at Porto Rico might like a bit of cheese," the clerksaid.

  "I shall want some sugar, coffee, molasses, codfish, and otherthings."

  "I'll give you the market price for all your cheeses, and make fairrates on what you want from us."

  "I can't let you have all. I must reserve two of the best."

  "May I ask why you withhold two?"

  "Because my father wishes to present one to Mr. Samuel Adams and theother to Doctor Joseph Warren, who are doing so much to preserve therights of the Colonies."

  BONNER'S Map of Boston for 1722.]

  "Your father's name is"--

  "Joshua Walden," said Robert.

  "Oh yes, I remember him well. He was down here last winter and Ibought his load. He had a barrel of apple-sauce, and Mr. Hancockliked it so well he took it for his own table. There is Mr. Hancock,now," said the clerk, as a chaise drove up and halted before the door.

  Robert saw a tall young man, wearing a saffron colored velvet coat,ruffled shirt, buff satin breeches, black silk stockings, and shiningshoe-buckles, step in a dignified manner from the chaise and hand thereins to a gray-headed negro, who lifted his hat as he took them.

  "Good-morning, Mr. Ledger," he said to the clerk.

  "Good-morning," the clerk replied, lifting his hat.

  "Well, how is the Mary Jane getting on? Have you found anything in themarket on which we can turn a penny? I want to get her off as soon aspossible."

  "I was just having a talk with this young gentleman about his cheeses.This is Mr. Walden from Rumford. You perhaps may remember his father,with whom we traded last year."

  "Oh yes, I remember Mr. Joshua Walden. I hope your father is well. Ihave not forgotten his earnestness in all matters relating to thewelfare of the Colonies. Nor have I forgotten that barrel ofapple-sauce he brought to market, and I want to make a bargain foranother barrel just like it. All my guests pronounced it superb. Stepinto the store, Mr. Walden, and, Mr. Ledger, a bottle of madeira, ifyou please."

  The clerk stepped down cellar and returned with a bottle of wine, tookfrom a cupboard a salver and glasses and filled them.

  "Shall we have the pleasure of drinking the health of your father?"said Mr. Hancock, courteously touching his glass to Robert's. "Pleasegive him my compliments and say to him that we expect New Hampshire tostand shoulder to shoulder with Massachusetts in the cause ofliberty."

  Mr. Hancock drank his wine slowly. Robert saw that he stood erect, andremembered he was captain of a military company--the Cadets.

  "Will you allow me to take a glass with you for your own health?" hesaid, refilling the glasses and bowing with dignity and again slowlydrinking.

  "Mr. Ledger, you will please do what you can to accommodate Mr. Waldenin the way of trade. You are right in thinking the planters of Jamaicawill like some cheese from our New England dairies, and you may aswell unload them at the dock; it will save rehandling them. We musthave Mary Jane scudding away as soon as possible."

  Mr. Hancock bowed once more and sat down to his writing-desk.

  Robert drove his wagon alongside the ship and unloaded the cheeses,then called at the stores around Faneuil Hall to find a market for theyarn and cloth and his wool. Few were ready to pay him money, but atlast all was sold.

  "Can you direct me to the house of Mr. Samuel Adams?" he asked of thetown crier.

  "Oh yes, you go through Mackerel Lane[12] to Cow Lane and through thatto Purchase Street, and you will see an orchard with apple and peartrees and a big house with stairs outside leading up to a platform onthe roof; that's the house. Do you know Sam?"

  [Footnote 12: Mackerel Lane is the present Kilby Street.]

  "No, I never have seen Mr. Adams."

  Samuel Adams.]

  "Well, if you run across a tall, good-looking man between forty-fiveand fifty, with blue eyes, who wears a red cloak and cocked hat, andwho looks as if he wasn't afeard of the king, the devil, or any of hisimps, that is Maltster Sam. We call him Maltster Sam because he oncemade malt for a living, but didn't live by it because it didn't pay.He's a master hand in town meetings. He made it red-hot for Bernard,and he'll make it hotter for Sammy Hutchinson if he don't mind hisp's and q's. Sam is a buster, now, I tell you."

  Robert drove through Cow Lane and came to the house. He rapped at thefront door, which was opened by a tall man, with a pleasant butresolute countenance, whose clothes were plain and getting threadbare.His hair was beginning to be gray about the temples, and he wore agray tie wig.

  "This is Mr. Adams, is it not?" Robert asked.

  "That is my name; what can I do for you?"

  "I am Robert Walden from Rumford. I think you know my father."

  "Yes, indeed. Please walk in. Son of my friend Joshua Walden? I amglad to see you," said Mr. Adams with a hearty shake of the hand.

  "I have brought you a cheese which my father wishes you to accept withhis compliments."

  "That is just like him; he always brings us something. Please say tohim that Mrs. Adams and myself greatly appreciate his kind remembranceof us."

  A tall lady with a comely countenance was descending the hall stairs.

  "Wife, this is Mr. Walden, son of our old friend; just see what he hasbroug
ht us."

  Robert lifted his hat and was recognized by a gracious courtesy.

  "How good everybody is to us. The ravens fed Elijah, but I don'tbelieve they brought cheese to him. We shall be reminded of yourkindness every time we sit down to a meal," said Mrs. Adams.

  Robert thought he never had seen a smile more gracious than that uponher pale, careworn countenance.[13] He noticed that everything aboutthe room was plain, but neat and tidy. Upon a shelf were the Bible,Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and a volume of Reverend Mr. South'ssermons. Robert remembered his father said Mrs. Adams was the daughterof Reverend Mr. Checkley, minister of the New South Meetinghouse, andthat Mr. Adams went to meeting there. Upon the table were law books,pamphlets, papers, letters, and newspapers. He saw that some of theletters bore the London postmark. He remembered his father said Mr.Adams had not much money; that he was so dead in earnest inmaintaining the rights of the people he had little time to attend tohis own affairs.

  [Footnote 13: Mrs. Adams was the daughter of Reverend Samuel Checkley,pastor of the New South Church, which stood on Church Green at thejunction of Summer and Bedford streets. She was a woman of muchrefinement and intelligence, and greatly beloved.]

  "Will you be in town through the week and over the Sabbath?" Mr. Adamsasked.

  Robert replied that he intended to visit his relatives, Mr. and Mrs.Brandon, on Copp's Hill.

  "Oh yes, my friend the shipbuilder--a very worthy gentleman, and hiswife an estimable lady. They have an energetic and noble daughter anda promising son. I have an engagement to-night, another to-morrow, butshall be at home to-morrow evening, and I would like to have you andyour young friends take supper with us. I will tell you something thatyour father would like to know."

  Robert thanked him, and took his departure. Thinking that DoctorWarren probably would be visiting his patients at that hour of theday, he drove to the Green Dragon, and put Jenny in her stall, andafter dinner made his way to the goldsmith's shop to find a presentfor Rachel.

  Mr. Paul Revere, who had gold beads, brooches, silver spoons, shoe andknee buckles, clocks, and a great variety of articles for sale, wassitting on a bench engraving a copper plate. He laid down hisgraving-tool and came to the counter. Robert saw he had a benevolentface; that he was hale and hearty.

  "I would like to look at what you have that is pretty for a girl ofeighteen," said Robert.

  Mr. Revere smiled as if he understood that the young man before himwanted something that would delight his sweetheart.

  "I want it for my sister," Robert added.

  Mr. Revere smiled again as he took a bag filled with gold beads fromthe showcase.

  "I think you cannot find anything prettier for your sister than astring of beads," he said. "Women and girls like them better thananything else. They are always in fashion. You will not make anymistake, I am sure, in selecting them."

  He held up several strings to the light, that Robert might see howbeautiful they were.

  "I would like to look at your brooches."

  While the goldsmith was taking them from the showcase, he glanced atthe pictures on the walls, printed from plates which Mr. Revere hadengraved.

  The brooches were beautiful--ruby, onyx, sapphire, emerald, but afterexamining them he turned once more to the beads.

  "They are eighteen carats fine, and will not grow dim with use. Ithink your sister will be delighted with them."

  Robert thought so too, and felt a glow of pleasure when they werepacked in soft paper and transferred from the case to his pocket.

  With the afternoon before him he strolled the streets, looking atarticles in the shop windows, at the clock on the Old BrickMeetinghouse, the barracks of the soldiers,--the king's Twenty-NinthRegiment.[14] Some of the redcoats were polishing their gun barrelsand bayonets, others smoking their pipes. Beyond the barracks a littledistance he saw Mr. Gray's ropewalk. He turned through Mackerel Laneand came to the Bunch of Grapes Tavern,[15] and just beyond it theAdmiral Vernon. He strolled to Long Wharf. The king's warship, Romney,was riding at anchor near by, and a stately merchant ship was comingup the harbor. The fragrance of the sea was in the air. Upon the wharfwere hogsheads of molasses unloaded from a vessel just arrived fromJamaica. Boys had knocked out a bung and were running a stick into thehole and lapping the molasses. The sailors lounging on the wharf werespeaking a language he could not understand. For the first time in hislife he was in touch, as it were, with the great world beyond the sea.

  [Footnote 14: The troops were ordered to Boston in 1765, inconsequence of the riots growing out of the passage of the Stamp Act,the mob having sacked the house of Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson.Though the Stamp Act had been repealed, and though the citizens wereorderly and law-abiding, the regiments remained.]

  [Footnote 15: The Bunch of Grapes Tavern stood on the corner ofMackerel Lane and King Street, now Kilby and State streets. Its signwas three clusters of grapes. It was a noted tavern, often patronizedby the royal governors. In July, 1776, the Declaration of Independencewas read to the people from its balcony. After hearing it they torethe lion and unicorn, and all emblems of British authority, from theCustom House, Court House, and Town House, and made a bonfire of themin front of the tavern.]

  During the day he had met several of the king's soldiers, swaggeringalong the streets as if privileged to do as they pleased, regardlessof the people. Two, whom he had seen drinking toddy in the AdmiralVernon, swayed against him.

  "Hello, clodhopper! How's yer dad and marm?" said one.

  Robert felt the hot blood mount to his brow.

  "Say, bumpkin, how did ye get away from your ma's apron-string?" saidthe other.

  "He hasn't got the pluck of a goslin," said the first.

  Robert set his teeth together, but made no reply, and walked away. Hefelt like pitching them headforemost into the dock, and was fearful hemight do something which, in cooler blood, he would wish he had notdone.

  By what right were they strolling the streets of an orderly town?Those who supported the king said they were there to maintain thedignity of the crown. True, a mob had battered the door of ThomasHutchinson, but that had been settled. The people were quiet, orderly,law-abiding. The sentinel by the Town House glared at him as he walkedup King Street, as if ready to dispute his right to do so. He saw abookstore on the corner of the street, and with a light heart enteredit. A tall, broad-shouldered young man welcomed him.

  "May I look at your books?" Robert asked.

  "Certainly; we have all those recently published in London, and agreat many pamphlets printed here in the Colonies," the young manreplied.

  "I live in the country. We do not have many books in New Hampshire,"said Robert.

  "Oh, from New Hampshire? Please make yourself at home, and look at anybook you please. My name is Henry Knox,"[16] said the young man.

  [Footnote 16: Mr. Knox was clerk in the bookstore kept by DanielHenchman. In 1773 he began business on his own account on Cornhill nowWashington Street, upon the site now occupied by the _Globe_newspaper. His store was frequented by the officers of the regiments,and doubtless he obtained from them information that he turned to goodaccount during the war.]

  "I am Robert Walden."

  "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Walden, and shall be gladto render you any service in my power. Is this your first visit totown?"

  Robert said it was. He could only gaze in wonder at the books upon theshelves. He had not thought there could be so many in the world. Mr.Knox saw the growing look of astonishment.

  "What can I show you? Perhaps you do not care for sermons. We have agood many; ministers like to see their sermons in print. I thinkperhaps you will like this better," said Mr. Knox, taking down a copyof the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. "You will find it veryinteresting; just sit down and look at it."

  Robert seated himself in a chair and read the story of the FortyThieves.

  "Do you think these are true stories?" he asked when he had finishedit.

  Mr. Knox replied they were
true in so far as they described themanners and customs of the people of Arabia and Persia. He did notdoubt the stories had been told in Babylon, Nineveh, and Damascus, andhe might think of the people in those cities sitting in the calmevenings under the almond-trees on the banks of the Euphrates or theriver Abana listening to the story-teller, who probably did his bestto make the story entertaining.

  "Doubtless," said Mr. Knox, "we think it would not be possible forthings to happen as they are narrated, but I am not quite sure aboutthat. One of the stories, for instance, tells how a man went throughthe air on a carpet. We think it cannot be true, but here is apamphlet which tells how Henry Cavendish, in England, a little whileago discovered a gas which he calls hydrogen. It is ten times lighterthan air--so light that another gentleman, Mr. Black, filled a bagwith it which took him off his feet and carried him round the room, tothe astonishment of all who beheld it. I shouldn't be surprised if byand by we shall be able to travel through the air by a bag filled withsuch gas."

  Robert listened with intense interest, not being able to comprehendhow anything could be lighter than air. He was not quite sure that hisfather and mother would approve of his reading a book that was notstrictly true, and he was sure that the good minister and deacons ofthe church would shake their heads solemnly were they to know it; buthe could read it on his way home and hide it in the haymow and read iton rainy days in the barn. But that would not be manly. No, he couldnot do that. He would tell his father and mother and Rachel about it,and read it to them by the kitchen fire. Hit or miss, he wouldpurchase the book.

  Mr. Knox kindly offered to show him the Town House. They crossed thestreet, and entered the council chamber. Lieutenant-GovernorHutchinson and the members of the council were sitting in theirarmchairs, wearing white wigs and scarlet cloaks. Their gold-lacedhats were lying on their desks. Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple,commanding the king's troops, was seated by the side of GovernorHutchinson as a visitor. Upon the walls were portraits of KingsCharles II. and James II. in gilded frames; also portraits ofGovernors Winthrop, Endicott, and Bradstreet.

  Thanking Mr. Knox for his kindness, Robert passed into the street,took a look at the stocks and pillory, and wondered if that was thebest way to punish those who had committed petty offenses.

  He saw a girl tripping along the street. A young lieutenant in commandof the sentinels around the Town House stared rudely at her. Incontrast to the leering look of the officer, the negro servantsfilling their pails at the pump were very respectful in giving herroom to pass. He saw the two soldiers who had attempted to pick aquarrel with him on the wharf, emerge from an alley. One chucked theyoung lady under the chin: the other threw his arm around her andattempted to steal a kiss. Robert heard a wild cry, and saw herstruggle to be free. With a bound he was by her side. His right armswung through the air, and his clenched fist came down like asledge-hammer upon the head of the ruffian, felling him to the earth.The next moment the other was picked up and plunged headforemost intothe watering-trough. No word had been spoken. The girl, as if notcomprehending what had happened, stood amazed before him.

  "Thank you, sir; I never shall forget your kindness," she said,dropping a low courtesy and walking rapidly up Queen Street.

  Never before had he seen a face like hers, a countenance that wouldnot fade from memory, although he saw it but a moment.

  Suddenly he found himself confronted by the lieutenant, who camerunning from the Town House, with flashing eyes and drawn sword.Robert did not run, but looked him squarely in the face.

  "What do you mean, you"--

  The remainder of the sentence is not recorded: the printed page iscleaner without it.

  "I meant to teach the villains not to insult a lady."

  "I've a good mind to split your skull open," said the lieutenant,white with rage, but not knowing what to make of a man so calm andresolute.

  "Let me get at him! Let me get at him! I'll knock the daylight out ofhim," shouted the fellow whom Robert had felled to the ground, but whohad risen and stood with clenched fists. The other, the while, wasclambering from the trough, wiping the water from his face and readyto rush upon Robert, angered all the more by the jeers of the grinningnegroes.

  "What is all this about?"

  It was Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple speaking. He had seen thecommotion from the window of the council chamber, and hastened to thescene. "Put up your sword," he said to the lieutenant.

  "What have you been doing, sir?" he asked, turning sternly to Robert.

  "Suppose you first ask those two fellows what they've been doing?Nevertheless, Colonel, lest you might not get a true answer, allow meto say that they insulted a lady, that I knocked one down and tossedthe other into the watering-trough, to teach them better manners. Fordoing it your lieutenant has seen fit to draw his sword and threatento split my head open."

  It was said quietly and calmly.

  "What have you to say to that?" Colonel Dalrymple asked, addressingthe soldiers, who made no reply.

  "Lieutenant, take them to the guardhouse, and consider yourself underarrest till I can look into this matter. Don't you know better than todraw your sword against a citizen in this way?"

  The lieutenant made no reply, but looked savagely at Robert, as if tosay, "I'll have it out with you sometime," sheathed his sword andturned away, following the crestfallen soldiers to the guardhouse.

  Colonel Dalrymple bowed courteously, as if to apologize for the insultto the lady. Robert came to the conclusion that he was a gentleman.

  The negroes were laughing and chuckling and telling the rapidlygathering crowd what had happened. Robert, having no desire to bemade conspicuous, walked up Queen Street. He tarried a moment to lookat the iron-grated windows and double-bolted doors of the jail, thenturned down Hanover Street and made his way to the Green Dragon.