THE 8EMLWEEKLY TRIBUNE. WORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA.
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SUPERSTITION OF MR. MORTON
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ROBABLY no American city litis quite
tlio marked Individuality that Hoston
boastB of. Twentieth century prog
ress and Improvement has done but
little to obliterate Its picturesque as
pects, for which antiquarians are duly
thankful. One of them, Edward M.
Bacon, has written a book about it.
Ho calls It "Rambles Around Old Bos
ton." The publishers are Little,
Brown & Co.
Wo woro three a visiting Englishmen, tho
Artist, and Antiquary, says Mr. Bacon. The Artist
nd Antiquary woro tho gossiping guides; the
Jlugllshmont tho guided. The Englishman would
' do" Old Boston exclusively. He had "dono" the
blend of tho Old and Now, and now would hark
hack to tho Old and rovlow It In leisurely strolls
among Its landmarks. Ho had asked the Artist
and Antiquary to pilot him companlonably, and
they would moot his wishes, and gladly, for tho
porsonal conducting of a stranger so saturated
with Old Boston loro as ho appeared to bo
could not bo other than agreeable.
Boyond tho few measured historic memorials.
I ho landmarks ho especially would seek were
many of them long ago annihilated in those re
peated marches of progress or of improvement
common to all growing cities, or offaced in tho
Manifold markings over of the topography of tho
Old Town, than which none other in Christendom
lias undergone more. Still, if not tho identical
things, tho sitos of a select number of thorn could
bo identified for him, and tholr story or legend
rehearsed, whiio tho Artel's pencil would ropro
duco yot remaining bits of tho Old Jumbled with
tho Now,
Properly our Initial ramble was within tho nar
row nouiids of tho beginnings of tho Puritan cap
ital, tho "metropolis of tho wilderness," hanging
on tho harbor's edge of tho llttlo "pear-shaped."
.behllled ponlnBUla, for which tho founders, those
"woll-oducatod, polito porsons of good estate,"
took Old Boston In England for Its name and
London for !tn model. The Lincolnshire borough
on tho Fitham was to bo Its prototype only In
naino. Tho foundors would have tholr capital
town bo to Now England In Its humblo way what
London was to Old England. So Boston was
tiulldod, a likeness in miniature to London.
This London look and Old England nBpoct, wo
remarked, romalnod to and through tho Revolu
tion; and in a shadowy way remains today, as our
UucHt would see. It was Indeod a natural family
likeness, for, as the record shows, Boston from
the beginning was tho central point of tho moBt
thoroughly English community In tho Now World.
fThoro wns no Infusion of a foreign oloment of
consequonco until tho ond of the colony period
and tho closo of tho Hovontconlh century. Then
ltho French Huguenots had begun to appoar and
mlnglo with tho native Puritans. But while oarly
In tho provlnco period this elomont bocama buhI
jclont In numbers to Bot up a church of its own
and to bring about some softening of tho old
Iuistorltlos of tho Puritan town Ufo, It did not
Impair tho English stamp. Those French Hugue
nots easily asslmllatod In tho community, which
welcomed thorn, and In time theso competent
nrtlsans and merchants, tho Bowdolns; the
Panoullfl, Chardous, Slgournoys, Rovoros, Moll
iiouxob, Greonlcafs, bocamo almost as English, or
American English, an tho rest. Nor was tho
Htamp impaired by tho Infusion of Scotch and
Irish into tho colony in Increasing nuiubors dur
ing tho lattor half of tho seventeenth and tho
early olghtoenth conturlos; nor by tho floating
population of various nationalities naturally
drawn to a port of consequence as Boston was,
tho chief in tho colonies from tho outset. Theso
floaters coming ar.2 going meroly lent variety
und plcturosquonoss or brought temporary trou
ble to tho sober streets. Up to tho Revolution
tho population romalnod homogeneous, with tho
dominating Influences distinctively of English
lineage. When with tho Revolution tho English
yoke was thrown off and tho "BoBtoneors" toro
down ovory emblem of royalty and ovory sign of
ii Tory and burned them in a hugo bonfire in
Vront of tho old Btatohouso and nftorward ro
named King Btroot "State" and Queen streot
' i ourt," thoy could not blot out Us English mark.
And well Into tho nineteenth century, when In
3822 Boston omorgod from a town to a city, tho
lopulatlon was still "alngulurly homogeneous;"
t camo to cltyhood slowly and Bomowlmt ro
fcuctantly after repeated attempts, tho flrst early
In tho colony porlod. Edmund Qulucy in his
t'uHclnatlug Ufo of Ills distinguished father, Joslah
tjulncy, writing of tho municipality In 1823 dur
ing Josluh Qulnoy's flrst administration aB mayor
ho was tho city's second mayor observes: "Tho
groat Irish and German emigration had not then
net In. Tho city was omlnontly English in Its
i-haractor and appearance, and probably no town
tir Its size In England had a population of such
unmixed English descent as tho Boston of that
day. It was Anglls lpslB Angllor moro English
than tho English themBolvos. Tho inhabitants of
Now England at that tlmo woro doscontlod, with
scarcely any admixture of forolgn blood, from tho
Puritan emigration of the seventeenth contury."
Ab tho founders and settlors brought with thorn
nil their bolovcd old home characteristics and
would transplant them, as was posslblo, In tholr
now homo, bc wo And tholr oarllcBt "crooked
llttlo streets" with old London natnea. So tho
uurller social life, grim though It wns with Its
puritanical tlngo, 1b seen to havo boun old English
lu a Binullor and narrower way.
And today, as wo ramblo about the shadowy
precincts of tho Colony Townf wo chance de
loctably hero and thero upon a twisting streot yot
holding Its flrst given London namo a London
Hko old court, byway, or alloy; a Londonlsh foot
paBsngo making short cut between thoroughfares;
an arched way through buildings In old London
style. So, too, wo And yot lingering, though long
since In dlsgulso, nn old London fashioned under
ground passugo or two between courts or one
time habitations suggostlvo of smuggling days
and of romance Such Is that grim, underground
passage betwoon old Provldenco court and Har
vard place Issuing on Washington street oppo
site tho old South Meeting house, which starts
in tho court near a plumbing shop and runs along
side tho hugo granite foundations of tho rear
wnll of tho old Provlnco Iioubo, scat of tho royal
govornors, now long gono save its side wall of
Holland brick, which still remains Intact. This
passage must havo eluded Hawthorne, oIbo surely
tt would havo figured in ono of his incomparable
"legends" of this raro place of provincial pomp
and elegance Then thero wns, until recont years,
that othor and more (significant passage opening
from this ono, and extending under tho Provlnco
Iioubo and tho highway In front, eastward toward
tho sea. Gossip tradition has It or some latter
day discoverer has fanclod that by this passage
some of Howo'a men mado tholr escape to tho
waterfront at tho ovacuatlon. Othors call It
smuggler's passage. In that day tho water camo
up Milk streot to tho present Library square and
southward to old Church Qroon, which used to be
at the Junction of Summer and Bedford streets.
An explorer of this passage tho onglnoor of the
tavern which now occupies tho Blto of tho Prov
ince Iioubo orchard (a genuine antiquary this
onglnoor, who during sorvlco with tho tnvorn
from its eroctlon has dolvod deep Into colonial
history of this neighborhood) says that Its outlet
apparently was snmowhoro near Church Qroon.
Its wns closod up In part In late years by build
ing operations, and further by tho construction
of tho Washington streot tunnel.
Tho peninsula na tho colonists found It wo ro
callod from tho familiar description of tho local
historians. It was a nock of land Jutting out at
tho bottom of Massachusetts bay with a flno
harbor on Its son sldo; at Its back, tho Charles
rlvor, uniting nt Its north end with tho Mystic
rlvor as It outers tho harbor from tho north sldo
of Charlostown; Its wholo territory only about
four miles In circuit; its loss than eight hundrod
ncres comprising several abrupt olovatlons, with
vnlloya betwoon. Tho loftiest elovatlon wns tho
throo-peaked hill In Its heart, which gavo It Ita
first English namo of Trlmountnln, and bocamo
Beacon, on the rlvor sldo; tho noxt in height, on
tho harbor front, woro tho north and Bouth promon
torlon of a great covo, whtch bocamo respectively
Copp'B hill and Fort hill.
Tho town was begun round about tho Market
placo, which was at the head of tho prosent Stato
streot, where is now tho old statohouso. About
tho Market placo tho flrst homos wero built and
tho flrst highways struck out. Thenco meandorod
tho earliest of those logondary "cow patliB," tho
lanes from which ovolvod tho "crooked llttlo
streets" leading to tho home lots and gardons
of Bottlers. Stato Btreet and WJaslilnnton streot
woro tho flrst highways, tho ono "Tho Great
Stroot to the Sea." tho othor "Tho High Wayo to
Roxborrlo," whoro tho peninsula Joined tho main
land, perhaps along Indian trails. At tho outset
tho "High Wayo" reached only aB far as School
and Milk streets, where Is now the old South
Meeting house, and this was oarly called Corn
hill. Soon, however, a further advance was mado
to Summer, this extension later being called
Marlborough street, In commemoration of tho vic
tory of Blenheim. In a few years a third stroot
was added, toward Essex and Boylston streets,
named Newbury. Tho "sea" then camo up in tho
Groat covo from tho harbor fairly close to tho
present square of State street, for high-water
mark was at tho present Kllby street on the
South side and Merchants row on tho North side. J
Tho Great covo swept Inside of these streets.
Merchants row followed tho shore northward to
a smaller cove, stretching from where 1b now
North Market street and tho Qulncy market (the
flrst Mayor Qulncy's monument) and over the
Blto of Fanoull hall to Dock square, which be
came tho Town dock. Othor pioneer highways
woro the nucleus of tho prcsont Tremont street,
originally running along the northeastern spurs
of the then broad-spreading Beacon hill and pass
ing through the Common; Hanover street, at flrst
a narrow lano, from what is now Scollay square,
and Ann, nftorward North street, from Dock
square, both leading to the ferries by Copp's hill,
where tradition says the Indians had their ferry.
Court Btreet was flrst Prison lane, from tho Mar
ket place to tho prison, a gruesome dungeon,
early sot up, where now stands the modern City
Hall annex. In Its day It harbored pirates and
Quakers, and Hawthorne fancied It for tho open
Ing Bcenos of his "Scarlet Letter." School street
took Its namo from tho flrst schoolhouso and tho
flrst school, whence sprang the Boston Latin
school, which felicitates itself that It antedates
tho university nt Cambridge and "dandled Har
vard college on its knee" Milk street, first "Fort
lane " was the first way to Fort hill on the harbor
front. Summer streot, flrst "Mylno lnne." led to
"Widow Tuthlll's Windmill," near whoro wan
Church Greon, up to which tho water came.
"Cow lane." now High street, led from Church
Green, or Mill lane, to tho foot of Fort hill. Essox
street was originally at its eastern end part of
tho first cartway to tho Neck and Roxbury, a
beach road that ran along tho south shore of the
South covo, another expansive Indentation, ex
tending from tho harbor on the south side of
Fort hill to tho Neck. Boylston streot, originally
"Frog lane" and holding faBt to this bucolic ap
pellation into tho nineteenth century was a
swampy way running westward along tho south
sldo of Boston Common toward the open Back bay
tho back basin of tho Charles then flowing up
to a pebbly beach at tho Common's western edge
and to tho presont Park square.
Hero, then, on tho levels about tho Great cove,
in the form of a crescent, facing the soa and
backed by tho three-peaked hill, tho town was
established.
Tho first occupation was within tho scant ter
ritory bounded, gonorally speaking, on the east
Bide by Stato stroot at the hlgh-wnter line of
tho Great covo; northerly by Merchants row
around to nenr tho site of Fanoull hall; north
westerly by Dock square and Hanover street;
westerly by tho great hill and Tremont streot;
southorly by School and Milk streets; and Milk
street again to tho water, then working up toward
the present Liberty square at tho Junction of
Kllby, water and Battorymarch streets. Soon,
however, tho HmltB expanded, reaching Bouthward
to Summer street, and not long after to Essex
and Boylston streets ; eastward, to the harbor
front at and around Fort hill; westward and
northwestward, about anothor broad cove this
tho North covo, later the "Mill covo" with busy
mills about It, an Indentation on the north of
Beacon hill by the widening of tho Charles river
at Its mouth, and covering tho spaco now Hay
markot squaro; and northward, over tho pe
ninsula's north end, which enrly became tho seat
of gentility.
No further expansion of moment wob made
through tho colony period, and the extension was
slight during tho Provlnco period. Beadon hill,
except Its slopes, romalnod till after tho Revolu
tion in Its primitive stato, its long western reach
a placo of pastures ovor which tho cows roamed,
and tho barberry nnd tho wild roso grow.
Tho foot of tho Common on tho margin of the
glinting Back bay was the town's wost boundary
till after tho Rovolutlon and Into the nineteenth
contury. Till then tho tide of tho Back bay
flowed up tho prosent Beacon street, somo 200
foot abovo tho present Charles streot. Tho town's
southorn limit, except a few housos toward tho
Nock on the fourth link of tho highway to Rox
bury (called Orango street in honor of tho Iioubo
or Orango), wns still Essex and Boylston streets.
Tho ono landway to tho mainland, till after tho
second decado of tho nineteenth century, romalnod
tho long, lean Neck to Roxbury. Tho only water
way. at tho boglnnlng of tho town, waB by means
of ships, boats, afterward by scows. No bridge
from Boston wns built till tho Revolution was two
years past.
So tho "storied town" remained, till tho closo
of tho historic chnptcr, n llttlo ono, tho built-up
territory of which could easily bo covered In a
stroll of a day or two.
From Its establishment ns tho capital Boston'c
history was so Interwoven with that of tho Colony
that in England tho Colony came early to bo deslg-
nnted tho "BostotiGors," nnd tho charter which
tho foundors brought with thorn, and for tho
retention of which tho colonists wero in nn
nimost constnnt struggle, was termed tho "Bos
ton Charter."
Lovl P. Morton, vice-president un
dor tho second President Harrison,
who has Just celebrated his ninety
first birthday, has successfully weath
ered a superstition, over which ho Is
congratulating himself ns much as over
tho fact that ho is well on tho way to
a full century of life. When olghty.
nlno years old ho wanted to Ilvo In
a now house in Washington, which ho
had determined upan as his wlntoi
residence, giving up Now York city,
whoro ho had lived. Ho also wished
to have tho house on tho site of th
ono ho had occupied whllo vice-president
and which ho owned. He was
awaro, however, of tho superstition
that when a man pulls down an old
homo of his and displaces it with a
new houso ho is likely to die in It in
tho course of the first year of his oc
cupation of it. Nevertheless ho was
determined to havo tho now house,
and to get around tho superstition
used somo of tho old walls in tho now
house, fato being thus vetoed, according to tho tradition governing It.
And all this was done Washington was. surprised to see tho old Morton
house go down, for old though It was, It waB Btlll ono of tho great houses of
Washington. It stood on Scott Circle occuplng a wholo trlantrular block and
imposing in its mass of prersed rod brick, tho wholo treated In Quocu
Anno style. Here In his day Mr. Morton has entertained lavishly, for ho la
many times a millionaire.
HEIR TO GRtEK THRONE
Should death be the result of the
Illness of King Constantlne of Greoce,
it will bring to the throne one of tho
most soldierly young princes of Eu
rope's young royalty. Crown Prlnco
George, tho oldest son of King Con
stantino and Queen Sophia, saw serv
ice In the two Balkan wars and gained
a reputation for bravery and valorous
performance. Ho was wounded In
action at Janlna. Until tho present
war he enjoyed the distinction of be
ing tho only heir to a European throno
who bore the scars of battle. He Is
twenty-five years old.
Reports conflict as to the stand
Prince George takes concerning tho
great European war now going on. Ono
has it that tho heir apparent has been
Identified with tho war party and is
an intimate friend of ex-Premier
Eleutherios Venizolos, who resigned
recently as head of the Greek cabinet
becauso tho king was not in sympathy
with the allies. This report also car
ried the prediction that In the ovent of King Constantlne's death the new
monarch would at once summon Venlzelos to form a cabinet, a course which
would be tantamount to tho ontry of Greece Into tho war.
On the other hand, the sympathies of tho crown prlnco in the present
struggle aro said to be on the sido of Germany. This report galnB credence
from the facts of his German kinship and German education and military
training. His mother, tho queen, is a sister of Kaiser Wlihelm. Tho kins
was also educated in Germany and received his military training there
BOUGHT WINDOW DISPLAY
An Interesting story is being told
In Washington about Mr. John R. Mc
Lean. Mr. McLean is very fond of
taking walks downtown in the busi
ness district, disdaining the use of
any automobile or carriage, as a rule,
when he wlBhes to go from ono placo
to another, or to take the air In a
saunter along tho crowded thorough
fares. The other day ho was strolling
down F streot and happened to see
in a photographer's display window
a complete collection of photographs
of all tho prominent persons who havo
been Identified with tho controversy
between the Rlggs National bank and
officials of tho treasury department.
A fancy struck Mr. McLean to havo
tho collection, and ho marched him
self into the photographer's and
bought tho collection outright, hav
ing it sent homo, and thus breaking
up ono of the most interesting win
dow displays on F street.
Intimate friends of Mr. McLean are
anxious to know Just why tho millionaire publisher desired this collection of
pictures of some more or less notod persons.
y LEADER OF WOMAN LABORERS
Once there was an eager llttlo
German girl, of whom, perhaps, you
could And traces in the bravo, forceful
faco of Emma Stogbagon, labor lead
er, delegate to tho recent convention
of tho National Women's Trado Union
league at New York. You might And
a suggestion of the thin, emotional
child in tho flguro, bowed by factory
labor, yet energetic with the spirit of
protest.
This llttlo girl lived before woman
suffrago had become n national issue,
boforo thr arlous uiagazlnes wero pro
ducing special s-.iffrago Issues, oven
before tho enrtoonx wero exploiting
tho "suffragette" yet in her own mind
she had ovolved the theory that
women had a right to suffrage and to
labor organization. Sho wns only
fourteen when the time came for her
to stop school and co to work In tho
factory.
"I was miserable at tho time,"
said Miss Steghagcn, In telling tho
story, "for It was my ambition to bo a schoolteacher, which was, of course,
Impossible, slnco my father was a laborer. One of tho things which I hava
to bo thankful for in Ufo Is that I did not realize this ambition; that I was
nblo to champion tho cause of labor from tho laborer's standpoint. I was
bound to havo dovotod my life to this work of organizing tho woman work
ore, and my usofulnesB has been Increased tenfold because I have been a
boot-and-shoe worker myself. Cor tweuty-flvo years "