“Breakfast: 5 ounces of brown bread
“Dinner: 5¼ ounces of brown bread
3½ ounces of beef meat
3½ ounces of potato
3¾ ounces of soup.”
“He far out-stayed his sentence because he had to pay for all his food,
drink, and coal for heating, and he considered they cheated him, so he
refused to go. The sheriff and jailers, tired of having him there,
begged him to leave. Even his mother, Margaret Palmer, wrote to him ‘Not
to be so set.’ But nothing could move him. He said they had put him in
there, and they would have to take him out, as he would not walk out.
They finally carried him out in his chair and placed it on the
sidewalk.”
* * * * *
Shortly after leaving the jail at Worcester Palmer heard of the proposed
Community of Fruitlands, and being much interested in all reforms, he
offered to run the farm without pay and went there at the very start. He
took some fine old furniture with him from No Town to help furnish the
house, and whenever anything was needed in the way of farm implements,
etc., he would drive over to No Town and bring it back with him. When
the Community of Fruitlands failed, he bought the place and carried on a
strange sort of Community of his own for upwards of twenty years.
Emerson visited him afterwards, and a motley collection of reformers,
wayfarers, and a host of tramps found a welcome by his fireside.
Any one driving by the old North Leominster graveyard will see a stone
monument adorned with the head of a man with a flowing beard. On it is
written:—
JOSEPH PALMER
died
October 30, 1875
Aged 84 years, 5 months
Underneath the carved head is written:—
Persecuted for
Wearing the Beard
V
SUMMER SUNSHINE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account