Before crossing Town Brook I must speak of Joseph P. Brown and Wm. H. Nelson, though they are not associated with the remote history of our town. Mr. Brown was the son of Lemuel Brown, and was born December 12, 1812. His father was a cabinet maker who came to Plymouth with a wife, Sarah Palmer of Cambridge, and established himself in business with a shop in the rear of the house next west of the present residence of the Misses Rich on Summer street. He did good work, and I know many mahogany chairs of his workmanship still doing good service in the parlors of some of my friends. His two sons, Stephen P. and Joseph P., learned the trade of their father, and in later years carried on business on the south side of High street, and in the building, a part of which is occupied by the provision market of C. B. Harlow on Market street. At a still later time Joseph P. carried on the same business in the old Plymouth bank building on Court street. Joseph was on the board of selectmen with me from 1856 to 1860, inclusive, and I am glad of the opportunity to attest his usefulness and fidelity in the management of town affairs. He was a man of dry humor, and had many a story to tell, often provoking a laugh against himself. He chewed tobacco freely, and was obliged before speaking to deliver himself of the saliva which had been accumulating. I remember that one autumn afternoon when the board had been visiting the south end of the town, we stopped at the house of David Clark, a member of the board, to leave him, and went into the house to warm ourselves. As we sat around the wood fire I noticed a couple of herrings roasting in the ashes for supper. Before Mr. Brown could answer a question I put to him he was obliged to relieve his mouth of its contents, and he discharged them squarely upon the herrings, completely covering them. Nothing was said, and I did not suppose that any one but myself noticed the catastrophe. After we had started for home, Mr. Brown turning to me said, “Good heavens, Davis, did you see me baste those herrings?”