Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
Two of the three best known weather vanes made by Drowne, are still on
duty; and one, the Indian chief, which for so many years decked the
Province House, is now the property of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, in one of the rooms of which it is to be seen, still swinging
on its original pivot. From the sole of his foot to the top of his
plume, it is four feet, six inches; and from his elbow to tip of arrow,
four feet; weight forty-eight pounds.
The old grasshopper on Fanueil Hall[10] was made in 1742, and has veered
with the winds and been beaten by the storms of one hundred and forty
odd years. It was last repaired in 1852, when there was found within it
a much-defaced paper, only a part of which could be read:
SHEM DROWNE MADE ITT
May 25, 1742
To my Brethren and Fellow Grasshoppers
Fell in y'e year 1755 Nov 15th day from y'e Market by a great Earthquake
... sing ... sett a ... by my old Master above.
Again Like to have Met with my Utter Ruin by Fire, but hopping Timely
from my Publick Situation came of with Broken bones, and much Bruised,
Cured and again fixed....
Old Master's Son Thomas Drowne June 28th, 1763. And Although I now
promise to Play ... Discharge my Office, yet I shall vary as ye
wind.[11]
The other one still in use is the old "Cockerel" of Hanover Street
Church fame. This was made for the New Brick Church in 1721, and is the
oldest of the three. It held its position on this church and its
successors, one of which was long known as the "Cockerel Church," for
one hundred and forty-eight years, when it was raised on the Shepard
Memorial Church of Cambridge, where it now is. "It measures five feet
four inches from bill to tip of tail, and stands five feet five inches
from the foot of the socket to the top of comb, and weighs one hundred
and seventy-two pounds."[12]
Possibly some other specimens of the handiwork of this good Deacon Shem
Drowne are still in existence. Who knows?
[Footnote 1: Boston Globe, October 18, 1884.]
[Footnote 2: Neither of these were carved; they were both of metal.]
[Footnote 3: Boston Evening Record, January 10, 1885.]
[Footnote 4: Fac-similes of his signature are given in "Memorial History
of Boston," vol. II, p. 110, written in 1733, and in John Johnston's
"History of Bristol, Bremen and the Pemaquid Plantation," p. 466,
written in 1762.]
[Footnote 5: Johnston's "Bristol and Bremen."]
[Footnote 6: Samuel Adams Drake's "Old Landmarks of Boston," p. 135.]
[Footnote 7: Mss. letter of Henry T. Drowne, Esq., of New York.]
[Footnote 8: Samuel G. Drake's "History of Boston."]
[Footnote 9: History of "Bristol and Bremen."]
[Footnote 10: Drake in "Old Landmarks," says: "the grasshopper was long
thought to be the crest of the Faneuils."]
[Footnote 11: Boston Daily Advertiser, December 3, 1852.]
[Footnote 12: Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. XXVII, p. 422.]
* * * * *
THE WEDDING IN YE DAYS LANG SYNE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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