The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
“Saturday—I don’t know what papa will say—but I vote that we go down
the harbor. We will see Nahant, which is a rocky peninsula ten miles
northeast, or Hull, which is about as far southeast; they make the
headlands of Boston Bay.” And he tried to make out both these points. He
did show them the outer light-house and the great forts between. And all
of the Westerners were delighted with their first view of the sea horizon.
“You do not feel the same at Chicago,” said John; “though you do not see
the other side, you know it is there.”
“Then Sunday,” said Nathan, husbanding his days prudently, “some of us
can go to Christ Church, where the sexton showed the lantern.”
“And can we not see the church with the cannon ball?
“‘Bears on her bosom as a bride might do,
The iron breastpin that the rebels threw.’”
This was Caroline’s question. She quoted Dr. Holmes.
“No,” said John, sadly. “We were barbarians, and pulled that church
down.” And he added savagely, “and no good came to the society that did
it.”
“That will leave Monday for a good tramp over Dorchester Heights, and
Tuesday, if you are not tired, we will go to Cambridge, and see Harvard
College.”
And he showed them how high the “Dorchester Heights,” now in South
Boston, rose, and how completely they commanded the harbor; so that when
Washington seized them the English army and navy had to go. He also
showed them Cambridge and the college buildings, lying quite near them,
westward, but on the other side of the Charles River. John looked with
special interest, because he was to take his first examination there for
Harvard College, before the month was over.
To this plan, substantially, the party adhered. And travelers who
have more or less time than they, may find it worth while to consult
this plan, as they lay out their excursions. For in those seven days
the visitors did, in fact, have a chance to see all the more important
landmarks of the history of Boston.
As Nathan took them home from the State House he led them down Beacon
Street. This is a beautiful street, making the north side of Boston
Common. Where the Common ends, Charles Street crosses Beacon Street
nearly at right angles. Near this corner, on land now built upon, or
perhaps crossed by some street, was the cottage of Blackstone, who
lived in Boston for six or seven years before Governor Winthrop and the
settlers of 1630 arrived.
They made their first settlement at Charlestown on the other side of the
river. The records of Charlestown say: “Mr. Blackstone, dwelling on the
other side of Charles River, alone, at a place called by the Indians,
Shawmut, where he had a cottage at, or not far from the place called
Blackstone Point, came and acquainted the Governor of an excellent
spring, inviting and soliciting him thither.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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