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
Nathan made them look at the grass-hopper which is the weather-cock
which is selected in memory of the Athenian cicada. The Athenian people
selected this as their emblem because they believed they sprang from the
ground, and they supposed the grass-hoppers did.
The people of Boston long since provided themselves with a much larger
market house than Peter Faneuil’s. When they did so, they gave up the
market in Faneuil Hall, and used the basement for other purposes. But
their lawyers, after a while, recollected that stirring town meeting, and
the promise of the town to maintain the market “forever.” Clearly enough,
if the town meant to keep the hall, it must maintain the market. So the
butchers and fruit men were brought back again, and Mrs. Dudley bade John
buy some bananas for the party, in the market, that they might keep Peter
Faneuil well in their memory.
The Historic Hall is over the market, and always open to visitors, and
here the party spent half an hour in looking at the pictures. Nathan
told them of the last and only time when he heard Wendell Phillips there.
It is not the largest hall in Boston, but it is still the favorite hall
for any public meeting about some public interest, where people are not
expecting to sit down.
The gentlemen joined the party by appointment here, and they all went to
lunch together. They then went up the Equitable elevator and mounted the
tower, so that the ladies might see the sea view. And they finished the
day’s excursion by going into the Old South Meeting House.
This old meeting house was twice as big as Faneuil Hall of the
Revolution, so that the crowded town meetings of those days often
adjourned to the Old South. As the patriots called Faneuil Hall “the
cradle of liberty,” Gov. Gage called the Old South the “nursery of
rebellion.” The religious society which formerly occupied it built a
few years ago a new church in the western part of Boston, and sold this
meeting house to an association which wished to preserve it as a memorial
of the history of Boston. The sellers did not wish to have any opposition
church established in the old building; they therefore put a provision in
the deed that for twenty years it should not be used for public religious
purposes. It is probably the only spot in the United States, where, by
the expressed wish of a church, public worship is forbidden.
The travelers found a great deal to interest them in the meeting house,
which those travelers will find who use this guide. The boys obtained
leave to climb up the spire, from which, it is said, that the English
governor, Gage, saw the embarkation of his troops for Bunker Hill, and
what he could see of the battle.
Third Day.
The next day proved favorable for Nathan’s plans, which involved a visit
to Bunker Hill monument and the navy yard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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