Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/296

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268

��Concord, New HanipsJiire.

��railroad days ! The good old parson, Timothy Walker, for over half a century ministered to the spiritual wants of the community. A few mild Quakers were the only dissenters. Of a sabbath day the good people from every section of the town assembled at the meeting- house. The husband and father of the

��ble villagers. They were very hospi- table. At the session of the General Court the houses of all were open to receive, as guests or boarders, the members of the Legislature. The pro- vision in their charter which forbade the disposal of lots in the town to stran- gers, more especially to a parcel of Irish

���CITY HALL AND COURT-HOUSE.

��family came on horseback, with the good wife mounted on a pillion behind her lord. The horse-block at which they alighted is now at the north end. In summer the boys and girls came barefoot from the mountain, the bor- ough, and distant parts of the township, and just before entering the village put on their shoes. In winter the cold, bleak church was heated only by foot- stoves, filled with glowing coals from the spacious fire-places of the hospita-

��people, soon became a dead letter, and new settlers were welcomed. To be respectable, a man was expected to own a horse ; and his influence was gradu- ated by the amount of his real estate.

Hither from Wobum came handsome young Thompson to teach school. He was a favorite in society, and won the regard of the Provincial Governor, a high rank in the military, the love of the minister's beautiful daughter, the widow Rolfe, and the envy and jealousy of the.

�� �