Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/294

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266

��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��dows look out upon the garden. On the mantel-piece there is a silver can- dle-stick that was used by Mrs. Gov. Bartlett ; also, a pair of silver-mounted horse pistols which accompanied the Governor through his journeyings to and from Philadelphia during the Rev- olutionary war. These last are very valuable mementos.

There are ten large rooms in the main part, and five other apartments in the two-story ell that is attached. At the head of the stairs, in the hall, is the ancient eight-day clock, that was used by the Governor. It was made in 1 723, and is therefore one hundred and sixty years old this very year. There it stands in its case of massive oak, "and points and beckons with its hands," as cheerfully yet solemnly as in the old days when colonial gentle- men and belles walked up and down the broad stair-way. In the attic there is a store-house of treasures, old chairs and tables that were in use in the Gov- ernor's time, and an old buffet within which the odor of colonial punch may still be detected by an imaginative nos- tril.

We go out from under the roof of this famous mansion. Wandering about the front yard we can not help noting the beautiful location of the old house. Its front looks out to the sunrising. Stretching away from the yard fence is the extensive common, containing forty acres, and level as a floor. A huge elm tosses its branches above our heads. The trunk is five feet in diam- eter. It is some more than one hun- dred and fifty years old, as it stood there long before the old house was burned. It was struck by lightning in 1773, and the marks are plainly visible to-day. There are several black wal- nuts, and a linden tree, which were grown from seeds brought by Governor Bartlett from Philadelphia.

The old barn that formerly stood back of the mansion was taken down at the time the house was remodel- ed, and two large modern structures oc- cupy its place. The largest is eighty- five by forty feet. Beside it there is a

��row of thin French poplars, decaying from age, which were green and vigor- ous in the Governor's day. Back from the barns, stretching on every side, ex- tends the grand estate. There are some five hundred acres of nearly level and very fertile land. Seventy tons of hay are cut annually. Governor Bart- lett employed two female help in the house and four male help on the farm. Touching the western portion of the farm is Greenwood lake, a pretty body of water five eights of a mile long, which affords excellent aquatic and piscatorial privileges. Black bass and pickerel abound in its waters.

A stroll through these grounds at sunset is perfectly enchanting. And if you wish to take a row there is a boat ready for you at the pond. How beau- tiful the shadows are on the mirrory lake ! All the surrounding woodlands are reflected in the azure depths, and your boat hangs suspended in mid water, or, rather, there are two boats, one right most and the other bottom upward, keel to keel. Then you walk back to the mansion through the gather- ing twilight, and with your mind full of the past reflect how many of New Hamp- shire's beauties and noble sires had walked these very paths, with all their human ambitions and loves and cares, and had passed away, leaving behind these stable relics as ideals of a beauti- ful home.

In September, 1775, we find Dr. Bartlett present among the members of the Continental Congress. He had been elected the preceding spring to that seat. The number of members was then sixty-four. Our state sent two. Each colony paid its own dele- gation. Georgia paid each ^?ioo per month while in session ; South Caroli- na, ,£300 per annum ; North Carolina, ^200 per annum ; Virginia, a half Johannes per day ; Maryland and Rhode Island, forty shillings a day. and ex- penses ; Massachusetts, expenses and S3 a day ; New Hampshire, expenses, a servant, two horses, and a guinea a day. Insufficient as was this compen- sation the members did not slight their

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