erend Dr. Ripley, who gave the ground for the inscription.* The design of the monument is purpose. The monument is constructed of not at all graceful, and, being surrounded by granite from Carlisle, and has an inscription

by tall trees, it has a very "dumpy" appearance. The people are dissatisfied with it, and doubtless, ere long, a more noble structure will mark the spot where the curtain of the revolutionary drama was first lifted.

After making the drawings here given, I visited and made the sketch of " Clark's House." There I found a remarkably intelligent old lady, Mrs. Margaret Chandler, aged eighty

Her

to

three years.
She has been an occupant
of the house, I believe, ever since the
Revolution, and has a perfect recollec-
tion of the events of the period.
version of the escape of Hancock and
Adams is a little different from the pub-
lished accounts. She says that on the
evening of the 18th of April, 1775, some
British officers, who had been informed
where these patriots were, came
Lexington, and inquired of a woman
whom they met, for "Mr. Clark's
house." She pointed to the parsonage;
but in a moment, suspecting their design,
she called to them and inquired if it was
Clark's tavern that they were in search
of. Uninformed whether it was a
tavern or a parsonage where their in-
tended victims were staying, and sup-
posing the former to be the most likely
place, the officers replied, "Yes, Clark's
tavern." "Oh," she said,
"Clark's
tavern is in that direction," pointing
toward East Lexington. As soon as
they departed, the woman hastened to
inform the patriots of their danger, and
they immediately arose and fled to Wo-
burn. Dorothy Quincy, the intended
wife of Hancock, who was at Mr.
Clark's, accompanied them in their
flight.

I next called upon the venerable Abijah Harrington, who was living in the village. He was a lad of fourteen at the

He dwelt upon the subject with apparent delight, for his memory of the scenes of his early years, around which cluster so much of patriotism and glory, was clear and full. I would gladly have listened until twilight to the voice of such experience, but time was precious, and I hastened to East Lexington, to visit his cousin, Jonathan Harrington, an old man of ninety.

time of the engagement. Two of his brothers | who played the fife when the minute men were were among the minute men, but escaped unhurt. marshaled on the Green upon that memorable Jonathan and Caleb Harrington, near relatives, were killed. The former was shot in front of his own house, while his wife stood at the window in an agony of alarm. She saw her husband fall, and then start up, the blood gushing from his breast. He stretched out his arms toward her, and then fell again. Upon his hands and knees he crawled toward his dwelling, and expired just as his wife reached him. Caleb Harrington was shot while running from the meeting-house. My informant saw almost the whole of the battle, having been sent by his mother to go near enough, and be safe, to obtain and convey to her information respecting her other sons, who were with the minute men. His relation of the incidents of the morning was substantially such as history has recorded.

The distant building seen on the right is the old "Buckman Tavern." It now belongs to Mrs. Merriam, and exhibits many scars made by the bullets on the morning of the skirmish.

April morning. He was splitting fire-wood in his yard with a vigorous hand when I rode up ; and as he sat in his rocking-chair, while I sketched his placid features, he appeared no older than a man of seventy. His brother, aged eighty-eight, came in before my sketch was finished, and I could not but gaze with wonder upon these strong old men, children of one mother, who were, almost grown to manhood when the first battle of our Revolution occurred! Frugality and temperance, co-operating with industry, a cheerful temper, and a good constitution, have lengthened their days, and made their protracted years hopeful and happy.* The aged fifer apologized for the

*The seventy-fifth anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord was celebrated at the latter place on the 19th of April, 1850. In the procession was a carriage containing these venerable brothers, aged, respectively, nearly ninety-one and ninety-three; Amos Baker, of Lincoln, aged ninety-four; Thomas Hill, of Danvers,

rough appearance of his signature, which he kindly wrote for me, and charged the tremulous motion of his hand to his labor with the ax. How tenaciously we cling even to the appearance of vigor, when the whole frame is tottering to its fall! Mr. Harrington opened the ball of the Revolution with the shrill war-notes of the fife, and then retired from the arena. He was not a soldier in the war, nor has his life, passed in the quietude of rural pursuits, been distinguished except by the glorious acts which constitute the sum of the achievements of a

GOOD CITIZEN.

next the Psalms, in metre.* Old Cambridge
(West Cambridge, or Metonomy, of the Revo
lution), the seat of the University, is three miles
from West Boston Bridge, which connects Cam-
bridge with Boston. Cambridgeport is about
half way between Old Cambridge and the bridge,
and East Cambridge occupies Lechmere's Point.
a promontory fortified during the
siege of Boston in 1775.

Arrived at Old Cambridge, I part-
ed company with the vehicle and
driver that conveyed me from
Concord to Lexington, and
hither; and, as the day was
fast declining, I hastened to
sketch the head-quarters of
Washington, an ele-
gant and spacious

I left Lexington at about three o'clock, and
arrived at Cambridge at half past four. It was
a lovely autumnal afternoon. The trees and
fields were still green, for the frost had not yet
been busy with their foliage and blades. The
road is Macadamized the whole distance; and edifice.
so thickly is it lined with houses, that the village stand-
of East Lexington and Old

Cambridge seem to embrace
each other in close union.
Cambridge is an old
town, the first settlement
there having been planted
in 1631, contemporaneous
with that of Boston. It
was the original intention
of the settlers to make it
the metropolis of Mas
sachusetts, and Gov-
ernor Winthrop com-
menced the erection
of his dwelling there.
It was called New
Town, and in 1632
was palisaded. The
Reverend Mr. Hook-
er, one of the earliest

settlers of Connecticut, was the first minister in Cambridge. In 1636, the General Court provided for the erection of a public school in New Town, and appropriated two thousand dollars for that purpose. In 1638, the Reverend John Harvard, of Charlestown, endowed the school with about four thousand dollars. This endowment enabled them to exalt the academy into a college, and it was called Harvard University in honor of its principal benefactor.

Cambridge has the distinction of being the place where the first printing-press in America was established. Its proprietor was named Day, and the capital that purchased the materials was furnished by the Rev. Mr. Glover. The first thing printed was the "Freeman's Oath," in 1636; the next was an almanac; and the

aged ninety-two; and Dr. Preston, of Billerica, aged eighty-eight. The Honorable Edward Everett, among others, made a speech on the occasion, in which he very happily remarked, that "it pleased his heart to see those venerable men beside him; and he was very much pleased to assist Mr. Jonathan Harrington to put on his top coat a few minutes ago. In doing so, he was ready to say, with the eminent man of old, 'Very pleasant art thou to me, my brother Jonathan !'"

ing in the midst of shrubbery and stately elms, a
little distance from the street, once the highway
from Harvard University to Waltham. At this
mansion, and at Winter Hill, Washington passed
most of his time, after taking command of the
Continental army, until the evacuation of Bos-
ton in the following spring. Its present owner
is HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, Professor
of Oriental languages in Harvard University, and
widely known in the world of literature as one of
the most gifted men of the age. It is a spot
worthy of the residence of an American bard so
endowed, for the associations which hallow it
are linked with the noblest themes that ever
awakened the inspiration of a child of song.

"When the hours of Day are number'd
And the voices of the Night
Wake the better soul that slumber'd
To a holy, calm delight;
Ere the evening lamps are lighted,

And, like phantoms grim and tall,
Shadows from the fitful fire-light

Dance upon the parlor wall,"

then to the thoughtful dweller must come the spirit of the place and hour to weave a gor

* Records of Harvard College.

geous tapestry, rich with pictures, illustrative of the heroic age of our young republic. My tarry was brief and busy, for the sun was rapidly descending-it even touched the forest tops before I finished the drawing-but the cordial reception and polite attentions which I received from the proprietor, and his warm approval of, and expressed interest for the success of my labors, occupy a space in memory like that of a long, bright summer day.

A few rods above the residence of Professor Longfellow is the house in which the Brunswick general, the Baron Riedesel, and his family were quartered, during the stay of the captive army of Burgoyne in the vicinity of Boston. I was not aware when I visited Cambridge, that the old mansion was still in existence; but, through the kindness of Mr. Longfellow, i am able to present the features of its southern

This mansion stands upon the upper of two terraces, which are ascended each by five stone steps. At each front corner of the house is a lofty elm-mere saplings when Washington beheld them, but now stately and patriarchal in appearance. Other elms, with flowers and shrubbery, beautify the grounds around it; while within, iconoclastic innovation has not been allowed to enter with its mallet and trowel, to mar the work of the ancient builder, and to cover with the vulgar stucco of modern art the carved cornices and paneled wainscots that first enriched it. I might give a long list of eminent persons whose former presence in those spacious rooms adds interest to retrospection, but they are elsewhere identified with scenes more personal and important. I can not refrain, however, from noticing the visit of one, who, though a dark child of Africa and a bond-woman, received the most polite attention from the commanderin-chief. This was PHILLIS, a slave of Mr. Wheatley, of Boston. She was brought from Africa when between seven and eight years -old. She seemed to acquire knowledge intuitively; became a poet of considerable merit, and corresponded with such eminent persons as the Countess of Huntingdon, Earl of Dartmouth, Reverend George Whitefield, and others. Washington invited her to visit him at Cam-ent, humble servant, bridge, which she did a few days before the British evacuated Boston; her master among others, having left the city by permission, and retired, with his family, to Chelsea. She passed half an hour with the commander-in-chief, from whom and his officers she received marked attention.*

* Phillis wrote a letter to General Washington in October, 1775, in which she inclosed a poem eulogistic of his character. In February following the general answered it. I give a copy of his letter, in illustration of the excellence of the mind and heart of that great man, always so kind and courteous to the most humble, even when pressed with arduous public duties.

"Cambridge, February 28, 1776. "MISS PHILLIS-Your favor of the 26th of October did not reach my hands till the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my excuse for the seeming but not real neglect. I thank you most sincerely for your polite notice of me in the elegant lines you inclosed; and however undeserving I may be of such encomium and panegyric, the style and

front, with a description. In style it is very much like that of Washington's head-quarters, and the general appearance of the grounds around is similar. It is shaded by noble lindentrees, and adorned with shrubbery, presenting to the eye all the attractions noticed by the Baroness of Riedesel in her charming letters. † manner exhibit a striking proof of your poetical talents; would have published the poem, had I not been apprein honor of which, and as a tribute justly due to you, I hensive that, while I only meant to give the world this new instance of your genius, I might have incurred the imputation of vanity. This, and nothing else, determined me not to give it a place in the public prints. If you shall be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses, should ever come to Cambridge, or near head-quarters, I and to whom nature has been so liberal and beneficent in her dispensations. I am, with great respect, your obedi

GEO. WASHINGTON."

*This is from a pencil sketch by Mr. Longfellow. I am also indebted to him for the fac-simile of the autothat the i is placed before the e in spelling the name. It graph of the Baroness of Riedesel. It will be perceived is generally given with the e first, which is according to the orthography in Burgoyne's State of the Expedition, &c., wherein I supposed it was spelled correctly. This autograph shows it to be erroneous.

† She thus writes respecting her removal from a peas. ant's house on Winter Hill to Cambridge, and her resi dence there:

"We passed three weeks in this place, and were then transferred to Cambridge, where we were lodged in one of the best houses of the place, which belonged to Royalists. Seven families, who were connected by relationship, or lived in great intimacy, had here farms, gardens, and splendid mansions, and not far off, orchards, and the buildings were at a quarter of a mile distant from each other. The owners had been in the habit of assembling every afternoon in one or another of these houses, and of diverting themselves with music or dancing, and lived in affluence, in good humor, and without care, until this unfortunate war at once dispersed them, and transformed all their houses into solitary abodes, except two, the proprietors of which were also soon obliged to make their escape...........

They were men wise in their generation, but | prietor and occupant of the "Hancock House," ignorant in practical knowledge when compared with the present. In their wildest dreams, incited by tales of wonder that spiced the literature of their times, they never fancied any thing half so wonderful as our mighty dray-horse,