New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-09-05
FROM BOSTON.
THE HOLIDAYS OF MASSACHUSETTS.


Any Ns,sschusetts man, of a lack Of holiday For
the coming two months We .hal have succession
of them. Next week, commencing on Wednesday
the 9TH, and continuing through the 9Th and 9'a,
we shall have the grand muster OF all the volunteer
militia at Concord, the place where, according TO
Mr. Emerson
"Opoe the eunbs.'ed farmers stood,
And fred the shot heard round the word
an induced to quote these fine lines, because
one Of the Boston newspapers, undertaking to
quote them, puts them in the following shape:
Here freedom. banner wa. unfurled
Here fred the SHOT heard round the world
Camp Massachusetts is two or three miles
from the old North Bridge, or it's site, where the
fight was. Can anybody, BY the way, tell why
the tkirmish at Lexington is always called Lex
iDgton Battle" and the one at Concord 9 Concord
Fight" In point of fact, there was neither bat
tie nor fight at LexiDg Accommodating but a " masss-
cre." 1t is extremely doubtful whether the fire OF
the British was returned by the Lexington people
in the morning. Theodore Parker, who is de-
scendant of one of the Lexington heroes thinks
not. He possesses two guns, which, during bis
absence, have been deposited in the Office of the
Secretary of State and which. in his will, he has
bequeathed TO the CommOnWesth-one OF which
belonged to bis grandfather, and the other was
captured on the day of the battle from Briton.
What the precise history or tradition about
these weapons is i cannot tell. Probably the
captured gun was taken from a soldier who
was slain during the retreat, after the affair
at Concord Bridge. There seems to be no doubt
that the three British soldiers killed BY the
first discharge Of the Provncials at Concord, were
the first of The enemy killed in the revolutionary
war. Two of them were buried on the ground
and their grave is marked by bit of stone, which
may be seen near the monument. Zechsrlah
Brown and Thomas Davis junr. who buried them,
signed an affidavit of the fact on the IL tn of May,
I775, mainly, as it would appear, for the purpose
Of contradctng story that one OF the slain soldiers
had been scalped, and bad had one Of his ears cut
off. The Americans killed by the fret British fire
were both Acton men; and it is rather curious
that not Concord man was killed during the day,
though several were wounded 1t was this fact,
suppose, which led a worthy citizen Of Acton the
Hon. Stevens Hayward, TO make . remark not
very complimentary to Concord. 1t was on the
occasion of celebration of the glorious event at
that place a few years ago. Mr Hayward was
called out by toast complimentary 10 his town,
and he responded by giving" The 10Th of April
l775. Concord furnished the place, and Acton
the men - Hardly courteous to his entertainers.
1t was on this same occasion, by the way, that the
Rev. James T. Woodbury. of Acton, who ofiiciated
as chaplain of the day, introduced into his prayer
the quotation, "Dulce ct decorum est pro patria
mori, -" and proceeded to translate t-whlch means
- As thou knowest, Lord !" &c. &c.
But am giving you no information about the
proposed muster. 1t is to be near the Assabeth
River, a stream qu.e as sluggish and more beauti-
full than the Concord, Of which it is q branch.
Hawthorne says Of it: "A more lonely stream than
this for mile above it's junction with the Con-
"cOrd, has never flowed on earth-nowhere, in
" deed, except to lave the interior regions OF
poets Imagination. 1t is sheltered from the
"breeze by woods and hillside; so that elsewhere
|" there might be a hurricane, and here scarcely
cripple across the shaded water. The current
fingers along so gently. that the mere force of
" the bOatmans will seems sufficient to prOpel his
" craft against il. 1t comes flowing softly through
" the midmOst privacy and deepest heart of
"wood, which whispers it to be quiet, while the
" stream whispers back again from its sedgy bor
" ders, as if river and wood were hushing one an
4" other TO sleep" The Fitchburg Railroad track
as close by, and the enterprisng corporation that
owns it expects to make much money out Of the
excitement i believe they have abandoned
their usual sluggish system of operations;
their competition with the Assabeth aud
Concord 10 which shall be the slowest TO
enter and leave the town, and will run trains every
half hour and perhaps ofteDer. As to the arrange
ments in detail, they will not be interesting to you
FIVE or SIX thousand soldiers on the ground in va
rious conditions Of discipline. Probably il will be
the most imposing military display in our State
since the traitor Burns was delivered up 10 the
master from whom he had so felonousy escaped.
Most of the Concord people ale in an agony of
dread at this new inv sson, which will be thousand
times more dangerous to property and life than the
one which their grandfathers had 10 meet eighty
four years ago. To queu their apprehenslons IN
h. f,,,, .h,J 20,
house, provided the householder will board him.
Many timorous ones will gladly avail Themselves of
this privilege. Others viii constitute themselves
an armed patrol for the purpose of keeping at bay
the outlaw horde which always follows IN the wake
of the soldiery.
After this affair is over, the Agricultural Shows
viii commence. From about the middle of Sep
TENDER till the LAST of October, We have success.
sion of these. There are - county or half county
societies, and q great number OF town societies.
The last Legislature fixed the time of holding the
Fairs Of the trstnsmed class so that they will not
int rfere with each other. There is much fun at
these exhibitions, and probably something gained
in the way of agricultural information TO the peo-
pie. The opportunity To hear such practical and
experienced agriculturists as George b. Loring
and Ensign H. Kellogg, who among the orators
for this season. must be very valuable one.
The Political Conventions furnish another source
of entertainment They have already commenced.
but in an insuspcious way. l mentioned in my
last letter that there some fuss in Bristol and
Plymouth counties, mainly among the Prudential
Committees, on account of the abolition OF the
School District System by the Legislature st its last
Session. These people called Convention al Wor-
cester on the LIST instant. 1t seems TO have been
held but il is very difficult 10 find out what il did.
The Boston newspapers, which are usually minute
enough in their reports do not even give the
buttons which were adopted. All agree, however,
that the Convention was melancholy failure.
Orly - towns were represented. One man