The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1870-05-06

Washington alone was covered, rs ne
would allow none other to wear q hat In
his presence. He had some reverence
and always took his hat of when he pass
ed the statue of Napoleon, one OF his col
lection. On columns In the garden were
figures of Indian chiefs, statesmen. mill
tiry characters. philosophers-and my
thology suggested Others-to his artists
who doubtless made good thing out ol
1t. He adopted system of changing the
names, occasionally, for his statues, In or.
der to give greater variety-thus the VIII
liam Pitt of one day became the Albert
Gallatin of the next. A little paint made
all the needed change.
An account of the fate Of these images
Is given in Samuel l.. Knapp's life oil
Dexter published some years since -
4 .These images were all in good repair
when Dexter died. The first that time or
accident threw down was the gigantic
Cornplantor, the mighty progenitor Of q
race of ilfustrious sachems. The rest
of the columns stood the sunshine and
storms until the great September gale oi
1915, when most of them were thrown
down In that tornado. The three presi-
dents rode out the storm. Tho executor
of the estate sold the images ut auction.
The goddess of Fame sold for the most
money-she brought five dollars. The
image Of the great premier of England,
Wm. Pitt, was sold for dollar, and an
ecclesiastic who had been named tho TRAY
cling Preacher brought only fifty cents.
The image of Dexter himself, prominent
among the rest was not bid on Mt an. 1t
is estimated that thee Of these images
exceeded fifteen thousand dollars"
His gar en- riyaled in elegance the gar
den of Luctiilus, and was an object OF ad-
miration To thousands of visitors-many
females from the country-and 1t was q
custom with him to insult such rs were
strangers, under the guise of the greatest
liberalty in giving them fruit and flowers
lie got into frequent trouble on this ac-
count. This cratic disposition procur ed
him many severe visitations, and the back
of the "frst Lord" was again made fi'mik
lar with vulgar leather, In the form of u
Int of green hide. -.
His family consisted of wife and two
children-a son and daughter, attended
| by princely rctinuo of servants. The
dissipation and tyranny Of tho father af-
fectcd the whole house. Tho wife would
one day be driven from home with blows,
the next, paid great sum to come back.
His son was drunken proiligate, and his
daughter not much better. This house,
fitted in the extreme of elegance, hung
with curtains that rivaled the Hancocks
and Otises, became filthy through the do
mestic orgies that were held In the fine
rooms. Vulgar books and paintings de-
noted the prevailing taste. though extrav-
agant sums were paid for gilt bindings,
uwdry frames and more dry pictures.
He had small regard for ministers. He
held them to u strict accountability. 81
suppose" said he ''thcy arc good men. hut
why don't they agree any better? They
are always ut swords points, and will not
enter each others pulpits, or hardly nod
at each other In the streets" p Hs liked
| old Parson Milton because he was not
afraid to ..ioast sinners all to crisp" but
he had too much of the "Alphin and Ome-
gin" for him. IL wish," said he to his
olock-maker, regarding these ministers,
..that you and had the winding of them
up; five had. they would not tick SO
loud. and would go better than they 'lo
now. His idea of tho abstract man. rs
expressed to ths same gentleman, Is wor-
thy of the genius of Billings: 81 have
come to the conclusion, Mr.. b., that man
is wonderful toad! Sometimes | think
he Is woodchuck, and digs u hole To keep
out of sight, until he gets fair chance ut
the clover; now he looks like weasel
that can creep into small place to catch
rat; sometimes he is cunning rs fox.
then rs stupid rs n. jackass. and pretty
generally / do not know what the devil to
make Of him." 10 .r
He once appeared before the world rs
an author and published The Pickle for
the Knowing Ones" which contained
descriptions of the improvements about
his premises and matters personal to HIM
self, occupying q goodly sized pamphlet,
but without u punctuation from the first
to the last. In latter edition he gives
the following direction to the printer:
Ponder mister printer the Moving ones
complano of my book the fust edition had
no stops put A Nuff i'cre that may pep
per and salt itas they plese. Then fol-
lows . page of stops, quotation marks, &C.,
for the use of the reader. ...-..
At the close of the Revolutionary War,
with the growing energy of the land, there
were the rarest facilities for making money.
of which IL would seen, he was capable of
taking advantage. He was engaged cx-
tensively in trade with all parts of the
world. and in all his ventures was success
full. And In this connection are given
those tales of what. is regarded Us luck,
but which Dexter himself claims, in his
quaint and bungling way, rs foresight.
4 captain of ono of his vessels wanted
some stay stuff which Dexter construed
to mean whalcl'one. He purchased all
there was in the market, caused u corner
and made n strike The purchase of
warming pans for the West Indies result
cd in the employments of the lids for
straincrs, the pans for ladies, and large
sum was made. There arc other things
named that were equally wild; but the
one. thing that gives character TO his
shrowdness was his investment In the
Newburyport bridge, the construction Of
which he favored and in which he largely
invested. This stock yielding grand re-
turn, the shares in which formed prin-
cipal feature in the bcquests made in his
will. He left two thousand dollars to be
i put at INTEREST for the benefit of the poor
not in the workhouse; and also gave the
town of Maiden three hundred dollars for
q bell. and tho sum N two thousand dol
lars. the interest of which for hundred
years was to be devoted to tho support OF
the gospel. ra.
| THE Dore