Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-08-01

THE POET STEADMAS AT THE HOME OF
WEBsTBR.-The FletcherfWebster place has
passed into strange hands; and is sadly neglect
ed. The hedges have run TO waste and the
thicket neat the entrance is like the copse that
hid the sleeping palace during fated hundred
years. We TURNED away and followed the road
through an open farming region, with houses
few and far between, but lined with fragrant
hay1elds; and affording here and there glimpses
Of ocean to make us less f0TlOTn. Suddenly re
came upon noble herd Of cattle, ranging a
twenty.aere lot; some two score head IN all,
mostly cows of mingled breed, but with four
great oxen, towering above the rest-high'
shOuldered beEenioths of the field sprung, 1t
must be, from the loins Of Webster faYorite
bulls. There was something about these mon
sters-sacred to Helios, it seemed, and facing
The four distinguished" as one of
Homer's pupils satlg, amidst all the
trail-foot kline" 50 mant descendants oil
the cattle whose breath was grateful
to the farmer statesman, whose tanks he loved
TO f01dleJ yet remain, and others OF the same
stock are yet to be found on certain of the neigh
boring farms. Beyond tile pasture OF these
Augeari Earders we enter a narrow, winding
road; leading up 10 the centre of the Webster
domain; and pass betweef two noteworthy
hotses one on the right, a brown, MODERNISM
residence with trees id front, from whose
branches lazy, foreign-looking gentlemen are
swinging in hammOckS-iS the abode OF Miss
Pbiliipitg, cur favorite American contraltO, aid
on which to pass Bohemian days; the weather.
heaten, reddish farmhouse on the lett is the ven
cradle Hinsiow homestead, held through many
generations by descendants OF the famous gov
ernor, who secured his freehold here. A furlong
more and we are at another gateway, fanked
with rough, low masonry, the entrance TO
the Webster place, and may pass at will and
sauuter along the carriage path to the mansion
door.
The lawn on either side rises in knobs here
IL linz TgF-
lated trees, is bare OF feriees and resembles an
English manor lot. The avenue also Is over
HUNG With Shade trees, among which are beech,
tamarack, poplar, fr, cedar, maple, oak-in
fact, almost every species known TO the northern
woods. The path is nicely rolled, and NC are
pleased to observe that the approach is general
ly in wholesome order. The mansiOn-a long,
low ctgss.roofed, wooden pile-has been so often
pictured that need only speak of it as owing
its attractiveness TO an appearance OF having
grown foot after foot by alteration from some
old building, and of not having been made bran
new and at otieej TO the long piazzas where
roses and the Virginia creeper wander at will;
to its peaked gables; lastly, to tile Indefinite
feeling one derives from it, that here has been
a sturdy presetiCe Of manhood in the past, now
gone forever but leaving Its potent individuality
stamped upon the less transitOry iIiatiiuiate OBJ
jects which surrounded it. eve are what stiIls
and winds and waters make u.s. but here
nature is as Webster transformed it.
The house grew with him; the trees,
except the "Peregrine white apple tree" and the
famous elm, were planted by his hand; and the
rolling acres, the unbroken lawn, are the i'm
press and reflection of the man himself The
elm, under which Mr.. Webster used to place
his chair, and was painted sitting in country
farmers garb, differs from any specimen of
New England'S royal tree that ever have seen.
The trunk is Of the largest, but the limbs shoot
out not far above the ground, and, whether by
art or nature, are trained to cover a circle of
100 feet in diameter, dropping low, so that the
tree caste shadow beyond that of any Windsor
oak, and enhouses you like a banyan. The
great limb has yielded 10 o recent blast, and
touches the ground, with leaves still green upon
it, As if a seTvitOr, smtten in defense Of the
mansion, had sunk his wounded limb TO earth,
the tree still holds its head proudly, and wards
off the tempestS onset with the unframed
branches.
The present inmates of the house are Mrs.
Fletcher Webster; her son AshburtOn, young
man of twenty-five years; her daughter Caro-
line, who is married TO Mr.. James Geddes Day
OF New York, and with her husband resides
here on the family estate. Mr.. Dayis lawyer,
but at present devotes his time chiefly to the
care Of the farm and grounds, aud for keeping
the latter in order is said to possess the qualf-
cations of a taste for art and landscape garden
ing. The interior of the house is kept precisely
as the dying statesman lett il. CHANGED to
visit it as private guest, and to such its hos
FATALITIES are generously extended; but as it is
daily visited and examined in public way, and
as the lives and record of the few surviving
members of the family constantly form the
topic, not only of logical gossip, but of much
printed criticism, where the inevitable moral of
genealogical decadence is not too delicately
drawn, ] am neither inclined nor boundcn to
repeat such hearsay. Rather let me in another
letter speak to your readers of the varying i'm
pressions made upon my Own mind during
pleasant fitting visit to Marshaeld, where | was
the recipient ofnothing but courtesy, and, for
one, saw nothing that could jar upon the feel
ings of the most reverent worshipper of great
mans fancy. y. Tribune.