The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-11-21

- Il Z s1 d
A glance at the history OF Bostol
from the date of its foundation dpwI
! to a comparatively modern period
will show at this moment which 81
thoroughly tests the endurance of hel
inhabitants that they may be safely
| trusted to recover themselves froH
the temporary prostration which ha.
ibefallen them. For the city, owes its
very existence to the trials and perse-
cutions which beset its founders, ldri
wing them from the old Englist
homes which were so dear to them te
found new ones in the wilderness
To borrow jest of Sterne. the tFou-
bles of Boston may be saidtO have be-
gun before she was born, in the uH-
yielding bigotry with which Elizabeth
,nlaintained the ceremonies of the es-
,tablished church and fairly called the
Pufitans into existence as q religious
body, by insisting that the church SER
vice should be one at which they
could not assist. Objection to the ser
vices of the Church soon were enlarg-
ed by objections to its doctrine, which
imprisonment and other prosecutions
tailed to remove, and which were
hardly refnted by the fires of Smith
field in 1915. The molestations OF
James were followed by those OF
Charles Stuart aud Bishop Laud Ha-
til the project ola refuge in Massa-
chusetts; Bay was seriously considered
and finally carried ont. Prince, the
historian. says ofqhese exiles: .Ehey
were about to leave the, land of their
-tather's sepalchPes perhaps forever;
to break asunder those chords of af-
lection which So powerfully bind q
good man to his native soil, and to
dissolve. those tender. associations
which constitute the bliss of civil so-
ciety. In ordinary cases, the pain of
separation is lessened by the promis-
es of hope-the pleasure of another
interview; but here adieu, TO most OF
them at least, was to be the last like
the final farewell to a departing spir-
it, The sufferings of the first colony
at Salem belong properly'to the histo-
ry5 of Boston-the pestileuce. which
caused eighty deaths i'll the settlement
in one Winter-the peril of starvation
and thousand discomforts,, which
find no record in the pages of history.
The second emigration had, also its
share OF stroubles-fever. scurEy, the
dread of the insolent French, and OF
the skuIking IRdian foe. 1t was not
strange that the earliest religious SER
vices were those of fasting and prayer,
for relief from hundred wants and
for protection from as many surroun-
ding and mortal perils. There was a
disease which prevailed in
the Colony. in 1916. 1t is curious to
note that the first fire occurred in
1851, burning two houses, the casual
~ occurring from chimney taking
fire, and communicating the flames to
q matched roof. And there was an
other terrible fire iii Charlestown in
1850. There was still greater fire in
l676-greater perhaps because there
was Anore to burn. But the little
town went right on slowly increasing
in spite of fires. sickness, Indians,
Quakers, Baptists, Witches, aud other
Wheeler, Hutchinson,
Williams. and other "her-
etics" gave infinite trouble. The SUR
rounding towns began, even thus ear
Iy,to be Jealous of Boston. In the
Winter fuel was scarce and the snow
1eep, so that Boston acquired the by |
no means enviablc title of The Lost
fown. But she was no more lost than
now. Her vitality was, as it still is,
superior TO the severest assaults OF
Boston continued to
give the best evidence of herprosper-
ty, for she sent Off from time to time |
little colonies until she was surround
I'd by a family of thriving daughters.
There was d spirit OF liberty even then |
n the Trimountain settfement, which |
continued TO increase until it culIni-
lated, after infinite contentious with |
he home Government, in the RevO-
ution of 1776. Hutchinson, the his
orian, says, with philosophical and |
moral accuracy, that ssstraits and diff I
ulties at the beginning of the colony
lad produced industry and good hus- |
'andry." 1t was only, he adds, shy
lard labor and hard fare" that, after
few years, the land produced more |.
han was consumed by the inhabit- |
nts, so that "the overplus was sent /
broad to the West Indies, the Wine |
Stands and other places" 4 io1-tI
. 1t may not be inappropriate to no.
ice what the annalists call "the terri
lie fire. in Boston which occurred
Ang. 8, I6S9-'the most wGful desola-
ion that Boston had ever seen. There
we're eighty odd dwelling houses and
evenly odd warehouses, with sever
1 vessels and their lading consumed
o ashes,". 1t was the work of an in
endiary the whole loss was eempt-
ed at f200,O00; and it half ruined
he colony as well as the town. For
there was a inoiety which /
esisted ruin. t-s3t 7iJ L99}
II is hard to say whether the King
# England or the Indians were the
most troublesome to the colony of
Bay. With both there T
vas a chronic misunderstanding.
who brought oyer a COM
Mission from the Crown for Collector
nd Surveyor and Searcher of the
,ustoms, was a great nuisance. 1t
5as odd that upon the next day after
is arrival, In October, 1868, "a de-
tructive FIRE happened in the richest
art Of the town. Ii was on the south
ide of the docks mouth, and con-
umed great number of dwelling !,
ouses, warehouses and vessels" ,
ealous and angry, people supposed
lat this fire was "kindled by Kan
olph's procurement" The calamity :
f Sir Edmund AndrOss we can bare
7 mention--as usual, the colonists
OF the better OFT the creature of the
rown. 1t was far worse for Boston
lat she could do no better than hang
,ur poor Quakers; but she has paid
,uudly for her intolerance. She has G
ever heard the last of the matter ]
nee. She had another big fire in :
I'll, and then sagely concluded to G
y what virtue there would be In q
tile precaution. For all this, we res i!
ret to say, that in the, history. of Bos-
IN there are a great many fires re- :
)rded, even at that comparatively Z
lrIy time, and that many OF them q
ere very Destructive In fact, DIR.
now heads one of his chapters with g
lis ignenious quotation -. ...,-,J. =, r
..In red and wreathing columns flashed N
The flame, us loud the ruin crashed, !.
And here and there the erackiing dome II
Was fred before the exploding bomb"
Blu. the days of more serious trou-