Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-19
The Portsmouth Curscvv.
From the Manchester On. H. Mirror.

from inc manchester IN. II. Mlr.or.
There is no more quiet, respectable and con-
sentative city on the American continent than
Portsmouth. Tom Whipple insists that in these
| respects 1t Is entitled to rank with Nineveh,
Babylon and others OF tine same class that for
eign scholars and Swans are always exploring
and Dragging about; but be that as il may. thera
Is no municipal territory this SIDE the ocean
! -~''ii-r nrred 70 be the abiding r,,ace of man
who hates racket. is proud of his ancestors
and has steady income from permanent in
vestments. Time was when they built ships
and bought and sold rum, soap and other gro
ceries at Portsmouth: when there were greasy
mechanics on her streets. and women in calico
gowns in her houses and dirty faced children in
her yards; but this has gone by. She retired
from business long ago and for years she
has tolerated nothing that looked like a
vulgar scramble for money within her borders.
Her last factory which had been looked unon
as nuisance by her best people. was burned
down soon after the war, and the one man who
was reckless enough to propose that il be re-
built was driven away by the indignant citizens.
She has farmed out her politics to several dis
Greet dealers. who manage them without max
inG noise and she has her blacksmithing done
at Kittery. where the sound of the anvil Will not
disturb her reveres. Her sidewalks are of good.
old-fashioned brick, and her houses are all sup
piled with brass knockers and andirons. Her
citizens live on their incomes aud venerate knee
breeches. To such a people old customs are.
of course. ineXpressbly dear. and any attempt
to set them aside. or modify them after the
fashion of the ioStllng world outside is looked
upon as little better than robbing family
tomb of your grandfather's bones One OF
these customs sets all the bells i'm town to toll
ing when resident dies. and another one
rings the one on the town house for fifteen
minutes every evening. beginning at nine
O'Clock, at which time all respectable candles
go out. and all of the first families 90 TO bed
1t is needless TO say that these were instituted
before the oldest newspaper in America was
published or the first clock or watch was iu-
vented. but they have been sacredly kept ND
ever since At least they were regously Oh
served until about month ago, when Alderman
William Martyr, carpet-bag sort Of Scotter
at graveyard mould and your great grandtathcrs
snuti-boX. got into his head the notion that if a
man died his neghbors would find il out from
the newspapers and bury him. and that when
folks began to grow sleepy they would consult
their tme-pieces and ascertain whether 1t was
bedtime. without wearing out the bells and the
bellmen in furnishing the Information. Little
that alderman knows about Portsmouth news
papers or Portsmouth people; but he had a
presentimcnt that there would be trouble if he
acted directly upon this idea and he accordingly
attempted to TOOL the ancients by getting up i'm a
meeting OF the board and saving that he knew
of a man who was sick and who was ANNOYED
by this bell business. and because of this he
moved that the mayor be instructed to have the
tolng and the ringing dispensed with. The
motion passed. and the next night there was no
nine o'clock bell.
The result trouble. Two hundred ana
twenty-seven matrons, who for eighty-Hine
years have warmed their night gowns from
fifteen minutes before nine until the bell struck
stood through the liveong night holding them
up to the CRATES, and were found there benumbed
| and stiff the next morning. by the milkmen
from Rye. Six first settlers, i'm wigs and gold
headed canes, who have always taken an eve
nj, IL
travelling south by the cemetery until the bell
warned them to return. kept ON and on and on
their weary way. until they were taken up
week later by the police of Boston. Sixteen
sets OF philosophers who have met and played
whist and drank punch until the curfew every
evening since Washington was inaugurated
kept at it until they fell under the tables No
stores were closed. no houses were locked no
shutters were put up at night. In short from
the time when the bell should have rung until
morning Portsmouth yawned and stretched and
waited and said: What long evening this isl
and so it sat and yawned and waited night after
night and day after day until last week, when
stray copy of the Boston Herald was picked UP
in the street, and found to contain the horrible
intelligence that the aldermen had stopped the
curfew. Then there was such all Outburst of
Indignation as has not been seen since Congress
proposed to abolish the navy yard; not a noisy
outbreak. of course. but deep eminently re-
Specialize solemn sort of a protest
Meantime the aldermen. having come to a
realizing sense of the enOrmity OF the crime
had fled the city. Bill Martyr. the arch-con-
triver of the innovation, was hid in the store
house of Wards distiliery. Hackett had taken
refuge behind the guns of Fort Constitution,
and all the Others were likewise missing; so the
order could not be rescinded. One eXpedient
remained. The church wardens, of whom eX-
Mayor Sise chief. made the necessary ar
engagements to have the bells on all the churches
rung every night at nine clock. and whenever
man dies. And now Portsmouth goes de-
Gently to bed at that hour and sleeps the sleep
of the just until morning. Order is restored
and all is quiet upon the Piscataqua, but Bill
Martyr is a doomed man.