News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-08-27
On the Old Mammoth Road.

Editor News and Citizen:-
After the beauties of the Green
Mountains and the glories of the
White Mountains, we thought when
we had left Concord behind us and
were fairly on the old Mammoth
Road, that we had come to the dull
lest prose of travelling. "Why called
the Mammoth Road?" we asked, and
one of our number answered. 1t
must be because it is such a man.
moth undertaking to get over it. I"
Hot, dusty, narrow, in many places
apparently little traversed, unenliven-
ed by fine scenery, and passing
through but few villages, it seemed
to afford only small possibilities of
enjoyment. But Judge not too hasti-
ly. As we journeyed on the old Mann
moth Road redeemed it's character
and gave us many pleasant recollec-
tiOns. 1t is true we often passed by
farms that might have been the scene
of Mary Wilkins famous story, 'The
Revolt of Mother :" but we saw 9th
ers that were pleasant to look upon,
and we found some whose owners
gave welcome and good cheer to
travellers, even though they were
strangers on the way. We found
such a one Just outside of Manches-
ter, where we were kindly received
and invited to lunch in a dining room
so quaint and so full of old time fur
nishings that we could almost fancy
we had stepped back into another
age. In one corner hung the brass
warming pan brightly polished, and
on the mantle brass candle sticks
that one could easily covet. The
master and mistress were of the old
times too. cold age has taken hold
of me-" said our host. Then hepoint-
ed at the trees that furnished de-
lightful shade about his home. II
didn't think those trees would do me
any good when | set them out" he
said, "but l planted them for the
sake of Others" We were glad that
his kind thoughtfulness brought an
unexpected reward.
For the lover of botany the old
Mammoth Road has a peculiar charm
as it's sides have beautiful floral de-
corations. In a journey of four days
and had said, "American soil is not
favorable to cardinals" but on the
old Mammoth Road we gathered q
beautiful bunch OF them, with the help
of barefoot girl, who might have
suggested a story as pretty as 1.-The
White Heron" had a Sarah Orne
Jewett met her
Londonderry is the first village af-
ter Manchester. 1t is hardly a village
since only q few houses, two pretty
white churches and a white town
house are all one can see passing
through The other village, the vii
lage of the dead, close beside it. SEEM !
ed much larger. To the memory of |
Meridith which we had seen the day |
before, fresh in our minds, this was Il
pleasant contrast.
Where shall We find a resting place
for the night? There is no hotel in
Londonderry and none further on
that we can reach before darkness
overtakes us. Perhaps you can |
stay at Mr. Days" some one ,sug-
gests. We ask, and what good for
tune is ours! We may stay, and this
was once the famous Mammoth Road |
Hotel. Cram Tavern, it was called in
the old days. We are to sleep in a |
house over one hundred years old, n |
house with a history, house that |
could tell many a charming story if |
it's walls could speak. We spend a
delightful evening in the old reception
room, we sleep in the old bare room
andbreakfast in the old dining room.
We hear stories of the days when the
Mammoth Road was forty feet wide,
when coaches drawn by six horses
passed over it's entire length from
Boston to Concord, stopping to
change horses at Cram Tavern, for
twenty-four horses were kept in the
stables there in those old times. We
look at the noble elms in front of the
house whose lowrr branches had been
carefully cut lest the travellers riding
beneath them, be annoyer. We hear
of the old windows that had twenty
four panes in the lower sash and
twenty in the upper, and see the old
doors still in use. But better than
the past is the present, for this old
house is now the summer home of
geniel ladies and gentlemen who give
pleasant memories to "the strangers
within their gates" With these
memories we journey southwark, feel
ing that it is good to have seen a lit
tie of the great, wide, beautiful,
wonderful world" in which we live,
even from the old Mammoth Road,
and to have had glimpses there of so
many interesting people. E. s,F.