Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-31
THINGS IN GENERAL.
A Summer Vacation Visit to Historic New
England-The Town of Duxbury, Once
Known to the Whole Commercial World

a summer 'aoaoon 'isit 70 n's'ofic New
Ensiand-ihe Town OF DuAoufy' oncs
Ano~n 20 tne Aoie ooininefeia, :" orie
"A Stolen Bell
Across the narrow waters OF Duxbury
Bay can see, as I write, brown house sci
| pleasantly amidst the trees upon the Other
bank. wherein dwelt for twenty, thirty
some say forty years, two women, sisters, in
a silence as austere and unsocfable as Is kept
| In TTappist monastery, nursing an unend
| ing quarrel. Nobody knows now Just what
the quarrel was about. One tradition says
that love was at the bottom of this grim
contradiction of love; another tradition
finds the root of the matter in that most
| fruitful source of ali manner of detestabil.
| tiles, the desire of money. Anyhow, there
they lived together, actually getting Their
| breakfasts. dinners, and suppers at the same
stove and sleeping In the same room, and
| receiving visitors IN the same parlor, but
never speaking, holding absolutely no comt
munication one with the other.
Every house in an old town has O store of
tragedy and comedy in its annals. And
| Duxbury is one of the oldest of the old towns
| on this side of the water. Miles Standish,
and j. ohm Alden, and Elder Brewster, passen-
| gers in the Mayflower, settled here soon
| after the beginning of things at Plymouth.
| The first house must have been erected here
in Notwithstanding.
A Historic Residence.
The bouse which the second Governor
uy,,.,.,, I'll. a., .,,i. ,,o;,.ht,,rh>,,d a. ,.,,,
| ,.oua,, Th.ro a, a ,root +,.ao laa,a. ~ :,
49, -,,s;,,, 80 .hs,, 60 ~. - 49,
1,h,oh the ce,,er,,or ,,sa,, 49, for a lat, ?
-, =, w e,a IT. 80 80. :. aa
| .p .4., - : -.,. .D 49,, e g. :. ~. ~ -
n~ s,,raod or,. baIo o 80 80
90 90 rpa,,a. ~ 80 a 80. q, .,.ts 80
o,aro ,o,,;r,s troa
IN C..-1, 80 , IT,.
.,a s.-,oteSt pnri.a,, tao.e pnt a. al, e r,an-
sion. a big. stout prav.toned. rambling
| structure, shingled roof and sides, after
| the Duxbury fashion, down to the ground.
| The later Duxbury fashion, still to be seen
| somewhere along every road, was to shingle
the front and to make the sides Of brick.
Paint and paper have spoiled the interior.
| The generous old f1replaces have been
| bricked up. The dignity of the Governors
day has altogether departed. But the stout
old house is as strong as ever. The big
beams run across the low ceilings, low as in
| the room where Shakespeare first saw the
light in Stratford. The old narrow stairway,
| its steps worn by many feet, still climbs out
of the front entry. And upstairs, beside a
fireplace, is a secret closet, a real secret
closet, with hidden entrance through q
panel in the wainscoat. You look into its
black depths and the hostess tells you how
it was made for hiding place and put to its
protective uses in the War Of the Revolu-
tion.
Winslow's house is on the way to Web
ster's at Marshfield. The house that Web
ster lived in was burned to the ground, but
the old place is still to be seen with its big
trees and its marshy ponds, and the spring
whose cool wnter Webster tasted. And
along the road, in the little graveyard on
the hill, you can read the namc of Daniel
Webster on plain marble stone.
Commerce In the Early DAYS.
u,bo h,,,., T., ,,,,;,b T ,,,v;+o .+,,d, ~,
-. M .,'a.' 80 s0 o
grounu WHICH was onoe 'ne ProperG VI
nns az. ing ~ .,.,a e.a,,, n.e ~ was mes
@ WIS, us ~ he o aa,, ,a ao,,', -, .,,O
= a.'." 49, .,.,s..o. - ,,ss..' =. w .N'
NJ. EroIamd Tha aid ns,,orf ,rt,;.,, s.iIi
80 ~. ir.o ~ No., hafora tha rn,,sa 1,as
o,o1ydaS ,rtt,, ,,,erobona;sa a,d shin,,,na
~ -, -. a. 80.
. -ns " - " WY
m,an ca, a n'.- sl'".. ~. y, s 'Ao
pa ,sNa, So - ~, opp .; p
nas oo soni n IN ~ ta.,n, se.n .,ne .,,n ai,u
sun,ne s,ln' .sa MN.,. no poys paooe -
s. vuo .ons dS4 san.[of sai1f,at - .an 'n
snchor beside the wharf. The grass grows
where the busy feet hurried to and fro lad
ing the old ships. Every day, when the tide
goes out, long reach OF bare mats extends
out lnoo tne Day, as IL the sea were Trans
formed into muddy meadow. Ihere is no
hotel In Du4oury. Ihere are 1ew passen-
gers on or OH the Old colony train at the
little station. The "parges" winch convey
people to and from the railroad are never
crowded. The old life and stir in the air has
altogether gone. There is nothing to do in
Duxbury except to rest. The history of
Duxbury Is all in the past.
So there Is interest In Duxbury in addition
to its opportunities as summer loungfng
place. You can not only get out OF the world
here Dut you can actually get away back
out OF the century, The Dig square houses,
set pesioe the ramonng ROADS, painted in
colonial yellow or In gray and brown out of
natures paint pot, recall the old days when
the masts stood about the Day like trees and
people or distinctlon In the commercial
world OF the time looked out OF the windows.
The grocery stores bear sign over the door
whioh dates back to the era of the old ships.
English and West India Goods" are to be
had, the sign says, within. Direct 1mporta-
tions once. Straight from England and the
Indies came the linen ana sugar OF that day
into this port OF Duxbury.
A Stolen Monastery Bell
Tho bo,s OF Mr. Knonn,s soboo, o,d
.,. oao+;oJ taorda,.s ora a.,,.S .o a,. ~
nv bell which in some good old time called
some company of monks to prayers. The
bell swings IN little wooden turret, sur
mounted py cross. somebody In priests
uress, Win neao tonsureo ana lips accus-
toned 60 the Latin speecn, spoke prayer OF