The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-11-11
The Wayside Inn.


"Ah, let the green Septembers go!
They promise more than they bestoW;
Out of the south October came
Setting the forests heart aflame.
Summer returned with her, and still
She fingers with u.s.
And when, on such summer like Octo-
Der day, the Dorothy Brewer Chapter of
the Daughters of the American Revolu-
ton of Waltham planned an excursion to
the Waysde Inn, the scene of Lopgfel-
lows "Tales of Waysde Inn,' and in
tlated their invitation to include ''ladies
from other clubs,' the writer accepted
with alacrity and without conditions other
the tales.
A ride of half an hour on the Massachu-
/ sets Central brought us to South Sud
bury, and a walk of one and half miles
for mo noisy railway speeds" any nearer
brought us to the Inn, "a region of re-
pose, place of slumber and of dreams,
remote among the wooded hills.''
In fact, the thirty five years which have
elapsed since the tales were written have
made no appreciate change in the out
ward environment, and the prelude to
the tales truthfully describes the Inn of
to-day. Longfellow gives the genesis of
the house as follows: 1.-TWO hundred years
! ago an English farmer by name of Howe
built country house which has remained
in the family to the present time, the last
of the race dying about two years ago.
, (Dec. IS, 1868.
| Losing their fortune they became inn
keepers and for a hundred years the Red
| Horse tlour;shed, going down from father
! to son. This will account for the coat Of
arms, "Justice" and 'Squi re- The Red
Horse still prances on the sign, but the
name of the present proprietor, Edw. D.
/ Lemon, 1896, has been added to the list
Of earlier ones on the sign. Over the en-
trance is the quotation:
AS ancient is this hostelry
AS any in the land may be-
Built in the old Colonial day,
When men lived in grander way,
W 4tII amply iiNoIl4tfl4ltS
But hospitality departed with tile
Howes and the Inn is now kept for reve
nue. only All visitors are shown over
the house at per capita rate of twenty
five cents. On the right as we enter is
the room containing most of the relics,
now used as an Office. In it is the bar, a
wooden portcullis, so constructed that
when closed at a certain hour, according
to law. 4 space at the bottom would con-
veniently admit the passage of mug of
ale which was sold uHder the bar, thereby
keeping the letter if not the spirit of the
law.
The sheIiff's hook in the oak ceiling
beams, where prisoners were tied, is
shown and revolutionary relics garnish
the room. Some Of the younger members
of the party saw for the first time the
peaceful adiuncts of those days-the foot
stove and warming pan.
Adjoining is the taproom, the closet
door showing the holes made by the awl
with which the bottles were opened be-
ing continually thrown at the door as
resting place.
Lafayette's room, as it is still called
from bis use of it in 1924, has the original
paper still on the walls, blue bell design.
now two hundred years old. The floor is
stencilled instead of carpeted and is worn
to such degree that the design can be
traced only around the edges.
The room that Longfellow slept in is
large and low posted and has the incon-
gruous addition of an electric bell. The
garnet where slaves were accommodated
the slave pen--and where grain was
stored in times of invasion, has been fin
ished with all modem improvements for
the accommodation OF guests
Dinner for our party was served i'll the
small dining room where Washington and
Lafayette had dined, and digestion was
aided by many a hearty laugh at the at
tempts to ape the manners of their time.
After dinner we wandered about to see
''across the road, the barns display their
lines of stalls, their mows of hay'' and to
the famous hollow tree said to hold nine
women. We found three comfortably ac-
commodated inside, but the statement
could not be verified by actual trial, ow-
ing to danger to laces and ribbons from
the small aperture which guarded the in
side of the would be Californian.
Returning to the parlor we gathered
around the same tireside where the tales
were told, and studied the illusions in the
prelude. The ''spinet'' has given place
to the modern piano used in the ball room
above. Daniel Webster desk-on which
these lines were written-occupies a cor
ner of the room. The "window pane'' on
which the ''jovial rhymes were writ near
century ago by the great Major Moline
aux, was considered too tempting to the
souvenir hunter and was taken from the
window and framed, and hangs beside the
Landlord coat of arms''
! copied what Longfollow neglected to
do, and give the ''jovial rhymes verba-
tim:
4 l.