Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-09-22
TWO. PREslnenTasHonE.
Historic Cottage 1t Quincy Which Gave .hs
Two Adamsss Shelter.

!
There Is only one town In the United
States wherein two Presidents Of the re-
public have been born--the little settle
Inent at Braintree. which Is now named
which two Presidents made their home
likewise the only house Of Its kind in the
country. You go nine miles from Boston
which you viii recall as the hub Of the
little way from the sea, on the old post
road between the capital Of the Plymouth
colony and the greater capital OF the
colony of Massachusetts bay, will be
found quaint. old-fashioned wooden
structure. built originally about the mid
die of the seventeenth century. 1t was
his bride, that Abigail Adams who had
been Smith. and was. the daughter Of
the settled minister, Of Braintree.
!, The house i cottage ~ but long hun
Anne" structures. which Is probably one
day. This was the, house where John
er lived until his. election. and was still
most iliustrious OF American families
away from the Adamses for the purpose
Of making II monument of life in ante
revolutionary times. Ebert Hubbard
has visited 1t recently and written an ac-
tually and additionally. making it a
most exceptional American house indeed
After the house was turned over to the
Charles Francis Adams is president, 1t
was raised to its former somewhat more
elevated position, having sunk as all an
and it was put in perfect order without
and within, every old piece of wood that
was originally built into 1t being. how
ever. scrupulously retained. Then the
curator of 1t begged and bought guam
tity of the furniture Of a hundred years
and more ago, and. with rare good judy
ment, instead of making a museum of
a manner that Mistress Abigail might
have stepped out of 1t an hour before, SO
far as appearances go. 1t is a farm
during the proper season for fires. and
there is high settle beside it, the back
being solid. to keep the wind from the
anatomy of the occupant ,s a .,,
a sampler or two to show how deft our
ancestresses were in needlework at a ten
der age. an old sunbonnet and an open
old days. 1t is not what was called lux
urious house even in that day-such a
one was made familiar to Chicago dur
reproduced the old Hancock mansion for
its state home-but it was plenty gooa
enough for one President of a great ma
ton to live in and for another to be born
in.
There are few books in it besides the
Bible, but not many. There is tall
clock, but not one of the elaborate ma
hOgany devices which have become IA
miliar as colonial possessions. and there
are one or two pictures on the walls, of
which the best that can be said Is that
they "a, are curious II not , beautiful III, There
living room: but if you look for a gas
stove, or even for a cooking stove of any
sort. you will be disappointed. Instead
pot and its spit for roasting and the
long-handled skillets for the preparation
of other comestibles.. And, best of all,
there Is good. big brick oven, wherein
pies and buildings and beans and things
are baked in a manner unknown in this
degenerate city. Above is a bedchamber
curtained and nightcap on the pillow.
which Mr.. Hubbard says would make the
homeliest of women look beautiful. We
wonder at the lack of ventilation which
ply, but 1t Is altogether likely that the
more primitive construction of that time
left them with fresh air to spare. bed
outside there is an old well. with its
long sweep for counterpoise; inside the
old blue ware survives fer best and pew
remind us that President John Adams
and President John Quincy Adams both
used their knives to get green peas into
their systems. carefully turning the edge
ner of their respective mouths for, fear
an inadyertent slip might unduly enlarge
them. There is soap kettle outside; al
so. and a trunk covered with cOwhide
and the hair left on. all fastened down
with the most beautiful brass nails. to
be found inside. In fact. everything one
needs to make him thankful for the day
of steam-heated. Observation-Disclosures. hot
and-cold-watered and all-the-other-mOd-
ernly -convenienced flats of this end of
this century, instead of the same end of
the last century. may be seen in detail.
But will two Presidents of these United
States ever come out of one fiat?