Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1902-03-21

has tried to find out
something about landmarks that
come his way has been compelled to
be content with good deal Of hearsay,
unless blessed with abundant leisure
and gifted in the methods of historical
Inquiry. The facts are, of course, ex-
tant somewhere, but where? Not
everybody knows the solution Of these
puzzles, and Mr.. Stark's book is the
first answer to the inquiry.
The quaint efforts of the earlier
artists to leave picture of momentous
happenings do not compare with the
sophisticated skill Of our day, but are
exceedingly matter-of-fact, and to the
historical student appeal with the
force of an honest, albeit laundering
statement.
mo city," observes the author,
gathers within its limits more matter
of national historic import than the
city of Boston. There is not foot of
it's original territory (original from the
fact that more than two-thirds of its
present territory is made ground) but
what is associated with our country's
struggle for independence, or the trials
and privations of its early settlers.
ITO the antiquary 1t presents an in
veritable mine Of pleasure. In compil-
ing the matter accompanying each H.
lustration, every endeavor has been
made to give clear, concise and
truthful description Of the subject in
hand.
Every authority on any one subject
has been carefully sought out and con-
suited, and it is believed nothing has
been neglected which would tend to
make the work most valuable ac-
quisition to the history of Boston in
its letterpress, as we'll as in the pres
ervation to posterity Of the rare old
prints here incorporated"
A measure OF how far this aim has
been carried out appears in common
datory note by DR.. Samuel A. Green.
ex-mayor Of the city and librarian Of
the Massachusetts, Historical Society,
than whom probably no one is better
qualified to speak. He says:
II am familiar with many of the old
prints copied in your book, and can
testify to their careful reproduction.
The work will be a great help to the
local antiquary, and the interest in it
by no means confined to Bostonians.
Some Of the views are taken from en-
cravings now exceedingly rare, and all
of them have an historical value"
Needless to say that Mr.. Stark be-
gins at the beginning, reviewing the
evidence for the first" discovery of
the city, in which the claims of Lief,
the son of Eric, of John and Sebastian
Cabot, of Bartholomew Gosnold and
Capt. John Smith. the latter of whom
discovered the city in 1914, while on
a fur trading tour Of the coast, and is
the authentic first Bostonian."
The early history need not be re-
counted here. except in some of the
principal points, particularly the re-
solve of Gov. Winthrop to settle on a
point of land that he calleu Charles
town, in honor of Charles L.; the dis
content of the colonists on the
peninsular on account of
the lack of fresh water added to their
general restitution; their ultimate de-
to move over to the neigh
boring peninsula Of Tramount, where
water was plentiful, at least. This
was also known as Shawmut.
A cut of the then embryo city shows
the three hills that earned for it the
"Tramount," or "Thimount," name,
and is the beginning Of Mr.. Stark's
long series of pictorial contributions
to Boston history.
The picture of Mr.. Blackstone's
house is given next, the first one
erected in "Shawmut," supposed to
have been near the corner of present
Beacon and Charles streets. Mr..
Blackstone invited his countrymen
over from inhospitable Charlestown,
and they came, promptly naming their
new home Boston. after Boston in
from whence many Of the
settlers came.
Early maps of the city are fairly
familiar in reproduction. but Mr..