The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-11

MATHER BYLES
By Hezehiah Buuerwor,h

lV Boston. He Joked even at serious
times When Kings Chapel was being
erected, he remarked, referring to the
upper tier of narrow windows, that
he had heard of the canons of the church,
but had never seen "port-holes" before.
He was Tory and would talk Tory
politics He SO ridiculed the patriots
in their opposition to the King that
the authorities resolved to put him under
guard He lived on what is now Hollis-st
y soldier was sent to guard him,
who marched up and down before the
door in an official and pompous manner.
One day the merry rector came out
of his house
"Halt!" said the soldier.
Il want you to go down to king's-st
and do an errand for me, said DR.. Byles.
But l am on guard"
'Yes. but let me have your gun, and
will stand guard over myself"
The people who gathered about the
scene saw that setting a guard over the
irrepressible man was ridiculous. So
the guard was withdrawn.
But the saucy doctor began to tall,
again, politically. The magistrates
placed another guard over him. who
was also withdrawn.
When this was done the doctor said
to one of the magistrates. or forefathers:
What state is mine! l have been
guarded, re-guarded, and now l am
disregarded, which is the most unhappy
condition of man.
A dark day fell upon New-England.
According to the language of settle
lore, The fowls went to roost at noon.
As there was no eclipse set for that day,
many people thought that the end of
the world had come
There was a woman, probably a
member of Dr. Byles' parish, who was
greatly alarmed and distressed as the
darkness deepened. She said to her
little son: Go, feel your way along
to DR.. Byles' door, strike the knocker,
and tell him that | have sent you.
Say to him that am in darkness.
and ask him what is the cause of this
appalling obscurity."
The boy went as directed.
The doctor answered the banging.
He opened the door, probably in gown
and wig, and possibly with snuff-box.
"Dr. Byles, my mother sends me
to you. She is in the dark, and the
fowls have gone to roost, and she is
afraid that the end has come. She
wished me to say to you: What is
the cause of this appalling obscuritv?"
Yes, yes" said the live doctor in
some trepidation. We'll, well. You go
back and tell your mother. tell her that
l am as much in the dark as she is
This story was told with many varia-
tions in the latter days of the Red
Settle charm. \ joke on the dark day
was accounted wonder. Kings
Chapel appears now as in the Red
Settle days. In the chapel yard is
the grave of Mary Chiffon. who was said
to be the first passenger on the May
flower to leap on shore at Plymouth
Rock
There was a story of Mather Byles
that roguish boys liked to hear;
1t may have happened in the days
of the chimney-sweeps
Two boys had climbed the house
ladder, and were looking down the
chimney, when the doctor. hearing
sounds in the chimney. thought he
would investigate the cause by looking up.
He was probably ruffied and bewigged
As he looked up the boys scrambled
away out of the angle of vision, and
sent down cloud of SCOT, which powd
cred the doctor, wig, ruffles, velvets
and all But he did not lose his sense
of hunor, not he. He ran out, and
looked up to the frightened boys on the
roof, who must have expected that