, 1924-08-20

pilgrims from far ana near
have been flocking to the place
as to a shrine-day after day. all
the year round, but particularly In
the summer.
At the cemetery is a soldier. He
stops every incoming car with I'M
perative gestures and gives a terse
direction to the driver.
Turn into the field at the left,
and park" he orders.
The field is seen to be occupied
by rows and rows of waiting We
hicles, while files of humanity
slowly walk up the stone steps and
across the turf to the Coolidge boys
grave. The grass is worn away now
and the pathway shows where liter
ally thousands of feet have passed
with the few weeks thai has elapsed
since the funeral.
Still another soldier keeps watch
at the grave. and, awed by the uni,
form. the throngs of visitors, after
looking st%eadfastly at the spot,
move along past the line of head
stones.
Souvenir Pests Chip Gravestone
1t has been found necessary to
maintain the guard. The souvenir
seeking pests are there in scores
and the grave, not to speak of the
cemetery, would be stripped bare
if they were left to their will.
Already they have Clipped bits of
marble and granite from the Cool
idge gravestone. They have torn
branches from trees. They have
even taken handfuls of earth from
the dead boys grave.
The %concourse of visitors begins
to assemble almost before the morn
ing sun peeps over the mountains
of the Notch, and night has come
before the last red tail light van
ishes down the valley road.
1t is on Sundays and holidays
that the crowds come in earnest,
however. Nothing of rural tran
guilty survives. 1t reminds one of
a fair or a circus.
The store does a rushing bus
mess in ginger beer and pop. in
sandwiches and potato chips, cigars
and cigarettes.
On n Sunday during the last
months $50 persons signed their
names in the registry book that is
kept in the Coolidge house.
A detachment of soldiers from
Fort Ethen Allen is stationed here
to maintain some kind of order
among the throngs. The service
tents are pitched in front of the
rtA- .~l Irl,or ,1,I --,rAr@, @4N
as traffic officers. Directing the
streams of cars and designating
parking places on the green
Highway Lined with Autos
A solid array of machines. bear
ing license tags from almost every
state in the union. fills the space,
and a string of others, hundreds
in number sometimes. lines the hi
way as far as the eye can reach.
There are limouzines with liveried
chauffeaurs and richly gowned own
ers. There are rackety f1ivvers
that have painted up the formidable
grade, bringing visitors from places
far and wide. from New England
towns and from remote farmsteads.
Summer residents from the White
mountains. from the Adirondacks.
from Maine, New Hampshire and
Massachusetts, converge upon Ply
mouth. Leaving their machines
they move in solid procession upon
the Coolidge house. mount the
piazza steps, push open the door
that admits directly to the famous
dining room, ply the caretaker with
questions. look their fill at the Bible
upon which the president took the
oath of office, the chair. the pic
lures and photographs. the lamp
and the other furnishings of the
homely room. including the new
radio set which was presented to
the Colonel and thru which he list
ened to the proceedings of the Re-
publican national convention at
Cleveland, and reluctantly made
way for fresh arrivals.
They make their way to the Gil
ley store opposite and peer into the
cluttered store-room, once a cham
Der, in which the president of the
Unitel States first saw the light of
day.
They gaze at the church and its
modernized and YER ordinary in
terror, with its ~concentric rows Of
highly vanished pews and conven-
tional pulpit. They stare at the
schoolhouse, standing on the site of
the vanished stone building within
which young Coolidge studied his
A-B-C's.
Vendors OF Road to Fortune
The crowds spend their money
freely-no doubt about that. 1t is
reported that at the store they sold
in a day $50 worth of picture post.