Putnam patriot., 1927-12-08
BOOK REVIEW
A Humsnired History of Boston

history or Boston
 Those whose wish i, has been tba. someone would write a readable. brief but comprehensive history of Old Ros- i ton may now have that wish fulfilled l After all, Il is people rather than l events that not only make history but make history interesting, and what could one choose to furnish this per sonal interest .n history of Boston better than a hostelry.-in this in stance peopled by Boston notablcs and one of the city's first hotels 10 gain fame and make history and which has lived through the years To the present?
 The author shows a {. ue research instinct which an historian should pos sess and has clothed again with living flesh the dry old bones of Boston's his tory. h fact, his success in this work ] suggests his treating certain other areas in the city in a similar way. This would be not only immensely valuable but would measuraby perpetuate Bos- tons reputation as the most interest ing city in the United States from an historical point of view
 The Parker House
 As the author who knows his Boston says. "No history of Boston would be complete without telling something of the part which the Parker House has played in the nearly 75 years of it's existence "a part which includes the distinction of having been host to such guests as President Grant; Generals Sherman Hancock and Garfield; Ade- ina Patti; Sara Bernhardt; Ada Re han: Henry Irving; Edwin Booth /; Richard Mansfield and Charlotte Cush- man "a hotel in which Charles Dick ems made his home on his notable vis- | to America in 1867 4 list of guests would further include Rufus Choate. the eminent Massachusetts lawyer and orator :Darley, the Ameri- can artist who illustrated many of Dickens works Prescott. the histo- rian Charles Sumner. of anti-Slavery fame: Major Henry L. Higginson John Lothrop Motley, James Russell i Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Whit tier. Hawthorne. Emerson. Agassiz HoWells. Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Francis Parkman.-in short, galaxy
 f notables who brought fame not only to Boston and Massachusetts but also to New England. made Parker's their hotel headquarters up through the years
 Histories af Besta1 haya been Srit- ten and published before, but for the most part of too volamiuous propof. tions 10 stir any impulse to read on the part of the layman, even had he the time necessary te sean their many pagcs Much ef romano and inter ost is also locked un in tbe or zinal records af the Registfles aE Ueeas and Probate in and around Ba ton. From these sources. the author oi Boston < The Parker House" has culled well Thus he gives us a glimpse Of the l7th century Boston which. he says rt that time was neither q gay nor iayous town to live in Inns. or or dinaries as they were called then were hedged about with many rsguia- tions. The price of meat and dfinA .vas fixed bv i.w An officer was ap' nainted whose duty 1t was to sef thai no one drank more than he could soberly bear away. Dancing was prohibited at inns and penal ty imposed for loud or rude singing a' taverns. The use of tobacco in pub lie was prohibited. and the General Court found it necessary Tn lbse te nrivide that "persons annually iicens. cd in Boston after the first day oi October next shall not exceed siNf wine taverns, ten inn holders and cioht retavlers for wine and strong Hcquors out of doors.
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