The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Stone, Charles Wellington, 1853-1927.                    

Title:               Tramp diary and scrapbook,

Dates:             1870-1878.

Call No.:         Col. 757

Acc. No.:        92x83, 05x74

Quantity:        2 volumes

Location:        19 B 1

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Charles Wellington Stone was a poet and scholar of French and botany, with six publications to his credit.  Born in Templeton, Massachusetts, on December 13, 1853, he was the son of Margaret Coffin Wellington and Leonard Stone, and a descendent of colonial American settlers.  He had a brother Leonard (1849-1921) and a sister Mary Wellington Stone (1856-1936).  Charles W. Stone received his early education in public schools and then attended Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire.  He entered Harvard in 1870, where he received his B.A. in 1874 and his M.A. in 1881.  After teaching for five years, Stone established a classical preparatory school for boys, the Stone School in Boston, in 1879.  To celebrate its 45th anniversary, graduates endowed a scholarship in Stone's name at Harvard for the education of boys from Templeton.  Stone's interests included music, poetry, botany, classical literature, oratory, genealogy, and history.  He served in leadership capacities in several organizations and received a silver medal from the Massachusetts Horticulture Society in 1888.

 

Stone married Ellen Mary Buckingham on October 2, 1877; she died in 1881.  He married for a second time on September 26, 1883; he and his second wife, Alice Stone, had two daughters.  Stone died at the Charlesgate Hospital in Boston on January 22, 1927, leaving as survivors his wife and his daughter Elsa Wellington Stone.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

There are two items in this collection, a diary and a scrapbook, both kept by Charles Wellington Stone.  The diary records a tramp, or hike, that Stone took with a boyhood friend, Fitzhale Abbot (William Fitzhale Abbot, 1853-1922, also a Harvard student), through New Hampshire when he was in his late teens.  Stone noted their activities from August 7 to 12, 1871, in this well written diary.  Stone and Fitzhale left East Templeton and headed for New Hampshire without plans for meals or nighttime stops.  Most of the time they succeeded in finding food and rest at farm houses along the way, but sometimes they ended up in haylofts and eating roadside berries.  Stone provided comments on hospitality and accommodations, describing one hotel as "a rheumatic hotel suggestive of lice and bedbugs."  He also noted: "Through all this tramp I cannot say enough of the kindness, pleasantness, and hospitality of the women.  Though the men may be cross and disobliging, the women are always the opposite."

 

Much of the diary consists of Stone's comments about the topography and scenery of rural New Hampshire and the towns he walked through.  For most of the six days, they were on or near the Monadnock Mountain.  Stone wrote about changes that were taking place in New England, running into other hikers, climbing down a mountain where there was no path, a signal on the summit of a mountain put up by the U.S. Coast Survey, and witnessing some people hauling a 12 ton block of granite for a soldier's monument in Keene.  Stone betrayed an early interest in horticulture by identifying a flower by its Latin name, the "Rosa Japonica" and by learning to distinguish between white and rock maples.

 

The last few pages of the volume contain a crossed out list of articles, presumably taken on the trip, and expenses for August 8-11.  Stone mentions such items as a shirt, a towel, stockings, a rubber cape, a compass, a notebook and pencil, matches, hooks and lines, a needle and thread, money, envelopes, and a tin dish in his list.  Cash was paid for lodging, three meals a day, mending shoes, and a notebook.

 

The scrapbook covers aspects of Stone’s Harvard career.  He describes the collection as “College papers consisting of examination papers, admission papers, official papers, & miscellaneous.”  Stone took the admission exam in June 1870, and was admitted on probation; he eventually made up his deficiencies and became a fully matriculated student.  Many of the items in the scrapbook are tests in Latin, Greek, mathematics, French, mechanics and hydrostatics, ethics, and a few other subjects.  Other items concern room assignments, class and exam schedules, tuition bills, activities of the Everett Athenaeum (a literary society), freshman hazing, summons to the dean’s office, class day and graduation activities, college rules, the glee club, student theater and other college organizations, notices of censure marks for misconduct, class songs and poems, and other items relating to college life.  Of special note are a notice requesting that students be vaccinated against small pox, dated December 1872, and a bond signed by Stone’s mother holding her responsible for paying his college expenses.  Laid into the scrapbook are additional materials, dated 1875-1878.  Some relate to Stone’s graduate work; others to alumni association activities and his service as an exam proctor.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

The diary entries are in chronological order.  The items in the scrapbook seem to be in no particular order.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

           

Diary: accession 92x83: Purchased from Robert F Lucas

 

Scrapbook: accession 05x74: purchased from M & S Rare Books, Inc.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Abbot, William Fitzhale, 1853-1922.

 

Topics:

            Harvard University - Students.

            Harvard University - Alumni and alumnae.

            Harvard University - Entrance examinations.

            Harvard University - Examinations.

            Harvard University - Societies, etc.

            Young men - Diaries.

            Hiking - New Hampshire.

            Hotels - Anecdotes.

            Flowers - New Hampshire.

            Landscape - New Hampshire.

            Friendship.

            Monadnock, Mount (N.H.) - Description and travel.

            New Hampshire - Description and travel.

            Diaries.

            Scrapbooks.

            Examinations.

Travelers.

Students.        

 

 

TRANSCRIPTION OF THE DIARY

 

Transcription done by Kacey Stewart, 2017.

 

Written inside front cover, by a later hand:

Tramp From East Templeton, MA

To Bellows Fls VT (this

notebook ends)

apparently written by C.W. STONE

$125-

 

37 leaves

(74)pp

 

[page 1]

Tramp

Sunday, Aug 6th, 1871

[several lines thoroughly crossed out]

 

Monday –Aug. 7th

Leonard got a horse at E. Templeton and he and W. Jones rode over with me to Ash. Junction.  Abbot came in the train.  We started towards

 

[page 2]

Lane Village and overtook Mr. Fairbanks who got in & rode as far as Mrs. Russell’s.  We went in a little while, saw Mrs. F & the children and had some concoction to drink – Leonard changed his horse for Mr. F’s and dug some worms and we went down to the pond. We fished a little while with rather poor success – We got a lot of lilies which Leo took home.  We ate our lunch

in the grove. Then Leonard had to go

 

[page 3]

home and Abbot and I went down to the white beach in the boat and had a very nice immersion.  We rowed back and started on our tramp at half past four, I forgetting of course to leave Mr. C. Lane’s letter. 

We walked to North Ashburnham - and into the town of Rindge. After going a while and being a

good deal fagged as it was hot, I was tired, and the knap-sack heavy, we were hungry

 

[page 4]

I used Miss. K. B’s drinking cup with success. We came to what we thought ought to run from

a spring and went over into a pasture but the water was stagnant and irony.  Then it began it rain

and Fitzhale ran and I partially ran to a little brown house on a hill where there was an old lady who was hospitable enough, and who informed  us that she had  a sister die in

 

[page 5]

Templeton a few days before aged 90 years (Mrs. Paige)

After it stopped raining we went on and stopped under an apple tree to eat our supper. We had Abbot’s lunch and Miss Buckingham’s cake which was very nice. It began to rain but we  stoically finished our supper, packed up our things and moved on when it stopped raining.  We came to a very slouchy looking village with a rheumatic hotel strongly

 

[page 6]

suggestive (à la Abbot) of “lice & bedbugs.” –

The primary schools in Rindge, by the way, have their name on them so their nature & design may appear to the visitor. For instance the one in this redoubtable village was bedecked with “primary School Dist. No. 8.” Here we began to witness the flashy guide boards with frantic steeds painfully sug-gestive to weary mortals on foot

 

[page 7]

For I was weary.  But so much for E. Rindge. Rindge at that time was our El Dorado.  We pushed on (Abbot remarks it took a good deal of pushing to get me on) through a very woody and muddy road which at a different time of a different day would have been very pretty. But it was dark and we asked at a farm-house for lodging and we were received into the house instead of the barn and had very good quarters and

 

[page 8]

breakfast for 40 cts apiece. Abbot pumped on the worthy farmer considerably and he was very socia-ble, inquisitive, & loquacious. We had a moderately good sleep for Abbot was very loony,

did not sleep, pulled off all the clothes & put them on the floor – got us & walked around the room. (he says it is a ‘hopping’ lie) and waked me up a lot of times.  [illegible] all

 

[page 9]

the farm houses in this region are back a little way from the road.

Tuesday – 8th

It rained at first but after a while cleared off and we started about 9.  We had very good water on the way out of mossy wells. We went through Blakeville and crossed the Monadnock railroad on which a very dingy train went along with the cocky appellation of “Winchendon & New

 

[page 10]

York”  We did not go through Rindge Center but only in sight of it as we geed off to Blakeville. We found large quantities of luscious blackberries of which for the first time in my life I ate all

I wanted. (Abbot says “and more too”) He didn’t want so many and wanted to go along and was much disgusted at at [sic] my lingering so long. (Abbot says piggish-ness) at first we

 

[page 11]

eat every ghost of a blackberry but they grew so plentiful that we would only touch A No 1 prime

ones. We had some dinner at a farm house where they evid-ently thought we were pedlars. [sentence crossed out]  We went through East Jaffrey, one of the prettiest villages I ever saw.  The road from Rindge to E. J. is very pleasant going through thick woods almost all the way. We went a little way beyond

 

[page 12]

E.J., lay down under a great maple, played cards, cut sticks, and were having a good time when a thunder storm came up, a quite severe one, and we took refuge in a shed where Abbot on finding

a pig’s bristle from the debris on me, made remarks about blackberries. Who cares?  We also ate sugar there.  When the rain stopped, we went along and came to Jaf-frey Center. Abbot bought some crackers and cheese and we proceeded. Mo-

 

[page 13]

nadnock now appeared to be close by, but the farther we went, the more it seemed to recede.

It began to grow dark and we tried to get lodg-ing at two different places (We ate supper at a cross man’s house) but could not, and had to go along to the brick house, only a mile beyond. We

saw Mr. Lucas Baker & one of his boys. They are camping out on the mountain side. We saw

the light and the smoke of their fire. We had quite good lodging and did not get up the next morn-ing till late, but the lady got us some breakfast and charged us only 50 cents for the whole.

 

[page 14]

Wednesday 9th

After the shower it had cleared  off very nicely but the first thing we saw this morning was smoke, smoke. We started for Monadnock and in 35 minutes were  at the half way house over a rather toilsome road We saw little Baker on the road digging for garnets.  We rested a little while

and then started through the woods. A little brook made a lovely range of pools over the mossy rocks. A party mostly of children

 

[page 15]

kept us company most of the way.  Soon we emerged on the rocks and had a good climb through

the wilderness of granite. There was a nice spring a little way off the road.  “My grotto” was near it. We arrived at the summit just one hour after the mountain house. O what a wilderness and what a barren place! I had never seen anything of the kind before. We explored around the mountain some and I went out to the west peak where I found a profusion

 

[page 16]

of very fat low-bush blueberries, the nicest I had ever seen. I carried a handful of branches of them back to Abbot and we eat our dinner of crackers, cheese, berries, and sugar. The sugar was lump sugar, so that we could not use it for anything but to eat, but we enjoyed it amazingly that way. The smoke began to clear away, and we had a good view of the splendid scenery.  The day continued clearing and at last was as fine as could

 

[page 17]

be desired.  I saw naught of the Templeton party. The U.S. Coast Survey have erected a signal on the summit[.]  In one of my exped-itions on the rocks, my stick slipped and my breeches came to grief and I had to retreat behind a rock and be patched up by Abbot.  I tried very hard to see Templeton but could not.  A young lady kindly offered me the use of her glass with which I could see Winchen-don and Lardner, but no Templeton, for the glass was not strong enough. We lay

 

[page 18]

behind a rock, wrote in our diaries and I wrote a letter to Mother urging more breeches. I very much regret now not having had them thoroughly looked into & repaired at home. 

At about 3 o’clock we started away and as the only paths were on the north and south sides we concluded to go down on the west side, a pathless untrod-den wilderness as ever was. We took the bearing with the compass and started. It was a very rash thing to do and we found it a terrible

tramp. Precipices, chasms,

 

[page 19]

water, woods, terraces and  ridges of rock, all mixed up in dreadful confusion made it a great undertaking and one out of which we were very lucky to get as we did, for in about an hour & ½

we came to the open land. Here we stopped a good while for we were very much tired and shaken up. Now that Monadnock is over, I must say that I never in my life saw such scenery as was  there presented to us, glorious and various, but yet it seems just as when one has over eaten

of some specially nice

 

[page 20]

dish and would have been as well off with less.  For I think I enjoyed the view from the mountain side where we stopped and rested, fully as much as the view from the summit although only about one-quarter as extensive. 

We rested a good while and started on again, But we had not yet got through our tribulation as the descent was still very steep over a rough pasture. My knapsack made me a good deal top-heavy, and I blundered along down at a great rate,

 

[page 21]

Abbot splitting his sides behind. Pretty soon we came to one of the many brooks that flow down the mountain side which went into a very pretty and shallow pool. We drank some of it and found it much too warm for our taste. We then concluded to take a bath in it and disrobed for that purpose but soon found that the outer and the inner man require very different temper-atures of water. I applied a very little of it sparingly to me, but not so Abbot.  About 30 cows gathered

around to witness the performance, evidently expecting salt. They

 

[page 22]

came up very close and waited patiently with eyes intent (and noses.)  [crossed out sentence]  We dressed rather expeditiously and started off[,] the cows following closely. They could only be made to depart by vigorous exclamations and brandish-ments of the sticks.  We crossed into another pasture with a great many boulders among beech, oak, and maple trees, nice places for

Sis and me to have picnics, then we went

 

[page 23]

into a cart road that led over some beautiful smooth rock side-walks, and finally into the road.  We after-wards found out that this cart road was the entrance to the old path on Monadnock. We went along quite a distance and came to a deserted house where we had hoped to get supper. I had been told some time ago that the region about Monadnock was full of these deserted farmhouses and we found it so. We moved along and came to another house where nobody was at home if indeed that too was not deserted. At the next house it looked as if we had come to the end of the road

 

[page 24]

but it proved not to be so, much to our comfort as we had had enough of travel up hill and down dale.  We asked for some bread and milk but they had made all their milk into cheese. But we

went in and had a tolerably good supper there. The cats and kittens at our stopping places are a great source of consolation to me, so that Abbot says that cats and calves are my chief delight. I more than half believe him. We had some blackberries on the way, but they

 

[page 25]

were not nearly as nice as those on the Jaffrey road. We went on after supper for it was one of the most beautiful evenings I have ever seen. Soon there was a glorious sunset which made a  splendid prospect to the west and made the Monadnock [word crossed out] all tinged a bright pink; one of the most splendid sights I ever saw. For sublimity Monadnock cannot be equalled [sic] by anything in this section.  We asked for lodging at a farmhouse where they asked if we were running away. They

 

[page 26]

took us in although in somewhat the condition of Mr. Leland’s house, repairing put off till after haying. We had a good bed although Abbot will persist in thrashing round in his sleep. [several lines crossed through]

I forgot to mention that the family where we ate supper looked decidedly on the cheerful side of life laughing immoderately at everything. The man at whose house we put up was a Mr.

 

[page 27]

Hardy who used to go to school with Mr. Adams at Ashby and who knew a great many of Abbot’s  relations

 

Thursday 10th.

 

We had a very nice breakfast at Mr. H’s.  Mrs. H was very kind and polite, at first declining to take money, the first instance on our route, when the things were nicest, too. She made many apologies for them all. We started toward Marlboro. I was very tired and lame after Monadnock, but

 

[page 28]

Fitzhale would streak, and so I lolled behind for a while but soon got sick of it and kept up the rest of the way.  That fellow could walk me all to pieces if he wished. (vide sequel) We had glorious blackberries at which I was as usual very perverse in lingering.  Near Marlboro we came to a dugout trough which had lots of splendid, clear, cold, water. We lingered there some time. A

carriage with two young ladies drove

 

[page 29]

up and they had some water from a cup precisely like Miss K. B’s. We went on to Marlboro, quite a village on a branch of the Ashuelot. East Jaffrey, thus far, is much the prettiest village we have met with. Marlboro had a granite quarry, and a good number of mills etc. There was a very tasteful small stone building there which had the public library in it. We trotted along pretty fast beyond Marlboro and it seems as if we were getting a good way from home.

 

[page 30]

They were hauling an immense block of [word crossed out] granite for a soldiers’ monument in Keene. It weighed 12 tons and took 12 oxen to draw it.  

We crossed the branch of the Ashuelot over a covered bridge and saw an elegant granite railroad bridge over the river. I had my shoe fixed in Marlboro as I had begun to run it over as usual.  We passed through So. Keene and when near Keene, turned off the road on to a sort of great terrace

where there was a

 

[page 31]

splendid grove. It looked just as I had somehow imagined Keene looked when I was a little boy. I wrote there a short note to Ma, discarding the one written on Monadnock. One thing I have learned on my tramp, botanically speaking, that I never knew before, the difference between the

white and rock maples.  We walked on a little way and came in sight of Keene from the hill.  It looked like a beautiful town, and it was a very pretty sight to look off on the hills & the beautiful

valley of the Ashuelot.  We stopped and had

 

[page 32]

a partial dinner or rather a lunch, consisting of a slice of bread and butter and a cracker.

The immense block of granite had been following us along and now was ahead of us, like the fable of the hare and tortoise. But it stuck in a rut and we left them engaged in trying to extricate it. 

We walked into Keene through Marlboro St. and found it a lovely village.  We walked down the

Main St. and had some of our own bills changed at the bank. I went to a clothing store and

bought me a new

 

[page 33]

pair of pants. We then started for Walpole and Faulkner turned in from one of the side streets. He was dumbfounded to see us and walked two miles & ½ to a stone bridge over the Ashuelot. We had a good time talking with him. The poor fellow was conditioned in Trigonometry.  After he had gone back, Abbot and I walked along the riverside through the mowing until we came to a good place, [the word and is crossed out] stripped and went in. The water was not deep, ranging

from ankle to hip, so that we could not swim, but we had a fine time

 

[page 34]

splashing each other with our sticks. While I was at Keene I had a sent several superfluous

things home to Mother, and when I came out of the water, I arranged my knapsack in a much

more portable form. At 5 oclock we started.  Our dinner had not been at all sufficient although we had added to it some soda water at Keene. Abott for the first time was more fagged than I

was and did not feel at all like going. We came to a house and asked for bread and

 

[page 35]

milk but the woman was sick and did not feel able to get it for us. The next house was Paddy; but at the next one we had very good bread, milk, and apple pie, for which we paid a quarter but when we were resting outside of the house, the man came running out and returned the money almost indignantly, evidently feeling slighted as to his hospitality. Through all the tramp I cannot

say enough of the kindness, pleasantness and hospitality of the women.

 

[page 36]

though the men may be cross and disobliging, the women are always the opposite. If I could remember the piece which used to be in the Reading Book that some traveller wrote about this, I would write the whole of it down here. The lady at the house in Marlboro said that blackberries cured canker and I think it must be so, for my eating so many berries has wholly cured my mouth

which was very sore from three different causes.  Fitzhale is a very meek man in asking for

 

[page 37]

anything at houses and I laugh at him very much about it and have concluded to do the rest of the asking myself. He also is disgusted about the milk at the houses being used so much for cheese and says he supposes that is the reason this region is called Cheese-hire. We had at this stopping place a very polite offer of a Hillard’s Third Reader to peruse from a little girl. I never saw a

prettier sight than the hill on the west of the Ashuelot Valley [word crossed out] today and it was a

 

[page 38]

nice place in all respects[.]  It was one of the most splendid days I ever knew; clear and bright

as could be wished for.  While we were coming down the Monadnock, we found two curiosities; a piece of crystallized quartz which I never saw before in this region and a fallen maple log, two of the branches of which had developed into large trees and were growing vigorously skyward. We started on after a rest. Fitzhale went ahead and I lingered behind to finish writing

 

[page 39]

in this diary. We soon went by the place where the Cheshire Railroad makes it so steep grade over the great range of hills. I felt like a new man in my new breeches. We got hold of some more blackberries. We pass by or near or through many more towns than what are mentioned

here which I shall look out when we get home. We had another pink view of the mountain.  Abbot and I came near having a serious row because I playfully nicknamed his

 

[page 40]

“Fitzhale” into “Fizzy” and “Fizzle” and he said if I called him so any more he would go home tomorrow.  We went up a very long and tedious hill and could not see much after we had got to the top. We tried for lodging at a house but the people were old and feeble and could not take us in. At the next house they did not wish to lodge us but it was growing dark fast and a mile to the next house and at last

 

[page 41]

the poor things let us come in. We found a map of Cheshire County which was just what we wanted.  We walked in this day only 13 ½ miles; yet it seems a good deal to say that we traversed nearly the whole of the distance between Monadnock and the Connecticut River. The house where we lodged was in Surrey, a very hilly town.

 

Friday 11th

Abbot got up rather early and cut a very

 

[page 42]

funny figure on the bed trying to darn his stockings, at the same time reproaching me for my unutterable laziness in lying abed so long. We had the best accommodations for sleeping that we have yet had, although the only window in the room was very rickety and we could only open it a little way with fear and trembling.  I learned more about the towns of South Western N.H., than I ever knew before.  We could see Surrey mountain only a little way from our lodging place.  The man’s name at whose we stopped was Clements

 

[page 43]

a very intelligent man he was, too. We left with them our rice which was a wholly superfluous

burden. We had quite a good breakfast and were charged .75 for the whole, but left a dollar

as we had put them out some. We started about half-past seven. My knapsack had become very

much lighter from its numerous relievings, much to my comfort. My great toe, one of my standard ailments was also quite comfortable. We went along a lovely road between Surrey

Mountain and Mine Ledge.  The latter towered up at our left and we saw

 

[page 44]

caves etc in it, most tantalizingly inaccessible.  We came to what Abbot told me was the flowering raspberry. It had leaves much like those of a rock maple, a flower much like that of the

Rosa japonica, and the berry was much like the ordinary berry, except that it was somewhat flatter and had much smaller divisions. Its bushes did not seem to be quite as high as those of the ordinary raspberry.  It is a very hilly country here, but not as rocky as the section about Monad-

nock. The Monadnock

 

[page 45]

and the country within a radius of several miles seemed to be one mass of heaped up granite rock ledges and boulders and in some pastures on the lower part of the mountain side it seemed as if the sheep’s noses would really have to be sharpened to get at the feed although what there was of it seemed very fresh and green as does all the country about here, much more so than at Templeton. So much for not hewing and hacking down the woods. Abbot cut himself a different stick in the woods. Mosquitoes are our pest although not

 

[page 46]

nearly as numerous as I had feared they would be. We have discarded our original route and

have concluded to go from here to Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Williamstown, Greylock, No. Adams, Hoosiac Tunnel, Northfield, home—

We went by a very high steep and rocky precipice towering up to our left. On our right we passed

what seemed to be a sort of rotten cliff of some reddish quartz and it seemed as if a few smart blows would utterly demolish it. We saw some cattle turned in-

 

[page 47]

to a pasture where there seemed to be nothing but brush, bare ground, and beech trees. In the road

there was a curious kind of stone, partly white and partly bright red. I tried to get a piece and couldn’t. The road had been cool and shady in a valley beforehand but now we began a very long, steady, stretch of up-hill. We had good rasp-berries and blackberries on the way. Abbot soon stopped and put his coat into his knapsack as it was growing warmer very rapidly, for it was

a very clear and bright day. When I go on my next tramp, I shall

 

[page 48]

have a little waterproof cloth sack made to hold about half as much as my knapsack, and thus

save the weight of the knapsack. I think Abbot’s luggage must weigh now about twice as much

as mine. I tasted of some very bad water on the roadside. We were gazed at from a farmhouse by a parcel of men as if we were great curiosities.  Up, up, up, should we never get to the top of this range? We noticed a very handsome farm down in the valley. We stopped and had some

 

[page 49]

water at a house and went on. The higher we went the finer was the view which was a great consolation. We had a nice view of Monadnock and the country east of us. Then we went up a grass covered road to an old deserted farm house on a hill, a large two-story house, fast going to ruin, near which stood two large elms as if to still guard the old homestead from harm. A small burying ground was near.  It makes one sad to look on these relics of the old New England

 

[page 50]

life which is so fast passing away from our midst. Even in the short time I have lived I can see that the vestiges of it are rapidly growing fewer and before many score years have passed, the

old New England home-stead will become a thing of the past and of “the generations now gone to their rest”.  I never in my life saw so glorious a situation for a house. We could see a large part of New Hampshire, some of Massachusetts, and very nearly the whole

 

[page 51]

of Vermont all spread out like a glorious panorama before us. The placid valley of the Connecticut lay at our feet with the Green Mountains beyond while old Monadnock was still the most prominent feature to the east. Abbot went along, but I staid [sic] to explore the old place. It was just like all the old homesteads about here. The ell part had all fallen to ruins. I went everywhere from floor to attic but could not find any cellar and suppose the door was hidden among the ruins of the ell. Vandals of

 

[page 52]

course had been there before me. I can see how easy it would be to get up a haunted house sensation; for in an old rattle trap like this, it is surprising to note how quickly one turns himself about when alone, although he knows it is probably nothing but a door squeaking or an old window through which the wind is blowing.  The stairs in the house were much worn by the tread of many feet; but where are they whose feet it is that wore them? They are gone and we all must follow them. 

 

[page 53]

But Abbot was in a  hurry and I had to go along. Abbot does not like the way I make friends with the cattle and all the beasts of the field and tells me to let them alone. He and I divide the days between us. He takes one day to sort of superintends and I the next one. The one whose day it is does all the asking for meals and lodging and regulates the walking and resting. After I left the old house I soon caught up with Abbot and we went down through what had once been a public road, now long since unused[.] We turned into

 

[page 54]
the main road and descended into a quite pretty valley. Then we walked up a very long and tedious hill. At the top of this the view was charming and continued to be so, down the hill.  We began the descent of the longest hill I ever saw in my life. We thought we were never coming to the end but we did at last. We had wished for a sled to go down [word crossed out] on in the winter, Abbot prudently wishing for a brake on his sled if he was to go down it on one. The walk down was lovely

 

[page 55]

at least the outlook was; I never saw so lovely a country; very different from that about the Monadnock. We saw Walpole so far to the [right is crossed out] left that we were afraid we had missed the road. We inquired but were all right. I am perfectly willing to award the palm on hills to Walpole. I never knew such places. The road between Templeton and Petersham is something, but would compare with this about as the great rock behind our house at Otter River would to Monadnock. Abbot found out that

 

[page 56]

the place where we stopped in Marlboro was once a Shaker Farm. We lay down at the road-side and rested a while and then went along a long descent into Walpole Village[.]  We had dinner after one futile inquiry, at a very swell house. There did not seem to be many practicable places, but we put on cheek and went into the yard.  A bull-dog came bouncing out at us much to Abbot’s consternation.  He is much afraid of dogs and of the stinging tribe. We had a nice

 

[page 57]

dinner of brown bread, white bread, crackers, milk, baked apples, and gingerbread.  We went down into the village, which was very handsome and pretty but very prim as I thought.  We went to a stationers and I bought a new note-book as my first one was almost written through. We started on the Bellows Falls road over an exceedingly hot and sandy way. We passed a very handsome cemetery with a very handsome grove on the opposite side.  We lay a little while at the side of the road as we were so very warm.  I found a bees nest and essayed to make

 

 

[page 58]

an examination for honey, but was speedily induced to abandon the project. At Walpole we saw a clerk in the store who had been on a tramp himself and was very pleasant and sociable with us. While we were lying down, a man whom we supposed was crazy came along.  He lay down, got up again, pulled up weeds, whistled, played on a jews harp, and finally walked on. About here there are a lot of round-capped hills covered with corn which look real pretty. I cannot

 

[page 59]

describe the scenery in this region. I wish I could, but it must be seen to be appreciated. It is a perfectly glorious. We have glorious weather, too; all that could be wished for.  There are a good many flies when we stop, that are a good deal more trouble some than mosquitoes[.]  The people now begin [the word to is missing] appreciate and understand who we are and what we are up to much better than before. Abbot hates to go down hill and I hate to go up.  After we had rested till 5 oclock

 

[page 60]

we started. We went over a sandy road, but through a beautiful country. We passed a couple of nice houses one having 4 barns & the other 5. In front of one was a magnificent row of rock-maples. If everyone would go and do likewise what an immense difference it would make in the comfort of travelers and their appreciation of the country and in the real beauty of the region. And in cleared forests, if they must be

 

[page 61]

cleared, what a grand thing it would be if the rows of trees next the road would only be left.  We [word crossed out] went along toward Bellows Falls. We tried to discover the site of an old fort on the road-side.  We saw something and did not know whether it was the site or not. We also went to hear the mountain echo. A path led from the road to a sort of summer house on a hill-side. We went out there and found a spring of water very strongly impregnated with iron. A little above the summer house we heard the echo. The Connecticut near here passes through

 

[page 62]

a sort of clift resembling Mt. Tom and Mt. Holyoke if their positions were exchanged and also their distance from the river. The echo rebounded to where we were from the height west of the river. We called several times and after waiting some little time we would hear the same thing repeated very plainly. At last we both together raised a very loud shout of “ ’74.”  The mountain echoed it back ending in a prolonged howl.  Some women and a man ran frantically out from a house below and the

 

[page 63]

man immediately began racing through the cornfield on that dreadfully hot day. We could not exactly make out what the cause of it all was. If it really is the remarkable echo put down on the maps, as it seems to be, I should suppose they would have by this time become accustomed to all sorts of noises. We went along the road and crossed Cold River over a covered bridge. Abbot was desirous to ascertain if the water really was cold.  He went down to it and brought some up to me. He pronounced it, and I agreed with him,

 

[page 64]

to be several degrees warmer than any other river he had ever tasted of. We [word crossed out] came to a large house and asked for supper but were refused by both families living in it.  Cold River Railroad Station on the Cheshire was close by on which it said “Boston 113 miles,” which seemed a great way, farther I think than I have ever been before.  We went in and weighed ourselves and our knapsacks.  We each weighed 128 lbs.  I have weighed that for about three years and meanwhile am growing at the rate of more than two inches a year. By and

 

[page 65]

by I shall get to be a bean-pole. I, nearly five feet eleven, weigh the same as Abbot who is 5 inches shorter, nearly! My knapsack weighed 7 pounds and Abbot’s 9 at which we were much surprised, as we had thought they weighed much more.  What must the soldiers have done with 60 lbs load!  The road went along close between a high cliff and the river. What a fertile lovely valley is that of the Connecticut!  But now it changed to a barren, rough, rugged, rocky bed of stone. We passed some slight rapids below the village. We soon

 

[page 66]

came opposite the Falls where there are two bridges to cross, the railroad and the road.  We walked on the bridge and looked down the dizzy height to the bed of rocks over which the river was flowing on the south side.  A wild grape vine climbing over one side made it still more lovely to look at. Great round holes were in the rocks, worn, by the ceaseless [word crossed out] action of the eddying water. We then went to the north side.  The rocks here at first sight are enough to startle one. Just above the

 

[page 67]

bridge the water makes a wild, foaming, descent through a clift [sic] in the rocks, where once the Indians speared salmon. Above there are a succession of boiling rapids and farther above an immense dam stretching across the river. I never before noticed what I have often heard and read of, the vibration of dams, but noticed it very plainly here.  We went up into Bellows Falls village and had some supper at an eating house.  I was rather blue as it was my day

 

[page 68]

and a lodging place seemed rather distant.  After supper we started out on the north road determined to put up at the first possible place. We walked a good way without finding any and had almost determined to go back and put up at the one very swell hotel that we saw, but by and by came to a house. They could not possibly put us up, but we might sleep in the barn. We went out to the barn and climbed up to the mow in pitchy darkness. We could

 

[page 69]

not see a thing, and so merely took off our shoes and knapsacks and lay down where we were. It was old hay which was not pleasing.  We both thought we should remember our first night in Vermont.  Our recollections of Bellows Falls Village are not extremely pleasant. At first we were hot in the hay. Abbot went to sleep a good deal the first and I

 

[page 70]

lay awake looking at the holes in the roof and sides. By and by I went to sleep and waked up very cold.  I fumbled about and got my rubber cape from my knapsack and wrapped it around me. I waked up Abbot and he did the same.  Jimmy Jed went into a shed and made of a ted of straw his bed. A rat came out and ran about.  At least I suppose so for something was running around that squealed when I went after it.

 

Saturday 12th

            We got up and started pretty early,

 

[page 71]

I washing myself at the watering trough.  We went down to the village and bought some of Kennedy’s crackers. We crossed over to a hill on the New Hampshire side, eat them, and looked at the falls, where the red man may have looked, years ago. Bellows Falls is a very resounding place and the car whistles echo and reecho for a long time.

 

[End of diary entries.  The list of articles and the cash accounts begin on page 73 and  continue on page 72.]

 

[page 73; note that the word Articles and all the items listed under that heading have been crossed out.]

Articles

Shirt – Towel – Stockings – 2 hdkfs [handkerchiefls] – Shirt Bosom – Rubber Cape.

 

Compass – Notebook & Pencil – Matches – Hooks & Lines – Knife – Needle & Thread – Money – Envelopes – Tin Dish.      20.10

                                                 6.77

                                                13.33

 

          Cash Acct.

     Received 20.10

 

Aug 8 Breakfast          .20

 “     8 Lodging            .20

 “     8 Dinner              .18

 “     8 Supper              .12

            total                 .70

 

                                  19.40

 

Aug 9 Lodging           .12

  “    9 Breakfast          .13

  “    9 Dinner              .07

  “    9 Supper              .20

                                    .52

 

Aug 10 Lodging          .12

  “    10 Breakfast        .13

  “    10 Sodas              .20

  “    10 Mending Shoe.10

  “    10 Breeches         5.00

 

                                     5.55

                                   13.33

 

Aug 11 Lodging         .25

  “    11 Breakfast        .25

  “    11 Dinner            .25

  “    11 Note Book      .25