Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/98

 90 INTRODUCTION

"When we arrived at Salem, Mr. Randall bought two glasses of spruce beer, which greatly refreshed us. Then we had some oysters, and proceeded on our way, passing through Chestnut Street, the handsomest street in Salem, which is not saying a great deal, though. It is full of old mansion houses, and is bordered on both sides with fine trees, so as to form a good shade. We passed the witches' hill, where the witches are reputed to have been hanged, until we came to the North Salem graveyard. Here we looked around for the grave of Elizabeth Whitman, alias Eliza Wharton ; and found that a path had been worn to the stone, and what was worse, it was very much defaced, so that we could hardly read the inscription. A large number visit it every day, and they break off pieces from the stone ; so Mr. Randall copied the epitaph, and carried off some of the fragments of the stone which had been left by the barbarians. We stayed about an hour, and came back through Harmony Grove into the city. Mr. Randall bought some crackers and milk. We came home over the bridge ; and, adding all up, we found that we had walked eighteen miles, the longest walk I have yet taken. We got home about nine o'clock, and I did not feel very tired.

^^ Boston, Monday, July l^, 1 8^ I. I have been prepar- ing this winter to enter the Public Latin School, and I was to be examined to-day ; so, after breakfast, about nine o'clock, Father went to the school-house with me. [The long and very full account of this examination here given, though of some value as throwing light on the methods in vogue a half-century ago, is of course omitted here.] So now I am a member of the Latin School. That is off my mind.

"About the middle of the afternoon, Emily, Stanley and I went to Mr. Randall's and found Miss Anna at

�� �