Page:The Atlantic Monthly Volume 2.djvu/635

1858.] Better keep your girls away;

Hearts get rolled as pebbles do

Which countless fingering waves pursue,

And every classic beach is strown

With heart-shaped pebbles of blood-red stone.

But this is neither here nor there;—

I'm talking about an old arm-chair.

You've heard, no doubt, of ?

Over at Medford he used to dwell;

Married one of the Mather's folk;

Got with his wife a chair of oak,—

Funny old chair, with seat like wedge,

Sharp behind and broad front edge,—

One of the oddest of human things,

Turned all over with knobs and rings,—

But heavy, and wide, and deep, and grand,—

Fit for the worthies of the land,—

Chief-Justice Sewall a cause to try in,

Or Cotton Mather to sit—and lie—in,

—Parson Turell bequeathed the same

To a certain student,— by name;

These were the terms, as we are told:

"Saide Smith saide Chaire to have and holde;

When he doth graduate, then to passe

To ye oldest Youth in yᵉ Senior Classe,

On payment of"—(naming a certain sum)—

"By him to whom yᵉ Chaire shall come;

He to yᵉ oldest Senior next,

And soe forever,"—(thus runs the text,)—

"But one Crown lesse then he gave to claime,

That being his Debte for use of same."

Smith transferred it to one of the ,

And took his money,—five silver crowns.

Brown delivered it up to ,

Who paid, it is plain, not five, but four.

Moore made over the chair to ,

Who gave him crowns of silver three.

Lee conveyed it unto ,

And now the payment, of course, was two.

Drew gave up the chair to ,—

All he got, as you see, was one.

Dunn released the chair to ,

And got by the bargain no crown at all.

—And now it passed to a second ,

Who took it, and likewise claimed a crown.

When Brown conveyed it unto ,

Having had one crown, to make it fair.

He paid him two crowns to take the chair;

And Ware, being honest, (as all Wares be,)

He paid one, who took it, three.

Four got ; five got ;

primus demanded six;

And so the sum kept gathering still

Till after the battle of Bunker's Hill.

–When paper money became so cheap,

Folks wouldn't count it, but said "a heap,"

A certain, the books declare,

(A. M. in '90? I've looked with care

Through the Triennial,—name not there,)

This person, Richards, was offered then

Eight score pounds, but would have ten;

Nine, I think, was the sum he took,—

Not quite certain,—but see the book.

—By and by the wars were still,

But nothing had altered the Parson's will.

The old arm-chair was solid yet,

But saddled with such a monstrous debt!

Things grew quite too bad to bear,

Paying such sums to get rid of the chair!

But dead men's fingers hold awful tight,

And there was the will in black and white,

Plain enough for a child to spell.

What should be done no man could tell,

For the chair was a kind of nightmare curse,

And every season but made it worse.

As a last resort, to clear the doubt,

They got old out.

The Governor came with his Light-horse Troop

And his mounted trackmen, all cock-a-hoop;

Halberds glittered and colors flew,

French horns whinnied and trumpets blew,

The yellow fifes whistled between their teeth

And the bumble-bee bass-drums boomed beneath;

So he rode with all his band,

Till the President met him, cap in hand.

—The Governor "hefted" the crowns, and said,—

"A will is a will, and the Parson's dead."

The Governor hefted the crowns. Said he,—

"There is your p'int. And here's my fee.

These are the terms you must fulfil,—

On such conditions !"

The Governor mentioned what these should be.

(Just wait a minute and then you'll see.)

The President prayed. Then all was still,

And the Governor rose and !

—"About those conditions?" Well, now you go

And do as I tell you, and then you'll know.

Once a year, on Commencement-day,

If you'll only take the pains to stay,

You'll see the President in the ,

Likewise the Governor sitting there.

The President rises; both old and young

May hear his speech in a foreign tongue,

The meaning whereof, as lawyers swear,

Is this: Can I keep this old arm-chair?

And then his Excellency bows,

As much as to say that he allows.

The Vice-Gub. next is called by name;

He bows like t'other, which means the same.

And all the officers round 'em bow,

As much as to say that they allow.

And a lot of parchments about the chair

Are handed to witnesses then and there,

And then the lawyers hold it clear

That the chair is safe for another year.