Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/331

 ITEMS AND INCIDENTS IN HOPKINTON.

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��Samuel Putney and Joseph Putney. The sum of ,£450* was appropriated for the expenses of the grand occasion. The day and the company came duly as appointed and expected. Clergy and people, a numerous band, assem- bled. The solemn rights of ecclesias- tical ordination were performed at Put- ney's Fort, near the top of Putney's Hill, and where also the military was gathered for greater security against possible Indian attacks. The cere- mony was prolonged till late in the day, and the rays of the setting sun shed a calm, subdued radiance over the closing scene. As the company began to disperse after the dismissal of service, a young Salisbury man, whose eyes had been amorously wan- dering during the day, boldly approach- ed a stranger lass and said :

" Ah ! miss, you are the one for me." The damsel replied with a manifest dignity peculiar to woman : " What do you mean, sir?" " I mean," respectfully explained the rustic swain, " that I am a young man in need of a wife and that you are the person I want."

Introduction followed ; the lady was complacent ; marriage occurred that night ; and the next morning the bride began the journey to her new home in Salisbury.

AN EVEN SWAP.

A horse jockey is a representative of a distinct species of the genus Homo. His distinctiveness is asserted in the manifest particularities of his executive genius, whereby he performs marketing exploits of which men of usual com- mercial talents are wholly incapable. The exclusive capabilities of the char- 'acteristic horse jockey are suggestive of creative instincts, since they at times attest the faculty of producing as it were something out of nothing. We have a local instance in illustration. It is said there once lived in the Stump- field district a jockey of most distinct- ive characteristic stripe. Taking into

hills of credit, was equivalent to onlv
 * This sum, payable in depreciated
 * 1) 200.

��the tow of his executive genius a suit- able representative of the equine spe- cies, he journeyed down to the vicinity of the mouth of the Merrimack, re- mained a few weeks, trading in the meanwhile an indefinite number of times, and then returned to Hopkinton, with the same beast he took away and $75 additional in cash.

Success and greatness, however, are often only stations in the highway to defeat and littleness, and our cham- pion horse jockey was in time called upon to illustrate the fact at least in one instance. The event was on this- wise. Taking along a semi-vitalized skeleton of a horse, the hero of this section of narrative wended his way to a favorite location in the lower coun- ty of Massachusetts, housed his skele- ton, took position in the bar-room of a hotel, and awaited opportunities of business. It being a dull time for trade, and wishing to stimulate topics, our visitor from the north ventured to offer an even swap with the first man who accepted the proposition.

A customer was found, who asked for an exposure of property. The afore-mentioned bones were brought out and duly exhibited.

Proceeding to an adjoining shed, the customer returned with a saw horse.

" A trade's a trade," said the jockey. " How much will you take for your horse?"

" Five dollars," was the answer. The price was promptly paid and matters resumed their original status.

LEGENDARY.

In searching for knowledge of the past, unless assisted by honest and competent records, one encounters much that is visionary and uncertain. In intellectual as in physical observa- tion, objects seen in the distance are tinged with illusive halos, and the dimly outlined forms and facts assume phan- tastic qualities proportional to the im- agination. For this reason, the recol- lection of the "oldest inhabitant" of a local district is exceedingly unreliable when positive data are the special ob- jects of historical research. We pre-

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