Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/56

 42 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��A JOURNEY FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE TO PHILADELPHIA

HALF A CENTURY AGO.

��CONTRIBUTED BY HON. GEORGE STARK.

THE active business man of the present day scarcely realizes the advances that have been made during the last half century in facilities for travel and transportation. So accustomed has he become to the easy transition, in a single night, by palace car, or by more palatial steamer, from his place of busi- ness, in almost any of the southern New Hampshire cities or towns, to the great commercial centres of New York or Philadelphia, that such a magical annihilation of time and space seems to him as much a matter of course as the rising and setting of the sun.

It may be interesting to learn how this journey was accomplished by our fathers a single generation ago.

In the year 1828, the late Frederick G. Stark resided in Manchester, and kept a country store near the site of the present city. He was also superin- tendent of the old Amoskeag Canal. His goods were bought in Boston, and two or three trips a year to the " New England Metropolis " comprised the extent of his customary travel. But occasionally his affairs required a more extended journey, and being a man of method and close observation, he was in the habit of noting down what he saw when traveUing out of his usual course. His journal, written during a journey from Manchester to the " City of Brotherly Love," before the days of railroads, has been preserved, and reads as follows : —

Saturday, October 4, 1828. Left home at about 9 a. m. ; passed across the Amoskeag falls with my brother Charles, who went with me to help carry my trunk ; had with me a change of clothing, and just a thousand dollars in money ; went to Amoskeag Hotel and waited for the stage, which came along in about half an hour, and I got on board of it and proceeded to Boston, where I arrived about 8 o'clock in the evening.

Sunday, October §. Clear, fair morning. After breakfast went down the head of Central Wharf, to see the vessels going out and coming into the har- bour. While I was standing there Mr. Rand, the portrait painter, came along. I spoke to him, but he did not know me until I told him my name, when he appeared glad to see me, and after standing there some time, conversing upon different subjects, he invited me to go to his room and see his paintings, which invitation I accepted, and was much gratified and pleased with the beauty and v/orkmanship exhibited to me in several portraits which he had finished. I staid with him some time, when a gentleman came in that had engaged Rand to take his portrait, and I went out and left them talking about it and returned to the Malborough Hotel, where I had taken lodgings. In the afternoon it rained, and I staid in doors most of remainder of the day.

Monday, October 6, 1828. Went and settled with Bridge & Stevens, and paid them balance of account, ^264.72. Went and settled with R. B. Sher- burn, Clerk of Boating Co., paid him ^21.15. Went to see Mr. Eddy, the Canal agent, and paid him ^300.00 on account of Canal tolls. Bought a new hat and paid ^5.00 for it. Bought two door locks, &c., and paid for them $1.75 ; these, and my old hat, I carried to Bridge & Stevens, and left them there. Mr. Stevens went with me to the Telegraphic Observatory, and viewed the establishment. I went down and spent the remainder of the day walking about the city.

�� �