Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/95

 THE BADGER HOMESTEAD.

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��next year he was reelected. Gov. Badger was a very efficient chief magis- trate. He possessed strict integrity, his judgment was sound, and when determined upon a course of action, he was not to be swerved from it. During the" Indian Stream Territory Troubles " his duties were of great responsibility, but he performed them with prompt- ness, and at the same time ju- diciously. A man with less care and prudence might have greatly increased our border troubles. His course re- ceived the hearty commendation of all parties and doubtless saved us from a war with Great Britain. At the close of his second term he refused a renom- ination and retired to his farm, glad, like Cincinnatus, to be relieved of the cares of state.

He was now fifty-seven years old, and for twenty-five years had been con- stantly in the harness. He felt that other and vounger men should now take the reins. He filled no other im- portant office after his retirement from the chief magistracy. In 1836, and again in 1844, he was chosen to the board of electors of President and Vice President of the United States. Gov. Badger was also one of the trus- tees of Gilmanton Academy, and for several years was president of the board.

Beside the large farm which he in- creased until he had a goodly estate of between five and six hundred acres, Gov. Badger was largely interested in manufacturing. He owned a saw and grist mill on the *' Great Brook," and in the latter part of his life established a cotton factory where Belmont village now stands. He seema to have been the first to foresee the possibilities of the future in the manufacture of cotton goods, and the present village of Bel- mont owes much of its thrift and pros- perity to his energy and enterprise. He died Sept. 21, 1852, at the age of seventy-three. Mrs. Badger survived him seventeen years, dying Feb. 22, 1869. lh e governor and his two wives are buried in the family lot at the old Smith meeting house, five miles from the mansion.

��Gov. Badger was a tall, stately man, strong six feet in height, and at some periods of Bis life weighed near- ly three hundred pounds. He was ac- tive and stirring his whole life. Though a man of few words he was remarkably genial. He had a strong will, but his large good sense prevented him from being obstinate. He was generous and hospitable, a friend to the poor, a kind neighbor, and a high souled, honorable Christian gentleman.

The grand old mansion that he built and lived in has been a goodly resi- dence in its day. Despite its some- what faded majesty, there is an air of dignity about the ancestral abode that is not without its influence upon the visitor. It is a house that accords well with the style of its former lords ; you see that it is worthy of the Badgers. The grounds about its solitary stateli- ness are like those of the "old English gentlemen." The mansion stands well in from the road, an avenue fourteen rods long, and excellently shaded, leads to the entrance gate. There is an extensive lawn in front of the house, and a row of ancient elms rise to guard, as it were, the tall building with its hos- pitable portal in the middle, its' large windows, and the old, moss-covered roof. The house faces the south-west, is two stories and a half high, and forty- four by thirty-six feet on the ground.

As the door swings open we enter the hall, which is ten by sixteen feet. On the left is the governor's sitting- room, which occupies the south-east corner of the house, showing that Gov. Badger did not, like Hamlet, dread to be too much " i' the sun." It is not a large room, only twenty by sixteen feet, yet it looks stately. In this room the governor passed many hours reading and entertaining his guests. In it is the antique rocking-chair that was used by the governor on all occasions. A large fire-place, with brass andirons and fender, is on one side, big enough to take in half a cord ot wood at a time. Near by it stood a frame on which was heaped sticks of wood, awaiting, I sup- pose, the first chilly evening. It mu.-t

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