Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/87

 DAYS WITH THE BROOK.

��69

��saw the penstock standing, as it had stood for so many years. When I took hold of the planks, I found them yielding readily to my touch. Time and the weather had destroyed their strength. This mill was moved up the brook and placed on a firmer founda- tion, but it was fated never to do much work. Three thousand of boards were sawed out and the saw went down, never to come up. The mill pond was so small that the water would not turn the mill but a few times before it would stop. Then the anxious miller would take hold antl bravely lift at the saw, hoping to encourage it to saw off one more board, but he would have to shut down and wait for the mill-pond to fill again.

In the pasture, back of the mill j-uins, can be seen traces of the cellar where the house of l^r. Thomas Miller stood, early in i yco. A group of wil- Jows marks the spot. Some years ago, while the men in the district were working on the road, a lignum vitaa log, hollowed out at one end, was discov- ered in the wall by the highway. The man who picked it up wondered at its ■strange appearance, and upon inquiry, found it was Dr. Miller's mortar. It had been lying round at the house of a neighbor. No one would undertake -to spht it up for stove-wood, and finally it was piled into the wall.

The man who found it took it home, and a little later had a mortar of sym- metrical proportions turned out, and to- day it IS treasured as a relic of the past. The mechanic who turned the mortar was interested in the story con- cerning it, and he saved enough of the wood to make a head for a cane, and recently he gave the cane to a party living near the Dr. Miller cellar. Old records tell us that the administration of Dr. Miller's estate was granted June 30, 1762.

His estate was appraised ^i 1 26. 6s. I id. In 1 729 Thomas Miller and many others signed a petition to be set off ■as a parish from Dover. The Parish was called Somersworth. Dr. Thomas Miller was the first parish clerk. I

��stepped down close to the brook, and a solemn looking frog leaped out into the middle of the stream, and quickly swam back to the shore, and hid him- self under the grass hanging over the water.

I now crossed the road laid out June 8, 1733, by Paul Wentworth, Tho. Wallingford, Tobias Hanson, and James Davis, selectmen of the town of Dover. This is one of theoldcstroads in the town.

In the pasture, beyond the ancient highway, the brook tumbles recklessly over rough rocks, and sings a merry, rollicking song.

Close to the water the cellar of Capt. Morris Hobbs can be seen. On this spot the last twenty years of " Master Tate's " life was spent.

" Master Joseph Tate " played quite a conspicuous part in the early history of the town.

He told almost miraculous stories of his life, and these tales have been handed down to the present time.

He said " that he was an English- man, and that he was impressed into the service of England and came to America on an English ship. When near Portsmouth he jumped overboard and swam for the shore. He got entan- gled in the sea-weed, and came near being drowned, but finally succeeded in gaining dry land. He followed up the Piscataqua, and lived at one tune on the Salmon Falls river, " a few rods below the lower mill." He taught school in Somersworth, and at last be- came the care of the town. For many years he was "bid off" by Capt. Mor- ris Hobbs.

A copy of his records, dating back to I 767, is owned by the town of Rol- linsford to-day, and many quaint and curious things can be found therein.

I left these ruins, rich in history, and traced my brook through a willow grove. In the cow-path I found a wooden mortar. Following my first im- pulse I set it afloat. While watching the course of my craft I found that it was manned by a spider. I thought from his countenance that he was concerned

�� �