Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/16

 TWENTY YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

CHAPTER I.

born in the first house on the east side of Roxbury Street, just over the Boston line, in the historic old town of Roxbury. The hip-roofed old mansion still stands, the front end facing the street. In the middle of the sidewalk rises a stately elm tree, in front



of which is a stone post some three feet high, bearing on one side the inscription R., A. D. 1823, on the other, B., A. D. 1823. This stone marks the boundary line between the towns of Boston and Roxbury.