_Yankey Doodle, Boys; Huzza!
Down outside, up the middle--
Yankey Doodle_, fa, sol, la,
_Trumpet, Drum, and Fiddle._
* * * * *
"Going snacks."
At the time of the plague in London, a noted body searcher
lived whose name was _Snacks_. His business increased so
fast that, finding he could not compass it, he offered to
any person who should join him in his hardened practice half
the profits; thus, those who joined him were said to go with
_Snacks_. Hence going _snacks_, or dividing the spoil.
_Salem Observer,_ 1823.
_A Word omitted by Webster_. In a history of the second
parish of Beverly, published not long since, a vote passed
in 1776, to take measures to collect the "behindments" of
certain persons in the parish, is noticed. "Behindments"
meant arrearages.
_Salem Observer,_ 1837.
* * * * *
The following curious collection belonged to Mr. Samuel McIntire, the
architect of the South Meeting-House in Salem, whose spire is
acknowledged to be one of the best proportioned and handsomest in New
England:
_FOR SALE,_
SUNDRY Articles belonging to the Estate of SAMUEL MCINTIRE,
deceased.--VIZ.
1 elegant BARREL ORGAN, 6 feet high, 10 barrels; 1 Wind Chest of
an Organ;
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, complete;
Paladio's Architecture, best kind;
1 Ware's do.; 1 Paine's do.;
2 vols. French Architecture;
1 large Book Antient Statues, excellent;
Lock Hospital Collection of Music;
Handel's Messiah, in score;
Harmonia Sacra;
Magdalen Hymns; Massachusetts Compiler;
1 excellent toned SPINNET;
1 excellent VIOLIN and Case;
1 eight day CLOCK, Mahogany Case;
12 Prints of the Seasons;
1 book Drawings of Ships;
1 large Head of Washington;
Number of Busts of the Poets;
2 Figures of Hercules, 2 feet high;
1 Head of Franklin, and Pillar, for a Sign;
Composition Ornaments;
Number of Moulding Planes, and sundry other Articles. Apply to
ELIZABETH M'INTIRE, _Adm'x_.
or to SAMUEL F. M'INTIRE, _Att'y_.
N.B.--The Subscriber carries on CARVING as usual at the Shop
of the deceased, in Summer-Street, where he will be glad to
receive orders in that line. He returns thanks for past
favors.
April 30 [1811]. SAMUEL F. M'INTIRE.
* * * * *
Many years ago there was published in Boston a small volume entitled
"Eliza Wharton, the Coquette. By a Lady of Massachusetts." It consisted
of a series of letters said to be founded on fact. A young woman died at
the Bell Tavern in Danvers in 1788, whose gravestone a few years ago
might be seen in the old Danvers (now Peabody) burial-ground. We copy
from the "Salem Mercury" of July 29, 1788, the following account:--
Last Friday, a female stranger died at the Bell Tavern, in
Danvers; and on Sunday her remains were decently interred.
The circumstances relative to this woman are such as excite
curiosity and interest our feelings. She was brought to the
Bell in a chaise, from Watertown, as she said, by a young
man whom she had engaged for that purpose. After she had
alighted, and taken a trunk with her into the house, the
chaise immediately drove off. She remained at this inn till
her death, in expectation of the arrival of her husband,
whom she expected to come for her, and appeared anxious at
his delay. She was averse to being interrogated concerning
herself or connexions; and kept much retired to her chamber,
employed in needle-work, writing, &c. She said, however,
that she came from Westfield, in Connecticut; that her
parents lived in that State; that she had been married only
a few months; and, that her husband's name was Thomas
Walker;--but always carefully concealed her family name. Her
linen was all marked E.W. About a fortnight before her
death, she was brought to bed of a lifeless child. When
those who attended her apprehended her fate, they asked her,
whether she did not wish to see her friends: She answered,
that she was very desirous of seeing them. It was proposed
that she should send for them; to which she objected,
hoping in a short time to be able to go to them. From what
she said, and from other circumstances, it appeared probable
to those who attended her, that she belonged to some country
town in Connecticut: Her conversation, her writings and her
manners, bespoke the advantage of a respectable family &
good education. Her person was agreeable; her deportment,
amiable & engaging; and, though in a state of anxiety and
suspense, she preserved a cheerfulness, which seemed to be
not the effect of insensibility, but of a firm and patient
temper. She was supposed to be about 35 years old. Copies of
letters, of her writing, dated at Hartford, Springfield, and
other places, were left among her things.--This account is
given by the family in which she resided; and it is hoped
the publication of it will be a means of her friends'
ascertaining her fate.
Elizabeth Whitman was the real name of the stranger, and the following
was the inscription on the stone:--
"This humble stone, in Memory of Elizabeth Whitman, is
inscribed by her weeping friends, to whom she endeared
herself by uncommon tenderness and affection. Endowed with
superior genius and acquirements, she was still more
endeared by humility and benevolence. Let candour throw a
veil over her frailities, for great was her charity to
others.--She sustained the last painful scene far from
every friend, and exhibited an example of calm resignation.
Her departure was on the 25th of July, A.D. 1788, in the
37th year of her age, and the tears of strangers watered her
grave."
Although we recollect seeing the stone some years ago, when the whole
inscription could be read, we visited the spot in April, 1885, and found
only a small portion left,--a triangular piece, perhaps a foot and a
half high on one side, at the bottom of which we could only make out:
"A.D. 1788, ... the tears of strangers watered her grave." For years,
young persons of a romantic turn of mind have visited the grave and
chipped off small pieces of the freestone for relics. This modern habit
of chipping monumental stones for relics is inexcusable; for it is not
done by ignorant or otherwise lawless persons, but too often by the
educated, who carry their mawkish sentiment to such an extreme as to
deface and sometimes, as in the present case, entirely to ruin a
monument. It is in vain to urge that this was only a stranger's stone,
and that there were none to care. It was all the more an outrage, if
there were no friends to protect it. We are glad to learn that there
were people in the town who did what they could to prevent this
sacrilege.
The following account of this unfortunate lady we take from Hanson's
"History of Danvers:"--
"Elizabeth Whitman came from a very respectable family in
Connecticut, where her father was a clergyman. She was
possessed of an ardent poetical temperament, an inordinate
love of praise, and was gifted with the natural endowment of
beauty and perfect grace, while she was accomplished with
those refinements which education can bestow. She was lovely
beyond words. But her natural amiabilities were warped and
perverted by reading great numbers of romances, to the
exclusion of almost all other reading. She formed her idea
of men by the exaggerated standards she saw in the books to
which she resorted; and thus when she looked around her she
saw no one who realized her ideal. She subsequently became
intimate with a lawyer, said to be the Honourable (?) Judge
Pierpont Edwards."
We next hear of her in Danvers, "where the novelty of her situation,"
continues Hanson, "and her attractive beauty and manners during her
short sojourn, caused the entire village and many from the neighboring
towns to attend her funeral. A few weeks after her burial, an unknown
hand erected the gravestone with its eloquent inscription." The stone is
evidently Connecticut sandstone or freestone. Mr. Hanson says of the
volume "Eliza Wharton": "The catchpenny volume of letters which pretend
to give her history has but the figments of the imagination of its
authoress to recommend it."
* * * * *
Picture of the old Bell Tavern in Danvers. From the "Salem Gazette,"
January, 1781.
[Illustration]
_Danvers, Jan. 1781._
Just published,
And to be SOLD by
E. RUSSELL,
at his Printing-Office,
near the Bell-Tavern;
_The Second Edition of
Russell's_ American ALMANACK,
For the Year of our Redemption, 1781.
Being First after Leap Year; and Fifth Year of Independency.
Fitted for the Meridian of Boston, N. E. Lat. 42: 25 N.
Wherein may be found all Things necessary for this Work.
To which is added, a Declaration of the Rights of the
Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, extracted
from the Frame of Government; and a List of the Chief
Officers of Government, which is thought necessary to be
possessed by every Freeman in this Commonwealth.
Calculated by that curious and accurate Astronomer, BENJAMIN
WEST, Esq; of Providence, State of Rhode-Island.
_At the same Place may also be had, just published;_