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Page 66
"Accursed tree!" cried the chief justice, gnashing his teeth: for anger
overcame his sorrow. "Would that thou hadst been left standing, till
Hancock, Adams, and every other traitor, were hanged upon thy branches!
Then fitly mightest thou have been hewn down, and cast into the flames."
He turned back, hurried to Long Wharf without looking behind him,
embarked with the British troops for Halifax, and never saw his country
more. Throughout the remainder of his days, Chief Justice Oliver was
agitated with those same conflicting emotions, that had tortured him,
while taking his farewell walk through the streets of Boston. Deep love
and fierce resentment burned in one flame within his breast. Anathemas
struggled with benedictions. He felt as if one breath of his native air
would renew his life, yet would have died, rather than breathe the same
air with rebels.
And such, likewise, were the feelings of the other exiles, a thousand
in number, who departed with the British army. Were they not the most
unfortunate of men?
* * * * *
"The misfortunes of these exiled tories," observed Laurence, "must have
made them think of the poor exiles of Acadia."
"They had a sad time of it, I suppose," said Charley. "But I choose to
rejoice with the patriots, rather than be sorrowful with the tories.
Grandfather, what did General Washington do now?"
"As the rear of the British army embarked from the wharf," replied
Grandfather, "General Washington's troops marched over the neck, through
the fortification gates, and entered Boston in triumph. And now, for the
first time since the pilgrims landed, Massachusetts was free from the
dominion of England. May she never again be subjected to foreign
rule--never again feel the rod of oppression!"
"Dear Grandfather," asked little Alice, "did General Washington bring
our chair back to Boston?"
"I know not how long the chair remained at Cambridge," said Grandfather.
"Had it staid there till this time, it could not have found a better or
more appropriate shelter. The mansion which General Washington occupied
is still standing; and his apartments have since been tenanted by
several eminent men. Governor Everett, while a professor in the
university, resided there. So at an after period, did Mr. Sparks, whose
invaluable labors have connected his name with the immortality of
Washington. And, at this very time, a venerable friend and contemporary
of your Grandfather, after long pilgrimages beyond the sea, has set up
his staff of rest at Washington's head-quarters."
"You mean Professor Longfellow, Grandfather," said Laurence. "Oh, how I
should love to see the author of those beautiful VOICES OF THE NIGHT!"
"We will visit him next summer," answered Grandfather, "and take Clara
and little Alice with us--and Charley, too, if he will be quiet."
CHAPTER X.
When Grandfather resumed his narrative, the next evening, he told the
children that he had some difficulty in tracing the movements of the
chair, during a short period after General Washington's departure from
Cambridge.
Within a few months, however, it made its appearance at a shop in
Boston, before the door of which was seen a striped pole. In the
interior was displayed a stuffed alligator, a rattlesnake's skin, a
bundle of Indian arrows, an old-fashioned matchlock gun, a walking-stick
of Governor Winthrop's, a wig of old Cotton Mather's, and a colored
print of the Boston Massacre. In short, it was a barber's shop, kept by
a Mr. Pierce, who prided himself on having shaved General Washington,
Old Put, and many other famous persons.
"This was not a very dignified situation for our venerable chair,"
continued Grandfather; "but, you know, there is no better place for
news, than a barber's shop. All the events of the revolutionary war were
heard of there, sooner than anywhere else. People used to sit in the
chair, reading the newspaper or talking, and waiting to be shaved,
while Mr. Pierce with his scissors and razor, was at work upon the
heads or chins of his other customers."
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