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Page 5
But a more unusual and far more interesting meeting occurred in Boston,
about a quarter of a mile from the wharf known ever since the
commencement of the Revolution as Griffin's Wharf. In the upper room of
an old and somewhat dilapidated tavern were assembled a party of old and
young men--the representatives of two generations. Three of the old men
were the remaining members of the famous Lebanon Club; the first liberty
club formed in the colonies, and the one which designed and executed the
project of destroying the tea at Boston. They had come from various
parts of the country, upon agreement, to meet once more in the house
where the disguised members of the club had met on the evening of the
sixteenth of December, 1773. The names of the old patriots were David
Kinnison, Adam Colson, and Lendall Pitts. Five other veterans had joined
the party by invitation, together with half-a-dozen young men who had
arranged the meeting and paid all expenses, with a view of passing the
Fourth of July in a novel and interesting manner.
A well-laden table extended the whole length of the room, and flags,
banners, and appropriate emblems and devices, were hung on the walls.
There was no formal organization, as at public festivals, no president
elected, and no list of toasts prepared. It was intended to be a
sociable gathering. No band of well-arranged and harmonized instruments
appeared, but old Jacob Brown and old Samuel Hanson, a fifer and a
drummer of the continental army, occasionally stirred the hearts and
fired the eyes of the company with the music which had nerved the
patriots of Bunker's Hill and Bennington. Each of the veterans sat in an
arm-chair at the table, the young men being distributed among them so as
to wait upon them occasionally, and show them every attention.
Mr. Kinnison, though not the oldest man of the company, looked as if he
had seen the hardest service, and received the hardest buffets of Time.
His features bespoke a strong and energetic mind, and his eye was full
of fire and activity. His hair was grey and bushy, partly covering a
large scar on his high forehead. He had evidently been a man of powerful
frame, but was now bent with the weight of years, and service. The other
veterans appeared to be generally of the same age, and to have seen hard
toil and service. The fifer was the most remarkable of the party. In
spite of his age and white hair, his puffed cheeks and the sly twinkle
of his eyes gave him a kind of jolly, frolicsome appearance, which would
indicate that age could not chill the humor of his heart.
THE LEBANON CLUB.
When the company were fairly seated at the table, Mr. Kinnison opened
the conversation by asking the young men if they had ever heard any
account of the Lebanon Liberty Club. They replied they had heard of the
club, but never any definite account.
"Well," said Mr. Kinnison, "I can tell you something about it. Mr.
Pitts, Mr. Colson, and myself, were members of a club consisting of
seventeen men, living at Lebanon, up here in Maine. Most of us were
farmers. We knew what them folks over the river were aiming at, and we
knew that there was no use of dallying about matters. Our rights were to
be untouched, or there must be a fight. So, you see, we Lebanon men
resolved to form a club, to consider what was to be done, and to do
accordingly. We hired a room in the tavern of Colonel Gooding, and held
regular meetings at night. The colonel was an American of the right
color, but we kept our object secret, not even letting him into it."
"If it isn't too much trouble, Mr. Kinnison, we should like you to tell
us all about what the club had to do with the tea-party, and how that
affair was conducted," said one of the young men, named Hand, filling
the veteran's plate.
"He can tell you much better than any one else," remarked Mr. Pitts. "I
can vouch for the bold part he took in it, and he has a better memory
than the rest of us."
"No flattery, Pitts," returned Mr. Kinnison. "My memory 's bad enough,
and as for taking such a bold part in that tea-party, it's all nonsense.
If there was a leader, you was the man. But I'll tell these young men
all I know of the affair, and what the Lebanon Club had to do with it."
"Take some of this beef, Mr. Brown?" interrupted Hand.
"Much obliged, sir, but beef is rather too tough for my gums," replied
the old fifer. "I'll try something else." Mr. Kinnison went on with his
narrative.
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