Chapter III: Part 3

22d.--The king's coronation day. In the evening I went with mamma to Col^n Marshal's in King Street to see the fireworks.

23d.--I din'd at aunt Suky's with Mr & Mrs Hooper[72] of Marblehead. In the afternoon I went over to see Miss Betsy Winslow. When I came back I had the pleasure to meet papa. I came home in the evening to see aunt Deming. Unkle Winslow sup'd here.

24.--Papa cal'd here in the morn^g. Nothing else worth noticeing.

25.--Very pleasant. Unkle Ned cal'd here. Little Henry Harris was buried this afternoon.

26. 27.--Nothing extraordinary yesterday & to day.

28.--My papa & unkle Winslow spent the evening here.

29. 30.--Very stormy. Miss Winslow & I read out the Generous Inconstant, & have begun Sir Charles Grandison. . . .

May 25.--Nothing remarkable since the preceding date. Whenever I have omited a school my aunt has directed me to sit it down here, so when you dont see a memorandum of that kind, you may conclude that I have paid my compliments to mess^rs Holbrook & Turner (to the former you see to very little purpose) & mrs Smith as usual. The Miss Waldow's I mentioned in a former are Mr. Danl Waldo's daughters (very pretty misses) their mamma was Miss Becca Salisbury.[73] After making a short visit with my Aunt at Mrs Green's, over the way, yesterday towards evening, I took a walk with cousin Sally to see the good folks in Sudbury Street, & found them all well. I had my HEDDUS roll on, aunt Storer said it ought to be made less, Aunt Deming said it ought not to be made at all. It makes my head itch, & ach, & burn like anything Mamma. This famous roll is not made _wholly_ of a red _Cow Tail_, but is a mixture of that, & horsehair (very course) & a little human hair of yellow hue, that I suppose was taken out of the back part of an old wig. But D---- made it (our head) all carded together and twisted up. When it first came home, aunt put it on, & my new cap on it, she then took up her apron & mesur'd me, & from the roots of my hair on my forehead to the top of my notions, I mesur'd above an inch longer than I did downwards from the roots of my hair to the end of my chin. Nothing renders a young person more amiable than virtue & modesty without the help of fals hair, red _Cow tail_, or D---- (the barber).[74] Now all this mamma, I have just been reading over to my aunt. She is pleas'd with my whimsical description & grave (half grave) improvement, & hopes a little fals English will not spoil the whole with Mamma. Rome was not built in a day.

31st May.--Monday last I was at the factory to see a piece of cloth cousin Sally spun for a summer coat for unkle. After viewing the work we recollected the room we sat down in was Libberty Assembly Hall, otherwise called factory hall, so Miss Gridley & I did ourselves the Honour of dancing a minuet in it. On tuesday I made Mrs Smith my morning & p.m. visits as usual, neither Mr. Holbrook nor Turner have any school this week, nor till tuesday next. I spent yesterday with my friends in sudbury St. Cousin Frank has got a fever, aunt Storer took an emmetick while I was there, cousin Betsy had violent pains almost all the forenoon. Last tuesday Miss Ursula Griswold, daughter of the right Hon. Matthew Griswold Esq governer of one of his Majesty's provinces, was made one of our family, & I have the honor of being her chambermade. I have just been reading over what I wrote to the company present, & have got myself laughed at for my ignorance. It seems I should have said the daughter of the Hon Lieu^t. Governor of Connecticutt. Mrs Dixon lodg'd at Capn Mitchell's. She is gone to Connecticutt long since.

31 May.--I spent the afternoon at unkle Joshua's. yesterday, after tea I went to see how aunt Storer did. I found her well at Unkle Frank's. Mr Gerrish & wife of Halifax I had the pleasure to meet there, the latter sends love to you. Indeed Mamma, till I receiv'd your last favour, I never heard a word about the little basket &c. which I sent to brother Johny last fall. I suppose Harry had so much to write about cotton, that he forgot what was of more consequence. Dear Mamma, what name has Mr Bent given his Son? something like Nehemiah, or Jehoshaphat, I suppose, it must be an odd name (our head indeed, Mamma.) Aunt says she hopes it a'nt Baal Gad, & she also says that I am a little simpleton for making my note within the brackets above, because, when I omit to do it, Mamma will think I have the help of somebody else's head but, N.B. for herself she utterly disclames having either her head or hand concern'd in this curious journal, except where the writing makes it manifest. So much for this matter.

NOTES.

NOTE 1.

Aunt Deming was Sarah, the oldest child of John Winslow and Sarah
Peirce, and therefore sister of Joshua Winslow, Anna Green Winslow's
father. She was born August 2, 1722, died March 10, 1788. She
married John West, and after his death married, on February 27,
1752, John Deming. He was a respectable and intelligent Boston
citizen, but not a wealthy man. He was an ensign in the Ancient and
Honorable Artillery in 1771, and a deacon of the Old South Church in
1769, both of which offices were patents of nobility in provincial
Boston. They lived in Central Court, leading out of Washington
Street, just south of Summer Street. Aunt Deming eked out a limited
income in a manner dear to Boston gentlewomen in those and in later
days; she took young ladies to board while they attended Boston
schools. Advertisements in colonial newspapers of "Board and
half-board for young ladies" were not rare, and many good old New
England names are seen in these advertisements. Aunt Deming was a
woman of much judgment, as is shown in the pages of this diary; of
much power of graphic description, as is proved by a short journal
written for her niece, Sally Coverly, and letters of hers which are
still preserved. She died childless.

NOTE 2.

Cumberland was the home in Nova Scotia of Anna Green Winslow's
parents, where her father held the position of commissary to the
British regiments stationed there. George Green, Anna's uncle,
writing to Joseph Green, at Paramaribo, on July 23, 1770, said: "Mr.
Winslow & wife still remain at Cumberland, have one son & one
daughter, the last now at Boston for schooling, &c." So, at the date
of the first entry in the diary, Anna had been in Boston probably
about a year and a half.

NOTE 3.

Anna Green Winslow had doubtless heard much talk about this Rev.
John Bacon, the new minister at the Old South Church, for much had
been said about him in the weekly press: whether he should have an
ordination dinner or not, and he did not; accounts of his
ordination; and then notice of the sale of his sermons in the
_Boston Gazette_.

All Mr. Bacon's parishioners did not share Anna's liking for him; he
found himself at the Old South in sorely troubled waters. He made a
most unpropitious and trying entrance at best, through succeeding
the beloved Joseph Sewall, who had preached to Old South listeners
for fifty-six years. He came to town a stranger. When, a month
later, Governor Hutchinson issued his annual Thanksgiving
Proclamation, there was placed therein an "exceptionable clause"
that was very offensive to Boston patriots, relating to the
continuance of civil and religious liberties. It had always been the
custom to have the Proclamation read by the ministers in the Boston
churches for the two Sundays previous to Thanksgiving Day, but the
ruling governor very cannily managed to get two Boston clergymen to
read his proclamation the third Sunday before the appointed day,
when all the church members, being unsuspectingly present, had to
listen to the unwelcome words. One of these clerical instruments of
gubernatorial diplomacy and craft was John Bacon. Samuel Adams wrote
bitterly of him, saying, "He performed this servile task a week
before the time, when the people were not aware of it." The _Boston
Gazette_ of November 11 commented severely on Mr. Bacon's action,
and many of his congregation were disgusted with him, and remained
after the service to talk the Proclamation and their unfortunate new
minister over.

It might have been offered, one might think, as some excuse, that he
had so recently come from Maryland, and was probably unacquainted
with the intenseness of Massachusetts politics; and that he had also
been a somewhat busy and preoccupied man during his six weeks'
presence in Boston, for he had been marrying a wife,--or rather a
widow. In the _Boston Evening Post_ of November 11, 1771, I read
this notice: "Married, the Rev'd John Bacon to Mrs. Elizabeth
Cummings, daughter of Ezekiel Goldthwait, Esq."

He retained his pastorate, however, in spite of his early mistake,
through anxious tea-party excitement and forlorn war-threatened
days, till 1775, with but scant popularity and slight happiness,
with bitter differences of opinion with his people over atonement
and imputation, and that ever-present stumbling-block to New England
divines,--baptism under the Half Covenant,--till he was asked to
resign.

Nor did he get on over smoothly with his fellow minister, John Hunt.
In a curious poem of the day, called "Boston Ministers" (which is
reprinted in the _New England Historical and Genealogical Register_
of April, 1859), these verses appear:--

At Old South there's a jarring pair,
If I am not mistaken,
One may descry with half an eye
That Hunt is far from Bacon.
Wise Hunt can trace out means of grace
As leading to conversion,
But Hopkins scheme is Bacons theme,
And strange is his assertion.

It mattered little, however, that Parson Bacon had to leave the Old
South, for that was soon no longer a church, but a riding school for
the British troops.

Mr. Bacon retired, after his dismissal, to Canterbury, Conn., his
birthplace. His friendly intimacy with Mrs. Deming proved of value
to her, for when she left Boston, in April, 1775, at the time of the
closing of the city gates, she met Mr. Bacon in Providence. She says
in her journal:--

"Towards evening Mr & M^rs Bacon, with their daughter, came into
town. M^r Bacon came to see me. Enquir'd into my designs, &c. I told
him truely I did not know what to do. That I had thot of giting
farther into the country. Of trying to place Sally in some family
where she might earn her board, & to do something like it for
Lucinda, or put her out upon wages. That when I left the plain I had
some faint hope I might hear from Mr Deming while I continued at
Providence, but that I had little of that hope remaining. M^r Bacon
advised me to go into Connecticutt, the very thing I was desirous
of. Mr Bacon sd that he would advise me for the present to go to
Canterbury, his native place. That he would give me a Letter to his
Sister, who would receive me kindly & treat me tenderly, & that he
would follow me there in a few days."

This advice Mrs. Deming took, and made Canterbury her temporary
home.

Mr. Bacon did not again take charge of a parish. After the
Revolution he became a magistrate, went to the legislature, became
judge of the court of common pleas, and a member of congress. He did
not wholly give up his disputatious ways, if we can judge from the
books written by and to him, one of the latter being, "A Droll,
a Deist, and a John Bacon, Master of Arts, Gently Reprimanded."

His wife, who was born in 1733, and died in Stockbridge in 1821, was
the daughter of Ezekiel Goldthwait, a Tory citizen of Boston,
a register of deeds, and a wealthy merchant. A portrait of Mrs.
Bacon, painted by Copley, is remarkable for its brilliant eyes and
beautiful hands and arms.

NOTE 4.

Rev. John Hunt was born in Northampton, November 20, 1744. He was a
Harvard graduate in the class of 1764, a classmate of Caleb Strong
and John Scollay. He was installed colleague-pastor of the Old South
Church with John Bacon in 1771. He found it a most trying position.
He was of an amiable and gentle disposition, and the poem on "Boston
Ministers" asserted that he "most friends with sisters made."
Another Boston rhymester called him "puny John from Northampton,
a meek-mouth moderate man." When the gates of Boston were closed in
1775, after the battle of Lexington, he returned to Northampton, and
died there of consumption, December 20, 1775. A full account of his
life is given in _Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit_. See also
Note 3.

NOTE 5.

"Unkle and Aunt Winslow" were Mr. and Mrs. John Winslow. He was the
brother of Joshua Winslow, was born March, 1725-26, died September
29, 1773, in Boston. He was married, on March 12, 1752, to Elizabeth
Mason (born September, 1723, died January, 1780). They had five
children: I. Gen. John Winslow, born September 26, 1753, married Ann
Gardner, May 21, 1782, died November 29, 1819. II. Sarah, born April
12, 1755, married Deacon Samuel Coverly, of Boston, on November 27,
1787, died April 3, 1804. See Note 13. III. Henry, born January 11,
1757, died October 13, 1766. IV. Elizabeth, born November 28, 1759,
died September 8, 1760. V. Elizabeth, born September 14, 1760,
married John Holland, died November 21, 1795.

Gen. John Winslow was the favorite nephew of Joshua Winslow and of
his wife, and largely inherited their property. He remained in
Boston through the siege, and preserved the communion plate of the
Old South Church by burying it in his uncle Mason's cellar. He was
an ardent patriot, and it is said that his uncle Joshua threatened
to hang him if he caught him during the Revolutionary War. The
nephew answered, "No catchee--no hangee, Uncle;" but did have the
contrary fortune of capturing the uncle, whom he released on parole.
He was the sixth signer and first treasurer of the Society of the
Cincinnati. General Winslow's daughter, Mary Ann Winslow, born in
1790, lived till 1882, and from her were obtained many of the facts
given in these notes.

NOTE 6.

Miss Soley was Hannah Soley, daughter of John Soley and Hannah
Carey, who were married October 11, 1759. Hannah Soley was born June
5, 1762, and married W. G. McCarty.

NOTE 7.

William and Samuel Whitwell and their families were members of the
Old South Church, and all were friends of the Winslows and Demings.
William Whitwell was born September 3, 1714, died April 10, 1795.
He was a prosperous merchant, an estimable and useful citizen, and
church member. His first wife was Rebecca Keayne, his second
Elizabeth Scott (or Swett), who died May 13, 1771; his third, the
widow of Royal Tyler. The Mrs. Whitwell here referred to must have
been Mrs. Samuel Whitwell, for William Whitwell just at that
interval was a widower. Samuel Whitwell was born December 17, O.S.
1717, died June 8, 1801. His first wife was Elizabeth Kelsey; his
second, Sarah Wood; his third, Mary Smith.

NOTE 8.

Polly Deming was a niece of John Deming.

NOTE 9.

Miss Polly Glover was Mary Glover, born in Boston, October 12, 1758,
baptized at the Old South Church, married to Deacon James Morrell,
of the Old South, on April 23, 1778, and died April 3, 1842. She was
the daughter of Nathaniel Glover (who was born May 16, 1704, in
Dorchester; died December, 1773), and his wife, Anne Simpson. They
were married in 1750. Nathaniel Glover was a graduate of Harvard,
and a wealthy man; partner first of Thomas Hancock, and then of John
Hancock.

NOTE 10.

Miss Bessy Winslow was Elizabeth, Anna's cousin, who was then about
ten years old. See Note 5.

NOTE 11.

Miss Nancy or Anne Glover was Mary Glover's sister. See Note 9. She
was born in Boston, March 28, 1753, baptized in the Old South
Church, died in Roxbury, August, 1797. She married Samuel Whitwell,
Jr., son of Samuel Whitwell, a prominent Boston merchant. See Note
7.

NOTE 12.

Miss Sally Winslow was Sarah, daughter of John Winslow (see Note 5),
and was, therefore, Anna's cousin. She was born April 12, 1755, died
April 3, 1804. She married, November 27, 1787, Samuel Coverly,
deacon of the Old South Church. She was the Sally Coverly for whom
Mrs. Deming's journal was written. Several of Sally Coverly's
letters still exist, and are models of elegant penmanship and
correct spelling, and redound to the credit of her writing teacher,
Master Holbrook. All the d's and y's and t's end with elaborately
twisted little curls. A careful margin of an inch is left on every
side. The letters speak so plainly of the formal honor and respect
paid by all well-bred persons of the day to their elders, even
though familiar kinsfolk, that I quote one, which contains much
family news:--

BOSTON, Feb. 17th, 1780.

I thank you my dear Aunt for your kind Epistles of April 9th & Nov'r
10th, the kind interestedness you yet continue to take in my concerns
merits the warmest returns of Gratitude.

The Particular circumstances you wish to know I shall with pleasure
inform you of--Mr. Coverly is the youngest son of a Worthy Citizen
late of this town but his Parents are now no more. His age is
thirty-five. His Occupation a Shopkeeper who imports his own goods.
And if you should wish to know who of your acquaintance he
resembles, Madam, I would answer He has been taken for our Minister
Mr Eckley, by whom we were married in my Aunt Demings sick chamber
the 27th of Nov'r last twelve months since. He has two Brothers who
both reside in town. I have been remarkably favor'd the last year as
to my health & we are blest likewise with a fine little Daughter
between 4 & 5 months old, very healthy, which we have named
Elizabeth for its Grandmamas and an Aunt of each side. My Brother
call'd today & inform'd me that M^r Powell intended setting out
tomorrow for Quebeck & left a Letter for you which I shall send with
this. He is almost if not quite as big as my uncle was last time I
saw him--he was well & his family, he has three sons, the youngest
about eleven months old, he has buried one.

In your last you mention both my Uncle & yourself as not enjoying so
great a share of health. I hope by this time you have each regain'd
that blessing more perfectly. Be pleased with him My Dear Aunt to
accept My Duty in which Mr Coverly joins me.

My Sister was very well last week & her son John who is a fine child
about 3 months old. Capt. Holland has purchas'd a house near fort
hill which has remov'd her to a greater distance from me. She is now
gone to the West-indies, she is connected in a family that are all
very fond of her. We expect soon to remove. M^r Coverly has taken a
lease of a house for some years belonging to M^r John Amory, you
will please to direct your next for us in Cornhill N^o 10, I shall
have the pleasure of your friend M^rs Whitwell for my next neighbor
there. I had not the pleasure of seeing M^r Freeman whiles here
altho' I expected it, as his brother promis'd to wait on him here.

In one of your kind Epistles, Madam, you mention'd some of your
Movables which you would wish me to take possession of which were at
my Uncle Demings. The Memorandum you did not send me & my Uncle
Deming has none nor knows of any thing but a great wheel.

He is now maried to the Widow Sebry who is very much lik'd and
appears to be a Gentlewoman, they were very well today. My Aunt
Mason was to see me a few weeks since with M^rs Coburn M^rs Scolly &
Miss Becky Scolly from Middleborough. M^rs Scolly has since married
her youngest daughter to M^r Prentice, Minister of Medfield.

Please to give my Love to Cousin Sally Deming if she is yet with you
I hope she has regain'd her usual health. I should be very glad to
be inform'd how her Mamma is & where & her family.

Be pleased to continue your Indulgence, as your Epistles My Dear
Aunt will at all times be most gratefully receiv'd by

Y^r Oblidg'd Niece

Sarah Coverly.

NOTE 13.

Josiah Waters, Jr., was the son of Josiah and Abigail Dawes Waters.
The latter lived to be ninety-five years old. Josiah Sr. was a
captain in the Artillery Company in 1769, and Josiah Jr. in 1791.
The latter married, on March 14, 1771, Mary, daughter of William and
Elizabeth Whitwell. See Note 7. Their child, Josiah Waters, tertius,
born December 29, 1771, lived till August 4, 1818. He was a Latin
School boy, and in the class with Josiah Quincy at Harvard.

NOTE 14.

The life of this slave-girl Lucinda was a fair example of the gentle
form of slavery which existed till this century in our New England
States. From an old paper written by a daughter of Gen. John
Winslow, I quote her description of this girl:--

"Lucinda was born in Africa and purchased by M^rs Deming when she
was about seven years of age. She was cherished with care and
affection by the family, and at Mrs. Demings death was 'given her
freedom.' From that time she chose to make her home with 'Master
John' (the late Gen. John Winslow, of Boston), a nephew of M^rs
Demings--at his house she died after some years. The friends of the
Winslow family attended her funeral; her pastor the Rev D^r Eckley
of the Old South and Gen. W. walking next the hearse as chief
mourners. A few articles belonging to her are preserved in the
family as memorials of one who was a beloved member of the household
in the olden time."

Lucinda figures in Mrs. Deming's account of her escape from besieged
Boston in 1775, and was treated with as much consideration as was
Sally, the niece; for her mistress remained behind for a time at
Wrentham; rather than to allow Lucinda to ride outside the coach in
the rain.

In a letter written by Sally Coverly, August 6, 1795, to Mrs. Joshua
Winslow, at Quebec, she says: "You enquire about Lucinda, she is
very much gratified by it. She has lived with my Brother this ten
years and is very good help in their family."

NOTE 15.

The "Miss Sheafs" were Nancy and Mary Sheaffe, youngest daughters of
William Sheaffe, who had recently died, leaving a family of four
sons and six daughters. He had been deputy collector of customs
under Joseph Harrison, the last royal collector of the port. He left
his family penniless, and a small shop was stocked by friends for
Mrs Sheaffe. I have often seen her advertisements in Boston
newspapers.

Mrs. Sheaffe was Susanna Child, daughter of Thomas Child, an
Englishman, one of the founders of Trinity Church. She lived till
1811. The ten children grew up to fill dignified positions in life.
One son was Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe. Susanna, at the age of fifteen,
made a most romantic runaway match with an English officer, Capt.
Ponsonby Molesworth. Margaret married John R. Livingstone; she was a
great beauty. Lafayette, on his return to France, sent her a satin
cardinal lined with ermine, and an elegant gown. Helen married James
Lovell. (See Note 52.) Nancy, or Anne Sheaffe, married, in
September, 1786, John Erving, Jr., a nephew of Governor Shirley, and
died young, leaving three children,--Maria, Frances, and Major John
Erving. Mary married Benj. Cutler, high sheriff of Boston, and died
December 8, 1784, leaving no children. These Sheaffes were nearly
all buried in the Child tomb in Trinity Church.

NOTE 16.

Governor Matthew Griswold was born March 25, 1714, died April 28,
1799. He married, on Nov. 10, 1743, his second cousin, Ursula
Wolcott, daughter of Gov. Roger Wolcott. A very amusing story is
told of their courtship. Governor Griswold in early life wished to
marry a young lady in Durham, Conn. She was in love with a
physician, whom she hoped would propose to her, and in the mean time
was unwilling to give up her hold upon her assured lover. At last
the governor, tired of being held in an uncertainty, pressed her for
a definite answer. She pleaded that she wished for more time, when
he rose with dignity and answered her, "I will give you a lifetime."
This experience made him extremely shy, and when thrown with his
cousin Ursula he made no advance towards love-making. At last when
she was nineteen and he ten years older she began asking him on
every occasion, "What did you say, Cousin Matthew?" and he would
answer her quietly, "Nothing." At last she asked him impatiently,
"What did you say, Cousin Matthew?" and when he answered again
"Nothing," she replied sharply, "Well, it's time you did,"--and _he
did_.

Their daughter Ursula, the visitor at Mrs. Deming's, was born April
13, 1754, and was a great beauty. She married, in November 22, 1777,
her third cousin, Lynde McCurdy, of Norwich, Conn.

NOTE 17.

"Unkle Joshua" was Joshua Green, born in Boston, May 17, 1731,
"Monday 1/2 past 9 oclock in the morn^g" and died in Wendell, Mass.,
on September 2, 1811. He attended the Boston Latin School in 1738,
and was in the class of 1749 at Harvard. He married, as did his
brother and sister, a Storer--Hannah, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary
Edwards Storer--on October 7, 1762. After his marriage he lived in
Court Street, the third house south of Hanover Street. His wife
Hannah was for many years before and after her marriage--as was her
mother--the intimate friend and correspondent of Abigail Adams, wife
of John Adams. Some of their letters may be found in the _Account of
Percival and Ellen Green and Some of their Descendants_, written by
Hon. Samuel Abbott Green, who is a great-grandson of Joshua and
Hannah Green.

NOTE 18.

Madam Storer was Mary Edwards Storer, the widow of Ebenezer Storer,
a Boston merchant. She was the mother of Anna's uncle Ebenezer
Storer, of her aunt Hannah Storer Green, and of her aunt Mary Storer
Green. See Notes 19, 32, 59.

NOTE 19.

Miss Caty Vans was the granddaughter of Hugh Vans, a merchant of
Boston, who became a member of the Old South Church in 1728. He was
born in Ayr, Scotland, in 1699. He married Mary Pemberton, daughter
of Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, and died in Boston in 1763. They had
four sons, John, Ebenezer, Samuel, and William. One of the first
three was the father of Caty Vans, who was born January 18, 1770.
There are frequent references to her throughout the diary, but I
know nothing of her life. William Vans married Mary Clarke, of
Salem, and had one son, William, and one daughter, Rebecca, who
married Captain Jonathan Carnes. The Vans family Bible is in the
library of the Essex Institute.

NOTE 20.

In the cordial hatred of the Puritans for Christmas Anna heartily
joined. It was not till this century that in New England cheerful
merriment and the universal exchange of gifts marked the day as a
real holiday.

NOTE 21.

"Aunt Sukey" was Susanna Green, born July 26, 1744, died November
10, 1775. She married, on October 18, 1769, her cousin, Francis
Green. The little child Charles, of whom Anna writes, proved to be a
deaf-mute, and was drowned near Halifax in 1787. Francis Green had
two deaf-mute children by a second wife, and became prominent
afterwards in Massachusetts for his interest in and promotion of
methods in instructing the deaf. In a letter of George Green's,
dated Boston, July 23, 1770, we read: "Frank Green was married to
Sukey in October last and they live next house to Mrs Storers." From
another, dated December 5, 1770: "Frank keeps a ship going between
here & London, but I believe understands little of the matter,
having never been bred to business wch was one great objection with
my father to his courting Sukey." I think he must have developed
into a capable business man, for I have frequently seen his business
advertisements in Boston newspapers of his day. Anna's mother
bequeathed seven hundred and fifty dollars to Francis Green in her
will. He was a man universally esteemed in the community.

NOTE 22.

Dr. Samuel Cooper was born March 28, 1725; died December 29, 1783.
He graduated at Harvard in 1743, and became pastor of the Brattle
Street Congregational Church, of Boston. He was a brilliant
preacher, an ardent patriot, the intimate friend of John Adams and
Benjamin Franklin, and a very handsome man.

NOTE 23.

Master Holbrook was Samuel Holbrook, Anna's writing-master, one of a
highly honored family of Boston writing teachers. Perhaps the best
known of this family was Abiah Holbrook. In the _Boston Gazette_ of
January 30, 1769, I find this notice:--

"Last Friday morning died Mr Abiah Holbrook in the 51st year of his
Age, Master of the South Writing School in this Town. He was looked
upon by the Best Judges as the Greatest Master of the Pen we have
ever had among us, of which he has left a most beautiful
Demonstration. He was indefatigable in his labours, successful in
his Instructions, an Honour to the Town and to crown all an Ornament
to the Religion of Jesus. His Funeral is to be Attended Tomorrow
Afternoon at Four Oclock."

The "beautiful Demonstration" of his penmanship which he left behind
him was a most intricate piece of what was known as "fine knotting"
or "knot work." It was written in "all the known hands of Great
Britain." This work occupied every moment of what Abiah Holbrook
called his "spare time" for seven years. It was valued at £100. It
was bequeathed to Harvard College, unless his wife should need the
money which could be obtained from selling it. If this were so, she
was to offer it first for purchase to John Hancock. Abiah was a
stanch patriot.

Samuel Holbrook was a brother of Abiah. He began teaching in 1745,
when about eighteen years old. A petition of Abiah, dated March 10,
1745-46, sets forth that his school had two hundred and twenty
scholars (Well may his funeral notice say that he was indefatigable
in his labors!), that finding it impossible to properly instruct
such a great number, he had appointed his brother to teach part of
them and had paid his board for seven months, else some of the
scholars must have been turned off without any instruction. He
therefore prayed the town to grant him assistance. Think of one
master for such a great school! In 1750 Samuel Holbrook's salary as
usher of the South Writing School was fifty pounds per annum.

After serving as writing-master of the school in Queen Street, and
also keeping a private school, he was chosen master of the South
Writing School in March, 1769, to supply the place of his brother
Abiah deceased. His salary was one hundred pounds. In 1776, and
again in 1777, he received eighty pounds in addition to his salary.
He also was a patriot. He was one of the "Sons of Liberty" who dined
at the Liberty Tree, Dorchester, on August 14, 1769; and he was a
member of Captain John Haskin's company in 1773. He was a member of
the Old South Church, and he died July 24, 1784. In his later years
he kept a school at West Street, where afterwards was Amos
Lawrence's garden.

Abiah and Samuel left behind them better demonstrations of their
capacity than pieces of "knot-work"--in the handwriting of their
scholars. They taught what Jonathan Snelling described as "Boston
Style of Wri^ting," and loudly do the elegant letters and signatures
of their scholars, Boston patriots, clergy, and statesmen, redound
to the credit of the Masters Holbrook.

Other Holbrooks taught in Boston. From the Selectmen's Minutes of
that little town, we find that on November 10, 1773,--

"Mr Holbrook, Master of the Writing School in the Common, and Mr
Carter the Master Elect of the school in Queen St having recommended
Mr Abiah Holbrook, a young man near of age, as a suitable person to
be usher at Mr Carters school--the Selectmen sent for him, and upon
discoursing with the young man thought proper to appoint him usher
of said school."

And from the _Boston Gazette_, of April 17, 1769, we learn that Mr.
Joseph Ward "Opened an English Grammar School in King St where Mr
Joseph Holbrook hath for many years kept a Writing School."

These entries of Anna's relating to her attending Master Holbrook's
school have an additional value in that they prove that both boys
and girls attended these public writing schools,--a fact which has
been disputed.

NOTE 24.

Dr. James Lloyd, born March 14, 1728, died March 14, 1810. He began
his medical practice in 1752. He was appointed surgeon of the
garrison at Boston, and was a close friend of Sir William Howe and
Earl Percy, who for a time lived in his house. He was an
Episcopalian, and one of the indignant protesters against the
alteration of the liturgy at King's Chapel. Though a warm Tory and
Loyalist, he was never molested by the American government. He was
one of Boston's most skilful and popular physicians for many years.
While other city doctors got but a shilling and sixpence for their
regular fee, he charged and received the exorbitant sum of half a
dollar a visit; and for "bringing little master to town," in which
function he was a specialist, he charged a guinea.

NOTE 25.

A pincushion was for many years, and indeed is still, in some parts
of New England, a highly conventional gift to a mother with a young
babe. Mrs. Deming must have made many of these cushions. One of her
manufacture still exists. It is about five inches long and three
inches wide; one side is of white silk stuck around the edge with
old-fashioned clumsy pins, with the words, "John Winslow March 1783.
Welcome Little Stranger." The other side is of gray satin with green
spots, with a cluster of pins in the centre, and other pins winding
around in a vine and forming a row round the edge.

NOTE 26.

Though the exchange of Christmas gifts was rare in New England,
a certain observance of New Year's Day by gifts seems to have
obtained. And we find in Judge Sewall's diary that he was greeted on
New Year's morn with a levet, or blast of trumpets, under his
window; and he celebrated the opening of the eighteenth century with
a very poor poem of his own composition, which he caused to be
recited through Boston streets by the town-crier.

NOTE 27.

The word "pompedore" or Pompadour was in constant use in that day.
We read of pompedore shoes, laces, capes, aprons, sacques,
stockings, and head-dresses.

NOTE 28.

Aunt Storer was Mrs. Ebenezer Storer. Her maiden name was Elizabeth
Green. She was a sister of Mrs. Joshua Winslow. She was born October
12, 1734, died December 8, 1774; was married July 17, 1751, to
Ebenezer Storer, who was born January 27, 1729-30, died January 6,
1807. He was a Harvard graduate, and was for many years treasurer of
that college. He was one of Boston's most intellectual and respected
citizens. His library was large. His name constantly appears on the
lists of subscribers to new books. After his death his astronomical
instruments became the property of Harvard College, and as late as
1843 his comet-finder was used there.

As Anna Green Winslow spent so much of her time in her "Aunt
Storers" home in Sudbury Street, it is interesting to know that a
very correct picture of this elegant Boston home of colonial days
has been preserved through the account given in the _Memoir of Eliza
Susan Morton Quincy_,--though many persons still living remember the
house:--

"The mansion of Ebenezer Storer, an extensive edifice of wood three
stories in height, was erected in 1700. It was situated on Sudbury
Street between two trees of great size and antiquity. An old English
elm of uncommon height and circumference grew in the sidewalk of the
street before the mansion, and behind it was a sycamore tree of
almost equal age and dimensions. It fronted to the south with one
end toward the street. From the gate a broad walk of red sandstone
separated it from a grass-plot which formed the courtyard, and
passed the front door to the office of Mr. Storer. The vestibule of
the house, from which a staircase ascended, opened on either side
into the dining and drawing rooms. Both had windows towards the
courtyard and also opened by glazed doors into a garden behind the
house. They were long low apartments; the walls wainscoted and
panelled; the furniture of carved mahogany. The ceilings were
traversed through the length of the rooms by a large beam cased and
finished like the walls; and from the centre of each depended a
glass globe which reflected as in a convex mirror all surrounding
objects. There was a rich Persian carpet in the drawing-room, the
colors crimson and green. The curtains and the cushions of the
window-seat were of green damask; and oval mirrors and girandoles
and a teaset of rich china completed the furniture of that
apartment. The wide chimney-place in the dining room was lined and
ornamented with Dutch tiles; and on each side stood capacious
armchairs cushioned and covered with green damask, for the master
and mistress of the family. On the walls were portraits in crayon by
Copley, and valuable engravings representing Franklin with his
lightning rod, Washington, and other eminent men of the last
century. Between the windows hung a long mirror in a mahogany frame;
and opposite the fireplace was a buffet ornamented with porcelain
statuettes and a set of rich china. A large apartment in the second
story was devoted to a valuable library, a philosophical apparatus,
a collection of engravings, a solar microscope, a camera, etc."

As I read this description I seem to see the figure of our happy
little diary-writer reflected in the great glass globes that hung
from the summer-trees, while she danced on the Persian carpet, or
sat curled up reading on the cushioned window-seat.

NOTE 29.

As this was in the time of depreciated currency, £45 was not so
large a sum to spend for a young girl's outfit as would at first
sight appear.

NOTE 30.

Dr. Charles Chauncey was born January 1, 1705; died February 10,
1787. He graduated at Harvard in 1721, and soon became pastor of the
First Church in Boston. He was an equally active opponent of
Whitefield and of Episcopacy. He was an ardent and romantic patriot,
yet so plain in his ways and views that he wished _Paradise Lost_
might be turned into prose that he might understand it.

NOTE 31.

Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton was pastor of the New Brick Church. He had a
congregation of stanch Whigs; but unluckily, the Tory Governor
Hutchinson also attended his church. Dr. Pemberton was the other
minister of the two who sprung the Governor's hated Thanksgiving
proclamation of 1771 on their parishes a week ahead of time, as told
in Note 3, and the astounded and disgusted New Brick hearers, more
violent than the Old South attendants, walked out of meeting while
it was being read. Dr. Pemberton's troubled and unhappy pastorate
came to an end by the closing of his church in war times in 1775. He
was of the 1721 class of Harvard College. He died September 9, 1777.

NOTE 32.

We find frequent references in the writings and newspapers of the
times to this truly Puritanical dread of bishops. To the descendants
of the Pilgrims the very name smacked of incense, stole, and monkish
jargon. A writer, signing himself "America," gives in the _Boston
Evening Post_, of October 14, 1771, a communication thoroughly
characteristic of the spirit of the community against the
establishment of bishops, the persistent determination to "beate
down every sprout of episcopacie."

NOTE 33.

A negligée was a loose gown or sacque open in front, to be worn over
a handsome petticoat; and in spite of its name, was not only in high
fashion for many years, but was worn for full dress. Abigail Adams,
writing to Mrs. Storer, on January 20, 1785, says: "Trimming is
reserved for full dress only, when very large hoops and negligées
with trains three yards long are worn." I find advertised in the
_Boston Evening Post_, as early as November, 1755: "Horse-hair
Quilted Coats to wear with Negligees." A poem printed in New York in
1756 has these lines:--

"Put on her a Shepherdee
A Short Sack or Negligee
Ruffled high to keep her warm
Eight or ten about an arm."

NOTE 34.

A pistareen was a Spanish coin worth about seventeen cents.

NOTE 35.

There exists in New England a tradition of "groaning cake," made and
baked in honor of a mother and babe. These cakes which Anna bought
of the nurse may have been "groaning cakes." It was always customary
at that time to give "vails" to the nurse when visiting a new-born
child; sometimes gifts of money, often of trinkets and articles of
clothing.

NOTE 36.

Miss "Scolley" was Mary Scollay, youngest of the thirteen children
of John Scollay (who was born in 1712, died October, 1799), and his
wife Mary. Mary was born in 1759. She married Rev. Thomas Prentiss
on February 9, 1798, had nine children, and lived to be eighty-two
years old--dying in 1841. Her sister Mercy was engaged to be married
to General Warren, but he fell at Bunker Hill: and his betrothed
devoted herself afterwards to the care and education of his orphaned
children whom he had by his first wife.

NOTE 37.

Miss Bella Coffin was probably Isabella, daughter of John Coffin and
Isabella Child, who were married in 1750. She married Major
MacMurde, and their sons were officers in India.

NOTE 38.

This Miss "Quinsey" was Ann Quincy, the daughter of Col. Josiah
Quincy (who was born 1710, died 1784), and his third wife, Ann
Marsh. Ann was born December 8, 1763, and thus would have been in
her ninth year at the time of the little rout. She married the Rev.
Asa Packard, of Marlborough, Mass., in 1790.

NOTE 39.

In the universal use of wines and strong liquors in New England at
that date children took unrestrainedly their proportionate part. It
seems strange to think of this girl assembly of little Bostonians
drinking wine and hot or cold punch as part of their "treat," yet no
doubt they were well accustomed to such fare. I know of a little
girl of still tenderer years who was sent at that same time from the
Barbadoes to her grandmother's house in Boston to be "finished" in
Boston schools, as was Anna, and who left her relative's abode in
high dudgeon because she was not permitted to have wine at her
meals; and her parents upheld her, saying Missy must be treated like
a lady and have all the wine she wished. Cobbett, who thought liquor
drinking the national disease of America, said that "at all hours of
the day little boys at or under twelve years of age go into stores
and tip off their drams." Thus it does not seem strange for little
maids also to drink at a party. The temperance awakening of this
century came none too soon.

NOTE 40.

Paste ornaments were universally worn by both men and women, as well
as by little girls, and formed the decoration of much of the
headgear of fashionable dames. Many advertisements appear in New
England newspapers, which show how large and varied was the
importation of hair ornaments at that date. We find advertised in
the _Boston Evening Post_, of 1768: "Double and single row knotted
Paste Combs, Paste Hair Sprigs & Pins all prices. Marcasite and
Pearl Hair Sprigs, Garnet & Pearl Hair Sprigs." In the _Salem
Gazette_ and various Boston papers I read of "black & coloured
plumes & feathers." Other hair ornaments advertised in the _Boston
News Letter_, of December, 1768, were "Long and small Tail Garnets,
Mock Garland of all sorts and Ladies Poll Combs." Steel plumes,
pompons, aigrettes, and rosettes all were worn on the head, and
artificial flowers, wreaths of gauze, and silk ribbons.

NOTE 41.

Marcasite, spelled also marcassite, marchasite, marquesett, or
marquaset, was a mineral, the crystallized form of iron pyrites. It
was largely used in the eighteenth century for various ornamental
purposes, chiefly in the decoration of the person. It took a good
polish, and when cut in facets like a rose-diamond, formed a pretty
material for shoe and knee-buckles, earrings, rings, pins, and hair
ornaments. Scarce a single advertisement of wares of milliner or
mantua maker can he found in eighteenth century newspapers that does
not contain in some form of spelling the word marcasite, and scarce
a rich gown or headdress was seen without some ornament of
marcasite.

NOTE 42.

Master Turner was William Turner, a fashionable dancing master of
Boston, who afterward resided in Salem, and married Judith, daughter
of Dr. Edward Augustus Holyoke, of Salem, who died in 1829, aged one
hundred and one years. It was recalled by an old lady that the
scholars in the school of her youth marched through Boston streets,
to the music of the fiddle played by "Black Henry," to Concert Hall,
corner Tremont and Bromfield streets, to practice dancing; and that
Mr. Turner walked at the head of the school. His advertisements may
be seen in Boston and Salem papers, thus:--

"Mr. Turner informs the Ladies and Gentlemen in Town and Country
that he has reduced his price for teaching from Six Dollars Entrance
to One Guinea, and from Four Dollars per month to Three. Those
ladies and Gentlemen who propose sending their children to be taught
will notice no books will be kept as Mr. T. has suffered much by
Booking. The pupils must pay monthly if they are desirous the School
should continue."

NOTE 43.

"Unkle Ned" was Edward Green, born September 18, 1733; died July 29,
1790. He married, on April 14, 1757, Mary Storer (sister of Ebenezer
Storer and of Hannah Storer Green). They had no children. He was, in
1780, one of the enlisting officers for Suffolk County. In a letter
of George Green's, written July 25, 1770, we read: "Ned still lives
gentleman-like at Southwacks Court without doing any business tho'
obliged to haul in his horns;" and from another of December 5, 1770:
"Ned after having shown off as long as he you'd with his yell^o
damask window curtains &c is (the last month) retired into the
country and lives w^th his wife at Parson Storers at Watertown. How
long that will hold I cant say."

NOTE 44.

Madam Smith was evidently Anna's teacher in sewing. The duties
pertaining to a sewing school were, in those days, no light matter.
From an advertisement of one I learn that there were taught at these
schools:--

"All kinds of Needleworks viz: point, Brussels, Dresden Gold,
Silver, and silk Embroidery of every kind. Tambour Feather, India &
Darning, Spriggings with a Variety of Open-work to each. Tapestry
plain, lined, and drawn. Catgut, black & white, with a number of
beautiful Stitches. Diaper and Plain Darnings. French Quiltings,
Knitting, Various Sorts of marking with the Embellishments of Royal
cross, Plain cross, Queen, Irish, and Tent Stitches."

Can any nineteenth century woman read this list of feminine
accomplishments without looking abashed upon her idle hands, and
ceasing to wonder at the delicate heirlooms of lace and embroidery
that have come down to us!

NOTE 45.

Grandmamma Sargent was Joshua Winslow's mother. Her maiden name was
Sarah Pierce. She was born April 30, 1697, died August 2, 1771. She
married on September 21, 1721, John Winslow, who lived to be
thirty-eight years old. After his death she married Dr. Nathaniel
Sargent in 1749.

NOTE 46.

These lines were a part of the epitaph said to be composed by
Governor Thomas Dudley, who died at Andover, Mass., in 1653. They
were found after his death and preserved in Morton's _New England's
Memorial_. They run thus:--

Dim eyes, deaf ears, cold stomach show
My dissolution is in view;
Eleven times seven near lived have I,
And now God calls, I willing die;
My shuttle's shot, my race is run,
My sun is set, my deed is done;
My span is measur'd, tale is told,
My flower is faded and grown old,
My dream is vanish'd, shadow's fled,
My soul with Christ, my body dead;
Farewell dear wife, children and friends,
Hate heresy, make blessed ends;
Bear poverty, live with good men,
So shall we meet with joy again.
Let men of God in courts and churches watch
O'er such as do a toleration hatch;
Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice,
To prison all with heresy and vice.
If men be left, and other wise combine
My epitaph's, I dy'd no libertine.

NOTE 47.

Miss Polly Vans was Mary Vans, daughter of Hugh and Mary Pemberton
Vans, and aunt of Caty Vans. She was born in 1733. We have some
scattered glimpses of her life. She joined the Old South in 1755. In
the _Boston Gazette_, of April 9, 1770, we read, "Fan Mounts mounted
by Mary Vans at the house of Deacon Williams, in Cornhill." We hear
of her at Attleborough with Samuel Whitwell's wife when the gates of
Boston were closed, and we know she married Deacon Jonathan Mason on
Sunday evening, December 20, 1778. She was his second wife. His
first wife was Miriam Clark, and was probably the Mrs. Mason who was
present at Mrs. Whitwell's, and died June 5, 1774. Mary Vans Mason
lived till 1820, having witnessed the termination of eight of the
pastorates of the Old South Church. Well might Anna term her "a
Sister of the Old South." She was in 1817 the President of the Old
South Charity School, and is described as a "disinterested friend,
a judicious adviser, an affectionate counsellor, a mild but faithful
reprover, a humble, self-denying, fervent, active, cheerful
Christian." Jonathan Mason was not only a deacon, but a prosperous
merchant and citizen. He helped to found the first bank in New
England. His son was United States Senator. Two other daughters of
Hugh Vans were a Mrs. Langdon, of Wiscasset, Maine, and Mrs. John
Coburn.

NOTE 48.

St. Valentine's Day was one of the few English holidays observed in
New England. We find even Governor Winthrop writing to his wife
about "challenging a valentine." In England at that date, and for a
century previous, the first person of the opposite sex seen in the
morning was the observer's valentine. We find Madam Pepys lying in
bed for a long time one St. Valentine's morning with eyes tightly
closed, lest she see one of the painters who was gilding her new
mantelpiece, and be forced to have him for her valentine. Anna
means, doubtless, that the first person she chanced to see that
morning was "an old country plow-joger."

NOTE 49.

Boston was at that date pervaded by the spirit of Liberty. Sons of
Liberty held meetings every day and every night. Daughters of
Liberty held spinning and weaving bees, and gathered in bands
pledging themselves to drink no tea till the obnoxious revenue act
was repealed. Young unmarried girls joined in an association with
the proud declaration, "We, the daughters of those Patriots who have
appeared for the public interest, do now with pleasure engage with
them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea." Even the
children felt the thrill of revolt and joined in patriotic
demonstrations--and a year or two later the entire graduating class
at Harvard, to encourage home manufactures, took their degrees in
homespun.

NOTE 50.

The cut-paper pictures referred to are the ones which are reproduced
in this book, and which are still preserved. Anna's father finally
received them. Mrs. Deming and other members of the Winslow family
seem to have excelled in this art, and are remembered as usually
bringing paper and scissors when at a tea-drinking, and assiduously
cutting these pictures with great skill and swiftness and with
apparently but slight attention to the work. This form of decorative
art was very fashionable in colonial days, and was taught under the
ambitious title of Papyrotamia.

NOTE 51.

The "biziness of making flowers" was a thriving one in Boston. We
read frequently in newspapers of the day such notices as that of
Anne Dacray, of Pudding Lane, in the _Boston Evening Post_, of 1769,
who advertises that she "makes and sells Head-flowers: Ladies may be
supplied with single buds for trimming Stomachers or sticking in the
Hair." Advertisements of teachers in the art of flower-making also
are frequent. I note one from the _Boston Gazette_, of October 19,
1767:--