014 075 057 8 # Conservation Resources :jfublishod at the (f^t'tice of " ^50-;i^aij," SALEM, OCT. 31, 1870. Steam Tug ■wm behun^- to-day. „ <<1MK OXE! COME ALI.l Admission li>^ Cts. T..,M, Primer. Ifublished at the l^Uicn of " ^o-'.lOaij; SALEM, OCT. 31, 1870. ■S/Of m Old Houses of Salem. .1^ l^io .^-/F you iisk the tourist why he visits Saleui. A^l^ll^l he will tell you that he has four reasons : r^° to see the old houses, to feel the witch pius. to gaze upon the terminus ot" the Horse Rail- T i-oad at Danvers, and to ])on(ler over the l)irth- place of Lord Timothy Dexter. Now we of Salem know how many other things there be of interest, (dis- count at eight ])er cent), but the sights just mentioned, are really the attractive points to outside barbarians. One has only to feel the witch pins to see the point. As to tlie birthplace of T. Dexter, he was born in several places in Salem, none of whicli are clearly known, and therefore the tourist gets a view of the whole town gratis in hunting tliciii up. We are to give our attention to the old houses. There is somethino- tan"'ible about them, since Salem has always been in the leather business, and they all rest upon a substratum of tan. 6 The most ancient building of which we have any account, i.s the old church in the rear of Plum- nier Hall. As we gaze on this venerable and majestic pile, our pulsating vesicles swell with emotion. As the ideologist traces the habits of that exceed- ingly slow coach, the Ancient Glacier, by the scratch- ing and polishing of the rocks, so we may trace the habits of the original occupants of this church by the rubbing and polishing, dents and marks, left by them on the wood work of the building. On the pew seats we may see the little marks made by the youthful Puritans with Faber's lead pencils. These marks alone, furnish, not only con- vincing proofs that the sermons were long, but the highly seasoned character of the wood upon which they were made, show that they were dry also. A careful inspection of these marks prove that finger nails were not evolved at that time, as we cannot find any moon-shaped scars. Finger nails were not developed till sometime after, and it was only when this singular appendage became evolutionized, that Satan was called the " Old Sci'atch." When they first appeared, they were looked upon as excrescences, and every effort was made to remove them. The habit still continues among a few, of nibbling the nails, and is unquestionably an hereditary feature. It was only when naturalists showed that the nails were homologous to the claw^s of lower animals, that the inhabitants, (true to their zoological training at the field meetings) tolerated their growth. Singular looking dents upon the walls and pew backs, indicate the force of the blows dealt by the ministers of that period, against fraud, deceit, and many kindred vices. In order to save the pews from being mai-red in this way, as well as to deaden the alarming soimd of the blows, recourse was had to padding the seats, and hence the custom originated, and still exists, though the reason for it has long since passed away. The abrasions on the window sills give painful evi- dences of the perils of our Four Fathers in withstand- ing the attacks of the enemy. There are four windows in the church, and it was customary to put one of the Fathers that had tlie largest families, (and conse- quently the most at stake, though they didn't put them to the stake for sometime after) at each of these windows ; hence the name of Four Fathers. FOUR FATHERS. One may see where the trusty Four Fathers rested their Spencer carbines, and on the outside of the cliurch the marks of the Indian attacks are still visible. From beneath some ot" the clapboanls, the entire col- lection of stone arrow heads in the nuisenni were shaken. A good thermometer, and one of Ashcroft's Steam Gauo:es always stood behind the minister, and unless the thermometer stood at 18° below zero, and the steam guage indicated a pressure of only four pounds per square inch, it was necessary to leave the door wide open, as the air became altogether too hot from the heat evolved in the doctrines of those days. In view of this fact, it was customary to build the churches with the door facing some large building, and this is the reason why this church was built with its door lacing Plummer Hall, as this venerable pile of brick afforded ample protection against their only weak spot — ;i door wide open, through which many a liberal spirit has crept out, and many a liberal spirit has crept in. We called Plummer Hall a venerable pile of brick, because we have incontestable proof, despite its modern appearance, that it was built and occupied sometime before the vacant field in the rear was ornamented by the church of which we speak. One pew, marked in quaint galvanized tin letters, R. W., settles forever, the disj)ute regarding the num- ber of children possessed by Roger Williams. Here you may perceive the nine areas upon the seat highly polished. Two of these areas next the pew door, are scarcely visible. This is because Mr. and Mrs. W. were interestcMl in sermons, and sat still. 'I'lie otliei- seven areas ai"e deeply worn, and show the uneasx movements of the yonnger Ivogers under the intliction of a three hours' sermon. Neai- the ha]>tistry you mav still seethe hole in the floor through which the S. &. I). aqueduct pipe came. They had but little use for water anyway in those days, as we know fioni old bills of fare, and invoices, the eai"ly ijdiabitants lived upon Plantation Bitters. It was only al'tei- the Maine Law, that water c'onnnenced to be drank, and the AVenham Water Works had to be established. Having brietlj described the oldest building of which we have any historical account, we ])roceed to mention two other biiildini's still in existence, whose origin and use is wrapt in the gloom of ages. Our only information regarding their high antiq- uity furnishes another one of those curious chapters of threat discoveries being made through accidental causes. Now it is the digging of a well, or the cutting of a railroad, or a strawl)erry mark u])on the left arm, that gives us the richest openings for the histt)rian. And this is how the little information we ai'e to give of the two buildings, of which we speak, came al)out. Many years ago, an eccentric genius took forcible possession of the church, and converted it into a men- ao-erie. Besides a lot of wild beasts that he confined in the pews, there were foui" insane young men who ran wild on bugs, rocks, fishes and shells. One was guilty of the heterodox idea that stone walls ])reached sermons, and told us that the world was a few years 10 more or less older than the elders had dreamed of. Another one traced a decided resemblance between the back bone of a fish, and Cotton Mather's back bone, though it wasn't quite so stiff. Another one pulled snails' teeth, and the other one tortured insects by sticking pins into them ; a favorite amusement of everybody in those days, only other people stuck pins into their neighbors. There were also others confined in the brick build- ing, on account of their more furious aspect. Their mania consisted in hoarding up every con- ceivable object that the}^ could lay their hands upon, and many of the spinning wheels, letters, hair pins, and patent churns, hymn books and account books, that were stolen from the village, might be traced to nooks and crannies of this building. The keeper of this menagerie is still remembered by some of the older inhabitants as a man with short curly, auburn locks, and a height of eleven feet, four inches. He disappeared among the Hottentots on his fifty-fourth visit to Africa in search of novelties for the menagerie. It seems that these insane men annoyed the animals by calling them the most out- rageous names, and not content with crushing them under the incubus of one name, they would give each one a dozen, more or less, and each one generally proved worse than the last. As an example of heartless cruelty in this respect, we relate as an actual fact, that the innocent squash bug was deliberately insulted one day by being called Gon- 11 ocerus tristis. A harmless luoth, while struggling in the agonies of death, t'nnu getting humt in a gas jet, was wickedly abused l)y being called Batraehedni salieiponio- nella. To make the matter worse, they seemed to take a grim deligiit in overwhelming the smallest animals with the biggest names, thus not only crushing a little bug with such gigantic sounds, liut making all the big lings crazy with envy. We are digressing however. It seems that one day, a little wriggler, having a cylindrical, shiny l)ody, a lot of little eggs, crawled up through a, hole in the floor, and was greeted with the following : " You myriopodous cuss, you degenerate epitome of an arthroi)od ! you miserly articubtte ! thouoh each se2-- ment of your body Ijears two jiairs of legs, yet each pair of legs has l)y rights a segment, and you're a fraud ! While you ajte the cent-i-pede, you're nothing l)ut a brunimajem. Get out, you Scolopocryptops exspinosa ! ! " This load of scathing insults was beyond endurance, and a frantic fight ensued. Having a good many legs, he kicked right and left, and set everything a going. The insane men brought their biggest w'ords to bear upon them. They taunted them with their homologies and morphologies ; they proved their wretched ancestry, and the bugs flew, and the rocks flew^, the fishes scaled impregnable positions, and the snails shelled them without mercy. The keeper sw^allow^ed his pipe, and added four inches to his stature. So great w^as the rumpus that the old church w^as shaken from its foundations, and the 12 eoriier stone exposed, and the crazy men from the hriek building rushed out and confiscated the tin dinner pail that contained the archives, and its contents were as follows: a co})y of the Town Directory for 1603, a war map of Horace Greeley's, a Beverly Hoi'se Car ticket, a mss. account of the 784 Field Meeting, a revenue stamp stu(d< to a toddy stick, and more valuable than all, a sheet of parchment, and worked in worsted upon it was a representation of the two first buildings in Salem. We give here a correct copy of tliis inestimable treasure. As there are no other houses ujion the drawing, and the primitive pines still cover the land, we have every reason to believe that Salem looked like this when first discovered. One of the Iniildings is called, on the drawl- ing, the Coliseum. In this early chart it is represented as a vast amphitheatre in ruins. Quakers and witches w^ere probably sacrificed in the arena fi>r the delight of the early Puritans. This building has been restored, a shell or covering being built over the seats to protect them. It is still used as a hall of torture, and is now called Lyceum, on account of the many strange stories told in it. The other building is evidently as old, if not older. 13 It w;is nn(l(»nl»t(Mlly hiiill i'or a Itani, ili(' slender |nllars in IVonl being used to tie oxen to wlnni hay was being unleaded. Afterwai'd it was iiscmI for a ehureli, l)ut so nianv ol* the parish |)erishe(l in it while atlending serviee, and so manv ministers had to go to Euro]»e to find their voice.s that had escaped through the nuniei-ous chinks, that the burial expenses ol' the one party, and th(,' trav- elling expenses of the other party, run tln^ parish de(![>ly in d(^bt. and it was put up at lottery. The mechanics of the citv subsci'ibed togethei' l(>r one ticket, and drew it, and it was then called Mechanics' Haul. It was con- sidered a big haul in those days. Some idiot conceived the idea from the sound of the woid llanl. that it might be used as a Hall, and this, we have ample proof, was the only ciivumstance that ever led to its being used as a Hall. No inii)rovements Avere made in it, however, to hide its original design, namely, that of a barn, but the inhabitants veiy patiently endured catarih, bronchitis, asthma, and a lot of kindriMl diseases caught there. Shame, however, stivied them up at last fiom the fact that the citizens were mistaken for prison l)irds on account of the black numbins indelibly j)rint(Ml on the backs of their coats, and so this led to a conijdc^te remodeling. We close onr densely acciu'ate sketch of the old buildina's of Salem, by irivinii- a view of a p(»]tion of Derl)y Street, two yeai's aftei- the settlement of the town. ^JM. Before the S. & U. aqueduct pipes wert; laid, the 14 inhabitants had to go to the Post Office pump for water, and as the tramps back and forth proved destructive to lioots, the times were said to try men's soles, mean- ing the times they had to go for water. Salem went into the boot business early on this account. To show the progress made in this street, we give a sketch of it a century later, and still another two centuries later. Whatever change may, or may not have taken place in the houses, it is known as a fact regarding this street, that while in olden times, each house contained but seven or eight inhabitants, they now contain from fifty to sixty inhabitants each. We must close. It was our intention at the outset to give only a sketch of those houses whose high antiquity rendered them gamy, and we have made game of them. The remaining five thousand old houses not being over two or three hundred years old, are hardly worth mentioning, as our less youthful inhabi- tants still remember the brand of liquors drank when their frames were raised. We give in our frontispiece a sketch of a few of them, taken by an itinerant am- brotyper, in 1602, who came round from Boston in a boat, and landed at the Lead Mills. The whole of Salem proper could best be seen at 15 that time from Ihe hill in South Salem, where Harbor Street e(mies in. Essex Str(!et is seen in tlie distanee, with two liouses upon it. This picture then, shows the proximal end of Lafayette Avenue, as it was in those days. The draw of the bridge is up, retaining the South Salem horse ear, a peculiarity iidieiited by the new draw. An East India merchantman is bound for the Eastern R. R. Depot with a cargo of elephant tusks and ginger tea. A train is seen running along Essex Street, conveying a delegation of women's rights men for Beverly. A season ticketer is seen in suspense, having consulted the winter time table. A reward of seven cents will 1)e given to any one who can tell what the fellow in stocks is al>out. They gamble in stocks nowadays, and have gold boards, and put their foot in it sometimes. Then, they nsed to gambol in stocks, and had a hard pine board, and always put their head and hands in it, and sometimes both feet. Other changes have taken place in this line. Nowadays they house up their banks ; then they banked up their houses. But to our frontispiece. Two individuals are stand- ing before the only lager beer saloon that ever existed in Salem, before or since. Its stately chinniey has been removed brick by brick, for change was so scarce in those times that it was customary to fine each cus- tomer a brick, who carried it away in his hat. Hence the origin of the expression applied to a man in liquor. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 075 057 8 HISTORICAL SKETCHES OLD HOUSES OF SALEM, And thie Daily Issues of "TO-DAY," A Shed Devoted to ^he Snstiiutc aixb ®)raiorio Stair Are all for Sale At Mechanic Hall, At Loring's, No. 35 School Street, III Boston, at 319 Washinfflon Street, And by Newsnr\er\ generally, or\ the Cars ar\d Elsewl^ere. 014 075 057 8 # <~'nno4»..^«:»_ n.