his box in order to warm his feet by the lighted wick! He passed almost his whole life as a stage-man, and it is said that he drove for nearly forty years. He could handle the reins of six horses with more skill than any other driver in town.

William Shephard and Company advertise in The Groton Herald, April 10, 1830, their accommodation stage. "Good Teams and Coaches, with careful and obliging drivers, will be provided by the subscribers." Books were kept in Boston at A. M. Brigham's, No. 42 Hanover Street, and in Groton at the taverns of Amos Alexander and Joseph Hoar. The fare was one dollar, and the coach went three times a week.

About this time George Flint had a line to Nashua, and John Holt another to Fitchburg. They advertise together in the Herald, May 1, 1830, that "no pains shall be spared to accommodate those who shall favor them with their custom, and all business intrusted to their care will be faithfully attended to." The first stage-coach from this town to Lowell began to run about the year 1829, and John Austin was the driver. An opposition line was established soon afterward, and kept up during a short time, until a compromise was made between them. Later, John Russ was the owner and driver of the line to Lowell, and still later, John M. Maynard the owner. Near this period there was a coach running to Worcester, and previously one to Amherst, New Hampshire.

The following is a list of some of the old drivers, who were well known along their respective routes. It is arranged in no particular order and by no means complete ; and the dates against a few of the names are only approx

imations to the time when each one sat on the box:

Lemuel Lakin was among the earliest; and he was followed by Dearborn Emerson. Daniel Brooks drove to Boston during the period of the last war with England, and probably later.

Aaron Corey drove the accommodation stage to Boston, through Carlisle, Bedford, and Lexington, for a long time, and he had previously driven the mail-coach. He was succeeded by his son, Calvin, the driver for a few years, until the line was given up in 1850. Mr. Corey, the father, was one of the veterans, having held the reins during thirty-two years; he died March 15, 1857, at the age of seventy-three.

Isaac Bullard, 1817-30; William Smart, 1825-30; George Hunt, Jonathan Buttrick, Thomas A. Staples, Obediah Kendall, Albert Hayden, Charles Briggs, Levi Robbins, James Lord, Frank Brown, Silas Burgess, Augustus Adams, William Dana, Horace Brown, Levi Wheeler, Timothy Underwood, Bacon, Horace George, 1838-45; Lyman W. Cushing, 1842-45, and Joseph Stewart. These drove to Boston. After the stages were taken off, "Joe" Stewart drove the passenger-coach from the village to the station on the Fitchburg Railroad, which ran to connect with the three daily trains for Boston. The station was three miles away, and now within the limits of Ayer.

Among the drivers to Keene, New Hampshire, were Kimball Danforth, 1817-40; Ira Brown, Oliver Scales, Amos Nicholas, Otis Bardwell, Abel Marshall, the brothers Ira and Hiram Hodgkins, George Brown, Houghton. Lawrence, Palmer Thomas, Ira Green, Barney Pike, William Johnson, Walter Carleton, and John Carleton. There were two stage routes to Keene, both

going as far as West Townsend in common, and then separating, one passing through Ashby, Rindge, and Fitzwilliam, while the other went through New Ipswich and Jaffrey.

Anson Johnson and Beriah Curtis drove to Worcester; Addison Parker, Henry L. Lawrence, Stephen Corbin, John Webber, and his son, Ward, drove to Lowell; the brothers Abiel and Nathan Fawcett, Wilder Proctor, and Abel H. Fuller, to Nashua; Micah Ball, who came from Leominster about the year 1824, drove to Amherst, New Hampshire, and after him Benjamin Lewis, who continued to drive as long as he lived, and at his death the line was given up. The route to Amherst lay through Pepperell, Hollis, and Milford. Other drivers were John Chase, Joel Shattuck, William Shattuck, Moses Titus, Frank Shattuck, David Coburn, Chickering, Thomas Emory, and William Kemp, Jr.

The sad recollection of an accident at Littleton, resulting in the death of Silas Bullard, is occasionally revived by some of the older people. It occurred about the year 1825, and was caused by the upsetting of the Groton coach, driven by Samuel Stone, and at the time just descending the hill between Littleton Common and Nagog Pond, then known as Kimball's Hill. Mr. Bullard was one of the owners of the line, and a brother of Isaac, the veteran driver.

Besides the stage-coaches the carrier wagons added to the business of Groton, and helped largely to support the taverns. The town was situated on one of the main thoroughfares leading from Boston to the northern country, comprising an important part of New

Hampshire and Vermont, and extending into Canada. This road was traversed by a great number of wagons, drawn by four or six horses, carrying to the city the various products of the country, such as grain, pork, butter, cheese, eggs, venison, hides; and returning with goods found in the city, such as molasses, sugar, New-England rum, coffee, tea, nails, iron, cloths, and the innumerable articles found in the country stores, to be distributed among the towns above here. In some seasons, it was no uncommon sight to see forty such wagons passing through the village in one day.

were

In addition to these were many smaller vehicles, drawn by one or two horses, to say nothing of the private carriages of individuals who traveling for business or pleasure. of the facts mentioned in For many this paper I am indebted to Mr. Moses Gill, an octogenarian of Groton, whose mind is clear and body active for a man of his years. Mr. Gill is a grandson of Lieutenant-Governor Moses Gill, and was born at Princeton, on March 6, 1800. He has kept several public houses in Groton, already mentioned, besides the old brick tavern situated

the Lowell road, near Longsought-for Pond, and formerly known as the Half-way House. This hotel came within the limits of Westford, and was kept by Mr. Gill from the year 1842 to 1847. In his day he has known personally seventy-five landlords doing business between Davenport's (opposite to the celebrated Porter's tavern in Cambridge) and Keene, New Hampshire; and of this number, only seven are thought to be living at the present time.

(Continued from page 194.) September 26, 1841, he married Mary Bailey Shaw, of Winthrop, Maine, who bore him six children, four of whom survive. During one of his long voyages round the world she departed this life, Oct. 25, 1866. Rev. C. C. Mason thus writes of her in the Zion's Herald:

"By the death of this sister the church sustains a great loss, for she was a constant friend and exemplary member. The poor and afflicted will remember her as a sympathizer and Helper, for she endeared herself to all by her active yet gentle and unostenta tious exertions for the good of others. I do not pen an untruth or write undeserved praise when I say that few women have a record so full of lovely remembrances as Sister Mary McClintock. She was a woman of superior gifts, generous and true, earnest and hopeful, consistent and faithful in her christian life. Her piety was distinguished by a firm and cheerful trust in her God. Seldom was she cast down or disquieted.

In September last, Willie, the next to the eldest son, was smitten with typhoid fever, and for weeks that affectionate mother watched every symptom, attended to every want, and by her tender, watchful care he was restored to health. Ere Willie recovered, John, the eldest son, was prostrated by the same fever, and to-day lies hovering between life and death. The mother was compelled to resign the care of this dear son to others and seek her own couch to lie down and die. The ministers of the Maine Conference will re

member her care and solicitude for their good, and that memory will shine upon their weary pathway like moonlight when the sun has set, leaving a sweet and tender radiance. Her house with its many comforts was the frequent and welcome home of the itinerant. With her generous and warm-hearted husband she was a weekly visitor at the parsonage, and its occupants this year will miss a devoted friend. In her domestic circle she was very affable and queenly, almost idolized by her fond and confiding husband and affectionate children."

The death of the mother broke up the family circle, the boys struck out for themselves, and the father passed the last years of his life with the son," Willie," at Chelsea, Mass. His declining years were amidst pleasant surroundings, where he had every care and attention, but toward the last his mind wandered and he lived over again scenes in his stormy life. His crew was mutinous as of old. Robbers were attacking him. Lawyers were his dread and terror, especially the English specinen. The wind was blowing a gale, or he was becalmed in a bad current. His end was very peaceful and he was laid to rest by the side of his only wife in a peaceful graveyard in Winthrop, overhung by elms and commanding a view of a beautiful little lake. They are in the midst of her kindred.