Chapter 5
then he went on like this, were it not that a crool axident in my erly youth, in my far away boyhood days prevented me from voluntearing and desecrating my life to my countrys welfare, in the strugle jest ended i wood have poared out evry drop of my blud to have maintaned her owner and the owner of her flag. mother began to laff and said George how can you tell such feerful stories, you know you were scart most to deth becaus you was afraid you wood be drafted.
father said they was a lot of old fellows traveling round the country and talking that way who coodent have been drug into the war with a ox chane. then he stood on the other leg a while and said, it is peculiarly aproprate that Exeter, the berth place of Lewis Cas, the educater of Webster, the home of Amos Tuck, of General Marston shood be fourmost in the party strife, and as for me i wirk only for my partys good, my countrys good, without feer or hope of reward. they was a lot more to it, and some of it you cood hear about a mile he hollered so.
Aug. 23. We are all going the nite of the rally. mother says she wont go for she wood be ashamed to hear father tell such dredful stories. Aunt Sarah dont want to go because she is afraid father will brake down. but she has got to go with me and Keene and Cele and Georgie.
Aug. 24. father practised his speach tonite and we all hollered and claped at the fine parts. he has got a new pair of boots. they hurt like time and he only wears them nites when he is practising his speach.
Aug. 25. father licked me tonite becaus i spoke some of his speach to Beany. he was auful mad and said i was the bigest fool he ever see. the fellers have got up a Grant Club. Pricilla cant belong because he is a demicrat.
Aug. 26. father called me and Beany out behind the barn tonite and gave us 10 cents apeace if we woodent say anything about his speach. after supper father practised again but he dident holler so loud becaus he was afraid some body wood hear him and mother dident want him to wake up the baby, and it was sunday too.
Aug. 27. it has been brite and fair all the week and hot as time. i have to go to the river for soft water because it hasent raned eny since i had to tip over the rane water barril. i have got a little tirtle as big as a cent. father went down to General Marstons office tonite to arrange about the rally. he came home and practised about an hour. i gess he wood have practised all nite if the baby hadent waked up an hollered.
Aug. 28. we are all getting ready for the rally. Keene and Cele and Georgie have got some new plad dresses. father has got a pair of gray britches and a black coat. mother said the rally was a good thing becaus it was the first time she had seen father dressed up since he was married.
Aug. 29. they was a big thunder shower last nite. we all got up in the nite and went into mothers room. mother sat on the fether bed and all them that was scart cood set there. i wasent scart. father said it would be jest the cussid luck to have it rane the nite of the rally.
Aug. 30. we had the last practise tonite, father put on his best close and new boots and the girls had on their plad dresses and i had on a new paper coller. we all set down and father came in and stood up. i tell you he looked fine. well he begun, mister modderater had i suposed or for 1 moment dremp, and then he forgot the rest. i tell you he was mad. i wanted to laff but dident dass to. well after a while he remembered and went through it all rite, and then he went over it 2 times more. gosh what if he shood forget it tomorrow nite. he is going to wright some of it on his cufs and he practised tonite making jestures so as to bring his cufs up so that he cood read it.
Aug. 31. the rally is tonite. father woke us all up last nite hollering in his sleep. he dremp about the speach. this morning he went to Boston without eating his brekfast. i gess he is begining to be scart. i am a going to make his boots shine today. gosh what if he shood brake down. i gess i am getting a little scart too. brite and fair.
Sept. 1. Last nite father came home and the first thing he did was to send me down to miss Pratts for his shert. it was all pollished and shone like glass. then he asked if i had blacked his boots and then he et supper. he dident eat much though. he said Mr. Tuck came down from Boston with him. Mr. Tuck was a going to make a speach first and then he was going to introduce Gim Loverin as chairman and then Gim Loverin was a going to call on father. father said he bet 5 dollars he wood call him Gim instead of mister modderator. father was pretty cross at supper. i gess he was getting scart. the baby began to cry and father asked mother why she dident choak the squawling brat and mother sorter laffed and put the baby into fathers lap and said i gess you had better choak him. father laffed and began to toss the baby up and down. he likes the baby and while he was playing with it he was all rite. but after supper he was cross and said he hed an auful headake. then he went practising his speach again so as not to call the modderator Gim. well we got ready and went down erly to get some good seats so as to hear father and see him come in with them that was to set on the platform. we wanted to go down with father but he said he coodent bother with us. but before we went he came down stairs with his new close on and he looked fine but his face looked auful white. he said he had a headake but as soon as he got started to speak it wood all go off. so we went down. Cele had her hair curled and Keene had a new red silk ribbon on her hair becaus her hair wont curl and Aunt Sarah had on a new dolman with beeds on it and some long coral earrings and they all looked fine. Aunt Sarah took Georgie by the hand becaus she was the littlest and me and Keene and Cele followed on.
When we got there the band was playing in front of the town hall and aunt Sarah said i cood stay out and hear it and then said i cood sit with Gim Wingit and Willy Swet if i wood behave. i said i wood and we lissened and after the band went in we went too. most all the seats were taken and we got some bully seats way up in front. i looked for father but coodent see him becaus the speakers hadent come in. well jest as soon as we got in the policeman was up in front and he said they has been to much whisling and stamping and the next one that whisles or stamps will get put out. well they was old Swane and Brown and Kize and Dirgin and every body kept quiet. after a few minits the band began to play hale to the chief and the speakers came marching up the middle ile. i looked for father but he wasnt there. evrybody began to clap and stamp and Gim and Willy asked me where my old man was. i stood up to see if he was there and jest then i saw the policeman a rushing at me. he grabed me by the collar and shook me round till i dident know which end my head was on and he draged me down the ile and threw me out. as we were going down the ile i saw Aunt Sarah running down the other ile as fast as she cood go with her bonnet on the back of her head and Keene and Cele and Georgie following along all bawling. she got out in the entry jest as he was going to put me out of the front door and she grabed me away from him and said you misable cowardly retch to treat a boy that way. he said i whisled and she said he dident and you knew it only you dident dass take ennyone else.
Then she told us to come home and we went home as fast as we cood all bawling. when we got home mother was sitting up alone and aunt Sarah started to tell her and Keene and Cele and Georgie all bawled and you never heard such a noise, and father was in bed with a headake and hollered out what in time is the matter. and she told him and i heard him jump out of bed and in a minit he came out buttoning up his suspenders. Mother said where in the world are you going George, and he said things is come to a pretty pass if a boy cant go and hear his father make a speach without being banged round by a policeman. i am going down to knock the heads off every policeman there. and he reeched for his vest. mother said George, dont you go near the hall, and father said he cood lick anny 2 men on the police force easy and he would show them how to slam people round and he reeched for his coat, and Keene and Cele and Georgia began to bawl again to think he wood get hurt and aunt Sarah and mother said you had better not go George, and father said he wood give them more fun in 5 minits than they had seen in a political rally in 5 years and he reeched for his boots and mother said what will they think of you after you have sent word that you are too sick to make a speach, to see you come rushing into the hall and go punching the policemen and father had got on 1 boot and when she said that he began to look kinder sick and said, thunder that is so. and then his headake got wirse and he gave me a twenty five cent scrip and Keene and Cele and Georgie ten cents each and he went to bed and so did we.
i wonder if his head aked really so he coodent make a speach or if he was scart. i bet he was scart.
school commences monday. father hasent asked once about my diry, so i aint going to wright enny more.
THIRTY YEARS (OR MORE) AFTER
On looking back over the pages of the "Diary" it appears to me that some sort of an amende honorable is due to those citizens now living, and the relatives and friends of those now dead, whose names have appeared in the "Diary" and who have, so to speak, been handled without gloves. That I have been neither mobbed, nor horsewhipped, nor sued, nor prosecuted, but that I have enjoyed many a good laugh with--and have received many pleasant words from--the victims, and their friends, is good evidence that they, and their more fortunate brothers who have not been therein mentioned, have taken the "Diary" in the very spirit in which it was published, that of affectionate and amusing retrospect. And it is indeed with affection that I recall those men, at that time in their prime. That I could not then understand the reason why they did not fully enter into and appreciate the spirit that prompted me and my boon companions to transgress so many rules, laws, and statutes is not surprising. Boys seldom can understand it. But, although I now fully appreciate it, I often wonder at the spirit that prompted so many of those men in after years to show me so many kindnesses, so much encouragement, and such great forbearance.
So many inquiries have been made of me about that cornet, the soul-filling ambition of my early years, that I feel that the uncertainty in regard to that delightful instrument ought to be cleared up. I never did save up enough money to buy a cornet. I haven't to this day. But many years afterwards, when my ambition had been turned into other and equally profitless channels, upon the death of a dear friend his beautiful cornet was sent me. I have it now, as the neighbors and the members of my family can testify fully and with deep feeling, if called upon.
H. A. S.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
A good many years ago, during my college days, it was my custom and that of my room-mate, Brown of Exeter, to make our room the gathering-place for Exeter boys, both "stewdcats" and homesick Exeter youths then filling positions in Boston. It happened that frequently undergraduates from other towns and cities came in at these Saturday evening gatherings and it was a matter of wonder to them that we had so much to talk about in relation to our native town; and it was their frequent remark that "either Exeter is a remarkable place, or you are a remarkably loyal set of fellows."
That Exeter is a remarkable place is an axiom, and no better evidence of the fact can be found (were evidence necessary to sustain an axiom) than in the loyalty that every citizen displays, and the sincere love that prompts every one who has ever come under the spell of our dear old town to revisit her at every opportunity.
Where else could a diary of this nature, dealing with actual persons and actual events, be published and be received with such absolute goodnature and even enthusiasm by the persons now living who are mentioned therein?
It is therefore with affection as well as amusement that I append the following brief biographical sketches of persons mentioned in the "Diary," preserving as nearly as possible the order of their appearance in the book. As many readers of the "Diary" have expressed a desire to know more of the subsequent histories and achievements of those therein mentioned, it is hoped this information will satisfy a curiosity and interest which, to a loyal son of Exeter, appear quite natural:--
1. Father. GEORGE S. SHUTE.
A native of Exeter. For twenty-six years a clerk in the Boston Naval Office. Still living in Exeter, an old man with a young tongue; in fact, the quickest man at repartee in Exeter.
2. Mother.
My mother died in the winter of 1896. No words can do justice to her qualities. "A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath."
3. "Gim" Melcher.
An old friend of my father's. Died in Maiden a few years ago.
4. Some of the men who were "wrighting fast" in the Custom House were the following:--
GEORGE DAVIS, of Lexington, who a year ago celebrated his fiftieth consecutive year of service in the Naval Office; COLONEL IVORY POPE, of Cambridge; BENJAMIN A. SIDWELL, of East Boston; JACOB A. HOWE, of Maiden; FRANK HARRIMAN, a brother of the late Governor Harriman of Concord, N. H. HIRAM BARRUS, of Reading, Mass. deceased; C. C. WHITTEMORE, of Portsmouth, N. H.; CHARLES MUDGE, of Maiden; MATTHEW F. WHITTIER, of Medford, a brother of the poet Whittier, and a newspaper-writer of considerable prominence, writing under the pen-name of "Ethan Spike"; and TRISTRAM TALBOT, of Newburyport, with others whom the writer does not now recall. A few years later the writer spent several of his college vacations as deputy clerk in the same Naval Office, and made pleasant acquaintances with all of the above-named men. He found them very competent clerks, courteous gentlemen, and the best story-tellers that he ever knew, and recollects those vacations as very pleasant periods in his school life. Some of them still hold positions in the Custom House.
5. Charles "Talor": CHARLES TAYLOR.
A great friend of the family. Died in Exeter about ten years ago.
6. "Beany": E. L. WATSON.
In business at Williamstown, Mass. Attained his boyhood ambition and married Lizzie "Tole," Ed's sister.
7. "Pewter": C. E. PURINGTON.
My near neighbor, a decorative painter, who early displayed talent in this direction.
8. "Skinny Bruce": WM. J. BRUCE.
A tinsmith of Exeter who still thinks he could have licked Frank Elliott.
9. Frank Elliott.
A successful mechanic in Boston, who is confident that he could have licked "Skinny" Bruce.
10. "Nipper": JOHN A. BROWN.
Exeter. Chairman of the School Board. Trustee of the Seminary. Trustee of the Library. My room-mate at Harvard.
11. "Micky" Gould.
I do not know what became of "Mickey." Wherever he is, there is a good-natured, jolly man.
12. Mr. Winsor.
Address not known. How he could throw a snowball.
18. "Ed" Towle.
Exeter, N. H. With a keen memory for old days.
14. "Dany" Wingate.
A very prominent man. The father of J. D. P. and C. E. L. Wingate of the Boston Journal. Died at Exeter many years ago.
15. "Whacker": COL. A. M. CHADWICK.
Lowell, Mass.
16. "Pozzy": AUSTIN K. CHADWICK.
Lowell, Mass.
Two of the best known and most respected citizens of Lowell. Dignified and sedate, but just touch on old Exeter days and watch their eyes twinkle and their tongues loosen.
17. "Pricilla": PROF. CHARLES A. HOBBS.
Boston. Has written some dreadful mathematical works, and revisits Exeter often, but not often enough.
18. "Pheby": CHARLES A. TAYLOR.
Has inherited the very qualities that made his father so good a friend.
19. "Lublin."
Address not known.
20. "Nigger" Bell.
So called because his hair was so very white. Professor of Chemistry in a Western University. Died recently in Maiden.
21. Tommy Thompson: R. G. THOMPSON.
New London, Conn.
22. "Dutchy": DR. WILLIAM A. SEAMANS.
New York City. Fullback on the Harvard '77 eleven. There are several ex-principals of the Exeter High School who will remember Thompson and Seamans in very clear and vivid colors.
28. "Chick" Chickering: PROF. JOHN J. CHECKERING.
Flushing, L. I. Commissioner of Public Education of New York State.
24. "Tody": TIMOTHY FINTON.
Exeter. An expert wood-worker with a leaning for politics.
25. "Gim" Wingate: JAMES D. P. WINGATE.
Winchester, Mass. The business manager of the Boston Journal.
26. "Skipy": H. C. MOSES.
Exeter. For many years in the wholesale wool business in Boston. One of the keenest sportsmen and best wing shots in New Hampshire.
27. "Pile": JOHN G. WOOD.
Chicago. Manager of the McKay Cordage Factory in Chicago. Promises to return to Exeter when he has made his "pile" ($100,000). From present indications, the prospect is favorable.
28. Billy Folsom: WM. H. FOLSOM.
Exeter. Member of the firm of E. Folsom & Co. Brass Works. One of Harvard's greatest pitchers.
29. "Hoppy" Gadd.
A very eccentric but sterling citizen, who could make cowhide boots which, like the panels in the "one-horse shay," "would last like iron for things like these." Died in Exeter a few years ago.
30. "Si" Smith.
The man with the "funny sine." Died in Exeter nearly thirty years ago.
31. "Gran" Miller and "Ben" Rundlet. Addresses not known.
32. Squire Lane.
Died in Lynn.
33. Charles Burley.
Died in Exeter. For many years Treasurer of Phillips Exeter Academy, and Superintendent of the "Unitarial" Sunday School.
34. "Keene": MY SISTER, MRS. C. E. BYINGTON.
Exeter. A very able and accomplished woman. The one to whom all members of the family go when in trouble.
35. Lucy Watson.
Mrs. Frank Conner of Lynn.
36. "Curley" Conner: MR. FRANK CONNER.
Lynn. Husband of the aforesaid.
37, "Jo" Parsons: MR. JOSEPH S. PARSONS.
Boston. An expert bookkeeper.
38. "Billy" Swett: MR. WM. SWETT.
Jamaica Plain. I remember him as one of the most polite and affable boys I ever met.
39. Mr. "Lovel," who said, "o hell": C. LOVELL, 2d.
One of the best amateur actors and jolliest men I ever knew. Died recently.
40. John Flanagan.
Exeter. A tinsmith and co-laborer with "Skinny" Bruce.
41. "Gimmy" Fitzgerald.
Died at Exeter thirty years ago.
42. "Old" Head: OREN HEAD.
Many students will affectionately remember him. Deceased.
43. "Bob" Carter.
The old janitor of the Town Hall. Gruff, but very kind-hearted. Deceased.
44. "Wats": IRVING M. WATSON.
Father of "Beany," and pleasantly like him.
45. John Getchell.
A liberal, free, and kind-hearted Exeter merchant. Deceased.
46. Eben Folsom.
Uncle of "Billy," and head of the firm of which Billy is a member.
47. "Charlie": DR. C. H. GERRISH.
48. "Doc" Prey: DR. J. E. S. PRAY.
Gentlemen both, of whom the writer can say everything good.
49. Alice "Gewett," who was "a dairy maid": Miss ALICE JEWELL
Instructor of singing in the schools of Exeter.
50. "Old Kize": PHILANDER KEYES.
A policeman of thirty years ago. Deceased.
51. "Bill" Hartnett.
Who used to make it lively for the last mentioned. A man of many good qualities notwithstanding. Deceased.
52. "Old" Swain.
A contemporary of "Old Kize," and a co-laborer in the same vineyard.
53. "Mister" Gordon: HON. NATHANIEL GORDON.
A retired lawyer of Exeter.
54. Dora Moses.
55. Mary "Loverin": MRS. MARY LETHBEIDGE.
Two beautiful girls and inseparable companions, whose deaths were untimely and irreparable.
56. "Cele": My sister, CELIA E. SHUTE.
Exeter. A stenographer, and a writer of short stories for magazines.
57. "Caxcaw" Harding: PROF. B. F. HARDING.
Boston. An early advocate of those methods of instruction that result in "mens sana in corpore sano."
58. "Doctor" Dearborn.
A most eccentric old apothecary. Died in Exeter a few years ago.
59. "Aunt Sarah": Miss SARAH F. SHUTE.
Exeter. The favorite aunt of a large family, all of whose geese are swans.
60. "Fatty" Melcher: F. A. MELCHER.
Boston. So named because he was not fat.
61. "Genny" Morrison: MRS. JOHN J. JOYCE.
Andover, Mass. By not appearing at our Grammar School Reunion "Genny" disappointed five hundred people.
62. J. Albert Clark.
Exeter. One of the proprietors of the Exeter Machine Works. He has always had a very kindly interest in "Beany" and "Plupy," in spite of the many annoyances he suffered at their boyish hands.
63. "Bill" Morrill: MR. WM. B. MORRILL.
For many years selectman of Exeter. Died in 1878.
64. "Dave" Quimby.
Every student will recollect him. Died at Exeter recently.
65. "Chitter"': JAMES ROBINSON.
A truckman in Boston.
66. "Boog" Chadwick.
A New York broker, whose "heart's in the highlands;" to wit, Exeter.
67. "Pop" Clark: WILL CLARK.
Roxbury, Mass. A born comedian and a delightfully entertaining man.
68. "Shinny" Thyng.
One of the few Exeter boys who continues his father's business at the old stand. If more did the same, the prosperity of country towns would be assured.
69. "Gim" Erly.
Lives somewhere in the West.
70. "Honey" Donovan: WILLIAM DONOVAN.
Providence.
71. "Mose" Gordon.
A Texas cattle-man.
72. Mr. Lamed.
Unitarian clergyman. Deceased.
73. "Gil" Steels.
A merchant in Denver.
74. "Mis Packer A": MRS. MARY PACKARD.
A famous local singer, now living in California.
75. "Gim Loverin": JAMES M. LOVERING.
A very shrewd politician. Deceased.
76. "Old Mister Stickney": JUDGE W. W. STICKNEY.
With whom I studied law. Deceased; not, however, because of that fact. Judge Stickney was a sound lawyer and an upright, kind-hearted man.
77. "Ed" Dearborn.
The old bell-ringer. Deceased.
78. John Quincy "Ann" Pollard: J. Q. A. POLLARD.
A very old man, upon whom the boys were wont to play tricks, but who had developed wonderful precision of aim with a knotted cane. Deceased.
79. Dan Ranlet; D. W. RANLET.
Boston Produce Exchange.
80. George M. Perkins
For many years an expressman between Boston and Exeter.
81. John E. Gibson.
Master of the Agassiz School, Boston. Residence, Jamaica Plain. I take the opportunity to notify him that the Exeter High School holds its quinquennial reunion June, 1903.
82. Isaac Shute.
A retired merchant of Exeter. Deceased.
83. Major Blake.
A famous Boniface, and for many years proprietor of the Squamscott. Deceased.
84. Charles D. Towle.
An equally famous livery-stable keeper, who periodically fought to a finish with Major Blake for passengers to Hampton Beach. Deceased.
85. Frank Haines.
A farmer. Residence, Exeter.
86. "The Baby": EDWARD A. SHUTE.
Exeter. Who can now handle his elder brother with ease.
87. "Frankie": FRANK F. SHUTE.
Who thinks he can do likewise, but cannot. A hotel-keeper at Lakewood, New Jersey.
88. "Annie": Miss ANNIE P. SHUTE.
Who, by virtue of a clerkship in my office, owns the entire establishment.
89. "Georgie"
Instructor in Latin and French in the Albany Academy, Albany, N. Y.
90. "Nibby."
A summer visitor named Hartwell. Deceased.
91. Hiram Mingo.
A colored boy. Address not known.
92. Joe Palmer.
A hackman with whom the boys used to ride. Address not known.
93. John E. Gardner.
A member of an old family of merchants in Exeter. Deceased. Brother of Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau, the artist.
94. General Marston.
A famous New Hampshire lawyer and veteran of the Civil War. Deceased.
95. Amos Tuck.
A famous lawyer, politician, financier, and Member of Congress. Deceased.
96. Mr. Gravel.
Address not known.
97. Elkins and Graves.
Famous auctioneers at that period. Deceased.
98. Scott "Briggam."
One of the boys then, one of the boys now. Exeter.
99. Charlie Woodbury.
Deceased.
100. "Potter" Gorham: ARTHUR GORHAM.
Killed by an accidental discharge of his gun nearly thirty years ago. A born naturalist.
101. "Old Francis."