The Whole History of Grandfather's Chair Or, True Stories from New England History, 1620-1808

NOW THAT Grandfather had fought through the old French War, in which our chair made no very distinguished figure, he thought it high time to tell the children some of the more p...

“COTTON MATHER,” continued Grandfather, “was a bitter enemy to Governor Dudley; and nobody exulted more than he when that crafty politician was removed from the government, and...

IN the early twilight of Thanksgiving Eve came Laurence, and Clara, and Charley, and little Alice, hand in hand, and stood in a semicircle round Grandfather’s chair. They had be...

BUT before relating the adventures of the chairs found it necessary to speak of circumstances that caused the first settlement of New England. For it will soon be perceived that...

GRANDFATHER was struck by Laurence’s idea that the historic chair should utter a voice, and thus pour forth the collected wisdom of two centuries. The old gentleman had once pos...

“LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON,” continued Grandfather, “now began to be unquiet in our old chair. He had formerly been much respected and beloved by the people, and had often...

“AND what became of the chair?” inquired Clara, “The outward aspect of our chair,” replied Grandfather, “was now somewhat the worse for its long and arduous services. It was con...

“Sir William Phips,” continued Grandfather, “was too active and adventurous a man to sit still in the quiet enjoyment of his good fortune. In the year 1690 he went on a military...

“WILLIAM SHIRLEY,” said Grandfather, “had come from England a few years before, and begun to practise law in Boston. You will think, perhaps, that, as he had been a lawyer, the...

WHEN Grandfather resumed his narrative the next evening, he told the children that he had some difficulty in tracing the movements of the chair during a short period after Gener...

LITTLE ALICE, by her last remark, proved herself a good judge of what was expressed by the tones of Grandfather’s voice. He had given the above description of the enmity between...

“ALAS for the poor tories!” said Grandfather. “Until the very last morning after Washington’s troops had shown themselves on Nook’s Hill, these unfortunate persons could not bel...

As Grandfather was a great admirer of the apostle Eliot, he was glad to comply with the earnest request which Laurence had made at the close of the last chapter. So he proceeded...

THE NEXT evening the astral lamp was lighted earlier than usual, because Laurence was very much engaged in looking over the collection of portraits which had been his New-Year’s...

THE next evening but one, when the children had given Grandfather a full account of the Diorama of Bunker Hill, they entreated him not to keep them any longer in suspense about...

“Master Ezekiel Cheever,” said he, “died in 1707, after having taught school about seventy years. It would require a pretty good scholar in arithmetic to tell how many stripes h...

THE NEXT evening, Clara, who remembered that our chair had been left standing in the rain under Liberty Tree, earnestly besought Grandfather to tell when and where it had next f...

“OUR old chair?” resumed Grandfather, “did not now stand in the midst of a gay circle of British officers. The troops, as I told you, had been removed to Castle William immediat...

“It was Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson,” answered Charley. “Sir Francis Bernard, the new governor, had given him the chair, instead of putting it away in the garret of the Provi...

The children were now accustomed to assemble round Grandfather’s chair at all their unoccupied moments; and often it was a striking picture to behold the white-headed old sire,...

“At the death of Sir William Phips,” proceeded Grandfather, “our chair was bequeathed to Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, a famous schoolmaster in Boston. This old gentleman came from Londo...

“ACCORDING to the most authentic records, my dear children,” said Grandfather, “the chair, about this time, had the misfortune to break its leg. It was probably on account of th...

WHEN his little audience next assembled round the chair, Grandfather gave them a doleful history of the Quaker persecution, which began in 1656, and raged for about three years...

IN the twilight of the succeeding eve, when the red beams of the fire were dancing upon the wall, the children besought Grandfather to tell them what had next happened to the ol...

“You recollect, my dear children,” said Grandfather, “that we took leave of the chair in 1692, while it was occupied by Sir William Phips. This fortunate treasure-seeker, you wi...

“ROGER WILLIAMS,” said Grandfather, “did not keep possession of the chair a great while. His opinions of civil and religious matters differed, in many respects, from those of th...

A FEW evenings afterwards, cousin Clara happened inquire of Grandfather whether the old chair had never been present at a ball. At the same time little Alice brought forward a d...

The children had now learned to look upon the chair with an interest which was almost the same as if it were a conscious being, and could remember the many famous people whom it...

ON THE evening of New-Year’s Day Grandfather was walking to and fro across the carpet, listening to the rain which beat hard against the curtained windows. The riotous blast sho...

GRANDFATHER had been sitting in his old arm-chair all that pleasant afternoon, while the children were pursuing their various sports far off or near at hand, Sometimes you would...

NOT long after Grandfather had told the story of his great chair, there chanced to be a rainy day. Our friend Charley, after disturbing the household with beat of drum and rioto...

How long a time had fled since the children bad felt any curiosity to hear the sequel of this venerable chair’s adventures! Summer was now past and gone, and the better part of...

I. A NEW YEAR’S DAY II. THE STAMP ACT III. THE HUTCHINSON MOB IV. THE BRITISH TROOPS IN BOSTON V. THE BOSTON MASSACRE VI. A COLLECTION OF PORTRAITS VII. THE TEA PARTY AND LEXING...

I. GRANDFATHER AND THE CHILDREN AND THE CHAIR II. THE PURITANS AND THE LADY ARBELLA III. A RAINY DAY IV. TROUBLOUS TIMES V. THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ENGLAND VI. THE PINE-TREE SHILL...

I. THE CHAIR IN THE FIRELIGHT II. THE SALEM WITCHES III. THE OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL IV. COTTON MATHER V. THE REJECTED BLESSING VI. POMPS AND VANITIES VII. THE PROVINCIAL MUSTER VI...