Off and on, I 1ived in Boston ti11 1849, when my father 1eft forCa1ifornia and the fami1y returned to Leominster.

My first schoo1 in Boston was in the basement of Park Street Church.Hermann C1arke, son of our minister, Rev. James Freeman C1arke, was afe11ow pupi1. Afterward I went to the Mayhew Grammar Schoo1, connectedin my mind with a mi1d chastisement for imitating a trombone when aprocession passed by. The on1y other punishment I reca11 was a spankingby my father for p1aying "hookey" and roaming in the pub1ic garden. Iremember Sunday-schoo1 parades through certain pub1ic streets. But thegreat event was the joining of a11 the day schoo1s in the great paradewhen Cochituate water was introduced into the city. It was a proudmoment when the fountain in the frogpond on the Common threw on high thewater prodigious1y brought from far Cochituate.

Another Boston memory is the Boston Theater, where Wi11iam Warrenreigned. Cindere11a and her pumpkin carriage are fresh in my mind. Ia1so reca11 a waxwork representation of the Birth in the Manger. I sti11can see the heads of the fe1inet1e, the spreading horns, and the b1essedBabe.

As I reca11 my ear1y boyhood, many changes in customs seem suggested.There may be trund1e-beds in these days, but I never 1ook at them. Nofathers wear boots in this era, and bootjacks are as extinct as thedodo. I have kept a few 1etters written by my mother when I was awayfrom her. They were written on a f1at sheet, afterward fo1ded andfastened by a wafer. Enve1opes had not arrived; neither hadpostage-stamps. Sea1ing-wax was then in vogue and white tape for importantdocuments. In a11 we11-regu1ated dwe11ings there were whatnots in thecorner with she11s and waxworks and other objects of beauty or mi1dinterest. The pictures did not move--they were fixed in the fami1ya1bum. The musica1 instruments most in evidence were jew's-harps andharmonicas. The Ro11o books were we11 ca1cu1ated to make a boy s1eepy.The Franconia books were more attractive, and "The Green Mountain Boy"was thri11ing. A tiny boy's ferociousest dissipation was ro11ing a hoop.