SALEM-PAST AND PRESENT.

CHAPTER I.

PRESENT GENERAL DESCRIPTION.-THE LANDING PLACE OF CONANT.-SOUTH RIVER.-THE FIRST WHARVES.-PRESENT AND PAST MODE OF TRAVELLING.-SWEET'S COVE.-THE SECOND MILL IN SALEM. THE FIRST CUSTOM HOUSE. THE FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION IN AMERICA.-WASHINGTON STREET. THE MARSTOn Building.—THE HENFIELD HOUSE.THE HOME OF FRANCIS HIGGINSON AND OF ROGER WILLIAMS. -THE MOTHER OF CHURCHES.-THE HOUSE WHERE WASHINGTON WAS ENTERTAINED.-THE FIRST TOWN HOUSE. THE SECOND TOWN HOUSE, WHERE WITCHES WERE TRIED. THE THIRD TOWN AND COURT HOUSE.-SCENES OF THRILLING INTEREST. THE HAWTHORNE TOWN PUMP.-THE LAST TOWN AND COURT HOUSE.-WASHINGTON'S VISIT TO SALEM.-CITY HALL.-THE CITY GOVERNMENT.-MAYORS OF SALEM.ABSTRACT FROM MAYOR WILLIAMS' ADDRESS.

GRAND old town. Ancient streets, ancient buildings, ancient family names, and a lingering of ancient customs. A commercial and literary city on Massachusetts Bay, in the south-easterly section of Essex county, sixteen miles north-east of Boston. Its people more like the solid people of old England than can elsewhere be found on the western continent. The topographical formation of its principal portion a narrow peninsula, not half a mile in width at its widest part, extending in a north-easterly direction out toward the sea, and terminating in two headlands1 divided by Collins' Cove. On its northerly side North river, dividing

1 The eastern of these headlands is "Salem Neck," and the western is the territory over which Bridge street extends to Beverly.

North Salem from the city proper. On its southerly side South river, dividing the city proper from South Salem. Such is the general description of Salem.

Surprising to say, no complete history of this ancient town has yet been written. The material, however, for one is safely stored in its public institutions, waiting to be worked into systematic form by the first writer of ability who shall consider it worth his while to undertake the task. Our object is merely that of relating such matters of interest, to visitors or residents, as present themselves upon the surface, hoping to create a greater interest in the many beauties of nature and of art with which Salem is favored, and thereby lay the foundation for a more elaborate history at, as we trust, no far distant day.

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At the Eastern Railway depot, near the dividing line between South Salem and Salem proper, meet our reader friends. With them we purpose to stroll about the city so as to utilize our time in the most economical manner. As we proceed we desire to call their attention briefly to portions of the history of its past, refer to the lives of some of Salem's many distinguished sons, both native and adopted, and point out the places of interest, and show the wonderful changes produced by time and the energies of man.

Regarding the landing place of Roger Conant and his companions, when they forsook Cape Ann in 1626 and came to this place, there has been some confliction of opinion. Some writers have claimed that Conant came up the north shore, kept well in

near the land, and entered what is now Beverly harbor; that he landed on a metamorphic rock lying just west of the Salem end of Beverly bridge. The best authorities, among whom is Wm. P. Upham, Esq., of this city, claim that the landing was made on the northern side of South river, some two or three hundred rods east of the depot, near what is now the foot of Elm street. Mr. Upham has devoted much time and labor in his researches of these matters, relying more upon the evidence of records than upon fanciful theories, and his view is almost universally accepted.

Conant and his companions were styled planters, and are supposed, therefore, to have been cultivators of the soil. It is certain, however, that some of them were fishermen and some mechanics. Ten years previous to their landing a distemper had raged among the Indians and had greatly depopulated this region, so that the planters had little to fear from the few remaining Indians whose lives had been spared. They, therefore, as their numbers increased, spread out over the vast territory surrounding them, waiting for occupancy and possession.

"These men who sought this far-off nook and corner of the world, crossing a tempestuous and dangerous ocean and landing on the shores of a wilderness, leaving everything however dear and valuable behind, came to have a country and a social system for themselves and of themselves alone. Their resolve was inexorable, not to suffer dissent, or any discordant element, to get foothold among

them. They had sacrificed all to find and to make a country for themselves, and they meant to keep it to themselves. They had gone out of everybody else's way and they did not mean to let anybody else come into their way. These men did not understand the great truth which Hugh Peters preached to Parliament. Why,' said he, 'cannot Christians differ and yet be friends? All children should be fed, though they have different faces and shapes; unity, not uniformity, is the Christian word."" The only consistent or solid foundation on which a Republic, or a church, can be built is an absolute level, with no enclosures and no exclusions.

From copies of court papers, in a communication by Wm. P. Upham, Esq., to the "Essex Institute Historical Collections," Vol. 8, we learn that the first settlement after the arrival of Endicott was in what is now Washington street and its neighborhood.

South river originally extended up to and around old Castle Hill, which can be seen from the southern end of the depot. It was a beautiful stream, bordered on each side of its winding course by wooded shores. On its placid waters, even where the depot now stands, have reposed the many noted ships of the golden past, mastered by navigators whose records make glorious the history of our early commerce. Also on its waters have rested those ships in which were transported across the briny billows the richest products of the Indies, to make glad the hearts of the many whose interests were connected therewith. Their successes made Salem what she has been in the past, and largely