IN planning for a series of illustrated articles upon the antiquities and historical associations of Boston, we are quite sure of appealing to a vastly wider audience than the Boston audience. How deep the interest is which Boston herself is now coming to take in her history and antiquities is evidenced, in one way, by the rapid growth and interesting activity of the Bostonian Society, whose rooms at the Old State House, with their rare collections, have already become one of the most important and attractive points in the city for the visiting student, and whose meetings are now looked forward to with exceptional pleasure by so many. Only ten years old, the Bostonian Society already numbers over 800 members, and has a library of 2500 volumes, with treasures of all sorts, which far outrun the present accommodations. The $4000 bequeathed to the Society by the late Samuel E. Sawyer, swells the endowment to $10,000, and the President tells us that $25,000 can be put to good use. The hope is cherished that, through the favor of the city government, increased accommodations may be given the Society in the Old State House, which might well be devoted, like Independence Hall in Philadelphia, entirely as a public building. Says President Guild, in his annual address, recently delivered:

66 That the Old State House is one of the most attractive sights in Boston is evinced by the number of strangers who visit these historic halls. Although not one-third of the visitors record their names upon the visitors' book, yet that volume for the past year shows a record of over 17,000 names, which is about double the number recorded on the books of Faneuil Hall. Especial gratification is expressed by those coming from distant states in the Union at the opportunities afforded them to visit a free museum of American history, such as is here presented. Teachers of schools in Boston and vicinity have also made use of the opportunity here afforded, in giving their pupils object lessons in history that give added interest to the printed text-book." "The Bostonian Society," he says again," after ten years of existence, seems to have so thoroughly demonstrated its usefulness to our fellow-citizens that it is now pretty generally recognized as a permanent institution of genuine value, from which certain results are to be expected and to which a certain deference should be paid. This city has reached an age now when its history is becoming yearly more and more interesting, not only to its own citizens, but to intelligent people all over the world. The principal seat of the early English colonial government, the point where the first opposition to royal oppression was manifested, the scene of the most stirring events that led to the American Revolution, the birthplace of American independence, the scene of noted acts in revolutionary history, it is the first point in this country to which the student of American history turns, and which the intelligent and well-read tourist is filled with a desire to visit. It should need no argument to prove the value of the work which this society is doing to those who

carefully investigate the matter; and, happily, we have been able to enlist the attention of many who have hitherto considered it a matter of mere sentiment."

THE city of Boston spends a great deal of money in widening streets. It receives a little money from rents of property which the corporation owns. Thus it receives some rents for the first floor of the Old State House, which stands at the head of what was once King Street and is now State Street. With admirable good sense the government has lately restored the historical building, so that it has much of its old aspect. By one more restoration the city may give the additional width for carriage travel, which the upper part of State Street really demands. In old times this first floor, which is now rented for offices, was the open Exchange of Boston. Pillars supported the roof, and the Faneuils and Bowdoins and Amorys of that day adjusted the price of potash and peltries and clapboards and fish, as they shook hands with each other and discussed the Thursday lecture, for a condiment in their lighter business. Let the city give up its tenants on the first floor, let it take out the partitions, and let it make an open exchange again. Let it restore the broad, outdoor staircase from this floor down to State Street, on the eastern side. Then the sidewalks on the northern and southern sides can be taken away, and just so much will be gained for carriages. The city will lose a little rent, but it will have made the most important street-widening of the year, and the least expensive.

THE diligent and zealous "Taverner" of the Boston Post, who seems to know something interesting about everything, is prompted by Mr. Willard's article on the old New England meetinghouses, in our last number, to some pleasant gossip about Boston churches, which we are glad to lay on our table, as of value not only to the readers of the article last month, but equally to the readers of the article on Boston churches in the present number.

"The interesting article in the January NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE on The New England Meeting House and the Wren Church,' by A. R. Willard, showing how the architecture of certain churches in Boston and other places had been especially influenced by the styles of the steeples of the architect of St. Paul's in London, suggests other peculiarities of ecclesiastical structures in this city. Arthur Gilman, the noted architect and wit, used to say, in his inimitable way, that there were two kinds of churches in Boston, -one in which you could not see the minister, and another in which you could not hear him. The first kind was naturally intended to characterize churches with high pulpits, of which the old West Church is one of the few remaining examples, while the second included some more modern edifices. It is somewhat remarkable that some of the finest specimens of church architecture here in Boston

in recent years have proved deficient in acoustic properties, so as to necessitate the introduction of artificial means of supplying them. This was the case with the Brattle Square Church on Commonwealth Avenue, which is so familiar from its noble tower, one of the masterpieces of Richardson, while the beautiful Unitarian Church on Berkeley Street, corner of Marlboro, has had to contend with similar trials.

"I sometimes think that the old-fashioned sounding-boards over the pulpit, such as are still seen in the Old South and King's Chapel, would be desirable additions to some of our modern churches, where the strain on the attention necessary to hear the preacher is apt to interfere with the serenity of spirit which is essential for the best effects of his teachings. It has even occurred to me that the sounding-board might be so arranged, as it was said to have been in a certain old-fashioned church, to time the sermons of the minister, so that in case he exceeded the maximum limit, the structure over his pulpit would descend and literally shut him up. Such a device would of course be less needed now than in days when the division of a sermon into heads reaching to fifthly and sixthly suggested that the preacher did not sufficiently consider the brevity of human life in his deliverances. The writer in the NEW ENGLAND, in pointing out how many of our churches of early date reproduced in their steeples the piled-up boxes of the Wren type, congratulates our people that another feature of some of his churches'the order of the inverted piano leg'-never came into vogue here. I recall one or two churches in this city and vicinity which approach dangerously near this type, and there is one church which, although widely different in its character from that of the famous St. Bride's in London -one of the masterpieces of Wren - resembles it in a form of steeple construction which has gained for it the name of the Church of the Holy Telescope.' This is the church on Berkeley Street, near Tremont Street, which is not mentioned by the magazine writer, doubtless because it is not so good a specimen of a telescope as the steeple of St. Bride's to which he refers.

"Many of my readers will remember the tall spire of the old Unitarian Church on Hanover Street, near Richmond, with the huge brass cockerel for its vane, which caused it to be generally styled, and this, too, without irreverence, the Church of the Holy Rooster.' There was another wooden steeple on Beacon Hill which overtopped the State House, and was, on that account as well as from its architectural slimness, regarded as a disfigurement to the locality, that was crowned by an object which looked more like a piece of meat than anything of a sacred character. I suppose it was for this reason that the late Arthur Gilman designated the building as the Church of the Successful Toothpick.' This church stood on Somerset Street, where Sleeper Hall of Boston University is located. There was something so artificial about its construction, from its lank wooden steeple to its mastic front, which was perpetually peeling off, that it was a relief to me when a structure of a less ambitious and more sincere character took its place.

"I think the introduction of towers in some of our new churches an attractive feature of ecclesi

astical architecture here in Boston; and while the old tower of Brattle Square, which bore, as Dr. Holmes says, 'the iron breastpin which the rebels threw,' is no more, King's Chapel recalls the fact that the tower was favored in the olden time, and I am glad that the structure was spared the addition of the steeple designed by the architect, Peter Harrison. But the grand tower of Trinity Church and the noble tower of the new Brattle Square Church' on Commonwealth Avenue not only afford a pleasing variation from the customary steeple, but by their massive dignity aptly symbolize the solid basis of the religion that has been the means of creating the character of its votaries as well as the architecture of their temples of worship."

Two interesting new courses of historical lectures for young people, in the line of the Old South lectures in Boston, owing their impulse to the Old South lectures and, like the many similar efforts in the West, calling themselves "Old South" lectures, have just been inaugurated in the New England field, one in Providence, R.I., and one in Franklin, Mass.

The work in Providence is being carried on under the auspices of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union. The lectures are given in Music Hall before large audiences, composed of pupils of the high school and members of the graduating class in the grammar schools, teachers, and others interested in history and education. The lectures are free to the young people, tickets being distributed by the principals of the schools; and printed outlines of the lectures are prepared in advance by one of the principals, from notes supplied by the lecturers, and placed in the hands of the young people to enable them to follow the lecture more intelligently, and take notes if they desire. The course was opened on Saturday morning, January 4, by President Andrews of Brown University, with a lecture on "The English Commonwealth," and is being continued on successive Saturdays as follows: by Charles C. Coffin, on "Pilgrims and Puritans "; Edwin D. Mead, on "Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry"; Rev. Edward Everett Hale, on "The Year 1789"; Mr. George A. Littlefield, on "Daniel Webster and the Union"; and Colonel T. W. Higginson, on "How to read History." There is much interest in the work among the educational people of Providence, and Librarian Foster of the Public Library, with his customary enterprise and tact, is making it the means of turning the attention of the young people to historical reading.

The course in Franklin is interesting as being the first "Old South" course inaugurated in one of our smaller towns. The course was arranged by the Young People's Missionary Association of the Universalist Church, under the direction of the pastor, Rev. W. C. Selleck, and is given the general title of "The Birth of the Nation." It was opened Monday evening, January 13, with a lecture by Mr. Edwin D. Mead, on "The Study of History," to be continued on successive Monday evenings, as follows: by Charles H. Levermore, Ph.D., on "The English Puritans"; John Fiske, on "The Settlement of New England"; Edwin D. Mead, on "Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry"; George M. Towle, on "Washington and his Gene

"These lectures," says the attractive circular issued by the committee, "will be similar in character and aim to those which have been delivered during the last six or seven summers at the Old South Meeting House in Boston, at the expense of Mrs. Mary Hemenway, and which have been so highly spoken of by intelligent people throughout the country. The idea of this Old South work,' as it is called, has been taken up and carried out very successfully in several places, notably in the West; and now it is proposed to try the experiment here. The lectures will be given mainly for the benefit of the young people of our town, particularly the pupils of the high school, the grammar schools, and the academy; but they will be open to the general public, and everybody is not only cordially invited, but earnestly urged to attend them." Tickets for the course are furnished to the young people for fifty cents, and to others for one dollar; and in connection with the lectures two prizes are offered - ten dollars for the best essay written by a pupil of the public schools, not over seventeen years of age, on "The History of the Town of Franklin," and ten dollars for the best essay giving a report of this course of lectures, with a brief synopsis of each lecture. This last is an admirable feature, worthy of adoption for the young people wherever "Old South" lectures are given.

ONE of the first strikes in our country was organized and conducted by women operatives in the cotton mills of Lowell, during the winter of 1833-4. The following account, sent us by Mrs. Sarah E. Burton of New York, is given, so far as possible, in the words of a gentleman employed at the time in one of the mills, who is now living, retired from a ministry which he honored for fifty years. It gains added interest from the fact that it relates to the time and conditions described by the article on The Lowell Offering in our December number, and by Miss Larcom in her book.

"I began work in the Lowell Corporation mill the first of December, 1833. It was a double factory; half of it used for the manufacture of woollen carpets, and half for cotton sheeting. The cloth was very coarse, and was sold only in Southern markets, where it was turned into clothing for the slaves. I was an overseer in the cotton weaving department. Our weavers were paid by the piece or cut, their wages ranging from three to five dollars per week above their board. About the time that I began work, the wages in all the mills were reduced a certain per cent agreed upon by their respective superintendents. The same inequality of wage remained after the reduction, for the wage depended solely on the ability of the weaver; but the women rebelled, and suddenly most of the looms were standing still, for from twelve to fifteen hundred hands quit work without notice.

"The owners of the Lowell Corporation' mill, however, quadrupled the number of overseers in the weaving rooms, and thus keeping all the looms in constant running order, made it possible for the operatives to earn as much as before. By

this means they lost only two weavers and three spinners in the strike.

"The women conducted themselves in the most quiet and orderly manner. They marched through the streets singing praise of liberty and scorn of slavery, halting now and then in front of our windows to invite our girls with hand and handkerchief to join them. They had no night parades and no public speaking, but there was plenty of earnest exhortation to each other to hold firm, and of eloquent appeal to those who kept at work, at every chance meeting. A few men sympathizers raised a platform in one of the public squares, and harangued the crowds that flocked to hear the new gospel, but the strikers kept away.

"With one or two exceptions, these women were Yankee born and bred. Their homes were on the farms and in the small villages of New England. All were trained to economical habits, and many sent home their earnings to pay mortgages on homesteads, to give comforts to invalids, and to educate younger members of the family. But that they did not spend all their earnings for their friends or for themselves was shown by the surprisingly large sum the strikers had on deposit in the Lowell savings bank; I heard it estimated at from seventy to seventy-seven thousand dollars. The bank officials took advantage of the situation to exact the fortnight's notice before paying the depositors. As the corporations would not give them shelter in their boarding-houses, the women hired a large house, where they lived independent of corporations while waiting for their money. I was told that the single women and those who were the most 'forehanded' paid the heavy bills of this housekeeping, thus relieving those who had large families, and the few really poor members of the company.

"It was during this period of waiting that the strikers paraded the streets of Lowell, fifteen hundred strong. No men or boys were in the ranks, though a great crowd of both attended on the outskirts. In place of a band of music all joined in singing. One song that was immensely popular with the crowd, and that was sung by the women with great vim, was a parody on 'I will not be a Nun.' When we heard it floating into our windows in advance of the procession, it was hard to keep our workers in order; even the overseers frequently found a job conveniently near the windows when the procession passed. You should have heard them!

"Oh, I cannot be a slave! Oh, I will not be a slave! For I'm so fond of liberty I cannot be a slave!'

"When the fortnight's notice to the bank expired, the strikers retaliated for their long waiting by refusing to receive anything in payment but specie. The savings bank paid over all its own gold and silver, then called on a neighboring bank, which in turn made a draft on the specie in a Boston bank, before the demand was fully met. There was no incident of the strike that gave the onlookers, especially the men, so much amusement and right-down satisfaction as this flurry in the banks.

"As soon as this business was satisfactorily set