Trowbridge, who had a fancy for fine
horses. Upon my election to the office of Governor, and when he had
learned that I was born upon his place, he insisted that I should use a
large black stallion in the review of the troops at the annual parade.
The animal was of fine figure but not so subdued as to be manageable.
In one of those years General Wool came to Boston, upon an invitation
to review the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company on Boston Common.
I assigned the Trowbridge horse to General Wool. The General rode him
for a minute or two, when he left the saddle and the reviewing officers
went through the ceremony on foot. Since those days the Spooner place
has been converted into a trotting course known as Clyde Park, and the
house is now used as a clubhouse by an association known as the Country
Club.
When I was about twenty-five years of age I was present at a temperance
meeting at Lowell, held in an unfinished factory building called the
Prescott Mills. After some speaking, in which I had taken a part, the
Rev. Dr. Pierce, then a white-headed gentleman of seventy years, whom
I had seen as an overseer of Harvard College, came to me, introduced
himself, and after a little conversation he asked me where I was born.
When I answered Brookline, on the Dr. Spooner place, he said: "Oh,
yes, I remember when your father lived there, and I recall a
circumstance to which I think I owe my good health.
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