Mr. Phelps
was in the habit of sitting in the office and reading every sort of
newspaper from the _Trumpet_ to the _Investigator_. Although he was
much my senior, and of differing opinions in politics and religion our
relations were quite intimate. For several years we were joint
subscribers for the four leading English reviews:--_Edinburgh, North
British, Quarterly_ and _Westminster_. My recollection is that he
made the dedicatory prayer at the new cemetery, and that he was the
first person buried in it. He was a man of talent and the father of
two sons, who attained distinction at the bar in New York.
The Rev. Charles Robinson was the pastor of the old society then
Unitarian, but without question as to the plenary inspiration of the
Scriptures. He was a graduate of Harvard, a man of learning, and a
writer of good sermons. In the delivery he was faulty to the last
stage of awkwardness. His perceptive faculties were dull to a degree
without parallel in my experience.
In 1835 and for some time afterwards, there were four taverns and
three stores at which intoxicating liquors were sold and the use of
such liquors by farmers was greatly in excess of their use at the
present time. In the early winter the country farmers from New
Hampshire and Vermont going to Boston, with butter, cheese, pork and
poultry, patronized the taverns, and gave the town an appearance of
business which contrasts with the aspect of dullness that it now
wears.
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