AMERICAN ELM. 507 



in August, 1775. One Job Williams was the leader of the party that accom- 

 plished the feat, leaving nothing but the stump above ground the root they could 

 not touch. One of their comrades lost his life by accident on tlie occasion. 

 This tree had been planted one hundred and twenty-nine years, (according to the 

 Pemberton MSS.) ' in 1646, and bore the first fruits of Liberty in America.' We 

 are informed by an old and reputable inhabitant, who was present at the time, 

 that the tree when cut, made fourteen cords of wood.'"* 



The Liberty tree at Providence, in Rhode Island, was also an elm, and stood 

 in Olney's Lane, in front of a house formerly occupied as a tavern. It is said to 

 have been remarkable for its size, and served as a point of reference to strangers 

 when they arrived in the place. This elm was dedicated to the " Sons of Liberty" 

 on Monday, July 25tli, 1768, when a great coi^course of people had assembled, 

 and an animated discourse was delivered from the summer-house in the tree, by 

 Mr. Silas Downer, a member of the bar. The people placing their hands on the 

 tree, he pronounced aloud the following words : "We do, in tlie name and behalf 

 of all the true sons of liberty in America, Great Britain, Ireland, Corsica, or 

 wheresoever they may be dispersed throughout the world, dedicate this tree of 

 liberty. May all our counsels and deliberations, under its venerable branches be 

 guided by wisdom and directed for the support and maintenance of that liberty 

 which our forefathers sought out and found imder the trees in the wilderness; 

 may it long flourish, and may the sons of liberty often repair hither to confirm 

 and strengthen each other. When they look toward this sacred elm, may they 

 be penetrated with a sense of their duty to themselves and their posterity, and 

 may they, like the house of David, grow stronger, while their enemies, like the 

 house of Saul, shall grow weaker and weaker Amen." 



TREES OP FRIENDSHIP. 



In the town of Natick, in Massachusetts, in front of the residence of the Rev. 

 Mr. Peabody, successor to the Apostle Eliot, near the site of the old Indian 

 meeting house, there formerly stood two stately elms, which were planted in 

 about the year 1722. It is related by Mr. John Welles, that a deputation of In- 

 dians came to their newly-settled minister, bearing these trees upon their shoul- 

 ders, requesting permission to plant them out before his door, as a mark of their 

 regard, or as the "Tree of Friendship." These trees, it is said, flourished for 

 about ninety years, when the larger one was struck by lightning, and soon 

 after died. The other shortly after began to decline, and subsequently fell into 

 a state of decay. The girth of these trees, at a foot above the ground, was 

 twenty-one feet, having acquired an annual increase of trunk of about nine- 

 tenths of an inch. 



In the year 1752, Mr. Peabody died, and the year following, he was succeeded 

 by Rev. Stephen Badger, who, on taking up his residence in that vicinity, was 

 soon after visited by some Indians of the same tribe, with the request that they 

 might also plant the "Tree of Friendship" before his door. The request was 

 granted, and two elm trees were planted, which are still standing, in full vigour 

 liaving attained about the same dimensions as those planted in 1722. 



THE GREAT ELM IN BOSTON. 



The noble elm, which stands so conspicuously near the centre of the Common, 

 in Boston, and which adds so much to the picturesque beauty of those public 

 grounds, is much revered by the citizens, and Ubiially aitiacts the admiration and 



* Boston News-Letter and City Record, Edited by Dr. Jerome V. C. Smith, i. p. I'J. 



