198 History of Hingham,. 



country home of John A. Andrew, the war governor of Massa- 

 chusetts, for one summer during the great rebellion. The short 

 street which connects South with North Street, immediately west 

 of the railroad depot, crosses the town brook, and is known as 

 Thaxter's Bridge. In the old days the Whipping Post was 

 located here. About a quarter of a mile further on, and a few- 

 rods east of Austin's Lane (now Hersey Street), formerly stood 

 the old Pine-Tree Tavern. On the site of it there now stands 

 a large white house which was built by General Lincoln for his 

 son-in-law and private secretary, Mr. Abner Lincoln. The road 

 runs west and enters Fort-Hill Street after crossing the Town 

 Brook at Derby's Bridge. On the south side of the street at 

 this point formerly stood the mansion of Madam Derby, who 

 applied the property left for the purpose by her first husband, 

 Dr. Ezekiel Hersey, to founding Derby Academy. Many stories 

 are told of this able but eccentric woman. Among others is this 

 one, applicable to her home. 



She had a rustic seat arranged among the branches of one of 

 the trees near her house, from which she could observe her la- 

 borers in the fields. She was upon one occasion sitting there 

 decidedly in dishabille, when she saw a carriage some distance 

 off, containing visitors whom she had expected to arrive later 

 in the day, but with whom she was not well acquainted. She 

 jumped down from her perch, ran round to the back of the house, 

 caught a brace of chickens on the way, twisted their necks and 

 thing them to the cook with orders to broil them for dinner at 

 once, ran through the house, and (her house servants not being 

 at home) received the guests, who did not know her in her role 

 of servant, showed them to their rooms, and hastening to her 

 own, dressed and descended to the parlor to welcome them as 

 Madam Derby ; and they did not recognize the servant who had 

 ushered them to their apartments in the lady of the mansion 

 who received them in state. 



When the money for the endowment of Derby Academy was 

 brought from Salem to Hingham by Nathan Lincoln and his wife 

 (he was a nephew of Dr. Ezekiel Hersey), it was concealed in 

 a bucket which stood on the floor of a chaise, between Mr. 

 and Mrs. Lincoln. Madam Derby caused stones in the cellar 

 wall of her house to be removed, and the money, enclosed 

 in woollen bags, was built into the wall, for concealment and 

 safety. 



When this old mansion was burned, in the early part of this 

 century, there had been living in it people whose habits of life 

 were far from being such as invited the approval of the neighbors. 

 And certain old women who were gathered together watching its 

 destruction, averred that they saw fiends and witches ascending 

 in the smoke and dancing in the flames. 



The nineteenth century would appear to be a little subsequent 

 to the era of unseemly performances on the part of individuals 



