Ancient Landmarks. 199 



of that ilk ; but the old ladies who witnessed their antics at the 

 fire aforementioned were wives of respectable citizens of the 

 West End, and their statements are not to be lightly called in 

 question by the incredulous. 



You have now been with me among- the landmarks of these 

 old towns, from the grim ledges off the eastern shore, where the 

 surf beats itself incessantly to foam and spray on Cohasset rocks, 

 to the singular rolling gravel mounds at the west end of Hing- 

 hum, where the glacier of the last ice-period has left such in- 

 disputable proofs of its former presence, — from the pretty 

 landlocked harbor at the north, the ancient " Bare Cove," to the 

 secluded woodlands which cover the greater part of the southern 

 portion of these townships ; and where the ponds, those scarcely 

 ruffled sheets of blue water, lie among green meadows and for- 

 ests like sapphires among emeralds, — through old streets and 

 lanes full of points of interest to the antiquarian, and over beau- 

 tiful hills, whose graceful contour forms the background of every 

 landscape. 



We maritime New Englanders breathe a double inspiration 

 from our surroundings, for, dwelling by the ocean, upon which 

 our people have proved themselves worthy descendants of the 

 Northmen, we are at the same time practically mountaineers. 

 Our rockv hills are the foot-hills of the mountain ranges a few 

 miles west and north of us, which on the coast of Maine actually 

 invade the realm of the sea. Even upon Boston Bay, look at 

 those Blue Hills of Milton, whose tops are sometimes above the 

 clouds. A short distance inland, and Wachusett and Monadnock 

 show their heads, while Mount Washington itself is visible from 

 the sea-coast. 



In the atmosphere of such surroundings, what wonder is it 

 that upon rolls containing the Hingham and Cohasset names of 

 Lincoln, dishing, Hobart, Tower, Gay, Thaxter, Shute, Sprague, 

 Pratt, Hersey, Stoddard, Fearing, and others, should be found 

 many which have adorned the professions of the ministry, law, 

 and medicine ; which have become eminent as those of poets, 

 literati, artists ; of men who have achieved the fortune and prac- 

 tised the liberality of merchant princes ; who in the battle line 

 by land and sea have, from sailors at their guns and soldiers in 

 the ranks to great generals, shed lustre upon the Colony and the 

 Republic ; who have, as deputies, or congressmen, or governors, 

 or ambassadors, reaped honorable laurels in this and in foreign 

 lands ; or lastly, in the presidential chair itself, won a simple, 

 homely, but illustrious fame which will through all our future 

 history go hand in hand with that of Washington ! 



Even as the Ancient Landmarks of Hingham and Cohasset 

 tell a story of the existence and physical progress of the race 

 and community of which those families were the type, so have 



