CHAPTER VI 

 ISLAND GROVE 



Lift again the stately emblem on the Bay State's rusted shield, 

 Give to northern winds the Pine Tree on our banner's tattered 



field * Wbittier 



THIS beautiful stand of white pine 

 trees at Abington has come to be 

 known locally as Island Grove, but 

 generally as Abolition Grove, and is often 

 pointed out to the stranger within our midst 

 as "the place where the Civil War began." 

 Here, in the open air, sheltered only by the 

 whispering pines, great men, and women, 

 too, stood and delivered speeches in the 

 cause of abolition comparable to any that 

 were delivered in the celebrated halls of our 

 great cities, and that produced an effect 

 comparable to John Brown's raid or Uncle 

 Tom's Cabin. 



Webster, "a man who loved mountains, 

 and great trees, wide horizons, the ocean, the 

 western plains, and the great monuments 



