CHAPTER IX 

 THE HOLLISTON ELMS 



Be it ours to meditate, 

 In these calm shades, thy milder majesty. 



Bryant 



WHEN the Honorable Levi Lincoln 

 was Governor of Massachusetts 

 (1825-34) he was accustomed to 

 drive, at certain intervals, from the capital 

 in Boston to his home in Worcester by way 

 of the road leading through Natick, Sherborn 

 and HoIIiston. He was a lover of nature, 

 and elected to travel where his itinerary 

 brought him in closest communion with his 

 favorite trees and hills. Governor Bullock, 

 speaking before the Worcester Agricultural 

 Society, of which Mr. Lincoln was president 

 during the later period of his life, said of him, 

 that "trees, above all things, Governor Lincoln 

 believed in and admired." 



Chief among the elms which attracted 



