442 HISTORY OF C OH ASSET. 



sary to reach her. One of our citizens,* eighty-two years 

 of age, says : " My grandmother used to knit sailors' stock- 

 ings and mittens to sell in Boston, and she had to walk 

 over to Hingham to take the packet there." The packets 

 in these early times charged no fare for passengers, for 

 their business was with freight only. 



The earliest packet of which we have a certain record 

 is the little sloop New Orleans, owned by Levi Tower 

 and registered at Boston as a "packet " in the year 1815. 

 This may be the same one spoken of in the "War of 

 181 2," which was captured and then redeemed. 



The business must have increased as people established 

 a trading custom with Boston, for in about ten years there 

 were two sloops at work as packets, the Phenix and the 

 Glance. The Phenix was run by Captain Albert Beal, the 

 Glance by Captain Levi Nichols, and they made two or 

 three trips each week in the summer. They carried to 

 Boston many barrels of fish after the packing, and they 

 brought from Boston merchandise for the stores and for 

 building purposes in the town. The farmers' small prod- 

 uce, like butter and eggs, could be easily carried to a good 

 market in this way, but passengers could not be very easily 

 accommodated. In the first place, one could never know 

 precisely when a packet would sail, nor could there be any 

 guarantee as to the time of reaching the metropolis or of 

 returning. Only a few traveled by this route, therefore, 

 although the fare charged was nothing. The passenger 

 usually worked his way by helping the skipper and his one 

 "hand" to get under way or to manage the packet. A 

 little fireplace in the cabin made a cheery hearthstone for 

 the cold days of spring and fall, and the three or four 

 hours of the passage were whiled away by gossip and sea- 

 men's yarns. 



After the days of the Glance and Phenix, the Belle, a 

 little schooner, was run by Alexander T. Prouty. An 



* William V. Creed. 



