Reminiscent and Personal 27 



A few times in my rambles I found my- 

 self in East Cambridge, and, being recog- 

 nized, was most unfriendly punched ; for I 

 lived in Cambridgeport, and between the 

 boys of those two precincts abode a feud 

 of half a century's standing. Directly on 

 the dismissal of the school which I attended 

 the " Porters" assembled at the south, and 

 the "Pointers" moved a few hundred feet 

 toward their home in East Cambridge. 

 Both sides then collected ammunition 

 stones in summer, snowballs in winter 

 and kept up a nice, soothing riot until 

 hunger, darkness, parental summons, or 

 neighborhood interference dispersed the 

 armies. The Pointers sometimes artfully 

 retreated for a mile, so as to lure us among 

 their tenements, where they were sure of 

 the aid of certain brawny, hot-blooded rel- 

 atives, who pounced on us with cudgels 

 and shovels, and turned the tide of battle. 

 Probably not a school-boy within a mile of 

 the dividing line but had been hurt in 

 these almost daily conflicts. There were 

 but two policemen on duty at a time in 

 Cambridgeport then, and so long as too 



