46 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK 



statue of Daniel Webster, which cost $10,000. It wa^ 

 erected in 1859, and was the second statue of Webster 

 which the famous sculptor wrought, the first, the prod- 

 uct of so much toil and pains and the embodiment of 

 so much genius, having been lost at sea. 



Last, but very far from least in importance, may be 

 mentioned the historic codfish, which hangs from the 

 ceiling of Assembly Hall, dangling before the eyes of 

 the legislators in perpetual reminder of the source of 

 Massachusetts' present greatness, for the codfish might 

 bv a stretch of Plibernian rhetoric be described as the 

 patron saint of the Bay State. 



I must confess to having been one of the 50,000 

 curious ones who, it is computed, annually ascend into 

 the gilded cupola and " view the landscape o'er.'' The 

 spectacle unrolled panorama-like before the sight is 

 indeed a feast to the eyes. 



The Old State House of 1748, built on the site of 

 Boston's earliest town hall, is now used as a historical 

 museum under the auspices of the Bostonian Society. 

 Careful restoration has perpetuated many of the old 

 associations which hallow the ancient fane, sacred to 

 loyalty and to liberty. The old council-chambers have 

 been given much of their original appearance, and the 

 great carving of the Lion and the Unicorn, which 

 savored of oiFence to patriotic nostrils and so was taken 

 down from its gables in Revolutionary times, has been 

 replaced. To visit this building is a liberal education 

 in local history. 



The Boston Post Office, of whose migrations I have 

 spoken earlier, is now settled for good and all in a 

 magnificent structure of Cape Ann granite, built in 

 Renaissance style, whose corner-stone was laid in 1871 



