THE QUINCY STREET HOUSE 345 



bell was a relic of his youth, when there were no paid firemen 

 and the alarm called out the active and daring young men of 

 the town, who vied with one another in chivalrous acts of rescue 

 service. President Eliot was also a prompt attendant at fires; 

 indeed one suspected an unconscious rivalry between them. At 

 any rate Mr. Shaler rather crowed over the fact that while the 

 President had "bossed" the fire that threatened to consume 

 the near-by Baptist Church, he himself had an active hand in 

 extinguishing the conflagration at the Colonial Club, while his 

 neighbor slumbered peacefully all unconscious of the lost op- 

 portunity; and so the account eventually was evened. 



For many years the house, for a sober old town like Cambridge, 

 was a scene of comparative gayety; his daughters and their 

 young friends, animated by the protean activities of youth, 

 made it a cheerful place, and doubtless many who were young 

 then but are mature now, scattered over the face of the earth, 

 have pleasant memories of the old library, for in its retreats 

 some of them met their "fate" their lovers, husbands, and 

 wives. Mr. Shaler enjoyed the Sunday afternoon receptions at 

 his house, which became a feature of its social life. On these 

 occasions he was most genial and solicitous that every one 

 should have a pleasant time the students and other friends, 

 and also strangers who, knowing he was then at home, with or 

 without an introduction would come to see him. This free 

 entrance led sometimes to a curious grouping of people a 

 Chinaman, an Englishman, and a South American being brought 

 into a close but good-natured juxtaposition. Between students 

 and what were known as "grown-up people" there sometimes 

 arose a slight feeling of antagonism, the latter maintaining that 

 they came Sunday afternoons for enjoyment and not to do mis- 

 sionary work for such they considered talking to immature 

 youths ; but on the whole, animated by good will towards host 

 and hostess, the two elements did their best to get on amiably 

 together. 



Mr. Shaler's courtesy to every one within his doors, from the 



