THE FARM OF THE FIRST MINISTER. 57 



minister in the year i733-'34<> the town having generously voted 

 him ' fifty pounds for building a dwelling house in Pennycook.' 

 Its dimensions were forty by twenty feet, two stories in height, 

 with an ell adjoining on the east, of one story, both parts being 

 covered with a gambrel roof. The chimneys were very large 

 and of stone. One of them, which remained as originally built 

 until 1847, was found upon its removal to be about five feet 

 square, and constructed of flat, ledge stones, laid in clay mortar 

 and plastered on the inside with a composition of clay and 

 chopped straw. Only the ell part was entirely finished at first 

 and contained but three rooms on the first floor. The front 

 part remained in an unfinished state until 1757, when, with the 

 assistance of Lieutenant Webster of Bradford, a joiner of high 

 repute in those days, it was also completed. The wood-work 

 being near to completion, it appears from a letter dated the 9th 

 of September, 1759, addressed by Rev. Mr. Walker to his son, 

 Timothy, then teaching school at Bradford, Mass., that a grave 

 question arose as to the propriety ' of painting ye outside/ 

 The decision arrived at is not now known, but, either at that 

 time or a few years subsequent, it was painted a light yellow, 

 which continued to be its uniform color for at least seventy 

 years. The interior was finished in a style similar to that 

 found in the better class of houses of that period. Most of the 

 partitions were of wooden panel work ; the front hall was 

 dadoed with panelling, and the front stairs were in three short 

 flights, conducting to broad landings and guarded by a moulded 

 rail, supported upon curiously-wrought balusters. The rooms 

 were painted various colors, the north parlor and south parlor 

 chamber being green, the south parlor blue, the north parlor 

 chamber and the old people's bed-room white, and the kitchen 

 red. Thus constructed and finished it remained without alter- 

 ation, with the exception of an enlargement of the ell, until 

 1S48, when it was modified in some particulars and thoroughly 

 repaired by the present proprietor. In 1739, 1 it was appointed 



1 Should be 1746. 



The precise year when the garrison around the house of the Rev. Mr Walker 

 was built is uncertain. On the 7th of November, 1739, the town " voted that 

 there shall be a good and sufficient garrison built around the Rev. Mr. Timothy 

 Walker's dwelling-house, as soon as may be conveniently, at the town's cost." 

 It must have been sometime betweeD 1739 and 1746. 



