THE ENDICOTT PEAR TREE 



drops down its golden fruit into the laps 

 of Endicott's grateful descendants and ad- 

 mirers. Could the old Puritan see it at 

 this time he would say, with Touchstone, 

 "An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own"; 

 and he might well add, "Rich honesty dwells 

 like a miser, sir, in a poor house." When 

 in leaf, however, the tree possesses a youthful 

 appearance, as the photograph will show. 



The local historian, J. W. Hanson, pays 

 a fitting tribute in his "History of Danvers" 

 when he says, "The man of the present 

 day who stands beneath its shadow cannot 

 repress the mingling emotions which rise in 

 his Soul. In its nestling boughs he surveys 

 the past and beholds the light of other days." 



Measurements have no value and convey 

 no meaning, as applied to this tree. Soil 

 has gradually collected about the trunk until 

 the two main branches appear to rise from 

 the ground as separate trees. They evidently 

 join under a heavy covering of sod. Sur- 

 rounding them is a fence which acts as an 

 effective protection. When the author 

 photographed the tree it was covered with 



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