November, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



3 f >5 



drew to Fairfield, Conn., the home of Rev. Thaddeus 

 Burr, another kinsman. And in spite of the Cupids 

 trailing their pink and blue wreaths over the parlor 

 walls of the home at Quincy the wedding they were to 

 celebrate very nearly failed to come off; for fascinating 



Aaron Burr, whom no woman was ever able 

 to resist, came visiting his Uncle Thaddeus 

 just then, and it required all Aunt Lydia Han- 

 cock's watchfulness to prevent an elopement 

 as a result of the desperate flirtation which en- 

 sued between him and Dorothy Q. On August 

 28, 1776, the postponed wedding was cele- 

 brated at Fairfield, however, John Hancock 

 taking his wife directly to Philadelphia, where 

 they soon set up in a fine house of their own. 



The present furnishings 

 for the parlor and the 

 music-room adjoining were 

 supplied by Dr. Francis P. 

 Sprague, of Boston, in 

 memory of his wife, Eliza- 

 beth Sprague, for ten years 

 registrar of the Colon'al 

 Dames of Massachusetts. 

 A statement to this effect is 

 appropriately in sampler 

 form and hangs at the right 

 of a fireplace set with Bib- 

 lical tiles, directly over a 

 genuine sampler made in 

 1700. The room is rich in 

 beautiful historic pieces. A 

 Chippendale looking-glass 

 with a delicate decoration 

 of raised gold wheat on its 

 frame attracts universal ad- 

 miration. Only one other 

 similar glass is known, and 

 that reposes in the Dedham 



Historical House. Beneath the wheat looking-glass is a card- 

 table of exquisite design, with corner stands for candles, 

 grooves for chips and a secret drawer. Near by is an old 

 Dutch chair wormeaten with age, and flanking it a six- 



egged table — one of the freaks of Colonial 

 cabinetmakers — which supports the oldest 

 known of hour-glasses. 



Why do we not have spinets in 

 these (.lavs? This is the question 

 which has been haunting me ever 

 since I enjoyed the privilege, a tew 

 weeks ago, of playing the "William 

 Fether, London" instrument in the 

 music-room of the Dorothy Q 

 House. The finest grand piano 

 that I have ever touched yields no 

 such pleasure. The tone produced 

 by the picking of the goos~-quill-> 

 against the strings is at once deli- 

 cate and satisfying. On the case 

 one is promised, in impressive 

 Latin, "oblivion to cares of life 

 while playing." For once an ad- 

 vertisement does not 

 overstate. Music- 

 lovers, revive the 

 spinet ! A Flemish 

 chest, dating back to 

 1600, a picture of 

 Judge Edmund 

 Quincy, and a mourn- 

 ing ring, once the 

 proper ty of that 

 worthy, which was 

 found recently in the 

 course of a cellar- 

 excavation, are other 

 interesting features 

 of this room. 



Adjoining is the 

 study of the famous 

 Tutor Flynt, the ec- 

 centric bachelor 

 brother of the first 

 Dorothy Q. For 

 him it was that the 

 two-story ell, includ- 

 ing this study and the chamber above it, was built. For 

 fifty-five years Flynt was instructor at Harvard College, and 

 during the greater part of that time it was his habit to recre- 

 ate in this hospitable old roof-tree. The study now contains 



The Kitchen 



