8 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Published every Saturday Afternoon. 
J. ALEX. LODGE, Editor and Proprietor. 
5 Washington Street, Beverly, Mass. 
Branch Office: Pulsifer’s Block, Manchester, Mass. 
W. L. MALOON & CO., PRINTERS, 
Beverly, Mass. 
Terms: $1.00 a year; 3 months (trial), 25 cents, 
Advertising Rates on application. 
{4~To insure publication, contributions must reach 
this office not later than Friday noon preceding the 
day of issue. 
All communications must be accompanied by the 
sender’s name, not necessarily for publication, but as a 
guarantee of good faith. 
Communications solicited on matters of public in- 
terest. 
Address all communications and make checks paya- 
ble to NORTH SHORE BREEZE, Beverly, Mass. 
The BREEZE is for sale at all news stands on the 
* North Shore. 
Entered as second-class matter May 23, 1904, at the 
post-office at Beverly, Mass., under the Act of Congress 
of March 3, 1879. 
Telephones: Manchester 9-13, Beverly 1008-4. 
SATURDAY, DEC. 24, 1904. 
Separate the Offices, 
In Manchester, as in most other 
small towns of the Commonwealth, 
the duties of the Board of Assessors 
and Board of Health evolve upon the 
Board of Selectmen — in other words, 
the three boards are combined into 
one. 
It may be too early to bring forward 
town meeting matters yet, as usually 
town meeting talk does not amount to 
much before the middle of February, 
yet we feel that a few hints thrown 
out now, especially on this subject, 
will not be at all amiss. 
We believe the time has come when 
these three offices should be sep- 
arated, when there should be a Board 
of Assessors elected in Manchester, 
entirely separate from the Board of 
Selectmen. 
We believe the time for this move 
has come NOW, and the step should 
be taken at the next town meeting. 
Manchester is not a poor town; it 
is, in fact, the richest in Essex county, 
‘and it ranks well up in the towns of 
the State. 
The town gets its money from the 
taxes levied upon the estates of the 
wealthy residents who come here to 
spend their summers, and upon those 
who are becoming all-the-year-round 
residents. The taxes are fixed by the 
Board of Assessors. It is therefore 
essential that this board be the best 
the town can provide. 
It is very apt to be the case that the 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Board of Selectmen may have a com- 
plete change any year, and perhaps it 
is fit and proper that it should be 
changed. Yet it seems to us it is 
very poor policy to have an entirely 
new set of men fix and adjudge the 
value of the property along our shore. 
Undoubtedly the idea of combining 
the boards arises from pecuniary rea- 
sons. And it is fitting that it should. 
Yet Manchester can well afford to 
split the offices, and no one will ques- 
tion but that it would be for the best 
pecuniary interests of the town to 
do so. 
The town would be richer by thou- 
sands of dollars were there such a 
board. 
At the next town meeting three 
men ought to be elected, one to serve 
three years, one to serve two years 
and one to serve one year on a Board 
of Assessors. And in the years to 
follow one new assessor ought to be 
appointed, so that at no time would 
there be an entirely new board. 
We leave this suggestion. Think 
itover. Our columns are always open 
to discussion of such matters. 
W hisperings, 
It is peculiar how we all, but chil- 
dren in particular, bring the names of 
objects, events, dates, etc., etc., into 
our minds by the psychological process 
of association. 
The first of the week a little girl 
knocked gently on the door of the 
BREEZE office, in Pulsifer’s block. 
When the door was opened she said, 
sweetly : 
“Papa didn’t get his —his—h —his 
— blow.”’ 
I knew what she wanted, so handed 
her the BREEzE, and she was highly 
contented. 
* * * * 
“The blow!’ How nice of little 
Miss Helen to give our paper such a 
soft and gentle name. How much 
nicer that sounds than “The Cyclone,”’ 
so generously heaped upon us_ by 
some. But then—as the good poet 
says —‘‘ What’s in a name?”’ We 
are still the BREEZE, and if we appear 
in the form of a cyclone to some — 
all’s well! 
* * * * 
This is the shortest day in the year. 
From the time the sun rose this morn- 
ing until it sets tonight in the south- 
western corner of the horizon nine 
hours and four minutes will have 
elapsed. From now on the days will 
gradually begin to lengthen. 
* * * * 
My friend, Fred K. Swett of Man- 
chester, a few days ago, while looking 
over some old papers, came across the 
will of his great-great grandfather, 
Jonathan Herrick, made by him in 
1788, but not probated till June 8, 
1794— 110 years ago. Mr. Swett 
thought the will would interest some 
of our readers, and gave it tome. It 
is worth reading. I print only part of 
it—that part which relates to his 
wife, whom he evidently wanted well 
provided for after his death. 
I might say that Jonathan Herrick 
owned some 50 acres of land in Man- 
chester, much of which was in the 
vicinity of Dark Woods, where the 
Tenny property is now located and in 
the vicinity of Moses Hill. 
Part of this was left by will to his 
daughter, Esther Crafts. She married 
a Joseph Baker. Among their chil- 
dren were Ira Baker and Harriet 
Choate Baker. This latter married a 
Kitfield, and these were Mr. Swett’s 
grandparents. One of Ira Baker’s 
daughters was Mary Baker, who died 
in Manchester last February at the 
age of 100 years, 9 months. Her 
daughter, Mary Augusta Baker, now 
lives on School street, Manchester. 
These two, and, of course, many 
others are among the descendents of 
this same Jonathan Herrick. 
* * * * 
In the Name of God, Amen. 
I, Jonathan Herrick of Hopkin- 
ton, in the County of Hillsborough 
* * * * domake this my last will 
It is now time to buy your X-MAS PRESENTS. 
There is no more 
appropriate thing to recommend to NORTH SHORE PEOPLE as a 
X-MAS GIFT to their friends than 
A YEAR’S SUBSCRIPTION TO THE 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
What a beautiful souvenir of this picturesque locality! 
Sent by mail 
from now till January 1, 1906, to any part of the United States for 
ONE DOLLAR. 
