NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
LOST BOY RETURNS. 
Manchester has a ‘‘ Rip Van Winkle,’’ who 
Returns After Being Lost from Sight 
for Thirty Years. 
A veritable Rip Van Winkle arrived 
in Manchester this week in the person- 
age of John J. Attridge, who left 30 
years ago, when a mere boy, and has 
neither seen nor heard anything 
from his friends and relatives here 
since that time. 
Thirty years ago Mr. Attridge 
worked in Manchester, doing chores 
for Henry D. Chase at his place at 
Old a Neck. We-came here from 
Boston, where his parents died when 
he was young, and lived with his aunt, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Young, who last week 
celebrated her 91st birthday. When 
still a boy he left Manchester to seek 
his living in the world. He made 
several trips across the Atlantic on 
cattle boats, was employed in an un- 
dertaking establishment in Salem and 
had various other occupations, but 
finally drifted to the West. Twenty- 
one years ago he settled on a piece 
of prairie land in Marion, LaMoure 
county, North Dakota. 
Since then he has been engaged at 
raising wheat, oats, barley, flax, rye, 
and other products of that country, 
which he marketed and from which he 
has made a prosperous living. He 
cultivated more than 350 acres of 
land. 
Some months ago he sold his farm, 
and the trip East, which he is now 
taking, is the result of a desire long 
cultivated. In all these years he had 
neither seen nor heard of his relatives 
in the East, and when he started from 
his North Dakota home he had little 
thought he would ever find any of 
them. 
He arrived in Boston last Sunday 
and came to Salem the next day. He 
first tried to find the undertaking 
establishment where he formerly 
worked, and after considerable hunt- 
ing he found somebody who knew the 
people in Manchester he knew, so he 
came here at once. 
The past few days Mr. Attridge 
has been renewing acquaintances of 
his boyhood friends. He can recall 
but a few, and but avery few can 
remember him. ‘The greatest sur- 
prise afforded him, he says, was to 
find his aged aunt, Mrs. Young, still 
alive. She was an old lady when he 
left thirty years ago, and he little 
thought she would be here to greet 
him now. 
‘‘T haven’t seen an apple tree for 
twenty years,” said Mr. Attridge ina 
talk with the BREEZE man Thursday. 
‘We have no trees at all where we 
live. Everything is prairie. Nothing 
but plains, for miles and miles, as far 
as the eye can see. The part of the 
country where we live is new. It has 
been settled in the last twenty-five 
_years. Our nearest neighbor is three- 
quarters of a mile away from us. 
‘Has Manchester changed? Well, 
I should hardly know it. I have read 
in-the papers and magazines of this 
Manchester-by-the Sea, but I did not 
think it was the same Manchester I 
knew. I had an idea it was some new 
place that had sprung up. All the old 
landmarks are the same, and many of 
the old houses about town have not 
changed, but there is so much change 
that one would scarcely think it the 
same place. 
“One thing I can say, — Manches- 
ter is the prettiest place on God’s 
earth and if there was any one place 
I would like to go and finish my days 
it would be here. I would like to 
bring my family here, for my children 
have never seen trees, nor the ocean. 
“T am slowly getting acquainted 
again and am meeting some of my 
old friends. Few of them can place 
me and nobody, of course, can tell me 
by my countenance. I shall remain 
here a little while longer and shall 
then return to No. Dakota.” 
Mr. Attridge is stopping with his 
cousin, Tree Warden William Young 
on Washington street, and is spending 
much of his time with Mr. Henry D. 
Chase and family at the ‘‘ Old Neck.” 
Whisperings. 
Town Treasurer E. P. Stanley of 
Manchester is very fond of the brush, 
and when the spell is on he usually 
brings forth something well worth the 
effort he puts into his work. I hap- 
pened to catch him at work a few days 
ago on a sketch of the old Sea Street 
depot in Manchester. But few of the 
older residents will recall this, as the 
depot was removed in ’58 from Sea 
street to a point quite near Beach 
street. In the background of this 
sketch is Wetherbee’s hill, standing 
out in bold prominence, showing the 
picturesque rocking boulder, while 
beside the single track is shown the 
small, insignificant looking depot. 
Beside it is the old eating saloon, 
which used to be conducted by Geo. 
W. Allen. It was later bought by 
David Coughlin, I am told, who put 
another story on to it and made it into 
a dwelling house, now occupied by 
James Cooney and family. In the 
foreground runs a modest, old stone 
wall, which did service up to five or 
ten years ago, when the railroad made 
improvements along its road. Mr. 
Stanley usually devotes his time with 
the brush on some such historic sub- 
ject as this. 
Knickerbocker Shoes at Bell’s. * 
Mt. Pleasant Dairy 
R. & L. BAKER, 
Dealers in MILK. 
Teaming done to order. Telephone Connection 
Gravel and Rough Stone. P.O. Box 129. 
MANCHESTER, MASS. 
Morley, Flatley & Co. 
GENERAL GONTRAGTORS, 
17 Brook Street, TIANCHESTER. 
FRANK H. DENNIS WILLIAM CAMPBELL 
DENNIS & CAMPBELL 
... GROCERS... 
Telephone 243 
16 School St., - Manchester 
HERBERT B. WINCHESTER, 
Practical Watchmaker. 
Repairing on all kinds of Watches, Clocks 
fowelre and Optical Goods. 
Main St. GLOUCESTER, Mass. 
Cc. L. CRAFTS, 
Carpenteranda Builder, 
Special Attention Given to Jobbing. 
MANCHESTER, MASS. 
Telephone 139-4. 
George S. Sinnicks, 
MASON BUILDER 
MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA. 
Manchester, Magnolia, Beverly Farms, Boston. 
SMITH’S EXPRESS COMPANY. 
F. J. MERRILL, Proprietor. 
Principal Boston Office: 32 Court Square. 
Telephones: _ Boston, Main 489; Manchester, 11-5. 
First-Class Storage for Furniture. 
Separate Rooms under Lock. 
MANCHESTER, MASS. 
EDWARD S. KNIGHT, 
FLORIST, 
Dealer im Fine Plants, Bulbs and Seeds. 
FLOWERS for all oceasions. 
44 School St., Manchester-by-the-Sea. 
J. E. WHITNEY, 
Mfg. Sewing Machines, 
Special Mfg. Attachments. 
Factory Outfitter. 72 BEDFORD ST. 
Phone 65 Oxford. BOSTON. 
——a' 
PE 
