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Few, indeed, are the homes in America which contain so much which, while of intimate interest to the family, is as well of wide historical importance. Though a home, the house has the value of a museum. The portrait of Major Stark, which hangs in the parlour at the right of the square entrance hall, was painted by Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse, the discoverer of the electric telegraph, a man who wished to come down to posterity as an artist, but is now remembered by us only as an inventor.

This picture is an admirable presentation of its original. The gallant major looks down upon us with a person rather above the medium in height, of slight but muscular frame, with the short waistcoat, the high collar, and the close, narrow shoulders of the gentleman's costume of 1830. The carriage of the head is noble, and the strong features, the deep-set, keen, blue eyes, and the prominent forehead, speak of courage, intelligence, and cool self-possession.

Beside this noteworthy portrait hangs a beautiful picture of the first mistress of this house, the Mrs. Stark who, as a girl, was Miss Sarah McKinstrey. Her portrait shows her to have been a fine example of the blonde type of beauty. The splendid coils of her hair are very lustrous, and the dark, hazel eyes look out from the frame with the charm and dignity of a St. Cecilia. Her costume, too, is singularly appropriate and becoming, azure silk with great puffs of lace around the white arms and queenly throat. The waist, girdled under the armpits, and the longwristed mits stamp the date 1815-21.

The portrait of General Stark, which was painted by Miss Hannah Crowninshield, is said not to look so much like the doughty soldier as does the Morse picture of his son, but Gilbert Stuart's Miss Charlotte Stark, recently deceased, shows the last daughter of the family to have fairly sustained in her youth the reputation for beauty which goes with the Stark women.

Beside the portraits, there are in the house, many other choice and valuable antiques. Among these the woman visitor notices with particular interest the fan that was once the property of

Lady Pepperell, who was a daughter, it will be remembered, of the Royall family, who were so kind to Major Caleb Stark in his youth. And to the man who loves historical things, the cane presented to General Stark when he was a major, for valiant conduct in defence of Fort William Henry, will be of especial interest. This cane is made from the bone of a whale and is headed with ivory. On the mantelpiece stands another very interesting souvenir, a bronze statuette of Napoleon I., which Lafayette brought with him from France and presented to Major Stark.

The house itself is a not unworthy imitation of an English manor-house, with its aspect of old-time grandeur and picturesque repose. It is of wood, two and a half stories high, with twelve dormer windows, a gambrel roof, and a large two story L. In front there are two rows of tall and stately elms, and the trim little garden is enclosed by a painted iron fence. On either side of the spacious hall, which extends through the middle of the house, are to be found handsome trophies of the chase, collected by the present master of the place, who is a keen sportsman.

A gorgeous carpet, which dates back fifty years, having been laid in the days of the beautiful Sarah, supplies the one bit of colour in the parlour, while in the dining room the rich silver and handsome mahogany testify to the old-time glories of the place. Of manuscripts which are simply priceless, the house contains not a few; one, over the quaint wine cooler in the diningroom, acknowledging in George Washington's own hand, courtesies extended to him and to his lady by a member of the Morris family, being especially interesting. Up-stairs, in the sunlit hall, among other treasures, more elegant but not more interesting hangs a sunbonnet once worn by Molly Stark herself.

Not far off down the country road is perhaps the most beautiful and attractive spot in the whole town, the old family buryingground of the Starks, in which are interred all the deceased members of this remarkable family, from the Revolutionary Major Caleb and his wife down. Here, with grim, towering Kearsarge standing ever like a sentinel, rests under the yewtrees the dust of this great family's honored dead.

SUPPLEMENT.

VOL. III. OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1902. No. 4

Terms, in advance, $1.00. Single copy, 25 cents. Address HISTORIC QUARTERLY,

G. WALDO BROWNE, Editor,

Manchester, N. H.

Memoirs of the Manchester Historic Association. 1902.

The obituary notices of a few members who have died prior to the year just passed, which have not been given before, are included in the following sketches, all of which are arranged in their chronological order:

HONORARY MEMBER.

FRANCIS W. PARKER.

COLONEL FRANCIS WAYLAND PARKER was born in Bedford, October 9, 1837, being a lineal descendant of Colonel John Goffe of pioneer days. His grandfather, William Parker, was a soldier in the Revolution, having been a drummer under General John Stark at Bunker Hill, and he became the founder of that suburb of Manchester known as 'Squog Francis began his education in the village school of 'Squog, following this with a course at Hopkinton Academy. In the midst of his school life, when he was only a little past 16, he began his long career

of teaching, his first experience being at Corser Hill school, Boscawen, in the winter of 1854-5. After teaching in various places with success, a little over 21, he was called to the head of the grammar school of his native village where he remained until 1858, when he went to Carrollton, Greene County, Ills. The Civil war breaking out while he was here, he resigned his position, and enlisted as a private in the Fourth New Hampshire regiment at Manchester. He saw some bitter fighting, among other battles being those of Drury's Bluff and Deep Bottom, receiving the commission of brevet-colonel for bravery at the last named. Mustered out of the army in August, 1865, ignoring all flattering offers of political and financial opportunities, he resumed his chosen calling by becoming principal of a grammar school in Manchester.

From the beginning Colonel Parker's career was so fruitful of good work that it is impossible in a brief sketch like this to more than outline his successive changes. He went in 1868 to Dayton, Ohio, where he soon became principal of the first normal school, and here began those reforms in the methods of educa tion, which have so left their influence upon our common schools as to place his name by the side of Horace Mann in the educational temple of fame. He became Superintendent of Schools in Quincy, Mass., April 20, 1875; in 1880, was made one of the supervisors of schools in Boston; and on January 1, 1883, entered upon his duties in the Cook County Normal School of Chicago, where he remained until 1899, when he became the head of the School of Education of that city. His health failing him he went South to recuperate in the winter of 1902. He died, while on this trip, at Pass Christian, Miss., March 2, 1902. (For an extended account of his life-work, the reader is referred to a life sketch being prepared by a competent person, and to be given during this volume.) His body was brought to this city and now reposes in the Piscataquog cemetery, where it was placed May 13, 1902. His wife, who had preceded him by a short time into that other life, was buried beside him at the same time. V. S. C.

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