Northern Star, And Warren And Bristol Gazette

A STORY OF EARLY TIMES.

Many taverns have sprung up in Boston, since there stood near the dock, a plastered sharp-roofed building the upper part of which, according to the fashion of the times, projected a considerable way over the lower, both for security against the midnight attacks of the Indians, and shelter from the inclemencies of the weather. This was the first public house here established, and it was long ere the grey beards of the town ceased to regard the sign of The Three Mariners with jealous eyes and to shake their heads in the gloomy spirit of prophecy, whenever they passed within sound of its creaking. Years, however, without bringing to pass these evil predictions. Sometimes, indeed, a knot of weatherbeaten sailors might be seen of a cold morning, sunning themselves in front of the tavern, like a herd of seals that have crawled on land after a-storm, and squirting their tobacco juice with as little respect to the laws of cleanliness as of the colony: yet the house, in the main, bore as reputable a character as its neighbours, and goodman Gross, its master, continued to exercise his calling with little or no molestation.

One of those clear cold days; so peculiar to New-England in early times, had just closed upon its shores, and the last beams of twilight gilding the tops of the surrounding hills, and reflected from a thousand high and fantastick piles of snow, gave the signal to the good people of Boston to end the labours of the day. The streets were soon deserted and silent, the house-dogs, like faithful watchmen, composed themselves to rest on the door-stones, and every cat of regular habits, crept quietly into the chimney corner for the night. It is a beautiful trait in the character of our ancestors, a golden streak in the dark picture of their manners, that they scrupulously obeyed the call, when the shadows of night settled on their dwellings inviting them to rest. No fashionable parties, protracted to a late hour, drove sleep from the eyes of the drowsy maiden, or disturbed the happy dreams of the bachelor, as is too often the case in these degenerate times in which the broad flare of gas light turns night into day; but slumber fell upon all: upon the resting of the Maccabees in their high places or the lowliest by which they were surrounded.

It was not long therefore, before goodman Gross, like the rest of the town, was snoring soundly in bed, and chalking up long scores in his dreams, against customers whose accounts seemed to have no end. Suddenly, however, his thoughts took a less agreeable turn. He imagined that his customers refused payment, and that he himself was on the point of being arrested for debt; nay, the constable appeared to be knocking at his door at that very moment. And in truth, there was knocking at the door of the Three Mariners, and loud demands for admittance.--The misty dreams gradually cleared away from the mind of the sleeping landlord, and the light of his waking senses began to appear. He listened and was satisfied that the sounds were no echoes of his imagination. Thump, thump, went the blows without, and thump, thump, went the throbs of his heart. Never was a poor tavern-keeper struck with so great consternation. Three successive attempts he made to rise, but each only served to sink him still deeper under the bed clothes. At last, however, as the noise continued to increase, goodman Gross, summoning up all his courage, resolved to go forth and meet his importunate visitant, who seemed to his frightened imagination like a roaring lion in the way to devour him.

About this period, the marvellous tales of the witches were current throughout this part of the country, and, though numbers of innocent persons had fallen victims to the strange superstition of the times, the general terror was by no means abated. Every unusual event was ascribed to supernatural agency, so that it is hardly to be wondered at, if the master of The Three Mariners, as he drew the bar from the door, felt a secret belief that he was going to admit some evil spirit. His courage was screwed to the sticking place, and his trembling person drawing up into an attitude of defence, when a huge mass tumbled violently in, upsetting the poor landlord by the shock. How long he lay in this state of apparent insensibility, we do not take upon us to affirm; but at length he was aroused by a voice from the ball, which had now rolled itself into the fire-place, demanding in a hollow, unearthly tone, if he were the master of the house. "Verily, I am goodman Gross the publican," stammered the half-dead tavern keeper, gathering up his scattered raiments, and rallying his confused senses. "And verily thou deservest the name of sinner also," replied the same hollow voice; "thou art a very levite, to keep a fellow being at thy door this uncomfortable night." At the mention of fellow being, a deep groan escaped the tavern-keeper, and a faint ray of light flashed on his mind as to the nature of his guest. But peradventure, thy bowels of compassion be not frozen," continued the mysterious personage who as Shakspeare says of the devil, quoted scripture for his purpose," bring forth thy wine and oil, as did the good Samaritan of old." "Of such sinful liquors there are none within my gates, which are moreover forbidden by the wisdom of our rulers." "Discourse not to me of the wisdom of your spiritual government," interrupted the stranger, "little wisdom is there, I trow in making long prayers, and wearing short hair"

Hereupon the living mass of furs--for such it seemed--slowly unrolled itself, and in its very centre disclosed a squab duck-legged person, with an extremely diminutive head, dark forbidding features, and a prodigious cue that projected from behind like an iron pump handle. Goodman Gross reconnoitered his guest at a respectful distance, as he stood with his back to the fire, whisking his cue from side to side, somewhat in the manner of a cat playing with his tail. The frost which had occasioned its singular projection soon began to melt before the warmth of the fire, and passing off in thick volumes of smoke, seemed to confirm all the worst suspicions of the credulous landlord. A host of stories of devils with unnatural tails that walk abroad by night seeking to ensnare the sons of men, came thronging on his mind. Nay, the very features of the stranger, assumed such a diabolical look of complacency, as left little doubt as to his character, or the object of his visit. Cautiously and carefully, the master of the Three Mariners slunk through a crack in the door, and having satisfied himself that it was not all a dream, and that the clothes of his guest were not fastened on his feet, set off full speed to declare what things he had seen, to the magistrate of the town, and to take the proper measures for freeing his habitation from its suspicious visitant.

An association had been formed by the governour and assistants, a short time previous to this, for the purpose of suppressing the fashion of wearing long hair among men. The text in Corinthians, furnished sufficient authority for such a procedure, and the zeal of our ancestors, by fines and persecution, had rooted out early all the hair that grew on the heads of men, and extended below their ears. Far be it from us to dispute the justice or the expediency of the act. We are not one of the profession, that depends on the shears for subsistence, and of course, should not raise our voice against it, if government should take upon themselves to scalp the whole community. We do not question the good intentions of our ancestors, for who can doubt if such a law had been in force in the days of Pharaoh, Egypt would have been saved from one and that not the least tormenting, of its seven plagues: and our ancestors might wish to avert so great an evil from falling on their own heads or on the heads of their posterity. We lament the decline of this salutary fashion, and when we see the young men of the present day bestowing such infinite pains on the outside of their craniums, while they neglect the interior, we can only say, that long hair, like charity covers a multitude of sins. But we are digressing from our story. When morning dawned on the quiet town of Boston, the wonderful tale of goodman Gross, was travelling from mouth to mouth with the rapidity of light, and increasing in proportion to its progress. It was currently told and firmly believed that the devil, in propria persona, had taken possession of the Three Mariners, driven out its mortal owner. and had set this example of breaking the laws of the colony by wearing his tail on his head. A general panic seized upon all; some took to their bibles, others to their heels; some raised their hands in prayer, others to their heads, expecting that their hair would ere long begin to sprout and shoot out to an unnatural length: every one avoided the tavern, while it was possessed of an evil spirit, lest like the ill fated Absalom, they should be caught up to the sign-post, and dangle a sad warning to all who have not the fear of the devil before their eyes. The magistrates, after setting in council with other pious men of the day, voted, nem con that it was a judgment upon the town for permitting so great an abomination as a house of feasting and drinking, and that Master Dreadnought Doughty be forthwith despatched to arrest the mysterious personage then abiding at The Three Mariners, about whom were sundry suspicious marks, such as wearing long hair, &c. Here followed a catalogue of all the circumstances which the fears or imagination of goodman Gross had contrived to suggest, and which the credulity of our good ancestors received without the least distrust.

Master Doughty was a true disciple of the staff, and had been exalted to his present dignity by an event that occurred shortly before. A wood in the vicinity had been haunted with strange noises, like the howlings of wild beasts, or of devils as some affirmed, so that none dared to enter or even approach it. A considerable reward was offered to the person who should free it from the cause of these terrific noises. Now master Doughty had long been known as a man of prodigious courage, and only wanted an opportunity like this to have it fully attested. Accompanied by no living being but his dog, he sallied forth; and, after wandering about the wood for some time, discovered the object of his search seated in the topmost boughs of a tall pine Quick as a flash, his gun was at his shoulder, his finger on the trigger, and in another flash his prey would have dropped at his feet, had his fire not been arrested by a cry of "Massa! Massa!". The truth was, a poor negro servant had lost his way in the woods, and his loud and repeated calls for assistance, and cries of distress, had given rise to all the exaggerated reports of devils and wild beasts. Master Doughty returned home with his spoil, received the reward, and thenceforth the office of tipstaff. of When, therefore, the constable received command to exercise the tavern of The Three Mariners, nothing daunted by the weightiness of the trust he repaired to the scene of action, Frightful stories lined his way thither and dire forebodings, at every turn saluted his ears. Here an old man sat like the sinister crow, giving his warning in a croaking voice; there a red nightcap, on the head of some experienced dame, thrust itself from a broken window, and proclaimed, with the positiveness and ambiguity of an ancient oracle, that dangers were before him. But master Dreadnought, who was naturally hard of hearing, turned a deaf ear to all these remonstrances. like an experienced general, he reconnoitred his enemy through the apertures, and seeing nothing to alarm him, boldly pushed open the door, and entered. What happened during the time he remained in the house, which was more than an hour, we have never been able to learn, notwithstanding the numerous investigations we have made to that effect. Master Doughty would never divulge to any person, not even to his wife--though in this respect he is not so much to be blamed, as the whole town would have had the story, if she had got possession of but the tail of it--nor to the magistrates, who deputed him with this mission. The whole affair was involved in mystery: and some were induced to believe it was nothing more than a dream of goodman Gross's in the beginning--and in the end, an affected secrecy of master Doughty, who was somewhat of a wag; and never loved to spoil a good joke. By far the larger part; however most seriously believed that the devil had appeared to the master of the Three Mariners, and that the long hair he wore on the occasion, was an attempt to revive the fashion; the constable it was thought saw in the tavern a great deal more than he was at liberty to reveal. Be-this as it may, the Three Mariners fell into disrepute and never flourished after this eventful night. The great fire which was the first that had ever visited Boston, began at this place.--Whereupon the greybeards of the town who had grown old in their antipathy to a tavern, took a malicious satisfaction in perceiving their ancient predictions come to pass.