Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

606 SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
field, who died when the guild of literature had hardly made his acquaintance,
and who gave promise, if he had lived, of developing into one of America's
greatest masters of fiction.
What a wealth of character, material, and incident is embraced within the
memories of Springfield during the fifty years or more prior to the advent of the
railroads! Stephen Burroughs, the rogue, whose memoirs, with " Eiley's Nar-
rative," were read with wonderment by more than one generation of this valley.
Thomas Blanchard, the inventor, who built the steamboat "Massachusetts" on
a lot ou South Main street, and then drew it on massive solid wheels, with long
yokes of oxen, amidst a wondering crowd, to its launching-place, at the foot of
Elm street; and who, stimulated by a taunt of an armorer engaged in carving
gun-stocks " that he could not spoil his business," invented that most wonder-
ful machine for turning irregular forms, including such an irregular thing as a
gun-stock. Elijah Blake, the terror of evil-doers, who seems to have extended
his life to some fourscore years or more by becoming transfused with the
toughness and strength of his own leather ; Uncle Bill Cooley, the old sexton,
who gathered in nearl}' two entire generations before he himself was gathered.
William Ames, son of Fisher Ames, who for manj' years made two visitations to
the town annually, and timed his visits so coincidently with the arrival of shad
and the celebration of Thanksgiving, that not a few people, it is said, remained
doubtful as to the exact time of these events until the presence of Mr. Ames
in town was known to be a certainty. Captain Peck, the hardy navigator, who
for many a season breasted the storm of the Connecticut, and safely guided
his craft over the rocks and terrors of " Enfield Rapids." Eleazar Williams,
the once prince of inn-keepers, who was so famed for his politeness to all, and
his special courtesy to ladies, that it is said of him that once upon a time, com-
ing unexpectedly upon a setting hen and perceiving her to be disturbed by his
intrusion, he took off his hat gracefully, and bowing respectfully, speedily re-
tired with the remark, "Don't rise, madam, — don't, I pray you." And last,
but not least, that grand old man. Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.D., to whom Goldsmith's
lines to a country clergyman are fairly applicable, —
Remote from towns, he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed nor wished to change his place.
New England never produced a more original character, more fertile in wit,
more keen in repartee. One anecdote illustratiA'e of the latter quality, which I
will venture to relate, and which I think has never found its way into print, was
told me by the late Gen. Dan Tyler. The general, when fresh from West Point,