History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield ...

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Miscellaneous Notes. 223
there is little doubt that it would have been better for us, in
.''
many respects. Are we not too much on the wing Shopping,"
what little there was, was done in town. A visit to the city
ordinarily consumed a whole day and the expenses of the journey
were very much greater than at present, to say nothing of the
discomforts of the public conveyances. The few leading business
men who went up once or twice a week usually had their own
" teams," and often took in a neighbor, who would pay the tolls
and horse-baiting. The anecdote related in our Annals, under
date 1847, of a couple of business worthies, who rode to Charlestown
bridge, when they got into a dispute over the payment
of a toll, continuing to wrangle all day, and at night turning about
and jogging home without going over, has reference to this
custom as well as showing the obstinacy of the actors in
the comical
scene. Then there were others — some even of the smaller
manufacturers — who were accustomed to go on foot, getting a
lift, perhaps, part of the way, on some friendly baggage wagon.
In relation to steam transportation, it may be stated that up
to 1828, no steam-propelled craft had ever stirred the waters
of Lynn. The " Ousatonic," well remembered as a steamer
of what would now be called
diminutive size, was advertised to
visit Lynn on Monday, the 8th of September, of that year, ta
take a party out on an excursion among the islands of Boston
harbor. The announcement caused a real sensation, for hardly
any one had seen a vessel moved by that mysterious motive
power ; and before the appointed hour an eager multitude hastened
to every point of observation, some even posting themselves
on house-tops. But no steamer came on that day, and great was
the disappointment, which manifested itself in various unsavory
ways. And if we rightly remember, a boat did not come till the
next year.
In connection with the above, and for the purpose of showing,
what great expectations were raised from the enlarged use of
steam, the following paragraph which exultingly went the newspaporial
round of that propitious year, 1828, may be given :
" Great Despatch. The Benjamin Franklin, steamer, made her
last trip from New York to Providence, in sixteen hours. She
was seventeen minutes at Newport. The shortest passage ever
made." The writer made a passage from Providence to New