Peter Claflin nodded in a dazed fashion but sat, open-mouthed, apparently unable to speak.

The color had left Elias Eldredge's face, but he stood up, in his turn, his big figure swaying a little, and shook hands with the beaming parson. "Bein' friends o' Piketon's," he said solemnly to the bride, "we all wish you a heap o' joy. We've all been been takin' a friendly interest in your wife, Elder Dobson, bein', as I said, friends o' Piketon's."

Mr. Dobson smiled blandly. "Very kind, I'm sure," he murmured, with ministerial perfunctoriness.

"I told him he'd got to wait at least six months," said Mrs. Dobson, smiling impartially on the group, "but he got nervous and came on just a day or two after I left. He said," and her plump form shook merrily as she spoke, "that there was too many attractive old widowers around this institution an' he wanted to see that I wasn't givin' any of 'em too much encouragement." The three comrades smiled faintly at this sally, but seemed to think of no appropriate response.

"Well, Mrs. Dobson," the bridegroom said, taking the widow (widow no longer) tenderly by the arm, "I guess we'll have to be going. We can see these kind friends some other time before we leave."

The three old men sat stupefied as the Reverend Mr. Dobson led his new-made spouse away through the syringa bushes. For a long minute no one said a word. Then Orson Stringer threw the piece of pine he was whittling far into the dust of the road.

"Boys," he said, "I've got a proposition to make. Comrade Claflin 'll treat us to ice cream, an' I'll hire a rowboat an' row ye both aroun' the lake, an' 'Lias here 'll take his catarrh along an' play 'n' sing fer us. I guess the joke is on us, an' we may as well get what we can out of it by celebratin' the weddin' o' the Widder Phelps."

"Good idee," said Peter Claflin. "Let's do just that. But first let's shake hands all 'round. There ain't nothin' to prevent our bein' friends now, as fer's I c'n see."

Elias Eldredge said not a word, but as he shook hands with the others his grip was the hardest and heartiest of all.

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NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE.

The First Printing Press ROBERT

OBERT F. RODEN, in his "History of the First Printing Press Established in English America," relates that "in the summer of 1638 'the John of London,' of London,' bearing a printing press, a printer and three pressmen, approached the shores of New England, and ended one of the most memorable of voyages." This first press of the English colonies was by no means the first printing press in America. The Spaniards had antedated that by just a hundred years. In 1538 one Juan Pablos in the City of Mexico. had set up a press and printed "a compendium of Christian doctrine" under the auspices of the regnant Spanish church. Thus Mexico led Massachusetts by a century. The first work of the new press of 1638, however, was of a far different

order. This was the "Freeman's oath" which every man, over twenty and six months a householder, must take in order to become a legal citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This oath in its original draft was the work of John Winthrop and is now one of the treasured possessions of the Boston Public Library. It reads as. follows:

"THE OATH OF A FREE-MAN

"I (A. B.), being by God's providence, an Inhabitant and Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do freely acknowledge my self to be subject to the Government thereof; And therefore do here swear by the great and dreadful Name of the Everlasting God that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will ac-cordingly yield assistance and support thereunto, with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound; and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and priviledges thereof, submitting my self to the whole-some Lawes & Orders made and established by the same. And further, that I will not plot or practice any evil against it, or consent to any that shall do so; but will timely discover and reveal the same to lawful Authority now here established, for the speedy presenting thereof.

"Moreover, I doe solemnly bind my self in the sight of God, when I shal be called to give my voyce touching any such matter of this State, in which Free-men are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may but conduce and tend to the publike weal of the

body, without respect of persons, or favour of any man. So help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ."

It is a noteworthy matter and shows the trend of thought and single-hearted groping toward the path of personal freedom that was characteristic of the thought of the day that the first printed matter issued in the colony should be this. cath. Moreover the last clause in the oath is one that every voter of the country to-day would do well to subscribe to and follow freely. would seem to prove that the independent voter, the man who follows his conscience only in his action for the welfare of the state, was logically born of Massachusetts long before. the term "mugwump" came to be applied to him by men of less broad gauge.

This first press was set up in the house of Henry Dunster of Cambridge, the first president of Harvard College, and there it continued for years to do good work for the colonists, printing next "an almanack made for New England by Mr. Peirce, Mariner," a publication which might well have been the germ from which grew Franklin's idea for his "Poor Richard's Alma

nack." Later it issued "The Bay Psalm Book," showing that though. the first idea of the colonists was toward the upbuilding of the state, the church came not far behind in

their thoughts. Later came "Spiritual Milk," by John Cotton, which with the "New England Primer" no doubt puzzled the wits of our the wits of our ancestors with its reasoning on theology and its hints of eternal damnation.

The weightiest and most noted work of this old press was without doubt the Indian Bible

of the Apostle Eliot. Prodigious labor went into the translation of this work and equally prodigious labor into the printing, which was completed in 1663.

Stephen Day was the first printer, followed by Matthew his son and later by Samuel Green. In its later years the old press led the life of vicissitude which is common to most printing presses. It wandered from its Cambridge home to Connecticut, thence to Vermont, where it came to be consigned to attics. and barn lofts with other relics of the pioneer days of New England. The newspaper men of that state, with commendable patriotism, rescued it some years ago and presented it to the Vermont Historical Society. It now adorns their rooms in the State House at Montpelier, one of their most prized historical relics. The work that this humble hand machine did for the enlightenment of the colonies cannot be overestimated, and its very first issue cannot be too highly recommended to the freeman and voter of to-day.

ever since continued to loyally sup port the institution.

"The movement was no sooner launched than it brought to light some surprising facts regarding the number of natives of the Granite state that had become residents of other states. Nearly 125,000 of its sons and daughters-two out of every family of six-have left their old homes there; while from Massachusetts 300,000 have gone forth, and Maine has lost 216,000, Vermont 168,000, Rhode Island 61,000 and Connecticut 142,000-a grand total of about 1,000,000 for all of New England.

"The other New England states. were not long in deciding that what was proving to be such a good thing for New Hampshire ought to be equally good for them; and, so, in 1900, Maine adopted the Old Home Week reunion idea; in 1901 Vermont took it up, and in 1902 Massachusetts fell into line with considerable enthusiasm, followed later by Connecticut and Rhode Island.

"In Massachusetts the Legislature has legally recognized the institution by enacting a law giving cities and towns authority to appropriate money for Old Home week purposes, and many have availed themselves of the privilege. Reunions have thus far been held in something like one hundred and Bay State twenty-five different

cities and towns, some of them of a very elaborate nature, and a number of the towns have annually observed the festival without a break since 1902.

"To give even a brief history of all these happy reunions, with their long list of banquets, entertainments, trade processions, floral

parades, concerts, exhibitions, carnivals, picnics, illuminations, religious services and other features, would require a volume of ponderous di

mensions.

"The success attending the social and sentimental side of these reunions has been marked; but the best and most hopeful thing about it all has been the fact that the people in the far West and South, for whom all these elaborate receptions were gotten up, have really been glad of the opportunity to come back to their old homes and meet once more their old friends and schoolmates, some of whom they had not seen for twenty, thirty and even forty years.

"Not only have they come back and pulled the latchstring by hundreds, but they have given, in many instances, substantial evidence of their reawakened interest in their native place. Some have erected public drinking fountains, some have donated public libraries, and others have helped to lift the mortgage on the local church, or have presented the town a park or memorial.

"Many, also, have shown their interest in the very practical way of determining to hereafter spend their annual vacation at their former home, which is the next best thing to coming back for good.

"In other ways, too, Old Home week has proven itself to be a helpful influence, and one that should be heartily supported by every public spirited citizen. Among other results, it has caused a great awakening of interest in the local history. of towns, and will in time lead to the compilation of many permanent histories. This interest has also

found expression in the marking of scores of historic sites and landmarks by tablets and monuments, so that in some towns to-day the salient points of history may be read by all who walk abroad.

"It has brought new hope and spirit to more than one discouraged hill town for communities can become despondent, as well as individuals. It has had some good influence upon the industrial life of many a town and city, its social benefits have been immense. for not only has it brought the permanent residents of country towns into closer touch with one another, but it has made for a distinctly better understanding between the natives. and the wealthy city people who have summer homes in many of these places, both working together for the common interest during Old Home week.

"There is at least one instance where an organization of city residents composed of natives of a country town-the Candia Club of Boston-takes full charge of the Old Home week observance in the little New Hampshire town from which its members came; and not satisfied with that, holds an annual winter "new home" reunion in the metropolis.

"These are a few of the concrete results that have already been obtained from the observance of Old Home week in New England. Surely they are all well worth the while.

"The movement has already spread far beyond the confines of this section. It has been adopted with success in Ohio, Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and

Newfoundland, and this year Louisville, Kentucky, is going to take it up on a most elaborate scale, dedicating special days to Daniel Boone, Stephen C. Foster and other illustrious Kentuckians, and keeping "open house" for such survivors of Kentucky's six hundred thousand absent sons and daughters as are able to attend the reunion.

"If only a small percentage of New England's absent natives can be induced to come back and settle down among us again, if merely in the capacity of summer visitors, something will have been accomplished toward counteracting the drain upon our resources that we are now feeling so seriously.

"The general and hearty support of Old Home week will unquestionably do much in this direction, and it should receive practical encouragement from every local board of trade, improvement society, historical association, civic club, grange and woman's organization in New England."