sweetness as of home-made bread."

And then, as the others leaned back to listen, there followed the
beautiful ballad which celebrates the fashion in which Martha Hilton, a
kitchen maid, became "Lady Wentworth of the Hall."

The old Wentworth mansion, where, as a beautiful girl, Martha came,
served, and conquered all who knew her, and even once received as her
guest the Father of his Country, is still in an admirably preserved
state, and the Wayside Inn, rechristened the Red Horse Tavern, still
entertains glad guests.

[Illustration: RED HORSE TAVERN, SUDBURY, MASS.]

This inn was built about 1686, and for almost a century and a half from
1714 it was kept as a public house by generation after generation of
Howes, the last of the name at the inn being Lyman Howe, who served
guests of the house from 1831 to about 1860, and was the good friend
and comrade of the brilliant group of men Longfellow has poetically
immortalised in the "Tales." The modern successor of Staver's Inn, or
the "Earl of Halifax," in the doorway of which Longfellow's worthy dame
once said, "as plain as day:"

"Oh, Martha Hilton! Fie! how dare you go
About the town half dressed and looking so!"

is also standing, and has recently been decorated by a memorial tablet.

In Portsmouth Martha Hilton is well remembered, thanks to Longfellow and
tradition, as a slender girl who, barefooted, ragged, with neglected
hair, bore from the well

"A pail of water dripping through the street,
And bathing as she went her naked feet."

Nor do the worthy people of Portsmouth fail to recall the other actor in
this memorable drama, upon which the Earl of Halifax once benignly
smiled:

"A portly person, with three-cornered hat,
A crimson velvet coat, head high in air,
Gold-headed cane and nicely powdered hair,
And diamond buckles sparkling at his knees,
Dignified, stately, florid, much at ease.
For this was Governor Wentworth, driving down
To Little Harbour, just beyond the town,
Where his Great House stood, looking out to sea,
A goodly place, where it was good to be."

There are even those who can perfectly recollect when the house was very
venerable in appearance, and when in its rooms were to be seen the old
spinet, the Strafford portrait, and many other things delightful to the
antiquary. Longfellow's description of this ancient domicile is
particularly beautiful:

"It was a pleasant mansion, an a