s the neighbors and
the members of my family can testify fully and with deep feeling, if
called upon.

H. A. S.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

A good many years ago, during my college days, it was my custom and that
of my room-mate, Brown of Exeter, to make our room the gathering-place
for Exeter boys, both "stewdcats" and homesick Exeter youths then
filling positions in Boston. It happened that frequently undergraduates
from other towns and cities came in at these Saturday evening gatherings
and it was a matter of wonder to them that we had so much to talk about
in relation to our native town; and it was their frequent remark that
"either Exeter is a remarkable place, or you are a remarkably loyal set
of fellows."

That Exeter is a remarkable place is an axiom, and no better evidence of
the fact can be found (were evidence necessary to sustain an axiom) than
in the loyalty that every citizen displays, and the sincere love that
prompts every one who has ever come under the spell of our dear old town
to revisit her at every opportunity.

Where else could a diary of this nature, dealing with actual persons
and actual events, be published and be received with such absolute
goodnature and even enthusiasm by the persons now living who are
mentioned therein?

It is therefore with affection as well as amusement that I append
the following brief biographical sketches of persons mentioned in the
"Diary," preserving as nearly as possible the order of their appearance
in the book. As many readers of the "Diary" have expressed a desire to
know more of the subsequent histories and achievements of those therein
mentioned, it is hoped this information will satisfy a curiosity and
interest which, to a loyal son of Exeter, appear quite natural:--

1. Father. GEORGE S. SHUTE.

A native of Exeter. For twenty-six years a clerk in the Boston Naval
Office. Still living in Exeter, an old man with a young tongue; in fact,
the quickest man at repartee in Exeter.

2. Mother.

My mother died in the winter of 1896. No words can do justice to her
qualities. "A sweeter woman ne'er drew breath."

3. "Gim" Melcher.

An old friend of my father's. Died in Maiden a few years ago.

4. Some of the men who were "wrighting fast" in the Custom House
were the following:--

GEORGE DAVIS, of Lexington, who a year ago celebrated his fiftieth
consecutive year of service in the Naval Office; COLONEL IVORY POPE,
of Cambridge; BENJAMIN A. SIDWELL, of