ing of Franklin
Pierce's administration in which, had he lived, he would have had,
doubtless, a prominent part. He was an ultra and zealous democrat,
differing in this respect from the political faith of his fathers; and
so strenuous was he in the advocacy of State rights that he introduced
into Congress the twenty-first rule against the right of petition--a
rule which the efforts of "The Old Man Eloquent," John Quincy Adams,
caused to be rescinded. So obnoxious a measure fastened upon Atherton
the nickname of Charles Gag Atherton; and many an anti-slavery writer in
bitter philippic contrasted his course with that of his grandfather,
Hon. Joshua Atherton, who, early in the history of New Hampshire, was an
able and fearless advocate of the abolition of slavery.

Two of the sons of Dr. Nathaniel and Sarah (Toppan) Thayer were the
well-known successful and liberal bankers,--John Eliot and Nathaniel
Thayer of Boston,--whose wise and generous gifts to the cause of liberal
education give their names an honored place among the benefactors of the
Commonwealth. A younger son, Rev. Christopher Toppan Thayer, was, for
many years, a faithful and beloved pastor of the Unitarian Church in
Beverly, Mass.

Christopher Toppan was not only shrewd and enterprising in his private
business, but a pioneer in every project which would benefit the
community around him. He assumed responsibilities, invested money, and
hired labor in building the turnpike and other public improvements. He
was a leader in matters of religion and education as well as of secular
interest. When the Congregational Church and Society of Hampton wished
to build a meeting-house, the committee wrote him a letter stating the
reasons why a certain valuable and centrally situated piece of land
owned by him would be the most advantageous site for the proposed
building. His reply was in the laconic style characteristic of his
manner of doing good:--

GENTLEMEN,--If you want my land, you may have it.

CHRISTOPHER TOPPAN.

He invited the clergyman to make it his home for a year at his house,
thus removing some of the self-denials of an early settlement in a
country parish. He did much toward the establishment of Hampton Academy,
then a pioneer and very useful institution of the kind in that part of
the State, and one at which Rufus Choate and other men of mark fitted
for college. He offered to the preceptress also a home in his family, in
order that a well-educa