ion of having the limberest tongue in New England, as well as a
brain most fertile in invention. The orator of the day was Hon. Robert
T. Davis, then member of Congress, a former resident of Amesbury, and
like Bartlett a physician. Jacob R. Huntington, to whose liberality
the village is indebted for the statue, is a successful pioneer in the
carriage-building industry of the place. It was cannily decided to give
the statue to the State of Massachusetts, so as to have an inducement
for the Governor to attend the dedication. Whittier's play on this fact
is in the best vein of his drollery. The statue is of dark bronze, and
this gave a chance for his amusing reference to the Kingston
Democrats, whom he imagined as coming across the state line to attend
the celebration. Dr. Bartlett was buried in their town. Professor J. W.
Churchill, of Andover, one of the "heretics" of the Seminary, was to
read the poem. The other persons named were eccentric characters well
known in Amesbury:--

MY DOUBLE

I 'm in Amesbury, not at Oak Knoll;
'T is my double here you see:
_I 'm_ sitting on the platform,
Where the programme places me--

Where the women nudge each other,
And point me out and say:
"That 's the man who makes the verses--
My! how old he is and gray!"

I hear the crackers popping,
I hear the bass drums throb;
I sit at Boynton's right hand,
And help him boss the job.

And like the great stone giant
Dug out of Cardiff mire,
We lift our man of metal,
And resurrect Josiah!

Around, the Hampshire Democrats
Stand looking glum and grim,--
"_That thing_ the Kingston doctor!
Do you call _that critter_ him?

"The pesky Black Republicans
Have gone and changed his figure;
We buried him a white man--
They've dug him up a nigger!"

I hear the wild winds rushing
From Boynton's limber jaws,
Swift as his railroad bicycle,
And buzzing like his saws!

But Hiram the wise is explaining
It 's only an old oration
Of Ginger-Pop Emmons, come down
By way of undulation!

Then Jacob, the vehicle-maker,
Comes forward to inquire
If Governor Ames will relieve the town
Of the care of old Josiah.

And the Governor says: "If Amesbury can't
Take care of its own town charge,
The State, I suppose, must do it,
And keep him from runnin' at