Sketches from Concord and Appledore | Page 3

the
prettiest that can be found anywhere.
Then such walks and drives as there were in the town! From Concord
Common roads branch off in all directions like the spokes of a wheel.
The oldest road, by which the British troops made their entry and exit,
runs northeasterly to the Hawthorne house and Lexington with a firm,
dry sidewalk for more than a mile; another goes northwesterly to the
battle-ground and Esterbrook farm, where there were magnificent
chestnut trees equal in size and shape to the Persian walnuts of Europe,
as well as huge granite boulders scattered about from some pre-historic
glacier.
The Emerson farm lies between two interesting roads, one going
straight over the hills of Boston, and the other to Walden Lake and
Thoreau's hermitage, or where it was. Between them runs a lively,
gurgling brook, which used to be frequented by woodcock, and the
Virginia rail, and passes close by Mrs. Emerson's garden.
Two or three miles to the south there is another lakelet called Fairhaven
Bay, the south branch of the river flowing through it, quite equal in its
way to Walden, or to an Irish lake, for that matter. On the outskirts of
the village, there was many a quaint old weather-beaten house with a
well-sweep, perhaps, for accompaniment,--excellent subjects for a
sketchbook,--and Walden woods were always full of natural side-shows

and those charming effects of color and shadow which artists delight in.
On the western side, there were the two mile square, the three mile
square, and five mile square, for those who liked an exact measure for
their constitutional exercise; and on the north the road went straight to
Sleepy Hollow, now one of the famous cemeteries of the world. Thence,
paths went through the fields and woods to the Lexington road on one
side and to the north bridge on the other; and these paths are
memorable from the fact that they were Hawthorne's favorite walk
during the last years of his life.
A curious accident happened somewhere about 1860 just beyond
Sleepy Hollow. A farmer returning to the next town felt the earth
shaking under his wagon, and looked behind him just in time to see a
piece of the road disappear into a pool of black water. The natives
thought it had gone down to China for they were all summer filling the
place up, and the expense was not less than that of a new district
school-house.
The Indian name of the river was Muskataquid, and there was formerly
an Indian encampment on the site of the old Ripley manse and
battleground. A great quantity of arrow-heads of flint, jasper and quartz
have been found in the neighboring fields, and Emerson used
sometimes to bring his visitors to search for them. The Ripley family
had a fine collection of Indian relics, and it is almost pathetic to think
of the pains and labor the aborigines must have expended in
manufacturing those household and warlike implements,--the arrows
especially being often so soon lost again.
It is likely that they chose this situation for its sunny exposure, and as a
favorable landing for their canoes, rather than from a decided feeling
for landscape beauty. No doubt they had their battles and invasions,
and perhaps repulsed their enemies from the same ground where the
British line was afterwards formed.
What one wonders at, in regard to the Concord fight, is that the English
commander should have drawn off his men after the first volley and so
slight a loss. He had as good a position as his opponents, and after an
obstinate struggle might have succeeded in carrying the bridge, the
bayonets of his soldiers giving him a certain advantage. This would
seem to have been more prudent than to retreat so long a distance
before a confident enemy. It has been agreed that the position of the

minute men was the best they could have selected, for after repulsing
the British troops they were able to send a detachment across by Sleepy
Hollow and Hawthorne's path to attack them again in flank on the
Lexington road. This success was as fortunate for the colonies as in the
summer of 1861 Bull Run was unlucky for our Southern friends.
The men who were drawn up to be shot at on Lexington Common were
no doubt as brave as their friends who contested the battle of the old
north bridge, but their position was not a favorable one to hold against
a superior force. It was an excellent position to retreat from, and
perhaps that is what their commander had in view. Evidently they
should have withdrawn to Concord, or have intrenched themselves on
the nearest hillside commanding the Boston and Concord road. Such
was the difference between these two fights.
[Illustration: The Concord river,