The Soldier Boy | Page 4

to destruction. The career of
the horse was short; for in the act of turning a corner, half a mile from
the spot where Tom stood, he upset the chaise, and was himself thrown
down, and, being entangled in the harness, was unable to rise before a
stout man had him by the head.
"I wish that chaise had been the southern confederacy," said Tom to
himself, philosophically, when he saw the catastrophe in the distance.
"Well, it served you right, old Secesh; and I'll bet there ain't many folks
in Pinchbrook Harbor that will be willing to comfort the mourners."
With this consoling assurance, Tom continued on his way home. At
dinner, he gave the family a faithful account of the transaction.
"You didn't do right, Thomas," said his mother.
"He hit me first."
"You called him a traitor."
"He is a traitor, and so is his father."
"I declare, the boys are as full of fight as an egg is of meat," added

gran'ther Greene.
"You haven't seen the last of it yet, Thomas," said the prudent mother.
"No matter, Tom; I'll stand by you," added John.
After dinner, the two boys walked down to the Harbor together.


CHAPTER II
.
THE SOMERS FAMILY.
The town of Pinchbrook is not a great distance from Boston, with
which it is connected by railroad. If any of our young readers are of a
geographical turn of mind, and are disposed to ascertain the exact
locality of the place, we will save them any unnecessary trouble, for it
is not laid down on any map with which we are familiar. We live in
times of war, and probably our young friends have already learned the
meaning of "military necessity." Our story is essentially a military story,
and there are certain military secrets connected with it which might be
traced out if we should inform our inquisitive readers exactly where
Pinchbrook is situated.
Squire Pemberton, we doubt not, is very anxious to find out certain
persons connected with some irregular proceedings in and around his
house on the evening of Monday, April 16th. Fidelity to the truth of
history compels us to narrate these proceedings in our humble volume;
but we should exceedingly regret thereby to get any of our friends into
a scrape by informing the squire that they were active participants in
the scenes of that eventful night, or to say any thing which would
enable him, a lawyer, to trace out the authors of the mischief through
these pages. Therefore we cannot say where Pinchbrook is, or even
give a hint which would enable our readers to fix definitely its locality.
Pinchbrook is a town of about three thousand inhabitants, engaged, as
the school books would say, in agriculture, manufactures, commerce,
and the fisheries, which, rendered into still plainer English, means that
some of the people are farmers; that wooden pails, mackerel kegs,
boots and shoes, are made; that the inhabitants buy groceries, and sell
fish, kegs, pails, and similar wares; and that there are about twenty

vessels owned in the place, the principal part of which are fishermen.
We have not the agricultural and commercial statistics of the place at
hand; but the larger territorial part of the town was devoted to the
farming interest, and was rather sparsely populated, while the principal
village, called Pinchbrook Harbor, was more densely peopled,
contained two stores, four churches, one wharf, a blacksmith shop, and
several shoe and bucket manufactories.
We are willing to acknowledge that Pinchbrook is rather a singular
name. The antiquarians have not yet had an opportunity to determine its
origin; but our private opinion is that the word is a corruption of
_Punch_-brook. Perhaps, at some remote period in the history of the
town, before the Sons of Temperance obtained a foothold in the place,
a villainous mixture, known to topers under the general appellation of
"punch," may have been largely consumed by the Pinchbrookers.
Though not a very aged person ourself, we have heard allusions to
festive occasions where, metaphorically, the punch was said to "flow in
streams." Possibly, from "streams" came "brooks,"--hence,
"Punchbrook,"--which, under the strange mutations of time, has
become "Pinchbrook." But we are not learned in these matters, and we
hope that nothing we have said will bias the minds of antiquarians, and
prevent them from devoting that attention to the origin of the word
which its importance demands.
The Somers family, which we have already partially introduced,
occupied a small cottage not quite a mile from Pinchbrook Harbor.
Captain Somers, the head of the family, had been, and was still, for
aught his wife and children knew, master of the schooner Gazelle. To
purchase this vessel, he had heavily mortgaged his house and lands in
Pinchbrook to Squire Pemberton. But his voyages