HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

[71] which, if built, rather than pay two coppers toll, for going over it, they would choose to come round by Medford. But the distracted creatures think, that, if there should be a bridge, they shall at once commence a seaport town, have still houses, stores, and what not. And in consequence of this wretched delusion, and( that neglect of business among them, which it occasions, their families next winter will have no bread, and their cattle no hay. It will be a deed, not of charity, but of indispensable justice, in Judge R. to provide for the support of the poor ignoramuses ; since it is owing to his superannuated whims that their brains have been turned. As for the old Judge himself; I told him, the other day, that, if he had gone to a “better country” some weeks since, it might have been well for him; but, whether he would ever get there now, there was too much reason to fear, as he had of late so greatly and egregiously missed the way. His delirium is so great that it is not possible to reason with him. When my people tell him that the proposed bridge will ruin them, he answers all their objections with “ Well, come and live at Charlestown then.” W. H. says, that, “were it possible, the judge would try to persuade the saints in heaven to come down and live in Charlestown.” Indeed, the Charlestown people in general, since the bridge is done, are so very high, that I know not whether they will not think it proper to add another story to their houses! Knowing how a-tiptoe they were when I went down last week, though I could not very well afford to pay the toll for my carriage, yet, rather than stop among them, I chose to ride directly into Boston. Like all other religious and( political enthusiasts, their heat will abate in time; they will gradually recover their senses, and become like other men. And, if the bridge should stand seven years (of which, by the way, I have still my doubts), by the expiration of that period the inhabitants of Charlestown will get their eyes open, and will see that it would have been more for their interest if it had never been built. This town feels the ill effects of it already in another respect besides the stir it has occasioned for a bridge at Penny Ferry. A trader, from the country, who, previous to the bridge, had all his goods brought up here in our lighters, did last week send five teams by us into Boston, there to unload and load again. Arid, if the country traders generally do so, our boatmen will lose a profitable part of their business. But this does not give us much concern, provided we can prevent the bridge at Penny Ferry. I scribbled a very long letter to Judge Phillips upon this subject last week; and he told me to-day that it is circulating among the members of the Court. I have kept a copy, and will send it to you in a few days. At present, I may possibly want it to show to some whom I may perhaps wish to influence by it. If the facts which I have produced do not carry conviction, and overwhelm these bridge-builders with confusion, I shall think that all the world is mad; and that I and my people, with the few who have hitherto joined us, remain the only sober and rational part of this lower creation.