the wood had all been cut off in Revolutionary times. There was no forest round here; the nearest approach to it was on Prospect Street, where the gasholder stands, just this side of Cambridge Street. We used to cut birches for stable brooms. Where the Bell Schoolhouse is was a pasture; a little lane ran up to it just above the Methodist Church. We let down a pair of bars, and ran across to the corner of the Johnson land. There were plenty of rose bushes and wild gooseberries. We played with powder some, and came pretty near having an accident. Powder was for sale, all the stores were licensed, “licensed to keep and sell gun-powder.” The Orcutt boys came up with their box of powder one day. They were making fusees, and there was an explosion. The boys scattered. Horace and George Runey came over very often. One Fourth of July they came and wanted us to go to Boston to see the fireworks. Father did not want us to go, and set us to hoeing a little field of cabbages that morning. So when they appeared I was as busy as I could be, and could not go. We could hear the Orcutt boys firing a salute. We sent the Runey boys up there, telling them we would come when we were ready. So they started off as merrily as could be, but it was not an hour before a crowd of people came into the yard bringing George Runey. Some one had maliciously put a charge of shot in the cannon, and one had penetrated George's eye. One of the Orcutt boys was hurt, and George Runey lost his eye. The Orcutt boys used to go gunning in the evening for muskrats on the creek. There was a little power mill on the creek, and it was a great place for eels; we often caught a barrelful in one night. We used to get bullfrogs in the brook that ran through from Walnut Street to Washington Street. We depended on the brook in dry times. I went to school in Central Square. They had beautiful penmanship then. Mr. Pierce, Miss Wheeler, and Miss Dodge
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[16]
One of the ‘young men’ has furnished reminiscences which may be of interest.
When asked in regard to the woods round about Somerville, he said that
Somerville. Historical Society. , 1910.
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