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Babcock,1 Penniman, and Munroe, of whom only the last survives, he made a pedestrian trip to Lake Champlain.
This was his first absence from Boston and its suburbs.
He kept a journal of the excursion, from which the following account is abridged:
The party left Cambridge, July 14, 1829, at four P. M., ‘with knapsacks on their backs and umbrellas in their hands, and in high spirits,’ and walked on ‘singing and laughing, and attracting considerable attention.’
Refreshing themselves in the early evening, at Lincoln, with ‘a hearty supper of brown-bread and milk,’ they passed their first night at a small inn in Concord.
Rising before four the next morning (15th), they went through Sudbury, Stow, and Bolton, and lodged that night at Sterling, enduring severe heat during the day. From Sterling, which they left before five A. M. (16th), they walked up the steep hill to the village of Princeton, where they enjoyed breakfast at a well-kept hotel.
Then, giving up the ascent of Mt. Wachusett on account of the weather, they kept on their way through a hilly and uncultivated country; and picking raspberries which served for luncheon and dinner, and refreshed once by a shower, they arrived at Barre village, sixty-five2 miles from Boston, ‘single-file, umbrellas up, and singing.’
‘We usually stopped to talk with the farmers whom we passed, asked them about the hay, and heard some of the stories which they had to tell about pieces of land which they owned.
One of them told us that he was the son of the first man who was born in Princeton.
In this manner we passed through the towns, gaining information about the state of the country, and health and strength by our exercise.
Most of the persons whom we passed, and with whom we stopped, seemed to think that we were doing wonders.
They frequently said that they should like to take the same route, in the same way, but thought they could not go on at the rate we did. Barre, where we are now waiting for our supper, is a very pretty village.
The town is famous for its dairies, making more butter and cheese than any other in the State.’
Passing the night at Dana, which they reached after an evening walk, they rose as usual, at four A. M. (17th), and walked through Greenwich, ‘a very pretty and pleasant town, situated on a plain,’ observing Mt. Pomroy and Mt. Liz; thence to Enfield, and arrived at Amherst ‘after a most toilsome journey ’
1 Rev. Samuel B. Babcock, rector of a parish in Dedham. He died in 1873.
2 The distances are given as in the journal.
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