Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/16

TWENTY YEARS BEFORE THE MAST.

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CHAPTER I.

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I was born in the first house on the east side of Roxbury Street, just over the Boston line, in the historic old town of Roxbury. The hip-roofed old mansion still stands, the front end facing the street. In the middle of the sidewalk rises a stately elm tree, in front

of which is a stone post some three feet high, bearing on one side the inscription R., A. D. 1823, on the other, B., A. D. 1823^[1]. This stone marks the boundary line between the towns of Boston and Roxbury.

1. In the year 1822 the town of Boston, having twenty-five thousand inhabitants, was incorporated a city.