ng the author of a valuable memoir of his father
and grandfather. He collected, even more than they had done, family
relics of interest. When he died in 1865, his two sisters, Harriett and
Charlotte, succeeded him in the possession of the estate.

Only comparatively recently has this latter sister died, and the place
come into the hands of its present owner, Mr. Charles F. Morris Stark,
an heir who has the traditions of the Morris family to add to those of
the Starks, being on his mother's side a lineal descendant of Robert
Morris, the great financier of the Revolution. The present Mrs. Stark
is the representative of still another noted New Hampshire family, being
the granddaughter of General John McNeil, a famous soldier of the
Granite State.

Few, indeed, are the homes in America which contain so much which, while
of intimate interest to the family, is as well of wide historical
importance. Though a home, the house has the value of a museum. The
portrait of Major Stark, which hangs in the parlour at the right of the
square entrance-hall, was painted by Professor Samuel Finley Breese
Morse, the discoverer of the electric telegraph, a man who wished to
come down to posterity as an artist, but is now remembered by us only as
an inventor.

This picture is an admirable presentation of its original. The gallant
major looks down upon us with a person rather above the medium in
height, of a slight but muscular frame, with the short waistcoat, the
high collar, and the close, narrow shoulders of the gentleman's costume
of 1830. The carriage of the head is noble, and the strong features, the
deep-set, keen, blue eyes, and the prominent forehead, speak of courage,
intelligence, and cool self-possession.

Beside this noteworthy portrait hangs a beautiful picture of the first
mistress of this house, the Mrs. Stark who, as a girl, was Miss Sarah
McKinstrey. Her portrait shows her to have been a fine example of the
blonde type of beauty. The splendid coils of her hair are very lustrous,
and the dark hazel eyes look out from the frame with the charm and
dignity of a St. Cecilia. Her costume, too, is singularly appropriate
and becoming, azure silk with great puffs of lace around the white arms
and queenly throat. The waist, girdled under the armpits, and the
long-wristed mits stamp the date 1815-21.

The portrait of General Stark, which was painted by Miss Hannah
Crowninshield, is said not to look so much like the doughty soldier