way. Don't you think so, Grandfather?"

"It was kept here for Grandfather and me to sit in together," said little
Alice, "and for Grandfather to tell stories about."

"And Grandfather is very glad of such a companion, and such a theme," said
the old gentleman, with a smile. "Well, Laurence, if our oaken chair, like
the wooden Palladium of Troy, was connected with the country's fate, yet
there appears to have been no supernatural obstacle to its removal from
the Province House. In 1760, Sir Francis Bernard, who had been governor of
New Jersey, was appointed to the same office in Massachusetts. He looked
at the old chair, and thought it quite too shabby to keep company with a
new set of mahogany chairs, and an aristocratic sofa, which had just
arrived from London. He therefore ordered it to be put away in the
garret."

The children were loud in their exclamations against this irreverent
conduct of Sir Francis Bernard. But Grandfather defended him, as well as
he could. He observed, that it was then thirty years since the chair had
been beautified by Governor Belcher. Most of the gilding was worn off by
the frequent scourings which it had undergone, beneath the hands of a
black slave. The damask cushion, once so splendid, was now squeezed out of
all shape, and absolutely in tatters, so many were the ponderous gentlemen
who had deposited their weight upon it, during these thirty years.

Moreover, at a council held by the Earl of Loudon with the governors of
New England, in 1757, his lordship, in a moment of passion, had kicked
over the chair with his military boot. By this unprovoked and
unjustifiable act, our venerable friend had suffered a fracture of one of
its rungs.

"But," said Grandfather, "our chair, after all, was not destined to spend
the remainder of its days in the inglorious obscurity of a garret. Thomas
Hutchinson, lieutenant-governor of the province, was told of Sir Francis
Bernard's design. This gentleman was more familiar with the history of New
England than any other man alive. He knew all the adventures and
vicissitudes through which the old chair had passed, and could have told,
as accurately as your own Grandfather, who were the personages that had
occupied it. Often, while visiting at the Province House, he had eyed the
chair with admiration, and felt a longing desire to become the possessor
of it. He now waited upon Sir Francis Bernard, and easily obtained leave
to carry it home."

"And I hope,"