his bright and energetic nature, and not
a little, perhaps, to his father's name and influence, he had risen
rapidly from place to place and honor to honor. One of his earliest
political moves had been the introduction of a bill into the House for
the separation of Mason's Corner and Eastborough into individual
communities.

Soon after the incorporation of the former town under its new name of
Fernborough, Abbot Smith, at Quincy's suggestion, had started the
Fernborough Improvement Association, and now after these few years, the
result of its labors was plainly and agreeably apparent. The ruins of
Uncle Ike's chicken coop had been removed, and grass covered its former
site. Shade trees had been planted along all the principal streets, for
the new town had streets instead of roads. The three-mile road to
Eastborough Centre had been christened Mason Street, and the square
before Strout & Maxwell's store had been named Mason Square. Mrs.
Hawkins's boarding house had become a hotel, and was known as the
Hawkins House. The square before the church was called Howe's Square,
in honor of the aged minister. The old Montrose road was now dignified
by the appellation of Montrose Avenue. The upper road to Eastborough
Centre that led by the old Putnam house was named Pettengill Street,
although Ezekiel protested that it was a "mighty poor name for a street,
even if it did answer all right for a man." The great square facing
Montrose Avenue, upon which the Town Hall and the Chessman Free Public
Library had been built, was called Putnam Square. On three sides of it,
wide streets had been laid out, on which many pretty houses had been
erected. These three streets had been named Quincy Street, Adams Street,
and Sawyer Street.

It was the morning of the fifteenth of June, a gala day in the history
of the town. The fifth anniversary of the laying of the corner stone of
the Town Hall and the library was to be commemorated by a grand banquet
given in the Town Hall, and was to be graced by many distinguished
guests, among them the Hon. Quincy Adams Sawyer and wife, and Mrs. Ella
Chessman. After the banquet, which was to take place in the evening,
there was to be an open-air concert given, followed by a grand display
of fireworks. During the feast, the citizens were to be admitted to the
galleries, so that they could see the guests and listen to the speeches.

About ten o'clock the visiting party started off to view the sights of
the town