ted and refined woman might find it more pleasant
and profitable to teach in the village. The hospitality of his house was
proverbial. The old mansion still stands, a large, low, two-story yellow
house, with long front and side yards, and a grassy lawn between them
and the road, with massive, protecting elms, twice as high as the house
in front and around it; spacious barns extend a little in the rear on
one side, and a simple old garden of fruit, flowers, and vegetables on
the other. This was originally one of the four garrison houses of the
town in the old times of terror and defence from Indian incursions; and
it would be difficult to find now a more pleasant old-fashioned country
house of equal age, with its physiognomy of generous hospitality and
unobtrusive refinement and good sense.

Christopher Toppan was an influence in character as well as a stimulus
in business to those around him. He taught them to save part of their
earnings, to secure as early as possible a piece of land and a home. In
few but pointed words he reproved thriftless and idle ways, and his
respect and approbation were sought and valued. What Colonel Toppan said
upon any matter was quoted and remembered as if it decided the question,
long after men left his employment, and had an independence of their
own. Nor was the gratitude for his aid and influence always confined to
the first generation. Within a few years, two solid men of business
sought out Hampton, and inquired especially for the house which formerly
belonged to Col. Christopher Toppan. They visited the spot, and looked
with reverence at the situation, the trees, the old house, and
everything that belonged to it. Their grandfather had come to this
country a poor and friendless boy, and at the age of twelve had been
taken into the kitchen here to wait on the family. The patience with
which his blunders had been borne, and the kindness with which he had
been treated, he had rehearsed to his children's children. He was sent
to school, and told he must learn to read and write and cipher if he
wanted to be a man, but being a dull pupil he was often discouraged, and
the Colonel used to call him into the sitting-room, as it was called,
and teach him himself in the evening. He gave him a little money for
certain extra services on condition he set it down on paper, and saved a
little every month. Thus commenced the habits of industry, economy, and
exactness which made the subsequent prosperity