Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1911 — MEMORIAL TO ALDRICH, [ARTICLE]

MEMORIAL TO ALDRICH,

HOUSE OF THE BAD BOY KEPT FOR THE PUBLIC. „..... ■■■■■ Old Nutter Homestead and Its BunSoundings Were Delightfully Described by “Tom Bailey” Himself in the Famous Story.

It was more than forty-three year* ago that Thomas Bailey Aldrich laid down his pen after writing the final words, “So ends the Story of a Bad Boy.” There are few purely story books that have had quite the experience of this one. Ferris Greenslet In his life of Mr. Aldrich says: "In the 40 years that have gone by since then, It has had a constant yearly sale that would be regarded as excellent for a new book.” _ "The book possesses a dual quality," writes Mrs. Aldrich, the widow of the poet, In the Outlook. “It Is a book for children and a story for grownups. I remember Mr. W. W. Story saying to Mr. Aldrich that 'the book was always on a table at the head of his bed, and he'had beguiled many hours with that inimitable story on the nights when he could not sleep? "Mr. Aldrich died In the spring of 1907. In the early summer of that year there was published In the Portsmouth Chronicle a suggestion that the town of Portsmouth should buy the old Nutter house, and keep it as a memorial to her distinguished son, whose eyes had first opened there on sea and sky. The response to that suggestion was quick and earnest “An association was at once formed and Incorporated under the name of the Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial —a fund of 110,000 raised by popular subscription, In sums from $1 to 11,000. "The house, which many years ago had passed into alien hands, was boughs and work was at once begun to restore the house and. garden to their former condition, which fortu-' nately could be done, as the heirs gladly gave back all that was taken from It at the death of Grandfather Nutter; the old silver in the sideboard, the china in the closets, even the littlp dresses that were made by loving hands for the first-born.

“Not only are the material things restored, but that which Is much more difficult, the atmosphere of the past, which is so tangible there that the stranger feels impelled to hasten his visit ere the family return and find him. The house stands on a narrow .street at the foot of, which is the Plscataqua river. But the Nutter house and its surroundings are described by Tom Bailey himself delightfully In "The Story of a Bad Boy.’ . “Mr. Aldrich does not speak of the garden, but he has often told me of the inexhaustible territory of pleasure and play It was—at times swarming with Indians, In ambush, behind every bush and tree—then, presto, change! It was transformed Into an English forest through which rode Robin Hood and his men—again the pirates had It—Captain Kidd burying his treasure in the moonlight—Jeanne d’Arc proudly riding on her white steed with banners flying—and here, many times, was solemnized the marriage of Pocahontas and Capt John Smith.