Boxwood Hall

“ Some of the Boxwood Hall boys, especially those who liked Jerry and his chums, and who did not have much use for the high-handed methods of Frank Watson, added their voices to the din.
“Better put ’em in,” suggested Bart, nodding toward our heroes, who, in their uniforms, sat on the scrub bench, not a little embarrassed by the attention they were attracting.
“You mind your own——” began Frank angrily, when Oscar Durand, the captain of the Kenwell team, stepped forward.
“Say,” he remarked in his slow, good-natured drawl, “go on and put in all the new men you want to. We don’t care. ”

“ Now midnight lunches, or any other sort, in [131] the students’ rooms were strictly prohibited at Boxwood Hall, which made it all the more joyful to elude “Thorny,” the proctor, and the other college officials, and have them. Bob smuggled in the eatables, and the invitations were given, and one evening several forms might have been observed quietly making their way to Borton, and up to the rooms of Bob, Ned and Jerry.
There is no need to describe what took place. If a boy has never taken part in one he has imagined them. ”

“ Hobson announced that he would stay to see the deciding game between Boxwood and Kenwell, which would take place on the Boxwood Hall grounds, they having won the toss.
“Luck sure is with us,” said Frank to Jerry when this matter had been settled. “Now we’ve got a week to do some hard practicing, and we must work hard, for we want to beat ’em bad.” ”

“ The professor told what he had been doing since he had last seen the boys; while, on their part, they related their experiences and the doings which had led to their being sent to Boxwood Hall.
“You’ll like it here,” declared the scientist. “We have some of the most scholarly minds of the country at this college. You will gain knowledge that will be of unsurpassed value to you.”
“That’s all very well,” replied Ned, “but we came here to have a little fun, too, Professor. Are there any lively students here?” ”

“ You fellows look as though you liked athletics.”
“We do,” admitted Bob. “We’ll be there.”
They had brought their gymnasium suits with them, as a certain amount of physical culture was obligatory at Boxwood Hall; and that evening, when they went to the gymnasium, Bob, Ned and Jerry were assigned to a certain division, and after watching the football squad at work, they went in for their turns.
The strenuous adventures our heroes had gone through with in the past had given them good muscles and bodies particularly well adapted for athletic work. ”

“ Professor Doty was another instructor in Boxwood Hall, somewhat of a rival of Uriah Snodgrass, and the two were always differing on some theory or idea, and one was always trying to get ahead of the other in the matter of capturing rare specimens.
“If we had the two of them along,” whispered Jerry to the mine-owner, “life wouldn’t be worth living. ”

“ Boxwood Hall (now used as a home for aged women) , the former home of Elias Boudinot; the old brick mansion of Jonathan Belcher (1681–1757) , governor of the province from 1747 to 1757; the First Presbyterian Church; and the house occupied at different times by General Winfield Scott. The city has several parks, the Union county court house (1905) , a public library and several charitable institutions. ”

“ There are some live ones.”
“There’s one thing about it,” observed Bob in a low voice to his chums, after the meal, while the professor had gone to put on a dry pair of shoes, “she sure is some cook!”
“Who?” asked Jerry.
“The professor’s housekeeper, Mrs. Gilcuddy. I hope he invites us over often, in case we don’t find the commons good.”
“Oh, I guess the college food will be all right,” said Ned.
At Boxwood Hall, as at other colleges, some of the students ate in “commons,” or in the college dining rooms, the expense being added to their tuition bills. ”

“ Cole went into a general exposition of boyish pranks in general. It was a talk along the same lines as had been given to the boys by their parents before they were sent to Boxwood Hall. They were reminded that they were now growing up, and should give some evidences of it. ”

“ We’d about given [73] up, and were going to ask the direction from some one in Kenwell Academy. Sort of asking aid and comfort of the enemy. I suppose they are the enemies of Boxwood Hall, when it comes to sports; aren’t they, Professor?”
“Rivals, not enemies,” answered the little scientist. “Yes, they play against our boys. I believe their football nine is to meet our basketball eleven soon.”
The boys laughed.
“What is the matter?” asked the professor.
“Nothing,” answered Jerry. “How are you, anyhow, Professor Snodgrass?” ”

“ By means of a handle, fixed in about the place where the saddle would be on a real horse, the athlete jumps on, over and astride the horse. This [106] the boys in the Boxwood Hall gymnasium proceeded to do, lining up and taking turns.
In this Frank showed considerable ability, while Jerry was not so good at it, making, in fact, a rather awkward appearance. And when it came Bob’s turn there was a real disaster, though a harmless one. ”

“ Gunston Hall, home of George Mason IV, in Fairfax County. The house is a one-and-one-half-story brick structure, with interiors by William Buckland joiner and architect. In the garden is one of America's best surviving stands of English Boxwood. The house still stands on Route 242, 4 miles southeast of Route 1, and south of Fort Belvoir. It is owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and administered as an historic house museum by a Board of Regents of the National Society of Colonial Dames. ”

“ Just leave it to me. I’ll go out and get his machine, tow it in and fix it up. I know the place all right. That sure is a bad turn. I guess he never had been on that road before. But I’ll get his car right away.”
“Then we can eat,” said Bob, with a sigh of relief.
While the three boys were making for a restaurant, there was taking place back in Jerry’s home the family conference, the knowledge of which had, in a measure, rather disturbed the three chums. For though they knew that it was going on, they could only guess at the object, which seemed to be rather important. ”

“ The large hall, carpeted throughout, the stove burning in it most benevolently, the brightness of the thick stair-rods, like veins of gold in the broad crimson carpeting of the generously wide stair-case—all was consoling to Thomas, whose home was one of the new straight-up-and-down, stucco-faced abominations which can never be home-like except to those who have been born in them—and no thanks to them, for in that case a rabbit-hutch will be home-like. Mrs. Boxall was one of those nice, stout, kindly, middle-aged women who have a positive genius for comfort. ”

“ We might judge from the manner in which he was treated by his fellow-lawyers that Boswell was not wholly successful at the English Bar. No one can have realised this more keenly than himself.
'I am sadly discouraged,' he writes, 'by having no practice, nor probable prospect of it.... Yet the delusion of Westminster Hall, of brilliant reputation and splendid fortune as a barrister, still weighs upon my imagination. I must be seen in the courts, and must hope for some happy openings in causes of importance. The Chancellor, as you observe, has not done as I expected ”

“ They are genuine social centers, and they thrive because they are the expression by the people themselves of their own definite social desires.
The largest and most important of these halls is the Bohemian National Hall at 4939 Broadway, and its organization may be described as typical of them all. It is owned by the community, having been erected in 1889 by personal gifts, money raised by bazaars and the like, and by contributions which took the form of shares of stock on the part of various organizations officially combining in the efforts for the building. ”

“ Boxall was so uneasy about Mary that he forgot his appointment with Mr. Worboise. At length, however, when a thaw had set in, and she had began to improve, he went to call upon his old friend.
"Ah, Boxall! glad to see you. What a man you are to make an appointment with! Are you aware, sir, of the value of time in London, not to say in this life generally? Are you aware that bills are due at certain dates, and that the man who has not money at his banker's to meet them is dishonored—euphemistically shifted to the bill?" ”

“ He handled his tools as only carpenters of his day and generation were used to handle them, making doors, blinds, and window-sashes, as well as hewing timbers for the frames of houses. Monuments of his handiwork, in the shape of well-built houses, are to be seen in Connecticut and Massachusetts to this day. Like other young men of ability, he was becomingly modest, and his boss, old Peter Bogart, used to say with a twinkle in his eye, that of all the men in his employ, Asaph Hall was the only one who didn’t know more than Peter Bogart. ”

“ For, formerly, those who were held in honor and had high office in this always sacred House were aged and white-haired men who arrived at this distinction but a year or two before they had to die. But we of the Holy College are as stalwart, as strong, and as young as any man in the Hall. And so have we been for hundreds of years, and so we mean to continue.
In the Public Hall, we take our meals apart in our own Hall; yet the food is the same for all. Life is the common possession ”

“ Dr. Adams informed me, that he attended his tutor's lectures, and also the lectures in the College Hall, very regularly. Boswell. ↑ Early in every November was kept 'a great gaudy [feast] in the college, when the Master dined in publick, and the juniors (by an ancient custom they were obliged to comply with) went round the fire in the hall.' Philipps's Diary, Notes and Diary, Notes and Queries, 2nd S., x. 443. We can picture to ourselves among the juniors in November 1728, Samuel Johnson, going round the fire with the others. ”

“ We were only shown a small part of it, and looked with sadness on the broken ceiling in what by tradition is known as the dining-room. It is a pity that so interesting and so fine a building should have suffered under the neglect of a whole century. It is so strongly built that it looks as if it could, at no excessive expense, be once more made habitable. Johnson had not been easily persuaded to visit it, but “he was so much pleased with his entertainment, that he owned,” says Boswell, “that I had done well to force him out.” ”

“ In the summer of 1784 Boswell was in London as usual, and saw Johnson, then an old man of seventy-five, for the last time. On the 30th June, he and Johnson dined with Sir Joshua Reynolds in Leicester Square, and when Johnson went home Boswell accompanied him in Sir Joshua’s coach to the entry of Bolt Court, in Fleet Street, and was so affected at parting that he would not accompany him to the house, and they bade each other an affectionate adieu in the carriage. ”

“ There stands the old hall; and yonder is a row of four or five raw-looking, new brick cottages, such as one sees spring up at the edges of great factory towns, by whole streets at once, almost in a night—like Jonah's gourd. They hold nothing—they cost nothing—they are made out of nothing—they look nothing—and they come to nothing—as a satirical friend of mine says, who is satisfied with nothing. If it were not that one knows how very indifferently the common people were housed in those old days when the hall was in its glory, it really is enough to make one dissatisfied with the whole thing. ”

“ Mrs. Pitt laughed. “No doubt Wolsey would have liked one, but he was wise enough to always follow custom in such matters as had to do with his outward appearance and attitude. All religious men rode on asses; it was the habit of the day. Now, come [Pg 132] this way, and see the Great Hall. Oh, Philip! Please fetch me my umbrella; I left it on the step in the court, there!”
Leading into the second or Clock Court, is Anne Boleyn’s gateway. Under this is a broad flight of stairs which takes one to the Great Hall, erected by Henry VIII, probably on the site of Wolsey’s earlier hall. ”

“ The last public trial in the Hall was Lord Melville's in 1806; and the last coronation dinner in the Hall was that of George IV., when, according to the custom maintained for ages, and for the last time probably, the King's champion (Dymocke) rode into the Hall in full armor, and threw down the gauntlet, challenging the world in a King's behalf. Silver plates were laid, on the same occasion, for 334 guests,"--Murray.
The Central or Octagon Hall is an elegant and well lighted apartment eighty feet in height. It is covered by a groined roof ornamented with 250 bosses. ”

“ Bromborough Hall became our residence in 1898. It is a very old house built in 1617, but enlarged several times since, with the result that the exterior, though quaint, is not pleasing—partly Georgian and partly an old English homestead; it cannot be said to have been built in any style of architecture. Fortunately, the entire south front is wreathed with wisteria, jasmine and clematis, and this makes it harmonise with the charming old Dutch garden which stretches out before it. ”

“ But down came the old hall at Radcliffe; and so did Buckley Hall, lately; and the materials were dressed up to build the substantial row of modern cottages which now stand upon the same site, with pleasant gardens in front, sloping down the knoll, and over the spot where the old fish-pond was, at the bottom. Some of the workpeople at the neighbouring woollen mill find comfortable housing there now. There is an [Pg 120] old tradition, respecting the Buckley family, connected with a massive iron ring which was found fastened in the flooring of a deserted chamber of the hall. ”