For a time he did so with a deal of state and style, for he was Lieutenant Governor of New Hampshire, till at last his fortunes declined, and after his death his estate passed into other hands. It was then the scene of busy labor for a time, for the old mansion, already venerable, was enlarged and made ‘the grandest in North America.’ We may never know who the workmen were, though we do know the name of the new owner.
Doubtless some of the artisans were men of Medford and Charlestown, and perhaps there labored the sable sons of Ham, the slaves of their master Royall, beside the dutiful subjects of their royal master King George.
But to return to our pine tree, that was a seedling in Governor Winthrop's day. It had grown tall, strong and stately with the sun and rains, winds and storms of the long years of its growth, and one day the woodman's axe laid it low. The timber hewers squared it, and the marks of their shining steel are yet visible. Then the sawyers laboriously reduced it in size, by taking from two adjoining sides a plank of generous thickness, leaving it a timber seven inches square, straight and comely.
A moulding was needed to form the base of the mansion's western front, which was to rise stately and beautiful; and the architect's design was put into the hands of the master workman. The moulding was to be solid, as befitted its place at the base of the building; and so this solid square timber was selected and a third of its substance cut away ere the moulding's curves were formed. I wish I might know who the workman was that labored
