Identifier: bookofnewengland00drakrich (find matches)
Title: A book of New England legends and folk lore in prose and poetry. Illustrated by F. T. Merrill
Year: 1884 (1880s)
Authors: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Subjects: Legends -- New England
Publisher: Boston, Roberts Brothers
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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scenes Samuel Woodworth, the peoples puet,was born and reared. iUthough the house is no longer there,many pilgrims stop at its modern successor in order to slaketheir thirst at the waters, the recollection of which gave the poetsuch exquisite pleasure in after years. One would still have thesurroundings unchangetl, — the cot where he dwelt, the pon-derous well-sweep, creaking with age, that his youthful handstugged feebly at; and, finally, the mossy bucket overflowingwith crystal nectar fresh from the cool depths below. But sincechanges will come to transform the picture, the susceptible vis-itor must be content to quaft* a draught of purest water to thememory of one of the kindliest poets that our New England soilhas produced. To this rapid sketch of the scene we may now add the historyof the popular ballad, The Old Oaken Bucket. The circum-stances under which it was composed and written — and theyembody a moral as well as consecrate a memory — are said tobe as follows : —
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^^m^Mf:^-^^k? J TIIK OI-U OAKEN BUCKET. THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET. 373 Samuel Woodwortli was a printer, wlio bad served his appren-ticeship under the veteran Major Kussell, of The ColumbianCentiriel, a journal which was in its day the leading Federalistorgan of New England. He had inberited the wandering propen-sity of his class : yielding to which he in due time removed firstto Hartford, and then to New York, where, after an unsuccessfulcareer as a publisher, he became associated with Morris as oneof the founders of The Mirror. It was while he was livingin New York, and after many vicissitudes had tempered theenthusiasm of his youth, that, in company with some brotherprinters, he one day dropped in at a well-known establishment,then kept by Mallory, to take a social glass with them. Thecognac was pronounced excellent. After tasting it, Woodworthset his glass down on the table, and smacking his lips, declaredemphatically that Mallorys eau de vie was superior to anythingthat he had ever t

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