Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston . Post-Ofiice. The former remainedhere until the erection of the building on the site of the Ex-change ; the Post-Office was removed here from Armstrong was postmaster, and easily performed, fromhis perch on a high stool, all the duties pertaining to liis figure of a winged Mercury, well executed in wood bySimeon SkilUn, a North End carver, was placed over the doorof the Post-Ofiice in State Street. The tutelar deity was rep-resented in the act of springing from a globe. In one hand heheld his emblematic rod, in the oth
Old landmarks and historic personages of Boston . Post-Ofiice. The former remainedhere until the erection of the building on the site of the Ex-change ; the Post-Office was removed here from Armstrong was postmaster, and easily performed, fromhis perch on a high stool, all the duties pertaining to liis figure of a winged Mercury, well executed in wood bySimeon SkilUn, a North End carver, was placed over the doorof the Post-Ofiice in State Street. The tutelar deity was rep-resented in the act of springing from a globe. In one hand heheld his emblematic rod, in the other a letter directed to thepresident of the Branch Bank. In front of the old meeting-house stood the whipping-post, and probably the stocks, thoughthis latter engine has been lo-cated in front of the Old StateHouse. In later years, thestocks and pillory were a mova-ble machine, on wheels, and hadno fixed position. Both wereused as a means of enforcingattendance, or punishing offencesagainst the church, and theirserved, no doubt, as a gentle re-. THE STOCKS. location at its very portalminder to the congregation. It is recorded that in the year 1753 a woman stood for anhoTir in the pillory near the Town House, amid the scoffs andjeers of the multitude. The Scarlet Letter is no myth ; Haw-thorne had but to turn to the criminal records of the Colonyfor the dramatic incidents he has related. The General Courtenacted in 1695 a law to prevent marriages of consanguinity,the declared penalty of breaking which was that the man orwoman offending should be set upon the gallows for an hour,wdth a rope about the neck, and in the way from thence to the FROM THE OLD STATE HOUSE TO BOSTON PIER. 93 common jail be severely whipped. The offenders were forever towear a capital letter I, cut out of cloth of a color differentfrom their clothes, on the arm or back, in open view. If theculprit removed the letter, he or she was to be further doubt there were Hester Prynnes thus branded and sc
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidoldlandmarkshist00drak
