“You do not feel the same at Chicago,” said John; “though you do not see the other side, you know it is there.”
“Then Sunday,” said Nathan, husbanding his days prudently, “some of us can go to Christ Church, where the sexton showed the lantern.”
“And can we not see the church with the cannon ball?
“‘Bears on her bosom as a bride might do,
The iron breastpin that the rebels threw.’”
This was Caroline’s question. She quoted Dr. Holmes.
“No,” said John, sadly. “We were barbarians, and pulled that church down.” And he added savagely, “and no good came to the society that did it.”
“That will leave Monday for a good tramp over Dorchester Heights, and Tuesday, if you are not tired, we will go to Cambridge, and see Harvard College.”
And he showed them how high the “Dorchester Heights,” now in South Boston, rose, and how completely they commanded the harbor; so that when Washington seized them the English army and navy had to go. He also showed them Cambridge and the college buildings, lying quite near them, westward, but on the other side of the Charles River. John looked with special interest, because he was to take his first examination there for Harvard College, before the month was over.
To this plan, substantially, the party adhered. And travelers who have more or less time than they, may find it worth while to consult this plan, as they lay out their excursions. For in those seven days the visitors did, in fact, have a chance to see all the more important landmarks of the history of Boston.