The labor of Mother Anne in those days was as arduous as was that of Captain Abraham. At the east side of the house, close by the old well, stood the leach-tub holding one hundred gallons. Here lye was made to be used in working the flax. Soap-making followed the cattle-killing in the early spring, for butcher and baker did not come near the house at that period.
From the apple trees cider was made, forty barrels being put in for a yearly allowance, for it was drunk much as tea and coffee are to-day. The Indians naturally craved some of this drink. One of them, after being repeatedly refused, came with a basket filled with gifts from the woods and asked slyly if "Him Captain" would fill it with cider in return. So persistent was he that the captain told him yes. The Indian answered: "Him, Captain, wait a little!"
Quick as a flash, attaching the basket to the rope, he swung it down the well. After several dippings it froze, making an excellent receptacle in which to carry the cider home.
Captain Adams was a very prominent man. He had two sons, twins, who both were sent through Harvard. There was a daughter, Anne. All three of these were very religious, for we read that the twins established the Lynnfield church and also the Old South in Newburyport, while the daughter Anne, with her husband, established the First Baptist Church in New Hampshire. Jacob, another son, started the first seminary for girls in America, called the Adams Female Seminary, one of its teachers being Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College.
Samuel Adams was the same type of man as his father and succeeded to the homestead. He had five sons, the eldest of whom was blind, and with four of these sons he fought through the long war of the Revolution. From this old doorway loving wives looked anxiously for the return of their husbands and sons from the wars.
Singularly enough, although five generations of Adams' went to war, and the heads of the families wore side-arms, no trace of them is found in the household, with the exception of one sword that did duty at Bunker Hill. What they did with their arms was never known, but if they were melted into ploughshares, the work must have been done quickly.
After the death of Abraham, the house was left to Samuel, his son, in consideration of one pound and the love and affection borne him; after his death it went to Samuel's son, Captain Stevens, born in 1760. Captain Stevens, so the legend runs, was a very tall man, standing six feet four inches in his stockings at the time of his enlistment in the Continental army when sixteen years of age. Still kept in the house are his spectacles which were made to order from silver dollars which he had saved. His desk still stands in the living-room and was bought with money paid him as a soldier. It cost forty dollars even at that period.
Plate XXXVI.—Parlor, Adams House; Living Room, Adams House.