THE FRANKLIN PIERCE HOUSE
In the little town of Hillsboro, New Hampshire, stand two notable houses. One of them was formerly the home of Governor Benjamin Pierce, while the other was occupied by his son, Franklin Pierce, who was the fourteenth president of the United States. Both houses are in a good state of preservation, the former being used as a village inn, while the latter, still filled with interesting mementoes connected with the life of President Pierce, is now occupied by his nephew, Mr. Kirk Pierce. These houses are not in the village proper but just outside, in a location known as Hillsboro Bridge, a romantic, wooded section on the main road, where in the early days the stage-coach passed on its way to Concord, New Hampshire, not so very far away.
Franklin Pierce was born on November 23, 1804, in the old homestead where his father, Governor Pierce, lived, and here he passed his early days. The old governor was a prominent character in the history of New Hampshire, being one of the heroes of Bunker Hill, afterwards becoming governor of the State of New Hampshire, a man revered and loved, not only by the military element of the State but by politicians as well.
Even when Franklin Pierce was a child, there existed a true companionship between the boy and his father. He was an attractive lad, with light curling hair that fell to his shoulders, blue eyes, and a winsome face. Not particularly fond of study, he was the ringleader in all the pranks played in the neighborhood; yet he was beloved by all the townspeople, who were a bit suspicious of him, however, never knowing what tricks would be played on them through his love of fun and influence with the other boys.
It was a pleasant sight during the long winter evenings to see this fair-haired boy sitting upon his father's knee, listening to stories of his army life. These filled the boy with a desire to enter the militia and win for himself glory on the battlefield.
His early education was obtained in a little brick schoolhouse that is still standing at Hillsboro Centre, about a mile and a half distant from his home. Here in his boyhood days he attended school with twenty other children. At one time during his school life here, a visitor who was talking to the children told them to have a high aim in life, for in that very room might be a future president of the United States,—a prophecy that rang true.
Later on Pierce was sent to Hancock to enter the academy. Unused to discipline, he became very homesick and walked all the way home to see his family. It was on a Sunday morning that he appeared in the yard and found that the household had gone to church. On their return, they found him sitting on a bench waiting for them. When asked the reason why he came home unannounced, he pleaded homesickness. His father was a stern disciplinarian and without a word had a horse harnessed into a chaise; Franklin was driven into the midst of a dense wood and left to walk the rest of the way back to the academy. It was a dark day and a heavy thunder shower came up, so that he was drenched to his skin by the time he reached school. In speaking of it afterwards he said: "It was the turning-point of my life. I learned the lesson that my father wished to impress upon me."
At the age of sixteen he entered Bowdoin College and became one of the most popular students. Not inclined to study, the first two years of his life were spent in partial idleness, until suddenly he awoke to the value of education and was graduated with honors.
Another turning-point in his life lay in the time when he first met Nathaniel Hawthorne. This meeting was in a stage-coach, in 1821, when Pierce was returning to college during his sophomore year. In the same coach also were Jonathan Cilley and Alfred Mason, both intimates then and in after years.
It might be said that Pierce's political campaign commenced at college, for here he held his first civic office as chairman of the Athenean Society, also being elected captain of a little company formed in the college.