They were still driving up Washington Street, through one of the oldest
parts of the town, when, all of a sudden, Reuben asked his mother to
stop and let him and his friends get out and run up some stone steps,
which he said he knew would lead them up through backyards into another
street. So out they jumped, and soon were up in High Street, following
its winding way over the rocky soil, and amidst old houses, until they
came out to Washington Street again, where Mrs. Tracy had driven on to
meet them. They then drove along Front Street, where they had a fine
view of the ocean, and also of the Neck, so prettily decked with its
unique jewels. Reuben was anxious to go in Lee and State Streets because
they were old and quaint, which they soon found. The boys, much to their
delight, spied some more steps leading to another street, and also
noticed, on much of the way, the want of sidewalks. They touched upon
other streets which they were inclined to call lanes.

So they spent a day in this old town, with its Fort Sewall; its Powder
House, built in 1755; its Ireson's house on Oakum Bay, where Mrs. Tracy
reread to them Whittier's poem on Ireson; its cemeteries, where in one
they found a gravestone bearing the date of 1690. They visited the new
Abbott Hall, which Mrs. Tracy told them to consider as a historical
connecting link between the old and the new. She now felt that they had
seen enough for one day: so, with a promise to drive over again, some
time, to visit more especially the newer part of the town, and also to
drive around the Neck, they left for home. The next day, indeed for
several days, the boys were in high spirits talking over their trip. All
of the boys in the neighborhood were interested to hear of it, and
doubtless some mother was stimulated to do as much for her children. As
for Mrs. Tracy, her sorrow was still keen, but her interest in her
living child's growth was becoming the means of softening its sharpest
edge. She had discovered an elixir which should renew her life to larger