commencement of the Revolution as Griffin's Wharf. In the upper room of
an old and somewhat dilapidated tavern were assembled a party of old and
young men--the representatives of two generations. Three of the old men
were the remaining members of the famous Lebanon Club; the first liberty
club formed in the colonies, and the one which designed and executed the
project of destroying the tea at Boston. They had come from various
parts of the country, upon agreement, to meet once more in the house
where the disguised members of the club had met on the evening of the
sixteenth of December, 1773. The names of the old patriots were David
Kinnison, Adam Colson, and Lendall Pitts. Five other veterans had joined
the party by invitation, together with half-a-dozen young men who had
arranged the meeting and paid all expenses, with a view of passing the
Fourth of July in a novel and interesting manner.

A well-laden table extended the whole length of the room, and flags,
banners, and appropriate emblems and devices, were hung on the walls.
There was no formal organization, as at public festivals, no president
elected, and no list of toasts prepared. It was intended to be a
sociable gathering. No band of well-arranged and harmonized instruments
appeared, but old Jacob Brown and old Samuel Hanson, a fifer and a
drummer of the continental army, occasionally stirred the hearts and
fired the eyes of the company with the music which had nerved the
patriots of Bunker's Hill and Bennington. Each of the veterans sat in an
arm-chair at the table, the young men being distributed among them so as
to wait upon them occasionally, and show them every attention.

Mr. Kinnison, though not the oldest man of the company, looked as if he
had seen the hardest service, and received the hardest buffets of Time.
His features bespoke a strong and energetic mind, and his eye was full
of fire and activity. His hair was grey and bushy, partly covering a