During the last month of his life, Mr. Dow asked his friend and pastor, Rev. Clarence Strong Pond, to see that "Old Days at Beverly Farms," written by Mrs. Dow, was printed. He also asked me to write a sketch of her life to publish with it. The answer is this little book, a loving tribute from many friends. Beside those whose names appear on its pages, Mrs. Alice Bolam Preston has drawn the front door and knocker of the "Homestead." Mrs. Bridgeford and Mrs. Edwin L. Pride supplied the originals

"It seems as if the spirit had dropped out of Beverly Farms since Molly Ober died." One of her friends said this and the others feel it. For sixty years or more she was the leader in the real life of the place. And speaking of friends, there is no limit of them, for her genial kindly nature allowed us all to claim that prized relationship. Mary Larcom Ober was the daughter of Mary Larcom and Benjamin Ober. Mrs. Ober's parents were Andrew and Molly, (Standley) Larcom. Andrew's father and mother w

In writing these hap-hazard memories of the old days at Beverly Farms, I did not mean that they should be egotistical, but in spite of my good intentions I am afraid they are. You see it is almost impossible to separate yourself from your own memories! I throw myself upon the mercy of the Court! Summer of 1916. We have a little Reading Club here at Beverly Farms. We read whatever happens to come up, from Chesterton's Dickens to "The Woman who was Tired to Death," interspersed with real poems fro

By Mary Larcom Dow Extracts from the Beacon, published in Beverly for a charity November 1, 1913. I am proud to be asked to record some of my pleasant days with my mother's cousin, Lucy Larcom. It will, of course, be natural to me to speak principally of the six or seven years during which she lived at Beverly Farms, the only time in which she had a real home of her own. It has always seemed strange to me that Doctor Addison in his biography of her, should have dismissed that part of her life wi

Beverly Farms,   April 25, 1893. My dear Miss Baker: I get such pleasant letters from you that I quite love you, though I dare say I should not know you if I met you in my porridge dish being such a short sighted old party. And liking you, when you joined those other despots and lie awake o' nights, thinking how you can pile up more work and make life a burden to school ma'ams, means a good deal!! Here is Miss Fanny Morse, now, whom I have always considered a Christian and a philanthropist, comm

"Wouldn't it be lovely if one could fall—like a leaf from a tree?" "Longevity is the hardest disease in the world to cure, you are beat from the start, and get worse daily!" "Ah, dear, sometimes I wish—almost wish—I did not love life so well! But I try to think that if it is not a long dreamless sleep bye and bye, that I shall take right hold of that other existence and love it too!" And speaking of Mr. Dow's serious illness she wrote: "I try to believe that God will not take him first—and leave

BY SARAH E. MILLER It was in the autumn of 1872 that I first met my friend, Mary Larcom Ober, at Wilmington, North Carolina, where we were teaching in the same school. In the spring of 1873, she invited me to her home in Beverly Farms. How well I remember that first happy visit to beautiful Beverly Farms, and the first walk in its woods. We went through the grounds of the Haven estate and then to Dalton's hill which has such a fine outlook. From that time my friend's home held a welcome for me w

From Mrs. Cora Haynes Crosby : "I have known and loved her, our dear wonderful friend who has left us, ever since I can remember, and what a friend she has been. Not only was she dear to father and mother, but just as precious with her great, noble, beautiful spirit to all of us younger ones, for she was no older than we. That happy outlook on life, her love of everything beautiful and fine in nature, books and people, made her an inspiration to all who knew her." From a letter by Mrs. Margaret