 as it
were, his sentry-march along the Main Street - might still in my little day be
seen and recognized in the old town. Nevertheless, this very sentiment is an
evidence that the connection, which has become an unhealthy one, should at last
be severed. Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be
planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same
worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their
fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed
earth.
    On emerging from the Old Manse, it was chiefly this strange, indolent,
unjoyous attachment for my native town, that brought me to fill a place in Uncle
Sam's brick edifice, when I might as well, or better, have gone somewhere else.
My doom was on me. It was not the first time, nor the second, that I had gone
away, - as it seemed, permanently, - but yet returned, like the bad half-penny;
or as if Salem were for me the inevitable centre of the universe. So, one fine
morning, I ascended the flight of granite steps, with the President's commission
in my pocket, and was introduced to the corps of gentlemen who were to aid me in
my weighty responsibility, as chief executive officer of the Custom-House.
    I doubt greatly - or rather, I do not doubt at all - whether any public
functionary of the United States, either in the civil or military line, has ever
had such a patriarchal body of veterans under his orders as myself. The
whereabouts of the Oldest Inhabitant was at once settled, when I looked at them.
For upwards of twenty years before this epoch, the independent position of the
Collector had kept the Salem Custom-House out of the whirlpool of political
vicissitude, which makes the tenure of office generally so fragile. A soldier, -
New England's most distinguished soldier, - he stood firmly on the pedestal of
his gallant services; and, himself secure in the wise liberality of the
successive administrations through which he had held office, he had been the
safety of his subordinates in many an hour of danger and heart-quake. General
Miller was radically conservative; a man over whose kindly nature habit had no
slight influence; attaching himself strongly to familiar faces, and with
difficulty moved to change, even when change might have brought unquestionable
improvement. Thus, on taking charge of my department, I found few but aged men.
They were ancient
