[Illustration: PLATE XCI.--Chambers in the Quincy Mansion.]
Above the kitchen is the Coddington Chamber, named for the original builder of the house and fittingly furnished with rare pieces of the colonial period. Above this is a very low attic, lighted from the upper panes of the chamber windows and reached by the secret passage behind the chimney. At the further end of this attic is a trap-door connecting with a second attic, through which one could escape by galleries below the dormer windows, and thence reach the ground.
Across the hall is a smaller room known as the nursery. Tradition has it that John Hancock concealed himself from the British in this apartment, making use of the secret passageway. On one of the window-panes is scratched with a diamond the initials, "J. H." and again in handwriting similar to his: "You I love and you alone." In this room are preserved the breakfast-table of John Hancock; a linen chest which belonged to the wife of William Penn; various articles of clothing that at one time were used by the Quincy family; a bed spread hand-embroidered on homespun linen quilted by Madam Burr and used in her guest chamber when Dorothy Quincy was staying at her house.
Over the dining-room is the Quincy room, so named from the fact that many of the Quincy children, including the two Dorothys, were born here. By a curious trick of fate, there still remains here a nail-studded chest which once belonged to George III of England, bearing the date 1790. One wonders, if the old chest could speak, whether it would pour vituperations upon the heads of those who brought the possessions of the tyrant to the colonies, to be stored in the Quincy mansion.
Across the hall is the guest chamber with its canopied Field bed, and the little trundle-bed underneath, used in the olden times for the children of the family. The Franklin stove, presented by the inventor, is also in this room. Opening from it, and approached by a second staircase, we find the chamber of Tutor Flynt, here the recessed bed is an interesting feature. The room is furnished with fine pieces of the olden times.
Every room in this house contains mementoes of the days of long ago. The house was one of the first to be built on American soil, and has sheltered some of our most important citizens. To-day it reminds us of the past, carrying us back to the earliest days of our country's history.