24. “OLD SOL WEBSTER, BASKET MAKER.”

And to Gum Webster and his wife,

Daughter of fair Molly Barber,

Was born a son known through his life

As “Sol Webster, Basket Maker.”

Mary Chaugham married Webster,

Later known as “Old Gum Webster,’

Built a cabin on the hill-side,

Lived and died beside the Tunxis,

And their bones are in the graveyard,

In the graveyard on the hill-side

In the shelter of the forest;

None to guard their final slumber.

Solomon, the son of Webster

And his wife, fair Mary Chaugham,

Married Mary Niles of Riverton,

Lived by making brooms and baskets

Lasting for a generation;

Sold them on the streets of Winsted,

Kept a garden, worked for farmers,

Died when he was two and ninety,

In the month of January,

In the year of nineteen hundred.

Even now in conversation

On the busy streets of Winsted,

In the valley of the Tunxis,

People speak of “Old Sol Webster”

And the baskets that he fashioned.