46. FAMOUS THEN THE BASKET-MAKER.

Sol Webster and his aged wife

Oft retold the famous story,

Recounting scenes of Light House life

On the side of Ragged Mountain.

Through the slowly rolling seasons

Lived Sol Webster and his partner,

Aged Mary Niles of Riverton,

Ever busy making baskets,

Baskets in the Robert's homestead,

Nestled on the slope of Hart's Hill,

Near the Tunxis, south of Riverton,

Westward o'er the shining river

From the storied Light House village.

Many people came to see them,

Many people asking questions,

Questions of the Light House Village —

“Who was Chaugham? Who was Molly?”

Famous then the basket-maker,

Grandson of fair Molly Barber,

And her spouse, the Honest Chaugham.

Old and weak and poor they lingered,

For a time beside the Tunxis,

Telling each who stopped to listen,

Al the story of brave Molly

And her spouse, the Honest Chaugham,

How he was with Spain connected

Through the Spanish Senorita,

How the Light House Village prospered

With its two and thirty cabins

On the side of Ragged Mountain,

How the people made a living,

Daily hunting, fishing, trading,

Making baskets strong and useful;

All the names of all the children

Of the hill-side generations.

Last of all he told more slowly

All the story of the graveyard,

Southward on the sandy hill-side

Where beneath the forest shadows,

“Over fifty dead were buried.”

Thus the ancient basket-maker

Told the story of his people,

Legend of the famous Light House

In a paradise of beauty

Midst the hills of Litchfield County.

From his lips this ancient legend

Of the village on the hill-side.