在这个标题下, the 21 June 1875 issue of the Boston Journal carried a description of a celebration that must have seemed totally off the wall to those not on the 邀请 list.

Several hundred fortunate ladies and gentlemen within the past two or three weeks have received a formidable looking document of about the usual dimensions of a Declaration of Independence of a size for framing, tastefully prepared and ornamented with queer and well executed wood cuts of gay and festive hogs dancing upon their hind legs, 每个人的前爪都拿着一个快乐的杯子, also an illustration of the event in the history of Massachusetts, 哪个是完整背诵的, whereby a stray hog found in the streets of Boston caused litigation to an extent that it was necessary to create a Senate which had never before existed, 在事情解决之前.

The day began at the Albany Railroad Depot in Boston where invited guests, 包括马里兰第五团, 查尔斯顿的华盛顿轻步兵, S.C., 华盛顿海军陆战队乐队, and state and local dignitaries including Governor William Gaston, 聚集在一起，准备乘火车前往韦尔斯利的岭山农场. 一到车站, the Governor and his party were transported to the farm in the carriage in which Lafayette travelled when visiting the state in 1824, 在那里他们受到了乔治·桑福德元帅的欢迎, 他穿着一套1775年风格的深色天鹅绒套装, 镶金花边, and a bag wig” and “Old Father Time … circulating about in gray hair, 长长的灰胡子, 一件深紫色的天鹅绒长袍, 拿着传统的镰刀.”

The “two or three thousand” guests in attendance were treated to refreshments (and presumably wandered the 830 acre grounds in bemused amazement) until the 2 o’clock laying of the cornerstone of 贝克’s new “sanitary piggery.”

“猪的介绍”

在加斯顿州长设立基石之前, 听众听取了演讲和音乐选段, 同时也为尊敬的演讲者准备了特别的惊喜, J上校. 马里兰州第五团的斯特里克·詹金斯:

Col. 詹金斯, 第5师长, 被要求, 他开始发表爱国演说时，被奥巴马先生打断了. 贝克, 谁从盒子里拿了一头活白猪, 大约六周大, 并把它作为“团里的孩子”赠送给上校.”

在欢声笑语中, 穿着华丽衣服的英勇上校, 接着说, dealing out patriotism with one arm and holding the pig in the other, where it quietly reposed looking for all the world like a quiet babe just from the bath. 其效果可笑得无法抑制.

不久之后，先生. 贝克生了一头黑猪, 大约三个月大, but the officer having his arms already full handed it to one of his men who threw it upon his back, and only its head and fore paws were visible over the shoulders of the soldier.

The rueful look of piggy as he contemplated society from this novel position, and his squeals of wonder and fright sent off the whole audience again into laughter and the Maryland boys cheered for their adopted swine.

正式仪式结束后, guests were treated to more refreshments and the troops engaged in a rousing game of football. 当人群聚集起来准备离开时, “几百红”, 白色, and blue toy balloons were cut loose and the air was filled with flocks of them.然而，庆祝活动并没有结束. 7月5日, 贝克的客人们回来看了更多的“蠢事”, fancies and frivolities” in connection with the new piggery described in detail in the 8 July issue of the 波士顿日报广告人:

但不能一一列举. 洞穴里的锡纸闪闪发光，炉火熊熊, Minehaha’s bower with its spring trap floor; the “Gallery Olympic,促进艺术和肌肉的发展, where bowling alleys are laid between rows of pictures and under mementos of other celebrations; of the curiously illuminated flower-beds and handsome greenhouses; of the statutes [sic] of revolutionary heroes in long rows under the pines, of the cartoons of historic places in this city procured from the Boston tea party; of the pavilion beautifully trimmed with prisms and mosquito netting; of the house itself and its decorative beauties; of the stock farm where elk and buffalo roamed at will; of the 300,000 trout fry in the lake; of the monument composed of the chipped columns of the new post-office injured in the great fire; and the thousand and one curious objects that met the wistful wanderer at each step, 赤土兵马俑中的仙女和精灵, 大口大口的鳄鱼标本, 毛绒猪和毛绒狗, 在石头、玻璃和木头上重复……

威廉·爱默生·贝克是谁?

William Emerson 贝克 was born in 1828 to Sarah Reed and Abel 贝克. He began his career as a dry-goods merchant, but gained vast wealth as the partner of William O. 格罗弗，早期缝纫机的发明者. 大约1851-1875年，格罗弗 & 贝克缝纫机主导了市场，到1865年, 这家公司每周生产1000台机器. 1867年的火灾和1873年的金融恐慌, combined with the obsolescence of their technology led to the decline of the company and its merger with the Domestic Sewing Machine Company in 1875. 到那时, 然而, 贝克 had left the company and spent his vast wealth in creating the extensive pleasure ground that was Ridge Hill Farms. 1888年他去世, 大多数讣告都强调了他的许多怪癖, characterizations that were rebutted in a letter to the editor in the 27 January 1881 Boston Herald:

It is true he had a love of humor and a passion for the grotesque, at times so prodigal and unreserved in their manifestations as not unnaturally to mislead those who could judge only by their appearances. But behind all this there was in him the stuff of which noble hearts and true men are made. If he had a passion for some trifles, he also had a passion for many great and good things.

他是最热心于公众事务的人之一. 他有一个愿望, 几乎冲动的, 改善穷人的状况, 尤其是在食物和住所方面, 他花了很多时间, money and superabundant labor in endeavoring to perfect and carry out schemes to ameliorate their condition. 不仅在这些细节上, 但在其他地方, 很多人都记得, 他努力使穷人的生活更顺利、更美好, 建立慈善机构和学术机构. 他是第一批人之一, 如果不是第一次的话, 建议去理工学院, 也是它最忠实的朋友之一. There was hardly any limit either to his charitable projects or efforts.

贝克留下了他的妻子, 夏洛特·奥古斯塔·贝克(1831-1907)和两个儿子, 爱德华(1865-1934)和沃尔特(1870-1907). Few traces remain of Ridge Hill farms among the suburban homes on the border of Needham and Wellesley.