Rambles about Portsmouth. Sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents. By Charles W. Brewster.

JOHNNY CUNNINGHAM. 295
have shone, and as the story of the "Regulars" has been
there told, fearful eyes have been looking out to see if they
were coming. Here "olive plants" might be seen around
the family board. Among the daughters was Betty, whose
bright eyes and comely person, as well as her pleasant
manners, were the attraction of the foreign gardener of Col.
George Boyd. Whether Johnny Cunningham met Betty
Welch first at the well, or whether he fell in love with
the cottage in the distance as he tilled the great garden of
Col. Boyd, (extending from the mill to the depot,) history
does not inform us,-but the fact that he here won her
heart and hand is better established.
Johnny Cunningham, as he was familiarly called when
the writer knew him, was a small man, his head generally turbaned with his handkerchief, sans suspenders, quick in his
movements, strong nervous temperament, and very irritable
at small matters. He was of Irish descent, but found in Eng.
land by Col. Boyd, and sent here before the Revolution to
be his gardener-for which business he had been educated.
As a penman few could surpass him. We recollect an illustrative anecdote of the old man. He had been at work for
IMaj. Wm. Gardner one day, and presented his bill. Iaj.
G. was struck with the bold beauty of the writing, and
priding himself on his own skill with his pen, inquired of
the little rough man, who made out his bill for him! M'yself,
sir." The Major expressed doubts, and to test him, asked
him to go to his desk and write his name. " Your penknife,
if you please," said Johnny. Having adjusted the nib to his
liking, the pen was applied to the paper, and Maj. Gardner
soon saw in the freedom and ease with which his letters
were cut, a penman whom he could not excel. The bill
was paid, and a dollar extra added as an acknowledgement
of his skill.
After Johnny's marriage, the trees on the north of the
house were cut down, and he built the two story house