Roseland Cottage

Walking Stick

A man of religious and moral principles, Henry Chandler Bowen was a founder and the eventual sole proprietor and publisher of The Independent, a Congregationist-leaning newspaper that strongly advocated for the abolition of slavery and later to approve women’s suffrage. The walking stick was a gift to Bowen in 1893 celebrating his eightieth birthday from the staff at The Independent. At the time, Bowen was still actively involved with the paper and would remain so until his death two and a half years later. The roses and Gothic-style arches may indicate Bowen’s increasing attachment to Roseland Cottage after the Beecher-Tilton Scandal. For more information on the scandal, see the Scandal section in Village Virtues.