Where is Cambridge, and what is said of it?

How long has the College been established; and who founded it?
How many volumes are there in the library?
What is said of Cambridge-port?

Of East Cambridge ?

LETTER XXIV.

Fra

EIGHTEEN miles northwest of Boston is Concord, a pleasant town on Concord river. This river flows along with a smooth and gentle current. Here are two meeting-houses, a courthouse and gaol. Middlesex county has two shire towns, Cambridge and Concord. mingham in the southwest part of the county, and Groton in the northwest part, are pleasant towns. At Hopkinton in the southwest corner of the county, is a mineral spring, thought to be useful for the cure of several diseases. Brighton, near Boston, is famous for its cattle fairs. Cattle and sheep, often from two to eight thousand in a week, are brought in droves to this place. Every Monday there is a sale, when the butchers assemble to make their purchases. At Newton is a respectable school, in which young men are prepared for the ministry.

But the most remarkable towns in the county, not yet described, are Waltham and Low

ell. Waltham is on Charles river, eleven miles distant from Boston. The thickly settled part of the town is called Waltham Plain; it is nearly level, has a good soil, and is well cultivated. Here are the Boston and Waltham factories, at which a great deal of cotton cloth is made. The spinning and weaving are all done by machinery; and all the machinery is carried by great water wheels.* Connected with the factories is a large bleachery, where the cloth, which is dark colored when woven, is whitened. There is also a large machine shop, where a great deal of machinery is made. There are about eight hundred people employed in the factories, which are managed with great order and regularity.

Lowell is in the northern part of the county, below Pautucket Falls on the Merrimack. Eight years ago there were not more than two or three hundred people in the town; now there are more than four thousand. There are five streets with large blocks of houses and stores, and four meeting-houses. This is the greatest manufacturing town in the State. Here are seven great cotton mills, all carried by the water of the Merrimack, which is conducted

*

Spinning and weaving are done in the same way in other fac

tories.

round the falls in a canal. Besides making shirtings and sheetings, they make here a great deal of calico. The figures of the calicos are cut out on blocks of wood; colors are rubbed upon them, and they are stamped on the cloth. The persons who work in the factories are almost all females. On Concord river, which empties into the Merrimack at Lowell, are woollen factories and powder mills. Lowell is about twentyfour miles northwest of Boston. Just above Lowell and in the town of Chelmsford, the Middlesex canal enters the Merrimack. A canal is a ditch filled with water, so broad and so deep, that large flat bottomed boats full of goods can move up and down. The boats are dragged along by horses, and there is a path by the side of the canal for the horses to walk in. The Middlesex canal is twentyseven miles long; it is thirty feet wide and four feet deep. It reaches across the county, and joins Merrimack river to the water of Boston harbour. A great many boats, and rafts of timber come down the Merrimack, pass into the canal, and so reach Boston. A horse can drag on a canal more than twenty times as much as he can draw in a wagon. The Middlesex canal is supplied with water from Concord river. They pay

money for passing down this canal in boats. The money which they pay is called toll.

Middlesex county has fortysix towns and upwards of sixty thousand inhabitants.

What is said of Concord?

How many shire towns in Middlesex? Which are they?

Where is Groton? Framingham?

Where is Waltham, and what is said of the cotton factories there?

What is a bleachery?

Where is Lowell? and what is said of it?

What is said of Middlesex canal?

How much more can a horse draw on a canal, than in a wagon?

LETTER XXV.

THE County of Suffolk contains much less land than any other county in the State. It consits of only two towns, Chelsea and Boston. Chelsea is small, containing only about seven hundred inhabitants. A considerable part of the town is salt marsh, the rest consists of well cultivated farms and woodland. There is a large hospital in this town belonging to the United States, called the Marine Hospital, where sick seamen may be taken care of. It is a large elegant building of grey granite, and beautifully situated. From it there is a fine view of Boston harbour. Chelsea is entirely separated from Boston; it is joined to Charlestown by a very long bridge across the Mystic

river.

Boston is the metropolis of Massachusetts, that is, it is the largest and richest town in the State. It is called a City, because the people of Boston do not choose Selectmen to manage towns affairs, as the people of other towns do; but instead of selectmen they choose a Mayor eight Aldermen, and a Common Council. The Mayor and the Aldermen meet in one room, and the fortyeight Councilmen meet in another;