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and beautiful interval. Here also is a respectable academy. Leominster, which joins upon Lancaster on the west, is remarkable for the manufacture of combs, and Sterling for chairs and hats. There are large factories for cotton and woollen cloths at Fitchburgh, Millbury, Mendon, and some other places. Brookfield, Petersham, and Barre, in the western part of the county, are wealthy and important towns. Worcester county has fiftyfour towns, and more than eighty thousand inhabitants.

Where is Worcester county?

What is said of it?

What is the shire town, and what is said of it?

What canal begins here, and to what place does it extend?

How long is this canal?

Where is Leicester, and what is said of it?

Where is Lancaster, and what is said of it?

For what are Leominster and Sterling remarkable?

Are there any cotton factories in this county, and where?

LETTER XXXIX.

WEST of Worcester lie the three counties of Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden. They formerly made but one county, called Hampshire. Through the middle of these three counties the Connecticut river passes, and on its banks are found much excellent land, and many

fine towns. Back from the river on both sides, the land becomes hilly; in some places it is rocky; in others there are large sandy plains; but generally, the soil is fertile and well cultivated.

Franklin, on its northern side, touches the States of New Hampshire and Vermont. As you descend the Connecticut the first town in the county, on the eastern bank of the river, is Northfield. Here is a handsome village, consisting of one street about a mile long. A great part of this town is excellent land, particularly the meadows, or interval.

Farther down the river, on the other side, is Greenfield, the shire town of the county. This is a beautiful and flourishing town. The village is on a high plain. It has two streets which cross each other.

The houses are generally handsome, some of them elegant, and several of them of brick. Here is a court-house, gaol, and three or four meeting-houses. Greenfield is ninetyfive miles northwesterly from Boston. Next below Greenfield is Deerfield. Deerfield river, a large and beautiful stream, winds through the town, and falls into the Connecticut, and forms a large tract of the richest interval in Massachusetts. Here also there is a very pleasant street, a mile long, with neat houses on both sides. The peo

ple are mostly farmers. They have a small piece of land about their houses, called the home lot, while the rest of their farms lie at some distance. The same thing is common in many other towns on the Connecticut.

At Deerfield is an academy having a considerable library, philosophical apparatus, and museum. Opposite to Deerfield on the other side of the river is Montague. These two towns are joined together by a bridge across the Connecticut.

In Montague the Connecticut

runs down a rocky and steep place, where the water foams and looks as white as snow. This place is known by the name of Montague Falls. Around these falls is a canal, that boats may pass up and down. New Salem, in the eastern part of the county, is a large and respectable town, having an academy. In the county of Franklin there are twentyfive towns and thirty thousand inhabitants.

What three counties west of Worcester ?

What river passes through these counties?

What is said of the land and the towns on the river?

What is said of the land at a distance from the river?

What States does Franklin county touch on the north side ?

Where is Northfield, and what is said of it?

Where is Greenfield, and what is said of it?

What is said of Deerfield?

Of Montague, and the falls?

LETTER XL.

SOUTH of Franklin county is Hampshire. Hatfield and Hadley are fine towns on the Connecticut, very much like the river towns which I have already described. At South Hadley there is another fall of the Connecticut, and here also is a canal for boats to pass up and down.

Northampton, the shire town of the county, is perhaps the most beautiful town in the State. It is on the west side of the Connecticut, near the middle of the county. Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke, which are near by, give much beauty to the scenery. The land is interval and rich. The village is built on ten streets, that stretch out from one centre. Here are a handsome court-house and gaol, three elegant meeting-houses, a bank, and about three thousand inhabitants. At Northampton is a school for boys on a new plan, called the Round Hill school. This town is connected with Hadley, on the other side of the river, by a fine bridge, supported on six stone piers. The Farmington canal extends from Northampton to New Haven, a large seaport town in the State of Connecticut. This canal is just finished, and is likely to be

very useful to the towns through which it passes. Northampton is ninetyfive miles west from Boston.

Eight miles northeast of Northampton is Amherst, a fertile and beautiful town.

Here is

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