persons to manage the poor-house, and take care of the poor, called overseers of the poor; persons to hire schoolmasters and visit the schools, called the school committee; persons to oversee the mending of roads, called surveyors of the highways. They also choose at this meeting a number of other officers, but I will not mention them here. When you grow older you will know all about them. All the officers chosen at this meeting are called town officers. At this meeting the people commonly vote the sum of money the town will raise to pay the schoolmasters, to support the poor, to mend the roads, and for other purposes. This money is called the town tax, and every man in the town, has to pay his share of it.

There are other town-meetings every year, for the choice of Governor, Senators and Representatives. At these meetings they do not choose a moderator; but the Selectmen keep order. What the Governor, Senators and Representatives are chosen for, I will tell you in some other letter. I will only add in this letter, that the meeting for choosing Governor, Senators and Counsellors, is on the first Monday in April; the meeting for choos

ing Representatives is in May, at least ten days before the last Wednesday.

In what month is the first annual town-meeting?
When is the Governor, &c, chosen?

When are the Representatives chosen?

LETTER XII.

By this time, you will be glad to know something about the capes, bays, and islands of Massachusetts. In order to understand this letter, you must find on the map the names of all the places I shall mention.

A Cape is a point of land running out into the sea. Massachusetts has three capes. The most northerly is Cape Ann. This cape is high and rocky, and has an abundance of granite Cape Ann is in the county of Essex.

Southeast from Cape Ann, across the water, is Cape Cod. This cape is very large and long. The whole of Barnstable county is situated upon it. It is in general low and sandy, and part of it is so barren, that it produces little else but pine shrubs. The sand being loose is blown about by the wind, and the pine shrubs are sometimes killed, by being buried in it. On Cape Cod, however, there are many farms and

smaller tracts made quite productive by cultivation. The people who live on Cape Cod are a very honest, good sort of people, and get a living mostly by fishing, and by other business connected with the sea.

The water between Cape Ann and Cape Cod, is called Massachusetts Bay; and the southerly part of Massachusetts Bay is called Cape Cod Bay. There is a nar

row piece of land which runs south from the south shore of Cape Cod, and which is called Cape Malabar. On or near the ends of these capes, there are light-houses. A lighthouse is a high round tower, built of wood, brick, or stone. The top of it is like a great lantern. It has glass windows all round, and in the middle there are several large lamps. These lamps are lighted every night, that the sailors may see them, and not run their vessels on the shore in the dark. There are many lighthouses in Massachusetts. There is one at the

entrance of almost every harbour. A harbour is a part of the sea, partly surrounded by land, where vessels can ride at anchor, protected from storms and winds.

Buzzard's Bay is a long narrow piece of water, which runs up between Barnstable county, and Bristol and Plymouth counties.

It is about thirty miles long, and seven miles wide. It is in the most southerly part of Massachusetts, as you will see by looking on the map.

In my next letter I will tell you about the islands of Massachusetts. But before I write again, you must be able to answer all the questions I am going to ask.

How many Capes has Massachusetts ?

What are their names?

Which of them is the most northerly?

Which is the most southerly?

Between what Capes is Massachusetts Bay?

Where is Cape Cod Bay?

Where is Buzzard's Bay?

What is a harbour?

LETTER XIII.

THE principal islands of Massachusetts, are Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, the Elizabeth islands, and Plum island.

Nantucket is a county of itself. It is about twenty miles from the main land, and is fifteen miles long, and eleven broad in the widest place. The county of Nantucket has only one town; and this is also called Nantucket. The island, county, and town, all have the same name. The land round the sea-shore is sandy

and poor; but in the middle of the island, it is quite good. There are no trees on the island, except a few which have been set out for ornament. The climate of the island is milder than that of the neighbouring continent. Continent means the main land. The people who live on the island use the land principally for pasture. They keep a great many sheep, but they do not attend much to farming. They are almost all seamen. They carry on the whale fishery, which, you remember, I described in one of my other letters.

The town of Nantucket is a pretty large town. It has more than seven thousand inhabitants.* It has seven meetinghouses and two banks. A bank is a place where money is kept to be let out to persons who wish to hire it.

They make a great many spermaceti candles at Nantucket. Spermaceti candles are very white and hard, and burn with a bright light; they are made of the brains of the spermaceti whale. Nantucket is one hundred miles southeast from Boston.

Martha's Vineyard, the Elizabeth Islands and two other small islands, called Chippaquiddick and Norman's land, make up Duke's county. Chippaquiddick lies east of Martha's