mencement, to hear the young men of the University speak their orations, poems, and other pieces, which they have written. After a young man has been four years at college, if he has studied well, and behaved well, he is called a Bachelor of Arts. Some of the young men remain after they have become Bachelors of Arts, to study law and divinity; that is, to qualify themselves for being lawyers and ministers. A great number of learned and excellent men have been educated at Harvard College. The College has been a great blessing to Massachusetts; and I hope and trust, it will continue to be so for ages to come. Cambridge-port is a large settlement east of Old Cambridge, and is connected with Boston by a very long bridge. It has four houses for public worship, a bank, and considerable trade. East Cambridge is also connected with Boston by a long bridge. At this place are three or four houses for public worship, a court-house, jail, and an extensive manufactory of elegant cut glass. Here is also the most extensive establishment in the State for slaughtering beef cattle. Other kinds of business are carried on to a considerable extent. The whole number of people in Cambridge is a little over six thousand. 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 ? What is the number of people in Cambridge? LETTER XXIV. 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 court-house and jail. Middlesex county has two shire towns, Cambridge and Concord. Framingham 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. At Watertown and on the banks of Charles river is an extensive arsenal belonging to the United States, and consisting of several brick buildings, standing in a square. An arsenal is a place where cannons, muskets, balls, and other implements of war are kept. But the most remarkable towns in the county, not yet described, are Waltham and Lowell. 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 Pawtucket Falls, on the Merrimack. * Spinning and weaving are done in the same way in other factories. Eight years ago there were not more than two or three hundred people in the town; now there are more than six thousand. There are five streets with large blocks of houses and stores, and seven 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 round the falls in a canal. Besides making shirtings and sheetings, they make here muslins, carpeting and calicos. 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. The boatmen pay money for passing on this canal in boats. The money which they pay is called toll. A Boat drawn along on the Canal. Middlesex county has fortysix towns and nearly seventyeight thousand inhabitants. What is said of Concord? How many shire towns in Middlesex? Which are they? |