ཁ་ coaches which go hourly to Charlestown, Roxbury, and other neighbouring towns. In Boston there are numerous printing offices, where books are printed, and bookstores, where books are sold. At the different printing offices there are printed about forty newspapers. Some are published six times a week, others three times, some twice, and some once a week. These papers are carried by the stage coaches into all parts of the country. There are printing offices, and newspapers are published in most of the larger towns, as well as in Boston; but much more work of this sort is done here, than in all the rest of the State. I have now been a long time giving you an account of the county of Suffolk and of the city of Boston. In several of the following letters I shall go on to describe the other counties. How many markets in Boston ? How many banks? Insurance offices? How many newspapers printed there? LETTER XXXIV. SOUTH of Middlesex is the county of Norfolk. In the northeast part of this county, are Brookline, Roxbury and Dorchester, joining Boston, or separated from it only by the water. These towns have much excellent land, and are cultivated like gardens for the supply of Boston market. Scattered over them are `many beautiful country seats, owned by rich gentlemen in Boston. South of Dorchester are Milton and Quincy. At Quincy are large quarries of granite. The stone of which the Bunker Hill Monument is built, is brought from this place. From the quarries to the landing place on Neponset river, a distance of about three miles, is a rail road to carry the stone upon. A rail road is a road so contrived, that the wheels of the wagons, instead of rolling on the ground, roll along on smooth strips of iron, fastened upon rails of wood. On such a road a horse can drag about twenty times as much as on a common road. At Milton are the Blue Hills, the highest land in the neighbourhood of Boston. Dedham, the shire town of the county, is on Charles river. This is a handsome town, with a court house, jail, six meeting-houses, a bank, and over three thousand inhabitants. are some considerable factories. ten miles southwest from. Boston. Here also Dedham is Norfolk county is well watered by Charles and Neponset rivers. These rivers are, in part, united by a stream called Mother Brook, which is considered as a great curiosity. This brook begins at Dedham, and carries about a third of the water of Charles river into the Neponset. At Franklin and Bellingham, in the southwest corner of the county, and at Canton on Neponset river, are considerable cotton and woollen factories. Norfolk county contains twentytwo towns, and about fortytwo thousand inhabitants. Where is Norfolk county? What towns in the northeast part of the county, and what is said of them? What is there remarkable at Quincy? What at Milton? What is the shire town, where is it, and what is said of it? LETTER XXXV. PLYMOUTH is the oldest county in the State, and the shire town of the county, also called Plymouth, is the oldest town. This town is situated thirtysix miles southeast from Boston, on a bay called Plymouth Bay. It contains a great deal of land; near the shore the land is pretty good; but farther back it is barren, and much of it is yet covered with woods. Here is a spacious harbour; but it is shallow, and exposed to the east winds. Plymouth has some trade and many fishing vessels. Here are the court-house and jail for the county, a bank, several meeting-houses, and nearly five thousand inhabitants. If you go to Plymouth, the people there will show the first well that was dug in Massachusetts. They will also show you the rock, on which the people who first came to settle in Plymouth, stepped, when they landed from the ship. This rock is on the seashore; but they have split off a great piece of it, and moved it up into the town. The people who first came to settle here are called the Pilgrims. A pilgrim is a person who travels a great way on account of religion. The persons who have descended from these first settlers, have formed a society called the Pilgrim Society; and they have erected in this town an elegant building of stone, called Pilgrim Hall, in which they have their meetings. Every year they celebrate the day on which the Pilgrims landed. North of Plymouth, but on the same bay, are Kingston and Duxbury; they are consid erable towns and have some trade. The country all around is flat and sandy; but there are some pleasant towns. Hingham, in the onrthern part of the county, is noted for the manufacture of pails, tubs, boxes and all other kinds of wooden ware; here also is a manufactory of umbrellas. In the western part of the county is the town of Middleborough. Here is the largest pond in the State; but what is most remarkable, they rake up from the bottom of this pond a great deal of iron ore. This ore looks like a reddish sort of stone. It is put into a very hot fire made of charcoal. The iron melts and runs from the ore. After the iron is separated from the other substances mixed with it, it is pounded out into bars, and then it is called bar iron. But much of the iron is made into pots, kettles, stoves, andirons and many other things. They are made by letting melted iron run into some kind of moulds or places made in sand. Scituate, in the north part of the county, is a considerable town, having over three thousand people. In Plymouth county there are twentyone towns, and fiftythree thousand inhabitants. What is said of Plymouth? What are the people called who first landed at Plymouth? Where is Hingham, and for what is it famous ? Where is Middleborough, and what is said of it? |