I^ I Pays large divid I Prompt settleme losses UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Special Collections & Rare Books RE BpRAGUE, President VRD M. TUCKE, Sec. and Treas. ;ET ALBERT S. GUILD Local Stocks. Investment Securities Corner Merrimack and Central Streets The Lowell Book Ellingwood's Cough 1j3.1S3.1T1 is so well-known in Lowell that we feel there is little necessity of talking about it. This we will say, — that it is guaran- teed. If it fails, we will refund the money. Manufacturing Druggists ELLINGWOOD AND COMPANY Two Stores Merrimack, corner Central Street Middlesex, corner Central Street PUTNAM & SON Dealers in Men's and Bovs' Clothing HATS AND FINE FURNISHING GOODS No. 1 66 Central Street Lowell, Mass. Walter Coburn & Co. COTTON WASTE AND PAPER STOCK : : LOWELL, - MASSACHUSETTS H. H. WILDER & CO. Plumbing, Heating Cooking Utensils our specialty Low prices. Good quality . . 29 AND 31 MARKET STREET If you care nothing for style, buy anywhere. If you do care, come here. LADIES' HIGH-GRADE Garments and Furs We make a specialty of Tailor-made Suits, Jackets, and Capes Alaska Seal and Persian Lamb Coats Electric and Near-seal Jackets and Capes Up-to-date Novelties from $5 to |200 CHRIS. HOLMES' SPECIALTY CLOAK. AND FUR STORE 124-126 Merrimack Street Smoking Jackets Dressing Gowns Blanket Wraps We invite your inspection if you want a house coat or blanket wrap. You will find here a large assortment to select from, and the prices right :::::::: W. p. BRAZER & CO. Hatters and Outfitters Central, cor. Market St. The Lowell Book A. G. POLLARD AND COMPANY FINE STATIONERY In our department the newest styles in P'ashionable Papeteries can be found co- incident with their introduction. We have exceptional facihties for and devote special attention to the Engraving of Wedding Invitations, Visiting and Reception Cards, Monogram, Initial, and Street Address Dies. Merrimack Street, Centre Aisle A. G. Pollard and Company, Merrimack, Palmer, and Middle Streets INSURE WITH NICHOLAS G. NORCROSS FIRE, LIFE, AND ACCIDENT 53 Central Street, - - Lowell, Mass. MORSE COACH COMPANY CARRIAGES FOR WEDDINGS PARTIES, FUNERALS, AND DEPOT WORK. DAY OR NIGHT. TELEPHONE No. 32 The Lowell Book 111 ROGERS HALL An Kndowed School for Girls of all Ages CERTIFICATE admits to Smith, Vassar, Wellesley, and Wells. Special preparation for the Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and RadclifFe examinations. Fine opportunity for athletics. Five acres of ground arranged for outdoor sports. For particulars apply to Mrs. E. p. UNDERHILL, M.A. Have you seen our New Banking Rooms? ELEGANT CONVENIENT (both as to location and arrangement) COMPLETE Separate Quarters The needs of lady depositors provided for banking-room correspondence reception-room toilet reading-room Savings Department Interest begins monthly Four per cent, per annum Compounded semi-annually Hours : Daily, 8 a.m. till 4 p.m. Saturdays, 8 a.m. till i p.m. ; 7 to 9 p.m. 30 to 46 Middlesex Street 1 1 Post-office Avenue Ladies' Entrance, . 42-46 Middlesex Street Lady Attendant Foreign E.xchange at market rates Letters of Credit available anywhere C. J. Glidden, President William F. Hills, Cashier Charles W. Wilder Wholesale Dealer in PORK LARD AND HAM Number i66 Market Street Lowell, Mass. First-class Furnishing Goods and Hats A. J. CUMMISKEY 69 Merrimack Street IV The Lowell Book A. G. Cumnock, President. A. G. Poi.i.ARD, Treasurer. J. T. Smith, Clerk. Xowcll Zcxtilc Scbool. Courses in COTTON MANUFACTURING, WOOL MANUFACTURING, DESIGNING, CHEMISTRY AND DYEING. Special Course for Women in Decorative Art and Textile Design. These two subjects may be taken separately or together. The Art course mav be taken up at any time. Catalogue sent free on application to WILLIAM W. CROSBY, S.B., Principal. DANIEL GAGE Office 41 MERRIMACK STREET LOWELL, MASS. Ice, Wood, ... Lumber Ice Houses 453 PAWTUCKET STREET, LOWELL, AND FORGE VILLAGE, MASS. Established 1861 J. E. CONANT & CO. AUCTIONEERS and APPRAISERS LOWELL Compliments of Dr. R. E. bell u u Q > u o O U < u E U r h L O 5^ U > THE LOWELL BOOK BOSTON GEORGE H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 272 CONGRESS STREET 1899 CONTENTS. PAGE Historic Points and By-ways Sara S. Griffin $ An Early Deed lo Geology of Lowell Harriette Rea 1 1 Genesis of Social System in New England Manufacturing, Rodney Field Hemenway 1 3 Rogers Hall George F. Richardson 15 The Middlesex Mechanics' Association Frederick Lazvion 17 The Public Schools Albert L. Bacheller 19 The Old Middlesex Canal Mabel Hill 21 Merrimack River Jane Eruiina Locke 23 Lowell Waterways James Bayles 24 Old Dracut and Some Historic Houses Mary E. Wight 25 St. Anne's Church J. S. Russell 29 Military Organizations Greenleaf C. Brock 30 The First Unitarian Church Rev. Charles T. Billings 33 The Ministry-at-Large G. C. W. 36 Philanthropic Institutions of Lowell Mary H. C. Rogers 37 The Public Library Frederick A. Chase 41 Artists of Lowell Adelaide Baker 42 Women's Clubs in Lowell Helen A. Whittier 45 Patriotic Organizations Philip S. Marden 47 The Old Residents' Historical Association Solon W. Stevens 49 Volunteer Aid Associations Thomas F. Harrington, M.D. 51 The State Normal School in Lowell Kate Gannett Wells 53 The Lowell Textile School James T. Smith 54 The Lowell Board of Trade and its Work .... Charles E. Adams 55 Editorial E.lla P. Judkins 56 HISTORIC POINTS AND BY-WAYS. I3S?^HE spot on which the city of Lowell now stands is not without historic interest; the wigwams of Indians or the scattered homes of the early dustries or spacious streets and residences. We must not think of this charming place as once a solitude ; for our beautiful streams have ever mirrored human forms that glided softly along their banks, and human voices have ever mingled with their waterfalls. Carlyle has said, " We cannot study, however imperfectly, a great man without gain- ing something by him." So perhaps a few lessons may be gained by treading for a brief space in the nearly obliterated footsteps of some of the earlier white settlers in Lowell; and, with the "Old Highway to the Merrimack" as a starting-point, let us make in fancy the circuit of our city, brushing cobwebs from old forgotten doorways and wreathing thereon garlands of fragrant memories. In 1659 we find the term " Highway to the Merrimack " first mentioned in certain old Chelmsford deeds. It was no doubt the old road to Golden Cove, but the Lowell end is now called Stedman Street. Originally, the old road turned down by Mt. Pleasant Spring ; but later it was straightened out through Stedman and Baldwin Streets to the river. About 1655 we find the first record of any English inhabitants of what is now the city of Lowell, seven or eight families having settled in this vicinity, attracted to the spot by its proximity to the river and the fact that land had been cleared here by the Indians. Rude as were the surroundings of these first settlers and adverse as were the circumstances under which they labored, they yet found time to remember "the beginnings of wisdom," for as early as 1699 we find that the wife of John Wright, living in this neighborhood, was authorized to hold at her house a " dame school," to " learne young persons to Reed and write." A short distance from the " Old Highway," on what is now called Wood Street, is the Sewall Bowers house, which is doubtless the oldest building in our city. The farm has been in possession of the Bowers family since the first settlement of Chelmsford, and is mentioned in the old records as having been a rendezvous for the early settlers in times of danger, and for neighborly conference. Also, as early as 1686 a "still" was licensed at this place for the manufacture of "strong-waters" that "may be sold to Christians, but not to Indians." Perhaps the many ancient footpaths that can be traced to the old Bowers house are due to the kindly wish of our forefathers to preserve the Indians from the baneful influence of the "strong-waters." Opposite the foot of Wood Street, on the bank of the river, was erected in 1675, by Major Hinchman, a "Garrison House," which was used as a place of safety for the families in this section during King Philip's War and the later skirmishes with the Indians. Not a trace is left of the old log structure ; but memory still retains the story of how the neighboring farmers, with their wives and little ones, hastened to the old house for shelter, when rumors of the attacks of the Indians in the adjoining towns The LowcU Book v^ir'fe^ filled their hearts with horror and dismay. Remains of an old well have been found near this site, and tradition connects them with the old " Garrison House." Farther down on the bank of the Merrimack, with its grounds gently sloping to the river's edge, stands what is called to-day the " Middlesex Hotel," but in the early Colonial days bore the title of "Clark's Tavern." We may aptly borrow Longfellow's lines to describe this once famous place of entertainment : — " As ancient is this hostelry As any in the land may be ! Built in the old Colonial day When men lived in a grander way With ampler hospitality." This tavern was near Clark's Ferry, and was a popular resort for the fashionable and distinguished people of the day. The equipages of Lowell's wealthiest families at the present time cannot compare in grandeur with the carriages with armorial bearings which rolled up to that hospitable door in the old Colonial days. Among its guests have been the Han- cocks and scores of other notabil- ities, and the brilliancy of the din- ner parties given within its walls in the days of its early grandeur can hardly be excelled, even in the luxury of this generation. Near " Clark's Tavern " was the head of the " Old Middlesex Canal." For its time this enter- prise was a wonderful feat of en- gineering, and was the first canal in the United States opened for the transportation of travellers. Not far from the head of the canal the " Old Highway " touches Middlesex Street, and on it is found all that is left of the once famous Chelmsford Glass Works. These works were established here in 1802 by Boston parties, and at one time made a prominent industry in the little town of Chelmsford ; but now not a vestige remains of the dismal old wooden factory, black with the smoke of the big furnaces. Two of the tenement houses are still standing that were built by the glass company, and they cause one to think of unhappy ghosts doomed to haunt the scene of their former prosperity. On another old road now known as Pine Street is seen the Henry Parker house, opposite the Highland School. No other family but the Parkers have been in posses- sion of this estate since the Indians sold their claim to Wamesit, yet it is impossible to decide when the first Parker set up his home on the present attractive site. But one Benjamin Parker, the record of whose birth is given as 1663, is supposed to have been the first member of the family to locate here. In the early Indian struggles and also in 1511 '* Old Glass House. THE SPALDING H0U5E. FORMERLY OLD MARSHALL TAVERN ON PARKER. 5T 5PALD1NG H0ME5TEAD ON PAWTUCKET ^1 A VlLlV ^[: . ,:^ OLD HIGHWAY Old Staircase. — Taken trom the home of William Merchant, a participant in the Boston Massacre. Now in a Lowell House. Historic Points and By-ways 7 the Revolutionary War, young men have gone forth from this homestead to perform their part with valor and bravery. Following the old lane over which childish feet passed and repassed so many years ago to the little red school-house that stood near what is now the corner of School and Westford Streets, we cannot but contrast our palatial school-houses of to-day with their very obscure and humble parentage; for the little school-house that stood here in 1767 was the first school building erected in what is now Lowell. One of the pupils in the school was Benjamin Pierce, afterward Governor of New Hampshire, and father of Franklin Pierce, President of the United States. School Street, which takes its name from this "ancient seat of learning," winds along by the old cemetery, over the hill to Pawtucket Street, near what was once the residence of Captain Ford, famous in our Revolutionary struggle, and which is still occupied by the descendants of his family. When the alarm gun sounded, April 19, 1775, Captain Ford was at work in his saw-mill, which was near his home. Hastening to his house for the necessary equipments, he started at once for the centre of the town, to join the company that went from there. The point in Chelmsford Centre from which the little party so fearlessly marched that day has been recently marked with a bowlder by the Molly Var- num Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Captain Ford also served at Bunker Hill, Ticonderoga, and marched against Burgoyne. After the war had closed, he resumed his activity in business, and resided during the subsequent years of his life at this house on Pawtucket Street, where he ended his days. His grave is in the little burying-ground, opposite Pawtucketville church, to reach which his funeral procession passed over the old bridge of which he had been one of the chief owners and promoters. Next below the Ford house is the old Spalding homestead, purchased in 1790 by Mr. Joel Spalding, a member of one of the most influential families in this section, and who had served with bravery in the Revolutionary War. The old house is a pleasant reminder of the gentle flight of time, as it has changed but little in appearance since its erection. It was the birthplace and home of the late Dr. Joel Spalding, one of Lowell's most eminent physicians. Following the Merrimack along its restless way for about a mile, we reach the mouth of the Concord River, near which for many years was maintained a ferry, well known in our local history as Bradley's Ferry, and in use as early as 1737 and probably many years previous to that. It was owned and managed by Joseph Bradley, who also built Barron's Hotel, situated near the ferry landing. The old house is still standing. The ancient highway from what is now Bridge Street to Clark's Ferry can be easily traced to-day, but we must turn aside from the beaten paths to visit some old hearth- stones on which the moss of forgetfulness has thickly gathered. Over a hundred years ago, a few steps from what is now Merrimack Square, stood the Nathan Tyler house, surrounded by far-spreading and fertile fields. The farm was of large extent, embracing land now occupied by the Carpet Mills and reaching beyond Palmer Street. It is difficult to transform the scene of Lowell's greatest activity to-day, with its rush of electric cars, its busy mills and crowded boarding-houses, and the constant tread of hurrying feet, into the quietness of the "green pastures and still waters " that the same sun shone down upon a century ago. The house, which was one of the most pretentious of its time, was built by Mr. Nathan Tyler from lumber prepared by him at his saw-mill at Pawtucket Falls. Here Mr. Tyler, with his goodly The Lowell Book family of seven sons and three daughters, dwelt for a number of years ; and to-day his numerous descendants are among Lowell's most honored citizens. Finally, Mr. Tyler sold a part of this estate to the originators of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, and built another residence at Middlesex Village, which still bears the title of the " Tyler Homestead," and is now occupied by the ladies who were the donors to this city of the munificent gift of "Tyler Park." After the purchase of the Nathan Tyler house by the Merrimack Company, the old home was converted into a hotel, and known as the " Old Mansion House." Captain Jonathan Tyler had the hospitable charge of the "Mansion House" for a term of years, and, under his management, the hotel became of great importance in the life of the new and thriving town, and was the scene of many a festive gathering ; but the increasing encroachments of the mill properties in its neighborhood eventually caused the removal of the old hotel. Part of it stands now at the corner of Salem and Dane Streets, a reminder of the days of "Auld Lang Syne." Farther up the hill, on the site which St. John's Hospital now occupies, and of which it has become a part, was a stately structure in the early days of Lowell, which, at differ- ent epochs in its history, was called the " Gedney House," the " Old Yellow House," and the "Livermore Mansion." The land on which it stood was part of the original grant to Madame Winthrop, wife of Gov- ernor Winthrop, of Massachusetts. The house was erected about 1750 by one Timothy Brown, the heavy lumber for its construction being obtained of Captain Ford, at his saw-mill near Pawtucket Falls ; but the interior wood-work was pre- pared in England, and then shipped to this country. The place was a noted inn in "ye olden time." After changing owners once or twice, it came into the possession of Philip Gedney, a British consul, who left his country for political reasons, and who chose this place for his residence and lived here for a number of years. Then, after varying experiences, the house found another purchaser in Judge Edward Livermore. At this period the estate consisted of about two hundred acres of land, which, enclosing the imposing mansion standing on a high elevation, laid out with spacious lawns and avenues, made a truly magnificent home for its dignified owner. Judge Livermore named his estate " Belvidere," a title which now embraces all the surrounding suburb. The members of Judge Livermore's family were distinguished for brilliancy of intellect and strength of character. The memory of the gifted but erratic daughter of the house, Harriet Livermore, who was immortalized by Whittier in his " Snow-bound," will make it impossible for Lowell residents to ever allow the fame of the old " Livermore Mansion " to sink into oblivion : — Livermore House. " A woman tropical, intense In thought and act, in soul and sense, She blended in a like degree The vixen and the devotee. Since then what old cathedral town Has missed her pilgrim staff and gown, What convent-gate has held its lock Against the challenge of her knock ! And still, unrestful, bowed, and gray. She watches under Eastern skies. With hope each day renewed and fresh. The Lord's quick coming in the flesh, Whereof she dreams and prophesies." CLARKo TAVERN ji.v i YLER Mul'iDoi ■:^r:. MIDDLESEX VILLAGE T :n lov/ell RlxEt hiOUoE, FORMERLY A TAVL.EN Historic Points and By-ways Retracing our steps across the Concord, we stop a moment to gaze on its placid surface, trying to picture to ourselves the period when its banks were the rendezvous of Indians, who came in tribes to gather iish from its generous bosom. The good Eliot and Gookin are said to have taken advantage of these fishing seasons to improve the spiritual and moral condition of the Indians ; and from Massic Island, where Stott's Mills now stand, they told their dusky listeners of the "great Father." Not only the Indians, but the English settlers, found in the waters of the Concord and Merrimack an abundant supply of fish, the rivers at that time teeming with salmon, shad, and alewives. Instead of the rude devices used by the Indians, the fish were taken in great numbers in nets and seines ; but, alas ! the old " fishing spots " are no more available, and the palmy days of fishermen have passed forever. The sparkling waters of the Concord no longer reflect the silver sheen of the "inhabitants of the deep." Nearly a mile from the old Concord Ferry, following the line of what is now Central Street, was an ancient waterway, which at the present time is widely known as Hale's Brook. On its banks in 1790 was erected by Moses Hale the first woollen-mill ever started in Middlesex County. The building is still standing, but is now used as a tene- ment. This small beginning was the nucleus of large and prosperous industries, includ- ing the woollen-mills, a lumber business, and the manufacture of gunpowder. The fame of these works spread to such an extent that the governor of the State and his council made an official visit to them. These manufactories were at the zenith of their prosper- ity long before the existence of any of our large corporations. About this time Mr. Hale also built the large mansion afterward owned by Joshua Swan and his heirs, and but recently destroyed. The house was three stories high, brick ends, and heavily timbered. People gathered from all the neighboring towns to view the raising of the immense structure. Tables were spread on the extensive grounds for their refreshment, and the "raising" was made a time of general festivity. The event was considered of great importance at that date, and has passed into the annals of Lowell. A short distance from Hale's Mills, following the "old Salem road," is Parker Street, which has an interest for us in that it is one of the oldest highways within the boundaries of Lowell, and also because the " Old Marshall Tavern " is on this street. It stands on a slight elevation, and, with the extensive grounds in the rear and the old sycamore-trees in front, differs but little in appearance from the time of its erection in 1794, and it is not difficult for us to fancy the stout country teams loaded with produce and driven by sturdy farmers, who have left their New Hampshire homes weary hours before, stopping at the hospitable entrance for " refreshment for man and beast" ere they continue their journey to Bos- ton. The old house has resounded with laughter and hearty greetings, and even now has a mellow cast of countenance, as if musing over some of the old jokes. But, alas ! hosts and guests have all gone years ago beyond that " bourne from which no travel- ler returns." The old " Marshall Tomb," across the road from the tavern, opened its portals to receive all that was mortal of " mine hosts," and stood for Massic Falls. lo The Lowell Book over a century, a reminder of old fashions and customs ; but the hand of the destroyer has reached even that, and the old tomb is no more. A short by-path leads from the old tavern to Chelmsford Street. It was in this neighborhood that Benjamin Pierce lived until manhood. His home was with his uncle, whose house stood near the spot where Orlando Blodgett's barn is now located, and whose farm embraced a generous extent of the surrounding country. When the signal of alarm was given on April 19, 1775, young Pierce was ploughing in a field on Powell Street. Hitching his team of "steers" to a stump, he took his gun and started for Concord on foot. He served through the Revolutionary War, and afterward went to New Hampshire to live, of which State he was twice elected governor. While occupying this high position, he yet found time to remember the scenes of his boyhood, and often visited his early home, taking great pride in showing the historic "stump " on Powell Street. As we follow the old, winding Chelmsford road, we can almost see the "embattled farmers " of over a century ago, as they hurried along its grassy way to join their friends and neighbors in the great struggle for liberty ; but only for a short space are we allowed to trace the track of their historic foot-prints, for as we reach Golden Brook, the " Old Highway to the Merrimack " again glides across our path, and like a sentinel guarding the secrets of the past, silently warns us that we must cease our journey. Old things indeed have passed away, yet "they cannot be quite forgotten ; for, though they have no speech nor language, yet are their voices heard in the streets." Sara Swan Griffin. AN EARLY DEED OF THE TRANSFER OF LAND NOW THE HEART OF THE CITY OF LOWELL. This present Indenture witnesseth an agreement between Josiah Richardson Senr. of Chehnsford in the County of Middlesex in New England on ye one part, & John Naberha, Joseph Line & Samuel Naberha of Wamasseck, we for ye love we bear to ye before said Josiah, have lett unto him one parcell of land lying at ye mouth of Concord River, being scituated on ye west side of ye River, and parUy upon Merri- mack River, on ye south side of said River ; westerly upon the Ditch being the bounds of ye Land which we ye said Indians sould to Mr. Tynge, and Mr. Hinchman: South by ye little Brooke called Speens Brooke, all which land, we ye said Indians above named have lett unto ye above said Josiah for ye space of One Thousand and one years to him his heires, executors, administrators and assigns to use and improve, as he ye said Josiah or his heires, administrators or assigns shall see cause. For which he ye said Josiah is to pay at ye terms and one Tobacco pipe, if it be demanded. In Witness hereunto this 19th of January in ye year of our Lord, one thousand six hundred eighty and eight. John Naberha (X) his mark Samuel Naberha (X) his mark Witness Jonathan Richardson John Richardson Samuel Richardson CllARLKSTOWN, Aug. 5, 1698. Entered by Saml. Phipps, Regr. THE GEOLOGY OF LOWELL. HE geology of a city like Lowell must necessarily be hidden away beneath macadamized streets. Factories and machine shops are not favorably adapted to the preservation of dikes, those scars that show the traces of hidden fires and volcanic forces, or to veins of quartz, nature's attempt to piece together, in a comely fashion, the crevices of some underground ledge. Many an interesting geological relic is concealed beneath a row of blocks. Fletcher Street, once a veritable pass of Thermopylae, — from the height of its rocks, — has lost all traces of its scientific interest on the east side ; and did ever any one who bought a house lot on Westford Street consider that the foundation thereof was worth to a geolo- gist a trip from Boston to Lowell ? The fine specimens of orthoclase feldspar with well- defined angles, peculiar to the hill once on Bellevue Street, have all disappeared. This coarse crystalline variety of granite was a proof of the fact that ages ago many thousand feet of solid rock rested above it, and that the foundations of our city were hid- den away in what would be termed now the bowels of the earth. On the east side of what is known as the French mansion one can still look down upon an embankment where once "the great railroad," as 'it was called, from Lowell to Boston, passed through a cut in the solid rock a quarter of a mile in length and in some parts forty feet deep. This feat of engineering attracted crowds of visitors in Lowell's early days, and was considered a gigantic undertaking. The mica schist, uplifted from its original position, shows the wave line caused by lateral pressure. The two belts of rock formation that pass through Lowell are mica schist and gneiss, although the latter has become a disputed term. The dip is northerly, and the strike runs easterly and westerly. On the southern side lies a coarse mica schist that the work- men call "rotten stone." On the north we find micaceous gneiss. These belts vary in width, but extend in a south-westerly course toward Worcester. Professors Silliman and Agassiz both found it profitable to come to Lowell for an examination of its rocks. A large mass of granite, bearing deep glacial grooves,— the deepest ever seen in New England, — was found by Agassiz upon the bank of the Merri- mack, nearly opposite Alder Street. It was afterward built into the river embankment. As this article requires only a casual view of the geological interest of Lowell, we leave special features, like the Dracut quarry, the nickel mine, and the Chelmsford lime- stone, and pass on to the relics of the glacial period, perhaps ten thousand years ago. Every one is familiar now with accounts of a sheet of ice that came down from the frozen North, smoothing off ledges, deepening valleys, and bringing bowlders, great and small, to cover our fields. We can point to the Merrimack River, where it makes a sudden turn near Tyngsboro, as a proof that a mass of ice in that neighborhood acted like a dam, forcing the river to turn aside from its old bed, and to cut a new way through the solid rock. Once it flowed through a valley in the line of the old Middlesex Canal, and emptied into the Atlantic at Boston. Our two rivers, the Concord and the Merrimack, represent different phases of 12 The Lowell Book growth and stages of advance. The one is young, the other comparatively old. The Concord has had its day of active life. The Merrimack is in its prime, and still deepening the bed, through which it flows, on its way to the ocean. Unmistakable signs of the path of an iceberg are found in our city upon a ledge in the rear of the Highland church, and upon a bowlder on the west side of the main avenue of Fort Hill. In the field of the " Long Meadow Golf Club " one cannot fail to notice a peculiar ridge of land passing through its centre. A portion of it has been dug away for gravel, and we never look upon this mutilation without a pang of regret. The land is level upon both sides. The ridge winds in a graceful curve from Long Meadow at one end to the bank of the river on the other. The public highway has been cut through it, revealing on the south side a mass of rounded rock, known as a roclic nioutonnie. From the road to the river a wall is built upon the top of the esker, marking its outline through the fields. These "eskers," as they are called, extend throughout New England. Fragments can easily be traced by geologists, but this one in our own neighborhood is so clearly de- fined and so well preserved that it may be considered a perfect specimen of its kind. The esker is supposed to have been formed during the last stages of the ice age. A stream of water, enclosed between icy walls, once flowed south through the Tewksbury meadows. It brought down in its course quantities of sand and gravel. When the river disappeared and the frozen barriers melted away, the ridge remained. The Indians made use of these eskers for their camping grounds and also for their burial-places. A more difficult problem to solve is that of the drumlins, among which Fort Hill is numbered, with its long gradual slope on the east side. These drumlins are not ordinary hills, but just vast heaps of unstratified material, or "glacial till," with a structure, in many cases, as hard as solid rock. The small islands in Boston Harbor and the hill upon which the State House stands are all drumlins, belonging to a cluster in that vicinity. How such hills were formed is only a matter of conjecture. A noted orator was asked at what one historical event he would have chosen to be present. He replied promptly, " The Creation." There are pages enough in the geolog- ical history around Lowell to make her citizens become earnest and reverent students. Harriette Rea. GENESIS OF THE SOCIAL SYSTEM IN NEW ENGLAND MANUFACTURING. ^HEN Francis Lowell and Nathan Appleton at Edinburgh, in 1811, struck hands in the undertaking of manufacturing cotton cloth in the United States, they had not only a mechanical and commercial, but a social and industrial problem to solve. The refluent eddies of the French Revolution were still significantly obvious. Utopian schemes propagated by Saint- Simon and Fourier in France, industrial co-operation preached and practised by Robert Owen at New Lanark in Scotland, were conspicuous in an atmosphere filled with the spirit of social revolt. Although bringing so much of good to humanity in general, the invention of the spin- ning-mule, the power-loom, and the steam-engine, brought little less than a catyclism of misery to the textile districts of England and Scotland. The cottage system, with its carefully cherished regulations as to apprenticeship, was swept away. Tempted by easily acquired riches, favored by the total absence of factory laws, limited by no moral senti- ment save that of self-preservation, the capitalists were permitted a kind and degree of exploitation of the laboring classes never before and, happily, seldom since occurring in the history of mechanical industry. Necessity, not of the workers, but the very social fabric of the kingdom, wrested from Parliament the first factory act in 1802. For more than a decade before and as long after Lowell and Appleton met in Edinburgh, the whole realm was convulsed with discussion upon the object-lessons of disease, pauperism, and social decay, brought about in Northern England and Southern Scotland by the application of machinery to the manu- facture of textiles. The opportunity was open to those early American manufacturers to choose sub- stantially such policy in reference to their employees as they should see fit. Massachu- setts had offered bounties for such undertakings. There were no factory laws, and, practically, no knowledge whatever either of the evils flowing to society from the unre- stricted selfish sway of capitalism or how to prevent them. While the boarding-houses established at Lowell have often been referred to, and justly, as an evidence of the humane impulse and the broad business prescience of her founders, it is to be under- stood that boarding-houses were an absolute necessity of the situation. Not only were the physical accommodations for operatives lacking, but New England girls could not be induced to trust themselves in a mushroom factory town, controlled by strangers, without some certain guarantee of moral safety. In brief, the Lowell boarding-house system constituted only a detail of a general principle, worked out elsewhere. In part, this solution was made at Waltham. Francis Lowell died before the city that bears his name was thought of, but both he and Appleton had wrought out a definite conclusion respecting an employer's relations with employees long before. The suggestions probably came from Robert Owen's experiment on the Clyde ; and it is in this — that they chose the example of that wise, philanthropic manufacturer-reformer rather than that of the average factory manager with whom they came in contact during their studies of the manufacturing question — that they deserve the lasting gratitude of their countrymen. Robert Owen had come up from the ranks, and become a skillful master spin- ner. On his way he had observed conditions that, in his opinion, were inimical to the social welfare of the communities in which factories were situated, and which prevented 14 The Lowell Book the best results, industrially considered. With the object of managing things differently and of making money, too, he influenced the purchase of the Dale Mills at Lanark, at the Falls of the Clyde, and there put into execution principles connected with the manage- ment of mill help that had become a settled policy with him. He stamped out the dishonesty and cruelty of foremen characteristic of the dealings of the latter class with the operatives, abolished the apprenticeship of paupers, improved the dwellings, estab- lished schools, and limited the working hours of minors with reference to educational needs. A model industrial village was created in what was previously a slovenly settlement ruled by degradation and misery. He was laughed at and scorned by his competitors, but his experiment succeeded. The mills made money ; and the people were thrifty, prosperous, and happy. Later on, when Lowell and Appleton were moving about England and Scotland, picking up ideas, making drawings, plans, etc., and getting suggestions for their intended enterprise, Robert Owen's experiment at New Lanark was attracting the attention of reformers, economists, and philanthropists all over Great Britain, and even in continental Europe. Visitors came from everywhere, even from America ; and additional force and conspicuousness were given it by the contrast with other conditions and places, and by the controversy, then in its most heated phases, going on in Parliament. It is easy to see where Lowell and Appleton found their model. The credit is due to them that they took heed thereof. Their purpose at that time was to start a cotton-mill in an already thickly settled town, a community already governed by the wholesome re- straint of schools and churches and established standards of ethics. American social science, if there was anything that deserved such a name, knew little of the dangers of the Old World factory towns. No questions would be asked or conditions imposed upon their project. They availed themselves of their liberty of action by building houses for their foremen, and established and supported the Rumford Institute, a social and educational institution devoted to the welfare of the workers. When the scene of greater activity was transferred to Lowell, it was accompanied naturally by the elaborate conservative features of boarding-houses, matrons, schools, and churches now so familiar. Here it was the mind of Nathan Appleton, undoubtedly, that ruled the determinations of the mill directors. He was president of the Merrimack Com- pany from the first and for many years. His was a mind of uncommon breadth and ver- satility. Cotton manufacturing was only an incident of his business career; for he had become, even when Lowell built his mill in Waltham in 1814, already a successful mer- chant of Boston. His characteristic search for the broader outlook was evidenced always, and especially when, subsequent to the period now under consideration, he represented his district in Congress, and wrote several valuable pamphlets on trade relations, political economy, and labor. The latter reflect the ideas put in practice under his supervision, and show that his policy had a broad foundation of general principles and accurate, patient observation and experiment that in these days would be classed as scientific. It is not necessary to assume the universality of conditions like those represented in the Lowell Offering to know that the policy adopted gave to the business here one of the most intelligent and morally estimable bodies of operatives ever gathered in a cotton-mill. The wealth of its endowment may be seen in the prevailing character of the population, in the homes that were established, in the descendants, social customs, intelligence, and virtue of Lowell's present people. The influence and example of the established condi- tions in Lowell have been felt throughout this Commonwealth, probably farther. The social status of the mill workers in every New England town, at any rate, is influenced even to this day, and for the benefit of the worker, by the policy of dealing with their predecessors chosen by Francis Lowell and Nathan Appleton in the beginning. Rodney Field Hemenway. .^^]:RS roR:r I'l' i ^ark ROGERS HALL 5CtiOOL .STArt MORMAL SCHOOL low; ROGERS HALL. HE tract of land on which is situated the Rogers Hall School is a small ^« portion of a much larger area, comprising about three thousand acres in 5K' " Billerrikey," which was granted in 1649, by the Governor and Company 2IJ of Massachusetts Bay, to Margaret Winthrop, " the wife of our late Governor." Thirteen years later five hundred of these acres were released by Mrs. Winthrop to the government, and by it " lajd out vnto the Indians who are the inhabitants of Waymesick, on the east side of Concord Riuer and joyning to the said riuer & to Merrimack riuer, it runnes upon Concord Riuer about one mile & three quarters." These red men erected for self-defence a fort on the eminence, to which the name Fort Hill has since been given. They were converted to Christianity by the great apostle John Eliot, and the territory on which they dwelt became part of one of the "praying towns" which he established. The tribe long since disappeared, leaving no traces behind them except such as are occasionally found in the rude implements of war- fare and domestic utensils which are even now occasionally exhumed. In 1805 Zadock Rogers, the father of Miss Elizabeth, purchased of Richard Derby, of Boston, about half the premises which had been set off to the Indians ; and it remained in the family until 1883, when she and her sister Emily sold nearly all the ancestral estate, with a condition that the purchasers should expend at least twenty-five thousand dollars in laying out and beautifying the thirty acres known as the Fort Hill Lot, and that it should then be conveyed to the city of Lowell, " to be maintained perpetually as a public park, for the unrestricted use of its citizens." The conditions were faithfully observed ; and the " Rogers Fort Hill Park," as it was appropriately named, will remain for all time a monument to the public spirit and gen- erosity of these ladies. Subsequent to the decease of her sister, Miss Rogers in 1892 conveyed to a corpora- tion named " Rogers Hall," which had been chartered at her request, about an acre of the remaining homestead estate, upon which stood a beautiful and commodious mansion, erected by her father in 1837-38, with the provision that it should be forever maintained as a private school for young ladies. In making the conveyance, she thus in writing expressed her reasons and purposes : " I am in full sympathy with the efforts of young women to acquire an education which will fit them better to discharge the duties which they owe to God and their fellow-men. Young women no less then young men, need to be well equipped in this age for the battles before them." Her wish was that the institution should afford " the advantages of high intellectual culture, as supplementary to our public schools." With genuine catholicity she provided that " the school shall be open on equal terms to all, of whatever sect, nationality, or religious belief." The generous donor lived long enough to witness the success of the institution which she founded, and, dying, left to Rogers Hall the whole of her large fortune. Miss Rogers liked to speak of the struggles of her parents in their efforts to earn a livelihood by farming. She said that the nearest market in her early childhood was to be 1 6 The Lowell Book found in Boston, to which place her father once or twice a week drove his ox-team, loaded with products from his farm. His two sons and three daughters, according to the custom of the times, aided their parents by their own manual labor. There were few neighbors. The nearest meeting-houses, "with their sounding-boards and sounder doctrines," as she said, were at Pawtucket Falls or Tewksbury. The mail arrived once a week. Long journeys were taken on horseback. Their evenings were lighted by pine knots or tallow dips. The only mills, then, were the indispensable saw and grist mills. Miss Rogers until her last illness managed with good judgment her large property. Her investments were carefully made. She rarely asked advice in respect thereto ; and, whenever sought and obtained, it was never followed unless it met her own approval. She was a woman of great strength of mind and character. Had she lived in the days of her ancestor, John Rogers, the martyr, I have often thought that she would have gone to the stake rather than sacrifice her religious convictions. She was a devout member of the Congregational Church, to whose tenets she faithfully adhered ; and yet in all her business dealings she judged men not by the creed they professed, but by their lives and their character. While her sister Emily had the benefit of an excellent education ob- tained at Mount Holyoke Seminary, she herself had only the limited advantages which the public schools of her day could afford ; and it is more than probable that an apprecia- tion of her sister's superior attainments had much to do with her founding and endowing Rogers Hall. In the establishment of this institution Miss Rogers was unconsciously acting in accordance with the convictions and practice of her Pilgrim ancestry. A certain profound sense of the ethical and religious, as well as the practical value of a good education, wrought in her, as it did in the Pilgrims and Puritans of an earlier day, when the Massa- chusetts colonists at the side of the meeting-house builded the school-house, that train- ing in the branches of secular knowledge might strengthen and elevate the minds of their children for an intelligent study of the Scriptures. The trustees of the school require that the course of study pursued therein shall be thorough and systematic and such that girls graduating therefrom should be prepared for admission to the leading colleges for women. That Mrs. Underbill, in whose charge the school has been since its opening in 1892, has, with the aid of her able assistants, faithfully and efiSciently carried out the intentions of its founder and its board of gov- ernment, is manifest from the fact that it ranks to-day with the best preparatory schools of its class in the country. Its certificate of qualification admits to all colleges which do not require a special examination. Many factors have worked together for the speedy and marked success of the school : its exceptionally beautiful situation, surrounded by ample grounds for e.xercise and recreation ; the high ideal of scholarship and conduct maintained ; that strong personal interest in each pupil which carries with it perpetual stimulus and inspiration ; and, above all, the untiring and enthusiastic devotion with which the first principal of Rogers Hall has labored at her noble task. Among the many institutions of Lowell which are the city's pride and honor, the Rogers Hall School holds a distinguished place. George F. Richardson. ARCH OF THE 51X ARCH BRIDGE fPOM 5IX ARCH BRIDGE ^ 0NC02D KWz^ VIEWj 9| olX ARCH BRIDGE. THE MIDDLESEX MECHANICS' ASSOCIATION. HE Association received its charter June i8, 1825, nearly a year before the incorporation of the town of Lowell. In its original constitution and purpose it was an exact copy of the organization founded thirty years before by Paul Revere, the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association. Like that, it was primarily a trade guild, with provisions for the mutual support of needy members, the control of apprentices, and the encouragement of good craftsmanship. Like that, its early meetings were held at the tavern. Being a trade guild, it strictly limited its membership to mechanics, meaning thereby any persons who had learned a trade. A painter, a printer, a tailor, masons as well as machinists, were among its charter members. Incidentally, it aimed to educate its members by means of a library, a collec- tion of " philosophical apparatus," and by scientific lectures. The first period of the Association's life, therefore, was a struggle between those who would have limited its aims and its membership to its original trade guild character and those who wished to broaden both. By 183s the first forward step had been taken. Mechanics and manufacturers — i.e., the agents, overseers, and mill hands who knew no trade — were made eligible to member- ship, the trade guild functions had become obsolete, and the education of mechanics and mill operatives by library, laboratory, and lectures, was now its essential function. As prominent leaders in this liberal movement may be mentioned Warren Colburn, Joel Lewis, George Brownell, and Theodore Edson, the latter the Association's first honorary member ; but the re-establishment, the new founding, of the Association, was made possible by that extraordinary body of men to whom Lowell itself owes its material existence, and whose parental care for the people whom they brought here aroused the admiration of their contemporaries, and will be remembered so long as Lowell lasts. Influenced by Kirk Boott, the manufacturing companies gave the land on Button Street and most of the money needed to build the permanent home of the Association. The building was dedicated in September, 1835, the address being given by Dr. Elisha Bartlett, then soon to become the first mayor of Lowell. For nearly twenty years the Association continued without substantial change as an educating force, stimulating the intellectual life of artisans and operatives, at once the proof, and very largely, no doubt, the cause of that high degree of general intelligence which, we are told, character- ized the workers of that generation. It was the pet of the corporations; and to this period are due the gifts of the beautiful portraits of Washington and of the founders of the city, the development of the physical laboratory till it exceeded in value and usefulness that of many of the colleges of its day, and the accumulation of books, largely scientific, till its library became one of the finest in the country. The establishment of the reading-room, too, dates from this period. Through it all, however, there was the old contest between the conservatives and the liberals, the latter being again successful; and in 1851 the Association made, to the lasting regret of many of its members, its second change, by admitting all citizens to ^^ The Lowell Book membership. It retained for many years the rule that a majority of the board of govern- ment should be mechanics or manufacturers, yet it nevertheless gradually ceased to be a mechanics' association except in name. The library became more literary and popular and less scientific, the physical laboratory was not kept up, and, most significant change of all, the scientific lectures gradually were metamorphosed into the popular lyceum. Probably it is these lyceum lectures that come most quickly to the mind when the Mechanics' Association is mentioned. An early course was by Ralph Waldo Emerson, with six lectures on Representative Men ; and Phillips and Curtis, Beecher, Garrison, and Gough were frequently heard. There was no system of reserved seats, and no special privileges for members. Huntington Hall was sure to be filled, and the coveted seats were secured by going early and waiting patiently the opening of the doors. The course was the literary event of the year, and a strong link to bind Lowell's best citizens, whether members or not, to the Association. Possibly, a still stronger link was Mechanics' Hall itself, the auditorium for all the Association's lectures till Huntington Hall was finished in 1855, and after that for many others whose learned character precluded the expectation of a large audience. And, although it was by no means the only social assembly hall in the city, it is quite certain that no other had clustered about it so many pleasant memories. For sixty years it kept its stern mathematical outlines, its portraits in unalterable order, knowing no change except that produced (not too frequently) by a fresh coat of paint and by the discarding of the oil lamps for gas chandeliers, and a genera- tion later adding to them the electric lights. What a procession of festivity the old portraits looked down upon, from the annual Washington Assembly of the early days to the last private party which graced the hall, and had its own beauty enhanced by its quaint setting ! The library did its greatest service in the early days, when the public library, here as elsewhere, was comparatively undeveloped. While it was always open, not only to mem- bers, but to any who were willing to pay an annual fee, while it was well selected and of good size (twenty-five thousand volumes at the end), and while it always gave its patrons that most valuable of all the priveleges a library can give, — immediate access to the shelves, — relatively, it became, as the years went on, of less consequence to the community as a whole. There were many who earnestly desired to see it preserved, and the institu- tion itself devoted, like the Boston Athenaeum, solely to its maintenance and development. That was, indeed, in late years, the sole function of the Association. One by one the other things it aimed to do, and in its day and way did do, — the work of a fraternal benefici- ary organization and of a trade and labor union in its earliest days, its mechanics' fairs (it gave three very successful ones in 1851, 1857, and 1S67), its lyceum, and its general educa- tional work, — no longer needed to be done or were better done by other agencies. Such, too, apparently, was the final verdict of the public upon the library work. It closed its doors with the close of the year 1896. The building so long devoted to the intellectual and social life is now dedicated to the service of religion, its library is scattered, its portraits have found a permanent place on the walls of the City Library and City Hall ; and the Middlesex Mechanics' Association is a thing of the past. Frederick Lawton. m THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. HE population of the district of East Chelmsford in 1S22 was about two hun- dred, and within its limits were two small school-houses, one located at Paw- tucket Falls, and the other near the Pound, in the vicinity of Chelmsford Street. When the Merrimack Company began operations, for the benefit of the children of their operatives, they opened a school in a building on the site of the present Green School-house, calling it the Merrimack School. For a few years the cor- poration paid all the expenses of this school, putting it under the charge of the Rev. Theo- dore Edson, rector of St. Anne's Church. In 1S26 the population of this district had increased to about twenty-five hundred; and East Chelmsford became a town, receiving its name from Francis Cabot Lowell. At the first town meeting, held in March, 1826, at Balch and Coburn's tavern, now the Ayer Home, it was voted to divide the town into six school districts ; and at another meeting, held in April of the same year, Theodore Edson, John O. Green, Warren Colburn, Elisha Bartlett, and Samuel Batchelder were chosen as the first school committee, and it was voted that ^1,000 be appropriated for the support of the schools for one year. Perhaps the best known of our early teachers was Joshua Merrill, who at this time taught the school in district number five. He came to Lowell from Milford, New Hampshire, to take charge of the Hamilton and Appleton School. The following interesting agreement was signed by the town clerk : — Lowell, February 22, 1831. Joshua Merrill agrees to keep the Hamilton and Appleton School, coming over the first day of March, 1831, and is to be allowed therefor thirty dollars per month, of four weeks, for all the time he may keep, the vacations in the course of the year to be left at his discretion, but not to e.xceed one month. In a paper in which he related some of his early teaching experiences, Mr. Merrill afterward stated that, as the vacations were left entirely to him, he managed to teach thirteen months during the first year. The year 1832 was an important one in our school history, as at that time the district system was abolished ; and in bringing about this very important change, there occurred one of the most exciting contests recorded in our town annals. A town meeting was held in September, to take action on the motion to authorize the loan of a sum of money not exceeding $20,000 for the building of two large school-houses. Dr. Edson, stand- ing alone, favored the passage of the motion, and was opposed by the entire corpo- ration influence, represented by Kirk Boott. Mr. Boott declared that the schools were good enough, and that ministers were not suitable persons to manage the expenditures of a town. He stated that the locating of manufacturing establishments here was simply an experiment, and, in the event of its proving a failure, everything would go to ruin and decay. Dr. Edson did not hesitate to advocate what he believed the best educational interests of the town demanded. He stated that, if the business men wculd fully acquaint themselves with the needs of the schools, the ministers would be glad to yield the ground to them. And then, advancing toward his opponent and looking him squarely in the face, the doctor said, "If, in the event of so disastrous a conclusion to the efforts that have been and are now being made to build a town here, which has been so vividly portrayed by the gentleman, it should happen, in some future age of the 2 The Lowell Book world, that some antiquarian shall search among its ruins, he will certainly exclaim, 'Where are their school-houses?'" Dr. Edson carried his point, the money for building the North and South Grammar School-houses was appropriated, and the district school system was done away with. Kirk Boott felt his defeat very keenly, and withdrew from St. Anne's Church, over which Dr. Edson was rector. In fact, for several years after this event the corporation magnates took no interest whatever in the public schools. The Lowell High School began its existence in 183 1, its first sessions being held in a building at the corner of Eliot and Middlesex Streets. The Rev. Thomas M. Clark, the Episcopal bishop of Rhode Island, was its first principal. Mr. Clark also supplied the pulpit of the church at Pawtucket Falls, as he was at the time preparing to enter the ministry of the Congregational Church. The following lines are from Bishop Clark's pen: "In the year 1831 I came to Lowell, and presented myself at the door of my venerable friend, the rector of St. Anne's Church, as a candidate for principal of the first High School in Massachusetts outside of Boston, and perhaps in New England; and through his influence I obtained the appointment. I entered upon my duties in a little wooden building on the Hamilton Corporation, — a building that might have cost, I should think, three or four hundred dollars to erect. Forty boys and girls, a six-plate stove, and a small desk crowded the building. Occupying seats were three boys who have since become famous, — General B. F. Butler, Governor Straw of New Hampshire, and Gustavus V. Fox, the able Assistant Secretary of the Navy during our Civil War." The bishop is said to have once declared that he never flogged the boys, as there wasn't room enough in the building to perform the operation. From its first location the school was removed to the Free Chapel, and from that place to the Edson School Building. After a short interregnum, caused by the resignation of the principal, it was reopened in what was known as Concert Hall on Merrimack Street. We next find it in the Bartlett School Building, and afterward in the brick building on Suffolk Street now used for a parochial school. In 1840 it was transferred to its present site on Kirk Street. In 1863 a reunion of high-school graduates was held in Huntington Hall. Bishop Clark, being present, was asked to take the chair and act as principal again, as he had done in former years. He consented, and immediately called upon Benjamin Butler to come forward and speak his piece, which the general did. The public educational system of Lowell to-day consists of one high, nine grammar, thirty-three primary, and two mi.xed schools. It also includes one training school and twelve kindergartens. There are two hundred and sixty-six school-rooms in actual use, and our city gives employment to two hundred and seventy-three teachers in its day schools. Evening schools are opened during the winter months, which give employment to one hundred and fifty-two teachers. In no other department of the city's affairs do the people take so much interest as in our public schools. Our best citizens are always willing to act on the School Committee, and liberal appropriations for the support of the schools are annually made by the City Council. Our schools are managed by an efficient committee, they have the very best in the way of equipment and supplies which money can buy, they receive the loyal support of our people, and they certainly should not rank second to those found in any city of Massachusetts. Albert L. Bacheller. THE OLD MIDDLESEX CANAL. HE spirit of modernity, pervading, engrossing, has swept away the conditions ^M of society which existed at the beginning of the century. The new condi- ^n.' tions which it brings with it are of such complex nature, the new order of 2^ things demands such close and constant attention, the activities of thought are so centred upon the present, that the past is forgotten, and the old days are lost sight of even in memory and in imagination. In the hurry of rapid transit the few citizens of Lowell who knew the "old order," and with it the days of usefulness of the Middlesex Canal, find little time to recall the charms and comfort of the lazy waterway as it wound its leisurely course through forests and across pastures. The great mass of men, women, and children of a later genera- tion, who daily come and go in mad haste behind the giant steam or monster electricity, seldom conjure up in mind the state of living which could make canal transportation even a possible means of convenient travelling. But in those early days, when telegraph, telephone and railway had not come to knit society together in strange defiance of time and space, the building and development of a waterway was a matter of great importance ; and its history is full of vital interest, as its success and failure mark its birth and death. The plan to open up a cheaper and easier mode of transportation for freight and passengers to Boston from Concord, New Hampshire, a distance of eighty miles, origi- nated with the Hon. James Sullivan, whose foresight and good judgment grasped the future possibilities following a closer union between the towns of Massachusetts and the Granite State. The charter was granted in 1793 by His Excellency John Hancock. The management was intrusted to a board of thirteen members ; and work began in Septem- ber, 1794, under the superintendence of Colonel Loammi Baldwin, sheriff of Mid- dlesex, whose ability as a skilful engineer made the undertaking a success. The canal, thirty feet wide, four feet deep, with twenty locks, seven aqueducts and fifty bridges, was in 1803 opened to public navigation from the Charles River to the Merrimack. Commencing at Charlestown mill-pond, it passed through the town of Medford, where it crossed the Mystic over a wooden aqueduct, on to Horn Pond in Woburn. To-day, as one searches for the old trail, one learns that the bed of the canal at this point serves to carry the sewer-pipes of that city ; and the now forgotten Mystic Valley Railroad, in its short career, ran its course upon the tow-path of the older highway. Travers- ing Woburn and Wilmington, the canal Ruins of Aqueduct. ?.EVTf=" 22 The Lowell Book crossed the pretty stream " Shawshine " by an aqueduct one hundred and thirty-seven feet in length, and came out at North Billerica to meet the Concord River, from which it received its greatest water supply. Here it ran along the " Musketaquid," crossing it by guard-locks and floating tow-path, to descend gradually upon its course to the Merri- mack at " Chelmsford Neck." The construction of this waterway, and the life which centred around the " Neck " where its first set of locks was situated, together with its close connection with the rapid development of the town of Lowell, give the Middlesex Canal a direct historic place in the story of the city's growth. The student of local history, sauntering along Middlesex Street above Branch Street, is more than puzzled if he attempts to trace landmarks con- nected with this early period. The canal bed is there, just beyond Baldwin Street ; but the depression is now so slight that the lay of the land attracts no notice, and the dykes for the tow-paths are signs fast sinking back to pasture level. In the early twenties, however, had the same traveller approached the high-road to East Chelmsford, he would have found a village of many activities and evident bustle. The famous old " Tavern " and the Unitarian church, respectively setting forth their worldly and godly purposes, stood side by side on the right of the street ; and directly opposite, on the east corner, was the Baldwin estate, where Mr. Pratt's homestead is now located. A bridge spanned the canal, and just across it on the river side lay the freight- house and barns. The office of the collector was further down the canal. This building is still standing in the shade of trees which later grew in the canal bed, as if to cast a kindly shade over the abandoned waterway ; and one may catch a picturesque view of the site in passing the Hadley pasture. A store was in active operation just beyond the freight house, and other stores were situated where trade was most in evidence. The manufact- ure of glass brought a band of German operatives to the Neck, and the little colony which grew at the east of the village gave added life and character to the town. Farther down the main street, near Black Brook, stood the hat factory ; and it, too, had a well- earned reputation in its day. The coming and going of these people, the gay boatmen at work in the locks, and the arrival and departure of the packet-boat, " Gen. Sullivan," conspired to give the vil- lage an exciting interest to one who lived away from the high-road of travel. The stage- coach brought its passengers from the neighboring towns ; the horn blew at eight o'clock in the morning; the horses attached to the tow-line were drawn up in file, and cajoled into motion. Captain Silas Tyler, the man of genial nature and courteous manner, who for so many years commanded the packet-boat, walked up and down the deck, bidding his guests make themselves comfortable. Neighbors gathered together in friendly gossip, the ladies often knitting, and now and then a quiet passenger stretching himself out in a retired corner of the cabin with book in hand. The children played around their mothers or pushed aside the little red curtains of the windows to watch the slowly vanishing scen- ery as the boat glided through the winding stream. Beautiful wild flowers, lush green growing shrubs, slender white birches, and tall pines skirted the canal. Perhaps a ven- turesome lad would catch a bunch of berries from a bush as he leaned over the edge of the packet ; and the jolly boatmen sang, and shouted to each other and their horses as the sun rose higher and the day's warmth tingled the blood. Yes, and the long draughts of " black-strap," which was the desire of every boatman's appetite, added not a little to the gayety of their hearts after the noon-tide repast at Horn Pond tavern. Merrimack River 23 Those were rare days, when one left home at early morn to reach Boston at three in the afternoon. The traveller husbanded his strength and nervous force. There was no frantic effort of the body to keep in rhythm with the great forces of nature, — no tension, no exhaustion. We have outgrown the very spirit of such travel. But the lover of nature will find joy in following the open trail of the by-gone canal ; the student of philosophy, resting upon the grassy tow-path, may well review the life of the canal, reasoning, as it were, upon the ebb and flow of all human usefulness ; while the historian, himself philosopher and artist in one, will conceive the past, know men, deeds, and events which centred around the abandoned waterway, and translate the coming generation back into the days of the old Middlesex Canal. Mabel Hill. MERRIMACK RIVER AT THE JUNCTION OF THE CONCORD WITH ITS WATERS. Majestic art thou in thy stately flow, Thou mighty river, while tliy depths below Unnumbered secrets hold, we may not scan ; Attempt were vain ; thy lore is not for man ; The written page to him alone is given ; Thine are the legends but revealed in heaven. Oft as I rove along thy flowery bank, Through tangled mint, and sedge, and wild weeds rank, I do bethink me of that forest race Who 'mid these haunts had their rude dwelling-place ; Whose infant warriors, in their bark canoe, Were reared upon thy waves ; who darted through Thy cataract's foam, or on its billows rocked Fearless, and solitudes of deserts mocked. And we have built upon the wrested soil A city consecrate to arts and toil. Her noisy loom the busy maiden plies, Mingling her threads of fancy's varied dyes. On the same spot where once the Indian maid Wove the gay beaded belt, or wampum braid, To bind the hunter in the winter's storm, Or glittering deck the warrior's noble form, Well pleased to think her lover would approve. The gift of fondness and untutored love. Quenched are their council fires ; these ancient oaks. Resisting yet the woodman's sturdy strokes, Their " record trees " have been, perchance ; but where. Now of that long lost race, the registry they bear ? Lowell, January, 1842- jANE Ermina Locke. LOWELL WATERWAYS. JOWELL has been called the Venice of America, and with good reason, as you will say when you have seen its mills illuminated at night from the heights of Centralville. It is a row of palaces in which toil and skill have residence. Lowell is a little over four miles long; yet the Merrimack River flows for five miles within its borders, the Concord River flows for two miles and a quarter, and River Meadow Brook has a course of two miles and a quarter. That makes a total of nine and a half miles of natural waterways within the city limits. But there are other waterways than these, — the canals which men designed and built, — streams which have conferred honor upon our city and have given it place among the industrial communities of the earth. These canals have a total length of five and a half miles, so the extent of our waterways is close to sixteen miles. All these streams are attached to water-wheels, which give thousands of people employment. On the 25th of June, 1792, Dudley A. Tyng, William Coombs, and others were incorporated as the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals upon the Merrimack River. In March of the following year a contract was given to Joseph Tyng, and in the fall of 1796 the canal was opened to traffic amid a scene of great rejoicing. This canal was one and a half miles long and thirty feet wide, and cost ^50,000. It was and has since been known as the Pawtucket Canal. In 1 82 1 it was purchased by the men who founded Lowell, and was then converted to manufacturing purposes. These men were Patrick Jackson, Nathan Appleton, and Kirk Boott. They made the Pawtucket Canal sixty feet wide, and they built the Merri- mack Canal. Among the engineers was James B. Francis, then a young man, from England. In 1845 ^Ii"- Francis was chosen agent of the company, and from that time dates the wonderful improvement which has developed the powers of the waters of the Merrimack. He designed and built the dam and the Northern Canal, and built the Moody Street feeder, which takes care of the surplus water from the Northern Canal. He im- proved the system and made it effective, and it stands to-day a memorial of the genius he had. The canals have an aggregate power of 10,000 horse power, and this has of late years been increased by improvements in the river bed. There is one other canal, the Wamesit Canal, which is fed by the Concord River, and which gives a force of 500 horse power. There are over two hundred and fifty bridges in Lowell. One feature of Mr. Francis's time was the gate he placed at the guard-locks. This was done because the city lay much below the level of the river. If the water should rise above the spender, it would overflow the city ; but, with the gate, the flow of water could be shut off. This gate was hung by a rope, and in a hasp near by hung an axe. When danger came, all that had to be done was to strike one blow with the axe, and the rope was severed and the gate fell into place. The rope was cut in the spring of 1852, when there was a great freshet, and the city was saved from inunda- tion. In 1897 there was another freshet, which, but for the removal of some pier- heads at Pawtucket bridge, would have equalled in volume the freshet of 1852. But the rope was not cut ; but there the gate hangs, a barrier of safety in case of need. James Bayles. JliL or WAr. i'AWTUCKET PALLS OLD DRACUT AND SOME HISTORIC HOUSES. HE picturesque town of Dracut, settled in 1664, originally extended for thirteen miles in green meadow, sunny upland, and wooded height, along the Merrimack ; and from source to mouth there was no fairer spot than that bordering on, and for two miles below, the Pawtucket Falls. The Indian trod the path for us which followed the exquisite curves of the stream ; and interrupted, as it was some thirty years ago, by the encroachments of a growing city, enough was left to show us how unequalled it must have been in beauty when the water, untrammelled, poured down in noble rapids, and little streams stole silently or rushed noisily in, as the Concord must have done, bearing upon its bosom a little gem of an island, — just a tree, a rock, and a bit of turf. The river had a decided influence upon the character of the early settlers of old Dracut. There was such a frontage of it, and so little else besides, that it seemed to dominate over the whole town. Fishing and rafting were the principal interests ; and it was a life of enchantment to float down the stream in the spring floods, when there was a spice of adventure, perhaps danger. There was the camp-fire by night, the rude supper, the social glass, the story, the song, the jest. And, surely, life was idyllic when in the late spring or early summer the fishing season came on, and the sparkling water teemed with shad and salmon, and a ready market for them twenty-six miles away. And who can wonder that these men wandered up and down the lovely, leafy path, with the glimmer of water through the trees, or lay upon the sunny bank, watching the salmon's flash or listening to the musical swirl of the water around the sharp bend or between the green islands .' And thus the traditions are that fertile fields were left untilled and uncared for ; and it is hardly possible that this free and careless river life should not have engendered in the early men of Dracut a sort of picturesque conserva- tism, a resistance to the steady march of improvement, a half reluctance to accept the new ideas which, in the first half of the present century, began to take root in all the towns around. The punch-bowl was handed about in the social afternoon visit among women, long after the great temperance movement was in full swing in all parts of New England ; and I can well remember seeing, when a child, at the funeral of a distinguished man, which called out many representative families from remote parts of the town, women wearing bright red and green plaided cloaks made of a material called "camlet," which at that time had long since gone by and was seldom seen. There was a spirit of Bohemianism in the forefathers, which gave to their descendants a distinct and spicy flavor. 'Tis a pity, then, since the early men of Dracut were notably late in reforms, their sons should not have been a little later, in which case there might have been preserved to us some interesting old houses. Prominent among them was the old "garrison house" which so many people remember (since it was destroyed less than twenty years ago), and deeply regret its loss. A clipping from a newspaper written by the late lamented A. C. Varnum, who has contributed so many valuable records to the early history of Dracut, gives the following details : " The old two-story, pitched roof house in Dracut known as the Garrison House, and situated on the westerly side of the 26 The Lowell Book road leading from Pawtucket bridge to the Navy Yard, is being demolished to make way for the march of improvement. The house is forty-five feet front by twenty-two deep, and was built by the early settlers of Dracut in 1674, as a place of rendezvous, in case of an attack by the Indians, for the safety of the women and children and for the better defence of their property by the men. The roof was about one-third pitched, and persons could stand under the ridge-pole of the attic. The flooring and framing timbers were si.xteen inches square, and are all hewn instead of being sawed. They are of a reddish variety of pitch pine. The second story projected over the first nearly a foot, in order to afford an opportunity to shoot through loopholes downward upon any foe that might make an attack upon the garrison. The perpendicular projecting timbers of the second story terminated in an ornamental finish at their lower extremity, and appear as sound as when put into the framework of the building, two hundred and twelve years ago. The bricks of which the lower portion of the chimney was constructed were made in Scotland, as appears from the inscription on some of them. A portion of the basement is partitioned off from the rest by a heavy stone wall. This enclosure is supposed to have been made for the better safety and security of the women and children who sought refuge from time to time in the basement." There was a long " carry " as well as an Indian village at the " Falling Waters," which supposedly rendered this point a dangerous one, as the Indians, while following the shore, may have amused themselves in their usual graceful and humane manner. One can imagine the sudden alarm, the hasty gathering in of the terrified women and children, the sharp conflict, and the agonized roll-call when all was over; although, to do justice to the Pawtucket tribe, under their famous chiefs, Passaconaway and his son, Wannalancit, it was ever a most friendly and peaceable one. The old histories of Dracut tell, however, of some fiery encounters at the old garrison house, and of one woman at least who defended herself and chil- '%!; 4i dren, single-handed, by an ingenious stratagem, which put to rout the whole attacking party. The Old Yellow Meetiag-hottse, Built in 1784, with as much pious wrangling and squabbling as if its location had been that of a post- office, was an interesting relic of the olden times, and one perfect type of the popular church of that day, — stanch and unyielding, without the slightest attempt at ornamentation, with square wire-hinged pews, which continued to afford an opportunity for demon- stration long after all the churches in the conference had ceased to worship God in that noisy style. Its timbers, we are told, showed no decay, and were incorporated into the new church. It was as liberal to beliefs as it was tenacious of the old customs, and afforded shelter to various sects, Unitarians among the number ; and even town meetings were held under its roof, which for shrewd wit and humor no The Old Yellow Meeting-house. MEMBEii OF THE CONTINENTAL '. !N TMir RE^'OLUTION :N. JOonPH BRADLEY VARMUM MCLLY VARNUM Old Dracot and Some Historic Houses 27 Coburn, Varnum, Richardson, or Bradley, need be ashamed. It stubbornly held to its old name through decades and decades of time, and through all shades of paint it was always the " Old Yellow Meeting-house " ; and even to-day, though a smart new edifice, resplendent in stained glass and the very ornatest of modern architecture, stands where the old one stood, people will call it the Old Yellow Meeting-house. And the electric cars run to, and the boys play ball at, and the cricketers built their club-house near, the Old Yellow Meeting-house. Pawtticketville Church. And the Pawtucketville church, with its century record, its old-time, unflinching loyalty from its start to its finish, which made its history as wonderful as that of the house which Jack built, — it does seem pathetic that in all Dracut there is no room for that little church, with its very graceful belfry, from which has rung out in clear tones for years the historic bell bearing this inscription: "Boston, Revere, 1822." The bell has a history as well as the church, and it is pleasant to hear that it will be preserved. Well, since the church can neither be restored nor given away nor sold, let it be taken down, as one of its old pastors hoped, " with a feeling of reverence, and that every blow of the hammer should be considered sacred." The Old Varnum Homestead. Few amid the hum of busy life, and the gay throng of pleasure-seekers, know, as they whirl past Varnum's Landing, that it is historic ground. Nearly a hundred years ago, before our great water-wheels began to revolve or the Merrimack was spanned by a bridge, there was at this point in the river a link which connected Dracut with the great world. It was a ferry between the two wooded shores, which approached each other so nearly as to make this spot the narrowest in the river for many miles, and to give it the well-known name of "Deer Jump." A somewhat rough and sunny path connects the landing with the Methuen road, on which stands the interesting old house of General Varnum, of illustrious family and Revolutionary fame, practically unchanged, save in some few particulars. This roadway, glaring in sunlight, was, some thirty years ago, the same embowered, grass-grown path, with ferns and flowers growing to its very edge, and occasional glimpses of the shining river below, through which General Varnum rode on his way to the battlefield, or in times of peace drove with his wife " Molly " by his side, in his stately carriage, which so many of us remember as a prominent figure in 4th of July parades. Doubtless, also, Washington and Lafayette found their way through this leafy path (if they ever did) leaving their horses on the other side of the river. A few rods from the old house is a quiet, old-time graveyard, so still and peaceful that the birds sing all day, unmolested by the sound of gun, from the thick trees which grow on two sides of it. Here he rests with his wife Molly beside him, surrounded by his friends and neigh- bors. A modest stone of slate bears this inscription: "Erected in Memory of Hon. Joseph Bradley Varnum, whose life was a series of public acts, rendering the most important services to his Country in offices of honor and trust sustained in the Town, State and Nation. At the age of eighteen he was chosen Captain, and held that position during the Revolutionary War, and until he was elected Colonel in 1787. In 1802 he was chosen Brigadier General, and in 1805 Major General, which office he held until his death. From 1780 to 1795 he was a member of the House of Representatives and Senate of 28 The Lowell Book Massachusetts, and a member of the Convention which framed the Constitution in 1780, and revised it in 1820, and from 1795 to 1817 a member of the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, during which time he was Speaker of the House four years, and President of the Senate one year. He died in full hope of immortality Septem- ber iith, 1820, at the age of 70 years." The Toll-house. Where Varnum Park now is, stood at the end of the dismal covered bridge of the period the toll-house, which is hardly historical, but was a place of more than common interest and of distinct individuality. Many people will remember it, and also the sprightly lady who sometimes presided over the till, — clean, crisp, and of unbounded hos- pitality. There were hoodlums then, as well as now ; but no hoodlum who measured swords with her ever left the field without a scratch. On a Saturday afternoon, the great field day of country people, every inch of space belonging to the toll-house was occupied by vehicles, with horses sleepily enjoying an unwonted holiday or luxuriously toying with their nose-bags while their owners were " over to Lowell," trading. I can see them now, as they come trailing one by one wearily across the bridge, bearing their sheaves with them. The toll-house was to the people of Dracut what a modern (men's) club-house is to-day, — a choice bit of gossip flying through the air was sure to find lodg- ment and circulation. The " Boston daily " was handed from hand to hand, and contents noted, and lost, strayed, or stolen conveniently posted. But, when the bridge became free in 1850, the toll-house was no longer needed ; and its star went out. The older people of Centralville will recollect the baptizing place at the mouth of the Concord, and the sweet sound of the hymn sung by those assembled there, as it floated across the river in the solemn stillness of a Sunday morning, and creeds and beliefs were all forgotten in the impressiveness of the scene and day. But the great powers that be, to whom in all humility we bow, looked with an envious eye upon the fair shore opposite ; and from that day its beauty was doomed, and the boys and girls of to-day can never know the Merrimack as their fathers knew it. Well, it is all changed now. The exquisitely wooded heights, clothed in the tender greens of summer or the gorgeous hues of autumn in one unbroken mass from summit to river, are, alas ! a thing of the past ; and fifteen cents to Lawrence can hardly atone for the disfiguring scar left by the electric road, and we must deplore the mutilated banks of our beautiful Merrimack, and the dreary waste of gravel and the unsightly heap of refuse which meet the eye, even if it is a means to accomplish the end. The little island disappeared one day. Small as it was, — and it must have been almost the smallest on record, — -it yet took up too much room. The river, which used to ripple along, sometimes wider, sometimes narrower, according to its own sweet will, is as far as possible neatly enclosed in the granite walls which are considered "good form" in manufacturing circles; and every rock in the river that can be hewed or blasted out of existence is doomed. The beautiful, almost classic Concord, dignified by nature and rich in association, flowing a silver thread in green meadows, shows no disposition to frisk until in the last four miles of its course, when it hurries on to join its parent Merrimack and gives itself up to be dammed. The sunny, old roomy houses in Dracut, which seemed to grow out of the grass, are fast disappearing one by one ; and thus " the old order changeth, giving place to the new." Marv E. Wight. VIEW OF THE MILL ON THE MERRIMACK RIVCii ST. ANNE'S CHURCH. (jEVENTY-FIVE years ago, certain capitalists of Boston sought to establish the manufacture of cotton cloth in an obscure corner of old Chelmsford. The extensive public works, and necessary accompanying enterprises, drew together a miscellaneous multitude of people. The men who invested their money here were shrewd enough to see that their own interest required that these people should have the restraints of education and religious worship. For this purpose, they not only established schools, but also built a substantial stone church and parsonage. But who were to occupy the church .' If any one of the leading denominations was established there, it would excite the envy and jealousy of all the others, and confusion and disaster be sure to result. Some of the chief men were Episcopalians, and they would prefer that mode of worship ; and there were too few of that denomination to excite the envy of the most sensitive. It was resolved to give that mode of worship a trial. They were fortunate in the selection of a rector, who was not an extremist, and who understood well his peculiar situation. The experiment was entirely successful. The affairs went on harmoniously. But in process of time, as numbers increased, other denominations fraternized, withdrew from the mother church, and built churches for themselves, but never in such numbers as to enfeeble St. Anne's. She still lives under her second rector. She is not given to change. I have been a constant attendant there for over sixty years, and I have heard expressed no wish for a change. Judging by the past, we hope that two rectorships will cover the century. J. S. Russell. "Although a majority of the directors of the Merrimack Company were Unitarians, they voted to build an Episcopal church ; and an Episcopal clergyman was called. We can hardly appreciate the significance of that fact now. Although the Episcopal Church was very little known in Massachusetts, outside of Boston, and was not recognized there as a church of reconciliation, yet here, in this city, the Episcopal church was planted, the only parish for the whole community, the house of worship for Christian people of all names. Here at the Lord's table knelt the members of many denominations, and at the hands of the pastor received the Sacrament. Here, in unity of spirit and the bond of peace, they prayed in the prayers of their common ancestors of old England. Here they together recited the Apostles' Creed, to which for several generations New England had been a stranger. Thus, until the growth of the population demanded new churches, St. Anne's stood, like a parish church in old England, as the church of the whole people. . . . The Prayer Book with its notes of Protestantism and Catholicism, of Conservatism and Radicalism, strikes not the note of compromise, but, lifted on a high plane, sends forth in strong and sweet tones the notes of comprehension. " Such was the spirit in which St. Anne's was founded. Such is the spirit which in solemn and joyous worship she sends forth day by day." From the sermon of Bishop Lawrence, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of St. Anne's. MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. HAT the city of Lowell has lost none of the prestige it acquired in the -^ Civil War has been well demonstrated in the late Spanish-American con- \nL flict. All classes of citizens — her mechanics and artisans, clergymen, merchants and manufacturers — were inspired by the martial and patriotic spirit which we of the older generation remember so well in the days following the firing upon Fort Sumter. The " great uprising " of the North in those days, the hurried march of our " Minute Men of '6i," the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts State Militia, to the defence of the nation's capital, and the long agony of the four years of civil strife, can never be anything but realistic so long as there is one actor left to tell the story. Five thousand eight hundred of the best blood and sinew of Lowell marched away from this city in response to the numerous calls of President Lincoln. The thin ranks of the Lowell Grand Army Posts are evidence of how few survive to-day. In the closing days of the Revolution in 17S1, when Washington was hurrying for- ward his army to close in upon the British forces at Yorktown, he wrote a personal letter to Lafayette in commendation of the latter's work there, so well planned and faithfully executed, and hoped that Lafayette would have the felicity of being able with his small force to prevent the escape of Cornwallis until he himself could get near enough to be of assistance. A few days after, Lafayette answered, " That felicity is mine, General Washington ; and it is the proudest recollection of my life." So the surviving veterans of the Civil War can truly say that the knowledge of their not only having been instru- mental in preventing the disruption of the Union, but of having lived to see it expand and grow in strength until it has become one of the leading nations of the earth, — holding a foremost place in the recent Parliament of Nations at the Hague,-— is a felicity of which they may well feel proud. The fact of Lowell not having been incorporated as a town until 1826 prevents any extended notice of her claims to Revolutionary patriotism. Nevertheless there were those living in East Chelmsford, now Lowell, who responded to the Lexington alarm, joined the minute men on Chelmsford Green, and marched to the attack of the British on that eventful day. Captain John Ford, who commanded the com- pany at Bunker Hill, was long a resident of this part of the town. The Sixth Massachusetts Continentals, now existing as the Sixth Mas- sachusetts Militia, dates back to the period of the Revolution in 1779 and 1780; and this regiment, now so largely made up of Lowell men that it seems to be a part of us, was much in evidence in those days that gave birth to the Republic. Three times during the war of the Rebellion the Old Si.\th "buckled on its armor" and marched to the seat of war. In 1861 it obtained its national reputation as the first regiment from any State to reach the capital. It was also the first to receive the "baptism of fire " as it marched through the streets Ladd and Whitney Monument. POST OfTlCE CITY HALL THE ARMORY Military Organizations 31 of Baltimore, and the granite shaft facing our City Hall will tell the story to generations yet to come of the death of two members of a Lowell company on that eventful nine- teenth day of April. In the late war with Spain the Sixth had the distinction of being the first regiment that was thoroughly equipped for action when the summons came from President McKinley. It served creditably in the Porto Rico campaign ; and many of its officers and men are already enlisted for the Philippines under the banner of Colonel Rice, who carried them through that campaign so successfully. Of the militia companies located in Lowell, the oldest and consequently the best known is the Lowell Mechanic Phalanx. It was organized in 1825, almost coincident with the incorporation of the town of Lowell. It is now known in military circles as Company C, Sixth Regiment State Militia; and many prominent citizens of the town and city of Lowell have at various periods been officers or members of this organization. Other companies organized before the beginning of the Civil War were : the City Guards, in 1841 ; the Watson Light Guard, in 1851; the Lawrence Cadets, in 1855. In the course of the war the City Guards and the Watson Light Guards gave place to the Putnam Guards and the Sargeant Light Guards, which bodies figured in the late war with Spain as Companies G of the Sixth, and M of the Ninth Regiment State Militia. The Lawrence Cadets became the National Greys, and served in the Civil War as Com- pany A, Sixth Regiment. Company M of the Ninth Regiment State Militia, Captain A. D. Mitten, was organized April 2, 1888. During the Civil War numerous independent companies and several regiments were raised in this city. The Richardson Light Infantry, Captain Phineas A. Davis, was first in the field. It was organized April 19, 1861, the same day the Sixth Reg- iment was receiving such a bountiful harvest of "bullets and brickbats " at Baltimore. Our townsman, the Hon. George F. Richardson, was foremost in securing enlistments and the necessary equipment for the company ; and he still retains a lively interest in the affairs of its survivors, and is always present at the annual reunions. On the com- pletion of its term of service it was reorganized, and served three years as the Seventh Massachusetts Battery. At this time was also organized the Hill Cadets, afterward Company D, Sixteenth Massachusetts Infantry, Captain Patrick S. Proctor. The larger part of this company formerly belonged to the Jackson Musketeers, a company which had been previously disbanded by Governor Gardner. On April 25, 1861, the Abbot Greys was organized. This company was incorporated later with the Second Massachusetts Infantry. Judge Abbot, then a resident of Lowell, was largely instrumental in equipping the company. His son, Edward Gardner Abbot, was its captain. The Butler Rifles, Captain Thomas O'Hare, was organized May i, 1861. It was afterward known as Company G, Sixteenth Massachusetts Infantry. The Twenty- sixth and Thirtieth Massachusetts Infantry were organized in Lowell at Camp Chase, and were very largely made up of Lowell soldiers. Later on three companies of the Thirty- third were enlisted from this city; and on Feb. 16, 1863, the Fifteenth Massachusetts Battery. At the conclusion of the war, Governor Bullock made the following public statement : " Lowell furnished at the first tap of the drum four companies to the immortal Sixth, to protect the capital in the hour of gloom and almost of capture. She has filled every one of her quotas without a draft. She has left a surplus account of gallant men at the office 22 The Lowell Book of the adjutant-general from the beginning to the end ; and she will ever appear before the whole world with the monumental renown of having contributed the first blood of the fifth '^''TheTourLwell companies which were at that time a part of the Sixth Regiment were made up as follows: Company C (Lowell Mechanic Phalanx), Captam A bert S. FoLsbee; Company D (City Guards), Captain James W. Hart; C-pany H (Watson Light Guard), Captain John F. Noyes ; Company A (National Greys), Captam Jos.ah A^ Sawtelle. The Thirtieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, so largely composed of Lowell men that they have always held their annual reunions in this vicinity, and whose battle flag graces Memorial Hall, was the last regiment of volunteers to be mustered out of the federal service. Therefore, with the Sixth and the Thirtieth the first and the last, it seems as though Lowell ought to be content and rest on her laurels. Of the Lowdl contingent, the most notable man which the Civil War produced was Benjamin F. Butler. Not only was he the most conspicuous, but he was the only Lowell citi^en who attained the full rank of Major-general of Volunteers. His record at An- napolis. Baltimore, and New Orleans, will be long remembered. His stamping out o ram- pant secession in the latter city obtained the widest approval of the entire North, and it also brought upon him the universal obloquy of the entire South. .,.-,• f Of the numberless heroes who gave their lives to their country, the hmits of this brie sketch will not permit mention to be made. Their memory is enshrined in the hearts of a grateful people. From Bull Run to Appomattox, Lowell was ^'P[''^-''\2Z7o battlefield of the Army of the Potomac, as well as in the famous march from Atlanta to thlsea along the Gulf, and down the Shenandoah Valley. Some of them "sleep the sleep that n this world knows no waking" on the spot where they fell; some, in the national emerer es, perhaps with a headstone inscribed "Unknown." Most of them are in our own buriaUplaces, where, clustered on the mounds, loving remembrances are daily found in the form of beautiful flowers and garlands of immortelles. ^ . .^. , . Our City Government appropriated a fund for the purpose of mscribmg the names o deceased Lowell soldiers from 1861 to 1866 in our own Memorial Hall Their names wil now be handed down to posterity in an enduring form. Provision is also made for a dis- play of relics of all the wars ; and in time we shall, no doubt, have quite a creditable collection of curiosities and war relics. _ On the fourth day of March, 1861. President Lincoln, in his first inaugura address, seeing, without doubt, shadows of the impending conflict, used these words : The mystic chord's of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every hving heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. l^^J^f^ more than a quarter of a century we have seen this prophecy fully verified. J^e moment the call to arms came in the late war, the men of the South were as eager to defend the Stars and Stripes and to meet the common foe as were the most P^^r-tic defenders n The North ; and so the North and the South marched side by side to the battlefield, keep- ing step to the music of the Union. Greenleaf C. Brock. THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. HE influence of the institution, like that of the individual, cannot be fully measured by material standards or external conditions. It does a work spirit is true and high, it presses on to nobler and grander achievement, its power is ever broadening, and the splendor of the past is but the prophecy of its future glory. Our First Unitarian Church makes no boasts of splendid achievement, and yet it has been a quickening and helpful power for good in the life of the city. The men of strong and sturdy character who met in the old stone tavern in Pawtucket Street in 1829, and organized this society, founded an institution whose growing power they could not have foreseen. They builded better than they knew. Here in this church men have felt their deeper aspirations stirred by Scripture, hymn, and prayer ; and their best impulses have learned their wider scope for activity in the busy world of human life. In this church the words of the earnest preacher have helped men and women overcome temptation, meet their sorrow with a braver heart, and bear one another's burden, so ful- filling the law of Christ. And all this, I believe, was intended by the founders ; but they could not have foreseen the number who would feel its best influence, nor the manifold ways in which it would minister to the spiritual needs in the city's life. The history of all these seventy years has been for the most part peaceful and quiet, with few marked incidents, save the observance of the Semi-centennial in 1879 ^^'^ the Miles Festival in 1886. Quietly and without ostentation the society has gone on its way and done its work. The real strength of this society has been that of every institution, the strength of its members. It has sent forth into the city, and into various parts of the country, many a youth and maiden who have made useful and honorable careers. It has counted among the members men who have attained prominence in many walks of life, — skilful physi- cians who have been widely successful and deeply beloved, able lawyers whose integrity has been unquestioned ; prosperous merchants, whose honor has been equal to — yes, greater than — their prosperity ; men in high position, who have been faithful to their trusts, and managed them excellently and well. Our church has contributed men to our civic life who have adorned the offices they held, and has sent forth a few who have been conspicuous in the service of the State. But in all positions, whether high or low, it has always furnished, or been able to furnish, men of character. Nor has it been less fortunate in its women. In the early history of the church they did not play an important part. One who was once a valued member of this church writes that soon after the installation of Mr. Hinckley the records bear the names of women upon all committees, religious and executive. But even before that time, as the writer herself admits, there were " occasional Aquilas and Priscillas, with many a Dor- cas." And, surely, in these earlier days many found in this church the deeper thoughts of life and duty which impelled them to faithful and noble careers. Since Mr. Hinckley's day the women have been a source of power in the society. They, too, have occupied 34 The LowcU Book positions of trust and honor honorably and well. A glance at the public charities of Lowell will show how many who have served them have been connected with our church. And both men and women from our number are still very prominent in all charitable and philanthropic movements, and in all that makes for the welfare of our city and our State. And if we turn from the church itself to the several departments of its activity, we shall find the same sense of responsibility, self-sacrifice, and devotion. The Sunday- school has shown it from its very beginning in 1S30. It has never been as large as many of the Sunday-schools of the city ; but the earnest and thoughtful zeal of its officers and teachers has maintained the interest of the scholars, given it stability of character, and made its work a truly consecrated one. The seed sown has often found earth waiting to receive it, and has brought forth fruit thirty, sixty, or one hundred fold. Further, the same spirit of consecration has marked the work of the Ladies' Sewing Society. It was organized in its present form in 1862, in aid of the Sanitary Commission, and was very active throughout the period of the Civil War. Since then it has worked for the deserving poor in Lowell ; and, though for many reasons the interest now is not so great as it once was, yet, as the poor, the suffering, and the helpless are ever with us, the Sewing Society should have, and eventually will have, a large place in the philan thropic activity of the church. One of the most prominent organizations of the church is the Channing Fraternity Like the Sewing Society, it has looked beyond the limits of ecclesiastical welfare, and has been very successful in ministering to the intellectual and spiritual side of the city's life. Formed in 1871, under the leadership of the Rev. Henry Blanchard, the Channing Frater- nity seems from the very beginning to have entered upon a prosperous career. Part of its pioneer work was the establishment of the Holly Tree Inn. The main object of the Inn, as stated by one interested, was " to encourage temperance by offering hot coffee and pure milk at such prices that the poorest laboring man and woman could afford to buy them." It had the desired effect of lessening the sales of into.xicating liquor in its vicinity, and was a source from which the poor obtained much nourishing and appetizing food. Its end seemed attained when private enterprises of a like nature had grown up in different parts of the city, and lower prices and better quality of food prevailed in similar restaurants. By its sale and the accumulation of interest, a fund of five thousand dollars was secured, that enabled the Fraternity to accomplish far-reach- ing results in other directions. One of the agencies through which it has acted has been the Committee on Mis- sions. This committee has held religious services from time to time in Huntington Hall, Highland Hall, and the Church ; has secured for these services eminent preachers of the denomination ; and in other ways endeavored to see that the people of Lowell had ample opportunity to hear all that is best and noblest in the Unitarian faith. The Committee on Culture has aimed to educate the moral and intellectual tastes of the community. Under its auspices have been given lectures, concerts, and readings of a high order. These have contributed to the reputation of the Fraternity ; and its entertain- ments are sure to meet a generous and deserved response from the people of Lowell, in- dependent of church or sect. The Committee on Benevolence and Hospitality have tried in quiet ways . to promote the social life of the church, welcome strangers, and in co-operation with the minister bring all members of the society in closer friendly relations. The First Unitarian Church 35 The Committee on the Flower Mission has been one of the most active, beneficent, and interesting agencies of the Channing Fraternity. For over a quarter of a century, flowers, fruits, jellies, and other delicacies have been sent weekly during the summer months to the vestry, and distributed among the poor and sick. Flowers are not only furnished by members of the society, but Tyngsboro, Chelmsford Centre, South Chelms- ford, and VVestford have been contributors ; and the hospitals, the Old Ladies' Home, the Day Nursery, invalids, and sections of the city where flowers are rarely seen have had occasion to feel grateful for the generosity of our friends, and the work of our committee and their efficient helpers. The Committee on Country Week have also done a work of which they may be justly proud. For many years they have sent into the country those who have most needed its benefits. The effects of such action cannot be justly estimated. The reports of those who have enjoyed its opportunities could alone give any suggestion of its value. Unfortunately, such testimony is precluded by the limits of this article. Closely connected with the Channing Fraternity, though distinct from it, is the Young People's Fraternity, which was started in 1890, and is devoted to the intellectual and social life of the younger members of the society. It has been a helpful influence to bring the young people together in intellectual sympathy and church work. The Lend a Hand Society has, by its good work among the poor and suffering, enabled the children to get ideas of practical service along with ideas of religion. The Lowell branch of the Women's Alliance was organized in November, 1882, with sixty-five members. Much helpful work has been done for less fortunate churches ; and, by interchange of the deeper thought, fraternal relations have been established and maintained. Work not to be valued by money is carried on through the Post-office Mission and the Cheerful Letter correspondence. An illustration of the outside work of the church may be found in the Ministry- at-Large, which was started by members of this society, and has now grown into an independent organization. It is impossible in this article to describe adequately all the activities of the church. The best influence of them all is due to earnest effort and self-sacrificing devotion, and their increasing usefulness depends on the still greater earnestness and devotion which the men and women of this generation have to give. May the strength of the past be the prophecy of a more splendid present and a grander future ! May future records show that one of the most stimulating and helpful influences to the spiritual life of the city of Lowell has been, is, and ever will be the First Unitarian Church. Charles T Billings. THE MINISTRY-AT-LARGE. HE paternal, almost tender solicitude which the founders of Lowell had for the operatives of their mills, and the flood of humane interest and activity second quarter of the present century, finds its best illustration in Lowell, in what, originally organized as the Lowell Missionary Society, has been known for fifty- five years past as the Ministry-at-large. In the first year of its existence (1843) the society devoted itself to Unitarian denominational work in the West. In the second year it turned to the unsectarian missionary work within its own city. The Ministry-at-large has been eminently useful and beneficent in the life of the city, because of large opportunities for work in a grow- ing manufacturing city, because of good judgment in its directors, and because of fit- ness for the work in its ministers. The Rev. Horatio Wood was the first minister-at-large. For twenty-four years he labored arduously, and succeeded in placing the work on a firm foundation. Then the Rev. Hiram Clarke Duganne carried on the work for seventeen years. The present minister is the Rev. George C. Wright, who for thirteen years has conducted the charge. Within the limits of this brief survey of the Ministry-at-large, it is not possible to name its innumerable benefactors, advisers, and friends, — people like Thomas Nesmith, Jonathan Tyler, Dr. Dalton, Dr. Holbrook, the Penhallows, the Carneys, Miss Harriet Wilder, Mrs. John Nesmith, the Knowleses, the Robbinses, the Richardsons, the Wrights, the Talbots, the Battles, the Coburns, the Spaldings, the Livingstons, James Francis, Bradford Bartlett, and many others of similar character and social standing, not to speak of one of its living supporters and advisers ; but these imparted to it of their substance, service, and spirit, to make it strong and simple, and serviceable to the worthy working poor people of Lowell. This it has been, and it is now. Here, in its basement, were inaugurated the evening schools for Lowell. The Sanitary Commission made its headquarters here during the Civil War, as did the Volunteer Aid Association during the recent Spanish-American conflict. Sewing, cook- ing, dressmaking, gymnastic, debating and mothers' classes, bathing and reading and amusements, are features. Relief is furnished to respectable and needy people, without regard to their belief, till they are strong and self-supporting again. Church and Sunday- school services are conducted every Sunday in a beautiful auditorium. To maintain its work, the Ministry-at-large depends on the legacies left to it, and on the contributions of its friends, which are not sufficient since the withdrawal of the mill contributions, owing to the recent business depression. It needs more money for its work. The advisory work which is done far surpasses that of many busy lawyers and doctors. It is an important work to be done, and in line with the advanced method which is now the practice of the foremost philanthropic workers. It means prevention instead of reformation, — not alms, but a friend ; and it saves from moral and social wreckage men, women, children, and homes. G. C. W. PHILANTHROPIC INSTITUTIONS OF LOWELL. 'F giving be the best part of living, Lowell deserves a high place on the roll of honor ; for from the time of our fathers until now an urgent public charitable need has been recognized, and wise heads and generous hands have supplied the want, not without much personal sacrifice. It may not be amiss to recall our public charities by means of short sketches, naming them in the order of their establishment. "The Lowell Dispensary" had the distinction of being the first. It was organized in 1836, with the design of providing medicines and medical attendance for the sick poor without charge. Only a small sum was collected for the purpose ; but it was so well husbanded that, when such obligations were assumed by the city, several thousand dollars which had accumulated were contributed for the endowment of free beds in the new General Hospital. In 1839, Lowell having grown to be a city of upwards of twenty thousand inhabitants, with a large percentage of homeless operatives, the Lowell manufacturing corporations deemed it advisable " to establish and maintain a hospital for the conven- ience and comfort of the persons employed by them, when sick or needing medical or surgical treatment," and " to contribute the funds necessary for that purpose." There was no hospital of any kind in Lowell at that time. The Hospital Association secured a fine building with spacious grounds in the western part of the town, and here its work has been carried on for sixty years. There was not a little local pride felt when Charles Dickens, who dined, when in Lowell, with Dr. Gilman Kimball, then resident physician, spoke of this hospital in his "American Notes" with much praise. This has been the pioneer institution here in establishing a training school for nurses and in opening an out-patient department. It also has an isolated contagious ward and a resident physician, the present one having been in charge for thirteen years. Operatives without means are treated free of charge. During the last ten years the cost to the corporations, over receipts, has been ninety-three thousand dollars. Verily, our Lowell corporations are not without souls. The management of this institution is in the hands of a board of trustees, with six physicians and surgeons who serve as a medical staff. The next charity established was the " Ministry-at-large," an extended notice of which appears in another column. In 1863 the "Sodality of the Holy Family," connected with St. Patrick's Church, rented a single room in Adams Street for the care of its sick. This little hospital soon proved too small ; and the house which now stands at the corner of Cabot and Market Streets was secured, providing accommodation for ten or twelve patients. After a time this was placed in charge of Rev. John O'Brien, of St. Patrick's Church. He was much impressed with the rapid growth of this small institution, and, in conjunction with the Sisters of Charity of St. Peter's Church, evolved the idea of a hospital on a larger scale ; and St. John's was contemplated. The scheme ripened ; 3^ The Lowell Book and in 1867 somewhat more than an acre of land, known as the Livermore property, was purchased as a suitable site for the new project. The building standing thereon, called the " Old Yellow House " like many old New England mansions, had entertained Washington at breakfast, and had been of much importance in its day. At the time of its purchase it was a tenement house, described as having two or three families in each room. With some diiificulty the house was made ready for the reception of patients; and in April, 1867, the institution was formally opened. The eight inmates of " Father John's Hospital" in Cabot Street were removed to it, and St. John's Hospital began its career of usefulness. It is pathetic to read of its struggles and uncertain income ; but good business management has brought the charity along, and it may well be proud of its present fine edifice erected in 1869, and its enlarged usefulness. The " Old Yellow House " in the eastern corner of the hospital property seems to emphasize, by contrast, the thirty years' tireless labor of the noble Sisters who have this charity in charge. In 1 866 the late Mrs. William North invited six ladies to her parlor to discuss the advisability of establishing a Home for Aged Women in Lowell. Enough interest was shown to warrant other meetings ; and it was decided to attempt the enterprise. In 1867 the Old Ladies' Home Corporation was organized under a State charter. Without delay a small house at the corner of Moody and Tremont Streets was secured, and in July of the same year the Home was opened with six inmates. Four years later its capacity was increased by the purchase of an adjoining property. But the location was confined and unfavorable. By determined and generous effort, funds were obtained to build a new building in Fletcher Street, into which the Home was removed, after fifteen years' exist- ence, in 1892. The Home is in charge of a Matron, the present one having filled the position for seventeen years. If any one of us should acquire a family of thirty-four members, we might feel a reasonable exultation if we made both ends meet, after paying taxes, a salary, wages, for repairs, food, etc., out of forty-seven hundred dollars, which is the annual expenditure at this Home with its thirty-four inmates. The Young Men's Christian Association began its work here in 1S67. It occupied quarters in Barrister's Hall until 1889, when it moved into its present property in Hurd Street. The attendance here averages from one hundred and fifty to two hundred, daily, all the year round. Its financial support is derived from its membership fees and contributions and a small income from the rental of its third floor. Its religious work is well known. Its philanthropies are many. It offers evening educational classes in prac- tical branches, and a series of lectures, concerts, receptions, and social entertainments during the winter months. Its gymnasium is well equipped, and in charge of a compe- tent instructor. In 1872 the Humane Society was organized under the name of the " Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals." Its agent, in the prosecution of his work among animals, discovered great need of attention to neglected children ; and in 1890 the organ- ization changed its name to the " Humane Society." It is only necessary to state that twenty-five hundred cases of cruelty have been investigated in one year, to show how much has been accomplished. Although the expenses of this society are not large, there being no home to sustain, it needs funds to carry on its work. How gladly would it receive money to supply street drinking-troughs for horses and dogs, of which a great lack in this city is reported. DAY NUR5ERY t-hitt ehAr'bL Philanthropic Institutions of LowcU 39 With the rapid growth of our city, it became evident to certain philanthropic men that too many public resorts for healthful recreation during the winter months could not be provided. After several preliminary meetings to consider the matter, in 1872 it was decided to open rooms for reading and amusement, which should be called the " People's Club," and should be free to all. In accordance with the above-named object has this society existed and grown for more than twenty-five years. Courses of lectures are pro- vided here, the lecturers from among our best scholars and thinkers. In 1878 a depart- ment for women was organized in another building, which has, in addition to the above attractions, classes in plain sewing, dressmaking, and millinery. Thousands of men and boys, and women and girls, visit these rooms in the course of each year, as may be seen by reference to the records. Until 187s there was no public charity which included young children in its care, and it was determined that the want should be supplied. Some zealous philanthropists made the bold venture of purchasing the " Lawrence estate " in John Street for the purpose of founding a " Home for Young Women and Children," and the Home was opened. Its design has been to provide temporary assistance to its inmates. How wide its benefits, long years of useful work can tell us. In the twenty-four years of its existence it has had but three matrons, the present one having had the care for twelve years. The situation of the Home in a crowded business street was ill adapted to the welfare of the children within its walls; and when, in iSgr, through the munificence of the late Mrs. Josephine M. Ayer and her son, Mr. Frederick F. Ayer, their former residence and an adjoining one, well set in a generous garden and containing much valuable furniture, were con- veyed to their home, joy reigned within it. After Mrs. Ayer's death, in 189S, her will was found to contain a legacy of one hundred thousand dollars, which sum has been placed in the hands of trustees for its future use, thus making a beautiful memorial of a most generous giver. The institution is now known as the " Ayer Home for Young Women and Children." The year 1875 was memorable in that yet another home was provided for little homeless waifs. The late rector of St. Anne's Church, the Rev. Dr. Theodore Edson, in this year founded a Home for Orphan Boys in Anne Street. It was formally incor- porated with a board of trustees under the name of the " St. Mary's Orphanage," and its support was provided by parishioners of St. Anne's Church and by others among the numerous friends of Dr. Edson. After a pastorate of nearly sixty years Dr. Edson died, leaving the orphanage without legal connection with St. Anne's. At the suggestion of Rev. Dr. A. St. John Chambre, who succeeded Dr. Edson, the parish assumed the contin- uance and support of the Institution after its legal transfer, making it a perpetual memo- rial of their late rector by naming it the "Theodore Edson Orphanage." Boys between the ages of two and four are received here without regard to the religion or nationality of their parents, and retained, unless sooner provided for, until thirteen years of age, when suitable homes are found for them. A matron supervises the house, and is responsible for the care of the thirty or forty children which it can accommodate. It has accom- plished and is accomplishing a noble work. Yet another Home for orphan and neglected children is with us. It was opened in Westford Street, April 3, 1884, and incorporated in the same year. It has no capital stock, no funds, no endowment. Its support comes only from the voluntary offerings of those interested in its existence. An extended system of book-keeping is not required 4° The Lowell Book here, where the year 1S98 opened with ^6.45 in the treasury, and the receipt of $1 "in a letter from Salem " was an event to be chronicled. In the quaint old house where this " Faith Home " is established, there are, to-day, twenty children provided with a Chris- tian home. No more interesting reading could be provided for charitable eyes than the little booklet giving the details of this work. As the result of a stirring address delivered before the Associated Charities of Lowell in 1885, the need was made apparent of an institution where working mothers might leave their young children in safety while absent from their homes. A committee of those interested in a " Day Nursery " was at once formed, and an appeal was made to the public for the modest sum of ^300, with which to defray the first year's expenses. After trying several locations which proved inadequate or inconvenient, a house in Moody Street was rented of the Merrimack Company in 1887; and here the Nursery remained until 1891, when the present building in Kirk Street was purchased, proving admirably adapted for this charity. In 1890 a branch Nursery was opened in Central Street, after- ward removed to Centralville ; and in 1895 land was purchased in First Street, and a building erected especially adapted to nursery needs. In 1S89 this charity obtained a charter. Its primary object is the day care of children. The nominal fee of ten cents per day is required for each child. The Nursery is open at half past five each morning, after which come a bath, breakfast, a nap in a quiet crib-room, dinner, play-time, and an early tea. The slightest suspicion of illness receives immediate medical attention. In 1892 the Young Women's Christian Association was incorporated, its object being to save young women. It occupies its original rooms in Central Street, with an average attendance of one hundred each day. In addition to its religious work, it has evening classes, where twelve different subjects are taken up during the winter. It has an employment bureau, and a lunch-room upon the " Holly Tree Inn " plan, where a noon and evening meal are served, of substantial materials, at a low price. At the latter there is an average attendance of seventy each day. After the lapse of twenty-eight years since the founding of any hospital in Lowell, the growth of our city seemed to demand an institution of a general character for those in our midst requiring hospital treatment. As a result of various meetings to discuss the matter, an organization was formed; and in 1891 the "Lowell General Hospital" was in- corporated. While at work upon the difficult problem of securing a site for the institu- tion, one of the trustees, Mr. James K. Fellows, came to the rescue, and offered to buy the Fay place in Varnum Avenue for the purpose, as a gift. It is needless to say that this great generosity was fully appreciated and gratefully accepted by our citizens, and it was voted by the trustees to name the building now used as a hospital " The Fellows Building." This bounty gave a wonderful impetus to the enterprise, and permitted the opening of the hospital in 1893. During the first two years of its existence four hun- dred and sixty-four patients were admitted, showing conclusively the need of the insti- tution. Since its establishment more than one-half of its patients have been treated free of charge. Surely, this is a noble record for a city like ours, consisting so largely of small wage- earners. Mary H. C. Rogers. m THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. HE City Library of Lowell was established by the City Council in 1844. Its beginnings were small at first, with an appropriation of ;^2,ooo, in a room on the first floor of the old City Hall building. Later, from 1872 to 1893, it occupied the second floor of the business building known as Hosford Block. It was made a free library in 1883. In 1888, with a view to improving its eflSciency, and to gain authority to hold property for its benefit and to encourage the bestowal of gifts and benefactions, the Hon. Charles D. Palmer called the attention of the City Council to the desirability of having an incorporated board of trustees. The necessary act for this purpose was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor April 17, 1888, vesting the government of the library in the mayor ex officio and a board of five trustees. The present librarian, Mr. Frederick A. Chase, was appointed July i, 1891. In May, 1893, the library was moved to the new Memorial Building, which was begun by the city in 1890, and cost ^175,000. As the library has never received any bequest in money, the entire cost of the building, equipment, and expense of running it, has come from the city. It is therefore a monument to the generosity of the city and a measure of the intelligence of its citizens. Its present number of volumes is about 60,000. The circulation of books for home use has been 165,000. As an auxiliary to the public schools, its efficiency is shown by the great increase in the number of books taken out for use in the schools and by the growing appreciation on the part of teachers of the special privileges granted them. As an auxiliary of the Textile School and with the desire to promote the industries of our city, the library intends to have and maintain one of the best-equipped technical libraries in the country. Much attention has been paid at the library to the preparation of lists of books on special subjects. These lists contain annotations and descriptive comments on the books listed, and form complete bibliographies of the contents of the library on these special subjects. There are some two hundred of these lists already prepared in the form of scrap-books containing printed lists or cuttings. From the material thus collected the library has published fifteen bulletins on special subjects. More are to follow. The larger accommodations of its new building have given the library an opportunity to display its collections of photographs and plates. Many have thus been able to enjoy important works, who would not otherwise see them. Fourteen exhibitions have been held in an unfinished room in the basement of the library, and have been visited by a great many people of our own city and from out of town. The educational value of such exhibitions need not be enlarged upon here. Many have wished that a permanent art exhibition might become one of the attractions of our city; for, besides the collection of Braun photographs and portraits in our library, we have nothing in the nature of an art collection. It is agreed that Lowell's industrial prospects depend on her ability to pro- duce high-class goods. The influence of such a collection in raising the standard of taste in our artisan class would be of great value. Such a collection might be begun with the library as its temporary repository. It would soon become a source of attraction, and of much educational value. If the leading people of the community, by their example and influence, would encourage the scheme, there is little doubt that it would be accomplished. Frederick A. Chase. ARTISTS OF LOWELL. " In framing artists, art hath thus decreed, To make some good, but others to exceed." NY reference to the city of Lowell brings almost invariably a vision of busy factories and a thought of the place which their products give her in the commercial world. But the whirring looms, the towering chimneys, and the strictly commercial atmosphere of the city have not altogether repulsed the Spirit of Art ; for, while Lowell cannot boast the " glory that was Greece," she has a roll of honor on which are inscribed names which the artistic world has hailed with acclaim. Margaret Foley, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, David Neal, William Preston Phelps, Mrs. Sarah W. Whitman, Alfred Ordway, Thomas B. Lawson, — all these artists have been identified with Lowell at various periods of her history. The report of Whistler's intended visit to America has revived the discussion regard- ing his birthplace. As seven cities fought for Homer, it may be that some day as many cities will be contending for Whistler, since already Baltimore, Belleville, Stonington, and St. Petersburg, as well as Lowell, claim the honor of his nativity. It is said that Whistler delights in keeping up the mystery ; but the evidence is strong that he first saw the light in Lowell. His father. Major George Washington Whistler, a graduate of West Point and an engineer of note, became in July, 1834, the chief engineer of the Locks and Canals Company of Lowell. The artist was born — probably in the Paul Moody house, which is still standing in Worthen Street — on July 11, 1834, and in the parish records of St. Anne's Episcopal Church his baptism is recorded thus : — JAMES ABBOTT T. WHISTLER, Son of George W. & Anna M. Whistler, Baptized Nov. 9, 1834. Whistler has a definite place in the world of art, and his genius seems Protean. That he has a ready pen is proved by his books: "The Gentle Art of Making Ene- mies;" "The Baron and the Butterfly"; and "Ten O'clock." His etchings number nearly two hundred and forty plates, and the finest of them hold their own with those of Rembrandt and other masters of the Dutch school. His paintings are both abused and admired. Some of his portraits are considered worthy to figure beside the great works of Velasquez. His "Portrait of my Mother," exhibited at London in 1874, is an "arrangement in black and gray." It was purchased by the French government, and is now in the Luxembourg Gallery of Paris. In Middlesex Street, Lowell, next the Highland House, is standing a dilapidated, one- storied structure. Here was born in 1837 David Neal; and here he lived until at four- teen he was thrown upon his own resources, owing to the death of his father. Young Neal went first to New Orleans, and afterward to San Francisco, where he was employed several years as a draughtsman on wood. He received his artistic stamp, however, at the "rederick H. Greeiihalge. l\h Mother. Trumpeter. By Sarah W. Whitman. liY Whistler. By Margaret Foley Etching. Isabel Nesmith. Phelps Studio. By Whistler. By Alfred O ^D\\ AY. Cromwell visiting Milton Memorial Window. Ky David N EAL. By Sarah W. Whitman Artists of'Lowell 43 old academy in Munich ; and to this day his work reveals strongly the academic lines, and the influence of his masters, Piloty and Kaulbach. When Neal's first great painting, " The First Meeting of Mary Stuart and Rizzio," was shown at Munich, nearly twenty- five years ago, it received the highest award from the royal Academy, Neal being the first American to receive this honor. In 1875 or 1876, through the interest of the Rev. Horatio Wood, who had known Neal in his boyhood, this picture was exhibited in Mechanics' Hall, Lowell. Many of the artist's important pictures are in the principal galleries of Europe. " Oliver Cromwell of Ely visits John Milton" is considered his masterpiece. Neal has lived in Munich and Paris, has visited America a few times to execute portrait commissions, and has added several portraits to the art treasures of his native city, among them those of Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Talbot, Mr. and Mrs. John Nesmith, Mr. Thomas Nesmith, and Mrs. H. W. Felton. The original study of "Mary Stuart and Rizzio," and "The Courtyard of Titian's House in Venice," grace the walls of the reception-room of Colonial Hall, the home of the Middlesex Women's Club of Lowell. Margaret Foley was called the "pioneer sculptress of America." Of her Lucy Larcom wrote, — " That broad-browed, delicate girl will carve at Rome Faces in marble, classic as her own." Miss Foley lived many years in Lowell, working for a year or more in a spinning- room of the Merrimack Corporation. It is said that the overseer of the room, Mr. Walter Wright, observing her clever carving of figures and faces on the bobbins, advised her to follow art as her career. Miss Foley was one of the contributors to the Lowell Offer- ing- — "a repository of original articles, written exclusively by females actively employed in the mills" — which was published from 1S40 to 1848. She seems to have been entirely self-taught as a sculptress, beginning her career in a very humble way, by the carving of small figures in wood and the modelling of busts in chalk. From 1853 to 1854 she was the preceptress of Westford Academy, where she roused the wrath of the preceptor by cutting cameos during school hours. While at Westford, she modelled a bust of Dr. Oilman Kimball, a distinguished physician of Lowell, and made on paper a political caricature, amusing enough to be still remembered by residents of Westford. Later she opened a studio in Boston, carving portraits and ideal heads in cameo and modelling a few busts. Her cameo-cutting (in which she had some instruction from Mr. T. A. Carew, of Dorchester, father of Mrs. James Francis, of Lowell) was said to be unsurpassed. After seven years of this work she went to Rome, where the rest of her professional life was spent. The Young Trumpeter, one of her best works, was bought by Mrs. John Nesmith, of Lowell. For nearly fifty years Thomas B. Lawson, a native of Newburyport, made his home in Lowell, where he died in 1888, at the age of eighty-one. Mr. Lawson's repu- tation as a portrait-painter reached beyond the bounds of New England. Many distinguished men sat for him, among them Webster, Clay, Cushing, Garrison, and Whittier. His portrait of Webster has been copied again and again on account of its accurate likeness. Many of the portraits of the mayors of Lowell, which adorn the walls of the City Hall, are from the skilful hand of Mr. Lawson. He was a most entertaining companion. His acquaintance with celebrated men, his remarkable 44 The Lowell Book memory, his fondness for literary pursuits, his genial ways, his love of anecdote, all made his conversation peculiarly entertaining and instructive. Mrs. Sarah W. Whitman, now of Boston, lived in Lowell during her girlhood. Her father was William W. Wyman, the second postmaster of the city. Mrs. Whitman, who was a pupil of William M. Hunt, has painted portraits of emi- nent men, — notably. Bishop Brooks and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Her work in the designing of book covers is especially good ; and she has made the designs for at least two splendid memorial windows, one in Memorial Hall, Cambridge, in memory of Mrs. Margaret Brimmer, of Boston, and one in St. Anne's Church at Kennebunk- port. Me., in memory of Miss Elizabeth O. Robbins, of Lowell. Alfred Ordvvay was born in Roxbury, Mass., 1821, and died at Boston, 1897. Most of his early life was spent in Lowell, where his father held the position of city clerk for many years. Mr. Ordway studied portrait painting under the famous G. P. A. Healy, and made such progress that he was selected to paint the portraits of the Presidents of the United States for the Lowell Museum, which was shortly after destroyed by fire. In 1845 Mr. Ordway opened a studio on Tremont Row, Boston. He founded the Boston Art Club (of which he was secretary, treasurer, and president), and from 1856 to 1863 was director of the exhibitions of paintings at the Boston Athenaeum. Mr. Ordway was a portrait painter of great merit before he became known for his landscapes. He may be classed as a landscape painter of the old school, a painter of New England scenery. There is a quiet charm in all his pictures, with their mountain streams and green valleys, their clear pools with overhanging trees, their fields of wheat, with the eternal hills and peaceful villages in the distance. William Preston Phelps, " the painter of Monadnock," was born in New Hampshire, in that part of Dublin which is now Cheshani. Before he was twenty, he came to Lowell, where he began life as a sign painter, his work in that line attracting much attention. Later he devoted himself to landscape painting, entirely without a master. Through the kindness of several Lowell gentlemen, he was enabled to go to Germany in 1875 ; and for three years he remained in Munich as a pupil of Velten. Then he travelled through the most picturesque portions of Germany, Italy, and France, making studies of landscape and of peasant life. He spent one season in the Highlands of Scotland, painting some of his most striking pictures of foreign subjects, and in 18S2 he returned to Lowell. Some years ago Mr. Phelps returned to his native town, having come into possession of his old homestead. His house occupies a pleasant position on a hill, on the main road to Dub- lin. Across the road stands the picturesque studio where he delights to depict Monad- nock scenery. Some of his larger pictures are painted under the sky of this beautiful region of Monadnock, of which one of Lowell's poets, James E. Nesmith, wrote: — ' From field and fold aloof he stands, A lonely peak in peopled lands, Rock-ridged above his wooded bands. ' The gloom about the mountain's base Crawls up and falls upon his face, His form grows faint in night's embrace. ' All day the purple shadows dream Along his slopes or upward stream ; And shafts of golden sunlight gleam. ' The trailing glories droop and die Along the lake where they did lie, And the wild light forsakes the sky." Adelaide Baker. WOMEN'S CLUBS IN LOWELL. 'N the thirty years which have elapsed since Sorosis and the New England Women's Club came into being, the club movement has been developing slowly, but surely, gaining strength of purpose and breadth of thought with every decade, until now at the end of the century the Women's Club in every community, the State Federation in each Commonwealth, the General Federation with its two thousand clubs, are all working for what is finest in culture, highest in edu- cation, and wisest in philanthropy. It is matter for congratulation that Lowell has not lagged behind in the procession. Since the days when the Lowell Offeting made the mill girls famous, the women of Lowell have been notable for their ability, their energy, their interest in the public wel- fare, and their success in organized endeavor. It is not surprising, therefore, to find in this city, as in so many other communities, that there have existed for years small clubs and study classes, several of which are still maintained with interest and vigor. These Lowell Clubs have been described more than once, and their history need not now be repeated. The XV. Club, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in April, 1899, the Fortnightly, the Tuesday Club, the Round Table, the Kensington, and the Women's Educational Club, are the best known, and all have honorable records. The active interest taken by the women of Lowell in the fortunes and mis- fortunes of the Middlesex Mechanics' Association should not be overlooked in this con- nection, culminating as it did, about fifteen years ago, in the formation of the " Art Annex," an association which lived long enough to make many valuable additions to the library. The History Club, also connected with the Middlesex Mechanics' Association and the Lowell Art Association, were short-lived, but most interesting organizations, in which men and women shared equally in the membership and management. Among the leaders in these various movements for the elevation of public standards of culture, we call to mind, of those no longer living. Governor Greenhalge, Elizabeth Robbins, Eliza Braley, T. B. Lawson, and Mrs. D. S. Richardson, as generous contributors of their time and talents. When in 1893-94 the club movement gained such impetus from the success of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, a few Lowell women were called together to con- sider the advisability of forming a club ; and soon after a constitution and by-laws were adopted, a board of officers elected, and on July 2, 1894, the Middlesex Women's Club of Lowell came into existence, and held its first meeting on October i, of the same year. The constitution provided for a department club, and a system of committees which at once insured a comprehensive scheme of work on the lines of sociology, education, literature, art, science, history, and hospitality. The objects of the club were declared to be "to form a recognized centre for social and mental culture; to further the education of women for the responsibilities of life ; to encourage all movements for the betterment of society ; and to foster a generous public spirit in the community." The membership, at first limited to two hundred and fifty, was soon raised to four hundred. A hall and a 46 The Lowell Book suite of rooms were fitted up on Palmer Street; and in November, 1894, the Middlesex Women's Club went to housekeeping. Four years later, by the erection of Colonial Hall in the building adjacent to the club-rooms, the Middlesex Club came into possession of an exceptionally fine auditorium. This made possible a further increase of membership, to the present limit of six hundred, and in several ways has enlarged the scope of club work. The success of the Middlesex Women's Club, as " a recognized centre of social and mental culture," has been acknowledged from the very first. The unflagging enthusiasm of its members, and the ever-increasing respect and approval of the community bear testi- mony that its success rests upon no ephemeral foundation. One element of that success lies in the unselfish devotion and untiring industry of its officers and committees, and in the high average of character and of intelligence found in its membership. Another element of success is the scheme of organization which provides for an ad- ministration in which the responsibility is divided among many committees, but at the same time is centralized by a constant correlation between their work. Over eighty club members are actively engaged on committees every year ; but all their work is brought to a focus in the two central committees. Finance and Program, upon which finally rests the responsibility for the welfare and the progress of the club. Perhaps the most evident reason for the success of the Middlesex Club may be found in the excellent work of its Program Committee. The brilliant programs arranged by this committee have introduced to the club famous authors, explorers, and scientists, distinguished professors and specialists in many lines. But the most important work of the committee has been to correlate the work of the several departments, and to gradu- ally bring the club programs into harmony with university extension ideas. In providing courses of lectures by acknowledged experts, the aim has been to concentrate the atten- tion of the club upon certain definite lines of thought, and thus to stimulate independent study by the members. Already the good results of this policy are apparent in the increasing interest and enthusiasm with which the club members carry on the work of the departments. Being pledged by its constitution, not only "to further the education of women for the responsibilities of life," but also " to encourage all movements for the betterment of society," the Middlesex Club established in 1899 a summer playground for children, which was carried on successfully for six weeks, under the superintendence of a club com- mittee. This practical work in sociology so enthusiastically supported by the club, and so significant in its results, not only with regard to the children immediately benefited, but to the whole scheme of public education, is the latest and, to some minds, the most valuable outcome of the work of the club ; but to many it is evident that the mere exist- ence of the club, and its influence upon its own members in the development of individual thought and character, constitute its greatest power in the community, — a power indi- rectly exerted, but widely diffused and having an importance hardly to be overestimated, as throughout a constantly widening circle it is ever "touching life with upward impulse." Helen A. Whittier. PATRIOTIC ORGANIZATIONS. 'T is but natural that a city which possesses, as Lowell does, such an honorable record for patriotism, always among the first when the nation has called to arms, the home of the heroes Ladd and Whitney, — killed on the very thres- hold of the War of the Rebellion, — should abound in organizations of a patri- otic nature. There are so many associations in the city entitled to be enrolled under this head that it is possible in a short space barely to mention them, without extended com- ment. Some are composed of men bound together by the ties growing out of long cam- paigning on sea and land, or of women who bore woman's part in the struggles that have passed into the nation's history. Others there be made up of those whose ancestors went from this vicinity to the wars which established our independence or upheld our national unity. Few societies which have not had this substantial basis of actual history have been able to maintain their organizations and ideals ; though there have been several which started with patriotic platforms, only to drift into the various political parties. To a by-gone day belongs the Order of the Cincinnati. It was a fraternity of men who left their ploughs, like Cincinnatus of ancient Rome, and were called to battle for independence of the English crown. It was founded in 1783 by the surviving officers of the colonial army, "to perpetuate friendship and " — since pensions were not ample in those days — "to raise a fund for the widows and orphans of the slain," thus being a fore- runner of the organizations with which we of a modern day are familiar. Particularly was the name appropriate in the case of the farmers of old Chelmsford, whom the min- ute-guns called from their toil to exchange the peaceful fields of the Merrimack valley for the more warlike scenes at Concord and Lexington. To the memory of the deeds of these ancient heroes there have lately arisen the societies of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. And, though Lowell was not dreamed of at the time of that war, the city now has a large number of citizens descended from Revolutionary ancestors, sufficiently large, in fact, to make her representa- tion in the organizations named the second in size for the State of Massachusetts. Dr. M. G. Parker is now at the head of the " Old Middle- sex" chapter of the Sons, while Mrs. Thomas Nesmith is regent of the " Molly Varnum " chapter of Daughters. The desire and aim of these organizations is to preserve the records of our first war, which, owing to the lapse of time, are likely otherwise to be forgotten ; and to mark the spots, as far as may be, where notable events occurred during the colonial struggle. Furthermore, it is felt that the great national holidays are no longer celebrated in the right spirit ; and it has been suggested that some effort on the part of these organizations may correct the practice which has degenerated the " glori- ous Fourth " into a season of meaningless noise, rather dreaded than revered by the generality of mankind. As an instance that this com- mendable object of the societies is not neglected, note that on the 17th of June, 1899, — Chelmsford Bowlder. ^8 The Lowell Book a holiday too little observed outside the immediate precincts of Bunker Hill,— the Daugh- ters of the Revolution unveiled a huge bowlder at Chelmsford, as a monument recalling by appropriate inscription that from that spot the farmers of the town set out for the Concord f^ght, in response to the minute-guns on the " 19th of April, in 75- ^ he organizations of the Sons and Daughters are thus actively at work, and among other commendable objects are at present trying to secure legislation to prevent the desecra- tion of the flag by unscrupulous advertisers. From a comparatively obscure beginning in California the movement has now spread over the entire country ; and nowhere is its work more efficient than right here in Massachusetts, so rich in colonial memories. But the organization which is. perhaps, best known to us of the present day is the Grand Army of the Republic. Here again can Lowell claim large honor ; for, as a neces- sary consequence of her great contributions of men and leaders, the Grand Army repre- sentation here has always been, and still continues, large and creditable, and active even in these years, when so many of the veterans are enfeebled by advancing age. As to its history, the Grand Army took its origin in Decatur, 111., in 1866, and is open to all en- listed men who served the Union arms during any part of the period of the war. Lowell has now three Posts, with their affiliated organizations of the Woman's Relief Corps and Ladies of the GAR. At the present writing the B. F. Butler Encampment, Post 42, is commanded by John J. Dolan, and its membership is somewhat over three hundred; Tames A. Garfield Encampment, Post 120, is commanded by S. C. Smiley; and the Ladd and Whitney, Post 185, is headed by J. Adams Bartlett. The latter Post is the youngest of the three, and was founded in April, 1886. Affiliated with Posts 42 and 120 are bodies of the Woman's Relief Corps, bearing names similar with the Posts. There are also two circles of the Ladies of the G- A. R. one bearing the name of Ladd and Whitney, and the other known as the J. P. Maxfie d circle. These associations of women do a great deal of active work, and are ably officered. 1 f ^u f The destroyer Time, however, yearly makes greater inroads on the ranks ot the vet- erans of the Civil War ; and it will one day be left for their sons to preserve the traditions of the fathers To this end the Sons of Veterans have a camp in Lowell ; and there are members of the Loyal Legion, an organization of veterans to which the eldest sons may also aspire. ^ , , a ■ ..■ c A narrowing space must not preclude a mention of the Dahlgren Association ot Naval Veterans, which maintains its activity and occasionally entertains a famous tar hke Admiral Belknap or Gunner Charette. Then there are such well-known local organiza- tions as the Richardson Light Infantry and the Seventh Battery Associates, which meet every year in more or less close proximity for their several reunions. Nor can one forget the Union Veterans' Union nor the Veterans' Protective League, to which many of the members of foregoing associations belong. There is also an organization of the Veterans of the Mexican War, not very numer- ous, perhaps, by contrast, but ably presided over by President John P. Searle. These to the writer's knowledge, are the principal patriotic societies in the city, past and present. It remains for those who served in our late war with Spam, and for those who shall survive the present conflict with the rebellious Filipinos, to follow in the foot- steps of their sires, and organize for the preservation of their friendship and the protection of their rights, even as did the Cincinnati of long ago. ^^^^^^ ^ Marden. THE OLD RESIDENTS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Stone. THE main purpose for which the Association exists is ex- pressed in the words of Article II. of its Constitution ; namely, " The objects of this Association shall be to collect, arrange, preserve, and perhaps from time to time publish, any facts relating to the history of the city of Lowell, as also to gather and keep all printed and written documents, as well as traditional evidence of every description, relating to the city." This Association is unpretentious in its character, and its proceedings are devoid of novelty and everything which might be considered sensational. The objects of its attain- ment are somewhat unique ; and its membership is composed of individuals who are moved by a common desire to per- petuate in tangible form, as far as possible, the data of the incidents and the enterprise which have promoted the de- velopment and growth of the city of Lowell from the time of its beginning as a town through the various stages of its enlargement and prosperity. This Association may truthfully be regarded as the result of a conversation which took place in August, 1868, between the late Mr. Z. E. Stone, then editor of the Vox Populi, and the late Mr. Samuel Fay, then superintendent of the Lowell Manufacturing Company. During this conversation it was suggested that it would be an excellent idea to have certain papers prepared by some of the early residents of Lowell, giving a description of the city or town as it was when they came here and during the period of its development, connecting therewith their own personal experiences, and to have such papers read publicly, at meetings to be called for this purpose, and then to have these papers preserved, and in this way lay the foundation for a local historical society for the preservation of many important facts, which previously had only existed in the memories of certain individuals. Probably, when Mr. Fay made this suggestion, he had no idea that it would be considered as anything more than an incidental remark. But it awakened serious thoughts in the mind of Mr. Stone. He considered it carefully, and determined to ascertain, if possible, whether there might not be others who were in sympathy with the subject which interested him so much. Accordingly, in the issue of the Vox Populi of Sept. 4, 1868, under the heading "Our Oldest Inhabitants," Mr. Stone expressed his views at length. Appended to this article there was a list of one hundred and fifty-two names of prom- inent citizens, whom Mr. Stone considered as affording abundant material for the for- mation of such an organization as he had suggested. On the nth of September another article on the same subject appeared in the Vox Populi, and still another in the issue of that paper of October 9, both written by Mr. Stone. By this time considerable attention had been directed to the matter by the citizens of Lowell. The late Mr. Edward B. Howe was very much interested in the subject. Finally, it was agreed to issue a notice for a meeting of a few of the long-time resi- 5° The Lowell Book dent citizens "at the book-store of Joshua Merrill, Esq., No. 37 Merrimack Street, on Sat- urday evening, November 21, at 8 o'clock," at which meeting this movement would be freely discussed. Hildreth Block now stands on the site of the book-store of Mr. Merrill mentioned above. The meeting was fully attended. It was called to order by Mr. E. B. Patch. Mr. George Brownell was chosen chairman, and Mr. Z. E. Stone was chosen secretary. In an historical sketch, read before the Old Residents' Association Dec. 21, 1893, Mr. Stone, in describing the proceedings of this meeting, says: "The chairman, a rather large, portly gentleman, was not conspicuous enough on the floor, ■ among those who had conferred on him the honors of ofifice. He was therefore requested to go behind the counter ; and there, standing on a box, dressed in a little brief authority, he governed and directed the first meeting of the Old Residents' Association of Lowell." In accordance with a published formal notice a second public meeting was held in the Citizens' Committee Room, Huntington Hall, on the 19th of December. The committee-room proved to be too small for the number of people interested in the enterprise, and hence the meeting adjourned to meet in Jackson Hall on the following Monday evening. At this adjourned meeting there were in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty persons present. Dr. Green presented the report of his committee, which was adopted. The original manuscript of this report is still in existence. The following gentlemen were then chosen as officers of the Association : John O. Green, president ; A. L. Brooks, vice-president ; Z. E. Stone, secretary and treasurer ; executive committee: Ward One, James B. Francis, Edward Tufts; Two, Joshua Merrill, J. P. Jewett ; Three, Hapgood Wright, E. B. Patch; Four, E. F. Watson, Benjamin Walker; Five, J. G. Peabody, Charles Morrill ; Si.x, J. K. Chase, E. B. Howe. Thus the Old Residents' Historical Association with about eighty-five names on its roll of membership was launched into existence, to take its chance as an institution "for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse," as time and events might determine. Thirty years have elapsed since Dr. Green made his first address as president at the first annual meeting of this Association, May 3, 1869. The same books which^Mr. Stone, the first secretary of the Association, was au- thorized to procure and use are used by the secretary of this Association to-day. There have been but very few amendments to the Constitution as originally adopted, the principal one being the amendment adopted in 1893, which makes the eligibility to membership depend on the age limit of twenty-one years, and the residential limit fifteen years. Another generation of " old residents " is now in the management and member- ship of this useful Association, which now has about one hundred and fifty-five names on its roll. Another generation is actively trying to add to its valuable collection of manuscripts, books, newspapers, etc., other manuscripts, books, newspapers, and historical material of which this Association is the sole and appropriate custodian. In the preparation of this brief sketch the writer had been led to reflect upon the stalwart character and the public spirit of many of the splendid men who were active and influential in the administration of the affairs of our prosperous city in the days of its infancy and its youth. Their names are memories now. But their standard of citizen- ship was high, and the motives which governed their conduct were unselfish and pure. Is not their example an object-lesson to-day.' Solon W. Stevens, VOLUNTEER AID ASSOCIATIONS. ^ITH a beneficent patriotism which seems almost instinctive, we see the men and women of our times emulating the noble example of their historic ancestors of 1775. Scarcely had the daring exploit of Lowell's son, Cap- tain, afterward Assistant Secretary of War, Gustavus V. Fox, for the relief of Fort Sumter (April 6, 1861) become known, than a movement was set on foot by Judge Crosby and nineteen other men for the formation of a society to collect funds and necessary supplies ; to supply nurses ; to bring home sick and wounded soldiers ; purchase clothing, provisions, and comforts ; and to send an agent to the camps for distributing the same ; also to care for the families at home of those men who had gone to war. Such, in brief, was the formation of what is claimed to be the first Soldiers' Aid Society of the Civil War. To Judge Crosby and his associates can be given the credit of formulating the first definite plan of concerted action in relief work, — a plan which later grew into one of the noblest of modern philanthropy, the United States Sanitary Commission. It was also the beginning of the United States Christian Commission. The Lowell organization continued throughout the war, furnishing supplies and money in large amounts. Late in 1862 the United States Sanitary Commission had on hand an almost inexhaustible supply of foods, garments, etc., for the camps, yet was unable to forward the same on account of lack of ready money needed for the transpor- tation. The situation looked discouraging, but Lowell was destined to come to the rescue. In the fertile mind of scholarly Miss Elizabeth Olive Robbins originated the plan of holding fairs to raise money for the relief of the Sanitary Commission. The first meeting was held in January, 1863, at the home of the Misses Robbins on East Merrimack Street. As the project grew, and others caught the ennobling spirit of Miss Robbins, a committee was formed, consisting of H. Hosford, chairman, W. F. Salmon, secretary, E. B. Patch, George Ripley, H. H. Wilder, Isaac Place, Abiel Rolfe, E. F. Sherman, Jacob Rogers, Mrs. J. B. Francis, Mrs. John Nesmith, Mrs. C. P. Talbot, Mrs. George Hedrick, Miss Elizabeth Robbins, and Miss Hinckley. The fair was held in Huntington, Jackson, and Wentworth Halls, Feb. 26, 27, 28, 1863. The president of the United States Sanitary Commission wrote : " The zeal and liberality of your community have been conspicuous at every turn of the war. . . . You will make it very difficult for any community this side of the Rocky Mountains to keep pace with you, now that you pour into our treasury forty-eight hundred and fifty dollars, ($4,850.00)." Thus resulted the first great fair in aid of the Sanitary Commission held during the Civil War. A lasting tribute to her of whom Governor Greenhalge wrote, — " The passing of as sweet a soul As ever looked with human eyes." Some one has said that history is philosophy teaching by example, the truth of which we find in the War of 1898. The first call of President McKinley for volunteers, April 24, 1898, received a prompt and generous response in our city, nearly five hundred men offering their services to the country. Already the ladies of Lowell were alive to the necessity that war obligations would entail ; and a committee was formed, consisting of Mrs. Thomas Nesmith, chairman, Mrs. Charles H. Allen, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Mrs. James W. Bennett, wife of the mayor, and representatives from several 52 The LowcU Book women's organizations. The work of this committee culminated in a great fete, June 30, at the grounds of the late General Butler. Two hundred women assisted, and so successful were their efforts that $2,300 was netted in one evening's entertainment, — a sum which doubled in value, when we recall the uses to which it was put: 5 1,400 was expended for a steam launch for the hospital ship "Bay State"; $150 for hospital necessities at Fort Myer, where many Massachusetts men were ill ; $100 was sent to the National Relief, for supplies for the naval hospital ship " Solace " ; cases of supplies, such as sheets, pajamas, articles of food, etc., were sent to the camps ; and the balance of the money, $630, was given to the Lowell branch of the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association, then in existence. On June 17, 1898, at a meeting of the Molly Varnum Chapter, D. A. R., a committee was appointed, with Mrs. H. M. Thompson as chairman, to form a branch of the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association, and $f,0 was appropriated with which to begin work. On a plan suggested by Mrs. Adelbert Ames an organization was effected on June 22, 1898, which was continued throughout the war. The officers of this organiza- tion were : president, Mrs. Charles H. Allen, who resigned in October, and was suc- ceeded by Mrs. H. M. Thompson ; secretary, Mrs. E. H. Judkins ; treasurer, Mrs. W. S. Lamson. The towns of Chelmsford, Dracut, Tyngsboro, and Tewksbury had their representatives on the working list, and each ward had its chairman. Almost daily meet- ings were held at the rooms of the Ministry-at-Large, a place which has endeared itself to all our citizens, not only for its own works of charity and benevolence, but also as the meeting place of the Sanitary Commission in Lowell during the Civil War. During July, August, and September the ladies of the committee worked untiringly. Some idea of the magnitude of their work may be gathered from the following list taken from the reports. Money solicited, $1,871.46; sent to headquarters of Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association, over 4,000 articles of clothing and bedding, 800 cases of different kinds of goods, 450 pints of home-made jelly, preserves, etc., besides stationery, books, papers, needles, thread, tobacco, toilet articles, etc. As the sick soldiers began to return in September, the work of the Association assumed a different aspect. A medical corps was formed, fifty-three physicians volun- teering their services to the society for the care of those disabled soldiers needing assist- ance. Medicines, food, and clothing were also furnished the soldiers, when needed. Two hundred and fifty men were thus aided, many going to our hospitals, which had also volunteered their facilities. There were seventy cases of fever, and many serious cases of a similar nature ; and that there was but one death is high praise for the skill and efficiency of our physicians. Later in the year a labor bureau was formed to assist the returned soldiers in getting work. The whole work of this society has won the highest praise from all parts of the State ; and it can be truly said that for prudence, economy, and efficiency it has seldom, if ever, been excelled. Another organization which did excellent work for the families of the soldiers was composed of citizens, with Mayor James W. Bennett as chairman and J. L. Chalifoux, treasurer. This committee collected and distributed $4,415.73, sent supplies to the men in camps, and in many ways did acts of benevolence in behalf of those left unprovided for during the war. Let the sons and daughters of our city learn well the deeds of patriotism of their predecessors, for nowhere will a brighter or nobler record be found of work "well done." Thomas F. Harringto.v, M.D. THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL IN LOWELL. i HE State Normal School building at Lowell is one of the most beautiful structures in the Commonwealth. It is built of gray brick and limestone, overlooking on one side the city and on the other the Merrimack valley; while its systems of heat, light, and ventilation, are so carefully constructed that not even the most hygienic parent can find cause for complaint. The school opened October 4, 1897, but was not formally dedicated until June, 1898, when both the interior and exterior of the building were completed. Mr. Frank F. Coburn, formerly master of the Lowell High School, was elected by the State Board of Education as principal of this new State Normal School. Equally fortunate with this appointment have been those of the various members of the Faculty, — Hugh J. Molloy, Lyman C. Newell, Walter J. Kenyon, Miss Mabel Hill, Miss Laura A. Knott, Miss Anna W. Devereaux, Miss Grace D. Chester, Mrs. Adelia M. Parker, Miss Vesta H. Sawtelle, and Miss Alma E. Hurd. The work of the school is necessarily on the same lines with that of the other State Normal Schools ; but through the generous agreement of the city of Lowell twelve rooms for grammar work, three for primary, and twelve for kindergarten, have been assigned for the Model and Practice School in connection with the normal training department. Mr. Cyrus A. Durgin, the principal of the Model School, is ably seconded in his efforts by a large number of lady teachers. Pupil teachers early begin their observation work, reserving their practice work until their second year. Each room is in charge of a regular teacher, nominated by Mr. Coburn and elected by the City School Committee, State and city forces working harmoniously together. The " critic-teacher, " as well as the " room-teacher, " supervises the work of the practice pupils, each normal teacher spending one day every week in the Model School. This constant interchange of teachers and pupils has proved stimulat- ing and helpful, and in some degree is peculiar to Lowell. Kindergarten training is under the special care of Miss Devereaux, large opportunities for both observation and practice being liberally provided by the city in its many kindergartens. Enthusiasm, sincerity, and intellectual acumen pervade the Faculty of the Normal School, who maintain discipline through friendliness. The pupils are led to estimate the value of education by its intrinsic worth rather than by its opportunities for self-support. Ambition is aroused to make the most of one's self for the sake of others, humility is guarded from depression, and competitive zeal is deemed important only as it awakens energy. Among the many institutions and schools which add to the city's worth there is none that is working with a more single-hearted purpose for the good of all than the Lowell State Normal School. Kate Gannett Wells. THE LOWELL TEXTILE SCHOOL. T^ glff ;^ HIS school is " for instruction in the theory and practical art of textile and jw/^y^^ kindred branches of industry." It is managed by a corporation styled the M^2^jtt' "Trustees of the Lowell Textile School," composed of twenty permanent 2^ss!U trustees, two appointed by the governor for four-year terms, on the part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the mayor and superintendent of schools of the city of Lowell. Through their officers — president, clerk, and treasurer — and sub-com- mittees for each department, they keep directly in touch with the school. The principal of the school is William W. Crosby, S.B., a graduate of and late instructor in mechanics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is assisted by nine chief department instructors, who each have a staff of assistants. The Cotton Department includes yarn-making from cotton in the seed to the finished product ; the Woollen and Worsted Department, both woollen and worsted yarns ; the Weaving Department, the making of cloth up to the finest and most varied fabric. The Department of Design embraces original, combined, and applied design in weave and color and cloth analysis. Decorative Art includes historic ornament, conventional- izing of plant and other nature forms, color, etc., with special reference to application in textile design. The Department of Mechanics, directly in charge of the principal, deals with ele- ments and principles applicable to textile machinery and the general equipment of mills and shops. Such knowledge of mathematics as is required in yarn and weaving " calcula- tions " is furnished by the instructors in mathematics. Dyeing is exhaustive in its demands on chemistry ; and, therefore, a thorough course in general chemistry is provided. The chief and three assistants of this department are graduates in chemistry of scientific institutions of the highest class. Instruction in com- mercial languages is by "native" teachers. In textiles we advance or recede. We cannot stand still. And, as we advance, we must continue to go abroad for experts and skilled labor in higher lines or educate our own people. The Lowell Textile School is established for the latter purpose. It means higher skill, higher wages, higher citizenship. While an excellent textile school is maintained at Philadelphia as a department of an Industrial Art Institute, the Lowell Textile School is at present the only educational institution on this continent devoted exclusively to textile education. As the pioneers in this field, the trustees were called to meet a demand for education in all textile processes in the manufacture of all commercial fibres. They, therefore, laid broad and deep the foundation of what is substantially a Massachusetts or New England Textile Institute rather than a local Lowell school ; and on such lines the institution is developing. James T. Smith. Note. — Since this article went to press a Textile School has been opened in Cotton at New Bedford, Mass. THE COUNTRY CLUB A' ffthr!! V'E5PER ROAT CLUB riOUSE THE LOWELL BOARD OF TRADE AND ITS WORK. HE Lowell Board of Trade was organized ia 1887 for the purpose of placing before capital and labor the natural advantages of our city for manufacturing purposes, and, indirectly, to assist in securing the proper administration of public affairs ; and we know that much good has been accomplished as it has been the medium whereby our industries and their products have been shown to repre- sentatives from foreign markets, as well as to large purchasers of textile fabrics from various sections of our country. The present City Charter, to a large extent, was the result of the Lowell Board of Trade work ; and the charter, as a whole, has received the indorsement of the executive heads of our large mercantile, manufacturing and financial institutions, who are rapidly becoming imbued with the idea that the affairs of our municipalities can and should be conducted in practically the same manner as a business corporation. This commercial organization was one of the charter members of the Massachusetts State Board of Trade organized in 1890, and through this membership it has co-operated with other business associations in a work to prevent unwise, and secure State and national legislation beneficial to industrial communities like the city of Lowell, — a work more vital for the public welfare than standing before the treasury doors of a Common- wealth after laws have been enacted. The Lowell Board of Trade is represented upon the Advisory Council of the Phila- delphia Commercial Museum, an institution that has achieved a world-wide reputation, and is accomplishing magnificent results in securing foreign markets for our surplus man- ufactured products, by placing before our manufacturers the latest information regarding the trade and commerce of other nations as well as the best methods to meet foreign com- petition ; and by this membership Lowell manufacturers, if they so desire, can be thor- oughly informed regarding the progress of the entire industrial world. England and Germany have, through the influence of their commercial bodies, ad- vanced these countries to the highest place of mercantile success ; and, while our national prosperity seems almost phenomenal, yet much can be learned from the nations men- tioned in the art of utilizing a concentration of interests, in a manner that shall place the United States in an advanced position of industrial and financial importance. The various foreign secular guilds and federations of business men are making strenuous efforts to secure a fine representation of industrial products at the Paris Exposi- tion in 1900, where they will be seen by purchasers representing the markets of the entire civilized world ; and our boards of trade can certainly emphasize their usefulness by as- sisting the Paris Commission representing the different States in this country, in making our National Exhibit at that great Exposition one that not only will be a credit to the nation, but will result in a great financial benefit to us as a people. The commercial future of Massachusetts depends upon the concerted action of her merchants and manufacturers, and there are indications that our business men are begin- ning to appreciate such an influence. Standing upon the threshold of a new century, there is every reason to believe that the Old Bay State will in the future, as in the past, retain her advanced position in the industrial history of a nation whose progress has been the most rapid and successful ever known. Charles E. Apams. EDITORIAL. tJISTORIC distinction, both achieved and inherited, is the proud possession of the city of Lowell. Length of days Lowell can- not boast ; but a career rich in deeds that have blessed humanity has made her in truth the " handmaid of human good," and has con- ferred upon her enduring honor. While still in her youth, the fame of her industries had spread beyond the seas. Religious, educa- tional, and benevolent institutions have kept pace with her financial ability to support them. A national recognition rewarded the signal heroism of her sons and the resourceful pa- triotism of her daughters during the period of the Civil War. The roll of those who have rendered loyal service within her borders is long and honorable, and faithfulness has characterized her representatives in the halls of the Commonwealth and of the nation. Two of her citizens, Benjamin F. Butler and Frederic T. Greenhalge, have been Governors of Massachusetts ; and two others have been Lieutenant Governors, — Elisha Huntington, M.D., and John Nesmith. Gustavus V. Fox was appointed by President Lincoln Assist- ant Secretary of the Navy ; and the same office is filled at the present time by another citizen of Lowell, — Charles H. Allen. Will- iam A. Richardson, at one time a Lowell resident, was for a period Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Ulysses S. Grant. These and many others Lowell delights to recall, — men whose records reflect honor upon her and upon themselves. A S the daughter of Chelmsford, and as the spreading of her domain has included sections of other adjoining towns, Lowell in- herits historic associations, embracing colo- nial and Revolutionary times and deeds. The scene of peril from savage warfare, the Indian's fort, the white man's garrison house, the scat- tered homes of the colonists and the circui- tous foot-paths connecting them, — all existed within the limits of the Lowell of to-day. And within these limits arose the spirit of rebellion against British oppression, and the unwavering belief in the right of the people to be free. To the greatest event in the his- tory of this country — the victorious issue of the Declaration of Independence — the ancestors of the Lowell of to-day contributed with steadfast valor. Gratefully have their descendants received their bequest and de- fended it, and now hold it in trust for future generations. Surely the continuity of noble deeds attending the development of this com- munity, admits of the high interpretation in- cluded in that august definition of history as "the standing forth of God." ' I TRADITION says that once upon a time, in Lowell's e?rly days, the British flag was unfurled from the tower of St. Anne's, but adds that it was promptly hauled down. The course of Lowell's history is frequently interrupted by some anecdotal fragment, touch- ing with living interest the chronicle as a whole. That the boys and girls of Lowell should be instructed in the history of their own city has not been thought essential in the past, but there are now indications that this state of things is about to pass away. If the "Lowell Book" shall arouse interest in the city's history, and suggest that there may be much to repay the study of it, the book will have justified its being. 'T*HE committee on the "Lowell Book" were appointed from the First Unitarian Church, and were : Ella P. Judkins, chairman, Caroline A. Richardson, Adelaide Baker, Sara S. Griffin, Caroline H. Marsh, Katherine Burrage. They desire to express their sin- cere appreciation of the generous assistance received, and gladly acknowledge that what- ever success may be achieved has been made possible through the interested co-operation of many individuals. The Lowell Book FRED. C. CHURCH Insurance 53 Central Street central block FREDERICK LAWTON Attorney at Law No. 71 Central Street H. C. Cooper C. E. Bartlett ADAMS & COMPANY Furniture, Carpeting, AND Upholstery Goods Appleton Block, Central Street Lowell, Mass. Talbot Dyewood and Chemical Company 38 to 44 Middle Street DON'T WORRY About a suspicious cough or an obstinate cold FOR FIFTY YEARS Father John's Medicine Has never failed to cure CARLETON & HOVEY Merrimack, corner Shattuck Street AMMONIA GLYCERINE VASELINE and Chemicals used in the household BOUTWELL BROTHERS HEALERS IN Iron, Steel, Heavy Hardware, and Carriage Wood-work Shattuck. Street, Lowell 8 Oliver Street, Boston Wm. E. T/ivingston dealer in Coal, Wood, Lime, Cement Bostwick Metal Lathing, Adamant Wall Plaster Sand, Gravel, Hair, Kaolin, Plaster Mortar Color, Bricks, Straw, Flue Lining Salt, Charcoal, Baled Shavings Hay, Grain, Flour, Fertilizers, etc. Number Fifteen Thorndike Street Lowell, Mass. The United States Mailing Case Company Factory, 281 Thorndike Street, Lowell Manufacturers of MAILING CASES FOR LiaUIDS And Dealers in Bottles Wm. a. Lamson, President Wm. S. Lamson, Treasurer VI The Lowell Book American Mason Safety Thread Co. BOSTON, MASS. Factory, Perry Street, Lowell. MANUFACTURES NON-SLIPPING METAL TREADS FOR STAIRS IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BUILDINGS, SHIP LADDERS, SIDEWALK LIGHTS, CAR AND WAGON STEPS. W. S. Lamson, President H. C. King, Treasurer LOWELL GAS-LIGHT COMPANY Office, Shattuck Street Price of gas, with the discount off for prompt payment, ONE DOLLAR PER THOUSAND FEET E. H. PACKER, M.D. Savings Bank Building, Shattuck Street Lowell, Mass. Otfice Hours : 9 to 10 A. m., 2. 30 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays, 5 to 4 p.m. Closed Wednesday evenings. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment caused by the importunities ot the church advertising fiend D. L. PAGE CO. GEORGE E. STANLEY General Freight Forwarder LOWELL, MASS. Connected with all railroads in Lowell Office, 12 Thorndike Street Telephone INTEREST Paid oil deposit subject to check at the Middlesex Safe Deposit and Trust Co. Merrimack Street, corner of Palmer STEEL BOXES With private keys and perfect accommodations in the only FIREPROOF building in Lowell Come and examine. Seeing is believing. No trouble to show goods. We refer to the Unitarian Society, who use our vaults. Compliments of LEIGHTON BROTHERS The Lowell Book Vll Frederic A. Fisher LAWYER No. 71 Central Street Lowell, Mass. Compliments of Dr. J. V. MEIGS Frank E. Dunbar LAWYER HiLDRETH Building Lowell, Mass. George F. Richards George R. Richards Daniel M. Richards COUNSELLORS AT LAW 103 Central Street Established 1831 HARRY RAYNES Diamonds Watches Silverware Optical Goods J eweller 6() Central St. Lowell, Mass. Repairing a specialty NEW ENGLAND BUNTING COMPANY Lowell, Massachusetts C. F. KEYES, Auctioneer Boston & Maine Depot . . . Green Street Telephone 679—3 Sale every Saturday at 10 a.m. Special attention to Real Estate RESERVED RESERVED The Lowell Book RESERVED C. H. Kimball, dealer i N Ready-made Clothing Furnishing Goods, etc. No. 119 Central Street, Old No. 2 Canal Block LOWELL, MASS. Special attention given to furnishing Military and Band Uniforms, Society Regalia, etc. The Lowell Book RESERVED Thomas H. Lawler BOOKS FINE STATIONERY OFFICE SUPPLIES TYPEWRITERS GLOBE CABINET FILES HIGH-GRADE PRINTING BLANK-BOOKS made to order 7Q Merrimack Street ) ^^ , , ' ^ J T L o y I elephone 15 and 21 John Street j ^ Printing Plant, 1 ^ , , 68PrescottStreet|^^^^P^""" LOWELL, MASS. 1851. [899. Boston Young Men's Christian Union, 48 BoYLSTON Street (neau tremont). EveningClasses Weekly Entertainments. Employment Bureau. "Practical Talks." Public Religious Services. LIBRARY OVER 15,000 VOLUMES. Membership, $1 per Year. GYMNASIUf.I (large and spacious). fully equipped with up-to-date apparatus. Terms, $5 and $8 per year, according to hours of exercise. Wm. H. Baldwin, President. George Peirce, Secretary. The Lowell Book This book was designed and printed by GEO. H. ELLIS No. 272 Congress Street Boston RESERVED RESERVED ^he Christian Register FOUNDED IN 1821 George Batchelor, Editor As a religious family newspaper. The Christian Register aims to assist the Unitarian Church in ren- dering to the public the highest possible service by presenting and illustrating living truths capable of im- mediate application in the lives ot" all sorts and condi- tions of men. While it deals with public affairs and current events, with science and literature and art, its main purpose always is to enlighten, to comfort, and to strengthen. Sample copies sent free on application Published at $2.00 per year by Cbc Christian Register Hssociation 272 Congress Street, Boston, Mass. RESERVED RESERVED The Lowell Book RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED The Lowell Book rese:rved RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED RESERVED