to the new conditions, and set up their manufactories on the borders of their streams—Pawtucket, Waltham, Lowell, and, afterwards,
Manchester, Lawrence, and Holyoke came
into being. The necessity of closer communication with the interior was as distinctly felt in New England as in the Middle States. The
Middlesex Canal, an elaborate system of turnpikes, and, later yet, the present system of railroads were established. But in the year
1830 Boston still retained a large East Indian and European commerce. It is interesting to see how largely the exports were still products
of the forests and the fisheries.
And, not to smirch the pages of this little book with any of the ashes of theological controversy which is long since dead, it may be mentioned that, in the years between 1820 and 1840, Boston was the centre of theological discussion, which undoubtedly greatly quickened the religious life of New England. In those years there was a certain expectation of a speedy improvement, not to say revolution, in social order, such as men do not often experience. Dr. Channing was preaching the gos-
