Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/266

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2 4 S

��AN OLD SKETCH OF LANCASTER.

��acres) voted by the original proprietors, town most of our aged people, the in-

��The town agreed to give him fifty pounds per annum, and that his salary should rise, in the ratio of the inventory, to eighty pounds annually. He con- tinued with the people of his charge, until the 1 6th of October, 1822. Some

��few persons,

��being

��inclined to what

��would how be called Burchardism, de- sired more fire in their worship ; on learning that fact, the, venerable Parson requested a dismission, which was granted on the above mentioned day. and gymnastic exercises are becoming

��firm in younger life, and some whose hardy constitutions almost bid defiance to disease and death. Pulmonary dis- eases here, as in other parts of New England, have ever been active and re- lentless, alike destroying beauty, laying the mighty low, and sending piety on high. Fevers are comparatively rare. Dyspepsia, with its languid and down- cast look, is beginning to make its ap- pearance among us ; but as farming

��He afterwards preached in other towns, and was hired by his old congregation two years. He died July 2 2d, 1826, aged sixty-six. Mr. Willard served in the revolutionary army, and retained through life an elegant military figure and step. His sermons were written in a plain, easy, chaste style, sound in doctrine, yet liberal, as was his whole atmosphere through the year 1838, as

��again fashionable, it is hoped that dis- order will soon be as little known as it was among our fathers. The altitude of Lancaster, being about eight hundred feet above tide water, its proximity to the White Mountains, and high latitude, render some of its seasons too cold for maize ; the mean temperature of the

��life and conversation. The church and congregation soon became much divided, which unhappily continues to be their state ; and probably nothing short of a power like " a rushing mighty wind" will heal their dissentions and concentrate their efforts and affections.

Richard C. Everett, the first lawyer, settled in town in the year 1793. He enlisted into the army at the age of fourteen, served through the war, ob- tained by his own efforts a collegiate education, studied law, became a dis- trict judge ; posessed a strong mind, was a man of honor, and much respect- ed, and died on the 2 2d of March, in the year 181 5, aged fifty-one years.

A slow yet regular and healthy pro- gress has been made in the settlement and improvement of the town, from 1787 to the present time ; nothing ex- traordinary occuring except the enven- omed violence of party strife, during the embargo, non-intercourse and war. The parties being nearly equal in num- bers, and so near the northern frontiers,

��indicated by Montandon's thermometer, which nearly agrees with Fahrenheit was 36 1-2 degrees above zero, yet out of fifty-two years past, that crop has wholly failed only three times. Wheat is very sure when sown late on ground well prepared, producing in very few instances forty bushels to the acre, and potatoes in one case over six hundred ; and of a quality superior to those grown in most portions of our country. Rye does well on newly cleared land, but is subject to blight on old ground. The Hackmetack (Indian name of spruce, amonar the former tribes on the sea board, and those in the interior) abounds here. The Tamarack (Indian name for Larch) is frequent in low ground. The Moose Missie (Mountain Ash) in high hills and swampy low lands, is not unfrequent. Its Indian name was ac- quired by the fondness of the Moose for the bark and leaves of that tree. The most elegant and lofty white pines abounded on our highest alluvials. One shaft measured four feet in diame-

��that smuggling became the business of ter at the base, was perfectly straight

��many of one party, and a few deluded unfortunates of the other, and was car- ried on to such a degree, that patriot- ism was put to the most severe test.

In the year 1813, the most malig- nant form of scarletina swept from the

��and without limbs ninety-eight feet, whereat was twenty-two inches in diam- eter. The inhabitants are yet supplied with large quantities of sugar from the maple, which is abundant on the slopes of our hills. The beautiful elm with its

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