120 



showing that the publishers in the last century were not 

 impervious to personal claims to popular favor. 



" How sad to think that now as then, 

 The printers quarrel just like men ! " 



Mr. Fitts exhibited a complete file of the almanac from 

 1793 to the present year, remarking that several of the 

 earlier numbers are exceedingly rare, and that of the year 

 1793 commands as high a price as ten dollars per copy. 

 Isaiah's last number is dated 1803, although the series 

 was continued by successors until 1822. Robert B. had 

 been a school teacher and a book-binder previous to 1793, 

 but from the commencement of his almanac he devoted 

 almost exclusive attention to that. He died May 19, 

 1846, aged eighty years, and the work he had carried on 

 for half a century is still continued in his name, Messrs. 

 Brewer & Tileston being the present publishers. Mr. 

 Thomas was a man of generous impulses ; a hall erected 

 by his bounty bears his name, and West Boylston people 

 are proud of inviting strangers to visit Thomas Hall as 

 one of the local "lions" of their town. 



Mr. N. A. Horton was reminded of a little stoiy, and 

 related the incident. During a long period of drought one 

 season, people complained that the weather predictions 

 of the Old Farmer's Almanack were not reliable, when 

 one of the advocates of the old favorite explained that 

 Mr. Thomas merely said, "Rain may be expected about 

 this time," and he claimed that that was the fact, thus 

 flooring the impudent detractor. 



Dr. Jeremiah Spofford, of Groveland, gave some 

 curious personal recollections of the Old Farmer's Al- 

 manack, dating back to his childhood, fourscore years 

 airo. 



