136 



The work of the Essex Institute in the way of cultivating 

 a taste for scientific pursuits, is an excellent one ; and one 

 of the best things we can do for young people is to en- 

 courage them to select some one branch of science and 

 make it their study in their leisure time. Such pursuits 

 are especially valuable in lifting men above the low life 

 which regards dollars and cents as the chief object to 

 strive for. 



Mr. Abner G. Phipps, agent of the State Board of 

 Education, whose present visit to the town was the first 

 since he had taught school there, before he entered Col- 

 lege, spoke in support of the sentiments uttered by the 

 previous speaker. 



Dr. Jeremiah Spofford referred to the medicinal 

 qualities of the milkweed spoken of by Mr. Phippen, 

 and also to a theory entertained by him in regard to 

 the ancient course of the river in the vicinity of New- 

 bury, which he thought must have been some distance 

 south of the present stream, and fifteen or twenty feet 

 higher. 



Mr. Hayden Brown, of West Newbury, talked of the 

 various matters relating to the history of the town, and 

 the work of the Institute. He spoke of the people of 

 the town as an honest, hard-working class, without a 

 beer-saloon, a bowling alley, or a place where rowdies 

 can congregate. 



Hon. Stephen M. Allen, of Boston, made some in- 

 teresting statements relating to the construction of dams 

 and reservoirs. 



