10 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



In New Hampshire fees were even more moderate than in 

 Massachusetts. If Farley had estimated his talents at their 

 full value and had taken an office in Boston or New York, he 

 could have gratified his love for money without disturbing his 

 relations to his neighbors. In minor ways he was acquisitive, 

 and consequently there came to be a pubHc sentiment which 

 excluded him from pubhc employments. His political 

 course was not more erratic than that of many others, but 

 his change of position was ascribed to policy and not to 

 principle. In 1840 he was a Whig, in 1850 he was a Free- 

 soiler, and in 1855 he was a Republican. In the autumn of 

 the year 1855 he was elected a member of the State Con- 

 vention of the Repubhcan Party. 



A day or two before the meeting of the convention I was 

 passing by his premises where he was engaged apparently in 

 examining a buggy which his man had been putting in order. 

 The conversation turned upon politics, and I soon discovered 

 that he wished for a nomination to the Legislature, and with- 

 out admitting the fact, his remarks showed that he compre- 

 hended the nature of the obstacles in his way. At last he 

 said : " When I began I thought the main thing was to get 

 money; and I have got it; and it is very convenient to have 

 it, but it is n't just what I thought it was when I began." 



He went to the convention, took a cold which developed 

 into a fever, and in a week he died. 



VI. 



Groton in 1835 {Continued). 



There were two other lawyers in town, Caleb Butler, the 

 postmaster, and Bradford Russell. Mr. Butler never appeared 

 in court. He gave advice in small matters, wrote deeds and 

 wills, surveyed lands, and served his neighbors in fiduciary 

 ways. For many years he was a member, and a useful mem- 

 ber, of the Board of Commissioners for the County of Middle- 

 sex. That body laid out highways, superintended the public 



