l6 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



the use of such liquors by farmers was greatly in excess of 

 their use at the present time. In the early winter the country 

 farmers from New Hampshire and Vermont going to Boston, 

 with butter,. cheese, pork and poultry, patronized the taverns, 

 and gave the town an appearance of business which contrasts 

 with the aspect of dullness that it now wears. The prices for 

 entertainment at the taverns were moderate, and none of the 

 proprietors accumulated property. 



VII. 



Beginnings in Business. 



In the autumn of 1837 as my second year with Mr. Woods 

 was approaching a close, I informed him that I proposed to 

 go to Exeter, N. H., attend the Academy, and then either 

 enter college or proceed with the study of the law. At about 

 the same time I corresponded with Mr. Abbott, the principal of 

 the Academy, in regard to terms, board, etc. Upon this 

 notice Mr. Woods made me a proposition to continue with 

 him and share the business. He offered to furnish the capital, 

 to give me my board, and one-fourth of the net profits. My 

 means were very small, the business was quite sure to yield a 

 profit, and the prospect of gaining a small amount of capital 

 at the age of twenty-three, when the partnership was to end, 

 controlled me and I accepted the proposition. The partner- 

 ship began March i, 1838, when I was two months over 

 twenty years of age. I had then been in Groton three years, 

 and I had formed the acquaintance of many young men in 

 the debates of the Lyceum, in business and in social ways. 

 In connection with the Lyceum I prepared papers which I 

 read as lectures. One of these papers upon banking, signed 

 B., appeared in the Bay State Democrat, edited by Lewis 

 Josselyn, the publisher. Another upon Conservatism and 

 Radicalism, was also printed in the Bay State Democrat. As 

 I did not give my name to Mr, Josselyn, and as the letters 

 were mailed at Groton,- he came there and after inquiries, 



