UNCLE SAM»S FARM. 13 



settlers of this State ^rere men of learning, wealth, 

 and religion. Nursed in the lap of luxury at home, 

 they endured great privation and suffering on their 

 arrival in this country. They must have had great 

 courage and perseverance. They used to carry the 

 hoe in one hand and a musket in the other, to protect 

 themselves from the incursions of the Indians. The 

 landing of the Pilgrims is annually celebrated through- 

 out the New England States. It is called " Thanks- 

 ^ving Day." Service is kept in all the churches, 

 and business of every kind suspended. Boston is the 

 capital of the State of Massachusetts, the metropolis 

 of New England, the literary emporium of the west- 

 em world, " the City of the Pilgrims,'* " the City of 

 Notions," the " Raihx)ad City," " the old English 

 City." As the stranger for the first time paces the 

 narrow, crooked streets of Boston^ the events of the 

 Revolution crowd upon his mind. Here it was, that, 

 in 1773, a number of citizens disguised themselves as 

 Indians, boarded some British ships loaded with tea, 

 and threw three hundred and forty-two chests of it 

 into the sea, rather than pay the tax imposed on them 

 by the British Government, which finally led to the 

 Independence of America. Boston took the most 

 important part in the struggle for Independence. It 

 2 



