JO POPULATION AND GROWTH. 



Look at the countries which have been the homes of the world- 

 shaping peoples, the great historic nations, to which mankind must own 

 indebtedness for all those efficient means and mighty agencies which pro- 

 mote the beneficent increase in the number, wealth and comfort ot the 

 earth's population. It is plainly seen, that it was the character of the 

 people to a greater degree than the nature of the land of their birth and 

 abode which determined their course and history. The mountains ot 

 Tudea'rise under the same stars that beheld them when they were traversed 

 by the feet of our Lord and His apostles. The (}reeks, m the days of 

 Achvlus and Plato, breathed the same air which now maintains the he 

 of the inhabitants of Athens. The Rome of Caesar stood on the same hills 

 that support the Rome of Humbert. The founders of Venice may have 

 been driven into the sea and compelled to make their home on a group ot 

 low and marsh v islands; but it was the Venetians, and not the islands, that 

 created the Queen City of the Adriatic, won for it the richest commerce of 

 the world and made it, in many features, until this day, the sanctuary of 

 the finest art upon the face of the earth. But why call upon the records 

 of the past to show man's superiority to his environments ? It is Holland, 

 the free and the rich, that discloses how men turn the bottom of the ocean 

 into a land of fruitfulness, and built the freshest and sweetest institutions 

 of humanity where once flowed the ddes of the briny, bitter and boisterous 

 seal And England, the mother country of most of us, the daughter of the 

 fatherland of others here— England may have the waters for her defense,- 

 but even more, her ramparts have been the wooden and the iron walls ot 

 her'ships and the strong minds and stout hearts of her shipmen. It is 

 generally and mainly the virtue, courage, knowledge, industry and justice 

 of England, that make the realm of Victoria, God bless her! the- head ot 

 the grandest, widest, mightest empire that ever spread the sacred protec- 

 tion and immense benefits of civil government over hundreds of millions 



of people. , , ■ 



And what is true of an empire whose territories are so vast that ttie 



sun forever shines upon its possessions, is also true of much smaller re- 



^'^^The soil of Suffolk county generally has excellent qualities; and this 

 has tended to increase the population. Much of it has been submitted to 

 the plough and now yields the richest products of the earth for human 

 sustenance. Much more of the same fine soil will hereafter be possessed 

 by the hand of culture, and thus promote the growth ot the population 

 Doubtless the increase of both culture and population will advance with 

 swifter speed in coming years. 



Suffolk county has a climate unsurpassed for health and comtort by 

 that of any place between the Lakes and the Gulf— the Kennebec and the 



But it is the character of the people, more than the tuiturc of the place, 

 that has determined the growth of the population, wealth and comfort of 

 the county during the last two hundred years. 



Three centuries ago the soil here was naturally as fertile, the waters 

 as productive, and the salubrity as great, as they were two centuries ago. 

 The same heavens bent over the savage inhabitants then, that now smile 

 upon a people of virtue, intelligence and refinement. The same waters 

 surrounded our island. The same healthful air gave vitality and vigor to 

 its inhabitants. Its bays and shores swarmed with the same forms ot fishes 



