Sl)e farmer's iUoxitl)lj) bisitor. 



147 



lance of scvfnit inilus in the tmn of tlie river, 

 fiirlhcr eiist, .irid unilts lo tin- oM mail in llic np- 

 |h:i- |i;irt nC Plwiionlli iiiitir wln-ri! llie roudd part 

 lo |iiiss n|) Ualirr's riven' i>n lioili si(l<-s. 



Rrstin;,' liir liorsK a r^liiMt lime uniler tlie in- 

 tenser lii-at (if ilie latter (lays of Aiiy:nst exceeded 

 only liy liie fust sncreediii^' half iif the present 

 Septeiiihiw, weat once in an isolated j;raveyard 

 fiiiMid the names of several men of thai town of 

 oin- familiar ncqnninTaiiee, patrons atidd lends, 

 as thi'y Here phdanthropisis ami patriots, earry- 

 iiif; to the ;;rave the sweet savor which helonjzs 

 to ihe race of men who laiil the fijinnhnion lor, 

 anil pres'rved om' licsl insliliilions. 'I'his dimin- 

 inive enrlosnre (or tiie dead, prohahly contined 

 to the few liimiliesof that part of the town, eoui- 

 in'.' heri' into a narrowed space ninnhiii' alon;,' 

 liflwecM the moimtaiii-, reviied in frcsli reeol- 

 hction, in almost every instnnee, fairiilies whose 

 heads were'p<'rMinally (amiliar. First of these, 

 the lather of a laryc (jimily — ainon^' the sons, onr 

 (.'(•neroiis host of the Plynionlh honse was the 

 headstone: "Samnel Biiridiain horn at Hamp- 

 ton falls, IMarch 17, 1773; died Oct. 8, 1839., 

 aired (17. Honored as a man, heloved as a friend, 

 iiimI revered as a Christian philanthropist and a 

 lover of imfiartial liherly, his death has occasion- 

 ed a void In society which lime will fail lo sup- 

 ply, and the reason and fitness of which as lo 

 time and nianner and attendant circninslances, 

 eterniiy only can fully miliild " l^,•^ide him 

 was IMehitahle, wile of f»amiiel IJiirnham, who 

 died in I8!5, a-red ()7, and in the same rriiiire his 

 son, Thomas. I. [iiirnh.im, who died in 18'^o,a^'ed 

 24. Nathan CliHiird (father to the representative 

 in Coiii.'ress ami Attorney General of Maine of 

 the same name who was a native of this town) 

 (tied in I8"2I, :ii;ed 42. Gcorfxe 'imiis (father of 

 Judire S.onuel and Hon. Hohert Hurns of this 

 comity) died Mny 14, (8I.'>, in his 7:!il year; and 

 .Ann, his wife, Sept. 1 1, 18:?G, a"rcd 8.) years. In 

 the same ran^'e lay six children, principally all 

 quite yoimu, of Samnel Burns, and hy them the 

 fresh fjiavi! of the mother of the family, as yet 

 wilhoiit a head stone, who filed suddenly the 

 lireseni summer from iiiHammntion and ciironic 

 disarraiiL'cment of the intestines. Jonathan 

 Blnd'.'ett (lather of a most amiahle man of the 

 same name who deceased several year.s since) 

 died June 18, 18^;7, aL-ed 77: and " [':siher, his 

 wife, H'ay 28, 1840, npu] 81. Dr. David Gil.son, 

 a well known physician, and representative of 

 of thiMowii, riled' An;.'. 37. 1833 a/cd 50 . and 

 Blalthias Haines d;eil in l&'25, a;;ed 33 year.s. 8o 

 preat a nnmher of men in a scattered nei;;ld)iir- 

 hood of a small corner of a town nnmlierinu' 

 hardly a thousand inliahitanis, familiar the most 

 of them to the indilic ear — so many composing; 

 more than half the graves wiihin the small enclo- 

 Bine with faces fresh to ns as the recollection of 

 yesterday — miudit not he expected hya wamierer 

 fifty miles liom home. 



The narrowinn; down of the ri'.er valleys wiih 

 high momilaiiis on eillier hand is a fealnre in the 

 - iwns of Gralion and Coos comities pecnliar to 



lat pniiion ol" the Granite Slate. Proceedinir 

 ■)nward from K'ninney, the tov\n nf Wemworth 

 seems to he still more compressed on eilhcr hand. 

 Holds on hotli sides of tin; river couiinue, and 

 from these other roads hranch ofi' now ami then 

 into the hill.s. prohahly leadiii;; to many good 

 farms which are never seen hy the leofithened 

 traveller who pa.sses ;ill the way hy the river. — 

 When this region was almost oneimpenetrahle 

 liiresi, access to it was ^'aine<l hy makinj.' the riv- 

 er channels the pass way. It was a portion of 

 the hnntini,' irroimd of the jlo^'ers and Starks 

 prior to and dminsthe old French wars. In 

 Kiimney, John Stark was vva\l..iil and captured 

 liy the Indians, while his coinpaiiion Eastman 

 from this town was killed, and his own hroiher 

 escaped, heing warned hy signals which threats 

 of immediate hmchery wouhl not deter him from 

 niakiii!;. 



If the pine timher in this valley, that has heen 

 wasted, hnrnt up or rotted, or used to little profit 

 and advantage, was now .-tandiiiL', it might he 

 worth a milliou of dollar.s. A lot of ahont one 

 himdred acres where the giant w hite pine slumps 

 siood thiek ;is if li-esh from the axe, ou inquiry 

 we foiinil had heen purchased for ahoiit eight 

 tlioiis.iiid dollars, re-sidd ahoiit twelve vears ago 

 at the advance to ihirleen thons;md dollars, cnl 

 down and conveyed over the hit'hiand ndge fif- 

 teen or twenty miles lo ■Oonnficticut river, and 



thence rafted at an immense expense of tolls for 

 lockage hy the falls down to Hartford. This lot 

 (d" timher if it coiiid have slood until the con- 

 struclion of a railroad, it was said, would now 

 lie worth a hundred thousand dollars. 



The Utile town of Wentworih, far up nml 

 surrounded hy moiinlains, h.is had its men of en- 

 terprise and |inhlic spirit — it siill has wealth sul- 

 licieut to gr.ide and liiiild the railroad through it. 

 We rememher the lime when the outside influ- 

 ence of ihe Ik. If shires on either side of Grafton 

 eonniy w:is hut hardy sntiicient to prevent ma- 

 king it Ihe sole and ceniial shire town. The 

 sauK! spirit aclu.ales hoih VV.irren ahove and 

 linnmey helow, in aid of ihem lo force the con- 

 siinciion of the road through iliis valley, carry- 

 ing out the purposes of a legislative grant al- 

 ready made. 



Coming down to Ihe .somh side of the river 

 and alighinig ,it Wemworth village, with no time 

 lo visit the living, awaiting dinner, onr resort a- 

 gain was the ahode of the dead, the memento ol 

 whose naiiKS carries us h;ick into the history of 

 liirmer ye;i s. Hero we found, as the progenitor 

 of one of lis iiiost wealthy lamilies, Rev. Joiia- 

 llian tlamc'.s, .-i native of Wilminglon, Mas.s., grad- 

 uated at Harvaril LTniversiiy ill 17.")l,dieil Sept. 

 3, 18U0, aged 70 year-s, and ihiily-live years min- 

 i>ler here of a Congregalion.d church: his wife 

 Detsey, diiMl May, 8, 181,5, aged 7.X Mary, wile 

 of Gen Ahsdom Peters, died Oct. loth" 181!), 

 age<l t)3 : these were the father and motlier of a 

 most estimable sou, George P. I'eiers, an oflieer 

 of the army who died young, soon after the late 

 war — of auoiher son di.-tingni.-hed as a chu'gy 

 man of the Episcopal church and of the Alder- 

 man of that name well known as a patron of ma- 

 ny of the piihlic institutions of New York city. 

 Gen. P. married a secmid w ile in CtnuicCticut 

 and returned to that which was his native state, 

 ivhere he died at the age of nearly ninety years. 

 A more cheerful and happy <dd man possihly 

 never run out the lioin- glass of almost a cemiirv 

 of years. Mere also was the tomhstone of Maj. 

 VV'illiam While, one of the early friends of John 

 Langdon and wiih him in the Legislature while 

 Ciovernor, who died Oct. 3(j, I80lj.,aged 3(j years; 

 and, as a somewhat remarkahle coincidence, hv 

 his siilo a son, "ftlaj. Willi.Tm While," died Oct. 

 8, 1840, aged 3(5. l\ioses Eaton died May 7, 183'J, 

 aged 08, and his son, for years our friend and 

 acquaintance in hnsincss. of the same name, 

 died .4ug. 18lh. 1841, aged 50. Jon.ithan Fames, 

 a sou of the clergyman of llie same name, died 

 Juiii! 20, 1840, aged 74 years: he was several 

 times a memlier of the Legislature. Jonathan 

 Fames, a grandson of the liimilv, died Oct. li), 

 1844, aged 31. Ephraim Pago died Aov. 4, 1803, 

 aged 73; he was the Ituher prcdiahly of Enoch 

 Page, an olticer of the war of 1813, and alier- 

 waids treasurer of Grafton county, and of Ca|)t. 

 John Page, representative lo the Legislature, who 

 died Sept. 5lh. 1840, aged 71. Tliat man ol most 

 remarkahle memory and talent, w ho first disliu- 

 gnished himself hy producing . an election essay 

 of most polent ellect dmiiig the late war and 

 whose array of tiici and eloquence In our Stale 

 Legi-latiire secured the passage of the great tol- 

 eration law of 1819, died iii this town Jan. 23, 

 1835, at the age of 40 years. Cilehraled alike 

 for his skill as a stu-gcon tinil physici.in as he was 

 fiir the powers of the statesman and civilian, self- 

 instruited and self made, this extraordinary man, 

 hecoming the prey of excitement leading ofien 

 to rashness and other excesses, died at an early 

 period, cntiing off a more splendid career of 

 pnhlic lile for which his talents and aci|iiireinents 

 had given him ample qiialificalion.s. Dr. Whip- 

 ple married two wives, the surviving widow mo- 

 ving to V(M-mont. Two sons of the first wife, 

 one ;i physician, and the other a lawyer, remain 

 in their native town. Last hut not least of the 

 silent dead at Wentworih we marked onr old 

 fi'iend and acquaintance — a man of infinite wit, 

 intelligent and inieresling in conver.salion, talen- 

 ted and shrewd as a politician, ahle as a legisla- 

 tor, counsellor and magisirale, henevolent and of 

 whole heart as of the fralernity of freemasons 

 when that order was not out of litshion ; we 

 me.in the Hon. Caleb Keith, who after enjoying 

 for a few years the generous and well timed 

 homily of the nation in the pension. dne him as 

 an oliicer (d' llic rcvohitpon, by ihe grave-stone 

 record, died Oct. 9, 18-W, at the advanced age of 

 eighty four year?. 



We will here leave perlnqis for a future num- 

 ber of the N'isitor, the further writing out of re- 

 fieclions liom a joiuney of two weeks, .-it the 

 middle of the third day when jn.-t silling down 

 lo u hasty dinner, wiib Uie thermometer above 

 80 degrees in the latter pan of the month of 

 August. 



Address, delivered by request beroie the Far- 

 mers ofltedfurd, Jf. II., at a nieetiug of the 

 Towu Agrieultiiral Society, Oct. 17, 18 tU,, 

 by ISAAC mi.1,. 



Appearing among yon this day, with short op. 

 portimiiy for preparation, I ought lo apologize 

 tspeiialiy to the Ladies present liir the dry com- 

 mon-place matter of my address. They deserve 

 belter matter than ! can [iresent: there are soh- 

 jecls connected with .Agrieulinre that lo them 

 might he greatly more interesting than the lliemes 

 1 have chosen. In the growth of onr comilry, 

 as the sources of morals and patriotism laying 

 llie foumlalion of all the obligations of religion, 

 do we not owe everything to our mothers? Anil 

 in \*liat coniitry of the world can the hoast ha 

 made that in all the refinements and charms of 

 society and life, so cnnch (d" the tone has been 

 given as by the females of our own New Eng- 

 land? And where but among the farmers a- 

 loiig onr valleys and upon onr hills, have females 

 had so greai an iiitinence as in bending the yonlh- 

 lul twigs (d' those miiiils whiidi have gone forth 

 as the great and mighty minds, statesmen, civil- 

 ians, divines and warriors — great only as they 

 were good. New England under the insii iiciioii 

 of such mothers has conilmuMl to senil forth 

 those men of nerve and enterprise which give 

 peculiarly ihe best moral loni: to the new States. 

 It isgralilying on this occasion to witness that 

 the ladies take an interest in promoliiig that pro- 

 lessioii which ought to be regajded as the most 

 honorable, because it has been the fomidalioii 

 employment from which have grown our intelli- 

 gence and our liberties, and must linever remain 

 the employment furnishing aliment and lifij to 

 every other occupation. 



" Wherefore do ye spend money for that w liiidi 

 is not bread, and yonr labor for that which salis- 

 fielhnot? Hearken diligently unto me and eal 

 ye that which is good, and let yonr soul delight it- 

 self ill fatness. For, ( saith the Almighty) as the 

 heavens are higher than the earlh, so are my 

 ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts 

 than your thoughts." 



I thank the Maker of all things that I have lived 

 long enough lo he satisfied that the earth, which 

 by the hand of man would be riMidered worthless, 

 by the hand of God has been [U'eserved and made 

 forever fruitful. If man bad exclusively managed, 

 llie term " worn out" might well apply lo a large 

 portion of the country surrounding us: almost 

 every where, he seems lo have done all that be 

 could conveniently do, to effect the object. For 

 the first half a hmidred years of this short life, I 

 had gone under the impression, in relation to this 

 section of Ihe country, that man had done or 

 would do, this work. When I passed extensive 

 fields of level plains, or gravelly knolls, exhibit- 

 ing scarcely a vestige, summer after smnmer, of 

 green vegetation, 1 supposed it was but the iiii- 

 pul.-e and act of n.ilme to make and keep snidi a 

 field barren, afier the sails of the biiriied hard 

 wood that had grown upon it had been extract- 

 ed ; that upon such laud the pine growth, which 

 in some whole districts was the whole growih, 

 was poisonous or good for nothing, even in the 

 applicalion of its remnant ashes. When I look- 

 ed upon other fields of hard wood growth, natu- 

 ral to the oak, the maple, ash, birch and beeidi, 

 at intervals too rocky for the plough, and at oili- 

 er intervals willi rocks extracted for lijiiciiig, fea- 

 sible to the plough, its first log-fence enclosiiri-s 

 rotting down, grown over to briers and thorns 

 and liuslies, with only |iathed w.iys left for the 

 range of cattle, 1 had looked upon this land loo, 

 as " worn out " and worthless. When I saw a 

 rocky pasture, too rocky for the plough, ilsgra.ss- 

 es expelled by over-feeding in the drought of 

 summer and grown over to moss, I had .set this 

 down in my mind as good for nnihiiig and " worn 

 out," and entirely irreclaimable 



But He who " touched Isaiah's liallowed lips 

 will) fire," and taught him to proclaim to the be- 

 ings of his creation ihat "the mountains and the 

 hills shall break forth liefbreyoo intoeingiug, atni 



