€l)c iTarmcr's illoxitl)ii) Visitor. 



171 



throughout the north, truce their origin to iliis 

 touii. Gen. Lincoln of tlie r<'\tjkaion resided 

 here, iiiul of tlie smne origin vvjis nn attorney- 

 general of the United Slates, a goveinor of IMas- 

 gachnsetts and other distingnislicd men. From 

 the Cushings we have liad a jndge of the United 

 Slate?, ami several Slate judges: onr [M-esem 

 minister to China, a scliolar of the first order, as 

 also the millionaire of Watertown, u hose palace 

 and gardens are among the wonders of the north, 

 are of the Hitigltani tiihe fioin the third and 

 fourth generation. 



Of this name we have had occasion to he nrm'e 

 particidarly acquainted than with those iiolitted 

 ahove. A funiilv of Ciishitig^, all horn in lling- 

 hani, consisted of either thirteen, fifteen or eigh- 

 teen — we have not the means of ascertaining 

 which, nor is it im|jortant. The i'oimgtst of 

 this fiimily, if living, wonid he helween sixty and 

 seventy years of age. A son of one of the elders 

 of" this family (Joseph Cnshini;) eslahlished the 

 Farmer's Cahinet at Amherst in ]802: with this 

 gentlemiin the writer served an apprenticeship as 

 a printer from 1803 to 1809, nearly seven years. 

 Abmil the time we left Amliersl that gcntleinun 

 Jeft, and since that time he has grown into a man 

 of wealth and respeclahilily in IJallimore. 



The llinghain tiimily, to which we have last 

 alluded, was so large that it hecame necessary 

 for soine of the younger memliers to go id)road 

 ?n quest of a lirelihood. One of these, now our 

 particular acqnaiulance and relative hy iriarriage, 

 went from home a sailor, and hefore 1m; «as ihir- 

 ty-five years of age, not oidy advanced fiom a 

 sailor l»clore the iiiasl lo l)ecom<^ a mate and a 

 comtnander ol' the ship, hnl acted in the diiulilc 

 tufiacity of snpercago and trader, aiKi lor several 

 of the last years of his sailor life was the owner 

 of his own ship. 



Having gaihrred, «s he snpi-osed, enough of 

 this world's goods to last him thixidgh lile, this 

 adventurer of the dishing trilie,aliont forty years 

 ago, came to the town of Ashhornhain, then an 

 extremely rough, (as it always must he,) rocky 

 and unevetn town of VVorcesler county in Mas- 

 sachusetts, where ati elder brolher (the father of 

 onr old master) had set down a few years helbre. 

 The sailor, as we have since learned in frequent 

 conversiilions, was a jicrlect master of his Inisi- 

 ness. His prcj^ent recollections, the maps and 

 charts which he has preserved, his familiarity 

 with every slinal an<l rock and <langeions posi- 

 tion ill the extensive seas aiul coasts whiclj he 

 navigaled, prove him to have heen of that class 

 ol' vigilant men who scarcely ever siifier ship- 

 wri'ck from any fault in navigation — from lack of 

 vigilance or want of knowledge. 



Retiring from the cares and fatjgnes of a sea- 

 tnau's lile, after pursuing it some twenty years, 

 and yet conjparalively a young man, the suhjecl 

 of this notice, on a view of the whole. ground, 

 there settled dow n in life by selecting from the 

 ro!!y-cheeke<l iiur of the town (of which Ihe nmii- 

 lier was not even then contemplilile) a lady who 

 was both accomplished aii<l handsonn', the 

 daughter of the then sole magistrate of the lowti, 

 who was a meiidier of the convention which 

 framed the first .Couslilutioti of !\Iassachiiselts. 

 AlthouLdi this lady has slept hesi<h' the grave of 

 that lather for h)ore than ihirly vcai-, yet ca^i 

 our recollection lurii bark to iIk: lime when, like 

 Die Vernon, she rode the side hill paths and wind- 

 ing narrow roa<ls, Horn which the r<K'ks wer« 

 not yet cleared for wheeleil travelling carriages, 

 with the sid'cty and assurance of the liest hor.se- 

 ttiauship. 



The old salt is now more advanced in life than 

 our fVienfl of the Boston Mercantile Juurna), who, 

 practically and for many years a seamen, has at 

 full comnjand the iiainical terms of seamenship, 

 and spins out matiy a long yarn told by the sailor 

 of a quiet night, when the ship is under way. In 

 a journey to Ashburnham <'luring the tlianks- 

 giving week of last month, as we appixiach- 

 ed tir; town in our opeii gi^'-wagim. some 

 dozen rods in the roa<l before ns we <leMMied an 

 elderly stoojiing man. She who pat Iteside us 

 said, "That is Mr. Ciishing;'" and .-ore enough 

 lielbve we came to sei' his. fiwe, from the ihick 

 bushy liead of hair, inclining lo the color of .sind, 

 but now approaching a grey, we saw it was onr 

 old friend. He had in one hand a sharpened 

 liog-boe, and in the other (wo young rock maple 

 trees. Strange that we should thus overtake, as 

 the first man we saw, m this spot, the man whose 



house we were first to visit. We hati not seen 

 him for nearly ihree years, and not abr(jad since 

 the fidi of ib3t<, when with him we climbed the 

 Wetaiick mountaiu, situated on the New Hamp- 

 shire an<l Massa'cliiiselts line, fiom whence the 

 liiglilaiids and mounlaiiis of the Granite Slate, 

 for more than a hundred miles to the north, 

 cmiW be overlooked, and the course of the ftler- 

 ritiiack in its n indiiigs, in the morning fog, maybe 

 traced some seventy miles. Five years, in a man 

 now rnOre than three-score and ti.-u, will l>e tipt 

 10 make any hard-worker crooke<k 



Mr. Gushing, in the course of a long life, has 

 seMom undertaken any business which he has 

 left unfmished. From the oc(Mjpatiou of a mer- 

 chant-sailor ill the pursuit of vvhicli every rope 

 ill the ship was kept within observation, he has 

 gradually become a farmer. Before he could sit 

 down with us, his two rock maples, prepared to 

 supply the place of two others which were kill- 

 ed out fiom imperfect roots and drought, were 

 set in the ground. " See," said he after careliil- 

 ly trussing up the roots with small rocks, "how 

 nature prepares herself for a new start at the dy- 

 ing end of the year! The leaves have laileu 

 froin this iree; hut how wonilerfiil is the germ 

 lelt with a preparation in embryo for Ihe next 

 spring!" and sure enough, for the first lime in 

 our li!e,dtd we see and mark the |.erfeet bud 

 that was to issue li-oru the place where tite de- 

 ceased, withering, fidleii leaves had left it. 



'J'he taste of the Ashburnham sailor-farmer 

 has been singular enough. No liu'iuer in Massa- 

 chusetts has been more devoti'<l to his business, 

 or workeil harder than he I as dune for the last 

 six years. Much of tin; town of Ashburnham 

 is exceedingly rough, anil the best fiirms in the 

 town have been made from the soil tnosl hard 

 and rocky. In the easterly part of the town two 

 and a hall' miles f](un ihe village, laud with an 

 orchard is valued at two and three hundred dol- 

 lars the .acre, ami soiiii; single naked acres sell 

 as high as one hundred dollars. Mr, Gushing 

 (^orntnenced his farming operations on one ol 

 these hard spots with ab(uit thirty acres, some 

 thirty-five years ago; to this he added about for- 

 ty acres more, and in the com-se of time, njaking 

 the best improvements with his own haiKls, erec- 

 ting a hotise and other buildings lo snii bis own 

 peculiar llmcy, made a very good fiirm out of 

 very haul, and what all considered poor mate- 

 rials. Having arrived near the agcof three s>core 

 vearsaud ten, and thinking it tirncMo wiiiuhaw 

 liiim the sc'.erer lahoi' ()f' the lariu, he 'made a 

 setilem<"tit of this upon Idsehlest son withaKle- 

 si:.'!! of si'tlliug down in the ■( iMiipact part of the 

 village. 



Ashburnham has grown into a busy place for 

 the prodnciiiui of cliair.<, pails and tubs by tliou- 

 saTiiHs w'niiiii Tire last twenty _\ears. Within two 

 unles of the head sources of the Nashua and 

 Sonhegan fiowiiig east, and those of Miller's riv- 

 er flowing west, a water power on ilii.' Nashua 

 braiK-b has been liiniid which in a succession of 

 ■some dnzeii locations each below tin: titliev does 

 the woi k of many haials: this water power is 

 ccmtaiued in a locky valley which at first and 

 w iihin onr iecolb'{-tioH vvas an almost impene- 

 trahle foiesl wiili iK'arli hall' ol' ihe surface cov- 

 ered will] rock.-. Along the wot side of the 

 stream a iicai l\ li'vcl road had been cmistrucled, 

 on both sidesof which dwellings have licenerec- 

 ted, and at intervals of fifty, seventy-five and a 

 hundred rod.s, dams flow back tbe water into 

 pcjuds, where it remains lo be used in propelling 

 ihe various machinery. Mr. Gushing turned bis 

 eye at first upon a lot at a high point on the easter- 

 ly side of this stream, to which there was as yet 

 no open |ias,>^age — a spot who-^esoil was scarcely 

 more easily penetrated ih.ni the rocks large and 

 small which covere<l it. Here he dug out at first 

 a garden s|H)t, and in gradual steps erected a 

 il welling so mticb like the one he-had left, that 

 the casual visitor might af'Ier^^ards fimcy himsell 

 ill the same spot. The l<Jt first pin-<'hased con- 

 sisted of only some two acres; lint if ils aspect 

 U|>ou tlie siirtiu-e was most discouraging to dig 

 fin- a i-cdiar and a well, and mnio <'spc cially for 

 any kind of cidtivaiion, its elevated point piesen- 

 sented a fine prospect in which five successive 

 ponds sianding up(Mi difl'erent levels nii:;ht be 

 viewe<i ;it once. If the seaman-farmer had L'iv- 

 en up his business at one part of the town, ap- 

 parently insnrmonntahle obstacles did not dis- 

 coiirage him at his new residence. With tin 



rocks dug and blown ool, the first field, surrouud- 

 ed with a fence whose fiiimdatiims \\ill stimd for- 

 ever of about three-fourths of an a<re, is com- 

 menced ; to this the next year is added another, 

 and to this in sncceediiig years are added a third, 

 fonrtb and fifth field. Wilho'jt tlie lot at first 

 purchased finther east comes dowo a pore lirook 

 falling at the lower point into the main stream ; 

 and the land lieyomi so naked and sterile tluit 

 every one thongnt any price in money too high to 

 be pjiid liir it. 'J'wetiiy-five or fiih ly acivs, itichi- 

 diiig the smaller valley and stream, were -Jiilded 

 lo Ihe first purchase at the [irice of some twenty 

 dollars the acre. On this most ungracious spot 

 the seaman-farmer (■ommeiM.-es a new work at 

 the age of sixty-nine years; and us the germ of 

 a most beaiitiliil place which it may become in 

 the course of the next ten years, it is worthy In 

 be mentioned that the diligent labor of the retir- 

 ed man alone has performed almost the whole. 

 T".kiiig ns over a rocky path to the extreme tioitlt 

 end of Ihe lot, he answered oui-enq'uiry if lie had 

 done any thing to supply the orchard of graf[(<l 

 trees which he had left on his old premises, by 

 .siiowiiig a fiehl well surrounded by the substan- 

 tial materials, in which yoimg apple-trees inocu- 

 lated with the best varieties had already attained 

 a t\vo-years growth. 'J'liese trees he IiihI pro- 

 cured fiom the Brighton nursery at ihe co.sl <d' 

 fifiy cents apiece : they were grow inga^jiace. An 

 tmktcky lioy had tmililated and injuted one en- 

 tire row; but these, 'the careful cnlt'urist lia<i so 

 patched and mended that every one of them was 

 righting itsxdf by the assistance of nature. The 

 pruning knife had been soused on each .particu- 

 lar life, that the operaior could tell where every 

 sprout had been taken od" aird tiie whys and 

 wherefores of tho operation. 



" 1 call hardly expect, (said the a.lmost octoge- 

 narian,) lo reap liiiils from this ground, but (said 

 he) I remember the fine liiiits liuuishe-J to my 

 hand in my native town: I recollect too the 

 •orchard [ilanted in this town by the fiilher of my 

 first partner, and that which I i-nniroved as my 

 ow<i on my first purchase-. For all these I owe a 

 debt lo those who have gone before lue; an<l in 

 making this new improvement, 1 jiay that <lehl, 

 lo be remembered by tliose who i-onie afier us." 



We migiil have remindwl hi-ni of the K'Xample 

 of the veteran relative .^frhu A'ihmis, now o\er 

 one hundred yearsol'age, who first i^etlledtin the 

 great grandfather's thousand acre lot in Ashburn- 

 ham more l4ianseveiity years ago: ihe'okl geiiile- 

 man, when he was over nineiy. Join tiit^d alone in' 

 his gig-wagon to the mounlain region of I'enn- 

 sylvania on a visit lo liis<-li!hlreu, who ba<l eini- 

 gratc<l there : to that stale ite iias sitKM reuKned, 

 and now, at the ageflfone Irnirdred yi'ors, with 

 a hand as firm as Ihe mind which has not yet 

 g:iined ils "second chil(lislme.'--s and tneie obli- 

 vion," writes s-.;u¥Jhle and 'cons'Jatory letters to 

 the younger race he has hd't ■bciiirrd (liu: ; how 

 he, year after \e;ir, enjoje<l the fruits of' his labor 

 in the first and best a^i^di*, the ohi " Seek-uo- 

 rurlher," from the ancient (W-c liai\ls of that part of 

 Cambridge hmg known as Old .Menotiuny, giaii- 

 lying ill acce|nahle presents <5iir own, amm;:; 

 ulher yonlhfnl palates, to the " lhii<l i nd lourlh 

 LTeiicratiou" of them who will hjiig hiVe joid le- 

 vere his meoi-oiy. 



We did relate lo our fiieiid of '76 the sloiy of 

 ihe Rev, Kbenezer t.'nhb, wiib which wc com- 

 menced this article; and to it we a<!iled the 

 w ish that at the age of one hundred years Ik- 

 might eat of the fruit ol'the yoiiftg orchard which 

 his hand ha<l last planted .'iiid cheiished, 



Mr. Gushing is, an<i li-as been for some years a 

 subscriber atul rcad'jr of the Monthly Visitor. 

 Willi the characteristic ardor of _\outh he has 

 taken hold <d' the agricultural woik of Lieliig, 

 which has so much inlcreste<l him in vMitching- 

 the operations of mother canh.iu yielding' ils ve- 

 getable increase, ihat he cati hardly hi: induceil 

 to leave his late rocky plahtalinn ibraiiy nihcr 

 (dijecl than to promciie its impvovemenl. He i* 

 alone upon it, only with such uecasional hired 

 help as the renuivid of rocks and heavier woik 

 will not alone pennil him lo accomplish. He. 

 uudcrslands all about the value of locks in the 

 field^how the growing vegetable takes in a por- 

 tion of its coiistiluenl growth from the decompo- 

 sition of the rocks ;in<l harder substimces — how 

 the harderiindersoil when stirred becomes black 

 vegetable mould upon the surface ; :ind he fidlv 

 agrees with us, that the buried up maleiialsi 



