424 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Wilson had one of the horses of the company 

 hitched in a cart, and was driving leisurely along 

 the st»eet, when the fire bells commenced ringing. 

 The horse immediately became excited, and whirl- 

 ing, started for the engine house at full speed. 

 Mr. Wilson found it almost impossible to manage 

 him. The horse ran on until he came to the en- 

 gine, when in turning the corner, he upset the cart. 

 Mr. Wilson was thrown out, and the wheel of the 

 cart passed over him, crushing his ribs. 



A DAY IN OLD ESSEX. 



After a day and night of sweet repose at the 

 summer residence of the proprietor of the Farmer, 

 at Lynn Beach, we started with new energies for a 

 stroll through the ancient town of Danvers. The 

 heat, during the last days of July and the first 

 days in August, had been intense, and man and the 

 vegetable kingdom drooped under it. There had 

 been, however, no pinching drought ; the grass and 

 foliage were clean, and the corn still spread its 

 broad leaves to the sun and the kissing breezes as 

 they passed. 



Essex county is nearly a continuous village, or 

 cluster of cities and towns, in whatever direction it 

 is traversed, and is, probably, more densely popu- 

 lated than any similar extent of territory in the 

 union. It has great wealth, and its commerce and 

 fisheries are unrivalled by any other section of coun- 

 try, while it is equally distinguished for its varied 

 and excellent manufacture of many of the impor- 

 tant articles of trade. But. notwithstanding all the 

 temptations to go down to the sea in ships, and to 

 invest capital in commercial, manufacturing and 

 mechanical pursuits, the habits of industry which 

 characterize the people, together with their good 

 taste and good sense, have prompted them to a 

 most beautiful, as well as profitable cultivation of 

 the soil. And though it be stubborn and hard, 

 here presenting abrupt hills, and there sinking in- 

 to repulsive swamps, yet the indomitable energy 

 of these pilgrim descendants, coupled with their 

 perceptions of the beautiful, has made every part of 

 the county to blossom with attractions. The 

 swamp is reclaimed, and fertile with sweet grasses, 

 elegant villas look down from the gentle hills, 

 while in quiet seclusion stands the substantial farm 

 house and its appurtances, the rational home of in- 

 telligent and patriotic men and women. The ledg- 

 es that once glittered in the sun, are now in the 

 loving embraces of the bignonia, the clematis, or 

 honeysuckle, refreshing the eye of the traveller, as 

 he passes over the unrivalled blue gravel highways 

 of the county. All around him are representa- 

 tives of a high degree of civilization, and of the ele- 

 gancies as well as comforts of life. The church, 

 the school-house, the town-hall, the forge, bench, 

 tan-pit, the garden, plethoric with flowers and new 

 vegetables, and the fields, though narrow they may 

 be, stooping with their burdens ! These are the 



true battlements of a State, better than cannon, or 

 moated grounds, or edicts, or fiery banner.?. The 

 lap of industry here is full ; and though the sea 

 reaches up its arms and is ever taking away, like 

 the goddess of the harvest, the energy and will of 

 the people again fills the bin, the bale, box, or bar- 

 rel, and the world is still supplied. 



The Essexonians are patterns of industry, thrift 

 and patriotism. They were patriotic in the revo- 

 lution — they would be again if they were needed. 

 When the foot of the enemy was on the soil of Lex- 

 ington and Concord, — not on the necks of the peo- 

 ple, — Danvers men bled freely, but their breath 

 ceased forever. Essex county was settled early. 

 Salem as early as 1626 ; Newbury in 1633, and 

 Ipswich in 1634, had an organized church. It is 

 full of historical land-marks, incidents, and associa- 

 tions, and to the historian, traveller, or even the 

 lover of rural beauty, presents numerous attractions 

 scarcely to be found in any other portion of our 

 country. It is a conglomerate of the commercial, 

 the manufacturing, and mechanical, and charms of 

 country life. The deep bass of the ever restless sea 

 lulls you to repose at night, and the sharp clang of 

 the sounding anvil wakens from delicious dreams 

 in the morning, or lowing cows, or bleating lambs, 

 or the busy hum of the manufacturers' great wheel, 

 greet the ear at every turn. The people of Essex 

 county will never die of a surfeit, — they cannot 

 spare time for that. And yet, they can give thou- 

 sands to perpetuate free institutions, to erect acade- 

 mies, or top the hill with a church, or a school- 

 house. They visit foreign climes, and return laden 

 with valuable experiences of men and things, un- 

 der widely different circumstances, or send out 

 their sons to arrange or direct the most important 

 interests in other nations. The Honorable George 

 Peabody, a banker of London, and of world-wide 

 reputation, is now about revisiting his native town 

 of Danvers. 



But we must rein up our Pegasus, a little, or he 

 will canter with us so pleasantly among these Essex 

 people that we shall never get away. 



Everybody knows S. P. Fowler, Esq., of Dan- 

 versport, in Essex county ; at least, everybody who 

 has read the delightful descriptions of The Birds of 

 JVeiv England, in these columns, — and they make 

 a good part of the world. Mr. Fowler is a true 

 son of Massachusetts. He loves her history — and 

 few understand it better — her soil, her trees, plants, 

 animals and insects, and everything in her borders 

 that is good, with the ardor of youth or a first love. 

 We found him in the counting-room of h's tanne- 

 rj-, but clad in the suitable habiliments of his voca- 

 tion, taking a part in, as well as directing, the man- 

 ipulations of the craft. But his true character and 

 tastes were not to be found in the pits over which 

 we were led, for in a moment we emerged through 

 a narrow door-way into fairy-land, — a land of fruits 



