112 THE DORSET COLONY IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



Books, &c.," of the borough of Weymouth, together with some photo- 

 graphs of the place. These were gratefully accepted and acknow- 

 ledged in an official letter, stamped " Weymouth Historical Society, 

 1879," and bearing on a scroll the legend " Patres precipuo honore 

 habeamus." In a private note accompanying it the secretary of the 

 society remarks "Our towns are kindred not only in name but 

 also by many ties of association. Many of our people came from 

 your town, and all of our memories of old Weymouth are pleasant." 

 The worthy secretary had doubtless good reason for confessing this 

 relationship, but the time at my disposal and the circumstances 

 attending my visit did not, unfortunately, enable me to pursue the 

 enquiry. Of streets properly so-called Weymouth has none, and 

 of the names I observed few bore any resemblance to those I have 

 seen mentioned in the old records of Weymouth, England. The 

 geology of Weymouth, Mass., is singularly different from that of 

 Weymouth, Dorset. The underlying stratum is granite imperfectly 

 crystallised, pierced with beds of amygdaloid trap. Next comes 

 beds of dark slate or shale containing large quantities of iron 

 pyrites, and cut by quartz veins, in which are found fine crystals. 

 Indications of the Glacial period are well marked and abundant. 

 The hilly rolling surface of the district is covered with a scanty 

 soil not conducive to successful agriculture. 



On Monday, September 15th, 1884, armed with a letter of 

 introduction to a most respectable citizen of Weymouth, I took 

 my place in the 10.30 train of the Old Colony Railroad. The 

 essential differences between railway travelling on the two 

 continents are so well known in these days of travel par excellence 

 that I need not dwell upon them, but I might perhaps be permitted 

 to digress so far from my subject to refer to a fact that somewhat 

 astonished me. Before my departure I had talked matters over 

 with men conversant with America, and by one of them I was 

 gravely warned not by any means when addressing Americans to 

 refer to them as " Mister ;" the proper thing was John, Thomas, 

 or whatever the Christian name might happen to be. But what 

 did I see on the envelope enclosing my introduction 1 nothing less 



