MANUFACTURES AND AGRICULTURE. 293 



a great and prosperous community. They had no ambition or 

 desire beyond an eighty-acre lot. 



We visited them in the early part of June, 1848. They were 

 dwelling in the same building erected thirty-four years before ; 

 their corn was standing in the field unhusked, and at this time 

 but little preparation had been made for a new crop. 



They seemed to have but little conception of what was trans- 

 piring in the world around. They wished not to be disturbed 

 in their repose ; their great fear was that their quiet do- 

 main would be trespassed upon by that terrible monster, the 

 locomotive. 



We will now return to the territory bounded by the Falls, or 

 Quequechand. 



The cracking of the thorns and briers in 1813 infused new 

 life into a community which had long slumbered. The founda- 

 tion of the first mill in our village was the commencement of an 

 era never to be forgotten ; and although small in the beginning, 

 its proportions have mightily enlarged. It is surprising to see 

 with what tenacity a community will cling to old habits and 

 customs. Many are slow to believe that there can be any ad- 

 vance in the arts and sciences. They proceed from year to year 

 in the same round of business, following in the steps of their 

 ancestry, totally unconscious of the movements around, which 

 are operating to promote their prosperity and happiness. 



I have known men, apparently sensible men, who contended 

 earnestly that a manufacturing community would be destructive 

 to the interests of agriculture. These same men are now boast- 

 ing of their bank stocks, and whose farms are producing more 

 value upon one acre now than was formerly produced on ten. 



The five millions deposited in the savings banks of Fall River 

 are in a large measure the gatherings from farm produce. 



Many begin to realize and confess the relation that exists be- 

 tween these two great leading interests of our country. The 

 farmer has become the manufacturer and the manufacturer the 

 farmer ; many of the thousand spindles running in our city are 

 the property of the surrounding farmers. 



Many of our capitalists begin to understand what lies at the 

 foundation of their wealth and prosperity, and they are disposed 

 to devote large sums of their accumulated wealth to the promo- 

 tion of agriculture. 



