have seen it figured that forty per cent, of the towns in 

 Massachusetts are losing population. This is now off-set 

 in a small way by a tendency of some of the inhabitants of 

 cities to return to country life and make their permanent 

 home in some small town. Whether this in a way accounts 

 for the disappearance of the abandoned farms, I am not 

 able to assert, except that Mr. Wni. Henry Bishop after a 

 personal search for abandoned farms in New England 

 seems to have emerged with doubts as to their existence, 

 and declares that you might just as well speak of abandoned 

 property in New York City — suggest what a picture of 

 gloom for instance might be based upon a catalogue of all 

 houses standing vacant for any cause in New York. 



When we reflect upon the mad rush of life in cities, for- 

 tunes made and lost, hearts broken by disappointment and 

 reverses, is it to be wondered at, that people are discover- 

 ing and appreciating the charms of rural life ? The farmer, 

 of all people, may reflect with considerable satisfaction up- 

 on his life so near" to nature and so free from contamina- 

 tion of all other pursuits. It is to the credit of Essex 

 county that in many instances the same names are in pos- 

 session of the same stone fenced ancient farms. The gen- 

 eral holding of farms in this county for two hundred and 

 fifty years in family line without any law against alienation 

 is something exceptional in human history. May the time 

 never come when the Essex farmer yields up his suprema- 

 cy amidst the fields and meadows of this grand old county. 



