13 



have considered a curse, were to our foreseeing fathers a 

 blessing in disguise. For in the very first generation the 

 yeoman and his boys constructed many miles of the ugly, 

 yet enduring, stone walls that still stand — monuments 

 alike of the thrift and grit of the founders and the loyal- 

 ty of the sons of the soil. 



Facilities for education are important factors in de- 

 ciding whether the calling that is followed is pi'ofitable. 

 The mind must be fed as well as the body, else one is 

 poor indeed, though with unlimited gold. The founders 

 of Essex County brought with the pastor, his colleague, 

 the teacher. Amidst the broadening influences of this 

 virgin soil, the Puritan evolved the highest instrumental- 

 ity in the growth of man — the common school. It was 

 not possible under the old world forms of government 

 and thought. The mediceval ecclesiastic fears it more 

 than all the potentates of earth combined, and a threat 

 against it sounds the alarm which unites all loyal Ameri- 

 cans. The common school had its birth here, and here it 

 has flourished and is to-day the model for all enlightened 

 states. 



In the south gallery of the Manufactures and Liberal 

 Arts Building at the World's Columbian Exposition 

 hangs a map, which is attracting as mucli if not more at- 

 tention than any other exhibit in the building. It is a- 

 map of immense proportions and shows the number of 

 schools that each city and towii in Massachusetts has es- 

 tablished and is supporting. People from all parts of 

 the United States have seen it and pronounced it the 

 most wonderful exhibit yet produced. No other state — 

 in fact no other country — can produce anything ecjual to- 

 it. 



