No. 4.] NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE. 97 



what course may be taken for teaching the boys and girls iu all 

 towues the spiuuing of the yarn ; and to returue to the next Court 

 their severall and joynt advise about this thing. The like con- 

 sideration would bee had for the spinning and weaveing of cotton 

 woole. 



Eighty years later, in 1720, at a special town meeting 

 held in Boston, it was voted : — 



That the Town will proceed to the ciioyce of a committee to 

 consider about promoting of a Spinning School or Schools for 

 the instruction of the children of this town in Spinning to be 

 seven in number. 



In the face of untold difficulties and hindrances, natural 

 and legal, this tiny germ grew during the colonial period, 

 and from the beginning of the present century the advance 

 of manufactures was steady and rapid. The progress of 

 the last fifty years is fully shown by the census returns, 

 and the following table presents the aggregates at a single 

 glance : — 



