BOSTON TO ALBANY. 101 



Longfellow's lines have made this a classic »pot : 



" This is the Arseual. From floor to ceiling, 

 Like a huge organ, rise the burnished arms; 

 But from the silent pipes no anthem pealing 

 Startles the villages with strange alarms. 



" Oh! what a sound will rise, how wild and dreary. 

 When the death angel touches those swift keys! 

 What loud lament and dismal miserere 

 Will mingle with those awful symphonies I 



"Peace ! and no longer from its brazen portals 



The blast of War's great organ shakes the skies; 

 But beautiful as songs of the immortals, 

 The holy melodies of love arise." 



Beside the Main Arsenal, two other buildings are 

 used for the storage of arms. 



In 1795 Uncle Sam made his first musket. That 

 year forty or fifty men "were employed, and 24'^ 

 muskets ^vere made. Between that and the preseiit 

 time over 2,000,000 weapons have been turned out. 

 During that time $32,500,000 have been expended. 

 When Sumter was fired on about 1,000 w^eapons per 

 month were being made. Three months later, 3,000 

 were made each month. In 1864, 1,000 muskets were 

 completed each day, and 3,400 men were employed, 

 with pay roll sometimes amounting to $200,000 per 

 month. At present only 400 men are em})loyed. 



From Springfield stock have coQie eight college 

 presidents, namely of Yale, Harvard, Columbia, 

 Amherst, Princeton, Trinity, Beloit, and Dickinson. 



Springfield of to-day is a thriving city of about 

 50,000, and is the county seat of Hampden County. 

 Some one, I think, has called it the " city of homes." 

 Its streets are broad, and w^ell shaded by elms and 



