20 



Rev. Mr. Willson of Salem, offered some brief remarks on 

 the value of knowledge, even that little which has been styled 

 a dangerous thing. 



On motion, the thanks of the Institute were then pre- 

 sented to the proprietors of the Independent Church for the 

 use of their house, also to Messrs. Spoiford, Parker, Savory, 

 Reed and others citizens of the town for their kind atten- 

 tions during the day, and the meeting then adjourned. 



Monday, July 16, 1862. 



FIELD MEETING AT WEST GLOUCESTER. This place became 

 the locality of the third of these pleasant occasions this sea- 

 son. It is not a very large or populous village, and a slight 

 survey is enough to show that not a large amount of travel 

 passes this way, at least to make any stay in this vicinity. 

 Yet it is certainly not for want of pleasant scenery, and local 

 matters attractive enough to the eye and heart, but not, per- 

 haps, to the money-seeking enterprise of the present day. 



The town of Gloucester may rank as one of our oldest 

 daughters of Essex, having been incorporated originally in 

 1639, three years before it received its present name. The 

 West Parish dates back in its corporate existence, to 1716, 

 when Rev. Samuel Thompson was settled as its minister ; 

 but the old meeting-house, which was only taken down within 

 some ten years, had the date of 1713 on its sounding board, 

 and the ornamental carving, with the year upon it, is yet 

 preserved in a beer store in the village. The meeting-house 

 was about forty feet square, and stood about two miles from 

 where the Institute assembled, on a spot which the forest 

 has now overgrown. 



A company of liberal magnitude attended the meeting 



