XLVIII 



and the esteem in which this product is held abroad ; the 

 many notable characters associated with it in history, par- 

 ticularly Rev. Hugh Peters ; and the singular amount of 

 litigation that had marked the adjoining territory in the 

 course of years. 



A short but very pleasing poem by Mrs. J. H. Hanaford, 

 late of Beverly, but now of Reading, was read by Rev. 

 Geo. D. Wildes of Salem who prefaced it with a few re- 

 marks. The Poem was descriptive of the emotion felt by 

 an American in Europe on meeting with a specimen ot 

 the famous ice from these waters. 



Stephen H. Phillips, of Salem, adverted to the very in- 

 teresting fact that this was one of those " greate pondes," 

 of more than ten acres in extent, whose entire freedom to 

 all our people for fishing and fowling is guaranteed for- 

 ever, first, by the " Bodye of Libertyes," drawn and pro- 

 mulgated by Rev. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich in 1643, 

 then by later enactments of the General Court, and now 

 finally made a fixed fact by decision of the Supreme Court 

 lately rendered. He read extracts from the manuscript opin- 

 ion of the Court in the case of Inhabitants of W. Roxbury 

 vs. Stoddard, bearing on this point. Thus, said Mr. P. we 

 are in full posession of these lovely waters, for all legiti- 

 mate public uses, free of cost and beyond hinderance by 

 designing men ; and this more than by all else, by the 

 early foresight of Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, known as 

 the " Simple Cobbler of Agawam." 



James Slade, late City Engineer of Boston, gave some 

 interesting facts on the subject of furnishing water to 

 cities, and said that when a tolerable source was selected, 

 it was always found that the quantity provided by nature 

 could be much increased by art, by the use of means to 

 prevent loss and waste. 



Rev. G. W. Skinner, of Gloucester, made some state- 

 ments upon the remarkable ridge, or moraine, which runs 



