Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 11 of those read), 1883 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 11 of those read)

The Medley, or New Bedford Marine Journal - The Mercury - The Standard - The Whaleman's Shipping-List - The New Bedford Signal - Numerous other Newspapers - Friends' Academy - Free Public Library - The National Bank of Commerce - The Merchants' National Bank - The Mechanics' National Bank - The First National Bank - The Citizens' National Bank - Institution for Savings - Five-Cent Savings-Bank - Water-Works - New Bedford and Fairhaven Street Railway - Post-Office - Wamsutta Mills - Potamska Mills - Grinnell Mills - Gosnold Mills, etc. - Masonic - Star in the East Lodge - Eureka Lodge - Adoniram Chapter R. A. M. - Sutton Commandery - Early Physicians - Fire Society, 1809 - The Ship Rebecca - Miscellaneous.

The first paper published in New Bedford was The Medley, or Neio Bedford Marine Journal, the first number of which was issued Nov. 27, 1792, " printed and published by John Spooner, at his office near Rotch's wharf." It was a small sixteen-column sheet. The first number contained news from Italy, France, and England, and a record of the proceedings of the Second Congress of " Confederated America." John Spooner notifies the inhabitants that "he has just received from New London and for sale the following books." In the list were " Watts' Hymns," " Fenning's Spelling-Book," "Vicar of Wakefield," " Seamen's Journals," " Adventures of Gil Bias," " Fanny, or the Happy Repentance," etc. He also advertises for sale Dutch quills, wafers, etc., and will take " cash or any of the above books given in exchange for clean cotton or linen rags, old sail-cloth, or junk."

Caleb Green advertises " Books and book-binding," while William Rotch, Jr., "Respectfully informs his Customers and Friends he has for sale wholesale and retail, at his store in New Bedford, sail-cloth, coarse and fine sheetings, pork and salt, Philadelphia and Russia bar-iron, paints, etc."

The brig " Mary" is advertised to sail for Havre de Grace, Cornelius Grinnell, master; and the sloop " Mayflower," Gibbs West, master, for New York and Chesapeake.

New Bedford

previously worked as compositor and foreman in the printing-office of the Palladium in Boston. It was a small sheet of sixteen columns, printed " on good paper and in fair type," the subscription price two dollars, exclusive of postage, and "payable halfyearly in advance." In his address to the public the editor says, "It is our wish and intention to publish a useful and, as far as our resources will permit, an entertaining journal, embracing all those objects which properly fall within its scope, etc. ... In politics we shall adopt the truly republican principles of Washington's ' Farewell Address,' convinced that all Americans are alike interested in their support. Thus doing, we shall

The first issue contains " very late foreign news" (for those ante-clipper-ship, ante-steam-power, and ante-telegraph times), a proclamation by Thomas Jefferson, and various local advertisements by Abraham Sherman, Peter Barney & Son, and Russell, Thornton & Co. In the second number is an advertisement of a new line of stages between New Bedford and Boston, announcing that the "stage will start from Crocker's tavern in New Bedford at sunrise on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and arrive at Boston at three o'clock p.m."

The founder of the Mercury conducted it alone till 1826, when his son, Benjamin Lindsey, Jr., was associated with him. In 1831 they started the Daily Mercury (the first daily established in New Bedford), and thesenior proprietor soon after retiring, the entire management devolved upon the son, who published it till July 15, 1861, when, having been appointed United States consul at St. Catharine's, Brazil, he sold the newspaper establishment to C. B. H. Fessenden and William G. Baker.

The Mercury, under Mr. Lindsey's management, grew in importance and value, was edited with ability, and for many years enjoyed a wide circulation. For a long time it had no competitor, there being then no evening paper, and its close attention to the fullness and accuracy of its ship news secured for it a generous list of subscribers.

Fessenden & Baker took charge of the paper upon the very eve of the late civil war. It was not an auspicious time for such an undertaking by men of limited pecuniary means and unacquainted with the details of newspaper business. But the new proprietor- had a decided taste for journalism, and lost nothing in reputation, if they gained nothing in money, by the venture. The character of the paper did not suffer by the transfer. It honestly and heartily supported the Republican administration in the prosecution of the war and afterwards in the great wofk of reconstruction. It advocated at an early day the arming of the enslaved negroes and their emancipation, one of its editorials having the caption, " We must fight them or free them." In the darkest days of the Rebellion its leading articles were cheery and hopeful, prophesying progress through a big disaster, and showing unbounded confidence in the final triumph of the nation. Even beyond the circumscribed limits of its circulation it exerted a healthful and conservative influence, for its columns were scrupulously kept free from anything that would offend good taste or injure public or private morals, and it was vigorous in its advocacy of all real reform. It was persistent in urging the introduction of pure water into New Bedford as a sanitary and economic measure, and the supplementing of the loss to the city from the inevitable decline of the whale fishery by the increase of manufactures, both which have gradually come to pass.

May 1, 1876, the Mercury passed by purchase into the hands of the present proprietors, Messrs. Stephen W. Booth, Warren E. Chase, and William L. Sayer, who now, under the style of the Mercury Publishing Company, conduct it. Mr. Booth had for years been in the employ of Fessenden & Baker as clerk and then business manager. Mr. Chase had large experience and skill as a compositor, and Mr. Sayer had graduated with honor from the Mercury office as reporter. Young, hopeful, intelligent, industrious, and determined to succeed, they have kept up the tone of the paper, and in many respects improved its appearance. Republican in principle, it is independent of party, its editor, Mr. Sayer, approving or condemning measures without regard to their party origin or support. The paper is losing nothing of vigor in its old age, keeps up with the current of opinion on matters of public concern, is breezy with local news, and promises to grow and prosper with the growth and prosperity of the city, because it supplied a public need.

The Old Colony Gazette was started in October, 1808. In 1811 the name was changed to the New Bedford Gazette, and again in 1812 to The Bristol Gazette, when it was removed to Fairhaven. It was discontinued July 10, 1813. Billings & Tucker and David Hollis had charge of it in 1810, afterwards Joseph Gleason, Jr., until Feb. 5, 1813, when it passed into the hands of Paul Taber.

The New Bedford Courier was established June 12, 1827, by Benjamin T. Congdon. In 1833 the words Weekly Lyceum were added to the title. In the following year the WorMngmen's Press, a paper first issued in May, 1832, was united with the Courier. The first number of the consolidated sheets appeared Feb. 26, 1834, under the management of Harris & Borroughs, to whom Mr. Congdon had transferred his interest in the paper. After the publication of the second or third number the paper again passed into his hands, and was continued by him under the same title, New Bedford Weekly Courier and WorMngmen's Press, till July 2, 1834, when he sold it to J. George Harris and Charles W. Rexford, who changed the title to New Bedford Gazette and Weekly Courier, and published it in connection with the Daily Gazette until November 3d of the same year, when the partnership was dissolved by the withdrawal of Rexford. Mr. Harris edited the paper until 1838. In 1838 the name was again changed to The New Bedford Weekly Advocate, but neither this paper nor the Daily Gazette, which was established in 1833, and edited by Harris & Rexford and J. George Harris, were published in 1839.1 Mr. Harris is now a retired pay director in the navy, residing in Nashville, Tenn., with summer residence at New London, Conn.

The Register, daily and weekly, was published by William Canfield in 1839; Morning Register and New Bedford Register, by Canfield & Andros, in 1841 ; Evening Register and New Bedford Register, by William Young, in 1845.

The Daily Evening Bulletin and Semi- Weekly Bulletin were started in 1842, edited by William Eddy in 1843, by Charles T. Cougdon in 1844, and by Henry Tilden in 1845-46.

The Seaman's Reporter and Family Visitor, afterwards The New Bedford Reporter and Whalemen's Weekly Visitor, edited by Joseph H. Smith, appeared in July, 1844. He was succeeded, in 1849, by Charles H. Kingsford. In connection with the weekly Mr. Smith also published from July 2, 1847, a semiweekly called the New Bedford Reporter and Semi- Weekly Democrat. Kingsford afterwards issued an octavo sheet, made up of advertisements and circulated gratuitously.

The Daily Evening Standard was first issued on Friday, Feb. 15, 1850, and was a sheet nineteen by twenty-seven inches in size. The field had long been occupied by the Mercury, and many attempts to establish rival newspapers had failed. Mr. Edmund Anthony, the originator of the Standard, was a native of Swansea, and for some years carried on the printing business in Taunton, where he founded the Taunton Democrat, now the Gazette, and its weekly edition, now called the Household Gazette. The Standard rapidly gained in patronage and favor, and Feb. 6, 1851, the announcement was made that its circulation in the city of New Bedford was more than that of any other paper. As a consequence the postal authorities awarded to it the advertising of letters not called for, and the advertisement appeared in its columns for the first time April 16th. The Standard has been enlarged several times, - July 1, 1852, Feb. 15, 1856, June 8, 1864, Nov. 16, 1865, Jan. 2, 1871, and Oct. 23, 1879, - and is now a broad sheet twenty-five by forty-two inches. With the extension of telegraph facilities at the opening of the civil war it became advisable to print more than one daily edition. The hour of publication had been three o'clock. Another edition at 3.30 o'clock first appeared June 1, 1861, and was continued till Nov. 7, 1868 ; another at five o'clock appeared July 6, 1861, and is still regularly issued. For a few months at the opening of the war a morning edition was printed, and for a number of summers previous to 1870 an extra edition was published at 1.30 o'clock, in order that it might be circulated the same day at the great summer resort on Martha's Vineyard. Increased means of transportation have since obviated the necessity of this. At one time in the course of the war, from Sept. 2, 1864, to April 15, 1865, the state of the paper market was such that the proprietors could not obtain paper the exact size they needed, and the columns were temporarily shortened about half an inch. In January, 1864, Mr. Anthony commenced the publication of the Springfield Union, and July 26th of that year it was announced that the Standard would appear in the name of E. Anthony & Sons, Edmund Anthony (Jr.) and Benjamin Anthony being admitted as partners. Mr. Anthony disposed of his Springfield enterprise in about two years and returned to New Bedford, where he died Jan. 24, 1876, at the age of sixty-seven years. The style of the firm continues as before, E. Anthony & Sons.

The Republican Standard (weekly), published on Thursdays, commenced at the same time with the daily, the first number appearing Feb. 21, 1850, its size beiug twenty-two by thirty-three inches. Its prosperity and progress have been proportionate to that of the Evening Standard, and it was enlarged Feb. 16, 1854, Jan. 3, 1867, Jan. 5, 1871, Jan. 4, 1877, and Jan. 4, 1883, and its size is now thirty-five by forty-nine inches. At the time of enlargement in 1867 the quarto form was adopted. These newspapers are the largest of their respective classes south of Boston and east of Providence, and their circulation is larger than that of any other papers in the same section, the regular issue of which being between three thousand five hundred and four thousand copies. The Evening Standard is mostly read in New Bedford and within ten miles around. Its circulation in the city is about two thousand nine hundred copies, or one for every nine inhabitants, men, women, and children. Three-fourths or more of the circulation of the Republican Standard is in the towns of Southern Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island, and it is sent regularly to six hundred post-offices. The aim of the Standard has been from the first to present a thorough digest of news of every description on all the current topics of the time, giving special prominence to details of matters of local interest. In politics it has been in affiliation with the Republican party, except with regard to the tariff. The job-printing department of the office is well organized and does a large business. Though inaugurated on what superstition has marked as an unlucky day, the enterprise has been an unbroken success in all respects, and has become the largest printing establishment in Southern Massachusetts.

The Whaleman's Shipping-List and Merchants' Transeript was founded March 17, 1843, by Henry Lindsey, and conducted by him until his death in 18f>3. It then passed into the hands of Benjamin Lindsey, and was owned by him until 1873, when it was purchased by E. P. Raymond, who has since conducted it as sole editor and proprietor. Mr. Raymond has had the editorial management of the paper since 1861. It is the only paper of its kind in the world, and its circulation extends to London, Dublin, Glasgow, Canary Islands, Paris, China, St. Helena, Barbadoes, New Zealand, Chili, Tasmania, Berlin, Azores, etc.

The New Bedford Signal was started Dec. 14, 1878, by George Robertson as editor and proprietor. It was started as a twenty-column sheet, but has been enlarged to twenty-four columns. It is independent, " bound to no sect, ruled by no party."

The following papers were short-lived : The Christian Philanthropist, 1823, edited by Melcher and Rogers; The Censor ; The Record- of the Times, 1830; The Advocate, commenced in 1844, published by Henry Tilden ; The Union, 1857, by Henry Tilden ; The Mayflower, 1844; The Independent Press, October, 1848; The Harpoon, edited by William Miller ; The Weekly Echo, 1849, edited by Moses Brown ; The Whaleman, published weekly from 1854, edited by William S. Anderson; The Citizen, Dec. 1, 1860; The City Rail Advertiser, 1860-61, and The Herald.

Friends' Academy.1 - Friends' Academy, now located in New Bedford, west of County Street, and between Morgan and Elm Streets, is a day school for teaching boys and girls the elements of ancient and modern language*, of mathematics, and of natural and moral sciences, with certain of their applications. Its past of seventy years has witnessed many changes in teachers, in pupils, in text-books, in methods, in prosperity, and in the mode of realizing the purpose of its founders ; but that purpose itself has always been kept in view. The internal history of a school which has touched the lives of two thousand pupils would form an interesting contribution to pedagogics, but where obtain the data? Most adults remember as little of school life as of infant life. The world dwarfs the school by comparison in the mind of the grown-up man. He recalls, at most, some prank of himself or his fellows ; naturally, he knows his beard bettor than his brain, whatever their relative importance. Nor can the layman, to use a Germanism, see that the moral and natural sciences, that languages, even the so-called dead languages, that mathematics themselves have been transformed in the last seventy years, and that these changes have been reacting in the school. Thus it happens that from inquiries, from catalogues, from reports one gets so little that is interesting or useful.

The external history of the academy we will tabulate at the end of this brief article, and gain room for a glimpse at literary New Bedford of 1810, the year in which the village that had owed to William Rotch and his associates the greater share of its business prosperity was to owe to him and to them its strongest impulse in the direction of thought and culture.

Abraham Shearman, Jr., at his book-store in " Four Corners," offered for sale, among other books, " Fragments in Prose and Verse," by Elizabeth Smith; " Memoirs of Frederick and Margaret Klopstock ;" Barlow's " Columbiad ;" Beattie's " Elements of Moral Science ;" Stewart's " Philosophy of the Human Mind ;" " Lectures on Astronomy," by Margaret Bryan; Ewing's "Natural and Experimental Philosophy;" Gregory's " Letters on Taste, Composition, and Literature;" Accum's "Analysis of Minerals ;" Scott's " Marmion ;" Dryden's " Virgil."

Elisha Thornton and his son, Daniel Thornton, " propose opening a school jointly on the 11th inst. (December, 1809) at the Friends' school-house in the village of New Bedford, for the instruction of the youth of both sexes, principally in the higher branches of literature, viz. : English grammar, geography, use of the globe, the several branches of the mathematics, as geometry, surveying, navigation, and astronomy."

Among the laws of New Bedford South School we find the following: " The common branches of learning to be taught in said school are spelling, reading, writing, English grammar, and arithmetic, geography, with the use of the globe and making maps upon different principles ; geometry, trigonometry, with their application to the mensuration of heights and distances, navigation and surveying of land, mensuration of superfices and solids, gauging, dialing, bookkeeping by single and double entry will be taught at different prices."

The Social School had been established near the "Head of the River" in 1798. "In this school," among other things, " the scholars shall be taught to accent and read properly both poetry and prose, be put to arithmetic and the study of English grammar as soon as the committee and preceptor shall deem them qualified therefor." The following books shall be used in the school, viz. : Webster's "Institute," " Young Ladies' Accidence," the Holy Bible. " The senior class shall be instructed one day in each week in epistolary and other composition. The pupils shall be taught to make and mend their pens on their beginning to write joining hand." It is enjoined on the teacher "that he never strike the children on the head, nor authorize one scholar to inflict corporal punishment on another;" and also " that he frequently address his pupils on moral and religious subjects, endeavoring to impress their minds with the sense of the being and providence of God, and the obligation they are under to love, serve, and pray to Him ; their duty to their parents and masters and respect to their superiors ; the beauty and excellence of truth, justice, and mutual love ; tenderness to brute creatures, and the sinfulness of tormenting them and wantonly destroying their lives."

The New Bedford Academy, between the villages of Fairhaven and Oxford, had been established in 1799. It was voted by the trustees in 1810, January 22d, that the committee be directed and are hereby authorized to make arrangements to sell the house at public sale.

In July, 1810, the New Bedford Library Society confer with the proprietors of the Social Library on the subject of incorporating both libraries in one.

Chronology. - 1810. A school-house erected by William Rotch on a lot of land which he had purchased at the corner of County and Elm Streets, in the village of New Bedford. September 17th. Preliminary meeting; William Rotch, William Rotch, Jr., Samuel Rodman, Samuel Elam, Thomas Arnold, James Arnold agree to contribute certain sums " for the purpose of establishing and endowing an institution for the instruction of Friends' children, and such others, as it may appear hereafter, as may usefully and safely be admitted therein, in the knowledge of the languages, of mathematics, and philosophy, and such other branches of useful literature as hereafter, upon experiment, may be found within the compass and means of the institution usefully to teach."

1855, May 9th. Repeal of the first article of the by-laws, which made membership in the Society of Friends a condition of appointment to the office of trustee.

References for further information : Historical Sketch of the Friends' Academy, prepared for the j Centennial Year, to which is appended a presentation of the course and methods of instruction at present pursued. New Bedford : Fessenden & Baker, Printers, 1876. The historical sketch was contributed by Thomas R. Rodman, Esq., the remainder by John Tetlow, A.M., then principal of the academy. History of New Bedford, by Daniel Ricketson, Esq., pp. j 325.

History of the New Bedford Public Schools - The first movement to establish a regular system of public schools in New Bedford, in conformity to the laws of the commonwealth, was made in 1821. Prior to that time the only free school which had been supported at public expense was one intended for the poor alone ; and " it was in every sense," says Mr. j James B. Congdon, " a poor school."

The wealth of the town was intensely hostile to the movement. The only man of wealth who acted with the people in the matter was John Avery Parker. But the attempt succeeded. A school committee was appointed, an appropriation of twelve hundred dollars was voted, and the town was sub-divided into school districts.

A year or two after the opponents of a free-school system rallied their forces and were successful. Upon the question of appropriating twelve hundred dollars for schools, the friends of public education were voted down. But the triumph of the contestants was not of long continuance, for the very next year the necessary sum was appropriated to support the schools, and active opposition to them, as the system was then constituted, ceased altogether.

But when, after an interval, there was a movement for the establishment of a High School, it excited acrimonious hostility. Its enemies rallied in force, and were repeatedly successful. But its friends as often renewed the struggle, and finally the opposition gave way and a high school became one of the permanent features of the public-school system of the town.

creased in numbers the appropriations were increased in proportion, until the original grant of twelve hundred dollars, in 1821, had grown to the sum of twentyone thousand two hundred and twenty-five dollars in 1846, when a charter was granted and accepted, and the town became a city.

Nothing occurred worthy of note for many years. The constitution of the school system and the methods of instruction followed closely the traditional types then prevailing in Massachusetts. The ideal of " school-keeping" was very low before, and even for some time after the middle of the century the philosophy of education as exemplified in our public schools was extremely vague and indeterminate, and many of the methods of instruction had nothing to recommend them except that that was the way children had always been taught. Horace Mann, in 1840, painted a humiliating picture of the average Massachusetts public school, and' it is commended to the careful study of those fossilized grumblers who denounce the reformed methods of instruction as damaging innovations of the good old ways, when they themselves went to school ; but although the New Bedford schools attempted no departures from the beaten track, they had at all times many teachers of superior ability, who verified in the happiest manner the adage, as true as it is trite, that " as is the teacher so is the school ;" and the character of the schools of New Bedford, in general, was no doubt above that of most New England schools.

It was fortunate for the High School, in the days when the institution was regarded by many as a doubtful experiment, that it had for its principal Mr. John F. Emerson, a man of admirable character, fine culture, and peculiar aptitudes for his vocation. Such a man will make any school which he may undertake a success, and Mr. Emerson's administration conciliated the opponents of the High School, and multiplied its friends, until, when he resigned his position in 1861 on account of impaired health, after many years of faithful and eminently useful service, it was firmly established in the favor of the community. His pupils, one and all, speak of him in terms of the highest respect and regard. His lifelike portrait hangs in a conspicuous place in the hall of the new and noble High School house, an honor which he richly earned.

As the years wore on, and the schools increased in size and number as the city grew in population, the school committee found the task of supervision too exacting to be faithfully performed by gentlemen who had each his own personal business to transact. The result, it was evident, was a total lack of system in the management of the schools, and an unjust irregularity in their oversight. Some were measurably cared for, others were almost totally neglected, and there was lacking a central force to give unity as well as direction to the whole.

by several other cities who were in like circumstances, of employing a superintendent of the schools, began to be discussed and gradually to grow in favor, until at length, in 1861, Mr. Abner J. Phipps was elected superintendent, and was placed as the executive officer of the school committee in control of the schools. Mr. Phipps had won an enviable reputation as a gentleman of excellent ability, critical scholarship, and capacity to govern and teach youth in a superior manner, during a long term of service as principal of Friends' Academy in New Bedford.

As his office had been lately created and had yet to establish itself in public favor, he pursued a judicious course in attempting no considerable changes in the old order of things. He was content to let system and methods remain undisturbed, satisfied with laboring to supply the defects in executive work which had specially occasioned his appointment. He held the office until the beginning of the year 1864, when he resigned to take a similar position in the city of Lowell.

In February, 1865, Rev. Henry F. Harrington, of Cambridge, was elected to succeed him. Mr. Harrington had passed through a peculiarly advantageous experience to prepare him for his duties, as he had borne a prominent part in the formation of the school system of the then newly-founded city of Lawrence, had afterward been superintendent of its schools, and subsequently an active member of the school committee of the city of Cambridge. He immediately entered upon the duties of his new office, and as soon as he had acquainted himself with the condition of the schools, began - having the sympathy and co-operation of most of the leading members of his school committee - that series of reforms and improvements which have secured for the schools of New Bedford a distinguished position among the schools of the State. It has been claimed by the New Bedford school committee, and the claim has never been disputed, that their schools have been invariably pioneers in the practical exemplification of the admirable methods of instruction which now prevail, that there is not one of them which, so far as New England is concerned, did not have its origin in their own city.

The reorganization of the primary schools, and the substitution of intelligent and attractive methods of learning to read, learning numbers, etc., in place of the old rote methods, were accomplished in 1865. In 1867 the "New Bedford Manual of Instruction" was prepared and adopted. There were at the time no hand-books of the kind in New England, and only two or three in all the United States. This manual was so well approved that it was copied entire into the volume of the reports of the State Board of Education in the following year, and thousands of copies were distributed by private subscription in the normal schools and among the school committees and teachers of the State. It was the source and basis of wide-spread reforms, and a new and enlarged edition,

In 1869 a beginning was made towards the introduction of supplementary reading in the shape oi three hundred subscriptions to the Nursery, a child's magazine, for use in the primary schools. This was the first practical recognition in New England of the great principle, now so widely and heartily accepted, that it is only reading much which can confer the ability to read well.

In this way step after step was taken to rid the schools of whatever there might be of defect in the processes of study, and to introduce truer and better ways. As might be expected from this earnest and resolute feeling after the best, mistakes were sometimes made. Experiments were tried, some of which resulted in failure. But if there had been a timorous halting to undertake lest the result should be disappointing there could have been no vital energy of operation, no well-grounded and substantial progress. It is to the great credit of the New Bedford School Committee that they have uniformly allowed their superintendent untrammelled opportunity to make proof of his ideals, willing to run the risk of an occasional failure for the sake of assured successes. Thus the New Bedford school work is the first of actual experiment. Nothing is practiced because recommended or practiced in other quarters ; nothing is omitted which it has not been proved to be judicious to omit.

The studies of the schools are selected and adjusted to each other on clearly defined principles, so that all the school work has a direct and intelligent purpose. The most important study is considered to be language. This is pursued diligently, having paramount attention, through all the grades and departments of the school system, from the little primarians of the thirteenth or entering grade to the young men and women of the first or graduating grade in the High School. The means employed are an abundance of interesting reading, and the frequent writing of compositions in the various forms pertaining to that exercise. The specific ends to be gained are the acquirement of a full and ready vocabulary and the capacity of easy and accurate expression through speech and with the pen, and this, joined to a thorough knowledge of the four fundamental rules of arithmetic, is what Edward Everett called " an excellent education." This study is also intended, incidentally, to develop the power of original thought, and to lead to a relish for pure, informing literature.

The perceptions are held to constitute the most trustworthy instrumentality in the acquirement of accurate conceptions of material things, therefore all studies are to be illustrated by means of objects to as great an extent as may be conveniently possible.

for such study. Mental discipline is recognized to be one of the essential elements of a good education; but in our public schools only so much can justly l>e furnished as can be attained through the systematic pursuit of the practical information which is provided in the course of study. The attention given to arithmetic is abridged to the limit of the few topics which are desirable for practical use in life, while the comparatively useless details in geography and history with which the text-books on those subjects are crowded are omitted.

The proper relations of mental to moral instruction, that vital subject, have been set forth in a late New Bedford Annual School Beport as follows:

" Mental education has no inherent moral force. It is the obedient vassal of character. As the needle follows the lead of the magnet, so the intellect follows the lead of the sentiments, and if they be corrupt mental education becomes only a promoter of evil. The training of the sentiments, then, is incalculably more important than the training of the mind; and in all conflicts between mental training and character training, as regards the appropriation of time, of effort, or of money to one or the other, mental training is always to give way."

The efforts thus put forth for the best possible school system and school work have received an incalculable advantage from the benefits derived from the "Sylvia Ann Howland Fund." This fund is the fruit of a gift of one hundred thousand dollars to the city in the year 1870 by the lady whose name it bears, the income to be divided between the Free Fublic Library and the public schools. It is an admirable provision of the donation to the schools that no portion of the avails are to be devoted to any purposes which the city is legally bound to provide through taxation. The city pays six per cent, for the use of the fund, and thus the school committee have had in possession annually since the year 1870 to expend for the good of the schools the sum of three thousand dollars. They have been enabled to supply all needful appliances to secure the best possible results of study, - books of reference and for reading, apparatus and cabinets for scientific illustration, museums for objective teaching, maps, globes, musical instruments, and all the other appurtenances of a thoroughly furnished school-room. And so greatly have these assistances given interest to the vocation of the teachers, as well as high tone-and character to the teaching, that several teachers who have been offered higher salaries to go elsewhere have declined on the sole ground that they could not bear to surrender the advantages derived from the "Howland Fund."

It is a singular fact that the only three instances in the history of Massachusetts in which large sums of money have been given by private munificence for the good of public schools should have occurred in Bristol County, - in New Bedford, Fall Biver, and North Easton.

The organization of the school system is as follows: There are five departments, viz., High, Grammar, Primary, Country, and Mill School Departments.

These departments (except the Mill School) are sub-divided into thirteen grades, whose total corresponds with the number of school years. Of these grades the Primary Department includes four, the Grammar Department five, and the High School Department four. They are designated by numbers, the youngest in the list being the thirteenth.

There are twenty-two public school-houses in the city. Of these a portion are quite old, and will have to give place before long to new and better structures. Others have been reconstructed, and will serve their purpose for many years longer, while several are new and are replete with every convenience. The city government is very liberal in furnishing additional accommodations for the ever-enlarging number of pupils. An excellent school-house has lately been completed at a cost of about twenty thousand dollars.

The High School house is a model edifice, of imposing proportions and a striking and pleasing style of architecture, while the interior is faultless in its carefully-studied arrangements. It has eight schoolrooms, two art- or draughting-rooms, a library, a philosophical lecture-room with apparatus-room attached, a chemical laboratory thoroughly fitted at great expense, in which twenty-four pupils can work at the same time, clothes' room and dressing-room, and a hall which will accommodate more than a thousand persons. The cost of the building was one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.

The Mill School is an exceptional institution, designed to serve two purposes, - the chief one to give children who work in the mills a more fitting education than they could obtain by being classed in the regular grades, the other to allow the pupils in the regular grades who are constantly at school the opportunity of uninterrupted progress by preventing the drawbacks which would be incident to periodical increment by children discharged from the mills, who are not capable of being classed with regular pupils without clogging the wheels of progress. The Mill School is admirably taught and highly valued.

The total appropriation for the New Bedford schools for the year 1883 was eighty-three thousand eight hundred dollars. There were in service during the year 1882 one hundred and fifteen teachers, of whom only seven were men.

Aimwell School is located on North Street, near Foster. Mrs. W. H. Knight, principal ; Mrs. George O. Buckley and Miss Mary L. Smith, assistants.

The New Bedford Free Public Library. - The commonwealth of Massachusetts, recognizing from the earliest period of its history the educational influence of public libraries, gave the assistance of its legislation in the promotion of their establishment and management.

giving corporate powers to the proprietors of social libraries, many of which had been established in various parts of the commonwealth, and under the provisions of the law the number was increased, their -condition made permament, and their management rendered convenient and effective.

But a few years after the incorporation of the town of New Bedford, the want of books and the inability of most of the inhabitants to procure them led to a combination of effort for that purpose.

The early settlers of the village of Bedford were intelligent, as well as industrious, frugal, and virtuous. They were so far enlightened as to understand the value of books, and they saw clearly that the remedy for individual inability to procure them was such a combination of means and efforts as would render the united ability the property of each.

The proprietors of Dobson's Encyclopaedia were the earliest to form this social and profitable arrangement. For our unlearned and isolated people this work was a library in itself. Eagerly and thoroughly were its pages read and consulted, and the well-worn volumes now in the Free Public Library bear testimony to the fact, so creditable to the people of the village.

The Library Society followed. This was a more comprehensive effort. The desire for books had outgrown the ability of Dobson to satisfy. The Social Library followed. This was a vigorous, well-directed, and well-managed association. The good sense of all recognized the wisdom of combination, and in the union there was found strength. The three associations were united, and the New Bedford Social Library had a long, prosperous, and profitable career.

When the passage of the State law allowed the proprietors to become a body corporate, advantage was taken of its provisions. For nearly half a century this valuable collection of books was the principal source whence wras supplied the desire of the people for knowledge and intellectual recreation. "Library-day" was always a welcome day. There was in attendance generally a large number of intelligent seekers, and the result of that intercourse with books for which this library provided was a marked and most promising and interesting feature in the characters of the young men and women of New Bedford.

The act to authorize cities and towns to establish and maintain public libraries was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, May 24, 1851.

The first movement in the undertaking was an unsuccessful one. It was made in the City Council July 8, 1851, by Warren Ladd, then a member of the popular branch of that body. The order was only to consider the expediency of the measure. It passed the Common Council without a dissenting voice, but the aldermen non-concurred. It will be seen that this movement was but forty-five days after the passage of the enabling act.

The petition was referred to the Committee on Public Instruction, who reported on the 14th of June. They recommended an appropriation of fifteen huudred dollars for the establishment of the library.

In their report the committee attach great importance to the fact that they had been assured that, " provided the authorities should, by the passage of the order making the appropriation asked for, establish the principle that the maintenance of a free city library for the continuous education of the people will be the settled policy of the city," the five thousand volumes of the New Bedford Social Library would be transferred to the city.

Quoting the words of James B. Congdon, through whom this offer of the proprietors of the library was made, they say, "With such a foundation to build upon, with the appropriation now prayed for to give it a position for immediate and extended usefulness, the library would open to our inhabitants the means of innocent enjoyment and of valuable acquisition, and be a source of commendable pride to our citizens."

But the Free Public Library had, in fact, been established before the presentation of the report. The appropriation bill for the year, which had already passed, contained an item of fifteen hundred dollars for the library. Councilman Pitman,1 who was a member of the committee to whom the petition was referred, had anticipated the favorable action of the Council, and had introduced and carried an amendment to the bill making the appropriation as above stated. This amendment was made previous to the presentation of the report of the committee. The appropriation bill passed July 20, 1852. The date of the adoption of that amendment is the date of the establishment of the New Bedford Free Public Library.

It is an interesting and creditable fact that the New Bedford Free Public Library is the only public library established under the law of 1851, excepting that in Boston, noticed by Edwards in his elaborate " Memoirs of Libraries," published in London in 1859.

The building now occupied by the New Bedford Free Public Library was erected in 1856-57. Its cost was about forty thousand dollars. It is built of brick, with granite underpinning and steps and freestone ornaments.

Of the library building the upper rooms only are occupied by the library. The principal room is neat and tasteful in its architectural features and convenient in its arrangements. It has two tiers of alcoves, one on the floor and one on the gallery, which is carried around the whole room, excepting on the north end where the stairs lead to it. An iron railing divides the alcoves from the visitors. Reading-desks outside the railing contain the periodicals, which are accessible to all, and seated at these desks the visitors are, in addition to these, furnished with any books they may wish to consult. The delivery is at a table at the north end. A stand for newspapers occupies a central position in the room. Six other rooms are occupied for library purposes, four for books, one for the trustees, and one for the convenience of the librarian and his assistants.

The first upon the list is the George Howland, Jr., Fund. Its amount is the sum of two years' salary of George Howland, Jr., as mayor, sixteen hundred dollars.

Under the will of Charles W. Morgan there was paid to the city by William J. Rotch, his executor, the sum of one thousand dollars, which constitutes the Charles W. Morgan Fund.

Under the will of Sylvia Ann Howland the city of New Bedford was paid the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. The testament of this excellent lady contained the following interesting item :

" I give and bequeath to the city of New Bedford the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, and direct that this sum shall be invested judiciously under the direction of the City Council, and the income therefrom shall be expended and used for the promotion and support within the city of liberal education, and the enlargement from time to time of the Free Public Library."

Of this bequest fifty thousand dollars were set apart for the library, and constituted the Sylvia Ann Howland Free Public Library Fund. Its income is now the chief dependence of the trustees for the " enlargement" of the library, as the appropriation by the city barely suffices for the salaries and other expenses of the institution.

During the delay which attended the litigation upon the will of the deceased the funds of the estate largely increased, and in addition to the bequest of fifty thousand dollars which constitutes the fund, about ten

Under the direction of the trustees of the library a plain white marble tablet, commemorating this noble act, was placed in the principal room of the institution.

It is surrounded by a frame of tasteful design and of perfect execution. The whole, both in plan and performance, including the site selected for its erection, is one which commends itself to the good sense, the feelings of propriety, and the grateful emotions of the people of New Bedford. The inscription upon the tablet is as follows: "This tablet commemorates the enlightened liberality of Sylvia Ann Howland, who bestowed upon the city of New Bedford the sum of two hundred thousand dollars ; one hundred thousand dollars to aid in supplying the city with pure water, and one hundred thousand dollars as a fund for the promotion of liberal education by the enlargement of the Free Public Library, and by extending to the children and youth of the city the means of a wider and more generous culture."

It will be seen by this inscription that the whole amount bequeathed to the city of New Bedford by this lady was two hundred thousand dollars. Onehalf the sum was applied to the construction of the New Bedford water-works, the other was equally divided, forming the library and educational fund.

The amount of the several trust funds established for the benefit of the Free Public Library, which have been severally noticed, is fifty-two thousand six hundred dollars.

This income is a vital element in the existence of the library. We have seen that the ordinary annual appropriation is necessarily absorbed by the expenses of management. It is, therefore, mainly upon the income of the permanent funds that the trustees depend for the supply of books and periodicals, and for the constant renovation which the active use of the books renders necessary.

Mr. Robert Ingraham was the first librarian (October, 1852), and has officiated in that capacity to the present time, a period of over thirty years, and it may truly be said that much of the success of this library is due to Mr. Ingraham's zeal, intelligence, and industry.

The National Bank of Commerce. - The Bedford Bank was organized in 1803 with a capital of $60,000; Thomas Hazard, president; John Pickens, cashier. Capital increased in 1804 to $150,000, and continued with same officers until 1812, when charter expired.

death in 1852. E. M. Robinson filled the office from 1852 to 1860; Thomas Nye, Jr., from 1860 to 1869; Thomas S. Hathaway, from 1869 to 1878; Francis Hathaway was elected August, 1878, and is the present incumbent.

The Bedford Commercial Bank continued until Dec. 19, 1864, with the same capital ($600,000), when it was organized as " The National Bank of Commerce of New Bedford," with a capital of $600,000, which was increased in 1874 to $1,000,000, its present capital.

The directors at the time of its organization as a national bank were Thomas Nye, Jr., president, William J. Rotch, Thomas S. Hathaway, George Hussey, Matthew Howland, Charles L. Wood, William Hathaway, Jr., Thomas Knowles, Henry Taber, William C. N. Swift.

The present (1882) board of directors are as follows: Francis Hathaway, William Hathaway, Jr., William C. N. Swift, Matthew Howland, William J. Rotch, Henry Taber, Thomas Nye, Jr., Leander A. Plummer, Charles W. Clifford, William A. Robinson, and Morgan Rotch.

The Merchants' Bank of New Bedford was organized July 23, 1825. The first board of directors were as follows: John A. Parker, Samuel Borden, Job Eddy, Abraham Barker, Joseph Bourne, Win. H. Allen, David R. Greene, John Coggeshall, Jr., Alfred Gibbs ; John Avery Parker, president, James B. Congdon, cashier.

Mr. Parker was president of the bank until his death, Dec. 30, 1853. Mr. Congdon was cashier of the bank until Jan. 1, 1858, when he resigned. Charles R. Tucker succeeded Mr. Parker as president, and held that office until his death, Dec. 21, 1876. Jonathan Bourne succeeded Mr. Tucker, and is now president. P. C. Howland succeeded Mr. Congdon, and is now cashier.

The Merchants' Bank of New Bedford was reorganized as the Merchants' National Bank of New Bedford, Feb. 14, 1865. The board of directors at the time of reorganization, Feb. 14, 1865, were as follows: Charles R. Tucker, Abraham Barker. David R. Greene, Gideon Allen, Thomas Bradley, Dennis Wood, J. Bourne, Jr., William P. Howland, Andrew Hicks.

The capital stock Feb. 14, 1865, was $600,000, with a surplus of $166,050.58. The present (Sept. 11, 1882) board of directors are Jonathan Bourne, George F. Bartlett, George R. Phillips, William R. Wing, Andrew Hicks, George F. Kingman, Lewis S. Judd, Samuel C. Hart, Thomas H. Knowles, Gilbert Allen, Abraham H. Howland, Jr., Francis B. Greene, William N. Church ; J. Bourne, president, P. C. Howland, cashier. Capital, $1,000,000; surplus and undivided profits (Sept. 11, 1882), $488,177.43.

The Mechanics' National Bank.1 - This was originally a State bank, incorporated Oct. 3, 1831, under the name of "The President, Directors, and Company of the Mechanics' Bank in New Bedford," and to so continue until Oct. 1, 1851, with a capital of $200,000.

The first meeting of the stockholders was held July 16, 1831, and the first meeting of the directors July 23, 1831. The names of the directors were as follows: William R. Rodman, Thomas Mandell, George T. Baker, Joseph R. Shiverick, John Perkins, Edmund Gardner, Pardon Tillinghast, Andrew Robeson, Dudley Davenport. William R. Rodman was the first president. He held the office for twenty years, resigning October, 1851. Thomas Mandell succeeded him, being elected president Oct. 11, 1851, and holding the office till his death, which took place Feb. 13, 1870. Hon. William W. Crapo was chosen president June 1, 1870, and still retains that position.

Pardon Tillinghast, the first vice-president, was elected Jan. 10, 1866, resigning June 1, 1870. Hon. Andrew G. Peirce was chosen vice-president June 1, 1870, and still holds the office.

Joseph Congdon was elected cashier Oct. 6, 1831, holding the position till Oct. 7, 1857, a period of twenty-six years, when he resigned on account of ill health. E. Williams Hervey succeeded Mr. Congdon as cashier, being elected Oct. 7, 1857, and holding the position till Aug. 9, 1S82, when ill health compelled him to resign after a period of nearly twenty-five years as cashier and twenty-nine years in the service of the bank. James W. Hervey was the third cashier, being elected Aug. 12, 1882, having served the bank since 1857, and as assistant cashier since Oct. 8, 1859.

Joseph R. Shiverick, the first secretary, served till Oct. 5, 1859; James H. Collins, Oct. 8, 1859, to Oct. 12, 1861; Thomas Wilcox, elected Oct. 12, 1861, still retains the office.

Of the original board of directors none are living. Of those who have served the interests of the bank as directors but not at present connected with the bank only two are living, viz.: William Watkins, elected Oct. 6, 1852, resigned Feb. 8, 1879, to accept the presidency of the First National Bank of this city; Edmund Taber, elected Oct. 3, 1849, resigned 1861, and is now interested in the oil districts of Virginia.

The capital of the Mechanics' Bank under the State charter was twice increased. The first increase was $200,000, April 12, 1854, making $400,000, and the second of $200,000, June, 1857, making $600,000, the present capital of the Mechanics' National Bank. The present surplus is about $250,000.

In March, 1849, the Legislature was petitioned for a renewal of the original charter, which by limitation would expire Oct. 1, 1851. The Mechanics' Bank did not cease business as a State bank until the 31st of

The following is a list of the present board of directors, with the dates of their election : Hon. William W. Crapo, Oct. 9, 1861 ; Hon. Andrew G. Peirce, John R. Thornton, Jan. 8. 1867; Jireh Swift, Oct. 3, 1849; Thomas Wilcox, Oct. 9, 1861; Edward D. Mandell, Feb. 26, 1870; Horatio Hathaway, June 3, 1871; Loum Snow, E. Williams Hervey, June 9, 1872; Edward Kilburn, Jan. 9, 1883.

The First National Bank. - The Marine Bank of New Bedford was organized April 3, 1832, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, which was increased the next year to three hundred thousand dollars, in 1851 to five hundred thousand dollars, and in 1855 to six hundred thousand dollars. Joseph Grinnell, Nathaniel Hathaway, Kimball Perry, Joseph G. Tillinghast, Alexander H. Campbell, Ephraim Kempton, Benjamin Russell, Joseph R. Anthony, and William W. Swain were elected directors. Joseph Grinnell was president from the organization to 1864. The cashiers were John E. Williams, William M. Sisson, and John P. Barker. This bank was among the first of the State banks to adopt the national system. In 1864 it became a national bank, changing its name to the First National Bank of New Bedford. This bank commenced business with the capital of the old bank (six hundred thousand dollars), which was increased in 1869 to one million dollars. The directors were Joseph Grinnell, Ward M. Parker, William Gitford, Edward W. Howland, Edward C. Jones, Lemuel Kollock, George F; Barker, Otis Seabury, and J. H. Bartlett, Jr. Joseph Grinnell was elected president, and John P. Barker cashier. Mr. Grinnell was president until January, 1878, and was succeeded by Edward \V. Howland and William Watkins. Mr. Barker was cashier until 1874, when W. P. Winsor, the present cashier, was elected. This bank has been since its organization a designated depository of the United States.

The Citizens' National Bank was incorporated May 17, 1875, with the following board of directors : Joseph A. Beauvais, John P. Knowles, William J. Kilburn, Charles Tucker, Joseph H. Cornell, L. S. Judd, and John F. Tucker. The first president was Joseph Beauvais, who has officiated to the present time. T. B. Fuller was chosen first cashier, and is the present incumbent. Capital upon organization was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which has been increased to five hundred thousand dollars.

The first board of trustees were as follows : William Rotch, Jr., Gilbert Russell, Cornelius Grinnell, Haydon Coggeshall, John A.Parker, Eli Haskell, Joseph Bourne, Abraham Shearman, Jr., Thomas Rotch, Thomas A. Green, Charles W. Morgan, Samuel Rodman, Jr., William C. Nye, Thomas S. Swain, John Howland, Jr., William P. Grinnell, Nathaniel Bates, John Coggeshall, Jr., Gideon Howland.

The following is a list of officers from 1825 to 1883: Presidents, William Rotch, Jr., Abraham Baker, Thomas Mandell, Pardon Tillinghast, William C. Taber, and William Watkins; Secretaries, John B. Smith, Abraham Shearman, Jr., Thomas A. Green, Joseph Ricketson, George Howland, Jr., James B. Congdon, Charles R, Tucker, William C. Tate, Edmund Taber, and Henry T. Wood ; Treasurers, Abraham Shearman, Jr., William C. Taber, George W. Baker (William C. Taber, treasurer pro tern.), Reuben Nye, William C. Coffin, and Charles H. Peirce.

The New Bedford Institution for Savings has never passed a regular semi-annual dividend on account of any of the financial disturbances which have occurred since its organization in 1825. The trustees of the institution have always pursued a conservative policy, and the institution has the confidence not only of the local community but has a well-earned reputation abroad. There has never been a " run" on the institution at any time of financial panic in other cities.

The rooms on Hamilton Street, in the rear of the Merchants' National Bank, which were occupied by the institution in its earlier history, becoming inadequate to its increasing business, the present building, at the corner of William and North Second Streets, was erected, and in 1854 the office was transferred thither.

The whole amount of dividends paid during the existence of the institution is eight million six hundred and seventy-six thousand three hundred and eighty-six dollars and thirty-three cents.

The New Bedford Five Cents Savings-Bank was incorporated May 5, 1855, with the following incorporators: Thomas B. White, W. H. Taylor, L. Kollock, I. H. Bartlett, A. H. Seabury, Charles Almy, Henry H. Crapo, George Howland, Jr., and Asa R. Nye. The first board of trustees were George Howland, Jr., Henry H. Crapo, Alexander H. Seabury, John P. Barker, Charles Almy, Thomas B. White, I. H. Bartlett, Nehemiah Leonard, Andrew Roberson, Jona. P. Land, William Phillips, Edward S.Cannon, Edward W. Howland, Moses Howe, Joshua Richmond, George F. Barker, Dennis Wood, Charles Hitch, James Darfee, Lemuel Kollock, Asa R. Nye, Edward D. Mandell, William P. Howland, Alden G. Ellis, T. A. Beauvois, Moses G. Thomas, Samuel Ivers, Simpson Hart, Abner J. Phipps, W. H. Taylor, Joseph Taylor, W. L. Rodman, Horatio Leonard, John Wood. The first officers were George Howland, Jr., president; H. H. Crapo and A. H. Seabury, vicepresidents ; John P. Barker, treasurer, and Charles Almy, secretary.

The officers from the organization to the present time have been as follows: George Howland, Jr., president; Charles Almy, secretary ; A. H. Seabury and H. H. Crapo, vice-presidents from 1855 to 1858 ; A. H. Seabury and Dennis Wood, vice-presidents from 1858 to 1874 ; Dennis Wood and Frederick S. Allen, vice-presidents from 1874 to 1878 ; Frederick S. Allen and Lemuel Kollock, vice-presidents from 1878 to 1883; John P. Barker, treasurer from May, 1855, to October, 1855; T. C. Ricketson, from October, 1855, to April 6, 1861 ; B. Ricketson, Jr., from April, 1861.

The first deposit was made May 26, 1855, by Horace W. Barker, of $25. The present (Dec. 29, 1882) amount of deposits is $3,109,118.64 ; surplus, $44,880.- 76; earnings, $27,867.67; reserve fund, $45,101.94. Money goes on interest the second Wednesday of January, April, July, and October. Dividends are payable on the second Wednesday of April and October.

Water-Works.1 - The first movement towards introduction of water in New Bedford was made in March, 1860. Various plans were subsequently thoroughly discussed and examined, and April 18, 1863, the acts for supplying the city with pure water were passed by the General Court. November, 1865, plans as hereinafter described were adopted, and an ordinance to regulate the proceedings of the commission. William W. Crapo, Warren Ladd, and David B. Kempton were appointed commissioners.

December 13th a board of commissioners was organized with W. W. Crapo as chairman, and James B. Congdon clerk. The years 1866 to 1869, inclusive, were occupied by process of construction, and water was introduced in the latter part of 1869.

Water is obtained from a storing reservoir, artificially formed by constructing a dam across the valley of the Acushnet at a point about seven miles north of the centre of the city. The area of watershed of the storing reservoir is three thousand three hundred acres; area of water surface of reservoir is three hundred acres; capacity of reservoir, four hundred million gallons ; elevation of surface of full reservoir, forty feet above high tide.

The dam is six hundred feet long, twenty feet wide on top, with slopes two to one. In the middle is a puddled wall from six to twelve feet wide. Inner slope is protected by lining of huge-size stone. Waterway, located at east end of dam, fifty feet wide, constructed of rubble hydraulic masonry, except over fall, which is hammer-dressed; whole rests on timber and plank platform, and that upon foundation of puddled earth. Gate-chamber located at west end of dam, and is carried out into reservoir about fifty feet. Chamber is of hammer-dressed stone, laid in hydraulic cement mortar; the house is of birch, whole rests on timber and plank foundation. Soon after dam was first completed leaks began to appear in the vicinity of gate-house, and on Feb. 15, 1868, a breach occurred in this part of the dam, the gate-house and over one hundred feet of the dam being carried away. The " cause was due to fine sand under the gate-house and culvert becoming saturated and running like quicksand. This trouble was obviated in rebuilding.

From the dam at the storing reservoir the water flows by gravity through a single ring brick conduit. The conduit is in form of an egg-shape oval. Its interior dimensions are three and four feet, the lower end being a semicircle of three feet diameter. Its length is five and five-eighths miles. There are three overflows on this line of conduit for the discharge of surplus water. The grade is 0.58 per mile.

The outlet of the conduit is into the receiving reservoir. This reservoir has a capacity of three million gallons. When filled the water has a depth of twelve feet, and its elevation is thirty feet above tide.

Its embankments are twelve feet wide on top. The outside slope is two to one. The inside slope is one and one-half to one. The inside slope has a lining of puddled earth four feet wide at the top and ten feet wide at the bottom of the reservoir, and carried down three feet below the bottom. The inside slope is protected by a lining of granite stone one foot thick, having the joints well filled with fine gravel. From the receiving reservoir to the pump-well the water is conducted in a stone culvert. The length of this culvert is two hundred and sixty-nine feet. The dimensions of the pump-well are: length, thirty-one feet; width, twelve feet; depth, seventeen feet. There are four recesses, five by six feet, for the pumps. From the pump-well the water is raised a height of one hundred and twenty-four feet to the distributing reservoir, through a sixteen-inch force-main two thousand two hundred feet long. The pipe system is also supplied in the lower section direct from the pumps through a ten-inch main. The distributing reservoir has a capacity of fifteen million gallons. When filled the water has a depth of seventeen feet, and its elevation is one hundred and fifty-four feet above tide. Its embankments are from eight to eighteen feet above the natural surface of the ground. The top is fifteen feet in width, and its slopes are two to one. On its inner slope is a lining of puddled earth seven feet wide at the top and fifteen leet wide at the bottom of the reservoir, and carried down five feet below the bottom. Upon the inside slope of the embankment is a wall of granite, eighteen inches thick at the bottom and twelve inches at the top. Between the back of the stone facing and the front of the puddle is a layer one foot thick, composed of small stones and gravel. There are two pumping-engines. The larger engine was designed by William J. McAlpine, C.E., and was built by the Quintard Iron-Works, New York City. It is a vertical beam condensing engine, with two vertical single-acting pumps. Its general dimensions are: steam-cylinder, thirty-eight inches diameter, eight feet stroke; beam, twenty-six feet long; flywheel, sixteen feet diameter and twelve tons weight.

The pumps are placed one on each side of the beam centre. Diameter of pumps twenty-eight inches, stroke four feet eight inches. The beam is supported by a castiron hollow column which serves as an air-chamber. This engine is supplied with the "Sickles" adjustable cut-off', and is capable of using steam expansively to any desirable extent. It passes slowly over the centres, thus giving the pump-valves time to close. This engine has the capacity of pumping five million gallons in twenty-four hours. In the line of duty this engine has given excellent results. The smaller engine is a Worthington compound duplex engine, of a capacity of pumping three million gallons in twenty-four hours. In 1873 a stand-pipe was erected near the distributing reservoir. Its internal diameter is five feet, and the elevation of its top is one hundred and ninety-seven feet above tide. The distributing pipes are partly of cast iron and partly of wrought iron, cement-lined. There are forty-four and one-fifth miles of pipes in use, ranging from four to twenty-four inches in diameter. Of this length about nine and a half miles are of wrought iron, cement-lined, the rest being of cast iron. There is also about one mile of smaller distributing pipes, ranging from one inch to four inches. In December, 1882, there were in use three hundred and ninety-one stop-gates, three hundred and thirteen fire-hydrants, four thousand two hundred and three taps, forty-one mitres, and twenty-three motors. The average daily consumption for 1882 was two million three hundred and twenty-six thousand three hundred and fifty-two gallons. Bonded indebtedness is seven hundred thousand dollars. The total receipts for the year 1882 were forty-six thousand seven hundred and sixty-six dollars and nineteen cents. The cost of management and repairs during that year was twenty-three thousand four hundred and fortysix dollars and fourteen cents.

George A. Briggs was chief engineer and superintendent from the commencement of the works until 1871. William J. McAlpine, chief engineer, was consulting engineer during construction. Since 1871 the superintendents have been as follows, viz. : 1871-72, Israel C. Cornish; 1872-77, George B. Wheeler; 1877-81, William B. Sherman; 1881, Robert C. P. Coggeshall, present incumbent.

The ordinance to establish the Acushnet Water Board, to take the place of the water commissioners, was passed Oct. 1, 1869. The board consists of five members, and reports to City Council. The mayor and president of Common Council are members ex officio. Of the members chosen at large one retires each year, but the retiring member is eligible to a new election. The following citizens have acted as members of this board: Hon. William W. Crapo, David B. Kempton, Warren Ladd, George B. Richmond, Henry F. Thomas, George Howland, Jr., Henry J. Taylor, George H. Dnnbar, Rufus A. Soule, Fredericks. Allen, Abraham H. Howland, Jr., Thomas Bennett, Jr., Edwin Dews, Alanson Borden, William H. Matthews, Thomas W. Cook, Thomas R. Rodman, William T. Soule, Robert W. Taber, George Wilson, J. B. Tompkins, Jr., George.R, Stetson, and William N. Church. The clerks of the Acushnet Water Board have been James B. Congdon. William B. Sherman, and Robert

C. P. Coggeshall. The water registrars have been James B. Congdon and James H. Hathaway. In December, 1882, the name of the water board was changed from " Acushnet" to the New Bedford Water Board.

In April, 1878, the General Court passed an act enabling the city to increase its water supply by taking such an amount as is needed from either Long Pond or Little Quitticus Pond. It was afterwards voted by the water board that the proposed additional supply should be taken from Long Pond. The line of the proposed conduit has been determined, and the land through which it will pass has been taken by law. This preliminary action leaves the work in a condition for future operations whenever it becomes necessary.

The New Bedford and Fairhaven Street Railway Company was incorporated Feb. 6, 1872, and on the 2d of the following month was organized with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. The board of directors were William W. Crapo, Warren Ladd, Weston Howland, James V. Cox, George Wilson, Samuel P. Burt, Nathan S. Ellis, Andrew G. Peirce. Andrew G. Pierce, president and treasurer; Samuel P. Burt, clerk ; Charles A. Gray, superintendent. Its track commenced at Linden Street, on Purchase, and was laid south to School Street, and east on School to steamboat wharf; from Purchase on William, through William, North Second, Middle Street, across the bridge, and in Fairhaven to the station of the Fairhaven Branch Railroad. Total length of road three and three-tenths miles.

Its present officers are as follows: Warren Ladd, president and manager ; Andrew G. Peirce, treasurer ; Edward T. Peirce, clerk ; Directors, Warren Ladd, Andrew G. Peirce, William W. Crapo, Weston Howland, George Wilson, James V. Cox, Samuel P. Burt, Edward Kilburn. Capital stock one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars.

The track has been extended from School on Fourth to Cove Street, and from William, on North Second, through Union, Sixth, Elm, Summer, and Parker to Cedar Street. Present total length of track six and four-tenths miles.

Post-Office. - The New Bedford post-office was established Jan. 1, 1794, with William Tobey as postmaster. The following is a list of postmasters from 1794 to present time, with dates of appointment: William Tobey, 1794; Abraham Smith, June 20, 1806; Richard Williams, April 4, 1826; Simon Bailey, June 20, 1840 ; Edward W. Green, June 13, 1845 ; Simon Bailey, June 18, 1849; Thomas Coggeshall, Dec. 30, 1852 ; Joseph C. Kent, June 8, 1853 ; John Fraser, April 6, 1857; Cyrus W. Chapman, April 16, 1861 ; Edmund Anthony, Feb. 3, 1870; Thomas Coggeshall, March 1, 1876, present incumbent.

Wamsutta Mills. - Long before .the decline of the whale fishery it became apparent that this industry could not furnish a sufficient field for the capital and enterprise of the town, and that New Bedford must look to other employment for growth and progress. Commercial New England was yielding to manufacturing New England, and New Bedford, not relinquishing her control of the whale fishery, sought to add the machinery of the manufacturer. The first really efficient move in this direction after the cordage-factory was the establishment of the Wamsutta Mills.

The beginning of these mills dates back to 1846, when the corporation was chartered. A stone mill, now called the No. 1 mill, 212 feet by 70, with four floors, was built in 1847, and in the following year work was begun with 15,000 spindles and 300 looms. Six or seven years later, or about 1854, the increased demands of the trade required an extension of the mills, and another four-storied stone building, 245 feet Ions: by 70 wide, was erected immediately adjoining the original mill, and equipped with 16,000 spindles and 300 looms. But the demand for the goods gradually outgrew the increased supply, and in 1865 a duplicate of mill No. 2 was put into operation with 16,000 more spindles and 300 more looms. The close of the war seemed to give a fresh impulse to the business, for it was found necessary to build a new mill in 1868 on a grander plan than the older structures. This was mill No. 4, which is of brick, with granite foundations, 495 feet in length, 75 feet in width, and five stories high. This important addition almost doubled the productive capacity of the establishment, the new mill containing 38,000 spindles and 1100 looms. It proved to be sufficient, however, for only seven years, and in 1875 mill No. 5 was built. It stands on a line with No. 4, and is substantially uniform with it, though its dimensions differ somewhat, being shorter and wider, 433 feet in length by 93 in width. In it were placed 50,000 spindles and 1000 looms. In 1881-82, No. 6 mill was built of brick, three stories high, 569} feet long and 95 feet wide, containing 51,000 spindles and 1072 looms, and employs 600 hands.

This large area of machinery is driven by several Corliss engines of immense power. One of these monster engines, two thousand horse-power, mightier by six hundred horse-power than the great engine at the Centennial Exhibition, has a stroke of ten feet, | and the weight of its fly-wheel alone is fifty tons.

This immense establishment employs 2400 persons, has a total of 200,000 spindles, and 4300 looms ranging in width from 40 to 120 inches. Capital, $3,000,000. The present officers are as follows : Joseph Grinnell, president; Edward Kilburn, agent ; and Andrew G. Peirce, treasurer.

height of the first story is 15 feet, the second 14] feet, and the third 15] to 17 feet. The whole will cover almost an acre and a half. As stated before, it ranges from east to west along the north part of the Rodman Dike property, at the south side of Kilburn Street. The engine-house, at the southwest corner, is 40 by 50 feet, a single story 28 feet high. The boiler-house is 52 by 68 feet, a single story 22 feet high.

The picker building, 117 by 98 feet, and from 15} to 17 feet high, is situated 28 feet west of the main building. In the southeast part of this structure is the picker- room, 77 by 62 feet, and it also contains a repair-shop, 85 by 32 feet, and a cloth-room, 85 by 36 feet. It is connected with the mill by a structure 28 by 30 feet, which contains the main entrance to the mill, a harness-room, lap-elevator, etc. The picker building being of the same width as the mill, ranges with it. Farther to the west is the office building, 48 by 24 feet, 15] feet high, and containing in addition to the offices a supply-room in the basement. The united length of the connected buildings is 859 feet.

The mill contains 1264 looms 40 inches wide and 9600 spindles. The power is furnished by a Corliss engine with two cylinders, each thirty-two feet in diameter and six feet stroke.

Potamska Mills. - Potamska Mill, No. 1, was built in 1871, and went into operation with a capital of $600,000. It is 345 by 92 feet, four stories high ; the weaving-shed is one story high, 108 by 97 feet ; the picker-room is two stories high, 119 by 40 feet. It has 48,000 spindles and 1006 looms.

No. 2 mill was built in 1877, the main building being 348 by 92 feet, four stories high; the L 184 by 92 feet, two stories high ; the weaving-shed 184 by 92 feet, one story high ; and the picker-house 71 by 47 feet, two stories high ; all built of brick. This mill has 58,328 spindles and 1428 looms. The total number of spindles in both mills is 106,328, and the total number of looms 2424.

These mills manufacture fine lawns, satteens, cretonnes, jeans, and print cloths. Both mills are driven by Corliss double twenty-eight-inch cylinder, five-foot stroke engines, of eight hundred horsepower each, both mills employing about twelve hundred operatives.

James Robinson was the first president and treasurer. He was succeeded Aug. 27, 1875, by Horatio Hathaway, who was succeeded by the present officers, - Andrew G. Peirce, treasurer, elected in 1878, and Edward Kilburn, president, elected in 1879. Hiram Kilburn has been superintendent from the commencement. The goods of these mills have an enviable reputation for honest work and quality of material.

The Gosnold Mills were incorporated in 1848 and organized in 1855, With the following board of directors: Thomas Nye, Jr., Lemuel Kollock, William Phillips, W. J. Rotch, John R. Thornton, James D. Thompson, Jonathan Bourne, Jr., and Edward B. Mandell.

The first president was Lemuel Kollock, who served until April 20, 1865, when he was succeeded by James D. Thompson, and April 21, 1875, Mr. Thompson was succeeded by the present president, Mr. Joseph H. Cornell.

The first treasurer and clerk was Frederick Bryant, who was succeeded Feb. 17, 1856, by William Phillips. In 1858, Mr. L. M. Kollock became treasurer and clerk, and continued in that office until April, 1865, when he was succeeded by James D. Thompson. Mr. William W. Webb was chosen clerk at the same time. Mr. Thompson officiated until April 18, 1876, when he was succeeded by Mr. Joseph H. Cornell, the present incumbent. Mr. George Wilson was elected treasurer April 30, 1872, when the following new board of directors were chosen: George Wilson, James H. Cornell, George F. Kingman, James M. Lawton, and John B. Little. John A. Bates was elected secretary April 15, 1873, and continues to the present time. Mr. Little was succeeded Aug. 1, 1874, by Atmore Holmes as a director, and in April, 1876, Mr. Lawton was succeeded by William G. Taber. The mills have had but two superintendents, John W. Kingsbury and the present, Mr. Henry Howard.

The mills manufacture hoop, band, scroll, rod, horse-shoe, and hame iron and chains of every description. The growth of these mills has been steady, and from a comparative small beginning they now rank among the representative institutions of the city.

Masonic - Star in the East Lodge,1 F. and A. M. - This is the oldest Masonic lodge in the city, having been chartered Dec. 10, 1823, with the following charter members: Timothy I. Dyre, Anthony D. Richmond, George Randall, Asa Wood, Alden D. Stoddard, Jonathan Buttrick, Oliver Swain, Charles Coggesliall, Thomas Cole, Zaccheus Cushman, Samuel Hall, Eastland Babcock, Timothy G. Coffin, Reuben Swift, Joseph E. Melcher, James Maddix, Samuel James, James Mooers, Mendell Ellis, Silvanus Ames, and Edward T. Taylor.

This venerable lodge has always quietly and faithfully exemplified the beautiful principles of Freemasonry, and its records are heavily laden with blessings of widows and orphans who through a long term of years have had their hearts made glad and burdens lightened by its generous aid.

Its officers and members have carried on the good work whether the prevailing public opinion was for or against the fraternity, and it is one of the honored lodges that met regularly and duly attended to its business all through the fanatical Anti-Masonic excitement. Its roll embraces the names of a large number of our best citizens iu character and integrity, and it furnished the charter members of Eureka Lodge of this city, as well as many of those of Concordia Lodge of Fairhaven and Noquochoke Lodge of Westport.

Its present membership is three hundred and sixty, and its officers are Theodore W. Cole, W. M. ; Frederick A. Bradford, S. W. ; Frank M. Ashley, J. W. ; Edward Stetson, Treas. ; James C. Hitch, Sec. ; Benjamin F. Jenney, Chap.; Andrew M. Marts, M. ; Washington A. Jenkins, S. D. ; Bartholomew Otheman, J. D. ; Thomas R. Brownell, S. S. ; Ernest A. Wheaton, J. S. ; George Peirce, O. ; Ansel F. Blossom, Tyler.

Eureka Lodge,1 F. and A. M. - The membership of Star in the East Lodge having grown so large, it was deemed advisable by members of the fraternity to have another lodge, and Eureka Lodge was chartered May 8, 1857, with the following-named members: Timothy Ingraham, Isaac M. Richardson, Benjamin Russell, Moses H. Bliss, Stephen A. Tripp, Moses G. Thomas, Lineas Wood, James C. Tripp, and Henry F. Thomas.

It has always been prosperous from the beginning. Its Past Masters are Timothy Ingraham, Henry F. Thomas, Isaac M. Richardson, Amasa L. Gleason, Charles W. Seabury, John A. Lee, Abraham H. Howland, Jr., Thomas B. Tripp, James L. Sherman, Ansel G. Baker, William T. Soule, William O. Woodman.

Adokiram R. A. Chapter.1 - This old organization has been imparting the impressive and delightful lessons of Chapter Masonry to generations in this section of Massachusetts, and its members may be found in all parts of the world, carrying on the work of other chapters which they have organized. Its charter is dated Oct. 4, 1816, and was granted to the following companions of Attleborough and vicinity : George Ellis, Manning Richards, George W. Robinson, Otis Robinson, James Warren, Richard Carrigue, Jabez Newell, Edward Richardson, Obed Robinson, Jr., Darius Briggs, Abiathar Richardson, Jr., John Whiting, Daniel Babcock, Carlos Barrows.

It was named in honor of Sir Knight Gen. William Sutton, of Salem, who was much interested in all that pertained to Freemasonry, particularly to Templar Masonry, and he presented Sutton Commandery with a beautiful banner.

The Past Eminent Commanders are John B. Baylies, Albert H. W. Carpenter, John A. Lee, Abraham H. Howland, Jr., Gardner T. Sanford, Henry Field, Jr., and James Taylor.

Dr. Samuel Perry was also a physician of considerable repute. He had two sons, both well-known practitioners in the town. Dr. Samuel, Jr., died Oct. 26, 1820, and his brother, Dr. Ebenezer, March 18, 1822.

Dr. William Gushing Whitridge was born in Tiverton, R. I., Nov. 25, 1784, and died at New Bedford, Mass., Dec. 28, 1857, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His father was a distinguished physician in his day, and his surviving brothers, Dr. Joshua R. Whitridge, of Charleston, and Dr. John Whitridge, of Baltimore, rank deservedly high in the cities of their adoption. Dr. Whitridge entered Brown University in 1800, but subsequently went to Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., where he was graduated with distinction in 1804. He entered at once as a pupil in his father's office, and attended one full course of lectures at Harvard University. He did not, however, at that time take a medical degree, and in 1847 received from Harvard the honorary title of Doctor of Medicine.

The first theatre of his practice was Tiverton, R. I., where he continued to labor with success until 1822, when he removed to New Bedford. Here he toiled in a widening circle of professional occupation until death bore him from the scene of his labors. His personal appearance was highly prepossessing, and his manners were simple and unaffected. He possessed a quick and ready perception, a rare faculty of analysis, and a remarkable facility in the attainment of useful and important facts bearing upon his profession. The public confidence in his skill as a physician was very great, and at the time of his death he had the largest consultation practice in New Bedford. Dr. Whitridge was frequently delegated by the Massachusetts Medical Society to attend the sessions of the American Medical Association, and was present at those of Boston and New York.

Dr. Alexander Read was a physician of high standing, and one of the leading members in the profession in this part of the State. He was born in Mil ford, July 10, 1786. He was graduated in 1808 at Dartmouth College, having acquired the reputation of good scholarship and unblemished morals. He pursued his medical studies under the direction of Dr. Greene, of Worcester, and of Nathan Smith, M.D., and in 1811 commenced the practice of his profession in New Bedford. He soon acquired the reputation of a skillful and attentive physician, and received the patronage of a numerous circle of intelligent and wealthy citizens. 'A course of lectures prepared and delivered by him on chemistry and botany with great acceptance was a happy introduction to the youthful portion of the more intelligent population, and many of the attendants remained ever after his ardent friends.

Possessing by nature a sanguine temperament, and by cultivation and intercourse with good society a refined taste, he was fitted to be an ornament in the circle in which he moved. He was made to love and to be loved. He was kind, conciliatory, and considerate. Naturally modest and self-diffident, he wondered at his own success. He seemed to live more for others than for himself. His own happiness was an incident rather than an end in his pursuits. His ruling passion was to promote the well-being of those with whom he associated. Hence as a physician he was ardent in the pursuit of knowledge, careful in his observation of the changing phases of disease, kind in his deportment, courteous in all the relations of life, and skillful to perceive and minister to the necessities of his numerous patients.

In 1816 he received the degree of M.D. at New Haven. Dr. Read was a skillful surgeon as well as physician, and was much devoted to that branch of his profession. His advice was much sought and appreciated by his professional brethren. They felt that their reputation was safe in his hands, that when called in counsel he would sustain and not supplant them. He scorned the low art to which, it must be confessed, a few, even of educated men, resort for the acquisition of business. Quackery,- whether in its infinitesimal or more heroic development, received from him no countenance. He published but little. His remarks on the mode of preparation and uses of Datura Stramonium are a model of simplicity and directness in medical communications.

His crowning excellence was his reverence for God. His was the religion of the Bible. He acknowledged its claims and reverently bowed to its teachings, and in the hour of affliction and sickness he was rewarded by its abundant consolations. Religion with him was an abiding principle, not the fitful vagary of an excited imagination.

Fire Society, 1809. - The following is a " Listof the members of the Bedford Fire Society, with ('A') watchword, June 10, 1809, presented to the fire-wards, viz. : Joseph Ricketson, Elisha Thornton, Jr., Barnabas Taber, Job Eddy, James Allen (2d), Simpson Hart, Cornelius Howland, Nicholas D. Greene, Daniel Taber, Nathan Taber, Abraham Shearman, Jr., Caleb Green, William Sawyer Wall, Jahaziel Jenney, William James, Peter Barney, Josiah Wood, Francis

Attached to this list is the following notice: " To Caleb Congdon, one of the fire-wards for the town of New Bedford, the inclosed list of the members of the Bedford Fire Society with its watchword is presented thee for thy government or direction, to give orders to said members at any fire which may happen. The watchword is not to be divulged."

An Interesting Document - The old borough of Dartmouth, England, the fishing community at the ; mouth of the Dart, gave our old Dartmouth its name. Many incidents connected with its name and history made this ancient borough, whose franchise dates back to the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, closely associated with the commemorative exercises.

An address " To the mayor, recorder, and aldermen of the city of Dartmouth, county of Devon, England," had been prepared, and was read to the meeting. Having been signed by the mayor, aldermen, Common Council men, and clerk of the city of New Bedford, and by the selectmen and town clerks of the towns uniting in the celebration, and beautifully engrossed, it was sent to its destination.

The time required by its engrossment, and to obtain the large number of necessary signatures of persons dwelling widely apart, brought the end of the year 'before it could be forwarded.

It was not until Washington's Birthday, 1866, that the mayor of the city received a response to this greeting from the old Dartmouth of America to the old Dartmouth of Great Britain. But when it was received the delay was not cared for or thought of. The reply was dated on the " Fourth of July," 1865, was signed by the mayor, recorder, clerk, and burgesses of the borough of Clifton Dartmouth Hardness, in the county of Devon, England. One of the councilors bears the significant name of John Bully. It is a well-written document, and its tone is kind and manly. In these respects it fully met the circumstances of the occasion and the wishes and expectations of those to whose greeting it was an answer. But the form in which it appeared was a surprise and a delight. Its elegant chirography upon vellum is a picture in itself; and this, with its beautiful illuminations of border and other chaste ornamentation, give the whole a rare, rich, and attractive appearance.

The Ship " Rebecca."1 - The ship " Rebecca" was the first ship built in New Bedford. She was launched in the spring of 1785. George Claghorn was the master-carpenter, who afterwards built the frigate "Constitution," the pride of our navy.

The " Rebecca" was owned by Joseph Russell and his sons Barnabas and Gilbert Russell. The timber of which she was built was chiefly cut in the southwesterly part of the town, now covered with houses and gardens. She measured 175f J tons, which at that time was considered so immensely large thatshe was the wonder and the admiration of all the country round. People from Taunton, Bridgewater, and all the neighboring towns came to New Bedford to see the big ship. There was a woman figure-head carved for her, and when it was about being put upon her a number of the Friends' Society remonstrated against so vain and useless an ornament, and she went to sea without it.

The owners of the " Rebecca" had some difficulty in finding a man of sufficient experience to trust with the command of so big a ship. Now we have a schooner of larger tonnage running to New York as a packet (schooner "Richmond" is one hundred and eighty tons).

James Haydon was finally selected for her captain, and Cornelius Grinnell, chief mate. She sailed on her first voyage to Philadelphia; from thence to Liverpool. The second voyage Cornelius Grinnell was captain, and continued to command her for six years.

The "Rebecca" was the first American whale-ship that doubled Cape Horn. She was commanded by Capt. Kearsley, and made a successful voyage, obtaining a cargo of sperm oil on the coast of Chili, and returning in about twelve months.

The "Rebecca" finally made a disastrous end. She sailed from Liverpool for New York in the autumn of 1798, commanded by Capt. Gardner (the father of the present Capts. Gardner), and has never been heard of from that time to this.2

2 Capt. Cornelius Howland and Caleb Greene, the schoolmaster, were owners in the " Rebecca" when she made her Pacific voyage. Some of the schooners of the present day are nearly four times the size of the " Kebecca." She was not the first ship built in Bedford. The building of the "Dartmouth" has an earlier date, and our late fellow-citizen, Thomas Kempton, said that a ship called the "Bedford" was built on the west side of the Acuslmet as early as 1770. This could not have been the historic "Bedford."

Frederick C. Sanford, of Nantucket, in his valuable and interesting article in the Nantucket Inquirer, 1852, on the " Pioneers of the Whale Fishery," says that " in 17'J1 our ships entered the Pacific." This is the year that the "Rebecca" doubled Cipe Horn. Accounts differ as to which took the lead in the adventure, Nantucket or New Bedford. In a letter dated Aug. 27, 1876, Mr. Sanford says that "in consequence of the great success in the Pacific of ships from London and Mr. Botch's ships from Dunkirk, si* ships were in 1700 fitted lor whaling in that ocean from Nantucket. The 'Beaver' sailed first, August, 1791." The first start from this country for doubling ('ape Horn was no doubt from Nantucket. The " Rebecca" was not fitted for the Pacific. Information obtained on | the voyage induced the captain to try his luck there. Which of the I two ships first rounded the cape does not appear, is not of much importance.

The following extracts form a part of the conclusion of Mr. Sanford's interesting article. His description of the vessels and the men employed in this bold enterprise will apply to the New Bedford as well as to the Nantucket pioneers engaged in it. No one will question the truth of the portrait he has drawn of the hardy, bold, and enterprising men of Nantucket, who were the world-renowned leaders in this extraordinary branch of the world's industrial pursuits. The story of the whalers borders upon the romance of history, and deserves an abler historian

" Lost. - On Monday evening lust, from the house-yard of the late Mr. Daniel Smith, a huge Bbass Kettle, with a crack in the bottom, i and a patch thereon. Whoever will give information so that the kettle may he found will greatly assist a distressed family.

Liberty Hall Association, organized July 15, 1841. Hall rebuilt in 1865. George A. Bourne, president ; Thomas Wilcox, clerk; Joseph Buckminster, treasurer ; Thomas L. Parsons, agent ; George A. Bourne, Thomas Wilcox, Joseph Buckminster, directors.

Young Men's Christian Association of New Bedford; Edmund Rodmund, president ; Allen F. Wood, vice-president; Charles E. Hendrickson, recording secretary ; C. W. Knight, treasurer ; Charles W. Harned, general secretary.

"In 1791 our ships entered the Pacific in pursuit of their prey. They douhled Cape Horn in a class of vessels that would be considered unsafe at this day to perform a summer voyage across the Atlantic, small in size, not exceeding two hundred and fifty tons in burden, heavy, dull sailers, without copper on their bottoms, poorly and scantily fitted, indeed, but manned with men of an iron nerve and an energy that knew no turning, and here again they were successful.

"I am fully aware that New Bedford surpasses all other places engaged in the whale fishery in wealth and prosperity. Success has followed exertion in a ratio of one hundredfold, and there are very few places in our country which have arisen to such a height of prosperity in so short a period. It seems almost the work of an enchanter.

"Other places have eclipsed Nantucket of late, but the well-earned fame of our sires knows no diminution, but brightens their laurels as time lessens their numbers. Nantucket may with an honest pride look back to a long list of worthies, men filled with interminable perseverance and an energy that defied and overcame all obstacles, - a list that will bear no unworthy comparison with Samuel Adams and his Revolutionary companions, as deserving of her pride as the jewels of Cornelia."

Orphans' Home, organized in 1842. For orphans in both sexes. About thirty inmates. Miss Celia Brett, matron ; Mrs. Eliza A. Brett, assistant matron ; Mrs. William C. N. Swift, president; Mrs. William Crapo, secretary ; Mrs. James D. Thompson, treasurer.

Honorary members : Edwin Dews, president ; Southward Potter (2d), secretary and treasurer; Samuel C. Hart, William Baylies, James E. Blake,' executive committee.

Morse Twist-Drill and Machine Company, located on Bedford, corner of Fourth Street. Edward S. Taber, president and treasurer; Nathan Chase, Frederick S. Allen, Thomas M. Stetson, Gilbert Allen, Andrew G.

New Bedford Co-Operative Saving Fund and Loan Association, 41 William Street, incorporated July 11, 1881. Authorized capital, one million dollars. Isaac W. Benjamin, president; Edward Kilburn, vice-president; Charles R. Price, secretary; Gideon B. Wright, treasurer.

New Bedford Copper Company was incorporated in 1860. Capital, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Gilbert Allen, president; William H. Matthews, treasurer; Henry Field, Jr., superintendent; Gilbert Allen, Edward D. Mandell, Leander A. Plummer, William J. Rotch, James D. Thompson, Frederick S. Allen, Charles W. Clifford, directors.

New Bedford Cordage Company was incorporated in 1846. Capital, seventy-five thousand dollars. William J. Rotch, president; L. A. Plummer, treasurer and clerk.

This company owns and runs the steamer " Martha's Vineyard," five hundred and twenty-five tons burden, also steamer " Monohansett," four hundred and seventy-five tons, between New Bedford and Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Highlands, Vineyard Haven, and Wood's Holl. Also steamers " Island Home" and "River Queen" to Nantucket.

Chapteb Xii

Incorporation of the Town - Setting off of Fairhaven - Part of Dartmonth annexed to New Bedford - Part of Acushnet annexed to New Bedford - Incorporation of the City - List of Mayors - Representatives to General Court - City Debt - Military Record - War of 1812 - War of the Rebellion - List of Soldiers - Roll of Honor - Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.

This town originally formed a part of the old town of Dartmouth, and was incorporated Feb. 23, 1787. It retained its original area until Feb. 22, 1812, when the town of Fairhaven was set off. A part of Dartmouth was annexed March 20, 1845, and a part of Acushnet April 9, 1875.

Representatives To General Court From 1788 To 1883

City Debt. - The amount of the debt of the city of New Bedford, and the payments to be annually made thereupon, are shown by the following statement :

The following table shows the amount of taxes levied in this city since 1863, and the rate per thousand for State, county, and city purposes; also the number of polls :