Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 19: Dighton.1, 1883 (part 3 of 3)

In the year 1814, Israel Anthony moved to North Dighton from Somerset, and through his influence there was occasionally Methodist preaching in that village, by Rev. John Tinkham, from Easton, and by others whose names are unknown. In 1815, or early in 1816, Rev. Orlando Hinds was on the circuit, and a. revival commenced, resulting in a large number of conversions ; many were baptized and received on trial. After the revival had subsided a reaction set in, and the record states that the conduct of some of the leading members was such as to greatly militate against the prosperity of the infant society. There is no record of the formation of the church, and probably no one living knows when it was formed. From 1815 to 1823 the following preachers were stationed here: Rev. Orlando Hinds, who died in 1820; Rev. Elisha Streeter, Rev. Isaac Bonney, and Rev. Jason Walker. As there was no meeting-house they preached sometimes in the school-house, sometimes in the Long House on the island, and occasionally in the loft over the store. A Quarterly Meeting was held at the Long House at one time at which so many attended that the house was full to overflowing, and sails had to be procured to make a temporary shelter for the crowd outside. The first authentic record extant is a class paper, dated Wellington, July 31, 1823. Abiathar White, leader; Rev. Hermon Perry and Rev. A. Tummins, circuit preachers; Rev. J. A. Merril, presiding elder. In 1831, Revs. F. Dane and H. Waldron were stationed at Somerset and North Dighton. One hundred and fifty-seven dollars was raised at the latter place to pay the preachers. In 1832, Rev. W. Emerson and Rev. J. D. Baldwin were stationed on the circuit, and the sum of two hundred and eighty-six dollars was collected from Dighton, Taunton, Rehoboth, and Somerset. In 1833, Rev. F. Dane was stationed at North Dighton. A meeting-house had been commenced in 1830, and was finished in 1831. Rev. L. Bates, of Bristol, preached the dedication sermon. In 1834, Rev. Thomas Gile was stationed there; the preachers succeeding him up to the time of building the present meeting-house were as follows: in 1835, Rev. Elias Scott; 1836, C. Howard; 1837, John Bailey, B. Othman, presiding elder; 1838, D. Culver; 1839, Ephraim Capen; 1840-41, Byron Morse; 1842, G. H. Winchester (fifty members in the church) ; 1843, Charles Carter; 1844, E. A. Lyon; 1845, A. Gardner; 1846, Richard Donkersly; 1847, William Cone, and also in 1848; 1849, Franklin Garett; 1850, W. H. Richards; 1851, A. N. Bodfish, also in 1852 (this year a reed organ was purchased, taking the place of the bugle, clarionets, and trumpets, which had hitherto furnished the instrumental music in the church) ; 1853, P. Cady ; 1854-55, C. Banning; 1856, Charles H. Titus (presiding elder; church members, one hundred and five; on probation, twenty; five hundred and fifty dollars paid the preacher) ; 1858, H. H. Smith, also in 1859; 1860, John N. Coolidge ; 1861-62, Lewis B. Bates; 1863, Erastus B. Benton, also in 1864 ; 1865, Asa Bodfish (members, one hundred and seventy-four; nine hundred dollars paid for preaching).

In 1865 a new meeting-house was commenced. The trustees engaged in seeing to its building were Allen Talbot, James H. Codding, George F. Gavitt William L. Hathaway, J. R. Talbot, F. A. Horr, A.

Chace, Eliakim Briggs, and J. W. Hathaway. A church was formed at South Dighton this year, and fourteen members were transferred to it by letter. In 1866, Rev. A. N. .Bodfish preached. The new church was finished this year, the whole cost being about twenty thousand dollars. It was dedicated Oct. 11, 1866, Rev. Mark Trapton, of Providence, preaching the dedication sermon. The centenary collection of the church this year amounted to six thousand five hundred dollars, all, excepting five hundred dollars of the amount, being given by the North Dighton Furnace Company. The whole sum was appropriated towards paying for the new church. Eight thousand four hundred and three dollars was raised in all by the society this year. In 1867, Rev. A. N. Bodfish was continued at North Dighton, at a salary of one thousand dollars ; in 1868, T. S. Thomas (one hundred and seventy-seven members in the church) ; in 1869, W. H. Stetson, also in 1870; 1871, E. T. Jones; 1872, G. W. Ballou (salary, eleven hundred dollars; members, one hundred and eighty-five; probationers, forty-one; Sunday-school membership, three hundred and seventeen) ; in 1874, G. W. Ballou was continued, and also in 1875; 1876, Rev. George H. Bates, also in 1877; in 1879-80, G. W. Wright. The present pastor is George H. Bates.

Second Methodist Episcopal Church. - In March, 1866, an energetic effort was made to establish a Methodist Church at Dighton Four Corners. Various local preachers had before this time been preaching, though without much regularity, at the Broad Cove schoolhouse. At the time referred to James A. Dean was engaged to preach, and the building that had been known as the Dighton Academy was purchased by a joint-stock company for a meeting-house. The upper part of this building had formerly been used as a Universalist meeting-house or chapel, as it was called. It had been raised up, and a story built underneath. The first meeting of the Methodists at their new house was held April 8, 1866, Avith a congregation of about fifty persons. Before the end of May congregations of one hundred and upwards were obtained.

The church was organized on the 13th of May, with a membership of twenty-three. A strawberry festival, held in June of that year, netted one hundred and fifty-six dollars, and the proceeds were used to purchase a cabinet organ. In the following September a clam-bake, given by the society in Baylies' Grove, added somewhat to the resources of the young society.

In 1867 a revival commenced, lasting about two months, meetings being held almost every evening. About forty converts were made. At the close of the year the church was in a very prosperous condition. In 1868, Mr. Dean, finding that his salary would not meet his expenses, left for the pastorate of a church in Providence. He was succeeded by Rev. H. H. Smith, and he, in 1872. by Rev. A. E. Hall. In 1874, Mr. Hall was appointed to St. Paul's Church in Providence, and Rev. V. W. Mattoon was appointed in his place. Mr. Mattoon was succeeded by Rev. Dennison L. Brown, and he, in 1877, by Rev. John Lindsey, an Englishman by birth. Mr. Lindsey's successor was Rev. L. P. Causey, who was followed by Rev. S. E. Evans, and he in turn by the present pastor, Rev. F. D. Sargent. The church is now in a prosperous condition. Annual clam-bakes and strawberry festivals are an established custom with the society, and are a material aid to its finances, as they are to the sister society at North Dighton, and to the Baptist Society at the Four Corners.

The Universalist Society. - Nearly forty years ago a society of Universalists was formed at South Dighton, and a neat chapel, of the Greek temple or Parthenon style of architecture, albeit the material was wood, was built a short distance east of the Four Corners, on a pleasant and commanding site. At that time, and for some years before and afterwards, there was a remarkable intellectual activity in New England. Old creeds and theological dogmas were overhauled and criticised, without regard to their age or the weight of authority that supported them. It was an epoch when men's minds were uncommonly receptive of new ideas. Emerson, Alcott, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and other gifted and earnest men and women were searching in German philosophy and in the theological literature of India and other Asiatic lands, for answers to questions that constantly recur to thoughtful minds as to the meaning of this visible universe and the destiny of the human race. Nor was this mental activity and questioning confined to what are termed the cultivated classes. The carpenter at his bench, the blacksmith at his forge, the shoemaker over his lapstone, and even the butcher and the tinpeddler from their wagons, were wont, according to their various gifts, to become argumentative, like Milton's angels, "on finite, free-will, foreknowledge absolute," or on subjects quite as abstruse, and, like the angels, "found no end in wandering mazes lost." That was a flourishing period for isms of various sorts, some of them based on error and others founded on truths of the greatest moment to the human race. The Universalist Society in Dighton was the outgrowth of this intellectual ferment, although the doctrines believed in by the sect had long been familiar to many, through the published sermons of John Murray and other able preachers in this denomination. Since the time of Origen and others of the early church Fathers, the doctrine of eternal torment of the wicked after death has been repulsive to many intelligent minds, driving some into deism, and even into atheism, while others have become agnostics, or have taken refuge in Socinianism, Unitarianism, or Universalism.

For several years the society at the Corners was in a flourishing condition, the congregation meeting in the chapel being larger in numbers than the one that listened to Mr. Gushee's sermons in the old meeting- bouse. But after some years of prosperity various causes led to the decline of the society, and the meetings were no longer kept up. The chapel was sold and was converted into a school-house, called the Dighton Academy.1 The columns in front were taken off, the building was raised up, and a story or basement was built underneath. In 1866, after the failure of the academy project, the building was bought by the Methodist Episcopal society for a meetinghouse.

The names of the Universalist ministers who preached at the chapel were Hewitt, Hodston, Chamberlain, and Arnold. Of these, Mr. S. C. Hewitt was probably the most talented preacher, but was apparently lacking in the conservative elements of character that enter into the composition of a well-balanced mind, this deficiency leading him to engage with a zeal untempered with a sufficiency of knowledge or wisdom in a pseudo science like phrenology, and into the wildest vagaries while investigating what are termed the phenomena of spiritualism, a class of phenomena needing for its investigation the most level-headed common sense and a thorough scientific training. When to these qualifications is united a fearless pursuit of truth, we have results such as have been given to the world by the distinguished English scientists, Professor William Crooks and Professor Alfred E. Wallace, and by the equally distinguished German investigator, the late Professor Zollner.

In those days the odium theo/ogicum was much more bitter than at present, when the advance of liberal ideas gives promise of soon breaking down the walls of sectarian bigotry and prejudice, and no doubt to many of other denominations, Universalism and infidelity were almost synonymous terms. It may have been some narrow-minded member of one of the so-called orthodox societies who raked out of the limbo of things forgotten, a quartrain of old Daniel Defoe's, and inscribed it with a pencil on one of the columns of the chapel, when the society was in its most flourishing condition, or it may have been some outsider, with a turn for jesting, who had no objection to stirring up the Universalists by a little quotation from an unfamiliar source. Probability, however, favors the latter supposition. The lines were as follows :

" Whenever saints erect a house of prayer, The devil always builds a chapel there ; And 'twill lie found, upon examination, The latter has the largest congregation."

1 It has been called an American peculiarity to magnify the actual by frequently using terms of larger meaning than the facts will warrant. But the pretension of terming an ordinary private school, without endowment, or library, or apparatus, and without a corps of teachers, an "academy," is not peculiar to this country nor to the nineteenth century. When some one inquired of Boswell's father, the old Laird of Auchinleck, how James was prospering, the reply, in broad Scotch, was as follows: "There's Dae hope for Jamie. Jamie has gaen clean adaft. What do you think, mon ? He's done wi' Paoli - he's off wi' the landlouping scoundrel of a Corsicau. And whose tail do you think he has pinned himself to now, mon? A dominie, mon - an ould dominie; he keepit a schule, and cau'd it an acaademy."

Such sallies as this were but little regarded by the Universalists,2 who were wont to retaliate by repeating with gusto anecdotes showing up their orthodox friends in ridicule, such as the story of the old deacon's exhortation at a church meeting : " Brethren, there is, I am sorry to say, a new doctrine going about the world ; we are told that all men are to be saved, but, brethren, let us hope for better things."

The Christian Baptist Societies. - Besides the religious organizations of which sketches have been given there are in Dighton two Christian Baptist Churches, in regard to the founding of which, or the names of the pastors that have been settled over them, I have not been able to obtain any information. The first of these is in the west part of the town, the meeting-house being the one in which Elder Goff used to preach and still called by his name, and the second is at North Dighton. The meeting-house owned by the latter society was probably built about the same time as the old Methodist meeting-house.

Besides the religious societies mentioned there are two Christian Baptist societies in this town, of the history of which I have been unable to obtain any definite information. The one at West Dighton is now under the pastoral charge of Rev. Otis H. Bates, and the one at North Dighton is under the charge of Rev. Mr. Bacheler.

Manufactures. - There are many people now living who can remember the days when the spinningwheel, the hand-loom, and the dye-tub were to be found in use in almost every farmer's family, and when homespun cloth of wool and of flax was used almost exclusively for the dress of men and women, as well as for bed and table coverings. How the women of that time managed to do all the spinning, weaving, and dyeing needful to be done in their households, and bring up their large families besides, is a mystery to their novel-reading granddaughters of today, who "toil not, neither do they spin," - at least, nothing more substantial than the yarns of gossip.

There was, no doubt, as much done in this town in early times in the way of such domestic manufactures as have been mentioned as in other country towns of its size. In one industry, however, Dighton probably forestalled all the other towns in the State. This was the business of raising silk-worms and the reeling and manufacture of silk from the cocoons, which was introduced into this town by Mrs. Sarah Hart more than half a century ago. Mrs. Hart not only raised and manufactured the silk, but she taught the mysteries of the business to others, so that at one

- Among the prominent members of the society were Anthony Keed, Joseph Pitts, Capt. William Cobb, and his two brothers, Capts. George and Benjamin, Maj. Charles Whitmarsh and W. B. Whitmarsh, and Bradford Pratt. Mr. Keed was a lumber-dealer, trader, and master-carpenter; Mr. Pitts was a shoemaker by trade, was justice of the peace, ami represented 'the town in the Legislature in IS42-44; Maj. Whitmarsh was a trader and ship-builder; Capt. W. B. Whitmarsh was postmaster for many years; Bradford Pratt was a surveyor, school-teacher, and justice of the peace; he was a member of the Legislature in 1848-49.

time there was quite a number of people interested in the occupation in a small way. That was about the time of the Moras multicaulis mania, which was started by Prince, the Flushing, L. L, nurseryman, who had these, as he described them, wonderful mulberry-trees for sale, quite a number of which were set out in this town, and some of them have grown into large trees. Further mention of the silk-culture and manufacture in Dighton will be found in the appendix. Now that the manufacture of silk goods has attained to such dimensions in the United States, there being in 1880 three hundred and eighty-three factories, producing silk goods valued at over thirtyfour million dollars,1 it is interesting to know that this town was the pioneer in the business in this State, and that here were grown the first specimens of the larva? of the Bombyx mori (or silk-worm moth) ever seen in Massachusetts.

The manufacture of textile fabrics by machinery was commenced in this town in the year 1809, when a small cotton-factory was built on the Three-Mile River at North Dighton.2 This was called Wheeler's factory, from the agent, Nathaniel Wheeler. This old building, which had been leased by various parties, was burned in February, 1881, at the time of the paper-mill fire.

In 1810 another and larger cotton-mill was built on the Three-Mile River, about a fourth of a mile above Wheeler's mill. The new factory was for some years known as the Bristol mill, some of the owners living in that town. It is now known as the Mount Hope mill. The building was raised on the Fourth of July, a large crowd being collected at the raising, and a barrel of rum being required to moisten the throats of those who worked, and of those who assisted, in the French sense of the term, by looking on. Thomas S. Baylies, who was one of the owners, sold the company the land for the mill-site, and also the waterpower privilege, being an inheritance from his father, Nicholas Baylies. The property has had a number of owners and lessees, among the latter being Theophi" lus, Azariah, and Jervis Shove, deceased, who carried on the manufacture of cotton goods for some years. The original building has been enlarged by additions.

1 The value of the silk goods imported in 1880 was thirty-two million eight hundred and ninety-nine thousand five hundred dollars, go that we manufacture more than half of the silk fabrics that we require.

- According to information received since the above was written, the old White-Birch factory was built in 1S08, which would give it precedence, in point of time, over Wheeler's factory. None of the cottonmills in Fall River had been built at that date.

The non-intercourse and embargo acts that preceded the second war with Great Britain, while they were disastrous to American shipping interests, had all the stimulating effect of a high protective tariff upon our infant manufactures, and thus helped materially towards our complete independence of the mother-country. Without the aid of these retaliatory acts of Congress the Dighton factories would not have been built.

the superintendent. Six thousand four hundred spindles are run. About a hundred hands are employed, turning out fifty-four thousand pounds of hosiery yarn per month.

The other principal manufacturing establishment at North Dighton is the paper-mill of L. Lincoln & Co., which employs some twenty-five hands, and turns out daily about six thousand pounds of manilla and and other paper. The junior members of the firm are Edward and James M. Lincoln. The mill was established in 1850 by Caleb M. and Lorenzo Lincoln. On the death of the first-named, a few years afterwards, the firm-name was changed to that of L. Lincoln & Co. The firm has been burnt out twice, the last time in 1881. The new building is a substantial brick structure, and the mill is probably one of the best appointed in the State. The property is owned by the Dighton Manufacturing Company, a firm that was incorporated in 1822 for the manufacture of cotton goods, in what was called Wheeler's factory. At that time the company consisted of Israel Brayton, Oliver Chace, Eliab B. Dean, Elisha Lincoln, Nahum Mitchell, James Maxwell, Clark Shove, Nicholas Stevens, Nathaniel Wheeler, and Nathan Williams. The company is not now engaged in manufacturing, but leases all its property. It owns real estate on the Taunton side of the river, as well as in Dighton, including the " pipe-shop" on the east side. This building was formerly occupied by George F. Gavitt, in company with others, for the manufacture of gaspipes. It has lately been converted into a woolwashing establishment, under the firm-name of Scott & Talbot. The water-power privilege is owned by the Dighton Manufacturing Company. This company formerly had a small cupola furnace on the " island," where castings of various kinds were made. Nearly two centuries ago there was an iron-furnace on the island, owned by members of the Walker family, of Taunton, who also owned several hundred acres of land in the vicinity. The Walkers manufactured iron from bog-ore dug on their own land. Further reference to this iron-works will be found in the appendix, in the genealogical history of the Walkers, and also a brief mention of Nicholas Stevens' saw- and grist-mill that stood near the ironworks.

Although situated in Taunton, yet the Dighton Furnace Company's works are so near the boundary line as to make the name seem not inappropriate. Besides, the works employ numbers of Dighton men, and the treasurer, Mr. James H. Codding, is a resident of this town. Not far from one hundred and fifty men are employed in this establishment, which is a great aid to the prosperity of North Dighton village. If the boundary line between Dighton and Taunton had been established as was at first contem- plated when this town was laid out, the Dighton Furnace Works, the wool-washing establishment, Rose's nickel-plating shop, the North Dighton Railroad depot, with twenty or thirty dwelling-houses and several hundred acres of land, which are now within the limits of Taunton, would belong to this town. The division line between Dighton and Taunton, starting from near the northwest corner of this town, runs in a straight line in a southeasterly course until it reaches the pond just above the Mount Hope mill ; thence it follows the sinuous course of Three- Mile River down to its junction with Taunton River. When Dighton was laid out it was proposed that the northern boundary line, instead of following down the Three-Mile River, should continue straight on in the southeasterly course to Taunton River, and across the latter stream to the Freetown line. This would have brought the irregularly triangular tract between the Three-Mile River and Taunton River into this town, where it naturally belongs.

There are many good reasons for having this proposed boundary line established now, and the triangular strip of territory mentioned annexed to Dighton. This would do away with the mistakes and confusion arising from the fact that the North Dighton Railroad depot and the Dighton Furnace are now in Taunton. Besides, to use the language of diplomacy, it would " rectify our frontier," and would unite under one town government the village that has grown up on both sides of Three-Mile River, and which now is inconvenienced by being partly under town and partly under municipal government. It is believed, besides, that annexation to this town would be no detriment, but an advantage to those dwelling on the territory in question, or owning real estate there, through the much lower rate of taxation prevailing in this town than in Taunton. The question of annexation, however, is one in which the people on the territory described must take the initiative.

Water-Power of the Segreganset. - The Segreganset River runs its course almost wholly within the limits of this town. Excepting near its mouth, where it joins the Taunton, it is little more than a brook. One branch of it rises in the west part of the town, near Goffs Hill, and another takes its rise in the extreme northwest corner; these branches unite at the pond, just above the saw-mill and grist-mill of J. T. W. Reed. At this point, on the east side of the road, there was formerly a small cotton-mill, called the White-Birch factory, which was burnt more than forty years ago, while it was being run by David Westcoat, now of Taunton. Just above the site of the White-Birch mill one Simeon Williams had a saw-mill in the last century, and near by was, at a later date, the lap-mill of Joshua Williams, the building having been previously used for the making of plugs for ship-carpenters' use by Isaac Babbitt. About a quarter of a mile west of the brick meetinghouse is the pond that gives power for the forge and grist-mill of Albert Briggs, son of Joseph Briggs, who carried on business here for many years. The property has been in the family for a long period. About one hundred and eighty years ago one Matthew Briggs came over from England, and brought the machinery for a forge and grist-mill, which was set up at this place. Mr. Briggs was one of the deacons of the Congregational Church. A part of his business was the makiug of pod-augers for carpenters' use, that being in the " good old pod-auger days," before the screw-auger was invented.

Just below the Briggs Forge, and not far from Leonard Horton's house, there was many years ago a fulling-mill, all traces of which, as well as its history, have long ago disappeared. A short distance below the east and west road that leads to the Upper Four Corners is a stone building which was built in 1822, by Capt. David Perry, for a machine-shop. On his failure in business the property was sold, and the building was afterwards occupied as a tack-mill by various parties. About a quarter of a mile below the stone building there was, many years ago, a flaxseed-oil mill, but by whom it was owned or when it was built are not now known. It was an unfortunate concern, and the machinery was said to have been bewitched by an old woman who had a spite against the owner. No sooner was it started to running than some part of it would break down. The iron spindle of the millstone seemed to be the particular object of the old lady's evil spells, for it would melt down almost as soon as the mill started, although its bearings were liberally supplied with tallow and other lubricants. That was long after the time of that zealous divine and witchhunter, Cotton Mather, and none of the women of the neighborhood were hung or tortured on suspicion of having bewitched the oil-mill. The building was afterwards used as a tub- and pail-factory by a Mr. Willard, the lower part being used by Mr. Cummings as a blacksmith-shop. The witch spell seemed to cling to it to the end, for it took fire from friction one night, and was destroyed. A plank had been run through the spokes of the water-wheel to prevent its turning, but a freshet coming on, the pressure of the water broke the plank, and the machinery started into rapid motion. As there was not enough oil on the bearings to prevent friction, the building was in flames before morning. Afterwards a saw-mill was built on the site by Joseph Briggs. About half a mile below the site of the oil-mill was the tack-factory of Nathaniel Leonard & Son, built about the year 1845, and which ran twenty-two machines until within a few years, when the concern was sold out to the combination of tack manufacturers, and has since

Mr. Leonard was a skillful mechanic, and for some years was the only manufacturer in the county of the plated rolls used by jewelers. He was also the inventor of a tack-machine identical with what is called the Blanchard machine, but was forestalled in getting a patent by Blanchard. Some distance below the Leonard1 factory, on the road that was formerly one of the boundaries between Dighton and Wellington, was the grist-mill known as Simmons' mill, which has not been running for many years.

Of all the many manufacturing enterprises that have been started on the Segreganset River only two are in operation at the present time, Mr. Reed's sawmill and Mr. Briggs' forge and grist-mill. Elderly and middle-aged people, who have been familiar with the stream from boyhood, say that the amount of water it carries down is much less than was the case when they were young. This is probably true of the other streams in this town. They have apparently shrunk within the last thirty or forty years. The reason for this shrinkage is no doubt to be found in the cutting off of the woods in the north and west part of the town.

Sally Richmond's Brook. - This stream, named for one of the old maiden ladies before mentioned, takes its rise in the swamps northwest of. Hunter's Hill, runs at first a northeasterly course, crossing the road leading to Pitts' Corner from the Four Corners twice, then turns southeasterly, skirting the base of Richmond Hill, and loses itself in the oozy flats of Muddy Cove, near the color-works of J. C. Jessop &Co.

There were formerly in operation on this small stream a shingle-mill and a forge, both on the west road. The first, owned by Gen. William Peck, who used to saw cedar shingles in the winter, there not generally being water enough in the summer for the purpose. Gen. William Peck, who owned the farm that formerly belonged to the father of Commodore Talbot, was born in Swansea, April 12, 1795. His father's name was Thomas, who married Elizabeth Mason, of Swansea. William Peck was colonel of the First Regiment, Second Brigade of the county militia from Aug. 27, 1828, to Sept. 11, 1830, when he was promoted brigadier-general of the Second Brigade, consisting of five regiments and a battalion of artillery. He was also president of the court-martial which met in Boston for the trial of Lieut.-Col. G. S. Wiuthrop for failing to properly do escort duty with his command on election-day in 1832. His unflinching firmness on this occasion and his somewhat stern expression of features won him, in the newspaper reports of the affair, the sobriquet of Gen. Pluck. He married Lemira Mason, daughter of Job Mason, of Swansea. They had four daughters, whom he used to term his bushel of girls. His death occurred in October, 1851, his wife surviving him three years.

1 The Leonards came from Wales, and have always been noted in the working anil manufacture of iron ever since the two brothers, James and Henry Leonard, came over in 1652, and, in company with Balph Kussel, set up in Taunton (now Kaynham) the first iron-works built in this country.

shingle-mill. There was a small pond in the rear, from which a flume led to the undershot-wheel that carried the tilt-hammer. Mr. Briggs was a man of Falstaffian proportions, and almost of Falstaffian humor. He was quick at repartee, his eyes would twinkle under his round spectacles, and his rotund form would shake with laughter at anything that tickled his fancy. He was, withal, a skillful smith, and could make almost anything in his line from a horse-nail to a monkey-wrench. His forge being near the school-house, the boys used to find it a fascinating place of resort during recess, especially when the trip-hammer was in motion, sending horizontal showers of sparks from the white mass of metal it was beating into shape. Mr. Briggs was captain of the Second Company of Dighton militia from 1818 to 1822. His father's name was Matthew, and he was a seventh son ; he also had seven sons, the youngest of whom ought, according to the old superstition about seventh son of seventh son, to be endowed with the gift of curing by touch the king's evil. Matthew Briggs' forge has long been torn down, the dam leveled, and the pond converted into a meadow.

The only manufacturing establishment now in operation on Sally Richmond's Brook is the colorgrinding works of J. C. Jessop & Co., already mentioned, steam being the motive power, and the water of the little pond, formed by a dam across the stream, being only used for manufacturing purposes. From twenty to twenty-five hands are employed, and the colors produced are chiefly intended for the printing of wall-papers. The building was erected in 1861 for the manufacture of woolen cloths. A company was formed consisting of Capt. William Cobb, of this town, George G/ Crocker, of Taunton, Dr. Samuel West, of Tiverton, R. I., Thomas Whitridge, of Baltimore, and others. The capital stock was at first forty thousand dollars, afterwards increased to fifty thousand dollars, and then to seventy-five thousand dollars. In 1864 the company held property, according to a sworn statement of the directors, valued at one hundred and twenty-nine thousand dollars, with a debt of eighty-one thousand dollars. George G. Crocker was the first president of the company, and Capt. Cobb, treasurer. The business was not conducted so as to be financially profitable, and after the establishment was burned, in 1867, an upper story of wood was built on to the brick walls, which remained standing, and the manufacture of furniture was commenced by a new company, with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars. Of the six hundred shares, Capt. Cobb held two hundred and ninety. The other principal shareholders were Gordon Bartlett, of Salem, Stephen Bartlett, of Charlestown, and Edward Gordon, of Boston, the latter being president of the company. The manufacture of furniture did not prove profitable, and the business was soon abandond, and the company dissolved. The building was next used for the manufacture of white-lead, and was known as the

Albion Lead-Works. Capt. Cobb was a large stockholder, as were several prominent Taunton men. The business was conducted at a loss for some years. May 2, 1878, early in the morning, the building was burned for the second time. It has since been partially rebuilt by the color-works company.

Capt. William Cobb, previously mentioned as prominently connected with the woolen-mill, the furniture factory, and the lead-works, was also concerned in manufacturing enterprises in the buildings near the town-landing, now owned and occupied by the Dighton Stove-Lining Company. The first manufacturing establishment on this site was a steam saw-mill erected more than a generation ago, and used for the manufacture of shingles from southern cedar, nailkegs, sashes, blinds, and doors. This building was burnt while it was occupied by Shove and Sturtevant, sash, door, and blind manufacturers. It was rebuilt by a joint-stock company, of which Capt. Cobb, Anthony Reed, and others were members, Mr. Reed being the agent. The business was not conducted so as to be profitable, and the establishment was soon turned into a tack manufactory under other managers, and styled the Union Manufacturing Company, of which Capt. Cobb was the president. The capital stock of this company in 1857 was sixteen thousand dollars. Stephen Rhodes was the treasurer and in 1861 was president of the company. In 1865 a new company was formed under the name of the Dighton Tack Company, in which several Boston men were interested, Jeremiah Abbott of that city being the president. The capital stock of this company in 1866 was eighty thousand dollars, and the amount of property belonging to it was estimated in the sworn certificate of the directors to be one hundred and forty-three thousand dollars, with liabilities amounting to fifty-four thousand dollars. After other changes in the ownership the tack manufactory was bought by the combination of tack manufacturers, and the business was abandoned in Dighton. The premises have since been used for the manufacture of stove-linings and fire-brick.

In 1866 a builing was erected just north of the tack factory for an iron-works, and a company was formed under the name of the Dighton Rolling-mill Company, of which Enoch Robinson, Jr., was president, and Capt. Cobb treasurer. The capital stock was forty-four thousand dollars. In 1868 the capital stock was increased to eighty thousand dollars. In the great gale of September, 1869, the building was partially wrecked, and soon afterwards it was burnt to the ground by an incendiary fire. The business had not proved a profitable one as it had been managed, and the works were not rebuilt.

William Cobb was born in Taunton in 1811. He was the son of Charles and Rhoda, nee Dean. He was connected, though not by direct descent, with Gen. David Cobb, of the Revolutionary period, who afterwards, during Shay's rebellion, when the courthouse in Taunton was threatened by an angry mob, emphatically informed the turbulent crowd that he would " either sit as a judge, or die as a general."

Capt. Cobb came to Dighton to reside about the year 1837, and was followed by his brothers George and Benjamin, who were also sea-captains. He bought the farm that was formerly the Bragg farm. In 1840, in connection with other parties, he built the bark " Elizabeth Hall." In 1849 he went to California in command of the bark " Ann," carrying a company of gold-hunters. After his return he gave up the sea, and entered into business pursuits on the land. He built a large wharf and store now owned by the Old Colony Iron Company, and was for many years the agent of that company in transporting their coal and iron to East Taunton. He also built a number of vessels at his wharf, the last of which, built in 1874, was a barkentine, named for himself. In 1857 the Rhode Island coal-mine was bought by a company consisting of himself, Samuel L., and George A. Crocker. He was one of the originators of the Dighton and Somerset Railroad Company, and was president of the company when the charter was sold to the Old Colony Company. He also contracted to build the bridge across the river at Somerset, one of the longest bridges in New England, and took the contract to cut through the " Pinnacle" ledge in Stoughton, after other contractors had abandoned the work. He was also influential in getting the new carriage-road built from Dighton to Somerset, across Broad Cove, and also the one starting from near his house, and running north across Segreganset River, to join the old stage-road.1 Capt. Cobb was also interested in the brick business at Medford, in this State, and at Haverstraw, on the Hudson River. He died suddenly, of heart-disease, in his state-room, on board of one of the Fall River and New York steamboats, while on his way home from the latter city, July 31, 1875. Capt. Cobb was twice married. His first wife was a Peckham, by whom he had two children. His second wife was Miss Emma Lubec, of this town, by whom he had three sons and two daughters.

Whatever judgment may be passed upon Capt. Cobb's business methods, and some of them have been severely criticised, no one who knew him will deny that he was a man of energetic and enterprising character, of large personal magnetism, enabling him to secure the co-operation of others in any project or undertaking in which he was interested, or that he was kind and genial in his relations to his family and his friends.

Various Topics. - Dighton has been represented in mathematics by John D. Williams, son of Jared and Martha, who was born in the year 1800. He was early in life quite noted as a mathematician, and i Capt. Cobb and Charles W. Brigs* '""^ u"' contract to build Broad Cove bridge, which wan built in 1855. The new road and bridge over the Segreganset were limit the same year. Theso improvements were much n led, and have been a great convenience to the traveling public.

published a little text-book on algebra, which has long been out of print. The author was not remarkable for intelligence in matters outside of the domain of figures or their algebraic symbols, thus adding another to the many similar illustrations of the psychologic fact that the mathematical faculty is frequently largely developed in people of otherwise very ordinary intellectual gifts.

Mr. Williams was a mason by trade. He took the contract to build the city hall in Fall River, but the city authorities, after he had worked for some time, perceiving that the work was not being properly done, annulled the contract and gave the job to another person. Mr. Williams led a somewhat irregular life, and, having laid by nothing for a rainy day, his closing years were spent in the almshouse. His father, .Tared Williams, was a very peculiar and eccentric man, especially in his speech.

In art this town has furnished a worthy representative in Jesse Talbot, son of Josiah and Lydia, who resided on a farm in the northwest part of the town.

Jesse was born April 1, 1805, and was the youngest of eight children. Before he had reached the age of manhood he went to Dedham, in this State, and was employed as a clerk in the store of Dr. Wheaton. From Dedham he removed to New York City, where he was appointed secretary of the American Tract Society and married the daughter of a clergyman. Having shown considerable talent in drawing and painting in his youth, he was induced by the persuasions of his friends, as well as by his own inclination, to adopt the profession of a landscape painter. Thenceforward he devoted his life to the practice of his art, and with considerable success, his pictures finding a ready sale, and many of them being engraved on steel for the magazines and annuals of that p>eriod. His pictures of views on the Hudson River and Rockland Lake were especially admired.

Probably many worldly-wise people would have considered Jesse Talbot's adoption of the profession of landscape painter, at a time when there was not nearly the taste for art in the United States that there is at present, and when artistic work was comparatively poorly remunerated, as having some connection with his having been born on " All-Fools' day." Yet, if he did not amass a fortune by his art, as Bierstadt, Church, and a few other American artists have done in later years, he at least secured a moderate competence; and probably with him, as with many others, the practice of his art was its own exceeding great reward, and pecuniary considerations were of secondary importance.

Dighton Rock. - Any sketch, however fragmentary, of the history of this town that made no mention of Dighton Rock would be, to use the hackneyed simile, like the play of Hamlet with the part of the Prince of Denmark left out, or, to use a fresher and more apposite comparison, it would be like a description of Newport with no mention of the old Stone Mill.

In considering the diverse theories that have been advanced as to the genesis of the sculptured characters on this famous rock, and the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of proving or disproving either of them, it would seem as if the genius of mystery were brooding over the spot, hiding with an impenetrable curtain the meaning of the semi-obliterated characters, and one recalls the inscription before the mysterious temple of Isis, "Yesterday, to-day, forever, and no mortal hath lifted my veil."

That the controversy over this rock is not yet entirely settled to the satisfaction of everybody is in part owing to the wearing effect of ice and waves for hundreds of years on the sculptured face of this bowlder of gneiss, making it a matter of great difficulty to trace some of the shallow lines of the figures among the natural seams and crevices of the stone, and to this difficulty of following the lines, as they were originally chiseled into the rock, is to be attributed the fact that no two drawings of the characters by different people that were ever made would agree in all respects when compared together. This diversity or disagreement in the drawings that have been made of the rock is strikingly shown in the " Antiquitates Americana?," a tri-lingual, quarto work, published nearly half a century ago by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen. In this work there are nine drawings of the rock, taken by different people, at different times, no two of which are alike. The first of these attempted representations of the characters on the rock was by Dr. Dan forth, in 1680. The second has been attributed to Cotton Mather, in 1712. It bears not the slightest resemblance to the sculptured characters, but appears as if executed by a person having the St. Vitus' dance or the delirium tremens. Then follow other drawings, of more or less accuracy, one of the best being by Dr. William Baylies, of this town. The best drawing in the series was furnished by the Rhode Island Historical Society, and was the one chiefly relied upon by the Danish savants in studying the character of the inscription, which, it is well known, they decided to be the work of the roving Northmen in the eleventh century. If they did not succeed in proving beyond doubt that Dighton Rock is a Scandinavian relic, they at least succeeded, by the publication in the " Antiquitates Americanse" of the old Icelandic sagas or histories, in proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the Norse freebooters discovered this continent, and made some attempts to colonize it, centuries before Christopher Columbus was born, and that the site of the ancient Vinland, mentioned in these sagas, was probably in the southeastern part of what is now New England.

The party of Norsemen, whom the Danish antiquaries supposed to have made the characters on Dighton Rock, came over to Vinland (so called from the abundance of grapes that grew wild there) in the year 1007. The leader's name was Thorfinn Karlsefue, or Thorfinn the Hopeful. He left Greenland with three vessels and one hundred and sixty-one men, but the men in one vessel mutinied, and turned back to Greenland. Other parties of Norsemen had previously visited Vinland, which Professor Rafu and his co-laborers supposed to be the region of country bordering Narragansett Bay and Taunton River. Most of the characters in the drawings of the rock they could make nothing of, but there was a group near the centre of the inscription which they deciphered to be the Runic characters standing for the name of Thorfinn, above which were the Roman numerals CXXXI, followed by a character which they decided to be an anaglyph, standing for the word men. Since that time the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries has been supplied with a photograph of the rock, and it is said they now think that they were in error in claiming Dighton rock as a Scandinavian relic, so that those who think the inscription merely an example of the rude pictographs of the Indians, of which specimens of the same general character are to be found in other parts of the country, now meet with little opposition to their views. Such was the opinion of Professor Schoolcraft, who visited the rock twice, some thirty or forty years ago. On his first visit he was inclined to think that the inscription was of a mixed character, part Indian and part Runic, or Scandinavian, but on his last visit he decided that it was wholly the work of the aborigines. Professor Schoolcraft, though not a runologist, was well versed in all that pertains to the manners, customs, and art of the Indians, as is evidenced in his great work, published by the government, on the Indian tribes.

On another page are representations in outline of the characters on Dighton Rock, and also of a genuine Runic inscription from Greenland, the undoubted work of the Northmen, together with a fac-simile of an Indian pictographic inscription on a rock in New Mexico. The latter is copied from a wood-cut in the government report of the Southern Pacific Railroad survey. A glance at the three inscriptions will show the reader the great general resemblance between the characters on Dighton Rock and those on the New Mexican rock. They were evidently executed by people of the same state of artistic development, or the lack of it, while the Runic inscription, which has been translated, is arranged in a systematic and readable way, and is composed of well-formed letters or characters. It does not seem probable that the Northmen, who executed the Greenland Runes, could have descended so far as to scratch out the puerile hotchpotch of characters on Dighton Rock, which bear intrinsic evidence of being the work of a savage race.

Yet notwithstanding that the weight of evidence is against the supposition that this rock is a relic of the Norsemen, as it is also in the case of the Newport round-tower, there is little doubt that the accounts of the Scandinavian discovery and attempted colonization of this continent in the eleventh century, as given in the " Antiquitates Americana?," are substantially true, and that to Leif Ericsson belongs the honor of being the first European to land on the shores of "that new world which is the old."

A Dighton Sampson. - The extraordinary exploit of Samuel Briggs in capturing a buck has been related in another part of this sketch. Samuel displayed in that affair uncommon pluck, endurance, and tenacity of purpose, but his renown was eclipsed in the first half of this century by the great strength, courage, and prowess of another Briggs, who was known in this and neighboring towns as Stout George. As one of the celebrities of Dighton and the product of a state of society that has disappeared forever, he merits some little mention.

George Washington Briggs was born June 27, 1776, in the stirring times just preceding the Declaration of Independence. He was the son of James and Hannah, and was the fifth of ten children, six boys and four girls. Several others of the family were endowed with great physical strength and activity, particularly the oldest son, James, who is said to have nearly equaled George in these respects. These virile family gifts were shared, though of course in a less degree, by the girls. The oldest daughter, Nancy, became insane early in life. She is represented as having been a very handsome woman, tall, finely formed, with a queenly dignity of bearing and uncommon muscular strength, which she sometimes used in overmastering those who had charge of her.

George in his early days was a seafaring man. Many stories of his adventures on sea and land have been handed down, of which the following are given as specimens. While yet a young man he was on one occasion mate of the ship " Pomona," of which Capt. John Pierce, of this town, was master. They were bound for Valparaiso with a cargo of lumber, which was part dry and part green, the dry having been put in the hold and the green, heavy lumber on deck. This made the ship very crank and top-heavy. Capt. Pierce was overfond of ardent spirits, his indulgence in which often unfitted him for the management of the vessel. When nearing the end of the voyage heavy weather was experienced, and the ship was put under close-reefed topsails. While it was yet blowing a stiff gale, the captain, in his usual semi-inebriated condition, and as obstinate as the proverbial mule, came upon deck and ordered the reefs to be shaken out of the topsails. " Captain Pierce," said George, " the ship has as much sail now as she can carry. If the reefs are shaken out she will capsize." This remonstrance had no effect upon the muddled intellect of the captain.1 The men were ordered aloft and the reefs were shaken out, but scarcely were the topsails

1 Capt. Pierce fell a victim to his habits of inebriation. His death was caused by bis jumping out of a chamber window during a fit of delirium tremens ami breaking his neck.

sheeted home and the yards braced to the wind when a fierce squall struck the ship abeam, and over she went. The deck-load of lumber was instantly swept oft', but still the vessel remained on her side, the officers and crew clinging for dear life to the rigging or belaying-pins to prevent being washed overboard by the seas that swept over the ship.

Briggs was now virtually in command, and determined to make an effort to right the ship. Tying a line to his waist, he crept along forward, clinging with vise-like grip to the weather bulwarks, over which the waves were sweeping, and cut the lanyards of each topmast-shroud in succession. The topmasts, unable to bear the additional strain, snapped off at the caps, and the ship suddenly righted, with all her top-hamper gone, and rolling like a log in the trough of the sea. They drifted in this condition for some days, having scarcely any sail set, when they fell in with a mass of wreckage, which, singularly enough, proved to be the ship's top-hamper, which had been cut adrift when she capsized. The floating spars and sails were secured, and the ship, partially rigged again, proceeded on her voyage, and arrived in a few days at Valparaiso.

On their arrival in port new perils awaited the crew. There was a British man-of-war in the harbor, one of the most dreaded of objects to the crews of merchant vessels, for at that time the crews in the British armed vessels were recruited by means of press-gangs, the brutal commanders of which were not at all particular whether the men they seized in their raids were British subjects or not. Soon after the arrival of the " Pomona" in port, Briggs and three of the crew were on shore, when they met a press-gang of nine men from the British vessel. These men were armed with muskets, with fixed bayonets, though, as afterwards appeared, the guns were not loaded.

The commanding officer of the press-gang accosted one of the crew of the "Pomona" and demanded to see his protection. The man handed over the document, which was such as every American seaman was obliged to carry with him, when the officer immediately tore up the paper and directed his men to arrest the man. Another of the " Pomona's" men met with similar treatment, his certificate of American citizenship being torn up and the man being placed under arrest. The only man at liberty now, besides Briggs, was an Englishman named Owen, who of course had no protection, and who did not relish the idea of being impressed on board of a man-ofwar. Owen was an active, powerful man, though less herculean in strength than Briggs. While the press-gang were arresting the others these two had determined not to be captured without a struggle for liberty. Briggs carried a heavy club, some two inches thick at the large end, on which was an ugly knob.1 Owen had also managed to secure a club.

The captain of the gang now stepped up to Briggs, and in an insolent tone demanded his protection. "There is my protection!" said Briggs, as he dealt the officer a blow over the head that felled him in his tracks. The two determined men now rushed at the press-gang, dealing death with almost every blow of their clubs. Five of the men were killed on the spot, and the others were placed hors de combat. Owen, or "Johnny Bull," as he was called by his shipmates, received a bayonet-thrust through the leg, which in the excitement of the melee he did not feel, but when the fight was over found his shoe full of blood. Briggs and Owen thought it best to keep out of the way after their encounter with the press-gang, until the " Pomona" was ready to sail, as the captain of the British vessel had sworn to kill or capture them, and had a force of men detailed for the purpose. In after-years Briggs was loth to speak of this adventure, and could never do so without tears in his eyes. It was such rough work, he said, that he did not like to think of it.

On the return voyage Owen became ugly and mutinous, and Capt. Pierce requested Briggs to chastise him, which he effectually did by a single blow of his fist, sending the rebellious Englishman reeling backwards over the windlass. When he finally picked himself up all the ugliness appeared to have been knocked out of him, and he gave no further trouble during the voyage.

Briggs afterwards went to Liverpool in the "Pomona," and while the ship was unloading at that port he displayed several feats of strength that drew attention to him from the sailors and wharf-laborers in the vicinity. Among the classes mentioned it was deemed that the honor of the city required that a man should be found who could beat this young Yankee athlete in feats of strength. Among the stalwart porters, stevedores, and coal-heavers of Liverpool are always to be found a few men of remarkable physical strength, and generally there is one who so far surpasses the rest in muscular force as to be considered a sort of champion, to be called upon at any time to maintain the city's prestige for men of muscle.

At the time referred to the champion strong man was an Irish porter named O'Brien, a heavily-built, brawny-limbed man of some fifteen stone weight. In company with a number of his companions he went on board of the " Pomona" to challenge Briggs to a trial of strength. "The top of the morning till yez, captain," said he, accosting Capt. Price. " Bedad, it's meself, Johnny O'Brien, that wants to see the broth of a bye they're afther tellin' yez have on board."

Surmising what the man's errand was, Capt. Pierce called Briggs up from below, and introduced him to his visitor, who at once proceeded to business, and proposed a trial of strength in lifting one of the heavy ship's anchors that lay on the wharf. Briggs readily accepted the proposal, and requested O'Brien to show his strength first. The Irishman accordingly placed his hands under the shank of one of the huge anchors, and with great effort succeeeded in raising it so that the lower fluke just cleared the ground, a feat that prohably no other man in the city could have performed. It was now Briggs' turn ; he stooped over and grasped the shank of the anchor, and then requested O'Brien to get up on his hack and sit on his shoulders while he lifted. The Irishman demurred at such a proceeding at first, but was finally pursuaded to comply with Briggs' request, when the latter straightened himself up under the combined weight of the anchor and the Irishman's two hundred pounds avoirdupois.1

George Briggs was about five feet ten inches in height, massively built, broad-shouldered, deepchested, large-limbed. In the keen steel-gray eyes that looked out from under his bushy eyebrows there were indications that this was not the sort of man to play tricks with or to impose upon with impunity. After he had left off his roving, seafaring life, and had settled down upon his farm near the Upper Four Corners, the fame of his exploits became noised abroad, and he had many visitors from the neighboring towns, who came to satisfy their curiosity with a sight of " Stout George," not unfrequently interfering, to his annoyance, with his work. It is related that on one occasion, while he was at work on the upper part of his farm, which was quite a distance from the house, a stranger dismounted at the gate, hitched his saddle-horse, and inquired of Mrs. Briggs for her husband. She told the man where he was at work, that he was very busy, and did not want to be called from his work upon any trivial pretense. As the stranger persisted in his desire to see Mr. Briggs, she, supposing he had some business of importance, put on her bonnet and went for her husband. The latter, not in a very amiable mood from being interfered with in the work, which he was hurrying to finish before night, came down to the house, where he found his visitor leaning against the wall by the road. The latter introduced himself, and said that, happening along that way, he could not go past until he had seen the man about whom he had heard such remarkable stories. While he was talking, if he had known the indications, he would undoubtedly have seen " danger signals" flying in Briggs' eyes.

"Well, my friend," said George, "now you have seen me, you may as well trot along about your business, and I will help you over the wall." As he spoke he seized his astonished visitor by the coat-collar and the slack part of his trowsers and tossed him over the wall, so that he landed near the middle of the road.

1 When Briggs bad shown the Irish champion what he could do in the way of lifting he suggested a square tight to see which was thi man with the fift.<, but tin- Hibernian, although a noted bruiser, excused himself from entering the lists with so formidable an antagonist, and the fight did not come off.

This story in course of time became exaggerated, as stories are apt to become, and it was seriously related that the horse had been thrown over the wall as well as its rider.

Briggs' remarkable constitution would probably have carried him well on towards his hundredth year if he had taken ordinary care of himself. He worked on Howland's Ferry bridge while it was building, and was accustomed to dive down in deep water and adjust the heavy stones for the foundations of the piers. Such work as that must have shortened his life many years. Towards the close of his life only the wreck of his splendid physique remained, and he could only hobble about with a crutch or sit at his front window and watch the passers-by, many of whom would stop to talk with him. But even in his decrepitude he had the strength of two or three ordinary men. His son-in-law, Mr. Ashley, relates that once, having a large stone, much heavier at one end than the other, to place on top of a wall, and not knowing how to get it there, the old man hobbled out and told him and another man who was with him that if they would lift the small end of the stone he would lift the heavy end, which he accordingly did with apparent ease. While he was in his prime he built, unaided, save by some slight assistance from his wife, a Cyclopean wall, bordering the road, which has attracted the attention of thousands of travelers by its massive cap-stones. It is to be hoped that this wall will be permitted to stand for many years, as the fitting monument of one of the strongest and most active men that this country has ever produced.

Richmond Hill. - The most considerable eminence in this township is Richmond Hill, in the southeast part. Compared with Tom, or Holyoke, or Waehusett, or even with the Blue Hills of Milton, its elevation is very moderate, being but little more than two hundred feet, but it is nevertheless an interesting spot to visit to the student of physical science, as well as to the lover of natural scenery. The view from its rocky summit takes in the Blue Hills on the north, Mount Hope on the south, and the Cumberland Hills, in Rhode Island, on the west. Portions of the cities of Taunton, Fall River, and Providence are visible, as well as the towns of Somerset, Freetown, Berkh-v, Attleborough, Norton, Raynham, and Rehobotli. More than forty church spires can be counted with the aid of a glass on a clear day in winter. The windings of Taunton River can be traced for several miles.

The singular gorge through the rocks on the top of the hill seems made on purpose to accommodate the road that runs through it. It is evidently one of the furrows left by the great ice-plow that tore its waxover the hill from the northward in the last glacial period, and which must have reduced the height of the hill very materially. The marks of glacial action are very distinct here. The rock in place, a graywacke conglomerate, or pudding-stone, has been ground down, polished, and grooved by the stones imbedded in the ancient glacier, which, according to Agassiz and other scientists, once covered the northern portion of this continent to the depth of hundreds of feet, and slowly moved, with irresistible force, in a southerly direction. Huge masses of rock were torn from this hill and shoved along to the south, in some cases, for several miles. The large bowlder in Somerset known as the Hanging, or Toad Rock, and which weighs probably more than a hundred tons, was originally a part of this hill.

The conglomerate which underlies this town, as well as a large portion of the rest of Bristol County, is composed of rounded fragments of a much older rock, which were broken from the parent ledges perhaps hundreds of thousands of years ago, then rolled upon the shores of the primeval sea for a long period of time, until they become rounded and polished, after which, owing to an increase of the temperature of the earth's crust at this point, the clayey mud that filled their interstices became hardened into stone by heat. Then the rock was gradually raised by forces in the interior of the globe to its present height above the ocean. Scarcely any fossils are to be found in this rock. Some of the nodules or pebbles when broken show the blackened casts of a small, bivalve shell-fish, a species of lingula, an ancient, diminutive representative of the modern clam. The late Professor William B. Rogers visited the hill some years ago on purpose to get specimens of these fossil shell-fish. In a pasture on the southern slope of the hill is a curiosity of the vegetable kingdom. This is a prostrate juniper, Juniperus communis. It is nowhere more than two feet in height, while its branches extend outward from the centre to the distance of a dozen feet on all sides, making the tree resemble a large green mat. Smaller specimens of this tree are not uncommon, but it rarely grows to so large a size as the one on Richmond Hill.

Hunter's Hill. - About three-fourths of a mile west of Beal's Rocks, on Richmond Hill, is Hunter's Hill, an elevation somewhat less in height than the former and without its rocky features. The hill was a noted resort for hunters in the early years of the town's settlement, hence the name, which it retains to the present day. From its summit they could see all over the large clearing, or Indian plantation, that has been described, and whether any deer had come out of the forest, as they frequently did, to browse on the vegetation of the clearing. Then the hunters would hasten down the hill and through the woods to get within range, taking care to keep to leeward of the keen-scented animals. At that time, the date of which is uncertain, although it must have been nearly two hundred years ago, there was probably a log house or hunter's lodge on the hill. The first frame house that was built there was put up by one Elijah King, who owned the hill about one hundred and fifty years ago. This old house was torn down in 1838 by Rescome Hart, the then owner of the

One of the owners of Hunter's Hill after King was Capt. Samuel Talbot, brother to the commodore. He married Capt. Stephen Beal's widow, and had two sons. After his death, which was towards the close of the last century, his widow and one son emigrated to Kentucky. At that period there was a Kentucky fever raging in this town, and about twenty men, with a number of women and children, left for that far-away land at one time. At Johnston, N. Y., the party was increased by the addition of all of Commodore Talbot's children, who were living in that town. The journey from Dighton to Kentucky occupied several months' time, much of the way being through an unbroken wilderness. All of the emigrants, so far as is known, liked their new home and prospered in their worldly affairs. Capt. Samuel Talbot's widow wrote to her friends here when she was eighty-three that she had taken a long horseback ride that day, and enjoyed life as much as when she was a girl. This remarkable rejuvenescence was, no doubt, due to plenty of exercise in the open air.

In old times there were many more houses and inhabitants in the vicinity of Hunter's Hill than at present. There are the sites of some half-dozen demolished dwellings to the north, west, and south of the hill, and there are four old cellars on Richmond Hill. The old King house, on Hunter's Hill, which was torn down by Mr. Hart, was once used by the town as an inoculating hospital for the smallpox. Upwards of one hundred persons were inoculated with the disorder there, and on their recovery were thoroughly fumigated in a smoke-house that stood near the house. Old people, forty or more years ago, used frequently to tell of the fun they had when they were in the smallpox hospital.

Besides Richmond and Hunter's Hills there are two rounded crests of land in the western part of the town, known as Davis' Hill and Goff's Hill, the latter, named from Elder GofF, being near the Rehoboth line, and the former, running northerly from Pitt's Corner, also known as Flat Rock, from a large, smooth ledge of graywacke that crops out there, and furnishes further interesting evidence of glacial action in a long-past geological epoch. Ledges of graywacke also crop out in other parts of the town, and even in the river, where it forms two rocky islets. The most southerly of these islets is known to mariners as the Whale Rock, it being at some stages of the tide, to use the words of Polonius, "very like a whale." The other islet lies just above the Old Colony Iron Company's wharf, and has long been known

1 Mr. Hart came to this town in 1826 from Bristol, R. I., and bought the farm on Hunter's Hill. He was a man of intelligence and with a taste for reading. He was the father of Henry W. Hart, of North Dighton, and of William T. Hart, a wealthy resident of Boston, and for many years president of the New York and New England Railroad. Rescome Hart died Nov. 4, 1855, set. seventy-nine. His wife, Sarah, died July 5, 1806, set. eighty-three years.

The True Story of Reuben's Island. - As the exact date of the incident about to be related is not known, it might perhaps be allowable to commence with the old formula of the nursery tales, " Once upon a time," but it is possible to be a little more definite than that.

Near the beginning of the present century there lived in the town of Berkley, across the river from Dighton, a young man, a farmer's son, named Reuben Phillips. This youth had a sweetheart named Nancy Simmons on the Dighton side of the stream, whom he was accustomed to visit on Sunday evenings, and perhaps at other times. It would appear that he did not own a boat, but was in the habit of borrowing one with or without the leave of the owners. One sultry evening in summer he started from home just at dusk, appareled in his Sunday suit, and came down to the crossing-place, where he found a skiff', which he jumped into and rowed, as he thought, across the river. Then he got out of the boat and gave it a push out into the stream, knowing that the wind would carry it back near the place from whence he had taken it. He probably thought that the owner would miss the boat and discover who had taken it ; his plan was to go home by the way of the bridge.

After pushing off the boat and watching it till it disappeared in the darkness he turned to make his customary short-cut across lots to the dwelling where, he was pleased to think, somebody was anxiously awaiting his coming. He had scarcely taken three steps when, to his astonishment and dismay, he perceived that he was surrounded by water, and was, in fact, on an island. This was a fine predicament for an ardent swain to be in : alone on a rocky islet scarcely three rods in length, and with the light in the front parlor of his lady-love's dwelling twinkling in the distance, as if in derision of his mishap. One can imagine how poor Reuben must have felt when he realized that he was a prisoner for the night on that forlorn little island; how he halloed in vain for help, and how any desire to swim ashore, if, indeed, he was able to swim, was effectually checked by the fact that his Sunday suit of clothes would be ruined in the muddy water of the flats. What made the situation worse was the fact that a thunder-storm was probable before morning, judging from a dark curtain of cloud in the western sky, and the occasional flashes of lightning that lit up its murky depths. Probably philosophy came to his aid after a while, - that resignation to the inevitable which is expressed in the homely proverb that " What can't be cured must be endured," and he, perhaps, sat down on a rock and watched the play of the lightning in the advancing cloud, listening the while to the distant thunder, to the swirl of the tide over the rocks, or to the sibilant sound of the night-wind, rustling the clumps of coarse beach-grass that grew in the crevices of the rocks. Perhaps he had read " Robinson Crusoe," and compared his condition to that of Crusoe on his island, being monarch of all he surveyed. Yet, before morning, he must have considered his condition much worse than that of De Foe's hero, for the tempest, which had been gathering its forces during the early part of the night, burst upon his unsheltered head. The next morning a limp, soaked, and shivering young man was taken from the island to the Berkley shore, where anxious friends were awaiting him.

It is a pleasure to be able to state that after the above related misadventure Reuben prospered in his wooing, as the following entry in the town records of Dighton will conclusively show :

Dighton has natural advantages that ought to have made it much more thriving and populous than it is. It has many fertile farms, is situated on the banks of a navigable river, and is agreeably diversified by hills and lowlands, woods and meadows. There is probably no healthier township in the State. Yet emigration has depleted it at various times of large numbers of its young men. There has been an exodus of its population ever since the Revolutionary war, sometimes to the Genesee country, sometimes to Kentucky, then to Illinois, to Minnesota, to Kansas, or to the mining regions of the great West.

Then many of the young men and women of this town, as of most other agricultural towns in New England, have been drawn into the ci.ties, which thrive at the expense of the country. There has, of course, been a counter-flow of population -into the town to fill to some extent the vacancies left by those who have gone, but the new comers have mostly been of a very different class, - Irish, Western Islanders, French Canadians, and others of alien birth. These accessions have hardly kept the population of the township from retrograding. In New England a town that is devoted chiefly to agriculture cannot hope to keep pace in population and wealth with towns that are largely devoted to manufacturing; it is obvious, therefore, that our citizens who have the means should invest a portion of their capital in starting new manufacturing enterprises here, in such kinds of business as are sure to pay fair returns if well managed, and will employ a good class of operatives. Every such establishment raises the value of real estate, and furnishes a market near at home for the produce raised by our farmers.

For many years the farmers of this town have made a specialty of raising strawberries for market, and the town is ahead of every other town in New England in the acreage devoted to this berry, and the number of quarts sent to market reaching in favorable seasons to nearly or quite one million. The crop is an exhausting one, and requires large quantities of commercial and other fertilizers to produce the best results. Those who were early in the business found it a profitable one, but of late years increased production in this and other towns has reduced the price of berries and the margin of profit.

In educational advantages Dighton is up to the average of towns of equal population and wealth, although there is still plenty of room for improvement, the first necessity of which is a larger appropriation of money for school purposes. The best teachers now command large salaries, and when teachers of exceptional ability and qualifications are secured in our schools they usually stay but a short time, being drawn away by offers of larger pay elsewhere. Within a few years the district system has been abolished, two of the largest of the ten schools have been graded, the number of the school board has been increased from three to six, and the board has been required to appoint a superintendent of schools. All of these changes, it is believed, have been beneficial in their effects. For some years past many of our teachers have been graduates from the normal schools. New methods of teaching have been introduced, which have mostly given good results, although, notwithstanding the so-called improved systems of teaching, there are some who doubt whether the schools of the present day turn out young men and women better fitted for the battle of life than did the schools which their fathers and mothers attended.

Reference has been made in the course of this sketch to the great value and interest a series of photographs of the people of the colonial period, or even of a much more recent date, would have at the present tinle, if it were possible to obtain sun-pictures of our ancestors, and the thought occurs that people of future generations will be quite as much interested in the likenesses of the men and women of to-day.

In view of this fact, and considering the liability of photographs in private hands to be destroyed or lost, would it not be well to have collections of photographic portraits under the charge of each town or city, which would of course furnish a secure place in which to keep them ? An act of the Legislature would be required to legalize the plan, and the act should be so worded as to make it obligatory upon towns and cities to provide a sufficient number of large photograph albums, each capable of containing two or three hundred portraits, and bound in the most substantial manner; the act should further make it compulsory for all town or city officers, for all clergymen, physicians, lawyers, officers of the militia, or masters of vessels to have their photographs inserted in the albums of the town or city to which they belonged, while all other adult persons of either sex should have full permission, after a residence of five years, to have their likenesses placed in the albums. The albums would be in charge of the town and city clerks, and would be kept in iron safes. Between the sheets of portraits would be a sufficient number of pages of linen paper to record the names of the owners of the likenesses, the date of their births and of the insertion of their portraits, their parents' names, and any other facts concerning them that it might be deemed advisable to have recorded. There is little doubt that people generally avail themselves of such a means of having their likenesses preserved for future generations to contemplate, and the value and interest of the collections would increase with the lapse of years.

The foregoing suggestions are respectfully submitted to the readers of this sketch, among whom may possibly be some of the Solons who will be chosen to the next or future Legislatures, and who will, perhaps, see the utility of the plan and make an effort towards its realization when the proper time arrives.