Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

1798-1821.] ENERGY AND FORESIGHT WELL DIRECTED.

5

range of thickly-wooded hills. I have seen many more beautiful villages, but none that had for me the attraction of this.
It may be because it was my birthplace. My father was one
of the first settlers. IHe was active and indefatigable in business, and he soon gathered a community about him. He
knew that in order to make his neighbors contented he must
bring within their reach everything essential to their comfort.
He hired a storekeeper, opened a store, and filled it with drygoods, hardware, and groceries, enlarging his list from time to
time as the settlers became able to increase their indulgences.
Wagon-loads of supplies were brought from Boston as the
stock on hand became low, and the arrival of one of these
trains-for there were generally three or four wagons in company-was a source of the greatest interest and excitement.
As soon as the goods were opened and ready for purchasers
they were visited, inspected, and gradually bought and consumed. The women came to see the new calicoes and taste
the fresh sugar, and the men to handle the axes and spades.
As the village increased in population and means my father
established a school. He hired the teachers and provided the
school-books. In process of time a school-house was built,
and the school became one of the most noted in the country.
My father was very scrupulous in regard to the teachers. He
would have none but the very first, both in regard to qualifications and respectability of character. They sometimes
insisted that he should receive them into his own family; and
in several instances he did so, rather than lose them. Some
of the most distinguished men in the State-afterward known
growth of elm, butternut, maple, and basswood. When cultivated it
proved very productive, and even at this period bountifully rewards
the labor of the husbandman."-A Chronological Register of Boscawen, in
the County of Merrimack and State of New Hampshire, from the first settlement of the town to 1820. In three parts: Descriptive, Historical, and
Miscellaneous. Compiled by an order of the town, passed March, 1819.
By Ebenezer Price, A.M., Pastor of the Second Church in said town.
Concord: Printed by Jacob B. Moore, 1823. 8vo, 116 pp.