The Merrimack River: its source and its tributaries. Embracing a history of manufactures, and of the towns along its course; their geography, topography, and products, with a description of the magnificent natural scenery about its upper waters./ By J. W. Meader.

TIHE AIMEI,D R;IACIT 1, I TER;
no such word as fail; the result was inevitable, and with broad
shoulders, strong arms, stout hearts, and masculine intellects, they
have left a record to which their State, their country, and their race
may point with just and worthy pride.
To err is human; therefore perfection in any direction may not
be claimed; still the bright galaxy of names which adorn and em bellish each era of her history most clearly proves that her boast,
her pride, or her claim is certainly, to say the least, well founded.
Although, as it has been observed, the State is one of the smallest
in territory, in resources, and in natural advantages, still it is
claimed that she is unsurpassed, perhaps unequalled, by any of her
sister states,- always excepting the Old Dominion, the mother of
states and of statesmen, - in the number and character of her illus trious men. Her statesmen have been conspicuous; her jurists
learned, pure, dignified, and famous; her soldiers among the bravest
and foremost captains of every age; her mechanics displaying a
versatility and skill unsurpassed; the sturdy, undaunted, and perse vering tiller of the soil, by his genius, industry, and judgment, wrench ing a reputation as enduring as the granite base of the land he
cultivates. Even the women have displayed ina marked manner those
ennobling traits which recognize them as fit companions and educators
of such a race of men. The noble-hlearted mothers, wives, sisters,
and daughters, affectionate, unselfish, devoted, and self-sacrificing,
softened down the rou,gh angles so indigenous to the isolated pioneers,
vpecially such as the settlers of New ltampshlire, who confrionted a
primeval wilderness filled with wild beasts and untamed savages, and
had at the same time a covetous and encroachling neighbor in Massachusetts, constantly putting forward unfounded claims to the territory to impose taxation and entire jurisdiction: and although these
claims, unjust and arrogant, were successfully resisted, still they
served to stir up and keep aliv( an unnecessary and annoying irritation, and bred in the minds of the weak colonists a natural and not
unavailing determination to realize, cost what it would, those indescrbable emotions that come of independence, which they felt they
were entitled to, and were determined to achieve.
Actuated by a spirit and resolution which showed what manner of
men they were, they pushed forward without any deflection, encountering and overcoming, obstacles of such magnitude as would seem to
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