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.

ITS SOURCE A-YD ITS TRIBUTARIE-S.
Hidden, consequently his years, his sympathy, and his interests are
intimately connected with its welfare.
He is a living encyclopedia of local and general historic events;
and, being possessed of ample means, leisure, and refined tastes, his
house is thronged by the educated, and, indeed, all who are favored
with his acquaintance, and nothing gives him more pleasure than to
furnish conveyances andl accompany his friends to all points of interest in this section.
In this secluded, quiet town there is an excellent illustration of
the affection and( veneration whichl communities have for good men
among them, and the unobtrusive posthumous respect paid to their
memory. The good, the wise, and the brave are not forgotten, and
in all parts of the State the hand of respect and gratitude for their
worthy deeds and lives raises the tablet, unobtrusive perhaps, to perpetuate their memory.
Samuel Hidden was ordained here as a minister of the gospel September 12th, 1792. It being a new town, the peoplp were few and
poor. The country was little less than a wilderness, and the people
were destitute of a church, or the means of erecting one. Under
these unpropitious circumstances MIr. HIidden's ardor was not cooled;
his courage was unabated, and his determination to prosecute the
good work unshaken.
He was ordained on a large rock seventeen feet high, with an area
sufficient to accommodate seventy persons on a level surfitce, which
wa reached by a, flight of seventeen stone steps. On this modern
St. Peter his church was built,- a sure and firm foundation; Ordination Rock typifying the solid, substantial, and weighty measure of
his faith, and symbolizing the enduring character of his faithful,
efficient, and protracted labors. Desiring to secure a substantial
testimonial to his great worth, to obtain a visible memento of his
self-sacrificing devotion to the cause he labored so long and so earnestly to advance, a voluntary subscription was raised, to which some
of those who had long sat under his faithful ministry were spared
to contribute, as well as others to whom his name and works were
household words, and a sunl was raised fufficient to purchase the
land on which this rock stands.
On the 12th of September, 1862, a monument was erected upon
this rock, appropriately inscribed, by a grandson bearing his name.
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