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 AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
otee, he pondered on this prodigal waste of'power until the sun descended behind a crimson drapery of clouds, the gorgeous, purple
twilight deepened into gloom and "left the world to darkness and
to" him. Thoroughly mechanical iu his intellectual organization,
he could not fail to realize that here was an agency with the capacity to expand and mature his preconceived desire to found a
mechanical and manufacturing community himself. Composed (of speculative as well as operative elements, his mind here recognized a harmonious blending of those qualities for which he yearned, and was
quieted. This.was his place. At the head of these falls stood a
beautiful perennial grove, its stately and venerable columns supporting a dense canopy of forage, and whose gloomy, silent avenues,
secluded dells, and mysterious grottos might be peopled with the
genii of this romantic region. Who shall say, in his dream of those
grana results he scarcely dared anticipate, -the working of the irrepressible principle of progression, - but Vulcan stood upon the
border of this terrestrial paradise of shadows with bare and brawny
arm and ponderous hammer, ready to summon his co)ps d'industrie
to the furnace, and to forge the manacles which should securely bind
this hydraulic giant, and cast him, prone and pliant, at the feet of
this Divinity of Mechanism, whose name was MAoses Hale? Who
can say but Venus, in obedience to the will of her lord, assembled
her fair daughters and explained to them the new path and the new
duties about to open to them; how nimble and cunning fingers must
manipulate the machinery, and in the production of fabrics only yet
foreseen, and, with an admonition to be faithful, gave them the maternal blessing? Perhaps this very circumstance was the foundation
for that display of these same daughters, unequalled in magnificence, which, many years later, in 1833, welcomed the IHero of the
Hlermitage, on his memorable visit to the spot which had already
come to be known as "the City of Spindles." With his characteristic gallantry,. Gen. Jackson visited Lowell to pay his respects to
these beautiful operatives, the fair daughters of New England, who
hadl left their quiet country homes and come here to astonish the
land with the amazing growth "of this new city and new branch of
industry and the large production of cotton fabrics reached in so
short a period of time. On the 26th of June, 1833, Andrew
Jackson, President of the United States, accompanied by the Vice
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