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.

THE I[EPR-LrAACK PIVL'ER; inspiration of the genius of a Caesar or an Alexander, or by the assistance of some holy monk, attracting crowds by his miracles, or by the caprice of some great king, like Louis XIV., or Frederick, or by an edict of Peter the Great, it (Lowell) is neither a pious foundation, a refige of the persecuted, nor a military post. It is a spectUlctioi of the merchants of Boston. The same spirit of enter prise which the last year suggested to them to send a cargo of ice to Calcutta, that Lord William Bentwick and the nabobs of the India Company might drink their wine cool, has led them to build a city, wholly at their expense, with all the edifices required by an advanced civilization, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton cloths and printed calicoes. They have succeeded, as they usually do, in their speculations. The inhabitants possess in the highest degree a genius for mechanics. They are patient, skilful, full of invention; they must increase in manufactures. It is, in fact, already done, and Lowell is a little Manchester." In the immediate vicinity of the head of the falls, on the Concord, is situated the Lowell cemetery,- the beautiful City of the Dead, -extensive in territorial area, romantic in its surroundings of riv er, hill, forest, and field, and also rich in ornamental trees, shrub bery, and flowers. Its avenues, aisles, and graves are covered with the shadows of luxuriant foliage, and fringed with shrubs, plants, and flowers; wild birds carol sweetest melody among the trees, in careless, joyous, unrestrained freedom, "so clear, that men and *angels might delight to hear." The grounds are tastefully laid out and adorned with luxuriant shrubbery, while the countless cultivated annuals which fleck the surface, and the sweet, modest little wild blossoms mingle their perfume and freight the air with delicious fragrance. The hand of affection has inscribed the record of the deeds and worth of the departed on tablets of stone and monuments of enduring mar)le; a deep stillness, an all-pervading quiet- save the wind rustling the foliage, and the solemn sighing of sombre perennials, a perpetual requiem- rests upon the place; a silence such as mighlt be gladly sought to lull one to eternal repose, enchanting prelude to that final steep that knows no dream, and knows no earthly waking,; a symbol of the solitude, thou,gh now adorned and beautified, which covered all this realm around the fine.falls of the Concord, when it was invaded by the all-subduing, and all-conquering 274

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Title
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.
Author
Meader, J. W.
Canvas
Page 274
Publication
Boston,: B. B. Russell,
1869.
Subject terms
Merrimack River Valley (N.H. and Mass.)
New Hampshire -- Description and travel

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"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." In the digital collection Making of America Books. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/afj7467.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2025.
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