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 MERRIMACK RIVER;
this emotion, there are those who fail to receive similar impressions,
but, on the contrary, witness the advent of this season with the
liveliest emotions of joy and pleasure.
As the time approaches fo' the termination of the brief period
of nature's life, and the whole earth seems an interminable paradise of beauty in its gaudy attire, it not inaptly symbolizes the
transition of the genuine Christian, the good man, the true man of
God. When his time of dissolution comes, he is, instead of being
overwhelmed with sorrow, fear, and remorse, cheerful, buoyant, and
happy. He grieves not to depart. The good deeds of his life illuminate the dark valley, and shed a halo around him, which, like
autumn leaves, robes him in brighter raiment as he falls into the
tomb.
As if rejoicing at the maturity and perfection of its beneficence,
having budded, bloomed, and ripened to the glory of God and the
good of mankind, the grand old tree appears in its most attractive
attire at the very moment of dissolution. So it is with the
spirit of the just; glowing with sublime effulgence in the consciousness of duty done, and faith in the promise, and grateful for the
prospect of immediate and full fruition, the beautiful panoply of joy
and peace and righteousness adorns the closing scene. Nor is this
the complete similitude. The boundless wealth of coloring, which
is one of the crowning glories of the life and death of nature, points,
unerringly, to another life, a renewed existence, an opening springtime, where they shall bud and bloom again in pristine beauty and
glory.
Thus the tried and true spirit, undoubting and undismayed,
views, with the ecstasy of a hitherto unfamiliar joy, the sign of the
reopening of an unfading spring of perennial bloom, when rebudding, on the Tree of Everlasting Life, nevermore to know the "sear
and yellow leaf," or the "gloomy days," unchanging in the pure
raiment of unfading glory, proclaims through an eternity of bliss
the matchless charm of autumn leaves!
Boscawen lies on the wqst side of the Merrimack River, which is
its eastern boundary. It is a very handsome and interesting town,
its principal village being a broad avenue, about two miles in extent,
ornamented with fine old trees, which give a picturesque and pleasant air to the place, and afford a welcome shade in the heat of the
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