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Many dwelling houses have been built, and many others repaired and enlarged. Many families have been added to you, from abroad, and the growth of population among yourselves has greatly increased. A respectable and flourishing manufactory has been introduced and established, which has brought much wealth into the place, afforded employment and means of subsistence to many among you, and aug. mented the property of the town, and enhanced the value of real estate of many descriptions.* A society for social intercourse, friendship, and mutual improvement is formed in the midst of us, as a bond of union. An establishment of a social library‡ affords advantages not heretofore enjoyed. An increase of stores has added to the increase of business. By the increased cultivation of the soil your farms have become better, and more productive; and many improvements have been made, tending to convenience and utility, to the promotion of knowledge and the increase of wealth. Few villages can be named, that have risen faster, or bid fairer to grow and flourish. God grant it may abound more and more, in every thing virtuous and praiseworthy; in every thing that shall promote its essential interests and welfare. "Hitherto the Lord hath helped us." And ye, also, my brethren, have been fellow-helpers to these things, by the labors you have bestowed, "by giving of your own proper goods," by the encouragement and assistance you have afforded, and by "being at peace among yourselves." In every important transaction, a spirit of candor, mutual forbearance and accommodation has been diffused among you; and a disposition to maintain peace and harmony, so essential to the interests of true religion, and the welfare of society. This praiseworthy disposition and conduct were manifested, when a change was made of the version of psalms and hymns formerly sung, for those now

mer house stood, and was dedicated March 19, 1805. The building is 70 feet long and 65 feet wide, with a tower projecting in front, and extending above, is terminated by a handsome vane 100 feet from the foundation. The house cost $12,175. It contains 106 pews; 92 on the floor, and 14 in the galleries. The sale of the pews, sold, amounted to 14,167 dollars. The first pew sold for 264 dollars. On the tower is a handsome and first rate clock, with three dials, constructed and erected by Mr. G. Parker of Westborough, in Aug. 1808, which cost $796.80. This expense was defrayed by donations from individuals, to the amount of $161, and by an appropriation of money raised on sale of the pews.

[The first meeting-house was sold to Ammi Cutter, of West Cambridge (son of Ammi-vide v. §2, 3), who removed it to the site of the late Abel G. Peck's residence and occupied it as a dwelling. It is now the dwelling-house of Mr. Charles Gage, on Pleasant Street, near Belmont line. The edifice described above was torn down in 1840. The succeeding structure, built on the same site, was burnt Jan. 1, 1856, and the present house is its successor.]

A card manufactory, set up by William Whittemore and Co. in 1799. The cards are made by machines, an ingenious invention of Mr. Amos Whittemore, one of said company. Of these machines, which give to the manufactory its advantages, there are fifty five in number, which may stick 80 dozen pair of cards in a day. The cards annually made amount to about $60,000. Between 40 and 50 persons are employed, whose wages are from 9 to 10,000 dollars a year. The buildings erected, and property purchased in the town, by the company and persons employed, have been to the amount of at least 30,000 dollars. The purchase of pews by them, in the new meeting house, paid one eighth part of the expense in building it.

A society principally of middle aged and young men, instituted Jan. 31, 1803, by the name of the Middlesex Union Society, who meet quarterly for the purposes of mutual friendship and improvement.

West-Cambridge Social Library, established Jan. 1, 1808. There are thirty one proprietors; it contains now in its infancy 106 volumes, judiciously selected, and is to increase by a certain sum to be furnished by the proprietors annually.

used in public worship. And especially in building this sacred temple, for the service and worship of our God. Without contention about the spot where it should stand, the place on which it should be built, or the manner in which it should be finished; but with union and harmony in every measure, and joining heart and hand, your highest expectations were gratified, in the building of an house for the service and honour of God, to whom you owe all that you have. This sacred temple, I trust, will long remain, a monument of your piety and liberality. Here may you and your children, as your fathers were, "be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. May many sons and daughters here be born unto glory; and when you shall be gathered to the dust of your fathers, may your children rise up, and call you blessed."

A TAX LIST FOR MENOTOMY, A. D. 1781, TO PROCURE BEEF FOR THE CONTINENTAL ARMY.

[Vide page 49.]

THIS List contains a State Tax set down in £ s. and d. and Also a Town Tax granted by the Inhabitants of said Town (Cambridge) at their meeting, July 9th inst. for the purpose of procuring Beef for the Continental Army. Apportioned this 23d day of July, 1781.

Assessors for 1781.

ABRAM WATSON,
AMMI CUTTER,
STEPHEN DANA,

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Belknap's collection of psalms and hymns was introduced at the opening of the new house of worship, March 19, 1805, in the place of Tate and Brady's, which was formerly

used.

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THE following description is taken from a story by Mrs. E. Oakes Smith, entitled "The Defeated Life, or the Times of the Old Meeting-House," published in the May Flower for 1847.

"Upon the shores of Casco Bay, about ten miles from the city of Portland, is a long hilly range, of perhaps three quarters of a mile in length-a barren rocky spot partially covered with stinted pines. In one part, where the gray granite crops' out from the thin soil, may be seen a weather-beaten vane, which a few inhabitants of the district have elevated upon a rude frame and soldered into the rock, in the pious hope of thus preserving this only relic of the Meeting-house below the ledge.' Rarely might be found a more attractive spot for the worship of a new people than the site of this old church, standing as it did at the base of the ledge before named, upon a green esplanade, flanked upon every side by the forest, through the openings of which arose the Block House' [the residence of Rev. A. R. Cutter?], the place of refuge of the colonists in periods of peril, fast by the altar of God, with here and there the humble dwellings of the worshippers, each in fact a citadel, built for strength and armed for defence. In front was the Bay, a most lovely expanse of water, with island and cove, sloping hill, and rude promontory, all wearing the aspect of newness and beauty, to awaken the freshest impulses of the heart.

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Though little can be said in defence of the architectural perfections of the 'old Meeting-House,' yet in the proud days thereof it might have been regarded as a model of excellence. After standing

more than a hundred years, it was pulled down in 1830, if I mistake not, having been long deserted as a place of prayer. Yet it was in excellent preservation up to the time of its fall, having been built of white oak. I cannot even now think of this desecration without a pang. I remember the awe with which I once trod alone its deserted aisles. The quaint pulpit, with its antique oaken carvings; the com

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