Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/267

 AN OLD SKETCH OF LANCASTER.

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��sixty feet trunk, was found almost every where on our low meadows, before the axe had closed a war of extermination. The other forest trees common to New England are found here, except the Chestnut, Hickory, Pitch and Nonvay Pines, and White Oak. Granite of the most beautiful texture is found, not in large masses, but in detached blocks sprinkled over most of our high land ; and if the distinguished industry and economy of our fathers shall be con- tinued through the next generation, their houses, bridges and fences will be composed of that material. But few rocks of a secondary formation are found ; consequently our soil partakes largely of the primitive character ; covered by a deep rich loam, of de- composed vegetable matter. Lime is rare ; but, as the various grasses flour- ish luxuriantly, animal manure is abund- ant for wheat and other crops.

About two miles southwest of the town's centre, there is a large tract of alluvial land, called Martin's Meadow, from an early hunter whose name was Martin. He caught immense numbers of beavers, from Beaver-brook, which meanders through the meadow, Bea- ver dams on and near this brook can yet be traced, in one instance, about fifty rods ; another is near five feet high, and others of less extent and height ; yet all exhibited extraordinary skill and ingenuity, superior to some bipeds, who attempt the erection of dams. The banks of this brook are perforated in hundreds of places, which show the former residence of bank bever ; a kind smaller than those wonderful ar- chitects, who build dams, and erect houses several feet in diameter, with a layer of poles through the middle, which divides them into two stories, in one of which their food for winter, consisting of small poles, cut about two feet in length, is deposited ; while the others covered with leaves, is their rest- ing place during the inclement season. The entrance to both kinds of habita- tion is always below low water mark, from which they ascend through a sub- terranean passage, often several rods long to their dark, yet comfortable abode.

��Immediately south of this meadow three conical hills, called Martin Mead- ow-Hills, gradually and beautifully rise several hundred feet, extending from Connecticut river in an easterly direc- tion two miles. On the sides of these hills reside ten aged farmers, who settled in the same neighborhood when young, and with little other property than their axes, having worked by the month, to pay for their respective lots of one hundred acres each. Most of them have become rich, and all enjoy a green old age, being able to labor on the same soil they occupied about fifty years ago. Phinehas Hodgdon is more than eighty years of age ; Jonathan Twombly over seventy-eight ; Walter Philbrook near seventy-five ; William Moore in his seventy-sixth year ; John Mclntire in his seventy-fifth ; Edward Spaulding (a decendant of the famous Mrs. Dustin) in his seventy-fourth ; John Wilder in his seventy-eighth ; Isaac Darby in his seventy-third ; Menassah Wilder in his seventy-first ; and Coffin Moore sev- enty-one. The same blast of a horn, well tuned, would now call them all to dinner ; and although differing in poli- tics and religion, they are all attached to the benign institutions of their be- loved country.

On the south side of Martin Meadow- Hills, and washing their base, is Martin Meadow-Pond, a fine sheet of water, covering about four hundred acres. Here the first settlers repaired, when- ever their stock of meat was exhausted, and their appetites satiated with fish, to watch and kill the noble animal, known by no other than its Indian name of Moose, which, during the hot season, spend its evenings in the pond to rid itself of myriads of flies, and to feed on its favorite food, the foots of lilies. An early settler, by the name of Dinnis Stanley, a man of strong mind and per- fect veracity, informed the writer of this article, that being "out of meat" and wanting a moose skin, to buy a cer- tain luxury, then much used, and too often at the present day, went alone to Cherry Pond for a supply, carrying his old gun, so much used that by turning pow- der into the barrel it would prime itself.

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