Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/139

 WINDHAM, N. H.

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��daughter great

��eye ran scan the surrounding country for many miles.

Jenny's hill, named for a of Rev. James McClregor, is a swell of land, and is as high as any in town. The view from its summit takes in many towns, and many churches appear in the distance, with their spires of faith pointing to the heavens. A few rods from the summit of this hill stood the house in which was born the elder Gov. Samuel Dinsmoor, and his brother, the "Rustic Bard," Robert Dinsmoor.

Dinsmoor's hill is next in impor- tance, and in close proximity to Jenny's hill. Richard Waldron, an early res- ident of New Hampshire, was once owner of a portion of this hill.

The view from this place is hardly surpassed. A long range of mountains in the west stands out in bold relief against the sky. To the south the winding valleys, and Cobbett's pond, bright and sparkling in the sunlight. On the north the eye can sween the country for many miles, and the church spire of Chester, the villages of Hampstead, Atkinson, and, looking eastward, churches and houses in Ha- verhill, Methuen, Andover and Law- rence, Mass., are all in view. No per- son with any poetry in his soul can see unmoved the grandeur of this scenery, but involuntarily exclaims, in the lan- guage of poetry :

"Tell me, where'er thy silver bai'k be steering, By bright Italian or soft Persian lands. Or o'er those island-studded seas career-

Whose pearl-charged waves dissolve on

coral strands ; Tell if thou visitest, thou heavenly rover, A lovelier scene than this the wide world

over."

CAUSES FOR SETTLEMENT.

Windham, from 1719 to 1742, was a parish of Londonderry, a part and parcel of that historic Scotch settle- ment. It will be impossible to speak of the first settlements here, and the

��immigration of our Scotch ancestors to these wild and inhospitable shores. They were of a politico-religious na- ture. During the reign of King James the First, of England, the larger por- tion of the six northern counties of Ireland fell to the king- — being the se- questered estates of his rebellious Irish subjects. To hold in check the wild and turbulent spirits of his Irish sub- jects, he induced a large immigration of his Scotch counrrymen to the province of Ulster, Ireland. This was in 16 12. The Scotch were stern Presbyterians. The native Irish were ignorant Roman Catholics. So on Irish soil dwelt two distinct races — differing in blood, iden- tity and religion. The Scotch dwelt on the land from which the Irish had been expelled. In consequence of this fact — the unlikeness of the two races, in manners, customs and religion — a bitter feud existed betvveen them. Consequently there were no marriages between the races, and no commin- gling of blood. They remained as distinct as though impassable seas stretched between them. In 1641 the Catholics massacred more than 40,000 Protestants. But a change soon oc- curred in the government. Royalty fell, the Protectorate was established, a man in the person of Cromwell was placed at the helm who was both able and willing to protect the Protestants from their enemies. In 1649 the strong arm of Cromwell bore an avenging sword. He waged relentless war, against the Catholic Irish. Whole provinces were laid waste and large cities left without an inhabitant. The void he thus cre- ated he also filled bv large bodies of Scotch and English immigrants of the Calvinistic faith. These colanists re- deemed the desolated and war-smitten provinces ; and by their thrift filled the markets of England with the products of their industry.

But a day black with darkness came

with unwonted swiftness, and reached

the colonists at the death of Cromwell.

Then the Stuarts returned, ajid from

character of the settlers, without speak- that date till the end of the siege and

causes which induced the defence of Londonderry, in Ireland, in

��ing of the

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