ills were established on our
own ground.

I cannot help referring more particularly to some of the families of the
town, who imparted to it a well-founded reputation, not surpassed, if
equaled, by that of any town or city in the land; for instance, there
were the Lowells, who gave name, afterwards, to that wonderful city of
spindles, which enjoys as world-wide a standing in the annals of
manufacturing enterprise as the old-world Manchester of a long-anterior
date, and one of whom, amid the desolate ruins of Luxor, struck by the
hand of fatal disease, conceived the idea of establishing that noble
Institute which bears his name, and will convey it to future grateful
generations; a name, too, which has so resounded in the popular
literature of the day. Then, there were the Jacksons, famous in mechanics
and in two of the learned professions; Charles Jackson, the erudite and
upright judge, and James Jackson, one of those skillful and truly
benevolent physicians, whose memory is still in the hearts of many
surviving patients. The Tyngs, too, resided there, long honorably
connected with colonial history and still represented by descendants of
national repute. Amongst other remarkable individuals was Jacob Perkins,
the famous inventor, who at an advanced age ended his useful career with
no little foreign celebrity in the great city of the world. I have read
lately of his successful exhibition of his wonderful steam-gun, in the
presence of the Duke of Wellington and other competent judges of the
experiment, and know not what national prejudice, perhaps, or other
casual reason, prevented its adoption.[3] In science, too, we had
Master Nicholas Pike, an ancient magistrate, whose arithmetic held its
ground throughout the country, until it was superseded by that of Master
Michael Walsh, which received the high commendation of so capital a
judge, in matters of calculation, as the old land-surveyor and finally
head of the nation, Washington. Master Walsh was an Irishman by birth,
though "caught young," as Dr. Johnson remarked, to account for any
distinction acquired by natives of Scotland; and he displayed much of
that impulsive temperament imputed to the people of Erin's Green Isle. He
dressed in the old style, his gray hair gathered into a queue, and
wearing top-boots to the last. He was an excellent classical scholar, as
well as mathematician. The pupils he prepared for college did justice to
his instructions, and some have acquire