History of Amesbury - Merrill.org

144 HISTORY OF AMESBURY.
sun, which the unscared birds were wont to greet with their
cheerful notes ; but there was no one to admire this grand old
scenery or enchanting songs. Nature had very nearly had its
way, and not a single trace of civilization was any where to be
found. All was rough and wild, requiring patient labor to fit
this territory for comfortable homes.
The poineers were, however, men of strong frames and iron
wills, well fitted to subdue the forest and lay the foundations
of a town or state. And well did they perform their part.
Although not highly educated, yet they were good, practicable
business men and honest in their convictions of right and
wrong.
The little band ordered away from Salisbury organized into a
community for the common good. Scarcely a decade passes
ere a church is built and a minister obtained to teach them in
spiritual things. Their number increases, sons and daughters
are born, and general prosperity attends their efforts. In the
midst of a savage and relentless foe they have experienced a
remarkable preservation, for which their thanks went forth to
that kind Providence, of whose signal favors they were fully
sensible.
Most of the land had been divided into lots and freely given
to the pennanent settlers. Nor had new comers been excluded,
but received "townships" and were at once granted all the
rights enjoyed by the original eighteen. All contributed to the
common expense of the plantation, which was very light at first.
There was great change in this half century, greater than thous-
ands of years had witnessed up to the present. The civil authority,
church and school were as yet but faintly marked out, although
shadowed forth in an encouraging light. Science, in the form
of machinery, had been called in and agriculture had drawn
from the earth food for man and beast. Wheat, corn, rye and
barley yielded abundantly on the new and fertile soil. The
colony is now permanently established and nothing but the hand
of Providence can blot it from the earth.
It was voted at the annual meeting to have a lecture once a
month for seven months. The scattered population could hardly