should continue to preach the gospel in said town for the term of ten years from and after his settlement, unless the said minister shall be removed by death before the expiration of that term; provided, nevertheless, that in case a gospel minister shall not be settled in said Town on or before the year 1780; then this grant is to be void and to revert back to this Propriety." This is the lot upon which Mr. John Kezer now lives. (See Ecclesiastical history.)

Also, July 9, 1777, lot No. 57, Jones' survey, containing about 200 acres, was, by the Proprietors of the Plymouth Company, "Voted, granted and assigned to the Town of Winthrop for the use of the ministry in said Town forever." (See Vol. 5, Plymouth Colony's Records.)

The township was surveyed by William McKecknie. It was laid out in lots one mile long and one hundred poles, or rods, wide. (See Appendix, Note A.)

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.

The soil of Winthrop is various. Much of it is of a superior quality. The land was well wooded. The higher parts were covered with a heavy growth of maple, beech, birch, hemlock and spruce. There was some red oak. On the lower land there was some pine, fir, and hackmatack. In the swamps was some cedar. In the meadows were the native grasses, upon which they fed the few cattle they brought. The greater part of the land is arable. It is adapted to the growth of the different kinds of grasses, the different grains, and all the culinary vegetables to which the climate is suited. Pears

and grapes are beginning to be considerably cultivated. Apples, many of the choicest kinds, abound. The settlers began early to provide themselves with orchards. The soil was very congenial to their growth. About every farm has a good share of orcharding.

The first cider made in the town was from the orchard of Mr. Ichabod How, on the place now occupied by Mr. Moses Hanson and Mr. John Stanley. They had neither cider mill nor press. But thirsting for a beverage to which they were formerly accustomed as almost one of the necessaries of life, but had been now for a long time without, with true Yankee ingenuity they pounded a quantity of apples in a sap trough, and extracted the juice in a cheese press. In this way they obtained a few gallons. All the neighbors (and that included a long distance) were invited to come and partake of it as a rare luxury. Since the temperance reformation has led men to quit drinking cider so generally, very little has been made to use as a beverage. The practice of engrafting choice fruit has changed nearly all the orchards. Farmers now find the avails of their orchards the most profitable productions of their land. Nearly all the farms are small rather than large, and generally well cultivated and watered. Ponds, or, as some of them might with more propriety be called, lakes, brooks, and springs, afford an abundant supply of good, pure water for man and beast. The Cobbossee Conte great pond, which is partly in Winthrop and in Manchester and in Hallowell and in Litchfield, is nine miles long. Two others, one north of the village, extends into Readfield and is about six miles long; another, south of the village, extends into Monmouth, and is about five miles long. Upon the stream

which passes from the north to the south pond is a cotton manufactory, a tannery, a grist mill, two saw mills, a woolen manufactory, and a large establishment for constructing horse power machines, separators, winnowing machines, corn shellers, and various labor saving articles.

The number of ponds partly or wholly in Winthrop is seven. These waters afford a variety of fish, the most valuable of which now is the pickerel, of which, till within a few years, there were none. Some anglers caught several pickerel and put them into some of the ponds, and they have become quite numerous. It has been said no fish of this kind was found in any of the waters The emptying into the Kennebec River from the west. early settlers found the streams crowded with alewives every spring; but after the mill dam at Cobbossee Conte was made, the fish were prevented from coming up.

SOCIAL HABITS.

The first settlers in a new country cultivate the social affections. There are reasons for this. They leave the greater number of their relatives and acquaintance, so that they can seldom have personal intercourse with them. They often are at a considerable distance from each other; but they know all about each other's affairs, and have a lively interest in each other's welfare. When they meet at each other's houses, they feel entirely at home. As an illustration of this principle, the following anecdote has been related. Mr. Fairbanks one morning saddled and pillioned his horse (for they had no other way of riding) and rode up to Mr. Wood's and says, “Mrs. Wood, I came to ask you to go and pass the day at our house." Mrs. Wood says, "Mr. Fairbanks,

I cannot go to-day, for I am just kneading a batch of rye and Indian bread, which I must bake." "Oh! Mrs. Wood, that need be no reason. I can take you on the pillion, and the bread trough before me, and you can bake at our house just as well as here." So Mrs. Wood decided to go, and soon they were mounted on the horse, Mrs. Wood upon the pillion behind Mr. Fairbanks, and he took the bread trough containing the dough before him, and they went safely. Mr. Fairbanks heated up his oven, and Mrs. Wood baked her bread very nicely, had a very sociable, friendly visit, and returned at eve in the same way, with a good batch of bread. But what a spectacle it would now present to see a horse, saddled and pillioned, carrying a gentleman and lady on his back, the gentleman having before him a kneading trough,* in which was dough for a batch of bread! Yet had you lived in the latter part of the last century, you might have witnessed such a sight in Pond Town.

Such were their privations and want of conveniences, that a lady, in order to make her soap one year, had to carry her materials on foot a distance of three miles, to a neighbor's who had the necessary utensils.

SCENERY.

Some of the scenery is surpassingly beautiful. The

*A pillion was a large cushion for a woman to ride upon behind a man on horseback. It was covered with a cloth of sufficient size to keep the lady's clothes from the horse. It had on the nigh side a stirrup for the lady's feet, so that she rode side foremost.

Kneading troughs were of different sizes, from two to three feet in length, from ten to fifteen inches in width, and about the same height, into which they sifted their meal, and in which they kneaded their dough.

handsome sheets of water render it very pleasant.

The ground rises considerably in passing north from the great Cobbossee Conte pond. From several residences you have an extensive view of that charming lake, dotted with islands of various shapes and sizes, which is exceedingly delightful. The scenery in the region of the narrow's pond is very fine. Lovers of interesting natural scenery, who have visited the place, have always spoken of it with much satisfaction. There are a few, and might be many, splendid country seats. The late Hon. Benjamin Vaughan of Hallowell, who, prior to coming to the United States, had held a seat in the British Parliament, when his friends from New York, Philadelphia, &c., visited him, was accustomed to give them a ride to Winthrop. They would come up the old road by the town house, and return by the narrow's pond. I have heard him say it was the most interesting scenery he had found in New England. From the hill on which the town house stands, when the air is favorable, the hills in Dixmont, seventeen miles west of the Penobscot River, can be seen, and a section of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.