A VILLAGE OF ARCADIA. This is no Grecian fable, of fountains running wine, Lays of Ancient Rome. I am not obliged to go to the treasury of the fertile framers of imaginary commonwealths; not to the Republic of Plato, nor to the Utopia of More, nor to the Oceana of Harrington. It is before me-it is at my feet. MR. Edmund Burke. R. H. had said to me during the outward voyage, "Before you leave America, I should like you to see how the New England people live in their homes, away from large towns." He directed me to Foxbro', giving me an introduction to Mr. Carpenter, an old school-fellow of his, who lived there. Accordingly I drove over with one of the ladies of the W. household. On our arriving at the door of the manse, the first question which was put, with true Yankee humour, was, "Are you two come to be married?" It is by no means unusual in America, for young folks-and as for that matter, old folks also-to wait upon the minister, to engage his services officially, and to ask his blessing upon an undertaking far more serious than our visit of courtesy. This by-play over, the kind old clergyman accompanied me to Mr. Carpenter's works. In the waiting-room of the establishment lay a large-sized copy of Webster's English Dictionary, placed there for the use of all comers; this custom is general in New England places of business. Mr. C. is a fine old gentleman, quite a travelled man, yet rather silent. He seems to know Europe well, and has evidently been a keen observer of men and things. He introduced me to one of his partners, and then calling in his manager, Mr. T., said, "Will you show Mr. B. all that is interesting about our works?" He smilingly added, "while you tell him all that he wishes to know, mind that you ask questions, and obtain information from him in return." In the factory is manufactured every conceivable article in the shape of hat or bonnet, made from straw. The raw material, ready plaited, is brought from Italy, China, and South America. 250 men and 450 young women, are occupied upon the premises; 2,000 females, living in the vicinity, also received employment in their own homes, from the establishment. The nature of the occupation is for the most part clean and pleasant for females, and those engaged in it are of a high class in character and ability. They come here from all parts of the Northern States to earn money; some to have means to keep their parents, some to obtain funds to spend in dress, others wishing to accumulate savings towards-by and by-fitting up a home of their own. At half-past six in the morning work commences, and is discontinued for the day at 8 in the evening. All are paid by the piece, according to the amount of work they accomplish. Many of these young folks who come "blooming" from their homes at country farm-houses, are tempted by the wage-reward to labour so unremittingly, that their health suffers; the manager notices their cheeks becoming bleached daily. Some of them are school-teachers, who will take a winter-session at the straw-works, and conduct a summer-school in the country, or vice versa. Mr. T. says that the most intelligent and highest paid labour, leaves also the largest share of profit to the firm. Those young women, or rather young ladies—for such they are by right of their education and character-are comfortably accommodated in airy boarding-houses near the factory. As a whole, all whom I saw were prettylooking girls, bearing intelligence and refinement on their countenances. It will be a happy day for Old England when all her female factory-workers are as well-educated as their cousins under Mr. Carpenter's régime. The men also receive good wages; all live in homes of their own, which will have cost from 2,000 to 3,000 dollars for homestead and building. All have gardens; some of them vineries; and it is no uncommon thing for them to possess a horse and carriage, in which they drive their families out for an airing. The population of the village is 3,000-all who can work, and are willing, being employed in some capacity at Mr. Carpenter's. The soil of Foxbro' is so rocky and barren, that but for the straw-manufacture, it would be a poor place. Never in my life have I seen such a degree of solid comfort in a working community. These same mechanics have by their thrift and industry reared houses and called streets by their names. They dress very well at their work, and often take a vacation each summer or autumn, during quiet times in business. A proud Spanish king once asked an ambassador concerning his credentials, "Are you a gentleman ?" "Yes." "Whose son are you?" "Of my virtues," replied the envoy; by this answer quite overcoming the haughty monarch. These men of Foxbro' might urge the ambassador's plea. They have broken through what Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton has called "the twin gaolers of humble birth and hard fortune," they constitute a democracy which is in very deed a demos-thenes. Foxbro' is a little more than a model village, yet it is a type of many others in New England. I visited the High School, in which students,-male and female-receive the last course of instruction, prior to a University education. The rooms are as pleasantly arranged, the desks as convenient and handsome as those of first-class private schools in England. If any of my readers have ever visited Bramham College, Yorkshire, they may take it as an example of the educational excellence, to which American High Schools attain. Lessons extend from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m., and are then over, there being no afternoon session. Foxbro' with its 3,000 people, raises 5,000 dollars for education each year; though it is the heaviest tax on the townspeople, none is paid so willingly. The masters receive salaries, varying from £100 to £500 per annum. The State of Massachusets has 3 Normal Schools, for educating or training male and female teachers, free of expense, on their promising to become school-masters and school-'mams,' for 2 or 3 years after quitting the Normal Alma Mater. In the middle of Foxbro' is a green," handsomely railed in; accommodating in its centre, an orchestra for the band which plays 2 or 3 evenings weekly, during summer and autumn, for the pleasure and at the expense of the townspeople. The local authorities have voted a sum of money to build a memorial-hall, in honor of those men from among them, who fell in the Northern armies, fighting for the Constitution. The building has been commenced, and when completed will be used as a public reading-room. Mr. M. drove me through a quiet avenue to the cemetery. I constantly visited the resting-places of the dead wherever I journeyed in America, believing that a necropolis is to some extent, a reflex or index of village or metropolis of the living. In the present instance we approach by a retired entrance, passing under an archway, bearing the inscription, "Rockville, 1853." The land has been waiting for its solemn purpose, for hundreds, aye, thousands of years. It is rocky and full of slopes; at the bottom roll the waters of a pretty lake. There is a vault in the hill-side for the reception of coffins during winter, (when the ground is frozen 2 or 3 feet in depth,) until graves can be dug in spring. Within the cemetery, they have now discontinued the use of freestone for memorial-columns, for it crumbles away, but granite endures for ever. In coming away we passed the blackened ruins of Mr. C's. mansion, (which a fire had destroyed): by and by, another and statelier manor-house will rise upon the spot where once stood his father's humble homestead. The manufacturing interest has now become very strong in New England, there being clusters of mills in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusets and Maine. One of these bee-hive-towns-Lawrence-has sprung up with mushroom rapidity-good wages acting as a diviner's rod in building up a population. I journeyed to it by rail, passing en route many places the names of which sounded familiar yet strange; for from Wyoming we proceeded to Melrose, from Melrose to Reading. They were the |