A Tour through North America by Patrick Shirreff

_Journey from Lowell to Saratoga-Keene-Bellows Falls-Townsend-Arlington-Driver at Table-Landlord and Driver-Passage of the Green Mountains-Stage Coach practices of America and Britain-Passengers and Travellers-Juvenile Politeness-Agricultural Notices-New England Villages-Free School Education unfairly estimated by British travellers-Education of Scotland and the United States-Public Schools-Fagging in the Seminaries of Britain-Principles of Education._

We left Lowell on the morning of the 2d June, passing through Gorton, Townsend, New Ipswich, Jeffrey, and Keene, a pretty little town with a neat square, in which there is a church with a handsome spire, and many of the houses are composed of brick. The situation is an extensive plain surrounded by well-wooded hills, but the beauty of the place is injured by the want of trees and grass in front of the houses in the square. The population amounts to about 2500 souls. There are two glass manufactories-two for cotton, and one for woollen are about to be erected.