beautiful; and no less than sixteen first-rate skilled mechanics are constantly employed in making these moulds.

We next saw the apparatus used for crushing the crucibles, when they have done their work in the furnaces. It consists of eight iron monkeys, or oblong hammers, similar to those used for pile-driving in the construction of our bridges: they are worked up and down by steam-power, and smash the pots into small pieces, after which the fragments are ground to powder by being passed between cylindrical rollers, the material being afterwards carefully collected and again used in making the melting crucibles.

The RED LEAD DEPARTMENT next claimed our attention; and it is the most pernicious to the health of any section in the whole business. Ordinary plumbers' lead is melted in large furnaces, till it becomes perfectly fluid, when it is taken out, passed through other processes, and then sifted, the fumes and dust from which are a subtle poison. Hence is it that those who work in this dangerous business have portions of sweet oil served out to them for the purpose of counteracting the effects of the poison they inhale; yet so silly are many of the men, that they would rather sell the oil than swallow it; and for this reason an overseer stands by to see them take it. The red-lead, or litharge, made here, is said to be the finest in Massachusetts, and is chiefly used in the coloured glass department, though large quantities are sold for other purposes.

Lastly, we visited the GROUND GLASS WORKS. The opaque appearance is given to glass articles, such as chimnies, lamp shades, vases, &c., by filling them with small pebbles, and then placing them in a circular wooden framework, carefully and tightly packed with straw, after which a band is applied to the frame and the whole whirled rapidly round by steam for a couple of hours, at the expiration of which they are perfectly opaque, like ground glass.

There are two magnificent SHOW-ROOMS, in which are exhibited all the newest designs and choice specimens of the art, including also many costly samples of coloured and gilt vases, &c., that have a most chaste and splendid appearance; and I would recommend all, who can appreciate art of this kind, to pay a visit to the New England Glass Works.

These works are the property of a joint-stock corporation (the shares of which are 500 dollars each); and so successful has their business been, I was informed, that the dividends have exceeded the limits allowed by the United States' Government; in consequence of which, they are obliged to expend the surplus in improving the machinery and building new workshops. I may here state that the great draught chimney, for carrying off the fumes and smoke from the furnaces, is 230 feet high, being considerably the longest stalk in the Northern States.

XXIII.-FOREST HILL AND MOUNT
AUBURN CEMETERIES.

THE former of these is beautifully situated about seven miles from Boston, on a high eminence, commanding a noble prospect over the Bay of Boston, the blue granite hills of Milton, and its own surrounding woodland scenery. It is very prettily laid out in the style usual with American burial grounds, with ornamental enclosures for the graves, and monuments of domestic love interspersed here through the grounds, which are further embellished by a large lake, on which several swans sail majestically about. In an allotted space, at one corner, I noticed the humble graves of some poor Germans, having plain wooden crosses and tabletsaffecting monuments of emigrants, who had left their native land in the hope, perhaps, of a future return. This cemetery was first laid out by a gentleman, whom the undertaking nearly ruined; it is now, I believe, managed by a company, and bids fair, when completed, to be the finest necropolis of Massachusetts.

The Mount Auburn Cemetery, only a few miles from that just described, is the largest and best cultivated in the New England States, and as it has been planted for several years, the trees are sufficiently grown to give it a very beautiful appearance in summer. The many paths that traverse it are quite bewildering,

and the visitor is obliged ever and anon to look at the colossal statue that towers over all, near the entrance, and use it as a landmark, else he would fairly lose himself. The flower-beds, moreover, are very neatly laid out; and as one looks at the floral beauties around, the thought very naturally arises, how much pleasanter it is to see the remains of those we love deposited in such a beautiful paradise, with the birds singing merrily above them, and all so placid and serene, than in a dreary cold catacomb, or a dank and noisome town churchyard. The rates for ground, however, are so extremely high, that none but the very wealthy can get a resting-place here. The inscriptions are Spartan in their simplicity, but not the less touching. "My Mother," "My Father," "My Willie, ""My Cary;" such are a few of them; but they speak volumes to the feeling heart. I felt indeed a pleasing melancholy, and was forcibly reminded of Cowper's lines:

Learn then, ye living; by the mouths be taught

Of all these sepulchres, instructors true,

That soon or late death also is your lot,

And the next op'ning grave may yawn for you.

The statues and monuments are most of them large, and well-executed by the most eminent sculptors of the United States.

XXIV. LOWELL, AND ITS FACTORIES.

THIS large and increasing manufacturing town is, as the reader perhaps knows, situated about thirty miles to the north-west of Boston, on the south side of the river Merrimac, below Pawtucket Falls, and close to the confluence of the Concord. As I visited it in the company of an intelligent American gentleman, the reader will perhaps allow me to show him through its factories; but, first of all, it may not be uninteresting to take a brief review of the early history of this important industrial hive.

It is now rather more than a third of a century, since Lowell (originally called Wamsit from a tribe of straying Indians), and which is now the great centre of the American cotton manufactures, first came into existence. In 1819, a few gentlemen of Boston, with some capital, and a great spirit of enterprise, Messrs. Francis C. Lowell, Samuel Appleton, and others, resolved to invest their united property in the manufacture of textile fabrics. They had often heard of the Pawtucket Falls on the River Merrimac, which rising in the White Mountains, flows first south and then east towards the sea. Two or three of them went to see these Falls, but, disguised as fishermen, in order to lull suspicion. After becoming satisfied that the locality was in all respects suitable for their projected operations, they called upon the proprietor of the ground to see if he were willing