In all these there may be found laws which may be in a greater or less degree noticeable in respect to "bluntness, quaintness, particularity, and antiquated excess of penalty."

If the relation of these early codes to the present condition of American civilization could have been foreseen as we now see them, nobody would ever have called them blue in a derisive They might deserve to be called blue in the most ancient sense which was honorable and complimentary, as Chaucer uses the word in the sense of genuine, True Blue being the only color that never stains and never fades.

sense.

The word blue in its derisive sense, not in the bloody sense of Peters, belonged to the vocabulary of rant and rancor, which had its rise in England after a rowdy king was restored to his throne, and to his place as the head of the English hierarchy. After the fall of the Puritan commonwealth all things decent, and sober, and sacred in England were assailed with ribaldry, and later the fashion was imported to America.

The work of Dr. Trumbull will enable all readers to determine which of the early colonies was most justly exposed to derision, by reason of excessive blue manners and customs.

It is certain that New Haven was never entitled to pre-eminence in that respect.

Mr. McCormick published a new edition of Peters's history to repel the unjust attacks of Dr. Trumbull against the character of his ancestor, the author. The nephew of that ancestor, Gov. John S. Peters, said of this very work, that its statements were apocryphal and ludicrous, and that it was never quoted as historical authority.

It is strange that this History of Connecticut should ever have been written by a minister of the gospel, and stranger still, that twenty years after, that same minister should have aspired to the place of bishop in the Episcopal church. Such is the fact, but the attempt failed of success. An account of this matter appears in Dr. Sprague's annals, and a more complete history of the affair was published in a pamphlet published in 1797, by Colonel John A. Graham, author of a History of Vermont, published in 1797. A copy of this pamphlet is in the Massachu

setts Historical Collections. It contains a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury, giving the reasons why Peters could not be consecrated to the office of bishop.

In the last years of his life Peters became a land speculator, claiming rights in a large tract west of the Mississippi river.

In the year, 1817, when he was eighty-one years old, he visited his land situated near the Falls of St. Anthony, and spent the winter at Prairie DuChien. This fact shows his natural energy and resolution. He returned to New York in 1818, and lived in poverty and seclusion. In 1825 Governor Peters visited him, to induce him, if possible, to remove to Hebron and spend the remainder of life in his family. He rejected every inducement with impatience, and at last with rage, saying, "I won't go, I'll die first."

Rev. Samuel Peters has generally been called Dr. Peters, and in the Yale Triennial an alibi degree of doctor of laws is accredited. Governor Peters said the degree was given by one of the Scotch universities, but this is an error. A letter of Peters recently found, responds to the direct question as to the origin of his diploma, that Cortona, Tuscany, Italy, was the source. The truth of this is doubted for good reasons. Dr. J. H. Trumbull remarks:

I do not assert that Peters stole his literary degree, but I more than suspect he invented it, as he did his "Blue Laws."

MR. T. M. DEWEY presented the following paper:

The Connecticut river has its sources in New Hampshire and the mountainous tracts of Lower Canada or Canada East. Its general course is south. It is navigable for vessels of considerable burthen for a distance of fifty miles to Hartford, Ct., and to Middletown, about thirty miles from the sound, for vessels of twelve feet draft. It is the Quoncktacut of the Indians, said to signify "Long River," or, as it is rendered by others, the "River of Pines."

Its western branch forms the boundary line between the United States and Canada; and the main river, dividing Vermont and New Hampshire, crosses the western part of Massachusetts; passes through the central part of Connecticut, and after a fall of about sixteen hundred feet in its whole length of four hundred and ten miles, enters Long Island sound in about 41 degrees north latitude. At Middletown, Ct., it bears off considerably to the east. Its width varies from one hundred and fifty feet at its entrance between Vermont and New Hampshire, to four hundred feet at Orford, and eleven hundred feet at Springfield. The navigation of its upper course was improved by means of locks and canals, which secure boat navigation to the mouth of Wells river in Vermont, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles above Hartford. The falls of most celebrity are Bellows falls, Queechee and White river falls in New Hampshire and Vermont, Turner's and South Hadley falls in Massachusetts, and Enfield falls in Connecticut. The descent of the river between White river falls and the foot of Enfield falls, when it meets tide-water, is above three hundred and seventy feet.

Since the clearing up of the forests along its banks and adjoining country, the channel of the river has materially changed, and notably at the "Ox-Bow" at Newbury, Vt., at Old Hadley, and at Hocanum. At this last place it has, within a few years, cut its way directly across the neck of the bow, which shortens the distance three and one-half or four miles. At Hadley; where it takes a bend of six miles to gain only one, it has worn its way into those beautiful meadows at the " upper side more than its whole width. So that a well which once stood in Hadley on the east side is now quite a distance from the river bank in Hatfield on the west side of the river.

The canal at South Hadley Falls was made by the Hollanders, probably as early as 1790, or thereabout, and the boats were passed up and down upon an inclined plane. The locks at this place were built by Ariel Cooley about the year 1796. This inclined plane is very much of a tradition at this time, as I can find no one living who can describe it in anything like detail. The opinion of the oldest men at South Hadley Falls is, that a

triangular box was sunk under the boat, and, as the whole was drawn forward out of the water, the boat itself would rest level on the box as it ascended. It is supposed that the power, fixed at the upper end of the plane, was a windlass with sweeps and carried around by horses, thus winding up the rope or chain. How the boat was again launched into the canal above, I have not learned.

In the early part of the present century, and before the locks and canal at Enfield were built, the boats used for the transportation of freight were quite small. A ten-ton boat was considered a large one, at that time. These boats, bound for Springfield or above, were propelled, unless the wind was favorable for sailing, by the laborious process of poling. A number of men, called fallsmen, kept themselves in readiness at the foot of the falls, that is, at Warehouse Point, to assist in "poling over the falls," the boats carrying six or eight tons. The article of rum constituted quite a large proportion of the freight in those days.

Captain Flower of Feeding Hills, who was master of a vessel for many years, running between Hartford and Boston, would take a miscellaneous cargo to Boston in the fall of the year, and, remaining there through the winter, would return in the spring as soon as the river opened, with a cargo of rum and mackerel. But the rum was better than it is now. Various methods were employed by the boatmen above Hartford to obtain their daily rations of rum on their trips up the river. Among others the following was the most novel and succesful: A common junk bottle would be filled with water, and then its nozzle inserted in the bung-hole of a full barrel or hogshead of rum, whereupon, the water being of heavier specific gravity than rum, would descend into the barrel, and the rum would consequently be forced up into the bottle. This operation was liable to be repeated until the reduced strength of the rum rendered it not only impracticable but undesirable. The abrasion of the skin on the front of the shoulder, caused by the work of "poling," was in many cases very severe, especially in the early part of the season, and a frequent application of rum was necessary, which operated as a toughener as well as a cure, and it was generally

supposed to be a judicious plan to take a little inwardly, to keep it from striking to the stomach!

During these years of boating over Enfield falls, the "John Cooley boating company" was formed, consisting of John Cooley, Hosea Day, Roderick Palmer, Henry Palmer, James Brewer and the Messrs. Dwight of Springfield. A few years after (in 1820), Edmund and Frederick Palmer and Roderick Ashley joined the company, afterwards Sylvester Day and the Messrs. Stebbins.

In 1809, Springfield bridge was carried away by a freshet. Mr. Dwight, a large owner, fearing it would go, made it fast by means of a cable to a tree; but, said my informant, Mr. Adin Allen, "I guess that did n't stop it a great while." This was in Allen's boyhood, and living a mile or so above the falls, and seeing the bridge coming, he and his brother ventured out through the floating ice with a skiff, mounted the bridge and busied themselves in saving the iron bolts, until the roar of the falls and the screams of the people ashore admonished them that they had better be getting to land, which they did, by drawing their skiff across the large pieces of floating ice, just in time to escape going over the falls.

The locks and canal at Enfield were built in 1826, and thereafter the freight-boats began to increase in size, as they were not obliged to climb the falls, till at last the capacity of some of the Springfield boats reached sixty or seventy tons. But before this time a trial of steamboating was made. A company was formed for the purpose of the navigation of the river above Hartford, and bore the name of "The Connecticut River Valley Steamboat Company." Its members chiefly resided in Hartford, although a few were scattered along the line of the river. Mr. Charles Stearns of Springfield was a member, I think; also Gen. David Culver of Lyme, N. H., who afterwards became an active partner in the boating company of “Stockbridge, Culver & Co.," and the inventor of a number of improvements in boating machinery. This (Connecticut River Valley Steamboat Company) was a short-lived company, operating only one season, if I am correctly informed. There is no record of its incorporation, but