immoralities, which form the best possible safeguards for a town’s good name.

The policy of the town is at once conservative and progressive. The majority sentiment is easily that of an intelligent class of people, who earnestly seek true progress in all directions, but prefer that all foolish experiments should be made by other communities.

The business of the town is such as the local demands would naturally create, and in addition are the large manufacturing interests, at Ballard Vale: the Tyer Rubber Company, the Stevens Mills of Marland Village, and the Mills of Smith, Dove, & Co., the makers of the well-known “Andover Thread.” All these firms have secured such a reputation for their goods that while a period of business depression may lessen the profits it has little effect upon the number of hands employed. The present population of Andover is 5,711. The growth of the town is not rapid, but has been more so of late than formerly. The student and business elements steadily increase, and the farm-houses in the remote parts of the town are favorite summer resorts of such persons as business connections keep close to Boston, but who wish to escape the heat and noise of the city.

The number of voters is 893, and of a total vote of 468 upon the question, “Shall licenses be granted for the sale of intoxicating liquors in this town?” the recent declaration was Yes, 141, No, 327. The desire for improvement in the town can easily be inferred from a statement of the appropriations for the current year. They amounted to $77,283.67, of which the following are items:—

For six years past—1880-85—the taxes have averaged only $7.25 per $1,000,—on a low valuation of property. For healthfulness the town stands near, if not quite at the head of the list, in the vital statistics of the State. When the writer was about to make Andover his place of residence he was heartily congratulated by a friend: “People never die in Andover,” said he, “from disease. They live on, and on, and on, until their friends weary of them, and shoot them.” No one has been shot recently in Andover, and some have died; but the town is remarkable for its healthfulness. In 1885 there were 81 deaths, and the average age was 48+ years; while 40 were 60 years old, and upwards; 27 were over 70; 24 were over 75; 13 were over 80; 4 were over 85, and 2 were over 90. The records of the largest Sabbath school in town show only three deaths of persons under 20 years of age, for at least eight, and possibly ten years. The two funerals which the writer last attended were of persons aged 89 and 101. The Catholic priest informs me that an entire year has passed without the occurrence of death in his parish. To show that the statistics of 1885 are not exceptionally favorable to the name of the town, let us take a longer period,—say of six years, 1879-85. During this period the death-rate has been 14.45 per 1,000, which gives an average number of deaths for each year, of 79; and within this period 159, deaths have been of persons over 70 years of age. Since the new year came in 15 persons have died, and the average age of 5 was over 90 years.

Each of the nine churches in Andover has an interesting history. Of these five are of the Congregational order, and their enrolled membership numbers 1,099, nearly one-fifth of the entire population. When to this is added the membership of the Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist and Catholic churches it is probable that one person in four, of whatever age or nationality, is a member of some church. The enrolment of the Sabbath Schools is about the same as that of the churches.

This is owing partly to the fact that the “foreign element” in Andover consists largely of Scotchmen, who love the kirk; and also because the educational facilities of Andover are such as to draw hither persons of intelligence, and of literary tastes and habits.

The town is well supplied with libraries. The Memorial Hall was built to commemorate the Andover defenders of the national flag, and contains a free reading-room, well supplied with current issues of the press, and a free public library, containing 5,259 pamphlets, and 9,185 volumes, to which additions are constantly being made.

In 1865 the Library building of the Theological Seminary was erected, through the generosity of Mr. John Dove and Messrs. John and Peter Smith, at the cost of $60,000. It was named “Brechin Hall,” from their native town in Scotland.

Its shelves contain more than 43,000 volumes, the gentlemen who built the library having given large sums for the purchase of books. On its walls hang the portraits of many of its founders and professors, and on the lower floor is a valuable museum and reference library. Besides these are various private libraries; and there is a community of taste, which brings all valuable books to the town in some connection.

Another educational element is that of the public lectures. The People’s Course is a thrifty annual, which, each autumn, provides a series of ten entertainments at merely nominal prices. During the past year there has also been a course of Emergency Lectures; and various others, upon many topics, detached from the established courses, are of frequent occurrence. Abbot Academy provides its annual and popular series of public “Piano Recitals,” under the oversight of its efficient professor, S. M. Downs.

Phillips Academy has its annual contests for the “Draper Prizes” and the “Means Prizes,” and a year seldom passes in the history of the Theological Seminary without one or more courses of special lectures, in addition to those which are in constant progress, under the regular instructors of this and of the other institutions. Nor should the anniversaries, with all the strangers and alumni they bring, the stir they make, the congratulations and the partings, be forgotten.

So it is that all the important phases of our best American life are found in the history and enterprise of this illustrious town. Here one may find the house in which have lived seven generations, the head of the family bearing the same name; and the home of the recent immigrant. The educational and business interests are nobly conducted and carried to great success, and the current life is representative of good old customs and earnest strivings for the best things.

A careful study of Andover life, such as Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D., had evidently made before writing his address for the dedication of the Memorial Hall, leads one to feel, what he has so well stated:—

“The more we look into the history of Andover the more we feel how thoroughly it is a characteristic New England town. If I wanted to give a foreigner some clear idea of what that excellent institution a New England town really is, in its history and in its character, in its enterprise and its sobriety, in its godliness and its manliness, I should be sure that I could do it if I could make him perfectly