the same manner as if this act had not been passed: _Provided_ such
tax be made and assessed within one year from the time of passing
this act; and shall also be liable to pay their proportion of all
state taxes that may be assessed on the town of _Groton_ until a
new valuation be taken.

[This act passed _February_ 6, 1798.]

All the changes of territorial jurisdiction thus far noted have been in
one direction,--from Groton to the surrounding towns; but now the tide
turns, and for a wonder she received, by legislative enactment, on
February 3, 1803, a small parcel of land just large enough for a
potato-patch. The annexation came from Pepperell, and the amount
received was four acres and twenty rods in extent. The following is a
copy:--

An act to set off a certain parcel of land from the town of
_Pepperell_, in the county of _Middlesex_, and to annex the same to
the town of _Groton_, in the same county.

BE _it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in
General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same_, That a
certain tract of land, bounded, beginning at the end of a wall by
the road leading by Zachariah Fitch's, in said _Groton_; thence
running easterly, by land of Jonas Fitch, to the _Nashua River_,
(so called;) thence up said river to said road, near the bridge
over the same river; thence, bounding by the same road, to the
bounds first mentioned, containing four acres and twenty rods, be,
and hereby is set off from said town of _Pepperell_ and annexed to
said town of _Groton_ forever.