Remember its honor, and guard its renown.

Not vainly the gift of its founder was made;
Not prayerless the stones of its corner were laid
The blessing of Him whom in secret they sought
Has owned the good work which the fathers have wrought.

To Him be the glory forever! We bear
To the Lord of the Harvest our wheat with the tare.
What we lack in our work may He find in our will,
And winnow in mercy our good from the ill!



OUR RIVER.

FOR A SUMMER FESTIVAL AT "THE LAURELS" ON THE MERRIMAC.

Jean Pierre Brissot, the famous leader of the Girondist party in
the French Revolution, when a young man travelled extensively in
the United States. He visited the valley of the Merrimac, and
speaks in terms of admiration of the view from Moulton's hill
opposite Amesbury. The "Laurel Party" so called, as composed of
ladies and gentlemen in the lower valley of the Merrimac, and
invited friends and guests in other sections of the country. Its
thoroughly enjoyable annual festivals were held in the early summer
on the pine-shaded, laurel-blossomed slopes of the Newbury side of
the river opposite Pleasant Valley in Amesbury. The several poems
called out by these gatherings are here printed in sequence.