THE : OF LIFE OF HON. NEAL DOW. Chapter One. In regard to Mr. Dow, he is one of the best men that ever lived. He is warm-hearted, generous, and candid. He is, however, impulsive, and sometimes does things which even his friends object to; but you will find him at all times guided by the purest motives. No man enters the Legislative hall; no man goes to a mass meeting and is received with such enthusiasm as Mr. Dow is. Whatever he says is listened to with profound respect.-GoVERNOR MORRILL. BIRTH PLACE AND YOUTH. Early settlement of a peninsula-Destruction of the settlement by the Indians in 1675, and again by the French and Indians in 1690-Desertion of the peninsula-Incorporation of the new settlement as Falmouth-Becomes a distinct town, and receives the name of Portland in 1786-Parentage and birth of NEAL Dow-The occupation of his youth-Prohibitory Law of the Society of Friends-Characteristic of his mind eminently practical-Observation a principal feature of his training-Early impressions in relation to intoxicating liquors-Industrial pursuits the best preparation for his after life. 1. As early as 1632, GEORGE CLEAVES and WILLIAM TUCKER, two adventurers from the west of England, procured a grant of land, consisting of a peninsula at the western extremity of Casco Bay, between Casco River on the south and Black Cove on the north. The length of this peninsula from east to west is three miles, and its average width three quarters of a mile. It contains two thousand two hundred acres of land. On the eastern and western extremities of this peninsula the ground rises to a considerable eminence; and as nearly the whole is surrounded by the sea, and from these heights, on either end, can be seen the Atlantic Ocean; the bay to the mouth of the Kennebec, with its numerous isles, which in summer are dressed in robes of green; the Agamenticus Hills in York County; the whole range of mountains on the New Hampshire borders, from Ossipee, near Lake Winnipiseogee, to the celebrated White Mountains, which THE LIFE OF HON. NEAL DOW. Chapter One. In regard to Mr. Dow, he is one of the best men that ever lived. He is warm-hearted, generous, and candid. He is, however, impulsive, and sometimes does things which even his friends object to; but you will find him at all times guided by the purest motives. No man enters the Legislative hall; no man goes to a mass meeting and is received with such enthusiasm as Mr. Dow is. Whatever he says is listened to with profound respect.-GoVERNOR MORRILL. BIRTH PLACE AND YOUTH. Early settlement of a peninsula-Destruction of the settlement by the Indians in 1675, and again by the French and Indians in 1690-Desertion of the peninsula-Incorporation of the new settlement as Falmouth-Becomes a distinct town, and receives the name of Portland in 1786-Parentage and birth of NEAL Dow-The occupation of his youth-Prohibitory Law of the Society of Friends-Characteristic of his mind eminently practical-Observation a principal feature of his training-Early impressions in relation to intoxicating liquors-Industrial pursuits the best preparation for his after life. 1. As early as 1632, GEORGE CLEAVES and WILLIAM TUCKER, two adventurers from the west of England, procured a grant of land, consisting of a peninsula at the western extremity of Casco Bay, between Casco River on the south and Black Cove on the north. The length of this peninsula from east to west is three miles, and its average width three quarters of a mile. It contains two thousand two hundred acres of land. On the eastern and western extremities of this peninsula the ground rises to a considerable eminence; and as nearly the whole is surrounded by the sea, and from these heights, on either end, can be seen the Atlantic Ocean; the bay to the mouth of the Kennebec, with its numerous isles, which in summer are dressed in robes of green; the Agamenticus Hills in York County; the whole range of mountains on the New Hampshire borders, from Ossipee, near Lake Winnipiseogee, to the celebrated White Mountains, which form the background of a magnificent landscape, with Mount Washington in full view, these two adventurers might well be charmed with the spot, and form the determination to erect thereon a settlement which, as time advanced, should become a city "beautiful for situation." 2. In 1675, however, the settlement was entirely destroyed by the aborigines. It was again erected, and in 1690 again destroyed by the combined forces of the French and Indians. This beautiful peninsula then lay waste and apparently deserted for a period of twenty years. In 1718, a settlement having again sprung up, it was incorporated under the name of Falmouth, with towns now called Elizabeth, Westbrook, and Falmouth, by the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1786 the settlement became again a distinct town, and was incorporated under the name of Portland. 3. Residing in this town, near the western end of the peninsula, was a steady, industrious member of the Society of Friends, quietly carrying on the business of a tanner. On the 20th of March, 1804, he had born unto him a son, whom he called "NEAL." As time advanced, NEAL became a youth, and diligently applied himself to the business of his father's calling. 4. The Society of Friends having prohibited by law the manufacture of ardent spirits, it was not surprising that his naturally warm and enthusiastic temperament should heartily espouse the principle taught in that Society. 5. The occupation in which he was daily employed bringing him in close contact with persons engaged in industrial pursuits, he had ample opportunities of noticing the effects of certain habits on persons so engaged. The striking characteristic of his mind was evidently and pre-eminently practical. Whatever views he imbibed, whether as the result of study or observation, the impulse to apply those principles to life, in the circumstances by which he was surrounded, became irresistible. 6. As the town advanced in population and commerce, it also advanced in civilization and refinement. But, antagonistic to these, and in spite of these, there was growing up in the midst of the people a habit of indulging in the use, not only of ardent spirits, but of intoxicating liquors in all their varied forms! With the ardor of his youth he received deeply from practical experience strong impressions of the evils resulting from such indulgences, and he became strongly attached to the temperance movement from its commencement, on the total abstinence principle. 7. His education, in a scholastic sense, had not been neglected; but it was the education which he derived in a tan-yard and in his constant intercourse with industrial society, which did most to prepare him for that life of active usefulness which has since made his name one of the most remarkable in the history of American reformers, and, we might say, were he not still living, of American heroes. Chapter Two. I remember SOMERFIELD said in a speech, with that infantile eloquence which charmed us so much: "I would rather be the author of the Dairyman's Daughter than of Homer's Iliad." I would rather go with NEAL Dow's reputation to posterity, and to have to meet at last the gathering up of the influence of his life in the noble contemplation of an eternal world, than be any other man who lives or has lived in this country, the magnificent Father of his country not excepted.-REV. DR. TYNG, of New York. ENTRANCE INTO PUBLIC LIFE. No compromise with moderate drinkers-Director of the alms-house and house of correction-Portland becomes a city in 1832-Cause of ruin to the inmates of the alms-house and house of correction-Facilities offered by the traffic the incentives to intemperate habits-The traffic authorized by State and city governments-The traffic no benefit to the community-The traffic a cause of immeasurable evil to society-NEAL Dow's public advocacy of temperance-He finds that the law did not require that licenses be granted-Could not licenses be withheld ?-NEAL Dow labors to change public opinion and to affect municipal action thereby-Total prohibition of the liquor traffic the succeeding idea-Memorial of General JAMES APPLETON and others for an abrogation of the license laws and prohibition of the sale of liquors. 1. NEAL Dow joined heartily in all the phases of the total abstinence movement, taking care to avoid every compromise with the moderate drinkers of intoxicating liquors. He was |