The Coolidge examiner., 1932-10-14
IEW HAMPSHIRE might re.

| ~ L
m Gently have been called the
orchestra seat for the show
produced by Nature-the eclipse,
which drew thousands of visitors
across her borders from many
| states.
Without the eclipse, however,
New Hampshire is magnet to visit
ors the year round. In the summer
its mountains and lakes call vaca-
tionists from remote parts of the
country, while in winter they are
the scene of winter sports.
About two hundred and fifty years
ago New Hampshire was separated
from Massachusetts. The new royal
province had then but four towns,
which clung precariously to the sea-
board; and if the usual rule of COM
putting population in proportion to
qualified voters be observed, there
were perhaps a thousand souls in
the census.
In quarter millennium the states
|
about half million people, and has
spread from the coast to the lakes
and beyond the mountains to the
Canadian border. The march has
was no easy task, and it Is small
wonder that so many of it's acres,
once cleared by the stern process
of cutting and burning. have been
permitted to resume their forest
cover.
1t is probable that Massachusetts
was glad to be rid of New Hamp-
shire, back there $50 years ago.
royal governors who had lived in
Boston. 1t was the first manifesto
tion of a revolt against absentee
landlordism which New Hampshire
has always more or less maintained
Mills on the Merrimack.
Down in Maine they speak of ''the
lordly Kennebec," but the Merri-
mack stands unmatched. It's boast
is that it turns more spindles than
any other stream in the world, for
upon its banks stand the great in
dustrial cities of Manchester, and
Nashua; and New Hampshire has
always looked with pride upon its
centers of the textile world, from
which its products have gone out all
over the globe.
Time was when solid trains of
cottons used to go from Manches
ter and Nashua north and west
through Canada to the Pacific coast.
and thence to the Orient to clothe
the "heathen Chinese" But chang
ing styles, slackening immigration,
rayon, and what not have played
havoc with New England's textiles,
while the Orient has learned to
make its own shirtings and the
South now not only grows, but
weaves, it's own cotton. The miles
of mighty mills at Manchester still
run, but not with their former vol
ume
The Merrimack, however, like Old
Man River, keeps rolling along; and
so do the other streams which New
Hampshire originates and which
have so greatly enriched New Eng
land. The Kennebec alone, of all
the great rivers of this section, es-
capes New Hampshire paternity. The
/ fha nd ha
Saco-these, with the Merrimack,
make the great quartet to which
the four states of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Vermont and Con-
necticut owe so much.
Switzerland of America.
Among the titles in which New
Hampshire glories is that of "the
Switzerland of America" In sum-
mer the mountains and valleys are
thronged by the thousand. The Ap-
palachian Mountain club visits
them, piecemeal and sporadically,
though their trails and their cabins
have a call which should be as
strong in winter as in summer.
The Dartmouth Outing club, how
ever, has been by no means slow
to make use of the winter months
This organization has its chain of
cabins, also, which covers the terri
tory from Mount Cardigan to Mount
Washington, and its hikes, as de-
scribed in the college publications,
remind one of the heroic tales which
Napoleon wrote upon the face of the
Alps.
Some New Hampshire cities,
whose latitude gives permission,
have their carnivals. too; and an
other fixed observance of the winter
season is the dog races, because in
the eastern hills lie the kennels from
which explorers of both the Arctic
and the Antarctic have taken their
sledge teams.
Increasing competition and chang
ing economic conditions have caused
a recession in New Hampshire's
basic industries, but there can be
no competition and there is no