5; and it was not changed until July, 1851,
when it was reduced to three cents on single letters, prepaid, or five
cents, if not prepaid, for all distances under three thousand miles. By
the law which went into operation on June 30, 1863, prepayment by stamps
was made compulsory, the rate remaining at three cents; though a special
clause was inserted, by which the letters of soldiers or sailors, then
fighting for the Union in the army or navy, might go without prepayment.

[Footnote 1: Diary and Correspondence of Amos Lawrence, pages 24, 25.]

* * * * *

LOVEWELL'S WAR.

By John N. McClintock, A.M.

On the morning of September 4, 1724, Thomas Blanchard and Nathan Cross,
of Dunstable, started from the Harbor and crossed the Nashua River, to
do a day's work in the pine forest to the northward. The day was wet
and drizzly. Arriving at their destination they placed their arms and
ammunition, as well as their lunch and accompanying jug, in a hollow
log, to keep them dry. During the day they were surrounded by a party of
Mohawks from Canada, who hurried them into captivity.

Their continued absence aroused the anxiety of their friends and
neighbors and a relief party of ten was at once organized to make a
search for the absentees. This party, under the command of Lieutenant
French, soon arrived at the place where the men had been at work, and
found several barrels of turpentine spilled on the ground, and, to the
keen eyes of those hardy pioneers, unmistakable evidence of the presence
of unfriendly Indians. Other signs indicated that the prisoners had been
carried away alive. The party at once determined upon pursuit, and
following the trail up the banks of the Merrimack came to the outlet
of Horse-Shoe Pond in the present town of Merrimac, where they were
surprised and overwhelmed by a large force of the enemy. Josiah Farwell
alone of that little band escaped to report the fate of his companions.

Blanchard and Cross were taken to Canada. After nearly a year's
confinement they succeeded in effecting their own ransom and returned to
their homes. The gun, jug, and lunch-basket were found in the hollow log
where they had been left the year before.

Enraged by these and similar depredations, the whole frontier was
aroused to aggressive measures. John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and
Jonathan Robbins at once petitioned for, and were granted, the right to
raise a scouting party to carry t