* * *

The occasional revival of an old Indian name for an hotel, club, or
street should interest every American. Indeed, such names should be more
frequently revived than they are, to connect us in our history with the
Indian who preceded us. They also have an educational value. For it is a
fact that many, upon hearing, for the first time, of the _Mas'cono'mo_
and _Nan'nepash'emet_ hotels at Manchester-by-the-Sea and Marblehead
respectively, have been led to seek for the origin of the names, and in
this way have made their first acquaintance with the old Indian chiefs
who held full sway where the hotels now stand. It is possible that many
have been led to look up Indian history still farther since the new
_Algonquin_ Club was formed in Boston.

It is to be regretted that so many of the full-of-meaning, musical
Indian names ever should have been replaced by such commonplace English
ones as are now frequently met with. Who can say that _Chelsea_ is an
improvement on sweet _Win'nisim'met_? Or that the slight elevation which
joins that city to Everett, called _Mount Washington_ (how ludicrous
that must strike strangers who are familiar with _the_ Mount
Washington!), was not better as _Sagamore Hill_, the Indian name for it?
Some of its public-spirited inhabitants are going back to that; and they
dare to prophesy that, by the time Chelsea is a part of Boston as the
_Winnisimmet District_, it will have no other name.

LITERATURE AND ART.

The value of town histories is a subject which has been editorially
considered more than once in this magazine. Recognizing the importance
of these local histories in their relations to New England history in
general, it always gives us pleasure to note the additions which are
made from time to time to this department of historical literature. Such
an addition has recently been made in consequence of the centennial
anniversary of the town of Heath, Franklin county, Mass., which was
observed on the nineteenth of August last, the historical addresses with
other matter having been just published in a neat volume[G] of about one
hundred and sixty pages.

Heath, which was named from General William Heath, is a striking example
of the decadence of the New England hill towns, its population having
fallen from eleven hundred and ninety-nine in the year 1830, to five
hundred and sixty-eight at present. The site of old Fort Shirley is in
the township. Fifty years ago,