rves
more than a passing notice, enriched and beautified as it has been by
this family, until it has become one of the most charming of New England
villages, and presents a model which deserves to be widely copied. The
old and substantial factories, built of granite, present the neat
appearance which characterizes the buildings in some of our oldest navy
yards. The employes have many of them grown old in the service of the
firm; and well paid, intelligent, and satisfied, are themselves the
owners of their attractive cottage homes and take a just pride in the
welfare of the community. The concrete walks, macadamized roadways, and
well kept yards and lawns evince thrift. The elegant railway station, a
gift to the village from one member of the family, is a model of
architectural beauty and convenience. The Gothic church and parsonage of
the same style of architecture, are befitting adjuncts of the park-like
cemetery, where rests the dust of the blacksmith ancestor who bravely
struggled amid adverse surroundings to found the fortunes of his family,
and build up a business which has extended wherever civilization has
made its way. The Memorial hall, before-mentioned, is on a commanding
cliff, overlooking the town; close by is the elegant structure known and
endowed as the Ames Free Library; and in another direction is the
temple, dedicated to the cause of popular education, that emblem of New
England's power, the school-house, all monuments of the munificence of
the Ames family, and of the deep interest its members take in the
welfare of their native town. In the triangle near the centre of the
village, formed by the converging of the principal streets, is a
declivity, where art has so arranged the rough and irregular forms of
New England boulders as to re-produce a unique scene from some Scotch or
Swiss village. This "rockery," as it is called, is clothed in summer
with verdure and flowers, and from its summit one finds an extended and
charming view of the village, with its cottages, its workshops, and the
villas of the proprietors of the latter. These villas, each set in
extensive grounds, are models of architectural elegance, and are
surrounded by most artistic landscape gardening. Conspicuous among these
is the residence of the subject of this sketch, facing, as it does, a
spacious well-kept lawn, and overlooking a lake, an exquisite gem in its
emerald setting.

The public spirit of the Ames's finds one of its most mark