l.

_Be it enacted, &c., as follows_:

All that part of the town of Groton, in the county of Middlesex,
with the inhabitants thereon, lying north of the following
described line is hereby set off from the town of Groton, and
annexed to the town of Pepperell, to wit: Beginning at the boundary
between said town of Groton and the town of Dunstable, at a stone
monument in the wall on land of Elbridge Chapman and land of Joseph
Sanderson, and running south, eighty-six degrees west, about six
hundred and sixty rods, to a stone monument at the corner of land
called the "Job Shattuck Farm," and land of James Hobart, near the
Nashua River and Worcester and Nashua Railroad; thence in same line
to the centre of Nashua River and the boundary of said town of
Pepperell: _provided, however_, that for the purpose of electing a
representative to the general court, the said territory shall
continue to be a part of the town of Groton, until a new
apportionment for representatives is made; and the inhabitants
resident therein shall be entitled to vote in the choice of such
representatives, and shall be eligible to the office of
representative in the town of Groton, in the same manner as if this
act had not been passed.

[Illustration: Map of Groton Plantation in 1884]

The latest legislation connected with the dismemberment of the original
grant--and perhaps the last for many years to come--is the Act of
February 14, 1871, by which the town of Ayer was incorporated. This
enactment took from Groton a large section of territory lying near its
southern borders, and from Shirley all that part of the town on the
easterly side of the Nashua River which was annexed to it from Groton on
February 6, 1798.

Thus has the old Groton Plantation, during a period of more than two
centuries, been hewed and hacked down to less than one-half of its
original dimensions. It has furnished, substantially, the entire
territory of Pepperell, Shirley, and Ayer, and has contributed more or
less largely to form five other towns. An examination of the
accompanying map will show these changes more clearly than any verbal or
written description.

* * * * *

SAILS.

The ship's white sails are all unfurl'd
To the salt breath of the sea;
And never a ship in all the world
Sails on with the wind more free.

For the