The address of King Kamehameha IV., at his inauguration in 1854, well sums up the progress which had then been made since the death of his great-grandfather.

With the accession of Kamehameha II. to the throne, the tabus were broken, the wild orgies of heathenism were abolished, the idols thrown down, and in their place was set up the worship of the only living and true God. His was the era of the introduction of Christianity and all its peaceful influences. He was born to commence the great moral revolution which was begun with his reign.

The age of Kamehameha III. was one of progress and of liberty, of schools and of civilization. He gave us a civilization and fixed laws; he secured the people in the title to their lands, and removed the last chain of oppression. He gave them a voice in his councils, and in the making of the laws by which they are governed. He was a great national benefactor, and has left the impress of his mild and amiable disposition on the age for which he was born.

The annual report of the Sandwich Island mission to the American Board in 1857, says, after recalling the former degrading heathenism:

Our towns are rising, our roads are improving, agriculture and industry are assuming increasing importance. Our government, in its legislative, executive and judiciary departments, has acquired organic form, and is moving on in the discharge of its functions. Our schools are sustained. Our islands are being dotted over with improved church edifices. Law is supreme, order prevails, protection of all human rights is nearly complete, there is little complaining or suffering in the land, shocking crimes are rare, and it may be doubted whether the sun shines on a more peaceful people.

Mrs. Thurston made a second visit to the United States in 1851, and made a short visit to Fitchburg, but her husband still labored on at Kailua. After forty years of missionary work he was stricken with paralysis, and was obliged to go to California for health and rest. He was there in 1863, but soon returned to Honolulu, where he passed the remainder of his life. The disease made progress, till at last it affected his brain. At times he would seem to behold crowds of people, and pointing,

would exclaim, "Ke Aupini, Ke Aupini,” (the kingdom, the kingdom). For the last two days of his life he could not speak, and he passed quietly away on the eleventh day of March, 1868, at the age of eighty years,-a veteran in the service of the Lord.

I cannot do better than to give a portion of the funeral address of the Rev. Eli Corwin, delivered at Honolulu, March 12, 1868. The text was Proverbs xvi. 31: "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness."

The instructor for a time of both Kamehameha II. and Kamehameha III., his influence upon the conduct and disposition of especially the latter must have been very great, at a period of Hawaiian history when it was most important to secure the good will of those highest in authority, and when the word of the king was law and his will was absolute. But, as is ever the case with the faithful minister, his influence was greatest and his usefulness most apparent among the masses of the common people. Never once leaving the islands for forty years, he was honored of natives and foreigners alike as a faithful, patient, persistent worker; steadfast and abiding in one stay far beyond the ordinary duration of missionary life. Indeed, I know not that in the entire history of missions a like instance is recorded of one remaining so long upon the field, and at a single post, during the lifetime of a generation, without revisiting the home of his childhood or visiting any other land. Only when advanced age and repeated strokes of paralysis had rendered him incapable of service; only when his strong hand lost its cunning and his tongue had begun to give a doubtful utterance, did he consent to resign his pastorate at Kailua, that he might spend the closing years of his life in this city.

Though remarkably taciturn all through life, yet he was hardly less remarkable for a quiet humor, which was kept in subjection to his Christian dignity, while it did much to make him agreeable in social life and to make him buoyant in spirit under all the trials of missionary labor. And this cheerful temper and Christian mirthfulness characterized him to the last. No pleasantry was lost upon him, even when his memory of the past seemed a blank and he could not recognize his family or his friends.

His peculiarly rich and well-trained voice, even when age had some what shattered it, gave forth at times such tones as made it a feast of

melody to my ear to have him seated for years close to my right hand in the sanctuary. Neither the choir nor the congregation were ever disturbed by his singing out of time or out of tune, while the general effect of congregational singing was greatly improved by that remarkable voice of manly power, yet of womanly sweetness, to which we shall listen in the service of song nevermore.

Mrs. Thurston lived to be the only survivor of that first missionary band, and she died honored and beloved, surrounded by her relatives and friends, in Honolulu, October 13, 1876. I cannot refrain from giving the text from which was preached her memorial service, at the Fort Street church, Honolulu, October 22, 1876: "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."

Mr. and Mrs. Thurston had five children, Persis, Lucy, Asa, Mary, and Thomas. Persis is still living in Honolulu, a near neighbor to Mr. Hiram Bingham, the son of Asa Thurston's classmate. Mr. Lorrin A. Thurston, ex-minister to this country from the Hawaiian republic, is the son of Asa, Mr. Thurston's eldest son.

Asa Thurston was of the finest product of New England Christianity. Out of the crucible of personal religious struggle he emerged strong, devoted, chivalrous, and with unchangeable convictions. In his work at Hawaii he goes about with a smile upon his lips and stern duty in his heart. At the general mission meeting in 1845 he confesses his sins and deficiencies, and asks forgiveness. He closes the meeting with these words: "In union may we be one; in heart and action one; then shall we be one with thee in heaven." He stands like a figure of bronze, tall, erect,

broad-chested, athletic, yet kind and true. Tenderly and unfalteringly he ministers to the savage, the degraded, and the ignorant, till hand and brain fail him, and the good God takes him home to rest from his labors.

NOTE.-In 1878, Mr. Edwin A. Harris wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled "Asa Thurston.-A Hero of Fitchburg," and some copies of this are still in existence. It was an interesting, trustworthy and valuable publication, and is the source of most of the facts which can now be obtained of the Fitchburg life of Mr. Thurston. It has been of much value to me in my attempt to give in this paper a pen picture of the life, character and work of this pioneer missionary.

THE DIVISION OF WORCESTER COUNTY.

BY HENRY A. WILLIS.

Read at a Meeting of the Society, April 19, 1897.

In the art department of our public library there hangs a frame containing a copy of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News Letter of date of August 13, 1764. This paper was first published April 24, 1704, and was the first regular newspaper published in Boston. It is insignificant in size and general appearance, its dimensions being sixteen by twenty inches, but it is a very interesting relic. It contains several quaint and curious advertisements and a proclamation by Francis Bernard, "Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Province of Massachusetts Bay," relating to an old act regulating trading with the Indians. Among the advertisements is one offering for sale "a stout able bodied negro man;' another states that "a good price will be paid for a likely negro boy from sixteen to twenty years of age," by Richard Billings. But the notice which particularly arrested my attention on a recent visit was the following petition, and it suggested the preparation of this paper. The petition, in its peculiar composition and spelling, is a curiosity, and I have thought it worthy of being copied in full. It is as follows: