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THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABESIC.

BY FRANCIS B. EATON.

At the beginning, so far as white folks are concerned, it was a pond and nothing more, defined by Webster as a body of water somewhat less than a lake. The Indians, who probably first discovered and appreciated its uses, may have called it "great water," which may well be interpreted "lake." Potter in his history of Manchester gives it thus: "Massa nipe sauke," and Charles Bell, in the history of Chester, writing previous to 1856, has "Massa peseag❞—great water. A writer in Willey's Book of Nutfield says Massabesic is from "Massa, or, as it is sometimes expressed, msi (large) or mamsi (vast), and . nebe (lake or pond) and ik, which gives it its local term." Thus the historians all profess to derive their interpretation from Rolle's dictionary of the Abernaque tongue.

Mr. William Graham of Auburn, born in 1776, and familiarly known as "Old Grimes," writing in 1860, says: "Indians plenty round the great pond. Deacon Leach of the Presbyterian church in Cheshire sold rum in those days. One little Indian came out from great island, called Deer island, wanted some occupee. 'Who for?' said the deacon. Massa be sick, want it for him.' That's the origin of the name to the great and little pond." It is said that Massa died and was buried on the island.

This story seemed probable enough to be adopted by the popular fancy. As there are, however, several ponds by that name in other states of the Union, and as "Massabeseck" is found on old deeds much antedating the time of Mr. Grimes's story, it will have to be thrown out of court.

At all events, Massabesic is a good name, as sings our wellknown local poetess, Mrs. Clara B. Heath, who has lived near its beautiful shores.

"One legacy they left thee, was it chance?

A quaintly sounding name most dear to me,
That seems to whisper of some old romance,
Some pleasant tale blown over from far seas.

Two broad blue bays, that stretch out east and west,
Dotted with fairy isles of living green,

And midway where the waters seem to rest
In narrow bed two curving shores between
A time-worn bridge that long has stood the test
Of stormy winds and restless tides is seen."

That this admiration is not a mere matter of local pride, the words of Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford in a story written for the Atlantic Monthly some years since will show. She says: "Among the many lakes in New Hampshire there is one of extreme beauty. A broad shadowy water some nine miles in length, with steep thickly wooded banks, and here and there as if moored on its calm surface an island, fit for a bower of bliss."

Other than this little or nothing of legendary lore has come down to us from its shores. Thoreau once came within reach of the Massabesic, but his ship passed by, just lapping the waters of the Cohas, and he spun no web about its unconscious waves. The two well-defined sheets of which the lake consists are very irregular in shape, and if joined end to end would measure about seven miles in length by one mile in width. The eastern division, with about one half of the other, is within the boundaries of Auburn. The shores are varied and picturesque. Numerous beaches strewn with fine white sand furnish material much prized by housewives in old time for

scouring purposes, and until superseded by modern invention, for the finish of plastered walls. Chase remarks that these beaches were much prized as places for bleaching the fine Irish linen woven by the early settlers. Several years since, perhaps fifty or more, a glass factory was built at Suncook and sand drawn from the Massabesic for the manufacture of window glass, and I remember well how astonished we academy scholars were to see the distended cheek of the blowers and the

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molten globes of red hot glass swinging over their heads This was probably not a paying venture and was soon discontinued.

Connecting the beaches rocky shores extend, piled high with boulders indicative of old-time storms and winds, echoes of which to this day greet the luckless voyager who happens to be out in his frail canoe or cranky sailboat. Wooded slopes

run down to the water's edge; luxuriant vines cluster on fine old trees; the scent of the wild grape perfumes the autumn groves. The bear found his favorite high blueberry in sheltered dells; wild geese rested here in their long fights hither and yon, and great flocks of ducks found free ports of entry in many a safe retreat. Deer browsed in the surrounding forests; the lordly loon trumpeted his defiance in the lee of his chosen islands or disappeared with lightning celerity at the crack of the rifle. Acres of flooded marshlands furnished

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feeding grounds for pickerel or perch. Alewives crowded in shoals up the Cohas in the season, and suckers abounded when the winter snows moved off.

There are numerous islands, but only one of any great value. The largest, Deer island, seventy acres in extent, was sold to Joseph Brown of Auburn by the late Judge Samuel D. Bell in 1820, and until the present year was owned by Dr. James F.

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