Benjamnin F. Butler, Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler

[52] was the population of Boston, and that town became a city in 1822. But in 1836, Lowell's population had increased to twelve thousand, and she became the second city. A clergyman, who had befriended my mother, built a house in Lowell for her to occupy, and by his advice I came to Lowell from Exeter at the end of the winter term in 1828, and studied my Latin at home during the spring and summer. Seth Ames, afterwards Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, kindly permitted me to read Virgil in his office. He amused himself in hearing my recitation of the text, and taught me to scan the versification of the original. Later in the year it became necessary that I should earn some money, and my mother got me a place at Meecham & Mathewson's, the Franklin bookstore, the only establishment of the kind in the town. I remained with them until December 18, when the Lowell High School was established, through the exertions of Rev. Theodore Edson, rector of St. Anne's Church. Mr. Edson, having come to Lowell in 1825, remained as rector of St. Anne's for over sixty years, most respected and most loved by his fellow-citizens. To him more than to any other, Lowell owes its school system, which, during its whole existence, has been one of the best established, most thoroughly cared for, and most highly successful of kindred institutions in the State. Mr. Edson was a brave man as well as a good man. When he perceived the right thing to do, he did it, regardless of personal consideration, or of danger to himself.

Kirk Boot, who discovered the advantages of this locality as a water power, was then the leading mind in Lowell. He had been an English cavalry officer, and his family had occupied what was known as the Boot estate in Boston, since changed into the Revere House. He was a very positive man, and inclined to be imperious toward everybody, especially toward those who stood in apparently dependent relations to himself.

The edifice of St. Anne's Church and the parsonage attached, had been built by the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, and, as I have said, Mr. Edson, the young clergyman, had been installed therein. Mr. Boot had built for himself a mansion not far from it. He was a devout Episcopalian, and had a highly ornamented pew of large dimensions, after the manner of English squires in parish churches. To support this church, the operatives of the Merrimack