THE NEW BOSTON BEAUTY.

A Bunch of Violets. Gathered by IRENE E. JEROME. Original illustrations engraved on wood and printed under the direction of Geo. T. Andrew. 4to, cloth, 3.75; Turkey morocco, $9.00; tree calf, $9.00; English seal style, 7.00. Immeasurably realistic, delicate, artistic, and engoes rapturing. The pretty Bunch of Violets" forth on its happy mission in a royal quarto, 10 x 12 inches, bound in English cloth, enriched with a beautiful emblematic design, chastely wrought in black and gold, from the pencil of Ipsen, renowned for his unsurpassed genius as a cover designer. "A Bunch of Violets" is a pleasing companion to the choice books which have preceded it in the much admired series. - Boston Transcript.

OLIVER OPTIC'S LATEST.

Ready About: or, Sailing the Boat. Cloth, illustrated; $1.25. Completing the Boat-Builders' Series. Now ready in 6 vols (boxed), $1.25 per volume.

OLIVER OPTIC'S

Our Standard Bearer: or, The Life of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, his youth, his manhood, his campaigns, and his eminent services in the reconstruction of the nation his sword has redeemed, as seen and related by Capt. Bernard Gallygas ken, Cosmopolitan. and written out by Oliver Optic. A new edition with supplementary chapters, containing the political life of the General, his travels abroad, his sickness and death. Cloth, illustrated. by Thomas Nast and others, elegantly bound, 1.50.

A NEW EDITION OF A GREAT FAVORITE. Perseverance Island. By DOUGLAS FRAZER, author of "Practical Boat Sailing." Cloth; elegantly bound, illustrated, 1.50.

Old Robinson Crusoe is outdone by the modern "Live Yankee " Crusoe, the hero of Perseverance Island, who, with no wreck to supply his wants, makes a submarine boat, constructs a steam yacht, kills a sea serpent, finds a gold mine, discovers a pirate's treasure, meets with many wonderful adventures, which he gives in this story to the world by sending it in a balloon of his own construction.

J. T. TROWBRIDGE'S LATEST. Peter Budstone, The Boy who was Hazed. Cloth, illustrated. $1.25. Completing the Tide Mill Stories. Now ready, 6 vols. (boxed), $1.25 per volume.

BY THE AUTHOR OF "TEN BOYS." Only a Year, and What it Brought. By JANE ANDREWS, author of Ten Boys who Lived on the Road from Long Ago to Now," "Seven Little Sisters who Live on the Round Ball that Floats in the Air," "The Seven Little Sisters Prove their Sisterhood," etc. Illust., $1.00.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, His Life, His Works, His Friendships. By GEORGE LOWELL AUSTIN. Profusely illustrated. Cloth, $2.00; cloth, full gilt, 3.25; half morocco, $4.50; full morocco and gilt edges, 5.50. Formerly pub lished by subscription.

Life and Times of Wendell Phillips. By With steel portrait GEORGE LOWELL AUSTIN. and illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. The only complete life of the great agitator issued.

MISS DOUGLAS'S NEW NOVEL. The Fortunes of the Faradays. Uniform with Lee & Shepard's Library Series of the Douglas Novels. 18 vols. Cloth, $1.50 per vol.

Ca Tra! or, Danton in the French Rerolution. By LAURENCE GRONLUND, author of "The Cooperative Commonweath," an exposition of Collectivism. Cloth, $1.25.

VOL. X.

No. II.

In a periodical like the GRANITE MONTHLY, devoted to the interests of a state and to the perpetuation of the memories of good men and noble deeds, it is well that a memorial tribute be paid to one who did not create admiration in the senate or on the forum, or dazzle by wonderful genius, but by a life of unselfish usefulness and steadfast devotion to duty achieved a name more dear and more enduring than wealth, honors, or power can give.

The state of New Hampshire has been the birthplace of a large number of men whose reputation in the higher walks of life give it a character and fame abroad; and we who breathe the same air they breathed, and look up to the same rugged hills that gave them strength and inspiration, feel a natural pride in them and in their fame.

The Weekses were of purely English origin. I have not data at hand

to trace the ancestry of the present family very far back: suffice it to say, then, that a John Weeks settled at "Strawberry Bank" as early as 1636. One of his descendants was Dr. John Weeks, a prominent physician of Portsmouth, who married a daughter of Dr. Joshua Wingate, some time of Salem. There were ten children born to them-four sons and six daughters. Joshua Wingate Weeks. the eldest, was rector of St. Michael's church, Marblehead, Mass., and being a royalist, at the commencement of the Revolution went to Annapolis, N. S., where he died. John, the second son, was born in Greenland, Feb. 29, 1749, and married Deborah Brackett Dec. 27, 1770. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dr. McClintock. Their children were Martha, who married in Lancaster, Edward Spaulding, who lived. to the advanced age of ninety-nine years, Deborah, Elizabeth, John

Wingate, James Brackett, Mary Wiggin, and Sally Brackett Weeks. These were all born in Greenland except the last named, who was born in Lancaster in 1789, married Edwards Bucknam, and is still living.

Capt. John Weeks was a man of much physical and mental ability. He was captain of a company organized for the defence of the colony, and was called with his company to the defence of Portsmouth from an anticipated attack by the British upon that place during the Revolution. He had prior to that period been on hunting and exploring expeditions northerly into what is now Maine, and into the "Cohos country." In 1786 he sold his farm in Lee and came to Lancaster, "taking up two rights" of land in the beautiful and fertile valley of the Connecticut, where he built his log house and commenced clearing the land. The next year he returned to Lee and brought his family to their new home, which has during nearly all these years been in the name. Capt. Weeks was prominent in the affairs of his adopted town, and was a delegate from the Upper Cohos to the convention which met at Exeter to ratify the constitution of the United States. He died very suddenly at Wakefield, in 1818, while on a journey to Portsmouth.

Hon. John Wingate Weeks was for many years one of the foremost men in the state. He was an original and active thinker, a man of fine presence and genial temperament. He combined the trade of joiner with farming, but on the breaking out of the war of 1812 was appointed to a captaincy in the 11th Regiment U. S. A., and served under Gen. Brown in the

Canadian campaigns, was conspicuous for his gallantry and bravery, and commissioned major for heroic conduct at Chippewa. At the close of the war he resigned his commission in the army and retired to his farm, intending to devote his time to his farm and books; but he was successively elected county treasurer, sheriff, senator from the 12th district, appointed in 1828 one of the commissioners to establish the boundary line between New Hampshire and Maine (Hon. Ichabod Bartlett being the other New Hampshire commissioner), and served in congress two terms, from 1829 to 1833. He declined all further political preferment, and lived until his death, which occurred in 1853, upon the farm which his father cleared. He wrote a good deal upon various topics, was consulted upon grave political questions by the active leaders of his party, dispensed a liberal hospitality, and at his death was sadly missed by all.

James Brackett Weeks, than whom a nobler man in his station of life never lived, soon after attaining his majority, purchased a lot of land on the southerly slope of what is now called Mt. Prospect, the most easterly of the three Martin Meadow Hills, and commenced at once work upon it. He soon after married Miss Betsey Stanley, a daughter of Lieut. Dennis Stanley, one of the early settlers of the town, a woman who inherited the virtues of constancy and vigor, and withal those of sound sense and womanly grace, from her parents. The life of Mr. Weeks was one of unobtrusive goodness and charity. He sought no political honor, preferring the quiet of his home, with his family

and friends, and the exercise of a liberal faith, untramelled by partisan bonds or theological creeds. He died in 1858, having attained the age of 74 years, with the fullest respect of all who ever knew him.

His children, who all lived to manhood and womanhood, were three sons and four daughters. The daughters inherited the virtues of their parents, but have all gone to the "undiscovered country" save one,-Mrs. Persis F. Rice, now of Dublin, N. H. Martha E., with the devotion of a true woman, did what she could to relieve the sufferings of the wounded soldiers in the hospitals during the late civil war, and died, a martyr to her philanthropic efforts, in Boston in 1873. The sons were Hon. James Wingate Weeks, still prominent in political and business life, Hon. William Dennis Weeks, and John Weeks, Esq., a resident of Buffalo, N. Y., and a successful and respected business man of that city. The subject of this sketch was born on the 28th day of February, 1818. The place of his birth is one of the most beautiful in all this beautiful country. It is so elevated that a fine view of the Presidential range in its entire extent, the Franconia and Pilot mountains, with the intervening woods, streams, ponds, farms, and villages, are spread out to the beholder; and perhaps the grandeur of this scenery. so constantly before him in his boyhood, stamped upon his character some of its rugged elements of independence and sturdy manliness, softened and blended by their lights and shades.

His boyhood was mostly spent on the farm, doing the customary work. incident to a hilly farm, where there

was little to relieve the monotony of life except the varied beauty of the distant hills, and the sport of the woods and streams then abounding with game and fish, and in the athletic games indulged in by the boys as they met at "raisings," "loggingbees," and the intermissions of school hours, in all of which he took an interest and excelled his mates.

At the district school he gained the rudiments of his education, and with attendance a number of terms at Lancaster academy his school days ended. The academy was taught at that time by Nathaniel Wilson, its first principal, we used to say, who was succeeded by Walter P. Flanders, and he by William H. Hadley. They were instructors well fitted for their duties. Young Weeks was not brilliant as a scholar, but he gained the respect of his teachers and associates by his application to his studies, his manly qualities, and his unswerving integrity. In all the manly games he was champion, and in differences that might arise in the various matters that occur in school life he was often appealed to as an arbiter, and the justness of his decisions was never questioned.

During the winters he taught school in his own and other districts, giving eminent satisfaction, for his education was founded on a solid basis, and faithfully and well he discharged his duties. Arriving at man's estate, he went solidly at work on the farm, and here showed his peculiar aptitude for agricultural pursuits by adopting the most advanced methods, procuring the best stock, which he tended and reared to the best advantage.

In 1839 political parties in town

had become somewhat disjointed, the Democracy, which was the dominant party, having on some local issue broken into two factions. In the canvass for representative the Whigs nominated Mr. Weeks, with which party he had identified himself, and in a hotly contested election he was the successful candidate. In the one session of the legislature which he attended, he fully satisfied the expectations of his friends and constituents, and won the respect and esteem of his fellow-legislators by his sound judgment, dignity, and integrity. He early became interested in military affairs, and rose rapidly by promotion to the rank of Lieut. Colonel, and there was no officer upon parade who had a more soldierly bearing than he.

In 1845 he went to St. Johnsbury, Vt., at the solicitation and in the employ of the Messrs. Fairbanks, as superintendent of their farms and general out-door work. He also became interested in manufacturing operations there; but in 1854 he purchased the farm in Lancaster, on which his grandfather first settled in 1786, and which was the homestead of Hon. John W. Weeks. Here be devoted himself to his favorite pursuit, caring for his farm and stock, and attending to such duties as his townsmen imposed upon him. In 1863 he received the appointment of assistant assessor for the 3d Revenue District of New Hampshire; and here, as everywhere in official capacity, his career was marked by the same integrity and sound judgment that characterized him in home life. He was an active and efficient worker in the Coos and Essex Counties Agricultural Society, prominent at all times in directing its

affairs, and helping to bring it to a marked degree of success.

ernor.

In July, 1876, Mr. Weeks received the appointment of judge of probate for Coös county. Previous to this he had received in the Republican State Convention the vote of the entire Coös delegation as candidate for govThe appointment as judge of probate was one of fitness; it was such a one as could not have been bettered, and during the time he served, which was until his death, the position was honored by the man. In all his official course he was dispassionate, and brought to bear his strong common-sense and the endeavor to do right. He was in fact a "most upright judge," and probably no one who has ever occupied the same position in our county has given greater satisfaction to all parties with whom the court had to do than he.

In his theological views he was liberal, in life and conduct a religious man, fully living up to the standard set by St. James: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

He was very constant in attendance upon the Sunday services at the Unitarian church, and observed Sunday, not with austere formality, but as a day of rest and quiet cheerfulness, and in doing good. His home life was cheerful and happy. He married, in 1848, Miss Mary Helen Fowler, of Woodstock, Connecticut, a niece of the late Gov. Jared W. Williams. To them were born three children,-Emma F., who married Burleigh Roberts, Esq., of the firm of Kent & Roberts, in Lancaster; John Wingate Weeks,