LOWELL, AS IT WAS, AND AS IT IS. THE unexampled growth of the city of Lowell gives interest to some notice of the successivc steps by which it has attained to its present importance, of the extent of its manufacturing operations, and of the actual condition of its industrious population. An unsettled territory of pasture and meadow has, within the memory of the middle-aged, been covered with substantial edifices, mills, stores, churches, blocks of houses, the prosperous homes of nearly thirty thousand people thus almost realizing the creations of some oriental fable, at least emulating in a few years what, in other places, has been the slow growth of centuries. Aim of this book is to supply the information which all visitors to this manufacturing city wish to obtain. There are many statistical facts, and questions concerning the health and character of its labouring classes. Originally published in 1845. Many of the earliest books on weaving, textiles and needlework, particularly t