The Massachusetts Spy, And Worcester County Advertiser

TAUNTON.
[From the Barnstable Gazette.]
We were long since acquainted with the little village of Taunton. It was a place for holding the several Courts, and many clients, witnesses, horse-jockeys and idlers, were there congregated—a stream turned a few mills, and the herring were the chief welcome annual visitors of its borders. The Green, as it was termed, afforded a fine spot for hustle-cap and ball, and the houses seemed to have existed until repair and change had grown out of fashion. A few stages with lantern-ribbed horses, trundled to the door of the hotel, and every thing appeared to have obtained its acme of improvement. Seeds of decay were sown in its streets, and grew up in thorns and thistles.
But how has it changed. A century has passed in an hour. The marks of wealth meet the eye in every glance.—Factories cover the spot where alone was heard the click of the mill. Thousands are lavished where dollars were cautiously invested; and the genius of internal improvement has stamped, and a city rises at its call. The most difficult experiments of the old world here meet with success, and the discouraged artisans of England here find patronage.
The agricultural resources of this place are, to appearance, small. Navigation is limited from the nature of the river: but the deficiencies of both are forgotten in its facilities for manufactures. We were gratified in being permitted an examination of the Calico Factory lately established at that place.—The power of water, steam, ingenuity, chemistry, and enterprize, presents a tout ensemble which would have astonished our pilgrim fathers. The amount of property invested in working of cotton, from its raw state to its finished perfection, as it graces the counter of the merchant, is a proof of the progressive independence of these Colonies. The improvements making and made in the outward appearance of this place bear no proportion to the actual increase of wealth. We were informed that in the Calico Factory and its accompaniments, nearly a million of dollars had been invested—that the goods wrought here were of a superior quality, and commanded a higher price than any which are imported from England. To describe the interior of this building, and the several various departments and processes of colouring, bleaching, stamping, packing, &c. &c. is entirely beyond our abilities—but the labour is so arranged and distinguished, that it resembles, if we may so speak, a regular, yet complex system of human machinery.
The Cotton Factory takes the article in its raw state, and through the instrumentality of "its pickers and stealers," spinning jennies, water looms, &c. is enabled to hand over to the Calico department the subject for their ingenuity. Here it is taken possession of by the paper-capped gentry of all nations, kindred and tongues. Yorkshire, Lancashire, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the various dialects of Great Britain, are glomerated in solemn pow wow over it, and it comes from their hands as beautiful as though it had been washed in the tints of the rainbow. From the little which we could discover in a flying visit of a few moments, it seems as though the composition of colours, used for the stamping and dyeing, must involve an accurate knowledge of chemical preparation. The operation of stamping, or printing, as it is termed, is executed with great rapidity, and the pressure made use of extremely slight; and yet the colours in general, are as durable as the material on which they are impressed.
Here is to be seen an Hydraulic Press, used in packing. One cannot but remember the theory of Archimedes when he views its powerful effects. This press must be of vast consequence in mechanics, and, considering its utility, is it surprising that it does not more often occupy the place of the screw and wedge.
We recommend to the traveller, who shall pass through the village of Taunton, to obtain a ticket from the superintendent, and visit this establishment of enterprize and ingenuity.