that they rushed over the swamp with an eagerness that could not be
restrained, struggling as in a race to see who could first reach the
log that led into the fiery mouth of the fort. A Salem villager, John
Raymond, was the winner. He passed through, survived the ordeal, and
came unharmed out of the terrible fight. He was twenty-seven years of
age. He signed his name to a petition to the General Court, in 1685,
as having gone in the expedition from Salem Village, and as then
living there. Some years afterwards, he removed to Middleborough,
joined the church in that place in 1722, and died in 1725. The fact
that his last years were spent there has led to the supposition that
he went from Middleborough to the Narragansett fight; but no men were
drafted into that army from Middleborough. It was not a town at the
time, but was organized some years afterwards. It had no inhabitants
then. Philip had destroyed what few houses had been there, and
slaughtered or dispersed their occupants.

Thus far our attention has been directed to that portion of the
population of Salem Village drawn there by the original policy of the
company in London to attract persons of superior social position,
wealth, and education to take up tracts of land, and lead the way into
the interior. It operated to give a high character to the early
agriculture of the country, and facilitate the settling of the lands.
Without taking into view the means they had to make the necessary
outlays in constructing bridges and roads, and introducing costly
implements of husbandry and tasteful improvements, but looking solely
at the social, intellectual, and moral influence they exerted, it must
be acknowledged that the benefit derived from them was incalculable.
They gave a powerful impulse to the farming interest, and introduced a
high tone to the spirit of the community. They were early on the
ground, and remained more or less through the period of the first