Rev. John Todd became, in 1839, a worthy pastor to the Church, over which Thomas Allen presided many years before.  His early life had been a struggle for an education against poverty and ill health.  It is interesting to read his estimate of the new congregation to which he was called after having been for five years pastor in Philadelphia:  “It is a great, rich, proud, enlightened, powerful people.  They move slowly, but they tread like the elephant.  They are cool, but kind, sincere, great at hearing, but very critical.  I have never had an audience who heard so critically.  There is ten times more intellect that is cultivated than we have ever had before.  You would be surprised to see how much they read.  The ladies are abundant, intelligent, refined, and kind.  A wider, better, harder, or more interesting field no man need desire.”  Dr. Todd became one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town, jealous of its honor.  Educational matters, especially, received his attention and assistance.  His reputation as an author is not confined to his town, nor to his day.  The “Student’s Manual” is the best known of his works; the lectures delivered on returning from a visit to California are well worth reading.

[Illustration:  On north street.]

The first manufactories of the town date back to within a few years of its settlement.  Agriculture was, of course, the leading industry, and was carried on according to the wasteful and, apparently, unwise methods usual in a newly-settled country.  Great attention was paid to breeding horses and mules, of which many were sent to the West Indies and other markets.  The first carding machine was set up in 1801 by Arthur Scholfield, an Englishman.  Soon he set about making and improving machines, which he sold to manufacturers in various parts of the country.  The industry was subsequently helped on by the superior quality of wool, which resulted from the new custom of seeking better breeds of sheep.  About 100,000 yards of cloth, worth as many dollars, were produced in the county in 1808.  After the war which followed came a season of depression of manufactures; the cessation of the unusual war demand and excessive importations from abroad were the principal causes.

At this period, when politics were carried into private affairs, as religion had been some hundred years before, each party must have its factory.  Thus the Housatonic Woolen Mill of 1810 was offset a few years later by the Pittsfield Woolen and Cotton Company in Federalist hands.  The former enterprise languished before long for want of sufficient water power.  The latter, by a change of ownership, came under the control of Lemuel and Josiah Pomeroy, and enjoyed the benefits of the tariffs of 1824 and following years.  Other mills went gradually into operation.  But in this instance Yankee ingenuity and versatility found a difficult foe to master.  The proprietors were ambitious and determined to make their fabrics as