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gencer; all nature "seemed to smile upon the scene." Disembarking, the company marched to canal-boats lying in the old canal built by the indefatigable labors of Washington's Potomac Company nearly fifty years before. During the journey up the canal, we are assured, the "senses of the company were regaled by a scene at once novel and really enchanting. . . There was a part of this passage, when the music of Moore's sweet song of 'The meeting of the waters,' poured its melody on the ear so as to suspend the labor of the boatmen, and charm to silence every voice." Two companies of riflemen saluted the arrival of President Adams on the ground. "Thousands hung upon the overlooking hill to the north, and many climbed the umbrageous trees." Within a hollow square, surrounded by the crowds, a spot was marked for the raising of the first spadeful of earth by John Quincy Adams. Then "amidst a silence so intense as to chasten the animation of hope and to hallow the enthusiasm of joy," the mayor of Georgetown handed Mr. Mercer, president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, the implement