USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, for the year 1881-1882 > Part 12
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EZRA BEAMAN & 27 others.
This petition the town refused to grant and the following was sent to the Great and General Court :
To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled.
H UMBLY shew the Subscribers your petitioners, agents for the second parish in Boylston Holden and Sterling in the County of Worcester that the Inhabitants of said Parish are desirous that the Territory belonging to said Parish may be constituted and incorporated into a District by some proper Name and vested with all the Powers and Privileges which by law appertain and belong to Districts.
Your petitioners believe that the Happiness and Comfort of the second Parish aforesaid will be promoted by an incorpora- tion into a District, that their concerns will be managed with more facility. convenience & with less Difficulty than in their present situation. that no possible injury can accrue to the towns of Boylston, Hoklen & Sterling or any other place, by your granting their request. Confidently relying on the Justice &. Wisdom of the Legislature they humbly hope that their petition will be granted and as in Duty bound will ever pray
Jan'y 1807 EZRA BEAMAN
JONATHAN PLYMPTON Agents for and in behalf of the
PAUL GOODALE Parish in Boylston
WILLIAM FAIRBANK Holden & Sterling.
In House of Representatives
July 23, 1807 Received & Committed to Committe on Towns. Sent up for Concurrence PEREZ MORTON Speaker.
In Senate Jan'y 23 1807, Read & Concurred
J. BACON President.
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The Committee of both Houses appointed to consider the Applications for the Incorporation of Towns &c. on the Petition of Ezra Beaman aud others report the following order which is submitted.
SALEM TOWNE Per order.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Ordered : That the Petitioners canse an attested Copy of their Petition with this order thereon, to be served on the respective Town Clerks of the Towns of Boylston, Holden & Sterling, Forty days at least before the first Tuesday of the first session of the next General Court, that all persons may then appear, and show cause (if any they have) why the prayer of said Peti- tion should not be granted.
In Senate Jan'y 24th 1807
Read and passed. Sent down for Concurrence. J. BACON President.
In House of Representatives Jan'y 26th 1807
Read & Concurred PEREZ MORTON Speaker.
A copy of this petition was served upon the town clerk of Boylston by Silas Beaman. A copy was served upon the town clerks of Holden and Sterling by Robert B. Thomas.
This petition brought out the following remonstrance :
To the Honorable Senate & House of Representatives in General Court Assembled.
The Inhabitants of the town of Boylston in the County of Worcester being cited on the Petition of Ezra Beaman & others to shew cause why the second Precinct in the Town of Boylston, Sterling & Holden should not be Incorporated into a District : The Subscribers, agents for said Town dnly authorized & ap- pointed for that purpose Respectfully submit to your considera- tion their answer to the prayer of said petition.
An unfortunate division having arisen in said Town in the year 1794 relative to the location of a Meeting house, then about to be erected, a few disaffected individuals have from that pe- riod been indefatigable in their exertions to produce the dis- memberment & eventually the total ruin of the Corporation. In pursuance of this object the leading Petitioner availing him- self of the Power and Influence derived from an ample fortnne, erected a Meeting house at his own Individual expense within
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the limits of the present precinct, publicly proclaiming his inten- tion to bring a separation as the most direct and certain means of destroying the Town. A petition was accordingly presented to the Legislature for the Incorporation of a new Town to be com- posed of certain sections of the towns of Boylston, Sterling & Holden ; on this Petition the said towns were cited and their opposition having proved successful, the next effort was to ob- tain an Incorporation of the present Precinct. Not satisfied with the accomplishment of this purpose, a petition was soon after preferred for an enlargement of the precinct by lopping off another section of the said Town of Boylston. The Inhabi- tants were again cited and notwithstanding their strenuous op- position the object was effected.
Having thus gradually severed from the original Corporation by far the most valuable and fertile portion of the Territory & more than one quarter of the whole number of ratable polls, the remaining Inhabitants had flattered themselves that the enemy would "Cease from troubling" and that they should be permitted to enjoy in tranquility the privileges which had been left to them after this injurious encroachinent.
It being discovered however that the Town would survive the shock and that something more remained to be done before the Antient Corporation would be completely subverted, a new Pro- ject is devised & an attempt is now made, (with a spirit of ob- stinate perseverance for which our leading opponent is particu- larly distinguished) to convert the Precinct into a district more effectually to Impair our privileges and to accomplish this sys- tematic work of Destruction. Possessing advantages for an Increase of Population much superior to the first Precinct (from the better quality of their Land & other local causes) it is cal- culated with confidence by the Petitioners that the ratable polls within the intended district which are now nearly equal will soon exceed in number those within the Town of Boylston. By thus bringing to their aid a small portion of the Inhabitants of Ster- ling and Holden (who will compose a part of the district) it is intended by our enemies Inhabiting this disaffected section to deprive the Town of the important privilege of Representation. Such will be the Inevitable consequence of incorporating the petitioners into a district, Provided such district is attached to the Town of Boylston.
Such we know to be the object of their leaders because it has been openly avowed, and although the petition is silent on the subject of annexation they have publicly declared their intention to be annexed to the Town of Boylston.
With this impression, with an anxious desire to preserve our Corporate existence, to retain the privilege of representation
.
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fully & earnestly to remonstrate against the prayer of said pe- tition, provided the District thus to be incorporated is to be an- nexed to the town of Boylston of which we are Inhabitants.
At the same time we wish it to be explicitly understood that all opposition on our part is withdrawn if it be consented on the part of the petitioners or is found expedient by the Legisla- ture to annex the intended District to Sterling, Holden or any other Town in the County. For although we have most sensibly felt the injury resulting to us from the partial dismemberment of this small but once united & flourishing Corporation, yet our peace has been so incessantly disturbed by new projects of en- croachment, and we have encountered so much trouble and ex- pense in opposing these projects that we are now fully pursuad- ed we shall never be at rest ; that our existence as a Corpora- tion will be in perpetual jeopardy until this troublesome and offending member is totally severed from the body which it thus threatens to destroy.
For the fourth time the Town of Boylston is now cited before the Legislature to answer to the petition of Ezra Beaman and others. The object of each of these petitions has been most essentially to injure if not destroy us as a Corporation. Let Ezra Beaman & others become a Corporation totally detached from us, & whatever may be the evil we will Patiently submit. We trust with confidence in the wisdom of the Legislature to discern the object of the present petition, & we trust with equal confidence that they will be influenced by a desire of justice & a regard to the essential interests of a small but peaceable com- munity, to refuse an act of incorporation annexing the proposed District to the Town of Boylston against the earnest wishes and settled opposition of every Individual who feels a solicitude to preserve our existence as a Corporation
Boylston May 26 1807 JAMES LONGLEY ) Agents for ROBERT ANDREWS & the town of AARON WHITE Boylston.
A remonstrance against annexation signed by Jonas Temple and sixty-one others was also presented to the Legislature, the principal argument being that it would affect the privilege of representation. Sometime afterwards agents of the town of Boylston and of the precinct in Boylston Holden and Sterling, met and signed articles of agreement, Article Ist of which was as follows : "It is agreed that the Precinct shall be incorporated into a town."
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DONATIONS.
ALDRICH, P. EMORY .- Autograph of Thomas Simms, framed.
ASTOR LIBRARY, New York .- 32d Annual Report.
BARROWS, ALONZO M .- Framed Portrait.
BARTLETT. THOMAS E .. East Cambridge, Mass .- 2 volumes.
BATES, PHINEAS JR., Boston .- Boston School Documents as issued.
CALDWELL, AUGUSTUS .- 14 numbers Antiquarian Papers.
CANADIAN INSTITUTE, Toronto. C. W .- Proceedings, 1881.
CHAMBERLIN, HENRY H .- Manuscript of his "Trade of Worcester" read be- fore the Society.
CHANDLER, GEORGE, M. D .- 1 volume , 8 pamphlets.
CLEMENCE, HENRY M .- 3 volumes, 4 pamphlets.
COOK, NORTON L .-- 1 paper.
CRANE, ELLERY B .- 2 volumes, 6 pamphlets, 1 piece Colonial Currency, Ballots, his Map of Old Worcester.
DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. Davenport, Iowa .- Proceed- ings, Vol. III. No. I. Proceedings, Vol. II. Part II.
DAVIS, HON. HORACE, San. Francisco, Cal .- His sketch of the life of Dolor Davis.
DICKINSON, THOMAS A .- I volume, Anti Slavery paper found among the pa - papers of John Milton Earle, Straw Splitting Machine found in the house of Mrs. Polly Tucker in 1879.
DODGE, BENJAMIN J .- 1 volume, 11 pamphlets, 1 broadside, 1 paper.
EMERSON, WILLIAM A .- A copy of a specimen of Pottery found by Dr. Schlie- mann at ancient Troy.
ESSEX INSTITUTE, Salem, Mass .- Essex Bulletin as published.
ESTEY, JAMES L .- Indian god from Alabahad, India.
FENNO, CHARLES W., East Orange, N. J .- 7 pamphlets.
FISHER, CHARLES H .- 2 volumes.
HARRIS, CLARENDON .- 36 volumes, bound, American Almanac; 2 National do., 4 volumes, bound, Tribune Almanac.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY .- Harvard University Bulletin as published.
HENSHAW, MISS HARRIET E., Leicester, Mass,-2 volumes, 2 portraits. HISTORICAL SOCIETY of Pennsylvania-Pennsylvania Magazine as published. HOWARD, JOSEPH JACKSON LL. D., London, England .- Miscellania Genea- logica et Heraldica as published.
JILLSON, CLARK-14 volumes, 24 pamphlets, 9 magazines, 2 newspapers, counterfeit money, his Annual Address as President, and Memorial Re- marks before the Society, 2 copies.
JOHNSON, CHARLES R. 18 pamphlets, package of political circulars.
KINGSBURY, H. H., Spencer .- 1 volume.
KINNEY, B. H .- 1 pamphlet.
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LAWRENCE, E. R .- 1 volume, 4 pamphlets.
LEE, PARDON A .- 2 flags from Arlington Heights, Horse Nails made by machinery, ancient Work Bag, Lamp used in Massachusetts State House 1812, 1 napkin ring.
LIBRARY COMPANY of Philadelphia,-Bulletin, new series, No. 7.
LOWE, MOSES H .- 5 volumes.
MARBLE. ALBERT P., PH. D .- His Address to the public school teachers of Worcester, March 30, 1881, three copies, Report of Wocester Schools, 1880 six copies.
MARBLE, E. H .- Indian Hunting shirt from Oregon, specimen of crude sulphur.
MARSHALL, E. H .- 5 volumes, 1 pamphlet, I broadside, geological specimens. MAYNARD, M. A .- File of Heart and Hand, Minnesota Historical Society Biennial Report, 1881.
MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY .- Oil portrait of Elihu Burritt, framed.
NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY .- New England Historical and Genealogical Register as published ; Vol. I. Memorial Biographies, Knox manuscripts, Proceedings, 25 Oct., 1880.
O'FLYNN, RICHARD,-1 manuscript sermon, 1 broadside.
PAINE, NATHANIEL .- Paine Family Records, Nos. IX-X; his Genealogical Notes of the Paine family of Worcester ; photograph of the Old U. S. IIo- tel, Worcester; certificate in manuscript dated Lexington, April 4, 1776; manuscript account of damages from British troops, Lexington Mass., 1775, 4 pamphlets, 1 paper.
PARKER, EDWARD O .- 2 copies Garfield Memorial.
PECK. AUGUSTUS E .- 1 volume, 2 pamphlets.
PEIRCE, HENRY B., Boston .- 11 volumes Massachusetts documents.
PHELPS. HENRY .- 25 pamphlets, 1 autograph.
PLUMMER, ISRAEL, Northbridge .- Old flint-lock rifle.
PROUTY, AUGUSTUS B .- Card tooth machine, made by Capt Joshua Lamb of Leicester, in 1828.
PROVIDENCE ATHENEUM .- 46th Annual Report.
PUTNAM, SAMUEL H .- Military chest of Company A, 25th Regiment Mass. Vols., containing books, papers &c. relating to the service of the company in the Rebellion.
PUTNAM & DAVIS .- Miscellaneous lot of book catalogues.
RAYMOND, EDWARD T .- 1 paper.
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY .- Proceedings of the Society 1880-81, 12 volumes of R. I. State documents.
RICE, FRANKLIN P .- 14 Boston Almanacs, newspaper cuttings.
RICE, HON. W. W .- 2 volumes U. S. documents.
ROE. ALFRED S., A. M .- 5 volumes, package of amateur papers, 40 maga- zines, 1 sermon, newspapers from nearly every State and territory with notices of the death of President Garfield.
ROGERS, JAMES S., Foster Brook, Pa .- 1 paper.
RUGG, CHARLES F .- Piece of ramrod from ship Somerset that covered the advance of the British troops at Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.
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RUSSELL, JOHN E .- 1 pamphlet.
SALISBURY, STEPHEN JR .- North American Review 1881.
SEAGRAVE, DANIEL .- His Genealogy of the Seagrave family, file of Massa- chusetts Spy 1818, 1 broadside.
SHELDON, IION. GEORGE., Deerfield, Mass .- 1 newspaper.
SHUMWAY, HENRY L .- 4 volumes, 80 pamphlets, Magazine of American History, 1881, 1 paper.
SMITH, HENRY M .- 1 volume.
SMITH, WILLIAM A .- Declaration of Independence electrotyped in metal, framed. 2 pamphlets.
SNOW & WOODMAN .- 1 volume.
STAPLES, SAMUEL, E .- 3 volumes, 39 pamphlets, 2 manuscripts, 6 almanacs, 4 broadsides, brick made from silt of Hudson River Tunnel,
STONE, AUGUSTUS .- 1 volume, 32 pamphlets, 5 papers, 4 magazines.
STONE, REV. EDWIN M., Providence, R. I .- 1 pamphlet.
SUNNER, GEORGE .- 10 volumes, 63 pamphlets, 4 newspapers, Constitution of New York 1859 extraordinary size.
SURREY ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. London, England,-Collections of the Society, Vol. VII. Part III., Vol. VIII. Part I.
THOMPSON, GEORGE F .- 82 volumes Mass. documents, 12 magazines.
THOMPSON, H. H .- Rebellion envelopes.
THOMPSON, E. F .- 6 pamphlets.
TILLINGHAST, C. B., Boston .- Report of the Librarian of the Mass. State Library, 1881 ; sermon delivered at the Annual Election Massachusetts, January 5, 1881, by Daniel L. Furber D. D., Suffolk county deeds Liber 1. TOWNE, ENOCH H,-3 volumes.
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY .- 1 volume Governor and Council of Ver- mont, Vol. VIII.
WASHBURN & MOEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY .- 2 volumes and collection of pamphlets illustrating the manufacture and use of Barb Fence and Telegraph wire.
WESBY, EDWARD,-35 pamphlets.
WESBY, HERBERT .- 4 pamphlets.
WESBY, J. S. & SON .- 60 pamphlets, file of Springfield Republican.
WHITING, CHARLES. B .- 1 pamphlet.
WILDER, HARVEY B .- 3 Old Almanacs.
WISCONSIN SLATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY .- Catalogue of library, Vol. V.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
ALBERT A. LOVELL,
LIBRARIAN.
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The President, Mr. Ellery B. Crane, presented the report of the department of Local History and Gen- ealogy. This with the reports of the other depart- ments will be found at the end of these proceedings.
The Society then proceeded to ballot for officers for 1882, previous to which action the Treasurer, Mr. James A. Smith, and the Librarian, Mr. Albert A. Lovell, declined a re-election. The following were chosen :
President: Ellery B. Crane. Vice Presidents : Albert Tolman, George Sumner. Secretary: Henry L. Shumway. Treasurer: Henry F. Stedman. Li- brarian : Samuel E. Staples. Standing Committee on Nominations for three years: Franklin P. Rice .**
On motion of Mr. W. H. Bartlett the thanks of the Society were given to the retiring officers, Messrs. Curtis, Smith and Lovell.
The meeting was then adjourned for two weeks.
A special meeting of the Society was held on the evening of Thursday Dec. 15th, in Natural History Hall.
Burton W. Potter Esq. read an interesting paper on "The Utilization of Sewage," preceded by an his- torical sketch relating to his subject.
The address of Mr. Potter was listened to with the strictest attention. He gave a detailed account of
* At the meeting in January, 1882, Mr. Rice was excused and Daniel Seagrave elected in his place.
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various methods resorted to in Europe for the dis- posal of sewage in ancient and modern times, giving a minute description of the sewage farm at Croydon, England, a city larger than Worcester, and intima- ting that the same system might be adopted here with reasonable hope of success, in case five or six hundred acres of land, favorably located, could be put in proper condition for irrigation.
This address contains a large amount of valuable information relating to sewers and sewage.
When the speaker had concluded his remarks, an opportunity was given to all present for an inter- change of opinion upon the subject so ably discussed by Mr. Potter.
The different opinions expressed as to the man- ner of dealing with sewage were about equal to the number of persons who had anything to say upon the subject.
Mr. J. S. Perry claimed that vegetables or grass grown on a sewage farm would be rank and unfit food for man or beast. He advocated the theory that all sewage should be gathered up and carried away by teams instead of wasting water to wash it into the Blackstone River.
Hon. Thomas J. Hastings said that the pollution of streams, so much complained of at the present time, was largely due to the use of chemicals for cleansing and other purposes in the mills situated near the water courses, and not the result of sewage alone.
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The discussion was continued by remarks from Messrs Dexter Rice, Chas. B. Long, Elbridge Boy- den, Wm. H. Earle, Wm. T. Harlow, A. B. Lovell, Edwin Ames and others. Some advocated the plan of Mr. Potter, others thought that agitation was the one thing needful, and that sewage might be purified by motion and contact with the atmosphere. Others advocated the plan of conveying the sewage of Worcester into and over a series of vats or basins far enough to allow the sediment to settle and the the water become purified.
Hon. Clark Jillson said that each person who had spoken was the advocate of at least one theory dif- fering from all the rest, and that he did not care to add another to the list, but would only predict that "When the sewage of Worcester is properly and satisfactorily disposed of, it will be by means of me- chanical filtration."
The adjourned Annual meeting was held at the rooms, Tuesday evening, December 20th.
The following were present : Messrs. Crane, Lee, Shumway, Lovell, Marshall, Rice, Gould, Seagrave, Tucker, James A. Smith, and Cook-11.
On motion it was voted that the Treasurer report to the Secretary the names of delinquent members for record. The annual assessment for 1882 was fixed at three dollars. Adjourned.
This closes the record of the Society's work for 1.881.
151 DEPARTMENT REPORTS.
REPORT ON ARCILEOLOGY AND GENERAL HISTORY.
INTHE past year has witnessed important developments in the field of archæological research. Investigations have been vigorously pushed forward in various parts of the world, and in most instances these efforts have been attended with gratifying success. A few illustrations will perhaps suffice to indicate the progress that has been made.
Mr. Holmuzd Rassam in excavating on the site of ancient Babylon has discovered the ruins of what was once the great commercial exchange of that opulent city. Here have been unearthed innumerable inscribed tablets, the records of the ex- change. The inscriptions relate to nearly every kind of monetary transaction, and prove that the difficult subject of finance was understood at that early day almost as well as now. Among other curiosities are tax receipts that show how the revenue was raised, petitions against the oppression of tax collectors and deeds of mortmain. Mr. Rassam has also brought to light some important inscriptions relating to the history of the city during the period immediately preceding its capture by Cyrus, together with a record of the achievments of that monarch, and an ac- count of the triumphs of Alexander the Great. Exploring in like manner the ruins of some cities lying to the North of Babylon, and evidently older than the latter, Mr. Rassam has unearthed monuments whose inscriptions chronicle events in the earliest Chaldean history, and carry us back, in imagination, to the before the flood.
Important as are these discoveries they hardly approach in interest those made last season in Egypt. In a secret subter- ranean chamber in the Lydian mountains Herr Emnil Bruysch, brother of the noted archaeologist, Dr. Henry Bruysch, has found the mummies of not less than thirty Theban monarchs together with an almost countles number of other valuable relics. Among these mummies are those of Thothmes III. who ordered the construction of the obelisk recently brought to New York,
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Rameses II., the great Sesostris, and Queen Hatasoo. The chamber or pit where the mummies were found was excavated out of solid rock and is thirty-five feet deep. It is approached by a gallery two hundred feet long, also hewn out of the rock.
It is situated about four miles from Thebes. The bodies had evidently been hurriedly brought thither from the royal tombs by the priests in view of some impending calamity, probably the invasion of Cambyses. One of the most singular and valuable discoveries was an immense leather tent bearing the seal of king Pinotim of the 21st dynasty. It was well preserved, and cover- ed with hieroglyphs embroidered in red, green and yellow leath- er, the colors being quite fresh and bright. It is to be hoped that the papyri, of which a number were found, will, when de- ciphered, throw new light upon the history of ancient Egypt, and give us a clearer view of those early races contemporary with the Egyptians, of whom we now have but a dim and shad- owy outline. In any event the importance of this discovery from an archæological standpoint can hardly be over estimated.
The archæologists of the western hemisphere have not been less diligent than their brethren of the eastern hemisphere, though the results of their labors may not have been so remark- able. M. Desire Charnay has continued his researches in Cen- tral America and Mexico, and after long and patient study has reached the conclusion that the ruins found in those countries are of a far more recent origin than has generally been supposed. He attributes to none of them an age of more than a thousand · years, and adduces many facts which seem to indicate that his reasoning is correct. His studies have also led him to believe that what seems to be distinct civilizations among the ancient peoples of that region are all of common origin, or, as he puts it, all the civilizations in Mexico and Central America are Tol- tec, as all those of Europe are Grecian.
Dr. A. Le Plongeon, on the other hand, who has devoted much time to investigation in the same localities has formed en- tirely different opinions. In a recent private letter to a friend he says that as a result of his studies he is convinced that America was the cradle of the human race, and that from thence proceeded civilization, to enlighten the Eastern world.
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It is hardly necessary to refer to the many other scholars who are devoting their best energies to archæological research on this side the ocean. They are to be found delving in the mounds of the West and South, climbing to the deserted homes of the cliff-dwellers in New Mexico, threading the labyrinthine forests of Yucatan and Central America in quest of long lost cities, or striving to rescue ancient grandeur from oblivion, on the rich table lands of Eucador and Peru. We may well expect large returns from the industry of so many laborers.
The increased interest on this subject, manifested on all sides, argues well for future progress. If this interest continues un- abated rich results may be looked for in the next few years, and the solution of most of the great problems of history will not be long deferred. We shall know, for example, for what purpose the pyramids of Egypt were built; what became of the "Ten lost Tribes of Israel ;" the origin of the Mound builders, and, with the decipherment of the hieroglypic inscriptions of Yucatan and Central America, the true story of Atlantis. Let us hope that these grand results will erelong be attained, and that when attained our Society may in some degree share in the triumph.
CHARLES R. JOHNSON, Chairman.
REPORT ON LOCAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
A NOTHER revolution of time has been noted. Another cycle of events have passed into history, and the department of Local History and Genealogy is for the fourth time called upon to give some little account of its stewardship for the year that we are now just rounding out.
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