CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM Cornell University Library F 44H7 W921 Early history of Hollis, N.H. / communic olin 3 1924 028 835 994 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028835994 liRLY HISTORY OF HOLLIS, N. H. BY Hon. SAMUEL T. WORCESTEE, OF NASHUA, N. H. EAELY mSTOEY OF HOLLIS, N. H. Communicated hj the Hon. Samuel T. Worcester, of Nashua, N. H., for the N. E. Hist, and Gen. Eegisteb for January, 1874. FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO THE BUILDING OF THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE. THE original charter of the old township of Dunstable, within whose limits the present town of HoUis' was included, was granted by the general couct of the province of Massachusetts, October 16, 1673, O. S. Dunstable, as then chartered, comprised an area of nearly two hundred square miles. It lay upon both sides of the Merrimack river, and contained all or nearly aU of what are now Nashua, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, and parts of Pelham, Amherst, Milford, Merrimack and Brookline in New-Hampshire, and the town of Tyngsborough, the east part of Dunstable, and a small part of Pepperell and Townsend in Massachu- setts. It extended from the north lines of the towns of Chelms- ford and Groton, as then established, to the Souhegan river, its western boundary being a north and south line drawn from its north-west corner, a short distance west of Muscotanipus pond in Brookline, to Dram Cup Hill, so called, near the Souhegan river and now in Milford. The first white settler of the part of Dunstable, since known as Hollis, was Peter Powers, afterward a captain of provincial troops in the old French war in which Quebec was taken. Capt. Powers was a native of Littleton, Mass., and removed from that place to the part of Dunstable now known as Nashua in 1728. In the fall of 1730, he made his way through the then unbroken vrilderness, selected a place for a new home about a half mile N. W. of the present meetiag-house, and in the spring following settled upon it with his family. This was the only white family within the present Kmits of the town till the summer of 1732, when Eleazer Flagg, the ancestor of the Hollis families of that name, settled in what is now the south-west part of the town, about three miles from Capt. Powers. The third family was that of Thomas Dinsmore, 1 This article forms a part of an address delivered hy the writer before the Nashua His- torical Society in February, 1872, and subsequently delivered before the citizens of Hollis. 1 who estabHshed himself about two mUes south-westerly from the present meeting-house on or near the road leading to Pepperell. In the year 1736, the little settlement numbered nine families, and in the summer of 1739 that number had grown to_ about twenty. These settlers supposed themselves to be within the province of Massachusetts, and in the county of Middlesex, and iu the summer of 1739 they united in a petition to the general court of that pro- vince for a township charter. On the presentation of this petition, the general court appointed a committee to inquire into the pro- priety of granting it.' The report of this committee, and the action of the general court upon it, have very fortunately been preserved, and are now to be found reporded at full length on the first pages of the first volume of the HolUs records, and I have quoted them in substance in this paper as specimens of the like documents of that period. These origLual records, in what I have now to say of the early Ms- J tory of Hollis, will be my principal guide. Where I can consistently | do so, I shall press them into my service and let them speak for me in their own simple and homely dialect. We may occasionally observe in the manuscript, wide, and sometimes grotesque departures from the more modern orthography of Webster and Worcester, and also from the grammar and syntax of Lowth and Murray. Yet in this re- spect, they are less subject to unfavorable criticism than many of, our town-records of a much more modern date. The style of them is terse, plain, simple, and direct, and the words well chosen to express the ideas and matters to be recorded, and they contain the municipal autobiography of our ancestors, commencing four generations ago, written down from year to year, and sometimes from month to month, by persons appointed for the purpose, while what they had done, or what they at the time proposed to do, was still fresh in the minds of all. THE REPORT or THE COMMITTEE AND THE ACTION UPON IT OF THE GOVEENOR AND COUNCIL. The most important parts of this report are embraced in the following extracts : — " The Committee on the Petition of the Inhabitants * * on the Westerly side of Dunstable and Northerly side of Grotton, having repaired to the Lands petitioned to be Erected into a Township, and carefully View- ed the same, find a very good tract of Land in Dunstable, West of Nashaway River, between said Eiver and the Souhegan Eiver extending from Grotton new Grant and Townsend line Six miles East, lying in a very com- modious form for a Township, and on said Lands there is now about twenty Families and many more settling. * * That none of them live nearer to a Meeting House than Seven miles, and if they go to their own Town have to pass over a Ferry the greater portion of the year. *- * ,fofJ^^^T!'^'i!P*^P-!i"J^''^'i".^''.''^'^' ^^'^ 's *° ''6 found in the office of the secretaiy of state in Boston, with the original signatures of the petitioners. sci^c^j- ui _ " The Committee are of Opinion that the Petitioners are under such circumstances as necessitates them to ask relief which will be fully obtained by their being made a Township * * The Committee are further of the opinion, that for the Support of the Gospel Ministry among them the Lands of non-resident Proprietors be taxed at Two Pence per acre, for the space of Five Years. " Humbly submitted * * by order of the Committee. "Thomas Beeet." « Read in Council, Dec. 27, 1739. And ordered that the Eeport be so far accepted as that the Land mentioned and described therein, with the Lihabitants there be Erected into a separate and distinct Precinct * * with all such Power^ and Privileges as any other Precinct in this Province * * and they are also empowered to assess and levy two Pence per acre per annum for the space of Five Years upon all the unimproved Lands belonging to Non-Eesident Proprietors, to be applied to the Support of the Ministry. " January 1, 1739-40. Consented to. J. Belchee, (Gov.)" By the law of the colonial legislature of Massachusetts, in force from its early history, it vs^as enacted that " the Inhabitants of Each Town in that Province should take due care from time to time to be constantly provided of a Learned Able and Orthodox minister * * who should be Suitably maintained by the Inhabitants of the Town." Precincts or parishes were subdivisions of tovnis, incorporated for the maintenance of religious worship ; and, by a province law passed in 1718, precincts or parishes were invested with the same powers and charged with the same duties in respect to the support of the ministry as towns.' * * BOUNDAEIES AND AREA 0¥ THE PAEISH AND THE NON-EESIDENT TAX. The west parish of the old town of Dunstable extended north and south, fit)m the Souhegan river to the south line of the old toTvn, a distance from 9 to 12 mUes, and was not far from 10 miles in width, and was said to have contained an area of about 70,000 acres, being more than three times as large as HoUis now is. It included nearly all of the present town of HolHs, that part of Amherst south of the Souhegan, the most of Milford and Brookline, parts of the tovnis of Nashua and Merrimack, in the state of New-Hampshire, and a small part of PeppereU in Massachusetts. The inhabitants of the parish, as we have seen by their charter, had authority to assess 2d. per acre ' Under the charter we have cited, the west part of the old town of Dunstable heoame a parish or precinct, and, till the year 1746, was Isnown as the west parish of Dunstable. In March, 1742, very soon after the new province line was run between New-Hampshire and Massachusetts, all that part of the town of old Dunstable north of the new line, and west of the Merrimaclf river, was organized into what was called a district, and was known as " the district of Dunstable." This district-organization was made for the purpose of collecting province taxes, and lasted till 1746, when the same territory was divided into the towns of Danstable,Merrimack, Monson and Hollis. The parish officers were assessors, collector, treasurer and clerk, annually elected at the parish-meetings. The district-officers were selectmen, or assessors, tax-collectors and clerk, who were elected at district-meetings, which were held Bometimes in the west parish, and sometimes in the east. 4 on aU the tmimproved land of non-residents for tte term of five years for the support of the ministry. At that time there were bul about twenty resident families. If each of these families owned, on an average, 1000 acres (an estimate quite large enough), the resident settlers would have had 20,000 acres, leaving upon these estimates 50,000 to the non-residents. A tax of 2d. the acre on this last quantity would have yielded an annual fund of £416 13s., or about $1380 in the currency of the present time, calling the pound $3.33. We shall soon see what importance the first settlers of HoUis at- tached to this right to compel non-residents to pay for the preaching and meeting-houses of the resident settlers. THE FIRST PARISH MEETING AND ITS DOINGS, AND THE PIEST MEETING-HOUSE. The first parish-meeting, under the parish-charter, was held at the inn of Lieut. Benjamia Farley, Jan. 22, 1739-40, O. S. Mr. Farley's inn was the place where the parish-meetings were commonly held tm the first meeting-house was bmlt, and is said to have been upon the farm formerly owned by Dr. William Hale, and now by Mr. Christopher Smith. The warrant for this meeting, like all similar warrants, was entitled, in its margin, "Middlesex SS.," mean- ing by these words, county of Middlesex, Massachusetts. It was under the hand and seal of Joseph Blanchard, Esq., of Dunstable, at thai time one of " his majesty's "justices of the peace of that county, and was addressed to Abraham Taylor, one of the early settlers in the parish, who had been active in obtaining the charter, and who waf annually elected parish-clerk till his death, about four years after. At this first meeting Mr. Taylor was elected moderator and clerk Mr. Taylor, Peter Powers and Benjamin Farley, assessors ; Stephei Harris, treasurer; Thomas Dinsmore, collector of the non-residen money; and Peter Powers and Benjamin Farley, a committee t( ^procure preaching till the first of April following. "Also it wh voted that Abraham Taylor, Peter Powers and Thomas Dinsmore b( a committee to joyn with such Persons as the old Parish shall ap point for to raise Bounds between each Parish." At this meeting also the following vote was passed in respect to a meeting-house "Voted to build a House for the Public Worship of God : That sai( House be Erected at or near Thomas Dinsmore's House Lot of Land That the House be 22 feet one way and 20 the other — 9 foot stud— well-boarded and shingled — One Flour — One Door — 3 windows an( as many Seats as may be thought convenient — ^the House to be Erectec by the last of April next." The house lot of Thomas Dinsmore is said to have been upon th( farm now owned by John Colburn, Esq. But no meeting-house wai built upon or near that site, the vote to. that effect having been re considered at a meeting in the following March. After four or fivi other sites had been proposed at various meetings and Tcjected, i 41, was at last, at a meeting held Nov. 5, 1740 : "Voted that the Meet- ing-House should be Erected on Abraham Taylor's Land, about Sixty Rods Southerly from said Taylor's Dwelling-House, on the highest Knoll of Land thereabouts, and that the Burying Place for the Parish be ajoiaiag the Place now appointed for ye Meeting House." This is the same pleasant and hallowed spot on which, a few years later, the second meeting-house was buHt, the same where the third, still standing, was erected more than eighty years after, the site for it and the burial-ground having been given by Mr. Taylor, who died in the spring of 1743, and was the first person buried in it. It appears that the new edifice was not wholly completed for a year or more after its location was fixed, as we find that it was voted at a parish-meeting, Oct. 23, 1741, "To have one Glace Winder in the Meeting House and to have it under-Pind as soon as possable." THE rmST PAKISH-TAX, WITH THE NAMES OF THE TAX-PAYEES. In the month of November, 1740, by vote of a parish-meeting, the first tax was assessed upon the inhabitants " for Defraying the ne- cessary charges of the Parish," amounting to £16 2s. 2d. The tax list contains the names of 29 persons, viz. : Zachariah Lawrence, Jr. Josiah Blood Nathaniel Blood Enoch Hunt Peter Powers Philip Woolrich Eleazer Flagg Benjamin Farley Moses Proctor Samuel Cumings Jerahmael Cumings John Butterfield "William Blanchard Samuel Farley Elnathan Blood Abraham Taylor David Nevins Henry Barton Stephen Harris William Nevins Thomas Dinsmore William Colburn Widow Nevins Amos Philips Robert Colburn. William Shattuck Gideon Behoney, Peter Wheeler David Kendall nearly all of them fanuly names, familiar to the people of Hollis from that time to this. By a province law passed in 1734, all male persons of the age of sixteen years and over, with the exception of the governor, settled ministers, and a few others, were subject to a poll-tax. The above tax-list may be presumed to contain the names of all male persons above that age at that time inhabitants of the parish. Six of the list are charged with a"poU-tax only; the remaining twenty-three, in- cluding the widow Nevins, with both a poU and property-tax. Of the above tax of about £16, very near £13, or more than three-fourths of it, were assessed on twenty-eight persons as a poU-tax, and less than £3 upon real and personal estate. The sum assessed upon each poll was 9s. 2d., while the highest property-tax was only 6s. 7d. I may have occasion, in another connection, to advert again to this matter of taxation. THE NON-HESIDENTS' MONET, OE NON-EESIDENT TAX OF 2d. THE ACRE ANT) THE DISPOSAL OE IT. As this tax was a matter of much interest, and some trouble to the residents of the parish, it is entitled to further notice as illustrating the laws and usages of the good people of that time, and especially the ways and means which were supposed to be lawful and right for the raising of money for the support of " learned, able and orthodox" ministers. The warrant for the third parish-meeting, held in March, 1740, with other articles to be voted on, contained the following: 1st. "To see what Encouragement the People will give to any Person or Persons for Killing Rattlesnakes in this parish." 2d. " To see if the Parish will agree to dispose of the Non-Resident money that shall be due and coming to this Parish for the space of five years from the 1st of January last to any Person or Persons who shall agree to Support the Gospel in this Parish." At the above meeting it was voted : • 1st. "That if any Person shall make it appear to the Committee of the Parish that he has Killed one or more Rattlesnakes in this Precinct, in this present year, he shall have paid to him one shilling for every such snake so killed, out of the Parish Treasury." Also unanimously voted, " That Peter Powers & Abraham Taylor shall have the Total of all such sum or sums of money as is or shall be assessed on Land belonging to non-Resident Proprietors of this Parish for the space of five years from the 1 st of January last, on condition that the said Powers and Taylor shall & do oblige themselves & Heirs with sufficient security to maintain and constantly support Preaching in this Precinct for ye full term of ye said five years and Erect a Meeting House for the Public Worship of God agreeable to the tenor of the vote of said parish and likewise fully acquit and discharge said Parish from the cost & charges that have been expended in being set off from Dunstable & being erected into a separate Precinct — and also from the cost & charges that has been expended in getting Timber for a Bridge across Nashaway River, and also to pay Mr. Underwood for his Preaching with us in this Parish." The question was once asked, "Of whom do the Kings of the Earth take custom or tribute, of their own children or strangers?" The answer was, "Of strangers." It would seem from the doings of the above meeting that the early settlers of the west parish of Dunstable had taken lessons in finance from the "Kings of the Earth.". Within about a year from the time of this meeting, after a long and angry controversy, the new province line between JVew-Hamp- shire and Massachusetts was surveyed and estabhshed where it now is. Much to the chagrin and disappointment of the inhabitants, that part of the old town of Dunstable now known as Hollis was found to be in New-Hampshire. In consequence of this decision, the charter of the west parish in Dunstable, granted by the general court of Massacliusetts, was virtually annulled, that general court having had at the time no power to grant it. With the charter the legal right to assess this tax of two pence the acre on the land of non-residents was also lost, and with the tax the very thrifty bargain with Messrs. Powers and Taylor in respect to the disposal of it. "In this dilemma, the Inhabitants promptly met (Feb. 19, 1741- 2), and "voted to petition the Grate and General Court of N. Hampshire that the Parish be made a Township, and also that the Parish may have power to collect of delinquent persons, the several sums they may have been assessed at agreeable to the Laws of the Massachusetts Province." But instead of granting this petition for a township-charter and to legalize the non-resident ta:^ the general court, as we have already seen, in March, 1742, organized all that partof old Dunstable north of the new province line and west of Merrimack river, into a district for the collection of province taxes, with authority for that purpose, to elect district-assessors or selectmen, and a district-clerk and collect- ors of taxes. The first meeting for the election of district-officers, was held un- der the direction of a committee of the general court, probably in the east parish, April 23, 1742. At this meeting, Abraham Taylor was chosen clerk ; Abraham Taylor, Thomas Harwood, Samuel Cum- mings and Jonathan Love well selectmen. The record for the year 1743 is lost. In 1744, John Boynton was district clerk ; and John Boynton, Jonathan Lovewell and Jerahmael Cunimings, selectmen or assessors. In 1745, John Boynton was district clerk; John Boynton, Jonathan Lovewell, and Jerahmael Cummings assessors or selectmen. — Still, however, the inhabitants of west Dunstable continued to hold public meetings, elect ofiicers and assess taxes much as before, and in the records of their doings their community was styled a "parish" or "precinct." Notwithstanding their disappointment in the loss of their charter, and at finding themselves citizens of New- Hampshire against their wishes, they were not yet able to forget the " Non-resident Money," or to abandon the hope of obtaining it. With this hope in view, at a public meeting held in January, 1744, it was " Voted that Peter Powers should have all the non-residents' money that is not Collected for the four years past and the year to pome, * * and for the said Powers to pay all the Parish Debt for Preaching and to any other Person for Sarvis Don the Parish before the ordination * * and to pay the Parish £40. O. T. at the end of the year." It is to be inferred from the doings of a parish meeting in the following December, that these non-resident land- owners had questioned the right of Mr. Powers to collect this tax, and that it was not paid so cheerfully as the purchaser had hoped. As a last remedy for this trouble, it was voted at this meeting, " that Capt. Powers represent the Parish at the General Court of New- Hampshire to get ye Massachusetts Act for taxing ye Land m said Parish confirmed if he will go at his own charges — otherwise not to go." The record does not show whether Capt. Powers accepted the honor of the office, with its condition, or not. The charter of HoUis as a town, bore date April 3, 1746, and embraced a territory much less than one half of that contained in the charter of west Dunstable. This town-charter was wholly silent in respect to the right to tax non-residents for any purpose. To supply this omission, at a to>vn-meeting hlld on the 22d Decem- ber of the same year it was " Voted to Eaise two Pence per Acre Lawful Money on all the Land of Hollis for five years for ye Sup-, port of ye Gospel and ye arising charges of said Town, and to Peti- tion the Grat and Generall Court for Sjreangth to Gather and Get the Money of Non-Eesidents." Samuel Cummiags, Esq., was cho- sen a delegate to present this petition, which he did ia the following'. April. In answer to this petition the general court of New-Hamp- shire passed an act taxing all the land in Hollis for four years at two pence the acre for the support of the ministry and finishing the second meeting-house, the frame of which had then been raised. All the lands in Hollis were taxed under this law for the next four years (as stated in the town records), "for the BuUdiag and Repair- ing a Meeting-House and the Supporting the Gospel Ministry." , This tax was assessed in the old-tenor currency, £4 of which at that date appear to have been of the value of £1. lawful or silver money. In 1747 this tax amounted, in the old-tenor currency, to £394 17s. 8d. Of that sum, £256 6s. 8d., or more than two-thirds of it, wei-e assessed upon 33 non-resident land owners, and the residue, £l38J.ls., on 48 residents. In 1748, £506 3s. were as- sessed for the like purpose, of which £350 4s. 8d., again more than two-thirds of it, were assessed on 31 non-residents, and the balance on 52 residents. Whatever we may think of the justice of this law, it seems to have had the good effect of lessening the number, and also the quantity of land in Hollis owned by non-residents,, and of adding to the number of residents, -and to their proportion of the land. In 1750, the last year of the law, the resident land- owners had increased from 48, in 1747, to 70. And the non-resi- dents had fallen off from 33 in 1747, to 24 in 1750, and the amount of the land-tax paid by the two classes had become much more equal. It seems, however, that all these non-residents did not acquiesce in the justice of this law so cheerfully as they might have done. As an instance of their dislike to it, we find that in 1748 Col. Prescott's heirs were taxed under it the considerable sum of £48 13s." 4d. for the support of preaching they could not hear, and that they had had an article inserted in the warrant for the town-meeting aslting for an abatement of this tax. In response to this petition, as the record states it, ." It was put to vote to see if the Town would Ease Col. Prescott's Heirs of any part of their Land Tax, and it was passed in the negative." To me, at least, as a native of the town, and one of the descendants , of these worthy people, their names and memories are sacred. " All ' their failings leaned to virtue's side." Their ashes have slept for near a century in peaceful and honored graves, and the foot of the stranger who knows their worth, would tread lightly upon them. I have made these extracts from their annals with no irreverent or unfilial feeling, but to illustrate some of the differences between the laws, customs and sentiments that prevailed among good and chris- tian people in New-England one hundred and twenty years ago, and those upon the like subjects under whose influence the last two generations have been educated. PEEACHING BEFOEE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST MINISTEE, AND THE MANNER OF PROVIDING IT. The new parish had no settled minister till the spring of 1743, — more than three years after the date of the charter. In the mean time the iahabitants had manifested a very commendable zeal in their efforts to comply with the laws in respect to the support of the ministry. At their first parish meeting, as we have seen, a com- mittee was chosen "to provide Preaching till the following March." In the month last named, " Samuel Cummings and Eleazer Flagg " were commissioned " to provide Preaching and Entertainment for the minister for the next three months." In July, 1741, it was "voted that Abraham Taylor and Peter Powers have the non-resident money for the current year to pay Mr. Underwood and Mr. Towle * * * and to procure Preaching till the first of January next, if the money shall hold out." In September, 1741, the first article in the warrant for a meeting then held, was " to see whether it be the minds of the People to do any thing towards the Bringing forward the Settling of a Earned and Orther Dox Minister in this Parish." And in February, 1742, it was "Voted That any Person who shall here- after Entertain any Minister for this Parish shall have paid to him Eight Shillings for one Sabbath day and 20' a Week if he stay longer," DOINGS OF THE PARISH PREPARATORY TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST SHNISTER. At a parish meeting held in October, 1741, before it was publicly known that any part of the town of Old Dunstable was on the wrong side of the province line, it was voted, 1st. "That Stephen Harris, Abraham Taylor & Peter Powers be joyned in Committee with Benjamin Farley and Samuel Cummings to take some proper Measures to brkig forward the settling of a Larned and Orther Dox Minister in this Parish as soon as conveniency will alow." 2 10 2d. "That said Committee be directed to observe the following instrue- ; tions, viz., That they wait upon the Rev. Mr. Trobridge, Mr. Hemmingway, and the Rev. Mr. Bliss and Mr. Swan and desire their assistance in keeping and solemnizing a Day of Fasting and Prayer in this Parish and Seeking the Direction of Heaven in the afiair." 3d. " That said Committee should make their Address to said Ministers for their Advice and Direction what Ministers to apply ourselves too to Preach with us on Probation." At a parish meeting December 28, 1741, among the accounts pre- . sented and allowed were the following : " Voted to alow Abraham Taylor — " For Entertaining Ministers at the Fast £3. 00". C. " For Entertaining Ministers Five Sabbaths £2. 00'. 0^." The warrant for this meeting was the last in which the words " Mid- dlesex Bs." were written in the top margin. It soon became known to them that the parish of West Dunstable was not in the county of Middlesex, that their charter, as a legal instrument, was worthless, and that there was no law by which the minority of the inhabitants could be bound by the votes of a majority. Embarrassed by the decision in respect to the new line and the loss of their charter, our ancestors did not falter in their effort to bring forward and settle a " Larned and Orther Dox Minister." With this end, with others in view, the inhabitants, as we have said before, met in February, 1742, and petitioned the general court of New-Hampshire for a township charter. No other public meeting of the inhabitants was held till the 17th of January, 1743, near a year after, when they came together by common consent, and by mutual agreement in their personal and individual capacity, invited the Rev. Daniel Emerson, the candidate of their choice, to become their minister. As I think the proceed- ings of this meeting and of that which next followed, cannot fail to interest others as well as myself, I have taken the pains to transcribe the substance of them from the record. THE CALL OF THE SOCIETY, ANSTfER OF THE CANDIDATE, HIS SETTLEMENT AND SALARY, AND THE WAYS AND MEANS OF PROVIDING IT. " Att a meeting of the Inhabitants of the West Parish in Dunstable regularly assembled January 17. 1742. 3. Abraham Taylor chosen™ Moderator. "Unanimously voted and chose Mr Caniel Emerson for their Gospel Minister to take the Pastoral care of the Flock of Christ in said Place. Also " Unanimously voted and agreed to give said Mr Emerson (on condition of his acceptance) for and toward his Settlement £400. common currency or £100. of the Massachusetts last Emition. Also " Unanimously voted to give said Minister for his yearly Sallary, During 11 his Ministry in said Place such a certain sum of Bills of Credit as will be equal to fifty Pounds of the Massachusetts last Emition (new). Also " Voted to give Thirty Cords of Fire "Wood, Cord Wood Length att said Ministers Door yearly. Also " Voted and chose Abraham Taylor, Samuel Brown, Enoch Hunt, Eleazer Flagg, Samuel Cummings, Peter Powers, William Colburn, Stephen Harris and Robert Blood to wait upon said Mr Emerson and communicate unto him the minds and Proposals of said Parish and desire his answer therein in convenient time. " In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands the Day above said." " Samuel Brown Abraham Taylor Enoch Hunt William Shattuck William Colburn Stephen Harris Eleazer Flagg Benjamin Farley Jerahmael Cumings Samuel Cumings David Nevins Joshua Wright James Stewart Stephen Ames Robert Blood Benjn. Blanchard Zedekiah Drury Peter Powers Jonathan Danforth Samuel Farley William Adams Nicholas French Jerubbabel Kemp Peter Wheeler Josiah Brown William Blanchard Henry Barton Nathaniel Blood Elnathan Blood Makin David Lowell Thomas Nevins Thomas Patch Nathaniel Blodgett Moses Proctor John Brown Daniel Kendall Josiah Blood William Nevins Samuel Douglas Joseph McDaniell James McDaniell James Whitney Joseph Farley." g in all 43 names. The parish committee were prompt in communicating the foregoing call to Mr. Emerson, and on the 4th of the following March a meet- ing was called to consider his answer, which was entered upon the record as foUows : " To the Inhabitants of the West Parish in Dunstable " " Whereas it has pleased the Great God (who has the Hearts of all men in his Hands) — to dispose and incline' your Hearts to invite me to take the oversight of you and to Labour among you in Word and Doctrine as ap- pears by a vote preferred to me by the Committee, bearing date Jan. 17. 1742. 3, I have from that time taken that important matter into the most close consideration and have asked the best advice and am (after many and great difficulties in the way) come to this conclusion without Hesi- tation viz.: " If you will fuUfill your Pf omis as to the £400. Settlement in old Tenor, only that the one part of it be in Forty Acres of Good Land, near and con- ^yenient to the Meeting House, firmly and forever convaied to me, and the other Part to be paid in Bills of Publique credit within a year from the date of this Answer And that for my yearly Sallary you give me such a certain Sum of Bills of Publique credit yearly, as shall be equal to 150 ounce's of coined Silver, which is the sum you propose together with Thirty Cords of Wood Cord Wood Length delivered at my Door And after your Parish Town or District shall by the Providence of God be in- creased to the number of 100 Families (and not desired or expected till then) you make an addition to my yearly Sallary of five ounces of corned 12 Silver per year till tte same shall be equal to 200 Ounces of coined Silver — there to abide till the number of your Families arise to 150 — and then to Eaise Five Ounces of Coined Silver per year till it arrives at 210 Ounces of Coined Silver — and there to abide and be no more, which is equal to £70. of the Massachusetts last Emition — Always expecting the Thirty Cords of Wood — And that these Several Sums or Sum be continued to me, so long as I continue a Ghospel Minister over you — ^Always and in an espetial manner expecting that you will be Helpers with me by Prayer " Now if these before mentioned conditions be freely and voluntarily acted on and secured to me — as you promist in the call — then I as freely and wil- lingly accept of the call and freely subscribe myself yours to serve in the work of the Ghospel Ministry During Life. " Dunstable West Precinct March ye 4th 1743. "Daniel Emeeson." The Record continues, " It was thereupon Voted and agreed to accept the Terms Mr Emerson proposed in his answer bouth as to settlement and sallary — All so voted that Samuel Brown, Abraham Taylor, Peter Powers, Eleazer Flagg and Samuel Cummings be a committee to consult with Mr Emerson in the choice of a council." On the same day and at the same meeting, as it appears in the re- cord, a mutual additional agreement was entered into by the tax- payers, and signed by most of them, with a preamble setting forth the reasons that made this "inevr agreement necessary, the important parts of which are as foUow : " Whereas Ms majesty by the late determination of the Northern Bound- ary of the Massachusetts has left us the Subscribers, Inhabitants of the Westerly part of Dunstable out of the Province to which we always supposed we belonged, and under whose Laws we Exercised the Privileges of a Parish — but by the said determination it is supposed by some that said In- habitants are Disquallified to make any Act, Agreement or Determination by a majority of voters as they otherwise might have done that should be Effectual to compel Persons to pay their honest Proportion of all such Rates and necessary charges that shall arise in calling settling and maintaining a minister. " Now therefore that we may Enjoy the Benefit of the Ghospel ordinances amongst us we have come into the following agreement and obligation viz." The contract with Mr. Emerson is set forth in this new agree- ment, verbatim, and the record then continues as follows : " AIlso agreed that in the Payment of the Ministers Settlement & Sallary the assessors hereafter to be chosen Proportion such a certain part thereof to each Pole that when the Remainder thereof shall be levied upon EacI Persons Real and Personal Estate, agreeable to the Rules of the Massachu-'* setts Province, that the highest Payer upon Estates shall be equal to a single Pole" * * * * " To the Performance of the aforewriten agreement we hereby covenant and oblige ourselves, in the Penal sum of £100. till such times as this society be incorporated a distinct Town or Parish." Thirty-seven names were signed to Ihis agreement, some of which were not upon the call. This agreement, as wUl be readily seen, 13 was a voluntary compact, entered into by those who signed it as their best expedient for the lack of a town or parish charter. Some other matters suggested by this contract between Mr. xjmerson and his society are worthy of a few passing remarks, as illustrating the laws, customs and prevailing sentiments of the times, as well in civil as in church aflfairs. 1st. It was agreed in this contract that the new minister for the pre- sent should receive for his yearly salary 150 ounces of coined silver, or their equal value in bills of public credit, the paper money of that day, and also 30 cords of, wood. When the number of families in the society should reach 100, five ounces per year were to be added, till the salary should amount to 200 ounces, and it might afterwards be increased to 210 ounces. The oz. . Troy, used in weighing the precious metals, contains 480 grains. The American silver dollar contains 412^ of those grains, making the value of the oz. of silver coin $1.14: 150 oz. =$171 : 200 oz. =$228 : -and 210 oz.=$239.40, in standard federal coin. ' Mr. Emerson was ordained April 20, 1743, and he continued a faithful, venerated and popular minister of that society till Nov. 27, 1793, a period of more than fifty years, without a change, " or wish to change his place." At the latter date the Eev. Eli Smith, who had married his granddaughter, was settled as his colleague, Mr. Emer- son retaining one half of his salary till his decease, Sept. 30, 1801, at the age of 85 years. During that long period the salary of the minister, in accordance with the tenor of their contract, was assessed upon the inhabitants of the town at the annual March meetings, and always voted, so far as appears from the record, without dissent or opposition. As we have seen, in the acceptance of the proposals made to him by the society, Mr. Emerson closed his answer with the words, "Yours to serve in the work of the Ghospel ministry during life." We have, in the pastorate of Mr. Emerson, an apt illustration of what was under- stood by our ancestors 130 years ago, by the settlement of a minister in a country town in New-England, " during life." 2d. We have seen that the society in their proposals to the candidate aoreed to give him such a sum in bills of public credit, as would be equal to £50 of the "Massachusetts lastEmition." This Massachu- ■setts last emission was, at that date, the latest issue of paper money by that province, one pound of which, at that time, was worth £3.33 in coin, but like all paper money was very liable to depreci- ate. Not intending that the value of his pastoral services should depreciate, as paper mongy might, Mr. Emerson in accepting the call, with somewhat of worldly wisdom, not to say yankee shrewd- ness, took occasion to translate this £50 in paper money into its equivalent at the time in hard cash. By this thoughtful caution, 14 he secured to himself for the following fifty years and more, a fixed hard money basis for the value of his parochial duties, a basis ever afterwards respected by the people of the town. The variable and uncertain value of the paper money in use in New-Hampshire, as shown by the town records, from 1741 till near the revolutionary war, and also during that war, is the best com- mentary upon the caution and foresight of Mr. Emerson in making his contract as he did. The general court of Massachusetts first issued bills of credit, as money, in 1690, of which a fac simile is to be foundin the Historical Collections of that State for the year 1863. In the year 1748 that province had its bills of credit in circulation, issued at different times, to the nominal amount of £2,200,000. These bills of credit at that time had so depreciated that £1 in silver was equal in value to £11 in paper. About that time this paper money was redeemed at that rate (eleven for one) in Spanish dol- lars, which had been received from England in payment of the services of the Massachusetts troops, at the siege and capture of Louisbourg, in 1745. But in New-Hampshire, from 1741 to 1765, there appears to have been very little if any metallic money in use as a medium of exchange. As shown by the town records, the taxes for all purposes, during that period, were assessed and collected in some sort of paper money. Even the names by which the various kinds and issues of this currency were known at the time, are to most of the present generation an unsolved riddle. Among these names we shall find on the records : " manufactory bills," "Mass. old tenor," "N. H. old tenor," "Mass. new tenor," "N. H. new tenor," " Mass. new emission," " N. H. new emission," " lawful money," &c. &c. ; all apparently diflPering in value as weU as in name. Prior to 1760 the number of families in Mr. Emerson's society had not increased to one hundred, consequently he was not yet entitled to an increase of his salary beyond the value of 150 oz. of silver, or of that of the £50 of the Massachusetts last emission as it was at the time of his settlement. For the payment of this salary (equal as we have seen to $171 in federal money) , we find that the inhabitants were assessed, in the years named below, the following sums in the paper money then in use. 1753, £777. 10'. 6". O. T. 1760, £404. 9'. 8*. Mass. O. T. 1761, £415. 6». N. H. N. Tenor. 1763, £447. 15'. 6 . N. H. O. T. 1770, £67. 13'. 8*. L. M. or silver money. In the year last named paper money appears to have gone wholly out of use. The like vari- ation in the value of this currency is shown in the prices fixed for the 30 cords of wood to be furnished yearly to the minister. This wood was commonly assessed upon the tax payeys from year to year in kind, each of them being required to furnish at the minister's door a certain number of feet. If not delivered at the time fixed by vote of the town, the delinquent was to pay for it at a price voted at the 15 previous March meeting. The price of a cord of wood fixed in this way for different years, was : for 1748, £1. ; 1750, £2. 10'. ; 1760, £6. ; 1770, 3'. 6''. lawful or silver money. 3d. We shall also find, by examination of these records, that the mode of assessing taxes at that time, and the way in which they were apportioned between polls and estates, were radically different from our modern views and usages. We have seen, in the agreement entered into among them- selves by the members of Mr. Emerson's society, that by mutual consent they fixed upon a basis of taxation, as to polls and property, which, as stated in that instrument, "was agreeable to the rule of the Massachusetts province." This rule was to the effect, that the tax for the support of the minister should be so apportioned among such as had real and personal estate and those subject to a poll tax only, in such way that a single poll tax should be equal to the highest tax on property. In other words, the whole amount of the property tax of the richest man in the town, could be no more in amount than twice the poll tax of the poorest who was taxed at all. Under the law of Massachusetts, as we have before seen, male persons were subject to a poll tax at sixteen, and the same law was at the time in force in New-Hampshire. In illustration of this rule of taxation, I will cite an example or two. The first tax after the ordination of Mr. Emerson was for £35, assessed to pay for the entertainment of the ordaining council. Of that sum, £27. 6=., or more than three-fourths of it, were assessed upon 57 persons as a poll tax, and the balance, less than £8, upon property. The next tax was for £635. 9". 6^ for Mr. Emerson's settlement and salary for the first year. Of that sum, £418. 9'. C. were assess- . ed as a poH tax on 62 persons, or about two-thirds of the whole. As in taxes assessed for other purposes, so in those for support of the ministry, there was no law for the exemption of the person or property of any one except by vote of the town. The law in this respect appears to have been in full accord with popular sentiment, and the majority of the people were sufficiently tenacious of their legal rights under it. As an instance of public sentiment upon the question, we find that as late as 1785, Mr. Edward Spalding had an article inserted in the warrant for the annual March meeting : " To see if it were the minds of the people to exempt his estate from min- isterial tax, for the reason that he belonged to the Baptist denomina- tion." This question being submitted to the meeting, " the minds of the people" found expression in the following clear and emphatic terms : " Voted, that the estate of Edward Spalding shall not be freed from minister's tax for the time past, present, or to come." 16 I have already referred to the Old French War in which Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, was captured by the New-England troops. That war began in the spring of 1 744, and lasted four years. The settlement then at Hollis was on the frontier, and like all other frontier settlements then in New-Hampshire, was kept in constant alarm from fear of attacks from the Canada Indians. A large number of the frontier inhabitants, in different towns, were killed, more taken captive to Canada, and some settlements wholly broken up. By reason of these fears, Mr. Emerson, with 54 of the inhabitants (probably all the householders) , united in a petition to the general coui-t of New-Hampshire for garrisons, and soldiers for a guard. Again in May, 1746, at the second town meeting, after the town was chartered, " It was Voted to Petition the General Court of Massa- chusetts for som solders for a Gard for us, being in Gratt Danger of ye Enemy." Still again, in April, 1747, Samuel Cummings was chosen a dele- gate to the general court of New-Hampshire for a guard. In the petition foj this guard, it was stated "thj-t Hollis was on the frontier, and much exposed to the Indian Enemy. That the number of effec- tive men then in the Town did not exceed 50, and that most of them had families. That their situation was such that they could not work without a Guard, and if they could not be protected they must abandon their Husbandry and spend their time in watching and warding. They therefore prayed for ten or a Dozen Soldiers for a Scout till the Dangers of Summer and Fall were over and the harvest past." Whether guards were furnished or not in answer to any of these petitions, is not shown from the records ; but I well remember the tradition that in early times one or more of the houses in Hollis were occupied as garrisons for protection from the Indians. ^ TOWN CHARTER. About the 1st of April, 1746, all that part of old Dunstable, lying in New-Hampshire, and west of the Merrimack river, was di- vided and incorporated into the new towns of Dunstable, Merrimack, Hollis and Monson. Hollis, as bounded and described in its charter, began at the Nashua river on the province line, and run westerly on that line to the west line of old Dunstable 6 miles, 96 rods ; thence it run north on the old Dunstable line 4 miles and 140 rods (to Monson). Thence easterly on a line parallel to the south line to Muddy Beach. Thence by Muddy Beach, Flint's pond and Flint's beach to Nashua river, and thence by that river to the province line again. These boundaries left Hollis, as first chartered, about 6^ miles east and west, and about 4J miles north and south, with an area of about 27 square miles. These boundaries, as will be seen, would have left the site of the meeting-house within about Ij^ miles of the 17 east line, and near 5 miles from the west, about 3 miles from the south, and 1^ mile from the north line. These boundaries seem to have been satisfactory to none of the people of Hollis, and were the cause of long continued trouble and contention. In 1763 all that part of Hollis, then known as "one Pine HUl," now as Pine Hill, with the one omitted, lying west of Muddy Brook, Flint's pond and Flint's brook, was taken from Dunstable and an- nexed to Hollis, and in 1773 that part of the present town lying in the bend of, and east of Nashua river near Eunnel's miUs, was also taken from Dunstable and annexed to this town. The town of Monson lay next north of Hollis, extending to the Souhegan river, and contained about the same quantity of territory as Hollis. In 1770, on petition of its inhabitants, the charter of Mon- son was repealed, and about half of it on the south side annexed to HoUis and the residue to Amherst. In 1769, about IJ mile in width, on the west side of Hollis, with what was called the " Mile /Slip," then lying between Hollis and Mason, was organized into a town, and incorporated by the name of Raby. In 1786, another strip about three fourths of a mile in width was taken from Hollis and annexed to Eaby. The name, Eaby, on petition of its selectmen, was changed to Brookline in 1796 The last change in the boundaries of Hollis was made in 1794, when from two to four square miles were taken from its south-west comer to aid in forming the town of MUford at the time of its iacorporation. After all these several changes were made in the boundaries, and Hollis had been reduced to its present shape and area, I find from a smrey and plan of it now in the ofi&ce of the secretary of state in Concord (made in 1806, by Nathan Colburn), that the town, as it now is, contains 19,620 acres. THE SECONT* MEETING-HOUSE, OPPOSITION — THE RAISING — ^PEW GEOUND AND PEWS — CAEE OF THE MEETING- HOUSE — SINGING, ETC. In the year 1745, the taxable inhabitants of the "West Parish of Dunstable had increased to 78. They had now had a minister for two years, and had begun to have a very painful sense of the small capacity of their little meetiag-house, " 22 feet one way, 20 the other — 9 foot studs, and one glass window." These feelings found expression in the doings of a parish-meeting held at the first meeting-house, Sept. 6, 1745, while the society was yet without a town or parish charter. At this meeting, as it ap- pears from the record, it was "pnanimously voted to buUd a meet- ing-house 50 feet long, 44 feet wide and 23 posts in hight." "All go voted unanimously to sett ye next meetiag on ye Lott of Land ye present Meeting House Stands on, which was given for yt iiBo » Tt win hf. observed that these doines of the parish meeting, 1-8 before the boundaries were altered by the town charter, were entirely unanimous. At the first town-meeting held after the charter, April 28, 1746, the following vote was passed as found in the record. " Voted una- nimously to take on us the obligation to Mr. Emerson as it now stands in the covenant for his yearly salary so long as he remains our Minister.'* At a town-meeting held on the ISth of June, 1746, a vote was passed by a majority only confirming the doings of the society, the fall previous, in respect to the building the second meeting-house, and also a vote accepting, on the part of the town, the site that had been given to the parish for the meeting-house and burial ground. Such progress was afterward made with this new enterprise that at a town-meeting held on the 28th of the following July a vote was passed, by a majority of the meeting, " That the Meetiug-House be raised on the 13th of August next (1746), and that ye committee provide Victuals and Drink for ye People on Eaising Day, and to . bring it to the Fraim at noon. If they can't get it among our Friends, to provide it themselves." To the proceedings of both of these two last meetings, in respect to the locality of the meeting-house, and the building and raising it, there appears to have been a very earnest and determined opposition by the people then living in the west part of the town, most of them, as is supposed, living ia that part of the town which is now in Brookline. Quite a number of them had a written protest entered upon the records against the whole proceedings of the meetiag, and after the vote was taken to raise the meeting-house on the 13th of August, next after the meetiag, thirteen of these united in a memo- rial and complaint to the general court of New-Hampshire, praying " that a committee might be appointed to view the situation and fe the place for the meeting-house, and that the raising of it might be postponed till the committee could report." This memorial con- ceded that this location of the meeting-house was just and reasona- ble for the parish of West Dunstable as its bounds were originally ; but represented that it was very unjust and oppressive to them as inhabitants of the new town of HoUis ; that the site selected and agreed on by vote of the town was near &ve miles from the west line, of the town, and within one mile and a half of the east line. This, memorial was signed by James,, Joseph, and Eaudall McDanieDs,, Stephen Ames, Jesse Wyman, Moses Proctor, and seven others, ma^ng thirteen in- all. But I do not find any evidence that the general court interfered, in the matter or that the raising of the meeting-house was' delayed. Such progress was afterward made with the building, that in. about two years after "Eaising Day," a plan of the " Pew Grround," as it ■ was called, was made by a committee of the town.and accepted by ». vote of a town-meeting. 'The plan of this pew ground embraced, a. 19 space on the lower floor next the walls, wide enough foiva single range of pews on each of the four sides, and this space was apportioned into sites or ground for about 20 pews. At a town-meeting on the 12th of September, 1748, this pe^o ground was disposed of by vote of the town as follows : " Voted that the highest of the present pay on Eeal Estate have the Pew Ground on their paying £200, old tenor, to be applied towards finishing the Meeting-House — and the said Pew Men are to take their Pews for themselves and Wives — the Man and his Wife to be Seated according to then- Pay." That is, as I interpret this record, the men who at that time paid the highest taxes on real estate were to have the luxury of owning and sitting in separate pews, the wife being, permitted to sit in the same pew with her husband, — upon condition that the purchasers of the pew ground should buUd the walls of their pews, and pay £200, old tenor, towards the completion of the building. In December, 1748, this pew ground was disposed of by lot, those entitled to do so drawing for choice. Down to this day the record shows the amount of premium paid for each pew, by whom paid, and its precise location in the meeting-house, almost as clearly as the actual view, with the man and his wife seated in it " accord- ing to pay on Real Estate." Mr. Enoch Hunt drew the first choice, paid for it £14. O. T., and chose the second pew at the right hand ' of the pulpit. Mr. Elias Smith drew the second choice, paid £14. ■0. T., and chose the second pew at the left hand of the pulpit. Capt. Peter Powers, third choice, and chose the frst pew on the left hand of the front door. Lt. Benjamin Farley, eighth choice, took the third pew at the right hand of the east door, and paid for it £13. Dr. Samuel Cummings, thirteenth choice, paidforit £9. 10s., and took the first pew at the left hand of the west door ; and so of ■the rest. The pulpit was not yet built ; but at the annual town-meeting in 1749, it was voted " To Bould the Pulpit and the Ministeriall Pew and Stars as soon as the Bord wold do to work." It is not told how soon the " Bord wold do to work," yet it would appear that when this part of the joiner's work was first done, it was not thought so good as it should have been, as I find at the annual meeting in 1754 the -town " Voted that the Pew before the Pulpit be taken down, if there may be a good Hansom Pew for the Town bmlt, and a convenient Deacon's Seat, and Good Hansom Stairs to go to the Pulpit." At the same annual meeting in 1749, it was put to vote "To See If the ■ Town would build two Porches to the Meeting-House and it passed in the negative." The question in respect to the building of porches to the meeting- house was many times discussed in the town-meetings during the next -twenty years. But none were built till about the year 1772, when ,a small one was erected on the south side of the meeting-house for 20 passing Into tjie main building, one on the east side higt and large enough for gallery stairs for the women's gallery, and one on the west side for stairs for the men's gallery, with a belfry and steeple. This ancient second church edifice of HolHs, as originally com- pleted, long ago was dust, and has passed away among the things that were and are not. All that was mortal of the worthy people' who built and worshipped in it is also dust, and for nearly a century has reposed in the humble church-yard hard by. Yet from the hints and minutes preserved by them in their town-records, it would not require the genius of a Cuvier or Agassiz to reconstruct this ancient edifice, both as to its interior and exterior, and to present in vivid perspective the old congregation of worshippers as it would have appeared to the eye of a looker-on one hundred and twenty years ago. We have abeady given its length, breadth and height, as first erected. It occupied the same spot with the present modest and comparatively stately church. The stumps of the sturdy forest trees that had grown on the com- mon before it and on the burial ground behind, still stood firmly rooted in their native soil. The roads that led to it, freshly cut, and little better than bridle paths, unfenced except with logs and brush-wood here and there through the scattered and stump-covered clearings, wound their lonely way through the dense, original forest. ' The building itself was a plain wooden structure, covered on its outside with split clapboards, unpainted except its doors, windows and water " Troves ; " as yet without porches, with one outside door on each of its south-east and west sides ; with a suitable num- ber of horse-blocks at convenient distances for the accommodation of such of the congregation as rode to meeting upon the side saddle or pillion, as well as of those who rode upon saddles with two stirrups. On the inside upon the lower floor, around next the four walls, was a single row of pews, in which, from Sunday to Sunday, were seated the patriarchs and dignitaries of the town, "the highest in Pay on Real Estate," with their wives and families. A broad aisle leading from the south door to the pulpit and dea- con's seat, divided the remainder of the lower floor into the east and west sides, the easif being the "women's side," and the west the " men's side." This area was furnished with long seats for such as could not afford, or were not permitted to enjoy the distinction of pews ; yet in making and arranging these seats, the committee charged with their construction were directed by the town-meeting to have them made and arranged " according to pay, having regard to age." The galleries were also divided between the sexes in the same way as the lower floor, — the west gallery belonging to the sterner, the east to the gentler sex, with separate flights of stairs in the south- west and south-east corners leading to each of them, with tything- 21 men above as well as below to note all graceless irreverence and levity, especially in the youthful portion of the congregation. The pulpit was at the end of the broad aisle, on the north side next the wall, with a capacious sounding-board raised over it, so high that in after years it was ordered by the town meeting to be placed lower, if those who wished for the change " would pay the expense of mak- ing it." By the side of the pulpit, and leading into it, was a flight of "Hansom stairs," such being the kind voted by the town. Im- mediately in front of the pulpit was the deacon's seat, where, accord- ing to the usages and established proprieties of those times, Deacons Patch, Cumings, Boynton and Worcester, in their small clothes, long hose, knee and shoe buckles, took their seats as models of gravity and decorum to all the lay members of the congregation. " Cleanliness" was said, very long ago, to be "next to godli- ness," and cleanliness in respect to the care of their meeting-house was cultivated by our worthy forefathers as if it ranked among the christian graces. At each annual town-meeting a special officer was chosen to take the care of the meeting-house for the ensuing year. The following extract from the town-record of 1773, furnishes an ex- ample of these appointments, and of the duties expected of the officer : " Edward Carter chosen to take care of the Meeting House & He is to keep it well swept and clean ; To open and shut the DoorS in Good Season, and Shovel the Snow from the Doors, and Shovell Paths from the Doors to the Horse Blocks, and clean the Horse- Blocks well. He is to have Eighteen Shillings if done to the ac- ceptance of the Town — if not, to have Nothing." This picture of this ancient edifice cannot be truthfully embellished with stair or floor carpets, or with wood or coal furnaces, or with any other modem inventions for warming churches in winter. The only implement or convenience for this purpose then in use in country meeting-houses, was the little tin portable foot stove, with its basin for coals and ashes, which the younger members of the congregation were educated to carry to meeting in their hands for the use and comfort of their parents and seniors. Even this was an indulgence that does not seem to have been favored, as is evident from a vote of the town, at the March meeting in 1776, of which a record was made_in the following words : "Voted that all Stoves that shall be left in the Meeting House Shall be forfeited to the 8axton Mr. John Atwell, & he may sell them if the owner shall refuse to pay him \ a Pistareen for the first ofience & Dohle that sum for the second offence, and the said Atwell Shall return the overplus after he is paid for his trouble for the use of the Poor of the Parish." Nor are we at liberty to garnish our picture with an organ, melo- deon, bass viol, or with a quartette, duet or other choir of trained vocal singers. All these aids and accompaniments of modern con- gregational worship were then unknown. Yet this part of the public 22 devotional exercises was by no means omitted or neglected, and the singing is believed to have been quite as solemn as any portion of the religious exercifies of that day or even of the present time. Whether a. psalm were selected from Sternhold SivA Hopkins, or a hymn from Dr. Watts, it was elowly.read by the minister, one or at most two lines at a time, and sung by the congregation as read from the pulpit. When the minister had read from the book ; "Hark from the tombs a doleful sound," or " My drowsy powers, why -sleep ye so?" he was expected to take a rest till the whole congre- gation had sung those Imes before he should read the next. The congregation in this way would be quite sure to have some concep- tion of the ideas intended to be conveyed by the words of the hymn, a matter very certain not to be true in the ordinary opera performances of the modern quartette. The first reference to be found to a choir of singers in the town- records is in the doings of the annual meeting in 1767. The town then "Voted, that those Persons that have taken pains to instruct .themselves in Singing may have the two fore Seats below on the mens Side." The next notice we find of singers and singing is in the pro- ceedings of the annual meeting in 1784. It was then voted, "That 12 feet of the hind body Seats below next the Broad Aisle be ap- :propriated to the use of Singers on condition that a certain number of them will give the Glass necessary to repair the windows." And lastly, in the year 1788, it was voted, "That the Ground now occupied by Singers shall not be appropriated to any other use, and that the Singers may be allowed to Sing once a day without reading." This seems to have been a final and decisive triumph on the part of "the choir. Thenceforth it not only secured toleration from the towU'-meeting, but approved recognition as a fitting adjunct of public worship, and a place to sit and stand in the church without the con- dition to pay for it in mending broken windows. At length, and before the end of the century, the choir was promoted to conspicuous seats fitted up specially for it in the front gallery, where it might sing its pffians of victory, and its songs of praise and devotion might be heard, till this venerable second meeting-house, having stood for nearly sixty, years, at last fell before the hand of time and modern in- novation, and the edifice where we have now met was erected upo^i the same hallowed ground. Here my sketches of the Early History of Hollis must for the pre- sent close, with many thanks to my audience for their indulo-ence, and for the kind forbearance with which I have been listened to so patiently and so long. In these imperfect sketches of the history of Hollis before the revolution, none of you can be more conscious than I am of many matters which it would be interesting to us all to know, and of which I ought to have spoken, had I time and you patience. 23 Among these matters is the true original name of the town, the original act incorporating it, and the many other acts of the general court, making changes in its boundaries, and the earnest and violent controversies connected with several of these changes ; the names at least of the early town officers and magistrates ; the school laws, school houses, and schools of those times, and the way they were supported ; notices of the old French War, in which Quebec and Canada were taken, and of the soldiers furnished by HoUis in that war ; somewhat of the history of the church, the laying out and mak- ing the first public roads, and the erection of the first bridges, espe- cially across the Nashua river, with some other matters of inter- est or curiosity. The revolutionary history of HoUis, as it is now. found in the town-records, and other original documents, is. in the highest degree honorable to the men and women of those times. It presents a re- cord of which all their descendants may well be proud. There is not a page of it that one of them would wish to efface, or the record of a fact that they would desire to blot. These records on this sub- ject are said to be more complete than those of any other town in the county, and they ought to be carefully preserved and in some way perpetuated, as lessons in virtue, in patriotism and fidelity to the •cause of liberty, to those that may come after us. ,^^^^