Various - The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1

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In 1638 the court passed a curious law regulating the use of tobacco,
which runs as follows:

"The Court finding since y'e repealing of y'e former laws against
tobacco y'e law is more abused than before, it hath therefore ordered
that no man shall take any tobacco in y'e field except in his iourney,
or meale times, vpon pain of 12'd for every offence, nor shall take any
tobacco in (or near) any dwelling house, barne, Corn or Haye, as may be
likely to endanger y'e fireing thereof, vpon paine of 2's for every
offence, nor shall take any tobacco in any Inne or common victualling
house; except in a private room there; so as neither the master of the
same house nor any other gueste there shall take offence thereat; w'ch
if they doo, then such p son is forth w'th to forebeare, vpon paine of
2's 6'd for every offence."

One office created by the court of that early period it might not be a
bad idea for the authorities of the present day to revive. Wardens were
appointed annually to "take care of and manage y'e affairs of y'e
School; they shall see that both y'e Master & Schollar, perform, their
duty, and Judge of and End any difference that may arrise between Master
& Schollar, or their Parents, according to Sundry Rules & Directions,"
set down for their guidance.

In all matters coming within the province and jurisdiction of the
colonial church the law was even more exacting than in merely civil
affairs; and singularly enough, the town authorities took it upon
themselves to seat all persons who attended divine service in the
meeting-house where it seemed to them most proper. With the full
approbation of the selectmen, responsible persons were sometimes allowed
to construct pews or seats for themselves and their families in the
meeting-house; but it appears on one occasion that three citizens
undertook to "make a seat in y'e meeting-house," without first getting
the full permission and consent of the town fathers, an act deemed
exceedingly sinful, and for which they were arraigned before the town at
a special meeting and publicly censured. After duly considering the case
it was decided to allow the seat to remain, provided it should not be
disposed of to any person but such as the town should approve of, and
that the offending parties acknowledge their "too much forwardness," in
writing, which they did in the following manner:

"We whose names are underwritten, do acknowledge that it was our
weakness that we were so inconsiderate as to make a small seat in the
meeting-house without more clear and full approbation of the town and
selectmen thereof, though we thought upon the conference we had with
some of the selectmen apart, and elders, we had satisfying ground for
our proceeding therein; w'ch we now see was not sufficent; therefore we
do desire that our failing therein may be passed by; and if the town
will grant our seat that we have been at so much cost in setting up, we
thankfully acknowledge your love unto us therein, and we do hereupon
further engage ourselves that we will not give up nor sell any of our
places in that seat to any person or persons but whom the elders shall
approve of, or such as shall have power to place men in seats in the
assembly.

[Signed]. INCREASE ATHERTON,
SAMUEL PROCTOR,
THOMAS BIRD.

At another time one Joseph Leeds, a member of the church, was accused of
maltreating his wife; the charge was sustained, and after the case had
been considered at several special meetings, it was settled by his
confessing and promising "to carry it more lovingly to her for time to
come." But Jonathan Blackman, another erring brother, was charged with
misdemeanors that could not be so easily overlooked; he was accused of
lying and also of stealing. He had been whipped for these offences, but
refused to come before the church for wholesome discipline, and ran away
out of the jurisdiction. Accordingly he was "disowned from his church
relation and excommunicated, though not deliuered up to Satan, as those
in full communion, but yet to be looked at as a Heathen and a Publican
unto his relations natural and civil, that he might be ashamed."

Another class of statutes--laws that have a queer sound in
nineteenth-century Massachusetts--were designed for the encouragement of
special public service. Here are examples of some of them:

"1638. For the better encouragement of any that shall destroy wolves,
it is ordered that for every wolf any man shall take in Dorchester
plantation, he shall have 20's by the town, for the first wolf, 15's
for the second, and for every wolf afterwards, 10's besides the
Country's pay."

"1736. Voted, that whosoever shall kill brown rats, so much grown as
to have their hair on them, within y'e town of Dochester, y'e year
ensuing, until our meeting in May next, and bring in their scalps
with y'e ears on unto y'e town treasurer, shall be paid by y'e town
treasurer Fourpence for every rat's scalp."

The same year the town offered a bounty for the destroying of striped
squirrels.

Now that the recent death of Wendell Phillips brings freshly to mind the
bitter opposition with which the early champions of abolution were
treated in Boston and vicinity, it is pleasant to find in the musty
records of the Dochester Plantation emphatic evidence that they not only
recognized slavery as an evil, and the slave-trade as a heinous crime,
but that they set their faces like a flint against it. The traffic in
slaves began among the colonists in the winter of 1645-6, and in the
following November the court placed on record this outspoken
denunciation of the practice:

"The Gen'all Co'te conceiving themselves bound by y'e first opertunity
to bear Witness against y'e haynos & crying sin of man stealing, as also
to prscribe such timely redresse for what is past, and such a law for
y'e future as may sufficiently deter all others belonging to us to have
to do in such vile and odious courses, iustly abhored of all good and
iust men, do order y't y'e negro interpreter w'th others unlawfully
taken, be y'e first opertunity (at y'e charge of y'e country for psent),
sent to his native country in Ginny, & a letter w'th him of y'e
indignation of y'e Corte thereabout, and iustice hereof, desiring o'r
hono'red Gov'rnr would please put this order in execution."

How men so clear in their convictions of the rights of Africans could be
guilty of the most heartless injustice to Quakers and their friends, it
is not easy to explain; and yet they mercilessly persecuted one of their
own fellow-citizens, Nicholas Upsall, and made him an exile from his
home, for no greater crime than that of countenancing and befriending
members of the Society of Friends. He kept the Dorchester hostelry, and
was wont to entertain Quakers as he did any other decent people; but for
this he was apprehended and tried by the court, and sentenced to pay a
fine of L20 and be thrown into prison. Finally, finding it impossible to
entirely prevent his friends from holding intercourse with him, he was
banished from the settlement for the remainder of his life. That curious
book, "Persecutors Maul'd with their own Weapons," contains the
following account of the case:

"Nicholas Upsall, an old man full of years, seeing their (the
authorities) cruelty to the harmless Quakers that they had condemned
some of them to die, both he and elder Wisewell, or otherwise Deacon
Wisewell, members of the church in Boston, bore their testimonies in
public against their brethren's horrid cruelty to the said Quakers. And
the said Upsall declared that he did look at it as a sad forerunner of
some heavy judgment to follow upon the country; which they took so ill
at his hands, that they fined him twenty pounds and three pounds more at
another meeting of the court, for not coming to their meeting, and would
not abate him one grote, but imprisoned him and then banished him on
pain of death, which was done in a time of such extreme bitter weather
for frost, snow and cold, that had not the heathen Indians in the
wilderness woods taken compassion on his misery, for the winter season,
he in all likelihood had perished, though he had then a good estate in
houses and lands, goods and money, also a wife and children."

One of the officials who for a time had charge of poor Upsall during the
period of his imprisonment was John Capen, of whom the old chroniclers
have left a pleasanter record, namely, a transcript of several of his
youthful love-letters. The following will serve as sample:

"SWEETE-HARTE,

"My kind loue and affection to you remembered; hauinge not a convenient
opertunety to see and speake w'th you soe oft as I could desier, I
therefore make bold to take opertunety as occassione offers it selfe to
vissit you w'th my letter, desiering y't it may find acceptance w'th
you, as a token of my loue to you; as I can assuer you y't yours have
found from me; for as I came home from you y'e other day, by y'e way I
reseaued your letter from your faithfull messenger w'ch was welcom
vnto me, and for w'ch I kindly thanke you, and do desier y't as it is
y'e first: so y't may not be y'e last, but y't it may be as a seed
w'ch will bring forth more frute: and for your good counsell and
aduise in your letter specified, I doe accept, and do desier y't we may
still command y'e casse to god for direction and cleering vp of your way
as I hope wee haue hitherto done; and y't our long considerations may at
y'e next time bring forth firme concessions, I meane verbally though not
formally. Sweete-harte I have given you a large ensample of patience, I
hope you will learn this instruction from y'e same, namely, to show y'e
like toward me if euer occassion be offered for futuer time, and for
y'e present condesendency vnto my request; thus w'ch my kind loue
remembered to yo'r father and mother and Brothers and sisters w'th
thanks for all their kindness w'ch haue been vndeseruing in me I rest,
leauing both them and vs vnto y'e protection and wise direction of y'e
almighty.

"My mother remembers her love vnto y'or father and mother; as also
vnto your selfe though as it vnknown.

"Yo'rs to command in anything I pleas.

"JOHN CAPEN."

In this connection may very properly be given another letter written at
about the same date. Punkapoag, the summer residence of Thomas Bailey
Aldrich, the poet editor of the Atlantic, was a part of colonial
Dorchester and one of the points where the famous John Eliot began his
missionary labors among the Indians. In the interest of the natives at
that station he wrote the following letter to his friend, Major
Atherton, in 1657:

"Much Honored and Beloved in the Lord:

"Though our poore Indians are molested in most places in their meetings
in way of civilities, yet the Lord hath put it into your hearts to
suffer us to meet quietly at Ponkipog, for w'ch I thank God, and
am thankful to yourselfe and all the good people of Dorchester. And
now that our meetings may be the more comfortable and p varable, my
request is, y't you would further these two motions: first, y't you
would please to make an order in your towne and record it in your towne
record, that you approve and allow y'e Indians of Ponkipog there to sit
downe and make a towne, and to inioy such accommodations as may be
competent to maintain God's ordinances among them another day. My second
request is, y't you would appoint fitting men, who may in a fitt season
bound and lay out the same, and record y't alsoe. And thus commending
you to the Lord, I rest,

"Yours to serve in the service of Jesus Christ,

"JOHN ELIOT."

Following this missive a letter on quite a different subject, dictated
by the redoubtable Indian chief, King Philip, may be interesting. It
bears date of 1672, and is addressed to Captain Hopestill Foster of
Dorchester:

"S'r you may please to remember that when I last saw You att Walling
river You promised me six pounds in goods; now my request is that you
would send me by this Indian five yards of White light collered serge to
make me a coat and a good Holland shirt redy made; and a p'r of good
Indian briches all of which I have present need of, therefoer I pray S'r
faile not to send them by my Indian and with them the severall prices of
them; and silke & buttens & 7 yards Gallownes for trimming; not else att
present to trouble you w'th onley the subscription of

"KING PHILIP,

"his Majesty P.P."

One of the best commentaries on the lives and characters of the chief
actors in the history of the Dorchester Plantation may be read on the
tombstones that mark the places where their precious dust was deposited.
From Rev. Richard Mather, the most noted pastor of the church of that
period, to the humblest contemporary of his who enjoyed the rights and
priveleges of a free-holder, none was so mean or obscure that a
characteristic, if not fitting, epitaph did not mark the place of his
sepulture. From the many well worth perusing, the following are singled
and transcribed for the readers of this sketch.

Epitaph of James Humfrey, "one of y'e ruling elders of Dorchester," in
the form of an acrostic:

"I nclos'd within this shrine is precious dust.
A nd only waits ye rising of ye just.
M ost usefull while he liu'd, adorn'd his Station,
E uen to old age he Seur'd his Generation.

H ow great a Blessing this Ruling Elder be
U nto the Church & Town: & Pastors Three.
M ather he first did by him help Receiue;
F lynt did he next his burden much Relieue;
R enouned Danforth he did assist with Skill:
E steemed high by all; Bear fruit Untill,
Y eilding to Death his Glorious seat did fill."

When Elder Hopestill Clapp died his pastor, Rev. John Danforth, composed
the following verses for his grave stone:

"His Dust waits till ye Jubile,
Shall then Shine brighter than ye Skie;
Shall meet and join to part no more,
His soul that Glorify'd before.
Pastors and Churches happy be,
With Ruling Elders such as he;
Present useful, Absent Wanted,
Liv'd Desired, Died Lamented."

William Pole, an eccentric citizen of the village, before his demise,
composed an epitaph to be chiseled on his monument, "Y't so being dead
he might warn posterity; or, a resemblance of a dead man bespeaking y'e
reader;" so under a death's head and cross-bones it stands thus:

"Ho passenger 'tis worth your paines to stay
& take a dead man's lesson by ye way.
I was what now thou art & thou shall be
What I am now what odds twixt me and thee
Now go thy way but stay take one word more
Thy staff for ought thou knowest stands next ye door
Death is ye dore yea dore of heaven or hell
Be warned, Be armed, Believe, Repent, Fairewell."

The virtues of one who was "downright for business, one of cheerful
spirit and entire for the country" are recorded in this fashion:

"Here lyes ovr Captaine, & Major of Suffolk was withall:
A Goodley Magistrate was he, and Major Generall,
Two Troops of Hors with him here came, svch worth his loue did crave;
Ten Companyes of Foot also movrning marcht to his grave.
Let all that Read be sure to Keep the Faith as he has don.
With Christ his liues now, crowned, his name was Hvmfrey Atherton."

The following was written on the death of John Foster, who is mentioned
in the old annals as a "mathematician and printer":

"Thy body which no activeness did lack,
Now's laid aside like an old Almanack;
But for the present only's out of date,
'Twill have at length a far more active state.
Yes, tho' with dust thy body soiled be.
Yet at the resurrection we shall see
A fair EDITION, and of matchless worth.
Free from ERRATAS, new in Heaven set forth.
'Tis but a word from God the great Creator,
It shall be done when he saith Imprimator."

The clerk of the old Dorchester Church seems also to have been a maker
of elegiac verse; for after the decease of Rev. Richard Mather, the
pastor, and one of the ablest divines of colonial New England, the
church records contain the two complimentary stanzas quoted below, the
first being an evident attempt at anagram:

"Third in New England's Dorchester,
Was this ordained minister.
Second to none for faithfulness,
Abilities and usefulness.
Divine his charms, years seven times seven,
Wise to win souls from earth to heaven.
Prophet's reward his gains above,
But great's our loss by his remove."

Sacred to God his servant Richard Mather,
Sons like him, good and great, did call him father.
Hard to discern a difference in degree,
'Twixt his bright learning and his piety.
Short time his sleeping dust lies covered down,
So can't his soul or his deserved renown.
From 's birth six lustres and a jubilee
To his repose: but labored hard in thee,
O, Dorchester! four more than thirty years
His sacred dust with thee thine honour rears."

This couplet to three brothers named Clarke must suffice for epitaphs:

"Here lie three Clarkes, their accounts are even,
Entered on earth, carried up to Heaven."

Before taking leave of these fascinating old records, so rich in facts
and the stuff that fiction is made of, it will be interesting to have an
estimate of the growth of the Dorchester Plantation; for this purpose
the valuation of the town is given, a century from the date of its
settlement:

Houses, 117
Mills, 6
Acres of orchard, 250 1-2
Acres of mowing, 1834 1-4
Acres of pasture, 2873 1-2
Acres of tillage, 518 1-2
Male slaves, 10
Female slaves, 1
Oxen, 157
Cows, 661
Horses, 207
Sheep and goats, 661
Swine, 251

Value of feeding stock, etc., L431

Decked vessels, tons, 64
Open vessels, tons 68
====
132

Ratable polls, 252
Not ratable, 24
====
276

The tax for that year, assessed on real estate, was L72 16s 6d; on
personal estate, L9 14s 11d.

When all who took up the original claims on Allen's Plain had passed
through the vicissitudes of their troubled lives and been numbered with
the silent majority in the field of epitaphs, already alluded to, and
their descendents were on the eve of the great struggle which was
destined to sever them from the mother country, and the hearts of
patriotic men began to feel the premonitory throbs of that spirit of
independence soon to fire the first shot at Lexington, the Union and
Association of Sons of Liberty in the province held a grand celebration
in Boston, on the fourteenth of August, 1769. From John Adams's famous
diary we learn that this jovial company, including the leading spirits
of the time, first assembled at Liberty Tree, in Boston, where they
drank fourteen toasts, and then adjourned to Liberty Tree Tavern, which
was none other than Robinson's Tavern in Dorchester. There under a
mammoth tent in an adjacent field long tables were spread, and over
three hundred persons sat down to a sumptuous dinner. "Three large pigs
were barbecued," and "forty-five toasts were given on the occasion," the
last of which was, "Strong halters, firm blocks and sharp axes to all
such as deserve them." The toasts were varied with songs of liberty and
patriotism by a noted colonial mimic named Balch, and another song
composed and sung by Dr. Church. "At five o'clock," says Mr. Adams,
"the Boston people started home, led by Mr. Hancock in his chariot, and
to the honour of the Sons, I did not see one person intoxicated."

* * * * *

HOLLIS STREET CHURCH.

The demolition of Hollis Street Church in this city destroys another old
historic land-mark, which, like King's Chapel, the old State House, and
other venerable structures, have a record that endears them to the
popular heart. A brief sketch of the three buildings which have
successively occupied the site, which is so soon to be left vacant, is
worthy of preservation.

The name of the church and the street on which it stood was bestowed in
honor of Thomas Hollis, of London, noted for his liberal benefactions;
and his nephew of the same name devoted a bell for the edifice, in 1734.

The land on which the original structure was erected, was presented for
that purpose by Governor Belcher, in 1731; and in April of the same
year, by permission of the selectmen of Tri-Mountain, or Boston, a
wooden building, sixty feet long and forty feet wide, was began, which
was finished and dedicated in midsummer of the following year.

In the great South End fire, on the twentieth of April, 1787, and in
response to an imperative demand, a second, and larger wooden house, was
erected on the site of the first, and made ready for occupancy in the
course of the following year. This building was planned by Charles
Bulfinch, and in its architecture resembled St. Paul's Church, now
standing on Tremont street.

Within a year the Hollis Street Society has removed to an elegant new
edifice on the Back Bay, and the brick building they left behind must
now disappear in the march of improvement. It was erected in 1811, in
order to accommodate the prosperous and rapidly-growing society for whom
it stood as a place of worship. To make room for it, the wooden
meeting-house already referred to was taken down in sections and removed
to the town of Braintree.

The several clergymen who have been the honored pastors of Hollis Street
Church are worthy of mention in this connection. The first was Rev.
Mather Byles, a lineal descendant of John Cotton and Richard Mather, who
was ordained pastor, December 20, 1732. He was dismissed August 14,
1776, on account of his strong Tory proclivities. His immediate
successor was Rev. Ebenezer Wright, a young divine from Dedham and a
graduate of Harvard, who remained the pastor until the new meeting-house
was finished, in 1788, when he was dismissed at his own request, on
account of ill-health.

The next pastor was a man in middle life, who made himself an
acknowledged power among the Boston clergy, Rev. Samuel West, of
Needham. He died in 1808, and was succeeded by Rev. Horace Holley, from
Connecticut, who was installed in March, 1809, and remained till 1818.
Rev. John Pierpont, who resigned in 1845, made way for Rev. David
Fosdick, who preached there two years, when Rev. Starr King was settled
in 1845, and remained till 1861, Rev. George L. Chaney then took the
place till 1877, and was succeeded by Rev. H. Bernard Carpenter, the
present pastor.

* * * * *

ELIZABETH.[13]

A ROMANCE OF COLONIAL DAYS.

By Frances C. Sparhawk, Author of "A Lazy Man's Work."

CHAPTER XIII.--_Continued_.

Half an hour later Edmonson marched into his friend's room. His face was
flushed, and his eyes had a triumphant glitter. It was an expression
that heightened most the kind of beauty he had.

"You are booked for a visit, Bulchester," he began, seating himself in
the chair opposite the other. "I have accepted for you; knew you would
be glad to go with me."

"That is cool!" And Bulchester's light blue eyes glowed with anger for a
moment. His moods of resentment against his companion's domination,
though few and far between, were very real.

"Not at all. In fact it is a delightful place, and I don't know to what
good fortune we are indebted for an invitation. Neither of us has much
acquaintance with Archdale."

"Archdale? Stephen Archdale?"

"Yes. You look amazed, man. We are asked to meet Sir Temple and Lady
Dacre. I don't exactly see how it came about, but I do see that it is
the very thing I want in order to go on with the search. Another city,
other families."

"But--." Bulchester stopped.

"But what?"

"Why, the possible Mistress Archdale,--Elizabeth. Of course I am happy
to go, if you enjoy the situation."

A dangerous look rayed out from Edmonson's eyes.

"I can stand it, if Archdale can," he answered. "How fate works to bring
us together," he mused.

"I don't understand," cried the other. "What has fate to do with this
invitation?" Edmonson, who had spoken, forgetting that he was not alone,
looked at his companion with sudden suspicion. But Bulchester went on in
the same tone. "If it is to carry out your purpose though, little you
will care for having been a suitor of Mistress Archdale."

"On the contrary, it will add piquancy to the visit." Then he added,
"Don't you see, Bulchester, that I dare not throw away an opportunity?
Ship 'Number One' has foundered. 'Number Two' must come to land. That is
the amount of it."

"Yes," returned Bulchester with so much assurance that the other's
scrutiny relaxed.

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