by c. c. lord.
religious.
at first, worship, both private and public, was conducted in the primative homes of the settlers of the township. on the erection of military posts, or forts, such edifices became natural, social centres, and worship was conducted in one or more of them. rev. james scales, first minister of the town, was ordained in putney’s fort, in 1757. during the ministry of mr. scales, public worship was sometimes conducted at the parsonage. the erection of a church determined a permanent place of public religious services.
the first meeting-house in hopkinton represented a much larger territorial expanse of population than any church now extant. denominational controversies had not divided the ranks of the worshipers, nor had local patrons of the one church demanded special privileges of their own. the distance to church was long in many cases, and 221the conveyances often only the locomotory means of nature.
in olden times in this vicinity, though people had the instinct of personal adornment the same as now, they often lacked the means of gratifying it. extra articles of dress were so rare that people frequently walked to church in their daily accustomed garb, or trod the sunday path with a most scrupulous care for their extra wardrobe. women sometimes carried the skirts of their sunday dresses on their arms till they arrived near or at the church door, when they let them fall. the sunday shoes were often carried in the hand till the journey to meeting was nearly ended, when they were put on for entrance to the sanctuary. present readers can comprehend the necessity of such care, when they reflect that in the olden time the price of a week’s work of a woman was only equivalent to a yard of cloth, or a pair of shoes.
church services in the former days were long, and savored of dogmatic theology. the principal prayer was much longer than the present average sermon, and the discourse proportionally extended. such prolonged services were conducted in winter, at first, without the favor of any artificial warmth. in contemplating the situation of the worshipers in those old wintry days, the bleakness of the characteristic meeting-house of the times is to be taken into account. in the old baptist church was an open aperture in an upper wall, where the crows have been known to perch while worship was in progress. the advent of foot-stoves gave much relief to the chilly congregations of earlier times, and the introduction of the general heater put an end to the extremer experiences of the wintry sunday.
the representative minister of the olden time was a person of eminent scholarly culture and gentlemanly bearing. a thorough scholar and rhetorician, his discourses were framed with strict regard to the logical sequences of his subject. the numerical divisions of his theme often carried him among units of the second order; firstly, secondly, and thirdly were only preliminary to thirteenthly, fourteenthly, and fifteenthly; the grand category of predications was terminated by a “conclusion.” in his loftier intellectual schemes, he sometimes elaborated whole volumes of disquisitional matter. rev. ethan smith, third minister in the town, was the author of several profound theological treatises. there was a dignity and austerity of manner pertaining to the characteristic primative clergyman that made him a pattern of personified seriousness. his grave demeanor on his parochial rounds, when he spoke directly upon the obligations of personal religion, made his presence in the household a suggestion of profound respect and awe. he impressed his personality upon the receptive social element of his parish. the deacons became only minor pastors, and the whole congregation of believers expressed in subdued form the character of the shepherd of the flock.[1]
1. the austere influence of religion upon society in the olden time was attested by the legal strictures upon traveling, idling, etc., on sunday, of which conduct the tything-men were to take cognizance. tything-men were chosen in this town as late as 1843, when charles barton, samuel frazier and daniel chase were selected. the law requiring such choice had even then become virtually a dead letter.
the support of a “learned and orthodox minister” was implied in the original grant of this township. in the strict construction of the text of the original compact, “orthodoxy” meant calvinistic congregationalism. the disturbed condition of the early settlement prevented the establishment of a permanent local pastorate till 1757. on the 8th of september of that year, it was voted to settle the rev. james scales, and that he should be ordained on the 23d of the following november. his salary was to be sixty spanish milled dollars, or their equivalent in paper bills, a year. when the town became incorporated in 1765, the formal acknowledgment of mr. scales as legal pastor was renewed, it being the 4th of march, and his salary was named at ￡13, 10s.
222in progress of time different religious societies became established in this town, but the congregational alone drew support from any portion of the populace by a direct tax. people were taxed for the support of the congregational ministry in this town as late as 1810. the warrant for a town-meeting called for the 12th of march, 1811, contained this article:
“to see what method the town will take to raise money for the support of the congregational minister in town the ensuing year, how levied, and how divided between the two meeting-houses.”
at this time a meeting-house had been, for about ten years, in existence at campbell’s corner, in the westerly part of the town, and since its erection the funds for the support of congregational preaching derived from taxes had been divided between the east and west meeting-houses, as they were called. however, at the town-meeting called for the above date, it was voted to “pass over the article” relating to the proposed support of congregational religious services by the town, and we think the subject was never taken up again.
the minister’s tax was never collected of any person who acknowledged a belief in the religious principles of any legalized society, other than the congregational. the following vote, passed on the 25th of march, 1799, illustrated the method of raising the minister’s tax:
“voted to lay a ministerial tax on the congregational inhabitants at twenty cents each on the poll, and upon all ratable estate in the same proportion, congregational inhabitants to be ascertained by consent, individually, to either of the selectmen at the time of taking the inventory.”
people liable to pay a minister’s tax sometimes publicly, in town-meeting, declared their adhesion to the principles of some one or other of the societies exempted from the payment of that tax.
the lease of the parsonage lands in 1798, incurred an annual revenue which was proportionately divided among the existing societies till the year 1853. in the year 1842, when the town for the first time published a printed report of its pecuniary transactions, the last division of parsonage money was declared to be as follows:
1st congregational society, $27.88
2d congregational society, 4.39
calvinist baptist, society, 13.88
union baptist, society, 16.12
episcopalian society, 9.64
1st universalist society, 4.21
2d universalist society, 10.31
methodist society, 1.43
the round total was set down at $88.00.
the 2d congregational society dropped out of the list in 1851. the last allowance to this society was fifty-six cents. the town report of the year 1853, contained the following and last list of apportionments of parsonage money:
congregational society, $30.09
union baptist society, 19.04
calvinist baptist society, 15.72
episcopalian society, 4.40
1st universalist society, 7.57
2d universalist society, 7.10
methodist society, 4.18
the total of this list was also set down in round numbers as $88.
the above figures are suggestive in presenting a view of the relative strength of the different societies at the specific times stated. it is interesting to note that certain of the societies soon lost all traces of even a nominal existence, after the suspension of the parsonage revenues. for some time they had kept up a show of vitality by making their portion of the parsonage fund a nucleus of an outlay for a few days’ preaching in the year.
in the march of the years, the old peculiarities of local religious life have given place to new features and forms. it is needless to say that some of the old formalities died hard. innovations were distrusted. the experience in view of proposed changes was substantially uniform in all the churches. even the staid episcopalians were ruffled by 223unaccustomed ceremonies. when, for the first time, the choir of the episcopal church chanted the gloria patri, which before had been read only, an indignant lady abruptly shut her prayer book in unfeigned disgust. the greater jealousy formerly existing between different denominations is well known. it is said this inharmonious feeling was once sought to serve an innovating use. a person prominent in musical circles sought to influence the leading minds of the congregational church in favor of the purchase of a bass viol. as an extreme argumentative resort he suggested, “the poor, miserable baptists have got one.” tradition, however, doesn’t relate the effect of this suggestion.
commercial.
the country store of the earliest times was a more emphatic collection of multitudinous varieties of articles, if possible, than the later place of local public traffic. then, as now, the local store was the principal resort of the great commonalty. men of special vocations sometimes took a stock of products to the lower country and bartered for goods to bring back and distribute among their neighbors, and the itinerant merchant, or pedlar, reaped a much better harvest than now; but the country store was a popular necessity and well patronized. at first there was less trading in domestic luxuries; the goods in store represented the common necessities. since the popular idea of necessity does not fully exclude the illusory principle, we have to admit rum, gin, brandy, etc., into the former list of domestic staples. cash and barter were entertained by every tradesman, to whom the populace largely looked for advantageous exchanges of substance. the progress of the settlement was attended by the extension, and to some extent by the classification, of trade till the time when hopkinton assumed the commercial importance described in a previous article.
the currency employed in the transaction of business was at first nominally english, though spanish milled dollars were in circulation. one of the inconveniences of the early settlers of new england was a scarcity of money. the different provincial governments sought to relieve the public financial burdens by the issue of bills of credit, a currency mentioned in the records of this town as “old tenor.” such a circulating medium in such a time could only depreciate in value, but, following a custom obtaining in the old country, the purchasing value of these bills could from time to time be fixed by the local legislatures. about the year 1750, it was established throughout the provinces that ￡1 in the currency of the bills of credit should be equivalent to two shillings and eight pence lawful money, and that six shillings should be equal to one dollar.
the preliminary events of the revolution involved the establishment of a system of continental currency. at the time of the first issue of a paper circulating medium, in 1775, the continental notes were nearly at par with gold, but they soon fell to comparative nothingness in value. the effect of this collapse in monetary matters was amply illustrated in the public transactions of the town of hopkinton. at a town meeting held in 1781, it was voted that the price of a day’s work on the highway, by a man, should be $30; the price of a day’s work by a yoke of oxen, $30; the price of a plow and cart, $10 each. the salary of the rev. elijah fletcher, second minister of the town, was also voted to be $4000 for the year, but the reverend pastor preferred to accept ￡70 in gold equivalents, and declined the larger nominal sum. the success of the american cause, and the permanent establishment of the public credit, gave a correspondingly improved aspect to local affairs, and in later times this town has experienced fluctuations in prices in common with the general country.
during the period of hopkinton’s greater importance as a commercial station, a bank was maintained here for a few years. the institution was known as the franklin bank, and was incorporated in 1833. the grantees were horace chase, nathaniel gilman, isaac long, 224jr., william little, joseph stanwood, matthew harvey, andrew leach, moses gould, ebenezer dustin, timothy chandler, stephen darling, and james huse. the operations of this bank seem to have been exceedingly bungling during the short term of its existence, and it finally settled with its creditors at ninety cents on a dollar. the franklin bank occupied the building now used by the hopkinton public library.
the standard of quantities to be recognized in commercial transactions has, from remote times, been a subject of legal regulation. the weights and measures first used in this town were the standards of older communities. in a record made in the year 1804, the town of hopkinton declared the local standard to be as follows:
weights of iron.
1 56 lbs.
1 28 lbs.
1 24 lbs.
1 7 lbs.
weights of brass.
1 4 lbs.
1 2 lbs.
1 1 lb.
1 ? lb.
1 2 oz.
1 1 oz.
1 ? oz.
1 ? oz.
for the use of the above weights the town recognized “two small scale beams with brass dishes,” and also “one large scale beam with boards, and strung with iron wires.” the wooden dry measures were specific as 1 half-bushel, 1 peck, 1 half-peck, 1 two-quart, and 1 quart; while the copper liquid measures were started to be 1 gallon, 1 two-quart, 1 quart, 1 pint, 1 half-pint, and 1 gill.
by legal requirement, the standard of weights and measures is regulated by a town sealer to this day, such officer being chosen annually at the town-meeting in march, but the modern improvements and facilities for determining quantities have made a practically dead letter of the present law requiring his selection.
for many years a public hay-scales occupied a site in the rear of the congregational meeting-house. it was simply an immense scale beam and platform, the whole apparatus being covered with a roof. it long ago passed away to give place to the modern hay-scales.
