USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Municipal history of the town and city of Boston during two centuries : from September 17, 1630, to September 17, 1830 > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
Gc 974.402 B65q 1822052
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
V
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 8460
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/municipalhistory1630quin
A
MUNICIPAL HISTORY
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OF THE
TOWN AND CITY OF BOSTON,
DURING
TWO CENTURIES.
1630-1830
FROM
SEPTEMBER 17, 1630, TO SEPTEMBER 17, 1830.
BY
JOSIAH QUINCY
BOSTON: CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 1852.
تمنع
1822052
==== 1
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1552, by JOSIAH QUINCY, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
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CAMBRIDGE:
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY HOUGHTON AND HAYWOOD.
1
PREFACE
THE municipal affairs of the inhabitants of Boston were conducted under the form of town government, established by the early settlers of New England, from 1630 to 1822, when, on their petition, they were incorporated into a city by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Through eight suc- ceeding years, three successive administrations presided over the new form of government thus established. The author of this history held the office of Mayor during almost six of these years, at a period when the principles, by which legislative and executive measures ought to be guided, were diligently sought and carefully applied, ac- cording to the powers conferred by the city charter. The people of Boston had surrendered, with reluctance, the management of their municipal concerns, which they had maintained in popular assemblies for nearly two centuries ; and the jealousy with which they watched the measures of the new authorities, rendered a frequent and full deve- lopment of motives and consequences expedient and im- portant.
OCT 2 9 1357
At the close of his administration, it therefore appeared to the author, that a municipal history of the town, and an accurate account of the transactions in the first years of the city government, would be useful and interesting to
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PREFACE.
the public in future times, and was due to the wisdom, fidelity, and disinterested services of his associates.
These views were intimated in an address to the Board of Aldermen, on taking final leave of the office of Mayor, on the third of January, 1829; and on the sixth, on his petition, the succeeding City Council having granted liberty of access to the City Records, this History was commenced. The completion of it was unavoidably postponed by the acceptance of the Presidency of Harvard University, an appointment made and confirmed by the Corporation and Overseers of that Seminary, on the fifteenth and twenty- ninth of the same month, and by the official duties assumed and discharged until August, 1845.
After the lapse of twenty years, at the urgency of friends who had a right to influence, the work was resumed ; and, being finished, is now, at the close of the anthor's eightieth year, offered to his fellow-citizens, with his best wishes for their long enjoyment of an efficient municipal goverment, and for the uninterrupted prosperity of the city of Boston. JOSIAH QUINCY.
Boston, February 4, 1852.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1630 - 1783. PAGE
Constitution of Towns - Settlement and Organization of Boston - General Proceedings - Fistructions to Selectmen and the Watch - Establishment of an Almshouse -- Of Schools - Erection of Faneuil Hall - Manifest- ations of the Spirit of Liberty by the Inhabitants of Boston - Attempt to change the Form of Town Government - Population under the Colonial Government . 1
CHAPTER II. TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1783 - 1821.
State of the Public Schools - Measures in regard to them - Successive Attempts to change the Government of the Town - Plan of a City Go- Vernment adopted . 20
CHAPTER III. TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1821 - 1822.
The Ahushouse removed from Beacon Street to Leverett Street - Over- seers of the Poor remonstrate on its Condition - Proceedings of the Legislature of Massachusetts on the Subject of Panperism - Erection of a Honse of Industry authorized by the Inhabitants of Boston - Noble Conduct of Samuel Brown - His Character - House of Industry erect- ed -- Act of Incorporation of the City obtained and accepted - John Phillips chosen Mayor
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CHAPTER IV. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1822 - 1823. JOHN PHILLIPS, Major.
Inauguration - Address of the Selectmen, on surrendering the Government and Muniments of the Town of Boston - Reply of the Mayor - Mea- sures adopted to carry into effect the City Charter -- Donation of Mr.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
Sears - Proceedings relative to the House of Industry -- Result of the First Year's Administration of the City Goverment - Tribute to Mr. Phillips .
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CHAPTER V. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823 - 1824. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Organization of the City Government - Mayor's Address - Importance of the Official Responsibility of that Officer - Difficulties relative to the Office of Surveyors of Highways - Embarrassments from the Board of Health - Duty of Cleansing the Streets devolved on the Mayor and Aldermen, and how executed - Board of Health discontinued, and their Duties transferred to other Officers 58
CHAPTER VI. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823 - 1824. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Inconvenient State of Faneuil Hall Market - Difficulties attending its . Extension - Measures taken for surmounting them - Invitation to the Proprietors of the Land in the Vicinity to become Associates in the Improvement - Not accepted by them - The Project approved by the Citizens in a General Meeting -- Authority obtained from the Legis- lature - Purchase of the Estates commenced 74
CHAPTER VII. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823 - 1824. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Proceedings relative to the House of Industry - Opposition of the Over- seers of the Poor to the Removal of the Inmates of the Ahnshouse -- A House of Correction erected at South Boston - Attempts to Conciliate the Overseers of the Poor - Its Effects - Liberty to use the Cellars of a Church for Burial denied - Department of Police . 88
CHAPTER VIII. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1823 - 1824. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Measures for the Suppression of Idleness, Vice, and Crime - A House of Correction - Its Effects - Building provided for Juvenile Offenders - lis Results - Petition for General Meetings in Wards -- Loans proposed for City Improvements - Theatrical Licenses - Ropewalk Lands - Islands in the Harbor - Common Sewers . 102
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824 - 1825. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Proceedings of the City Council of the past Year Recapitulated - Import- ance of the Responsibility of the Mayor - Estates purchased for the Enlargement of Faneuil Hall Market - Plan of the New Market - North Block of Stores built and sold - First Plan enlarged - Southern Block of Stores built and sold - Corner Stone of Market House laid . 121
CHAPTER X. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824 - 1825. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Proceedings relative to the House of Industry - Opposition of the Over- weers of the Poor to the Measures of the City Council - Sale of the Alm-house in Leverett Street - The Paupers transferred to the House of Industry - The question of applying to the Legislature for a Modifica- tion of the Powers claimed by the Overseers of the Poor, submitted to a General Meeting of the Citizens - Its Result - Death of Alderman Hooper - Claims of Political Parties for the use of Faneuil Hall - Diffi- culties relative to the Board of Health - Change in that Department - Visit and Reception of General Lafayette . 138
CHAPTER XI. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1824 - 25. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
State of the Fire Department - Claims of the Engine Companies -- The Result -- They surrender their Engines and resign - Other Engine Companies formed - A new Organization of the Fire Department recom- mended - Measures taken to carry it into effect - Office of Anditor of Accounts established . 153
CHAPTER XII.
CITY GOVERNMENT. 1825. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
The Citizens accept the Report of their General Committee on the inex- pedieney of modifying the powers of the Overseers of the Poor -- Over- seers decline taking care of the Poor at the House of Industry - Their
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
Rights and Duties submitted to Legal Counsel - Their Report, and consequent Proceedings of the City Council - Measures to introduce a Supply of Fresh Water - Proceedings relative to Faneuil Hall Mar- ket - Census of the City - Time of Organizing the City Government changed
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CHAPTER XIII.
CITY GOVERNMENT. 1825. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
An Act authorizing a New Organization of the Fire Department applied for and obtained from the State Legislature - Sanction of the Act by the Citizens - Measures pursued to carry it into effect - Sites for Engine Houses selected - Reservoirs constructed -- Lafayette revisits the City - Measures adopted on the Occasion by the City Council . 181
CHAPTER XIV. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1826. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Prosperity of the City - Measures for introducing Water - Views of the Mayor on the Subject - Proceedings of the City Council - Powers of the Mayor in the Suppression of Riots - Petitions for a General Contri- bution for Relief by Sufferers from Fire - The Result - Progress of Faneuil Hall Market- Final Settlement of the whole Improvement- Organization of the new Fire Department -- Celebration of the Fourth of July, 1826 -- Death of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson -- Tribute to their Memories . . 1.97
CHAPTER XV.
CITY GOVERNMENT. 1827. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
General Relations of the City - Views concerning the City Debt --- The Location of a City Hall - The Responsibility for the Correctness of the Voting Lists - General State of the Schools - Proceedings of the City Council in relation to them - School Conmittee object to their Inter- ference, and claim Independence --- Opening of the Hancock School - High School for Girls established as an Experiment - Its Result - The School discontinued, and the Privileges of Females in the Common Schools extended - The Relation of the Mayor to the School Com- mittee .
. 210
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
PAGE
General Relations of the City in respect of Debt - Health - Protection against Fire - Its Duty in respect of Education - Effect on its Pros- perity by the Principle of Arbitrary Valuation without Relief - Prin- viples of Proceeding relative to the Voting Lists - Indemmity of City Officers for Acts of Official Duty - Sale of Spirituous Liquors prohi- bited on the Common - Inexpediency of Selling the Flats to the East- ward of the New Market-House, and the Result of the Measures taken on that Subject . 229
CHAPTER XVII. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
The Annexation of South Boston to the Ancient City, and the Difficulties attending it -- Project of Semi-Annual Sales of Domestic Mamifactures in the City - The Hall over the New Market appropriated for the Object -- Question concerning the Eligibility of Members of the City Council to City Offices - State and Progress of the Fire Department -- Resignation of the Chief Engineer - His gratuitous Services - Vote of Thanks to him by the City Council - Prosperous State of City Af- fairs - The Mayor declines being a Candidate for Reelection - Harrison Gray Otis chosen Mayor
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CHAPTER XVIII. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828. JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
Addres of the Mayor on taking final Leave of the Office - His Acknow- ledgments to the Members of the Board of Aldermen, Common Council, and his Fellow Citizens - Measures and Results of the past Administra- tion : for Protection of the City against Fire; and of the Islands against Storms; for the Health of the Inhabitants; for Public Education; in Favor of Public Morals; for increasing the Financial Resources of the City and reducing its Debt -- Principles on which his Conduct in Office had been guided - Tribute to his Successor . . 259
CHAPTER XIX. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1829. HARRISON GRAY OrIs, Mayor.
Circumstances recalling the Mayor from Private Life -- Tribute to his Pre- decessors - Views concerning the City Debt - On the Supply of Pure
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CONTENTS.
PAGE
Water - The Importance of Railroads -- Political Relations of the State and Union - Flats to the Eastward of the New Market - Attempts to authorize Inspectors to place Names on the Voting Lists - Tribute to the Directors of the House of Industry --- Chief Engineer of the Fire Department appointed - Resignation of all the Assistant Engineers - Petitions to extend Wharves to the Channel - Relief to Sufferers bytas Fire in Georgia - Petitions for a General Meeting of Citizens on Rail- roads, and for a Grant of Land for their Accommodation . 280
CHAPTER XX. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. HARRISON GRAY OTIS, Mayor.
Prosperous State of the City - Embarrassment of the Manufacturing In- terests, and its Causes -- Completion of the City Wharf - State of the City Debt - Sale of Public Lands - Condition of the Flats to the West of the Neck - State of the Court-Houses - Protection of our Outer Harbor - Centennial Celebration resolved upon - Grant of the City Hall for Sales of Domestic Manufactures rescinded -- Sale of Spirituous Liquors on the Common prohibited - Old State House to be called " The City Hall" - Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Boston 298
CHAPTER XXI. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. HARRISON GRAY OTIS, Mayor.
Address of the Mayor to the Members of the City Council, on the Removal of the Municipal Government to the Old State House, on the Morning of the seventeenth of September, 1830 . 309
CHAPTER XXII. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. HARRISON GRAY OTIS, Mayor.
Address to the Citizens of Boston, on the seventeenth of September, 1830, the Close of the Second Century from the first Settlement of the City. By Josiah Quincy, President of Harvard University . 318
CHAPTER XXIII. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1830. HARRISON GRAY OTIS, Mayor.
An Ode, pronounced before the Inhabitants of Boston, on the seventeenth of September, 1830, at the Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of the City. By Charles Sprague . 858
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CONTENTS.
APPENDIX.
PAGA
Mayor's Inaugural Addresses, 1822 - 1828 . 373- 406
Message of the Mayor to the City Council, recommending the Extension of the Plan of the Improvement of Faneuil Hall Market to Butler's Row, and explaining the Motives of the Committee for this Recommendation . 412
Proceedings on laying the Corner Stone of Faneuil Hall Market . 415
Statements relative to the irresponsibility claimed by the Overseers of the Poor for public moneys . . 418
An Address, delivered at the unanimous Request of both Branches of the City Council on the Fourth of July, 1826, it being the Fiftieth Anniver- sary of American Independence, by Josiah Quincy, Mayor of the City . 421
The Members of the City Government, from 1822 to 1830, inclusive . 434
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
TOWN GOVERNMENT. 1630-1783.
Constitution of Towns -- Settlement and Organization of Boston - General Pro- voedings - Instructions to Selectmen and the Watch - Establishment of an Alehouse - Of Schools - Erection of Faneuil Hall - Manifestations of the Spirit of Liberty by the Inhabitants of Boston - - Attempt to change the Form of Town Government -- Population under the Colonial Goverment. .
Ti: settlements made in 1630 around the Bay of Massachu- setts, by John Winthrop and his associates, early received the name of "towns," under the sanction of the colonial legislature, denominated, in conformity with the language of the first char- ter, " The General Court."
After declaring " that particular towns had many things which concerned only themselves, and the ordering their own atlie, and disposing of business in their own town," the General Court, in 1680, ordered that " the freemen of every town, or a major part of them, should have power to dispose of their own lands and woods, to grant lots, and choose their own partienlar officers, as constables, surveyors of highways and the like, annu- ally, or otherwise, if need required; also to make such laws and constitutions as concern the welfare of their town. Provided they are not of a criminal, but of a prodential nature, and that their penalties exceed not twenty shillings for one offence, and that they be not repugnant to the public laws and orders of the vonntry." In case of the refusal of any inhabitant to obey the laws of the town, the appointed penalty was authorized to be levied by " distress." If any person behaved offensively in town meeting, those present had power to sentence him for the offence to pay any sum, not exceeding the above-prescribed penalty. To
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
every town was also granted the power to choose yearly, or for less time, " a convenient number of fit men, to order the pruden- tial affairs of the town, according to instructions given them in writing, they doing nothing contrary to the laws and orders of the country ; and the munber of selectmen to be not above nine." The local limits of each town, within which its jurisdiction exz. tended, were established, enlarged, or diminished by the General Court, who subsequently authorized new officers to be chosen and granted new powers to each town, as new wants arose, or as local interests or state policy suggested.
Such was the first and simple outline of that constitution of towns, which, originating in the convenience and practical spirit .of those early emigrants, and being thus gradually modified, by occurring exigencies and policy, formed that assemblage of re- publies, with qualified powers, which constitutes some of the peculiar characteristics of Massachusetts and the other New England States, and had an effective, indeed, a controlling in- fluence upon their principles and destinies.
One of the earliest of these settlements was established on the peninsula formed at the mouth of Charles River, by its waters and those of the Bay of Massachusetts. From the Indian natives it received the name of "Shawmut;" from the inhabitants of Charlestown, that of " Trimountain;" and from the General Court, by an order passed on the seventh of September, (old style,) 1630, that of " Boston." In 1632, the same colonial legislature declared it to be " the fittest place for public meet- ings of any place in the Bay," and thenceforth it was, and ever since has continued the capital of Massachusetts.
The peninsula of Shawmut, being only about four miles in circumference, did not offer sufficient accommodation for pastur- age and cultivation of the land. The General Court, therefore, during the four or five first years after the settlement, included within the boundaries of Boston the islands in the harbor, Muddy River, (now Brookline,) Winnisimet, (now Chelsea,) Mount Wollaston, and the land east of Neponset River, afterwards incorporated into a town by the name of Braintree, and now constituting the towns of Braintree, Randolph, and Quincy. The assignment of house lots within the peninsula, and the allotting farms to succeeding emigrants, formed the chief busi- ness of the town authorities for nearly half a century.
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TOWN GOVERNMENT.
Boston bring the place of the residence of John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts, and of some of the principal assistants, they took the lead in the early conduct of its affairs. The first order on the town records is dated 1634, March 7th day, let month, and purports to be passed by John Winthrop and nine others, but they take not the name of " selectmen," or any other indicative of authority. The order related only to laying stones and logs near landing places, so as not to be seen at high water, without some beacon to give notice thereof, " under pain of paying recompense, by way of damage, for any vessel injured thereby." The persons passing this order, however, seem to have been under some apprehension lest their authority might be questioned, for the order adds, " it being only a declaration of the common law herein."
The name of " selectmen" does not appear on the records of the town until November, 1613, and then only incidentally. The persons chosen to do the business of the town are often without any designation of their office. Sometimes they are called " the overseers of the town concerns;" at others, are desig- nated as persons " chosen for the occasions of the town," and for the first time on the town records, on the 29th of November, 1645, John Winthrop and nine others are formally stated to be chosen "afretmen." The duties of the persons thus chosen, as ex- pressed in one of the votes of the inhabitants, were " to oversee and take order for all the allotments within us, and for all comers into u-, and also for all other the occasions and business of this town."
The allotments of land assigned within the peninsula were very limited in extent. Those out of it, and within the jurisdic- tion of the town, were large, and granted with great liberality. In the 9th of the 12th month, ( February, 1635,) the rule esta- blished by the town for these allotments was, "two acres to plant on, and for every able youth, one acre within the Neck and Nod- dle's Island." As to those at Mount Wollaston and Muddy River, the allotters were authorized to " take a view and bound out what may be sufficient there" for the particular farms of the allottees, and four hundred acres were often given to a single individual. The year 1635, however, did not elapse before, in conformity with the settled policy of the emigrants at that period, the town "agreed that no further allotments should be granted
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
unto any new-comer, but such as may be likely to be received members of the congregation."
During the political ascendency of Henry Vane, the name of Winthrop does not appear on the town records. As governor of the colony, in 1036, Vane probably assumed the superintend- ence of the concerns of the town. But in November, 1639, the name of John Winthrop, Governor, appears, with the names of nine others, chosen, as formerly, for the town's affairs; and he held this relation until 1645, the year before his death.
At this early period, the limits between the powers of the colonial legislature and those of the town seem not to have been well defined or carefully observed. Besides the local authority incident to municipal jurisdiction, such as "taking care of the common fences," " regulating the going at large of cattle, goats, and swine;" " the cutting wood upon the Neck ;" and reserv- ing that " near Roxbury for the poor," - the town, in 1635, un- dertook to exercise a more extensive power, and one somewhat dubions, both in point of principle and expediency. Thus, it then appointed a committee " to set prices upon all cattle, com- modities, victuals, and laborers' and workmen's wages, and that no other prices or rates be given or taken." They also voted that "none of the members of this congregation, or inhabit- ants among us, shall sue one another at the law, before that Mr. Henry Vane, and the two elders, Mr. Thomas Oliver and Thomas Leverett, have had the hearing and deciding of the cause, if they can." In the same year it was voted, " that whosoever, at any public meeting, shall fall into private conference, to the hindering of public business, shall forfeit for every such offence tirelve pence, to be paid into the constable's hands for public use." In this year the town first assumed the care of the schools, by voting that " our brother Philemon Pormont be entreated to become schoolmaster, for the teaching of the children among Ils."'
The General Court having rejected the persons they had chosen as their deputies to that body, the spirit of the inhabit- ants was manifested by the following proceedings :-
" The 9th of ye 3d Mo. 1637. At a general meeting, upon pri- vate or particular warning, from house to house, and by reason of the Court's refusal of the former choice, Mr. Henry Vane, Esq., Mr. William Coddington, Mr. Atherton Hough, are now again
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TOWN GOVERNMENT.
chosen deputies, or committees, for the service of the present General Court, and that upon warrant to us from the Court for a new choice." Notwithstanding the obnoxiousness, at that time, of these deputies to the predominating party in the Court, they were in consequence admitted to their seats.
The records of the town, though voluminous, contain little of permanent importance or interest. A few of them, indicative of the opinions and views of the inhabitants in those early times, will be here recapitulated : -
1633. Allotments were granted on condition of " inoffensive carriage."
1652. No strangers were permitted to live in the town, with- out giving bonds to save the town harmless from all damage and charge for entertaining them. It was ordered, that persons whose houses were pulled down by the authorities, in case of fire, should " not be entitled to damages therefor."
1653. Leave was given to a citizen " to sink a twelve-feet cistern, at the pump which stands in the highway, to hold water to be helpful against fire, he making it safe from danger of children." Ladders were placed at the meeting-houses, with penalty against their use, except in case of fire. At the same place were also hung strong crooks and chains, poles and ropes, for the same purpose. Every householder was required to have a ladder which should reach to the roof of his house.
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