USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Whately > History of the town of Whately, Mass., including a narrative of leading events from the first planting of Hatfield, 1660-1871 : with family genealogies > Part 6
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The five or six miles to be traveled required an early start ; and each Sabbath during the warm season witnessed nearly the same scene. For a time Noah Wells was the farthest from meeting. Himself and wife and the two youngest children mounted the old horse, -the six older children had started ahead on foot ; next Master Scott, his wife and ten children ; joined
* This continued to be the ordinary mode of traveling till 1790, or later. The usual charge for a horse and saddle from Whately to Hatfield was, for a man, nine pence, for a woman eight pence. When a man took his wife on the pillion behind him, the charge was ten pence.
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successively by Benoni Crafts and his family of six ; by Thomas Crafts and his family of ten ; by Daniel Morton and his family of ten ; by Oliver Graves and his family of eleven ; by Oliver Morton and his family of seven ; by Deacon Dickinson and his family of eight :- these formed a goodly cavalcade as they left the street at the point where afterwards the first meeting- house was built, to go over the " fording place," and down through "Egypt." All were clad in home-spun ; yet were as proud of their clean linen, and felt hats, and high crowned bonnets, as the city belle of her silks and " Grecian bends," -for pride has nothing to do with the quality or cut of the cloth one wears. The boys and girls were bare-footed, carry- ing their shoes in their hands, to be be put on when they reached the pine grove, a half-mile this side of Hatfield meeting- house, and worn till they should reach the said grove on their return. Each recurring Sabbath summer morning witnessed this,-so strange a sight to us ; and yet, as seen then, it had nothing about it remarkable; nothing offensive to good taste and propriety ; nothing inconsistent with self-respect and compe- tence ; nothing derogatory to the purest and noblest type of girl- hood and boyhood, womanhood and manhood ; nothing but what God approved and smiled upon. It had its personal discomforts, and petty trials ; it was a long "Sabbath day's journey ; " but all this was anticipated. And their love for the sanctuary, and the hope of better days, when they should have their own meeting-house and minister, kept them in good heart. Neither in this matter, nor in the inconveniences of every-day life, did they show disappointment or indulge regrets. They had chosen their home, and had settled here to stay ; and at once set about seeuring the means of comfort and independence.
Beyond the prime necessities of food, clothing and shelter, the wants of daily life are affected very much by contrast and comparison. Envy springs from disparity of condition ; repin- ing as often follows the bettered lot of another as the straitened lot of ourselves. And as all here had so many wants in com- mon, for a time all appear to have been substantially contented. In their circumscribed sphere they found solid comfort, and were as independent as we are. Most of the men could fell the forests, and rift the timber for clap-boards, and fit a frame, and
I
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mend a cart, and hoop a barrel. Most of the women were skilled in all the mysteries of preparing flax and wool for cloth, and in weaving, and in cutting and making clothing.
Some of the first houses in the Straits, and on Chestnut plain, were built of logs : some were partly of logs, with an upright frame attached ; and all were without inside finish. Noah Wells's was a log house; and when his son Perez built in " Claverack," he moved down part of the old logs, and added a small frame. Benoni Crafts's was a log house. Daniel Mor- ton's was a frame house, large on the ground, low studded, and only a single story,-in the ample attic of which a numerous company could lodge. Capt. Lucius Allis's was a log house, and quite small.
David Scott, Sen., appears to have been the first professed carpenter in the place. But he laid out his work by the "try rule," or the rule of six, eight and ten,-i.e., the sills, posts and beams were framed and tried, and the braces were laid on to mark their bevels and length. Master Scott's prime precept was, " Make great mortises and leetle tenons, and your work will go together charming easy !" He, as well as his son Abel, made plows, ox-yokes, carts, etc. Thomas Crafts did most of the coopering.
As a part of the design of this book is to preserve a record of the manners and customs of our fathers ; and as the genera- tion that saw these early homes is now so nearly gone-with whom will perish the first-hand knowledge-it will not be out of place here to draw a rough sketch of one of those houses, and the family life within. Perhaps our grand-children may be interested in looking at it. As we open the outside door, we are confronted by a huge pile of flat stones, carefully laid, which runs up slightly tapering to and through the roof, and which we shall presently learn is the end of the fire-place and chimney. Beside this stands a ladder, or rough stair-way leading into the open attic. The next, and only remaining door, leads directly into the large living room, which is both kitchen, sitting room and parlor. We notice that the walls and ceiling of this room are not plastered, and the bare timbers are not very smoothly hewed. But what strikes us most forcibly is the fire-place, or inside of that huge pile of stones which takes up not less than
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half the end of the room, and into which we can walk without much stooping. Inside the jambs stands the " settle," on which five persons can comfortably sit. Inside the settle stands the " dye pot." Down from the cavernous chimney hang the hooks and trammels on which the big iron pot is suspended ; and handy by hangs the flip iron. In the corner of the room opposite the fire-place is the bed, with its white linen, or dingy tow sheets and pillow-biers, and its striped outside blanket, and under it the trundle-bed. In the next corner stands the cup-board, with its wooden and pewter sets neatly arranged. Near by are the " swifts," and the " great wheel," if it is autumn ; or the " little wheel," if it is spring. Then there is the pine table in its place, and the four-legged stools, and the flag-bottomed, high- backed chairs, and the cradle. Under the looking glass is a small stand, on which lies the family Bible. The catechism and hymn book-if our call is at the Deacon's house-are put in one corner of the cup-board. On a pair of deer's horns are suspended the gun, powder-horn and ball-pouch. Overhead are poles laid on hooks for drying pumpkin, or herbs, and airing clothes. The family chest is at the foot of the bed. On two nails driven into the plate over the fire-place, is laid a birch rod about three feet long,-the use of which the children then per- fectly understood, but which is now among the " lost arts."
As we met the boy nearest ten years old, just starting for the mill, with two bags of grain on the old horse, and himself perched on the top of the bags, and saw the father and older boys at work with the oxen, we find only the mother and the girls, and the younger children at home. If it is early morn- ing, we find them in their woolen short-gowns, and busy at work : perhaps it is dairy work, perhaps common house work, perhaps getting on the great pot for dinner,-for the pudding needs three good hours' boiling. Very likely the mother is carding wool or tow ; perhaps she is spinning-on the great wheel, if it is wool or tow, on the little wheel, if it is flax. Or, perhaps, from a peculiar thwacking noise, we know she is working at the loom overhead.
If we stop to dinner-as we had better do, if invited-we shall have a most savory platter of " boiled vietuals,"-corned beef and pork, with turnips, green corn and beans, and a full
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sized Indian pudding. The pudding will be served first : rather we shall be called upon "to help ourselves," as they all do. A mug of home-brewed beer is ready to go from mouth to mouth, as required, and the "tapster"-the boy who got up last in the morning-is ready to fill it up again when empty.
If our call is made of a winter's evening, even if we go early, there will be a roaring fire ; for the evening back-log is always of extra size, as the boys don't want to put in a new one before going to bed, and all want a good bed of coals when they get up in the morning ; and with the great fore-stick, and an arm- full of wood well going, the room is warm, and almost as light without the pine knot or tallow candle as with it. The trundle- bed is out, and the three little ones are snugly asleep. Their mother is busy mending ; for do what she can, the children will tear and wear their clothes, and " it is so much handier "-so she says-" mending them when the children are out of the way." Later in the evening she will be knitting, as this is never finished ; for " grand-pa " wants his stockings full, and so long that they will garter over the knee ; and eleven pairs of feet- the average number in a family then-can try both mother's and grand-mother's nimble needles. The girls are sewing : perhaps the youngest is playing hull-gull or checkers with the brother next her in age. The boys are shelling corn, or splintering candle wood, or cyphering. "Father " is peeling Indian brooms, or bottoming chairs, or braiding a whip, or, when he feels like it, and the yarn is knit up close, he holds the skein for " mother " to wind a new ball,-" the girls do make such work, when they and the boys wind it !"
You are struck with the deference, amounting almost to rev- erence, which is paid to the aged grand-parents. They are expected to take the lead in conversation ; and the younger ones do not even whisper when they are talking. Grand-mother is privileged to say what she pleases, and to whom she pleases, and when she pleases. If conversation should seem to flag, the wife is ready to tell, with just a little of pride, how many " runs" she has spun in a week, besides taking the whole care of the milk ; what extra luck she has had in " dyeing"; and the new style of check she wove in that best blanket; and how much linen she put in the last web of linsey.
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Perhaps a neighbor drops in ; and then for some good stories. If it is Master Scott, or Benoni Crafts, he can tell of hunting exploits with bears and deer, most marvellous and fascinating. He does not seem to be so very old, but you wonder how a man can go through, in one life-time, all that he recounts. If it is old Mr. Parker, he loves to tell how the witch flew from the top of Sugar Loaf, and lighted on a large oak that stood close by the highway near Joseph Sanderson's, and broke or bent the top into a curious shape, and then disappeared in the ground, leaving a hole which, to his certain knowledge, could never be filled up ! And which-he might have added-the children always passed on a run, and upon " the other side !" If the visitor be a Beld- ing, or a Wait, he is full of reminiscences of King Philip's war, when his ancestors were scalped by the Indians, or taken off to Canada. And, after the flip has been passed round, Lieut. Ebenezer Bardwell will give his own experiences in the French wars, which are so fresh, and full of incidents of Indian cruelty and torture, and told with such minuteness and graphic power as make the younger girls crouch behind their mother's chair, and tremble when they go up to bed. But all is hearty, and sincere, and "without offence." And the evening prayer that comes before the last good night is " sweet incense," because offered from grateful and confiding hearts.
Such were the homes of the olden time, then common throughout this valley. And "home" was then a word with a real meaning ; for home occupations, home pleasures, home associations and relationships filled up the round of daily life.
The want of commodities creates a demand ; and a supply soon follows. A grist-mill was built at Indian hill by Adonijah Taylor about 1763, and a saw-mill only two or three years later. The saw-mill stood where the Sandersons' mills now are; the grist-mill was some distance below. Afterwards a grist-mill was built farther up the glen. About the same time a saw-mill was built by Edward Brown at West street, on the site of the present mill owned by Rufus Sanderson & Son. And some- what later but before 1770, a grist-mill and saw-mill were set up by Reuben Belding on the site known as the Isaac Frary privilege.
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A tan-house was built, probably in 1763 or '64, by Paul Beld- ing. The site is not known, but it is probable that it stood on the west side of mount Esther, near where Lieut. Frary after- wards lived.
For the raw material of a new supply of clothing they had only to wait till the first clip of wool and the first crop of flax could be prepared. And the working up into cloth was all done. at home. For fulling the cloth, they had only to go to West Brook, where a fulling-mill had been long in operation. As early as 1709 Hatfield voted that Jeremiah Wait "have liberty to set up a fulling-mill at West Brook," reserving the right to build a saw-mill there, should occasion after require.
Cotton, from the West Indies, began to be used in the valley quite early. It was spun upon the large wheel, like wool. Checks and stripes of all cotton, or cotton and wool, were not uncommon. Checked shirts were all the fashion for men and boys, in this neighborhood, for some time before the Revolution. Checked aprons, and striped bed-tieks, were in use. But the largest part of the cloth for ordinary wearing apparel and bedding was made of wool, or linen, or a mixture of the two, called linsey- woolsey. Tow, which is the refuse combings of flax, was used for coarse stuff. Home-made tow cloth was of ready sale to the country merchants, who sent it to Hartford and other centres of trade where it was in demand. Many a young wife, or older daughter who expected soon to become a wife, has got out a web of fine tow cloth, and exchanged it for calico or silk, or other coveted articles of dress or household luxury. The price of tow was about three pence per pound, and the common price for weaving it was six pence per yard. Yard wide tow cloth sold at two shillings a yard,-though the price varied according to circumstances. Checked cloths, of linen and woolen, were also an article of traffic, and were sometimes made in excess of the household wants, and exchanged for such things as the house- wife needed. Flaxen yarn was quite commonly prepared for market by such families as had an extra crop; and after the Scotch emigrants, who excelled in spinning and weaving, settled in Pelham, a lively competition sprang up in both the yarn and cloth trade, [perhaps it would be hardly fair to say that there was a jealousy of the foreigners ;] but it is believed that the
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Scotch women carried the day, both in fineness and evenness of thread and cloth.
When the daughters of the first settlers were grown, some of them became adepts at spinning, and made it a specialty. Theo- dora Scott, daughter of Benjamin, was a noted spinster, both before and after her marriage with Stephen Orcutt. As a mat- ter partly of curiosity and partly characteristic of the time, and showing how much yarn of different kinds a young family needed in a year, and how much a woman could do with her wheel for the support of her family, a single year's account is copied in full from Parson Wells's account book :--
1781. THEODORA ORCUTT, CR.
Sept. By Spinning 11 Runs at 7/4-3 Runs at 7d. .
£0 9 1
Feb. 11. " Spinning 4 Runs for handkerchiefs 0
Mar. 2. " Spinning 8 Runs linen yarn at 7d. O
" Spinning 5 Runs tow yarn 028 Mar. 6. " Spinning 1 Run fine tow yarn at 7d. 0 0 7 0
" 13. " Spinning 2 Runs woolen yarn 1 4
Apr. 8. " Spinning 13 Runs tow yarn 6 11 0
" Spinning 11 Runs Linen yarn at Sd. 0 9 4
Apr. 29. " Spinning 92 Runs fine tow yarn at &d. 0 6 4
May 13. " Spinning 2 Runs fine thread for stockings at 8d. 0 14
" Spinning 1 Runs fine tow yarn at Sd.
0
2 8
" Spinning 3 Runs coarse tow yarn at 4/ old tenor 0 7
" Spinning 3 Runs coarse linen yarn at 6d. 0 1 6
June 19. " Spinning 8 Runs fine yarn for Lawn " Spinning 22 Runs coarse linen yarn at 6d. 0 11 0
June 24. " Spinning 2 Runs linen yarn at 8d. 0 .
July 5. " Spinning 10 Runs tow yarn at 4/ old tenor 9. " Spinning 33 Runs tow yarn at 4/ old tenor
.
0 1 10
11. " Spinning 10 Runs tow yarn at 6d.
0 5 0
0 2 0
" Spinning 2 Runs fine tow yarn at &d. 0
1 4
July 31. " Spinning 1 Run fine tow yarn at Sd. 0 0 8
Ang. 21. " Spinning 19 Runs coarse linen chain
0 9 6
Sept. 11. " Spinning 9 Runs coarse tow yarn
Spinning 2 Runs sent to Miss Graves 0 1 1
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do. 4 Runs tow : By do. 8 Runs tow 0 65
£ 5 4 10
4 8
0 0
1 4 0 5 4
25. " Spinning 3 Runs fine linen yarn at 8d. " Spinning 2 Runs coarse linen yarn at 6d. 0 1 0
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1781.
THEODORA ORCUTT,
DR.
Sept. 27. To 4 lbs. 9 oz. Cheese at 5d. .
£ 0 1 11
cheese 2 lbs. 13 oz. - Do. 1 1b. 14 oz. at 4d. 0 1 7
one pound old Tobacco at 5 penee . 0 0 5 Oct. 17. " 23 lbs. Cheese at 5d. - Do. 6 lbs. 14 oz. at 4d. . 0
Jan. 10. " 3 lbs. 9 ounces Salt pork at 8d.
0
2 4
Jan'y 10. 66 1 pound 13 ounces cheese at 6d.
0 0 10
bushel of parsnips at 2/ 0 0
Feb. 11. " 2 lbs. 5 oz. Tobacco at 4d .- 4 lbs. 2 oz. Salt Pork 0 4
Mar. 5. " 9 lbs. 10 oz. salt Pork 0 5 9
April 2. " 4 lbs. 3 oz. rolled Tobacco 0
1 5 8. " 7 lbs. 10 oz. Salt Pork-2 lbs. Suet at 6d. 0
6 1
" " 6 pounds 9 ounces Flax 0 4 4
Apr. 17. " 6 lbs. fresh offal, Beef-1 bushel Parsnips 0
3 1
May 4. " 5 lbs. 5 oz. Salt Pork : 17th, 8} Ibs. do .- 2 Ibs. Sugar at 7d. 0 10
2
" 30. " 1 pound 1 oz. rolled Tobacco, good . 0 0 4
June 12. " 1 1b. ditto .- 4 lbs. 15 oz. Salt Pork . 037
July 5. " 5 lbs. 9 oz. Salt Pork-7 pounds Cheese . 0 6 4
Ang. 2. " 5 Ibs. 10 oz. Salt pork at Sd .- 1 Cheese, 4 lbs. 9 oz. 0 5 5
Aug. 24. " 1 Cheese, 6 lbs. 12 oz .- 7 lbs. 10 oz. Salt Pork 0 7 3 " 2 lbs. Sheeps' Wool at 1/6-1 Ib. Tow at 4d. 0 4
" 43 lbs. Salt Pork-4 lbs. 10 oz. cheese at 4d. 0 4 11
" 7 pounds 12 ounces Flour at 1/ 0 1 0
" 12/ of Mr. Marsh, old way, 10/ 0 10 0
1 bushel Indian corn 3/ of Mr. Graves 0 30
0 1 1
Aug. 23. " cash delivered your brother Elijah 1/1 " 1 oz. Indigo of Dr. Chapin 0 0 10
" 6 shillings received of Martin Graves 0 60
" 2 bushels of Rye of Mr. Adkins at 3/ 060
£ 5 4 10
A " run " of yarn consisted of twenty knots, a knot was com- posed of forty threads, and a thread was seventy-four inches in length, or once round the reel. A "skein " of yarn consisted of seven knots. An ordinary day's work was four skeins, when the spinner carded her own wool ; when the wool was carded by a machine, she could as easily spin six skeins in a day.
DYES .- Logwood and indigo were the common dyes in use early ; later, madder was sometimes obtained. Cloth made of lamb's wool, and of the finer grades of sheep's wool, as well as linsey-woolsey took a beautiful shade of color, and were much prized by the young ladies. A red riding-hood set off to good
4
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advantage the plump face and natural tresses of the girls of that day, as did also the white sun-bonnet.
Many families did all their own tailoring and dress-making ; others employed some woman who had special taste and skill in these arts, who would come to the house twice a year, and in a week or so. ent and make with the help of the inmates, the supply for the season.
The first professional weavers in town, were Robert Aber- crombie in 1779, Abijah Marsh in '82, and William Henderson in '89; but they had to depend for a living, in considerable part. on jobbing with the farmers. Perez Myrick, the clothier, was here in 1794; Capt. Amos Pratt in 1800.
VALUES AND PRICES, -At this date, all values were reckoned in pounds, shillings and pence. A pound was equal to three dollars thirty-three and one-third cents, and prices were esti- mated in curreney instead of grain. There was, however, the "cash price " and the " barter price,"-the latter one-third higher than the former,-and ordinary business was largely carried on by exchange of produce and home-made manufactures, and labor. The wages of labor, for an able bodied man, was three shillings (50 cents) a day in haying time, and two shillings for ordinary farm work. The common price of wheat was four shillings per bushel ; rye, 3s. ; meslin, 38. 10d. ; corn, 2s. ; barley, 3s. ; malt, 2x. 5d. : flax seed, 4s. Gd. ; turnips, &d. ; parsnips, 2x. ; good cheese, 5d. per pound ; salt pork, &d. ; flax, &d. ; tow, 4d. ; sheep's wool, 1s. Gd. ; hops, 18. ; indigo, 10d. per ounce.
AGRICULTURE .- The lands in the valley were found well adapted to wheat ; and this, with peas and flax, was the first crop raised on the intervals. When these became exhausted, wheat was raised on the newly cleared uplands. Peas were at first a favorite and profitable crop ; but the yield soon diminished, or was kept up only by manuring, and the pea-bug made its appearance, and the crop was neglected ; and, after a while, beans took their place as an article of food, though not of traffic. Rye was not much raised till the wheat crop began to fail, when it became, and long continued to be, an important crop. Barley was raised chiefly for the purpose of malting. Meslin, or mixt- ling, which is a mixture of wheat and rye, was pretty generally
K
.
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raised, and used both for flour and malt. Indian corn was, however, the staple product of this, as of all other parts of the country.
The season opened in spring quite as carly as at the present day. Plowing began commonly the second week in April. Peas, oats, and rye were sowed by the middle of the month ; barley and flax by the first of May. Corn-planting frequently began by May 5th ; this crop was always hoed three times, the hilling coming on the second week in JJuly, i.c., as soon as the farmers had finished gathering the first crop of English hay. The corn was picked the last week in September and the first week in October. They commenced to mow upland English grass the middle of June ; and the meadows the second week in July. Rowen was cut the last of July. Rye, wheat, and meslin were ready for harvesting about the 25th of July ; barley a week later ; and oats still later, though before August 15th. Peas were gathered the last of August. Flax was commonly pulled the first week in August ; spread and turned in September, and was ready to be taken up. for " breaking" the last of October.
FOOD .- Early in winter, every family of considerable means killed a fatted hog ; and later, a cow ; the tender parts of which were used fresh, and the balance dry-salted, or put in brine for summer use. This salted meat was the basis of the " boiled dish," which was the common dinner of the farmers. Very little fresh meat was used in the warm season. Next in importance, perhaps, came the boiled Indian pudding, which was regarded an almost indispensable part of a good dinner. Many families could say that they had as many puddings as there were days in the year. Indian was also commonly used for hasty-puddings, and Johnny, or journey-cakes, and samp .* Milk and bread, or
* Josselyn, 1674, says, of Indian corn, " It is light of digestion, and the English make a kind of loblolly of it to eat with milk, which they call Sampe ; they beat it in a mortar, and sift the flour ont of it ; the remainder they call Homminey, which they put in a pot of two or three gallons, with water, and boil it over a gentle fire till it is like a hasty-pudding ; they put this into milk, and so eat it. Their bread, also, they make of the homminey so boiled, and mix their flour with it, cast it into a deep basin, in which they form the loaf, and then turn it out upon the Peel, and presently put it in the oven before it spreads abroad ; the flour makes excellent puddens."
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hasty-pudding and milk, was a common breakfast and supper dish for children and old people. Pea-soup, or porridge, and stewed peas, had not gone out of date : though beans had largely taken their place. [Baked beans, as a regular weekly dish, came in use as early as this town was first settled, though it was a dish unknown to our early English ancestors. ] The bread commonly used was made of rye or meslin flour. Pie-crust was sometimes made of this flour. Wheat flour, was used to a considerable extent, especially among the well-to-do farmers. Bolts to run by water power were set up in the mills ; and some families had hand bolts. The flour was not as fine as that now in use, and consequently was much more healthful. Cakes and pastry made of wheat flour were kept on hand for "company," and for all extra occasions. Turnips were in universal esteem and use, as an essential part of the " boiled dish." By early sowing, a summer vegetable was secured ; and by sowing as a second crop to sue- ceed barley, or on new land burned over, they were tender and juicy through the winter. Parsnips were more rare.
PUMPKINS .- Josselyn, in his New England Rarities, published in 1674, speaks of pumpkins, squashes, and watermelons, as grown by the Indians, and also by the English. He mentions a peculiar sort of round yellow squash, which, when cooked and prepared with butter, spice and vinegar, was " the ancient New England standing dish." This is believed to refer to our pumpkin. In his " Wonder Working Providence," written 1651, Johnson says, " let no man make a jest of pumpkins, for with this fruit the Lord was pleased to feed his people till corn and cattle were increased." Baked pumpkin and milk were much relished by many. The art of drying pumpkin seems to have been learned of the Indians. In spring and summer this could be soaked and used for sauce as well as for pies. In those early days, "pumpkin parings" were as common in the fall, as " apple parings " have been since ; and made as merry an evening.
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