USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Royalston > Reflections on Royalston, Worcester County, Massachusetts, U.S.A > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
The origins of the "old school fund" and the "Bullock school fund" have been stated on page 97. The "dog tax fund" comes from the taxes or license fees paid annually by the owners of dogs in the town; the amount received, minus the town clerk's fees for transacting the busi- ness, is turned over to the county treasury; so much of it as is needed is used to pay for damage done by dogs, and the balance, or something like it, reverts to the towns for school purposes. Just now (August, 1919) I read in a newspaper item that Charles F. Chase of Royalston has re- cently been paid $90 for damage done to his flock of 32 sheep by dogs.
The amounts paid for music teacher and for school physician in 1918 were much less than was paid in some previous years; the highest amount paid for music being $358.75, and for physician $63.00.
OLD SCHOOL-DAYS.
In the olden time, and down to around 1860, it was considered neces- sary to have a male teacher for a winter term of school, and one of physical ability to "handle the big boys." With that point settled, they would probably "get their lessons." After a time college students were secured as teachers, and some of them did not look as if they would be able to "handle the big boys." So in order to settle the point, a case must be made, and the little master would request an offending big boy to come out into the floor; the lummox would respond to the call, grin- ning, and wondering what that "little runt" could do to him; he learned at once, for before he knew what touched him he found himself in a helpless heap on the floor, with the little master in possession of a strangle hold, and asking him if that was enough. That master had the respect and cordial obedience of the big boys ever after; but they would have given their best jackknives to have known "how he done it."
Per contra, a summer term of school taught by one of the "Miller girls,"-there were four of them, and perhaps each took a turn at the Center school. And if she had been possessed of a dozen hands there would not have been enough for all the little girls running to meet and be led by teacher, and bringing to her the choicest flowers they could procure. The flowers, the happy songs-well, there is one gray old man who is not ashamed to confess that some of the sorriest days of his life as a little boy came when the summer school closed and he passed out of that atmosphere of loving kindness. And that was "how she did it."
105
Reflections on Royalston
Many things came to pass in the old school-days the like of which do not occur in these latter days. I will mention a few of the happenings at the Center school during the period from 1855 to 1865.
It was the custom of the big boys to preempt seats by getting into the school-room through a window the Sunday night or early Monday morning before a term of school was to begin and leaving their books and slates under the benches of the seats of their choice. Sometimes a boy would emphasize his claim to a place by carving his initials on the top of the bench with his jackknife. The tops of those old benches were made of the best of "old growth" pine boards, and when one had been once cut into it offered great temptation to the whittler, and probably all of those connected with several rows of back seats on the boys' side were deco- rated by several sets of initials and hieroglyphics and numerous notches. When the building was overhauled and modernized, around 1860, desks with polished hardwood tops were installed, and they were not whittled.
At one time a committeeman acquired a notion that it would be a good thing to have more humidity in the atmosphere of the school-room, and to accomplish that end he placed a large iron pot on the stove, and the boys were expected to keep it supplied with snow or ice, as there was no water at the school-house. The boys were taking turns in starting the fire in the morning, with the result that the room was often cold all of the forenoon. The boys who brought their dinners and those who got back early from their home dinners, looked out that there should be no occasion for complaint about the room being cold in the afternoon; they lugged in wood, filled the old heater, and had things sizzling when the master came back, so that his first move was to close the drafts of the red-hot stove and open doors and windows. In their anxiety to warm up the room sufficiently the boys overlooked the matter of supplying the pot with aqua; but they did not forget to cast into it a quantity of wormy apples, discarded doughnuts, uneatable piecrusts and other bric-a-brac; the result was that about half-past opening time a stream of very dark tinted humidity began to arise from that vessel, which, when observed by the master, led him to order one of the big boys to cast that humidifier out into a snowbank; and he probably picked for the job the boy he had noticed quite intently waiting for something to happen.
In the winter time the ink often froze in the bottles kept under the scholars' desks for their writing lessons, and they readily obtained per- mission to go to the stove to thaw them out; and while there some of the boys were quite busy pushing the corks in as tightly as possible, with the result that some of them would pop up to the ceiling, followed, perhaps, by a squirt of ink. In some spots the ceiling of the room was decorated with "spit balls," made by chewing wads of paper to a consistency that would stick and throwing them up to the ceiling when the master's back was toward the thrower.
There was trouble with the stove smoking, and the committee discov- ered that when the east door was open it smoked worse; so they nailed the door shut; but the big boys pulled it open and kept it open most of the time. The old stove was located at one end of the room and was con- nected with the chimney at the other end by a long pipe running over the heads of the scholars, and which might have been half full of soot; I have no recollection of knowledge that the pipe was ever cleaned out.
THE SPELLING-SCHOOL.
The old-time spelling-school was a source of entertainment and edu- cation. It was usually held in the evening, and the schoolroom was dimly lighted by tallow candles, brought by the participants, with possibly an oil lamp brought from a near-by house. Perhaps notice of it was given from the church pulpits on Sunday, and spellers were present from sev- eral districts. The school-master of the school at which the performance
106
Reflections on Royalston
took place was accorded the privilege of "giving out" the words, and two acknowledged "best spellers" were, without much controversy, as- signed to "choose sides." Stationing themselves near opposite corners of the room, they called to their sides, first one and then the other, one at a time, those whom they considered best able to spell hard words, until all present who cared to participate had been called inte line. Then began the "'spelling down." The words given out at first would be compara- tively easy ones, like "seize," "siege," "sieve," "zinc," etc., followed by others like "dynasty," "hypocrisy," "sibylist" and "siesta." The first word would be given the leader on one side and the next to the one on the other side, and so on down the lines of the two sides; when a word was misspelled the speller missing had to "go way back and sit down," and the word went to the next one on the other side. Gradually harder words were put out and the poor spellers at the lower ends of the lines were "spelled down," until only a few remained standing on either side; then the interest became intense, and the master turned the leaves of the spelling-book, which was the authority, to find words worthy of the attention of the accomplished spellers. And it sometimes happened that among those who "stood up" the longest were some who had been given places low in the line, but who had spelled every word which came their way. The finish came when all except two had been "spelled down,"- one on either side, and generally but not always the leaders. Then the master began to put out the big words from the back part of the book, and it sometimes required a goodly number of them before either of the two contestants "missed;"' or perhaps a "draw" would be called by mu- tual consent. Patriotic and old-time songs might be sung, and then the home-going, in which some of the boys took the longest way round as the shortest way home.
THE SCHOOL THE GREAT AMERICANIZER.
The Public School is the great Americanizer and democratizer, and, broadly speaking, the greatest force in the promotion of civic virtue and efficiency. It may be claimed that the Church stands superior to the Public School in this respect, but such a claim is not substantiated by facts.
The little city of Fitchburg, which has been my home for 42 years, is an inland manufacturing city, so far as its villages are concerned, with the farming territory and population of an average New England town. Since the introduction of the automobile has made Fitchburg a suburb of Royalston, and as many past and present residents of the little city came from the big town, my observations may be of interest.
The population of Fitchburg is cosmopolitan and numbers rising of 40,000. Of this number some 5,000 are children registered as pupils in the public schools, and more than 2,500 others are in parochial schools, supported by the Catholic church; and a large part of the pupils in the public schools, perhaps one-half, are of Catholic parentage and affilia- tions; while one-half of the members of the school board, and probably as large a proportion of the teachers in the public schools, are Catholics.
Fitchburg has 27 churches, the services in 15 of which, of 10 different denominations or cults, are conducted in the English language; of the re- maining 12, -nearly one-half by count, and perhaps more than one-half by number of persons affiliated, -2 are of the old or Irish Catholic kind, and their services are probably conducted in Latin and English; the others consist of 3 French Catholic, 1 Italian Catholic, 2 Swedish, 2 Fin- nish, 1 German and 1 Hebrew; and their services are conducted in the languages which their names indicate.
The people who attend these foreign-language churches may attend them as long as they live and never learn the English or American lan- guage. With the church as the center of - (Concluded on page 110.)
107
Reflections on Royalston
THE TOWN CHURCH.
The Church began with the Town. The men who owned the Town and started it, started the Church and owned it. As explained on page 43, the Proprietors were bound by the terms of their purchase to make provision for the settlement and support of a minister and to build a meeting-house, and the settlers accepted their lands with the condition that they unite in establishing a gospel ministry; so that each settler be- came a shareholder in the Church.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 1906. Dedicated Jan. 15, 1852.
A site for the meeting-house, training field and graveyard having been provided by the setting apart by the Proprietors of a square lot of 10 acres near the center of the territory, the wide part of what has since been called the Common, the building of the first meeting-house, to cost £200, was begun in 1763, and it was ready for use the next year.
The Proprietors provided for the building of the house, and Hon. Isaac Royal paid one-eighth part of the cost, in addition to his share as one of the Proprietors, and also gave the church a handsome folio Bible.
Probably there is no record of the extent or the method by which public worship was maintained prior to the incorporation of the town in 1765; but it seems to be true that from that time until 1831 these matters were all acted upon in open town meeting. The town not only provided
108
Reflections on Royalston
the necessary funds, by vote and assessment, but also led in all matters with relation to securing and retaining pastors. In 1831, in accordance with the provisions of a new law, the parish and the town became dis- tinct, and the church was no longer supported by the municipality.
On Sept. 15, 1766, the town appointed "a day of fasting and prayer to seek the blessing of Almighty God on us in bringing forward this new town, and, in special, in gathering and settling a church, and in due time, giving us a pastor after his own heart." A committee was instructed to invite specified churches to be present, by their pastors and one dele- gate each, to assist in the services of the occasion.
The "day of fasting and prayer" was set for Oct. 13, 1766, and on that day the church was "embodied" as "The Church of Christ in Roy- alston," with 16 members, 12 males and 4 females, as follows:
Timothy Richardson, and his wife, Alice; Samuel Barton, and his wife, Hannah; William Pierce, and his wife, Mary; Nathan Wheeler, and his wife, Mary; William Towne, John Fry, Isaac Nichols, Nathan Cutting, Abraham Stockwell, Jonas Allen, Silas Cutting, and Benjamin Woodbury.
A number of candidates for the position of pastor appeared, and their qualifications were considered. Aug. 10, 1767, the Town voted to extend a call to Theophilus Chamberlain, offering him a settlement of £40 and the 431 acres of land originally appropriated for that purpose by the Proprietors, and an annual salary of £40. It does not appear that any action was taken by the Church on the matter. Mr. Chamberlain was not satisfied with the propositions, and made other terms, which were not accepted by the Town.
Joseph Lee, of Concord, was engaged to preach 4 Sabbaths, and then 6 Sabbaths more, between December, 1767, and March, 1768; and on March 22, 1768, the Church unanimously voted to call him as pastor. On the following April 11 the Town unanimously concurred in the action of the Church, and offered Mr. Lee, as settlement, the 431 acres of "minis- ter's land" and £400, old tenor; and an annual salary of "46 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 pence a year for the 3 first years, 53 pounds, 6 shillings and 8 pence a year for the 3 next following years; and 60 pounds, law- ful money, a year, as long as he remains our minister after that date;" and 30 cords of wood to be drawn annually from his own land to his door.
There seems to be a remarkable difference between the proposals to give Mr. Chamberlain £40 and Mr. Lee £400, old tenor, as a settlement, as well as in the amounts offered for annual salaries. Rev. E. W. Bul- lard, in his historical discourse in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Church, delivered Oct. 14, 1866, said in relation to this matter:
"The disparity between these proposals (made to Mr. Lee) and those made to Mr. Chamberlain, is more apparent than real. Assuming that the pound, when unqualified, as in the latter case, is to be taken for sterling money, Mr. Chamberlain's £40, as part settlement, was, proba- bly, of equal, if not greater value at the time, than the £400, old tenor, offered Mr. Lee; while an annual salary of £60, lawful money, could hardly be taken, especially for a series of years, as equal to £40 sterling. At all events, it often happened, during the colonial and state experi- ments in paper money, that 40 shillings sterling would buy up 40 and even 60 pounds lawful money, whether old tenor, new tenor or middle tenor, old way, or new way, old emission, new emission, or continental money, and leave a fair margin for further speculation. The first pastor of Royalston had sad experience in these facts."
That the voters of Royalston had the disposition to "make good" to their pastor in this matter of depreciated money is shown in a vote quoted by Mr. Caswell in his chapter on "Town Meetings:"
Town meeting, March 25, 1779. Under Article 2, "Voted by the town that they were willing to make the Rev. Mr. Lee's salary good. Then voted to desire the inhabitants of Royalston to pay Mr. Lee's salary in
109
Reflections on Royalston
the articles of life or money, equal to silver, or to Mr. Lee's accept- ance."
We may well believe that "articles of life" meant food products, meats and grains; a bushel of grain had a much more stable and intrin- sic value than a designated amount of the fluctuating currency.
More light is thrown on the unsettled condition of the currency of those early times when Mr. Caswell quotes:
Town meeting, Oct. 19, 1772. "Voted that those persons that have not worked out their highway rates, shall work with others employed to fill the middle work in the county bridge, and be allowed 3 pistareens per day, and 2 shillings per day for a pair of oxen."
Town meeting, May 1, 1780. "Voted to allow 25 dollars per day per man to work on the roads the present year, and for oxen and cart in that proportion as usual."
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 1910. Dedicated Jan. 15, 1852.
The pistareen was a Spanish silver coin, the same as, or equivalent to the peseta, worth around 19 cents; the Spanish silver peso dollar was a 5-peseta piece. The Spanish coins were in quite general circulation in America, and the first United States silver dollar was nearly identical with the Spanish dollar. They must have been figuring on a greatly de- preciated currency when they voted themselves $25 per day as wages.
From the New York World's paragraphic "History of the United States" we learn that
"The Americans being sorely embarrassed by lack of funds and the extensive counterfeiting of continental money, Congress resolved, Jan. 2, 1779, to call upon the United States to pay in their respective quotas of $15,000,000 for the year, and of $6,000,000 annually for 18 years from the present year, as a sinking fund; only $4,000,000 had been obtained by loan from Europe; and at least $100,000,000 of continental money, besides large local issues by the states, were afloat."
Taking into account the differences in population and resources, those millions probably spelled more trouble for the sturdy patriots in 1779 than the billions which Uncle Sam is tossing around in 1919, as one of
110
Reflections on Royalston
the milder sequences of his scrap with Prussianism; and offered a good excuse for our forbears for raising the price of a day's toil from 3 pista- reens in 1772 to $25 in 1780. This also affords a glimpse at the reason for the uneasiness of the shepherd of the flock regarding "where he was at" in his salary.
"After considerable hesitation, both on account of the apprehended insufficiency of the offered support, and also the state of his health," we are told, Mr. Lee accepted the concurrent call in a letter, which occupies several pages of the town records.
Mr. Lee was ordained to preach and installed as pastor of the Royals- ton Church Oct. 19, 1768. Rev. E. W. Bullard, in his 100th Anniversary sermon, quoted from the records as follows:
"Royalston, Oct. 19, 1768. This day Joseph Lee was ordained to the pastoral office over the Church of Christ in this place; his relation to the Church of Christ in Concord having been previously removed to the Church here."
Quoting further from Mr. Bullard's sermon. "Prior to the settle- ment of Mr. Lee, 5 persons, including the pastor elect, had been added to the Church -all by letter-constituting a membership of 21, 15 males
(Concluded from page 106.)-social interests and activities, many of them, especially among the women, mingle but little with the English- speaking people; they do not learn the language of the land, and they follow largely the habits and customs of the lands from whence they came. But their children attend the public schools, learn the national language, and mingle with the Americans, and many of them, before they are through their school years, become so Americanized that it is dif- ficult to distinguish them from those of American parentage. It is not unusual, in the course of business, to meet one of the persons of foreign birth, oftenest a woman, who is unable to make known her needs in the American, but she may be accompanied by a little girl who knows both languages, being obliged to converse in the one at home and the other at school, and who can act as interpreter for the transaction of business.
The constitution of the United States guarantees to every inhabitant of the country the right to any religious belief or disbelief of his choice. The Puritan Fathers imposed their Protestant religion on everybody through the state-dominated church, and they carried that domination into the school system, and it has remained, so that to-day our public schools are to some extent propagating that phase of religion. The Catholics would if they could, and undoubtedly will when they can, insist on the teaching of their creed in the public schools; pending that time they are educating a large portion of their children in parochial schools, where they can also teach them their own religion; these parochial schools they support privately, while at the same time contributing their share through taxation for the support of the public schools.
It will be the best day ever known in the progress of human liberty and enlightenment when all reference to religion is omitted from the curriculum and usage of the public school, and all matters dependent on sentiment and faith for their existence, and efforts to learn the unknow- able and unscrew the inscrutable shall be reverted to the churches of the different cults, leaving the public school free to teach demonstrable scientific truth in ever increasing measure.
And probably nothing could contribute more to the Americanization and democratization of the community than the compulsory attendance of all young people of physical and mental capacity, between the ages of 5 and 21, at the public school, there to be educated in known and knowable truth ;- none to be debarred from engaging in productive labor, but rather, all of suitable age, regardless of wealth, rank or station, to be required to indulge in a measure of useful, productive work.
Reflections on Royalston
and 6 females. The pastor presided, for the first time, at a church meeting held the 8th of November following, when Brothers John Fry and Benjamin Woodbury were chosen the first Deacons of this Church. With the date of this meeting commence our regular and duly attested Records under the pastorate of Rev. Joseph Lee, covering a period of 50 years and 22 days, the first record attested by him being Nov. 8, 1768, and the last Nov. 30, 1818. The minutes of the last church meeting over which he presided, and to which he affixed his signature, are found in the opening page of Vol. II of our Records; the minutes themselves are in the handwriting of his son, Thomas J. Lee. The previous minutes fill a volume of 114 pages of compact but legible manuscript. Upwards of 90 of these pages are occupied with records of the legitimate business of the Church, and the official acts of the pastor. Then follows, in chrono-
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL PARSONAGE, 1906.
Built in 1874.
logical order, a record of all the deaths in town, from its settlement, covering 19 closely-written pages, and containing the names and ages of the deceased, the date of death, and the disease, or cause, of which they died, as far as might be; and indicating whether the person was in con- nection with his charge, or otherwise. Of this labor, Mr. Lee remarks, in his half-century discourse, 'As to the deaths, it has been my care to make a record which I believe is very nearly correct.' The last entry is dated Dec. 6, 1818, only a few weeks before the death of Mr. Lee."
Mr. Lee delivered his semi-centennial sermon on Oct. 19, 1818,-the 50th anniversary of his ordination. This was his last public labor. On account of his age and failing health he had already asked to be relieved, and the Church and Town had responded to his request. As a result of efforts to secure a colleague pastor, Ebenezer Perkins had been chosen for the position, and his ordination was appointed for Feb. 17, 1819.
Mr. Lee's feebleness culminated in his death on Feb. 16, 1819. The
112
Reflections on Royalston
ordination of Mr. Perkins was carried out as planned, followed a few days later by the funeral of Mr. Lee.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
It was during the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Perkins, on May 19, 1831, that the Parish separated from the Town, and became organized as a distinct legal body under the provisions of law, and assumed the title of "The First Parish or Congregational Society of Royalston," which title it still retains.
With the change from town to parish control, the name of the church organization was changed from "The Church of Christ in Royalston" to "The First Congregational Church of Royalston."
Only legally qualified male voters in the town may be members of the Parish, but it is not required that they be members of the Church. Many of the most prominent and "influential" members of the Parish have never been members of the Church.
The membership of the Church consists of those who have "experi- enced religion" and who confess belief in the theological declarations of the "Articles of Faith" and "The Covenant;" and while there are no age or sex limitations to membership, according to a by-law adopted in 1896, such persons "as are 21 years of age and upward, and such only, may act and vote in the transactions of the Church." The Church has ac- cepted many children into its membership.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.