USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 42
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" The Rev. Mr. Sutherland of Bath, the most active Congrega- tionalist pastor, and for many years the only one in the Ammonoosuc Valley, as he came into this town to minister to the religious wants of the people took his flip at the public taverns on Sunday mornings before service just as much as a matter of course as his successors of to-day would sip their coffee.
" The retired clergyman who resided here in the first part of this century and, in the absence of regularly employed ministers, conducted services at school-houses and dwellings, before any church was built, was the proprietor of a flourishing distillery of potato whiskey, that efficient but somewhat fiery product of the olden time. The year that he failed of an election as a representative, and was succeeded by his son, tradition tells us his distillery was burned, while the elements spared that of his successor.
"' For years there was no fire in the church excepting footstoves used by women. In winter at intermission the men all adjourned to the tavern, and West India toddy and flip were in urgent demand. The minister was ushered into a private room, and a salver covered with a napkin, but showing the outlines of a jug and tumbler, nut cake and cheese, was passed to him. There was no intoxication nor loud noisy talk on those old Sabbath days, but all was decorous and civil. As a rule the men were industrious, sober, and honest, and the women modest and good, seeking wool and flax, patient under privation, and cheerful under much severity.'2
" The public records do not bear witness to the observance of this custom in the raising of the first meeting-house in Littleton, but the books of account kept by Messrs. Roby & Curtis have the usual liberal supply of wet goods charged up for that interesting historic occasion to the proper committee. The vouchers showing due payments have been examined by old residents now living. While our records do not give such accounts of the bibulous festivities on the occasion of the 'raising' of the meeting-house as do those of Amherst, Thornton, and many other municipalities, there are, nevertheless, interesting traditions touching this affair.
" A letter that has come into our possession, however, gives a hint at the character of the barter that was employed in business eighty-five years ago, not excepting transactions in church property. The com- munication is as follows : -
1 Lawrence's Churches, title Thornton, p. 574.
2 Reminiscences of Littleton ; Memorial of David Goodall, pub. Caledonian, St. Johnsbury, Vt., Reprint after his death Sept. 7, 1881, p. 6.
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History of Littleton.
DALTON, March 17, 1854.
Mr. JOHN FARR.
DEAR SIR, - I have consulted my folks, also Moses HI. Rix and Wife, and we have come to the conclusion that No. 19 the second from the Door must have been mine, and moreover, as that and no other was deeded to Williams, it must have been the one belonging to me, and which I purchased with a Barrel of Whiskey, I think in 1817.
Please suggest to him the article in payment for the Pew.
NATHL. RIX.
" Rev. J. E. Robins, in his address on Littleton Churches,1 gives an illustration of the liberality with which bibulous habits were viewed. No great scandal, so far as we know, resulted to the church in that instance, though the deacon sent to admonish the intemperate brother got so much of the erring one's hot toddy down that he was unable to perform his mission. This same brother was a member of the Masonic craft. He was 'admonished' in Meridian Sun Lodge at Bath for the excesses as to which the deacon proposed to reprove him, and in Morning Dawn he was suspended from membership. It is evident that only the excessive use of intoxicating liquors came under the ban of the respectable elements in society. From the church, from the Lodge rooms and from the places of social gatherings, it was regarded in the same light. The temperate use of it as a beverage was no offence against religion, morals or the usages of good society.
" The consumption of hard liquors in this country had then lately reached its highest mark. Hon. Samuel Dexter, who had been Secre- tary of the United States Treasury, stated that 33,365,559 gallons were consumed in 1810. This estimate gives the actual returns of manu- factures and importations, and makes no additions for the quantity brought into the country by smuggling, or that distilled in private families, or from underestimates to avoid taxation, or for cider and wines of domestic manufacture; and yet, on that conservative state- ment, the average for every person of every age and condition would be four and four-sevenths gallons. Mr. Dexter proceeds to make a calculation from these data. He says : 'Next take an estimate of the number of persons who drink up this flood. The population of the States by the census of 1810 was 7,239,903. From this number deduct slaves, said not to be permitted to drink it, 1,191,364 ; and children who drink little or none, at least 1, 670,000; and others who, through disrelish, delicacy, or principle, drink little or none, 1,000,000 more ; and the remaining number consume nearly ten gallons each.' Mr. Dexter further says : 'The solemn fact is, more than four times as much spirit is consumed on the farm now as was used upon the same farm, by the same conductors of it, twenty years ago. The pocket flask is grown into a case bottle and the keg into a barrel. This fact is not affirmed upon light evidence. The consequence is found to be
1 Littleton Centennial, p. 189.
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Temperance.
that the bloated countenance and the tottering frame are become a frequent spectacle among the yeomen of the country, once regarded, even to a proverb, the healthiest, the hardiest, the happiest class of the community.'
"' If the year 1810,' says Dr. Daniel Dorchester, 'be compared with any successive decade, we shall see that so great an average amount of liquor has never been used since that time, notwithstanding a much larger proportion than at any former time is now used for mechanical purposes.'1 A full and fair view of this subject as an element of the social problem can be obtained only by a review of con- ditions at successive periods. Two summaries have been given and another of very recent publication is added.
" A recent report of the government bureau of statistics brings down to date a per capita representation of the annual amount of distilled spirits, wines, and malt liquors consumed in the United States in recent years. It is an instructive exhibit, and in somewhat abbreviated form follows : -
Consumption in Gallons per Capita.
Spirits.
Wines.
Malt Liquors.
1840
2.52
0.29
1.36
1850
2.23
0.27
1.58
1860
2.86
0.35
3.22
1870
2.07
0.32
5.30
1880
1.26
0.56
8.26
1881
1.38
0.47
8.65
1882
1.40
0.49
10.03
1883
1.46
0.48
10.27
1884
1.48
0.37
10.74
1885
1.26
0.39
10.62
1896
1.26
0.45
11.20
1887
1.21
0,65
12.23
1888
1.26
0.61
12.80
1889
1.32
0.56
12.72
1890
1.40
13.66
" The decline in the consumption of distilled spirits and the remark- able increase in the consumption of beer, ale, and other malt liquors will at once be noted. The steady and rapid expansion in the con- sumption of beer is almost without precedent in the annals of drink statistics. The decline in the quantity of distilled liquors consumed is also marked, but the figures here do not as accurately measure the quantity used for stimulants. Previous to 1860, before the internal tax was imposed, larger quantities of alcohol and spirits were used in the arts than afterwards ; but it is still to be noted that, in the face of a reduction of the tax, and from a per capita consumption exceeding two gallons maintained as late as 1870, the average annual consump- tion for the following decade fell to 1.48 gallons per capita, and for the decade just ended to 1.32 gallons. It would seem, therefore, that the hard-liquor drinking habit was less pronounced now than before the
1 Zion's Herald, Nov. 9, 1864.
406
History of Littleton.
war. Wine bibbing, however, has increased, the average yearly con- sumption from 1870 to 1880 being 0.44 gallons per capita, and from 1880 to 1890 0.49 gallons, as against only 0.35 for 1860 and 0.29 for 1840.
" We think of those earlier years as a period of heavy, universal, and indiscriminate drinking of intoxicating liquors, but the figures of the census and internal revenue in these later days do not show results commensurate with the efforts put forth since in the cause of temper- ance. There has been improvement ; liquor no longer presides un- abashed over the neighborhood barn-raising or at the entertainment of the village preacher, and there seems to be less of the more fiery spirits consumed. But nevertheless the average American to-day seems to be taking quite as much alcohol into his system as then, and as a swiller his father could not for a moment be compared with him.
" To give a better idea of the life and habits of the people in this respect, the consumption of coffee and tea should be considered. The government import and export tables yield very accurate results : -
Per Capita Consumption of Coffee and Tea.
Coffee (Ibs.) 3.00
Tea (Ibs.)
1830
0.53
1840
5.05
0.99
'Average annual :"-
From 1850 to 1860
5.98
0.79
From 1860 to 1870
4.47
0.87
From 1870 to 1880
6.96
1.37
From 1880 to 1890
8.55
1.33
" We thus drink vastly more coffee and tea than they did in that reputed period of heavy consumption of stimulants fifty and sixty years ago. We swill down ten times as much beer and more wine, and then find room for two or three times as many gallons of coffee and twice as many of tea. The curious thing about it all is that the one does not in some measure crowd out the other. Great Britain consumes per capita about five pounds of tea a year, or much more than we; but the effect of this is to reduce coffee consumption to only about one pound, the reduction having marched steadily along side by side with the increase of tea sipping. With us, on the other hand, it is more coffee with more tea, and more beer with more coffee and more wine."
The evils and abuses flowing from over-indulgence have been recognized in all times, and more than two hundred years ago the first Assembly that met in New Hampshire (1679-1680) passed an act regulating or restricting the sale or delivery of " liquor, wine, or other drink,"1 and since then there has been no lack of
1 In a paper read before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association in 1896 by W. H. Sawyer, he reviews the history of liquor legislation exhaustively. See Proceedings, vol. iii. p. 207.
407
Temperance.
effort to regulate its sale or prohibit its use by legislation. These projects are not likely to be successful until the millennium, fore- told by prophecy, shall wipe away abuses and remove motes and beams from human eyes.
This first act restricting the sale of liquors was brief and was as follows : " Be it also enacted yt no ordinary or inn-keeper suffer any servants or children under family government to buy (or to sit drinking of) any liquor, wine or other drink in their houses or whare they have to doe or spend their time there without ve leave of ye parents or masters, unless it be in case of necessity on paine of 10 shillings forfeiture for every offence 2 to ye in- former and ye other } to ye poore of ye towne." While New Hampshire remained a province, the record shows that the efforts to restrict the sale of liquor were frequent and to a certain ex- tent effective, the last important enactment having been passed in 1772. When New Hampshire assumed her independence and established a provisional government, the legislative authority being invested in a legislature and the executive in a council, no effort was made to govern the sale of liquor until 1778, when an act was passed repealing many of the provincial acts and provid- ing that after May 1, 1779, no person should sell any liquors in less quantity than fifteen gallons to be delivered at one time, without the approbation of the Selectmen and a license from the Court of General Session upon penalty of ten pounds, " one half to the informer and the other half to the county to be recovered before a Justice of the Peace." Taverners were not to allow drinking or tippling in their houses after nine P. M. unless the persons drinking were there on business, or suffer any person to drink to excess. The act also provided that any person who sat drinking in such place after nine P. M., other than travellers, per- sons on business, or lodgers, should forfeit forty shillings for the use of the poor. It was made one of the duties of the tithing-men to inspect all licensed houses. In June, 1791, the Legislature passed an act the substance of which was as follows: If any per- son without license first had and obtained shall sell any wine, rum, gin, brandy, or other spirits by retail that is less than one gallon, or shall sell any mixed liquors part of which are spirit- uous, such person shall forfeit and pay forty shillings, one-half to informer and one-half to the county. There were many other provisions of this law providing for the enforcement by special officers, etc., and it remained untouched until 1820, when it was amended so as to provide that all licenses issued should name the , particular house or store in which the liquors were to be sold.
408
History of Littleton.
By an act passed in June, 1827, entitled " An Act regulating licensed houses," substantially all previous legislation was re- pealed, though many of the provisions of the old laws were retained. The law was in advance of previous legislation in re- gard to penalties and methods of enforcement and in the restriction on sales, and for the first time in our legislation dealers were pro- hibited from selling at all to common drunkards, previous legisla- tion only prohibiting them from selling to any intoxicated person. Under these several acts James Williams, Jonas Nurs, Ephraim Bailey, tavern-keepers along the highway from Lisbon to Lancas- ter, were licensed by the Selectmen, and a large share of their patronage came from travellers. Their business could not have been large, as the population of the town was sinall and travellers were not numerous. Subsequently the merchants were licensed to sell liquors to be drunk on the premises and in quantities in excess of those permitted to tavern-keepers.
The legislation in all these years marks the advance of popular sentiment on the question of temperance. There was a time in our town when but one citizen, Dr. William Burns, was a total abstainer from the use of intoxicating liquors. From the time of his coming here in 1806 to the day of his death in 1868 he never used liquor as a beverage. The number of abstainers constantly increased, and in November, 1828, the first temperance society in Littleton was organized. Its purpose and government are set forth in the constitution, which is given entire : -
ART. 1. This Society shall be called the Littleton Temperance Society, auxiliary to the American Temperance Society.
ART. 2. All who sign this Constitution shall be members of this Society.
ART. 3. Believing that ardent spirit is never necessary, but always injurious to persons in health, and in view of the overwhelming facts which evince the tendency of its use to corrupt morals and destroy health and lives, we obligate ourselves not to use it except as a medi- cine, and that we will not furnish it for friends, visitors, or laborers, and also that we will use our influence to discountenance its use in the community.
ART. 4. The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice-Presi- dent, and Secretary, who shall be chosen at the annual meeting and perform the duties ordinarily assigned such officers.
ART. 5. This Society shall meet on the first Monday of November in each year, where a sermon or an address shall be delivered by some person selected by the Society. .
ART. 6. A majority of the officers of the Society shall call meetings as frequently as may be thought expedient.
ART. 7. It shall make an annual report to the parent society.
409
Temperance.
This organization maintained its existence for nearly ten years, and accomplished much good. Meetings of the society were held at the call of its officers quite frequently during the first five years of its organization. We have not been able to obtain a full list of those who made addresses as provided for by the constitution, but among the number were the Rev. Drury Fairbank, Nathaniel Rix, Jr., who delivered the address in 1831, and Edmund Carleton in 1832. It is presumed that this custom was observed in the suc- ceeding years of the life of the society.
The membership included many of the most prominent men and women of the town. Among them the Rev. Drury Fairbank, Henry A. Bellows, Guy Ely, Joseph Palmer, Nathaniel Rix, Deacon Noah Farr, Dr. Adams Moore, William Hibbard, Josiah Kilburn, and John Farr.1
The methods employed by this society to advance the cause of temperance were similar to those subsequently used by the Washingtonians. They relied entirely upon moral suasion to re- claim the unfortunate, to persuade young people to join this organization, and to induce the dealer in ardent spirits to refrain from selling to intoxicated persons. The question of a prohibitory law had not been raised, legislative enactments being directed toward regulating the sale of liquors, not suppressing the traffic. This society was a potent influence in arousing public sentiment and preparing the way for the great temperance movement which swept over the land half a century ago.
It was at this time also that the ministers of the church became pronounced advocates of temperance. The Rev. Drury Fairbank gave the movement earnest support. His attitude had a salutary
1 The other members were as follows : Caroline Ely, Eliza Moore, Sophronia Hews, Emeline Cobleigh, Seraphina Larnard, Mrs. Ely, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Burns, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Dodge. Mrs. Noah Farr, Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Hannah Dole, Laura Sargeant, Anna D. Parker, Juliana Allen, Hannah T. Lovejoy, Polly Lovejoy, Lydia Gile, Philena Allen, Missouri Gile, Isaac Parker, David P. Sanborn, Frank- lin R. Bonney, Elijah Farr, William Lovejoy, Phineas Allen, J. W. Bellows, John H. Gile, Joseph L. Gibb, Zadoc Bowman, James Dow, Enocli Hazelton, Mrs. Mary W. Palmer, Harriet Hatch, Mary Brackett, Naomi Dow, Marcy D. Farr, Mary Farr, Lucretia Fairbank, Harriet Newell Fairbank, Dolly Pingree, Polly Noyes, Sophronia Farr, Elizabeth Cleasby, Anna Rowell, Mary W. Pingree, Sarah Fairbank, Nabby Farr, Sarah Pingree, Belinda Fletcher, Rebecca Rix, Persis Gile, Margaret Rix, Rebecca Jane Rix, Sarah Calhoun, Mary Henry, Joseph Farr, W. B. Gile, Michael Hughes, Hugh Cameron, Douglas Robins, Richard Jones, Hezekiah S. Perry, Abijah Allen, Aaron Brackett, Philander Farr, Leonidas Goodall, Joseph Roby, Frederick Morrison, Robert Charlton, Job Pingree, Enoch M. Pingree, Richard Rowell, Clark Rix, Ira Caswell, Horatio N. Bickford, Guy C. Rix, Benjamin F. Rix, Charles Rix, George W. Carpenter, Philena Calhoun, Wilder P. Rix, James Calhoun, Joseph Henry, David G. Calhoun.
410
History of Littleton.
effect on the church membership, and many who only took an occasional glass of spirituous liquor forsook the use altogether, and in time the church became a very effectual aid to the cause of temperance.
The Worcesters, his successors in the pastorate of the Congre- gational Church, although conservative in regard to most public questions and striving to keep the church free from worldly alliances, were pronounced friends of this movement, and no man was more aggressive in advocating its principles than the Rev. E. Irvin Carpenter. He not only preached against the use of liquor, but was a leader in all the temperance societies and active in all the movements aimed at this demoralizing power. In his day, as since, the doors of the Congregational Church were thrown open to the advocates of this cause. From its pulpit John Hawkins, the Rev. John Pierpont, grandfather of J. Pierpont Morgan, and many others, eloquently pleaded for the emancipation of the victims of the habit of habitual drinking.
In 1840 the Washingtonians, a society formed in Baltimore, did a salutary work throughout the country in persuading the drunkard, by moral suasion, to sign the pledge to abstain from intoxicants, and many of these pledges were circulated in Little- ton. Two years later the Sons of Temperance were organized, and their pledge was even stronger than that of the former society, reading thus : " I will neither make, buy, sell, nor use as a bever- age any spirituous or malt liquors, wine or cider." It was a secret society, and a branch of the organization was formed in Littleton, the charter being dated December 4, 1850, Sons from Bethlehem instituting the division. The title was "Littleton Division, No. 28." Josiah Kilburn was the first W. P., and Ellery D. Dunn the second (1852). There were thirty-five or forty members, but the records are destroyed and it is impossible to give their names. Representatives to the Grand Division in 1852 were Ellery D. Dunn, Aaron Brackett, Joshua B. Shaw, John Merrill, and Elisha Burnham. Much was accomplished for some five or six years, when the organization was wrecked through local politics, some of the influential members endeavoring in open meetings to influence the others to vote for candidates who were known to use and deal in intoxicating liquors.
The passage of the prohibitory law in 1855 marks a distinct departure in legislative methods aimed at the evil of intemperance. The policy of the old system was the regulation of the traffic in liquor, and that of the new was the suppression of its sale as a bev- erage. The immediate effect of the change of policy was to cause
411
Temperance.
the friends of temperance to abandon for a time the use of moral suasion and to depend on the strong arm of the law to accomplish their purpose. Between 1855 and 1861 the law was invoked against the hotel-keepers and the proprietors of saloons on several occasions, but there was no marked diminution either in the amount of the sales or in drunkenness. During the war public attention was directed to more important events, and the law was to a very large extent disregarded in this town. In August, 1865, the Good Templars organized a lodge in this village to pro- mote the cause of temperance. The records of the first nine months are very meagre, but we find that the Rev. Charles E. Mil- liken was the Worthy Chief Templar for the quarter commencing November 7, 1865, and he was followed by Capt. George Farr, February 7, 1866. The Worthy Chief Templars after that date were as follows : E. W. Farr, James R. Jackson, Truman Carter, T. E. Sanger, George Farr, La Fayette Noble, Luther T. Dow, Albert Parker, and there were two hundred and thirty-seven members in good standing. Soon after its organization in 1865, it appointed a committee, of which the Rev. Charles E. Milliken and Josiah Kilburn were members, to wait upon all persons en- gaged in the sale of liquors, and notify them that unless they ceased to violate the law it would be enforced to its utmost extent against them. Following instructions, they visited the dealers and made known to them their purpose and their determina- tion to prosecute after that date all known violators of the pro- hibitory law in town. The dealers, without exception, accepted the situation gracefully and promised to observe the law. This was the first successful attempt made in this town at law enforce- ment. It brought on the committee and the organization back of it the severe denunciation of a class of people who felt that their personal liberty was unnecessarily restricted. Public sentiment on the question was divided, and so long as the friends of the law were vigilant and aggressive they were in the ascendant, and the dealers stood by their promise to all outward appearance for some months. Gradually there was a loss of watchfulness on the part of the temperance people, and it soon became apparent that there were frequent violations of the law, but the sales were conducted in such a way that it was impossible to obtain evidence on which the supposed offenders could be convicted.
The Good Templars enforced the law for brief periods on more than one occasion after this, and in its brief life accomplished much good, but on November 3, 1869, four years after it was organized, it disbanded. The records do not give the reason for
412
History of Littleton.
this, but it is reported that it was caused by the rejection of a person or persons who wished to take the higher degree and whom many thought it would be unwise to admit owing to their relation to those engaged in the liquor traffic. Afterward a lodge of the same order was established here, but it never attained the strength or importance of the first, and existed but a short time. These organizations (Sons of Temperance and Good Tem- plars) were followed by the Reform Club, which was organized here by Captain McKelvey, a reformed drunkard from Portland, Me., January 10, 1876. There was a large membership, mostly drinking men, who for the time were greatly benefited by this con- nection. Enthusiastic and largely attended meetings were held weekly. The plan of the Reform Club was to obtain the sig- natures of all, and especially drinkers, to the pledge, all being pledged to help each other as well as to abstain from the use of spirituous liquors. For over a year this organization flourished, but in the closing months the enthusiasm died out and the organization ceased to exist. This was the last of the purely fraternal, moral-suasion temperance societies here. They had done a good work, but were not able to stay the tide of intemper- ance, and the citizens of Littleton gradually came to believe that legal suasion, as well as moral, must be used. Accordingly a mect- ing was held August 12, 1882, and a large number of the most in- fluential citizens signed an agreement to aid by contributions of money and of their influence to put down the illegal sale of liquor in town by first warning the illegal vendors to cease the traffic, and, if they continued it, to prosecute them. Some $2,000 aid was pledged, and a committee of six chosen to carry on the work. The dealers were visited, and all promised to stop their illegal business, but did so in only a very few instances. Prosecutions were commenced, but amounted to little, as political influences were brought to bear, and the work in this direction soon ceased.
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