USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Newport > The history of Newport, New Hampshire, from 1766 to 1878 > Part 13
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ODD-FELLOWS. The Sugar River Lodge, No. 55, I. O. O. F., was instituted May 25, 1874. The charter members were Marshall E. Hatch, George A. Ellis, and Cyrus A. Thompson. They have a new and elegant hall, in Richards block, fitted up for their accommodation. The lodge has had a brief but suc- cessful carcer, and in 1877 had a membership of seventy-two, and no deaths had occurred in their ranks.
At the regular communication, Monday evening, July 3, 1876, the following officers were installed for the ensuing term : Cyrus A. Thompson, N. G. ; Charles H. Matthews, V. G. ; Charles M. Cummings, Rec. Sec. ; Philip Royce, Treas. ; Silas Coffin,
157
KNIGHTS OF HONOR.
Per. Sec. ; A. W. Clark, Warden ; Frank P. Meserve, C. ; Frank J. Latimer, R. S. N. G. ; Henry C. Tenney, L. S. N. G .; M. E. Hatch, O. G .; Lyman E. Hunter, I. G .; Sanford H. Bascom, R. S. V. G .; Rodney Tilton, L. S. V. G. ; R. M. J. Hastings, R. S. S. ; Charles H. Young, L. S. S. ; W. S. Kempton, Chaplain.
KNIGHTS OF HONOR. A lodge of this order was organized in Newport, May 2, 1876, by J. H. Wright, of Boston, Deputy Supreme Dictator, and is known as Mount Coit Lodge, K. of HI. The officers duly elected and installed at the first meeting were,-E. P. Fisher, Past Dictator ; George E. Dame, Dictator ; E. C. Converse, Vice-Dictator ; Dr. H. Tubbs, Assistant Dicta- tor ; Rev. A. S. Nickerson, Chaplain ; A. W. Rounsevel, Guide ; F. P. Meserve, Reporter ; G. C. Edes, Financial Reporter ; A. S. Chase, Treasurer ; C. H. Watts, Guardian ; S. S. Kimball, Sentinel ; T. B. Sanborn, M. D., Surgeon ; George E. Dame, T. B. Sanborn, E. C. Converse, Directors.
CHAPTER XXII.
EDUCATION.
S CHOOLS. The first record we find relating to schools is the following : "Nov. 23, 1772. Voted to build a house thirty by twenty feet, to be done the following July for public use, to be improved as a school-house, and for religious wor- ship." The educational interests of the town, thus early provid- ed for, have ever been regarded with watchful care.
" March 8, 1774. Voted that there shall be four pounds law- ful money paid out of the town treasury towards the support of a school the ensuing summer, to be paid in grain at the market price."
" March 14, 1775. Voted to pay five pounds lawful money worth of grain to support a school ; one half is to support a school in the summer, and the other half in the winter; wheat at 5s. per bushel, and rye at 3s. 9d. per bushel."
During the embarrassing times of the Revolution, no public funds were raised for the support of schools. They were then supported by voluntary contributions from those having schol- ars.
The Rev. Mr. Remele, after his settlement in 1783, was, in addition to his duties as pastor, a successful and popular teacher. The Rev. Mr. Wines is also remembered as an ex- cellent instructor, especially for those in the more advanced studies. Jonah Griswold was for many years a favorite teacher at Northville. Benj. Cummings, Arphaxad Whittlesy, Moses Chapin, William A. Chapin, John B. McGregor, Austin Cor- bin, William Claggett, Asa McGregor, William Heath, Bar- on Stow, D. D., Josiah Stevens, Bela Nettleton, Carleton Hurd, Eleazer Jackson, Benj. F. Sawyer, Laura Sawyer, Sam- uel Blanchard, William Young, Simeon Wheeler, Jr., John
159
EDUCATION.
Towne, M. Bradford Boardman, Orpha Fletcher, Ursula Kel- ley, and Augusta Jewett, are a few among those who have been prominent and successful teachers.
During the last century our school habits have in some re- spects greatly changed. In the earlier days women were em- ployed to teach the summer schools, and men had almost the ex- clusive management of the winter schools. Now men are rarely found in our school-rooms summer or winter. There are sev- eral reasons which have led to this change. Teaching is al- most the only profession open to women, and those seeking remunerative employment naturally press into it, while all professions are open to men. Again : it is found that women are better adapted by nature to take charge of the young ; that they are more patient, and are more apt in teaching ;- and another reason is, they are willing to work for less pay. It requires but little financial skill to show, that when the woman asks $io per week and the man $20, you pay the woman only half as much money as you do the man for the same amount of labor, and secure. at the same time, on an average, a better quality of work. Some think that the presence of a man in our schools is necessary to their complete success ; but in several important cities in the West, women only are employed as teachers, and with the most satisfactory results. This same tendency to employ women as teachers is manifest throughout the country. In Vermont and in New York city, ninety per cent. of all the teachers are women. Again : the free use of the rod, and the severer forms of corporal punishment which prevailed in the more Puritanical days, have given place to milder forms of discipline, which are more humane, and have proved quite as effectual.
DISTRICTS. The town was early divided into districts for purposes of schooling. District No. I embraced those on the Unity road, from the Fairbanks corner south ; No. 2, the terri- tory occupied by Main street ; No. 3, the region about Kelley- ville ; No. 4, East Mountain ; No. 5, East Newport ; and No. 6, the Northville district.
In 1837, Oliver Jenks. Jeremiah D. Nettleton, and Josiah Ste- vens. Jr., were appointed a committee to divide the town into school districts, who reported the boundaries substantially as they remained until IS76, when the abandonment of our hill
160
HISTORY OF NEWPORT.
farms, and a change in the population, caused some of the dis- tricts to be almost without scholars. A re-districting became necessary, and a committee, consisting of Ephraim E. P. Abbott, P. S. Adams, Edmund Wheeler, I. A. Reed, S. H. Edes, and Charles A. Silsby, was appointed for that purpose ; but no sat- isfactory plan of division has yet been matured.
THE UNION DISTRICT. In the spring of 1874 the four village districts voted, by a very large majority, to unite and form one district, for the purpose of grading the schools, and thus pro- moting their value and efficiency. A committee, consisting of E. Wheeler, J. L. Swett, and B. M. Gilmore, for District No. 2, Dexter Richards, S. H. Edes, L. W. Barton, and R. S. Howe, for No. S, F. W. Lewis, S. L. Bowers, and P. S. Coffin, for No. 14, and R. Huntoon, H. Call, and Simon A. Tenney, for No. 18, was appointed to settle upon the terms of union. Their report was adopted by an almost unanimous vote. At the first meeting of the district, which was held May 13, 1874, Rich- ard S. Howe, Edmund Wheeler, and George R. Brown were appointed a committee to procure the necessary rooms, supply the needed furniture, grade the scholars, adopt suitable rules, and put the schools in operation. The town, having the former town-hall and court-house building on hand, met, and voted to lease it to the Union district for school purposes for the term of ninety-nine years, provided they would fit it up and keep it in repair, and maintain in it, for a term of not less than twenty weeks in each year, a grammar school, without expense to the town, the inhabitants of other districts having the right to send their scholars to any grade in the school, by paying a reason- able tuition to assist towards defraying the running expenses of the school.
At the annual meeting, in the spring of 1876, the Union dis- trict voted to raise $600 in addition to the school-money required by law. This was done in order to secure the services of a permanent teacher, competent to manage the school and in- struct in the more advanced studies, and also to extend the three terms in the higher grades to twelve weeks each. This, after two years' experience. was deemed the wiser policy. In 1877 the sum of $400, and in 1878, $600, was raised for a like purpose. By an equitable distribution of the public school-
16I
EDUCATION.
money. it is thought the Union district could maintain. for thirty-six weeks in each year, a school, the grade of which should be sufficiently advanced to meet the wants of the public, and fit those that wished, for college, without additional tax- ation. The benefits resulting from grading the schools have exceeded the expectations of its most sanguine advocates.
The amount of school-money in Union district in IS77 was $2,123.06.
A law constituting a Board of Education was passed in June, IS77, at the suggestion of the committee of this district, who thought an independent action of the district would result in benefit to all concerned. At the annual meeting, in IS7S, the district adopted this law, and organized according to its provi- sions. They chose a board of education, consisting of Edmund Wheeler, Samuel H. Edes, George W. Britton, Thomas B. San- born, Albert S. Wait, and George E. Dame. This board organ- ized by chosing Edmund Wheeler, president, George E. Dame, secretary and treasurer, and Samuel H. Edes, financial agent.
The bell on the centre school-house, which is of steel, and cost some $125, was the gift of Thomas W. Gilmore, Esq., who, in his brief presentation speech, said he gave it, partly to testify how fully he appreciated the grand system which we had adopted for our schools, and partly that he might place a por- tion of his money in a position where he could hear it ring while he lived.
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, in the grammar room, was presented by George R. Brown and Miss Nettie L. Bartlett, the teachers.
The following persons have been superintending school com- mittees of the town :
Ephraim E. P. Abbott, Josiah Forsaith,
Paul S. Adams,
Joseph Freeman,
William H. H. Allen,
Foster Henry,
Edmund Burke, Edward Ingham,
Levi W. Barton, Oren C. Kibby,
Shepherd L. Bowers, Frederick S. Little,
George R. Brown, Ralph Metcalf, Amasa Edes, Charles W. Millen, Hubbard Newton,
Henry Cummings,
Bela Nettleton. Ira Person, Joseph W. Parmelee. Josiah Stevens, Jr.,
John L. Swett.
Benjamin F. Sawyer,
John Woods, Luther Walcott.
162
HISTORY OF NEWPORT.
In 1878, the board of education was elected ; and Albert S. Wait and Edmund Wheeler were assigned to the duties of su- perintendents for the Union district.
Rev. Paul S. Adams, of this town, was Common School Com- missioner for Sullivan county in 1860 and 1861, and Rev. C. M. Dinsmore held the same office in 1866.
The Sullivan County Teachers' Institute has held frequent sessions in this town since its establishment. These sessions have been well attended, useful to the teachers, and interesting to the public. Nearly every term has been attended by able and experienced instructors.
NEWPORT ACADEMY. The Newport academy was incorpo- rated June 24, 1819. A number of the citizens of this and the neighboring towns, wishing to give their children a more ad- vanced education than was to be had at our common schools, and in many instances to fit them for college, made a compact, whereby they were to hire a teacher, at a salary of $400,-a sum deemed ample to secure the desired talent,-and pledged each to contribute his share towards making up the deficiency in the preceptor's pay, if any should be found, after receiving the tuition of the scholars. The institution was for several years under the direction of a board of trustees, consisting of James Breck, Joseph Farnsworth, William Cheney, J. D. Walcott, John B. McGregor, Alexander Boyd, and Hubbard Newton. A catalogue, published in 1823, contained the names of 69 stu- dents,-48 gentlemen and 21 ladies. The building erected for this institution was located on the south side of Elm street, at the east end of the bridge. It was placed there to accommo- date the then comparatively large population on the west side of the interval. It was two stories high, and had ample rooms nicely fitted up. It was disposed of to District No. 2, and was finally destroyed by fire in 1843. When the Baptist church was remodelled, in 1841, and its audience-room raised several feet above the former floor, leaving a lower story, this was fitted up for an academy, and used for that purpose a number of years ; but the court-room, being a more central as well as a more attractive place, was mainly used for that purpose, and upon the formation of the Union district, in 1874, it was fitted
163
EDUCATION.
up, with the modern improvements, for the use of the high- school grade.
LIST OF TEACHERS IN NEWPORT ACADEMY AND IN THE HIGH SCHOOL.
1819. Wm. Shedd. 1855. John Paul.
1820. Christopher Marsh. 1857. R. M. Gunnison.
1821, '22, '23. Wm. Clark, A. B. 1858. H. F. Hyde, Miss A. C. Ba- ker, Ass't.
1825. Amasa Edes, B. Cook, Ass't.
IS25. Harriet Cook.
1859. Geo. B. Brooks, Miss F. A. Corbin, Ass't.
IS26. J. Peabody.
1827. Wm. Heath.
1862. Eugene Lewis, A. F. Glea- son, Ass't.
1828. Wm. Claggett.
1829. A. G. Hoyt, Miss S. Trask.
1829. Kendrick Metcalf.
1833. David Crosby.
1833. Ursula Kelley.
1839. M. L. Eastman.
IS40. Susan Woodard.
1870. Geo. R. Brown, Emily Leav- itt, Ass't.
1841. Miss Colby, dau. Gov. Colby. 1873. Susan C. Eastman.
IS42. Miss S. O. Dickey.
IS45. Abner S. Warner. Principals of the High School.
1848. Wm. M. Guilford.
IS48. J. C. Crooker.
1874. Geo. R. Brown, Miss Emily Leavitt.
1850. Charles H. Chapin.
IS51. C. F. Remick.
1875. H. A. Hutchinson, C. E. Blake, Geo. W. Dodge.
1876. Cynthia F. Paine.
1853. Mary B. Fitz. 1876 and 1877. Herbert J. Barton.
1853. M. Bradford Boardman.
1878. Frank S. Hotaling.
Miss Nettie L. Bartlett, an efficient teacher, had charge of the Grammar school in Union district during the first four years after its formation. It has since been under the care of Miss Mary Chellis, of Plainfield, an experienced and competent teacher.
The Intermediate department has been taught by Georgia C. Wilcox, Ida L. Dunbar, Lizzie Rider, Mary Stafford, and Mat- tie Chellis.
The " New Hampshire Gazeteer," printed in IS23, says,- "An academy was incorporated in ISIS, is without funds. and the average number attending it is about 35. The town is di- vided into 14 school-districts, in most of which are handsome
1862. Sarah G. Gregg.
1863. A. H. Kimball.
1865. Mary Dwinell Chellis.
1866. Alfred F. Howard.
1852. Levi W. Barton, Lizzie F. Jewett, Ass't.
164
HISTORY OF NEWPORT.
and convenient school-houses. The average number of schol- ars belonging to these districts is about 40 to each."
At the historical celebration, in 1846, when the town had been settled eighty years, it was reported that "thirty young men had received a collegiate education ; that no child had been allowed to come to maturity without being taught to read and write ; that, generally speaking, all had a good common- school education ; and that they had 19 school-districts, besides a high school in the village."
Rev. James R. Wheelock, at the Congregational church, was a son of President Wheelock, of Dartmouth college, and it is thought that this circumstance had a potent influence in turning the attention of our young men to college life.
In 1870, by the census, there were in town 17 schools ; 410 scholars,-224 males and 186 females ; average attendance, 315 ; per cent. of attendance, 77 ; average number weeks school. 25 ; value of school buildings, $5,000 ; annual amount appropriated to schools, $3.341 ; average to each scholar, $8.15. Amount of school-money in 1877, $3,868.21. Until 1875 the town raised only so much money as was required by the laws of the state, and then only in the Union district.
The following is an incomplete list of college graduates from Newport :
Names.
Where Graduated.
Profession.
Residence.
Ebenezer Allen
Dartmouth
Lawyer
Texas.
Worthen Hall Ames
Middleton . Dartmouth
Clergyman ... Physician .... ‹‹
Hartford, Vt.
Brooks Bowman.
Canada.
Bela Bowman
Glover, Vt.
Philander Bowman.
Horatio Buel.
Lawyer.
Glens Falls, N. Y.
Ira Bascom
Physician
Orwell, Vt.
Wm. Tully Bascom.
Middlebury.
Lawyer 66
Xenia, Ohio.
Wm. Franklin Bascom.
Washington, D. C.
Wm. Breck .
Dartmouth
James Breck, Jr.
Navy
Brimfield, Mass.
Herbert J. Barton
Dartmouth
Teacher.
Waukegan, Ill.
Wm. Chapin
Clergyman
Geneseo, Ill.
Addison N. Chapin.
Physician .
Winchester.
Charles H. Chapin
Lawyer
St. Louis, Mo.
Geo. F. Chapin
Amherst
Clergyman. . .
Alstead.
Simeon Chamberlain
Dartmouth
Washington.
Clifton Claggett
Physician. ...
Northfield, Vt.
Rufus Claggett.
Lawyer ..
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Erastus B. Claggett
Clergyman .. .
Lyndeborough.
Rochester, N. Y. Chicago, Ill.
Geo. Eugene Belknap ..
Annapolis, Md. Amherst
M. Bradford Boardman.
Clergyman ..
Greensboro', Vt.
Jason Chapin
Wm. Claggett.
Chelsea, Mass.
Samuel J. Allen.
165
EDUCATION.
Names.
Where Graduated.
Profession.
Residence.
Prentice Cheney.
Dartmouth
Physician ..
Frank HI. Carleton.
George Dustin
Samuel H. E'des.
Nathaniel W. Fisher
Clergyman. . .
W'm. J. Forsaith .
Lawyer
Quincy Adams Gimore. Carlos Gould.
Moses E. Hale
Cleveland, O. 46
Parker Hale.
Horatio Hale ..
Harvard.
Lawyer
David Emerson HIale
West Point
Army
W'm. George Hale. Solomon Heath ..
Harvard.
Lawyer ¥
Robert R. Heath.
Wm. Heath
Robert Hogge.
Carleton Hurd
Clergyman .. . in
Enoch Hutchinson.
Elijah Hutchinson.
Dartmouth
Alonzo King .
Waterville ...
Jacksonville, 111 ...
Charles Cotton Kimball.
Beloit
Erie, Penn.
Milton Kimball
Amherst.
Peter Kimball
Utica .
46
Amos B. Little.
Patent office ..
Henry H. Metcalf.
Editor ...
Kendrick Metcalf.
Clergyman .
Carlos G. Metcalf ..
Albany, N. Y
Physician .
Ralph Metcalf, Jr.,
Norwich
Banker.
Elias MeGregor.
John B. McGregor
Dartmouth
Hubbard Newton.
James Hill Parmelee.
Vale. Castleton, Vt .. Dartmouth
Physician . Clergyman .. Physician . . Clergyman .. Physician . . .
Henniker. Sullivan. Newport. Bingh'mpt'n, N. Y.
Ezra Parmelee .
Leonard E. Richardson
Harvard.
Bela Nettleton Stevens French A. Sawyer.
Middletown
Manufacturer. Clergyman .. . Physician . ... Clergyman ...
Springfield, V't.
Carlos Wilcox.
Middlebury
John Wilcox
Dartmouth
Uriah Wilcox
Broker.
Mason A. Wilcox
Ann Arbor
Physician.
John Woods, Jr.
Dartmouth
l'eacher.
Charles Woods
Williams
Lawyer
Simcon Watson
Physician
Abel Whipple.
Stoughton Whipple.
Cincinnati, Ohio .. Norwich.
Lawyer .
Hosea Wheeler ..
Dartmouth
Physician.
Wilham P. Wheeler
Harvard Law
Lawyer
Dartmouth
Clergyman
Springfield, Ohio. , Onio. Portsmouth, Va. Chicago. Keene. Newport.
Abijah Wines ... Jeremiah 1). Walcott.
Dartmouth
Canton, N. Y. Hartford, Conn. Washington, D. C.
Napa, Cal.
Ichabod Simmons
Langdon Sawyer
Dartmouth
Benjamin Sawyer
Troy. Nebraska City. Colchester, Vt. Newport. Newport. Zanesville, Ohio. Royalton, Ohio. St. Louis, Mo.
Charles Peabody
Leonard Peabody
Josiah Peabody
Solomon Peabody
Ira W. Peabody.
Clergyman . . Physician . Lawyer .. Clergyman.
Alvah Paul ..
Brown University. Ann Arbor, Mich. Dartmouth
Dover. Geneva, N. Y.
Lycurgus Kimball.
New York. l'hiladelphia, Pa. New Orleans, La. Belfast, Me. Jefferson, N. C.
Dartmouth =
Lawyer .. Clergyman. .. Lawyer ..
Matanzas, Cuba. Minneapolis. Peterborough. Newport. Sandusky, Ohio.
Amherst. Dartmouth
Speculator.
Boston, Mass. Grinnell, lowa.
Clergyman. Physician
Chicago, 111.
Fryeburgh, Me. Brooklyn, N. Y. Windsor, V't.
Westboro', Mass. Milford.
Augusta, Ill. Rochester, N. Y. Washington, D.C.
Newport. Riceborough, Ga. Lawrence, Mass. Norwich, N. Y. Minneapolis. Boston.
Simeon Wheeler, Jr
A large number of females have graduated at various insti- tutions.
CHAPTER XXIII.
TEMPERANCE.
TN all New England, prior to 1828, liquors of some kind were deemed an indispensable article in every family, and were used more or less freely by all. That the early settlers here were fully alive to their supposed beneficent qualities is suffi- ciently illustrated by the fact, that, tradition says, the first arti- cle of merchandise ever brought to town was a barrel of rum. All the stores and taverns were licensed to sell liquors, which they did freely ; and at musters, town-meetings, and on other public days, special licenses were granted to individuals to sell near the place of meeting. Behind the bar, in all our taverns, were shelves on which were displayed decanters containing all kinds of liquor. One end of a counter, in all our stores, was devoted to drinking purposes. Every family had one or more decanters, which were kept constantly filled. Spirit was used at all social gatherings, on all public days, and at weddings and funerals. The social customs were such that the decanter and the toddy-stick were considered as the symbols of welcome ; and the visitor who was not invited to a social glass hardly con- sidered himself as well treated. Rum, which was the general beverage, was drank in various combinations. I give the for- mula for some of its preparations as then used, as approved by the State Historian : "The most common drink was toddy, which was simply rum and water well sweetened ;- sling, used in cold weather, was rum and warm water sweetened ;- eggnog, which was an egg well beaten, into which was stirred sugar, milk, and rum ;- and flip, which was made by taking a mug of beer and sweetening it, into which was thrust a red-hot iron called a loggerhead, which made it foam ; into this was dashed the spirit, and on this was grated a little nutmeg,-and it was ready for use."
167
TEMPERANCE.
As illustrating the habits of the times, I quote from the ad- vertisements of our old merchants,-Cheney, Farnsworth, Net- tleton, and Gilmore,-as they appeared in the columns of the Spectator in 1824, 1825, and 1826. Under one head, they read almost uniformly thus : "GROCERIES. Brandy, Am. & Hol- land Gin; W. I. & N. E. Rum ; Gin ; Madeira, Malaga, Cur- rent & Port Wines ; Brown and Loaf Sugar; Teas, Coffee, Molasses & Starch,"-liquors always heading the list. And their books show that they were dealt out and used liberally by the whole community,-clergymen, deacons, church members, and the unconverted alike. Prior to 1828, two cider distilleries had been established for the manufacture of cider-brandy, which did a large business. The one at the top of Griffin hill, on the Unity road, was operated by Reuben Bascom, and the other, at Northville, was run by the Rev. Solomon Howe. Added to all this, the young orchards, which had been planted all over town, were yielding a bountiful harvest of apples, which were manufactured into cider, and large quantities were consumed annually, in some families amounting to many barrels. But this flood, which had so long inundated our town, was bound to see an ebb movement. Dr. Reuben Mussey, who stood at the head of the Medical college at Hanover, visited this town, Feb. 25, 1S2S, and delivered an address on "Rum : its history, its uses, and abuses." After which, on the same day, was formed the first "Society for the Promotion of Temperance" in town. The following are the names of its members :
Rev. John Woods,
Christopher Newton, 2d, Calvin Messinger,
Rev. Ira Person,
Col. Phinehas Chapin,
Carey Russell,
Capt. Matthew Buell,
Amasa Edes, Esq.,
Dea. Moses Noyes,
Matthew Buell, Jr.,
Hubbard Newton, Esq.,
Joseph Wilcox,
Dea. Joseph Farnsworth,
Capt. Seth Richards,
David Allen, Esq.,
Nathaniel O. Page,
Dr. John B. McGregor,
Charles H. E. Newton,
Dr. Alexander Boyd, Phinehas Newton,
Dunbar Aldrich,
Moses P. Durkee,
B. B. French. Esq.,
Josiah Stevens, Jr., Esq., James Wheeler, Cyrus Barton, Esq.,
Col. James D. Walcott, Joseph Kimball.
I68
HISTORY OF NEWPORT.
Col. Phineas Chapin was chosen president, John Woods and Ira Person, vice-presidents, Amasa Edes, Esq., secretary, and Alexander Boyd, John B. McGregor, Hubbard Newton, and Joseph Farnsworth, executive committee.
A committee reports, in 1829, a sale of 3,851 gallons in town, against 4,716 gallons sold the previous year, showing an im- provement of 865 gallons as the result of their year's labor.
This society was superseded Aug. 25, 1829, by a "Total Abstinence Society." A "Female Temperance Society" was also instituted the same year. In the September following, the Rev. Mr. Hewitt delivered an address at the South church to an audience estimated at nearly two thousand people.
In November, 1841, a new movement, called the " Washing- tonian," was inaugurated by Messrs. Butters and Northall, of Boston, who were reformed inebriates. It was sought by this movement to make converts to the cause by having " reformed inebriates" relate their sad experiences. At their first annual meeting they reported a membership of nearly five hundred persons ; and after the oration of Russell Streeter, on the follow- ing 4th of July, one hundred names more were added. In 1844, the selectmen were instructed not to license any store.
In 1849, three organizations were formed,-the "Sons of Temperance," the "Daughters of Temperance," and the " Ca- dets of Temperance," and exercised a potent influence for sev- eral years. They fitted up and dedicated a hall in Diamond mill. This year the hotels discontinued the liquor trade.
The "Good Templars," a society which met with closed doors, and to which ladies and gentlemen alike were admitted to membership, was started in January, 1867, and for several years exercised a healthful influence.
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