proposed new township. In this remonstrance every statement of the petitioners was denied, and the whole thing denounced as visionary. This matter engrossed the attention of both parties during 1790, and the result was that the General Court refused to incorporate the new town.

After such a vigorous contest a brief breathing spell was necessary; but Sept. 7, 1791, the town voted, forty-one to twenty-three, "to erect a new meeting-house in the centre of the town, or in the nearest convenientest place thereto." This double-barrelled superlativeness shows that the spirit of the people was by no means cast down by the fruitless struggle of five years. At this meeting a committee was appointed to plan a new house. Oct. 10, this committee reported to the town "to build a house sixty by forty-six feet, with a porch at each end twelve by eleven feet, with stairs into the galleries." There were to be forty-six pews on the ground floor, and twenty-five in the galleries, to be sold to the highest bidders, and three years were to be allowed in which to build the house. This report was accepted at a meeting held Nov. 14, 1791. A committee was also chosen to clear a site upon the land purchased of Thomas Boynton and build the house. Dec. 27, 1791, the town with its usual consistency voted "to dismiss the committee chosen to build a new meeting-house from further service." Thus the matter again stood as at the beginning.

For nearly three years thereafter the pot continued to boil, but nothing more was done about church affairs in town meeting, except that on May 17, 1793, the people showed their obstinacy by refusing "to repair the meeting-house windows, and to paint the outside of the meeting-house."

Sept. 3, 1794, operations were again renewed by voting "to erect a meeting-house in the centre of the town, or in the nearest convenientist place thereto, to accommodate the inhabitants thereof for divine worship." Three disinterested individuals, Joseph Stearns and David Kilburn of Lunenburg, and Benjamin Kimball of Harvard, were chosen by ballot as a committee to discover that much-to-be-desired spot, "the nearest convenientist place to the centre." They found the centre to be a little less than a quarter of a mile north-east of the pound, but considered the most eligible location for the house to be about a half a mile south of this point, which would have placed it near the present junction of Main and

River Streets.

Oct. 21 a meeting was called to hear their reportand it was rejected 36 to 29. So the opinions of interested and disinterested persons seem to have been considered of about equal value as good for nothing.

Nov. 21, 1794, a motion "to place the meeting-house on the spot where the committee out of town proposed" was negatived, forty-eight to forty-five. A committee was then appointed to select a suitable place. Dec. I this committee reported in favor of "setting the meeting-house near the high bridge, under the hill" (the place the out-of-town committee had proposed). This report was accepted, sixty-one to forty-seven. A town meeting was

therefore called Jan. 8, 1795, to choose a committee to purchase the land agreed upon; but at the meeting the town refused to choose such a committee, and so ended the plan of building a meeting-house there.

Jan. 26, 1795, the town voted "to erect a meeting-house on the town's land they purchased of Thomas Boynton, about five rods south-west from a large white oak tree, and to pattern it after the Leominster meeting-house." It was to be completed by the last day of December, 1796.

Feb. 9, 1795, the town chose a committee of three "to view Ashburnham meeting-house, and take a plan of the inside, and consult with Asa Kendall of Ashby for the mode of finishing the inside, and laying a plan for building the house." A week later the report of this committee was heard and accepted, and it was voted to pattern the new house after the one in Ashburnham, "Likewise voted to have the length of said house sixty-two by forty-eight feet, the posts to said house to be twenty-seven feet in length, and that the undertaker to build the house give bonds, with good bondsmen, to fulfil the contract." The contract was given to John Putman, Jr. Then followed other town meetings which regulated the size of joists to be used, and other minor matters that need not be here dwelt upon. Sept. 1, 1795, a committee of five was chosen "to stake out and oversee the clearing and levelling of the meeting-house spot for the underpinning on the town land." At this meeting it was also voted "that the Selectmen lay out a four-rod road in the best place to accommodate the travel to the new meeting-house spot."

At this time plans seem to have been perfected, and the prospect

of a new house on the town land tolerably assured; but Oct. 19, 1795, everything was completely upset. On that day a meeting was called "to know the sense of the town whether the former vote in placing said meeting-house should be altered." After some wrangling, it was decided by a vote of forty-four to thirty "to place the new meeting-house at the crotch of the roads, near Capt. William Brown's house" (very near the present junction of Main, Mechanic, and Academy Streets). This decision was final. It is rather difficult to see how it happened to be, for this site was a little east of the town land. The opposition put in one final blow in this way. It was designed to have the house face directly "down street" and the underpinning was laid with a view to this, but the opposition party mustered enough strength to change the plan so that it should face the south and "stand cornerwise to the street."

settled, and early in the This was of course an

So the momentous question was finally summer of 1796 the raising occurred. event of great importance, and extensive preparations were made to celebrate it. On May 9, 1796, a town meeting was called "to see if the town will make any provision for the refreshment of the Raisers and also the Spectators that shall attend upon the raising of the new meeting-house.' It was then and there voted most amicably and unanimously "that the town provide one barrill W. I. Rum and Loaf Sugar sufficient to make it into Toddy for refreshment for the Raisers and Spectators that shall attend the raising of the new meeting-house." A committee was also chosen, consisting of Deacon Daniel Putman, Deacon Ephraim Kimball, Deacon Kendall Boutelle, Reuben Smith, Joseph Polley, Dr. Jonas Marshall, and Asa Perry, "to deal out the Liquor to the Raisers and Spectators on Raising Day." It would seem as if a barrel of rum would suffice to make enough toddy to satisfy the cravings of all that would gather to witness this raising, but the people were evidently overflowing with hospitality, and bound to have a rousing time after waiting for it so long, for before the adjournment of the meeting it was voted "that the committee to deal out the Liquor and Sugar sufficient for the Raisers and Spectators, in case the barrill of W. I. Rum and Sugar already voted should be insufficient, procure more and bring in their account to the town for allowance."

This was the only meeting in ten years where there was no contention or bitterness of feeling. For once these good people were all of the same mind, and a "barrill of W. I. Rum," which in these days gives rise to such excited controversy, in the presumably degenerate days of 1796 acted like oil upon the troubled

waters.

The raising came off successfully, but it is not definitely stated how much rum was consumed thereat. However here is a copy of the order to reimburse Deacon Boutelle for the refreshment expenses.

"Fitchburg, May ye 12: 1796.

"To Ebenezer Thurston Town treasurer you are hereby Directed to pay De Kendall Boutwell thirty eight Dollars and one Cent it being for providing Rum and Shugar for the Raising of the new Meeting house and this with his Rec' shall be your Discharge for the above sum

DC 38 1

JOHN THURSTON
PAUL WETHERBEE

}

Selectmen."

On the back of this order is written the receipt and settlement as follows:

1796

"may y 12 Recd a Note in behalf of the Town of fitchburg of thirty Eight Dollers and one Sent in full of the within Order

"KENDAL BOUTELL"

"April 19:1797 Order Settled with the treasurer "

Such in substance was the controversy about the location of the meeting-house. The contest was characterized by zeal, obstinacy, and bitterness, manifested equally by both factions, and so fierce was the strife that the people of adjoining towns, for miles around, were in the habit of flocking into Fitchburg to attend town meetings.

The edifice was dedicated Jan. 19, 1797, Rev. Zabdiel Adams of Lunenburg preaching the sermon. This house became, a few years later, the church of the First Parish (Unitarian) in Fitchburg, and stood until 1836, when it was removed, and a brick church, now standing, was built by the Unitarians on nearly the same site.

ABBOT ACADEMY.*

BY ANNIE SAWYER DOWNS.

JOSEPH COOK says, "Andover, Mass., has founded several new institutions. Under the elms on Andover Hill is a study, in which a prayer-meeting was once held weekly to devise ways and means of doing good. There originated the first religious newspaper. There began its existence an American Tract Society which now sifts its printed counsels, like the dew, over a hemisphere. There, in imitation of a Scottish custom, was instituted. the American missionary monthly concert of prayer, in response to the wants of an American Missionary Society, also originating in Andover, and on whose operations now the moon goes not down by night nor the sun by day. There had its birth the American Education Society, which to-day rings its college bells all the way from Niagara to the Yosemite. There was commenced the American Temperance Society, which in our crowded cities has before it a work of which even wakeful eyes do not yet see more than a glimpse of the importance." It was, therefore, natural that the first incorporated school for the higher education of girls in this Commonwealth should find its birthplace in Andover; and that the first public meeting of which we have any record whose sole object was the education of girls, should have been held in its South parish, Feb. 19, 1828, at the house of James Locke, Esq. The meeting adjourned after voting "that it was desirable and necessary a female academy should be established in this place," leaving the matter in the hands of a committee who were to raise funds and see if a lot of land could be obtained. At the next meeting, on the 4th of March, only a fortnight later, this committee reported that the way was clear to draw up a constitution, buy a lot of land, erect a brick building two stories high, for which funds should be raised by subscription, and that

* Abbot Academy, then called Abbot Female Academy, was incorporated Feb. 26, 1829; Moravian Brothers established schools for girls, Bethlehem, Pa., 1749; Rev. Joseph Emerson opened seminaries for girls in Byfield, Saugus, and Wethersfield, 1815; charter obtained for Adams Academy, Derry, N. H., 1823; Miss Lyon's seminary, Ipswich, 1828; Bradford Academy limited its work to girls, 1836; Mount Holyoke, 1835; Vassar College, Smith College, and Wellesley College later, but dates are uncertain, as confusion results from lack of definiteness as to whether they represent the year of founding, opening, or incorporation.