History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

584 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [180O.
A Pauper Proposi- A proposal Came before the town in re-
*i"°- gard to a contract to keep Thomas Starr, a
pauper, during life. This was not quite in
keeping with the method of caring for the town poor,
then in practice. The people were not ready to make a life
contract of that nature, so the suggestion found no favor.
South street Reduced During the uext year Lickihgwater Street
in Width. (South Street) was reduced in width.
Land on each side of the highway was
sold to the abuttors at the rate of £25 per acre. To what
extent the roadway was narrowed is not shown, but appar-
ently every resident was ready to buy. The names of six
persons are recorded as purchasing on the north side and
eight on the south side of the street.
In November, the usual vote to hire a singing-master,
this time for two months, was passed. The next month no
less than eleven persons were ordered out of town, to de-
part within fifteen days.
Preserving Order on In March, 1800, the tithiug-meu were dithe
Sabbath. rccted to complaiu to a Justice of the Peace
of any disorderly persons on the Sabbath,
and instructed to prevent boys from leaving their seats
until the service was ended. The authority of the tithingmen
seems to have been set at naught. Boys, always restless
and uneasy, anxious to escape from the tiresome and
tedious exercises, stampeded before the last amen had been
uttered, greatly to the disturbance of all sober and deco-
rous worshipers. All attempts, however, to discipline
them seem to have failed. Throughout the history of the
town down to the commencement of the present century,
there is constant reference to disorderly youth, particularly
in the meeting-house. Many stringent votes were passed,
and not a few by-laws adopted for the purpose of correcting
this evil, but apparently without avail. All through
this history, attempts to subdue the irreverence of children
during religious services on the Sabbath, have been repeatedly
noted. The youth of those days were incorrigible.