" No
rheumatic-y draughts, no bronchitis-y damps, no pure air was allowed to
enter the New England meeting-house. The church doubtless took a vote
before it allowed a single window to be opened.
In Westfield, Massachusetts, the boys became so abominably rampant that the
church formally decided "that if there is not a Reformation Respecting
the Disorders in the Pews built on the Great Beam in the time of Publick
Worship the comite can pul it down."
The fashion of seating the boys in pews by themselves was slow of
abolishment in many of the churches. In Windsor, Connecticut, "boys' pews"
were a feature of the church until 1845. As years rolled on, the tithingmen
became restricted in their authority: they could no longer administer "raps
and blows;" they were forced to content themselves with loud rappings on
the floor, and pointing with a staff or with a condemning finger at the
misdemeanant. At last the deacons usurped these functions, and if rapping
and pointing did not answer the purpose of establishing order (if the boy
"psisted"), led the stubborn offender out of meeting; and they had full
authority soundly to thrash the "wretched boy" on the horse-block. Rev. Dr.
Dakin tells the story that, hearing a terrible noise and disturbance while
he was praying in a church in Quincy, he felt constrained to open his eyes
to ascertain the cause thereof; and he beheld a red-haired boy firmly
clutching the railing on the front edge of the gallery, while a venerable
deacon as firmly clutched the boy.
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