The duty of the deacon in this matter was
to walk up and down the aisles of the church at the close of each service
and deliver to the proper persons (proper in the deacon's halting human
judgment) the significant checks. The deacon had also to see that this
religionistic ticket was presented on the communion Sabbath. Great must
have been the disgrace of one who found himself checkless at the end of the
month, and greater even than the heart-burnings over seating the meeting
must have been the jealousies and church quarrels that arose over the
communion-checks. And yet no records of the protests or complaints of
indignant or grieving parishioners can be found, and the existence of
the too worldly, too business-like custom is known to us only through
tradition.
Many of the little chips called "Presbyterian checks" are, however, still
in existence. They are oblong discs of pewter, about an inch and a half
long, bearing the initials "P. P.," which stand, it is said, for "Pelham
Presbyterian." I could not but reflect, as I looked at the simple little
stamped slips of metal, that in a community so successful in the difficult
work of counterfeiting coin, it would have been very easy to form a mould
and cast from it spurious checks with which to circumvent the deacons and
preserve due dignity in the meeting.
The Presbyterian checks have never been attributed in Massachusetts to
other than the Pelham church, and are usually found in towns in the
vicinity of Pelham; and there the story of their purpose and use is
universally and implicitly believed.
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