To the construction
of this house all the town contributed, as also to the building of the
meeting-house; some gave work; some, the use of a horse or ox-team; some,
boards; some, stones or brick; some, logs; others, nails; and a few, a very
few, money. At the house-raising a good dinner was provided, and of course,
plenty of liquor. Some malcontents rebelled against being forced to work on
the minister's house. Entries of fines are common enough for "refusing
to dig on the Minister's Selor," for neglecting to send "the Minister's
Nayles," for refusing to "contribute clay-boards," etc. As with the
town-lot, the house sometimes was a gift outright to the clergyman, and
ofttimes the ownership was retained by the church, and the free use only
was given to each minister.
It was a universal custom to allow free pasturage for the minister's
horse, for which the village burial-ground was assigned as a favorite
feeding-ground. Sometimes this privilege of free pasturage was abused. In
Plymouth, in 1789, Rev. Chandler Robbins was requested "not to have more
horses than shall be necessary, for his many horses that had been pastured
on 'Burial Hill'" had sadly damaged and defaced the gravestones,--perhaps
the very headstones placed over the bones of our Pilgrim Fathers.
The "strangers' money," which was the money contributed by visitors who
chanced to attend the services, and which was sometimes specified as "all
the silver and black dogs given by strangers," was usually given to the
minister.
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