Other ministers did not hesitate to demand their cord-wood most openly,
while still others became adepts in hinting and begging, not only for wood,
but for other supplies. It is told of a Newbury parson that he rode from
house to house one winter afternoon, saying in each that he "wished he had
a slice of their good cheese, for his wife expected company." On his way
home his sleigh, unfortunately, upset, and the gathering darkness could not
conceal from the eyes of the astonished townspeople, who ran to "right the
minister," the nine great cheeses that rolled out into the snow.
Another source of income to New England preachers was the sale of the
gloves and rings which were given to them (and indeed to all persons of
any importance) at weddings, funerals, and christenings. In reading Judge
Sewall's diary one is amazed at the extraordinary number of gloves he thus
received, and can but wonder what became of them all, since, had he had
as many hands as Briareus, he could hardly have worn them. The manuscript
account-book of the Rev. Mr. Elliot, who was ordained pastor of the New
North Church of Boston in 1742, shows that he, having a frugal mind, sold
both gloves and rings. He kept a full list of the gloves he received, the
kid gloves, the lambswool gloves, and the long gloves,--which were for his
wife. It seems incredible, but in thirty-two years he received two thousand
and nine hundred and forty pairs of gloves.
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