HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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[468] his horse, and then takes his wife upon a pillion behind him. If it be rainy, the oxen are hitched to the cart, and chairs and logs make seats within it; and thus the family go together. If the father be one of the appointed “watchers,” then he must take his gun and ammunition, and be ready to repel any savage attack. Public worship began at eleven o'clock; and the morning service was a glass and a half long; that is, it ended at half-past 12. The half-hour of intermission was spent in and around the meeting-house; and friends met there that could not get within speaking distance at any other time. The young folks were apt to huddle up together, and did not always talk about religion. The services of the afternoon were concluded at half-past 2; and our family on the banks of the Mystic have reached home in one hour afterwards. The pillion, for safe keeping, is put under the bed, the saddle hung up in the barn, and the horse turned out to pasture. The family are now ready for a meal, which unites dinner and supper; and forth from the oven come that pot of beans with its coronal pork, and that Indian pudding, all perfectly done, having been in prison about twenty-four hours. Grace being said, the pudding is the first dish; and it is a delicious dish too. The color of the pudding is a deep, rich amber; and the juice or jelly is abundant. Hunger is the best sauce; but it does not need that to make this savory. Two plates-full apiece scarcely satisfy the young folks. The beans come next; and this strong and hearty food is eaten with a relish; though it will taste better to-morrow, when no pudding precedes it. When the dinner seems to be over, the mother opens the table-drawer; and lo! a nice apple-pie! Appetite comes again at the sight of new delicacies; and it takes no logic to convince the children that a slice of that pie will do them good. During the dinner, they have talked about those they saw at meeting, and each narrated what news he had found. The father had heard how much money was sunk by Mr. Cradock in his fishing speculation; and the reading boy had brought home J. Janeway's Address to citizens of London, after the great fire of 1666, just published. The first act after Sunday dinner was to take off the Sunday clothes. Each one does this; and then the mother assembles her children around her, each seated on his block; and she hears them repeat the Catechism, and then endeavors to impress their minds with the truths which the sermons of the day have set forth. During this last exercise,