[121] Benjamin Locke, hogreeves; William Hill, 3d, tythingman; Major Josiah Whittemore, poundkeeper; Eben Swan, William Cutter, Jr., Nehemiah Cutter, Jonathan Frost, Adam Cutter, Amos Russell, field-drivers; John Tufts, clerk of the market; Samuel Butterfield, George Prentiss, Col. J. Wellington, Samuel Locke, Esq., and Ebenezer Hall, committee for the purpose of adjusting any matters or things in which said town of West Cambridge may be interested or liable in common with the town of Cambridge. The selectmen were chosen the school committee for the current year. Mention of contracting for the building of a town pound is made in 1807. In the same year the town was divided into four school districts, named the South, West, Middle and Eastern districts; the number of families in the town being 164. The South District, No. 1, containing 39 families; the Western District, No. 2, containing 42 families; the Middle District, No. 3, containing 42 families; the Eastern District, No. 4, containing 41 families. Four and a half months schooling for the year was adopted.
1808
In this year the Fourth of July ‘was celebrated in great style with a procession, military escort, and an oration in Mr. Fiske's Church, closing with a dinner in an orchard in the rear of Tufts's tavern.’—J. B. Russell's Reminiscences. The oration was delivered by the then master of the central school, near the church.The title-page is as follows: ‘An oration delivered at West Cambridge, July 4, 1808, in commemoration of the Anniversary of American Independence.—By William Nichols, Jun., of Westford.— Boston: Printed by Oliver and Munroe, No. 78 State Street. 1808.’ Pp. 21. John Adams and Artemas Kennedy signed a letter in behalf of the inhabitants of West Cambridge, requesting a copy for the press. Mr. Nichols in a modest answer, ‘requesting the exercise of all the candor and indulgence due to youth and inexperience,’ expresses his gratitude for the honor, and transmits a copy of his discourse for their further disposal. The address is mainly on governments, ancient and modern, and our own. He refers to the sensations of the fathers on the memorable morn of the 19th of April, 1775, ‘when the pale beams of the moon gleamed from the burnished armor of your enemies, ’
