Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 22.

[p. 73] could not endure it any longer; and he rose in his pew, beckoned to Bailey, and said, ‘Hadn't you better take another pitch?’ Bailey replied ‘No sir; I guess we can get through it.’

This Ephraim Bailey must have been possessed of a strong voice, as he was qualified and ‘approved to sell goods at public vendue and outcry,’ i.e., an auctioneer. He was constable and warned town-meeting, was also collector of taxes—not elected or appointed, but purchasing the position by bidding the lowest percentage.

Samuel Wiatt was in 1819 on ‘Apr 1 recommended as a suitable person to keep tavern in the house lately occupied by Seth Mayo,’ and on ‘Apr 3 Isaac Blanchard in house lately occupied by his father [Hezekiah Jr] deceased.’

Medford had in 1821 (See Register, Vol. XIX, p. 80) 152 1/2 houses (probably in 1819 less than 150) and four distilleries. How many of these houses remain today we cannot say with certainty, though we are sure of twenty westward from Medford square. Two of the distilleries remain intact but devoted to other uses. All four, with by far the larger proportion of the dwellings, were east and south of the old market-place. Within our own recollection there has been an occasional demolition, though mainly there has by careful repair been a survival of the fittest.

We have presented an abstract covering features of the town administration of 1819. We may read between the lines and contrast the Medford of that day and its conditions with those of 1919. One thing will stand out noticeably, the disproportionate burden that Medford was bearing then in the support of its poor—and we may well ask the cause. That ill conditions existed, and that they were evident to the thinking men of that day is seen in the formation of this society with a long name. It is by no means likely that many of those ninety-six were total abstainers, perhaps none, but they took a step in the right direction. Many were sensible of the gravity of the situation after fifteen years had