Historic leaves, volume 3, April, 1904 - January, 1905

‘ [45] but on the Lord's Day, it was voted to visit the school every three months with one of the ministers of the town, & to use our best endeavors to put a stop thereto, & to begin to-morrow, the day Mr. Sweetser takes possession. Accordingly, the selectmen, with Rev. Mr. Hull Abbott, visited the school, and told the scholars they were determined the guilty should not go unpunished; after which Mr. Abbott exhorted them in a solemn manner & concluded with prayer.’

October 19. ‘The selectmen with Rev. Mr. Prentise visited the school & think the method will have the desired effect. The visit ended with prayer.’

There is frequent mention of ‘visiting day’ up to 1775; after that date, to the end of the century, though not a matter of record, except at intervals, it was evidently a custom held in high respect. The august body of selectmen was sometimes increased on these occasions by the presence of the overseers of the poor. One of the ministers was always invited, and often he was accompanied by his deacons. From these visits we learn that the schools were in session six days in the week. Frequently the hour set was 10 o'clock on Saturday.

The two ministers whom we have named for many years exercised their hortatory powers on the Charlestown boys. The following digression may not be uninteresting. In 1733 the town built a ministerial house for Mr. Abbott, ‘50 ft. by 19 ft. and 18 ft. high, with a gambrel roof, three stacks of chimneys, & a room 10 ft. square at the backside for a study.’ On the death of Mrs. Abbott in 1763, there was a public funeral, and the amount raised was £ 414 4s. 10d., or, in lawful money, £ 55 4s. 7d. At the funeral of the worthy gentleman himself, who was buried at the expense of the town, some of the charges were: For twelve gold rings, £ 8; for Lisbon wine, Malaga wine, and W. I. rum, £ 5 16s. 8d.; for lemons, sugar, pipes, and tobacco, £ 3 8s. 6d.; gloves, £ 40 1s. 6d.; deathshead and cross bones, fifteen shillings. The Rev. Thomas Prentice died June 17, 1782, and that day a special town meeting was called, to see what action the citizens would take ‘relative to the funeral.’