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��MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN HOPKINTON.
��unaccustomed ceremonies. When, for ' the first time, the choir of the Episco- pal church chanted the Gloria Patri, which before had been read only, an in- dignant lady abruptly shut her prayer book in unfeigned disgust. The great- er jealousy formerly existing between different denominations is well known. It is said this inharmonious feeling was once sought to serve an innovating use. A person prominent in musical circles sought to influence the leading minds of the Congregational church in favor of the purchase of a bass viol. As an extreme argumentative resort he sug- gested, "The poor, miserable Baptists have got one. " Tradition, however, doesn't relate the effect of this sugges-
��tion.
��COMMERCIAL.
��The country store of the earliest times was a more emphatic collection of multitudinous varieties of articles, if possible, than the later place of local public traffic. Then, as now, the local store was the principal resort of the great commonalty. Men of special vo- cations sometimes took a Stock of pro- ducts to the lower country and bartered for goods to bring back and distribute among their neighbors, and the itiner- ant merchant, or pedlar, reaped a much better harvest than now ; but the country store was a popular necessity and well patronized. At first there was less trading in domestic luxuries ; the goods in store represented the common necessities. Since the popular idea of necessity does not fully exclude the il- lusory principle, we have to admit rum, gin, brandy, etc., into the former list of domestic staples. Cash and barter were entertained by every tradesman, to whom the populace largely looked for advantageous exchanges of sub- stance. The progress of the settlement was attended by the extension, and to some extent by the classification, of trade till the time when Hopkinton as- sumed the commercial importance de- scribed in a previous article.
The currency employed in the trans- action of business was at first nominally English, though Spanish milled dollars
��were in circulation. One of the incon- veniences of the early settlers of New England was a scarcity of money. The different provincial governments sought to relieve the public financial burdens by the issue of Bills of Credit, a cur- rency mentioned in the records of this town as " old tenor." Such a circulating medium in such a time could only de- preciate in value, but, following a cus- tom obtaining in the old country, the purchasing value of these bills could from time to time be fixed by the local legislatures. About the year 1750, it was established throughout the provinces that jQi in the currency of the Bills of Credit should be equivalent to two shil- lings and eight pence lawful money, and that six shillings should be equal to one dollar.
The preliminary events of the Revo- lution involved the establishment of a system of Continental currency. At the time of the first issue of a paper circu- lating medium, in 1775, the Continental notes were nearly at par with gold, but they soon fell to comparative nothing- ness in value. The effect of this col- lapse in monetary matters was amply illustrated in the public transactions of the town of Hopkinton. At a town meeting held in 1781, it was voted that the price of a day's work on the highway, by a man, should be $30 ; the price of a day's work by a yoke of oxen, $30 ; the price of a plow and cart, $10 each. The salary of the Rev. Elijah Fletcher, second minister of the town, was also voted to be $4000 for the year, but the reverend pastor prefered to accept ^70" in gold equivalents, and declined the .larger nominal sum. The success of the American cause, and the permanent ^ establishment of the public credit, gave a correspondingly improved aspect to local affairs, and in later times this town has experienced fluctuations in prices in common with the general country.
During the period of Hopkinton's greater importance as a commercial sta- tion, a bank was maintained here for a few years. The institution was known as the Franklin Bank, and was incorporated in 1833. The grantees were Horace Chase, Nathaniel Oilman, Isaac Long,
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