1676.
April 20th. "Ordered by ye Selectmen yt the three Constables doe
attend att ye three great doores of ye meeting house every Lord's
day att ye end of sermon, boath forenoone and afternoone and to
keep ye doors fast and suffer none to goe out before ye whole
exercise bee ended, unless itt be such as they conceive have
necessary occasion and to take notice of any such as shall
presume to goe forth as above said and present their names as ye
law directs. Ordered that all ye boys of ye towne are and shall
bee appointed to sitt upon ye three paire of staires in ye
meeting house on the Lord's day and Wm. Lord is appointed to look
to the boyes yt sitt upon ye pulpit staires and for ye other
staires Reuben Guppy is to look to and order soe many of ye boyes
as may be convenient and if any are unruly to present their names
as ye law directs."
On Sundays, P.M. when sermon is ended, the people in the
galleries come down and march two abreast up one ile and down
another until they come before the desk, for _pulpit they have
none_. Before the desk is a long pue where the Elders and Deacons
sit, one of them with a money box in his hand, into which the
people as they pass, put their offerings, some _1s._, some _2s._
or a half crown, or _5s._, according to their ability and good
will, after this they conclude with a psalm.
While in 1814 in some parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire the
tithingmen felt obliged to issue an address of warning to the public, in
Boston in 1815 Sunday seems to have been well observed. We copy two notices
from the "Salem Gazette."
_To the Public._
AS the profanation of the Lord's Day is inconsistent with the
welfare of society and a gross violation of the laws of the
State; therefore we the undersigned, being appointed Tithingmen,
give notice to the public, that we are under oath, and it has
become our indispensable duty to prosecute all, who wilfully
violate the laws with respect to the Lord's Day.
And we hereby request all persons, to abstain on the Lord's Day
from travelling, from worldly business and amusement, and thus
relieve us from the painful necessity of prosecuting for a
violation of the laws of the State.
[_Signed by the Tithingmen of Concord, N.H. Salem, N.H. Bradford,
Ms. Andover, Reading, Tewksbury, Beverly, Manchester, Hamilton,
Ipswich, and Wilmington._]
Aug. 6, 1814.
* * * * *
BOSTON JUNE 1.--At the meeting on Monday last, the town of Boston
evinced its good sense by voting to postpone the choice of
_Tythingmen_ till the first Monday of March next. We venture to
assert, that in no district in the universe, of the extent and
population of Massachusetts, is the Sabbath more decently and
_sincerely_ observed.
* * * * *
Law against keeping barber's shops open on Sunday morning in Salem in
1804:--