to the majority, and preparations were made for building at once; but as the poet tells us, "The best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft a-gley." So it was in this case, for when the owner of the land came to be consulted, he positively refused to give or sell the land for the desired purpose, and the enterprise had to be abandoned, much to the disgust of all concerned. Their next attempt to build a meeting-house was on January 28, 1783, when they voted to build on the ministerial lot No. 5, in the first division of one hundred acre lots. They also voted to raise two hundred and fifty pounds for building purposes, chose a committee to oversee the work, and decided to have the house sixty feet long, and forty-eight feet wide. These resolutions met with so much opposition from those living in "old dominion," or extreme part of the town, that it was deemed impracticable to build on the lot selected. So, on February 10, 1783, they voted to build on "Mr. Osgood's hill" and also to reduce the appropriation from two hundred and fifty pounds to one hundred and fifty; also to have the house smaller, viz. fifty feet long and forty wide. These concessions, however, failed to satisfy certain disaffected ones, who, among other objections, argued that the town was too poor to expend money on a meeting-house; that the old fort was good enough for all who cared to attend divine worship; hinted that the place was quite as good as the preaching they heard when there, and that the money had better be expended for some more useful purpose, while several knowing ones stoutly : contended that all votes heretofore passed in regard to a meeting-house were illegal. In short, the meeting became so uproarious that it was thought best to adjourn for two days, which was accordingly done. At the adjournment, February 12, 1783, they again met, and the following is a true copy of the proceedings of that convocation: "Voted that all other votes in the former meetings concerning the meeting-house be reconsidered. Voted to build a decent meetinghouse in said town. Voted to see if the place might be on Mr. Osgood's hill, but negatived. Voted to see if the place might be on Mr. Joseph Blaney, Esqr.'s hill, but negatived. Voted to see if the place might be on the ministerial lot, but negatived. Voted to have the meeting-house built on Mr. Osgood's hill on the main road. Voted to see if the house be fifty feet long, and forty feet wide, but negatived. Voted to see if the house be forty-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide, but negatived. Voted to raise a sum of money to build the meeting-house, but negatived. Voted to dismiss all the other articles in the warning. Voted to dissolve the meeting. Richard Dole, Town Clerk." An old tradition tells us that notwithstanding all this opposition, the few who favored the movement erected a meeting-house frame on Esquire Blaney's hill and partly boarded the walls, but went no further with the undertaking, and afterwards sold it for other purposes. This locality was on the farm now (1897) owned by the heirs of Stephen Webb, and the building stood a few rods north of the present dwelling-house. At a town meeting held on April 8, 1784, the following votes appear on the old records: "Voted that there shall be a decent meeting-house built for the worship of God. Voted to see if the house should be at Mr. Joseph Blaney, Esqr.'s hill, but passed in the negative. Voted that the place for a meeting-house shall be on the land that Mr. Joseph Blaney, Esqr., Mr. Paul Little and Mr. Thomas Barker purchased of Mr. Thomas Millions for that purpose. Voted that the house be fifty feet long and forty feet wide. Voted that two hundred pounds be raised for building purposes. Voted that if any man should advance more than his part of the tax towards building the meeting-house, he shall be repaid out of the sale of the pews." From some cause these votes were not carried into effect, and at their next town meeting, held September 26, 1787, they voted to build the house by subscription, but it passed in the negative. Voted to build on the lot purchased by Esquire Blaney and others, and that the house be forty-six feet long and thirty-six feet wide. "Voted that if any person or persons have a mind to make an addition to said house it shall be their private property." Now if any good feeling had heretofore existed, this last vote utterly destroyed the last vestige, and Esquire Blaney, Capt. Barker and other influential men were most soundly berated and accused of all manner of misdemeanors, chief of which was a plan to get possession of the parish property and convert it to their own use. So the whole affair resulted in a total failure to build a house of worship. About this time the war took on a different aspect. So while we find no record of any attempt to erect a meeting-house for the next two years, the records. abound in resolutions in regard to the calling of councils to settle differences of opinion between the people and their pastor, which culminated at an ecclesiastical council, held in the old fort, October 8, 1790, when the connection which had so long existed between Rev. Mr. Smith and the people here was dissolved. At the same time the council frankly told the people that in order to promote their religious edification it was necessary for them to build a house for the public worship of God, but nothing appears to have been done in regard to the matter until December 10, 1794, when they voted to see if the town would agree on a spot for a meeting-house near Mr. Paul Little, Jr.'s, but passed in the negative. This spot was the one so often referred to as " Mr. Osgood's hill." At the same meeting they voted the spot should be near Mr. Robert Millions', after which they adjourned. In the course of the year 1795, this troublesome affair, which had lasted for more than thirty years, was finally settled, and a meeting-house was erected on the lot before referred to as the one purchased by Joseph Blaney and others for that purpose, and no more beautiful location could have been decided upon within the town limits. It contained two acres on the summit of a noble elevation of land from whence an extended view of the surrounding country was visible on all sides. The house was built according to the vote, fifty feet long and forty feet wide, two stories high, with a double row of windows, and was finished throughout in the same severe style of Orthodox churches, then common in New England. It remained the principal center of religious interest in the town for about forty years, or until 1834, when a church edifice was erected at Windham Hill, but as some of the church members still lived near the old tabernacle, services were held there a part of the time for several years. After these had joined the silent majority the old church stood deserted and alone until 1861, when it was sold, and now (1897) does duty as a barn in the south part of the town. THE INDIAN'S ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. THE SEQUEL TO THE WISCASSET TRAGEDY.1 BY REV. HENRY 0. THAYER. Read before the Maine Historical Society, February 24, 1898. Or the North American Indians, our historian, Bancroft, remarks, that their forms of government grew out of their passions and their wants; that in the lack of public justice each man was his own pro tector and became his own avenger. As with barbarous peoples generally, the principle of their jurisprudence was the lex talionis, blood for blood, harm for harm; yet the severity of this law was sometimes mitigated, whether by mercy or by greed, 1 Vide p. 81, ante. |