neighbors.
The result of the purchase was to me a short experience as a drover.

As I recollect the experiences of my life on my father's farm, there
were many amusements and relaxations mingled with the hardships. In
the winter the house was cold, with only open fires for warming rooms.
We had, however, an abundance of wood, and in the evenings a supply of
cider, apples and nuts for ourselves and for the neighbors. There were
always one or two poor families in the neighborhood who enjoyed the
moderate comforts of our house. I recall one man, who after a visit
would stop at the pile of wood, near the house, and carry a backload to
his home. My father often saw the stealing, but the culprit never knew
from any word or act that he had been discovered or suspected.

The ponds and brooks in the vicinity gave us a chance for fishing, and
there was some shooting, especially of pigeons in the autumn. The oak
forests had not then fallen, and the pigeons were abundant in September
and until there were heavy night frosts, when they would leave for
milder regions. For several years my father baited pigeons, and caught
them in a net. To do this we were in the bough-house by daylight. A
wicked advantage was taken by soaking the grain in anise-seed cordial,
which made the birds noisy and active, thus attracting other pigeons
to the stand. The device of taking pigeons in a net and wringing their
necks is a brutal business, as is all slaughtering of animals.

From 1820 to 1830 religious controversies were violent and universal.
No one of the towns in Massachusetts was free from them. Under the
colonial system each town was a religious corporation as well as a
political one. There was one church and one meetinghouse in each town,
and the parochial expenses were paid from the municipal revenues. In
1780 when the constitution was adopted, some progress had been made,
but by the Third Article of the Bill of Rights, every citizen was
required to be a member of some religious society. As a result, new
societies were formed, and in many instances there were so organized
and managed as to avoid expenses. About the same time attacks were
made upon the Third Article of the Bill of Rights, and after an excited
controversy covering many years, the constitution was changed in that
respect, by an amendment in the nature of a substitute, which was
adopted by the people at an election held in the month of November,
1833. By that amend