s' seats were removed from the pulpit stairs
they were all turned in together in a "boys' pew" in the gallery. There
was a boys' pew in Windsor, Connecticut, as late as 1845, and pretty
noisy it usually was. A certain small boy in Connecticut misbehaved
himself on Sunday, and his wickedness was specified by the justice of
peace as follows:--

"A Rude and Idel Behaver in the meeting hous. Such as Smiling and
Larfing and Intiseing others to the Same Evil. Such as Larfing or
Smiling or puling the hair of his nayber Benoni Simkins in the time
of Publick Worship. Such as throwing Sister Penticost Perkins on
the Ice, it being Saboth day, between the meeting hous and his
plaes of abode."

I can picture well the wicked scene; poor, meek little Benoni Simpkins
trying to behave well in meeting, and not cry out when the young "wanton
gospeller" pulled her hair, and unfortunate Sister Perkins tripped up on
the ice by the young rascal.

Another vain youth in Andover, Massachusetts, was brought up before the
magistrate, and it was charged that he "sported and played, and by
Indecent gestures and wry faces caused laughter and misbehavior in the
beholders." The girls were just as wicked; they slammed down the
pew-seats. Tabatha Morgus of Norwich "prophaned the Lord's daye" by her
"rude and indecent behavior in Laughing and playing in ye tyme of
service." On Long Island godless boys "ran raesses" on the Sabbath and
"talked of vane things," and as for Albany children, they played hookey
and coasted down hill on Sunday to the scandal of every one evidently,
except their parents. When the boys were separated and families sat in
pews together, all became orderly in meeting.

The deacons sat in a "Deacons' Pue" just in front of the pulpit;
sometimes also there was a "Deaf Pue" in front for those who were hard
of hearing. After choirs were established the singers' seats were
usually in the gallery; and high up under the beams in a loft sat the
negroes and Indians.

If any person seated himself in any place which was not assigned to him,
he had to pay a fine, usually of several shillings, for each offence.
But in old Newbury men were fined as high as twenty-seven pounds each
for persistent and unruly sitting in seats belonging to other members.

The churches were all unheated. Few had stoves until the middle of this
century. The chill of the damp buildings, never heated from autumn to
spring, and closed and