ertain, and the
congregation had no notes, and many had no psalm-books, and hence no
words. So the psalms were "lined" or "deaconed"; that is, a line was
read by the deacon, and then sung by the congregation. Some psalms when
lined and sung occupied half an hour, during which the congregation
stood. There were but eight or nine tunes in general use, and even these
were often sung incorrectly. There were no church organs to help keep
the singers together, but sometimes pitch-pipes were used to set the
key. Bass-viols, clarionets, and flutes were played upon at a later date
in meeting to help the singing. Violins were too associated with dance
music to be thought decorous for church music. Still the New England
churches clung to and loved their poor confused psalm-singing as one of
their few delights, and whenever a Puritan, even in road or field, heard
the distant sound of a psalm-tune he removed his hat and bowed his head
in prayer.

Contributions at first were not collected by the deacons, but the entire
congregation, one after another, walked up to the deacons' seat and
placed gifts of money, goods, wampum, or promissory notes in a box. When
the services were ended, all remained in the pews until the minister and
his wife had walked up the aisle and out of the church.

The strict observance of Sunday as a holy day was one of the
characteristics of the Puritans. Any profanation of the day was
severely punished by fine or whipping. Citizens were forbidden to fish,
shoot, sail, row, dance, jump, or ride, save to and from church, or to
perform any work on the farm. An infinite number of examples might be
given to show how rigidly the laws were enforced. The use of tobacco was
forbidden near the meeting-house. These laws were held to extend from
sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday; for in the first instructions
given to Governor Endicott by the company in England, it was ordered
that all in the colony cease work at three o'clock in the afternoon on
Saturday. The Puritans found support of this belief in the Scriptural
words, "The evening and the morning were the first day."

A Sabbath day in the family of Rev. John Cotton was thus described by
one of his fellow-ministers:--

"He began the Sabbath at evening, therefore then performed family
duty after supper, being longer than ordinary in exposition. After
which he catechized his children and servants, and then returned to
his study. The morning fo