-and-twenty years of age and upwards.
The people tax themselves. Once each year, usually in March but
sometimes as early as February or as late as April, a "town-meeting"
is held, at which all the grown men of the township are expected to be
present and to vote, while any one may introduce motions or take part
in the discussion. In early times there was a fine for non-attendance,
but at is no longer the case; it is supposed that a due regard to his
own interests will induce every man to come.

The town-meeting is held in the town-house, but at first it used to be
held in the church, which was thus a "meeting-house" for civil as well
as ecclesiastical purposes. At the town-meeting measures relating
to the administration of town affairs are discussed and adopted or
rejected; appropriations are made for the public expenses of the
town, or in other words the amount of the town taxes for the year is
determined; and town officers are elected for the year. Let us first
enumerate these officers.

[Sidenote: Selectmen.]
The principal executive magistrates of the town are the selectmen.
They are three, five, seven, or nine in number, according to the size
of the town and the amount of public business to be transacted. The
odd number insures a majority decision in case of any difference of
opinion among them. They have the general management of the public
business. They issue warrants for the holding of town-meetings, and
they can call such a meeting at any time during the year when there
seems to be need for it, but the warrant must always specify the
subjects which are to be discussed and acted on at the meeting. The
selectmen also lay out highways, grant licenses, and impanel jurors;
they may act as health officers and issue orders regarding sewerage,
the abatement of nuisances, or the isolation of contagious diseases;
in many cases they act as assessors of taxes, and as overseers of the
poor. They are the proper persons to listen to complaints if anything
goes wrong in the town. In county matters and state matters they speak
for the town, and if it is a party to a law-suit they represent it in
court; for the New England town is a legal corporation, and as such
can hold property, and sue and be sued. In a certain sense the
selectmen may be said to be "the government" of the town during the
intervals between the town-meetings.

[Sidenote: Town-clerk.]
An officer no less important than the selectmen is the town-clerk. He
kee