Lewis and Newall (1865) describe the life of the first settlers of Lynn, typical of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They had town meetings every three months, for the regulation of public affairs. They cut their wood in common, and drew lots for the grass in the meadows and marshes. These proved very serviceable to the farmers, by furnishing them with sustenance for their cattle; which was probably the reason, why there were more farmers at Lynn, than in any other of the early settlements.
They planted pumpkins before the corn and cattle were established. Their corn at the first, was pounded, after the manner of the Indians, with a pestle of wood or stone, in a mortar made either of stone, or a log hollowed out at one end. They also cultivated large fields of barley and wheat. Much of the former was made into malt for beer. They raised considerable quantities of flax, which was rotted in one of the ponds, thence called the Flax Pond.
Their first houses were covered with thatch, or small bundles of sedge or straw, laid one over another. A common form of the early homes was eighteen feet square, and seven feet post, with the roof steep enough to form a sleeping chamber. The better houses were built with two stories in front, and sloped down to one in the rear; the upper story projecting about a foot, with very sharp gables. The frames were of heavy oak timber, showing the beams inside. Burnt clam shells were used for lime, and the walls were whitewashed. The fire-places were made of rough stones, and the chimneys of boards, or short sticks, crossing each other, and plastered inside with clay.
The windows were small, opening outward on binges. They consisted of very small diamond panes, set in sashes of lead. The fireplaces were large enough to admit a four-foot log, and the children might sit in the corners and look up at the stars. People commonly burned about twenty cords of wood in a year, and the ministers were allowed thirty cords. On whichever side of the road the houses were placed, they uniformly faced the south, that the sun at noon might shine square on the front of the house. Thus each house formed a domestic sun-dial, by which the matron, in the absence of the clock, could tell, in fair weather, when to call her husband and sons from the field; for the people of early Lynn always dined exactly at twelve.
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