. The history of Springfield in Massachusetts, for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden. cksmith had paid by his work for his passage over the seaand the other expenses Mr. Pynchon had incurred for him,he was given his freedom by Pynchon and the town presentedhim with the smithy. About the time that the smithy was built it was decidedto build a meeting-house. Before this, when the townsmenmet to make rules for the plantation, or all the people met forworship, they had gathered in a private house, or in summer,perhaps, under some wide
. The history of Springfield in Massachusetts, for the young; being also in some part the history of other towns and cities in the county of Hampden. cksmith had paid by his work for his passage over the seaand the other expenses Mr. Pynchon had incurred for him,he was given his freedom by Pynchon and the town presentedhim with the smithy. About the time that the smithy was built it was decidedto build a meeting-house. Before this, when the townsmenmet to make rules for the plantation, or all the people met forworship, they had gathered in a private house, or in summer,perhaps, under some wide-spreadingtree. Everything was as yet very simpleas compared with the old country,where they had churches of stone,some of them quite beautiful withtower and colored windows, and curiouscarvings without and within. Noticethe contrast between the churches repre-sented on these pages. In the sim- - q^J^^^^ of the new world one building stoney stratfcrd, serve for all public gatherings, be it public worship ortown meeting. So they spoke not of the church, but calledthe building the meeting-house. In the language of the. 32 HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD law, in Massachusetts, this is the word still used. Town andchurch were pretty much the same in the early days of NewEngland and the whole village supported the one and onlyminister. It was planned that the meeting-house should be fortyfeet long and twenty-five feet wide; that it should have twofloors or stories, the lower one to be nine feet high. For atime the upper one was used for storing grain, until, at last,the people began to be afraid that the heavy weight wouldcome down upon them and they took away the floor andbuilt galleries round about the sides. But this was not forseveral years. The building having been planned, it was de-cided that it should be placed on the spot which is now thesoutheast corner of Court Square. Thomas Cooper was em-ployed as the contractor who should construct it. He agreedto ta
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