6. Draw a map of your county, locating its county seat, and its chief towns and villages.

7. Make out a table showing the titles of your county officers, their names, the length of their terms of office and whether they are appointed or elected.

XVII. TOWN GOVERNMENT

"The town governments of New England proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government and for its preservation."-Thomas Jefferson.

Early Town Government in New England.-In New England, after you pass from the governments of the home and of the school, the government that you meet first, if you do not live in a city or village, is that of the town.

A town, or tun (toon), in the earliest times was a cluster of farmers' dwellings, barns, and cattle sheds, such as may be seen to-day in many parts of Germany. Around the tun was either a wall of earth or a dense hedge, and outside, encircling the mound or hedge, was a ditch. The tun was thus fortified against its foes. In the center of the inclosure, usually under a large tree, was held the tun moot, or meeting of all the freemen of the tun. At this moot newcomers were admitted to dwell within the tun, lands were granted to freemen, "strife of farmer and farmer was settled," laws for the government of the tun were passed, and officers to execute those laws were elected. Two thousand years ago our forefathers governed themselves in the tun moot in the wilds of Germany; when they settled in England fifteen hundred years ago they carried the tun moot with them; and when, nearly three hundred years ago, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they at once

came together in tun moot, or town meeting, for the purpose of transacting public affairs.

The Englishmen who first settled in New England were a very religious people. One of the first things they did in a new settlement was to build a church in some place convenient for all to attend. This church was called a

A Town Meeting in Early New England

meetinghouse, and this was a good name for it, for it was a common meeting place for all in the settlement. The congregation that met in it on the Sabbath as worshipers would meet in it on a week day as citizens and transact public affairs. Thus local government in New England centered around a church. A congregation of churchgoers was organized as a government, and this government was called a town. When a town became so large in extent

that it was inconvenient for all to attend one church, a new church was built and a new town was organized. You rarely find a town in New England so large that a person cannot with convenience attend a church situated in its center. Every male citizen above twenty-one years of age who attended the church-and everybody was required to go to church-had the right to go to the meetinghouse and take part in the town meetings. Voters are no longer required to attend church, but in other respects the town governments of New England to-day are almost exactly like those of the early years of our history.

The Town Meeting. The most important feature of the town government is the town meeting. Once a year all the qualified voters of the town hold a meeting to discuss measures relating to town affairs, and to take action thereon. The meeting is no longer held in a church, but in the townhouse, or townhall. When the people have assembled, the town clerk calls them to order, and states the purposes for which the meeting was called. A moderator is then chosen to preside over the meeting, and business proceeds according to parliamentary rules. In a town meeting we see pure democracy at work. Instead of sending men to conduct affairs for them, as in a representative government, the people are there in person. Young and old, rich and poor, take part in the proceedings, and any citizen present may exert the full force of his character and influence. Every measure that is brought up is freely discussed and criticised. Those in favor of the measure state their argument for it; those

opposed to it state their objections. When the discussion is at an end a vote is taken, and whatever the result may be, all present feel that the will of the people has been expressed. All matters relating to the public affairs of the town are settled. The most important things done are these:

(1) The rate of taxation is fixed. Money is appropriated for the schools, for the care of the roads, for the support of the poor, for the salaries of officers, and for other necessary expenses.

(2) By-laws are passed for the regulation of local matters. The word by originally meant town; hence a by-law is a town law. A law passed in town meeting regulating the speed of automobiles is an example of a by-law.

(3) Town officers are elected.

Town Officers. The principal town officers are as follows:

(1) The Selectmen.-The general management of town affairs during the year is placed in the hands of three, or five, or seven, or nine citizens, called Selectmen. These officers carry into effect the measures passed at the town meeting. They supervise the laying out of roads; they grant licenses; they care for the poor; they take measures to abate nuisances, check the advance of diseases, and otherwise preserve the health of the town; they listen to complaints against the management of town affairs; they represent the town in court when it is sued; they make out the warrant when a special town meeting is to be called.