History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1780.] REVOLUTION—CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 437
been added to the organization. Its presence here was not
agreeable to the citizens, and in January, 1781, the town
voted to inquire into the matter. A committee was appointed
to present the case to the Legislature, "and to
know the occasion of their being quartered here." The
result seems to have been that the soldiers were removed
before the winter was ended.
More Pews in the Busied mainly with affairs relating to the
Meetiug-House.
q]1 eugrossiug War, yet the town found ample
time for the transaction of routine mu-
nicipal business. There was still a lack of seating room in
the meeting-house, and constant endeavors were made to
obtain more pews. While the town refused to allow pews
to be constructed in place of the two rows of seats or
benches on the ground floor, permission was given to indi-
viduals to build at their own expense a pew in place of
the "negro seat."
A Requisition for In Order to supply transportation for the
Horses. army the method of assessing the towns di-
rectly for it was resorted to, and in July,
Northampton was called upon to furnish ten horses and
drivers. To facilitate the labor of obtaining them the
board of selectmen was increased by the addition of four
persons, making nine in all, and was authorized to procure
them on the best possible terms. The requirement was
that the town should hire or purchase for the use of the
army till the last of November, ten horses and drivers.
Horses to the number required were obtained at a cost of
£73.5. Town notes were given for them, on which the interest
amounted to £5 more.
A Requisition for lu September came the first requisition for
^®®*- beef. Northampton being required to furnish
11,360 lbs., a town-meeting in October
authorized a committee, consisting of Joel Wright, Capt.
Joseph Lyman, and Moses Kingsley, to purchase it on the
credit of the town, to be paid for in the following May.
This attempt, however, proved unsuccessful, the beef could
not be obtained on any such terms. At another meeting in