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76 THE OLD COMPANIES.<br />
This list includes the Needham men.<br />
A number<br />
varying from ten to twenty was appointed<br />
and paid by that town for this and the Upper<br />
Falls company each year until the companies<br />
went out of existence.<br />
Usuallv the men from<br />
that town were selected by the company, subject<br />
to the approval of the selectmen. <strong>Newton</strong> allowed<br />
only forty-five men to each company, a number<br />
sufficient to work all the engines but the Cataract,<br />
which was the largest.<br />
This company was famous for its many good<br />
times.<br />
Its annual suppers, balls, parties, and<br />
other festive occasions, which were usually held<br />
at the hotel of Captain Wales, foreman of the<br />
company, were many and excellent. They entertained<br />
lavishly, and were in turn often entertained<br />
by other organizations.<br />
February 25, ls4, they<br />
were the guests of the Bunker Hill Engine Company<br />
of Charlestown, and were about to sit down<br />
to an oyster supper when an alarm of fire was<br />
given for the burning of the Howard Athenaeum<br />
in Boston. The Charlestown company responded,<br />
and assisted by the Cataract company worked at<br />
the fire until a late hour, when the Cataract men<br />
returned home, minus their oyster supper.<br />
Captain Nathaniel Wales, Jr., declined a reelection<br />
in 1850, and retired, after serving seven<br />
years as foreman, and a quarter of a century as<br />
a member of the company.<br />
He was again elected<br />
foreman in 1859, and served several years.
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