Old Virginia and her neighbours

32 OLD VIRGINIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS." common," with the school-house and the blockhouse,or rude fortress for defence against theIndians. For the latter building some commandingposition was apt to be selected, and hence weso often find the old village streets of New Englandrunning along elevated ridges or climbingover beetling hilltops. Around the meeting-houseand common the dwellings gradually clustered intoa village, and after a while the tavern, store, andtown-house made their appearance.Among the people who thus tilled the farmsand built up the villages of New England, thedifferences in what we should call social position,though noticeable, were not extreme. While inEngland some had been esquiresSocialor countiMs°iiNlwtry magistrates, or "lords of the manor,"posi-England.— ^ phrasc which does not mean a memberof the peerage, but a landed proprietor withdependent tenants, — some had been yeomen, orpersons holding farms by some free kind of tenure; some had been artisans or tradesmen in cities.All had for many generations been more or lessaccustomed to self-government and to public meetingsfor discussing local affairs. That self-government,especially as far as church matters wereconcerned, they were stoutly bent upon maintainingand extending. Indeed, that was what theyhad crossed the ocean for. Under these circumstancesthey developed a kind of governmentwhich has remained practically unchanged downto the present day.In the tOwn meeting the governmentis the entire adult male population. Itsmerits, from a genuine democratic point of view,