Page:Historic towns of the middle states (IA historictownsofm02powe).pdf/132

 *petent to preside. As early as 1681 the Church had an investment for the support of the poor of 3,000 guilders, which had reached 4,000 guilders in 1690, when the Church perished in the destruction and massacre of that year.

ELLIS HOSPITAL.

The inhabitants of this frontier village, who welcomed with open hands and glad hearts their first domine, might well be pardoned if there was a leaven of worldly pride in their greeting. Where else in all the provinces was there a more prosperous, more generous, more intelligent and better ordered people? There was no lack of substantial plenty. Who more than they were entitled to establish a Church and have a domine of their own? In October, 1683, the first legislative assembly chosen