Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 1.djvu/103

 KEY. ELIJAH FLETCHER.

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��Zachariah Richardson, who died in Chlemsford in 1776, aged 80 years.

Mr. Fletcher was a graduate of Har- vard College of the class of 1769, being twenty-one years of age at graduation, and was ordained as pastor of the church in Hopkinton, January 27, 1773. He was very popular with the people of his church, and exerted a great influence in the town, and was elected as a Represen- tative to attend the Provincial Congress, which met at Exeter, May 17, 1775. He was one of a committee of three to pre- pare a draft to send to the several towns in the State respecting disputes about tories. He was also appointed on a com- mittee with Col. Timothy Walker of Con- cord and Col. William Whipple of Ports- mouth, to see what sum of money would be sufficient to answer the demands of the Province. Col. Whipple was one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. Mr. Fletcher took a great in- terest in the Revolutionary struggle, and had much to do in influencing the town to do its part in both men and money.

In the days in which Mr. Fletcher lived, it was thought quite as necessary in order to keep life in the church to con- sult spiritual things here below, as well as above, and it was a common practice for Parson Fletcher, after a three hours' service in the morning, to step over to the inn across the street, with a few lay- men of the church, and take a glass of brandy or a rung of "flip." One of the leaves of the account book of Deacon Abel Kimball, who kept a store near Mr. Fletcher's house, has the account of Par- son Fletcher for groceries, &c. ; but if the pastors of the present day had similar accounts against them, it might lead to an investigation and perhaps a dismissal. This account runs from June 29, 1782, to January 22, 17S3. There are twenty-four charges for rum or toddy, by the glass or mug, varying from three to eight pence each ; and fifteen charges for rum and brandy by the pint or gallon, amounting in the aggregate to £1, 10s, 6d. The receipt of settlement was writ- ten at the bottom of the page in Mr. Fletcher's own hand, and reads as fol- lows :

��u Rec'd and Settled all accounts from the beginning of the world to this day, and nothing due on either side."

Elijah Fletcher, Abel Kimball.

Hopkinton, Jan'y, 22, 1783." There is little doubt but the Parson and the Deacon took one glass of toddy be- fore that receipt was written.

Mr. Fletcher, after a short illness, died April 8, 1786, in the 39th year of his age, having been a pastor of the church over thirteen years. He was a man of no or- dinary talent, and, if he had lived to ma- ture old age, would have left a bright and shining record in the ecclesiastical history of the State. As it was, he was considered a peer of his contemporaries, and greatly esteemed and beloved by the venerable Rev. ' Timothy Walker, first pastor of the church in Concord.

An anecdote is related of Mr. Fletcher and his church, in connection with Mr. Walker. At one time in Mr. Fletcher's ministry in Hopkinton, (about 100 years ago), he found that his parishion- ers were seriously afflicted with the delusions of witchcraft. He patiently lis- tened to all their complaints and charges against each other, and found, if all told the truth, he had but very few members in his church, but were either witches or wizards. He entreated and expostulated with them concerning this fallacious doc- trine of witchcraft, but to no effect. Many of his older members came from that section of Massachusetts where at one time witchcraft flourished, and they had not forgotten the fireside stories told by their grandmothers of the wonderful doings of witches who lived in those days, and were eventually hanged on trees or horizontal poles, like dogs.

At length, Mr. Fletcher applied to Mr. Walker for assistance, and proposed to him to exchange and preach to his peo- ' pie in Hopkinton on this subject, telling Mr. Walker all the facts which caused the trouble. Mr. Walker prepared a ser- mon expressly for the occasion. He told his hearers, in substance, that the most they had to fear from witches, was from talking about them — that witches were very sensitive about that, and generally made their appearance to such persons

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