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Rh west end, and is eight parts in number more. Also the travel is thirty-six miles farther to the common lot on the Hill, so called, than where it now stands, according to our computation. As those two places are the only ones picked upon by the committee, therefore we think the meeting-house ought not to be moved."

Three days after, the meeting-house having been destroyed that morning, it was decided at a meeting held at the public house of Mr. Babson, and adjourned to his "barn-yard," to refer the settlement of the local dispute to the select-men of Gilmanton, Linesborough and Washington. By this time several sites were proposed for the permanent location of a meeting-house. The disinterested committee of gentlemen from abroad reported verbatim et literatim as follows:

The above report being accepted, the new meeting-house was erected promptly. It was 62x46 feet, and had a tower about twelve feet square at each end. It had seven entrances in all—two in each tower and three in front. It had the old-fashioned high pulpit, sounding-board, gallery, and square pews. A few of the front pews, according to custom, were of better finish. With the addition of a belfry and bell in 1811, the structure remained substantially intact till 1839, when it was remodeled into the form of the present church, which was dedicated on December 26th of the same year. A town clock was placed in the tower of the remodeled church.

The first church music was congregational. The hymns were often "deaconed" by some person whose superior musical attainments were popularly recognized. In time people began to desire something better. Musical societies, in different parts of New England were having their influence. The old "Central" society, organized at Concord, contained members from Hopkinton. At a town meeting September 8, 1783, it was voted that Thomas Bayley, Daniel Tenny, Jacob Spofford, Jonathan Quimby, Jr., Nathaniel Clement, and Isaac Bayley "should sit in the singing pew, to lead in singing and to take in such singers as they thought proper." With a proper social stimulus, progress in music advanced to a marked degree. The church choir sometimes included as many as fifty voices. Various instruments were used as accompaniments. In 1800, there were four bass viols, to say nothing of violins, clarinets, and other instruments, in the choir. There were notable singers, players and composers in the olden time. Among them were Isaiah Webber, Jeremiah Story, and Isaac Long. Orchestral music continued to be employed in the Congregational church till about 1850, when a seraphine was purchased and put in the gallery. In 1872, the seraphine was superseded by an elegant organ at a cost of $1800.

A Sunday-school was opened at Hopkinton in 1817, in the school house at Farrington's Corner. About 1821, another school was opened on Beech Hill. In 1822, a Sunday School was opened in the church. In 1848, a constitution was