The Iola register., 1891-07-17
new ENGLAND CHuRonEs.
Internal ArrsnEemsnt OF the Oid-Tim,
Meeting House.


NEW ENGLAND cHuRcnEs.
Internal Arrangement OF the Time
Meeting House.
In all the Puritan meetings, as then
and now In Quaxer meetings the men
sat on one side Of the meeting house
and the women on the other; and they
entered by separate doors. It was O
great and much contested change when
men and women were ordered to sit to-
| gether "Dromiscuouslie." In front, on
either side OF the pulpit Tor very rarely
In tie foremost row in the gallery, was
seatiof highest dignity. known as the
'foreseat," in which only the persons
OF greatest Importance In the communi-
ty sat. Sometimes row of square
pews were built on three sides of the
ground noor, and were each occupied by
separate families, while the pulpit was
In the fourth side. II any man wished
q pew for himself and fam
lily, he obtained permission from the
church and town, and built it at his
own expense. Immediately in front of
the pulpit was either long seat or a
square inclosed pew for the deacons who
sat facing the congregation. This was
usually foot or two above the level OF
the other pews, and was reached by
two or three steep. narrow steps. On a
still hie her plane were p.ws for the rul
ing elders, when ruling elders there
were. What we now consider the best
seats, those in the middle of the church,
were in olden times the free seats.
1t is easy to comprehend what source
of disappointed anticipation. heart
burning jealousy, offended dignity, un-
seeDly pride and bitter quarreling this
method of assigning seats, and ranking
thereby, must have been in those little
communities. How the good wives
must have hated the seating committee.
Though it was expressly ordered when
the committee rendered their decision
that ''the inhabitants are to rest silCnt
and sett down satysfyed, who can stilt
insulted man? Though they were Pur-
itans, they were FIRST OF all men and
women, and complaints and revOlts
were frequent, Judge Sewall records
that one indignant dame treated Cap
tain Osgood very roughly on account of
seating the meeting house." To her
the difference between a seat in the
first and one in the second row was i'm
measurably great. 1t was not alone the
Scribes and Pharisees who desired the
highest seats in the synagogue.
1t was found necessary at very early
date to dignity the meeting. y. which
was to make certain seats, though in
different localities, equal in dignity:
thus could peace and contented pride be
partially restored. For instance. the
seating committee in the Sutton church
used their "best distressing" and voted
that ''the third seat below be equal in
dignity with the formost in the trout |
gallery, and the fourth seat below be |
equal in dignity with the foreseat in the
side gallery" ETC., thus making many |
seats of equal honor. OF course wive
had to have seats in equal Importance
with those of her husband, and each |
widow retained the dignity apportioned
to her IN her husbands lifetime. We
can we'll believe that much distressing"
was necessary in dignifying as well as
in seating. Often. after building a new
meeting house with all the painstaking
and thoughtful judgement that could
be shown, the dissensions over the seat
ing lasted for years. The pacificatory
ashton of ''dignifying the seats" clung
ong in the Congregational churches OF
New England. In East Hartford it was
lot abandoned until 1924.
Many men were unwilling to serve on
hese seating committees, and refused
o ''meddle with the seating" protest
ng against it on account of the odium
t incurred. But they were seldom {
'lot off, Sometimes tho difficulty was
ettled in this way: The entire church &
or rather the male members) voted q
Vho should occupy the foreseat or the
highest pew, and the voted-in occu- 1
ants OF this seat of hon;S formed a I
ommittee, who in turn seated the
theirs of the congregation. {
Ionthly,