The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1891-03-19
SELECTED.
"Scaii2g The Meeting house"

In all the Puritan meetings, as then and
now in Quaker meetings, the men sat on
one side of the meeting house and the
women on the other; and they entered
by separate doors. 1t was q great and
much contested change when men and
women were ordered to sit together "pro-
miscLoslie" In front, on either side of
the pulpit Tor very rarely in the fore
most row in the gallery,) was seat OF
highest dignity, known as the "foreseat,
in which only the persons of greatest i'm
pOrtance In the community sat.
Sometimes row of square pews were
built On three sides of the ground floor,
and were each occupied by separate fami-
lies, while the puplt was on the fourth
side. If any man wished such private
pew for himself and family, he obtained
permission from the church and town,
and built it at his own expense. Imme-
diately in front of the pulpit was either
a long seat OF a square inclosed pew for
the deacons, who sat faicng the congre-
cation. This was usually foot or .ta O
above the level of the other pews, anu
was reached by TWO or three steep, narrow
steps. On still higher plane was pew
for the ruling 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, heaTt-burn-
ing jealousy, offended dignity, unseemly
pride, and bitter quarrelng this method
of assigning seats, and ranking thereby
must have been in those little communi-
ties. How the good wives must have
hated the seating committed Though ii
was expressly ordered, when the com
mittec rendered their decision, that 1.-THE
inhabitants are to rest silent and set
down satysfyed,' who can still the
tongue of an envious woman or an in
suited man? Though they were Puritans,
they were first of all men and women,
and complaints and revolts were frequent
Judge Sewall records that one indignant
dame created Captain Osgood vely
roughly on account of seating the meet
ing house.. To her the difference be
tween a seat in the first and one in the
second row WIS UNNECESSARILY great. Ii
was not alone the scribes and Pharisees
who desired the highest seats in the
synagogue.
1t was found necessary at a very early
date to "dignify the meeting," which was
TO make certain seats; through in diff
ferent localities, equal in dignity; thus
could peace and contented pride be par
TALLY restored. For instance, the seating
committee in the Sutton church used
their "best distressing" and voted that
1.-The third seat below be equal in dignity
with the foreseat in the front ga lery,
and the fourth seat below be equal in
dignity with the foreseat in the side gal
lery," etc, thus making many seats OF
equal honor. OF course wives had to
have seats of equal Importance with those
of their husbands, and each widow re-
tanned the dignity apportioned to her in
her husbands lifetime. We can well be-
leve that much, ''discresiug" was ncces-
sarY in dignifying as we'll as In seating.
Often, after building a new meeting
house with all the painstaking and
thoughtful judgment that could be shown
the discussions over the seating lasted
for years. The pacflcatory fashion of
'dlgnlfying the seats" chung long in the
Congregational churches of New Eng
land. In East Hartford it was not aban-
doned until 1924.
Many men were unwilling to serve on
these seating committees, and refused to
"medle with the seating" protesting
against ii on account of the odium that
vas incurred, but they were seldom "let
of" Sometimes the difficulty was s, tiled
in this was the entire church Cor rather
the male members) voted who should oc-
cupy the foreseat of the highest pew, and
the voted-in occupants of this seat of
honor formed committee, who In turn
seated the others of the congregation
The Atlantic.