The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-01-06
Why Early American Colonists
Opposed Census Taking.
Takins Breath on One Note a Feature Of
Church Singing. -

cal secrets from the medicine men Of n.
Indians.
At the early beginning OF the Eight..n,,
Century this cloak for ignorance and ,pno.-
ture was found convenient and the Ind,.,
or botanical doctor WIS already plying M,
trade. The appointment Of a bone-sett.r !,
different districts indicates the rarity OF s,.
eeouS in the country when those Of the frs,
= generstiOn had disappeared. Several year,
| later the people I'm Boston felt some alan,
at the number 81 people resortiug thither N,
help iu physic and surgery and took meas
ur-s 10 prevent the town from becoming Re.
sronsibIe for the support Of any OF thes. "a.
/ TENTS.
There f. an entertaining chapter on fot.
! speech. folklore and literature, which 10 f1.
lowed BY one on the weights and measures
! Of conduct touching the morals Of the colon
ist when the primary duties were to those
! above you-to God. 10 the King. to the Mag
istrate and the social superior.
This naturally leads TO a discussion Of ths
! conditions Of the church when views wer,
rigid upon Obseryances. and John Cotton
nightly bestirred himself IN suggesting
doubts about psaIm-singing. II was a CUES
tlon whether psalm-singing was 70 be ale
lowed at all. It was held that Scripture
psalms were not to be sung. but only songs
'fndited by some personal spiritual gift Of
some officer or member Of TIE church"
Then there were other scrupIe-breeders
who thought that one should sing and all
the rest say Amen. One writer complains
that the church music was 30 dragged that
IA was necessary TO take breath sometimes
twice on one note. and the music was mis-
erably tortured and twisted and qVavered
into a horrible medley Of confused and dis
orderly noises.
An instance OF the narrow scripturism OF
the day IS found IN the aversion to a census.
In 1874. when the population OF Massachu-
sets was estimated at 1000, the magistrates
did not dare enumerate them on account Of
"Davids example," and 10 IS probably o.
Ing TO this fear that we have no trust
worthy regarding the growth OF
population In the colonies.
In 1112 Hunter, Governor OF New York.
proposed TO ignore David's example. but the
fear OF the people defeated his attempt to
secure a census OF that colony, there nav
ing been an epidemic after an earlier count.
By numbering the freemen not IN the militia
and adding in the already known number Of
militiamen he learned the number Of men.
The women and children were afterwards
taken separately. and the inquisitive Gov
ernor found means Of counting. probably
from the tax lists. the white and black
bondsmen. Simple addition did the rest.
and there was no pesttlence- ~
The inhabitants of New Jersey being gen.
orally of New England extraction and there
by enthusiasts. as Governor Hunter said,
were more difficult to count. In a later
census OF New York females above so years
Of age were omitted. This BIT Of chicans
practiced against Omniscience allayed the
piOCs fears of the people. New EnglandeIs
were not the only enthusiasts on this SUBJ
ject.
Even after the Revolution Pennsylvanians
attributed an epidemic of yellow fever to
the first United States census.