tlement was recognized as such until it had its church and minister. So in Yarmouth the church antedated the incorporation of the township by several months. The first church building undoubtedly stood on the spot known as Fort Hill, near the old burying ground-a log house, 30 by 40 feet, with oiled paper in place of window glass-and to this rude little building the faithful were called together on Sabbath morning by beat of drum. And it became all to be faithful in those days, for according to a record of 1655,

"If anyone denied the Scriptures to be a rule of life he was to receive corporal punishment at the hands of the magis

trates."

and two men were fined ten shillings each for disturbance at the Yarmouth meeting house, and others five shillings for smoking tobacco "at the end of the meeting house on the Lord's day in time of

exercise." The first minister was Mr. Marmaduke Matthews, the eloquent Welshman, who was matriculated at All Souls' College, Oxford, 1623, and came to New England in 1638. Among his successors was the Rev. Timothy Alden, a direct descendant of John Alden, and who for nearly sixty years, from 1769 to 1828, occupied the pulpit. Several years after the building of the first church, a more pretentious place of worship was erected on the main street of the village. This in turn gave place to another and larger structure on nearly the same site; one with a high pulpit, sounding board, and square pews, which in course of time was remodelled to conform to more modern ideas. In 1870, however, the present place of worship was erected on the main street, but farther west than the old one which was sold and for a number of years used as a store and Post

Office, while the second floor, after being put to various uses was fitted up by the C. C. C. Club, (Cape Cod Central,) as their place of meeting. Unfortunately, however, during December, 1902, the old building, a familiar landmark for so many years, was burnt to the ground.

Rev. Timothy Alden has been described as "a little man with his antique wig, small clothes, and three-cornered hat, witty and wise." He lived to complete his ninetythird year. Among his writings is

town were nearly as numerous as the white people." And to the early settlers belongs the honor of fair treatment of these natives. In 1657 Messhatampaine acknowledged that he had been fully paid and satisfied for every parcel of land sold to Anthony Thacher, John Crowell, and Thomas Howes, of Yarmouth. Rev. John W. Dodge, for many years pastor of the first church (congregational), has preserved a number of interesting anecdotes of the native inhabitants.

Among these is the

much valuable information concerning the Indians. For many years the southern part of the town of Yarmouth was an Indian reservation, and mission work was at once begun by the church people. During the ministry of Rev. Thomas Thornton, 1667-1693, there were said to have been nearly two hundred praying Indians in town under two native teachers. Writing in 1794 Mr. Alden says, "Within the memory of some the Indians in this

story of Elisha Nauhaught, which Whittier has woven into verse in his poem, "Nauhaught the Deacon." The dwelling of this intrepid hero stood on the shore of what is now known as Long Pond, in South Yarmouth; and near this place a late owner of the grounds, Dr. Azariah Eldridge erected a monument formed of a pile of stone on the upper of which is the inscription:

ON THIS SLOPE LIE BURIED

THE LAST OF THE NATIVE INDIANS

OF YARMOUTH.

The town of Yarmouth extends from shore to shore across what Taureau has called "the bared and bended arm of Massachusetts;" but though incorporated as one township, it has several divisions with a Post Office in each. Thus there are: Yarmouth, Yarmouth Port, West Yarmouth and South Yarmouth; the two latter are villages by themselves, South Yarmouth being formerly known as Quaker Village, and still longer ago as South Sea. Between Yarmouth proper, however, and the Port there is no visible dividing line and both are commonly spoken of as Yarmouth, the two portions designated as "up and down street."

It is a proud tradition of the town that when, in 1776, Captain Joshua Gray had the drum beat to raise volunteers to reinforce Washington at Dorchester Heights, eighty-one men -one half the effective force of the town-were next day on the march. In the same year, when the towns were requested to express their opinion whether, if Congress should declare the Independence of the Colonies, the people would sustain them. in the act, the town voted unanimously,

"That the inhabitants of the town of Yar

mouth do declare a state of independence of the King of Great Britain, agreeable to a late resolve of the General Court, in case the wisdom of Congress should see proper to do it."

Common schools, next in importance to the church in the interests of the early settlers, were well founded here, and today compare favorably with those of New England cities. To the agricultural pursuits of the first white inhabitants was soon added another, that of securing the

THE LATE JOHN SIMPKINS, Representative to Congress from the 13th Massachusetts District

Photo by James L. Breese, N. Y.

"drift" whales, which in those days were cast upon the shores within the bounds of Yarmouth. Later the business of whaling was originated, and for a hundred years proved vast

ly profitable. Previous to and immediately after the Revolution, cod fishery was extensively engaged in, and the coasting business to southern and European ports. During the Revolutionary war, owing to the high price of common salt, attention was turned to the question of producing salt from sea water through solar evaporation, and before the end of the eighteenth century a native of this vicinity had invented and perfected a set of contrivances by means of which this end was accomplished. This invention of salt works brought about a business of great profit to the town and vicinity for nearly fifty years and until through the abolition of duties on foreign salt and the development of

sources of supply in our own land, the business ceased to be of profit. Until within comparatively a few years, however, the remains of the salt works, with their windmills, formed a picturesque feature of the landscape in the southern part of the town. Between the years 1820 and 1861, when American shipping was at its height, Yarmouth furnished. many shipmasters who had no superiors. Contemporary with this engagement in foreign commerce, mackerel fishing and ship-building were carried on nearer home and flourished for a while, but came to an end, practically, with the Civil

war.

Between sixty and seventy years ago Henry Hall of Dennis discovered the art of cultivating the cranberry, thus making available the many swamps and marshes throughout the Cape towns. Yarmouth, in common with her neighbors, has found cranberry growing more lucrative than any previous branch of industry, despite the many enemies of the vines and berries in the way of insects and early frosts, and Cape Cod cranberries have acquired at reputation for excellence which extends beyond New England. As is often the case however with other industries, overproduction has of late years interferred somewhat in the way of profit. A ten acre bog in Yarmouth was bought a few years ago by a retired ship-captain for $6,000, though the former owner was for some time reluctant to let it go at so low a figure. From this, in some seasons, four hundred or more barrels of berries have been shipped. When picking begins, the bog is lined off into rows a few feet in width and two pickers placed in each row, while the overseer looks out that no row is left unfinished. Dur

ing the season, one who is up betimes of a morning may see cart loads of sunbonneted women and broad-brimmed hatted men en route to the cranberry bogs. Merry companies they are too, for there seems to be a fascination about the work difficult to understand by the uninitiated, especially when the pickers come home tired and lame after a day on their knees. They claim, however, that the lameness wears off after a few days-and one must believe it when told that during the noon hour, after the lunches are disposed of, the pickers sometimes repair to the cranberry house, where an accordion or harmonica is brought out and to their enlivening strains the young folks "trip the light fantastic toe" until the one o'clock signal is given, when work must be resumed.

The Yarmouth of to-day presents a long and broad main street, lined on either side by elms which form an arch high overhead as one drives through the Port, falsifying the assertion that nothing can grow from Cape Cod soil; though the early settlers evidently labored under a similar delusion, for in the belief. that nothing else would flourish they set out numerous silver-leaved poplars, particularly in the lower (eastern) and older part of the village, and these continue to grow and increase notwithstanding the vigorous attempts to eradicate a second generation. A broad blue sweep of ocean is in sight from the streets of the Port, and glimpses of it may be had all down through the village; while away to the northwest Sandy Neck stretches out its barren length and supports its lonely lighthouse. For two miles or more an unbroken line of buildings extends on either side of the street, ending in the low

er part of the village near a stream known as White's Brook, named for Jonathan White, a son of the Perigrine White, who was born on board the Mayflower while she lay at anchor in Provincetown harbor. Other reminders of this family may be seen in the old cemetery, where on more than one tombstone one may read, under a coating of moss, the name Perigrine White.

Among the buildings included in these two miles are five churches, a new-comer among these being the little Roman Catholic church of The Sacred Heart, dedicated in 1902. Nearly opposite the Congregational church is a large school house, containing rooms for all grades from Primary to High. A little farther up street is a modern and pretty public hall, a Public Library, Na

tional Bank, and various offices and stores. Here, too, is a printing office, from which is issued weekly the "Yarmouth Register"; a paper now in its sixty-seventh volume and ably edited for more than half a century by the late Hon. Charles F. Swift, a man closely identified up to the time of his death in May 1903, with the best interests of the town and county. The literary work of Mr. Swift is of lasting value, his "History of Cape Cod" and "History of Old Yarmouth" being recognized as standard authorities. And to the latter the writer is indebted for many facts given in this article.

Leading off from the main street and on a slight eminence, is Sandy Side, the residence of the late Congressman John Simpkins, representative from the thirteenth Massachu