At a town meeting held September 9, 1851, the town voted to accept an invitation from the town of Acton to join with them in the dedication of a monument, which at that time was being erected to the memory of Capt. Isaac Davis and others of Revolutionary fame. The meeting also chose a committee of five, Benjamin Barrett, Joel Boynton, John Jacobs, True Wiggin and Rev. Seth W. Banister, to confer with the Acton committee and make the necessary arrangements. Nothing more is recorded of this affair, but it would seem probable that the citizens of the town participated in the celebration.

In the year 1853 it appears that military ambition was on the wane, and that military drill had been discontinued, for the tenth article in the warrant for the annual April meeting of that year was: "To see if the town will agree to sell the old guns and other articles in the hearse-house belonging to the town." It was voted to have the town treasurer sell the same.

At a town meeting held March 18, 1875, the town was called upon to consider and take action in reference to an invitation extended by the towns of Concord and Lexington, inviting the town of Carlisle to join with them in the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the battle at Concord and Lexington. The following are extracts from resolutions presented by Major Benjamin F. Heald, which were accepted and adopted by the meeting, and which were virtually later carried into effect by the

town:

"Whereas the citizens of the town of Concord, on the nineteenth of April next, propose to celebrate in a suitable manner the centennial anniversary of the battle at Concord, and have invited us to join with them in that celebration; and, Whereas many of our ancestry largely participated in the events to be commemorated, therefore,

"Resolved, that we cordially accept the invitation, and

will attend the celebration as an organized body, with music, and an appropriate banner, and that we will invite the Spaulding Light Cavalry to act as our escort on the occasion."

A committee of nine were chosen by the town to make all necessary arrangements, and included the followingnamed persons: Stephen Taylor, Selar Simons, George F. Duren, Nathaniel A. Taylor, Edward S. Hutchins, Leonard M. Green, Horace W. Wilson, John W. Heald, George P. Nickles. The committee procured the services of the Dunstable Cornet Band, who for several years have annually mustered at the State encampment at Framingham with the Spaulding Light Cavalry, and who now, as then, turned out mounted on their own horses, and furnished music. Their martial appearance of course added much to the interest of the occasion.

An invitation to act as escort for the citizens of the town was accepted by the Spaulding Light Cavalry, who also turned out with full ranks and as a mounted organization. A large banner, painted especially for the occasion, representing in life size a soldier in Continental dress, was carried by the Carlisle contingent.

On the whole the town was very creditably represented, a large number of her citizens marching in the parade under the cavalry escort.

General Grant, the hero of the Civil War on the side of the Union forces, was then President of the United States, and graced the occasion by his presence. The day, from the standpoint of temperature, was unseasonable, being cloudy, chilly and cold. A large concourse of people were present, and many developed colds, which in some cases proved fatal.

As the organizations were returning to Carlisle, and were within about a quarter of a mile of the village, a dead calf was discovered hung high up on a tall pine tree, bearing

the inscription: "Dinner for the Centennial Committee." While this caused no little merriment to most of those witnessing the affair, at least one member of the Committee felt extremely incensed; so much so that by almost superhuman effort he at once climbed the tree and with his pocket knife cut loose the entire exhibit.

A bountiful dinner was prepared by the ladies of Carlisle, and served to the members of the Spaulding Light Cavalry and the Dunstable Cornet Band on their return after the day's exercises in Concord.

The sum of five hundred dollars was voted and appropriated by the town to pay the expense of the celebration. Of this amount the sum of three hundred and forty-eight dollars was used by the committee to pay the bills. Three delegates from the town, Messrs. Paul G. Forbush, Albert Boynton and Benjamin F. Blaisdell, were chosen to represent Carlisle at Lexington, and were present at the centennial exercises there.

CHAPTER VI

PAUPERS

THE number of paupers cared for by the district in the year 1796 was five, and it was voted at the annual district meeting "that they be put out in the usual way," which was that they be vendued, or auctioned off to the parties who would care for them for the least compensation. They were put out in this way for periods varying in time from three months to a year, according to the vote of the district, but usually for a period of six months, and the vendue for a number of years took place at the home of Mr. Timothy Wilkins, he often being vendue master. Annually the district, and subsequently the town, until about the year 1830, paid bills for liquor used on these vendue occasions. The following order, copied from the town records, is a sample of others found there and gives a glimpse of the customs as they were then:

"Carlisle, Feb. 3, 1806.

"To Mr. Nathan Green, Treasurer: Please pay out of the town's money to Mr. Samuel Brown the sum of one dollar, it being for his finding six mugs of toddy last April when the poor were vendued.

"By order of the Selectmen.

"JONATHAN HEALD, Town Clerk." Orders were drawn on the town treasurer from time to time, as occasion required, when one and another of the town paupers died, for funds in payment for coffins for their burial. These coffins were usually made by some resident of the town, and the price charged for years, on either side of the year 1800, ranged from one dollar and a

half to two dollars and a half each. Such a sum at the present day would at least be considered a very modest charge for the article named.

TOWN FARM

As has been previously stated, "letting out" the paupers to the best financial advantage, formerly by auction, and later by bargain between the selectmen and the contracting parties, was the practice of the town until about the year 1852. In the warrant for the annual April town meeting in the year 1850, the seventh article reads as follows: "To see if the town will take any measures to purchase a poor-farm, or act thereon." The town voted to dismiss the article. This was the first action taken by the town regarding the ownership of a home for the accommodation of their poor.

No more efforts in this direction on the part of the town appear to have been put forth until nearly two years later, when, at the annual March meeting in the year 1852, a committee of five persons were chosen to gather information and report, at the next April meeting, the terms at which farms in the town suitable for a poor farm could be purchased. Their report was quite lengthy, giving the particulars concerning seven farms which they had examined, one of which was a farm in the possession of John W. Holland, of Lowell, containing, as stated, one hundred and sixty-two acres of land, the price of which was two thousand nine hundred dollars, an amount that part of the committee considered reasonable.

This farm, the committee state in their report, was the only one on which they could agree (all things considered) to recommend to the town for its favorable consideration, should the town decide to purchase. In concluding their report the committee state that the annual average cost of supporting the poor for the past twelve