258 Percy Wells Bidwell 



The tavern-keeper was a versatile individual. "He led the sing- 

 ing in the meeting house on Sunday; ran the ferry if his tavern was 

 situated near a stream; acted as schoolmaster for the children of 

 those who frequented his house; served his fellow men in the legis- 

 lature, town council, selectmen, and other minor offices; ruled with 

 solemn dignity over the local courts; headed the Train Band on train- 

 ing or squadron days; kept order in the meeting house on Sundays; 

 surveyed the lands assigned to the land-crazy townsmen; . . . 

 and in fact, next to the town clerk, was the most important and learned 

 man in the place. "^ Besides these possible lines of activity, he was 

 often a physician, and usually owned and managed a farm from 

 the produce of which he supplied a part at least of the wants of 

 his patrons.^ 



The Country Store. 



The country store was as regularly found in New England towns 

 as the tavern; in some cases the two institutions were combined 

 in the same building, under the same proprietorship. In the topi- 

 cal inland town there were generally not more than two stores and, 

 in many cases, only one.^ The stock in trade was regularly de- 

 scribed in their advertisements as European and West India goods. 



lie Statute Laws. I. 640-645. 1808, and Massachusetts Perpetual Laws, pp. 

 55-63. 1788. License fees were also demanded in Rhode Island, although the 

 regulations were in general less strict in this state. Rhode Island Public Laws. 

 Revision of 1798, pp. 393-394, 580. 



' See Field, Edward. The Colonial Tavern, pp. 41^2. 



2 Advertisements of farms for sale in the country newspapers clearly demon- 

 strate this fact. See Massachusetts Spy, Jan. 28, June 22, 1807, and National 

 Aegis (Worcester, Mass.), April 25, 1804. Another fact which shows the close 

 relation between this business and the usual occupations of the agricultural popu- 

 lation, was the practice of "laying oneself out to give entertainment." In out- 

 lying districts where the taverns were either bad or inconveniently situated, or 

 perhaps entirely lacking, a traveler often applied for food and lodging to any 

 "householder of substance," who was not unwilling to accept a moderate sum 

 in return. President Dwight was often accommodated in this way, especially 

 in the northern states of New England. See also Kendall, Edward Augustus. 

 Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States. New York. 1809. 

 3 vols. II. 147; and Kittredge. George Lyman. The Old Farmer and his Al- 

 manack. Boston. 1904. pp. 282-283. 



' The descriptions of the various towns given by Whitney in his History of 

 Worcester County, Mass., show that the usual number of stores was two in each 

 town. The advertisements in the newspapers published in inland towns such 

 as Leominster, Stockbridge, and Brookfield, Massachusetts, rarely contain 

 notice of more than one country store. 



