8 HISTORY OF COHASSET. 



sonal predilections the community became divided. The 

 church was no longer the town's church ; but each of 

 several churches became a center of devotion for separate 

 elements of the people. The unity once broken was yet 

 further divided, until now our system of spiritual machin- 

 ery has six churches. 



The old meeting-house still stands upon the public com- 

 mon where the precinct placed it. The name which dis- 

 tinguishes it from its modern companions is Unitarian. 

 The Second Congregational Church is near it, and a half 

 mile away the Roman Catholic edifice gathers a numerous 

 flock. An Episcopal Church, organized within the past 

 two years, dwells at a friendly distance between. Two 

 others, a Congregational Church in Beechwood and a 

 Methodist Church at the northern part of the town, sup- 

 ply the religious life of the people who dwell at a distance 

 from the center. 



The causes that have brought about these ecclesiastical 

 changes, indeed all the phenomena of religious life dis- 

 cernible in the history of this community, invite our minds 

 to athoughtful review of them. 



One of the noticeable characteristics of the town is the 

 mixture of things crude and ancient with things of a 

 modern, up-to-date air. For example, an old town pump 

 stands in our street not far from a hydrant of the latest 

 public water system ; old kerosene lamp posts no longer 

 used are looked down upon by incandescent bulbs of 

 electricity ; houses whose every timber and moulding 

 were made by hand from the logs of our own woods 

 are in yards adjoining the luxurious dwellings of modern 

 architecture. 



These and various other contrasts are apparent through- 

 out the town. The most prominent feature of the town, 

 that by which we are most widely known in the world, is 

 Jerusalem Road, along which so many delightful summer 

 homes have been built overlooking the sea. 



