A BONE OF CONTENTION. 133 



"The Court doth approve of the returne of the Com- 

 missioners in reference to the land above mentioned." 



But how could two men fix the boundary when three 

 were made necessary by the words of the court order? 

 Nevertheless, here stood the names of two substantial 

 men, one for Massachusetts and the other for Plymouth, 

 and they were practically enough to annul the survey of 

 the Threescore Acres made by Messrs Jacob, Hubbard, 

 and Baker, appointed by Hingham six years before to 

 divide the marsh. 



The house of Walter Briggs, where they met upon 

 November 18, 1656, was built four years before, and is 

 still standing with its huge oak timbers at North Scituate 

 Beach.* 



The streams of human change for two hundred and 

 forty years have flowed by that house, leaving it to bear 

 witness of the first proprietor of that region, as well as of 

 the bone of contention which lay in sight of it towards 

 Cohasset Harbor, a mile to the west. Elsewhere along 

 the boundary between the two colonies there was trouble 

 enough and expense enough in laying out the lines. John 

 Jacob of Hingham, and Timothy Hatherly of Scituate, 

 led the opposing contestants for real estate, and the 

 boundary line has been bent and rebent until the year 

 1840, when the present boundaries! were defined by the 

 State Legislature. 



The Threescore Acres are no longer ours, but their 

 tradition is ours, with the record of those famous colonial 

 leaders with whom to be connected is a rare historical 

 setting. 



*It is owned by our fellow townsman, E. Pomeroy Collier, a descendant of 

 Walter Briggs, and is used with its modern addition as a summer residence. 



t Since the above was written several minor changes have been made in the 

 boundary between Cohasset and its adjoining towns. 



