CHAPTER XV. 



RECUPERATING DURING THE FIRST YEARS OF THE REPUBLIC. 



THERE was no abrupt closing of the Revolutionary 

 War for Cohasset. The soldiers did not come home 

 in such well-filled companies as marched out when first 

 the news from Lexington roused the town. Some had 

 fallen in the struggle, many had returned from the earlier 

 years of service unwilling to reenlist, and the few that 

 served until the surrender of Cornwallis came home quietly 

 to take up again the work of farming or of fishing. 



Hard times with crushing debts were upon the people 

 here as elsewhere in the new nation. But fortunately for 

 us we had been long accustomed to meager fare, and were 

 quite capable of squeezing a living out of the tough cir- 

 cumstances. We could not get much money for our fish 

 nor for our cord wood ; but we had need of but little 

 money, for we bought only a few things outside of the 

 town's own produce. 



The financial embarrassment of the town may be in- 

 ferred from the fact that in May, 1782, not even the 

 interest upon the town's debts was paid, and it was voted" 

 to add this interest to the debt to draw compound interest. 

 The new taxes to support the State were so hard to col- 

 lect that the town, February 25, 1782, petitioned the Gen- 

 eral Court for some abatement of the amount laid upon 

 this town. 



Even the church janitor had to wait more than three 

 years for his yearly pittance of one pound four shillings. 



Rev. John Brown's salary for 1780, 1781, and 1782 was 

 not all paid in May, 1783, and according to the entries in 



