RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



years afterwards, "for the encouragement of rayselng 

 sheepe," the general courts of the Colony ordered that 

 ev^ery male person in the several plantations, fourteen 

 years old and upwards, that was not a public officer, 

 should work, one day in June of each year in cutting 

 down and clearing the underwood "so that there may 

 be pasture," and the townsmen in the respective towns 

 were "to appoint the places where they should worke, 

 in the highways or commons or other places agreed 

 upon." Heavy fines were threatened upon those who 

 failed to comply with this ruling. 



Naturally the land was full of wild beasts which 

 found mutton very much to their taste, and to rid the 

 forests of these pests liberal bounties were offered by 

 the various towns for the killing of wolves and bears. 

 As late as 1766 it is recorded that a bear appeared in 

 the city of Hartford and was killed in the south 

 meadow. If bears boldly walked into the streets of the 

 largest towns, what must have been their boldness in 

 the more remote districts! After several years of set- 

 tlement, the nuisance of wild animals being somewhat 

 abated, the General Assembly frugally repealed the 

 public bounty law, with the result that the ardor of the 

 hunt subsided. Naturally the wolves increased, and in 

 1776 we find the following bill passed by the General 

 Assembly: 



"Upon the memorial of Jacob Beach, of Goshen, 

 [82] 



