78 CHINA 



middle of the cup, and handsomely decorated 

 inside in bright blue and gold. 



Parson Smith was the first preacher in Fal- 

 mouth, Mass., now Portland, Maine. When he 

 began to preach, Portland was almost a wilder- 

 ness, and his congregation was very small. 

 These pioneers of New England were devout 

 men and women, and their first work in a new 

 settlement was to establish a "meeting-house." 

 Parson Smith's people soon built the First 

 Parish Church, and later they added a fine 

 tall steeple, which the young parson used to 

 watch as it slowly grew in height, as though 

 its mission were to point like a guiding hand 

 toward heaven. 



There was an unhappy thing about building 

 in those days : the men who were employed in 

 shipyards, or to build houses or churches, or 

 to do various kinds of carpenter work, were 

 given a drink of rum, whisky, or brandv, twice 

 during the day. At eleven o'clock in the morn- 

 ing and at four o'clock in the afternoon, a gong- 

 would strike, when the men would stop work 

 in a hurry and go and get their grog. Among 

 the old records of what it cost to build the 

 first church in Portland, we find some bills 



