Note 240 — Chapter XIV · SOCIETY IN THE OLD DOMINION. (continued 2)

Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England, i. 282, 412, 419; ii. 861. For neglecting to “set up school” for the year, a town would be presented by the grand jury of the county, and would then try to make excuses. “In February, 1744, the usual routine was repeated. The farmers were summoned ‘to know what the Town’s Mind is for doing about a School for the insuing year.’ The school of the previous year having cost £55 old tenor, which may have been equivalent to 55 Spanish dollars, and it being necessary to raise this sum by a general taxation, the Town’s Mind was for doing nothing; and not until the following July did it consent to have a school opened.” Bliss, Colonial Times on Buzzard’s Bay, p. 118.