Note 1 — MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN HOPKINTON—No. 2.
Reading edition
The austere influence of religion upon society in the olden time was attested by the legal strictures upon traveling, idling, etc., on Sunday, of which conduct the tything-men were to take cognizance. Tything-men were chosen in this town as late as 1843, when Charles Barton, Samuel Frazier and Daniel Chase were selected. The law requiring such choice had even then become virtually a dead letter.