there were circulating in Massachusetts public bills of four provinces, at 29s. for an ounce of silver; new tenor of Massachusetts at 6s. 8d., but current at 9s. 8d. oz. of silver; Connecticut new tenor at 8s., and Rhode Island new tenor at 6s. 9d. Our fathers, under these circumstances, must have been good mathematicians to understand this occult chemistry of trade. July 30, 1781: Medford voted "to raise £100 in specie, in lieu of the £400 raised on the 29th of June last." This would seem to imply that £100 specie was worth £400 of New-England money. Aug. 20, 1781: "Voted to raise £450 hard money, instead of the £1,300 paper money, voted in May last." It is not necessary to trace further the currency of the Province, or to show the effects of the issue of "Continental money," or the "sword-in-hand" money of 1775, or the influence of the Stamp Act, and the subsequent oppressions of the Crown upon the trade, comfort, or hopes of our fathers. The currency of the country, from its settlement to the present time, pertains as much to the town of Medford as to any other town. It makes part and parcel of its history. It influenced every family's labor, and shaped the town's laws. May 12, 1791, the town voted to sell the "old Continental money" then in the treasury for the most they could get for it. We have given these details, that our readers may see how the fathers and mothers, the brothers and sisters, of the olden time, were obliged to think, calculate, and act, in their pecuniary intercourse with their neighbors and public functionaries. Trading and shopping then were very different operations from what they are now. The word pay was used to denote whatever was employed as currency or medium of exchange. Suppose a farmer went to buy a pair of oxen, how would the colloquy proceed? Somewhat thus: Neighbor A.: "I want to buy your two-year-old steers: what do you ask for them?" "I will sell; but what's your pay?" Answer: "Flax at Is. 4d., butter at 12d., winter wheat at 8s., and the rest in paper at 17s. per ounce of silver." This is satisfactory, and so they trade. A dialogue between two merchants, in the purchase of a ship, would be something like this: Mr. S.: "What will you take for your bark 'Columbus'?" Mr. T.: "You know that depends on the pay." Mr. S.: "My pay is, double-johns at £4. 16s., moidores at 36s., pistoles at 22s., the rest in old-tenor bills at the rate of 45s. for 6s. of specie, and middle tenors at IIS. 3d. for 6s." Mr. T.: "Well, that's all right; and you may have her for £237,- pay down." So the bargain closes. When a boy went to buy a penknife, whose cash price was 12d., the following conversation ensued: Boy: "I want a good penknife, sir." Shopkeeper: "Is your pay ready?" "Yes, sir."-"What is it?" "It's pay." "Well, then, the price is 24d." The boy then asks, “What will it be in pay as money?" Answer: "16d.". "What will it be in hard money?"-"12d." If a young lady went to purchase a dress, and, having looked and chosen, she asked the price, she was answered by the usual question, "What's your pay?" She answers: "Part in pillar-pieces at 6s. each, part in 'pieces-of-eight' at 4s. 6d., and the rest in cobb money at 6s. 8d. ounce. What would the These were every-day occurrences. farmers and merchants, the boys and girls, of our day think, if they could not make a purchase without all this bewildering mixture of prices? When dollars came into common use, all calculations were simplified. The sign ($) used to express dollars was composed of two letters, U S, signifying United States. The S was first written; and then over its face the U was drawn, thus $. Our present currency consists of paperbills of $1,000, $500, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, $2, $1. Gold, $40, $20, $10, $5, $3, $2, $1. Silver, $1, 50c., 25c., 10c., 5c., 3c. Copper, one cent. We take leave of the currency of our ancestors, which prevailed in Medford, and which has taught us, so much about them, with a few lines, in which some unknown disciple of Thalia has uttered his financial joy (1750): — “And now, Old Tenor, fare you well; Let us, therefore, good husbands be; CHAPTER XVIII. MIDDLESEX CANAL. THE Middlesex Canal, the first canal in New England, was an important public work in its day, and contributed much to the prosperity of this town. The citizens of Medford were among the first movers of the enterprise; and the canal rendered great service to ship-building, which was at that time the prominent business interest of the town. In May, 1793, a meeting was held by a number of gentlemen, to arrange for the building and opening of a canal connecting the waters of the Merrimac with Boston Harbor. There were present at this meeting, from Medford, the following named gentlemen: Benjamin Hall, Willis Hall, Ebenezer Hall, Jonathan Porter, Ebenezer Hall, jun., Andrew Hall, and Samuel Swan. After organizing by the choice of Benjamin Hall as chairman, and Samuel Swan as clerk, a committee was appointed to procure an Act of Incorporation from the Legislature. This charter was signed by John Hancock, Governor, June 22, 1793. For ten long and weary years the corporation struggled on, until 1803, when the canal was opened for navigation; and this, after one hundred assessments, amounting to $1,455.25, had been laid on each share, making the whole. cost of the canal $1,164,200. The canal passed through the entire length of Medford, and had two locks within our borders; one exactly on what is now Boston Avenue, and on the north-west side of the river, and the other near the entrance of Mystic Avenue from Main Street. This last was called a side-lock, and was used principally for transferring ship-timber from the canal to the river through what was called the "Little Canal." Boston Avenue, from High Street to Mystic River, is laid out upon the same grounds over which the canal passed. Many now living, as they go in their carriages over these grounds, can remember the boats with merchandise, and the packets with passengers, as they were actively plying up and down the canal. The stone abutments now supporting the bridge over Boston Avenue were laid, in 1800, for the Middlesex Canal. At this point the locks were built to let down the boats to a lower level. The Medford boys of these days, as the writer can testify, greatly enjoyed getting on the boats above the locks, and being let down to the next grade. From the point where it crossed Mystic River in West Medford, the canal took a north-easterly course, just north of the "Chemical Works," crossing South Street, and thence following the line of what is now Summer Street to Main Street, passing between Winter Hill and Mystic Avenue to Charlestown Neck. The writer remembers, that, when he was a boy, the whole village was startled one morning by the news of a break in the banks of the canal in West Medford. It drained all the water in the canal between Woburn and Medford, and nearly filled the river with the gravel washed down the descent. The effects may be seen to this day between the bridge on Boston Avenue and the residence of Gilbert Lincoln. The business of the canal, previous to the opening of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, was quite large. In addition to the freighting, there was a small packet drawn by two horses, which ran daily on the canal, and was, in its time and way, one of the most comfortable and enjoyable means of travelling the writer ever experienced. But the enterprise languished in competition with the speedier means of transportation afforded by the Lowell Railroad. In 1851 the corporation voted to surrender its charter, and close its business, which was done in 1852. At this writing (1886), there are but few traces visible of the old Middlesex Canal. The solid stone arch bridge built by Peter C. Brooks, about one hundred rods north of the head of Boston Avenue, and over this canal, still stands a monument to mark its course. We hope it will always be allowed to remain. LIGHTERING. This name was applied to a freighting business, carried on extensively through Mystic River, between Medford and Boston. The craft generally used were sloops ranging from fifty to one hundred tons burden. They were introduced for the transportation of bricks, and afforded the only mode of transfer before Charlestown Bridge was built. Mystic River, to our fathers, was bridge, turnpike, and railroad. When adventurers settle in a forest, it is the first wisdom to fix themselves near a river; because a river is an easy highway, always kept in good repair, and free from all taxation. The business of lightering employed many men, and the inhabitants at first used these sloops as passenger-packets to Boston and Salem. So important had become this mode of conveyance for bricks, merchandise, and people, that, when a petition was started for permission to build Charlestown Bridge, Medford opposed it with unanimity and zeal, "because it would destroy the lightering business." The result was much as our citizens had foretold brick soon began to be carried by oxen in carts, thus saving both the loading and unloading in the sloop, where many were necessarily broken. The labor of lightering was very hard; for, at times, it became necessary for men to walk on the banks, and thus tow the sloop by means of long ropes. This toil was often undertaken in the night, and during stormy weather. Wood and bark were freighted from Maine, and rockweed from Boston Harbor. A business that was suspended during two or three months of each year, on account of ice, was not attractive to those who wished steady employment, and was not likely therefore to secure the best laborers. MILLS. The building of a mill required more iron and stone work than our fathers in Medford were at first prepared to carry through: they therefore adopted the Indian's mill, which was a rock hollowed out in the shape of a half-globe, and a stone pestle. The mortar held half a bushel, and the pestle weighed forty or fifty pounds. A small, flexible tree was bent down, and the pestle so tied to its top as to keep it suspended immediately over the mortar. When the pestle was set in motion, the elastic spring of the tree would continue its blows on the grain for a minute or more. They found a mill driven by wind cheaper than one driven by water: nevertheless, the water-power here was |