About a quarter of a mile east of Hill's grocery was the village church,
presided over by the Rev. Caleb Howe. He had one son, Emmanuel, who had
graduated at Harvard and had intended to fit for the ministry, but his
health had failed him and he had temporarily abandoned his studies. He
was a great admirer of Miss Lindy Putnam, because, as he said, she was
so pretty and accomplished. But after long debate one evening at the
grocery store, it had been decided without a dissenting vote that "the
minister's son was a lazy 'good-for-nothing', and that he wanted the
money more than he did the gal." The village schoolhouse stood a short
distance eastward from the church. The teacher, Miss Seraphina Cotton, a
maiden lady of uncertain age, who boasted that the city of Cottonton was
named after her grandfather, boarded at the Rev. Mr. Howe's, and was
ardently attached to the minister's wife, who was an invalid and rarely
seen outside of her home.
On the upper road, about half a mile to the west of Deacon Mason's,
lived Mr. and Mrs. Silas Putnam. They owned the largest house and best
farm at Mason's Corner.
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