Browsing named entities in HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855. (ed. Charles Brooks). You can also browse the collection for Rowley or search for Rowley in all documents.

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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855. (ed. Charles Brooks), Chapter 11: currency. (search)
eveal to us the everyday calculations, and many of the social habits, of our Medford ancestors; and, in the absence of town-records, serve as authentic data from which we can write the history of their cares and labors, their sacrifices and prosperity. They found it difficult to pay the wages of their workmen and servants. Even such men as Governor Winthrop were hard pressed in this way. He illustrates the severities of the common lot in these words:-- I may report a passage between one Rowley and his servant. The master, being forced to sell a pair of his oxen to pay his servant his wages, told his servant he could keep him no longer, not knowing how to pay him next year. The servant answered him, he could serve him for more of his cattle. But what shall I do (saith the master) when all my cattle are gone? The servant replied, You shall then serve me; and so you may have your cattle again. It was natural enough that such extremities as these should awaken the public mind