Next follows the division of the common pales, apparently at the same meeting.
The prohibition against erecting houses outside of “the town” may have been merely a precaution against danger from enemies; yet it is not unlikely to have been occasioned, in part at least, by the continued desire to make this the seat of government, and the most desirable place of residence in the colony. The regularity required in the position of the houses indicates a disposition to make the town symmetrical as well as compact. This orderly arrangement, which had doubtless been observed from the beginning, is referred to by Wood, in his “New England's Prospect,” written in this year (1633), as one of the characteristic features of the new town: “This place was first intended for a city; but, upon more serious considerations, it was thought not so fit, being too far from the sea, being the greatest inconvenience it hath. This is one of the neatest and best compacted towns in New England, having many fair structures, with many handsome contrived streets. The inhabitants, most of them, are very rich, and well stored with cattle of all sorts, having many hundred acres of land paled in with general fence, which is about a mile and a half long, which secures all their weaker cattle from the wild beasts.” 1
After this meeting on the seventh of January, no other is recorded until Aug. 5, 1633; from which date there is a consecutive record of the “monthly meetings.” A selection from the orders adopted at these meetings may serve to illustrate the primitive condition of the town.
Aug. 5, 1633. Sundry lots were granted for “cow-yards.”
Sept. 2, 1633. “It is ordered, that whosoever hath any tree lying across a highway, and doth not remove it within seven days, or whosoever shall hereafter fall any tree and let it lie cross a highway one day, shall forfeit the tree.”
Dec. 2, 1633. “It is ordered, that no person whatever shall fell any tree near the town, within the path which goeth from Watertowne to Charlestowne, upon the forfeiture of five shillings for every tree so felled.”
