Sabbath In Puritan New England
, by Earle, Alice Morse- ISBN: 9781419145766 | 1419145762
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 6/30/2004
The early meeting-houses in country parishes were seldom painted, such outward show being thought vain and extravagant. In the middle of the eighteenth century paint became cheaper and more plentiful, and a gay rivalry in church-decoration sprang up. One meeting-house had to be as fine as its neighbor. Votes were taken, "rates were levied," gifts were asked in every town to buy "colour" for the meeting-house.