been taken, standing upright, and touching each other.  The trench was covered by a slight framework, upon which leaves and dirt were scattered, to make the surface appear like the surrounding territory.  Some savory bait would be placed over it.  The wolves, rushing on, would break through.  Not being able to ascend the sides, they would be found alive, the next morning, at the bottom.  These were called “wolf-pits.”  It was no easy matter to dispose of or despatch the furious animals, and the wolf-pits were often the scenes of much excitement.  There was another class of animals,—­divided into different species, mostly according to their size,—­smaller but fiercer than wolves, of extraordinary strength and activity, called wild-cats, catamounts, or loup-cerviers, pronounced by the farmers lucifees.  These were only taken by the gun.  It was considered a useful public service, and no inconsiderable feat, to kill them.

Some of the laborious employments, at that time, were especially promotive of social influence; for instance, the making and mending highways.  This was secured by a tax, annually levied in town-meeting.  The work was placed under the care and direction of surveyors, annually chosen.  A small part of this tax, however, was paid in money.  Most of it was “worked out.”  At convenient seasons, when there was a respite from the ordinary farm work, the men of a neighborhood would come together, in greater or less numbers, at a designated time and place, with their oxen and implements.  Working in unison, they would work merrily and with energy; and, as the tough roots and deeply bedded rocks gave way to the pickaxe, crowbar, and chain, and rough places became smooth, the wilderness would echo back their voices of gratulation, and a spirit of animating rivalry stimulate their toils.  Many other operations were carried on, such as getting up hay from the salt-marshes and building stone-walls, by neighbors working in companies.

Particular circumstances in the history of the population of Salem Village contributed to keep up a condition of general intelligence, which served, to some degree, as a substitute for an organized system of education.  Indeed, any thing like regular schools was rendered impossible by the then-existing circumstances.  Clearings had made a very inconsiderable encroachment on the wilderness.  There were here and there farmhouses, with deep forests between.  It was long before easily traversable roads could be made.  A schoolhouse placed permanently on any particular spot would be within the reach of but very few.  Farmers most competent to the work, who had enjoyed the advantages of some degree of education, and could manage to set apart any time for the purpose, were, in some instances, prevailed upon to receive such children as were within reaching distance as pupils in their own houses, to be instructed by them at stated times and for a limited period.  Daniel Andrew rendered this service occasionally.  At one period,