In recent years several interesting works have been compiled from old newspapers. Perhaps the most important is a set of volumes entitled "The Olden Times Series," prepared by Mr. Henry M. Brooks, a painstaking antiquary, and published in Boston, Massachusetts. Not the least interesting of the volumes is one devoted to the _New England Sunday_. The opening page proves that neither the rich nor the poor were permitted to break the strict Sabbath regulations. In Connecticut, in 1789, General Washington was stopped by the officer representing the State authorities for riding on Sunday. The circumstances were reported in the columns of the _Columbian Centinel_ for December of that year. "The President," it is stated, "on his return to New York from his late tour through Connecticut, having missed his way on Saturday, was obliged to ride a few miles on Sunday, in order to gain the town, at which he had previously proposed to attend divine service. Before he arrived, however, he was met by a Tythingman, who, commanding him to stop, demanded the occasion of his riding; and it was not until the President had informed him of every circumstance, and promised to go no farther than the town intended, that the Tythingman would permit him to proceed on his journey." In the old days, little attempt was made to render the places of worship attractive, or even to warm the rooms in which the preachers delivered their long sermons, although the people were obliged by law to attend the services unless they were sick. It was a serious matter not to be a "meeting-goer," it was, as Mr. Brooks says, to be ranged with thieves and other outlaws. Mr. Felt, the compiler of the _Annals of Salem_, has brought together some items of interest bearing on the introduction of stoves into the churches of the district. "For a long period," writes Mr. Felt, "the people of our country did not consider that a comfortable degree of warmth while at public worship contributed much to a profitable hearing of the gospel." He states that the first stove heard of in Massachusetts for a meeting-house was put up by the first Congregation of Boston in 1773. Two stoves were placed in the Friends' Society meeting-house at Salem in 1793, and one in the North Church, Salem in 1809. "Not a few remember," writes Mr. Brooks, "the general knocking of feet on cold days and near the close of long sermons. On such occasions, the Rev. Dr. Hopkins used to say now and then: 'My hearers, have a little patience, and I will soon close.'"