Cotton Mather says of intemperance in his time: "To see ... a drunken man become a drowned man, is to see but a most retaliating hand of God. Why we have seen this very thing more than threescore times in our land. And I remember the drowning of one drunkard, so oddly circumstanced; it was in the hold of a vessel that lay full of water near the shore. We have seen it so often, that I am amazed at you, O ye drunkards of New England; I am amazed that you can harden your hearts in your sin, without expecting to be destroyed suddenly and without remedy. Yea, and we have seen the devil that has possessed the drunkard, throwing him into fire, and then kept shrieking Fire! Fire! till they have gone down to the fire that never shall be quenched. Yea, more than one or two drunken women in this very town, have, while in their drink, fallen into the fire, and so they have tragically gone roaring out of one fire into another. O ye daughters of Belial, hear and fear and do wickedly no more." The history of the first barrel of rum which was brought to Plymouth has been carefully traced out to a considerable extent. Nearly forty of the "Pilgrims" or their descendants were publicly punished for the drunkenness it occasioned. [42] Over eight hundred in 1851. [43] This statement appears somewhat exaggerated in 1851. [44] In 1847, the amount of goods stolen in Boston, and reported to the police, beyond what was received, was more than $37,000; in 1848, less than $11,000. In 1849, the police were twice as numerous as in the former year, and organized and directed with new and remarkable skill. APPENDIX NOTE TO p. 62. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE INSTALLATION OF MR. PARKER. LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE TO MR. PARKER. BOSTON, November 28, 1845. DEAR SIR:-- Among your friends and congregation at the Melodeon, a Society has been organized according to law; and we have been instructed, as the Standing Committee, to invite you to become its Minister. It gives us great pleasure to be the means to forward, in this small degree, the end proposed, and we cordially extend you the invitation, with the sincere hope that it will meet a favorable answer. We are, truly and respectfully, Your friends, MARK HEALEY, JOHN FLINT, LEVI B. MERIAM, AMOS COOLIDGE, JOHN G. KING, SIDNEY HOMER, HENRY SMITH, GEO. W. ROBINSON, C. M. ELLIS. TO THE REV. THEODORE PARKER, _West Roxbury, Mass_. MR. PARKER'S REPLY. TO MARK HEALEY, JOHN FLINT, LEVI B. MERIAM, AMOS COOLIDGE, JOHN G. KING, SIDNEY HOMER, HENRY SMITH, GEORGE W. ROBINSON, AND C. M. ELLIS, ESQUIRES. DEAR FRIENDS:--