being costly and cumbersome. They were unpopular for the hardness exercised towards poor-debtors and criminals convicted of trifling offences. In the absence of the usual means of enforcing the laws, the town Governments took in charge the administration of justice, acting either through committees or in town meetings. Public order appears to have been well preserved, and in the condition of business interests the want of civil courts was of little consequence. [Illustration: SCHOOL AND PARSONAGE.] [Illustration: MAPLEWOOD CHAPEL.] An opposition of a different kind broke out after the State authority had been re-established under the new Constitution. The national Government was involved in difficulties; values were unsettled by the excessive emission of paper money. Heavy taxes, cruel collection laws, numerous private debts, and frequent cases of imprisonment for debt, caused a wide-spread feeling of discontent. The State Constitution was found fault with from the start, and a clamor arose for the abolition of the Senate, a change in the basis of representation, and an annual grant of salaries to all officers. This agitation, in 1786, culminated in an appeal to force of arms, known from its leader, as Shay's Rebellion. It is unnecessary to repeat the story of its suppression. The leaders of the former opposition held aloof. There was a desire felt by the steadier portion of the community to make a fair trial of the State Constitution, which afforded a legal means, however slow, for redressing the heavier grievances. Pittsfield in particular was now advancing in material prosperity, and looked with disfavor upon any radical changes. [Illustration: BERKSHIRE ATHENÆUM.] Rev. Thomas Allen, one of the early ministers, was the man most actively engaged in town affairs at this period of its history. He was of medium height, slender, of a mild, pleasant countenance. Courteous, sincere and just, he set his parishioners an example of Christian morals. An application of doctrines to the practical questions of life was a favorite subject of his sermons and private conversation. He held small respect for any religious faith which did not manifest itself in outward acts, and especially those done for the public good. Endowed with a keen sense of right and wrong he took his position and maintained it with zeal. His personal participation in several battles of the Revolution gained for him the title of "The Fighting Parson." Once, when asked whether he actually killed any man at Bennington, he replied "that he did not know; but, that observing a flash often repeated from a certain bush, and that it was generally followed by the fall of one of Stark's men, he fired that way and put the flash out." [Illustration: FIRST CONGREGATIONALIST CHURCH.]