The Powers and Duties of the Town Officer, as Contained in the Statutes of Maine; with Forms Adapted Thereto. Including also the Powers and Duties of Plantation and Parish Officers, and Other Useful Matter. Second Edition, Improved

Hallowell [Maine]: Calvin S. Spaulding, No. 5, Kennebec Row, 1824. Second Edition. Full leather. Very good. Second edition. 12mo; 324pp; brown calf over board with gilt stamped rulings on the spine and black calf label titled, "Town Officer"; glue burns to endpapers; shelf scuffing to edges, spine head chipped, age-toning of paper, a few scattered stains; very good. First compiled by John Maurice O'Brien, a Brunswick, Maine attorney and printed in Brunswick, 1822, by Joseph Griffin. Second and third edition revised by Jeremiah Perley. Williamson 6930 and 7415. While reading law and legal writings can sometimes be tedious, this volume of early Maine law and duties laid out is quite fascinating. Included are the formation of public schools and who can attend, chapters on Health; Contagious Sickness, Kine Pock (Cowpox); Idiots, Idlers, &c.; Drunkards; Deacons; Crackers, Squibs, &c.; regulation of the making of Hoops, Boards, Clapboards; and duties of the Tythingmen, (a town watchman for keeping and enforcing the Lord's Day).