The Man Who Stole A Meeting-House: 1878, From "Coupon Bonds"

In Short

This story is a framed narrative, told by a plain-spoken New England farmer to a group of tavern-goers. It recounts the misadventures of Old Jedwort, a miserly and domineering man who decides to seize a local, abandoned meeting-house to use as his own barn. His selfish ambition fractures his family and invites ridicule, but the act eventually leads to a bizarre and transformative accident. Through its blend of vernacular wit and domestic gravity, the story examines the costs of unchecked avarice and the resilience of those who labor under its shadow.

The Story

Old Jedwort is a man consumed by a petty, grinding greed that has left his farm in ruin and his family in squalor. While his wife and children toil in poverty, he hoards his money, oblivious to the dignity of his own household. One day, he sets his sights on the unused meeting-house standing on the common, declaring it his own property. He bullies his hired man, Stark, and his sons into fencing off the building and the surrounding land. Despite the protests of the local deacon and the shame of his family, Jedwort moves forward with his plan to drag the structure onto his own property, intending to keep the steeple as a monument to his own importance.

The moving of the building is a public spectacle that highlights the community's lack of legal standing, yet it also pushes Jedwort’s family to the brink. His eldest son, Dave, runs away, and his daughter, Maria, finds herself in an impossible position, longing to escape her father’s tyranny while fearing for her mother’s safety. Stark, who is deeply attached to the family, stays only to shield them. As the building is being relocated, the steeple becomes unstable. In a fit of stubborn arrogance, Jedwort climbs into the belfry to prove it is sound, only for the structure to collapse, leaving him with a head injury that renders him mentally childlike for the next four years.

During these years, the family flourishes. Freed from his miserly influence, they improve the farm, educate the children, and finally find peace. Jedwort, meanwhile, follows Stark around like a trained animal, docile and harmless. The climax of his transformation occurs when he suffers a second, accidental fall that clears his mind and restores his memory. He returns to his senses to find a thriving, prosperous home he barely recognizes. Faced with the reality of his family’s happiness—and Stark’s firm ultimatum—the aging, chastened Jedwort agrees to let the household continue its own way of life. The story concludes years later, with the former meeting-house site repurposed for a school and the narrator reflecting on the hard-won lessons of their collective survival.

How It Unfolds

The challenge in the tavern The narrator introduces himself as a simple farmer and invites the group to hear the tale of how he once helped his employer steal a meeting-house. He sets the scene by describing Jedwort, a man whose physical hunch and narrow mind reveal a life spent looking only for pennies in the dirt.

A scheme of possession Jedwort decides to claim the abandoned meeting-house and its common land by declaring it rightfully his own. He forces his reluctant hired men to construct a fence, using stolen rails, to establish a legal foothold before the community can react.

The moving of the church Ignoring the indignation of the townspeople and the pleas of his own children, Jedwort hires professionals to drag the building across the fields. The process is a public humiliation for his family, yet it signals the beginning of the end for the old man’s unchecked control.

The collapse and the transition The steeple crashes down with Jedwort inside, an event that serves as a violent pivot point for the narrative. The subsequent fire that consumes the remains of the building clears the way for the family to begin their period of quiet, successful restoration.

The return of the master Jedwort’s sudden recovery of his wits forces a confrontation with the new reality of his home. Stark demands that he either accept the family's superior way of living or return to his old, destructive habits, ultimately winning the old man’s begrudging cooperation.

The People

Stark is the narrator and the moral anchor of the story. A capable, plain-speaking hired man, he stays in the Jedwort household out of loyalty to the family and a growing affection for Maria. He acts as the voice of reason, often clashing with Jedwort and eventually taking charge of the farm’s management when the patriarch is incapacitated.

Jedwort is the central antagonist and a victim of his own monomania. Described as a "waddling interrogation-point," he represents the corrosive nature of avarice. He is defined by his stinginess and his belief that anything not legally claimed is his for the taking. His journey from a cruel, bent miser to a docile, and eventually reformed, old man provides the story with its central conflict.

Mrs. Jedwort is the steady, patient center of the household. Despite decades of misery caused by her husband’s neglect, she maintains the interior of their home with grace. Her influence is the silent force that sustains the children, and her steady refusal to despair keeps the family together until their eventual liberation.

Maria represents the next generation’s refusal to be crushed by the past. As a young woman, she is the primary catalyst for Stark’s loyalty, and her desire for a better life mirrors the family's aspiration to rise above their father’s degradation. She finds a partner in Stark, ensuring the farm’s future.

In Its Own Voice

“Think of a stoutish, stooping, duck-legged man, with a mountainous back, strongly suggestive of a bag of grist under his shirt, and you have him.”

The narrator provides this vivid, unflattering physical description of Old Jedwort to establish his character immediately.

“He was a poor man, and a pretty respectable man, when he married his wife; but he had no sooner come into possession of a little property than he grew crazy for more.”

This reflection explains the transformation of the patriarch from a decent neighbor into a man whose greed isolated him from his own community.

“I just held Maria close to my side, and told her that all was well--it was the best thing that could happen.”

As the meeting-house burns, the narrator describes the moment he and Maria realize that the ruin of the old structure signifies the end of her father’s influence and the beginning of their shared future.

What It's Really About

The story is an inquiry into the nature of possession. It questions the legitimacy of "legal" claims made in bad faith, contrasting the empty, legalistic rights Jedwort asserts over the meeting-house with the moral rights a family has to comfort, dignity, and education. It argues that hoarding wealth is a form of sickness that blinds an individual to the actual value of human life. By the end, the book posits that true prosperity comes not from the accumulation of property—or the theft of a church—but from the cultivation of a home and the shared, productive efforts of a community. It is a secular sermon on the idea that human beings are, in the end, only as rich as the love and security they foster.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate a sturdy, unpretentious narrative voice will find much to admire here. The story feels like a long, fireside conversation, rich with the cadences of 19th-century rural American speech. It is particularly rewarding for those interested in the social dynamics of the post-Civil War era, where the tension between rigid, old-fashioned patriarchs and a modern, egalitarian generation played out in small, domestic skirmishes.

The book does not shy away from the harsh realities of its period; the "shiftless" state of the house, the physical mistreatment of the children, and the casual, often brutal, attitudes toward domestic labor are presented with a frankness that can be jarring. The dialect, while authentic to the New England setting, may require a moment of adjustment for a contemporary reader. However, the story’s central conceit—the absurdity of stealing a building—provides a lighthearted, almost fable-like quality that keeps the deeper, more somber themes of emotional and economic abuse from becoming overwhelming. Ultimately, it stays with you as a testament to the power of quiet, persistent goodness to outlast the loud, disruptive greed of a bully. It is a satisfying, if curious, piece of American folklore that treats its villain with a mixture of dark humor and genuine, hard-won pity.