Pastor, the Next Time You’re Tempted to Complain About Your Salary…

East Hampton was originally settled by the best sort of men, and had never been divided in religion. There was only one church in place, over which three successive pastors had been settled during a period of a century and a half. The first was Rev. Mr. James, the terms of whose support were forty-five pounds annually, lands rate free, grain to be first ground at the mill every Monday, and one fourth of the whales stranded on the beach.

Lyman Beecher, Autobiography, p. 67
The level of this minister’s pay is deplorable! Only 25% of beached whales? It ought to be at least 30!