[Sidenote:  Constables.] Every town has one or more constables, who serve warrants from the selectmen and writs from the law courts.  They pursue criminals and take them to jail.  They summon jurors.  In many towns they serve as collectors of taxes, but in many other towns a special officer is chosen for that purpose.  When a person, fails to pay his taxes, after a specified time the collector has authority to seize upon his property and sell it at auction, paying the tax and costs out of the proceeds of the sale, and handing over the balance to the owner.  In some cases, where no property can be found and there is reason to believe that the delinquent is not acting in good faith, he can be arrested and kept in prison until the tax and costs are paid, or until he is released by the proper legal methods.

[Sidenote:  Assessors of taxes and overseers of the poor.] Where the duties of the selectmen are likely to be too numerous, the town may choose three or more assessors of taxes to prepare the tax lists; and three or more overseers of the poor, to regulate the management of the village almshouse and confer with other towns upon such questions as often arise concerning the settlement and maintenance of homeless paupers.

[Sidenote:  Public schools.] Every town has its school committee.  In 1647 the legislature of Massachusetts enacted a law with the following preamble:  “It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading from the use of tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of deceivers; to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavours;” it was therefore ordered that every township containing fifty families or householders should forthwith set up a school in which children might be taught to read and write, and that every township containing one hundred families or householders should set up a school in which boys might be fitted for entering Harvard College.  Even before this statute, several towns, as for instance Roxbury and Dedham, had begun to appropriate money for free schools; and these were the beginnings of a system of public education which has come to be adopted throughout the United States.

[Sidenote:  School committees.] The school committee exercises powers of such a character as to make it a body of great importance.  The term of service of the members is three years, one third being chosen annually.  The number of members must therefore be some multiple of three.  The slow change in the membership of the board insures that a large proportion of the members shall always be familiar with the duties of the place.  The school committee must visit all the public schools at least once a month, and