HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      119

    Fire limits were established by the ordinance of August, 1870, when
the construction of wooden buildings on Main street, from Center to
Depot street, and for a distance of fifty feet on either side, was hence-
forth made unlawful.
    Among the early ordinances of the town trustees of Brazil was one
concerning the observance of the Sabbath day. Practically every town
has or has had so-called “blue laws” on its statute books, expressive of
the moral sentiment of the majority regarding secular conduct on Sunday,
though prosecutions for their violation have been rare. The paragraph
of the—ordinance passed by the town board in 1866, relating to this subject,
is as follows:
    “If any person of the age of fourteen years or upwards shall be
found on the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, engaged at
common labor, or their usual avocations (works of charity or necessity
only excepted) within the limits of the corporation, such person shall be
fined not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars.”
    The report of the town treasurer for the year from May 16, 1867, to
June 1, 1868, covers the first full year of Brazil’s corporate existence. Its
items are as follows:
            Liquor licenses ..................$ 200.00
            Shows.............................   13.00
            Fines.............................   19.00
            Peddlers..........................   27.75
            Auctions..........................   13.00
            Taxes.............................  790.86
            Balance at last report............  132.57
                                               --------
            Total.............................$1196.18

    Town orders to the amount of $826.55 were paid, and the total
expenses for that year were $829.80, leaving a balance in the town
treasury of $366.38.
    The last report of the treasurer for the town of Brazil, before the
inception of the city government (March, 1873), reads as follows, its
total amount and the different items of receipts and expenditures being
an index of Brazil’s growth during the five or six years of town
government:
                            RECEIPTS.
    Balance on hand May, 1872................$1842.22
    Justices’ fines..........................  118.00
    Delinquent taxes.........................  425.30
    Taxes.................................... 3457.84
    Sale of bonds (school)................... 1600.00
    License tax.............................. 1474.24
                                             --------
    Total................................... $8899.59

                        EXPENDITURES.
    Town officers............................$ 463.00
    Election expenses........................   45.75
    School bonds and coupons................. 3760.00
    Jacob Thomas interest....................   61.52