etc., were well drawn up through their pocket holes. Their
slippers, to match their dresses, had heels even higher and more
unnatural than our own.... With bows and courtesies, and by the
tips of their fingers, the ladies were led up the high stone
steps to the wide hall, ... and then up the stair case with its
heavy carved balustrade to the panelled rooms above.... Then, the
last touches put to the heads (too loftily piled with cushions,
puffs, curls, and lappets, to admit of being covered with
anything more than a veil or a hood).... Gay would be the
feast...."

"The old silver, damask and India china still remaining show how
these feasts were set out.... Miss Lucas has already told us
something of what the country could furnish in the way of good
cheer, and we may be sure that venison and turkey from the
forest, ducks from the rice fields, and fish from the river at
their doors, were there.... Turtle came from the West Indies,
with 'saffron and negroe pepper, very delicate for dressing it.'
Rice and vegetables were in plenty--terrapins in every pond, and
Carolina hams proverbially fine. The desserts were custards and
creams (at a wedding always bride cake and floating island),
jellies, syllabubs, puddings and pastries.... They had port and
claret too ... and for suppers a delicious punch called 'shrub,'
compounded of rum, pineapples, lemons, etc., not to be commended
by a temperance society."

"The dinner over, the ladies withdrew, and before very long the
scraping of the fiddlers would call the gentlemen to the
dance,--pretty, graceful dances, the minuet, stately and
gracious, which opened the ball; and the country dance,
fore-runner of our Virginia reel, in which every one old, and
young joined."[161]

It is little wonder that Eliza Pinckney, upon returning from just such a
social function to take up once more the heavy routine of managing three
plantations, complained: "At my return thither every thing appeared
gloomy and lonesome, I began to consider what attraction there was in
this place that used so agreeably to soothe my pensive humor, and made
me indifferent to everything the gay world could boast; but I found the
change not in the place but in myself."[162]

The domestic happiness found in these plantation mansions was apparently
ideal. Families were generally large; there was much inter-marriage,
generation after generation, within the aristocratic circle; and thus
everybody was related to everybody. This gave an excuse for an amount of
informal and prolonged visiting that would be almost unpardonable in
these more practical and in some ways more economical days. There was
considerable correspondence between the families, especially among the
women, and by means of the numerous references to visits, past or to
come, we may picture the friendly cordial atmosphere of the time.
Washington, for instance, records that he "set off with Mrs. Washington
and Patsy, Mr. [Warner] Washington and wife, Mrs. Bushrod and Miss
Washington, and Mr. Magowen for 'Towelston,' in order to stand for Mr.
B. Fairfax's third son, which I did with my wife, Mr. Warner Washington
and his lady." "Another day he returns from attending to the purchase of
western lands to find that Col. Bassett, his wife and children, have
arrived during his absence, 'Billy and Nancy and Mr. Warner Washington
being here also.' The next day the gentlemen go a-hunting together, Mr.
Bryan Fairfax having joined them for the hunt and the dinner that
followed."

Again, we find Mrs. Washington writing, with her usual unique spelling
and sentence structure, to her sister:

"Mt. Vernon Aug 28 1762.

"MY DEAR NANCY,--I had the pleasure to receive your kind letter
of the 25 of July just as I was setting out on a visit to Mr.
Washington in Westmoreland where I spent a weak very agreabley. I
carried my little patt with me and left Jackey at home for a
trial to see how well I could stay without him though we ware
gone but won fortnight I was quite impatient to get home. If I at
aney time heard the doggs barke or a noise out, I thought thair
was a person sent for me....

"We are daly expect(ing) the kind laydes of Maryland to visit us.
I must begg you will not lett the fright you had given you
prevent you comeing to see me again--If I coud leave my children
in as good Care as you can I would never let Mr. W----n come down
without me--Please to give my love to Miss Judy and your little
babys and make my best compliments to Mr. Bassett and Mrs.
Dawson.

"I am with sincere regard
"dear sister
"yours most affectionately
"MARTHA WASHINGTON."[163]

Because of the lack of good roads and the apparently great distances,
the mere matter of travelling was far more important in social
activities than is the case in our day of break-neck speed. A
ridiculously small number of miles could be covered in a day; there were
frequent stops for rest and refreshment; and the occupants of the heavy,
rumbling coaches had ample opportunity for observing the scenery and the
peculiarities of the territory traversed. Martha Washington's grandson
has left an account of her journey from Virginia to New York, and
recounts how one team proved balky, delayed the travellers two hours,
and thus upset all their calculations. But the kindness of those they
met easily offset such petty irritations as stubborn horses and slow
coaches. Note these lines from the account:

"We again set out for Major Snowden's where we arrived at 4
o'clock in the evening. The gate (was) hung between 2 trees which
were scarcely wide enough to admit it. We were treated with great
hospitality and civility by the major and his wife who were plain
people and made every effort to make our stay as agreeable as
possible."

"May 19th. This morning was lowering and looked like rain--we
were entreated to stay all day but to no effect we had made our
arrangements & it was impossible.... Majr Snowden accompanied us
10 or a dozen miles to show a near way and the best road.... We
proceeded as far as Spurriers ordinary and there refreshed
ourselves and horses.... Mrs. Washington shifted herself here,
expecting to be met by numbers of gentlemen out of
B----re--(Baltimore) in which time we had everything in
reddiness, the carriage, horses, etc., all at the door in
waiting."[164]

The story of that journey, now made in a few hours, is filled with
interesting light upon the ways of the day:--the numerous accidents to
coaches and horses, the dangers of crossing rivers on flimsy ferries,
the hospitality of the people, who sent messengers to insist that the
party should stop at the various homes, the strange mingling of the
uncouth, the totally wild, and the highly civilized and cultured.
Probably at no other time in the world's history could so many stages of
man's progress and conquest of nature be seen simultaneously as in
America of the eighteenth century.


_IV. New England Social Life_

Turning to New England, we find of course that under the early Puritan
regime amusements were decidedly under the ban. We have noted under the
discussion of the home the strictness of New England views, and how this
strictness influenced every phase of public and private life. Indeed, at
this time life was largely a preparation for eternity, and the ethical
demands of the day gave man an abnormally tender and sensitive
conscience. When Nathaniel Mather declared in mature years that of all
his manifold sins none so stuck upon him as that, when a boy, he
whittled on the Sabbath day, and did it behind the door--"a great
reproach to God"--he was but illustrating the strange atmosphere of
fear, reverence, and narrowness of his era.

And yet, those earlier settlers of Plymouth and Boston were a kindly,
simple-hearted, good-natured people. It is evident from Judge Sewall's
_Diary_ that everybody in a community knew everybody else, was genuinely
interested in everyone's welfare, and was always ready with a helping
hand in days of affliction and sorrow. All were drawn together by common
dangers and common ties; it was an excellent example of true community
interest and co-operation. This genuine solicitude for others, this
desire to know how other sections were getting along, this natural
curiosity to inquire about other people's health, defences against
common dangers, and advancement in agriculture, trade and manufacturing,
led to a form of inquisitiveness that astonished and angered foreigners.
Late in the eighteenth century even Americans began to notice this
proverbial Yankee trait. Samuel Peters, writing in 1781 in his _General
History of Connecticut_, said: "After a short acquaintance they become
very familiar and inquisitive about news. 'Who are you, whence come you,
where going, what is your business, and what your religion?' They do not
consider these and similar questions as impertinent, and consequently
expect a civil answer. When the stranger has satisfied their curiosity
they will treat him with all the hospitality in their power."

Fisher in his _Men, Women, & Manners in Colonial Times_ declares:
"A ... Virginian who had been much in New England in colonial times used
to relate that as soon as he arrived at an inn he always summoned the
master and mistress, the servants and all the strangers who were about,
made a brief statement of his life and occupation, and having assured
everybody that they could know no more, asked for his supper; and
Franklin, when travelling in New England, was obliged to adopt the same
plan."[165]

Old Judge Sewall, a typical specimen of the better class Puritan,
certainly possessed a kindly curiosity about his neighbors' welfare, and
many are his references to visits to the sick or dying, or to attendance
at funerals. While there were no great balls nor brilliant fetes, as in
the South, his _Diary_ emphatically proves that there were many pleasant
visits and dinner parties and a great deal of the inevitable courting.
Thus, we note the following:

"Tuesday, January 12. I dine at the Governour's: where Mr. West,
Governour of Carolina, Capt. Blackwell, his Wife and Daughter,
Mr. Morgan, his Wife and Daughter Mrs. Brown, Mr. Eliakim
Hutchinson and Wife.... Mrs. Mercy sat not down, but came in
after dinner well dressed and saluted the two Daughters. Madm
Bradstreet and Blackwell sat at the upper end together, Governour
at the lower end."[166]

"Dec. 20, 1676 ... Mrs. Usher lyes very sick of an Inflammation
in the Throat.... Called at her House coming home to tell Mr.
Fosterling's Receipt, i.e. A Swallows Nest (the inside) stamped
and applied to the throat outwardly."[167]

"Satterday, June 5th, 1686. I rode to Newbury, to see my little
Hull, and to keep out of the way of the Artillery Election, on
which day eat Strawberries and Cream with Sister Longfellow at
the Falls."[168]

"Monday, July 11. I hire Ems's Coach in the Afternoon, wherein
Mr. Hez. Usher and his wife, and Mrs. Bridget her daughter, my
Self and wife ride to Roxbury, visit Mr. Dudley, and Mr. Eliot,
the Father who blesses them. Go and sup together at the Grayhound
Tavern with boil'd Bacon and rost Fowls. Came home between 10 and
11 brave Moonshine, were hinder'd an hour or two by Mr. Usher,
else had been in good season."[169]

"Thorsday, Oct. 6, 1687 ... On my Unkle's Horse after Diner, I
carry my wife to see the Farm, where we eat Aples and drank
Cider. Shew'd her the Meeting-house.... In the Morn Oct. 7th
Unkle and Goodm. Brown come our way home accompanying of us. Set
out after nine, and got home before three. Call'd no where by the
way. Going out, our Horse fell down at once upon the Neck, and
both fain to scramble off, yet neither receiv'd any
hurt...."[170]

Nearly a century later Judge Pynchon records a social life similar,
though apparently much more liberal in its views of what might enter
into legitimate entertainment:

"Saturday, July 7, 1784. Dine at Mr. Wickkham's, with Mrs. Browne
and her two daughters.... In the afternoon Mrs. Browne and I, the
Captain, Blaney, and a number of gentlemen and ladies, ride, and
some walk out, some to Malbon's Garden, some to Redwood's,
several of us at both; are entertained very agreeably at each
place; tea, coffee, cakes, syllabub, and English beer, etc.,
punch and wine. We return at evening; hear a song of Mrs. Shaw's,
and are highly entertained; the ride, the road, the prospects,
the gardens, the company, in short, everything was most
agreeable, most entertaining--was admirable."[171]

"Thursday, October 25, 1787 ... Mrs. Pynchon, Mrs. Orne, and
Betsy spend the evening at Mrs. Anderson's; musick and
dancing."[172]

"Monday, November 10, 1788 ... Mrs. Gibbs, Curwen, Mrs. Paine,
and others spend the evening here, also Mr. Gibbs, at
cards."[173]

"Friday, April 19 1782. Some rain. A concert at night; musicians
from Boston, and dancing."[174]

"June 24, Wednesday, 1778. Went with Mrs. Orne [his daughter] to
visit Mr. Sewall and lady at Manchester, and returned on
Thursday."[175]


_V. Funerals as Recreations_

Even toward the close of the eighteenth century, however, lecture days
and fast days were still rather conscientiously observed, and such
occasions were as much a part of New England social activities as were
balls and receptions in Virginia. Judge Pynchon makes frequent note of
such religious meetings; as,--"April 25, Thursday, 1782. Fast Day.
Service at Church, A.M.; none, P.M."[176] "Thursday, July 20, 1780. Fast
Day; clear."[177] Funerals and weddings formed no small part of the
social interests of the day, and indeed the former apparently called for
much more display and formality than was ever the case in the South.
There seems to have been among the Puritans a certain grim pleasure in
attending a burial service, and in the absence of balls, dancing, and
card playing, the importance of the New England funeral in early social
life can scarcely be overestimated. During the time of Sewall the burial
was an occasion for formal invitation cards; gifts of gloves, rings, and
scarfs were expected for those attending; and the air of depression so
common in a twentieth century funeral was certainly not conspicuous. It
may have been because death was so common; for the death rate was
frightfully high in those good old days, and in a community so thinly
populated burials were so extremely frequent that every one from
childhood was accustomed to the sight of crepe and coffin. Man is a
gregarious creature and craves the assembly, and as church meetings,
weddings, executions, and funerals were almost the sole opportunities
for social intercourse, the flocking to the house of the dead was but
normal and natural. Sewall seems to have been in constant attendance at
such gatherings:

"Midweek, March 23, 1714-5. Mr. Addington buried from the
Council-Chamber ... 20 of the Council were assisting, it being
the day for Appointing Officers. All had Scarvs. Bearers Scarvs,
Rings, Escutcheons...."[178]

"My Daughter is Inter'd.... Had Gloves and Rings of 2 pwt and
1/2. Twelve Ministers of the Town had Rings, and two out of
Town...."[179]

"Tuesday, 18, Novr. 1712. Mr. Benknap buried. Joseph was invited
by Gloves, and had a scarf given him there, which is the
first."[180]

"Feria sexta, April 8, 1720. Govr. Dudley is buried in his father
Govr. Dudley's Tomb at Roxbury. Boston and Roxbury Regiments were
under Arms, and 2 or 3 Troops.... Scarves, Rings, Gloves,
Escutcheons.... Judge Dudley in a mourning Cloak led the Widow;
... Were very many People, spectators out of windows, on Fences
and Trees, like Pigeons...."[181]

"July 25th, 1700. Went to the Funeral of Mrs. Sprague, being
invited by a good pair of Gloves."[182]

This comment is made upon the death of Judge Sewall's father:

"May 24th.... My Wife provided Mourning upon my Letter by Severs.
All went in mourning save Joseph, who staid at home because his
Mother lik'd not his cloaths...."[183]

"Febr. 1, 1700. Waited on the Lt. Govr. and presented him with a
Ring in Remembrance of my dear Mother, saying, Please to accept
in the Name of one of the Company your Honor is preparing to
go."[184]

"July 15, 1698.... On death of John Ive.... I was not at his
Funeral. Had Gloves sent me, but the knowledge of his notoriously
wicked life made me sick of going ... and so I staid at home, and
by that means lost a Ring...."[185]

"Friday, Feb. 10, 1687-8. Between 4 and 5 I went to the Funeral
of the Lady Andros, having been invited by the Clerk of the South
Company. Between 7 and 8 Lechus (Lynchs? i.e. links or torches)
illuminating the cloudy air. The Corps was carried into the Herse
drawn by Six Horses. The Souldiers making a Guard from the
Governour's House down the Prison Lane to the South
Meeting-house, there taken out and carried in at the western
dore, and set in the Alley before the pulpit, with Six Mourning
Women by it.... Was a great noise and clamor to keep people out
of the House, that might not rush in too soon.... On Satterday
Feb. 11, the mourning cloth of the Pulpit is taken off and given
to Mr. Willard."[186]

"Satterday, Nov. 12, 1687. About 5 P.M. Mrs. Elisa Saffen is
entombed.... Mother not invited."[187]

In the earlier days of the New England colonies the gift of scarfs,
gloves, and rings for such services was almost demanded by social
etiquette; but before Judge Sewall's death the custom was passing. The
following passages from his _Diary_ illustrate the change:

"Decr. 20, feria sexta.... Had a letter brought me of the Death
of Sister Shortt.... Not having other Mourning I look'd out a
pair of Mourning Gloves. An hour or 2 later Mr. Sergeant, sent me
and Wife Gloves; mine are so little I can't wear them."[188]

"August 7r 16, 1721. Mrs. Frances Webb is buried, who died of the
Small Pox. I think this is the first public Funeral without
Scarves...."[189]

The Puritans were not the only colonists to celebrate death with pomp
and ceremony; but no doubt the custom was far more nearly universal
among them than among the New Yorkers or Southerners. Still, in New
Amsterdam a funeral was by no means a simple or dreary affair; feasting,
exchange of gifts, and display were conspicuous elements at the burial
of the wealthy or aristocratic. The funeral of William Lovelace in 1689
may serve as an illustration:

"The room was draped with mourning and adorned with the escutcheons of
the family. At the head of the body was a pall of death's heads, and
above and about the hearse was a canopy richly embroidered, from the
centre of which hung a garland and an hour-glass. At the foot was a
gilded coat of arms, four feet square, and near by were candles and
fumes which were kept continually burning. At one side was placed a
cupboard containing plate to the value of L200. The funeral procession
was led by the captain of the company to which deceased belonged,
followed by the 'preaching minister,' two others of the clergy, and a
squire bearing the shield. Before the body, which was borne by six
'gentlemen bachelors,' walked two maidens in white silk, wearing gloves
and 'Cyprus scarves,' and behind were six others similarly attired,
bearing the pall.... Until ten o'clock at night wines, sweet-meats, and
biscuits were served to the mourners."[190]


_VI. Trials and Executions_

Whenever normal pleasures are withdrawn from a community that community
will undoubtedly indulge in abnormal ones. We should not be surprised,
therefore, to find that the Puritans had an itching for the details of
the morbid and the sensational. The nature of revelations seldom, if
ever, grew too repulsive for their hearing, and if the case were one of
adultery or incest, it was sure to be well aired. There was a
possibility that if an offender made a thorough-going confession before
the entire congregation or community, he might escape punishment, and on
such occasions it would seem that the congregation sat listening closely
and drinking in all the hideous facts and minutiae. The good fathers in
their diaries and chronicles not only have mentioned the crimes and the
criminals, but have enumerated and described such details as fill a
modern reader with disgust. In fact, Winthrop in his _History of New
England_ has cited examples and circumstances so revolting that it is
impossible to quote them in a modern book intended for the general
public, and yet Winthrop himself seemed to see nothing wrong in offering
cold-bloodedly the exact data. Such indulgence in the morbid or _risque_
was not, however, limited to the New England colonists; it was entirely
too common in other sections; but among the Puritan writers it seemed to
offer an outlet for emotions that could not be dissipated otherwise in
legitimate social activities.

To-day the spectacle or even the very thought of a legal execution is so
horrible to many citizens that the state hedges such occasions about
with the utmost privacy and absence of publicity; but in the seventeenth
century the Puritan seems to have found considerable secret pleasure in
seeing how the victim faced eternity. Condemned criminals were taken to
church on the day of execution, and there the clergyman, dispensing with
the regular order of service, frequently consumed several hours
thundering anathema at the wretch and describing to him his awful crime
and the yawning pit of hell in which even then Satan and his imps were
preparing tortures. If the doomed man was able to face all this without
flinching, the audience went away disappointed, feeling that he was
hard-hearted, stubborn, "predestined to be damned"; but if with loud
lamentation and wails of terror he confessed his sin and his fear of
God's vengeance, his hearers were pleased and edified at the fall of one
more of the devil's agents. Often times a similar scene was enacted at
the gallows, where a host of men, women, and even children crowded close
to see and hear all. Judge Sewall has recorded for us just such an
event:

"Feria Sexta, June 30, 1704.... After Diner, about 3 P.M. I went to see
the Execution.... Many were the people that saw upon Bloughton's Hill.
But when I came to see how the River was cover'd with People, I was
amazed! Some say there were 100 Boats, 150 Boats and Canoes, saith
Cousin Moody of York. He told them. Mr. Cotton Mather came with Capt.
Quelch and six others for Execution from the Prison to Scarlet's Wharf,
and from thence.... When the scaffold was hoisted to a due height, the
seven Malefactors went up; Mr. Mather pray'd for them standing upon the
Boat. Ropes were all fasten'd to the Gallows (save King, who was
Repriev'd). When the Scaffold was let to sink, there was such a Schreech
of the Women that my wife heard it sitting in our Entry next the
Orchard, and was much surprised at it; yet the wind was sou-west. Our
house is a full mile from the place."[191]

This also from the kindly judge indicates the interest in the last
service for the condemned one:

"Thursday, March 11, 1685-6. Persons crowd much into the Old
Meeting-House by reason of James Morgan ... and before I got thither a
crazed woman cryed the Gallery of Meetinghouse broke, which made the
people rush out, with great Consternation, a great part of them, but
were seated again.... Morgan was turned off about 1/2 hour past five.
The day very comfortable, but now 9 o'clock rains and has done a good
while.... Mr. Cotton Mather accompanied James Morgan to the place of
Execution, and prayed with him there."[192]

It would seem that the Puritan woman might have used her influence by
refusing to attend such assemblies. Let us not, however, be too severe
on her; perhaps, if such a confession were scheduled for a day in our
twentieth century the confessor might not face empty seats, or simply
seats occupied by men only. In our day, moreover, with its multitude of
amusements, there would be far less excuse; for the monotony of life in
the old days must have set nerves tingling for something just a little
unusual, and such barbarous occasions were among the few opportunities.

Gradually amusements of a more normal type began to creep into the New
England fold. Judge Sewall makes the following comment: "Tuesday, Jan.
7, 1719. The Govr has a ball at his own House that lasts to 3 in the
Morn;"[193] but he does not make an additional note of his
attending--sure proof that he did not go. Doubtless the hour of closing
seemed to him scandalous. Then, too, early in the eighteenth century the
dancing master invaded Boston, and doubtless many of the older members
of the Puritan families were shocked at the alacrity with which the
younger folk took to this sinful art. It must have been a genuine
satisfaction to Sewall to note in 1685 that "Francis Stepney, the
Dancing Master, runs away for Debt. Several Attachments out after
him."[194] But scowl at it as the older people did, they had to
recognize the fact that by 1720 large numbers of New England children
were learning the graceful, old-fashioned dances of the day, and that,
too, with the consent of the parents.


_VII. Special "Social" Days_

"Lecture Day," generally on Thursday, was another means of breaking the
monotony of New England colonial existence. It resembled the Sabbath in
that there was a meeting and a sermon at the church, and very little
work done either on farm or in town. Commonly banns were published then,
and condemned prisoners preached to or at. For instance, Sewall notes:
"Feb. 23, 1719-20. Mr. Cooper comes in, and sits with me, and asks that
he may be published; Next Thorsday was talk'd of, at last, the first
Thorsday in March was consented to."[195] On Lecture Day, as well as on
the Sabbath, the beautiful custom was followed of posting a note or bill
in the house of God, requesting the prayers of friends for the sick or
afflicted, and many a fervent petition arose to God on such occasions.
Several times Sewall refers to such requests, and frequently indeed he
felt the need of such prayers for himself and his.

"Satterday, Augt. 15. Hambleton and my Sister Watch (his eldest daughter
was ill). I get up before 2 in the Morning of the L(ecture) Day, and
hearing an earnest expostulation of my daughter, I went down and finding
her restless, call'd up my wife.... I put up this Note at the Old (First
Church) and South, 'Prayers are desired for Hanah Sewall as drawing Near
her end.'"[196]

And when his wife was ill, he wrote: "Oct. 17, 1717. Thursday, I asked
my wife whether 'twere best for me to go to Lecture: She said, I can't
tell: so I staid at home. Put up a Note.... It being my Son's Lecture,
and I absent, twas taken much notice of."[197]

As the editor of the famous _Diary_ comments: "Judge Sewall very seldom
allowed any private trouble or sorrow, and he never allowed any matter
of private business, to prevent his attendance upon 'Meeting,' either on
the Lord's Day, or the Thursday Lecture. On this day, on account of the
alarming illness of his wife--which proved to be fatal--he remains with
her, furnishing his son, who was to preach, with a 'Note' to be 'put
up,' asking the sympathetic prayers of the congregation in behalf of the
family. He is touched and gratified on learning how much feeling was
manifested on the occasion. The incident is suggestive of one of the
beautiful customs once recognized in all the New England churches, in
town and country, where all the members of a congregation, knit together
by ties and sympathies of a common interest, had a share in each other's
private and domestic experiences of joy and sorrow."

Such customs added to the social solidarity of the people, and gave each
New England community a neighborliness not excelled in the far more
vari-colored life of the South. Fast days and days of prayer, observed
for thanks, for deliverance from some danger or affliction, petitions
for aid in an hour of impending disaster, or even simply as a means of
bringing the soul nearer to God, were also agencies in the social
welfare of the early colonists and did much to keep alive community
spirit and co-operation. Turning again to Sewall, we find him recording
a number of such special days:

"Wednesday, Oct. 3rd, 1688. Have a day of Prayer at our House;
One principal reason as to particular, about my going for
England. Mr. Willard pray'd and preach'd excellently....
Intermission. Mr. Allen pray'd, and then Mr. Moodey, both very
well, then 3d-7th verses of the 86th Ps., sung Cambridge Short
Tune, which I set...."[198]

"Febr. 12. I pray'd God to accept me in keeping a privat day of
Prayer with Fasting for That and other Important Matters: ...
Perfect what is lacking in my Faith, and in the faith of my dear
Yokefellow. Convert my children; especially Samuel and Hanah;
Provide Rest and Settlement for Hanah; Recover Mary, Save Judity,
Elisabeth and Joseph: Requite the Labour of Love of my Kinswoman,
Jane Tappin, Give her health, find out Rest for her. Make David a
man after thy own heart, Let Susan live and be baptised with the
Holy Ghost, and with fire...."[199]

"Third-day, Augt. 13, 1695. We have a Fast kept in our new
Chamber...."[200]

In New England Thanksgiving and Christmas were observed at first only to
a very slight extent, and not at all with the regularity and ceremony
common to-day. In the South, Christmas was celebrated without fail with
much the same customs as those known in "Merrie Old England"; but among
the earlier Puritans a large number frowned upon such special days as
inclining toward Episcopal and Popish ceremonials, and many a Christmas
passed with scarcely a notice. Bradford in his so-called _Log-Book_
gives us this description of such lack of observance of the day:

"The day called Christmas Day ye Govr cal'd them out to worke (as was
used) but ye moste of this new company excused themselves, and said yt
went against their consciences to work on yt day. So ye Govr tould them
that if they made it mater of conscience, he would spare them till they
were better informed. So he led away ye rest and left them; but when
they came home at noon from their work he found them in ye street at
play openly, some pitching ye bar, and some at stool-ball and such like
sports. So he went to them and took away their implements and tould them
it was against his conscience that they should play and others work."

And Sewall doubtless would have agreed with "ye Govr"; for he notes:

"Dec. 25, 1717. Snowy Cold Weather; Shops open as could be for
the Storm; Hay, wood and all sorts of provisions brought to
Town."[201]

"Dec. 25, Friday, 1685. Carts come to Town and shops open as is
usual. Some somehow observe the day; but are vexed I believe that
the body of the people profane it, and blessed be God no
authority yet to Compell them to keep it."[202]

"Tuesday, Decr. 25, 1722-3. Shops are open, and Carts came to
Town with Wood, Hoop-Poles, Hay & as at other Times; being a
pleasant day, the street was fill'd with Carts and Horses."[203]

"Midweek, Decr. 25, 1718-9. Shops are open, Hay, Hoop-poles,
Wood, Faggots, Charcole, Meat brought to Town."[204]

Nearly a century later all that Judge Pynchon records is:

"Fryday, December 25, 1778. Christmas. Cold continued."[205]

"Monday, December 25, 1780. Christmas, and rainy. Dined at Mr.
Wetmore's (his daughter's home) with Mr. Goodale and family, John
and Patty. Mr. Barnard and Prince at church; the music good, and
Dr. Steward's voice above all."[206]

All that Sewall has to say about Thanksgiving is: "Thorsday, Novr. 25.
Public Thanksgiving,"[207] and again: "1714. Novr. 25. Thanks-giving
day; very cold, but not so sharp as yesterday. My wife was sick, fain to
keep the Chamber and not be at Diner."


_VIII. Social Restrictions_

Many of the restraints imposed by Puritan lawmakers upon the ordinary
hospitality and cordial overtures of citizens seem ridiculous to a
modern reader; but perhaps the "fathers in Israel" considered such
strictness essential for the preservation of the saints. Josselyn
travelling in New England in 1638, observed in his _New England's
Rareties_ their customs rather keenly, criticized rather severely some
of their views, and commended just as heartily some of their virtues.
"They that are members of their churches have the sacraments
administered to them, the rest that are out of the pale as they phrase
it are denied it. Many hundred souls there be amongst them grown up to
men and women's estate that were never christened.... There are many
strange women too, (in Solomon's sense), more the pity; when a woman
hath lost her chastity she hath no more to lose. There are many sincere
and religious people amongst them.... They have store of children and
are well accommodated with servants; many hands make light work, many
hands make a full fraught, but many mouths eat up all, as some old
planters have experienced."

Approximately a century later the keen-eyed Sarah Knight visited New
Haven, and commented in her _Journal_ upon the growing laxity of rules
and customs among the people of the quaint old town:

"They are governed by the same laws as we in Boston (or little
differing), throughout this whole colony of Connecticut ... but a
little too much independent in their principles, and, as I have
been told, were formerly in their zeal very rigid in their
administrations towards such as their laws made offenders, even
to a harmless kiss or innocent merriment among young people....
They generally marry very young: the males oftener, as I am told,
under twenty than above: they generally make public weddings, and
have a way something singular (as they say) in some of them,
viz., just before joining hands the bride-groom quits the place,
who is soon followed by the bridesmen, and as it were dragged
back to duty--being the reverse to the former practice among us,
to steal mistress bride....

"They (the country women) generally stand after they come in a
great while speechless, and sometimes don't say a word till they
are asked what they want, which I impute to the awe they stand in
of the merchants, who they are constantly almost indebted to; and
must take that they bring without liberty to choose for
themselves; but they serve them as well, making the merchants
stay long enough for their pay...."

But even as late as 1780 Samuel Peters states in his _General History of
Connecticut_ that he found the restrictions in Connecticut so severe
that he was forced to state that "dancing, fishing, hunting, skating,
and riding in sleighs on the ice are all the amusements allowed in this
colony."

In Massachusetts for many years in the seventeenth century a wife, in
the absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they
were close relatives. Naturally such an absurd law was the source of
much bickering on the part of magistrates, and many were the amusing
tilts when a wife was not permitted to remain with her father, but had
to be sent home to her husband, or a brother was compelled to leave his
own sister's house. Of course, we may turn successfully to Sewall's
_Diary_ for an example: "Mid-week, May 12, 1714. Went to Brewster's. The
Anchor in the Plain; ... took Joseph Brewster for our guide, and went to
Town. Essay'd to be quarter'd at Mr. Knight's, but he not being at home,
his wife refused us."[208] When a judge, himself, was refused ordinary
hospitality, we may surmise that the law was rather strictly followed.
But many other rules of the day seem just as ridiculous to a modern
reader. As Weeden in his _Economic and Social History of New England_
says of restrictions in 1650:

"No one could run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or
elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. No one should
travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave
on the Sabbath day. No woman should kiss her child on the Sabbath
or fasting day. Whoever brought cards into the dominion paid a
fine of L5. No one could make minced pies, dance, play cards, or
play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet, and
jews-harp.

"None under 21 years, nor any not previously accustomed to it,
shall take tobacco without a physician's certificate. No one
shall take it publicly in the street, or the fields, or the
woods, except on a journey of at least ten miles, or at dinner.
Nor shall any one take it in any house in his own town with more
than one person taking it at the same time."[209]

We must not, however, reach the conclusion that life in old New England
was a dreary void as far as pleasures were concerned. Under the
discussion of home life we have seen that there were barn-raisings,
log-rolling contests, quilting and paring bees, and numerous other forms
of community efforts in which considerable levity was countenanced.
Earle's _Home Life in Colonial Days_ copies an account written in 1757,
picturing another form of entertainment yet popular in the rural
districts:

"Made a husking Entertainm't. Possibly this leafe may last a Century and
fall into the hands of some inquisitive Person for whose Entertainm't I
will inform him that now there is a Custom amongst us of making an
Entertainm't at husking of Indian Corn where to all the neighboring
Swains are invited and after the Corn is finished they like the
Hottentots give three Cheers or huzza's, but cannot carry in the husks
without a Rhum bottle; they feign great Exertion but do nothing till
Rhum enlivens them, when all is done in a trice, then after a hearty
Meal about 10 at Night they go to their pastimes."[210]


_IX. Dutch Social Life_

In New York, among the Dutch, social pleasures were, of course, much
less restricted; indeed their community life had the pleasant
familiarity of one large family. Mrs. Grant in her _Memoirs of an
American Lady_ pictures the almost sylvan scene in the quaint old town,
and the quiet domestic happiness so evident on every hand:

"Every house had its garden, well, and a little green behind; before
every door a tree was planted, rendered interesting by being co-eval
with some beloved member of the family; many of their trees were of a
prodigious size and extraordinary beauty, but without regularity, every
one planting the kind that best pleased with him, or which he thought
would afford the most agreeable shade to the open portion at his door,