51. Puritan Amusements
BY P. BENNETT (1704)
SEVERAL families in Boston keep a coach, and a pair of horses, and
some few drive with four horses; as for chaises and saddle horses,
considering the size of the place, they outdo
London.[189] They have some nimble lively
horses for their coaches but not any of that beautiful, large, black
breed so common in London.
The common horses used in carts about the town
are very small and poor. They seldom have their fill of
anything but labor. The country carts and wagons are
generally drawn by oxen, from two to six, according to the
distance or to the burden they are loaded with.
When the ladies ride out to take the air, it is
generally in a chaise or chair, and then but a single horse is
used.[190] They have a negro servant to drive
them. The gentlemen ride out here as in England, some in chairs, and
others on horseback, with their negroes to attend them.
They travel in much the same manner on business as for
pleasure. Their roads are exceedingly good in summer. Yet
it is safe travelling night or day; for they have no highway
robbers to interrupt them. Riding through the woods is
pleasant, and the country is dotted with farm houses,
cottages, and some few gentlemen's country houses.
The best of their inns and public houses are far short of the
beauty and convenience of ours in England. They have
generally a little rum to drink, and some of them have a sorry
sort of Madeira wine. For food they have Indian corn
roasted, and bread made of Indian meal. Sometimes they
have a fowl or fish dressed after a fashion; they have pretty
good butter, and a very sad sort of cheese. But those who are
used to these things think them tolerable.
For their amusements, every afternoon, after drinking tea, the
gentlemen and ladies walk the Mall. From there they go to one another's
houses to spend the evening, that is, those who are not disposed to
attend the evening lecture.[191] This they
may do, if they please, six nights out of seven, the year round.
What they call the Mall is a walk on a fine green
common.
[192] It is nearly half a mile over,
with two rows of young trees planted opposite to each other. There is a
fine footway between in imitation of St. James's
Park.
[193] Part of the bay of the sea which
encircles the town, takes its course along the northwest side of the
Common.
[194]
Their country sports are chiefly shooting and
fishing. For the former the woods afford them plenty of game.
The rivers and ponds, with which this country abounds, yield
them a great plenty as well as a great variety of fine fish.
The government is in the hands of the Dissenters, who do not
allow theatres or music houses.[195] But
although plays and such entertainments are not held here, the people
don't seem to be dispirited or to mope for want of them. For both the
ladies and gentlemen dress and appear as gay, usually, as courtiers in
England on a coronation day or birthday. And the ladies here visit,
drink tea, and do everything else in the height of fashion. They neglect
the affairs of their families with as good a grace as the finest ladies
in London.
[[189]]
A chaise was a one-horse vehicle.
[[190]]
A chair was a kind of buggy.
[[191]]
Lectures were a weekday sermon.
[[193]]
St. James's Park in London.
[[194]]
Where now one sees the Public Garden.
[[195]]
Protestants who did not belong to the Church of of
England were called Dissenters and Puritans.