University of Virginia Library

6. PART VI
LITTLE FOLKS

55. Where the First English Child in America was Born
BY GOVERNOR JOHN WHITE (1587)

ABOUT the sixteenth of July, we arrived at the mainland of Virginia, which Simon Ferdinando took to be the Island of Croatoan.[204] Here we came to anchor and rode there two or three days. Finding ourselves deceived, we weighed anchor and sailed along the coast, where in the night, had not Captain Stafford been more careful in looking out than our Simon Ferdinando was, we should have been cast away upon the coast at a point called Cape of Fear, for we came within two cables' length of it; such was the carelessness and ignorance of our master.[205]

The two and twentieth day of July we came safely to Cape Hatteras where our ship and pinnace anchored. The Governor went aboard the pinnace accompanied by forty of his best men, intending to pass up to Roanoke. He hoped to find those fifteen Englishmen whom Sir Richard Grenville had left there the year before. With these he meant to have a conference concerning the state of the country and the savages,

intending then to return to the fleet and pass along the coast to the Bay of Chesapeake.[206] Here we intended to make our settlement and fort according to the charge given us among other directions in writing under the hand of Sir Walter Raleigh. We passed to Roanoke and the same night at sunset went ashore on the island, in the place where our fifteen men were left. But we found none of them, nor any sign that they had been there, saving only that we found the bones of one of them, whom the savages had slain long before.

The Governor with several of his company walked the next day to the north end of the island where Master Ralph Lane, with his men the year before, had built his fort with sundry dwelling houses. We hoped to find some signs here, or some certain knowledge of our fifteen men.

When we came thither we found the fort razed, but all the houses standing unhurt, saving that the lower rooms of them, and of the fort also, were overgrown with melons of different sorts, and deer were in rooms feeding on those melons. So we returned to our company without the hope of ever seeing any of the fifteen men living.

The same day an order was given that every man should be employed in remodelling those houses which we found standing, and in making more cottages.

On the eighteenth a daughter was born in Roanoke to Eleanor, the daughter of the Governor and the wife of Annanias Dare. This baby was christened on the Sunday following, and because this child was the first Christian born in Virginia she was named Virginia Dare.

By this time our shipmasters had unloaded the

goods and victuals of the planters and taken wood and fresh water, and were newly calking and trimming their vessels for their return to England. The settlers also prepared their letters and news to send back to England.

56. How the First Colony Disappeared
BY GOVERNOR JOHN WHITE (1590)[207]

WHEN our boats were fitted again, we put off from Hatteras, numbering nineteen persons in both boats. Before we could get to the place where our settlers were left, three years before, it was so exceedingly dark that we overshot the place by a quarter of a mile. There we espied, towards the north end of the island, the light of a great fire through the woods, to which we presently rowed. When we came right over against it, we let fall our grapnel near the shore and sounded a call with a trumpet, and afterwards many familiar English tunes. We called to them in friendly tones, but had no answer; we therefore landed at day-break, and coming to the fire, found the grass and sundry rotten trees burning about the place. From thence we went through the woods to that part of the island where I left our colony in the year 1587. All along this way we saw in the sand the print of the savages feet of two or three sorts, trodden during the night. As we went up the sandy bank, upon a tree and on the very brow thereof, were curiously carved these fair Roman letters, C R 0: which letters at once we knew to signify the place

where I should find the settlers living, according to a secret token agreed upon between them and me, at my last departure from them. This agreement was, that they should in no wise fail to write or carve on the trees or posts of the doors the name of the place where they should be seated; for when I came away they were prepared to remove from Roanoke fifty miles inward. Therefore at my departure from them, in the year 1587, I told them that if they should happen to be distressed in any of those places, that then they should carve over the letters or name, a cross in this form but we found no such sign of distress Having well considered all this, we passed towards the place where we had left the people in sundry houses; but we found the houses taken down, and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisade of great trees, looking very fort-like. One of the chief trees, or posts, at the right side of the entrance, had the bark taken off, and five feet from the ground, in fair capital letters, was graven C R O A T O A N, without any cross or sign of distress. This done, w e entered inside the palisade, where we found many bars of iron, two pigs of lead, four iron fowlers, iron sacker-shots, and such heavy things, thrown here and there, almost overgrown with grass and weeds. From thence we went along the waterside, towards a point of the creek, to see if we could find any of their boats or the pinnace, but we could perceive no sign of them nor any of the small arms which were left with them at my departure from them.

At our return from the creek, some of our sailors, meeting us, told us that they had found where several chests had been hidden, and long since dug up again. These had been broken up, and much of the things

in them spoiled and scattered about. Presently Captain Cook and I went to the place, which was in the end of an old trench made six years ago by Captain

SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

[Description: Black and white illustration: portrait of Raleigh holding a compass; a globe is in the background.]

Amadas. Here we found fine chests that had been carefully hidden by the planters, and among the same chests three were my own. About the place I found many of my things spoiled and broken, and my books torn from the covers, the frames of some of my pictures and maps rotten and spoiled with rain, and my armor almost eaten through with rust. This could be no other but the deeds of the savages, our enemies, who had watched the departure of our men to Croatoan,[208] and as soon as they were departed, these men dug up every place where they suspected anything to be buried; but although it grieved me much to see such spoil of my goods, yet on the other hand, I greatly rejoiced that I had safely found a certain token of their safe being at Croatoan, which is the place where Manteo was born, and where the savages of the island were our friends.[209]

57. Boyhood of a Famous Colonist
BY THOMAS SHEPHARD (1605-1620)

I WAS born on the fifth day of November in the year 1605, in Lancaster, some six miles from the town, of Northampton in Old England. My father's name was William Shephard. As one of my older brothers had been called William he gave the name of Thomas to me.

I remember my father well and have some little remembrance of my mother. My father was a wise and prudent man, the peace-maker of our town. My mother had a great love for me, perhaps because I was the youngest; but she died when I was about four years old. Later my father married another woman who let me see the difference between my own mother and a step-mother. She did not seem to love me and turned my father against me. Then my

father sent me to school to a Welshman, Mr. Rico, who kept the free school in the town of Lancaster. He was exceedingly cruel and dealt unjustly with me. This discouraged me so about school and lessons that I remember wishing often times that I might take care of pigs, for once when I was a little fellow on a visit at my grandfather's, he had let me take care of the geese and do other farm-work. I still had a memory of it and thought I should like it better than I did to go to school and learn. My father died when I was about ten years of age, so I was left to the care of my step-mother who neglected my education very much, although my father had left a hundred pounds[210] to pay for my schooling. When John, an older brother, decided to take me out of this mother's hands, he was granted the right, and my portion was paid over to him. So I lived with this brother who showed much love for me and to whom I owed much, for he seemed to be a brother, father, and mother to me.

Just about this time the cruel schoolmaster died, and another came to take his place. This man stirred up in my heart a desire of learning, and I told my friends I would be a scholar. I studied Greek and Latin; and finally I could take notes of the sermons on Sundays.

So I continued at my studies until I was about fifteen years of age and was considered ripe for the University at Cambridge, in England.[211]

58. Let's Go A Fishing
BY CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH (1614)

Now here in New England savage boys and girls, or any other children may turn, carry, and return fish without either shame or any great pain. He is a very idle boy who has passed the age of twelve years and

cannot do so much; and a girl is very stupid who cannot spin a thread to make nets to catch the fish.

What pleasure can be greater, when people are tired with work on shore, whether they have been planting vines, or building houses or ships, than to get recreation for themselves before their very doors, in their own boats upon the sea. There man, woman, and child, each with a small hook and line, may take divers kinds of excellent fish at their pleasure. And is it not a pretty sport to pull up two-pence,[212] sixpence,

and twelve pence as fast as you can haul and change a line?

He is a very bad fisher who cannot take in one day with his hook and line one, two, or three hundred cods. These, dressed and dried, if they be sold here in New England, will bring ten shillings for a hundred;[213] or in England, more than twenty. If a man work but three days in seven he may get more than he can spend, unless he is very wasteful.

Now carpenters, masons, gardeners, tailors, sailors, and smiths may all take this pretty recreation. Even if they fish for an hour only in a day, they may take more than they will eat in a week. Or, if they do not eat it, they may sell it or exchange it with fishermen and merchants for anything they want.

What sport cloth yield a more pleasing feeling of contentment and less harm than angling with a hook and breathing the sweet air, from isle to isle, over the silent streams?

My purpose is not to persuade children to leave their parents, or servants to leave their masters, but to bring over such as may be spared freely. Each parish or village in England, which will clothe its fatherless children of thirteen or fourteen years of age and send them here, will find that they can live exceedingly well here by their labor.

59. Boys and Girls in New Netherlands[214]
BY CORNELIS VON TIENHOVEN (1650)

WE are of the opinion, that permission should be obtained from the magistrates of some provinces and cities in Holland to send over boys and girls from the almshouses and orphan asylums. There ought to be three or four hundred of these boys and girls often, twelve, or fifteen years of age. And their own consent should be obtained also.

With that intention a large ship might be chartered suitable to carry horses and pork from Curacco and afterward to return here with a cargo of log-wood.[215]

It must be understood that the children are not to be bound to their masters longer than six or seven years.[216] If the girls should get married during that time, they must have a chance to hire again as servants with their masters or mistresses, if they will. Or they may remain wholly at liberty, or settle in New Netherland for themselves, on condition that they be allowed some land by the government, as much as the director of the colony shall think proper that each should have for the support of her family This land is to be free from all rents and taxes fol ten years after they settle upon the land. But after that time the people living in those parts shall pay one-tenth of what is made on their land, for the support of the colony.

60. London Children in Virginia[217]
BY THE VIRGINIA COMPANY (1619)

IT is asked what land the children are to have in return for their going over to Virginia. The answer is that they are not to have any; but at the end of their apprenticeship they are to be tenants of the common land. It is thought that the council of the company would then allow twenty-five acres apiece, for every one of them. For the good of these same children it is ordered by the council that every one of the children who are now living at the expense of the Virginia Company shall be educated and brought up in some good trade and profession.

By this means they will be able to get their living and support themselves, when they have reached the ages of four-and-twenty years, or are out of their apprenticeships. Their apprenticeships are to last at least seven years, if they live so long.[218]

Further it is ordered that all of these children when they become of age, or marry, whichever shall happen first, shall have freely given and made over to them fifty acres of land apiece. This land is to be in Virginia within the limits of the English plantation.

It is fully intended that this next spring one hundred children more shall be sent and carried by the Virginia Company out of the city of London to Virginia. During their voyage they shall have their food sweet and good. They shall also be well dressed and have all other things necessary for the voyage.

Every one of these children shall there be placed as apprentices with holiest and good masters. The

boys shall serve for seven years, or until they are twenty-one years old or more. The girls shall serve for seven years, that is, until they are twenty-one or married.

Their masters during that time must educate them and bring them up in some good trade or business. In this way they will be able to get their living and support themselves when their apprenticeships are over.

During their terms of labor, they shall have all things necessary provided for them, such as food drink, and clothing. At the end of their apprenticeships, every one of these children shall have freely given to them by the Virginia Company enough corn to serve for food for a whole year.

They shall also each have a house ready built to live in, and shall be placed as tenant in some convenient place upon as much land as they can manage. Each of these children shall, at this time, have one cow, and as much corn as he or she will plant. Each shall have suitable clothing, convenient weapons, and armor for defence in war.[219]

Every one shall have the necessary implements and utensils for the household, and enough working

tools for his trade. Every one who has thus served the apprenticeship shall be bound to be tenant or farmer for seven years after his apprenticeship end.

During that time of their labor and care they shall have one half of all the profits that shall arise from the management of their farms. At the end of the last seven years every one of the young men and women is to be at liberty to remain as farmer on the same land if he will, or to provide for himself elsewhere.

61. The Lost Boy
BY GOVERNOR BRADFORD (1621)

TEN of our men made a voyage to the Kingdom of Nauset to find a boy that had lost himself in the woods. The 11th of June we set out, the weather being very fine.

Before we had been long at sea, however, there arose a storm of wind and rain with much lightning and thunder. So that a water-spout arose not far from us. But God be praised, it did not last long; and we put in that night at a harbor where we had some hope of finding the boy.

Two savages were in the boat with us. The one was Tisquantum who was our interpreter. The other was Tokamahamon, a special friend. It was night when we came into the bay.

In the morning we saw savages hunting lobsters, and sent our two interpreters to speak with them. They told the Indians who we were and whence we came. They told the Indians not to fear us for we would not hurt them, as we were only searching for a lost boy.

Their answer was that the boy was well but that he was at Nauset. Yet, since we were there, they wished us to come ashore and eat with them. This we did.

They brought us to their sachem, Iyanough, a man not over twenty-six years of age. He was very gentle, polite, and considerate. Indeed he was not like a savage, with the exception of his dress.

He entertained us in the same kind polite way; and his foods of different kinds were plentiful.

One thing was very sad to us at this place. There was an old woman, whom we judged to be no less than a hundred years of age. She came to see US because she had never seen any English people. Yet she could not look at us, without breaking out in great anger, weeping and crying loudly.

We asked the reason of this. They told us that she had three sons who went aboard a ship when Mr. Hunt was in this place, to trade with him, and he carried them away as captives into Spain.

So the old woman had lost the comfort of her sons in her old age. We told them we were sorry that any English man should do them that wrong. We said that Hunt was .t bad man, and that all the English people who heard of the deed would say the same. But for us, we would not do them any harm, even if it would gain us all the skins in the country. So we gave her some small presents, which quieted her anger somewhat.

After dinner we took boat for Nauset. Iyanough and two of his men went with us. We sent Tisquantum to tell Aspinet, the sachem, at Nauset why we came. The savages here came very thick about us. But we had little cause to trust them, as they had

some time before made an attack upon us in that place. When our boat was aground they gathered on the shore, but we stood upon our guard, not allowing any of them to enter the boat except two.

AN OLD TOY.

[Description: Black and white illustration of a toy carriage.]

After sunset, Aspinet came with a great company of Indians, and brought the boy with him. One Indian carried the boy through the water. He had wandered five days, living on berries. Then he saw the lights of an Indian village which proved to be that of these people who first attacked us.

Aspinet, when he brought the boy to us, had not less than a hundred Indians with him. Half of them came with him to our boats' side unarmed. The others stood at some distance with their bows and arrows.

There he gave over to us the boy, hung with beads, and then made peace with us. We presented him with a knife. We gave one also to another Indian who had cared for the boy at his home and brought him here. Then they went away from us.

62. Puritan Children
BY GOVERNOR WILLIAM BRADFORD (1622)

THE Puritans who went to Holland had hard work to support their families in a strange land where the chief industry was cloth-making. The children suffered, too, by the change from country life in England to city life at Amsterdam and Leyden.

Necessity was a taskmaster over them and so the Puritans were forced to be taskmasters, not only to their servants, but in a way to their dearest children. This greatly wounded the tender hearts of many a loving father and mother.

So also it caused many sad and sorrowful effects. Many of their children were of the best dispositions and of right intentions. They had learned to bear the yoke of hardships in their youth. They were willing to bear part of their parents' burdens also.

But oftentimes they were so weighed down by their heavy work, that although their minds were willing, yet their bodies bowed under the weight. And so they became like old, weak people even in their early youth. The strength of nature was used up in the very bud as it were.

But there were other things more to be grieved over, which of all sorrows, were most heavy to be borne. Many of their children, because of these hardships and the great wickedness of young people in that country, and the many temptations of the place, were drawn away into evil.

By bad example they were drawn into spendthrift and dangerous ways of doing. Having got the reins off their necks they left the good teachings of their parents. Some became soldiers. Others went upon far voyages by sea.

Some others did worse things which led them to evil, to the danger of their souls. This brought great sorrow to their parents, and dishonor to God. So the parents saw that those who would be born after them, in years to come, would be in danger of being weak and wicked.

To show how strict and serious life was among the Puritans, we have only to notice how different a time Christmas was then than it is now.[220]

On the day called Christmas, the governor called them all out to work, as was the way then. But the most of the people, newly come at this time, said it was against their conscience to work on that day.

So the governor said, if they made it a matter of conscience, he would let them alone until they knew better. So he led away the rest and left them.

But when those with him came home at noon from

their work, he found the others in the street at play publicly. Some were pitching the bar, some were playing at stool-ball, and such sports.

So he went to them and took away the things they were playing with. He told them that it was against his conscience that they should play while others worked. If they made the keeping of the day a matter of religion, let them stay in their houses There should be no merry-making in the streets After that time nothing of the kind was tried again.[221]

63. A Poem about my Son Samuel's Going to England
BY ANNE BRADSTREET (1657)

64. On Samuel's Return from England
BY ANNE BRADSTREET (1657)

65. Send us More Children[223]
BY J. ALRICHS (1658)

Honorable, Worshipful, Wise, Prudent Gentlemen:

IN regard to the salt, which your Honors suppose s is quite plenty at the Manhattans, you are mistaken. We have only a hogshead and a half, and can hardly get any there for money. Hardly a cup of salt can be had for extraordinary occasions; this causes great discontent and uproar. In well regulated places it happens that scarcity and want occur. Much more is this the case in a colony far distant and newly begun. Such a colony ought to be provided for one year with whatever is not produced there or procured easily from others.

Little or no butter is to be had here, and less cheese.[224] Whenever any one is about to go on a journey he can get hardly anything more than dry bread, or he must carry along a pot or kettles to cook some food. Therefore, as a reminder, I say once more that it would be well if some rye meal, cheese, and such things were sent in all the ships. As horses are required here for agriculture, means should be found of sending a good supply of horses.

In regard to the fort, it is in a great state of decay.[225] I have resolved on building a house of planks about fifty feet in length and twenty in breadth; also I have had one-third of the house, in which I have been lodging very uncomfortably, repaired, yet the greater part of it is still so leaky that it is only with great difficulty that anything can be kept dry. We shall be obliged to pull down and rebuild the soldiers' barracks immediately.

I had expected, at least, a supply of provisions in the ship which had just arrived. There is a set of insolent fellows on board of her who will not turn a hand to work if there be anything to do, and there never is any one to be hired here for such work. Laborers will not stir for less than a dollar a day. Carpenters, masons and other mechanics earn four guilders;[226] this amounts to much in extensive works.

There is no reason or plea for refusing to supply the settlers, who have been here some time from our common store, in exchange for their money. There is no merchant's store here, and scarcely any one who has provisions for sale, for the daily supply of the inhabitants; nay, not even bread, although there are over six hundred souls in this place. Whoever has anything will not sell it, and who so has none, cannot. Things are here in their infancy, and demand time. Many who come hither are as poor as worms and lazy withal, and will not work unless compelled by necessity.

Send in the spring, or in the ships sailing in December, a large number of strong and hard working men. Should they not be forth coming at the right time, their places can be filled with boys of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years and over. Bear in mind that the boys be healthy and strong. Whatever is done here must be done by labor.

The children sent over from the almshouse have arrived safely, and were in such demand that all are bound out among the inhabitants; the oldest for two years, most of the others for three years, and the youngest for four years. They are to earn forty, sixty, and eighty guilders during the period,[227] and at the end of the term, will be fitted out in the same

manner as they are at present. Please to continue sending others from time to time; but, if possible, none ought to come under fifteen years of age. They ought to be somewhat strong, as little profit is to be expected here without labor.

'Tis as yet somewhat too soon to send many women or a multitude of little children; it will be more advisable and safer when crops are gathered, when abundance prevails, and everything is cheaper.

I might enlarge upon this account, but time does not permit, as the sloop by which I send it, is ready to sail.

66. A Sick Boy Cured
BY JOHN BARNARD (1766)

IT pleased God that I should be taken with scarlet fever; through the raging of the fever, and a fierce pain at my heart, every breath I drew was as though a sword had been run through me. I was so ill that they thought I would not live.

On the third night, I think, it seemed to me that a certain woman came and brought me some small dark-colored pills. She told me to put one in my mouth and hold it there till it grew soft. Then I was to squeeze it flat between my thumb and finger and put it on my breast.

It would soak in, she said, and before I had used them all so, I should be well. I did as I was told, and when I had used the third pill, my pain and fever left me, and I was well.

My tender father, very early the next morning

came into my bed-room to ask how I was. I told him I was quite well and intended to get up soon. I said the pills Mrs. Baird gave me last night had entirely cured me.

He said to me: "Child, I believe she was not here; I heard nothing of it." To satisfy him I said: "Sir, I have the other four pills now in my hand." I put my hand out of the bed to show them, but they dropped out of my hand into the bed.

I then raised myself up to look for them but could not find them. He said to me: "I am afraid, child, you are out of your senses." I said to him: "Sir, I am perfectly awake and in my senses, and find myself truly well."

He left the room, thinking I was delirious, and I saw by his face that he feared I would die. He then asked of all the house whether that woman had been at the house the day or evening before. They all let him know that they had not seen her here. He went to his own room, and in about an hour came to me again.

I was firm in the story I had told him. He talked to me of some other things and found by my answers that I was thoroughly awake. He was better satisfied, and left me with a more cheerful face.

By noon I got up and was perfectly well of my sickness. I thought I would have given ever so much to know what the pills were, that others might have the benefit of them. Finding that the woman had not been at our house, and I was perfectly healed, I could not help thinking that a merciful God had sent a good angel to heal me.

And to this very day I cannot but think it was more than a common dream, or the wild ideas of a

feverish mind. It seemed to me a dream from God And what else can you make of it?

Thus has God kindly helped me. Forever blessed be his name.

67. Wants in New Jersey
ADVERTISEMENTS BY MANY PEOPLE (1700-1750)

WANTED:—A good schoolmaster for children; one who can teach reading, writing, and ciphering, at Rariton, about six miles above Bound Brook. Any person properly qualified may meet with good encouragement by applying to

JOHN BROUGHTON

Ran away on Wednesday, the eighth of January, from Hartshorne FitzRandolph, of Woodbridge, in the province of East New Jersey, an Irish servant lad, name Michael Hibbets.[228] He is about sixteen or seventeen years old, of a dark complexion, has dark curly hair, is of middle size, and is a chimney sweeper by trade. When he went away he had on an old wide-brimmed wool hat, a very ragged brown overcoat, a homespun Kersey coat and jacket, with metal buttons. He wore leather breeches, coarse yarn stockings, and shoes tied with leather strings. He speaks very good English. He was seen in New York, and it is thought that he is in or about that city. It is supposed that he has silver amounting to three pounds.[229] All masters of vessels are warned against carrying him off. Whoever takes up this; servant and returns him to his master shall have

thirty shillings reward, and all reasonable charges paid.

Stolen from Thomas Steeples, of Springfield, New Jersey, on the first day of March, a white horse, of low stature, well built for strength, and short backed. He has a small head, little ears, two white eyes, one whiter than the other, a long mane on the off side, curled and trimmed on the other; also a large switch tail, and four white hoofs.

Any person bringing to me the horse and rider shall have five pounds reward, or for the horse alone, forty shillings reward.[230]

John, the son of Peter Hodgkinson, a boy about thirteen years of age, was taken by a Spanish privateer, in his passage from Dublin to Philadelphia on board a brigantine.[231] His father can obtain no satisfactory account of him at present. If any person will take care of this boy if he is on the continent among English inhabitants, and send word to his father, in Burlington, New Jersey, or conduct him there, he shall receive five pounds[232] for the said boy or reasonable satisfaction for any information.

To-morrow at two o'clock in the afternoon, at the Fort there will be exposed for sale at public auction the following goods, belonging to the estate of the late Governor Montgomery:

A fine yellow Camblet bed lined with silk and trimmed with lace, which came from London.[233]

One fine field bedstead and curtains.

Some blue cloth lately come from London for liveries, and some broad gold lace.

A very fine medicine chest, with a great variety of valuable medicines.

A parcel of sweetmeat and jelly glasses.

A case of twelve knives and twelve forks with silver handles.

A large iron fireplace and iron bars.

All to be seen at the Fort.

Pleasant country seat, fit for a gentleman or a storekeeper, on the Rariton road, which leads down from Wells Ferry. On it there is a good dwelling house, fifty-two feet wide in front, and thirty-two feet wide in back. It has an entrance ten feet long, a parlor on each side, and a room over each. The rooms and entry are wainscotted, and have sash windows. There is a cellar running the whole length and breadth of the house, part of which makes a large kitchen. The remainder may be used as a dairy and cellars. There is a fireplace in each room.

There is a barn sixty by thirty feet. Besides this, there is a small dwelling house or shop, twenty-four by twenty feet. All these buildings are well shingled and in very good repair.

The orchard is a good one, containing about two hundred apple-trees, and may be extended at pleasure. There is a very good kitchen garden, at the back of which is a grass plot, with a prim hedge about it. There are forty acres of woodland, a spring of running water near the house, and a brook whereon may be built a grist mill. The cleared land is well fenced and in good condition.

Whoever is inclined to purchase may apply to Dr. William Farquhar in New York, Benjamin Franklin

in Philadelphia, or Jacob Janeway, who lives on the premises.

This advertisement is to give notice that on the sixteenth day of July, 1716, an Indian man named Nym ran away from his master, David Lyell. Nym is about twenty-one years of age, and is a short, broad shouldered fellow. His hair has been cut off lately and he has a swelling on the back of his right hand. He has with him two new shirts, a new waistcoat and breeches of white coarse linen, a homespun coat, and he wears a hat, shoes, and stockings. It is believed that he is trying to get on board some vessel.

Whoever brings the said Indian into the Jerseys to his master shall have forty shillings.

On the eighteenth of September, there ran away from Thomas Hill of Salem, an Indian man named Pompey, who was of medium height, pretty much pox marked, and aged about thirty. He wears a yellow coat, with horn buttons, an Ozenbridge shirt,[234] and a pair of white yarn stockings. Pompey took with him a little black pacing horse, branded on the side with the letters "H. M." standing thus H M. Whoever takes up this Indian and brings him to his master shall receive a reasonable reward.

68. Young People's Life in New Hampshire[235]
FROM OLD COLONY MEMORIAL (1765)

IN general, men old and young, who had got their growth, had a decent coat, vest, and small clothes,[236] and some kind of fur hat. These were for holiday use and would last half a lifetime. Old men had a great coat and a pair of boots. The boots generally lasted for life.

For common use they had a long jacket, or what was called a fly coat, reaching down about half way to the knee. They had a striped jacket to wear under a pair of small clothes like the coat. These were made of flannel cloth.

They had flannel shirts and stockings and thick leather shoes. A silk handkerchief for holidays would last ten years. In summer time they had a pair of wide trousers reaching half way from the knee to the ankle.

Shoes and stockings were not worn by the young men. Few men in farming business wore them either. As for boys as soon as they were taken out of petticoats, they were put into small clothes summer and winter. This lasted till they put on long trousers which they called tongs. They were but little different from the pantaloons of to-day. These were made of linen or cotton, and soon were used by old men and young through the warm season.

Later they were made of flannel cloth and were in general use for the winter. Young men never

thought of great coats; and overcoats were then unknown.

As for the women, old and young, they wore flannel gowns in winter. The young women wore wrappers in the summer, and about their ordinary business they did not wear stockings and shoes. They were usually contented with one calico gown. They generally had one woolen gown, and another of camel's hair goods; and some had them made of poplin. The sleeves were short and did not come below the elbow.

On holidays they wore one, two, or three ruffles on each arm. They wore long gloves coming up to the elbow, fastened by what were called glove-tightens, made of black horse hair. They wore aprons made of checked linen or cotton; and for holiday use of white cotton, lawn, or cambric.

They seldom wore caps when about their ordinary affairs; but they had two kinds. One kind they wore when they meant to be much dressed up. One was called strap-cap; it came under the chin; the other was called round-cord cap, and did not come over the ears.

They wore thick leather, thin leather, and broadcloth shoes, all with heels an inch and a half high. These had peaked toes, turned up in a point at the toes. They generally had small, very small muffs; and some wore masks.

The principal amusements of the young men were wrestling, running and jumping, or hopping three hops. Dancing was considered an important thing to know. Dances to step-tunes, such as Old Father George, Cape Breton, High Pietty Martin, and the Rolling Hornpipe were favorites.[237]

At their parties dancing was their principal exercise; they sang songs also, and had a number of forfeit plays, such as "breaking and setting the pope's neck" and "find the button."

At the time I speak of, a young woman did not think it a hardship or a disgrace to walk five or six miles to a meeting. There was no chaise or any sort of wagon or sleigh in the town where I lived. I remember the first chaise that passed through the town. It caused the greatest possible wonder.

Potatoes were a scarce article in those days. Three bushels were thought a very large crop. I was quite a large boy before I ever saw a potato as large as a hen's egg.

69. Colonial Sundays
BY DR. ABIEL ABBOTT (about 1780)

THIS Sunday evening I will say a word about Sunday of olden times. On Saturday evening the work of the week was finished. My father, after washing and putting on a skillet of water, would get his razor and soap, sit down by the fire and shave off his beard. Then he would take his Bible and sometimes some other book.

My mother, after washing the potatoes and other vegetables, and getting ready the Sunday food, used to make hasty pudding[238] for supper. This was eaten in milk, or if we had no milk, it was eaten with butter and molasses. Then the little children were put to bed.

Early in the evening my father read a chapter in the Bible and made a prayer. Soon after that the younger part of the family and the hired help went to bed. Indeed the family every night went to their rest soon after supper, especially in the summer.

Saturday night and Sunday and Sunday night, there Nas a perfect stillness. No play was going on, and no laughing. Those of us who were old enough took the Bible or learned a hymn. We read in the

testament or primer to father or mother in the morning. For breakfast, when we had milk enough, we had bread and milk. Otherwise we had beans and corn porridge.

After the war of the Revolution, tea and toast were used for Sunday morning breakfast. As we lived at a distance from meeting, those who walked started as early as nine o'clock. Those who went on horse back set out soon after.

The roads and bridges were very bad. The horses

always carried two, and often a child in the mother's lap. Sometimes there was another child on the pommel of the saddle before the father. All went to meeting, except someone to keep the house and to take care of the children who could not take care of themselves.

The one who stayed at home was told when to put the pork and vegetables into the pot for the supper which we had after meeting. Those who went to meeting used to carry in their pockets some short cake, or doughnuts and cheese for dinner. We used to get home from meeting generally at four o'clock.

Then the women set the table, and the men took care of the horses and cattle in winter. After supper the children and younger part of the family were called together to read in the Bible and primer[239] and to sing some hymns and prayers. Soon after this, before my father read in the Bible and made a prayer, the cows were brought from the pasture and milked.

No work was done except what was absolutely necessary. The dishes for supper and breakfast were left unwashed till Monday. Every one in the town, who was able to go to meeting, went. If any were absent, it was noticed, and it was supposed that sickness was the reason. If any one was absent three or four Sundays, the tithing man would make him a visit.[240] But this did not often happen.

Sunday was not unpleasant to me. I did not feel gloomy, or want to play, or wish Sunday was gone or would not come. This was because I was so used to its rules.

70. Too Much for the Whistle
BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1779)[241]

I AM charmed with your description of Paradise, and with your plan of living there; and I approve much of your conclusion, that, in the mean time, we should draw all the good we can from this world. In my opinion, we might draw more good than we do, and suffer less evil, if we would take care and not to give too much for whistles. For to me it seems that most of the unhappy people we meet with are become so by neglect of that caution.

You ask what I mean ? You love stories, and will excuse my telling one of myself.

When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle, that I met' by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered and gave all my money for one.

I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth. They put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation. The reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.

This, however, was afterward of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often, when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing,

I said to myself, Don't give too much for the whistle; and I saved my money.

As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle.

When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, sacrificing his time in attendance upon levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends to attain it, I have said to myself, This man gives too much for his whistle.

When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect, He pays indeed, said I, too much for his whistle.

If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating wealth, Poor man, I said, you pay too much for your whistle.

When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his health in their pursuit, Mistaken man, said I, you are providing pain for yourself, instead of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle.

If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he contracts debts, and ends his career in a prison, Alas! say I, he has paid dear, very dear, for his whistle.

When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married to an ill-natured brute of a husband, What a pity, say I, that she should pay so much for a whistle!

In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by the false estimates they have made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their whistles.