In the universal use of wines and strong liquors in New England at
that date children took unrestrainedly their proportionate part. It
seems strange to think of this girl assembly of little Bostonians
drinking wine and hot or cold punch as part of their "treat," yet no
doubt they were well accustomed to such fare. I know of a little
girl of still tenderer years who was sent at that same time from the
Barbadoes to her grandmother's house in Boston to be "finished" in
Boston schools, as was Anna, and who left her relative's abode in
high dudgeon because she was not permitted to have wine at her
meals; and her parents upheld her, saying Missy must be treated like
a lady and have all the wine she wished. Cobbett, who thought liquor
drinking the national disease of America, said that "at all hours of
the day little boys at or under twelve years of age go into stores
and tip off their drams." Thus it does not seem strange for little
maids also to drink at a party. The temperance awakening of this
century came none too soon.