1. Adam at first was formed of dust,
As we find on record;
And did receive a wife cal'd Eve,
By a creative word.
2. From Adam's side a crooked bride,
We find complete in form;
Ordained that they in bed might lay
And keep each other warm.
3. To court indeed they had no need,
She was his wife at first,
And she was made to be his aid,
Whose origin was dust.
4. This new made pair full happy were,
And happy might remained,
If his help meet had never eat
The fruit that was restrained.
5. Tho' Adam's wife destroyed his life
In manner that is awfull;
Yet marriage now we all allow
[To] Be both just and lawfull.
6. And now a days there is two ways,
Which of the two is write
To lie between sheets sweet and clean
Or sit up all the night.
7. But some suppose bundling in clothes
The good and wise doth vex;
Then let me know which way to go
To court the fairer sex.
8. Whether they must be hug'd and buss'd
When setting up all night;
Or whether [they] in bed may lay,
Which doth reason invite?
9. Nature's request is, give me rest,
Our bodies seek repose;
Night is the time, and 'tis no crime
To bundle in our cloaths.
10. Since in a bed, a man and maid
May bundle and be chaste:
It doth no good to burn up wood
It is a needless waste.
11. Let coat and shift be turned adrift,
And breeches take their flight,
An honest man and virgin can
Lie quiet all the night.
12. But if there be dishonesty
Implanted in the mind,
Breeches nor smocks, nor scarce padlocks
The rage of lust can bind.
13. Cate, Nance and Sue proved just and true,
Tho' bundling did practise;
But Ruth beguil'd and proved with child,
Who bundling did despise.
14. Whores will be whores, and on the floor
Where many has been laid,
To set and smoke and ashes poke,
Wont keep awake a maid.
15. Bastards are not at all times got
In feather beds we know;
The strumpet's oath convinces both
Oft times it is not so.
16. One whorish dame, I fear to name
Lest I should give offence,
But in this town she was took down
Not more than eight months sence.
17. She was the first, that on snow crust,
I ever knew to gender
I'll hint no more about this whore
For fear I should offend her.
18. 'Twas on the snow when Sol was low,
And was in Capricorn,
A child was got, and it will not
Be long ere it is born.
19. Now unto those that do oppose
The bundling traid, I say
Perhaps there's more got on the floor,
Than any other way.
20. In ancient books no knowledge is
Of these things to be got;
Whether young men did bundle then,
Or whether they did not.
21. Sence ancient book says wife they took,
It dont say how they courted;
Whether young men did bundle then,
Or by the fire sported.
[But some do hold in times of old,
That those about to wed,
Spent not the night, nor yet the light,
By fire, or in the bed.]
22. They only meant to say they sent
A man to choose a bride;
Isaac was so, but let me know,
If any one beside.
23. Men don't pretend to trust a friend
To choose him sheep or cows;
Much more a wife whom all his life
He does expect to house.
24. Sence it doth stand each one in hand
To happyfy his life;
I would advise each to be wise,
And choose a prudent wife.
25. Sence bundling is not a thing
That judgment will procure;
Go on young men and bundle then,
But keep your bodies pure.
Since this work went to press we have been favored, by one of our
antiquarian friends in Massachusetts, with a copy of another poetical
blast against the practice of bundling. It was written in the latter
part of the last, or the first decade of the present century, by a
learned and distinguished clergyman settled in Bristol county,
Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard University, and a doctor of
divinity. The original manuscript from which our copy is made, is very
carefully written out, with corrections apparently of a later date, and
now undoubtedly appears for the first time in printed form.
A POEM AGAINST BUNDLING._Dedicated to ye Youth of both Sexes_.
1. Hail giddy youth, inclined to mirth,
To guilty amours prone,
Come blush with me, to think and see
How shameless you are grown.
2. 'Tis not amiss to court and kiss,
Nor friendship do we blame,
But bundling in, women with men,
Upon the bed of shame;
3. And there to lay till break of day,
And think it is no sin,
Because a smock and petticoat
Have chance to lie between.
4. Such rank disgrace and scandal base,
All modest youth will shun,
For 'twill infest, like plague or pest,
And you will be undone.
5. Let boars and swine lie down and twine,
And grunt, and sleep, and snore,
But modest girls should not wear tails
Nor bristles any more.
6. Let rams the sheep mount up and leap,
Without restraint or blame,
But will young men act just like them;
Oh, 'tis a burning shame!
7. It is not strange that horses range
Unfettered to the last,
But youthful lusts in fetters must
Be chained to virtue fast.
8. Dogs and bitches wear no breeches,
Clothing for man was made,
Yet men and women strip to their linen,
And tumble into bed.
9. Yes, brutal youth, it is the truth,
Your modesty is gone,
And could you blush, you'd think as much,
And curse what you have done.
10. To have done so some years ago,
Was counted more disgrace
Than 'tis of late to propagate
A spurious bastard race.
11. Quit human kind and herd with swine,
Confess yourself an whore;
Go fill the stye, there live and die,
Or never bundle more.
12. Shall gentlemen with ladies join
To practice like the brutes,
Then let them keep with cattle and sheep,
And fodder on their fruits.
13. This cursed course is one great source
Of matches undesigned,
Quarrels and strife twixt man and wife,
And bastards of their kind.
14. But in excuse of this abuse
It oftentimes is said,
Father and mother did no other
Than strip and go to bed.
15. But grant some did as you have said,
Yet do they not repent,
And wish that you may never do
What they so much lament?
16. A stupid ass can't be more base
Than are those guilty youth
Who fill with smart a parent's heart,
And turn it into mirth.
17. Others do plead hard for the bed,
Their health and weariness,
So drunkards will drink down their swill,
And call it no excess.
18. Under pretense of self defense,
Others will scold and say,
An honest maid is chaste abed
As any other way.
19. But where's the man that fire can
Into his bosom take,
Or go through coals on his foot soles
And not a blister make?
20. Temptation's way has led astray
The likeliest of you all,
And yet you'r found on slippery ground,
And think you cannot fall.
21. A female meek, with blushing cheek,
Seized in some lover's arms,
Has oft grown weak with Cupid's heat
And lost her virgin charms.
22. But last of all, up speaks romp Moll
And pleads to be excused,
For how can she e'er married be,
If bundling be refused?
23. What strange mistake young women,
To hope for sparks this way!
Your fond bold acts can't lay a tax
That men will ever pay.
24. So cheap and free some women be,
That men are cloyed with sweet,
As horse or cow starve at the mow
With fodder under feet.
25. 'Tis therefore vain yourselves to screen,
The practice is accurst,
It is condemned by God and man,
The pious and the just.
26. Should you go on, the day will come,
When Christ your Judge will say,
In _bundles_ bind each of this kind,
And cast them all away.
27. Down deep in hell there let them dwell,
And bundle on that bed;
There burn and roll without control,
'Till all their lusts are fed.
The evidence presented in the preceding pages, establishes, as we think,
the following facts:
1st. That the custom, so far as it pertained to the American States, had
its origin as a matter of convenience and necessity.
2d. That in all stages of its history it was chiefly confined to the
humbler classes of society.
3d. That its prevalence may be said to have closed with the eighteenth
century.
It is our opinion that it came nearest to being a universal custom from
1750 to 1780, and that it was, at all times, regarded by the better
classes as a serious evil, and was no more countenanced by them then the
frequenting of grog shops is by the better class of the present day.
This opinion is corroborated by the remarks of several old persons whom
we have consulted as to their recollections of the custom. Among these,
Mr. B., of East Haddam, Ct., now in his 95th year, says that he well
remembers it; that it could not be called general, though frequent. It
was not practiced among the more intelligent, educated classes, nor
among those who lived in large, well warmed houses. He says it was not
the fashion to bundle with any chap who might call on a girl, but that
it was a special favor, granted only to a favorite lover, who might
consider it a proof of the high regard which the damsel had for him; in
short, it was _only accepted lovers_ who were thus admitted to the bed
of the fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long continued
urging in most cases.[36] He thinks the fashion ceased about 1790 to
1800, and in consequence of education and refinement; and that _no more
mischief was done then than there is now-a-days_.
In the same strain, also, spoke the genial Colonel H., a native of
Berlin, Ct., born in 1775. He was perfectly conversant with the custom,
had known the old ladies, in some cases, to go up stairs before
retiring, to see that the bundling couple were comfortable, _tuck 'em
up_, and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly asseverated his belief
"that there wasn't any more mischief done in those days than there is
now."
Indeed, all the old people with whom we have conversed on the matter,
although in some cases a little unwilling to own that they had ever
practiced it themselves, were unanimous in their belief that the abuse
of chastity under the bundling regime was no more frequent than it is
now. One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in reply to the half
reproachful, half joking question of his grandson, whether he wasn't
ashamed, replied: "Why, no! What is the use of sitting up all night and
burning out fire and lights, when you could just as well get under kiver
and keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap and wake up fresh,
and go at it again? Why, d--n it, there wasn't half as many bastards
then as there are now!"[37]
Even within the present century we have found traces of the continuance
of the practice of bundling, though the instances are perhaps few, and
in some measure exceptional. Until a very late day the custom (as a
matter of convenience) was prevalent among the Dutch settlers of
Pennsylvania, and it is not improbable that traces may still continue to
exist in some of the more remote counties of that state. An old
schoolmaster who flourished in Glastenbury, Ct., some twenty years ago,
when relating his experiences in teaching in southern Pennsylvania, and
speaking of _boarding around_, informed us that when for any reason he
did not choose to go to his boarding place for the time being, he was
accustomed to stop at a tavern kept by an honest old Dutchman. On one
occasion, having asked the landlord if he could stay over night, he was
told that he could; and after chatting with his host through the
evening, was shown to bed. The landlord set down the candle and had gone
out of the room, when our friend noticed the only bed in the room was
already occupied, and calling to the host, notified him of the fact;
when he cried back: "Oh! dat ish only mine taughter; she won't hurt
nopoty," and coolly went his way. And our friend affirmed that he found
the daughter not only harmless, but also quite competent to take care of
herself.
In New England, we believe that Cape Cod has the dubious honor of
holding out the longest against the advance of civilization, bundling,
as we have it on good authority, having been practiced there as late as
1827.[38] In Greenwich, New Jersey, it was in vogue in 1816. In the
state of New York this custom came under judicial cognizance in the year
1804, when the supreme court held, that although bundling was admitted
to be the custom in some parts of the state, it being proven that the
parents of the girl, for whose seduction the suit was brought,
countenanced her practicing it, they had no right to complain, or ask
satisfaction for the consequences, which, the court say, "_naturally
followed it_!"[39]