Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).
The carat character (^) indicates that the following letter or letters
are superscripted (example: Yo^r most aff^nate Mother).
[f.] refers to "long s".
* * * * *
Child Life in Colonial Days
[Illustration: The MM Co.]
[Illustration: John Quincy
_Frontispiece_]
CHILD LIFE
IN COLONIAL DAYS
Written by ALICE MORSE EARLE
author of _Home Life in Colonial Days_
and other Domestic and Social
Histories of Olden Times
With many Illustrations
from Photographs
MDCCCXCIX
New York
The Macmillan Company
London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
1915
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1899,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped November, 1899. Reprinted December,
1899; March, 1904; February, 1909; March, 1915.
Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
_THIS BOOK
HAS BEEN WRITTEN
IN TENDER MEMORY
OF A
DEARLY LOVED AND LOVING CHILD
HENRY EARLE, JUNIOR
MDCCCLXXX-MDCCCXCII_
_Foreword_
_When we regard the large share which child study has in the
interest of the reader and thinker of to-day, it is indeed curious
to see how little is told of child life in history. The ancients
made no record of the life of young children; classic Rome furnishes
no data for child study; the Greeks left no child forms in art. The
student of original sources of history learns little about children
in his searches; few in number and comparatively meagre in quality
are the literary remains that even refer to them._
_We know little of the childhood days of our forbears, and have
scant opportunity to make comparisons or note progress. The child of
colonial days was emphatically "to be seen, not to be heard"--nor
was he even to be much in evidence to the eye. He was of as little
importance in domestic, social, or ethical relations as his childish
successor is of great importance to-day; it was deemed neither
courteous, decorous, nor wise to make him appear of value or note in
his own eyes or in the eyes of his seniors. Hence there was none of
that exhaustive study of the motives, thoughts, and acts of a child
which is now rife._
_The accounts of oldtime child life gathered for this book are
wholly unconscious and full of honesty and simplicity, not only from
the attitude of the child, but from that of his parents, guardians,
and friends. The records have been made from affectionate interest,
not from scientific interest; no profound search has been made for
motives or significance, but the proof they give of tenderness and
affection in the family are beautiful to read and to know._
_The quotations from manuscript letters, records, diaries, and
accounts which are here given could only have been acquired by
precisely the method which has been followed,--a constant and
distinct search for many years, combined with an alert watchfulness
for items or even hints relating to the subject, during as many
years of extended historical reading. Many private collections and
many single-treasured relics have been freely offered for use, and
nearly all the sentences and pages selected from these sources now
appear in print for the first time. The portraits of children form
a group as rare as it is beautiful. They are specially valuable as
a study of costume. Nearly all of these also are as true emblems
of the generous friendship of the present owners as they are of
the life of the past. The rich stores of our many historical
associations, of the Essex Institute, the American Antiquarian
Society, the Long Island Historical Society, the Deerfield_
_Memorial Hall, the Lenox Library, have been generously opened,
carefully gleaned, and freely used. The expression of gratitude so
often tendered to these helpful kinsfolk and friends and to these
bountiful societies and libraries can scarcely be emphasized by any
public thanks, yet it would seem that for such assistance thanks
could never be offered too frequently, nor too publicly._
_Nor have I, in gathering for this,--as for my other books,--failed
to exercise what Emerson calls "the catlike love of garrets,
presses, and cornchambers, and of the conveniences of long
housekeeping." Many long-kept homes have I searched, many an old
garret and press has yielded conveniences for this book._
_Though this is a record of the life of children in the American
colonies, I have freely compared the conditions in this country
with similar ones in England at the same date, both for the sake of
fuller elucidation, and also to attempt to put on a proper basis the
civilization which the colonists left behind them. Many statements
of conditions in America do not convey correct ideas of our past
comfort and present and liberal progress unless we compare them
with facts in English life. We must not overrate seventeenth and
eighteenth century life in England, either in private or public.
England was not a first-class power among nations till the time of
the Treaty of Paris, in 1763. When our colonies were settled it
was third-rate. Life among the nobility was magnificent, but the
life of the peasantry was wretched, and middle-class social life
was very bleak and monotonous in both city and country. From early
days life was much better in many ways in America than in England
for the family of moderate means, and children shared the benefits
of these better conditions. A child's life was more valuable here.
The colonial laws plainly show this increased valuation, and the
child responded to this regard of him by a growing sense of his own
importance, which in time has produced "Young America."_
_It is my hope that children as well as grown folk will find in
these pages much to interest them in the accounts of the life of
children of olden times. I have had this end constantly in my mind,
though I have made no attempt, nor had I any intent, to write in
a style for the perusal of children; for I have not found that
intelligent children care much or long for such books, except in the
very rare cases of the few great books that have been written for
children, and which are loved and read as much by the old as by the
young.
As our tired century has grown gray it has developed an interest in
things youthful,--in the beginnings of things. Its attitude is akin
to that of an old man, still in health and clear-headed, but weary;
who has lived through his scores of crowded years of action, toil,
and strife, and seeks in the last days of his life a serene and
peaceful harbor,--the companionship of little children. There is
something of mystery, too, in "the turn of the century" something
which then makes our gaze retrospective and comparative rather than
inquisitive into the future. Hence this year of our Lord MDCCCXCIX
has been the allotted day and hour for the writing of this book.
There has been a trend of destiny which has brought not only a book
on oldtime child life, and that book at this century end, but has
included the fate that it should be written by Alice Morse Earle.
Kismet!_
Contents
Page
I. Babyhood 1
II. Children's Dress 34
III. Schools and School Life 63
IV. Women Teachers and Girl Scholars 90
V. Hornbook and Primer 117
VI. School-books 133
VII. Penmanship and Letters 150
VIII. Diaries and Commonplace Books 163
IX. Childish Precocity 176
X. Oldtime Discipline 191
XI. Manners and Courtesy 211
XII. Religious Thought and Training 227
XIII. Religious Books 248
XIV. Story and Picture Books 264
XV. Children's Diligence 305
XVI. Needlecraft and Decorative Arts 321
XVII. Games and Pastimes 342
XVIII. Children's Toys 361
XIX. Flower Lore of Children 377
List of Illustrations
John Quincy, One Year and a Half Old, 1690. Owned
by Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, Mass.
_Frontispiece_
Page
Miniature, Governor Edward Winslow, Six Years Old,
1602. Owned by Rev. Dr. William Copley Winslow,
Boston, Mass. _facing_ 4
Mayflower Cradle, 1620. In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Mass. 10
Townes Cradle. In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 14
Old Pincushion. Owned by Mrs. Sophia C. Bedlow,
Portland, Maine 19
Indian Cradle. In Memorial Hall, Deerfield, Mass. 20
Governor Bradford's Christening Blanket, 1590. Owned
by John Taylor Terry, Esq., Tarry town, N.Y. 22
Standing Stool, Eighteenth Century 24
Go-cart 27
De Peyster Twins, Four Years Old, 1729. Owned by
Mrs. Azoy and Miss Velasquez _facing_ 26
Baptismal Shirt and Mittens of Governor Bradford,
1590. In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 35
Robert Gibbs, Four and a Half Years Old, 1670. Owned
by Miss Sarah Bigelow Hagar, Kendal Green, Mass.
_facing_ 36
Infant's Mitts, Sixteenth Century. In Essex Institute 39
Jane Bonner, Eight Years Old, 1700. Owned by Connecticut
Historical Society _facing_ 42
Infant's Robe, Cap, and Christening Blanket. In Memorial
Hall, Deerfield, Mass. 46
Ellinor Cordes, Two Years Old, 1740. Owned by Mrs.
St. Julian Ravenel, Charleston, S.C. _facing_ 48
Daniel Ravenel, Five Years Old, 1765. Owned by Mrs.
St. Julian Ravenel, Charleston, S.C. _facing_ 50
Children's Shoes. In Bedford Historical Society, Bedford,
Mass. 51
Gore Children, 1754. Painted by Copley. Owned by the
Misses Robins, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 54
Jonathan Mountfort, Seven Years Old, 1753. Painted by
Copley. Owned by Mrs. Farlin, Detroit, Mich.
_facing_ 58
Boy's Suit of Clothing, 1784. In Memorial Hall,
Deerfield, Mass. _facing_ 60
Mary Lord, 1710 _circa_. Owned by Connecticut Historical
Society. _facing_ 66
"Erudition" Schoolhouse, Bath, Maine, 1797 70
Oldtime School Certificate of Landlord of Wayside Inn,
Sudbury, Mass. 73
"Old Harmony" Schoolhouse, Raritan Township, Hunterdon
County, N.J. 76
Samuel Pemberton, Twelve Years Old, 1736. Owned by
Miss Ellen M. Ward, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 78
Nathan Hale Schoolhouse, East Haddam, Conn. 82
Old Brick Schoolhouse, Norwich, Conn. From "Old
Houses of Norwich," by Miss Mary E. Perkins 85
Elizabeth Storer, Twelve Years Old, 1738. Painted by
Smibert. Owned by Dr. Townsend, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 98
Carved Busks. Owned by Essex Institute 106
"Dorothy Q." "Thirteen Summers," 1720 circa. Owned by
Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 108
Elizabeth Quincy Wendell, 1720 circa. Owned by Dr.
Josiah L. Hale, Brookline, Mass. _facing_ 112
Hornbook. Owned by Mrs. Anne Robinson Minturn,
Shoreham, Vt. _facing_ 118
Hornbook. Owned by Miss Grace L. Gordon, Flushing,
L.I. 120
Back of Hornbook. Owned by Miss Grace L. Gordon 123
"The Royal Battledore" _facing_ 124
"My New Battledore" _facing_ 126
Reading-board, Erasmus Hall, Flatbush, L.I. 127
Page of New England Primer 130
"The Grammarian's Funeral" _facing_ 134
"Readingmadeasy" _facing_ 136
Page from Abraham Lincoln's Sum Book _facing_ 138
Battledore, "Lessons in Numbers" _facing_ 140
Title-page of "Cocker's Arithmetic" 140
"American Selection," by Noah Webster, Jr. _facing_ 142
"The Little Reader's Assistant," by Noah Webster,
Jr. _facing_ 144
Exhibition "Piece" of Anne Reynolds _facing_ 152
Ornamental Letter 154
Writing of Abiah Holbrook _facing_ 154
David Waite, Seven Years Old. Owned by Professor
Langley, Washington, D.C. _facing_ 158
Page of "White" Bible _facing_ 162
Anna Green Winslow. Owned by Miss Elizabeth Trott,
Niagara Falls, N.Y. _facing_ 164
Pages from Diary of Mary Osgood Sumner. Owned by
Dr. P. H. Mell, Auburn, Ala. _facing_ 166
Joshua Carter, Four Years Old. Painted by Charles Wilson
Peale. Owned by Miss Anna Thaxter Reynolds, Boston,
Mass. _facing_ 170
Page from Diary of Anna Green Winslow 174
Samuel Torrey, Twelve Years Old, 1770. Owned by Miss
Frances R. Morse, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 176
The Copley Family _facing_ 180
Facsimile from Sir Hugh Plat's "Jewel House of Art and
Nature," 1653 183
Polly Flagg, One Year Old, 1751. Painted by Smibert.
Owned by Mrs. Albert Thorndike, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 184
James Flagg, Five Years Old, 1744. Painted by Smibert.
Owned by Mrs. Albert Thorndike, Boston, Mass. _facing_ 188
Katherine Ten Broeck, Four Years Old, 1719. Owned
by Miss Louise Livingstone Smith, Argyle, N.Y. _facing_ 192
Illustration from "Plain Things for Little Folks" 195
Whispering Sticks 198
Illustration from "Early Seeds to produce Spring Flowers" 201
Cathalina Post, Fourteen Years Old, 1750. Owned by
Dr. Van Santvoord, Kingston, N.Y. _facing_ 204
Illustration from "Young Wilfrid" _facing_ 206
William Verstile, 1769. Painted by Copley. Owned by
Mrs. Charles Pinney, Derby, Conn. _facing_ 210
The Pepperell Children. Owned by Miss Alice Longfellow,
Cambridge, Mass. _facing_ 214
Title-page of the "School of Manners" 216
Page of the "School of Manners" 218
Thomas Aston Coffin, Three Years Old. Painted by Copley.
Owned by heirs of Miss Anne S. Robbins, Boston,
Mass. _facing_ 222
Mrs. John Hesselius and her Children, John and Caroline.
Painted by John Hesselius. Owned by Mrs. Ridgeley,
Baltimore, Md. _facing_ 228
Charlotte and Elizabeth Hesselius. Painted by John
Hesselius. Owned by Mrs. Ridgeley, Baltimore, Md.
_facing_ 234
Charles Spooner Cary, Eight Years Old, 1786. Owned
by Mrs. Edward Cunningham, East Milton, Mass. _facing_ 240
Margaret Graves Cary, Fourteen Years Old, 1786. Owned
by Mrs. Edward Cunningham, East Milton, Mass. _facing_ 246
The Custis Children, 1760 circa. Owned by General
Custis Lee, Lexington, Va. _facing_ 250
"The Holy Bible Abridged." Owned by American
Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. _facing_ 254
Illustration from "Original Poetry for Young Minds" 256
Page of "Hieroglyphick Bible." Owned by American
Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 259
Title-page of "Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham" 266
Page of "Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham" 267
"The Renowned History of Goody Two Shoes" _facing_ 270
Title-page of "A New Lottery Book" 274
Two Pages of "A New Lottery Book" 276
Frontispiece of "Be Merry and Wise." Owned by
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 278
Title-page of "Be Merry and Wise." Owned by American
Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 282
Page of "Cobwebs to catch Flies" 284
Woodcut by Bewick. "William and Amelia." From
"The Looking Glass for the Mind" 286
Woodcut by Bewick. "Caroline, or A Lesson to cure
Vanity." From "The Looking Glass for the Mind" 289
Woodcut by Bewick. "Sir John Denham and his Worthy
Tenant." From "The Looking Glass for the Mind" 291
Woodcut by Bewick. "Clarissa, or The Grateful Orphan."
From "The Looking Glass for the Mind" 294
Page from "The Juvenile Biographer" 296
"The Juvenile Biographer" _facing_ 298
Two Pages of "The Father's Gift" _facing_ 300
Page of "Vice in its Proper Shape." Owned by American
Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. 302
"The Good Girl at her Wheel" 307
Illustration from "Plain Things for Little Folks" 309
Anne Lennod's Sampler 313
Colonel Wadsworth and his Son. Painted by Trumbull.
Owned by Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Conn. _facing_ 316
Jerusha Pitkin's Embroidery and Frame. 1751. Copyrighted.
Owned by Mrs. William Lee, Boston, Mass. 324
Lora Standish's Sampler. In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth,
Mass 327
Fleetwood-Quincy Sampler. Owned by Mrs. Swan,
Cambridge, Mass 330
Polly Coggeshall's Sampler. Owned by Miss Julia Hazard
Thomas, Flushing, L. I. 334
Flowered Apron, 1750 _circa_. Owned by Mrs. Swan,
Cambridge, Mass 336
Mary Richard's Sampler. Owned by Miss Elizabeth Wendell
van Rensselaer 337
Ancient Lace Pillow, Reels, and Pockets. In Essex
Institute, Salem, Mass 340
"Scotch Hoppers" from "Juvenile Games for the Four
Seasons" 345
Ancient Skates. In Deerfield Memorial Hall _facing_ 346
"Skating." From Old Picture Book 349
Cornelius D. Wynkoop, Eight Years Old, 1742. Owned
by James D. Wynkoop, Esq., Hurley, N.Y. _facing_ 352
Page from "Youthful Sports" 355
Stephen Row Bradley, 1800 circa. Owned by Arthur C.
Bradley, Esq., Newport, N. H. _facing_ 356
Dolls' Furniture. One Hundred Years Old. In Bedford
Historical Society 359
Ancient Doll 362
Old Rag Doll. In Bedford Historical Society. 363
"French Doll." In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 364
"French Doll." In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 367
Dolls and Furniture. Owned by Bedford Historical Society 368
Chinese Coach and Horses. In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 369
Old Jackknives. In Deerfield Memorial Hall. 370
"Bangwell Putt." In Deerfield Memorial Hall _facing_ 370
White House Doll. Owned by Mrs. Clement, Newburyport,
Mass. 372
Ancient Tin Toy 373
Doll's Wicker Coach 374
Stella Bradley Bellows, 1800 _circa_. Owned by Arthur C.
Bradley, Esq., Newport, N. H. _facing_ 378
Daisy Chain. 381
Playing Marbles 385
Spanish Dolls. In Essex Institute, Salem, Mass. 389
Leaf Boats. Made from Leaves of Flower de Luce 395
Child Life in Colonial Days
CHAPTER I
BABYHOOD
_Some things are of that nature as to make
One's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache._
--_The Author's Way of Sending Forth His Second Part of the
Pilgrim. John Bunyan, 1684._
There is something inexpressibly sad in the thought of the children
who crossed the ocean with the Pilgrims and the fathers of
Jamestown, New Amsterdam, and Boston, and the infancy of those born
in the first years of colonial life in this strange new world. It
was hard for grown folk to live; conditions and surroundings offered
even to strong men constant and many obstacles to the continuance of
existence; how difficult was it then to rear children!
In the southern colonies the planters found a climate and enforced
modes of life widely varying from home life in England; it took
several generations to accustom infants to thrive under those
conditions. The first years of life at Plymouth are the records
of a bitter struggle, not for comfort but for existence. Scarcely
less sad are the pages of Governor Winthrop's journal, which
tell of the settlers of Massachusetts Bay. On the journey across
seas not a child "had shown fear or dismayedness." Those brave
children were welcomed to the shore with good cheer, says the old
chronicler, Joshua Scottow; "with external flavor and sweet odor;
fragrant was the land, such was the plenty of sweet fern, laurel,
and other fragrant simples; such was the scent of our aromatic
and balsam-bearing pines, spruces and larch trees, with our tall
cedars." They landed on a beautiful day in June, "with a smell on
the shore like the smell of a garden," and these happy children had
gathered sweet wild strawberries and single wild roses. It is easy
to picture the merry faces and cheerful laughter.
Scant, alas! were the succeeding days of either sweetness or light.
The summer wore on in weary work, in which the children had to join;
in constant fears, which the children multiplied and magnified; and
winter came, and death. "There is not a house where there is not one
dead," wrote Dudley. One little earth-weary traveller, a child whose
"family and kindred had dyed so many," was, like the prophets in the
Bible, given exalted vision through sorrow, and had "extraordinary
evidence concerning the things of another world." Fierce east winds
searched the settlers through and through, and frosts and snows
chilled them. The dreary ocean, the gloomy forests, were their
bounds. Scant was their fare, and mean their roof-trees; yet amid
all the want and cold little children were born and welcomed with
that ideality of affection which seems as immortal as the souls of
the loved ones.
Hunger and privation did not last long in the Massachusetts colony,
for it was a rich community--for its day--and soon the various
settlements grew in numbers and commerce and wealth, and an
exultant note runs through their records. Prosperous peoples will
not be morose; thanksgiving proclamations reflect the rosy hues of
successful years. Child life was in harmony with its surroundings;
it was more cheerful, but there was still fearful menace to the
life and health of an infant. From the moment when the baby opened
his eyes on the bleak world around him, he had a Spartan struggle
for life; half the Puritan children had scarce drawn breath in this
vale of tears ere they had to endure an ordeal which might well
have given rise to the expression "the survival of the fittest."
I say half the babies, presuming that half were born in warm
weather, half in cold. All had to be baptized within a few days of
birth, and baptized in the meeting-house; fortunate, indeed, was
the child of midsummer. We can imagine the January babe carried
through the narrow streets or lanes to the freezing meeting-house,
which had grown damper and deadlier with every wintry blast; there
to be christened, when sometimes the ice had to be broken in the
christening bowl. On January 22, 1694, Judge Samuel Sewall, of
Boston, records in his diary:--
"A very extraordinary Storm by reason of the falling and driving
of Snow. Few women could get to Meeting. A Child named Alexander
was baptized in the afternoon."
The Judge tells of his own children--four days old--shrinking from
the icy water, but crying not. It was a cold and disheartening
reception these children had into the Puritan church; many
lingered but a short time therein. The mortality among infants was
appallingly great; they died singly, and in little groups, and in
vast companies. Putrid fevers, epidemic influenzas, malignant sore
throats, "bladders in the windpipe," raging small pox, carried
off hundreds of the children who survived baptism. The laws of
sanitation were absolutely disregarded--because unknown; drainage
there was none--nor deemed necessary; disinfection was feebly
desired--but the scanty sprinkling of vinegar was the only
expression of that desire; isolation of contagious diseases was
proclaimed--but the measures were as futile when the disease was
known to be contagious as they were lacking in the diseases which
our fathers did not know were communicable. It is appalling to think
what must have been the unbounded production and nurture of disease
germs; and we can paraphrase with truth the words of Sir Thomas
Browne, and say of our grandfathers and their children, "Considering
the thousand roads that lead to death, I do thank my God they could
die but once."
[Illustration: Edward Winslow]
It is heartrending to read the entries in many an old family
Bible--the records of suffering, distress, and blasted hopes.
Until this century these sad stories may be found. There lies
open before me an old leather-bound Bible with the record of my
great-grandfather's family. He had sixteen children. When the first
child was a year and a half old the second child was born. The baby
was but four days old when the older child died. Five times did that
mother's heart bear a similar cruel loss when she had a baby in her
arms; therefore when she had been nine years married she had one
living child, and five little graves bore record of her sorrow.
In the seventeenth century the science of medicine had not wholly
cut asunder from astrology and necromancy; and the trusting
Christian still believed in some occult influences, chiefly
planetary, which governed not only his crops but his health and
life. Hence the entries of births in the Bible usually gave the
hour and minute, as well as the day, month, and year. Thus could be
accurately calculated what favoring or mischief-bearing planets were
in ascendency at the time of the child's birth; what influences he
would have to encounter in life.
The belief that meteorological and astrological conditions affected
medicines was strong in all minds. The best physicians gravely noted
the condition of the moon when gathering herbs and simples and
concocting medicines; and certain drugs were held to be powerless
at certain times of the year, owing to planetary influences.
"Sympathetical" medicines were confidingly trusted, and tried to a
surprising extent upon children; apparently these were as beneficial
as our modern method of healing by the insinuation of improved
health.
We cannot wonder that children died when we know the nostrums with
which they were dosed. There were quack medicines which held sway
for a century--among them, a valuable property, _Daffy's Elixir_.
These patented--or rather secret--medicines had a formidable rival
in snail-water, which was used as a tonic and also a lotion. Many
of the ingredients and extracts used in domestic medicines were
incredibly revolting.
Venice treacle was a nasty and popular compound, traditionally
invented by Nero's physician; it was made of vipers, white wine,
opium, "spices from both the Indies," licorice, red roses, tops of
germander and St.-John's-wort, and some twenty other herbs, juice
of rough sloes, mixed with honey "triple the weight of all the dry
spices." The recipe is published in dispensatories till within this
century. The vipers had to be put, "twelve of 'em," into white wine
alone. Mithridate, the ancient cure-all of King Mithridates, was
another dose for children. There were forty-five ingredients in
this, each prepared and introduced with care. Rubila, made chiefly
of antimony and nitre, was beloved of the Winthrops, and frequently
dispensed by them--and with benefit.
Children were grievously afflicted with rickets, though curiously
enough it was a new disease, not old enough to have received
adequate observation in England, wrote Sir Thomas Browne in the
latter part of the seventeenth century. Snails furnished many doses
for the rickets.
Exact instruction of treatment for the rickets is given in a
manuscript letter written to Rev. Joseph Perry of Windsor,
Connecticut, in 1769:--
"REV'D SIR:
"In ye Rickets the best Corrective I have ever found is a Syrup
made of Black Cherrys. Thus. Take of Cherrys (dry'd ones are as
good as any) & put them into a vessel with water. Set ye vessel
near ye fire and let ye water be Scalding hot. Then take ye
Cherrys into a thin Cloth and squeeze them into ye Vessell, &
sweeten ye Liquor with Melosses. Give 2 Spoonfuls of this 2 or
3 times in a day. If you Dip your Child, Do it in this manner:
viz: naked, in ye morning, head foremost in Cold Water, don't
dress it Immediately, but let it be made warm in ye Cradle &
sweat at least half an Hour moderately. Do this 3 mornings going
& if one or both feet are Cold while other Parts sweat (which is
sometimes ye Case) Let a little blood be taken out of ye feet ye
2nd Morning and yt will cause them to sweat afterwards. Before
ye dips of ye Child give it some Snakeroot and Saffern Steep'd
in Rum & Water, give this Immediately before Diping and after
you have dipt ye Child 3 Mornings Give it several times a Day ye
following Syrup made of Comfry, Hartshorn, Red Roses, Hog-brake
roots, knot-grass, petty-moral roots, sweeten ye Syrup with
Melosses. Physicians are generally fearful about diping when ye
Fever is hard, but oftentimes all attemps to lower it without
diping are vain. Experience has taught me that these fears are
groundless, yt many have about diping in Rickety Fevers; I have
found in a multitude of Instances of diping is most effectual
means to break a Rickety Fever. These Directions are agreable to
what I have practiced for many years."
Among other English notions thrust upon American children was one
thus advertised in ante-Revolutionary newspapers:--
"THE FAMOUS ANODYNE NECKLACE
"_price 20 shillings_
"For children's teeth, recommended in England by Dr. Chamberlen,
with a remedy to open and ease the foregums of teething children
and bring their teeth safely out. Children on the very brink
of the Grave and thought past recovery with their teeth, fits,
fevers, convulsions, hooping and other violent coughs, gripes,
looseness, and all proceeding from their teeth who cannot tell
what they suffer nor make known their pains any other way but
by crying and moans, have almost miraculously recovered after
having worn the famous Anodyne Necklace but one night's time. A
mother then would never forgive herself whose child should die
for want of so very easy a remedy for its teeth. And what is
particularly remarkable of this necklace is, that of those vast
numbers who have had this necklace for their children, none have
made any complaints but express how glad they have been that
their children have worn it whereas if they had not had it, they
believed their children would have been in the grave, all means
having been used in vain until they had the necklace."
These anodyne necklaces were akin to the medicated belts of our own
day, and were worn as children still wear amber beads to avert the
croup.
Various native berries had restorative and preventive properties
when strung as a necklace. Uglier decorations were those recommended
by Josselyn to New England parents, strings of fawn's teeth or
wolf's fangs, a sure promoter of easy teething. He also advised
scratching the child's gums with an osprey bone. Children died,
however, in spite of these varied charms and doses, in vast numbers
while teething.
[Illustration: Mayflower Cradle, owned by the Pilgrim William White]
There were some feeble expressions of revolt against the horrible
doses of the day. In 1647 we hear of the publication of "a Most
Desperate Booke written against taking of Phissick," but it was
promptly ordered to be burnt; and the doses were continued until
well into this century. The shadow of their power lingers yet in
country homes.
Many alluring baits were written back to England by the first
emigrants to tempt others to follow to the new world. Among other
considerations Gabriel Thomas made this statement:--
"The Christian children born here are generally well-favored
and beautiful to behold. I never knew any to come into the
world with the least blemish on any part of the body; being in
the general observed to be better-natured, milder, and more
tender-hearted than those born in England."
John Hammond lavished equal praise on the children in Virginia. It
was also asserted that the average number of children in a family
was larger, which is always true in a pioneer settlement in a new
country. The promise of the Lord is ever fulfilled that he will
"make the families of his servants in the wilderness like a flock."
A cheerful home life was insured by these large families when
they lived. Sir William Phips was one of twenty-six children,
all with the same mother. Green, the Boston printer, had thirty
children. Another printer, Benjamin Franklin, was one of a family
of seventeen. William Rawson had twenty children by one wife. Rev.
Cotton Mather tells us:--
"One woman had not less than twenty-two children, and another
had no less than twenty-three children by one husband, whereof
nineteen lived to man's estate, and a third was mother to seven
and twenty children."
He himself had fifteen children, though but two survived him. Other
ministers had larger families. Rev. John Sherman, of Watertown,
Massachusetts, had twenty-six children by two wives. Rev. Samuel
Willard, the first minister of Groton, Massachusetts, had twenty
children, and was himself one of seventeen children. It is to the
honor of these poorly paid ministers that they brought up these
large families well. Rev. Abijah Weld, of Attleboro, Massachusetts,
had an annual salary of about two hundred and twenty dollars. He had
a small farm and a decent house; he lived in generous hospitality,
entertaining many visitors and contributing to the wants of the
poor. He had fifteen children and reared a grandchild. In his
fifty-five years of service as a minister he was never detained from
his duties nor failed to perform them.
Rev. Moses Fiske had sixteen children; he sent three sons to college
and married off all his daughters; his salary was never over ninety
pounds, and usually but sixty pounds a year, paid chiefly in corn
and wood. One verse of a memorial poem to Mrs. Sarah Thayer reads:--
"And one thing more remarkable
Which here I shall record;
She'd fourteen children with her
At the table of her Lord."
These large families were eagerly welcomed. Children were a
blessing. The Danish proverb says, "Children are the poor man's
wealth." To the farmer, especially the frontiersman, every child in
the home is an extra producer. No town in New England had less land
to distribute than Boston, but on all allotments women and children
received their full proportion; the early allotments of land in
Brookline (then part of Boston) were made by "heads," that is,
according to the number of people in the family.
It is an interesting study to trace the underlying reason for
naming children many of the curious names which were given to the
offspring of the first colonists. Parents searched for names of deep
significance, for names appropriate to conditions, for those of
profound influence--presumably on the child's life. Glory to God and
zealous ambition for the child's future were equally influential in
deciding selection.
[Illustration: Townes Cradle]
Rev. Richard Buck, one of the early parsons in Virginia, in days of
deep depression named his first child Mara. This text indicates the
reason for his choice: "Call me Mara for the Almighty hath dealt
very bitterly with me. I went out full and the Lord hath brought me
home empty." His second child was christened Gershom; for Moses'
wife "bare him a son and called his name Gershom, for he said I
have been in a strange land." Eber, the Hebrew patriarch, called
his son Peleg, "for his days were divided." Mr. Buck celebrated the
_Pelegging_, or dividing of Virginia, into legislative districts by
naming his third child Peleg. Many names have a pathos and sadness
which can be felt down through the centuries. Dame Dinely, widow of
a doctor or barber-surgeon who had died in the snow while striving
to visit a distant patient, named her poor babe Fathergone. A little
Goodman child, born after the death of her father, was sadly but
trustingly named Abiel--_God is my father_. Seaborn was the name
indicative of the introduction into life of one of my own ancestors.
In the old Ropes Bible in Salem is given the reason for an unusual
name which often appears in that family; it is Seeth. One of the
family was supposed to be dead, having disappeared. On his sudden
reappearance a pious Ropes exclaimed in joy, "The Lord seeth not as
man seeth, and my child shall be named Seeth." An early example of
the name is Seeth Grafton, who became the wife of Thomas Gardner in
1636.
Judge Sewall named one son Joseph,
"In hopes of the accomplishment of the Prophecy of Ezekiel
xxxvii. and such; and not out of respect to any Relation or any
other Person except the first Joseph."
Judge Sewall again made an entry in his diary after a christening.
"I named my little Daughter Sarah. Mr. Torrey said call her
Sarah and make a Madam of her. I was struggling whether to call
her Mehetable or Sarah. But when I saw Sarah's standing in the
Scripture, viz: Peter, Galatians, Hebrews, Romans, I resolv'd on
that suddenly."
Abigail, meaning father's joy, was also frequently given, and
Hannah, meaning grace; the history of these two Hebrew women made
their names honored of New England Puritans. Zurishaddai, the
Almighty is my rock, was bestowed on more than one boy. Comfort,
Deliverance, Temperance, Peace, Hope, Patience, Charity, Faith,
Love, Submit, Endurance, Silence, Joy, Rejoice, Hoped for, and
similar names indicative of a trait of character, a virtue, or an
aspiration of goodness, were common. The children of Roger Clap were
named Experience, Waitstill, Preserved, Hopestill, Wait, Thanks,
Desire, Unite, and Supply. Madam Austin, an early settler of old
Narragansett, had sixteen children. Their names were Parvis, Picus,
Piersus, Prisemus, Polybius, Lois, Lettice, Avis, Anstice, Eunice,
Mary, John, Elizabeth, Ruth, Freelove. All lived to be threescore
and ten, one to be a hundred and two years old.
Edward Bendall's children were named Truegrace, Reform, Hoped for,
More mercy, and Restore. Richard Gridley's offspring were Return,
Believe, and Tremble.
With the exception of Puritanical names, double Christian names were
very rare until after the Revolution, as may be seen by examining
any document with many signatures; such, for instance, as the
Declaration of Independence, or the lists of officers and men in the
Continental Army. Return Jonathan Meigs was a notable exception.
There exists in New England a tradition of "groaning-cakes" being
made and baked at the birth of a child, to give to visitors. I have
found no record of it. The Frenchman, Misson, in his _Travels in
England_, says, "At the birth of their children they (visitors)
drink a glass of wine and eat a bit of a certain cake, which is
seldom made but upon these occasions." Anna Green Winslow, a Boston
schoolgirl, tells of making what she calls "a setting up visit"
to a relative who had a baby about four weeks old. She wore her
best and most formal attire and says, "It cost me a pistareen to
Nurse Eaton for two cakes which I took care to eat before I paid
for them." There certainly was a custom of giving money, clothing,
or petty trinkets to the nurse at such visits. Judge Sewall
frequently writes of these "vails" which he made at the house of his
friends. He writes in one case of brewing "groaning-beer," and in
his household were held two New England amphidromia. The midwife,
nurses, and all the neighboring women who had helped with work or
advice during the early days of the child's life were bidden to a
dinner. One Sewall baby was scarcely two weeks old when seventeen
women dined at the Judge's house, on boiled pork, beef, and fowls;
roast beef and turkey; pies and tarts. At another time "minc'd Pyes
and cheese" were added. Judge Winthrop's sister, Madam Downing,
furnished sack and claret also. A survival of this custom lasted
till this century in the drinking of caudle by the bedside of the
mother.
A pincushion was for many years and indeed is still in some parts of
New England a highly conventional gift to a mother with a young babe.
_Poor Robin's Almanack_ for the year 1676 says:--
"Pincushions and such other knacks
A childbed woman always lacks."
[Illustration: pincushion]
I have seen in different families five of precisely the same pattern
and size, all made about the time of the Revolution. One given to
a Boston baby, while his new home was in state of siege, bore the
inscription, "Welcome little Stranger, tho' the Port is closed."
These words were formed by the heads of pins. Another, about five
inches long and three inches wide, is of green figured silk with a
flowered vine stuck in pins and the words, "John Winslow, March,
1783, Welcome, Little Stranger." Anna Green Winslow tells of her
aunts making one with "a planthorn of flowers" and the name. I have
seen one with similar inscription knitted of fine silk and with
the name sewed on in steel beads, among which pins were stuck in a
graceful pattern.
[Illustration: Indian Cradle]
The seventeenth-century baby slept, as his nineteenth-century
descendant does, in a cradle. Nothing could be prettier than the
old cradles that have survived successive years of use with many
generations of babies. In Pilgrim Hall still may be seen the quaint
and finely wrought wicker cradle of Peregrine White, the first white
child born in Plymouth. This cradle is of Dutch manufacture; and is
one of the few authentic articles still surviving that came over on
the _Mayflower_. It was brought over by William White, whose widow
married Governor Edward Winslow. A similar wicker cradle may be
seen at the Essex Institute in Salem, together with a heavy wooden
cradle in which many members of the Townes family of Topsfield,
Massachusetts, were rocked to sleep two centuries ago. Judge Sewall
bought a wicker cradle for one of his many children and paid sixteen
shillings for it. A graceful variant of the swinging cradle is shown
in the Indian basket hung at either end from a wooden standard
or frame. In this strong basket, fashioned by an Indian mother,
many a white child has been swung and sung to sleep. A still more
picturesque cradle was made of birch bark, that plentiful material
so widely adaptive to household uses, and so deftly manipulated and
shaped by the patient squaws.
In these cradles the colonial baby slept, warmly wrapped in a
homespun blanket or pressed quilt.
_Poor Robin's Almanack_ for the year 1676 enumerates among a baby's
outfit:--
"Blanckets of a several scantling
Therein for to wrap a bantling."
Of these wraps, of the thinner sort, may be named the thin,
close-woven, homespun "flannel sheet," spun of the whitest wool into
a fine twisted worsted, and woven with a close sley into an even web
as enduring as the true Oriental cashmere. The baby's initials were
often marked on these sheets, and fortunate was the child who had
the light, warm wrappings. My own children had "flannel sheets" that
had seen a century or more of use with generations of forbears.
[Illustration: Governor Bradford's Christening Blanket, 1590]
A finer coverlet, one of state, the christening blanket, was
usually made of silk, richly embroidered, sometimes with a text of
Scripture. These were often lace-bordered or edged with a narrow
home-woven silk fringe. The christening blanket of Governor Bradford
of the Plymouth Colony still exists, whole of fabric and unfaded
of dye. It is a rich crimson silk, soft of texture, like a heavy
sarcenet silk, and is powdered at regular distances about six inches
apart with conventional sprays of flowers embroidered chiefly
in pink and yellow, in minute and beautiful cross-stitch. It is
distinctly Oriental in appearance, far more so than is indicated
by its black and white representation here. Another beautiful silk
christening blanket was quilted in an intricate flower pattern in
almost imperceptible stitches. These formal wrappings of state were
sometimes called bearing-cloths or clothes, and served through
many generations. Shakespeare speaks in _Henry VI._ of a child's
bearing-cloth.
A go-cart or standing-stool was a favorite instrument to teach a
child to walk. A standing-stool a century old in which Newburyport
babies stood and toddled is a rather crude frame of wood with a
ledge or narrow table for toys. The method of using a go-cart is
shown in this old print taken from a child's book called, _Little
Prattle over a Book of Prints_, published for sixpence in 1801.
In the writers of Queen Anne's day frequent references are made to
go-carts.
[Illustration: Standing Stool]
I find strong evidence that Locke's _Thoughts on Education_,
published in England in 1690, found many readers and ardent
followers in the new world. The book is in many old-time library
lists in New England, and among the scant volumes of those who had
but a single book-shelf or book-box. I have seen abstracts and
transpositions of his precepts on the pages of almanacs, the most
universally circulated and studied of all eighteenth-century books
save the Bible. In contemporary letters evidence is found of the
influence of Locke's principles. In the prefaces of Thomas' reprints
he is quoted and eulogized. The notions of the English philosopher
appealed to American parents because they were, as the author said,
"the consideration not what a physician ought to do with a sick or
crazy child, but what parents without the help of physic should do
for the preservation of an healthy constitution." Crazy here is used
in the old-time sense of feeble bodily health, not mental. In these
days of hundreds of books on child-study, education, child-culture,
and kindred topics, it is a distinct pleasure to read Locke's sturdy
sentences; to see how wise, and kindly, and logical he was in nearly
all his advices, especially on moral or ethical questions. Even
those on physical conditions that seem laughably obsolete to-day
were so in advance of the general practices of his day that they
are farther removed from the notions of his time than from those of
ours. In judging them let us remember Dr. Holmes' lines:--
"Little of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year
Without both looking and feeling queer."
Certainly an existence of two centuries may make us pardon a little
queerness in advice.
One of Locke's instructions much thought on in the years his book
was so widely read was the advice to wash the child's feet daily
in cold water, and "to have his shoes so thin that they might leak
and let in water." Josiah Quincy was the suffering subject of some
of this instruction; when only three years old he was taken from
his warm bed in winter as well as summer (and this in Eastern
Massachusetts), carried downstairs to a cellar kitchen and dipped
three times in a tub of cold water fresh from the pump. He was also
brought up with utter indifference to wet feet; he said that in his
boyhood he sat more than half the time with his feet wet and cold,
but with no ill results.
Locke also strongly counselled learning dancing, swimming, and
playing in the open air. In his diet "flesh should be forborn as
long as the boy is in coats, or at least till he is two or three
years old"; for breakfast and supper he advises milk, milk-pottage,
water-gruel, flummery, and similar "spoon-meat," or brown bread with
cheese. If the boy called for victuals between meals, he should
have dry bread. His only extra drink should be small-beer, which
should be warm; and seldom he should taste wine or strong drink.
Locke would not have children eat melons, peaches, plums, or grapes;
while berries and ripe pears and apples, the latter especially after
October, he deems healthful. The bed should be hard, of quilts
rather than of feathers. Under these rigid rules were reared many of
our Revolutionary heroes and statesmen.
[Illustration: De Peyster Twins]
The adoption of Locke's ideas about the use of cold water, or
indeed of any frequent bathing, was perhaps the most radical
innovation in modes of living. The English never bathed, in our
sense of the word, a complete immersion, nor, I suppose, did our
Puritan, Cavalier, or Quaker ancestors. Sewall makes not one
reference to anything of the kind, but that is not strange; nor is
his omission any proof, negative or positive, for he refers to no
personal habits, and very shortly and infrequently to dress. Pepys,
the courtier and dandy, tells of rare monumental occasions when he
cleaned himself--far too rare, we may judge from side-lights thrown
by other of his statements. The _Youth's Behavior_, an old-time
book of etiquette, lays down an assertion that it is a point of
wholesomeness to wash one's face and hands as soon as one is up and
dressed, and "to comb one's head in time and season, yet not too
curiously." Bathing the person in unaccustomed spots was a ticklish
proceeding--a water ordeal, to be gravely considered. Mistress Alice
Thornton, a Yorkshire dame, records in her account of her life one
occasion when she washed her feet, but she was overbold. "Which my
mother did believe it was the cause of that dangerous fitt the next
day." In the Verney volumes we find that forlorn Verney boy, poor
sickly "Mun," wearing a harness for his crooked back till his shirt
was black, when the famous surgeon changed the harness, and Mun
his shirt, with no thought on the part of either of a bath being a
necessity.
[Illustration: Go-Cart]
In 1630 a ship was sent from England to Massachusetts which was
provisioned for three months. Among the stores for the passengers'
use were two casks of Malaga and Canary; twenty gallons of
aqua-vitæ; forty-five tuns of beer; and for drinking, washing,
cooking, bathing, etc., but six tuns of water. The ships sent out
to Georgia by Oglethorpe were so scantily supplied with water that
it is positive no fresh water could have been used for bathing even
in minute amount. The reputation of hidden malevolence which hung
around water as a beverage seems to have extended to its use in any
form. It was believed to be permeated with minute noxious particles,
which in those ante-bacteriological days could not be explained, but
which were distinctly appreciated and dreaded.
But these be parlous words. Let us rather show some sympathy for our
ancestors. We bathe in well-warmed rooms, often in cold water, but
with steaming hot water in ample command at a turn of the hand. Had
we to carry all the water for our bathing use from a well whence we
laboriously raised it in small amounts, and were we forced to bathe
in an icy atmosphere, with cutting draughts striking us on every
side, with the basins of water freezing on the hearth in front of
a blazing fire, and the juices of the wood freezing at the ends of
burning logs, we might not deem our daily bath such an indispensable
necessity.
We have heard an advanced thinker like Locke suggest brown bread,
cheese, and warm beer as food for young children. What, then, must
have been the notions of less thoughtful folk? Doubtless in England
such food would have been simple; but in the new world less beer
was drank and more milk, which must have proved the salvation of
American children. And the plentiful and varied cereal foods, many
of them from Indian corn, were a suitable diet for young children.
Samp, hominy, suppawn, pone, succotash,--all Indian foods and
cooked in Indian ways,--were found in every home in every colony.
Baked beans, another Indian dish, were also good food for children.
Native and domestic fruits were plentiful, but, with the exception
of apples and pears, were not very attractive. The succession of
summer's and autumn's berries must have been eagerly welcomed. They
were in the rich and spicy plenty offered by a virgin soil.
A curious, rare, and quaintly named English book is owned by Earl
Spencer. Its title runs thus:--
"Dyves Pragmaticus. A booke in English metre of the great
marchuant man called Dyves Pragmaticus, very pretye for chyldren
to rede, whereby they may be the better and more readyer rede
and wryte Wares and Implements in this World contayned.... When
thou sellest aught unto thy neighbour or byest anything of
him deceave not nor oppress him, etc. Imprinted at London in
Aldersgate strete by Alexander Lacy dwellynge beside the Wall.
The XXV of Aprill, 1563."
It contains a list of sweetmeats for the enticement of children
which may be confidently relied on as a full one if we can judge by
the exhaustiveness of the lists of other commodities found in the
poem:--
"I have Sucket, Surrip, Grene Ginger, and Marmalade,
Bisket, Cumfet, and Carraways as fine as can be made."
A sucket was a dried sweetmeat such as candied orange peel. A
caraway was a sweet cake with caraway-seeds.
Apples and caraways were a favorite dish, still served at some of
the anniversary feasts of English universities. Comfits were highly
flavored, often scented with strong perfumes like musk and bergamot.
Sweetmeats appear to have been plentiful in the colonies from early
days. The first native poet of New England wrote complainingly as
early as 1675 that--
"From western isles now fruits and delicacies
Do rot maids' teeth and spoil their handsome faces."
Ships in the "Indian trade" brought to the colonies abundance
of sugar, molasses, chocolate, ginger, and other dried fruits.
These were apparently far more common here than in England;
Mr. Ernst says these constant relays of sweets "produced the
American sweet-tooth--a wonder." Candied eringo-root, candied
lemon-peel, angelica candy, as well as caraway comfits and sugared
coriander-seed and dried ginger, were advertised for sale in Boston,
and show the taste of the day. In 1731 Widow Bonyet had a notice of
her specialties in the _Boston News Letter_. It has quite the modern
ring in its meat jellies for the sick, and home-made preserves,
jellies, and sirups. She also made those ancient sweets, macaroons,
marchpanes, and crisp almonds. These latter do not appear to be the
glazed and burnt almonds of the confectioner, and may have been
salted almonds. The only candy Sewall refers to is sugared almonds.
He frequently speaks of gifts of oranges, figs, and "raisins of
the sun." Raisins were brought into all the colonial ports in vast
amounts, and were until this century regarded by children as a great
dainty.
Each large city seems to have had some special confectioner or
baker who was renowned for special cakes. Boston had Meer's cakes.
New York children probably had the greatest variety of cookies,
crullers, and various small cakes, as these were distinctly Dutch,
and the Dutch vrouws excelled in cake-making.
Strings of rock-candy came from China, but were rivalled by a
distinctly native sweet--maple sugar. Equally American appear to
us those Salem sweets, namely, Black Jacks and Salem Gibraltars.
Base imitations appeared elsewhere, but never equalled the original
delights in Salem. Children who were fortunate enough to live in
coast towns reaped the sweet fruits of their fathers' foreign
ventures. When a ship came into port with eighty boxes of sugar
candy on board and sixty tubs of rock-candy, poor indeed was
the child who was not surfeited with sweets. There was a sequel,
however, to the toothsome feast, a bitter dessert. The ship that
brought eighty boxes of sugar candy also fetched a hundred boxes of
rhubarb and ten of senna.