State of Religion among the Settlers—Instruction of Children devolved on
Females—to whom the Charge of Gardening, &c. was also committed—Sketch
of the State of the Society at New-York.
I MUST finish this general outline, by saying something of that religion
which gave stability and effect to the virtues of this infant society.
Their religion, then, like their original national character, had in it
little of fervour or enthusiasm; their manner of performing religious
duties was regular and decent, but calm, and to more ardent imaginations
might appear mechanical. None ever doubted of the great truths of
revelation, yet few seemed to dwell on the result with that lively
delight which devotion produces in minds of keener sensibility. If their
piety, however, was without enthusiasm, it was also without bigotry;
they wished others to think as they did, without showing rancour or
contempt towards those who did not. In many individuals, whose lives
seemed governed by the principles of religion, the spirit of devotion
seemed to be quiescent in the heart, and to break forth in exigencies;
yet that monster in nature, an impious woman, was never heard of among
them.
Indeed it was on the females that the task of religious instruction
generally devolved; and in all cases where the heart is interested, who
ever teaches, at the same time learns.
Before I quit this subject, I must observe a singular coincidence; not
only the training of children, but of plants, such as needed peculiar
care or skill to rear them, was the female province. Every one in town
or country had a garden; but all the more hardy plants grew in the
field, in rows, amidst the hills, as they were called, of Indian corn.
These lofty plants sheltered them from the sun, while the same hoeing
served for both; their cabbages, potatoes, and other esculent roots,
with variety of gourds, grew to a great size, and were of an excellent
quality. Kidney-beans, asparagus, celery, great variety of salads and
sweet herbs, cucumbers, &c., were only admitted into the garden, into
which no foot of man intruded, after it was dug in spring. Here were no
trees, those grew in the orchard in high perfection. Strawberries and
many high flavoured wild fruits of the shrub kind abounded so much in
the woods, that they did not think of cultivating them in their gardens,
which were extremely neat, but small, and not by any means calculated
for walking in. I think I yet see what I have so often beheld both in
town and country, a respectable mistress of a family going out to her
garden, in an April morning, with her great calash, her little painted
basket of seeds, and her rake over her shoulder, to her garden labours.
These were by no means figurative,
“From morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve.”
A woman, in very easy circumstances, and abundantly gentle in form and
manners, would sow, and plant, and rake, incessantly. These fair
gardeners too were great florists; their emulation and solicitude in
this pleasing employment, did indeed produce “flowers worthy of
Paradise.” These, though not set in “curious knots,” were arranged in
beds, the varieties of each kind by themselves; this, if not varied and
elegant, was at least rich and gay. To the Schuylers this description
did not apply; they had gardeners, and their gardens were laid out in
the European manner.
Perhaps I should reserve my description of the manner of living in that
country for that period, when by the exertions of a few humane and
enlightened individuals it assumed a more regular and determinate form.
Yet as the same outline was preserved through all the stages of its
progression, I know not but that it may be best to sketch it entirely,
before I go further; that the few and simple facts which my narrative
affords may not be clogged by explanations relative to the customs, or
any other peculiarities which can only be understood by a previous
acquaintance with the nature of the country, its political relations,
and the manners of the people; my recollection all this while has been
merely confined to Albany, and its precincts. At New-York there was
always a governor, a few troops, and a kind of little court kept; there
too was a mixed, and in some degree, polished society. To this the
accession of many families of French Huguenots, rather above the
middling rank, contributed not a little; those conscientious exiles had
more knowledge and piety than any other class of the inhabitants; their
religion seemed indeed endeared to them, by what they had suffered for
adhering to it. Their number and wealth was such, as enabled them to
build not only a street, but a very respectable church in the new city.
In this place of worship service continued to be celebrated in the
French language within my recollection, though the original congregation
was by that time much blended in the mass of general society. It was the
custom of the inhabitants of the upper settlement, who had any
pretensions to superior culture or polish, among which number Mr.
Schuyler stood foremost, to go once in a year to New-York, where all the
law-courts were held, and all the important business of the province
transacted; here too they sent their children occasionally to reside
with their relations, and to learn the more polished manners and
language of the capital. The inhabitants of that city, on the other
hand, delighted in a summer excursion to Albany. The beautiful, and in
some places highly singular banks of the river, rendering a voyage to
its source both amusing and interesting, while the primitive manners of
the inhabitants diverted the gay and idle, and pleased the thoughtful
and speculative.
Let me now be indulged in drawing a picture of the abode of my childhood
just as, at this time, it presents itself to my mind.
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