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Stage-coach and Tavern Days
[Illustration: Travel in the South in the Thirties. _Frontispiece._]
STAGE-COACH AND TAVERN DAYS
By ALICE MORSE EARLE
Author of _Home Life in Colonial Days_, _Child Life in
Colonial Days_, and other Social and Domestic
Histories of Colonial Times
"_Long ago, at the end of the route,
The stage pulled up, and the folks stepped out.
They have all passed under the tavern door--
The youth and his bride and the gray three-score.
Their eyes were weary with dust and gleam,
The day had gone like an empty dream.
Soft may they slumber, and trouble no more
For their eager journey, its jolt and roar,
In the old coach over the mountain._"
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
1900
_All rights reserved_
COPYRIGHT, 1900,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
_Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A._
_TO MY HUSBAND HENRY EARLE_
Contents
Chapter Page
I. The Puritan Ordinary 1
II. Old-time Taverns 30
III. The Tavern Landlord 62
IV. Tavern Fare and Tavern Ways 76
V. Kill-devil and its Affines 100
VI. Small Drink 121
VII. Signs and Symbols 138
VIII. The Tavern in War 170
IX. The Tavern Panorama 194
X. From Path to Turnpike 223
XI. Packhorse and Conestoga Wagon 241
XII. Early Stage-coaches and Other Vehicles 253
XIII. Two Stage Veterans of Massachusetts 291
XIV. A Staging Centre 308
XV. The Stage-driver 320
XVI. The Romance of the Road 340
XVII. The Pains of Stage-coach Travel 361
XVIII. Knights of the Road 373
XIX. Tavern Ghosts 409
List of Illustrations
Travel in the South in the Thirties. From painting
by Edward Lamson Henry, N.A. _Frontispiece_
Page
Ordinary at Duxbury, Mass. 3
Taproom Furnishings of an Old Ordinary. Owned by Miss
Elizabeth Nicholson, Providence, R. I. 7
Oldest House in Easton, Mass.; once an Ordinary 10
Leather Black-jack 14
Tavern Bill against East Church, Salem, Mass. Owned by
Essex Institute 16
Taproom of Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Mass. 19
Buckman Tavern, 1690, Lexington, Mass. 23
Hound-handle Tavern Pitcher 26
Sign-board of Hayden Tavern, Essex, Conn. Owned by
Connecticut Historical Society 28
Indian Queen Tavern, Bladensburg, Md. From painting by
Edward Lamson Henry, N.A. _facing_ 32
Old Road House, Md. 34
Plate, City Hotel, N. Y., Staffordshire Ware 38
Cato's House, N. Y. From an old print 41
Washington Tavern, Westfield, Mass. 43
Door Latch, Washington Tavern, Westfield, Mass. 45
Wadsworth Inn, Hartford, Conn. Photographed by Mr. George
C. Atwell, Hartford, Conn. 47
Taproom, Wadsworth Inn, Hartford, Conn. 51
Fountain Inn, Medford, Mass. 54
Sign-board of N. Mowry's Inn, Lime Rock, R. I. Owned by
Miss Elizabeth Nicholson, Providence, R. I. 57
Pine-tree Tavern and Eagle Tavern, East Poultney, Vt. 59
Sign-board of Washington Hotel, Salem, Mass. Owned by
Essex Institute 63
Sign-board of Hays' Tavern, West Brattleboro, Vt. 65
Cooper Tavern, Arlington, Mass. 68
Travellers' Rest, Shelbyville, Ky., 1783 71
Miller's Tavern, Lancaster, Penn. 73
Ellery Tavern, front, Gloucester, Mass. 79
Ellery Tavern, lean-to, Gloucester, Mass. 83
Bill of Cromwell's Head Tavern, Boston, Mass. Owned
by Mrs. H. M. Hunt, Kingston, R. I. _facing_ 86
Bill of Fare of City Hotel, Hartford, Conn. Owned by
Mr. George F. Ives, Danbury, Conn. 89
Platter, Mendenhall Ferry and Tavern, Schuylkill River,
Penn. Owned by Miss Frances C. Morse, Worcester, Mass. 93
Collin's Tavern, Naugatuck, Conn. Photographed by Mr.
George C. Atwell, Hartford, Conn. 97
Old Rum Bottles 102
Burgoyne Tavern, Westfield, Mass. 106
Tavern Pitcher, Happy Farmer, Crouch Ware 109
Flip Glasses, Loggerhead and Toddy Stick. Owned by
Pocumtuck Valley Historical Association 110
Porcelain Monteith Bowl, 1700 115
Punch Bowl, bearing Insignia of Order of the Cincinnati,
Chinese Ware 117
Sign-board of Amherst Hotel, Amherst, Mass. From History
of Amherst 123
Eagle Tavern and Sign-board, Newton, N. H. 126
Cider Pitcher and Cups, Copper Lustre Ware 129
Parsons' Tavern, Springfield, Mass. 131
Toby Fillpots, Staffordshire Ware. Owned by Miss Frances
C. Morse, Worcester, Mass. 134
Flip Glasses and Nutmeg Holders. Owned by Miss Frances
C. Morse, Worcester, Mass. 136
Sign-board, Stratton Tavern, Northfield Farms, Mass. Owned
by Pocumtuck Valley Historical Association 140
Sign-board, Three Crowns Tavern, Salisbury, Lancaster
County, Penn. Painted by Benjamin West 143
Browne's Hall, Danvers, Mass. 145
Hat Tavern and Sign-board, Leacock Township, Lancaster
County, Penn. Sign-board painted by Benjamin West 147
Sign-board, Bissell's Tavern, East Windsor, Conn. Owned
by Miss Emma B. King, Indianapolis, Ind. 151
Sign-board, Reverse Side, Bissell's Tavern, East Windsor,
Conn. Owned by Miss Emma B. King, Indianapolis, Ind. 153
Sign-board of William Pitt Tavern, Lancaster, Penn. 156
Sign-board, Doolittle Tavern 158
Sign-board, "A Man loaded with Mischief," London, Eng.
Painted by Hogarth _facing_ 160
Sign-board of Walker's Tavern, Charlestown, N. H. Owned
by Worcester Society of Antiquity 162
Drawing for Ames Sign-board, Dedham, Mass. 165
Buck Horn Tavern, N. Y., 1812. From an old print 168
Old North Bridge, Concord, Mass. _facing_ 172
Boston Liberty Tree and Tavern. From an old print 174
Stavers Inn, Portsmouth, N. H. 176
Handbill of Wolfe Tavern, Newburyport, Mass. _facing_ 178
Sign-board of Wolfe Tavern, Newburyport, Mass. 180
Hancock Tavern, Boston, Mass. 182
Sam Fraunces. From original drawing. Owned by Mrs. A.
Livingstone Mason, Newport, R. I. 184
Green Dragon Tavern, Boston, Mass. From an old print 187
Conkey Tavern, Pelham, Mass. From History of Pelham _facing_ 188
Sign-board of Conkey Tavern. From History of Pelham 190
Naval Pitcher, Liverpool Ware 192
Washington Tavern, North Wilbraham, Mass. 196
Black Horse Tavern, Salem, Mass. 199
Sign-board, Stickney Tavern, Concord, N. H. Owned by New
Hampshire Historical Society 203
Sign-board of Keeler's Tavern, Ridgefield, Conn. 205
Plate, Nahant Hotel, Staffordshire Ware 206
Sign-board of Wolfe Tavern, Brooklyn, Conn. Owned by
Connecticut Historical Society 211
Postlethwaite's Tavern, Lancaster County, Penn. 214
Sign-board of Pembroke Tavern, Plymouth Turnpike, Mass.
Owned by Bostonian Society 217
Map Pitcher, Liverpool Ware 220
Waiting at the Ferry. Painted by Edward Lamson Henry,
N.A. _facing_ 226
Old Chain Bridge, Newburyport, Mass. _facing_ 230
Bridge Toll-board. Owned by Mr. A. G. Richmond,
Canajoharie, N. Y. 233
Megunticook Turnpike 235
Advertisement of Mail-stage 236
Bridge Sign-board. Owned by Bucks County Historical
Society 239
A Wayside Friend, North Conway, N. H. From photograph
by T. E. M. and G. H. White _facing_ 242
Conestoga Wagon. Photographed from an old wagon _facing_ 246
Stage Wagons. From print in an old English story book 251
English Coach, 1747. From a painting by Hogarth 254
Quicksilver Royal Mail, 1835, London, Eng. From an old
print _facing_ 256
"One Hoss Shay" _facing_ 258
"Washington" Chariot. Owned by Misses Francis, Spring
Green Farm, Warwick, R. I. 259
Advertisement of Stage Lines. From first issue of New
York _Commercial Advertiser_, 1797 261
Stage-coach of 1818. From an old print 264
Stage-coach of 1828. From an old print 265
Concord Coach, built in 1863. Owned by "Buffalo Bill" 266
Concord Coach at Toll-gate. From photograph owned by
Major Lewis Downing, Jr., Concord, N. H. _facing_ 268
Advertisement of Pioneer Line Stage-coaches 278
The Omnibus "Accommodation" between Springfield and
Chicopee Falls, 1843 273
Notice of Post-rider, 1799 276
Old Mail-coach and Sign-board, Barre, Mass., 1840 280
Pitcher, Quincy Railway, Staffordshire Ware 284
Veazie Railway, Bangor, Me. From an old print 286
The Arrival of the Train. From a painting by Edward
Lamson Henry, N.A. _facing_ 288
Uncle Ame Morris's Oxen serving as Locomotive. From
an old print 289
Pease Tavern, Shrewsbury, Mass. 292
Old Arcade, Shrewsbury, Mass. 294
Harrington Tavern, Shrewsbury, Mass. 299
Balch Tavern, Shrewsbury, Mass. 301
Advertisement of Ginery Twichell's Stage Lines. Owned
by American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass. _facing_ 304
Ginery Twichell's Ride. From drawing owned by Mr.
Frederick A. Currier, Fitchburg, Mass. 306
Sign-board of Tarleton Inn, Piermont, Cohos Turnpike,
N. H. Owned by Mr. Amos Tarleton, Haverhill, N. H. 310
Sign-board, Reverse, of Tarleton Inn, Piermont, N. H.
Owned by Mr. Amos Tarleton, Haverhill, N. H. 312
Bliss's Tavern, Haverhill, N. H. 314
Old Sleigh with Double Dashboard 316
Old Passenger Pung 318
Relay House, Dorchester, Mass. 321
The Relay. From painting by Edward Lamson Henry, N.A. _facing_ 324
View of Middletown, Conn. From an old print 327
Deerhide and Pigskin Trunks 331
Old Carpet Bag. Owned by Mrs. Voice Adams Beecher,
Brooklyn, N. Y. 333
Sign-board of David Reed's Tavern, Bedford, Mass. Owned
by Concord Antiquarian Society 337
Midsummer along the Pike _facing_ 344
A Vista of White Birches 346
The Hollyhock's Promise 348
The Cool Depths of the Pine Woods. From photograph by
T. E. M. and G. H. White _facing_ 348
Taylor's Tavern, 1777, Danbury, Conn. 350
M. M. Taylor's Milestone, Danbury, Conn. 351
Peleg Arnold's Milestone, Woonsocket, R. I. From
photograph by Mr. Edward Field, Providence, R. I. 352
The Watering Trough 355
Topsfield Bridge, 1760. Ipswich River, Mass. 357
The Shadowy Water under the Arches. From photograph
by T. E. M. and G. H. White _facing_ 358
Winter Stage, Dalton, Mass. _facing_ 362
Winter Stage, Chepachet. From photograph by Mr. Edward
Field, Providence, R. I. 364
Advertisements of Carriages and Wagons. From
Connecticut _Journal_, July 3, 1815 _facing_ 368
A Wet Start at Daybreak. From a painting by Edward
Lamson Henry, N.A. _facing_ 370
The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Mass. _facing_ 372
Sign-board, Perkins Inn, Hopkinton, N. H. Owned by
Mr. E. R. Guerin, Hopkinton, N. H. 375
Russel Tavern, Arlington, Mass. 379
Sign-board of Gifford's Tavern, Barrington, R. I. Owned
by Mrs. Gifford, Bristol, R. I. 381
Sign-board of Wells Tavern, Greenfield Meadows, Mass.
Owned by Pocumtuck Valley Historical Association 382
Mattapan Tavern, Relay House 389
Wilde Tavern, Milton, Mass., 1770 391
Ashburnham Thief Detecting Society. Handbill Heading 393
Sign-board of Humphrey Williams Tavern, Centrebrook,
Conn. Owned by Mr. George F. Ives, Danbury, Conn. 396
Sign-board, Reverse, of Humphrey Williams Tavern,
Centrebrook, Conn. Owned by Mr. George F. Ives,
Danbury, Conn. 400
Poor Tavern and Sign-board, Newburyport, Mass. 405
Monroe Tavern, Lexington, Mass. _facing_ 406
Sign-board, Dewey Tavern 411
Sign-board, Cutter's Tavern, Jaffray, N. H. Owned by
Mrs. Anna Cutter Roberts, Roxbury, Mass. 412
Banjo Clock, with Painting of Pahquoique House on Glass
Door. Owned by Mr. George F. Ives, Danbury, Conn. 414
Wright Tavern, Concord, Mass. 417
Sign-board of Moses Hill's Inn, Douglas, Mass. 419
Sign-board of John Nash's Tavern, Amherst, Mass. From
History of Amherst 421
Montague City Tavern 425
Old Abbey, Bloomingdale Road, New York 428
After the Shower. From painting by Edward Lamson
Henry, N. A. _facing_ 430
Tavern Pitcher, Apotheosis of Washington. Liverpool Ware 430
Sign-board of Grosvenor Inn, Pomfret, Conn. 432
The Parting of the Ways, Dublin, N. H. _facing_ 434
Stage-coach and Tavern Days
CHAPTER I
THE PURITAN ORDINARY
In reverent and affectionate retrospective view of the influences and
conditions which had power and made mark upon the settlement of New
England, we are apt to affirm with earnest sentiment that religion was the
one force, the one aim, the one thought, of the lives of our forbears. It
was indeed an ever present thought and influence in their lives; but they
possessed another trait which is as evident in their records as their
piety, and which adds an element of human interest to their story which
their stern Puritanism never could have done; with them their
neighborliness, was as ever present and as sincere as their godliness.
Hence the establishment of an hostelry,--an ordinary it was usually
called,--for the entertainment of travellers and for the mutual comfort of
the settlers, was scarcely second to their providing a gathering-place for
the church.
The General Court of Massachusetts at an early date took decisive measures
with regard to houses of common entertainment. No one was permitted to
keep without license "a common victuallyng house," under a penalty of
twenty shillings a week. Soon the power of granting licenses was
transferred to the County Courts, as the constant increase in the number
of ordinaries made too constant detailed work for so important a body as
the General Court.
Consideration for the welfare of travellers, and a desire to regulate the
sale of intoxicating liquors, seemed to the magistrates important enough
reasons not only to counsel but to enforce the opening of some kind of a
public house in each community, and in 1656 the General Court of
Massachusetts made towns liable to a fine for not sustaining an ordinary.
Towns were fined and admonished for not conforming to this law; Concord,
Massachusetts, was one of the number. The Colonial Records of Connecticut,
in 1644, ordered "one sufficient inhabitant" in each town to keep an
ordinary, since "strangers were straitened" for want of entertainment. A
frequent and natural choice of location for establishing an ordinary was
at a ferry. Tristram Coffyn kept both ferry and ordinary at Newbury,
Massachusetts; there was an ordinary at Beverly Ferry, known until 1819 as
the "Old Ferry Tavern."
Great inducements were offered to persons to keep an ordinary; sometimes
land was granted them, or pasturage for their cattle, or exemption from
church rates and school taxes. In 1682, Hugh March, of Newbury,
Massachusetts, petitioned for a renewal of his license to keep an
ordinary, saying thus: "The town of Newbury, some years since, were
destitute of an ordinary, and could not persuade any person to keep it.
For want of an ordinary they were twice fined by the county, and would
have been a third time had I not undertaken it." In 1668 the town had
persuaded one Captain White to "undertake an ordinary" on high moral
grounds; and it is painful to record that, though he did so unwillingly,
he found the occupation so profitable that he finally got into disgrace
through it.
[Illustration: Ordinary at Duxbury, Massachusetts.]
The early taverns were not opened wholly for the convenience of
travellers; they were for the comfort of the townspeople, for the
interchange of news and opinions, the sale of solacing liquors, and the
incidental sociability; in fact, the importance of the tavern to its local
neighbors was far greater than to travellers. There were many restrictions
upon the entertainment of unknown strangers. The landlord had to give the
name of all such strangers to the selectmen, who could, if they deemed
them detrimental or likely to become a charge upon the community, warn
them out of the town. The old town records are full of such warnings, some
of them most amusing. Nor could the landlord "knowingly harbor in house,
barn, or stable, any rogues, vagabonds, thieves, sturdy beggars,
masterless men or women." Our ancestors were kindly neighbors to godly
folk, but sternly intolerant of wrong-doers, or even of those suspected of
wrong.
We cannot wonder that citizens did not seek to become ordinary-keepers
when we learn how they were hampered, or how the magistrates tried to
hamper them. They were at one time not to be permitted to sell "sack or
strong waters," nor have any dancing or singing within their walls. No
games could be played in their precincts. They were even hindered in the
selling of cakes and buns. Innholders and victuallers were prohibited the
brewing of beer, but that soon had to be revoked. The price and quality of
beer was constantly being established by law and as constantly changed. In
1634 the Court set the price of a single meal at sixpence, and not above a
penny for an ale-quart of beer out of meal time. Then, a little later, the
landlords were forbidden to change more than twelve pence for a meal; and
they were ordered to furnish meals to "pore people," as simply as called
for.
One Richard Cluffe, in an utterance which sounds like the voice of
Shakespeare's clown, exclaimed at a mean meal served to him, "What! shall
I pay twelve pence for the fragments which the grand jury roages have
left?" The majesty of the law could not thus be attacked in Massachusetts
in the year 1640. Three pounds six shillings and eight pence did Cluffe
pay for his rash and angry words--truly a costly dinner.
The ordinary called The Anchor, at Lynn, was kept by one Joseph Armitage.
Being a halfway house between Boston and Salem, the magistrates made it
their stopping-place on their various trips from court to court. The
accounts of this ordinary are still preserved. Governor Endicott's bills
for "vitals, beare, and logen," for "bear and caeks," were paid by the
Auditor. Governor Bradstreet had "beare and wyne." The succeeding landlord
of this ordinary was described by John Dunton in 1686 as a hearty,
talkative, fine old gentleman, one of Oliver Cromwell's soldiers. Dunton
had at The Anchor a good fowl and a bottle of sack, instead of the beer
and cakes of the abstemious Puritan governor.
The "Sports of the Innyard" were sternly frowned upon by Puritan
magistrates. Among the games which were named as forbidden in the
ordinaries were "carding," dicing, tally, bowls, billiards, slidegroat,
shuffle-board, quoits, loggets, ninepins. After a time shuffle-board and
bowls were tolerated in private houses, though not deemed reputable at the
ordinary.
The Puritan ordinary saw some wedding scenes, and apparently some
tentatively gay scenes, since in 1631 the magistrates of Massachusetts
Bay, in "consequence of some miscarriages at weddings" which had been
held in an ordinary, passed a law prohibiting dancing on such occasions in
public houses.
Lord Ley lodged at the Boston ordinary in 1637; and when Governor Winthrop
urged him to come to his home from the inn, his lordship declined, saying
that the house where he was staying was so well ordered that he could be
as private there as elsewhere.
In the towns a night-watch was soon instituted, and the instructions given
by the Boston magistrates smack strongly of Dogberry's famous charge.
Their number each night was eight; they were "to walk two by two together,
a youth joined to an older and more sober person." Lights had to be
out,--or hidden,--especially in the ordinaries. "If they see lights, to
inquire if there be warrantable cause; and if they hear any noise or
disorder, wisely to demand the reason; if they are dancing and singing
vainly, to admonish them to cease; if they do not discontinue after
moderate admonition, then the constable to take their names and acquaint
the authorities therewith. If they find young men and maidens, not of
known fidelity, walking after ten o'clock, modestly to demand the cause,
and if they appear ill-minded, to watch them narrowly, command them to go
to their lodgings, and if they refuse then to secure them till morning."
In 1663 Josselyn found that young sparks walking with their sweet-hearts,
or "Marmalet-Madams" as he called them, had to go home at nine o'clock.
Constant and strenuous efforts were made from earliest days to prevent
drunkenness and all tavern disorders. As early as 1637 complaints had been
made that "much drunkenness, waste of the good creatures of God, mispense
of time, and other disorders" had taken place at the ordinaries. Frequent
laws were made about selling liquor to the "devilish bloudy salvages," and
many were the arrests and fines and punishments therefor.
[Illustration: Taproom Furnishings of an Old Ordinary.]
Landlords were forbidden by the Court in 1645 "to suffer anyone to be
drunk or drink excessively, or continue tippling above the space of half
an hour in any of their said houses under penalty of 5_s._ for every such
offence suffered; and every person found drunk in the said houses or
elsewhere shall forfeit 10_s._; and for every excessive drinking he shall
forfeit 3_s._ 4_d._; for sitting idle and continuing drinking above half
an hour, 2_s._ 6_d._; and it is declared to be excessive drinking of wine
when above half a pint of wine is allowed at one time to one person to
drink: provided that it shall be lawful for any strangers, or lodgers, or
any person or persons, in an orderly way to continue in such houses of
common entertainment during meal times or upon lawful business, what time
their occasions shall require."
Drunkards were severely punished by being thrust into the bilboes, set in
the stocks, and whipped. In 1632 one "James Woodward shalbe sett in the
bilbowes for being drunke at New-Towne." Robert Wright was fined twenty
shillings and ordered to sit in the stocks an hour for being "twice
distempered in drink." On September 3, 1633, in Boston:--
"Robert Coles was fyned ten shillings and enjoynd to stand with a
white sheet of paper on his back, whereon Drunkard shalbe written in
great lres, and to stand therewith soe long as the Court find meet,
for abusing himself shamefully with drinke."
This did not reform Robert Coles, for a year later his badge of disgrace
was made permanent:--
"Robert Coles for drunkenness by him committed at Rocksbury shalbe
disfranchizd, weare about his neck, and so to hang upon his outwd
garment a D. made of redd cloth & sett upon white: to continyu this
for a yeare, & not to have it off any time hee comes among company,
Vnder the penalty of xl _s._ for the first offence, and 5 L for the
second, and afterward to be punished by the Court as they think meet:
also _hee is to wear the D outwards_."
It might be inferred from the clause I have italicized that the Puritan
drunkard was not without guile, and that some had worn the scarlet letter
and hidden it from public view as skilfully as the moral brand is often
hidden from public knowledge to-day. Women, also, were punished severely
for "intemperate drinking from one ordinary to another," but such examples
were rare.
Lists of names of common drunkards were given to landlords in some towns
(among them New Castle, New Hampshire), and landlords were warned not to
sell liquor to them. Licenses were removed and fines imposed on those who
did not heed the warning.
The tithing-man, that amusing but most bumptious public functionary of
colonial times, was at first the official appointed to spy specially upon
the ordinaries. He inspected these houses, made complaint of any disorders
he discovered, and gave in to the constable the names of idle drinkers and
gamers. He warned the keepers of public houses to sell no more liquor to
any whom he fancied had been tippling too freely. John Josselyn, an
English visitor in Boston in 1663, complained bitterly thus:--
"At houses of entertainment into which a stranger went, he was
presently followed by one appointed to that office, who would thrust
himself into the company uninvited, and if he called for more drink
than the officer thought in his judgement he could soberly bear away,
he would presently countermand it, and appoint the proportion, beyond
which he could not get one drop."
[Illustration: Old Tavern at Easton, Massachusetts.]
Now that certainly was trying. Nor could it have been agreeable to
would-be cheerful frequenters of Greyhound Tavern, in Roxbury, to have
godly Parson Danforth, when he saw from his study windows any neighbors or
strangers lingering within the tavern doors, come sallying forth from his
house across the way, and walk sternly into their company, and, as he
said, "chide them away." Patient must have been the Greyhound's landlord
to have stood such pious meddling and hindrance to trade.
Governor Winthrop gives an account of the exploits of a Boston constable
in 1644, which shows the restraint held over a lodger in a Boston ordinary
at that date.
"There fell out a troublesome business in Boston. An English sailor
happened to be drunk and was carried to his lodging; and the
Constable (a Godly man and much zealous against such disorders)
hearing of it, found him out, being upon his bed asleep; so he awaked
him, and led him to the stocks, no magistrate being at home. He being
left in the stocks, some one of La Tours French gentlemen visitors in
Boston lifted up the stocks and let him out. The Constable hearing of
it, went to the Frenchman (being then gone and quiet) and would needs
carry _him_ to the stocks. The Frenchman offered to yield himself to
go to prison but the Constable, not understanding his language,
pressed him to go to the stocks. The Frenchman resisted and drew his
sword. With that company came in and disarmed him, and carried him by
force to the stocks, but soon after the Constable took him out and
carried him to prison."
Winthrop gravely enumerates the faults of the constable, such as his
"transgressing the bounds of his office, the fruits of ignorant and
misguided zeal, not putting a hook on the stocks," etc., and the matter
bade fair to assume some gravity, since it was deemed in France "most
ignominious to be laid in the stocks." Yet Winthrop took care not to
rebuke the Constable in public lest he "discourage and discountenance an
honest officer."
It has been said that the homely injunction "to mind your own business"
was the most difficult lesson New Englanders ever had to learn, and that
even now it has been acquired and practised in the cities only, not in the
country.
Administration of government in those days certainly consisted much of
meddlesome interference in the private affairs of daily life. Experience
has since taught that the free-will of the citizen is the best regulator
in such matters.
It is one of the curiosities of old-time legislation that the use of
tobacco was in earliest colonial days plainly regarded by the magistrates
and elders as far more sinful, degrading, and harmful than indulgence in
intoxicating liquors. Both the use and the planting of it were forbidden,
the latter being permitted in small quantities "for meere necessitie, for
phisick, for preservaceon of the health, and that the same be taken
privately by auncient men." Landlords were ordered not to "suffer any
tobacco to be taken into their houses" on penalty of a fine to the
"victualler," and another to "the party that takes it." The "Creature
called Tobacko" seemed to have an immortal life. The laws were constantly
altered and were enforced, still tobacco was grown and was smoked. Soon it
was forbidden to "take tobacco in any wine or common victual house, except
in a private room there, so as the master of said house nor any guest
there shall take offense thereat; which, if any do, the said person shall
forbear upon pain of two shillings sixpence for every such offense." No
one could take tobacco "publicquely" nor in his own house or anywhere else
before strangers. Two men were forbidden to smoke together. Windsor
required a physician's certificate ere it could be used. No one could
smoke within two miles of the meeting-house on the Sabbath day. There were
wicked backsliders who were caught smoking around the corner of the
meeting-house, and others on the street, and they were fined, and set in
the stocks, and in cages. Until within a few years there were New England
towns where tobacco-smoking was prohibited on the streets, and innocent
cigar-loving travellers were astounded at being requested to cease
smoking. Mr. Drake wrote in 1886 that he knew men, then living, who had
had to plead guilty or not guilty in a Boston police court for smoking in
the streets of Boston. In Connecticut in early days a great indulgence was
permitted to travellers--a man could smoke once during a journey of ten
miles.
The relationship of tavern and meeting-house in New England did not end
with their simultaneous establishment; they continued the most friendly
neighbors. And so long as a public house was commonly known as an
ordinary, those who were high in church counsels looked sharply to the
control of these houses of sojourn. The minister and tithing-man were
aided in their spying and their chiding by deacons, elders, and church
members.
Usually the ordinary and the meeting-house were close companions. Licenses
to keep houses of entertainment were granted with the condition that the
tavern must be near the meeting-house--a keen contrast to our present laws
prohibiting the sale of liquor within a certain distance of any church. A
Boston ordinary-keeper, in 1651, was granted permission to keep a house of
common entertainment "provided hee keepe it neare the new meeting-house."
[Illustration: Leather Black-jack.]
Those who know of the old-time meeting-house can fully comprehend the
desire of the colonists to have a tavern near at hand, especially during
the winter services. Through autumn rains, and winter frosts and snows,
and fierce northwesters, the poorly-built meeting-house stood unheated,
growing more damp, more icy, more deadly, with each succeeding week. Women
cowered, shivering, half-frozen, over the feeble heat of a metal
foot-stove as the long sermon dragged on and the few coals became ashes.
Men stamped their feet and swung their arms in the vain attempt to warm
the blood. Gladly and eagerly did all troop from the gloomy meeting-house
to the cheerful tavern to thaw out before the afternoon service, and to
warm up before the ride or walk home in the late afternoon. It was a
scandal in many a town that godly church-members partook too freely of
tavern cheer at the nooning; the only wonder is that the entire
congregation did not succumb in a body to the potent flip and toddy of the
tavern-keeper.
In midsummer the hot sun beat down on the meeting-house roof, and the
burning rays poured in the unshaded windows. The taproom of the tavern and
the green trees in its dooryard offered a pleasant shade to tired
church-goers, and its well-sweep afforded a grateful drink to those who
turned not to the taproom.
There are ever backsliders in all church communities; many walked into the
ordinary door instead of up the church "alley." The chimney seat of the
inn was more comfortable than the narrow seat of the "pue." The General
Court of Massachusetts passed a law requiring all innkeepers within a mile
of any meeting-house, to clear their houses "during the hours of the
exercise." "Thus," Mr. Field says wittily, "the townsmen were frozen out
of the tavern to be frozen in the meeting-house."
Our ancestors had no reverence for a church save as a literal
meeting-house, and it was not unusual to transform the house of God into a
tavern. The Great House at Charlestown, Massachusetts, the official
residence of Governor Winthrop, became a meeting-house in 1633, and then a
tavern, the Three Cranes, kept by Robert Leary and his descendants for
many years. It was destroyed in June, 1775, in the burning of the town. In
this Great House, destined to become a tavern, lived Governor Winthrop
when he announced his famous discountenance of health-drinking at the
tables and in public places. This first of all temperance pledges in New
England is recorded in his Diary in his own language, which was as
temperate as his intent:--
"The Governor, upon consideration of the inconveniences which had
grown in England by drinking one to another, restrained it at his own
table, and wished others to do the like; so it grew, little by little,
into disuse."
[Illustration]
Frequently religious services were held in the spacious rooms of the
tavern, until a meeting-house was built; as in the town of Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, and in Providence, Rhode Island, where Roger Williams
preached. Many of the Puritan ordinaries were thus used.
Ecclesiastical affairs were managed at the ordinary, among them that most
ticklish and difficult of all adjustments and allotments, namely, seating
the meeting. The "Elders, Deacons, and Selectmen" of Cambridge were made a
"constant and settled power for regulating the seating of persons in the
meeting-house." They were ordered to meet at the ordinary, and such orders
and appointments as this were made:--
"Brother Richard Jackson's wife to sit where Sister Kempster was wont
to sit. Ester Sparhawke to sit in the place where Mrs. Upham is
removed from. Mr. Day to sit the second seat from the table. Ensign
Samuel Greene to sit at the Table. Goody Gates to sit at the end of
the Deacon's seat. Goody Wines to sit in the Gallery."
It needed much consultation and thought to "seat the meeting." We can
imagine the deacons loosening their tongues over the tavern flip and
punch, and arguing confidentially over the standing, the wealth, and
temper of the various parties to be seated.
There were in Boston at different times several ordinaries and taverns
known as the King's Arms. One of the earliest ones stood at the head of
Dock Square. In 1651 one Hugh Gunnison, vintner, and his wife, sold this
house, known by the sign of the King's Arms, with its furniture and
appurtenances, for the sum of L600 sterling, a goodly sum for the day. An
inventory of the "p'ticular goods and household stuffe" still exists, and
is of much interest not only as indicating the furnishings of a house of
that character in that colony at that date, but showing also the naming of
the chambers, as in the English inns of Shakespeare's day.
"In the chamber called the Exchange one halfe bedstead with blew
pillows, one livery Cupbord coloured blue, one long table, benches,
two formes and one carved chaire.
"In the Kitchen three formes dressers shelves.
"In the Larder one square Table banisters dressers & shelves round.
"In the Hall, three Small Roomes with tables and benches in them, one
table about six foote long in the Hall and one bench.
"In the low parlor one bedstead one table and benches two formes, one
small frame of a form and shelves, one Closet with shelves.
"In the room Vnder the closet one child's bedsted.
"In the Chamber called London, one bedsted two benches.
"In the Chamber over London one bedsted one crosse table one forme one
bench.
"In the Closet next the Exchange, shelves.
"In the barr by the hall, three shelves, the frame of a low stoole.
"In the vpper p'lor one bedsted two chaires one table one forme bench
and shelves.
"In the Nursery one Crosse Table with shelvs.
"In the Court Chamber one Long table three formes one livery cupbord,
& benches.
"In the closet within the Court chamber one bedsted and shelvs.
"In the Starr chamber one long table, one bedsted, one livery Cupbord
one chaire three formes with benches.
"In the Garret over the Court chamber one bedsted one table two
formes.
"In the garret over the closet in the Court chamber one bedsted one
smale forme.
"In the foure garrett chambers over the Starr chamber three bedsteds
four tables with benches.
"In the brewhouse one Cop', twoe fatts, one vnder back, one vpper
back, one kneading trough one dresser one brake.
"In the stable one Racke & manger.
"In the yarde one pumpe, pipes to convey the water to the brew house,
fyve hogg styes, one house of office.
"The signes of the Kinges Armes and signe posts."
This was certainly a large house and amply furnished. It contained
thirteen bedsteads and a vast number of tables, forms, benches, shelves,
and cupboards.
The rooms of the Blue Anchor, another Boston ordinary, also bore names:
the Rose and Sun Low room, the Cross Keys, the Green Dragon, the Anchor
and Castle.
We can form, from the items of this inventory, a very good and detailed
picture of the interior of a Boston ordinary at that date. But it must not
be imagined that there were at the time of this sale many colonial
ordinaries as amply furnished as the King's Arms. The accommodations in
the public houses of small towns, indeed perhaps everywhere in New England
save in Boston and Salem, were very primitive. The ordinary was doubtless
as well furnished as the private homes of its neighbors, and that was very
simple of fashion, while the fare was scant of variety.
[Illustration: Taproom of Wayside Inn.]
We know that even the early ordinaries had sign-boards.
The ordinary-keeper had his license granted with the proviso that "there
be sett up some inoffensive sign obvious for direction to
strangers"--this in Salem in 1645. In 1655 the Rhode Island courts ordered
that all persons appointed to keep an ordinary should "cause to be sett
out a convenient Signe at ye most perspicuous place of ye said house,
thereby to give notice to strangers yt it is a house of public
entertainment, and this to be done with all convenient speed."
Women kept ordinaries and taverns from early days. Widows abounded, for
the life of the male colonists was hard, exposure was great, and many died
in middle age. War also had many victims. Tavern-keeping was the resort of
widows of small means then, just as the "taking of boarders" is to-day.
Women were skilled in business affairs and competent; many licenses were
granted to them to keep victualling-houses, to draw wine, and make and
sell beer. In 1684 the wife of one Nicholas Howard was licensed "to
entertain Lodgers in the absence of her husband"; while other women were
permitted to sell food and drink but could not entertain lodgers because
their husbands were absent from home, thus drawing nice distinctions. A
Salem dame in 1645 could keep an ordinary if she provided a "godly man" to
manage her business. Some women became renowned as good innkeepers, and
they were everywhere encouraged in the calling.
The colonists did not have to complain long, nor to pine long for lack of
ordinaries. In 1675 Cotton Mather said every other house in Boston was an
ale-house.
One of the first serious protests against the increase of ordinaries and
ale-houses in the colonies, and appreciation of their pernicious effects,
came from Nathaniel Saltonstall of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was a
magistrate, and an officer in the militia. He was appointed one of the
judges in the Salem witchcraft trials; but in this latter capacity he
refused to serve, which may be taken as a proof of his advanced thought.
He was said to be "a man of superior powers of mind and rare talents." In
December, 1696, he sent a letter to the Salem Court which ran thus:--
"MUCH HON'D GENTLEMEN:
"I allways thought it great prudence and Christianity in our former
leaders and rulers, by their laws to state the number of publique
houses in towns and for regulation of such houses, as were of
necessity, thereby to prevent all sorts, almost, of wickednesses which
daily grow in upon us like a flood. But alas! I see not but that now
the case is over, and such (as to some places I may term them)
pest-houses and places of enticement (tho not so intended by the
Justices) the sin are multiplied. It is multiplied too openly, that
the cause of it may be, the price of retailers' fees, etc. I pray what
need of six retailers in Salisbury, and of more than one in Haverhill,
and some other towns where the people, when taxes and rates for the
country and ministers are collecting, with open mouths complain of
povertie and being hardly dealt with, and yet I am fully informed, can
spend much time, and spend their estates at such blind holes, as are
clandestinely and unjustly petitioned for; and more threaten to get
licenses, chiefly by repairing to a remote court, where they are not
known or suspected, but pass for current, and thereby the towns are
abused, and the youth get evil habits; and men sent out on country
service at such places waste much of their time, yet expect pay for
it, in most pernicious loytering and what, and sometimes by foolish if
not pot-valiant firing and shooting off guns, not for the destruction
of enemies, but to the wonderful disturbance and affrightment of the
inhabitants, which is not the service a scout is allowed and
maintained for.
"Please to see what good is done by giving a license to Robert
Hastings, in such a by-place about three miles from the publique house
in town. The man himself I am sure has no cause, nor do I believe the
town and travellers if they are sober men, will ever give the court
thanks for the first grant to him, or the further renewal thereof.
"But now the bravado is made, what is done is not enough; we must have
a third tippling house at Peter Patey's about midway between the other
two, which they boast as cock-sure of, and have it is thought laid in,
for this very end, an unaccountable store of cyder, rum, molasses, and
what not. It is well if this stock be not now spent on, in procuring
subscriptions for to obtain the villain's license, which I fear,
knowing the man, we may be bold to say, wickedness will be practiced
and without control.... I have done my part in court, as to what I
heard of, to prevent such confiding licenses to persons unknown....
"I am now God's prisoner and cant come abroad, and have waited long to
speak of those, and others, but as yet cant meet with an opportunity.
You have nothing here of personal animosity of mine against any man,
but zeal and faithfulness to my country and town, and to the young and
rising generation that they be not too much at liberty to live and do
as they list. Accept of the good intentions of, gentlemen, your humble
servant,
"N. SALTONSTALL."
There is a sturdy ring about this letter, a freedom from cant and
conventional religious expressions, that serve to paint clearly the
character of the writer, and show us by one of those side-glimpses, which,
as Ruskin says, often afford more light than a full stare, the sort of man
that built up New England in the beginning, on its solid and noble
foundations.
[Illustration: Buckman Tavern, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1690.]
In spite of the forebodings of Saltonstall and other Christian gentlemen,
the flood of wickedness and disorder which he predicted was slow in its
approach. The orderly ways and close restrictions and surveillance of the
Puritan ordinary lasted until long after public houses were called
taverns.
In the latter quarter of the seventeenth century and the first of the
eighteenth a nearly continual diary was kept by a resident of Boston,
Judge Samuel Sewall, who might be called Boston's first citizen. He was
rich, he was good, he was intelligent, and some portions of his diary are
of great value for the light they throw on contemporary customs and
events. He has been called a Puritan Pepys; but in one respect he is
markedly unlike Pepys, who gave us ample record of London taverns, and of
tavern life in his day. It is doubtful that Sewall knew much about tavern
life in Boston; for his private life was a great contrast to that of our
gay Pepys. Judge Sewall was a home-body, tenderly careful of his
children--he had fourteen; a "loving servant" to his wives--he had three;
especially devoted to his mother-in-law--he had but one, the richest woman
in Boston; kind to his neighbors, poor as well as rich; attentive to his
friends in sickness, and thoughtful of them in death; zealous in religious
duties both in the church and the family; public-spirited and upright in
his service to his town and state, from his high office as judge, down to
fulfilling petty duties such as serving on the watch. He had little time
for tavern life, and little inclination to it; and he condemned men who
"kept ordinaries and sold rum." He was a shining example of the
"New-English men," whose fast-thinning ranks he so sadly deplored, and
whose virtues he extolled. He occasionally refers in his diary to
ordinaries. Sometimes he soberly drank healths and grace-cups within
Boston and Cambridge tavern walls with the honored Deputies, at the
installation of a new Governor, on the King's Coronation Day, or a Royal
Birthday. Sometimes we read of his pleasuring trips with his wife to the
Greyhound Tavern in Roxbury, his gala dinner of boiled pork and roast
fowls, and his riding home at curfew in "brave moonshine." That clear June
moonlight shining down through the centuries does not display to us any
very gay figures, any very jolly riders. We can see the Judge in rich but
sad-colored attire, with his wife on a pillion behind him, soberly jogging
home, doubtless singing psalms as they went through the short stretches of
Roxbury woods; for he sang psalms everywhere apparently, when he was
permitted to do so. This is as might be expected of a man who on another
pleasure jaunt with his wife left her eating cherries in the orchard,
while he, like any other Puritan, "sweetened his mouth with a bit of
Calvin," that is, he sat indoors and read _Calvin on Psalms_.
[Illustration: Hound-handle Tavern Pitcher.]
At this time--in the year 1714--Boston had a population approaching ten
thousand. It had thirty-four ordinary- or inn-holders, of whom twelve were
women; four common victuallers, of whom one was a woman; forty-one
retailers of liquor, of whom seventeen were women, and a few cider
sellers. There were, therefore, ample places in which liquor could be
bought; but Sewall's entire diary gives proof of the orderliness of life
in Boston. There are not half a dozen entries which give any records or
show any evidence of tavern disorders. In 1708 an inquiry was made by the
magistrates "as to debaucheries at the Exchange," and as a result one
young man was fined five shillings for cursing, ten shillings for throwing
a beer-pot and scale-box at the maid, and twenty shillings for lying--that
was all. The longest entry is on the Queen's birthday in 1714:--
"My neighbor Colson knocks at my door about nine P.M., or past, to
tell of disorders at the ordinary at the South End, kept by Mr.
Wallace. He desired me that I would accompany Mr. Bromfield and
Constable Howell hither. It was 35 minutes past nine before Mr.
Bromfield came, then we went, took AEneas Salter with us. Found much
company. They refused to go away. Said was there to drink the Queen's
health and had many other healths to drink. Called for more drink and
drank to me: I took notice of the affront, to them. Said they must and
would stay upon that solemn occasion. Mr. Netmaker drank the Queen's
health to me. I told him I drank none; on that he ceased. Mr. Brinley
put on his hat to affront me. I made him take it off. I threatened to
send some of them to prison. They said they could but pay their fine
and doing that might stay. I told them if they had not a care they
would be guilty of a riot. Mr. Bromfield spake of raising a number of
men to quell them, and was in some heat ready to run into the street.
But I did not like that. Not having pen and ink I went to take their
names with my pencil and not knowing how to spell their names they
themselves of their own accord writ them. At last I addressed myself
to Mr. Banister. I told him he had been longest an inhabitant and
freeholder and I expected he would set a good example by departing
thence. Upon this he invited them to his own house, and away they
went. And we after them went away. I went directly home and found it
25 minutes past ten at night when I entered my own house."
No greater tribute to orderly Boston could be given than this record of
rare disturbance. Even in that day, half after nine was not a late hour,
and it took the Judge but an hour to walk from his house and back and
disperse these soberly rioting young men, whom we can picture, solemnly
writing down their own names with the Judge's pencil for him to bring them
up in the morning. The next day they were each fined five shillings. Some
paid, some appealed and gave bonds. Mr. Netmaker was Secretary to the
Commander of her Majesty's forces, and he had to pay five shillings for
cursing. They also attempted to make him give bonds to keep the peace, but
at this he and his friends lost patience and refused. Judges Sewall and
Bromfield promptly sent him to jail. It is not surprising to know that
the Governor released him, though under strenuous protest from the two
magistrates, who had, they contended, simply executed the laws.
[Illustration: Sign-board of Hayden Tavern, Essex, Connecticut.]
Judge Sewall records one scene, a typically Puritanical one, and worthy of
a Puritan tithing-man. It took place at the Castle Inn where he went with
some other good Bostonians to shut off a "vain show."
"Treat with Brother Wing (the landlord) about his Setting a Room in
his House for a Man to shew Tricks in. He saith, seeing 'tis offensive
he will remedy it. It seems the Room is fitted with Seats. I read what
Dr. Ames saith of Callings, and spake as I could from this Principle,
that the Man's Practice was unlawfull, and therefore Capt. Wing could
not lawfully give him an accommodation for it. Sung the 90 Ps from the
12 v to the end. Broke up."
There is a suggestion of sober farce in this picture of those pious
gentlemen reading and expounding a sermon, whipping out their psalm books,
and singing a psalm to poor hospitable Landlord Wing in the parlor or
taproom of his own house.
Naturally the Puritan planters, and all "true New-English men" like
Sewall, did not care to have the ordinaries of their quiet towns made into
places of gay resort, of what they called "the shewing of vain shews."
They deemed those hostelries places of hospitable convenience, not of
lively entertainment. A contemporary poet, Quarles, thus compares human
life to a stay at an inn:--
"Our life is nothing but a winter's day,
Some only break their fast and so away;
Others stay dinner and depart full fed;
The deepest age but sups and goes to bed.
He's most in debt who lingers out the day,
Who dies betimes, has less and less to pay."
This somewhat melancholy view, both of life and of a public house,
lingered long in the colonies, for nearly a century; we might say, with
the life of the ordinary. When taverns came, their guests thought very
little of dying, and paid very much attention to living.