Womans Life in Colonial Days | Page 3

Society.
XI. Causes of Display and Frivolity--Washington's
Punctiliousness--Mrs. Washington's Dislike of Stateliness--Disgust of
the Democratic--Senator Maclay's Description of a Dinner by
Washington--Permanent Benefit of Washington's Formality--Elizabeth
Southgate's Record of New York Pastimes.
XII. Society in Philadelphia--Social Welcome for the British--Early
Instruction in Dancing--Formal Dancing Assemblies.
XIII. The Beauty of Philadelphia Women--Abigail Adams'
Description--The Accomplished Mrs. Bingham--Introduction of Social
Fads--Contrasts with New York Belles.
XIV. Social Functions--Lavish Use of Wealth at
Philadelphia--Washington's Birthday--Martha Washington in
Philadelphia--Domestic Ability of the Belles--Franklin and his
Daughter--General Wayne's Statement about Philadelphia Gaiety.
XV. Theatrical Performances--Their Growth in
Popularity--Washington's Liking for Them--Mrs. Adams'
Description--First Performance in New York, Charleston,
Williamsburg, Baltimore--Invading the Stage--Throwing Missiles.
XVI. Strange Customs in Louisiana--Passion for Pleasure--Influence of

Creoles and Negroes--Habitat for Sailors and West Indian
Ruffians--Reasons for Vice--Accounts by
Berquin-Duvallon--Commonness of Concubinage--Alliott's
Description--Reasons for Aversion to Marriage--Corruptness of Fathers
and Sons--Drawing the Color Line--Race Prejudice at Balls--Fine
Qualities of Louisiana White Women--Excess in Dress--Lack of
Education--Berquin-Duvallon's Disgust--The Murder of
Babes--General Conclusions.
CHAPTER VI
--COLONIAL WOMAN AND MARRIAGE
I. New England Weddings--Lack of Ceremony and
Merrymaking--Freedom of Choice for Women--The Parents'
Permission--Evidence from Sewall--Penalty for Toying with the
Heart--The Dowry.
II. Judge Sewall's Courtships--Independence of Colonial
Women--Sewall and Madam Winthrop--His Friends' Urgings--His
Marriage to Mrs. Tilley--Madam Winthrop's Hard-Hearted
Manner--Sewall Looks Elsewhere for a Wife--Success Again.
III. Liberty to Choose--Eliza Pinckney's Letter on the Matter--Betty
Sewall's Rejection of Lovers.
IV. The Banns and the Ceremony--Banns Required in Nearly all
Colonies--Prejudice against the Service of Preachers--Sewall's
Descriptions of Weddings--Sewall's Efforts to Prevent Preachers from
Officiating--Refreshments at Weddings--Increase in Hilarity.
V. Matrimonial Restrictions--Reasons for Them--Frequency of
Bigamy--Monthly Fines--Marriage with Relatives.
VI. Spinsters--Youthful Marriages--Bachelors and Spinsters Viewed
with Suspicion--Fate of Old Maids--Description of a Boston Spinster.
VII. Separation and Divorce--Rarity of Them--Separation in Sewall's

Family--Its Tragedy and Comedy.
VIII. Marriage in Pennsylvania--Approach Toward Laxness--Ben
Franklin's Marriage--Quaker Marriages--Strange Mating among
Moravians--Dutch Marriages.
IX. Marriage in the South--Church Service Required by Public
Sentiment--Merrymaking--Buying Wives--Indented Servants--John
Hammond's Account of Them.
X. Romance in Marriage--Benedict Arnold's Proposal--Hamilton's
Opinion of His "Betty"--The Charming Romance of Agnes Surrage.
XI. Feminine Independence--Treason at the Tongue's
End--Independence of the Schuyler Girls.
XII. Matrimonial Advice--Jane Turell's Advice to Herself.
XIII. Matrimonial Irregularities--Frequency of Them--Cause of Such
Troubles--Winthrop's Records of Cases--Death as a Penalty--Law
against Marriage of Relatives--No Discrimination in Punishment
because of Sex--Sewall's Accounts of Executions--Use of the Scarlet
Letter--Records by Howard--Custom of Bundling--Its Origin--Adultery
between Indented White Women and Negroes--Punishment in
Virginia--Instances of the Social Evil in New England--Less Shame
among Colonial Men.
XIV. Violent Speech and Action--Rebellious Speech against the
Church--Amazonian Wives--Citations from Court
Records--Punishment for Slander.
CHAPTER VII
--COLONIAL WOMAN AND THE INITIATIVE
I. Religious Initiative--Anne Hutchinson's Use of Brains--Bravery of
Quaker Women--Perseverance of Mary Dyer--Martyrdom of Quakers.

II. Commercial Initiative--Dabbling in State Affairs--Women as
Merchants--Mrs. Franklin in Business--Pay for Women
Teachers--Women as Plantation Managers--Example of Eliza
Pinckney--Her Busy Day--Martha Washington as Manager.
III. Woman's Legal Powers--Right to Own and Will Property--John
Todd's Will--A Church Attempts to Cheat a Woman--Astonishing
Career of Margaret Brent--Women Fortify Boston Neck--Tompson's
Satire on it--Feminine Initiative at Nantucket.
IV. Patriotic Initiative and Courage--Evidence from Letters--The
Anxiety of the Women--Women Near the Firing-Line--Mrs. Adams in
Danger--Martha Washington's Valor--Mrs. Pinckney's Optimism--Her
Financial Distress--Entertaining the Enemy--Marion's Escape--Mrs.
Pinckney's Presence of Mind--Abigail Adams' Brave Words--Her
Description of a Battle--Man's Appreciation of Woman's
Bravery--Mercy Warren's Calmness--Catherine Schuyler's Valiant
Deed--How She Treated Burgoyne--Some General Conclusions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

WOMAN'S LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS
CHAPTER I
COLONIAL WOMAN AND RELIGION
_I. The Spirit of Woman_
With what a valiant and unyielding spirit our forefathers met the
unspeakable hardships of the first days of American colonization! We
of these softer and more abundant times can never quite comprehend
what distress, what positive suffering those bold souls of the
seventeenth century endured to establish a new people among the
nations of the world. The very voyage from England to America might

have daunted the bravest of spirits. Note but this glimpse from an
account by Colonel Norwood in his _Voyage to Virginia_: "Women
and children made dismal cries and grievous complaints. The infinite
number of rats that all the voyage had been our plague, we now were
glad to make our prey to feed on; and as they were insnared and taken a
well grown rat was sold for sixteen shillings as a market rate. Nay,
before the voyage did end (as I was credibly informed) a woman great
with child offered twenty shillings for a rat, which the proprietor
refusing, the woman died."
That was an era of restless, adventurous spirits--men and women filled
with the rich and danger-loving blood of the Elizabethan day. We
should recall that every colony of the original thirteen, except Georgia,
was founded in the seventeenth century when the energy of that great
and versatile period of the Virgin Queen had not yet dissipated itself.
The spirit that moved Ben Jonson and Shakespeare to