The Union and eastern journal. [volume] (Biddeford [Me.]) 1854-1858, 1856-04-11
VOLUME xII.-NUMBER Is.

a Citizens Of London after the Grca. Fire Of
5 1906" just published.
Q Tho first act after Sunday dinner was TO
take of the Sunday clothes. Each one docs
' this; and then the mother assemblies her
: children around her, cach scatci ON his
Q block; and she hears them repeat the Cate
/ chism, and then cndeayors 10 impress their
5 minds with the truths which the sermons Of
, the day have set forth. During this last
exercise, the youngest daughter has fallen
asleep, the youngest boy has tried to catch
!, flies, and the rest Of her audience have paid
some heed. II il now time 70 close the re-
ligious exercises Of the Sabbath by reading
the Sacred Scriptures and joining in family
prayer. This service has the truth and fer
yor Of humble woshipcrs. Picty aud lovo
are laid on the altar and the concluding
Amen testilcs to Sabbath spent in fear Of
God and the love Of mar. The father and
sons now repair to the barn, and the milk
ing is soon finished. by this time the sun
has set and, as if conscience had set with
it, any secular pursuit now seems half al
lowablc. The wood for to-morrow's wash
ing is carried in; the great kettle is filed
with water; the kindlings are put in the
corner and everything is ready for the
earliest start. The mother and daughters,
who have not dared to wash the breakfast or
dinner things while the sun was up, now
begin that operation; and then got all the
clothes together which must be washed, and
put them in soak. The great kettle is now
hung on; and it almost seems as II Monday
morning had arrived.
The eldest son knows it has not, and
knows there is Sunday evening yet to
como and, full Of silent thoughts and ten.
der emotions, he slips out, in full dress, ut
seven o'clock, to "drop in" accidentally at
neighbor AS, whose blooming daughter Of
seventeen he likes to look at. II he can get
her to 60 and help him sing at Mr.. BIS for
an hour with some of the Sunday choir,
why then what? Any visiting on Sunday
evening except for courting or practising
singing by the choir, being positively for
biddcn, it somehow always happened that
their choir would meet on Sunday evening;
AM there was sure to be a remarkably full
attendance, Thus the ..singing school,"
was the Newport and Saratoga of Mcdiord.
Recreation Of some sort every human being
must have, IL ho would thrive. llc claims
it as natures law. Our Puritan fathers
needed recreation to lubricate the joints Of
life. While they have been singing at Mr..
BIS, the log-hut on the banks Of the Mystic
has not been without its music. Tho pa
rents have led, and the children followed,
in some of the good old psalm.tunes which
have come down from former generations.
At half.past eight o'clock the candle is put
out and the day Of worship and rest has
ended to the farmers family-cxcept to the
eldest son, who, at half past nine, opens
that door which is never fastened, and quiet.
ly steals to bed without disturbing the
slecpcrs. Ills mother heard him, but did
not speak.
We are sure this is but rough sketch of
the manners and life of the carly settlers in
AIodford but we hope it may suffice to
show those salient traits in industry and
economy, of truthfulncS and devotion, for
which they are SO clearly distinguished
We must look through their eyes to see them
Alright. They were content il they could
gain comfortable subsistence, and have the
opportunity of worshipping God according
to the dictates Of their consciences. Their
condition, their dwellings, their dress, their
facilities their rclationships-how different
from ours Deputy Governor Dudley,
March 10, 1851, writes thus: Having
yet no table, nor other room TO write in
than by the frcsidc, upon my knee, in this
sharp winter" ect. If the deputy-govcrnor
had no moro accommodations than these
what must have been the deprivations Of tho
rest Of the people? For many Of our mod
crn supcrilutics they had no names in their
vocabulary. So late as our day, we have
sccn aged persons who have assured us that
they never tasted tea or coffee until they
were over twenty-one years ofagc. In 1866,
tea in England, was sixty-shillings sterling
q pound, and was not much used in Amcri-
ca, till 1850. 1t was nearly the same with
coffee. Any cooking which required sugar
was too expensive for our early ancestors;
and the Sunday suit Of clothes went through
q whole life.
The roodl music they had the volunteer
solo from the cradle; for insirmnidi, they
had the sputter Of the churn, tho scaping
of the wool cards, the whir Of the spinning
wheel, and the jerk rattle of the weaving
loom. Their sofa was the "scttlc," and
their spring scat was the soft side Of an oak
en- plank; their carpets were clean whito
sand; their ceilings rough boards and raft
ers; and their parlors was a, once kitchen,
bed room and hall. We have seen what
their clothing was and II was the product
of their own looms and knitting.nccdles.-
The men were not encountered with suspend
ers, or dickies, or umbrellas (; nor were the
women signing after diamonds, opcn-glasscs
or Cologne water. How expensive, ycTa-
tious, and useless would have been long
female dresses bedmggled every moment in
the grass! Fashion, which is the labor Of
little minds, and not the repose ofgreat ones,
had no, become the fckle tyrant we now $50
sit. They aim ut health; and the children
who were born weak and feeble could not
be kept alive, as they are by modern skill;
hence the ROBUSTNESS Of those who survived.