River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1873-03-07
INCIDENTS OF EARLY NEW ENG.
LAND LIFE.
II "SECTION" FROM h. MORSES
LEGTURE

was made profession, and it was fol-
lowed by many active young men, who
roamed abroad with the utmost indiffer-
enco to education and public opinion.
OF these, however, were many bold and
noble spirits, such, for instance. as
Stark and Putnum, Allen aud Baker,
and Captain Underhill.
Domestic rules and regulations,
among the puritans, were very rigid,
and family hogging was as regularly OBJ
served as family worship. A good sup
ply Of large birch or beechen rods was
always kept on hand, as their daily use
vas deemed Indispensable, and they
we're applied without saint, measure, or
mercy. This course Of treatment, how
evs7, had its legitimate efFecs, and pro-
duced ia inevitable consequences, and,
it not unfrequently happened that the
venerable father, 10 after life, vas sub.
iccted to the same ordeal, and that, too,
sometimes when has head had been
whitened by the frost of many winters
need not moralize upon this, but
would barely remark that experience
has long since shown us that the rod
should be the very last resort to sustain
family or school government. The rod
is not so much relic of barbarism, as
Of puritanism.
In those old fashioned times, people
were never called old till they had
lived, at least, one half century, and
seldom till they had passed the third
quarter. The same custom prevails
there to this day But here in this
western country, we hear the appella-
ton of "old folks" given to many who
have scarcely passed the middle age Of
man, and that, too, perhaps, where their
own fathers and mothers arc still living
In those puritan days, wagons and
other wheeled carriages were scarcely
known, and the usual way of travelling,
was on foot, or on horse back. and it
was no uncommon sight to see two or
three persons mounted upon one horse
1t is related of John Dunton, an English
traveller, that when he went out from
Boston to visit the Indians, he carried
Madame Brick, the belle of the CITY.
behind him on his horse, who, as John
facetiously describes it, proved but
beautiful sort Of luggage"
Among other peeuliarities we fnd,
by referring to the early history Of New
England, that tobacco and rum were
freely used among the early settlers,
and produced their usual effects. 70 is
related, that, as early as 1852, boat
load of stores was blown up by a man
who was lighting his pipe, and some in
the boat were so drunk that they did
not wake, until they awoke in eternity.
The necessity for some legislative
enactments TO restrain, or restrict in
temperance, aud prevent tipping and
gambling, was early felt, and some Of
their earliest laws provided that no
man should be allowed more than
half piat Of wine at any one time, and
that no man should be allowed to tipple
over one hour, or after nine o'clock at
night, But the practice Of regular,
aud irregular drinking, by both men
and women, prevailed in New England
down even to the present century 1t
was customary tor all TO drink the
high, the low-the rich, the poor-thc
Judge, the lawyer, and the client--the
parsou, the deacon, and the layman.
Strange as it may now seem to US, it is
nevertheless true, that the pious clergy.
men Of those puritan days, actually
polluted their lips with the Intoxicating
cup, even on the holy Sabbath morn.
ing, before entering the sacred desk;
aud it was remarked by a Boston News
paper reporter, that certain divine
who was highly charged with good old
Coynac, on one Independence Day"