The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-01-15
THE GOOD OLD DAYS.
The Extravagent sprees of Our Celebre-
ted Forefathers.

ted Forefathers.
The following is from an address by
James Parton before the New York His
has seen fit for many years to hold feasts,
especially in June, when the festive
strawberry gladdens the heart of man.
He had asked, why this collation. every
month"; What connection between
sandwiches and history But a vener-
able member had rebuked him, saying
gravely: "Let no man speak disrespect-
| fully of sandwiches here, for sandwiches
built this house" One of the first acts
of the Puritans in 1920 was to abolish
that most time -honored and beloved
| feast, Christmas. Some of them made
the observance of the day matter of
conscience, and the governor had spared
| them "till they should be better in
formed;" but he had forbidden public
games on that day. But in truth the
| Puritans never succeeded in abolishing
Christmas, although they no longer OBJ
served it openly, according to the old
chronicles. They had simply changed
| the date on which it had been observed
| for 5000 years, and observed it after the
| old fashion-on the last Thursday of
| November.
The Puritans had little to make merry
with. For years they had nothing to
drink but water; and often the only
Wand was lobster, with nothing to
make a salad of. Then it was that the
clam made its appearance in history.
But often, when the pilgrims had made
ready feast of ground-nuts and clans,
the Indians would come and eat it. To
put stop to these breaches of etiquette
the pilgrims hanged a man, not an In
dian-that would not have been strange
or original-but they hanged one Of
their own number for stealing from an
Indian. In this tragic way the clam ap-
peared in history. In this proud and
naughty town the vender of the clam,
and even the horse who draws his load,
are often mentioned in tones of dispar-
agement; hut it is far otherwise inNew
England. where they have grand an
nual Episcopal clam-bakes."
When America began to export furs
and tobacco and Goldfish, the people OF
the country lived eXtravagantly. Bring
ing molasses from the West Indies, they
soon learned TO make rum of it, and rum
became circulating medium; but rum
and tobacco soon vitiated the feasts OF
our iorefathers. Even at the meetings
of the clergy the room was often dark
with smoke of tobacco and the steam OF
hot rum. If anyone supposed that In
colonial times the peonle were more
austerely virtuous than they are now,
let him examine the records of the soci
, ETY., and he would soon find the magni-
tudc of his error. John Adams
who began the temperance move,
! ment in this G untry, records
, that the price of rum was in
those times shilling a gallon, though
, sometimes it was raised to u pistareen,
| 4,,11 In &,
l dozen rum taverns, which were alarm
ingly injurious to the people. Othel
records show similar facts. Frsm read
ing Franklin's memoirs, the lecturer, il
common with Others, had thought thai
2 sage temperance man. But the saga
/ cious Franklin, who knew well what tt
? tell, omitted to state that after he be
. came prosperous gentleman he was M
, longer teetotaller.
: The absurd and barbarous habit ol
: drinking healths was observed in all it
, rigor, but even this was to be preferred
I to the slangy habits of modern times
2 Later tea and coffee came into fashion
though chocolate had preceded thes
dainties in the popular favor, and tlr
chocolate was commonly boiled will
sausages and the whole mess eaten witt
q spoon. The coffee in olden times wa
. probably very bad, and even as late a
I John Randolph's time there was groun,
: for his immoral remark: "Waiter,
, this is tea, bring me coffee; il this i
coffee, bring me .ea."
In the time of the revolution, Will
u the army was starving at Valley Forge
!; the people in the great cities were liv
i ing in luxury and extravaganza; an
J later, when the commerce of the countr
= was pour ng in wealth, the style of liy
5 ing was incredibly luxurious. The con
! sequences of this extravaganza were 81
u rious. For one thing it broke up Pres
), ident Washington's cabinet. Dinner
Z did it. The salaries of the secretarie
!. were all insufficient to keep up the styl
: of living that was thought necessary.