The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-08-05
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
DRINKS OF THE coLoNIsTs.
How the Puritan Magistrates Punished
Drunkards.

Drunkards.
The English settlers who peopled
our colonies were beer-drinking and
ale-drinking people, and none of the
hardships which they had to endure in
the first bitter years of their new life
caused them more annoyance than the
deprivation of their malt liquors. But
as the Puritans grew richer, the first
luxury to be brought to the new coun-
try was beer, and they soon imported
malt and established breweries, and
also made laws governing the manu-
facture of ale and beer, for the pious
colonists quickly learned to cheat in
their brewing. Malt liquors had be-
come SO plentiful in 1878 that Cotton
Mather said that every other house in
Boston was an ale-house, and Gov.
Pownall made the same assertion a
century later. Virginia was also plen-
tifully supplied with malt liquors, the
poorer sort made of molasses and bran,
of Indian corn matted by drying in .
stove, of persimmons baked with pota-
toes, of cornstalks cut small and
bruised, of pompions Jerusalem arti-
chokes, etc. Other mild drinks were
made and owned by every family in
large quantities. Metheglin, from
honey, yeast and water, was made by
the barrel. A sort much esteemed in
Virginia was brewed from the bean of
the honey locus. Perry was made
from pears and drink called mobby
from peaches, and, above all, cider
from apples.
Unfortunately this large catalogue
Of simple drinks did not long content
our forefathers. Cider was distilled
into a fiery liquor called pupello, or
cider brandy. A fiercer spirit still was
made from peaches, and when peaches
were not obtainable they made brandy
from cherries, plums, crabapples and
grapes Cargoes of molasses were
turned into New England rum. or
"kill-devil." as it was everywhere
called. This was sold in vast quanti-
ties and very cheap. The Irish and
Scotch settlers knew how to make
whiskey from rye and wheat. and they
soon learned to manufacture il from
barley and potatoes and from Indian
corn. So universal was the desire for
these fiery liquors that it is said that in
some parts of the country there was
still in every house. Not satisfied with
home manufactures, the thirsty colo
nists imported strong drink in large
quantities. The Dutch settlers sent for
their beloved gin and aniseseed cordial.
and many wines came from Spain, Por-
tugal and the Canaries. OF these the
strong Madeira was the favorite with
fashionable people, and all wines were
strengthened by liberal doses Of brandy.
Even the children drank strong drinks
in those times. In chapter of advice
upon the rearing of children, found in
an old almanac, we read that very
young children must not drink cold
drinks, but must have their beer
heated. and must eat piece of brown
bread before drinking beer or wine. -
Cohbett, who thought drinking a ma
tonal disease, said that "at all hours of
the day little boys, at or under the age
of twelve years, go into the stores and
tip off their drams"
In Virginia the drinking among the
clergy was notorious. Parton SAYS:
The tales read OF the clergy Of old Virginia
stagFer belief. though il is cleTcymen WHO re-
after dinner to planters house where he
drank much that he had to be tied in his
gig and servant sent 70 lead his horse home
One jolly parson comes down to us. Keeling up
and down the porch OF tavern bawling 10 the
passers-by 10 come and drink with him. = =
One old Clergyman is remembered as stagcer-
ing toward the altar at the time OF communion
shen the rector ordered him back to
Ms seat The monthly dinners Of the clergy
havc not yet passed out OF mind, 10 which men
would ride for thirty or forty miles, and revel
fur into the night
The Puritan magistrates in New Eng
land early made a stand against exces-
sive drinking. In Massachusetts in
1886 drunkards were sub ject to fine
and imprisonment in the stocks: and
sellers were forbidden to furnish the
tipplers with any more liquor. An
habitual drunkard was punished by
having large letter d hung around
his neck. In 1859 the court ordered the
cessation of the practice of health
drinking In Connecticut no man could
drink over half a pint of wine at a
time, or tipple over half an hour, or
drink at all after nine o'clock at night
To some noble temperance worker this
glimpse, looking backward at the
good old times" may show by com
pariHon much cause for congratulation
in the condition of things in these bet
ter present times. -Alice Morse Earle.