Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-03-15
DRINK AMONG THE PuRITANs
a Melancholy Record of incompetence la
Early New England.


Early New England.
Some months 20 Charles Franci
Adams prepared and delivered an ad
dress at a notable anniversary cele
bration in the town of Weymouth, il
Massachusetts. The address was de
voted largely to a sketch of Puritan
history. morals and manner two cen
turtles ago, and showing how New
England of the seventeenth century
had been shaded off into the New Eng
land of the nineteenth century. More
recently Mr.. Adams has revised ano
enlarged his address and published il
in book form, with the title, "Three
Episodes Of Massachusetts History
The episode relating TO the consump-
ton of Intoxicating beverages by the
peculiar Puritan generation is of supe-
rior interest.
Mr.. Adams presents to US a melan'
choly record. He says that the intern
perance Of New England in the colo
NAL period ''was a thing now difficult
to realize" According to official ac-
counts of the times. records of crimi-
nal arrests and pauperism and other
sources of information, he concludes
that drunkenness ''pervaded all
classes, from the clergy to the inmates
Of the poorhouses." These Puritans
had beerl Its price was regulated 10y
law. II was brewed from barley
malt Beer sold at three pence u
quart must carry SIX barrels of malt
To a hogshead of beer. A chemical ex.
x...e =, .Aa - aY roAIaro 1vafa.
should be invited to explain the pro
portion of alcohol in a quart of such a
liquid as compared with that which
turks beneath the amber foam on the
mantling edge of the crystal vessels
from which this generation imbibes Its
lager. Beer sold at two pence a quart
must carry four bushels of malt TO the
hogshead Beer sold for a penny .
quart must have the alcoholic force
which could be impregnated by two
bushels of malt to the hogshead. Pur-
itanism was thrifty in establishing
the lawful proportions which alcohol
should constitute as regards the bulk
in pints and quarts of its favorite bev.
erage.
Cider cost more than beer before the
first apple orchards had matured in
New England. In fact, the greater
part of New England territory was a
degree o r two farther north than the
native latitude of this imperial fruit.
Mr.. Adams gives II a statement on this
subject which may be of interest to
theorists in matters of finance at this
money crisis. In i72S, when an ounce OF
silver was equivalent to one dollar and
twenty cents in gold or two dollars
and twenty-five cents in paper cur,
rency, a barrel of cider was worth one
dollar and forty cents in currency. II
cost less than a barrel of maize or of
carrots. The cider was consumed in
large quantities, and when it became
old and strong had as powerful intoxi-
cant properties as sherry-almost as
strong as those of whisky. The hard
cider was the f~avorite agent of de.
bauch with the typical Massachusetts
Puritan.
But rum became the ~favorite bever-
age. The love of it was stimulated by
the appetite which fondness for beer
and cider had created. In a sermon
dClANCAC0 III Abous lntlCdot audtlltI Dtr /
walled the terrible fact hat lin later
years a kind of strong drink called rum
has been common among us which the
poorer sort of people. both in town and
country, can make themselves drunk
with. They that are poor and wicked.
too, car for a penny OF two pence
make themselves drunk" He added:
81 wish TO the Lord some remedy may
be thought Of for the prevention of
this evil"
The melancholy fact is stated by
John Adams in a letter written in 1856
several towns within his knowl.
had eight public houses each,
besides one in the center meaning,
probably. the crossroads tavern at the
junction of town lines. In every store
West Indian goods were sold
Jamaica rum came in as a part of the
stock in trade and disp aced New Eng
land rum. Then gin and brandy were
sold by the gallon, by the bottle or
glass" The purchasers could car
~ the stuff away or drink it on the
premises. A paragraph in this book.
speaking Of sales of liquors. says:
1t was a regular recognized branch Of trade,
ani when, during the revolution, Mrs Adams
sent alist Of current prices 10 her husband. she
included rum, looking upon Il as no les
4 farm staple than meat. corn or molasSes
Three shiliings a gallon. or nine pence a quart
a high price, and John Adams wrote back
10 her from Philadelphia Whisky Is used
instead Of rum. and / don't see but what Il
: just as good
The John Adams who expressed this
was the great-grandfather Of
he author of this book. All the mod
I'm Adamses whose careers are syn
,hronous with modern ultra temper
reform and with the prohibitions
must look back with horror
- the times when the comparative
.ost Of WHISKY and rum became an i'm
,ortant matter in the management Of
! Puritan New England home. But