The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-02-02
DRINK AMONG THE PURlTANs

DRINK AMONG I7E PORI ANS.
A Melancholy Record of Intemperance In
Early New England.
Some months ago Charles Francis
Adams prepared and delivered an adj
dress at a notable anniversary cele-
bration in the town of Weymouth, in
Massachusetts. The address was de-
voted largely to sketch of Puritan
history, morals and manners 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 and
enlarged his address and published 1t
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 twas 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 beer! Its price was regulated by
law. 1t was brewed from barley
malt Beer sold at three pence a
quart must carry six barrels of malt
to hogshead of beer. A chemical ex-
pert in one of our modern breweries
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 it's
lager. Beer sold at two pence quart
must carry four bushels of malt to the
hogshead. Beer sold for a penny a
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 or two farther north than the
native latitude of this imperial fruit
Mr.. Adams gives us statement on this
subject which may be of interest to
theorists in matters of finance at this
money crisis. In 1928, 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, barrel of cider was worth one
dollar and forty cents in currency. 1t
cost less than 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 favorite 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 sermon
delivered in 1856 Increase Mather be-
walled the terrible fact that Sin later
years 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, can for penny or 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 letter written in 1850
that several towns within his knowl-
edge had eight public houses each,
besides one in the CENTER" meaning,
probably, the crossroads tavern at the
junction of town lines. In every store
where West Indian goods were sold
Jamaica RUN came in as II part of the
stock in trade and dispi aced New Eng
land rum Then gin and brandy were
sold "by the gallon, by the bottle or
the glass" The purchasers could car
ny 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,
and when, during the revolution, Mrs. Adams
sent list OF current prices to her husband she
always included rum, looking upon 1t as no less
farm staple than meat, corn or molasses.
Three shillings gallon. or nine pence quart,
was a high price, and John Adams wrote back
70 her from Philadelphia: Whisky is used
here instead OF rum, and don't see but what il
is just as good"
The John Adams who expressed this
opinion was the great-grandfather OF
the author of this book. All the mod
ern Adamses whose careers are syn
chronous with modern ultra temper
ance reform and with the prohibition
movement must look back with horror
TO the times when the comparative
cost of whisky and rum became an inn
portant matter in the management of
a Puritan New England home. But
the Yankee thrift was always upper
most. Chicago Herald