The record-union., 1897-01-10
A REVOLUTIONARY PICTURE.
Life in Philadelphia in the Latter
DAYS of the Colonies.

A REVOLUTIONARY PICTURE.
Life in Philadelphia in the Latter
Days of the Colonies.
And so passed the years ITO, iii,
and 1T12, when Lord North precipitated
the crisis by attempting to control the
Judges in Massachusetts, who were in
future to be paid by the crown, and
would thus pass under it's control. Ad-
ans now suggested committees of cor
respondence, and thus the first step to-
ward united action was taken.
These years, UP to the autumn of
1It2, We're not without influence on
my own life for good and evil. l was,
OF course, kept sedulously at work at
our business, and, though liking 1T even
less than farriery, learned it well
enough. 1t was not without its pleas
ures. Certainly 1t was an agreeable
thing to know the old merchant Cap
tains, and to talk to their men or them
selves. The sea had not lost it's ro-
nIance. Men could remember Kidd and
Blackboard. In the low-lying dens be-
low Dock Creek and on King street,
were many, it is feared who had seen
well the keys and shoals of the West
Indies. The Captain who put to sea
with such sailors had need to be reso-
lutte and ready. Ships went armed, and
l was amazed to see, in the holds of
our OWN ships, cannonades, which out
on the ocean were hoisted up and set
In place on deck; also cutlasses and
muskets in the cabin, and good store of
pixies ventured once to ask my
father If this were consistent with non-
resistance. He replied that pirates were
like to wild beasts, and that 1 had bet
ter attend to my business; after which
said no more, having food for Thought
These Captains got thus a noble train
ing, were splendid seamen, and not un-
used to arms and danger, as proved
fortunate in days to- come. Once /
would have gone to the Madeiras with
Captain Biddle, but unluckily my
mother prevailed with my father to for
bid it. 1t had been better for me had
it been decided otherwise, because I
was fast getting an education which
did me no good.
Indeed" says Jack In his diary, II
was much troubled in the seventies"
Che means UP to 10, when we were
full 2D about my friend Hugh. The
town was full of officers of all grades,
who came and went, and brought with
them much license and contempt for
colonists in general, and a silly way of
parading their own sentiments ON all
occasions. Gambling, hard drinking,
and all manner of worse things became
common and more openly INDUCED in
~ t.
men walk about unattended, a new and
strange thing in our quiet town.
Mistress Gainor's house was full of
these gentlemen, whom she entertained
with a. freedom equaled only by that
with which she spoke her Whig mind
The air was full of excitement Busi-
ness fell off, and Hugh and l had
ample leisure to do much as we liked.
II declare that deserve no praise for
having escaped the temptations which
beset Hugh. 1 hated all excess and suf-
fered in body if 1 drank or ate more
than was wise. AS to worse things than
wine and cards. think Miss Wynne was
right when she described me as a girl
boy; for the least rudeness or laxity
of talk in women I disliked, and as re-
8
son, have always been like some we'll
nurtured maid.
Thus it was that when Hugh, en-
couraged by his aunt, fell into the COM
pany of the loose. staggering captains
and cornets, I had either to give up
him, who was unable to resist them, or
to share in their vicious ways myself.
1t was my personal disgust at drunk
enness or loose society which saved me-
not any moral or religious safeguards,
although I trust I was not altogether
and then that to be refined in tastes
and feelings is great aid to a virtuous
life Also l have known some who
would have been drunkards but for
their heads and stomachs, which so be-
haved as to be good substitutes for
conscience 1t is sometimes the body
which saves the soul. But of these
helps had, but my dear Hugh had
neither. He was a great, strong, mascu-
line fellow, and if I may seem to have
said that he wanted refined feelings,
that is not so, and to him, who will
never read these lines, and to myself, 1
must apologize"
l did come to see these pages, as you
know / think he meant that, with the
wine of youth, and at times of other
vintages, in my veins. the strong pa
ternal blood, which in my father only
true, if hard, religion kept in order, was
too much for me. If 1 state this awk-
wardly it is because all excuses are
awkward. Looking back, / wonder that
/ was not worse, and that / did not go to
the uttermost devil. 1 was vigorous.
and had the stomach of a temperate OK,
and a head which made no complaints.
The morning after some mad revel
could rise at 5, and go out in my boat
and overheard, and then home in a glow,
with fine appetite for breakfast: and
was so big and tall that l was thought
to be many years older than l was
From Hugh Wynne. Free Quaker by DR..
s. Weir Mitchell, in the Century.