Omaha daily bee., 1900-01-07
COLONIAL LIFE AND TINES
Manners, Customs and Occupations Q
American Pioneers,
AN OLD THEM: IN NEW HANDS
Notable Paper Prepared by n Pupil
of The Omaha schools for the
Daughters of the Amer
lean Revolution.

Colonial Manners and Customs" is the
formal title Of the following paper. pre-
pared by Miss Violet Patton, a member Of
Eighth A class, Omaha View school. and
was awarded the prize offered by the Daugh.
ters OF the American Revolution for the
best composition on the subject:
In our time we generally think and speak
OF our ancestors, the colonists, as slow and
severe, and ridiculc many Of their ode
thoughts and seemingly useless customs;
yet In our hearts we find much to admire in
the sturdy men and brave women who first
made this beloved country their home. and
who, through their brave efforts, made 1t
free. We always feel interested in anything
pertaining to their modes of living, customs
and occupations.
The occupations of the colonists consisted
chiefly OF agricultural pursuits, although
hunting and fishing were carried on to a
great extent. There were few manufactures,
owing to the tyrannical laws made by the
mother country, prohibiting them.
In New England, agriculture was carried
on to a great extent, but with little profit,
so hunting and fishing helped exc out a
competence. The fishers constructed rude
vessels from the timber in the vast forests,
and sailing along the coast, sometimes as
far as Newfoundland, pursued their voca-
ton Much Of the products thus gained was
bartered to the West Indian traders in re-
turn for things which they, the New Eng
landers, needed.
On their farms they raised wheat, flax.
corn, cattle and sheep. The good wife
spun the flax and wool into threads, and
afterwards wove them into cloth, from
which clothing for the entire family was
made.
In the middle colonies farming and maxi
ing flour were the principal staples of in
dustry. A great deal Of lumber was made
ana a profitable fur trade was established
with the Indians along the frontier. Through
Philadelphia, the middle colonies traded ex-
tensively with Europe and the West Indies.
Only the laws of England prevented the
establishment of manufactures. As it was,
paper and iron were manufactured, regard
less OF the laws prohibiting manufactures
in America.
In the southern colonies, rice and tobacco
were cultivated on large plantations. the
labor being done chiefly by slaves. In
Georgia, the breeding of silkworms was
carried on so prohtably that in one year.
10000 pounds of raw silk was produced. Tar.
pitch and rosin, from the immense pine
forests of Georgia and South Carolina. were
exported to foreign lands.
Colonial slavery.
Negro slaves and bond servants were kent
in every one of the thirteen colonies. In
New England they were kept principally
as house servants; in New York they also
helped TO work the farms; in the south
they did all Of the work, their masters
living like lords.
In Pennsylvania negro labor was not so
great on account OF indentured servants.
These We're composed partly Of criminals,
who had been offered the alternative of
imprisonment and death or bondage. Muir
derers generally served a term of fourteen
years.
Other indentured servants were emigrants
from Ireland and England, who were too
poor to pay their passage to America and
who expressed their willingness to be sold
as bond servants for a certain number OF
years in payment of their passage. II was
customary at the expiration Of the persons
term OF servitude to give him two suits Of
clothing, n gusl, a few tools and perhaps a
hCg or two.
Slavery was never carried on to a great
extent in the north, because slave labor
was Improbable in that section of the
country and sentiment was generally against
1t, but in the south it was carried on to
a great extent. because slave labor was prof
liable and the people considered that slavery
was right.
Travel was made in wagon, canoe, stage
coach, on horseback or on the sloops which
piled between the principal towns that
could be reached by water. The most COM
mon mode of travelling was on horseback
Sometimes n man and wife rode on one
horse, the man sitting in the saddle and
the woman sitting on "A sort of cushion
called a pillion fastened behind the saddle.
A small platform or "A double stirrup, on
which the woman rider might rest her feet,
was hung from one side Of the pillion. In
the winter journeys were made in New York
chiefly by the means of rude sleighs. The
rich ladies living in cities made visits in
sedan chairs.
Oid-Timc Homes.
The dwellings were at first very rude, con-
sisting Of a one or two-roomed house built
from rough logs hewn from the surround
ing forests. The chinks between the logs
were filled with mortar, mud or clay to help
keep out the snow, rain and wind.
The chimney was built on the outside of
the house, sometimes consisting merely of
sticks and branches OF trees well daubed
with mud or mortar, and sometimes Of stones
put together by means OF mortar. At the
base of the chimney and opening into the
room was a huge fireplace, with its huge
crane and shining brass andirons. All of
the cooking was done here, the kettles being
hung on the crane over the fire, A large
brick oven was built in one side Of the fire
place, which, on baking day, was heated
by means of kindlings lighted and placed in
the oven. When the kindlings were burned
the ashes were carefully swept out Of the
oven and the things which required the
most heat were then placed in II; when
that baking was done the others followed
in succession.
On the long winter evenings the family
gathered, mother and daughters spinning or
knitting, the son studying a few precious
books in preparation for college, and the
father smoking, reading the bible or telling
some tale OF adventure.
And for the winter Preside meet,
Between the andirOn's straddling feet,
The mug of cider s.mmered slow,
The apples sputtered in "A row,
And, close at hand, the basket stood
With nuts from brown OOtoher's wood