New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-11-17
Japon! Heureux viellard, qui Wit tomber Ninive
ct Babylone, ct quon regarde CONNIE un nou-
veau-ne"
IN IA VERN TINES.
MORE COLONIAL CHAPTERS AND ILLUS
TRATIONS.
STAGE COACH AND TAVERN DAYS. BY Alice
Morse Earle. illustrated octave. PIP. xvi. ii9
The Macmillan Company

The subject with which Mrs. Earle deals in
her latest book is one, at first sight, Of limited
scope; but she has made 1t yield abundant and
interesting matter. 1t has clearly involved long
and minute investigation, but she has the fac
ulty Of escaping duness. Not the least valuable
items in her book are the pictures with which
il is lavishly provided-admirable reproductions,
most of them, of old taverns. tavern signs and
bills, stage coaches and number Of copies OF
the paintings OF Mr.. Henry. VINO has made the
stage coach days of the United States a special
study.
The first tavern was "ordinary-a fine old
English name that passed out OF use with the
close Of the seventeenth century in favor Of
public house and tavern" The universal
INN" of English speech never became familiar
here The necessity of public houses was so
keenly recognized that in Massachusetts each
town required by law to open one, and was
fined for neglecting to do So The result was
sometimes embarrassing. While inducements
offered to prospective landlords. the re-
strictions were often such to interfere seri-
ously with their profits. Suspicious strangers
to be warned off; the price of beer and its
quality were constantly being regulated by law:
as late as 1929 the selectmen OF Salem, n. j., en-
acted legal prices for rum, wine. beer and mixed
drinks-charges for the last named varying as
the sugar was double" single" refined or
"Muscovado." Sometimes even the prices of
yard" were frowncd upon, and not only card
ing and dcing, but even the innocuous bowls,
shufieboards and quoits were sometimes for
hidden. The landlords trade was also, of course,
limited by the efforts made to prevent drunken
ness There must be no tipping after 8 o'clock
at night: read in the license of one Sea-
bury. of Duxbury, selling was to be only TO
such sober minded neighbours as hee shall
thinke meet: soc as bee sell not Jesse than the
Of I-rrlaf 10 md
not in small quantities by retaie to the location
ing of drunkenesse" Both the "victualler" and
the party that takes IT, were at one time to be
fined in Massachusetts, for the use of tobacco in
taverns, or anywhere ''publtcquely. This latter
ordinance had a long lease of life, and Mr..
Drake, writing in 1886. knew men then living
who had been tried in Boston for smoking in
the streets.
1t is strange in these days to read that there
a time when the tavern was required to be
"neare the meeting house" instead of distant
from it. as present laws provide. The reason
for 1t was an eminently practical one; in winter
Gladly and eagerly did all troop from the
meeting house to the cheerful tavern to thaw out
before the afternoon service, and to warm up be-
fore the ride walk home in the late afternoon
II a scandal in many town that cody
church members partook too freely of tavern
taproom of the tavern and the green trees in
its dooryard offered pleasant shade to tired
churchgoers.
The matter Of drink comes before food in any
we'll ordered discussion of tavern days. and Mrs.
Earle has made entertaining chapter on the
subject. 1t doomed large in the Colonial epoch.
Rum the characteristic American beverage Of
the time. is the chief factor in it"kill devil, IT
was called in New England and "brandywine'
by the Dutch in New-York. Mixtures COM
pounded Of it were frequent; "blackstrap.'
which Josiah Quincy abhorred so heartily was
one of the commonest 1t was mixture of rum
and molasses, and a cask of ii stood in every
country store. The list. the whole, is not at
tractive to modern palates. "Calbogus," I'M
sweetened rum and beer; "mimbo," rum and loaf
sugar were popular "Metheglin," one Of the
most ancient beverages enjoyed by the human
race was made of fermented honey herbs and
water In the early years barley did not do
well, and the first attempts at beer making soon
gave place to the universal cider which became
so cheap and plentiful that all could have their
fill. Perhaps this change in drinking habits as
Mrs. Earle thinks. indirectly due to the
New England climate. cider seeming more fitted
to the sharp New England air than ale. Mulled
cider was given TO infants in arms, and old men
began the day with a quart more Of hard
cider before breakfast-among them President
John Adams. for all his caustic inveghng
against the rum and cider drinking of our
people" Flip was dearly beloved drink. typi-
cally Anerican-the English flip is scornfuy
dismissed by Mrs. Earle unworthy Of the
name. Its manufacture a picturesque
process.
II was made in a great pewter mug or earthen
pitcher. filled two-thirds full of strong beer,
sweetened with sugar. molasses or dried pump
kim according to individual taste or capabilities;
and favored with "a dash"-about a gil-of
thrust and stirred a redhot loggerhead, made of
iron and shaped like poker and the seething
iron made the liquor foam and bubble and
mantle high, and gave II the burnt, bitter taste
SO dearly beloved
The loggerhead and the flip glass were seen
in every house. The former las much a
part of the chimney furniture of oldtime
New England tavern and farmhouse the bel
lows or androns. In all taverns and in many
hospitable homes it was constantly kept warm
in the ashes ready for speedy heating in bed
of hot Goals" Punch is almost the only Of
| these old beverages that keeps its place and the
science of punch making was highly developed
one. Some of it's fragments cherished tradI-
lions OF to-day in certain odtime resorts, but the
finer points lost.
The heyday Of the tavern was at the height OF
the coaching days. which reached their climax
just the railroad introduced to wipe
them out OF existence. Coaching in America
reached advanced development. One reason for
| this-or perhaps result OF twas the excel
lent roads. Many will be surprised to learn
| from Mrs. Earle how many good roads there
were. They led to the introduction Of pleasure
| driving custom purely American in its origin,
| that noted with approval by both the
French and English officers serving here in
Revolutionary times and carried back by them
| to their respective countries The system of
| Macadam who went to England from America
| in 1873. had been in use in Pennsylvania long
| before macadamized roads were introduced into
| England. and the famous road maker doubtless
| simply followed methods he had observed here
In 1918 all the coaching lines in Eastern New