History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Part 42

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards
Number of Pages: 776

USA > Delaware > History of Delaware : 1609-1888 > Part 42

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Wealthier people had damask-covered couches instead of settees, and their furniture was of oak or mahogany, but in the same plain, stiff style. They used china cups and saneers, delft-ware from England, and massive silver waiters, bowls and tankards. Plated-ware was unknown. and those who could not afford the " real artiele "were content to use pewter plates and dishes. Not a few ate from wooden trenehers. Lamps were seareely known. Dipped candles in brass candle- stieks gave sufficient light at night. Carpets, in- trodueed in 1750, did not come speedily into general use, as they were expensive artieles, and not very common in English households. They were made to cover the centre of the floor, the chairs and tables not resting on, but around them. Curtains of a richer material, mantel glasses and candelabra made their appearance in the parlor. Low bedsteads, of solid, carved mahogany, found their way to the chamber, although they did not supersede, to any extent, the popular beds long in use. Paper " for the lining of rooms" was advertised by Charles Hargraves in 1745. Paper- hangings and papier-mache work was mannfac- tured in Philadelphia in 1769, and it is likely that between 1750 and 1760 there were a number of houses in Delaware where wall-paper had taken

Among the higher elasses hospitality and good

others. One of her dearest friends was Miss Harriet Chew, who afterwards married Charles feeling reigned. The large mahogany or pine table

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often groaned under the weight of the viands spread out in welcome of some friendly guests. The punch-bowl was a fixture, even in the Quaker's house, and it was not deemed a erime to enjoy a -ocial glass. We may even admit that our old citizens were hard drinkers, which is far from meaning that they were drunkards. They were sensible enough to distinguish use from abuse, and temperance societies were unknown. Entertain- ments were frequently given, at which conviviality sometimes exceeded the bounds.

The amusements of the people were for many years of the simplest and most innocent kind. Riding, swimming and skating afforded pleasant out-door sport. Before the Revolution sueh barba- rous amusements as cock fighting, bull-baiting, boxing-matches and bear-baiting were frequently indulged in, especially eoek-fighting, in which men of the highest respectability found pleasure. Bil- liards was a game much in vogue, though frequently denouneed as gambling. Bowls, ten-pins, quoit- throwing, bullets or "long bowls," the shuffle- board, with its heavy weights to be shoved or " shuffled " with a strong hand, guided by a cunning eye, were games which attracted crowds of visitors to the inns and public gardens. Among the other entertainments were concerts, fire-works, dancing and traveling shows. Dancing was freely indulged in, although not countenanced by the Friends. Dancing-tuasters visited Wilmington and the larger towns occasionally, giving the gay people an oppor- tunity to learn the latest fashionable dance. Much attention was also paid to music, principally of a sacred character. The polished society of those days had no visiting or blank eards. Invitations to a ball or party were printed or written on the baeks of playing cards. The most elaborate invi- tation was that gotten up for Lord Howe's Meschi- anza fête, at Philadelphia, May 18, 1778. They Were engraved, the design being, " in a shield, a view of the sea, with the setting sun, and on a wreath the words ' Luceo discedens, aucto splendore resurgam.' At the top was the general's erest, with 'vive, vale!' All around the shield ran a vignette, and various military trophies filled up the ground."

Iu the early part of the century some very odd performances could be seen on the streets in Wil- mington on Christmas-eve and during Christmas week. Parties of " mummers" went round from house to house, reciting rhymes explanatory of their fantastical disguises, and demanding " dole." The custom, which came from England, prevailed in the early part of the present century, as is remembered by the old inhabitants. These "mummeries," however, did not find favor with all the people. In fact, Christmas itself was not generally observed The Quakers did not ineline to the commemoration of holidays, nor did the more rigid of the Protest.

ant seets, especially the Presbyterians. To the Episcopalians, the Catholics and the Germans of the Reformed or Lutheran Churches it was a day for family reunions and social gatherings as well as religions festival. The Germans introduced the Christmas-tree, with toys, trinkets, figures of angels and numerous little lighted tapers,-a pretty custom with which many American families have since become familiar.

For some years after the Revolution, in fact as late as the War of 1>12, the old English festival of May-day was kept by certain classes of people. Although spring flowers are not suggestive of fish, May-day was the special holiday of the fish huck- sters and shad fishermen. They met in the inns and taverns, where they indulged in mueh jollifiea- tion and daneing, while Maying parties, composed

MRS. CHARLES CARROLL, JR. (HARRIET CHEW ).

principally of young men and young women, left the borough in the early morning to spend the day in the fields and woods. May-poles were erected in front of the taverns, around which there was mueh dancing.

Two other anniversaries, dear to every American heart, were celebrated with fitting enthusiasm in the early days of the Republic,-Washington's Birthday and the Fourth of July; but these are gradually and quietly sinking into oblivion.

In olden times, such a thing as the modern hotel, like the Clayton House in Wilmington, with its fashionably dressed and all-important clerk, its large smoking-room, carpeted parlors, gilt mould- ings and other luxurious appointments. was un- known. The modest inn accommodated " man and

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beast," and the jolly landlord welcomed the they were but taverns in an aristocratie di- wearied traveler-and flerced him, too, when the guise. occasion offered-and an active, bright-erel bar- maid waited on him, and provided those simple comforts-a pipe, a pair of slippers a glass of hot punch or a tankard of foaming ale and a cosy corner near the tap room fire. If the cloth way coarse, it was generally white and clean, at least in respectable establishments. and the plain deal tahle groaned under the weight of viands which, if they presented no great variety, were well cooked and wholesome Our fathers were great eaters and stout drinkers, and there was no need of a French menu and wines with high -sounding names to whet their appetites ; roast beef, a leg of mutton ham and cabbage, a fat fowl, were the solid dishes laid before them ; ale, port or madeira wine, and a glass of Jamaica rum and hot water to

CREAM POT PRESENTED TO HENRY HILL BY BEN- JAMIN FRANKLIN. Motto-" Keep Bright the Chain."

top off, left them in a pretty good condition to find sleep on the clean bed,-sometimes a hard one,- prepared for them in the small room, whose bare floors, whitewashed walls, and plain cotton curtains did not invite dreams of palatial splendors.

The tavern, though it accommodated guests with bed and board, had more of the character of a drinking-house. The inn was rural in its origin ; the tavern originated in the city, and was fre- quented not merely by topers and revelers, but by quiet citizens, bachelors having no fire-ide of their own, and men of family who went there to meet neighbors and diseus business or the news, while enjoying a quiet glass and pipe. The ordinary was an eating-house, something between the restau- rant and the boarding-house of our day. The coffec-houses, so called, which dispensed intoxica- ting drinks as well as the fragrant decoction of the Arabian bean, made their appearance later ;

The names and Sgures of certain animals wer .. to be found on mary signs. They seemed to ha :. been specially adopted by inn-keepers in Amer . as well as in England. The " white horse " ar. the " black horse. " " black " and " white bears " lionz. red, white, and bine ; bulls and bull'. heads were very common. But there were other subjects ct a more local or national interest, and . still greater number presenting quaint devices, th. whitsical creations of the sign-painter, and gen r. ally secompanied by some suggestive dogger! rhymes. The sign-painter of olden time was often an artist of no small merit.

Stores in Wilmington were quite numerous, andl the goods offered for sale in great variety. Th ... old European practice of over-hanging signs, bear- ing some device symbolic of the owner's trade, or often some fanciful name having not the slightest connection with it, always prevailed in the colo- Lies.

The shade-trees that embellished the principal streets of Wilmington in those days were the but- tonwood and the willow. The Lombardy poplar was introduced from Europe in 1786-87, by Wm. Hamilton. While the grounds of some of the largest mansions in Delaware could boast of rare flowers and shrubbery, the gardens in Wilmington --- almost every house had its garden -- were bright only with the simple, old-time favorites so ne- glected in these days of horticultural wonders, -- the lilac, the rose, the snow-ball, the lily, the pink and tulip ; above which the solemn sunflower and rank hollyhock lifted their tall heads. Morn- ing-glories and gourd-vines climbed over the porch or shaded the summer arbor. Every house, gen- erally, had its well. Public pumps were not nu- merous for some years. There were no public clocks to be consulted on the streets, but sun-dials were affixed to the walls of many houses for general convenience, as few people carried watche- then. They were generally of silver, of very large size, and were worn outside. A French fashion, which prevailed only among a few, was the wear- ing of two watches, one on each side, with a steel or silver chain, from which dangled a bunch of watch-keys, seals and bright-colored tropical seeds set like precious stones. Jewelry, of which the ladies made a brilliant display, was but little worn by men.

Very few Delawareans kept a carriage in the olden time, and even hired vehicles were scarce ; traveling was done principally on horseback. Watson says in those days " merchants and pra- fessional gentlemen were quite content to keep a one-horse chair. There had none of the present trappings of silver-plate, nor were the chair-bodi - varnished ; plain paint alone adorned them, and

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

177

brass rings and buckles were all the ornaments admiration, and their apparent fickleness of taste found on the harness; the chairs were withont -prings or leather bands, such as could now (1842) be made for fifty dollars." The carriage used by Gen. Washington while President, which had been imported for Governor Richard Penn and which passed through Wilmington several times, was the most splendid ever seen in Delaware. It was very large and heavy, and was drawn by four horses. It was of cream-color, with much more of gilded carvings in the frame than is since used. Its strongest attractions were the relief ornaments on the panels, they being painted with medallion pictures of playing cupids, or naked children.

Owing to the want of good roads, the travel in Delaware in the early days was exceedingly diffi- cult. In going to church or to fairs, the custom was, as it existed in Europe at that time, for man and woman to ride the same horse, the woman sitting on a pillion behind the man. It was a long time before chaises or any kind of pleasure vehicles came into u.e. The wagons, made to carry heavy loads of produce and merchandise, were great, cum- bersome things with enormous wheels, which went ereaking along at such a pace as preelnded all thoughts of an enjoyable ride. The dress of the early Delawareans was necessarily simple, made of strong and coarse material that could resist the hard usage to which it was put. Men could not hew trees, build houses and drive the plough in velvet eoats and satin breeches, nor could their wives and daughters bake and scrub and sweep with their hair " frizzled, crisped and tortured into wreaths and borders, and underpropped with forks, wires, ete.," and flonneed and furbelowed gowns. Coarse eloth and deer skins for the men, linseys and worsteds for the women, were of every-day use; the " Sunday-go-to-meeting" clothes were carefully preserved in the huge chest of drawers that contained the family apparel. There was little dif- ference between the dress of the Quakers and that of the remainder of the people. The former's adop- tion at a later date of a more formal costume of sober color was an effort to resist the extravagances of fashion, which had penetrated into the far- distant colony, making its belles and beaux a dis- torted counterfeit of the beruffled and gilded conr- tiers of Queen Anne's or George I.'s times.

But fashion is a mighty ruler, against which it is useless to rebel. The greatest men-thinkers, ports, philosophers and soldiers-have bowed to her deprees, and made themselves appear ridiculous to please " Monsieur Tout le Monde," as the French- man said. As for the ladies, whom they wish to please is a mystery, for have they not from the "He-t time to the present day often accepted the most unbecoming style of dress and coiffures, de- -pite the protests of their male admirers? They toust have a more landable object than exciting

conceals. perhaps, a charitable desire to com- fort sneh of their sisters to whom nature has not vouchsafed perfect symmetery of form or feature. A woman of high rank has very large feet, and to conceal them, she wears a long dress ; immedi- ately the prettiest little feet hide themselves ; a lady of the British court had one of her beautiful shoulders disfigured by a wart ; she concealed the unpleasant blemish by means of a small patch of black sticking-plaster; soon black patches were seen on every woman's shoulders ; thence they erept to the face, and were seen, cut in most fantastic shapes, on the chin, the cheeks, the forehead ; the tip of the nose was the only place respected. An intanto of Spain had the misfortune of being born with one hip higher than the other ; to conceal this defect, a garment symmetrieally distended by

VIVE

VALE

CEDENS

AUCTO

SPLENDORE RES

DIS

LUCEO

MESCINIANZA TICKET.

wires was invented, and forthwith all the ladies wore hoops. Louis XIV., of France, whose neck was not the straightest, introduced the large wigs with curls descending halt-way down the back and cov- ering the shoulders; then men, as a matter of course, adopted the cumbersome head-gear. The women were loth to conceal their shoulders, so, after a time, they found a means of making quite as extravagant a display of their hair ; they built it up in an immense pyramid, so high, at one time, that a woman's face seemed to be placed in the middle of her body. A lady of diminutive statute, finding that this upper structure was dis- proportionate to her size, had wooden heels, six inches high, adapted to her shoes: all the women learned to walk on their toes, and the tall ones looked like giantess An old magazine pub- lishe- the doleful tale of a gentleman who, having married a well-proportioned lady, discovered, when

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

she appeared in deshabille, that he was wedded to a dwarf. That old rake, the Duke de Riche- lieu,-the fit companion of the di-solute Louis XV.,-having grown gray, was the first to use powder over his hoary locks, and for fifty years all Europe powdered the hair with flour or starch. Even the soldiers had to be in the fash- ion, and some curious economist once made the calculation that, inasmuch as the military forces of England and the colonies were, including cav- alry, infantry, militia and feneibles, two hundred and fifty thousand, and each man used a pound of flour per week, the quantity consumed in this way was six thousand five hundred tons per an-

wrists. Her hair, no longer propped up by w .. and cushions, drops in natural curls upon ? neck. A light silk hood of the then fashiona cherry color protects her head. The usetul par .. was not yet known, but she carries a pretty ; which, when folded, is round like a marshar, baton.

The gentleman walks by her side, but is pr. cluded from offering her the support of his ar. by the amplitude of her skirts, and of his own .. well, for his square-eut coat of lavender silk . stiffened out at the skirts with wire and buekram it is opened so as to show the long-flapped wai- coat with wide pockets, wherein to carry the sun .. box and the bonbonniere. The sleeves are sher with large rounded cuffs; his gold. fringed plus .. are hidden in his good-sized matf. 1 point 1. .. cravat protects his neck, and over his tie-wig h. wears a dainty li: tle cocked hat. trimmed with gol lace. His feet ar 44 +1 + p encased in square- toed shoes with small silver buck-

RADFORD'S

K STORE

VIEW OF THE FAMOUS "OLD LONDON COFFEE-HOUSE," PHILADELPHIA, SOUTHWEST CORNER OF FRONT AND MARKET STREETS.

num-capable of sustaining fifty thousand persons les. His partridge-silk stockings reach above ti . on bread, and providing three million, fifty-nine knee, where they meet his light-blue silk breeche .. thousand three hundred and fifty-three quartern loaves !

A pen picture of a fashionable couple walking in the streets of Wilmington long before the Revolu- tion would be as follows :

The lady trips lightly on her dainty little feet, cased in satin slippers Her tlounced silk petticoat is so distended by the recently introduced hoops that it is a mystery how she can pass through an ordinary-sized doorway ; her tightly-laced stom- a neat cap give a touch of smartness to the play costume.

acher is richly ornamented with gold braid, the sleeves are short, but edged with wide point lace, which falls in graceful folds near to the slender

At a respectful distance behind comes the gentle. man's valet and the lady's maid. He wears : black hat, a brown-colored coat, a striped wai-t- coat with brass buttons, leather breeches, and worsted stockings, stout shoes with brass buckl - The abigail's dress is of huckaback, made short. the skirts not so distended as those of her mistre --. yet are puffed out in humble imitation of th. fashion. A bright apron and silk neckerchief at. !

Here comes a worthy tradesman and his buxon. wife. His coat, of >tout, gray cloth, is trimmed

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with black. His gray waist-coat half conceals his perched on the apes of this wondrous structure. serviceable breeches ; worsted stocking- and lasker shoes protect his legs and feet. The good dame by his side has put on her chinta dress, and though the material is not as costly as that worn by the line lady before her, it is made up in the fa-hiou- able style, and the indispensable hoops add to the natural rotundity of the wearer. A peculiarity in her costume is the check apron that spread- down from her stomacher, concealing the bright petti- coat.

The simplicity of apparel was the rule, the costly style previously described the exception. Very ordinary material was still used among Delawareans, and articles of clothing were con- sidered so valuable as to be, in many instances, special objects of bequest. Henry Furnis, who died in 1701, bequeathed to one of his daughters his leather coat, leather waist-coat, his black hat and cap. To another daughter he left his blue waist- coat, leather breeches and muslin neck-cloth ; and to another daughter a new drugget eoat.

The wigs held their own until after the return of Braddock's army. The hair was then allowed to grow, and was either plaited or clubbed behind, or it was grown in a black silk bag, adorned with a large black rose. From this it dwindled down to the queer little " pigtail," which, not many years past, could be seen bobbing up and down on the high coat-collar of some old gentleman of the last generation.

Stiff, high-backed chairs and settees, a stiff style of dress, - for the hooped petticoat and wired coat- skirt carry with them no idea of graceful ease,- must have given the manners a tendency to stiffness. The stately minuet was, very appropriately, the fashionable dance of the day. at least among what was called " the politer classes;" the " common people," that is the great social body not comprised in that upper-tendom, did not follow the fashion so closely, and enjoyed merrier dances, the favorite among which was the " hipsesaw." In 1742.there were no material changes in the ladies' dresses, the hoop still maintaining its hold, as also the furbelows; the robe was made low in front, the upper part of the stomacher and the short sleeves edged with point lace. Aprons were in fashion, and were worn sometimes long and at other times short, exposing the richly-embroidered petticoat. Capuchin hoods were in style. But the greatest change was in the dressing of the hair. The simple and elegant coiffure of natural eurls already described was in vogue only a few years, The old style of building up the hair in a high pyramid suddenly reappeared with still more exaggerated proportions. The hair was carried up over wire frameworks, stiffened with pomade, sprinkled with powder and formed a bewildering edifice adorned with curls, flowers and feathers. Sometimes a sort of a little hat was

How our grandmothers ever had the patience to sit three or four hours under the manipulations of the hair dresser, and how they could move, walk and dance with such : load on their cranium, is the wonder of their granddaughters. Jewels, rich bracelets, necklaces and chains were much worn. It was the fashion for a baly to carry a costly gold snaff-box with & looking glass inside the lid ; as she opened the box to take or offer a pinch, she could cast a surreptiuous glanec at her fair visage and see if her rouge was not coming off, and if her " beauty spots," i.e., patches, were still in the right place.

When we read of the polished society of those days, of their elegant dresses, their jewels and laces and inimitable fashions, we can- not heip think - ing of one or two things which they did not have, things the poorest woman of our day could not do without. Tooth brushes, until quite re- cently, were un- known, and the fairest lady rub- bed her teeth with a rag which, horresco referens, she dipped in snuff! Mr Wat- son, the annalist, speaking of Dr. Le Mayenr, a dentist, who pro- posed in 1784 to transport teeth, says: " This was A BELLE OF THE REVOLUTION. (From a drawing by Major Andre). quite a novelty in Philadelphia; the present care of the teeth was ill understood then. He had, however, great success in Philadelphia, and went off with a great deal of our patricians' money. Several very respectable ladies had them implanted. I remember some curious anecdotes of some cases. One of the Mes- chianza belles had such teeth. They were, in some cases, two months before they could eat with them." In 1769, " Mr. Hamilton, surgeon, dentist and operator for the teth, from London," advertises that he " displace- all superfluous teeth and stumps with the greatest ease and safety, and makes and sets in artificial teeth from one single tooth to a whole set, in so nice a manner that they cannot be distinguished from natural ; therefore, those ladies

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and gentlemen who have had the misfortune of before the expiration of the twelve months. losing their teeth, have now an opportunity of having natural or artificial put in with dispatch and secrecy, and in such manner as to be of real use, ornament and service for many years, without giving the least pain to the patient."

in that case they were in danger of losing .. wages. A man servant, having some abij got between sixteen and twenty pounds in F. sylvania currency. This was in Philadelp. the wages were not so good in the country. There were few hired servants in those days ; menial labor was done by black slaves, and Ger- man, English and Irish redemptioners, Slavery was not repugnant to our forefathers' notions of justice ; it was admitted even by the Quakers.1 maid servant received eight or ten pounds a y. These servants had to buy their own clothes. 1 second class consisted of such persons as ti annually from Germany, England and ot] countries for the purpose of settling in the colo But the slaves of Delaware and Pennsylvania were happy ; harsh treatment was not counte- naneed by public opinion. Servants were regarded as forming an integral part of the family, and proper attention paid to their comforts. Some were flying from oppression, others fi. religious persecution, but most of them were : poor to pay the six or eight pounds sterling r quired for their passage. They agreed with !! captain that they would suffer themselves to : Peter Kalm, the Swedish traveler, who came to Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1748, seems to sold for a few years on their arrival. Very oft people made arrangements to sell their childre. have thoroughly investigated the question of in order to secure their own passage. So. Juft Imported in the Chip GRANDY, JOSEPH BLEWER Mafler, Seventy Gold-Coaft SLAVES of variousages, and both fexes, To be foldon board faid hip at MC Flumiled's wharf, by WILLING and MORRIS, eould pay part of the passage-money, and wer. sold only for a short time. Some of the German- although having the means to pay their way, preferred to suffer themselves to be sold, with : view that during their servitude they might gain some knowledge of the language of the country and have time to decide what pursuits would lo. And a partof them are intended to be fent in afew dave to Dook Creek, there to be fold, by Mr. Thomas Mudeck for cashor. country produce, Penne Jour. Aug 15 1765. most advantageous. The average price of these servants was fourteen pounds for four years' servi- tude. The master was bound to feed and clothe ADVERTISEMENT. servants. He says that there were two classes of white servants; the first were quite free to serve by the year. They could even leave their masters his servant, and to present him with a new suit of clothes at the end of his term of servitude. The English and Irish commonly sold themselves for four years, but the Germans frequently agreed 1 The ship " Gideun " arrived at New Amsterdam, from Africa, with 290 slaves on board about August, It/3, one-fourth of which belonged to New Amstel. The Delaware portion were hastily run in gangs through New Jersey, overland to south River, by Alnicks and narrowly escaped capture by the English. Vincent says " this was the first introduction of slaves into Delaware, from Africa, by direct importation, of which we have any record." Slaves were, however, on the South River from its earliest settlement. with the captain to pay him a certain sum of money for a certain number of persons, and on their arrival in America, they tried to get a man to pay their passage for them, giving him in re- turn one or several of their children to serve for a certain number of years. If the demand was brisk, they were thus able to make their bargain with the highest bidder.

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History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Part 42

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards Number of Pages: 776

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards
Number of Pages: 776