USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. II > Part 24
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The most particular care was given to the housing of domestic ani- mals, and people who were not so heedful in this respect were wont to say
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that the Dutch looked after their cattle and hogs more carefully than they did for their wives and children. The reproach was a malicious exaggeration. As a matter of fact, the solicitude which the Dutchman exhibited toward the dumb animals in his keeping really softened him in his feelings toward all of God's creatures, brute and human. A picture has been drawn of such
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a one, a type of a class, although of a later day, whose anger was always excited at witnessing or hearing of the ill-treatment of an animal, and whose resentment toward the offender never died out. Another would not suffer the birds, rabbits and squirrels upon his place to be shot at, insist- ing that their lives were as precious to them as were their own lives to those who pursued them. On one occasion a strange hunter entered h's grounds and discharged his gun. Hearing the report, the owner repaired to the spot and cautioned the hunter, who laughed in derision. The fellow was
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told not to again fire at a bird, or he himself would be shot at. To show his contempt, he fired once more, killing a robin, and on the instant the landlord discharged a load of small shot into the legs of the hunter, at the same time exclaiming, "Now you know how a bird feels, and if you ever shoot another on these premises I will aim higher." Hating all wrong with the deep intensity of his nature, this man was necessarily an ardent lover of justice, and when occasion required his service as a juror in the court of justice, his presence was gladly hailed. by the lawyer who sought to establish the right, and was discomfiture to the pettifogger whose capability lay only in deceit and trickery.
Within the home, the woman was master, if not in name, yet in actual fact. Among the Dutch, it is not until a comparatively late date that the term by which she was known has disappeared from the ordinary vocab- ulary of the people-"huisvrouw," meaning the woman of the house. Her authority was absolute in all pertaining to its management, and in pretty much all entering into the indoor life of its inmates. Her extreme clean- liness amounted to a passion, and sweeping and scrubbing was contin- ually in progress in some part of the house. It was a serious matter to soil the kitchen floor, and in some houses the men folk were required to remove their boots or shoes before stepping over its threshold. Two or three times a year the house was cleaned throughout, all the rooms from garret down being deluged with floods of water and soapsuds, and after walls and ceilings were well dry they were freshly whitewashed. While this work was in progress the husband and other men were sent away from their smoking place in the chimney corner to the barn or wagon sheds.
The parlor was the sanctum sanctorum of the "huisvrouw," and was reserved for occasions of the utmost solemenity or ceremony, such as the visit of the minister, and the stated call of the young man who was the approved suitor for the hand of the daughter of the house. Here, at either side of the fireplace, sat the young couple, engaged in formal courtship and laying plans for their future married life. As soon as the marriage ceremony was performed, and the wedding feast had been partaken of, the young husband was banished from the parlor to enjoy only such privi- leges as were accorded to all other members of the family. Meantime, while the courtship was progressing, the "huisvrouw" was busied in pre- paring clothing and bedding for the daughter, making home woven sheets and blankets and patchwork quilts, the daughter assisting in the work. A feather bed was also usually provided by the mother.
Many superstitions prevailed among the early settlers, some peculiar to the Dutch, and others to the English and Scotch. Some of these were
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restricted to neither people, being known and regarded by both, and hav- ing, perhaps, a common origin. In some instances these are discernible to-day, wherever their descendants have dispersed. Among these was the idea that the one who should gaze into a looking glass in a room wherein lay a corpse, would speedily come to death, hence the mirror was covered over as soon as breath had left the body of one ill, the person covering it being careful not to look into it while performing the act of covering. Another was hanging a horseshoe over the doorway, originally meant as a protection against witches, but, as belief in witches died out, regarded as an invocation of good fortune.
Peculiar to the Dutch housewife were various omens. It presaged ill fortune were dirt swept into the fireplace; or were the house swept after sunset. To sprinkle salt on eggshells and throw them into the fire was a good omen. Bread would not lighten properly were a cross not made in the dough.
The early practice of medicine -- if the treatment of ailments then may be dignified by such a term-was something verging upon the horrible. When George Fox visited Shrewsbury in 1670, he was accompanied by "John Jay, a friend, of Barbadoes, who came with us from Rhode Island," who was thrown from a runaway horse and his neck supposed to have been broken. Fox, by "pulling" his friend's hair found the neck ,very "limber." Then, he says, "I put one hand under his chin and the other behind his head and raised his head two or three times with all my strength and brought it in. I soon perceived his neck began to grow stiff again, and then he began to rattle in his throat and quietly after to breathe. The people were amazed, but I bade them have a good heart, be of good faith and carry him into the house." In a few days he recovered and traveled many hundred miles with Fox. To all present this seemed a miracle, for none understood the real traumatic or patheological conditions of the case. The best of surgeons would have known little more at that time. Macaulay unjustly despised George Fox for pretending to perform miracles and painted him a ruder and more ignorant man than he really was.
The Indian medicine man who healed the wounds of Penelope Stout was a's skillful in his materia medica as his contemporaries of London and Paris, and he was not more superstitious. The London physician juggled with words-Latin and Greek-and his audience in their ignorance were awed; the Indian, by magical tricks and terror, maintained his power over his followers. Both depended really upon herbs, and both added to them hideous, nauseating, filthy, useless things. The London physician used crab's eyes, frog's spawn, fillings from the human skull, powder from
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hog's lice, earthworms, viper's flesh, etc., etc. To stop a nose-bleed, fumes from burnt feathers, hair, old hats, horns, hoofs, leather, old woolen clothes, were used, or human blood or liver, dried toads or vipers, etc., "from all of which the blood precipitately flies, as from its greatest enemy." The foregoing, and much more of like nature, is taken from "The Practice of Physick; or, Dr. Sydenham's Processus Integri, Translated out of the Latin into English, with large Annotation's, Animadversions and Practical Observations on the same," by William Salmon, M. D., both eminent physi- cians at the time of George Fox. Charms were prescribed, such as eagle's stones (a variety of oxide of iron found in small ovid masses ), worn upon the arm, for inflammation of the eyes. Such were some of the seemingly foolish things that were recommended as paliatives and specifics by the scientific physicians of the old world in the seventeenth century to our forefathers. The herbs and simples used by our grandparents were the science of medicine brought to New Jersey by their forebears long lefore, with many valuable improvements taught them by their old Indian friends.
For very many years, church life and social life were so intimately related that the history of the one is contained within that of the other. The minister was regarded as the leading man in the community, and as the embodiment of all intelligence, culture and manners. Yet he became, in some instances, a stumbling-block to his people in their moral and religious life, and it is to be admitted that their own over-zealous solici- tude and affection for him was responsible in large degree for his undoing.
In 1709 the Rev. Joseph Morgan became dominie of the Reformed Dutch church of the Navesink, being also at the same time pastor of the Scots church. An amalgamation of the Dutch and Scottish elements had begun, and in 1714 there were intermarriages among them. Morgan was a scholarly man, as is attested by the facts that he published a number of sermons and theological treatises, and that in 1721 he addressed to the eminent Cotton Mather a letter in Latin which is yet preserved in Worces- ter, Massachusetts. He was also a theologian of acknowledged orthodoxy. His fine mental attainments and excellent social qualities made him a great favorite with his parishioners, and the affection of some of them for him led to his temporary downfall. At nearly all homes where he visited. he was invited to partake of a social glass of liquor. Where the offer was the highest compliment, and refusal would be an unpardonable affront, it is not cause for wonderment that during his ministerial visitations he con- tracted habits of intemperance. When he was fifty-four years old he was brought to trial for lapses from sobriety and for other conduct growing therefrom which was deemed unbecoming in a minister. These charges
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were not sustained, but ten years later he was again put on trial and deposed from the ministry. Two years afterward he heard the preaching of the great Whitefield, with the result of his moral restoration and the closing of his life honorably and usefully in voluntary evangelistic labor along the New Jersey coast.
Dominie Erickzon, who succeeded Morgan in the pastorate of the Re- formed Dutch church of the Navesink, fell into the same unfortunate habit as did his predecessor, and through similar causes. He also was excluded from the pulpit, and subsequently effected his own reformation, and the narrative of the latter event is of interest as showing how intimate were the personal relations between the minister and his people, affording the most abundant opportunity for their influencing him for the better or for the worse.
In a social gathering, Eirens Van der Speigel engaged in discussion with Dominie Erickzon as to the duties of the minister of the gospel, argu- ing that while much labor was imposed upon him in visiting his parishioners and in attending funerals, the task of preaching was by no means difficult. The Dominie protested that preaching involved the greater effort, necessi- tating diligent study and close thought. Van der Speigel contended to the contrary, and asserted that he himself was capable of delivering an able discourse within a given short time. The Dominie bantered him to the trial, and a meeting was agreed upon. At time and place appointed, a large number of people assembled, many of whom had come upon invitation of the Dominie to witness the failure of his adversary. The Dominie gave out a hymn and offered a prayer, and then took his seat immediately in front of Van der Speigel. Van der Speigel announced his text, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess," and proceeded with the delivery of a powerful discourse which had been made by an eminent divine before a classis in Holland on the occasion of the trial of a minister for intem- perance. The Dominie gradually became uneasy. After a time the speaker reached the most forcible portion of the discourse, in which was portrayed the evil influence of intemperance in a minister of the gospel, when the Dominie arose and exclaimed in agitated tones, "I can no longer bear it, and I will bear it no longer." To his great credit be it said, he expressed no umbrage at the vigorous rebuke, but took it deeply to heart, and con- quered his appetite and subsequently entered upon a new life of usefulness.
It was during such times a's are above described, when the church was scandalized by the conduct of some of its ministers, that it was least able to exert a proper influence owing to dissensions within itself. The Scotch Presbyterian element rebelled strenuously against the shortcomings of the
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ministers named, and also against what they deemed to be looseness in the conduct of public worship. In some congregations it was provided that preaching in Dutch and in English should be in proportion to the amounts subscribed for church support by the Dutch and English people respect- ively, and, in one instance, at least, a congregation resolved that if "for want of Dutch singers it seems expedient, the pastor, if he choose, may have English singing and preach in Dutch." About the same time a contention arose in some of the country churches as to music, the younger people insisting on new tunes, which the older people did not know and could not enjoy. At this remote day these may seem trivial reasons for dissension, but congregations in more recent times have been torn asunder through similar causes, and it may reasonably be concluded that human nature was not less sensitive or more considerate three centuries ago than in later times.
So early as in 1683 there is record of fairs. Three years later they were authorized by the legislative assembly, and were permitted for three days in each of the months of May and October. These were intended for the purpose of affording farmers an opportunity of meeting for the ex- change of products, mostly domestic animals, in imitation of the old English country fashion. Property of all descriptions could be sold freely, without payment of license. These fairs were made more of a social affair, however, and revelry and mirth prevailed. Horse racing, running, jumping, wrestling and pitching quoits were the sports engaged in. The "fakir" of his day was always present, and inveigled the innocent country- men into games with which they were unacquainted, and in which they were only successful in parting with their money. Drinking was common on such occasions, and at times there were serious personal affrays in settlement of old quarrels or out of grievances at the moment. Law was practically abrogated during the fair, all persons being privileged from arrest except for offenses committed against the crown or for flagrant crime on the spot. Court days were regarded as holidays, and the same sports were indulged in as at fairs.
As settlements extended, families visited each other at intervals, often traveling considerable distances, arriving in the afternoon and remaining until late in the evening. If the weather permitted, the men folk sat on the long benches on the front stoop, where they conversed concerning their successes and failures in their calling, and exchanged views as to future crops and prices. Little interest was felt in governmental questions, and, indeed, of such matters they were generally profoundly ignorant. The seat of authority was too far removed, and information was too meagerly dispensed, for it to be otherwise. Were it winter season, or the weather
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inclement, the men gathered about the fireplace in the house. In either case, the women kept to themselves, quietly sewing or knitting, their speech or idleness at such times being considered disgraceful. The meals served to the company comprised the best of the articles of ordinary fare which the cellar and cupboard would afford, together with doughnuts, cheese, cider and home-made small beer. The raising of the frame of a house or barn was made occasion for the neighbors to gather and assist, and after the labor was completed a scene of jollity followed.
Sunday was a day of solemn importance, when the entire family at- tended church. In some cases many miles were to be traversed to reach the house of worship. In the earliest times the journey was made on horse- back, and frequently the wife rode behind the husband on the same horse. The children, if old enough, would "ride and tie," two or more alternately walking and riding for a mile or such a matter, those who dismounted leaving the horse tied for the use of others following on after, and travel- ing on afoot. When vehicles came in use, the home-made chairs which were used as wagon seats were taken into the pewless church. The morn- ing service was of considerable length, and another service was held in the afternoon. In order to remain to attend the latter, people from a distance brought provisions with them. At times a man would sell cakes and small beer from a wagon near the church door, and no impropriety was seen in it. This was particularly true on "Great Sunday," when communion was administered and the services were protracted beyond the usual hours. In most churches the sexes divided at the door, the men taking seats on one side of the building and the women on the other. This custom was in vogue generally until about 1856.
Weddings and funerals frequently occurred on Sunday, the only day affording opportunity for so large an assemblage as was becoming to the importance of the event. To the wedding came only invited guests, and the hosts were able to limit their number to suit their own convenience and keep within their ability to provide entertainment without serious tax upon their means. In the event of a funeral the obligation was deeper and more urgent. The people of the entire neighborhood not only felt privileged to attend, but they deemed their presence demanded under a serious sense of duty, and the mourning family considered that proper respect was not paid to their dead should any neighbor fail to attend except on account of illness. Both these occasions imposed great labor and expense upon the entertaining household. Custom demanded the most lavish hospitality that could be afforded, and it was a matter of pride with the hosts to admit of no opportunity for unfavorable comparison with their neighbors in this
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respect. Ardent spirits, too rare and costly to be served to company upon ordinary occasions, at weddings and funerals were dispensed with a lib- erality that led to many excesses. After a time, many ministers, in the interests of decency, took strong ground against Sunday being taken for such purposes, and the prevailing custom gradually came into disfavor and ultimately was all but abolished.
An element apart from all others, with some little of the good found in all, yet combining the meannesses and vices of all; appeared in the redemptioner. This was the designation of a class which came prior to the year 1700, principally from the British Isles and from the coast towns of Germany. Their name was given them from the manner of their coming. They were without means to pay passage to the new country, and they indentured themselves to some land proprietor who could utilize their services on his plantation there, or to a ship owner who would dispose of them after debarkation. Their service was due to who- ever should discharge their debt for passage, and they were practically bondsmen until repayment was made. Landing thus in debt, and subsist- ing upon provision made by their masters, their term of servitude was nec- essarily long. They were of all sorts and conditions of men, and of women as well. There were those scapegrace men and dissolute women who were vagrants and outcasts at home, and who cared not whither they drifted. There were those of the same class who were earnestly intent upon refor- mation. There were the unfortunate poor, broken in spirit through error of judgment or stress of circumstances, who sought opportunity for be- ginning life anew. All these various classes, for the greater number, found the level of their former associations and surroundings. There were thieves and evil doers who were such to the end. There were patient plod- ders who laboriously discharged the task of each succeeding day, hopelessly and doggedly, and so lived and so died. There were others whose lives were lived in defiance of all those laws of heredity of which so much is now heard-those of good family who became outlaws on land and sea, and others, women as well as men, of ignoble origin, and whose own lives were vile, who rose out of their brutalized selves and became exemplary citizens and heads of families which now regard their memories with honor. But by far the larger number were God-fearing men and women, driven from their native land, or self-expatriated, because of their religion.
The incoming of this new population was not conducive to the best of order. The worst elements in a new influx are most conspicuous, for a time at least, and their example is contagious. Many Christian people de- spaired of a moral restoration of society. But good seed was even then
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being sown. In 1739 George Whitefield preached in Burlington and New Brunswick, and the following year he entered upon a protracted season of evangelistic work in the State. He was a religious enthusiast, and he had been a co-worker with the two Wesleys, John and Charles, founders of the Methodist church. His labors were abundantly 'blessed, and his mantle fell upon such consecrated men as Gilbert Tennent and others, who infused new life into slumbering churches, and established others which vied with them in usefulness. At the same time that eminently pious Quaker, John Woolman, was performing his noble work. Apart from his sincere Chris- tianity, he was "a light to the Gentiles" as the apostle of slavery abolition and the determined enemy of intemperance.
The excesses beginning in the later colonial days and extending far beyond the close of the Revolutionary war are traceable in large degree to the tavern. Taverns were established to meet the wants of travelers, to provide them with food and lodging. According to the custom of the times, ardent spirits were dispensed on call, but the tavern was by no means intended to be a mere tippling place. Always on an important line of travel, it was in many cases a terminal or relay point for travelers, and its customers were therefore numerous. It also gained, in the absence of public buildings, certain prestige as the place of assembly for courts and local boards of officers, and for the holding of elections. It sheltered from time to time the highest dignitaries and most eminent men in the land-Governors, Judges, lawyers and clergymen. These were the news- bearers and oracles of the day, and their presence attracted the principal men of the neighborhood, who gathered to listen to their utterances, and to enter into discussion upon events present and impending. The tavern keeper, by reason of his more intimate acquaintance with his distinguished guests, to whose comfort he ministered with scrupulous care and much tact, was a man of commanding importance in the neighborhood, and the ex- ample which he set in his personal conduct found many ready imitators.
The tavern had a recognized legal existence as early as in 1668, when the provincial assembly, "in consideration of the inconveniences that do arise for the want of an ordinary in every town," required the establish- ment of an inn at each of the various places, and regulations were made gov- erning the sale of ardent spirits therein. In 1677 the same body prescribed the prices which should be charged for food for man and beast, and for various beverages, cider, wine and strong liquor. In 1682 was enacted a law "To prevent Tipling and other Disorders in Ordinary's by Town Dwell- ers," and this statute also contained the provision that an inn keeper who "trusted" a town dweller for liquor above the sum of five shillings should
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be estopped from collection by process of law-an inhibition which is continued in spirit in many of the States of the Union.
From this time on, the tavern was the subject of much regulatory and repressive legislation. An assembly act of 1738-9 recites its proper purpose as being for the accommodation of strangers and travelers, and not for the encouragement of gaming, drunkenness and other vices. This act suggests the abuses which had grown out of the conduct of the inns of the day. In the archives of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey is a manuscript (probably written about 1750) reciting that cer- tain young men of Hunterdon county, while drinking in an inn, held mock ' burial and 'baptismal services over a number of dogs, and a grand jury subsequently considered such cases and expressed abhorrence of the de- baucheries practiced in such places.
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