Colonial days and dames . rger towns were but small settle-ments in those days, surrounded byforests or bounded on one side or tlieother by the sea. Hence we may believethat the boys spent their recreation hoursin the woods or by the water, and that thegirls were sometimes permitted to leavetheir tasks and stretch their limbs by en-tering into their brothers sports,—fishing,boating, nutting in the autumn woods, and,rare diversion of the New England winter, 6o COLONIAL DAYS AND DAMES. coasting down the long hills and skatingupon the ponds! Such pleasures being theirs, we may-still rejoice that
Colonial days and dames . rger towns were but small settle-ments in those days, surrounded byforests or bounded on one side or tlieother by the sea. Hence we may believethat the boys spent their recreation hoursin the woods or by the water, and that thegirls were sometimes permitted to leavetheir tasks and stretch their limbs by en-tering into their brothers sports,—fishing,boating, nutting in the autumn woods, and,rare diversion of the New England winter, 6o COLONIAL DAYS AND DAMES. coasting down the long hills and skatingupon the ponds! Such pleasures being theirs, we may-still rejoice that for Puritan children wascoming, surely if slowly, the joy of thechilds festival; and that all along thecoast, from the scant observance in NewEngland to the generous English celebra-tion of the day in the Southern Colonies,the high festival of the Christian year wasto bring expectancy, good cheer, well-filledstockings, gifts and greetings to the chil-dren who were destined to be the mothersand fathers of a great WOMEN IN THE EARLY SETTLE-MENT. Rumors have come to our ears of atoast to the Puritan Mothers, from thoseof their sons who meet together in theNew England Society, to pour out liba-tions, bum incense, and consume canvas-back and terrapin in honor of their ances-tors, the especial claim of these worthy-dames upon the consideration of the presentgeneration being based upon the fact that,in addition to enduring all the hardshipsthat fell to the lot of the Puritan Fathers,they had to endure the Puritan Fatherhimself However this may have been,and we doubt not, with all due respect to6 6i 62 COLONIAL DAYS AND DAMES. their sterling qualities, that some of theseprogenitors of ours were, like Carlyle, gey ill to live wi, it seems as if thecourage, patience, and heroism of thepioneer women of America had not beensufficiently honored. Heroic and much-enduring women wenaturally think of in connection with theRevolutionary struggle, but of such therewere not a few in the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectwomen, bookyear1895
