The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

394 HISTORY OF DORCHESTER.
which were so high as to bring their faces almost into the
middle of their bodies; their black silk and satin bonnets;
their gowns, so extremely long-waisted; their tight sleeves,
which were sometimes very short, with an immense frill at
the elbow; their spreading hoops and long trails; their highheeled shoes, and their rich brocades, flounces, spangles,
embroidered aprons, &c. Their dress on the sabbath was
simple, secure, and modest: A cheap straw bonnet, with only
one bow without, and no ornament but the face within; a
calico dress, of sober colors, high up in the neck, with a
simple white muslin collar just peeping round the top; a neat
little shawl, and a stout pair of shoes-these presented to
the eye the Puritan costume of our ancestral and pious
mothers."
In regard to some of their domestic habits, Mr.
Brooks observes:
" We may get the truest ideas of these by watching,
through two days, all the plans and movements of a family in their log-hut. We will take Saturday and Sunday. Let
us look closely. The father is a strong man of forty-six, with
a true Puritan heart; and his wife is seven years his junior,
with good health and without anxiety. Their first child is a
son, eighteen years old; the next is a daughter of sixteen;
then come three boys, their ages fourteen, eleven, and eight;
and the youngest child is a daughter aged six. Of hired men
or women, they had none. Extra help came from what they
called'change work.'
" Let us first mark the cares and labors of the farmer and
his boys. Saturday was a busy day with them; although
one day's or one year's experience was almost exactly like
another's.
" To rise early was not considered worthy of any remark;
while not rising early would have been deemed a crime. To
be up before daylight was a matter of course with every
family. The father was expected to move first; to strike a
light with flint and steel; to kindle a fire under the kettle in
which the water for the porridge was to be boiled. This done,