Woman's Life in Colonial Days by Carl Holliday

C >> Carl Holliday >> Woman\'s Life in Colonial Days

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22

_XII. Society in Philadelphia_

As has been indicated, New York was not the only center of brilliant
social activity in colonial America. Philadelphia laid claim to having
even more charming society and vastly more "exclusive" social functions,
and it is undoubtedly true that for some years before the war, and even
after New York became the capital, Philadelphia "set the social pace."
And, when the capital was removed to the Quaker City, there was indeed a
brilliance in society that would have compared not unfavorably with the
best in England during the same years. Unfortunately few magazine
articles or books picturing the life in the city at that time remain;
but from diaries, journals, and letters we may gain many a hint. Before
and during the Revolution there were at Philadelphia numerous wealthy
Tory families, who loved the lighter side of life, and when the town was
occupied by the British these pro-British citizens offered a welcome
both extended and expensive. As Wharton says in her _Through Colonial
Doorways_:

"The Quaker City had, at the pleasure of her conqueror, doffed her
sober drab and appeared in festal array.... The best that the city
afforded was at the disposal of the enemy, who seem to have spent their
days in feasting and merry-making, while Washington and his army endured
all the hardships of the severe winter of 1777-8 upon the bleak
hill-sides of Valley Forge. Dancing assemblies, theatrical
entertainments, and various gaieties marked the advent of the British in
Philadelphia, all of which formed a fitting prelude to the full-blown
glories of the Meschianza, which burst upon the admiring inhabitants on
that last-century May day."[224]

This, however, was not a sudden outburst of reckless joy on the part of
the Philadelphians; for long before the coming of Howe the wealthier
families had given social functions that delighted and astonished
foreign visitors. We are sure that as early as 1738 dancing was taught
by Theobald Hackett, who offered to instruct in "all sorts of
fashionable English and French dances, after the newest and politest
manner practiced in London, Dublin, and Paris, and to give to young
ladies, gentlemen, and children, the most graceful carriage in dancing
and genteel behaviour in company that can possibly be given by any
dancing master, whatever."

Before the middle of the eighteenth century balls, or "dancing
assemblies" had become popular in Philadelphia, and, being sanctioned by
no less authority than the Governor himself, were frequented by the best
families of the city. In a letter by an influential clergyman, Richard
Peters, we find this reference to such fashionable meetings: "By the
Governor's encouragement there has been a very handsome assembly once a
fortnight at Andrew Hamilton's house and stores, which are tenanted by
Mr. Inglis (and) make a set of rooms for such a purpose and consist of
eight ladies and as many gentlemen, one half appearing every Assembly
Night." There were a good many strict rules regulating the conduct of
these balls, among them being one that every meeting should begin
promptly at six and close at twelve. The method of obtaining admission
is indicated in the following notice from the _Pennsylvania Journal_ of
1771: "The Assembly will be opened this evening, and as the receiving
money at the door has been found extremely inconvenient, the managers
think it necessary to give the public notice that no person will be
admitted without a ticket from the directors which (through the
application of a subscriber) may be had of either of the managers."

As card-playing was one of the leading pastimes of the day, rooms were
set aside at these dancing assemblies for those who preferred "brag" and
other fashionable games with cards. But far the greater number preferred
to dance, and to those who did, the various figures and steps were
seemingly a rather serious matter, not to be looked upon as a source of
mere amusement. The Marquis de Chastellux has left us a description of
one of these assemblies attended by him during the Revolution, and, if
his words are true, such affairs called for rather concentrated
attention:

"A manager or master of ceremonies presides at these methodical
amusements; he presents to the gentlemen and ladies dancers billets
folded up containing each a number; thus, fate decided the male or
female partner for the whole evening. All the dances are previously
arranged and the dancers are called in their turns. These dances, like
the toasts we drink at table, have some relation to politics; one is
called the Success of the Campaign, another the Defeat of Burgoyne, and
a third Clinton's Retreat.... Colonel Mitchell was formerly the manager,
but when I saw him he had descended from the magistracy and danced like
a private citizen. He is said to have exercised his office with great
severity, and it is told of him that a young lady who was figuring in a
country dance, having forgotten her turn by conversing with a friend,
was thus addressed by him, 'Give over, miss, mind what you are about. Do
you think you come here for your pleasure?'"

_XIII. The Beauty of Philadelphia Women_

Any investigator of early American social life may depend on Abigail
Adams for spicy, keen observations and interesting information. Her
letters picture happily the activities of Philadelphia society during
the last decade of the eighteenth century. For instance, she writes in
1790: "On Friday last I went to the drawing room, being the first of my
appearance in public. The room became full before I left it, and the
circle very brilliant. How could it be otherwise when the dazzling Mrs.
Bingham and her beautiful sisters were there: the Misses Allen, and the
Misses Chew; in short a constellation of beauties? If I were to accept
one-half the invitations I receive I should spend a very dissipated
winter. Even Saturday evening is not excepted, and I refused an
invitation of that kind for this evening. I have been to one assembly.
The dancing was very good; the company the best; the President and
Madam, the Vice-President and Madam, Ministers of State and their
Madames, etc."

The mention of Mrs. Bingham leads us to some notice of her and her
environment, as an aid to our perception of the real culture and
brilliance found in the higher social circles of colonial Philadelphia
and New York. One of the most beautiful women of the day, Mrs. Bingham,
added to a good education, the advantage of much travel abroad, and a
lengthy visit at the Court of Louis XVI. Her beauty and elegance were
the talk of Paris, The Hague, and London, and Mrs. Adams' comment from
London voiced the general foreign sentiment about her: "She is coming
quite into fashion here, and is very much admired. The hair-dresser who
dresses us on court days inquired ... whether ... we knew the lady
so much talked of here from America--Mrs. Bingham. He had heard of
her ... and at last speaking of Miss Hamilton he said with a twirl of
his comb, 'Well, it does not signify, but the American ladies do beat
the English all to nothing.'"

An English traveller, Wansey, visited her in her Philadelphia home, and
wrote: "I dined this day with Mrs. Bingham.... I found a magnificent
house and gardens in the best English style, with elegant and even
superb furniture. The chairs of the drawing room were from Seddons in
London, of the newest taste--the backs in the form of a lyre with
festoons of crimson and yellow silk; the curtains of the room a festoon
of the same; the carpet one of Moore's most expensive patterns. The room
was papered in the French taste, after the the style of the Vatican at
Rome."

Such a woman was, of course, destined to be a social leader, and while
her popularity was at its height, she introduced many a foreign custom
or fad to the somewhat unsophisticated society of America. One of these
was that of having a servant announce repeatedly the name of the visitor
as he progressed from the outside door to the drawing room, and this in
itself caused considerable ridiculous comment and sometimes embarrassing
blunders on the part of Americans ignorant of foreign etiquette. One
man, hearing his name thus called a number of times while he was taking
off his overcoat, bawled out repeatedly, "Coming, coming," until at
length, his patience gone, he shouted, "Coming, just as soon as I can
get my great-coat off!"

The beauty and brilliance of Philadelphia were not without honor at
home, and this recognition of local talent caused some rather spiteful
comparisons to be made with the New York belles. Rebecca Franks, to whom
we have referred several times, declared: "Few New York ladies know how
to entertain company in their own houses, unless they introduce the card
table.... I don't know a woman or girl that can chat above half an hour
and that on the form of a cap, the color of a ribbon, or the set of a
hoop, stay, or gapun. I will do our ladies, that is in Philadelphia, the
justice to say they have more cleverness in the turn of an eye than the
New York girls have in their whole composition. With what ease have I
seen a Chew, a Penn, Oswald, Allen, and a thousand other entertain a
large circle of both sexes and the conversation, without aid of cards,
not flagg or seem in the least strained or stupid."

_XIV. Social Functions_

While the beauty of the Philadelphia women was notable--the Duke
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt declared that it was impossible to meet with
what is called a plain woman--the lavish use of wealth was no less
noticeable. The equipage, the drawing room, the very kitchens of some
homes were so extravagantly furnished that foreign visitors marvelled at
the display. Indeed, some spiteful people of the day declared that the
Bingham home was so gaudy and so filled with evidence of wealth that it
lacked a great deal of being comfortable. The trappings of the horses,
the furnishings of the family coaches, the livery of the footmen,
drivers, and attendants apparently were equal to those possessed by the
most aristocratic in London and Paris.

Probably one of the most brilliant social occasions was the annual
celebration of Washington's birthday, and while the first President was
in Philadelphia, he was, of course, always present at the ball, and made
no effort to conceal his pleasure and gratitude for this mark of esteem.
The entire day was given over to pomp and ceremony. According to a
description by Miss Chambers, "The morning of the 'twenty-second' was
ushered in by the discharge of heavy artillery. The whole city was in
commotion, making arrangements to demonstrate their attachment to our
beloved President. The Masonic, Cincinnati, and military orders united
in doing him honor." In describing the hall, she says: "The seats were
arranged like those of an amphitheatre, and cords were stretched on each
side of the room, about three feet from the floor, to preserve
sufficient space for the dances. We were not long seated when General
Washington entered and bowed to the ladies as he passed round the
room.... The dancing soon after commenced."[225]

There can be little doubt that Mrs. Washington enjoyed her stay in
Philadelphia far more than the period spent in New York. In Philadelphia
there was a very noticeable atmosphere of hospitality and easy
friendliness; here too were many Southern visitors and Southern customs;
for in those days of difficult travel Philadelphia seemed much nearer to
Virginia than did New York. Even with such a congenial environment
Martha Washington, with her innate domesticity, was constantly thinking
of life at Mount Vernon, and in the midst of festivities and assemblies
of genuine diplomatic import, would stop to write to her niece at home
such a thoroughly housewifely message as: "I do not know what keys you
have--it is highly necessary that the beds and bed clothes of all kinds
should be aired, if you have the keys I beg you will make Caroline put
all the things of every kind out to air and brush and clean all the
places and rooms that they were in."

But Mrs. Washington was not alone in Philadelphia in this domestic
tendency; many of those women who dazzled both Americans and foreigners
with their beauty and social graces were most careful housekeepers, and
even expert at weaving and sewing. Sarah Bache, for example, might
please at a ball, but the next morning might find her industriously
working at the spinning wheel. We find her writing her father, Ben
Franklin, in 1790: "If I was to mention to you the prices of the common
necessaries of life, it would astonish you. I should tell you that I
had seven tablecloths of my own spinning." Again, she shrewdly requests
her father in Paris to send her various articles of dress which are
entirely too expensive in America, but the old gentleman's answer seems
still more shrewd, especially when we remember what a delightful time he
was just then having with several sprightly French dames: "I was charmed
with the account you gave me of your industry, the tablecloths of your
own spinning, and so on; but the latter part of the paragraph that you
had sent for linen from France ... and you sending for ... lace and
feathers, disgusted me as much as if you had put salt into my
strawberries. The spinning, I see, is laid aside, and you are to be
dressed for the ball! You seem not to know, my dear daughter, that of
all the dear things in this world idleness is the dearest, except
mischief."

Her declaration in her letter that "there was never so much pleasure and
dressing going on" is corroborated by the statement of an officer
writing to General Wayne: "It is all gaiety, and from what I can
observe, every lady endeavors to outdo the other in splendor and
show.... The manner of entertaining in this place has likewise undergone
its change. You cannot conceive anything more elegant than the present
taste. You can hardly dine at a table but they present you with three
courses, and each of them in the most elegant manner."

_XV. Theatrical Performances_

The dinners and balls seem to have been expensive enough, but another
demand for expenditure, especially in items of dress, arose from the
constantly increasing popularity of the theatre. In Philadelphia the
first regular theatre season began in 1754, and from this time forth the
stage seems to have filled an important part in the activities of
society. We find that Washington attended such performances at the early
South Street Theatre, and was especially pleased with a comedy called
_The Young Quaker; or the Fair Philadelphian_ by O'Keefe, a sketch that
was followed by a pantomimic ballet, a musical piece called _The
Children in the Wood_, a recitation of Goldsmith's _Epilogue_ in the
character of Harlequin, and a "grand finale" by some adventuresome actor
who made a leap through a barrel of fire! Truly vaudeville began early
in America.

Mrs. Adams from staid old Massachusetts, where theatrical performances
were not received cordially for many a year, wrote from Philadelphia in
1791: "The managers of the theatre have been very polite to me and my
family. I have been to one play, and here again we have been treated
with much politeness. The actors came and informed us that a box was
prepared for us.... The house is equal to most of the theatres we meet
with out of France.... The actors did their best; the 'School for
Scandal' was the play. I missed the divine Farran, but upon the whole it
was very well performed."

The first theatrical performance given in New York is said to have been
acted in a barn by English officers and shocked beyond all measure the
honest Dutch citizens whose lives hitherto had gone along so peacefully
without such ungodly spectacles. As Humphreys writes in her _Catherine
Schuyler_, "Great was the scandal in the church and among the burghers.
Their indictment was searching.... Moreover, they painted their faces
which was against God and nature.... They had degraded manhood by
assuming female habits."[226]

But in most sections of the Middle Colonies, as well as in Virginia and
South Carolina, the colonists took very readily to the theatre, and in
both Pennsylvania and Virginia, where the curtain generally rose at six
o'clock, such crowds attended that the fashionable folk commonly sent
their negroes ahead to hold the seats against all comers. Williamsburg,
Virginia, had a good play house as early as 1716; Charleston just a
little later, and Annapolis had regular performances in 1752. Baltimore
first opened the theatre in 1782, and did the thing "in the fine style,"
by presenting Shakespeare's _King Richard_. Society doubtless tingled
with excitement when that first theatrical notice appeared in the
Baltimore papers.

"THE NEW THEATRE IN BALTIMORE
Will Open, This Evening, being the 15th of January ...
With an HISTORICAL TRAGEDY, CALLED
KING RICHARD III

* * * * *

AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE by MR. WALL
to which will be added a FARCE,
MISS IN HER TEENS

* * * * *

"Boxes: One Dollar: Pit Five Shillings: Galleries 9d. Doors to be
open at Half-past Four, and will begin at Six o'clock.

"No persons can be admitted without Tickets, which may be had at
the coffee House in Baltimore, and at Lindlay's Coffee House on
Fells-Point.

"No Persons will on any pretence be admitted behind the Scenes."

This last sentence was indeed a necessary one; for during the earlier
days of the American theatre many in the audience frequently invaded the
stage, either to congratulate the actors or to express in fistic combat
their disgust over the play or the acting. It was not uncommon, too, for
eggs to be thrown from the gallery, and both this and the rushing upon
the stage was expressly forbidden at length by the authorities of
several towns. Every class in colonial days seems to have found its own
peculiar way of enjoying itself, whether by fascinating through beauty
and brilliance the supposedly sophisticated French dukes, or by pelting
barn-storming actors with eggs and other missiles.

The limits of one volume force us to omit many an interesting social
feature of colonial days, especially of the cities. How much might be
said of the tavern life of New York City and the vicinity, how much of
those famous resorts, Vauxhall and Ranelagh, where many a device to
arouse the wonder of the fashionable guests was invented and
constructed! Then, too, much might be related about the popular "fish
dinners" of New York and Annapolis, the horse races in Virginia and
Maryland, the militia parades and pageants at Charleston. But sufficient
has been offered to prove that the prevalent idea of a dreary atmosphere
that lasted throughout the entire colonial period is false; certainly
during the eighteenth century at least, the average American colonist
obtained as much pleasure out of life as the rushing, ever-busy American
of our own day.

_XVI. Strange Customs in Louisiana_

It should be noted that most of these pleasures were in the main
healthful and normal, and, in the eyes of the Anglo-Saxon colonists at
least, made a most commendable contrast to the recreations indulged in
by the French colonists of Louisiana. There can be but little doubt that
during the last years of the eighteenth century moral conditions in this
far southern colony might have been far better. Although Louis XIV, the
Grand Monarch, had been dead practically a century, he had left as a
heritage a passion for pleasure and merry-making that was causing the
French nobility to revel in profligacy and vice. It must be admitted
that many of the French colonists in America were apt pupils of their
European relatives, while the Creole population, born of at least an
unmoral union, was, to say the least, in no wise a hindrance to
pleasures of a rather lax character. Then, too, there was the negro, or
more accurately the mulatto, who if he or, again more accurately, _she_
had any moral scruples, had little opportunity as a slave or servant to
exercise them.

The settlers of Louisiana had an active trade with the West Indies, and
a percentage of the population was composed of West Indians, a people
then notorious for their lack of moral restraint. The traders travelling
between Louisiana and these islands were frequently unprincipled
ruffians, and their companions on shore were commonly sharpers,
desperadoes, pirates, and criminals steeped in vice. Tiring of the raw
life of the sea or sometimes fleeing from justice in northern cities,
such men looked to New Orleans for that peculiar type of free and easy
civilization which most pleased their nature. Hence, although some
better class families of culture and refinement resided in the city,
there was but little in common, socially at least, between it and such
centers as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. As a sea-port looking to
those eighteenth century fens of wickedness, the West Indies; as a river
port toward which traders, trappers, and planters of the Mississippi
Valley looked as a resort for relieving themselves of accumulated thirst
and passion; as the home of mixed races, some of which were but a few
decades removed from savagery; this city could not avoid its reputation
for lax principles, and free-and-easy vice.

Berquin-Duvallon, writing in 1803, gave what he doubtless considered an
accurate picture of social conditions during that year, and, although
this is a little later than the period covered in our study, still it is
hardly likely that conditions were much better twenty years earlier; if
anything, they were probably much worse. Of one famous class of
Louisiana women he has this to say: "The Creoles of Louisiana are blond
rather than brunette. The women of this country who may be included
among the number of those whom nature has especially favored, have a
skin which without being of extreme whiteness, is still beautiful enough
to constitute one of their charms; and features which although not very
regular, form an agreeable whole; a very pretty throat; a stature that
indicates strength and health; and (a peculiar and distinguishing
feature) lively eyes full of expression, as well as a magnificent head
of hair."[227]

Such women, as well as the negro and mulatto girls, were an ever present
temptation to men whose passion had never known restraint. Thus
Berquin-Duvallon declares that concubinage was far more common than
marriage: "The rarity of marriage must necessarily be attributed to the
causes we have already assigned, to that state of celibacy, to that
monkish life, the taste for which is extending here more and more among
the men. In witness of what I advance on this matter, one single
observation will suffice, as follows: For the two and one-half years
that I have been in this colony not thirty marriages at all notable have
occurred in New Orleans and for ten leagues about it. And in this
district there are at least six hundred white girls of virtuous estate,
of marriageable age, between fourteen and twenty-five or thirty years."

This early observer receives abundant corroboration from other
travellers of the day. Paul Alliott, drawing a contrast between New
Orleans and St. Louis, another city with a considerable number of French
inhabitants, says: "The inhabitants of the city of St. Louis, like those
old time simple and united patriarchs, do not live at all in debauchery
as do a part of those of New Orleans. Marriage is honored there, and the
children resulting from it share the inheritance of their parents
without any quarrelling."[228] But, says Berquin-Duvallon, among a large
percentage of the colonists about New Orleans, "their taste for women
extends more particularly to those of color, whom they prefer to the
white women, because such women demand fewer of those annoying
attentions which contradict their taste for independence. A great
number, accordingly, prefer to live in concubinage rather than to marry.
They find in that the double advantage of being served with the most
scrupulous exactness, and in case of discontent or unfaithfulness, of
changing their housekeeper (this is the honorable name given to that
sort of woman)." Of course, such a scheme of life was not especially
conducive to happiness among white women, and, although as Alliott
declares, the white men "have generally much more regard for (negro
girls) in their domestic economy than they do for their legitimate
wives.... the (white) women show the greatest contempt and aversion for
that sort of women."

When moral conditions could shock an eighteenth century Frenchman they
must have been exceptionally bad; but the customs of the New Orleans
men were entirely too unprincipled for Berquin-Duvallon and various
other French investigators. "Not far from the taverns are obscene
bawdy houses and dirty smoking houses where the father on one side,
and the son on the other go, openly and without embarassment as well
as without shame, ... to revel and dance indiscriminately and for
whole nights with a lot of men and women of saffron color or quite
black, either free or slave. Will any one dare to deny this fact? I
will only designate, in support of my assertion (and to say no more),
the famous house of Coquet, located near the center of the city, where
all that scum is to be seen publicly, and that for several
years."[229]

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22