Greater than all was the difference in the matter of slavery. It was introduced into all the colonies but flourished especially in the south, where the intense heat of the sun made it difficult or dangerous for Europeans to work in the fields. The ease-loving nature of the planters was thus increased, classdistinctions were encouraged, and the institution grew into vast proportions. In the north, though all the colonies had slaves within their borders at the commencement of the Revolution, it was gradually discouraged and finally abandoned. Thus it happened that a century after the pe

riod of which we are now writing, the north and the south found themselves arrayed in arms against each other.

The habits of the people differed everywhere. The English, the Dutch, and the French; the Puritans and the Quakers; the farmers in one portion of the coun

THE STOCKS.

try and the planters in another; the inhabitants of towns and the pioneers on the frontier; the sailor, the merchant, and the backwoodsman must necessarily have diverse habits and different costumes. There was little elegance among any of them; for the eighteenth century among the middle classes even in England was a period of so few household comforts and conveniences compared with our own that it is difficult to realize it.

The early settler lived in a log-cabin, often surrounded by palisades for protection against the Indians; rode on horseback with his wife behind him on a pillion; used oiled paper instead of glass for his windows; dressed in homespun; had for bread coarse

rye and Indian, with little or no coffee or tea. Gradually, of course, this rude condition was improved as towns grew and became the centers of civilization and wealth increased in the colonies. But even now there was much necessary simplicity in their style of living. Luxuries were rare. Stage-coaches hung on straps instead of springs were in use, but lumbered slowly along the poor roads. Two days were occupied in going from Boston to Providence-the 'first regular stage-route, established about 1772. Coaches and roads, however, were not good even in Eng, land.

The quarter of the country of most educational progress was New England. It is said that at this period there was not a single grown person, born in this country, who could not read and write. The middle colonies, except Pennsylvania, were not so well provided with educational facilities, and in the south the schools were chiefly for the wealthier classes. Newspapers were few, owing to the lack of large towns. The first periodical in America was the Bos ton News-Letter, published in 1704. In 1721 the fourth periodical, the New England Courant, was published by James Franklin, assisted by his younger brother Benjamin. At the close of the French and Indian War there were not more than ten newspapers pub. lished in the colonies. Publications of others sorts were proportionally few.

Notwithstanding the lack of American works, however, there were men of wide reading and culture. Such were Franklin, the Adamses, Thomas Jefferson, and others whose names we shall meet in the stirring time which was now approaching. But the arts and sciences were little developed. The clergy were the chief class of educated men, and they, with lawyers and physicians, were more highly esteemed in the north than in the south. But centers of education

were being established. Before the Revolution began there were nine colleges scattered through the colonies-Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, King's (now Columbia), Brown, Queen's (now Rutgers), Dartmouth, and Hampden and Sydney. The first medical college was established at Philadelphia in 1764.

The population of the colonies in 1760 amounted

A WEDDING-JOURNEY.

to 1,695,000. Of these, 1,385,000 were white, and the remainder, 310,000, negroes. The blacks were much more numerous in the south. For instance: In 1754 there were in New England only about 14,000 blacks, and in the middle colonies, including Maryland, only about 71,000, while south of the Potomac there were about 178,000. In 1760 Virginia contained the greatest population of any of the colonies-284,000, but of these only 168,000 were of European ancestry; while Massachusetts had a white population of over 200,000. Pennsylvania. Connecticut,

Maryland, and New York came next, and so on to Georgia, which contained, all told, less than 5,000 inhabitants.

The manufacturing interests were small at the time of the Revolution, owing chiefly to the restrictions placed upon them by the jealousy of England. Such as they were, they were chiefly centered in New England. Ship-building was an important industry. Coasting-vessels provided for the small commerce between the colonies and carried passengers from point to point along the coast. Some trade was also carried on with foreign ports. New York, Philadelphia, and Boston were the commercial centers of the country, but at the time of the Revolution the exports of the colonies were only about £4,000,000 and the imports £3,500,000.

The Americans, however, were for the most part an agricultural people. In Virginia tobacco and in the Carolinas and Georgia rice were the most important crops. Cotton, indigo, wheat, maize, potatoes, hemp, and flax were also raised. Tar and turpentine were obtained from the trees. The middle colonies raised wheat, maize, and other grains, and New York enjoyed a profitable fur-trade. New England, besides its cultivation of soil producing various grains, possessed rich fishing grounds and also sent out whalingvessels.

The post-office system was poorly developed. As early as 1692 a patent had been granted for establishing postal service, and when the patent expired, in 1710, the British service was extended to the colo nies. But it was badly managed, and in 1776 there were but seventy-five post-offices in the country. Money was scarce and trade was largely by barter. Massachusetts was the first colony to coin money, which she had commenced to do in 1652 by the establishment of a mint, from which was issued the "pine-tree shilling" and other pieces.

Such was the political, commercial, and social condition of the colonies when the whisperings of revolt began to be heard through the land. The second period of our history, the period during which the separate colonies were founded and firmly established, draws to a close. The time had come when they were to be united and independent, and we may now pass to the history of the American Revolution