were thus several languages spoken, and customs derived from different nations were introduced.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES.

Plantation Life.-In the South large plantations replaced the populous towns and villages of the North, and the modes of life differed accordingly. The planters, as they grew wealthy from the sale of their crops of tobacco, built themselves large mansions, handsomely furnished and ornamented. Within were broad stairways, and mantels and wainscots often of richly carved mahogany. The furniture was of solid oak and mahogany. Gold and silver plate often was visible in abundance on the sideboards, there being frequently an ostentatious display of wealth.

Each mansion had its numerous household of negro servants. The field hands had their separate quarters, each hut with its garden and poultry-yard. Most of the articles needed on the estate

vants ready to do all labor, so that it was considered degrading for a white man to work.

Hospitality. The warmest hospitality was displayed.

Life in those great mansions was often dull, and a traveller was a prize. News journeyed slowly, and important events were often learned only from some loquacious guest. A servant was sometimes posted on the high-road to look out for any respectable traveller on horseback. When one such appeared, the bowing and smiling negro would invite him to stop and spend the night at his master's mansion. Arrived there, he would be treated to the best in the house, and perhaps have a hunt or other sport got up for his enjoyment the next day. This hospitality had one bad effect, the inns were miserable. The planters robbed the landlords of all profitable custom.

La

Dress. Full dress here embraced three-cornered cocked hats, long velvet coats, with lace ruffles at the wrist, knee-breeches, white silk stockings, and shoes with silver buttons. The hair was worn long, powdered with white, and tied in a twist or queue with a black silk ribbon. dies also powdered their hair, and dressed in rich brocades or thick silks. Life moved in a stately, quiet way, unlike the present rush. The planters, having little to do at home, spent much of their time in the performance of political duties.

The Poor Whites.-It must not be imagined, however, that this class constituted the total population. There were large numbers of what were afterward known as poor whites, largely the descendants of indentured servants. Many of these lived in a state of degradation, vice, and ignorance. There was also a middle class of merchants and

traders in the towns. South Carolina, however, possessed only two well-defined classes, planters and slaves.

The Lower Colonies.-In the Carolinas and Georgia tobacco was replaced by other crops, but the life of the planter was much the same as in Virginia. In all these colonies gambling was very common, and constituted one of the main features of the horse-racing and cock-fighting which were the favorite amusements of the people.

Back in the country, toward the mountains, the people were poor, the land being divided into small farms, while many of the inhabitants spent their time in hunting. The settlers lived far apart, and their only roads were paths. In the woods these were indicated by notches cut in the trees. This was called "blazing the way."

Other Colonial Customs.-Lighting was poorly performed in old colony days. Lamps were almost unknown. The poorest people burned a wick in a vessel of grease or used torches of pitch-pine. Others made candles of tallow. In the South the wax of the candle-berry was often used for this purpose. The streets of large towns were poorly lighted. at night with dim lanterns. Stoves for heating were hardly known until a late period. Cooking-stoves were unknown. Wood was the only fuel used in houses. Children, and often their parents, went barefoot in summer. In the backwoods the dress was a loose hunting-shirt of deerskin or homespun, with buckskin leggings, moccasins, and fur cap. wore leather breeches until after the Revolution.

Workmen

Drinking Habits.-Drunkenness in time became a crying evil in the colonies, the use of intoxicating liquors becoming almost universal. Whiskey and rum were very freely drunk, most men taking five or six glasses a day, many much more. Nothing of importance could be transacted without drink. A jug of whiskey was supplied to the hands getting in hay.

In raising the timbers of a house or barn a large supply of liquor was deemed necessary. No bargain could be made without a dram. All classes drank, even the clergy. The sideboard with its decanter and glasses was looked upon as necessary furniture. This continued until 1826, when the temperance movement first actively began. Since then there has been a remarkable change in drinking habits.

PART IV.

THE ERA OF COLONIAL WARS.

1. KING WILLIAM'S WAR (1689-1697).

First Contests of the Whites.-During the early days of the occupation of America the colonists had mainly the savages to deal with as foes. The only contests between the whites were that between the Spaniards and French in Florida, already described, an attack on the French at Mount Desert, Maine, and Port Royal, Acadia, by Captain Argall, of Virginia, in 1614, and the capture of Quebec by Captain Kirk in 1629, during the war of Charles I. with France. All these produced no effect, Quebec being soon returned, and the situation of affairs left unchanged. Peace reigned from 1629 to 1689, when a struggle began which was to continue at intervals for over seventy years, and end in the expulsion of the French from America.

A Turning-Point.-The year 1689 was an important turning-point in American history. With it began the long struggle between England and France for colonial dominion. It inaugurated an era of war which continued, with intermissions, for nearly a century, and ended in the independence of the United States of America and the formation of a new government in 1789, just a century later. We have hitherto had to deal with the story of the thirteen colonies separately. We must now deal with them as one,