18 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



no street-cars, no railroads, no locomotives (perhaps in all 

 the country two stationary engines), no steamboats, no iron- 

 clad ships, no breech-loading guns, no iron safes, no circular, 

 band, or jig saws, no telegraph, no illuminating-gas, no kero- 

 sene, no balloons, no elevators, no stereotype-plates (in this 

 country at least), no paper-making machinery (paper was all 

 made by hand), no lithographs (the age of chromo civiliza- 

 tion was not yet), no power-presses, no daily paper, no sew- 

 ing-machines, knitting-machines, pegging-machines, washing- 

 machines, wringing-machines, milking-machines, churning- 

 machines, no bean-shellers, cherry-stoners, raisin-seeders, 

 butter-workers, sausage-grinders, corn-poppers, cream-freezers, 

 dish-washers, egg-boilers, carpet-stretchers, knife-sharpeners, 

 lemon-squeezers, chicken-hatchers, baby-jumpers. Vaccina- 

 tion was unknown. Ether and chloroform as anaesthetics had 

 never been heard of. Gentlemen wore no silk hats, — beavers 

 instead, — and no pantaloons, only knee-breeches and stock- 

 ings ; and there was no need of Old Probabilities to tell 

 when to carry umbrellas, because there were no umbrellas 

 to carry. We may be inclined to pity the people who lived at 

 a time when all these things were unknown ; but if we reflect 

 that in those days the lightning-rod man and the life-insur- 

 ance agent had not made their appearance, that the voice of 

 the organ-grinder was not heard in the land, that the ballot- 

 stuffer and the bull-dozer were yet unknown to fame, and 

 that there were few, if any, tramps, and no book-agents, we 

 shall see that the advantage is by no means all on oiu* side. 



The diversions of the people were not numerous. In the 

 rural districts there were husking-bees, and paring-bees, and 

 quilting-bees ; and every " raising " was turned into a festi- 

 val. The heavy timber of the old houses and barns made it 

 necessary to have a large force of men on hand to raise the 

 "bents," after they were framed together; and, inasmuch as 

 nothing of this kind could be done without an ample supply 

 of the distilled extract of molasses, the building was not 

 usually the only thing raised at the " raising." 



It would be a pleasant diversion, if we had the time for it, 

 to turn now from the past to the future, — to bid the Muse 

 of history be silent, and invoke the Spirit of prophecy. Es- 

 pecially would we like to look out along the track which 

 our agricultural industries are to follow through the coming 



