Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 143 



girls learnt much more than reading, writing, and 

 ciphering up to the rule of three. 39 Where the 

 school-houses existed they were only dark, mean 

 log-huts, and if in the southern colonies, were gen- 

 erally placed in the so-called "old fields," or aban- 

 doned farms grown up with pines. The schoolmas- 

 ter boarded about with the families ; his learning was 

 rarely great, nor was his discipline good, in spite of 

 the frequency and severity of the canings. The 

 price for such tuition was at the rate of twenty 

 shillings a year, in Pennsylvania currency. 40 



Each family did everything that could be done 

 for itself. The father and sons worked with axe, 

 hoe, and sickle. Almost every house " contained a 

 loom, and almost every woman was a weaver. , Lin- 

 sey-woolsey, made from flax grown near the cabin, 

 and of wool from the backs of the few sheep, was 

 the warmest and most substantial cloth; and when 

 the flax crop failed and the flocks were destroyed 

 by wolves, the children had but scanty covering to 

 hide their nakedness. The man tanned the buck- 

 skin, the woman was tailor and shoemaker, and 

 made the deer-skin sifters to be used instead of bolt- 

 ing-cloths. There were a few pewter spoons in use ; 

 but the table furniture consisted mainly of hand- 

 made trenchers, platters, noggins, and bowls. The 

 cradle was of peeled hickory bark. 41 Plowshares had 

 to be imported, but harrows and sleds were made 

 without difficulty; and the cooper work was well 



39 McAfee MSS. Watson. 



41 McAfee MSS. See also Doddridge and Watson. 



