COUNTRY LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND 9 



with soap and sand until they were white and they were kept 

 so by the thrifty housekeeper. 



Nearly every town had a man whose occupation must have 

 been picturesque the hatter who made those enormous beaver 

 hats that looked almost like fur, that men wore years ago. It 

 took him a long time to make a hat, and when it was done the 

 owner wore it proportionately long. 



We New Englanders are all familiar with the costumes of a 

 hundred years ago. The Shakers still wear them when they 

 dress in their uniform. When Mother Ann Lee founded the 

 order, about 1793, the clothes as you see them now were the 

 ordinary clothes in vogue then. They have never changed the 

 style, unless of late years some of them have grown more worldly 

 and have adopted modern dress. And now, after a hundred 

 years of disuse, the stylish cloak of a former century is again in 

 demand. 



And when all the work was done, they gathered around the 

 great fireplace, in the candle-light. The light, even until kero- 

 sene came to be used, was very poor, and in those days one read 

 with the paper or book in one hand and the candle in the other, 

 so that it might be moved back and forth before the print. The 

 picture that one has is the coziest in the world, but contempor- 

 aries tell us that the reality was often far from the ideal. The 

 great chimneys, with their huge fires, created a draught which 

 brought the outer cold into the room, and fires really warmed but 

 a small area. Yet here, around this kitchen fire, centered all the 

 life of the home, all its comfort and its homeliness. 



Life was not all a grind to these good people, for they had 

 their social gatherings, and varied ones, too. First and fore- 

 most stood the church with its services, the social center of the 

 town. But when we remember that country towns were nearly 

 isolated from the outer world ; that the only travel was by the 

 slow method of stage-coach or private carriage, and was seldom 

 indulged in ; it seems natural that the people should have turned 

 to the church, where all were welcome in fact, where all must 

 go, or be labored with by the minister and deacons. So it came 

 to pass that this was the one thing in which all were interested, 

 in which all had a share. When we remember, too, how large a 

 part religion played in the minds and hearts of our ancestors, 



