Rural Economy in New England 357 



"Tea and coffee constitute a part of the breakfast and supper of 

 every class, and of almost every individual."^ Coxe, speaking of 

 the whole country, said that teas were consumed freely by rich and 

 poor, and adds that in 1790 they formed one-seventh of the total 

 imports.2 In Barnstable County, Massachusetts, where the fisher- 

 farmers were able to purchase more from the outside than the in- 

 land folk, the plentiful consumption of this stimulant was thought 

 to be the cause of the prevalence of nervous complaints.^ The 

 difficulty with which tea and coffee were obtained by the inland 

 farmer is shown by the list of substitutes to which resort was occa- 

 sionally had. For tea, raspberry and blackberry leaves were used 

 and instead of coffee, parched rye and chestnuts, a«d even potatoes 

 roasted and ground to a powder.* 



Clothing — The Age of Homespun. 



In the matter of clothing the farm was quite as seK-sufficient as 

 in diet. The Age of Homespun ^ is a title which has been very appro- 

 priately applied to this period, recognizing as it does the predominant 

 importance of the domestic textile industries. All the evidence 

 available tends toward the conclusion that the inhabitants of the 

 rural towns, both men and women, were clothed in fabrics spun and 

 woven in their own homes from the wool and flax grown on their 

 own flocks and in their own fields. Statesmen such as Hamilton 

 and Gallatin early recognized the extent of this branch of domestic 

 industry. The former wrote in 1791: "Great quantities of coarse 

 cloths, coatings, serges, and flannels, linsey woolseys, hosiery of 



1 Travels, IV. 342. Both of these beverages were, however, of recent intro- 

 duction. Felt tells us that the colonists in Ipswich were unfamiliar with the 

 proper method of brewing tea until about 1760. Coffee had been used somewhat, 

 but only by the wealthier families, before the Revolution. History of Ipswich, p. 28. 



2 View of the U. S., p. 117. 



» See Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., I. 3: 13. 



< See Earle, Home Life, pp. 158-159; and Kittredge, The Old Farmer and His 

 Almanack, p. 185. These substitutes must have been nearly as unsatisfactory 

 as the bark of the prickly ash tree, which Belknap says was used by the back- 

 country people of New Hampshire instead of pepper. History of New Hamp- 

 shire, III. 125. 



5 This is the title of an address delivered by the Rev. Horace Bushnell at the 

 Centennial Celebration of Litchfield County, Conn., m 1851. It is contained in 

 a volume of his collected works entitled Work and Play. New York. 1864. pp. 

 368-402. In his address the author says much that is thoughtful and significant 

 concemmg the effects of the self-sufficient family economy on the formation of 

 individual character and on the social life of the village communities. 



