TICONBEROGA. 
293 
is a large house built of stone. On entering 
it we were shewn into a spacious apartment* 
crowded with boatmen and people that had 
just arrived from St. John's* in Canada. See¬ 
ing such a number of guests in the house* we 
expected nothing less than to be kept an hour 
or two till sufficient supper was prepared for 
the whole company* so that all might sit down 
at once together* which* as I have before said* 
is the custom in the country parts of the Unit¬ 
ed States. Our surprise therefore was great at 
perceiving’ a neat table and a comfortable little 
supper speedily laid out for us* and no attempts 
made at serving the rest of the company till we 
had quite finished. This was departing from 
the system of equality in a manner which we 
had never witnessed before* and we were at a 
loss for some time to account for it; but we 
presently heard that the woman of the house 
had kept a tavern for the greater part of her 
life at Quebec* which resolved the knotty point. 
The wife is generally the active person in ma¬ 
naging a country tavern* and the husband at¬ 
tends to his farm* or has some independant oc¬ 
cupation. The man of this house was a judge* 
a sullen demure old gentleman* who sat by the 
fire** -with tattered clothes and dishevelled 
* Though this was the 14th day of July* the weather wa* 
s© cold that we found a fire extremely agreeahie. 
