Drink.
Although for a short time the colonists might have had to use water, yet that did not change their taste for other drinks, and through manufactures and importations, the country became flooded with liquors and the drink-habit became universal. There was no class of people among the colonists that would be considered temperate according to present-day standards. Drink was a part of every transaction, of every doing in both public and private life, as, auctions, buyings and sellings, signing a deed, drawing up a contract; house-raisings, the moving into a new house, the arrival and departure of friends; the election of officers, the assembling of a court, the arbitration of a suit; funerals, weddings, the birth of a child; the ordaining of deacons, the induction of a new minister, the assembling of a body of clergymen, the opening of a yearly Quaker meeting, and even religious meetings in private houses.
"In Boston, and perhaps elsewhere, the great punch-bowl came on the table first of all; the master of the house, after setting an example, sent around the table the cup that he had drunk from, that each guest might drink in turn. A 'generous bottle' of fiery Madeira topped off every dinner among the gentry in New York. In Virginia a host now and then showed his hospitality by locking the door and cheerily notifying his guests that no man might depart until all were drunk."[294]
As was stated above, before coming to this country the colonists were unaccustomed to the use of water as a constant beverage and upon arriving in America they complained bitterly at having to drink water. They not only considered it a hardship to be deprived of their accustomed drinks, but also they had been trained to consider it dangerous to health to drink water. Water was believed to contain matter injurious to health and so they really seemed to have dreaded its use and all the more so because in those days there was no analyzing of the water to learn of its ingredients and the mystery and lore surrounding it made it seem all the more dangerous. Being compelled to use water upon their arrival in America, the Puritan settlers were greatly surprised that instead of being injurious it was found to agree with them and that there was improvement in health instead of deterioration. This fact so impressed Governor Winthrop that he continued water as a constant drink in his family and in 1630 he stopped the custom of drinking healths at his table. This example of their chief officer must have had its influence, for laws were passed against excessive drinking and drunkenness and against drinking healths in public and thus was tried to keep down so great drinking. These laws had some good effects for during the seventeenth century, judged at least by the standards of their times, it would appear for the great part that the New Englanders were sober and law-abiding.
It must be recognized that at the time of the settlement of America by European colonies, alcoholic stimulants were considered a necessary part of living, about as necessary a provision as bread, and, further, that water was looked upon as really dangerous to health. So it need not be so greatly wondered at that the colonists were so much given to drink almost anything and everything but water and also it may account somewhat for the many kinds of drinks, for not only were they seeking drinks that were palatable but also that were healthful. They not only imported all kinds of drinks but manufactured them here and likewise experimented with materials that were found here but not in Europe, as the Indian corn and other plants. Yet the above does not hide the fact that the colonists were great drinkers and that they drank because they wanted to and would have drank, excuse or no excuse. Nevertheless, there were efforts made against drunkenness even in those days and some good starts made, too.
The colonists made whisky from rye, wheat, barley, and also from potatoes and Indian corn. They imported rum from the West Indies and, too, imported the molasses and made the rum themselves. "The making of rum aided and almost supported the slave-trade in this country. The poor negroes were bought on the coast of Africa by New England sea-captains and merchants and paid for with barrels of New England rum. These slaves were then carried on slave-ships to the West Indies, and sold at a large profit to planters and slave-dealers for a cargo of molasses. This was brought to New England, distilled into rum, and sent off to Africa. Thus the circle of molasses, rum, and slaves was completed."[295] Beer was the first drink, and even among the very first articles imported from England by the Puritan settlers. They soon learned to make beer from the Indian corn and "the pious Puritans quickly learned to cheat in their brewing, using molasses and coarse sugar."[296] The Dutch established breweries at New York and Albany and they were great beer-drinkers. The English colonists, both in New England and in Virginia, were not such great users of beer, but found other drinks to take its place. One such drink was metheglin or mead, made from honey, yeast, and water in England, while in this country it was learned as well to make it from the sweet-bean of the honey-locust and also by a concoction of honey and a liquid from a mixture of various herbs, and which was considered a fine drink. In Virginia a home-made beer was made from Indian corn meal, from the green stalks of the Indian corn, from baked cakes of a paste of persimmons, from potatoes, and from artichokes. In New England the small beer was made by a mixture of a decoction made from spruce or birch or sassafras twigs and molasses and water or by boiling the twigs in the sap of the sugar maple. There were plenty of wines imported and vineyards were planted and wines were made by the colonists. Also brandies were imported and manufactured.
As apple orchards increased and apples became plentiful, cider became the great drink in New England. It became the common drink of the people and it was made in vast quantities. It was very cheap and used everywhere, being used in large amounts by students at college, given to children at meals, furnished to travelers and to Indians, and indeed to any one who wished it. "Beverige" was another common drink, mild in its character, made in various ways, one way being of water flavored with molasses and ginger. Another such drink was sillabub, in one form made of cider with sugar, nutmeg, and cream added. There were many other kinds of drinks, as, switchel, similar to beverige, ebulum made from the juice of the elder and juniper berries mixed with ale and spices, perry made from pears, peachy made from peaches, apple-jack distilled from cider, flip made of small beer and sweetened with sugar or molasses or dried pumpkin and rum added and also made in other ways. Beside all the drinks enumerated here there were various other kinds.
"A terrible drink is said to have been popular in Salem—a drink with a terrible name—whistle-belly-vengeance. It consisted of sour household beer simmered in a kettle, sweetened with molasses, filled with brown-bread crumbs and drunk piping hot."[297]
In the early years of the colonists, they did not have tea or coffee or chocolate as drinks since they were not in use in England at the time. It was not till about the last third of the seventeenth century that these drinks were introduced into the colonies and it was not till the first part of the eighteenth century that their use had become any ways general. About this time came the porcelain ware specially designed for the use of tea and lacquered tables on which to serve it and tea-drinking became fashionable throughout the country. In Virginia upon the calling of the young men of afternoons the young ladies served them with tea. The Dutch of New York served tea with a lump of sugar at each cup, which was placed in the mouth and kept there while the tea was being sipped. In the early introduction of tea into New England, it was not understood just how to prepare it. Sometimes the tea was boiled quite a while till it was bitter and then drank without milk or sugar. Again, after the boiling of the tea the liquid was poured off and the cooked leaves eaten and to make them more to the taste the leaves were buttered and salted. It is unexplainable how people who were not afraid of any drink whatever providing it was not water should have feared to drink tea, and yet such was the case. "When tea-drinking began to be general there were many utterances against it, such terms being used as "detestable weed," "base exotick," "rank poison far-fetched and dear bought," "base and unworthy Indian drink." Many ill effects were ascribed to tea-drinking, such as the frequent decay and loss of teeth in America and ill-health in general and as being especially injurious to the mind. During the time just before and at the Revolution tea was proscribed by the women loyal to the cause of America and many substitutes arose, as, the raspberry, loose-strife, goldenrod, dittany, blackberry, yaupon, sage, strawberry, currant, thoroughwort, ribwort, and many others. Of all the substitute tea-drinks, Liberty Tea was the most esteemed. "It was thus made: the four-leaved loose-strife was pulled up like flax, its stalks were stripped of the leaves and boiled; the leaves were put in an iron kettle and basted with the liquor from the stalks. Then the leaves were put in an oven and dried. Liberty Tea sold for sixpence a pound. It was drunk at every spinning-bee, quilting, or other gathering of women."[298]
"At the time of the Stamp Act, when patriotic Americans threw the tea into Boston harbor, Americans were just as great tea-drinkers as the English. Now it is not so. The English drink much more tea than we do; and the habit of coffee-drinking, first acquired in the Revolution, has descended from generation to generation, and we now drink more coffee than tea. This is one of the differences in our daily life caused by the Revolution."[299]
In 1670 a license to sell coffee and chocolate was granted for an inn in Boston, which seems to be the first mention of the use of coffee. From this time on, other innkeepers obtained license to sell coffee and then came the establishment of regular coffee-houses. This drink also came into use in private families and coffee-pots and coffee-mugs and coffee dishes were brought in expressly for this use. As with tea, some people did not know at first how to prepare the coffee and so sometimes the whole beans were boiled without being crushed or ground. It is presumed that then the liquor was poured off and the cooked beans eaten as in the case with the leaves of the tea, but no statements are made that such was really the fact. Chocolate, too, came into use at this time, and it soon became quite a popular drink and mills to grind the cocoa were established in Boston.
Whatever prejudice the colonists may have had against the use of water as a drink, they certainly had none against the use of milk. Milk was used from the first and cows were increased in number and milk became very cheap, as in 1630 the statement was made by a minister of that time that milk cost but a penny a quart in Salem. It is found that writers among the colonists placed as being used together milk and bread, milk and hasty pudding, milk and baked apples, and milk and berries.