Customs and Fashions in Old New England

by Alice Morse Earle

We have a very distinct rendering of the items of family expense, chiefly of food, at about that time, given us by a contemporary authority, and bequeathed to us in a letter to the Boston News Letter of November 28, 1728. The writer refers to other "scheams of expence" for a household which have been made public, one apparently being at the rate of £250 a year for the entire outlay. This sum he thinks inadequate and "disproves in a moment." He gives his own careful estimate of the cost of keeping a family of eight persons. It is computed for "Families of Midling Figure who bear the Character of being Genteel," and reads thus:

"For Diet. For one Person a Day.
1 Breakfast 1d. a Pint of Milk 2d	.03
2 Dinner. Pudding Bread Meat Roots Pickles Vinegar
Salt & Cheese	.09
N.B. In this article of the Dinner I would include all
the Raisins Currants Suet Flour Eggs Cranberries
Apples & where there are children all their Intermeal
Eatings throughout the whole Year. And I think a
Gentleman cannot well Dine his family at a lower Rate
than this.
3 Supper As the Breakfast	.03
4 Small Beer for the Whole Day Winter & Summer.	1½
N.B. In this article of the Beer I would likewise
include all the Molasses used in the Family not
only in Brewing but on other Occasions.

For one Person a Day in all		1s.	4½d.
For Whole Family		11s.
For the Whole Family 365 days	£200	15s.
For Butter, 2 Firkins at 68 lb. apiece, 16d. a lb.	£ 9	1s.
For Sugar. Cannot be less than 10s. a Month or
4 weeks especially when there are children.	£ 6	10s.
For Candles but 3 a Night Summer & Winter
for Ordinary & Extraordinary occasions at
15d. for 9 in the lb.	£ 7	12s.	.01
For Sand 20s. Soap 40s. Washing Once in 4
weeks at 3s. a time with 3 Meals a Day at 2s.
more	£ 6	5s.
For One Maids Wages	£ 10
For Shoes after the Rate of each 3 Pair in a year
at 9s. a Pair for 7 Persons, the Maid finding
her own	£ 9	09s.
	——	——	——
In all	£249	12s.	5d.

No House Rents Mentioned Nor Buying Carting Pyling or Sawing Firewood
No Coffee Tea nor Chocolate
No Wine nor Cyder nor any other Spirituous Liquor
No Pipes Tobacco Spice nor Sweetmeats
No Hospitality or Occasional Entertaining either Gentlemen Strangers
Relatives or Friends
No Acts of Charity nor Contributions for Pious Uses
No Pocket Expenses either for Horse Hire Travelling or Convenient
Recreations
No Postage for Letters or Numberless other Occasions
No Charges of Nursing
No Schooling for Children
No Buying of Books of any Sort or Pens Ink & Paper
No Lyings In
No Sickness, Nothing to Apothecary or Doctor
No Buying Mending or Repairing Household Stuff or Utensils
Nothing to the Simstress nor to the Taylor nor to the Barber,
nor to the Hatter nor to the Shopkeeper & Therefore no Cloaths."

Certainly we gain from this "scheam" a very clear notion of the style of living of this genteel Boston family.

There is, of course, no possibility of exactly picturing the serving of a meal in early days; but one peculiarity is known of the dinner—the pudding came first. Hence the old saying, "I came in season—in pudding-time." In an account of a Sunday dinner given at the house of John Adams, as late as 1817, the first course was a pudding of Indian corn, molasses, and butter; the second, veal, bacon, neck of mutton, and vegetables.

For many years the colonists "dined exact at noon," and on farms even half an hour earlier. On Saturday all ate fish for dinner. Judge Sewall frequently speaks of his Saturday dinner of fish. Fish days had been prescribed by the King in England, in order that the fisheries might not fail of support, as was feared on account of the increased consumption of meat induced by the reformation in religion. New Englanders loyally followed the mandate, but ate cod-fish on Saturdays, since the Papists ate fish on Fridays.

One very pleasant and friendly custom that existed among these kindly New England neighbors must be spoken of in passing. It is thus indicated by Judge Sewall when he writes, in 1723, of Mr. and Mrs. Belcher, "my wife sent them a taste of her Diner." It appeared to be a recompensing fashion, if invited guests were unable to partake of the dinner festivities, or if neighbors were ill, for the hostess to send a "taste" of all her viands to console them for their deprivation. This truly homely and neighborly custom lingered long in old New England families under the very descriptive title of "cold party;" indeed it lingers still in old-fashioned towns and in old-fashioned families.

In earlier days when a noble dinner seemed to be the form of domestic pleasure next in enjoyment to a funeral, a "taste of the dinner" was truly a most honorable attention, and a most pleasing one.

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