men and women were as fond of display
as their descendants.

In the earliest days, all the houses were made of logs, and oiled paper
took the place of glass for windows. Carpets were an unknown luxury.
Often the floor was the smooth, hard ground. The cooking was done in the
big fireplace, where an iron arm called a crane was swung over the fire
and sustained the pots and kettles. Coal and matches were unknown, a
fire being started by means of a piece of steel and flint or with the
help of a sun glass.

Coffee and tea were great luxuries, but nearly every family made its own
beer. Rum and hard cider were drunk by church people as well as others,
the only fault being when one drank too much. The important cities and
towns were connected by stages, but most of the traveling was done on
foot or horseback. Since most of the settlements were near the sea or on
large rivers, long journeys were made by means of coasting sloops. When
a line of stages in 1766 made the trip between New York and Philadelphia
in two days, it was considered so wonderful that the vehicles were
called "flying machines."

Regarding the state of religion in the colonies, Prof. George F. Holmes
says:

"The state of religion among the people differed greatly in the
different provinces. The Church of England was the established religion
in New York, Virginia, and the Carolinas. In Maryland, the population
remained largely Roman Catholic. In New England the original Puritanism
was dominant, but its rigor had become much softened. A solemn and
somewhat gloomy piety, however, still prevailed. The Presbyterians were
numerous, influential, and earnest in New Jersey. There, but especially
in Pennsylvania, were the quiet and gentle Quakers. In Carolina and
Georgia, Moravians and other German Protestants were settled, and
Huguenot families were frequent in Virginia and South Carolina.

"Everywhere, however, was found an intermixture of creeds, and
consequently the need of toleration had been experienced. Laxity of
morals and of conduct was alleged against the communities of the
Anglican Church. In the middle of the eighteenth century a low tone of
religious sentiment was general. The revival of fervor, which was
incited then by the Wesleys, was widely spread by Whitefield in America,
and Methodism was making itself felt throughout the country. The
Baptists were spreading in different colonies and were acquiring
influence by their earnest simplicity. They fav