; a hairdresser asks twenty shilling a
month; washing costs four shillings a dozen."*

*Quoted by Henry Tuckerman, "America and her Commentators,"
1886.

An American writer of a later date, looking back upon his earlier years,
was impressed by this same extravagance, and his testimony may well be
used to strengthen the impression which it is the purpose of the present
narrative to convey:

"The French and British armies circulated immense sums of money in gold
and silver coin, which had the effect of driving out of circulation
the wretched paper currency which had till then prevailed. Immense
quantities of British and French goods were soon imported: our people
imbibed a taste for foreign fashions and luxury; and in the course of
two or three years, from the close of the war, such an entire change had
taken place in the habits and manners of our inhabitants, that it almost
appeared as if we had suddenly become a different nation. The staid
and sober habits of our ancestors, with their plain home-manufactured
clothing, were suddenly laid aside, and European goods of fine quality
adopted in their stead. Fine rues, powdered heads, silks and scarlets,
decorated the men; while the most costly silks, satins, chintzes,
calicoes, muslins, etc., etc., decorated our females. Nor was their diet
less expensive; for superb plate, foreign spirits, wines, etc., etc.,
sparkled on the sideboards of many farmers. The natural result of this
change of the habits and customs of the people--this aping of European
manners and morals, was to suddenly drain our country of its circulating
specie; and as a necessary consequence, the people ran in debt, times
became difficult, and money hard to raise."*

*Samuel Kercheval, "History of the Valley of Virginia," 1833,
pp. 199-200.

The situation was serious, and yet it was not as dangerous or even as
critical as it has generally been represented, because the fundamental
bases of American prosperity were untouched. The way by which Americans
could meet the emergency and recover from the hard times was fairly
evident first to economize, and then to find new outlets for their
industrial energies. But the process of adjustment was slow and painful.
There were not a few persons in the United States who were even disposed
to regret that Americans were not safely under British protection
and prospering with Great Britain, instead of suffering in political
isolation.

CHAPTER II