e bounds of reserve or regard for appearances. Much comparative
grossness prevailed. The mode of courting, known as "bundling" or
"tarrying" was too prevalent in colonial times to be ignored. A full
description of its extent, and an attempt to trace its origin, have been
given in a book on the subject prepared by Dr. H. R. Stiles, and with
much fairness in a pamphlet by Charles Francis Adams on "Some Phases of
Sexual Morality and Church Discipline in Colonial New England."

Its existence has been a standing taunt for years against New England,
and its prevalence has been held up as a proof of a low state of
morality in early New England society. Indeed, it was strange it could
so long exist in so austere and virtuous a colony; that it did, to a
startling extent, must be conceded; much proof is found in the books of
contemporary writers. Rev. Andrew Burnaby, who travelled in New England
in 1759-1760, says that though it may "at first appear to be the effects
of grossness of character, it will upon deeper research be found to
proceed from simplicity and innocence." To this assertion, after some
research, I can give--to use Sir Thomas Browne's words--"a staggering
assent to the affirmative, not without some fear of the negative." Rev.
Samuel Peters, in his General History of Connecticut, speaks at length
upon the custom, and apparently endeavors to prove that it was a very
prudent and Christian fashion. Jonathan Edwards raised his powerful
voice against it. It prevailed apparently to its fullest extent on Cape
Cod, and longest in the Connecticut valley, where many Dutch customs
were introduced and much intercourse with the Dutch was carried on. In
Pennsylvania, among the Dutch and German settlers and their descendants,
it lingered long; it was a matter of Court record as late as 1845. Yet
the custom of bundling has never been held to be a result of copying the
similar Dutch "queesting," which in Holland met with the sanction of
the most circumspect Dutch parents; and tergiversating Diedrich
Knickerbocker even asserted the contrary assumption, that the Dutch
learned of it from the Yankees. In Holland, as now in Wales and then in
New England, the custom arose not from a low state of morals, nor from a
disregard of moral appearances, but from the social and industrial
conditions under which such courting was done. The small size and
crowded occupancy of the houses, the alternative waste of lights and
fuel, the hours at which t