practical wisdom, learned not so much from books as from the daily
school of farm and shop life. The hired man of that time was the
occasional unattached member of society, or one who was forced out of
the family hive by the excess of hands and the deficiency of land.
Commonly the family itself supplied the necessary laborers, and these
all in their youth, no matter what intellectual promise they might give,
were, as a matter of course, parts of the regular farm company.

The jack-of-all-trades character of the farmer and the absence of a
force of artisans and special craftsmen easily compelled a state of
mutual dependence. If a house or a barn were to be built, the
neighborhood was called in at the critical moment to raise the frame;
and the farmer who asked the help made his acknowledgment not only by
serving when his neighbor needed him, but by acting as host to the
company, and making the raising a time of good cheer and hilarity.
Harvest also gave opportunity for mutual help and neighborly charity, so
that much of the social life of the day grew naturally out of the common
work and occupation of the community. In-doors it was the same, and
quilting bees and huskings and spinning bees made work and play shade
into each other. A community where every one worked and each might be
needed by his neighbor would scarcely suffer very marked distinctions of
rank; and in the lighter social life, which made no pretense of work,
the sleighing parties and athletic sports, the suppers and dances which
followed the bees, an equality of condition was assumed, very favorable
to self-respect and independence of judgment. It is to be noticed that
the substitution of alphabetical order in college classes for a rank
based upon social distinction occurred earlier at Yale than at Harvard,
and it is not unlikely that the more democratic life of Connecticut had
something to do with it.

Distinctions, however, there were, but they were laid chiefly in reasons
which all were willing to accept. The magistrate and the clergyman,
though familiar associates of the plainer people, were conceded a
deference which superior education, and not superior birth, compelled,
and without question the road to eminence was held to lie through
education. No one dreamed of securing the special honor of the community
except by this means, and in every family a boy who showed intellectual
promise was encouraged to hope for a college education. His college
educ