een a great deterioration of the public
morals.--If the words of the aged are to be received as true, the
very reverse is the fact. The revolutionary war left the whole
country as well depraved in morals as exhausted in resources.
This was particularly the case with such towns as Salem, which
had been largely exposed to the irresistibly corrupting influence
of privateering.

At that time, when the population of Salem was not half so great
as it is at present, more riot, debauchery, and vice, obtruded
themselves upon the sight in a week, than could now be discovered
by diligent search in a month. The corruption of manners was so
general, that almost none escaped from its contaminating
influence. Mechanics and other laboring men would leave their
business in the day, and their families in the evening, to spend
their time, dancing and drinking, in the dens of pollution which
then abounded in "Naugus-Hole" and "Button-Hole." Merchants,
professional men, &c. passed a great part of their time in
taverns, drinking and gambling. Quarrelling and fighting there
were not uncommon, and well-worn packs of cards were always lying
about the bar-room tables, (though seldom long unemployed,) ready
for the use of visitors,--the common game on these occasions
being All-Fours, and the common stake a bowl of punch or a mug of
flip. Pastimes like the above named, were current in every class
of society. When the regular hours of drinking approached, the
workmen left their labour to play at cards, the loser "treating
the shop's crew." In a large establishment a boy would be kept
running with his jug nearly the whole time, the contents being
freely shared amongst master, journeymen, boys, and numerous
visitors.

At this time, and long afterward, infamous houses were kept open
day and night, in the quarters of the town named in the preceding
paragraph. The fiddles were kept in constant motion, and if any
thought of stopping them they did not dare to attempt it. The
most flagrant disorders and outrages were continually occurring,
so that a timid man would go far out of his way to avoid passing
near those places. The churches on Sunday were not nearly so well
attended as they now are. The proportion of persons who made the
Sabbath a day of recreation, was much gre