ays of the early New Englander were not all dark. There was much of
the austere in them, but there was also a grain of mirth and
cheerfulness. We must bear in mind that the clergymen were the early
historians of the country; and they put much gloom in their writings.
The mirthful side of social life was expressed at the parties and
meetings for hilarity; for such they often had. The young delighted
themselves in each other's company, the same as to-day. The young gent
and his lady either walked to the party, or rode on one horse. Parties
began in better season than now. The assembly met in the latter part of
the afternoon, and the dancing, where dancing was the order, began at
about four o'clock. This was truly in good season, but, if our
information is correct, they kept even later hours than the parties of
to-day.

In Froude's recent "Life of Thomas Carlyle" is a conversation alluding
to Thurtill's trial: "I have always thought him a respectable man." "And
what do you mean by respectable?" "He kept a gig." A century ago it
evidenced pre-eminent respectability to support such a vehicle. It was a
wonderful conveyance in the eyes of the ordinary folk. With the
coming-in of gigs and carts, where the element of pleasure was sought as
well as service, came not alone improvement in vehicles, but the
widening and general improvement of the highways. The New England inn
was a place of great resort. In the poverty of newspapers, people came
here to gain what news there might be. The innholder was a leading man
in the community. He got the news from the driver and passengers of the
stage-coach, and of the travellers who chanced to be passing through the
town. The innholder knew the public men of the country, for they had
partaken of his sumptuous dinners, and had lodged at his inn. If the
walls of these ancient New England taverns could talk, what stories
would they tell; not of debauches alone, but, in the dark and stirring
days, of patriotic and loyal sentiments and deeds, whose influence went
out for the founding of the nation, and the perpetuity of the blessings
of freedom. He who strives to know of early New England, must not look
alone to the learning, character and influence of its ministers, but to
the manners, life, and influence of the innholders.

The town meeting was the day of days. The citizens of the town met to
consult and devise plans for their common welfare. "Citizen" in the very
early time meant "freeman," a