the world, so seductive to youth.

They did not go in to the city house, which was being repaired and
cleaned. Many people owned farms along the banks of the Schuylkill and
in the outlying places, where choice fruits of all kinds were
cultivated, melons and vegetables for winter use as well as summer
luxury. For people had to provide for winter, and there was much
pickling and preserving and candying of fruits, and storing commoner
things so that they would keep well.

The houses were large, if rambling and rather plain, with porches wide
enough to dance on on the beautiful moonlight nights. And there were
sailing and rowing on the river, lovely indeed then with its shaded
winding banks, mysterious nooks, and little creeks that meandered gently
through sedgy grass and rested on the bosom of their mother, lost in her
tenderness.

Parties of young people often met for the afternoon and evening. There
would be boating and dancing and much merrymaking. The people of this
section were less strenuous than the New Englanders. They affiliated
largely with their neighbors to the South. Indeed, many of the business
men owned tobacco plantations in Maryland and Virginia. They kept in
closer contact with the mother country as well. Madam Wetherill herself
had crossed the ocean several times and brought home new fashions and
court gowns and manners. The English novelists and poets were quite well
read, and, though the higher education of women was not approved of,
there were bright young girls who could turn an apt quotation, were
quick at repartee, and confided to their bosom friend that they had
looked over Sterne and Swift. They could indite a few verses on the
marriage of a friend, or the death of some loved infant, but pretty,
attractive manners and a few accomplishments went farther in the gentler
sex than much learning.

The Friends who were in society were not so over strict as to their
attire. Those who lived much alone on the farms, like Lois Henry, or led
restricted lives in the town, pondered much on how little they could
give to the world. But they took from it all they could in thriftiness
and saving.

Young Mrs. Penn and Mrs. Logan and many another indulged in pretty gear,
and grays that went near to lavender and peachy tints. There were
pearl-colored brocades and satins, and dainty caps of sheerest material
that allowed the well-dressed hair to show quite distinctly. There was
also a certain gayety and spright