Thus, we have had glimpses of social life, with its pleasures, throughout the colonies.  Perhaps, it was a trifle too cautious in Massachusetts, a little fearful lest the mere fact that a thing was pleasant might make it sinful; perhaps in early New York it was a little too physical, though generally innocent, smacking a little too much of rich, heavy foods and drink; perhaps among the Virginians it echoed too often with the bay of the fox hound and the click of racing hoofs.  But certainly in the latter half of the eighteenth century whether in Massachusetts, the Middle Colonies, or Virginia and South Carolina social activities often showed a culture, refinement and general eclat which no young nation need be ashamed of, and which, in fact, were far above what might justly have been expected in a country so little touched by the hand of civilized man.  In the main, those were wholesome, sane days in the English colonies, and life offered almost as pleasant a journey to most Americans as it does to-day.

FOOTNOTES: 

[153] Tyler:  England in America, p. 115, American Nation Series.

[154] The Jeffersonian System, p. 218, American Nation Series.

[155] Ibid., p. 115.

[156] Page 89.

[157] Ravenel:  Eliza Pinckney, p. 227.

[158] Ravenel:  Elisa Pinckney, p. 13.

[159] Wharton:  Martha Washington, p. 166.

[160] Ravenel:  E.  Pinckney, p. 20.

[161] Pages 46-48.

[162] Ravenal:  Eliza Pinckney, p. 49.

[163] Wharton:  Martha Washington, p. 56.

[164] Wharton:  Martha Washington, p. 186.

[165] Page 205.

[166] Vol.  I, p. 116.

[167] Vol.  I, p. 31.

[168] Vol.  I, p. 143.

[169] Vol.  I, p. 171.

[170] Vol.  I, p, 191.

[171] Diary, p. 189.

[172] Diary, p. 289.

[173] Diary, p. 321.

[174] Diary, p. 119.

[175] Diary, p. 54.

[176] Diary, p. 121.

[177] Diary, p. 69.

[178] Vol.  III, p. 43.

[179] Vol.  III, p. 341.

[180] Vol.  II, p. 367.

[181] Vol.  III, p. 7.

[182] Vol.  II, p. 14.

[183] Vol.  II, p. 20.

[184] Vol.  II, p. 32.

[185] Vol.  I, p. 481.

[186] Vol.  I, p. 202.

[187] Vol.  I, p. 195.

[188] Vol.  II, p. 175.

[189] Vol.  III, p. 292.

[190] Andrews:  Colonial Self-Government, p. 302, American Nation Series.

[191] Diary, Vol.  II, p. 109.

[192] Diary, Vol.  I, p. 125.

[193] Diary, Vol.  II, p. 158.

[194] Diary, Vol.  I, p. 145.