Manners And Customs.

We have little record of the Swedish settlers along the Delaware previous to the coming of Penn in 1682, but from these meagre accounts we learn that the houses of the early Swedish settlers were built of logs, and the doors were so low that a person of ordinary stature was compelled to stoop in entering or leaving the buildings, while the apartments within had low ceilings, hardly over six feet in the clear, and the roughly-hewed rafters supporting the roof were devoid of laths and plaster. The windows were small, mere frames set in the logs, and although the families who indulged in more costly luxuries than their neighbors had the openings glazed with isinglass, in general only a rough board slide shut out the cold on extreme winter days, and was usually closed during the night. The chimneys, with huge fireplaces, were occasionally built of gray sandstone, but often the stacks were erected of turf on the outside of the houses. In many of the early dwellings small rooms just large enough to spread a bed were partitioned off from the main lower apartments, and the floors were laid in stone, or, oftener, simply clay, which by constant use became very hard.

With the English settlers came many of the improvements which the progressive age between 1640 and 1680 had introduced into general use, but so rapid was the influx of immigrants, mostly Friends, fleeing from the religious oppression they had been subjected to in the mother-country, that habitation could not be erected quickly enough to supply the demand, even where the simple form of building suggested by Penn¹ was constructed, and many families sought shelter in great trees, while others of the new-comers were compelled, in many instances, to dig caves in the ground, near the river-bank and those of the creeks, wherein they took up their abode until they could construct permanent habitations. These caves were mere excavations or cellars in the bank, and were about three feet in depth, while over these openings brush was placed so as to form an arched roof about six feet in the clear, which was covered with sods. In such a cave as this Emanuel Grubb was born, near Upland, in 1682. The sufferings of these settlers were great, for it should be remembered that most of them were "not people of low circumstances, but substantial livers," and in the work of constructing these rude habitations women who had been used to all the refinements and comforts of English life at that day were compelled to take part, and aided their husbands and fathers therein, for hired labor was scarce and could hardly be had at any price.

	£.	s.	d.
For the carpenter's work for such a House, I and my servants assisting him together with his Diet	7	00
For a Barn of the same Building and Dimensions	5	00
For Nails and other things to finish Both	3	10

"The lower floor is the Ground, the upper Clabboard. This may seem a mean way of Building, but 'tis sufficient and safest for ordinary beginners." (Direction to such persons as are inclined to America, 1682, Penn. Mag. of Hist., vol. iv. p. 334.)

The log cabins of the early settlers were generally built on low ground for a twofold purpose, to be near a spring of water and for protection from the bleak and piercing winds of winter. In the construction of these habitations the logs were notched together at the corners, which after being raised were hewn down both inside and outside, while the spaces between the logs were filled in or "chinked" with stones or wood, and then plastered over with mortar or clay. The roofs were covered with oak shingles. Locks in ordinary use were unknown; the doors were opened by strings, which on being pulled from the outside raised heavy wooden latches within, to which they were made fast, and intrusion was prevented when the inmates pulled the latch-strings in at the outer doors. From this common practice originated the ancient saying descriptive of generous hospitality, "The latch-string is always out." The chimneys of the English settlers, as well as those of the Swedish houses, were of immense size, frequently capable of receiving a cord-wood stick, in those days when wood was abundant and the cold intense. Frequently, too, benches would be placed at each side of the chimney so that persons could seat themselves near to and enjoy the blaze, particularly when the heat therefrom to a large percentage was drawn up the stack and discharged into the atmosphere outside.

As heretofore stated, a number of the English settlers were in good circumstances, and before many years brick and stone dwellings were erected. In the towns this was noticeably the case, and as bricks were made at Chester² as early as 1684, and previous to