Manners And Customs.

The court records afford several instances of the violation by and punishment of indentured servants under the act of 1700 for marrying without the consent of the masters having been had thereto; but I will refer only to one interesting case, which was heard Feb. 26, 1633-34. Job Harvey, by petition, informed the court that Joseph Fisher, his servant, had married Mary Jones, a free woman, without his consent, and asked that the offenders may be dealt with according to law. "Therefore it is considered by the Court whereby adjudged that the said Joseph Fisher for his said Offence Serve his sd Master or his Assigns one year after the Expiration of his former Servitude and that the sd Mary Jones (or by what other name she may be now called) pay the sd Job Harvey for her said offence the sum of Six pounds or serve the said Job Harvey or assigned one year in Lieu thereof."

Dr. Smith states¹ that at a meeting of Friends at Haverford, in 1699, it was ordered, in respect to courtship in the future, "that all young men among Friends make known their intentions to their parents or guardians before they acquaint the young woman's relations, and to make it known to the woman's parents or guardians, before they speak to them, and if they do otherwise, that they shall condemn the same before they proceed any further." This restriction, at this time, was general in the society. The records of Friends' meeting in those early days is largely composed of matters appertaining to marriages among the members, and in faded ink is noted these matters which, to the then living, was the most momentous step in life. In the minutes of Chester Meeting, under date of Sixth month 27, 1705, is recorded the wise act of a young woman, who learned before, not after the ceremony was performed, that there was wanting on her part that true affection without which marriage life is utterly miserable. In the case alluded to, Thomas Martin and Jane Hent had passed meeting, but for some reason the ceremony had nut followed this approval, and the woman's meeting, where matters of that kind would more likely be talked about, briefly informs us "the above sd marriage not being accomplished, two women Friends, viz.: Alice Simcock and Rebecca Faucett spoak to Jane Hent to know the Reason thereof and her answer was that shee could not Love him well enough to bee her Husband. She also said that shee was very sorry that shee had proceeded so far with him."

In the early part of the last century the wedding-day was held as a festival, and William Moraley informs us that, about 1735, among the Pennsylvania colonists, "Their marriages are very chargeable, many times Wife's Fortunes being expended at the Celebration of the Nuptials." At that time the bride going to church, or after the ceremony to her future home, wore a long black hood over her head instead of a bonnet. Two yards of rich paduasoy, Watson tells us, was required to make this hood, and it was the custom to loan this article of apparel, so that one hood covered the heads of many brides before it was discarded as too shabby for further use. Towards the middle of the last century marriages were usually celebrated about noon, and generally at the house of the bride's parents. The utmost good feeling prevailed, and the cheer made up in its abundance whatever it might lack, according to our modern notions, in variety or display of the confectioner's skill. About the beginning of this century it may be questioned whether any person then residing within this county of Delaware had ever tasted ice cream, but the wedding dinner was something to gladden the eyes of a hungry man, while punch was dealt out in profusion. In addition to the feast at home, it was the custom to send out cakes, meats, and punch to everybody in the neighborhood, rich or poor alike, whether visitor or not of the family. In the evening usually the bride and groom were escorted to their home by a long procession of old-fashioned chairs or gigs containing their friends or relatives, and, if the family permitted such vanities as dancing, after the supper had been cleared away an old negro, who played by ear on a sharp, rasping violin, would strike up the music of some contra (country) dance or jig, keeping time to the air with his feet, the beat of which on the bare floor could be heard above the squeaking sounds of his fiddle. When the company formed in two long rows and the smiling musician played "Sir Roger de Coverley," or, as we of this generation term it, the "Virginia Reel," each couple at the head of the line knew it was their turn to begin by a signal from the dusky Orpheus, which consisted of a profound bow, accompanying the motion by an emphatic stamp on the floor. The gentlemen, in their pumps, would then exhibit some extraordinary figures, interspersing the merriment with the double-shuffle or cutting the pigeon-wing, while the smiling girls would bounce about on the tips of their toes very much as they do in this year of grace, 1884. Sometimes, when a few of the more ambitious young people, who had visited the city, desired to astonish the natives, they would go through the mazy movement of the minuet to the astonishment of the rustics. Many games of forfeit filled in the hours, while the elders would have a rubber at whist with something depending on the result to add zest to play, or try their fortune at high-low-Jack and the game. About nine o'clock, or ten at the latest, the bride would be spirited away by her maids, and shortly after the groomsmen would conduct duct the newly-made husband to his wife. At a later hour the company would ascend to the bridal chamber taking with them refreshments to the married couple, generally in the form of liquor. Then one of the bride's stockings would be thrown across the bed