The first meeting-houses were often built in the valleys, in the meadow lands; for the dwelling-houses must be clustered around them, since the colonists were ordered by law to build their new homes within half a mile of the meeting-house. — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
Few of the early houses in New England were painted, or colored, as it was called, either without or within. Painters do not appear in any of the early lists of workmen. — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
The grape Hyacinth is the favorite spring flower of my garden - but no! I though a minute ago the Scilla was! and what… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
In the early days of the New England colonies, no more embarrassing or hampering condition, no greater temporal ill, could befall any adult Puritan… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
It is plainly evident that, in a country where land was to be had for the asking, fuel for the cutting, corn for the… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
By the year 1670, wooden chimneys and log houses of the Plymouth and Bay colonies were replaced by more sightly houses of two stories,… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
In the seventeenth century, the science of medicine had not wholly cut asunder from astrology and necromancy; and the trusting Christian still believed in… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
The seventeenth-century baby slept, as his nineteenth-century descendant does, in a cradle. Nothing could be prettier than the old cradles that have survived successive… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
One of the earliest institutions in every New England community was a pair of stocks. The first public building was a meeting-house, but often… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
The brank, or scold's bridle, was unknown in America in its English shape: though from colonial records we learn that scolding women were far… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
It is easy to gain a definite notion of the furnishing of colonial houses from a contemporary and reliable source - the inventories of… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
It is heartrending to read the entries in many an old family Bible - the records of suffering, distress, and blasted hopes. — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
Our Puritan forefathers, though bitterly denouncing all forms and ceremonies, were great respecters of persons; and in nothing was the regard for wealth and… — Alice Morse Earle Copy Share Image
