used as a model to teach him how to write English. Washington also read the Spectator. Bunyan's works were the first that Franklin bought with his own money. When he was seventeen, he saved from drowning a drunken sailor who had fallen overboard and who surprised Franklin by saying: "Please take the Pilgrim's Progress out of my pocket and dry it for me." Franklin mentions a book, written when he was thirteen years old, which was afterward read without compulsion by more boys than any other book in the world. This was Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719). Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726), the Arabian Nights, and Robinson Crusoe were the three THE AMERICAN Weekly Mercury. Rofton, Novem 20. 1721. We hear from Amesbury, That the generous and charitable Captain of that Place, lately warned his Company to appear at the Place of Parade, well armed with their Axes inftead of their Firelocks; after which he marched them into the Woods, where (with invincible Courage) they flew as many Trees as made 30 Cord of Wood, and carted it to the Water fide, in order to be brought hither for the Relief of the Poor of this Place. HEADING AND NEWS ITEM FROM A PHILA- books most interesting to the young. The newspaper furnishes to-day a large amount of the reading of the majority of people. There were no regular newspapers in the colonies until 1704. These were for some time small weekly sheets and contained very dull reading. Bunyan, Addison, Defoe, and the Bible were much more interesting. When Benjamin Franklin be came editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette (1729), he improved that paper as he did almost everything that he touched, but even then the advertisements were often the most interesting matter. Summary of Points of Emphasis for Review.—(1) Where the colonists settled and why, (2) how they earned their living, (3) barter, (4) homes, discomfort in winter, (5) work of women and girls, homespun, (6) how plenty of land affected the wages of labor, (7) how colonial laborers were provided,—children bound out, apprentices, negroes, indentured servants, (8) life of indentured servants, (9) amusements, (10) joy in work, (11) travel, (12) cities, (13) education, how Franklin, John Adams, and Washington were educated, education of girls, (14) reading of the colonists. Activities.-Write one hundred words on the occupations by which you could have earned your living if you had been a colonist. Tell, for instance, how you would have made any one of the following: collar or trace for a horse, handkerchief, broom, blanket, twine, dye. Tell home people and the class what this widow's letter to a newspaper in 1744 shows about life, work, and waste in a colonial city. To the Publisher of the Weekly Poft-Boy. AM a poor Widow, and have often fet forth the deplorable State of my Cafe to the Alderman of the Ward, but he turns a deaf Ear to all I can fay; I must therefore beg you will give this a Place in your Paper, as an Appeal to the Publick for the Juftness of my Caufe. My Hufband died about three Years ago, left me with three fmall Children, a large Score to pay off at Tipling-houfes, for Beer, Punch and Cordials, occafioned by his too great Attention to Politicks, and Neglect of his Cordwainer's Occupation: After his Death, I followed Wathing, making Soap, Candles, and fome other fmall Matters, which brought me in, now and then a ready Penny, enabling me to pay my Husband's Debts, and fave enough to maintain my Family, which I did in a frugal Manner, having for fome Years paft raised my own Pork in my Yard; but I am debar'd from doing that by a Law of the Corporation lately pafs'd for banifhing all Hogs out of the City, to the great Damage of the poor Widow and Orphan WIDOW'S LETTER IN THE WEEKLY NEW YORK POST-BOY, AUGUST 27, 1744 HEADING OF THE NEWSPAPER CONTAINING THE WIDOW'S LETTER Note the arms of a windmill, the fur-bearing beaver, and the barrels in the above cut. Were any of these articles connected with the widow's troubles? Draw a map showing the triangle of trade (p. 142). On this triangle paste pictures of products exchanged in the triangular trade mentioned. How would you have built a colonial house? Draw your plan and tell what materials would be used. (The teacher should read to the class selections from Chapter I. in Earle's Home Life in Colonial Days.) Compare the work of a colonial woman with that of a modern woman. Why are many of the duties of a colonial woman unknown to the woman of to-day? (The teacher should read selections from Chaps. VIII. and IX. in Earle's Home Life in Colonial Days.) Talk for two minutes on "Twenty-four Hours in a Colonial Log House in January." Do you see any advantages in the life of the colonial boy or girl as compared with yours? Whittle with your knife, model, or draw some of the things made by the colonial boy. (For hints read Chapter XIII. on Jack Knife Industries, in Earle's Home Life in Colonial Days.) If you had owned a colonial farm which required more labor than your family could supply, how would you have secured it? Write an advertisement describing and offering a reward for a runaway servant. Compare the amusements of the colonists with those of people to-day. What kinds of natural moving pictures did the colonial boy and girl see? State the educational advantages which you have that Franklin, John Adams, and Washington did not enjoy. Explain the comparative educational advantages of colonial boys and girls. (The teacher should read to the class from the first part of Franklin's Autobiography the account of how he learned to write, and have the account retold the next day.) Read in class a short selection from some book which the colonists might have read. References for Teachers.-Andrews, Colonial Folkways (Chron. of Am.); Channing, Hist. of the U. S., II., 367–398, 464-515; Tryon, Household Manufactures in the U.S., II., III.; Greene, Foundations of Am. Nationality, 243-266, 338-355; Provincial America, XVI., XVII., XVIII.; Clark, History of Manufactures in the U. S., I.-IX.; Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times; Weeden, Economic and Social History of New England; Earle, Colonial Dames and Goodwives; Two Centuries of Costume in Am., I.; Stage Coach and Tavern Days; Thwaites, The Colonies, V., VIII., X.; Halleck, Hist. of American Literature, I.; Johnston, To Have and To Hold (fiction); Prisoners of Hope (fiction). For Pupils. Earle, Home Life in Colonial Days; Child Life in Colonial Days; Customs and Fashions in Old New England; Eggleston, Our First Century, XVIII-XXIV.; Hart, Colonial Children, 155-233; Johnson, Old Time Schools and School Books, 1–99. CHAPTER XI CAUSES OF SEPARATION FROM GREAT BRITAIN The earlier separation. The first separation from England took place when colonists of strong character sought these shores as a protest against her government. Such came to America because they wished (1) to go to heaven in their own way and (2) to govern themselves as they chose. This was a worthy modern aim which needs no apology. It is what true Americans wish to-day. These lovers of liberty were likely to protest against interference with their natural rights in their new home. We have learned why they came to America. We must now trace the main causes of their political separation from Great Britain, which led to the formation of the United States. Practice of self-government in the colonies.-There were three types of British colonies in America: (1) charter colonies, those which had a charter from the king and were governed in accordance with it, (2) royal colonies, those directly under the control of the king, and (3) proprietary colonies, those governed by a proprietor. At the end of the colonial period, only three of the thirteen colonies (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts) remained charter colonies; three, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were proprietary; and the remaining seven were royal. The king appointed the governor in Massachusetts and in the royal colonies, the people elected him in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and the proprietor chose him in the other colonies. The colonial government was modeled after that of Great Britain: the governor corresponding to the king; the Council, or upper house, to the House of Lords; and the lower house, often called the Assembly or House of Representatives (House of Burgesses in Virginia), to the House of Commons. The king usually appointed the Council in the royal colonies, but the people always chose the representative lower house or Assembly, no matter whether they lived in a royal, proprietary, or charter colony. This is the one most important fact about the government of the colonies. They all had practice in self-government because the Assembly which they elected to represent them voted the taxes to furnish money to meet the ex GREEN DRAGON TAVERN, BOSTON Notice the sign over the door. Here such patriots as Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere met to discuss measures of resistance to the governor of Massachusetts. penses of govern ment. It also decided for what the money should be spent. The power of the holder of the purse.In all but four of the colonies, the Assembly paid the governor's salary by a grant voted each year. If he was too tyrannical, they might refuse to pay him. The governor of the royal colony of New York complained that he had to beg his bread from a hard-hearted Assembly. The Assembly sometimes also refused salaries to judges whose decisions did not suit. "He who has the power of the purse is virtual king," wrote an Englishman. The people had that power in the colonies, and therefore had a large measure of self-government. The colonists had become so accustomed to electing their Assembly which voted the taxes that they were unwilling to surrender the taxing power to any one else. The attempt of the British Parliament to tax them was one of the chief causes of the separation from Great Britain. Restrictions on trade. All European nations expected to control the trade of their colonies in order to make them as |