ouses of one or two rooms. Comforts such as most of us enjoy daily were
as good as unknown. Even in the cities baths were exceedingly rare,
while in the country the very decencies of life were neglected.
Mosquitoes, flies, and other germ-harboring pests were regarded with
equanimity, screens and disinfectants being used only in the best of
hospitals. Malaria, typhoid, and other diseases claimed a large toll
upon life each year. Physicians were less numerous than now and their
art was only in its infancy. Trained nurses were just coming into their
present role. Men regarded sickness as a visitation of Providence, and
when the yellow fever epidemics seized the lower Southern cities, the
losses and suffering were such as the present generation cannot
appreciate.

Improvements in the matter of dress since 1830 were evident, but for the
workaday world shirtsleeves, heavy brogan boots and shoes, and rough
wool hats were, of course, the rule. Salt bacon and "greens," with corn
bread and thin coffee, composed the common diet, though milk and butter
relieved the monotonous fare for the farmers. "Hog-killing time" was
always a happy season, for fresh meats were then abundant. Only in the
larger towns did the people have fresh meats throughout the year. An
explanation of the enthusiasm of _ante-bellum_ people for political
speaking is found in the fact that barbecues either preceded or followed
the oratory; and to a man who had lived for months on fat bacon and corn
bread a fresh roast pig was a delight which would enable him to endure
long hours of poor speaking. But in the cities and towns there was, of
course, a better life. Frame houses, two stories high, painted white and
adorned with green window blinds, were everywhere in good form, except
where men were able to build brick or stone mansions or maintain the
establishments of wealthy ancestors. In the South it was still the
custom to guard the entrances to great plantation houses with chiseled
lions or crouching greyhounds; in the East more attention was paid to
flowers and shrubbery. Wealthy families of the East sometimes maintained
more than one house servant, but the greater number counted themselves
eminently respectable with cook, maid, and house girl all in one, and
the pay was one or two dollars a week. Liveries and silver plate
persisted mainly in the very exclusive circles of Philadelphia and New
York, in Washington, and on the great plantations.

Factory hands and