feeling of reverence for the old that makes it so interesting to us, and
leads us to look at things of the past poetically rather than
practically; although it is true that sometimes the interest taken in
inconvenient and uncomfortable articles arises rather from their age
than from anything else. But oftentimes the very simplicity, solidity,
and strength of old furniture, for instance, is charming, in contrast
with the elaborate, unmeaning carvings and flimsy character of more
modern productions. We are beginning to see how much more sensible the
Chippendale and other styles commended by Eastlake and some other
writers on household art are to much that has been produced in later
times. Yet we must allow that prejudice and fashion go a great way in
determining our likes and dislikes, in furniture as well as in dress and
other things. Very likely in a few years we shall tire of the Queen Anne
houses and furniture, and hard floors, and have a surfeit of
_Anglomania_, especially if we carry the taste too far. In this country,
as Emerson says, "Every rider drives too fast." It is hard to be simple
and slow. We must build fast, eat fast, and live fast. But Emerson says
again, "Nature has no respect for haste." Herbert Spencer has given us
in a kindly spirit some hints on this score which it would be well to
heed. But we are wandering from our immediate subject. Our desire is to
illustrate, in the very words of the people of the period we refer to,
the views they entertained of economy and industry, and how they carried
them out. We will begin, then, in the year 1759, with a curious letter
to the "Boston Gazette" of June 11 of that year, in which the writer
gives some account of the cost of provisions at that period.

_To the Trading and Farming People of_ New England.

GENTLEMEN.

I Have been coming and going among you since the Year 1745.
I am now once more on Service in this Part of the World, and
not a little surprized at the Alteration in the Value of
your Provisions, since my Knowledge of your Country. When I
first came among you, I could have bought a Pound of Beef
for a Penny, a Goose for a Shilling, a Fowl for three Pence,
and so in Proportion. It now is, I think, four Pence
Sterling for a Pound of Beef, eighteen Pence Sterling for a
Fowl, and three Shillings for a Goose. Pray Gentlemen, when
that is the Price at _Boston_, what must we pay for it at
_Louisbo