der.

CHAPTER VII--COLONIAL WOMAN AND THE INITIATIVE

I. Religious Initiative--Anne Hutchinson's Use of Brains--Bravery
of Quaker Women--Perseverance of Mary Dyer--Martyrdom of Quakers.

II. Commercial Initiative--Dabbling in State Affairs--Women as
Merchants--Mrs. Franklin in Business--Pay for Women
Teachers--Women as Plantation Managers--Example of Eliza
Pinckney--Her Busy Day--Martha Washington as Manager.

III. Woman's Legal Powers--Right to Own and Will Property--John
Todd's Will--A Church Attempts to Cheat a Woman--Astonishing
Career of Margaret Brent--Women Fortify Boston Neck--Tompson's
Satire on it--Feminine Initiative at Nantucket.

IV. Patriotic Initiative and Courage--Evidence from Letters--The
Anxiety of the Women--Women Near the Firing-Line--Mrs. Adams in
Danger--Martha Washington's Valor--Mrs. Pinckney's Optimism--Her
Financial Distress--Entertaining the Enemy--Marion's Escape--Mrs.
Pinckney's Presence of Mind--Abigail Adams' Brave Words--Her
Description of a Battle--Man's Appreciation of Woman's
Bravery--Mercy Warren's Calmness--Catherine Schuyler's Valiant
Deed--How She Treated Burgoyne--Some General Conclusions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

WOMAN'S LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS

CHAPTER I

COLONIAL WOMAN AND RELIGION

_I. The Spirit of Woman_

With what a valiant and unyielding spirit our forefathers met the
unspeakable hardships of the first days of American colonization! We of
these softer and more abundant times can never quite comprehend what
distress, what positive suffering those bold souls of the seventeenth
century endured to establish a new people among the nations of the
world. The very voyage from England to America might have daunted the
bravest of spirits. Note but this glimpse from an account by Colonel
Norwood in his _Voyage to Virginia_: "Women and children made dismal
cries and grievous complaints. The infinite number of rats that all the
voyage had been our plague, we now were glad to make our prey to feed
on; and as they were insnared and taken a well grown rat was sold for
sixteen shillings as a market rate. Nay, before the voyage did end (as I
was credibly informed) a woman great with child offered twenty shillings
for a rat, which the proprietor refusing, the woman died."

That was an era of restless, adventurous spirits--men and women filled
with the rich and danger-loving blood of