amuel Peters states in his _General History of
Connecticut_ that he found the restrictions in Connecticut so severe
that he was forced to state that "dancing, fishing, hunting, skating,
and riding in sleighs on the ice are all the amusements allowed in this
colony."

In Massachusetts for many years in the seventeenth century a wife, in
the absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they
were close relatives. Naturally such an absurd law was the source of
much bickering on the part of magistrates, and many were the amusing
tilts when a wife was not permitted to remain with her father, but had
to be sent home to her husband, or a brother was compelled to leave his
own sister's house. Of course, we may turn successfully to Sewall's
_Diary_ for an example: "Mid-week, May 12, 1714. Went to Brewster's. The
Anchor in the Plain; ... took Joseph Brewster for our guide, and went to
Town. Essay'd to be quarter'd at Mr. Knight's, but he not being at home,
his wife refused us."[208] When a judge, himself, was refused ordinary
hospitality, we may surmise that the law was rather strictly followed.
But many other rules of the day seem just as ridiculous to a modern
reader. As Weeden in his _Economic and Social History of New England_
says of restrictions in 1650:

"No one could run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his garden or
elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting. No one should
travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave
on the Sabbath day. No woman should kiss her child on the Sabbath
or fasting day. Whoever brought cards into the dominion paid a
fine of L5. No one could make minced pies, dance, play cards, or
play on any instrument of music, except the drum, trumpet, and
jews-harp.

"None under 21 years, nor any not previously accustomed to it,
shall take tobacco without a physician's certificate. No one
shall take it publicly in the street, or the fields, or the
woods, except on a journey of at least ten miles, or at dinner.
Nor shall any one take it in any house in his own town with more
than one person taking it at the same time."[209]

We must not, however, reach the conclusion that life in old New England
was a dreary void as far as pleasures were concerned. Under the
discussion of home life we have seen that there were barn-raisings,
log-rolling contests, quilting and paring bees, and numerous other forms