not served as an apprentice
seven years, nor could a man employ more than two apprentices. Under
that law no hatter up in Portsmouth could paddle across the Piscataqua
and sell a hat to his neighbor in Kittery because the hat was made in
New Hampshire. The hatter who had a shop in Providence could not carry
a hat to his neighbor just over the line in Swansey, one town being in
Rhode Island and the other in Massachusetts. The law, you see, was
designed to crush out the manufacture of hats. The law applied to
almost everything."

"I had no idea that such laws had been passed; they are abominable!"
Robert replied with a vigor that brought a smile to Mr. Adams's face,
who took a bit of cheese and smacked his lips.

"Every time I taste it I think of you and your father, mother, and
sister who made it," he said.

"I hope to see them sometime," said Mrs. Adams.

"I am not quite through with the iniquity," continued Mr. Adams.
"About forty years ago--it was in 1737, I think--Parliament passed
what is called the Sugar Act, which imposed a duty on sugar and
molasses, if imported from any of the West India Islands other than
those owned by Great Britain. Cuba, as you know, is a dependency of
Spain and St. Domingo of France. The sugar plantations of Jamaica and
Guinea are owned by Englishmen, and the law was passed to compel the
Colonies to trade solely with the Jamaica planters. The Great and
General Court protested that the act was a violation of the rights of
the Colonies, but no notice was taken of the protest--it was thrown
into the basket for waste paper. Since the time of Charles II. not
less than twenty-nine acts have been passed, which, in one way or
another, restrict trade and invade the rights of the Colonies. I
suppose, Mr. Walden, you leach the ashes, which you scrape up from
your fireplace?"

"Oh yes," Robert replied; "not only what we take from the hearth in
the kitchen, but when we have a burning of a ten-acre lot, as we had a
few weeks ago, we scoop up several cart-loads of ashes which we leach,
and boil the lye to potash."[22]

[Footnote 22: The leaching of ashes and manufacture of potash was a
large industry during the Colonial period. In some sections of the
country the article was known as "black salts." There was one or more
potashery in every town.]

"And what do you do with the potash?"

"We shall probably bring it to Boston and sell it to Mr. Hancock or
some other merchant."

"Oh no, you can't