there and saw no inconsistency in his own behavior.

Almanacs furnished much of the reading for the masses. The few
newspapers offered little except the barest chronicle of events. The
books of the upper classes were good though few, and consisted chiefly
of the classics of English literature and books of information and
travel. The diaries and letters of colonial native Jerseymen, the
pamphlets of the time, and John Woolman's "Journal," all show a good
average of education and an excellent use of the English language.
Samuel Smith's "History of the Colony of Nova-Casaria, or New Jersey,"
written and printed at Burlington and published there in the year 1765,
is written in a good and even attractive style, with as intelligent
a grasp of political events as any modern mind could show; the type,
paper, and presswork, too, are excellent. Smith was born and educated in
this same New Jersey town. He became a member of council and assembly,
at one time was treasurer of the province, and his manuscript historical
collections were largely used by Robert Proud in his "History of
Pennsylvania."

The early houses of New Jersey were of heavy timbers covered with
unpainted clapboards, usually one story and a half high, with immense
fireplaces, which, with candles, supplied the light. The floors were
scrubbed hard and sprinkled with the plentiful white sand. Carpets,
except the famous old rag carpets, were very rare. The old wooden houses
have now almost entirely disappeared; but many of the brick houses which
succeeded them are still preserved. They are of simple well-proportioned
architecture, of a distinctive type, less luxuriant, massive, and
exuberant than those across the river in Pennsylvania, although both
evidently derived from the Christopher Wren school. The old Jersey homes
seem to reflect with great exactness the simple feeling of the people
and to be one expression of the spirit of Jersey democracy.

There were no important seats of commerce in this province. Exports of
wheat, provisions, and lumber went to Philadelphia or New York, which
were near and convenient. The Jersey shores near the mouth of the Hudson
and along the Delaware, as at Camden, presented opportunities for ports,
but the proximity to the two dominating ports prevented the development
of additional harbors in this part of the coast. It was not until after
the Revolution that Camden, opposite Philadelphia, and Jersey City,
opposite New York, grew int