Chapter 4

15. Bastards are not at all times got In feather beds we know; The strumpet's oath convinces both Oft times it is not so.

16. One whorish dame, I fear to name Lest I should give offence, But in this town she was took down Not more than eight months sence.

17. She was the first, that on snow crust, I ever knew to gender I'll hint no more about this whore For fear I should offend her.

18. 'Twas on the snow when Sol was low, And was in Capricorn, A child was got, and it will not Be long ere it is born.

19. Now unto those that do oppose The bundling traid, I say Perhaps there's more got on the floor, Than any other way.

20. In ancient books no knowledge is Of these things to be got; Whether young men did bundle then, Or whether they did not.

21. Sence ancient book says wife they took, It dont say how they courted; Whether young men did bundle then, Or by the fire sported.

[But some do hold in times of old, That those about to wed, Spent not the night, nor yet the light, By fire, or in the bed.]

22. They only meant to say they sent A man to choose a bride; Isaac was so, but let me know, If any one beside.

23. Men don't pretend to trust a friend To choose him sheep or cows; Much more a wife whom all his life He does expect to house.

24. Sence it doth stand each one in hand To happyfy his life; I would advise each to be wise, And choose a prudent wife.

25. Sence bundling is not a thing That judgment will procure; Go on young men and bundle then, But keep your bodies pure.

Since this work went to press we have been favored, by one of our antiquarian friends in Massachusetts, with a copy of another poetical blast against the practice of bundling. It was written in the latter part of the last, or the first decade of the present century, by a learned and distinguished clergyman settled in Bristol county, Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard University, and a doctor of divinity. The original manuscript from which our copy is made, is very carefully written out, with corrections apparently of a later date, and now undoubtedly appears for the first time in printed form.

A POEM AGAINST BUNDLING._Dedicated to ye Youth of both Sexes_.

1. Hail giddy youth, inclined to mirth, To guilty amours prone, Come blush with me, to think and see How shameless you are grown.

2. 'Tis not amiss to court and kiss, Nor friendship do we blame, But bundling in, women with men, Upon the bed of shame;

3. And there to lay till break of day, And think it is no sin, Because a smock and petticoat Have chance to lie between.

4. Such rank disgrace and scandal base, All modest youth will shun, For 'twill infest, like plague or pest, And you will be undone.

5. Let boars and swine lie down and twine, And grunt, and sleep, and snore, But modest girls should not wear tails Nor bristles any more.

6. Let rams the sheep mount up and leap, Without restraint or blame, But will young men act just like them; Oh, 'tis a burning shame!

7. It is not strange that horses range Unfettered to the last, But youthful lusts in fetters must Be chained to virtue fast.

8. Dogs and bitches wear no breeches, Clothing for man was made, Yet men and women strip to their linen, And tumble into bed.

9. Yes, brutal youth, it is the truth, Your modesty is gone, And could you blush, you'd think as much, And curse what you have done.

10. To have done so some years ago, Was counted more disgrace Than 'tis of late to propagate A spurious bastard race.

11. Quit human kind and herd with swine, Confess yourself an whore; Go fill the stye, there live and die, Or never bundle more.

12. Shall gentlemen with ladies join To practice like the brutes, Then let them keep with cattle and sheep, And fodder on their fruits.

13. This cursed course is one great source Of matches undesigned, Quarrels and strife twixt man and wife, And bastards of their kind.

14. But in excuse of this abuse It oftentimes is said, Father and mother did no other Than strip and go to bed.

15. But grant some did as you have said, Yet do they not repent, And wish that you may never do What they so much lament?

16. A stupid ass can't be more base Than are those guilty youth Who fill with smart a parent's heart, And turn it into mirth.

17. Others do plead hard for the bed, Their health and weariness, So drunkards will drink down their swill, And call it no excess.

18. Under pretense of self defense, Others will scold and say, An honest maid is chaste abed As any other way.

19. But where's the man that fire can Into his bosom take, Or go through coals on his foot soles And not a blister make?

20. Temptation's way has led astray The likeliest of you all, And yet you'r found on slippery ground, And think you cannot fall.

21. A female meek, with blushing cheek, Seized in some lover's arms, Has oft grown weak with Cupid's heat And lost her virgin charms.

22. But last of all, up speaks romp Moll And pleads to be excused, For how can she e'er married be, If bundling be refused?

23. What strange mistake young women, To hope for sparks this way! Your fond bold acts can't lay a tax That men will ever pay.

24. So cheap and free some women be, That men are cloyed with sweet, As horse or cow starve at the mow With fodder under feet.

25. 'Tis therefore vain yourselves to screen, The practice is accurst, It is condemned by God and man, The pious and the just.

26. Should you go on, the day will come, When Christ your Judge will say, In _bundles_ bind each of this kind, And cast them all away.

27. Down deep in hell there let them dwell, And bundle on that bed; There burn and roll without control, 'Till all their lusts are fed.

The evidence presented in the preceding pages, establishes, as we think, the following facts:

1st. That the custom, so far as it pertained to the American States, had its origin as a matter of convenience and necessity.

2d. That in all stages of its history it was chiefly confined to the humbler classes of society.

3d. That its prevalence may be said to have closed with the eighteenth century.

It is our opinion that it came nearest to being a universal custom from 1750 to 1780, and that it was, at all times, regarded by the better classes as a serious evil, and was no more countenanced by them then the frequenting of grog shops is by the better class of the present day.

This opinion is corroborated by the remarks of several old persons whom we have consulted as to their recollections of the custom. Among these, Mr. B., of East Haddam, Ct., now in his 95th year, says that he well remembers it; that it could not be called general, though frequent. It was not practiced among the more intelligent, educated classes, nor among those who lived in large, well warmed houses. He says it was not the fashion to bundle with any chap who might call on a girl, but that it was a special favor, granted only to a favorite lover, who might consider it a proof of the high regard which the damsel had for him; in short, it was _only accepted lovers_ who were thus admitted to the bed of the fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long continued urging in most cases.[36] He thinks the fashion ceased about 1790 to 1800, and in consequence of education and refinement; and that _no more mischief was done then than there is now-a-days_.

In the same strain, also, spoke the genial Colonel H., a native of Berlin, Ct., born in 1775. He was perfectly conversant with the custom, had known the old ladies, in some cases, to go up stairs before retiring, to see that the bundling couple were comfortable, _tuck 'em up_, and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly asseverated his belief "that there wasn't any more mischief done in those days than there is now."

Indeed, all the old people with whom we have conversed on the matter, although in some cases a little unwilling to own that they had ever practiced it themselves, were unanimous in their belief that the abuse of chastity under the bundling regime was no more frequent than it is now. One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in reply to the half reproachful, half joking question of his grandson, whether he wasn't ashamed, replied: "Why, no! What is the use of sitting up all night and burning out fire and lights, when you could just as well get under kiver and keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap and wake up fresh, and go at it again? Why, d--n it, there wasn't half as many bastards then as there are now!"[37]

Even within the present century we have found traces of the continuance of the practice of bundling, though the instances are perhaps few, and in some measure exceptional. Until a very late day the custom (as a matter of convenience) was prevalent among the Dutch settlers of Pennsylvania, and it is not improbable that traces may still continue to exist in some of the more remote counties of that state. An old schoolmaster who flourished in Glastenbury, Ct., some twenty years ago, when relating his experiences in teaching in southern Pennsylvania, and speaking of _boarding around_, informed us that when for any reason he did not choose to go to his boarding place for the time being, he was accustomed to stop at a tavern kept by an honest old Dutchman. On one occasion, having asked the landlord if he could stay over night, he was told that he could; and after chatting with his host through the evening, was shown to bed. The landlord set down the candle and had gone out of the room, when our friend noticed the only bed in the room was already occupied, and calling to the host, notified him of the fact; when he cried back: "Oh! dat ish only mine taughter; she won't hurt nopoty," and coolly went his way. And our friend affirmed that he found the daughter not only harmless, but also quite competent to take care of herself.

In New England, we believe that Cape Cod has the dubious honor of holding out the longest against the advance of civilization, bundling, as we have it on good authority, having been practiced there as late as 1827.[38] In Greenwich, New Jersey, it was in vogue in 1816. In the state of New York this custom came under judicial cognizance in the year 1804, when the supreme court held, that although bundling was admitted to be the custom in some parts of the state, it being proven that the parents of the girl, for whose seduction the suit was brought, countenanced her practicing it, they had no right to complain, or ask satisfaction for the consequences, which, the court say, "_naturally followed it_!"[39]

APPENDIX I.

BUNDLING.

[From _The Yankee_ of August 13, 1828, published at Portland, Maine, and edited by John Neal.]

By Rochefoucault, in accounting for the populousness of Massachusetts, the New Englanders are charged with bundling.

By Chastelleux, whose book I am not able to refer to now, the charge is repeated, and by half a score of other honest, good natured people, who have made books about the New World.

But, if you enquire into the business, you are pretty sure to be told, inquire where you may, that bundling is not known _there_, but somewhere further back in the woods, or further _down east_. Nay, while in every part of the United States the multitude speak of bundling as the habit of their neighbors, either east, west, north, or south, where the witches of the country were _located_ about a century ago by the grandfathers of this generation, I, myself, though I have taken trouble enough to learn the truth, have never yet been able to meet with a case of bundling--of bundling proper, I should say--in the United States, nor with but one trustworthy individual who had ever met with so much as one case, and he had met with _but_ one, for which he would give his word. These things are trifles; but when they are told in books that are read and trusted to throughout Europe; such books, too, as that of the Marquis de Chastelleux, or that of De Rouchefoucault, it becomes a matter of serious inquiry. The truth must be told, whatever it is, for the truth cannot be so bad, whatever it may be, as the untruth which is now repeated of us.

The travels of Chastelleux are translated by an Englishman who had been a long while in this country. The book was undoubtedly written with great care, by a very honest, able man, who had very good opportunities of knowing the truth; and is now set off by another very honest, able man, who was, if anything, rather partial to America--enough to make one wary of trusting the report of any traveler who does not say in so many words, after establishing a character for himself--I saw this; I heard this; I take nobody's word for what I now say, etc., etc. It would be easy to enumerate a multitude of other stories which are now believed in, about the people of the United States, not only by the people of Europe, and of Great Britain particularly, but by the people of the United States themselves. But a dry catalogue of such things would be of little use.

[Here he refers to the charge reported of New Englanders, that that they _eat pork and molasses--pork and molasses_ TOGETHER, which is here denied as a ridiculous story. H. R. S.]

They bundle in Wales; bundling there is a serious matter. A lady--a Welsh woman whose word is truth itself--assured me not long ago, that in her country they do not think a bit the worse, of a girl for anticipating her duties, in other words, for being a mother before she has been a wife; they have discovered, perhaps, that cause and effect may be convertible terms; that in such a serious matter, none but a fool would buy a pig in the poke, and that, after all, maternity may lead to marriage there, as marriage leads to maternity here. And why not? for after the establishment of the lying-in hospitals of Russia, the unmarried who bore _children to the state_ were proud of the duty, and were looked upon, we are told, with great favor by the public. She added, also, that she was once at a party made up of sixteen or eighteen females, and females of good characters, all but one or two of whom were mothers, or had been so, before they were married. By Chastelleux and his English translator it would appear to have been very much the same in America about the years 1780-1-2. It is not so now. To have had a child before marriage would now be fatal to a woman here, whatever might be her condition or beauty; fatal in every shape. No man would have courage to marry her; no woman of character would associate with her. Ask the first individual you meet, above the age of twelve or thirteen here, and you may have the name and history of every poor girl in the neighborhood who has been so unlucky as to have a child of her own without leave, perhaps, within a period of six or eight years in a populous neighborhood of twenty or thirty miles about. A widow with half a score of children, forty years ago, if we may believe Dr. Franklin, was an object for the fortune hunters of America. It is not so now. The demand for widows, and for every sort of ready made family is beginning to be over.

That which is called bundling here, though bad enough, is not a twentieth part so bad. Here it is only a mode of courtship. The parties instead of sitting up together, go to bed together; but go to bed with their clothes on. This would appear to be a perilous fashion; but I have been assured by the individual above, that he had proof to the contrary; for in the particular case alluded to, the only case I ever heard of on good authority, although he was invited by the parents of a pretty girl who stood near him, to bundle with her, and although he _did_ bundle with her, he had every reason to believe, that if he had been very free, or more free than he might have been at a country frolick after they had invited him to escort her, to sit up with her, to dance with her, he would have been treated as a traitor by all parties. He had a fair opportunity of knowing the truth, and he spoke of the matter as if he would prefer the etiquette of sitting up to the etiquette of going to bed with a girl who had been so brought up. He complained of her as a prude. The following communication appears, however, to be one that may be depended on:[40]

"MR. NEAL--If you wish to know the truth about bundling, I think your correspondent V. could tell you all about it--it seems by his confession that he has practiced it on a large scale. I never heard of the thing till about three years ago; an acquaintance of mine had gone to spend the summer with an aunt, who lived somewhere near Sandy river.[41] The following is a copy of one of her letters while there:

"'I should have written sooner, so don't think me unkind, for I have been waiting for something to write about. You requested me to give you a faithful description of the country, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, etc. I have not been here quite three months, but I have been everywhere, seen everything, and got acquainted with everybody. I shall certainly inform you of everything I have seen or heard that is worth relating.

"'You remember how you told me, before I left home, that I was so well looking that if I went so far back in the country I should be very much admired and flattered, and have as many lovers as I could wish for. I find it all true. The people here are remarkably kind and attentive to me; they seem to think that I must be something more than common because I have always lived so near Portland.

"'But I must tell you that since I have been here I have had a beau. You must know that the young men, _in particular_, are very attentive to me. Well, among these is _one_ who is considered the finest young man in the place, and well he may be--he owns a good farm, which has a large barn upon it, and a neat two story house, all finished. These are the fruits of his own industry; besides he is remarkably good looking, is very large but well-proportioned, and has a good share of what I call real manly beauty. Soon after my arrival here I was introduced to this man--no, not _introduced_ neither, for they never think of such a thing here. They all know me of course, because I am a _stranger_. Some days, three, four, or half a dozen, call to see me, whom I never before saw or heard of; they come and speak to me as if I were an old acquaintance, and I converse with them as freely as if I had always known them from childhood. In this kind of a way I got acquainted with my beau, that _was_; he was very attentive to me from our first meeting. If we happened to be going anywhere in company he was sure to offer me his arm--no, I am wrong again, he never offered me his arm in his life. If you go to walk with a young man here, instead of offering you his arm as the young men do up our way, he either takes your hand in his, or passes one arm around your waist; and this he does with such a provoking, careless honesty, that you cannot for your life be offended with him. Well, I had walked with my Jonathan several times in this kind of style. I confess there was something in him I could not but like--he does not lack for wit, and has a good share of common sense; his language is never studied--he always seems to speak from the heart. So when he asked what sort of a companion he would make, I very candidly answered, that I thought he would make a very agreeable one. "I think just so of you," said he, "and it shall not be my fault," he continued, "if we are not companions for life." "We shall surely make a bargain," said he, after sitting silent a few moments, "so we'll _bundle_ to-night." "_Bundle_ what?" I asked. "_We_ will bundle together," said he; "you surely know what I mean." I know that our farmers bundle _wheat_, _cornstalks_ and _hay_; do you mean that you want me to help you bundle any of these?" inquired I. "I mean that I want you to stay with me to-night! It is the custom in this place, when a man stays with a girl, if it is warm weather, for them to throw themselves on the bed, outside the bed clothes; if the weather is cold, they crawl under the clothes, then if they have anything to _say_, they say it--when they get tired of talking they go to sleep; this is what we call bundling--now what do you call it in your part of the world?" "We have no such works," answered I; "not amongst respectable people, nor do I think that any people would, that either thought themselves respectable, or wished to be thought so."

"'Don't be too severe upon us, Miss ----, I have always observed that those who _make believe_ so much modesty, have in reality but little. I always act as I feel, and speak as I think. I wish you to do the same, but have none of your make-believes with me--you smile--you begin to think you have been a little too scrupulous--you have no objection to bundling _now_, have you?" "Indeed I have." "I am not to be trifled with; so, if you refuse, I have done with you forever." "Then be done as quick as you please, for I'll not bundle with you nor with any other man." "Then farewell, proud girl," said he. "Farewell, honest man," said I, and off he went sure enough.

"'I have since made inquiries about _bundling_, and find that it is _really_ the custom here, and that they think no more harm of it, than we do our way of a young couple sitting up together. I have known an instance, since I have been here, of a girl's taking her sweetheart to a neighbor's house and asking for a bed or two to lodge in, or rather to _bundle_ in. They had company at her father's, so that their beds were occupied; she thought no harm of it. She and her family are respectable.

"'Grandmother says bundling was a very common thing in our part of the country, in old times; that most of the first settlers lived in log houses, which seldom had more than one room with a fire place; in this room the old people slept, so if one of their girls had a sweetheart in the winter she must either sit with him in the room where her father and mother slept, or take him into her sleeping room. She would choose the latter for the sake of being alone with him; but sometimes when the cold was very severe, rather than freeze to death, they would crawl under the bed-clothes; and this, after a while, became a habit, a custom, or a fashion. The man that I am going to send this by, is just ready to start, so I cannot stop to write more now. In my next I'll give you a more particular account of the people here. Adieu.'

"_Mr. Editor_, you may be sure that what is related in the foregoing letter is the truth. I know that there is considerable _other_ information in it, mixed up with _that_ about which you wished to be informed, but I could not very well separate it."