=261. Occupations.=—Although the country had grown considerably in population and wealth during the eighteenth century, the people had not greatly changed in character or in their pursuits. The confusion engendered by the Revolution was slowly passing away, but the revived industries ran along much the same narrow lines as of old. At Washington’s accession to the Presidency public and private finances were in a bad shape, but speedy improvement followed the reforms of Hamilton, shortly to be described (§ 266). Agriculture was still the main calling—the nation being, on the whole, one of farmers. Commerce, however, was a surer source of wealth, especially in the East, where there was a good deal of shipping. But manufacturing was in its infancy, as we at once perceive when we learn that even in 1800 not quite four per cent of the people lived in towns. =262. The Towns.=—The country people had no such incentives to flock to cities as they have to-day. There were no railroads or steamboats to make the journey easy. On the contrary, roads were bad and travel by water was both uncomfortable and dangerous. Nor were the towns, of which Philadelphia with seventy thousand inhabitants, New York with sixty thousand, Baltimore with twenty-six thousand, Boston with twenty-four thousand, and Charleston with twenty thousand, were the chief, especially attractive. Sanitation was little attended to, save in Philadelphia after the terrible yellow fever epidemics of 1793 and 1797. There were few theaters. The newspapers were small and uninfluential sheets. Good colleges and schools and libraries were scarcely to be found. Life was comparatively simple and lacking in interest and brilliancy. Indeed the country gentleman, especially in the South, found his rural sports and his rounds of social visiting more enlivening than the life led by his town friends. [Illustration: STAGECOACH OF THE TIME OF WASHINGTON.] SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE.