The realizations of every domestic felicity were found in these establishments. The capital sprung from the soil, and the labor bestowed brought forth bountiful fruits of the earth, which are sweet to all true men. These treasuries of a home and the securities for a future were sounder and more human than an up-to-date gentleman’s commercial assets which are artificial and sometimes of fictitious origin. No market quotations ruined the Colonial home. After the needs of the home were supplied from the soil, from the spinning-wheel and loom and the dairy and the poultry-yard, the surplus could be traded for the small needs of money. The Colonist was supported by nature’s products direct from the soil; the man of the present is the offspring of artificial institutions of money and of corporations--the slave of vested rights, whose origins have mostly been the unearned increment. But, aside from the domestic felicity of the Colonial families, the social phases of their lives were no less distinguished than their hospitable homes. After the mansion was built and the servants or slaves well ordered; after the smoke-house was full of meat; after the mill was full of grain; the home-made ale or cider in the cellar; the spinners and weavers busy at the warp and woof; the travelling shoemaker busy at the year’s foot-wear (made from the home-tanned leather), what could deter the natural social proclivities of these people? The cares of an artificial man were unknown. The dames had quilting and spinning-bees, while the men had hunting contests, which were decided by the best filled bags. Entertainment and hospitality shown to house-parties would last for days. The housewives vied with each other to see their husbands and families clothed in the finest textures of their own manufacture. Each household tried to produce the finest ale of its own brewing, and to establish reputations for its cakes, mince pies and doughnuts. The gossip of the neighborhood was exchanged by the housewives; the men traded horses and sheep and swine; they all danced, dined, played games and made merry; so, then, what more could they ask for pleasure?