At Aunt Nabby's, "where kisses and drams set the virgins on flame," horseplay soon developed. Ears of corn were thrown, especially at loving couples, the girls were tumbled about on the husks and practical jokes found their victims. When supper was ready "Like crows round a carcass each one took his place * * * * * "The girls in a huddle stand snickering by Till Jenny and Kate have fingered the pie." * * * * * And after supper the "scenes of vile lewdness" abashed the country schoolmaster: "The chairs in wild order flew quite round the room: Some threatened with fire brands, some branished a broom, While others, resolved to increase the uproar, Lay tussling the girls in wide heaps on the floor." * * * * * "Quite sick of confusion, dear Dolly and I Retired from the hubbub new pleasures to try." Bailey's closing comment is illuminating; "from many of these indecent frolics which I have seen in these parts, I must conclude that rustics are not more innocent than citizens,"[42] and we may rest assured that country manners and customs south of the Merrimack River were no different from those north of it. [42] R. P. Baker, "The Poetry of Jacob Bailey" (_The New England Quarterly_, Jan., 1929). In country towns much of the population was thinly distributed and it was impossible for the housewife to run in next door for a few moments' idle chat. Frequently the nearest house was a half-mile or more distant and the feminine desire for social diversion was sadly curbed by the constant demands of farm labor for horses that otherwise might have been used in the chaise or wagon. The weekly gathering at the meetinghouse was always looked forward to with some anticipation by both old and young and the sacredness of the day did not prevent discreet conversation on purely secular topics. But the day when farmer Perkins raised the frame of his barn was made a social event in the full meaning of the word and when the "raising" of the meetinghouse took place, it certainly was a gala day, for in town meeting it was voted to buy a barrel of rum and twelve barrels of cider, with sugar, beef, pork, and brown and white bread in proportion with which to refresh the gathering. Eighty-seven pounds of cheese were eaten and the town paid one shilling and six pence for the mugs that were broken--let us hope purely by accident. But "raisings" occurred at infrequent intervals. Each fall, however, there were corn huskings in various parts of the town and afterwards always plenty to eat for the jolly workers. The women were invited to apple bees and sometimes there were spinning parties. Every winter brought its singing school in the district schoolhouse and spelling matches sometimes brought together the fathers and mothers of the district as well as their sons and daughters. But the