In Pennsylvania and Delaware there was a wide difference between the condition of the dwellers in the long-settled portions, where there was intelligent progress, sobriety, and neatness, and that of the western borderers, who were a rude, turbulent people, living amid wretched economic and sanitary conditions. The better class of farmers in the eastern section were prosperous but simple; men and women alike worked in the fields, and a patriarchal system of family life prevailed. The soberly attired Quakers still exercised a large influence on society, which was pervaded by a healthy moral tone; tradesmen had a particularly keen sense of business honesty. New Jersey was also a well-to-do colony; but her farms and villages long had the reputation of presenting an untidy appearance. Sidenote: Social intercourse. Although life among the middle-colony folk was sober and filled with toil, there were the customary rough and simple popular diversions of the period,--for the farmers corn-huskings, spinning-bees, house-raisings, and dancing-parties, at which hard drinking was not infrequent; for the townsfolk horse-racing, bull-baiting, cock-fighting, tavern-parties, balls, and picnics. The people were, as a whole, of a more social temperament than their New England neighbors. There was little luxury within their reach, but they appear to have been as a rule satisfied in their condition, and above want. Sidenote: Town life. The principal town was New York. Society there was more gay than in Boston, and more fashionable than in any other American city, except perhaps Charleston. The wealthy landed proprietors spent money freely during the winter season, and the latest London styles were eagerly sought and followed. A social polish was aimed at, clubs were fostered, and pride was taken in the fact that no other American city was so cosmopolitan in tone,--a result of its being the centre of a far-reaching foreign trade. There was much that was English in New York, yet even here the Dutch influence was strong. Visitors speak of the wide, pleasant streets lined with trees, the low brick and stone houses, with their projecting eaves and their gables to the street,--a fashion general in the colonies,--and the insignificant character of the few public buildings. Albany was the centre of the northern fur-trade, and purely Dutch in composition and architecture. Philadelphia was the Quaker capital. Laid out like a checker-board, with architecture of severe simplicity, its best residences were surrounded by gardens and orchards. The town was substantial, neat, and had the appearance of prosperity. Germantown, near by, settled by the Germans (1683), was largely given over to small manufactures. Newcastle was ill-built and unattractive. The New Jersey towns were rather comely, but insignificant; Trenton was chiefly supported by travellers along the great highway between New York and Philadelphia. Sidenote: Roads and travel.