A Farmer of the Early Republic

A FARMER OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC 7 The Quakers, as you know, never greet people, never take off their hats, get out of nobody's way, never pay compliments—all of which is very convenient . They always call each other " thee " and " thou," except when they are angry or when they wish to reprimand. At those times they use the second person plural as we do. The "white" or reformed Quakers speak in the third person singular, calling those to whom they are speaking " Friend." A FARMER OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC By Walter Peirce Professor of Romanic Languages, Williams College In the year 1789 there was living on a farm near Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, a certain Jacob Peirce, Quaker, with his wife Hannah and his sons Jonathan and David, with his man-servants and maidservants and his oxen and his asses. He set down in a day-book his goings and comings, his attendance at meeting, First Day and Fifth Day, Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly, his visits to father's and to father-in-law's, to Brother Ephraim's and to Sister Rebecca 's, births and marriages and deaths, trips to market at Philadelphia and Wilmington, the number of acres ploughed, of bushels threshed, of shingles rived and of pieces woven, and the wages he paid for this labor. And of this diary a fair fragment survives. The first entry is for June 11, 1789. Yorktown had fallen eight years before, George Washington had been president of the republic for a little over three months, and at Versailles the Estates General were assembling to consider the case of France. But of all this there is no hint in the diary. The entry for this day is : " 1789, 6th month, 11th:—went to month's meeting at Centre Rees mending shoe." And indeed in the three or four years covered by the day-book there is little or no reference to politics or to great names and events. For 1790, 10th month, 16th we read: "went to market ship Washington launch'd I got home in evening Benj Brian finished hauling buckwheat J Reed threshing till noon." This is the only mention of even the president's name. Election is spoken of once or twice, and reviews, but this is all. For the 8 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION rest the record is strictly personal, or at least local, for besides the numerous men and maids employed on the farm and the still more numerous family connections, the entire countryside appears as debtor and creditor, as guest or host, as friend or adversary, for farm life was not entirely idyllic even among the Quakers, and various were the cases brought before Meeting and referred to committee. From the first entry to the end of the year, something under seven months, we find mention of one hundred and two persons , twenty of them belonging to the family and thirty-two being farm servants, permanent or temporary. Perhaps servant is the wrong word to use, and " hired help " would more accurately describe them, for in many cases they were the sons and daughters of neighbors, and occasionally even members of the family. It is easy to see why the word servant fell into disrepute in America, hired hand and hired girl being a step higher in the social scale, and hired help the least opprobrious of all. But even if Jacob Peirce has nothing to say of the politics and public events of his day, his diary gives a comprehensive picture of economic and social conditions, and is not devoid of human interest . Take for instance the case of Benjamin Brian, who finished hauling buckwheat while the ship Washington was being launched at Wilmington. On the 20th of March, 1790, Benjamin Brian came to lodge. On the 25th we read: " Ben Cleaning far Ditch took sick in evening & shook." After being bled several times and dosed with rum and sugar he recovers, and for the rest of the spring and summer and early autumn we find him planting and haying and ploughing and doing a thousand odd jobs on the farm. He was a trusted hand, apparently , for when Hannah Peirce, Jacob's...