During the period last referred to, not many among them were not in comfortable circumstances : many of them were what is called " well- " to-do : " some of them, particularly those who were members of the older families, in those days of simple habits, were considered wealthy. All of them were

" distances his neighbor from him. "--.Rec. Thomas Stannard to the Venerable Society, " Westchester, Nov. 5, 1729."

°Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, of Pelham, Adriacn Van der Donck of Tonkers, and Colonel Caleb Heathcote, of Mamaroneck, may be referred to, iu this connection.

WESTCHESTEK COUNTY.

noted for their open-handed hospitality ; but, among the older and more wealthy families, whose fields, and barnyards, and granaries, and storerooms were generally teeming with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, the sturdy farmer and his tidy wife, his healthful children and his faithful negroes, vied in their efforts to secure to the acceptable guests of the family, a hearty welcome ; to make the stay of those sojourners agreeable ; and, when the time for their departure had come, to induce them to regret the shortness of their visit. Where the necessaries and comforts of life were so abundant and so generally enjoyed, Pauperism was comparatively unknown ; and where Pauperism and Intemperance were so uncommon, there was a minimum of Crime. 1

Especially during the Colonial period, there was no Village, at the County-seat or elsewhere, within the County, which contained a population sufficiently numerous to supply the neighboring farmers, nor even its own inhabitants, with the current news of the day ; z nor was there any settlement, within the County, which possessed sufficient influence to lead the fashions of the wives and daughters of those farmers. There was not, therefore, nor could there have been, any central coterie or clique, with lofty pretentions and extended ambition, to prompt the County, in what should be said or done by its inhabitants, in support of or in opposition to any proposition, whether moral, or ecclesiastical, or political ; nor was there any influence, in any one or in any number, sufficient to associate and organize those farmers, for any purpose whatever.