American Rum 10: Rum In Every Day Life
Rum played an important part in settlers’ daily routine. It was drunk at home, in the early morning before work, during the meals and after dinner. It wasn’t consumed only by men, but also by women and boys. The taverns were reserved for men, who used to go there in the evenings after a long day of work or on Sundays.
“There’s scarce a Tradesman in the Land That when from work is come But takes a touch, sometimes too much Of Brandy or of Rum” (Boston 1724)
But it was also consumed during work: a daily ration of rum was actually a part of many laborers’ wage. Contemporary sources tell us many stories of workers who used to drink too much, provoking the government to issue laws to forbid – or in a certain extent to limit – the habit of drinking at work.
“It seemed … that rum had become so pervasive that it had become a ‘necessity of nature’ for the ‘youngest apprentice’ to have his ‘large draught ’. Madam ‘the washer-woman’ must also have her ‘drop of comfort ’ at least once a day to get through her work.
How, he lamented, did the consumption of rum come to be a ‘necessity’…This critic concluded that masters must stop distributing rum to their workmen…” (Boston Gazette 1750)
“Our corn, our cattle and horses, the fat of our land have been exported for rum and wines, those promoters of vice, sickness and want. This folly has become so prevalent, that it is now an established custom among our day laborers, that their employers afford not less than a half pint of the choice West India spirits for one day’s consumption” (New-London Gazette 1779).
Rum wet also the Colonial Weddings. Let us see what wrote A.M. Earle in his beautiful Customs and Fashions in Old New England, 1894:
“ In the early days of the New England colonies no more embarrassing or hampering condition, no greater temporal ill could befall any adult Puritan than to be unmarried. What could he do, how could he live in that new land without a wife? There were no house-keepers — and he would scarcely have been allowed to have one if there were. What could a woman do in that new settlement among unbroken forests, in-cultivated lands, without a husband? The colonists married early, and they married of ten. Widowers and widows hastened to join their fortunes and sorrows. …
The wedding day was suitably welcomed at daybreak by a discharge of musketry at both the bride’s and the groom’s house. At a given hour the groom, accompanied by his male friends, started for the bride’s home. Salutes were fired at ever y house passed on the road, and from each house pistols and guns gave an answering “God speed.” Half way on the journey the noisy bridal party was met by the male friends of the bride and another discharge of firearms rent the air. Each group of men then named a champion to “run for the bottle” … — a pot of spiced broth. The two New Hampshire champions ran at full speed or rode a dare-devil race over dangerous roads to the bride’s house. The winner seized the beribboned bottle of rum provided for the contest, returned to the advancing bridal group, drank the bride’s health and passed the bottle. … When the time arrived for the marrying pair to join hands, each put the right hand behind the back, and the bridesmaid and the best man pulled off the wedding-gloves, taking care to finish their duty at precisely the same moment. At the end of the ceremony, everyone kissed the bride and more noisy firing of guns and drinking of New England rum ended the day.”
Regarding everyday life in Colonial America, during my research, I discovered a practice of the Old New England that does not matter with rum, but that is so strange and fun that deserves to be told: “bundling”.
About it, Taussig writes:
“Often it was the case of two young people who intended to marry. They lived far apart, had little means and worked all week. It was necessary to confine their meetings to Saturday evenings and Sunday. At dusk on Saturdays, the youth would arrive at the home of the girl and would not leave until sometime Sunday. It would hardly do for the courting to proceed in the parlor with the girl’s parents and possibly brothers and sisters as onlookers. The houses were small, and all the spaces were occupied; so it was necessary to find some means and place for entertaining the young man and for the keeping him overnight. And besides, the economical New Englanders did not care to burn unnecessary candles or fuel. Thus it came to pass that the young swain would slip into his sweet hearth’s bed (clothed, if he be a conventional bundler) and there under the warm blankets in the darkened room they could talk without fear of interruption ….”
-Article written by Marco Pierini-
My name is Marco Pierini, I was born in 1954 in a little town in Tuscany (Italy) where a still live. I got a degree in Philosophy in Florence and I studied Political Science in Madrid, but my real passion has always been History. And through History I have always tried to know the world, and men. Life brought me to work in tour ism, event organization and vocational training. Then I discovered rum. With Francesco Rufini, I founded La Casa del Rum (The House of Rum),that runs a beach bar and selects and distributes Premium Rums in Italy, www.lacasadelrum.it. And finally I have returned back to my initial passion: History. But now it is the History of Rum. Because Rum is not only a great distillate, it’s a world. Produced in scores of countries, by thousands of companies, with an extraordinary variety of aromas and flavors; it has a terrible and fascinating history, made of slaves and pirates, imperial fleets and revolutions. All this I try to cover in this column, in my FB profile, www.facebook/marco.pierini.3 and in my articles on the Italian webpage www.bartender.it .