coarse Cambricks; Silk and Linen Handkerchiefs; Shirting and Apron Checks; cross barr'd Stuffs; Cambleteens; Women's Shoes and Goloshes, very neat; and Muffs and Tippits of the newest Fashions. "Goloshes, very neat"! The styles have changed.

By the time we have actual evidence shops boasted an elaborate assortment of goods which would appeal to the most fastidious. One of the earliest long advertisements is as follows: 1

TO BE SOLD

By Mrs. Benedicta Netmaker At the Three Sugar Loaves and Cannister, in King Street,

Women's fine Silk, flower'd Russel, white Callimanco, Black Russel, black Shammy, and Girl's flower'd Russel Shoes, black Velvet, white Damask, and flower'd Silk Clogs, Women's Black and Children's Red Morocco Pumps, Women's Worsted and Thread Hose, Men's, Women's, and Children's Gloves, viz. Kid and Lamb, Coloured and black Glaiz'd, Black Shammy, and Women's white Cotton. Also superfine Lawns, Cambricks, Cambrick Muslins, white Callico, Hollands, India Chints, Taffetys, Alamode, strip'd Lutestrings, fine Brussels lace, Silver, Paduasoy and other Plain Ribbons, Fans, Necklaces, Earings, Masks, Wires and all other millinary and Haberdashery Wares.

Such fascinating lists continued to grace the pages 1 Boston Evening Post, April 12, 1742.

of the sober press, and one may well imagine that the advertisers did a flourishing business. Apparently the ladies of Boston, despite their Puritan ancestry, were more given to the vanities of dress than those of New York or Philadelphia, but the Mrs. Redmond, before noted, tempted the Quaker dames of Philadelphia with mention of "Diamond rings, ear-rings, solitars, patch boxes," etc.

The vender of groceries has already been noticed, and it would seem that she made her appearance in force earlier than her sister who specialized in dry goods. If this be true, the explanation may be that clothing can be bought more conveniently in quantity, and that the early settlers who wished attire such as they could not make themselves were apt to write to friends in England, or to commission traveling neighbors to make purchases for them. Some imported articles of consumption, however, tea and wine in particular, were always in demand, not only by the rich, but by those who were unable to order direct from England, or in quantity. The assortment of groceries in stock gradually increased, and some of the later advertisements make it obvious that our forefathers did not need to mortify the flesh unduly. Take the following, for instance: 1

1 Boston Evening Post, March 9, 1772.

TO BE SOLD CHEAP by
Mrs. Sheaffe,

At her Shop the North Corner of Queen street,
lately occupied by Mr. Joshua Green,
All Sorts of Groceries,

Among which are

Also choice Frontineac Wine by the Case or Bottle.

Playing Cards, and an Assortment of Glass & China Ware. *The above articles are the bestof their kind, and she will esteem the Custom of her Friends and the Public as a peculiar kindness.

It is to be hoped that her friends and the public responded to this gentle request; at any rate, Mrs. Sheaffe continued to advertise until the Revolution

put a stop to the newspapers of Boston. Her card was sometimes short, a mere reminder that she would still esteem custom "as a peculiar kindness," or again just a friendly notice that she had a new and choice lot of "Frontineac Wine"; again, after a while, an inventory like the above would be given. Other women of colonial days advertised through a longer period of years, but no one appeared in print so many times in a year as she.

Temperance principles did not trouble the women merchants of those days, nor were their customers unduly restricted in choice. In 1766 Cornelia Blau, of New York, offered this interesting

Good Madeira, Lisbon, and Teneriffe Wines, Cherry and Whortleberry Brandy, Anniseed, Orange and Clove Cordials, Geneva, and Brandy, all by the Barrel or Single Gallon.

Two lines of goods often associated with groceries were seeds and china. A number of women in Boston advertised fresh importations of seeds every spring; as they usually added, "and all sorts of groceries," one may suppose that they sold eatables between seasons on seeds. Their lists indicate the range of vegetables on which our forefathers subsisted: 2 1 New York Gazette, August 28, 1766. 2 Boston Evening Post, March 11, 1751.

To be sold by Lydia Dyar

at the North End, near The Salutation,

The very best of Garden Seeds, early Cabbage, early Lettuce Seeds, early Dutch, early Sugarloaf, early Yorkshire, green Savoy, yellow ditto, large winter Cabbage, Colliflower, early Dutch Turnip, round red Turnip, yellow ditto, large Winter Turnip, three sorts of Carrots, early Charlton Pease, early Hotspur Pease, Marrow fat Pease, Dwarf Pease, all sorts of other Seeds, Windsor Beans, Hotspur Beans, with a variety of fine Flower Seeds, imported in the very last Ship from London.

The trade in seeds must have been a profitable one for women; ten have been noted who made a specialty in it, and among these ten are some of the most regular of colonial advertisers. For example, Susannah Renken, who dealt in groceries, some lines of dry goods, and china, advertised in the Boston papers, every spring from 1764 to 1775 inclusive, a freshly imported stock of seeds. In the same papers Bethiah Oliver made an annual announcement, from 1765 to 1771, inclusive; in 1772, "Ebenezer Oliver informs the Publick and the Customers of his late Mother, Mrs. Bethiah Oliver, deceased, that he sells at the shop formerly improved by her," and so on.

Dishes were naturally a favorite article, and simple as they were in the days of the pioneers, the