period  speaks  of  "Miss  Wilkins,  an  old  maid  of  twenty-six,
looked  on  in  Boston  as  a  dismal  spectacle."

At  their  funerals,  in  the  small  towns,  the  coffin  was  carried  to
the  grave  on  men's  shoulders.  After  the  burial  all  returned  to
the  home  of  the  deceased,  and  closed  the  day  with  feasting  and
drinking.
The  houses  were  built  of  logs,  covered  with  rough  boards.
Each  house  had  a  large  chimney,  with  its  immense  open  fire-
place, often  large  enough  to  hold  a  wagon-load  of  wood.  As
there  were  no  stoves  in  those  days,  the  cooking  was  done  in
these  open  fire-places.
220,  Education. —  From  the  beginning  of  their  settlement,
the  men  of  New  England  took  a  deep  interest  in  education.
One  of  their  first  acts  was  to  establish  a  system  of  free  schools.
In  1649  education  was  compulsory  in  every  New  England  col-
ony except  Rhode  Island.    The  result  was  that  every  one  could
read  and  write.     Seven  years  after  the  founding  of  Salem,  the
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  appropriated  a  sum  for  estab-
lishing a  college.     Two  years  later   Rev.   John    Harvard,  of
Charlestown,  died,  leaving  his   library  and  half  of  his  estate,
with  which  to  aid  the  plan.     In  gratitude  to  its  benefactor  the
new  institution  was  called  Harvard  College,  now  the  oldest  col-
lege in  the  United  States.     Yale  College  was  founded  in  Con-
necticut, at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.    At  a  later
period  Dartmouth  College  was  established  in  New  Hampshire,
and  Brown  College  in  Rhode  Island.
