did, and that, too, in the old of the moon; if he did not sow just as much rye to the acre and use the same number of oxen to the plow; if he did not hoe as many times as his father and grandfather did; if, in short, he did not adopt the same views and prejudices his father had done, he was shunned in the company of old and young, and looked on as a visionary."
They had near them a fair example of progress in the Dutch settlers of the Hudson and Mohawk valleys, whose industry was so well seconded by ingenuity and improvement as to lead to great comfort and prosperity; but the Puritans carefully avoided profiting by the example. When shown any ingenious device for agricultural, mechanical, or household use, the New Englander was accustomed to say: "It beats the Dutch!" While he said aloud: "It beats the Dutch," he thought to himself: "It beats the Devil!" for to his mind Satan was the father of innovations. It was not until near the Revolution that the crust of bigotry was broken and the New England mind began to expand, and "Yankee ingenuity" began to "beat the Dutch!" The strong reaction which followed the witchcraft delusion was the
