chants, having sufficient energy and ability to carry on their husbands' trades. Mrs. Grant, a New England woman, took up her husband's business when he was killed in an accident, and carried it on successfully, despite envious opposition. At one time, when a large sum of money was owed her for which she had sued, she found that her counsel was deceiving her and was really acting for her opponent. So she went into the court-room and, with the judge's permission, argued her own case so well that the jury promptly rendered a verdict in her favor.
In New York, then New Amsterdam, two famous widows, Mrs. De Vries and Mrs. Provoost, successfully continued their husbands' foreign trades, and Martha Smith, a widow living on Long Island, ably conducted a fishery. In 1707 she was reported as having paid 15 pounds and 15 shillings to the authorities in New York as taxes on her income.
There even were a few colonial women engaged in intellectual work, although there were practically no educational opportunities for women in those' days. Jane Colden, the daughter of Governor Colden of New York, was an able botanist. She described hundreds of American plants according to the system of Lynnaeus, and made beautiful and accurate drawings of the plants she described. At one time the attention of Lynnaeus himself was called to this American woman botanist. It is amusing and characteristic of the conception of womanliness prevailing at that time, that the letter setting forth Jane Colden's ability and scientific knowledge was followed by a postscript which read: "She makes the best cheese I ever ate in America." The writer evidently thought that so much manly knowledge in a woman had to be offset by a truly feminine ability.
Mrs. Martha Logan was a successful gardener and was also the author of a treatise on gardening. But as public opinion did not approve of women writers, Mrs. Logan kept her book a secret and it was not published until after her death.
Three American industries were originated by women: the silk industry, the manufacture of straw goods and the
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