one-fifth of the inhabitants were black. By contrast, the
Northern States were still concerned with commerce as the very
lifeblood of their existence. New England had not dreamed of the
millions of spindles which should hum on the banks of her rivers
and lure her young men and women from the farms to the clamorous
factory towns. The city of New York had not yet outgrown its
traffic in furs and its magnificent commercial destiny was still
unrevealed. It was a considerable seaport but not yet a gateway.
From Sandy Hook, however, to the stormy headlands of Maine, it
was a matter of life and death that ships should freely come and
go with cargoes to exchange. All other resources were trifling in
comparison.



CHAPTER IV. THE FAMOUS DAYS OF SALEM PORT

In such compelling circumstances as these, necessity became the
mother of achievement. There is nothing finer in American history
than the dogged fortitude and high-hearted endeavor with which
the merchant seamen returned to their work after the Revolution
and sought and found new markets for their wares. It was then
that Salem played that conspicuous part which was, for a
generation, to overshadow the activities of all other American
seaports. Six thousand privateersmen had signed articles in her
taverns, as many as the total population of the town, and they
filled it with a spirit of enterprise and daring. Not for them
the stupid monotony of voyages coastwise if more hazardous
ventures beckoned and there were havens and islands unvexed by
trade where bold men might win profit and perhaps fight for life