it was a special favor, granted only to a favorite lover, who might
consider it a proof of the high regard which the damsel had for him; in
short, it was _only accepted lovers_ who were thus admitted to the bed
of the fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long continued
urging in most cases.[36] He thinks the fashion ceased about 1790 to
1800, and in consequence of education and refinement; and that _no more
mischief was done then than there is now-a-days_.

In the same strain, also, spoke the genial Colonel H., a native of
Berlin, Ct., born in 1775. He was perfectly conversant with the custom,
had known the old ladies, in some cases, to go up stairs before
retiring, to see that the bundling couple were comfortable, _tuck 'em
up_, and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly asseverated his belief
"that there wasn't any more mischief done in those days than there is
now."

Indeed, all the old people with whom we have conversed on the matter,
although in some cases a little unwilling to own that they had ever
practiced it themselves, were unanimous in their belief that the abuse
of chastity under the bundling regime was no more frequent than it is
now. One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in reply to the half
reproachful, half joking question of his grandson, whether he wasn't
ashamed, replied: "Why, no! What is the use of sitting up all night and
burning out fire and lights, when you could just as well get under kiver
and keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap and wake up fresh,
and go at it again? Why, d--n it, there wasn't half as many bastards
then as there are now!"[37]

Even within the present century we have found traces of the continuance
of the practice of bundling, though the instances are perhaps few, and