It seemed a little late in the day for a Puritan streak to show.

A deep Puritan streak pervades animal rights activists, an abiding discomfort not only with our animality, but with the animals' animality too.

Although Boston's reputation as a city with a Puritan streak persists, officials say the demise of the Combat Zone has nothing to do with the morality of adult entertainment.

At times, Americans are even said to have a Puritan streak.

Are the issues that Miss Graham took on in 1938 - the causes of the Indians and the blacks, a condemnation of the Puritan streak in the American heritage - so out of date?

Unlike New York, the nation's capital has always had a Puritan streak and remains a curious mix of raging ambition and Midwestern values.

However, they would close their eyes to the methods; the un sophisticated Puritan streak was given extraordinary lip service in Washington.

I spent time in Salem and read about the Puritans; the Puritan streak continues to dominate in American culture.

Whatever they do, that Puritan streak will always remain.