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diff --git a/22675.txt b/22675.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c3588d --- /dev/null +++ b/22675.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11877 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Home Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Home Life in Colonial Days + +Author: Alice Morse Earle + +Release Date: September 19, 2007 [EBook #22675] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Constanze Hofmann and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +This e-text was prepared from the reprint edition published in 1974 by +Berkshire Traveller Press. Copyrighted materials from that edition, +including the modern preface and illustrations, are not included. + + * * * * * + + + + +Home Life in +COLONIAL +DAYS + +Written by +ALICE MORSE EARLE +in the year 1898 + +THE BERKSHIRE TRAVELLER PRESS +Stockbridge, Massachusetts + +_THIS BOOK IS BEGUN +AS IT IS ENDED +IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER_ + + + + +_Foreword_ + + +_The illustrations for this book are in every case from real articles +and scenes, usually from those still in existence--rare relics of past +days. The pictures are the symbols of years of careful search, patient +investigation, and constant watchfulness. Many a curious article as +nameless and incomprehensible as the totem of an extinct Indian tribe +has been studied, compared, inquired and written about, and finally +triumphantly named and placed in the list of obsolete domestic +appurtenances. From the lofts of woodsheds, under attic eaves, in dairy +cellars, out of old trunks and sea-chests from mouldering warehouses, +have strangely shaped bits and combinations of wood, stuff, and metal +been rescued and recognized. The treasure stores of Deerfield Memorial +Hall, of the Bostonian Society, of the American Antiquarian Society, and +many State Historical Societies have been freely searched; and to the +officers of these societies I give cordial thanks for their cooeperation +and assistance in my work._ + +_The artistic and correct photographic representation of many of these +objects I owe to Mr. William F. Halliday of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. +George F. Cook of Richmond, Virginia, and the Misses Allen of Deerfield, +Massachusetts. To many friends, and many strangers, who have secured for +me single articles or single photographs, I here repeat the thanks +already given for their kindness._ + +_There were two constant obstacles in the path: An article would be +found and a name given by old-time country folk, but no dictionary +contained the word, no printed description of its use or purpose could +be obtained, though a century ago it was in every household. Again, some +curiously shaped utensil or tool might be displayed and its use +indicated; but it was nameless, and it took long inquiry and +deduction,--the faculty of "taking a hint,"--to christen it. It is plain +that different vocations and occupations had not only implements but a +vocabulary of their own, and all have become almost obsolete; to the +various terms, phrases, and names, once in general application and use +in spinning, weaving, and kindred occupations, and now half forgotten, +might be given the descriptive title, a "homespun vocabulary." By +definite explanation of these terms many a good old English word and +phrase has been rescued from disuse._ + + _ALICE MORSE EARLE._ + + + + +Contents + + + Page + + I. Homes of the Colonists 1 + + II. The Light of Other Days 32 + + III. The Kitchen Fireside 52 + + IV. The Serving of Meals 76 + + V. Food from Forest and Sea 108 + + VI. Indian Corn 126 + + VII. Meat and Drink 142 + +VIII. Flax Culture and Spinning 166 + + IX. Wool Culture and Spinning, with a Postscript on Cotton 187 + + X. Hand-Weaving 212 + + XI. Girls' Occupations 252 + + XII. Dress of the Colonists 281 + +XIII. Jack-knife Industries 300 + + XIV. Travel, Transportation, and Taverns 325 + + XV. Sunday in the Colonies 364 + + XVI. Colonial Neighborliness 388 + +XVII. Old-time Flower Gardens 421 + + + + +Home Life in Colonial Days + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOMES OF THE COLONISTS + + +When the first settlers landed on American shores, the difficulties in +finding or making shelter must have seemed ironical as well as almost +unbearable. The colonists found a land magnificent with forest trees of +every size and variety, but they had no sawmills, and few saws to cut +boards; there was plenty of clay and ample limestone on every side, yet +they could have no brick and no mortar; grand boulders of granite and +rock were everywhere, yet there was not a single facility for cutting, +drawing, or using stone. These homeless men, so sorely in need of +immediate shelter, were baffled by pioneer conditions, and had to turn +to many poor expedients, and be satisfied with rude covering. In +Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and, possibly, other states, some +reverted to an ancient form of shelter: they became cave-dwellers; caves +were dug in the side of a hill, and lived in till the settlers could +have time to chop down and cut up trees for log houses. Cornelis Van +Tienhoven, Secretary of the Province of New Netherland, gives a +description of these cave-dwellings, and says that "the wealthy and +principal men in New England lived in this fashion for two reasons: +first, not to waste time building; second, not to discourage poorer +laboring people." It is to be doubted whether wealthy men ever lived in +them in New England, but Johnson, in his _Wonder-working Providence_, +written in 1645, tells of the occasional use of these "smoaky homes." +They were speedily abandoned, and no records remain of permanent +cave-homes in New England. In Pennsylvania caves were used by newcomers +as homes for a long time, certainly half a century. They generally were +formed by digging into the ground about four feet in depth on the banks +or low cliffs near the river front. The walls were then built up of sods +or earth laid on poles or brush; thus half only of the chamber was +really under ground. If dug into a side hill, the earth formed at least +two walls. The roofs were layers of tree limbs covered over with sod, or +bark, or rushes and bark. The chimneys were laid of cobblestone or +sticks of wood mortared with clay and grass. The settlers were thankful +even for these poor shelters, and declared that they found them +comfortable. By 1685 many families were still living in caves in +Pennsylvania, for the Governor's Council then ordered the caves to be +destroyed and filled in. Sometimes the settler used the cave for a +cellar for the wooden house which he built over it. + +These cave-dwellings were perhaps the poorest houses ever known by any +Americans, yet pioneers, or poor, or degraded folk have used them for +homes in America until far more recent days. In one of these miserable +habitations of earth and sod in the town of Rutland, Massachusetts, were +passed some of the early years of the girlhood of Madame Jumel, whose +beautiful house on Washington Heights, New York, still stands to show +the contrasts that can come in a single life. + +The homes of the Indians were copied by the English, being ready +adaptations of natural and plentiful resources. Wigwams in the South +were of plaited rush or grass mats; of deerskins pinned on a frame; of +tree boughs rudely piled into a cover, and in the far South, of layers +of palmetto leaves. In the mild climate of the Middle and Southern +states a "half-faced camp," of the Indian form, with one open side, +which served for windows and door, and where the fire was built, made a +good temporary home. In such for a time, in his youth, lived Abraham +Lincoln. Bark wigwams were the most easily made of all; they could be +quickly pinned together on a light frame. In 1626 there were thirty +home-buildings of Europeans on the island of Manhattan, now New York, +and all but one of them were of bark. + +Though the settler had no sawmills, brick kilns, or stone-cutters, he +had one noble friend,--a firm rock to stand upon,--his broad-axe. With +his axe, and his own strong and willing arms, he could take a long step +in advance in architecture; he could build a log cabin. These good, +comfortable, and substantial houses have ever been built by American +pioneers, not only in colonial days, but in our Western and Southern +states to the present time. A typical one like many now standing and +occupied in the mountains of North Carolina is here shown. Round logs +were halved together at the corners, and roofed with logs, or with bark +and thatch on poles; this made a comfortable shelter, especially when +the cracks between the logs were "chinked" with wedges of wood, and +"daubed" with clay. Many cabins had at first no chinking or daubing; one +settler while sleeping was scratched on the head by the sharp teeth of a +hungry wolf, who thrust his nose into the space between the logs of the +cabin. Doors were hung on wooden hinges or straps of hide. + +A favorite form of a log house for a settler to build in his first "cut +down" in the virgin forest, was to dig a square trench about two feet +deep, of dimensions as large as he wished the ground floor of his house, +then to set upright all around this trench (leaving a space for a +fireplace, window, and door), a closely placed row of logs all the same +length, usually fourteen feet long for a single story; if there was a +loft, eighteen feet long. The earth was filled in solidly around these +logs, and kept them firmly upright; a horizontal band of puncheons, +which were split logs smoothed off on the face with the axe, was +sometimes pinned around within the log walls, to keep them from caving +in. Over this was placed a bark roof, made of squares of chestnut bark, +or shingles of overlapping birch-bark. A bark or log shutter was hung at +the window, and a bark door hung on withe hinges, or, if very luxurious, +on leather straps, completed the quickly made home. This was called +rolling-up a house, and the house was called a puncheon and bark house. +A rough puncheon floor, hewed flat with an axe or adze, was truly a +luxury. One settler's wife pleaded that the house might be rolled up +around a splendid flat stump; thus she had a good, firm table. A small +platform placed about two feet high alongside one wall, and supported at +the outer edge with strong posts, formed a bedstead. Sometimes hemlock +boughs were the only bed. The frontier saying was, "A hard day's work +makes a soft bed." The tired pioneers slept well even on hemlock boughs. +The chinks of the logs were filled with moss and mud, and in the autumn +banked up outside with earth for warmth. + +These log houses did not satisfy English men and women. They longed to +have what Roger Williams called English houses, which were, however, +scarcely different in ground-plan. A single room on the ground, called +in many old wills the fire-room, had a vast chimney at one end. A +so-called staircase, usually but a narrow ladder, led to a sleeping-loft +above. Some of those houses were still made of whole logs, but with +clapboards nailed over the chinks and cracks. Others were of a lighter +frame covered with clapboards, or in Delaware with boards pinned on +perpendicularly. Soon this house was doubled in size and comfort by +having a room on either side of the chimney. + +Each settlement often followed in general outline as well as detail the +houses to which the owners had become accustomed in Europe, with, of +course, such variations as were necessary from the new surroundings, new +climate, and new limitations. New York was settled by the Dutch, and +therefore naturally the first permanent houses were Dutch in shape, such +as may be seen in Holland to-day. In the large towns in New Netherland +the houses were certainly very pretty, as all visitors stated who wrote +accounts at that day. Madam Knights visited New York in 1704, and wrote +of the houses,--I will give her own words, in her own spelling and +grammar, which were not very good, though she was the teacher of +Benjamin Franklin, and the friend of Cotton Mather:-- + + "The Buildings are Brick Generaly very stately and high: the Bricks + in some of the houses are of divers Coullers, and laid in Checkers, + being glazed, look very agreable. The inside of the houses is neat + to admiration, the wooden work; for only the walls are plaster'd; + and the Sumers and Gist are planed and kept very white scour'd as + so is all the partitions if made of Bords." + +The "sumers and gist" were the heavy timbers of the frame, the +summer-pieces and joists. The summer-piece was the large middle beam in +the middle from end to end of the ceiling; the joists were cross-beams. +These were not covered with plaster as nowadays, but showed in every +ceiling; and in old houses are sometimes set so curiously and fitted so +ingeniously, that they are always an entertaining study. Another +traveller says that New York houses had patterns of colored brick set in +the front, and also bore the date of building. The Governor's house at +Albany had two black brick-hearts. Dutch houses were set close to the +sidewalk with the gable-end to the street; and had the roof notched like +steps,--corbel-roof was the name; and these ends were often of brick, +while the rest of the walls were of wood. The roofs were high in +proportion to the side walls, and hence steep; they were surmounted +usually in Holland fashion with weather-vanes in the shape of horses, +lions, geese, sloops, or fish; a rooster was a favorite Dutch +weather-vane. There were metal gutters sticking out from every roof +almost to the middle of the street; this was most annoying to passers-by +in rainy weather, who were deluged with water from the roofs. The cellar +windows had small loop-holes with shutters. The windows were always +small; some had only sliding shutters, others had but two panes or +quarels of glass, as they were called, which were only six or eight +inches square. The front doors were cut across horizontally in the +middle into two parts, and in early days were hung on leather hinges +instead of iron. + +In the upper half of the door were two round bull's-eyes of heavy +greenish glass, which let faint rays of light enter the hall. The door +opened with a latch, and often had also a knocker. Every house had a +porch or "stoep" flanked with benches, which were constantly occupied in +the summer time; and every evening, in city and village alike, an +incessant visiting was kept up from stoop to stoop. The Dutch farmhouses +were a single straight story, with two more stories in the high, +in-curving roof. They had doors and stoops like the town houses, and all +the windows had heavy board shutters. The cellar and the garret were the +most useful rooms in the house; they were store-rooms for all kinds of +substantial food. In the cellar were great bins of apples, potatoes, +turnips, beets, and parsnips. There were hogsheads of corned beef, +barrels of salt pork, tubs of hams being salted in brine, tonnekens of +salt shad and mackerel, firkins of butter, kegs of pigs' feet, tubs of +souse, kilderkins of lard. On a long swing-shelf were tumblers of spiced +fruits, and "rolliches," head-cheese, and strings of sausages--all Dutch +delicacies. + +In strong racks were barrels of cider and vinegar, and often of beer. +Many contained barrels of rum and a pipe of Madeira. What a storehouse +of plenty and thrift! What an emblem of Dutch character! In the attic +by the chimney was the smoke-house, filled with hams, bacon, smoked +beef, and sausages. + +In Virginia and Maryland, where people did not gather into towns, but +built their houses farther apart, there were at first few sawmills, and +the houses were universally built of undressed logs. Nails were costly, +as were all articles manufactured of iron, hence many houses were built +without iron; wooden pins and pegs were driven in holes cut to receive +them; hinges were of leather; the shingles on the roof were sometimes +pinned, or were held in place by "weight-timbers." The doors had latches +with strings hanging outside; by pulling in the string within-doors the +house was securely locked. This form of latch was used in all the +colonies. When persons were leaving houses, they sometimes set them on +fire in order to gather up the nails from the ashes. To prevent this +destruction of buildings, the government of Virginia gave to each +planter who was leaving his house as many nails as the house was +estimated to have in its frame, provided the owner would not burn the +house down. + +Some years later, when boards could be readily obtained, the favorite +dwelling-place in the South was a framed building with a great stone or +log-and-clay chimney at either end. The house was usually set on sills +resting on the ground. The partitions were sometimes covered with a +thick layer of mud which dried into a sort of plaster and was +whitewashed. The roofs were covered with cypress shingles. + +Hammond wrote of these houses in 1656, in his _Leah and Rachel_, +"Pleasant in their building, and contrived delightfull; the rooms large, +daubed and whitelimed, glazed and flowered; and if not glazed windows, +shutters made pretty and convenient." + +When prosperity and wealth came through the speedily profitable crops of +tobacco, the houses improved. The home-lot or yard of the Southern +planters showed a pleasant group of buildings, which would seem the most +cheerful home of the colonies, only that all dearly earned homes are +cheerful to their owners. There was not only the spacious mansion house +for the planter with its pleasant porch, but separate buildings in which +were a kitchen, cabins for the negro servants and the overseer, a +stable, barn, coach-house, hen-house, smoke-house, dove-cote, and +milk-room. In many yards a tall pole with a toy house at top was +erected; in this bird-house bee-martins built their nests, and by +bravely disconcerting the attacks of hawks and crows, and noisily +notifying the family and servants of the approach of the enemy, thus +served as a guardian for the domestic poultry, whose home stood close +under this protection. There was seldom an ice-house. The only means for +the preservation of meats in hot weather was by water constantly pouring +into and through a box house erected over the spring that flowed near +the house. Sometimes a brew-house was also found in the yard, for making +home-brewed beer, and a tool-house for storing tools and farm +implements. Some farms had a cider-mill, but this was not in the house +yard. Often there was a spinning-house where servants could spin flax +and wool. This usually had one room containing a hand-loom on which +coarse bagging could be woven, and homespun for the use of the negroes. +A very beautiful example of a splendid and comfortable Southern mansion +such as was built by wealthy planters in the middle of the eighteenth +century has been preserved for us at Mount Vernon, the home of George +Washington. + +Mount Vernon was not so fine nor so costly a house as many others built +earlier in the century, such as Lower Brandon--two centuries and a half +old--and Upper Brandon, the homes of the Harrisons; Westover, the home +of the Byrds; Shirley, built in 1650, the home of the Carters; Sabin +Hall, another Carter home, is still standing on the Rappahannock with +its various and many quarters and outbuildings, and is a splendid +example of colonial architecture. + +As the traveller came north from Virginia through Pennsylvania, "the +Jerseys," and Delaware, the negro cabins and detached kitchen +disappeared, and many of the houses were of stone and mortar. A clay +oven stood by each house. In the cities stone and brick were much used, +and by 1700 nearly all Philadelphia houses had balconies running the +entire length of the second story. The stoop before the door was +universal. + +For half a century nearly all New England houses were cottages. Many had +thatched roofs. Seaside towns set aside for public use certain reedy +lots between salt-marsh and low-water mark, where thatch could be freely +cut. The catted chimneys were of logs plastered with clay, or platted, +that is, made of reeds and mortar; and as wood and hay were stacked in +the streets, all the early towns suffered much from fires, and soon laws +were passed forbidding the building of these unsafe chimneys; as brick +was imported and made, and stone was quarried, there was certainly no +need to use such danger-filled materials. Fire-wardens were appointed +who peered around in all the kitchens, hunting for what they called foul +chimney hearts, and they ordered flag-roofs and wooden chimneys to be +removed, and replaced with stone or brick ones. In Boston every +housekeeper had to own a fire-ladder; and ladders and buckets were kept +in the church. Salem kept its "fire-buckets and hook'd poles" in the +town-house. Soon in all towns each family owned fire-buckets made of +heavy leather and marked with the owner's name or initials. The entire +town constituted the fire company, and the method of using the +fire-buckets was this. As soon as an alarm of fire was given by shouts +or bell-ringing, every one ran at once towards the scene of the fire. +All who owned buckets carried them, and if any person was delayed even +for a few minutes, he flung his fire-buckets from the window into the +street, where some one in the running crowd seized them and carried them +on. On reaching the fire, a double line called lanes of persons was made +from the fire to the river or pond, or a well. A very good +representation of these lanes is given in this fireman's certificate of +the year 1800. + +The buckets, filled with water, were passed from hand to hand, up one +line of persons to the fire, while the empty ones went down the other +line. Boys were stationed on the _dry lane_. Thus a constant supply of +water was carried to the fire. If any person attempted to pass through +the line, or hinder the work, he promptly got a bucketful or two of +water poured over him. When the fire was over, the fire-warden took +charge of the buckets; some hours later the owners appeared, each picked +out his own buckets from the pile, carried them home, and hung them up +by the front door, ready to be seized again for use at the next alarm of +fire. + +Many of these old fire-buckets are still preserved, and deservedly are +cherished heirlooms, for they represent the dignity and importance due +a house-holding ancestor. They were a valued possession at the time of +their use, and a costly one, being, made of the best leather. They were +often painted not only with the name of the owner, but with family +mottoes, crests, or appropriate inscriptions, sometimes in Latin. The +leather hand-buckets of the Donnison family of Boston are here shown; +those of the Quincy family bear the legend _Impavadi Flammarium_; those +of the Oliver family, _Friend and Public_. In these fire-buckets were +often kept, tightly rolled, strong canvas bags, in which valuables +could be thrust and carried from the burning building. + +The first fire-engine made in this country was for the town of Boston, +and was made about 1650 by Joseph Jencks, the famous old iron-worker in +Lynn. It was doubtless very simple in shape, as were its successors +until well into this century. The first fire-engine used in Brooklyn, +New York, is here shown. It was made in 1785 by Jacob Boome. Relays of +men at both handles worked the clumsy pump. The water supply for this +engine was still only through the lanes of fire-buckets, except in rare +cases. + +By the year 1670 wooden chimneys and log houses of the Plymouth and Bay +colonies were replaced by more sightly houses of two stories, which were +frequently built with the second story jutting out a foot or two over +the first, and sometimes with the attic story still further extending +over the second story. A few of these are still standing: The +White-Ellery House, at Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1707, is here +shown. This "overhang" is popularly supposed to have been built for the +purpose of affording a convenient shooting-place from which to repel the +Indians. This is, however, an historic fable. The overhanging second +story was a common form of building in England in the time of Queen +Elizabeth, and the Massachusetts and Rhode Island settlers simply and +naturally copied their old homes. + +The roofs of many of these new houses were steep, and were shingled with +hand-riven shingles. The walls between the rooms were of clay mixed with +chopped straw. Sometimes the walls were whitened with a wash made of +powdered clam-shells. The ground floors were occasionally of earth, but +puncheon floors were common in the better houses. The well-smoothed +timbers were sanded in careful designs with cleanly beach sand. + +By 1676 the Royal Commissioners wrote of Boston that the streets were +crooked, and the houses usually wooden, with a few of brick and stone. +It is a favorite tradition of brick houses in all the colonies that the +brick for them was brought from England. As excellent brick was made +here, I cannot believe all these tales that are told. Occasionally a +house, such as the splendid Warner Mansion, still standing in +Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is proved to be of imported brick by the +bills which are still existing for the purchase and transportation of +the brick. A later form of many houses was two stories or two stories +and a half in front, with a peaked roof that sloped down nearly to the +ground in the back over an ell covering the kitchen, added in the shape +known as a lean-to, or, as it was called by country folk, the linter. +This sloping roof gave the one element of unconscious picturesqueness +which redeemed the prosaic ugliness of these bare-walled houses. Many +lean-to houses are still standing in New England. The Boardman Hill +House, built at North Saugus, Massachusetts, two centuries and a half +ago, and the two houses of lean-to form, the birthplaces of President +John Adams and of President John Quincy Adams, are typical examples. + +The next roof-form, built from early colonial days, and popular a +century ago, was what was known as the gambrel roof. This resembled, on +two sides, the mansard roof of France in the seventeenth century, but +was also gabled at two ends. The gambrel roof had a certain grace of +outline, especially when joined with lean-tos and other additions. The +house partly built in 1636 in Dedham, Massachusetts, by my far-away +grandfather, and known as the Fairbanks House, is the oldest +gambrel-roofed house now standing. It is still occupied by one of his +descendants in the eighth generation. The rear view of it, here given, +shows the picturesqueness of roof outlines and the quaintness which +comes simply from variety. The front of the main building, with its +eight windows, all of different sizes and set at different heights, +shows equal diversity. Within, the boards in the wall-panelling vary +from two to twenty-five inches in width. + +The windows of the first houses had oiled paper to admit light. A +colonist wrote back to England to a friend who was soon to follow, +"Bring oiled paper for your windows." The minister, Higginson, sent +promptly in 1629 for glass for windows. This glass was set in the +windows with nails; the sashes were often narrow and oblong, of +diamond-shaped panes set in lead, and opening up and down the middle on +hinges. Long after the large towns and cities had glass windows, +frontier settlements still had heavy wooden shutters. They were a safer +protection against Indian assault, as well as cheaper. It is asserted +that in the province of Kennebec, which is now the state of Maine, there +was not, even as late as 1745, a house that had a square of glass in it. +Oiled paper was used until this century in pioneer houses for windows +wherever it was difficult to transport glass. + +Few of the early houses in New England were painted, or colored, as it +was called, either without or within. Painters do not appear in any of +the early lists of workmen. A Salem citizen, just previous to the +Revolution, had the woodwork of one of the rooms of his house painted. +One of a group of friends, discussing this extravagance a few days +later, said: "Well! Archer has set us a fine example of expense,--he has +laid one of his rooms in oil." This sentence shows both the wording and +ideas of the times. + +There was one external and suggestive adjunct of the earliest pioneer's +home which was found in nearly all the settlements which were built in +the midst of threatening Indians. Some strong houses were always +surrounded by a stockade, or "palisado," of heavy, well-fitted logs, +which thus formed a garrison, or neighborhood resort, in time of danger. +In the valley of Virginia each settlement was formed of houses set in a +square, connected from end to end of the outside walls by stockades +with gates; thus forming a close front. On the James River, on Manhattan +Island, were stockades. The whole town plot of Milford, Connecticut, was +enclosed in 1645, and the Indians taunted the settlers by shouting out, +"White men all same like pigs." At one time in Massachusetts, twenty +towns proposed an all-surrounding palisade. The progress and condition +of our settlements can be traced in our fences. As Indians disappeared +or succumbed, the solid row of pales gave place to a log-fence, which +served well to keep out depredatory animals. When dangers from Indians +or wild animals entirely disappeared, boards were still not over-plenty, +and the strength of the owner could not be over-spent on unnecessary +fencing. Then came the double-rail fence; two rails, held in place one +above the other, at each joining, by four crossed sticks. It was a +boundary, and would keep in cattle. It was said that every fence should +be horse-high, bull-proof, and pig-tight. Then came stone walls, showing +a thorough clearing and taming of the land. The succeeding "half-high" +stone wall--a foot or two high, with a single rail on top--showed that +stones were not as plentiful in the fields as in early days. The +"snake-fence," or "Virginia fence," so common in the Southern states, +utilized the second growth of forest trees. The split-rail fence, four +or five rails in height, was set at intervals with posts, pierced with +holes to hold the ends of the rails. These were used to some extent in +the East; but our Western states were fenced throughout with rails split +by sturdy pioneer rail-splitters, among them young Abraham Lincoln. +Board fences showed the day of the sawmill and its plentiful supply; the +wire fences of to-day equally prove the decrease of our forests and our +wood, and the growth of our mineral supplies and manufactures of +metals. Thus even our fences might be called historical monuments. + +A few of the old block-houses, or garrison houses, the "defensible +houses," which were surrounded by these stockades, are still standing. +The most interesting are the old Garrison at East Haverhill, +Massachusetts, built in 1670; it has walls of solid oak, and brick a +foot and a half thick; the Saltonstall House at Ipswich, built in 1633; +Cradock Old Fort in Medford, Massachusetts, built in 1634 of brick made +on the spot; an old fort at York, Maine; and the Whitefield Garrison +House, built in 1639 at Guilford, Connecticut. The one at Newburyport is +the most picturesque and beautiful of them all. + +As social life in Boston took on a little aspect of court life in the +circle gathered around the royal governors, the pride of the wealthy +found expression in handsome and stately houses. These were copied and +added to by men of wealth and social standing in other towns. The +Province House, built in 1679, the Frankland House in 1735, and the +Hancock House, all in Boston; the Shirley House in Roxbury, the +Wentworth Mansion in New Hampshire, are good examples. They were +dignified and simple in form, and have borne the test of +centuries,--they wear well. They never erred in over-ornamentation, +being scant of interior decoration, save in two or three principal rooms +and the hall and staircase. The panelled step ends and soffits, the +graceful newels and balusters, of those old staircases hold sway as +models to this day. + +The same taste which made the staircase the centre of decoration within, +made the front door the sole point of ornamentation without; and equal +beauty is there focused. Worthy of study and reproduction, many of the +old-time front doors are with their fine panels, graceful, leaded side +windows, elaborate and pretty fan-lights, and slight but appropriate +carving. The prettiest leaded windows I ever saw in an American home +were in a thereby glorified hen-house. They had been taken from the +discarded front door of a remodelled old Falmouth house. The hens and +their owner were not of antiquarian tastes, and relinquished the windows +for a machine-made sash more suited to their plebeian tastes and +occupations. Many colonial doors had door-latches or knobs of heavy +brass; nearly all had a knocker of wrought iron or polished brass, a +cheerful ornament that ever seems to resound a welcome to the visitor as +well as a notification to the visited. + +The knocker from the John Hancock House in Boston and that from the +Winslow House in Marshfield are here shown; both are now in the custody +of the Bostonian Society, and may be seen at the Old State House in +Boston. The latter was given to the society by Dr. Oliver Wendell +Holmes. + +The "King-Hooper" House, still standing in Danvers, Massachusetts, +closely resembled the Hancock House. This house, built by Robert Hooper +in 1754, was for a time the refuge of the royal governor of +Massachusetts--Governor Gage; and hence is sometimes called General +Gage's Headquarters. When the minute-men marched past the house to +Lexington on April 18, 1775, they stripped the lead from the gate-posts. +"King Hooper" angrily denounced them, and a minute-man fired at him as +he entered the house. The bullet passed through the panel of the door, +and the rent may still be seen. Hence the house has been often called +The House of the Front Door with the Bullet-Hole. The present owner and +occupier of the house, Francis Peabody, Esq., has appropriately named it +The Lindens, from the stately linden trees that grace its gardens and +lawns. + +In riding through those portions of our states that were the early +settled colonies, it is pleasant to note where any old houses are still +standing, or where the sites of early colonial houses are known, the +good taste usually shown by the colonists in the places chosen to build +their houses. They dearly loved a "sightly location." An old writer +said: "My consayte is such; I had rather not to builde a mansyon or a +house than to builde one without a good prospect in it, to it, and from +it." In Virginia the houses were set on the river slope, where every +passing boat might see them. The New England colonists painfully climbed +long, tedious hills, that they might have homes from whence could be had +a beautiful view, and this was for the double reason, as the old writer +said, that in their new homes they might both see and be seen. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS + + +The first and most natural way of lighting the houses of the American +colonists, both in the North and South, was by the pine-knots of the fat +pitch-pine, which, of course, were found everywhere in the greatest +plenty in the forests. Governor John Winthrop the younger, in his +communication to the English Royal Society in 1662, said this +candle-wood was much used for domestic illumination in Virginia, New +York, and New England. It was doubtless gathered everywhere in new +settlements, as it has been in pioneer homes till our own day. In Maine, +New Hampshire, and Vermont it was used till this century. In the +Southern states the pine-knots are still burned in humble households for +lighting purposes, and a very good light they furnish. + +The historian Wood wrote in 1642, in his _New England's Prospect_:-- + + "Out of these Pines is gotten the Candlewood that is much spoke of, + which may serve as a shift among poore folks, but I cannot commend + it for singular good, because it droppeth a pitchy kind of + substance where it stands." + +That pitchy kind of substance was tar, which was one of the most +valuable trade products of the colonists. So much tar was made by +burning the pines on the banks of the Connecticut, that as early as 1650 +the towns had to prohibit the using of candle-wood for tar-making if +gathered within six miles of the Connecticut River, though it could be +gathered by families for illumination and fuel. + +Rev. Mr. Higginson, writing in 1633, said of these pine-knots:-- + + "They are such candles as the Indians commonly use, having no + other, and they are nothing else but the wood of the pine tree, + cloven in two little slices, something thin, which are so full of + the moysture of turpentine and pitch that they burne as cleere as a + torch." + +To avoid having smoke in the room, and on account of the pitchy +droppings, the candle-wood was usually burned in a corner of the +fireplace, on a flat stone. The knots were sometimes called +pine-torches. One old Massachusetts minister boasted at the end of his +life that every sermon of the hundreds he had written, had been copied +by the light of these torches. Rev. Mr. Newman, of Rehoboth, is said to +have compiled his vast concordance of the Bible wholly by the dancing +light of this candle-wood. Lighting was an important item of expense in +any household of so small an income as that of a Puritan minister; and +the single candle was often frugally extinguished during the long family +prayers each evening. Every family laid in a good supply of this light +wood for winter use, and it was said that a prudent New England farmer +would as soon start the winter without hay in his barn as without +candle-wood in his woodshed. + +Mr. Higginson wrote in 1630: "Though New England has no tallow to make +candles of, yet by abundance of fish thereof it can afford oil for +lamps." This oil was apparently wholly neglected, though there were few, +or no domestic animals to furnish tallow; but when cattle increased, +every ounce of tallow was saved as a precious and useful treasure; and +as they became plentiful it was one of the household riches of New +England, which was of value to our own day. When Governor Winthrop +arrived in Massachusetts, he promptly wrote over to his wife to bring +candles with her from England when she came. And in 1634 he sent over +for a large quantity of wicks and tallow. Candles cost fourpence apiece, +which made them costly luxuries for the thrifty colonists. + +Wicks were made of loosely spun hemp or tow, or of cotton; from the +milkweed which grows so plentifully in our fields and roads to-day the +children gathered in late summer the silver "silk-down" which was "spun +grossly into candle wicke." Sometimes the wicks were dipped into +saltpetre. + +Thomas Tusser wrote in England in the sixteenth century in his +_Directions to Housewifes_:-- + + "Wife, make thine own candle, + Spare penny to handle. + Provide for thy tallow ere frost cometh in, + And make thine own candle ere winter begin." + +Every thrifty housewife in America saved her penny as in England. The +making of the winter's stock of candles was the special autumnal +household duty, and a hard one too, for the great kettles were tiresome +and heavy to handle. An early hour found the work well under way. A good +fire was started in the kitchen fireplace under two vast kettles, each +two feet, perhaps, in diameter, which were hung on trammels from the +lug-pole or crane, and half filled with boiling water and melted tallow, +which had had two scaldings and skimmings. At the end of the kitchen or +in an adjoining and cooler room, sometimes in the lean-to, two long +poles were laid from chair to chair or stool to stool. Across these +poles were placed at regular intervals, like the rounds of a ladder, +smaller sticks about fifteen or eighteen inches long, called +candle-rods. These poles and rods were kept from year to year, either in +the garret or up on the kitchen beams. + +To each candle-rod was attached about six or eight carefully +straightened candle-wicks. The wicking was twisted strongly one way; +then doubled; then the loop was slipped over the candle-rod, when the +two ends, of course, twisted the other way around each other, making a +firm wick. A rod, with its row of wicks, was dipped in the melted tallow +in the pot, and returned to its place across the poles. Each row was +thus dipped in regular turn; each had time to cool and harden between +the dips, and thus grew steadily in size. If allowed to cool fast, they +of course grew quickly, but were brittle, and often cracked. Hence a +good worker dipped slowly, but if the room was fairly cool, could make +two hundred candles for a day's work. Some could dip two rods at a time. +The tallow was constantly replenished, as the heavy kettles were used +alternately to keep the tallow constantly melted, and were swung off and +on the fire. Boards or sheets of paper were placed under the rods to +protect the snowy, scoured floors. + +Candles were also run in moulds which were groups of metal cylinders, +usually made of tin or pewter. Itinerant candle-makers went from house +to house, taking charge of candle-making in the household, and carrying +large candle-moulds with them. One of the larger size, making two dozen +candles, is here shown; but its companion, the smaller mould, making six +candles, is such as were more commonly seen. Each wick was attached to a +wire or a nail placed across the open top of the cylinder, and hung down +in the centre of each individual mould. The melted tallow was poured in +carefully around the wicks. + +Wax candles also were made. They were often shaped by hand, by pressing +bits of heated wax around a wick. Farmers kept hives of bees as much for +the wax as for the honey, which was of much demand for sweetening, when +"loaves" of sugar were so high-priced. Deer suet, moose fat, bear's +grease, all were saved in frontier settlements, and carefully tried into +tallow for candles. Every particle of grease rescued from pot liquor, or +fat from meat, was utilized for candle-making. Rushlights were made by +stripping part of the outer bark from common rushes, thus leaving the +pith bare, then dipping them in tallow or grease, and letting them +harden. + +The precious candles thus tediously made were taken good care of. They +were carefully packed in candle-boxes with compartments; were covered +over, and set in a dark closet, where they would not discolor and turn +yellow. A metal candle-box, hung on the edge of the kitchen +mantel-shelf, always held two or three candles to replenish those which +burnt out in the candlesticks. + +A natural, and apparently inexhaustible, material for candles was found +in all the colonies in the waxy berries of the bayberry bush, which +still grows in large quantities on our coasts. In the year 1748 a +Swedish naturalist, Professor Kalm, came to America, and he wrote an +account of the bayberry wax which I will quote in full:-- + + "There is a plant here from the berries of which they make a kind + of wax or tallow, and for that reason the Swedes call it the + tallow-shrub. The English call the same tree the candle-berry tree + or bayberry bush; it grows abundantly in a wet soil, and seems to + thrive particularly well in the neighborhood of the sea. The + berries look as if flour had been strewed on them. They are + gathered late in Autumn, being ripe about that time, and are thrown + into a kettle or pot full of boiling water; by this means their fat + melts out, floats at the top of the water, and may be skimmed off + into a vessel; with the skimming they go on till there is no tallow + left. The tallow, as soon as it is congealed, looks like common + tallow or wax, but has a dirty green color. By being melted over + and refined it acquires a fine and transparent green color. This + tallow is dearer than common tallow, but cheaper than wax. Candles + of this do not easily bend, nor melt in summer as common candles + do; they burn better and slower, nor do they cause any smoke, but + yield rather an agreeable smell when they are extinguished. In + Carolina they not only make candles out of the wax of the berries, + but likewise sealing-wax." + +Beverley, the historian of Virginia, wrote of the smell of burning +bayberry tallow:-- + + "If an accident puts a candle out, it yields a pleasant fragrancy + to all that are in the room; insomuch that nice people often put + them out on purpose to have the incense of the expiring snuff." + +Bayberry wax was not only a useful home-product, but an article of +traffic till this century, and was constantly advertised in the +newspapers. In 1712, in a letter written to John Winthrop, F.R.S., I +find:-- + + "I am now to beg one favour of you,--that you secure for me all the + bayberry wax you can possibly put your hands on. You must take a + care they do not put too much tallow among it, being a custom and + cheat they have got." + +Bayberries were of enough importance to have some laws made about them. +Everywhere on Long Island grew the stunted bushes, and everywhere they +were valued. The town of Brookhaven, in 1687, forbade the gathering of +the berries before September 15, under penalty of fifteen shillings' +fine. + +The pungent and unique scent of the bayberry, equally strong in leaf +and berry, is to me one of the elements of the purity and sweetness of +the air of our New England coast fields in autumn. It grows everywhere, +green and cheerful, in sun-withered shore pastures, in poor bits of +earth on our rocky coast, where it has few fellow field-tenants to crowd +the ground. It is said that the highest efforts of memory are stimulated +through our sense of smell, by the association of ideas with scents. +That of bayberry, whenever I pass it, seems to awaken in me an +hereditary memory, to recall a life of two centuries ago. I recall the +autumns of trial and of promise in our early history, and the bayberry +fields are peopled with children in Puritan garb, industriously +gathering the tiny waxen fruit. Equally full of sentiment is the scent +of my burning bayberry candles, which were made last autumn in an old +colony town. + +The history of whale-fishing in New England is the history of one of the +most fascinating commercial industries the world has ever known. It is a +story with every element of intense interest, showing infinite romance, +adventure, skill, courage, and fortitude. It brought vast wealth to the +communities that carried on the fishing, and great independence and +comfort to the families of the whalers. To the whalemen themselves it +brought incredible hardships and dangers, yet they loved the life with +a love which is strange to view and hard to understand. In the oil made +from these "royal fish" the colonists found a vast and cheap supply for +their metal and glass lamps; while the toothed whales had stored in +their blunt heads a valuable material which was at once used for making +candles; it is termed, in the most ancient reference I have found to it +in New England records, Sperma-Coeti. + +It was asserted that one of these spermaceti candles gave out more light +than three tallow candles, and had four times as big a flame. Soon their +manufacture and sale amounted to large numbers, and materially improved +domestic illumination. + +All candles, whatever their material, were carefully used by the +economical colonists to the last bit by a little wire frame of pins and +rings called a save-all. Candle-sticks of various metals and shapes were +found in every house; and often sconces, which were also called +candle-arms, or prongs. Candle-beams were rude chandeliers, a metal or +wooden hoop with candle-holders. Snuffers were always seen, with which +to trim the candles, and snuffers trays. These were sometimes +exceedingly richly ornamented, and were often of silver: extinguishers +often accompanied the snuffers. + +Though lamps occasionally appear on early inventories and lists of +sales, and though there was plenty of whale and fish oil to burn, lamps +were not extensively used in America for many years. "Betty-lamps," +shaped much like antique Roman lamps, were the earliest form. They were +small, shallow receptacles, two or three inches in diameter and about an +inch in depth; either rectangular, oval, round, or triangular in shape, +with a projecting nose or spout an inch or two long. They usually had a +hook and chain by which they could be hung on a nail in the wall, or on +the round in the back of a chair; sometimes there was also a smaller +hook for cleaning out the nose of the lamp. They were filled with +tallow, grease, or oil, while a piece of cotton rag or coarse wick was +so placed that, when lighted, the end hung out on the nose. From this +wick, dripping dirty grease, rose a dull, smoky, ill-smelling flame. + +Phoebe-lamps were similar in shape; though some had double wicks, that +is, a nose at either side. Three betty-lamps are shown in the +illustration: all came from old colonial houses. The iron lamp, solid +with the accumulated grease of centuries, was found in a Virginia cabin; +the rectangular brass lamp came from a Dutch farmhouse; and the graceful +oval brass lamp from a New England homestead. + +Pewter was a favorite material for lamps, as it was for all other +domestic utensils. It was specially in favor for the lamps for whale +oil and the "Porter's fluid," that preceded our present illuminating +medium, petroleum. A rare form is the pewter lamp here shown. It is in +the collection of ancient lamps, lanterns, candlesticks, etc., owned by +Mrs. Samuel Bowne Duryea, of Brooklyn. It came from a Salem home, where +it was used as a house-lantern. With its clear bull's-eyes of unusually +pure glass, it gave what was truly a brilliant light for the century of +its use. A group of old pewter lamps, of the shapes commonly used in the +homes of our ancestors a century or so ago, is also given; chosen, not +because they were unusual or beautiful, but because they were universal +in their use. + +The lamps of Count Rumford's invention were doubtless a great luxury, +with their clear steady light; but they were too costly to be commonly +seen in our grandfathers' homes. Nor were Argand burners ever universal. +Glass lamps of many simple shapes shared popularity for a long time with +the pewter lamps; and as pewter gradually disappeared from household +use, these glass lamps monopolized the field. They were rarely of cut or +colored glass, but were pressed glass of commonplace form and quality. A +group of them is here given which were all used in old New England +houses in the early part of this century. + +For many years the methods of striking a light were very primitive, just +as they were in Europe; many families possessed no adequate means, or +very imperfect ones. If by ill fortune the fire in the fireplace became +wholly extinguished through carelessness at night, some one, usually a +small boy, was sent to the house of the nearest neighbor, bearing a +shovel or covered pan, or perhaps a broad strip of green bark, on which +to bring back coals for relighting the fire. Nearly all families had +some form of a flint and steel,--a method of obtaining fire which has +been used from time immemorial by both civilized and uncivilized +nations. This always required a flint, a steel, and a tinder of some +vegetable matter to catch the spark struck by the concussion of flint +and steel. This spark was then blown into a flame. Among the colonists +scorched linen was a favorite tinder to catch the spark of fire; and +till this century all the old cambric handkerchiefs, linen underwear, +and worn sheets of a household were carefully saved for this purpose. +The flint, steel, and tinder were usually kept together in a circular +tinder-box, such as is shown in the accompanying illustration; it was a +shape universal in England and America. This had an inner flat cover +with a ring, a flint, a horseshoe-shaped steel, and an upper lid with a +place to set a candle-end in, to carry the newly acquired light. Though +I have tried hundreds of times with this tinder-box, I have never yet +succeeded in striking a light. The sparks fly, but then the operation +ceases in modern hands. Charles Dickens said if you had good luck, you +could get a light in half an hour. Soon there was an improvement on this +tinder-box, by which sparks were obtained by spinning a steel wheel with +a piece of cord, somewhat like spinning a humming top, and making the +wheel strike a flint fixed in the side of a little trough full of +tinder. This was an infinite advance in convenience on tinder-box No. 1. +This box was called in the South a mill; one is here shown. Then some +person invented strips of wood dipped in sulphur and called "spunks." +These readily caught fire, and retained it, and were handy to carry +light to a candle or pile of chips. + +Another way of starting a fire was by flashing a little powder in the +pan of an old-fashioned gun; sometimes this fired a twist of tow, which +in turn started a heap of shavings. + +Down to the time of our grandfathers, and in some country homes of our +fathers, lights were started with these crude elements,--flint, steel, +tinder,--and transferred by the sulphur splint; for fifty years ago +matches were neither cheap nor common. + +Though various processes for lighting in which sulphur was used in a +match shape, were brought before the public at the beginning of this +century, they were complicated, expensive, and rarely seen. The first +practical friction matches were "Congreves," made in England in 1827. +They were thin strips of wood or cardboard coated with sulphur and +tipped with a mixture of mucilage, chlorate of potash, and sulphide of +antimony. Eighty-four of them were sold in a box for twenty-five cents, +with a piece of "glass-paper" through which the match could be drawn. +There has been a long step this last fifty years between the tinder-box +used so patiently for two centuries, and the John Jex Long match-making +machine of our times, which turns out seventeen million matches a day. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE KITCHEN FIRESIDE + + +The kitchen in all the farmhouses of all the colonies was the most +cheerful, homelike, and picturesque room in the house; indeed, it was in +town houses as well. The walls were often bare, the rafters dingy; the +windows were small, the furniture meagre; but the kitchen had a warm, +glowing heart that spread light and welcome, and made the poor room a +home. In the houses of the first settlers the chimneys and fireplaces +were vast in size, sometimes so big that the fore-logs and back-logs for +the fire had to be dragged in by a horse and a long chain; or a +hand-sled was kept for the purpose. Often there were seats within the +chimney on either side. At night children could sit on these seats and +there watch the sparks fly upward and join the stars which could plainly +be seen up the great chimney-throat. + +But as the forests disappeared under the waste of burning for tar, for +potash, and through wanton clearing, the fireplaces shrank in size; and +Benjamin Franklin, even in his day, could write of "the fireplaces of +our fathers." + +The inflammable catted chimney of logs and clay, hurriedly and readily +built by the first settlers, soon gave place in all houses to vast +chimneys of stone, built with projecting inner ledges, on which rested a +bar about six or seven or even eight feet from the floor, called a +lug-pole (lug meaning to carry) or a back-bar; this was made of green +wood, and thus charred slowly--but it charred surely in the generous +flames of the great chimney heart. Many annoying, and some fatal +accidents came from the collapsing of these wooden back-bars. The +destruction of a dinner sometimes was attended with the loss of a life. +Later the back-bars were made of iron. On them were hung iron hooks or +chains with hooks of various lengths called pothooks, trammels, hakes, +pot-hangers, pot-claws, pot-clips, pot-brakes, pot-crooks. Mr. Arnold +Talbot, of Providence, Rhode Island, has folding trammels, nine feet +long, which were found in an old Narragansett chimney heart. Gibcrokes +and recons were local and less frequent names, and the folks who in +their dialect called the lug-pole a gallows-balke called the pothooks +gallows-crooks. On these hooks pots and kettles could be hung at varying +heights over the fire. The iron swinging-crane was a Yankee invention of +a century after the first settlement, and it proved a convenient and +graceful substitute for the back-bar. + +Some Dutch houses had an adaptation of a Southern method of housekeeping +in the use of a detached house called a slave-kitchen, where the meals +of the negro house and farm servants were cooked and served. The +slave-kitchen of the old Bergen homestead stood unaltered till within a +few years on Third Avenue in Brooklyn. It still exists in a dismantled +condition. Its picture plainly shows the stone ledges within the +fireplace, the curved iron lug-pole, and hanging pothooks and trammels. +With ample fire of hickory logs burning on the hearthstone, and the +varied array of primitive cooking-vessels steaming with savory fare, a +circle of laughing, black faces shining with the glowing firelight and +hungry anticipation, would make a "Dutch interior" of American form and +shaping as picturesque and artistic as any of Holland. The fireplace +itself sometimes went by the old English name, clavell-piece, as shown +by the letters of John Wynter, written from Maine in 1634 to his English +home. "The Chimney is large, with an oven at each end of him: he is so +large that wee can place our Cyttle within the Clavell-piece. Wee can +brew and bake and boyl our Cyttle all at once in him." Often a large +plate of iron, called the fire-back or fire-plate, was set at the back +of the chimney, where the constant and fierce fire crumbled brick and +split stone. These iron backs were often cast in a handsome design. + +In New York the chimneys and fireplaces were Dutch in shape; the +description given by a woman traveller at the end of the seventeenth +century ran thus:-- + + "The chimney-places are very droll-like: they have no jambs nor + lintell as we have, but a flat grate, and there projects over it a + lum in the form of the cat-and-clay lum, and commonly a muslin or + ruffled pawn around it." + +The "ruffled pawn" was a calico or linen valance which was hung on the +edge of the mantel-shelf, a pretty and cheerful fashion seen in some +English as well as Dutch homes. + +Another Dutch furnishing, the alcove bedstead, much like a closet, seen +in many New York kitchens, was replaced in New England farm-kitchens by +the "turn-up" bedstead. This was a strong frame filled with a network of +rope which was fastened at the bed-head by hinges to the wall. By night +the foot of the bed rested on two heavy legs; by day the frame with its +bed furnishings was hooked up to the wall, and covered with homespun +curtains or doors. This was the sleeping-place of the master and +mistress of the house, chosen because the kitchen was the warmest room +in the house. One of these "turn-up" bedsteads which was used in the +Sheldon homestead until this century may be seen in Deerfield Memorial +Hall. + +Over the fireplace and across the top of the room were long poles on +which hung strings of peppers, dried apples, and rings of dried pumpkin. +And the favorite resting-place for the old queen's-arm or fowling-piece +was on hooks over the kitchen fireplace. + +On the pothooks and trammels hung what formed in some households the +costliest house-furnishing,--the pots and kettles. The Indians wished +their brass kettles buried with them as a precious possession, and the +settlers equally valued them; often these kettles were worth three +pounds apiece. In many inventories of the estates of the settlers the +brass-ware formed an important item. Rev. Thomas Hooker of Hartford had +brass-ware which, in the equalizing of values to-day, would be worth +three or four hundred dollars. The great brass and copper kettles often +held fifteen gallons. The vast iron pot--desired and beloved of every +colonist--sometimes weighed forty pounds, and lasted in daily use for +many years. All the vegetables were boiled together in these great pots, +unless some very particular housewife had a wrought-iron potato-boiler +to hold potatoes or any single vegetable in place within the vast +general pot. + +Chafing-dishes and skimmers of brass and copper were also cheerful discs +to reflect the kitchen firelight. + +Very little tin was seen, either for kitchen or table utensils. Governor +Winthrop had a few tin plates, and some Southern planters had tin pans, +others "tynnen covers." Tin pails were unknown; and the pails they did +own, either of wood, brass, or other sheet metal, had no bails, but were +carried by thrusting a stick through little ears on either side of the +pail. Latten ware was used instead of tin; it was a kind of brass. A +very good collection of century-old tinware is shown in the +illustration. By a curious chance this tinware lay unpacked for over +ninety years in the attic loft of a country warehouse, in the +packing-box, just as it was delivered from an English ship at the close +of the Revolution. The pulling down of the warehouse disclosed the box, +with its dated labels. The tin utensils are more gayly lacquered than +modern ones, otherwise they differ little from the tinware of to-day. + +There was one distinct characteristic in the house-furnishing of olden +times which is lacking to-day. It was a tendency for the main body of +everything to set well up, on legs which were strong enough for adequate +support of the weight, yet were slender in appearance. To-day bureaus, +bedsteads, cabinets, desks, sideboards, come close to the floor; +formerly chests of drawers, Chippendale sideboards, four-post bedsteads, +dressing-cases, were set, often a foot high, in a tidy, cleanly fashion; +thus they could all be thoroughly swept under. This same peculiarity of +form extended to cooking-utensils. Pots and kettles had legs, as shown +in those hanging in the slave-kitchen fireplace; gridirons had legs, +skillets had legs; and further appliances in the shape of trivets, +which were movable frames, took the place of legs. The necessity for the +stilting up of cooking-utensils was a very evident one; it was necessary +to raise the body of the utensil above the ashes and coals of the open +fireplace. If the bed of coals and burning logs were too deep for the +skillet or pot-legs, then the utensil must be hung from above by the +ever-ready trammel. + +Often in the corner of the fireplace there stood a group of trivets, or +three-legged stands, of varying heights, through which the exactly +desired proximity to the coals could be obtained. + +Even toasting-forks, and similar frail utensils of wire or wrought iron, +stood on tall, spindling legs, or were carefully shaped to be set up on +trivets. They usually had, also, long, adjustable handles, which helped +to make endurable the blazing heat of the great logs. All such irons as +waffle-irons had far longer handles than are seen on any +cooking-utensils in these days of stoves and ranges, where the flames +are covered and the housewife shielded. Gridirons had long handles of +wood or iron, which could be fastened to the shorter stationary handles. +The two gridirons in the accompanying illustration are a century old. +The circular one was the oldest form. The oblong ones, with groove to +collect the gravy, did not vary in shape till our own day. Both have +indications of fittings for long handles, but the handles have vanished. +A long-handled frying-pan is seen hanging by the side of the +slave-kitchen fireplace. + +An accompaniment of the kitchen fireplace, found, not in farmhouses, but +among luxury-loving town-folk, was the plate-warmer. They are seldom +named in inventories, and I know of but one of Revolutionary days, and +it is here shown. Similar ones are manufactured to-day; the legs, +perhaps, are shorter, but the general outline is the same. + +An important furnishing of every fireplace was the andirons. In kitchen +fireplaces these were usually of iron, and the shape known as goose-neck +were common. Cob irons were the simplest form, and merely supported the +spit; sometimes they had hooks to hold a dripping-pan. A common name for +the kitchen andirons was fire-dogs; and creepers were low, small +andirons, usually used with the tall fire-dogs. The kitchen andirons +were simply for use to help hold the logs and cooking-utensils. But +other fireplaces had handsome fire-dogs of copper, brass, or cut steel, +cast or wrought in handsome devices. These were a pride and delight to +the housewife. + +A primitive method of roasting a joint of meat or a fowl was by +suspending it in front of the fire by a strong hempen string tied to a +peg in the ceiling, while some one--usually an unwilling +child--occasionally turned the roast around. Sometimes the sole +turnspit was the housewife, who, every time she basted the roast, gave +the string a good twist, and thereafter it would untwist, and then twist +a little again, and so on until the vibration ceased, when she again +basted and started it. As the juices sometimes ran down in the roast and +left the upper part too dry, a "double string-roaster" was invented, by +which the equilibrium of the joint could be shifted. A jack was a +convenient and magnified edition of the primitive string, being a metal +suspensory machine. A still further glorification was the addition of a +revolving power which ran by clockwork and turned the roast with +regularity; this was known as a clock-jack. The one here shown hangs in +the fireplace in Deerfield Memorial Hall. A smoke-jack was run somewhat +irregularly by the pressure of smoke and the current of hot air in the +chimney. These were noisy and creaking and not regarded with favor by +old-fashioned cooks. + +We are apt to think of the turnspit dog as a creature of European life, +but we had them here in America--little low, bow-legged, patient souls, +trained to run in a revolving cylinder and keep the roasting joint +a-turn before the fire. Mine host Clark of the State House Inn in +Philadelphia in the first half of the eighteenth century advertised in +Benjamin Franklin's _Pennsylvania Gazette_ that he had for sale "several +dogs and wheels, much preferable to any jacks for roasting any joints of +meat." I hope neither he nor any one else had many of these little +canine slaves. + +A frequent accompaniment of the kitchen fireplace in the eighteenth +century, and a domestic luxury seen in well-to-do homes, was the various +forms of the "roasting-kitchen," or Dutch oven. These succeeded the +jacks; they were a box-like arrangement open on one side which when in +use was turned to the fire. Like other utensils of the day, they often +stood up on legs, to bring the open side before the blaze. A little door +at the back could be opened for convenience in basting the roast. These +kitchens came in various sizes for roasting birds or joints, and in them +bread was occasionally baked. The bake-kettle, which in some communities +was also called a Dutch oven, was preferred for baking bread. It was a +strong kettle, standing, of course, on stout, stumpy legs, and when in +use was placed among the hot coals and closely covered with a strong +metal, convex cover, on which coals were also closely heaped. Such +perfect rolls, such biscuit, such shortcake, as issued from the +heaped-up bake-kettle can never be equalled by other methods of cooking. + +When the great stone chimney was built, there was usually placed on one +side of the kitchen fireplace a brick oven which had a smoke uptake into +the chimney--and-an ash-pit below. The great door was of iron. This oven +was usually heated once a week. A great fire of dry wood, called oven +wood, was kindled within it and kept burning fiercely for some hours. +This thoroughly heated all the bricks. The coals and ashes were then +swept out, the chimney draught closed, and the oven filled with brown +bread, pies, pots of beans, etc. Sometimes the bread was baked in pans, +sometimes it was baked in a great mass set on cabbage leaves or oak +leaves. In some towns an autumn harvest of oak leaves was gathered by +children to use throughout the winter. The leaves were strung on sticks. +This gathering was called going a-leafing. + +By the oven side was always a long-handled shovel known as a peel or +slice, which sometimes had a rack or rest to hold it; this implement was +a necessity in order to place the food well within the glowing oven. The +peel was sprinkled with meal, great heaps of dough were placed thereon, +and by a dexterous twist they were thrown on the cabbage or oak leaves. +A bread peel was a universal gift to a bride; it was significant of +domestic utility and plenty, and was held to be luck-bearing. On +Thanksgiving week the great oven had a fire built in it every morning, +and every night it was well filled and closed till morning. + +On one side of the kitchen often stood a dresser, on which was placed in +orderly rows the cheerful pewter and scant earthenware of the +household:-- + + "----the room was bright + With glimpses of reflected light, + From plates that on the dresser shone." + +In Dutch households plate-racks, spoon-racks, knife-racks,--all hanging +on the wall,--took the place of the New England dresser. + +In the old Phillips farmhouse at Wickford, Rhode Island, is a splendid +chimney over twenty feet square. So much room does it occupy that there +is no central staircase, but little winding stairs ascend at three +corners of the house. In the vast fireplace an ox could literally have +been roasted. On each chimney-piece are hooks to hang firearms, and at +one side curious little drawers are set for pipes and tobacco. In some +Dutch houses in New York these tobacco shelves are in the entry, over +the front door, and a narrow flight of three or four steps leads up to +them. Hanging on a nail alongside the tobacco drawer, or shelf, would +usually be seen a pipe-tongs, or smoking-tongs. They were slender +little tongs, usually of iron or steel; with them the smoker lifted a +coal from the fireplace to light his pipe. The tongs owned and used by +Captain Joshua Wingate, of Hampton, New Hampshire, who lived from 1679 +to 1769, are here shown. The handle is unlike any other I have seen, +having one end elongated, knobbed, and ingeniously bent S-shaped into +convenient form to press down the tobacco into the bowl of the pipe. +Other old-time pipe-tongs were in the form of lazy-tongs. A companion of +the pipe-tongs on the kitchen mantel was what was known as a +comfortier--a little brazier of metal in which small coals could be +handed about for pipe-lighting. An unusual luxury was a comfortier of +silver. These were found among the Dutch settlers. + +The Pennsylvania Germans were the first to use stoves. These were of +various shapes. A curious one, seen in houses and churches, was of +sheet-metal, box-shaped; three sides were within the house, and the +fourth, with the stove door, outside the house. Thus what was really +the back of the stove projected into the room, and when the fire was fed +it was necessary for the tender to go out of doors. These German stoves +and hot-air drums, which heated the second story of the house, were ever +a fresh wonder to travellers of English birth and descent in +Pennsylvania. There is no doubt that their evident economy and comfort +suggested to Benjamin Franklin the "New Pennsylvania Fireplace," which +he invented in 1742, in which both wood and coal could be used, and +which was somewhat like the heating apparatus which we now call a +Franklin stove, or heater. + +Thus German settlers had, in respect to heating, the most comfortable +homes of all the colonies. Among the English settlers the kitchen was, +too often, the only comfortable room in the house in winter weather. +Indeed, the discomforts and inconveniences of a colonial home could +scarcely be endured to-day; of course these culminated in the winter +time, when icy blasts blew fiercely down the great chimneys, and rattled +the loosely fitting windows. Children suffered bitterly in these cold +houses. The rooms were not warm three feet away from the blaze of the +fire. Cotton Mather and Judge Samuel Sewall both tell, in their diaries, +of the ink freezing in their pens as they wrote within the +chimney-side. One noted that, when a great fire was built on the hearth, +the sap forced out of the wood by the flames froze into ice at the end +of the logs. The bedrooms were seldom warmed, and had it not been for +the deep feather beds and heavy bed-curtains, would have been +unendurable. In Dutch and some German houses, with alcove bedsteads, and +sleeping on one feather bed, with another for cover, the Dutch settlers +could be far warmer than any English settlers, even in four-post +bedsteads curtained with woollen. + +Water froze immediately if left standing in bedrooms. One diary, written +in Marshfield, Massachusetts, tells of a basin of water standing on the +bedroom hearth, in front of a blazing fire, in which the water froze +solid. President John Adams so dreaded the bleak New England winter and +the ill-warmed houses that he longed to sleep like a dormouse every +year, from autumn to spring. In the Southern colonies, during the fewer +cold days of the winter months, the temperature was not so low, but the +houses were more open and lightly built than in the North, and were +without cellars, and had fewer fireplaces; hence the discomfort from the +cold was as great, if not the positive suffering. + +The first chilling entrance into the ice-cold bed of a winter bedroom +was sometimes mitigated by heating the inner sheets with a warming-pan. +This usually hung by the side of the kitchen fireplace, and when used +was filled with hot coals, and thrust within the bed, and constantly and +rapidly moved back and forth to keep from scorching the bed-linen. The +warming-pan was a circular metal pan about a foot in diameter, four or +five inches deep, with a long wooden handle and a perforated metal +cover, usually of copper or brass, which was kept highly polished, and +formed, as it hung on the wall, one of the cheerful kitchen discs to +reflect the light of the glowing fire. The warming-pan has been deemed +of sufficient decorative capacity to make it eagerly sought after by +collectors, and a great room of one of these collectors is hung entirely +around the four walls with a frieze of warming-pans. + +Many of our New England poets have given us glimpses in rhyme of the +old-time kitchen. Lowell's well-known lines are vivid enough to bear +never-dying quotation:-- + + "A fireplace filled the rooms one side + With half a cord of wood in-- + There warn't no stoves (tell comfort died) + To bake ye to a puddin'. + + "The wa'nut log shot sparkles out + Towards the pootiest--bless her! + An' little flames danced all about + The chiny on the dresser. + + "Agin the crumbly crooknecks hung, + An' in amongst 'em rusted + The old queen's-arm that granther Young + Fetched back from Concord busted." + +To me the true essence of the old-time fireside is found in Whittier's +_Snow-Bound_. The very chimney, fireplace, and hearthstone of which his +beautiful lines were written, the kitchen of Whittier's boyhood's home, +at East Haverhill, Massachusetts, is shown in the accompanying +illustration. It shows a swinging crane. His description of the "laying +the fire" can never be equalled by any prose:-- + + "We piled with care our nightly stack + Of wood against the chimney back-- + The oaken log, green, huge, and thick, + And on its top the stout back-stick; + The knotty fore-stick laid apart, + And filled between with curious art + The ragged brush; then hovering near, + We watched the first red blaze appear, + Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam + On whitewashed wall and sagging beam, + Until the old, rude-furnished room + Burst, flower-like, into rosy bloom." + +No greater picture of homely contentment could be shown than the +following lines:-- + + "Shut in from all the world without, + We sat the clean-winged hearth about, + Content to let the north wind roar + In baffled rage at pane and door, + While the red logs before us beat + The frost-line back with tropic heat; + And ever, when a louder blast + Shook beam and rafter as it passed, + The merrier up its roaring draught + The great throat of the chimney laughed. + The house dog on his paws outspread + Laid to the fire his drowsy head, + The cat's dark silhouette on the wall + A couchant tiger's seemed to fall; + And, for the winter fireside meet, + Between the andirons' straddling feet + The mug of cider simmered slow, + And apples sputtered in a row. + And, close at hand, the basket stood + With nuts from brown October's woods. + What matter how the night behaved! + What matter how the north wind raved! + Blow high, blow low, not all its snow + Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow." + +Nor can the passing of years dim the ruddy glow of that hearth-fire, nor +the charm of the poem. The simplicity of metre, the purity of wording, +the gentle sadness of some of its expressions, make us read between the +lines the deep and affectionate reminiscence with which it was written. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SERVING OF MEALS + + +Perhaps no greater difference exists between any mode of the olden times +and that of to-day, than can be seen in the manner of serving the meals +of the family. In the first place, the very dining-table of the +colonists was not like our present ones; it was a long and narrow board, +sometimes but three feet wide, with no legs attached to it. It was laid +on supports or trestles, shaped usually something like a saw-horse. Thus +it was literally a board, and was called a table-board, and the linen +cover used at meals was not called a tablecloth, but a board-cloth or +board-clothes. + +As smoothly sawed and finished boards were not so plentiful at first in +the colonies as might naturally be thought when we remember the vast +encircling forests, all such boards were carefully treasured, and used +many times to avoid sawing others by the tedious and wearying process of +pit-sawing. Hence portions of packing-boxes, or chests which had carried +stores from England to the colonies, were made into table-boards. One +such oaken table-board, still in existence, has on the under side in +quaint lettering the name and address of the Boston settler to whom the +original packing-box was sent in 1638. + +The old-time board-cloth was in no way inferior in quality or whiteness +to our present table-linen; for we know how proud colonial wives and +daughters were of the linen of their own spinning, weaving, and +bleaching. The linen tablecloth was either of holland, huckaback, +dowlas, osnaburg, or lockram--all heavy and comparatively coarse +materials--or of fine damask, just as to-day; some of the handsome +board-cloths were even trimmed with lace. + +The colonists had plenty of napkins; more, as a rule, than families of +corresponding means and station own to-day. They had need of them, for +when America was first settled forks were almost unknown to English +people--being used for eating in luxurious Italy alone, where travellers +having seen and found them useful and cleanly, afterwards introduced +them into England. So hands had to be constantly employed for holding +food, instead of the forks we now use, and napkins were therefore as +constantly necessary. The first fork brought to America was for Governor +John Winthrop, in Boston, in 1633, and it was in a leather case with a +knife and a bodkin. If the governor ate with a fork at the table, he +was doubtless the only person in the colony who did so. Thirty or forty +years later a few two-tined iron and silver forks were brought across +the water, and used in New York and Virginia, as well as Massachusetts; +and by the end of the century they had come into scant use at the tables +of persons of wealth and fashion. The first mention of a fork in +Virginia is in an inventory dated 1677; this was of a single fork. The +salt-cellar, or saler, as it was first called, was the centrepiece of +the table--"Sett in the myddys of the tabull," says an old treatise on +laying the table. It was often large and high, of curious device in +silver, and was then called a standing salt. Guests of honor were seated +"above the salt," that is, near the end of the table where sat the host +and hostess side by side; while children and persons who were not of +much dignity or account as guests were placed "below the salt," that is, +below the middle of the table. + +There is owned by Harvard University, and here shown in an +illustration, "a great silver salt" given to the college in 1644, when +the new seat of learning was but eight years old. At the table it +divided graduates, the faculty, and such, from the undergraduates. It +was valued at L5 1s. 3d., at five shillings an ounce, which was +equal to a hundred dollars to-day; a rich gift, which shows to me the +profound affection of the settlers for the new college. It is inscribed +with the name of the giver, Mr. Richard Harris. It is of simple English +design well known during that century, and made in various sizes. There +is no doubt that many of similar pattern, though not so heavy or so +rich, were seen on the tables of substantial colonists. They are named +in many wills. Often a small projecting arm was attached to one side, +over which a folded napkin could be thrown to be used as a cover; for +the salt-cellar was usually kept covered, not only to preserve +cleanliness, but in earlier days to prevent the ready introduction of +poison. + +There are some very entertaining and curious old English books which +were written in the sixteenth century to teach children and young +rustics correct and elegant manners at the table, and also helpful ways +in which to serve others. These books are called _The Babees Boke_, _The +Boke of Nurture_, _The Boke of Curteseye_, etc., and with the exception +of variations in the way of serving a dinner, and a few obsolete +customs, and in the names and shapes and materials of the different +dishes, plates, etc., used at the table, these books are just as +instructive and sensible to-day as then. From them we learn that the +only kind of table furnishings used at that time were cups to drink out +of; spoons and knives to eat with; chafing-dishes to serve hot food; +chargers for display and for serving large quantities of food; +salt-cellars, and trenchers for use as plates. There were very few other +table appointments used on any English table, either humble or great, +when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. + +One of the most important articles for setting the table was the +trencher. These were made of wood, and often were only a block of wood, +about ten or twelve inches square and three or four deep, hollowed down +into a sort of bowl in the middle. In this the food was +placed,--porridge, meat, vegetables, etc. Each person did not have even +one of these simple dishes; usually two children, or a man and his wife, +ate out of one trencher. This was a custom in England for many years; +and some very great people, a duke and his wife, not more than a century +and a half ago, sat side by side at the table and ate out of one plate +to show their unity and affection. It is told of an old Connecticut +settler, a deacon, that as he had a wood-turning mill, he thought he +would have a trencher apiece for his children. So he turned a sufficient +number of round trenchers in his mill. For this his neighbors deemed him +deeply extravagant and putting on too many airs, both as to quantity and +quality, since square trenchers, one for use by two persons, were good +enough for any one, even a deacon. So great a warrior and so prominent a +man in the colony as Miles Standish used wooden trenchers at the table, +as also did all the early governors. Nor did they disdain to name them +in their wills, as valued household possessions. For many years college +boys at Harvard ate out of wooden trenchers at the college mess-table. + +I have seen a curious old table top, or table-board, which permitted +diners seated at it to dispense with trenchers or plates. It was of +heavy oak about six inches thick, and at intervals of about eighteen +inches around its edge were scooped out deep, bowl-shaped holes about +ten inches in diameter, in which each individual's share of the dinner +was placed. After each meal the top was lifted off the trestles, +thoroughly washed and dried, and was ready for the next meal. + +Poplar-wood is an even, white, and shining wood. Until the middle of +this century poplar-wood trenchers and plates were used on the table in +Vermont, and were really attractive dishes. From earliest days the +Indians made and sold many bowls and trenchers of maple-wood knots. One +of these bowls, owned by King Philip, is at the rooms of the +Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston. Old wooden trenchers and +"Indian bowls" can be seen at the Memorial Hall in Deerfield. Bottles +were made also of wood, and drinking-cups and "noggins," which were a +sort of mug with a handle. Wood furnished many articles for the table to +the colonist, just as it did in later days on our Western frontiers, +where trenchers of wood and plates of birch-bark were seen in every +log-cabin. + +The word tankard was originally applied to a heavy and large vessel of +wood banded with metal, in which to carry water. Smaller wooden drinking +tankards were subsequently made and used throughout Europe, and were +occasionally brought here by the colonists. The plainly shaped wooden +tankard, made of staves and hoops and here shown, is from the collection +at Deerfield Memorial Hall. It was found in the house of Rev. Eli Moody. +These commonplace tankards of staves were not so rare as the beautiful +carved and hooped tankard which is here pictured, and which is in the +collection of Mrs. Samuel Bowne Duryea, of Brooklyn. I have seen a few +other quaintly carved ones, black with age, in American families of +Huguenot descent; these were apparently Swiss carvings. + +The chargers, or large round platters found on every dining-table, were +of pewter. Some were so big and heavy that they weighed five or six +pounds apiece. Pewter is a metal never seen for modern table +furnishing, or domestic use in any form to-day; but in colonial times +what was called a garnish of pewter, that is, a full set of pewter +platters, plates, and dishes, was the pride of every good housekeeper, +and also a favorite wedding gift. It was kept as bright and shining as +silver. One of the duties of children was to gather a kind of horse-tail +rush which grew in the marshes, and because it was used to scour pewter, +was called scouring-rush. + +Pewter bottles of various sizes were sent to the Massachusetts Bay +Colony, in 1629. Governor Endicott had one, but they were certainly far +from common. Dram cups, wine mugs, and funnels of pewter were also +occasionally seen, but scarcely formed part of ordinary table +furnishings. Metheglin cans and drinking-mugs of pewter were found on +nearly every table. Pewter was used until this century in the wealthiest +homes, both in the North and South, and was preferred by many who owned +rich china. Among the pewter-lovers was the Revolutionary patriot, John +Hancock, who hated the clatter of the porcelain plates. + +Porringers of pewter, and occasionally of silver, were much used at the +table, chiefly for children to eat from. These were a pretty little +shallow circular dish with a flat-pierced handle. Some had a "fish-tail" +handle; these are said to be Dutch. These porringers were in many +sizes, from tiny little ones two inches in diameter to those eight or +nine inches across. When not in use many housekeepers kept them hanging +on hooks on the edge of a shelf, where they formed a pretty and cheerful +decoration. The poet Swift says:-- + + "The porringers that in a row + Hung high and made a glittering show." + +It should be stated that the word porringer, as used by English +collectors, usually refers to a deep cup with a cover and two handles, +while what we call porringers are known to these collectors as +bleeding-basins or tasters. Here we apply the term taster, or +wine-taster, to a small, shallow silver cup with bosses in the bottom to +reflect the light and show the color and quality of wine. I have often +seen the item wine-taster in colonial inventories and wills, but never +bleeding-basin; while porringers were almost universal on such lists. +Some families had a dozen. I have found fifteen in one old New England +farmhouse. The small porringers are sometimes called posnets, which is +an old-time word that may originally have referred to a posset-cup. + +"Spoons," says the learned archaeologist, Laborde, "if not as old as the +world, are as old as soup." All the colonists had spoons, and certainly +all needed them, for at that time much of their food was in the form of +soup and "spoon-meat," such as had to be eaten with spoons when there +were no forks. Meat was usually made into hashes or ragouts; thick stews +and soups with chopped vegetables and meats were common, as were +hotch-pots. The cereal foods, which formed so large a part of English +fare in the New World, were more frequently boiled in porridge than +baked in loaves. Many of the spoons were of pewter. Worn-out pewter +plates and dishes could be recast into new pewter spoons. The moulds +were of wood or iron. The spoon mould of one of the first settlers of +Greenfield, Massachusetts, named Martindale, is here shown with a +pewter spoon. In this mould all his spoons and those of his neighbors +were cast. It is now in the Deerfield Memorial Hall. + +A still more universal spoon material was alchymy, also called occamy, +alcamy, arkamy, etc., a metal never used now, which was made of a +mixture of pan-brass and arsenicum. Wooden spoons, too, were always +seen. In Pennsylvania and New York laurel was called spoonwood, because +the Indians made pretty white spoons from that wood to sell to the +colonists. Horn was an appropriate and available material for spoons. +Many Indian tribes excelled as they do to-day in the making of horn +spoons. The vulgar affirmation, "By the great horn spoon," has +perpetuated their familiar use. + +Every family of any considerable possessions or owning good household +furnishings had a few silver spoons; nearly every person owned at least +one. At the time America was settled the common form of silver spoon in +England had what was known as a baluster stem and a seal head; the assay +mark was in the inner part of the bowl. But the fashion was just +changing, and a new and much altered form was introduced which was made +in large numbers until the opening reign of George I. This shape was the +very one without doubt in which many of the spoons of the first +colonists were made; and wherever such spoons are found, if they are +genuine antiques, they may safely be assigned a date earlier than 1714. +The handle was flat and broad at the end, where it was cleft in three +points which were turned up, that is, not toward the back of the spoon. +This was known as the "hind's-foot handle." The bowl was a perfectly +regular ellipse and was strengthened by continuing the handle in a +narrow tongue or rat-tail, which ran down the back of the bowl. The +succeeding fashion, in the early part of the eighteenth century, had a +longer elliptical bowl. The end of the handle was rounded and turned up +at the end, and it had a high sharp ridge down the middle. This was +known as the old English shape, and was in common use for half a +century. About the period of our Revolutionary War a shape nearly like +the one in ordinary present use became the mode; the bowl became +egg-shaped, and the end of the handle was turned down instead of up. The +rat-tail, which extended down the back of the bowl, was shortened into a +drop. Apostle spoons, and monkey spoons for extraordinary use were +occasionally made, and a few are still preserved; examples of five types +of spoons are shown from the collection of Edward Holbrook, Esq., of New +York. + +Families of consequence had usually a few pieces of silver besides their +spoons and the silver salt. Some kind of a drinking-cup was the usual +form. Persons of moderate means often owned a silver cup. I have seen in +early inventories and lists the names of a large variety of silver +vessels: tankards, beer-bowls, beakers, flagons, wine cups, wine bowls, +wine cans, tasters, caudle-cups, posset-cups, dram-cups, punch-bowls, +tumblers, mugs, dram bottles, two-eared cups, and flasks. Virginians and +Marylanders in the seventeenth century had much more silver than New +Englanders. Some Dutch merchants had ample amounts. It was deemed a +good and safe investment for spare money. Bread-baskets, salvers, +muffineers, chafing-dishes, casters, milk pitchers, sugar boxes, +candlesticks, appear in inventories at the end of the century. A tankard +or flagon, even if heavy and handsome, would be placed on the table for +every-day use; the other pieces were usually set on the cupboard's head +for ornament. + +The handsome silver tankard owned by Sarah Jansen de Rapelje is here +shown. She was the first child of European parents born in New +Netherland. The tankard was a wedding gift from her husband, and a Dutch +wedding scene is graven on the lid. + +There was a great desire for glass, a rare novelty to many persons at +the date of colonization. The English were less familiar with its use +than settlers who came from Continental Europe. The establishment of +glass factories was attempted in early days in several places, chiefly +to manufacture sheet-glass, but with slight success. Little glass was +owned in the shape of drinking-vessels, none used generally on the +table, I think, during the first few years. Glass bottles were certainly +a great rarity, and were bequeathed with special mention in wills, and +they are the only form of glass vessel named. The earliest glass for +table use was greenish in color, like coarse bottle glass, and poor in +quality, sometimes decorated in crude designs in a few colors. Bristol +glass, in the shape of mugs and plates, was next seen. It was opaque, a +milky white color, and was coarsely decorated with vitrifiable colors in +a few lines of red, green, yellow, or black, occasionally with initials, +dates, or Scriptural references. + +Though shapes were varied, and the number was generally plentiful, there +was no attempt made to give separate drinking-cups of any kind to each +individual at the table. Blissfully ignorant of the existence or +presence of microbes, germs, and bacteria, our sturdy and unsqueamish +forbears drank contentedly in succession from a single vessel, which +was passed from hand to hand, and lip to lip, around the board. Even +when tumbler-shaped glasses were seen in many houses,--flip-glasses, +they were called,--they were of communal size,--some held a gallon,--and +all drank from the same glass. The great punch-bowl, not a very handy +vessel to handle when filled with punch, was passed up and down as +freely as though it were a loving-cup, and all drank from its brim. At +college tables, and even at tavern boards, where table neighbors might +be strangers, the flowing bowl and foaming tankard was passed serenely +from one to another, and replenished to pass again. + +Leather was perhaps the most curious material used. Pitchers, bottles, +and drinking-cups were made of it. Great jugs of heavy black leather, +waxed and bound, and tipped with silver, were used to hold metheglin, +ale, and beer, and were a very substantial, and at times a very handsome +vessel. The finest examples I have ever seen are here represented. The +stitches and waxed thread at the base and on the handles can plainly be +perceived. They are bound with a rich silver band, and have a silver +shield bearing a date of gift to Samuel Brenton in 1778; but they are +probably a century older than that date. They are the property by +inheritance of Miss Rebecca Shaw, aged ninety-six years, of Wickford, +Rhode Island. + +The use of these great leather jacks, in a clumsier form than here +shown, led to the amusing mistake of a French traveller, that the +English drank their ale out of their boots. These leather jugs were +commonly called black jacks, and the larger ones were bombards. Giskin +was still another and rarer name. + +Drinking-cups were sometimes made of horn. A handsome one has been used +since colonial days on Long Island for "quince drink," a potent mixture +of hot rum, sugar, and quince marmalade, or preserves. It has a base of +silver, a rim of silver, and a cover of horn tipped with silver. A +stirrup-cup of horn, tipped with silver, was used to "speed the parting +guest." Occasionally the whole horn, in true mediaeval fashion, was used +as a drinking-cup. Often they were carved with considerable skill, as +the beautiful ones in the collection of Mr. A. G. Richmond, of +Canajoharie, New York. + +Gourds were plentiful on the farm, and gathered with care, that the +hard-shelled fruit might be shaped into simple drinking-cups. In +Elizabeth's time silver cups were made in the shape of these gourds. The +ships that brought "lemmons and raysins of the sun" from the tropics to +the colonists, also brought cocoanuts. Since the thirteenth century the +shells of cocoanuts have been mounted with silver feet and "covercles" +in a goblet shape, and been much sought after by Englishmen. Mounted in +pewter, and sometimes in silver, or simply shaped with a wooden handle +attached, the shell of the cocoanut was a favorite among the English +settlers. To this day one of the cocoanut-shell cups, or dippers, is a +favorite drinking-cup of many. A handsome cocoanut goblet, richly +mounted in silver, is shown in the accompanying illustration. It was +once the property of the Revolutionary patriot, John Hancock, and is now +in the custody of the Bostonian Society, at the Old State House, in +Boston, Massachusetts. + +Popular drinking-mugs of the English, from which specially they drank +their mead, metheglin, and ale, were the stoneware jugs which were made +in Germany and England, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in +great numbers. An English writer in 1579, spoke of the English custom of +drinking from "pots of earth, of sundry colors and moulds, whereof many +are garnished with silver, or leastwise with pewter." Such a piece of +stoneware is the oldest authenticated drinking-jug in this country, +which was brought here and used by English colonists. It was the +property of Governor John Winthrop, who came to Boston in 1630, and now +belongs to the American Antiquarian Society, in Worcester, +Massachusetts. It stands eight inches in height, is apparently of German +Gresware, and is heavily mounted in silver. The lid is engraved with a +quaint design of Adam and Eve and the tempting serpent in the +apple-tree. It was a gift to John Winthrop's father from his sister, +Lady Mildmay, in 1607, and was then, and is still now, labelled, "a +stone Pot tipped and covered with a Silver Lydd." Many other Boston +colonists had similar "stone juggs," "fflanders juggs," "tipt juggs." +What were known as "Fulham juggs" were also much prized. The most +interesting ones are the Georgius Rex jugs, those marked with a crown, +the initials G. R., or a medallion head of the first of the English +Georges. I know one of these jugs which has a Revolutionary bullet +imbedded in its tough old side, and is not even cracked. Many of them +had pewter or silver lids, which are now missing. Some have the curious +hound handle which was so popular with English potters. + +There was no china in common use on the table, and little owned even by +persons of wealth throughout the seventeenth century, either in England +or America. Delft ware was made in several factories in Holland at the +time the Dutch settled in New Netherland; but even in the towns of its +manufacture it was not used for table ware. The pieces were usually of +large size, what were called state pieces, for cabinet and decorative +purposes. The Dutch settlers, however, had "purslin cupps" and earthen +dishes in considerable quantities toward the end of the century. The +earthen was possibly Delft ware, and the "Purslin" India china, which by +that time was largely imported to Holland. Some Portuguese and Spanish +pottery was imported, but was not much desired, as it was ill fired and +perishable. It was not until Revolutionary times that china was a common +table furnishing; then it began to crowd out pewter. The sudden and +enormous growth of East India commerce, and the vast cargoes of Chinese +pottery and porcelain wares brought to American ports soon gave ample +china to every housewife. In the Southern colonies beautiful isolated +pieces of porcelain, such as vast punch-bowls, often were found in the +homes of opulent planters; but there, as in the North, the first china +for general table use was the handleless tea-cups, usually of some +Canton ware, which crept with the fragrant herb into every woman's +heart--both welcome Oriental waifs. + +It may well be imagined that this long narrow table--with a high +salt-cellar in the middle, with clumsy wooden trenchers for plates, with +round pewter platters heaped high with the stew of meat and vegetables, +with a great noggin or two of wood, a can of pewter, or a silver tankard +to drink from, with leather jacks to hold beer or milk, with many wooden +or pewter and some silver spoons, but no forks, no glass, no china, no +covered dishes, no saucers--did not look much like our dinner tables +to-day. + +Even the seats were different; there were seldom chairs or stools for +each person. A long narrow bench without a back, called a form, was +placed on each side of the table. Children in many households were not +allowed to sit, even on these uncomfortable forms, while eating. Many +times they had to stand by the side of the table during the entire meal; +in old-fashioned families that uncomfortable and ungracious custom +lasted till this century. I know of children not fifty years ago +standing thus at all meals at the table of one of the Judges of the +Supreme Court. He had a bountiful table, was a hospitable entertainer +and well-known epicure; but children sat not at his board. Each stood at +his own place and had to behave with decorum and eat in entire silence. +In some families children stood behind their parents and other grown +persons, and food was handed back to them from the table--so we are +told. This seems closely akin to throwing food to an animal, and must +have been among people of very low station and social manners. + +In other houses they stood at a side-table; and, trencher in hand, ran +over to the great table to be helped to more food when their first +supply was eaten. + +The chief thought on the behavior of children at the table, which must +be inferred from all the accounts we have of those times is that they +were to eat in silence, as fast as possible (regardless of indigestion), +and leave the table as speedily as might be. In a little book called _A +Pretty Little Pocket Book_, printed in America about the time of the +Revolution, I found a list of rules for the behavior of children at the +table at that date. They were ordered never to seat themselves at the +table until after the blessing had been asked, and their parents told +them to be seated. They were never to ask for anything on the table; +never to speak unless spoken to; always to break the bread, not to bite +into a whole slice; never to take salt except with a clean knife; not to +throw bones under the table. One rule read: "Hold not thy knife upright, +but sloping; lay it down at right hand of the plate, with end of blade +on the plate." Another, "Look not earnestly at any other person that is +eating." When children had eaten all that had been given them, if they +were "moderately satisfied," they were told to leave at once the table +and room. + +When the table-board described herein was set with snowy linen cloth and +napkins, and ample fare, it had some compensations for what modern +luxuries it lacked, some qualifications for inducing contentment +superior even to our beautiful table-settings. There was nothing +perishable in its entire furnishing: no frail and costly china or glass, +whose injury and destruction by clumsy or heedless servants would make +the heart of the housekeeper ache, and her anger nourish the germs of +ptomaines within her. There was little of intrinsic value to watch and +guard and worry about. There was little to make extra and difficult +work,--no glass to wash with anxious care, no elaborate silver to +clean,--only a few pieces of pewter to polish occasionally. It was all +so easy and so simple when compared with the complex and varied +paraphernalia and accompaniments of serving of meals to-day, that it was +like Arcadian simplicity. + +In Virginia the table furnishings were similar to those in New England; +but there were greater contrasts in table appointments. There was more +silver, and richer food; but the negro servants were so squalid, clumsy, +and uncouth that the incongruity made the meals very surprising and, at +times, repellent. + +When dinners of some state were given in the larger towns, the table was +not set or served like the formal dinner of to-day, for all the sweets, +pastry, vegetables, and meats were placed on the table together, with a +grand "conceit" for the ornament in the centre. At one period, when +pudding was part of the dinner, it was served first. Thus an old-time +saying is explained, which always seemed rather meaningless, "I came +early--in pudding-time." There was considerable formality in portioning +out the food, especially in carving, which was regarded as much more +than a polite accomplishment, even as an art. I have seen a list of +sixty or seventy different terms in carving to be applied with exactness +to different fish, fowl, and meats. An old author says:-- + + "How all must regret to hear some Persons, even of quality say, + 'pray cut up that Chicken or Hen,' or 'Halve that Plover'; not + considering how indiscreetly they talk, when the proper Terms are, + 'break that Goose,' 'thrust that Chicken,' 'spoil that Hen,' + 'pierce that Plover.' If they are so much out in common Things, how + much more would they be with Herons, Cranes, and Peacocks." + +It must have required good judgment and constant watchfulness never to +say "spoil that Hen," when it was a chicken; or else be thought +hopelessly ill-bred. + +There were few state dinners, however, served in the American colonies, +even in the large cities; there were few dinners, even, of many courses; +not always were there many dishes. There were still seen in many homes +more primitive forms of serving and eating meals, than were indicated by +the lack of individual drinking-cups, the mutual use of a trencher, or +even the utilization of the table top as a plate. In some homes an +abundant dish, such as a vast bowl of suppawn and milk, a pumpkin stewed +whole in its shell, or a savory and mammoth hotchpot was set, often +smoking hot, on the table-board; and from this well-filled receptacle +each hungry soul, armed with a long-handled pewter or wooden spoon, +helped himself, sometimes ladling his great spoonfuls into a trencher +or bowl, for more moderate and reserved after-consumption,--just as +frequently eating directly from the bountiful dish with a spoon that +came and went from dish to mouth without reproach, or thought of +ill-manners. The accounts of travellers in all the colonies frequently +tell of such repasts; some termed it eating in the fashion of the Dutch. +The reports of old settlers often recall the general dish; and some very +distinguished persons joined in the circle around it, and were glad to +get it. Variety was of little account, compared to quantity and quality. +A cheerful hospitality and grateful hearts filled the hollow place of +formality and elegance. + +By the time that newspapers began to have advertisements in them--about +1750--we find many more articles for use at the table; but often the +names were different from those used to-day. Our sugar bowls were called +sugar boxes and sugar pots; milk pitchers were milk jugs, milk ewers, +and milk pots. Vegetable dishes were called basins, pudding dishes +twifflers, small cups were called sneak cups. + +We have still to-day a custom much like one of olden times, when we have +the crumbs removed from our tables after a course at dinner. Then a +voider was passed around the table near the close of the dinner, and +into it the persons at the table placed their trenchers, napkins, and +the crumbs from the table. The voider was a deep wicker, wooden, or +metal basket. In the _Boke of Nurture_, written in 1577, are these +lines:-- + + "When meate is taken quyte awaye + And Voyders in presence, + Put you your trenchour in the same + and all your resydence. + Take you with your napkin & knyfe + the croms that are fore the, + In the Voyder your Napkin leave + for it is a curtesye." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FOOD FROM FOREST AND SEA + + +Though all the early explorers and travellers came to America eager to +find precious and useful metals, they did not discover wealth and +prosperity underground in mines, but on the top of the earth, in the +woods and fields. To the forests they turned for food, and they did not +turn in vain. Deer were plentiful everywhere, and venison was offered by +the Indians to the first who landed from the ships. Some families lived +wholly on venison for nine months of the year. In Virginia were vast +numbers of red and fallow deer, the latter like those of England, except +in the smaller number of branches of the antlers. They were so devoid of +fear as to remain undisturbed by the approach of men; a writer of that +day says: "Hard by the Fort two hundred in one herd have been usually +observed." They were destroyed ruthlessly by a system of fire-hunting, +in which tracts of forests were burned over, by starting a continuous +circle of fire miles around, which burnt in toward the centre of the +circle; thus the deer were driven into the middle, and hundreds were +killed. This miserable, wholesale slaughter was not for venison, but for +the sake of the hides, which were very valuable. They were used to make +the durable and suitable buckskin breeches and jackets so much worn by +the settlers; and they were also exported to Europe in large numbers. A +tax was placed on hides for the support of the beloved William and Mary +College. + +In Georgia, in 1735, the Indians sold a deer for sixpence. Deer were +just as abundant in the more Northern colonies. At Albany a stag was +sold readily by the Indians for a jack-knife or a few iron nails. The +deer in winter came and fed from the hog-pens of Albany swine. Even in +1695, a quarter of venison could be bought in New York City for +ninepence. At the first Massachusetts Thanksgiving, in 1621, the Indians +brought in five deer to the colonists for their feast. That year there +was also "great store of wild turkies." These beautiful birds of gold +and purple bronze were at first plentiful everywhere, and were of great +weight, far larger than our domestic turkeys to-day. They came in flocks +of a hundred, Evelyn says of three hundred on the Chesapeake, and they +weighed thirty or forty pounds each: Josselyn says he saw one weighing +sixty pounds. William Penn wrote that turkeys weighing thirty pounds +apiece sold in his day and colony for a shilling only. They were shy +creatures and fled inland from the white man, and by 1690 were rarely +shot near the coast of New England, though in Georgia, in 1733, they +were plentiful enough and cheap enough to sell for fourpence apiece. +Flights of pigeons darkened the sky, and broke down the limbs of trees +on which they lighted. From Maine to Virginia these vast flocks were +seen. Some years pigeons were so plentiful that they were sold for a +penny a dozen in Boston. Pheasant, partridge, woodcock, and quail +abounded, plover, snipe, and curlew were in the marsh-woods; in fact, in +Virginia every bird familiar to Englishmen at home was found save +peacock and domestic fowl. + +Wild hare and squirrels were so many that they became pests, and so much +grain was eaten by them that bounties were paid in many towns for the +heads of squirrels. County treasuries were exhausted by these premiums. +The Swedish traveller, Kalm, said that in Pennsylvania in one year, +1749, L8000 was paid out for heads of black and gray squirrels, at +threepence a head, which would show that over six hundred thousand were +killed. + +From the woods came a sweet food-store, one specially grateful when +sugar was so scarce and so high-priced,--wild honey, which the colonists +eagerly gathered everywhere from hollow tree-trunks. Curiously enough, +the traveller, Kalm, insisted that bees were not native in America, but +were brought over by the English; that the Indians had no name for them +and called them English flies. + +Governor Berkeley of Virginia, writing in 1706, called the maple the +sugar-tree; he said:-- + + "The Sugar-Tree yields a kind of Sap or Juice which by boiling is + made into Sugar. This Juice is drawn out, by wounding the Trunk of + the Tree, and placing a Receiver under the Wound. It is said that + the Indians make one Pound of Sugar out of eight Pounds of the + Liquor. It is bright and moist with a full large Grain, the + Sweetness of it being like that of good Muscovada." + +The sugar-making season was ever hailed with delight by the boys of the +household in colonial days, who found in this work in the woods a +wonderful outlet for the love of wild life which was strong in them. It +had in truth a touch of going a-gypsying, if any work as hard as +sugaring-off could have anything common with gypsy life. The maple-trees +were tapped as soon as the sap began to run in the trunk and showed at +the end of the twigs; this was in late winter if mild, or in the +earliest spring. A notch was cut in the trunk of the tree at a +convenient height from the ground, usually four or five feet, and the +running sap was guided by setting in the notch a semicircular basswood +spout cut and set with a special tool called a tapping-gauge. In earlier +days the trees were "boxed," that is, a great gash cut across the side +and scooped out and down to gather the sap. This often proved fatal to +the trees, and was abandoned. A trough, usually made of a butternut log +about three feet long, was dug out, Indian fashion, and placed under the +end of the spout. These troughs were made deep enough to hold about ten +quarts. In later years a hole was bored in the tree with an augur; and +sap-buckets were used instead of troughs. + +Sometimes these troughs were left in distant sugar-camps from year to +year, turned bottom side up, through the summer and winter. It was more +thrifty and tidy, however, to carry them home and store them. When this +was done, the men and boys began work by drawing the troughs and spouts +and provisions to the woods on hand-sleds. Sometimes a mighty man took +in a load on his back. It is told of John Alexander of Brattleboro, +Vermont, that he once went into camp _upon snowshoes_ carrying for three +miles one five-pail iron kettle, two sap-buckets, an axe and trappings, +a knapsack, four days' provisions, and a gun and ammunition. + +The master of ceremonies--the owner of the camp--selected the trees and +drove the spouts, while the boys placed the troughs. Then the snow had +to be shovelled away on a level spot about eighteen or twenty feet +square, in which strong forked sticks were set twelve feet apart. Or the +ground was chosen so that two small low-spreading and strong trees could +be trimmed and used as forks. A heavy green stick was placed across from +fork to fork, and the sugaring-off kettles, sometimes five in number, +hung on it. Then dry wood had to be gathered for the fires; hard work it +was to keep them constantly supplied. It was often cut a year in +advance. As the sap collected in the troughs it was gathered in pails or +buckets which, hung on a sap-yoke across the neck, were brought to the +kettles and the sap set a-boiling down. When there was a "good run of +sap," it was usually necessary to stay in the camp over night. Many +times the campers stayed several nights. As the "good run" meant milder +weather, a night or two was not a bitter experience; indeed, I have +never heard any one speak nor seen any account of a night spent in a +sugar-camp except with keen expressions of delight. If possible, the +time was chosen during a term of moonlight; the snow still covered the +fields and its pure shining white light could be seen through the trees. + + "God makes sech nights, so white and still + Fer's you can look and listen. + Moonlight an' snow, on field and hill, + All silence and all glisten." + +The great silence, broken only by steady dropping of the sap, the +crackle of blazing brush, and the occasional hooting of startled owls; +the stars seen singly overhead through the openings of the trees, +shining down the dark tunnel as bright as though there were no moon; +above all, the clearness and sweetness of the first atmosphere of +spring,--gave an exaltation of the senses and spirit which the country +boy felt without understanding, and indeed without any formulated +consciousness. + +If the camp were near enough to any group of farmhouses to have +visitors, the last afternoon and evening in camp was made a country +frolic. Great sled-loads of girls came out to taste the new sugar, to +drop it into the snow to candy, and to have an evening of fun. + +Long ere the full riches of the forests were tested the colonists turned +to another food-supply,--the treasures of the sea. + +The early voyagers and colonists came to the coasts of the New World to +find gold and furs. The gold was not found by them nor their children's +children in the land which is now the United States, till over two +centuries had passed from the time of the settlement, and the gold-mines +of California were opened. The furs were at first found and profitably +gathered, but the timid fur-bearing animals were soon exterminated near +the settlements. There was, however, a vast wealth ready for the +colonists on the coast of the New World which was greater than gold, +greater than furs; a wealth ever-obtainable, ever-replenished, +ever-useful, ever-salable; it was _fish_. The sea, the rivers, the +lakes, teemed with fish. Not only was there food for the settlers, but +for the whole world, and all Europe desired fish to eat. The ships of +the early discoverer, Gosnold, in 1602, were "pestered with cod." +Captain John Smith, the acute explorer, famous in history as befriended +by Pocahontas, went to New England, in 1614, to seek for whale, and +instead he fished for cod. He secured sixty thousand in one month; and +he wrote to his countrymen, "Let not the meanness of the word _fish_ +distaste you, for it will afford as good gold as the mines of Guiana or +Potosi, with less hazard and charge, and more certainty and facility." +This promise of wealth has proved true a thousandfold. Smith wrote home +to England full accounts of the fisheries, of the proper equipment of a +fishing-vessel, of the methods of fishing, the profits, all in a most +enticing and familiar style. He said in his _Description of New +England_:-- + + "What pleasure can be more than to recreate themselves before their + owne doores in their owne boates, upon the Sea, where man, woman, + and childe, with a small hooke and line by angling, may take + diverse sorts of excellent fish, at their pleasure? And is it not + pretty sport to pull up twopence, sixpence, or twelvepence, as fast + as you can hale and veare a line? If a man worke but three days in + seaven hee may get more than hee can spend unless hee will be + excessive. + + "Young boyes and girles, salvages, or any other, be they never such + idlers may turne, carry, and returne fish without shame or either + great pain: hee is very idle that is past twelve years of age and + cannot doe so much: and shee is very old that cannot spin a thread + to catch them." + +His accounts and similar ones were so much read in England that when the +Puritans asked King James of England for permission to come to America, +and the king asked what profit would be found by their emigration, he +was at once answered, "Fishing." Whereupon he said in turn, "In truth +'tis an honest trade; 'twas the apostles' own calling." Yet in spite of +their intent to fish, the first English ships came but poorly provided +for fishing, and the settlers had little success at first even in +getting fish for their own food. Elder Brewster of Plymouth, who had +been a courtier in Queen Elizabeth's time, and had seen and eaten many +rich feasts, had nothing to eat at one time but clams. Yet he could give +thanks to God that he was "permitted to suck of the abundance of the +seas and the treasures hid in the sand." The Indian Squanto showed the +Pilgrims many practical methods of fishing, among them one of treading +out eels from the brook with his feet and catching them with his hands. +And every ship brought in either cod-hooks and lines, mackerel-hooks and +lines, herring-nets, seines, shark-hooks, bass-nets, squid-lines, +eel-pots, coils of rope and cable, "drails, barbels, pens, gaffs," or +mussel-hooks. + +Josselyn, in his _New England's Rarities_, written in 1672, enumerated +over two hundred kinds of fish that were caught in New England waters. + +Lobsters certainly were plentiful enough to prevent starvation. The +minister Higginson, writing of lobsters at Salem, said that many of them +weighed twenty-five pounds apiece, and that "the least boy in the +plantation may catch and eat what he will of them." In 1623, when the +ship _Anne_ arrived from England, bringing many of the wives and +children of the Pilgrims who had come in the first ships, the only +feast of welcome that the poor husbands had to offer the newcomers was +"a lobster or a piece of fish without bread or anything else but a cup +of spring water." + +Patriarchal lobsters five and six feet long were caught in New York Bay. +The traveller, Van der Donck, says "those a foot long are better for +serving at table." Truly a lobster six feet long would seem a little +awkward to serve on a dinner table. Eddis, in his _Letters from +America_, written in 1792, says these vast lobsters were caught in New +York waters until Revolutionary days, when "since the incessant +cannonading, they have entirely forsaken the coast; not one having been +taken or seen since the commencement of hostilities." Beside these great +shell-fish the giant lobster confined in our New York Aquarium in 1897 +seems but a dwarf. In Virginia waters lobsters were caught, and vast +crabs, often a foot in length and six inches broad, with a long tail and +many legs. One of these crabs furnished a sufficient meal for four men. + +From the gossiping pages of the Labadist missionaries who came to +America in 1697 we find hints of good fare in oysters in Brooklyn. + + "Then was thrown upon the fire, to be roasted, a pail full of + Gowanes oysters which are the best in the country. They are fully + as good as those of England, better than those we eat at Falmouth. + I had to try some of them raw. They are large and full, some of + them not less than a foot long. Others are young and small. In + consequence of the great quantities of them everybody keeps the + shells for the burning of lime. They pickle the oysters in small + casks and send them to Barbados." + +Van der Donck corroborates the foot-long oysters seen by the Labadist +travellers. He says the "large oysters roasted or stewed make a good +bite,"--a very good bite, it would seem to us. + +Strachey, in his _Historie of Travaile into Virginia_, says he saw +oysters in Virginia that were thirteen inches long. Fortunately for the +starving Virginians, oyster banks rose above the surface at ebb-tide at +the mouth of the Elizabeth River, and in 1609 a large number of these +famished Virginia colonists found in these oyster banks a means of +preservation of life. + +As might be expected of any country so intersected with arms of the sea +and fresh-water streams, Virginia at the time of settlement teemed with +fish. The Indians killed them in the brooks by striking them with +sticks, and it is said the colonists scooped them up in frying-pans. +Horses ridden into the rivers stepped on the fish and killed them. In +one cast of a seine the governor, Sir Thomas Dale, caught five thousand +sturgeon as large as cod. Some sturgeon were twelve feet long. The works +of Captain John Smith, Rolfe's _Relation_, and other books of early +travellers, all tell of the enormous amount of fish in Virginia. + +The New York rivers were also full of fish, and the bays; their plenty +in New Netherland inspired the first poet of that colony to rhyming +enumeration of the various kinds of fish found there; among them were +sturgeon--beloved of the Indians and despised of Christians; and +terrapin--not despised by any one. "Some persons," wrote the Dutch +traveller, Van der Donck, in 1656, "prepare delicious dishes from the +water terrapin, which is luscious food." The Middle and Southern states +paid equally warm but more tardy tribute to the terrapin's reputation as +luscious food. + +While other fish were used everywhere for food, cod was the great staple +of the fishing industry. By the year 1633 Dorchester and Marblehead had +started in the fisheries for trading purposes. Sturgeon also was caught +at a little later date, and bass and alewives. + +Morton, in his _New England Canaan_, written in 1636, says, "I myself at +the turning of the tyde have seen such multitudes of sea bass that it +seemed to me that one might goe over their backs dri-shod." + +The regulation of fish-weirs soon became an important matter in all +towns where streams let alewives up from the sea. The New England +ministers took a hand in promoting and encouraging the fisheries, as +they did all positive social movements and commercial benefits. Rev. +Hugh Peter in Salem gave the fisheries a specially good turn. Fishermen +were excused from military training, and portions of the common stock of +corn were assigned to them. The General Court of Massachusetts exempted +"vessels and stock" from "country charges" (which were taxes) for seven +years. Seashore towns assigned free lands to each boat to be used for +stays and flakes for drying. As early as 1640 three hundred thousand +dried codfish were sent to market from New England. + +Codfish consisted of three sorts, "marchantable, middling, and refuse." +The first grade was sold chiefly to Roman Catholic Europe, to supply the +constant demands of the fast-days of that religion, and also those of +the Church of England; the second was consumed at home or in the +merchant vessels of New England; the third went to the negroes of the +West Indies, and was often called Jamaica fish. The dun-fish or +dumb-fish, as the word was sometimes written, were the best; so called +from the dun-color. Fish was always eaten in New England for a Saturday +dinner; and Mr. Palfrey, the historian, says that until this century no +New England dinner on Saturday, even a formal dinner party, was complete +without dun-fish being served. + +Of course the first fishing-vessels had to be built and sent from +England. Some carried fifty men. They arrived on the coast in early +spring, and by midsummer sailed home. The crew had for wages one-third +share of the fish and oil; another third paid for the men's food, the +salt, nets, hooks, lines, etc.; the other third went to the ship's +owners for profit. + +This system was not carried out in New England. There, each fisherman +worked on "his own hook"--and it was literally his own hook; for a tally +was kept of the fish caught by each man, and the proceeds of the trip +were divided in proportion to the number of fish each caught. When there +was a big run of fish, the men never stopped to eat or sleep, but when +food was held to them gnawed it off while their hands were employed with +the fish-lines. With every fishing-vessel that left Gloucester and +Marblehead, the chief centres of the fishing industries, went a boy of +ten or twelve to learn to be a skilled fisherman. He was called a +"cut-tail," for he cut a wedge-shaped bit from the tail of every fish he +caught, and when the fish were sorted out the cut-tails showed the boy's +share of the profit. + +For centuries, fish was plentiful and cheap in New England. The +traveller Bennet wrote of Boston, in 1740:-- + + "Fish is exceedingly cheap. They sell a fine cod, will weigh a + dozen pounds or more, just taken out of the sea for about twopence + sterling. They have smelts, too, which they sell as cheap as sprats + in London. Salmon, too, they have in great plenty, and these they + sell for about a shilling apiece which will weigh fourteen or + fifteen pounds." + +Two kinds of delicious fish, beloved, perhaps, above all others +to-day,--salmon and shad,--seem to have been lightly regarded in +colonial days. The price of salmon--less than a penny a pound--shows the +low estimation in which it was held in the early years of the eighteenth +century. It is told that farm-laborers in the vicinity of the +Connecticut River when engaged to work stipulated that they should have +salmon for dinner but once a week. + +Shad were profoundly despised; it was even held to be somewhat +disreputable to eat them; and the story is told of a family in Hadley, +Massachusetts, who were about to dine on shad, that, hearing a knock at +the door, they would not open it till the platter holding the obnoxious +shad had been hidden. At first they were fed chiefly to hogs. Two shad +for a penny was the ignoble price in 1733, and it was never much higher +until after the Revolution. After shad and salmon acquired a better +reputation as food, the falls of various rivers became great resorts for +American fishermen as they had been for the Indians. Both kinds of fish +were caught in scoop-nets and seines below the falls. Men came from a +distance and loaded horses and carts with the fish to carry home. Every +farmhouse near was filled with visitors. It was estimated that at the +falls at South Hadley there were fifteen hundred horses in one day. + +Salted fish was as carefully prepared and amiably regarded for home use +in New England and New York as in England and Holland at the same date. +The ling and herring of the old countries of Europe gave place in +America to cod, shad, and mackerel. The greatest pains was taken in +preparing, drying, and salting the plentiful fish. It is said that in +New York towns, such as New York and Brooklyn, after shad became a +popular fish, great heaps were left when purchased at each door, and +that the necessary cleaning and preparation of the shad was done on the +street. As all housewives purchased shad and salted and packed at about +the same time, those public scavengers, the domestic hogs who roamed +the town streets unchecked (and ever welcomed), must have been specially +useful at shad-time. + +Not in the waters, but of it, were the magnificent tribes of marine fowl +that, undiminished by the feeble weapons and few numbers of the Indians, +had peopled for centuries the waters of the New World. The Chesapeake +and its tributaries furnished each autumn vast feeding-grounds of wild +celery and other aquatic plants to millions of those creatures. The +firearms of Captain John Smith and his two companions were poor things +compared with the fowling-pieces of to-day, but with their three shots +they killed a hundred and forty-eight ducks at one firing. The splendid +wild swan wheeled and trumpeted in the clear autumn air; the wild geese +flew there in their beautiful V-shaped flight; duck in all the varieties +known to modern sportsmen--canvas-back, mallard, widgeon, redhead, +oxeye, dottrel--rested on the Chesapeake waters in vast flocks a mile +wide and seven miles long. Governor Berkeley named also brant, shell +drake, teal, and blewings. The sound of their wings was said to be "like +a great storm coming over the water." For centuries these ducks have +been killed by the white man, and still they return each autumn to their +old feeding-places. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +INDIAN CORN + + +A great field of tall Indian corn waving its stately and luxuriant green +blades, its graceful spindles, and glossy silk under the hot August sun, +should be not only a beautiful sight to every American, but a suggestive +one; one to set us thinking of all that Indian corn means to us in our +history. It was a native of American soil at the settlement of this +country, and under full and thoroughly intelligent cultivation by the +Indians, who were also native sons of the New World. Its abundance, +adaptability, and nourishing qualities not only saved the colonists' +lives, but altered many of their methods of living, especially their +manner of cooking and their tastes in food. + +One of the first things that every settler in a new land has to learn is +that he must find food in that land; that he cannot trust long to any +supplies of food which he has brought with him, or to any fresh supplies +which he has ordered to be sent after him. He must turn at once to +hunting, fishing, planting, to furnish him with food grown and found in +the very place where he is. + +This was quickly learned by the colonists in America, except in +Virginia, where they had sad starving-times before all were convinced +that corn was a better crop for settlers than silk or any of the many +hoped-for productions which might be valuable in one sense but which +could not be eaten. Powhatan, the father of the Indian princess +Pocahontas, was one of the first to "send some of his People that they +may teach the English how to sow the Grain of his Country." Captain John +Smith, ever quick to learn of every one and ever practical, got two +Indians, in the year 1608, to show him how to break up and plant forty +acres of corn, which yielded him a good crop. A succeeding governor of +Virginia, Sir Thomas Dale, equally practical, intelligent, and +determined, assigned small farms to each colonist, and encouraged and +enforced the growing of corn. Soon many thousand bushels were raised. +There was a terrible Indian massacre in 1622, for the careless +colonists, in order to be free to give their time to the raising of that +new and exceedingly alluring and high-priced crop, tobacco, had given +the Indians firearms to go hunting game for them; and the lesson of easy +killing with powder and shot, when once learned, was turned with havoc +upon the white men. The following year comparatively little corn was +planted, as the luxuriant foliage made a perfect ambush for the close +approach of the savages to the settlements. There was, of course, +scarcity and famine as the result; and a bushel of corn-meal became +worth twenty to thirty shillings, which sum had a value equal to twenty +to thirty dollars to-day. The planters were each compelled by the +magistrates the following year to raise an ample amount of corn to +supply all the families; and to save a certain amount for seed as well. +There has been no lack of corn since that time in Virginia. + +The French colonists in Louisiana, perhaps because they were accustomed +to more dainty food than the English, fiercely hated corn, as have the +Irish in our own day. A band of French women settlers fairly raised a +"petticoat rebellion" in revolt against its daily use. A despatch of the +governor of Louisiana says of these rebels:-- + + "The men in the colony begin through habit to use corn as an + article of food; but the women, who are mostly Parisians, have for + this food a dogged aversion, which has not been subdued. They + inveigh bitterly against His Grace, the Bishop of Quebec, who, they + say, has enticed them away from home under pretext of sending them + to enjoy the milk and honey of the land of promise." + +This hatred of corn was shared by other races. An old writer says:-- + + "Peter Martyr could magnifie the Spaniards, of whom he reports they + led a miserable life for three days together, with parched grain of + maize onlie"-- + +which, when compared with the diet of New England settlers for weeks at +a time, seems such a bagatelle as to be scarce worth the mention of +Peter Martyr. By tradition, still commemorated at Forefathers' Dinners, +the ration of Indian corn supplied to each person in the colony in time +of famine was but five kernels. + +The stores brought over by the Pilgrims were poor and inadequate enough; +the beef and pork were tainted, the fish rotten, the butter and cheese +corrupted. European wheat and seeds did not mature well. Soon, as +Bradford says in his now famous _Log-Book_, in his picturesque and +forcible English, "the grim and grizzled face of starvation stared" at +them. The readiest supply to replenish the scanty larder was fish, but +the English made surprisingly bungling work over fishing, and soon the +most unfailing and valuable supply was the native Indian corn, or +"Guinny wheat," or "Turkie wheat," as it was called by the colonists. + +Famine and pestilence had left eastern Massachusetts comparatively bare +of inhabitants at the time of the settlement of Plymouth; and the vacant +cornfields of the dead Indian cultivators were taken and planted by the +weak and emaciated Plymouth men, who never could have cleared new +fields. From the teeming sea, in the April run of fish, was found the +needed fertilizer. Says Governor Bradford:-- + + "In April of the first year they began to plant their corne, in + which service Squanto stood them in great stead, showing them both + ye manner how to set it, and after, how to dress and tend it." + +From this planting sprang not only the most useful food, but the first +and most pregnant industry of the colonists. + +The first fields and crops were communal, and the result was disastrous. +The third year, at the sight of the paralyzed settlement, Governor +Bradford wisely decided, as did Governor Dale of Virginia, that "they +should set corne every man for his owne particuler, furnishing a portion +for public officers, fishermen, etc., who could not work, and in that +regard trust to themselves." Thus personal energy succeeded to communal +inertia; Bradford wrote that women and children cheerfully worked in the +fields to raise corn which should be their very own. + +A field of corn on the coast of Massachusetts or Narragansett or by the +rivers of Virginia, growing long before any white man had ever been seen +on these shores, was precisely like the same field planted three hundred +years later by our American farmers. There was the same planting in +hills, the same number of stalks in the hill, with pumpkin-vines running +among the hills, and beans climbing the stalks. The hills of the Indians +were a trifle nearer together than those of our own day are usually set, +for the native soil was more fertile. + +The Indians taught the colonists much more than the planting and raising +of corn; they showed also how to grind the corn and cook it in many +palatable ways. The various foods which we use to-day made from Indian +corn are all cooked just as the Indians cooked them at the time of the +settlement of the country; and they are still called with Indian names, +such as hominy, pone, suppawn, samp, succotash. + +The Indian method of preparing maize or corn was to steep or parboil it +in hot water for twelve hours, then to pound the grain in a mortar or a +hollowed stone in the field, till it was a coarse meal. It was then +sifted in a rather closely woven basket, and the large grains which did +not pass through the sieve were again pounded and sifted. + +Samp was often pounded in olden times in a primitive and picturesque +Indian mortar made of a hollowed block of wood or a stump of a tree, +which had been cut off about three feet from the ground. The pestle was +a heavy block of wood shaped like the inside of the mortar, and fitted +with a handle attached to one side. This block was fastened to the top +of a young and slender tree, a growing sapling, which was bent over and +thus gave a sort of spring which pulled the pestle up after being +pounded down on the corn. This was called a sweep and mortar mill. + +They could be heard at a long distance. Two New Hampshire pioneers made +clearings about a quarter of a mile apart and built houses. There was an +impenetrable gully and thick woods between the cabins; and the blazed +path was a long distance around, so the wives of the settlers seldom saw +each other or any other woman. It was a source of great comfort and +companionship to them both that they could signal to each other every +day by pounding on their mortars. And they had an ingenious system of +communication which one spring morning summoned one to the home of the +other, where she arrived in time to be the first to welcome fine twin +babies. + +After these simple stump and sapling mortars were abandoned elsewhere +they were used on Long Island, and it was jestingly told that sailors +in a fog could always know on what shore they were, when they could hear +the pounding of the samp-mortars on Long Island. + +Rude hand-mills next were used, which were called quernes, or quarnes. +Some are still in existence and known as samp-mills. Windmills followed, +of which the Indians were much afraid, dreading "their long arms and +great teeth biting the corn in pieces"; and thinking some evil spirit +turned the arms. As soon as maize was plentiful, English mills for +grinding meal were started in many towns. There was a windmill at +Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1631. In 1633 the first water-mill, at +Dorchester, was built, and in Ipswich a grist-mill was built in 1635. +The mill built by Governor John Winthrop in New London is still +standing. + +The first windmill erected in America was one built and set up by +Governor Yeardley in Virginia in 1621. By 1649 there were five +water-mills, four windmills, and a great number of horse and hand mills +in Virginia. Millers had one-sixth of the meal they ground for toll. + +Suppawn was another favorite of the settlers, and was an Indian dish +made from Indian corn; it was a thick corn-meal and milk porridge. It +was soon seen on every Dutch table, for the Dutch were very fond of all +foods made from all kinds of grain; and it is spoken of by all +travellers in early New York, and in the Southern colonies. + +Samp and samp porridge were soon abundant dishes. Samp is Indian corn +pounded to a coarsely ground powder. Roger Williams wrote of it:-- + + "Nawsamp is a kind of meal pottage unparched. From this the English + call their samp, which is the Indian corn beaten and boiled and + eaten hot or cold with milk and butter, and is a diet exceedingly + wholesome for English bodies." + +The Swedish scientist, Professor Kalm, told that the Indians gave him +"fresh maize-bread, baked in an oblong shape, mixed with dried +huckleberries, which lay as close in it as raisins in a plum pudding." + +Roger Williams said that sukquttahhash was "corn seethed like beans." +Our word "succotash" we now apply to corn cooked with beans. Pones were +the red men's appones. + +The love of the Indians for "roasting ears" was quickly shared by the +white man. In Virginia a series of plantings of corn were made from the +first of April to the last of June, to afford a three months' succession +of roasting ears. + +The traveller, Strachey, writing of the Indians in 1618, said: "They +lap their corn in rowles within the leaves of the come and so boyle yt +for a dayntie." This method of cooking we have also retained to the +present day. + +It seemed to me very curious to read in Governor Winthrop's journal, +written in Boston about 1630, that when corn was "parched," as he called +it, it turned inside out and was "white and floury within"; and to think +that then little English children were at that time learning what +pop-corn was, and how it looked when it was parched, or popped. + +Hasty pudding had been made in England of wheat-flour or oatmeal and +milk, and the name was given to boiled puddings of corn-meal and water. +It was not a very suitable name, for corn-meal should never be cooked +hastily, but requires long boiling or baking. The hard Indian pudding +slightly sweetened and boiled in a bag was everywhere made. It was told +that many New England families had three hundred and sixty-five such +puddings in a year. + +The virtues of "jonny-cake" have been loudly sung in the interesting +pages of _Shepherd Tom_. The way the corn should be carried to the mill, +the manner in which it should be ground, the way in which the stones +should revolve, and the kind of stones, receive minute description, as +does the mixing and the baking, to the latter of which the middle board +of red oak from the head of a flour-barrel is indispensable as a +bakeboard, while the fire to bake with must be of walnut logs. Hasty +pudding, corn dumplings, and corn-meal porridge, so eminently good that +it was ever mentioned with respect in the plural, as "them porridge," +all are described with the exuberant joyousness of a happy, healthful +old age in remembrance of a happy, high-spirited, and healthful youth. + +The harvesting of the corn afforded one of the few scenes of gayety in +the lives of the colonists. A diary of one Ames, of Dedham, +Massachusetts, in the year 1767, thus describes a corn-husking, and most +ungallantly says naught of the red ear and attendant osculation:-- + + "Made a husking Entertainm't. Possibly this leafe may last a + Century and fall into the hands of some inquisitive Person for + whose Entertainm't I will inform him that now there is a Custom + amongst us of making an Entertainm't at husking of Indian Corn + whereto all the neighboring Swains are invited and after the Corn + is finished they like the Hottentots give three Cheers or huzza's + but cannot carry in the husks without a Rhum bottle; they feign + great Exertion but do nothing till Rhum enlivens them, when all is + done in a trice, then after a hearty Meal about 10 at Night they go + to their pastimes." + +There was one way of eating corn which was spoken of by all the early +writers and travellers which we should not be very well satisfied with +now, but it shows us how useful and necessary corn was at that time, and +how much all depended on it. This preparation of corn was called nocake +or nookick. An old writer named Wood thus defined it:-- + + "It is Indian corn parched in the hot ashes, the ashes being sifted + from it; it is afterwards beaten to powder and put into a long + leatherne bag trussed at the Indian's backe like a knapsacke, out + of which they take three spoonsful a day." + +It was held to be the most nourishing food known, and in the smallest +and most condensed form. Both Indians and white men usually carried it +in a pouch when they went on long journeys, and mixed it with snow in +the winter and water in summer. Gookin says it was sweet, toothsome, and +hearty. With only this nourishment the Indians could carry loads "fitter +for elephants than men." Roger Williams says a spoonful of this meal and +water made him many a good meal. When we read this we are not surprised +that the Pilgrims could keep alive on what is said was at one time of +famine their food for a day,--five kernels of corn apiece. The apostle +Eliot, in his Indian Bible, always used the word nookick for the English +words flour or meal. + +We ought to think of the value of food in those days; and we may be sure +the governor and his council thought corn of value when they took it for +taxes and made it a legal currency just like gold and silver, and +forbade any one to feed it to pigs. If you happen to see the price of +corn during those years down to Revolutionary times, you will, perhaps, +be surprised to see how much the price varied. From ten shillings a +bushel in 1631, to two shillings in 1672, to twenty in 1747, to two in +1751, and one hundred shillings at the opening of the Revolution. In +these prices of corn, as in the price of all other articles at this +time, the difference was in the money, which had a constantly changing +value, not in the article itself or its usefulness. The corn had a +steady value, it always furnished just so much food; and really was a +standard itself rather than measured and valued by the poor and shifting +money. + +There are many other interesting facts connected with the early culture +of corn: of the finding hidden in caves or "caches" in the ground the +Indian's corn which he had stored for seed; of the sacred "corn-dances" +of the Indians; that the first patent granted in England to an American +was to a Philadelphia woman for a mill to grind a kind of hominy; of +the great profit to the colonists in corn-raising, for the careless and +greedy Indians always ate up all their corn as soon as possible, then +had to go out and trap beavers in the woods to sell the skins to the +colonists for corn to keep them from starving. One colonist planted +about eight bushels of seed-corn. He raised from this eight hundred and +sixty-four bushels of corn, which he sold to the Indians for beaver +skins which gave him a profit of L327. + +Many games were played with the aid of kernels of corn: fox and geese, +checkers, "hull gull, how many," and games in which the corn served as +counters. + +The ears of corn were often piled into the attic until the floor was a +foot deep with them. I once entered an ell bedroom in a Massachusetts +farmhouse where the walls, rafters, and four-post bedstead were hung +solid with ears of yellow corn, which truly "made a sunshine in a shady +place." + +Some of the preparation of corn fell upon the boys; it was their regular +work all winter in the evening firelight to shell corn from the ears by +scraping them on the iron edge of the wooden shovel or on the fire-peel. +My father told me that even in his childhood in the first quarter of +this century many families of moderate means fastened the long-handled +frying-pan across a tub and drew the corn ears across the sharp edge of +the handle of the pan. I note in Peter Parley's reminiscences of his +childhood a similar use of a frying-pan handle in his home. Other +farmers set the edge of a knife blade in a piece of wood and scraped on +the back of the blade. In some households the corn was pounded into +hominy in wooden mortars. An old corn-sheller used in western +Massachusetts is here shown. + +When the corn was shelled, the cobs were not carelessly discarded or +disregarded. They were stored often in a lean-to or loft in the kitchen +ell; from thence they were brought down in skepes or boxes about a +bushel at a time; and after being used by the children as playthings to +build "cob-houses," were employed as light wood for the fire. They had a +special use in many households for smoking hams; and their smoke was +deemed to impart a specially delightful flavor to hams and bacon. + +One special use of corn should be noted. By order of the government of +Massachusetts Bay in 1623, it was used as ballots in public voting. At +annual elections of the governors' assistants in each town, a kernel of +corn was deposited to signify a favorable vote upon the nominee, while a +bean signified a negative vote; "and if any free-man shall put in more +than one Indian corn or bean he shall forfeit for every such offence Ten +Pounds." + +The choice of a national flower or plant is much talked about to-day. +Aside from the beauty of maize when growing and its wonderful +adaptability in every part for decoration, would not the noble and +useful part played by Indian corn in our early history entitle it to be +our first choice? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MEAT AND DRINK + + +The food brought in ships from Europe to the colonists was naturally +limited by the imperfect methods of transportation which then existed. +Nothing like refrigerators were known; no tinned foods were even thought +of; ways of packing were very crude and careless; so the kinds of +provisions which would stand the long voyage on a slow sailing-vessel +were very few. The settlers turned at once, as all settlers in a new +land should, to the food-supplies found in the new home; of these the +three most important ones were corn, fish, and game. I have told of +their plenty, their value, and their use. There were many other +bountiful and good foods, among them pumpkins or pompions, as they were +at first called. + +The pumpkin has sturdily kept its own place on the New England farm, +varying in popularity and use, but always of value as easy of growth, +easy of cooking, and easy to keep in a dried form. Yet the colonists did +not welcome the pumpkin with eagerness, even in times of great want. +They were justly rebuked for their indifference and dislike by Johnson +in his _Wonder-working Providence_, who called the pumpkin "a fruit +which the Lord fed his people with till corn and cattle increased"; and +another pumpkin-lover referred to "the times wherein old Pompion was a +saint." One colonial poet gives the golden vegetable this tribute:-- + + "We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon, + If it were not for pumpkins we should be undone." + +I am very sure were I living on dried corn and scant shell-fish, as the +Pilgrims were forced to do, I should have turned with delight to +"pompion-sause" as a change of diet. Stewed pumpkins and pumpkin bread +were coarse ways of using the fruit for food. Pumpkin bread--made of +half Indian meal--was not very pleasing in appearance. A traveller in +1704 called it an "awkward food." It is eaten in Connecticut to this +day. The Indians dried pumpkins and strung them for winter use, and the +colonists followed the Indian custom. + +In Virginia pumpkins were equally plentiful and useful. Ralph Hamor, in +his _True Discourse_, says they grew in such abundance that a hundred +were often observed to spring from one seed. The Virginia Indians boiled +beans, peas, corn, and pumpkins together, and the colonists liked the +dish. In the trying times at "James-Citty," the plentiful pumpkins +played a great part in providing food-supplies for the starving +Virginians. + +Squashes were also native vegetables. The name is Indian. To show the +wonderful and varied way in which the English spelt Indian names let me +tell you that Roger Williams called them askutasquashes; the Puritan +minister Higginson, squantersquashes; the traveller Josselyn, +squontorsquashes, and the historian Wood, isquoukersquashes. + +Potatoes were known to New Englanders, but were rare and when referred +to were probably sweet potatoes. It was a long time before they were +much liked. A farmer at Hadley, Massachusetts, had what he thought a +very large crop in 1763--it was eight bushels. It was believed by many +persons that if a man ate them every day, he could not live seven years. +In the spring all that were left on hand were carefully burned, for many +believed that if cattle or horses ate these potatoes they would die. +They were first called, when carried to England, Virginia potatoes; then +they became much liked and grown in Ireland; then the Irish settlers in +New Hampshire brought them back to this continent, and now they are +called, very senselessly, Irish potatoes. Many persons fancied the balls +were what should be eaten, and said they "did not much desire them." A +fashionable way of cooking them was with butter, sugar, and grape-juice; +this was mixed with dates, lemons, and mace; seasoned with cinnamon, +nutmeg, and pepper; then covered with a frosting of sugar--and you had +to hunt well to find the potato among all these other things. + +In the Carolinas the change in English diet was effected by the sweet +potato. This root was cooked in various ways: it was roasted in the +ashes, boiled, made into puddings, used as a substitute for bread, made +into pancakes which a foreigner said tasted as though composed of sweet +almonds; and in every way it was liked and was so plentiful that even +the slaves fed upon it. + +Beans were abundant, and were baked by the Indians in earthen pots just +as we bake them to-day. The settlers planted peas, parsnips, turnips, +and carrots, which grew and thrived. Huckleberries, blackberries, +strawberries, and grapes grew wild. Apple-trees were planted at once, +and grew well in New England and the Middle states. Twenty years after +the Roman Catholic settlement of Maryland the fruitful orchards were +conspicuously flourishing. + +Johnson, writing in 1634, said that all then in New England could have +apple, pear, and quince tarts instead of pumpkin-pies. They made +apple-slump, apple-mose, apple-crowdy, apple-tarts, mess apple-pies, and +puff apple-pies. The Swedish parson, Dr. Acrelius, writing home in 1758 +an account of the settlement of Delaware, said:-- + + "Apple-pie is used through the whole year, and when fresh apples + are no longer to be had, dried ones are used. It is the evening + meal of children. House-pie, in country places, is made of apples + neither peeled nor freed from their cores, and its crust is not + broken if a wagon wheel goes over it." + +The making of a portion of the autumn's crop of apples into dried +apples, apple-sauce, and apple-butter for winter was preceded in many +country homes by an apple-paring. The cheerful kitchen of a farmhouse +was set with an array of empty pans, tubs, and baskets; of sharp knives +and heaped-up barrels of apples. A circle of laughing faces completed +the scene, and the barrels of apples were quickly emptied by the many +skilful hands. The apples intended for drying were strung on linen +thread and hung on the kitchen and attic rafters. The following day the +stout crane in the open fireplace was hung with brass kettles which were +filled with the pared apples, sweet and sour in proper proportions, the +sour at the bottom since they required more time to cook. If quinces +could be had, they were added to give flavor, and molasses, or +boiled-down pungent "apple-molasses," was added for sweetening. As there +was danger that the sauce would burn over the roaring logs, many +housewives placed clean straw at the bottom of the kettle to keep the +apples from the fiercest heat. Days were spent in preparing the winter's +stock of apple-sauce, but when done and placed in barrels in the cellar, +it was always ready for use, and when slightly frozen was a keen relish. +Apple-butter was made of the pared apples boiled down with cider. + +Wheat did not at first ripen well, so white bread was for a time rarely +eaten. Rye grew better, so bread made of "rye-an'-injun," which was half +rye-meal, half corn-meal, was used instead. Bake-shops were so many in +number in all the towns that it is evident that housewives in towns and +villages did not make bread in every home as to-day, but bought it at +the baker's. + +At the time when America was settled, no European peoples drank water as +we do to-day, for a constant beverage. The English drank ale, the Dutch +beer, the French and Spanish light wines, for every-day use. Hence it +seemed to the colonists a great trial and even a very dangerous +experiment to drink water in the New World. They were forced to do it, +however, in many cases; and to their surprise found that it agreed with +them very well, and that their health improved. Governor Winthrop of +Massachusetts, who was a most sensible and thoughtful man, soon had +water used as a constant drink by all in his household. + +As cows increased in number and were cared for, milk of course was added +to the every-day fare. Rev. Mr. Higginson wrote in 1630 that milk cost +in Salem but a penny a quart; while another minister, John Cotton, said +that milk and ministers were the only things cheap in New England. At +that time milk cost but a penny and a quarter a quart in old England. + +Milk became a very important part of the food of families in the +eighteenth century. In 1728 a discussion took place in the Boston +newspapers as to the expense of keeping a family "of middling figure." +These writers all named only bread and milk for breakfast and supper. +Ten years later a minister, calculating the expenses of his family, set +down bread and milk for both breakfast and supper. Milk and hasty +pudding, milk and stewed pumpkin, milk and baked apples, milk and +berries, were variations. In winter, when milk was scarce, sweetened +cider diluted with water was used instead. Sometimes bread was soaked +with this mixture. It is said that children were usually very fond of +it. + +As comparatively few New England families in the seventeenth century +owned churns, I cannot think that many made butter; of course families +of wealth ate it, but it was not common as to-day. In the inventories of +the property of the early settlers of Maine there is but one churn +named. Butter was worth from threepence to sixpence a pound. As cattle +increased the duties of the dairy grew, and soon were never-ceasing and +ever-tiring. The care of cream and making of butter was in the +eighteenth century the duty of every good wife and dame in the country, +and usually in the town. + +Though the shape and ease of action of churns varied, still +butter-making itself varied little from the same work to-day. Several +old-time churns are shown, the revolving one being the most unusual. + +Cheese was plentiful and good in all the Northern colonies. It was also +an unending care from the time the milk was set over the fire to warm +and then to curdle; through the breaking of the curds in the +cheese-basket; through shaping into cheeses and pressing in the +cheese-press, placing them on the cheese-ladders, and constantly turning +and rubbing them. An old cheese-press, cheese-ladder, and cheese-basket +from Deerfield Memorial Hall are shown in the illustration. + +In all households, even in those of great wealth and many servants, +assistance was given in all housewifery by the daughters of the +household. In the South it was chiefly by superintendence and teaching +through actual exposition the negro slaves; in the North it was by the +careful performance of the work. + +The manuscript cooking receipt-book of many an ancient dame shows the +great care they took in family cooking. English methods of cooking at +the time of the settlement of this country were very complicated and +very laborious. + +It was a day of hashes, ragouts, soups, hotch-pots, etc. There were no +great joints served until the time of Charles the First. In almost every +sixteenth-century receipt for cooking meat, appear some such directions +as these: "Y-mynce it, smyte them on gobbets, hew them on gobbets, chop +on gobbets, hew small, dyce them, skern them to dyce, kerf it to dyce, +grind all to dust, smyte on peces, parcel-hem; hew small on morselyen, +hack them small, cut them on culpons." Great amounts of spices were +used, even perfumes; and as there was no preservation of meat by ice, +perhaps the spices and perfumes were necessary. + +Of course the colonists were forced to adopt simpler ways of cooking, +but as towns and commerce increased there were many kitchen duties which +made much tedious work. Many pickles, spiced fruits, preserves, candied +fruits and flowers, and marmalades were made. + +Preserving was a very different art from canning fruit to-day. There +were no hermetically sealed jars, no chemical methods, no quick work +about it. Vast jars were filled with preserves so rich that there was no +need of keeping the air from them; they could be opened, that is, the +paper cover taken off, and used as desired; there was no fear of +fermentation, souring, or moulding. + +The housewives pickled samphire, fennel, purple cabbage, +nasturtium-buds, green walnuts, lemons, radish-pods, barberries, +elder-buds, parsley, mushrooms, asparagus, and many kinds of fish and +fruit. They candied fruits and nuts, made many marmalades and +quiddonies, and a vast number of fruit wines and cordials. Even their +cakes, pies, and puddings were most complicated, and humble households +were lavish in the various kinds they manufactured and ate. + +They collared and potted many kinds of fish and game, and they salted +and soused. Salted meat was eaten, and very little fresh meat; for there +were no means of keeping meat after it was killed. Every well-to-do +family had a "powdering-tub," in which meat was "powdered," that is, +salted and pickled. Many families had a smoke-house, in which beef, ham, +and bacon were smoked. + +Perhaps the busiest month of the year was November,--called "killing +time." When the chosen day arrived, oxen, cows, and swine which had been +fattened for the winter's stock were slaughtered early in the morning, +that the meat might be hard and cold before being put in the pickle. +Sausages, rolliches, and head-cheese were made, lard tried out, and +tallow saved. + +A curious and quaint domestic implement or utensil found hanging on the +walls of some kitchens was what was known as a sausage-gun. One here is +shown with the piston detached, and also ready for use. The sausage-meat +was forced out through the nozzle into the sausage-cases. A simpler form +of sausage-stuffer has also been seen, much like a tube-and-piston +garden-syringe; though I must add a suspicion which has always lingered +in my mind that the latter utensil was really a syringe-gun, such as +once was used to disable humming-birds by squirting water upon them. + +Sausage-meat was thus prepared in New York farmhouses. The meat was cut +coarsely into half-inch pieces and thrown into wooden boxes about three +feet long and ten inches deep. Then its first chopping was by men using +spades which had been ground to a sharp edge. + +There were many families that found all their supply of sweetening in +maple sugar and honey; but housewives of dignity and elegance desired to +have some supply of sugar, certainly to offer visitors for their dish of +tea. This sugar was always loaf-sugar, and truly loaf-sugar; for it was +purchased ever in great loaves or cones which averaged in weight about +nine to ten pounds apiece. One cone would last thrifty folk for a year. +This pure clear sugar-cone always came wrapped in a deep blue-purple +paper, of such unusual and beautiful tint and so color-laden that in +country homes it was carefully saved and soaked, to supply a dye for a +small amount of the finest wool, which was used when spun and dyed for +some specially choice purpose. The cutting of this cone of sugar into +lumps of equal size and regular shape was distinctly the work of the +mistress and daughters of the house. It was too exact and too dainty a +piece of work to be intrusted to clumsy or wasteful servants. Various +simply shaped sugar-shears or sugar-cutters were used. An ordinary form +is shown in the illustration. I well recall the only family in which I +ever saw this solemn function of sugar-cutting take place--it was about +thirty years ago. An old Boston East India merchant, one of the last to +cling to a residence in what is known now as the "Burnt District," +always desired (and his desire was law) to use these loaves of sugar in +his household. I don't know where he got them so long after every one +else had apparently ceased buying them--he may have specially imported +them; at any rate he had them, and to the end of her life it was the +morning duty of his wife "to cut the sugar." I can see my old cousin +still in what she termed her breakfast room, dressed very handsomely, +standing before a bare mahogany table on which a maid placed the +considerable array of a silver salver without legs, which was set on a +folded cloth and held the sugar-loaf and the sugar-cutter; and another +salver with legs that bore various bowls and one beautiful silver +sugar-box which was kept filled high for her husband's toddy. It seemed +an interminably tedious work to me and a senseless one, as I chafingly +waited for the delightful morning drive in delightful Boston. It was in +this household that I encountered the sweetest thing of my whole life; I +have written elsewhere its praises in full; a barrel, a small one, to be +sure, but still a whole teak-wood barrel full of long strings of +glistening rock-candy. I had my fill of it at will, though it was not +kept as a sweetmeat, but was a kitchen store having a special use in +the manufacture of rich brandy sauces for plum puddings, and of a kind +of marchepane ornamentation for desserts. + +All the spices used in the household were also ground at home, in +spice-mortars and spice-mills. These were of various sizes, including +the pepper-mills, which were set on the table at meal-times, and the +tiny ornamental graters which were carried in the pocket. + +The entire food of a household was the possible production of a farm. In +a paper published in the American Museum in 1787 an old farmer says:-- + + "At this time my farm gave me and my whole family a good living on + the produce of it, and left me one year with another one hundred + and fifty silver dollars, for I never spent more than ten dollars a + year which was for salt, nails, and the like. Nothing to eat, drink + or wear was bought, as my farm provided all." + +The farm food was not varied, it is true, as to-day; for articles of +luxury came by importation. The products of tropical countries, such as +sugar, molasses, tea, coffee, spices, found poor substitutes in home +food-products. Dried pumpkin was a poor sweetening instead of molasses; +maple sugar and honey were not esteemed as was sugar; tea was +ill-replaced by raspberry leaves, loosestrife, hardhack, goldenrod, +dittany, blackberry leaves, yeopon, sage, and a score of other herbs; +coffee was better than parched rye and chestnuts; spices could not be +compensated for or remotely imitated by any substitutes. + +So though there was ample quantity of food, the quality, save in the +town, was not such as English housewives had been accustomed to; there +were many deprivations in their kitchens which tried them sorely. The +better cooks they were, the more trying were the limitations. Every +woman with a love for her fellow-woman must feel a thrill of keen +sympathy for the goodwife of Newport, New Hampshire, who had to make her +Thanksgiving mince-pies with a filling of bear's meat and dried +pumpkins, sweetened with maple sugar, and her crust of corn-meal. Her +husband loyally recorded that they were the best mince-pies he ever ate. + +As years passed on and great wealth came to individuals, the tables of +the opulent, especially in the Middle colonies, rivalled the luxury of +English and French houses of wealth. It is surprising to read in Dr. +Cutler's diary that when he dined with Colonel Duer in New York in 1787, +there were fifteen kinds of wine served besides cider, beer, and porter. + +John Adams probably lived as well as any New Englander of similar +position and means. A Sunday dinner at his house was thus described by +a visitor: the first course was a pudding of Indian meal, molasses, and +butter; then came a course of veal and bacon, neck of mutton, and +vegetables. When the New Englander went to Philadelphia, his eyes opened +wide at the luxury and extravagance of fare. He has given in his diary +some accounts of the lavishness of the Philadelphia larder. Such entries +as these are found:-- + + (Of the home of Miers Fisher, a young Quaker lawyer.) "This plain + Friend, with his plain but pretty wife with her Thees and Thous, + had provided us a costly entertainment; ducks, hams, chickens, + beef, pig, tarts, creams, custards, jellies, fools, trifles, + floating islands, beer, porter, punch, wine and a long, etc." + + (At the home of Chief Justice Chew.) "About four o'clock we were + called to dinner. Turtle and every other thing, flummery, jellies, + sweetmeats of twenty sorts, trifles, whipped sillabubs, floating + islands, fools, etc., with a dessert of fruits, raisins, almonds, + pears, peaches." + + "A most sinful feast again! everything which could delight the eye + or allure the taste; curds and creams, jellies, sweetmeats of + various sorts, twenty kinds of tarts, fools, trifles, floating + islands, whipped sillabubs, etc. Parmesan cheese, punch, wine, + porter, beer." + +By which lists may plainly be seen that our second President had +somewhat of a sweet tooth. + +The Dutch were great beer-drinkers and quickly established breweries at +Albany and New York. But before the century had ended New Englanders had +abandoned the constant drinking of ale and beer for cider. Cider was +very cheap; but a few shillings a barrel. It was supplied in large +amounts to students at college, and even very little children drank it. +President John Adams was an early and earnest wisher for temperance +reform; but to the end of his life he drank a large tankard of hard +cider every morning when he first got up. It was free in every farmhouse +to all travellers and tramps. + +A cider-mill was usually built on a hillside so the building could be +one story high in front and two in the back. Thus carts could easily +unload the apples on the upper level and take away the barrels of cider +on the lower. Standing below on the lower floor you could see two +upright wooden cylinders, set a little way apart, with knobs, or nuts as +they were called, on one cylinder which fitted loosely into holes on the +other. The cylinders worked in opposite directions and drew in and +crushed the apples poured down between them. The nuts and holes +frequently clogged with the pomace. Then the mill was stopped and a boy +scraped out with a stick or hook the crushed apples. A horse walking in +a small circle moved a lever which turned the motor wheel. It was slow +work; it took three hours to grind a cart-load of apples; but the +machinery was efficient and simple. The pomace fell into a large shallow +vat or tank, and if it could lie in the vat overnight it was a benefit. +Then the pomace was put in a press. This was simple in construction. At +the bottom was a platform grooved in channels; a sheaf of clean straw +was spread on the platform, and with wooden shovels the pomace was +spread thick over it. Then a layer of straw was laid at right angles +with the first, and more pomace, and so on till the form was about three +feet high; the top board was put on as a cover; the screw turned and +blocks pressed down, usually with a long wooden hand-lever, very slowly +at first, then harder, until the mass was solid and every drop of juice +had trickled into the channels of the platform and thence to the pan +below. Within the last two or three years I have seen those cider-mills +at work in the country back of old Plymouth and in Narragansett, sending +afar their sourly fruity odors. And though apple orchards are running +out, and few new trees are planted, and the apple crop in those +districts is growing smaller and smaller, yet is the sweet cider of +country cider-mills as free and plentiful a gift to any passer-by as the +water from the well or the air we breathe. Perry was made from pears, +as cider is from apples, and peachy from peaches. Metheglin and mead, +drinks of the old Druids in England, were made from honey, yeast, and +water, and were popular everywhere. In Virginia whole plantations of the +honey-locust furnished locust beans for making metheglin. From +persimmons, elderberries, juniper berries, pumpkins, corn-stalks, +hickory nuts, sassafras bark, birch bark, and many other leaves, roots, +and barks, various light drinks were made. An old song boasted:-- + + "Oh, we can make liquor to sweeten our lips + Of pumpkins, of parsnips, of walnut-tree chips." + +Many other stronger and more intoxicating liquors were made in large +quantities, among them enormous amounts of rum, which was called often +"kill-devil." The making of rum aided and almost supported the +slave-trade in this country. The poor negroes were bought on the coast +of Africa by New England sea-captains and merchants and paid for with +barrels of New England rum. These slaves were then carried on +slave-ships to the West Indies, and sold at a large profit to planters +and slave-dealers for a cargo of molasses. This was brought to New +England, distilled into rum, and sent off to Africa. Thus the circle of +molasses, rum, and slaves was completed. Many slaves were also landed +in New England, but there was no crop there that needed negroes to raise +it. So slavery never was as common in New England as in the South, where +the tropical tobacco and rice fields needed negro labor. But New +England's share in promoting negro slavery in America was just as great +as was Virginia's. + +Besides all the rum that was sent to Africa, much was drunk by Americans +at home. At weddings, funerals, christenings, at all public meetings and +private feasts, New England rum was ever present. In nothing is more +contrast shown between our present day and colonial times than in the +habits of liquor-drinking. We cannot be grateful enough for the +temperance reform, which began at the early part of this century, and +was so sadly needed. + +For many years the colonists had no tea, chocolate, or coffee to drink; +for those were not in use in England when America was settled. In 1690 +two dealers were licensed to sell tea "in publique" in Boston. Green and +bohea teas were sold at the Boston apothecaries' in 1712. For many years +tea was also sold like medicine in England at the apothecaries' and not +at the grocers'. + +Many queer mistakes were made through ignorance of its proper use. Many +colonists put the tea into water, boiled it for a time, threw the +liquid away, and ate the tea-leaves. In Salem they did not find the +leaves very attractive, so they put butter and salt on them. + +In 1670 a Boston woman was licensed to sell coffee and chocolate, and +soon coffee-houses were established there. Some did not know how to cook +coffee any more than tea, but boiled the whole coffee-beans in water, +ate them, and drank the liquid; and naturally this was not very good +either to eat or drink. + +At the time of the Stamp Act, when patriotic Americans threw the tea +into Boston harbor, Americans were just as great tea-drinkers as the +English. Now it is not so. The English drink much more tea than we do; +and the habit of coffee-drinking, first acquired in the Revolution, has +descended from generation to generation, and we now drink more coffee +than tea. This is one of the differences in our daily life caused by the +Revolution. + +Many home-grown substitutes were used in Revolutionary times for tea: +ribwort was a favorite one; strawberry and currant leaves, sage, +thorough-wort, and "Liberty Tea," made from the four-leaved loosestrife. +"Hyperion tea" was raspberry leaves, and was said by good patriots to be +"very delicate and most excellent." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FLAX CULTURE AND SPINNING + + +In recounting the various influences which assisted the Americans to +success in the War for Independence, such as the courage and integrity +of the American generals, the generosity of the American people, the +skill of Americans in marksmanship, their powers of endurance, their +acclimatization, their confidence and faith, etc., we must never forget +to add their independence in their own homes of any outside help to give +them every necessity of life. No farmer or his wife need fear any king +when on every home farm was found food, drink, medicine, fuel, lighting, +clothing, shelter. Home-made was an adjective that might be applied to +nearly every article in the house. Such would not be the case under +similar stress to-day. In the matter of clothing alone we could not now +be independent. Few farmers raise flax to make linen; few women can spin +either wool or flax, or weave cloth; many cannot knit. In early days +every farmer and his sons raised wool and flax; his wife and daughters +spun them into thread and yarn, knit these into stockings and mittens, +or wove them into linen and cloth, and then made them into clothing. +Even in large cities nearly all women spun yarn and thread, all could +knit, and many had hand-looms to weave cloth at home. These home +occupations in the production of clothing have been very happily termed +the "homespun industries." + +Nearly every one has seen one of the pretty foot-wheels for spinning +flax thread for linen, which may yet be found in the attics of many of +our farmhouses, as well as in some of our parlors, where, with a bunch +of flax wound around and tied to the spindle, they have within a few +years been placed as a relic of the olden times. + +If one of these flax-wheels could speak to-day, it would sing a tale of +the patient industry, of the tiring work of our grandmothers, even when +they were little children, which ought never to be forgotten. + +As soon as the colonists had cleared their farms from stones and stumps, +they planted a field, or "patch" of flax, and usually one of hemp. The +seed was sown broadcast like grass-seed in May. Flax is a graceful plant +with pretty drooping blue flowers; hemp has but a sad-colored blossom. + +Thomas Tusser says in his _Book of Housewifery_:-- + + "Good flax and good hemp to have of her own, + In May a good huswife will see it be sown. + And afterwards trim it to serve in a need; + The fimble to spin, the card for her seed." + +When the flax plants were three or four inches high, they were weeded by +young women or children who had to work barefoot, as the stalks were +very tender. If the land had a growth of thistles, the weeders could +wear three or four pairs of woollen stockings. The children had to step +facing the wind, so if any plants were trodden down the wind would help +to blow them back into place. When the flax was ripe, in the last of +June or in July, it was pulled up by the roots and laid out carefully to +dry for a day or two, and turned several times in the sun; this work was +called pulling and spreading, and was usually done by men and boys. It +then was "rippled." A coarse wooden or heavy iron wire comb with great +teeth, named a ripple-comb, was fastened on a plank; the stalks of flax +were drawn through it with a quick stroke to break off the seed-bolles +or "bobs," which fell on a sheet spread to catch them; these were saved +for seed for the next crop, or for sale. + +Rippling was done in the field. The stalks were then tied in bundles +called beats or bates and stacked. They were tied only at the seed end, +and the base of the stalks was spread out forming a tent-shaped stack, +called a stook. When dry, the stalks were watered to rot the leaves and +softer fibres. Hemp was watered without rippling. This was done +preferably in running water, as the rotting flax poisoned fish. Stakes +were set in the water in the form of a square, called a steep-pool, and +the bates of flax or hemp were piled in solidly, each alternate layer at +right angles with the one beneath it. A cover of boards and heavy stones +was piled on top. In four or five days the bates were taken up and the +rotted leaves removed. A slower process was termed dew-retting; an old +author calls it "a vile and naughty way," but it was the way chiefly +employed in America. + +When the flax was cleaned, it was once more dried and tied in bundles. +Then came work for strong men, to break it on the ponderous flax-brake, +to separate the fibres and get out from the centre the hard woody "hexe" +or "bun." Hemp was also broken. + +A flax-brake is an implement which is almost impossible to describe. It +was a heavy log of wood about five feet long, either large enough so the +flat top was about three feet from the ground, or set on heavy logs to +bring it to that height. A portion of the top was cut down leaving a +block at each end, and several long slats were set in lengthwise and +held firm at each end with edges up, by being set into the end blocks. +Then a similar set of slats, put in a heavy frame, was made with the +slats set far enough apart to go into the spaces of the lower slats. The +flax was laid on the lower slats, the frame and upper slats placed on +it, and then pounded down with a heavy wooden mallet weighing many +pounds. Sometimes the upper frame of slats, or knives as they were +called, were hinged to the big under log at one end, and heavily +weighted at the other, and thus the blow was given by the fall of the +weight, not by the force of the farmer's muscle. The tenacity of the +flax can be seen when it would stand this violent beating; and the cruel +blow can be imagined, which the farmer's fingers sometimes got when he +carelessly thrust his hand with the flax too far under the descending +jaw--a shark's maw was equally gentle. + +Flax was usually broken twice, once with an "open-tooth brake," once +with a "close or strait brake," that is, one where the long, sharp-edge +strips of wood were set closely together. Then it was scutched or +swingled with a swingling block and knife, to take out any small +particles of bark that might adhere. A man could swingle forty pounds +of flax a day, but it was hard work. All this had to be done in clear +sunny weather when the flax was as dry as tinder. + +The clean fibres were then made into bundles called strikes. The strikes +were swingled again, and from the refuse called swingle-tree hurds, +coarse bagging could be spun and woven. After being thoroughly cleaned +the rolls or strikes were sometimes beetled, that is, pounded in a +wooden trough with a great pestle-shaped beetle over and over again +until soft. + +Then came the hackling or hetcheling, and the fineness of the flax +depended upon the number of hacklings, the fineness of the various +hackles or hetchels or combs, and the dexterity of the operator. In the +hands of a poor hackler the best of flax would be converted into tow. +The flax was slightly wetted, taken hold of at one end of the bunch, and +drawn through the hackle-teeth towards the hetcheller, and thus fibres +were pulled and laid into continuous threads, while the short fibres +were combed out. It was dusty, dirty work. The threefold process had to +be all done at once; the fibres had to be divided to their fine +filaments, the long threads laid in untangled line, and the tow +separated and removed. After the first hackle, called a ruffler, six +other finer hackles were often used. It was one of the surprises of +flax preparation to see how little good fibre would be left after all +this hackling, even from a large mass of raw material, but it was +equally surprising to see how much linen thread could be made from this +small amount of fine flax. The fibres were sorted according to fineness; +this was called spreading and drawing. So then after over twenty +dexterous manipulations the flax was ready for the wheel, for +spinning,--the most dexterous process of all,--and was wrapped round the +spindle. + +Seated at the small flax-wheel, the spinner placed her foot on the +treadle, and spun the fibre into a long, even thread. Hung on the wheel +was a small bone, wood, or earthenware cup, or a gourd-shell, filled +with water, in which the spinner moistened her fingers as she held the +twisting flax, which by the movement of the wheel was wound on bobbins. +When all were filled, the thread was wound off in knots and skeins on a +reel. A machine called a clock-reel counted the exact number of strands +in a knot, usually forty, and ticked when the requisite number had been +wound. Then the spinner would stop and tie the knot. A quaint old ballad +has the refrain:-- + + "And he kissed Mistress Polly when the clock-reel ticked." + +That is, the lover seized the rare and propitious moments of Mistress +Polly's comparative leisure to kiss her. + +Usually the knots or lays were of forty threads, and twenty lays made a +skein or slipping. The number varied, however, with locality. To spin +two skeins of linen thread was a good day's work; for it a spinner was +paid eight cents a day and "her keep." + +These skeins of thread had to be bleached. They were laid in warm water +for four days, the water being frequently changed, and the skeins +constantly wrung out. Then they were washed in the brook till the water +came from them clear and pure. Then they were "bucked," that is, +bleached with ashes and hot water, in a bucking-tub, over and over +again, then laid in clear water for a week, and afterwards came a grand +seething, rinsing, beating, washing, drying, and winding on bobbins for +the loom. Sometimes the bleaching was done with slaked lime or with +buttermilk. + +These were not the only bleaching operations the flax went through; +others will be detailed in the chapter on hand-weaving. + +One lucrative product of flax should be mentioned--flaxseed. Flax was +pulled for spinning when the base of the stalk began to turn yellow, +which was usually the first of July. An old saying was, "June brings the +flax." For seed it stood till it was all yellow. The flaxseed was used +for making oil. Usually the upper chambers of country stores were filled +a foot deep with flaxseed in the autumn, waiting for good sleighing to +convey the seed to town. + +In New Hampshire in early days, a wheelwright was not a man who made +wagon-wheels (as such he would have had scant occupation), but one who +made spinning-wheels. Often he carried them around the country on +horseback selling them, thus adding another to the many interesting +itineracies of colonial days. Spinning-wheels would seem clumsy for +horse-carriage, but they were not set up, and several could be compactly +carried when taken apart; far more ticklish articles went on +pack-horses,--large barrels, glazed window-sashes, etc. Nor would it +seem very difficult for a man to carry spinning-wheels on horseback, +when frequently a woman would jump on horseback in the early morning, +and with a baby on one arm and a flax-wheel tied behind, would ride +several miles to a neighbor's to spend the day spinning in cheerful +companionship. A century ago one of these wheelwrights sold a fine +spinning-wheel for a dollar, a clock-reel for two dollars, and a +wool-wheel for two dollars. + +Few persons are now living who have ever seen carried on in a country +home in America any of these old-time processes which have been +recounted. As an old antiquary wrote:-- + + "Few have ever seen a woman hatchel flax or card tow, or heard the + buzzing of the foot-wheel, or seen bunches of flaxen yarn hanging + in the kitchen, or linen cloth whitening on the grass. The + flax-dresser with the shives, fibres, and dirt of flax covering his + garments, and his face begrimed with flax-dirt has disappeared; the + noise of his brake and swingling knife has ended, and the boys no + longer make bonfires of his swingling tow. The sound of the + spinning-wheel, the song of the spinster, and the snapping of the + clock-reel all have ceased; the warping bars and quill wheel are + gone, and the thwack of the loom is heard only in the factory. The + spinning woman of King Lemuel cannot be found." + +Frequent references are made to flax in the Bible, notably in the Book +of Proverbs; and the methods of growing and preparing flax by the +ancient Egyptians were precisely the same as those of the American +colonist a hundred years ago, of the Finn, Lapp, Norwegian, and Belgian +flax-growers to-day. This ancient skill was not confined to +flax-working. Rosselini, the eminent hierologist, says that every modern +craftsman may see on Egyptian monuments four thousand years old, +representations of the process of his craft just as it is carried on +to-day. The paintings in the Grotto of El Kab, shown in Hamilton's +_AEgyptica_, show the pulling, stocking, tying, and rippling of flax +going on just as it is done in Egypt now. The four-tooth ripple of the +Egyptian is improved upon, but it is the same implement. Pliny gives an +account of the mode of preparing flax: plucking it up by the roots, +tying it in bundles, drying, watering, beating, and hackling it, or, as +he says, "combing it with iron hooks." Until the Christian era linen was +almost the only kind of clothing used in Egypt, and the teeming banks of +the Nile furnished flax in abundance. The quality of the linen can be +seen in the bands preserved on mummies. It was not, however, spun on a +wheel, but on a hand-distaff, called sometimes a rock, on which the +women in India still spin the very fine thread which is employed in +making India muslins. The distaff was used in our colonies; it was +ordered that children and others tending sheep or cattle in the fields +should also "be set to some other employment withal, such as spinning +upon the rock, knitting, weaving tape, etc." I heard recently a +distinguished historian refer in a lecture to this colonial statute, and +he spoke of the children _sitting upon a rock_ while knitting or +spinning, etc., evidently knowing naught of the proper signification of +the word. + +The homespun industries have ever been held to have a beneficent and +peace-bringing influence on women. Wordsworth voiced this sentiment when +he wrote his series of sonnets beginning:-- + + "Grief! thou hast lost an ever-ready friend + Now that the cottage spinning-wheel is mute." + +Chaucer more cynically says, through the _Wife of Bath_:-- + + "Deceite, weepynge, spynnynge God hath give + To wymmen kyndely that they may live." + +Spinning doubtless was an ever-ready refuge in the monotonous life of +the early colonist. She soon had plenty of material to work with. +Everywhere, even in the earliest days, the culture of flax was +encouraged. By 1640 the Court of Massachusetts passed two orders +directing the growth of flax, ascertaining what colonists were skilful +in breaking, spinning, weaving, ordering that boys and girls be taught +to spin, and offering a bounty for linen grown, spun, and woven in the +colony. Connecticut passed similar measures. Soon spinning-classes were +formed, and every family ordered to spin so many pounds of flax a year, +or to pay a fine. The industry received a fresh impulse through the +immigration of about one hundred Irish families from Londonderry. They +settled in New Hampshire on the Merrimac about 1719, and spun and wove +with far more skill than prevailed among those English settlers who had +already become Americans. They established a manufactory according to +Irish methods, and attempts at a similar establishment were made in +Boston. + +There was much public excitement over spinning, and prizes were offered +for quantity and quality. Women, rich as well as poor, appeared on +Boston Common with their wheels, thus making spinning a popular holiday +recreation. A brick building was erected as a spinning-school costing +L15,000, and a tax was placed on carriages and coaches in 1757 to +support it. At the fourth anniversary in 1749 of the "Boston Society for +promoting Industry and Frugality," three hundred "young spinsters" spun +on their wheels on Boston Common. And a pretty sight it must have been: +the fair young girls in the quaint and pretty dress of the times, shown +to us in Hogarth's prints, spinning on the green grass under the great +trees. In 1754, on a like occasion, a minister preached to the +"spinsters," and a collection of L453 was taken up. This was in currency +of depreciated value. At the same time premiums were offered in +Pennsylvania for weaving linen and spinning thread. Benjamin Franklin +wrote in his _Poor Richard's Almanac_:-- + + "Many estates are spent in the getting, + Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting." + +But the German colonists long before this had been famous flax-raisers. +A Pennsylvania poet in 1692 descanted on the flax-workers of +Germantown:-- + + "Where live High German people and Low Dutch + Whose trade in weaving linen cloth is much, + There grows the flax as also you may know, + That from the same they do divide the tow." + +Father Pastorius, their leader, forever commemorated his interest in his +colony and in the textile arts by his choice for a device for a seal. +Whittier thus describes it in his _Pennsylvania Pilgrim_:-- + + "Still on the town-seal his device is found, + Grapes, flax, and thread-spool on a three-foil ground + With _Vinum, Linum, et Textrinum_ wound." + +Virginia was earlier even in awakening interest in manufacturing flax +than Massachusetts, for wild flax grew there in profusion, ready for +gathering. In 1646 two houses were ordered to be erected at Jamestown as +spinning-schools. These were to be well built and well heated. Each +county was to send to these schools two poor children, seven or eight +years old, to be taught carding, spinning, and knitting. Each child was +to be supplied by the county authorities on admission to the school with +six barrels of Indian corn, a pig, two hens, clothing, shoes, a bed, +rug, blanket, two coverlets, a wooden tray, and two pewter dishes or +cups. This plan was not wholly carried out. Prizes in tobacco (which was +the current money of Virginia in which everything was paid) were given, +however, for every pound of flax, every skein of yarn, every yard of +linen of Virginia production, and soon flax-wheels and spinners were +plentiful. + +Intelligent attempts were made to start these industries in the South. +Governor Lucas wrote to his daughter, Mrs. Pinckney, in Charleston, +South Carolina, in 1745:-- + + "I send by this Sloop two Irish servants, viz.: a Weaver and a + Spinner. I am informed Mr. Cattle hath produced both Flax and Hemp. + I pray you will purchase some, and order a loom and spinning-wheel + to be made for them, and set them to work. I shall order Flax sent + from Philadelphia with seed, that they may not be idle. I pray you + will also purchase Wool and sett them to making Negroes clothing + which may be sufficient for my own People. + + "As I am afraid one Spinner can't keep a Loom at work, I pray you + will order a Sensible Negroe woman or two to learn to spin, and + wheels to be made for them; the man Servant will direct the + Carpenter in making the loom and the woman will direct the Wheel." + +The following year Madam Pinckney wrote to her father that the woman had +spun all the material they could get, so was idle; that the loom had +been made, but had no tackling; that she would make the harness for it, +if two pounds of shoemaker's thread were sent her. The sensible negro +woman and hundreds of others learned well to spin, and excellent cloth +has been always woven in the low country of Carolina, as well as in the +upper districts, till our own time. + +In the revolt of feeling caused by the Stamp Act, there was a constant +social pressure to encourage the manufacture and wearing of goods of +American manufacture. As one evidence of this movement the president and +first graduating class of Rhode Island College--now Brown +University--were clothed in fabrics made in New England. From +Massachusetts to South Carolina the women of the colonies banded +together in patriotic societies called Daughters of Liberty, agreeing to +wear only garments of homespun manufacture, and to drink no tea. In +many New England towns they gathered together to spin, each bringing her +own wheel. At one meeting seventy linen-wheels were employed. In Rowley, +Massachusetts, the meeting of the Daughters is thus described:-- + + "A number of thirty-three respectable ladies of the town met at + sunrise with their wheels to spend the day at the house of the + Rev'd Jedediah Jewell, in the laudable design of a spinning match. + At an hour before sunset, the ladies there appearing neatly + dressed, principally in homespun, a polite and generous repast of + American production was set for their entertainment. After which + being present many spectators of both sexes, Mr. Jewell delivered a + profitable discourse from Romans xii. 2: "Not slothful in business, + fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." + +Matters of church and patriotism were never far apart in New England; so +whenever the spinners gathered at New London, Newbury, Ipswich, or +Beverly, they always had an appropriate sermon. A favorite text was +Exodus xxxv. 25: "And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with +their hands." When the Northboro women met, they presented the results +of their day's work to their minister. There were forty-four women and +they spun 2223 knots of linen and tow, and wove one linen sheet and two +towels. + +By Revolutionary times General Howe thought "Linen and Woollen Goods +much wanted by the Rebels"; hence when he prepared to evacuate Boston he +ordered all such goods carried away with him. But he little knew the +domestic industrial resources of the Americans. Women were then most +proficient in spinning. In 1777 Miss Eleanor Fry of East Greenwich, +Rhode Island, spun seven skeins one knot linen yarn in one day, an +extraordinary amount. This was enough to weave twelve linen +handkerchiefs. At this time when there were about five or six skeins to +a pound of flax, the pay for spinning was sixpence a skein. The Abbe +Robin wondered at the deftness of New England spinners. + +In 1789 an outcry was raised against the luxury said to be eating away +the substance of the new country. The poor financial administration of +the government seemed deranging everything; and again a social movement +was instituted in New England to promote "Oeconomy and Household +Industries." "The Rich and Great strive by example to convince the +Populace of their error by Growing their own Flax and Wool, having some +one in the Family to dress it, and all the Females spin, several weave +and bleach the linen." The old spinning-matches were revived. Again the +ministers preached to the faithful women "Oeconomists," who thus +combined religion, patriotism, and industry. Truly it was, as a +contemporary writer said, "a pleasing Sight: some spinning, some +reeling, some carding cotton, some combing flax," as they were preached +to. + +Within a few years attempts have been made in England and Ireland to +encourage flax-growing, as before it is spun it gives employment to +twenty different classes of laborers, many parts of which work can be +done by young and unskilled children. In Courtrai, where hand spinning +and weaving of flax still flourish, the average earnings of a family are +three pounds a week. In Finland homespun linen still is made in every +household. The British Spinning and Weaving School in New Bond Street is +an attempt to revive the vanished industry in England. In our own +country it is pleasant to record that the National Association of Cotton +Manufacturers is planning to start on a large scale the culture and +manufacture of flax in our Eastern states; this is not, however, with +any thought of reviving either the preparation, spinning, or weaving of +flax by old-time hand processes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WOOL CULTURE AND SPINNING + +_With a Postscript on Cotton_ + + +The art of spinning was an honorable occupation for women as early as +the ninth century; and it was so universal that it furnished a legal +title by which an unmarried woman is known to this day. Spinster is the +only one of all her various womanly titles that survives; webster, +shepster, litster, brewster, and baxter are obsolete. The occupations +are also obsolete save those indicated by shepster and baxter--that is, +the cutting out of cloth and baking of bread; these are the only duties +among them all that she still performs. + +The wool industry dates back to prehistoric man. The patience, care, and +skill involved in its manufacture have ever exercised a potent influence +on civilization. It is, therefore, interesting and gratifying to note +the intelligent eagerness of our first colonists for wool culture. It +was quickly and proudly noted of towns and of individuals as a proof of +their rapid and substantial progress that they could carry on any of the +steps of the cloth industry. Good Judge Sewall piously exulted when +Brother Moody started a successful fulling-mill in Boston. Johnson in +his _Wonder-working Providence_ tells with pride that by 1654 New +Englanders "have a fulling-mill and caused their little ones to be very +dilligent in spinning cotton-woole, many of them having been clothiers +in England." This has ever seemed to me one of the fortunate conditions +that tended to the marked success of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, that +so many had been "clothiers" or cloth-workers in England; or had come +from shires in England where wool was raised and cloth made, and hence +knew the importance of the industry as well as its practical workings. + +As early as 1643 the author of _New England's First Fruits_ wrote: "They +are making linens, fustians, dimities, and look immediately to woollens +from their own sheep." Johnson estimated the number of sheep in the +colony of Massachusetts, about 1644, as three thousand. Soon the great +wheel was whirring in every New England house. The raising of sheep was +encouraged in every way. They were permitted to graze on the commons; it +was forbidden to send them from the colony; no sheep under two years old +could be killed to sell; if a dog killed a sheep, the dog's owner must +hang him and pay double the cost of the sheep. All persons who were not +employed in other ways, as single women, girls, and boys, were required +to spin. Each family must contain one spinner. These spinners were +formed into divisions or "squadrons" of ten persons; each division had a +director. There were no drones in this hive; neither the wealth nor high +station of parents excused children from this work. Thus all were +levelled to one kind of labor, and by this levelling all were also +elevated to independence. When the open expression of revolt came, the +homespun industries seemed a firm rock for the foundation of liberty. +People joined in agreements to eat no lamb or mutton, that thus sheep +might be preserved, and to wear no imported woollen cloth. They gave +prizes for spinning and weaving. + +Great encouragement was given in Virginia in early days to the raising +and manufacture of wool. The Assembly estimated that five children not +over thirteen years of age could by their work readily spin and weave +enough to keep thirty persons clothed. Six pounds of tobacco was paid to +any one bringing to the county court-house where he resided a yard of +homespun woollen cloth, made wholly in his family; twelve pounds of +tobacco were offered for reward for a dozen pair of woollen hose +knitted at home. Slaves were taught to spin; and wool-wheels and +wool-cards are found by the eighteenth century on every inventory of +planters' house furnishings. + +The Pennsylvania settlers were early in the encouragement of wool +manufacture. The present industry of hosiery and knit goods long known +as Germantown goods began with the earliest settlers of that +Pennsylvania town. Stocking-weavers were there certainly as early as +1723; and it is asserted there were knitting-machines. At any rate, one +Mack, the son of the founder of the Dunkers, made "leg stockings" and +gloves. Rev. Andrew Burnaby, who was in Germantown in 1759, told of a +great manufacture of stockings at that date. In 1777 it was said that a +hundred Germantown stocking-weavers were out of employment through the +war. Still it was not till 1850 that patents for knitting-machines were +taken out there. + +Among the manufactures of the province of Pennsylvania in 1698 were +druggets, serges, and coverlets; and among the registered tradesmen were +dyers, fullers, comb-makers, card-makers, weavers, and spinners. The +Swedish colony as early as 1673 had the wives and daughters "employing +themselves in spinning wool and flax and many in weaving." The fairs +instituted by William Penn for the encouragement of domestic +manufactures and trade in general, which were fostered by Franklin and +continued till 1775, briskly stimulated wool and flax manufacture. + +In 1765 and in 1775 rebellious Philadelphians banded together with +promises not to eat or suffer to be eaten in their families any lamb or +"meat of the mutton kind"; in this the Philadelphia butchers, patriotic +and self-sacrificing, all joined. A wool-factory was built and fitted up +and an appeal made to the women to save the state. In a month four +hundred wool-spinners were at work. But the war cut off the supply of +raw material, and the manufacture languished. In 1790, after the war, +fifteen hundred sets of irons for spinning-wheels were sold from one +shop, and mechanics everywhere were making looms. + +New Yorkers were not behindhand in industry. Lord Cornbury wrote home to +England, in 1705, that he "had seen serge made upon Long Island that any +man might wear; they make very good linen for common use; as for Woollen +I think they have brought that to too great perfection." + +In Cornbury's phrase, "too great perfection," may be found the key for +all the extraordinary and apparently stupid prohibitions and +restrictions placed by the mother-country on colonial wool manufacture. +The growth of the woollen industry in any colony was regarded at once by +England with jealous eyes. Wool was the pet industry and principal +staple of Great Britain; and well it might be, for until the reign of +Henry VIII. English garments from head to foot were wholly of wool, even +the shoes. Wool was also received in England as currency. Thomas Fuller +said, "The wealth of our nation is folded up in broadcloth." Therefore, +the Crown, aided by the governors of the provinces, sought to maintain +England's monopoly by regulating and reducing the culture of wool in +America through prohibiting the exportation to England of any American +wool or woollen materials. In 1699 all vessels sailing to England from +the colonies were prohibited taking on board any "Wool, Woolfells, +Shortlings, Moslings, Wool Flocks, Worsteds, Bays, Bay or Woollen Yarn, +Cloath, Serge, Kersey, Says, Frizes, Druggets, Shalloons, etc."; and an +arbitrary law was passed prohibiting the transportation of home-made +woollens from one American province to another. These laws were never +fully observed and never checked the culture and manufacture of wool in +this country. Hence our colonies were spared the cruel fate by which +England's same policy paralyzed and obliterated in a few years the +glorious wool industry of Ireland. Luckily for us, it is further across +the Atlantic Ocean than across St. George's Channel. + +The "all-wool goods a yard wide," which we so easily purchase to-day, +meant to the colonial dame or daughter the work of many weeks and +months, from the time when the fleeces were first given to her deft +hands. Fleeces had to be opened with care, and have all pitched or +tarred locks, dag-locks, brands, and feltings cut out. These cuttings +were not wasted, but were spun into coarse yarn. The white locks were +carefully tossed and separated and tied into net bags with tallies to be +dyed. Another homely saying, "dyed in the wool," showed a process of +much skill. Blue, in all shades, was the favorite color, and was dyed +with indigo. So great was the demand for this dye-stuff that +indigo-pedlers travelled over the country selling it. + +Madder, cochineal, and logwood dyed beautiful reds. The bark of red oak +or hickory made very pretty shades of brown and yellow. Various flowers +growing on the farm could be used for dyes. The flower of the goldenrod, +when pressed of its juice, mixed with indigo, and added to alum, made a +beautiful green. The juice of the pokeberry boiled with alum made +crimson dye, and a violet juice from the petals of the iris, or +"flower-de-luce," that blossomed in June meadows, gave a delicate light +purple tinge to white wool. + +The bark of the sassafras was used for dyeing yellow or orange color, +and the flowers and leaves of the balsam also. Fustic and copperas gave +yellow dyes. A good black was obtained by boiling woollen cloth with a +quantity of the leaves of the common field-sorrel, then boiling again +with logwood and copperas. + +In the South there were scores of flowers and leaves that could be used +for dyes. During the Revolutionary War one enterprising South Carolinian +got a guinea a pound for a yellow dye he made from the sweet-leaf or +horse-laurel. The leaves and berries of gall-berry bush made a good +black much used by hatters and weavers. The root of the barberry gave +wool a beautiful yellow, as did the leaves of the devil's-bit. The +petals of Jerusalem artichoke and St.-John's-wort dyed yellow. Yellow +root is a significant name and reveals its use: oak, walnut, or maple +bark dyed brown. Often the woven cloth was dyed, not the wool. + +The next process was carding; the wool was first greased with rape oil +or "melted swine's grease," which had to be thoroughly worked in; about +three pounds of grease were put into ten pounds of wool. Wool-cards were +rectangular pieces of thin board, with a simple handle on the back or +at the side; to this board was fastened a smaller rectangle of strong +leather, set thick with slightly bent wire teeth, like a coarse brush. +The carder took one card with her left hand, and resting it on her knee, +drew a tuft of wool across it several times, until a sufficient quantity +of fibre had been caught upon the wire teeth. She then drew the second +wool-card, which had to be warmed, across the first several times, until +the fibres were brushed parallel by all these "tummings." Then by a +deft and catchy motion the wool was rolled or carded into small fleecy +rolls which were then ready for spinning. + +Wool-combs were shaped like the letter T, with about thirty long steel +teeth from ten to eighteen inches long set at right angles with the top +of the T. The wool was carefully placed on one comb, and with careful +strokes the other comb laid the long staple smooth for hard-twisted +spinning. It was tedious and slow work, and a more skilful operation +than carding; and the combs had to be kept constantly heated; but no +machine-combing ever equalled hand-combing. There was a good deal of +waste in this combing, that is, large clumps of tangled wool called noil +were combed out. They were not really wasted, we may be sure, by our +frugal ancestors, but were spun into coarse yarn. + +An old author says: "The action of spinning must be learned by practice, +not by relation." Sung by the poets, the grace and beauty of the +occupation has ever shared praise with its utility. + +Wool-spinning was truly one of the most flexible and alert series of +movements in the world, and to its varied and graceful poises our +grandmothers may owe part of the dignity of carriage that was so +characteristic of them. The spinner stood slightly leaning forward, +lightly poised on the ball of the left foot; with her left hand she +picked up from the platform of the wheel a long slender roll of the soft +carded wool about as large round as the little finger, and deftly wound +the end of the fibres on the point of the spindle. She then gave a +gentle motion to the wheel with a wooden peg held in her right hand, +and seized with the left the roll at exactly the right distance from the +spindle to allow for one "drawing." Then the hum of the wheel rose to a +sound like the echo of wind; she stepped backward quickly, one, two, +three steps, holding high the long yarn as it twisted and quivered. +Suddenly she glided forward with even, graceful stride and let the yarn +wind on the swift spindle. Another pinch of the wool-roll, a new turn of +the wheel, and _da capo_. + +The wooden peg held by the spinner deserves a short description; it +served the purpose of an elongated finger, and was called a driver, +wheel-peg, etc. It was about nine inches long, an inch or so in +diameter; and at about an inch from the end was slightly grooved in +order that it might surely catch the spoke and thus propel the wheel. + +It was a good day's work for a quick, active spinner to spin six skeins +of yarn a day. It was estimated that to do that with her quick backward +and forward steps she walked over _twenty miles_. + +The yarn might be wound directly upon the wooden spindle as it was spun, +or at the end of the spindle might be placed a spool or broach which +twisted with the revolving spindle, and held the new-spun yarn. This +broach was usually simply a stiff roll of paper, a corn-cob, or a roll +of corn-husk. When the ball of yarn was as large as the broach would +hold, the spinner placed wooden pegs in certain holes in the spokes of +her spinning-wheel and tied the end of the yarn to one peg. Then she +took off the belt of her wheel and whirred the big wheel swiftly round, +thus winding the yarn on the pegs into hanks or clews two yards in +circumference, which were afterwards tied with a loop of yarn into knots +of forty threads; while seven of these knots made a skein. The +clock-reel was used for winding yarn, also a triple reel. + +The yarn might be wound from the spindle into skeins in another way,--by +using a hand-reel, an implement which really did exist in every +farmhouse, though the dictionaries are ignorant of it, as they are of +its universal folk-name, niddy-noddy. This is fortunately preserved in +an every-day domestic riddle:-- + + "Niddy-noddy, niddy-noddy, + Two heads and one body." + +The three pieces of these niddy-noddys were set together at curious +angles, and are here shown rather than described in words. Holding the +reel in the left hand by seizing the central "body" or rod, the yarn was +wound from end to end of the reel, by an odd, waving, wobbling motion, +into knots and skeins of the same size as by the first process +described. One of these niddy-noddys was owned by Nabby Marshall of +Deerfield, who lived to be one hundred and four years old. The other +was brought from Ireland in 1733 by Hugh Maxwell, father of the +Revolutionary patriot Colonel Maxwell. As it was at a time of English +prohibitions and restrictions of American manufactures, this +niddy-noddy, as an accessory and promoter of colonial wool manufacture, +was smuggled into the country. + +Sometimes the woollen yarn was spun twice; especially if a close, +hard-twisted thread was desired, to be woven into a stiff, wiry cloth. +When there were two, the first spinning was called a roving. The single +spinning was usually deemed sufficient to furnish yarn for knitting, +where softness and warmth were the desired requisites. + +It was the pride of a good spinster to spin the finest yarn, and one +Mistress Mary Prigge spun a pound of wool into fifty hanks of +eighty-four thousand yards; in all, nearly forty-eight miles. If the +yarn was to be knitted, it had to be washed and cleansed. The wife of +Colonel John May, a prominent man in Boston, wrote in her diary for one +day:-- + + "A large kettle of yarn to attend upon. Lucretia and self rinse, + scour through many waters, get out, dry, attend to, bring in, do up + and sort 110 score of yarn; this with baking and ironing. Then went + to hackling flax." + +It should be remembered that all those bleaching processes, the wringing +out and rinsing in various waters, were far more wearisome then than +they would be to-day, for the water had to be carried laboriously in +pails and buckets, and drawn with pumps and well-sweeps; there were no +pipes and conduits. Happy the household that had a running brook near +the kitchen door. + +Of course all these operations and manipulations usually occupied many +weeks and months, but they could be accomplished in a much shorter time. +When President Nott of Union College, and his brother Samuel, the famous +preacher, were boys on a stony farm in Connecticut, one of the brothers +needed a new suit of clothes, and as the father was sick there was +neither money nor wool in the house. The mother sheared some half-grown +fleece from her sheep, and in less than a week the boy wore it as +clothing. The shivering and generous sheep were protected by wrappings +of braided straw. During the Revolution, it is said that in a day and a +night a mother and her daughters in Townsend, Massachusetts, sheared a +black and a white sheep, carded from the fleece a gray wool, spun, wove, +cut and made a suit of clothes for a boy to wear off to fight for +liberty. + +The wool industry easily furnished home occupation to an entire family. +Often by the bright firelight in the early evening every member of the +household might be seen at work on the various stages of wool +manufacture or some of its necessary adjuncts, and varied and cheerful +industrial sounds fill the room. The old grandmother, at light and easy +work, is carding the wool into fleecy rolls, seated next the fire; for, +as the ballad says, "she was old and saw right dimly." The mother, +stepping as lightly as one of her girls, spins the rolls into woollen +yarn on the great wheel. The oldest daughter sits at the clock-reel, +whose continuous buzz and occasional click mingles with the humming rise +and fall of the wool-wheel, and the irritating scratch, scratch, of the +cards. A little girl at a small wheel is filling quills with woollen +yarn for the loom, not a skilled work; the irregular sound shows her +intermittent industry. The father is setting fresh teeth in a wool-card, +while the boys are whittling hand-reels and loom-spools. + +One of the household implements used in wool manufacture, the wool-card, +deserves a short special history as well as a description. In early days +the leather back of the wool-card was pierced with an awl by hand; the +wire teeth were cut off from a length of wire, were slightly bent, and +set and clinched one by one. These cards were laboriously made by many +persons at home, for their household use. As early as 1667 wire was made +in Massachusetts; and its chief use was for wool-cards. By +Revolutionary times it was realized that the use of wool-cards was +almost the mainspring of the wool industry, and L100 bounty was offered +by Massachusetts for card-wire made in the state from iron mined in what +they called then the "United American States." In 1784 a machine was +invented by an American which would cut and bend thirty-six thousand +wire teeth an hour. Another machine pierced the leather backs. This gave +a new employment to women and children at home and some spending-money. +They would get boxes of the bent wire teeth and bundles of the leather +backs from the factories and would set the teeth in the backs while +sitting around the open fire in the evening. They did this work, too, +while visiting--spending an afternoon; and it was an unconscious and +diverting work like knitting; scholars set wool-cards while studying, +and schoolmistresses while teaching. This method of manufacture was +superseded fifteen years later by a machine invented by Amos Whittemore, +which held, cut, and pierced the leather, drew the wire from a reel, cut +and bent a looped tooth, set it, bent it, fastened the leather on the +back, and speedily turned out a fully made card. John Randolph said this +machine had everything but an immortal soul. By this time spinning and +weaving machinery began to crowd out home work, and the machine-made +cards were needed to keep up with the increased demand. At last machines +crowded into every department of cloth manufacture; and after +carding-machines were invented in England--great rollers set with +card-teeth--they were set up in many mills throughout the United States. + +Families soon sent all their wool to these mills to be carded even when +it was spun and woven at home. It was sent rolled up in a homespun sheet +or blanket pinned with thorns; and the carded rolls ready for spinning +were brought home in the same way, and made a still bigger bundle which +was light in weight for its size. Sometimes a red-cheeked farmer's lass +would be seen riding home from the carding-mill, through New England +woods or along New England lanes, with a bundle of carded wool towering +up behind her bigger than her horse. + +Of the use and manufacture of cotton I will speak very shortly. Our +greatest, cheapest, most indispensable fibre is also our latest one. It +never formed one of the homespun industries of the colonies; in fact, it +was never an article of extended domestic manufacture. + +A little cotton was always used in early days for stuffing bedquilts, +petticoats, warriors' armor, and similar purposes. It was bought by the +pound, East India cotton, in small quantities; the seeds were picked +out one by one, by hand; it was carded on wool-cards, and spun into a +rather intractable yarn which was used as warp for linsey-woolsey and +rag carpets. Even in England no cotton weft, no all-cotton fabrics, were +made till after 1760, till Hargreave's time. Sometimes a twisted yarn +was made of one thread of cotton and one of wool which was knit into +durable stockings. Cotton sewing-thread was unknown in England. +Pawtucket women named Wilkinson made the first cotton thread on their +home spinning-wheels in 1792. + +Cotton was planted in America, Bancroft says, in 1621, but MacMaster +asserts it was never seen growing here till after the Revolution save as +a garden ornament with garden flowers. This assertion seems oversweeping +when Jefferson could write in a letter in 1786:-- + + "The four southermost States make a great deal of cotton. Their + poor are almost entirely clothed with it in winter and summer. In + winter they wear shirts of it and outer clothing of cotton and wool + mixed. In summer their shirts are linen, but the outer clothing + cotton. The dress of the women is almost entirely of cotton, + manufactured by themselves, except the richer class, and even many + of these wear a great deal of homespun cotton. It is as well + manufactured as the calicoes of Europe." + +Still cotton was certainly not a staple of consequence. We were the last +to enter the list of cotton-producing countries and we have surpassed +them all. + +The difficulty of removing the seeds from the staple practically thrust +cotton out of common use. In India a primitive and cumbersome set of +rollers called a churka partially cleaned India cotton. A Yankee +schoolmaster, Eli Whitney, set King Cotton on a throne by his invention +of the cotton-gin in 1792. This comparatively simple but inestimable +invention completely revolutionized cloth manufacture in England and +America. It also changed general commerce, industrial development, and +the social and economic order of things, for it gave new occupations and +offered new modes of life to hundreds of thousands of persons. It +entirely changed and cheapened our dress, and altered rural life both in +the North and South. + +A man could, by hand-picking, clean only about a pound of cotton a day. +The cotton-gin cleaned as much in a day as had taken the hand-picker a +year to accomplish. Cotton was at once planted in vast amounts; but it +certainly was not plentiful till then. Whitney had never seen cotton nor +cotton seed when he began to plan his invention; nor did he, even in +Savannah, find cotton to experiment with until after considerable +search. + +After the universal manufacture and use of the cotton-gin, negro women +wove cotton in Southern houses, sometimes spinning their own cotton +thread; more frequently buying it mill-spun. But, after all, this was in +too small amounts to be of importance; it needed the spinning-jennies +and power-looms of vast mills to use up the profuse supply afforded by +the gin. + +A very interesting account of the domestic manufacture of cotton in +Tennessee about the year 1850 was written for me by Mrs. James Stuart +Pilcher, State Regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution in +Tennessee. A portion of her pleasant story reads:-- + + "There were two looms in the loom-room, and two negro women were + kept busy all the time weaving; there were eight or ten others who + did nothing but spin cotton and woollen thread; others spooled and + reeled it into hanks. The spinning was all done on the large wheel, + from the raw cotton; a corn-shuck was wrapped tightly around the + steel spindle, then the thread was run and spun on this shuck until + it was full; then these were reeled off into hanks of thread, then + spooled on to corn-cobs with holes burned through them. These were + placed in an upright frame, with long slender rods of hickory wood + something like a ramrod run through them. The frame held about one + hundred of these cob-spools; the end of the cotton thread from + each spool was gathered up by an experienced warper who carried all + the threads back and forth on the large warping-bars; this was a + difficult task; only the brightest negro women were warpers. The + thread had been dyed before spooling and the vari-colored + cob-spools could be arranged to make stripes lengthwise of the + cloth; and the hanks had also been dipped in a boiling-hot sizing + made of meal and water. The warp-threads were carefully taken from + the bars and rolled upon the wooden beam of the loom, the ends + passed through the sley and tied. The weaver then began her work. + The thread for the filling (called the woof by the negroes) was + reeled from the hank on the winding-blades, upon small canes about + four inches long which, when full, were placed in the wooden + shuttles. These women spun and wove all the clothing worn by the + negroes on the plantation; cotton cloth for women and men in the + summer time; and jeans for the men; linsey-woolsey for the women + and children for winter. All were well clothed. The women taught us + to spin, but the weavers were cross and would not let us touch the + loom, for they said we broke the threads in the warp. My + grandmother never interfered with them when they were careful in + their work. We would say, 'Please make Aunt Rhody let me weave!' + She answered, 'No, she is managing the loom; if she is willing, + very well; if not, you must not worry her.' We thought it great fun + to try to weave, but generally had to pay Aunt Rhody for our + meddling by giving her cake, ribbons, or candy." + +The colonists were constantly trying to find new materials for spinning, +and also used many makeshifts. Parkman, in his _Old Regime_, tells that +in the year 1704, when a ship was lost that was to bring cloth and wool +to Quebec, a Madame de Repentigny, one of the aristocrats of the +French-Canadian colony, spun and wove coarse blankets of nettle and +linden bark. Similar experiments were made by the English colonists. +Coarse thread was spun out of nettle-fibre by pioneers in western New +York. Levi Beardsley, in his _Reminiscences_, tells of his mother at the +close of the last century, in her frontier home at Richfield Springs, +weaving bags and coarse garments from the nettles which grew so rankly +everywhere in that vicinity. Deer hair and even cow's hair was collected +from the tanners, spun with some wool, and woven into a sort of felted +blanket. + +Silk-grass, a much-vaunted product, was sent back to England on the +first ships and was everywhere being experimented with. Coarse wicking +was spun from the down of the milkweed--an airy, feathery material that +always looks as if it ought to be put to many uses, yet never has seemed +of much account in any trial that has been made of it. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HAND-WEAVING + + +Any one who passed through a New England village on a week day a century +ago, or rode up to the door of a Pennsylvania or Virginia house, would +probably be greeted with a heavy thwack-thwack from within doors, a +regular sound which would readily be recognized by every one at that +time as proceeding from weaving on a hand-loom. The presence of these +looms was, perhaps, not so universal in every house as that of their +homespun companions, the great and little wheels, for they required more +room; but they were found in every house of any considerable size, and +in many also where they seemed to fill half the building. Many +households had a loom-room, usually in an ell part of the house; others +used an attic or a shed-loft as a weaving-room. Every farmer's daughter +knew how to weave as well as to spin, yet it was not recognized as +wholly woman's work as was spinning; for there was a trade of +hand-weaving for men, to which they were apprenticed. Every town had +professional weavers. They were a universally respected class, and +became the ancestors of many of the wealthiest and most influential +citizens to-day. They took in yarn and thread to weave on their looms at +their own homes at so much a yard; wove their own yarn into stuffs to +sell; had apprentices to their trade; and also went out working by the +day at their neighbors' houses, sometimes carrying their looms many +miles with them. + +Weavers were a universally popular element of the community. The +travelling weaver was, like all other itinerant tradesmen of the day, a +welcome newsmonger; and the weaver who took in weaving was often a +stationary gossip, and gathered inquiring groups in his loom-room; even +children loved to go to his door to beg for bits of colored +yarn--thrums--which they used in their play, and also tightly braided to +wear as shoestrings, hair-laces, etc. + +The hand-loom used in the colonies, and occasionally still run in +country towns to-day, is an historic machine, one of great antiquity and +dignity. It is, perhaps, the most absolute bequest of past centuries +which we have had, unchanged, in domestic use till the present time. You +may see a loom like the Yankee one shown here in Giotto's famous fresco +in the Campanile, painted in 1335; another, still the same, in Hogarth's +_Idle Apprentice_, painted just four hundred years later. Many tribes +and nations have hand-looms resembling our own; but these are exactly +like it. Hundreds of thousands of men and women of the generations of +these seven centuries since Giotto's day have woven on just such looms +as our grandparents had in their homes. + +This loom consists of a frame of four square timber posts, about seven +feet high, set about as far apart as the posts of a tall four-post +bedstead, and connected at top and bottom by portions of a frame. From +post to post across one end, which may be called the back part of the +loom, is the yarn-beam, about six inches in diameter. Upon it are wound +the warp-threads, which stretch in close parallels from it to the +cloth-beam at the front of the loom. The cloth-beam is about ten inches +in diameter, and the cloth is wound as the weaving proceeds. + +The yarn-beam or yarn-roll or warp-beam was ever a very important part +of the loom. It should be made of close-grained, well-seasoned wood. The +iron axle should be driven in before the beam is turned. If the beam is +ill-turned and irregular in shape, no even, perfect woof can come from +it. The slightest variation in its dimensions makes the warp run off +unevenly, and the web never "sets" well, but has some loose threads. + +We have seen the homespun yarn, whether linen or woollen, left in +carefully knotted skeins after being spun and cleaned, bleached, or +dyed. To prepare it for use on the loom a skein is placed on the swift, +an ingenious machine, a revolving cylindrical frame made of strips of +wood arranged on the principle of the lazy-tongs so the size can be +increased or diminished at pleasure, and thus take on and hold firmly +any sized skein of yarn. This cylinder is supported on a centre shaft +that revolves in a socket, and may be set in a heavy block on the floor +or fastened to a table or chair. A lightly made, carved swift was a +frequent lover's gift. I have a beautiful one of whale-ivory, +mother-of-pearl, and fine white bone which was made on a three years' +whaling voyage by a Nantucket sea-captain as a gift to his waiting +bride; it has over two hundred strips of fine white carved bone. Both +quills for the weft and spools for the warp may be wound from the swift +by a quilling-wheel, small wheels of various shapes, some being like a +flax-wheel, but more simple in construction. The quill or bobbin is a +small reed or quill, pierced from end to end, and when wound is set in +the recess of the shuttle. + +When the piece is to be set, a large number of shuttles and spools are +filled in advance. The full spools are then placed in a row one above +the other in a spool-holder, sometimes called a skarne or scarne. As I +have not found this word in any dictionary, ancient or modern, its +correct spelling is unknown. Sylvester Judd, in his _Margaret_, spells +it skan. Skean and skayn have also been seen. Though ignored by +lexicographers, it was an article and word in established and universal +use in the colonies. I have seen it in newspaper advertisements of +weavers' materials, and in inventories of weavers' estates, spelled _ad +libitum_; and elderly country folk, both in the North and South, who +remember old-time weaving, know it to-day. + +It seems to me impossible to explain clearly in words, though it is +simple enough in execution, the laying of the piece, the orderly placing +the warp on the warp-beam. The warping-bars are entirely detached from +the loom, are an accessory, not a part of it. They are two upright bars +of wood, each holding a number of wooden pins set at right angles to +the bars, and held together by crosspieces. Let forty full spools be +placed in the skarne, one above the other. The free ends of threads from +the spools are gathered in the hand, and fastened to a pin at the top of +the warping-bars. The group of threads then are carried from side to +side of the bars, passing around a pin on one bar, then around a pin on +the opposite bar, to the extreme end; then back again in the same way, +the spools revolving on wires and freely playing out the warp-threads, +till a sufficient length of threads are stretched on the bars. Weavers +of olden days could calculate exactly and skilfully the length of the +threads thus wound. You take off twenty yards of threads if you want to +weave twenty yards of cloth. Forty warp-threads make what was called a +bout or section. A warp of two hundred threads was designated as a warp +of five bouts, and the bars had to be filled five times to set it unless +a larger skarne with more spools was used. From the warping-bars these +bouts are carefully wound on the warp-beam. + +Without attempting to explain farther, let us consider the yarn-beam +neatly wound with these warp-threads and set in the loom--that the +"warping" and "beaming" are finished. The "drawing" or "entering" comes +next; the end of each warp-thread in regular order is "thumbed" or drawn +in with a warping-needle through the eye or "mail" of the harness, or +heddle. + +The heddle is a row of twines, cords, or wires called leashes, which are +stretched vertically between two horizontal bars or rods, placed about a +foot apart. One rod is suspended by a pulley at the top of the loom; and +to the lower rod is hitched the foot-treadle. In the middle of each +length of twine or wire is the loop or eye, through which a warp-thread +is passed. In ordinary weaving there are two heddles, each fastened to a +foot-treadle. + +There is a removable loom attachment which when first shown to me was +called a raddle. It is not necessary in weaving, but a convenience and +help in preparing to weave. It is a wooden bar with a row of closely +set, fine, wooden pegs. This is placed in the loom, and used only during +the setting of the warp to keep the warp of proper width; the pegs keep +the bouts or sections of the warp disentangled during the "thumbing in" +of the threads through the heddle-eyes. This attachment is also called a +ravel or raivel; and folk-names for it (not in the dictionary) were +wrathe and rake; the latter a very good descriptive title. + +The warp-threads next are drawn through the interspaces between two +dents or strips of the sley or reed. This is done with a wire hook +called a sley-hook or reed-hook. Two warp-threads are drawn in each +space. + +The sley or reed is composed of a row of short and very thin parallel +strips of cane or metal, somewhat like comb-teeth, called dents, fixed +at both ends closely in two long, strong, parallel bars of wood set two +or three or even four inches apart. There may be fifty or sixty of these +dents to one inch, for weaving very fine linen; usually there are about +twenty, which gives a "bier"--a counting out of forty warp-threads to +each inch. Sleys were numbered according to the number of biers they +held. The number of dents to an inch determined the "set of the web," +the fineness of the piece. This reed is placed in a groove on the lower +edge of a heavy batten (or lay or lathe). This batten hangs by two +swords or side bars and swings from an axle or "rocking tree" at the top +of the loom. As the heavy batten swings on its axle, the reed forces +with a sharp blow every newly placed thread of the weft into its proper +place close to the previously woven part of the texture. This is the +heavy thwacking sound heard in hand-weaving. + +On the accurate poise of the batten depends largely the evenness of the +completed woof. If the material is heavy, the batten should be swung +high, thus having a good sweep and much force in its blow. The batten +should be so poised as to swing back itself into place after each blow. + +The weaver, with foot on treadle, sits on a narrow, high bench, which is +fastened from post to post of the loom. James Maxwell, the weaver-poet, +wrote under his portrait in his _Weaver's Meditations_, printed in +1756:-- + + "Lo! here 'twixt Heaven and Earth I swing, + And whilst the Shuttle swiftly flies, + With cheerful heart I work and sing + And envy none beneath the skies." + +There are three motions in hand-weaving. First: by the action of one +foot-treadle one harness or heddle, holding every alternate warp-thread, +is depressed from the level of the entire expanse of warp-threads. + +The separation of the warp-threads by this depression of one harness is +called a shed. Some elaborate patterns have six harnesses. In such a +piece there are ten different sheds, or combinations of openings of the +warp-threads. In a four-harness piece there are six different sheds. + +Room is made by this shed for the shuttle, which, by the second motion, +is thrown from one side of the loom to the other by the weaver's hand, +and thus goes over every alternate thread. The revolving quill within +the shuttle lets the weft-thread play out during this side-to-side +motion of the shuttle. The shuttle must not be thrown too sharply else +it will rebound and make a slack thread in the weft. By the third motion +the batten crowds this weft-thread into place. Then the motion of the +other foot-treadle forces down the other warp-threads which pass through +the second set of harnesses, the shuttle is thrown back through this +shed, and so on. + +In order to show the amount of work, the number of separate motions in a +day's work in weaving of close woollen cloth like broadcloth (which was +only about three yards), we must remember that the shuttle was thrown +over three thousand times, and the treadles pressed down and batten +swung the same number of times. + +A simple but clear description of the process of weaving is given in +Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, thus Englished in 1724:-- + + "The piece prepare + And order every slender thread with care; + The web enwraps the beam, the reed divides + While through the widening space the shuttle glides, + Which their swift hands receive, then poised with lead + The swinging weight strikes close the inserted thread." + +A loom attachment which I puzzled over was a tomble or tumble, the word +being seen in eighteenth-century lists, etc., yet absolutely +untraceable. I at last inferred, and a weaver confirmed my inference, +that it was a corruption of temple, an attachment made of flat, narrow +strips of wood as long as the web is wide, with hooks or pins at the end +to catch into the selvage of the cloth, and keep the cloth stretched +firmly an even width while the reed beats the weft-thread into place. + +There were many other simple yet effective attachments to the loom. +Their names have been upon the lips of scores of thousands of +English-speaking people, and the words are used in all treatises on +weaving; yet our dictionaries are dumb and ignorant of their existence. +There was the pace-weight, which kept the warp even; and the bore-staff, +which tightened the warp. When a sufficient length of woof had been +woven (it was usually a few inches), the weaver proceeded to do what was +called drawing a bore or a sink. He shifted the temple forward; rolled +up the cloth on the cloth bar, which had a crank-handle and ratchets; +unwound the warp a few inches, shifted back the rods and heddles, and +started afresh. + +Looms and their appurtenances were usually made by local carpenters; and +it can plainly be seen that thus constant work was furnished to many +classes of workmen in every community,--wood-turners, beam-makers, +timber-sawyers, and others. The various parts of the looms were in +unceasing demand, though apparently they never wore out. The sley was +the most delicate part of the mechanism. Good sley-makers could always +command high prices for their sleys. I have seen one whole and good, +which has been in general use for weaving rag carpets ever since the War +of 1812, for which a silver dollar was paid. Spools were turned and +marked with the maker's initials. There were choice and inexplicable +lines in the shape of a shuttle as there are in a boat's hull. When a +shuttle was carefully shaped, scraped, hollowed out, tipped with steel, +and had the maker's initials burnt in it, it was a proper piece of +work, of which any craftsman might be proud. Apple-wood and boxwood were +the choice for shuttles. + +Smaller looms, called tape-looms, braid-looms, belt-looms, garter-looms, +or "gallus-frames," were seen in many American homes, and useful they +were in days when linen, cotton, woollen, or silk tapes, bobbins, and +webbings or ribbons were not common and cheap as to-day. Narrow bands +such as tapes, none-so-pretty's, ribbons, caddises, ferretings, +inkles, were woven on these looms for use for garters, points, +glove-ties, hair-laces, shoestrings, belts, hat-bands, stay-laces, +breeches-suspenders, etc. + +These tape-looms are a truly ancient form of appliance for the +hand-weaving of narrow bands,--a heddle-frame. They are rudely primitive +in shape, but besides serving well the colonists in all our original +states, are still in use among the Indian tribes in New Mexico and in +Lapland, Italy, and northern Germany. They are scarcely more than a +slightly shaped board so cut in slits that the centre of the board is a +row of narrow slats. These slats are pierced in a row by means of a +heated wire and the warp-threads are passed through the holes. + +A common form of braid-loom was one that was laid upon a table. A still +simpler form was held upright on the lap, the knees being firmly +pressed into semicircular indentations cut for the purpose on either +side of the board which formed the lower part of the loom. The top of +the loom was steadied by being tied with a band to the top of a chair, +or a hook in the wall. It was such light and pretty work that it seemed +merely an industrial amusement, and girls carried their tape-looms to a +neighbor's house for an afternoon's work, just as they did their +knitting-needles and ball of yarn. A fringe-loom might also be +occasionally found, for weaving decorative fringes; these were more +common in the Hudson River valley than elsewhere. + +I have purposely given minute, but I trust not tiresome, details of the +operation of weaving on a hand-loom, because a few years more will see +the last of those who know the operation and the terms used. The fact +that so many terms are now obsolete proves how quickly disuse brings +oblivion. When in a country crowded full of weavers, as was England +until about 1845, the knowledge has so suddenly disappeared, need we +hope for much greater memory or longer life here? When what is termed +the Westmoreland Revival of domestic industries was begun eight or ten +years ago, the greatest difficulty was found in obtaining a hand-loom. +No one knew how to set it up, and it was a long time before a weaver +could be found to run it and teach others its use. + +The first half of this century witnessed a vital struggle in England, +and to an extent in America, between hand and power machinery, and an +interesting race between spinning and weaving. Under old-time conditions +it was calculated that it took the work of four spinners, who spun +swiftly and constantly, to supply one weaver. As spinning was ever what +was known as a by-industry,--that is, one that chiefly was done by being +caught up at odd moments,--the supply both in England and America did +not equal the weavers' demands, and ten spinners had to be calculated to +supply yarn for one weaver. Hence weavers never had to work very hard; +as a rule, they could have one holiday in the week. What with Sundays, +wakes, and fairs, Irish weavers worked only two hundred days in the +year. In England the weaver often had to spend one day out of the six +hunting around the country for yarn for weft. So inventive wits were set +at work to enlarge the supply of yarn, and spinning machinery was the +result. Thereafter the looms and weavers were pushed hard and had to +turn to invention. The shuttle had always simply been passed from one +hand to the other of the weaver on either side of the web. The +fly-shuttle was now invented, which by a simple piece of machinery, +worked by one hand, threw the shuttle swiftly backward and forward, and +the loom was ahead in the race. Then came the spinning-jenny, which spun +yarn with a hundred spindles on each machine. But this was for weft +yarns, and did not make strong warps. Finally Arkwright supplied this +lack in water-twist or "throstle-spun" yarn. All these inventions again +overcrowded the weavers; all attempts at hand-spinning of cotton had +become quickly extinct. Wool-spinning lingered longer. Five Tomlinson +sisters,--the youngest forty years old,--with two pair of wool-cards and +five hand-wheels, paid the rent of their farm, kept three cows, one +horse, had a ploughed field, and made prime butter and eggs. One sister +clung to her spinning till 1822. Power-looms were invented to try to use +up the jenny's supply of yarn, but these did not crowd out hand-looms. +Weavers never had so good wages. It was the Golden Age of Cotton. Some +families earned six pounds a week; good clothes, even to the extent of +ruffled shirts, good furniture, even to silver spoons, good food, +plentiful ale and beer, entered every English cottage with the weaving +of cotton and wool. A far more revolutionary and more hated machine than +the power-loom was the combing-machine called Big Ben. + + "Come all ye Master Combers, and hear of our Big Ben. + He'll comb more wool than fifty of your men + With their hand-combs, and comb-pots, and such old-fashioned way." + +Flax-spinning and linen-weaving by power machinery were slower in being +established. Englishmen were halting in perfecting these machines. +Napoleon offered in 1810 a million francs for a flax-spinning machine. A +clever Frenchman claimed to have invented one in response in a single +day, but similar clumsy machines had then been running in England for +twenty years. By 1850 men, women, and children--combers, spinners, and +weavers--were no longer individual workers; they had become part of that +great monster, the mill-machinery. Riots and misery were the first +result of the passing of hand weaving and spinning. + +In the _Vision of Piers Ploughman_ (1360) are these lines:-- + + "Cloth that cometh fro the wevyng + Is nought comly to were + Till it be fulled under foot + Or in fullyng stokkes + Wasshen wel with water + And with taseles cracched, + Y-touked and y-tented + And under taillours hande." + +Just so in the colonies four centuries later, cloth that came from the +weaving was not comely to wear till it was fulled under foot or in +fulling-stocks, washed well in water, scratched and dressed with +teazels, dyed and tented, and put in the tailor's hands. Nor did the +roll of centuries bring a change in the manner of proceeding. If grease +had been put on the wool when it was carded, or sizing in the warp for +the weaving, it was washed out by good rinsing from the woven cloth. +This became now somewhat uneven and irregular in appearance, and full of +knots and fuzzes which were picked out with hand-tweezers by burlers +before it was fulled or milled, as it was sometimes called. The +fulling-stocks were a trough in which an enormous oaken hammer was made +to pound up and down, while the cloth was kept thoroughly wet with warm +soap and water, or fullers' earth and water. Naturally this thickened +the web much and reduced it in length. It was then teazelled; that is, a +nap or rough surface was raised all over it by scratching it with +weavers' teazels or thistles. Many wire brushes and metal substitutes +have been tried to take the place of nature's gift to the cloth-worker, +the teazel, but nothing has been invented to replace with full +satisfaction that wonderful scratcher. For the slender recurved bracts +of the teazel heads are stiff and prickly enough to roughen thoroughly +the nap of the cloth, yet they yield at precisely the right point to +keep from injuring the fabric. + +If the cloth were to be "y-touked," that is, dyed, it was done at this +period, and it was then "y-tented," spread on the tenter-field and +caught on tenter-hooks, to shrink and dry. + +Nowadays, we sometimes cut or crop the nap with long shears, and boil +the web to give it a lustre, and ink it to color any ill-dyed fibres, +and press it between hot plates before it goes to the tailor's hands; +but these injurious processes were omitted in olden times. Worsted +stuffs were not fulled, but were woven of hand-combed wool. + +Linen webs after they were woven had even more manipulations to come to +them than woollen stuffs. In spite of all the bleaching of the linen +thread, it still was light brown in color, and it had to go through at +least twoscore other processes, of bucking, possing, rinsing, drying, +and bleaching on the grass. Sometimes it was stretched out on pegs with +loops sewed on the selvage edge. This bleaching was called crofting in +England, and grassing in America. Often it was thus spread on the grass +for weeks, and was slightly wetted several times a day; but not too wet, +else it would mildew. In all, over forty bleaching operations were +employed upon "light linens." Sometimes they were "soured" in buttermilk +to make them purely white. Thus at least sixteen months had passed since +the flaxseed had been sown, in which, truly, the spinster had not eaten +the bread of idleness. In the winter months the fine, white, strong +linen was made into "board cloths" or tablecloths, sheets, pillow-biers, +aprons, shifts, shirts, petticoats, short gowns, gloves, cut from the +spinner's own glove pattern, and a score of articles for household use. +These were carefully marked, and sometimes embroidered with home-dyed +crewels, as were also splendid sets of bed-hangings, valances, and +testers for four-post bedsteads. + +The homespun linens that were thus spun and woven and bleached were one +of the most beautiful expressions and types of old-time home life. Firm, +close-woven, and pure, their designs were not greatly varied, nor was +their woof as symmetrical and perfect as modern linens--but thus were +the lives of those who made them; firm, close-woven in neighborly +kindness, with the simplicity both of innocence and ignorance; their +days had little variety, and life was not altogether easy, and, like the +web they wove, it was sometimes narrow. I am always touched when +handling these homespun linens with a consciousness of nearness to the +makers; with a sense of the energy and strength of those enduring women +who were so full of vitality, of unceasing action, that it does not seem +to me they can be dead. + +The strong, firm linen woven in many struggling country homes was too +valuable and too readily exchangeable and salable to be kept wholly for +farm use, especially when there were so few salable articles produced on +the farm. It was sold or more frequently exchanged at the village store +for any desired commodity, such as calico, salt, sugar, spices, or tea. +It readily sold for forty-two cents a yard. Therefore the boys and even +the fathers did not always have linen shirts to wear. From the tow +which had been hatchelled out from harl a coarse thread was spun and +cloth was woven which was made chiefly into shirts and smocks and tow +"tongs" or "skilts," which were loose flapping summer trousers which +ended almost half-way from the knee to the ankle. This tow stuff was +never free from prickling spines, and it proved, so tradition states, an +absolute instrument of torture to the wearer, until frequent washings +had worn it out and thus subdued its knots and spines. + +A universal stuff woven in New Hampshire by the Scotch-Irish +linen-weavers who settled there, and who influenced husbandry and +domestic manufactures and customs all around them, was what was known as +striped frocking. It was worn also to a considerable extent in +Connecticut and Massachusetts. The warp was strong white cotton or tow +thread, the weft of blue and white stripes made by weaving alternately a +shuttleful of indigo-dyed homespun yarn and one of white wool or tow. +Many boys grew to manhood never wearing, except on Sundays, any kind of +coat save a long, loose, shapeless jacket or smock of this striped +frocking, known everywhere as a long-short. The history of the old town +of Charmingfare tells of the farmers in that vicinity tying tight the +two corners of this long-short at the waist and thus making a sort of +loose bag in which various articles could be carried. Sylvester Judd, in +his _Margaret_, the classic of old New England life, has his country +women dressed also in long-shorts, and tells of the same fabric. + +Another material which was universal in country districts had a flax or +tow warp, and a coarser slack-twisted cotton or tow filling. This cloth +was dyed and pressed and was called fustian. It was worth a shilling a +yard in 1640. It was named in the earliest colonial accounts, and was in +truth the ancient fustian, worn throughout Europe in the Middle Ages for +monks' robes and laborers' dress, not the stuff to-day called fustian. +We read in _The Squier of Low Degree_, "Your blanketts shall be of +fustayne." + +Another coarse cloth made in New England, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and +the Carolinas was crocus. The stuff is obsolete and the name is +forgotten save in a folk-saying which lingers in Virginia--"as coarse as +crocus." Homespun stuff for the wear of negroes was known and sold as +"Virginia cloth." Vast quantities of homespun cloth was made on +Virginian plantations, thousands of yards annually at Mount Vernon for +slave-wear, and for the house-mistress as well. + +It is told of Martha Washington that she always carefully dyed all her +worn silk gowns and silk scraps to a desired shade, ravelled them with +care, wound them on bobbins, and had them woven into chair and +cushion covers. Sometimes she changed the order of things. To a group of +visitors she at one time displayed a dress of red and white striped +material of which the white stripes were cotton, and the red, ravelled +chair covers and silk from the General's worn-out stockings. + +Checked linen, with bars of red or blue, was much used for bedticks, +pillow-cases, towelling, aprons, and even shirts and summer trousers. In +all the Dutch communities in New York it was woven till this century. +When Benjamin Tappan first attended meeting in Northampton, +Massachusetts, in 1769, he was surprised to find that all the men in the +church but four or five wore checked shirts. Worcester County men always +wore white shirts, and deemed a checked shirt the mark of a Connecticut +River man. + +It is impossible to overestimate the durability of homespun materials. I +have "flannel sheets" a hundred years old, the lightest, most healthful, +and agreeable summer covering for children's beds that ever any one was +blessed with. Cradle sheets of this thin, closely woven, white worsted +stuff are not slimsy like thin flannel, yet are softer than flannel. +Years of use with many generations of children have left them firm and +white. + +Grain-bags have been seen that have been in constant and hard use for +seventy years, homespun from coarse flax and hemp. I have several +delightful bags about four feet long and two feet wide, of rather +closely woven pure white homespun linen, not as heavy, however, as +crash. They have the date of their manufacture, 1789, and the initials +of the weaver, and have linen tapes woven in at each side. They are used +every spring--packed with furs and blankets and placed in cedar chests, +and with such usage will easily round out another century. + +The product of these hand-looms which has lingered longest in country +use, especially in the Northern states, and which is the sole product of +all the hand-looms that I know to be set up and in use in New England +(except one notable example to which I will refer hereafter), is the rag +carpet. It is still in constant demand and esteem on farms and in small +villages and towns, and is an economical and thrifty, and may be a +comely floor-covering. The accompanying illustration of a woman weaving +rag carpet on an old hand-loom is from a fine photograph taken by Mrs. +Arthur Sewall of Bath, Maine, and gives an excellent presentment of the +machine and the process. + +The warp of these carpets was, in olden times, a strong, heavy flaxen +thread. To-day it is a heavy cotton twine bought machine-spun in balls +or hanks. The weft or rilling is narrow strips of all the clean and +vari-colored rags that accumulate in a household. + +The preparing of this filling requires considerable judgment. Heavy +woollen cloth should be cut in strips about half an inch wide. If there +were sewn with these strips of light cotton stuff of equal width, the +carpet would prove a poor thing, heavy in spots and slimsy in others. +Hence lighter stuffs should be cut in wider strips, as they can then be +crowded down by the batten of the loom to the same width and substance +as the heavy wools. Calicoes, cottons, all-wool delaines, and lining +cambrics should be cut in strips at least an inch wide. These strips, of +whatever length they chance to be, are sewn into one continuous strip, +which is rolled into a hard ball weighing about a pound and a quarter. +It is calculated that one of these balls will weave about a yard of +carpeting. The joining must be strongly and neatly done and should not +be bunchy. An aged weaver who had woven many thousand yards of carpeting +assured me the prettiest carpets were always those in which every +alternate strip was white or very light in color. Another thrifty way of +using old material is the cutting into inch-wide strips of woven ingrain +or three-ply carpet. This, through the cotton warp, makes a really +artistic monochrome floor-covering. + +In one of the most romantic and beautiful spots in old Narragansett +lives the last of the old-time weavers; not a weaver who desultorily +weaves a run of rag carpeting to earn a little money in the intervals of +other work, or to please some importunate woman-neighbor who has saved +up her rags; but a weaver whose lifelong occupation, whose only means of +livelihood, has always been, and is still, hand-weaving. I have told his +story at some length in my book, _Old Narragansett_,--of his kin, his +life, his work. His home is at the cross-roads where three townships +meet, a cross-roads where has often taken place that curious and +senseless survival of old-time tradition and superstition--shift +marriages. A widow, a cousin of the Weaver Rose's father, was the last +to undergo this ordeal; clad only in her shift, she thrice crossed the +King's Highway and was thus married to avoid payment of her first +husband's debts. It is not far from the old Church Foundation of St. +Paul's of Narragansett, and the tumble-down house of Sexton Martin Read, +the prince of Narragansett weavers in ante-Revolutionary days. Weaver +Rose learned to weave from his grandfather, who was an apprentice of +Weaver Read. + +In the loom-room of Weaver Rose a veritable atmosphere of the past still +lingers. Everything appertaining to the manufacture of homespun +materials may there be found. Wheels, skarnes, sleys, warping-bars, +clock-reels, swifts, quilling-wheels, vast bales of yarns and +thread--for he no longer spins his thread and yarn. There are piles of +old and new bed coverlets woven in those fanciful geometric designs, +which are just as the ancient Gauls wove them in the Bronze Age, and +which formed a favorite bed-covering of our ancestors, and of country +folk to-day. These coverlets the weaver calls by the good old English +name of hap-harlot, a name now obsolete in England, which I have never +seen used in text of later date than Holinshead's _Survey of London_, +written four hundred years ago. His manuscript pattern-book is over a +hundred years old, and has the rules for setting the harnesses. They +bear many pretty and odd names, such as "Rosy Walk," "Baltimore +Beauty," "Girl's Love," "Queen's Fancy," "Devil's Fancy," "Everybody's +Beauty," "Four Snow Balls," "Five Snow Balls," "Bricks and Blocks," +"Gardener's Note," "Green Vails," "Rose in Bloom," "Pansies and Roses in +the Wilderness," "Flag-Work," "Royal Beauty," "Indian March," "Troy's +Beauty," "Primrose and Diamonds," "Crown and Diamonds," "Jay's Fancy," +"In Summer and Winter," "Boston Beauty," and "Indian War." One named +"Bony Part's March" was very pretty, as was "Orange Peel," and "Orange +Trees"; "Dog Tracks" was even checkerwork, "Blazing Star," a +herring-bone design. "Perry's Victory" and "Lady Washington's Delight" +show probably the date of their invention, and were handsome designs, +while the "Whig Rose from Georgia," which had been given to the weaver +by an old lady a hundred years old, had proved a poor and ugly thing. +"Kapa's Diaper" was a complicated design which took "five harnesses" to +make. "Rattlesnake's Trail," "Wheels of Fancy," "Chariot Wheels and +Church Windows," and "Bachelor's Fancy" were all exceptionally fine +designs. + +Sometimes extremely elaborate patterns were woven in earlier days. An +exquisitely woven coverlet as fine as linen sheeting, a corner of which +is here shown, has an elaborate border of patriotic and Masonic +emblems, patriotic inscriptions, and the name of the maker, a Red Hook, +Hudson valley, dame of a century ago, who wove this beautiful bedspread +as the crowning treasure of her bridal outfit. The "setting-up" of such +a design as this is entirely beyond my skill as a weaver to explain or +even comprehend. But it is evident that the border must have been woven +by taking up a single warp-thread at a time, with a wire needle, not by +passing a shuttle, as it is far too complicated and varied for any +treadle-harness to be able to make a shed for a shuttle. + +Hand-weaving in Weaver Rose's loom-room to-day is much simplified in +many of its preparatory details by the employment of machine-made +materials. The shuttles and spools are made by machinery; and more +important still, both warp and weft is purchased ready-spun from mills. +The warp is simply a stout cotton twine or coarse thread bought in balls +or hanks; while various cheap mill-yarns or what is known as worsteds or +coarse crewels are used as filling. These, of course, are cheap, but +alas! are dyed with fleeting or garish aniline dyes. No new blue yarn +can equal either in color or durability the old indigo-dyed, homespun, +hard-twisted yarn made on a spinning-wheel. Germantown, early in the +field in American wool manufacture, still supplies nearly all the yarn +for his hand-looms. + +The transition half a century or more ago from what Horace Bushnell +called "mother and daughter power to water and steam power," was a +complete revolution in domestic life, and indeed of social manners as +well. When a people spin and weave and make their own dress, you have in +this very fact the assurance that they are home-bred, home-living, +home-loving people. You are sure, also, that the lives of the women are +home-centred. The chief cause for women's intercourse with any of the +outside world except neighborly acquaintance, her chief knowledge of +trade and exchange, is in shopping, dressmaking, etc. These causes +scarcely existed in country communities a century ago. The daughters who +in our days of factories leave the farm for the cotton-mill, where they +perform but one of the many operations in cloth manufacture, can never +be as good home-makers or as helpful mates as the homespun girls of our +grandmothers' days; nor can they be such co-workers in great public +movements. + +In the summer of 1775, when all the preparations for the War of the +Revolution were in a most unsettled and depressing condition, especially +the supplies for the Continental army, the Provincial Congress made a +demand on the people for thirteen thousand warm coats to be ready for +the soldiers by cold weather. There were no great contractors then as +now to supply the cloth and make the garments, but by hundreds of +hearthstones throughout the country wool-wheels and hand-looms were +started eagerly at work, and the order was filled by the handiwork of +patriotic American women. In the record book of some New England towns +may still be found the lists of the coat-makers. In the inside of each +coat was sewed the name of the town and the maker. Every soldier +volunteering for eight months' service was given one of these homespun, +home-made, all-wool coats as a bounty. So highly were these "Bounty +Coats" prized, that the heirs of soldiers who were killed at Bunker Hill +before receiving their coats were given a sum of money instead. The list +of names of soldiers who then enlisted is known to this day as the "Coat +Roll," and the names of the women who made the coats might form another +roll of honor. The English sneeringly called Washington's army the +"Homespuns." It was a truthful nickname, but there was deeper power in +the title than the English scoffers knew. + +The starting up of power-looms and the wonderful growth of woollen +manufacture did not crowd out homespun as speedily in America as in +England. When the poet Whittier set out from the Quaker farmhouse to go +to Boston to seek his fortune, he wore a homespun suit every part of +which, even the horn buttons, was of domestic manufacture. Many a man +born since Whittier has grown to manhood clothed for every-day wear +wholly with homespun; and many a boy is living who was sent to college +dressed wholly in a "full-cloth" suit, with horn buttons or buttons made +of discs of heavy leather. + +During the Civil War spinning and weaving were revived arts in the +Confederate cities; and, as ever in earlier days, proved a most valuable +economic resource under restricted conditions. In the home of a friend +in Charleston, South Carolina, an old, worm-eaten loom was found in a +garret where it had lain since the embargo in 1812. It was set up in +1863, and plantation carpenters made many like it for neighbors and +fellow-citizens. All women in the mountain districts knew how to use the +loom, and taught weaving to many others, both white and black. A portion +of the warp, which was cotton, was spun at home; more was bought from a +cotton-factory. My friend sacrificed a great number of excellent +wool-mattresses; this wool was spun into yarn and used for weft, and +formed a most grateful and dignified addition to the varied, grotesque, +and interesting makeshifts of the wardrobe of the Southern Confederacy. + +Though weaving on hand-looms in our Northern and Middle states is +practically extinct, save as to the weaving of rag carpets (and that +only in few communities), in the South all is different. In all the +mountain and remote regions of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, the +Carolinas, and I doubt not in Alabama, both among the white and negro +mountain-dwellers, hand-weaving is still a household art. The +descendants of the Acadians in Louisiana still weave and wear homespun. +The missions in the mountains encourage spinning and weaving; and it is +pleasant to learn that many women not only pursue these handicrafts for +their home use, but some secure a good living by hand-weaving, earning +ten cents a yard in weaving rag carpets. The coverlet patterns resemble +the ones already described. Names from Waynesville, North Carolina, are +"Washington's Diamond Ring," "Nine Chariot Wheels"; from Pinehurst come +"Flowery Vine," "Double Table," "Cat Track," "Snow Ball and Dew Drop," +"Snake Shed," "Flowers in the Mountains." At Pinehurst the old settlers, +of sturdy Scotch stock, all weave. They make cloth, all cotton; cloth of +cotton warp and wool filling called drugget; dimity, a heavy cotton used +for coverlets; a yarn jean which has wool warp and filling, and cotton +jean which is cotton warp and wool filling; homespun is a heavy cloth, +of cotton and wool mixed. All buy cotton warp or "chain," as they call +it, ready-spun from the mills. This is known by the name of +bunch-thread. These Pinehurst weavers still use home-made dyes. Cotton +is dyed black with dye made by steeping the bark of the "Black Jack" or +scrub-oak mixed with red maple bark. Wool is dyed black with a mixture +of gall-berry leaves and sumac berries; for red they use a moss which +they find growing on the rocks, and which may be the lichen _Roccella +tinctoria_ or dyer's-moss; also madder root, and sassafras bark. Yellow +is dyed with laurel leaves, or "dye-flower," a yellow flower of the +sunflower tribe; laurel leaves and "dye-flower" together made +orange-red. Blue is obtained from the plentiful wild indigo; and for +green, the cloth or yarn is first dyed blue with indigo, then boiled in +a decoction of hickory bark and laurel leaves. A bright yellow is +obtained from a clay which abounds in that neighborhood, probably like a +red ferruginous limestone found in Tennessee, which gives a splendid, +fast color; when the clay is baked and ground it gives a fine, artistic, +dull red. Purple dye comes from cedar tops and lilac leaves; brown from +an extract of walnut hulls. + +The affectionate regard which all good workmen have for their tools and +implements in handcrafts is found among these Southern weavers. One +assures me that her love for her loom is as for a human companion. The +machines are usually family heirlooms that have been owned for several +generations, and are treasured like relics. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GIRLS' OCCUPATIONS + + +Hatchelling and carding, spinning and reeling, weaving and bleaching, +cooking, candle and cheese making, were not the only household +occupations of our busy grandmothers when they were young; a score of +domestic duties kept ever busy their ready hands. + +Some notion of the qualifications of a housekeeper over a century ago +may be obtained from this advertisement in the _Pennsylvania Packet_ of +September 23, 1780: + + "Wanted at a Seat about half a day's journey from Philadelphia, on + which are good improvements and domestics, A single Woman of + unsullied Reputation, an affable, cheerful, active and amiable + Disposition; cleanly, industrious, perfectly qualified to direct + and manage the female Concerns of country business, as raising + small stock, dairying, marketing, combing, carding, spinning, + knitting, sewing, pickling, preserving, etc., and occasionally to + instruct two young Ladies in those Branches of Oeconomy, who, with + their father, compose the Family. Such a person will be treated + with respect and esteem, and meet with every encouragement due to + such a character." + +Respect and esteem, forsooth! and due encouragement to such a miracle of +saintliness and capacity; light terms indeed to apply to such a +character. + +There is, in the library of the Connecticut Historical Society, a diary +written by a young girl of Colchester, Connecticut, in the year 1775. +Her name was Abigail Foote. She set down her daily work, and the entries +run like this:-- + + "Fix'd gown for Prude,--Mend Mother's Riding-hood,--Spun short + thread,--Fix'd two gowns for Welsh's girls,--Carded tow,--Spun + linen,--Worked on Cheese-basket,--Hatchel'd flax with Hannah, we + did 51 lbs. apiece,--Pleated and ironed,--Read a Sermon of + Doddridge's,--Spooled a piece,--Milked the cows,--Spun linen, did + 50 knots,--Made a Broom of Guinea wheat straw,--Spun thread to + whiten,--Set a Red dye,--Had two Scholars from Mrs. Taylor's,--I + carded two pounds of whole wool and felt Nationly,--Spun harness + twine,--Scoured the pewter." + +She tells also of washing, cooking, knitting, weeding the garden, +picking geese, etc., and of many visits to her friends. She dipped +candles in the spring, and made soap in the autumn. This latter was a +trying and burdensome domestic duty, but the soft soap was important for +home use. + +All the refuse grease from cooking, butchering, etc., was stored through +the winter, as well as wood-ashes from the great fireplaces. The first +operation was to make the lye, to "set the leach." Many families owned a +strongly made leach-barrel; others made a sort of barrel from a section +of the bark of the white birch. This barrel was placed on bricks or set +at a slight angle on a circular groove in a wood or stone base; then +filled with ashes; water was poured in till the lye trickled or leached +out through an outlet cut in the groove, into a small wooden tub or +bucket. The water and ashes were frequently replenished as they wasted, +and the lye accumulated in a large tub or kettle. If the lye was not +strong enough, it was poured over fresh ashes. An old-time receipt +says:-- + + "The great Difficulty in making Soap come is the want of Judgment + of the Strength of the Lye. If your Lye will bear up an Egg or a + Potato so you can see a piece of the Surface as big as a Ninepence + it is just strong enough." + +The grease and lye were then boiled together in a great pot over a fire +out of doors. It took about six bushels of ashes and twenty-four pounds +of grease to make a barrel of soap. The soft soap made by this process +seemed like a clean jelly, and showed no trace of the repulsive grease +that helped to form it. A hard soap also was made with the tallow of the +bayberry, and was deemed especially desirable for toilet use. But little +hard soap was purchased, even in city homes. + +It was a common saying: "We had bad luck with our soap," or good luck. +The soap was always carefully stirred one way. The "Pennsylvania Dutch" +used a sassafras stick to stir it. A good smart worker could make a +barrel of soap in a day, and have time to sit and rest in the afternoon +and talk her luck over, before getting supper. + +This soft soap was used in the great monthly washings which, for a +century after the settlement of the colonies, seem to have been the +custom. The household wash was allowed to accumulate, and the washing +done once a month, or in some households once in three months. + +Thomas Tusser's rhymed instructions to good housekeepers as to the +washing contain chiefly warnings to the housekeeper against thieves, +thus:-- + + "Dry sun, dry wind, + Safe bind, safe find. + Go wash well, saith summer, with sun I shall dry; + Go wring well, saith winter, with wind so shall I. + To trust without heed is to venture a joint, + Give tale and take count is a housewifely point." + +Abigail Foote wrote of making a broom of Guinea wheat. This was not +broom-corn, for that useful plant was not grown in Connecticut for the +purpose of broom-making till twenty years or more after she wrote her +diary. Brooms and brushes were made of it in Italy nearly two centuries +ago. Benjamin Franklin, who was ever quick to use and develop anything +that would benefit his native country, and was ever ready to take a +hint, noted a few seeds of broom-corn hanging on an imported brush. He +planted these seeds and raised some of the corn; and Thomas Jefferson +placed broom-corn among the productions of Virginia in 1781. By this +time many had planted it, but no systematic plan of raising broom-corn +abundantly for the manufacture of brooms was planned till 1798, when +Levi Dickenson, a Yankee farmer of Hadley, Massachusetts, planted half +an acre. From this he made between one and two hundred brooms which he +peddled in a horse-cart in neighboring towns. The following year he +planted an acre; and the tall broom-corn with its spreading panicles +attracted much attention. Though he was thought visionary when he +predicted that broom manufacture would be the greatest industry in the +county, and though he was sneeringly told that only Indians ought to +make brooms, he persevered; and his neighbors finally planted and made +brooms also. He carried brooms soon to Pittsfield, to New London, and in +1805 to Albany and Boston. So rapid was the increase of manufacture that +in 1810 seventy thousand brooms were made in the county. Since then +millions of dollars' worth have gone forth from the farms and villages +in his neighborhood. + +Mr. Dickenson at first scraped the seed from the brush with a knife; +then he used a sort of hoe; then a coarse comb like a ripple-comb. He +tied each broom by hand, with the help of a negro servant. Much of this +work could be done by little girls, who soon gave great help in broom +manufacture; though the final sewing (when the needle was pressed +through with a leather "palm" such as sailors use) had to be done by the +strong hands of grown women and men. + +Doubtless Abigail Foote made many an "Indian broom," as well as her +brooms of Guinea wheat, which may have been a special home manufacture +of her neighborhood; for many fibres, leaves, and straws were used +locally in broom-making. + +Another duty of the women of the old-time household was the picking of +domestic geese. Geese were raised for their feathers more than as food. +In some towns every family had a flock, and their clanking was heard all +day and sometimes all night. They roamed the streets all summer, eating +grass by the highways and wallowing in the puddles. Sometimes they were +yoked with a goose-yoke made of a shingle with a hole in it. In +midwinter they were kept in barnyards, but the rest of the year they +spent the night in the street, each flock near the home of its owner. It +is said that one old goose of each flock always kept awake and stood +watch; and it was told in Hadley, Massachusetts, that if a young man +chanced to be out late, as for instance a-courting, his return home +wakened the geese throughout the village, who sounded the unseasonable +hour with a terrible clamor. They made so much noise on summer Sundays +that they seriously disturbed church services; and became such nuisances +that at last the boys killed whole flocks. + +Goose-picking was cruel work. Three or four times a year were the +feathers stripped from the live birds. A stocking was pulled over the +bird's head to keep it from biting. Sometimes the head was thrust into a +goose basket. The pickers had to wear old clothes and tie covers over +the hair, as the down flew everywhere. The quills, used for pens, were +never pulled but once from a goose. Palladius, _On Husbondrie_, written +in the fourth century, and Englished in the fifteenth century, tells of +goose-picking:-- + + "Twice a yere deplumed may they be, + In spryngen tyme and harvest tyme." + +The old Latin and English times for picking were followed in the New +World. Among the Dutch, geese were everywhere raised; for feather-beds +were, if possible, more desired by the Dutch than the English. + +In a work entitled _Good Order established in Pennsylvania and New +Jersey_, written by a Quaker in 1685, he urges that schools be provided +where girls could be instructed in "the spinning of flax, sewing, and +making all sorts of useful needle work, knitting of gloves and +stockings, making of straw-works, as hats, baskets, etc., or any other +useful art or mystery." It was a century before his "making of +straw-works" was carried out, not till larger importations of straw hats +and bonnets came to this country. + +When the beautiful and intricate straw bonnets of Italian braid, +Genoese, Leghorn, and others, were brought here, they were too costly +for many to purchase; and many attempts, especially by country-bred +girls, were made to plait at home straw braids to imitate these envied +bonnets. Many towns claim the first American straw bonnet; in fact, the +attempts were almost simultaneous. To Betsey Metcalf of Providence, +Rhode Island, is usually accorded the honor of starting the straw-hat +business in America. The earliest recorded effort to manufacture straw +head-wear is shown in a patent given to Mrs. Sibylla Masters of +Philadelphia, for using palmetto and straw for hats. This Mrs. Masters +was the first American, man or woman, ever awarded a patent in England. +The first patent issued by the United States to a woman was also for an +invention in straw-plaiting. A Connecticut girl, Miss Sophia Woodhouse, +was given a prize for "leghorn hats" which she had plaited; and she took +out a patent in 1821 for a new material for bonnets. It was the stalks, +above the upper joint, of spear-grass and redtop grass growing so +profusely in Weathersfield. From this she had a national reputation, +and a prize of twenty guineas was given her the same year by the London +Society of Arts. The wife of President John Quincy Adams wore one of +these bonnets, to the great pride of her husband. + +When the bonnet was braided and sewed into shape, it had to be bleached, +for it was the dark natural straw. I don't know the domestic process in +general use, but an ingenious family of sisters in Newburyport thus +accomplished their bleaching. They bored holes in the head of a barrel; +tied strings to each new bonnet; passed the strings through the holes +and carefully plugged the openings with wood. This left the bonnets +hanging inside the barrel, which was set over an old-fashioned +foot-stove filled with hot coals on which sulphur had been placed. The +fumes of the burning sulphur arose and filled the barrel, and were +closely retained by quilts wrapped around it. When the bonnets were +taken out, they were clear and white. The base of a lignum-vitae mortar +made into the proper shape with layers of pasteboard formed the mould on +which the bonnet crown was pressed. + +Even before they could spin girls were taught to knit, as soon as their +little hands could hold the needles. Sometimes girls four years of age +could knit stockings. Boys had to knit their own suspenders. All the +stockings and mittens for the family, and coarse socks and mittens for +sale, were made in large numbers. Much fine knitting was done, with many +intricate and elaborate stitches; those known as the "herring-bone" and +"fox and geese" were great favorites. By the use of curious stitches +initials could be knit into mittens; and it is said that one young New +Hampshire girl, using fine flaxen yarn, knit the whole alphabet and a +verse of poetry into a pair of mittens; which I think must have been +long-armed mitts for ladies' wear, to have space enough for the poetry. + +To knit a pair of double mittens was a sharp and long day's work. Nancy +Peabody's brother of Shelburne, New Hampshire, came home one night and +said he had lost his mittens while chopping in the woods. Nancy ran to a +bundle of wool in the garret, carded and spun a big hank of yarn that +night. It was soaked and scoured the next morning, and in twenty-four +hours from the time the brother announced his loss he had a fine new +pair of double mittens. A pair of double hooked and pegged mittens would +last for years. Pegging, I am told, was heavy crocheting. + +An elaborate and much-admired form of knitting was the bead bags and +purses which were so fashionable in the early years of this century, +though I have seen some knitted bags of colonial days. + +Great variety and ingenuity were shown in these bags and purses. Some +bore landscapes and figures; others were memorials done in black and +white and purple beads, having so-called "mourning designs," such as +weeping willows, gravestones, urns, etc., with the name of the deceased +person and date of death. Beautiful bags were knitted to match +wedding-gowns. Knitted purses were a favorite token and gift from fair +hands to husband or lover. Watch chains were more unusual; they were +knit in a geometrical design, were about a yard long and about +three-eighths of an inch in diameter. One I saw had in tiny letters in +gilt beads the date and the words "Remember the Giver." In all these +knitted and crocheted bags the beads had to be strung by a rule in +advance; in an elaborate pattern of many colors it may easily be seen +that the mistake of a single bead in the stringing would spoil the +entire design. They were therefore never a cheap form of decorative +work. Five dollars was often paid for knitting a single bag. A varied +group from the collection of Mr. J. Howard Swift of Chicago is here +shown. + +Netting was another decorative handiwork. Netted fringes for edging the +coverlets, curtains, testers, and valances of high-post bedsteads +were usually made of cotton thread or twine, and when tufted or +tasselled were a pretty finish. A finer silk or cotton netting was used +for trimming sacks and petticoats. A letter written by Mrs. Carrington +from Mount Vernon in 1799 says of Mrs. President Washington:-- + + "Her netting is a source of great amusement to her and is so neatly + done that all the younger part of the family are proud of trimming + their dresses with it, and have furnished me with a whole suit so + that I shall appear 'a la domestique' at the first party we have + when I get home." + +Netted purses and work-bags also were made similar to the knitted ones. +A homelier and heavier netting of twine was often done at home for small +fishing-nets. + +Previous to the Revolution there was a boarding-school kept in +Philadelphia in Second Street near Walnut, by a Mrs. Sarah Wilson. She +thus advertised:-- + + "Young ladies may be educated in a genteel manner, and pains taken + to teach them in regard to their behaviour, on reasonable terms. + They may be taught all sorts fine needlework, viz., working on + catgut or flowering muslin, sattin stitch, quince stitch, tent + stitch, cross-stitch, open work, tambour, embroidering curtains or + chairs, writing and cyphering. Likewise waxwork in all its several + branches, never as yet particularly taught here; also how to take + profiles in wax, to make wax flowers and fruits and pin-baskets." + +There was no limit to the beauty and delicacy of the embroidery of those +days. I have seen the beautiful needlework cap and skirt worn by +Governor Thomas Johnson of Maryland, when he was christened. The coat of +arms of both the Lux and Johnson families, the name Agnes Lux and Anne +Johnson, and the words "God bless the Babe" are embroidered upon them in +most delicate fairy stitches. The babe grew up to be the governor of his +state in Revolutionary times. + +In an old book printed in 1821, a set of rules is given for teaching +needlework, and it is doubtless exactly what had been the method for a +century. The girls were first shown how to turn a hem on a piece of +waste paper; then they proceeded to the various stitches in this order: +to hem, to sew and fell a seam, to draw threads and hemstitch, to gather +and sew on gathers, to make buttonholes, to sew on buttons, to do +herring-bone stitch, to darn, to mark, to tuck, whip, and sew on a +frill. There is also a long and tedious set of questions and answers +like a catechism, explaining the various stitches. + +There was one piece of needlework which was done by every little girl +who was carefully brought up: she sewed a sampler. These were worked in +various beautiful and difficult stitches in colored silks and wool on a +strong, loosely woven canvas. + +In English collections, the oblong samplers, long and narrow, are as a +rule older than the square samplers; and it is safe to believe the same +of American samplers. Fortunately, many of them are dated, but this +ancient one from the Quincy family has no date. The oldest sampler I +have ever seen is in the collection of antique articles now in Pilgrim +Hall at Plymouth. It was made by a daughter of the Pilgrims. The verse +embroidered on it reads:-- + + "Lorea Standish is My Name. + Lord Guide my Heart that I may do thy Will, + And fill my Hands with such convenient skill + As will conduce to Virtue void of Shame, + And I will give the Glory to thy Name." + +Similar verses, and portions of hymns, are often found on these +samplers. A favorite rhyme was:-- + + "When I was young and in my Prime, + You see how well I spent my Time. + And by my sampler you may see + What care my Parents took of me." + +A very spirited verse is:-- + + "You'll mend your life to-morrow still you cry. + In what far Country does To-morrow lie? + It stays so long, is fetch'd so far, I fear + 'Twill prove both very old, and very dear." + +Strange trees and fruits and birds and beasts, wonderful vines and +flowers, were embroidered on these domestic tapestries. + +In the hands of a skilful worker, the sampler might become a thing of +beauty and historical interest; and the stitches learned and practised +on it might be used on more ambitious pieces of work, which often took +the shape of the family coat of arms. Such was the work of Mary Salter +(Mrs. Henry Quincy), who was born in 1726, and died in 1755. It is the +arms of Salter and Bryan party per pale upon a shield. Rich in embossed +work in gold and silver thread, it is a beautiful testimonial to the +deft and proficient hand of the young needlewoman who embroidered it. + +Sometimes pretentious pictures representing events in public or family +history, were embroidered in crewels on sampler linen. The largest and +funniest one I have ever seen was the boarding-school climax of glory +of Miss Hannah Otis, sister of the patriot James Otis. It is a view of +the Hancock House, Boston Common, and vicinity, as they appeared from +1755 to 1760. Across its expanse Governor Hancock rides triumphantly; +and the fair maid looking over the garden wall at the Charles River is +Dorothy Quincy, afterwards Madam Hancock. This triumph of school-girl +affection and needle-craft, wholly devoid of perspective or proportion, +made a great sensation in Boston, in its day. + +Another large piece of similar work is here represented. The original is +in the library of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, +Massachusetts. It is a view of the Old South Church, Boston; and with +its hooped dames and coach and footman, has a certain value as +indicating the costume of the times. It is dated 1756. + +Familiar to the descendants of old New England families, are the +embroidered mourning pieces. These are seldom more than a century old. +On them weeping willows and urns, tombs and mourning figures, names of +departed friends with dates of their deaths, and epitaphs were worked +with vast skill, and were so much admired and were such a delightful +home decoration, that it is no unusual thing to find these elaborate +memento moris with empty spaces for names and dates, waiting for some +one to die, and still unfilled, unfinished, blankly commemorative of no +one, while the industrious embroiderer has long since gone to the tomb +she so deftly and eagerly pictured, and her name, too, is forgotten. + +Tambour work was a favorite form of embroidery. In 1788 Madam Hesselius +wrote thus in jest of her daughter, a Philadelphia miss:-- + + "To tambour on crape she has a great passion, + Because here of late it has been much the fashion. + The shades are dis-sorted, the spangles are scattered + And for want of due care the crape has got tattered." + +Tambouring with various stitches on different kinds of net made pretty +laces; and these were apparently the laces usually worked and worn. In +the form of rich veils and collars scores of intricate and beautiful +stitches were used, and exquisite articles of wear were manufactured. + +A strip of net footing pinned and sewn to paper, with reels of fine +linen thread and threaded needle attached, is shown in the accompanying +illustration just as it was left by the deft and industrious hands that +have been folded for a century in the dust. The pattern and stitches in +this design are simple; the design was first pricked in outline with a +pin, then worked in. Other stitches and patterns, none of them the most +elaborate and difficult, are shown in the infant's cap and collars, and +the strips of lace and "modesty-piece." + +In the seventeenth century lace-making with bobbins was taught; it is +referred to in Judge Sewall's diary; and a friend has shown me the +cushion and bobbins used by her far-away grandmother who learned the +various stitches in London at a guinea a stitch. + +The feminine love of color, the longing for decoration, as well as pride +in skill of needle-craft, found riotous expansion in quilt-piecing. A +thrifty economy, too, a desire to use up all the fragments and bits of +stuffs which were necessarily cut out in the shaping, chiefly of women's +and children's garments, helped to make the patchwork a satisfaction. +The amount of labor, of careful fitting, neat piecing, and elaborate +quilting, the thousands of stitches that went into one of these +patchwork quilts, are to-day almost painful to regard. Women revelled in +intricate and difficult patchwork; they eagerly exchanged patterns with +one another; they talked over the designs, and admired pretty bits of +calico, and pondered what combinations to make, with far more zest than +women ever discuss art or examine high art specimens together to-day. +There was one satisfactory condition in the work, and that was the +quality of the cottons and linens of which the patchwork was made. They +were none of the slimsy, composition-filled, aniline-dyed calicoes of +to-day. A piece of "chaney," "patch," or "copper-plate" a hundred years +old will be as fresh to-day as when woven. Real India chintzes and +palampours are found in these quilts, beautiful and artistic stuffs, and +the firm, unyielding, high-priced, "real" French calicoes. + +A sense of the idealization of quilt-piecing is given also by the quaint +descriptive names applied to the various patterns. Of those the +"Rising-sun," "Log Cabin," and "Job's Trouble" are perhaps the most +familiar. "Job's Trouble" was simply honeycomb or hexagonal blocks. "To +set a Job's Trouble," was to cut out an exact hexagon for a pattern +(preferably from tin, otherwise from firm cardboard); to cut out from +this many hexagons in stiff brown paper or letter paper. These were +covered with the bits of calico with the edges turned under; the sides +were sewed carefully together over and over, till a firm expanse +permitted the removal of the papers. + +The name of the pattern seldom gave an expression of its character. +"Dove in the Window," "Rob Peter to Pay Paul," "Blue Brigade," +"Fan-mill," "Crow's Foot," "Chinese Puzzle," "Fly-wheel," "Love-knot," +"Sugar-bowl," are simply whims of fancy. Floral names, such as "Dutch +Tulip," "Sunflower," "Rose of Sharon," "Bluebells," "World's Rose," +might suggest a love of flowers. Sometimes designs are appliqued on with +some regard for coloring. I once saw a quilt that was a miracle of +tedious work. The squares of white cotton each held a slender stem with +two leaves of green or light brown calico, surmounted by a four-petalled +flower of high-colored calico,--pink, red, blue, etc. This design was +all carefully hemmed down. The effect was surprisingly Oriental. + +When the patchwork was completed, it was laid flatly on the lining +(often another expanse of patchwork), with layers of wool or cotton +wadding between, and the edges were basted all around. Four bars of +wood, about ten feet long, "the quiltin'-frame," were placed at the four +edges, the quilt was sewed to them with stout thread, the bars crossed +and tied firmly at corners, and the whole raised on chairs or tables to +a convenient height. Thus around the outstretched quilt a dozen quilters +could sit running the whole together with fanciful set designs of +stitching. When about a foot on either side was wholly quilted, it was +rolled upon its bar, and the work went on; thus the visible quilt +diminished, like Balzac's Peau de Chagrin, in a united and truly +sociable work that required no special attention, in which all were +facing together and all drawing closer together as the afternoon passed +in intimate gossip. Sometimes several quilts were set up. I know of a +ten days' quilting-bee in Narragansett in 1752. + +In early days calicoes were not common, but every one had woollen +garments and pieces, and the quilts made of these were of grateful +warmth in bleak New England. All kinds of commonplace garments and +remnants of decayed gentility were pressed into service in these quilts: +portions of the moth-eaten and discarded uniforms of militia-men, +worn-out flannel sheets dyed with some brilliant home-dye, old coat and +cloak linings, well-worn petticoats. A magnificent scarlet cloak worn by +a lord mayor of London and brought to America by a member of the Merritt +family of Salisbury, Massachusetts, went through a series of adventures +and migrations, and ended its days as small bits of vivid color casting +a grateful glory and variety on a patchwork quilt in the Saco valley of +Maine. To this day at vendues or sales of old country households in New +England, there will be handed out great rolls of woollen pieces to be +used for patchwork quilts or rag carpets, and they find purchasers. + +These woollen quilts had a thin wadding, and were usually very closely +quilted, so they were quite flat. They were called "pressed quilts." An +old farm wife said to me in New Hampshire, "Girls won't take the trouble +to make pressed quilts nowadays, it's as much as they'll do to tack a +puff," that is, make a light quilt with thick wadding only tacked +together from front to back, at regular intervals. A pressed quilt which +I saw was quilted in inch squares. Another had a fan-pattern with +sunflower leaf border; another was quilted in the elaborate pattern +known as "feather-work." + +As much ingenuity was exercised in the design of the quilting as in the +pattern of the patchwork, and the marking for the quilt design was +exceedingly tedious, since, of course, no drawings could be used. I +remember seeing one quilt marked by chalking strings which were +stretched tightly across at the desired intervals, and held up and +snapped smartly down on the quilt, leaving a faint chalky line to guide +the eye and needle. Another simple design was to quilt in rounds, using +a saucer or plate to form a perfect circle. + +The most elaborate quilt I know of is of silk containing portions of the +wedding-dress of Esther Powel, granddaughter of Gabriel Bernon; she was +married to James Helme in 1738. When her granddaughter was married in +1795, the quilt was still unfinished, and a woman was hired who worked +on it for six months, putting a miracle of fine stitches in the +quilting. I think she must have been very old and very slow, for the +wages paid her were but twenty cents a week and "her keep," which was +very small pay even in that day of small wages. When Washington came to +Newport, this splendid quilt was sent to grace the bed upon which the +hero slept. + +I said a few summers ago to a farmer's wife who lived on the outskirts +of a small New England hill-village: "Your home is very beautiful. From +every window the view is perfect." She answered quickly: "Yes, but it's +awful lonely for me, for I was born in Worcester; still I don't mind as +long as we have plenty of quiltings." In answer to my questions she told +me that the previous winter she had "kept count," and she had helped at +twenty-eight "regular" quiltings, besides her own home patchwork and +quilt-making, and much informal help of neighbors on plain quilts. Any +one who has attended a county fair (one not too modernized and spoiled) +and seen the display of intricate patchwork and quilting still made in +country homes, can see that it is not an obsolete accomplishment. + +A form of decorative work in which many women took great delight and +became astonishingly skilful was what was known, or at any rate +advertised, by the ambitious title of Papyrotamia. It was simply the +cutting out of stiff paper of various decorative and ornamental designs +with scissors. At the time of the Revolution it was evidently deemed a +very high accomplishment, and the best pieces of work were carefully +cherished, mounted on black paper, framed and glazed, and given to +friends or bequeathed by will. One old lady is remembered as using her +scissors with extraordinary deftness, and amusing herself and delighting +her friends by occupying the hours of every afternoon visit with cutting +out entirely by her trained eye various pretty and curious designs. +Valentines in exceedingly delicate and appropriate patterns, wreaths and +baskets of varied flowers, marine views, religious symbols, landscapes, +all were accomplished. Coats of arms and escutcheons cut in black paper +and mounted on white were highly prized. Portrait silhouettes were cut +with the aid of a machine which marked and reduced mechanically a sharp +shadow cast by the sitter's profile through candle-light on a sheet of +white paper. Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney wrote in rhyme of a revered friend +of her youth, Mrs. Lathrop, of a period about a century ago:-- + + "Thy dextrous scissors ready to produce + The flying squirrel or the long-neck'd goose, + Or dancing girls with hands together join'd, + Or tall spruce-trees with wreaths of roses twin'd, + The well-dress'd dolls whose paper form display'd, + Thy penknife's labor and thy pencil's shade." + +I once found in an old lacquered box in a cupboard a paper packet +containing all the cut-paper designs mentioned in this rhyme--and many +more. The workmanship of the "spruce-trees with wreaths of roses twin'd" +was specially marvellous. I plainly saw in that design a derivative of +the English Maypole and encircling wreaths. This package was marked with +the name of the paper-cutter, a Revolutionary dame who died at the +beginning of this century. Her home was remote from the Norwich home of +Mrs. Lathrop, and I know she never visited in Connecticut, yet she made +precisely the same designs and indeed all the designs. This is but a +petty proof among many other more decided ones of the fact that even in +those days of scant communication and infrequent and contracted travel, +there were as in our own times waves of feminine fancy work, of attempts +at artistic expression, which flooded every home, and receding, left +behind much decorative silt of varying but nearly universal uselessness +and laborious commonplaceness. + +One of the cut-paper landscapes of Madam Deming, a Boston lady who was a +famous "papyrotamist," is here shown. It is now owned by James F. Trott, +Esq., of Niagara Falls. It is a view of Boston streets just previous to +the Revolution. In that handsome volume, the _Ten Broeck Genealogical +Record_, are reproductions of some of the landscape views by Albertina +Ten Broeck at the same date. They show the house and farm surroundings +of the old Ten Broeck "Bouwerie," the ancestral home in New York, and +give a wonderfully good idea of it. These are not in dead silhouette, +for an appearance of shading is afforded by finely cut lines and +intervening spaces. The highest form of cut-paper reproduction and +decoration ever reached was by the English woman, Mrs. Delaney, who died +in 1788, the friend of the Duchess of Portland, and intimate of George +III. and his queen. She reproduced in colored paper, in what she called +"paper mosaics," the entire flora of the United Kingdom, and it is said +it was impossible at first sight to distinguish these flowers from the +real ones. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +DRESS OF THE COLONISTS + + +At the time America was settled, rich dress was almost universal in +Europe among persons of any wealth or station. The dress of plain people +also, such as yeomen and small farmers and work-people, was plentiful +and substantial, and even peasants had good and ample clothing. +Materials were strongly and honestly made, clothing was sewed by hand, +and lasted long. The fashions did not change from year to year, and the +rich or stout clothes of one generation were bequeathed by will and worn +by a second and even a third and fourth generation. + +In England extravagance in dress in court circles, and grotesqueness in +dress among all educated folk, had become abhorrent to that class of +persons who were called Puritans; and as an expression of their dislike +they wore plainer garments, and cut off their flowing locks, and soon +were called Roundheads. The Massachusetts settlers who were Puritans +determined to discourage extravagance in dress in the New World, and +attempted to control the fashions. + +The Massachusetts magistrates were reminded of their duties in this +direction by sanctimonious spurring from gentlemen and ministers in +England. One such meddler wrote to Governor Winthrop in 1636: "Many in +your plantacions discover too much pride." Another stern moralist +reproved the colonists for writing to England "for cut work coifes, for +deep stammel dyes," to be sent to them in America. Others, prohibited +from wearing broad laces, were criticised for ordering narrow ones, for +"going as farr as they may." + +In 1634 the Massachusetts General Court passed restricting sumptuary +laws. These laws forbade the purchase of woollen, silk, or linen +garments, with silver, gold, silk, or thread lace on them. Two years +later a narrow binding of lace was permitted on linen garments. The +colonists were ordered not to make or buy any slashed clothes, except +those with one slash in each sleeve and another slash in the back. "Cut +works, imbroidd or needle or capps bands & rayles," and gold or silver +girdles, hat-bands, belts, ruffs, and beaver hats were forbidden. +Liberty was thriftily given, however, to the colonists to wear out any +garments they chanced to have unless in the form of inordinately slashed +apparel, immoderate great sleeves and rails, and long wings, which could +not possibly be endured. + +In 1639 men's attire was approached and scanned, and "immoderate great +breeches" were tabooed; also broad shoulder-bands, double ruffles and +capes, and silk roses, which latter adornment were worn on the shoes. + +In 1651 the Court again expressed its "utter detestation that men and +women of meane condition, education, and calling, should take vppon them +the garbe of gentlemen by wearinge of gold or silver lace, or buttons or +poynts at their knees, or walke in great boots, or women of the same +ranke to wear silke or tiffany hoods or scarfs." + +Many persons were "presented" under this law, men boot-wearers as well +as women hood-wearers. In Salem, in 1652, a man was presented for +"excess in bootes, ribonds, gould and silver lace." + +In Newbury, in 1653, two women were brought up for wearing silk hoods +and scarfs, but they were discharged on proof that their husbands were +worth L200 each. In Northampton, in the year 1676, a wholesale attempt +was made by the magistrates to abolish "wicked apparell." Thirty-eight +women of the Connecticut valley were presented at one time for various +degrees of finery, and as of too small estate to wear silk. A young girl +named Hannah Lyman was presented for "wearing silk in a fflaunting +manner, in an offensive way and garb not only before but when she stood +presented." Thirty young men were also presented for silk-wearing, long +hair, and other extravagances. The calm flaunting of her silk in the +very eyes of the Court by sixteen-year-old Hannah was premonitory of the +waning power of the magistrates, for similar prosecutions at a later +date were quashed. By 1682 the tables were turned and we find the Court +arraigning the selectmen of five towns for not prosecuting offenders +against these laws as in previous years. In 1675 the town of Dedham had +been similarly warned and threatened, but apparently was never +prosecuted. Connecticut called to its aid in repressing extravagant +dress the economic power of taxation by ordering that whoever wore gold +or silver lace, gold or silver buttons, silk ribbons, silk scarfs, or +bone lace worth over three shillings a yard should be taxed as worth +L150. + +Virginia fussed a little over "excess in cloathes." Sir Francis Wyatt +was enjoined not to permit any but the Council and the heads of Hundreds +to wear gold on their clothes, or to wear silk till they made it--which +was intended more to encourage silk-making than to discourage +silk-wearing. And it provided that unmarried men should be assessed +according to their apparel, and married men according to that of their +family. In 1660 Virginia colonists were ordered to import no "silke +stuffe in garments or in peeces except for whoods and scarfs, nor silver +or gold lace, nor bone lace of silk or threads, nor ribbands wrought +with gold or silver in them." + +The ministers did not fail in their duty in attempting to march with the +magistrates in the restriction and simplification of dress. They +preached often against "intolerable pride in clothes and hair." Even +when the Pilgrims were in Holland the preachers had been deeply +disturbed over the dress of their minister's wife, Madam Johnson, who +wore "lawn coives" and busks, and a velvet hood, and "whalebones in her +petticoat bodice," and worst of all, "a topish hat." One of the earliest +interferences of Roger Williams was when he instructed the women of +Salem parish always to wear veils in public. But John Cotton preached to +them the next Sunday, and he proved to the dames and goodwives that +veils were a sign and symbol of undue subjection to their husbands, and +Salem women soon proved their rights by coming barefaced to meeting. + +Mr. Davenport preached about men's head-gear, that men must take off +their hats, and stand up at the announcement of the text. And if New +Haven men wore their hats in meeting, I can't see why they fussed so +over the Quakers' broadbrims. + +After a while the whole church interfered. In 1769 the church at Andover +put it to vote whether "the parish Disapprove of the female sex sitting +with their Hats on in the Meeting-house in time of Divine Service as +being Indecent." In the town of Abington, in 1775, it was voted that it +was "an indecent way that the female sex do sit with their hats and +bonnets on to worship God." Still another town voted that it was the +"Town's Mind" that the women should take their bonnets off in meeting +and hang them "on the peggs." We do not know positively, but I suspect +that the bonnets continued to grace the heads instead of the pegs in +Andover, Abington, and other towns. + +To know how the colonists were dressed, we have to learn from the lists +of their clothing which they left by will, which lists are still +preserved in court records; from the inventories of the garments +furnished to each settler who came by contract; from the orders sent +back to England for new clothing; from a few crude portraits, and from +some articles of ancient clothing which are still preserved. + +When Salem was settled the Massachusetts Bay Company furnished clothes +to all the men who emigrated and settled that town. Every man had four +pairs of shoes, four pairs of stockings, a pair of Norwich garters, four +shirts, two suits of doublet and hose of leather lined with oiled skin, +a woollen suit lined with leather, four bands, two handkerchiefs, a +green cotton waistcoat, a leather belt, a woollen cap, a black hat, two +red knit caps, two pairs of gloves, a mandillion or cloak lined with +cotton, and an extra pair of breeches. Little boys just as soon as they +could walk wore clothes made precisely like their fathers': doublets +which were warm double jackets, leather knee-breeches, leather belts, +knit caps. The outfit for the Virginia planters was not so liberal, for +the company was not so wealthy. It was called a "Particular of +Apparell." It had only three bands, three pairs stockings, and three +shirts instead of four. The suits were of canvas, frieze, and cloth. The +clothing was doubtless lighter, because the climate of Virginia was +warmer. There were no gloves, no handkerchiefs, no hat, no red knit +caps, no mandillion, no extra pair of breeches. They had "a dozen +points," which were simply tapes to hold up the clothing and fasten it +together. The clothing of the Piscataquay planters varied but little +from the others. They had scarlet waistcoats and cassocks of cloth, not +of leather. We are apt to think of the Puritan settlers of New England +as sombre in attire, wearing "sad-colored" garments, but green and +scarlet waistcoats and scarlet caps certainly afforded a gay touch of +color. + +A young boy, about ten years old, named John Livingstone, was sent from +New York to school in New England at the latter part of the seventeenth +century. An "account of his new linen and clothes" has been preserved, +and it gives an excellent idea of the clothing of a son of wealthy +people at that time. It reads thus, in the old spelling:-- + + "Eleven new shirts, + 4 pair laced sleves, + 8 Plane Cravats, + 4 Cravats with Lace, + 4 Stripte Wastecoats with black buttons, + 1 Flowered Wastecoat, + 4 New osenbrig britches, + 1 Gray hat with a black ribbon, + 1 Gray hat with a blew ribbon, + 1 Dousin black buttons, + 1 Dousin coloured buttons, + 3 Pair gold buttons, + 3 Pair silver buttons, + 2 Pair Fine blew Stockings, + 1 Pair Fine red Stockings, + 4 White Handkerchiefs, + 2 Speckled Handkerchiefs, + 5 Pair Gloves, + 1 Stuff Coat with black buttons, + 1 Cloth Coat, + 1 Pair blew plush britches, + 1 Pair Serge britches, + 2 Combs, + 1 Pair new Shooes, + Silk & Thred to mend his Cloathes." + +Osenbrig was a heavy, strong linen. This would seem to be a summer +outfit, and scarcely warm enough for New England winters. Other +schoolboys at that date had deerskin breeches. + +Leather was much used, especially in the form of tanned buckskin +breeches and the deerskin hunters' jackets, which have always and +deservedly been a favorite wear, since they are one of the most +appropriate, useful, comfortable, and picturesque garments ever worn by +men in any active outdoor life. + +Soon in the larger cities and among wealthy folk a much more elaborate +and varied style of dress became fashionable. The dress of little girls +in families of wealth was certainly almost as formal and elegant as the +dress of their mammas, and it was a very hampering and stiff dress. They +wore vast hoop-petticoats, heavy stays, and high-heeled shoes. Their +complexions were objects of special care; they wore masks of cloth or +velvet to protect them from the tanning rays of the sun, and long-armed +gloves. Little Dolly Payne, who afterwards became the wife of President +Madison, went to school wearing "a white linen mask to keep every ray of +sunshine from the complexion, a sunbonnet sewed on her head every +morning by her careful mother, and long gloves covering the hands and +arms." Our present love of outdoor life, of athletic sports, and our +indifference to being sunburned, makes such painstaking vanity seem most +unbearably tiresome. + +In 1737 Colonel John Lewis sent from Virginia to England for a wardrobe +for a young miss, a school-girl, who was his ward. The list reads +thus:-- + + "A cap ruffle and tucker, the lace 5 shillings per Yard, + 1 pair White Stays, + 8 pair White Kid gloves, + 2 pair coloured kid gloves, + 2 pair worsted hose, + 3 pair thread hose, + 1 pair silk shoes laced, + 1 pair morocco shoes, + 1 Hoop Coat, + 1 Hat, + 4 pair plain Spanish shoes, + 2 pair calf shoes, + 1 mask, + 1 fan, + 1 necklace, + 1 Girdle and buckle, + 1 piece fashionable Calico, + 4 yards ribbon for knots, + 11/2 yard Cambric, + A mantua and coat of lute-string." + +In the middle of the century George Washington also sent to England for +an outfit for his stepdaughter, Miss Custis. She was four years old, and +he ordered for her, pack-thread stays, stiff coats of silk, masks, caps, +bonnets, bibs, ruffles, necklaces, fans, silk and calamanco shoes, and +leather pumps. There were also eight pairs of kid mitts and four pairs +of gloves; these with the masks show that this little girl's complexion +was also to be well guarded. + +A little New England Miss Huntington, when twelve years old, was sent +from Norwich, Connecticut, to be "finished" in a Boston boarding-school. +She had twelve silk gowns, but her teacher wrote home that she must have +another gown of "a recently imported rich fabric," which was at once +bought for her because it was "suitable for her rank and station." + +Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was a constant +succession of rich and gay fashions; for American dress was carefully +modelled upon European, especially English modes. Men's wear was as rich +as women's. An English traveller said that Boston women and men in 1740 +dressed as gay every day as courtiers in England at a coronation. But +with all the richness there was no wastefulness. The sister of the rich +Boston merchant, Peter Faneuil, who built Faneuil Hall, sent her gowns +to London to be turned and dyed, and her old ribbons and gowns to be +sold. But her gowns, which are still preserved, are of magnificent +stuffs. + +New Yorkers were dressed in gauzes, silks, and laces; even women Quakers +in Pennsylvania had to be warned against wearing hoop-petticoats, +scarlet shoes, and puffed and rolled hair. + +The family of so frugal a man as Benjamin Franklin did not escape a +slight infection of the prevailing love for gay dress. In the +_Pennsylvania Gazette_ this advertisement appeared in 1750:-- + + "Whereas on Saturday night last the house of Benjamin Franklin of + this city, Printer, was broken open, and the following things + feloniously taken away, viz., a double necklace of gold beads, a + womans long scarlet cloak almost new, with a double cape, a womans + gown, of printed cotton of the sort called brocade print, very + remarkable, the ground dark, with large red roses, and other large + and yellow flowers, with blue in some of the flowers, with many + green leaves; a pair of womens stays covered with white tabby + before, and dove colour'd tabby behind, with two large steel hooks + and sundry other goods, etc." + +Southern dames, especially of Annapolis, Baltimore, and Charleston, were +said to have the richest brocades and damasks that could be bought in +London. Every sailing-vessel that came from Europe brought boxes of +splendid clothing. The heroes of the Revolution had a high regard for +dress. The patriot, John Hancock, was seen at noonday wearing a scarlet +velvet cap, a blue damask gown lined with velvet, white satin +embroidered waistcoat, black satin small-clothes, white silk stockings, +and red morocco slippers. George Washington was most precise in his +orders for his clothing, and wore the richest silk and velvet suits. + +A true description of a Boston printer just after the Revolution shows +his style of dress:-- + + "He wore a pea-green coat, white vest, nankeen small clothes, white + silk stockings, and pumps fastened with silver buckles which + covered at least half the foot from instep to toe. His small + clothes were tied at the knees with ribbon of the same colour in + double bows, the ends reaching down to the ancles. His hair in + front was well loaded with pomatum, frizzled or craped and + powdered. Behind, his natural hair was augmented by the addition of + a large queue called vulgarly a false tail, which, enrolled in some + yards of black ribbon, hung half-way down his back." + +Many letters still exist written by prominent citizens of colonial times +ordering clothing, chiefly from Europe. Rich laces, silk materials, +velvet, and fine cloth of light and gay colors abound. Frequently they +ordered nightgowns of silk and damask. These nightgowns were not a +garment worn at night, but a sort of dressing-gown. Harvard students +were in 1754 forbidden to wear them. Under the name of banyan they +became very fashionable, and men had their portraits painted in them, +for instance the portrait of Nicholas Boylston, now in Harvard Memorial +Hall. + +With the increase of trade with China many Chinese and East Indian goods +became fashionable, with hundreds of different names. A few were of silk +or linen, but far more of cotton; among them nankeens were the most +imported and even for winter wear. + +Both men and women wore for many years great cloaks or capes, known by +various names, such as roquelaures, capuchins, pelisses, etc. Women's +shoes were of very thin materials, and paper-soled. They wore to protect +these frail shoes, when walking on the ill-paved streets, various forms +of overshoes, known as goloe-shoes, clogs, pattens, etc. When riding, +women in the colonies wore, as did Queen Elizabeth, a safeguard, a long +over-petticoat to protect the gown from mud and rain. This was sometimes +called a foot-mantle, also a weather-skirt. A traveller tells of seeing +a row of horses tied to a fence outside a Quaker meeting. Some carried +side saddles, some men's saddles and pillions. On the fence hung the +muddy safeguards the Quaker dames had worn outside their drab +petticoats. Men wore sherry-vallies or spatter-dashes to protect their +gay breeches. + +There was one fashion which lasted for a century and a half which was so +untidy, so uncomfortable, so costly, and so ridiculous that we can only +wonder that it was endured for a single season--I mean the fashion of +wig-wearing by men. The first colonists wore their own natural hair. The +Cavaliers had long and perfumed love-locks; and though the Puritans had +been called Roundheads, their hair waved, also, over the band or collar, +and often hung over the shoulder. The Quakers, also, wore long locks, as +the lovely portrait of William Penn shows. But by 1675 wigs had become +common enough to be denounced by the Massachusetts government, and to be +preached against by many ministers; while other ministers proudly wore +them. Wigs were called horrid bushes of vanity, and hundreds of other +disparaging names, which seemed to make them more popular. They varied +from year to year; sometimes they swelled out at the sides, or rose in +great puffs, or turned under in heavy rolls, or hung in braids and curls +and pig-tails; they were made of human hair, of horsehair, goat's-hair, +calves' and cows' tails, of thread, silk, and mohair. They had scores of +silly and meaningless names, such as "grave full-bottom," "giddy +feather-top," "long-tail," "fox-tail," "drop-wig," etc. They were bound +and braided with pink, green, red, and purple ribbons, sometimes all +these colors on one wig. They were very heavy, and very hot, and very +expensive, often costing what would be equal to a hundred dollars +to-day. The care of them was a great item, often ten pounds a year for a +single wig, and some gentlemen owned eight or ten wigs. Little children +wore them. I have seen the bill for a wig for William Freeman, dated +1754; he was a child seven years old. His father paid nine pounds for +it, and the same for wigs for his other boys of nine and ten. Even +servants wore them; I read in the _Massachusetts Gazette_ of a runaway +negro slave who "wore off a curl of hair tied around his head with a +string to imitate a wig," which must have been a comical sight. After +wigs had become unfashionable, the natural hair was powdered, and was +tied in a queue in the back. This was an untidy, troublesome fashion, +which ruined the clothes; for the hair was soaked with oil or pomatum to +make the powder stick. + +Comparatively little jewellery was worn. A few men had gold or silver +sleeve-buttons; a few women had bracelets or lockets; nearly all of any +social standing had rings, which were chiefly mourning-rings. As these +gloomy ornaments were given to all the chief mourners at funerals, it +can be seen that a man of large family connections, or of prominent +social standing, might acquire a great many of them. The minister and +doctor usually had a ring at every funeral they attended. It is told of +an old Salem doctor, who died in 1758, that he had a tankard full of +mourning-rings which he had secured at funerals. Men sometimes wore +thumb-rings, which seems no queerer than the fact that they carried +muffs. Old Dr. Prince of Boston carried an enormous bearskin muff. + +Gloves also were gifts at funerals, sometimes in large numbers. At the +funeral of the wife of Governor Belcher, in 1738, over a thousand pairs +were given away. Rev. Andrew Eliot, who was pastor of the North Church +in Boston, had twenty-nine hundred pair of gloves given him in +thirty-two years; many of these he sold. In all the colonies, whether +settled by Dutch, English, French, German, or Swedes, gloves were +universally given at funerals. + +The early watches were clumsy affairs, often globose in shape, with a +detached outer case. + +To show how few of the first colonists owned either watches or clocks, +we have the contemporary evidence of Roger Williams. When he rowed +thirty miles down the bay, and disputed with the "Foxians" at Newport in +1672, it was agreed that each party should be heard in turn for a +quarter of an hour. But no clock was available in Newport; and among the +whole population that flocked to the debate, there was not a single +watch. Williams says, "unless we had Clocks and Watches and Quarter +Glasses (as in some Ships) it was impossible to be exactly punctual," so +they guessed at the time. + +Sun-dials were often set in the street in front of houses; and +noon-marks on the threshold of the front door or window-sill helped to +show the hour of the day. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +JACK-KNIFE INDUSTRIES + + +Chepa Rose was one of those old-time chap-men known throughout New +England as "trunk pedlers." Bearing on his back by means of a harness of +stout hempen webbing two oblong trunks of thin metal,--probably +tin,--for forty-eight years he had appeared at every considerable +farmhouse throughout Narragansett and eastern Connecticut, at intervals +as regular as the action and appearance of the sun, moon, and tides; and +everywhere was he greeted with an eager welcome. + +Chepa was, as he said, "half Injun, half French, and half Yankee." From +his Indian half he had his love of tramping which made him choose the +wandering trade of trunk pedler; his French half made him a good trader +and talker; while his Yankee half endowed him with a universal Yankee +trait, a "handiness," which showed in scores of gifts and +accomplishments and knacks that made him as warmly greeted everywhere +as were his attractive trunks. + +He was a famous medicine-brewer; from the roots and herbs and barks that +he gathered as he tramped along the country roads he manufactured a +cough medicine that was twice as effective and twice as bitter as old +Dr. Greene's; he made famous plasters, of two kinds,--plasters to stick +and plasters to crawl, the latter to follow the course of the disease or +pain; he concocted wonderful ink; he showed Jenny Greene how to bleach +her new straw bonnet with sulphur fumes; he mended umbrellas, harnesses, +and tinware; he made glorious teetotums which the children looked for as +eagerly and unfailingly as they did for his tops and marbles, his +ribbons and Gibraltars. + +One day he came through the woods to John Helme's house carrying in his +hand a stout birchen staff or small tree-trunk, which he laid down on +the flat millstone imbedded in the grass at the back door, while he +displayed and sold his wares and had his dinner. He then went out to the +dooryard with little Johnny Helme, sat down on the millstone, lighted +his pipe, opened his jack-knife, and discoursed thus:-- + + "Johnny, I'm going to tell you how to make an Injun broom. Fust, + you must find a big birch-tree. There ain't so many big ones now + of any kind as there useter be when we made canoes and plates and + cradles, and water spouts, and troughs, and furnitoor out of the + bark. But you must get a yallow birch-tree as straight as H and + edzactly five inch acrost. Now, how kin ye tell how fur it is + acrost a tree afore ye cut it off? I kin tell by the light of my + eye, but that's Injun larnin'. Lemme tell you by book-larnin'. + Measure it round, and make the string in three parts, and one + part'll be what it is acrost. If it's nine inch round, it'll be + three inch acrost, and so on. Now don't you forgit that. Wal! you + must get a straight birch-tree five inch acrost where you cut it + off, just like this one. Then make the stick six foot long. Then + one foot and two inch from the big end cut a ring round the bark; + wal! say two inch wide just like this. Then you take off all the + bark below that ring. Then you begin a-slivering with a sharp + jack-knife, leetle teeny flat slivers way up to the bark ring. When + it's all slivered up thin and flat there'll be a leetle hard core + left inside at the top, and you must cut it out careful. Then you + take off the bark above the ring and begin slivering down. Leave a + stick just big enough for a handle. Then tie this last lot of + slivers down tight over the others with a hard-twisted tow string, + and trim 'em off even. Then whittle off and scrape off a good + smooth handle with a hole in the top to put a loop of cowhide in, + to hang it up by orderly. + + "Yes, Johnny, I've got just enough Injun in me to make a good + broom; not enough to be ashamed of and not enough to be proud of. + But you mustn't forgit this; a moccasin's the best cover a man + ever had on his feet in the woods; the easiest to get stuff for, + the easiest to make, the easiest to wear. And a birch-bark canoe's + the best boat a man can have on the river. It's the easiest to get + stuff for, easiest to carry, the fastest to paddle. And a + snowshoe's the best help a man can have in the winter. It's the + easiest to get stuff for, the easiest to walk on, the easiest to + carry. And just so a birch broom is the best broom a man or at any + rate a woman can have; four best things and all of 'em is Injun. + Now you just slip in and take that broom to Phillis. I see her the + last time I was here a-using a mizrable store broom to clean her + oven--and just ask her if I can't have a mug of apple-jack afore I + go to bed." + +If this scene had been laid in New Hampshire or Vermont instead of +Narragansett, the Indian broom would have been no novelty to any boy or +house-servant. For in the northern New England states, heavily wooded +with yellow birch, every boy knew how to make the Indian brooms, and +every household in country or town had them. There was a constant demand +in Boston for them, and sometimes country stores had several hundred of +the brooms at a time. Throughout Vermont seventy years ago the uniform +price paid for making one of these brooms was six cents; and if the +splints were very fine and the handle scraped with glass, it took +nearly three evenings to finish it. Indian squaws peddled them +throughout the country for ninepence apiece. Major Robert Randolph told +in fashionable London circles about the year 1750, that when he was a +boy in New Hampshire he earned his only spending-money by making these +brooms and carrying them on his back ten miles to town to sell them. +Girls could whittle as well as boys, and often exchanged the birch +brooms they made for a bit of ribbon or lace. + +A simpler and less durable broom was made of hemlock branches. A local +rhyme says of them:-- + + "Driving at twilight the waiting cows, + With arms full-laden with hemlock boughs, + To be traced on a broom ere the coming day + From its eastern chambers should dance away." + +The hemlock broom was simply a bunch of close-growing, full-foliaged +hemlock branches tied tightly together and wound around with hempen +twine, "traced," the rhyme says, with a sharply pointed handle, which +the boys had shaped and whittled, driven well into the bound portion. +This making of brooms for domestic use is but an example of one of the +many score of useful domestic and farm articles which were furnished by +the natural resources of every wood-lot, adapted by the Yankee +jack-knife and a few equally simple tools, of which the gimlet might +take the second place. + +It was so emphatically a wooden age in colonial days that it seemed +almost that there were no hard metals used for any articles which to-day +seem so necessarily of metal. Ploughs were of wood, and harrows; +cart-wheels were often wholly of wood without tires, though sometimes +iron plates called strakes held the felloes together, being fastened to +them by long clinch-pins. The dish-turner and cooper were artisans of +importance in those days; piggins, noggins, runlets, keelers, firkins, +buckets, churns, dye-tubs, cowles, powdering-tubs, were made with chary +or no use of metal. + +The forests were the wealth of the colonies in more ways than one; and +it may be said that they furnished both domestic winter employment and +toys for the boys. The New England forests were full of richly varied kinds +of wood, suitable for varied uses, with varied qualities--pliability, +stiffness, durability, weight, strength; and it is surprising to see how +quickly the woods were assigned to fixed uses, even for toys; in every +state pop-guns were made from elder; bows and arrows of hemlock; whistles +of chestnut or willow. + +The Rev. John Pierpont wrote thus of the whittling of his childhood +days:-- + + "The Yankee boy before he's sent to school + Well knows the mysteries of that magic tool-- + The pocket-knife. To that his wistful eye + Turns, while he hears his mother's lullaby. + And in the education of the lad, + No little part that implement hath had. + His pocket-knife to the young whittler brings + A growing knowledge of material things, + Projectiles, music, and the sculptor's art. + His chestnut whistle, and his shingle dart, + His elder pop-gun with its hickory rod, + Its sharp explosion and rebounding wad, + His corn-stalk fiddle, and the deeper tone + That murmurs from his pumpkin-leaf trombone + Conspire to teach the boy. To these succeed + His bow, his arrow of a feathered reed, + His windmill raised the passing breeze to win, + His water-wheel that turns upon a pin. + Thus by his genius and his jack-knife driven + Ere long he'll solve you any problem given; + Make you a locomotive or a clock, + Cut a canal or build a floating dock: + Make anything in short for sea or shore, + From a child's rattle to a seventy-four. + Make it, said I--ay, when he undertakes it, + He'll make the thing and make the thing that makes it." + +The boy's jack-knife was a possession so highly desired, so closely +treasured in those days when boys had so few belongings, that it is +pathetic to read of many a farm lad's struggles and long hours of weary +work to obtain a good knife. Barlow knives were the most highly prized +for certainly sixty years, and had, I am told, a vast popularity for +over a century. May they forever rest in glorious memory, as they lived +the happiest of lots! To be the best beloved of a century of Yankee +boys is indeed an enviable destiny. A few battered old soldiers of this +vast army of Barlow jack-knives still linger to show us the homely +features borne by the century's well beloved: the Smithsonian +Institution cherishes some of colonial days; and from Deerfield Memorial +Hall are shown three Barlow knives whose picture should appear to every +American something more than the presentment of dull bits of wood and +rusted metal. These Yankee jack-knives were, said Daniel Webster, the +direct forerunners of the cotton-gin and thousands of noble American +inventions; the New England boy's whittling was his alphabet of +mechanics. + +In this connection, let us note the skilful and utilitarian adaptation +not only of natural materials for domestic and farm use, but also +natural forms. The farmer and his wife both turned to Nature for +implements and utensils, or for parts adapted to shape readily into the +implements and utensils of every-day life. When we read of the first +Boston settlers that "the dainty Indian maize was eat with clam-shells +out of wooden trays," we learn of a primitive spoon, a clam-shell set in +a split stick, which has been used till this century. Large flat +clam-shells were used and highly esteemed by housewives, as +skimming-shells in the dairy, to skim cream from the milk. Gourd-shells +made capital bowls, skimmers, dippers, and bottles; pumpkin-shells, good +seed and grain holders. Turkey-wings made an ever-ready hearth-brush. In +the forests were many "crooked sticks" that were more useful than any +straight ones could be. When the mower wanted a new snathe or snead, as +he called it, for his scythe, he found in the woods a deformed sapling +that had grown under a log or twisted around a rock in a double bend, +which made it the exact shape desired. He then whittled it, dressed it +with a draw-shave, fastened the nebs with a neb-wedge, hung it with an +iron ring, and was ready for the mowing-field. + +Sled-runners were made from saplings bent at the root. The best thills +for a cart were those naturally shaped by growth. The curved pieces of +wood in the harness of a draught-horse, called the hames, to which the +traces are fastened, could be found in twisted growths, as could also +portions of ox-yokes. The gambrels used in slaughtering times, +hay-hooks, long-handled pothooks for brick ovens, could all be cut +ready-shaped. + +The smaller underbrush and saplings had many uses. Sled and cart stakes +were cut from some; long bean-poles from others; specially straight +clean sticks were saved for whip-stocks. Sections of birch bark could be +bottomed and served for baskets, or for potash cans, while capital +feed-boxes could be made in the same way of sections cut from a hollow +hemlock. Elm rind and portions of brown ash butts were natural +materials for chair-seats and baskets, as were flags for door-mats. +Forked branches made geese and hog yokes. Hogs that ran at large had to +wear yokes. It was ordered that these yokes should measure as long as +twice and a half times the depth of the neck, while the bottom piece was +three times the width of the neck. + +In the shaping of heavy and large vessels such as salt-mortars, pig +troughs, maple-sap troughs, the jack-knife was abandoned and the methods +of the Indians adopted. These vessels were burnt and scraped out of a +single log, and thus had a weighty stability and permanence. Wooden +bread troughs were also made from a single piece of wood. These were +oblong, trencher-shaped bowls about eighteen inches long; across the +trough ran lengthwise a stick or rod on which rested the sieve, searse, +or temse, when flour was sifted into the trough. The saying "set the +Thames (or temse) on fire," meant that hard work and active friction +would set the wooden temse on fire. + +Sometimes the mould for an ox-bow was dug out of a log of wood. Oftener +a plank of wood was cut into the desired shape as a frame or mould, and +fastened to a heavy backboard. The ox-bow was steamed, placed in the +bow-mould, pinned in, and then carefully seasoned. + +The boys whittled cheese-ladders, cheese-hoops, and red-cherry +butter-paddles for their mothers' dairy; also many parts of +cheese-presses and churns. To the toys enumerated by Rev. Mr. Pierpont, +they added box-traps and "figure 4" traps of various sizes for catching +vari-sized animals. + +Many farm implements other than those already named were made, and many +portions of tools and implements; among them were shovels, +swingling-knives, sled-neaps, stanchions, handles for spades and +bill-hooks, rake-stales, fork-stales, flails. A group of old farm +implements from Memorial Hall, at Deerfield, is here given. The +handleless scythe-snathe is said to have come over on the _Mayflower_. + +The making of flails was an important and useful work. Many were broken +and worn out during a great threshing. Both parts, the staff or handle, +and the swingle or swiple, were carefully shaped from well-chosen wood, +to be joined together later by an eelskin or leather strap. + +The flail is little seen on farms to-day. Threshing and winnowing +machines have taken its place. The father of Robert Burns declared +threshing with a flail to be the only degrading and stultifying work on +a farm; but I never knew another farmer who deemed it so, though it was +certainly hard work. Last autumn I visited the "Poor Farm" on Quonsett +Point in old Narragansett. In the vast barn of that beautiful and +sparsely occupied country home, two powerful men, picturesque in blue +jeans tucked in heavy boots, in scarlet shirts and great straw hats, +were threshing out grain with flails. Both men were blind, one wholly, +the other partially so--and were "Town Poor." Their strong, bare arms +swung the long flails in alternate strokes with the precision of +clockwork, bringing each blow down on the piled-up wheat-straw which +covered the barn-floor, as they advanced, one stepping backward while +the other stepped forward, and then receded with mechanical and rhythmic +regularity, a step and a blow, from one end of the long barn to the +other. The half-blind thresher could see the outline of the open door +against the sunlight, and his steps and voice guided his sightless +fellow-worker. Thus healthful and useful employment was given to two +stricken waifs through the use of primitive methods, which no modern +machine could ever have afforded; and the blue sky and bay, with +autumnal sunshine on the piled-up golden wheat on floor and in rack, +idealized and even made of the threshers, paupers though they were, a +beautiful picture of old-time farm-life. + +Wood for axe-helves was carefully chosen, sawed, split, and whittled +into shape. These were then scraped as smooth as ivory with broken +glass. Some men had a knack that was almost genius in shaping these +axe-helves and selecting the wood for them. In a country where the +broad-axe was so important an implement--used every day by every farmer; +where lumbermen and loggers and shipwrights swung the axe the entire day +for many months, men were ready to pay double price for a well-made +helve, so shaped as to let the heavy blow jar as little as possible the +hand holding the helve. One Maine farmer boasted that he had made and +sold five hundred axe-helves, and received a good price for them all; +that some had gone five hundred miles out west, others a hundred miles +"up country"; and of no one of them which he had set had it ever been +said, as of the axe in Deuteronomy, "When a man goeth into the wood to +hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down a +tree, then the head slippeth from the helve." + +A little money might be earned by cutting heel-pegs for shoemakers. +These were made of a maple trunk sawed across the grain, making the +circular board thin enough--a half inch or so--for the correct length of +the pegs. The end was then marked in parallel lines, then grooved across +at right angles, then split as marked into pegs with knife and mallet. A +story is told of a farmer named Meigs, who, on the winter ride to +market in company with a score or more of his neighbors, stole out at +night from the tavern fireside where all were gathered to the barn where +the horses were put up. There he took an oat-bag out of a neighbor's +sleigh and poured out a good feed for his own horse. In the morning it +was found that his horse had not relished the shoe-pegs that had been +put in his manger; and their telltale presence plainly pointed out the +thief. These shoe-pegs were a venture of two farmer boys which their +father was taking to town to sell for them, and in indignation the boys +thrust on the thief the name of Shoe-pegs Meigs, which he carried to the +end of his life. + +When the boys had learned to use a few other tools besides their +jack-knives, as they quickly did, they could get sawed staves from the +sawmills and make up shooks of staves bound with hoops of red oak, for +molasses hogsheads. These would be shipped to the West Indies, and form +an important link in the profitable rum and slave round of traffic that +bound Africa, New England, and the West Indies so closely together in +those days. A constant occupation for men and boys was making rived or +shaved shingles. They were split with a beetle and wedge. A smart +workman could by sharp work make a thousand a day. There may still be +occasionally found in what were well-wooded pine regions, in shed or +barn-lofts, or in old wood-houses, a stout oaken frame or rack such as +was at one time found in nearly every house. It was known as a +bundling-mould or shingling-mould. At the bottom of this strong frame +were laid straight sticks and twisted withes which extended up the +sides. Upon these were evenly packed the shingles, two hundred and fifty +in number, known as a "quarter." The withes or "binders" were twisted +strongly around when the number was full. The mould held them firmly in +place while being tied. These were sealed by law and shipped. Cullers of +staves were regularly appointed town officers. The dimensions of the +shingles were given by law and rule; fifteen inches was the length for +one period of time, and the bundling-mould conformed to it. + +Daniel Leake of Salisbury, New Hampshire, made during his lifetime and +was paid for a million shingles. During the years he was accomplishing +this colossal work he cleared three hundred acres of land, tapped for +twenty years at least six hundred maple-trees, making sometimes four +thousand pounds of sugar a year. He could mow six acres a day, giving +nine tons of hay; his strong, long arms cut a swath twelve feet wide. +_In his spare time_ he worked as a cooper, and he was a famous +drum-maker. Truly there were giants in those days. I love to read of +such vigorous, powerful lives; they seem to be of a race entirely +different from our own. Still, among our New England forbears I doubt +not many of us had some such giants, who conquered for us the earth and +forests. + +One mark the shingling industry left on the household. In the sawing of +blocks there would always be some too knotty or gnarled to split into +shingles. These were what were known in the vernacular as +"on-marchantable shingle-bolts." They formed in many a pioneer's home +and in many a pioneer school-house good solid seats for children and +even grown people to sit on. And even in pioneer meeting-houses these +blocks could sometimes be seen. + +Other fittings for the house were whittled out. Long, heavy, wooden +hinges were cut from horn-beam for cupboard and closet doors; even shed +doors were hung on wooden hinges as were house doors in the earliest +colonial days. Door-latches were made of wood, also oblong buttons to +fasten chamber and cupboard doors. + +New England housekeepers prized the smooth, close-grained bowls which +the Indians made from the veined and mottled knots of maple-wood. They +were valued at what seems high prices for wooden utensils and were often +named and bequeathed in wills. Maple-wood has been used and esteemed by +many nations for cups and bowls. The old English and German vessel known +as a mazer was made of maple-wood, often bound and tipped with silver. +Spenser speaks in his _Shepheard's Calendar_ of "a mazer yrought of the +maple wood." A well-known specimen in England bears the legend in Gothic +text:-- + + "In the Name of the Trinitie + Fille the kup and drinke to me." + +Sometimes a specially skilful Yankee would rival the Indians in shaping +and whittling out these bowls. I have seen two really beautiful ones +carved with double initials, and one with a Scriptural reference, said +to be the work of a lover for his bride. Another token of affection and +skill from the whittler were carved busks, which were the broad and +strong strips of wood placed in corsets or stays to help to form and +preserve the long-waisted, stiff figure then fashionable. One carved +busk bears initials and an appropriately sentimental design of arrows +and hearts. + +On the rim of spinning-wheels, on shuttles, swifts, and on niddy-noddys +or hand-reels I have seen lettering by the hands of rustic lovers. A +finely carved legend on a hand-reel reads:-- + + "POLLY GREENE, HER REEL. + Count your threads right + If you reel in the night + When I am far away. + June, 1777." + +Perhaps some Revolutionary soldier gave this as a parting gift to his +sweetheart on the eve of battle. + +On his powder-horn the rustic carver bestowed his best and daintiest +work. Emblem both of war and of sport, it seemed worthy of being shaped +into the highest expression of his artistic longing. A chapter, even a +book, might be filled with the romantic history and representations of +American powder-horns; patriotism, sentiment, and adventure shed equal +halos over them. Months of the patient work of every spare moment was +spent in beautifying them, and their quaintness, variety, and +individuality are a never-ceasing delight to the antiquary. Maps, plans, +legends, verses, portraits, landscapes, family history, crests, dates of +births, marriages, and deaths, lists of battles, patriotic and religious +sentiments, all may be found on powder-horns. They have in many cases +proved valuable historical records, and have sometimes been the only +records of events. Mr. Rufus A. Grider, of Canajoharie, has made colored +drawings of about five hundred of these powder-horns, and of canteens or +drinking-horns. It is unfortunate that the ordinary processes of +book-illustration give too scant suggestion of the variety, beauty, and +delicacy of their decoration, to permit the reproduction of some of +these powder-horns in these pages. + +These habits of employing the spare moments of farm-life in the +manufacture from wood of farm implements and various aids to domestic +comfort, were not peculiar to New England farmers, nor invented by them. +The old English farmer-author, Thomas Tusser, in his rhymed book, _Five +Hundred Points of Good Husbandry_, written in the sixteenth century +(which Southey declared to be one of the most curious and formerly one +of the most popular books in our language), was careful to give +instructions in his "remembrances" and "doings" as to similar industries +on the English farm and manor house. He says:-- + + "Yokes, forks, and such other let bailie spy out + And gather the same as he walketh about; + And after, at leisure, let this be his hire, + To beath them and trim them at home by the fire." + +_To beath_ is to heat unseasoned wood to harden and straighten it. + + "If hop-yard or orchard ye mean for to have, + For hop-poles and crotches in lopping go save. + + "Save elm, ash, and crab tree for cart and for plow, + Save step for a stile of the crotch of a bough; + Save hazel for forks, save sallow for rake: + Save hulver and thorn, thereof flail for to make." + +The Massachusetts Bay settlers came chiefly from the vicinity, many from +the same county, where Tusser lived and farmed, and where his points of +good husbandry were household words; so they had in their English homes +as had their grandfathers before them, the knowledge and habit of saving +and utilizing the various woods on the farm, and of occupying every +spare minute with the useful jack-knife. The varied and bountiful trees +of the New World stimulated and emphasized the whittling habit until it +became universally accepted as a distinguishing New England +characteristic, a Yankee trait. + +This constant employment of every moment of the waking hours contributed +to impart to New Englanders a regard and method of life which is spoken +of by many outsiders with contempt, namely, a closely girded and +invariable habit of economy. Children brought up in this way knew the +value of everything in the household, knew the time it took to produce +it, for they had labored themselves, and they grew to take care of small +things, not to squander and waste what they had been so long at work on. +This, instead of being a thing to sneer at, is one of the very best +elements in a community, one of the best securities of character. For +sudden leaps to fortune are given to but few, and are seldom lasting, +and the results of sudden inflations are more disastrous even to a +community than to isolated individuals, as may be abundantly proved by +the early history of Virginia. It was not meanness that made the wiry +New England farmer so cautious and exacting in trade, when the pennies +he saved sent his son through college. It was not meanness which made +him refuse to spend money; he had no money to spend, and it was a high +sense of honor that kept him from running in debt. It was not meanness +which so justly ordered conditions and cared for the unfortunate that +even in those days of horrible drunkenness often there would not be a +pauper in the entire village. It has been a reproach that in some towns +the few town poor were vendued out to be cared for; the mode was harsh +in its wording, and unfeeling in method, but in reality the pauper found +a home. I have known cases where the pauper was not only supported but +cherished in the families to whose lot she fell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION, AND TAVERNS + + +Wherever the earliest colonists settled in America, they had to adopt +the modes of travel and the ways of getting from place to place of their +predecessors and new neighbors, the Indians. These were first--and +generally--to walk on their own stout legs; second, to go wherever they +could by water, in boats. In Maryland and Virginia, where for a long +time nearly all settlers tried to build their homes on the banks of the +rivers and bays, the travel was almost entirely by boats; as it was +between settlements on all the great rivers, the Hudson, Connecticut, +and Merrimac. + +Between the large settlements in Massachusetts--Boston, Salem, and +Plymouth--travel was preferably, when the weather permitted, in boats. +The colonists went in canoes, or pinnaces, shaped and made exactly like +the birch-bark canoes of the Canadian Indians to-day; and in dugouts, +which were formed from hollowed pine-logs, usually about twenty feet +long and two or three feet wide; both of these were made for them by the +Indians. It was said that one Indian, working alone, felling the +pine-tree by the primitive way of burning and scraping off the charred +parts with a stone tool called a celt (for the Indians had no iron or +steel axes), then cutting off the top in the same manner, then burning +out part of the interior, then burning and scraping and shaping it +without and within, could make one of these dugouts in three weeks. The +Indians at Onondaga still make the wooden mortars they use in the same +tedious way. + +When the white men came to America in great ships, the Indians marvelled +much at the size, thinking they were hollowed out of tree-trunks as were +the dugouts, and wondered where such vast trees grew. + +The Swedish scientific traveller, Kalm, who was in America in 1748, was +delighted with the Indian canoes and dugouts. He found the Swede +settlers using them constantly to go long distances to market. He +said:-- + + "They usually carry six persons who however by no means must be + unruly, but sit at the bottom of the canoe in the quietest manner + possible lest the boat upset. They are narrow, round below, have no + keel and may be easily overset. So when the wind is brisk the + people make for the land. Larger dugouts were made for war-canoes + which would carry thirty or forty savages." + +These boats usually kept close to the shore, both in calm and windy +weather, though the natives were not afraid to go many miles out to sea +in the dugouts. + +The lightness of the birch-bark canoe made it specially desirable where +there were such frequent overland transfers. It was and is a beautiful +and perfect expression of natural and wild life; as Longfellow wrote:-- + + "... the forest's life was in it, + All its mystery and magic, + All the lightness of the birch tree, + All the toughness of the cedar, + All the larch's supple sinews, + And it floated on the river + Like a yellow leaf in autumn." + +The French governor and missionaries all saw and admired these +birch-bark canoes. Father Charlevoix wrote a beautiful and vivid +description of them. All the early travellers noted their ticklish +balance. Wood, writing in 1634, said, "In these cockling fly-boats an +Englishman can scarce sit without a fearful tottering," and Madam +Knights a century later said in her vivid English of a trip in one:-- + + "The Cannoo was very small and shallow, which greatly terrify'd me + and caused me to be very circumspect, sitting with my hands fast on + each side, my eyes steady, not daring so much as to lodge my tongue + a hair's bredth more on one side of my mouth than tother, nor so + much as think on Lott's wife, for a very thought would have + oversett our wherry." + +When boats and vessels were built by the colonists, they were in forms +or had names but little used to-day. Shallop, ketch, pink, and snow are +rarely heard. Sloops were early built, but schooner is a modern term. +Batteau and periagua still are used; and the gundalow, picturesque with +its lateen sail, still is found on our northern New England shores. + +The Indians had narrow foot-paths in many places through the woods. On +them foot-travel was possible, though many estuaries and rivers +intersected the coast; for the narrow streams could be crossed on +natural ford-ways, or on rude bridges of fallen trees, which the English +government ordered to be put in place. + +As late as 1631 Governor Endicott would not go from Salem to Boston to +visit Governor Winthrop because he was not strong enough to wade across +the fords. He might have done as Governor Winthrop did the next year +when he went to Plymouth to visit Governor Bradford (and it took him two +days to get there); he might have been carried across the fords +pickaback by an Indian guide. + +The Indian paths were good, though only two or three feet wide, and in +many places the savages kept the woods clear from underbrush by burning +over large tracts. When King Philip's War took place, all the land +around the Indian settlements in Narragansett and eastern Massachusetts +was so free of brush that horsemen could ride everywhere freely through +the woods. Some of the old paths are famous in our history. The most so +was the Bay Path, which ran from Cambridge through Marlborough, +Worcester, Oxford, Brookfield, and on to Springfield and the Connecticut +River. Holland's beautiful story called by the name of the path gives +its history, its sentiment, and much that happened on it in olden times. + +When new paths were cut through the forests, the settlers "blazed" the +trees, that is, they chopped a piece of the bark off tree after tree +standing on the side of the way. Thus the "blazes" stood out clear and +white in the dark shadows of the forests, like welcome guide-posts, +showing the traveller his way. In Maryland roads turning off to a church +were marked by slips or blazes cut near the ground. + +In Maryland and Virginia what were known as, and indeed are still +called, rolling-roads were cut through the forest. They were narrow +roads adown which hogsheads of tobacco, fitted with axles, could be +drawn or rolled from inland plantations to the river or bay side; +sometimes the hogsheads were simply rolled by human propulsion, not +dragged on these roads. + +The broader rivers soon had canoe-ferries. The first regular +Massachusetts ferry from Charlestown to Boston was in 1639. It carried +passengers for threepence apiece. From Chelsea to Boston was fourpence. +In 1636 the Cambridge ferryman charged but half a penny, as so many +wished to attend the Thursday lecture in the Boston churches. We learn +from the Massachusetts Laws that often a rider had to let his horse +cross by swimming over, being guided from the ferry-boat; he then paid +no ferriage for the horse. After wheeled vehicles were used, these +ferries were not large enough to carry them properly. Often the carriage +had to be taken apart, or towed over, while the horse had his fore feet +in one canoe-ferry and his hind feet in another, the two canoes being +lashed together. The rope-ferry lingered till our own day, and was ever +a picturesque sight on the river. As soon as roads were built there +were, of course, bridges and cart-ways, but these were only between the +closely neighboring towns. Usually the bridges were merely +"horse-bridges" with a railing on but one side. + +After the period of walking and canoe-riding had had its day, nearly all +land travel for a century was on horseback, just as it was in England at +that date. In 1672 there were only six stage-coaches in the whole of +Great Britain; and a man wrote a pamphlet protesting that they +encouraged too much travel. Boston then had one private coach. Women and +children usually rode seated on a pillion behind a man. A pillion was a +padded cushion with straps which sometimes had on one side a sort of +platform-stirrup. One way of progress which would help four persons ride +part of their journey was what was called the ride-and-tie system. Two +of the four persons who were travelling started on their road on foot; +two mounted on the saddle and pillion, rode about a mile, dismounted, +tied the horse, and walked on. When the two who had started on foot +reached the waiting horse, they mounted, rode on past the other couple +for a mile or so, dismounted, tied, and walked on; and so on. It was +also a universal and courteous as it was a pleasant custom for friends +to ride out on the road a few miles with any departing guest or friend, +and then bid them God speed agatewards. + +In 1704 a Boston schoolmistress named Madam Knights rode from Boston to +New York on horseback. She was probably the first woman to make the +journey, and it was a great and daring undertaking. She had as a +companion the "post." This was the mail-carrier, who also rode on +horseback. One of his duties was to assist and be kind to all persons +who cared to journey in his company. The first regular mail started from +New York to Boston on January 1, 1673. The postman carried two +"portmantles," which were crammed with letters and parcels. He did not +change horses till he reached Hartford. He was ordered to look out and +report the condition of all ferries, fords, and roads. He had to be +"active, stout, indefatigable, and honest." When he delivered his mail +it was laid on a table at an inn, and any one who wished looked over all +the letters, then took and paid the postage (which was very high) on any +addressed to himself. It was usually about a month from this setting out +of "the post" in winter, till his return. As late certainly as 1730 the +mail was carried from New York to Albany in the winter by a "foot-post." +He went up the Hudson River, and lonely enough it must have been; +probably he skated up when the ice was good. This mail was only sent at +irregular intervals. + +In 1760 there were but eight mails a year from Philadelphia to the +Potomac River, and even then the post-rider need not start till he had +received enough letters to pay the expenses of the trip. It was not till +postal affairs were placed in the capable and responsible hands of +Benjamin Franklin that there were any regular or trustworthy mails. + +The journal and report of Hugh Finlay, a post-office surveyor in 1773 of +the mail service from Quebec to St. Augustine, Florida, tells of the +vicissitudes of mail-matter even at that later day. In some places the +deputy, as the postmaster was called, had no office, so his family rooms +were constantly invaded. Occasionally a tavern served as post-office; +letters were thrown down on a table and if the weather was bad, or +smallpox raged, or the deputy were careless, they were not forwarded for +many days. Letters that arrived might lie on the table or bar-counter +for days for any one to pull over, until the owner chanced to arrive and +claim them. Good service could scarcely be expected from any deputy, for +his salary was paid according to the number of letters coming to his +office; and as private mail-carriage constantly went on, though +forbidden by British law, the deputy suffered. "If an information were +lodg'd but an informer wou'd get tar'd and feather'd, no jury wou'd find +the fact." The government-riders were in truth the chief offenders. Any +ship's captain, or wagon-driver, or post-rider could carry merchandise; +therefore small sham bundles of paper, straw, or chips would be tied to +a large sealed packet of letter, and both be exempt from postage paid to +the Crown. + +The post-rider between Boston and Newport loaded his carriage with +bundles real and sham, which delayed him long in delivery. He bought and +sold on commission along this road; and in violation of law he carried +many letters to his own profit. He took twenty-six hours to go eighty +miles. Had the Newport deputy dared to complain, he would have incurred +much odium and been declared a "friend of slavery and oppression." + +"Old Herd," the rider from Saybrook to New York, had been in the service +forty-six years and had made a good estate. He coolly took postage of +all way-letters as his perquisite; was a money carrier and transferrer, +all advantage to his own pocket; carried merchandise; returned horses +for travellers; and when Finlay saw him he was waiting for a yoke of +oxen he was paid for fetching along some miles. A Pennsylvania +post-rider, an aged man, occupied himself as he slowly jogged along by +knitting mittens and stockings. Not always were mail portmanteaux +properly locked; hence many letters were lost and the pulling in and out +of bundles defaced the letters. + +Of course so much horseback riding made it necessary to have +horse-blocks in front of nearly all houses. In course of time stones +were set every mile on the principal roads to tell the distance from +town to town. Benjamin Franklin set milestones the entire way on the +post-road from Boston to Philadelphia. He rode in a chaise over the +road; and a machine which he had invented was attached to the chaise; +and it was certainly the first cyclometer that went on that road, over +which so many cyclometers have passed during the last five years. It +measured the miles as he travelled. When he had ridden a mile he +stopped; from a heavy cart loaded with milestones, which kept alongside +the chaise, a stone was dropped which was afterwards set by a gang of +men. + +A number of old colonial milestones are still standing. There is one in +Worcester, on what was the "New Connecticut Path"; one in Springfield on +the "Bay Path," and there are several of Benjamin Franklin's setting, +one being at Stratford, Connecticut. + +The inland transportation of freight was carried on in the colonies just +as it was in Europe, on the backs of pack-horses. Very interesting +historical evidence in relation to the methods of transportation in the +middle of the eighteenth century may be found in the ingenious +advertisement and address with which Benjamin Franklin raised +transportation facilities for Braddock's army in 1755. This is one of +his most characteristic literary productions. Braddock's appeals to the +Philadelphia Assembly for a rough wagon-road and wagons for the army +succeeded in raising only twenty-five wagons. Franklin visited him in +his desolate plight and agreed to assist him, and appealed to the public +to send to him for the use of the army a hundred and fifty wagons and +fifteen hundred pack-horses; for the latter Franklin offered to pay two +shillings a day each, as long as used, if provided with a pack-saddle. +Twenty horses were sent with their loads to the camp as gifts to the +British officers. As a good and definite list of the load one of these +pack-horses was expected to carry (as well as a record of the kind of +provisions grateful to an officer of that day) let me give an +inventory:-- + + Six pounds loaf-sugar, + Six pounds muscovado sugar, + One pound green tea, + One pound bohea tea, + Six pounds ground coffee, + Six pounds chocolate, + One-half chest best white biscuit, + One-half pound pepper, + One quart white vinegar, + Two dozen bottles old Madeira wine, + Two gallons Jamaica spirits, + One bottle flour of mustard, + Two well-cured hams, + One-half dozen cured tongues, + Six pounds rice, + Six pounds raisins, + One Gloucester cheese, + One keg containing 20 lbs. best butter. + +The wagons and horses were all lost after Braddock's defeat, or were +seized by the French and Indians, and Franklin had many anxious months +of responsibility for damages from the owners; but I am confident the +officers got all the provisions. Franklin gathered the wagons in York +and Lancaster; no two English shires could have done better at that time +than did these Pennsylvania counties. + +In Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Ohio, pack-horses long were used, +and a pretty picture is drawn by Doddridge and many other local +historians of the trains of these horses with their gay collars and +stuffed bells, as, laden with furs, ginseng, and snakeroot, they filed +down the mountain roads to the towns, and came home laden with salt, +nails, tea, pewter plates, etc. At night the horses were hobbled, and +the clappers of their bells were loosened; the ringing prevented the +horses being lost. The animals started on their journey with two hundred +pounds' burden, of which part was provender for horse and man, which was +left at convenient relays to be taken up on the way home. Two men could +manage fifteen pack-horses, which were tethered successively each to the +pack-saddle of the one in front of him. One man led the foremost horse, +and the driver followed the file to watch the packs and urge on the +laggards. Their numbers were vast; five hundred were counted at one time +in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, going westward. It was a costly method of +transportation. Mr. Howland says that in 1784 the expense of carrying a +ton's weight from Philadelphia to Erie by pack-horses was $249. It is +interesting to note that the routes taken by those men, skilled only in +humble woodcraft, were the same ones followed in later years by the +engineers of the turnpikes and railroads. + +As the roads were somewhat better in Pennsylvania than in some other +provinces, and more needed, so wagons soon were far greater in number; +indeed, during the Revolution nearly all the wagons and horses used by +the army came from that state. There was developed in Pennsylvania by +the soft soil of these many roads, as well as by various topographical +conditions, a splendid example of a true American vehicle, one which was +for a long time the highest type of a commodious freight-carrier in this +or any other country--the Conestoga wagon, "the finest wagon the world +has ever known." They were first used in any considerable number about +1760. They had broad wheel-tires, and one of the peculiarities was a +decided curve in the bottom, analogous to that of a galley or canoe, +which made it specially fitted for traversing mountain roads; for this +curved bottom prevented freight from slipping too far at either end when +going up or down hill. This body was universally painted a bright blue, +and furnished with sideboards of an equally vivid red. The wagon-bodies +were arched over with six or eight stately bows, of which the middle +ones were the lowest, and the others rose gradually to front and rear +till the end bows were nearly of equal height. Over them all was +stretched a strong, white, hempen cover, well corded down at the sides +and ends. These wagons could be loaded up to the bows, and could carry +four to six tons in weight. The rates between Philadelphia and +Pittsburgh were about two dollars a hundred pounds. The horses, four to +seven in number, were magnificent, often matched throughout; some were +all dapple-gray, or all bay. The harnesses, of best materials and +appearance, were costly; each horse had a large housing of deerskin or +heavy bearskin trimmed with deep scarlet fringe; while the head-stall +was tied with bunches of gay ribbons. Bell-teams were common; each horse +except the saddle-horse then had a full set of bells tied with +high-colored ribbons. + +The horses were highly fed; and when the driver, seated on the +saddle-horse, drew rein on the prancing leader and flourished his fine +bull-hide London whip, making the silk snap and tingle round the +leader's ears, every horse started off with the ponderous load with a +grace and ease that was beautiful to see. + +The wagons were first used in the Conestoga valley, and most extensively +used there; and the sleek powerful draught-horses known as the Conestoga +breed were attached to them, hence their name. These teams were objects +of pride to their owners, objects of admiration and attention wherever +they appeared, and are objects of historical interest and satisfaction +to-day. + +Often a prosperous teamster would own several Conestoga wagons, and +driving the leading and handsomest team himself would start off his +proud procession. From twenty to a hundred would follow in close row. +Large numbers were constantly passing. At one time ten thousand ran from +Philadelphia to other towns. Josiah Quincy told of the road at +Lancaster being lined with them. The scene on the road between the +Cumberland valley and Greensburg, where there are five distinct and +noble mountain ranges,--Tuscarora, Rays Hill, Alleghany, Laurel Hills, +and Chestnut Ridge,--when a long train of white-topped Conestoga wagons +appeared and wound along the mountain sides, was picturesque and +beautiful with a charm unparalleled to-day. + + "----Many a fleet of them + In one long upward winding row. + It ever was a noble sight + As from the distant mountain height + Or quiet valley far below, + Their snow-white covers looked like sail." + +There were two classes of Conestoga wagons and wagoners. The "Regulars," +or men who made it their constant and only business; and "Militia." A +local poet thus describes these outfits:-- + + "Militia-men drove narrow treads, + Four horses and plain red Dutch beds, + And always carried grub and feed." + +They were farmers or common teamsters who made occasional trips, usually +in winter time, and did some carriage for others, and drove but four +horses with their wagons. The "Regulars" had broad tires, carried no +feed for horses nor food for themselves, but both classes of teamsters +carried coarse mattresses and blankets, which they spread side by side, +and row after row, on the bar-room floor of the tavern at which they +"put up." Their horses when unharnessed fed from long troughs hitched to +the wagon-pole. The wagons that plied between the Delaware and the small +city of Pittsburgh were called Pitt-teams. + +The life of the Conestoga wagon did not end even with the establishment +of railroads in the Eastern states; farther and farther west it +penetrated, ever chosen by emigrants and travellers to the frontiers; +and at last in its old age it had an equal career of usefulness as the +"prairie-schooner," in which vast numbers of families safely crossed the +prairies of our far West. The white tilts of the wagons thus passed and +repassed till our own day. + +Four-wheeled wagons were but little used in New England till after the +War of 1812. Two-wheeled carts and sleds carried inland freight, which +was chiefly transported over the snow in the winter. + +The Conestoga wagon of the past century was far ahead of anything in +England at that date; indeed Mr. C. W. Ernst, the best authority I know +on the subject, says we had in every way far better traffic facilities +at that time than England. In other ways we excelled. Though Finlay +found many defects in the postal service in 1773, he also found the +Stavers mail-coach plying between Boston and Portsmouth long before +England had such a thing. Mr. Ernst says: "The Stavers mail-coach was +stunning; used six horses when roads were bad, and never was late. They +had no mail-coaches in England till after the Revolution, and I believe +Massachusetts men introduced the idea in England." + +We are apt to grow retrospectively sentimental over the delights, +aesthetic and physical, of ancient stage-coach days. Those days are not +so ancient as many fancy. The first stage-coach which ran directly from +Philadelphia to New York in 1766--and primitive enough it was--was +called "the flying-machine, a good stage-wagon set on springs." Its +swift trip occupied two days in good weather. It was but a year later +than the original stage-coach between Edinburgh and Glasgow. At that +time, in favorable weather, the coach between London and Edinburgh made +the trip in thirteen days. The London mail-coach in its palmiest days +could make this trip in forty-three hours and a half. As early as 1718 +Jonathan Wardwell advertised that he would run a stage to Rhode Island. +In 1767 a stage-coach was run during the summer months between Boston +and Providence; in 1770 a stage-chaise started between Salem and Boston +and a post-chaise between Boston and Portsmouth the following year. As +early as 1732 some common-carrier lines had wagons which would carry a +few passengers. Let us hear the testimony of some travellers as to the +glorious pleasure of stage-coach travelling. Describing a trip between +Boston and New York towards the end of the last century President Quincy +of Harvard College said:-- + + "The carriages were old and the shackling and much of the harness + made of ropes. One pair of horses carried us eighteen miles. We + generally reached our resting-place for the night if no accident + intervened, at ten o'clock, and after a frugal supper went to bed, + with a notice that we should be called at three next morning, which + generally proved to be half-past two, and then, whether it snowed + or rained, the traveller must rise and make ready, by the help of a + horn-lantern and a farthing candle, and proceed on his way over bad + roads, sometimes getting out to help the coachman lift the coach + out of a quagmire or rut, and arrived in New York after a week's + hard travelling, wondering at the ease as well as the expedition + with which our journey was effected." + +The _Columbia Centinel_ of April 24, 1793, advertised a new line of +"small genteel and easy stage-carriages" from Boston to New York with +four inside passengers, and smart horses. Many of the announcements of +the day have pictures of the coaches. They usually resemble market +wagons with round, canvas-covered tops, and the driver is seated outside +the body of the wagon with his feet on the foot-board. Trunks were +small, covered with deerskin or pigskin, studded with brass nails; and +each traveller took his trunk under his seat and feet. + +The poet, Moore, gives in rhyme his testimony of Virginia roads in +1800:-- + + "Dear George, though every bone is aching + After the shaking + I've had this week over ruts and ridges, + And bridges + Made of a few uneasy planks, + In open ranks, + Over rivers of mud whose names alone + Would make knock the knees of stoutest man." + +The traveller Weld, in 1795, gave testimony that the bridges were so +poor that the driver had always to stop and arrange the loose planks ere +he dared cross, and he adds:-- + + "The driver frequently had to call to the passengers in the stage + to lean out of the carriage first on one side then on the other, to + prevent it from oversetting in the deep roads with which the road + abounds. 'Now, gentlemen, to the right,' upon which the passengers + all stretched their bodies half-way out of the carriage to balance + on that side. 'Now, gentlemen, to the left,' and so on." + +The coach in which this pleasure trip was taken is shown in the +illustration entitled "American Stage-wagon." It is copied from a first +edition of _Weld's Travels_. + +Ann Warder, in her journey from Philadelphia to New York in 1759, notes +two overturned and abandoned stage-wagons at Perth Amboy; and many other +travellers give similar testimony. In 1796 the trip from Philadelphia to +Baltimore took five days. + +The growth in stage-coaches and travel came with the turnpike at the +beginning of this century. In transportation and travel, improvement of +roadways is ever associated with improvement of vehicles. The first +extensive turnpike was the one between Philadelphia and Lancaster, built +in 1792. The growth and the cost of these roads may be briefly mentioned +by quoting a statement from the annual message of the governor of +Pennsylvania in 1838, that that commonwealth then had two thousand five +hundred miles of turnpikes which had cost $37,000,000. + +Many of these turnpikes were beautiful and splendid roads; for instance, +the "Mohawk and Hudson Turnpike," which ran in a straight line from +Albany to Schenectady, was ornamented and shaded with two rows of the +quickly growing and fashionable poplar-trees and thickly punctuated with +taverns. On one turnpike there were sixty-five taverns in sixty miles. +The dashing stage-coach accorded well with this fine thoroughfare. + +With the splendid turnpikes came the glorious coaching days. In 1827 the +Traveller's Register reported eight hundred stage-coaches arriving, and +as many leaving Boston each week. The forty-mile road from Boston to +Providence sometimes saw twenty coaches going each way. The editor of +the _Providence Gazette_ wrote: "We were rattled from Boston to +Providence in four hours and fifty minutes--if any one wants to go +faster he may go to Kentucky and charter a streak of lightning." There +were four rival lines on the Cumberland road,--the National, Good +Intent, Pioneer, and June Bug. Some spirited races the old stage-road +witnessed between the rival lines. The distance from Wheeling to +Cumberland, one hundred and thirty-two miles, was regularly accomplished +in twenty-four hours. No heavy luggage was carried and but nine +passengers; fourteen coaches rolled off together--one was a mail-coach +with a horn. Relays were every ten miles; teams were changed before the +coach ceased rocking; one driver boasted of changing and harnessing his +four horses in four minutes. Lady travellers were quickly thrust in the +open door and their bandboxes after them. Scant time was there for +refreshment, save by uncorking of bottles. The keen test and acute +rivalry between drivers came in the delivery of the President's Message. +Dan Gordon carried the message thirty-two miles in two hours and thirty +minutes, changing horses three times. Bill Noble carried the message +from Wheeling to Hagerstown, a hundred and eighty-five miles, in fifteen +and a half hours. + +In 1818 the Eastern Stage Company was chartered in the state of New +Hampshire. The route was this: a stage started from Portsmouth at 9 A.M.; +passengers dined at Topsfield; thence through Danvers and Salem; +back the following day, dining at Newburyport. The capital stock was +four hundred and twenty-five shares at a hundred dollars par. In 1834 +the stock was worth two hundred dollars a share. The company owned +several hundred horses. It was on a coach of this line that Henry Clay +rode from Pleasant Street, Salem, to Tremont House, Boston, in exactly +an hour; and on the route extended to Portland, Daniel Webster was +carried at the rate of sixteen English miles an hour from Boston to +Portland to sign the Ashburton Treaty. + +The middle of the century saw the beginning of the end of coaching in +all the states that had been colonies. Further west the old stage-coach +had to trundle in order to exist at all: Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, across +the plains, and then over the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake. The road +from Carson to Plainville gave the crack ride, and the driver wore +yellow kid gloves. The coach known as the Concord wagon, drawn by six +horses, still makes cheerful the out-of-the-way roads of our Western +states, and recalls the life of olden times. The story of spirited and +gay life still exists in the Wells Fargo Express. The usefulness of the +Concord coach is not limited to the western nor the northern portion of +our continent; in South America it flourishes, banishing all rivals. + +Canal travel and transportation were proposed at the close of provincial +days, and a few short canals were built. Benjamin Franklin was early +awake to their practicability and value. Among the stock-owners of the +Dismal Swamp Canal was George Washington, and he was equally interested +in the Potomac Canal. + +The Erie Canal, first proposed to the New York legislature in 1768, was +completed in 1825. There was considerable passenger travel on this canal +at "a cent and a half a mile, a mile and a half an hour." Horace Greeley +has given an excellent picture of this leisurely travel; it was asserted +by some that stage-coaches were doomed by the canal-boat, but they +continued to exist till they encountered a more formidable rival. + +Until turnpike days all small carriages were two-wheeled; chaises, +chairs, and sulkies were those generally used. The chaise and harness +used by Jonathan Trumbull--"Brother Jonathan"--are here shown. With +regard to private conveyances, whether coaches, chaises, or chairs, the +colonies kept close step from earliest days with the mother-countries. +Randolph noted with envy the Boston coaches of the seventeenth century. +Parson Thatcher was accused and reprehended in 1675 for making visits +with a coach and four. Coaches were taxed both in England and America; +so we know exactly how plentiful they were. There were as many in +Massachusetts in 1750 in proportion to the number of inhabitants as +there were in England in 1830. Judge Sewall's diary often refers to +private coaches; and one of the most amusing scenes it depicts is his +continued and ingenious argument when wooing Madam Winthrop for his +third wife, when she stipulated that he should keep a coach, and his +frugal mind disposed him not to do it. + +Coach-building prospered in the colonies; Lucas and Paddock in Boston, +Ross in New York, made beautiful and rich coaches. Materials were ample +and varied in the New World for carriage-building; horseflesh--not +over-choice, to be sure--became over-plentiful; it was said that no man +ever walked in America save a vagabond or a fool. A coach made for Madam +Angelica Campbell of Schenectady, New York, by coach-builder Ross, in +1790, is here shown. It is now owned by Mr. John D. Campbell of +Rotterdam, New York. + +Sleighs were common in New York a half-century before they were in +Boston. Madam Knights noted the fast racing in sleighs in New York when +she was there in 1704. + +One other curious conveyance of colonial days should be spoken of,--a +sedan-chair. This was a strong covered chair fastened on two bars with +handles like a litter, and might be carried by two or four persons. When +sedan-chairs were so much used in England, they were sure to be somewhat +used in cities in America. One was presented to Governor Winthrop as +early as 1646, portion of a capture from a Spanish galleon. Judge Sewall +wrote in 1706, "Five Indians carried Mr. Bromfield in a chair." This was +in the country, down on Cape Cod, and doubtless four Indians carried him +while one rested. As late as 1789 Eliza Quincy saw Dr. Franklin riding +in a sedan-chair in Philadelphia. + +The establishment and building of roads, bridges, and opening of inns +show that mutual interest which marks civilization, and separates us +from the lonely, selfish life of a savage. Soon inns were found +everywhere in the Northern colonies. In New England, New York, and +Pennsylvania an inn was called an ordinary, a victualling, a cook-shop, +or a tavern before we had our modern word hotel. + +Board was not very high at early inns; the prices were regulated by the +different towns. In 1633 the Salem innkeeper could only have sixpence +for a meal. This was at the famous Anchor Tavern, which was kept as a +hostelry for nearly two centuries. At the Ship Tavern, board, lodging, +wine at dinner, and beer between meals cost three shillings a day. Great +care was taken by the magistrates to choose responsible men and women to +keep taverns, and they would not permit too many taverns in one town. At +first the tavern-keeper could not sell sack (which was sherry), nor +stronger intoxicating liquor to travellers, but he could sell beer, +provided it was good, for a penny a quart. Nor could he sell cakes or +buns except at a wedding or funeral. He could not allow games to be +played, nor singing or dancing to take place. + +We know from Shakespeare's plays that the different rooms in English +inns had names. This was also the custom in New England. The Star +Chamber, Rose and Sun Chamber, Blue Chamber, Jerusalem Chamber, were +some of them. Many of the taverns of Revolutionary days and some of +colonial times are still standing. A few have even been taverns since +first built; others have served many other uses. A well-preserved old +house, built in 1690 in Sudbury, Massachusetts, was originally known as +the Red Horse Tavern, but has acquired greater fame as the Wayside Inn +of Longfellow's Tales. Its tap-room with raftered ceiling and cage-like +bar with swinging gate is a picturesque room, and is one of the few old +tap-rooms left unaltered in New England. + +Every inn had a name, usually painted on its swinging sign-board, with +some significant emblem. These names were simply repetitions of old +English tavern-signs until Revolutionary days, when patriotic landlords +eagerly invented and adopted names significant of the new nation. The +scarlet coat of King George became the blue and buff of George +Washington; and the eagle of the United States took the place of the +British lion. + +The sign-board was an interesting survival of feudal times, and with its +old-time carved and forged companions, such as vanes and weathercocks, +doorknockers and figureheads, formed a picturesque element of decoration +and symbolism. Many chapters might be written on historic, +commemorative, emblematic, heraldic, biblical, humorous, or significant +signs, nearly all of which have vanished from public gaze, as has +disappeared also the general incapacity to read, which made pictorial +devices a necessity. Gilders, painter-stainers, smiths, and joiners all +helped to make the tavern-sign a thing of varied workmanship if not of +art. It is said that Philadelphia excelled in the quantity and quality +of her sign-boards. With fair roads for colonial days, the best and +amplest system of transportation, and the splendid Conestoga wagons, +great inns multiplied throughout Pennsylvania. In Baltimore both taverns +and signs were many and varied, from the Three Loggerheads to the Indian +Queen with its "two hundred guest-rooms with a bell in every room," and +the Fountain Inn built around a shady court, with galleries on every +story, like the Tabard Inn at Southwark. + +The swinging sign-board of John Nash's Tavern at Amherst, Massachusetts, +is here reproduced from the _History of Amherst_. It is a good type of +the ordinary sign-board which was found hanging in front of every tavern +a century ago. + +In Virginia and the Carolinas taverns were not so plentiful nor so +necessary; for a traveller might ride from Maryland to Georgia, and be +sure of a welcome at every private house on the way. Some planters, +eager for company and news, stationed negroes at the gate to invite +passers-by on the post-road to come into the house and be entertained. +Berkeley, in his _History of Virginia_, wrote:-- + + "The inhabitants are very courteous to travellers, who need no + other recommendation than being human creatures. A stranger has no + more to do but to inquire upon the road where any gentleman or + good housekeeper lives, and then he may depend upon being received + with hospitality. This good-nature is so general among their + people, that the gentry, when they go abroad, order their principal + servants to entertain all visitors with everything the plantation + affords; and the poor planters who have but one bed, will often sit + up, or lie upon a form or couch all night, to make room for a weary + traveller to repose himself after his journey." + +So universal was this custom of free entertainment that it was a law in +Virginia that unless there had been a distinct agreement to pay for +board and shelter, no pay could be claimed from any guest, no matter how +long he remained. In the few taverns that existed prices were low, about +a shilling a dinner; and it was ordered that the meal must be wholesome +and good. + +The governor of New Netherlands at first entertained all visitors to New +Amsterdam at his house in the fort. But as commerce increased he found +this hospitality burdensome, and a Harberg or tavern was built; it was +later used as a city hall. + +In England throughout the seventeenth century, and indeed much later, +traversing the great cities by night was a matter of some danger. The +streets were ill-lighted, were full of holes and mud and filth, and were +infested with thieves. Worse still, groups of drunken and dissipated +young men of wealth, calling themselves Mohocks, Scourers, and other +names, roamed the dark streets armed with swords and bludgeons, +assaulting, tormenting, and injuring every one whom they met, who had +the ill fortune to be abroad at night. + +There was nothing of that sort known in American cities; there was +little noise or roistering, no highway robbery, comparatively little +petty stealing. The streets were ill-paved and dirty, but not foul with +the accumulated dirt of centuries as in London. The streets in nearly +all cities were unlighted. In 1697 New Yorkers were ordered to have a +lantern and candle hung out on a pole from every seventh house. And as +the watchman walked around he called out, "Lanthorn, and a whole +candell-light. Hang out your lights." The watchman was called a +rattle-watch, and carried a long staff and a lantern and a large rattle +or klopper, which he struck to frighten away thieves. And all night long +he called out each hour, and told the weather. For instance, he called +out, "Past midnight, and all's well"; "One o'clock and fair winds," or +"Five o'clock and cloudy skies." Thus one could lie safe in bed and if +he chanced to waken could know that the friendly rattle-watch was near +at hand, and what was the weather and the time of night. In 1658 New +York had in all ten watchmen, who were like our modern police; to-day it +has many thousands. + +In New England the constables and watch were all carefully appointed by +law. They carried black staves six feet long, tipped with brass, and +hence were called tipstaves. The night watch was called a bell-man. He +looked out for fire and thieves and other disorders, and called the time +of the night, and the weather. The pay was small, often but a shilling a +night, and occasionally a "coat of kersey." In large towns, as Boston +and Salem, thirteen "sober, honest men and householders" were the night +watch. The highest in the community, even the magistrates, took their +turn at the watch, and were ordered to walk two together, a young man +with "one of the soberer sort." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SUNDAY IN THE COLONIES + + +The first building used as a church at the Plymouth colony was the fort, +and to it the Pilgrim fathers and mothers and children walked on Sunday +reverently and gravely, three in a row, the men fully armed with swords +and guns, till they built a meeting-house in 1648. In other New England +settlements, the first services were held in tents, under trees, or +under any shelter. The settler who had a roomy house often had also the +meeting. The first Boston meeting-house had mud walls, a thatched roof, +and earthen floor. It was used till 1640, and some very thrilling and +inspiring scenes were enacted within its humble walls. Usually the +earliest meeting-houses were log houses, with clay-filled chinks, and +roofs thatched with reeds and long grass, like the dwelling-houses. At +Salem is still preserved one of the early churches. The second and more +dignified form of New England meeting-house was usually a square wooden +building with a truncated pyramidal roof, surmounted often with a +belfry, which served as a lookout station and held a bell, from which +the bell-rope hung down to the floor in the centre of the church aisle. +The old church at Hingham, Massachusetts, still standing and still used, +is a good specimen of this shape. It was built in 1681, and is known as +the "Old Ship," and is a comely and dignified building. As more elegant +and costly dwelling-houses were built, so were better meeting-houses; +and the third form with lofty wooden steeple at one end, in the style +of architecture invented by Sir Christopher Wren, after the great fire +of London, multiplied and increased until every town was graced with an +example. In all these the main body of the edifice remained as bare, +prosaic, and undecorated as were the preceding churches, while all the +ambition of both builders and congregation spent itself in the steeple. +These were so varied and at times so beautiful that a chapter might be +written on New England steeples. The Old South Church of Boston is a +good example of this school of ecclesiastical architecture, and is a +well-known historic building as well. + +The earliest meeting-houses had oiled paper in the windows, and when +glass came it was not set with putty, but was nailed in. The windows had +what were termed "heavy current side-shutters." The outside of the +meeting-house was not "colored," or "stained" as it was then termed, but +was left to turn gray and weather-stained, and sometimes moss-covered +with the dampness of the great shadowing hemlock and fir trees which +were usually planted around New England churches. The first +meeting-houses were often decorated in a very singular and grotesque +manner. Rewards were paid by all the early towns for killing wolves; and +any person who killed a wolf brought the head to the meeting-house and +nailed it to the outer wall; the fierce grinning heads and splashes of +blood made a grim and horrible decoration. All kinds of notices were +also nailed to the meeting-house door where all of the congregation +might readily see them,--notices of town-meetings, of sales of cattle or +farms, lists of town-officers, prohibitions from selling guns to the +Indians, notices of intended marriages, vendues, etc. It was the only +meeting-place, the only method of advertisement. In front of the church +was usually a row of stepping-stones or horse-blocks, for nearly all +came on horseback; and often on the meeting-house green stood the +stocks, pillory, and whipping-post. + +A verse from an old-fashioned hymn reads thus: + + "New England's Sabbath day + Is heaven-like, still, and pure, + When Israel walks the way + Up to the temple's door. + The time we tell + When there to come, + By beat of drum, + Or sounding shell." + +The first church at Jamestown, Virginia, gathered the congregation by +beat of drum; but while attendants of the Episcopal, Roman Catholic, +and Dutch Reformed churches in the New World were in general being +summoned to divine service by the ringing of a bell hung either over the +church or in the branches of a tree by its side, New England Puritans +were summoned, as the hymn relates, by drum, or horn, or shell. The +shell was a great conch-shell, and a man was hired to blow it--a +mournful sound--at the proper time, which was usually nine o'clock in +the morning. In Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the church-shell was +afterwards used for many years as a signal to begin and stop work in the +haying field. In Windsor, Connecticut, a man walked up and down on a +platform on the top of the meeting-house and blew a trumpet to summon +worshippers. Many churches had a church drummer, who stood on the roof +or in the belfry and drummed; a few raised a flag as a summons, or fired +a gun. + +Within the meeting-house all was simple enough: raftered walls, puncheon +and sanded or earthen floors, rows of benches, a few pews, all of +unpainted wood, and a pulpit which was usually a high desk overhung by a +heavy sounding-board, which was fastened to the roof by a slender metal +rod. The pulpit was sometimes called a scaffold. When pews were built +they were square, with high partition walls, and had narrow, +uncomfortable seats round three sides. The word was always spelled +"pue"; and they were sometimes called "pits." A little girl in the +middle of this century attended a service in an old church which still +retained the old-fashioned square pews; she exclaimed, in a loud voice, +"What! must I be shut in a closet and sit on a shelf?" These narrow, +shelf-like seats were usually hung on hinges and could be turned up +against the pew-walls during the long psalm-tunes and prayers; so the +members of the congregation could lean against the pew-walls for support +as they stood. When the seats were let down, they fell with a heavy slam +that could be heard half a mile away in the summer time, when the +windows of the meeting-house were open. Lines from an old poem read:-- + + "And when at last the loud Amen + Fell from aloft, how quickly then + The seats came down with heavy rattle, + Like musketry in fiercest battle." + +A few of the old-time meeting-houses, with high pulpit, square pews, and +deacons' seats, still remain in New England. The interior of the Rocky +Hill meeting-house at Salisbury, Massachusetts, is here shown. It fully +illustrates the words of the poet:-- + + "Old house of Puritanic wood + Through whose unpainted windows streamed + On seats as primitive and rude + As Jacob's pillow when he dreamed, + The white and undiluted day--" + +The seats were carefully and thoughtfully assigned by a church committee +called the Seating Committee, the best seats being given to older +persons of wealth and dignity who attended the church. Whittier wrote of +this custom:-- + + "In the goodly house of worship, where in order due and fit, + As by public vote directed, classed and ranked the people sit. + Mistress first and good wife after, clerkly squire before the clown, + From the brave coat lace-embroidered to the gray coat shading down." + +Many of the plans for "seating the meeting-house" have been preserved; +the pews and their assigned occupants are clearly designated. A copy is +shown of one now in Deerfield Memorial Hall. + +In the early meeting-houses men and women sat on separate sides of the +meeting-house, as in Quaker meetings till our own time. Sometimes a +group of young women or of young men were permitted to sit in the +gallery together. Little girls sat beside their mothers or on footstools +at their feet, or sometimes on the gallery stairs; and I have heard of a +little cage or frame to hold Puritan babies in meeting. Boys did not sit +with their families, but were in groups by themselves, usually on the +pulpit and gallery stairs, where tithing-men watched over them. In +Salem, in 1676, it was ordered by the town that "all ye boyes of ye +towne are appointed to sitt upon ye three paire of stairs in ye +meeting-house, and Wm. Lord is appointed to look after ye boys upon ye +pulpitt stairs." + +In Stratford the tithing-man was ordered to "watch over youths of +disorderly carriage, and see they behave themselves comelie, and use +such raps and blows as is in his discretion meet." In Durham any +misbehaving boy was punished publicly after the service was over. We +would nowadays scarcely seat twenty or thirty active boys together in +church if we wished them to be models of attention and dignified +behavior; but after the boys' seats were removed from the pulpit stairs +they were all turned in together in a "boys' pew" in the gallery. There +was a boys' pew in Windsor, Connecticut, as late as 1845, and pretty +noisy it usually was. A certain small boy in Connecticut misbehaved +himself on Sunday, and his wickedness was specified by the justice of +peace as follows:-- + + "A Rude and Idel Behaver in the meeting hous. Such as Smiling and + Larfing and Intiseing others to the Same Evil. Such as Larfing or + Smiling or puling the hair of his nayber Benoni Simkins in the time + of Publick Worship. Such as throwing Sister Penticost Perkins on + the Ice, it being Saboth day, between the meeting hous and his + plaes of abode." + +I can picture well the wicked scene; poor, meek little Benoni Simpkins +trying to behave well in meeting, and not cry out when the young "wanton +gospeller" pulled her hair, and unfortunate Sister Perkins tripped up on +the ice by the young rascal. + +Another vain youth in Andover, Massachusetts, was brought up before the +magistrate, and it was charged that he "sported and played, and by +Indecent gestures and wry faces caused laughter and misbehavior in the +beholders." The girls were just as wicked; they slammed down the +pew-seats. Tabatha Morgus of Norwich "prophaned the Lord's daye" by her +"rude and indecent behavior in Laughing and playing in ye tyme of +service." On Long Island godless boys "ran raesses" on the Sabbath and +"talked of vane things," and as for Albany children, they played hookey +and coasted down hill on Sunday to the scandal of every one evidently, +except their parents. When the boys were separated and families sat in +pews together, all became orderly in meeting. + +The deacons sat in a "Deacons' Pue" just in front of the pulpit; +sometimes also there was a "Deaf Pue" in front for those who were hard +of hearing. After choirs were established the singers' seats were +usually in the gallery; and high up under the beams in a loft sat the +negroes and Indians. + +If any person seated himself in any place which was not assigned to him, +he had to pay a fine, usually of several shillings, for each offence. +But in old Newbury men were fined as high as twenty-seven pounds each +for persistent and unruly sitting in seats belonging to other members. + +The churches were all unheated. Few had stoves until the middle of this +century. The chill of the damp buildings, never heated from autumn to +spring, and closed and dark throughout the week, was hard for every one +to bear. In some of the early log-built meeting-houses, fur bags made of +wolfskins were nailed to the seats; and in winter church attendants +thrust their feet into them. Dogs, too, were permitted to enter the +meeting-house and lie on their masters' feet. Dog-whippers or +dog-pelters were appointed to control and expel them when they became +unruly or unbearable. Women and children usually carried foot-stoves, +which were little pierced metal boxes that stood on wooden legs, and +held hot coals. During the noon intermission the half-frozen church +attendants went to a neighboring house or tavern, or to a noon-house to +get warm. A noon-house or "Sabba-day house," as it was often called, was +a long low building built near the meeting-house, with horse-stalls at +one end and a chimney at the other. In it the farmers kept, says one +church record, "their duds and horses." A great fire of logs was built +there each Sunday, and before its cheerful blaze noonday luncheons of +brown bread, doughnuts, or gingerbread were eaten, and foot-stoves were +filled. Boys and girls were not permitted to indulge in idle talk in +those noon-houses, much less to play. Often two or three families built +a noon-house together, or the church built a "Society-house," and there +the children had a sermon read to them by a deacon during the "nooning"; +sometimes the children had to explain aloud the notes they had taken +during the sermon in the morning. Thus they throve, as a minister wrote, +on the "Good Fare of brown Bread and the Gospel." There was no nearer +approach to a Sunday-school until this century. + +The services were not shortened because the churches were uncomfortable. +By the side of the pulpit stood a brass-bound hour-glass which was +turned by the tithing-man or clerk, but it did not hasten the closing of +the sermon. Sermons two or three hours long were customary, and prayers +from one to two hours in length. When the first church in Woburn was +dedicated, the minister preached a sermon nearly five hours long. A +Dutch traveller recorded a prayer four hours long on a Fast Day. Many +prayers were two hours long. The doors were closed and watched by the +tithing-man, and none could leave even if tired or restless unless with +good excuse. The singing of the psalms was tedious and unmusical, just +as it was in churches of all denominations both in America and England +at that date. Singing was by ear and very uncertain, and the +congregation had no notes, and many had no psalm-books, and hence no +words. So the psalms were "lined" or "deaconed"; that is, a line was +read by the deacon, and then sung by the congregation. Some psalms when +lined and sung occupied half an hour, during which the congregation +stood. There were but eight or nine tunes in general use, and even these +were often sung incorrectly. There were no church organs to help keep +the singers together, but sometimes pitch-pipes were used to set the +key. Bass-viols, clarionets, and flutes were played upon at a later date +in meeting to help the singing. Violins were too associated with dance +music to be thought decorous for church music. Still the New England +churches clung to and loved their poor confused psalm-singing as one of +their few delights, and whenever a Puritan, even in road or field, heard +the distant sound of a psalm-tune he removed his hat and bowed his head +in prayer. + +Contributions at first were not collected by the deacons, but the entire +congregation, one after another, walked up to the deacons' seat and +placed gifts of money, goods, wampum, or promissory notes in a box. When +the services were ended, all remained in the pews until the minister and +his wife had walked up the aisle and out of the church. + +The strict observance of Sunday as a holy day was one of the +characteristics of the Puritans. Any profanation of the day was +severely punished by fine or whipping. Citizens were forbidden to fish, +shoot, sail, row, dance, jump, or ride, save to and from church, or to +perform any work on the farm. An infinite number of examples might be +given to show how rigidly the laws were enforced. The use of tobacco was +forbidden near the meeting-house. These laws were held to extend from +sunset on Saturday to sunset on Sunday; for in the first instructions +given to Governor Endicott by the company in England, it was ordered +that all in the colony cease work at three o'clock in the afternoon on +Saturday. The Puritans found support of this belief in the Scriptural +words, "The evening and the morning were the first day." + +A Sabbath day in the family of Rev. John Cotton was thus described by +one of his fellow-ministers:-- + + "He began the Sabbath at evening, therefore then performed family + duty after supper, being longer than ordinary in exposition. After + which he catechized his children and servants, and then returned to + his study. The morning following, family worship being ended, he + retired into his study until the bell called him away. Upon his + return from meeting (where he had preached and prayed some hours), + he returned again into his study (the place of his labor and + prayer), unto his favorite devotion; where having a small repast + carried him up for his dinner, he continued until the tolling of + the bell. The public service of the afternoon being over, he + withdrew for a space to his pre-mentioned oratory for his sacred + addresses to God, as in the forenoon, then came down, repeated the + sermon in the family, prayed, after supper sang a Psalm, and toward + bedtime betaking himself again to his study he closed the day with + prayer. Thus he spent the Sabbath continually." + +The Virginia Cavaliers were strict Church of England men and the first +who came to the colony were strict Sunday-keepers. Rules were laid down +to enforce Sunday observance. Journeys were forbidden, boat-lading was +prohibited, also all profanation of the day by sports, such as shooting, +fishing, game-playing, etc. The offender who broke the Sabbath laws had +to pay a fine and be set in the stocks. When that sturdy watch-dog of +religion and government--Sir Thomas Dale--came over, he declared absence +from church should be punishable by death; but this severity never was +executed. The captain of the watch was made to play the same part as the +New England tithing-man. Every Sunday, half an hour before service-time, +at the last tolling of the bell, the captain stationed sentinels, then +searched all the houses and commanded and forced all (except the sick) +to go to church. Then, when all were driven churchwards before him, he +went with his guards to church himself. + +Captain John Smith, in his _Pathway to erect a Plantation_, thus vividly +described the first places of divine worship in Virginia:-- + + "Wee did hang an awning, which is an old saile, to three or foure + trees to shadow us from the Sunne; our walls were railes of wood; + our seats unhewed trees till we cut plankes; our Pulpit a bar of + wood nailed to two neighbouring trees. In foul weather we shifted + into an old rotten tent; this came by way of adventure for new. + This was our Church till we built a homely thing like a barne set + upon Cratchets, covered with rafts, sedge, and earth; so also was + the walls; the best of our houses were of like curiosity, that + could neither well defend from wind nor rain. + + "Yet we had daily Common Prayer morning and evening; every Sunday + two sermons; and every three months a holy Communion till our + Minister died: but our Prayers daily with an Homily on Sundays we + continued two or three years after, till more Preachers came." + +A timber church sixty feet long took the place of this mud and clay +chapel, and this was in turn replaced by the brick one whose ruined +arches are still standing. The wooden church saw the most pompous +ceremony of the day when the governor, De La Warre, or Delaware as we +now call it, in full dress, attended by all his councillors and officers +and fifty halbert-bearers in scarlet cloaks, filed within its +flower-decked walls. + +This decoration of flowers was significant of the difference between the +church edifices of the Puritans and of the Cavaliers. The churches of +the Southern colonies were, as a rule, much more richly furnished. Many +were modelled in shape after the old English churches and were built of +stone, though Jonathan Boucher, the colonial clergyman, could write that +the greater number of the Southern churches were, at the time of the +Revolution, "composed of wood, without spires, or towers or steeples or +bells, placed in retired and solitary spots and contiguous to springs or +wells." Many of the churches and the chapels-of-ease stood by the +waterside, and to the services came the church attendants in canoes, +periaugers, dugouts, etc. It made an animated scene upon the water, as +the boats came rowing in and as they departed after the service. + +Sometimes the seats were comfortably cushioned, and they were carefully +assigned as in the Puritan meetings. In some Virginia churches seats in +the galleries were deemed the most dignified. There was a pew for the +magistrates, another for the magistrates' ladies; pews for the +representatives and church-wardens, vestrymen, etc. Persons crowded into +pews above their stations, just as in New England, and were promptly +displaced. Groups of men built pews together, and there were schoolboys' +galleries and pews. + +The first clergyman in Virginia, Robert Hunt, a true man of God, came as +a missionary, and he and others were men of marked intellect and +religion, but in the eighteenth century the pay was too small and +uncertain to attract any great men from the Church of England, and +church attendance dwindled and became irregular. For in Virginia the +parish was expected to receive any clergyman sent them from England, a +rule which often proved unsatisfactory; and deservedly so, since some +very disreputable offshoots of English families were thrust upon the +Virginia churches. In the Carolinas, where the church chose its own +clergyman, harmony and affection prevailed in the parishes as it did +among the New England Puritans. Though the Virginians did not always +love their clergymen, still they were ever steadfast in their affection +to their church, and regarded it as the only church. + +Sunday was not observed with as much rigidity in New Netherland as in +New England, but strict rules and laws were made for enforcing quiet +during service-time. Fishing, gathering berries or nuts, playing in the +streets, working, going on pleasure trips, all were forbidden. On Long +Island shooting of wild fowl, carting of grain, travelling for pleasure, +all were punished. In Revolutionary times a cage was set up in City Hall +Park, near the present New York Post-office, in which boys were confined +who did not properly regard the Sabbath. + +Before the Dutch settlers had any churches or domines, as they called +their ministers, they had _krankbesoeckers_, or visitors of the sick, +who read sermons to an assembled congregation every Sunday. The first +church at Albany was much like the Plymouth fort, simply a blockhouse +with loop-holes through which guns could be fired. The roof was mounted +with three cannon. It had a seat for the magistrates and one for the +deacons, and a handsome octagonal pulpit which had been sent from +Holland, and which still exists. The edifice had a chandelier and candle +sconces and two low galleries. The first church in New Amsterdam was of +stone, and was seventy-two feet long. + +A favorite form of the Dutch churches was six or eight sided, with a +high pyramidal roof, topped with a belfry and a weather-vane. Usually +the windows were so small and of glass so opaque that the church was +very dark. A few of the churches were poorly heated with high stoves +perched up on pillars, the Albany and Schenectady churches among them, +but all the women carried foot-stoves, and some of the men carried +muffs. + +Almost as important as the domine was the _voorleezer_ or chorister, who +was also generally the bell-ringer, sexton, grave-digger, funeral +inviter, schoolmaster, and sometimes town clerk. He "tuned the psalm"; +turned the hour-glass; gave out the psalms on a hanging board to the +congregation; read the Bible; gave up notices to the domine by sticking +the papers in the end of a cleft stick and holding it up to the high +pulpit. + +The deacons had control of all the church money. In the middle of the +sermon they collected contributions by passing _sacjes_. These were +small cloth or velvet bags hung on the end of a pole six or eight feet +long. A French traveller told that the Dutch deacons passed round "the +old square hat of the preacher" on the end of a stick for the +contributions. Usually there was a little bell on the _sacje_ which rung +when a coin was dropped in. + +In many Dutch churches the men sat in a row of pews around the wall +while the women were seated on chairs in the centre of the church. There +were also a few benches or pews for persons of special dignity, or for +the minister's wife. + +There were many other colonists of other religious faiths: the Roman +Catholics in Maryland and the extreme Southern colonies; the Quakers in +Pennsylvania; the Baptists in Rhode Island; the Huguenots, Lutherans, +Moravians; but all enjoined an orderly observance of the Sabbath day. +And it may be counted as one of the great blessings of the settlement of +America, one of the most ennobling conditions of its colonization, that +it was made at a time when the deepest religious feeling prevailed +throughout Europe, when devotion to some religion was found in every +one, when the Bible was a newly found and deeply loved treasure; when +the very differences of religious belief and the formation of new sects +made each cling more lovingly and more earnestly to his own faith. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +COLONIAL NEIGHBORLINESS + + +If the first foundation of New England's strength and growth was +godliness, its next was neighborliness, and a firm rock it proved to +build upon. It may seem anomalous to assert that while there was in +olden times infinitely greater independence in each household than at +present, yet there was also greater interdependence with surrounding +households. + +It is curious to see how completely social ethics and relations have +changed since olden days. Aid in our families in times of stress and +need is not given to us now by kindly neighbors as of yore; we have +well-arranged systems by which we can buy all that assistance, and pay +for it, not with affectionate regard, but with current coin. The +colonist turned to any and all who lived around him, and never turned in +vain for help in sickness, or at the time of death of members of his +household; for friendly advice; for culinary aids to a halting appetite; +for the preparation for feasting an exceptional number of persons; in +short, in any unusual emergency, as well as in frequent every-day +cooeperation in log-rolling, stone-piling, stump-pulling, wall-building, +house-raising, etc.,--all the hard and exhausting labor on the farm. + +The word "cooeperation" is modern, but the thing itself is as old as +civilization. In a new country where there was much work to be done +which one man or one family could not do, under the mechanical +conditions which then existed, a working together, or union of labor was +necessary for progress, indeed, almost for obtaining a foothold. + +The term "log-rolling" is frequently employed in its metaphorical sense +in politics, both by English and American writers who have vague +knowledge of the original meaning of the word. A log-rolling in early +pioneer days, in the Northern colonies and in western Virginia and the +central states, was a noble example of generous cooeperation, where each +gave of his best--his time, strength, and good will; and where all +worked to clear the ground in the forest for a home-farm for a neighbor +who might be newly come and an entire stranger, but who in turn would +just as cheerfully and energetically give his work for others when it +was needed. + +With the vanishing of the log-rolling, and a score of similar kindly +usages and customs, has gone from our communities all traces of the +old-time exalted type of neighborliness. We nowadays have generalized +our sentiments; we have more philanthropy and less neighborliness; we +have more love for mankind and less for men. We are independent of our +neighbors, but infinitely more dependent on the world at large. The +personal element has been removed to a large extent from our social +ethics. We buy nursing and catering just as we hire our houses built and +buy our corn ready ground. Doubtless everything we buy is infinitely +better; nevertheless, our loss in affectionate zeal is great. + +The plantation was the unit in Virginia; in New England it was the town. +The neighborly helpfulness of the New England settlers extended from +small to great matters; it formed communal privileges and entered into +every department of town life. For instance, the town of Gloucester in +1663 granted a right to a citizen for running a small sawmill for +twenty-one years. In return for this right the grantee was to sell +boards to Gloucester men at "one shilling per hundred better cheape than +to strangers"--and was to receive pay "raised in the towne." Saco and +Biddeford, in Maine, ordered that fellow-townsmen should have preference +in every employment. Other towns ordered certain persons to buy +provisions "of the towns-men in preference." Reading would not sell any +of its felled timber out of the town. Thus the social compact called a +town extended itself also into all the small doings of daily life, and +the mutual helpfulness made mutual interests that proved no small +element of the force which bound all together in 1776 in a successful +struggle for independence. + +In outlying settlements and districts this feeling of mutual dependence +and assistance was strong enough to give a name which sometimes lingered +long. "The Loomis Neighborhood," "The Mason Neighborhood," "The Robinson +Neighborhood" were names distinctive for half a century, and far more +distinguishing and individual than the Greenville, Masontown, and +Longwood that succeeded them. + +There was one curious and contradictory aspect of this neighborliness, +this kindliness, this thought for mutual welfare, and that was its +narrowness, especially in New England, as regards the limitations of +space and locality. It is impossible to judge what caused this restraint +of vision, but it is certain that in generality and almost in +universality, just as soon as any group of settlers could call +themselves a town, these colonists' notions of kindliness and +thoughtfulness for others became distinctly and rigidly limited to their +own townspeople. The town was their whole world. Without doubt this was +partly the result of the lack of travelling facilities and ample +communication, which made townships far more separated and remote from +each other than states are to-day, and made difficult the possibility of +speedy or full knowledge of strangers. + +This caused a constant suspicion of all newcomers, especially those who +chanced to enter with scant introduction, and made universal a custom of +"warning out" all strangers who arrived in any town. This formality was +gone through with by the sheriff or tithing-man. Thereafter should the +warned ones prove incapable or unsuccessful or vicious, they could not +become a charge upon the town, but could be returned whence they came +with despatch and violence if necessary. By this means, and by various +attempts to restrict the powers of citizens to sell property to +newcomers, the town kept a jealous watch over the right of entry into +the corporation. + +Dorchester in 1634 enacted that "no man within the Plantation shall sell +his house or lott to any man without the Plantation whome they shall +dislike off." Providence would not permit a proprietor to sell to any +"but to an Inhabitant" without consent of the town. New Haven would +neither sell nor let ground to a stranger. Hadley would sell no land to +any until after three years' occupation, and then only with approval of +the "Town's Mind." In 1637 the General Court very reasonably questioned +whether towns could legally restrain individuals from disposal of their +own property, but the custom was so established, so in touch with the +narrow exclusiveness of the colonists, that it still prevailed. The +expression of the town of Watertown when it would sell lots only to +freemen of the congregation, because it wished no strange neighbors, but +only "to sitt down there close togither," was the sentiment of all the +towns. One John Stebbins, who had twice served as a soldier of Watertown +and lived there seven years, could not get a town lot. + +The legal process of warning out of town had an element of the absurd in +it, and in one case that of mystery, namely: a sheriff appeared before +the woebegone intruder, and said, half laughing, "I warn you off the +face of the earth." "Let me get my hat before I go," stammered the +terrified wanderer, who ran into the house for his hat and was never +seen by any mortal eye in that town afterwards. It has become a +tradition of local folk-lore that he literally vanished from the earth +at the command of the officer of the law. + +The harboring of strangers, even of relatives who were not local +residents, was a frequent source of bickering between citizens and +magistrates, as well as a constant cause of arbitration between towns. A +widow in Dorchester was not permitted to entertain her own son-in-law +from another town, and her neighbor was fined in 1671 "under distress" +for housing his own daughter. She was a married woman, and alleged she +could not return to her husband on account of the inclement weather. + +As time passed on and immigration continued, freemen clung closely to +their right to keep out strangers and outsiders. From the Boston Town +Records of 1714 we find citizens still prohibited from entertaining a +stranger without giving notice to the town authorities, and a +description of the stranger and his circumstances. Boston required that +all coming from Ireland should be registered "lest they become +chargeable." Warnings and whippings out of town still continued. All +this was so contrary to the methods of colonies in other countries, such +as the Barbadoes, Honduras, etc., where extraordinary privileges were +offered settlers, free and large grants of land, absolvment from past +debts, etc., that it makes an early example of the curious absorbing and +assimilating power of American nationality, which ever grew and grew +even against such clogs and hampering restrictions. + +In the Southern colonies the same kindliness existed as in the North, +but the conditions differed. John Hammond, of Virginia, wrote in 1656, +in his _Leah and Rachel_:-- + + "The Country is not only plentifull, but pleasant and profitable, + pleasant in regard of the extraordinary good neighbourhood and + loving conversation they have one with another. + + "The inhabitants are generally affable, courteous, and very + assistant to Strangers (for what but plenty makes hospitality and + good neighbourhood) and no sooner are they settled, but they will + be visiting, presenting and advising the strangers how to improve + what they have, how to better their way of livelihood." + +In summer when fresh meat was killed, the neighbors shared the luxury, +and in turn gave of their slaughter. Hammond adds:-- + + "If any fall sick and cannot compass to follow his crops which + would soon be lost, the adjoining neighbour, or upon request more + joyn together and work it by spells, until he recovers; and that + gratis, so that no man may by sickness loose any part of his year's + work. + + "Let any travell, it is without charge and at every house is + entertainment as in a hostelry." + +It was the same in the Carolinas. Ramsay, the early historian of South +Carolina, said that hospitality was such a virtue that innkeepers +complained that their business was not worth carrying on. The doors of +citizens were open to all decent travellers, and shut to none. + +The plantations were in many counties too far apart for any cooeperative +labor, and the planters were not men of such vast strength or so great +personal industry, even in their own affairs, as were the Yankees. There +were slaves on each plantation to do all the hard work of lifting, etc. +But in out-of-the-way settlements the Virginia planters' kindliness was +shown in a vast and unbounded hospitality, a hospitality so insatiable +that it watched for and waylaid travellers to expend a welcome and +lavish attentions upon. Negroes were stationed at the planter's gate +where it opened on the post-road or turnpike, to hail travellers and +assure them of a hearty welcome at the "big house up yonder." One writer +says of the planters:-- + + "Their manner of living is most generous and open: strangers are + sought after with Greediness to be invited." + +The _London Magazine_ of the year 1743 published a series of papers +entitled _Itinerant Observations in America_. It was written with a +spirited pen which thus pleasantly describes simple Maryland +hospitality, not of men of vast wealth but of very poor folk:-- + + "With the meaner Sort you find little else to drink but Water + amongst them when their Cyder is spent, but the Water is presented + you by one of the barefooted Family in a copious Calabash, with an + innocent Strain of good Breeding and Heartiness, the Cake baking on + the Hearth, and the prodigious Cleanliness of everything around you + must needs put you in Mind of the Golden Age, the Times of ancient + Frugality and Purity. All over the Colony a universal Hospitality + reigns, full Tables and open Doors; the kind Salute, the generous + Detention speak somewhat like the roast-Beef Ages of our + Forefathers." + +There came a time when this Southern hospitality became burdensome. With +the exhaustion of the soil and competition in tobacco-raising, the great +wealth of the Virginians was gone. But visitors did not cease; in fact, +they increased. The generous welcome offered to kinsmen, friends, and +occasional travellers was sought by curiosity-hunters and tourists who +wanted to save a tavern-bill. Nothing could be more pathetic than the +impoverishment of Thomas Jefferson through these impositions. Times and +conditions had changed, but Jefferson felt bound in honor to himself and +his state to keep the same open hand and ready welcome as of yore. His +overseer describes his own hopeless efforts to keep these travelling +friends and admirers from eating his master out of house and home:-- + + "They were there all times of the year; but about the middle of + June the travel would commence from the lower part of the State to + the Springs, and then there was a perfect throng of visitors. They + travelled in their own carriages and came in gangs, the whole + family with carriage and riding horses and servants, sometimes + three or four such gangs at a time. We had thirty-six stalls for + horses and only used ten of them for the stock we kept there. Very + often all the rest were full, and I had to send horses off to + another place. I have often sent a wagon-load of hay up to the + stable, and the next morning there would not be enough left to make + a bird's nest. I have killed a fine beef, and it would all be eaten + up in a day or two." + +The final extinction of old-time hospitality in Virginia came not from a +death of hospitable intent, but from an entire vanishing of the means to +furnish entertainment. And the Civil War drove away even the lingering +ghost. + +Many general customs existed in the early colonies which were simply +exemplifications of neighborliness put in legal form. Such were the +systems of common lands and herding. This was an old Aryan custom which +existed many centuries ago, and has ever been one of the best ways of +uniting any settlement of people, especially a new settlement; for it +makes the interest of one the interest of all, and promotes union rather +than selfishness. Common lands were set off and common herds existed in +many of the Northern colonies; cowherds or "cow-keeps" were appointed +and paid by the town to care throughout the summer for all the cattle +owned by the inhabitants. This was an intelligent provision; for it +saved much work of individuals during the months when farmers had so +much hard work to do, and so short a time to do it in. In Albany and New +York the cowherd and "a chosen proper youngster"--in other words, a +good, steady boy--went through the town at sunrise sounding a horn, +which the cattle heard and knew; and they quickly followed him to green +pastures outside the town. There they lingered till nearly sunset, when +they were brought home to the church, and the owners were again warned +by the horn of the safe return of their cattle, and that it was milking +time. Sometimes the cowherd received part of his pay in butter or +cheese. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cowherd Rice, in 1635, agreed to +take charge of one hundred cows for three months for ten pounds. The +town also paid two men or boys to help him the first two weeks, and one +man a week longer; he kept the cows alone after that, for the +intelligent cattle had fallen into habits of order and obedience to his +horn. He had to pay threepence fine each time he failed to bring in all +the cattle at night. + +On Long Island and in Connecticut there were cowherds, calf-keepers, and +pound-keepers. The calf-keepers' duties were to keep the calves away +from the cows, water them, protect them, etc. In Virginia and Maryland +there were cow-pens in early days, and cowherds; but in the South the +cattle generally roamed wild through the forests, and were known to +their owners by earmarks. In all communities earmarks and other brands +of ownership on cattle, horses, sheep, and swine were very important, +and rigidly regarded where so much value was kept in domestic cattle. +These earmarks were registered by the town clerk in the town records, +and were usually described both in words and rude drawings. One of my +great-great-grandfather's earmarks for his cows was a "swallow-fork slit +in both ears"; another was a slit under the ear and a "half-penny mark +on the foreside of the near ear." This custom of herding cattle in +common lasted in some out-of-the-way places to this century, and even +lingered long in large cities such as Boston, where cows were allowed to +feed on Boston Common till about 1840. In Philadelphia until the year +1795 a cowherd stood every morning at the corner of Dock and Second +streets, blew his horn, tramped off to a distant pasture followed by all +the cows of his neighborhood, who had run out to him as soon as they +heard the familiar sound. He led them back to the same place at night, +when each returned alone to her own home. + +Sheep-herds or shepherds in colonial days also took charge of the sheep +of many owners in herd-walks, or ranges, by day, and by night in +sheep-folds built with fences and gates. + +Fence-viewers were men who were appointed by the town for common benefit +to take charge of building and keeping in repair the fences that +surrounded the "great lotts" or commons; that is, the enclosed fields +which were the common property of each town, in which all farmers living +near could place their cattle. The fence-viewers saw that each man +worked a certain amount each year on these "pales" as the fences were +called, or paid his share for the work of others. Each farmer or +cow-owner usually built about twenty feet of fence for each cow which he +pastured in the "great lotts." The fence-viewers also examined the +condition of fences around private lands; noted breaks and ordered +repairs. For if cattle broke through a poorly made fence, and did damage +to crops, the fence-owner had to stand the loss, while if the fences +were good and strong, proving the cattle unruly and destructive, the +owner of the cattle had to pay. All the colonies were watchful over the +safe-keeping of fences. In 1659 the Dutch rulers of New Amsterdam (now +New York) ordered that for "stripping fences of rails and posts" the +offender should be whipped and branded, and for a second offence he +could be punished by death. This seems cruelly severe, but that year +there was a great scarcity of grain and other food, and if the fences +were pulled down, cattle could get into fields and eat up the growing +crops, and famine and death might result. + +Sometimes a common field was fenced in and planted with Indian corn. In +this case the fence served to keep the cattle out, not in. This was +always the case in Virginia. + +Hay-wards were, as the name indicates, men to keep watchful care over +the growing hay. For instance, in Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1661, +Goodman Montague was chosen hay-ward by the town. He was to have +twelvepence for each cow or hog, two shillings for each horse, and +twenty pence for each twenty sheep that he found loose in any field or +meadow, and successfully turned out. The owner of the animal was to pay +the fine. At a later date these hay-wards were called field-drivers. +They are still appointed in many towns and cities, among them Boston. + +Hog-reeves were men appointed by the citizens to look after their hogs +that roamed the roads and streets, to see that all those swine had +rings in their noses, were properly marked, and did not do damage to +crops. Many towns had hog-reeves till this century; for until seventy +years ago hogs ran freely everywhere, even in the streets of our great +cities. It was a favorite jest to appoint a newly married man hog-reeve. +When Ralph Waldo Emerson was married and became a householder in +Concord, the young philosopher was appointed to that office. Sometimes a +single swineherd was hired to take care of the roving swine. The two +Salem swineherds or swine-keepers in 1640 were to have sixpence for each +hog they drove daily to pasture from April to November. These and many +other public offices were simply a form of legalized cooeperation; a +joining together of neighbors for public good. + +The neighborly assistance given to new settlers began with the clearing +of the ground for occupancy. The girdling of trees was easy and speedy, +but it was discountenanced as dangerous and hideous, and was not +frequently practised. A chopping-bee was a universal method among +pioneers of clearing ground in newly settled districts, or even in older +townships in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, where great tracts of +land were left for many years in the original growth. Sometimes this bee +was held to clear land for a newly married man, or a new neighbor, or +one who had had bad luck; but it was just as freely given to a +prosperous farmer, though plentiful thanks and plentiful rum were the +only rewards of the willing workers. + +All the strong men of the township repaired at an early hour to the +tract to be cleared, and with powerful blows attacked the great trees. A +favorite way of bringing the day's work and the day's excitement to a +climax was by a "drive." This was made by chopping half-way into the +trunks of a great group or circle of trees--under-cutting it was +called--so that by a few powerful and well-driven blows at the monarch +of the group, and perhaps a few well-concerted pulls on a rope, the +entire group could be felled together, the leader bringing down with his +spreading branches in his mighty fall his fellows in front of him, and +they in turn their neighbors, with a crash that shook the earth and made +the mountains ring. It was dangerous work; accidents were frequent; the +records of death at log-rollings are pathetic to read and to think of, +in a country where the loss of a sturdy man meant so much to some +struggling household. A heavy and sudden gust of wind might blow down a +small tree, which had been carelessly "under-cut," and thus give an +unexpected and premature collapse of the simple machinery of the grand +finale. + +A century ago a New Hampshire woman and her husband went out into the +forest primeval; he cut down a few trees, made a little clearing termed +a cut-down wherein a tiny patch of sky and cloud and scant sunlight +could be seen overhead, but no sunrise or sunset, and built a log house +of a single room--a home. With the opening spring came one day a group +of kindly settlers from distant clearings and settlements, some riding +from ten miles away the previous day. In front of the log house they +chopped all the morning long with sturdy arms and swinging blows, yet +felled nothing, till in the afternoon when all was ready for the final +blow at the towering leader, which by its fall should lay low a great +sloping tract for a dooryard and home field. As the noble trees fell at +last to the earth with a resounding crash, lo! in the opening there +appeared to the startled eyes of the settler's wife, as if rising out of +heaven, a neighbor in her loneliness--Mount Kearsage, grand, serene, and +beautiful, crowned with the glories of the setting sun, standing guard +over a smiling lake at its foot. And every day through her long and +happy life till ninety-six years old, as she looked at the splendid +mountain, standing as it will till time shall be no more, did she thank +God for His gift, for that noble companionship which came so suddenly, +so inspiringly, upon the cramped horizon of her lonely forest home. + +After the trees were all felled, it was no longer a "cut-down" but an +"opening." This was made preferably in the spring. The fallen trees were +left some months on the ground to dry in the summer sun, while the +farmer turned to other work on his farm, or, if he were starting in +life, hired out for the summer. In the autumn the tops were set on fire, +and the lighter limbs usually burned out, leaving the great charred +tree-trunks. Then came what was known as a piling-bee, a perfect riot of +hard work, cinders, and dirt. Usually the half-burned tree-trunks were +"niggered off" in Indian fashion, by burning across with a smaller stick +of wood till the long log was in lengths which could be dragged by the +farmers with their oxen and horses into vast piles and again set on +fire. Another treat of rum accompanied this day's work. The word +"log-rolling" was often applied to the latter bee, and occasionally the +felling of trees and dragging into piles for firing was done in a single +log-rolling. + +Sometimes before the opening was cleared it was planted. The spring +rains and melting snows carried the fertilizing ashes deep into the +soil. Corn was planted and "dug in"; rye was sowed and "hacked in." The +crops were astonishing; the grain grew among the fallen logs and stumps +in rioting luxuriance. A stump-pulling was another occasion for a +friendly bee, to clear off and put into comely shape the new field. + +Another exhibition of cooeperation was in a stone-hauling or a stone-bee. +Some of the rocky fields of hard New England would defy a lifetime of +work of one man and a single yoke of oxen. With judicious blasting, many +oxen, strong arms, and willing hearts the boulders and ledges were +tamed. Stone walls eight feet wide, such as may be seen in Hopkinton, +New Hampshire, stand as monuments of the patience, strength, skill, and +cooeperation of our forbears. + +To show the struggle and hard work willingly done for a home, let me +give the statement in 1870 of a respected citizen, the historian of +Norridgewock, Maine, when he was over ninety years old. He served an +apprenticeship of eight years till he was twenty-one, then bought on +credit a tract of fifty acres in the primeval woods. On eight acres he +felled the trees and left them through the winter. In April, 1801, he +spent three weeks in burning off the logs and clearing as well as +possible by handwork three acres. These he sowed with wheat and rye, +buying the seed on credit. He hired a yoke of oxen for one day and did +what harrowing he could in that short time, grubbing around the stumps +with a hoe for two more days. The crop grew, as did all others on +similar soil, amazingly. The two bushels of seed-wheat yielded fifty-two +bushels, the bushel of rye thirty bushels. On his other five acres among +the fallen trees he planted corn, and raised a hundred and twenty-eight +bushels. He adds:-- + + "When I could leave my work on my new land I worked out haying and + other work. I made shoes in the Fall, taught school in the Winter, + paid for my board and some clothing, but husbanded my resources to + pay for my land. At the end of the year found myself worth two + hundred dollars. I continued to clear up four acres each year till + I had cleared the fifty acres, planted an orchard and erected + suitable farm buildings and fences." + +Six years later he married and prospered. In eleven years he was worth +two thousand dollars; he filled, during his long life, many, positions +of trust and of profit, and did many and varied good deeds; he continued +in active life till he was ninety years old. At his death he left a +considerable fortune. It is an interesting picture of the value of +honorable economy and thrift; a typical New England picture, with a +certain vigor and stimulus about it that makes it pleasing. + +A "raising" might be of a church or a school-house, or of a house or +barn for a neighbor. All the strong men far and near turned out to help, +tools were lent, and many strong hands and arms made quick work. Often +the frame of a whole side of a house--the broadside--was fastened +together on the ground. After it was laid out and pinned together, +shores of long poles were attached to the plates with ox-chains, and it +was literally lifted into place by the united strength of the entire +band of men and boys. Sometimes women pulled on the rope to express +their good will and helpfulness. Then the other sides were put up, and +the cross-beams, braces, and studding all pinned and nailed into place. +Afterwards the huge rafters were raised for the roof. Each man was +assigned in the beginning to his place and work, and worked faithfully +when his turn came. When the ridge-pole was put in place, the building +was christened, as it was called, by breaking over it a bottle of rum. +Often the house was literally given a name. Sitting astride the +ridge-pole, one poet sang:-- + + "Here's a mighty fine frame + Which desarves a good name, + Say what shall we call it? + The timbers all straight, + And was hewed fust rate, + The frame is well put together. + It is a good frame + That desarves a good name, + Say! what shall we name it?" + +Another, a Rochester, New Hampshire, frame was celebrated in verse which +closed thus:-- + + "The Flower of the Plain is the name of this Frame, + We've had exceeding good Luck in raising the Same." + +It was not luck that made these raisings a success, it was skill and +strength; skill and powers of endurance which could overcome and +surmount even the quantity of vile New England rum with which the +workmen were plied throughout the day. Accidents were frequent, and +often fatal. A great frame of a meeting-house, or a vast barn with forty +or fifty men at work on it, could not collapse without loss of life and +much injury of limb. + +In the work of these raisings the highest as well as the humblest +citizens took part. Truly a man could glow with the warmth of home even +in a bare and scantily furnished house, at the thought that the walls +and rafters were held in place by the kind wishes and deeds of all his +friends and neighbors. + +There is nothing in nature so unnatural, so singular in quality, as the +glittering artificiality of the early morning in the country the day +after a heavy, drifting, New England snowstorm. For a day and a night +the wildly whirling snow that "driving o'er the fields seems nowhere to +alight" has restrained the outlook, and every one has turned depressed +from that outside life of loneliness and gloom. The following morning +always opens with an excessively bright and dazzling sunshine which is +not like any other sunshine in any place or season, but is wholly +artificial, like the lime-light of a theatre. We always run eagerly to +the window to greet once more the signs of life and cheerfulness; but +the landscape is more devoid of life and reality than during any storm +of wind and snow and sleet, no matter how dark and lowering. There is a +changed aspect in everything; it is metallic, and everything is made of +the same horrible white metal. Nothing seems familiar; not only are the +wonted forms and outlines vanished, and all their varied textures and +materials and beautiful diversity of color gone also, but there is a +steely immobility restraining everything which is so complete that it +seems as if it were a shell that could never be broken. + + "We look upon a world unknown, + On nothing we can call our own." + +It is no longer a real landscape but an artificial encircling diorama of +meaningless objects made of vast unshaded sheets of white glazed +Bristol-board, painted with white enamel, warranted not to crack; with +the garish high-lights put in crystallized alum or possibly powdered +glass. It is without life, or atmosphere, or reality; it has nothing but +the million reflections of that artificial and repellent sunshine. In a +quarter of an hour, even in a few minutes, it is agonizingly monotonous +to the spirit as it is painful to the eye; then, like a veritable oasis +of color and motion in an unmovable glittering white desert, a sound and +sight of beautiful and active life appears. Around the bend of the road +comes slow and straining down the hill, as has come through the glaring +artificial sunlight after every heavy snowstorm for over a century past, +a long train of oxen with a snow-plough "breaking out" the old +post-road. Beautiful emblems of patient and docile strength, these +splendid creatures are never so grateful to the sight as now. Their slow +progress down the hill has many elements to make it interesting; it is +historic. Ever since the township was thickly settled enough for +families to have any winter communication with each other, whether for +school, church, mail, or doctor, this road has been broken out in +precisely this same way. + +In nearly all scattered townships in New England the custom prevails +to-day just as it did a century and more ago even in large towns, and a +description of the present "breaking out" is that of the past also. The +work is now usually done in charge of road-surveyors or the +road-masters, who are often appointed from the remote points of the +township. There is, therefore, much friendly rivalry to see which +surveyor will first reach the centre of the town--and the tavern. +Beginning at sunrise with his own yoke of oxen hitched to a snow-plough, +each road-master breaks through the drift to the nearest neighbor, who +adds his yoke to the other, and so from neighbor to neighbor till +sometimes fifteen or twenty yoke of oxen are hitched in a long line to +the plough. Sometimes a pair of wild young steers are hitched, plunging +and kicking, with the sober elders. By this time the first yoke often +begins to show signs of distress by lolling out the tongue, a sure +symptom of overwork in oxen, and they are left at some farmer's barn to +cool down. + +Whittier thus describes the scene of breaking out the winter roads in +his _Snow-Bound_:-- + + "Next morn we wakened with the shout + Of merry voices high and clear; + And saw the teamsters drawing near + To break the drifted highways out. + Down the long hillside treading slow + We saw the half-buried oxen go, + Shaking the snow from heads uptost, + Their straining nostrils white with frost. + Before our door the straggling train + Drew up, an added team to gain. + The elders threshed their hands a-cold, + Passed, with the cider mug, their jokes + From lip to lip." + +Thus are the white snow-waste and the drifted roads turned by cheerful +cooeperation into a midwinter visiting where every neighbor can exchange +greetings with the other, young and old. For of course school does not +keep, and the boys crowd on the snow-plough or try their new snowshoes, +and the men of the various families who do not go with the oxen hitch up +the sleighs, pods, and pungs and follow the snow-plough, and the young +men send a volley of snowballs against every house where any fair maid +lives. And at the tavern in the afternoon is a great sight, greater in +ante-temperance days than now: scores of yoke of oxen at the door, the +horse-sheds full of horses and sleighs, all the lads and men of the +township within. There is rivalry in the method of breaking. One +road-master always used a snow-plough; another lashed an ordinary plough +on either side of a narrow ox-sled; a third used a coarse harrow +weighted down with a group of standing boys. This broke up the drifts in +a wonderful manner. The deeper drifts often have to be shovelled out +partly by hand. After the road to the tavern is broken, the road to the +school-house, the doctor's house, and the meeting-house come next. + +The roads thus made were not permitted in former days to be cut up idly +by careless use; many townships forbade by law the use of narrow sleds +and sleighs. The roads were narrow at best; often when two sleighs met +the horses had to be unharnessed, and the sleighs lifted past over each +other. On lonely hill-roads or straight turnpikes, where teamsters could +see some distance ahead, turnouts were made where one sleigh could wait +for another to pass. + +After there had been a heavy fall of snow and the roads were well +broken, the time was always chosen where any logging was done to haul +logs to the sawmill on ox-sleds. An interesting sled was used which had +an interesting name,--chebobbin. One writer called it a cross between a +tree and a bobsled. It was made by a close and ingenious adaptation of +natural forms of wood, which made excellent runners, cross-bars, etc.; +they were fastened together so loosely that they readily adjusted +themselves to the inequalities of the wood-roads. The word and article +are now almost obsolete. In some localities chebobbin became tebobbin +and tarboggin, all three being adaptations in nomenclature, as they +were in form, of the Indian toboggan or moose-sled,--a sledge with +runners or flat bottom of wood or bark, upon which the red men drew +heavy loads over the snow. This sledge has become familiar to us in the +light and strong Canadian form now used for the delightful winter sport +of tobogganing. + +On these chebobbins great logs were hitched together by chains, and +dragged down from the upland wood-lots. Under these mighty loads the +snow-tracks got an almost icy polish, prime sledding for country +sleighing parties. Sometimes a logging-bee was made to clear a special +lot for a neighbor, and a band of wood-choppers worked all day together. +It was cheerful work, though the men had to stand all day in the snow, +and the thermometer was below zero. But there was no cutting wind in the +forest, and the exercise kept the blood warm. Many a time a hearty man +would drop his axe to wipe the sweat from his brow. Loose woollen +frocks, or long-shorts, two or three over each other, were warm as are +the overlapping feathers of a bird; a few had buckskin or sheepskin +waistcoats; their hands were warmly covered with home-knit mittens. In +later days all had heavy well-greased boots, but in the early years of +such pioneer settlements, as the towns of New Hampshire and Vermont, +all could not afford to wear boots. Their place was well supplied by +heavy woollen stockings, shoes, and an over-covering of old stockings, +or cloth soaked in neat's-foot oil; this was deemed a positive +preventive of frozen feet. + +It was the custom both among men and women to join forces on a smaller +scale and have a little neighborly visiting by what was called +"change-work." For instance, if two neighbors both were to make soap, or +both to make apple-butter, or both to make up a rag carpet, instead of +each woman sitting at home alone sewing and fitting the carpet, one +would take her thimble and go to spend the day, and the two would sew +all day long, finish and lay the carpet at one house. In a few days the +visit would be returned, and the second carpet be finished. Sometimes +the work was easier when two worked together. One man could load logs +and sled them down to the sawmill alone, but two by "change-work" could +accomplish the task much more rapidly and with less strain. + +Even those evil days of New England households, the annual +house-cleaning, were robbed of some of their dismal terrors by what was +known as a "whang," a gathering of a few friendly women neighbors to +assist one another in that dire time, and thus speed and shorten the +hours of misery. + +For any details of domestic life of colonial days the reader has ever to +turn to the diary of Judge Samuel Sewall of Boston, just as the student +of English life of the same date turns to the diary of Samuel Pepys. +Sewall was a Puritan of the narrow type of the later days of Puritanism; +and there is little of warmth or beauty in his pages, save that +throughout them there shines with gentle radiance the unconscious record +of a pure and never-dying neighborliness, the neighborliness of an +upright and reserved but deeply tender Christian. No thoughtful person +can read the simple and meagre, but wholly self-forgetful entries which +reveal this trait of character without a feeling of profound respect and +even affection for Sewall. He was the richest man in town, and one of +the most dignified of citizens, a busy man full of many cares and plans. +But he watched by the bedside of his sick and dying neighbors, those of +humble station as well as his friends and kinsfolk, nursing them with +tender care, praying with them, bringing appetizing gifts, and also +giving pecuniary aid to the household. He afforded even more homely +examples of neighborly feeling; he sent "tastes of his dinner" many +times to friends and neighbors. This pleasant custom lingered till the +present day in New England; I saw last summer, several times, covered +treasures of housewifery being carried in petty amounts, literally "a +taste," to tempt tired appetites or lonely diners. The gift of a portion +of the over-bountiful supply for the supper of a wedding, a reception, +etc., went by the expressive name of "cold party." + +In rural Pennsylvania a charming and friendly custom prevailed among +country folk of all nationalities--the "metzel-soup," the "taste" of +sausage-making. This is the anglicized form of _Metzelsuppe_; _metzeln_ +means to kill and cut to pieces--especially for sausage meat. When each +farmer butchered and made sausage, a great dish heaped with eight or ten +pounds of the new sausages was sent to each intimate friend. The +recipient would in turn send metzel-soup when his family killed and made +sausage. If the metzel-soup were not returned, the minister promptly +learned of it and set at work to effect a reconciliation between the +offended parties. The custom is dying out, and in many towns is wholly +vanished. + +Sewall seemed to regard it as a duty, and doubtless it was also a +pleasure, to pray for and with dying friends. His is not the only +old-time diary that I have read in which those long prayers are +recorded, nor are his surprised occasional records of the impatience of +dying friends the only ones I have seen. A very sick man, even though he +were a Puritan, might occasionally tire of the prayers of laymen. + +Sewall was ever ready to signify his good will and interest in his +neighbors' advancing fortunes, by driving a nail at a ship-building or a +pin at a house-raising, by laying a stone in a wall or a foundation of a +house, the latter, apparently, in the case of some very humble homes. +He, the Judge of the Supreme Court, served on the watch, walking and +guarding the streets and his neighbors' safety just as faithfully as did +the humblest citizen. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +OLD-TIME FLOWER GARDENS + + +Adjoining the street through which I always, in my childhood, walked +slowly each Sunday, on my way to and from church, was a spot to detain +lingering footsteps--a beautiful garden laid out and tenanted like the +gardens of colonial days, and serene with the atmosphere of a worthy old +age; a garden which had been tended for over half a century by a +withered old man and his wife, whose golden wedding was spent in the +house they had built, and in the garden they had planted when they were +bride and groom. His back was permanently bowed with constant weeding +and pruning and planting and hoeing, and his hands and face were brown +as the soil he cultivated. The "hot-glowing" crimson peonies, seedlings +which the wife had sown in her youth, had become great shrubs, fifteen +or twenty feet in circumference. The flowering shrubs were trees. +Vigorous borders of box crowded across the paths and towered on either +side, till one could scarcely walk through them. There were beautiful +fairy groves of fox gloves "gloriously freckled, purple, and white," and +tall Canterbury bells; and at stiffly regular intervals were set +flowering almonds, St. Peter's wreath, Persian lilacs, "Moses in the +burning bush," which shrub was rare in our town, and "laburnums rich in +streaming gold, syringas ivory pure." At the lower ends of the flower +borders were rows of "honey-blob" gooseberries, and aged currant bushes, +gray with years, overhung by a few patriarchal quince and crab-apple +trees, in whose low-spreading gnarled branches I spent many a summer +afternoon, a happy visitor, though my own home garden was just as +beautiful, old-fashioned, and flower-filled. + +The varying grades of city streets had gradually risen around the garden +until it lay depressed several feet below the level of the adjoining +streets, a pleasant valley,--like Avalon,-- + + "Deep-meadowed, happy, fair, with orchard lawns, + And bowery hollows crown'd with summer seas." + +A flight of stone steps led down to it,--steps very steep, narrow, and +slippery with green moss, and ladies'-delights that crowded and +blossomed in every crack and crevice of the stones. On each side arose +terraces to the street, and in the spring these terraces flushed a mass +of vivid, glowing rose-color from blooming moss-pink, forming such a +glory that pious church-going folk from the other end of the town did +not think it wicked to walk thither, on a Sunday morn in May, to look at +the rosy banks that sloped to the valleyed garden, as they had walked +there in February or March to see + + "Winter, slumbering in the open air, + Wear on his smiling face a dream of spring," + +in the shape of the first crocuses and snowdrops that opened beside a +snow-drift still lingering on a shaded bank; and to watch the first +benumbed honey-bees who greeted every flower that bloomed in that +cherished spot, and who buzzed in bleak March winds over the purple +crocus and "blue flushing" grape-hyacinth as cheerfully as though they +were sipping the scarlet poppies in sunny August. + +The garden edges and the street were overhung by graceful larches and by +thorny honey-locust trees that bore on their trunks great clusters of +powerful spines and sheltered in their branches an exceedingly +unpleasant species of fat, fuzzy caterpillars, which always chose Sunday +to drop on my garments as I walked to church, and to go with me to +meeting, and in the middle of the long prayer to parade on my neck, to +my startled disgust and agitated whisking away, and consequent reproof +for being noisy in meeting. + +What fragrances arose from that old garden, and were wafted out to +passers-by! The ever-present, pungent, dry aroma of box was overcome or +tempered, through the summer months, by a succession of delicate +flower-scents that hung over the garden-vale like an imperceptible mist; +perhaps the most perfect and clear among memory's retrospective +treasures was that of the pale fringed "snow-pink," and later, "sweet +william with its homely cottage smell." Phlox and ten-weeks stock were +there, as everywhere, the last sweet-scented flowers of autumn. + +At no time was this old garden sweeter than in the twilight, the +eventide, when all the great clumps of snowy phlox, night-rockets, and +luminous evening primrose, and all the tangles of pale yellow and white +honeysuckle shone irradiated; when, + + "In puffs of balm the night air blows + The burden which the day foregoes," + +and scents far richer than any of the day--the "spiced air of +night"--floated out in the dusky gloaming. + +Though the old garden had many fragrant leaves and flowers, their +delicate perfume was sometimes fairly deadened by an almost mephitic +aroma that came from an ancient blossom, a favorite in Shakespeare's +day--the jewelled bell of the noxious crown-imperial. This stately +flower, with its rich color and pearly drops, has through its evil scent +been firmly banished from our garden borders. + +One of the most cheerful flowers of this and of my mother's garden was +the happy-faced little pansy that under various fanciful folk-names has +ever been loved. Like Montgomery's daisy, it "blossomed everywhere." Its +Italian name means "idle thoughts"; the German, "little stepmother." +Spenser called it "pawnce." Shakespeare said maidens called it +"love-in-idleness," and Drayton named it "heartsease." Dr. Prior gives +these names--"Herb Trinity, Three Faces under a Hood, Fancy Flamy, Kiss +Me, Pull Me, Cuddle Me unto You, Tickle my Fancy, Kiss Me ere I Rise, +Jump Up and Kiss Me, Kiss Me at the Garden Gate, Pink of my Joan." To +these let me add the New England folk-names--bird's-eye, garden-gate, +johnny-jump-up, kit-run-about, none-so-pretty, and ladies'-delight. All +these testify to the affectionate and intimate friendship felt for this +laughing and fairly speaking little garden face, not the least of whose +endearing qualities was that, after a half-warm, snow-melting week in +January or February, this bright-some little "delight" often opened a +tiny blossom to greet and cheer us--a true "jump-up-and-kiss-me," and +proved by its blooming the truth of the graceful Chinese verse,-- + + "Ere man is aware + That the spring is here + The plants have found it out." + +Another dearly loved spring flower was the daffodil, the favorite also +of old English dramatists and poets, and of modern authors as well, when +we find that Keats names a daffodil as, the thing of beauty that is a +joy forever. Perhaps the happiest and most poetic picture of daffodils +is that of Dora Wordsworth, when she speaks of them as "gay and +glancing, and laughing with the wind." Perdita, in _The Winter's Tale_, +thus describes them in her ever-quoted list: "Daffodils that come before +the swallow dares and take the winds of March with beauty." Most +cheerful and sunny of all our spring flowers, they have never lost their +old-time popularity, and they still laugh at our bleak March winds. + +Bouncing-bet and her comely hearty cousins of the pink family made +delightsome many a corner of our home garden. The pinks were Jove's own +flowers, and the carthusian pink, china pink, clove pink, snow pink, +plumed pink, mullein pink, sweet william, maltese cross, ragged robin, +catch-fly, and campion, all made gay and sweet the summer. The clove +pink was the ancestor of all the carnations. + +The richest autumnal glory came from the cheerful marigold, the "golde" +of Chaucer, and "mary-bud" of Shakespeare. This flower, beloved of all +the old writers, as deeply suggestive and emblematic, has been coldly +neglected by modern poets, as for a while it was banished from modern +town gardens; but it may regain its popularity in verse as it has in +cultivation. In farm gardens it has always flourished, and every autumn +has "gone to bed with the sun and with him risen weeping," and has +given forth in the autumn air its acrid odor, which to me is not +disagreeable, though my old herbal calls its "a very naughty smell." + +A favorite shrub in our garden, as in every country dooryard, was +southernwood, or lad's-love. A sprig of it was carried to meeting each +summer Sunday by many old ladies, and with its finely dissected, +bluish-green foliage, and clean pungent scent, it was pleasant to see in +the meeting-house, and pleasant to sniff at. The "virtues of flowers" +took a prominent place in the descriptions in old-time botanies. The +southernwood had strong medicinal qualities, and was used to cure +"vanityes of the head." + + "Take a quantitye of Suthernwood and put it upon kindled coales to + burn and being made into powder mix it with the oyle of radishes + and anoynt a balde place and you shall see great experiences." + +It was of power as a love charm. If you placed a sprig in each shoe and +wore it through the day when you were in love, you would then also in +some way "see great experiences." + +In the tender glamour of happy association, all flowers in the old +garden seem to have been loved save the garish petunias, whose sickish +odor grew more offensive and more powerful at nightfall and made me long +to tear them away from their dainty garden-fellows, and the portulaca +with its fleshy, worm-like stems and leaves, and its aggressively +pushing habits, "never would be missed." Perhaps its close relation to +the "pusley," most hated of weeds, makes us eye it askance. + +There was one attribute of the old-time garden, one part of nature's +economy, which added much to its charm--it was the crowding abundance, +the over-fulness of leaf, bud, and blossom. Nature there displayed no +bare expanses of naked soil, as in some too-carefully-kept modern +parterres; the dull earth was covered with a tangle of ready-growing, +self-sowing, lowly flowers, that filled every space left unoccupied by +statelier garden favorites, and crowded every corner with cheerful, +though unostentatious, bloom. And the close juxtaposition, and even +intermingling, of flowers with herbs, vegetables, and fruits gave a +sense of homely simplicity and usefulness, as well as of beauty. The +soft, purple eyes of the mourning-bride were no less lovely to us in +"our garden" because they opened under the shade of currant and +gooseberry bushes; and the sweet alyssum and candytuft were no less +honey-sweet. The delicate, pinky-purple hues of the sweet peas were not +dimmed by their vivid neighbors at the end of the row of poles--the +scarlet runners. The adlumia, or mountain fringe, was a special vine of +our own and known by a special name--virgin's bower. With its delicate +leaves, almost as beautiful as a maidenhair fern, and its dainty pink +flower, it festooned the ripening corn as wantonly and luxuriantly as it +encircled the snowball and lilac bushes. + +Though "colored herbs" were cultivated in England in the seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries as carefully as were flowers,--striped hollies, +variegated myrtles, and bays being the gardener's pride,--yet in our old +American gardens few plants were grown for their variegated or +odd-colored foliage. The familiar and ever-present ribbon-grass, also +called striped grass, canary grass, and gardener's garters,--whose +pretty expanded panicles formed an almost tropical effect at the base of +the garden hedge; the variegated wandering jew, the striped leaves of +some varieties of day-lilies; the dusty-miller, with its "frosty pow" +(which was properly a house plant), fill the short list. The box was the +sole evergreen. + +And may I not enter here a plea for the preservation of the box-edgings +of our old garden borders? I know they are almost obsolete--have been +winter-killed and sunburned--and are even in sorry disrepute as having a +graveyard association, and as being harborers of unpleasant and +unwelcome garden visitors. One lover of old ways thus indignantly +mourns their passing:-- + + "I spoke of box-edgings. We used to see them in little country + gardens, with paths of crude earth. Nowadays, it has been + discovered that box harbours slugs, and we are beginning to have + beds with tiled borders, while the walks are of asphalt. For a + pleasure-ground in Dante's _Inferno_ such materials might be + suitable." + +For its beauty in winter alone, the box should still find a place in our +gardens. It grows to great size. Bushes of box in the deserted garden at +Vaucluse in Newport, Rhode Island, are fifteen feet in height, and over +them spread the branches of forest trees that have sprung up in the +garden beds since that neglected pleasaunce was planted, over a century +ago. The beautiful border and hedges of box at Mount Vernon, the home of +Washington, plead for fresh popularity for this old-time favorite. + +Our mothers and grandmothers came honestly by their love of gardens. +They inherited this affection from their Puritan, Quaker, or Dutch +forbears, perhaps from the days when the famous hanging gardens of +Babylon were made for a woman. Bacon says: "A garden is the purest of +human pleasures, it is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man." +A garden was certainly the greatest refreshment to the spirits of a +woman in the early colonial days, and the purest of her pleasures--too +often her only pleasure. + +Quickly, in tender memory of her fair English home, the homesick +goodwife, trying to create a semblance of the birthplace she still +loved, planted the seeds and roots of homely English flowers and herbs +that grew and blossomed under bleak New England skies, and on rocky New +England shores, as sturdily and cheerfully as they had sprung up and +bloomed by the green hedgerows and door-sides in the home beyond the +sea. + +In the year 1638, and again in 1663, an English gentleman named John +Josselyn came to New England. He published, in 1672, an account of +these two visits. He was a man of polite reading and of culture, and as +was the high fashion for gentlemen of his day, had a taste for gardening +and botany. He made interesting lists of plants which he noted in +America under these heads:-- + + "1. Such plants as are common with us in England. + + "2. Such plants as are proper to the country. + + "3. Such plants as are proper to the country and have no names. + + "4. Such plants as have sprung up since the English planted and + kept cattle in New England. + + "5. Such Garden-Herbs among us as do thrive there and of such as do + not." + +This last division is the one that specially interests us, since it is +the earliest and the fullest account of the gardens of our forefathers, +after they had tamed the rugged shores of the New World, and made them +obey the rule of English husbandry. They had "good store of garden +vegetables and herbs; lettuce, sorrel, parsley, mallows, chevril, +burnet, summer savory, winter savory, thyme, sage, carrots, parsnips, +beets, radishes, purslain, beans"; "cabbidge growing exceeding well; +pease of all sorts and the best in the world; sparagus thrives +exceedingly, musk mellons, cucumbers, and pompions." For grains there +were wheat, rye, barley, and oats. There were other garden herbs and +garden flowers: spearmint, pennyroyal, ground-ivy, coriander, dill, +tansy; "feverfew prospereth exceedingly; white sattin groweth pretty +well, and so doth lavender-cotton; gillyflowers will continue two years; +horse-leek prospereth notably; hollyhocks; comferie with white flowers; +clary lasts but one summer; sweet-bryer or eglantine; celandine but +slowly; blood-wort but sorrily, but patience and English roses very +pleasantly." + +Patience and English roses very pleasantly in truth must have shown +their fair English faces to English women in the strange land. Dearly +loved had these brier-roses or dog-roses been in England, where, says +the old herbalist, Gerard, "children with delight make chains and pretty +gewgawes of the fruit; and cookes and gentlewomen make tarts and +suchlike dishes for pleasure thereof." Hollyhocks, feverfew, and +gillyflowers must have made a sunshine in the shady places in the new +home. Many of these garden herbs are now common weeds or roadside +blossoms. Celandine, even a century ago, was "common by fences and among +rubbish." Tansy and elecampane grow everywhere. Sweet-brier is at home +in New England pastures and roadsides. Spearmint edges our brooks. +Ground-ivy is a naturalized citizen. It is easy to note that the +flowers and herbs beloved in gardens and medicinal waters and kitchens +"at home" were the ones transplanted here. "Clary-water" was a favorite +tonic of Englishmen of that day. + +The list of "such plants as have sprung up since the English planted" +should be of interest to every one who has any sense of the sentiment of +association, or interest in laws of succession. The Spanish proverb +says:-- + + "More in the garden grows + Than the gardener sows." + +The plantain has a history full of romance; its old Northern +names--_Wegetritt_ in German, _Weegbree_ in Dutch, _Viebred_ in Danish, +and _Weybred_ in Old English, all indicating its presence in the +much-trodden paths of man--were not lost in its new home, nor were its +characteristics overlooked by the nature-noting and plant-knowing red +man. It was called by the Indian "the Englishman's foot," says Josselyn, +and by Kalm also, a later traveller in 1740; "for they say where an +Englishman trod, there grew a plantain in each footstep." Not less +closely did such old garden weeds as motherwort, groundsel, chickweed, +and wild mustard cling to the white man. They are old colonists, brought +over by the first settlers, and still thrive and triumph in every +kitchen garden and back yard in the land. Mullein and nettle, henbane +and wormwood, all are English emigrants. + +The Puritans were not the only flower-lovers in the new land. The +Pennsylvania Quakers and Mennonites were quick to plant gardens. +Pastorius encouraged all the Germantown settlers to raise flowers as +well as fruit. Whittier says of him in his _Pennsylvania Pilgrim_:-- + + "The flowers his boyhood knew + Smiled at his door, the same in form and hue, + And on his vines the Rhenish clusters grew." + +It gives one a pleasant notion of the old Quaker, George Fox, to read +his bequest by will of a tract of land near Philadelphia "for a +playground for the children of the town to play on and for a garden to +plant with physical plants, for lads and lassies to know simples, and +learn to make oils and ointments." + +Among Pennsylvanians the art of gardening reached the highest point. The +landscape gardening was a reproduction of the best in England. Our +modern country places cannot equal in this respect the colonial country +seats near Philadelphia. Woodlands and Bush Hill, the homes of the +Hamiltons, Cliveden, of Chief Justice Chew, Fair Hill, Belmont, the +estate of Judge Peters, were splendid examples. An ecstatic account of +the glories and wonders of some of them was written just after the +Revolution by a visitor who fully understood their treasures, the Rev. +Manasseh Cutler, the clergyman, statesman, and botanist. + +In Newport, Rhode Island, where flowers ever seem to thrive with +extraordinary luxuriance, there were handsome gardens in the eighteenth +century. A description of Mr. Bowler's garden during the Revolution +reads thus:-- + + "It contains four acres and has a grand aisle in the middle. Near + the middle is an oval surrounded with espaliers of fruit-trees, in + the centre of which is a pedestal, on which is an armillary sphere + with an equatorial dial. On one side of the front is a hot-house + containing orange-trees, some ripe, some green, some blooms, and + various other fruit-trees of the exotic kind and curious flowers. + At the lower end of the aisle is a large summer-house, a long + square containing three rooms, the middle paved with marble and + hung with landscapes. On the right is a large private library + adorned with curious carvings. There are espaliers of fruit-trees + at each end of the garden and curious flowering shrubs. The room on + the left is beautifully designed for music and contains a spinnet. + But the whole garden discovered the desolations of war." + +In the Southern colonies men of wealth soon had beautiful gardens. In an +early account of South Carolina, written in 1682, we find:-- + + "Their Gardens are supplied with such European Plants and Herbs as + are necessary for the Kitchen, and they begin to be beautiful and + adorned with such Flowers as to the Smell or Eye are pleasing or + agreeable, viz.: the Rose, Tulip, Carnation, Lilly, etc." + +By the middle of the century many exquisite gardens could be seen in +Charleston, and they were the pride of Southern colonial dames. Those of +Mrs. Lamboll, Mrs. Hopton, and Mrs. Logan were the largest. The latter +flower-lover in 1779, when seventy years old, wrote a treatise on +flower-raising called _The Gardener's Kalendar_, which was read and +used for many years. Mrs. Laurens had another splendid garden. Those +Southern ladies and their gardeners constantly sent specimens to +England, and received others in return. The letters of the day, +especially those of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, ever interested in +floriculture and arboriculture, show a constant exchange with English +flower-lovers. + +Beverley wrote of Virginia, in 1720: "A garden is nowhere sooner made +than there." William Byrd and other travellers, a few years later, saw +many beautiful terraced gardens in Virginian homes. Mrs. Anne Grant +writes at length of the love and care the Dutch women of the past +century had for flowers:-- + + "The care of plants such as needed peculiar care or skill to rear + them, was the female province. Every one in town or country had a + garden. Into the garden no foot of man intruded after it was dug in + the spring. I think I see yet what I have so often beheld--a + respectable mistress of a family going out to her garden, in an + April morning, with her great calash, her little painted basket of + seeds, and her rake over her shoulders, to her garden of labours. A + woman in very easy circumstances and abundantly gentle in form and + manners would sow and plant and rake incessantly." + +In New York, before the Revolution, were many beautiful gardens, such +as that of Madam Alexander on Broad Street, where in their proper season +grew "paus bloemen of all hues, laylocks and tall May roses and +snowballs intermixed with choice vegetables and herbs all bounded and +hemmed in by huge rows of neatly clipped box edgings." We have a pretty +picture also, in the letters of Catharine Rutherfurd, of an entire +company gathering rose-leaves in June in Madam Clark's garden, and +setting the rose-still at work to turn their sweet-scented spoils into +rose-water. + +A trade in flower and vegetable seeds formed a lucrative and popular +means by which women could earn a livelihood in colonial days. I have +seen in one of the dingy little newspaper sheets of those days, in the +large total of nine advertisements, contained therein, the +announcements, by five Boston seedswomen, of lists of their wares. + +The earliest list of names of flower-seeds which I have chanced to note +was in the _Boston Evening Post_ of March, 1760, and is of much interest +as showing to us with exactness the flowers beloved and sought for at +that time. They were "holly-hook, purple Stock, white Lewpins, Africans, +blew Lewpins, candy-tuff, cyanus, pink, wall-flower, double larkin-spur, +venus navelwort, brompton flock, princess feather, balsam, sweet-scented +pease, carnation, sweet williams, annual stock, sweet feabus, yellow +lewpins, sunflower, convolus minor, catch-fly, ten week stock, globe +thistle, globe amaranthus, nigella, love-lies-bleeding, casent hamen, +polianthus, canterbury bells, carnation poppy, india pink, convolus +major, Queen Margrets." This is certainly a very pretty list of flowers, +nearly all of which are still loved, though sometimes under other +names--thus the Queen Margrets are our asters. And the homely old +English names seem to bring the flowers to our very sight, for we do not +seem to be on very friendly intimacy, on very sociable terms with +flowers, unless they have what Miss Mitford calls "decent, well-wearing +English names"; we can have no flower memories, no affections that +cling to botanical nomenclature. Yet nothing is more fatal to an exact +flower knowledge, to an acquaintance that shall ever be more than local, +than a too confident dependence on the folk-names of flowers. Our +bachelor's-buttons are ragged sailors in a neighboring state; they are +corn-pinks in Plymouth, ragged ladies in another town, blue bottles in +England, but cyanus everywhere. Ragged robin is, in the garden of one +friend, a pink, in another it flaunts as London-pride, while the true +glowing London-pride has half a dozen pseudonyms in as many different +localities, and only really recognizes itself in the botany. An American +cowslip is not an English cowslip, an American primrose is no English +primrose, and the English daisy is no country friend of ours in America. + +What cheerful and appropriate furnishings the old-time gardens had; +benches full of straw beeskepes and wooden beehives, those homelike and +busy dwelling-places; frequently, also, a well-filled dove-cote. +Sometimes was seen a sun-dial--once the every-day friend and suggestive +monitor of all who wandered among the flowers of an hour; now known, +alas! only to the antiquary. Sentiment and even spirituality seem +suggested by the sun-dial, yet few remain to cast their instructive +shadow before our sight. + +One stood for years in the old box-bordered garden at Homogansett Farm, +at Wickford, in old Narragansett. Governor Endicott's dial is in the +Essex Institute, at Salem; and my forbear, Jacob Fairbanks, had one +dated 1650, which is now in the rooms of the Dedham Historical Society. +Dr. Bowditch, of Boston, had a sun-dial which was thus inscribed:-- + + "With warning hand I mark Times rapid flight + From life's glad morning to its solemn night. + And like God's love I also show + Theres light above me, by the shade below." + +Another garden dial thus gives, "in long, lean letters," its warning +word:-- + + "You'll mend your Ways To-morrow + When blooms that budded Flour? + Mortall! Lern to your Sorrow + Death may creep with his Arrow + And pierce yo'r vitall Marrow + Long ere my warning Shadow + Can mark that Hour." + +These dials are all of heavy metal, usually lead; sometimes with gnomon +of brass. But I have heard of one which was unique; it was cut in box. + +At the edge of the farm garden often stood the well-sweep, one of the +most picturesque adjuncts of the country dooryard. Its successor, the +roofed well with bucket, stone, and chain, and even the homely +long-handled pump, had a certain appropriateness as part of the garden +furnishings. + +So many thoughts crowd upon us in regard to the old garden; one is the +age of its flowers. We have no older inhabitants than these garden +plants; they are old settlers. Clumps of flower-de-luce, double +buttercups, peonies, yellow day-lilies, are certainly seventy-five years +old. Many lilac bushes a century old still bloom in New England, and +syringas and flowering currants are as old as the elms and locusts that +shade them. + +This established constancy and yearly recurrence of bloom is one of the +garden's many charms. To those who have known and loved an old garden in +which, + + "There grow no strange flowers every year, + But when spring winds blow o'er the pleasant places, + The same dear things lift up the same fair faces," + +and faithfully tell and retell the story of the changing seasons by +their growth, blossom, and decay, nothing can seem more artificial than +the modern show-beds of full-grown plants which are removed by assiduous +gardeners as soon as they have flowered, to be replaced by others, only +in turn to bloom and disappear. These seem to form a real garden no more +than does a child's posy-bed stuck with short-stemmed flowers to wither +in a morning. + +And the tiresome, tasteless ribbon-beds of our day were preceded in +earlier centuries by figured beds of diverse-colored earths--and of both +we can say with Bacon, "they be but toys, you may see as good sights +many times in tarts." + +The promise to Noah, "while the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest +shall not cease," when heeded in the garden, brings various interests. +The seed-time, the springing-up of familiar favorites, and the +cherishing of these favorites through their in-gathering of seeds or +bulbs or roots for another year, bring pleasure as much as does their +inflorescence. + +Another pathetic trait of many of the old-time flowers should not be +overlooked--their persistent clinging to life after they had been exiled +from the trim garden borders where they first saw the chill sun of a New +England spring. You see them growing and blooming outside the garden +fence, against old stone walls, where their up-torn roots have been +thrown to make places for new and more popular favorites. You find them +cheerfully spreading, pushing along the foot-paths, turning into +vagrants, becoming flaunting weeds. You see them climbing here and +there, trying to hide the deserted chimneys of their early homes, or +wandering over and hiding the untrodden foot-paths of other days. A +vivid imagination can shape many a story of their life in the interval +between their first careful planting in colonial gardens and their +neglected exile to highways and byways, where the poor bits of +depauperated earth can grow no more lucrative harvest. + +The sites of colonial houses which are now destroyed, the trend, almost +the exact line of old roads, can be traced by the cheerful faces of +these garden-strays. The situation of old Fort Nassau, in Pennsylvania, +so long a matter of uncertainty, is said to have been definitely +determined by the familiar garden flowers found growing on one of these +disputed sites. It is a tender thought that this indelible mark is left +upon the face of our native land through the affection of our forbears +for their gardens. + +The botany tells us that bouncing-bet has "escaped from +cultivation"--she has been thrust out, but unresentfully lives and +smiles; opening her tender pinky-opalescent flowers adown the dusty +roadsides, and even on barren gravel-beds in railroad cuts. +Butter-and-eggs, tansy, chamomile, spiked loosestrife, velvet-leaf, +bladder-campion, cypress spurge, live-for-ever, star of Bethlehem, +money-vine,--all have seen better days, but now are flower-tramps. Even +the larkspur, beloved of children, the moss-pink, and the grape-hyacinth +may sometimes be seen growing in country fields and byways. The homely +and cheerful blossoms of the orange-tawny ephemeral lily, and the +spotted tiger-lily, whose gaudy colors glow with the warmth of far +Cathay--their early home--now make gay many of our roadsides and crowd +upon the sweet cinnamon roses of our grandmothers, which also are +undaunted garden exiles. + +Driving once along a country road, I saw on the edge of a field an +expanse of yellow bloom which seemed to be an unfamiliar field-tint. It +proved to be a vast bed of coreopsis, self-sown from year to year; and +the blackened outlines of an old cellar wall in its midst showed that in +that field once stood a home, once there a garden smiled. + +I am always sure when I see bouncing-bet, butter-and-eggs, and tawny +lilies growing in a tangle together that in their midst may be found an +untrodden door-stone, a fallen chimney, or a filled-in well. + +Still broader field expanses are filled with old-country plants. In June +a golden glory of bud and blossom covers the hills and fields of Essex +County in Massachusetts from Lynn to Danvers, and Ryal Side to Beverly; +it is the English gorse or woad-wax, and by tradition it was first +brought to this country in spray and seed as a packing for some of the +household belongings of Governor Endicott. Thrown out in friendly soil, +the seeds took root and there remain in the vicinity of their first +American homes. It is a stubborn squatter, yielding only to scythe, +plough, and hoe combined. + +Chicory or blue weed was, it is said, brought from England by Governor +Bowdoin as food for his sheep. It has spread till its extended presence +has been a startling surprise to all English visiting botanists. It +hurts no one's fields, for it invades chiefly waste and neglected +land--the "dear common flower"--and it has redeemed many a city suburb +of vacant lots, many a railroad ash heap from the abomination of +desolation. + +Whiteweed or ox-eye daisy, a far greater pest than gorse or chicory, has +been carried intentionally to many a township by homesick settlers whose +descendants to-day rue the sentiment of their ancestors. + +While the vallied garden of our old neighbors was sweet with blossoms, +my mother's garden bore a still fresher fragrance--that of green growing +things; of "posies," lemon-balm, rose geranium, mint, and sage. I always +associate with it in spring the scent of the strawberry bush, or +calycanthus, and in summer of the fraxinella, which, with its tall stem +of larkspur-like flowers, its still more graceful seed-vessels and its +shining ash-like leaves, grew there in rich profusion and gave forth +from leaf, stem, blossom, and seed a pure, a memory-sweet perfume half +like lavender, half like anise. + +Truly, much of our tenderest love of flowers comes from association, and +many are lovingly recalled solely by their odors. Balmier breath than +was ever borne by blossom is to me the pure pungent perfume of ambrosia, +rightly named, as fit for the gods. Not the miserable weed ambrosia of +the botany, but a lowly herb that grew throughout the entire summer +everywhere in "our garden"; sowing its seeds broadcast from year to +year; springing up unchecked in every unoccupied corner, and under every +shrub and bushy plant; giving out from serrated leaf and irregular +raceme of tiny pale-green flowers, a spicy aromatic fragrance if we +brushed past it, or pulled a weed from amongst it as we strolled down +the garden walk. And it is our very own--I have never seen it elsewhere +than at my old home, and in the gardens of neighbors to whom its seeds +were given by the gentle hand that planted "our garden" and made it a +delight. Goethe says, "Some flowers are lovely to the eye, but others +are lovely to the heart." Ambrosia is lovely to my heart, for it was my +mother's favorite. + +And as each "spring comes slowly up the way," I say in the words of +Solomon, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my +garden, that the spices thereof may flow out"--that the balm and mint, +the thyme and southernwood, the sweetbrier and ambrosia, may spring +afresh and shed their tender incense to the memory of my mother, who +planted them and loved their pure fragrance, and at whose presence, as +at that of Eve, flowers ever sprung-- + + "And touched by her fair tendance gladlier grew." + + + + +Index + + +Abington, church vote in, 286. + +Acrelius, Dr., quoted, 146. + +Adams, Abigail, garden of, 435. + +Adams, John, quoted, 71, 160; + Sunday dinner of, 159-160; + cider-drinking of, 161. + +Adams, John Quincy, Mrs., straw bonnet of, 261. + +Adams family, homes of, 22. + +Albany, houses at, 9; + deer in, 109; + beer at, 161; + bad boys in, 374-375; + first church in, 385; + cow-herding in, 399. + +Alchymy, 88. + +Alewives, in New England waters, 120. + +Ambrosia, a flower, 450. + +Ames, quoted, 136. + +Amherst, sign-board at, 360. + +Andirons, 62. + +Andover, church vote in, 286; + bad boy in, 373. + +Annapolis, dress in, 293. + +Apostle spoons, 90. + +Apples, culture of, 145; + plenty in Maryland, 145; + modes of cooking, 146; + in pies, 146. + +Apple-butter, 146-147. + +Apple-paring, 146-147. + +Apple-sauce, 146-147. + +Architecture, of churches, 364 _et seq._, 385 _et seq._ + +Arkamy, 88. + +Axe-helves, 314-315. + + +Back-bar of fireplace, description, 53. + +Bacon, quoted, 431. + +Bagging, from coarse flax, 172. + +Bake-kettle, 66. + +Bake-shops, 147. + +Ballots, of corn and beans, 141. + +Balsam, as dye, 194. + +Baltimore, dress in, 293; + taverns in, 359. + +Banyan, 294. + +Barberry, root as dye, 194. + +Basins, 106. + +Bass, in New England waters, 120-121. + +Bass-viols, in meeting, 378. + +Bates of flax, 169. + +Batteau, 329. + +Batten, of loom, 220-221. + +Baxter, 187. + +Bayberry, description, 39; + candles of, 39; + wax of, 40; + laws about, 40; + soap from, 255. + +Bead bags, 263. + +Beam. See Warp-beam. + +Beaming, in weaving, 218. + +Beans, as ballots, 141; + mode of cooking, 145. + +Bed coverlet. See Coverlet. + +Bedstead, alcove, 55; + turn-up, 55-56. + +Beer, among Dutch, 161. + +Bees, called English flies, 111. + +Beehives, 442. + +Beetling of flax, 172. + +Bell, as summons to meeting, 368. + +Belt-loom. See Tape-loom. + +Bennet, quoted, 123. + +Berkeley, Gov., quoted, 111, 360-361. + +Berries, 145. + +Betty lamps, 43-44. + +Beverages. See Drinks. + +Bible, references to flax in, 177. + +Biddeford, communal privileges in, 390. + +Bier, in weaving, 220. + +Birch-bark, doors of, 6; + plates of, 83; + baskets of, cans of, 253, 310. + +Birch broom, making of, 301-303; + price of, 302. + +Blackjacks, 95-96. + +Blazing, of trees, 330. + +Bleaching, of flax thread, 175; + of linen, 234; + of straw bonnets, 261. + +Bleeding-basins, 86. + +Block-houses, 26. + +Boards, scarcity of, 76. + +Board cloth, 76-77. + +Boardman Hill House, 22. + +Bobbins, for weaving. See Quills. + +Bobs, of flax, 168. + +Bombards, 96. + +Books of etiquette, 79. + +Bore-staff of loom, 224. + +Boston, fire-engine in, 19; + early houses of, 19, 27; + first fork in, 77; + pigeons in, 110; + fish in, 123; + tea in, 164-165; + coffee in, 165; + chocolate in, 165; + spinning schools in, 180; + fulling-mill in, 187; + dress in, 292-294; + coach in, 331; + stage-travel from, 350-351; + night watch in, 363; + meeting-houses in, 364, 366; + restrictions of settlement in, 394; + cows in, 400. + +Bottles, of wood, 82; + of pewter, 85; + of glass, 92-93; + of leather, 95. + +Boucher, Jonathan, quoted, 382. + +Bouncing-bet, 427, 447. + +Bounty coats, 248. + +Bouts, in weaving, 218. + +Box-borders, a plea for, 430-431. + +Boxing, of maple trees, 112. + +Boylston, Nicholas, banyan of, 294. + +Boys, clothing of, 287-288; + wigs of, 297; + seats in meeting for, 372 _et seq._; + misbehavior of, 372-373; + in church, 384. + +Braid-loom. See Tape-loom. + +Bradford, Governor, quoted, 129-130. + +Bread, white, 147; + rye and Indian, 147 + +Bread-peel, 67. + +Breadtrough, 311. + +Breakfast, or bread and milk, 148. + +Breaking, of flax, 169-170; + of hemp, 170. + +Breaking out the winter roads, 412 _et seq._ + +Breweries, in New York, 161. + +Brewster, Elder, quoted, 117. + +Brick, imported, 21. + +British spinning and weaving school, 186. + +Broach, 198. + +Brooklyn, oysters in, 118-119; + salting shad in, 124-125. + +Brooms, of broom-corn, 256-257; + of birch, 301-304; + of hemlock, 304-305. + +Broom-corn, 256-257. + +Brown University, dress of first graduating class, 183. + +Bucking, of flax thread, 175; + of linen, 234. + +Bull's-eye lamp, 45. + +Bun, of flax, 169. + +Bunch-thread, 251. + +Bundling-mould. See Shingling-mould. + +Burlers, in weaving, 252. + +Bushnell, Horace, quoted, 246. + +Busks, carved, 320. + +Butter, price of, 149. + +Buttermilk, for bleaching, 175. + + +Caches, for corn, 138. + +Cage, for babies, 372; + for bad boys, 385. + +Calash, 289. + +Calf-keeper, duties of, 400. + +Cambridge, cow-herding in, 399. + +Campbell, Madam Angelica, coach of, 335. + +Candles, cost of, 34; + making of, 35-37; + materials for, 38-39, 42. + +Candle-arms, 42. + +Candle-beams, 42. + +Candle-box, 38. + +Candle-dipping, 36. + +Candle-moulds, 36-37. + +Candle-prongs, 42. + +Candle-rods, 36. + +Candle-sticks, 42. + +Candle-wood, 32. + +Canoes, 323-327. + +Canteens, of horn, 321. + +Captain of the watch, duties of, 380. + +Cards. See Wool-cards. + +Carding described, 194-196. + +Carding-machines, 206. + +Card-setting. See Wool-cards. + +Capuchins, 295. + +Carolinas, sweet potatoes in, 145; + hand-weaving in, 249-251; + gardens in, 438-439. + +Carpet. See Rag carpet. + +Carrots, 145. + +Carving, terms in, 104-105; + of wood, 320; + of horn, 321-322. + +Caves, description of, 2; + for corn, 138. + +Cave-dwellers, 1. + +Cedar tops, for dyeing, 251. + +Cellar of Dutch houses, 10. + +Chain in weaving, 250. + +Chair-seats, 310-311. + +Chaise of Brother Jonathan, 353. + +"Change-work," 417. + +Chap-men, 300. + +Chargers, 80, 84. + +Charleston, flax manufacture in, 182-183; + dress in, 293; + gardens in, 438-439. + +Charlevoix, Father, on canoes, 327. + +Chaucer, quoted, on spinning, 179. + +Chebobbin, 415. + +Cheese, making of, 150. + +Cheese-basket, 150-151. + +Cheese-hoop, 312. + +Cheese-ladder, 150-151, 312. + +Cheese-press, 150-151, 312. + +Chesapeake, turkeys on, 109; + wild fowl on, 125. + +Chicory, introduction of, 449. + +Children, at table, 101-102; + occupations of, 179-180, 182, 188-189, 203-204, 261-262; + dress of, 287; + in meeting, 372 _et seq._; + in noon-house, 376. + +Chimney, catted, 15, 53; + size of, 52, 68; + description, 53; + in Dutch houses, 55. + +China, early use of, 100; + importation of, 100-101. + +Chinese stuffs, 294. + +Chinking walls, 5. + +Chopping-bee, 403 _et seq._ + +Chorister, in Dutch churches, 386. + +Churches, in Virginia, 381-383; + in Albany, 385. + See also Meeting-house. + +Churns, few in New England, 149; + examples of, 149-150; + whittling of, 312. + +Cider, use by children, 148-149, 161; + use by students, 161; + price of, 161; + manufacture of, 161-162; + generous use of, 161-163. + +Clam-shells, use of, 308-309. + +Clarionets, in meeting, 378. + +Clavell-piece, 54. + +Clay, for dyeing, 241. + +Clergymen, in Virginia, 384. + +Clocks, 299. + +Clock-jack, 65. + +Clock-reel, 174-175; + price of, 177; + for yarn, 200. + +Clogs, 295. + +Cloth, finishing of, 231-233. + +Cloth bar, 224. + +Clothes, durability of, 281; + extravagance in, 281; + laws about, 281 _et seq._; + of Massachusetts settlers, 286-287; + of Virginia planters, 287; + of children, 288 _et seq._ + +Coaches, in Boston, 331, 353-354; + in England, 354; + Judge Sewall on, 354; + in New York, 354-355. + See also Stage-coach. + +Coat-of-arms, on sampler, 267. + +Coat roll, 248. + +Cob irons, 62. + +Cocoanut-cups, 96-97. + +Codfish, early discoverers on, 115-116; + plenty of, 115; + in New England waters, 120-121; + varieties of, 121; + for Saturday dinner, 122; + price in Boston, 123. + See Fish and Fishing. + +Coffee, substitutes for, 159; + early use of, 165; + queer mode of cooking, 165. + +Colchester, girls' life in, 253. + +Cold houses, 70-71. + +Cold party, 419. + +Colored herbs, 430. + +Coloring, 23. + +Combing, description of, 196. + +Combing machine, 230. + +Combs. See Wool-combs. + +Comfortier, 69. + +Common crops, 130. + +Common herds. See Herding. + +Common lands, 398. + +Communal privileges, 390 _et seq._ + +Conch-shell, as summons to meeting, 367-368. + +Concord coaches, 352-353. + +Concordance, 33. + +Conestoga wagon, 339-343; + shape of, 339; + rates on, 340; + great number of, 340. + +Connecticut, tar-making in, 33; + pumpkin bread in, 143; + flax culture in, 179; + straw manufacture in, 260. + +Contributions in New England meetings, 378; + in Dutch churches, 386-387. + +Cooking, influence of Indian methods, 131-136; + English modes of, 151; + spices used in, 152; + limitations in, 158-159. + +Cooeperation in olden times, 389 _et seq._ + +Corbel roof, 9. + +Coreopsis, persistence of, 448. + +Corn, influence on colonists' lives, 126; + in Virginia, 127-128; + price of, 128, 138; + scarcity of, 129; + mode of cultivating, 130-131; + Indian foods from, 131; + Indian modes of preparing, 131; + modes of cooking, 133-136; + as currency, 138; + profits on raising, 139; + games with, 139; + shelling of, 139-140; + as ballots, 141; + as national flower, 141. + +Corn-cobs, use of, 141, 209. + +Corn dances, 138. + +Corn-husking, description of, 136. + +Corn-sheller, 140-141. + +Cotton, early use of, 206-207; + cultivation of, 207; + rarity of, 207-208; + domestic manufacture, 209-210; + Golden Age of, 230. + +Cotton-gin, 208. + +Cotton, John, quoted, 148, 285. + +Coverlets, in Pennsylvania, 190; + in Narragansett, 242-246. + +Cows, herding of, 399-401. + +Cowherds, duties of, 399-400; + pay of, 399. + +Cowkeeps, 399. + +Cow-pens, 400. + +Crabs, in Virginia, 118. + +Crane, 53. + +Creepers, 62. + +Crocus, 237. + +Crofting, of linen, 234. + +Crown-imperial, 425. + +Cups, 85, 90, 93-96. + +Currency, corn as, 138. + +"Cut-down," of trees, 405. + +Cutler, Dr., quoted, 159. + +Cut-tails, 122-123. + + +Daffodils, 426-427. + +Dale, Sir Thomas, on corn-growing, 127; + on Sunday observance, 380. + +Danvers, Mass., house in, 30. + +Daubing walls, 5. + +Daughters of Liberty, 183-184. + +Day's work in spinning, 185. + +Deacons, in Dutch churches, 386-387. + +Deacons' pew, 374. + +"Deaconing" the psalm, 378. + +Deaf pew, 374. + +Dedham, Mass., house in, 22-23. + +Deer, abundance of, 108-109; + description of, 108. + +Deerskin, clothing of, 288-289. + +De La Warre, church attendance of, 382. + +Delaware, house pie in, 146. + +Delft ware, 100. + +Dents, of sley, 219-220. + +Designs, for weaving, 243-244, 250-251; + of ancient Gauls, 242; + for quilts, 272-273; + for paper-cutting, 278-289. + +Dew-retting, 169. + +Dimity, 250. + +Dinner, serving of, 104; + primitive forms, 105-106; + for Saturday, 122; + in New York, 159; + at John Adams' home, 159-160. + +Discomforts of temperature, 70-71. + +Distaff, in India, 178. + +Dogs, in meeting, 374. + +Dog-pelter, 374. + +Dog-whipper, 374. + +Donnison family, fire buckets of, 18. + +Door latch, 11, 318. + +Dorchester, windmill at, 133; + corporation, laws in, 392, 394. + +Double string-roaster, 64. + +Drawing, in weaving, 219. + +Drawing a bore, 224. + +Dress. See Clothes. + +Dresser, 68. + +Drinking-cups, 85-96, 98. + +Drinks, from curious materials, 163. + +Drinking habits, 93-94, 161, 164. + +Drinking-horns, 321. + +Driver, 198. + +Drugget, 250. + +Drum, as summons to meeting, 367, 368. + +Duck. See Wild fowl. + +Duer, Colonel, dinner of, 159. + +Dugouts, 326. + +Dunfish, 121-122. + Also see Codfish. + +Durability of homespun, 238-239. + +Durham, church discipline in, 372. + +Dutch mode of serving meals, 106. + +Dutch oven, 65. + +Dyes, domestic, 155, 193-194, 250-251. + +Dye-flower, 251. + + +Earmarks, 400. + +Eastern Stage Company, 351. + +Economy of colonists, 42, 185, 321-324; + of Martha Washington, 237-238. + +Eddis, quoted, 118. + +Eels, method of catching, 117. + +Egypt, flax in, 177-178; linen in, 178. + +Embroidery. See Needlework. + +Emerson, R. W., appointed hog-reeve, 403. + +Endicott, Governor, sun-dial of, 443; + his introduction of woad-wax, 448. + +Entering, in weaving. See Drawing. + +Ernst, C. W., quoted, 343, 345. + +Etiquette for children, 100-102; + of carving, 104-105. + +Eye, of harness, 218. + +Fairbanks, Jacob, house of, 22-23; + sun-dial of, 443. + +Fairs, instituted by Penn, 190; + encouraged by Franklin, 191. + +Faneuil, Miss, dress of, 292. + +Fences, different varieties of, 25; + common building of, 401-402; + laws about, 401-402. + +Fence-viewers, 401. + +Ferries, by canoe, 330-331. + +Finlay, Hugh, postal report of, 333-335. + +Fireback, 54. + +Fire-buckets, description, 16; + use of, 17; + of Donnison's, 18; + of Quincy's, 18; + of Oliver's, 19. + +Fire-dogs, 62. + +Fire-engine, first in Boston, 19; + first in Brooklyn, 19. + +Fire-hunting, 108-109. + +Fire lanes, 16. + +Fire laws, 15. + +Fireplace of our fathers, 53. + +Fire-plate, 54-55. + +Fire-room, 7. + +Fire-wardens, 15. + +Fish, plenty of, 115-125; + varieties of, in New England waters, 117; + in Virginia waters, 119; + in New York waters, 120; + salted, 124-125; + as fertilizer, 130; + poisoned by flax, 169. + +Fishing, King James on, 116; + ill-success in, 117; + supplies for, 117; + in Virginia, 119-120; + encouragement of, 121; + laws on, 121; + division of profit, 122, 123. + +Fish-weirs, 121. + +Flag, as summons to meeting, 368. + +Flails, making of, 312; use of, 313-314. + +Flannel sheets, 238. + +Flax, patch of, 167; + blossom of, 167; + growth of, 168; + weeding of, 168; + ripening of, 168; + pulling of, 168; + spreading of, 168; + rippling of, 168-169; + watering of, 169; + stacking of, 169; + breaking of, 169-170; + tenacity of, 171; + swingling of, 171-172; + beetling of, 172; + hetcheling of, 172-173; + spreading and drawing, 173; + many manipulations of, 173; + spinning of, 174; + in Bible, 177; + in Egypt, 177-178; + in New England, 179-181, 186; + in Pennsylvania, 181; + in Virginia, 181, 182; + in South Carolina, 182-183; + in Ireland, 186; + in Courtrai, 186; + in England, 186. + +Flax basket, 173. + +Flax-brake, 169-170. + +Flax hetchels, 172. + +Flaxseed, how sown, 167; + how gathered, 168, 176; + how stored, 176. + +Flax-thread, spinning of, 174; + knotting of, 175; + reeling of, 175; + bleaching of, 175; + backing of, 175. + +Flax-wheel, revival of, 167; + use of, 174; + price of, 177. + +Flint and steel, 48. + +Flower, a national, 141. + +Flowers, in churches, 383; + old-time, 421 _et seq._; + folk-names of, 448; + age of, 443-445; + persistency of, 447; + escaped from cultivation, 448. + +Flower-seeds, sold by women, 440-441; + old list of, 441. + +Flutes, in meeting, 378. + +Flying-machine, 345. + +Fly-shuttle, 228. + +Food, from forests, 108-114; + from sea and river, 114-125; + transportation of, 143; + entirely from farm, 158; + substitutes, 158-159. + +Foot-mantle, 295. + +Foot-paths, 329. + +Foot-stoves, 375, 385. + +Foot-treadle, of loom, 219. + +Foot-wheel. See Flax-wheel. + +Foote, Abigail, diary of, 253. + +Forefathers' Dinner, 129. + +Forests, destruction of, 52; + riches of, 108-114. + +Forms, 101. + +Forks, use of, 77; + first, 77. + +Forts, as churches, 365, 385. + +Fox, George, bequest of, 437. + +Franklin, quoted, 53, 181; + fairs encouraged by, 191; + advertisement of, 292-293; + as postmaster, 333; + set milestones, 335; + cyclometer of, 335-336; + on canals, 353; + in sedan-chair, 356. + +Franklin stove, 70. + +Fraxinella, 449. + +Fringe-loom, 227. + +Frocking, striped, 237. + +Fulling-mill, in Boston, 188. + +Fulling-stocks, 232. + +Fulham jugs, 98. + +Funerals, rings at, 298; + gloves at, 298-299. + +Furs, search for, 115. + +Fustian, in America, 237; + in Europe, 237. + + +Gallows-balke, 53. + +Gallows-crooks, 53. + +Gallows-frame. See Tape-loom. + +Gambrels, 310. + +Gambrel roof, description, 22. + +Games, with corn, 139. + +Garden, an old-time, 419 _et seq._; + in New England, 419 _et seq._; + in southern colonies, 438-439; + in New York, 439-440. + +Garnish of pewter, 85. + +Garrison house, 26. + +Garter-loom. See Tape-loom. + +Geese, raising of, 257-258; + pickings of, 257-259; + noise of, 258. + +Georgia, deer in, 109; + turkeys in, 110; + hand-weaving in, 249-251. + +Georgius Rex jug, 99. + +Germantown, flax-raising at, 181; + flax-workers at, 181; + seal of, 181; + wool manufacture at, 190. + +Gibcrokes, 53. + +Gimlet, 305. + +Giotto, loom of, 213. + +Girdling, of trees, 403. + +Girls, dress of, 289-292; + seats in meeting for, 372. + +Giskins, 96. + +Glass, in windows, 23, 366; + nailed in, 366; + for lamps, 46; + early use of, 92. + +Gloucester, old house at, 70; + fishing at, 122-123; + communal privileges in, 390. + +Gloves, given at funerals, 298-299. + +Going a-leafing, 67. + +Goldenrod, as dye, 193. + +Goloe-shoes, 295. + +Gookin, quoted, 137. + +Goose-basket, 258. + +Goose-neck andirons, 62. + +Goose yoke, 258. + +Gorse. See Woad-wax. + +Gourds, cups of, 96; + utensils of, 309. + +Grant, Mrs. Anne, on Dutch gardens, 439. + +Grapes, 145. + +Grassing, of linen, 234. + +Greeley, Horace, on canal-travel, 353. + +Gridirons, 61. + +Grist-mill, earliest, 133. + +Guinea wheat, 129. See Corn. + +Gun, as summons to meeting, 368. + +Gundalow, 329. + +Gutters of houses, 9. + + +Hackling. See Hetcheling. + +Hadley, shad in, 123-124; + potatoes in, 144; + broom-making in, 256-257; + restrictions of settlement in, 392-393; + hay-ward in, 402. + +Hakes, 53. + +Half-faced camp, 3. + +Hammond, John, quoted, 395. + +Hamor, Ralph, quoted, 143. + +Hancock House, knocker of, 28; + on sampler, 268. + +Hancock, John, hatred of pewter, 85; + drinking cup of, 97; + dress of, 293. + +Hand-distaff. See Distaff. + +Hand-loom. See Loom. + +Hand-reel. See Niddy-noddy. + +Hap-harlot, 242. + +Harness. See Heddle. + +Harvard College, standing salt of, 78-79; + trenchers at, 81. + +Hasty pudding, 135. + +Hats, worn in meeting, 285; + church votes about, 286. + +Hay-wards, 402. + +Heddle of loom, 219. + +Heddle-frame. See Tape-loom. + +Heel-pegs. See Shoe-pegs. + +Hemlock, brooms of, 304-305; + boxes of, 310. + +Hemp, blossom of, 167; + breaking of, 169. + +Herding, of cows, 399-401; + of sheep, 401; + of swine, 403. + +Hetcheling of flax, 172. + +Hexe, of flax, 169. + +Hides, use of, 109; + tax on, 109. + +Higginson, quoted, 33, 35, 117, 148. + +Hind's-foot handle, 90. + +Hinges, material of, 9, 318. + +Hingham, church at, 365. + +Hogarth, loom of, 213-214. + +Hogs, as scavengers, 125; + yokes of, 311; + laws about, 402-403. + +Hog-reeves, 402-403. + +Homespun industries, 167; + beneficent effect of, 179; + foundation of liberty, 189. + +Hominy, 131. + +Honey, plenty of, 111. + +Honey-locust, 163. + +Horn, spoons of, 88; + cups of, 96; + as summons to meeting, 368. + +Horse-blocks, in front of churches, 367. + +Horse-bridges, 331. + +Horse-laurel, as dye, 194. + +Hose. See Stockings. + +Hospitality, in Southern colonies, 395 _et seq._ + +Hound handle, 100. + +Hour-glass, in meeting, 376. + +Housekeeper, qualifications of, 252-253. + +House pie, 146. + +House-raising. See Raising. + +Hyperion tea, 165. + + +India china, 100. + +Indians, houses of, 3-4; + caves of, 138; + corn dances of, 138; + cultivation of corn by, 126-131; + endurance of, 137; + mode of cooking corn, 131-135; + names of corn foods, 131-137; + mode of drying pumpkins, 143; + spoons of, 88; + mode of cooking beans, 145; + brooms of, 301-304; + four best things, 304; + modes of travel of, 325; + boats of, 325; + paths of, 329-330. + +Indian corn. See Corn. + +Indian pudding, 135. + +Indigo, as dye, 193. + +Inns. See Taverns. + +Invention, of cotton-gin, 208; + of fly-shuttle, 228; + of spinning-jenny, 229; + of throstle-spun yarn, 229; + of combing-machine, 230; + of flax-spinning machine, 230-231. + +Ipswich, grist-mill at, 133. + +Iris, as dye, 193. + +Itineracies, old-time, 176, 300-301. + + +Jack-knife, 307-308. + +Jacks, 64. + +James I. on fishing, 116. + +Jamestown, spinning-schools at, 182; + summons to meeting at, 367. + +Jeans, 250. + +Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 207, 256; + hospitality of, 397; + impoverishment of, 397-398. + +Jewellery, slight wear of, 297. + +Johnson, quoted, 143, 145, 188. + +Johnson, Governor, baby clothes of, 265. + +Johnny-cakes, 135. + +Josselyn, quoted, 117; + his list of plants in New England, 432 _et seq._ + +Judd, Sylvester, quoted, 216, 237. + +Jugs, of stoneware, 98. + +Jumel, Madame, cave house of, 3. + + +Kalm, quoted, 39-40; + on squirrels, 110; + on bees, 111; + on maize bread, 134; + on canoes, 326-327; + on the plantain, 436. + +Kearsarge, Mount, romance of, 405. + +Kentucky, hand-weaving in, 249. + +Ketch, 328. + +Kill-devil. See Rum. + +Killing time, 153. + +King Hooper house, 30. + +Kitchen, description, 52; + in rhyme, 73-75. + +Knife. See Jack-knife. + +Knife-racks, 68. + +Knights, Madame, quoted, 8; + on canoes, 327-328; + journey of, 332; + on sleighs, 355. + +Knitting, 190; + yarn for, 201; + by children, 261-262; + elaborate designs, 262. + +Knitting machine, 190. + +Knives, of flax brake, 170. + +Knocker, Hancock house, 28; + Winslow house, 29. + +Knots, of flax thread, 175. + +Krankbesoeckers, 385. + + +Labadist missionaries, quoted, 118-119. + +Lad's lore, 428. + +Lamps, 43-45. + +Lathe. See Batten. + +Latten ware, 58. + +Laws, about flax culture, 179-180; + about dress, 282-284; + about ferries, 330-331; + about mail, 334; + about taverns, 357; + on observance of Sunday, 378-379; + of warning out, 392 _et seq._; + about fences, 401-402. + +Lay, of loom. See Batten. + +Laying a fire, 74. + +Lays, of flax thread, 175. + +Lean-to, description, 22. + +Leashes, of heddle, 219. + +Leather, utensils of, 95-96. + +Letters. See Post. + +Liberty Tea, 165. + +Lincoln, Abraham, early home of, 4; + rail-splitting, 25. + +Linden, fibre from, 211. + +Linen, manipulations of, 234; + clothing of, 234; + sentiment of, 234; + price of, 234; + checked, 238. + +Lining the psalm, 378. + +Litster, 187. + +Livingstone, John, clothing of, 288. + +Loaf-sugar. See Sugar-cones. + +Lobsters, plenty of, 117; + vast size of, 118. + +Logan, Mrs., on flower-raising, 438. + +Log cabin, forms of, 5. + +Logging-bee, 416, 417. + +Log-rolling, 389, 404, 406. + +Longfellow, quoted, 327. + +Long Island, bayberries on, 40; + samp-mortars on, 133; + wool raising on, 191; + bad boys on, 373; + Sunday observance on, 385; + cow-herding on, 400. + +Long-short, 236-237. + +Loom, antiquity of, 213-214; + of Giotto, 213; + of Hogarth, 213-214; + description of, 214. + See Power-loom, Tape-loom. + +Loom-room, 212. + +Louisiana, corn in, 128; + petticoat rebellion in, 128; + hand-weaving in, 250. + +Lowell, quoted, 73. + +Lucas, Governor, quoted, 182-183. + +Lug-pole, 53. + +Luxury, after the Revolution, 159-160. + +Lye, making of, 254. + + +MacMaster, quoted, 207. + +Madison, Dolly, dress of, 290. + +Mail, of heddle, 219. + +Mail. See Post. + +Mail coaches, 344, 350. + +Maine, windows in, 23; + candle-wood in, 32; + chums in, 149; + axe-making in, 315. + +Maize. See Corn. + +Mandillion, 287. + +Manhattan, bark houses on, 4; + palisados on, 24. + +Manners. See Etiquette. + +Maple sugar, old description of, 111; + manufacture of, 111-112. + +Maple-wood, bowls of, 82, 318-320. + +Marblehead, fishing at, 122-123. + +Marigolds, 427. + +Marmalades, 152. + +Maryland, houses in, 11; + wild fowl in, 125; + apples in, 145; + hospitality in, 396-397. + +Masks, 290. + +Massachusetts, cave dwellings in, 1; + palisados in, 24; + venison in, 109; + fish in, 123; + flax culture in, 179-180; + wool-raising in, 188; + bounty in, 205; + sumptuary laws in, 281-284; + outfit for settlers, 286-287; + ferries in, 330-331. + +Matches, first, 50-51. + +Mazer, 319. + +Mead, 163. + +Meeting-house, in Boston, 364, 366; + in Salem, 364; + in Hingham, 365; + descriptions of, 364, 366-369. + +Metheglin, 163. + +Metheglin cups, 85. + +Metzel-soup, 419. + +Milestones, 335-336. + +Milford, Conn., palisados in, 24. + +Milk, price of, 148; use as food, 148. + +Milk pitchers, names of, 106. + +Milkweed, for candle wicks, 35, 211. + +Mill, Indian, 132. + +Mince-pies, pioneer, 159. + +Ministers, encourage fisheries, 121. + +Mittens, fine knitting of, 262; + quick knitting of, 262. + +Modesty-piece, 270-271. + +Molasses, for New England slave-trade, 163. + +Monkey spoons, 90. + +Moore, Thomas, quoted, 348. + +Mortar, Indian, 132. + +Morton, quoted, 120-121. + +Moss-pink, 423. + +Mount Vernon, description of, 13; + weaving at, 237; + garden at, 431. + +Mourning rings. See Rings. + +Mourning samplers, 268-269. + +Muffs, worn by men, 298, 386. + +Mutton, its disuse previous to Revolution, 189, 191. + +Nails, scarcity of, 11. + +Napkins, use of, 77. + +Narragansett, hand-weaving in, 241-244; + shift marriages in, 241-242; + old quilt in, 275-276; + threshing in, 313-314. + +Needlework, stitches in, 264-265; + delicacy of, 265; + rules for, 265. + +Neighborhood, title of settlement, 391. + +Neighbors, old-time, 388 _et seq._, 395 _et seq._ + +Netting, 263-264. + +Nettles, fibre spun, 211. + +New Amsterdam, first church in, 385; + laws about fences in, 401-402. + +Newman, Rev. Mr., manner of work, 33. + +Newburyport, house at, 27; + straw bleaching at, 261; + sumptuary laws in, 283; + fines in, 374. + +New England, houses in, 15; + candle-wood in, 32; + lobsters in, 117; + fisheries in, 117-124; + Indian corn in, 127-136; + mills in, 131-133; + pumpkins in, 142-143; + potatoes in, 144; + squashes in, 144; + milk and ministers in, 148; + churns in, 149; + cider in, 161-162; + rum in, 163-164; + slavery in, 164; + wool-raising in, 188-189; + taverns in, 356-357; + watchmen in, 363; + meeting-houses in, 365 _et seq._; + summons to meeting in, 368; + Sunday observance in, 378 _et seq._; + "taste of dinner in," 418; + old-time gardens in, 421 _et seq._ + +New Hampshire, candle-wood in, 32; + potatoes in, 144; + pioneer mince-pies in, 159; + wheelwrights in, 176; + flax manufacture in, 180, 236; + fine knitting in, 269; + birch brooms in, 304. + +New Haven, restrictions in, 392. + +New London, mill at, 133. + +Newport, box plants at, 430; + garden in, 437-438. + +New York, houses in, 8; + candle-wood in, 32; + first fork in, 78; + venison in, 109; + lobsters at, 118; + fish in, 120; + salting shad in, 124-125; + suppawn in, 133; + ale and beer in, 161; + wool-raising in, 191; + dress in, 292; + turnpikes in, 349-350; + coaches in, 354-355; + sleighs in, 355; + street lighting in, 362; + watch in, 363; + Sunday observance in, 384; + cow-herding in, 399; + gardens in, 439-440. + +Niddy-noddy, 200-201; carved, 320. + +Nightgowns, 294. + +Nocake, description of, 137; + use of, 137; + Eliot's use of word, 137-138. + +Noggins, 82. + +Noil, 196. + +Nokick. See Nocake. + +Noon-houses, 374-375. + +Noon-marks, 299. + +Norridgewock, life-work of a citizen of, 407-408. + +Northampton, sumptuary laws in, 283-284. + +Northboro, spinning match at, 184. + +North Saugus, house in, 21. + +Norwich, naughty girl in, 373. + +Notices, nailed on church doors, 367. + +Nott, President, story of boyhood, 202-203. + + +Occamy, 88. + +Occupations, of children, 179, 180, 182, 186, 437; + of women, 187. + +Oiled paper for windows, 23, 366. + +Old South Church, on sampler, 268. + +Old Ship, 365. + +Old South, 366. + +Opening in land, clearing, 406. + +Ordinary, name for tavern, 356. + +Osenbrigs, 288. + +Otis, Hannah, sampler of, 268. + +Overhang, in walls, 19-20. + +Ovens, 67. + +Ox-bows, 311. + +Oxen, sign of distress in, 413. + +Oysters, in Brooklyn, 118-119; + in Virginia, 119; + vast size of, 119. + + +Pace-weight, of loom, 224. + +Pack-horses, use of, 336-339; + pay for, 337; + load of, 337-338. + +Pails, early, 58. + +Paint, not used, 23. + +Pales. See Fences. + +Palfrey, quoted, 122. + +Palisado, description of, 24. + +Pansy, folk-names of, 425-426. + +Paper-cutting. See Papyrotamia. + +Papyrotamia, 277-278. + +Parley, Peter, reminiscence of, 140. + +Parsnips, 145. + +Pastorius, Father, his choice for seal, 181; + his encouragement of gardening, 436. + +Patchwork. See Quilt-piecing. + +Patent, first to Americans, 138-139, 260. + +Pattens, 295. + +Paupers, in Narragansett, 313; + treatment of, in New England, 324. + +Pawn, 55. + +Pawtucket, cotton thread in, 207. + +Pay, for spinning, 185; + for weaving, 230, 250; + for cow-herding, 399; + of swineherds, 403. + +Peabody, Francis, house of, 31. + +Peachy, 163. + +Peas, 145. + +Peel, 67. + +Pegging, 262. + +Pelisses, 295. + +Penn, William, fairs instituted by, 190. + +Pennsylvania, cave-dwellers in, 2; + stoves in, 69; + squirrels in, 110; + wool manufacture in, 190; + dress in, 292-293; + mail in, 333; + post-rider, 335; + transportation in, 335-344; + roads in, 339; + turnpikes in, 349; + coaching in, 350-351; + metzel-soup in, 419; + gardens in, 436-437. + +Peonies, 421. + +Perfumes, in cooking, 152; + of old garden flowers, 424; + of sweet-scented leaves, 449 _et seq._ + +Periagua, 329. + +Perry, 163. + +Peter, Hugh, encourages fisheries, 121. + +Petticoat rebellion, 128. + +Petunias, 428. + +Pews, described, 368 _et seq._ + +Pewter, for lamps, 44-45; + for utensils, 84-85; + on dresser, 68; + lids of, 100. + +Phoebe-lamps, 44. + +Philadelphia, early houses in, 15; + luxurious dinners in, 160; + straw manufacture in, 260; + travel from, 347-350; + taverns in, 359; + cow-herding in, 400-401. + +Pickling, old-time, 152. + +Pierce Garrison House, 26. + +Pierpont, Rev. John, verses of, 306-307. + +Pies, 146. + +Pigeons, plenty of, 110; + price of, 110. + +Pilgrims, starvation of, 129. + +Piling-bee, 406. + +Pillions, 331-332. + +Pillory, location of, 367. + +Pinckney, Mrs., exchange of flowers of, 439. + +Pinehurst, hand-weaving in, 250-251. + +Pine-knots, use of, 32-33. + +Pink, name of vessel, 328. + +Pinks, varieties of, 427. + +Pipe shelves, 68. + +Pipe-tongs, 68-69. + +Pitch-pipes, in meeting, 378. + +Plantain, romance of, 435-436. + +Plate-racks, 68. + +Plate-warmer, 61. + +Plymouth, vacant fields at, 130; + sampler at, 266. + +Pokeberry, as dye, 193. + +Pompion. See Pumpkin. + +Pones, 134. + +Pop-corn, 135. + +Poplar wood, use of, 81-82. + +Porcelain. See China. + +Porringers, 85-86. + +Porter's fluid, 45. + +Portsmouth, old house at, 21. + +Portulaca, 429. + +Posnet, 87. + +Possing, of linen, 234. + +Post, first, 332; duties of, 332-333; + in Virginia, 333; + report about, 333-335. + +Potatoes, in New England, 144; + queer modes of cooking, 144-145. + See Sweet potatoes. + +Potato-boiler, 57. + +Pot-brakes, 53. + +Pot-clips, 53. + +Pot-crooks, 53. + +Pot-hangers, 53. + +Pothooks, 53. + +Pots, cost of, 56; + size of, 56. + +Pound-keepers, 400. + +Powder-horns, 320-321. + +Powdering of hair, 297. + +Powdering tub, 153. + +Power-loom, 230. + +Powhatan, teaches corn-planting, 127. + +Prairie-schooner. See Conestoga wagon. + +Prayers, length of, 376; + with the sick, 419. + +Preserving, old-time, 152. + +Printer, dress of, 293. + +Providence, straw manufacture in, 260; + restrictions in, 392. + +Psalm-singing, 376 _et seq._ + +Puddings, of corn, 135. + +Pudding-time, 104, 160. + +Pue. See Pews. + +Pulling of flax, 168. + +Pulpits, 368, 385. + +Pumpkin, tributes to, 143; + modes of cooking, 143; + their plenty, 143; + shells of, 309. + +Puncheon floor, 6. + + +Quakers, dress of, 258, 292. + +Quarels, of glass, 9. + +Quarnes, 133. + +Quiddonies, 152. + +Quills, for weaving, 216; + from geese, 259. + +Quilling-wheel, 216, 229. + +Quilts, piecing of, 270-275; + materials for, 272-274; + patterns for, 272-275; + quilting of, 273-274. + +Quince drink, 96. + +Quincy family, fire-buckets of, 18; + samplers of, 266-267. + +Quincy, Josiah, quoted, 341-342, 346. + + +Raddle, of loom, 219. + +Rag carpet, 239-240. + +Rail-fence, 25. + +Raising, of a house, 408 _et seq._ + +Rake. See Raddle. + +Ramsay, quoted, 395-396. + +Randolph, John, quoted, 205. + +Raspberry leaves for tea, 158, 165. + +Rattle-watch, 362. + +Ravel. See Raddle. + +Reading, communal privileges in, 391. + +Recons, 53. + +Reed. See Sley. + +Reed-hook. See Sley-hook. + +Reel, triple, 200. + See Clock-reel and Niddy-noddy. + +Revolution, influences towards success, 166-167, 189. + +Rhode Island, stage-coach in, 346. + +Rhode Island College. See Brown University. + +Ribbon-beds, 445. + +Ribbon-grass, 430. + +Ride-and-tie system, 332. + +Rings, wearing of, 297; + at funerals, 298. + +Rippling of flax, 168-169; + of hemp, 169. + +Rippling-comb, 168; + of Egyptians, 178. + +Roasting ears, 134. + +Roasting-kitchens, 65. + +Rock for spinning, in Egypt, 178; + in India, 178; + in New England, 179. + +Rock-candy, 157. + +Rocking-tree, of loom, 220. + +Rochester, house-raising at, 410. + +Rolliches, 154. + +Rolling-roads, 330. + +Rolling-up a house, 6. + +Roof, of Dutch houses, 10; + gambrel, 22. + +Roquelaure, 295. + +Rosselini, quoted, 178. + +Roving, of yarn, 201. + +Rowley, spinning match at, 184. + +Ruffler for flax, 172. + +Rum, manufacture of, 163; + in New England, 163; + in slave-trade, 163-164; + at house-raisings, 410. + +Rush, for scouring, 85. + +Rushlight, 38. + +Rutland, cave-dwellers in, 3. + + +Sabba-day house. See Noon-house. + +Sabin Hall, 14. + +Sack, law of sale, 357. + +Sacjes, 386-387. + +Saco, communal privileges in, 390. + +Safeguards, 295. + +Salem, coloring houses at, 23; + lobsters at, 117; + fisheries at, 121; + milk in, 148; + sumptuary laws in, 283; + taverns at, 356-357; + night-watch in, 363; + meeting-house in, 364; + seats for boys at meeting in, 372; + swineherds in, 403. + +Saler, 78. + +Salisbury, meeting-house at, 369. + +Salmon, price in Boston, 123; + low regard of, 123; + fishing for, 124. + +Salt-cellar, 78-79. + +Salting of fish, 124; + of meat, 153. + +Samp, mode of preparing, 131-132, 134; + porridge of, 134. + +Samplers, 265-268. + +Samp-mills, 133. + +Samp-mortars, 133. + +Sap-buckets, 112. + +Sap-yoke, 113. + +Sassafras, as dye, 194; + for soap, 255. + +Sausages, making of, 154-155. + +Sausage-gun, 154. + +Save-alls, 42. + +Scaffold, name for pulpit, 368. + +Scarne. See Skarne. + +Sconces, 42. + +Scouring-rush, 85. + +Scutching. See Swingling. + +Scythe snathe, 309-312. + +Seal of Germantown, 181. + +Seating the meeting, 370-371. + +Seats, at table, 101; + in New England meetings, 369; + in Virginia churches, 383-384; + in Dutch churches, 386-387. + +Section. See Bout. + +Sedan-chairs, 356. + +Sermons, length of, 376. + +Sewall, Samuel, quoted, 354-356; + character of, 418. + +Shad, low regard of, 123-124; + price of, 124; + fishing for, 124; + salting of, 124. + +Shallop, 328. + +Shed, in weaving, 221. + +Sheep, in Massachusetts, 188; + laws about, 188, 189; + herding of, 409. + +Sheep-folds, 401. + +Sheep-herds, 401. + +Sheep-ranges, 401. + +Shelburne, girls work in, 262. + +Shepster, 187. + +Sherry-vallies, 296. + +Shingles, making of, 316-317. + +Shingle-bolts, 318. + +Shingle-mould, 317. + +Shoe-pegs, 315-316. + +Shuttles, for loom, 224-225. + +Sign-boards, name on, 358-359; + historical value of, 359; + of Philadelphia, 359; + of Baltimore, 359. + +Sigourney, Mrs., quoted, 277-278. + +Silk-grass, 211. + +Silver, use of, 89-92. + +Skarne, 216-217. + +Skeins, of flax thread, 175. + +Skillet, 50. + +Skilts, 236. + +Slave-kitchen, 54. + +Slave quarters, 14. + +Slavery, in New England, 163; + in Virginia, 164. + +Sleds, 343. + +Sleighs, in New York, 355. + +Sley, of loom, 219-220; + price of, 224. + +Slice, 67. + +Slippings, of flax thread, 175. + +Smith, John, quoted, 115-116; + plants corn, 127; + description of first Virginia church, 381-382. + +Smoke-house, 153. + +Smoke-jack, 65. + +Smoking tongs, 68-69. + +Snake-fence, 25. + +Sneak-cups, 106. + +Snow, name of vessel, 328. + +Snowstorm, in New England, 410 _et seq._ + +Snuffers, 42. + +Snuffers tray, 42. + +Soap, making of, 253-255. + +Society house, 396. + +Sorrel, as dye, 194. + +South Carolina. See Carolinas. + +Southernwood, 428. + +Spatter-dashes, 296. + +Spelling, varied, of squashes, 144. + +Spenser, quoted, 319. + +Spermaceti, 42. + +Spices, in cooking, 153; + ground at home, 158. + +Spice-mills, 158. + +Spice-mortars, 158. + +Spinning, of flax, 174, 230; + pay for, 175; + in Egypt, 178; + in India, 178; + in New England, 179-180; + in Pennsylvania, 181; + in France, 230-231; + day's work in, 185; + in modern times, 186; + of wool, 196-198, 229-230; + new materials for, 211; + race between weaving and, 228-229; + a by-industry, 228. + +Spinning classes, 180. + +Spinning-cup, 174. + +Spinning-jenny, 229. + +Spinning-matches, 184-185. + +Spinning-school, 180, 182. + +Spinning-wheel. See Flax-wheel and Wool-wheel. + +Spinster, legal title of women, 187. + +Splint brooms. See Birch brooms. + +Spool-holder. See Skarne. + +Spoons, use of, 87; + material of, 87-88; + types of, 89-90. + +Spoon-moulds, 87-88. + +Spoon-racks, 68. + +Spreading of flax, 168. + +Spunks, 50. + +Squadrons, of spinners, 189. + +Squanto, teaches fishing, 117; + teaches corn-planting, 130. + +Squashes, varied names of, 144. + +Squirrels, abundance of, 110; + premium on, 110. + +Stage-coaches, in Great Britain, 331, 345-346; + in America, 345-346. + +Stage-wagon, 345. + +Staircases, 27. + +Standing salt, 78-79. + +Standish, Lorea, sampler of, 266. + +Starting a fire, 48-50. + +Starving times, in Virginia, 127; + in New England, 129. + +Staves, 316. + +Stays, 291. + +Steeples, 366. + +Steep-pool, for flax, 169. + +Stepping-stones. See Horse-blocks. + +Stitches, names of, 264-265. + +St.-John's-wort, as dye, 194. + +Stockings, knitting of, 190, 262-263; + weaving of, 190. + +Stocks, location of, 367. + +Stone-bee, 407. + +Stone-hauling, 407. + +Stone walls, 407. + +Stoves, first, 69; + in Dutch churches, 385. + +Strachey, quoted, 119. + +Strangers, harboring of, forbidden in New England, 393-394. + +Stratford, tithing-man in, 372. + +Straw manufacture, 259-261. + +Streets, condition of, 362; + lighting of, 362; + washing of, 363. + +Strikes, of flax, 172. + +Striking a light, 47. + +Stump-pulling, 407. + +Sturgeon, great catch of, 120; + in New York, 120. + +Substitutes for imported foods, 158-159. + +Succotash, 134. + +Sudbury, tavern at, 357-358. + +Sugar, substitutes for, 110, 111, 147, 157, 158; + cutting of, 155-156. + +Sugar-bowls, names for, 106. + +Sugar-cones, 155. + +Sugar-cutters, 155-156. + +Summer-piece, 8. + +Sunday, observance of, by Puritans, 378 _et seq._; + by Rev. John Cotton, 379; + by Virginians, 380; + by the Dutch, 384; + duration of, 379. + +Sun-dials, 299, 442-443; + inscriptions on, 443; + materials of, 443. + +Suppawn, use of, 133. + +Sweep and mortar mill, 132. + +Sweet potatoes, modes of cooking, 145. + +Swifts, 215-216. + +Swineherds. See Hog-reeves. + +Swingling of flax, 171-172. + +Swingling block, 171. + +Swingling knives, 171, 312. + +Swingle-tree hurds, 172. + +Swingling tow, bonfires of, 177. + +Swing-sign. See Sign-board. + + +Table, description of, 76. + +Table-board, 76, 81. + +Table-cloths, 77. + +Tallow, lack of, 34. + +Tambour work, 269. + +Tankards, original meaning, 83; + of wood, 83-84; + of silver, 99. + +Tapping-gauge, 112. + +Tape-loom, various names of, 225; + described, 225-227. + +Tap-room, of Wayside Inn, 357-358. + +Tarboggin. See Chebobbin. + +Tar-making, 33. + +Taste of a dinner, 418. + +Tasters, 86-87. + +Taverns, establishment of, 356; + titles for, 356; + prices at, 357; + values about, 357; + names of rooms at, 357; + in southern colonies, 360; + in New Netherland, 361. + +Tea, substitutes for, 158-159; + first sales of, 164; + queer mode of cooking, 165. + +Teazels, 232. + +Teazeling, of cloth, 232. + +Temperature, of houses, 70-71; + of churches, 374. + +Temple, of loom, 223. + +Tennessee, hand-weaving in, 249. + +Tenting, of cloth, 232. + +Terbobbin. See Chebobbin. + +Terrapin, 120. + +Thatch, for roofs, 15. + +Threshing, 313-314. + +Thumbing, in weaving, 218. + +Thumb-rings, 298. + +Tin, slight use of, 58. + +Tinder, 48. + +Tinder-box, 48. + +Tinder-mill, 50. + +Tinder-wheel, 49. + +Tithing-men, 372, 373. + +Titles, old-time, for women, 187. + +Toasting-forks, 60. + +Tobacco, as currency, 189; + use forbidden near meeting-house, 379. + +Tomble. See Temple. + +Tongs, 236. + +Tow, garments of, 235-236. + +Town, unit in New England, 390; + narrow feeling of, 391. + +Townsend, revolutionary story of, 203. + +Toys, of wood, 306. + +Trammels, 53. + +Transportation, on horseback, 176, 336 _et seq._; + by wagons, 339 _et seq._ + +Trees, girdling of, 403; + drive of, 404; + under-cutting of, 404. + +Trenchers, description, 80; + material, 82. + +Trivets, 60. + +Troughs, making of, 311. + +Trumbull, Jonathan, chaise of, 353. + +Trunks, 348. + +Trunk pedler, 300. + +Tumble. See Temple. + +Tummings, 195. + +Turkeys, wild, 109; + size of, 109-110; + price of, 110. + +Turkey wheat, 129. + See Corn. + +Turkey-wings, 309. + +Turnips, 145. + +Turnpikes, 349-350. + +Turnspit dog, 65. + +Tusser, Thomas, quoted, 35, 168, 255, 321-322. + +Twifflers, 106. + + +Van der Donck, quoted, 118, 119, 120. + +Van Tienhoven, quoted, 2. + +Veils, interference about, 285. + +Venison. See Deer. + +Vermont, candle-wood in, 32; + broom-making in, 303. + +Victualling, name for tavern, 356. + +Violins, in meeting, 378. + +Virginia, early houses in, 11; + palisados in, 24; + candle-wood in, 32; + first fork in, 78; + silver in, 91; + table furnishings in, 104; + deer in, 108-109; + birds and fowl in, 110; + lobsters in, 118; + crabs in, 118; + oysters in, 119; + plenty of fish in, 118-119; + corn in, 127; + massacre in, 127; + windmills in, 133; + toll in, 133; + starvation in, 127, 144; + pumpkins in, 143; + locust groves in, 163; + flax culture in, 181-182; + wool culture in, 189-190; + cloths in, 237; + broom-corn in, 256; + sumptuary laws in, 285; + outfit of settlers, 289; + roads in, 331; + taverns in, 361; + Sunday observance in, 380; + churches in, 381-382; + cows in, 400; + fences in, 402. + +Virginia fence, 25. + +Voiders, 106-107. + +Voorleezer, duties of, 386. + + +Waffle-irons, 61. + +Wagon. See Conestoga wagon. + +Warming-pans, 72. + +Warning out, 392; + a mystery in, 393. + +Warp, 218. + +Warp-beam, 214. + +Warping, 217-218. + +Warping-bars, 217-218. + +Warping-needle, 219. + +Warp-threads. See Warp. + +Washing, domestic, 255. + +Washington, George, home of, 13; + outfit of his stepdaughter, 291; + dress of, 293; + as canal promoter, 353. + +Washington, Martha, thrift of, 237-238; + netting of, 265. + +Watches, 299. + +Watch-chains, 263. + +Water, as beverage, 147. + +Watering of flax, 169. + +Water-fowl, plenty of, 125; + enumerated, 125. + +Watertown, windmill at, 133; + restrictions of settlement in, 393. + +Wax, candles of, 37; bayberry, 39-40. + +Waynesville, hand-weaving in, 250. + +Wayside Inn, 357-358. + +Weather-skirt, 295. + +Weavers, status of, 212-213; + seat of, 221; + working-hours of, 228; + in Narragansett, 241-244. + +Weaving, noise of, 212, 220; + three motions in, 221-222; + disappearance of, 227; + on tape-looms, 225-227; + race between spinning and, 228-230; + of linens, 230-231; + of rag carpet, 239-240; + of coverlets, 242-246; + during Civil War, 249. + See Loom. + +Weaving-room. See Loom-room. + +Webster, 187. + +Weeds, once garden flowers, 435-436, 447-449. + +Weight-timbers, 11. + +Weld, quoted, 348-349. + +Well-sweep, 443-444. + +Westmoreland Revival, 227. + +Whale-fishing, 41. + +"Whang," 417. + +Wheat, planting of, 147. + +Wheel. See Flax-wheel and Wool-wheel. + +Wheel-peg, 198. + +Wheelwrights, early use of wood, 176. + +Whipping-post, location of, 367. + +White-Ellery House, 19. + +Whiteweed, in America, 449. + +Whitney, Eli, invention of, 208. + +Whittemore, Amos, invention of, 205. + +Whittier, quoted, 73-74, 181, 370, 413, 436; + homespun attire of, 248. + +Whittling, 321-323. + +Wicks for candles, 34, 45. + +Wigs, wearing of, 296-297; + denounced, 296; + names of, 296-299; + cost of, 297. + +Wigwams, 3. + +William and Mary College, tax for, 109. + +Williams, Roger, quoted, 134, 137, 285. + +Windmills, Indian fear of, 130; + first erected, 133; + of John Winthrop, 133; + in Virginia, 133. + +Windows, of glass, 23; + of oiled paper, 23. + +Windsor, boys' pews in, 372. + +Wine-taster, 87. + +Winslow house, knocker of, 29. + +Winthrop, John, fork of, 77; + jug of, 98; + his use of water as beverage, 148; + pick-a-back, 329; + sedan-chair of, 356. + +Winthrop, John, Jr., quoted, 32; mill of, 133. + +Woad-wax, in Massachusetts, 448. + +Woburn, long services at, 376. + +Wolfskin bags in meeting, 374. + +Wolves' heads, nailed on meeting-houses, 364-365. + +Wood, trenchers of, 80-81; + utensils of, 82; + spoons of, 88; + for shuttles, 225; + unusual uses of, 305; + toys of, 306; + natural shapes in, 308-311. + +Wood, quoted, 32-33, 137. + +Wool, an ancient industry, 187; + early culture of, 187-193; + manufacture of, 187-193; + restraints on manufacture, 191-192; + in England, 192; + preparation of, 193; + dyeing of, 193-194; + carding of, 194-195; + combing of, 196; + spinning of, 196-198. + See Yarn. + +Wool-cards, described, 194-195; + history of, 204-206. + +Wool-combs, 196. + +Wool-wheel, price of, 177. + +Wordsworth, quoted, on spinning, 179. + +Worsted stuffs, 233. + +Wrathe. See Raddle. + + +Yarn, spinning of, 197-198, 201, 229; + winding of, 198; + skeining of, 199; + cleansing of, 202; + water-twist, 229. + +Yarn beam. See Warp-beam. + +Yarn roll. See Warp-beam. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Home Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 22675.txt or 22675.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/6/7/22675/ + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Constanze Hofmann and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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