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152 pages

English

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Have you ever wondered what kind of foods were on the menu at a typical family dinner in the early days of the American colonies? Or how traditional crafts like wool-spinning and weaving became major industries during the colonial period? This detailed study from historian Alice Morse Earle offers a one-of-a-kind look at the era.

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Histoire

History

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Publié par	The Floating Press
Date de parution	01 décembre 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776593774
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0134€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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HOME LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS
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ALICE MORSE EARLE

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Home Life in Colonial Days First published in 1898 Epub ISBN 978-1-77659-377-4 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77659-378-1 © 2014 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Foreword Chapter I - Homes of the Colonists Chapter II - The Light of Other Days Chapter III - The Kitchen Fireside Chapter IV - The Serving of Meals Chapter V - Food from Forest and Sea Chapter VI - Indian Corn Chapter VII - Meat and Drink Chapter VIII - Flax Culture and Spinning Chapter IX - Wool Culture and Spinning Chapter X - Hand-Weaving Chapter XI - Girls' Occupations Chapter XII - Dress of the Colonists Chapter XIII - Jack-Knife Industries Chapter XIV - Travel, Transportation, and Taverns Chapter XV - Sunday in the Colonies Chapter XVI - Colonial Neighborliness Chapter XVII - Old-Time Flower Gardens
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THIS BOOK IS BEGUN AS IT IS ENDED IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER
Foreword
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The illustrations for this book are in every case from real articlesand scenes, usually from those still in existence—rare relics of pastdays. The pictures are the symbols of years of careful search, patientinvestigation, and constant watchfulness. Many a curious article asnameless and incomprehensible as the totem of an extinct Indian tribehas been studied, compared, inquired and written about, and finallytriumphantly named and placed in the list of obsolete domesticappurtenances. From the lofts of woodsheds, under attic eaves, in dairycellars, out of old trunks and sea-chests from mouldering warehouses,have strangely shaped bits and combinations of wood, stuff, and metalbeen rescued and recognized. The treasure stores of Deerfield MemorialHall, of the Bostonian Society, of the American Antiquarian Society, andmany State Historical Societies have been freely searched; and to theofficers of these societies I give cordial thanks for their coöperationand assistance in my work.
The artistic and correct photographic representation of many of theseobjects 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 forme single articles or single photographs, I here repeat the thanksalready given for their kindness.
There were two constant obstacles in the path: An article would befound and a name given by old-time country folk, but no dictionarycontained the word, no printed description of its use or purpose couldbe obtained, though a century ago it was in every household. Again, somecuriously shaped utensil or tool might be displayed and its useindicated; but it was nameless, and it took long inquiry anddeduction,—the faculty of "taking a hint,"—to christen it. It is plainthat different vocations and occupations had not only implements but avocabulary of their own, and all have become almost obsolete; to thevarious terms, phrases, and names, once in general application and usein spinning, weaving, and kindred occupations, and now half forgotten,might be given the descriptive title, a "homespun vocabulary." Bydefinite explanation of these terms many a good old English word andphrase has been rescued from disuse.
ALICE MORSE EARLE.
Chapter I - Homes of the Colonists
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When the first settlers landed on American shores, the difficulties infinding or making shelter must have seemed ironical as well as almostunbearable. The colonists found a land magnificent with forest trees ofevery size and variety, but they had no sawmills, and few saws to cutboards; there was plenty of clay and ample limestone on every side, yetthey could have no brick and no mortar; grand boulders of granite androck were everywhere, yet there was not a single facility for cutting,drawing, or using stone. These homeless men, so sorely in need ofimmediate shelter, were baffled by pioneer conditions, and had to turnto many poor expedients, and be satisfied with rude covering. InPennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and, possibly, other states, somereverted to an ancient form of shelter: they became cave-dwellers; caveswere dug in the side of a hill, and lived in till the settlers couldhave time to chop down and cut up trees for log houses. Cornelis VanTienhoven, Secretary of the Province of New Netherland, gives adescription of these cave-dwellings, and says that "the wealthy andprincipal men in New England lived in this fashion for two reasons:first, not to waste time building; second, not to discourage poorerlaboring people." It is to be doubted whether wealthy men ever lived inthem 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 permanentcave-homes in New England. In Pennsylvania caves were used by newcomersas homes for a long time, certainly half a century. They generally wereformed by digging into the ground about four feet in depth on the banksor low cliffs near the river front. The walls were then built up of sodsor earth laid on poles or brush; thus half only of the chamber wasreally under ground. If dug into a side hill, the earth formed at leasttwo walls. The roofs were layers of tree limbs covered over with sod, orbark, or rushes and bark. The chimneys were laid of cobblestone orsticks of wood mortared with clay and grass. The settlers were thankfuleven for these poor shelters, and declared that they found themcomfortable. By 1685 many families were still living in caves inPennsylvania, for the Governor's Council then ordered the caves to bedestroyed and filled in. Sometimes the settler used the cave for acellar for the wooden house which he built over it.
These cave-dwellings were perhaps the poorest houses ever known by anyAmericans, yet pioneers, or poor, or degraded folk have used them forhomes in America until far more recent days. In one of these miserablehabitations of earth and sod in the town of Rutland, Massachusetts, werepassed some of the early years of the girlhood of Madame Jumel, whosebeautiful house on Washington Heights, New York, still stands to showthe contrasts that can come in a single life.
The homes of the Indians were copied by the English, being readyadaptations of natural and plentiful resources. Wigwams in the Southwere of plaited rush or grass mats; of deerskins pinned on a frame; oftree boughs rudely piled into a cover, and in the far South, of layersof palmetto leaves. In the mild climate of the Middle and Southernstates 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 agood temporary home. In such for a time, in his youth, lived AbrahamLincoln. Bark wigwams were the most easily made of all; they could bequickly pinned together on a light frame. In 1626 there were thirtyhome-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, hehad one noble friend,—a firm rock to stand upon,—his broad-axe. Withhis axe, and his own strong and willing arms, he could take a long stepin advance in architecture; he could build a log cabin. These good,comfortable, and substantial houses have ever been built by Americanpioneers, not only in colonial days, but in our Western and Southernstates to the present time. A typical one like many now standing andoccupied in the mountains of North Carolina is here shown. Round logswere halved together at the corners, and roofed with logs, or with barkand thatch on poles; this made a comfortable shelter, especially whenthe cracks between the logs were "chinked" with wedges of wood, and"daubed" with clay. Many cabins had at first no chinking or daubing; onesettler while sleeping was scratched on the head by the sharp teeth of ahungry wolf, who thrust his nose into the space between the logs of thecabin. 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 "cutdown" in the virgin forest, was to dig a square trench about two feetdeep, 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 afireplace, window, and door), a closely placed row of logs all the samelength, usually fourteen feet long for a single story; if there was aloft, eighteen feet long. The earth was filled in solidly around theselogs, and kept them firmly upright; a horizontal band of puncheons,which were split logs smoothed off on the face with the axe, wassometimes pinned around within the log walls, to keep them from cavingin. 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 atthe window, and a bark door hung on withe hinges, or, if very luxurious,on leather straps, completed the quickly made home. This was calledrolling-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 aluxury. One settler's wife pleaded that the house might be rolled uparound a splendid flat stump; thus she had a good, firm table. A smallplatform placed about two feet high alongside one wall, and supported atthe outer edge with strong posts, formed a bedstead. Sometimes hemlockboughs were the only bed. The frontier saying