The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-01 00:00:00

THE OLDEN TIMES IN NEW
ENGLAND.

The following h an extract from a letter in the Pall Mall
Gazette from their correspondent at Philadelphia, under
date June 1 :

A little log house erected in one of the pleasantest
parts of the Exhibition grounds is intended to illus-
trate' both in itself and in its contents, the domestic
habits, household industries, and modes of living of
the early New England settlers and their immediate
descendants. It is also a small museum of quaint
historical curiosities. For more reasons than one this
building challenges the special attention of visitors
from Old England as well as that of their American
cousins. Though Virginia was settled by English
colonists a dozen years before the "Pilgrim Fathers"
landed at Plymouth Rock; though one of the most
flourishing colonies Maryland, was founded only four-
teen years afterwards under the auspices of the second
Lord Baltimore, and though New Amsterdam, changed
to New York, early became one of England's strongest
provinces, it is undoubtedly true that the New England
Puritans did more than all others to diffuse the stronger
qualities of the English character among the inhabi-
tants of this country. It is through them that we can
trace those leading national traits which have served
to develop the resources of this continent, most directly
to their fountain head in the mother country. None
of the American colonists, perhaps, so much as the
descendants of the Puritans, in 1775, have given force
and significance to the quaint English boast, that
"none but Englishmen could have conquered English-
men "in the war of independence. Their comrades
fought as heroically as they; Virginia furnished
Washington and other great leaders; but it was they
who first resisted the "Stamp Act" with the British
pluck and stubbornness; it was they who showed a
peculiarly British readiness to assume responsibility in
the face of danger by opening the war. And,
from a merely antiquarian view, also, these relics
of early New England life are of interest to the Eng-
lish visitor. To speak of " antiquarian " interest in a
collection of which the oldest articles, with the excep-
tion of a few things brought ever by the pilgrims them-
selves, are less than 300 years old may seem an inap-
propriate use of language to a citizen of the Old
World who venerates an oyster for its association with
Julius Cesar, and who regards anything less ancient
than the walls of Chester as comparatively modern.
Bat these relics are of a classs which one rarely sees in
England. They illustrate the plain home-life of the
last century and the preceding one. They bring this
life before us in a familar way as it existed in both the
old and the new countries. The English life of a
hundred and two hundred years ago comes tons in such
literature as the letters of Walpole, Montague, Pepys
—all giving us an insight into the personalliving of great
people and their companions. The collections of relics
one finds in England are, with few exceptions, of
a dignified and rather august character—paintings,
carved furniture, massive oaken chests, faded tapestries,
&c.—things of intrinsic value, reminding us of great
mansions, manor houses, and other aristocratic homes.
In reading letters or histories, or in looking at a col-
lection of ancient , odds-and ends, one almost forgets
that any common people lived in the olden times.
When a Macaulay or a Fronde attempts to describe
how the people actually did live, he makes researches
among books and household articles which never come
within the personal observation of the general reader.
The collection in this New England log-house, however,
has been gathered in accordance with principles
exactly the reverse of those which usually
pertain in making English collections. Miss South-
wick, of Barton, to whose interest and energy
we are indebted for this feature of the exhibition, has
had in view the single object of illustrating the plain
domestic life of our American forefathers. She has
refused numerous offers of valuable pieces of furniture,
&c., handed down as heirlooms to the descendants of
those wealthy landholders and public officers whose
means enabled them to imitate, to some degree, the
luxury of the more fortunate classes in England.
While a few of the simple articles exhibited were
peculiar to early colonial life—the invented afepring
of a stern necessity—they are such, for the most part,
as were in general use among the people of England
at the same time. There is a huge old-fashioned fire-
place—not that of a grand old English manor-house,
with which we associate the venerable traditions of the
yule log and Christmas cheer—but the fireplace of a
simple farmer, intended for the hardest practical use in
the way of cooking food and warming the house. On the
s wiuging iron crane hang numerous pots and kettles, two
of whin came over with the first hundred pilgrims in the
!)ellaisindsi
fntchaenodilde sttiimekes.
this country though not to past centuries : they are
andCII iri valli:nrwiseut9ur..gi primitive°ajo af
driedshelf acaobpoopkvlieensagwr are
probably peculiar to
now to be found in every American farm-bouse, and
are intended, particularly, for that round, flat " pie "
which has been both a curiosity and a horror to English
travellers here. And so through the enti-.e list of those
ancient domestic appliances for accou pitehing results
which are now secured by patented inventions and other
"contrivances " known as mofduelrinonime,parnorillat
geinvtess.
tlis'hae
fcaoilrl e cidtieoan
fathers were made comfortable—thanks to their faithful
osefetmhsetSisbaedavavnetrgyges under which our fore-
and energetic wives. . . . .

A. return has heen presented to Parliament which
shows that the number of discharged soldiers, or soldiers
PaF sing into the reserve who weo examined in 1873 and
1874 for subordinate situations in the convict service was
23,
Of whom 225 obtained certificates and 25 failed to pass the
examination, and 34 were refilled on account of their age,
health, or character. The number examined for situations
on the minor establishment of the Post-office was 110, of
whom 85 obtained certificates, and 11 failed to pass; 14 were
refused. The number examined for temporary writerships
and temporary messengerships was 137, of whom C 6 obtained
ilertificates awl 62 tailed to pass, and 9 were refund.