The Portland daily press., 1866-02-13
The Olden Time.


e The Olden Time.
ss.aa The advent of the new year suggested to us
the idea of noting down few of the materi-
al indications of the progress made by the
world since the beginning of the century, ana
we speedily made out a list OF things WHICH
are so familiar to us that we have not oiily
ceased to think of them as novelties, Due very
few of us can even fancy the World gettihg on
without them, though our gian e.E1 nau
never heard Of them. The material progress
made within the present century is. to be sure,
a trite subject, but, then, we doubt whether,
In spite of all that has been said upon it,
5l MANY people have sufficient acquaintance
with its details not to be startled by seeing
them grouped together. A man need not be
yery old to remember the time when there
were no railroads, no locomotives no steam
ships, and no telegraph wires-no gas-lights,
no petroleum, no California gold, no india-rub
Der shoes or coats, no percussion caps re-
yolvers, no friction matches, no city aqueduct,
no steam printing presses, no sewing ma
chimes, no reaping machines, no postage
stamps or envelopes or pens OF steel or gold
when there was no homeopathy or HYDRO
pathy, no chloroform or teeth extracted with
out pain; when there was no mesmerism, no
biology, and no table-tippngs and marvels
from the spiritual world; no planet Neptune,
no Stuart's SYRUP no Hecker's flour, no tenn
perance societies; no sax-homs or comets or
Boehm flutes or seven-octave pianos; no pho
tographs, no paint-tubes for artists, no COM
plete stenography, no TYPOGRAPHY no anastatic
printing or etching on stone, no illustrated
news, and hardly decent wood engraving;
when omnibusses and street-cars were not
dreamed Of; when dull street-lampS lit with
whale-oil were a luxury and the Police an
Utopian vision when there was no unpopular
Christianity, no Emerson or Parker, no slay-
cry agitation, no Garrison or Phillips; Tenny-
son, Browning, and Carlyle We're in embryo,
y and even Wordsworth was hardly known
DllhliP schools M \
departments of science in colleges, no gymna-
81 sil.ms, nc art unions, no literary or political
clubs, no lyceum lecturers, no wisely organiz-
ed and widely operating philanthropic socie-
ties, no prison discipline, no good lunatic asy-
huns, no houses Of employment and reforma-
ton for young scamps-and generally very lit
tie hope for reform in young old scamps.
In those days people drank green tea and
ate heavy suppers, and went to bed with warm
ing pans and night-caps, and slept on feather
beds, with bed-curtains around them, and
dreaded the fresh air in their rooms a much as
sensible folks nowadays dread to be without
uat it. And ii they heard noise in the night,
they got up and CROPPED about in the dark, and
procured light with much difficulty with
flint and steel and finder, and unpleasant sui
phur matches. And went to their medicine
chests and took calomel and blue pills. and Pc
ruvian bark, and salts and SIENNA, and julian
and rhubarb. In those days the fine gentle
men tippled old Jamaica and bitters in fine
side-board for dram-while the fine ladies
lounged on sofas reading Byron, and Moore.
and Seotts novels. In those days long leath-
~ er fre7buckets were hung in the entries, filed
J. with water, and when a lire broke out. every
citizen was a fireman. In those days gentle |
men chewed tobacco, Indifferent where they 4
expectorated, and ladies cleaned their dental |
pearls with snuff, and wore thin shoes. and
laced themselves into feminine wasps and con-
- sumption. Babies were put to sIeen with
Tratin a
ged at school pOsteriOri and subjected to all |
sorts of unheard of chastisements Picture |
books and toys were dear and poor. Big boys |
ad played hockey, Tor, as they called it South, I
6dndy) in the streets, with crooked sticks and
hard wooden balls policemen being unknown
and went home to their mothers to have broE-
en- shins anointed with opedeldoc Street
~ nights occurred between schools, and school,
masters were prosecuted by the biggest boys
1oung iadles p.nced nothing but formal and
RIGOROUS copLIons, or fast and furious Virginia
b., reefs, IN Tide entry halls, by the light of can
oles y. lat called for shutters every ten minutes
! ie - music by black fddlers or cracked and
,mgling pianos; while mothers sat darning
stockings, and fathers played backgammon, or
gambled, and swigged brandy -and- water-or
n came home late roaring bacchanalian songs, and
enquiring of their sleepy wives in which brown
ai paper parcel the naiut was tied up. Boarding
school misses in calico gowns practised the
"Battle of Prague" or the "Caliph of Bagdad"
much bigger than amodern young lady's trav-
cling trunk, strung with jangiing wires that
were always swapping and occasionally ehirp-
ed Moore's Melodies" or such airs as "Gaily |
the Troubadour, or "Pray. papa, stay little /
in longer, or "The banks of the blue Mosch-he- |
he-helle" Guests sat on hard wooden chairs,
sometimes with their feet up, over roaring
wood fires, "spittin' round and maxim 'em-
selves sociable," with juleps, egg-nogg, apples
and cider. JOS SAB n . gF7d afF7 p = |
cl,o Il, 1~ou Y
swallow-tail coat with horse collar; carried
itis turnip-shaped timekeeper in his waist-band,
with a heavy seal hanging out; had his breech-
es pockets full of SILVER halfdollars; wore
round-toed boots and linen shirts; cased his
~ throat in a high black satin neck-stock or
. cravat, with high standing shirt collars; ate
all kind of mdigestble food; wasllowed all
manner OF nauseOus !quack medicines dined
at one O'Clock, some families eating the pudding
before the meat; took maps in the afternoons
Ton Sundays preferring the pews for that pur- |
pose); had nothing to say against slavery or |
rum; took meagerweeky newspaper smok-
ed long nines;" ate fried OYSTERS and lobster
salad, and Welsh rarebit with plenty of red |
pepper, and drank fiery Madeira or punch, at |
twelve O'Clock at night; got his feet wet on |
Fa1 sushy, snowy days; took awful colds and |
- rheumatisms; sent for DR.. Sangsue, and was |
bled, blistered, and leeehed; had nightmares. |
headaches, dyspepsia fever, delirium, death |
- and darkened rooms. In those days a journey |
AAO.Ai WV yin w dluduy JOOk dS mucl Time l
and thought as a voyage now to Panama and
voyage to Europe was like departure to |
the next world. We saw our friends aboard |
snip with sobs and tears, and a letter from ]
across the ocean was like an angels visit
ouch are few of the "reminiscences Of fif.v.
nay Iorty years ago. No doubt orr bo,izon
nas expanded in a vast number of dire ctions |
snce 1nen. but, per contra, ave we not lost
as .s,, %el as galnedp five ar, better provided
S Masa ways ysa and means for material comfort
trious and simnl sli 10, ~ sefrelant and indus
on level, are we as conr. ~1 are ' If Efe
a,.. and more 90 not luxury and extravaganza |
threaten Us proportionallya If we have |
grown more intelligent, have we also grown |
Wiser II human and phiantllropic associa-
tons overspread the country, are we indiyidu- |
ally less selfish? But, we are not GOING to
preach.-[The Nation. e's W
FREAKS OF LIGHTNING. One of the most