American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-01-01
Interior Furnishings OF the Olden
Time.

THE tide of fashion, which overwhelms
everything in its onward course, has al
most effaced every trace of what our fore
fathers possessed or used in the way of
household furniture or travelling equi-
page. Since the year 1900 the introduce
ton of foreign luxury, caused by the in
fiux of wealth, has been yearly effecting
successive changes in those articles; so
much so that the former simple articles
which contented, as they equally served
the purposes of, our forefathers can hard
w be conceived Such as they were, they
descended acceptably, unchanged, from
| father to son and sons son, and pre-
scented, at the era of our independence,
precisely the same family picture which
| had been seen in the earliest annals Of the
town.
Formerly there were no sideboards, and
when they were first introduced, after the
| Revolution, they were much smaller and
less expensive than now. Formerly they
had couches of worsted damask, and only
in very affiuent families, in lieu of what
we now call sofas and lounges. Plain
people used settees; the lounge had a bed
concealed in the seat, and, by folding the
| top of it outward TO the front, it exposed
the bed and widened the place for the bed
to be spread upon it. This, homely arti-
Gle as 1t mi ht now be regarded, was a
common sitting room appendage and was
a proof of more attention to comfort than
display. 1t had, as well as the settee, Il
very high back of plain boards, and the
| whole was of white pine, generally I'M
painted and whitened well with unspar-
ing scrubbing. Such was in the poets
mind when pleading for his sofa:
But restless the seat the back erect
Distressed the wesry loins that felt no ease
They were a very common article in
proper property of the Oldest members of
the family, unless occasionally used to
stretch the weary length of tired boys.
They were placed before the fire places in
the winter to keep the back guarded from
wind and cold. Formerly there were no
Windsor chairs and fancy chairs are still
more modern. Their chairs of the gen.
teelest kind were of mahogany or red wal
nut (once great substitute for mahogany
in all kinds of furniture), or else they
were of rush bottoms, and made of maple
posts and Stats, with high backs, and per-
pendicular. Instead of japanned walters,
as now, they had mahogany tea-boards
and round tea tables, which, being turned
on an axle underneath the center, stood
upright like an expanded fan or palm
leaf in the corner. Another corner was
occupied by a closet with glass door, in
which all the china of the family and the
plate were intended to be displayed for
ornament as well as use. A conspicuous
article in the collection was always great
china punch bowl, which furnished a fire.
quent and grateful beverage. China tea
cups and saucers were much smaller than
now; and china teapots and cOffeepots,
with silver MOBILES, were a mark of SUI
perior fineIy. The sham of plated-ware
showed a silver surface had the massive
metal, too. This occurred in the
wealthy families, in little coffee and tea
pots and a silver tankard for sugared
toddy was above vulgar entertainment.
Where we now use earthenware they then
used delfware imported from England;
and instead OF queensware then I'M
KNOWN, pewter platters and pOrringers,
made to shine along a " dresser" were
country people, ate their meals from
wooden trenchers. Gilded looking glass
es and picture frames of golden glare
were unknown; and BOTH much smaller
than now, were used. Small pictures
painted on glass, with black holdings for
frames, with a scanty totchdS aRld leaf in /
the cotRers, were the adQfnpenfs of a par
lor. TIM looking glasSes ihtwo plates, if
large, had either glass frames Inquired with
mahogany or Dutch wood-.painted white
or black, with here and there some
touches of gold. Every householder in
that day deemed it essential to his
convenience and comfort to have an
ample chest of drawers in his parlor or
sitting-room, in which the linen and
clothes of the family were always of
ready access. 1t was no sin to rummage
them before company These drawers
ceiling. At other times they had a
writing desk about the center, with fall
ing lid to write upon when let down. A
great high clock-case, reaching to the
ceiling, occupied another corner; and a
fourth corner was appropriated to the
chimney-place. They then had no carpet
on their floors, and no paper on their
walls, the latter being universally white
washed. The silver sand on the floor was
drawn into variety of fanciful figures
and twirls with the sweeping brush, and
much skill, and even pride, was displayed
in the devices and arrangements. They
had then no gas nor lamps in parlors, but
p" dipped" candles, in brass or copper
were usually good enough
for common use; and those who occasion
ally used mold candles made them at
home in little tin frames, casting four and
six candles in each. A glass lantern with
square sides furnished light in the houses
of the wealthy. Bedsteads were then
made, if fine, of carved mahogany of
slender dimensions; but for common pur-
poses, or for the families of tradesmen,
they were of poplar and always painted
green; and it was matter of universal
concern to have them low enough to an
swer the purpose of repose for sick or dy-
ing persons.
A lady, giving "reminiscences of her
early life, thus spoke of things as they
were before the war of independence
=" Marble-mantels and folding doors were
not then known, and well enough we en-
joyed ourselves without sofas, carpets or
girandoles.* A white floor sprinkled with
clean, white sand, large tables and heavy,
high-back chairs of walnut or mahogany,
decorated a parlor genteel enough for any
body. Sometimes carpet-not, howev-
er, covering the whole f1oor-was seen
upon the dining room. This was show
parlor, upstairs, not used except upon
gala occasions, and then not to dine in.
Pewter plates and dishes were in general
use. China on dinner-tables was great
rarity. Plate, more or less, was seen in
most families of easy circumstances, not,
indeed, in all the various shapes that have
since been invented, but in massive silver
walters, bowls, tankards, cans, etc. Glass
tumblers were scarcely seen. Punch, the
most common beverage, was drank by the
company from one large bowl of silver or
china, and beer from u tankard of silver
The use of stoves was not known IN
primitive times, neither in families nor
churches. Their fire-places were very
spacious, with much palmer mantelpieces
than at present. The sides and top of the
freplaces were adorned with china Dutch
tile, pictured with sundry Scripture
H. tod