New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-12-25
. KING ALFRED'S LANTERN.

were stud ying the BEGINNINGS of English
history, what kind IF people those old
lo-Saxons were, and how they lived?
They were our far-of ancestors, and our
language for the most part was made
from theirs; in fact. we are c il ed Anglo
Saxons ourselves; so we ought to be in
terested in them.
They were rude people in many
respects, and lived in rude way, COM
pared with ours. How would you like
windows which had no glass in them,
very small windows, too,-but had oiled
paper or sheets of horn instead2 Of
course the rooms must have been dark
and dismal, you will say. And what
would you thluk of houses without chin
neys. or anything zoe should call chin
neys9 But matters were really not much
better, even in kings houses, about ten
hundred years ago:
The most important room in those days
was called the hall: and it was large
enough to accommodate the family, the
great company of servants, and all the
guests who chose to come. They ate
there, sat there, and most of them slept
there, on rough benches, or rolled up in
| skins on the floor. 1t WAS open to every
chance traveller, to the wandering harpers,
to beggars, and everybody else.
The ire was built against clay or stone
arrangement, answering for fire place
at one end, or on an immense stone hearth
in the middle; and the smoke, after float
ing up overhead, found Its way out
through an opening or kind of turret
in the roof. At dark they heaped high
the logs and fagots; and happy was he
who on stormy night could get near the
blaze. When supper-time came, servants
| stood behind those at table and held
torches over their heads till the meal was
over; and when bed time came, the guests
who had any other place than the hall to
sleep in were lighted IT, it in the same
wav.
As for the king, he was more privileged
than that; though just what they first
used for lights, and just when lamps be-
came common among the Anglo Saxons,
it is not easy to find out. We Sc, in
some very old pictures q simple little
lamp, shaped perhaps like saucer, hung
by chains a. the side Of the room, and
holding, no doubt, piece Of wax or
some kind of oil, with a strip of cloth in
it for wick. Sometimes, in the royal
chambers, for very long time after King
Alfred's day, light was kept by means
of cake of wax in a silver basin.
They knew how to make candles, how
ever; but instead of putting one IL, can
dlestick, it was PCT on it. The candle
stick had a point at the top, called a
spike, and the candle was made hollow
at the bottom, and slipped down over the
spike: one so fixed was known as ''prick.
et."
There is, among some illustrations of
old customs a picture OF a candlestick,
which is very queer though very elegant,
and looks like a little piece Of furniture.
1t is tall stem rising from three foot.
ed, three. corncred stand, very much orna-
mented; it comes to q point at the top,
and little way below is a plate to hold
the tallow or wax that might run down.
We do not know that King Alfred had
anything like this; but he had what no.
body had eve: seen before in that country
| for he invented it himself, and that was
a lantern.
This good king was very busy man;
the people around him might be willing
to :dle away their days over the fire, lis
tening to the harpers, telling stories, and
playing with the hounds, but he felt that
he had a great wolk to do. He wanted
to make his subjects more civilized, to
teach them usetu! arts, and he had not
an hour to waste. He built towns. he
built ships; he read, and studied, and
wrote that was wonderful, indeed,
in those days when there were but few
books, and when even princes could not
write their own names. He was the best,
the wisest, and the most learned king
that the Saxons had ever had::~
He used to carry IN his bosom memo
randum leaves, in which he made collec-
tons from his studies," and this journal
he was in the habit of examining so much
that che called it his Aand-1ook.' And,
perhaps, that is where the word ''hand-
books came from. OF course he READ far
into the night, but he soon found two
troubles, there was no way to mark the
time, for there were no clocks nor watch
es then, and he could not keep steady
light, because the houses were so open
that the wind came in from every quar-
ter. He had noon-marks, but those
amounted to nothing on rainy days; and
everybody knows what country England
is for rain.
However, when such man as Alfred
makes up his mind to do thing, be is
almost sure to find way. So he had a
quantity of wax prepared, took enough
of it to weigh down sevcnty-two silver
pennies, and Of it had SIX candles made,
all weighing the same, and each ..welve
inches long, and marked off into twelve