The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-09-02

style of designating the different sizes
still continued and to this day the Cd
nail is the same size nail that was sold
in England for Sd e pennies) per hun
dred.
How People Lived Fifty Years Ago and How
They Live Now.
A HALF century ago large part of
IA the people of the United States
lived In houses unpainted, upholstered
and utterly devoid of adornment. A
well-fed fire in the yawning chasm Of a
huge chimney gave partial warmth to
single room, and it was common re-
mark that the inmates were roasting
one side while freezing the other; In
contrast, majority of the people of the
older States now live in houses that are
clap boarded, painted, blinded and com
fortably warmed. Then the household
furniture consisting of a few plain
chairs, plain table, bedstead made by
the village carpenter. Carpets there
were none. To-day few are the homes,
in city or country, that do not contain
a carpet of some sort, while the average
laborer by a weeks work may earn
enough to enable him to repose at night
upon spring bed.
Fifty years ago the kitchen 'dressers''
were set forth with shining row of
pewter plates. The farmer ate with
buck-handled knife and an iron or pew
ter spoon, but the advancing civilization
has sent the plates and spoons to the
melting pot, while the knives and forks
have given place to nickel or silver
plated cutlery.
In those days the utensils for cooking
were dinner-pot, tea kettle, skillet,
Dutch oven, and frying-pan; to-day
there is no end of kitchen furniture
The people of 1880 sat in the evening
in the glowing light of a pitch-knot
fire, or read their weekly newspaper by
the Pickering light of "tallow dip -
now, in city and village, their apart
ments are bright with the flame of the
gas jet or the softer radiance of kerosene.
Then, if the fire went out upon the
hearth, it was rekindled by coal from
neighboring hearth, or by flint, steel
and tinder. Those who INDUCED in
pipes and cigars could light them only
by some hearthstone; to-day we light
fire and pipes by the dormant fireworks
in the match safe at cost of one-hun-
dredth of a cent.
III those days we guessed the hour of
noon, or ascertained it by the creeping
of the sunlight up to the "noon marlxn
drawn upon the floor; only the well-to-
do could afford clock. To-day, who
does not carry watch and as for
clocks, you may purchase them at
wholesale, by the cart-load, at one dollar
and sixty-two cents piece.
Fifty years ago how many dwelling
were adorned with pictures? How
many are there now that do not display
a print, engraving, chrome, or litho-
graph? How many pianos or parlor
organs were there then2 Reed organs
were not invented till 1910, and now
they are in every village.
Some who may read this article will
remember that in 1880 the Bible, the
almanac and the few textbooks used in
school were almost the only volumes of
the household. The dictionary was
volume four inches square and an inch
and half in thickness. In some of the
country villages a few public-spirited
men had gathered libraries containing
from 800 to 500 volumes; in contrast
the public libraries of the present, con-
tanning more than ten thousand vol
umes, have an aggregate of 10,640,000
volumes, not including the Sunday
school and private libraries of the coun-
try. 1t is estimated that altogether the
number of volumes accessible to the pub
lie is not less than 20 100000! OF Web-
ster's and Worcester's dictionaries, it
may be said that enough have been
published to supply one to every one
hundred inhabitants of the United
States.
gT The parsons do, after all, tell the