The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-07-04
King Alfred's Lantern.

were studying the beginnings OF EnRllSn
history, what kind of people those old
Anglo-Saxons were, and how they lived?
They were our far-off ancestors, and our
language, for the most part, was made
from theirs; in fact, we are called Anglo
Saxons ourselves; so We ought to be in
terested in them.
They were rude people in many re-
spects, and they lived in a rude way,
compared 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 instead? OF
course the rooms must have been dark
and dismal, you will say. And what
would you think of houses without Chin
neys, or anything we should call chin
neys? But matters were really not much
better, even in Kings houses, about
1000 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 harp
ers, to beggars, and everybody else.
The fire was built against clay or
stone arrangement, answering for fire.
place, at one end, or an immense stone
hearth in the middle; and the smoke,
after floating 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 sup
those at the table and held torches over
their heads till the meal was over; and
when bedtime came the guests who
had any other place than the hall
to sleep in were lighted to it in the
same way.
AS for the King, he was more priv
LEGGED than that; though just what they
first used for light, and just when lamps
became common among the Anglo
Saxons, it is not easy to find out. We
see in some very old pictures simple
little lamp, shaped perhaps like a
saucer, hung by chains at the side of
the room, and holding, no doubt, a piece
of wax or some kind of oil, with strip
of cloth in it for wick. Sometimes,
in the royal chambers, for a long time
after King Alfred's day, light was
! kept by means of cake of wax in q sill
yer basin.
They knew how to make candles,
however; but, instead of putting one IN
candlestick, it was put on it. The
candlestick had point at the top, called
spike, and the candle was made hol-
low at the bottom, and slipped down
over the spike one so fixed was known
as "pricket."
There is, among some illustrations of
old customs, picture of a candlestick,
which is very queer, though very
elegant, and looks like little piece of
furniture. 1t Is tall stem rising from
three-footed. three -cornered stand,
very much ornamented, it comes to a
point at the top, and little way below
is 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 nobody had ever seen
before in that country, for ne invented
it himself, and that was a lantern.
The good King was very busy man ;
the people around him might be willing
to idle away their days over the fire,
listening to the harpers, telling stories
and playing with the hounds, but he
felt that he had great work to do. He
wanted to make his subjects more civ
ilized, to teach them useful arts, and he
had not an hour to waste. He built
towns, he built ships; he read, and
studied, and wrote-and that was Won
derful, indeed, in those days when
there we're but few books, and when
even Princes could not write their own
names He was the best, the wisest aud
the most learned King that the Saxon.
had ever had.
He used to carry in his bosom "mem
orandum leaves, in which he made col
lections from his studies" and this jour
nal he was in the habit of examining 8,
much that "he called it his hand book
And, perhaps, that is VIII ire the wore
"hand book came from. OF course, III
t read far into the night, but he soor
found two troubles there was no wa,
: to mark the time, for there were n,
clocks or watches then, and he could
D not keep steady light, because tn,
houses were so open that the wind cam
: in from every quarter. He had noon
marks, but those amounted to nothing
a on rainy days; and everybody know
what country England is for rain.
n However, when such man as Alfre
makes up his mind to do thing, he
e almost sure to find way. So he had
quantity Of wax prepared, took enoug
J. of 1t to weigh down seventy-two silve
pennies, and of it had six candles made
E, all weighing the same, and each twelv
inches long, and marked off into twelv