The Dillon tribune., 1882-06-10
sWisrella,,ea.
OLD 11lr1a

A HALF century ago, large mart ~ ~.
people Of the United States lived n hn y, ..s
Imprinted, upholstered, and utterly de,oSS
Of adoznment, A well.fsd IRE in tie vsv~.
ing ehaam Of huge chimney gave nsr*;a,
warmth to single room, and Il WA = co,,.
mon remark that the inmates were ros.t.
ing one side, while Pressing the other IN
contrast, . majority Of the peonls Of ~.
other States now live in houses thst Az
olapboarded, painted, blinded and comfort.
ably warmed, Then, the household f,rni.
ture consisted Of . few plain chairs. a Main
table, . bedstead made by village carnen.
ter. Carpets there were none. To-day
few are the homes, in city or country. thst
do not contain a carpet Of some sort. while
the average laborer by weeks work NAV
sarn enough to enable him to repose a.
night upon spring bed.
Fifty years Ego the kitchen " dressers.
were set forth with shining row Of pewter
plates. The farmer ate with buck. han.
.lled knife, and an iron or pewter spoon. but
the advancing civilization has sent The nlates
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 10 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 newspapers by the Pickering
light Of q "tallow dip; " now, in city ard
village, their apartments are bright with
the flame Of the gas jet or the softer radi.
ance Of kerosene. Then, IL the fire went
out upon the hearth, it was rekindled by
coal from neighboring hearth. or by flint.
steel. and finder. These who INDUCED in
pipes and segars could light them only by
some hearthstone to-day we light fire and
pil,es by the dormant fireworks IN the match
mfe, at the cost Of on. hundredth Of y
cent.
In those days we guessed the hour Of
noon. or ascertained it by the creeping Of
the sunlight up to the noon mark drawn
upon the floor only the well .to.do could
afford clock. To-day who does not carr,
watch and a. for clocks, you may pur.
chase them at wholesale, by the oart.load, ut
sixty two cents apiece.
Fifty years ago, how many dwelling.
were adorned with pictures? How many
are there now that do not display print
engraving, chrome or lithograph? How
many pianos or parlor organs were there
then! Reed organs were not invented till
le4O, and now they are in every village.
some who may read this article, viii r..
member that in 1880 the Bible. the alma.
mac and the few text books used in school
were almost the only volumes Of the house
hold. The dictionary was a volume four
inches square and an inch and a half IN
thickness In some of the country village.
few public spirited men had gathered
libraries containing from three to five hun.
dred volumes; in contrast. the public libra
:ies Of the present, containing more than
tan thousand volumes, not including thu
Sunday .school and private libraries Of the
country. It il estimated that altogether
the number Of volumes accessible to the
public IL not less than 20, 600, OOO! OF Web.
ster's and Worcester's dictionaries, it may
BE- said that enough have been puhlished to
supply one to every ono hundred inhabi.