Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-03-23
NUMBER so.
suhslItutes Ior Matches.

FNMM
or lamps, cr kindIe their frls by the
instantaneous ignition OF friction
matches, have, unless they are old peo-
pie, very little conception Of the labor
and tribulation attendant upon the
same process ffsy years ago. Every
well regulated family Al that time was
provided with tin box OF tinder, pro-
duced by the combustion Of rags, and
flint and steel and matches which had
been dipped into birthstone. When
fire was wanted the flint and steel and
tinder were produced, and the tinder
being ignited by the sparks precipitated
from the steel BY means Of The flint,
match was touched to the burning mass
and, being lighted, was applied to some
prepared kindlings and a fire thus pro-
duced, the whole process occupying
from five TO fifteen minutes, according
to the skill or luck Of the operator.
This was attended with 70 much labor,
and productive at times Of the use OF
50 msny naughty words on the part Ok
the person operating, that they were
generally kept all night. This was
done-there were few stoves, and hard
coal had not come into very general
use thsn-by covering the huge and
blazing backlog in the fireplace with
ashes, and in the morning there was
generally found in its place q bed Ok
live Goals, which, by the application Of
fresh wood. and with the aid Of the
then universal bellows, usually pro
duced q blazing fire in from fifteen
minutes to half an hour. Sometimes.
however, from some cause the backlog
would be wholly consumed. leaving
nothing but bed of ashes. In this
case, particularly If there was al 3D.
sence OF dry kindling In the house,
some member of the family must take
the shovel, and oftentimes, through the
snow knee-deep, trudge to the nearest
neighbor's "after fire" And come
times, indeed, the nearest neighb0r's
fire would be out, too, IL which case
the walk would have to be extended
till the fire was procured. The
live Goals were borne home upon
the shovel, often carefully guarded
with the hand to prevent blowing Of,
placed between two brands, the bellows
set vigorously ct work, and the fire
ablzzing. In lighting candle, I've
coal was taken up upon pair Of tongs
and blown upon with the mouth until a
blazs was produced. Pipes were
lighted by placing q live coal upon the
tobacco, and cigars by holding the
burning coal to the end and putting with
al ones might.
The first improvement on this In New
England was the substitution Of bot
tie Of phosphorus. into which, the
cork being removed, a birthstone match
was thrust, and being thus ignitsd the
bottle was quickly closed in order to
retain the strength of the liquid. This
was such an emancipation from the
thraIldom Of the tinder-box and flint
and steel and other inconvenience Of
the old method that people reioiced
greatly, and believed that the ne plus
ultra in this direction had been reached,
and every well-regulated family was
provided with its bottle Of phosphorus,
while the flint and steel and tinder-box
were laid aside to be used only in case
Of emergency. This invention was
known by the name Of '1oco foco
matches" Directly, however, there
was another invention, that left the
phosphorus bottle as much In the
shade as the other had the flint and
steel. This was the application Of
preparation Of phosphorus and bfim-
stone to the tips Of matches, which
only required to be drawn between the
folded leaves of q piece OF sand-paper
to produce a light, 50 that the smoker
had only to carry his matches in one
vest pocket and his folded sand-paper
in the other to light his pipe At any
moment. These latter were known as
"Lucifer Matches" as taking, it is pre-
sumed, Of the character Of the scrip
tural s'son Of the morning" But the
spirit OF invention was net satisfied to
stop here. and the result was the pres
emit world-used friction matches. that
alike serve all people, and the making
of which at the present time, il All
probability, consumes almost as much
wood as there was burned BY the whole
United States for al the purposes of
warming and cooking a century ago.
T,--n~. ;,Jopao Cfr,s