The Portland daily press., 1883-11-29
Old Time Feasts.

A Description of Grandmother's Kitchen
i'm which Holiday Feasts were Pre-
pared.
In the current issue OF Leslie's Popular
Monthly Janet e. Runtz Rees writes thus en-
tertainiugly of the kitchens in which the
Knickerbockers of New York and Pennsyl-
vania prepared royal feasts for days of merry
making, and not inaptly describes as well the
culinary department of many a New England
home in "the good old times:
Is it not little strange that while the dis
tant past attracts so much attention, and our
minds are so constantly occupied with the
things of today, the periods which come be-
tween tire two are far less often alluded to2
That is so is undoub bted, and thus it comes to
pass that, while books inIumerable have been
written upon the domestic life and interests OF
our remoter ancestors, 1t is really difficult 10
find accurate accounts of the home lives of
those who still live in our memories. The
transition from their day to our own, eventtul
as it has been, has been marked by few abrupt
changes, and the difference between the house
hold of fifty or sixty years ago and that OF to-
day, grea as it is, must be looked for rather in
novels that reflect the manners of the PERIOD
or sought in isolated records OF special districts,
rather than in any graphic picture of the lives
| of the general community.
Yet hoH full of interest the subject is! The
| mind that is trained to observe can scarcely
| fail to compare our rapid acquisition OF new
| inventions, our large choice OF useful objects.
| the facilities and accommodations of our
houses, with the shifts and expedients with
which our grandmotherS were familiar.
Probably the nearest thing to the kitchen OF
| fifty years ago in this country that Gould be
| found would be that of some seitler in the far
| West, or of some Scandinavian home where
new lights" are accepted with great slowness.
| In both we should probably find the great,
| yawning. open freplaces, the ruddy logs, the
! chain from which huge kettle might descend
| the wide chimney studded with hooks and
nails, the rafters black with smoke or recently
whitewashed, the now unfamiliar tubs an6
| buckets, the uDgainly press and wood table
with its well-scrubbed top.
In any well-settled or civilized community
| today, anything even so rude as this could
scarcely be found; but fifty or sixty years asC
| even city kitchens could not boast of very
| much more refinement. Up in the country
| districts of Long Island and Pennsylvania
| quaint Dutch kitchens, delightful for thenI
| contrast to those of the over-built cities, NAV
yet be seen; but the use OF coal Mas changed
aud modified their character, and 1t will only
be in some very remote cottage that the log tire
| could be found smoulderiug on the hearth, the
| frying pan have a handle long enough 10 rrovt
protection against flames and sparks, tbs
crane before the Chimney for the roast bt
found turning ia unwieldly fashion with many
| a crink and crank. What pictures Of home
lite the very idea conjures up. Tie house wife
ia the quaint cotton sun-bonnet worn in sum
mer for the glare of the sun; in winter as pro
lection from the draugbts; at other times, from
mere habit, the strings Invariably thrown bach
over the shoulders, the clogs or pattens ralsini
the feet above the damp f,gstone, the loose
Jacket and the bunch of household mugs, o.
pew ter plates. all polished I'll shone again
served the purpose Of any number OF retiectors
and repeated in their shining surfaces the
leaping of the hsmts. The great hreplact
reached more than midway to the ceiling
Maptel shelf there was, properly speaking
none; a mere ridge OF ledge served to receive
the upright candestick, the snuff-r-t'ay, anC
perhaps an ornament or two. From it, il
many kitchens, hung a curtain or valance
which was put up clean every week, and wa
either of some tiny-checked material or OF sim
pie white dImity
Beneath the cspacious kitchen were no les
capscous cellars which were as different from
the cellars of today as the kitchens to thos
with which we are fami lar. Carefully buil
they were, in fact great s'Orahouses, W here a
the requirements Of the family could be me-
In those old Knicksrb"cker days stores wer
not bought in ils or weekly-uo, nor eve
monthly; shops re few, and the thrift
honsevite bad no convenient grocery store Q
market few blocks off--ii she had she woul
probably have ceased to pe so thrifty Vegf
tables were not hAwked In the streets, and