, 1884-12-25
THE GOOD OLD TIMES.
How Home. Were Furnished In
Those Day.-"Johnny Cake's-
and "AppIe sassn-Amuse-
ments-schooIs.


l wish q dozen times a week that l was a
boy OF to-day, but never once do / wish to
DO set back to the boyhood OF twenty-five
years ago. Ipresums there was consider
able difference between the boys living in
cities and those dwelling In towns or living
on farms-I mean In the matter OF dress and
privileges, but 1t was lonesome enough TO be
a boy anywhere.
What was homei Well, the worry rich had
carpets, canosoat chairs and a nicholson and
@kept u hired girl" but the commonly well
on people had rag carpets on the parlor floors
and the others went bare. Splint or fiag-bot-
tom chairs were thought good enough and the
dollar chromos Of to-day would have been
considered ft for tho parlor Of the richest
man In the village Wall paper had scarcely
been heard Of, and all furniture was Of tho
plainest description All the beds Of those
days had cords and n straw tick, and all
boys up TO IA or is years Of age slept In
trundle-beds. II was seldom that a common
family lighted more than ono candle Of an
evening; this furnished the light for all. 1t
was something extra when two candles were
allowed. and tho sight OF three or four burn
ing at once In one house would ave created
the greatest establishment outside.
What was our livingi One meal was.almost
the counterpart of another. In q village Of
500 inhabitants perhaps three tamil les could
afford wheat bread, but 1t was @johnny cake"
with all the rest week In and week out.
Fresh meats came at rare intervals, and salt
pork hllod the gap. The average meal was
johnny cake, salt pork, potatoes, apple Sass"
a very crude sort Of pie, and weak tea or
barley coffee. Mind YOU, the children got
no warm drinks, and though almost every
body kept a COW the milk was saved for pud-
ding. While butter was not moro than 9 cents
per pound, the children were expected to
eat gravy In place Of t.; and while eggs
might be had for 8 cents a dozen they were
looked upon as a luxury. Up to the time
when a boy was IA he had no chair at the
table, but stood up TO eat 1t was a rare
thing for a young person TO give a party, or
for young people to DO found at lectures or
exhibitions. The rule was to force them into
bed soon after dark. AT the age Of Is / had
never seen a show Of any sort, nor had any
thing of the kind ever been in the village.
Had there been one every week 1t would
nave done us boys no good.
How did we dressl Well, the oldest son
had rather the best show. Fathers WORKOUT
clothes were ripped, dyed over and mado up
anew for him. The rest OF US had to take
our chances when a store order was traded
out Ever mother was a tailor and she cut
the clothes according TO her own ideas. The
pantaloons might be too short, but never too
long. II the coat happened to fit It was all
right; II not the boy had to wear il just the
same.
IL was considered a sin to let boys wear
boots or shoes during the hummer. Thore-
fore from May TO October all boys went bare
foot even to church. A pair OF cowhide
boots were good enough for a~nybody's boy,
and a o-shiling cloth cap fitted him out for
headgear.
What amusements did we havel In the
towns and.yllages the boys had their games
for Saturday afternoon, but during the rest
of the weeks were expected to put in their
spare time at the wood pile or In the garden.
On a farm IL was not more than twice n year
that n boy got q half day of. The idea Of
most parents seemed to be to prev emit their
boys from having a good time. If a lad
could not be loaded down witt enough work
to keep his spirits In check. there were plenty
of women In the neighborhood to tell him to
bis face that they expected to live to see him
hung for murder.
As to family government, the old-time
father was supposed TO be infallible. He
could not take his sons life, but he could come
very near IL and escape sven censure. The
boys were not requested, but ordered, to do
this and that. l can remember many fathers
who made It a practice to Keep 'gads" In the
house. About once In so long they made a
trip to tho woods to out b~lue-beech and
hickory switches, and those were laid by 10
season The boy who did not receive a slick
ing once a week folt that something dread
full was about to happen In that community.
II wns considered the correct thing to ~tan
his Jacket" on general principles. Many
parents reasoned that unless a boy was
thrashed about once in so often he would be
pretty certain to go to the bad.
Our school advantagesi In .the villages
We had but one school for all sizes and nges,
and when boy had so far progressed that
he could Tread, write and cipher" he was
considered fairly educated. The school
masters knew bus little more, and seemed TO
take more pleasure in punishing a scholar
than In encouraging him over q hard lesson
What show was there for a boy to get
start in lifei None at all, compared to the
chances Of to-day. II he started out to learn
q trade he was bound like q slave, treated
little better than ono. and paid almost moth
ing. Instead Of a human being, he was a
drudge II he worked by the day be must
do a dollars worth of labor for q shilling,
simply because he was boy. When Hook
back and remember how the boys of that
age were treated-how little they had to en-
courage them-what few chances offered-I
wonder that 30 many turned out SO well.