The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-12-26
EARLY New England Cheer.

EARLY New England Cheer.
Hartford Comm Times: The i'm
PROPONENTS in stoves have been as
marked in this century as those of al
most any other invention. In New
England homes, the stove was an un-
heard of luxury prior to 1900. In fact,
it was very little known before 1880.
Benjamin Franklin was the first Amer
lean who experimental on the improve
ments in stoves. As early as 1745
Franklin made his experiments, and
succeeded in making marked improve
ments On what were then known as
Holland" stoves.
We do not suppose there were a doz-
en- stoves of any kind in Hartford, and
we might safely say in Connecticut, pre-
vious to 1926. All our old citizens re-
member when stoves first cam into gen.
erIl use, and remember how the heating
and cooking were done previous to that
time. Almost any of them can tell you
about those old-fashioned fire. places,
where huge logs Wore piled up in the
cold winter months, and about which,
in a semicircle sat the family and visit
ors. Many of the fire-places were of
such hinge proportions that they would
accommodate a 10-footlog, coming from
the butt of a big tree. It would almost
require o yoke of K e to draw it into
place. Still there was room for the
smaller cuts with which to mako the
monster "back log" burn. And in
those loosely built old houses, with their
many %draughts of cold air, even a fire
of these proportions was insufficient in
the coolest weather.
In extreme cold weather, however,
the unequal temperature was equalized,
and o comfortable arrangement Sc.
cured by the ld-fashioned 'settle."
This roomy seat, with a high, protect
ing back to shield the occupant from
the cold draught, was drawn up in
front of the fire, and took the heat
without the chill. The cold folks" and
the children had that choice place. The
old clay pipe was there brought out by
grandfather"
But those wide-mouthed freplaces re-
luired chimnevs of such great size at
the base that it necessitated houses of
correspondingly ample ground dimen-
sions. In the chimney-places were
ovens of huge proportions, in which
nearly all the baking was done. Under
the wen was IN ash hole" into which
all the ashes made during the winter
We're dumped aggregating several loads.
AS thanksgiving approaches the good
housewife of to-day looks ahead with
cheerful serenity, relying with conf
dence upon the improved appliances for
warmth and cooking purposes to make
the coming festal day one of pleasure
and enjoyment. The housewife of 100
years ago, and ever of fifty years ago,
looked forward to the approach of
thanksgiving with pleasure, to be sure,
but not unmixed with dread at the mag
nitude of the work to be performed.
To be sure, her blooming and buxom
daughters could be relied upon to help
her, and, on the principle that "many
hands make light work" the day usual
ly passed with no drawbacks to affect
the full enjoyment of the occasion.
The big oven heated to the proper
degree was of course a necessary ad-
junct to o successful dinner. Here the
pies-mince, apple, squash, and pump
kin-were baked. Here the old-fash-
Toned Indian meal pudding, sweet as
sugar OF molasses could make it, and
often as dark as the ways of politi-
clan, was done to a turn, the top crisp
and brown; here, too, was baked the
omnipresent ~chicken-pie, with the
orthodox opening in the center to let
out the foul gases, which, if confined,
would excite q revolution In other wise
peaceably inclined stomachs. Then
those huge loaves of bread with the
crust sufficiently Drowned to make them
appear tempting were slid out upon the
table from the wide blade of q long IRON
handled "slice." Sometimes meats,
chickens, and turkeys were roasted
within the walls of the oven, but for
lack of basting conveniences meats were
usually roasted in front OF the fire
suspended by o wire fastened to the cell
ing. Pigs could be roasted in the oven
well enough, perhaps, but even these
little quadrupeds could be handled to
better advantage in front of the blazing
logs. On thanksgiving day it was not
an uncommon thing to see the sultan Of
the turkey roost, properly dressed and
stuffed with appetizing viands, hanging
in front of the fire with a dripping pan
on the hearth directly under him,
fanked by chickens on one side and q
roasting pig on the other, all with their
sides browning under the influence of
the heat. Ever and anon the bust
ling housewife could be heard telling
Johnny to turn the turkey, or Ellen to
give the chickens q whirl, and Billy to
move the pig, while the good lady her
self would come along with the basting-
spoon and give them each q gravy bath
from the dripping pans.
An old gentleman, of our oldest
and most respectable citizens, says that
the fires in the old freplaces were per-
petual-never going out from one years
end to another. By covering the live
smbers with ashes upon retiring, a good
fire was sure to be found in the morn
ing. To be sure, the tinder-box was at
hand, but WIGS seldom called into use.
In the absenS of the undertook, how
ever, in case the fire went ont, it was
customary to HE away to the nearest
neighbor to borrow a little fire.
The schoolhouse also had to be warm
cd by fireplaces and back-logs, and the
sbig boys" had to take turns in keeping
the fires in trim. About the first stoves
seen in Connecticut were called "shoe.
makers stoves" They were oblong
square in shape, being two or three
times as long as they were broad or