The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-03-05

q bundle to dry. When the tsme come
the first cold weather in the Fall, oul
mother would get out the candle wick
and wind it round q pair of cotton cards
end ways and after good deal WAS
wound would cut one end with the scis
sors and that made the wicks when
doubled just long enough for q candle
Three or four canes we're then interlaced
through the back of an old fashioned
chair to keep them steady while she
looped the wicks around them and twis
ted their ends together. Seven wicks
were put on each cane and when the cane
was taken out and held horizontal the
wicks hung down and we're about two
inches apart. When all the canes were
full they were laid upon table ready fot
dipping The tallow was melted in a big
wash pot. Some beeswax was added and
little alum. Old plank were placed on
the floor where the dipping and dripping
was to be. Two long poles or quilting
frames were placed parallel on the backs
of chair and we're wide enough apart to
let the candles between and hold up the
canes. The big pot had to be kept near.
~ full all the time A cane of wicks
was let down slowly in the pot until the
cane rested on its edges. Then it was
lifted up and allowed to drip awhile and
then PLACED as number one between the
long poles where, if it dripped any more,
it was on the old plank. The first course
was long and tedious, for it took the loose
cotton wick some time to absorb the tai.
low. After that the process was rapid.
Tallow would harden on tallow quickly,
and at every dripping the little candles
got larger until after while they were
large enough at the bottom ends to Gil a
candlestick, and that ended the job.
They were left on the poles over night
and then slipped off the rods and placed
in the capdleboz or On old trunk.
Seven times sixty made 42O candles,
and that was the years supply. Only
one candle was usual for the table in the
family room. The reading and sewing
was all done by that. The boys were
allowed piece Of one to 60 to bed by.
Nobody sat up until midnight then.
The night was believed to be created for
sleep and rest, and the day for work.
There we're no theaters nor skating Kinks
mo reading novels half the night, and
living in bed until breakfast next morn.
ing. The rule was to go to bed at nine
o'clock and get up with the chickens.
But now we couldn't read by candle light.
1t takes at least two lamps, and one lamp
is equal to ten candles. But we got
along pretty we'll. All the substantial
things were as good as they are now.
Good water-good ah-good sunshine
and shower good heaith-good warm
clothes-good bread and meat. and milk
and butter-good peaches and apples,
good horses to ride-good fishing and
swimming and huutiug. We dident
have railroads aud telegraphs and tele-
phones aud sewing machines, and 70
forth, but we dident ueed them. We
need them nov for the worlds 80 full Of
people that the old ways wouldn't feed
and clothe them. The right thing always
comes along at the right time. If the
clock was set back I wonder how this
generation would manage about the
cooking business. Fifty years ago there
we're no cooking stoves. The ovens and
skillets and spiders were big heavy things
that had to be lifted on aud off the fire
with a pair of pot hooks. They had
heavy lids and the cooking was done by
putting Goals underneath and Goals on
top. 1t took bark and chips to make
GOALS quickly and our old cook used to
say, CHOW git me some bark, little mas.
ter and gib YOU a bikket when he
DONE" There was no soda or tartaric
acid or baking powder. The biscuit were
made by main strength. The dough
was kneaded by strong arms, and some
times it was beaten with the rolling pin
until it blistered. When the dough bIis-
tered it was good and made good biscuit.
can't say that we have any better cook.
iny now than We had then but the stove
makes it a great deal easier to cook.
The boys had no baseball but they had
bulpen and cat and town ball and rolly
hole and tag and sweepstakes and pull
over the mark and foot races ands forth,
and they thought there was nothing bet
ter. They had the best rubber balls in
the world and made them themselves.
Some of them could bounce thirty feet
high. They were made by cutting an
old rubber shoe into strings and winding
the strings into ball and covering 1t
with buckskin. But after while the rub.
ber shoes we're not made of all rubber.
They were mixed with something that
took some of the bounce out and our
ball degeuerated. There was an OLD man
living near us who was called Lying
Tom Turner" and be told US boys one
day that when he was a boy he had 4
rubber ball that he was afraid to bounce
hard for fear it would go up out of sight
and be would lose it. We asked him
what became of bis ball, and he said he
bounced it one day most too hard and it
went up in the clouds and was gone half
an hour, aud when it came down his lit
tie dog grabbed it in his mouth and it re.
bounced and carried the dog Up with it
out of sight, and he had never seen the
ball nor the little dog since.
Well, I don't know which times are
the best, the old times or the new. 1t is
very nice to have nice home and nice
furniture and nice clothes and lots of
nice story books and to ride on the cars,
but in the old times, people didn't han.
ker after such things and they were easy
to please and were in no hurry to get
through life, and there were no suicides
and very few crazy folks, and no pistols
to carry in the hip. pockets. Nowadays
there il skeleton in must every house.
/ don't mean real skeleton but some
great big trouble that throws dark
shadow over the family. There were not