The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-11-20
Gone Out of Use.

Gone Out of Use.
A great many things have almost entire
ly gone out of use which were regarded as
indispensable only fifty years ago. Now
that tallow candles have for the most part
ceased to be burned, the once familiar tray
and snuffers are no longer 10 be found on
the table, and it is rarely that we see the
bellows hanging by the side of the fireplace
since Goals have superseded wood. The
ancient warming-pan, with its ornamental
brass cover. no longer adorns the kitchen
wall, and the loud rap of the heavy door
knocker seldom disturbs the household
Many of the articles once used in the Gull
nary department are well-nigh extinct, and
few of the rising generation ever saw a
crane in the chimney, or heard the click of
roasting-jack The tinder-bOx, with its
flint and steel, is also among the things that
were.
The farmer does his work-his sowing
and reaping, and moving and winnowing-
with style of implements of which his
fathers never dreamed The sedentary son
of Crispin, with his avis and waxed ends
and bits of leather about him, has passed
away. In 1871 there was one boot-maker
in Great Britain for every 136 inhabitants
and to-day the boOt-machine enables man
to make not less than 300 boots daily.
In almost every other department there
has been, during the last fifty years, a
striking change in the processes employed,
and the same is true to certain extent in
respect of the materials that are used.
There is no hair of the beaver in the So
called beaver hat, and not much wool in
many of our so-called wooden goods; there
are not many rags entering into the COM
position of most of the ordinary paper now
in use, and very little leather is used in
book binding; by far the largest part of the
jewelry that is worn is mere imitation,
with very little of the precious metals per-
tanning to it, and not the slightest fragment
of precious stones. Pdpier-macte and in
diarubber are applied to hundreds of pur-
poses, where animal, mineral and vegetable
substance of various sorts were formerly
used To the great benefit Of our race,
feather beds and pillows are generally dis
carded, and to our still greater comfort and
advantage, the stern old medical remedies
are giving place to prescriptions simpler
more agreeable, more effective, and less
perilous to life.
Much to the comfort of the highway
traveller, he is no longer arrested at stated
intervals by the turnpike-gate and the
inexorable toll-gatherer; while the lumber
ing old stage-coach, with its pent up and
crowded seats and creaking joints, is rarely
to be seen at the door of our country hos
telries. Since the time has come when the
newspaper is to be found in almost every
dwelling, the voice of the town-crier, bel
in hand, is heard in our streets only within
precincts of few very old-fashioned towns
and the cry of the watchman proclaiming
the hour OF the night, which was a familiar
thing only forty years ago, has altogether
ceased, Not very long since, in every
town and village, all the water used was
obtained from wells and cisterns, and the
waste discharged back into the earth to find
its way again into the source from which
we derive our daily supply. Except in oul
smaller towns, the well and the pump and
the cesspool, have all gone out of use.
There is a great. change in the social
habits of the community. Gentlemen nc
longer 90 to their offices after breakfast in
dress-coats and ruffied bosoms, as they once
did; the younger clerks are not expected tc
light the fires, and sweep the floors, and
do the porter's work; and customers are
not obliged to carry home their own bun
dies, or to send for the goods afterwards
If man purchased certain amount Of
cotton or wool, to be delivered at given
date, it was taken for granted that the per.
son of whom he bought the goods was
either in possession of the same, OF would
be likely to have them on hand when the
time came for their delivery. When mer-
chant failed in business he was supposed tc
make over all his property except so much
as the law allowed him to retain-for the
benefit of his creditors, and afterwards reg
ulate his expenditure and style of living by
the change in his circumstances. These
things are managed differently now.
Even the old, familiar hours of the day
have gone out of use-a revolution that
was brought about in a single day; and al
though it affects the time of getting up
and retiring to bed, of our meals, the open
and closing of shops and mills and offices
and banks, as we'll as the movements OF
steamboats, and railways, how readily every
body accommodates himself to the change
Some things which have gone out of use
in our region continue to be used in other
quarters, and customs that have died
away in the great centers of civilization
NAV retain their hold in remoter lands
That which in the beginning was intended
for the purposes of comfort and utility may
be retained as an ornament, after it hai
ceased to be of any practical service
Illustrations of this may be seen in the
architecture and furnishing of our dwellings
and also in the habiliments with which We
are clothed The ancient Conanton-sC
called because it was a common pasture
for cows-is after awhile converted into q
beautiful park, and the dreary old cemetery
is a garden of flowers.
It is necessary that some things should
90 out of use, in order that better things
may come in, and this is one of the great
laws of progress. Many will cling to that
which is old, simply because it is old, and
if they had their way in everything the
world would stand STILL Others,
studious of change and pleased with novelty,
are eager to remove the ancient land marks
and tear down everything upon which time
has set his seal.
/ The destruction of all eucalyptus trees
| hnr haor, nrdnrnd IN the nrnuinna nf Son