The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-10-13
Hetorg the Era Of Matches.

Before the Era Of Matches
Probably there are few children o.
tl:e present day whchave seen orwho
have ever heard OF the old-fashionea
finder box and matches Yet fifty
years ago the friction match, now SO
universally used, had but just been
invented. and did not come into gen.
eral use for many years. Before the
year 1886, or thereabouts, house,
Keepers were obliged 70 use matches
Of domestic Manufacture. These
were pieces Of small white pine wood,
perhaps twice the size Of our match,
che ends Of which had been dipped IN
bffnfstene. A small iron skillet In
which to melt the birthstone was q
common kitchen utensil in many fam
lilies in New England, II not elsewhere.
The only way to light one Of these
birthstone matches was to bring It in
contact with q spark of fire. For
this purpose there used to be kept IN
every house q small tin box filed with
burnt rags and this was called q tim
der box. In order to obtain hight
q common gun flint vas struck with
considerable forcs against a piece o
steel made Of convenient size, which
produced a few sparks; these, lodging
upon the burnt rags, made sufficient
fire 60 enable one to readily light the
match.
These smoufdering rags-for the
sparks thus obtained did not produce
ablaze-were afterwards extinguished
by around tin cover called a damper.
70 thus create fire required some
experience, especially in damp
weather, or with cold fingers on Ii
winter mornings. We have known
people to make "a bad piece of work"
with the flint and steel, and to succeed
only with great patience in striking
a light" II one happened to be cross
or nervous the chances were that he
could not succeed at all; nor was it
an infrequent sight to sec the good
wife of the house running across the
street With shovel to borrow
shovelful of Give Goals" from q
neighbor, the chimney smoke ofwhose
dwelling proclaimed that she had q
fire. The change to the match OF
commerce was one of the first OF what
we now consider modern convenieDces.
In many families IL was one OF the
"children's chores" to prepare wood
for matches and to dip the ends in
melted birthstone. These matches
were sometimes to be bought in shops,
but New England economy more fire.
quehtly led each family to prepare
it's own. Still it was not uncommon
for poor children to make tribe OF
money by selling matches to their
more fortunate neighbors. In
sparsely settled neighborhoods great
care was exercised at night by the
head of the house to "keep the fire. "
He took precaution that there should
be a good bed of Give Goals" at the
hour of re retiring; these he covered
with many shovelfuls of ashes to pre-
vent them from burning out. The
next morning the Goals were usually
found to be hive" OH raking open the
ashes and served to start the days
fire. It WIS not an impossible feat to
thus preserve the family fire through
the year, without recourse to finder
box and matches.
The modern friction match wac
welcomed by most housekeepers, nl-
though here and there some old peo-
pie objected to it, considering it q
dangerous article, as no doubt it is
when carelessly used or left lying
about. The first friction match in
vented required to be drawn across
q piece of f,ne sandpaper In order to
produce q light. This was called a
iucifer, and was much safer, although
not so convenient, as the present
match. Then came the present. pat
ent friction matches, which used to
be called 'loco-focos." There we're
no fancy match boxes in "old times,
and the finder box was not con-
sidered an ornamental article, but
was kept out of sight in the cup
board or on the kitchen mantelpiece.
| We find in Salem newspaper OF
June 20, 1886, the following: "Not.
withstanding the convenience OF
these dangerous little articles, tric-
ton matches, which are in almost
everybody's hands, but which
with all charms bid fair to prove
heavy curse to the community, we
learn that there is one man in Salem,
a respectable tradesman who keeps
a store, where we should generally
expect to find such things, but who
has never sold them nor allowed
them to be used on his premises. At
his house and shop he sticks to the
old-fashioned flint, steel and finder.
He shows his wisdom by SO doing:
How MANY more can say as much!