Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1889-02-02
IN DAYS OF LONG AGO.
Quaint Customs of New England
In olden Times.
Early Food, Dishes and DrinIcs-Bean-Ea Eat
ing Savages-A Fatal Indian Pud-
ding-Origin of the Town Meet
ing-Churches With
out Heat.


''The Quaint Customs of New Eng
land in Olden Times" was the subject
of recent address by Rev. Daniel Dor
chester The speaker said: How gro
tesque and comical many of the Gus
toms of our fathers seem to us, seen in the
light of the present We forget that
our fathers were in advance of their
fathers, whose customs seemed odd to
them, and that future generations will
entertain themselves in reviewing the
usages in which we pride ourselves.
Such is the social evolution. How re-
luctantly does every generation relin-
quish its past. We have heard our
fathers go back in story to their boy
hood days, contrast the slow-going life
of that time with the swift whirl of the
present and lament the degeneracy OF
our times. Their fathers did the same.
If we go back to old England, the time
of the old families living in strong cas-
ties, described in history and in the ro-
mances of Scott, we will find them liv-
ing in coarse style. Massive edifices,
great halls, lofty ceilings, enormous
fireplaces and stone hearths, without
| a chimney, the smoke escaping from q
hole in the roof. At one end of the hal
was kennel for hounds, and perch
for hawks and falcons overhead. In
the same hall were the heavy oaker
table and oaken benches, where the bar
on and his guests ate their venison ant
quaffed their ale. No carpets, but mat:
and skins in winter, and green rushe'
in summer, covered the floor, which
was used for sittings when benches
were wanting. There were no back
on the benches until the days of Henr!
VII. 1t was at IA later day when guest
first carried their own knives to use a
dinner, to be sharpened on a whetston,
hanging in the dining-hall, and sa
down to pewter plates and pewte
spoons. The host, in carving, held tn
| joint OF meat in his bare hand, ant
transferred the slices to the plates o
the guests with his fingers, forks no
yet having come into use as part o
table furniture. In 1911 an Englisl
gentleman travelling in Italy made thi
entry in his journal: 81 observe Gus
tom not used in any other country
they use little fork when they cut thei
meat" He purchased one and carrie
it to England. but when he used it h
was greatly ridiculed by his friend:
That little two-tined article of tabl
! furniture brought about a fierce discus
sion. 1t was regarded as an innovatio
unwarranted by the customs of society
and ministers preached against its use
When the great and powerful Lor
Howard in the time of Elizabeth was
student at Oxford hethad but one shir
The seamstress who made it receive
half penny for her labor! Later
life, when Lord Howard was high az
miral and in command of all the wa
ships of England sailing to destroy I'll
Armada of Spain, he had but four shirt
and he paid the. seamstress sixpence fC
making them. What an insight tn
gives us into the condition of the grei
majority of the people Of England
those years. There was no labor-saviu
machinery, and all implements of labt
were of the rudest and most cumbe
some character. From Barton's tab
we learn that the wages of farm labo
ers at the time the Pilgrims set sail
the MayHower were 8 shIlings II L
pence per week-about 81 1-2 cent
The price of a turkey at that time w
$1.06, and pound of butter cost
cents To obtain q pound of butter
laborer must give the wages Of a day.
Such were the good old times, Il
golden age, to which many are eve
day referring, and for the return
which some are signing. We see o
of what circumstances the early settle
Of New England came whenthey soug
an asylum on our shores. With the
facts before us, we are prepared to a
preciate the quaints curious and siniT
customs of the colonial times in NJ
} England. The first dwellings Of t
earliest settlers were such as could
most easily and conveniently mad
Logs were piled together, and the
terstices filed with moss and clay.
Massachusetts, some of the poorer Of t
first settlers dwelt for awhile In tel
and booths,
Mans anaksahIttA Of the wildern.