The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1898-02-25

an old ledger and daybook, bearing
date 1742. is before me. 1t gives the
sales of a single day at one of the early
shops in New York city. not far from
the Battery, kept by A. B. Therein were
sold:
Coffy Lime
Cedar planck Turpentine
Oak joys Teapots
Rum Window-glass
Bran Swanskin blankets
Hogs cornell Check linnen
LaTes Of this coloa,sars;net
Guilt pocket-cases Duffies
Blanckbooks Durant
Inck-powder Tandum
Buckets Doble-fold gartrings
Later, the duties of an uncommis-
stoned postmaster and a quasi-banker
devolved upon the owner, ''shopkeeper
and blacksmith as he signed his name.
and later lone Of the kings justices for
the Armenia precinct" and there are exc
tant letters addressed to an early
alumnus of Princeton: ''At Mr.. Presi-
dent Burr's in New Ark. to be left with
Mr.. A. B. in Whitehall street for speedy
conveyance"
A glance at some of these wares is of
interest. but even without the disguise
of individual methods in spelling, it is
sometimes difficult to recognize the
fabrics under the obsolete names by
which they were sold. Of other names,
faint echo fingers in our present
speech. The swanskin blankets, So
called, says Bailey's dictionary of 1921.
from their extraordinary whlteness.
were of particularly thick, fieecy
weave, softer and warmer than the bar
raclades of the Dutch households, or
other products of the clumsy looms set
up in every farmhouse. Chaloon, often
written shaloons, was a thin, serge-like
wooden stuff. then chiefly used for lin
ings. and taking its name from the place
of it's manufacture, the castled Chalons.
One remembers that Chaucer's Miller
Made a bedde in his own chamhre
With shetes and with chalons faire
yspredde."
The duff1e. SO often mentioned in rec
ords of Indian barter, came from Duff
fel. in Flanders, and was cloth with
thick. tufted nap, the prototype of
boucle, but so coarse that it was little
used, except for the match-coats sold to
Indians. 1t was usually woven in the
natural colors of the wool-!"sheep's
gray"-but the Dutch duffel was striped
in blue and white. and there was some
times advertised a ''good steel-blew
duffal." That it was not in high esteem
is shown by comment in the colonial
documents of New York: ''Duffle can
not be called cloth; it is worse than
sort called wadmoll, and not even worne
by any Christian-only by the Indians"
This despised wadmoll (also written
weadmoll, waddemol, and woddeneD
was a coarse, felted stuff. originally
made of Iceland wool. and brought
thence to England, was used chiefly for
covering the collars of cart-horses. The
word, from the 1celandic vad. signify
ing a flock of wool or hair is seldom
found in use after the seventeenth cen.
fury.
Durant suggests the character of tho
cloth thus called, a closely woven
vorsted, in favor for it's firmness Of tex
ture and it's quality of wearing well.
Tandum and coloden. which latter
name. used four years later. might be
connected with the ill-starred moor
where died the hopes of the Stewards.
are names which still evade explana-
ton.
In those days of distance from mar
kets and of difficulties in travel. only
remembered in the traditions of pioneer
life. in few surviving letters, or in the
journal of a Madam Knight, il was i'm
perative to lay in large supplies Of
household necessaries. a stately dame
Of historic race on one occasion wrote
from the wilds of Berkshire to this
friend on Whitehall street a letter full
of family gossip and incisive comment
on the Encouragement of public af-
fairs. and begged him to send her by
the first opportunity: ''Six lbs. of tea
the last was not SO good, and Id. Of
iinnen thred. corse and fine"
In a postscript, she wishes to be told
if goods are hoisted." Far be it from
me to suggest that bargaining spirit
is innate in woman. but straws like
these are suggestive. They help one to
read between the lines of many a simple
statement, and he who would restore
the picture of our colonial life gladly
seizes any means to fix fading color
or to save a vanishing outline.-.N. Y.
Post.
Looking Ahead.
Auntie Chole-You Eph'rum! Whad
~ IN dot Co.