Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-04-03
BOYS BACK In TIE sos.
THE HON. GEORGE F. HOAR TELLS
WHAT THEY WE'RE LIKE,
Boys, He Thinks, Are In These Days
More Manly and More Mature
Than When He Was .
Youth.

1Outns
The Hon. George F. Hoar. in the Youths
Companion, says: 1 believe that boys now
| adays are more manly and mature than
they were in my time. But in giving an
account of the life of a boy sixty years
ago L must describe it as l saw it, even if
it appear altogether childish and undisni-
| lied to the young gentlemen who are to be
my readers.
| Perhaps all my younger readers do not
know how much that makes up, not only
the luxury. but the comfort OF life, has first
come i'll within the memory OF persons now
living. The household lie OF my childhood
was not much better in those RESPECTS than
that OF a WelI-to-do Roman or Greek. 1t
lad not improved u great deal Tor 200
years. There We're no houSe-WarHlnS fur-
naceS, and stoves We're almost unknown.
There were no double windows, and the
houses were warmed by open tires. There
were no matches.
There were no water pipes. in the houses.
and no provision was made for d~ischarSing
sewage. There were no railroads, teie-
graphs or telephones. Letter postage 10
New York from Boston was % cents. None
oil the modern agricultural machinery then
existed, not even good modern plows. Crops
We're planted by nand and cultivated with
the hoe and spade. Vegetables were dug
with the hoe, and grain and hay cut with
the sickle or scytne. There were no ice
ObSSo AN hoS III NC " hcCRti5 pA0s
visions or cooling water was unknown.
My father WAS we!i-to-do and his house
hold lived, certainly, as we'll as any family
in the town of Concord, where | was born.
l have no doubt a Roman boy 200 years be-
fore Christ, or an Athenian boy 4U years
before Christ. lived quite as We'll as l did.
II not better.
The boy got up in the morning and
dressed himself in a room into which the
cold air came through the cracks in the
window. If the temperature was 20 de-
I q hftn" fnfCtdA 1 z uTnC yrZrN- tfff1 fth
er inside. If he was big enough to make
the fires he made his way downstairs in the
dark OF a winter morning and found. if the
lire had been properly raked up the night
before. 4 few Goals in the ashes in the
kitchen fireplace. The last person who went
to bed the night before had done exactly
EIysses ttme, when he tells US that
UlS sses covered himself with leaves after
he was washed ashore in Phaiakia:
He lay down in the midst, heaping the
1ailen leaves above, as 4 man hides a brand
in a dark bed of ashes, at some outlying
farm where %neighbors are not near, hoard
Ing a seed Of fire to save his seeking else
Getting n Light.
But first he must get a light. Matches
are not yet invented. So he takes from the
shelf over the mantelpiece an old tin or
brass candlestick with a piece of taliow
candle in it, and with a tongs takes a coal
from the ashes and holds the candlewick
against the coal ard gives a few puffs with
his breath. If he has good luck he lights
tae wick, probably after many failures.
My mother had a very entertaining story
connected with the old-fashioned way OF
getting q light. Old Jeremiah Mason, who
was probably the greatest lawyer We ever
had in New England. unless we except
Daniel Webster. studied law in my uncle's
once and shared a room in his house with
another law. student. One April Fools day
the two young gentlemen went out late in
the afternoon. and my aunt, a young IN
married girl who lived with her sister, and
another girl went into the room and took
SUCK, cut a piece Of turnip TO resemble it.
cut out a little piece like a wick at the end,
blackened it with ink and put it in the
When Mr.. Mason came in in the dark. he
took a coal up with the torgs and put it
against the wick, and pulled and pulled,
9ntil after q long and vexatious trial he
discovered what was the matter. He said
nothing. but waited for his chum to come
In. who went through the same trial. When
they discovered the hoax thy framed an
elaborate complaint in legal jargon against
the two roguish girls and brought them to
trial before a young lawyer Of their &C.
quaintance. The young ladies were found
suiliv ana sentenced to pay as a fine a
After getting his candle lighted, the boy
takes dry kfndling, which has been gath
ered the night before. and starts a fire.
The next thing is to get some water. He
Is lucky II the water in the old cast iron
kettle which hangs on the crane in the
fireplace be not frozen AS soon as the fire
Is started he goes outdoors to thaw out the
pump. II they have a wooden pump. But
that is all frozen up and he has to get some
hot water from his kettle to pour down
over the piston till he can thaw II out.
Sometimes he would AVE an old-fashfoned
well. sunk too low in the ground for the
frost to reach 1t, and could get water with
the old oaken bucket.
Water Pail and the Pump.
He brings In from out of doors a pail or
two Of water. If there has been a snow
storm the night before he has to shovel a
path to the woodshed, where he can get the
days supply of wood from outside, and
then from the doors of the house out to
the street. Meantime, the woman whose
duty 1t is to get breakfast makes her APP
peGrance.
The wooden pump. which took the place
of the old well in many dooryards, was
considered on a great invention. We all looked
with huge respect upon Sanford Adams. of
Concord, who Invented it, and was known
all over the country
He was quite original in his way. The
story used to be told of him that he called
ADVICE as to a matter of law. Father was
az dinner and went to the door himself.
MT; Adams stated his case in a word or
father gave him his answer, the whole
conversation not lasting more than two
should. pay. and father said. Five Goaa hs
MI. Adams paid it at once. and father SAID.
by the way, there is a little trouble with
Will you just look at it?" Sc Mr.. Adams
went around the corner of the shed. moved
the handle Of the pump and put his hand
In the side. which had got loose, and the
pump worked perfectly. Father said.
.Thank you. sir" To which Adams replied.
II. will be five dollars. Fir. Hoar.' and
father gave him back the same bill he had
just taken.
l am afraid that the sympathy of the
people who told the story was with the
pumpnaker and not with the lawyer.
The great kitchen fireplace presented a
very enc Tfui app arance compared with the
from six to eight or ten feet wide. with a
great chimney. In many houses you could
stand on the hearth and look UP the CHM
ney and see the stars n a winter night.
Across the fireplace hung an iron crane.