The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-01
IN OLD COLONIAL DAYS
THE LIFE AND CUSTOMS OF THE
PEOPLE.

An Interesting and Comprehensive Paper
Read Before the New Haven Colony His
torlcai Society, Monday Evening, Deoem-
Der grin, 1897, by Rev. DIR. II. b. sau-
ford.
On the title page of Mrs, Earle's de-
lightful volume on The customs and
Fashions In Old New England" inl
this quotations:
let us thank God for having given
us such ancestors; and let each success
sive generation thank him not less fer
vently for being one step further from
them in the march Of ages"
From the dug-outs and rude log huts
in which our Puritan fathers and moth
ers spent the first winter in Quinnipiac
to the homes from which you come to-
night lies a history that may we'll stir
our gratitude as we remember the pio-
neers and founders of the rich, full life
we enjoy, whose lot it is to stand upon
the threshold Of the twentieth century.
1t is of Colonial days in Old New
England that shall for the most part
speak this evening.
The stern and rock bound shores upon
which our Puritan and Pilgrim fore
fathers landed typified the life that
characterized the early years in which
were laid the foundations of Plymouth,
Massachusetts, Bay, New Haven and
Hartford. 1t was stern struggle for
the bare necessities of life. Comfort is
q word that scarcely fits into any part
of the vocabulary Of its record. We
may idealize it, but like the artist who
wrought the beautiful window IN Cen
! ter church, 1t must be at the expense of
! facts
| But dug-outs and log-huts never filled
out the Puritan conception Of home.
| They were only place of shelter where
| he planned and prepared to lay the
| foundation of the stately houses" that
| evolved type of architecture that in
many ways was an expression of Puri-
| tan character Built as they gradually
were of wood, very few of the dwellings,
| erected before 1900 are now in existence.
| The Whitefeld house in Guilford. built
of stone. after the then prevailing Eng
| lish fashion, is the most interesting and
| notable dwelling Of the early Puritan
period that we have in our neighbor-
hood, and, as regards the date in all
New England. The houses built by the
| planters of New Haven between 1888
| and 100 reflected the wealth of their
| owners as much as at the present time,
but of course on a very different scale.
In the house which Governor Eaton
erected there were no less than nineteen
| fireplaces, The term hall was not used
| to designate a passageWay; II was the
| livingroom the keeping-room, the
| dwelling-room, the sitting-room; in it
| the family sat and ate their meals: in 1t
| they lived. The inventory of the estate
| of Governor Eaton at the time Of his
1 death in 1867 shows that his hall was
literally furnished. Quoting from an
other, There were plenty of seats for
| diners and loungers, if Puritans ever
| lounged; two long forms and a ,luzeil
! stools Of various heights, with green or
| embroidered cushions, upon which to sit
while at the governors board, and sew
en- chairs, gay with needlework covers,
| to draw around his fireplace with its
| shining paraphernalia OF various sized
| andirons. torgs and bellows.
The low, heavy RATED room with these
plentiful seats, the tables with their
| Turkey covers, the picturesque cup
! board with its rich cloth and its dis
| play of the governors silver plate, all
aglow with the light of a real wood fire,
make a pretty picture Of comfortable
simplicity pleasant of contemplation in
our bric-a brac filled days, At setting
for the figures OF the governor, New
England's glory full of light and
warmth" and his dearest, greatest. best
of temporal enjoyments, his "virtuous,
prudent and prayerful wife"
This hall or iivingroon opened from
the entry which was usually only n
narrow vestibule west of the house
containing room enough to swing the
front door in opening. The staircase 10
the upper rooms started from this en-
try, and on the side opposite TO the liv-
ing-room was the parlor which was
sometimes as a state bedroom. These
beds with their canoped coverings and
hangings formed very important item
in the furnishing of colonial house.
In the first log cabins oiled paper was
placed in the windows but at an early
! date glass windows framed in lead were
sent from England, and also glass in
sheets Out OF doors sun dials noted the
flight of time. In doors noon-marks
and hour-glasses were depended upon
for the most part; water clocks were
rare As early as 1900, however, clocks
must have come into very general use in
| well-to-do homes. In 1907 this adver
tisement appeared in the Boston News
Letter: ITO all gentlemen and others:
There is lately arrived in Boston by
way of Pennsylvania a clock maker
If any person or persons hath any occa-
sions for new clocks or to have old ones
turned into pendulums or any other
thing either in making or mendints, they
| can go to the Sign of the Clock and
4 Dial on the South Side of the Town
House"
When we remember that books were
few and little read and newspapers un-
known at first, and when they came
very limited in their matter, we can
commiserate less the conditions that
made the early colonists dependent for
life in the long winter evenings upon
pine-knots and the Betty" lamps that
were Simply shallow receptacles Of pew
ter, iron or brass about two or three
inches in diameter, with projecting
nose an inch or two long. These were
filled with tallow or grease, and a wick
or bit of twisted rag was placed so
that the lighted end could hang on the
nose. Candles came early into use, be-
ing run in molds or made by dipping
A tedious process of manufacture that