The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-01-01


within the memory Of those still living.
Who has drawn the picture more vivid
ly than our New England poet.
1--WE piled with care our nightly stack
or wood against the chirnney-back;
The oaken log, green, huge and thick,
And on its top the stout back-stick;
The knotty forestick laid apart
And filled between with curious art.
The ragged brush, then lowering near.
We watched the first red blaze appear,
Heard the sharp crackle caught the
CLEAN
On whitewashed wall and sagging
beam,
Until the old, rude.furnished room
Burst, fiower-like, into rosy bloom:
While radiant with mimic flame
outside the sparkling drift became,
And through the bare-boughed lilac
Our own warm hearth seemed blazing
free;
The crane and pendent tralnmel showed
The Turks heads on the andirons
glowed;
While childish fancy prompt to tell
The meaning Of the miracle,
Whispered the old rhyme, Under the
tree;
When fire outdoors burns merrily,
There the witches are making tea
In this matter of keeping warm we
must remember that our Puritan faith
ers and mothers led vigorous life full
Of exercise, that kept the blood circu-
lating in generous and strong tide.
They were enured to the cold from
babyhood onward and learned in this
and many other things
ITO suffer and endure"
Judge Sewall writes in his diary:
IAN extraordinary cold storm Of wind
and snow. Bread was frozen at Lord S
Table. Though twas SO cold yet John
Tuckerman Vas baptized At six
o'clock my ink freezes SO that I can
hardly write by a good fire in my wife's
chamber" then adds, "yet was
very comfortable at meeting
The case Of John Tuckerman recalls
a barbarous custom that makes us
wonder that any of our ancestors that
were so unfortunate as to be born in
midwinter ever lived to be told the sto-
~.
The fact is when we come to study
child-life in the good old colony days ]
think most Of us are ready to offer a Pc
| tition of Thanksgiving that our coming
| was delayed until the nineteenth centu-
ry. Speaking Of their religious training
| Mrs. Earle says:
| They must have felt, like Tony Lump
kin, tired of having good dinged into
| EN-"
| HOW hi rcs OH
| rhymes; they read from the Bible, the
cateehism, the psalm book and that lu-
rid rhymed horror "The Day Of DOOM
they parsed, too, from these universal
books. How did they parse these lines
from the Bay Psalm book?
And sayd He would not them waste;
had not
Moses stood (whoni he chose)
Fore him? the breach; to turn his
wrath
Lest that he should waste those"
AS we get at the heart of the home
| life of colonial times we find that the
| boys and girls had a good time They
! didn't spend all their hours porting over
/ the catechism.
Colonial life and customs In the differ
ent sections along the Atlantic sea
board, like Joseph's coat, was Of many
colors. The south was In many respects
the most picturesque portion OF the
| country. The social order was more ro-
mantle more pictorial and interesting
than any social order at the north Po-
| litical and social leadership naturally
fell into the hands Of the wealthy plan
| tiers, who In their stately counry homes
| dispensed a lavish hospitality and apet
the customs of the English landed arts.
| tocracy In the middle colonies com
mercial pursuits developed the leaders
OF affairs. From New York to Charles,
4 ton the social life was made picturesque
| by the interminglng of English, Dutch
| German and French, all of whom clune
| to the ancestral customs in home life
and fashion In dress. But while there
4 was this outward diversity in speech
dress and social conditions, there was 8
common pulse beat of a sturdy loyalty
to the principles OF religious and civil
| freedom.
In the southern and middle colonies
the children of the wealthy classes re
ceived the benefits of an education ac-
uuired under the care of private tutors
| anu Ullell CDiuplcteu III tlit univ nitiIs
Of England or the continent. In New
England education was more general
but the quality tested by present stand
ards was exceedingly poor. But thu
heritage Of strong and vigorous life die
not pass away as the early university
bred leaders rested from their labors
1t was a race of sturdy men and wo
men, physically, intellectually and NOR
ally, who did honor to their Pilgrim an(
Puritan ancestry. The growth of com
| merce and the abundance of necessary
material developed ship-building. as {
leading industry at many points Man
ufactures were Of the simplest kind
saw mills, gristmills tanneries ant
homemade cloth. One of these ole
grist- mills built in 1850, is still in actor
at the head of Winthrop Cove in New
London.
Most of the articles for family ant
farm use were manufactured in thu
great kitchens of the colonial houses
during the winter and on stormy days
1t was this industry that in time sough
foreign market for its surplus wares
word about agriculture and hus
baridry in colony times. Tobacco, an
very sorry to say, was the first grea
staple raised in the new world. TIL,
earliest settlers of Virginia learned 1T
use from the Indians, who thought j
possessed rare medicinal virtues. TIL
weed was already used in Europe t.
some extent, having been introduced