The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-10-14
III hundred. :.
...... Years Hgo.
How the People Lived When the
Country Was Young.
ARTICLE NO. 6.
HOME COMFORTS.

Bear skins and bnfrafo robes were COM
mon coverings. Quilted comforts were a
luxury. Dry goods We're designated as
mems stuffs" or "women's stuffs.'
There were no pianos; the ladies OF mus
jcaf~talent played on the spinet or harp
sichord. Cooking in winter was done in
iron pots before a hearth and in out
houses during the summer. Stoves We're
an invention OF the ninteenth century.
There We're no factory-made chairs, no
water pipes in the street; there was no
water in the houses save what was car
ried in by hand; nor were there any house
furnaces. The windows would not lift,
for window weights had not been invent
ed. The sashes sometimes opened ont
wardly like cur shutters, hut We're not
often used in this way, for the impor-
lance of ventilation was not understood.
Very few rooms in America had carpets
on the floors, sand being used instead.
Wall paper was unknown. Colored en-
cravings. or eraSons, very badly executed
We're the only wall ornaments. There
were no tacZs. and consequently no jokes
about stepping on these instruments of
torture. There was no machine-maGe
thread; nor sewing machines, nor pins
and needles. Stone houses were few,
those of brick still fewer. In the coun-
try log houses were fashionable. and in
frame wood.
A guest at the table was expec ted to
partalle of the same dish at least twice,
and by SO doing three or four times was
supposed to compliment his hostess.
When he had enough he crossed his knife
and fork on his plate. and was no longer
pressed to eat. Food was carried to the
mouth with the knife or the spoon. The
l<li /,
boxes to store away millinery in, in fact
there was no feathered, plumed or rib,
boned bonnets IL those days.
The farmers house often had windows
of grained paper, admitting light but
could not be seen through Glass was
too expensive. The door was of plank
and hung with leather hinges. there was
no knob. no lock, no bolt but inside a
wooden latch. which could he lifted from
the outside by leather string running
through a hole. The floor was of earth
or of hewn logs. The inmates slept on
bedsteads made on poles, and ate from
wooden dishes
If there were books, newspapers and
pictures in the house, it was an eXccp-
ton. Labor and rest constituted about
all of life. There was more drinking 20
excess then. and there was less refine
ment in speech and manners than there is
now The houses of the rich We're lighted
with wax candles while poor people were
glad to have tailow ones, or burn a wick
in vessel containing grease. The big
lire place furnished the light in The win
ter. With such lights it was no great
credit that early bed time was the rule
Wood was the only fuel blacksnliths
used charcoal Firearms ware in every
country house, from constant fear of
Indians or wild animals.
The good old days, the days of the
Revolution, were days when every man
raised his own tobacco in his front yard
ana smoked 1t in a pipe, the cob of
which grew in his own field; when every
woman made her own soap with, I've from
the ash-hopper, mixed with grease saved
for year in her fiat BARREL" kept her
butter in a bucket hung in the well and
her milk i'll the spring house day; when
the young gentlemen had neither cigar,
cites nor canes, and young ladies neith-
ef candy nor chewing gum. and the small
boy could not make the immortal Fourth
hideous with 1irecrackers, because he had
none. The average shoes were stout cen
trivances of strong hide, with wooden
pegs or hob-nails. Gloves were not
worn, either for style or for comfo-..
Mttens of yarn were worn in winter.
CraVats We're unknown, their place being
supplied by huge stocks that reached
from the shoulders to the ears.
Leather brooches, a checked shirt, a
red flannel jacket and a cooked hat
formed the dress OF a working man
Stovepipe hats were unkaewn 4 felt
broad brim. a cooked hat, or q counslzin
cap was considered good enough for any
body A New England girl was rot al
lowed to be-married until she coli bake
loaf of bread and cut 1t in smooth even
slices while it was still warm
Handkerchief were known only to the
wealthy, and seldom made use of by
them, being first made popular by the
Empress Josephine, who had bad teeth,
and concealed the deformity by holding
a handkerchief before her lips when she
laughed. Linen collars and cuffs were
unthought Of, and starch was lit.le used
by either rich or poor The women did
no shopping, and the storekeepers sent
out no flaming advertisements. There
We're no millinery stores
The knitting was done all by, hand for
stocking mach hes were not in existence,
nor were lightning rods, nor tiNware, nor
ironware, nor glassware, nor woodenWare,
nor graniteware, nor copperware nor
aluminumWare, nor brassware. nor sill
verware in any, but very few of the
multiplied forms known to the house
hold today. Buttons We're scarce AMI
expensive, and trousers We're fastened
with pegs or Iaces. The various fool
products from grains. canned goods. ,tc.,
were not known to the people-ef the
United States in the times of Washing
ton.