Evening journal., 1905-04-27
WHEN 1T WAS REALLY COLD.
Ink Froze 20 Pens and Boys TO Wet
LapstOnes In Those Days.

Lnpstones In Those Days.
The ancient art Of keeping warm in
clustering winter weather was crude
as practiced by the forefathers or
Judge sewell would not have com
planned that he was slow in recording
events in his diary because his ink
froze upon his pen. Nor would the
colonial shoemakers have many times
decided that It was too cold TO make
shoes, but just right to so hunting
Tho test Of temperature was made by
allowing an apprentice to sit on a wet
lapstone If he was frozen to It the
weather was considered too cold to
work.
Indeed, just how the people Of the
cold parts Of this country got any com
fort during the severe winter days is
not apparent to The eyes OF today that
have looked upon the simple and curl
Gus heat producers Of early times. A
rare collection Of these ancient FIRE
places. andirons, stoves and other pro
moters Of mercurial rises is preserved
today in the Essex institute in Salem,
Mass, together with much interesting
information thereon.
One Of these curios Is a frebacz from
the ancestral home OF Colonel Timothy
Pickering. Washington's friend and
secretary of war. IL is Of slate and
| looks like n grayestone. 1t was carved
with the Pickering family crest. II
was placed i'm the back Of the fireplace
so that the burning logs would not set
fire to the house.
These old fashioned ireplaces were
huge affairs Children could slt I'm
their corners and watch the sparks
chase each other toward the stars The
G4oplaces and chlmneys were iirst lined
with mud, so that they would not burn,
but later they were made of brick.
II is common remark that IN trying
to get warm at such tliefaees Of peo-
pie were roasted from the heat, while
their backs froze In the drafts from the
cracks I'm the windows and doors.
But the early forefathers were a
hardy race and endured the cold won
derfully The Purtans OF Salem re-
fused to heat their meeting houses, de.
claring that warmth therein "was a
snake Of ye willy and wicked Satan.
The sturdy Puritan slres and their
sons kicked their heels together when
the cold stopped the circulation Of their
blood, and the preachers often patient
Is paused In their two hours dis
courses TO wait for everybody TO be
come warm and stop kicking
Women carried little foot stoves ia
church. These We're perforated tin
boxes about foot square. into which
hot embers from the family hearth
were placed. and the hot stove was
then taken TO meeting along WIZ the
Bible
Coal was known MS early as lG1 10
this country. and it was called "iror
stone But wood was - cheaper
and more convenient aEA was mos
used. Peat was also utilized. as Il
could be obtained from many bogs.
Stoves were introduced as early NJ
1862 and IN that year the genera
court OF Massgt husetts granted TO JOIN
Clark 10 shilllngs for every family
using his valuable invention, stove
FOR a period OF three years, and thi
grant was subsequently extended fol
"A period OF Clarz's lifetime, the genera
cc1rt being deeply grateful for the com
fort derived from his invention.
The first open front coal stoves wer
designed by benjamin Franklin anl
were cast by James Byres & co. IN
Springfield, Mass. in 1887 Franklin
probably got his idea from the German
stoves used i'm Pennsylvania. Thos
had hot air drum. which extended e
the second story and warmed that par
of the house, but the doors Of many o
them were outside the house. so that j
was necessary TO go outdoors to feet
them with fuel. Frankins invention
marked the beginning OF stoves 70
burning coal and wood which are q
general use today
These early stoves were as grea
blessings TO the forefathers as ar
steam heaters today Even the poet
sung Of their virtues, referring to ther
as stoves which autumn Of winte
could make"
But today the practical man want
summer Of winter made. and the var
Gus simple devices Of the forefathers-
the iirebacks, andirons, open fireplace
and crude stoves-have been thrown ii
TO the junk heap or into the museur
p TO make way for the modern hot al
and steam heaters.-Boston Globe.
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