, 1905-06-05
COLD no HARDS HIP
PURlTANS CARED LITTLE FOR
RIGORS OF WINTER.
Primitive contrivances Supplied Arti-
fetal Heat for Those Weak Enough
to Desire It-Firepfaces of the Long
Ago.

The ancient art of keeping warm
in clustering weather was crude. as
practiced by the forefathers, or Judge
Sewell would not have complained
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 decid-
ed that it was too cold to make shoes,
but just right 10 go hunting. The
test of temperature was made by al
lowing 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 the country got any
comfort during the severe winter days
is not apparent to the eyes of to-day
that have looked upon the simple and
curious heat producers of early times.
A rare collection of these ancient
freplaces. andirons, stoves and other
promoters of mercurial rises is pre-
served to-day in the Essex institute,
in Salem. Mass. together with much
iANti tslihS 1 T. INCL oh.
One of these curios is a tireback
from the ancestral home of Col. Tim,
othy Pickering, Washington's friend
and secretary of war. K is slate. and
looks like a gravestone. 1t was
carved with the family crest. II
was placed in the back Of the fire
place, so that the burning logs would
not set fire to the house.
These old-fashioned ireplaces were
huge affairs. Children could sit in
their corners and watch the sparks
chase each other toward the stars
The freplaces and chimneys were
first lined with mud, so that they
would not burn, but later they were
made of brick. 1t is a common re
mark that in trying to get warm al
such the faces of the people were
roasted from the heat, while theil
backs froze In the drafts from the
cracks in the windows and doors.
But the early torefathers were
hardy race and endured the cold won
derfully. The puritans Of Salem re
fused to heat their meeting-houses
| declaring that warmth therein was
a snake Of We willy and wicked Satan
The sturdy puritan sires and theil
sons kicked their heels together wher
| the cold stopped the circulation OF theil
blood, and the preachers often patient
ly paused in their two hours dis
courses to wait for everybody to be
come warm and stop kicking.
Women carried little foot stoves tt
church. These were perforated til
boxes a few inches square, in which
hot embers from the family hearth
were placed. and the hot stove wa:
then taken to meeting along with thu
Bible.
Coal was known as early as 1853
In this country. and 1t was callet
Iron stone" But wood was far cheap
er and more convenient, and was mos
used. Peat was also. utilized, as 1
could be obtained from many bogs.
Stoves were introduced as early a
1862, and in that year the Genera
Court of Massachusetts granted t.
John Clark 10 shillings for every fam
ily using his valuable invention.
stove. for a period of three years
and this grant was subsequently ex
tended for the period Of Clark's life
time. the General Court being deepl.
grateful for the comfort derived from
his invention.
The first open-front coal stoves we-,
desigred by Benjamin Franklin. AM
were cast by James Byres & Co. |,
Springfield. Mass, in 1887. Franklin
probably got his idea from the Ger
man stoves in Penns ylvania. Thes'
had a hot air drum, which EXTENDED
to the second story and warmed tina
part of the house, but the doors o
many of them were outside the house
so that it was necessary to go outsid
to feed them with fuel. Franklin's in
vention marked tie beginning o
stoves for burning coal and wood
which are in general use to-day.