The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1908-07-18
IMPLEMENTS and
UTENSILS OF OLD

Back in Doyleston, Pa, lives one H
&c. Mercer, fine scholar and gentle
man, who has enjoyed the fad of col
lecting and preserving the tools and
utensils used by our forefathers. He
has lectured upon the subject and by
means of lantern slides gives a vivid
idea of the progress which has been
made in recent years. A newspaper
account of one of his lectures deliv-
cred in Philadelphia proves decidedly
interesting. Mr.. Mercer, who is an
archaeologist, traced the origin of
many of these tools to the nation from
which they were brought, and pointed
out those which were distinctively
American. A large majority of them
nad remained unchanged from the
days of the Romans down to about
1920 or 1880, when, from some cause,
not clearly ascertained, the rapid de-
velopment of domestic implements
commenced, and has continued with
unparalleled rapidity until now. To
those who had seen and even used the
implements shown, it seemed almost
incredible that SO few specimens yet
remain in the country, SO completely
have many Of them disappeared.
Two of the old wooden mold-board
plows are in the collection, and the
objections raised by the farmers that
the new iron plows poisoned the
land" seem ridiculous enough today.
The collection contained grain sickles
quite unlike the grass hooks now in
use; scythes, grain cradles. which
succeeded the sickles and were in
turn driven out by the reaping ma
chine; hewing axes for squaring tim
Der, frows for splitting shingles, and
axes of various patterns. The Ratchet,
Mr.. Mercer said, was a purely Ameri-
can invention. At first small axe,
then its poll was made into ham,
mer and claw, the three tools being
exclusively used in many European
| countries.
Coming to the culinary apparatus,
Mr.. Mercer showed the old fireplace,
with it's trammels and pot-hooks for
hanging the pots over the wood fire on
the hearth; the long-legged skillets,
which stood over the fire; the crane
from which the pots were hung. and
desired; the old tongs, the Dutch oven,
which could swing off the fire when
surrounded by hot embers for baking
bread. Then another photograph
showed the good housewife making
apple pie out under tree, where her
two big iron kettles were hung from
crotch and cross piece, and parti-
ally surrounded by stone barrier
against the wind.
1t is within the memory of many
when nearly all the everyday clothing
of the farming community was made
on the farm, the linen being produced
from fax grown in the fields and the
wooden sheared from the backs of the
sheep. Every good farmer had the
implements for dressing the fax, and
the females of the household were
skilled in the art of spinning the fax
and the wool and weaving it into
cloth, plain, in stripes or plaids, col
ored with their own hands and made
by them into serviceable garments.
These implements were shown In
great variety; the fax break for
breaking up the outer husk of the
plant, the swingle for beating it off
the fiber. the Mitchell for combing 1t
into shape, the flax wheel for spin
ming, the quill wheel for winding 1t,
and the hand looms for weaving.
Shoemaking was, done by neighbor-
hood shoemakers, who went from
house to house and stayed at each
long enough to sew up the family"
They were called "cat-whippers," and
were treated with great consideration
W shSk4 AooSo. 4AS WoOQ0u ldSlS were
shown on the screen, each member
of the family having his own last, a
straight one (there were no rights and
lefts).
And then there was the family Ian
tern, made of tin and looking like a |
tall oil can of the present day. 1t was
punched full Of small holes, close to- |
gether, usually in patterns. Inside a
short piece Of candle made a light |
something less than Philadelphia |
gaslight and something greater than a
lightning bug, and by the aid of this |
the farmer fed his stock and MIXED |
his cows early in the morning and |
night in the winter, or went into his |
corn house cellar to get his hard cider.
The candle moulds in which he uti-
lized his tallow in an improved meth
cd of making candles, better than the
tallow dips which he used to make by /