Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1909-12-15
CHRISTMAS YEARS AGO.
l.. l.. Caldwell of DEBORAH Gives REM
iniscences Of Early Days in Let
ter Printed in Waverly
Independent.

/ wonder if children of today en-
joy the Christmas morning more
than we did in the long ago? l re-
member the Christmas days away
back in the early forties, in York
State" when l was kid of seven
or eight. / had one brother and
five sisters. We lived in large,
rambling house with an immense
fireplace in the large kitchen. At
that time / was firm believer that
Santa Claus always came down the
chimney to fill our stockings, be-
cause there was shown us the marks
he made in the SCOT back of the
crane that hung in the fireplace.
OF course, we all hung up our stock
ings (seven pair in all) to nails
driven in the wooden mantel. We
all had faith that was sublime that
Santa Claus would fill them, and he
never disappointed us. We found
apples, hickory nuts, chestnuts, red
striped candy, Jackson balls, and
sometimes a primer. What more
could we ask? What more could
we desire? Our cup of happiness
was full.
What large kitchens we had in
those days! About as large as a
ballroom, with immense beams over
head to support the floor above
How nice the festoOns of drying
apples looked that had been pared,
cored, quartered, strung on Irvine
and suspended from the beams each
recurring fall. Also, great chunks
of beef hung to dry from the same
beams At one side of the fireplace
was a large brick oven, which did
the weekly baking. This oven would
be filled with dry wood and heated
very hot. When the fire had burned
low the Goals and ashes were taken
out and the oven quickly filled with
bread, pies and other baking, enough
to last seven days. Nothing could
be baked today any better, if as WELL
Biscuits and Johnny cakes were
usually baked in a tin oven placed
in front of the fireplace. This was
sometimes called a Dutch oven, in
no way similar to the deep, fiat iron
!, pot which is also called a Dutch
oven.
Cooking stoves were not known
, in our part of New York state at
: that time. The vegetables were
t cooked and the doughnuts fried in
!, kettles hung on the crane in the fire.
place. The crane was hung so that
> it could be swung out if the fire got
? too hot. And don't we old people
!, remember the cider apple sauce as
fine as silk? The kitchen was rather
scantily furnished-a large table or
two, some homemade splint-bottom
| hat of n1n
on the mantel that had to be wound
each night, and a small bellows to
start the fire in the morning. The
: bed time: If the fire went entirely
!, out, one had to go to the. neighbors
, and borrow some. Very few had
: matches in those days. but they
: soon became more plentiful and were
called Lucifer matches. At that
r time I was a firm believer in a per-
sonal devil. and as he was sometimes
called Lucifer I supposed he made
them. One of "Poor Richard s
4, Almanacks" hung beside the fire.
: place.
, My father was postmaster of our
!, little hamlet, and the mail came
once a week. carried by a man on
horseback. 1t was the duty of the
postmaster to unlock the bag, take
out what mail belonged to his office,
lock the bag, and the postman would
ride away to the next office. Letter
postage was % cents on all letters
: going out of the state, which could
be paid by the sender or the re-
ceiver. Postage stamps were un-
known.
The papers which came to our
home were the New York Weekly
, Tribune, the Methodist Christian
: Advocate and the Binghampton
, Lemocrat. The two prominent poll
tical parties in those days were the
Democrats and Wings. I quite dis
tinctly remember the presidential
: campaigns of 1899 and 1910. Will
J liam Henry Harrison of the Wing
, party and Martin Van Buren, of the
Democrat party were opposing can
: didates. My father was a Democrat
: and, of course, / was very ardent
/ four-year-old supporter of his party.
!, The presidential campaign four years
later is vivid in my mind as If 1T
were yesterday. Polk and Dallas OF
4, the Democrat party and Clay and
/ Frelinghuysen of the Wing party
, were pitted against each other.
Some of the political songs are very
fresh in my memory yet.
There Is so much of the long ago
} that | could write about OF interest
!, to the older generation that has
little interest for the young, and so