Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-11-13

Close by were the spice mortar ana spice
mill. That was never In its place Thanks
giving time, for vast amounts OF spices
were used and every housekeeper ground
her own spices. The pies we're well spiced
and yell shortened. too. No substitutes
for lard were used then, and where every
woman tried out her own lard she was
sure OF its richness and purity.
ALWAYS ATTENDED CHURCH.
In spite OF the work and confusion,
every family went 10 church Tnanksgiy-
ing morning, and in cold weather the
foot stove was filed with bot Goals and
taken along to keep the feet from freez-
ing; for there were no warm churches
then, and it was hard to- keep comforta Bile
through the long sermons. These little
foot stoves were pierced metal boxes stand
ing on wooden legs, aud nearly every
family owned plentiful supply.
Whether the wives OF, those early set
tiers objected TO smoking is hard to learn
from the records. At any rate the men
smoked, for they had their tobacco shelves
for pipes and tobacco, ana harging on a
nail alongside were the pipe or smoking
tongs. Slender affairs OF iron or steel,
they were useful for the smoker when he
lifted coal from the fireplace to light his
pipe. Elongated, kpobbed, with an in
geniously bent S-shaped into convenient
form TO press down the tobacco into the
bowl OF the pipe. The story Is told OF one
ardent smoker who delayed q whole
Thanksgiving dinner party, 40 that he
might go down the road to the next
neighbours . mile distant, and borrow
enough tobacco to last out the day.
EXCITEMENT NOT LACKING.
Some Thanksgiving did not lack ex-
element. A Portland woman tells Of G
fire that caused serious trouble. 1--WE had
q brick oven, and mother had . big bak-
ing. She had been cooking all Thanks
giving week and heated the oven red hot.
can see even now how abe took out all
then swept back what Goals she didn't get,
into the farther end OF the oven so as 10
keep the heat. Then she put In her bsk-
ing; nothing ever tasted so good as the
things mother baked in that brick oven.
.'She sent me up 10 the attic for some
thing and / ran back, my eyes big as
ssucers and cried to her to come quick and
see the rooms full OF smoke. bad to run
for the Methodist minister who lived next
door, and they tore up nearly all OF the
floor round the chimney before they got
the better of that fre. Our Thanksgiving
WAS rather topsy-tnrvey on that account.
That was the trouble with the brick
ovens; they were Liable to set the house
on fire.
In the Longfellow kitchen one sees the
pots and kettles, dearest possessions OF
the early settlers. The indians set great
store by their brass kettles and had them
buried with them, and the settlers valued
theirs as much. Some of the kettles were
worth over fifteen dollars and those OF
brass and copper often held fifteen gallons.
The vast iron pot, father OF all the pots
and kettles in the family, was best beloved,
and capable of holding forty pounds.
Thanksgiving filled II to its utmost ca
pscity, but for all such pot was in daily
use, it would last for many years.
On those first Thanksgiving days all the
vegetables were boiled together In the
great pot, and the smell OF so many good
things cooking made the guests hungry
long before dinner time came round.
KILLING TIME.
Putting aside Thanksgiving, November
was the busiest month in the whole year
to the colonisls, for was not this the
.'kiliing timer
w hen the chosen day arrived, oxen
cattle and Swine that had been fattened
for the winters stock were slaughtered
early in the morning so that the meat
might get cold and hard before being put
in pickle. Then the settlers turned their
thoughts Thanksgivingwsrd, for the
greater part OF the pies were made ahead
and other food prepared for the great oc-
cassion.
II was not always easy to get things for
Thanksgiving. II depended on the crops
TO some extent. One famous housekeeper
OF Newport had to make her Thanksgiv-
ing mince meat with filling OF bears
meat and dried pumpkins, sweetened with
1t was stated that her husband loyalty af-
firmed they were the best mince pies he
ever ate.
AT the first Massachusetts, Thanksgiving
in 1921, the Indians brought in five deer to
the colonists for their feast. That year
there was also "great store OF wild tur-
keys".
These beautiful birds of '.gold and
purple bronze" were at first plentiful
everywhere and of great weight, far larger
than the domestic turkeys OF to-day.
They came in fiocks that year, from 100
to 300, and weighed from thirty to forty
pounds. One of them weighed sixty
pounds. William Penn wrote that those
weighing thirty pounds sold for shilling
only.
They were shy and fed from the white
man, and in 1880 were rarely shot near the
New England coast