River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-05-15

he hltcnen was the cnieI room III
these early homes. 1t served as a
place for cooking, eating, sleeping and
was often used as workshop. The
fireplace was one of the important fur
nishings of the kitchen. Stoves were
unknown. First fireplaces were of
green logs covered with clay, and
fresh roots weer used for andiron ma
king. jerks established his iron
works in Saugus in 1913 and made
kitchen ware of iron. Meats were
roasted on a spit of green wood or
were hung in the fire from green hick-
DRY switches.
Furnishings of Early Kitchens.
Early settlers commonly ate their
meals in the kitchen, as did New Eng
landers for several generations. Some
settlers brought tables with them
from England. Others made tables of
boards from packing cases coming in
from England.
Food was served on wooden trays.
Trenches, or wooden trays. were used
even at Harvard college. Crockery
and pewter dishes were owned and
used by some of the better colonial
families. Apparently pottery was used
| in colonial homes, for the general
court enacted laws regulating the dig
ging of potters' clay in 1916. A glass
| factory was established in Salem in
1889, but glassware was not among
the common tableware. Silversmiths
came from England and settled in
| Newbury in early times and made
spoons.
The floors of early colonial homes
fwere often covered with sands from
the seashore or rushes from the
marshes. The sand on the floors was
sometimes nodded into geometrical
designs or elaborate figures for adorn-
ment. The kitchen floor in the Colon
| ial home in the Essex Institute in
Salem furnishes an excellent present
day example of the early colonial way
of sanding floors. Brooms were made
of stiff reeds or birch twiggs, like the
brooms used by some farmers in their
stables today. Woven carpets and
rugs were rare Bearskins and the
pelts of other animals made warm and
pretty rugs.
Clocks and Watches Scarce.
There were no pictures on the
walls, no bookcases and scarcely any
need of them. for the bible was al
most the only book read by the puri-
tans. There were few writing desks;
clocks, too, were rare. When Roger
Williams became involved in a dis
cussion with some rivals, it was
agreed that each side should have 15
minutes in which to present its case.
But before the debate was started 1t
was found that not man in the en-
tire gathering had watch, and there
wasn't clock, not even sandglass,
in the entire neighborhood. So it was
agreed that the presiding officer
should guess at the time. Sundials in
many New England gardens served to
tell the time of day. The Waterman
cried the hours of the night. Many
colonial houses were built facing the
south, and housewives knew it was
noon when the sun was in the south
windows.
Kitchen sinks and bathroom furnish
ings were among the things of which
early corners never dreamed. The
| first settlers obtained their water
from springs or brooks. Later settlers
dug wells Water was brought into
houses in buckets. Being scant in
supply, it was sparingly used. The
daily bath was not a puritan practice.
The family washing was usually done
once a month, and in some homes
once in three months.
The chests brought over from Eng
land served for trunks; shelves were
made; pegs, driven into the walls for
the hanging of clothes, and corner
closets were built in kitchens. The
mantel of the fireplace, the walls OF
the kitchen and the rafters served for
the hanging of pots, pans, kettles,
guns, kettles, guns, corn, dried apples,
snowshoes, clothing and other house
hold furnishings.
Simplicity of Colonial Homes.
Candlesticks brought from England
were in use and some thrifty families
employed pine torches for lights. Beds
and bedding were among the goods
| brought by the first settlers. Capt.
John Endicott's company of 100 men,
" no settled in Salem, was provided
with fifty beds, fifty mats to lie under,
fifty pairs of blankets of Welsh cotton,
100 pairs of sheets, fifty bedticks with
wool TO put in them and Scotch tick
ing. There were no springs in the
beds. The typical colonial bedsteads
were large, many being of the four
posted style, with canopy tops draped
with heavy fabrics.
Bedroom furnishings were priced in
colonial times. Bertha Cartwright,
who died in 1910, beqeauthed my bed,
my bolster and two pillows, with a
blanket and a coverlet to my sister"
She also directed that pair of sheets
be given to Margaret Jackson and
that four pairs of sheets be sold to
pay her debts.
Some idea of the general equipment
of an early colonial home may be
gained from the inventory Of the es-
tate of Joseph Howe, who died in
LYNN in 1850 and left his entire estate
to his wife and his Is year old daugh-
ter In addition to land and buildings
and cattle the inventory showed the
following property: "a cart and yoke,
an ak, two wedges, a load of hay, one
cradle, three pounds of powder, TWEEN
tv pounds of shot, box, chest and
other timber, three pairs of sheets,
/ two pillow coverings, feather bed