Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1913-05-19

and pewter dishes were owned anu
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 III
1899, but glassware was not among |
the common tableware. Silversmiths
came from England and settled IN
Newbury in early times and mace
spoons.
The floors of early colonial homes
we're often covered with sands from
the seashore or rushes from the
marshes. The sand on the floors was
sometimes nodded into geometricai
designs or elaborate figures for adorn-
ment. The kitchen floor in the Colon
ial home in the Essex Institute III
Salem furnishes an excellent present
day example of the early colonial way
of sanding floors. Brooms were mace
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. we're rare. When Roger
Williams became involved in DIS
cussion with some rivals, 1t was
agreed that each side should have 10
minutes in which 10 present It's case
Rut before the debate was started IL
was found that not man in the en-
tire gathering had a watch, and there
wasn't q clock, not even sandglass'
in the entire neighborhood. So 1t was
agreed that the presiding ofncer
should guess at the time. Sundials In
many New England gardens served to
fell the time OF day. The Waterman
cried the hours OF the night. Many
colonial houses were built facing the
south. and housewives knew 1t was
moon when the sun was in the south
windows.
Kitchen sinks and bathroom furnish
ings were among the things OF whicf
early corners never dreamed in'
. first settlers obtained their watel
from springs or brooks. Later settlers
, dug wells. Water was brought int
. houses in buckets. Being scant II
r supply. it was sparingly used. TIT
: daily bath was not puritan practice
I The family washing was usually don
v once a month, and in some home
, once In three months.
l. The chests brought over from Enc
/ land served for trunks; shelves wer
y made; pegs, driven into the walls 10
4 the hanging of clothes, and corne
p closets we're built in kitchens. In
mantel of the fireplace, the walls G
Il the kitchen and the rafters served 10
e the hanging Of pots, pans, kettle'
p guns, kettles, guns, corn, dried apple'
h suowshoes. clothing and other hous'
d hold furnishings.
e Simplicity of Colonial Homes.
10 Candlesticks brought from Englan
II we're in use and some thrifty famlne
d employed pine torches for lights Bee
S. and bedding were among the gooo
1t brought by the first settlers. Cap
k John Endicott's company OF 100 me-
Nho settled in Salem, was provide
in with fifty beds, fifty mats to lie unde
n fifty pairs of blankets of Welsh cotto
Id 100 pairs of sheets, fifty bedticks VII
,e wool TO put in them and Scotch tic
If. irg. There were no springs in u
re beds. The typical colonial bedstea'
of were large, many being OF the lo'
i'd posted style, with canopy tops drap'
a. with heavy fabrics.
IN Bedroom furnishings were priced
1e colonial times. Bertha Cartwrigf
re who died in 1910, beqeauthed my be
or nv bolster and two pillows, with
k blanket and coverlet to my sister
She also directed that a pair OF shee
be given to Margaret Jackson al
,ir that four pairs of sheets be sold
lg- pay her debts.
ne Some idea of the general equipme
I'M of an early colonial home may
of gained from the inventory of the
in tate of Joseph Howe, who died
LYNN in 1850 and left his entire esta
va 10 his wife and his Is year old dauf
ed ter. In addition to land and buildin
nv and cattle. the inventory showed