Norwich bulletin., 1916-12-09
IS THEY EARNED A HALF CENTURY AGO

written Specially for The Bulletin.)
The Following are the main parts Of
q letter which II found in recent
New York paper. under the heading:
\"Our Farm Life in 1907
The farm have in mind consist
edfof 200 acres; the stock was fifteen
cows, q yoke OF oxen, twenty sheep,
an old white horse, a dozens pigs, nifty
hens ten geese. q few ducks. aud q
flock of turkeys.
'@The farm produced practically
everything the family consumed, both
clothing and food. The sheep fur
nisaed the wool, which was carried ct
a 'fulling'' mill and made into rolls
for spinning. AT home it was spun
into yarn and woven on a hand loom
For beds it was left white, for cloth
ing 1t was dyed any color desired-a
competent housewife could make dyes
of logwood, indigo or ccchineal The
white and black wool were mixed to
produce a gray like the Confederate
uniform. There were no ready made
clothes; all clothes were made in the
home. There was no woven under
wear. Stockings were knitted at
home, as we'll as mlttens and tippets.
Caps with earlaps were of rabbit skin.
There were no shoes; in the Winter
boots came UP to the knees. Several
cows were killed each year. There
was tannery near by, where the
skins were tanned. n shoemaker made
our boots. The fax, cut and laid
down until the fibre loosened from the
woody part, was put through heckle
worked by hand and then spun and
woven. This strong linen cloth was
used for Summer clothing, towels, etc.
The seed was saved to make faxseed
tea (asmedicine) or poultice for bruis-
es
f'Tor food we had fresh meat, pota-
toes, beets, cabbages. parsnips, pump
lSins for pies, apples, which lasted
from Fall to Spring, cider which gave
us vinegar or produced q cider cham
payne. Half dozen pigs killed in
the Fall gave us plenty of nam and
bacon, lard. sausages, and salt pork.
roasting and pot pies and eggs-tur-
keys for Thanksgiving ard Christ
mas: occasionally a roast goose with
apple sauce.
From the cows milk we made both
butter and cheese. What butter and
cheese the family did not consume
was sold in a nearby .village-butter
usually brought Il 1-2 cents a pound.
Cheese was sold at ) cents to cents
a pound. All eggs not used went to
the Village store and brought 10 cents
to IL cents a dozen. Every farmer
made his own soap; it was called soft
soap: it was soft, but very strong.
and took the dirt oft your hands and
face very thoroughly, and some skin
also unless you were careful in your
ADDITIONS"
don't suppose that such letter
as that means much to most young
FOLKS. But there may be still a few
old chaps whose boards are gray who
viii read it with interest and chuckle
a little, perhaps, as some allusion in
il recalls incidents of their own long
past boyhood.
Personally I can't tell whether it
is q true picture of farm life in 1910
or not for can't remember quite so
far back. But / can remember back
to 1855 and the letter describes with
almost Photographic fidelity the sort
of life then lived on our own farm and
on those adjoining us. such as q small
boy might know about.
Like the account, we kept our own
sheep and had our own clothes made
out of their wool at hcme. The only
difference / recall was that we didn't
weave the yarn on a hand-loom.
There was d small weaving mill in the
neAEhborhood which took our yarn.
spun and dyed at home, and wove it
into such clothes as we're desired. The
cloth was then made into garments at
home. Same with mittens, socks,
caps. "tippets," "mufflers," etc. Same
with hides and feather, though we GER
taiuly had shoes In the summer, made