The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1917-01-12
AN old TIME FARM
And the Methods That Were In
Use In the Year 1910.
DAYS OF THE SIMPLE LIFE.
When All Kinds of Clothing We're Made
at Home, Whom Eggs Sold For .
Shilling a Dozen and the High Cost
Of Living Was Not a Big Problem.

at Home, When Eggs Sold For
| Shilling a Dozen and the High Cost
Of Living Was Not a Big Problem.
In view Of the modern day high cost
Of living and Of the many wonderful
advances made In the last century-the
railroad, telegraph, the ocean cable, the
telephone, the automobile and farm
and labor saving machinery OF all
kinds and the amazing changes these
inventions have necessarily wrought In
all directions i'm almost every walk or
life-it may be Of interest to recall lv-
ing conditions on a farm I'm the year
1S40
The farm have In mind consisted OF
200 acres. The stock was fifteen cows,
a yoke OF oxen, twenty sheep, an old
white horse, dozen pigs, fifty hens,
ten geese, few ducks and a flock OF
turkeys.
The farm produced practically every
thing the family consumed, both cloth
ing and food. The sheep furnished the
wool, which was carded at "fulling"
mill and made into rolls for spinning.
At home It was spun into yarn and
woven on a hand loom. For beds 1t
was left white; for clothing It was
dyed any color desired. A competent
housewife could make dyes Of logwood,
indigo or cochineal. 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 underwear. Stock
ings were knitted ut home as well as
mittens and tlppets. Caps with ear
laps were Of rabbit skin. There were
no shoes. In the winter boots came up
to the knees.
There was a tannery near by, where
the skins were tanned. A shoemaker
made our boots. They were usually
too small and gave much trouble and
pain.
The fax, cut and laid down until the
fiber loosened from the woody part,
was put through a heckle worked by
hand and then spun and woven. This
strong linen cloth was used for sum-
mer clothing, towels, etc. The seed
was saved to make haxseed tea Ia med
icine) or poultice for bruises.
For food we had everything needed
fresh meat, potatoes, beets, cabbages,
parsnips, pumpkins for pies, apples,
which lasted from fall to spring; cider,
which gave us vinegar or produced q
cider champagne.
Half a dozen pigs killed In the fal.
gave us plenty Of ham and bacon, lard,
sausages and salt pork. The hams and
bacon were hung up In the smokehouse,
a small building with no opening ex-
cept the door. A small fire produced
more smoke than heat, but gave the
hams and bacon very delicious flavor.
There were plenty Of chickens for
roasting and potpies and eggs, turkeys
for Thanksgiving and Christmas, occa-
sionally 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 nearby village. Butter usual
ly brought 1919 cents a pound. Cheese
was also made ut home, as there were
neither creameries nor cheese facto-
ries. Cheese was sold ut to q cents a
pound. All eggs not used went to the
village store and brought 10 cents to IL
cents dozen.
Every farmer made his own soap. 1t
was called soft soap. 1t was soft, but
very strong, and took the dirt Off your
hands and face very thoroughly and
some skin also unless you were careful
In your ablutions.
Little was heard Of the world at
large. Twenty miles from the railroad
the great four horse stagecoach came
every day, brin ging the mails. There
were few newspapers or magazines.
The telegraph was unknown. The At
lantic cable did not succeed until 1865.
There were only twenty-three miles OF
railroad I'm 1880.
All the wonderful agencies which
have added to the power OF man In the
last century will not be lost, but Will
be added to constantly. The many
problems Of the modern day high cost
Of living can only be solved by time
and the efforts Of our greatest minds
/ = TUNs-