Evening star., 1935-05-22
of Universal Interest Alert Feminine Readers
Home in Colonial Days
Was Spartan in Spirit,
Generous in Provision
Modern Housewife May Study Results
Of Existence Which Now Appears
To Have Fantastic Qualities.

In the very beginning, the Indian
corn was prepared by soaking 1t in
hot water for many hours before
actually grinding 1t. The grinding
was done by means Of n mortar and
pestle. Some early mortars were made
by burning and following out o
stump; q young sapling was weighted
with Q pestle the size Of the hollow,
and used to pound the corn fine.
The meal was then sifted In a woven
basket. This method was mostly fol-
lowed In Connecticut.
A famous Connecticut dish Is called
"suppawn"-it was q thick corn meal
and milk porridge, and was an in
tegral part Of practically every meal.
II y
IN THE matter Of foods, the Colon
lists had to rely almost entirely
upon their own resources. In the
beginning there was little food brought
into the settlements from outside
sources, and all sorts of substitutes
had to be evolved to take the place
Of many Of the foods to which the
people had become accustomed In
the Old World. Instead Of tea, for
instance, raspberry leaves were used
also goldenrod, blackberry leaves, and
sage. Parched rye and parched chest
nuts doubled" for coffee, and In
place Of molasses, dried pumpkin was
used to give q glutinous sweet for
cooking. Sugar was replaced by ma
pie sugar and honey.
Later, however, sugar was imported
into the colonies. Even then it was
too expensive for common Use, so
for ordinary purposes the substitutes
remained. The sugar came In large
loayes, wrapped in purple paper,
which was carefully saved for fine
dye work. The sugar was cut into
small lumps-the loaves weighed 10
pounds each-and used sparingly by
members Of the household. No waste
was allowed, and woe betide the child
who raided the sugar crock!
incidentally, the children were
brought up in such q Spartan man
ner that 1t seems almost incompre-
hensible TO us today, with all the
chit-chat about child psychology, in
hibitions, complexes, etc. Usually they
we're not even allowed to sit at the
table at meals with their elders, but
had to stand behind their parents
the entire time, holding their Dish or
porringer in their hands. They we're
not privileged to speak at the table,
and had no voice whatsoever In the
community life.
THE laundry problem in those days
assumed an Importance almost
unbelievable by us. To begin with.
the wash was allowed to accumulate
for three months, in some communi-
ties, and then was done, all in a batch,
with homemade soft soap. The soap
making alone was terrific job. All
the grease from the cooking, butcher
ing etc, was saved during the Winter,
as well as all the wood ashes for the
lye.
The ashes were put into birch
barrel, placed on stones set at a slight
angle on a circular grooved base.
Water was poured in until the lye
trickled out through a small opening
into tub. The lye solution had to be
strong enough to bear up the weight Of
an egg! The lye and grease were then
boiled together outdoors in a great
iron pot, being skinned often while
boiling to remove the impurities.
When done the soap resembled a clear,
soft jelly.
The story Of early beds and bed
ding. and description of some of
the dishes and table linens are also
interesting AS space grows short we
shall save them for another article.
If you wish advice on your indi-
vidual household problems, write to
Betsy Caswell in care Of The Star,
inclosing stamped, self-addressed en-
velope for reply.