Evening star., 1947-09-14
Old Springhouses
They Dot the Land Pleasant Reminders of Another Dav
in the Beginnings of a Nation

Old stone springhouses nestle the breast
OF Mother Earth. They are a part of Amer
ica's heritage from the days of long ago when
men with dreams in their hearts cleared land
for homes, made boundaries of split-rail
fences, granite stones or tangled stump roots
and began raising crops where trees had shad-
owed the land for thousands of years.
Here and there in wide-spreading regions
of a sprawling Nation one comes upon spring
house still in use. Most of them have dis
appeared. But there are many older men and
women who remember them.
There's something appealing about the
ancient. weather-stained, solidly built, old
springhouses. Sometimes they are close to
the farm buildings, sometimes they are two
or three hundred feet away. If man were
particular about dry cellar beneath his house
where he could safely store vegetables and
fruits for long winter months, he often built
his home on knoll. He thought little of the
hundreds of thousands of steps the women
folks would take going to and from the spring
house. Besides, at mealtimes the children
could be sent to get the butter and leftovers
that were kept In the dim, moist GOODNESS.
II ~
The location of the springhouse was de-
termined by the water. There had to be
either a running brook over which the house
was built or cold spring bubbling from the
ground. If large tree were present, so much
the better That meant shade during the hot
months. Often the houses were built half
underground for added GOODNESS in summer and
to help maintain an even temperature above
freezing in the winter The walls were Of
thick stone. Sometimes they were plastered
inside and out with plaster made from local
kiln. Year by year the outside plaster fell
away and now one occasionally sees an ancient
house where the stones and plaster make a
blended pattern Of silvery-grays and red
browns in the sunlight
The massive door was made Of oak, chestnut
or maple Everything about the man-made
refrigerator had to be solid. Usually stone
steps led downward to the floor level. The
brook or spring area was widened to hold the
big cans OF milk and the crooks of cream
Sometimes If there were only few cows
the milk was "set' in shining tin pans, pans
about feet in diameter and inches deep.
After IL hours mother skinned off the layer
of thick yellow cream with tin SKINNER
device that looked like seashell full OF
holes. Then the cream was put in big earthen-
ware crooks to ripen a day or two before
churning. If there were a stable herd, the
milk was likely strained into tall cans that
had a faucet at the bottom for draining off
the blue-white skim milk
Here in the cool dampness mother kept the
eggs, the pound prints of butter in their
crinkly special paper with the four-leaf clover
design on top. Here were stored the leftover
meats and vegetables
Il
Perhaps the most vivid memory of the spring
house to some men who now sit in dignified
city offices and press button to get things
done is the recollection of churning. Two,
three or four times week, depending on the
number of cows in milk, the churning had to
be done. Some farmers favored the barrel type