The Customs of New England

Introduction

. Various and multiplied are the gifts which have come down from the Father of lights, as our earthly portion. Among these blessings, Curiosity, as the inlet of useful knowledge, entertainment, and edification, holds no low, no trivial rank. Such a faculty is privileged to open its percep tion on the wonders of the Universe, as well as on the inven tions, discoveries, and productions of human genius. Particu larly is it favored with looking back on the course of time, and holding communion with objects unseen by that view which is only directed to scenes and concerns of the passing age. Curiosity, thus employed, has the abundant materials of History gathering in its varied prospect, the more minutely it surveys and plies itself to the task of satisfying its increased and ardent desires. So indulged and so commend ably occupied, it meets with topics which invariably hold its high estimation and share in its favorable attention, though they are familiar and at home with it, as friends of long intercourse and acquaintance.

There are other subjects, which, from not being often within the circle of its observa tion, nor without some degree of merit in themselves, are far A 1 h CUSTOMS OF NEW ENGLAND. from experiencing its rejection, but are invited to approach its presence and participate in its friendship. A reason why Curiosity thus notices things of greater and less importance is, that it may have a symmetry in its impres sions of human customs, actions, and character. It eyes the forest in some paradisiacal portion of the earth, and singles out for its admiring gaze a fair-proportioned tree, crowned with abundance of flowers, even more beautiful and charm ing than those of the magnolia, in our own adopted Floridas. But were it to notice nothing else, except these ornaments of the landscape, and to throw out from the means of its grati fication the roots, trunk, limbs, and leaves, on which they depend for their subsistence and attraction, it would violate the laws of correct taste, indelibly and divinely inscribed on every well-trained and rightly-ordered mind.

So would it be at fault, were it to seize only on the most prominent features of the portraiture, which the pencil of truth has drawn to represent men of other years, and, at the same time, pass over the rest of the graphic sketch as if altogether unworthy of a single glance. Its true province is to collect the small as well as the great ; to notice the frieze, the cornice, the architrave, and base, as well as the shaft of ancient ages, that it may know the correct proportions of Agrippa's Pantheon. Thus faithful to its trust, Curiosity furnishes us with the customs of our ancestors as a topic on which we may look and not be altogether unrewarded for our attention. In the accomplishment of this enterprise, we have not always a compass, nor a cloudless polar star, for our guide. Still we may venture in the hope that we may fare better than our fears. Had the long standing laws of China, which extend to the whole social system of its immense population, been the

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 rule of our land, we should only have to behold the present and know the past. But more compliant with the fancy of change, which has always prevailed where the air of freedom has been breathed, than with any permanent edicts, the for mer and latter inhabitants of our communities have imitated their mother country in many of her various alterations in customs, and have thereby enlarged the difficulty of our becoming thoroughly acquainted with the usages of our primitive settlers. We are told that Apelles, on seeing the picture of a Venus magnificently attired, said to the artist, " Friend, though thou hast not been able to make her fair, thou hast certainly made her fine." The writer is not ambitious to obtain such a compliment. Though what he has to say may not allow him scope to be fair, yet he will endeavor to have it neither tawdry nor repulsive.

PART FIRST. FURNITURE OR HOUSEHOLD APPURTENANCES. These, however occasionally mentioned and partially described, have never, to the knowledge of the writer, been fully exhibited together in our country. The attempt to do this is neither so easy nor so satisfactory, in point of cor rectness, as if it had been performed by some master hand. But the execution of it, though deficient as an original, unaided by attractive examples, may have its uses, and occupy a comparatively vacant niche in the temple of history. FURNITURE, &c.

Chapter I

Andirons, Arms, Battledoors and Shuttlecocks, Beakers, Beds, Bellows, Bookcases, Bottles, Bowls, Brass Ware, Bread Trough or Tray, Broom, Brushes, Bureau, Butter Boats, Cabinets, Cages, Candlesticks, Canister, Cans, Cards, Carpets, Case of Drawers, Castor, Chafing Dish, Chairs, Cheese Press, Churn, Chest of Drawers, China Ware, Clocks, Coffee Mill and Coffee Pot, Couches, Cradle, Cream Pot. Andirons. — This word, till the abounding of grates, stoves, and furnaces, was among the familiar talk of household con cerns, from the first settlement of New England. Johnson says that Skinner supposed it to be corrupted from hand irons. William Howitt in detailing the Sidney estate, men tions brand irons. Some of the inventories of goods and chattels, left by our primitive colonists, have end irons, by which they appear to have meant andirons.

Their usus loquendi, in this respect, seems to have been well founded. The articles in view were used to hold sticks of wood at their ends, so that they might burn more freely. The larger land, fitted with needed appurtenances, performed the office of holding the spit, while turned for the roasting of meats. Strutt, writing in 1775, says that cob irons were the same as andirons, though the former, often named among the furniture of our ancient families, have been supposed to be for burning their corn cobs, and not wood. But if, as some lexicographers state, cob is derived from the Saxon cop, (head,) it may be properly applied to andirons which had heads of various shapes. It is very likely, that, in some form or other, such articles, so much needed in cold climates, have been long used by various nations.

A schedule of furniture in the bed cham- ANDIRONS — ARMS. 8 ber of Henry VIII., at Hampton Court, contains them. They are signified in the Cymbeline of Shakspeare, — " two winking Cupids Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely Depending on their brands." As described in an early volume of the Gentleman's Maga zine, the larger-sized ones were accompanied with others of less length, called creepers, and placed in nearer to the fuel, so that it might be kept from falling. Andirons were in all our households, except a few of abject poverty, caused by intemperance, which sells off every thing of comfort to indulge its insatiable desire. They were of iron, brass, and copper, and of diversified forms. Of the first metallic substance were many grave-looking dogs of different physiognomies, which represented the whole canine race.

A pair of them, seen, and handled, and communea with often in imagination, by me in days of childhood, are as distinctly before the vision of my mind as any object now is before my eyes. Of the furniture which was left by Governor Endicott, a pair of brass andirons were named in 1659. It was currently reported, that gold ones had been brought to Boston after the decapitation of Louis XVI., and that they belonged to the goods of that unhappy monarch. But of whatever material and mould such things were, there was much com fortable feeling associated with them, in the winter, when, escaping from the out-door attacks of Jack Frost, we could hasten and put our almost frozen hands on their warm tops. It was a general impression, that the brightness of those which could be polished, was a sign of the neatness which prevaded in the house.

Arms. — Though, in our day, it may seem very singular to give arms a place among household appurtenances, still they were so in former years, from pressing necessity. During the first half century of New England, matchcocks, snap hances, swords, pikes, and halberts, with armor, consisting of the corselet, breast, back, culet, gorget, and tasses, had their fixed and well-known places in almost every well-ordered BATTLEDOORS AND SHUTTLECOCKS — BEAKERS. 9 family. Even the inventories of eminent ministers con tained some of the preceding weapons. The occasion of this defensive provision was, as is well known, the frequent fear and alarm lest unfriendly Indians of the Pequods, Poka nokets, Narragansetts, Mohawks, and Tarrentines might stealthily attack the English habitations, and put their in mates to death, or carry them into horrible captivity.

So great was the occasion for this precaution, that the colonists felt that the neglect of it was as if inviting desolation, and the adoption of it as a dutiful means of self-preservation. While thus imperiled without, they applied the means of safety, looked above for spiritual strength, and stood faithfully in their lot. Battledoors and Shuttlecocks. — These are chiefly used by females for amusement and healthy exercise. They directly answer such desirable purposes, when handled by those who rise from sedentary employment for a change of position and the easement of their thoughts, eyes, and limbs. The time so given is more than gained by increased power to resume close attention and performance of the task with greater ability. They are pertinent to the in-door accommodations with which they are connected.

Locke, the philosopher, approved them. Minds less profound and cultivated than his can easily perceive their worth. Beakers. — These were so called, originally, because, as drinking cups or glasses, they each had a spout like a bird's beak. They have been always used in our country more or less. While uttering his poetic fancies, Pope remarked, — " With dulcet beverage this the beaker crowned, Fair in the midst, with gilded cups around." With the beak, and of various substances, they have been mostly employed, for a long period, by apothecaries in decant ing off medical liquids. Till within a half century, our pop ulation applied the term beaker to large and small round glasses, which more than a century since, began to be known by the word tumbler. This is a significant expression, when the article it means is emptied of intoxicating contents, and BEDS — BEDSTEilD OF RICHARD III. 10 these cause the partaker to reel and fall to the ground.

Strange that so many of our race thus exhibit themselves as if bereft of reason and conscience. Beds. — Anciently skins of beasts were worn by day, and served their owners to sleep on by night. This was so among the Greeks, Romans, Celtic nations, and Britons, with the exception of higher classes, who were able to obtain pref erable articles for apparel and sleep. Pliny states that the gentry of his countrymen had feather beds, and inns of his day had beds filled with down, obtained from reeds. The Scriptures speak of such accommodations. Jacob said to his son Joseph, " I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. And Israel bowed himself on the bed's head." As civilized nations had the beasts of their forests diminished, and their harvests of cultivated territory increased, skins were exchanged for straw besides rushes and heath.

After the Romans invaded Britain, such an alteration took place there. We are informed that straw was used for the beds of the English kings till the close of the thirteenth century. By the statute of Henry VII., feathers for such a purpose were required to be of the pulled, and not scalded sort, and down to be fine, and without mixture. This was ordered on the supposition that the non-observance of it was unfavora ble to health. At the same time, the much larger portion of the people there, and in the rest of Europe, retained their straw and other cheap materials for their lodgings. Of course, as the beds were of articles which required covering, so that they might be kept together and conveniently answer their purpose, bedsteads came into demand. We read in Deuteronomy that the giant Og, king of Bashan, had an iron one nine cubits long and four wide.

Of such a sub stance, as is well known, they have been considerably used among us and abroad for the last ten years. There is one of large polished oak in Leicester, England, accompanied with striking reminiscences. It belonged to Richard III. He had it brought to the Blue Boar Inn of that city the night BEDS — BEDDING. 11 before he was slain at the battle of Bosworth, 1485. Being quite large, it was handed down from one occupant to another of the public house for one hundred years, when it fell to the possession of a widow. Her chambermaid, one day, struck her broom against the bottom of it, and down fell large gold coins. The other parts were examined, and found to be hollow, and filled with a large amount of similar treasure. The person thus suddenly enriched became an object of murderous purposes.

Her hostler prevailed on a female servant of hers to join with him in the conspiracy. They accomplished their horrible plan, but justice soon brought them to suffer death for their crime. Bedding, steads, and curtains have undergone multiplied changes. Our ancestors brought them, in their several vari eties, to these shores. They were no strangers to the names of down, feathers, flock, settee, standing, tent, and truckle beds. Of the goods transported for some of our planters, in 1629, were the following : " Fifty mats to lie under fifty beds on board ship, fifty rugs, fifty pair of blankets of Welsh cotton, one hundred pair of sheets, fifty bedticks and bol sters, with wool to put in them, and Scotch ticking." The inventories of our deceased fathers, for the first cen tury, often mentioned bed curtains and valance.

Relative to the last word, Skinner says that the fashion of using the things denoted by it came from Valencia. These were " fringes of drapery, hanging round the tester and stead." Among the furniture of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, of Ipswich, 1655, was a " canopy " bed. Other early accounts mention bed sacks, pillows, pillow-bears or piUow-cases, coverlets. One of the last (1660) was of tapestry. Counterpanes were known to our first inhabitants. For five years past, springs have been increasingly em ployed to render sleep more comfortable. Fastened under a cloth cover, on strips of board attached to the stead to sus tain mattresses, or feather or other beds, they give these a grateful elasticity, especially so to weary patients. Some persons object to them, lest their metallic substance may attract lightning.

Though labor will enable the healthy and BELLOWS — BOOKCASES. 12 industrious to repose, even without any appliance of art, stdl these are fitted to render their slumbers more balmy and invigorating. This is not intended to imply that they wid have such opiate power, that there will be need of the invo cation, — " Sound, music ; come, my queen, take hand with me, And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be." Bellows. — As an invention much needed among the hu man family, they were probably brought into use at an early period of the world. Strabo quotes an old historian as relat ing that Anacharsis, the Scythian philosopher, 600 B. C, was the originator of them. But they are likely to have existed before his clay. Virgil refers to them in one of his Georgics. The prophet Jeremiah has the passage, " The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire."

Bellows were well known in our fatherland. John Smith, the navigator, mentions them, 1624, among the outfits of a vessel for our coast. They were brought to New England by the emigrants, and afterwards manufactured here. They appear in their inventories of property, when death had en tered the family and taken away its head. Since the allow ance of organs in our churches, bellows have had an essential part in aiding them to discourse in sweet sounds, as wed as to ignite the fuel for the preparation of food and of various substances for purposes of art. Their vocation has diminished as fire stoves and furnaces have multiplied and been kindled by their own blowers. Of costly wood and leather, with brass nails and nose, varnished and burnished, they were once seen in every front room, suspended on one side, and a brush on the other, of the fireplace.

But that sight has passed almost away, probably never to be revived, though, in other respects, the bellows will last as long as the elements will afford them air to operate. Spenser, in his Fairy Queen, has the lines, — " One, with great bellows, gathered filling air, And with forced wind the fuel did inflame." Bookcases. — These, of course, were unknown before the invention of printing, in the fifteenth century. From this BOTTLES. 13 period, as books issued from the press and multiplied, so there was a call for such articles to hold them. The volumes owned by our first inhabitants were of a useful, religious character. None of an immoral tendency were allowed by the authorities of New England before the usurpation of 1686. Of course there was no pressing need of many bookcases. We meet with these mentioned here, 1714, as if they were not strangers to the community.

We could wish that those which abound in our day could bear as thorough an expurgation of their contents. An abundance of books, and much time consumed in reading them, do not always war rant an abundance of purity and knowledge. Bottles. — This word is derived from botellus, of un classic Latin, which denotes a small vessel of wine, and is the diminutive of botta, that signifies a cask of such liquor. As made of glass, they were known to the Romans prior to 79 A. D., when Pompeii was destroyed, because they have been of late years dug from the ruins of that city. Some of them, mentioned in the Old Testament, consisted of beasts' skins. David, the Psalmist, referred to them in the passage, " I am become like a bottle in the smoke," or as the bottle in the tent of the .Arab, blackened with smoke.

Such have remained common among the nomadic tribes of the East. Bottles of glass were manufactured in England about 1558. They were brought over by the planters of our soil. They were made in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1639. In our earliest inventories of estates, we find one leather and sev eral pewter bottles. But those of glass, dark and light col ored, of diversified form and for different purposes, have abounded as our population have increased. Elegant ones, contained in cases, and replenished with choice spirits, were far more numerous before the custom for each family to invite all their visitors to partake of such liquids was dispensed with, and thus a mountain of temptation to inebriety was moved out of the way. Bacon humorously observed, " Many have a manner, after other men's speech, to shake their heads.

A great officer would say, it was as men shake a bottle, to see if there was any wit in their heads or no ? " B BOWLS — BRASS WARE — BRE.U) TROUGH. 14 Bowls.— The singular of this word, as Junius informs us, is from the Welsh buelin, which signifies any thing made of horn, as drinking cups anciently were. They were divinely required to be made of gold, by order of Moses, for the table, in connection with the tabernacle. Though our ancestors left none of such precious metal to their heirs, still a few of them did leave those of silver and china. Such vessels of " red and white " ware, and also of wood, have always been common in our families. They were generally employed to hold beer, for drinking, before cider became plenty. Of the proper size, they were much more used for broth and por ridge, morning and evening, before the substitution of coffee and tea, than they have been since.

So employed, however suggesting associations of strict economy, they were instrumental in imparting refreshment and health, while the " flowing bowl " of intemperance, though garnished with the applause of poets and orators, has always destroyed its infatuated votaries. Brass Ware. — As made of copper and zinc, it was often written latten in the schedules of property left by our colo nists of the first half century. It was well known to the Israelites while in the wilderness. The articles made of it, and common among our good livers, were the ladle, skimmer, spoon, colander, candlestick, skillet, and kettle. One of our manufacturers who turned out such things, and also part of them in pewter, for the accommodation of the public, was Henry Shrimpton, of Boston, who died in 1666. Neat housewives — and those of New England were mostly so — took much pleasure in having such a portion of their furniture well burnished, when not in immediate use.

In this way, their good, and not their " evil manners," partly lived " in brass." Bread Trough, or Tray. — This, commonly made of pine board, seems to have a right to rank itself among the earli est of human inventions. Pharaoh was divinely cautioned, that if he refused to let Israel go, frogs should throng his " kneading troughs." Long after the first settlement of New England did most families, in large as well as small towns, BROOMS — BRUSHES — BUREAU. 15 make up their rye and Indian bread in such articles. But in modern times it has not been so much so. Bakeries have been more depended upon. It was formerly among the requisitions for making a good housewife, that she should be able and ready to make good bread. But times change, and we change with them. Brooms. — As necessary to clean away dirt, the broom is likely to have had a long standing among domestic furniture.

It is mentioned under the name of besom by the prophet Isaiah. It was well known by the mothers of England, and by their daughters, who came to the new world. The manner and measure of its use about the family premises are one of the signs which indicate how much neatness has an influence there. That the sign may be favorable, more than the partial means of it, as implied in the following lines, written in Queen Elizabeth's time, must be used : — " I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door." Brushes. — These, for the multiplied uses to which they have been applied, go far back in the track of antiquity. They were the brusca of the Romans. As employed in sweeping and in cleaning clothes and other things, and in various arts, they were well known in our fatherland. Thence they and the mode of making them were brought to our country.

They have long constituted, among our population, a convenient proportion of supplies for housekeeping. In 1718, William Brind, brushmaker from London, offers all sort of brushes and " hair brooms " at wholesale and retail, in Boston. Bacon observes, in allusion to one of these handy operators, " Sir Henry Wotton used to say that critics were like brushers of noblemen's cloaths." Bureau. — This was defined, by Johnson, " a chest of drawers with a writing board." Swift spoke of it, in the plural, thus: — For not the desk with silver nails, Nor bureaus of expense, Not standish well japanned, avails To writing of good sense." BUTTER BOAT — CABINETS — CAGES. 16 As bureaus have appeared in our habitations, they have not been provided with writing apparatus. They had flat tops and swelled fronts.

We see them advertised in Boston, 1750, as no novel things. Though they vary in name from the desk and other similar articles, they do not in use. Butter Boat. — This, as numbered among the varieties of earthen ware, serves to hold melted butter, gravy, and pud ding sauce, as boats do to carry goods. We find it men tioned, 1770, as having previously been known to good livers. Whether employed as the means of luxurious or temperate living, it is likely to hold its place on every plentiful board. Cabinets. — These were anciently made of oak wood. Some of them had their fronts curiously wrought and inlaid with ebony and other costly material. The upper portion of them was much like that of the escritoire, without the fall of the latter. It had drawers on the right and left, with two doors to secure them, for the deposit of fancy and valuable articles, as well as of important papers.

The lower portion had drawers for the best clothes and other precious possessions. They were referred to by Ben Jonson, — 11 Who seeks a soul in such a body set Might love the treasure for the cabinet." They have given their name to the makers of them, who are called cabinet makers. One of them, left by Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, of Ipswich, and scheduled 1655, was located in his hall chamber. The specimens we meet with, as surviving curiosities, continued fashionable for over a century after the settlement of our country. Their original proprietors have long since known from experience that, however they highly prized what they carefully placed in such repositories, it was infinitely better to lay up treasure where it was subject to no earthly changes. Cages. — These were no strangers in ancient times.

Jere miah observes, " As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit." It is not probable that among the early population here, who went literally for mercy to animals as CANDLESTICKS. 17 well as to their own species, the keeping of birds confined was tolerated. But when colonial constitutions were broken down, and Puritan restrictions were nullified, the manners were changed. In 1742, we see hempseed for birds adver tised. This, of course, implies that it had become fashion able, to some extent, for cages to make a part of household appendages. This inclination has much increased, though the great majority, who love to hear the woody songsters when free, but are pained to see them confined, have not followed the example. Waller remarks, — " Though slaves, like birds that sing not in a cage.

They lost their genius and poetic rage." Candlesticks. — These, as evident from the radical con struction of the word, are so called from their purpose to hold candles of tallow or wax. They have been long known in the world. The most noted of them, which has come to our notice, is the golden one which Moses was divinely commanded to have made with seven branches. We remember that its location was in the antechamber of the sanctuary, that illumined the altar of perfume and the tabernacle of show bread. The value of it, exclusive of workmanship, as com puted by Cumberland, was five thousand and seventy-si.x pounds. After the destruction of the last temple, Vespasian had the candlestick deposited in the Temple of Peace, erect ed by his order. A representation of it remains on the arch, at the foot of Mount Palatine, on which his triumph was delineated.

Though our fathers, who settled this soil, were deeply in terested in so rich a bearer of light, and as representing the seven churches in the Revelation of John, yet they brought with them no such treasure. Their candlesticks were of iron, pewter, brass, and silver. One of the last we find in a schedule of 1660. Such appendages of domestic conven ience, with the addition of those made from glass, in modern years, have come down to our day. A variety of them, which have not found a place in all our dictionaries, are B* CANISTER — CANS. denominated candelabra. These " have been found with Phœ nician and Greek inscriptions. They held a grate or dish in temples for the sacred fire, and not candles." Of course, their modern use is different from what it was anciently. A more important class of them are known as chandeliers, which is the French for candlesticks.

As composed of iron, pewter, brass, glass, and other materials, and containing few or many sockets, they have been employed, in modern times, to light the parlors of the wealthy for the accommodation of their parties, and also large hotels, besides public halls and meeting houses, when lectures are delivered after day light. But for the last quarter of a century, the different sorts of candlesticks have been increasingly reduced by the introduction of oil, and subsequently of gas, instead of can dles, so that we seldom see a candlestick used in our large towns and cities. However, thus falling back into seclusion, they wdl have a perpetual remembrance in the instructive words of the Savior, " Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Canister. — This has long been familiar with the uses of domestic life. Generally of tin, it has been the depository of various stores, as tea and coffee. Its adaptedness to keep the strength of the things committed to its charge from be ing emitted, renders it a valuable inmate of well-ordered households. Thus faithful to its trust, there is no fear that it will be an outcast from the closet or the storeroom, but will long remain there, as a trustworthy servant. Cans. — These are defined by lexicographers as being cups. But the articles which generally pass under the appel lation of cans are much deeper and larger than those known as cups. In some degree, there is an exception to this remark, respecting the silver vessels which contain the wine presented to communicants at the Lord's table.