History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

DWELLINGS—FURNITURE—COSTUMES. 9
Chairs and Seats. Chaii's WGYB classed amoiig the luxuries. A
few were usually found in every house, but
they were heavy, clumsy articles, neither comfortable to
use. nor artistic to behold. Forms, benches, stools, all
without backs, and "settles'' were the most common seats.
Occasionally an " arm-chair " or a "great chair," is men-
tioned, but that modern convenience, the rocking-chair,
seems to have been unknown. At least such chairs were
seldom or never named among the personal belongings of
people ill Northampton. Seats with backs were not intended
for rest, so much as for protection against the cold
drafts that pervaded the best constructed tenements. Flag,
wicker and cane seat chairs ; stuffed and leather covered
seats came in later. Many cushions and coverings for
chairs are noted, but apparently they were for ornament
rather than use. The first settlers had little occasion and
less time to spend lolling in cushioned chairs.
Cooking utensils. Kitclieii uteusils for cooking purposes,
which are now of tin or iron, were made of
brass to a great extent, though some were of copper, and
occasionally something in iron might have been found. An
iron pot was an important utensil in New England, and
some were so highly prized as to descend by will from generation
to generation. But pots and kettles, pans for milk,
for baking, for stewing and other purposes, skillets, skimmers,
porringers, " posints," etc., were all of brass. In on©
inventory (not in Northampton, however), a brass gun is
named, though that kind of implement was not in general
use, in the common run of kitchens.
Warming-Pans and The Central soui'ce of wariuth in these
Foot-stoves. houses was the blazing fire in the huge fireplace,
and to it there were few supplementary
aids. One of the most universal of them, however,
was the warming-pan. It was truly an institution of "y^
olden tyme," made of brass and indispensable in every
household. Scarcely an inventory can be found upon the
probate records, in which one or more of them is not cata-
logued. It was an article for which there was no substitute
in the cold and freezing bedroom, and usually it was
the only artificial heat ever allowed to enter there.