Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

OENEALOGIOAIi NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 491
pied near all the space, and it was so low in the walls that a tall person
could not stand upright therein. A ladder in the front entry led
to tlie chamber, which was occupied for weaving and lodging rooms.
No part of the house was ever painted or any of the rooms papered.
The windows were of small diamond shaped glass set in lead. No
bliuds or curtains were needed, and none were ever used.
The furniture of the house was for use, not for show. Half a
dozen flag bottomed, one low and one large armed chair, a table, a
large chest, and a cradle, all of domestic manufacture, was the fur'-
niture usually to be seen in the summer in the great room, and in
the winter a bed occupied one corner, and the looms another. On
one side of the room there were usually two large "trencher
shelves, "t on which the pewter ware of the family was displayed, an
iron candlestick, an hour glass, a pen and ink horn, the bible, and
hymn book.
A dock or timepiece was an article not to be found in the settlement.
Time was reckoned thus, "daylight, sunrise, sun an hour,
two hours and three hours high, and the reverse in the afternoon.
When the sun shone, they could tell the precise apparent time at
noon, and they had marks by which they judged very accurately
of the time from 9 A. M. till 3 P, M. Sun dials were early introduced,
and many had them fastened to posts set in front of their
houses.
If we lay aside one consideration, the cost of fuel, it may be
safely said that for comfort, convenience and health, nothing superior
to the old fashioned fireplace has yet been invented. Grates,
stoves and furnaces, in comparison with them, are only contemptible
contrivances for saving a little fuel, engendering gas, dust, and
headache, and shortening a man's days. Talk with the aged, they
will uniformly tell you that the happiest hours of their lives were
spent in the corner of an old-fashioned kitchen fireplace. In the
long winter evenings the younger members of the family occupied
the low bench in the left chimney corner, the smaller one perhaps
mounted on the dye-tub. Here they were warm and comfortable,
and could read or play without molestation, or gaze up to the stars
through the capacious chimney. In the other corner sat the mis-
tress of the family in her low rocking-chair, and in front, the father
in his round-about, or in an old-fashioned arm chair.
In those days there was a social equality now unknown. There
were no visits of cerefnony,—no calls to leave a card ; but neighbor
called on neighbor, without previous invitation to spend a long evening.
In such cases, all the children of the neighborhood assembled
at the house left vacant by the parents. They parched corn, cracked
nuts, and played blind man's buff, hunt the slipper, thread the needle
through the eye, hull gull, and many other plays and games, which
fThis name seems to imply that our ancestors used trenchers, or wooden dishes on
which to cut and serre their meats.