Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

492 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
the boarding-school Miss now regards with horror, though she can
witness with delight the indelicate giratious of the ballet dancer, or
Unseemly pranks of a French waltz.
The old folks first discussed the English news, though it was
four or five months old. Some one had had a letter from their rela-
tives in the father land. This was passed around from family to
family, and read and discussed by the whole vicinity. The ministry—the
church—the acts of the Court—and the crops, were subjects
that passed in review, and often familism, pedo-baptism,
quakerism, and witchcraft, came in for a sh»re of the conversation.
The young and the old enjoyed these social meetings, now only
known in recollection. They are past—another King has arisen
who knows not Joseph, and all arguments is estoped by repeating
the quaint Latin dictum,
'
' Tempora mutantar,
Et nos mutamur in illis."
That is, times change, and we must change with them, an argument
which many call a "clincher." The Dutchman's wife expressed
the same sentiment, perhaps in stronger language, when she
said to her husband, "Dear Vill, I vish as you, you'd do as other
people do." Thus it is the good customs of our fathers are rejected,
because the vain call them old fashioned.
The fire was never suffered to go out during the cool season,
and very rarely in the summer. Every morning in ihe winter, the
coals were raked forward, and a ponderous back-log put on, with
two or three smaller ones, as riders. A large fore-stick, four feet in
length, was laid on the andirons, and two or three smaller ones between
that and the back-log forming a bed into which the coals
raked forward were shovelled. Some dry sticks were laid on these,
and in a tew moments a large fire was sparkling on the hearth.
Wood cost nothing in those days, and our ancestors always enjoyed
the luxury of a good fire in cold weather, and however cold the
weather, the great room was warm and comfortable. They always provided
themselves with pine knots, then abundant, and in the long
winter evenings these were used instead of candles.
The kitchen or backroom was small and little used, excepting
for a store room. The tubs and pails, and the spinning wheels,
when not in use, were kept here, and a pile of wood for the morn-
ing's fire.
AH the clothing and bedding of the family was made in the
house. The flax and the wool were spun and wove by the inmates.
The cloth for the thick clothing of the men was sent to the clothier
to be fulled, colored and pressed.
Goodman Hallett lived on the produce of his farms. Indian
corn was his principal crop, though every family had rye, and most
of them raised sufficient wheat for their own consumption. They
also cultivated peas, of which many were sent to Boston and other