another? Oh, a "calash," to protect without crushing the puffs and ruffles of the hair and cap! Here are pointed-toed slippers of brown silk with a rosette; and a damask dress, - a whole wardrobe for any stately dame ! Wander with me in this wilderness of chairs. Here are two armchairs with slanting backs, long legs and slender rounds. Set side by side, they look like two prim ancient maidens. This one is almost big enough for two. You say you call it "Father Abraham?" Well, one could rest in his bosom very comfortably. The other chairs belong to a later day, when people's backs had a curve in them. Those quilts over that beam tell of snug beds on cold winter nights. The patchwork is pretty, is it not?"Hit and miss," "log cabin," and plain block squares; here one the blues of which are of just the same shade as is found on old china, and the pattern is in white; the designs they used then are much prettier than those of to-day. Here are two little chairs, which evidently belonged to "the small-sized bears," one blue, a rocker, the other a little substantial black chair. One is safe in saying the original occupants will never sit in these chairs again. The patient mother has told us of the little golden-haired girl who used to sit in the blue rocker, but who is now "on the other side," and the lines now in her face tell, more than words can, of the little one who is waiting for her beyond. No money could ever buy this little chair. The little black one represents a generation before the blue chair, though as they stand there side by side they would seem to have been the property of brother and sister. Well might Sancho Panza say, "God bless the man who first invented sleep," if he could have laid his weary body on this X bedstead, the mattress of which is a canvas, fastened to each side. Evidently this bed is the prototype of the cots of to-day, for this could easily be shut up and stood against the wall out of the way. Just across the passage formed by the two stands its more pretentious brother, a canopied bedstead, and its elaborate posts and brass trimmings tell of a more regal mansion than the one for which this X bed was destined. The canopy, doubtless of what was called "copper plate," was spread over these arches, and draped and gathered at the posts, with perhaps here and there a rosette; doesn't it remind you of the pictures in the "Rollo " books, with which Jacob Abbott delighted the children of other years! These beds -to moralize are very like some people: one, of good sense and no pretensions, can accommodate himself to any circumstances; the other-aut Cæsar, aut nullus, only one place to occupy. it These valises on the old table are interesting. The leather one-- round as a log, with wooden ends, where the handles are, and opening along the side, must have been a queer one to pack! And here is a long one with elaborately striped sides, opening at one end like a United States mail pouch, and locking too with a padlock. Evidently, it was necessary, in filling this, to put nothing of immediate use at the bottom, as everything would have had to be taken out, in order to get at it. In quite good company is this tall hat-box, shaped like the hat to be contained in it, even to the rim, but that manner we have now. Away back, half hidden under the low roof, is some crockery, a motiey collection of all sorts of dishes, waiting to be mended, relics of collisions between the floor and the various articles of lesser strength. On a beam above are reminders of almost similar collisions skates; all classes are represented, from those with turned-up points and with the heel end under the hollow of the foot, fastened on by an ingenious arrangement of strings and straps, to the most modern kind of clamp. Some of them are ladies' skates; those strap and buckle kinds made for gallant escorts to show their devotion by, in performing the duty of putting them on. But what an armory have we now got into ! Here are swords, spears, and shields, evidently the property of amateur theatricals or some costume party; and here are tuneless harps, and a tall sham clock, all of which have figured on the stage in many different combi nations. This miniature navy attracts my attention, the work of some boy's busy fingers. What a fleet everything, from the ironclad ram and monitor, to the superb ship of the line, all fully rigged, armed, and manned! Doubtless they have been engaged in severe conflicts, though they show no marks; now they are at rest, "in ordinary." Do you not smell something good? No? But I do; else is it a ghostly smell of dainties of the misty past. There is reason to recognize such ghostly odors, for see this tin kitchen. Its hollow cave seems ample to contain a large fowl or joint of meat. There is the spit with its crank handle, what a weapon in the hands of an angry woman! I am far away in good "old colony times," Thanksgiving to-day, a roaring fire with lots of glowing coals; in the tin kitchen is a large turkey slowly receiving a delicate brown as it is turned on the spit before the fire. It must have been hot work, and the spit turner must have felt, like the Indian who was pounding his own thumb: "Heap glad when done." This baker, too -what visions of golden Johnny cake, and delicately browned biscuit such as our grandmothers made! Really they lived in those days, even if they did not have the modern advantages. These primitive utensils helped to develop that splendid race of Yankees, now to be found in the pure type only in a few old towns. I believe the good things that were from time to time produced by these utensils did more toward their development than many of the other things of life; for if "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" the grand old faith was the result of having a healthy body for the soul, and the credit belongs to the good living with which our great grandmothers knew how to cover their tables. More relics dear to the heart of the old-time housewife, and equally precious to the modern bric-a-brac collector, in the pair of old andirons; real brass ones, carefully encased in old woollen socks, which we will take off, and then admire our distorted countenances in the round tops of the andirons. What has our stove to give us as an offset to these beauties? How they must have shone when the "best-room" fireplace was in full blast! They were lesser lights there, however; the summer was the time for them to attract attention, when the fireplace was filled with the fine boughs of asparagus. then they were bright lights. But now they are retired and relegated to the shades of the attic. Peace to their ashes! Close at hand are their more plebeian brothers, two black fire dogs, with round circle heads and short chunky legs; their broad backs were doubtless made to bear heavier loads of coarser wood than their more brilliant neighbors. Well, well! There are band-box stoves, though they look like spiders with their round bodies on those spindling legs, a four-inch funnel stove just big enough to take in wood half a yard long through a door six inches square. It was well named band-box, for it is but little bigger, and being sheet iron is not much heavier. But what kind of a lantern is this? Lantern? That is no lantern, that is a foot-warmer, and did good service in church long before the sacreligious stove was introduced. Do you not see the little door? In here is an iron dish that would hold live coals, and the good wife would fill it before getting into the sleigh to go to church, and this would keep her feet warm while she rode; when she got to the church she would step into neighbor Somebody's and replenish the supply; and this practice became so constant that the family living next door to the meeting-house used always to have a good supply of coals for the foot-stoves which they knew would be brought to be filled. It is also told that the large number of these foot-warmers in the meeting-house made an appreciable difference in the temperature of this place. This one looks as if the owner's toes grew cold as fast as the coals did, and she either drummed her feet or rubbed them on the warmer to continue the heat. These foot-warmers were considered enough for ordinary persons' comfort, and it was almost a sin to bring a stove into a meeting-house. The story is told of how some good sisters fainted from the excessive heat of the meeting-house the Sunday after the introduction of the stoves, and were obliged to be carried out and revived; the fact that there was no fire in the stoves, on account of the lack of some joints of funnel, was discovered later, but these good sisters had shown their reliable sanctity by the display of other productions of brain and press are these fine sensibilities. This object has a close connection with that eccentric genius, Lord Timothy Dexter, who by means of a shipload of them made a fortune. Look at this article of comfort a warming-pan. It is brass, and the cover is brass too, though it has assumed a soft brown shade much in harmony with the time-stained handle. Evidently, the warming-pan belongs to the same class as the foot-warmer. It was to be filled with live coals, and passed briskly up and down between the sheets of a cold bed, thereby making it habitable. The Lord Timothy Dexter referred to, was told if he could send a large cargo of warming-pans to the West Indies he would realize largely for them; and taking the advice for good, he collected enough warming-pans to load a vessel, and despatched his valueless cargo to some port. But here was a surprise for his waggish advisers, which turned the laugh on them; for instead of proving valueless, they were quickly bought at high prices by the sugar planters, who used them as ladles to dip the molasses, and the perforated covers as skimmers of the boiling syrup. Lord Timothy netted a handsome sum from his venture. Another good story, that the sight of the warming-pan calls to mind was in the history of an old sea captain, who one cold night was about to retire early, and his wife was to prepare the bed with the warming-pan. She had been told by some one who had tried it, that sugar sprinkled in the pan on the coals would increase the heat, and she was about to follow the advice. Unfortunately, she either misunderstood the advice or was not endowed with what Yankees call “gumption,” for instead of sprinkling the sugar in the pan, she put it in the bed. Then, after briskly warming the sheets, she threw the clothes back, saying, " Piping hot, Captain Clipp, jump right in," which cheery advice the poor man followed. The sequel can be better imagined than told. Now we are in a different world - the intellectual part of the attic, so to speak, for these piles of papers, magazines, and witnesses of close contact with the outer world on the part of the occupants of the house. But, before we wade through them, let us examine a few of these objects which seem to ask acquaintance. This green lawyer's bag is a relic of bygones. Probably this was the one the "Old Squire " used to carry. How much interesting and convincing evidence these threadbare sides have covered! How many limbs of the law of to-day could be persuaded to carry one of those quaint bags ? This bunch of old walking-sticks must have historic memories connected with them. They look lamer now than their former owners could ever have been. Some are cracked and broken, and tied up with strings; this one has been robbed of its silver head; some are sturdy old crabtrees, and some dainty rattan ; one poor old fellow looks as if he had fallen into the fire, for half his length is blackened. Put them back; they have travelled much, and their rest is due them and should not be disturbed. How came those champagne hampers here? Even if their contents have changed into old garments, they look suspicious. Perhaps it's best not to inquire into their history. These old seal-covered trunks with their enclosed papers, yellow and worn, are enough to keep us busy, — but we must pass on; yet see the queer handles and the brass nails; those straps we saw awhile ago were to hang the trunk by under the carryall when the good man and wife were on a journey to Concord or Hebron. This little calf-leather-covered trunk and the "bellows top" one are also quaint; what would a professional baggage smasher say were one of these to appear to him? Here's a row of "Quakers," judging from their sober colors outside; and their names are very old-fashioned and suggestive; too bad such good "Quakers should be hung and their necks so tightly choked, but we remember the severe treatment once in vogue. See, their names are on their breasts: "Elderberry," he's the leader, of course; "PennyRoyal," "Spearmint," "Peppermint," "Clover Blossom "- what a pretty name! "Thoroughwort," Pipsissaway,' "Catnip" - dear old friend, how well I remember the well curb on the old farm, and the fragrant bunches of the catnip growing close beside among the rocks, just as if it knew that it needed to be in the water to do the most good; and do you not recall the happy kitten that enjoyed so much a roll in the catnip? Here's "Tansy," sacred to cheese, "Hops," "Sumac," with bunches of the red berries, "Horsemint," and "Horehound," which complete the list. As well play Hamlet with Hamlet left out, as to have a country house without its row of herb bags. This little old desk is very interesting in its appearance, and it is packed full of papers. Papers!-see them stretching away in stacks under the eaves, piled on the floor, and filling boxes. Surely, friend, we must leave these for another day. There are whole nations' history given in most detailed form. Every year adds as much value to them as it does dust. We pass the papers and are back where we started. We have lived backward a hundred years, and we must return to the present. Ghosts of other days, we vex thee no more; requiescat in pace! |