ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN AMERICA — WATKINS 389 



candles. He returned, and reported that there were no candles in the house. 



"Then, get me a larger lamp." 



"Ain't no larger lamps, nuther, sar ; — none to spare." 



"Then go out, and see if you can't buy me some candles, somewhere." 



"Ain't no stores open, Sunday, massa, and I don't know where I can buy 'em." 



"Then go down, and tell the bar-keeper, with my compliments, that I wish 

 to write in my room, and I would be obliged to him if he would send me a light, 

 of some sort; something that will last longer, and give more light, than these 

 little lami)s." 



"He won't give you none, massa — not if you hab a fire. Can't you see by da 

 light of da fire? When a gentleman hab a fire in his room, dey don't count 

 he wants no more light 'n dat." 



"Well, make the fire, and I'll go down and see about it." 



As I reached the foot of the stairs, the bell rung, and I went in to tea. The 

 tea-table was moderately well lighted with candles. I waited till the company 

 had generally left it, and then said to one of the waiters : 



*Here are two dimes : I want you to bring me, as soon as you can, two of these 

 candles to number eleven; do you understand?" 



"Yes, sar ; I'll fotch 'em, sar." 



And he did. 



Most often, rude conditions in the South were attributable to geo- 

 graphical isohition, rather than other causes. In Pennsylvania, how- 

 ever, we find a different kind of isolation that likewise enforced the 

 survival of primitive forms of lighting. This was the barrier of 

 language, religion, and culture, all differing from that which pre- 

 vailed elsewhere. There was a deep-seated traditionalism among the 

 Pennsylvania Germans, which made the continued use of ancient 

 forms of copper and iron crusies a congenial habit. 



In Germany and Switzerland, at the time of the first German migra- 

 tions to America, the prevailing lighting devices among the common 

 people were either simple hanging lamps with slanting metal troughs 

 to hold the wicks, or merely shallow pans for burning fat or lard. In 

 Pennsylvania the former came to be called "betty" lamps, or "judies," 

 or "kays," or "frog lamps." The latter, of Alpine origin, either hung 

 from hooks or had elaborate wrought-iron standards, in which case 

 the pans themselves took on a variety of shapes. From these proto- 

 types the "Dutch" metalsmitlis in America developed their own char- 

 acteristic versions. In collections today there are many examples 

 bearing the names of such Pennsylvania lamp makers as Peter Derr, 

 Joseph S. Schmitz, J. Eby, Hurxthal & Co., or J. Boker. So solidly 

 entrenched was the custom in Pennsylvania of using these ancient 

 lamp forms that there are numerous instances of their employment 

 late in the nineteenth century. Henry C. Mercer (1898, p. 7), indi- 

 cating that the "betty" lamp had sometimes survived up to his day, 

 gave the following directions for its use : 



Thrust the point horizontally into a beam or catch the barb upon a hook, nail 

 or log crevice, then filling the vessel with lard, light the twisted tow (later 



