ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN AMERICA — W ATKINS 391 



most satisfactory and economical performance, to allow the candles 

 to dry and harden for many weeks. Bundles were suspended from 

 the beams of the kitchen, as described by Olmsted above, or in the 

 attic. 



Candle molds were usually made of tin in a variety of sizes and 

 combinations. Molds were easier to use, since fewer operations were 

 involved. That they are to be found on each side of the Mississippi, 

 in areas settled by people of both German and Anglo-Saxon stock, 

 indicates that candles were used generally. Their continued use is 

 attested by the fact that there were occasional inventions of candle 

 molds during the period under discussion. In 1837 the following 

 notice was given of a mold exhibited at the Mechanic's Fair in Boston : 



B. Haywood, of Boston, has produced candle moulds, which open lengthwise, 

 in halves, and can be curved or cast upon figured moulds, so as to yield spermaceti 

 or wax candles of beautiful ornamented patterns. (Boston Daily Sentinel and 

 Gazette, Sept. 25, 1837.) 



It is apparent from this that not only the tallow candles of the rural 

 areas but also the expensive spermaceti candles we usually associate 

 with aristocratic eighteenth-century surroundings were still in fashion. 

 Spermaceti is the crystalline wax from the head of the sperm whale 

 and, though expensive, was unsurpassed as a candle illuminant. 



Candlesticks ranged from crude holders of tin and iron, and even 

 pottery, to those of pewter, brass, and silver. Elaborate electroplated 

 examples with embossed designs were popular in "elegant" settings 

 after 1850, while the turned types of brass sticks (essentially like their 

 eighteenth-century predecessors, except for greater mass and less re- 

 straint) were for common use. Devices for expelling the stubs of 

 candles were common by 1830. A popular barn and kitchen candle- 

 stick with a slide-style expeller was called a "hog-scraper" because of 

 its sharp-edged base, adaptable to scraping bristles from newly slaugh- 

 tered hogs. This remained in use throughout the century and within 

 recent years has been sold by a large mail-order house with the candle 

 socket omitted, its adopted function having become its primary pur- 

 pose. The United States National Museum exhibits a heavy brass 

 stick with internal expeller which is a patent model of 1840 (No. 251- 

 722). The Franklin Institute commended an iron candlestick, ex- 

 hibited in the 1832 Exhibition, as being one that "will compare with 

 the English both in quality and price." It is significant that there 

 were as many as 13 candlesticks patented between 1830 and 1860, as 

 well as one design for snuffers. 



In an apparently characteristic up-State New York farmhouse, 

 brass candlesticks formed part of the decorative scheme in the best 

 parlor. Susan Fenimore Cooper described this room in 1851 ("A 

 Lady," pp. 157-158) : 



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