30 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



portraits, all in a frame together, taken at the time of 

 the golden wedding, no one yet having passed over the 

 border, and the oldest of the ten being then within a 

 year of fifty. 



Beneath the parlor is the cool brick cellar, with its 

 tables set with crocks of rnilk and cream, and, in their 

 season, bins of apples and potatoes, pumpkins and 

 squashes, barrels of cider, and demijohns of wine fresh- 

 crushed from the grape. 



Old-fashioned silhouettes hang on the walls, or rest 

 on the bureaus, along with several mottoes. The pic- 

 ture frames and mantelpieces are adorned with branches 

 of beautiful scarlet leaves in autumn, and perhaps a 

 short twig with a humming-bird's nest will be laid on 

 a bracket. A tall clock used to stand in the corner 

 of the sitting-room, by the stairway. 



In the rooms above are family trees, made in 

 wreaths from the hair of the different members for 

 generations, taken from the locks of every relative, 

 far and near. In one of the front chambers are still 

 to be seen four large iron hooks in the beams of the 

 ceiling, on which hung the quilting frames of years 

 ago. Here, during the days, were held merry quilting 

 parties; and at night the frames were again pulled up 

 and fastened to the hooks, so that the beds underneath 

 could be used. The piles of brightly patched quilts, 

 in their old-fashioned patterns (such as Rising Sun, 

 Jacob's Ladder, Log Cabin, Irish Chain, and Path in 

 the Wilderness all pioneer names), folded away in 

 the closets, attest the frequent use of these hooks. 



The old well is on the crest of a ridge, and that 

 ridge, a very wide one, where also stands the home- 



