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night in winter, to be called towards either of them was some- 

 thing dreadful to think of. No form of pump was used in this 

 country, so far as I can learn, until after the commencement 

 of the present century. There were no friction matches in 

 those early days, by the aid of which a fire could be speedily 

 kindled ; and if the fire " went out" upon the hearth over- 

 night, and the tinder was damp, so that the spark would 

 not " catch," the alternative remained of wading through 

 the snow a mile or so, to borrow a brand from a neighbor. 

 Only one room in any house was warmed (unless some of the 

 family were ill) ; in all the rest the temperature was at zero 

 during many nights in winter. The men and women of a 

 hundred years ago undressed and retired to their beds at night 

 in an atmosphere colder than that of our modern barns and 

 woodsheds. No furnaces or steam-pipes tempered the wintry 

 air in their dwellings, but they probably slept soundly in the 

 cold, even after eating heartily of shag-barks or butternuts, 

 and washing them down with a quart or two of hard 

 cider. The cooking was very simple, and the nature of the 

 food plain and substantial. But few dishes were seen upon 

 the table ', pork and cabbage, corn bread, and milk, with 

 " bean porridge," were the every day forms of food consumed. 

 If, however, science has accomplished much for farmers and 

 farmers' wives in household comforts and conveniences, it has 

 not added much to the material or pecuniary independence of 

 the family. Scientific progress and invention has taken away 

 those homely industrial occupations which were the prop and 

 stay of our fathers and mothers of a century ago. Winter life 

 on the farm and in the dwelling has been thoroughly revolu- 

 tionized, but not beneficially so. 



