11 



affairs and household comforts. Those of us whoso memory 

 extends over more than a half century, probably have a very 

 correct idea of the character of the homes at the time the 

 guns of Lexington startled the colonies as by an electric 

 shock. There are a few of the old houses still standing in the 

 countrv which have battled with the storms of a hundred 

 years, and now, like the old " one horse shay" of Dr. Holmes, 

 have about them 



" A general flavor of mild decay." 



The houses have an interior arrangement suggestive of cold 

 discomfort, and combine but few conveniences for the benefit 

 of the family. In 1775 and thereabouts, the science of chem- 

 istry in fact had no existence. No special attention had been 

 given to geology, and what was known of botany, astronomy 

 &c., seems as nothing compared with the extent and accuracy 

 of our present knowledge. But little progress had been made 

 in invention and the arts, hardly one of the modern contri- 

 vances for cooking and warming and lighting dwellings was 

 known, not a pound of coal or a drop of kerosene oil, had 

 been burned in the country. No iron stoves were used, and 

 no contrivances for economizing heat were employed until Dr. 

 Franklin invented the iron frame fire-place, which still bears 

 his name. All the cooking and warming was done by the aid 

 of fire kindled upon the brick hearth, or in the brick oven. 

 Pine knots or tallow candles furnished the light for the long 

 winter evenings, and sanded floors supplied the place of rugs 

 and carpets. The water used for household purposes was 

 drawn from deep wells by the creaking " sweep," and it is a 

 curious circumstance that both the wells and the out buildings 

 were often at long distances from the house. In a cold, windy 



