RURAL LIFE L\ LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



up and down on all sides; often there were six, some- 

 times twenty. In some of these old chimneys, too, there 

 was built a little room where, on projecting pegs, could 

 be hung and smoked the yearly supply of hams and 

 bacon. Often a rude ladder was constructed of 

 projecting stones on the outside of the chimney, by 

 means of which one could climb from cellar to roof. 

 Around the hearth, in the great living room, the family 

 gathered in the long winter evenings, each one busy 

 with some task. The smoke from the great logs of 

 beech, birch, oak and hickory, against the evening sky, 

 bespoke a condition of interior comfort and signaled a 

 welcome to many a stranger. To give a little idea of the 

 size of those great fireplaces, a lady told me not long 

 ago that she well remembered standing in the corner of 

 the fireplace with a good fire blazing on the hearth and 

 looking up with awe and wonder at the stars twinkling 

 above the chimney top. 



In these days of ready-made goods one can scarcely 

 imagine the variety of occupations pursued in these old 

 living rooms. Here the wool was carded and spun, 

 here stockings were knit and the flax was spun, and pos- 

 sibly the earlier preparation was given it here. By the 

 light of the blazing fire the thrifty farmer carved out 

 the simple tools used in his primitive agriculture. Here 

 he fashioned flails, hand cards, wooden rakes or harrow 

 teeth, made spiles for tapping the maple trees, or fash- 



