CANDLE-LIGHT AND CANDLESTICKS 107 



same kind of spring arrangement to allow of the light being 

 adjusted to the right height. Unless all of iron, as in the 

 three-legged one in the illustration, they nearly always had 

 the cross-shaped block for a foot. 



The rough block to one wooden one is not its proper foot, 

 but only a temporary make- 

 shift. In this the standard 

 is pierced alternate ways 

 in each turned division, 

 and the iron is shifted in 

 and out. The other is a 

 very old pattern, as may 

 be known by the iron 

 having no candle-socket. 

 It works up and down 

 with a ratchet and loop 

 after the manner of a 

 hansrer. 



'o v 



The only means of 

 obtaining a light in the 

 morning, if no red spark 

 remained in the fire, was 



by the flint, steel, and Wooden Standing Rush-Light 



tinder. Every cottage had Holders 



its tinder-box; a round box 



of thin sheet iron, with or without a candle-socket on the 

 lid. It contained a loosely-fitting disk with a ring handle; 

 this was the damper to quench the tinder. The box also 

 held the flint, steel, and one or two sulphur matches. These 

 lifted out with the damper ; some tinder was underneath. 

 The fragment of flint was commonly chosen with a nice 

 hollow place to fit the thumb, such as occurs frequently in 



