March, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



95 



Iron Hall Lantern 



There was a great deal of silver at Mount Vernon in con- 

 stant use, and much of silverplated ware, among which were 

 many single and double bracket lamps to be attached to the 

 wall. The single bracket lamps were attached to wooden 

 escutcheons, by which they were fastened to the wall. The 

 lamps were eighteen inches high, terminating in an octagonal- 

 shaped urn for oil. Near top of oil tank is a silver frosted 

 decorated band. On the panels are festoons of flowers. The 

 chimneys were of blue glass. A vertical piece of brass with 

 teeth held the wick in place, which was worked up and down 

 with a thumb screw on the side. 



The silverplated double lamps are fifteen inches high and 

 twelve inches in width, having two tanks for oil and a wall 

 of open-worked silver as a protection for the white glass 

 chimneys. The standard to which the oil tanks and wicks 

 are attached starts from a heavy substantial base of white 

 glass, one-third of the height, then metal, and terminating in 

 a ring by which the lamp is lifted. The wick is regulated 

 by a screw at the side. The oil tanks are gracefully shaped 

 urns, with light tracings relieving the plain surface. In 

 general form the single and double lamps were alike. 



Of candlesticks in silver plate there were many. One set 

 is especially notable, of an exceedingly graceful form. They 

 are eleven inches high, with a base of five and a quarter 

 inches in diameter, showing several lines of beading. The 

 stem at base is about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, 

 increasing in size and ending with a large socket for the 

 candle with a rich scalloped effect of leaves, on the stem are 

 eighteen vertical lines, alternately plain and chased in a dainty 

 pattern. There were two pairs of plated bedroom candle- 

 sticks, which Washington mentions in his accounts: "May 

 30th, 1796, paid Rowland Parry for 2 pair octagonic plated 



Glass Candelabra 



candlesticks $25.00." They were used at Mount Vernon. 

 They had eight-sided base cups, six and a quarter inches in 

 diameter, the stem and socket seven inches high. 



The bedroom candlesticks stood on the side table of the 

 main hall, and the dignified host touched the candle with a 

 taper, and wishing his guest pleasant dreams, handed him 

 the light. Imagination may well run riot in recalling dis- 

 tinguished visitors who received this veritable time-scarred 

 candlestick from the hospitable hand of Washington. 



Last but not least was the iron hall lamp suspended in the 

 main hall at Mount Vernon. It is twenty-four inches high, 

 of four panels terminating in four bars entering a ball, from 

 which it was hung to the ceiling, each panel containing a pane 

 of white glass ten inches wide. The base is of iron and was 

 intended to inclose a candle. 



