November, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



451 



second lot of wicks were 

 being dipped. When cool, 

 the operation was re- 

 peated, until the candles 

 had grown to the proper 

 size. 



It was slow work, tax- 

 ing both strength and pa- 

 tience. Care had to be 

 exercised to keep the tal- 

 low hot, to keep the wicks 

 straight, not to dip them 

 too deep, lest they touch 

 the water, not to let them 

 touch one another, not to 

 let them cool either too 



4 — Salem Candelabra of Solid Silver 



rapidly or too slowly, and to place boards under the poles, were the very earliest form in common use 

 to catch the drippings, thus protecting the floor and prevent- The candelabra represented in Fig. 

 ing waste of tallow, as the 

 drippings, when cooled, 

 could be scraped from 

 these loose boards and 

 used over again. Observ- 

 ing all these necessary 

 precautions a good 

 worker, in a cool room, 

 could make two hundred 

 candles in a day by this 

 dipping process. 



A great improvement 

 was made by the introduc- 

 tion of candle-molds. The 

 molded candle, being of 

 the same diameter through- 

 out its entire length, was 

 far superior to the "dip," 

 which ran to a point at the 

 top, and therefore burned 

 out much faster. Men 

 known as "candle-makers" 

 traveled about the country 

 with large candle-molds, 

 capable of holding forty 

 or fifty candles at one fill- 

 ing. In two days one of 

 these men could easily mold a stock of candles sufficient to lem from Boston in 1827 



pose, under stress of cir- 

 cumstances ; but this was a 

 mere makeshift candle- 

 stick, subject to the laws of 

 change and decay, and 

 necessarily lacking in per- 

 manence. Rude iron and 

 tin candlesticks, which 

 were in most common use, 

 were among the very first 

 articles of purely domestic 

 manufacture found in 

 New England. Similar 

 utensils were also made of 

 brass, pewter and silver. 

 Perhaps the brass ones 



5 — Solid Silver Candelabra — Osgood Collection 



are beautiful 

 specimens of cut glass 

 and brass gilt. They be- 

 long to a later period, 

 probably the early days of 

 the nineteenth century. 

 The prism which occupies 

 the center, in the midst of 

 the five candles, reflects 

 the light from innumer- 

 able facets with pleasing 

 effect. The candles orig- 

 inally used in these candel- 

 abra were made of sperm- 

 aceti, a substance obtained 

 from the head of the 

 sperm whale, in the days 

 when whale fisheries flour- 

 ished. 



The mural sconces 

 shown in Fig. 2, like the 

 candelabra just described, 

 are found in the home of 

 Mr. Nathan C. Osgood, 

 on Chestnut Street, in Sa- 

 lem, Mass. He is the son 

 of an artist of national 

 repute, who moved to Sa- 

 These sconces hang in the recep- 



supply a family for a whole winter. They were jolly fellows, tion-room, against a background of burlap. The brass-gilt 



doing the work for the filagree work takes the 



love of a roving life, as ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ mm —— mmmmm —————— form of a lyre, encircled 



well as for the money ^Hw by a laurel wreath, and 



which they earned. They ^nM surmounted by head 



were full of amusing sto- of Apollo. The three 



ries, good songs, and the ■■ branches curve gracefulh 



latest jest, gossip or anec- from the wreath, below 



dote. Their advent was HI the lyre. 



eagerlv welcomed, and the fc^S W "' '-' WA Fo the same period he- 



stock of candles which W**5&m m- - --■• I* I longs the combination of 



1 1 r i 1 ■ i 1 ■' ' '■" t- v *| H \i 1 1111 



they left behind them was ., HR .jSH ■] mirror and candelabrum 



carefully guarded from P', ; . <fc. V U I HUB shown in Fig;. 1. Note the 



rats and mice, by being; ■' ■.'■.-x^m.u 'A h L -jt ■ wonderful design, worked 



stored in tin boxes. m^+. J ', am ^*M 1 iSt 7 ^ ■ k\ t 'i t\ out in brass gilt, and the 



As may be supposed, ^tffe'' artistic method used in 



the candlestick was always ^t f'-W^^^mmmm ■ '!•« joining the branches to the 



esteemed an important ar- V '/- --4 ■-«■ ^W-Tvdij IfcAfl Bf^Jtif mirror frame. This piece 



tide of house furnishing, V'VXPwl P^' J *'vPi ' s f° un d m the collection 



and was often exceedingly W ^ MBPylM of Miss Sarah Kimball, of 



expensive and ornamental. ^^^^fc^^« ^L^ m Salem. 



A turnip or a potato could ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^""■"■^" Yhe solid silver candle- 

 be utilized for this pur- 6— Candelabra with Cut Glass Prisms— Osgood Collection Sticks in Figs. 4 and 5 are 



