478 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 1908 



years and visit one of the homesteads 

 of our ancestors in this pleasant 

 country. Riding along a forest 

 path or trail indicated by large 

 notches cut in the trees, we find 

 Goodman Poore's house 

 and cattle-shed standing 

 near an old Indian 

 clearing. The house 

 is of logs or a mas- 

 sive frame filled in 

 with brick, with a 

 thatched roof and 

 a huge chimney. 

 The small win- 



Stairs from 



the Tracy mansion 



at Newburyport 



dows are covered 

 with oiled paper, 

 and the massive 

 door is thick 

 enough to be bullet- 

 proof. Pulling the 

 latch-string we enter, 

 and find that the floor 

 and the floor of the 

 loft above, which forms 

 the ceiling, are boards 

 split from large pine trees 



and roughly smoothed with an adze. In the 

 keeping-room is an immense fireplace, in 

 one corner of which yawns the mouth 

 of a capacious oven. Two or three 

 high-backed chairs, a massive 

 table with many legs, an oaken 

 chest with a carved front, and 

 a ponderous settle, are 

 ranged around the walls, 

 while on a large "dres- 

 soir" are wooden bowls, 

 earthen platters, horn 

 drinking cups and 

 pewter tankards, por- 

 ringers, plates and 

 spoons. On the high 

 mantel-shelf, with a 

 cresset lamp on one 

 side and the time- 

 marking hour - glass 

 on the other, is the 

 well-thumbed family 

 Bible, while from a 

 peg hangs the year's 

 almanac. As we enter 

 we hear from an ad- 

 joining lean-to the 

 whirr of the spinning- 

 wheel and the clang of the 

 loom ; but the latter is sil- 

 enced when Mrs. Poore 

 leaves it and advances to meet 



The low ceiled dining-room has chairs of the Chippendale model 



