December, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



479 



her kinsfolk. . . . Mrs. Poore wears, 

 as the ladies will observe, a woolen 

 short gown, over a quilted woolen 

 petticoat, short enough to show 

 her blue yarn stockings. Her 

 entire wardrobe, with the ex- 

 ception of her shoes, her 

 horn comb and her gold 

 beads, had been carded or 

 spun by herself, or her 

 daughters — woven, 

 dyed, and made up by 

 herself. The life of 

 this Puritan mother 

 was a busy one. She 

 and her daughters 

 milked, cooked, 

 washed, mended, 

 carded, spun, wove 

 and knit. The fare 

 provided was fru- 

 gal, but wholesome. 

 What is now termed 

 the menu was pease- 

 porridge for breakfast, 

 bread and cheese, with 

 beer or cider, for lunch- 

 eon; a boiled dish or salt 

 fish or broiled pork or 



baked beans for dinner; hasty pudding and 



milk for supper, and, at every meal, 



according to the season, apple, 



berry, quash, pumpkin, or meat, 



pies. Swedish turnips were 



the staple vegetable; the 



bread was generally made 



of corn, barley or rye 



meal; and if the diet 



was rather farinaceous 



than animal, there 



was less demand for 



medicine, and a 



larger, longer-lived 



growth of men and 



The hall and 



galleries are hung with 



family portraits 



women than in 

 these degenerate 

 days." 



From the present 



and gracious owner 



of Indian Hill we 



learn that the first 



house was erected about 



1700, but was struck by 



lightning about 1740 and 



One of the four square parlors 



