Illustrated in the History of Albany. 



93 



legged, claw-footed tables with drawers and brass handles; cabinets 

 with choice bits of cut glass, and oriental china, which were then 

 great rarities; some pieces of silver, and a good supply of pewter, 

 which was kept as bright as silver; some trifling curiosities brought 

 from the "West Indies or China — such were the things which you 

 found in a parlor of that day. A few books perhaps occupied a 

 shelf or two. No piano* had yet made its appearance, although per- 

 haps the rumors of its introduction in London may have reached them. 

 It was not until 1803, that the first piano was manufactured in Boston. 

 Instead of this, you might find in the wealthiest houses a spinet or a 

 harpsichord. The floor of this grand room was of clear beautiful 

 maple, perhaps curl or pin maple, or some other native wood, which 

 the mop and the broom kept in a high state of polish. It might 

 have been sanded with white sea sand, which the skill of the house- 

 wife worked into picturesque figures with her broom. Except perhaps 

 in the richer houses there were still no carpets ; and even then they 

 were only small rugs. 



The first carpets brought to America were said to have been brought 

 by the pirate Kidd, and were doubtless the result of his encounter 

 with some East Indiaman. Even in England, carpet manufacturing 

 did not secure a footing till 1757, and in America the first carpets 

 Avcrc made in 1791, in Philadelphia. 



Opposite to the great parlor, on the same floor, was the grand bed- 

 room, reserved for guests. It was as large as the parlor, and like it 

 provided with a fire-place. Here stood a great chest in which was kept 

 the household linen, and, perhaps, a chest of drawers reaching almost 

 to the ceiling. Here too stood the state bed. Look at it with awe and 

 reverence, for if there was any thing to which the Dutch housewife was 

 ever tempted to fall down in idolatrous worship it was to this bed. 

 Like Naaman, the Syrian, she had an understanding with herself, that 

 when she entered that room, and paid a secret worship to it, it was 

 pardonable. Of coui-se it was a fourposter, made of mahogany. It 

 was surmounted l)y a teester, with hangings and curtains, and had a 



*I have recently seen a very interesting: specimen of the pianos which were first 

 brought to this country. It makes but an insigrniScant show beside the great instruments 

 now manufactured. It is about five feet long and twenty-two inches wide. The frame 

 is entirely of wood, and the case of mahogany, handsomely inlaid. But it was the 

 manufacturers' mark which had for me the greatest interest. This reads, " New Patent, 

 Astor <Ic Comp'y, 79 Cornhill, London." No date is given, but it is known that this was 

 one of the instruments manufactured by John Jacob Astor, who for a few years was in 

 this business in London, and who, in 1783, brought out to New York a number of them, 

 which he exchanged for furs. This was the beginning of his dealing in furs, and the 

 foundation of his fortune. 



