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A Page of Old Lanterns 
I N the days before public service corporations, the lantern 
was lamp and chandelier and street light. For there was 
no systematic street lighting prior to the enactment of 1774 
which ordered lanterns for the streets of Boston. These illus¬ 
trations show characteristic forms from several Salem collec¬ 
tions. The materials of their construction are brass and iron, 
and the source of illumination was candles at first, but after 
1774 whale oil lamps were used. Those of the bull’s eye type 
w T ere carried by watchmen, while the examples with bail 
handles were hung in the spacious hallways and carried by the 
citizens at night. The iron perforated type shown in the lower 
right hand picture, known as “Pinched’’ or latterly as the “Paul 
Revere” lantern, shed little more than a glow through holes 
punched in the iron and burred on the outside. To-day 
old lanterns may be used within the house, but they are 
especially applicable as porch lights. It is a 
simple matter to substitute the electric light for [ 
the old-fashioned illumination. 
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; j Photographs by M. H. Northend ||||pP* - '• • ■ r /‘ 
(in) 
