Home Life in Colonial Days

Life in Colonial Days, by Alice
Morse Earle

Project Gutenberg's Home Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Home Life in Colonial Days
Author: Alice Morse Earle
Release Date: September 19, 2007 [EBook #22675]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME
LIFE IN COLONIAL DAYS ***

Produced by Mark C. Orton, Constanze Hofmann and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:
This e-text was prepared from the reprint edition published in 1974 by
Berkshire Traveller Press. Copyrighted materials from that edition,

including the modern preface and illustrations, are not included.
* * * * *

Home Life in COLONIAL DAYS
Written by ALICE MORSE EARLE in the year 1898
THE BERKSHIRE TRAVELLER PRESS Stockbridge, Massachusetts
THIS BOOK IS BEGUN AS IT IS ENDED IN MEMORY OF MY
MOTHER

Foreword
The illustrations for this book are in every case from real articles and
scenes, usually from those still in existence--rare relics of past days.
The pictures are the symbols of years of careful search, patient
investigation, and constant watchfulness. Many a curious article as
nameless and incomprehensible as the totem of an extinct Indian tribe
has been studied, compared, inquired and written about, and finally
triumphantly named and placed in the list of obsolete domestic
appurtenances. From the lofts of woodsheds, under attic eaves, in dairy
cellars, out of old trunks and sea-chests from mouldering warehouses,
have strangely shaped bits and combinations of wood, stuff, and metal
been rescued and recognized. The treasure stores of Deerfield
Memorial Hall, of the Bostonian Society, of the American Antiquarian
Society, and many State Historical Societies have been freely searched;
and to the officers of these societies I give cordial thanks for their
coöperation and assistance in my work.
The artistic and correct photographic representation of many of these
objects I owe to Mr. William F. Halliday of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr.
George F. Cook of Richmond, Virginia, and the Misses Allen of
Deerfield, Massachusetts. To many friends, and many strangers, who

have secured for me single articles or single photographs, I here repeat
the thanks already given for their kindness.
There were two constant obstacles in the path: An article would be
found and a name given by old-time country folk, but no dictionary
contained the word, no printed description of its use or purpose could
be obtained, though a century ago it was in every household. Again,
some curiously shaped utensil or tool might be displayed and its use
indicated; but it was nameless, and it took long inquiry and
deduction,--the faculty of "taking a hint,"--to christen it. It is plain that
different vocations and occupations had not only implements but a
vocabulary of their own, and all have become almost obsolete; to the
various terms, phrases, and names, once in general application and use
in spinning, weaving, and kindred occupations, and now half forgotten,
might be given the descriptive title, a "homespun vocabulary." By
definite explanation of these terms many a good old English word and
phrase has been rescued from disuse.
ALICE MORSE EARLE.

Contents
Page
I. Homes of the Colonists 1
II. The Light of Other Days 32
III. The Kitchen Fireside 52
IV. The Serving of Meals 76
V. Food from Forest and Sea 108
VI. Indian Corn 126
VII. Meat and Drink 142

VIII. Flax Culture and Spinning 166
IX. Wool Culture and Spinning, with a Postscript on Cotton 187
X. Hand-Weaving 212
XI. Girls' Occupations 252
XII. Dress of the Colonists 281
XIII. Jack-knife Industries 300
XIV. Travel, Transportation, and Taverns 325
XV. Sunday in the Colonies 364
XVI. Colonial Neighborliness 388
XVII. Old-time Flower Gardens 421

Home Life in Colonial Days
CHAPTER I
HOMES OF THE COLONISTS
When the first settlers landed on American shores, the difficulties in
finding or making shelter must have seemed ironical as well as almost
unbearable. The colonists found a land magnificent with forest trees of
every size and variety, but they had no sawmills, and few saws to cut
boards; there was plenty of clay and ample limestone on every side, yet
they could have no brick and no mortar; grand boulders of granite and
rock were everywhere, yet there was not a single facility for cutting,
drawing, or using stone. These homeless men, so sorely in need of
immediate shelter, were baffled by pioneer conditions, and had to turn
to many poor expedients, and be satisfied with rude covering. In
Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, and, possibly, other states,

some reverted to an