THE OLDEN TIME SERIES

"To say that the past is of no importance, unworthy of a moment's regard, because it has gone by, and is no longer anything, is an argument that cannot be held to any purpose; for if the past has ceased to be, and is therefore to be accounted nothing in the scale of good or evil, the future is yet to come, and has never been anything."—Hazlitt.

From Henry J. Finn's "Good Old Times,"

October, 1827.

THE OLDEN TIME SERIES

GLEANINGS CHIEFLY FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS OF BOSTON
AND SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

SELECTED AND ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF COMMENTS

BY

HENRY M. BROOKS

The Days of the Spinning-Wheel in New England

"Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is
no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by
proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."—Emerson

BOSTON
TICKNOR AND COMPANY
1886

INDEX OF NAMES.

THE DAYS OF THE SPINNING-WHEEL

Within the last few years many young ladies have searched country houses or ransacked old garrets to find spinning-wheels, which, like old chairs, tall clocks, and warming-pans, have now become objects of curiosity and interest to those who take a fancy to antique articles. It has become fashionable to have these things to adorn our Queen Anne houses. And brass andirons and shovels and tongs have come into request, so that we may enjoy the luxury of an open wood fire, which, to our mind, is one of the most cheerful things in this world. Some one has remarked "that to be well-dressed gives a feeling of satisfaction that religion fails to give;" but to us, to sit before a blazing wood fire on a dull, cold evening, gives a feeling of comfort and delight which surpasses anything we know of. What charming companionship in a wood fire! Better than the company of uncongenial persons.

these are enough; we will leave out the "old wine to drink."

Glance backward to some years before the Revolution, and we shall find a spinning-wheel in every house, and then, probably, in constant use. Now its place in our homes is taken by the piano. This instrument had not then come into use. Something resembling it,—namely, the spinnet or the harpsichord,—was to be found in some instances; but it was by no means common to find these, for there was but little knowledge of music in America in those days. A hundred years ago, only one or two churches in Boston had organs, and the public taste, except in rare cases, was decidedly against music of all kinds, especially sacred music. To show how this was, we have heard an old lady say that when she was young, some eighty years or so ago, "musicians, for the most part, were not thought much of" by the most cultivated people of that time; and she assured me that even at a later date, members of military bands, as well as organists and violinists (then called fiddlers) were too often low characters and men much addicted to drinking. The times were too hard for the New England people of those days to cultivate music or indulge in entertainments of any kind except "going to meeting." There was but little money in circulation, and that was almost always in the form of a depreciated currency. Gold and silver were scarce articles, and a large proportion of the necessities of life and luxuries—if luxuries they could be called; they would hardly be so considered by us—were imported from England or elsewhere. The leading occupations were farming, fishing, making New England rum, importing rum, sugar, and molasses from the West Indies, and dry goods from England. The common people were poor enough, in comparison with the condition of the same class at the present time, when they make as good an appearance as the wealthy did a hundred years ago. It would be safe to say that they have more comforts and conveniences in their homes to-day than the more prosperous had at the time of the Revolution. The humorist, John Phenix, said that "Gen'l Washington never saw a steamboat, nor rode in a railroad car;" and possibly his house was not heated by steam, or furnished with pipes for hot and cold water. Nor did he ever use gas, or the telegraph or telephone. Whether the people who lived then would have shown the extravagance which characterizes our time if they had possessed the means, is a question not easily to be answered; but it is certain they were more frugal than we are, if not more industrious. The Revolution left the masses of the people in rather a destitute condition, and they were forced to be economical. Their habits were so entirely different from modern habits that it would exceed our limits to undertake to draw a careful comparison. It is said that the people of those days bewailed the degeneracy of the times, and spoke of the industry and frugality of earlier periods.

Just as our ancestors did, as Macaulay says, in the days of Charles the First; they thought they were not as good as their ancestors had been. This habit of looking back to a time so remote that "distance lends enchantment to the view," seems to be almost universal. It is this feeling of reverence for the old that makes it so interesting to us, and leads us to look at things of the past poetically rather than practically; although it is true that sometimes the interest taken in inconvenient and uncomfortable articles arises rather from their age than from anything else. But oftentimes the very simplicity, solidity, and strength of old furniture, for instance, is charming, in contrast with the elaborate, unmeaning carvings and flimsy character of more modern productions. We are beginning to see how much more sensible the Chippendale and other styles commended by Eastlake and some other writers on household art are to much that has been produced in later times. Yet we must allow that prejudice and fashion go a great way in determining our likes and dislikes, in furniture as well as in dress and other things. Very likely in a few years we shall tire of the Queen Anne houses and furniture, and hard floors, and have a surfeit of Anglomania, especially if we carry the taste too far. In this country, as Emerson says, "Every rider drives too fast." It is hard to be simple and slow. We must build fast, eat fast, and live fast. But Emerson says again, "Nature has no respect for haste." Herbert Spencer has given us in a kindly spirit some hints on this score which it would be well to heed. But we are wandering from our immediate subject. Our desire is to illustrate, in the very words of the people of the period we refer to, the views they entertained of economy and industry, and how they carried them out. We will begin, then, in the year 1759, with a curious letter to the "Boston Gazette" of June 11 of that year, in which the writer gives some account of the cost of provisions at that period.

In the same paper is an auction advertisement, showing how they mixed the different kinds of property.