CHAPTER VI
OLD SALEM KNOCKERS
Tradition maintains that the Pilgrim and Puritan attitude toward strangers was one of reserve and suspicion—upon the theory that until one should prove his motives and purposes to be worthy, they must be assumed to be otherwise.
Something of this natural caution was necessary in the circumstances under which our forbears took up their life in a new country; and the feeling may be said to have been reflected, at first, in the difficulty of finding entrance into their houses. The policy of the ‘open door’ was not the original policy of the Salem Colony in the early years of the settlement, although later the fine old town became noted for its generous and lavish hospitality.
Even to-day, one finds in old New England villages front doors which are never opened; the bolt is rusted into its socket, or the key is ‘frozen’ and refuses to turn. In many instances these front doors have never had steps built up to them, but remain inaccessible, save by climbing, at three or four feet above the ground.
The truth is that the ‘side-door’ was the normal entrance. In this part of the house were the kitchen and living-room. Here the occupants of the house spent most of their time, and here it was natural to seek them, whether for purposes of business or merely for the social gossip which made up so large a part of the simple life of the times.
But with improvement in the type of Salem houses, the enlarging of rooms and hallways, and the more careful attention which then began to be given to front entrances and porches, a corresponding change took place in the mental attitude toward the stranger. The wide and handsome doorway invited him; it was ready to welcome him. But how should he announce his presence? The old-time knocker was the answer.
The study of old knockers furnishes a delightful occupation for the lover of antiques. As found upon the doors of old Salem houses, they furnish conspicuous and charming examples, not only of the art of the craftsman in brass, who loved his work and lent to each specimen turned out by him the impress of his individuality, but of the fondness of our forbears for artistic and symbolic forms, together with an appreciation of classic myths and allegories which is very striking, to those who think of the early Colonists as hard men, with no richness of culture and no love of beauty.
The very earliest Salem knockers were no doubt of iron, usually in the form of a ring, and serving also the purpose of a door-pull—as in the case of the Parkman and Bradstreet mansions, of which pictures may be seen in the Essex Institute, or in that of the Rebecca Nurse house in Danvers, once a part of Old Salem.
The knocker, however, became gradually more artistic and elaborate. Brass was used instead of iron; and the effect of this against the paneled door of green or white, perhaps of mahogany, was effective and pleasing.
Knockers of the second type comprise the hammer form in all its variations; while those of the third type are marked by the representation of human heads, animals, birds, or fishes. These had their origin in Italy, in the best days of the Renaissance, and the examples found in Old Salem are true to artistic type.
OLD SALEM KNOCKERS
(See pages 90-93)
No. 1. A handsome example of the so-called ‘urn shape’ is found on the door of the Ropes house at 373 Essex Street. Its graceful curves are most pleasing to the eye and its beauty consists largely in the pure simplicity of its design.
No. 2. One of the many variations of the ‘hammer’ type of knocker. This one, quite simple in pattern, ornaments the door at the home of Dr. Kittridge, on Chestnut Street. This has the general shape of an old-fashioned thumb-latch door-handle, and might conceivably be used as a door-pull.
No. 3. When Mr. Eben Symonds bought his home on Lynde Street, he found upon the door an old knocker of most unusual design. Of the ‘hammer’ type, it showed a rectangular outline with a ‘striker’ in the form of a fluted shell, grasped at the upper end by a clenched fist. Knocker and door alike had been painted, but the former when cleaned was discovered to be of brass—an especially beautiful specimen.
No. 4. Another example of the ‘hammer’ type is at the residence of Mr. Charles P. Waters on Washington Square. The design is quite unusual, as both upper and lower plates are ornamented about their circumference with points somewhat suggestive of a star pattern.
No. 5. A not uncommon style of knocker had a blank space for the name of the house-owner. The one shown here possesses this feature, with a smaller space on the striker where the number of the house might be engraved. The pattern is the familiar urn, so often present in Colonial design.
No. 6. This is a very unusual pattern, with a large smooth oval above and a small diamond-shaped space upon the striker, perhaps for name and number, as in the example just preceding.
No. 7. A plain oval surmounted by a ring following its outline, with a simple ornament at top and bottom suggesting a shell, is the design of the knocker on the door of the Parker residence at 8 Chestnut Street. Here use has been made of the blank surface for the engraving of the owner’s name. This is another variety of the hammer type.
A favorite pattern in English knockers, commonly used in this country prior to the Revolution, was that of a lion, in whose jaws was grasped the ring which formed the striker. But with the revolt against royal tyranny, the lion was soon retired from his conspicuous position, and his place taken by the more acceptable form of the eagle, treated with greater or less conventionality.
No. 8. On the door of Mrs. George Wheatland at 274 Essex Street is found one of these eagle knockers. The lower part of the bird, below the blank plate for owner’s name, has little suggestion of ornithology, in strong contrast with the upper half, where the plumage is strongly and effectively modeled. The striker itself carries a possible suggestion of the dolphin.
No. 9. Another eagle knocker, much less pleasing in treatment, and bringing to mind the figures of the national emblem found upon American coins, embellishes the entrance of ‘Oak Knoll,’ Peabody, once a part of the old town of Danvers, as Danvers in its turn was once a part of Old Salem. The shield upon the eagle’s breast is left blank for use as a nameplate.
OLD SALEM KNOCKERS
(See pages 93-96)
No. 10. The use of classic heads drawn from Greek and Roman mythology was very common in the Italian knockers of the Renaissance period, and these were frequently imitated by the Colonial craftsmen in New England.
A curiously shaped knocker bearing the head of Diana, the crescent upon her brow, the striker consisting of a greatly elongated drapery with knots where it is fastened at either temple of the figure, as also at the lower extremity, is found upon the door of Mr. Philip Little, on Chestnut Street.
No. 11. Another head of classic beauty representing Ariadne, crowned with oak-leaves, which are bound with a fillet about her brow, is at the home of Mrs. Walter Harris on Essex Street. Acorns are shown at either temple, from which depend conventionalized oak-leaves somewhat after the manner of drapery, meeting at the lower end to support a small oval plate which is left blank probably for the house number, the fillet being somewhat incongruously engraved with the owner’s name.
No. 12. Here is one of the favorite Lion type pattern, to which reference has been already made. This appears to have been a popular Italian design, knockers of its type being found upon many doors of ancient homes of Venice. Tradition has it that Napoleon, noticing one of these upon the Doge’s Palace and being reminded by it perhaps of the British lion, angrily commanded it to be torn away.
No. 13. One might wonder why the head of Medusa, conveying so many suggestions of repulsion and terror, should be selected for a place upon any hospitable door. Yet this was a frequent design, and it must be confessed is artistically beautiful, with its flowing locks, its winged brow, the scroll above, and the semi-circular striker with its suggestions of leaves and acorns.
No. 14. An example of the possibility of representing soft and flowing draperies, even through the unyielding medium of metal, is found in this beautiful ‘garland’ knocker. Above, appears the familiar urn with its festooned border and curling ribbons at the base. Below, the graceful lines of the garland trimmed with flowers lead the eye downward to the rosette and pendant, which terminate the design. The polished oval with its saw-tooth frame might almost serve as a mirror for some Salem beauty standing at the door while awaiting admittance.
THE END