A wool spinning-wheel. The spinner walked back and forth in using this wheel, and her walk was often many miles in a day’s spinning. A band of stout cord goes around the big wheel and around the spindle. A strand of wool, very light and loose, is gently drawn by hand from the distaff to the end of the finished thread which is wound about the spindle. This strand is held loosely in the left hand. The right hand on one of the spokes of the large wheel gives it a smart turn. The spinner then walks away from the machine and the spindle, swiftly turned by the momentum of the large wheel, twists the loose strand of wool into a close thread. This thread is of such length and of such size and hardness of twist as the spinner decides upon, all being dependent on the force with which the big wheel is pushed, on the thickness of the loose strand of wool, and on the way in which the spinner holds it as she walks from the wheel. The finished thread is then wound on the spindle by gently reversing the large wheel, and holding the thread at the spindle. Then the same process is repeated.
[FIGURE 8]
A cradle. Few colonial babies had rocking cradles as luxurious as this; indeed, few had cradles at all.
[FIGURE 9]
A wooden churn. Its like is used to this day. In former times churning was one of the tasks that many a farmer’s boy had too much of. On the lower end of the handle, which passed down through a hole in the center of the cover, was a disk of wood, perforated and fitting loosely in the tall tub. The tub was partially filled with cream and the butter was made to “come” by moving the handle up and down and thus splashing the disk up and down in the cream.
[FIGURE 10]
A flint-lock gun. The flint was fastened into the hammer and, as it drove down against a curved shield, it raised a shower of sparks and at the same time lifted the shield and exposed to the sparks the powder in the pan. The powder, being thus ignited, the fire followed it through the hole into the barrel and exploded the powder in the “charge” behind the bullet or shot. All flint-locks “hung fire.” That is, the pulling of the trigger did not discharge the gun as quickly as it does in modern guns where the exploding cap is connected directly with the charge in the cartridge.
A flint-lock pistol. This operated just as did the flint-lock gun.
[FIGURE 11]
The warming-pan. In most houses the only warm place was by the kitchen fire. In winter the bedrooms were about as cold as the weather out of doors. This made the beds far from comfortable to get into on a cold night. The warming-pan was a basin of brass or copper with a hinged cover, sometimes decorated. Hot ashes and coals from the kitchen fire were put into it; it was then carried to the bed and the hot pan was pushed up and down between the sheets until the whole bed was warm.