A Day in a Colonial Home

by Della R. Prescott

A gridiron, used not only for cooking meat but also as a rest on which to set cooking utensils of any kind, raising them above the coals below. All utensils of this type stood on legs to lift them a little above the coals and ashes.

[FIGURE 20]

Knife-tray, used also for spoons. It was handy and took the place of a drawer. In many of the home-made tables for the kitchen there was no drawer. The tray was usually made of wood and very simple.

[FIGURE 21]

Spectacles and Bible. The rings at the ends of the frames gripped the head behind the ears a little and helped to hold the spectacles more securely. The rims and frames were often made of iron and were then very heavy.

A big Bible like this, with brass corners and clasps, was in many colonial homes. From it the head of the house read aloud every morning or evening. In it, on blank leaves between the Old and New Testaments, was kept the “Family Record,” that is, a list of births, marriages and deaths with dates, sometimes going back for several generations.

[FIGURE 22]

A wheel for spinning flax. At this wheel the spinner, almost always a woman, sat to spin. The process was quite similar to that followed with a wool-wheel; but the wheel was made to revolve by a pedal like that on a sewing machine.

[FIGURE 23]

A powder-horn. Powder was almost always carried in a horn. The horn was usually home made and very simple. A cow’s horn, which is hollow, was patiently scraped on the inside until it was smooth and as thin as the maker desired. In the larger end was fitted a bottom of wood, and in this was fastened a ring or a nail. The small end was cut off to give a hole of proper size. In the horn was cut a rim or groove. To this groove and to the ring in the bottom a stout cord was fastened, which passed over the hunter’s shoulder and held the horn at a convenient place at his right side. The opening was stopped by a wooden plug, so made that it could be easily removed and held in the teeth, so that the hunter might have both hands free to pour out the powder. Often a smaller horn was carried in the pocket to hold a finer and quicker-acting powder to fill the pan for firing. Being finer, it entered the hole more easily and joined the powder of the main charge. Being quicker-acting, it helped to lessen the “hang fire” habit.