CHAPTER VII
The Farmhouse and the Farmer
The farmers in the early days had few conveniences and comforts and were largely dependent for the supply of their wants upon the products of their farms. But little food was purchased. At the outset domestic animals were too valuable to be killed for food but deer and other wild game were plentiful. When this no longer became necessary and an animal was killed by a farmer, it was the custom to lend pieces of the meat to the neighbors, to be repaid in kind when animals were killed by them. In this way the fresh meat supply was kept up for a long time by the killing of one animal. Other parts of the meat were salted and kept for a number of months before all was eaten. Nearly every family had a beef and a pork barrel (called a "powdering tub"), from which most of the meat used in summer was taken. Meat was not found upon the table every day.
The chimney in the farmhouse was of great size, occupying relatively a large amount of the space inside the house. The kitchen fireplace usually was large enough to accommodate logs four feet in length, oftentimes even larger. In making a fire a backlog, a foot or more in diameter, was placed against the back of the fireplace; a forestick was then placed across the andirons in front, and wood piled between, producing a hot fire, and giving the kitchen a very cheerful appearance. Large stones were sometimes used instead of a backlog, and an iron bar was laid on the andirons in front of the forestick. Ample ventilation was had by the constant current of air that passed up the chimney.
In sitting before an open fire it was often complained that while one was roasted in front he was frozen in the back and this led to the use in nearly every family of a long seat made of boards called a "settle," with a high back to keep off the wind from behind, which, when placed before the fire, was usually occupied by the older members of the family.
At night, any fire that remained was carefully covered with ashes and was expected to keep until morning to kindle for the next day. This was called "raking up the fire," and calculation was made to have enough fire to cover up every night, so it need not be lost. If the fire didn't keep over, some one would go with a fire pan to a neighbor, if one lived near, and borrow some fire. But if this was inconvenient, resort was then had to the tinder box. Tinder was made by charring cotton or linen rags. The box containing this was usually kept in a niche made in the side of the fireplace, by leaving out a couple of bricks. By striking fire with flint and steel, the tinder was ignited. Homemade matches, which had been dipped in melted brimstone, were set on fire by touching the burning tinder and in this way a fire was obtained. Sometimes fire was kindled by flashing powder in the pan of a flint-lock musket, thereby setting paper on fire. Friction matches did not come into use until about 1832.
The cooking was done over and before the open fire. Boiling was done by suspending kettles from pot hooks which were upon the crane and of different lengths to accommodate the height of the fire. An adjustable hook which was called a "trammel" was not infrequently used. Meat was roasted by passing through it an iron rod called a spit and this was rested on brackets on the back of the andirons in front of the fire and by repeated turning and exposing on all sides, the meat was evenly cooked. Another method was to suspend the meat or poultry by a line before the fire. By twisting the line hard it would slowly unwind. Of course some one had to be in frequent attendance to twist the cords and usually it was a child. A dish placed underneath caught the drippings from the roast. Sometimes the line would burn off, and have to be replaced before the cooking could be completed.