USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
529
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
Presently there was a hush. The chief of ceremonies holds up his hand. The exciting moment has come when the syrup is ready for " stirring off." Four stalwart men lift off the big kettles and set them on bricks placed on the floor. With long, paddle-shaped sticks, they stir the seething, ropy mass. Slower and slower move the paddles, as the resistance of the syrup increases. This marks the end of the process of granulation, and sugar-making labors for this season are over. If "sugaring off" proved a merry time in the spring, "commoning day " in the fall was looked forward to with eagerness, at least by the small boys. This was the time after the grass had been cut and the crops removed from the common field, when it was the custom to turn in the cattle, horses and sheep, for pasture. This description of it is given in Bronson's "History ":
It was the practice to name the day on which the fields should be "cleared " and when the people might turn in their cattle, etc., "commoning day." This was late in September or early in October. At the appointed time, early in the morning or immediately after sundown, the whole town was astir. All the four-footed beasts that lived by grazing were brought out, driven in long procession to the meadow gates, and " turned in " to crop the fresh herbage. There they remained, luxuriating and gathering fatness, till the late autumnal frosts, The writer's recol- lection, extending forty years back (the period referred to is about 1815), furnishes him with some refreshing scenes connected with the opening of the common field. Boys who used to drive the cows a mile to pasture hailed the time with lively feelings.
One of the occasions of general work and fun which should not be overlooked was the "raising." It was enjoyed with all the more zest because it came only at rare intervals. In long lines, the neighbors who gathered handled the immense beams and their tackle of heavy ropes, while the small boys stood around ready with their baskets of pins. Well built were the houses of those days and long did they last, as a survivor, scattered here and there over our New England, testifies even to this day. Of course, there were refreshments served, consisting principally of doughnuts and cider, and the women enjoyed the occasion perhaps as much as the men. They often sang at their work, some person being appointed to "deacon off" the lines. When it was a church raising, this singing was an important part of the services, if such they may be called. They tell a story of Pierpont Edwards, the unsanctified relative of the saintly Jonathan Edwards, which shows that exuberant spirits in those days were not held as completely in check as is now popu- larly supposed. A certain country parish in Connecticut started to build a new church. The structure got as far as the roofing, when the money gave out and the work stopped. What was to have been
34
530
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
a sanctuary stood some years in its bare framework, when finally it tumbled down. This was regarded as disgraceful and a new effort was put forth to build the meeting-house. Pierpont Edwards was appointed to "deacon off " the hymn at the raising. They sang with a will the first two lines which he gave them:
Except the Lord doth build the house The workmen toil in vain;
but they were somewhat startled when he gave them the next two lines:
Except the Lord doth shingle it, 'Twill tumble down again.
Our ancestors-to return to the every-day round of ordinary life-were not dependent for their meat on the pork barrel, important as it was, or on the salted and "hung" beef. Although mutton was rare, there was always plenty of poultry. Geese * and turkeys abounded in every barn-yard of any size. The ganders were plucked twice a year. The turkeys, as a rule, were fine specimens. The breed was constantly improved by the big wild birds. "Spoiling for a fight," they paid frequent visits in the spring to the barn-yard fowls. Immense flocks of pigeons t fairly darkened the air as they flew over in September and October. They fell victims by the thousands to nets, decoy birds and hun- dreds of old muskets. There were also not a few vegetables in those days to give variety to the diet. These included potatoes, onions, squashes, beets and turnips principally. The usual bread was a mixture of rye and Indian meal. Wheat bread was scarce and only brought out for company or used in the sacrament of the Lord's supper. The table of the plain people was generously spread, the whole household, including the "help," as a rule sitting down together. The menu included often, in addition to what has been mentioned, hash served with cresses, mustard and horse-radish, hot cakes and maple syrup, apple butter, į honey, doughnuts, pickles, ginger cakes, and pies of every kind and variety. In Waterbury, that still popular favorite, turkey and cranberry sauce, was evi-
* Flocks of wild geese, flying south, sometimes dropped an exhausted or wounded bird. This stranger would remain contentedly with the barn-yard fowls until spring. In a case known to the writer, the mate of the deserting bird left the flock, too, and joined it. The next year, after several flocks had gone northward, the pair recognized the cry of their own flock, the last that season. They gave an answering " honk," rose into air, and flew away with their companions from whom they had been so long separated.
t A traveller by the name of Bennett, writing of New England in 1740, speaks of the immense quantities of these wild pigeons. He says: "They are larger and finer than any we can procure in London, and of a deliciously wild, gamy flavor. They sell for 18 pence a dozen."
¿ This was a sauce of apple and quince, put down in the fall to freeze for winter use; or a sauce made of sweet apples and boiled cider, preserved in the same way.
53I
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
dently a favorite then. In proof of this may be mentioned the significant fact that two frolicsome brooks were named Turkey and Cranberry brooks, respectively-brooks that never failed to remind people of their existence at every flood time.
A great addition to the comfort of the home was the wood-pile. Before the crops were planted in the spring, and after they had been harvested in the autumn, several weeks were given up to tramps in the forests, to procure the year's supply of wood. This was not an insignificant task. In addition to the actual labor, thought had to be given to the selection of the different kinds needed, to the various supplies wanted, and to the matter of cutting the different sizes. First the trees must be " blazed, " that is, those to be chosen for firewood had to be marked in advance. Back logs for the kitchen fire-place, usually five feet by three, required at least two hundred huge hickory or walnut trunks four feet long and twenty-four inches in girth. The second logs were much smaller and shorter than the back logs. After these came the fore- sticks, and hundreds on hundreds of others, fire building in those days being an art on which much depended and which required just the right assortment of wood. All these varieties, as soon as the snow came, were sledded to the wood-yard. The custom of turning work into fun and promoting sociability by community of labor, of which we have had so many instances in these pages, found fresh illustration in the "wood spells, " which lightened the toil of these expeditions. These were commonest when the parson- age was to be supplied. The spoils of the forest being at last safely landed in the back yard, the long, slim, snapping chestnut sticks were selected for the brick oven. When they had been reduced to coals, the latter were taken out with a long handled shovel called a " peel." Then the oven was brushed out free from dust and great pans of bread were put in to bake. Even after these had been "drawn," there was still sufficient heat to bake the numerous pies waiting their turn. After the pies came the pork and beans, which were left in the oven all night. By morning they were thoroughly cooked and ready for the breakfast table. Baking- day was usually Saturday, and perhaps to this fact may be attrib- uted the New England habit of making the Sunday breakfast of pork and beans. While chestnut was the wood for the brick oven, only hickory and oak were used in the fire-places. Other woods were too dangerously apt to snap out into the room, and against this there was little protection, as fenders were then almost unknown. Ash was hardly used at all. It was so full of sap * that
* Ash sap "boiling " was regarded as a sovereign cure for ear-ache.
532
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
it would put out a small fire. After they were once started for the season, fires were built to last all the year round. It was no small misfortune if the sparks were smothered after the fire had been banked with ashes for a winter's night. This meant that a tin box of blazing coals must be borrowed from the nearest neighbor, who might live even a mile away. Of course these coals must be brought back as quickly as possible, and this in turn meant that the person who carried them must go at top speed. Hence arose the old saying, " Have you come after fire?" when a neighbor made a noticeably short call. As friction matches were unknown at this time, the only recourse, if no blazing coals could be borrowed, was the flint and steel. To use these required skill. When the flint, struck sharply against the steel, threw out a spark or two, the manipulator must catch these on some scorched linen or punk, and quickly nurse them into a flame. As the flint might be dull or the tinder damp and refuse to light, the process was often a tedious one, very trying to the temper. Pine wood was used largely for common furniture and coffins. "White wood " provided the lining for bureau and table drawers. Curled maple was greatly sought after by cabinet makers in the city for elegant bedroom sets. Oak
was largely used for beams and rafters. Big and dangerous-from our point of view-as were the fires of those days, it is curious to note that until the day of air-tight stoves few of those old-fashioned houses burned down. That so many of them afterward succumbed is thus explained: Up against the broad back of the ancient chim- ney sparks climbed out in safety. When such a chimney was boarded up and a pipe-hole was made for the stove, the pipe rested, all unknown, against a coating of mortar. In process of time this, dried and fell, and a vast chestnut beam was exposed. A hun- dred times probably, when the pipe was red hot, the beam smoul- dered a trifle and went out. But the hundred and first time it was prime for a conflagration, and the grand old home was gone forever.
We have touched upon the ordinary routine of life and also upon some of the ways in which our ancestors lightened their toil. This is the "reverse " of the picture of those days which is so often held up to us, reproducing the sternness which seemed to dominate their life. From some points of view it appears impossible to exagger- ate the dark colors of the picture. That was a time when the expression of emotion and tenderness was, as a rule, suppressed, as unworthy of a spirit which was to conquer human nature in its devotion to religious duty, and outward nature in its devotion to the necessity of an environment of hardship. The watchword of this doubly determined life was "discipline," and in the family the rule
533
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
of this discipline was cast-iron. Lullaby songs were rare. Babies of the household were often put to bed in the dark, and left to whimper themselves to sleep. Says Nathaniel Smith, the first Chief Justice of Connecticut:
I never remember that my mother took me upon her knee or kissed me. Birth- days were passed by in silence, as though seasons to regret, and no tender gifts or mementoes were ever exchanged between parent and child.
This is the dark side of the picture. It is the side, as has been said, which has been so often held up to us that we have forgotten that there is another. But that other side certainly existed. Not only did our ancestors find amusement in their work, but they also had amusements in which they indulged merely for the sake of amuse- ment. Says Professor Dexter of Yale, in his monograph, "New Haven in 1784," read before the New Haven Historical society (from which we have quoted in the preceding chapter):
I have not time to dwell on details of the social life of a century ago; if it was not the hurried and feverish life of the present, no more was it the ascetic and con- strained life of a century earlier; there was abundance of gayety of a simple sort; and the shopkeeper published prompt advertisements of the arrival of fresh invoices of "gentlemen and ladies' dancing gloves for the City Assembly," of " chip-hats of the newest taste," of " new figured, fashionable cotton, chintz and calicoes, proper for ladies' winter dress," of " elegant figured shauls," of "ladies' tiffany balloon hats," and so on ad infinitum,-showing that human nature had the same kind of interest then as now.
As one part of their social life, we must remember this as the time when domes- tic slavery was general in New Haven. The importing of slaves was forbidden since 1774, but the papers have ocasional, not frequent, advertisements for the sale of likely negroes, or it may be a family of negroes, in respect to whom " a good title will be given"; sometimes it is for a term of years (perhaps till the attainment of legal majority, when by the will of some former owner, freedom was to be given), and sometimes it is noted that, in the lack of ready money, rum and sugar will be taken in part payment. The relations of masters and slaves were in most cases here the best possible; yet sensible men were uneasy under the inconsistency of the system, and President Stiles writes in his diary in December, 1783: "The constant annual importation of negroes into America and the West Indies is sup- posed to have been of late years about 60,000. Is it possible to think of this with- out horror ? "
This gives us a sketch in outline of the reverse of the picture to which we have referred. We pass, then, to some of the relaxations and amusements during the later years of the eighteenth century and the opening years of the nineteenth, in which our ancestors indulged distinctly for the sake of being amused. To begin with boyhood, every lad could whittle, and whittling was a source of infin- ite diversion in grown-up years as well as in boyhood. To the habit of whittling we no doubt owe, in large part, the development of that
534
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Yankee ingenuity which made him a " Jack-of-all-trades." The typi- cal Yankee, as readers of Mrs. Stowe's stories will remember, is always represented as busily whittling when thinking, talk- ing or simply idling. Those Yankees had good tools to whittle with, fine steel jack-knives of England's best make. In the garret on rainy afternoons much of the whittling was done, and it added many useful "helps " for the mother. These "helps" included such articles as wooden spoons, simple frames, reels for clothes lines, and boxes that were wired together and ornamented with an etch- ing burnt in on the cover. As Daniel Webster well says: "The boy's knife educated the nation of skilled mechanics and inventors." This whittling was, in a way, more or less æsthetic. "The first whistle my brother made for me from the gnarled old willow by the brook," says the Hon. S. G. Goodrich, "had music in it for me such as has never been equalled since." Wrestling was a natural result of the superabundant bodily strength characterizing the men of those days. Robust by birth, toughened by their out-of-door life, as a matter of course they often matched strength with strength, and delighted in pitting their local athletic champion: one against the other. Meeting around a camp-fire, the match was opened by the second-rate wrestlers. When one of these had been "downed," the defeated champion would call upon another from his side to resume the contest. The purpose was, of course, to tire out and vanquish the victor. The matches between the Waterbury and Westbury boys were famous. It was during one of these matches that the Rev. John Trumbull, the Westbury pastor, threw a braggart stranger (as related in full elsewhere) into the fire. "Coasting " was a natural and favorite winter sport, and the happy voices in some more lonely spot made the night musical with shouts and laughter. A favorite coasting place in Waterbury was the hill along whose ridge Hillside avenue now runs. The momen- tum was sufficient to carry the coasters across "Bushell's bay" (the frog pond which occupied the site of the present Waterbury Green), and land them where the City hall now stands. This reminds us, in passing, that this frog pond offered "no end of fun" to the small boys in stoning its numerous occupants. Hunting was then as pop- ular a sport as it is to-day, and much more generally practiced. Every household was possessed of some kind of a musket or "queen's arm." Every boy could shoot and shoot to kill. At ore time many beavers were to be found in Waterbury itself. In the neighboring woods squirrels were numerous. In autumn pigeons were to be had for the asking, and there were thrushes in the larger trees. Bobolinks tempted the hunter from the tops of the t: 1
535
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
weeds, and the doves in the bushes were an easy prey. The red foxes were a nobler game; coon hunts were as popular then as now, and the woodchuck was the special prey of the small boy.
Of all the principal occasions of the year, perhaps "training-day" should be mentioned first. "Going to muster" was the grand annual frolic. Every town which had sixty-four soldiers-only able- bodied men were soldiers-and a sufficient number besides for offi- cers, formed a foot company. The officers were elected by the men, and two drums were allowed to each company. In smaller towns, which lacked the required quota, only the sergeants and inferior offi- cers were elected by the soldiers. These train-bands were by no means merely carpet soldiers. In King Philip's war they were called out more than once. In 1675 their efficiency was severely tested, and the very existence of the colonies at this crisis depended in no small degree on their thorough training. In more recent times special volunteer companies, formed by men of tried military experience, did on the whole better service than the train-bands, and were more generally depended upon. On "training-days " the children were as much "in evidence " as their elders. The booths, containing generous supplies of gingerbread, were the especial delight of the youngsters, and gave them a chance for extravagance for which long preparation had been previously made in the hoard- ing of stray pennies. This gingerbread was baked in large sheets, and the question of how much, broken off from one of these sheets, constituted a " penny's worth " was a most important one. Another day, dear to the youthful heart, was "Independence day," to use the old-fashioned name. Then, as now, it was a day devoted to noise. Its culmination was reached when some musty old cannon was dragged forth from its hiding-place, loaded to its limit and dis- charged to the infinite risk of life to all in the vicinity. Another holiday of wide-spread popularity, which has now become simply a local institution, was " Commencement day." Edmund Quincy, in the "Harvard Book " (already quoted in this chapter), thus describes its observance:
The whole population of Boston seemed to precipitate itself upon Cambridge. The road was covered with carriages and vehicles of every description, with horse- men and footmen going and returning. The common near the college, then unin- closed, was covered with booths in regular streets, which, for days before and after, were the scenes of riot and debauchery. The village indeed had the look of a fair with its shows and crowds and various devices for extracting money from the unwary.
What is true of the popular recognition of Harvard's Commence- rient in Massachusetts applies equally to Yale's Commencement in Connecticut. Every town sent its delegation of representatives to
536
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
take part in the festivities at New Haven. Ordinary people used Commencement as a date to reckon by, as we use the Fourth of July or Christmas. An amusing last century story is told by the Hon. F. J. Kingsbury, of a woman living on a farm in this vicinity who complained one year that her hops were undersized. "But," ex- plained a neighbor, "you picked them too soon. It isn't time to pick hops yet." "I always pick my hops on Commencement day," she replied. "But," returned the neighbor, "they have changed Commencement. It came earlier this year,"-something which the woman could hardly believe possible, so sacredly immutable was the festival. Among other stated occasions which permitted relax- ation and social enjoyment, Thanksgiving day comes first in im- portance. Originally, of course, it was a purely religious institu- tion. But when it came to take the place of Christmas, its original character was gradually modified and a large part of the day was given up to hilarity and social mirth. Fast day, on the other hand, retained its original character for a much longer period. Never- theless, there is evidence extant that it was not entirely devoted by everybody to prayer and fasting solely. Election day, at first appointed for inaugurating the governor in his office, came in time, as Professor William C. Fowler of Amherst says (in his "Notes " to the Centennial papers prepared some years ago for the Congrega- tional Conference in this state), "faintly to resemble Coronation day in England." On that day election-cake was to be found on every tea-table, and election balls were fashionable in the evening.
Passing from special days to general forms of amusement, it is to be noted that singing schools were a popular diversion with the young people. In this vicinity they were often held on Sunday evenings. Singing seemed a safe and appropriate outlet for pent-up spirits which had been held under the strictest control from sun- down of the Saturday evening before. It is said of those who con- ducted these singing schools here in Waterbury that they were more than usually successful teachers. Corn huskings-at which finding a red ear carried with it the privilege of a kiss-occasional barbecues and clam-bakes in the forest or by the sea-shore, sleigh- riding in the winter, when frequently from ten to fifty sleighs were brought into requisition, kite-flying in the spring and ball-playing in the autumn complete the list of the principal minor diversions.
There were certain institutions of those days which might pos- sibly, from one point of view, be classed among the amusements, although amusement was not properly their object. The "vendue" was one of these, that is to say, the public auction of goods and chattels taken out on writs of execution and sold at public sale by
537
LIFE IN THE " AGE OF HOMESPUN."
the sheriff at the whipping-post, where they had been previously advertised. It is seldom at any time, or under any circumstances, that a public auction fails to draw a crowd. In these earlier days, in a village as quiet as was Waterbury then, the tap of the drum which summoned would-be purchasers and mere on-lookers to the scene of the auction must have met with a general response. The whipping-post is another institution which certainly filled the place of a public amusement, if it did not actually constitute such an amusement .* It is a creditable statement to make that only at rare intervals was any one found deserving of this debasing punishment. But now and then there were cases where culprits were sentenced to receive a half-dozen lashes on the bare back. As late as 1805 it is recorded that on one occasion the school was "let out" that the scholars might witness the whipping, and learn for themselves what petty thieving, lying and brawling led to. The last man who was publicly whipped in Waterbury was Walter Whelan. The whipping-post was abolished by 1820, and by 1830 all reference to it disappears from the statute-book. Some may be disposed to won- der that public whipping should have lasted here in Connecticut into the present century. But when we consider that objections against public executions have only recently received anything like a general recognition, one perhaps is led to wonder rather that the whipping-post was abolished as soon as it was. It is interesting to note in this connection that the whip for wife-beaters and other brutal criminals has its advocates to-day among some of the most advanced pænologists, and that in the most successful institution of the kind in the world, the Elmira (N. Y.) reformatory, corporal punishment is a most effective part of the system, and is recognized as such by students of high standing.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.