USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Medford > History of the town of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from its first settlement, in 1630, to the present time, 1855 > Part 43
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Festival Days. - These were too fashionable in the mother country to be popular here. There were some holidays, of American origin, which were celebrated with enthusiasm. Election-day was hailed with drums, guns, and drinking. Commencement-day at Cambridge College was a great fes- tival, uniting the church and the state; and each one of the whole community seemed personally interested in it. Small detachments of boys from Medford went under the care of trusty slaves. Neal says, "The people were as cheerful among their friends as the English are at Christmas." Or- dination-days came not very often ; but, when they did, the occasion demanded great outlays in food and drinks ; and, in the evening, there were what the ministers called " unbe- coming actions," - probably blindman's-buff, and such other tolerable frolic as took place at huskings. Pope-day, though of English origin, was noticed by our ancestors ; and the 5th of November brought the gunpowder-plot, sermons, and carousing, into the same twenty-four hours. It was the season for bonfires, and for replenishing the mind with hatred of the Catholics.
Of the European holidays which our fathers rejected, there was Christmas. If any one observed it, he was fined five shillings ! Increase Mather (1687), in his " Testimony against several Profane and Superstitious Customs now prac- tised by some in New England," says Candlemas-day had " superstition written on its forehead." "Shrove Tuesday was the heathen's shrove-tide, when the pagan Romans made little cakes as a sacrifice to their gods, and the heathen Greeks made pancakes to their idols." Drinking healths, and making New-Year's gifts, were discouraged, as paganish customs. The drama was thus forbidden : " Baptized per- sons are under obligation to renounce all the pomps of Satan, and therefore to abhor and abandon stage-plays, which have a principal part in the pomps of the Devil." For equally valid reasons, May-day was anathematized ; and when, in Charlestown, they thought of erecting a May-pole, Mr. Mather, in 1686, said, " It is an abominable shame, that any persons, in a land of such light and purity as New England has been, should have the face to speak or think of practising so vile a piece of heathenism." Dancing was dangerous because "the daughter of Herodias danced John the Baptist's head off." But Mr. Mather says, in 1685, that, within " the last year, promiscuous dancing was openly practised, and too much
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countenanced, in this town." He further says, "I can remember the time, when, for many years, not so much as one of these superstitious customs was known to be practised in this land. Ask such of the old standers if it were not so. Alas ! that so many of the present generation have so early corrupted their doings ! Methinks I hear the Lord speaking to New England as once to Israel : ' I planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me !'"
It is very clear, from these facts, that the minds of our fathers were magnetized by predilections which could not tolerate innovation.
We would now descend to particulars and personalities, and speak minutely of some of the domestic customs of our ancestors. We will begin with -
Dress. - The costume of our early settlers had the pecu- liarities of their day. There was then, as now, a rage for something new; but the range in variety was very small. Nevertheless, female extravagance had gone so far, that an interdict of legislation was called for to arrest the destructive expenditures ; and, Sept. 3, 1634, the General Court said, -
" The court hath ordered, that no person, either man or woman, shall hereafter make or buy any apparel, either woollen, silk, or linen, with any lace on it, silver, gold, silk, or thread, under the penalty of forfeiture of said clothes. Also all gold or silver girdles, hatbands, belts, ruffs, beaver-liats, are prohibited. Also immo- derate great sleeves, slashed apparel, immoderate great rayles, long wings, &c."
It took only five years for the modistes of this centre of transatlantic fashion to change the forms so as to make another legislative interference necessary. Accordingly, on the 9th of September, 1639, the General Court forbade lace to be sold or used ; and they say, -
" Hereafter, no garment shall be made with short sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arm may be discovered in the wearing thereof ; and, hereafter, no person whatsoever shall make any garment for women, or any of their sex, with sleeves more than half an ell wide in the widest place thereof; and so proportionable for bigger or smaller persons."
In this forbidding of bare necks and naked arms (the very opposite of the dress à la sauvage), there was neither studied humility nor conspicuous poverty, but the recom-
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mendation of clothes typical of true Puritan ideas, - clothes that would not patronize coughs, consumptions, pride, or taxes. As the royal family and the nobility led the Eng- lish nation in habits of dress, they would not be so implicitly followed on this side of the water. As faithful disciples turn their faces to Jerusalem or Mecca, so modern fashionists turn their eyes to Paris ; for France is subjugating the world to millinery. Thus it was not with our Pilgrim ancestors. They dared to think for themselves ; and they dared to make laws against the customs and costumes of their native land. The single fact that our Colonial Legislature took up the subject of dress, - female dress, too, - is a proof of their clear ideas and consistent characters. What body of men had ever before dared thus to legislate on such a subject ? It is very evident to us, therefore, what kind of dress the Medford ladies had not ; and we can conceive the dumb wonder and inexpressible blushing which the appearance of one of our exposé celebrities would cause among them at an evening party. It is wonderful how the highest civilization brings us back to Eden !
The common' every-day dress of our ancestors was very plain, strong, and comfortable ; but their Sunday suits were expensive, elaborate, and ornamental. The men, in their Sunday attire, wore broad-brimmed hats, turned up into three corners, with loops at the side, showing full bush-wigs beneath them ; long coats, the very opposite of the swallow- tails, having large pocket-folds and cuffs, and without collars, the buttons either plated or of pure silver, and of the size of half a dollar ; vests, also without collars, but very long, hav- ing graceful pendulous lappet-pockets ; shirts, with bosom and wrist ruffles, and with gold and silver buckles at the wrist, united by a link; the neckcloths or scarfs of fine linen, or figured stuff, or embroidered, the ends hanging loosely. Small-clothes were in fashion, and only reached a little below the knees, where they were ornamented with sil- ver buckles of liberal size ; the legs were covered with gray stockings, and the feet with shoes, ornamented with straps and silver buckles ; boots were sometimes worn, having broad white tops ; gloves, on great occasions ; and mittens, in the winter. A gentleman, with his cocked-up hat and white bush-wig ; his chocolate-colored coat, buff vest, and small- clothes ; his brown stockings and black shoes ; his ruffles, buckles, and buttons, - presented an imposing figure, and
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showed a man who would probably demean himself with dignity and intelligence.
The best dress of the rich was very costly : The scarlet coat, wadded skirts, full sleeves, cuffs reaching to the elbows, wristbands fringed with lace ; embroidered bands, tassels, gold buttons ; vests fringed with lace ; and small-clothes with puffs, points, buckles, &c. ; a sword hanging by the side.
The visiting-dress of the ladies was more costly, compli- cated, and ornamental than their husbands or brothers wore. But with them we have little to do in this brief notice, and therefore leave to others the description of their coiffures, which were so high as to bring their faces almost into the middle of their bodies ; their black silk and satin bonnets ; their gowns, so extremely long-waisted ; their tight sleeves, which were sometimes very short, with an immense frill at the elbow ; their spreading hoops and long trails ; their high- heeled shoes ; and their rich brocades, flounces, spangles, embroidered aprons, &c. Their dress on the sabbath was simple, secure, and modest : A cheap straw bonnet, with only one bow without, and no ornament but the face within ; a calico dress, of sober colors, high up in the neck, with a simple white muslin collar just peeping round the top ; a neat little shawl, and a stout pair of shoes, - these pre- sented to the eye the Puritan costume of our ancestral and pious mothers. They were happy, some may think, in being free from the more than royal tyranny of those modern mis- tresses of shears and needles, who distort and crucify nature to furnish that variety which caprice must have, and whose new fashions finally penetrate the abodes of our northern subterranean Esquimaux, and the huts of the South-Sea islanders. It is certainly to be hoped that these kaleidoscope changes of our day may do something for artistic beauty, and something for feeding the poor artisans ; and thus be some compensation for converting females into manikins to show off satins and embroideries. We look with anxiety for the time when old things shall become new ; when hoops and pattens, silk cloaks and top-knots, tunics and scarlet belts, sacks and ruffle cuffs, small-clothes and silver buckles, em- broidered vests and neck-ties, powdered hair and long cues, shall drive out the tiptoe modes of modern days, and reign again supreme.
The best dwelling-houses of our Medford ancestors were two stories high in front, slanting off to one story in the rear.
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There was one strong chimney in the centre of the building ; and the windows were glazed with diamond-glass. It was deemed of primary importance that the dwelling should face the south. A very few specimens of this style of architecture remain unaltered among us.
The first houses of the farmers in this plantation were log- huts of one story, with thatched roof, having lofts inside, like our barns. The fireplaces were made of rough stones, and the upper half of the chimneys with short sticks, cross- ing each other, and plastered inside with clay. The houses always fronted the south, like sun-dials, so that the mid-day sun might " shine square."
Let us look at a family thus conditioned. They have chosen a spot near the Mystic River, where the highest tides cannot annoy them ; and their house seems thrust into the thickest wood. No yard in front, no wall behind, no path, no gate, - all open as an unfenced forest: there seems not even an outlet into the civilized world. The young under- growth of wood is springing up beneath the windows ; the wild sumachs and blackberry vines are breaking into the cel- lar; the sturdy pitch-pines are rubbing and crackling against the thatch-poles ; the golden-rod is intertwining itself among the white birch and dark hazel ; while a centenarian oak and a towering walnut stand near enough to promise shade and take the lightning. Here each member of the family in the log-hut can run up a pleasant acquaintance with a blooming beech-tree or a tapering cedar, with a graceful " dressed elm " or a glossy-leaved chestnut.
" He who loves to hold communion with Nature's beauti- ful forms" will not need other society here. The wind labors and roars in the forest; the susurum murmurs its Æolian music through the pines ; the tide goes and comes like a faithful messenger ; and the sun, moon, and stars seem to belong to that little world.
Add to all these the frolic and movements of animals. How social were they with the early comers! European eyes, for the first time, could watch the racing of the Ameri- can weazel, that agile hunter of the woods ; the dodging of the gray squirrel in the nut-tree; the undisturbed meal of the woodchuck in the clover ; the patient labor of the bea- ver in building his house; and the craft of the fox, as he barks in the moonlight to start his game.
There was something to engage attention even in the
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waters. They had a morning, noon, and evening song ; for the little frogs would send forth their gentle peep through hours of darkness ; while great ones, at mid-day, would grum- ble out their hoarse password, and throw back their sentinel echoes round the shores of their Stygian pools.
There is a vast and unaccountable friendliness in birds. They would take to men as companions, if men would only let them. Our ancestors in Medford were in a district which naturally collected birds from ocean and forest, from upland and meadow. At their doors, they had the useful cock and hen, the brilliant mallard-duck, and the sentinel white goose. At early dawn, those notes of chanticleer - calling upon every sleeper to rise, and take a draught of undiluted morn- ing air from the fountain of the day - those notes are so clear and powerful and strange that we should go a hundred miles to hear them, if the bird had never been domesticated. The inmates of the log-hut listen to this noble creature, speaking to them with the authority of a major-general on parade. They love this faithful bird, this once wild Indian pheasant ; and they cherish him with the affection of a friend. And is he not truly a wonderful bird ? Wherever he is, he has . good health, strong lungs, and spirits like a young lover. All climates agree with him ; and the poets of all times have sung his praises. Our fathers wisely guarded him and his family as a secret treasure.
And was there ennui in the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic ? If so, the birds alone could have dissipated it. The oriole, the robin, and the thrush, the swallow, the hum- ming-bird, and the wren, were enough to put all despondency to flight. How could they be sad, who saw the sandpipers coming in flocks, and heard the plovers whistling on the hill ? How could they be sad, who could hear the blue-jay screaming in the thicket, or the kingfisher rattling by the river's side ? What human heart could despond, when it witnessed the lark soaring towards heaven in his spiral flight, as if to carry his prayer of faith to the very throne of mercy ?
In every bird, there is something to please and to instruct man. In those unbroken solitudes of Nature, our forefathers had the privilege of witnessing the marvellous contrasts exhibited by the feathered tribes. With what wonder must they have watched the wild-goose, of which it may almost be said, that he breaks his fast at Baffin's Bay, takes his lunch in Medford Pond, and plumes himself at nightfall in a southern
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.
bayou! How different from him the laughing-loon, catching minnows in the shallows of a creek! Mark the majestic sail- ing of the eagle through the deep of air; and contrast this with the bittern, driving his post in the meadow. Then there is the owl, Nature's watchman, waiting for the dawning of his day, which is sundown. Listen to his midnight love-note, which seems discord and sighs hooted at the moon; and see him shoot through a tangled forest in the dark, as if every tree and twig made way for him! And, last of all, give an ear to the whippoorwill, as he sings with clear and healthy note his matins and vespers.
Group together all these joys and teachings of animated nature, each so friendly to man, and all so abundant and so lofty, and how could the witnesses of them be weary or sor- rowful ? We believe they were not ; but, on the contrary, they joined the general chorus with loving and devoted hearts, making the whole earth an altar of thanksgiving, and the whole heavens the witness of their joy.
DAILY AND DOMESTIC HABITS.
We may get the truest ideas of these by watching, through two days, all the plans and movements of that family in the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic. We will take Satur- day and Sunday. Let us look closely. The father is a strong man of forty-six, with a true Puritan heart ; and his wife is seven years his junior, with good health and without anxiety. Their first child is a son, eighteen years old; the next is a daughter of sixteen ; then come three boys, their ages fourteen, eleven, and eight ; and the youngest child is a daughter, aged six. Of hired men or women, they had none. Extra help came from what they called " change work."
Let us first mark the cares and labors of the farmer and his boys. Saturday was a busy day with them ; although one day's or one year's experience was almost exactly like another's.
To rise early was not considered worthy of any remark ; while not rising early would have been deemed a crime. To be up before daylight was a matter of course with every family. The father was expected to move first ; to strike a light with flint and steel ; to kindle a fire under the kettle in which the water for the porridge was to be boiled. This done,
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·
he calls the boys, who soon appear, and after them the mother and daughter. One wooden wash-basin, in the sink, served each in turn for morning ablutions ; and one roller sufficed for wiping all faces. Their dress is suited to their work. The father wears an old cocked-up hat, or a thick cotton cap ; no cravat, but a low shirt-collar ; a short frock of strongest warp ; a pair of old leather breeches ; and leggins, which were confined above the knee, and tied over the shoe with a string round the middle of the foot. The boys had cotton caps on their heads, or the remnants of old felt-hats ; short jackets, of the coarsest fabric ; leather breeches, and leg- gins. By earliest dawn, the father and his three eldest sons are in the cow-yard, milking. This over, the youngest son drives the cows to pasture, and hastens back to the next duties. The hogs have received their allowance of buttermilk. The morning's milk has been strained and set for cream, or heated to begin a cheese. Then come the reading of the Sacred Scriptures and the family prayers. Immediately afterwards follows the breakfast, which in winter is by candle-light, and in summer by dawn-light. The breakfast, commenced by " asking a blessing " and closed by " returning thanks," con- sists of pea-porridge, dealt out, before sitting down, in small wooden bowls. A small central dish has in it some salted shad and smoked alewives ; or peradventure some fresh eels, which the boys caught from the river the evening before. With these, brown bread and beer are served ; and here end- ed the usual variety. Sometimes the children were regaled with samp and milk, and the father with boiled salt pork. From the breakfast-table, the father and sons repair to the field, and are at work by six o'clock. With their tools, they have taken the family-gun, not so much from fear of Indians, as the hope of securing some valuable game. Sometimes a fine deer crosses their field, on his way to the river; and, if they are so fortunate as to take him, it makes a feast-week at home ; for every part is eaten. Salted and smoked, it was deemed a very savory dish. By half-past eight o'clock, our laborers in the field are ready for the usual lunch, which con- sists of smoked shad, bread and cheese, and cider. Thus sustained till a quarter before twelve, they hear the dinner- horn announcing - what the boys had been expecting with im- patience - dinner. All hands break off and start for home, and are ready to sit down at the table just as the sun is square on the window-ledge, and the sand in the hour-glass
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is out. A blessing craved, they begin with the Indian pud- ding, and relish it with a little molasses. Next come a piece of broiled salt pork, or black broth, fried eggs, brown bread, cabbage, and cider. They denominated their dinner " boiled victuals ; " and their plates, "wooden trenchers." Potatoes did not come into use till 1733; tea and coffee, till 1700.
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Turnips, carrots, and parsnips were cultivated. Dinner de- spatched in fifteen minutes, the time till one o'clock was called "nooning," when each laborer was free to sleep or play. Nooning over, they repair to the fields, and find that a fox or wolf has killed a sheep, and eaten his dinner. The father takes his gun and hastens in search, telling the boys " to keep at their work, and, if they see the fox, to whistle with all their might." The fox, that took great pains to be there when the owner was away, now takes great pains to be away when the owner is there. A drink of good beer all round, at three o'clock, is the only relief in the afternoon's toil, which ends at five; at which hour the youngest son drives home the cows, and the milking is finished at six. The hogs and sheep are now called to their enclosures near the barn, where the faithful dog will guard them from their night- prowling enemies. All things being safe, supper is ready. The father takes a slice of cold broiled pork, the usual brown bread, and a mug of beer, while the boys are regaled with milk porridge or hasty-pudding. In their season, they had water-melons and musk-melons ; and, for extra occasions, a little cherry wine. Sometimes they had boiled Indian corn, mixed with kidney-beans. · Into bean and pea porridge they put a slice of salted venison. They had also succatash, which is corn and beans boiled together. The meat of the shag-bark was dried and pounded, and then put into their porridge to thicken it. The barley fire-cake was served at breakfast. They parched corn, and pounded it, and made it into a nokake. Baked pumpkins were common. The extra dish, for company, was a cake made of strawberries and parched corn. The same religious exercises as were offered at dinner are now repeated. At seven o'clock a neighbor calls, not to ask the news, for there is none, but to propose a change of work for next Tuesday. This is agreed to ; and, as our ancestors made up in hearty welcome what they wanted in luxuries, a mug of cider is drunk, by way of entertainment ; and half-past seven finds the neighbor gone, and the house- hold ready for family prayers. The Scriptures are read in
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turn, -the Old Testament in the morning, and the New at night. Eight o'clock records the entire family in bed, except one of the boys, who has an inquisitive mind, and has bor- rowed a book on witchcraft; and he is allowed to sit up till nine, and read by the light of a pitch-pine knot, stuck into a hole in the chimney-corner.
This simple round of needful duties must be daily repeated through the six months of warm weather, and a yet more simple routine for the remainder of the year.
Now let us see how the mother and daughters get through that Saturday in the log-hut on the banks of the Mystic. Their house - which had two covered rooms below, a kitchen that went up to the roof, and two lofts as attic cham- bers - required very little care ; and the beds could be made in an incredibly short time. The first duty of the morning was cooking the breakfast; and, after the water was boiling, it needed but thirty minutes to complete the process. The daughter sat the table, whose furniture consisted of wooden plates, pewter spoons, two knives and forks, the father's dish of smoked shad, the boys' bowls of pea-porridge, a plate of brown bread, and a mug of cider. To wash up and clear off the whole, after breakfast, needed but fifteen minutes of brisk application by the two daughters. The lunch prepared for the men has gone with them to the field ; and now the cheese must be made, and it must be made with care. This takes till eight o'clock ; and hard work it is, - the "turning " of the cheeses harder still. Saturday is baking-day ; and the three females are busy in preparing for the event. The oven had its opening on the outside of the house, behind the chimney, and was double the size of modern ones. One brings wood to heat the oven ; another gets the Indian meal and rye ; a third brings a pail of water. Here are beans to be picked over, pork to be cut, and dough to be kneaded. The kitchen is busy ; all hands are at work ; and the baking for seven days cannot be pre- pared in less than three hours. Eleven o'clock has unex- pectedly come, and it demands that dinner should be thought of; and all other business is supended to provide for that. At the fixed moment, the elder daughter blows the horn ; and the laborers from the field are anon at their dinner. No washing up of dinner-things to-day till after the batch is set in. The oven is soon cleared of fire, swept, and dusted ; and then go into the hottest part the large oval lumps of brown- bread dough, because they require the strongest heat. Next
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comes the huge stone pot of beans, with its top covered by a thick slice of pork ; and beside it the Indian pudding, in a broad, deep, earthen bowl. The oven's mouth is stopped with a piece of plank, and the crevices are plastered up with clay. Two o'clock witnesses all things in trim order; and the mother is ready to do a little weaving, the elder daughter a little mending, and the child steals out for a little play with her pet lamb. A female neighbor has just come through the woods to invite her friends to a "quilting," which is to begin at one o'clock next Wednesday. The joy of such an event makes the bright eyes of the daughter laugh at every
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