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THE OLDEN TIME SERIES

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THE DAYS OF THE SPINNING-WHEEL IN NEW ENGLAND

"To say that the past is of no importance, unworthy of a moment's regard, because it has gone by, and is no longer anything, is an argument that cannot be held to any purpose; for if the past has ceased to be, and is therefore to be accounted nothing in the scale of good or evil, the future is yet to come, and has never been anything."—Hazlitt.

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From Henry J. Finn's "Good Old Times,"

October, 1827.

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THE OLDEN TIME SERIES

GLEANINGS CHIEFLY FROM OLD NEWSPAPERS OF BOSTON
AND SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS

SELECTED AND ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF COMMENTS

BY

HENRY M. BROOKS

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The Days of the Spinning-Wheel in New England

"Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is
no thread that is not a twist of these two strands. By necessity, by
proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."—Emerson

BOSTON
TICKNOR AND COMPANY
1886

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INDEX OF NAMES.

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">68 Apthorpe, Rev. Mr. 33 Colman, Rev. Henry 97 Apthorpe, Susan 33 Cooper, William 20 Ashton, John 35 Copeland, E. Jr. 86 Avery, John 55, 56 Copley, John Singleton 59, 72 Crocker, Cornelius 10 Balch, Rev. Mr. 29 Crosby, John 60 Balkum, Daniel 89 Barnard, Benjamin 61 Daland, B. 97 Belknap, Jeremiah 29 Dalrymple, Colonel 68 Bernard, Gov. Francis 35, 36, 37, 46 Dana, Rev. Mr. 81 Blanchard, Caleb 84 Darley, Arthur 57 Bollan, William 9 Davis, Joshua 60 Bowditch, Nathaniel 42 Deane, Rev. Samuel 93 Bowdoin, Hon. James 33 Deane, Mrs. 93 Bowdoin, Miss 33 Deshon, Moses 15 Brattle, William 63 Douglass, Mr. 39, 41 Breck, Samuel 88 Brenton, Benjamin 54

class="smcap">Eastlake, Sir Charles 6 Britt, Thomas 59 Edes & Gill 11,16,32,43 Brown, B. 97 Elliot, Sally 33 Brown, Obadiah 64 Elliot, Simon 33, 85, 86 Bulfinch, Dr. Thomas 33 Ellis, Mrs. 91 Butler, Mr. 21 Ellis, Rev. Mr. 90 Elwell, Edward H. 93 Caldwell, James 68 Emerson, R.W. 6 Carpenter, Captain 19 Erving, John 67

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Flemming, Albert 98 Minot, George R. 70 Flynt, Henry 17, 18 Monk, Christopher 68 Fowle & Draper 48 Morgan, Captain 34, 35 Franklin, Dr. Benjamin 24 Morton, Captain 68 Franklin, Elizabeth 24 Murray, Mrs. 82 Murray, Rev. Mr. 82 Gay, Martin 59 Gordon, James 79 Oliver, Andrew 37 Gorham, Joseph 10

Gray, Samuel 68 Paine, William 50 Green & Russell 34, 47, 52 Parker, David 68 Greene, John 68 Parkman, Samuel 80 Gwin, Captain 56 Payne, Edward 68 Peirce, Benjamin 42 Hancock, John 69 Pelham, Charles 72 Haskell, Philemon 91 Pelham, Mrs. 72 Hawthorne, Nathaniel 42 Perkins, Thomas H. 33 Henshaw, Joshua, Jr. 59 Phenix, John 4 Hickling, William 61 Pickering, Colonel Timothy 42, 46 Hill, Colonel John 59 Pickering, John 42 Hill, Katherine 59 Pickering, Timothy, Sr. 44, 46 Holyoke, Edward 14 Pope of Rome 85 Hudson, James 9 Poynton, Thomas 51, 52 Hurd, John 62, 63 Prescott, John 39 Prescott, William H. 42 Inch, John 16 Preston, Captain 68

align="left">Prince of Wales 28 Johnson, Mr. 68 Queen Anne 6 King Charles I. 5 King George II. 10 Read, Thomas 16 King George III. 37, 44 Revere, Paul 71 Rhodes, Captain 84 Lee, Francis H. 86 Rogers, Rev. Mr. 13 Lewis, Phillip 71 Rowe, John 54 Loyal, Paul 35 Ruskin, John 99 Russell, Benjamin 25 Macaulay, T.B. 5 Russell, Daniel 65 Marshall, Thomas 29 Mason, Colonel David 39, 40 Salisbury, Elizabeth 67 Maverick, Samuel 68 Salisbury, Samuel 67 Micklefield, William 86, 87, 88 Savage, Samuel Phillips 63 Scott, William 94

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Shays, Daniel 89 Washington, George 4 Shirley, General William 28 Waters, Josiah 29 Spencer, Herbert 6 Watson, Mr.

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">21 Stevens, Captain 80 Webb, Joseph, Jr. 71 Storr, Marmaduke 60 Whipple, Joseph 90 Story, Joseph 42 Whitefield, Rev. George 57, 58 Story, William W. 42 Whitmore, Major-General 66 Wickham, Captain 56 Temple, Hon. John 33 Winter, Joshua 80 Thorn, Dr. 50 Willard, Joseph 75, 78 Treadwell, Jonathan 92 Williams, Jonathan 70 Wolfe, General James 25, 27 Upham, Charles W. 47 Wood, William 13

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THE DAYS OF THE SPINNING-WHEEL

IN NEW ENGLAND.

Within the last few years many young ladies have searched country houses or ransacked old garrets to find spinning-wheels, which, like old chairs, tall clocks, and warming-pans, have now become objects of curiosity and interest to those who take a fancy to antique articles. It has become fashionable to have these things to adorn our Queen Anne houses. And brass andirons and shovels and tongs have come into request, so that we may enjoy the luxury of an open wood fire, which, to our mind, is one of the most cheerful things in this world. Some one has remarked "that to be well-dressed gives a feeling of satisfaction that religion fails to give;" but to us, to sit before a blazing wood fire on a dull, cold evening, gives a feeling of comfort and delight which surpasses anything we know of. What charming companionship in a wood fire! Better than the company of uncongenial persons.

these are enough; we will leave out the "old wine to drink."

Glance backward to some years before the Revolution, and we shall find a spinning-wheel in every house, and then, probably, in constant use. Now its place in our homes is taken by the piano. This instrument had not then come into use. Something resembling it,—namely, the spinnet or the harpsichord,—was to be found in some instances; but it was by no means common to find these, for there was but little knowledge of music in America in those days. A hundred years ago, only one or two churches in Boston had organs, and the public taste, except in rare cases, was decidedly against music of all kinds, especially sacred music. To show how this was, we have heard an old lady say that when she was young, some eighty years or so ago, "musicians, for the most part, were not thought much of" by the most cultivated people of that time; and she assured me that even at a later date, members of military bands, as well as organists and violinists (then called fiddlers) were too often low characters and men much addicted to drinking. The times were too hard for the New England people of those days to cultivate music or indulge in entertainments of any kind except "going to meeting." There was but little money in circulation, and that was almost always in the form of a depreciated currency. Gold and silver were scarce articles, and a large proportion of the

necessities of life and luxuries—if luxuries they could be called; they would hardly be so considered by us—were imported from England or elsewhere. The leading occupations were farming, fishing, making New England rum, importing rum, sugar, and molasses from the West Indies, and dry goods from England. The common people were poor enough, in comparison with the condition of the same class at the present time, when they make as good an appearance as the wealthy did a hundred years ago. It would be safe to say that they have more comforts and conveniences in their homes to-day than the more prosperous had at the time of the Revolution. The humorist, John Phenix, said that "Gen'l Washington never saw a steamboat, nor rode in a railroad car;" and possibly his house was not heated by steam, or furnished with pipes for hot and cold water. Nor did he ever use gas, or the telegraph or telephone. Whether the people who lived then would have shown the extravagance which characterizes our time if they had possessed the means, is a question not easily to be answered; but it is certain they were more frugal than we are, if not more industrious. The Revolution left the masses of the people in rather a destitute condition, and they were forced to be economical. Their habits were so entirely different from modern habits that it would exceed our limits to undertake to draw a careful comparison. It is said that the people of those days bewailed the degeneracy of the times, and spoke of the industry and frugality of earlier periods.