n hand, in the quiet, restful gloaming, was not quite equal to
that dear, delightful old cradle, for a good brisk canter to "Banbury
Cross," or to the famous hunting grounds, where "Baby Bunting's rabbit
skin" was waiting for him.

Many a man, and woman too, whose names are, to-day, blessed and honored
by thousands of grateful hearts all over the land, dreamed then their
first misty, childish dreams of a grand and helpful manhood and
womanhood, and felt swelling up within their young souls inexpressible
longings to help right the wrongs of the down-trodden and oppressed,
which they heard their elders talk of, and deplore as past remedy.

The light of other days was simply a home-made tallow candle, and as
matches were not then invented, careful housewives never suffered the
kitchen-fire, even in the hottest days of summer, to die out entirely.
The frequent sight of a child running to the nearest neighbor's, with a
long-handled iron fire-shovel in hand, to "borry a few coals ter start
the fire up," was looked upon as a sure sign of slack housewifery; and
no woman might lay claim to the distinction of a good housekeeper who
failed to renew her cedar broom as often as every other week.

Equal simplicity in dress prevailed, and a gown of bombazette--a very
narrow, all-wool goods, worth from seventy-five cents to a dollar a
yard,--was often worn for best during the owner's lifetime, and at her
death bequeathed, with the fondly-cherished string of gold beads, to the
favorite granddaughter, as a precious legacy.

For common wear, pressed home-made and home-dyed flannel in winter; and
cotton and linen, woven in colored stripes or plaids, for summer, was
considered plenty good enough, even for the doctor's and minister's
wives. Under flannels were an unheard-of luxury. And one ceases to
wonder at the frequency of hereditary consumption, in our own day, when
he reads that fashionable city ladies, in the very depths of a Northern
winter, walked the icy streets in thin cotton or silk stockings and low,
pointed, high-heeled morocco shoes. Rubbers being then unknown, and the
shoes of stout calf-skin, that their country cousins were only too glad
to get, were disdained by these dainty dames as coarse and unlady-like.

A girl carded, spun, wove, bleached, and made her one white linen gown,
lavishing upon it all her simple art of needlecraft, every seam and hem
stitched by the old-time rule, "take up one thread and skip two," and,
p