alled, which were only six or eight
inches square. The front doors were cut across horizontally in the
middle into two parts, and in early days were hung on leather hinges
instead of iron.

In the upper half of the door were two round bull's-eyes of heavy
greenish glass, which let faint rays of light enter the hall. The door
opened with a latch, and often had also a knocker. Every house had a
porch or "stoep" flanked with benches, which were constantly occupied in
the summer time; and every evening, in city and village alike, an
incessant visiting was kept up from stoop to stoop. The Dutch farmhouses
were a single straight story, with two more stories in the high,
in-curving roof. They had doors and stoops like the town houses, and all
the windows had heavy board shutters. The cellar and the garret were the
most useful rooms in the house; they were store-rooms for all kinds of
substantial food. In the cellar were great bins of apples, potatoes,
turnips, beets, and parsnips. There were hogsheads of corned beef,
barrels of salt pork, tubs of hams being salted in brine, tonnekens of
salt shad and mackerel, firkins of butter, kegs of pigs' feet, tubs of
souse, kilderkins of lard. On a long swing-shelf were tumblers of spiced
fruits, and "rolliches," head-cheese, and strings of sausages--all Dutch
delicacies.

In strong racks were barrels of cider and vinegar, and often of beer.
Many contained barrels of rum and a pipe of Madeira. What a storehouse
of plenty and thrift! What an emblem of Dutch character! In the attic
by the chimney was the smoke-house, filled with hams, bacon, smoked
beef, and sausages.

In Virginia and Maryland, where people did not gather into towns, but
built their houses farther apart, there were at first few sawmills, and
the houses were universally built of undressed logs. Nails were costly,
as were all articles manufactured of iron, hence many houses were built
without iron; wooden pins and pegs were driven in holes cut to receive
them; hinges were of leather; the shingles on the roof were sometimes
pinned, or were held in place by "weight-timbers." The doors had latches
with strings hanging outside; by pulling in the string within-doors the
house was securely locked. This form of latch was used in all the
colonies. When persons were leaving houses, they sometimes set them on
fire in order to gather up the nails from the ashes. To prevent this
destruction of buildings, the government of Virginia ga