olute spiral band and slender ball spindles beneath.

During the nineteenth century more attention was given to newels in
ironwork, and elaborate square posts combining cast and wrought pieces
were constructed, such as that at Fourth and Liberty streets. In the
accompanying balustrade are to be seen motives much employed in the
other examples here illustrated. Scroll work is conspicuous, as are
rosettes, but a touch of individuality is given by a Grecian band
instead of the more common evolute spiral above the diaper pattern. The
pineapple, emblem of hospitality, was attractive in cast iron and as
utilized at Number 1107 Walnut Street provided a distinctive newel.

[Illustration: PLATE LVIII.--Detail of Staircase Balustrade and Newel,
Upsala; Staircase Balustrade, Roxborough.]

[Illustration: PLATE LIX.--Staircase Detail, Upsala; Staircase
Balustrade, Gowen House, Mount Airy.]

The roads on the outskirts of all Colonial cities were very bad, and
many of the less important streets of Philadelphia had neither pavements
nor sidewalks. After rains shoes were bemired in walking, and as rubbers
were then unknown it was necessary to remove the mud from the shoes
before entering a house. Foot scrapers on the doorstep or at the foot of
the front steps were a necessity and became ornamental adjuncts of the
doorways of early Colonial homes. For the most part of wrought iron,
some of the later ones were cast in molds, that at Wyck being a
particularly interesting example. It consists of two grotesque
griffins back to back, their wings joined tip to tip forming the scraper
edge, and the whole being mounted in a large tray with turned-up edges.
This scraper can thus be moved about as desired, and the tray catches
the scrapings, which can be emptied occasionally without sweeping the
entire doorstep.

Some of the earlier and simpler scrapers, such as that at Third and
Spruce streets, consisted merely of two upright standards with a
sharp-edged horizontal bar between them to provide the scraper proper.
This horizontal part was made quite broad to take care of anticipated
wear, which in this particular instance has been great during the
intervening years.

Similar to this, except for the well-wrought tops of the standards and
the curved supplementary supports, is the scraper of the Dirck Keyser
doorway, Number 6205 Germantown Avenue, Germantown. Regarded as a whole
this design suggests nothing so much as the back and arms of an ear