FIRES AND LIGHTS
[Illustration]
WHEN wood was plentiful and easily gathered, the fireplace was built of
generous proportions. At the back, lying in the ashes, was the backlog,
sometimes so huge that a chain was attached to it, and it was dragged
in by a horse. The forestick rested upon the andirons, and small sticks
filled the space between backlog and forestick. In the wall beside the
fireplace was built the brick oven, in which the baking was done. Upon
baking day a wood fire was made inside this oven, and when the oven
was thoroughly heated, the coals were removed, and the bread placed
upon the oven bottom to bake leisurely. The tin kitchen was set before
the fire, and pies and bread upon its shelves were cooked by the heat
reflected and radiated from the tin hood.
Illustration 308 shows a great kitchen fireplace in the Lee mansion
in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with the tin kitchens in front of the
fire, and the kettles and pots hanging over it, and the various kitchen
utensils around it.
Fire-dogs or andirons are mentioned in the earliest inventories.
The name “fire-dogs” came from the heads of animals with which the
irons were ornamented. “Andirons” is a word corrupted from “hand
irons,” although some inventories speak of end-irons. Kitchen andirons
were of iron similar to the ones in Illustration 316, but for the other
fireplaces they were made of steel, copper, or brass, and in England
even of silver.
[Illustration: Illus. 308.—Kitchen Fireplace in Lee Mansion, 1760.]
[Illustration: Illus. 309.—Andirons, Eighteenth Century.]
Illustration 309 shows a pair of andirons, with shovel and tongs, owned
by Francis H. Bigelow, Esq. The andirons are “rights and lefts,” and
have the brass knobs to prevent the forestick from falling forward.
Illustration 310 shows another pair belonging to Mr. Bigelow, with
claw-and-ball feet and the twisted flame top. These are given as good
examples of the best styles of andirons in use in well-to-do households
in America during the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: Illus. 310.—Andirons, Eighteenth Century.]
[Illustration: Illus. 311.—“Hessian” Andirons, 1776.]
Illustration 311 shows a pair of “Hessians” made of iron. Andirons
of this style were very popular immediately after the Revolutionary
War, the figures of the hated allies of the British thus receiving the
treatment with flame and ashes that Americans considered the originals
to merit, to say nothing of worse indignities cast upon them by the
circle of tobacco-smoking patriots.
Andirons were made of different heights, and sometimes two or more
sets were used in one fireplace, to hold larger and smaller sticks.
Creepers are mentioned in early inventories. They were low irons
placed between the andirons, to hold short sticks.
As wood grew less plentiful, and as the forests near by were cleared
away, it was not so easy to obtain the huge backlog and the great pile
of sticks to fill the generous fireplace, and by the middle of the
eighteenth century its size had diminished. Many of the larger ones
were partially filled in. The fireplace in the Ipswich Whipple house,
when the house was bought by the society which now owns it, had been
bricked in twice—once to make the space less, and the second time
to fill it in entirely and put a fire-frame in its place. Chimneys
which did not smoke were the exception until Count Rumford made his
researches in heat and light, and by his discoveries and improvements
in construction enabled our ancestors to have chimneys which did not
smoke, and which did not carry up the greater portion of the heat from
the fire.
[Illustration: Illus. 312.—Fireplace, 1770-1775.]
Illustration 312 shows a fireplace in Salem of about 1775, with
ball-topped andirons. The sets for the fireplace comprised the
andirons, shovel, and tongs. The poker never accompanied the older
sets, which were made before the use of coal as fuel had become common
in this country, but a pair of bellows generally formed a part of the
equipment of the fireplace.
[Illustration: Illus. 313.—Steeple-topped Andirons and Fender,
1775-1790.]
Illustration 313 shows a fireplace in the residence of Harry Harkness
Flagler, Esq., with a brass fender and a pair of “steeple-topped”
andirons. Fenders were used in England earlier than in this country, to
keep the sticks or coals of fire from rolling or flying out upon the
floor in front of the fireplace, and to prevent children from getting
into the fire. Their size was adapted to the reduced dimensions of the
fireplaces, and they were used more with coal fires than with wood.
The design of andirons most commonly found is shown in Illustration
314. The little andirons between the larger ones are “creepers,” and
are used to hold short pieces of wood. They are of the same design as
the larger pair, although they were bought several years, and hundreds
of miles, apart.
The fender in Illustration 314 is of wire, painted black, with the top
rail and balls of brass. The andirons and fender belong to the writer.
[Illustration: Illus. 314.—Andirons, Creepers, and Fender, 1700-1800.]
Judge Sewall ordered in 1719 for his daughter Judith, about to be
married, “a bell-metal skillet, a warming pan, four pairs of brass
headed iron dogs, a brass hearth for a chamber with dogs, tongs, shovel
and fender of the newest fashion (the fire to lie on the iron), a brass
mortar, four pairs of brass candlesticks, four brass snuffers with
stands, six small brass chafing dishes, two brass basting ladles, a
pair of bellows with brass nose, a small hair broom, a dozen pewter
porringers, a dozen small glass salt cellars, and a dozen good ivory
hafted knives and forks.”
[Illustration: Illus. 315.—Brass Andirons, 1700-1800.]
The appurtenances for the fireplace in this list comprise the fender,
shovel, tongs, broom, bellows, and the “dogs.”
Illustration 315 shows a pair of brass andirons and Illustration 316,
a set of “brass-headed iron dogs,” such as Sewall ordered. Both pairs
belong to Dwight M. Prouty, Esq, of Boston.
By 1650 the use of coal had become common in England from the scarcity
and expense of wood as a fuel, and from that time fireplaces in that
country were constructed for coal fires. The books of designs of the
eighteenth century show many and elaborate drawings of grates for coal.
In this country, however, the lack of wood has never been felt, and
the fireplace to burn wood has held its own, with its andirons, not so
generous as in the early days, but still of goodly size.
[Illustration: Illus. 316.—Brass-headed Iron Dogs, 1700-1800.]
Firebacks were made of iron for fireplaces, sometimes cast with the
coat-of-arms of the owner or the date of construction. In Pennsylvania
were famous iron workers, and there is a collection of iron firebacks
in the museum at Memorial Hall, Philadelphia. At Mount Vernon is a
fireback with the Fairfax coat-of-arms which Washington took from
Belvoir, the estate of Lord Fairfax, adjoining Mount Vernon.
Illustration 317 shows a chimney piece in the west parlor at Mount
Vernon. Washington’s coat-of-arms is carved at the top, and his crest
and initials are cast in the fireback. In the panel over the mantel is
a painting which was sent to Lawrence Washington in 1743, by Admiral
Vernon, in acknowledgment of the courtesy shown by Lawrence Washington
to his old commander, in naming the estate Mount Vernon. The painting
represents Admiral Vernon’s fleet at Cartagena.
About 1750 the hob-grate was invented. Illustration 318 shows a mantel
and fireplace with a hob-grate in the house of Charles R. Waters, Esq.,
of Salem. The fireplace was filled in with brick or stone at each side,
and the grate set between.
[Illustration: Illus. 317.—Mantel at Mount Vernon, 1760-1770.]
The bars, of course, are of iron for holding coal, and the sides
of the grate are of brass. These were at first called “cat-stones”
to distinguish them from “fire-dogs,” but later they were named
“hob-grates.”
[Illustration: Illus. 318.—Mantel with Hob-grate, 1776.]
Below the grate is a small brass fender to prevent the ashes from
scattering, and around the fireplace is a fender of iron wire with
brass rails and feet. The hob-grate was more in use in the South than
in the North.
In 1745, after many experiments, and goaded to it by the smoking
chimneys and wasted heat of the fireplace, Franklin invented the stove
in use ever since, called the Franklin stove or grate. Illustration
319 shows a Franklin stove in the Warner house at Portsmouth. The
fireplace, faced with tiles, was originally built to burn wood, but
when the new-fashioned Franklin stove became popular, one was bought
and set into the fireplace, the front of the stove projecting into the
room. The stove is made of iron, with the three rosettes, the open-work
rail at the top, the large knobs in front and the small knobs at the
back, of brass, which every good housekeeper kept as brightly polished
as the brass andirons and the handles of the shovel and tongs. At each
side of the fireplace are the original brass rests for the shovel and
tongs.
Later in the century the fireplace was filled in with a board or
bricks, and what was called a fire-frame was used. It was similar
to the upper part of a Franklin stove; the back and sides of iron,
somewhat larger than those of the Franklin stove, resting directly
upon the stone hearth, giving the effect of an iron fireplace in
front of the old one. Oftentimes in an old house may be found a large
fireplace filled in, with the iron fire-frame in front of it, that in
its turn superseded by a stove placed with its pipe passing through the
fire-frame. Illustration 320 shows a fire-frame in the Wayside Inn at
Sudbury, Massachusetts.
[Illustration: Illus. 319.—Franklin Stove, 1745-1760.]
Candles and whale oil, with pine-wood knots, provided the light for
the Pilgrim fathers, aside from that thrown out by the great wood
fire. Candlesticks formed a necessary part of the furnishings of a
house. They were made of brass, iron, tin, pewter, and silver, but
candlesticks of brass were the ones in most general use.
[Illustration: Illus. 320.—Iron Fire-frame, 1775-1800.]
[Illustration: Illus. 321.—Betty Lamps, Seventeenth Century.]
The earliest form of lamp in use in the colonies was what is known as
a “betty lamp,” and it must have been a most untidy little utensil,
giving but a meagre light. Illustration 321 shows several betty lamps
owned by the writer. The smallest is of iron, two and a half inches in
diameter, with a nose projecting one inch and a quarter beyond the
receptacle for grease or fat.
A chain and hook are attached to the handle, by which the lamp was
hung upon a chair-back or a nail. The wick, made of a twisted cotton
rag, was placed with its end protruding from the nose of the lamp,
and provided a dull, poor flame. Another lamp has the chain and the
receptacle for grease made of brass, while the handle, the hook by
which it was to hang, and the pin for cleaning the lamp, attached to
the chain, are of steel. The bottom of the brass receptacle is of
copper. There is a cover to the front part of this lamp, so that the
interior can be cleaned, and the piece of steel forming the handle runs
through the interior of the lamp, the end providing a nose for the wick
just inside of the brass one, thus allowing the drippings from the wick
to drain back into the receptacle.
[Illustration: Illus. 322.—Candle-stands, first half of Eighteenth
Century.]
The lamp with a standard has an iron rod, upon which the lamp can
slide up and down, with a ring at the top of the rod to lift it by.
The fourth betty lamp is hung upon an old wooden ratchet intended for
that purpose. The ratchet is made of two strips of wood, one cut with
saw-teeth edge, which can be raised and lowered to place the lamp at
the desired height. Betty lamps were in use during the seventeenth
century, and much later than that in the South.
As early as 1696, inventories mention a “Candle-stand for two brass
candlesticks.” Illustration 322 shows two of these candle-stands in
the collection of the late Major Ben Perley Poore at Indian Hill.
The larger stand is made of iron, and was fashioned by the local
blacksmith, near Indian Hill. It was taken by the grandfather of Major
Poore to Harvard University when he went there a student in 1776. The
tongs hanging upon this stand are a smoker’s tongs, for lifting a
coal from the fire to light the pipe, the curved end on one side of
the handle being used to press the tobacco into the pipe, or to clean
it out. The three feet of the other stand are of iron, and the pole,
candlesticks, and two pairs of snuffers are of brass. These stands
probably were made during the first half of the eighteenth century.
The room, a corner of which shows in the illustration is fitted
with panels from the “Province House,” the home at one time of Agnes
Surriage. The pillars showing behind the candle-stands were taken from
the old Brattle Street Church in Boston when it was pulled down. One
end of a Sheraton sofa may be seen in the picture, and several of the
illustrations for this book were taken in this fine room.
[Illustration: Illus. 323.—Mantel with Candle Shades, 1775-1800.]
Illustration 323 shows a mantel in the house of Mrs. Johnson-Hudson at
Stratford, Connecticut. The looking-glass frame is made entirely of
glass. Upon the shelf are two candlesticks, and over them are large
glass shades, called hurricane glasses, used to protect the flame from
draughts. These shades are now reproduced, and it is almost impossible
to tell the old from the new. The clock upon the shelf is a very old
English one, but the reflections upon the glass cover make it difficult
to see the clock. The effect of this mantel, with the glass shades, all
reflected in the looking-glass, is most brilliant. The candlesticks are
of Sheffield plate, about one hundred years old.
[Illustration: Illus. 324.—Candlesticks, 1775-1800.]
Illustration 324 shows two candlesticks owned by the writer. The one
shaped like a mug with a handle is of Sheffield plate, and was made
for use in a sick-room or any place where it was necessary to burn a
light during the entire night. There should be a glass chimney to fit
into the candlestick and protect the flame from draughts. The open-work
band around the candlestick allowed the passage of air, thus insuring
a clear flame. The long-handled extinguisher upon the rest provided
for it was to put out the light of a candle which was protected by a
chimney or by glass shades such as are in Illustration 323.
[Illustration: Illus. 325.—Crystal Chandelier, about 1760.]
The other candlestick is of brass, with extinguisher and snuffers which
were made to fit the candlestick, the ordinary handleless extinguisher
serving to put out the flame of any candle unprotected by a chimney or
shade.
In 1784 a Frenchman named Argand invented the lamp still called by his
name. The first Argand lamp brought to this country was given by Thomas
Jefferson to Charles Thomson. These lamps gave what was then considered
to be a brilliant and even dazzling light, but their price placed them
beyond the reach of ordinary folk, who continued to use tallow candles.
Wax candles were burned by the wealthy, in candlesticks and sconces,
and occasionally in chandeliers.
[Illustration: Illus. 326.—Silver Lamp from Mount Vernon, 1770-1800.]
Illustration 325 shows a rich chandelier for candles, in the Warner
house, at Portsmouth. It was probably brought to this country about
1765, the same date that other handsome furnishings were bought for
this house. The metal work of this chandelier is of brass. Chandeliers
with glass drops are spoken of in the sixteenth century, coming from
Venice.
Illustration 326 shows one of the pair of beautiful lamps which are
fastened to the wall above the mantel of the banquet hall at Mount
Vernon, and which were in use there during the life of Washington. They
are made of silver, with the reservoir for oil of a graceful urn shape.
Eliza Susan Morton Quincy gives a description of the house of Ebenezer
Storer in Boston, and in it she says: “The ceilings were traversed
through the length of the rooms, by a large beam cased and finished
like the walls; and from the centre of each depended a glass globe,
which reflected as a convex mirror, all the objects in the room.” These
globes also reflected the light from candles in the room.
[Illustration: Illus. 327.—Glass Chandelier for Candles, 1760.]
From the rafters or ceiling in plainer homes hung sometimes a candle
beam, a rude chandelier, made of two pieces of metal crossed or a
circle of metal, with sockets for candles fixed upon them.
The chandelier in Illustration 327 is for candles, and is without doubt
the finest one of its period in this country. It is in the Pringle
house in Charleston, South Carolina, and it was probably placed in
the house when it was built in 1760, at which time it was furnished
with great elegance. It is amazing that so frail a thing as this glass
chandelier with all of its shades should have survived the Civil War,
and still more, the earthquake which laid low a large part of the city,
but not one shade has been shaken down. There are twenty-four branches
to the chandelier, twelve in each row, and a large glass shade for
each candle, to protect the flame from the draughts. The long chains
hang from a bell of glass, from which fall glass drops, and from a
large bowl spring the branches with their tall shades, and between them
are glass chains with drops. The glass chains are very light and the
chandelier is not loaded with heavy drops. It is impossible to imagine
anything more light and graceful in effect.
[Illustration: Illus. 328.—Embroidered Screen, 1780.]
“Skreans” are mentioned in very early inventories, and indeed they
must have been a necessity, to protect the face from the intense heat
of the large open fire. They afforded then, as now, an opportunity
for the display of feminine handiwork. The dainty little fire-screen
in Illustration 328 was made about 1780, and is owned by Mrs.
Johnson-Hudson of Stratford, Connecticut. The frame and stand are of
mahogany, and the spreading legs are unusually slender and graceful.
The embroidered screen was wrought by the daughters of Dr. William
Samuel Johnson, the first president of Columbia University. The same
young girls embroidered the top of the card-table in Illustration 199,
and the work is done with the same patient industry and skill. The
vase which is copied in the embroidery is of Delft, and is still owned
in the family.
A very curious and interesting piece of work is shown in Illustration
329. It forms the back of a sconce owned by Francis H. Bigelow,
Esq., and in his book “Historic Silver of the Colonies,” Mr. Bigelow
describes the candle bracket, made in 1720 by Knight Leverett, which
fits into the socket upon the frame. Benjamin Burt, the silversmith,
in his will left to a niece “a sconce of quill work wrought by her
aunt.” In 1755 a Mrs. Hiller advertised to teach “Wax work, Transparent
and Filligree, Quill work and Feather work.” “Quill work” is made of
paper of various colors, gilt upon one side, rolled tightly, like paper
tapers. Some were pulled out into points, others made into leaf and
petal-shaped pieces, and when finished they were coated with some waxy
substance, and sprinkled with tiny bits of glass, all in gay colors,
and when the candles were lighted the quill work glistened and sparkled.
The quill work in this sconce is made into an elaborate design of a
vase with flowers, and it is set into a very deep frame, and covered
tightly with glass, which accounts for its perfect preservation. The
top ornament to the frame is cut in the manner of looking glass frames
of the period.
[Illustration: Illus. 329.—Sconce of Quill Work, 1720.]
The tripod screen in Illustration 330 is owned by Dwight M. Prouty,
Esq. The little shelf for the candlestick drops on a hinge when not
in use. The tripod feet have a light springing curve, and end in a
flattened claw-and-ball. The original embroidery is still in the frame.
[Illustration: Illus. 330.—Tripod Screen, 1770.]
[Illustration: Illus. 331.—Tripod Screen, 1765.]
Another tripod screen is shown in Illustration 331. It is owned by
Cornelius Stevenson, Esq., of Philadelphia. The embroidery and the
frame upon it were made in the nineteenth century but the stand is
much earlier and is finely carved in the Chippendale style, with the
French foot. Three serpents encircle the pole, from which they are
completely detached. The wood is mahogany.
[Illustration: Illus. 332.—Candle-stand and Screen, 1750-1775.]
Screens were sometimes made of a piece of wood perforated, in order
that the heat might not be entirely shut off. Illustration 332 shows
one of these screens in the collection of the late Major Ben: Perley
Poore.
[Illustration: Illus. 333.—Chippendale Candle-stand, 1760-1770.]
Both the screen and the candle-stand in the illustration are made of
mahogany. The candlestick upon the stand is a curious one, of brass,
with a socket for the candle set upon an adjustable arm, which also
slides upon a slender rod, which is fastened into the heavily weighted
standard. Both screen and candle-stand were made in the latter half of
the eighteenth century. Candle-stands were designed by all the great
cabinet-makers, and in those days of candlelight they were a useful
piece of furniture.
A candle-stand in the finest Chippendale style is shown in Illustration
333. It is one of a pair owned by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq. The
intention was presumably that a candle-stand with candelabrum should
be placed at each side of the mantel. A pair of candle-stands similar
to this are in the banquet hall at Mount Vernon, and are among the
few pieces of furniture there which are authenticated as having been
in use during Washington’s occupancy of the house. The candle-stand
in the illustration is forty-two inches high, and its proportions are
beautiful. The legs and the ball at the base of the fluted pillar are
very finely carved. The legs end in the French foot, the scroll turning
forward, which was such a favorite with Chippendale. The top is carved
out so that there is a raised rim, like that upon the “dish-top” table
in Illustration 246.
The first recorded instance in this country of lighting by artificial
gas is in 1806, when David Melville of Newport, Rhode Island, succeeded
in manufacturing gas, and illuminated his house and grounds with it. In
1822 Boston was lighted by gas, but it did not come into general use
for lighting until 1840-1850.
[Illustration: Illus. 334.—Bronze Mantel Lamps, 1815-1840.]
During the second quarter of the nineteenth century it was fashionable
to use candelabra and lamps which were hung with cut-glass prisms.
Sets of candelabra for the mantel were very popular, consisting of a
three-branched candelabrum for the middle and a single light for each
side. The base was usually of marble, and the gilt standard was cast in
different shapes,—of a shepherd and shepherdess, a group of maidens,
or a lady clad in the costume of the day. From an ornament at the base
of the candle, shaped like an inverted crown, hung sparkling prisms,
catching the light as they quivered with every step across the room. A
handsome set of these is shown in Illustration 318 upon the mantel.
[Illustration: Illus. 335.—Brass Gilt Candelabra, 1820-1849.]
Illustration 334 shows a set of mantel lamps of bronze, mounted upon
marble bases and hung with cut-glass prisms. The reservoir for the oil
is beneath the long prisms. This set is owned by Francis H. Bigelow,
Esq.
Illustration 335 shows a fine pair of brass gilt candelabra also owned
by Mr. Bigelow. They have marble bases, and the five twisted arms are
cast in an elaborate design.
[Illustration: Illus. 336.—Hall Lantern, 1775-1800.]
[Illustration: Illus. 337.—Hall Lantern, 1760.]
Illustration 336 shows a hall lantern which was formerly in use in the
John Hancock house. It is now owned by Harry Harkness Flagler, Esq.
Such lanterns were hung in the entry or hall, and were made to burn
either a lamp or candle. “Square glass, bell glass, barrel or globe
lanthorns for entries or staircases” were advertised as early as 1724
and formed a necessary furnishing for the hall of a handsome house.
[Illustration: Illus. 338.—Hall Lantern, 1760.]
Illustration 337 shows a hall lantern owned by Dwight M. Prouty,
Esq. It is of a globe shape, and very large and handsome, with deep
cutting on the glass. The bell-shaped piece of glass above is missing.
This bell was to prevent the smoke of the candle from blackening the
ceiling. The metal piece below the globe contains the socket and can be
removed to change the candle.
Illustration 338 shows one of two lanterns hung in the hall of the
house built for the Pendelton Collection, in Providence. It is
unusually large, and the glass is red with cuttings of white. Instead
of chains the lantern is held by scrolls of metal like the frame of
the glass. Such a lantern as this may have been in the mind of Peter
Faneuil of Boston when in 1738 he sent to Europe for “a very handsome
Lanthorne to hang in an Entry way.”