Sunday, 31 May 2015
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Sunday, 24 May 2015
Early American Gardens: Garden History - Plant Lists - 1736 List of Virgin...
Maria Sibylla Merian (German artist, 1647-1717)
Early American Gardens: Garden History - Plant Lists - 1736 List of Virgin...: Virginian William Byrd II's 1736 Virginia Plant List Maria Sibylla Merian (German artist, 1647-1717) Like his father, Colone...
Saturday, 23 May 2015
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: To Stroke or Not to Stroke
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: To Stroke or Not to Stroke: Stephanie Smith of Larkin & Smith After you have done your first section of gathering stitches; pull your thread tightly enough to cre...
Friday, 22 May 2015
Thursday, 21 May 2015
DANGER ! Boiled Linseed Oil, Or Is It ???
For those of you making your own oilcloth, or using linseed oil on wooden implements used for food, it is wise to note that the "Boiled Linseed Oil" you purchase is in fact NOT BOILED!!! Instead the manufacturers have added poisonous chemicals to aid the drying process!!!
ONLY therefore ever use RAW LINSEED OIL. It will take longer to dry if you don't boil it first, but it is safer. Make sure you read the contents label even on raw linseed before purchasing.
Keith.
For more info go here: http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infpai/inflin.html
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Stroke Gathers: Gathering Stitch
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Stroke Gathers: Gathering Stitch: Stephanie Smith of Larkin & Smith Before you start your gathering stitches you need to mark off the sections of your pieces. I mark t...
A Woman's Life In England In The 18th Century. You Have Choices, Which Would You Choose?
Go to the following link & make your choice: http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/make_your_way/start.htm
The Cook and the Curator. Dough.
Single compartment dough box in the cook house at Brickenden, Tasmania. Photo © Scott Hill.
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
Interesting Stock Shape & Place of Find !
Flintlock pistol discovered on the Melbourne Beach Site, bearing the name of the gunsmith “Ramires” and the date “1709.” Ramires, or Ramirez, is known to have worked as a gunsmith in Mexico City during the first quarter of the 18th-century. A similar pistol, also signed “Ramires” has previously been found on a proven 1715 shipwreck.
My sincere thanks to my friend Kit Carson for the following update information.
Kit Carson "Ramirez" es un apellido tipicamente
español ("hijo de Ramiro"), asà que bien puede ser una pistola de
origen español pero fabricada en Méjico, pues a principios del siglo XVIII lo
que ahora es Méjico era parte del Virreinato de Nueva España, siendo todo ello
España.
Saludos. Ramirez
" " is a last name typically Spanish (" Son of Ramiro "),
So it may well be a gun of Spanish but manufactured in Mexico, because at the
beginning of the eighteenth century what is now Mexico was part of the vice royalty of New Spain, being all this Spain. Greetings.
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Stroke Gathers-First Steps
Paul Revere By J.S.Copely
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Stroke Gathers-First Steps: Stephanie Smith of Larkin and Smith Step 1: Look at originals. As I mentioned in an earlier post, children's shirts exhibit the most ...
Tuesday, 12 May 2015
Useful Australian Plants.
A bracket fungus, Ryvardenia Cretacia. Near Armidale New England NSW. Used as tinder for fire lighting (Photo By the author).
Whether Historical Trekking or working at home, it is useful to have some knowledge of Australian plants. Many of us prefer to interpret life in the New World, but in order to fully experience the lifestyle in the 17th & 18th centuries, we must use the materials available here in Australia.
http://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/docs/environmental/natural/indigenous-plant-guide-LOWRES%20FINAL%20Edition%201_2013-07-23.pdf
http://www.parksaustralia.gov.au/botanic-gardens/pubs/aboriginal-plantuse.pdf
http://www.arrawarraculture.com.au/fact_sheets/pdfs/14_Leaves.pdf
Links To Natural Plant Dyes In Australia.
Red wool sash made by C.L.Burgess. Fringes, beading & cones by the author.
Period Fire Lighting & Tinder Quotes.
American Aloe, Agave or Sentry Plant. Also found in Australia.
Their grow’s here Large Berch trees…on the Root of the branches of the Said
tree, grow’s Large Knops of wood of Different form’s, which they style
(posogan) which posogan is of great service to the Natives, they use itt to
strike Light to, as we do touch wood… itts Substance Resembles Spunge…once
Light is Very Difficult to put out…will Clow and Bur’n tell Consum’d to ashes
and never Blaze.”
~James Isham, Hudson’s Bay, 1743-49
“They employ tree mushrooms very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in goodness, and next to them, those of the sugar birch, for want of these, they likewise make use of those which grow on the aspen tree.”
~ Peter Kalm, Canada, 1749
"Maple trees usually have large growths on them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians call tondre."
- Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, 1750’s
“…fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree…used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder…called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the country bordering on Hudson’s Bay by the name of Pesogan…there is another kind…that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old decayed poplars, and lies in flakes…is always moist when taken from the tree but when dry…takes fire readily from the spark of a steel: but it is much improved by being kept dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder.”
~Samuel Hearne, Northern Canada, 1772
“I said to them…you Fools go to the Birch Trees and get some touchwood,”
~David Thompson, Lake Athabasca, 1790s
“This induced me to resolve not to travel more by land without my gun, powder and shot, steel, spunge and flint, for striking a fire…”
~Patrick Campbell, Canada/New York, 1792
“A Canadian never neglects to have touchwood for his pipe”
~David Thompson, Red Lake River, 1798
~James Isham, Hudson’s Bay, 1743-49
“They employ tree mushrooms very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in goodness, and next to them, those of the sugar birch, for want of these, they likewise make use of those which grow on the aspen tree.”
~ Peter Kalm, Canada, 1749
"Maple trees usually have large growths on them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians call tondre."
- Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, 1750’s
“…fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree…used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder…called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the country bordering on Hudson’s Bay by the name of Pesogan…there is another kind…that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old decayed poplars, and lies in flakes…is always moist when taken from the tree but when dry…takes fire readily from the spark of a steel: but it is much improved by being kept dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder.”
~Samuel Hearne, Northern Canada, 1772
“I said to them…you Fools go to the Birch Trees and get some touchwood,”
~David Thompson, Lake Athabasca, 1790s
“This induced me to resolve not to travel more by land without my gun, powder and shot, steel, spunge and flint, for striking a fire…”
~Patrick Campbell, Canada/New York, 1792
“A Canadian never neglects to have touchwood for his pipe”
~David Thompson, Red Lake River, 1798
"There
was Dry leaves and sticks under our shelter. I stoped the tuch hole of my gun
with tallow and then did ketch fire and we made up a fire and Dryed our
selves."
Westward Into
Kentucky, Daniel Trabue, 1779:
"There happened to be an iron pot and an ax on board--- they cut off a piece of the boat rope, and picked it to oakum, and putting it in the pan of a gun, with some powder, catched it on fire, which with some thin pieces cut from the mast, they kindled in the pot, and then cut up their mast, seats, &c. for fuel, and making a tent of their sail, wrapt themselves as well as they could;"
"There happened to be an iron pot and an ax on board--- they cut off a piece of the boat rope, and picked it to oakum, and putting it in the pan of a gun, with some powder, catched it on fire, which with some thin pieces cut from the mast, they kindled in the pot, and then cut up their mast, seats, &c. for fuel, and making a tent of their sail, wrapt themselves as well as they could;"
From The
Pennsylvania Gazette, 1765, 3 men trapped in the ice in their boat during a
waterfowl hunt and likely to freeze to death:
'Our party having separated, the important articles of tinder and
matches were in the baggage of the division which had proceeded: and as the
night was rainy and
excessively dark, we were, for some time, under anxiety, lest we should have
been deprived of the comfort and security of a fire. Fortunately, my
powder-flask was in my saddlebags, and we succeeded in supplying the place of
tinder, by moistening a piece of paper, and rubbing it with gunpowder. We
placed our touch paper on an old cambric handkerchief, as the most readily
combustible article in our stores. On this we scattered gunpowder pretty
copiously, and our flint and steel soon enabled us to raise a flame, and
collecting dry wood, we made a noble fire.
They rubb'd Fire out of particular sorts
of Wood (as the Antients did out of the Ivy and Bays) by turning the end of a
hard piece upon the side of a piece that is soft and dry, like a Spindle on its
Inke, by which it heats, and at length burns; to this they put sometimes also
rotten Wood, and dry Leaves to hasten the Work.
Robert Beverley 1705.
To make Tinder.
Take three ounces of
Salt-petre, put it to a Pint and a half of fair Water, set it on a Fire in a
Kettle or Pan to heat till the Salt-petre be dissolved; then take a Quire of
smooth brown Paper, and
put them in Sheet by
Sheet into the hot water till they are wet through, and then lay them on a
clean Floor or Grass to dry. You may at any Time tear a Piece off, and put it
in your Tinderbox,; it will catch like Wild-Fire. By this Means you may save
all your Linen Rags in the Family, keep them clean in a Bag, and, if you are
careful of them, they may produce you a Pair of Shoes and Stockings at the
Years End; and by this Frugality you will have the Pleasure to think of
encouraging the making of Paper, and employing the Industrious.
Madam Johnson's present:
or, every young woman's companion in ... - Page 181 .
"and with a girdle
of their making, bound round about their middles, to which girdle is fastned a
bagg, in which his instruments be, with which hee can strike fire upon any
occasion"
Thomas Morton: Manners
and Customs of the Indians, 1637
Thomas Morton 1579-1647
"Tree fungi are used
very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple
are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in quality; and next to
them, those of the sugar birch. For want of these they make use of those which
grow on the aspen tree.”
Pehr Kalm,
Travels in North America, 1749
Pehr Kalm,
Travels in North America, 1749
"Maple trees usually have large growths on
them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians
call tondre."
Jolicoeur Charles Bonin,
Memoir of French and Indian War Soldier, 1750's
Their grow’s here Large Berch trees…on the Root of the branches of the
Said tree, grow’s Large Knops of wood of Different form’s, which they style
(posogan) which posogan is of great service to the Natives, they use itt to
strike Light to, as we do touch wood… itts Substance Resembles Spunge…once
Light is Very Difficult to put out…will Clow and Bur’n tell Consum’d to ashes
and never Blaze.” Jolicoeur Charles Bonin,
Memoir of French and Indian War Soldier, 1750's
~James Isham, Hudson’s Bay, 1743-49
“They employ tree mushrooms very frequently instead of tinder. Those which are taken from the sugar maple are reckoned the best; those of the red maple are next in goodness, and next to them, those of the sugar birch, for want of these, they likewise make use of those which grow on the aspen tree.”
~ Peter Kalm, Canada, 1749
"Maple trees usually have large growths on them, which are cut and dried in the sun, making a sort of touchwood which the Canadians call tondre."
- Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, 1750’s
“…fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree…used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder…called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the country bordering on Hudson’s Bay by the name of Pesogan…there is another kind…that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old decayed poplars, and lies in flakes…is always moist when taken from the tree but when dry…takes fire readily from the spark of a steel: but it is much improved by being kept dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder.”
~Samuel Hearne, Northern Canada, 1772
Fomes fomentarius - the tinder fungus
-a
wood rotting fungus (Aphyllophorales) that produces hoof shaped basidiocarps up
to2 feet in diameter; basidiocarps are prennenial, producing a new layer of
pores each year; was once
common
in North Asia, North America and Europe
-suggested
to be the earliest fungus to have been used by humans with discoveries dating
to
mesolithic
settlements around 8000 BC
-flesh
of basidiocarp was treated to produce amadou, which had two functions depending
upon method of treatment
1.
softest part of flesh was removed, soaked in hot water and pounded with a
mallet until it was felt-like; resulting material was very absorbent and was
used as a styptic; also used to make parts of hats and purses
2.
tougher parts soaked in hot water with ashes, pounded and soaked again in
potassium nitrate; end product was excellent tinder
http://www.plant.uga.edu/labrat/mims/overheads03.pdf
“Mr MacKay lighted a bit
of touch-wood with a burning glass, in the cover of his tobacco box…”
Alexander Mackenzie, 1793.
“Fire
making is a simple process with the mountaineers. Their bullet pouches always
contain a flint and steel, and sundry pieces of “punk”-a pithy substance found
in dead pine trees-or tinder; and pulling a handful of dry grass, which they
screw into a nest, they place the lighted punk in this, and closing the grass
over it, wave it in the air, when it soon ignites, and readily kindles the dry
sticks forming the foundation of a fire.”
Ruxton, 1848.
“…rain began hammering
down so heavily that, one hundred miles from the nearest trees, and with
nothing available but moss, nobody could start a fire.”
Samuel Hearne, 1770.
“…he was left to amuse himself all night a
long side his fier (fire) which he made with his gun.” ~A. McKenzie, 1804.
“In the woods we were
under some disadvantage, having no fire-works”. Journal of John Woolman,
1720-1742.
Take those great things which are called olde
Todestooles growing out of the bottomes of nuttrees, beechtrees, okes, and such
like trees, drye them with the smoke of fire, & then cut them into as many
peeces as you will, and hauing well beaten them, boyle the in strong lie with waule floure, or
saltpeeter, till all the lie shal be consumend. After this laying them in a
heape uppon a boorde, drie them in an oven which must not be made verie hotte,
and after you haue so done, beate them well with a wooden mallet, and when you
shall haue cause to use any parte of those Todestooles (now by the means above
declared made touchwood) rubbe well that parte betweene your handes for to make
it softe and apte to take fire. But when you will make tinder for a Gunners tinder
boxe, take peeces of fustian, or of old and fine linnen clothe, make them to
burn and flame in a fire, & suddenly before the flame which is in the doth die, choke the fire, & keepe their
tinder so made in a boxe lined within with clothe, to the ende that it may not
be moyste at any time.
Appendix 20-1,
Lucar, C., Translation of Tartaglia, Three Bookes of Colloquies
Concerning the Arte of Shooting in Great and Samll Peeces of Artillerie with
Appendix, London,1588.
“An Indian often goes off alone…with only his musket, powder and
shot, and tinderbox…
Pouchot, Pierre. Memoirs on the Late War in North America between France and England pg. 482
Pouchot, Pierre. Memoirs on the Late War in North America between France and England pg. 482
“…by the help of their punk, made a fire.”
A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson (1754-57) as found in Calloway,
Colin G. North Country Captives pg. 61 .
Shall I instruct you in the practical science of getting a light with
flint and steel? The first thing is to make your tinder, by burning or rather
scorching a piece of rag. Toast it or char it till it is tenderly made into
tinder. Neither do it too little, nor too much; cook your rags to a turn. Be
very mindful to keep your tinder dry as a bone; for a spark will be of no
service if it does not fall where it will be nourished; and the least damp will
kill it. The sparks of temptation would be harmless if it were not for the
tinder of corruption in our hearts. Good teaching is also lost unless it falls
upon a mind prepared to receive it: so that the metaphor can be used either
way.
Having secured your
tinder, you had next to know how to strike your flint and steel so as to create
sparks. Many a knock of the fingers would you get if you did not look alive.
Possibly you would also bark your knuckles if you did know the art, if the
weather was cold and your hands were half frozen. So is it in your dealing with
men's consciences: you may give a hard knock and fetch fire out of them, or you
may break your own knuckles by bringing upon yourself personal ill-will.
If you were so skilful or so fortunate
as to cause a spark to drop into the tinder, you had to blow upon it very
gently; just as the first sign of grace in any heart needs encouraging with the
fostering breath of sympathy. How often have I seen a servant go down on her
knees to blow at a coal which seemed to have a little life in it! Let us do the
like with those persons concerning whom we are somewhat hopeful.
When the spark had become fairly
prosperous in the tinder, then you applied the point of your brimstone match.
You do not quite know what I mean. Well, mind you do not make a brimstone match
when you get married. The brimstone, at the sharpened point of the match, would
take fire when it touched the spark, and then your labour approached its reward.
When you had your match flaming, and smelling, you lighted your candle; and
having done with your elaborate apparatus, you popped the flat lid of the box
upon the tinder to put it all out.
http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/candles2.htm
“He carrieth about him a purse of tewed leather, a
mineral stone and a flat emery stone, tied fast to the end of a little stick.
Gently, he striketh upon the mineral stone, and within a strike or two, a spark
falleth upon a piece of touchwood and with the least spark, he maketh the
fire."
- John Brereton describing the firemaking skills of the Wampanoag Indians
(early 17th century).
Fortunately the water was not
deep about the rock, nor between it and the land, and though a thin ice had
formed, I was able to break it, and carry my children on shore. But here we had
nearly perished from cold, as my spunk wood was wet, and I had no means of
kindling a fire, until I thought to split open my powder horn, when I found in
the middle of the mass of powder, a little which the water had not reached.
This enabled me to kindle a fire, and was the means of saving all our lives.
Owing to our hands being benumbed
with the cold, it was long before we could extricate ourselves from our snow
shoes, and we were no sooner out of the water than our moccasins and clothes were
frozen so stiff that we could not travel. I began also to think that we must
die. But I was not like my Indian brother, willing to sit down and wait
patiently for death to come. I kept moving about to the best of my power, while
he lay in a dry place by the side of the bank where the wind had blown away the
snow. I at length found some very dry rotten wood which I used as a substitute
for spunk, and was so happy as to raise a fire. We then appliedourselves to
thaw and dry our moccasins, and when partly dry we put them on, and went to
collect fuel [Page 24] for a larger fire than we had before been able to make.
The wind was high, and the snow
driving violently. In a vast extent of the plain, which we overlooked, we could
see no wood, but some small oak bushes, scarce as high as a man's shoulders;
but inthis poor cover we were compelled to encamp. The small and green stalks
of the oaks were, with the utmost difficulty, kindled, [Page 50] and made but a
poor fire. When the fire had remained some time in one place, and the ground
under it become dry, we removed the brands and coals, and lay down upon the
warm ashes.
The prophet, we are told, has
forbid us to suffer our fire to be extinguished in our lodges, and when we
travel or hunt, he will not allow us to use a flint and steel, and we are told he
requires that no man should give fire to another. Can it please the Great
Spirit that we should lie in our hunting camps without fire, or is it more
agreeable to him that we should make fire by rubbing together two sticks than
with a flint and a piece of steel?" But they would not listen to me, and
the serious enthusiasm which prevailed among them so far affected me that I
threw away my flint and steel, laid aside my medicine bag, and, in many particulars,
complied with the new doctrines. But I would not kill my dogs. I soon learned
to kindle a fire by rubbing some dry cedar, which I was careful to carry always
about me, but the discontinuance of the use of flint and steel subjected many
of the Indians to much inconvenience and suffering.
A narrative of the captivity and
adventures of John Tanner, (U.S. interpreter at the Saut de Ste. Marie,): during
thirty years residence among the Indians in the interior of North America.
Education in the America (17th & 18th centuries)
Courtesy: The Free Library of Philadelphia
Colonial schoolmaster and student. The Carpenters' Company not only helped educate children of deceased members but often found them positions as apprentices.
Monday, 11 May 2015
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Caring About Cuffs -- Shirts & Shifts
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Caring About Cuffs -- Shirts & Shifts: Stephanie Smith of Larkin & Smith When it comes to shirts and shifts, many reenactors start out with a hand-me-down or a ready made p...
18th Century Eel Pots Video By Nick Post. Plus More......
Distribution - The Longfinned eel is found in freshwater rivers, streams, dams, lagoons and lakes on the coastal side of the Great Dividing Range, from Cape York in northern Queensland southwards through NSW into Victoria and Tasmania.
Size - Reaches a maximum length of approximately 1.7 metres and 22 kg in weight. Commonly found up to 1 metre in length.
Characteristics - Longfinned eels have an olive-green, heavily mottled back and sides and a silvery-white to pale yellow belly. They are the largest freshwater eel in Australia, with females growing much larger than males. It is a good recreational species because of its large size and strength. Commonly caught at night on baited hooks, particularly pieces of fish and earthworms.
Confusing species - Closely related and very similar to the short-finned eel, however, the dorsal fin starts much closer to the head on the long-finned eel. Often incorrectly referred to as conger eel in Victoria and NSW. They may also resemble lampreys, especially when small.
A traditional form of Wampanoag eel trap constructed from ash splints and cedar bark for a maritime arts demonstration. Folklife Festival, Seattle, Washington. 2003.
Australian Aboriginal Eel Trap.
Sunday, 10 May 2015
COLONIAL AMERICAN DIGRESSIONS: INDIAN CAPTIVES
COLONIAL AMERICAN DIGRESSIONS: INDIAN CAPTIVES: The Capture of Mary Rowlandson Courtesy of 17th18Century.blog Mary Rowlandson, 10 February 1675 ‘…But out we must go, the fire...
18C American Women: Indian Captive Quaker Frances Slocum 1773-1847
18C American Women: Indian Captive Quaker Frances Slocum 1773-1847: Frances Slocum (1773-1847), called Maconaquah, "The Little Bear," an adopted member of the Miami tribe, was taken from her family...
NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY AND RESTORATION OF MRS. MARY ROWLANDSON. Part Ten.
By the kind permission of the Gutenberg Project.
THE FOURTEENTH REMOVE
Now must we pack up and be gone from this
thicket, bending our course toward the Baytowns; I having nothing to eat by the
way this day, but a few crumbs of cake, that an Indian gave my girl the same
day we were taken. She gave it me, and I put it in my pocket; there it lay,
till it was so moldy (for want of good baking) that one could not tell what it
was made of; it fell all to crumbs, and grew so dry and hard, that it was like
little flints; and this refreshed me many times, when I was ready to faint. It
was in my thoughts when I put it into my mouth, that if ever I returned, I
would tell the world what a blessing the Lord gave to such mean food. As we
went along they killed a deer, with a young one in her, they gave me a piece of
the fawn, and it was so young and tender, that one might eat the bones as well
as the flesh, and yet I thought it very good. When night came on we sat down;
it rained, but they quickly got up a bark wigwam, where I lay dry that night. I
looked out in the morning, and many of them had lain in the rain all night, I
saw by their reeking. Thus the Lord dealt mercifully with me many times, and I
fared better than many of them. In the morning they took the blood of the deer,
and put it into the paunch, and so boiled it. I could eat nothing of that,
though they ate it sweetly. And yet they were so nice in other things, that
when I had fetched water, and had put the dish I dipped the water with into the
kettle of water which I brought, they would say they would knock me down; for
they said, it was a sluttish trick.
We went on our travel. I having got one
handful of ground nuts, for my support that day, they gave me my load, and I
went on cheerfully (with the thoughts of going homeward), having my burden more
on my back than my spirit. We came to Banquang river again that day, near which
we abode a few days. Sometimes one of them would give me a pipe, another a
little tobacco, another a little salt: which I would change for a little
victuals. I cannot but think what a wolvish appetite persons have in a starving
condition; for many times when they gave me that which was hot, I was so
greedy, that I should burn my mouth, that it would trouble me hours after, and
yet I should quickly do the same again. And after I was thoroughly hungry, I
was never again satisfied. For though sometimes it fell out, that I got enough,
and did eat till I could eat no more, yet I was as unsatisfied as I was when I
began. And now could I see that Scripture verified (there being many Scriptures
which we do not take notice of, or understand till we are afflicted) "Thou
shalt eat and not be satisfied" (Micah 6.14). Now might I see more than
ever before, the miseries that sin hath brought upon us. Many times I should be
ready to run against the heathen, but the Scripture would quiet me again, "Shall
there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it?" (Amos 3.6). The
Lord help me to make a right improvement of His word, and that I might learn
that great lesson: "He hath showed thee (Oh Man) what is good, and what
doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk
humbly with thy God? Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it" (Micah
6.8-9).
We began this remove with wading over
Banquang river: the water was up to the knees, and the stream very swift, and
so cold that I thought it would have cut me in sunder. I was so weak and
feeble, that I reeled as I went along, and thought there I must end my days at
last, after my bearing and getting through so many difficulties. The Indians
stood laughing to see me staggering along; but in my distress the Lord gave me
experience of the truth, and goodness of that promise, "When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee" (Isaiah 43.2). Then I sat down to put on my stockings and
shoes, with the tears running down mine eyes, and sorrowful thoughts in my
heart, but I got up to go along with them. Quickly there came up to us an
Indian, who informed them that I must go to Wachusett to my master, for there
was a letter come from the council to the Sagamores, about redeeming the
captives, and that there would be another in fourteen days, and that I must be
there ready. My heart was so heavy before that I could scarce speak or go in
the path; and yet now so light, that I could run. My strength seemed to come
again, and recruit my feeble knees, and aching heart. Yet it pleased them to go
but one mile that night, and there we stayed two days. In that time came a
company of Indians to us, near thirty, all on horseback. My heart skipped
within me, thinking they had been Englishmen at the first sight of them, for
they were dressed in English apparel, with hats, white neckcloths, and sashes
about their waists; and ribbons upon their shoulders; but when they came near,
there was a vast difference between the lovely faces of Christians, and foul
looks of those heathens, which much damped my spirit again.
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Your Next Project: Spectacular 18th Century Shifts...
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: Your Next Project: Spectacular 18th Century Shifts...: From Stephanie Smith of Larkin and Smith The fine stitching of 18 th century shirts and shirts (what we would call underwear), is down ...
Saturday, 9 May 2015
American History: the New World | Colonial history of the United States ...
Interesting film, but please bare in mind that some of this information may be outdated, & the art work depicted is an artist's interpretation only & may not be historically correct.
Keith.
Keith.
Friday, 8 May 2015
Fire From Marcasite.
Marcasite Australia Goongewa mine, near Fitzroy Crossing
Galena on Australian Marcasite.
CALCITE on MARCASITE. Renison Bell Mine, Rosebery, Tasmania.
Australian Marcasite & Pyrite Info:
http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/portal/documents/10184/30804/OCCURRENCE_GEMSTONES_V8.pdf/2e719519-eafb-4002-baac-6ce3dd994150
http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/SR03079.htm
http://eprints.utas.edu.au/8930/1/Groves_DI_PhD_1968.pdf
Man's At-home Robe (Banyan) and Waistcoat
%2Band%2BWaistcoat.jpg)
Man's At-home Robe (Banyan) and Waistcoat
France, circa 1720
Costumes; ensembles
Silk satin with silk supplementary-weft patterning
a) Robe center back length: 29 1/4 in. (74.3 cm); b) Waistcoat center back length: 55 3/4 in. (141.61 cm)
Costume Council Fund (M.2010.90a-b)
Costume and Textiles
http://collections.lacma.org/node/221317
Thursday, 7 May 2015
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: 18th c Ribbons
At the Sign of the Golden Scissors: 18th c Ribbons: Ribbon, ribbon who's got the ribbon? Well right now there is plain silk satin or silk taffeta. Perfect for the 18th century but uniform...
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Child's Silver Teething Whistle Found in James Fort Well
An 18th Century silver-gilt whistle/teething stick Maker's mark only (probably Mark Bock), circa 1760
Tuesday, 5 May 2015
NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY AND RESTORATION OF MRS. MARY ROWLANDSON. Part Nine.
Watching the Back Trail By Andrew Knez Jnr.
THE THIRTEENTH REMOVE
Instead of going toward the Bay, which was
that I desired, I must go with them five or six miles down the river into a
mighty thicket of brush; where we abode almost a fortnight. Here one asked me
to make a shirt for her papoose, for which she gave me a mess of broth, which
was thickened with meal made of the bark of a tree, and to make it the better,
she had put into it about a handful of peas, and a few roasted ground nuts. I
had not seen my son a pretty while, and here was an Indian of whom I made
inquiry after him, and asked him when he saw him. He answered me that such a
time his master roasted him, and that himself did eat a piece of him, as big as
his two fingers, and that he was very good meat. But the Lord upheld my Spirit,
under this discouragement; and I considered their horrible addictedness to
lying, and that there is not one of them that makes the least conscience of
speaking of truth. In this place, on a cold night, as I lay by the fire, I
removed a stick that kept the heat from me. A squaw moved it down again, at
which I looked up, and she threw a handful of ashes in mine eyes. I thought I
should have been quite blinded, and have never seen more, but lying down, the
water run out of my eyes, and carried the dirt with it, that by the morning I
recovered my sight again. Yet upon this, and the like occasions, I hope it is
not too much to say with Job, "Have pity upon me, O ye my Friends, for the
Hand of the Lord has touched me." And here I cannot but remember how many
times sitting in their wigwams, and musing on things past, I should suddenly
leap up and run out, as if I had been at home, forgetting where I was, and what
my condition was; but when I was without, and saw nothing but wilderness, and
woods, and a company of barbarous heathens, my mind quickly returned to me,
which made me think of that, spoken concerning Sampson, who said, "I will
go out and shake myself as at other times, but he wist not that the Lord was
departed from him." About this time I began to think that all my hopes of
restoration would come to nothing. I thought of the English army, and hoped for
their coming, and being taken by them, but that failed. I hoped to be carried
to Albany, as the Indians had discoursed before, but that failed also. I
thought of being sold to my husband, as my master spake, but instead of that,
my master himself was gone, and I left behind, so that my spirit was now quite
ready to sink. I asked them to let me go out and pick up some sticks, that I
might get alone, and pour out my heart unto the Lord. Then also I took my Bible
to read, but I found no comfort here neither, which many times I was wont to
find. So easy a thing it is with God to dry up the streams of Scripture comfort
from us. Yet I can say, that in all my sorrows and afflictions, God did not
leave me to have my impatience work towards Himself, as if His ways were
unrighteous. But I knew that He laid upon me less than I deserved. Afterward,
before this doleful time ended with me, I was turning the leaves of my Bible, and
the Lord brought to me some Scriptures, which did a little revive me, as that
[in] Isaiah 55.8: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways, saith the Lord." And also that [in] Psalm 37.5: "Commit
thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."
About this time they came yelping from Hadley, where they had killed three
Englishmen, and brought one captive with them, viz. Thomas Read. They all
gathered about the poor man, asking him many questions. I desired also to go
and see him; and when I came, he was crying bitterly, supposing they would
quickly kill him. Whereupon I asked one of them, whether they intended to kill
him; he answered me, they would not. He being a little cheered with that, I
asked him about the welfare of my husband. He told me he saw him such a time in
the Bay, and he was well, but very melancholy. By which I certainly understood
(though I suspected it before) that whatsoever the Indians told me respecting
him was vanity and lies. Some of them told me he was dead, and they had killed
him; some said he was married again, and that the Governor wished him to marry;
and told him he should have his choice, and that all persuaded I was dead. So
like were these barbarous creatures to him who was a liar from the beginning.
As I was sitting once in the wigwam here,
Philip's maid came in with the child in her arms, and asked me to give her a
piece of my apron, to make a flap for it. I told her I would not. Then my
mistress bade me give it, but still I said no. The maid told me if I would not
give her a piece, she would tear a piece off it. I told her I would tear her
coat then. With that my mistress rises up, and take up a stick big enough to
have killed me, and struck at me with it. But I stepped out, and she struck the
stick into the mat of the wigwam. But while she was pulling of it out I ran to
the maid and gave her all my apron, and so that storm went over.
Hearing that my son was come to this
place, I went to see him, and told him his father was well, but melancholy. He
told me he was as much grieved for his father as for himself. I wondered at his
speech, for I thought I had enough upon my spirit in reference to myself, to
make me mindless of my husband and everyone else; they being safe among their
friends. He told me also, that awhile before, his master (together with other
Indians) were going to the French for powder; but by the way the Mohawks met
with them, and killed four of their company, which made the rest turn back
again, for it might have been worse with him, had he been sold to the French,
than it proved to be in his remaining with the Indians.
I went to see an English youth in this
place, one John Gilbert of Springfield. I found him lying without doors, upon
the ground. I asked him how he did? He told me he was very sick of a flux, with
eating so much blood. They had turned him out of the wigwam, and with him an
Indian papoose, almost dead (whose parents had been killed), in a bitter cold
day, without fire or clothes. The young man himself had nothing on but his
shirt and waistcoat. This sight was enough to melt a heart of flint. There they
lay quivering in the cold, the youth round like a dog, the papoose stretched
out with his eyes and nose and mouth full of dirt, and yet alive, and groaning.
I advised John to go and get to some fire. He told me he could not stand, but I
persuaded him still, lest he should lie there and die. And with much ado I got
him to a fire, and went myself home. As soon as I was got home his master's
daughter came after me, to know what I had done with the Englishman. I told her
I had got him to a fire in such a place. Now had I need to pray Paul's Prayer
"That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men" (2
Thessalonians 3.2). For her satisfaction I went along with her, and brought her
to him; but before I got home again it was noised about that I was running away
and getting the English youth, along with me; that as soon as I came in they
began to rant and domineer, asking me where I had been, and what I had been
doing? and saying they would knock him on the head. I told them I had been
seeing the English youth, and that I would not run away. They told me I lied,
and taking up a hatchet, they came to me, and said they would knock me down if
I stirred out again, and so confined me to the wigwam. Now may I say with
David, "I am in a great strait" (2 Samuel 24.14). If I keep in, I
must die with hunger, and if I go out, I must be knocked in head. This
distressed condition held that day, and half the next. And then the Lord
remembered me, whose mercies are great. Then came an Indian to me with a pair
of stockings that were too big for him, and he would have me ravel them out,
and knit them fit for him. I showed myself willing, and bid him ask my mistress
if I might go along with him a little way; she said yes, I might, but I was not
a little refreshed with that news, that I had my liberty again. Then I went
along with him, and he gave me some roasted ground nuts, which did again revive
my feeble stomach.
Being got out of her sight, I had time and
liberty again to look into my Bible; which was my guide by day, and my pillow
by night. Now that comfortable Scripture presented itself to me, "For a
small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee"
(Isaiah 54.7). Thus the Lord carried me along from one time to another, and
made good to me this precious promise, and many others. Then my son came to see
me, and I asked his master to let him stay awhile with me, that I might comb
his head, and look over him, for he was almost overcome with lice. He told me,
when I had done, that he was very hungry, but I had nothing to relieve him, but
bid him go into the wigwams as he went along, and see if he could get any thing
among them. Which he did, and it seems tarried a little too long; for his
master was angry with him, and beat him, and then sold him. Then he came
running to tell me he had a new master, and that he had given him some ground
nuts already. Then I went along with him to his new master who told me he loved
him, and he should not want. So his master carried him away, and I never saw
him afterward, till I saw him at Piscataqua in Portsmouth.
That night they bade me go out of the
wigwam again. My mistress's papoose was sick, and it died that night, and there
was one benefit in it—that there was more room. I went to a wigwam, and they
bade me come in, and gave me a skin to lie upon, and a mess of venison and
ground nuts, which was a choice dish among them. On the morrow they buried the
papoose, and afterward, both morning and evening, there came a company to mourn
and howl with her; though I confess I could not much condole with them. Many
sorrowful days I had in this place, often getting alone. "Like a crane, or
a swallow, so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove, mine eyes ail with looking
upward. Oh, Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me" (Isaiah 38.14). I
could tell the Lord, as Hezekiah, "Remember now O Lord, I beseech thee,
how I have walked before thee in truth." Now had I time to examine all my
ways: my conscience did not accuse me of unrighteousness toward one or other;
yet I saw how in my walk with God, I had been a careless creature. As David
said, "Against thee, thee only have I sinned": and I might say with
the poor publican, "God be merciful unto me a sinner." On the Sabbath
days, I could look upon the sun and think how people were going to the house of
God, to have their souls refreshed; and then home, and their bodies also; but I
was destitute of both; and might say as the poor prodigal, "He would fain
have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave
unto him" (Luke 15.16). For I must say with him, "Father, I have
sinned against Heaven and in thy sight." I remembered how on the night
before and after the Sabbath, when my family was about me, and relations and
neighbors with us, we could pray and sing, and then refresh our bodies with the
good creatures of God; and then have a comfortable bed to lie down on; but
instead of all this, I had only a little swill for the body and then, like a
swine, must lie down on the ground. I cannot express to man the sorrow that lay
upon my spirit; the Lord knows it. Yet that comfortable Scripture would often
come to mind, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
will I gather thee."
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