A Fragment Of A Chest Claimed
To Have Been "Brought By Edward Winslow In The MAY-FLOWER" Is Owned By
The Pilgrim Society, And Bears Considerable Evidence Of The Probable
Validity Of Such Claim, But Proof Positive Is Lacking.
Boxes of several
kinds and sizes were part of the Pilgrims' chattels on their ship, some
of them taking
The place of the travellers' "trunks" of to-day, though
"trunks" were then known by that name and find early mention in Pilgrim
inventories, and there were no doubt some upon the Pilgrim ship. A few
claiming such distinction are exhibited, but without attested records of
their origin.
"Andirons, fire-dogs, and cob-irons" (the latter to rest roasting spits
upon) were enumerated among the effects of those early deceased among the
Pilgrims, rendering it well-certain that they must have been part of
their belongings on the MAY-FLOWER. Fire-tongs and "slices" [shovels]
are also frequently mentioned in early Pilgrim inventories, placing them
in the same category with the "andirons and fire-dogs."
In "Mourt's Relation," in the accounts given of the state reception of
Massasoit, "a green rug and three or four cushions" are shown to have
performed their parts in the official ceremonies, and were, of course,
necessarily brought in the MAY-FLOWER.
Spinning-wheels and hand-looms were such absolute necessities, and were
so familiar and omnipresent features of the lives and labors of the
Pilgrim housewives and their Dutch neighbors of Leyden, that we should be
certain that they came with the Pilgrims, even if they did not find
mention in the earliest Pilgrim inventories. Many ancient ones are
exhibited in the "Old Colony," but it is not known that it is claimed for
any of them that they came in the first ship. It is probable that some of
the "cheese fatts" and churns so often named in early inventories came in
the ship, though at first there was, in the absence of milch kine, no
such use for them as there had been in both England and Holland, and soon
was in New England.
Among cooking utensils the roasting "spit" was, in one form or another,
among the earliest devices for cooking flesh, and as such was an
essential of every household. Those brought by the Plymouth settlers
were probably, as indicated by the oldest specimens that remain to us, of
a pretty primitive type. The ancient "bake-kettle" (sometimes called
"pan"), made to bury in the ashes and thus to heat above and below, has
never been superseded where resort must be had to the open fire for
cooking, and (practically unchanged) is in use to-day at many a
sheep-herder's and cowboy's camp fire of the Far West. We may be sure
that it was in every MAY-FLOWER family, and occasional ancient specimens
are yet to be found in "Old Colony" garrets. Pots and kettles of all
sorts find more frequent mention in the early inventories than anything
else, except muskets and swords, and were probably more numerous upon
the ship than any other cooking utensil. A few claimed to be from the
Pilgrim ship are exhibited, chief of which is a large iron pot, said to
have been "brought by Myles Standish in the MAY-FLOWER," now owned by
the Pilgrim Society.
Hardly an early Pilgrim inventory but includes "a mortar and pestle,"
sometimes of iron, sometimes of "brass" or "belle-mettle" (bell metal).
They were of course, in the absence of mills, and for some purposes for
which small hand mills were not adapted, prime necessities, and every
house hold had one. A very fine one of brass (with an iron pestle), nine
and a half inches across its bell-shaped top, - exhibited by the Pilgrim
Society, and said to have been "brought in the MAY-FLOWER by Edward
Winslow," - seems to the author as likely to have been so as almost any
article for which that distinction is claimed.
The lighting facilities of the Pilgrims were fewer and cruder than those
for cooking. They possessed the lamp of the ancient Romans, Greeks, and
Hebrews, with but few improvements, - a more or less fanciful vessel for
oil, with a protuberant nose for a wick, and a loose-twisted cotton wick.
Hand-lamps of this general form and of various devices, called
"betty-lamps," were commonly used, with candlesticks of various metals,
- iron, brass, silver, and copper, - though but few of any other ware.
For wall-lighting two or more candle sockets were brought together in
"sconces," which were more or less elaborate in design and finish. One
of the early writers (Higginson) mentions the abundance of oil (from
fish) available for lamps, but all tallow and suet used by the early
colonists was, for some years (till cattle became plentiful),
necessarily imported. Some of the "candle-snuffers" of the "first
comers" doubtless still remain. We may be sure every family had its
candles, "betty-lamps," candlesticks, and "snuffers." "Lanthorns" were
of the primitive, perforated tin variety - only "serving to make darkness
visible" now found in a few old attics in Pilgrim towns, and on the
"bull-carts" of the peons of Porto Rico, by night. Fire, for any
purpose, was chiefly procured by the use of flint, steel, and tinder, of
which many very early specimens exist. Buckets, tubs, and pails were,
beyond question, numerous aboard the ship, and were among the most
essential and highly valued of Pilgrim utensils. Most, if not all of
them, we may confidently assert, were brought into requisition on that
Monday "wash-day" at Cape Cod, the first week-day after their arrival,
when the women went ashore to do their long-neglected laundrying, in the
comparatively fresh water of the beach pond at Cape Cod harbor. They
are frequently named in the earliest inventories. Bradford also
mentions the filling of a "runlet" with water at the Cape. The
"steel-yards" and "measures" were the only determiners of weight and
quantity - as the hour-glass and sun dial were of time - possessed at
first (so far as appears) by the passengers of the Pilgrim ship, though
it is barely possible that a Dutch clock or two may have been among the
possessions of the wealthiest.
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