The Mayflower And Her Log, Complete, By Azel Ames


























































































































































 -   Clocks and watches were not yet in
common use (though the former were known in England from 1540), and
except - Page 68
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Clocks And Watches Were Not Yet In Common Use (Though The Former Were Known In England From 1540), And Except

That in "Mourt's Relation" and Bradford's "Historie" mention is made of the time of day as such "o'clock" (indicating some

Degree of familiarity with clocks), no mention is made of their possession at the first. Certain of the leaders were apparently acquainted at Leyden with the astronomer Galileo, co-resident with them there, and through this acquaintance some of the wealthier and more scholarly may have come to know, and even to own, one of the earliest Dutch clocks made with the pendulum invented by Galileo, though hardly probable as early as 1620. Pocket watches were yet practically unknown.

Except for a few pieces of silver owned by the wealthiest of their number, pewter was the most elegant and expensive of the Pilgrims' table-ware. A pewter platter said to have been "brought over in the MAY-FLOWER" is now owned by the Pilgrim Society, which also exhibits smaller pewter formerly Edward Winslow's, and bearing his "arms," for which, as previously noted, a like claim is made. Platters, dishes, "potts," ladles, bottles, "flaggons," "skelletts," cups, porringers, "basons," spoons, candlesticks, and salt "sellars," were among the many pewter utensils unmistakably brought on the good ship.

The wooden-ware of the colonists, brought with them, was considerable and various. The Dutch were long famous for its fabrication. There was but very little china, glass, or pottery of any kind in common use in western Europe in 1620; some kinds were not yet made, and pewter, wood, and leather largely filled their places. Wooden trenchers (taking the place of plates), trays, "noggins" (jug or pitcher-like cups), cups, and "lossets" (flat dishes like the bread-plates of to day), were of course part of every housewife's providings. Some few of Pilgrim origin possibly still exist. As neither coffee, tea, nor china had come into use, the cups and saucers which another century brought in - to delight their owners in that day and the ceramic hunter in this - were not among the "breakables" of the "good-wife" of the MAY-FLOWER. The "table-plenishings" had not much variety, but in the aggregate the (first) "nineteen families" must have required quite a quantity of spoons, knives, salt "sellars," etc. Forks there were none, and of the accessories of to-day (except napkins), very few. Meat was held by the napkin while being cut with the knife. Josselyn' gives a list of "Implements for a family of six persons" going to New England.

Kitchen utensils: - "1 Iron Pot. 1 Great Copper Kettle. 1 Small Kettle. 1 Lesser Kettle. 1 Large Frying pan. 1 Brass Mortar. 1 Spit. 1 Gridiron. 2 Skillets. Platters, dishes, and spoons of wood. A pair of Bellows. A Skoope, etc."

Among the implements of husbandry, etc., and mechanics' tools we find evidence of hoes, spades, shovels, scythes, "sikles," mattocks, bill-hooks, garden-rakes, hay-forks ("pitch-forks"), besides seed-grain and garden seeds. Axes, saws, hammers, "adzs," augers, chisels, gouges, squares, hatchets, an "iron jack-scrue," "holdfasts" (vises), blacksmiths' tools, coopers' tools, iron and steel in bar, anvils, chains, etc., "staples and locks," rope, lime (for mortar), nails, etc., are also known to have been in the ship. Francis Eaton, the carpenter, seems to have had a very respectable "kit," and Fletcher, the smith, was evidently fairly "outfitted."

The implements of husbandry were of the lighter (?) sort; no ploughs, harrows, carts, harness, stone-drags, or other farming tools requiring the strength of beasts for their use, were included. In nothing could they have experienced so sharp a contrast as in the absence of horses, cattle, and sheep in their husbandry, and especially of milch kine. Bradford and Window both mention hoes, spades, mattocks, and sickles, while shovels, scythes, bill-hooks (brush-scythes, the terrible weapons of the English peasantry in their great "Mon mouth" and earlier uprisings), pitchforks, etc., find very early mention in inventories and colonial records. Josselyn, in his "Two Voyages to New England," gives, in 1628, the following very pertinent list of "Tools for a Family of six persons, and so after this rate for more, - intending for New England." This may be taken as fairly approximating the possessions of the average MAY-FLOWER planter, though probably somewhat exceeding individual supplies. Eight years of the Pilgrims' experience had taught those who came after them very much that was of service.

5 Broad Howes [hoes]. 6 Chisels. 5 Narrow Howes [hoes]. 3 Gimblets. 5 Felling Axes. 2 hatchets. 2 steel hand saws. 2 frones (?) to cleave pail! (Probably knives for cleaving pail stock.) 2 hand saws. 2 hand-bills. 1 whip saw, set and files with box. Nails of all sorts. 2 Pick-axes. A file and rest. 3 Locks and 3 paire fetters. 2 Hammers. 2 Currie Combs. 3 Shovels. Brands for beasts. 2 Spades. A hand vice. 2 Augers. A pitchfork, etc. 2 Broad Axes.

Unhappily we know little from contemporaneous authority as to what grain and other seeds the Pilgrims brought with them for planting. We may be sure, however, that rye, barley, oats, wheat, pease, and beans were the bulkiest of this part of their freight, though Bradford mentions the planting of "garden seeds" their first spring.

While we know from the earliest Pilgrim chronicles that their mechanics' implements embraced axes, saws, hammers, "adzs," augers, hatchets, an "iron jack-scrue," "staples and locks," etc., we know there must have been many other tools not mentioned by them, brought over with the settlers. The "great iron-scrue," as Bradford calls it in his original MS., played, as all know, a most important part on the voyage, in forcing the "cracked and bowed" deck-beam of the ship into place. Governor Bradford tells us that "it was brought on board by one of the Leyden passengers," and one may hazard the guess that it was by either Moses Fletcher, the smith, or Francis Eaton, the "carpenter." "Staples" and "locks" found their place and mention, as well as the "chains," "manacles," and "leg-irons" named in the list of accoutrements for offence or defence, when it became necessary to chain up the Indian spy of the Neponsets (as narrated by Winslow in his "Good Newes from New England") and other evil-doers.

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