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��MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN HOPKINTON.
��lowed, to be in its turn superseded by timepieces of still more modern con- struction. The kitchen ware, some- times of wood, or of porcelain, or of pewter, exhibited features of less dis- tinctive importance, though of different relative value when china was as rare as now is silver, and pewter as rare as china. The general furniture of a household, of which there are so many lingering representations, needs no special description.
Out of doors, improved utensils were adopted as time advanced. We have already given some account of these in our article on local industries. Joshua Morse owned the first wheelbarrow used in the town. The wheel was a simple, solid truck, wrought from a piece of plank. This implement was in use many years ago. The first wag- gon had wooden axles, and the body had no braces or springs. The seat was suspended on a pair of wooden strips running longitudinally and acting in some degree as springs. The first sleigh was double, being capable of conveying at least six persons. The first single sleigh was owned by Jona- than Chase, father of Daniel. The first wagon seat, like the first sleigh seat, contained a cavity or "box" for the convenient transportation of different articles.
We have already, in a previous arti- cle, spoken of each household of the olden time as a local manufactory. Men, women and children wore largely only cloths of domestic manufacture. Wool was carded, spun, and wove by hand, fulled at the mill, and at home made into garments for both sex*es. Flax was treated in a similar manner. The implements employed in the ma- nipulation of wool and flax can now be found scattered here and there in dif- ferent places. Cotton was frequently purchased in the form of yarn and woven in textile combination with wool. The laborious and slow produc- tion of fabrics necessitated a stinted economy in dress. Ladies' gowns had fewer breadths and both sexes had few- er changes of raiment. The provision of comfortable supplies of domestic
��conveniences required diligent labor of the whole available household through- out the year.
In the olden time, as now, improve- ments were at first within the privileges of the wealthier class. Consequently, they were more properly included in the department of domestic luxuries. As the -local tendencies of population became more defined, the village be- came the natural centre of refined do- mestic attractions. Here luxuries early became more generally known than in the more rural districts and their glare and fascination proportionally influ- enced the imagination of the less fa- vorably endowed. To cite a case, John Harris, Esq., owned the first floor carpet ever seen in Hopkinton. The introduction of this luxury excited un- measured popular comment.
SOCIAL.
The privilege of socially comming- ling is always highly esteemed in every local community. Very soon after the settlement of this town, the universal taste for sociability began to exhibit it- self. People met in lesser circles with their private friends or joined the gen- eral company on occasions of greater social festivity. In every locality more stated occasions of popular gatherings are selected or set apart. In the ear- lier days of this township, a "raising" naturally became the incentive to a popular demonstration of sociability. The erection of the frame of an im- portant edifice brought out the majori- ty of the entire settlement — men, women and children. It was often followed by a grand demonstration of hilarity. When, about one hundred years ago, Jeremiah Story raised the frame of his two-storied dwelling house, the younger people in the neighbor- hood supplemented the event by a grand party in the temporary house of their host, where some of them "danced all night till broad daylight." The au- tumnal husking was another occasion ofjovialty. Both sexes collected at huskings, shucked the corn-ears, paid forfeits of red ones, consumed a hearty supper, of which baked beans, pump-
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