A return to the farmhouse - Glimpses of the Past with Karen Webster

Before we leave the farmhouse kitchen, there is another item to take a look at and that is the sewing machine. Ours was a Raymond treadle model in a wooden cabinet. Each time the foot treadle was moved up and down, it caused the needle to do likewise, thus sewing, stitch by stitch, most of our clothing.

 

In the summer kitchen was the washing machine. Before there was electricity, the clothes in this machine were agitated by the means of a lever on the outside that, when rocked back and forth, swirled the wash around. Then the clothes were fed through a wringer, which consisted of two wooden or hard rubber rollers, run by a crank, that squeezed the water from the clothing. Care had to be taken that hair or fingers did not get caught up in the process. 

 

The wrung-out clothes would fall into a tub of rinse water, only to be wrung out one final time before heading to the clothesline. Ours was a long single stretch of wire located across the laneway attached to a tall post at one end and to an apple tree at the other. There was also a long prop pole with a bent spike nail at the top of it and when the clothes were pegged to the line, causing the line to sag down, this pole was pushed up under the line to keep the laundry from dragging on the lawn. This same clothesline was handy to create our own tent by throwing Dad’s tarp over it. 

 

We can move on to the front room, not a living room or a family room, but a front room where guests would be entertained. Most likely an additional source of heat was required and, in our case, it was an oil burner. While it was handy at warming the room up, it also emitted a heavy petroleum odour that was unpleasant to my nostrils. The top of the back of the chesterfield had an embroidered cloth on it called an antimacassar. Macassar used to be a hair dressing from the past that was favoured by many men. Even after it went out of use, in order to protect the furniture, housewives covered up the backs and arms too of the furniture with washable items. The front room was the place most likely to find books to read. 

 

Still exploring the farmhouse, let’s climb the wooden hill or stair steps up to the bedrooms. There were no closets in our home, just a long board attached to one wall with a series of hooks on it. The beds consisted of a frame with a headboard and footboard. Running crosswise on the frame were wooden slats that held up a metal grid work and on top of that was the mattress. I can remember sleeping on a goose feather mattress at my grandmother’s place when I wasn’t very old. I sank right down in it then she covered me up with heavy patchwork quilts that had been made of woolen materials. I felt like a prisoner! 
Some homes also had a spare bedroom. When I was young, my grandmother lived with us and she used that room.

 

In case you think that one room has been forgotten, that of the bathroom, that would be because our home did not have one. There was an outhouse across the laneway under an old apple tree. Strangely enough, though the tree did produce apples, none of them were ever eaten. In homes without bathrooms, each bedroom would be equipped with a set of decorated crockery consisting of a basin, soap dish, pitcher and a chamber pot. This set would be housed in a washstand that would have racks on either side for hand towels. If one were to use the chamber pot on a winter’s night, a cold reception was guaranteed. This pot was sometimes referred to as a “thunder mug” because of the acoustic result of a normal bodily function. 

 

The only heat in the upstairs, which wasn’t much, was generated through proximity to the central chimney. The windows in the house were made of wood with single-pane glass in them. In winter, wooden storm windows were attached to the outside of the frames, but they did not provide much protection from winter’s icy blasts. Frost would decorate the glass most of the winter and, at times, could also be found on the surface of the wallpaper. One did not linger getting dressed on winter mornings! On the other hand, summer nights could be quite stifling in the upper rooms and sometimes we escaped to an old couch on the front porch for relief.

 

Lastly, there was the cellar. Because it had a cement floor and stone walls, it was the coolest place in the house. Perishables, such as milk and butter, were stored there along with rows upon rows of preserves in their glass jars.

 

Because a single reel push mower was the only means of keeping the grass cut, not much lawn was maintained, just a path to the barn and a small amount around the house and the windmill. The only flowers I remember my mother keeping, in a narrow band along the south side of the house, were tulips, daffodils, petunias and geraniums.

 

By today’s standards, the farmhouses of several decades ago might seem quite basic, but they provided us with all that we needed and gave us a good start in life.