invention had not opened, and the articles
by whose aid domestic comfort has been promoted were unknown. The only
means of cooking were the open fire and the brick oven. Meat for
roasting was suspended by a cord from a hook in the ceiling in front of
the open fire and over a dripping pan. The children found amusement
and became useful in twisting the cord and then allowing the weight of
the meat to untwist it. Even fire in the summer was obtained and kept
with difficulty. There were no friction matches and not infrequently
a child was sent on a flying visit to a neighbor's house to borrow
fire. Indeed, the habit of borrowing and lending extended to nearly
every movable thing that any one possessed. Tools, food, especially
fresh meat, the labor of men, oxen and horses were borrowed and lent.
Farming tools were few in number and rude in construction. Many of
them were made upon the farms, either by the farmers themselves, or by
the help of poorly instructed mechanics. The modern plough was
unknown. Hay and manure forks, scythes, hoes, were so rough, uncouth
and heavy that they would now be rejected by the commonest laborer. As
early as 1830 by father bought a cast-iron plough; it was the wonder of
the neighborhood and the occasion of many prophecies that were to be
falsified by events.

My father was a practical man and a gentleman by nature. With him
civility was innate. He was a close observer and something of a
philosopher. I recall his statement made in my childhood that matter
was indestructible. He was of even temper, and of an imperturbable
spirit. His paternal ancestor on this side of the Atlantic was made a
freeman at Lynn in 1638. Of his arrival in the country there is no
record. From that date there had been no marriage except into English
families. My father was purely English. My mother, whose family name
was Marshall, and who was a descendant of John Marshall who came in the
_Hopewell_, Captain Babb, in 1635, was English also through all her
ancestors from John Marshall.

My father enjoyed the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens and
he held many of the offices of the town and for many years. In 1843
and 1844 he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
and in 1853 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention. I was
also a member of the same bodies, and the association with my father
under such peculiar circumstances is one of the pleasant recollections
o