Cabin Lights

In the past we have written stories about the hardships of the early settlers who settled here and how they constructed their cabins and how they heated them by the only means available, the fire place. Every cabin had to have at least one. One important phase of the settler's life was the illuminating of his cabin. He could get some light from the fireplace when the logs were burning but he did not have fireplaces in every room, particularly if he built two or three rooms to his cabin. One of the earliest sources was the pineknot, which he found almost everywhere on the forest floor. He usually had a large supply on hand, not only for winter fuel to burn but to provide light from the burning pitch.

It mattered little about the dropping pitch because the floors were only ground. Generally however, the pineknots were fastened at the side of the fireplace so that the drippings would fall on the fire wood.

Another source of lighting the cabin was one that very little has been written about. This method was using the pithy center of rushes. When dried, they were dipped in grease or fat. This system was not very popular because they burned quickly and had to be continually moved upward in the holder.

Another method of lighting the cabin was brought over from the old country where it was used for centuries. This was the use of the 'Betty Lamp'. It was a shallow metal box design in which grease or fats from animals was placed. The box affair had a metal lid which covered the fats from which a rag extended. When this was lit the rag absorbed the grease and thus provided a light. This method worked like the pineknot. Drippings would fall on the floor or in the fireplace.

The Betty Lamp could be made by the local blacksmith. Usually it had a long curved handle and perhaps several small chain links by which it could be suspended from a rafter or perhaps a peg on the wall.

We have to remember that in the very early days the nearest neighbor might be miles away, thus it was necessary for the settler to keep a fire in the fireplace burning every hour of the day and year. To carry live coals from one cabin to another was quite a task if they permitted their fires to go out, especially in wet or winter weather. Some of the settlers were very adapt in the use of a small amount of gun powder, a piece of flint and a piece of iron. The powder and fine fibers of linen and fine pine splinters were placed in a tinderbox. The wooden friction match was not made until the 1830's.

In the New England areas especially along the coastal sections the settlers discovered they could use the oil, called 'spermaceti' from the head of the sperm whale. It's oil produced a light much brighter than any other oil and it burned longer. However, this oil was very expensive. Only the rich could afford to use it.

Candles came into use in the mid 1700's. They, too, were rather expensive. The main source of fat, to make candles, had to come from the animals which the settler killed in the forest. Cattle were not too plentiful. The settlers also discovered they could boil a wild berry which was quite plentiful. They called it bayberry. The berries were gathered each fall, placed in large kettles and boiled. As the oil came to the surface it was skimmed by means of a wooden ladle and formed into molds. Candles made of this wax would burn longer, brighter and give off a pleasing odor.

Very few settlers had bees. If they had colonies of this insect they had to guard them closely because they were continually being raided by bears. Due to the scarcity of this wax these candles were used in churches or on very special occasions.

Making candles was usually in the fall when the weather was cool. The wax would harden faster. The early method was to heat the fat in large pots. First, the tallow had to be prepared by rendering the fat from the animal's body over a hot fire in boiling water, in the same process as the bayberries.

The wicks were made of twisted fibers of cloth, sometimes they used the fibers obtained from the milkweed. The wicks were generally about 18 to 24 inches long. These twisted fibers were dipped into the tallow and quickly removed and then hung on racks to harden. The tallow could not be too hot because the tallow would melt from the wick. If it were too cool the candles would be uneven. The candlemaker had to know the exact point where they would form perfectly. The wicks had to be dipped repeatedly until the proper size was formed. An expert candlemaker could make hundreds in a single day. After they were made they had to be cured before storing them for winter's use. Care had to be taken that rodents did not get to them as the candles could be destroyed in a short time.

Many blacksmiths also became quite efficient in using sheets of tin to make candle molds. Wicks were inserted in long hollow tubes, numbering up to a dozen. The end of the wick had to be held in place by a wooden peg or nail. When the tallow was poured into the long tubes by means of a large dipper, they had to harden for several hours. Many times the molds were inserted in cool spring water. After several hours the mold was quickly immersed in hot water for a few seconds and then held upside down for the candles to drop out.

The earliest method of holding candles were holes drilled or bored in blocks of wood. Later fancier forms were carved from wood. Still later blacksmiths and tinsmiths formed them from iron, tin, and then pewter, brass and glass.

Sometimes around the 1850's a new product was derived from the crude oil that was found by drilling holes in the earth. It was called kerosene. This liquid was cheap and safe to use but it had a very disagreeable odor and the smoke made everything around it black. After about twenty years someone came up with an idea of making a glass globe. The air circulating up through the base of the globe holder was found to eliminate the smoke. Containers, called lamps were made in blown hollow bases to hold the kerosene. Wicks made of cotton strands absorbed the liquid so that when lit, produced light in the room. Some of the early lamps were made to fit into brackets which also held mirrors to reflect the light.

Candlemaking today is much different. They are used only for ornamental reasons. Very few are made of tallow or beeswax. Most are made from paraffin. In order to make them burn better and longer it is necessary to add a powder called stearic acid to the melted paraffin. Also, there are many colored dyes and concentrated oils, in wax form, that can be purchased and added to the hot solution which produces beautiful colored candles and will perfume the room.

Molds of many shapes and sizes can also be obtained.

What a difference two-hundred and fifty years has made in producing light in our homes.