One fork, and a sixty-
dollar organ!
In most cases the sewing-machine was not used, the clocks were so
worthless that they did not keep correct time -- and if they had, in
nine cases out of ten there would have been no one in the family who
could have told the time of day -- while the organ, of course, was
rarely used for want of a person who could play upon it.
In the case to which I have referred, where the family sat down to
the table for the meal at which I was their guest, I could see plainly
that this was an awkward and unusual proceeding, and was done in my
honour. In most cases, when the family got up in the morning, for
example, the wife would put a piece of meat in a frying-pan and put a
lump of dough in a "skillet," as they called it. These utensils would
be placed on the fire, and in ten or fifteen minutes breakfast would
be ready. Frequently the husband would take his bread and meat in his
hand and start for the field, eating as he walked. The mother would
sit down in a corner and eat her breakfast, perhaps from a plate and
perhaps directly from the "skillet" or frying-pan, while the children
would eat their portion of the bread and meat while running about the
yard. At certain seasons of the year, when meat was scarce, it was
rarely that the children who were not old enough or strong enough to
work in the fields would have the luxury of meat.
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