HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

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[462] he calls the boys, who soon appear, and after them the mother and daughter. One wooden wash-basin, in the sink, served each in turn for morning ablutions; and one roller sufficed for wiping all faces. Their dress is suited to their work. The father wears an old cocked — up hat, or a thick cotton cap; no cravat, but a low shirt-collar; a short frock of strongest warp; a pair of old leather breeches; and leggins, which were confined above the knee, and tied over the shoe with a string round the middle of the foot. The boys had cotton caps on their heads, or the remnants of old felt-hats; short jackets, of the coarsest fabric; leather breeches, and leggins. By earliest dawn, the father and his three eldest sons are in the cow-yard, milking. This over, the youngest son drives the cows to pasture, and hastens back to the next duties. The hogs have received their allowance of buttermilk. The morning's milk has been strained and set for cream, or heated to begin a cheese. Then come the reading of the Sacred Scriptures and the family prayers. Immediately afterwards follows the breakfast, which in winter is by candle-light, and in summer by dawn-light. The breakfast, commenced by “asking a blessing” and closed by “returning thanks,” consists of pea-porridge, dealt out, before sitting down, in small wooden bowls. A small central dish has in it some salted shad and smoked alewives; or peradventure some fresh eels, which the boys caught from the river the evening before. With these, brown bread and beer are served; and here ended the usual variety. Sometimes the children were regaled with samp and milk, and the father with boiled salt pork. From the breakfast-table, the father and sons repair to the field, and are at work by six o'clock. With their tools, they have taken the family-gun, not so much from fear of Indians, as the hope of securing some valuable game. Sometimes a fine deer crosses their field, on his way to the river; and, if they are so fortunate as to take him, it makes a feast-week at home; for every part is eaten. Salted and smoked, it was deemed a very savory dish. By half-past 8 o'clock, our laborers in the field are ready for the usual lunch, which consists of smoked shad, bread and cheese, and cider. Thus sustained till a quarter before twelve, they hear the dinner-horn announcing — what the boys had been expecting with impatience — dinner. All hands break off and start for home, and are ready to sit down at the table just as the sun is square on the window-ledge, and the sand in the hour-glass