Asa:
I wonder could you be more loved
than in the sunlit Spring,
with sunrise creeping up to you
and sparking you to sing.
When sunbeams wander through your hair
and lighten its soft strands,
leaving traces in your smile
and gentle, soothing hands.
I can speak but to your eyes,
that melt me in a glance.
Teach my soul to seek what warmth
and with it love to chance.
For all my words are never enough
and all my looks can’t say
How beautifully and preciously,
you’re loved this springtime day.
Asa – When I worked in the Colonial Williamsburg Silversmith shop, we did most things by hand, just as they did back in the 18th century. But there were some modern conveniences – we had coffee available all day, we had electric lights, we used stock silver instead of melting coins or other silver objects. But the actual work of making spoons, salvers, cups, bowls, etc. was just as hard and I was prepared well for my 18th and 19th century life as a silversmith. I did feel strange melting Spanish pieces-of-eight and older style silver objects to form new items, almost like I was destroying history. Using the barter system was challenging also. What should a spoon cost, or a bowl? How much firewood? How many chickens? How much fabric for Rebecca? The best thing was that people were honest in their dealings. It was valued more than greed. Not like today. I usually took what they offered since they knew such values better than I. I was never disappointed. Although the one time I got bear meat didn’t work out well.
Rebecca: I was thinking about how important Independence Day is. How vital to our future and great an event in our heritage. But when we experienced it in the late 1790s, it was not the holiday and celebration we have today. For many people it was either a vague event in the near past or a day of reflection. Asa and I had no flags, or fireworks, or parades & BBQ to attend. It became our time to be reminded of how far we were from our lives in 2015. Celebration was limited to being thankful for being alive and well, in the past.
Asa: I was thinking today about what my hardest challenges were in adapting to life in the 18th century. For sure one of them was firewood. I could have nightmares about firewood. Firewood was needed for cooking, heating, boiling water, and silversmithing.
Since you couldn’t easily cut and split firewood in the winter or during rainy seasons, you had to stockpile more of it when the weather was nice. I had a lot to learn and many muscles to develop. No chainsaws or logsplitters then. An axe, a wedge, and muscles required. I was so slow and clumsy at first. And I had no knowledge of wood types. I had to learn that pine and maple and other soft woods burned faster than hardwoods like oak or cherry. So I would need twice as much maple as oak. I had to learn that wood needed to be aged for up to 4 months before it was properly seasoned for the fireplace. I had to cut and split wood everyday to keep up. At the beginning, I would be completely exhausted after 2 hours. By the time we left Dumfries, I could put in a full 8 hour day.
So how much wood did I need? It depended on the winter extremes. A mild winter would require maybe 6 cords; a harsh one maybe 10 (or 18 and 30 ricks). A cord is roughly a stack of split wood measuring 4’x4’x8′, 128 cu. ft.
Firewood made me strong and fit, and sore and tried. I was glad to give it up when we got to Lexington where we could buy it easily.
AUTHOR: I will be attending:
Historical Novel Society Conference, June 26-18, 2015 in Denver Colorado
My book will be for sale and I’ll be doing a book signing also.
It’s being held at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center.
Asa: I loved falling asleep at night as a child listening to the rain pound the roof over my head and pulling up the covers tight when the thunder boomed. In the 1790s in Dumfries, it took on a more unpleasant nature. First, there were house leaks. Normally, one would just put pots and pails on the floor to last until the storm passed and repairs could be made. But I remember one time when a small drip, drip over our bed suddenly became a small waterfall directly into Rebecca’s face. I doubt she could even laugh about it today but at the time…. Second, there was the humidity and bugs afterwards. Lastly, it was the mud. Everywhere. Everywhere.
When we had moved to Lexington and into a larger brick house, the joy of falling rain returned anew. Like a long, lost friend, it found me. The window-rattling thunder, the brilliant lightning shattering the dark, and the torrential downpour of water still heard as the individual raindrops striking the roof.
Rebecca: There is a great peacefulness in the past. When I stood in Williamsburg in 1798 for the first time, I was struck by the quiet. We take in so many sounds today they we are not even aware of them. When you strip away all the cacophony of technology, -construction, traffic, conversations, airplanes- you become overwhelmed with the silence. With very few people and farm animals per square mile, ambient noise is reduced to insect buzzing, moos, neighs, and dogs barking. That silence is so soothing. You just want to stand there and listen to it. Of course, as we moved into more urban towns and cities less sleepy than withering Williamsburg, the silence was less frequent. But I’ll never forget that first time I was immersed in it. The world was a simple, serene place then, if only for a moment. I think we all need those moments, don’t you?
Rebecca: I guess I should have been expecting some more indelicate questions about how we managed to live in the 18th and 19th Century. Someone wants to know what we used for toilet paper. I feel like making up a silly but believable answer. And where will it lead next? OK, I’ll answer this one but let’s not continue on this thread. Leaves and cheap cloth, depending. OK? Enough said.
Asa: Well, I just heard today that our story is out in the world on Amazon.com. I guess we need to get ready for questions.
Rebecca: You mean I need to have answers ready. You’ll just get flustered.
Asa: Only when you are the person asking. At least now I won’t have to watch out for you using modern language in the past.
Rebecca: Let’s hope someone reads it.
Asa: Bite your tongue. It took 7 years to write our story. We must be patient.
Rebecca: I remember those times also. My shy silver boy! It was easy to fluster you with my charm. LOL. But I must say I was intrigued from the start. You were really handsome with those soft, gentle eyes. Something made me want to know more about you – about the mystery of you. So I tricked you into lunch, which became lunches and walks and before long, I found myself thinking about you too much.
Then my home life, what little there, was intruded. It grew more intolerable at the same time you were a comfort. I remember those times too, but much of that time I want to forget also.
