History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

DWELLINGS—FURNITURE—COSTUMES. 3
aud crevice. Opposite the front door, built against the
chimney, was the narrow, steep and crooked stairway, to
the upper story, leaving an entrance-hall barely wide enough
to swing the door. These four rooms constituted the house.
Those on the lower floor were commonlj^ wainscoted to the
ceiling, which was usually sheathed. For many years very
little plaster was used. In the second story the rooms corresponded
in size with those below, but were without a fire-
place. One of the first floor rooms was kitchen, diningroom,
living-room, and frequently contained a bed. and the
other, though termed the parlor, was mainly a store-room,
and when the family became large, was sometimes used as
a bedroom also. Neither of these apartments had ordina-
rily more than two windows, one in front and the other in
the end, but none in the rear. They were square, set with
small panes of glass, for which oiled paper was sometimes
substituted. Previous to 1750, diamond-shaped glass was
commonly used. The panes were set in lead, and the
frames swung inwards on hinges. When square panes of
glass came into use, windows were made larger, and moveable
in the casings. Closets in those early days were an
unknown quantity, and they never found space upon the
ground-plans of any house. Moveable clothes-i)resses, and
sometimes corner cupboards were preferred. Chests, many
of them elaborately carved and highly finished, that had
been brought across the ocean, were not uncommon.
Nearly every house was provided with a cellar, but it was
small, and extended only under a portion of one of the
rooms. Sometimes it was walled with stone, occasionally
with logs, and in some instances with nothing but the bare
earth, as it was left when the excavation was made. A
good sized cellar was eleven feet square. It was entei-ed, if
at the rear of the house, through a trap-door in the floor,
usually T)y means of a ladder ; if near the front, ordinarily
by a flight of stairs under the stairway in the hall.
An Increasing Pam- While the family was small the house as
iiy Demanded above described was ample. But as the
oom.
household increased,—in those days ten or
even twelve children were not uncommon,— greater accommodations
were required and the house must needs be en-