TO WALLPAPER, NO GLASS, NO SOAP.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 98, 19 September 1918, Page 4

TO WALLPAPER, NO GLASS, NO SOAP.

The Inside decorations of houses are all of comparatively recent date. Through the Middle Ages wall paper was entirely unknown. In the casjtles of the nobility the stone walls of the principal rooms were covered with tapestries, depicting scenes of the chase or pictures of heroic deeds In battle. In the houses of the poor jthere was little Improvement upon the tnud dwellings of primitive man. The [walls were bare and were often covered with mildew from the damp {which oozed through. Glass was unknown, so that tfte windows consisted simply of holes In the walls. In the castles some of the apartments had a few windows fitted with very thin sheets of horn; but as a rule they consisted simply of apertures in the walls, without any protection whatever except bars of Iron. In stormy weather they were sometimes boarded up until the storm abated. Soap is an article which was unknown to most of our ancestors. In early days people had to be content with water and certain mineral earths with which to wash themselves. The discovery of the art of making soap was brought about through its being observed that the ashes of the wood fire and the fat which fell from the food roasted thereon formed a substance which would form a lather when mixed with water. This was the first form of soap. Soap is first mentioned by Pliny, who states that it was prepared from goats tallow and beech-tree ashes, and was employed for giving brilliance to the hair. The excavations of Pompeii brought to light a complete manufactory containing quantities of well-preserved soap. Knives and forks are used by us every day of our lives; yet it is seldom we give a thought to the time when our ancestors had no such appliances. Shells, flints, and sharpedged stones were first used as knives. These were followed by knives of bronze. In the museum at Bologna and in the great Naples collection of objects from Pompeii and Herculaneum there are ancient Etruscan bronze knives curved in form something like modern reaping hooks. The Anglo-Saxons had knives which somewhat resembled modern razors. The custom of using forks was learned from Italy. It was not known In England until the reign of James the First. Before then food waß taken from the dish with the. fingers, and it was only very gradually that the use of the fork became general, Table knives were very little used up to the end of the fifteenth century. It was the custom to carry a knife or dagger In the girdle previous to that time, and this dagger served equally well for killing a man or for cutting food. Razors have been in use from very remote times. They were known to ,the ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans; and we find mention made of them in so Old a record as the Book of Numbers,