"In the early New England meeting-houses the..." - Quote by Alice Morse Earle
In the early New England meeting-houses the seats were long, narrow, uncomfortable benches, which were made of simple, rough, hand-riven planks placed on legs like milking-stools.
More by Alice Morse Earle
“The pillory and stocks, the gibbet, and even the whipping-post, have seen many a noble victim, many a martyr. But I cannot think any save the most ignoble criminals ever sat in a ducking-stool.”
“The brank, or scold's bridle, was unknown in America in its English shape: though from colonial records we learn that scolding women were far too plentiful, and were gagged for that annoying and irritating habit.”
“The study of tavern history often brings to light much evidence of sad domestic changes. Many a cherished and beautiful home, rich in annals of family prosperity and private hospitality, ended its days as a tavern.”
More on History
“History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.”
“Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.”
“Let us consider under what disadvantages Science has hitherto labored before we pronounce thus confidently on her progress.”
More on Architecture
“Few of the early houses in New England were painted, or colored, as it was called, either without or within. Painters do not appear in any of the early lists of workmen.”
“The fate of the architect is the strangest of all. How often he expends his whole soul, his whole heart and passion, to produce buildings into which he himself may never enter.”
“Three things are to be looked to in a building: that it stand on the right spot; that it is securely founded; that it be successfully executed.”