Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A Memoir of the Late William Hodge, Sen. Bigelow Bros., Buffalo, N.Y. - 1885 (30-31) OUR TAVERN IN THE LOG HOUSE ------- This noble mansion consisted of two rooms on the lower floor, with a wide hall between them. It had battened doors, naked peeled beams, and windows of 7x9 glass. The north room was used as a parlor, sitting-room, main kitchen and dining-room. The south room was the more public one. It could not be mistaken as one looked toward the right on entering by the front door into the hall. There the eye was caught by large black letters on an unpainted door, telling the visi- tor to "WALK IN," —and there too was the "latch-string," hanging on the outer side of the door. This room also contained the bar, which was partitioned off in one corner. Under the shelves stood the whiskey and cider barrels, and on them were the kegs of brandy, rum and gin, and one or two kinds of wine, —as Madeira and Port. Maybe there was also there a keg of shrub or peppermint cordial, and occasionally one of metheglin. Sometimes, in the proper season, the bar would contain a barrel of spruce beer, home- made, of course, as also was the metheglin. There was no lager beer in those days, and the whiskey was more pure and consequently less injurious than that of the present time. The sugar-box and money-drawer were made to slide under the front counter-board. The white sugar then used in the bar and on the table came in high, tapering solid cakes, called sugar-loaves, done up in coarse brown or black paper, and was known as loaf sugar. A few may yet be seen, now and then, at some stores. The liquors sold at the bar were always measured out in the wine- glass and gill-cup, or in larger quantities when desired. Cider was sold by the pint or quart, red peppers being added; and in cold weather it was set upon coals and embers to heat. The mixed drinks furnished at the bar were termed "slings," and were made of sugar- water and brandy, rum or gin, well stirred with the "sugar-stick." Hot slings were made the same way, except that a hot iron was put in, to temper them, a slight sprinkling of nutmeg being regularly added. A "sangaree" was made in the same way, using wine instead of the stronger liquors. Nearly all were as much in the habit of using these different kinds of liquors as beverages, as people now are of using tea, coffee, and even milk. The fire-place in this bar-room and that in the north room were without "jambs," —the chimneys being built with split sticks and plastered. That in the north room was furnished with a "trammel-pole," and "trammel" with hooks to match, for hanging kettles, etc., over the fire. The hearths were made of stones gathered from the fields. The chamber rooms were used for sleeping purposes. An addition built on the east side of the bar-room was used as a back kitchen and wash-room. It had a sloping roof, being a "lean-to." The fire-place was built in one corner of it, and the chimney and hearth were of the same materials as those in the other rooms. ===========================================================================