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[Mjkoaktreecottag AT aol.com]

Interesting, but have heard some of these sayings  before.  Also, since the 
parents bed were often put in the main (fire)  rooms, sometimes the only room 
in a cottage, where they were in view of everyone  in the room, the 
sidehangings and canopies were useful for keeping out drafts,  but especially 
needed for 
privacy...
Thos. Costain wrote a novel, he  called Below the Salt,  because the salt was 
kept in an open cellar (dish) on the center of the  table, so the salt was 
used to denote rank-- the "upper crust" sat  above the salt and servants, 
etc. 
below.  I have also read that in some  houselods there were not enough 
chairs, 
benches, etc.
to seat everyone at the table so children, servants, etc, were served  
afterwards in a second shift.
    Speaking of shifts, for many centuries the  most important article of 
clothing for women was probably her 
shift, because it served as her blouse/shirt under the top garments, her  
underwear, and her nightgown. Wealthy women could afford several, but 
cottagers  
may have had to  make do with just 1, so if you were too poor or too  lazy to 
process your flax into thread, weave it into linen, and cut and sew a  shift, 
then you were, of course, "shiftless".  There are many terms we use  today 
without thinking of their derivation that are associated with flax  
processing.  
In my old storybooks, a  blond is  sometimes  referred to as "flaxen-haired". 
Still today a "tow head" has hair the color of  tow (a valuable by-product of 
the flax processing that was used for  "tow 'rope"; clothing for the lowest 
sort; "tow sacks" for grain and other  bags; stuffing mattresses; and even 
starting fires.) "Lint" was the finest grade  of tow or fuzz from 
straightening the 
line fibers for spinning and was used  for dressing wounds and to staunch the 
blood flow. Also,during the process of  removing the line fibers from their 
outer casing, they are drawn thru a series  of  spiked wooden blocks called 
hetchels, hackles, or often heckles, so to  needle someone is to "heckle" 
them 
and the person doing it a  "heckler". When my hubby was growing up on an 
Amish 
farm in Lanc. Co., he  was told if he didn't behave, he'd get a good 
"scutching", which is when  the  flax is put over a special board and beaten 
with a 
wooden knife before  hetcheling.  He thinks his father didn't know the origin 
of 
the term and he  certainly didn't, so one Christmas I bought him a 
"scutching" 
knife.  The  past is full of many terms, sayings, etc. that I find 
fascinating, so I have  started collecting them.



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