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***Signpost***
Issue No. Five -- June 6, 2000
Contents:
- News
- The Sack-Back Windsor Chair
- Benjamin Franklin, Runaway Apprentice
- A Dog's Best Friend by Lynn Hummel
NEWS:
With this issue I begin a series of articles about the different styles of Windsor chairs, a little of their specific history and the characteristics that make them what they are. The sack-back seems a good starting point due to its popularity -- both today and two centuries ago.
My second article is adapted from Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. I mentioned in the last issue his troubles as a young apprentice. Here I flesh out the story. I hope to bring you more about this fascinating man in future issues.
I finish again with an article from the good folks at Homespun magazine. It's not quite a "man bites dog" story, but it's darn close. And you don't have to be a dog-lover to enjoy this one.
No auction again this month, but I did add something to the Custom Page, a fan-back rocker I made a few years ago. I hope you'll take a look.
Finally, on June 24 and 25 I will be at a show in Duluth, Minnesota. Park Point, on Lake Superior, is a beautiful place for a show -- as long as the lake doesn't decide to stir up some nasty weather. Actually, in the years I've been exhibiting at this event, only one significant daytime rain storm has intruded on the fun. So, while I know most of you live far away from Duluth, I hope some of you will be able to make it. And bring swim suits, the public beach is nearby, and the water is always -- well okay, it's always freezing. Hope to see you there.
Until next time,
Bob
The name "sack-back" refers to a sack-like covering that is said to have been pulled over the backs of these chairs with the purpose of warding off winter drafts. There is even one known high-back Windsor from Lancanster County, Pennsylvania, which has two small bows which are attached to the main back and extend forward like the wings of an upholstered wing-back chair. But why would this chair be named for the covering when it certainly could have been used on any style, the tall fan-backs and comb-backs in particular? Perhaps it became a common practice in the same period the sack-back was most popular.
The style was developed in the 1760s and may have been the chair which made Windsors utilitarian and available to everyone. While earlier comb-backs and low-backs were likely custom made, the sack-back marks the beginning of standardization and large-scale production, principally in Philadelphia where they were made by the thousands and exported to all the colonies. Considering the number of 18th century examples that are still with us, the sack-back might have been the most popular style of Windsor until the introduction of the simplified Windsors which were mass-produced starting in the 1790s. There are also many paintings from the period of statesmen, merchants and wealthy dandies sitting in sack-backs.
The sack-back is also the style most often found branded with the maker's name -- names like Trumble, Henzey, Wire, Cox, Bowen, Burden and Widdifield. Trumble and Henzey are known to have shipped a lot of chairs up and down the Atlantic coast in the 1770s and 1780s when the sack-back was most fashionable. It is reasonable to assume that sack-backs made up a large proportion of those cargoes.
Sack-backs almost always had an oval seat. Sometimes shield or "D" shaped seats were used, but these would be custom-made chairs. Basic production models would have seven long spindles and four short ones; fancier ones might have nine long and six short. The arm was typically made up of a single, steam-bent piece of wood; but sometimes a sawn arm was used, pieced together from three parts: two arms joined by a central arm-crest. Sawn arms usually had carved knuckle hands, as did some bent arms. The simple paddle arm was most common, however, and it can be assumed that the bent arm with paddle hand was used on production chairs.
Sack-backs almost always had legs with a simple taper in the foot. However, some chairs, mostly from Lancaster County, had the blunt arrow foot used extensively on the oldest comb-backs. Sometimes the fancier foot was used only on the front legs. The blunt arrow was often accompanied by a fancier medial stretcher, some reminiscent of Queen Anne chairs.
Sack-backs were occasionally given high backs, or a comb was added. Rarely, bracing spindles were used, but since the arm makes these totally unnecessary on a sack-back, they would only have served as a design flourish.
Benjamin Franklin, Runaway Apprentice
Benjamin Franklin's formal education ended at ten years old when he was removed from school and put to work for his father, Josiah, a "tallow-chandler and sope-boiler." But Ben disliked the trade and so from time to time his father took him around to other tradesmen in Boston to see if they could find a more agreeable occupation. Being of "bookish inclination," it was eventually determined that he should become a printer, a prospect that appealed to Ben. And so in 1718, at the age of twelve, he was bound to his brother, James, to serve as apprentice until he was twenty-one.
Though much taken by the printer's trade, his apprenticeship was not altogether a happy one. Ben and James had many disputes, some of which they brought before their father for solution, others leading to beatings. Finding his apprenticeship tedious, Ben was ever wishing for a way to shorten it. His opportunity came in an unexpected manner.
James published a newspaper, the New England Courant, the second paper to appear in America. An essay on some political matter offended the Massachusetts Assembly and James was arrested, censured and given a month in prison. His release was accompanied by an order that "James Franklin should no longer print the paper the New England Courant." To circumvent this order it was decided that the paper would henceforth be printed under the name of Benjamin Franklin. To avoid being accused of simply continuing the newspaper under his apprentice’s name, the indenture was returned to Ben with full discharge on the back, to be shown when necessary. However, new indentures were quietly drawn up for the remainder of the original term.
The newspaper continued in this way for several months. But when a new dispute between the brothers lead to another beating, Ben determined to take his revenge. Knowing that James would not be anxious to disclose their scheme for continuing the newspaper, Ben declared his freedom. In retaliation, James talked to the masters of all the printing houses in Boston to ensure that none would hire him.
With no prospects for work in his trade, Ben decided to go to New York, it being the nearest place he might find a printer. But he knew that if he tried to leave openly he would be stopped. So, with the help of a friend, he arranged passage on a ship under the guise of a young man who "had got a naughty girl with child" and must leave quietly lest he be required to marry her. He sold some of his books to raise a little money and at the age of seventeen sailed for New York.
But there was only one printer in New York and he had little to do and help enough to do it. The man's son, however, was a printer in Philadelphia and he had just lost his principal man. He suggested Ben go there.
So Benjamin Franklin, runaway apprentice, continued on to Philadelphia where he would become known around the world as a statesman, an inventor, a scientist, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
The following is reprinted with permission from Homespun magazine.
A Dog's Best Friend
by Lynn Hummel
If you enjoy heart-warming stories about dogs that pull children out of the
paths of onrushing trains, awaken families from slumber and certain death
just before their burning home fills with smoke, or warn entire villages at
the last possible moment to escape a flood just after the dam has broken,
you won't find any here. It has never been my belief that a dog is a man's
best friend. None of my best friends are dogs.
But I do believe this -- man is dog's best friend. Take for example the matter of a yellow lab retriever named Auggie. As a pup, Auggie was donated to a Ducks Unlimited auction in Fargo. One sportsman who couldn't make it to the
auction asked his best friend (a man, not a dog) to be on the lookout for a
hunting dog and to get it for him if the opportunity presented itself. So
the friend went to the auction, saw Auggie, started bidding and eventually
bought the dog.
He presented the dog to his friend -- the guy who asked him to buy one. The
guy was pleased and took the dog home, but his wife said, "No way," that
dog was not welcome in her home. So Auggie was shuttled back to the friend
who did the bidding at the auction. He said he was happy to keep it. But
when he took it home, his wife said the same thing the other guy's wife had
said, "No way." and out the dog went.
Things did not look good for Auggie -- the homeless dog -- the dog men liked but women rejected. The dog was sent back to a kennel, which is nothing but an orphanage for dogs too ugly to get adopted.
Then along came John -- warmhearted John. John had an equally warmhearted wife named Ruth and two smart, eager boys who practiced their music, did their homework and loved the outdoors. John's family met Auggie and they all
said, "Yes, yes, we'll take that dog." And they did.
That was 11 years ago. Auggie has been the family pet for these last 11
years. The dog never rescued any kids from onrushing trains, but he did
turn out to be an excellent hunting dog and a family friend that charmed
John, Ruth and their two sons.
But at about the age of nine, Auggie developed arthritis and got stiff in
the hindquarters. That was the end of fetching ducks out of the frigid,
autumn waters. But Auggie could still hunt grouse and loved the hunt.
This past season, John and his family got a new hunting puppy to hunt
grouse with Auggie. The weather was warm on the opening weekend and the
hard-working dogs got hot. The hunters came to some open water and the pup
jumped in to have a drink. Auggie followed. They both drank, then came for
shore. The pup got out, but Auggie and his arthritis slipped on the greasy
bank. Then Auggie struggled and flopped over backwards, mouth open and
swallowed more water. Auggie kicked a few times, then his head went under
the water and he died right there.
John was about 20 yards away on the bank, and seeing what was happening,
dashed to the water (disregarding all concern for life, limb and his own
safety) and jumped into the cold water. Grouse hunters don't wear waders,
you know. He lifted the 85-pound Auggie out of the water and up on the
bank. Then he struggled to get up the slippery bank himself.
This is a true story, but at this point, two versions of what happened next
emerge. One is that John, thinking of his beloved companion, of his two
studious sons, his warmhearted wife, Ruth, and himself, applied mouth to
muzzle resuscitation and breathed the breath of life back into the late
Auggie. And Auggie lived.
The other version, more modest (and tasteful) is that John lifted Auggie up
and whacked him again and again between the shoulder blades, then put him
on the ground. Still dead. So he repeated the procedure, and this time, on
the ground Auggie coughed, spat up buckets of slough water and lived again.
In either case Auggie staggered around coughing up blood for four or five
days and eventually recovered as well as an 11-year-old arthritic lab can
recover. The dog that helped raise two sons and please an entire family is
with them still.
A heroic dog? No, a heroic owner. What more proof could you ask that man is
truly dog's best friend?
Also from Homespun:
- Happiness... One Book at a Time by Lynn Hummel in Signpost #4
- Love Those Planes by Lynn Hummel in Signpost #16
Sources
- The Windsor Style in America, Charles Santore, Courage Books, 1997
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- Homespun magazine (free copy available)
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