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Chapter X (quotes from the book are in olive)
Chapter 10 is among the shortest in the book but contains a detailed description of the contents of Laura's home and in doing so provides us with clues to some of the furniture still there today. Much of the information about the contents of the cottage is further explored on the page of this site, The Cottage.
Laura begins this chapter by telling us a bit about the hinges of the doors and the lights lying just outside each one by saying...
"The frong door swung open on H and L hinges from a forge in North Carolina and lamps from the same iron-forge lighted the way to the dwelling..."
The H and L hinges mentioned
here have a unique story. I mention them a bit on the
Leitmotif page of this site but
in short, they have a bit of lore surrounding them. H
and L stands for the way they appear when hung and this type
of hinge was used extensively in early America for hanging
heavier doors or fence
gates on farms. When hung in one orientation they
appear to have the shape of the letters, H and L as you can
see in the accompanying picture. It is very likely
that Laura grew up with this type of hinge on her father's
dairy farm barns or fenced fields so she would have been
familiar with them. Old wives' tales go a bit further
and tell that the H and L stands for Holy Lord and that the
iron-forged hinges protect against witches or enchantments
both for their metal and words they represent.
Laura
tells us that the hinges and lantern lights at the doors of
the cottage came from a forge in North Carolina where she
kept her summer cabin, but to date I have not been able to
locate the specific forge they were formed in. Laura
doesn't mention it in her book but
cottage
lore says that the locks of the doors originated in the same
forge. These locks are the only part of the cottage or
contents that I see a expression of the feminine or of love.
Their heart shape reminds us of the young woman that peeks
from behind the somber writings and austere lifestyle of
Laura's life.