Among their many duties, women were also responsible for creating home goods. Every housewife in colonial times made a supply of candles in autumn (Portland, 2001). The candles were made by repeatedly dipping candle rods with a row of wicks into big iron kettles of boiling water and melted tallow. This job lasted all day and was extremely tiresome (Portland, 2001). On a cool autumn day a good dipper could make a couple hundred candles for their family (Tunis, 1957). The work of supplying the family with candles for the winter was a harsh but inevitable duty of the women. They had to carry the immense kettles, bear the smell of the tallow and stale pot-liquour, as well as the constant demands of the fireplace. These conditions surely made candle season a time of loathing for many burdened wives and mothers (Holliday, 1960).