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EARLY DAYS.Paper Read Before Jefferson County Historical Society by W. H. Sullivan.In the early settlement there are many things wof-hichIowacrowdteresting to^ell 1rctneni-*ed vfith hisnd hethers havetho!se boy*Itseemsf th unde»-*oth-recall. The writer can \ ber many happy clays pas brothers and playmate sometimes wonders if » such a longing as his foi hood days and delights, good to reflect upon the Joys days* although no one can stand the great hardships and triab of a frontier life except those whc have helped turn the wilderness to a fertile and prosperous country. They can not comprehend the great differ ence between the many things of fif ty and sixty years ago and now. Ther our clothing was all homespun. thlt; wool was grown and the rolls were carded and spun at home. The cloth woven and made up by hand by the old fireplace with the tallow candle or the old grease lamp to give light. Well can I remember my old mother with her little wheel and cards as she would sit for hours at her work carding and spinning, doing her best to keep us children as comfortable as possible, while father looked after the other necessaries of life.Everyone in those days made it a business to furnish meat for the fam ily—wild meat. I remember well the first time I went hunting was a small boy and my ol er loaded the gun and gave me the required instructions how tlt; use it and I started out. General Sherman at the head of his army never felt so great as I did on that occasion. A short distance from the house by accident I killed a rabbit and then I had glory enough for that day and I hurried back home to show what I had done. But in after years when I was older I killed many deer and turkey.The first cow that we could call our own in Iowa father paid $12.50 for and split rails at 25c per hundred to pay for her and was glad to get the work at that. No one had a cook stove. Everything was cooked by the fireplace and a buggy would have been as much of a curiosity as a fiy ing machine would be at the present time. The only conveyance was by ox teams. It was common to see people going to church with their ox team hitched to a lumber wagon. All the farming was done with them. It was a common thing to see from six to eight yoke of oxen hitched to one large plow breaking prairie and turning a 26-inch sod. The teams would be turned out on the range at night and in the morning the one that drove them up would be wet to his neck wading the prairie grass. Father had to do his marketing at Keokuk or Ft. Madison, that being the nearest trading point, and it would- require from four to six days to maxe the trip. Every thing was hauled by ox teams as far west as Des Moines and Council Bluffs. The state road was lined with teams, many of them crossing the great American desert to Oregon and California. In those times when friends started over the plains we had scarcely any hope of ever seeing them again.Our school house was built of rough logs and was 16x20 feet. The seats were of slabs and the floor was made of puncheons split from large logs and the flat side smoothed witn the broadax. On one side of the house a log was left out and tilled by 8x10 glass for a window and here was a wide board placed for our writing desk. This was the only window in the house and here is where we learned our letters. Our studies were reading, writing and spelling and as we advanced we thought we were doing well when we could get up and repeat: “Mary had a little lamb,” or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Our teachers would receive from $150 to $200 per scholar for aj term of three months, one term each year. In those days a woman would have been considered very much out of place to ask for a school. The teacher always boarded around with the patrons of the school, one week at each place.In those days it was necessary for us to watch the pigeons and keep them off our wheat fields in order to save our crops. Where they roosted they would break the limbs from the timber by their weight.. The wild geese and ducks were very plentiful and we could easily kill what we wanted in a few hours time.There were also plenty of deer and turkey and pheasants and prairie chickens. Of the wild animals besides the deer we had the big timber wolf, the little prairie wolf, the wild cat, the lynx, the catamount, the ground hog, the otter and many small animals that are now entirely extinct. But the wild hog was the delight of the boys. They were plenty and always found in herds. Sometimes more than one hundred in a herd. The boys would slip up as close as they thought was safe and climo trees. They would then make a noise and the hogs would soon be under the trees trying to get at them. When they had all the fun they wanted they would call the dogs or they would shoot and wound one when it would squeal and take to the brush with all the bunch after him when the boys would down and run for life. 1 have wondered manyRenders the food more wholesoir perior in lightness aThe only baking pcmade fromRoyal Grape Cream oiere not all killed bytimes that them.I .iberty tow nship, u here the writer of this sketch was born six years before Iowa became a state, has sent out into the world men of mark at distinction, men we may be proud of, men who stood at the head men that have sei the legislative halls, the stirring time of ne on and thethe first country,their professio t‘d their statethe rebellion cam* clouds began to gather wei to enter the service of the and many of them still ren national cemeteries and oi battlefields. AH that rema great army are with trembling steps nearing their last roll call and in a few more years there will be none left to tell about that terrible struggle.W. If. SULLIVAN.Southe s of that
Newspaper Details
Fairfield Tribune
Fairfield, Iowa, US
Wed, Apr 28, 1909
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Susan G.
TX, USA 12 Feb 2024
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