Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/416

 348 EISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY in with it a small snake No wonder, then, that in the morn- ing, when my wife made up the bed, she caught hold of the dead snake in the mattress. By and by the roof and ceiling were made, consisting of sheeting; the floor was laid of common lumber, and the carpet put on; the walls were papered and then we had a nice, clean, cozy house to live in. The only incon- veniences we had were when it stormed and rained, for the carpet then stood like a bellows and the rain came pouring down through both roof and ceiling. On such occasions we used an umbrella. It was only a little odd to sleep under an umbrella in the house. In the middle of September we had a visit from, the well known Rev. Dr. Passavant. of Pittsburg. Pa., who stayed with us one night. He had a dream. In his nocturnal imagina- tion he thought he lay under the bottom of a lake, and no wonder, for it rained that night. A little later a number of our friends from Indiana came up, and for some weeks we were no less than twenty-one persons, and the weather was ,-it that time very ugly. Horses were yd scarce. Our neighbors were in no better condition, and some were a great deal worse off than our- selves. My friend and neighbor. J. Robertson, first used a big loom for a house; then he dug himself down in the ground, till he got a small cabin put up. T. G. Pearson, our nearest neighbor, was busy putting up a solid log house that summer; in the meantime he lived in the same primitive way Ave did. My time was divided between Red AVing and Vasa and other places, and my duties often called me away from home. On this account it was a trying time for my wife, especially as the Indians were occasionally passing by. In the fall the prairie fire threatened to burn down our house, while I was away, and my wife had to fight for clear life. AVe continued to live in our frail house until November 4. when we moved to Red "Wing in a snow storm. "I will now return to the congregation and my pastoral work. As soon as I got to be a little 'fixed' I bought a horse and a rickety old wagon ; most of my trips, however, were made on horseback or afoot, as the roads were poor and far between. During the summer I made a pretty thorough canvass of the whole settlement. People were pouring in very fast, and settled down on the unoccupied land. On November 8 I could report to a special meeting of the congregation that the church num- bered 185 persons, of whom 101 were communicants. At the same time it was determined to establish a Congregational school, and on November 15 it was opened. J. Engberg was the first teacher, with a fixed monthly salary of $35. Ever since that time the school has been a fixed institution in the congrega- tion and has done much good for the religious instruction of the children. Among the earlv teachers were Lovisa Peterson.