Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/564



yoke of oxen and the huge breaking plow and planting the sod corn. The women of the household were among the constant toilers. In addition to the ordinary housework of later times, living remote from towns, stores or factories, they were artisans and manufacturers as well as housekeepers. They had to spin, weave, cut and make clothing for the family, and often were the teachers of their children. There were compensations for the privations and hard toil. Hospitality was nowhere more general and genuine than among the early settlers. Entertainment of “new comers” was generally free and cordial. The one room of the cabin was never too full to furnish shelter and food for the traveler. Neighbors gathered together for miles around at corn huskings, which ended with a frolic for the youngsters in the evening. Shooting matches were made where the winners went home loaded with turkeys won; camp meetings were held by the light of blazing log piles where old and young assembled to listen to the rude eloquence of the uncultured preacher, lurid with fire and brimstone and endless wrath for sinners, which suited the sturdy pioneers. All joined in singing the grand old hymns with a fervor that raised enthusiasm to the highest pitch.

The annual Fourth of July celebration appealed to the patriotism of every citizen, old and young. The oration of the young lawyer from a distant town was listened to with rapt attention and the national songs resounded through the grove. A picnic dinner spread beneath the sheltering trees, and a country ball in the evening, made up a day of general enjoyment for the entire population.

Wolf hunts in the winter were occasions of wild excitement and political meetings in the country school-house at long intervals brought the widely separated settlers together and served to vary the monotony of their lives of rugged toil.

The malaria generated from decaying vegetation brought fevers and ague and when sickness came, often