Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/260

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��CHAPTER XXV.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

Cabins and their Furniture — Early Educational Facilities — Clothing and its Manufacture — Super- stitions — Salt — Hominy Blocks — Meal — Distilleries — Whisky and its Use — Singing, Spelling and Dancing Schools — Camp Meetings — Modes of Emigration — Emigrants' Trials — Observance of the Sabbath — Marriages — Deaths — Incidents — Mills and Milling — Flat-Boats on the Bl4ck Fork — Militia Drills — Pioneer Jokes — Johnny Appleseed's Nurseries — Old Indian Landmarks.

��" Which naming no names, no offense could be took."

— Sairi/ Gamp.

THE primitive log cabins built b}' the earl}' pioneers, as long ago as from 1809 to 1820, were rarely double. The}' were generally 14x 16 feet, covered by clapboards held on by weight-poles placed on each tier, a ridge-pole in the center. The floors were made of punch- eon, split out of logs, and roughly hewn with a broad-ax. The windows were square or long holes, made by sawing through one or two of the logs; slats were nailed across, and the ori- fice made into a window by covering it with greased paper, which was pasted over. In- stances are well remembered in which there was no flour of which to make the paste, and burnt Angers and scowling brows attested to the in- efficiency of corn-meal for that purpose. Bed- steads were improvised of rough dogwood poles, with the bark left on, and bottomed very serviceably with strips of elm bark, woven in and out skillfully; or, they were made fast to the wall, requiring only two posts. A substi- tute for chairs was found in small benches, hewn out roughly, as were the puncheons. The cupboard, or "dresser," was made by boring holes in the wall, driving wooden pins therein, and placing boards on them. A row of wide shelves, made the same way, was likewise nec- essary, and considered an article of furniture, furnishing a place to store bed-clothes. If the family had not a square, four-legged table, they

��constructed one after this same fashion of bed- stead, cupljoard and wardrobe.

The chamber, or '-loft," was reached by a ladder from the outside; or, if the family could spare the room for it, the ladder was placed inside, and if, from lack of skill or thrift, this necessary manner of ingress was wanting, a row of stout pegs, placed equidistant apart, could be climV)ed with wonderful agility. The rosy, bright-eyed nieces of Johnny Appleseed never appeared so beautiful and graceful as when they ran, hand over hand, with twinkling feet, lightly touching the smooth pins that served them well for a stairway.

The fireplace occupied the greater part of one end of the cabin. Sometimes it had "wings," that came in reach of the hand. In the more modern cabins, jambs were built on the hearth. The trammel and hooks were found among the well-to-do families, as time pro- gressed. Previous to this, the lug-pole across the inside of the chimney, about even with the chamber floor, answered for a trammel. A chain was suspended from it, and hooks were attached, and from this hung the mush-pot or tea-kettle. If a chain was not available, a wooden hook was in reach of the humblest and the poorest. When a meal was not in prepara- tion, and the hook was endangered by fire, it was shoved aside to one end of the lug-pole for safety. Iron ware was very scarce in those days. Instances are related where the one pot

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