Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/261

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��served at a meal to boil water in for mint tea or crust coffee, to bake the bread, boil the pota- toes and fry the meat. Bj" fine management this was accomplished. Freqiienth* the kettle had no lid, and a flat stone, heated, and handled with the tongs, was used instead of one when a loaf or pone or pumpkin pie was baked. A short-cake could be baked by heating the kettle moderately, putting in the cake, and tipping it up sidewise before the glowing fire. Bannock, or board-cake, was made b}' mixing the corn- meal up with warm water, a pinch of salt and a trifle of lard, into a thick dough, spreading it on a clean, sweet-smelling clapboard, patting it into shape with the cleanest of hands, and standing it slanting before the fire, propped in- to the right position by a flat-iron behind it. Baked hastih', this made a delicious cake, sweet and nutty and fresh, and the pretty stamp of the mother's dear, unselfish, loving fingers was plainl}' detected in the crisp crust. There was little in the waj' of ornament in the homes of the pioneers. The looking-glass, with a snow-white towel ironed into intricate folds and checks, hung under it against the bare mud-daubed wall ; a pin-cushion, that puzzled the novice b}' its points and corners, made out of gay pieces of plaid and bombazine and bom- bazette and camlet ; a row of tiny pockets ; a black cloth cat with a rickety head dispropor- tionate to its size, and a comb-case, com- pleted the list of embellishments. If the fam- ily owned a Buckeye clock, abundant room for the ample sweep and swing of its pendulum was granted, but generall}' the time was marked by the sunshine on the puncheon floor, the cracks measuring off the hours with a tolerable degree of certainty. The pouch and powder- horn held the place of honor beside the clock ; the gun rested on two wooden hooks, secured to a joist overhead. The saddle, wheels, reels, quilting frames, beds, - chists," meal-bag and a few rude, splint-bottomed chairs completed the furniture. From the joists depended dried

��herbs, dipped candles, little pokes of dried plums, blackberries, hazel nuts, yarn, ginseng roots and golden-seal, hops, stockings, and gen- erally an old pair of white linen breeches stuffed full of dried pumpkin.

One would presume that the weeks spent by pioneers in block-houses where they fled for safety, would have been doleful in the extreme, but assurances are frequent that they were not so. The poor old cracked voices laugh heartily yet over the fun they experienced in those times. In the twilight the roll would be called, and men and boys would answer in differ- ent voices, so that if Indians were prowling about meditating an attack, they would be sur- prised at the vast number ready to confront them in a fight. Names would be called and responded to, of men lining awaj' back in Penn- S3'lvania, Virginia, New York and Massachu- setts, or perhaps they would be names made up for the occasion. This constituted an immense amount of fun.

Girls would steal out some of the horses and run races and chase one another up and down the hills, recklessly, excusing themselves before angry parents, "I didn't think!"

A heedless lad, given to wandering along the trail out of sight of one of the forts, was sud- denl}' scared by one of the men hiding behind a tree, who gave a piercing 3'ell imitating an Indian. The bo}' flew back to the fort s.cream- ingpiteously. "Oh! mam, they're a-comin', they're a-comin ! "' - Who is it coming, son? " said the mother ; but he only cried the harder, " Oh! mam, the3''re a-comiri', they're a-comin'!" In after years when the boy became a man and held oflflces of trust, his laugh was a dr^', little abashed sniff Avhen reminded of the inci- dent.

Education Avas not neglected. Books were few, but to those who longed to improve their opportunities the way was not hedged up en- tirely. They could study spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic and geography at all

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