Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/181

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 121 the gates of their yards, barricaded the doors and windows and waited until the Indians tired of their pranks. The houses themselves were usually one story in height. They were long and low, with a poreh in front and rear and some- times entirely around the house. They were built of wood, sometimes of logs and more often, perhaps, framed together and covered with Ijoards running up and down on the framing. Plastering was used on the out- side of some of these houses, and sometimes they were weather-boarded, though this was unusual. The houses were substantial and warmly built. Each room was lighted by one window with small panes of glass. There was generally no attic, or else if there was an attic provided for. it was rarely lighted by a window or reached by any per- manent steps. The houses were ordinarily heated by open tires built in the fire places of great chimneys. These chimneys were usu- ally made of sticks and earth. Four great poles were driven into the earth and drawn nearly together at the top and then the struc- ture of sticks and earth built up between these poles. Sometimes, though, there was a stone chimney and fire place connected with the house. That the houses were substantial is shown by the fact that a number of them are still in use in Ste. Genevieve though more than a century old. One of the differences between the French settlers and the American was in the char- acter of the food and in cooking. The French people are noted for their skill as cooks, and the early French settlers in Missouri were no exception to the rule. American travelers among these French settlers were struck by the variety of food that there was prepared. Instead of the usual dishes of meat variously cooked and corn bread, such as was found on the tables of the Americans, the Fi-ench had many salads, vegetables and soups. They cooked meat, it is true, but it by no means oc- cupied so large a place on the bill of fare as it did among the Americans. It should be said that most of the French settlers were French Canadians. Some of the families came direct from France. Some of these were of the nolulity and left Prance during the turbulent times of the French Revolution. These settled at New Bourbon, near Ste. Genevieve, but the greater major- ity of the people were descendants of the French settlers in Canada. They retained many of the characteristics of the French ; but long residence in America, in an en- tirely different environment, had produced some changes in them. This was noted by early travelers, especially in their language and in their bearing and habits of speech. The natural vivacity and liveliness of the French, especially those of the higher class, was modified among the settlers in ilissouri. They were more vivacious than the Ameri- cans, it is true, but there was a suppression and restraint that was not observable among the original French settlers. The language, too, had lost something of its sharpness and had acquired a softness and nuisicalness in this country. Contradictory accounts are given by early travelers concerning the habits and character of these French settlers. They impressed some of the early writers by theii- courtesy, their careful training of their children, their restraint and dignit.y, their openhanded hos- pitality and real culture and grace of man- ner. Some of these writers declared that nowhere else was to be found greater perfec- tion of manners or of character than among these French. They were said to be very