Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/186

 126 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI iugs for light. These openings were some- times closed with board shutters, and occa- sionally were filled with glass. The rooms liad puncheon floors. The space between the two rooms was left open for the circulation of light and air. It was not infrequently left without a floor. In each of the rooms there was a large fire place. The chimney was usually built of mud and sticks, some- times of stone. One of these large rooms were not nuich concerned about religion, else they would not have said themselves to be good Catholics. They were most of them will- ing to set aside whatever convictions they had on religious subjects, in order to be admitted to the Spanish territory. The testimony of missionaries who traveled among them is that they were in a deplorable condition, relig- iously. They had no services of their own to attend, many of them were unwilling to at- HoME OF Our 1ithers was used for the kitclieii. the other was the family living room. The slaves owned by the familj' lived in small cabins in the rear of the house. The American family 's wealth and importance was estimated by the size of the barns and the numl)er of slave caliins on the place. These American settlers were part of them Catholics, such as the settlers at St. ]Iichaels and many of those who settled in Perry comity ; many of the others were Protestants. and some of them professed no religion at all. It is evident that many of the Protestants tend the services of the Catholic church, so they were without religious instruction. Sunday among them was too often a holiday given up to the pursuit of pleasure of one kind and another. Unlike the French settlers, the Americans were people who depended largely upon their own resources. Instead of importing goods for their clothing from New Orleans. Pliiladelpliia or Baltimore, each house of the American settler became a factory where thread was spun and clotli woven to supply the wants of the household. Nearly all of