Reminiscences of a Pioneer | Page 7

settler was tendered and accepted, and my father chosen as teacher.
Logs were split open and placed on legs, with the flat sides turned up to
serve as seats. The floor,--well, Mother Earth provided that. It was
sprinkled and swept out with "split brooms" twice daily. To prevent the
pupils getting lost in the tall grass of the prairies, furrows were plowed
from the settlers' cabins to the school house. This also served as a
protection to the barefoot girls and boys going to and from, school. My
father belonged to the old school and did not believe in "sparing the
rod," and as a result, it became indelibly impressed upon my juvenile
mind that he used the rod upon me to better preserve order among the
other pupils.
In those days girls dressed in "linsey woolsey," while the boys of all
ages wore buckskin pantaloons and hickory shirts. Now, buckskin is
well calculated to stand the wear and tear of even a robust boy. Yet
there were awkward drawbacks. The legs of the pantaloons absorbed
too much moisture from the dew-bedecked grass and they would
stretch out to almost any length. The boy, therefore, must roll them up
at the bottom. Arrived at school, however, the drying process set in,
and he, perforce, must unroll the legs. As the boy occupied a sitting
position, the legs of his buckskins set to the crook of his knees. Imagine,
if you will, a row of boys ranging from 12 to 17 years, standing in a
class reciting their lessons, straight as hickories, yet the pantaloons of
every mother's son of them still sitting down. But it mattered little to

the boy of that day, as he had only to wet them again, stretch them out
straight and wear them to "meetin' in the grove" Sunday.
There was no aristocracy--no "four hundred"--in those primitive days.
All dressed alike, ate the same kind of food, and every man, woman,
and child was as good as every other man, woman, and child, provided
they were honest, kind neighbors, ready and willing to render
assistance in sickness or in need. In fine, these pioneers constituted a
pure democracy, where law was the simple rule of honesty, friendship,
mutual help, and good will, where "duty was love and love was law."
One must not imagine that life was wholly devoid of pleasures in those
days. The young of both sexes always rode horseback, whether to
church in the grove, or going the round of parties, candy pullings, or
kissing bees. O, how in my young days I did dote on the candy pulling
and the kissing bee. To my young and unsophisticated mind they were
divine institutions; and, even now, after the lapse of so many years
when the "heydey in the blood is tame," how I look back upon those
few days with unalloyed pleasure.
Among the early pioneers, I mean the great masses, there was a stern
code of morals little understood at the present time. Exceptions there
were, to be sure, but I refer to the people as a whole. One instance will
serve as an illustration. The beaux and belles, in linsey-woolsey and
buckskins, were assembled from the country around and about. My
father had sent me along with brothers and sisters to bring back the
saddle horses, as there was not stable room for all. Other neighbor boys
were there on a like errand. We were sitting on our horses and ready to
start, when several of the young ladies, among them my sisters, came
out of the house and told us to wait. Presently, practically all of the
girls came out with hats and riding habits and a consultation was held
in the front yard. While they all stood there a man and a woman came
out, mounted their horses and rode away. We were then told to go on
home with the horses. I afterwards learned that the whole trouble
originated in the fact that the lady who had ridden away was a divorced
woman. To present-day readers, this may appear absurd, prudish, but
not so to the men and women of that day. This is not repeated here to
"point a moral," but merely to "adorn a tale" of pioneer days.
For excitement, the frequent Indian uprisings, and more frequent Indian
scares, afforded abundant material upon which the young enterprising

and adventurous spirits of the day could work off their surplus energies.
Hunting, too, afforded a pleasurable and profitable pastime to the
young when not engaged in the work of building houses, barns, and
fences, and the boy of ten who could not pick off the head of a grouse
or pheasant at thirty or forty yards was only fit to be "tied to mama's
apron string." In times of