Maumee City express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1838-184?, 1840-04-18
For the Maumee City Express.
THE PICKEREL BALL.

BY AN OLD REsIDENTBR' OF THE MAUMEE.
What shall hinder me from nabbing here
and there stray legend of times gone by,
and spreading it out on paper, for the bene-
fit of those to whom the experience of the
past is something worth, and for the
of the great herd Of jolly souls,
who never thought of the past or the fu-
ture, and who are firm and orthodox be-
levers in the good wholesome doctrine
that, "sufficient for the day IS the evil
thereof| III do it: Just look back, if you
please to period, two or three years sub
sequent to the closing Of the late war
business was prostrated; trade was thing
that had been, but was not; money--dear
delightful cash, was debased to rags, and
80 scarce at that, that although little may
have circulated around the heart of this
great country, the channels of these extre-
mites were as destitute as are the veins of
fever and ague subject OF the current of
life, when his nails are turning blue and he
shudders to feel the grasp of the monster
laying hold on his vertebra column. Corn,
even the precious gourd seed, was at sad
discount, it actually costing forty bushels
of that esculent to raise the sum in empha-
tcally hard cash of five dollars to pay the
schoolmaster, he requiring that small sum
in something besides corn in compensation
for his winters labors.
Such is picture of times on the Maumee,
at the period of which l am writing but
do you suppose that the good people in these
excavations made fools ofthemselves on the
occasion? Do you think that they rammed
their hands into their empty pockets, knock
ed their hats down over their eyes, and
stalked about, whistling Hllabulero, with
out trying to better their condition, like a
parcel of bankrupt spectators now days!
No such thing: they were another kind Of
concern from your do-nothng, make th-
ing, pay-nothing gentry who ride in steam
boats and railroad cars; own fast trottlng
horses, and think that nothing but oysters,
champagne and Spanish cigars are good
enough for them. Good, stout hearted long
mbed, leather sided fellows, who came
here to wrestle fall with forest every
day of their lives, and who were nothing
loath 10 try bout with an Indian or bear,
just by way of a variety, and to keep their
hand in. And the girls-they were none Of
your pigmy, pinched up wasted concerns
who come into existence with hereditary
consumption, and take leave of it, the first
time they wet their feet, but good, strong,
well built, red checked buxom lasses who
cost their mothers some trouble to bring
them into the world, and their fathers a
pungem isque of bacon and hominy to keep
them there-nice arm-fulls did they make,
to their double jointed lovers; and fair,
wholesome wives who would not forget to
govern their husbands well, and spank their
children soundly, and didn't care copper
for The worked capes, merino shawls, French
fnppery, nor city fashions.
Could hard times affect such people. very
much No; they were independent. 1t
the times were hard, they worked the har-
der, considering this as decidedly more wise
than to pack their effectsinto huge leather
trunk, and post off thousand miles or so,
to attend convention for the purpose of
making them easier. do not mean to say
that the good people of the Maumee did
nothing but work, for, Of a truth they had
their times of recreation and enjoyment as
well as other folks, and well and heartily
did they relish them. Who could dance bet
ter and lighter and longer than the girls on
Maumee!? and though, in the words of the
poet:
Potatoes did grow small,
On Manmee, on Maumee.
there were those who could exhibit as fair
an example of hoeing them, on puncheon
floor, as any of your dancers, that ever
made unseemly exhibitions of their ex-
tremities, from Hutin down to Augusta.
And the chaps--it was terrific to see
one of them in labor with double shut
fe--the sweat rolls in torrents down his
honest face--the chips fly from the sturdy
SAX at each laundering appeal of his shoe
leather, and the sound Of ten score of ship
rights adzes comes rolling from the scene
of operations.
But am not progressing very fast with
my story, Dear Reader, as you will readily
perceive, but, you will observe; that it is
necessary that you should have some ac-
quuntance with the times when and the
people among whom the Pickerel Ball took
place; and now having given you a glance
at these we will crack on, for 1t is short
story, after oil.