Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1869-05-26
From the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin. ]
A Leaf from our Pioneer Life.
BY MToNoNETTE.

gorically responding 10 that name never
aoouM sweep her blue eyes clear again" =,
A very dry summer followed; and on the
first of August it became dryer than ever.
Even the slight refreshment of dew came
to be withheld, and the earth baked on un-
relieved through burning days and sultry
nights
At times there were signs Of rain. Grim
cloud-warrors would rise at sunset flash
their blades in each others faces growl
their menaces, and assume, as darkness
came on, the most threatening shapes, as II
summoning Btorm-spirits from all the halls
of the air But this skirmishing amounted
to nothing; the next days sun would rise,
brazen and scorching as before, with only
the clouds sinking their fiery heads in the
horizon to break the remorseess blue Of
the sky.
Those were the days in which weadopted
the rising-with. larkrule. Icould make
no estimate of the amount Of hoeing, reap
ing, hay-making, and wheat-binding per-
formed by All. beneath the silyery moon or
the more dubious radiance of the stars.
As for Bell and l. when the dreaded empty
larder yawned in our faces, we used to rise
before the lark aforementioned had medi-
tated his first note, and charge valiently
from the r0Seata vagaries OF dreamland
upon bread, pies, sputtering lard, trothlng
eggs, weights and measures and all the
prosaic things of "baking day." While
often, when the morning stars hung I'M
dimmed in the east, our clothes line swung
to tho breeze the spectral garments of the
weeks wash. Taking time by the fore
lock" but family expresses the rate at which
we travelled ahead Of that ancient wielder
of the scythe.
The grove was endurable for the first
two hours of morning For the remainder
of the day we could only gather within the
thick walls of our log cabin and doze in q
partially dissolved state until the blessed
twilight should come down. Dinner J
why we would sooner have gone to the
guillotine Light, listless collations from
! cupboard shelves suticed until sunset gave
us the hardihOod to make tea.
As evening descended we became ami
mated with life, and along with bats and
beetles and other devotees to night, went
briskly about our work. We cleared up
the Debris of lunches, brought water from
the spring and douched our thirsty plapts,
and descended in brigandish manner
through trap door into the cellar to see
what chances the cream had in its efforts
to rise And when ALI came in from his
shadowey field labors, We ventured upon
the preserves and canned delicacies, and
laid out, at the solemn hour of midnight
comforting little banquet of biscuits,
crystal chips of citron ''tnct with CHINA
mon" ruby shavings Of dried beef and
dainty drams of blackberry wins.
To what length this cultivation of the
nocturnal might have been prolonged de-
pended entirely on our supply of candies
which were giving out before this unnatnr-
al demand, and the market forty miles
away had we notEery soon experienced a
change in the weather.
The morning OF one OF the last days OF
August dawned with more than usual
severity. "a deuced sight hotter" Alt
said, '''than any day we have yet expe-
rienced."
ESery little breath of a zephyr was curl
ed away among the trees sullenly refusing
to- come forth. strange stupor overhnng
lrtlings, as if an evil power had deter
HSined to smother the world and had well
nigh succeeded. Rosa, the COW, after be-
ing milked, cropped nevera mouthful, but
flung herself under the nearest tree with
tremendous bovine sighs. The hens stood
in q cluster with ruffied feathers looking
askance at the sky and grooming some dire
full prophecy of the day to cone. Dog
Tony, on whom the hsat fell with telling
fury. dug franticalIy iito the ground in
search of coolness, appearing to labor be-
tween the two alternatives of melting quiz
etly back TO earth or bursting forth in a
full blaze. | feared hydrophobla, and when
my movements were not observed, | sud
denly emptied bucket of water over him
from the window. So far from going of
into COMMISSIONS Tony after the first
shock, evidently considered it very kind OF
me- and for time painted less furiously.
With us, as with the beasts of the field,
and the fowls of the air, the day pulsed
Ianguidly on. At noon an innocent white
cloud showed like drift of SNOW above the
western horizon.
At four o'clock it was no longer SEEM
ing snowdrift, but great dense jagged
mass of clouds, III which incessant flashes
quivered and hoarse thunders sounded,
sweeping up darkly and swiftly over the
san. The storm gods were evidently in
earnest this time. Very soon cool damp
puff of air came over the prairie, followed
by the merest caress of breeze, bringing
us to the door with joyful exclamations
that it was really going to rain, to be sure
Along the air came the sound of the rush
ing of many waters" Over the western
fields marched the white seething torrents,
sending out pickets of big drops that smote
the earth here and there. Another damp
puff, less gentle than the first, nearly de-
prived us of breath, sent the hens careen-
ing around the house corner, and ominous-
ly flung down several articles hung about
the wall. We had only time to close the
windows ALI making a desperate rush at
the woodpilein his thoughtfulness for kind
ling before the gale was around and above
uB.
Wind, hail, rain and thunder roaring
above, the room darkened to the gloom of
night, the keen lightning showing ALI look
ing aghast from the window, and Bell and
/ clinging to each other with something
more than sisterly devotion all this form
ed picture and produced sensation
which any smart thunder shower Of to-day
calls wildly to mind, and fills me with a
desire to run down cellar and hide among
beef barrels and butter jars.
This was our first lesson in Western
storms. The Verde Monis had always
sheltered us from anything of this sort; so
we stood staring like three statues Of stu
pidity until ALI. the first to command his
faculties, roared ont, "The roOf-h thereof"
and before we had caught but glimpse of
the mass Of shingles and rafters crashing
down upon our cherished borders of PAN
sizes and pinks he hurried us to the trap
door and thrust us down with such thor
ough regard to dispatch and prompt atten.
ton to business that two pans of milk were
upset and our heads bumped most dis
tractingly together. Though the sublime
and the ridiculous were thus suddenly
blended, our feelings were such that we
had no inclination to perceive it; and what
ever faint rays Of merriment may have lin
gered in our spirits were quite cxtmguished
when Alf beloved from the top Of the lad
der that he hoped the logs would not smash
through the floor and make an end of u.s.
Ar tho bara hinf nf nunb q Y1oouiIni1ify Rail