The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-10
Pioneer Lsfe-Dolmestic Scene I'm the
Far West.
A writer in the Milwaukee Wisconsin


Far West.
A writer in the Milwaukee Wisconsin
observes
It isn't IN idle thing to pioneer. 1t looks
easy enough and idle enough, no doubt. A
mai, coming from the rocky, tacitnrn soil of
New England, where an acre has to be
ticklcd not only with hoe. but with guano
and "muck and 'ard work. before it
laughs with harvest. seems to expect that
the prairies Of the West will afford him
spontaneously grain crops. orchards of
fine fruit. and ali the vegetables OF the tenn
pcrste zone.
knew one much-eXpecting pioneer who
took It very hard Of the West that Ayrshire
cows and Chester-white pigs were not to he
found running Wild, and to be had for the
mere lassooing. The native animals struck
him as direct insult from the region to
which he had SO fondly emigrated. " What
can be expected Of country where the
pigs noses are two feet long!" he tragical-
" asked. And with an injured air he re-
packed his valise and returned to his stone
fenced acres in New Hampshire. We had
a good laugh at him. or rather after him,
and we take much satanic pleasure, even
now, in sending him reports Of our thou.
sand-bushel wheat crop, while he is buying
his family -four at S14 per barrel.
The moral of this is, whoever permits
the nose of mongrel pig to brighten him
from the path of progression, had better
never undertake pioneering.
Next to possessing no PIG whatever IS
possessing one with n two-foot nose. Be-
cause there was no other class Of pig to he
had, Will bought one of this kind. He was
young animal. and did not have two
foot nose. for the simple reason that his
! entire length did not amount to but twenty
four inches. But his nose promised well.
His ears were stationed precisely IN the
centre of his twenty-tour inches. From
! thence he sloped on one hand into nose.
and on the other into tail-a tail devoid OF
| curl for the native pig in his struggle for
| existence has too much roofing on hand
to pay much regard to his personal appear
| ance.
| our pig, whom Tena Straightway named
Ichabod," was rather shiny built, and
| his legs were indicative Of speed and agility
rather than of ham. But Ichabod had a fine
appetite, and he knew how to lift up his
voice at lunch time in style that argued
well for the future regularity Of his meals.
! Will made pen for him in the centre of a
romantic group of oaks. and because he was
so appealingly small, and the dead grass had
been eaten for wide space by fires, Tena
! ana i gave nI1u IL Stucl VI
from our own plethoric bed.
We regarded him as he stood with his
forefeet in the trough. eating with artless
eagerness his first dinner, and speculated
upon the breadth his narrow shoulders
would soon take on, and the speed with
which his lean form would soon be con-
verified into suyar-cured hams and Spiced
sausage. Tena thought it was very cruel
to regard him in this way. Tena has that
element of sweetness and tenderness which
is very lovely in pioneer life, when COM
bined with healthy common sense, and l
told her so.
! Weeks passed away, and Ichabod, in
spite Of his ample fare, could still see out of
his ewes, and never for once thought of sit
ting down in that helpessly fat manner
exhibited in the pi9-portraits of the agri-
cultural papers.
"Even spare ribs will be pleasant after so
much BEAR" said Tena.
$50 much bear! Why, child, we have
not had mouthful Of bear for two days !"
said 1.-The chief cook-indignantly.
1t had been new sensation in our cut-
Sine--this barrel OF bear He was fat lit
tie four-hundred FOUNDER whom Will found
loating about bee-tree on Crystal creek.
He was fat and happy; but there might
have come time when honey had been
scarce, and bear had been lean and wretch.
ed ; so Will put a bullet between his eyes,
and saved him at once and forever from the
futures unguesSed sutiefings.
Bear is good. BearSteak is very good. In
the mere fact of eating bear there is some
thing robust and vigorous. Will was TRAM
quill, but knew that in his innermost soul
he rather enjoyed asking Tena and l if we
would shave another bit of the bear"
We had roasted bear, potted bear, bear
pie, broiled bear, hashed bear, cold broiled
| bear, and every form OF bear known and
unknown to established cooks. and aside
| from these dishes there was about two hum
dred pounds of bear salted down in a bar
rel. 1t was this sailed bear to which Tena
had alluded.
Sailed bear is not quite so good. 1t Is in
clined to be hard, and the salt takes the
Cleanliness" out of it. But with relief
of prairie chickens, a Sunday mess of trout,
the portable bit of ocean that lies enwrapt
in Goldfish, and the perspective sausages
from 1chabod, we found occasional salted
bear very endurable, and l never shall for
give fena the tone OF reproach with which
She alluded to it.