The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-05-05

two shillings, except wildcat money"
which was then worthless He was
gone week from home and before he
started Mrs. S. baked the last of the
-four for him to carry for provisions on
the road. The family at home lived
on griddle cakes made of middlings and
green corn and a stranger traveller look
ing land staid over night with them and
partook of their humble fare and pro-
nonnced it delicious, he had never be.
fore eaten green corn griddle cakes. Mr..
S. spent his two shillings while he was
in Kalamazoo having his grist ground
and came home penniless. He paid
one shilling for yard for his oxen to
stand in while his milling was being
done. The other shilling he paid for
musk melon to eat with his bread, and
he slept every night in his wagon, so
his lodging was free.
Before the end of the long week the
women at home got tired of their mo-
notonous fare and watched and listened
when night came for the welcome sound
of " whoa-haw." When at last it reach
ed their ears-one night after dark
Mrs. Briggs clapped her hands for Joy,
and said, now We will have some bis
cults for supper" What was her dis
appointment when the team arrived
without the flour. One of the oxen had
given out from fatigue and exhaustion,
and Mr.. Southland had left his grist four
miles of in the woods, on the ground
That night the family slept quite con-
tented for they knew there was some
-four for them in the woods when they
could get it, though it was not paid for.
All the team he had was these faithful
oxen, and they seemed to know almost
as much as human beings and quite as
soon learned the ways of the "new ad-
ministratjon.' The road was so narrow
that little divergng from the beaten
track would soon bring trouble and this
frequently occurred in dark nights, and,
many times, when Mr.. S. has been away
from home late, his wagon would come
to halt against a large tree little too
sudden for comfort. Without a word
from the driver these tractable oxen
would back up, and by their own engi-
neering get into the road again. These
first inhabitants lived two years in the
settlement without a school the moth
er's had no time to teach their children
and, to use Mrs. Southard's language
they ran wild in the woods; her great
est trouble in these days was with rags,
she could not keep their clothes mended.
Here we are reminded of an anecdote :;
not that the cases are exactly parallel
but, perhaps, in some particulars they
are similar. The mother of large
family, who was destitute of every COM
fort of life, was asked by rich gentle
man, who was ready to bestow any rea.
sonable charity, what she wanted the
most of anything in the world ? Taking
a little time for reflection and looking
around her house, from one destitute
corner to the next, she finally made the
important decision. Do not imagine,
dear reader, that it was gold, or silver,
or lands, or houses, or horses and car
riages, or fine apparel, but the most of
anything she wanted, was her large old
churn that had come to her from her
mothers estate, for she had no other use
fer it, she wanted it full of good patches
Mrs Southard's needle work did not
much resemble that of modern lady's
employment, her embroidery was on the
knees of pants and elbows of coats and
shirts, her tattiug was with large needles
and coarse yarn, knitting socks. She
brought wool with her to card by hand,
and spin, and when that was worn out
she sometimes made moccasins of deer
skin to wear in place of socks, for wool
was very scarce for many years. She
could make moccasins as well as the
squaws. OF the same material she Of
ten made shoes for the smaller children
and put a sole on cut from old boot legs.
Their living was very plain and simple;
the common sauce for the table was
cranberries which they gathered from
the marshes. Wild grapes were also
abundant; their thrifty vines ran to the
tops of the tallest wildwood trees and