Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1871-11-01
Letter from an Old Jacksonian Denecnt
Of 6reenws0d Township. =
Ns4n SEVEN SrAR rAvEIS,
(acfohar 22. 1871. "a

OI 6fCcuWOV0 Nv WoeAARs
NsSH SEVEN SrAR TAvERS,
Octobsr %, 1871.
NY Dear n. .Ediasr The great
fniebs of the srekslas come around an
] other time. lam not the only man that
IL makes feel all over when it comes No
sir. There have been other men as good
as l, as smart as |, in other days. long
ago gone by. that it made feel just as
queer and happy as it makes me feel {:
For instances. there was that farmer
wri,er of poetry; Burns, l believe. was
his name-I suppose yoa have heard Of
him-who got So full of feeling about
Saturday night, just like | am, that he
had to let it out in poem, that believe
is called the "Cotter's Saturday Night"
That's mighty nice poem. and if you
haven't read it, yon had better get it and
read it. | wonder if the Poet Burns
was forefather to Pap Burns. in Mifiiin
county, who isn't poet. but is the faith
erly master of the ring in Juniata couh
ty, and looks to the political interest Of all
its members. and makes them hoe It
down. just when he Gays "Hoe it down.
boys" kind O. like the name, and next
to Speak, and jackson, think it's the
incest out. Ill bet they are related, just
like the Speaks in England and the
Speaks here are related.
Some wise man, don't mind who it
was. may he it was Andy Jackson-it
makes no difference, though-said that
the young folks live in the future, and
that old folks live in the past. 1t may
be that it is because am getting old
that think the Saturday nights of thirty
years ago were nights Of more fun for all
than the nights of these times You
youngsters don't know what fun is; you
came iuto the world just about the time
that fun commenced to 60 out You
have got now too much Of what's called
fashion. We didnt have nothing of that
sort them days. We were all like one
, family; like in the days Of Abraham
What good fellow he was. l never
heard that Andy Jacknan was Jew,
but | really believe that he descended
from Abraham We used to have stone
pickings in them days. All the young
fellows iii the neigbborlood used to 60 to
them stone picking. frolics. and pick
stones all day, and in the evening the
girls of the neighborhood would come to
The place where we had the stone picking,
aud then we would wind up the job in a
merry style. We used to have log roll
ling days. too. They are not needed now
the country is old, and cleared 1t was
dirty job. that of rolling logs. l. was
wholesome, though, and liked il. All
the boys liked it, for it ended exactly
like the stone picking-among the girls.
Our fathers were smart; they kuowed
how to sweeten up hard lays work
with social gathering. ] said them log
rollinss were dirty but say it now,
and | II stick to it to the last ditch-as
them tarnel southern fellows say-that
in the dirliest rolling ever attended.
never felt so dirty as when in conven-
lion when the ring had it set up to gouge
some honest fellow out. That was always
Il hard pill for me III never swallow an
other Then we had corn huskings, and
merry good times. l tell you. they were.
Each boy had girl as partner to husk
with. We the boys. during the day
would haul the corn in the shock into
the barn. and in the evening both girls
and boys would 60 to th'. barn and husk.
Some of the fellows liked to sit opposite
their girls. They told me that they would
shove out their feet till they touched the
girls feet. They said it made them
feel so queer. But | never did that. !
didn't think it was right / always seat
ed myself alongside of my girl. Aud if
Id be at another such a gathering Of
youngsters. d make them all .it on one
side. Think of it. You never lived
through such times. And then we used
to top out on Saturday night with visit
to our sweethearts We did not have coal
oil them days. and often tallow dips were
scarce but we didn't need much light
at such times We used to sit pretty close,
and, oh glory. suc!: courting in the dark.
you youngsters of these times never
dreamed of. In them times we didn't
have newspapers-tbe only good things
that we hadn't. knowed little of and |
cared little for anything or anybody ex-
c-pt Andy Jackson, outside Of Green
wood township. Now we read every
week in the newspapers about the world
outside of Greenwood township,
By the by, writing about newspapers
-th. greatest Of all inventions. because
they tell Us of all the good and all the
bad in the world see that the Rig ster.
the ring organ in this county, got its !
dutch mp last week, over my letters to
you. It's mad, and says that they made
you as happy as wench at a camp
meeting" That is sort of dig again
at the colorrd folks. The Register is