Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-07-17

lug, IhOWiDA did tC1Pih63 Aho
threshing machines, about the
time when the old fashioned flax
breaks swindiing boards, hand
cards and flax and wool wheels
went out of vogue.
The house-raising of the earlier
day have not quite disappeared.
But as scarcely anybody thinks OF
going to the trouble or expense OF
telling and hewing logs, nowadays
with saw mills accessible and
frame houses IN fashion, they will
soon be heard ~ no longer ia
Berkeley, except possibly when q
stable or a barn awaits the rails
ing.' The last raising | remember
to have assisted in, was stable at
Hedgesville (about the first erect
ed there1 on the line of the street
cunning North and South. 1t was
either demolished, or turned into
a dwelling. long since.
! Then, again, the 'husking bees,n
as they would be called in New
England, or in the New England
offshoot settlement Of the West,
but which We used o call '.husk
ing Matches or simply "husk-
ing" Where are they I? Husking
in the field took their place as a
| fashion-f@r there are fashions IN
the field as well az in the parlor.
They We're great occasions. | can
now see, with the eye Of memory,
hundreds of loads of corn piled up
in a sort Of circular mound near
the crib at our old homestead, and
elsewhere among the neighbors.
AS the curtains OF the evening be-
gan to fall, scores of men, black
and white, there being no distine-
ton al the husking. gathered as
!" bees gather to Z hive, at the
corn heap. Dividing it into two
equal portions aud dividing their
forces accordingly, at it they went
in good earnest, to determine
which party to the match would
get through with the job first
AS the whisky bottle Went
round, and the negroes got their
music up under its inspiration
added TO that Of the spirit of rival
nv. the scene would have proved
exciting. oven to an anchoTite or q
hooded man, If Ne or she had
CHANGED to breathe the atmos-
phere of the occasion for five MINI
utes. Then the plantation songs
had full sweep in chorus and re-
frain, as only the southern
slave knew how to sing them
without the disguise Of burnt cork
or fantastic effect beyond what ma
ture and habit supplied. The con-
test over, and the shouts of the
winners having died away among
the hills, then came the husking-
supper with its huge apple-pies,
baked in the great Dutch ovens,
apples and dough together, as APP
ple-pies should always be made.
with fresh milk and other accom-
paniments. . All! that was ga jol-
| Nv dish to set before a King" as
the nursery rhyme has it, and
keenly did the sovereigns" relish
it, after their really hard work III
the appetizing frosty air of Au-
| tumn.
/ close with some notice of a
husking which presented rather
fearful denouenle,at, with the aid of
that drawback on such occasions,
Capt. Whiskey. There was enc
progressing some distance up in
the Back Creek hills, on cold,
frosty night, about forty yeats ago,
at the farm of man named Butts.
1t ended in a fight between two
Backcreekers named Barnes and
Murphy One Of them was cut
with a knife-a hunting knife,
doubtless, the Bowie being too
costly for his purse, il known TO
the Pinehillers. J was sent for as
doctor. A glance, on my arri-
val convinced me that the wound
was a serious one So soon as my
fingers were warm enough to ham
die the probe, it revealed what an
audible rush of air, accompanying
each expiration, gave ground to
anticipate, viz: that the cavity Of
the chest had been entered by the
knife. That the covering ofone Of
his lungs called the pteurd IN aus
tomical language, ii not the sub
stance of the lung also, had been
pierced, | had reason 10 fear. !
knew that, If what is known q
surgeons as secondary hemorrhage
could be prevented, hi chance oil
recovery was fair, although there
was considerable Internal hemor-
rhage. BY taking away the pa
TENTS whisky aud placing him
in cold room, this was happily
accomplished, but probably more
because O. the healing power o.
good Mother Nature than The skill
of the inexperienced young Sur
geon who had the case in charge
: as | now calculate probabilities =