The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-12-07

- s-o-s- e. - . - 81. 20. ,-,--
Young Peoples Anusements Eigxty
Years Ago..
One of the entertainments Of the bows
! of my time was what were called the
!" raisings," meaning the erection of the
timber frames of houses or barns, to
which the boards were to be afterward
nailed Here the minister made point
of being present, and hither all the able
bodied men of the neighborhood, the
young men especially, we're summoned,
and took part in the work with great
aiacEity. 1t wass spectacle for US next to
that Of performer on the tight.rope, to
see the young men walk steadily on the
narrow footing of the beams at great
height from the ground, or as they stood
to catch in their hands the wooden pins
and the braces flung to them from below.
They wed with each other in the dexterity
and daring with which they went through
with the work, and when the skeleton of
the building was put together, some one
among them generally capped tie climax
of fearless activity by standing on the
ridge-pole with his head downward and
his heels in the air.
Another of the entertainments of rustic
life in the region Of which, am speak
ing was the making of maple sugar. This
was favorite frolic of the boys. The ap-
paratus for the sugar camp was of a
much ruder kind than is now used. The
sap was brought In buckets from the
wounded trees and poured into a great
caldron which hung over hot fire from
stout horizontal pole supported at each
end by an upright stake driven in the
ground. Since that time they have built
in every maple grove a sugar house-a
little building in which the process of
making sugar Is carried on with several
ingenious contrivances unknown at that
time, when everything was done in the
open air.
In autumn, the task of stripping the
husks from the ears of Indian corn was
made the occasion of social meetings, in
which the boys took special part. A farmer
would appoint what was called I" husk
ing" to which he invited his neighbors.
The ears OF maize in the husk, sometimes
| along with part of the stalk, were heaped
on the barn floor. In the evening,
lanterns were brought, and, seated on piles
OF dry husks, the men and boys stripped
| the ears of their covering, and breaking
them from the stem with sudden Jerk,
threw them into baskets placed for the
purpose. 1t was often merry time !;
the gossip of the neighborhood was
talked over, stories were told, jests went
round, and at the proper hour the assem-
bly, adjourned to the dwelling-house and
were treated to pumpkin pie and cider,
which in that season had not been so long
from the press as to have parted with its
| sweetness.
The cider-making season in autumn
was, at the time of which am speaking,
somewhat correspondent to the vintage in
the wine countries of Europe. Large
tracts of land in New England were over
Swallowed by rows of apple-trees, and in
the month of May a journey through
that region was a journey through a
wilderness of bloom. In the month of
| October, the whole population was busy
gathering apples under the trees, from
which they fell in heavy showers as the
branches were shaken by the strong arms
of the farmers. The creak of the cider
mill, turned by horse moving in a
circle, was heard in every neighborhooi
as one of the most common of rural
sounds.
From time to time, thewinter evenings,
and occasionally a winter afternoon,
brought the young people of the parish
together in attendance upon a singing
school. Some person who possessed more
than common power of voice and skill in
modulating it, was employed to teach
psalmody, and the boys were naturally at
tracted to his school as recreation. 1t
often happened that the teacher was an
enthusiast in his vocation, and Numbered
forth the airs set down in the music books
with fervor that was contagious. A few
of those who attempted to learn psalmody
were told that they had no aptitude for
the art, and were set aside, but that did
| not prevent their attendance as hearers of
the others. In those days a set of tunes
were in fashion mostly of New England
origin, which have since been laid aside
in obedience to more fastidious taste.
The streams which bickered through the
narrow glens of the region in which l
lived were much better stocked with trout
in those days than now, for the country
had been newly opened to settlement.
The boys were all anglers. I confess to
"spert." as l no longer call it. l have
sity of which l speak; but / have no
doubt that the instinct which inclines so
many to it, and some of them our grave
divines, is remnant Of the original wild
nature of man. Another "sport," to
which the young men of the neighborhood
sometimes admitted the elder boys, was the
autumnal squirrel The young men
formed themselves into two parties equal
in number, and fixed day for the shoot
ing. The party which on that day brought
down the greatest number of squirrels
was declared the victor. and the contest
ended with some sort of festivity in the
evening.
l have not mentioned other sports and
games of the boys of that day-that is to
say, of seventy or eighty years since
such as wrestling. running, leaping, base
ball, and the like, for in these there was
nothing to distinguish them from the same
pastimes at the present day.-Wtliam
Cullen Bryant, in st. Nicholas