The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-08-18

favor or affection, yet to scrutinize the conduct
r of all against whom charges were made, and
while so doing to be actuated by pure motives
! and above all to urrive Mt Just conclusions ere
they presented an indictment, Take into con
: sideratoh all the surroundings of this grand jury
and no county in this or any other state can pre-
: sent parallel in point of sublimty
I! Mr.. \. X. owen, now living In Missouri, the
!, foreman of q Z; Grand Jury, informs me that no
| complaints were made to 1t and that the only
duty TIE bailitl had to perform was to cndeavor
to obtain dinner for the jury. But in this he
failed being politely informed by the restaurant
err of the day that he only had provisions enough
for the dinner of the court and sheriff | trust
that our restauranter to-day, my old friend Hen
nv Walther, is better prepared and will feed the
multitude here with more care than he of 1881
supplied creature comforts to Judge Young and
sheriff Walker,
We had no mills in 1872 and but little or no
grain to grind if there had been mills. We lived
upon corn bread, hominy and pork. To grind
our, miserable excuse for corn, Git being raised
upon the sod and generally frost btten,) we i'm
Iproviscd a kind of wooden mortar and pestlc.
Mechanics and mechanical tools were not
among us but we had axes and at least cross
cut saw in the neighborhood. An oak tree was
felled OF sufficient size and piece Of the trunk
about feet long was sawed off. Anger holes
were first made, and then hot Goals were placed
on the perforated end TO burn out sufficient
cavity. case knife was then used to scrape off
the charred wood and thus was the mortar sup.
Shcled corn was put into the mortar when the
grinding process began by taking the pcstlc in
both hands and pounding away in earnest. We
are told that the mills of the gods grind slowly,
but if they ground as slowly as the mills of the
early settlers we would have but little respect for
the particular god that made them. When We
had pounded away to our hearts content, we
scOoped out the contents of the mortar and ran
it through scive or ut least tried do to so. All
| that passed through the sive was made into corn
| DrplQ-tlp rpmlinupr
For our Sabbath day repast We ground wheat
in coffee mill and boted it through piece of
jaconct strung on u hoop. or this flour we
made pan cakes, as it was too coarse for bread
Not very cXtravagant mode of living, yet II was
the very best the country could afford, and as no
better could be had We enjoyed it and were happy
and cOntented.
Tea and coffee were Inquiries we could not OBJ
tam Tor love or money, for there was none in the
country
Our worst enemy and scverest affection was
ague and fever None escaped it, or ESQ the cX-
ccptions were few indeed.
| Nor is it to be wondered at, for no attention
was given nor effort made to obtain pure water
Holes were sunk at the edges of the sloughs,
which were filed with surface water covered
with n blue scum, and during hot weather tenn
ing with animalculp. We called them wigglers,
and since it has been asserted that blue glass is
Il great inyigorator in the growth of vegetable
matter we have been inclined to believe that
blue scum is equally potent in developing wigcrs
into mosquitoes and tadpolcs into frogs and that
as an aguc producer the blue scummed water was
| Il perfect success.
| We neither had any physicians or medicines
except on the botanical principle Our qui-
nine was bOneset or wauhoo, the very thoughts
| of which make us shudder even now. When the
ague came it manifested great staying qualities.
Six weeks of daily shakes were not uncommon.
Whole families were afflicted with it at the same
| time, when the question as to which one was
best able to carry water from the slough was
difficult TO solve,
We were frequently compelled to live in tents
and sleep upon the ground for weeks and months
before we could collect sufficient force to raise
our little cabins. Everybody was sick with the
aguc and unable to work. Our first buildings
were log cabins, generally with but one room,
which must serve As kitchen, dining room, sit
| ting room, parlor and bed room. Indoor spark
| ing was almost impossibilty as Pa, Ma and all
the mischievous brothers and sisters of your girl
persisted in lying awake to listen to what you
said and take notes of what YOU did. Our modes
of farming and the implements we used would of
itself constitute theme for hours of description.
will pass them briefly as ! have already taken
up too much time. Seven yoke Of cattle strung
out in front of bnr.sharc plOw with long raking
wooden mould board with one man 10 govern the
tplow and another TO driyc'the tram did well in
turning over two ncres per day,
In crop blowing the second year we used what
was termed the Carey plow 1t was similar in
construction to the prairie pillow with wooden
mould board and coulter, but instead OF cutting
the sod and turning it topsy turyy as that manu-
featured by our friend T. d. Brewster does, it
simply pushed it aside and left the soil in splcn-
did condition for the growthof weeds. Our stir
ring and corn plows were pf similar construction,
fine implements for the cultivation of weeds. He
who would have told us that pillow could be
made that would scour in loose soil would have
been deemed soft in the head"
paddle to remove the dirt from the mould
board was deemed as essential rs the pillow itself
These plows gave way to cast iron mould boards
for stirring plows and the shovel pillow for tilling
the corn These in turn have given place to the
more modern improvements until these OF the
present day, when gang plows for cultivating
have reduced the labor almost into pastimc,
Our hoes were of monstrous size and ponder
Gus weight with the handle thrust into u mas
sive eye They bore about the same relation to
the steelshankcd and polished hoe Of to-day that
the stone ay of the Indian bears to that made by
the Perkins Brothers or Undcrhill.
We harvested our grain with the sickle or era
die and our hay with the scythe. Our thrcshing
machines were the Hail or the more speedy but
less clearly mode of tramping il out with horses.
The latter was the general mode, but for buck
wheat it would not work, because the horses feet
ground il as well as thrcShed il. The Mcssrs
Mccormick, Nanny, Ball, Estcrly and other man
ufacturcrs of farm implements had not vet put in
their appearance. Harycsters, mowers, thrcsh.
ers shelters, hOrse-rakes and forks, did not even
have Il name, much less Il habtatiOn, in those
the arts and sciences, and criticised our prcdc-
ccssors for their lack of knowledge. If the same
ratio OF Improvement in the discovery and manu-
facturc of farm implements be made during the
coming half century that has been made during
the past, who is there here to-day will dare pre-
dict the resultg
Discoveries and Improvements have been made
within that period in every branch of science and
industry. The simplest and least complicated
are frequently of the greatest practical utility; |
and none is more so than the invention of the
Lucifer match, which has superseded the flint and
steel and all of the older modes of kindling a |
fire or lighting pipe. The sewing machine and
knittcr, -aleratus and baking powder have great
" aided the housewife in her household duties. |
But the grandcr discoveries are those by which
Natures elements are utilized. The tabled thun-
dcrbolts of Jupiter-the dread lightnings fash, |
has been tanned, subdued, domesticated and rem
dercd subscrvicnt and obcdent TO the will of man
by the discovery Of the telegraph Even little !
child 10y touching the instrument with the tip of