The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-06-22

| pIdnIlhg done early IN March, they were
set TO thinking what strange thing
! would happen next. 1t is safe to infer, I
| suppose, that the clearing out of the
! Forests, and our consequent exposure to
| the winds that come from the Western
| preiiies, together with the reduced
moisture IN the atmosphere, caused by
roGbiug the ground of It's shade, have
] produced the climatic changes which
/ we, who remember the cld-iime seasons,
| have so distinctly observed.
Diseases, too, and the manner of their
! treatment, have UNDERGONE marked
| change. Dtpthgria, typhUIu .ever, neu-
! rMgih,dnd various other maladi-s were
! not, a. Ceas, by their present namesJ
| known; and the universal panacea
for all ills was calOmel, supplemented
| by b.oOd-leLting. 1t was just as com
mon then TO bleed pa'ient, IN all cases
Of fever or other iul tmmatory disease,
! as ii now is not 10 do It; aud the poor
patient was kept for days on water IN
which hot toast was sOaked-it being
supposed that Geld water given a sick
! person was sure to produce fatal re
suits. And as to bleeding: o impOr-
tant was ii thought to be that many
! persons in health resOTted to if, every
! spring, in order to keep fl disease. No
almanac was then complete unless it
| designated the days in the year which
| were considered "gOOd for bluOd-let-
| llhEs LALu NO al AChACDlbClg NObB
when "British OIL" Harlem oil"
"Medicamentum,' "Godfrey's Cordial"
and "OpOdeldOc" were kept in the
stores, and con5tituted, substantially,
the sum total of popular remedies.
In these days of high prices we can
scarcely realize the difference between
| the values Of then and nOlO. Fifty
years ago man worth from $1,000 to
| $1O,O was rich and from the income
of sucn capital could live as contentedly
and well as man of the present day
can from a capital five times as great.
OF course much of this difference is at
tributable to the artificial wants of
society, which make heavy demands
upon the purses of men but it is fact
that in those early days the price of la
| Dor, and the cost of every thing bought
or sold, were so well graduated and
adapted to each other, that men became
| rich (as fortunes were then reckOned) as
rapidly as now; and there was not the
same proportion of very poor people,
as?compar to the total population, as
there now is. Wages were then from
25 10 75 cents per day, according to the
| work done, and as men were boarded
or boarded themselves. Mechanics
could sometimes make as high as S1O0
per day, by boarding themselves. Ser
want girls received from 25 to so cents
per week, and boarded. When l began
cleTking In store, forty-fve years ago,
| L received 81 80 per month, and my
board and when my wages, at the end
| of two years, were advanced to Sl50
per month, and paid my own board
ing, thought myself to be on the high
road to sudden fortune, But the price
of boarding cOrrespOnded to the prices
of other things. Froln IS cents to S1.25
per week were the ordinary rates. Even
so late as 1S45 the price charged by
VIM. Hawk, at the Eagle Hotel, in
Canton, (Which was then the standard
of excellence In this TegiOn), was but
$l.25 to Si,5O per week; and this in
cluded lodging also. Breakfast, supper,
or a nights lodging at hotel, cost but
1215 cents each and dinner from Is to
25 cents. | have known butter to sell
at four cents per pound; eggs, at two
cents per dozen; beef, fUrCquarteT, at
one cent per pound, hind-qudrter at Il
to ~ cents per pound pork and veal
at about the same rates; wheat 3712
cents per bushe, (althOugh earlier it
was as low as 25 cents; hay, 81 80 to
So. 90 per ton oats, corn and potatoes,
II to 20 cents per bushel; apples, 10 to
10 cents per bushel; peaches, 8 to 10
cents per bushel, aud often they could
be had for the mere picking
and taking them away; cherries
10 cents per quart; plums and hue
kleberries about the same; cider 81 per
barrel; maple sugar 4 to cents per
pound chickens 3 to cents, ard tur-
keys IS to 80 cents each; and horses,
cows, sheep, aud the like rated at cor
responding prices.
But why 90 on ? | fear that you have
already become restive under the eX-
cessiVe length of these "reminiscences;
and to you who have been a part of the
early life Of this region, l could pre-
sent nothing further which you do not
already know. And yet. what | have
said is but mere outline of life and
things as you knew them to in the in
fancy of this county. Many details in
which it would have pleased me to in
dulge, 1 have been compelled to omit,
lest, led away by the attractions of my
subject, should exhaust, wholly, your
patience, and trespass too largely upon
the rights of the gentlemen who are to
| follow me.
Let me say, however, to those of my
listeners who know of the times of
which have spoken, only by tradition,
that the delineatlOn of life and things
which have given is truthful, though
necessarily meager, record OF the eXpe-
rience of every man and woman, (par-
ticularly of those who lived in the
country, and of most of those who liv-
| ed in the Yillages), In our county, nifty,
and even less, years ago. Had they not
suffered and struggled as they did, un-
| der the priVatiOnS and hardShlpS which
1 have endeavored to portray, this
grand county, the peer, in all the ele-
ments of substantial greatness, of any
spot of equal size on the face of the
broad earth, would not have become
what it now is. Do not understand
me as wishing those days back,
Eor as decrying, or attempting
to depreciate, the present, or the
changes which the years have wrought.
| The tremendous advance made in every
department of human thought and ac-
tivity, renders the life of to-day, in
nearly all its aspects, far preferable TO
that of the pioneer days; and we may
we'll thank God that our eyes have been
permitted to witness the results which
the genius of man has accomplished;
and yet, as think of the artiicialities
of society, as it now exists; of the ex-
actions which it makes upon every man
and woman, old and young; of the
fearful advance in crime; of the dis
content which impels every one to be
ceaselessly reaching forward to grasp
some imagined good, or to attain some
result supposed to be necessary to place