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


corn, and III gathering and putting
away the crops of gross and gram.
And when a Young woman married,
but little time or money were spent
upon her bridal preparations; and she
received no presents except what wds
termed her "outhJ," COZ slsting of a
few articles OF furniture given her hy
her parents, Ia assist htr in setting NJ
house keeping. And there was M br-
dial trip, beyond, possibly ride 10 the
nearest county town, or 10 the nous"
of the groOm's parents, where the "in-
fair" was usually held on the day after
the wedding. In fact there was no
time, in those busy days, for women to
engage in the study of dress, or in ac-
curing what are now considered the
graces and embellishments of the fe-
male life. If there had been pianos
they would have remained idle for want
of disengaged fingers to touch the silent
keys. If there had been disposition
on the part of any one to make what
are now known as fashionable calls, "
it could not have been gratded, as WO-
men who, with their daughters only to
help them, and no servants, had no
time to devote to receiving such calls.
As Sam Sticks friend said Of his wife
"She hadn't no ear for music, Sam, but
she had capital eye for dirt; and for
poor folks that's much better. No one
ever seen as much dirt in my house as
a fly couldn't brush off with his wings.
Boston gals may boast of their spinnetS
Chat is pianOs) and their gytars, and
their Eyetalian airs, and their ears for
music, but give me the gal, say, that
has an eye for dirt, Tor she's the gal fOl
my money"
The educational advantages of those
IL, ,1 axynnAIfnrrIV
newspapers there were very few, and
they only weeklies; and as the faciii
ties for obtaining news were so slender
the contents of all such papers were, III
the main, stale and uninteresting, am
tended to limit their circulation. The
reading matter then attainable, outside
of the Bible, were such books as "AlOnZr
and Melissa" Robinson CrusOe, s"
ARABIAN Nights" and a few others
The schools were decidedly common,
and only here and there a teacher wa
found who could take his scholars be
yOnd the "single rule of three" in aTith-
metic, or who could teach such branches
as grammar or geography. The school
books most in use were what was called
John Rogers Primer" from a pictur'
" hich it contained; the UNITED State
Spelling Book" the Introduction t.
the English Reader" the "English
Reader" "DabOlls Arithmetic" and the
Western Calculator" The last lette
Of the alphabet was at one time known
as "izzard," afterwards as ''Zed," ano
finally as ''Z." When | think of the few
privileges enjoyed by the
pioneers of this county, am remindea
Df an excuse once given 10y man for
his ignorance, when he said that II.
never was at school but three days in
his life, and that was at night; two
nights the master didn't come; and the
third night they had no candles!
In the matter of amusements the
people were rather better off than H.
some other respects. There were wha
were called ''hOe-dOwns," at which |
'MOney Musk" "COme Haste to the |
and other like tunes, were
fiddled and danced, and at which yigur
Of manner made up for grace in eXecu- |
ton. If man went there OarefOOted. |
and got a splinter in his foot from the
rough, puncheOn floor, he was expected
to grin and bear it" until the set was
Then there were singing
schools, led by some one who was pos
5essed of a fairly good voice, knew the
tunes that We're to be sung, and could
rattle off the ia a-5Ol-la-mis' glibiy.
Knowledge of music was not eXacted
Of him. The tunes then most common
were "Amity," america" Devices"
'Dunlap's Greek, Coronation. - "Fidu-
,ia, '"LenOX, '"Mear, Pastoral Elegy,"
Samantha, "China," and others which
find 1t would consume too much time
to go over even by name. The "MinOr
Node" was the most common; and the |
parts were known as the treble
counter, " "tenOr" and "base." [ think |
see one of those old time singing mas !
,eTs now, as, with book in one hand and |
the other upraised, he starts the school |
off on 1--WE will say the tune "ShoT-
Ourne." All goes well under the mas
Jer's vigorous paving as he beats the
time, until the last two lines of the first
verse are reached, when, we are told by
the poet, "The angel of the Lord came
down, and glory shOne around" and
then the parts begin to scatter, each in
5isting that "glO-O-O-ry shOne arOund;"
and right at that point the skill of the
leader is put to the seveTest trial, as he
flies about the room, frantically swing
ing book and hands, pulling in the base
here, the counter there,
and the treble elsewhere, until he
seems to have fairly set the several parts
by the ears in their vOciferOus declaTa-
tiOns that "The angel of the Lord came
down, and glO-O-O-ry shOne arOund-ry
SlOue dIOuuu. Dub udDpllH Iu6
melee is quieted down by the ending of
the tune according to the book, and
peace is restored between the rival
parts, without a drop of blood having
been shed.
There were spelling schools, also; and
debating societies; and snitZings and
bOilings with their "Sister
Phoebe" Il am George Washington"
'BlumsOck," "Oats, peas, beans and bar
ley grows" Picking cherries, Build
ing bridges" and other neyer-tO- -be-for-
cotton plays; and there were maple
sugar bOilings, lOg-cabin Taisings, log
,cOrn-huskings shooting match
es, militia musteTs, horse racing (nO
trOtting matches those days., wrestling,
jumping, fOOt-racing, rolling lOng-buI-
lets, pitching hOrse-shOes, playing nine
pins and alley-ball, hunting, fishing,
&C., sc.
The bar-rOOms in the village and
country taverns were the great places
of public resort, where the men of the
gathered nightly (and of
ten in the day time tOO) to tell stories,
play tricks on each other, and have
general good time. For the boys there
were tOwn-ball, (Of which the modern
baseball seems to me but miserable
imitatiOn), corner ball, paddle ball,
prisoners base, and the like; with slid
ing on the ice and cOasting in the
winter.