The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-30

thoughts and discussion of the people, the
principal interest centering IN the clerk. For
this office there We're tive candidates, the late
Jas. NJ Ray, representing the Whitewater party,
| Whitewater being known as In Wander nand the
late Norris Morris, representing the settlers from
| Kentucky and Tennessee. known as ssOld Kahn
| tuck. Hhecontest was exceedingly warm and
spirted the candidates travelling. on horseback
over the entire settled portion of the two coun-
| ties, and making personals appeals to the
voters. Through the influence of his old
| time friend. William Conner, Mr. Ray obtained
decided majority in Hamilton county and was
thus elected. Mr.. Morris, [ believe, led in Ma
| rion. In selection, IN all others for years
afterwards. whisky cut conspicuous figure.
| 1t was provided and boldly and openly set out
by the friends of the candidates, or themselves,
in buckets or jugs, sometimes a barrel head
was stove in and tin cups provided for all com
ers. land passed. around | do not pause to
comment on that practice nor compare it with
the present, Lgiye thesfacts. for such was life"
them.
| One of the advances in the mechanical arts
which has struck me most fDrcihly is the prog
ress made in the last sixty-seven years in
manufacture, and repair of iron and steel tools
and implements, This progress, think. is main
lY due to 'iudicious tariff for their protection"
Sixty seven years ago the common choppng AK
was made at the smiths forge by hand out of
iron knownlas "ax-barD iron, alarge, fat bar of
iron four FIVE inches wide by three-fourths to
one inch thick. From this bar the upper
were formed by hand, and steel,
! scantily, for it was precious, was put
in the lower part, and formed the edge.
Chains, and horseshoes, and nails, both for horse
shoes and common use, were, hammered out of
more slender bars. known, as horseshoe and nail
rod iron. So was cutlery, which was even then
made at the common smith. shop All these
things were made by the most laborious and
painstaking TOLL some branches requiring,
great care ana experience. For example. tenn
pering steel tools wa5,a fine art When properly
heated and suddenly cooled in water, and again
slightly heated if it showed the blue hue of the
pigeons breast by the file test, it was pro-
nounced au fat. Making, tempering, handling
and grinding an AK, required one and half
two days work, and when done was worth from
So to s.; dollar then being worth mora than
three nowr So of all the other branches OF the
industry Of '"Tubal Cain. the first worker in
iron" from making an iron wedge to completing
a gun, lock- stock and BARREL The necessities
of that age and that colony induced the manu-
factnre OF all that was then required in that civ
| iiZation. Clothes were made out of fax grown
on the grounds of the settlers, pulled, rotted,
broken and dressed by. the men, and spun and
woven. by hand by the women. Wool was,
raised from the sheep of the settlers, and
Shorn from the, sheep, washed sometimes on
the, sleeps hack-and picked" and was then
carded, spun and woven into f1annels. cloths,
linseys, and later into cleans" by the women.
/ The halnels designed for the use of the
women and children were colored blue in dye
| the use of various native banks. among them
butternut, with minerals The farmers and
their sons sometimes in winter buekskin
pants and vests and give it as my verdict that
nothing then or since known is quite as pleasant
as a new pair of buekskln pants cold
morning. The blue and brown tlannels were
mostly used for dresses for the mothers and
daughters, and when neatly made into not too
closely fitting dresses, with other attempt at
| ornaments than one OF two small tucks or
| founces at the bottom, and worn with a small
white ruffls about the neck, the wearer
seemed as, well satisfied and was as
much attraction and as lovely and as loving
as their modern sisters are IN their silks and
brocades, brig rugged, crinolined, ribboned
and corseted as they are, until the inexperi-
enced masculine cannot say, by the touch,
whether it is flesh i or good imitation he is in
contact with. The bonnet was modest straw,
or calash of chintz-rarely of silk-or sunbon-
net of calico or white goods, but each worn wi tn
out more than single bow of ribbon, and We're
more modestiy attractive than the hats and
| bonnets now loaded down. as they are, with the
skeletons of slaughtered birds or bedizened
with beads and ostrich feathers.
1t Is invidious to make comparisons; and no
amount of criticism will ever produce achange
| in the style of dress which has the stamp of
| fashion. But it may be well questioned wheth-
er there has been any improvement in deco
rating the form divine OF woman in the last
| fifty years
l am not trying to bring these recollectons
removed from the prairie to Stony creek, where
he spent his late days, and is buried. What
remember since that, and especially since my
manhood. lis neither here nor there to any
! body. At the period am speaking of. society
was in it's rudest form of intelligent civilization.
The AK. and the plow and the rifle. and the fish
| Jag tackle, of whatever form, together with the
| ruder branches of mechanic arts, were the main
| stay of the family in the hands of the men of
| that day And the loom and the spinning wheel.
| large and small, and the needle, and above all,
the kitchen were the allotment. in the duties of
| life to woman. Literature, however, was not
neglected. as most of the families came stored
with the best thoughts OF that time, in books and
pamphlets.
| / would like to describe the primitive houses,
( and house furniture of that age, but
I have already taken too much time and
need pursue the subject no further.
| What the privations and sufferings OF these men
| and women procured, we enjoy the fruits of
now. The reflection to be deduced from these
facts is that as all excellence is the product of
suffering in some form-as it purifies and en-
| mobiles. and streHgthens-so we who are the
inheritors Of this suffering ought to show an adj
/ vance in every beneficial progress of life which
| has been made since then, and l think we do
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