Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-09-17

On Townsend street, on the hill, says
| The Pittsburg Commercial Gazette,
lives Mrs. Isabella Law, aged 81. The
| cid lady is piquant and remarkably live
ly for such an elderly person. Caress-
.ng her canary yesterday, she turned
| upon the reporteran eye filled with life.
/ and said: You have come to hear me
! talk?" Acknowledging the fact, the
reporter led the Old lady to converse,
and she straightway went to the point,
as follows.
Il remember the coming OF Lafay-
cite well. The people came to our place
| at BraddOck, and | never saw a jollier
| crowd. The whole neighbOrhood was
| filled with horses and carriages used by
the people to come there, as we had no
railroads then. Lafayette was an old
man then, and the trip on a flatboat
had worried him. My husband, James
Law, had gone to the boat to get them
| on shore, and [ remember he told me
the general fell in the water and spoiled
his breaches while trying to land. We
| had band then"
The old lady laughed at her recollec-
ton of the band, and her eyes seemed
to look back over the years and find q
! qualification in the memory. She con-
tlnued: ''Ihere were four horns, and
the man who had the big one made me
laugh, for some person had. cut po-
tato and put it into his horn, and he
could not blow it; and what with the
ducking the general got and the lack of
music his landing was a very tame at
fair. His visit was to Gen. Gibson's
widow, and she came to me and bor-
rowed all my cups and saucers and tea
| spoons for the occasion, and the gener-
ais son carried one of my teaspoons
TO France. L made a pudding that day
! for Mrs. Gibson OF Whortleberries. We
made it in large earthen pot, and
when it was placed on the table it broke
and scalded John Stylesworth. He
married the first McCandless who came
here. Gen. Lafayette arose at the ia
BILE and said: i like pie, and I like
American pie, but this is too much pie
and then everybody laughed.
eve had church services next day,
and the church was four miles from the
house, and, Of course, we all put on our
ribbons, and had a nice cap, and my
husband had bought me pair of nice
shoes, and I and two other ladies
started for church, and we went bare
footed through the fields, intending to
strike near the church and then put on
our tinery and play the lady. 1t was
hot, and we stopped in the woods to
battle our feet, and while doing so we
were startled by yell, and we ran and
never stopped until we entered the
church, and there we were a sight.
sure. They were singing, Come, Thou
Fount of every Blessing and they Just
stopped singing and laughed at US, and
Lafayette, laughed too. Oh, l felt aw-
full bad; but you see, [ could not come
out, for they would see my face, and
so l had to stand it. [ shall never for
get the preaching that day 1t was old
Elder Wilson, and it just seemed as if
he preached at my bare feet all the
time.
The generals father came to me
/ that night and told me that his father
was tired and FESTIVE from the action
of some of the Pittsburghers, and want
| ed to get away. He asked me to talk
to the general and get him to 90 on the
next day. and / did so. He was talking
to Mrs. Gibson, and | went right up to
him and said, 1 want to see YOU and
he smiled and led me to 4 seat, and,
would you believe it? | only had a cal
leo wrapper on, and then he said, [ am
tired, but your people are kind, and
therefore ! do not feel it.
Il have heard them say it was not in
1926 when he came here, but [ know it
was, for my baby was born that year,
and so | know it.
A confusion of memories here took
possession of the old lady, and she
seemed to be lost in dreaming of the
time sixty years ago.