Wichita eagle., 1886-09-22

Mennonites VIII dstacl paper. sprinkle a
little tobacco on it, make q turn with his
fingers, and 10, its done ! have tried it
many times but always failed, either tearing
| the thin paper or spilling the tobacco. while
great, coarse listed farm labcrcr viii twist
one as daintily and as easily as a professional.
One day while stopping here / was invited
by DR.. W. to ride with him about ten miles
to visit some patients to whom be had been
called; and as / wanted to see their
mode of life more closely. and the
doctor spoke the language, very gladly
availed myself of the opportunity thus Of
fered We drove over O very fine country
for some miles, past groves of cottonwoods
and naples that had been set out in regular
rows by owners OF farms, and here 1 noticed
what seems very peculiar way Of building
their houses far from where they had planted
their groves and shade trees, the houses
standing out in the open glare of the sun, far
from any sheltering shadA Houses hero are
built of mud, sort of clay mixed with straw.
They first lay very loose, rough wall Of
small powders, cementing them together with
clay. They then plaster this wall thickly
over with the mixed clay, and allow it to
stand until thoroughly dried by the sun,
rereated number of times, the last coat
being given thorough whitewash Of Ere
The walls, when thus finished are nearly two
fest thick, and enclose about as damp. i'll
ventilated and unhealthy habitation rs can
be found or constructed
An EVENING NEAL
Arriving at cur destination about tho time
for the evening meal, we were invited to take
kr.f
acquainted, at first hesitated, but on my ex-
pressing desire to stay and see what we
would see he accepted the invitation, and we
entered the house, STOPPING anl cropping
through shed-hlle structure into the kitchen.
whicli also served dining room, sitting
room. as well as nursery Phew! On enter
ing the room we Were made aware Of the
most fearful odor arising from tho compost
which was used for fuel. After sitting a few
moments, my olfactories becoming scme-
what accustomed to the smells and my ewes
accustomed TO the darkness, relieved only by
the family struggling light that forced It's
way in through two small narrow windows
set deep in the thick mud walls, found time
to take a survey Of the inside of the room.
and this is what | saw: a small square room.
with large bed in one corner, q table in the
Ol0CT, Ntllit ;.t one side was an oven made OF
clay and covered with sheet iron, upon which
the woman was cooking the supper of which
We were soon called to partake
Perhaps this may reach the eye of some one
anxious to learn the secret of lastly spreading
an evening repast, SO l will attempt to tel
you how they had put upon the table what
the doctor said was far better than the aver
age supper to be gotten in the neighborhood.
In the center of the table was placed a large
bowl, containing soup of which some of the
ingredients were pr,Ines, dried apples, -four
and water, onions and milk In addition to
the soup q huge loaf of dark looking rye and
wheat flour bread was placed on the table,
and we were asked 10 'ess," which we pro
ceeded to do in as hearty manner as the
circumstances would allow Coffee was
served in glass tumblers and drink without
sugar, though we did have milk. | ate my
dish of soup to convince the doctor that was
accustonedt to good fare like this, while he ate
his to convince me that he liked to live among
the people here, and think we both tried to
act false part.--Da.lota Cor. Pioneer Pres.