Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-03-11

to get ahead bit Besides, the grit which he showed back at the other place ought to entitle him to hev his adviec aNed, only for good manners sake; 'spcc.ally if it is anything in which he is intere ted.''
 And tnereai ter nothing of importanco to t.e fami y was ever fully decided upon un,n Erastus had been given an opportun y to express an opinion of its w.sdom or feas bi ty.
 The wall y in whi il most of our pil- gr ms had sought home, was scarcely more than quarter of 8 mile W q ]; the stream wh ch watere it keeping nearer to the bluffs u on the rig 1t de the greater part of 0 way, but occasion- ally C;rvinE o''twa.'l. near to or past the center of this level strip of ground between the hills.
 WI here the stream made one of its curves, leaving b'.twecn Its channel an the bulf lial.I one D ece of ground of perhaps twenty-five acres, wni.h was slightl,' higher an tie est of the val ley, and So not likely to be over.iowed by the wa CT during the winter frrshet, and near to 10 blu I, " c sloped back gradually for so @c d stance. q d John Parsons beg.n the erection of his humble home.
 Material for building was scarce and high. Lumb 1T could have been ob- tained had the settlers possessed tho means of paying for it; but, lacking tn s, they were obliged to do the best they could with mater al furnished bv nature upon or near the spot. Some dug into the sid ,s of the hills, thus se- cur ng the walls for three sides of their dwell ngs, the roof and front being of such b,t5 of lumber as they had brought W tn them or could putchase; in some instances the rude front being of lum- per which h d once composed dry goods boxes ana in which the clothing or furn turc o, t'.c owners had been brought from tl Sia.cs.
 Mir. P2r5ons ::nd Erastus, in prefer ence to t.,s styla of half dug out de- cided to build of logs. but to obtain these they were obliged 10 go several m les further into the hills and snake down the bodies of small spruce trees This took much time anl hard work, but willing hanC. III ,de light of it, and three weeks from the day O. arrival the family moved into their new house.
 There was but one room, and that not large; and the floor was the earth, smoothed and beaten down There were two doors, with q window upon either side: the latter taken from the cottage in the Suscol Ranch and brought through in t..c wagon with the bedding carefully packed about them. The furniture consisted of some rough shelves in one corner sufficient to hold few pieces of crockery in daily use. table, several chairs and two beds, wh ch, with the stove, so filled the sin gle apartment that there was no room for another bed, even if they had pos stssed it; and for the time Erastus slept in the covered wagon, for which there
 
 a bunk on the dirty floor of the shanty.
 1t was very far from being as com fortable as the cottage back on the Sus- col Ranch, and as for eleg; nee or effort at responsibility it made none what ever; was, in fact, as much below the log house ''back in the States,' which the family had left as the Suscol cottage had been above it in that regard, and this thought kept coming to John Par sons. and causing Il m twinges of pain all the time they were at work on it, but once fa rly domicilcd beneath his own roof, poor though he was, with his family about him, and with the cheerful vo ce of his wife ever bidding him take courage, he soon ceased to dwell upon his disappo;ntment; or at least to make mention of it..
 The first thing to be done after the shanty was up and the family safely sheltered was the securing of provender for the teams; for while domestic ami mals will live all winter on what they can pick, and in ord nary seasons come through ill good cond ton; yet they can not do this if requ red to work, and our friends had sod to break for next seasons crop. So they set about gath ering the wild grasses which grow with wonderful luXuriance during the rainy months, burn yellow and brown when the dry season comes on, curing as per fecty where they grow as by the pro- cess of haymaking pursued in countries which lack the pure dry atmosphere of the Pacific Coast.
 The first rains, however, wash the greater portion of the nourishment out of this dried grass, and although the new shoots spring up at once, it is difficult. for d time, for stock to get at it through the heavy coating of old and worthless growth winch falls down over it, and is not very nourishing when obtained.
 A portion of the settlers had COW each but those in whom we are most interested were without Among those who were so fortunate as to possess one, however, was Rtchie; and as Mir. Par sons and Erastlis were enabled to give him needed as stance in the ere ct on of his shanty and the cutting of grass for his team and COW, it was agreed that the mix should be divided between the two families for the next year, Jenny and Lucy m: king regular trips for their share every night and morning.
 The shanty up, and sufficient amount of grass secured, the settlers next turned their attention to the breaking of the soil, the planting of trees and vines, and, at the proper time, of vegetables. For tue first year they expected to live largely upon wild game and the few provisions which they had brought with them. The sec ond year they would get on much bet ter
 There is no country where the con- mon domestic fowls. ducks, chickens