The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-01-18

rOared thus for me these three years. IL
one sense of times duration they seem a
three hundred years; in another, they
seem not much over three months. 1t |,
three months when think only OF the
date of my arrival on Frazier's fiat. Il
is three hundred years as attempt to
recall the daily round of experience anc
thought since came here. Outwardly
it has been what many would consider O
monotonous experience. Weeks have
been so much alike that they leave nc
distinguishing marks in my memory.
wonder how many years more shall
spend here. | wonder if | must live and
die here. am no nearer fortune than
three years ago, not so near by three
wears. | seem more and more chained
down here by force Of habit. / seem fit
for little else but to dig. | long to see
something of the great world beyond
this lone foothll nook. Yet without
money feel less and less capable of go
Ing out and getting on" in that world.
And as for saving honeywell, we call
this n three dollar claim" which means
an average daily profit, when all ex-
penses are paid, of two dollars, more or
less These thoughts are making it as
gloomy within as the weather is with
out. | must get out of this. My gray
| flannel working shirt needs mending.
The right sleeve is ripped from wrist to
elbow. 1t has been so ripped for about
six weeks. have rolled that wet sleeve
up to the elbow about a hundred times a
day, and at every tenth stroke of the
pick it has unrolled again and tapped in
my face. | sew up the sleeve with a
very large needle and very coarse
thread doubled. This is good time to
clean up little. will be domestic to-
day. will bake "A fresh batch of bread
and make pie. 1t shall be mince pie.
We are ten miles from the nearest bakers
mince pie. 1t shall be made Of salt beef
previously soaked to freshness, dried APP
pies, molasses, and vinegar in lieu Of
cider. The crust roll out with Junk
bottle on a smooth, fiat board bake it
on a shallow tin plate. 1t will be, when
done, thin, wafery pie; but it will be
pie--the shadow of a pie at least-such
i
Rain, rain, rain. The wind is up and
about too, tearing around among the
trees and shaking the cloth roof of my
cabin. Here and there little trickles Of
water are coming through and running
down the logs. Mine is log cabin Of
the toughest make. Four logs piled
atop of each other form the sides. A
mud chimney at one end; door at the
other. The logs are very dry and very
rotten, and abound in those insects that
delight in rotten wood. l have found
scorpions under the bark and occasion
ally an earwig promenades over the
table. open the door and look out on
the river. 1t is rising. Wrecks are COM
ing down-boards, logs, lumber and an
occasional sluice and pieces Of fluming.
There 10 an eddy around the turn of the
hill above, where much of this drift runs
in. l repair thither and make few
hauls. | secure half dozen good boards,
some pieces of joist, some driftwood for
fuel, and pile it up on the bank out of
the swelling waters reach. "Halloa"
That cry is from couple of men on the
other side of the river, plodding down
the trail in oilskins. ! know them. Two
of the "boys" from Poverty bar. They
are going to Prices store, two miles be-
low-store, grogshop, boarding house,
polling booth at election, ferry, etc. Being
q rainy day they are going there to get
drunk. That is not their avOwed pur-
pose on setting out, but it's as near GER
tainty as anything can be in this world.
| return to my cabin. The pie has
baked 1t is browner than had intend
ed it should be. On one side it is almost
black 1t is ornamented about the rim
with row of scollops made by pressure
Of the thumb. Now put in the bread,
previously mixed and kneaded. l am
not q good breadmaker. 1t is always
bread too much baked or too little, or
too sour or too yellow, or too heavy.
But don't care. bake only for my
self, and am unfortunately too easily
pleased, and probably too lazy to take
that care and elaborate preparation nee
essary for good bread. | never measure
accurately the proportions of flour,
water and yeast powder necessary for
good bread. throw them together at
random. It's "hit or miss"-generally
miss. It's too much trouble to bother
about these small details. A particular
friend of mine who stayed with me
few days reproved me for the poor quail
ity of my bread and the general sloven-
illness apparent about my cooking uten-
sils
You have no pride" said he.
l owned up. What was the use OF
pride about tin kettle. This friend was
my hacker. He had set me up on this
claim, and put me, after fashion, on
my feet. He had come to see how l was
getting along. While on this VISIT a man
of some standing from camp up the
river came along looking for stray COW.
My friend asked him to dinner-one Of
my dinners-graced by about the worst
baking of bread | ever accomplished.
Ny friend did not realize what he was
about when he asked the future lieuten-
ant governor of the state of California to
that dinner. But when he sat down to
my board, and when they tried to eat