Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-01-11
THE OLD MANS TALK.
Recoilections of an Old Residenter" of
Green County, Ills.

Recoileciions ~ AN Old Restdenter" of
Green County. us.
Indian lodges were good enough
houses better than any smoky cabin.
I've seen them made big er ough 10
hold "A couple of places like this They
made them by planting poles around
in a circle aud bringing their ends to-
geiher IN the center. leaving Only o
hole for the SMOKE To 90 out. Then
they wound mats around outside and
hung down a mat for the door. The
lloor was spread with doerskins. lou
lay on your deerskin with your feet
10 the fire. An Indian would sit up
all night and let you sleep on his
deerskin."
At this point in the talk the old
man smiles the mischlevous smile of a
scnoolboy who Is gong Ia puzzle the
girls with Greek. and utters several
sentences of Indian gutturals.
You don't understand that. Bu' |
never learned any of their languages
well except the Sank and Fox. Sue.
cotash, that's a Sank word. Aud they
had different names for .heir corn
dishes, according as they mixed in
more beans or more of other vege-
tables.
Il was over Calhoun county in &c.
aud saw settlements there then which
looked fifty years old. /; was settled
long before this county was. Had a
little town named Gilead down al the
point where the Illinois river enters
the Mississippi. But this was always
the best of countries for game. And
as for tish"-the narrator's eyes with
stout good humor repel your amuse.
ment as he tells his own fish story
Il have seined 400 fish at a draw in
Long lake. was part owner ofa fish
trap once. hurricane creek. YOU
know, runs through Long lake. 1t
was IN the lake we fixed pointed dams
in the water. with Sits the fish could
get through. but they couldn't get
back. We made three of them. and
had fish in there 80 thick they could
scarcely stir. I've seer them bank
themselves up and try TO break the
dam, and pile IN each others backs a
foot out Of water. You've heard a
dog could walk across Long lake on
the fish in that trapi Twenty dogs
could have trotted across on that
bridge of fish and never noticed the
waterl We kept 800 bushels of corn
crlbbed AT one time TO feed them with.
I've seen them follow a canoe full Of
corn like IA lot of steers. We shclled
the grains and poured them out. Fish
were worth three cents a pound then,
and the trap brought a thousand
dollars a year, and hardly took three
months time. But a flood came and
broke il, and then the legislature
passed a law against such things, and
il wasn't rs profitable as it had been,
anyhow. So we let it 60.
Il wish | could show you the bullet
| chopped out Of an elm tree near
where the earthworks are at the edge
Of the bluff. There must have been a
battle there some time. 'Rowel, said
the man with me, you've broke your
AK He saw the metal shining. No,
| haven't, said l. Its in the tree
We cut it out, the wood black around
il. Two hundred rings had grown
outside that bullet-an ounce ball.
The tree must have been a sapling
when it went in. | kept the bullet
around to show to folks a long time,
but somebody carried it of. Some
body always does carry off my relics.
| had a coifeepotful."
Thus this lovable old man-for he
inspires tender and respectful consid-
Grafton in every one-sits by his stone
fireplace and moves the past in pano-
rama before his mind. The bits which
such men treasure have their value.
1t is word of mouth evidence of things
which we shall never see, of things
displaced by u present. Their talk
is our folk lore. which we cannot af-
ford to lose. Mary Hartweil Gather
wood in Chlcapo Tribune