The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1891-10-15
A Night i'm a Cabin Town.

A Night I'm a Cabin Town.
Every life has in it some bit of experience
not common to other lives. We all take
pleasure in exchanging these odd bits. Here
is a page torn from my own book of life.
1t was in the late autumn. Tom and l
(Tom is dead now had been walking hard
all day through wooded section of the
poorest part of poor old Missouri. The
country was so thinly settled that we had
not seen dozen people in the days Journey.
Just as the sun was going down we trudged
into little cross roads village In the woods
near the ford of river. 1t was very
small place. There were few log cabins,
a log store, log blacksmith shop and a log
school house-abOut half score of houses
in all. AS we passed the rude school house
a lot of long shouted hogs--real blue
blooded razor backs-rushed out of the
open door like lot of children at recess.
We came up to the blacksmith shop just
as the smith was laying aside his apron for
the day. He was grizzly old man with
broad, stopped shoulders. His face was
rough, but strong and kind. He greeted us
with an agreeable Good evening, strang-
ers." We told him we were travellers
and wished to find place to stop over the
night. Without word of hesitation he of
fered us the hospitality of his home near
by. He led the way and we were soon in
troduced to his family-a wife and two
daughters. They were very tidy. pleasant
women, and one could not be long in their
company without feeling an impulse to call
them by those sweet etnameS-mOther, sister.
1t was a very humble home, but it was
home indeed. They were poor, as the
world reckOns, but somehow they seemed
rich. There was a wealth of something
there that too often is not found in the
homes of luxury. Perhaps it was virtue,
harmony, or something like that. Every.
thing about the rustic cabin betokened
thriftiness. Even the dog and cat had an
air of respectability about them. The
snowy cloth was, soon spread and we were
seated to wholesome meal. The CONVEX
satiOn ran along easy lines that all could
follow.
While at the table we were told that
there was to be preaching in the school
house that evening. and we were invited to
accompany the family. The supper things
were soon cleared away and the women
had on their bOnnets ready to start. The
old man had the lantern lit, one of the girls
brought the lamp, and we went altogether
to the log school house among the trees
little way down the road. 1t was the same
from which we had frightened the hogs.
We were the first there. The old man hung
the lantern on a peg at one side of the room,
and the girl placed the lamp on the rude
stand that answered for desk or pulpit as
the occasion might be. The room was about
e. x,,;kI fo,
windows. The floor was of loose. rough
puncheons. and the seats were simply rough
slab benches. The people kept dropping
in, one. two. three or four at a time, and
presently the preacher arrived. All told,
the congregation did not number more than
twenty souls. A few minutes were spent
in the exchange of neighbOrhOOd news.
Our host introduced Tom and me to the
minister. He gave us hearty shake Of the
hand and pleasant welcome. He carried a
Bible under his arm; and such book as it
was had never seen before. 1t was fully
six inches thick and ten by twelve inches
sQuare-sheepskin cOvered-Old and dilapi-
dated. The appearance of the man was no
less remarkable than that of his Bible. He
was fully six and half feet tall, broad,
erect and gaunt. His forehead was high,
and narrow at the temples, and his yellow
ish hair. beard and eyebrows were long and
shaggy. His clothes were old and faded
the coat was even ragged and was fringed
about the sleeves and skirts with Spanish
needles and cookie burs. 1t was plain that
he was farmer. and that he had come in
his field clothes-perhaps all he had. for
every one thereabouts was very poor.
After shaking hands with everybody. he
stepped behind the desk. laid down the
great book, opened it. and read a chapter.
The wind through the broken panes made
the light flutter and the leaves of the great
book rattle, but he did not seem to mind
perhaps he had the chapter by heart. The
reading through, the blacksmith's wife
started the hymn