The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-03-10
long and twenty wide. Through the
the middle of the house and parallel with


the middle of the house and parallel with
the ends there was partition also made
! of logs. In the one end there was q
chimney, and cross partition, also oi
logs, was built in the other end, thus cut
ting it into two bedrooms. In each OF
these rooms a door opened from the
room in which was the fire place. The
floor was constructed out Of puucheons,
that is out of logs split and notched
down on huge sleepers. The chimney
was constructed out of split timber and
then all daubed with mortar, the part
exposed to the fire being lined with
stones. In the whole structure there
was not single nail used except in the
door and the window shutters which
were attached to the windows in the end
of the bed rooms. Two beadsteads and
| dining tablew made. The only tools
used in the construction being telling
axe and two.inch auger.
On the first Monday of February, 1884,
John and Ann Leslie went to their
home. Johns father gave him three
year old colt which had not been brok-
en- to work, and AIMS father gave her
COW and calf and feed for the COW and
colt for the first year.
In those primitive times what We of
| the present day would regard but little
money was a grea deal. There were no
| factories in the country. Every family
| made all it consumed. Nothing was
bought except q little coffee and less
| sugar. Every industrious man had an
| abundance of the necessities of life and
| no one had any of the luxuries. The
only market town in the State was
| Charleston, distant nearly two hundred
| miles. John Leslie worked hard and
! his wife was in the fullest sense help
! meet for him. Each year brought q
| change for the better. One little con-
venience was added. Their stock be-
gan to increase in number and the size
of their fields were enlarged, ard, al
though there was no home market,
John Leslie had more of the necessities
of life than was necessary for the COM
Portable support of his own household
With this design of bettering his circum.
stances in this world and turning to good
account the surplus product of his little
farm he began, at first, to exchange corn
for oats, for young cattle. For, strange
as it may appear, there are some people
who, if it were possible to place them,
with all their indolent and thriftless
habits, back in the Garden of Eden
would always be scarce of bread. There
we're some of these people in the neigh.
borhood of the home of John Leslie,
and it was with them that he traded
breadstuffs for young cattle. These
young cattle were marked and turned
into the range. Once week, on a fix.
ed day, called to place in the wood,
called to the cowpen, and salted. This
was the treatment during the summer,
and in the winter they were turned into
the fields and fed until spring. At the
age of three yeara they we're driven to
Philadelphia and sold. To make one
of these trips to Philadelphia consumed
nearly half year, and besides was
not free from perils. The cattle had to
be watched carefully day and night, and
when sold, and the money received, there
was danger lest some mountain gang of
robbers might waylay the drover and
deprive him of both his money aud his
life. Sometimes the cattle would be-
come panic stricken and rush madly
into swollen stream or over precipice
and be drowned or crushed to death.
In driving cattle there were many and
great risks to be run, but when it was
attended with no mishaps it was, at
that time, the most renumerative busi-
ness in which any man could engage.
John Leslie, as a drover, was sue
ceasful. He took three droves of cattle
to Philadelphia, on which he cleared
the round sum of one hundred and fifty
dollars. This, although at the present
day it would be regarded as paltry
sum, made John Leslie an independent
man.
The inhabitants of the country were
turning their attention to the raising of
indigo. Every family had its small
patch Of indigo and an indigo vat, but
the nearest market for it was Charleston,
and very few of those who produced
it were in condition of conveying it
thither. Wagons, and even carts, were
owned by few persons in the country.
Prior to the Revolutionary war there
we're, in the upper part of South Caro-.
lima, scarcely q settlement in which
there was wagon or any other wheel
ed vehicle. The first wagon in the
community in which John Leslie had
settled was owned by himself. By many
at 8 time it was regarded as great a
wonder as railroad train is at pres.
ent.
The possession Of a wagon and team
of horses and four hundred and fifty
dollars enabled John Leslie to take sd-
vantage of the circumstances by which
he was surrounded. He bought what
ever indigo his neighbors had to sell,
together with the skins of various fur
bearing animals and hauled them to
Charleston. On these articles be was
sure to realize one hundred per cent. and
often three hundred. The sum realized
from the indigo and peltry was invested
largely in salt, coffee, sugar, treacle and
occasionally in the spring, barrel of
salt fish. These were bartered for indi-