The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-02-17
CORRESPONDENCE.
Our minnesota Letter.
DANEwooD, February 7th, 1893.


to agree i'm the verdict that we are haV-
ing an "old fashioned winter" find
more snow than have any remembrance
seeing since wandered from the shadow
of the Green Mountains, in 1873. | walk
two and half miles to school, and find
drifts waist deep, and most days last
week there was Wind enough to I'LL up
my tracks, so had to break it out afresh
twice day, making it the hardest week
of travelling that ever encountered. l
continue to be surprised at the climate
here, for | start from home before sun
rise with the thermometer 35 Q below and
feel no inconvenience without my over
coat. have worn it only two or three
times.
| am in the midst of my session of
school among the Scandinavians, and l
will give you few notes that may inter
est some one. There is a popularity of
Swedish names that l don't remem-
Der to have mentioned, that is, so
many of them end with the suffix, son.
NV register contains the names of SO
scholars, and here are the names of % of
them: Gudmundson, Jackson, Johnson,
Swanson, Mattson, Anderson, Olson and
Peterson. | have only two other fami-
lies in school, l will mention several
peculiarities that have impressed them
selves upon my mind because of their
frequent use. ''Y'' is often substituted
for j in names like Jesus, which is pro-
nounced Yesus. They don't like "h,"
and leave it out of most of their words,
as think, thick, and thin, they persist
emily pronounce tink, tick and tin.
Father and mother are often pronounced
fader and moder. "W'' seems to come
easier than V, as very for very, but
eometimes the substitution is the re-
verse of this and we hear winter trans
formed into winter" In such words
as chair, chain, ETC., they prefer the
sound of sh, as in chaise and Charlotte.
AS farming community this region,
in spite of much primitive wlldness,
seems to be we'll settled down into
thrifty, comfortable way of living. The
oldest inhabitants that know of in the
town have been here twenty-five or three
years. Mr.. Lunde, the man with whom
/ board, says that nineteen or twenty
wears ago when he came here he bought
Railroad land, for the Government land
had all been taken up.
Most of the log cabins of pioneering
days are still preserved as outhouses
since the families have been able to build
themselves more stylish and comfortable
ones. Hillside cellars, out one side of
The house, are quite common; some of
them are covered with earth and some
have a regular roof and are sunk only
about half way into the ground. Most
farms furnish the logs from which the
farm houses have been built, the logs
being sawed at the nearest saw mill.
Eastwood is very abundant, and in ear
lier times, it furnished, perhaps, the lar
gest logs of any in the woods. There is
plenty of oak and maple, the latter is
ranked as number one for fuel and brings
one dollar cord more than the other
kinds The average price this winter is
per cord about 50. 30 for Eastwood, $3.50
for oak and birch, and $3.50 for the best
maple. This is busy season for the
cordwood choppers. Most of the farm
ers pile 20 or 80 cords to dry for hauling
next winter, and then some is hauled
green and some of them have some dry
to be hauled now. One tree that never
saw much of until coming to this States
is the American, or black larch, other
wise called hackmatack, but more COM
monty tamarack. 1t is very thick in the
low lands and grows very tall and slen-
der, but some stumps found submerged
in the boys are frequently of larger size
than those now growing. The tamarack
poles are the main dependence for fenc-
ing, being long, straight and durable;
sometimes are nailed on in this rough
state, being flattened little with the
Ratchet, where the nails are to be driven.
If the poles are large enough they are
split or sawed. This tree is such lover
Of the water that it seems to recede as
Civilization advances and drains the
swamps. We see large acres of land Gov
cred with dead poles looking like hop
or bean garden. OF course the fire was
the cause of much of that, but the in
creasing dryness of the average season
is equally responsible. The latter cause
is also proving disastrous to the cranher-
ries. They tell me they use to be plenti-
full, and have seen only two or three
places in the swamps where there seemed
to be enough to make it profitable pick
ing.
If there are at present 10000 lakes in
Minnesota, l can easily picture to myself
a time, at no very remote geological per-
iOd, when there must have been twice
that number, for many swamps are still
impossible until they freeze up, and two
that cross every day have numerous is
lands. The grass that grows in them is
breast high and thick enough
to yield three or four tons of hay to the
acre. The moss is so thick and spongy
that in walking through it you get into
the water before you know it, and | have
had to look at my shoes be-
fere was certain whether l was walking
in water or only in mess. The farmers
have skirted these grass boys in the hay
ing season to get all the hay that they
could conveniently, without getting into
the water; and we find hay stacks scat
tered all through the woods where there
were little patches of grass.
This section seems to be well adapted
to the potato and other vegetables, and |
expect they take the lead in the cult
vated crops. Some tell me they succeed
with corn, but it is not a common crop
up here. Stacks of wheat and oat straw
are common, so / think those crops did
we'll. The stock have free access to many
Of the straw stacks, and as have noticed |
them eating their way into the very heart |
Of the stack, getting nearly out of sight |
lfter while, have thought of the old |
saying about people ''eating themselves |
,ut)i / itaDd home" and have ian
lied ? cattle were reversing the |
,ondi Gs Othe more they eat the bet
er sheltel t!have.
will II lhCa few notes about our |
domestic IT, for | can't remember |
he time did not enjoy the home |
ife undere ariety of circumstances
hat have fat zen to my lot. | frequently |