Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-12-27
Old Tines

part of this week; for l want to q
down to Sans and go hunting the las
part Of the week" SO / thought 4
was such beautiful weather I woult
90, for this summer weather won't las
always. So got on Old Bill and rod,
down to an old friends near the Silver
Mines. This mans father was my ole
brick boss, and his wife was a daugh
ter of the woman that made me- dance
at the wedding. And she was the frs,
girl played with at the first party wa:
ever at in this country. And such g
laugh as we had as we talked of thai
old-fashioned play! 1t was this way
This girls father had got set of pine
logs hewed to build nice hewed log
house, as he was getting quite family
of girls. So one day he invited all o.
the neighbors on his creek and all ol
US Arcadia Valley folks to the house
raising; and when all of the folks that
could go from all of the settlements
were there, there wasn't very large
crowd. You see, the country wasn',
very thickly settled and there weren't
great many girls in the country.
Any decent sort of a girl was at a
| premium at that time. Most any sor,
of girl was in demand.
Well, l believe there was but one
girl from our neck of the woods, and
she had more fellows chasing after
her than any other girl about here.
AS near as we could count up the 9th
er night, there was girl by the name
of Amy; she was the boss girl of her
settlement; then there was her sister
Lizzie, and a younger one, Eliza Wiles.
Then there were about five or
six not quite so old nor quite SO big.
Then there were about six or seven
little ones, about two-thirds grown;
that's all. Well, there was just about
two fellers to every girl, which made
it kinder unhandy to give every feller
a girl at the same time.
There were three fellows that
thought they were the top of the pot.
and every time the piay-master called
''more barley" one or the other of
those fellows woul1 go for one Of those
top-cut girls, and when it came our
turn to come in we had nothing but
some of the little ones to choose from.
1t was just exactly like grabbing suck
ers-the biggest ones first all the time.
Well, some of those girls got kind O.
tired of playing with those fellows all
the time. They thought they would
like little change. 1 was sitting on
follows knee and he said to me, "If
you will cut that big fellow out, I'll
treat you the first time 1 meet you in
company" The big fellow was stand
ing right before me as the fellow spoke
to me. looked up and saw the fell
low had heard what was said. Way
over to one corner saw Amy looking
at me. l beckoned to her with my
hand, and she nodded her head. When
the leader called for "more barley"
I made spring to go around the fell
low. and he put his hand on my head
and pushed me back and spread his
legs out as wide apart as he could get
them. So I, as quick as fash, dart
ed right through his legs and the girl
met me right in the middle Of the
floor. Oh, how mad that fellow was!
He was just too mad for anything. He
said, ats fine time of day when the
gals get so smart they can't play with
nothing but CLOTH" and walked around
to one corner of the room and sat
down, and just sat and growled all the
rest of the night; for we kept that
thing up all night.
We had good laugh oyer those old
time scenes; and then l read to them,
and how quick the evening passed off,
until all too soon bedtime came,
when l was shown to one of those old
fashioned beds, about two feet thick
and as soft as down.
The next morning rode up through
what was in my hunting days called
1.-The Barren Hollow''-a valley be-
tween two mountains, and it slopes
gently from the foot of each mountain
side. The valley is about four or five
miles long and half or three quarters
of a mile wide. The first time / was
ever in the valley there had never
been stick cut, or any attempt to set
tie the valley. It was in the month of
Nav, and such sight as saw l had
never seen nor have ever seen since.
There was not tree or hardly a
bush in all of the valley, but the
ground was just matted with strawber-
ry vines, and they were in blossom.
and such sight never saw. Acres
and acres of the valley just as white as
snow, with the blossoms. i meant to
have gone ont there when the berries
had got ripe, but / was too late; they
were all gone.
As rode along, found the valley
oil .ettIed nm. and cleared up and in