Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-15
EARLY DAYS IN ILLINOIS.
Life in the Era Of the Wolf
and the RattIesnuke.

and the RattIesnnke.
From the New York Sun.
when l & young man out in NC
Lean county, Illinois," said Elnathan Rock
well, an octogenarian of this city, Il walk
ed four miles through a deep snow to see
my girl one night, aud more snow began
falling so heavily that l couldn't get back
home across the prairie and had to stay at
her folks house all night. There was moth
ing strange in that, as settlers were few
and far between, ard it was common fer
neighborS to stay all night with one anotn-
er. There was rothng strange, either, in
my having en- a pair of bUcl-silin breec'es,
for cloth was a scarce article with Us IN
these days, and what we had WAS home
made. Deer We're plentiful, and buckskin
clothing was common wearing apparel in
the winter.
The breeches I went sparkling in that
night were made from a skin that hadr't
been property dried, and were a little
green yet My girls folks had moved from
then tlrSt log house into a new one, and as
| their new house, like all dwellings OF the
prairie, had but one apartment, they made
q skailedoWn for NE in the vacant log
house. There wasn't any door to the old
house. l laid my buckskin hreeches On tie
ficor by the side of my bed. Some time
during the night either the family dog or
wolf or two, seeming that green buckSilin,
came into the cabin, stole my brooches.
and took them away somewhere aid ate
the log house, but the falling snow had
covered them up on the outside
1T was terribly cold, and All l could 10
was to lie in bed and wait for develop
nents / should have been up and eating
| breakfast long before daylight, and. day
light coming, and l not having put in IN
appearance yet, my girls mother came out
to see what was the matter. There was
great conlmotlon when she found out, for
there wasn't another pair of breeches with
| in four miles except her husbands, and he
wanted his himself. Tie consequence was
that l had to lie covered up in the old leg
be use until he could go all the way through
tie snow four miles 10 our house, get my
fathers breeches, and come back with
them to my relief. In the condition Of the
prairie, the snow being two feet deep this
trip took nearly all the rest of the day ard
my father he'd to so to bed until got home
with his brooches. By the time got there
mother had new pair of bucksklns nearly
| ready, and everything was all right
Not long after that | fixed it so there
would be no danger Of my getting into
such a scrape again. l married my gil
and we went to keeping house right away.
Our house was log cabin ] had built
Our nearest ne:ghbor was five miles
away, and the first winter we lived on our
place all the company we had was wolves
That came boldly into the yard and picked
up what they could find, wild turkeys that
came and ate the crumbs that We're swept
out, and deer that came from the timber
ana tried to sneak a share OF the corn fod-
'c' we 'eu our cow ana oxen on. Ih2t
winter my wife walked five miles and back
morning and evening, for three days. to do
weaving for netghbor, her pay being
pair of chickens that We wanted to start
a flock with.
When Ctr baby was three months OLD
my wife used to leave it on the bed while
she drove the oxen as l plcughed up the
sim prairie sod. We had good dog, which
always stayed in the cabin at such times
My wife would go to the house every half
hour or so, to see If everything was all
right One day she started on one of these
trips and met the dog, covered with blood
and SO badly hurt that he was dragging
himself along tow lrd where we we're She
almost new the rest of the way to the
mouse. There she found the baby on the
bed all right, but II front of the bed Law
big wolf, dead, and nearly torn to pieces
me condition Of the dog was explained
The wolf had come down to the cabin
while We were away, and but for the dog
would have devoIred our child. We never
!eit the baby alone after that, and he is
living right here in New York today, and
so is his mother.