Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1896-05-02
CARLY DAYS IN iLL,No,S
Domestic Life In the Ere Of the WoiR
and the Ratt1eOnOko,


and the Rsttiesnake.
"when was . young man out In
Mclean County. Illinois" said Elna.
than Rockwell, a New York octogenar.
ian. Il walked four miles through a
deep snow to see my girl one night,
and more snow began falling 50 heav.
lily that couldn't get back home across
the prairie, and had to stay Mt her folks
house all night. There was nothing
strange In that. rs settlers were few
and far between. and Il was common
for neighbors to stay all night with one
another. There was nothing strange.
either. In my having on pair Of buck.
skin breeches. for cloth was scarce ar.
ticle with tbs In those days, and what
We had was homemade. Deer was
plentiful. and buckskin clothing was
common apparel In the winter.
THE breeches went sparkling In
that night were made from skin that
hadn't been properly dried. and were
little green yet. My girls folks had
moved from their nrst log house into
new one. and as their new house. like
all dwellings OF the prairie. had but
one apartment. they made shakedown
for me In the vacant log house. There
wasn't any door to the old house. I
laid my buckskin breeches on the door
By the side Of my bed. Some time dur.
Ing the night either the family dog or
Q wolf or two. seeming the green buck.
skin. came into the cabin, stole my
breeches, and took them away some.
where and ate them. I saw the tracks
IN the snow inside the LOG house, but
the falling snow had covered them MP
on the outside.
TT was terribly cold. and all could
do was to lie In bed and wait for de-
velopments. should have been up
and eating breakfast long before day.
light. and. daylight coming, and I not
having put In an appearance yet, my
girls mother came out to see what was
the matter. There was great commo.
don when she found out. for there
wasn't another pair Of breeches with.
N four miles except her husbands,
and he wanted his himself. The con.
sequence was that had to lie covered
up In the old log house until he could 20
al the way through the snow four
miles to our house. get my fathers
oreeches, and come back with them to
ny relief. In the condition Of the
prairie. the snow being two feet deep,
this trip took nearly all the rest Of the
day. and my father had to 20 to bed
until I got home with bis brceches. By
the time I got there mother had new
pair Of bucksklns nearly ready, and ev.
erything was all right.
mot long after that fixed II 80 there
would be no danger Of my getting into
such scrape again. married my girl,
and We went to keeping house right
away. Our house was log cabin had
built.
Our nearest ncighbor was ave
miles away, and the nrst winter we liv.
Cd on our place all the company We
had were wolves that came boldly into
the yard, and picked up what they
could And, wild turkeys that came and
ate the crumbs that were swept out.
and deer that came from the timber
and tried to sneak share Of the corn
fodder We fed our COW and oxen on.
That winter my wife walked I'VE miles
and back, morning and evening. for
three days, to do weaving for o neigh.
Dor. her pay being pair Of chickens
that we wanted to start q dock with.
when our baby was three months
old my wife used to leave It on the bed
while she drove the oxen a. ploushed
up the sti6 prairie sod. We had o
good dog. which always stayed In the
cabin at such times. My wife would
90 to the house every half hour or 20,
70 Gee II everything was all right. Ono
day she started on one Of these trips
and met tho dog. covered with blood,
and 50 badly hurt that he was dragging
himself along toward where we were.
She almost few the rest Of the way to
the house. The she found the baby on
the bed all right, but In front of tho
bed lay wolf, dead, and nearly torn
TO pieces. The 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 de.
voured our child. We never left the
baby alone after that, ana he IL living
right here In New York to-day, and 10
n his mOther,"-NeW York S66,