Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-02-07
"REMINISCENCES OF CRATIOT COUNTY

Paper Read by Miss Ne tie Comesto k
at the Farmers Institute at Alma
Last Week.
The early "Reminiscences of Gratiot coun-
~ have been published and retold IN couI ty
histories and pioneer meetings, news-panc
articles and neighborhood gatherings, until
little remains bu; bag of chestnuts, ergo
bear with ne II in my hunt through them |
am able - lind for you little of merit in the
WY IL uewness.
My earliest recollection of Gratiot county
and of my advent hIther Is of a long circuit
on ride in mid-winter over Il strange coun-
try with my mother aud two little sisters
snugly tucked in big sleigh, while my father,
tean-ter, and guide alternately rode
and wa,ked in the endeavOr to pilot u 70 our
destination through dense eXDanse Of
woods. Ever thing was novel and new, to
our childish vision, VI not to the Older ones,
and there were EXPLANATIONS of wonder and
almlratl Il at the magnificent forest tree,
the like o. which for SiZ towering altitude
aud splendid prop, rtiouS, we had never be
held. for we hailed from the scrubby spruce
and hemlccks and barren hills of erstern
New York-the land of spruce gum and
butternuts -23 bushels of the latter were
piled in the garnet of the home we had left
and gum enough for many guilds, but we
were consoled in our loss 10y the promise
of the fruit of the IN iple- tree-and great was
on. disappointment to find that we could not
pluck il a. early a. we could the gum or
nuts. But the enthusiasm for the great
woods and all its beauties soon ended IN
CONSERVATION were lost, Terrors If
hunger and cold, darkness in a strange lGnd.
visions of wild beasts With glaripg eye
poisonous fangs and tearing claws came
over US. But nothing serious happened,
after all, and sometime. somehow, with the
aid of the indispensable AK 10 chop away the
trees and branches the wind had every few
rods feled across the route totally obstruct-
ing our further passage. BY 10 use of poles
to pry us out of mud holes pitching into a
rut on one side-up over a log or stump on
the other. After travelling weary miles of
our road, tired, hungry and discouraged VT
at last met the welcome face OF our unclt
only "A of mile from our destination anC
we're guided to grandfather's door. A
month later our own home received US,
rude structure of logs and mud thinking
stick chimney and shake roof-a fair speci-
men OF the locality and times. One room
with doors, windows and partitions Of quilts
and blankets. Floor, benches and tables OF
hewed puncheon. bead7tead7 made OF poles
stuck in the logs and all constructed with
the regulation carpenters outfit, the AK.
broad AK, ADJ aud anger. Our house hold
goods we're stranded on the way and hung
mp ut Buffalo. They did not reach rs for =,
months the X. Il. system of freight traffic
not being in 1850 what II is in 1896, aud tht
nearest point To a X. Il. station being n
Jackson. Mr.. Nick Fulton, who was fort
innate enough to have a team made two extr'
trips for them, all that distance, receiving
therefor s.. per trip. The event aforesaid
left Us without dishes or bed covering bu
my friends, we didn't stop eating. The ne@
country furnished IA with too good appetite
| To admit of such a preosterous proceeding
Necessity il the mother Of invention W,
borrowed few indispensehles of our neigh
bors more fortunate than ourselves, aud die
very we'll with oar modern spoons and forks
| We ate and lived and grew with rs keen
relish as ever one did of Haviland china o
sterling silver | need hardly mention th
| food. II has already been ably discussed
aud embelished. Like all our envirementS
il was PLAN, coarse and crude, johnny cak
mixed with water, bread and maple sugar
corn ground in coffee mills or hulled, wit
| long time between, a bit of pork and leek
and Zero cabbage for vegetables. No fruit
no delicacies and for long time no milk o
butter. much sought for table relish wa
the wild onion, found on the fate of to-
creeks. The only timber available for sauc
indigenous to the soil Was the common vii,
red plum aud the prickly gooseberry. Afte
the rat few years the Wild strawberry anC
raspberry
We slept soundly too, on our pole. cord
bed-te ads aud corn-husk mattresses, ever
bed being furnished with musquito
netting and actually indsable a.
fertilization against the ravages Of thei
willy and formidable foe the mu-quito. On
must even sit within them 10y day to folio,
any quiet avocatiou like sewing or reading
We of course, had our little hindrances q
uudisturbed repose. they we're the musquito
the smudges the snakes and the "thODsand