The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-12

forest. a Thousand axes Bledlneu III TIC
morning sun and the crash and boom of
thousand giants grooming in their last
agonies were heard as they fell prone upon
the ground. What. with rail-making. fence
building. barn-raising, blowing. sowing and
reapsng there was plenty to keep all hands
busy. Within doors il was also work, work.
''Woman's work is never done" Cooking,
washing. sewing. spinning, weaving, taking
care OF children-no rest for the weary;
breakfast must be over before daylight so
the men could get at their work Yet they
were not unhappy. They had few Of the
comforts and were blissfully ignorant of
the conventionalities Of modern civilization,
nor did they wish care for them Life to
them was indeed stern reality. Duty was
their watchword and well they did their
duty. When barn was to be raised the
whole neighborhood was invited and so with
the log-rolling. At dinner mine host
sometimes washed his hands in invisible
water and babe digestion wait on appetite"
but not always, for it is on record that one
horny-handed son Of toll had so accustomed
himself TO splitting his hands at all out
door work that he carried the habit TO the
table and invariably spat upon his hands
with the homely injunction, pitch in, folks,
and don't be anyways Backward AS for
recreation, our ancestors were not wholly
without amusements. True, they had no
theaters and social functions" and that
sort of thing, but they had fun and plenty
of il. They not only looked upon the Sc
rious side of life, but also, and very fire.
quently. upon the sunny side. There were
glorious camp meetings where wide-open
hospitality was dispensed TO all corners.
There were also musters on state occasions
which drew the people from far and near
and occasionally dignitary would
grace the occasion by his presence. About
the year 1910 General Harrison attended one
of these musters i'm the southern part of
Gibson county-an event that was for long
the standard topic OF conversation. Mem
bers of the Governors official family were
scattered over a wide extent of territory.
SURVEYED INDIANAPOLIS.
One OF the most prominent of these in the
lower Wabash country was Major James
Smith, who participated in the battle Of Tip
pecanoe. He was a member Of the first con-
stitutional convention, surveyor of Gibson
county for forty years and made the origi-
nal survey of Indianapolis AT most of those
festive gatherings there was plenty of liquor
to be had. so that the bibulously inclined
could quench their thirst without exciting
any unnecessary comment. But they had
the simon-pure, unadulterated article in
those days and none of the modern "tangle-
foot which a weaker and wiser generation
too often has paImed off upon 1t for the real
stuff. In many private houses the bottle al
ways stood upon the mantelpiece and when
the parsOn came he too-that is, a good
many of the parsons, regarding it as lone
OF Gods good creatures" took little occa-
sionally, for the stomach's sake" Not
withstanding the custom of drinking ardent
spirits was almost universal. drunkenness
was not common, but a fair crop did spring
up in generation so.
The Wabash pioneer. had he had the time
and inclination. might have become a great
naturalist. perhaps rivaling Gilbert White
or Audubon. for surely he could not plead
the want OF opportunity for observation. AS
q matter OF fact, his whole life was spent in
the midst OF nature of the most animated
character conceivable. 1 once heard one of
those pioneers say that he occasionally
heard echoes Of that deafening chorus which
greeted his ears when boy. He said that
at certain seasons the efforts OF the feath-
cred choir were so successful that the din
ner horn could not be heard and that the
clamor was so great that gun could not be
heard when fired a few yards distant. Wild
game, such as deer, wild cats, foxes rae
coons, opossums, groundhogs and squirrels
were plentiful. But the buffalo notwith-
standing the great seal of the State Of Indi-
ana shows him gayly frisking in the open,
while a youth, to fortune and TO fame I'M
known, is vigorously engaged in telling a
tree, went west with the Indian and had dis
appeared from the lower Wabash before the
permanent settler arrived But he did Iinger
in the upper Wabash region until a later
date. 1t was observed by the pioneers that
there were fox squirrels in the country
until IL was fairly settled But there were
birds galore. Gray and bald eagles, wild
ducks, wild turkeys in profusion, quail and
grouse, wild pigeons so numerous as to
sometimes obscure the sun in their flight,
wild geese, brant, blue and white cranes,
swans. whippoorwills. owls innumerable,
carrion crows and paroquets. That old king
who had only four and twenty blackbrds
for his pie might as easily have had four
and twenty thousand, had his dominions ex-
tended to the Wabash, so numerous were
those birds at one time. Insects were num-
erous in early times. One of these pests
that Of the white weevil, played havoc with
the wheat for time, but finally disappeared
.n 1916. Snakes were very much in evidence,
especially rattlesnakes. A party of snake
hunters in Gibson county once killed seven
ty-five rattlers in half day and one of the
party always maintained that cit was a
poor day for snakes"
Thus passed away the early years Of the
century the Wabash. The roaring loom
OF time was busy at work weaving the
threads of each individual life into that
fabric we call history. Those early days
were full OF romance. and as we compare
the free, simple and independent life of the
pioneers with the rush and push of the kalei-
doscopic present, with authority and limta-
tons touching us every side and with the
list OF "don'tS'' and warnings increasing
as population increases, we are tempted to
disregard the preachers injunction: Say
not thou what is the cause that the former
days were better than these" But there
IS nothing TO prevent us from reveling in
imagination over the scenes of ''Auld Lang
Syne"-events which transpired in the same
region to which many a Hoosier to-day is
bound by the ties OF pleasant recollection.
BE IL weakness, IL deserves our praise;
We love the play place OF our early days"
Washington, d. C. T. NJ. WEAVER.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
What is understood by the term displace-