The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-04

Jones, however, takes folks" so having
registered our names in Mrs. Joness din
ner pot" We fancy the freedom of the
town is before us. Main street alone Is
charming novelty. The yards go down hill
On one side and UP hill on the other. On
the uphill side strong sandstone walls
keep the homes from sliding into the road;
and second terrace OF wall holds the back
yards and stables in place.
All the picturesque features Of unspoiled.
unconscious small-town life are here pres
ent in abundance. The open doors. the
blazing fire and merry clinling OF the
blacksmith shop point back 10 the tine
when Main street was part OF country
road, lcng wooden horse-racks are at the
sidewalk edge everywhere. fianked by
loungers' wooden benches. Whitfield to mere
plank-l.ke shadows OF their former sturdy
proportions. Enormous wood piles are
teaped even up TO the front fences for
winter use; and huge loads OF yellow
pumpkins lie in the front yards awaiting
transfer 10 well-stocked winter cellars. On
somebody's pigpen. just a stones throw
from the stained-glass windows OF the
i;ew church" gourds are heaped, large and
small. rivals OF Hawthorne summer
sQuaShes, lin beautiful and varie1 forms.
Heavy country wagons and light country
wagons have cast anchor at The general
store" where their owners arc busily
trading" this plain old Indian and pioneer
word for shopping still holding good In
Jimtown. Up the short alleys milk pals
crooks and jars are turned over the picket
fences to keep sweet in the air and golden
sunshine; and in the door yards. up hill
OF down hill, country chrysanthe,nums--
companionabe chrysanthemums. the best
II not the largest OF their kind-yellow,
white and rich winc-color. display bower
ing profusion Roses are still a-bioom,
and fiat beds OF old-iashioned red Or white
everlasting flowers flourish under open win
COWS through which We, too, stale TO dis
cover that Jimtown still harbD-s the Odd
alright stovs-iit complement 10 the UNI
bounded Jimtown wood pile. with garden
truck in the cellars and huge woodpiles
left over from last year." what terrors can
winter have for Jimtown? In Jimtown,
tco, stoves can go behind the door when
summer comes; and prominent men carry
stovepipe under their arms up Main street
IL they want to. The cellar door of one
Jimtown home Is i'm the wall directly I'M
DER the front door; and the lady who wants
her apples or potatoes probably takes a
pan ana goes down steps and out On Main
street ID get them. In the side yards and
back yards great iron kettles are hung on
strong poles across heavy forked sticks
planted deep In the ground, and the Mon
DAY wash, soap boiling and apple butter
making thus become open air, holiday func-
tons A twenty-one-g gallon brass apple but
ter kettle abides in Jimtown, he il hereby
made known, and goes its blithe Septem-
Der rounds with both solemn and enliven.
ing ceremony.
In happy Jimtown, as in Mr.. Jonas Live
ly's Georgia village, everybody has bust
ness and everybody minds their business"
On High street, the other street OF Jim
town, the school bell calls away; doll
houses are spread In outdoor angles of the
schoolhouse tower; but the girls and boys
have climbed over the flaming maple
leaves which heap the schoolhouse path
and are busy at their books. Around the
he
lovely misty willows, fine old grist mill is
industriously whisking wheat into -four and
crushing up great ears of corn into meal
or feed. Over a log stile and up a fasci-
mating little hillside path we ramble into
all pleasant autumnal occupations; here a
cider mill, there pack of Misunderstanding
boys, and everywhere the farmer-a picture
in his hardy health, his work-a'-day
clothes, his weather-seasoned, ragged
straw hat-husking corn amid his tall
brown wigwams or heaping his bounteous
fodder from great wagons into barns.
Though no hard frosts have yet touched
the trees, ripe purplish-pink persmmons
cover the ground, begetting a suspicion
that even Jimtown persimmons are law
unto themselves.
Everywhere enticing, curving paths ram
bic over the low meadow hills, and every
where springs bubble under and out of the
hillsdes. Neighborly paths-''the Wig
ginses, perhaps-run along the fence lines,
opening at the different fields through lit
latchets. Following this path we could
slant across apple orchard, wind around
a neighbours woodshed, past his back porch
and side windows, down his front walk, out
his front gate, and so over the hill again
back to Jimtown. Every country home
around Jimtown makes itself feature of
the beautiful autumn picture; brown
hilltop peeps over housetop; then brown
housetop peeps over a hilltop. No detail of
interesting and prosperous country life is
wanting; up these steps is the corn crib
heaped high with the white and golden
ears of a phenomenal harvest; there is the
cider mill shed, and just beyond the ash
hopper and the soap kettle. This is the
smokehouse--no cityfied hams have caste
in Jimtown-and on that broad, thick
puncheon-surely relic from some pioneer
fioor-the family meat is dismembered and
hewn to convenient fragments Sugar
naples touch the air at seventy-five and
eighty feet around Jimtown, and maple
sugar bilins" are not all relegated TO the
New England story books.
Wherever We are in Jtmtown we must be
keenly tormented by the wish that we were
| somewhere else; on the footbridge over the
''run''-with yellow leaves sitting down on
us from autumns gently winnowing hand;
| we wish We were over in town, and over
| in town wonder why we ever left the
pleasant footbridge. Up the run" where
| the horses water, we wish we had stayed
| down where the breeze softly ripples the
| pools; and down the run we wish We had
not left the restful place where the horses
and outdoors, the desire of fancy flies in
| doors. Jimtown Is the village of delightful
summer kitchens-broad porches screened
| from the flies and floors scrubbed to for
| bidding whiteness. All day long doors stand
| open in Jimtown, and open cellar doors
wild cherry cellar doors down sandstone
steps present confiding hospitable look
which ought to daunt a cast-iron burglar.
| Indoors the Jimtown volume opens again,
| and yet again, TO full pages of new charm;
here rag carpets. to beat the Roycroft
weave, are still in vogue; and brass-nobbed
mahogany chests of drawers discount the
| modern chiffonier. Spindle or twist-legged
leaf tables and rush button chairs are an
everyday matter In Jimtown; while bed
| quilt chests-wild cherry, on tall slim legs
| have not passed into the realm of curio
| collection. Massive old wild cherry corner
| cubboards, whose glass, swiss-curtained
| drawers below, and solid cherry doors still
| below the drawers, are yet In Jimtown and
| are wisely esteemed beyond all possible
| barter, at whatever price Here we climb
| on chairs TO see the grandmother. the
Observation-Disclosures and the great-great-
| grandmother china; huge platters OF pink
SARDINIA" or "Sicilian," brought from old
| Virgiania: blue "Pagoda" china-purple
ancient Ruins" or Canton" willow pat
| tern; cups and saucers, teapots and pitchers
| Of old, old designs, quaint color. and in
| credible decoration. Inspect these little
glass ''cup-plates"-if you please-of the