The bee., 1901-01-31
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Ways of Living in Hopkins County Then--"Goo
Old Times" Had Their Drawbacks
OLD CUSTOMS GRAPHICALLY PORTRAYED
written for THE BEE.J

have but faint idea of the hard
ships and disadvantages that our
fathers and mothers were subjected
to; and, while We don't claim to be
very anciont, yet we have very dis
tict recollection of u decidedly diff
ferent state of affairs to that OF to-
day.
Fifty years ago such q thing as II
frame house was unknown In the
county. Instead, we had, for the
most part, log cabins, which were Of
logs cut and "scalped, i. c., the sides
slightly fiattened. Instead of raft
ers, 'rihs" were used, and on these
were laid boards for the roof, which
had to be fiat enough to keep them
in place, as nails were seldom used.
A stick-and-dirt chimney was made
by building mp it's walls with small
timber, with rock and mud on the
inside, up to the stem, the stem be-
ing constructed with split timber
building it the desired height-and
then plastering the whole, inside and
out, with mud. The hearth was
formed by beating in dirt and cover
ing the top with mud, carefully
smoothing it down and allowing it
to harden. Floors were made by
splitting slabs and smoothing them
as best they could with an AK. Win
dow glass were seldom used; in
stead, shutters were made of boards
and hung with leather hinges. Two
rooms and 81 smoke-housc were
about all the average man desired.
Cooking was done in the open fire.
place, stoves being almost entirely
unknown. A skillet with lid, an
oven, coffee-pot, and sometimes,
but not always--a teakettle; corn
f, bread, hog-and-hoWiny, but rarely
biscuit, constituted the staple diet
of the country. Sometimes man
with more pride and ambition would
have house of hewed logs, with q
brick, or rock, chimney and floors of
plank which had to he sawed by
hand with a whip-sav', one hundred
feet being considered q good days.
work for two men. Breadstuh was
ground by horsepower, at the rate
of four bushels per hour. Wheat was
cut with a1l;P-le--a handful ut a
time--bound and shocked when thor
oughly dry. a yard was prepared
by scraping the grass and weeds
from q space about 100 feet in circum-
ference. On this was placed enough
, wheat to cover 1t about two feet
deep. Horses were then rode around
upoa it until tho grain was all out
the, straw was then removed, the
whe at piled up in the middle of the
yard, more wheat placed around and
tramped out as before. When al
was done, u tanning mill was pro
: cured and the wheat cleaned of chat
and at least part of the dirt, it wa
l ground on horsepower mill with
: out any further cleaning. II wa'
{ hand-bolted and taken home to b'
, used as necessity demanded-whel
} company came on a Sunday morn
, ing. Soda was never used, saleratu
? being used instead. Meat was plen
, tiful, hogs In the woods remaining
fat throughout the year; deer ant
turkey were also found in the woods
d. though not ia vast numbers at tina
time, yet it required no great skill t
| secure u good supply of venisor
Squirrels Were SO numerous rs :
. amount to . pest and furnished oc
capa,tion for the children in keepin
them from destroying the corn. TIL
creeks, too, were full of fish, ant
nearly every family had ID mess q
least once u week. The land wa
rich and yielded fine returns for th,
partial cultivation it received. 4
piGw with u wooden mold-board an(
an iron point being the best to b,
had; hoes We're homemade anC
, weighed six or seven pounds; har
rows were made with wooden teeth
and pitehfor&s by selecting sapling
} with fork and shaving it down tC
the proper size. No grass of any
kind was raised, but every man had
3 patch of flax, which was pulled by
hand, laid in a swath to rot, and al
the proper time was tied in bundles
and put away until needed, when 1t
was ''broke" by hand, "scretched,' -
"hackled'' and spun and wove into
cloth for shirts, pants, tablecloths,
etc. Nearly every family had u
cotton patch for producing cloth for
dresses. Shoes were made at home,
both for everyday and Sunday wear,