Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1905-04-05

you ana HnO you In u0dlGn auu lull VI
usefulness and sympathy with this
busJ old life about US.
Fifty years ago! had just passed
my ninth birthday, four days before
We lived in the old log cabin at the
edge of the forest. A robin or two
had arrived. Songs of winter were
still in the tops. The hoot of the
owl could be heard at night. Camp
fires could be seen in a half dozen
sugar camps on neighboring farms near
by and far into the night the shouts of
the happy sap boilers could be heard
from camp to camp. The first suckers
had just arrived, the van guard of the
full 'run" which the full moon in April
brought up Bark river. When that
hour arrived there was s'something
doing!' If my memory is,to be trusted
for things which happened SO long ago,
you and your best girl barnessed up
the old nags, and got into the most
splendid carriage which the entire
country affOrded-which was a lumber
wagon without cover, springs, paint or
any such useless things, and started off
for town to exchange hundred pounds
OF maple sugar and half barrel of
maple syrup for some stove pipe,
saleratus, shingle nails, plow point
and barrel Of salt in White water.
Night came on. You did not return.
We were not worried. though we knew
that the horses which drew you
through twelve inches of mud, after
swimming the Scuppenong, would be
somewhat worried. Morning arrived,
still neither nags. nor driver, nor...best
girl appeared upon the seen, nor were
visible upon the distant horizon.
The day "ent by slowly. Father be
came n little anXiousI think be began
to suspect that there was al African
hidden somewhere in the lumber
But he still kept on saying nothing
Ard so the days and nights went by
The telephone apparatus was not in
the best working order that spring. SO.
Z ere was nothing to do but to wait
till the mud dried. ana he liver went
d wn an1 tie suckers came up. Fin
ally, toward evening of Il day that /
never forget, we looked down the road
toward George Hollinger's frog pond
of one of the most magnificent frog
concerts which you ever witnessed.
and sure enough! There came the
two old nags! The steam that rose
from their sweaty sides made YOU
know a mile off that that automobile
was not run by electricity. We young
ones and all the rest of the neigh bors
quickly gathered screaming mob
around those old nags, AID the happy
Q TsEDO
young couple, whose giggles and
bushes told US but too plainly that it
was all over but the 'shivarie;" and
for that important function in the
settlement" was every tin pan put in
commission. Then we had d supper
in the old log cabin And such a
wedding supper! The first live oyster
that had ever layed my eyes on
beheld that night swimming around in
a gallon OF hot water. / shall never.
never forget that oyster. My sym
pathies for him prompted me to re-
move him to a. cooler place. +. L. have
no recollection about wedding prese nts.
was too Young to care much for such
triAes but | suppose that there was
silver spoons, diamorn necklaces, ma
hagony chamber sets, patent washers
and wringers, satin gowns, slippers
ard smoking Jackets. pianos and mega
PAiodCo. phOuOS q 1uu UuluSS lin =
that. which newly welded couple,
who set up house keeping in Bark
Woods would SO. .sorely need fifty
years ago. DO not remember all,
butthese are some of the things that
float in hazy mystery through my
memory of fifty years ago. ~
Bark woods never reared q better
girl than that .bride4 While she was
|yet young girl she was self-reliant as
a surgeon, and as motherIy and kindly
and helpful to the little ones about her
and to me; especially, to whom she
was the only mother 1 ever knew, as
though she had been my @natura
mother. How gently and how wisely
she nursed the sick back to life. With
that almost superhumany. nerve she
waited upon the surgeon when. he LAID
Ia, fIo l. -