Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-01-03
OLD TINE tiARpsHlPs.
The Present Generation Has Little
Knowledge of Them.

The Present Generation Has Little
Knowledge OF Them.
Speaker Cannon. whose years and ex-
perience qualify him to speak with
some degree of authority and who
spent The earlier years of his life Ina
that part OF the country where indivld-
ualism had The fullest possible scope
for development, recently stated that
the opportunities of the present day
far exceed those enjoyed by the grand.
fathers of the present generation three
quarters of century ago and that the
present generation is better physically,
mentally and morally than any OF it's
predecessors have been. It Is only be
cause time has smoothed away the
roughness OF the past that the pessi.
mists of the present day seem to find
that those whose activities covered the
first half of the former century were
more favored than we now are and
that ''the times are out of joint"
One must read of the struggles of
the men of other years in order fully
to appreciate what they experienced in
order TO gain livelihood. The Maya.
zine of History prints a part of the adj
dress Of the late w. p Ryman OF
Wilkesbarre, Pa, before the Wyoming
Historical and Geological society,
wherein he mentions some of the diff
culties of settling the Wyoming val
ley. He stated that when he was n
small boy he heard Charles Harris.
then an old man, tell of some of his
earlier recollections, which ran back
to about the time of the Wyoming mas
sacre; of how his father worked all
the first day Of his arrival at what is
sun known as the Harris Settlement
telling trees and building cabin.
Night came on before the cabin could
be inclosed. With the darkness came
a pack of wolves, and to protect his
FAMILY Mr.. Harris built fire and sat
up all night to keep 1t burning. The
wolves were afraid of the flames and
would not come near, and when day
light came they disappeared. To pass
one night under such circumstances
requiro>j bravery but to stay. build n
house, clear farm and raise a family
with such terrors constantly menacina
required u courage that commands our
highest esteem.
Another settler, Mr. Worthingto
came from Connecticut as late as 1906
and was compelled to cut a way
through the forest and build a house.
his nearest neghbors miles away and
no clearing in sight anywhere. Wolves
were then numerous and bold at night.
and the only way Mr.. Worthington
could protect his family from their as
saults was for ali TO climb the ladder
to the second floor and pull the ladder
up after them. Mr.. Worthington used
to say that his life during those early
days was most lonely and dishearten-
| ing.
The best OF the first stores i'm the
nearest town would hardly be dignitied
by that name now. Only few neces-
saries were kept i'm any of them. and
'nccessar;es" then had much scantier
meaning than now. 4 few of the COM
monest and cheapest cotton cloths were
kept in stock; the wooden goods used
FOR winter wear for both men and wo.
men were all homespun. 1t took many
years for the storckeepcrS to convince
the farmers that they could buy heavy
clothes OF part wool and part cotton
that would be rs durable as and cheaD-
er than the all wool homespun. The
time spent on the latter was counted as
nothing and the argument failed. A
Few other kinds Of goods in daily use.
such as coffee, tea, tobacco, rum, sugar,
molasseS and, OF course, powder. shot
and flmts, We're sold. Lucifer matches
had not yet been invented, and the
problem OF keeping fire was, in win
ter time, serious one.
With no improved machinery the lot
of the aSriculturist was especially hard.
There was no easy work on the farm
as there is at the present time. The
only plow in Use then was made en-
tirely OF wood, except the point, and
was little different from that used by
the ancient Egyptians 1000 years ago.
This pillow was jabbed into the ground
here and there between roots, stumps
and stones, and with ii little dirt
could be torn up now and then.