The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-08-25


/ over in Alabama, few hundred miles
farther away than father did.
One of our horses --@yed from
home. Father got on another horse
and followed its tracks all day. After
going some twenty-five miles, and not
overtaking the stray horse, he went
TO mans house 10 stay all night.
This man had newly settled lnere
with his bride OF few months. -.
the furniture il the one-room CABIN
consisted OF a few stools hewn out
with an axe. and homemade ,a1le.
the top Of which was made OF boards
rived out with fro. The bedstead
was made by setting up a small piece
/ OF log about four feet long and SIX
inches in diameter for a post With
E an augur he bored two holes in tnis
{ post about g foot from the top ,~Aese
+ were bored at right angles. The end
Of small, straight pole was insert
ed in these holes and the other ends
were fastened to the sides OF the
mouse. Boards were laid across these
poles, making as near a solid bottom
as could be made with rived-out
boards. and on this they put several
Ceer-skins. upon which they slept. n
another corner of the room the man
threw down several deer-skins, wuicn
was for fathers BET. The floor OF the
house was made by splitting a log
open in the middle, as near as cou4L
/ be, and smoothed OF a little with an
axe. Such a floor is called q punch
con floor, and in early days were quite
common in districts remote from saw
mills. The cooking utensils was one
skillet, in which he fried the meat and
! cooked the hoe-cake. They would
roast sweet potatoes in the hot ashes
and sometimes make ash-cake bread,
which was done by mixing corn m al
and water, with little salt, togeshe.
and covering up in the ashes, aud
when done wash the outside OF the
bread with water, which washed o@
most OF the ashes. This made a nv
sweet-Tasting ana wholesome bread.
Now, here was a man who didn't
have fifty cents worth of stuff in his
house, mot counting his rife and
spinning wheel. unless it was the
deer-skins. and he could not sell tnem,
mo one 10 buy tnem), and he may
not have had money enough TO buy
Scent postage stamp. He owned a
horse and few head OF cattle and
logs. He killed his meat out of the
woods-mostly deer and turkey-and
caught fish from the lakes and ponds;
planted few acres in corn, and small
patches OF sweet potatoes, collards
and turnips for greens, tobacco and
cotton. all OF which was for home
consumption. When he could get at
II he would make his wife q loom.
They would hand-pick the cotton and
spin and weave it into cloth for ,nei-
clothes. In due time the family
would come
Some of your readers, wno nave al
ways been used to a more luxurious
living, may think that these people
had a hard. rough life. but in rean.y
they were as 4-appy and contented as
lord. He never saw a newspaper,
received letter or read a book, and
this man made quite a fortune in cat
tie in those days, and as his children
grew I'D they We're sent away 20
school and educated.
Ny fathers place was one of the
loveliest in all Florida, as anyone who
visits Yalaha will admit. The lake
was fifteen miles long and six miles
wide. After We had lived there a few
years Col. Hanson settled on the otn-
er side. directly opposite from our
place, but he was separated from us
by six miles of clear, deep water, and
we only had cypress dug-out boats,
therefore the two families didn't see
much OF each other. About five miles
from US Jim McNeer settled on Pala.-
lakaha creek, about where Richmond
is located, but he only lived ere a
short time, when he moved away TO
Texas. There were three Swicocd
brothers, who lived a few miles from
us for short whne. .-ome people
lived some fifteen TO twenty miles
from US, at near where Leesburg is
situated, and al Adamsyille (then call
ed "Hog-Eye") around where sum
terville and COTS MI is; therefore,
II We ever went 10 &c postofice, TO
church or TO visit a neighbor we
would have to travel fifteen or TWEEN
u miles. Some land hunters passing
through the country, saw a numDer of
calves in the cow-pen, and theyI
thought this would be a good place
10 buy some clabber (thick,sour mnkD