Morris tribune., 1912-05-24
REMINIS CENSES.
Continued from page 1.

to the boys above who would readily
quench the ferry boards surrounding
the pipe. Then the boys and girls
would laugh and say shat they wished
that the old thing would burn. -
That was built by the sturdy sires of
the district when Minnesota first be-
came a state in 1853. The interior
was in harmony with its outside APP.
pearance. Hooks were driven into
the logs. Bars of iron were fastened
upon the boards with eyes on the ends
of them. These were slipped onto
the hooks in the logs. The boards
being placed and adjusted. was used
as desk. Common board benches
were made by the mechanical skill
of the patrons of the district-the
teachers desk as l remember it much
like that of the Hoosier School Mast.
er's and four by six black board,
made of wood, that was scarcely ever
used. The boys and girls of today
can form some idea of the incon-
veniences of the children who attend
ed the rural schools that had but a
four months term in a year in it's
territorial days in the early part of
its statehood. Many of the children
we're dressed in their home made
clothes and thick leather shoes! Some
of the girls wore their hair in ringlets
or curls that reached to their shoulders.
In districts where children were of
German descent they. wore wooden
shoes and following the fashions of
the older countries. left their wooden
clogs at the door, came into the school
room in thick wooden stockings, for
all classes were generally poor and
mingled their joys and SORROWS in
unison. This is a sample of the
schools that were found here and there
in what was known as the Big Woods,
along the old Dodd road, the first
state road that was blazed by the
woodsman's ak in the state of Mihne-
sofa. - So
This road reached from St. Peter s
to st. Paul. find that the hill where
my first school house was located
marks the spot where the Mortified
posse lead by DR.. Wheeler. now a
prominent physician and surgeon of
Grand Forks, North Dakota, who
rode on the buckskin horse owned by
the bandit he shot in the raid at
Mortified were held at bay by Jesse
James and his brother Frank and the
Younger brothers less than half
mile away. They left their horses
by the road side entered the pasture
and placing the arm of their wounded
companion, Bob Younger, under the
spout of the wooden pump with re-
freshing water washed the blood and
bandaged the wound, placed it in
sling, road leisurely away into the
dense forests, and I'll assure you that
the Mortified crowd was in no great
haste to follow tho they were armed
with rifles and the robbers with their
revolvers.
Nor do blame them. Precaution
is the better part of valor. This was
witnessed by John W. Thompson and
his wife from the door of their home
near by. Mr.. Thompson is still living,
we'll to do and respected citizen of
Faribaalt.
Many interesting historical events
can be related of the foresters and
the early settlers that lived along
this historical road. will relate
one more event. then close this COM
munication. Old Captain Ishmah the
chief of the peaceable tribe of Chip
aways that lived upon a reservation
in Rice county allotted to them by
our government fed and helped to
provide for the first settlers with
venison, the fowls of the air and with
fishes they caught in clear, crystal
lakes and streams that surrounded
them. Taught them to trap and fol
three long cold, tedious winters ad,
ministered to their wants in theil
simple way the best they knew how.
These first settlers knew nothing Of
forest life, being gathered from the
eastern cities, where most of them
followed railroad work and jobs Of
like nature ana in return for the kind
nesses bestowed upon them by those
simple minded aborigines drove then
from their reservations with gun anC
the point of the bavonet in lawles
manner, for the land was theirs BY
allotment. Old Captain Ishmah. wh'
had passed the century mark, wa
carried upon stretcher made from
the bows and fastened together witt
the inner bark of the saplings upol
the shoulders of the young braves
fo1Jouod hu Tho sc,l1ouc orJ 4ko voi1n,