Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1916-05-25
EARLY DAY "REMINISCENCES
OF CAVALIER COUNTY
Continued from First Page.)

anu de 'Ile SAME time Cney nelped to
keep the fire going. Our Balm of Gill
head centre piece was constantly
sending out new shoots so that we had
to cut its hair so to speak, every little
while and it never did die. 1t also
proved of use as the dividing line be-
tween our boudoir and the p~arlor,
dining room and sewing room. We
had a lovely PORTER to hang to this
center piece made of quincy sacking
beautifully hand painted with tar.
We had the window hung with lovely
heecy white lace curtains that had
formerly done duty as a pair of blue
overalls, but were now somewhat per-
forated at the more worn parts, TAX
ing the waist band I'VE the top casing
spreading the legs apart and tying
them to the bottom of the easement
on each side with nice handmade rope
made from binder Irvine, gave the in
terror a cosy and home like appear
ance that those from the effete east
were hardly able to appreciate.
So we patched it and broke and
plowed our land with our pair of oxen
feeding them regularly by letting
them feed on the grass growing on
the prairie, while their tongues would
hang out SO they could almost step on
them as in the eventide they would
fight off the "sketters'' until after
night fall when yours truly would
hit the hay. When the fall came
went down the line to see a fellows
sister and persuade her to cast her
lot with mine and we would soon have
a good home, telling her of what we
had ahead of us. The upshot of it all
was that along in February we start.
ed for home, and there being no min
lister we called on a justice of the
peace, who at the time was busy I'm.
loading hay, but he was accommodate
ing enough to leave the load and step
inside the house and marry US. Thos,
were the days when we did not need
any license to get married. We Just
had to have two witnesses, the wife
and the son of the officiating justicee
acting in that capacity on this mo-
mentful occasion. The ceremony was
brief and to the point: All he said
being, "Stand up. Join hands. You
are hitched. Bring me a bushel of
ashes" sent him three cords of
wood and told him to make his own
ashes. So along with my bride, who
had two dollars and | with half of
that amount, we went down the road
to our home to begin the new life.
The first thing that my wife did
was to cut the hair of that Balm of
Gilhead center piece. Then she went
after the floor and found that there
was a floor of cottonwood boards about
sixteen inches wide and about four
inches between each board and every
time that she wet those cottonwood
boards the ends tried to meet each
other in the center, in these spaces be-
tween the boards the gophers had in
gress and egress, carrying away what
they could find to eat. Reminding US
of THE Little Old Sod Shanty on the
Claim
"Where the hinges are of leather
And the windows have no glass
While the roof boards let the howl
ing blizzard in
You can see the hungry gopher as
he sneaks up through the grass
Round that little old sod shanty on
the claim"
And | composed the following to
add to that popular song:
"Oh! Pm married now and happy
I've a careful little wife
And a child that makes a most
terrific din
And hollars for a light in the
middle of the night
In my old sod shanty on the claim
We sure wore all the happy spots
down and had lots of people coming to
see us, as we had lovely wild straw
berries in plenty near our door. One
day a party came, consisting of four
ladies and q gentleman. While they
were with as . storm came up sudden
ly, one Of those old timers, and it
resulted in the party being obliged to
remain over night. So we had our
house divided between two men and
five women. The toss up resulted in
myself and the other man sleeping in
the bed and the women under the bed
and none of US appeared to be the
worse for the experience the next day.
On another occasion a cute little fawn
of a cotton tail deer came to the door
of our home and when my wife
"shooed" it away you could see that
cotton patch making a streak as it
disappeared among the timber. Then
there was one night, when it had been
raining for two nights and days and
we found the rain was coming in on