The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-05-14
LIFE OF THE SETTLERS
From haymond'o History Of Harrison County.

food in many different ways. Hand
mills. consisting OF two dressed mill
stones set on a section of tree and
turned by hand we're in use until tub
mills run by water were introduced.
Every house had a hominy block.
Cattle got fat in the summer by
ranging In the woods, the pea vine
heing their principal food. In the
winter they ate a kind of moss and
broused on the limbs of trees, such
as the linn, maple and beech.
Corn could be eaten as roasting
ears, made into bread. hominy pone,
cakes, mush, succatash, manufac-
tured into whiskey and used as cur
rency for carrying on local trade and
also as food for animals.
Besides the corn shuckings.
Where the settlers would gather at
each others houses to husk their corn
crops. were occasions of feasting,
dancing and social enjoyment.
THE owner OF the crop would pull
the ears from the stalks and haul
them to an open place near his his
home and put them in a long low pile.
back and the ear forward. The man
who husked red ear was entitled to
kiss the prettiest girl present.
THE principal crops of the early
settlers were corn. fax and potatoes.
Flax was spun and woven into a
coarse linen cloth by hand for shirt
ing and other wear.
sheep were almost indispensable
on account OF their wool, but were
very hard to keep on account of the
depreciation of wolves.
Wool was carded by hand and
spun into yarn on the spinning wheel
and woven into cloth called linsey
and made into hunting shirts. trous-
ers. and dresses for the women.
Dyes were obtained from the bark
of the butternut. red oak and other
tsrks and berries. Spoons were made
by pouring melted pewter into cop
per moulds. Candles were made
from melted tallow run into tin
moulds. Fire was obtained from
flint, steel and punk. kind OF
sponge-like substance obtained from
trees. Soap was made from grease
Tea and coffee were luxuries and
almost unknown. Sugar was made
fras bark were sometimes used for
tea. and parched rye as substitute
for coffee.
Many articles now deemed neces-
sary for comfortable living were I'M
known for great many years after
the settlement of the country such rs
cooking stoves, matches. lamps, sew
ing machines, overshoes, umbrellas,
huggies. corn planters reapers, NOW
crs movable threshing machines,
grain drills. horse rakes, breech load
ing guns, percussion caps and port
able saw mills.
Grain was sowed by hand, cut with
the sickle and beaten out with the
fail or trodden out by horses.
The settlement of new country
in the vicinity OF any old one is not
attended with much difficulty, as sup.
plies can readily be obtained from
, the latter. but the settlement Of a
land remote from a cultivated region
or separated by mountain ranges Is
very different, because at the outset
before crops can be raised BY tho
rev settler. food. clothes. salt. ire
and household furniture can only BIZ
obtained in small supplies and with
great labor and difficulty.
The making of new settlement
in remote Wilderness in a time Of
peace is no light undertaking, but Il
this. when are added those Difficult
tics. resulting from warfare witt
cruel. brutal savages. who show nc
mercy and have no pity. the tolls
anxiety, privarions and sutferings ia,
the capacity of the human race Il
the utmost OF their endurance.
IF the situation saddled hardship'
and responsibilities upon the mer
what must have been the burden
borne by the women in the wilder
ress? Cut off from their parents ant
the friends of their childhood with
40 malls or means of communicative
with them, often with scanty cloth
ing without nourishinE food, with M
diversions save the duh drudgery o.
household duties in their cold, un,
comfortable log cabins. and beside!
this. there was the constant anxiety
for the fate of the husband engaged
In warfare with the savages and mo-
knowing what moment n terrible
fate would .befall herself and it'll,
children.
Many wilted. like broken flowers
in the sun. and died in their youns
womanhood, unable to bear the hard.
ships, privations and terrors incident
TO life in the wilderness. Other.
bore up bravely, until the end, II