The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1921-07-28
CHAPTER I.

i
Which Describes the Journey Of San-
son Henry Traylor and His Wife and
Their Two Children and Their Dog
Sambo Through the Adirondack Will
derness In 1881 on Their Way to the
Land Of Plenty-Furthermor II De-
seribes the Soaping Of the 5rin-
steads.
In the early summer of 1881 Sam
son Traylor and his wife, Sarah, and
two children left their old home near
the village of Vergennes, Vermont,
and began their travels toward the
setting sun with four chairs, bread
board and rOlllng-pin, feather bed
and blankets, small looklng-glass, a
skillet, an ak, a pack basket with a
pad of sole leather on the same, a
water pail, box of dishes, a tub Of
salt pork, rifle, teapot, a sack OF
meal, sundry small provisions and q
violin, in a double wagon drawn by
oxen. 1t is a pleasure to note that
they had a violin and were not dis
posed to part with 1t. The reader must
not overlook its full historic signif-
cance. The stern. uncompromising
spirit Of the Puritan had left the
house of the Yankee before a violin
could enter 1t. Humor and the love
Of play had preceded and cleared a
way for It. Where there was a fiddle
there were cheerful hearts. A young
black shepherd dog with tawny points
and the name of Sambo followed the
wagon.
If we had been at the Congrega-
tional church on Sunday we might
have heard the minister saying tC
Samson, after the service, that 1t was
hard to understand why the happiest
family in the parish and the most be
loved should be leaving its ancestral
home to go to far, new country oi
which little was known We might' alsI
have heard Samson answer:
'Its awful easy to be happy here
We slide along In the same old groove
that our fathers Travelled, from Yer
gennes to Paradise. We work ant
play and go to meetin' and put a shil
plaster in the box and grow old un,
narrow and stingy and mean and G
up to glory and are turned into saint
and angels. Maybe that's the bes
thing that could happen to us, bu
Sarah and kind O. thought we'd tr
new starting place and another rout
to heaven"
Sarah and Sampson had beeu raise
on adjoining farms just out Of tn
village, He had had little schoOllnl
but his mind was active and well II
clined. Sarah had prosperous relI
tives In Boston and had had the aC
vantage Of years schooling In tha
city. She was a comely girl of
taste and refinement unusual In tn
place and time of hei birth. Man
well-favored youths had sought he
hand, but, better than others, sh
liked the big, masterful, good-naturet
humorous Samson, crude as he wa
Naturally in her hands his timber ha
undergone some planning and smOotl
Ing and his thoughts had been gentI
led into new and pleasant ways.
Let us take look az them as the
slowly leave the village of their brit
The wagon is covered with tent clOt
drawn over hickory arches. They III
sitting on seat overlooking the oxe
In the wagon front Tears are strean
Ing down the face of the woman. IL
mans head is bent. His elbows al
resting on his knees; the hickor
handle OF his OK whip lies across h
lap, the lash at his feet. he seems
be looking down at his boots. into II
tops Of which his trousers have bee
folded. He Is a rugged. blond. bearde
man with kindly blue eyes and
.ather prominent nose. There is