Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1921-09-15
LOOKING BACKWARD

were cnleIly Tie lnndOltaQCS;
However there were scattering
settlements of white people,
shortly after, and as early as
1886, white settlers we're known
to have existedin Wright County.
Early hunters were here even
before this date. Beeswax, pei
try and fur skins were legal ten.
der and mediums of exchange,
and tax collectors often accepted
them in payment for taxes
There were drOves and hundreds
of deer and thousands of turkey,
wolves and other wild game all
over this country one hundred
years ago. Wild grass grew as
high as a mans head, and there
was very little timber, according
to history as recorded in vOlums
with the State Historical Society
of Colu mbia, Mo. One Peculiar.
ity is the Honey dew" that
gathered on the tops of the grass
suffient to kill it,, and even gum.
med the wings of the young tur.
key until they could not fly.
Bees and honey were plentiful
in the large and scattering trees
-. even s and 10 feet of solid
comb, candied and grained being
found. and which would yield as
high as 10 gallons of strained
honey; wild meat was the main
diet and bread. stuff was procur-
ed by means of pestle and NOR.
tar. Cattle and horses were
raised the year round with no ex-
pense except to salt them, with
the exceptions of the cows they
MIXED and the horses they wor-
ked or rode.
There were no free schools in
those early days, and the school
houses were made of round logs
and chinked and daubed with
mud split logs were used as a
desk and smaller ones as seats;
a stick.and clay chimney was the
means of warmth, and a dirt
and a little later came the
"punchin" floor, made of hewn
In those days the pioneer set.
tiers took great interest ia
each others welfare, and the diff.
ferent settlements met together
from a distance of fifteen to for.
ty miles and adopted rules and
binding each other to
aid and assist in helping any
person who met with misfortune
in any way, by sickness, death
or otherwise, and it seems there
was more charity and real re
ligion practised among the pion
eer settlers. although many of
them were looked upon as being
crude and unlettered.
The customs and habits were
entirely different from those ex-
listing now; the wearing apparel
was entirely home made; they
would raise the cotton, pick it
out with their fingers, or a home
made gin; women would spin
their warp spin their filling, get
their different colors from differ,
ent banks of trees to give the
cloth different shades aud color.
ing. The clothing, both men,
and women, were all home made,
and often times the caps were
made of coon skin or fox fur
In this apparel they appeared as
proud as a king upon a throne;
they appeared to meet each
other and greet each other and
realized the fact that they were
all human and that they had but
one superior and that was God.
A lot of this can be remember
ed by the old timers yet living,
and rejecting one moment were
these better days?
Can we, of the present, ant
modern day civilization, com
prehend these things and SCI
this country of a short hun
dred years ago unsettled ant
funinhabited other than by In
dams and wild animals? That i.
not so long ago, and what chang
es the short time has wrought
In these days of fast and fanci
full living, of frivolous and fash
ion and pomp; can we feel TIL
~ AL .nnolonl Al.