Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1925-08-06
BY Mrs. L. n. Palmer

The contrast between home con
dftions of colonial times and the
present are so great as to be
startling. We of today, can scarce
ly believe that civilized people
could even exist in those comfort
less homes, yet those sturdy pion-
GERS did and were happy, happy in
their love for each other, and in
the common struggle and hope for
better conditions.
Fiction writer's, poets and ar
lists have left memorials to those
earnest, Christian, hOme-founder5,
that will pass on down through the
coming centuries, charging the
lives of those grand old pioneers.
Theirs was a life-of hardship and
self denial, but they did not allow
themselves to be submerged by
this discouraging environment.
Love, romance, marriage, birth,
death, wars and rumors of wars,
combined to form a chain of ev-
ents, through which the family life,
with its various interests, pleas
ures and trials, moved Oh from
generation to generation, each in
tent on building better homes and
creating greater educational and
social advantages for their famil-
les.
Lovers told the sweet old story,
by the light from the glowing Goals
Of the fireplace, or under the sill
Vry light of the moon, as it filtered
down through the forest trees.
Mother Spun the Yarn
Mother spun the yarn and knit
ted the stockings for the family by
the light Of the tallow-dip, while
father read the Bible, or the many
weeks old paper by the same
feeble glow.
Historians have left records of
the heroic deeds of those tireless
pioneers, who literally carved their
homes out of the wilderness, SIR
rounded by wild animals, and will
derness; and those homes, how
shall | describe them? Rude log
cabins erected on the space made
by telling the trees that went into
their construction, and finished and
furnished with rough handmade
lumber, that was split out with an
ak, smoOthed by a draw shave.
Wooden pegs were used in lieu of
nails; paint and varnish were lux
uries to dream of. Many there
were that had no floors, but the
earth packed down hard, with here
and there a mat made of willow
twigs, woven together or the skin
Of same animal.
The houses were heated by fire
places, built of rough stones pack
ed in clay mud, which, when dried
is nearly as hard as lime morter.
An immense chimney carried off
the smoke and so much of the
heat that in order to keep warm,
one was obliged to turn around
frequently, and food or liquids
froze only a few feet from the fire.
A plank door and two or three
small windows. some times CON
tanning glass, at other times a
tightly drawn fish skin, allowed a
meager amount of light to filter
into the room
Matches Unknown
Matches were unknown and fires
were kindled by striking two
pieces of flint rock together till a
spark flew off, which would be
caught in little dry grass or 9TH
er substance, and a blaze created,
or two pieces of hard wood were
rubbed together, until the friction
caused the wood to burn. A fire
once started was kept burning, by
covering the Goals heavily with
ashes when not needed. If by
chance it did go out, some one
would go to a neighbors Gf there
was one) and borrow enough to
start the fire again.
Gradually conditions became
better as the number of homes in
creased by the arrival of home
seekers from over seas. Preach
ers and teachers drifted in and so
eager were the parents for school
and spiritual instructions for the
young, and so anxious were they TO
get the benefit of the little knowl-
edge (these many times, Tar from
being well educated people) could
impart, that rude log school hours
sprang seemingly over night.
Books were scaFce, money more
so. Teachers received but a mere
pittance in wagebs but had the priv
ilege of boarding around among
the families, usually spending two
weeks in a hohe, sharing the food
and sleeping Accommodations with
the children.
Preachers preached for the 1--we