Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-08-04

|of the horse, the noblest of ami
mails was often remarkable, yet a
very poor comparison to what we
witness today in this gasoline age.
A days travel from sun-up to sun
down with good saddle horse is
only an hours run for the auto
mobile.
AS an illustration of the gist of
this article, we well remember when
young, about as often as many per-
sons in this vicinity would get over
to McCcnnelsville seventeen miles,
would be only two or three times a
year, while today many are there
every Saturday night. l am sure
that it is very difficult for the pres
ent generation to realize how slow
and "backwoodsy" this country was
in those "horse and buggy days, F"
yet those days were swift as COM
pared with the ox-cart days in our
grandfather's time.
For many years following the
Civil war only the more thrifty
farmers kept an extra riding, or
driving horse, Or owned buggy
or spring wagon. Many used their
farm wagons to go to a picnic,
church. OF attend a funeral. When
the roads were bad many would
walk or ride horseback. We have
seen as many as fifty horses tied in
fence corners at funeral. There
is one thing that will never fade out
of our mind, the incessant neighing
of horses at funeral.
People talked about the good and
bad points of a horse, the kind of a
wagon or buggy to buy, as fluently
as they talk about automobiles to-
day. Not few made their living
trading horses. Who remembers
Bill Davis, Phil Trimble and a score
of others, and Graders Alley at
the Sarahsville fair? How easy it
was to get beautifully skinned by
some Of those oily-tongued horse
traders. AS we have already init
mated, depending upon horse flesh
for motive power was very different
from the gasoline age today. The
pace they set was in accord with the
| customs OF the time; they knew no
different. Besides, young folks
were more or less in subjection to
| their parents. The old fathers,
| many Of Puritanical stock, were
very strict and stern, and their
| word was the law In fact, many
of them were, as we now think, too
strict. 1t was common occurrence
that when boys would get old
enough to work they would run
away to get out from under the
yoke Of bondage"
From the window where we sit.
we can see a house where a girl
was born, grew to womanhood be-
| fore she ever saw the Dickinson
| Touring mill, only mile and a
half away. When we were young, we
recall father who was somewhat
caustic and overbearing with his
down to tots. The old gentleman
| passed out suddenly into the Great
Beyond, on certain Sunday. They
buried him on Tuesday They wash
on Wednesday. The next day,
Thursday, they took the old horses
to the blacksmith shop and got
them shod. Friday, went to town
and got some new clothes. Satur-
day they hitched up to the old farm
wagon and all went to a picnic and
people wondered who they We're
and where they came from.
In those days it was common for
two Or three families to clique to-
gether, one furnishing the team, an
other the wagon. and all go to a
picnic. With many farmers, about
the biggest and only trip he would
make during the year would be af-
"a 1n hor -nct
hitch to the farm wagon on some
Saturday and take the family for
an over-theweek-and visit to his
wifes people Horseback riding, as
it is today, was always popular
But many farmers could not afford
to keep an extra riding horse.
When young man was given "free
rein" the use of horse to do as
he pleased, it was often like it is
today with the automobile-he
would be of no account to himself,
his parents, or anybody else 1t was
too often conceded that the ilrky
who could sport horse and buggy,
STOOD in" with the fair sex, bis
prestige CD making him superior.
and all that. Doubtless some fell
poppinjay who rode ten miles fort
nightly for five years and then the
talented young lady ended the 70.
nance by marrying the hired hand
The automobile, with it's DEATH
dealing maniacal speed, concrete
roads, centralized schools, were not
dreamed of in those days. The old
school districts usually marked the
boundary of a distinct neighbor.
hood. But people of different neigh
borhoods would become acquainted
by meeting at the same church Or
dealing at the same store. Children
walked to school, women walked to
the store and carried huge baskets
of produce, men walked to sales.
etc. Walking was common with
could afford a horse and buggy
would generally ride. But there
were plenty of men who were never
seen in buggy. People in that day
were as we'll contented as they are
today and had just as good and en-
joyable times. They had no vision
of what we see today. The average
farmer lived within the confines of
the small circle that constituted his
His habits, estab-
lished usage, kept him there. He
was sensible to the fact that he was
much more highly favored than his
pioneer forbears: Those who clear
ed the land, lived and died and.
quite frequently then, were buried
in some selected spot on the farm,
whose roughly marked tombstone
has long since disappeared over
which the plowman turns his sod,
oblivious to the fact that down in
the earth beneath lies the ashes cf