USA > Illinois > Menard County > Past and present of Menard County, Illinois > Part 5
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
taking as much stiff dough of Indian meal as she could conveniently hold in both hands, and deftly tossing it from hand to hand to mold it into the desired shape, tossed it into the oven. patting it with her hand to the desired thick- ness. About three of these "dodgers" filled the oven, when the ready-heated lid was placed upon the oven and the whole covered with glowing coals. As soon as the bread was done it was taken from the oven and placed upon a tin platter and set on the hearth near the fire to keep warm. Generally the prints of the fingers of the cook were plainly visible ou every dodger. In the oven from which the bread was taken the ham or venison was then fried and. in the fall of the year especially, the "Ive-hominy." made of Indian corn. was seasoned in the grease tried out of the meat. Thus the repast was prepared and sweeter bread or more savory meats were never eaten than were prepared on those rude fireplaces. As to sweetmeats and confections, they were things entirely unknown. Sugar was entirely unknown. save in sections where sugar-maple abounded. but nearly all of the pioneers had an abundance of the finest honey the year around, for the wild honey-bee existed in great abundance wherever there was timuber. Sometimes wild grapes, wild crabs and berries of various kinds were preserved in honey. but these were only opened when the preacher visited or on some other great occa- sion. For many years after the settlements were made, wheat bread was entirely unknown. from the fact that there were no mills in the country which were provided with facilities for grinding the wheat or bolting the four. In all the new settlements means of preparing grain for bread were matters of the very first concern. As already said, most, or we might say all, of the pioneers settled in the timber and at almost every cabin a large stump or block of wood set on end was dag or burned out into the form of a mortar, and a "spring-pole" with a heavy block of wood, in the form of a pestle, was suspended alove this mortar, and in this the corn was pounded into meal. But a small amount of corn was put in the mortar at a time, and when this was reduced to meal. by working this pestle up and down. then another small amount was put in, and so on till the re-
quired amount was ground. This laborious task was to be repeated as often as the meals were to be eaten, but the process was so slow that in a large family the pestle must go almost incessantly or some of them would be placed on short rations. So important a matter was this of breadstuff that it overshadowed all others. To illustrate this wo state the unde- niable fact that the first "milling" done for the settlement of Sugar Grove was done by John Jennison and James Meadows. These two men went in a canoe down the Sangamon to the Illinois river and then to the Mississippi, to Alton, and there got a canoe-load of breadstuff and brought it to Sugar Grove, consuming twenty-one days in the trip. Think of this! What labors were performed and what trials endured by our fathers and mothers to make this country what it is. Can we ever pay the debi of gratitude that we owe them? Even after those primitive mills were built-even after the Salem mill was built-there was great. trouble over the matter of something of which to make bread. The Salem mill. built by Cam- pron and Rutledge, though looked upon by the people as a marvel of mechanical skill and in- genuity, was incapable of overcoming all of these troubles. In those days the owners of mills made a rule like barbers have at the pres- ent time-that is, that each one should take his turn. Persons would take a grist of one or two bushels of corn to mill and they must wait till it was ground. Reliable men of Tal- lula told the writer that in the days of the old band-mill at Petersburg that they went there from Clary's Grove-only eight miles-and using their utmost diligence it was midnight of the ninth day when they returned with their grinding. It was many years before the mills of the country could provide the facilities for making four, and there are people still living who remember the time when the children longed for Sunday to come. not from any spirit. of devotion or reverener for the day. but he- cause they thought that they would have "cake" for breakfast Sunday morning. By "cake" they meant simple wheat bread or biscuits.
Among the pioneers everything was, of neces- sity, plain. simple and in conformity with the strietest economy. This was true not only of
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
their dwellings. furniture and provisions, but of their clothing as well. In the very early, early days, the men usually wore pants and hunting-shirts of luckskin and caps of coon or fox skin, while hoth men and women clothed their feet in moccasins. Cotton goods were then extremely hard to get. for two reasons : first, because of the great distance that they had to be transported by private means; and. se- ond. because the manufacture in this country was very limited. almost all of such goods be- ing manufactured in Europe. As a result the pioneer of the west found this one of the very hardest demands to meet. Many were the ex- pedients devised by them, especially by the fru- gal and anxious wives and mothers, for ever since the wonderful expedient of preparing an entire wardrobe from lig leaves, devised quite a number of years back, woman has been very gifted in laying plans and devising expedients in the matter of dros; but. unfortunately. for her skill and industry, the country afforded nothing for the first few years of its occupancy that could be turned to much account in this direction. If cotton had been planted when they first came, it could not have been much to their advantage, because of the fact that neither the sail nor the climate were adapted to its cultivation and the seasons were so short that it had to be planted so very early for it to ma- the that it could not be gotten in in time in sufficient quantity to justify it- cultivation. And it was almost useless to take shoop into these frontier settlements on account of the number of prairie, black and gray wolves. for they would destroy an entire flock in a single night. Hence the people had to choose between adopting expedients and going forth in "na- ture's light and airy garb," so in a year or two the settlers adopted the expedient of sowing crops of hemp and Has, and this the women soon learned to manufacture by hand into a coarse hut good and comfortable linen. But these practical and observing pioneers also ap- pealed to nature in their need and this good dame is seldom applied to in vain. In various localities in central Illinois, when the country was first settled. there were vast areas covered with wild nettles. Sometimes there would be two or three neres together, covered with net-
tles, growing as thick as wheat, and three and Your feet high. After these were killed by the frost and rotted by the elements, they produced a lint as strong as flax, but much lighter and liner. This lint would bleach almost to showy whiteness and it had more the appearance of silk than of cotton. Thousands of yards were woven and worn by the pioneers. Mrs. James Meadows, of Sugar Grove, actually spun and wave thirty yards of this nettle cloth one sta- son. But even after the cultivation of fax and the introduction of quite a number of sheep. the matter of clothing was the most formidable dif- lieulty in the way. The task of raising the fax or hemp, of cutting. rotting, breaking, hackling. skutching, spinning and weaving it was an Herculean task ; or raising the sheep, protecting them from the wolves. shearing them and then spinning and weaving the wool into cloth Is- quired a vast amount of labor. Then, after all this. garments wore to be ent and made, and socks and stockings were to be knit by hand for all the family. What a task! We wonder that our mothers did not despair. and they would had the fashions been then as now. but a balloon frame was not then to be covered in by the skirt of the dress. Skirts were not wide then as now. On a certain occasion. under the old "blue laws" of Connecticut, a young lady was handed before the magistrate, charged with jumping the brouk on the Sabbath, which of- lense, if she were proven guilty, would subject her to a heavy fine. The girl's mother came into court on the day of trial and testified that her daughter was piously on her way to church. and coming to the brook, on account of the nar- rowness of her skirts, she was obliged to jump or step in the water. Our young gentlemen of the present, who have dressed in the very best ever since they could remember, would be sur- prised and shocked at the seanty outfit of the boys of that day. The summer wear of the boys up to ten and twelve years of age was very simple and free from any effort at display. for it consisted of a long tow-linen shirt. "only this and nothing more." With this indispensa- ble and convenient article they explored the for- ests. traversed the prairies, thought about the girls and built as many castles in the air as the boy- of more favorable times and more con-
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
ventional wardrobes. In the winter they were sn pl ed with buckskin or tow-linen pants. moe- casin- or raw-hide shoes, and coats of jeans after they began to raise sheep. This scarcity of clothing continned for at least two decades. or won mort. In summer time nearly every one, both male and female, went barefoot and it was nothing uncommon to see young ladies of the lost families (your grandmother, per- haps, dear reader) on their way to church on foot. carrying their shoes in their hand till near the place of worship. when. carefully birsking the dust from their feet. they donned their stockings and shoes and quietly mingled with the throng. This continued to be com- mon for nearly twenty years. After sheep could be protected from the wolves the people lared better in the matter of clothing. Flannel and linsey were worn by the women and children and jean- was woven for the men. For want of other and more suitable dye-stuffs. the wool for the jeans was almost invariably colored with the shoots of the walnut. hence the inevitable "butternut" worn so extensively in the west for so many years. As a matter of course. each family had to do its own spinning and weaving. and for a long term of years all the wool had to be carded by hand on a little pair of cards not more than live by ten inches. Each family had it- spinning-wheels, little and big reel. winding-blades, warping bars, made by driving pins into the wall of the house on the outside at some place where there was no door in the way. and their wooden loom. These were indis- pensable articles in almost every home, and during the fall of the year the merry whirr of the wheel and the regular "bat bat" of the loom was heard to a late hour of the night. Well does the writ r remember, when a little boy. as he lay in the "trundle bed" at night. of being aroused from skep. far on to midnight. of hear- ing the "swish swish" of the cards as his wid- owed mother by the light of a few coals on the hearth was carding wool to make cloth to clothe her fatherles- children. And it was truly won- derful to see the patterns of colors woven in the dress flannel- and the counterpanes of those times. As a general thing the shoes worn by the entire family were made at home and mostly during the long evening, of the fall and winter.
It therefore happened that some of the family would have to wait till
"The frost was on the pumpkin And the fodder in the shock"
before their feet were clad. We remember boys, who afterward achieved both wealth and dis- tinction, who never got their shoes till well on to Christmas, but they went to school, if there was any, and played with the other boy- in their bare feet. No scope can be imagined that i- more full of real happiness than the house of the pioneer, when in the evening all are en- gaged in their work. A bright fire burns on the wide hearth and the ruddy flame leaps far up the wooden chinmes, affording the only. bu: sufficient. light in the room. In one corner sits the father, busily engaged in making shoes ; the mother at her little wheel hummus a tune in low harmony with its steady white, while in front of the ample fireplace the daughter trips nimbly back and forth, drawing out the long woolen threads, while the wheel, seeming to par- take of the general happiness, swells ont its musical whir-r-r. which swells and dios away in regular and harmonious cadence: the younger members of the household engaged in some absorbing pastime. all undisturbed by a single discordant note.
Boots were unknown for many years and many of the old men never owned a pair in all their lives while none of the younger ones were Fortunate enough to boast the possession of boots till they reached manhood. Boys of fif- teen to eighteen years of age never thought of wearing anything on their feet except for three or four months in the winter, while the num- her who were not so fortunate as to get them in winter was by no means small. Boy- and mon often went to church without shoes or stockings, but what would the people of today think of the minister who would propose to come before his andiener barefooted? This may never have occurred in Illinois, yet it did in some of the older states and possibly here. The writer was intimately acquainted when a boy with two old ministers, both of whom died at an extreme old age long years ago, who often spoke of preaching in their younger days in their bare feet. They began preaching in Ten-
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COFATY
nessee and were men of far more than ordinary ability; in fact, we have heard many sermons. n linely frescoed churches, by classical scholars dressed in broadcloth, which were not worthy of comparison, in any respect, with the ser- mons preached by these men. Several times they spoke of preaching on a certain occasion. when they were young men. in a private cabin. the loft or ceiling of which was very low. and one of the preachers, being a very tall man. a puncheon was taken up in the floor, so that he might stand in this opening, his head thus he- ing below the loft. This being in the summer time, and the region being infested with rattle- snakes, the speaker soon felt a thrill of awful horror convulse his frame as the thought. flashed across his mind that perhaps he stood in the midst of these unwelcome companions. Of course, under these circumstances, the ser- mon was not painfully long. We are fully aware of the incredulity with which the above and similar stories will be received by the mass of the present generation. but we write facts, such things as we believe are absolutely true. and we have not a shadow of doula of the lit- oral truth of the story related above. These facts should be recorded, for non of the present generation have the faintest idea of the changes that have taken place in the last seventy-live or eighty years. If the next eighty years should be as productive of change as the past eighty (and the probability is that it will be much greater), who can imagine the state of affairs in that time? The tools and agricultural im- plements were all on a par with the things we have named. The ground was broken up with a one-horse wooden mold-board plow and the corn cultivated with a hoe and a ball-tongue plow. The ground was marked off. both ways. with a bull-tongue, and the corn dropped by hand and covered with a hoe. In plowing corn, they had to go three or four times between the rows. Wheat. oats, rye, etc., were ent by hand with a sickle, threshed with a fait and win- nowed by hand. Oven were principally used, often six and seven yoke were seen hitched to the plow, breaking up the prairies. They were often worked singly for plowing corn and sim- ilar work, but space forbids further detail in this direction. Scores of similar illustrations
of the crude and inconvenient means of making a living could be given, but the above will auf- live. Amid all this the people were happy. con- tented and sociable. While it is true that there Were some wicked and bad men among them, set it is also true that there were never more consistent. faithful and devoted Christian pu- ple than among the early pioneers. Socity was never pour virtue never more esteemed. or honor held more sacred than among them. It was not then the object of every man to get rich. The social qualities were never more highly cultivated than in these times. We do not mean the conventional follies and deceitful customs of later times, but true and un- unvarnished social friendship. The ox-wagon or sled would be hitched up and the entire family, from the aged grandparents to the in- fant in arms, and all the "intermediate grades." would pile into this family coach and they would drive several miles perhaps to "stay till bed time" with some neighbor, or perhaps to re- main over night. and at bed time the door of the one room would be covered with "pallets" and all would retire. in modest simplicity and true decorum. Young gentlemen and ladies. there were your ancestors, who, amid all these trials and with unceasing toil. subdued this land and laid the broad and solid foundation for all the untold blessings, social. civil. educa- tional and religious, that you now enjoy. We are not "building the tombs of the prophet -. " han we say, without fear of successful contra- dietion. that no grander, truer or more noble generation of men and women ever lived than the pioneers of these western states. They laid the foundation of all that we are or call over hope to be, and this fact should be recorded and be remembered in all the years to come and be impressed on the minds of all who are to come after us.
EDUCATION.
Education is the best protector of health. the source of the greatest production of crops. the richest source of social enjoyment and the cheapest defence of the nation. Enlightened nations have ever been struggling for educa- tion, but in the early settling of this country.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
the opportunities of ahication were very poor indeed. They were as poor in Illinois as in any other part of the whole country because the people were poor, the settlements were sparse and qualified teachers were not always at hand. Beside this, money was so scarce that it was impossible to build suitable schoolhouse, but in the face of all this the people were deter- mined that their children should not go en- tively umtaught. So communities joined 10- gether and erected log houses, at central points. in which to have school. For the benefit of this and coming generations, let me deserihe some- what in detail one of these primitive schools and I promise you that I will not overdraw the picture in the least. The house was built of logs, generally unhown. hewn puncheons made the floor, and the roof was made of "clap- boards," split out of oak, laid on logs, and hell in their place by "weight-poles." that is. logs laid on the boards and propped with "knees" to keep them from rolling off. In one end the logs were ent out for a space of six feet. in which space a fireplace was constructed of rock or dirt. and a chimney was built of sticks, plas- tered over with mnd. called "cat-and-clay." On one side. nearly the entire length of the build- ing. two logs were "halved-out." for a win low and just below this, two-inch anger-holes were bored and a slab or plank was laid on them for a writing-desk. At the first. greased paper was l'astened over this opening. in lieu of win- dow glass. The seats were made of split logs. smoothed a little on the split side. and four two-inch auger-holes were bored into them on the rounding side and small saplings driven into them. for legs. It was very rare that more than three of these legs touched the floor at once. There being no backs to them and they Iming so tall. it was a sprions job for a little follow to mount one of them: it was like a tender-foot tackling a mnieking broncho, ind by the time the day was over the little fellow was worn out with the struggle. for school. "took up" at & A. M. and "let out" at 5 P. M. The books used were the Testament, the English Reader, or Pleasing Companion. Pike's Arith- metic. Murray's or Kirkham's Grammar and the old bhure-backed spelling book. Most ho- winners were furnished a "horn-book" -a
wooden paddle with the alphabet pasted on it. The aspiring teacher visited the families in a given neighborhood with a subscription paper. which usually began: "This article of agree- mont, entered into this day between 1- B- . party of the first part and the annexed subscribers of the second part. witnesseth. The said party of the first part proposes teaching a common school for the term of one quarter. or til days, etc., etc." Then the branches to he taught were named. the price. two dollars per term. and other requirements on the part of the patrons were named. and the deed was done. It took a year for a child to learn the alphabet : they first taught the child to repeat the letters by rote and to recognize them at sight : then they began to spell. ab. ch. ib. ob. ub. then ba. be. bi. bo. bu, by. But arithmetic was well tanght as was grammar. The games and amusements were much the same then as they are now. The boys knew nothing then of iownball. baseball or football as it is played now. but they had one game of ball which. for real fun. skill and healthful exercise, was su- perior to any of the ball games of the present day. They called it "bull-pen." Running. jumping and wrestling were sports which were engaged in every noon, with a zost and earne-t- ness which sent the rich young blood bounding through the vein -. like an electric current. One branch was taught with better practical results than it is at the present time. notwith- standing our increased facilities and advant- ages. That branch is spelling. It is not be- cause of any lack of opportunities. but because more pride was taken in spelling and because more attention was given to it. The sessions. both in the forenoon and afternoon. were closed by the entire school lined up and en- gaging in a spelling-les-on. On Friday after- moons the school would select two captains and they would cast lot for first choice and then choose alternately. until all were chosen. Then two came on the floor and when one missed a word and the other spelled it. the defeated one want to his seat and the next on his side took his place, and so on till one side was defeated. In the winter season they had spelling schools at night. one a week. By these methods great enthusiasm was aroused, and as a result a great
PAST AND PRESENT OF MENARD COUNTY
many boys and girls became most excellent spelers. Among the early teachers of Menard county were many men of no mean gifts and among the last of the teachers under the old subscription plan, may be mentioned, with honor, Minter Graham, John Tice. Clayborn Hall and Augustus K. Riggin. (See History Menard county. pp. 252-4.) After the intro- duction of our new and admirable system of public schools, the work of education advanced very rapidly. The county never had a teach- er's institute of county normal till the summer of Isis. when it enrolled about forty pupils and continued for a term of six weeks and did academic work. These six-week- normale con- tinned for nine years, when the term was abridged. Every district in the county has a Heat and comfortable schoolhouse. employs first class teachers and continues the school from seven to nine months, Let us look at sonie stati-ties: There are in the county : male -. under twenty-one years of age. three thon-and one hundred and nineteen : females, two thousand nine hundred and twenty-four; total. six thousand and forty-three. Between six and twenty-one: males, two thousand two hundred and twenty-two: females, two thou- -and and ninety-four: total. four thousand three hundred and sixteen. Number of graded schools. eleven : ungraded, forty-nine: total. sixty. Number of rooms used in graded schools, thirty-right : rooms in ungraded school, forty-nine: total. eighty-seven. Total number of day- attended. four hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and fifty-live. Average wages paid to male teachers, sixty- eight dollars and eighty eight cents : to females. forty-live dollars and twenty-one cents: whole amount paid to teachers, thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and five dollars and thirty-seven cents. Whole amount expended for schools, eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and sixty- "even dollars and fifty cents. The city of Petersburg is now ( August. 1901) expending eighteen thousand dollars on a new high-school building. with every modern appliance, con- venience and comfort, and it is to be hoped that such wisdom and care will be used by the pro- ple in selecting a school board that this great expenditure will not be lost. Buildings and
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