USA > Indiana > Putnam County > Biographical and historical record of Putnam County, Indiana > Part 10
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WOLF HUNTS.
In early days more mischiet was done by wolves than by any other wild animal, and no small part of their mischief consisted in their almost constant barking at night, which
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always seemed so menacing and frightful to the settlers. Like mosquitoes, the noise they made appeared to be about as dreadful as the real depredations they committed. the most effectnal, as well as the most exciting, method of ridding the country of these hateful pests was that known as 'the " eirenlar wolf hunt," by which all the men and boys would turn out on an appointed day, in a kind of circle comprising many square miles of territory, with horses and dogs, and then close up toward the center of their field of operation. gathering not only wolves, but also deer and many smaller ~ varmint." Five, ten or more wolves by this means would sometimes be killed in a single day. The men would be organized with as much sys- tem as a little army, every one being well posted in the meaning of every signal and the application of every rule. Guns were scarcely ever allowed to be brought on such occasions, as their nse would be unavoidably dangerous. The dogs were depended on for the final slanghter. The dogs, by the way, had all to be held in cheek by a cord in the hands of their keepers until the final signal was given to let them loose, when away they would go to the center of battle, and a more exciting scene would follow than can be easily de- scribed.
BEE HUNTING.
This wild recreation was a peculiar one, and many sturdy backwoodsmen gloried in excelling in this art. He would carefully watch a bee as it filled itself with the sweet product of some flower or leaf-bud. and notice particularly the direction taken by it as it struck a " bee-line" for its home, which when found would be generally high up in the hollow of a tree. The tree would be marked, and in September a party would go and cut down the tree and capture the honey as quickly as they could before it wasted
away through the broken walls in which it had been so carefully stowed away by the little busy bee. Several gallons would often be thus taken from a single tree, and by a very little work, and pleasant at that, the early settlers could keep themselves in honey the year round. By the time the honey was a year old, or before, it would turn white and granulate, yet be as good and healthful as when fresh. This was by some called " can- died " honey.
In some districts the resorts of bees would be so plentiful that all the available hollow trees would be ocenpied and many colonies of bees would be found at work in crevices in the rock and holes in the ground. A con- siderable quantity of honey has even been taken from such places.
SNAKES.
In pioneer times snakes were numerous, such as the rattlesnake, viper, adder, blood stake and many varieties of large blue and green snakes, milk snakes, garter and water snakes. black snakes, etc .. ete. If, on meet- ing one of these, you would retreat. they would chase you very fiercely; but if you would turn and give them battle. they would immediately crawl away with all possible speed, hide in the grass and weeds, and wait for a " greener " customer. These really harmless snakes served to put people on their guard against the more dangerous and venomous kinds.
It was the practice of some sections of the country to turn out in companies, with spades, mattoeks and crow-bars, attack the principal snake dens and slay large numbers of them. In early spring the snakes were somewhat torpid and easily captured. Scores of rattlesnakes were sometimes frightened out of a single den, which, as soon as they showed their heads through the crevices of
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the rocks, were dispatched and left to be de- it was. Nor would it stop for any sort of voured by the numerous wild hours of that contingency; not even a wedding in the family would stop it. It was imperative and tyrannieal. When the appointed time came day. Some of the fattest of these snakes were taken to the house and oil extracted from them, and their glittering skins were , around. everything else had to be stopped to saved as specifies for rheumatism.
attend to its demands. It didn't even have any Sundays or holidays; after the fever went down you still didn't feel much better. You felt as though you had gone through some sort of collision, threshing-machine or jarring-
Another method was to so fix a heavy stick over the door of their deus, with a long grape-vine attached. that one at a distance conld ping the entrance to the den when the snakes were all out sunning themselves. machine, and came out not killed. but next Then a large company of the citizens, on thing to it. You felt weak, as though you hand by appointment, could kill scores of had run too far after something, and then the reptiles in a few minutes.
didn't catch it. You felt langnid, stupid and sore, and was down in the month and heel SILAKES. i and partially raveled out. Your back was One of the greatest obstacles in the early : out of fix, your head ached and your appetite settlement and prosperity of this State was . crazy. Your eyes had too much white in the " chills and fever." "fever and ague," them, your ears, especially after taking qui- nine. had too much roar in them, and your whole body and soul were entirely woe- begone, disconsolate, sad. poor and good for nothing. You didn't think mich of your- self. and didn't believe that other people did, either; and you didn't care. You didn't or " shakes," as it was variously called. It was a terror to new-comers; in the fall of the year almost everybody was afflicted with it. It was no respecter of persons; everybody looked pale and sallow as though he were frost-bitten. It was not contagious, but de- rived from impure water and air, which are . quite make up your mind to commit suicide, always developed in the opening up of a new but sometimes wished some accident would country of rank soil like that of the North- happen to knock either the malily or your- self out of existence. You imagined that even the dogs looked at you with a kind of self-complaceney. You thought the sun had west. The impurities continue to be ab- sorbed from day to day, and from week to week, until the whole body corporate became saturated with it as with electricity, and then . a kind of sickly shine about it. the shock came: and the shock was a regular About this time you came to the conclusion that you would not accept the whole State of Indiana as a gift: and if you had the strength and means, you picked up Hannah and the 1 baby, and your traps, and went back "yander" to ". Old Virginny," the "Jarseys," Maryland or " Pennsylvany." shake, with a fixed beginning and ending, coming on in some cases each day, but gen- erally on alternate days, with a regularity that was surprising. After the shake came the fever, and this "last estate was worse than the first." It was a burning-hot fever, and lasted for hours. When yon had the chill you couldn't get warm, and when you had the fever you couldn't get cool. It was exceedingly awkward in this respect; indeed
"And to-day the swallows Hitting Round my chamber see me sitting, Moodily within the sunshine, Just inside my silent door,
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Waiting for the ager, seeming Like a man forever dreaming, And the sunlight on me streaming, Sheds no shadow on the floor, For I am too thin and sallow To make shadows on the floor,- Ne'er a shadow any more!"
The above is not a mere picture of the im- agination. It is simply recounting in quaint phrase what actually occurred in thousands of cases. Whole families would sometimes be sick at one time and not one member scarcely able to wait on another. Labor or exercise always aggravated the malady, and it took General Laziness a long time to thrash the enemy ont. And those were the days for swallowing all sorts of roots and "yarbs," and whisky, etc., with some faint hope of re- lief. And finally, when the case wore out, the last remedy taken got the credit of the enre.
EDUCATION.
Though struggling through the pressure of poverty and privation. the early settlers planted among them the school-house at the earliest practical period. So important an object as the education of their children they did not defer until they could build more comely and convenient houses. They were for a time content with such as corresponded with their rude dwellings. but soon better buildings and accommodations were provided. As may readily be supposed, the accommoda- tions of the earliest schools were not good. Sometimes school was taught in a room of a large or a double log cabin, but oftener in a log house built for the purpose. Stoves and such heating apparatus as are now in use were then unknown. A mud-and-stick chim- ney in one end of the building, with earthen hearth and a fire-place wide and deep enough to receive a fonr to six-foot back-log, and smaller wood to match, served for warming purposes in winter and a kind of conserva-
tory in summer. For windows, part of a log was cut out in two sides of the building, and may be a few lights of eight hy ten glass set in, or the aperture might be covered over with greased paper. Writing desks consisted of heavy oak plank or a hewed slab laid upon wooden pins driven into the wall. The four- legged slab benches were in front of these, and the pupils when not writing would sit with their backs against the sharp edge of the writing-desks. The floor was also made out of the slabs, or " puncheons," laid upon log sleepers. Everything was rude and plain; but many of America's greatest men have gone out from just such school-houses to grapple with the world and make names for themselves and reflect honor upon their country. Among these we can name Abra- ham Lincoln, our martyred President, one of the noblest men known to the world's his- tory. Stephen A. Douglas, one of the great- est statesmen of the age, began his career in Ilinois teaching in one of these primitive school-houses. Joseph A. Wright and ser- eral others of Indiana's great statesmen have also graduated from the log school-house into political eminence. So with many of her most eloquent and efficient preachers.
Imagine such a house with the children seated around, and the teacher seated on one end of a bench, with no more desk at his hand than any other pupil has. and you have in view the whole scene. The "schoolmaster" has called "Books! books!" at the door, and the "scholars " have just run in almost out of breath from vigorous play, have taken their seats, and are for the moment " saying over their lessons " to themselves with all their might, that is, in as loud a whisper as possi- ble. While they are thus engaged the teacher is perhaps sharpening a few quill pens for the pupils, for no other kind of pen had been thought of as yet. In a few minutes he calls np
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an urchin to say his a bc's; the little boy stands beside the teacher, perhaps partially leaning on his lap; the teacher with his penknife points to the letter and asks what it is; the lit- tle fellow remains silent, for he does not know what to say; "A," says the teacher; the boy echoes "A; " the teacher points to the next and asks what it is; the boy is silent again; "B," says the teacher; "B," echocs the little nrchin ; and so it goes through the exercise, at the con- clusion of which the teacher tells the little " Major " to go back to his seat and study his letters,and when he comes to a letter he doesn't know, to come to him and he will tell him. Ile obediently goes to his seat, looks on his book a little while, and then goes trudging across the puncheon floor again in his bare feet, to the teacher, and points to a letter, probably outside of his lesson, and asks what it is. The teacher kindly tells him that that is not in his lesson, that he need not study that or look at it now; he will come to that some other day, and then he will learn what it is. The simple-minded little fellow then trudges, smil- ingly, as he catches the eye of some one, back to his seat seat again. But why he smiled he has no definite idea.
To prevent wearing the books out at the lower corner, every pupil was expected to keep a " thumb paper " under his thumb as he holds the book; even then the books were soiled and worn out at this place in a few weeks, so that a part of many lessons were gone. Consequently the request was often made, " Master, may I borrow Jimmy's book to get my lesson in? mine haint in my book: it's tore ont." It was also enstomary to use book-pointers, to point out the letters or words in study as well as in recitation. The black stem of the maiden-hair fern was a very popular material from which pointers were made.
The a-b-ab scholars through with, perhaps
the second or third reader class would be called, who would stand in a row in front of the teacher, " toeing the mark," which was actually a chalk or charcoal mark drawn on the floor, and commencing at one end of the class, one would read the first " verse," the next the second, and so on around, taking the paragraphs in the order as they occur in the book. Whenever a pupil hesitated at a word the teacher would pronounce it for him. And this was all there was of the reading exercise.
Those studying arithmetic were but little classified, and they were therefore generally called forward singly and interviewed, or the teacher simply visited them at their seats. A lesson containing several " sums " would be given for the next day. Whenever the learner came to a sum he couldn't do he would go to the teacher with it, who would willingly and patiently, if he had time, do it for him.
In geography no wall maps were used. no drawing required, and the studying and reci- tation comprised only the committing to memory, or " getting by heart," as it was ealled, the names and locality of places. The recitation proceeded like this: Teacher " Where is Norfolk ?" Pupil --- " In the southeastern part of Virginia." Teacher __ " What bay between Maryland and Vir- ginia?" Pupil -" Chesapeake."
When the hour for writing arrived the time was announced by the master. and every pupil practicing this art would turn his feet over to the back of his seat, thus throwing them under the writing desk already de- scribed, and proceed to " follow copy," which was invariably set by the teacher, not by rule, but by as nice a stroke of the pen as he could make. The first copies for each pupil would be letters, and the second kind and last consisted of maxims. Blue ink on white paper. or black ink on blue paper, were com- [ mon; and sometimes a pupil would be so
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unfortunate as to be compelled to use blue ink on blue paper; and a " bine " time he had of it.
About half-past ten o'clock the master would announce, "School may go out;" which meant " little play-time," in the children's parlance, called nowadays recess or intermis- sion. Often the practice was to have the boys and girls go out separately, in which case the teacher would first say, " The girls may go out." and after they had been out about ten minutes the boys were allowed a similar privilege in the same way. In calling the children in from the play-ground, the teacher would invariably stand near the door of the school-house and call out " Books! books!" Between play-times the request, " Teacher, may I go out?" was often iterated to the annoyance of the teacher and the dis- turbance of the school.
At about half-past eleven o'clock the teach- er would announce. " Scholars may now get their spelling lessons," and they would all pitch in with their characteristic loud whis- per and " say over " their lessons with that vigor which characterizes the movements of those who have just learned that the dinner hour and " big play-time " is near at hand. A few minutes before twelve the "little spelling-class would recite, then the " big spelling-elass." The latter won !: comprise the larger scholars and the major part of the school. The classes would stand in a row, either toeing the mark in the midst of the floor, or straggling along next an unocenpied portion of the wall. One end of the class was the "head," the other the " foot." and when a pupil spelled a word correctly, which had been missed by one or more, he would "go up " and take his station above all that had missed the word; this was called " turn- ing them down." At the conclusion of the recitation, the head pupil would go to the
foot, to have another opportunity of turning them all down. The class would minber, and before taking their seats the teacher would say. "School is dismissed," which was the signal of every child rushing for his din- ner and having the " big play-time."
The same process of spelling would also be gone through with in the afternoon just be- fore dismissing the school for the day.
The chief text-books in which the "schol- ars " got their lessons were Webster's or some other elementary spelling-book, an arithmetic, maybe Pike's, Dilworth's, Da- boll's. Smiley's or Adains', MeGnffey's or the old English reader, and Roswell C. Smith's geography and atlas. Very few at the earli- est day, however, got so far along as to study geography. Nowadays, in contrast with the above, look at the "ographies" and "ologies!" Grammar and composition were scarcely thought of until Indiana was a quarter of a century old. and they were introduced in such a way that their utility was always ques- tioned. First, old Murray's then Kirkham's grammar were the text-books on this subject. " Book larnin'," instead of practical oral in- struction, was the only thing supposed to be attained in the primitive log school-house days. But writing was generally taught with fair diligence.
" PAST THE PICTURES."
This phrase had its origin in the practice of pioneer schools which used Webster's Elementary Spelling Book. Toward the back part of that time-honored text-book was a series of seven or eight pictures, illustrating morals, and after these again were a few more spelling exercises of a peculiar kind. When a scholar got over into these he was said to be "past the pictures," and was looked up to as being smarter and more learned than most other people ever hoped to
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be. Hence the application of this phrase came to be extended to other affairs in life, especially where scholarship was involved.
sometimes by the aid of the teacher and others. There were many ways of conclud- ing the contest and keeping tally. Every section of the country had several favorite SPELLING-SCHOOLS. methods, and all or most of these were differ- The chief public evening entertainment for the first thirty or forty years of Indiana's existence was the celebrated " spelling- school." Both young people and old looked forward to the next spelling-school with as much anticipation and anxiety as we now- adays look forward to a general Fourth-of- July celebration ; and when the time arrived the whole neighborhood, yea, and sometimes several neighborhoods, would flock together to the scene of academical combat, where the excitement was often more intense than had been expected. It was far better, of course, when there was good sleighing; then the young folks would turn out in high glee and be fairly beside themselves. The jollity is ! ent from what other communities had. At one time they wonld commence spelling at the head, at another time at the foot; at one time they would " spell across," that is, the first on one side would spell the first word, then the first on the other side; next the second in the line on each side, alternately, down to the other end of each line. The question who would spell the first word was determined by the captains guessing what page the teacher would have before him in a partially opened book at a distance; the cap- tain guessing the nearest would spell the first word pronounced. When a word was missed, it would be re-pronounced, or passed along withont re-pronouncing (as some teach- scarcely equaled at the present day by any- , ers strictly followed the rule never to re-pro- thing in vogne.
nounce a word), until it was spelled correctly. If a speller on the opposite side finally spelled the missed word correctly, it was counted a gain of one to that side; if the word was finally corrected by some speller on the same side on which it was originated as a missed word, it was " saved," and no tally mark was made.
When the appointed hour arrived, the nsnal plan of commencing battle was for two of the young people who might agree to play against each other, or who might be selected to do so by the school-teacher of the neigh- borhood, to " choose sides," that is, each con- testant, or " captain." as he was generally 1 called, would choose the best speller from the Another popular method was to commence at one end of the line of spellers and go directly around, and the missed words canght up quickly and corrected by " word-catchers," appointed by the captains from among their best spellers. These word-catchers would at- tempt to correct all the words missed on his ;opponent's side, and failing to do this, the catcher on the other side would catch him np with a peculiar zest, and then there was assembled crowd. Each one choosing alter- nately. the ultimate strength of the respective parties would be about equal. When all were chosen who could be made to serve, each side would " number," so as to ascertain : whether amid the confusion one captain had more spellers than the other. In case he had, some compromise would be made by the aid of the teacher, the master of ceremonies, and then the plan of conducting the campaign, or : fun. counting the misspelled words, would be Still another very interesting, though canvassed for a moment by the captains, | somewhat disorderly, method, was this: Each
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HISTORY OF PUTNAM COUNTY.
word-catcher would go to the foot of the ad- versary's line, and every time he " catched " a word he went up one, thus " turning them down " in regular spelling-class style. When one catcher in this way turned all down on the opposing side, his own party was victori- ons by as many as the opposing catcher was behind. This method required no slate or blackboard tally to be kept.
One turn, by either of the foregoing or other methods, would occupy forty minutes to an hour, and by this time an intermission or recess was had, when the buzzing, cack- ling and hurrahing that ensued for ten or fifteen minutes were beyond description.
Coming to order again, the next style of battle to be illustrate was to " spell down," by which process it was ascertained who were the best spellers and could continue standing as a soldier the longest. But very often good spellers would inadvertently miss a word in an early stage of the contest and would have to sit down humiliated, while a compara- tively poor speller would often stand till nearly or quite the last, amid the cheers of the assemblage. Sometimes the two parties first " chosen up" in the evening would re- take their places after recess, so that by the " spelling-down " process there would virtu- ally be another race, in another form; some- times there would be a new " choosing up " for the " spelling-down " contest; and some- times the spelling would be conducted with- out any party lines being inade. It would occasionally happen that two or three very good spellers would retain the floor so long that the exercises would become monotonous, when a few outlandish words like " chevaux- de-frise," ". Ompompanoosue " or " Bangh- naugh-claugh-ber," as they used to spell it sometimes, would create a little ripple of ex- citement to close with. Sometimes these words would decide the contest, but gener-
ally when two or three good spellers kept the floor until the exercises became monotonous, the teacher would declare the race closed and the standing spellers acquitted with a "drawn game."
The audience dismissed, the next thing was to " go home." very often by a round- about way, "a-sleighing with the girls," which, of course, was with many the most interesting part of the evening's perform- anees, sometimes, however, too rough to be commended, as the boys were often inclined to be somewhat rowdyish.
SINGING-SCHOOL.
Next to the night spelling-school the singing-school was an occasion of mneh jol- lity, wherein it was difficult for the average singing-master to preserve order, as many went more for fun than for music. This species of evening entertainment, in its in- troduction to the West, was later than the spelling-school, and served, as it were, as the second step towant the more modern civiliza- tion. Good sleighing weather was of course almost a necessity for the success of these schools, but how many of them have been prevented by mud and rain ! Perhaps a greater part of the time from November to April the roads would be muddy and often half frozen, which would have a very dampen- ing and freezing effeet upon the souls as well as the bodies of the young people who longed for a good time on such occasions.
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