History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 24

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761

USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan > Part 24

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" In the forest we found the whole family of oaks, or the Michigan family, some ten or twelve different kinds, and among them the burr- oak, bearing an acorn good to eat, and on which hogs would fatten. In the timbered lands were the new trees called the whitewood, of which the best of lumber for building was made, and the black walnut, more valuable than cherry for cabinet-work. It also bore a large and very rich nut, and with it the whole family of the hickories, all bearing nuts. Besides these were the butternut, the beechnut, and the hazel- nut, all bearing an abundance of their fruit. Throughout the woods we saw the grape-vine hanging from the trees laden with its fruit. We saw vast thickets and long rifts of blackberry bushes, lately bur- dened with their tempting berries.

"And we were told that the woods and hillsides and openings, in their season, were fairly red with the largest and most delicious of straw- berries, while the wild plum grew along the small streams, the huckle- berry and the cranberry on the marshes, and the aromatic sassafras was found throughout the woods. The annual fires burnt up the un- derwood, decayed trees, vegetation, and debris in the oak openings, leaving them clear of obstructions. You could see through the trees in any direction, save where the irregularity of the surface intervened, for miles around you; and you could walk, ride on horseback, or drive in a wagon wherever you pleased in these woods, as freely as you could in a neat and beautiful park.

" But since the white man's axe first resounded in these wild regions the work of demolishing the noble forest-trees has been going on in this State. What large amount of cherry and black walnut has been burned up or made into rails ! In how many instances has a sense of the use and beauty of our forests been unheeded. Michael Angelo was once commissioned to destroy the beautiful villas about Florence. He, an artist, do such work ! He tried to save all, but could not,-the edict of war must be obeyed. The work of destruction went on. He came to a mansion with beautiful frescoed walls; the soul of the artist stayed the hand of the patriot, and in that field of desolation one mansion was left standing alone. In how many instances have we found the settler not commissioned, like Michael Angelo, to destroy the beautiful, but, Vandal-like, how often has he done it ! Yet we have many in- stances where a sense of use and beauty has said to the soul of the settler, 'Spare the forest !' and, like the artist, he has done it, leaving beautiful woodlands standing alone amid cultivated fields. We can now say, Would that such instances had been multiplied ! The wild denizens of the primeval forests in Michigan had beautiful homes.

" Among the feathered tribe, the early settler did not find many of his old favorites. The robin, the wren, the swallow, and some other birds were not here. But there were a great variety of birds, and some of most gay and beautiful plumage. Among the singers were the Western mocking-bird and the whip-poor-will. We found here an old favorite, or enemy, in that mad-cap and freebooter, the blue jay. He was still the same restless being, tipping, darting, bob- majoring and hazing about from tree to tree.

"' The jauntiest robber that ranges the wood, Nothing will name him but blue Robin Hood.'

"There were no crows here to pluck the pioneers' corn, nor to caw from the tree-top through all the livelong day.

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

"Among the four-footed denizens of the forests were the whole family of squirrels. Ifere was their smaller brother, the chipmunk, who never goes up a tree, because they have disinherited and driven him from that region, making him a serf to burrow in the ground. And here was his spotted-sided petite wolverine cousin, the gopher, which the settler found at corn-planting to be appropriately named. For, did he not go for their corn? It was generally acknowledged that one gopher would steal more corn than half a dozen crows. Begin- ning at the outside of the field, along the fence, they would rob hill after hill and row after row, digging up every kernel as they went. And here also was that chief among them all, the prince imperial of his tribe,-the fox squirrel. He was a magnificent fellow, some four times larger than the red squirrel; of a lithe and graceful form, with a long dashing tail, that he carried superbly as he scampered off. Here were also those other natives of the woods,-the woodchuck, coon, opossum, badger, hedgehog, fox, lynx, wolf, old Bruin, and the 'antlered monarch of the waste,' the deer.

" And lastly, lording it over all the other inhabitants of the forest, were the Indians. They lived here, simple children of Nature, in no permanent abodes, but in bark lodges or wigwams, which they left when they pleased and roamed to another part of the country, where they in turn tarried as long as they desired. The forest was untouched by them, save to build their wigwams, canoes, or fires. The soil was undisturbed by them, save to plant their patches of corn for food. They killed nothing in the woods save what game they needed for sustenance. They brought baskets, maple-sugar, huckleberries, and cranberries to the che-mo-ke-man's cabin to ' swap.' They were always friendly, and saluted their pale-faced neighbors with their accustomed boo-shoo ! a word showing their association with the French, as it is a corruption of bon-jour, the French 'good-morning,' or 'good-day.' We also find that their marchee is from the French marche, to march. Many other Indian words could be traced to a French origin.

" THE FEVER AND AGUE. "' And very hard it is to tell Which of the three is worse, But either one is bad enough To make a body curse.' HOLMES.

" We could always tell when the ague was coming on by the premoni- tory symptoms,-the yawnings and stretchings; and if the person understood the disease he would look at his finger-nails to see if they were turning blue. No disease evinced its coming so plainly by signs as the ' fever'n ager.' The adept could tell its approach before it got within a rod of him. At first the yawns and the stretchings stole upon you so naturally that, for a time, you felt good in giving way to them ; these were soon followed by cold sensations, that crept over your system in streaks, and grew colder and colder as they, in succes- sive undulations, coursed down your back, while you felt like a ' harp of a thousand strings,' played upon by the icy fingers of old Boreas, who increased the cold chills until his victim shook like an aspen and his teeth chattered in his jaws. There you laid shaking in the frigid ague region for an hour or so, until you gradually stole back to a temperate zone. Then commenced the warm flashes over your system, which increased with heat as the former did with cold, until you reached the torrid region, where you lay in burning heat, racked with pain in your head and along your back for an hour or so, when you began by degrees to feel less heat and pain, until your hands grew moist and you were relieved by a copious perspiration all over your body, and you got to your natural feeling again. You felt re- lieved and happy, and as you went outdoors everything about you was pleasant and smiling, and you seemed to be walking in a brighter and happier world.

"This disease delighted in extremes; it reveled in antithesis,-in being first in severe cold, then in burning heat. Among the various reasons adduced as the cause of this complaint was this : we got it in passing through the miasmatic period that began with our first at- tempts to subdue this wild region, and lasted until cultivation did away with the miasma.

"The ague is supposed to be the first disease to attack man in a new country. The settler found it lying about idle, like the Indians. I knew it was cruel, but I have often thought I would like to see an Indian have a genuine old settler's shake of the ague. If anything would tame him it would be that. It would shake all the whoop, if not all the Indian, out of him.

" The first question asked a settler after he had been here a short time was, 'Have you had the ague yet ?' If answered in the nega- tive, the reply would be, 'Well, you will have it; everybody has it before they've been here long.' As if the 'fever'n ager' initiated them to citizenship in this State.

" Anson Mapes and my brother Martin were the last ones in our set- tlement who had the fever and ague. They had escaped it so long that they began to boast about their not having it; but they had it at last, and with increased severity, for it almost shook them to death. When Martin 'had the shakes,' the dishes rattled on the shelves against the log wall. No one was ever supposed to die with the ague. It was not considered a sickness, but a sort of preface or prelude to it. 'He ain't sick, he's only got the ager,' was a common expression among the settlers. The doctors had no quinine then ; in fact there was no remedy known, for it was

"' A disease no hellebore could cure.'

"The prevailing opinion was that we must have it until we wore it out ; and most of us did. There were various remedies tried, but none cured you. Some were simple, some whimsical and funny. Some would say, when you feel a shake coming on start and thus run away from it. This remedy was tried ; the ague always beat in such a race. Others would work right through the shake, fever and all ; but the next day ' the shoe was on the other foot,' they had all the work they wanted in attending to an extra shake and fever.

" I remember that I once tried the following remedy, which was said to be a sure cure : I was to 'pare my finger- and toe-nails, wrap the parings in a piece of tissue-paper, then bore a hole in a maple- tree, put the nails in and plug up the hole. I did this, and the result was I was put through the entire gamut of this disease-

" ' From Greenland's icy mountains To India's coral strand'-

for four or five successive seasons after that. A decoction of 'Culver- root' was used as a kind of cholagogue by many, but it did not cure the disease.

" There were several phases to this complaint. Some had it every day, some every other day. As it began with you so it continued. It opened the account with you at such an hour on such a day, and then put in its appearance a little later every day or every other day, until your morning shake was changed to one at sunset or midnight. The cold sensation increased in severity until it culminated in shaking the life nearly out of you; then by degrees it waxed and waned perceptibly less, till it left you. The 'fits' came so regularly that the settler made his calculations by it. His calendar was divided into well-days and ague-days. The minister made his appointments to preach so as to accommodate his ' shakes.' The justice entered the suit on his docket to avoid the sick-day of the party or his own. The constable watched the well-day of the witness to get him into court ; and the lawyer adjourned his case on account of his ague-day. The housewife regulated her affairs by it,-she would do up her work, and sit and wait for the ague, as for a visitor to come. And the pioneer gallant went sparking on his well-night, and then he sometimes found his Dulcinea 'sitting up' with the 'fever'n ague.'

" It would seem that the old settlers wore out and broke up the disease, for the ague of to-day is no more like that of the olden time than the old broken-down man is like the one in robust manhood.

"THE 'MICHIGAN RASH.'

" Among the troublesome enemies to our happiness was what, in the parlance of the day, was called ' Michigan rash.' It was called Michi- gan rash because it was supposed to be indigenous to this part of the country.

"Some observing philanthropist has said, ' All the comfort a poor man took in this life was to scratch himself when he itched.' Then there was a happy period in the early settlement of this State, for the pioneers did a great deal of scratching.

" Perhaps I ought to put on the 'silken gloves of sentiment,' by way of caution, in treating this subject. The settlers used much modesty in referring to this cutaneous disease, calling it a ' breaking out,' an 'impurity of the blood,' "' rash,' while perhaps the person giving it these mild names was really putting into practice the gen- uine old method of scratch that used to belong to something much worse than a ' breaking out,' or a ' rash.' . An amusing incident once came under the writer's observation during this unpleasantness in our pioneer life. A gentleman from New York was visiting some friends

OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES.

in our neighborhood, and, noticing the children scratching a good deal, asked the lady of the house the cause of it. She replied, 'They have a breaking out that is called the Michigan rash.' To which he answered, ' Oh, the Michigan rash ! I presume it is; but I see the children go through with the old motions as natural as life. Don't you think, madame, brimstone and lard will cure it?' This fair hit amused the settler's wife, and also awoke her to the real gist of the matter,-that they were really enjoying the full benefit of the ' seven- year itch,' under the mild title of Michigan rash.

" Whole families, yes, whole neighborhoods, would have it at the same time. It was no respecter of persons, knew no party, sex, or creed,-everybody had it. It would break out in a school, and go from pupil to pupil, and from pupil to teacher. The smaller pupils would dig it out on the spot, while the larger ones would grin and bear it till some convenient opportunity occurred. Young men and young ladies, when in company, avoided showing their hands. Most people had this disease as they did the ague, until they wore it out.

" A lack of fruit and vegetables in our diet was supposed to have something to do with the cause of the Michigan rash.

" MOSQUITOES.

"' Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature Hath found strange fellows in her time.'

" Mosquitoes, like the subject we have just treated, are a cutaneous disease. They, with the ague, the Michigan rash, and the Nitchenob- bies, were found here indigenous to this territory. It is maintained by some that the mosquitoes were created as pests, and sent here for the purpose of compelling us to drain and improve our swamps, marshes, and lowlands. As nothing has been formed in vain, and as we know of no other use for mosquitoes, this seems to be their mis- sion here among us. It is an undisputed fact that they were the most numerous and pestilent in the heavy timbered lands, dense swamps, lowlands, and thickets, where they remained in their leafy coverts during the day. But when twilight let her curtain down, these little recluse imps would sally out from their fastnesses, and, with flourish of trumpets, call their vast hordes together ; when, like the Huns and Goths, 'they would bear down in a furious attack upon the nearest log fortress.'

" About this time, too, after having learned their mode of warfare, and the nature and time of their attacks, we were accustomed to fill tin pans with chips or some light materials, and kindle a fire in them, both in the front and rear of the house, or wherever there was a door or opening. This fire was kept smothered into a smoke. This was our only defense. Mosquito-bars were not invented then. Still our enemies would frequently break through this wall of smoke, in some bold onset, and attack us in our cabin. The smudge was then re- moved into the house, and we sat enveloped in its dense clouds, with eyes suffused with tears, suffering patiently anything that would rid us of these pests. I have seen the log house all quiet at the close of day, not a mosquito about, but as soon as you started your smudge, that was the signal for their attacks,-they ' smelt the battle afar off, and shouted among their trumpeters, ha, ha !' Some of the settlers would not use the sinudge on that account, alleging that you dis- covered yourself to them, and hence invited their attacks.

" I have often gone into reflection on the subject (in their absence) of this annoyance. What discontent and unhappiness such little imps could create ! Coleridge has said,-

" 'Beneath the rose lurks many a thorn, That breeds disastrous woe; And so doth thou, remorseless corn, On Angelina's toe.'

Now there was a ' thorn' or a nettle that not only lurked beneath the rose, but beneath every tree, bush, and covert about us, and it was a nettle that felt like business, and went about 'breeding dis- astrous woe.' ' Don't mind them,' says some novice, who had not made their acquaintance ; ' go to sleep, and let them sing !' Don't mind them ? Try it. They like that. Try to sleep ? What odds to them ? Couldn't they murder sleep ? Did they mind your slaps? Feel them light on your nose, ears, or neck, tame as a spot of mud. Suppose you slapped and killed one. Fifty or a hundred rushed on over his dead body to avenge his death. So small a thing to create so much trouble and misery ! How often in the evening, after the smudge had been made, would we sit and fight these little tormentors, till tired, victimized, and

"' Weary of life, we would fly to our couch, And fling it away in battle with these Turks.'

We found no rats, mice, or house-flies; they came years later with an advanced civilization.

" THE ' MICHIGAN APPETITE.'

"The log house of the pioneer, with its plain furnishings and its old-fashioned fireplace, was a comfortable and cheerful abode. I am sorry that the old fireplace has gone out of use; it contributed much to the health and happiness of the old settler's home. The settler, after a hard day's work, seated with his family around his glowing ingle, with an abundance of wood in the corner, enjoyed the luxury of his magnificent fires. There is an art in building a good fire; it was cultivated to a great degree of perfection in the olden time. It appears to be one of the lost arts now, as the dull and cheerless stove has banished it from the household. It belonged to the old fireside, where it was kept in constant practice in laying down aright the back-log and fore-stick, and building thereon, with small wood, in so secure and artful a manner, that with a little kindling the fire could be started and give out the most heat and light to the household. As we are writing, distance lends enchantment to the memory of those by-gone scenes around the old pioneer's fireside.

" For lights in the evenings, if the fire was too dull, some fat was put in a saucer,-a piece of pork sometimes was fried for that purpose,- a rag was twisted for a wick, and then coiled about in the grease, one end being left out on the edge of the saucer. This was lighted. This was our evening taper.

"But pork was often scarce, and tallow or grease of any kind could not be had. There were no pine-trees in this region, hence pine-knots could not be found. But in their stead we gathered the bark from the hickory-tree, and when we needed light, pieces of this bark were thrown on the fire. This created a bright blaze that was nearly equal, and full as lasting, as that from the pine-knots.

" The old iron crane, tricked off with its various sized pot-hooks and links of chain, swung from the jambs at the will of the housewife, who hung on it the kettles containing the meal to be cooked for the family, and pushed it back over the fire, where the kettles hung till the meal was prepared for the table. Pigs, chickens, and spare-ribs were roasted splendidly by suspending them by a wire before the fire. The baking was mostly done in the old brick oven that was built in one side of the chimney, with a door opening into the room. The old iron-covered bake-kettle sat in the corner under the cupboard, and was used for the various baking purposes. Many will remember the much-used 'tin reflector' that was placed before the fire to bake bread and cakes, and how finely it baked the Pink-eye and Neshannock* potatoes.

"The settler's daily fare, from a lack of abundance and variety in his larder, was necessarily frugal. The provision in store was wheat, corn, pork, and potatoes. There was no fruit, save the wild plums and the various berries that grew in the woods and lowlands. The bill of fare for the table was bread, pork, and potatoes. Pork, as we have said, was often very scarce, families often going without food, save the wild game they killed, for a whole season at a time. Salt was also often very scarce; at one time it was twenty-one dollars per barrel. Thomas Kewney's family went without a particle in the house for six months. We were told when we first came to this State that we would get the ' Michigan appetite' after we had lived here a short time. We found this to be true. And when it did come, which was the first year, it was ravenous. With this appetite, pork and potatoes were dainties. We relished them as such for a good square meal ; and when we got through with that, we had only to reverse the order, and eat potatoes and pork, for the richest dessert,-such was the keenness and relishing power of our appetites. It seemed that all we labored for was to get enough to eat. Fruitless toil, for we were hungry all the time.

"Mrs. Thomas Kewney and her daughter Ann, afterwards Mrs. Stevenson, came to visit us one afternoon. My mother was really puzzled to know what to get for supper, for we had no bread in the house, nor anything of which to make it; but, like a good housewife, she was fruitful in expedients. Looking over her stores, she found about two quarts of wheat, which she requested me to grind in the pepper-mill. This I did. She then took the unbolted flour, and of

* From the Neshannock Creek, in Mercer Co., Pa., where they orig- inated.

HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

it made a short-cake for her company. We had an amusing time at table over our frugal repast, which consisted principally of this Gra- hamitish cake.

"Tea, coffee, sugar, and butter were rarely seen on the settler's table. An herb called tea-weed, a kind of wild Bohea, that grew in the woods, was used by some of the settlers. The leaves were steeped, like our imported teas, and the decoction was drunk. But it was soon abandoned when the green or black teas could be had again. Crust coffee, or a coffee made from wheat or other grains browned, was in common use for drink at table. Our pioneer mothers and their daughters found many occasions when they could not enjoy the accus- tomed tête-à-tête with their lady visitors, over cups of fragrant Young Hyson or Bohea; but their tea-table chats were had over their flowing cups of crust coffee, and there was many a wish from the young ladies for the good time coming, when they could once more 'turn up their tea-cups' and have their 'fortunes told.' Tea-pots were ransacked and old tea-grounds were saved by the girls, for the purpose of having their fortunes told by some of the older matrons, who knew some- thing of the gypsy art of divination. The usual meal consisted of a platter of boiled potatoes, piled up steaming-hot, and placed on the centre of the table, bread or Johnny-cake, perhaps some meat boiled or fried, and an article largely partaken of was a bowl of flour-gravy, looking like starch, and made, something like it, of flour and water, with a little salt, and sometimes it was enriched by a little gravy from a piece of fried meat. This was the meal, and it was eaten and relished more than the sumptuous meals on many of our tables now- adays. The table was, at any rate, swept of all the edibles on it. Nothing but the dishes was left after a meal. The dog, the pigs, and the chickens fared slim. 'Tell me what a people eat and I will tell you their morals.' The old pioneer bill of fare was simple and whole- some. Its morals can easily be deduced. What shall we say of the modern bill of fare ?

"There have been many reasons adduced as to the cause of this appetite. To me there has ever been but one good cause,-that is, hunger. We seldom got enough to eat, and hence were always hun- gry and ready to eat. 'Quit eating while you are hungry,' the health reformers say. We carried out the letter and spirit of this rule, and will vouch for its producing a splendid appetite. It was called the Michigan appetite, as though it was aboriginal and belonged to this State. Perhaps it did, and originated with the Indians. The first settlers may be said to have fared like the Indians for the first year or two after they pitched their tents here, and hence got their appe- tites and a little more; for, as the rude phrase had it, the pioneers were usually hungry enough to eat ' biled Indian.' We had no cases of dyspepsia,-our digestion was as sound as our sleep. The dys- pepsia was with the rich and dainty dishes East.

"One Sabbath morning I was at home alone. The rest of the family had gone to hear Rev. Levi Vedder preach in the log school-house by Deacon Case's. Always hungry, as soon as I found myself alone I be- thought me of getting something to eat. Luckily, I found some flour, lard, and salt. I was delighted, and went to work to make a short- cake. I had seen my mother and sister make this cake often enough to have learned, as I thought, to make one myself. So, rolling up my sleeves, I went to work. I mixed up the flour and water awhile, then put in the 'shortning' and added a little salt, and then kneaded and kneaded it with my fists till I considered it ready for the spider. But had you seen my hands! Didn't the dough 'stick, stick, stick to fingers and knuckles and palms!' It hung in strings from my hands, and just as I rolled out my cake and put it in the spider and placed that over some live coals to have the bottom bake, I heard a rap at the door. Frightened, and with the dough stringing from my hands, I opened the door, when Uriah Herson, a settler's son, presented himself with the accustomed 'good-morning,' and offered me his gloved hand. I did not accept it, but rather confusedly excused myself by saying my hands were too doughy, as I had been mixing up feed for the chickens. He smiled, and said he had come to see the young folks. I informed him that they had all gone to attend meeting in the Deacon Case school-house. I, during this time, tried to fill up the gap in the door, that he might not see within. But just then I heard the yelp, yelp, yelp of a chicken. Looking around, I saw a two-thirds grown rooster with both feet stuck fast in the middle of my short-cake and in the spider,-the dough had softened by the heat and let his feet down to the bottom of the spider, and there he stood with extended wings, bill full of sticky dough, yelping away like murder. Uriah glanced in at the fireplace and took in the whole situation. As I heard the first

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 24

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott Number of Pages: 761

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761