282 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



deer to be hart at an hour's notice; and yet so Indolent were they, and so Ignorant of the 

 decencies of existence, that they would not take the least pains to prepare anything that 

 was nourishing, even for themselves. 



But he goes on to say : 



There are hard-working, enterprising men, always busy fencing, ploughing, chop- 

 ping timber, setting traps for the wolves, hunting llie panthers that destroy their calves 

 and swine, and are continually occupied, without a moment's relaxation. With them, the 

 ceremony of eating Is an affair of a few moments; the great object is to fill the stomach as- 

 quickly as possible wltli the usual food; tliis, froui long habit, they prefer to anything else; 

 and the women, having gotten Into a dally routine without any motive for changing It In 

 the slightest degree, and. Indeed, without even suspecting that It would be agreeable to 

 anybody to do so, go on preparing the same disgusting coffee, pork, bread and butter three- 

 times a day, as long as they live. 



Mr. Featherstoubaugh, on the occasion of his trip through Mis- 

 souri, had not been accustomed to the makeshifts of life in a new 

 country, and, when he could overcome his sense of personal discomfort 

 sufficiently to see the comical side of his experiences, gave some very 

 amusing anecdotes illustrative of the habits of the people. Apropos 

 of the kind of sleeping accon^modations that he frequently encoun-^ 

 tered, he relates : 



Last night we had the pleasure of >rrs. Harris' company In our bed-room, and this night, 

 soon after we had retired, old Mrs. Kussell, a discreet matron of at least 70, accompanied 

 by a sick-looking girl of, perhaps, 18, came into our room, where there were three beds, 

 upon one of which I was laid down, and my son upon the other. Without uttering a word, 

 these amiable ladles very deliberately went through the ceremony of unrobing and getting 

 into the other bed. This, to be sure, was an unexpected treat. I thought my son would 

 never have done laughing, and certainly I never saw anything done with more noncha- 

 lance. 



In attempting to follow the history of civilization in our own State 

 from the earliest times down to the days of Schoolcraft and Feather- 

 stonhaugh, we have learned that the French made our earliest perma- 

 nent settlements along the Mississippi — the less enterprising Spaniards,, 

 who had not followed up their first advantage, coming later to make 

 some little addition to the towns. 



The homes of the pioneers were all rude cabins built of logs, with 

 the interstices filled with clay or mortar. In the North, these were 

 very simple, with one room and one door. The settlers from Virginia^ 

 and the older Southern states made some addition to this primitive 

 style of architecture, for climatic reasons, and built the veranda both 

 in front and behind — the more prosperous families frequently having 

 two rooms joined together by a broad covered veranda the entire 

 width of the house, making an open hallway between the two rooms,, 

 which served, in summer, as an eating room for the family. On the 

 prairies, where stone was scarce, the chimney, always built on the out- 

 side of the house, was made of sticks, and lined and cemented with, 

 clay; but where stone was abundant, more substantial structures were 

 made. In the interior of the State, these cabins are not unfrequentlj 



