104 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



flowers, honeysuckles and rose bushes, shows what sort 

 of a family lives there, jist as plain as straws show which 

 way the wind blows. 



Them galls, an't 'tarnally racing round to quiltin and 

 husking frolics, their feet exposed in thin slips to the 

 mud, and their honor to a thinner protection. No, no — 

 take my word for 't — when you see galls busy about such 

 things to home, they are what our old minister used to 

 call "right minded." Such things keep them busy, and 

 when folks are busy about their own business, they've no 

 time to get into mischief. — It keeps them healthy, too, and 

 as cheerful as larks. I've a mind w'll 'light here, and view 

 this citizen's mprovements, and we shall be welcomed to 

 a neat substantial breakfast, that would be worthy to be 

 taken as a pattern by any farmer's wife in America. 



We were met at the door by Mr. Horton who greeted 

 my friend Slick with the warm salutation of an old ac- 

 quaintance, and expressed the satisfaction natural to one 

 habitually hospitable, for the honor of my visit. He was 

 a plain, healthy, intelligent looking man, about fifty, 

 dressed as a farmer should be, with the stamp of "Home- 

 spun," legible upon every garment, not forgetting a very 

 handsome silk handkerchief, the work throughout of his 

 oldest daughter. The room into which we were ushered, 

 bore the same stamp of neatness and comfort that the 

 outside appearance indicated. A substantial homemade 

 carpet covered the floor, and a well filled book-case and 

 writing desk, were in the right place, among the con- 

 tents of which, I observed several Agricultural periodi- 

 cals. I was particularly struck with the scrupulously 

 neat and appropriate attire of the wife and two intelli- 

 gent, interesting daughters, that were busily engaged in 

 the morning operations of the dairy. After partaking of 

 an excellent substantial breakfast, Mr. Horton invited us 

 to walk over his farm, which, tho' small, was every part 

 in such a fine state of cultivation, that he did not even 

 express a fear of "starving, unless the legislature did 

 something, to keep the land from running out." 



