500 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



farmer, dressed in a butternut-colored coat, blue pants, 

 buff vest, white linen shirt — every article homemade — 

 stout boots and black silk cravat — for he has been to 

 town, and this is his holiday suit. Below him sits Jede- 

 diah, Marvin, Abram, and Solomon, all economical 

 names, for they can be shortened in common use to Jed, 

 Marv, Ab, and Sol. Two of these wear the checked-woolen 

 winter frock of New-England farmers — the others are 

 in round jackets — they are school boys. Upon the left, 

 sits Mary, Adeline, and Mehetabel, pictures of rural 

 beauty and health. The eldest is "drest up;" she has 

 been to tovra with father; she has a gown of "boughten 

 stuff," around her neck is a boa of colored lamb's wool, 

 knit by her own hands, fastened in the throat with grand- 

 mother's silver broach. The other two are in check wool- 

 len, spun, wove, colored, and made up under the same 

 roof. Further down the table are three athletic young 

 men, day laborers upon the farm — sons of neighboring 

 farmers — one of whom is eyeing the charms of the sweet 

 face of Mary with an expression easily read by a good 

 physiognomist. The group is completed by the school- 

 master, a young man with a glowing eye which speaks of 

 an intellect that will tell upon the world some day with as 

 much force as though he had not been obliged to obtain 

 his education by summer labor and winter teaching. He 

 is one of New England's rising sons. The meal is for men 

 who toil. At one end of the table, stands a pot of ample 

 dimensions smoking from the great oven; flanking the 

 fireplace, of that most excellent of New-England cook- 

 eries, 



"A dish of baked beans," 



crowned with a great square piece of salt fat pork, crisped 

 and rich. Lower down, a broad pewter platter holds the 

 remains of the "boiled victuals" that formed the dinner — 

 beef, pork, potatoes, cabbage, beets, and turnips — a pile 

 that might rival a small hay cock in size and shape — a 

 plate of rye and Indian bread, cold, and another made of 

 rye flour are untouched ; for a great loaf just drawn from 



