In the Current of the Revolution 145 



were no stores west of the mountains, this was all 

 that was needed, and each settlement raised most 

 things for itself, and procured the rest by barter. 

 The law courts were as yet very little troubled, 

 each small community usually enforcing a rough- 

 and-ready justice of its own. On a few of the 

 streams log-dams were built, and tub-mills started. 

 In Harrodsburg a toll mill was built in 1779. The 

 owner used to start it grinding, and then go about 

 his other business; once on returning he found a 

 -large wild turkey-gobbler so busily breakfasting out 

 of the hopper that he was able to creep quietly up 

 and catch him with his hands. The people all 

 worked together in cultivating their respective lands ; 

 coming back to the fort before dusk for supper. 

 They would then call on any man who owned a fid- 

 dle and spend the evening, with interludes of singing 

 and story-telling, in dancing an amusement they 

 considered as only below hunting. On Sundays the 

 stricter parents taught their children the catechism; 

 but in spite of the presence of not a few devout Bap- 

 tists and Presbyterians there was little chance for 

 general observance of religious forms. Ordinary 

 conversation was limited to such subjects as bore on 

 the day's doings ; the game that had been killed, the 

 condition of the crops, the plans of the settlers for 

 the immediate future, the accounts of the last mas- 

 sacre by the savages, or the rumor that Indian sign 

 had been seen in the neighborhood; all interspersed 

 with much banter, practical joking, and rough, good- 

 humored fun. The scope of conversation was of 

 VOL. VI. G 



