Louisiana and Aaron Burr 275 



for the emigrants to travel from Connecticut to the 

 Western Reserve near Cleveland, and a journey 

 from a clearing, over the forest roads, to a little 

 town not fifty miles off was an affair of moment 

 to be undertaken but once a year. 39 Yet to the 

 frontiersmen themselves the life was far from unat- 

 tractive. It gratified their intense love of independ- 

 ence; the lack of refinement did not grate on their 

 rough, bold natures ; and they prized the entire qual- 

 ity of a life where there were no social distinctions, 

 and few social restraints. Game was still a staple, 

 being sought after for the flesh and the hide, and 

 of course all the men and boys were enthralled by 

 the delights of the chase. The life was as free as 

 it was rude, and it possessed great fascinations, not 

 only for the wilder spirits, but even for many men 

 who, when they had the chance, showed that they 

 possessed ability to acquire cultivation. 



One old pioneer has left a pleasant account of 

 the beginning of an ordinary day's work in a log 

 cabin : 40 "I know of no scene in civilized life more 

 primitive than such a cabin hearth as that of my 

 mother. In the morning, a buckeye back-log, a 

 hickory forestick, resting on stone and irons, with 



39 "Historical Collections of Ohio," p. 120; Perrin Du Lac, 

 p. 143. 



40 Drake's " Pioneer Life in Kentucky." This gives an ex- 

 cellent description of life in a family of pioneers, represent- 

 ing what might be called the average frontiersman of the 

 best type. Drake's father and mother were poor and illiter- 

 ate, but hardworking, honest, God-fearing folk, with an ear- 

 nest desire to do their duty by their neighbors and to see their 

 children rise in the world. 



