LIFE IN WOODS OF NORTH MICHIGAN 281 



the boastfuhiess of the "Welshman in question when I 

 record that we had no fewer than seven fiddlers, two 

 flautists, and two sets of bagpipes, to say nothing of a 

 gentleman who did wonders with a drum, which he 

 asserted had been captured at Yorktown when Burgoyne 

 surrendered, but which bore the number of the 47th 

 regiment. This, I think, was Wolfe's regiment ; and it 

 is not at all unlikely that this wonderful drum really had 

 a history. By-the-by, let me remark that all our musi- 

 cians were whites — not a black fiddler among them, I 

 assure you. 



Where did so many people sleep ? The most of 

 them on the floors of the barns, wrapped in blankets, 

 rugs, and greatcoats ; and lying on sacks, bundles of 

 straw, &c. One gentleman was placed in a rack by the 

 lively youths of the party ; and as he was too tipsy to 

 get down, he passed the night there, comfortably enough 

 if we may judge from the regularity of his snoring. In 

 the house, I beheve, they were sleeping five or six in a 

 bed, placed " heads and tails, Uke sardines in a box," 

 according to one gentleman, who had undergone the 

 experience. The bride and bridegroom, I presume, were 

 accommodated in a garret ; for when I turned out, the 

 bagpipes and drums, reinforced by sundry tin-kettles and 

 old pots, were busy serenading a lofty window ; and I 

 was just in time to see friend Splits reward their kind 

 attention with the contents of the water-jug. 



The farm our friend had purchased was situated 

 about nine miles from his father-in-law's place, and on 

 the third day the bride and bridegroom were carried 

 the whole distance on the shoulders of their friends, and 

 after a day's orgies there, they were left in peace, and we 

 returned to finish the rejoicings at the father's house. 



I have thus been minute in an account of this 

 wedding, because I beheve that the proceedings were 

 typical of backwoods marriages in general among the 

 respectable farmers. For if the scenes here may seem 



