Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences — John Shaqi
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer ReminiscencesDaughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
History
Collection of Nebraska Pioneer Reminiscences
Daughters of the American Revolution. Nebraska
Frontier and pioneer life -- Nebraska; Nebraska -- History
In a day or two when nothing remained to eat, the grasshoppers spread
their wings and whirred away. Then grandfather said, "We will plant some
beans and turnips, there is plenty of time for them to mature before
frost." Accordingly, he put in the seeds and a timely rain wet them so
that in a very few days they had sprouted and were well up, when on
Monday morning, just two weeks and one day from the time of the first
visitation, a second lot dropped down and breakfasted off grandfather's
beans. It was too late in the season then to plant more.
My mother had quite a flock of turkeys and a number of chickens. They
were almost dazed at the sight of so many perfectly good insects. They
tried to eat them all but had to give up the task. They ate enough,
however, to make themselves sick.
This time I believe the grasshoppers stayed several days. They seemed to
be hunting some good hard ground in which to lay their eggs. The
following spring the warm days brought out millions of little ones,
which a prairie fire later destroyed.
The corn crop having been eaten green and the wheat acreage being rather
small, left many people with nothing to live on during the winter. Many
moved away and many of those who could not get away had to be helped. It
was then that Dawson county people learned that they had good friends in
the neighboring states for they sent carloads of food and clothing to
their less fortunate neighbors.
A good many homesteaders were well-educated, refined people from
Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere. They were a very congenial
company and often had social times together. They were for the most part
young people, some with families of young children, others just married,
and some unmarried. I remember hearing my mother tell of a wedding that
she and father attended. The ceremony was performed at a private house
and then the whole company adjourned to a large hall where everybody who
wanted to, danced and the rest watched until the supper was served by
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson in their new hotel. The bride on this occasion was
Miss Addie Bradley and the groom was W. H. Lingle, at one time county
superintendent of public instruction.
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