Woman on the American Frontier: A Valuable and Authentic History of the Heroism, Adventures, Privations, Captivities, Trials, and Noble Lives and Deaths of the "Pioneer Mothers of the Republic"Fowler, William Worthington
History
Woman on the American Frontier: A Valuable and Authentic History of the Heroism, Adventures, Privations, Captivities, Trials, and Noble Lives and Deaths of the "Pioneer Mothers of the Republic"
Fowler, William Worthington
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States; Women -- United States -- Biography
For weeks did it haunt their slumbers while tossing upon the treacherous
deep. And it came not alone; for with it were fair visions of parents,
home, brothers, and sisters, joyous childhood and youth, and everything
they had known at home floated in vivid pictures before them touching them
as by the fairy pencil of the dream-angel.
The voyage was a protracted one. But the close relationship into which they
were brought served to knit together the bonds of Christian fellowship, and
inspire them with a oneness of purpose in carrying out their noble
enterprise. Immediately on arriving at their field of labor they entered on
their first work, viz.: that of establishing communities. In that
almost unbroken wilderness, cabins were erected, the ground prepared for
tillage, and steps were taken towards the building of a saw and grist-mill.
The Indians were conciliated, and a mission-school for their instruction
was established. The party received constant accessions to their numbers as
the months rolled away, and opened communication with the other
mission-colonies in the territory.
During the summer the ladies divided their labors; the school of Indians
was taught by Miss Johnson; Miss Downing (now Mrs. Shepherd) attended to
the cutting, making, and repairing of the clothing for the young Indians,
as well as these for the children of the missionaries; Mrs. White and Miss
Pitman (now Mrs. Jason Lee) superintended the domestic matters of the
little colony.
In September, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, three daughters, and Mr. Perkins the
_fiancé_ of Miss Johnson, joined them. The family was now enlarged to
sixty members. Dr. and Mrs. White removed into their new cabin--a mile
distant. Here ensued a repetition of trials, privations, and hardships,
such as they had already endured in their former habitation.
Their cabin was a rude affair, scarcely more than a shanty, without a
chimney, and with only roof enough to cover a bed; a few loose boards
served for a floor; one side of the house was entirely unenclosed, and all
their cooking had to be done in the open air, in the few utensils which
they had at hand.
One by one these deficiencies, with much toil and difficulty, were
supplied; a tolerably close roof and walls shielded them measurably from
the autumn tempests; a new chimney carried up about half the smoke
generated from the green fuel with which the fireplace was filled; the
hearth, made of clay and wood-ashes, was, however, a standing eyesore to
Mrs. White, who appears to have been a notable housewife, as it did not
admit of washing, and had to be renewed every two or three months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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