Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois Bill Oliver 3 November 2002 Vol 1 Issue: #10 ISSN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, Two earthquakes today — one in Alaska and one in northwestern Nebraska. Sicily didn't fair as well. In northwestern Ohio it was a nice fall day. There was frost on the ground this morning and the leaves rained off the trees. So following Church and a bite to eat, the two youngest grandchildren, four and six, joined ole Poppy for a romp in the leaves. I took that modern tool, the blower, and blew leaves at them and over them, almost burying them. They giggled and I roared with laughter. They jumped into and ran through the leaves, then grabbing huge armfuls they threw them at me running away in glee. Six decades or so ago a ten year old would have to spend half the day raking the leaves to have such fun. A hundred fifty or two hundred years ago, they probably didn't rake the leaves into piles on the frontiers of America. Two hundred years ago a ten to fifteen year old boy would probably wake because the soap stone would have cooled down and the blanket tent over him would begin to exchange the warmth of his body with the cold pressing on that cover. The days clothes laid under the covers at the foot of the bed would be grabbed and a dash would be made to the barn before the cold could catch up with you. There where the livestock were kept, a cow or ox would be disturbed of its place and the warm flat place it left would be the dressing place. Next, the fire in the hearth would be rekindled and the living quarters would again become warm and radiant with light. When a cabin was first built, windows were probably cut but covered with shutters that would let in no light if closed. Later they might cover these windows with oiled paper but that didn't let much light into the room. Yankee ingenuity utilized the bottoms of glass bottles and though they were good for protection against arrows and sometimes gunshot, they didn't let in much more light, because they were dark colored glass. A precious item would be glass panes. Glass two hundred years ago would have been hand made with air bubbles and various thickness making the glass wavy. Looking through the glass objects look different than without the glass. When a family obtained glass for windows you can be sure that they were fashioned into windowframes with the care and skill of an artist. Often a cabin would only have two windows of glass, one with six panes and one with four panes of glass. This was to save the family from paying the "glass" tax. Families were allowed ten panes of glass tax free. It was natural to take your glass with you when you moved to the next house. Well, that's civilization for you ... tax accessors even out in the wilderness. First cabins didn't always have wooden floors. They had plain dirt ones. The earth would be pounded hard and they would be swept smooth daily. When guests were expected, the housewife might sweep it carefully and then use her artistic talents and scratch a design in the manner of a fancy rug. Why they might even tailor the design to the season or holiday, much as we do with our websites today. I would imagine that the first skill taught a frontier boy would be the value of an axe. He would be taught safety; to lay the blade toward the wall or sink it deep into a piece of soft wood. In very cold weather the axe blade would be warmed to make it less brittle. Whether the handle was straight or curved would depend on when it was made. Handles were straight before the middle of the 19th century. The loft in a cabin was the warmest place for sleeping because heat rises of course. To reach the loft some type of climbing instrument had to be constructed. There were pegs in supporting beams, but usually only in barns. There were notched logs; and rectangular holes cut into planks. And, then there were split pole ladders. Moving large rocks was a lesson in physics and geometry besides the skill of handling animals. A sled would be made to drag the rock to where you wanted it. To get the rock onto the sled a post would be set into the ground next to the rock. Then a beam would be placed behind the rock and in front of the post. The long end would be attached to an farm animal and the principle of fulcrum and lever would be applied to move the rock. Six decades ago, I would get off to myself and read such books as the Leatherstocking Tales and place myself into the times and places of the characters. Vicariously I would live in those times with only the tools that these folks had. It was a lot of fun, it gave me mental exercises, it taught me to appreciate the many beautiful surviving items made by the artists [craftsmen]; the coopers, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc. They were artists. And, all this would bring me back to today and I would so appreciate that I have the "blower" to blow leaves at my grandchildren. Wado, Bill -- Notes: Link to Archived Articles http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/ Little Egypt Heritage articles will be posted on Sunday evening on the SOIL-L@rootsweb.com ILJackso-L@rootsweb.com ILJohnso-L@rootsweb.com ILMassac-L@rootsweb.com