 When the American pioneer began to enter the unbroken forests
of Indiana, the Indian beheld his approach with feelings of mingled fear
and dread as the sound of the axe fell ominously upon the Indian ear signaling
a rapidly approaching ruin. In the face of all the dangers from Indian
retaliations, and sometimes in sight of horrible deaths, or thrice horrible
tortures, the pioneer of Indiana pressed forward, with his faithful gun as
a protector, and his axe as an implement of industry, he went forth to do
battle with the forest.
Let us glance at the pioneers of Indiana in the different phases of their
experience, and in the beauty and simplicity of their character.
 The journey from civilization to the forest-home for the pioneer,
with his wife and family, was not among the least of their difficulties.
The route lay, for the most part, through a rough country. Swamps and marshes
were crossed with great exertion and fatigue; rivers were forded with difficulty
and danger; forests were penetrated with risk of captivity by hostile Indiana;
nights were passed in open prairies, with the sod for a couch and the heavens
for a shelter; long, weary days and weeks of tiresome travel were endured.
Perchance the mother and child were seated in a rough farm-wagon, while the
father walked by the side of his faithful team, urging them over the uneven
ground. But they were not always blessed with this means of transportation.
And, in the best cases, the journey westward was a tedious, tiresome, dangerous
one. Often the children sickened by the way, and anxious parents worried
over them in a rude camp, until relieved either by returning health or by
death. If the latter, a father would be compelled to dig the grave for the
body of his own child in a lonely forest. Who shall describe the burial scene
when parents are the only mourners? This is a subject only for contemplation.
After a few sad days, the bereaved ones take up the journey, leaving only
a little fresh mound to mark the sacred spot. But these incidents were not
frequent. Generally the pioneers were blessed with good health, and enabled
to overcome the privations of the forest travel. At night they slept in their
wagon, or upon the grass; while the mules, hobbled to prevent escape, grazed
the prairie around them.
 But the toils and dangers of the pioneer were not ended with
the termination of his journey. Perchance the cabin is yet existing only
in the surrounding trees. But he never falters. The forest bows beneath his
axe; and, as log after log is placed one upon the other, his situation becomes
more cheerful. Already the anxious mother has pointed out the corner for
the rude chimney, and designated her choice in the location of the door and
window. The cabin grows day by day; and at length it is finished, and the
family enters their home. It is not a model home; but it is the beginning
of a great prosperity, and as such is worthy of preservation in history,
on account of its obscurity and its severe economy. But it was a home,
notwithstanding; and I venture the observation, that with all its lack of
comforts, with all its pinching poverty, with all its isolation and danger,
it was often a happy home; and perhaps its growth, in this respect, is not
among the greatest of its accomplishments; yet after all, it has become happier,
as well as wealthier.
 Next to building the cabin-home came the work of preparing
the soil for agricultural purposes. This was a work of no ordinary magnitude.
For miles in every direction, the eye of the pioneer met only a dense forest,
broken here and there by rivers and creeks and small lakes. Dams must be
constructed, and mills erected on these streams; and the forest must be cleared
away to make room for the cornfield. For the accomplishment of these ends,
the pioneer prepares his axe, and day after day he toils on. Tree after tree
bows its lofty top. Log after log is rolled into the stream. Through many
a long, dreary winter's day, with only a log to serve the double purpose
of a chair and table; but, endowed with a spirit of enterprise that knows
no faltering, he toiled steadily on.
 Spring comes, and he goes forth to prepare the patches of ground
for the planter. The team is ready. The father takes his post at the plow;
and the daughter takes possession of the reins. This is a grand scene, --
one full of grace and beauty. This pioneer girl thinks but little of fine
dress; knows less of the fashions; has possibly heard of the opera, but does
not understand its meaning; has been told of the piano, but has never seen
one; wears a dress "buttoned up behind;" has on leather boots, and "drives
plow" for her father. But her situation has changed. Today she sits in the
parlor of her grandson, whose wife keeps house through the proxy of one or
two servants, and whose daughters are flinging their nimble, delicate fingers
over the white keys of a charming Chickering piano, filling the home with
a melody that has but few charms for the plain old grandmother. Her mind
runs back to the cornfield, to the cabin-home, to the washtub by the running
brook, to the spinning wheel, to toil and danger; and well may she exclaim,
"Oh, wondrous progress! My lite is but a dream." Truly our pioneer mothers
were hard working, honest-thinking women. Out highest praise is but a poor
tribute to their worth.
 The character of the pioneers of Indiana is properly within
our range. They lived in a region of exuberant fertility, where nature had
scattered her blessings with a liberal hand. Their liberties, the vastness
of their inheritance, -- its giant forests, its broad prairies, its numerous
rivers, - the many improvements constantly going forward, and the bright
prospect for a glorious future in everything that renders life pleasant,
combined to deeply impress their character, to give them a spirit of enterprise,
an independence of feeling, and a joyousness of hope. They were a thorough
combination and mixture of all nations, characters, languages, conditions,
and opinions. There was scarcely a nation in Europe, or a State in the Union,
that was not represented among the early settlers. The much greater proportion
of the emigrants from Europe were of humbler classes, who came here from
hunger, poverty and oppression. They found themselves here the "joy of
ship-wrecked mariners, cast on the untenanted woods, and instantly became
cheered with the hope of being able to built up a family and a fortune from
new elements."
 The Puritan and the Planter, the German, the Briton, the Frenchman,
the Irishman, the Swede, the Dane and the Hollander, -- each with his peculiar
prejudices and local attachments, and all the complicated and interwoven
tissue of sentiments, feelings, and thoughts that country, kindred, and home
have, -- settled down beside and with each other. All now form one society.
"Men must cleave to their kind, and must be dependent upon each other. Pride
and jealousy give way to the natural yearnings of the human heart for society.
They begin to rub off mutual prejudices; one takes a step, and then the other;
they meet half-way, and embrace: and the society thus newly organized and
constituted is more liberal, enlarged, unprejudiced, and, of course, more
affectionate, than a society of people of like birth and character, who bring
all their early prejudice as a common stock, to be transmitted as an inheritance
to posterity. The rough, sturdy, and simple habits of the early pioneer of
Indiana, living in that plenty which depends only upon God and nature, have
laid broad the foundation of independent thought and feeling.
 The wedding was an attractive feature of pioneer life. For
a long time after the first settlement of the Territory, the people married
young. There was no distinction of rank, and very little of fortune. On these
accounts, the first impression of love generally resulted in marriage. The
family establishment cost but little labor - nothing more. A description
of a wedding in the olden time will serve to show the progress made in society,
as well as preserve an important phase of history. The marriage was always
celebrated at the house of the bride; and she was generally left to choose
the officiating clergyman. A wedding, however, engaged the attention of the
whole neighborhood. It was anticipated by both old and young with eager
expectation. In the morning of the wedding day the groom and his intimate
friends assembled at the house of his father, and, after due preparation,
departed, enmasse, for the "mansion" of his bride. The journey was sometimes
made on horseback, sometimes on foot, and sometimes in farm wagons or carts.
It was always a merry journey; and, to insure merriment, the bottle was taken
along. On reaching the house of the bride, the marriage ceremony took place;
and then dinner or supper was served. After the meal, the dancing commenced,
and generally lasted till the following morning. The figures of the dances
were three and four hundred reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement
was always a square four, which was followed by what the pioneers called
"jigging;" that is, two of the four would single our for a jig, and were
followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often accompanied with what
was called "cutting out;" that is, when either of the parties became tiered
of the dance, on intimation, the place was supplied by someone of the company,
without any interruption of the dance. In this way the reel was often continued
until the musician was exhausted.
 About nine or ten o'clock in the evening, a deputation of young
ladies stole off the bride, and put her to bed. In doing this, they had to
ascend a ladder from the kitchen to the upper floor, which was composed of
loose boards. Here, in this pioneer bridal chamber, the young, simple-hearted
girl was put to bed by her enthusiastic friends. This done, a deputation
of young men escorted the groom to the same apartment, and placed him snugly
by the side of his bride. The dance still continued; and if seats were scarce,
which was generally the case, "every young man, when not engaged in the dance
was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls; and the offer
was sure to be accepted." During the night's festivities, spirits were freely
used, but seldom to great excess. The affair was held on the following evening,
when the same order of exercise was observed.
 The "bee" was another distinguishing and interesting feature
of pioneer life. The first settlers were alone, and had to build their cabins
as best they could; but, when the people were sufficiently numerous, the
cabin was nearly always raised by a "bee," or "frolic." The latter is a very
old but significant term. We will now suppose that a young couple has been
married. They are about to settle down on their own account. A spot is selected
on a piece of land for their habitation. A day is appointed for the commencement
of the building of the cabin. The fatigue party, consisting of the choppers,
fells the trees, and cuts them in proper lengths. This done, a man with a
team hauls them to the place, and arranges them properly assorted. Another
party selects the proper materials for the roof; and still another prepares
the puncheons for the floor. The materials all on the ground, the raising
takes place. The first thing to be done is the election of four corner men,
whose business it is to notch and place the logs. The rest of the company
does the lifting. The cabin being finished, it was generally "warmed" by
a good "breakdown," or dance. With the use of liquor, these "warmings" were
always full of spirit and hilarity.
 Going to the mill was quite an undertaking with the pioneer.
It was, perhaps, two or three days' journey to the mill, more or less, in
proportion to the situation and growth of the neighborhood. Sometimes a pair
of oxen, attached to a two-wheeled cart, carried the farmer and his grain
on this journey; but frequently he went on horseback, with the bag of grain
across the horse's back, before him. This was a tedious way of transporting
grain to the mill; but his return was anxiously waited for by the mother
and children, all suffering, it maybe, from the scarcity of flour. There
are some recollections of "going to mill" that bring with them vivid pictures
of weary, watchful nights, when the father did not return as promised and
expected, being delayed either by the number of "grists" before him, or the
impassable conditions of the roads, or "traces." Those were the dismal, desolate
phases of pioneer life, when the darkness closed in upon the anxious mother
and crying children; when the winds beat upon the rude cabin, bringing to
their ears unwelcomed sounds, laden with the dying howls of starving wolves;
when hunger pressed heavily upon helpless women and children.
 The years passed on, and the pioneers continued their toils,
submitted patiently to their hardships, until the light of civilization and
prosperity dawned upon them in open cornfields, waving in harvest luxury,
or in neat, comfortable dwellings, that were raise by the site of the cabin
homes. But his dawn is rapidly approaching the high noon of prosperity. In
place of the ever-winding "trace," the iron rail may now be seen, and for
the old-fashioned two-wheeled cart we have the powerful locomotive. The scene
has been completely changed. The forests have disappeared, or are rapidly
disappearing, and being supplanted by cultivated fields. On every hand we
may behold evidences of this great transformation. Let us thank God and praise
the pioneers of Indiana for what has been accomplished, and, having the promises
already fulfilled in our eyes, continue in the industry and perseverance
for which we have had so glorious an example. |
