CUSTOMS CHANGED -- LUCAS COUNTY, IOWA

GITTINGER

Posted By: David (email)
Date: 1/9/2005 at 22:53:09

The Chariton Leader, Chariton, Iowa
Thursday, June 20, 1907

'Things Are not Like They Once Were in Lucas County.'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Farm life in Lucas County is scarce a semblance of what it once was. Those
who resided in the villages and towns, thirty or forty years ago, were
supposed to have a monopoly on their refinements and comforts of living, but
the opposite is now true. The majority of people who live in towns and
cities eke out a kind of hand to mouth existence and there is a longing for
something they cannot explain -- a dreamed of ease which one never feels --
a suspense and uncertainty. While the farmer works hard, yet he sees ahead
and has the first chance at the products of the land. He rides in his own
carriage and with modern improvements enjoys the health and rest of the
country and conveniences of the centers of population. So our advice to the
boy of today is to steer clear of the uncertainties of town life -- be it
big or little. But with it all country life thirty-five or forty years ago
had its charms and certainly distance has lent its enchantments. When Col.
Ham lectured at the Chautauqua here, last summer, on "The Old South," many,
perhaps, did not realize that there was also an "Old North." Life in Lucas
County is not what it was "befoah the wah," resorting to the southland
dialect -- nor what it was several years later, just prior to the
commercial age." What the slave was to the southern planter, or what the
benevolent institution" was supposed to be -- a resort of patriarchal affair
so was the northern farmer's domestic animals, if you will pardon the
illustration. The cattle and horses and sheep on the farm were a part of
the family and individual members were parted with only through sheer
necessity -- or incorrigibility. Such a system in the "New North" would be
called shiftless, but in the earlier days of Lucas County the thrifty
practiced this play of mercy and affection unto their beasts -- servants of
course, but in some instances harshly dealt with.

The writer's people were as thrifty as the average farmers of the time but
when he was born the same work horses were on the farm that were there when
he had grown up and gone, save by the ravages of time, and the ranks were
filled by their descendents. At this late day we remember "Old Frank," the
loyal blue roan Copper Bottom horse, with a true affection. He was noted
from his ability to follow a row of corn, propelling a double shovel plow,
without ever stepping on a hill, and seemed to take as much interest in the
agricultural operations as the lord of the manor. John Wesley was not
certain but dumb animals had souls. We know if that is the case "Old Frank"
is enjoying the sweets of the seventh Heaven. Then an amalgamated Percheron
breed, Nell and Fan of the Morgan strains, and others.

The Lucas County farmers of thirty-five years ago were not partial to any
particular sire but the stock on the farm showed an ancestry from all breeds
from the Arabian horse, or musk ox to a mountain goat -- just a mixture of
everything, and the pride of ancestry was as little aroused as the quality
of pedigree was enquired after. The cattle on a thousand hills were as
mostly in their appearance as the horses and each one knew its name and
answered when called. Year after year "Old Plot," with the broken horn,
came up regularly in the spring-time with a sickly looking brindle calf, and
the rawboned heifer, some sixteen years of age, never failed to become fresh
in fly time.

These were the characters that stood out prominently in the herd and were
never known to get stuck in the mire of the branch, though each individual
had peculiar characteristics worthy a zoologist's essay. And each sheep was
known by its facial feature through long and familiar association with the
herd. This may seem absurd to the youth of this transitory age but ask the
boy of forty years ago and see if he does not corroborate this statement.
Who of middle age has not worn the blue jeans made out of the wool from of a
certain sheep's back, from the time he first donned the barn door flap of
the domestic tailor to the time he had a pair of yarn galluses and greased
his boots with "taller" in order to look spross at the 'lasses pullin.'

Then is it any wonder that these associations bring fond memories after the
lapse of years, in the worry and bustle of the more modern age?

* * * * * * * * * *

Sheep shearing time is here and then after that suckering the corn. But let
us deal with but one unpleasant thing for a boy at a time. It was a great
occasion and expectation ran high as to how much the fleece on "Spot" would
weigh this year, and it took all hands to hold down the bell wether while he
was relieved of his wool and a good share of hide, as science did not always
prevail in the sheep fold. The buck with the rambling horns, was left for
the last and more carefully tied than any of the rest. All hands hurried to
get through in time to go fishing on Saturday afternoon. And what a happy
time it was. Bait and luncheon and mount -- thence to the sylvan arbored
river, a mile and a half away, and a bountiful catch which added a zest to
the feast on the shores of Galilee, at the breakfast Sunday morning. Or
sometimes excursions would be made up to Mayfield Slough, where nature had
been so lavish in its distribution of worldly bounties and beauty. For
miles in undulating grandeur the prairies stretched forth, on which
thousands of cattle, horses and sheep, the collective herds of the populace
roundabout, fed, selecting the succulent grasses from between the flowers --
today farms and fields of grain. In the distance was the skirting fringe of
foliage and beyond the miles of timberland -- oak and elm, and native groves
-- and a bright, blue sky.

* * * * * * * * * * *

This mode of life was peculiar to all. One had but little advantage over
another and the boy or girl who got "stuck up" had a "hard row to hoe," as
the saying went. But in the midst of this free rollicksome life the social
was not neglected. Often was the cotillion danced under Heaven's canopy and
the way nature's pumps did shuffle, to the tune of a three stringed fiddle,
would make the educated movements of the modern two-step appear awkward --
so free and easy -- and unconventional was the social law. Or sometimes the
homes were invaded and they all "Skipped to Maloo", built bridges and paid
pons," and it is ventured that several boys and girls in Lucas County, of
past middle age now, can be found who might be induced to confess that they
found great delight in that department of carpentery, and have ever had a
fond recollection of the fascinating avocations of youth.

* * * * * * * * * *

These were the good old days in Lucas County -- the classical age of
civilization when the paternal instructor gathered the boys and girls about
the fireside and shelled the corn by hand for the grist, and the babies
built cob houses and toppled them over -- and the razorbacked hog was
sacrificed on the altar of the pork barrel that men might have meat as well
as bread -- and was hung up in the smoke house and the skippers ejected from
his hams. These were in reality feast days and while the menu would not
find its way into print on the bills of fare at the fashionable hotels it
was both wholesome and plenty and those who ate waxed fat and strong -- and
grow hungry sometimes in the memories of yore. Damsels who "pailed the cows
those days are now presiding over fashionable homes in the cities and whose
daughters would look upon a milk skimmer as an engine of disgrace. And boys
who swilled the hogs, suckered the corn and went to mill astride a bag of
cereal, have sons who part their hair in the middle, feed their lady loves
on ice cream with hat pins and talk athletes all day long and dream of
social swims all night. Such is the evolution. Bye-gone days are pleasant
to think of but no one would reverse time and return. The boy and girl of
today perhaps lead a more fashionable life but it is a question after all if
they have the real opportunities for development that was afforded in the
cruder age. In every other respect they are equal, much as some try to
depreciate. There can be yet no retrograde when the youth is directed in
the right channel.
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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
December 18, 2004
iggy29@ rnetinc.net