Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 34 December 1886 to May 1887 . old days, at a gather-ing of the early settlers of this part of old gentleman gave so good a pictureof those ])rimitive times, which Avill nev-er again be repeated in any section of this THE CITY OF CLEVELAND. 571 country, that I am tempted to transcribesx portion of Ijis experiences. Said tlie old gentleman: The boys andgirls who weie predisposed to matrimonyused to sit up together on Sunday nights,dressed in tiieir Sunday clothes. Theyoccupied usual ly a corner of the only fam-ily room of the cabin, while the bed of


Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 34 December 1886 to May 1887 . old days, at a gather-ing of the early settlers of this part of old gentleman gave so good a pictureof those ])rimitive times, which Avill nev-er again be repeated in any section of this THE CITY OF CLEVELAND. 571 country, that I am tempted to transcribesx portion of Ijis experiences. Said tlie old gentleman: The boys andgirls who weie predisposed to matrimonyused to sit up together on Sunday nights,dressed in tiieir Sunday clothes. Theyoccupied usual ly a corner of the only fam-ily room of the cabin, while the bed of theold folks occupied the opposite corner,with blankets suspended around it for so as to produce a slight imrental hackingcough. All this accords, in a great de-gree, with my own experience.* Then the ancient patriarch related hisown courtship, told how he courted a girlof the true Plymouth Rock stamp, wholived twenty miles away. As the courseof true love never did run smooth, hermother objected to the match, and thoughhe pleaded with her most pathetically, she. ROLLING-MILL. curtains. About eight oclock the young-er children climbed the ladder in thecorner, and went to bed in their bunksunder the garret roof; and about an hourlater father and mother retired behindthe blanket-curtains, leaving the spark-ers sitting, at a respectful distance apart,before a capacious wood-fire-place, andlooking thoughtfully into the cheerfulflame, or perhaps into the future. Thesparkers, however, soon broke the silenceby stirring up the fire with a woodenshovel or poker, first one and then theother, and every time they resumed theirseats, somehow the chairs manifested un-usual attraction for closer contiguity. Ifchilly, the sparkers would sit close to-gether to keep warm; if dark, to keep thebears off. Then came some whispering,with a hearty smack, which broke thecabin stillness and disturbed the gentlebreathing behind the suspended blankets, refused to melt worth a cent. Then hewent about for a


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Keywords: ., bookauthorvarious, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1887