Recollections of Early Texas Read Free Page B

prairie, where never a stick of timber had been hewn, and deprived of many things generally regarded as being among the very necessities of life.
    Our absolute need gave birth to invention and energy, however, and all hands—men, women, and children—went to work with a will to make our new quarters as comfortable as possible. When we think of families without houses, wagons, milk, or even nails, far removed from any communications or exchange with the world—when we think of them thus situated, it is natural to wonder what could be done.But it is surprising how much can be done when bone, sinew, and muscle are used with a will upon any material—however meager and insufficient. The change wrought upon the wilderness and the solitary place would have seemed almost like magic work to one who simply looked upon the scene as we came upon it, and then in a few days upon the huts, which stood ready for us to enter. And very comfortable quarters these were—log cabins covered with pine boards, all of which had to be cut, hewn, brought to hand, and built in shape, without wagons, nails, or any kind of machinery.
    The cedar logs were cut with axes and were dragged up with horses, while the pine boards for the roofs were split about a mile and a half distant and then brought up by the men, who carried them on horseback.
    Having completed and taken possession of the cabins, we settled into habits of life no less primitive and destitute of modern advantages than the cozy little huts that sheltered us, and few people of these modern times can imagine the ten thousand difficulties with which we had to contend. Mother, as well as the other wives of those pioneers, must have possessed rare tact and common sense, however, and been willing and ready to adapt herself to all circumstances, for although our home life was destitute of the most common necessities and conveniences, we never seemed to suffer for anything.
    Beginning with bread, it seems difficult to understand how corn could be ground into meal without machinery of some kind; then we had no sieve, and no oven, but our old mortar and pestle was a first-rate grist mill, though very tedious as compared to present processes. Our sieve consisted of a wooden hoop, over which buckskin was stretched, and this in turn was perforated with a red-hot steel or wire. Upon our “Johnny Cake” boards, as they were called, was baked as good bread as was ever taken from oven or stove.Our coffee was tied in a piece of buckskin and beaten upon a rock with another rock.
    As soon as possible corn was planted, for our bread supply was getting very slim, and neither corn nor salt could be obtained nearer than the Brazos River. Once we were out of both, and we were compelled to live a while on dried turkey breast for bread, while our meat was unsalted venison. Our hard life, as is usually the case, was a very healthy one, and we were quite comfortable in our new home, despite all these hardships, and the prospect of Indian attacks staring us in the face.
    Very soon we received our first visit from Indians, which, by the way, was an entirely new experience in our lives—it being the very first time I had seen one of these red men of the woods. I remember full well what a wild picture the band formed—forty Comanches on the warpath under the leadership of the famous “Buffalo Hump,” who was then young, and a magnificent specimen of savage manhood. The warriors were almost without exception large, fine-looking men, displaying to the very best advantage their erect, graceful, well-knit frames and finely proportioned figures, being entirely naked, with the exception of a small apron attached to a belt or girdle, which was made of cloth of all textures and colors, with fringes and tassels at the ends. They had keen black eyes without lashes, and long plaits of coarse black hair hanging from their bare heads down to the very ground behind them. All this peculiarity of