Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

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ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
solitude of this primeval forest always held new pleasures for
us. Oh, those Sunday mornings in spring! To use the language
of another:
Oh, show me a place like the wildwood home,
Where the air is fragrant and free,
Where the first pure breath of morning comes
With a gush of melody;
Where noon lies down in the breezy shade
Of the glorious forest bowers,
And the little birds from a sunny glade
Sit nodding among the flowers!
Our mother wanted us to go to Sunday school, so on Sunday
morning, despite the labors of the week, she would be up
earlier than usual in order to get us off in good time. Saturday
night we were bathed, our shoes blacked, and our clean
clothing laid out. It seems to me I never saw such fine spring
mornings as came to us in the dear home of our childhood.
As our farm was largely devoted to dairy business, there was
much to be done. The milking in our home's economy was
always supposed to be the duty of the men folk, while after
it was brought to the house the care of the milk belonged to
the women — straining, skimming, emptying and washing
crocks was for the women and girls. As this took much time
in the morning, it was decided that on Sunday mornings we
children should go to our nine o'clock Sunday school as soon
as breakfast was over; and so we would start over the field and,
striking Cook's Woods, take a path which led down an inclined
plane for two miles to the valley of the Mill Creek, where there
was an iron suspension bridge. After crossing this we struck
a nice smooth sidewalk up to the town, where we found other
children flocking to Sunday school. It was quite a little
journey for us, and sometimes we were footsore from our
Sunday slippers having barked our heels.
I do not think we were ever late to Sunday school. About
eleven o'clock was the meeting hour, and father and mother
came down in the carriage, so we rode home, arriving about
two o'clock, very hungry, as you will know. You will also
believe that Sunday was one of the busiest days in the week,