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

I40 ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
return the completed work. This brought to the handsome
girls quite enough to buy the pretty and dainty garments they
loved to wear. That Van Zandt home was indeed a hive of
industry. I recall being there one afternoon till late, and I
observed that as the sun was going down the girls all at the
same instant began to fold up their work, and with one accord
commenced to dress themselves for the barn; and putting on
large aprons and sunbonnets and turning up their skirts, they
were off with their shining pails to milk while their mother
took care of the biennial baby.
The large front yard of the Van Zandt home was set out
to cherry trees of a fine variety — what a picture it was in
springtime, snow-white with bloom, and then in midsummer
red and yellow and black with luscious cherries! There the
httle girls and the two boys picked the fruit by the bushel,
which was taken to the city and sold for a good price. Fine
preserves were made for that good table they set, too, and the
apple butter and jelly the busy hands made were first-class.
This home was a good example of the most excellent thrift.
Mr. Van Zandt was a professional weaver, and of course had
his own weave shop. I used to love to go in and get thrums
(ends of weavers' threads) to knit garters, which were quite
the vogue in those days, and knitted ones were the only ones
we knew.
On that same Winton Road where lived the Van Zandts,
the Browns, and other of our neighbors yet to be mentioned,
was to be found one of father's old and tried friends, James
McCash, and his wife Betsy. Their prominent characteristics
were honesty, industry, and the thrift that brings an evident
prosperity. He always filled an important position in the
church, to which he gave his strong devotion, being an elder
of great zeal and efficiency. As a family we should remember
him with gratitude, for when our father was but a blind boy,
eager for knowledge and so terribly handicapped, "Uncle
Jimmie" was his friend and sympathizer, as we have related
in another chapter. This understanding friendship came at
a time when the average settler in a new country had little
time to give attention to other matters than the clearing of