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

146
ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
housekeeping;" no one knew better than she how to keep her
home immaculate, but she was all alone, and sometimes the
hours must have dragged wearily. Her hungry mind was
reaching out to be fed, and someway, and happily, we believe,
there fell into her hands the fiction of the day, such as the
stories of E. P. Roe and others forgotten now; to Aunt Betsy
they were a streak of fortune, and she became a great admirer
of these "best sellers," greatly to the surprise of her younger
friends who related the story to me on one of my visits to
Carthage. In Uncle Jimmie's day all fiction was denounced
and called lies and thought to be of baneful influence, but to
Aunt Betsy it came to fill an emptiness and a longing; and
presenting, as these books did, even the ills of life with a halo
of glory, I fancy they must have given to her the thought of
compensation for sorrow and disappointment, the idea of
community of suffering, and the hope of the final solution of
this life's mysteries grown stronger in her heart.
I wonder if all those fine quilts Aunt Betsy used to exhibit
to us are perished or if anyone thinks now to keep a sort of
tramp room for strange wayfarers. Uncle Jimmie and Aunt
Betsy prepared such a refuge in the upstairs of the frame part
of their house, furnished a bedroom with a coarse but clean
and comfortable outfit with bedding easily washed and always
ready. The Bible Christians of those days made practical
application of the commands of our Lord, and did not neglect
the admonition of this inspired Teacher, "Be not forgetful to
entertain strangers." Any lone man tramping his way through
the country between Hamilton and Cincinnati could find supper,
bed, and breakfast at Uncle Jimmie McCash's. No
hotels were found on that road then, but how kindly was the
free hospitality!
The last years of the fifties, before we left the old Waluut
Tree Farm, were unfortunate in that we met with financial
loss, as did many another in the panic before the war. It was
a great help to us to live so near a good market for all farm
products as was Cincinnati, but the location had its drawbacks
also, from the fact that it was equally convenient for thieves
from the city. We had numerous losses from such undesirable