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

CHAPTER XII
HOME BUILDING IN MINNESOTA
I HOSE were busy days before my wedding, for
the time at home was short. Mother had made
me twenty-five yards of rag carpet, together
with new quilts, and my clothes were ready
before we returned to the farm. Father gave
us a hundred dollars for a start, and mother and
I went to the city to buy my housekeeping out-
fit. I remember the bright spring morning, the clear, cool
air, the unusual sights and sounds. The booming of cannon
from the garrison at Newport could be distinctly heard as it
arose from the valley to the lofty hills waUing in Cincinnati,
announcing the disturbance of our country throughout its
vast stretches. It was but a short time after that, April 15,
1861, when President Lincoln made the call for seventy-five
thousand volunteers and that April day more than fifty years
ago I expect to remember through my remaining years. I
saw the very spirit of war the day we went in to buy my wedding
dishes. Ten thousand soldiers were parading and drilling
in the narrow streets, making travel almost impossible.
I saw the Highlanders in their bonnets and plaids, with
their short stockings showing the bars of the tartan of their
clan. They were in full uniform, which disclosed their bare
knees in contrast with their plaid stockings. How their bagpipes
echoed down the streets! The Guthrie Grays and
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