Told by the Pioneer's - Washington Secretary of State

Told by the Pi(":rIeers
Each family was to have a window. I will tell you what we did, and I
presume others did the same. Father thought to make mother a cozy
eorner. While he had been waiting for his"ship to come" he had
tanned a large dun and white ox hide for a rug. He had also made
mother a workstand with a drawer in it, putting a piece of brass
around the knobs as a finishing touch. He built a corner cupboard by
the fireplace.
W'ith pleased astonishment on our faces we entered the room. \Ve
saw through the garden fence, every log and stump was filled with
wondering Indians. After the smaller children had admired the room,
father called the Indians in to see the wonderful things. They pressed
their ugly faces against the window pane, making them far more ugly.
~fother now took some of the precious window glass and made some
mirrors, by taking old worn out black shawls and tacking them smoothlyon
boards, placing the glass on the black shawl and then fastening
it in place. She made one for each of the girls' rooms.
The girls now made some curtains with small fringes for the bright
colored couch that stood against the wall. The wall was covered with
bro,','11 Indian mats with borders of brown and yellow. On the mantle
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was the fish oil lamps. Father thought we must have a clock to set between
the lamps and as our little community increased to twelve families
he sent bv return vessel for a clock for each familv. We had some
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dreadful soap. It was not like the scented laundry soap of today, but
the old barred, sticky rosin soap that ,'..as our toilet soap. \Ve were
very highly delighted. \Ye had never seen any soap except the dark
colored ill-smelling kind our mother made, although mother made it
,veaker for toilet purposes and tried to scent it with sweet smelling
roots and barks. The children who had delicate skins were almost
flayed with it. Our nurse made ns do most anything by promising not
to use soap when bathing us. \Vhen it came near winter, father tanned
some leather and hired an old friend to make some shoes. Although
they were not handsome they were durable. The shoes outgrown by
the older children were next worn by the younger ones. We wore mocassins
in the summer. \Ve were always pleased to hear that emigTants
were coming. Mother wonld often ride half a day taking some of us
children with her to meet them, each carrying a sack of vegetables,
which the hungry emigrants were always glad to see. Oftentimes
teasing her to take money for them, she always declined, saying, "You
will do me a favor by keeping the mOlle~' and giving me patterns of
anything you have." These patterns served the whole neighborhood.
Of course they were altered and changed, but we were always neatly
clad, if not in the latest styles.
Some of the people thong'ht the Indians would fight and some
of
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