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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY 83
my bread, I'll have t,o chop off your heads!" They put it back Avithout
• a Avord and left. I have seen father iirvite them into the yard and treat
them to bread and gingerbread and they Avould sit on the grass and
eat it.
Milan, at that time consisted of scattered houses AA'ith woods betAveen.
Somethnes'our fires would go out, and Ave Avould have to go to a neighbor's
to get a shovel full of coals. Before Ave reached home they Avould
go nearly out, and needed a good deal of coaxing Avith the bellows to
make them burn. In order to keep fire over night Ave had to bury
the coajs in the ashes in the big fireplace. These fires furnished light
to-read and knit by. It AVIIS a matter of great concern at that time
to my father IIOAV the future generations Avere going to procure fuel,
as those large fireplaces consumed so much Avood. Having heard of
cooking-stoves made of iron, being a great saving of Avood, he sent for
one and had it domiciled in our kitchen. It looked very odious to
our eyes, that great black thing, Avith tAvo holes on top and a little
bit of an oven, and all prophesied' that it Avould be a blank failure, but
it bad come to stay, notAvithstanding i'ts many imperfections for the
stoves have beiljj improved like everything else.
We missed the cheery light AA'hich the blazing fireplace (afforded.
Our lights then consisted of tallow candles made by tAvisting about a
dozen candle \vicks around a stick and dipping them in a large kettle •
of talloAV moderately warm. Have tAvo parallel sticks resting ends
on IAVO chairs or "horses" to hang the candle rods on while they drip
and cool. When cool enough repeat the process of dipping until you
have them the required size. Anyone AVIIO Avished to see good to read
Avould take the candlestick in one hand and their book in the other.'
Our mothers had become such expert knitters from long practice, ahvays
knitting evenings and without much light. The spinning wheel ,.was one
of the necessities of the time and many times I used to watch our neighbor,
.Mrs. AVaggoner, spin her stocking yarn and yarn for cloth. I Avas
as much interested as if she AA'ere playing a piano. At that time Ave had
a chance to buy of a peddler a clock Avhich Avas very beautiful and
Avonderful to me. It AVIIS the first one I had ever seen. I Avas eight years
old. It AVIIS set on the high mantel above the fireplace and is still ticking
in the same house, and in my granddaughter's possession. It has been
a silent listener to many stories told by pioneers,' IIOAV tAvo uncles and
1 heir Avives, one with two children and the other'one, came from Nor­
Avalk, Connecticut, January, 1816. They came AVMI tAvo horse teams
and one N ox team and Avere three .months on the AVay, camping out nights.
This side of Buffalo, Avhere Fredonia IIOAV is, the children and one aunt
were taken sick Avith dysentery. Each family lost a child with it. Their
oxen AA'ere droAvned and baggage lost or soaked in attempting to cross
Catarraugus Creek on the ice. Their physician thought their illness Avas
brought about by sleeping in rooms Avhore they A/ere drying their
Avet baggage.
They finally reached their neAV homes in a double log house, built
on the old state road, north of Ailing's Corners, and in comparatively