all degrees were freely opened to the traveller, and the hospitable host invariably declined to receive any remuneration. The beds in the farm-houses were always clean and comfortable, and the meals plentiful and wholesome. Happy the traveller whose fortune it was to come across one of these abodes of real comfort; for there he had an opportunity to see real country life in Illinois. The sun, rising in the early summer at four or five o'clock, would find the farmer's family all astir even at that early hour. The animals were all fed, and the cows milked and sent out to pasture, and at five or six o'clock the family assembled for breakfast. At this meal, large, fat, juicy beef-steaks, potatoes, excellent bread of wheat, of rye, and of corn, delicious butter, and rich milk, with "store coffee" for such as preferred it, constituted the basis of a substantial repast: and fastidious indeed must have been the taste that would not have done justice to it. Breakfast over, the men hied to the fields, to attend to the various avocations of the season. There was prairie land to be ploughed, ditches to be dug for draining the land, seeds to be sown, corn planted, hay to be cut, grain to be cradled, wheat to be threshed, corn to be shelled, colts to be broken, fences to be made, and an endless variety of employments. At noon, a horn loudly blown summoned all hands to dinner. This meal surpassed in profusion the morning repast. Boiled or roast beef, lamb, veal, or mutton, fresh or salt pork, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, beets, and parsneps, formed the staple of the bill of fare. Water alone was drunk, or perhaps milk or cider. Soup was a rare dish, and when made it was usually meagre, tasteless, and without nourishment. The meal concluded with a variety of simple but excellent pies or puddings. The dinner was quickly dispatched, the time spent at table not exceeding half an hour. The intervening time before one o'clock was spent in some cool or shady spot, where, with jovial conversation, the nooning hour passed quickly away. The afternoon labors, commencing at one, terminated at sunset, when a hearty supper, spread with the same profusion as the other meals, restored the strength of the honest sons of toil. The evenings were usually spent by the farmers at their own firesides, in reading the newspapers of the day, or such books as they possessed, or in the instruction of their children. The village "store," however; was an institution by no means neglected by those who lived near enough. This store, which was frequently the post-office also, was furnished with seats. or benches in front of the counters, where as many as twenty men could sit. Every evening these benches would be occupied by a dozen or more of the neighboring farmers, who met here to get their newspapers, hear the news, talk politics, and discuss farming. One more western institution remains to be described; namely, the barbecue. This was usually a compliment to some eminent public man; but was also frequently arranged as a means of affording the people an opportunity to hear both sides of the political questions of the day discussed. A spot of ground was selected, where a prairie was skirted by a grove of timber free from underbush. A platform and rude seats were constructed. Deep trenches were dug in the ground, and large fires made in them. On these beds of coals all sorts of meats were cooked; roast beef, turkeys, chickens, beef-steaks &c. Tables were set provided with everything necessary in profusion. Dozens of barrels of cider were provided, with plenty of tin cups and gourds. The people of all political parties assembled; and not only the men, but the ladies also came. Then, if the barbecue was given as a compliment to some distinguished man, that individual would address the multitude. If it was to be a discussion between two rival candidates to Congress, one of them would speak in the morning, and then, after dinner, his antagonist would reply. These entertainments were free to all; and the presence of the ladies prevented any improper conduct. What has been heretofore said, has had reference to the mode of life in the middle and southern parts of the State. The northern counties were settled by very different people. They were, for the most part, from the New England States, and brought with them, to Illinois, much of sour austerity, gloomy puritanism, and sectional fanaticism. They were chiefly Congregationalists, but many were Presbyterians, some Baptists, and a few Universalists and Unitarians. Many of them were abolitionists of the most bigoted class. The foregoing observations, although written mainly with reference to Illinois, apply with equal truth, for the most part, to Indiana. With the introduction of railroads into all parts of the States came a vast change in the habits of life, manners, and customs of the people. The paths trodden by the footsteps of the Indian and the pioneer settler were broken up, and were crossed and recrossed by the iron track of an advancing civilization. Old things were passing away; all things were to become new. The old hunters were dying; the log-cabin and the old Catholic church were crumbling into ruins; and all the forms and modes of life in old Illinois were passing away, never to return. People in all the Eastern States began to hear of the wonderful fertility of the plains of Illinois and Indiana, and emigrated there by hundreds. It required three weeks of constant travel, even by persons unencumbered with flocks and herds, to reach the prairie land. The author, then a mere child, made the journey in the year 1837. By railroad and canal from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, thence down the Ohio to Cincinnati, thence by stage-coach through Columbus, Richmond, Indianoplis, Terre Haute, and St. Louis. The memory of that journey still remains, but how changed is everything on the route. The wild and uncultivated country, the road here winding along some lonely stream, there stretching in a straight line for miles without a sign of a human habitation, the log-huts of the pioneer settlers, the herds of deer, the tall grass of the prairies waving in the breeze like the billows of the ocean; all these are now gone like an unsubstantial pageant faded, and left not a trace behind. Between us of the year 1868 and Old Illinois there lies a chasm which the prose of the historian can never bridge. Only when we are out on the Grand Prairie, in the month of June, far from the busy hum of men, out of sight of all the works of man's hands, with the bright prairie flowers around us, and no object in view but the vast plain at our feet and the blue sky over our heads, can we realize what Illinois was in 1836. CHAPTER XXIV. THE RAILROADS OF ILLINOIS. IN 1836, the whole country was wild on the subject of internal improvement, and the people of Illinois partook of the prevailing excitement. The legislature passed acts incorporating the following railroad companies: The Illinois Central, to extend Miles. 300 175 240 80 The St. Louis, Wabash and Lake Erie 250 Besides twenty-one other roads; extending, in all, three thousand two hundred and eighty-seven miles. The twenty-one other roads were never built. Mr. Stephen A. Douglas, afterwards the illustrious Senator from Illinois, was at that time a member of the State legislature. He was opposed to any system of internal improvements to which the State of Illinois was to be merely a party. But he favored a plan by which the State was to select some of the most important works, which were to be owned, constructed, and operated by the agents of the State Government. The following resolution, submitted by Mr. Douglas, indicates his policy: |