oon into them.
It was not long till we were completely lost, and naturally wandered
the wrong way, not thinking to observe the sun and consider our course.
So, when we did not put in an appearance, the whole neighborhood was
aroused, and several hours of excitement followed before we were found.
My sister Bettie, two years my senior, was captain of this expedition.

In the spring of 1841 my father bought a farm of one hundred and twenty
acres, lying about three miles southwest from La Grange. Most of the
land was poor, and the "improvements" equally so. The house was a hewed
log cabin about 18x20 feet, with clap-board roof held down by weight
poles, and the walls "chinked" with mud. It had a large fire-place at
one end, and a chimney made of slats and mortar, familiarly known as a
"stick" chimney. The only window was paneless, with a solid shutter
hung on leather hinges, propped up with a stick, except when it was
wanted down. The floors above and below, were of broad lumber, and laid
loose. The door, when closed, was fastened with a big pin. A narrow
porch ran along the front, connecting with another at one end of the
house, between it and the kitchen. This was large and of the same style
of architecture as the house, but what that style was would puzzle any
one to tell. These two rooms and porches, with the smoke-house and
hen-house, constituted the "improvements" in that line. The
out-buildings were stables and a crib, of round logs. The fences were
all of rails, and inferior in kind. "Bars" and "slip-gaps" supplied the
place of gates in some places, and in others the fences had to be often
pulled down for lack of such conveniences. A fine spring gushed from
the foot of a hill, one hundred yards in front of this humble abode.
The location of dwellings, in that age and country, was determined
almost exclusively by springs. Every other consideration yielded to
this.

Here we took up our abode in a home of our own in the spring of 1841,
as above stated. The farm was afterwards enlarged by other purchases,
and the original still remains in the family. The poverty of the soil,
its tendency to produce briars, its large amount of heavy timber, with
the clearing necessary to be done, made it a place specially favorable
for the cultivation of industry. My father was one of those men who
never ran short of work; he always had plenty of it for himself and the
whole family. Recreation was almost unknown, and we had hardly rest