o, were a luxury in the West Branch Valley. Although some of
the wills of Fair Play settlers indicate the importance of books by
mentioning them specifically, there was no common library from which the
settlers could draw. However, Fithian's _Journal_ contains a note that
he "reviewed the 'Squires Library"; so we do know of at least one
library in the territory. Its accessibility for most of these pioneers
is, of course, another question.

Frontier art was mainly functional. Its objects were generally the
furniture, the tools and weapons, and the implements of the household.
Individual expressions of creative talent, these items, whether they
were designs on the rifle stock or styles of tableware, were outlets of
artistic demonstration. Probably the most prized and picturesque of the
frontier folk arts was the making of patchwork quilts.[49] Although we
have found no "Fair Play" pattern, we do know that the women of every
frontier household sewed, and, because of the demand for bed quilts,
every scrap was saved for the quilt-making. Colbert's _Journal_ tells of
his dining at one Richard Manning's "with a number of women who were
quilting."[50] Quilting parties were social events in the lives of these
frontier women, and their _objets d'art_ were fully discussed from
patterns and designs down to the intricate techniques of needlecraft.
Perhaps the patchwork quilt is the enduring legacy of frontier folk art.

The music of the frontier was primarily vocal--the singing of hymns and,
possibly, folk songs. Instrumental music was confined to the fiddle,
which one Fair Play settler felt valuable enough to mention in his
will.[51] The fiddle also provided the musical background for the
rollicking reels and jigs which the Scotch-Irish enjoyed so much.[52]
That it was a hard life is certainly true, but it had its happy moments
and music was the source of much of that happiness.

Medical practices throughout the frontier were primitive, to say the
least, and the West Branch Valley was no exception. A diary of a
minister in the Susquehanna Valley around Lancaster provides specific
examples of the purges, blood-letting, and herb concoctions which the
frontier settler endured in order to survive.[53] In spite of the
liberal use of spirited stimulants, ailing frontiersmen often suffered
violent reactions both from their illnesses and their cures.

Although the Fair Play settlers of the West Branch Valley doubtless had
their own myth