on we got was that they had "Ridden
the goat."

Father had told brother Abner wonderful stories about the country he was
intending to take us to and one was that "sleds grow on trees" and he
should have one when we got there. He did not forget. Maybe he was
reminded, but some time before one Christmas day daddy brought home two
strips of wood that he said could be bent into the shape he wanted it.
It took some time and I do not know whether brother suspected what was
coming until his own frame sled was brought to him, all completed but
the steels--they came later. So he can claim having had the first real
coaster, for the other boys had only board runners or barrel staves.

The mills (now burned) new then, with two upright saws, the people were
as proud of as they are now proud of all the fine mills in Minneapolis.
Ard Godfrey had reason for feeling proud. He had the management of the
building of the first mill dam across the Mississippi River, had stood
waist deep in its waters, half days at a time with his men to accomplish
this work. He was owner to not over one-seventh and not less than
one-tenth interest in the Mill Co. business--was agent for Franklin
Steele, of whom he always spoke with the greatest respect. I can realize
that he was a very busy man during the time he served there and that he
needed the rest and quiet he found afterward in his Minnehaha home.

Our first nearest neighbors were Mrs. Marshall with her two sons, Wm. R.
and Joseph, and her daughter, Rebecca. Their store was the first started
in our neighborhood until John G. Lennon built his a little later. Mrs.
Marshall impressed me when she said to my mother that "If one of her
sons was foolish enough to get into a fight and get whipped she would
whip him again when he came home." I thought of her in after years when
I heard people speak of Wm. R. Marshall while he was Governor of
Minnesota. Once on our first acquaintance, my mother sent my brother,
then about six years of age, to Mrs. Marshall for an article from the
store. She gave it to him with the change. The child was so interested
in his play with some boys, he hurried home, gave mother the package and
was hurrying off when she asked him for the change. He said he hadn't
any and from his eagerness to get away she feared he had spent the money
without leave, to treat the boys. I heard her say something about "Not
letting this pass a first time, if it is an act of dishonesty now is my
time,"