wheat in such plenty that Indian corn
was cultivated chiefly for provender, although they found the
_voyageurs_ glad to buy it as they passed back and forth on their
adventurous journeys. The remains of their houses show how
substantially they built; two or three modern sudden houses could be
made out of one old French picketed and porticoed cottage.

The appearance of an Illinois settler in those days was rather
picturesque than elegant,--substance before show being the principle
upon which it was planned. While the Indian still wore his paint and
feathers when he came to trade, the rural swain appeared in a _capote_
made of blanket, with a hood that served in cold weather instead of a
Leary, buck-skin overalls, moccasins of raw-hide, and, generally, only
a natural shock of Sampsonian locks between his head and the sun;
while his lady-love was satisfied with an outfit not very
different,--save that there is no tradition that she ever capped the
climax of ugliness by wearing Bloomers. There were gay colors for
holidays, no doubt; but not till 1830, we are told, did the genuine
Illinois settler adopt the commonplace dress of this imitative land.
What pity when people are in such haste to do away with everything
characteristic in costume!

Both sexes worked hard, bore rough weather without flinching, and
attended carefully to their religious duties; but, withal, they were
gay and joyous, ready for dance and frolic, and never so anxious to
make money that they forgot to make fun.

What must the ghosts of these primitive Christians think of their
successors, ploughing in broadcloth and beaver, wading through the mud
in patent-leather boots, and all the while wrinkled with anxiety,
gaunt with ambition, and grudging themselves three holidays a year!

Immigrants in time changed the character of the population as well as
its dress, and for a while there seems to have been something of a
jumble of elements, new laws conflicting with old habits, hungry
politicians preying upon a simple people, who only desired to be let
alone, and who, when they discovered some gross imposition, were
philosophical enough to call it, jokingly, being "greased and
swallowed." This anarchical condition resulted, as usual, in habits of
personal violence; and, at one time, an adverse vote was considered
matter for stabbing or gouging, and juries often dismissed
indictments, fearing private vengeance in case of a discharge of their
duty. They made