There were very few sheep in the settlement, and if a settler owned two or three, they had to be protected with the greatest care, watched by the children during the day that they might not stray into the woods, and at night penned near the house in a fold, built very high to secure them from the bears and wolves, which could not always be done.

There were instances of wolves climbing into pens that they could not get out of.  On these occasions they did not hurt the sheep, but were found lying down in a corner like a dog.  It is said that the first thought of a wolf on entering a fold is how he is to get out again; and if he finds that difficult, his heart fails him and he makes little effort.

Wolves were the pests of the country for many years, and, even after they were partially expelled by the settlers, they used to make occasional descents upon the settlements, and many a farmer that counted his sheep by twenties at night would be thankful if he could muster half a score in the morning.

It was flax, the pedlar’s pack, and buckskins that the early settlers had to depend upon for clothing when their first supply was run out.  Deerskins were carefully preserved and dressed, and the men had trowsers and coats made of them.  Though not becoming, they were said to be very comfortable and strong, and suitable to the work they had to do.  Chopping, logging and clearing wild lands required strong clothing.

One part of the early clearing was always appropriated to flax, and after the seed was in the ground the culture was given up to the women.  They had to weed, pull and thrash out the seeds, and then spread it out to rot.

When it was in a proper state for the brake, it was handed over to the men, who crackled it and dressed it.  It was again returned to the women, who spun and wove it, making a strong linen for shirts and plaid for their own dresses.

Almost every thrifty farmhouse had a loom, and both wife and daughters learned to weave.

The pedlar’s pack supplied their little finery, the pack generally containing a few pieces of very indifferently printed calicoes at eight and ten shillings, New York currency, a yard; a piece of book-muslin at sixteen and eighteen shillings a yard, and a piece of check for aprons at a corresponding price; some very common shawls and handkerchiefs, white cotton stockings to match, with two or three pieces of ribbon, tape, needles, pins and horn combs; these, with very little variety, used to be the contents of the pedlar’s pack.

Opening the pack caused much more excitement in a family then than the opening of a fashionable shopkeeper’s showroom does at the present day.

Continued...>

Copyright 1994-2014 John Cardiff and Port Ryerse Environmental and Historical Society

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