Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

INGIIAM TOWNShIPI AND ITS HISTORY

417

changed with each other goods in their line. My senior brother
had started to go for some work that we were promised. Cold
weather was coming on and the mornings were getting pretty
frosty. At that time the forest was only cleared about sixty rods
north of the house which at this time stands upon the same farm.
On his way my brother saw a large bear and the bear reared upon
his hind legs and brother called the dog and spatted his hands
until the bear turned to go away and then he took leg bail for
home. I suppose if ever a boy was frightened it was he. From
this point the forest was unbroken for a distance of about two miles,
being guided only by marked trees for the highway. I can remember seeing corpses drawn by oxen to the school house for the
funeral ceremonies as there was not a church in the land. The
dwellings consisted of only one room. The first stove I ever saw
was brought in by a man by the name of Webster, who came
through the country peddling them. He had two of them and
my father traded him a yoke of oxen for the two, keeping one and
selling the other one.
Another bit of my early recollections perhaps may be of interest to you. I have a very distinct recollection of the days
when a teacher of the public schools was barred from a certificate
if he was unable to make a writing pen from a goose quill and the
scholars were supposed to roam the pastures where the geese were
kept and gather the quills after being shed by the geese. Another
little incident that occurred to me at the age of about five or six
was connected with the first horse my father ever owned. This
horse became the dam of a little colt, and my father not having
sufficient land cleared for pasture he procured pasture for her in a
field adjacent to the school house where I attended school, being
one mile from our home. Being anxious to exhibit my father's
little colt, it at that time being a very rare specimen of that race,
I invited my little comrade to go with me to see it. Of course
I was leading, and upon nearing old Sake, that being her name,
came to protect her young knocking me down and otherwise
bruising my back to such an extent that Mr. R. W. Whipple,
seeing it, came running to my rescue and carried me into his
house and administered the care I needed. Mr. Whipple was then
living in a log house standing where the school house now stands