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

62

PIONEER IISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY

With big fur caps and stout brogans
A picture you have of the frontier man.
On the huge backlog of the old fireplace,
Where the crickets crept out and ran a race;
Against the log there could sometimes be found
Our cooking utensils for a background.
No organ then made the edifice tremble
In the old school house where we used to assemble;
But so quiet and meek in garb unpretending,
To worship on Sabbath our way we went wending.
The Sabbath day holy was never revealed
By the church going bell as it solemnly pealed.
And no difference in days did we ever detect
By the cowbell that hung on old Brindle's neck.
The tall oaks were felled by the pioneer's axe,
While in the rough cabins the matrons spun flax,
And jogged the rude cradle and sang lullaby,
While dreaming of plenty to come by and by.
'Mid toils and privations tie band struggled through
More than any can guess the land to subdue.
But the harvest at last in plenty doth yield
For both city and town in the grain laden field.
Now this beautiful land to our sons we transmit;
Will they in their turn improve and till it?
And the next generation, from father to son,
Show us a pure record for what we have done?
Before adjournment it was voted to hold the next annual meeting in Mason.
June 9, 1885, members of Ingham County Pioneer Society met
at Rayner Opera House for its thirteenth annual meeting. The
very elements combined to woo the fellers of Ingham's forests from
their comfortable homes to attend their annual reunion. The
gathering was by far the largest in the history of the society. All
the forenoon the streets were filled with groups of gray-haired
men greeting each other with the exuberance of boyhood. When
the meeting was called to order the house was nearly filled, and
the dinner tickets showed that 160 pioneers from outside the city
had assembled.