was not without
its enjoyments. They carried their provisions in a large, round,
wooden box over which closed a round, wooden cover. They also carried
provender for their teams and the only necessary cash expense was a
sixpence each night for lodging. The more sumptuous and less
economical might, if they chose, diminish their exchequer to the
amount of an extra sixpence by indulging in a glass of "flip." Nearly
every farm-house of any pretension on the high road to Albany was a
hotel, so-called, if not in fact. Seated at night within these
primitive hotels, the farmers who had assembled from different parts
told their tales of prowess--some true stories and a good many lies.

Beside the ambitious house that gloried in a daub of red paint and
which had been pushed up to the aristocratic height of one and a half
or two stories, before which flapped in the wind a wide, white board
with the cheerful announcement, "Smith's Inn--Refreshments for Man or
Beast," stood a more modest structure. Brown, unpainted,
unclapboarded, it stood by the wayside. Its log walls were stuccoed
with mud, and in the wide mouth of the doorway was the brawny
housewife, bare-armed, peering from beneath a slatternly red
sun-bonnet, while over the doorway the passer-by read the letters in
red chalk upon a new pine shingle:

+-----------------+
| "CAKES AND BEER |
| FOR SALE HERE." |
+-----------------+

After the farmer had sold or bartered away his wheat or other produce,
he generally returned with a load of goods for the village merchant.

_CHAPTER III._

Prominent among the early settlers of Oneonta was Jacob Dietz, who
removed into the settlement from Schoharie county about the year 1804.
Mr. Dietz was early appointed a justice of the peace, and continued in
office either by appointment or election for a great length of time.
He was active in the affairs of the town and an energetic man of
business. He was a long time in mercantile business, and his store,
which was situated where now stands the brick building occupied by the
First National Bank, was the center of a lively trade for those times.
Mr. Dietz accumulated an extensive estate, and reared a large family
of children. He became the owner of extensive tracts of land, some of
which are now occupied by the streets and residences of the village.
Some of his representatives are now living in the west and are
deservedly esteemed where they reside.

At about the date last menti