ocalities the added work of teaching the children
fell to the mothers, and the home lessons given around the fireplace,
heaped with glowing logs, were the only ones possible for many boys
and girls. It is of particular interest to note how often learning and
housekeeping went hand in hand in the first homes of this new country.
The few lines following are extracts from the diary of a busy Indiana
housewife of the period preceding the Mexican War, and show how fully
occupied was the time of the pioneer woman:

"November 10th. To-day was cider-making day, and all were up at
sunrise."

"December 1st. We killed a beef to-day, the neighbours helping."

[Illustration: CONVENTIONAL ROSE

A very striking pattern, made in Indiana about 75 years
ago. Colours: red, pink, and green]

[Illustration: CONVENTIONAL ROSE WREATH

This "Wreath of Roses" design has been in use for over
100 years. Colours: red, green, pink, and yellow]

"December 4th. I was much engaged in trying out my tallow. To-day I
dipped candles and finished the 'Vicar of Wakefield.'"

"December 8th. To-day I commenced to read the 'Life of Washington,'
and I borrowed a singing book. Have been trying to make a bonnet. The
cotton we raised served a very good purpose for candle-wicking when
spun."

In the Middle West, without friendly cooperation, the lot of the
pioneer would have been much more difficult than it was. Julia
Henderson Levering tells of the prevalence of this kindly custom in
her interesting "Historic Indiana": "The social pleasures of the
earliest days were largely connected with the helpful neighbourhood
assistance in the homely, necessary tasks of the frontier. If a new
cabin was to be built, the neighbours assembled for the house raising,
for the logs were too heavy to be handled alone. When a clearing was
made, the log rolling followed. All men for miles around came to help,
and the women to help cook and serve the bountiful meals. Then there
were corn huskings, wool shearings, apple parings, sugar boilings, and
quilting bees."

About 1820 a new channel of commerce was opened to the inhabitants of
the Ohio Valley, in the advantages of which every household shared.
This was the establishing of steamboat and flatboat communication with
New Orleans. From out of the Wabash River alone over a thousand
flatboats, laden with agricultural products, passed into the Ohio
during the annual spring rise on their way to the seap