The way was easy for his ownership of the land and the cabin. Prices for
cleared land, around the middle of the last century, ranged from
twenty-five cents to five dollars an acre.
In the valley the father never talked to the son of the dignity of
labor. Much was to be done and everyone labored and thought of it as but
the proper use of the sunlight of a day.
Their life was primitive, rugged, but contented. Deer and bears were in
the mountains, and wild turkeys were to be found in large flocks, while
the cry of wolves added zest to the whine of a winter wind.
A cook-stove was an unknown luxury, and the women prepared their meals
in the open fireplace. The men cut their small grain with a reap-hook
and threshed it beneath the hoofs of horses.
The mode of life made men of strong convictions and deep feelings. But
those feelings were seldom expressed except under the influence of
religious devotions.
The ministers were all circuit riders and venerated leaders of the
people of the mountainsides. They traveled the mountains on horseback,
constantly exposed to hardships, and they labored devoutly without
consideration of the personal cost. It was the custom for these
itinerant ministers to give free rein to their horses and read as they
rode the mountain-paths, stopping for a prayer at every home they
reached.
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