NO better class of citizens has ever lived in Shelby county, or ever will live in Shelby county, than the early settlers; the Rasey’s, the Hall’s, the Pugh’s, the Corley’s, the Rhoades’, the Wakefield’s, the Small’s, the Middlesworth’s, the Gollier’s, the Yant’s, the Smith’s, the Warren’s, the Whitfield’s, the Neal’s, the Killam’s, the Douthit’s, and many others that we could name, who were just as good. The writer feels proud of the memory of such people, and while the most of them have passed away, we thank God that such men and women have lived in the world to make our pathway brighter, and make the world better. And where you find one of those early settlers you find a man whose love for his friends can hardly be severed; a love so true, so deep, so loyal, so God-like that if they possessed no other good trait that one trait alone makes them noble.
[Going Back.]
NOTWITHSTANDING the many disadvantages of the pioneer life, there was a charm in it which none can describe; and an old man who was here in early days almost feels like he wants to go back and live his boyhood days over in the wild new country, where everything was so near like nature formed it; he wants to see the wild animals gallop over the hills; he wants to hear the howl of the wolf; he wants to hear the cry of the hounds when pursuing the deer or the wolf; he wants to hear the gobble of the wild turkey in the spring-time; he wants to see the prairies covered with wild flowers of all colors; he wants to hear the crack of the rifle that brings down the deer or turkey; he wants to hear the “pop” of the whip as the “big brother” comes up the hill with his two yoke of faithful cattle and their big load of hickory wood; he wants to hear the thud of the flax-brake and the hum of the spinning wheel.
Oh! carry us back to the plain simple life
In the log cabin, let us see
The roaring log fire in the big fireplace