History of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens.

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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
geois, laboring men, were gone; my work was (light); but it being too early in the season for me to start, I amused myself profitably in going out daily shooting pigeons for my pot. As my larder had nothing but hulled corn, tallow, and a small quantity of salt pork; this latter was kept as a luxury for rainy days, when the feathered tribe were permitted to rest.
As I had seen my dear mother make croxen- yoles or curly cakes, of which I was very fond, so I thought I would try my hand at it. I ac¬ cordingly procured two pounds of flour, put it into a wooden bowl, not over scoured, after fish, poured in cold water, not too much, lest I should drown and lose my flour, adding a little salt, and handled it until to fancy it appeared to be first rate dough. My next care was to clean the pot of cobwebs, and put it over the fire witb a good lot of tallow, which, by the way, had no small share ot musty smell about it; but this, I thought would evaporate by the heat. While this heating process was going on, I busied my¬ self in cutting up my beautiful dough into all kinds of fancy shapes, cats, dogs, snakes, mice, etc. These effigies I now committed to their hot bath; and in a few seconds they were so nicely browned that my mouth fairly watered to overflowing, and I could wait no longer for a taste. I found the fork rather dmll, so scooped them out with a wooden ladle. On their touch¬ ing the cold plates, to my horror, though refined by the action of the fire, the tallow became as hard as a candle. To eat my fine looking cakes was impossible, as they had become hard and tough as sole leather. However, I gave them to the men, who dissolved them in their next choice corn cooking; and thus ended my cake frying for all time to come.
My path to the pigeon ground lay immedi¬ ately past a notary public's door, and I had no¬ ticed sweet faces peering at the nice, hand¬ some young sportsman as he passed daily with his gun. At length Iwas watched on my return; a young widow lady, standing in the door, as I touched my hat, said:   "You appear to be a
stranger? " I replied: "Yes; just from Mon¬ treal." ''Will you walk in and rest yourself?" "No, I thank you, I must give the men their corn." "Whenever," said she, "you feel lonely we shall be glad to see you." I thanked her for her kindness. The notary's hopeful son called upon me and confirmed the invitation.
The next day my best Montrealers saw the light and got an airing, fitted for an after¬ noon's call. No pains were spared to prove that I was recently from civilized society. At 4 o'clock I was formally introduced by the no¬ tary's son to his aged father, ditto mother, his widowed sister, Mrs. La Frambois, his other sisters and Miss Cowan. The engage of the latter's father was killed by an Indian, who was taken for his trial to Kingston, on board the schooner Speedy, Capt. Paxton, when she foun¬ dered, and all on board were lost, judges, law¬ yers and all. I, of course, remained to tea, and in the evening a "hop" was gotten up. This kind of fun was kept up almost daily during the remaining ten days of my stay. My canoe was at length ready, and I took a run up for good bye. I did not join in the general boo-hoos, but I felt pretty badly.
I have, perhaps, got ahead of my story, as I ought to have said that, having departed from Mackinaw, I was now on a coasting jour¬ ney on Lake Michigan, exposed to storms, or calms, or burning suns, and eighty leagues of uninhabited wilderness to travel before I could reach Green Bay, or see any but savage faces. Tenting, sleeping, etc., were the same as on Grand river ; certainly the air had improved— whether caused by the wide expanse of water, I cannot positively affirm ; but I am of the opinion that the influence of the hulled corn on the human system produced a less repugnant feeling to the nasal organs.
After many days rowing, sailing and storm¬ bound, I landed at Green Bay, where were about a dozen settlers, scattered within the limits of, perhaps, four miles—little farmers, none cultivating   more  than  five acres,  their