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(Transcribed by Peggy Barriskill Perazzo, December 2005)

"Recollections of A Busy Life,"
By Eli Fayette Ruggles

H. L. Ruggles & Co., Publishers, (published circa 1904)

Chapter III.

First School.

Education is a natural characteristic of a Ruggles, find them where you
may. But no school for many long miles. This is a result of one day's work
by father. Mrs. Thomas Conkling agreed to teach the children of the
neighborhood at a price named, and the children came to her log house, and
there I learned by a, b, ab's.

One day father said to us boys, "You may do your chores early to-night,
then go and stay all night with Mr. Manley's boys." "Good! Good! we said,
"won't we have fun." We met Mrs. Manley going to our house. Returning next
morning, we met Mrs. Manley and Mrs. Ferdino Olds. "Good Morning, boys,"
and they laughed, "you can't guess what you will find when you get home."
But we started on a run and rushed in at the door, but stopped short. "Oh,
mother are you sick?" "Not very, my boys." "But you are so pale." "Come
here, boys," and she lifted a light covering and there was just the nicest
little baby we ever did see. And mother said, "that is your little sister."
"Sister! we all said at once." "Isn't she nice, though; we never had a
sister before, did we?" The reader may ask, but where is the doctor? No
doctor to be had, and nobody thought it necessary. And this was repeated at
intervals of about two years, when our family numbered seven boys and three
girls.

Labor a Blessing.

Most men at the present time look with pity on the man who has to chop down
the trees, pile up and burn the logs, split the rails, (all honor to Abe
Lincoln, the rail-splitter!), build the fence, plow among the roots. Ha!
ha! keep your pity to curl your hair with; he might not accept your
kindness if you offered to exchange places with him. He has a pleasure you
may be a stranger to. Enjoys a hearty meal and needs no aid to digestion,
and his laugh rings out on the morning air as clear as the robin's song.

Larger Family - Larger House.

More room is needed for so large a family, and we have help enough of our
own, so let's build another house while the logs are near by. Yes, yes, and
another log house is built, ending against the first house and ten feet
distant, and then a leanto built back of both, and under that cellar dug
that was always dry, for only a few rods back ran the creek, and the houses
were on the bank, some twelve feet above the creek bottom.

This house is built near the center of the farm, north and south, and some
twenty rods east of the west line. Freman had bought land west of us and
had one piece cleared and fenced, and Lewis was plowing there, and was
stopped by the terrible squealing of a hog in the edge of the woods - a
bear has got that hog, I believe. He ran to the house, got dog and gun, and
before he got near here comes bear and dog after him in full speed. They
passed in front of him, but too far to shoot. Dog gains on bear, and Mr.
Bear leaps up a tree. Lewis runs, but as the bear sees him coming he
loosens his fore paws, swings head down at the dog. They have a rough and
tumble battle, but dog gets a terrible cuffing, and just as Lewis was near,
ready to shoot, away goes Mr. Bear. He was one of the lean kind, and could
both run and fight. But the dog's head was bloody and sore, and he would
not give chase.

A neighbor has moved in joining us on the east and south, and he lives by
hunting, while his wife and children do the little farming. Lewis told him
of the bear. "I'll get that bear," he says. "Tomorrow about 2 o'clock he
will return to finish his meal of that hog, then I shoot him." George
Springer was his name. He climbed a small tree where the hog was in plain
sight, and at the time stated Mr. Bear appears very cautiously, stops,
looks around and proceeds to help himself to pig meat. Springer takes, as
he always does, a good aim, and bang goes the gun and away runs the bear,
not so much as touched. Bear fever. Even though a hunter his nerves were
excited. You may think that no boys or girls had good times till you lived.
But how would you like to go into the woods after the first heavy frosts
and gather a pail full of fat beechnuts? Then go down the creek bottom and
gather bags full of butternuts? Then go to the higher land and fill more
bags with walnuts? Then let the long winter evenings come on and crack the
dried nuts, throwing the shucks into the great log fire, and see the sparks
go upwards as the meats go downwards. Then sing, "Let the wide world wag as
it will." After the second log house is built - in place of a piano is a
spinning wheel and instead of the library a loom, and in place of some rich
picture with gold frame is the gun and powder horn.

Barn Built.

In the winter of '41 and '42 logs were cut and hauled to Waterford, and the
lumber drawn home to build a barn. Black walnut logs were cut six feet
long, stood up endwise, and on these the barn was built, and in the gable
end was cut in the boards and is still there the year 1842. The first going
to a grist mill was at Paw Paw, twenty-miles; also the first wool carding
machine. Sheep were necessity, and every farmer had his flock.

Father, Freman and Martin were charter members in the organization of the
Town of Hartford, and are so on record there now, and always will be.
Father was the first supervisor. Later he was a justice of the peace.
Father has one blind eye and the other has a cataract started, yet he does
pretty good work on the barn and farm.

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