days, I decided to retire early. I removed my shoes, opened my bed before blowing out the lamp, and there lay a large bull snake as large as my wrist, and about four feet long. He liked my bed, and certainly did some roaring upon being disturbed. I soon quieted him, but felt a little leery about going to bed for some time after that.

Among the many jobs of plastering in those days, was a kitchen that I did for F. H. L. Willis, who was justice of the peace at that time, but later postmaster at Battle Creek, the position he held at the time of his death. After I had completed the job he said, "Now when you and Florence double up, I'll pay you for your work". . . He did not know how soon I was to remind him of his promise. I was growing more determined every day that I would never ask her to share the dugout with me, and was scheming and figuring just how I could avoid doing that very thing, for by now we had decided to "double up," using Mr. Willis' expression. She passed each day riding horse back to school, and would often take pity on the old batch, and bring him cake which tasted like more and made me more determined that she should soon be queen of my castle that was yet in the air.

1880 rolled around, and as a start toward a team, I had a little black pony, and a pig. The following spring, I hired Mr. Hutchins' to sow eight acres that had been broken but had gone back to sod. This yielded me eighty bushels of fine wheat. Uncle Joe Jackson, long since deceased, thrashed it. I figured by this time I could dispose of my oxen, so drove to Battle Creek and sold them to Felix Hale for sixty dollars.

I then set about planning how to build me a house for this sum. I rode my pony down to L. B. Baker (deceased) and had him figure me one 18 by 22. I found this would throw me into debt, and that I would not sanction, so figured it 12 by 16, and found by using laths instead of siding, and roughcasting it all by myself, I could pay for all material. I had plastered a house for Mr. Muffley (deceased), and grandfather of our veterinarian Dr. Church, who was a carpenter. With my assistance he built my house in exchange for my plastering his house, and lo and behold, my dreams had come true. Now I must furnish it, so an old friend, Andrew Tillotson, deceased, father of Charles Tillotson of Battle Creek, offered to take me to Madison to get what I needed, which consisted of stove, cooking utensils, and six chairs. The stove cost twenty-seven dollars, the kettles and pans three dollars, and the chairs, three dollars.

Up until this time I have forgotten to mention that all grain sold had to be teamed to Columbus, requiring three days for the round trip. I received forty cents a bushel. I had done considerable hauling for Mr. Hutchins, and with a calf I had bought from Florence, and the pig I now had, I could not buy a mate for my pony. I had a fair crop of potatoes, and beans, so felt I could double up the following fall, and Florence thought likewise and we were married November 9th, 1880. The evening before I went down and told Mr. Willis I would be down the next

145