Frontier Links and Information
8th grade 1895 Exam - If you think school is difficult these days or even in the last 40 years, see how you do with this actual 8th grade final exam. Good Luck! Teachers - See what your job entailed back in 1872 with Rules for Teachers in 1872
Just imagine an actual camp fire blazing away in your house and the heat it would generate. (not to mention the danger) Then add several layers of clothing. Take away anything but the basic foods unprepared in advance, and you can imagine a bit of what a chore cooking really was!
Frontier Sewing Corner
Pioneer women were excellent seamtresses, making almost everything from sheets, towels, socks, clothes, blankets. Most housewives were expert quilters learning from their mothers and grandmothers how to piece scraps of fabric together.
In the 1800s, quilts were not special items hung on a wall, but rather everyday items that were used until they wore out. Imagine hand sewing enough quilts to last your family through an entire winter without any heat. And no electric light to sew by. Quilts were often listed in a family's assets, in a bride's dowry...but socialite wives and farmer wives alike were quilters. Some popular patterns from the pioneer days include "Log Cabin", "Double Wedding Ring", "Drunkard's Path", and "Rose of Sharon".
How do I Wash My Calico Quilt? Wash your quilt the same way you would a blanket and rinse in cold water. If convenient take them to the pump and pump upon them rinse until clear. Wring out and hang to dry on line. (Actual Frontier Tip!)
"The Slipper Hunt" - All players sit in a circle close
together. In the center of the group, stand one player who is to "chase the slipper by its sound". Hands of players behind their backs, one players secretly from the player in the middle, begins to pass around the slipper. Players can make the game more interesting by tapping the slipper on the floor or shoes to give hints where the passing is in the circle. If the group is large enough an inner circle can make the game more fun! When "hunter" finds the slipper, the player with the slipper become the hunter.
"Fly Away Sparrow" - All sit around at a table. Each player places his or her right index finger on the table. When the host says "fly away sparrow", or any creature that flies, each player raises his finger. If anything other than something that flies is used, any player raising his or her index finger, is out of the game. Any player not raising his or her finger with a correct answer is also out of the game. The last person left wins. (similar to Simon Says today)