Dec. 25, 1818. Cruising this prairie in a horse train and after riding several miles through timber and brushwood, I came to a Mr. H___’s, where report said breakfast could be obtained, and which offered quite a contrast with the family of last night. The cabin was a single room of most primitive fashion, spice bush tea was a substitute for coffee, and the flesh of hog, bear, deer, and elk, was plenty of which the landlord showed me enough to supply a regiment. The corn-dodgers were cold and quite unpalatable; for the good woman had never learned the art of cleanliness and cookery. The man was a successful hunter, but probably understood very little of agriculture. I paid fifty cents for these accommodations--for my horse was lame and refused to eat.(Note 12)
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12. This account from the [Columbia] Missouri Statesman of 3 April 1857, p. 1/col. 5, is from the diary of the Rev. J. M. Peck, written on Christmas, 1818, as he traveled the Boone’s Lick trail. A careful reading of the full account leads to the conclusion that “Mr. H__” was indeed Mr. Hinkson. It was a common device used by newspaper editors, and maybe preachers, to play a bit coy when a reference may not be all that flattering. [1]
