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George’s a large collection of men, principally the candidates for the new county which is said to be just laid off. McG had the only barrel of cider in town, which I suppose to have cost about $7.00. In the liberality of the candidates the barrel was unheaded and all promisculously drank; and it being froze the dog irons were put in red hot * * * My husband found a great degree of accommodation and courtesy among all classes. The candidates leading the concourse from one place to another until sundown.
“Mrs. Bradley (wife of Henry, the carpenter) spent the day with me and Mrs. Paxton dined with us, then we both went home with Mrs. Paxton, took tea and sat awhile—went home and read a chapter in my Bible.” Certainly this was a quiet celebration of Christmas day when compared with that of the men at McGeorge’s!
“December 26th. Went to singing school and suffered very much with the cold. Word has come that Mr. Blake has arrived from Corydon; my husband has gone to see him. When I write a few more lines I will go myself, although I feel much fatigued; it has been so long a time since I have heard the fiddle played that I think it would sound very melodious.”
Although I have no recollection of Mr. Blake I feel that I knew him because he was the warm friend of other generations of my family. I am for that reason quoting somewhat at length from Berry Sulgrove’s tribute to him. “Mr. Blake’s history for fifty years was the history of Indianapolis and no citizen has ever been more closely identified with the rise and progress of the city than he. When Kossuth, the distinguished Hungarian, visited Indianapolis, when the soldiers returned from the Mexican war, and when they came home from the South, Mr. Blake was the marshal of the day; no public pageant seemed complete without him. His ambition to become a useful citizen and a public benefactor outweighed all other considerations.”
