"Another frequent gathering was that for a house-raising. If a couple were newly married, or a family moved into the settlement, and a house must be raised, invitations in a style suitable to the character of the people, were extended to the neighbors to come to the 'raising' on a certain day, and in good time an encouraging assembly, with axes, was on the ground.  Experienced hands were selected to notch the corners; bosses, as they would be called to-day, were chosen to superintend the work of selecting logs and moving them to their places, and the work would soon be under way. A goodly number of the women were likely on hand to help do the cooking, or help make something useful or necessary for the new house.  The supper and dance invariably closed the day, though not, perhaps, till the next day had begun. Again it was a corn-husking or an apple-butter boiling that brought the people together, and this was generally at night. Here good singers or story-tellers were in demand, and speed in husking corn was a passport to the first place. When the hands had worked until 10 or 11 o'clock supper was announced; and here the men always tried to drink the cooks out of tea or coffee. But they often paid for their temerity, for water was used more freely than coffee or roasted rye, and the beverage was not unfrequently little else than warm water. The dance was next in order, and the sun might rise on the jovial company before their departure."

"A number of characters were necessary to complete the backwoods picture. Principal among these was the fiddler, who was always in demand upon the occasions narrated above, and who must be prepared to appear upon a moment's notice, so that "a fiddler's warning" became a proverbial expression. Then there was what was often called the "bully" of the locality, who was noted for his pugilistic qualities; but pioneer annals do not say that he followed the Marquis of Queensberry's [sic] rules, or any other but the rude customs of the   forest home in which he was raised, with such  variations as he himself saw fit to introduce with them. Others were noted for their pre-eminence in the labors or games of the frontier. But, as might be expected, and as was indeed both natural and necessary, the circumstances in which the people were placed gave a tone and coloring to whatever they did, whether of work or relaxation. 'Many of the sports of the early settlers of this country,' says our author [Doddridge], 'were imitative of the stratagems of hunting and war. Boys were taught the use of the bow and arrow at an early age; but although they acquired considerable adroitness in the use of them, yet it appears to me that in the hands of the white people the bow and arrow could not be depended upon for warfare or hunting, unless made and managed in a different manner from any specimens of them which I ever saw...Firearms, wherever they could beobtained, soon put an end to the use of the bow and arrow.'

"The poverty of resources forced upon our ancestors the most rigid simplicity in furniture... Mr. Doddridge remarks that 'the furniture for the table, for several years after the settlement of this country, consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons; but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins (definition anyone?). If these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up for the deficiency. The iron pots, knives and forks were brought from the east side of the mountains along with salt and iron on packhorses. These articles of furniture corresponded very well with the articles of diet on which they were employed. 'Hog and hominy' were proverbial for the dish of which they were the component parts. Johnnycake and pone were, at the outset of the settlement of the country, the only forms of bread in use for breakfast and dinner. At supper milk and mush was the standard dish. When milk was not plenty, which was often the case, owing to the scarcity of cattle or the want of proper pasture for them, the substantial dish of hominy had to supply the place of them; mush was frequently eaten with sweetened water, molasses, bear's oil or the gravy of fried meat. Every family, besides a little garden for the few vegetables which they cultivated, had another small enclosure containing from half an acre to an acre, which they called a truck patch, in which they raised corn for roasting-ears, pumpkins, squashes, beans and potatoes. These, in the latter part of the summer and fall, were cooked with their pork, venison and bear-meat for dinner, and made very wholesome and well-tasted dishes. The standard dinner dish for every log-rolling, house-raising and harvest-day  was a potpie, or what in other countries is called a seapie. This, besides answering for dinner, served for a part of the supper also.' "

"As for tea and coffee they were for many years unknown; and when introduced roasted rye-grains or bread-crusts were often used to adulterate the coffee, or perhaps to take its place altogether." When our intrepid Mr. Doddridge was a youth, he was traveling east when his party stopped at an inn in the area of Bedford, PA. This is his account of his experience with his first cup of coffee:

" 'The tavern at which my uncle put up was a stone house, and to make the change from the log cabin of the backwoods still more complete it was plastered in the inside, both as to the walls and the ceiling. On going into the dining-room I was struck with astonishment at the appearance of the house. I had no idea there was any house in the world which was not built of logs, and above I could see no joists; whether such a thing had been made by the hand of man, or had grown so of itself, I could not conjecture. I had not the courage to inquire anything about it. When supper came, my confusion was worse confounded. A little cup stood in a bigger one with some brownish-looking stuff in it which was neither milk, hominy or broth; what to do with these little cups and the little spoon belonging to them I could not tell; and I was afraid to ask anything concerning the use of them...I therefore watched attentively to see what the big folks would do with their little cups and spoons. I imitated them, and found the taste of the coffee nauseous beyond anything I ever had tasted in my life. I continued to drink as the rest of the company did, with the tears streaming from my eyes, but when it was to end I was at a loss to know, as the little cups were filled immediately after being emptied. This circumstance distressed me very much, as I durst not say I had enough. Looking attentively at the grown persons, I saw one man turn his little cup bottom upward and put his little spoon across it. I observed that after this his cup was not filled again; I followed his example, and to my great satisfaction the result as to my cup was the same.' Tea and coffee were only slops in the opinion of the backwoodsmen - good enough for people of quality or for the sick, but not fit for men. In their language, they 'did not stick to the ribs.' "