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Christmas At The Cabin

By Kevin Gray

With hot chocolate in hand, and her granddaughter close by, Dorothy Spencer of Osawatomie spoke fondly of growing up in the country. Spencer had anticipated 7 p.m. Saturday, when the John Brown Historical Cabin and Museum would celebrate Christmas at the Adair Cabin.

Trojan fifth grader Brandi Duncan had already grabbed a chocolate no-bake cookie and hot chocolate. “You have to be careful, the hot chocolate is really hot,” Brandi said, as she looked with Dorothy, her grandmother, at John Brown’s melodeon and other memorabilia of the Brown and Adair families.

In the cabin decorated with greenery and wreathes, Spencer said she was born on a farm. “I could live like this. Can you imagine washing your clothes on a wash board? We didn’t have electricity until I was in high school. But, we didn’t know any differently,” Spencer said.

Spencer also said she liked the John Brown cabin and the pioneer lifestyle. “Those would have been great days in which to live. I grew up in the country outside of Trenton, Mo., and moved to rural Osawatomie 17 years ago and town 12 years ago. Being born and raised in the country, I miss it when living in town. This is why I love the cabin,” Spencer said.

On a more humorous note, Wendy Stark and husband Paul brought their son Zachary and his friend Jeffrey Arnold to the cabin from their home just across the John Brown Park on Main Street.

The boys, Wendy said, had no idea why we were walking over to the cabin. “Of course, if we had told them earlier, they would have been bugging us all day about when we would be leaving,” Wendy said.

On the way over, Zach, Wendy said, seemed to be the most curious. “He asked, ‘Are we going to see John Brown? No, that’s right, he’s dead! I know, we’re going to see Obama! No, that’s on Tuesday!’” Wendy said.

Zach finally realized the real reason, Wendy said, and he yelled out, “Santa!”

The boys wasted no time in telling Santa what they wanted. When one BB rifle is fine for most kids, Zach said, “I want two BB rifles, a television and an Xbox.”

Jeffrey chimed right in with, “I want one BB gun and glowing pellets and a Play Station II”.

Of course, Santa asked, “Is that all, boys?”

Zach and Jeffrey managed to take in all the nooks and crannies of the cabin, as well as the entertainment. “I like the chimney. It’s cool. And the treasure chest and all the weapons, and the food,” Zach said. Jeffrey said he liked John Brown’s sword and saddle.

When the Band of Oz spent timing playing in the north corridor, the boys sat in the doorway right in front of the band and their shining golden instruments. Or when the Oz Singers sang Christmas carols, the boys stood respectfully and tried to sing along.

Later in the evening, Jeffrey said he knew what else he liked in the cabin. “I really like John Brown’s piano. That’s what I really like here,” Jeff said.

The piano, Grady Atwater, John Brown Cabin site administrator, said is actually a melodeon. “It is a reed instrument, like an organ, that pumps air,” Atwater said.

John Brown bought this melodeon for his daughter as a wedding gift in 1849. “His daughter played this same melodeon at his funeral. When his daughter had gone out west to live, the melodeon went, too, in a wagon. It came back to the cabin in the 1920s, one of the first pieces of John Brown family property returned to the cabin,” Atwater said.

While parents carefully helped their children climb the steep stairs to the loft, Atwater said Christmas at the Adair Cabin helps educate people about how pioneers celebrated Christmas on the prairie.

“Even in those days with all they had going against them, despite what they were living through, they still had to celebrate life and still have some fun,” Atwater said.

When parents bring their children to the cabin, Atwater said, the kids realize how different life had been. “This is what helps them become interested in the cabin and history. No electricity. No running water. No television or electronic games. They become interested in what people did in those times,” Atwater said.

Trojan Elementary student Madeline Gibbons said she likes visiting the cabin. “It’s like in the old days and you can come in and look around and see what things used to be like,” Madeline said.

Originally used as a grocery store, when built in 1854, the Rev. Samuel Adair and his wife Florella moved into the cabin in 1855.

Adair, a Congregationalist minister and an abolitionist, came to Kansas Territory to minister to the needs of the Free State community of Osawatomie.

Florella was John Brown’s half sister, which brought the famous abolitionist to the cabin quite often. Known as peaceful abolitionists, Samuel and Florella often risked all by using the cabin as a stop on the Underground Railroad.

During the Battle of Osawatomie, Florella faced down a cannon aimed right at the cabin’s doorway by pro-slavery men. Florella, who was eight-months pregnant said, “Gentlemen, you may have anything you want in the place, but spare the house. I’m taking care of sick people” and turned around and walked back in,” Atwater said.

The cabin was spared, when as Atwater said, “One man spoke up and said, ‘We’re gentlemen. We don’t harm women or children. But, if we find your men, we’ll hang them.’”

The next event hosted by the Osawatomie Historic Preservation Fund will be the Old Stone Church Vespers Service at the Old Stone Church, 315 Sixth St. on Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.

One hundred percent of donations at both locations help preserve Osawatomie’s historic sites.

 

 

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Posted by admin on Dec 7 2011. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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