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Mary Ballou (1809-94) http://tinyurl.com/Ballou

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Guns, Hogs, and Kitchens

From I Hear the Hogs in my Kitchen, [1852], 1962.

Reader: Jessica Teeter

Pioneers who came to Gold Rush California hoping to make a fortune couldn't be certain of what they'd find here—especially the women.

In 1851, Mary Ballou and her husband left New Hampshire for California, where she ran a boarding house near Sacramento. In this 1852 letter to her son, she shows that pioneer domestic life could be dangerous and oddly chaotic.

I will tell you a little of my bad feelings. On the 9 of September there was a little fight took place in the store. I saw them strike each other through the window in the store. One went and got a pistol and started towards the other man. I never go into the store but your mother's tender heart could not stand that so I ran into the store and Beged and plead with him not to kill him for eight or ten minutes not to take his Life, for the sake of his wife and three little children. . . . After he got his pashion over he said that he was glad that he did not kill him, so you see that your mother has saved one Human being's Life. . . .

There I hear the Hogs in my kitchen turning the Pots and kettles upside down so I must drop my pen and run to drive them out. So you [see], this is the way I have to write—jump up every five minutes. . . .

Mary Ballou's letters were published in 1962 under the title I Hear the Hogs in My Kitchen.