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               SERAPHINA POTTER
       Contributed by the John Bell Chapter, D. A. R.
     ......... S..   g..i.............. . I........I...... . 5...........n.
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     "Forward" is the watchword for Wisconsin, and ex-
emplifies the spirit which actuated the men and women
of the East when they left the regions of their birth, the
homes of their childhood, and bade adieu to many loved
friends and relatives to struggle for existence in an un-
developed country where the settlers all must break the
way for the early paths of progress, and where schools
and churches were almost unknown.
    To such conditions in 1848, came a young girl, Sera-
phina Potter, little more than a child when arriving in
Dane County with her father's family, but of fitting char-
acter to bear her share of responsibilities of the pioneer
life.
    From a comfortable, well furnished home in New
York to a log cabin in the wilderness, a cabin sparsely
furnished by reason of the difficulty of transportation of
household goods was a passage requiring courage and
great adaptability to circumstance if reasonable happi-
ness and successful results were to be attained.
    Summers brought scorching suns to bedroom lofts,
but also brought a hundred varieties of wild flowers to
spangle prairies and forests; and winters gave oppor-
tunity for an exchange of visits with distant neighbors-
the cold which prevented outdoor work encouraging
sociability.
     People had parties and "good times",-they must
have been "good times", for the participants enjoyed
them. Refreshments were conspicuous by their simpli-
city; whatever else might be lacking, welcome and fire
were always warm.
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