"Meat on the Table"
A True Story
By Loraite (Rossman) Teays

 1980

     It was in the early 1840's, when a newly married couple was living in a little one room log cabin, in southern Lapeer County. The previous winter had been long and cold. The young couple had used up almost all of the meat that they had carefully prepared for their winter use. 

    This particular spring day was unusually warm, the sun was shining and the snow was melting, the young husband had gone hunting for any kind of game, to help replenish their meat supply. The young bride was ironing the old fashioned flat irons, heated by a roaring fire in the open fireplace. The little one room cabin became quite war, so she opened the door wide to let in some fresh air and went back to her ironing.

     A little while later she heard quite a commotion and dogs barking. Soon, a young buck deer bounded through the open door and stopped in his tracks. Later she said that she didn't know if she of the deer was the most astonished. She arose to the occasion though, and hurled a hot flat iron as hard as she could and hit the deer between the eyes. He fell dead where he was.

     After awhile her husband returned, empty handed and told a story about some neighboring dogs running a deer that he had been carefully tracking. Imagine his surprise to heat his wife's story and they were both happy to have "meat on the table" for quite a few days after that. This young couple was my Great-grandfather and Great-grandmother Conrad and Emily Rossman.

 My grandfather (Theodore C. Rossman) told this story to us children, many times. He loved to talk about the "olden times".

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