USA > Iowa > Monroe County > An illustrated history of Monroe County, Iowa > Part 19
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Another method was to go into the forest and burn honeycomb, when the scent of the burning would attract the bees.
Sometimes a bee-tree would yield as high as several hundred pounds of honey. and the hunter's accumulation of sweets was usually stored in "dug-outs," or large troughs made of cottonwood logs.
Among the writer's earliest recollections are several of these old "dug-outs" stored in his grandfather's smoke-house. They had at first been used to hold honey, then, later, as re- ceptacles for containing pork ; and, within the writer's recol- lection, held soft soap. Barrels were not so plentiful as now, and it was an easy task to hollow out a large log of soft wood to take their place.
Bee-trees are still frequently found in the woods, but the hives do not thrive, and seldom live through the winter. The bees are from tame colonies, and they do not seem to adapt themselves to habitations in trees.
The Log-Cabin.
The nearest approach to a "house not made with hands" was the log-shanty of the "squatter." The logs did not so
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much as have the bark removed, and the floor, at least, was made by the Supreme Architect of the universe, for it con- sisted of the bare ground. The chimney was made of sticks and mud, and the roof was formed of elapboards, or, not un- frequently, of layers of slough-grass.
This dwelling was but a temporary structure, and as soon as the "squatter" made up his mind to take a claim, he set about to erect a more elaborate building. He cut the finest white oak logs which he could find in the forest, hewed them perfectly square and smooth, and with his ox-team hauled them to his building-site. Then he invited the entire community to the "house-raising." This was a tremendous social affair. The neighboring housewives, for a radius of ten or twelve miles, came in and helped bake pumpkin pies. or brought them with other victuals already cooked. The young ladies came too, but, as they were "dressed up" in their "hoops," they merely "set around," or helped wait on the tables.
In the crowd there were always men who were locally famous as good "cornermen"-i. c., men who could carry up the corner of a log-house with more skill than others. One of these was selected for each of the four corners, and, as might be supposed, each vied with the other in a contest of skill. When the writer's grandfather's house was erected, the prospective occupant of the structure offered a premium of a bushel of potatoes to the "cornerman" doing the best job. Allan White bore off the prize, though Lewis Arnold came in as a close second.
This house was built in 1848 or 1850, and was a large two-story. It was then sided with lumber hauled from "the river" and was skirted with two verandas and all painted white. It was one of the largest edifices in the neighbor- hood, and its owner, in consequence of a kind of baronial homage, accorded to him by his neighbors through a venera- tion for the size of the house and the number of chimneys, elected him "squire," and his son Charles constable, which emoluments they shared for several years. The house is still standing, and when remodeled, a few months ago, the huge square logs were found to be as firm and solid as when they were placed in position nearly forty years ago; but the "cornermen" are all long since dead.
When a house was raised, and the "puncheon" floor laid, the festivities were concluded by a big dance, or "ball," as
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the eminently respectable tone of the pioneer dance was en- titled to be termed. It was a thoroughly cultivated and re- spectable affair, and was very different from many of the public dances of the present day.
The "Hoedown."
Such is the name commonly applied to the free-for-all public dance. While those who participate in the "hoe- down" are by no means rude or scantily civilized, yet at the public dance-house they come in contact, and for the time being, at least, are placed on the same social level, with persons of both sexes whom they would not recognize on the street or in the home.
At the common "hoedown" those French terms used by the man who "calls off" are Anglicised into plain English; for instance, the caller will shout the familiar term "Chassez partners!" but in the "hoedown" whirl it is translated into: "Swing your taw,
Everybody dance to please Grandpa!"
Another term is indicated thus:
"Crow hop out and bird hop in, All jine flippers and swing 'em agin!"
Or, if the gentleman is directed to swing to the right and the lady to the left, the man who "calls off" shouts from his elevated position on the inverted barrel: "Jay- bird to the right, yellow-hammer to the left!"
Taken as a whole, the "hoedown" has its legitimate place in society, and ought not to be too harshly criticised.
Camp-Meetings and Water-Melons.
Unhappily, the old-fashioned Methodist camp-meeting is a joy of the past. The church edifice has long since gathered the people away from "God's first temples" and encompassed them by frescoed walls and vaulted ceilings. Instead of "Coronation," "Antioch," and "Old Hundred" rolling out upon the assemblage of rich and poor alike in a flood of harmony, awakening a spiritual warmth in every heart, the fashionable church walls reëcho the superb strains of some lofty anthem, which, while sung by a trained choir, accompanied by violin, cornet, and pipe organ, yet fails to find a responsive chord in every heart.
The aged sister, old-fashioned in both her ways and her garb, likes to go where she can try to sing, even though she cannot "carry a tune." At the old-time camp-meeting
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she could both exercise her discordant voice and wear her plain bonnet and calico gown without being stared at.
The meeting was conducted under the foliage of some grove, or sometimes beneath a great tent. Those who at- tended from a distance lived in tents pitched on the grounds, where they cooked their meals and slept at night on straw- beds. The camp-meeting was usually held in September, and the water-melon was the fruit offering and the fried chickens the burnt offering at this sacred tabernacle.
Of later years, the modern "holiness" offshoot of the United Brethren Church, and a kindred organization split- ting off from the Methodist and other churches, and taking the name of "Friends," have each revived the old-time camp-meeting to some extent. They hold periodical sessions in camps, and in their devotional practices are distinguished by a fervor in some cases amounting to a frenzy. At times the subject lies in a cataleptic state for hours, unconscious of surroundings.
The "Hardshell" or Missionary Baptist preachers of early days approached nearest to the ideal conception of John the Baptist of any of the champions of Christ. While they did not subsist on locusts, they may have begirted them- selves with leathern girdles. At any rate. they were usually of a migratory species of divine, ranging up and down the streams and holding revivals in the little school-houses. They scorned to preach for money and always guaranteed salvation "without money and withont price-ah." They
affixed the syllable "ah" to the end of every sentence as a sort of declamatory balance-wheel to regulate the inflections of their voices They were good men in any capacity, but they had a particular aversion to high-toned churches, and to preachers who wore "biled" shirts and paper collars.
The writer remembers old Brother Jackson, who used to "labor" down on Soap Creek. "Brethren and sisturn," he used to say, "I ain't one of them big guns who preaches in the great cities like Centerville and Moravia and Albia and Ottumwa-ah, but hit's always been my lot to preach in the dark corners of the earth-ah, whar the pot biles the slowest and the purse is the lightest-ah!"
Brother JJackson's dramatic illustration of the sinner's imminent danger of hell-fire was clothed in all the fervent imagery of Dante's "Inferno." "And now, dyin' sinner-ah. you are hangin' by a cord to a limb that bends over the lake
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of fire and brimestone-ah. The blue blazes of etarnal heil- fire have about burned the limb in two. It bends, it crack- les as its wood is roasted, and your body settles further down into the lake! Then the cord takes fire, and is burnin' in two-ah, and that is how you are hangin' to-night-ah. Your thread of life is about burned in two, and your soul is settlin' down in the lake of unquenchable fire-ah."
Jim Pollard, when at the flood-tide of his spiritual zeal, was a power in the land. When he ascended the pulpit, he invariably removed his coat, and later on, as he warmed up, threw off his vest, and by this time the sermon began to as- sume a funnel-shaped form, and those of the congregation nearest the pulpit began to scamper for back seats.
One Sunday morning, while mowing slough-grass in the Soap Creek bottom, the Lord came to him in a vision and recommended that he mend his ways. He (Jim) said: "As I swung the scythe to and fro, the stubbles would strike against it. and the scythe would say: 'Go to meetin', Jim! go to meetin', Jim!' Then when I would whet the blade, the scythe-stone would say, as it struck it on either side: ‘Go quick, go long! go quick, go long! "
On another occasion Brother Pollard called at the home of Dr. Arnold in Urbana Township, while the family were at breakfast. They had boiled cabbage, and Jim was spe- cially fond of boiled cabbage. "Won't you sit up and take breakfast with us?" asked Mrs. Arnold. "Ah, no!" was his reply, as he looked wistfully at the dish of cabbage; "I am too full of the love of God to hold cabbage!" He had just returned from a revival.
On another occasion he had just returned from a preach- ing tour in Missouri, and had received a call to preach at the school-house at Albany. He began his discourse with this exordium: "Brethren and sisters, Jonah was puked out of the whale to go and preach to the people of Ninevah, and I have just been puked out of Missouri to preach to you-uns!"
Embryo Villages.
There are numerous sites of former villages in Monroe County, which, like Goldsmith's "Sweet Auburn," have vanished, save now and then a garden flower to mark the spot "where once the garden smiled." In the spring and summer of 1856 immigration was at its flood-tide. In every neighbor- hood a village was laid out, the interests of which were
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boomed by the projector of the town. There were no rail- roads in the county at that time, and no one locality had any advantage over its rival in the matter of location. In time. however, most of these hamlets died down from the effect of the natural law of a survival of the fittest.
In the summer of 1856 the village of Fairview, or Cuba, as it was subsequently named, was laid out in Mantua Town- ship. The place exists to-day only in name, and is a few miles east of the town of Avery. At one time it was a promising village, but the C., B. & Q. Railroad passed north of it, and the town of Avery killed it.
Eldorado, in Cedar Township, was also started and looked promising on paper. It boasted of two houses.
In 1858 a Mr. Evans laid out the town of Osprey, and it had one house as a starter. It soon died.
Smithsfield and Hollidaysburg were also candidates for municipial greatness, but soon shared a like fate.
Pleasant Corners, in Pleasant Township, situated about a mile north of the present village of Frederic, was once a lively village. It had a store, blacksmith shop, and a "Seceder" church. To-day it is one of the loveliest spots in the county, but it has ceased to be a village.
Urbana City was started about the same time. It was once a flourishing village, and was the seat of Soap Creek civilization and commerce. It contained a flouring mill, school-house, blacksmith shop, two stores, a shingle-splitter. and a saloon. To-day it is a corn-field.
Along about the year 1890, Frank Fritchle laid out the town of Minerstown, a half-mile west of the present town of Foster, in Monroe Township. The town was regularly sur- veyed and platted, and was intended as a rival of Foster, just starting. There was but one house ereeted in the town, but the streets and avenues remain on paper, and are well preserved.
Selection is a post-office five miles south of Albia on the Centerville, Moravia & Albia Railway. Some years ago it boasted of a water-tank and general store, but it never grew, and while there is still a store at the place, the tank has been removed, and the railway station building has been locked up for years, there being no agent at the place.
The "Water-Witch."
Necessity is said to be the mother of invention, and as water is one of the necessities of life, it may also be stated
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that it is the maternal relative to the "water-witch." If this mystical personage may also be permitted to claim a paternal progenitor, we will say that Ignorance is the father of the "water-witch." When the country was new, water, as we have already stated, was often scarce, or difficult to locate in veins in the earth. Then, like a Moses smiting the rock with his rod, the "water-witch" arose with his "divining- rod," to tell people where to dig. Professors of this occult science usually selected some fruit-bearing twig-a forked switch, each prong a foot or more in length. He grasped each prong in the hand and walked around with the switch pointing in front. In passing immediately over a spring in the earth the stick would point downward, according to pop- ular belief. The switch, in the hands of a right good "witch," would be so persistent in its efforts to point downward that it is claimed that in grasping it tightly the "witch's" grip would sometimes rub off the bark from the twig, or even break it. A good "witch" could always tell how far down the water might be found. The "divining-rod" was a little capricious in its action. It would not point down if actually held over a pond of water, or water in plain view. It was a way it had of doing, and the witch did not make any efforts to explain the seeming contradictory phenomenon.
Schools and School-Teachers.
The fountain-head from which may indirectly be traced all that is worthy of historic record is the little school-house. From its lowly and sequestered location hovers the star of civilization and enlightenment, which, like the star over the manger at Bethlehem, illuminates the world with a prophetic light no less hopeful or propitions.
Popular education is the keystone supporting the tri- umphal arch of human greatness. It is neither the college, seminary, nor university which is lifting enlightenment and happiness to the skies. It is the little white school-house throughout the land poised upon a thousand hills.
The first school-house erected in the county was built in Pleasant Township in 1844. It was known as the Pleasant School, and later, the surrounding township was named Pleasant Township in honor of the little school-house. It stood on the Gray farm, and Lorania Adams, of Blakesburg, was the first teacher. Dudley C. Barber was the next teacher, and taught the winter term of 1844.
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In the early '50s Hon. T. B. Perry, our present State senator, taught a school in the village of Albia. At that time there was no school-building and the school was con- ducted in the little frame M. E. Church building. Some years later, Mrs. M. A. R. Cousins taught a select school in Albia. Mr. Marck was also a successful teacher in the early days of Albia, but these private schools of courseafforded but meager facilities for educating the children, and Professor George instituted the Albia High School, which he conducted for a long time.
MRS. ANGIE REITZEL, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF MONROE COUNTY.
In 1863 the population of the Albia school district be- came so large that the Christian and Baptist church was rented for school purposes. The next year the School Board levied a 5-mill tax and bought the dwelling-house of W. C. Hatton, which faces the Commercial Hotel on the west, and which is now occupied by Mr. Wm. Peppers.
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-
ALBIA
A ZEESE & CO.CHI.
ALBIA HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, IOWA.
In 1868 the independent district of Albia erected a three- story brick building on the site where the magnificent High School building of to-day stands. It cost $28,000, but in 1878 it was destroyed by fire. The present structure was built in 1879 at a cost of about $30,000, which price is remark- ably low for the dimensions and character of the edifice. It is one of the best school edifices in southern Iowa, and the Albia High School ranks among the first of any in the State for educational success. Its graduates are eligible to en- trance into the State University.
SOME SWEET GIRL GRADUATES, CLASS OF '96, ALBIA HIGH SCHOOL.
In 1894 the Grant School building was erected in the South Park addition to Albia. It is a handsome three-story brick, designed to accommodate the lower grades of the High School. It cost $10,000.
The principal of the High School holds his term of office for three years. Professor Hollingsworth is the present in- cumbent. His staff of assistants for the school-term just closed consists of Miss Martha McQuade, 1st assistant; Mrs. L. B. Carlisle, 2d assistant; Mrs. H. G. Hickenlooper,
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Sth grade; Mr. Albert Ewers, 7th grade; Miss Alice White, 6th grade, Miss Myrtle Harlow, 5th grade, consolidated; Miss Maggie Harlow, 4th grade; Miss Orphia Rigdon, 3d grade; Mrs. O'Bryan, 2d grade and primary grade. Miss Myrtle Harlow's department was transferred to the Grant School.
DRANT
GRANT SCHOOL BUILDING, ALBIA, IOWA.
The teachers of the Grant School were: Mr. L. Bay, 7th and Sth grades; Miss Myrtle Harlow, 5th and 6th grades; Miss Laura Dashiell, 4th and 5th grades; Miss Daisy Sales, primary grade.
The old-time pedagogue is a creature of the past. He is a genus now well-nigh extinct, and the very agent which it was his mission to promote has tended to his own extinction. He was a creature of meager education and not unfrequently of a low order of intellect. In some cases, however, the old-
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fashioned school-master was fairly educated for the times, and he was usually the best informed man in the neighbor- hood. He could read, write, and "cipher," and that was about the whole range of learning in those days. If the pupil passed beyond these, he was looked upon with suspicion. He was acquiring too much "book-larnin," which, in the esti- mation of the pioneer "fogy," was a certain precursor of moral ruin. The schoolmaster's local reputation of being a sarant rested on his profound knowledge of mathematics, and whenever two farmers got into a dispute as to whether a hilly row of corn contained more corn-hills than a level one, reasoning from the analogous assumption that a serpentine line, if drawn taut, would thereby be increased in length, they referred the problem to the school-master, from whose unbiased and dispassionate decision there was no appeal.
Algebra was not taught in the common branches at that day, but there was a rule in arithmetic, known as "Position," which in some measure supplied the place of an algebraic equation, in certain problems. The rule consisted in assum- ing any number as a basis of calculation, and then, as one would be found to exceed the number to be ascertained, and the other less than that number, their relative relation to the given number would be noted and the required number found. The rule was, as the total of the errors are to the given sum, so is the supposed number to the true one re- quired. There was "Single Position" and "Double Posi- tion." The rule for "Double Position" was to place each er- ror against its respective position, multiply them cross-wise, and if the errors were alike-that is, both greater or less than the given number-divide the difference of the products by the difference of the errors, and the quotient was the answer; but if the errors were unlike, the sum of the products should be divided by the sum of the errors.
But the "Rule of Three" was the repository of the school- master's mathematical genius. There was the "Rule of Three Direct" and the "Rule of Three Inverse," the "Single Rule of Three" and the "Double Rule of Three." This rule and that of "Position" were obsolete, however, within the history of Monroe County.
Then came "Vulgar Fractions," and then "Exchange," which latter was very voluminous.
In later years, when Joseph Ray introduced his mathe- maties in text form, his "Third Part" was the arithmetic in
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which the student found himself hopelessly engulfed in the intricacies of mathematics. The first snag he ran up against was a "sum" called "John Jones' Estate." Here he usually turned back to "review"; but if he succeeded in crossing this mathematical Rubicon, he forged on until he ran head- long into the "dirty page." The "dirty page" contained some miscellaneous problems which were intended to be solved by analysis. This page wore out long before the other pages, notwithstanding the constant use of the "thumb-paper." It was called the "dirty page" because it was soiled by long occupancy by the pupil.
The student, when he reached about his nineteenth year, quit school; but he usually discontinued school in summer several years earlier.
In the primitive school-houses the writing-desk was the most conspicuous fixture next to the "master" himself. This desk was arranged all around one side of the room, and was constructed of planks about a foot in width. This desk the boys industriously carved with their jack-knives until every inch of the surface bore the handiwork of some youngster who afterwards carved his name in the roster of citizenship, if not in the niche of fame.
The "master" set the copies for the pupils, writing with a pen made from a goose-quill. There was no system of pen- manship then in vogue, and the pupil merely imitated the handwriting of the "master," whether it was good or bad. If it was not quite "Spencerian" in elegance or legibility, it usually inculcated a moral precept, such as "A studious boy will learn his lessons well," or "Moments of time are like grains of gold," etc. The boy squared his elbows, grasped his pen with the firm grasp of a mariner upon his oar when pull- ing his surf-boat through a heavy sea, then he lowered his head until his eye was on a level with his desk, and, glancing alternately at the copy and the point of his pen, proceeded to imitate the handwriting, using his tongue as a sort of lever to regulate the strokes of the pen. After constructing a few words of the copy, he would prod his neighbor with the point of his pen, or carve a few cuneiform characters on the desk with his knife, as an abstraction from the strain on his mental powers. !
Grammar was also taught, but with indifferent success.
Spelling was the chief occupation of the school-room, and the pupil learned to spell by conning over long columns
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of words in Webster's blue-backed speller. This speller con- tained two illustrated narratives, which were intended to convey to the youthful mind an indelible example of hon- esty. The tragic fate of old dog Tray was set forth as a warn- ing to those who go in bad company. There was also a pict- ure of the bad boy up the farmer's apple-tree. The farmer first asked him in a gentlemanly way to come down; he de- clined, and then the farmer began to pelt him with turf; still he staid up the tree ; then the farmer, seeing that kind words and turf were useless arguments, concluded to see what virtue there was in stones. Another episode, involving the principle of equity, was that of the farmer's bull that gored his neighbor's ox.
After Webster's speller came McGuffey's spelling-book. It contained a more thorough treatise on the science of orthography, and had "dictation exercises," showing the ap- plication of synonyms of the English language. Its main feature, however, was its long columns of words.
The writer at one time enjoyed the distinction of being one of the "crack" spellers of the district. At this time the spelling-school was at the zenith of its popularity. The spell- ing-school would be announced about a week before the night set. Then a challenge would be sent to a neighboring dis- trict. The recipient of the challenge would marshal the best spellers of the school, and all would be on hand at the ap- pointed place. Two persons -- usually a young man and his best girl-would "choose up." Then, after the seats had all been arranged around the walls, the teacher or person whose duty it was to "give out" would have the two choosing parties "guess the page," and that one making the closest guess would have the first choice of spellers in the crowd ; the other party then made the second choice, and the "choosing" went on alternately until all were selected on the two sides. The next thing to decide was whether to "stand up and spell down" or to "send runners." One plan was usually adopted before recess and the other after. Invariably the former plan was adopted after recess, and then came the tug of war. when all had "missed" words and taken their seats except the champion spellers. They held their ground for a long time. but one by one would go down, usually on some trifling word "missed" by mere inattention on the part of the pupil "missing" it. Then the teacher would turn back to "chan- ois"; "chamois" was at the head of a long column of words of
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