USA > Indiana > Grant County > Centennial history of Grant County, Indiana, 1812 to 1912 : compiled from records of the Grant county historical society, archives of the county, data of personal interviews, and other authentic sources of local information > Part 67
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"Paradise, the City and Throne, " by Rev. Elwood Seott, "historian for Seneca Sodi. the legendary Grecian Jew," is a sort of allegory, and in his introduction Mr. Scott writes: " For many months past I have had frequent visits from a very peculiar visitor," and the story opens: "It was the first day of June and the sun had set," and many have regarded the allegory as an excellent presentation of Bible narra- tive. The whole thing is very much like a sermon by the minister him- self. "Successful Matrimony," and "Sacred Nuptials." are two later volumes from the same writer.
"Some Greater Marion Faces" is a book of caricatures by Moc Horne Baldwin, with writeups by M. B. Edmiston, and the galaxy of faces
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shown are of men who do things in the community. It is a bit of history- biography reflecting the thought: "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the best of men, " and it is a souvenir publication much appreciated by all included in it. Since real photographs are combined with comie pen sketches, it is a panorama pleasing to all who see it and know the originals of the caricatures.
"Grant County and Who's Who," by Pierre Calton, is something after the style of "Some Greater Marion Faces," with a chronology feature covering the time from the discovery of natural gas until its publication in 1909, and there are a number of landscape views in the vicinity of Marion, with a section of biography for its patrons.
"Jeannette Browning" is said to be the life story of Mrs. Jenny Brown Doremus, who lived For several years in Grant county, and copies of her book are in many homes. When Mrs. Doremus became a Seventh Day Adventist she abandoned the sale of her book, saying there was some fiction woven into the romance, and she was conscientious about it. The story was written in spare moments when she was undergoing sore trials, and while it was much of her own life, she afterward changed her attitude toward the matter.
"The Autobiography of Allen Jay" was published as a serial in The American Friend, and was issued in book form immediately after the death of Mr. Jay at Richmond in 1910, where he bad has been con neeted with Earlham College as its financial agent. Winie Isaac and Rhody Jay lived. Allen Jay always considered Grant county as his honte, and he is up to date the only citizen to leave an autobiography. In the Foreword to the publication, Mr. Jay writes: "Having now entered my seventy-ninth year," and he reviews some of the work accomplished by him in the interests of the Friends church and educational institutions of the entire country. Allen Jay was known wherever the Friends church was planted, and his autobiography is an excellent history of the church he served so well as minister and financial agent.
"Science of Arithmetic," and "Model Solutions in Arithmetic, " by Prof. A. Jones, "for more than twenty years a teacher in the Marion Normal Institute, " have given the author a wide acquaintance among students of mathematics. Since the Century year Mr. Jones has pub- lished The Teachers' Journal, issued monthly, and cach number filled with excellent educational articles from his pen and from other writers. Ilis most recent publication is a treatise on "The Participle and Intin itive," for teachers, students and schools, and it opens with the asser- tion : "No other grammatical constructions cause as much trouble as the infinitive and participle," and he proceeds to enlighten the reader about them.
"Symptoms, Treatments and Plain Home Remedies," by Dr. Brose S. Horne, is a study of diseases with remedies that have been used in three generations of Horne family Grant county doctors, the author, his unele and grandfather. "It is urged that most family medicine books have been too voluminous, while this one is brief and to the point," and tested remedies are needed in every family.
Modesty forbids saying anything more about " Rolinda, A Tale of the Mississinewa," in this connection than that the book was published in 1899-"Oh, that mine enemy would write a book." To quote from the foreword, the longest single sentence in any Grant county produc- tion : "Rolinda is a story rather than a study, yet its finer thread is certainly part of the great skein of neighborhood life, considered from the standpoint of the district school, and as neighborhoods were about the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, even though many miles may intervene between the imaginary Crotzer, on the banks
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of the beautiful Mississinewa, and the spot like unto the same around which the hallowed memories of the reader may cluster, " and although an Ishmaelite in the world of books, some freinds have said kindly things about it. It is the one Grant county story illustrated by a Grant county artist-Miss Olive Rush."
While Robert E. Mansfield is a world character, and has several times represented the United States government in foreign consulates, he always votes in Marion, having lived here when he received his first consulate appointment. lle is now consul-general in Britsh Columbia, and his book: "Progressive Chile," written while a resident of South America has just made its appearance. One eritie says: "In this volume, Robert E. Mansfield, American consul-general to Switzerland, presents some intimate views of and interesting sidelights on life in one of the most progressive of the South American republies." It is said the book contains a brief history of the country, covering the Indian occupation, the Inea invasion, the Spanish conquest, the formative period and the political progress of the republic down to the present time.
" Watch Your Step," by Alvin MeCaslin, who styles himself the sub- way guard, made its appearance late in 1913, and while the author is not now a resident of Grant county, his early life was spent in Marion, and his mother, Mrs. Foster Davis, has always lived in town. Alvin MeCaslin Higgins, for Higgins is his family name, is a son of the Rev. W. R. Higgins, who served the First Presbyterian church as minister, coming when the son was five years oldl and living here until after he entered college. As the wife of Foster Davis his mother returned to Marion, and thus Grant county is the home of another author. Mr. Higgins drops his family name in writing for periodicals and in this, his first bound volume, although " Watch Your Step" need not cause any one to blush for him at all. It is a dialect story.
Because Mrs. Elizabeth Williams Flinn is a resident of Marion is reason sufficient for enrolling her son, Wilbur Herschel Williams, in this honor roll-Grant county writers. Mr. Williams is listed in " Who's Who in America, " as author of " Uncle Bob and Aunt Becky at the St. Louis Exposition," and there was a competitive arrangement about it-the Exposition Publisher offering a prize for the best character sketch, and under a changed name this story was used again in connec- tion with a western exposition. It is said his publishers cleared half a million dollars on it. Other stories by Mr. Williams are: "Fairy Tales from Folklore." "My Advice Book. " " My Chums in Caricature, " and "Making Faces. " This writer is given to travel, but spends much time with his mother in Grant county.
As George Stont belongs to Grant county, "home folks" have treas- ured his early poetic contributions to the local press and have had pride in reading his later political letters in Indianapolis newspapers.
It is as an editorial writer and all round newspaper man that W. II. Sanders is best known, and yet " Mind Life" has been through several private editions, each succeeding pamphlet enlarged, and it has attracted wide attention among students of mentality. Mr. Sanders is a sort of dean among local writers, and it is an enviable attaiment when a writer has reached the point that his squibs are copied all over Indiana. In each campaign year he writes editorials for the Indiana Republican Press Burean, and Sanders, Lockwood and Stout represent the political trio, although Mrs. Stephenson is known to be a student of sociology. Mr. Sanders has a great deal of manuscript and advances have been made to him from publishers, but he has not yet inelined to submit his matter for permanent, widespread publication.
There have been booklets and pamphlets galore by local writers, and Vol 1-30
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some have gained recogniton from the magazines, and their friends always keep tab on them. Mrs. Jessie St. John Swezey, Mrs. Ethel Bowman Ronald and Mr. Stout used to belong to The Indianapolis Journal's Indiana School of Poets, although none are at present residents of Grant county. It would be difficult for them to cover up their trail and say they do not belong to this galaxy of writers.
"Observations of a Station Agent," has placed d. E. Smith in the lime light, and since local coloring always marks his stories the Gas City passenger and freight station is known wherever The Railway Maga- sine is read, and its circulation is extensive. For several years Mr. Smith has been a regular contributor, and many Grant county people have enjoyed his stories.
"Within the Circle, A Story of Tomorrow," and "The Battle of Love," are two pamphlet volumes issued several years ago by Levi Ratliff while he was a resident of Grant county. The author deals with the social and religious problems of the day. Temperance enters into the consideration.
"Saved by the Blood," is really the life story of Claude Gunder, who published the story himself and managed the sale of it. He spent two years as a student in Taylor University and while a student he increased the Upland postmaster's salary each year by the volume of mail order business done with this publication. He sent it through the mails with the request that twenty-five cents be sent to aid in his educa- tion, and very few books were returned to him. Mr. Gunder is now a Methodist minister.
While few may have seen the volume, a paper bonnd edition of a story having to do with life along the Wabash, Sanford Love, who is remem- bered as a most unfortunate character, was "between lids" while a resi- dent of Grant county. It is a story of boyhood adventure, but a copy was unavailable in writing about it. After killing his sweetheart, Mr. Love died by his own hand-Lucifer matches.
Miss Olive Rush, whose work as an artist has attracted much favor able comment, has sometimes written the story as well as made the illus trations for it, and she is an adept both in writing and illustrating chil- dren's stories. (See Chapter on Art.)
When Mrs. Ethel Bowman Ronald's story: "When Elizabeth Went Home, " appeared in the Christmas number of Me Clure's Magazine a few years ago and was pronounced by the erities to be one of the very best Christmas stories ever written, all were glad she was a Grant county woman. The Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis read this story fromt his Brook lyn pulpit, commending it most highly, and many Grant county families laid away copies of the story. Mrs. Ronald has written many short poems, and "Prescience of Motherhood" stands out among them.
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When Mrs. Marie D. Webster contributed patchwork quilt designs with written descriptions to The Ladies' Home Journal recently she did not anticipate the avalanche of inquiries that would result from it. and the women of the Emily E. Flinn Home have had employment with their needles executing many designs submitted by her to the journal. Mrs. Webster's magazine articles brought inquiries from all over the world, and orders have been sent her from foreign as well as American cities. Her patchwork quilts have created a revival of old fashioned needle craft. and the women of the "Old Ladies' Home" have profited from it, Mrs. Webster taking orders from inquiries through the mails and bringing the necessary stitching to them. Her patchwork quilts, as published in maga- zines, have given Mrs. Webster much prestige among those interested in needlecraft. Her quilts have been exhibited in many cities.
The late W. F. Jones, who contributed the Franklin Township chapter,
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had frequent articles in Forest and Stream, and Albert E. Andrews sometimes contributes to out of door magazines. The agricultural press carries so many contributions from Grant county writers that it is unwise to attempt to enumerate them. Some would be overlooked in the long list, and so none are mentioned. Many local newswriters have metropolitan papers to which they send regular contributions, although always unsigned stories, and many who began their newspaper career in Grant county have attained unqualified success in other fields. Litera- ture is not without its devotees, and this army of local writers is made up of fighters-good soldiers in the ranks. There have been high school and college publications, and there will be recruits to the army.
Rev. A. B. Strickland has written much for Baptist church period- icals, and is author of a number of traets and pamphlets ranked. high as missionary literature. His booklet : "The Tithe in the Modern Church," had wide circulation and elicited favorable criticism. He will soon issue a missionary story: "Benjamin Brabrook," which is written after an historical account of an early Baptist frontiersman. le has frequently lectured on art and travel, and his Bildical lecture: " The Trial and Triumph of Jesus Christ." is similar to a lecture deliv- ered some years ago by G. W. Thompson, although Rev. Strickland never knew Mr. Thompson nor heard his lecture.
There is real heroism in the experience of Mrs. Jennie Bennett, whose recently published volume: "A Light in the Window," means so much to her. She sacrificed everything to insure its publication. It is the story of the wanderings and sufferings of a wayward boy -- a life history known to Mrs. Bennett-and in order to raise the necessary funds for its publication she opened a second hand clothing store and earned the money herself.
Leroy Scott, who now lives away, has had some excellent matter published in magazines, and his friends are still expecting results from his literary effort. There is an inclination to claim Strickland W. Gil- lilan, the humorist, since for one winter he had his residence in Marion, and while fame came to Joaquin Miller long afterward, all are proud to claim the boyhood days of "The Poet of the Sierras, " known to have been passed in Grant county. If there are other eligibles, the whole community will regret that they are not listed in this honor roll of literati, although starvation does seem to face those with such aspirations.
Mayor James Otterbein Batchelor, who is a student of history, is accumulating manuscript of that nature with view of early publication. "First Steps in the History of Europe." is planned as a text, while "The Regulators," as yet an unfinished story, deals with the North Carolina Quakers and the Scotch Irish who were among the carly set- tlers of the Northwest Territory.
RILEY POEM WRITTEN IN MARION
There are always stories told abont the signs painted in Grant county by James Whitcomb Riley before he was known as the Hoosier poet. but all effort to locate one of them proves futile. Yet when the poet was resurrecting his scattered verse for final publication, as he wished to leave himself on record, it developed that his "Rainy Morn- ing" number was written November 22, 1877, when he was stopping in Marion, and it was just at the time his work began to attract attention. While Grant county makes no claim to Riley, it does have pride in the following Jines suggested by local conditions :
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A RAINY MORNING
The dawn of the day was dreary, And the lowering clouds o'er head Wept in a silent sorrow Where the sweet sunshine lay dead ; And a wind came out of the eastward Like an endless sigh of pain, And the leaves fell down the pathway And writhed in the falling rain.
I had tried in a vain endeavor To chord my heart with the sun, But the strings would slacken ever, And the task was a weary one; And so, like a child impatient, And sick of a discontent, 1 bowed in a shower of teardrops And mourned with the instrument.
And low as I bowed the splendor Of the sun bent over me, With a touch as warm and tender As a father's hand might be ; And, even as I felt its presence. My clouded soul grew bright, And tears, like the rain of morning, Melted in the mists of night.
ON THE GREAT DIVIDE
[An original poem, written and read by William J. Houck, at the Octogenarian Celebration in 1904 at Matier Park.]
Wal, we've traveled one long distance In these more'n eighty year. We've seen our sheer o' sorrow Also mighty things, an' queer.
We have seen the forests totter And fall before the axe, And if we told all we've seen You'd doubt it bein' facts.
But we've seen th' biggest era In the ole world's long career ; An' if what we say sounds 'tishy,' Just remember you wern't here.
Since the Savior walked the waters On ole storm-tossed Galilee, We've seen abont one-twentieth Of all there's been to see.
If we've not seen all 'at's happened In our fourscore years, 'n' more, It's cause our view was narrow And our chance was rather pore.
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As boys 'n' girls we prattled When this century was young An' we most could smell the smoke From the battle of Ole 'Bull Run.'
W'y, th' name of ole Cornwallis, Lee, Adams, 'n' his son, Seemed almost as familiar As that of Washington.
When it comes to 'Hickory Jackson,' Clay, Van Buren 'r Calhoun, -- Wy, it takes us back to childhood 'At left us all too soon.
We helped to do the plantin' An' we've seen our country grow From seven million freemen Up to ninety-one or so.
An' we saw the start and finish Of that struggle here at home, When freedom's foe, was free men, An' such valor ne'er was known.
To save, 'r bust the Union, Was the chance for which they drew,- Whether 'mong the constellations As one star we'd shine, 'r two.
From the firin' on Fort Sumpter To the Appomattox show The gore of human slaughter Seem'd t' fill the world with woe.
Talk about ole Caesar, An' the Rubicon he crossed, Er th' Pass of ole Thermopylae, When Spartans fought an' lost.
Or Alexander's mighty doin's, -- Ilis conquerin' the world by wars, Then settin' down and eryin' Cause he couldn't cross to Mars !--
Say, one charge by Stonewall Jackson, Such as Hooker had to take An' Alee would have wilted, An' said, 'Stony, here, let's shake.'
Yes, we've seen a lot, we Oeto's, An' we've had to travel some, -- In our ox-carts, not in Auto's, An' no 'lectric ears was run.
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But we blazed the way, an' cleared it, Au' did what must be done For your present day inventions,- Oh, its a glorious race we've run !
And as we stand at twilight,- Face a westward setting sun,- Know probation here is ending, That our race is nearly run.
We are standing on a summit, That marks the 'Great Divide,' An' we see the heights of glory Upon the other side.
You think this seems like twilight? Well it don't; that may seem odd, But it's lighter here a whole lot Than back the road we've trod.
The slanting rays of earth-light From her westward sinking sun, Are swallowed up in new light Of an external rising one.
What ! Do we feel some skittish ? Well, yes; but not for fear, It's cause it shows the dark spots In our eighty year career.
It might affect us dif'rent If we had 'em all alone, But as we look about us, We see that each has some.
Then another thing we notice From our vantage ground up here,- That eastern sun-light cleanses, An' the spots just disappear.
So, take our hand in greeting, And likewise, in adieu, The glory of our statiou, Will be reserved for you.
And, as on a little farther They wave us palms of cheer, So we, will greet your coming, When you meet the charioteer.
To ALL GRANT COUNTY EXILES
Although rather "Rileyesqne," and one thinks of "Griggsby's Sta- tion where we were so happy and so poor." who reads the original, by Ezra B. Newcomb, of " Homesick," which is adapted to the Centennial History situation, one who has been interested in the denouement sng- gested it, making some necessary substitutions, and when there are any
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returned prodigals, their friends will please ask them to read it, saying it is a welcome to them. While some who have wandered away have bettered their circumstances in life, others have sometimes wished them- selves back in Grant county. Loyalty to one's birth place is always com- mendable, and the adaptation reads :
I was born in old Grant county-an' I'm pinin' to get back From these prairie wind 't howl 'nd snarl, an' moan around my shack ; From this empty, endless wideness, stretehin' fur as eye can see, An' my heart's a purtuigh breakin' fur the sight o' just one tree.
I was raised in old Grant county-an' I'm wishin' I was back Where the shiftin,' shinin' 'Sinewa ents its twistin', trailin' track. P'lowin' through the rustlin' corn fields, loafin' under hangin' boughs, Where there's pools to hide the fishes, and there's shade to cool the cows.
My old home's in Grant county-an' I'm heartsick to git back ! Them creeks and woods's got a tongue, these lonesome prairies lack ! For there's nothin' here but silence, 'cept the never endin' ery O' the winds 'at moan and mourn until ye think ye'll surely die.
An' ye haint no wish for livin', an' the dearest thing ye erave Is to die, an' have it over if they'll only make your grave Back there in old Grant county, where the 'Sinewa twists and turns, Where the sun has trees to shine on, an' the autumn color burns.
Where the sycamore's crooked branches shows the way the river goes, An' across the yallerin' corn fields, ye can hear the cry o' the crows; Where the leaves 're drappin' softly-Nature's tears for days 't's dead, An' 'mongst the hick'ry's trimblin' boughs, the squirrel perks his head.
Where the oak an' maple colors make the woods a kind o' hint (' the land yer lookin' fer at last, an' seem to ketch a glint O' the glory streamin' down'ards; through a break in Heaven's wall. An' in the whisperin' silence, ye hear the angels call !
Old Grant eounty's purtnigh Heaven! an' I'm wishin' I was home. If there's them who're thinkin' different, they've got license fer to roam. But Heaven an' old Grant county 're just the two things I lack, An' I'm a good ways off from both-an' prayin' to git back !
LXV. STORIES OF TITE LONG AGO-THE OMNIBUS CHAPTER
Lorenzo Dow Watson, of Jefferson, who pays taxes in three counties -an octogenarian who remembers all about the Black Horse tavern and the MeCormick house along the state road that were landmarks in early history-related that a neighbor, John Jones, went one morning to bring in the horses from the range, and finding one of the cows with a young calf at her side he brought her along, although the cow fretted all the way and tried repeatedly to break away from him. The valf was at her side and he did not understand her anxiety. While con- fined in the lot she did not cease to bawl most piteously, and eight days later, when again in search of the horses. Mr. Jones discovered a thin, half starved calf lying by a log in the clearing that was an exact dupli-
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eate of the one in the lot with the cow. It was barely able to walk, and had not wandered far from where the cow with its twin had been sep- arated from it. Until that morning it had not been known there were twin calves, and the cow was immediately turned into the woods and she went for the lost calf for which she had grieved for eight long days. The little family was soon reunited, and who will say there is uot mother love in the brute creation? The cow had not forgotten her offspring and brought it home at her earliest opportunity. How the calf man- aged to exist so long without food is one of the unsolved mysteries, but it may not have taken nourishment at all and its digestive processes may not have been established. Six months and a year later Mr. Watson saw the calf, and it was stunted-never reached the size attained by the other calf that was brought up with its mother when first discovered in the woods. Mrs. Watson matched the story by saying that her father, Michael Doyle, of Van Buren, had a cow killed in a storm when she was a child. Pastures were not enclosed at the time, and nine days after the storm the careass of the cow was discovered where she had been pinioned to earth by a falling tree, and there was a calf at her side. It was barely alive and entirely too weak to walk home, and her father carried it in his arms. If it had taken nourishment in nine days, it had been from the udders of a lifeless cow-an improbability. While it had been nine days since the storm the age of the calf was unknown, as the cow was in the woods and had not been seen for a few days before that time. It was before the days of pedigree cattle, and no breeding records were kept by Grant county farmers. The motherless ralf was given to Mr. Doyle's eleven year old daughter, and at the time of the first marriage of Mrs. Jane Doyle Gillespie Watson she owned a cow descended from it.
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