USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of Dayton, Ohio. With portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneer and prominent citizens Vol. 2 > Part 21
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he shows that, inasmuch as religion and science occupy altogether different fields of thought, they are therefore not in conflict; an address delivered on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of the birth of Humboldt; an address delivered in Dayton, in September, 1887, on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States; aud an address delivered in Dayton, April 30, 1889, on the celebration of the inauguration of George Washington as first president of the United States. Besides these, Mr. Hlouk has contributed frequently to the newspapers and other periodicals as occasion demanded or seemed to render advisable.
The following extract from " An Address on Religion and Science," shows its spirit and tone as well perhaps as any that could be selected :
" Before passing, then, ladies and gentlemen, from this Mosaic account, let me present this brief summary: It professed upon its delivery to be a revelation from God. It assigns to light an existence anterior to that of all other created forces. It describes the progressive development of organic life which scientific discovery has substantially verified. Although it is now asserted to be of but moderate antiquity, it was announced some fifteen hundred years before the rise of Greek philosophy with Thales, who was the first to attempt a logical solution of material phenomena, and to account for the beginning of things. It was already an ancient record when the arms of the Macedonians diffused over Egypt and Asia the language and learning of Greece, and when the Ptolemies gathered. at Alexandria the wisdom and culture of the ancient world. It has survived the rise and fall of systems of philosophy as it has of States, empires, and phases of civilization. It was held sacred and preserved as divine truth through the two thousand years before the birth of Christ, during which Tyre and Sidon, Nineveh, Babylon, and Palmyra rose, flourished, and fell. It is now, and has been for nineteen centuries, accepted in accordance with its assumption of inspiration, as a portion of the Divine revelation, embodied in a theological system, which character- izes the civilization of the most enlightened portions of the human family. It yet remains the most widely known, conspicuous, and influential legend ever given to the world. It has beamed, lo! these many thousand years, with the steady effulgence of a Zodiac in the firmament of human thought. And what standard of comparison can we find among the illustrious of our race for that capacious brain in which Divine inspiration generated conceptions that embraced a vision of the origination and development, through countless ages, of all the forms of existence-to which time, eternity, and even Deity itself seemed alike familiar. Well might the master sculptor of the modern world take for the model of his colossal
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Moses that form which Phidias, the sculptor of the gods, gave to Olympian Jove himself !"
Mrs. George W. Houk ( nce Eliza P. Thruston ) was born in Dayton, October 23, 1833. Her father, Robert A. Thruston, who died in 1839, was one of the most brillant and promising young members of the origina. Dayton bar, and her mother was Marianna Phillips, daughter of Horatio G. Phillips, deceased, and now the wife of Colonel Jobn G. Lowe.
Mrs. Houk graduated at Cooper Female Seminary in 1851. Early in her married life she developed a decided fondness for systematic and extensive reading, the fruit of which has been a number of literary productions of varied character and decided merit. Only two of these productions have found their way into print-the first a poem entitled, " Puritan," in seven cantos, embracing two hundred and forty-five stanzas, in the Spencerian verse, a measure but little used in modern times, owing to the extreme difficulties it imposes upon the composer.
"Puritan " is accurately historical in character, and typifies the brave, earnest spirit of Puritanism, its religious fervor and love of liberty, in the person of the hero of the poem. The character of this poem, of which a small edition was published some years ago by Robert Clarke & Company, of Cincinnati, may be well judged by the following stanzas in the opening portion of the first canto, entitled " The Voyage":
I. What quivering craft braves ocean's stormy deop? What daring will bears on in such a gale? 'The boreal winds, fierce, unobstructed sweep, The autumnal clouds drop low and darkly veil The pointed mast's damp cords and tattered sail ; There thro' o'erwhelming wave appears the bow ! In racking trough, a feather were less frail ; The upper works rise torn to fragments now ! Yet onward course she holds, with bold unwavering prow.
III.
He leans against the creaking mast and feels . The ocean's pulse in every trembling beam ; The wind holds him fast bound, and now reveals Beneath his long dark pilgrim's gown, the gleam Of sword and corselet ; and his eye doth seem To pierce thro' mists and clouds, and view beyond The land of hope and promise ; for no dream The precious words that he but now hath conned ; Tho' wet, wind torn, each page forbids him to despond.
The incidents of the voyage of the Mayflower, the hopes and aspira- tions of its devoted, heroic band are related through the rest of the canto which closes with this splendid stanza:
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XXVIIL.
A day and night upon that rock-bound coast ! Another morning 'round that yearned-for land ! A headland boll, and narrow, for the most Dense wooded to the shore, nigh such a strand, The vast and furious ocean passed, doth stand The knight, brave, proud, inspired to lead the van Of hosts that dared to follow his conmand, And in the light of faith unfold a plan Conceived nor carried out by mortal man- Needs it proclaim this daring bero-PURITAN.
The second canto recounts all the " celebrated voyages," from that of the bold Argonauts under the lead of Jason, in search of the Golden Fleece, down through that of Menelaus, Ulysses, Encas, Selencus, . Alexander Magnus, Patrocles, Oneseeritus, and Solomon in ancient times, to the time of the chivalrous King Arthur, the era of Portguese, Italian, and Spanish discovery, Columbus, DaGama, the Cabots, Magellan, and the rest, closing with this happy reference to the first circumnaviga- tion of the globe by "Successful Cano:"
" -- Bold Magellan sought
To compass this great earth ; he onward pressed Thro' his famed fret, in middest ocean brought To untimely end, by savage imps untaught. Successful Cano, bearing westwardly That unsought glory through great suffering found ; His monarch proud that all the world might see, Wrote " Primus omnium circumdedisti me," XXIX. Upon his shield; and set the globe beneath ; A vaunting emblem, highest boast of fame.
The third canto is "The Landing;" the fourth a "Retrospect," being a sort of historical review of the rise and progress of Puritanism; the fifth is the "Settlement" and contains thirty-four stanzas; the sixth is entitled "Labors in England," and exhibits more than any other in the poem stateliness of versification and dramatic power. The seventh and last canto records in thirty-nine stanzas the achievement of the " Final Success" of this oncrous enterprise.
XXXVII.
" This work of human hands-by dauntless will Encouraged and directed, fills the world With wonder; far-off nations gazing still, To mark how Puritanic raco has hurled The gauntlet of achievement, and unfurled Its standard, Liberty, with power and pride! Where human progress all the past has purled, Here an advancing flood-deep, swift and wide -- What can withstand the power of the willful tide ? "
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The other production of Mrs. Houk, to which allusion has been made as having found its way into print, is an essay of a purely scientific nature, which was read at Portland, Maine, before the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, at its annual meeting in August, 1873. It was written in demonstration of the theory first propounded by Mrs. Houk, of the gradual diminution of the water upon the surface of the earth, and its slow, but continuous conversion into permanent solid forms.
The argument which is closely logical and well sustained throughout the five distinct chapters of the essay, is as follows;
1. The deercase of water surface. 2. Transformation of terrestrial matter. 3. Chemical and geological changes. 4. Water changed into solid forms by acidification, alimentation and respiration. 5. Change in species, and in human history and development.
This remarkable and most interesting paper concludes with the following paragraph, which may be regarded as a fair specimen of its style.
" The thought of the gradual diminution of water, the most wonder- ful, glorious, beautifying and gladdening of all terrestrial substances, can but be painful to us, constituted as we are. But the same Almighty and Omniscient Power that has continuously controlled and molded the adaptations of the physical universe to the perceptions and welfare of sentient beings, opening to ns even in our own short lives new and unconceived-of scenes of pleasure, with the development of our physical, ' intellectual and spiritual faculties, will doubtless continue to preserve between the living races of his creatures and external and physical cou- ditions, that perfect adaptation that has always existed and that seems to be an endless and progressive amelioration.
" That matter has thus ,developed through count ess ages, under his own immutable laws, with faultless precision, in the vastest operations of the stupendous universe, and unerring perfection in the minutest details of everything, is one of the most glorious proofs of his wisdom and omnipotence. And we cannot doubt that this revelation will become more and more glorious even to the far distant future foretold eighteen hundred years ago by the beloved disciple, who saw a new heaven and a new earth; . . . and there was no more sua." *
Besides these published works, Mrs. Houk has finished, in manu- · script, a poem in the same style and stanza of "Puritan," entitled, " Virginius," as widely different, however, as the Virginians were different in history and antecedents from the Puritans. It is far more voluminous,
* Revelation 21 : 1.
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comprising eighteen cantos, and six hundred and seventy-four stanzas, making a volume of two hundred and twenty-five pages.
She has also produced two five-act dramas ( both yet in manuscript, but finished some years ago) of the time of the Reformation-one entitled, "Martin Luther," and the other, "The Three Lovers." In addition to these, she has written and completed two unpublished love stories -- one entitled, "Aemil and Elea," the other, "The Lamarks; or, Marriageable Women."
"Virginius" is an allegorical history in verse, after the manner of the "Faerie Queen," and in the same stanza, extending from the time of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's first patent in 1578, to 1619-1620, when the guaranties of a written constitution gave permanence to colonial institu- tions. The knight, Virginius, is the embodiment of the spirit of the enterprise-at times identical with a single individual, Gilbert, Raleigh, or Smith, when the labors of the adventure seemed especially to press upon them; then, again, maintaining an individuality through changes and confusion of characters, indispensable to the nnity and interest of a poem -- where facts give force to rather than fetter the imagination.
Another poem, somewhat similar in idea, but altogether different in measure and character of treatment, entitled "Mauritius," has been in part written by Mrs. Houk, and is intended to commemorate the coloniza- tion and settlement of New York and the spirit of commercial enterprise.
It has been deemed only just in a work of this character to allude thus at length to a lady so well known for her many estimable qualities, and who has so unostentatiously performned so vast an amount of excellent literary labor.
Mrs. L. B. Lair has written sketches for the periodicals of the day, this line of writing being followed more during the war than since. She has also written some poetry, and essays on various occasions.
Miss Mary D. Steele has for several years been a regular contributor to some of the best newspapers and magazines in the country, among them the New York Evangelist, the Magazine of Western History, and the Atlantic Monthly.
Mrs. Charlotte Reeve Conover is also a valued contributor to several periodicals, and Miss Leila A. Thomas has written some commendable poetry, two of her pieces being " In Medias Res" and " Liber Fatalis," the latter written for a certain celebration at Wheaton Seminary, Norton, Massachusetts. Samuel C. Wilson's poetry is also worthy of note, a few of his poems having more than ordinary merit being " Sleep and Rest," "A Course of English Reading," and "A Lament for My Alpenstock," the latter being in a fine vein of humor. . 42
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Rev. M. P. Gaddis was the author of a number of books, among which were "Foot-Prints of an Itinerant," "Sacred Hour," "Saintly Women and Death-Bed Triumphs," and "Last Words and Old-Time Memories."
Rev. J. W. Hott, D. D., for many years editor of the Religious Telescope, is the author of "Journeyings in the Old World; or, Europe, Palestine, and Egypt." This book is highly commended by all crities. Mr. Dott has also contributed introductions to numerous volumes of other authors.
Professor A. W. Drury, D. D., is the author of two valuable volumes-oue being the "Life of Philip William Otterbein," founder of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In this work many facts of great historic interest are presented to the public for the first time. The other work of Professor Drury is the "Life of Bishop J. J. Glossbrenner, D. D."
Bishop J. Weaver, D. D., is the author of the following works: " Discourses on the Resurrection," "Divine Providence," "Doctrine of Universal Restoration Carefully Examined," and other publications. Ile is also the editor of a volume on "Christian Doctrine; a Compre- hensive Treatise ou Systematic and Practical Theology," by numerous writers.
Rev. E. S. Lorenz, A. M., B. D., is one of the most prolific authors to whom Dayton ean lay claim. A large number of his productions are Sunday-school music books, which are mentioned elsewhere in this chapter. His other volumes are: "Gospel Worker's Treasury," " Get- ting Ready for a Revival," "The Coming Revival," and "Christmas Selections." He has also contributed to the Methodist Quarterly Review and other publications.
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Rev. M. R. Drury, A. M., is the author of the "Otterbein Birthday Book" and a "IIand-Book for Workers." Rev. L. Davis, D. D., has written a "Life of Bishop David Edwards, D. D."
Rev. W. J. Shuey and Rev. D. K. Flickinger, D. D., wrote " Dis- courses on Doutrinal and Practical Subjects," published in 1859. Mr. Shuey is the author of several pamphlets, was a contributor to the Unity Magazine, and has been for years a frequent writer for the Religious Telescope. Mr. Flickinger has written several volumes on missionary work.
John Lawrence wrote " The Slavery Question" and the " History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ," issued in 1860.
Rev. D. Berger, D. D., the editor of Our Bible Teacher and other periodicals, has contributed to numerous publications. He has also
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edited a series of Sunday-school library books, and has published a pamphlet on "The Bible in the College and Seminary."
Professor J. P. Landis, D. D., Ph. D., has been a contributor to the Old Testament Student, and to various publications of the United Brethren Publishing House.
Mrs. Isadore S. Bash wrote " Briekey Sorrel; or, the Twin Cousins," a fascinating temperance story, and was for some time an interesting special contributor to the Dayton Journal.
E. L. Shucy, A. M., is the author of a "Hand-Book of the United Brethren in Christ," and of services for special occasions.
All the above books, beginning with "Journeyings in the Old World," have been published by the United Brothren Publishing House, of this city.
Rev. Daniel II. French, D. D., has written "From Eden to Glory, or Footsteps of Merey," published by A. D. F. Randolph & Company, New York City, 1889.
Rev. E. Herbruck, Ph. D., editor of the Christian World, is the author of "Under Eastern Skies. The Record of a Pleasant Journey Through Bible Lands," issued by the Reformed Publishing Company, of this city, 1889.
Dr. J. C. Reeve is one of the leading contributors to the medical periodicals of the day. His work has been chiefly in the line of the review of new books, and some of these published in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Philadelphia, a periodical noted for the excellence of its review department, have attracted considerable attention. HIe began literary work by the translation of Flouren's "History of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood." Ile has written no inde- pendent work. He has been called upon to contribute to several encyclopedias of medical science. He wrote the article on "Chloroform and Other Anæsthetics" for the American edition of " Holmes' Surgery," three volumes, Philadelphia. He also wrote the article, " Anæsthetics," for " Wood's Reference Book of the Medical Sciences," seven volumes, New York; the article on " Anastheties in Labor" for the "American System of Obstetries," two volumes, Philadelphia, and an important chapter upon a subject relating to the discases of women, in "Pepper's System of American Medicine," five volumes, Philadelphia.
Dr. W. J. Conklin has contributed quite largely to the litera- ture of his profession, and has also prepared several of the leading articles for "Wood's Hand-Book of the Medical Sciences," recently issued.
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Edward B. Grimes graduated at Otterbein University in 1883, and has the distinction of having published a book before graduating. The book referred to is entitled " Poems, by Edward B. Grimes." It consists of about one hundred pages, and the entire edition was either sold or given away in a very short time after its appearance.
The most noted poems of this little volume are " The Old Lamp- lighter," " A Model- A Cook," and "Bother and his Castle." "The old lamp-lighter" consoles himself with the thought that by lighting lamps he is of use to a portion of his fellow-men. He says in reply to a question as to whether he does not suffer from the rain and the cold:
"Though I know my lot is lowly, And my talents are but few ; Yet I light the way for others, 'Tis the best that I can do."
In " A Model-A Cook," different kinds of wives are compared, or rather contrasted. 'One class consists of those wives who are thoroughly educated in music or the classics, to the neglect of useful things, and the other consists of the wives who can cook. All kinds of misery come to the families of the foriner class, while an ideal happiness is the lot of the family of the wife that can cook. It contains an excellent lesson for young women who desire a happy home after marriage.
" And see as they meet at the table, How healthy and happy they look ; And listen, for Dan is now saying, ' My wife is a model-a cook.' So girls, 't is a lesson worth learning, To know how to cook is an art- An art that will bring you a husband, And conquer and soften his heart."
"Bother and his Castle" is the most pretentious poem in the collection. It deals rather severely with that class of people who are continually bothered with their tasks, and seldom or never take hold of their duties with a heart and a will.
" Fancy said this was a lesson, Given to each doubting man, Who is always calling bother, But is never saying can. " ' Weak and feeble,' whispered Fancy, 'Man at first may seem to be, But if he will seek the zenith, All he sought he'll surely see. "'And his work all well completed, Like the crimson, setting sun, 'Cross his course it will be written, ' Well and bravely hast thou done."""
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Dr. Carl II. Von Klein is one of the distinguished writers of Dayton. He is the author of numerous books, pamphlets, papers, etc. The titles of his books are as follows: " Vaginal Diseases of North America," Leipsic, 1874; "American Physicians and Surgeons," Leipsic, 1875; "Hand- Book for Coroners," Cincinnati, 1882; " Anatomical Osteologie," 1883, and "Editio Emendata," 1885, both Cincinnati; "Pharmaceupolistical Lexicon," New York, 1880, second edition, 1884. Dr. Von Klein is also anthor of the following pamphlets and papers: " Medical Jurisprudence on Homicides," "Surgical Remarks and Practical Observations," both in German, the first published in 1878, the latter in 1879; "Points on Medical Jurisprudence" (German), Koenigsburg, 1879; " Manual of Medi- cal Jurisprudence," Hamilton, 1882; "Jewish Hygiene and Diet," from the "Talmud" and various other Jewish writings hitherto untranslated, Chicago, 1884; "Medical Jurisprudence in Divorce," delivered before the Ohio State Bar Association, 1885; "Voice in Singers," Columbus, 1885; "Rhinology of the Past and Future," 1886; " Address on Rhinol- ogy," 1888; "Unhealthy Dress of American Women," 1881; "Eruptions of the Skin, by Various Causes," 1882 ;; "On the Utilization of Sewerage for Burning Material," 1884; "Examinations of Throat and Nose," 1888; "On Medical Education," 1883. Dr. Von Klein is a regular contributor to various medical journals, as the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic, the Philadelphia Medical Register, the St. Louis Medical Journal, the Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal, the Virginia Medical Monthly, the Sanitarium, the New England Medical Monthly, the Medico-Legal Journal, etc. Dr. Von Klein's latest work is a translation of the " Medi- eine of the Talmud, with Rabbinical Commentaries of Ancient and Latter Ages."
Robert W. Steele has done much literary work. He has written largely for the newspapers, and has published numerons essays on educa- tional and horticultural subjects. He has also written a history of the public schools of Dayton, of the public library, of the cemeteries in the city, and the early history of Dayton from the beginning down to 1810, the four latter topics appearing in this work.
Pearl V. Collins is another of Dayton's noted writers, his principal work being a novel, entitled " A Baton for a Heart."
The Dayton Literary Union was founded in September, 1876. It grew out of the feeling on the part of a number of citizens interested in the intellectual welfare of the place, as well as of themselves, that the united effort of such a body would be productive of good in the way of stimulating inquiry into many subjects of literary, scientific, artistic, and
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social interest. The first officers of the union were George W. Houk, president; A. D. Wilt, vice-president; A. M. Powell, secretary; George R. Young, treasurer. The union was divided into scetions of ten mem- bers and upward, cach section named according to the particular course of study pursned by it. At first these different sections were as follows: belles lettres, Robert W. Stecle, chairman; sociological, General T. J. Wood, chairman; German, Dr. A. Scheibenzuber, chairman; scientific, A. Humphreys, chairman; historical, L. P. Thompson, chairman.
The officers for 1877-1878 were as follows: A. D. Wilt, president ; J. A. Robert, vice-president; John HI. Thomas, secretary; A. J. Hiller, treasurer. By this time the number of sections had been increased by the addition of a French section and an art section, thus making seven sections to the union. The chairmen of the first three were the same as the year before; Dr. II. S. Jewett was chairman of the science section, and the other three sections were without chairmen.
The Union had an apartment in the Winters' Block, Number 118 East Third Street. Meetings of each section were held once in two weeks, and the work was so systematically arranged that each member of the various sections was enabled to take part in the proceedings according to his capacity and inclination. It was found difficult, how- ever, to keep up the interest equally in the various sections, and the result has been that first one and then another section dropped off, until at the present time only the belles lettres section is in existence. Those who have been most prominently identified with the work of the Union are Professor J. A. Robert, E. M. Thresher, and John Hancock.
The Woman's Literary Club, of Dayton, Ohio, was organized in April, 1889. This club is divided into the following sections: General literature, history, art, and miscellaneous. The meetings of the club are held each alternate Thursday from ten to twelve A. M., except during the summer months, from the first week in June to the first week in October. Members are distinguished as close-working and non-close-working members, the former paying one dollar per year as a fee and the latter five dollars. The first and present officers of the club are as follows: Mrs. J. A. Marlay, president; Mrs. E. R. Stilwell, vice-president; Miss Mary Reeve, recording secretary; Miss Anna Rogers, corresponding secretary; Miss Martha Perrine, treasurer; Miss Electra C. Doren, critic; executive board, Mrs. W. D. Biekham, Mrs. Harry Lytle, and Miss Florence Gebhart; Mrs. Frank Conover, chairman of the general litera- ture section; Mrs. J. B. Thresher, chairman of art section; Mrs. A. D. Wilt, chairman of history section, and Miss Carrie Brown, chairman of miscellaneous section. The programme committee is as follows: Mrs. J.
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