USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 34
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brushing the musquitoes right and left to enable him to read the steamboat's name.
The following colloquy actually occurred some few trips back, between Capt. Brickell and a customer on the banks of the Mississippi, wlio was sitting on a pile of cord wood, as the boat passed by.
Captain B. hailed him-" What wood is that."
" It's cord wood," replied the chopper, with great unconcern.
" How long has it been cut," enquired the captain.
" Four feet," said the wood merchant.
" Give her a lick ahead," said the captain, to cut short the sparring. "Tell your friends if ever you get drowned to look for you at the Falls of St. Anthony.
Corded Shirts.
In the Atlas of the 26th ult., there is a state- ment, partly original and partly copied from the New York Evening Post, that the ladies are in progress of exhausting the supply of coffee bags, by their consumption of the article in corded skirts. On reading that article I was led to sup- pose it emanated from one of those ill-natured bachelors who are continually throwing out in- situations respecting the ladies. But the adver- tisement of Mr. C. A. Schumann, No. 37 Main street, for two hundred coffee bags, an article never made matter of commerce heretofore, ap- pears to give some colour to the charge that they are consumed by the milliners. Perhaps Mr. S will say what they are wanted for, and tranquil- ise a community which is in anxious doubt on this subject
The Jews.
The Englishman's fireside is proverbial for do- mestic happiness, " the only bliss of Paridise that has survived the fall," but of all firesides, the Jew's fireside, as far as relates to their affections, is the most abundant in good feeling. I have ob- served this in all families, from the most opulent to the most indigent. Let Christians, instead of yielding to the spirit of intolerance, seek the fire- side of a Jewish family. They will find in many houses two or three generations-the young du- tifully waiting upon the old and infirm, with a love and respect never to be excelled, and sel- dom to be equalled, by the members of any re- ligion. Parent and child, husband and wife, uni- ted together in one sweet bond of union. That love which made victory bitter to David while he mourned Absalom, and which smote Jephthah to the dust while he wept for his daughter-that love still warms the heart of his descendants; and the Jew, who is not allowed to have power, or place, or country, has a home which his oppressors may
envy, where the Almighty is with him, and his children are about him. Such is the nature of their affection; it is the fruit of their religion, which abounds with love of kindred. * * * It is not, however, only in domestic life that their kind natures appear, they are distinguished for their public and private charities, for their readi- ness to relieve misery wherever it exists. " The Christians talk much of charity and kindness," said a bankrupt " the Jews practice it. I have experienced more kindness from the few Jews with whom I have dealt than from all my Chris- tian customers." A friend of mine had the mis- fortune to lose a beloved wife in a childbirth; op- posite to him lived an opulent Jew. His lady had just recovered from her confinement; she heard of my friend's loss; she immediately sent and re- quested that she might nurse the baby ; she reared it. It is not, however, to private life that their kindness is limited; it extends to every form of benevolence.
Side-Walks.
In my last appeared an article on the con- veniences of side-walks. In reply to inquiries made of me since, it may be stated that the city ordinances provide for keeping our side-walks clear of obstructions. Why standing impedi- ments are permitted to block up the passengers' path must be therefore left to inference. The following may shed light on the subject.
In conversation a day or two since, with the officer whose business it once was to enforce the ordinances, he stated that he was offered at differ- ent times and by different persons, hats, coats, and other articles, by way of douceur, to wink at infractions by certain individuals, of the laws on this subject. It is but justice to Mr. Hulse, our present superintendent, that I acquit him cx- pressly of the imputation of connivance in this case.
Gluttony.
The capacity for eating with some men is as remarkable as the intellectual capacity of others. At Mauch Chunk, Penna., lately, Thomas Far- ran, of Summit Hill, agreed to pay ten cents for as many raw eggs as he could eat at one time. He ate forty one and would have eaten more, but for the apprehension of the party who bore the expense, who fearing that there was no bottom to his stomach, interfered with the further betting.
In Philadelphia, during the year 1810, John Moss, a broker and merchant of that city, on a wager, after finishing his ordinary supper, swal- lowed three dozen hard boiled eggs. I under- stand Moss is still living and one of the wealth- iest men in Philadelphia.
.
169
First Presbyterian Church Edifice.
Most things are great and important, or small and insignificant, by comparison, merely. To those who had been"destitute of schools, as the first settlers here, the original log acadmey which occupied the scite of the present Council Chamber, nearly, was an imposing structure, al- though thrown into shade by its successor, which from 1816 to 1843 was known as the " Cincin- nati College." This was deemed a magnificent structure when put up, as the new college is now. What this last will be considered five and twenty years hence, I must leave to the year 1870 to settle.
In like manner, those who had no regular place or permanent building as a house for worship, might feel proud when they got into what is now Burke's Church; and when the pro- gress of Cincinnati justified a larger and more permanent erection, supposed they had reached the Ultima Thule of elegance and improvement, in putting up the First Presbyterian Church, on Main street, which, uncouth as ite exterior now appears, and defective as its plan and inside ar- rangement undoubtedly were, is a building of uncommon solidity, and well adapted in most re- spects to its appropriate use.
The following is the subscription list towards defraying the expense of building that edifice. It will forever form a record of the liberality of Cincinnati in its infancy; better understood and appreciated when it is recollected that four-fifths of the present wealth of Cincinnati has been created since the period when that enterprise commenced.
We, the subscribers, bind ourselves, our heirs, &c., to pay to the Treasurer of the First Presby- terian Congregation, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the sums annexed to our names, on the condition and in the manner following, viz:
1. The sums subscribed are to be appropriated for the purpose ol erecting a house of public worship in Cincinnati.
2. Each subscriber shall have an opportunity by himself or proxy, of purchasing a pew in said house at public auction, in the price of which he shall have a credit to the full amount of his sub- scription; and an additional credit of twenty. per cent. on all that part of his subscription which he may have paid in cash: Provided, that if his pew shall have cost less than the amount of his sub- scription, none of the money shall be refunded.
3. The pews shall be subject to an annual tax for the support of a minister in the congregation.
4. The payment of our subscriptions shall be in cash, or such materials, produce, manufac- tures, merchandize or labour, as may be accepted by the Treasurer under the direction of the Trustees or their committee for the purpose of
erecting the edifice; one-fourth in sixty days af- ter public notice given in the Cincinnati papers; one-fourth in six, one-fourth in twelve, and one- fourth in eighteen months afterwards, completing the payments of the whole amount subscribed in one year and eight months after the first public notice.
In testimony whereof we have set our names, and anexed the sums to them, in the year of our Lord, 1812.
Names. Sums.
Names.
Sums.
Jac. Burnet
$500 00
Martin Baum $500 00
Wm. Lytle
1000 00 Danl. Symmes. 400 00
David E. Wade 400 00
Jesse Hunt 400 00
Jacob Wheeler
400 00
D. Zeigler 400 00
Jas. Ferguson
400 00
Joel Williams 400 00
N. Longworth
250 00
Samuel Stitt 300 00
Francis Carr
250 00
Casper Hopple 200 00
G. Yeatman
200 00
Saml. Lowry
200 00
W. Barr
200 00
John Kidd
200 00
David Kilgour
200 00
Wm. Irwin 200 00
Jacob Williams
200 00 W. Woodward 300 00
N. Reeder
200 00
Jesse Reeder 200 00
Wm. Betts
200 00
J. Crammer 50 00
Z. Biggs
100 00 Robt. Caldwell 150 00
J. Jenkinson
100 00 G. P. Torrence 100 00
O. M. Spencer
100 00
S. Ramsay
100 00
John Riddle 200 00
Isaac Bates
100 00
Clark Bates
300 00
J. B. Enness
50 00
James Riddle
250 00 Dan. Drake 75 00
Robert Allison
75 00 John H. Piatt 400 00
Isaac Anderson
100 00
Th. Ashburn
100 00
John Jones
50 00 H. Bechcle
100 00
J. Baymiller
200 00
T. Graham 300 00
Solomon Sisco 25 00
150 00
S. W. Davies
50 00
A. Johnston
30 00 W. C. Anderson 50 00
W. H. Hopkins 25 00 J. B. Robinson 100 00
Jeremiah Hunt
100 00
O. Ormsby 100 00
Samuel Kidd 50 00
300 00
J. S. Wallace
200 00
P. Dickey
200 00 Saml. Perry
100 00
A. Dunseth
200 00
J. McIntire
100 00
Saml. Newell 100 00
E. J. Dayton
100 00
Wm. Ramsey
100 00 Joseph Prince
150 00
John S. Gano
100 00 Wm. Ruffin
100 00
J. Carpenter
100 00
C. Park
200 00
Joseph Ruffner
300 00
H. Flint
100 00
James Conn
100 00 Jos. Warner
75 00
L. Sayre
75 00
J. P. Spinning
75 00
Robert Meraie
75 00
Peter M'Nicoll 75 00
J. Reeder 75 00
A. Moore
100 00
John Mahard 50 00
Davis Embree
75 00
Geo. St. Clair
75 00
J. Gibson, Jr.
50 00
Daniel Mayo
50 00
J. Andrews
50 00
I. Spinning
100 00
A. Hamilton 50 00
Win. Corry
100 00 C.L'Homedieu 100 00
John Brown
25 00
E. Williams
A. St Clair,Jr. 125 00
W. Noble
100 00 E. Hutchinson 100 00
Wm. Stanley
170
John Watson
50 00 Thos. Beal 100 00
Jos. McMurray 100 00 James Dover 30 00
Andrew Hopple 50 00 Saml. Garart 100 00
Wm. Carey
50 00 Chas. Marsh 25 00
Jabez C. Tunis
50 00 J. Armstrong 200 00
Henry Hafer
50 00 Stephen Butler 25 00
J. Heighway 25 00
R. Archibald 75 00
Thos. Sloo, Jr. 50 00
Francis West
50 00
J. N. Gluer 25 00
Jonah Martin 50 00
A. Ferguson
30 00 Nath. Edson
50 00
Josiah Halley
50 00
David Wade
50 00
Andrew Mack
50 00
Benj. Cross 30 00
Emigration.
So large a city as Cincinnati not only receives continued accessions by emigration from Europe and the Atlantic regions; but furnishes a fair share of emigrants to various points west. Of the hundreds upon hundreds of individuals who have thus left Cincinnati during the last five and twenty years-settling themselves in the far west and south, I suppose the proportion that has since returned must be nine out of every ten. As far as my acquaintance extends, it is nineteen out of twenty. Indeed I cannot recollect half a dozen of these who are still residing abroad. The general testimony of those, who, in the pressures of 1834 and 1841, had returned to Cincinnati, af- ter trying their fortune elsewhere, being that hard as the times were, they were better here than where they had been; and that if a man could not make a living here, he could not make it any where.
While engaged taking the census of 1840, I obtained the facts embodied in the following nar- rative from a citizen of ours, conversant thor- oughly with the family refered to.
Among the emigrants from ;Europe in the earlier days of Cincinnati, was a Mr. L -- , who after struggling long for a living in Eng- land, in his business as a coppersmith, concluded to settle in the United States. Accordingly he visited Cincinnati, where he decided on establish- ing himself, rightly judging it a good location for one in his business, His family consisted of the wife, two or three boys, and as many girls, all small. Mr. L --- soon gat in a good busi- ness; and his boys becoming able to help him in it after the lapse of three or four years, he was fast getting into good circumstances. Unfortu- nately for his comfort, Mrs. L ---- having few acquaintances as well as little leisure to make more, and living under a different state of manners, customs, pursuits and recreations from those existing in that part of Europe from which the family came, had never been reconciled to Cincinnati. In the enjoyment of many com- forts and privileges which she did not possess at home, her thoughts dwelt with regret on those
only which she had left behind, and as a conse- quence, by every means in her power, endeavor- ed to induce her husband to return. His re- monstrances were to no purpose, and for the sake of peace he consented, and they resumed a residence whence they originally came. A few months, however, sufficed to teach Mrs. L- the folly of the step thus taken. Absence and time had severed old links of acquaintance and friendship; her own tastes had insensibly chang- ed, by conforming to the state of things in a new country, and now, when too late, she perceived the various advantages and enjoyments she had abandoned in leaving the United States. The change rapidly going on in her feelings, of course, soon became apparent to her husband, but desirous that a thorough cure should take place, he forbore saying a word on the subject, well aware that it would corne to a bearing in the natural course of things. One day she came home from market with a leg of veal in hier bas- ket, "There," says she, "is all I got for a guinea, I wish I was back again in Cincinnati," and set- ting down on her chair, fairly burst into tears. " Do you say so, my dear," said L., "we will set off then, if you please, next Monday." And on Monday they started accordingly, and were soon again ih the old dwelling and shop, on Main street, where the old man spent the remainder of his days, and the boys, now among our most in- telligent and wealthy citizens, are doing an ac- tive and extensive business.
There is an undoubted tendency in the West, however it may be accounted for, to dissatisfy those who have once resided in it, with a new residence in the Atlantic cities, and still more with European society and modes of life.
Ante Revolutionary Relic.
Every student of American history will re- member the name of Sir William Pepperrell, the commander of the Colonial Expedition, in 1746, to Louisburg, Cape Breton. The follow- ing is an original letter of his, which has been handed me by Hon. Bellamy Storer, great grand son of the officer whose address it bears. It is publishhd-verbatim et literatim-as a feature of the times:
" KITTERY, April 18th, 1759. " COL. JOHN STORER:
" Sir,-It fills me with great concern to hear the men returned impressed for the Canada Expe- dition have not attended their duty as directed.
" I expect if they don't immediately go to Castle Williams as directed, they will some of them be hanged without benefit of clergy, and it will be a scandal in this country. Here is at my wharf a schooner that designs to sail next Mon- day morning for Boston : if they come by that
191
time they may go in her and all will be well; but | my recollection; and as I had always been in- if they don't, every officer, civil and military, and all His Majesty's subjects, should assist in apprehending them. You ought to bestir your- self in this affair; my health will not permit me.
" I am your friend and humble servant,
WM. PEPPERRELL."
Extraordinary Facts in Natural History.
The mesmeric discoveries made within the last five years, have kindled a spirit of experimenting on divers subjects, which promise remarkable re- sults. A striking instance of the kind is record- ed below.
If we go on at this rate, Natural History will soon require to be rewritten, to keep up with the progress of modern science. There are those, no doubt, who will ridicule statements [of fact as well established as those attested by Major Pil- lers; but with the endorsement of so respectable a print as the Charleston Courier, and the many kindred facts in mesmerism equally incredible, yet familiar to hundreds in Cincinnati and else- where, I do not see why the Major's testimony should be disputed.
From the Charleston Courier.
Maj. John Pillers, a farmer of greot respecta- bility in this county, informed us that while he lived at his father's in Missouri, some twenty years ago, a buzzard (is not this bird the real vul- ture?) was taken alive, having gorged itself over a carcase to such a degree as to prevent its flying -its weight being too heavy for its wings, when he, together with his father, brother, and a neigh- bour, with a small shoemokers' awl, ripped open its eyes so that no part of the ball of either re- mained. The head of the bird was then put un- der one of its wings, in which position it re- mained a few minutes, when to the surprise of all, it gradually relieved its head from its wing, shook itself as if to arrange its disordered feath- ers, and reappeared with two good sound eyes, free from blemish, pessessing in every degree the power of vision. This seemingly eruel experi- ment was repeated with the same bird on differ- ent occasions, ih the presence of different persons, fifty times, and always with the same result, and not the least injury appeared to have been occa- sioned by it. After the lapse of a few months the bird flew away to its accustomed haunts. I have mentioned this fact to several persons, who, though they had never "seen the like," expressed no surprise or doubt of its truth, but replied that they had always heard that the down from the in- side of a buzzard's wing was a cure for blindness in horses, and one man remarked that he cured a most inveterate case of approaching blindness in himself by it. He procured the down, spread it on a bandage, applied it to his eyes, and re- covered.
credulous, I was determined to put it to the test of experiment, and accordingly mentioned the fact to the young gentleman who had the bird, and desired him to operate upon it. Having no sharp pointed instrument at hand, other than a pin, with that he punctuaed one of the eyes, and all its lustre instantly disappeared. The head was then placed under the wing of the bird, where it remained a few minutes only, and when taken out, the eye had assumed its usual bril- liancy, appearing as sound as the other, with not a speck upon it. In this experiment, it is true, the eye ball was not ripped open-the operation seeming too cruel to have my participation; but, as far as it goes, it serves to inspire belief in the statement of Maj. Pillers. And why should there not be a healing virtue in the down of a buzzard's wing? No man can say why not. Do weknow whence those animals and mineral sdbstances, re- sorted to for the cure of all maladies, derive their healing powers. The fact that certain substan- ces possess such qualities has been ascertained by experiment, and until that infallable test has dis- proved the efficacy of the down, no one can say it will not cure blindness? And why should not the buzzard have the power to reproduce its eyes? There are many mysteries in nature that we shall never be able to fathom. It is a mystery that an acorn can develope itself and become an oak; that an unsightly worm can, in a short time, become a most beautiful fly; in short, the whole world is but an open volume of mysteries, which all wonder at, but few can unravel. It is true, that ---
" There are more things in Heaven and earth Than are dreamt of in our philosophy."
We know that many insects and reptiles have the power of casting their old skins every year, and appearing in an entirely new one; that the common house spider gets a new skin and a new set of legs every year; and that if you pluck off one of its legs, it will, in two or three days, have a new one in its place. The shedding the teeth and reproduction of the nails in the human spe- cies are certainly remarkable, and would be so considered, were thoy not of daily occurrence. Upon sober consideration, it cannot be regarded more wonderful that a buzzard should have the power to reproduce its eyes, tnan a spider its skin and legs, a horse his teeth and hoofs-our species their teeth and nails, or a deer his antlers. They are all remarkable phenomena of animal philoso- phy, and cannot be accounted for on any known principles.
The fact stated in the conclusion of the deposi- tion, relative to the bald eagle, has not, I venture to say, arrested the attention of any one. Who would believe that the featliers of that bird can- not be plucked out? The idea of feathers aud plucking are ever associated, yet you cannot get those of the bald eagle without taking the skin with them-unless, perhaps, through the agency of some chemical application, of which we " far west in the backwoods" know nothing.
SIGMA.
In corroboration of Major Pillers' statement, whose deposition is hereunto subjoined, I can I, John Pillers, a citizen of Randolph county, DEPOSITION. Illinois, do degose and say, that I am the indi- vidual alluded to in the above communication, and that the facts stated therein, so far as I am concerned, are true in every particular. The experiment of ripping open the buzzard's eyes, state my own experience on the subject. Travel- ling, some three years since, on the American bottom, I staid part of a day with a friend of mine, whose step son had the day before taken a half grown buzzard-as soon as I saw the bird, the statement of Major Pillers came fresh upon | during the time we kept it, from February to
172
May, was repeated, I dare say, fifty times; and | early days of Cincinnati, and some of them have once at a log rolling, ten times in one day. An gone to press in my columns. old African negro, belonging to Mr. F. Valli, Jr., of St. Genevieve, named Joseph, (though sup- posed to be upwards of one hundred years old,) first told me of it, and I have tried it frequently since, on different buzzards with the same result. This same negro totd me that the feathers could not be plucked out of a bald eagle. This is true. You may try it any way, and scald it, and you cannot pull out a feather.
Signed, JOHN PILLERS. Deposition taken before me,
Signed, JAMES HUGHES, J. P.
Third Ward -- Cincinnati.
In the enumeration of buildings to this ward, I find twelve hundred and twenty-five dwelling houses, workshops, public stables, store houses, mills, factories ond offices. Of these, seven hun- dred and eighty are bricks, two are of stone, and four hundred and gve are frames. Besides these there are of public buildings,-the Botanico- Medical College, and Bethel Chapel; City Water Works, an Engine House, two Public School Houses, and the new and extensive Little Miami Rail-Road Depot.
Of these buildings there were at the close of the year 1842-
Stone.
Brick.
Frame.
Total.
2
535
325
860
Built in 1843,
0
69
44
113
1844,
0
71
46
117
1845, 0
50
65
115
2
725
480
1206
This ward embraces most of the original im- provements of Cincinnati, in its western sec- tion; and the whole ward having been built on for years, there is less room for new buildings than in suburb wards. But many of the edifices put up this year and the last are of very impo- sing extent and character, such as the foundries of Niles & Co., on Deer Creek; Griffey, Hark- ness, &c., which not only cover a great space of ground; but are many stories in height. Four- fifths, at least, of this ward is built to its utmost capacity.
The Third Ward is the great beehive of Cin- cinnati. Planing machines; iron, bell, and brass founderies; breweries, saw, oil and rolling mills; boiler yards, boat and machine shops, &c., con- tribute an extensive share of its business.
Early Business Dealings here.
I have before me a due bill of a farmer of Hamilton county, dated 1793, for professional services to one of our first lawyers, first in every sense of the term, " for a cow and calf-payable next spring." Another due bill of the same period is for thirty dollars, the debt having been incurred on the same score, payable in pork. It seems pork has always been a staple here; but the present dwellers in Cincinnati probably do not suppose it ever formed the currency. Flour was exchanged in early days here extensively with the bakers, pound for pound, the baker ma- king quite a iair profit under the operation. In store dealings, change was made by giving a row or two of pins or a few needles.
Such is society, always, in its first stages.
Fair of the Mechanics' Institute.
The 8th anniversary exhibition of this institu- tion closed on Saturday last. It fell short in the number and variety of articles displayed, as compared with some of its predecessors, and the place of exhibition, the only one, on the whole, suited to its purposes, was not well adapted either for display or access. The Fair, making these allowances, however, was creditable to those concerned in getting it up. There were many splendid trophies of the ingenuity, taste, and excellence of our Cincinnati artizans, and various interestinu coutributions in the fine arts, and of curiosities both of nature and art.
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