Gc
LSasI ESEALOGY COLLECTIQH
1415266
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01372 2746
SCENES
MEMORIES.^ TRAVELS
OF
EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
AND
Short Sketches of the Lanphear
AND Potter Families
By ETHAN LANPHEAR
Author of " Life, Travels, and Observations of Eighty Years,
and "Observations of Religious Practices and Preach-
ing of Eighty-one Years."
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR
1415266
PREFACE
I WAS born in Westerly, R. I., March 2,
1818. My parents were Samuel and Hannah
Lanphear. We moved with an ox team and
sheet-covered wagon from Potters Hill, R. L,
to Alfred, Allegany Co., N. Y. The country
was mostly wilderness after crossing the Hud-
son River at Albany until we reached the end
of our journey, five hundred miles. My parents
then had three children, all boys, myself the
youngest. My mother^s sister and her hus-
band, Amos Crandall, took passage with us,
the goods of both families being on the same
wagon. We worked our way through the
wilderness to Alfred in about eighteen or
twenty days, camping out nights, or sleeping in
the wagon, when we could not find logs huts to
cover our heads. Then there was not a frame
building in that town. The earliest settlers
nearly all lived in logs huts or shanties. It
was a wild country, and the settlers had to
meet hard fare, barely living on wild game and
wild fruit. But the people were industrious,
soon cut away the timber, and in a few years
2 PREFACE
were raising grain for themselves, and were able
to aid the new settlers as they arrived.
Soon the settlers organized a society for
worship, and for a time held meetings from
house to house, or in log schoolhouses, until
they were able to build a meeting-house. I
was brought up to attend church and read the
Bible. The preaching was very plain. I
remember the first sermon I heard. The
preacher had no shoes to his feet, or coat to
his back, yet revivals followed his preaching.
Let me say right here that my father and
another man by the name of David Stillman
put their heads together and talked it over
that the preacher ought to have some shoes.
So after meeting, my father stepped out to the
door, picked up a stick, and walking along by
the side of the preacher, took up his foot and
measured it. The next Sabbath the preacher
had some shoes. Possibly one half of the
men, and some of the women, came to church
barefooted. I remember I went to church
barefooted in warm weather until I was sixteen
years old.
As I grew to manhood, I observed that as
the preachers became more educated, they
began to preach new doctrines, as I thought,
and contrary to the Bible. I concluded that
PREFACE 6
merely reading the Bible was not satisfactory,
and concluded to study the Bible for myself.
As I grew older, I became interested in
travel, and have traveled in all the States but
one or two, and have crossed the United States
by the four different routes. I made it a practice
to attend church of some sort nearly every
week. In this way I heard many doctrines.
The more I heard, the more interested I be-
came in studying the Bible. These things
caused me to write up a book, when I was
eighty years of age, on " Observations and
Travels of Eighty Years;" and then again,
becoming eighty- one years, another book of
''Observation of Religious Practices and
Preaching of Eighty-one Years," etc. ; and
now that the good Lord has allowed me to live
to see eighty-two years, and my memory pretty
clear, and my eyes allowing me to read and
write without glasses, by request I have con-
cluded to write up this book, the " Happenings
and Observation of Eighty-two Years," and to
give a short sketch of the Lanphear and Potter
families, and more specifically on my life and
travels. Ethan Lanphear.
Plainfield, N. J., April, 1900.
CONTENTS
Chapter
I. Early Recollections
II. In Our New Home in the Wilder-
ness
III. At Our New Home Yet ,
IV. A Journey to the City of Roches-
ter, N. Y
V. Embark in the Grist and Flour
Milling Business . . . .
VI. A Trip to Rhode Island, My Na-
tive Birthplace ....
VII. In Rhode Island, the Smallest
State in the Union
VIII. From Rhode Island Back to Al
FRED, Our Home, Again
IX. At Our Business Again .
X! Fairly Settled for the Time
XI. On Board the " St. Louis " for the
City of St. Louis .
XII. On Our Journey up the Illinois
XIII. On the Boat for the Mouth of the
Spoon River and for Lewiston
XIV. From Lewiston, III., to Wiscon
SIN
XV. Now IN Wisconsin .
XVI. At Alfred, the Home of My Boy
hood
XVII. A Trip through New York State
XVIII. A Visit to Wisconsin
XIX. I Leave for Milton, Wis.
XX. I Leave Washington for the East
5
Page
13
16
20
27
32
37
42
46
50
55
59
63
72
79
83
88
91
97
100
CONTENTS
XXI. Home Again ....
XXII. Traveling IN Canada
XXIII. A Trip to Wisconsin to Attend a
General. Conference .
XXIV. We Go up to Minneapolis Falls
XXV. The Politics of Our Country Get
ting into Bad Shape
XXVI. To Kansas by Way of St. Louis,
Mo
XXVII. At Leavenworth, Kan. .
XXVIII. Leave Lawrence, Kan., for Jef-
ferson City, Mo., the Capital
of the State
XXIX. At Jefferson City .
XXX. At Home Again
XX XL Volunteering of My X^eighbors
XXXII. The Eighty-Fifth All Taken
Prisoners ....
XXXIII. The Rebel Prison at Anderson
ville
XXXIV. My Second Marriage
XXXV. A Sad Journey for Me .
XXXVI. A Chapter from My Scrapbook
XXXVII. A Short Excursion in the Fall of
1860
XXXVIII. Customs in the Southern States
XXXIX. A Continuation of the Customs of
the Slave States
XL. A Short Chapter for the Gambler
XLI. A Little Journey East .
XLII. An Excursion to the Thousand Is
lands, Montreal, Quebec, Etc
XLIII. On Our Way to Montreal
XLIV. On Our Journey to the White
Mountains
216
CONTENTS
XLV. In Portland, Maine
XLYI. Now FOR A Trip across the Conti
NENT ....
XLVII. On Our Journey to Kansas
XLVIII. In Denver, Colorado
XLIX. From Denver to Salt Lake .
L. In Salt Lake City .
LI. In the City of San Francisco
LII. From San Francisco to Portland
ABOUT Seven Hundred Miles by
Water
LIII. In Portland, Oregon
LIV. Now OFF FOR THE NATIONAL PaRK
LV. At the Great National Park
LVI. Off for Minneapolis and St. Paul
LVII. In Minneapolis, Minn.
LVIII. Saratoga, Lake Champlain, Mon
TREAL, AND THE THOUSAND Is
LANDS
LIX. A Chapter from Our Notebook
LX. Over the Hills in the Oil Regions
LXI. Our Second Trip to California
LXH. At Jacksonville
LXIII. In New Orleans, La.
LXIV. On Our Way to El Paso .
LXY. At El Paso, Texas .
LXVI. On Our Way from El Paso to Los
Angeles, Cal.
LXVII. In Los Angeles, Cal.
LXVIII. In San Francisco Again .
LXIX. On the Central Pacific .
LXX. At Dodge City, Kansas .
LXXI. At Nortonville, Kansas
LXXII. Observations in States and Na
tion
CONTENTS
LXXIII, Our Great and Small Cities . . 359
LXXIV, An Essay by Sister Harriet A.
Lanphear Babcock . . . 365
LXXV. A Chapter on the Lanphears . 369
LXXVI. A Chapter on the Potters . . 375
LXXYII. My Relation to the Seventh-day
Baptists 383
LXX VIII. Acquaintance and Observations of
THE Seventh-day Adventists . 388
LXXIX. A Pleasant Journey to Lost
Creek, W. Va., to Attend a
General Conference of Sev-
enth-day Baptists . . . 395
LXXX. Christ's Religion and the War
Spirit of Our Land . . . 398
LXXXI. The War Spirit of the World . 401
LXXXII. Educating Our Boys and Young
Men for War .... 404
LXXXIII. "Train up a Child in the Yv ay He
Should Go : and When He Is Old
He Will Not Depart from It" 406
LXXXIY. Nature and Art the Beauty of
the World 409
LXXXY. The World's Fair at Chicago . 415
LXXXYI. Now for Sight-seeing . . . 417
LXXXYII. Our Last Week at the Fair . . 420
LXXXYIII. Learn to Govern Yourself . . 423
LXXXIX. Lead Us Not into Temptation . 425
XC. The Wickedness of the Drink
Traffic in Our Country . . 427
XCI. Owe No Man Anything . . . 432
XCII. Be Not Unequally Yoked To-
gether WITH Unbelievers . . 437
XCIII. Church and State .... 439
XCIV. War and Great Confusion in the
World 441
CONTENTS
XCV. Estimate of the Cost of One Sa-
loon IN the City of Plainfield 443
XCVI. Profession without Possession . 445
XCVII. "The Fool Hath Said in His
Heart, There Is No God" . 448
XCVni. God Will Be Just, for He Doeth
All Things Well .... 452
XCIX. Abstain from All Appearance of
Evil 454
C. Sign the Pledge .... 456
CI. To Young Men and Girls : Start
Right, Do Right, and Keep
Right, and You Will Come
Out Right. 458
CII. A Chapter of My Own Life . . 462
ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of Author, .... Frontisinece
Father and Mother, 12
Myself and First Wife, 52
Nathan Lanphear, 155
Ethan Lanphear and Present Wife, . . 169
Lucy P. Lanphear Maxson, .... 200
Lachine Rapids, St. Lawrence River, . . 206
Baptiste, the Indian Pilot, .... 209
A. JuDSON Hall and Family, .... 300
Harriet A. Lanphear Babcock, . . . 364
Dr. Emory Lanphear, 380
Children of Ethan L. Wadsworth, . . . 414
Mrs. Mary R. Lanphear Wright, . . . 433
The Children of Layinxa P. Lanphear Willard, 449
Ethan Lanphear and His Present Wife . . 463
10
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS
My first journey was with my })arents, when
a child not yet two years old, from Rhode
Island to Alfred, Allegany Co., N. Y,, five hun-
dred miles, of which 1 have but little recollec-
tion. They made this journey with an ox team,
and a big wagon covered with white cotton
cloth, which in the western part of our country
would be called a schooner, such as we used to
see crossing our western prairies. My parents
then had three boys, myself being the youngest.
Their names were as follows: Emory, Avery, and
Ethan. Amos Crandall and his wife, Cynthia,
sister to my mother, made the journey with us.
The goods of both families were on the same
wagon.
My father and Uncle Amos made the journey
to Alfred on foot before they moved, selected
their land, and put up log huts on each lot.
My father's hut had a roof made of split wood
resembling barrel staves before they are dressed.
The}^ were tied on by withes, the bark of trees,
or small staddles of trees. There was not a
frame building then in the town, and but few
13
14 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
settlers. They cut a place for a door through the
logs, laid a floor of split basswood logs flat side
up, leaving an offset to build a chimney at one
end sometime. The gables were not closed, as
they had no boards made in the town. They
then decided to go back for their families. Be-
fore they arrived, my father's house at Potter's
Hill was destroyed by fire, and nearly all his
household goods. But this daunted him not.
He bought a good pair of oxen and a wagon,
having the oxen shod. He attached hold-back
straps to the yoke, to make it easier for the oxen
to hold the load going down the many hills, and
to keep their heads and necks from getting sore.
Loading on their goods, they started on their
wilderness journey of five hundred miles. As
they started out, their friends followed them for
miles, never expecting to see them again; but
they finally shook hands, said good-by, and re-
turned to their homes among the rocks of Rhode
Island. They pushed on by way of Albany.
The State of New York had opened a road
through the State from Albany to Olean Point
on the Allegany River, in order to make a way
for settlers to be taken into the wilderness coun-
try. This was called a turnpike, or State road;
gates were placed across the road, and people
had to pay toll, the object of which was to keep
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 15
the road passable. The country was sparsely
settled through to the Lakes where Buffalo City
DOW exists. My father had a half-brother and
a half-sister older than himself, who had settled
in Brookfield, Madison County, a few years
before. They stopped there a few days to rest
a little; then pushed on their journey, some-
times camping out nights, or sleeping in our
wagons when they could not reach a settlement.
They usually had feed for the team and provi-
sions for the families in case they could not ob-
tain them among settlers. All kept healthy.
Their team proved good roadsters, and took us
through in eighteen or twenty days. We
stopped a few days with a settler about one
mile away, so that the men might fix up and
inclose father's house, in order to protect us
from storm and wild beasts. We moved in
all together for a time. My father and uncle
always worked together like two brothers, help-
ing each other, and their friendship continued
as long as they lived.
II
IN OUR NEW HOME IN THE WILDERNESS
The men, and the women also, set to work
to clearing up about their huts, chinking and
mudding up the cracks, to make them warmer,
as cold weather was drawing on. Thej rigged
up a cart with the hind wheels of the wagon,
hitched the oxen to it, drove fifteen miles to
what is now Wellsville, and purchased some
boards; they placed some slabs, — one end on
the cart and the other end on the ground, —
piled the lumber thereon, bound it with chains
to the cart, and thus dragged their burden over
roots, mud, and swamp to their homes to close
up their gables, to make themselves tables and
shelves in their log houses, and doors to them.
At this stage of life and age mj memory largely
begins. I remember our first meal eaten in the
new house. We had no chimney yet, gables
to the house were all open, a quilt was hung up
for the door. A fire was built on the ground,
where my mother cooked the first meal. They
had picked up a new board on the way some-
where, which was placed across the offset left
for the chimney, and all sat down on the floor
10
IN OUR NEW HOME IN THE WILDERNESS l7
with their feet on the ground before the fire
Thu8 we ate our first meal. Young as I was,
it seems as plain before me now as then, —
the quilt door, and the smoke passing up and
out of tlie open gable, the new board before the
fire, etc. Never were two families happier in
their new homes than were ours at that time.
My father and uncle were very industrious,
and their wives were not afraid to take a hand
with them. My father had learned the tailor's
trade in his early days. There was not a tailor
within fifty miles. When it was found out, a
man fifteen miles away in a settlement sent
word for him as soon as he got settled, to take
his shears and goods, and come down and help
the women of the settlement clothe up the fam-
ilies for winter.
After a few weeks they got things comfoi'ta-
bly fixed. Uncle took charge of both families,
and father, on foot, started to find his neighbors
fifteen miles away on the Canisteo River, five
miles east of Hornellsville, Steuben County.
He stopped with them about three weeks. In
that time he paid for a cow, four sheep, a pair
of geese, and two shotes. He came home, and
got his team, and a man to go with him, and
brought home his earnings, stopping at Horn-
ells Mill, to have his grain ground. A man by
2
18 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the name of Hornells built the first grist mill
in that section, from which the town took its
name.
My father built a pen of small logs near our
house, and put his shotes in, cutting a door for
them to go out and in, so that they could get
their living on nuts in the woods in the day-
time, and return to their pen at night for
lodging. Not long after this we heard an awful
squealing of one of the pigs in the night. My
father and elder brother got up as quickly as
possible, lit a lantern, and ran out hallooing
as loud as they could. The pig finally stopped
crying, and they hurried into the house lest
they might have a cause for crying. When
light came, they went out to explore the situa-
tion. They found the pig back in his pen. It
seems that a bear had climbed into the pen, and
took one of the pigs under his arm, and started
for the woods. How he happened to drop his
prey we know not ; whether he was scared or
whether he let him drop climbing over a high
bush and log fence the men had built to keep
the cattle away from the house.
Not many days after this happened, some of
the neighboring settlers called as they were on
their way to see some settlers that lived some
two miles another way. Men traveled on foot
IN OUR NEW HOME IN THE WILDERNESS 19
or horseback largely by foot paths and marked
trees from neighborhood to neighborhood.
They had a large dog with them. On their
way the dog ran a young bear into a large
hollow tree, and he decided not to come out.
Two of the men went back to a settler that they
knew had a rifle, and bad him come with his
rifle and ax. As the bear would not come out,
they cut the tree down; but he would not come
out of his hiding. The dog would go in, but
the bear would drive him out quickly. They
finally shot him in the tree, and then cut a
large hole, and dragged him out. He was a
young one, and his meat made a good treat for
the neighborhood. Wild game was plenty
then, and was a great help to the settlers until
they got to raising tame stock. Wild fruit was
a great blessing also. Neighbors then were
neighbors indeed. If one killed a deer, bear,
or other game, or had a good thing, all shared
together.
Ill
AT OUR NEW HOME YET
My father's trade was a great help to him.
When people learned that he was a tailor, they
would come for forty miles to get clothes cut
and made; some would bring their cloth there
and leave it, and when they wanted clothes cut
or made, they would come and leave their
measure, or w^ait for the work to be done.
Sometimes he would say to men: "If you
want your work done, you must go right to
work chopping and clearing land for me, and I
will do your work." He was a small man and
very quick with the needle. In this way he
would make one day of his own pay for two or
three outside. In this way he soon got his
farm cleared, so as to raise his own living, and
have produce to furnish new settlers.
The settlers were early from New England,
and usually poor, but industrious and good
citizens, and largely Seventh-day Baptists that
settled in Alfred. They soon organized meet-
ings to be held from house to house in neigh-
borhoods, and soon they established schools,
kept in log schoolhouses, and held meetings
20
AT OUR NEW HOME YET 21
in the same. I well remember my first day in
school; I sat on a little stool by the side of a
lady teacher by the name of Thankful Odall.
The seats were all made of split basswood logs,
the flat side up, with legs at each end; and the
writing tables were made of slabs fastened on
to large pegs driven into the logs of the build-
ing. I remember the first sermon I heard
preached. It was in a schoolhouse about two
miles away. The minister's name was Richard
Hull, and he had no coat to his back or shoes
to his feet, and could scarcely read or write;
yet people came from miles away to hear him
preach. He raised five sons, and four of them
made preachers, and one daughter preached
also.
I was graduated at sixteen in a frame school-
house. I never studied grammar a day in my
life, nor ever saw a blackboard in a school-
house, nor did the teachers demonstrate any-
thing in mathematics. 1 studied old Daball's
arithmetic through twice, yet my teachers never
explained the rules therein. We had to prove
everything, or let it pass, yet when I came to
doing business for myself I found that many
of those rules were just the things to use. Most
of our teachers were farmers or farmers' sons,
and usually taught for $10 to $15 a month and
22 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
boarded themselves or boarded around the
district. We used to have spelling schools and
geography schools in various districts, which
were of great value in those lines of studies;
and really I think I learned more in those lines
than in the day schools.
In about six years after we settled in Alfred,
my Grandfather Potter, my mother's father,
moved to Alfred. He came with a horse team.
Instead of having a box on his wagon he had
fitted a sailboat on it, for novelty. He had a
family of three sons, and his wife, and his
wife's mother. They settled some two miles
away from us; but to get there with the team
they had to pick their way some three or four
miles. They could, however, follow a foot
path by marked trees on foot or horseback,
which was much nearer. They left my great-
grandmother with us for a time until they could
get settled. After a time my Grandmother
Potter came on horseback to take her mother
home with her.
I was very fond of my grandmother and
great-grandmother, and they were fond of me,
80 I took a notion to go home with them. I
thought I could go afoot, and keep up with the
horse through the woods. But they said I could
"ride on the horse with them." They had a
AT OUR NEW HOME YET 23
sidesaddle on the horse and a pillow behind
that. My grandmother took the sidesaddle,
and my great-grandmother the pillow behind
her, and I was astride the horse in front. Thus
I made the short journey with my grandmother
and great-grandmother.
By this time immigration had increased, and
nearly all the lands in the town were entered,
and neighbors were more plenty. My father
had his farm nearly cleared up, had built
him a frame barn, and in a few years built him
a frame house, and kept quite a large stock.
He had purchased a young colt, paying for it
with his shears and needle a few years before,
which was now broken to saddle and hames,
and father and mother drove on a visit to
their old home in Rhode Island. They re-
turned, having had a good visit. His success
encouraged many others to emigrate. Several
families came on and settled in Cuba, now
Little Genesee, some thirty miles farther west.
Some of them were cousins of my parents.
After they got settled in their log huts, father
and mother decided to go and see them, and took
me along, leaving the rest of the children at
home with a housekeeper. It was some thirty
or thirty-five miles, and the roads were very
rough and muddy, and if a boy was ever well
24 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO TEARS
shaken up riding over corduroy roads and roots,
it was I, for I had to sit on the bottom of the
wagon, without springs. We liad to drive
through a long wood without settlers, to get
over to the Genesee River, then again between
Friendship and Boliver. Before we got to
Boliver, a little, young deer cam e into the
road, and followed along w^th us for some time.
That took my attention, and I finally got through
to our friends. We stopped first with a cousin
of my mother, Joseph Wells, that lived in a log
cabin near where the village now exists, on the
main road to what is now called the Osway
village.
Ezekiel Crandall, his brother-in-law, lived
in a log house across the stream nearly a half
mile away. Between them was a dense hem-
lock woods, and many large trees had blown
down, and piled on top of each other, so that
they crossed the stream on foot on these big
trees, and had a footpath to pass back and forth
between the two homes. It was very dark any
time of day in crossing among the thick hem-
locks. To get from one house to the other with
a team, they had to go a mile or more to cross
the stream and get through the timber. I tell
this story to show the novelty of it. Mr. Wells
had four boys, the youngest about my age.
AT OUK NEW HOME YET 25
The three youngest were going over to their
Uncle EzekiePs by the way of this footpath
among the hemlocks. The oldest one was about
fourteen years old. He said to his parents he
would take the gun along, so that if they saw
anything they would shoot it. As they were
going over the stream on these big trees, three
deer sprang to their feet just in front of them.
The boys had not met any deer yet in close
contact. The deer stood still and looked directly
at the boys, and the boys looked at them. The
deer's eyes looked very large in the darkness to
the boys, who doubtless were a little excited;
but the older one with the gun drew his gun
upon one and banged away at him, bringing
him to the ground, while the others ran out of
sight. The younger boy ran as hard as he
could for the house, calling as loud as he could,
" Uncle Ezekiel! Uncle Ezekiel! Come out here
quick! Daniel has shot a deer right down dead;
it has eyes as big as a saucer, and we want you
to help kill him." This story was never for-
gotten, and the boy was often reminded of it
as long as he lived, and he only died a short
time ago.
This town was largely settled by Khode
Islanders, so much so tliat it was called for
a long time Little Rhode Island. The people
26 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
of Alfred and this town were largely related,
and many were Sabbath-keepers, who kept up
the habit of visiting each other as long as the
old settlers lived. They were a good, moral
people, and I think there was never a liquor
license granted in the town; and I think there
has not been one granted in Alfred in over fifty
years. My next visit to that town was on
horseback. My next older brother and I rode
on one horse over thirty miles, for the sake of
visiting the people and friends.
IV
A JOURNEY TO THE CITY OF ROCHESTER, X. Y.
My parents raised ten children, four boys
and six girls. All were taught to work. Only
three girls and two boys are now living, myself
being the oldest. My father was a great lover
of children, and my mother was a strictly Bible
Christian, as she understood it. My father
believed in teaching children to work, and he
thought it best to make them interested in every-
thing on the farm. In order to do this he
would give us a patch of ground to work for
ourselves, and to work at our leisure time, and
have all we could raise to sell for ourselves,
and he would tell us boys to take good care of
the stock, and when we saved money enough to
purchase a lamb, calf, or colt, we might pur-
chase, and put it in with his as our own, and
have the money it sold for. He always tried
to make his children believe that they could
make smart men, and praised them when they
did well. Sometimes he would send them to
do business, and would confer with them as to
the real value of cattle and things. He used
to say to us boys : " When we get the crops in
28 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and the sheep washed and sheared, you shall
hav^e a plaj-day to go fishing or hunting." If
we had an offer to go and work a day or two
for some neighbor, we could do so and have
our wages. He taught us economy, and not to
spend money foolishly, or for that which was
not useful.
When I was about fourteen years old, he said
to us, and my mother's younger brother, who
was about the age of my oldest brother, that if
we would be good boys, after the spring's work
was finished we might go to Rochester city,
seventy miles away, and see the city and
country, and have a good time. I had never
seen a city, and we all thought that would be a
big thing to do. In time we rigged up two
horses and wagons for the trip. Of course,
our rigs would not compare very well with car-
riages of to-day; but they were as good as the
average in a new country. We started out,
and the first day we drove by the way of Dans-
ville, and made about fifty miles, stopping over-
night near Mt. Morris.
The hotel was crowded with travelers, and
they had to stow us away pretty thick, some
having to lodge on the floor. We did not get
the best of rest, as there were some rather jolly
fellows in the crowd that would talk and tell
A JOURNEY TO ROCHESTER, N. Y. 29
stories; and then we found that our beds were
infested with travelers that depended on get-
ting their living out of the traveling public.
But we stood it through the night, and in
the morning there was some loud talking
about our traveling bedfellows. I think they
were great travelers, for I have now and then
found them settled in^ nearly every, country I
have traveled in. We got our breakfast, fed
our horses, and started for the city, about twenty
miles away. The weather was fine, and vegeta-
tion was beautiful in its new growth. We
arrived at a hotel a little out of the city about
eleven o'clock. We made arrangements to
stop there nights, put our horses out to pasture
a little up the river, took our dinners, and
started for sight-seeing in the city. Rochester
is situated on both sides of the Genesee River,
at or just above the Genesee Falls, where Sam
Patch made his last jump. These falls I think
are some five feet higher than Niagara Falls,
located on the Niagara River some ten miles
from Bafialo. Patch had jumped the Roch-
ester falls once before, and came out safely; he
had jumped Niagara once, and came out safely.
But when he jumped his last jump at Rochester,
he was drunk, and said it was to be his last
jump, and it proved to be so. He never was
80 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
seen, I think, after he struck the swirl below-
A part of the scaffold from which he jumped
still remained in sight where visitors could see
where the foolish man made his last leap into
eternity.
These falls, both Niagara and the Rochester,
are some of the grand scenery of America, and
thousands of people from other countries as
well as our own visit them. There seems to be
a charm to seethe falls, and hundreds of insane
and gloomy people resort there to end their
lives. We took in the city and surroundings,
and enjoyed them much.
One thing I saw I shall never forget. A
large stone grist and flouring mill, three stories
high, had lately been built, bordering on the
river above the falls; the river was all rock bot-
tom. One of the masons while at work on the
third story on the end next to the river, made
a misstep, and fell to the bottom, striking in
the river where the water was only twelve
or fifteen inches deep on the rock. He was not
hurt, only well shaken up. The owner of the
mill ordered a stone to be left out of the wall
where he fell from; and the spot is to be seen,
I presume, to this day, to show the place of the
miraculous fall without death.
We returned by way ot Conesus Lake, and
A JOrKNEY TO KOCHESTER, N. Y. 31
stopped at a hotel, hired a row boat, and rowed
one mile across and back. We then went home,
thinking we had had a great treat that but few
bojs at our age of life enjoyed. We had some
marvelous stories to tell when we arrived home.
V
EMBARK IN THE GRIST AND FLOUR
MILLING BUSINESS
During 1836 aod 1837 my father built a grist
and flouring mill that cost him about S2,000.
He was not a miller, so he took in an old
miller to run it on shares, and to have one-third
of the income. It proved to be a valuable
investment. In the fall that I was nineteen I
went to live with the miller, with the intention
of learning how to run the mill. I remained
six months, then went home to help my father
on the farm. I had made so good progress that
the old miller sent word to me to come down
and see him. I went, and he said that he
wished to hire me until his term expired in the
fall. He said he would pay me S13 a month,
and my board. I told him I would go if I
could arrange it with my father.
I went home, and told my father of the offer
that the old miller had made me. He said: —
" If you can hire Philip Green to take your
place on the farm, you can go." I went to see
Philip. We were the same age, and had been
brought up togethei- in the same neighborhood.
32
EMBARK IN THE MILLING BUSINESS 33
He said he would work in my place od the farm
for 812 a month. The bargain was closed, and
I returned to the mill, and felt pleased, as I was
going to save one dollar a month for myself.
I liked the business. I was rather a natural
mechanic, and at the end of six months the old
miller said to my father, " Ethan can run that
mill just as well as I can myself."
My father had promised me one winter's
schooling before I was twenty-one years of age;
but now he said, ''If you will stay in the mill
this winter until you are of age in the spring,
I will allow you one fourth of the earnings of
the mill, and after that one third." I accepted
his offer, but lost my winter's schooling. I parti-
tioned off a room, and put a bed in it, and lived
there alone through the winter. I was young
and ambitious, and desired to please all my
customers, working hard, and sacrificing many
pleasures that young people enjoy. I was
bound to make my business a success, and I
gained the confidence of the people. That
winter was one of much thought and medita-
tion. I had not made an open profession of
religion up to this time; but had been trained
by my parents in good morals, and to respect
Christians, and to deal honestly with all men.
That winter a revival meeting was held in
3
34 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the community, and I arranged my business to
attend more or less, and finally decided to start
in the service of Christ, by a public profession.
I invited my friend Philip Green to go home
with me, and stay all night. We had the whole
mill to ourselves, and we talked over our lives,
and really thought that we were sinners. We
talked and prayed together, and decided that,
as we were starting in life for ourselves, we
would first seek the kingdom of heaven and
God's righteousness, and trust in him for what
we needed; that we would be honest with God
and with our fellow men, and take our Saviour
for our example.
Philip is living yet, and we are both in our
eighty-second year. Each of us has always
paid his debts, dollar for dollar, and God has
blessed us both in a long life of religion, and
temperance habits in the good things of life,
and total abstinence from all intoxicants and
the things which are evil, as nearly as possible.
Our success has been such that I would recom-
mend to all young people starting out in life to
seek first the kingdom of heaven, and God will
add all blessings that are necessary.
When I was twenty-one, I had saved up about
three hundred dollars. This was a great help
to me, as I could purchase grain to keep for
1415266
EMBAKK IN THE MILLING BUSINESS 35
market, above the toll taken for grinding. Soon
I gained capital enough to keep a heavy stock
of grain on hand, often keeping teams running
north to the better corn and wheat country, to
supply the surrounding lumber country. I had
customers twenty to thirty miles away come and
purchase by the load.
We had a cold season about this time, and
the crops were cut short through the southern
part of New York State and northern Pennsyl-
vania, and for a time wheat was S3 a bushel;
corn, .^2; buckwheat. Si. 50, and everything in
proportion. This made it very hard for the
poor. People would come from a long dis-
tance. They would scrape together a little
buckwheat, barley, oats, and some would put in
beans, and tell me to "grind it all into flour,
anything to stop hunger.'' Some brought
dried pumpkin, broken up fine enough to feed
into the stone to grind. This made beautiful
yellow flour to make pies, and mix in with other
flour or meal. But few will now remember
what a pinching time it was, especially with the
very poor. I presume I ground over thousands
of bushels of wheat bran into flour; that made
healthful bread and came cheap. People would
make maple sugar, and bring it to me to
exchange for something to make bread, and
S6 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEAES
would sell it from four to six cents a pound, so
that I was really overstocked with sugar. I
used to send teams to trade it off among the
farmers north in the better grain country, in
Genesee County, and as far north as Geneseo,
Dansville, and the lake country. Such a time
I never experienced before or since in that sec-
tion of the country. When I hear of the hard
times in the new countries from drought and
grasshoppers, I think of the suffering in my
own county in my earlier days.
VI
A TRIP TO RHODE ISLAND, MY NATIVE
BIRTHPLACE
In 1840 I decided to visit New England.
The year before, David Rogers, George Irish,
and Oliver Babcock drove a double team to Alle-
gany to visit their friends. My next oldest sister
desired to go to Westerly, R. I., to learn the
milliner^s trade with Mrs. Horatio Berry. As
these men had one vacant seat, they offered to
take her with them on their journey home. She
stayed one year with Mrs. Berry, and learned the
trade sufficient to run the business when she got
home. My father told me that if I would go to
Rhode Island and bring my sister home, he
would find the horse to go with. Desiring
to visit my native land and my relatives, I
accepted the proposition, and arranged for the
journey. I procured a miller to take charge of
the mill in my absence. I hired the use of a
carriage for the journey, paying seven dollars
for the round trip. My father's horse was only
four years old, weighed about twelve hundred
pounds, and was a fine roadster. I put him in
the stable, and drove him nearly every day, rais-
37
38 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEAKS
ing his feed to a peck of oats each day, in order
to get him hardened for the journey.
A young man by the name of Stephen Bur-
dick, whose father had moved from Rhode
Island leaving relatives behind, as my father
had done, wished to make the same journey;
He had an uncle, Ichabod Burdick, living at
what was called Hopkinton City, where I had
relatives also. As I liked company, I carried
him to his uncle's for four dollars. Of course,
he paid his own way. My horse on an average
made about fifty miles a day, and he never
refused his peck of oats but once on the round
trip, making about eleven hundred miles. He
was a fine looking horse, and attracted consid-
erable attention as we passed through the
country.
The political situation was lively, as it was
the year W. H. Harrison ran for president.
Log cabins were all through the country. It
was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, and hard
cider all along the line;'' and political njeet-
ings were thick all the way. We went by way
of Ithaca, stopped over a few days with friends
in Norwich and Preston, Chenango County,
over the Catskill Mountains, crossing the Hud-
son River at Hudson, crossing Connecticut, and
striking Rhode Island near Hopkinton City,
A TRIP TO RHODE ISLAND 39
so-called. My passenger and I stopped with
his uncle the first night in Rhode Island, about
three miles from where I was born.
The journey thus far was extremely pleasant,
and the Catskill Mountains and the scenery
were most beautiful. We stopped on the top
near the observatory or lookout, taking views
from every direction; then we started down
the mountain, the road being crooked and steep
in many places. Now and then we would reach
points where we could view the Hudson River
for miles up and down, and see the farms in
the valleys spread out before us, reminding us
of a large map spread out before us. We
could readily say that none but a God could
create a world like ours.
The political parties were then called Whigs
and Democrats. I was a Whig because my
father was, and my first vote was cast for Gen-
eral Harrison. The Whigs claimed to be the
reformation party, but yielded to much wick-
edness. They split on the slavery question
after this, one part being called Silver-grays
and the other Woolly-heads. The Woolly-
heads were anti-slavery and the Silver-grays
were pro-slavery. After dividing, the Demo-
crats were called hunkers and barn-burners.
Yet these parties would yield to the slave
40 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
power, for the sake of getting the slave-power
vote. These parties, like political parties of
to-day, would resort to many tricks and games
with a view to getting the start of each other,
by getting out the greatest crowds.
General Jackson was a Democrat, and took
the name of Old Hickory. That party has
always used a hickory pole to show their inde-
pendence and to float the American flag. The
Whigs used ash, or any wood of solidity that
they found to be the most convenient to obtain.
The Democrats used the emblem of a live fox
to represent their candidate when they ran Yan
Buren as their candidate, because his hair was
red, or nearly the color of the red fox. The
Whigs at the same time used the raccoon. At
one of the great gatherings of the Whigs
as they were about to raise a liberty pole, they
fitted a place on the top of the pole, and placed
a coon thereon before raising. This created
great excitement, and many a song and poem
were sung in reference to the coon. The day
passed with many speeches and a joyful time.
They left the coon on the top of the pole for
the night, thinking that he was safe from all
harm. The people of the town arose the next
morn, and to their surprise some way the Demo-
crats had managed to remove the coon and place
A TRIP TO RHODE ISLAND 41
a fox in its place. How it was ever done no
Whig ever knew.
I write these things only as they come into
a man's memory in his journeying through this
world for eighty-two years, and now I find
myself in the land of my birth of eighty-two
years ago.
VII
IN RHODE ISLAND, THE SMALLEST STATE
IN THE UNION
I FOUND many friends and relatives of my
parents with their doors open to their friends
and relatives. I remained in the State several
weeks, and it was a great treat to me, as I had
never seen the ocean before. With my young
companions we visited Watch Hill, and along
the coast, and had a grand time bathing in the
ocean waves. I was a good swimmer, and ven-
tured as far from shore as any of the boys, and
remained in the water after the rest had gone
ashore. When I decided to go ashore, I got
into a current of undertow, so that, as good a
swimmer as I was, I could not pull through.
I had heard of the undertow, and that people
sometimes get drowned struggling to getthrough
it. Saying not a word to my friends on shore,
I turned right about, and swam out into deep
water, until I got out of the undertow, took
a circuit, and came to the shore without any
trouble. My friends did not know what I went
back for until I told them. It was a great day
for me.
42
IN THE SMALLEST STATE IN THE UNION 43
I visited many friends about the State, and
many of the factories I had heard so much
about. I took my first ride on a railroad on
the Stonington Railroad to Providence. There
was an excursion, the fare being only one dollar
for the round trip, forty miles and back. As
I had never seen New York, or sailed on a
steamboat, I left my team v^ith friends, went
by steamer through Long Island Sound, one
hundred and sixty miles to New York, spent a
few days, and returned by the same route, pass-
ing through Hurlgate, or Hellgate, as we used
to call it because of so many wrecks going
through it.
Now I began to think about finishing up my
visit to leave for home. My horse had got
well rested for the road. My sister had closed
up her business with Mrs. Berry, but she must
visit with me before we went home among our
friends. We took the old post road for Provi-
dence, stopping at Green Hill, Wakefield,
Greenwich, to visit friends before reaching
Providence. Here we found relatives, visited
the city, the palace buildings of stores that
were new to us, and other sights worth seeing,
and took another route back in order to find
other relatives farther north by way of Phcenix
and Rockville to Hopkinton, and my birthplace;
44 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
thence to Westerly, then called Pockatue
Bridge. Here my sister had learned her trade,
and we got our things together for leaving
Rhode Island.
My sister had become a favorite in Mr,
Berry's family and among the friende around.
Mrs. Berry's father lived with them. He was
known as Deacon Billy Stillman, and was quite
a writer and composer of poetry and prose.
He said that he must write something for Sarah
Anns' album before she left. This is a copy,
which I place here for the novelty of it: —
" To Sarah Ann Lanphear a word I must say,
Since with us no longer she chooses to stay,
Three hundred miles distant her course must steer.
Since having been with us two thirds of a year;
So fare you well, Sarah, if off you must be.
No more, perhaps, each other to see.
May blessings attend you wherever 3'ou may roam,
And peace and contentment dwell with you at home.
Though long miles and mountains betwixt us may
rise,
A distance outstretching the reach of our eyes,
May that happy friendship, no, never expire.
Which in my old mansion we first did acquire;
And should your kind fortune so turn it around,
That you in hymeneal chains should be bound,
May propitious Heaven provide you with one
Whose virtues and kindness were never outdone.
Then, Sarah, be careful to what you consent.
Lest when it 's too late you have cause to repent;
IN THE SMALLEST STATE IN THE UNION 45
For, surely, he 'd better be both deaf and dumb,
Than one of those dandies that like to drink rum.
And now in conclusion permit me to say.
Let us for each other remember to pray,
That if on this footstool [ see you no more,
We may have one blest meeting- on Canaan's bright
shore. Wm. Stillman. "
VIII
FROM RHODE ISLAND BACK TO ALFRED, OUR
HOME, AGAIN
We started on our journey. We bade
good-by to our Rhode Island friends, and
crossed the Saugatuck River into Connecticut.
We stopped at Mystic and Greenmanville, and
again at New London, and visited friends, and
then on through Connecticut byway of Albany,
and there crossed the Hudson River, only stop-
ping again at Dernyter and Brookfield to visit
friends, until we reached home.
Previous to this my father had sold his farm,
two miles away, and built a new house near
his mill, and I boarded with him, and with him
was my home for a time while I run the mill.
I paid my miller, and settled down at work
in the mill again, after a pleasant time in
Rhode Island, at the seashore, among the
rocks, with friends, at New York, and during all
my journey. My customers all seemed glad
to see me back at my business again. But be
assured that I had many a story to tell of my
journey, especially to my young friends that
used to come with grist to the mill.
4(3
BACK TO ALFRED, OUR HOME, AGAIN 4:7
Of course I began to think of looking up my
best girl with a view to settling down in life
like other men. An uncle of mine had built a
card machine, fulling mill, and cloth dressing,
on the same stream a half mile below. My
Uncle Amos Crandall who moved into the coun-
try with my father, had by this time raised a
family, and his oldest son, Ezra, was now a
young man. He came and learned the trade
of manufacturing cloth, etc., with his and my
uncle that built the cloth dressing mill. He
was two or three years my junior, but we were
great friends, and associated together when we
could. He soon came to be master of his
trade, and finally took the factory to run for a
certain share of profits, as I was doing in my
father's mill. He, as well as myself, proved a
successful man in business. We both thought
we would marry and have a family of our own
sometime.
There were two sisters brought up in our
neighborhood, whose father died early, leaving
his wife with four children, and very little
means. These two older girls were very indus-
trious in school, and taught when quite young.
In this way they helped keep the family
together, but had a hard time of it, teaching
summer and winter. Their family broke up
48 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
housekeeping for a time; the only son was put
out to learn a trade, and the mother took the
youngest, a girl, with her and went to live with
a sister and her husband in the town of Vetran,
Chemung Co., N. Y., nearly one hundred miles
away. We decided to make propositions to
these girls; so together we called upon them,
and were pleasantly received. We both stood
well in society, and had acquired a few hundred
dollars in the world. The girls accepted our
proposition, and we decided to marry them
During their fall vacation they desired to visit
their mother and uncle's family in Chemung
County. So we boys arranged our business to
take the girls to visit their mother and friends ;
they had never been able to visit their friends
out of their own county. We fitted ourselves
out with carriages for the journey. The first
day we drove to Painted Post, near Corning,
and stopped overnight. The next day we drove
by the way of Horse Head, and reached their
uncle's about noon. We were welcomed by
their friends. Their uncle said, ''Boys, there
are the barn and stables with plenty of hay and
oats; feed your horses as much as you please
while you stay, and make yourselves comfort-
able as you can. We will visit around with
you as much as we can."
BACK TO ALFRED, OUR HOME, AGAIN 49
We remained about one week, visited with
their friends, went to Mill Post and other
towns, and drove to visit the girls' uncles and
other relatives near Conesus Lake. Closing
their visit here, we drove around the head of
the lake, making our journey toward home,
stopping at Dansville to rest and feed, visited
some of the stores, and especially one kept by
a Mr. Falkner of my acquaintance. There we
purchased our girls each a nice dress pattern
to take home. We arrived home safely after
a pleasant visit and journey. The girls had
never taken such a journey before.
Painted Post took its name from a post that
was set in the ground and painted with the
blood of white people and horses killed by the
Indians early in the settlement of the country;
and Horse Head took its name from the fact
that the Indians killed many horses, and piled
up their heads here.
IX
AT OUR BUSINESS AGAIN
My cousin, though younger than myself, was
married some time before I was, as he had a
house in connection with his factory. I thought
I woukl not marry until I was twenty-five years
old. At my leisure I built a little house near
the mill, my father furnishing the material.
As I had a shop near the mill, I made such
things as I thought we should need, knowing
that my wife would have little furniture. I
was handy with tools. First I made a cherry
drop-leaf table, then a cherry stand, next a
chest of drawers, or bureau, and then a desk and
bookcase. I had a painter grain and varnish
the pine furniture. I purchased three splint-
bottomed chairs, and a set of wood-bottomed
chairs, and a rocker, that being enough for
the little house with one living-room, a bed-
room, and bed sink, so-called, an entry-way,
and stairs to get up into the garret of the little
one-story house.
My father was quite anxious for me to marry.
My girl was still teaching in the Alfred district
school, and would have rather a hard time to
50
AT OUR BUSINESS AGAIN 53
teach through the coming winter, as it was the
custom for the teacher to board around in the
district. I finally thought that it would require
but little more expense to marry then than to
wait until spring, when I should be tw^eiity-tive
years old. The night after the Sabbath I went
to see her about it. It was understood that we
were to be married sometime, and our church
pastor had often joked about marrying us. W*e
decided that we would be married the next
Sabbath eve. The pastor lived near where my
gii'l lived in the village. I spoke to the pastor
about the matter, and for him to call after the
lecture at the school building.
I went np to the village the next Sabbath
eve; we walked over to the lecture, and re-
tui-ned. Soon the pastor stepped in. There
was only the woman of the house present when
we were married, and she was good at keeping
a secret. I returned home, and attended to my
milling for two weeks lacking one day, and my
wife remained at her school, that closed the
following week. The pastor was about to go
on a journey East. He met my father, who
jokingly asked the pastor if he was not
going to marry Ethan before he went East.
They were both jokers. The pastor said, he
never expected to marry Ethan. He did not
54 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
intiaiate that he had already done so. The
whole thing was kept a secret.
The second Friday afternoon I said to my
father: '' Will yon lend me your horse and car-
riage a few hours this afternoon?" ''Where
do you wish to drive ? " " Up to the Center to
bring my wife down home.'' ''Pshaw! you
have n't any/' '' Let me have the carriage and
horse, and I will show you." Then I told him
and the family that Elder Irish had married us
two weeks ago the next evening. My father
thought much of my wife. When he and the
elder met, they had quite a jolly time over the
joke I had played on him. I got a stove and
put in the little house, and went to my wife's
old home and got her few things, and moved
them into our little home. She had three pairs
of knives and forks, three cups and saucers, a half
dozen plates, and a few pieces of bedding. I had
one bed and bedding of my own, and went to the
store and purchased a half set of dishes, and thus
we started housekeeping; but were we not happy,
though? I did not owe a dollar in the world,
and her school money paid off all her little
debts. After we were fairly settled, our friends
called upon us. ''How nice you look I " they
said. They were astonished to learn that I
had made most of the furniture myself.
X
FAIRLY SETTLED FOR THE TIME
We were both members of the church, and
we decided to live our religion, and started by
asking a blessing from onr Heavenly Father at
our first meal. We kept up a religious service
as long as she lived.
My business increased to that extent that it
seemed necessary to run the mill night and day
some of the time. I hired help sometimes; but
often ran it day and night myself. Old millers
told me I would kill myself at the rate I was
working, if I followed it up long. I had always
been a tough and hardy boy, and I thought I
could stand almost anything. But after follow-
ing the business six or seven years, my health
began to fail, and the doctor told me 1 would
have to quit the mill business, or I would die
with miller's consumption. In the spring of
1844 I decided to give it up, and go West to spy
out the land with a view of purchasing a Western
farm, and go to farming, as I had spent my boy-
hood on a farm. I decided to go down the
Alleghany Eiver on a raft and get wages; as at
this time it was a great business to run the lum-
ber in rafts down to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and
66 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
some to Natchez and New Orleans. Many
people moving west would go on rafts or arks
down the river, because they could go cheaper
than any other way. They would land at the
nearest point of destination on the raft, then go
by steamer or otherwise to their destination. I
got my business arranged, leaving my wife with
my father's family, and started the first day of
April, 184:4:, on foot, and walked twenty-two
miles to my brother's, in Friendship, where the
village of Nile now is, staying here overnight.
The next day I walked to Little Genesee, twelve
miles, and stopped with friends that were in the
lumber business. I arranged to go with them
as soon as the water was high enough. They
were to give me as good wages as they could
afford, as I was a raw hand on the river. I
went with them to the Osway Creek, and helped
run one raft out the creek down to the river, six
or seven miles, where they coupled and made
big rafts to run on the river.
Men had come, as the custom was, to hire out
to Warren, Pittsburg, or as far as they could
agree upon. And many families had brought
their goods to Glean, and boarded the rafts to
go as far as they could toward the land of their
settlement. Some of my friends that had here-
tofore moved to Lewis County, 111., and had been
FAIRLY SETTLED FOR THE TIME 0 1
back to Alleghany to visit their friends, were now
returning home. Among our company were a
missionary and his wife, of my acquaintance.
His name was Leander Scott. He was a mis-
sionary under the auspices of the Seventh-day
Baptist denomination, and intended to locate in
Illinois. The widow and son of Elder Richard
Hull, the man who preached the first sermon I
ever heard (referred to in a former chapter) ,
were along, having been east on a visit. They
had settled in Lewiston, 111., where he died.
The company that we went with had several
rafts, and on one or two they had shanties where
families could live, and the raftsmen could lodge
nights when we chanced to land near together.
We had a jolly good company when all got
ready to start. The water in the river ran
high, so that we did not have to hurry. We
had some Indian pilots and raftsmen from the
Alleghany Reservation. They were good pilots
and raftsmen as long as the rafts ran smoothly
and there was no danger, but when danger
came, they would jump for land as quickly as
possible. We stopped at Warren, and renewed
our stores. The river was so high that some of
our crafts got driven on shore, and we had to
get into the water and shove off now and then.
That was not so pleasant, but we reached Pitts-
58 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
burg safely. There the lumbermen had an
offer for their lumber, and we remained a few
days to see what they would do about going
farther.
While we were visiting, a large excursion
boat came up on high water, and advertised to
take passengers to St. Louis, eleven hundred
miles, for ten dollars, with board. Our company
got together, and we decided that we had better
take our passage with them. We settled with
the lumbermen, and really they did better by
me than I expected. They said that I had done
well for them, and they would pay me the same
wages as they paid the old hands, seventeen
dollars. We then gathered our baggage to-
2:ether to board the boat.
XI
ON BOARD THE "ST. LOUIS" FOR THE CITY
OF ST. LOUIS
We fouDd a great crowd on board, as this
was an excursion trip for the boat. We set sail
on the Ohio River, and were to sail its whole
length, and thence on the Mississippi River to
St. Louis. We were eight days making the
trip. We did not mind that as long as we were
boarded for the trip, and then the officers of
the boat were pleasant and obliging. They told
us where and when they would stop, and were
kind in explaining the country and the cities
and towns as we passed along through the
beautiful country. Our attention was called to
General Harrison, and his home in a block
house that set back from the river, in Ohio,
and the point he crossed the river in his skiff
to give the alarm of danger, that gave him the
title of Tippecanoe in the campaign for the
presidency. We stopped at many of the towns
on the river, and a whole day at Cincinnati,
Ohio, and a day at Louisville, Ky. Notice was
given as to how long the stop would be, and
meals would be prepared in regular order, which
r9
60 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
would be free just as if we were on the move.
This was very kind, and it gave us a grand
opportunity to visit those cities.
Our missionary with us was a great aboli-
tionist, and while we were stopping in Ken-
tucky he took the opportunity to visit some of
the plantations and see for himself how the
slaves w^ere treated, and to talk with them.
He was a courageous man, and sometimes took
liberties that other men would shrink from.
He was a tall, strong man, and could put on as
savage a look as the next man. His eyebrows
ran clear across over both eyes, and were as
black as the darkest slave. He called at a plan-
tation where the slaves were at work in clubs
or companies, and began talking with them as
to how they were treated, and whether they
were satisfied to remain in slavery, etc. The
overseer, observing him talking with the slaves,
came that way, and said to him, " We do not
allow men to be talking with our slaves."
Scott paid no attention to him, but continued
his conversation. The overseer came that way
again, making the same statement, but Scott
did not so much as look up at him. Soon
he returned again, and with a little more ear-
nestness ordered him to leave the field. Scott
turned and walked in front of the overseer^
ON BOARD THE " ST. LOUIS " 61
looking him square in the face, and said:
"Sir, do yon know who you are talking to?
If you know when you are well off, you would
better mind your own business, and not meddle
with me when I am talking with other geiitle-
men," at the same time looking him square in
the eye as if he was about to give him a thrash-
ing. The poor overseer skipped for head-
quarters.
The scenery of the Ohio and Kentucky val-
leys is beautiful; but the contrast at that time
was manifest from the fact that slavery existed
in one State and freedom in the other. Schools
flourished in the free States; the white popula-
tion in the slave States was not enough to sup-
port district schools. The slaveholders edu-
cated their children by hiring teachers to come
into their families, while the children of the
poor whites were neglected, especially in the
country districts. I learned of one county
where there were but seventeen whites that
could read and write; and there could be found
some who were no more intelligent than the
slaves.
We arrived safely at St. Louis, Mo. St.
Louis was an old conservative city, and at
that time was considered of more wealth than
Chicago, and the two cities strove to see
62 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
wliicli should take the lead as to prosperity and
progress.
Our company separated here for different
points and settlements in the North and West.
Quite a company of us took passage on a steamer
up the Illinois River, some for one point, and
some for another; but the missionary and quite
a company of men and some women were des-
tined for Louis County, 111. They left the boat
on the west side of the river near the mouth of
the Spoon River, sixteen miles from the settle-
ment in Louis County, where they intended to
stop, and where was the home of some of our
company. We started out in good cheer for
Lewiston, 111.
XII
ON OUR JOURNEY UP THE ILLINOIS
After we started, our boat proved to be an
old one and very slow, and she had to halt
now and then for repairs. I had made up my
mind to stop off at Griggsville Landing, and go
back eighteen miles toward the Mississippi River
in Pike County, to look up some of my wife's
relatives that had settled at a place called
Barry. I left the boat and my company, took
a stage two miles up to Griggsville, and stopped
overnight. It was a little town settled largely
by New Englanders, and a verj^ pleasant place
to stop. I attended a temperance meeting that
evening, and made some acquaintances.
The next day I had some sixteen or eighteen
miles to make, with no stage going in that
direction, which was directly west. I decided
to start out on foot with my bag on my shoul-
der. It was prairie for four or five miles, when
I struck into woodland or oak openings, so
called. My friends gave me instructions to
follow a wood road until I came to a creek,
then to leave it, and keep directly west. At
the last house on the prairie I thought I would
63
64 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
call and get a lunch of some kind, as I might
not get a chance again. The lady said that
she could give me a dish of bread and milk. I
took it thankfully, and asked her what I should
pay her. She answered, ''A bit, long or short,
as you happen to have it."' At that time a 1*2 -J-
cent piece was called a long bit, and a ten-cent
piece a short bit in that country. I thanked
her and started on my journey in the timber,
and when 1 came to the creek, I set my 'com-
pass due west.
For miles I did not see any signs of civiliza-
tion but cattle-tracks and a wild turkey. It
was quite warm, and I began to feel tired and
hungry. The sun was getting on a near level
with the earth in that level country, and as I
came to an opening, I saw a log house ahead,
so I called to make inquiries, thinking that I
would get something to eat. As I stepped in,
the family were in readiness to take their even-
ing meal, and the host invited me to take
supper with them. I made no excuses, but
accepted the offer.
He wished to know where 1 was from, and
where I wa^ going, and to know if I was wish-
ing to find a place to settle, etc. I told him I
had tliat in view, but desired to reach Barrj^
that nii^^ht, where I had friends that had settled
ON OUR JOURNEY UP THE ILLINOIS 65
about that town. When I spoke their names,
he said he knew them, and the place was about
four miles distant. He also told me that thej
had a brother-in-law living about two miles
from him. He said, " But you had better stop
with me to-night, and go over in the morning."
"No, I thank you, I will try to get to the near-
est one to-night ; what is my bill ? " "Not any-
thing, sir." "Well, sir, I called with the view
of paying for a supper if I could get it."
" You are welcome; but it was lucky that you
sat down without excuses; for if you had not,
you would not have got any, as we would have
cleaned the table, and nothing would have been
left for you." He found that I had come from
New York State, and said he had moved from
that State. He was then the more anxious for
me to stop over with him, but went on a piece
with me to pilot me through. The first house
I reached proved to be that of my wife's uncle,
so of course I stopped over. The next day he
went with me to Barry, and I remained about
one week with my wife's relatives. There I
heard much of the horse-thieving in that part
of the country, and some of the happenings in
that neighborhood.
Mob law seemed to come into use because
the officers were so wicked that people could
66 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
not get the law enforced. As I was walking
witli a friend, we passed a man's stable, and he
told this story: "This man owns a fine pair of
horses, and keeps them in their stables. Around
them was a high board fence with a gate for
entrance. A man said to the owner, ' You
would better watch your stables to-night, for I
have seen a stranger walking back and forth
by your stables, and he may be watching for
your horses.' 'Will you come and watch with
me, and bring your rifle?' ' I will.' At about
eleven o'clock they took their places across the
street from the gate, out of sight. About one
o'clock two men appeared, opened the gate,
entered the stables, and led out one horse and
hitched him; then went back for the other.
As they came out, the watchers rushed to the
open gate with rifles in hand. The thieves,
discovering tliem, could see no chance for es-
cape but to jump the high fence into a large
cornfield; but as they mounted the fence, each
man picked his mark and let fire. One of the
thieves dropped inside the yard, while the
other went over. The man inside soon died.
"They then raised the neighbors to make a
search for tlie other man in the cornfield as
soon as it was light enough. They sent a man
for the justice of the peace just out of town to
ON OUK JOURNEY UP THE ILLINOIS 67
come down, as they wished to use him. His
wife said he went out last evening, and had
not got in this morning. The people in search-
ing the cornfield soon found the other man
dead. To the astonishment of the town, this
man was the justice of the peace of the town,
and the other man ahorse thief from St. Louis."
I was shown an oak tree a little out of town,
with one large limb that stretched out over the
street, where, he said, several horse-thieves had
been hanged. I am not sure but that we have
ofticers at present in our country that if justice
should take place, might be hanged also.
I visited the large farm of a slave that
early purchased himself in Kentucky, then his
wife, and settled in this locality when it was
almost like a desert. By their industry they
made money, went back to Kentucky, and
purchased his two sons. At the time I was
there they were the wealthiest family in the
township, owned four hundred acres of land,
and were great stock raisers for foreign markets.
I remained in this neighborhood about one
week, and then one of my friends saddled two
horses, one for me and one for himself, and he
accompanied me the eighteen miles to the river,
where I took a steamer up the river on my
journey again, and he returned to his home.
XIII
ON THE BOAT FOR THE MOUTH OF THE
SPOON RIVER AND FOR LEWISTON
I FOUND on the boat a Dr. Stillman, from
Allegany County, N. Y., and another man
bound for Lewiston also. We left the boat at
the mouth of Spoon River. We found the
high water had overflowed the banks and
spread over the bottom lands for three miles
back to dry land. We hired a man to take us
with his team across the bottoms and land us
opposite the ferry on Spoon River, where we
were to cross on our route. He returned after
landing us in the woodland. We walked over
to the river, the flood had left a heavy coat of
mud for us to tramp through, and when we
arrived at the river we found the flood had
carried away the ferry-boat, and there was no
way for crossing, and we were surrounded by
water, and not a house on the apparent island.
We pushed over a dry tree that had broken iu
two pieces; this we tied together with grape-
vines, and hauled into the edge of the water;
but this would only bear up but one of us at a
time. I went up the river to a place that had
(58
ON THE BOAT FOR LEWISTON 69
not been overflowed by the flood, and found a
pile of rails. I called the men, and the^^ came,
and we hauled the rails to the water's edge and
made a raft by putting in a tier one way, and
another tier the other way, to hold them to-
gether, placed a slab on top, and two of us got
aboard. One held the baggage up out of the
water, and the other paddled with a pole and
shoved out into the stream, while the other
went back to the dry-tree raft and pulled out.
The current was strong; and the opposite bank
rough and high without any good landing place,
which made it quite dangerous about attempt-
ing to land, lest we should break up our raft.
I took charge of the baggage, and our pilot
ran as near the shore as he dared; and as I had
opportunity, I would toss the baggage on shore
Then we saw a place where we thought it would
do to try a jump for shore. We were fortunate,
and as our weight left the raft, the rails scat-
tered in every direction, and we went for our
baggage that was scattered along up the river.
Our partner had quite a serious time before he
could land his craft, but he succeeded, however,
about a half mile below, and we were glad to
see him heave in sight on the same shore.
We were all tired, but we stopped at the first
house and got a lunch, and then we started for
70 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Lewiston, ten miles awaj. We arrived about
four o'clock, and called for supper at the hotel.
Here our companion was to leave us. It was
now three or four miles, in a westerly direction,
to our friends' settlement. I decided to go
through that night, but the doctor said he was
too tired to try it. We could find no team to
take us, I shouldered my bag and started out,
and arrived about eight o'clock at a house of
an old neighbor of my father's when I was
a boy. They were very glad to see me, and
we had a great amount of talking to do, and did
not retire until quite late. About half past ten
o'clock the doctor rapped at the door. He got
lonesome after I left, and after resting he made
up his mind to come through.
The next day we called around among the
neighbors, and found our friends that arrived
here the week before. We also found an old
minister by the name of Babcock, and the son
of the widow who journeyed with us from
Allegany to her home in this town, had come
from Wisconsin, too, by working oxen for
breaking teams, etc. They were old acquaint-
ances in New York State. He said: "Boys, go
to the woods and saw some wheels off some
big log, and make a cart, and then you can
hitch ayoke of oxen to it, and put your baggage.
ON THE BOAT FOR LEWISTON 7l
etc., on it, and go home with me to Wisconsin.
YoQ can have a good time, and take your own
time. It is nearly two hundred miles. Get
you a gun and a dog." There were seven of us
most of the way, and we arranged for the
journey.
XIV
FROM LEWISTON, ILL., TO WISCONSIN
Elder Scott decided to go on with us as far
as Farmington, as that was one of his mission
stations. We stopped at Canton, where I found
an old acquaintance of mj boyhood, and
stopped over niglit with him, while our com-
pany went on a few miles farther. I went on
in the morning and overtook our company.
As we neared Farmington, Elder Scott said,
" You stop over here with me at Mr. Evans's,
and I will get a team and take you on in the
morning, until we get in sight of your com-
pany, then you can catch up with them in a
little time." Mr. Evans's wife was raised near
me in Allegany County, N. Y. I had a pleas-
ant visit with her, as her mother was a Lan-
phear, and a distant relative. The next morn-
ing the elder hooked up a team, and we started
on through the oak openings and out on to
a large prairie where we could see a few miles
ahead, and came to where some man had fenced
up a section to make him a home, shutting up
the usual track of travel, so that the people had
to drive around the fenced farm and strike the
FROM LEWISTON, ILL., TO WISCONSIN 73
track beyond. So I decided I could cross
the fenced lands on foot better than to have
him drive me around. We shook hands, said
good -by, and he turned back, and I started
across the big field.
I could see my company a few miles ahead,
and started on a vigorous walk across this large
farm, with only a cane in hand to help my
progress. I walked pretty lively, and as I was
crossing a spot of tall grass, I raised my foot
to make a step, and there I saw a large black
snake coiled in a heap. He was scared and
made a big Hop, and I was scared as well, and
made a big jump if ever I did, but my cane
and his head came in contact, and his snakeship
surrendered. He was only three and one half
feet long, and a big one. I pushed on and over-
took my company all in good cheer.
Our dog was a lively fellow, and would smell
a rabbit if one was in a patch of hazel-brush
and drum him out right lively. There were
large numbers of rabbits and prairie chickens,
and as it was nesting time with chickens, we
fared well for meat and eggs. I killed thirteen
snakes in crossing one prairie in one day.
I never was very friendly to snakes, and the
boys used to laugh to see me chase them.
I carried my cane everywhere I traveled west
74 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and south of the Lakes. I kept no count of
the number I killed with that cane. We crossed
one prairie, twenty-four miles where we crossed
it, and fifty miles the other way. We had to
start in the morning in order to get across before
night. In about the center was a little grove,
and a large spring made out from a little bluff
therein. An Irishman had purchased this sec-
tion and built him a mud house near by; and his
nearest neighbor was eleven miles away. Here
we stopped and ate our lunch, and let the cattle
eat and rest a little while. We had one cow
along that gave milk. We milked her and
drank the milk with our lunch. After we started
the cow seemed a little sick, and for a time we
were afraid that she had eaten something that
was poisonous, and that we who had used the
milk might be sick, but she was soon over it,
and we felt no bad effect from it.
Our company had made calculations to cross
this prairie and go seven or nine miles beyond
to a certain grove where we would stop for the
night. We were getting a little tired and hun-
gry, but all the company save one besides
myself, decided to go through without stopping
for supper. As we came to the timber, we
found two log houses, and we, too, concluded
to stop and see if we could get some kind of
FROM LEWISTON, ILL., TO WISCONSIN /O
a lunch. We stopped at the first house, and
saw pies and cakes on the outhouse, and con-
cluded we had hit the right spot, but when we
opened the question, "No," said the lady, *'we
are to have a wedding here this evening, and
we can not spare a thing. But if you should
call at that house down there, you may get
something." We hurried down there; the lady
said she could accommodate us in a few minutes.
We sat down on a log, and in a few minutes
she called us in, and we sat down on some
stools and ate a good lunch, paid her, and
thanked her, and by this time the sun was pass-
ing out of sight, away on the western prairie.
We could just see our company in the distance.
Darkness was closing in upon us, and soon the
clouds began to gather, but we tried to follow
the track, but somebody had been breaking up
the prairie, and thus broke up the track.
There were no roads in that country then,
only as people picked them out for themselves.
We crossed the plowed field, but it was so dark
that we could not find our track. We wandered
about in darkness for a time, and about con-
cluded that we should have to lodge with snakes
and gophers on the prairie that night, when we
saw a little light away in the distance on a
bluff, and we decided to make for that. It was
Y6 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
SiinclMj night, and so liappened that the daugh-
ter of the household had her best fellow to see
her that night, and kept a little light. We
rapped, and the old lady came to the door. We
stated that we were lost on the prairie, and
would like to stay with them overnight. She
invited us in very kindly, inquiring if we desired
something to eat. We said we would take each
a dish of bread and milk if she had it. We
ate it and retired about eleven o'clock. We
awakened in the morning to find it was raining
smartly, and there we were, our coats and bag-
gage were left out of doors the night before.
We inquired for the grove where our company
was to put up, and they pointed it out about
nine miles in the distance. We remained and
got our breakfast. The rain slacked up, and
we settled our bill, thanked our hostess, and
started for the grove. We arrived about eleven
o'clock, and found our company awaiting our
arrival.
The storm cleared away, and we started on
our journey again. AVe had to cross Rock
River at Rockford. There was no bridge there
yet, and we must get our cattle across. The
crossing was made by roping flat boats together,
which we crossed by paying toll. We had one
horse along, which we led on to the boat, and
FROM LEWISTON, ILL., TO WISCONSIN i i
the oxen and the cart, then huddled the cattle
to the edge of the water. As the boat started,
we hurried the cattle after the boat, and they
followed the oxen which were on the boat, and
swam to the other shore somewhat scattered;
but they soon came together, as it is in the
nature of Western cattle to keep together.
Now our party divided, part going by way of
Jonesville, and the rest of us with the old
Elder easterly to his largo farm on Big Foot
prairie, in Wisconsin. By this time the prairie
grass had cut the uppers of my boots through
so as to let in water. I had traveled some
days with wet feet, and had taken cold, and
was threatened with lung trouble. The Elder's
son was a physician, and gave me a dose of
calomel and julep. They invited me to remain
with them a few days and recruit before I
started out.
In a few days I started for Milton, some ten
or fifteen miles away. On the way I found an
old neighbor who settled there in the openings
some three miles from Milton. They invited
me to stop with them. The man was a cripple,
with one arm and hand, still he had started a
farm there. He had planted a field of corn,
and the gophers, a sort of ground squirrel, were
doing considerable damage to it. He was not
78 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
able to use a gun, neither was his young son.
I said to him. If you can find a flat stone or a
short board, I can set figure-four traps around
the field that your boy can set. and catch the
gophers. That was a new idea to him. I
fixed the traps, and left for Milton for a few
days. When I came back, the boy had caught
about eighty gophers, and saved the corn.
XV
NOW IN WISCONSIN
I CALLED at Joseph Goodrich's at Milton.
He had been there two years. He was an old
friend of ours in New York State. He said to
me, "Cut your notch on my table so that you
may know just where to take your place while
you stay in Wisconsin." I had not got over
my cold yet, but thought I would take my
time and walk over to Albion, eight or ten
miles, and spend the Sabbath with friends who
had settled over there. My lungs were rather
sore, still [ attended church in a log house. A
friend observed my condition, and invited me to
his home. A Dr. Kider had moved from Alfred
to the town of Milton, and was sent for to come
over to Albion to see a sick man. On hearing
that I was in the neighborhood sick, he called
to see me, and said I was pretty sick, and de-
cided to stay overnight with me. The first
thing he did was to bleed me, and then place
a large blister plaster on my chest. That was
the old-fashioned way of treating in cases of
inflammation in those days. I then concluded
that I was sick. He thought I had better try
79
80 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
to get over where he was stopping, so it might
be more convenient for him to attend me. He
was stopping with a friend of mine, so 1 ar-
ranged to get over there. Mj friends were
very kind to me, and in a week or ten days I
was able to get out again. I called on various
settlers of my acquaintance, and then began to
think of going home. Nearly all the friends
wished to know when I was going back to
Alleghany, as they wished to send letters by
me to their friends.
I looked out two or three places that I
thought I should finally purchase sometime for
a home of my own. I called on a brother of
my Uncle Amos Crandall, referred to in a
former chapter. I found his father there on a
visit, who was to return to New York State,
but did not like to go alone, and would like to
go with me, but was not quite ready. His son
said if I would remain another week, he would
send his team to take us to the lake, some
sixty odd miles. The roads were very bad, so
I decided to remain another week, and make
calls among the settlers. At the end of the
week I had about forty letters in my satchel to
take back to friends. Postage in those days
was ten cents on a letter, and that was worth
saving. They would possibly go through
NOW IN WISCONSIN 81
quicker and safer with me. The time arrived
for leaving Wisconsin. Mr. Crandall arranged
his double team and big wagon and his man to
take us to the lake, and said he would put in
ten bushels of wheat to take along to sell to
pay expenses. Before we got half through,
we got set in the mud, and had to pry out the
wagon. We stopped at a little town, and were
offered fifty cents a bushel for our wheat, which
we accepted.
We finally got through to the lake, and
engaged our passage on a steamer to Buffalo.
The old gentleman did not feel able to pay
cabin fare. The steerage passenger cabin was
comfortable with berths, but the berths had no
bedding, so I went into a store and bought a
nice buffalo robe, and with that and the baggage
made a comfortable bed; and our steamer set
sail for Buffalo. We were four days getting
through, Chicago at this time, ISM, had a
population of about eleven thousand. Chicago
was a small city. We took a packet boat on
the Erie Canal to Rochester. Thence by canal
by the way of Mt. Morris to Dansville. We
had to change boats at Mt. Morris, and in the
hurry to get the old gentleman's baggage
changed, I forgot my satchel and left it hanging
up in the boat, and did not miss it until on our
G
82 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
way about four miles. Then I had to foot it
back to Mt. Morris. I found my satchel on the
peg where I left it in the boat. J^ow how to get
to Dansville in time to look after the old gentle-
man was the question. But there was no time
to lose. I shouldered my satchel, and took the
towpath four or five miles, stopped for dinner,
hired a man to take me to Dansville, and
arrived there before the boat got in. I found
a man there who lived in Arkport, ten miles on
our way, who had unloaded his produce, and was
just ready to start for home. I made arrange-
ments with him to take us as far as he went, and
started out. On our way we had a chance to
chat about my journey and the West. I found
him to be a pleasant gentleman, and he offered
to drive us through to my home for si includ-
ing the whole distance, twenty miles. We
luckily reached home before night, in Alfred,
at my father's, near the old mill.
That sickness in Wisconsin was the only
sickness I had to lay me up in all my travels.
XVI
AT ALFRED, THE HOME OF MY BOYHOOD
On arriving home I found that my wife had
gone to what is now Nile, in the town of Friend-
ship, where my three brothers were settled in
business, to make them a visit preparatory
to going West. I soon went to meet her there.
My parents pleaded for us not to go so far
away, and when I got to my brothers, they all
set in for us not to go. I then owned eighty
acres of land that lay close to the little town.
Some merchants in the place owned twenty-five
acres of improved land that lay between my
land and the little village road, that they offered
to sell for $1,500. The friends set in for me
to purchase that, and it would make me a
respectable farm, fronting on the main street
through the town. I finally arranged to pur-
chase it. I then arranged to move into a house
with one of my brothers, vrent back to Alfred
and got my goods together, and moved to what
was then called South Friendship.
There was a 80x40 foot barn, but no house on
the land I had just purchased. The first busi-
ness was to build me a house. I had plenty of
83
84 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
timber for building purposes, and tliere was a
sawmill near by at which I could get my logs cut
into lumber. This was in August or the first of
September I hired a carpenter to work with me,
and other help as I needed, and in the fol-
lowing spring had it ready to move into.
By spring my health had become quite good^
and I was ready to commence farming. I was
raised on a farm, so that I knew how to do it.
I usually had as good crops as any of my neigh-
bors. I had forty sheep ready to put on the
farm which all came from one ewe lamb for which
I paid all the money I had when I was eight years
old. My father let me keep it with his until I
was nine years old. That spring I was nine
years old the second day of March. In April
she had a pair of twin lambs, so that in the fall
I had three sheep. My father said I might take
the three sheep and do as I pleased with them.
I let them out to a man to double in four years.
I let them out in that way until I owned this
flock, and lastly let them out for one pound of
wool per head annually, which I sold to help
clothe myself before I was married. I mention
this in order to show what a few pennies or
shillings saved and put to proper use will do.
Another boy purchased a lamb at the same time,
but finally sold it for an old fiddle, and that
AT ALFRED, THE HOME OF MY BOYHOOD 85
soon played out, and he had nothing to show
for his lamb. Think of it, reader! How many
boys there are in the world who spend their odd
pennies as foolishly as that ! There is an old say-
ing that a penny saved is worth more than two
earned.
I made up my mind to keep square with the
world, to owe no man anything, to pay my debts
when due. If I would like a new thing, and
could not pay for it, I would wear my old clothes
until I could; in cases of sickness there might be
exceptions. But I would never allow a debt to
ruQ long from my own extravagauce. I signed
a note with two other men once to accommodate,
and paid one hundred and one dollars to get out
of it. That taught me a lesson, and I never
signed another note for myself or any one else to
this day; but made my word as good as my note
would be. In my own business I kept a debit
and credit business, that I might know the loss
or gain at the end of each year. I made up my
mind to be honest with every man, and with my
God; to do right, and leave the result with
Him, regardless of what man might say or do.
I made my farming a success, as well as my
other business. I endeavored to take the moral
and religious side of every public question,
regardless of other men's views or notions. I
86 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
was an early abolitionist, and believed in God's
law and order, and that he was no respecter of
persons, that all were created with equal rights;
consequently, I felt it my duty to aid or help
any honest slave to the liberty I was permitted
to enjoy. I harbored some of the ablest slaves
that ever ran away from slavedom; such as
Frederick Douglass, Logan, who became a bishop
in the Methodist Church, and others I might
mention, without remorse of conscience, regard-
less of politicians or what wicked men might
say or do.
I was always a temperance man, never taking
a glass of strong drink from my childhood, and
always trying to persuade men and boys not
to use it. When wicked men attempted to sell
it in my neighborhood, I did what I could to
prevent it, and if they persisted in it, I resorted
to prosecution until they would quit the business,
in my neighborhood at least. Of course I made
enemies thereby, who sometimes resorted to do
me damage by destroying my crops and bar-
bering my horses' tails; but this was not half
as bad as their making drunkards of my neigh-
bors and friends. I offered building lots for
sale at reasonable prices for the sake of im-
proving the town; I helped to build a meeting-
house on my land; and took charge of building
AT ALFRED, THE HOME OF MY BOYHOOD 87
a new schoolhoiise, and by permit of the voters
of the district got up a subscription and put a
belfry on it without taxing the people for it.
I sent to an acquaintance in New York, and
purchased a bell at first cost, and at my own
expense went into my woods and found a
crooked tree, worked out a yoke for the hang-
ing of the bell, and placed it in the belfry
ready for use without expense to the people.
I am told that the bell swings on the same
yoke to this day.
XYII
A TRIP THROUGH NEW YORK STATE
About this time. I connected other business
with my farming. Being acquainted in New
England, and having rehxtives there, I did a
commission business for New England manu-
factories, etc. They trusted me to purchase
wool and other produce for them, they paying
me a fair percentage for my work. My wife's
health was failing, so I got my business ar-
ranged and took her with me to New York,
thence by steamer down the Sound to Stoning-
ton, thence by cars to Westerly, and my birth-
place, where we visited many friends, then to
the ocean beach, etc., and on to Providence.
When I returned home, I found my business
satisfactory, but my wife did not improve
much.
Tlie following season I arranged my business
to make a journey to Jefferson County, N. Y.,
to visit my sister, who married Dr. E. R.
Maxson, who settled in that county at Adams
Center. I arranged to drive my double team,
and so I invited my younger brother and his
wife to take the journey with us, as it was a
A TRIP THROUGH NEW YORK STATE 89
pleasant season of the year. We drove bj the
way of the lake country to Geneva and to
Rome, thence north to Adams Village, and
thence to Adams Center, the home of our
friends. This is a pleasant country, and we
remained in that section nearly two weeks.
We drove to Lake Ontario, stopped at sev-
eral large towns, and at Sacket Harbor, a noted
place from the time of the war with England
in 1812. Here our government during that
war began to build a war steamer, got the
frame up, and the war came to a close. The
government built a large house over the frame
in order to preserve it if ever needed; but it
was never needed after peace was declared,
after that war, so it was kept for many years
for a show and a place of resort, until the
worms got into the timber and ate through and
through until it crumbled to pieces, and it was
torn down for fear of danger that it might fall
upon people that visited it.
Our friends went with us, and we returned by
the way of Houndsfield back to the Center.
This was our first visit to this section of country.
When we had finished our visit here, we drove
to Deruyter, Madison County, to visit friends.
Much of the way the people had built a new
plank road. It seemed very nice, and our car-
90 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO TEARS
riage ran easily and smootlily, the load being
but little for the horses to draw; so we kept them
on a fast drive. The horses were not used to
being driven on such a hard road, and the next
day they were so stiff it was difficult for them
to walk out of the stable. Railroads were not
plenty yet, and plank roads became quite com-
mon. We remained here a few days, and my
horses got limbered up so that we started for
home by the way of Ithaca and the head of the
lakes. South Dansville to Almond, Angelica to
Friendship and home, having been away about
four weeks. We found things all right at home
XYIII
A VISIT TO WISCONSIN
My wife's health did not seem to improve.
Thinking possibly it would be better for her to
give up farming, as that would relieve her of
much care, I reserved a few building lots and
then offered the remainder for sale. I soon had
an offer of ^3,300 for what was left of the farm,
and I let it go. I then sold off my stock and
farming tools and went directly to work to build
me a house on one of the lots near by. My
youngest brother was a carpenter and lived
across the way in a house that I had sold him.
I hired him to work with me. This was in the
spring of the year; in the fall we had a snug
little home, and we moved in. The next spring
we put up a horse barn.
We were comfortably fixed, and I increased
my business in buying and selling produce, and
the commission business, and traveled about the
country where I could purchase at the best
advantage, now and then making a trip to New
York and JS'ew England.
The spring of 1859 my wife's sister came to
make us a visit. She was taken down with
typhoid fever, and was sick several weeks, thus
91
92 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
bringing large cares upon my wife. She finally
took the fever, and being in poor health she
could not rally through the fever, and finally
died.
This broke up my business somewhat. I
made up my mind to make a trip west and south,
and arranged my business accordingly. I left
in June. I went to Chicago; thence to Portage^
Wis.; thence north to look up my wife's sister,
who married a man by the name of Wadsworth,
to deliver to her some of my wife's goods in
accordance with her request. I found them near
Burroak Prairie. I stopped with them some
days. I visited the towns of Berlin City, Cart-
wright, Burroak Prairie, New Friendship, Grand
Rapids on the Wisconsin River, and the region
of Stevens Point, and several high and noted
rocks in that section of country, especially Ship
Rock, and the Reshacree Rock, each being about
three hundred feet high. I climbed to the top
of the Reshacree for the sake of the wonderful
view of the surrounding country. It is a level
country, and from its top you can see as far as
your eyes' vision can carry. These high rocks
are scattered largely over the country, and from
a distan(*e remind you of old castles soaring
above the landscape. This country is a level
and sandy soil without stone, and it is a wonder
A VISIT TO WISCONSIN 93
how these large and high rocks ever came to be
located on these sandy plains. Some think this
country was once covered with water, and that
these rocks were floated here by icebergs.
Keally they were wonderful to look upon.
After I returned to my brother-in-law's, as we
were sitting at the table one day I chanced to
look out the back window and I saw an animal
crossing the stream on the marsh. "What is
that^ " '' It is a bear, '' said Wadsworth. He
dropped bullets into each barrel of a loaded
shotgun and handed it to me, and said, " Go as
quick as you can around that piece of woods
pasture, and I will follow him with rifle and dog,
and we may get a shot at him." I ran around
to the place where I thought he would be likely
to come out of the woods pasture to cross into
another woods. I stepped upon an oak stump
cut close to the ground, and cocked my gun.
Soon I heard the little dog bark, which was a
signal that the bear was near at hand, and soon
the old fellow popped out of the bushes, and
stopped behind an oak staddle. I thought as
soon as he moved one side of the staddle I
would shoot. I looked at him and he looked
at me. He showed his teeth at me, and the
hair on his back began to straighten up and the
hair on my head felt a little stift'. I must con-
94 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
fess that I must have had what hunters called,
''the buck fever." There I stood like a fool
until the bear decided to leave and started to run
another way before I decided to shoot, and then
I presume my charge did not endanger Bruin's
life much. If I had shot at first sight, I might
have wounded if not killed the bear, for I was
usually called a good marksman. And then I
was not in much danger, as I had another charge,
and Wadsworth was near by with his ritle; and
a man that lived near by saw me, and supposing
there was something that caused me to hurry
as I did with gun in hand, grabbed his rifle and
started for what it might be. Keader, you may
laugh at my weakness as much as you please.
I never had much growth of hair on the top of
my head since, and I must confess that I never
felt more foolish over a little matter than I did
over that.
Two days later a Dutch woman in the same
neighborhood shot, I presume, the same bear,
as one came into the yard in front of her home
where her children were at play and she was
washing at her tub of clothes. She grabbed a
''handspike," and went so sharp for Bruin that
he hustled up a tree just around the corner of
the house. Knowing that her husband's rifle
was hanging in its place inside ready for use at
A VISIT TO WISCONSIN 95
any time, she stepped in and grabbed the rifle
without calling her husband, who was a little
away in the field at work; but the discharge of
the gun brought him to his house as quickly as
he could get there, and to his surprise he found
a dead bear there ready for him to dress.
Bears were quite plenty that season in that
part of the country. They had had a frosty
season that had killed the nuts and wild fruit, so
that the wild animals ventured pretty close to
the settlers' homes, and often would venture
into gardens and cornfields for green corn, etc.
Several were killed while I was in that section
of the country.
A settler had moved there in the spring, broke
up a little field and planted it to corn, and fenced
it round with the crooked limbs of trees. They
had a boy about twelve years old. The father
usually worked away from home days, charging
the boy to watch the cornfield and see that the
cattle did not get in. He went to the field one
day, and saw something, he did not know what.
He ran to the house and told his mother that he
wanted the rifle to shoot it. He hurried back
into the field. As he looked across the lot be-
tween the rows, he saw the thing sticking his
head between the fence poles. He dropped on
the ground, resting his gun on a low stump, and
96 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY- TWO YEARS
let her bang. The animal dropped, and the boy
ran for the house and told his mother, **I guess
I have shot the devil! Come out and seel "
Another case: A boy went after their cow,
found her, and started for home. Before get-
ting home a bear pursued them, and he hustled
the cow as fast as he could, and he and the cow
had just time to jump the bars into the dooryard,
while the bear placed his fore paws upon the
bars and looked wistfully at the cow and boy as
they reached the door to the shed near the house
door. I might relate many a danger that hap-
pened in my travels and observations, but must
pass them for want of time and room.
XIX
I LEAVE FOR MILTON, WIS.
I TOOK the stage to Portage. Portage is situ-
ated between Fox River and the Wisconsin
River, where the two rivers elbow up toward
each other, so near that the distance across from
one to the other is only two miles or so. These
rivers were navigable for small steamers; and
the people thought it would be convenient to
have a canal or channel cut through from one
river to the other, so that they could run boats
from one to the other. The grades only differed
about four to six feet. The channel was cut
through at quite a large expense; but when done,
the land was so sandy that when the water was
let' in, the sand would run in and fill the chan-
nel faster than they could get it out, and thus it
could not be kept in a navigable condition.
So it proved to be a dead loss, as it could not
be used. That part of Wisconsin and farther
north is very sandy, so much so that it is hardly
worth cultivation.
I took the stage from here to Madison, the
capital of the State. It is a beautiful section of
country ; and as we went south the land improved.
7 97
98 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
When we arrived at Madison, we found it a beaa-
tifiillj located city, siirronnded with little lakes
and a fine farming country. I stopped a little
time here and looked up a man that left Allegany
County leaving some old debts behind unpaid.
My father had an old claim, and wished me to
collect it if I could, as the man had met with
prosperity and got elected to a paying office of
his county. But when I presented the claim,
he said that when he left Allegany, he made up
his mind that he should never pay his old debts
he left behind. He claimed they were now out-
lawed, although he slipped away in the night-
time when he left. How many such men exist
in the world! But God's law says: "Owe no
man anything, but to love one another;" "What-
soever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them." God never ordered a
bankrupt law, or outlawed an honest debt, espe-
cially when a man was able to pay. Would an
honest Christian man claim such a right?
I left by cars for Milton, where I stayed for
a time with my old friend, Joseph Goodrich.
Making that my headquarters, I visited White
Water, Albion, Jonesville, friends on Big Foot
Prairie, and attended the State fair at Milwaukee,
spending about four weeks about that part of the
State, fishing and hunting some. While here
I LEAVE FOR MILTON, WIS. 99
I received a letter from home that Dr. Clark,
my cousin and nearest neighbor, was dead, and
the family desired me to take the administrator-
ship of his estate. I answered that I might do
it on my return if desired, but I had my plans
laid to spend a month or two more traveling
before I returned. They decided to wait for
my return.
I left Wisconsin by way of Chicago, thence
into Ohio to Cincinnati; thence into Kentucky,
Maryland, and Virginia; thence to Washington,
D. C, where I stopped about one week. Since
journeying so largely in our country, I have
often wondered how it was that our nation hap-
pened to elect to make our capital in so poor a
part of our country- as the vicinity of Washing-
ton. Of course our country had not developed
at that time as it has since. But I must let that
be for others to decide, and make the best of it.
XX
I LEAVE WASHINGTON FOR THE EAST
I TOOK the cars by way of Baltimore and Phila-
delphia. Baltimore was the birthplace of Fred-
erick Douglass, who was owned by his own father,
his mother being a slave. He ran away when
he was nineteen years of age. His career was
wonderful. I harbored him many times while a
slave. When he was a boy, he learned to read
by getting the white boys to read the inscriptions
on grave stones and signs in shipyards. A lady
in his family took a liking to Fred for his apt-
ness, and thought she would help him to learn
to read; but when his father, or owner, found it
out, he forbade her teaching him. He came to
the State of New York, and finally went to Massa-
chusetts and found some employment. He
chanced to attend an antislavery meeting there,
and was called upon to speak on the subject.
He showed himself as a young man of talent, and
the people manifested an interest in him, and
proposed to help him educate himself.
He soon took the lecture field. He finally
went over to England as a lecturer, and the peo-
ple over there learned that he was a slave, and
100
I LEAVE AVASHINGTON FOR THE EAST 101
where he ran away from, and who was his owner.
They wrote to his old master to know what he
would sell him for, or give him his free papers.
The reply was, sTOO. They raised the money,
and his owner, or father, took thesTOO and sent
him a deed of himself. He finished up his edu-
cation over there and came back to Rochester, N.
Y., and commenced editing a paper called Fred-
erick Douglasses Paper. He married, and raised
a family, and they themselves did the most of
the work on the paper. I took his paper until
he suspended its publication and enlisted for the
war with the intent of liberating his people.
Baltimore was a very strong secession town.
The people attacked the soldiers as they were
passing through the city on the cars for Wash-
ington, and were noted for their hatred toward
the Northern people and President Lincoln.
When Lincoln had to pass through Baltimore
on his way to Washington, to be inaugurated as
President of the United States, his life was in
danger. He was aided by a friend to board the
cars beyond the city, and thus escaped the mob.
I passed on to Philadelphia, where I stopped
a short time and visited the old building where
our first representatives gathered; I saw many
relics, the old national bell, etc. I passed on
to Plainfield, N. J., and called on friends; thence
102 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
to New York City, where I stopped a few days
with friends; thence by Fall Kiver steamer to
Fall River, and thence by cars to Boston; thence
to Portland, in the State of Maine, the noted
Prohibition State at that time, and learned of
its workings and benefits to the people, etc.
I returned to Boston, visited Bunker Hill mon-
ument, Plymouth Pock, their capitol buildings,
and took in the city generally. By the way,
let me say that the monument is not located on
Bunker Hill, but on a hill some little distance
therefrom, I presume for convenience' sake.
I climbed to its top for the sake of the lookout.
I visited Plymouth Rock, so called, about three
miles south from the center of the city. It was
told me that Plymouth Rock proper was out in
the bay quite a distance, and for convenience a
large block was blasted off that rock, which
was brought to the shore where it is now. An
iron fence was placed around it, and the words
"Plymouth Rock " cut thereon. Boston is noted
for its narrow and crooked streets, and is an
easy city for a stranger ( if his head is not level),
to get lost or confused. The city has a fine com-
mons or plains for visitors, shows, and parades.
I may have more to say about it in another
chapter, but I must now leave to make toward
home, as I have been away nearly six months.
XXI
HOME AGAIN
I LEFT for Providence. I stopped here a day
or so with cousins, and looked about the city,
and left for Westerly, my native birthplace.
On arriving there I met a friend from New York
who had received a dispatch for me from my
home, saying that my father was very sick, and
to come home quick. He knew that I expected
to get back to Westerly for the Sabbath-day, so
kindly came on there to meet me with the dis-
patch. I took the Stonington steamer that
night for New York, arriving there Sunday
morning; but unfortunate as it seemed, there
was no train to leave for Friendship or Nile un-
til Monday morning. It was a long day to wait,
I assure you. To pass away the time I went
over to Brooklyn and attended H. W Beecher's
church and heard him preach. He was in the
height of his glory then as a preacher.
The next morning I was early at the train,
anxious as to whether I should get through in
time to see my father alive. The train arrived
at Wellsville, twelve or fourteen miles from my
home, between eight and nine o'clock that even-
103
104 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
ing. Friendship was not then an express sta-
tion. I offered the conductor five dollars if he
would let me off at that station; but I could not
persuade him to do it. I told him the circum-
stances, but it made no impression on him. A
tavern-keeper stood by, and said, "Jump into
my bus and ride up to the hotel, and I will
send you for less money than that.^' He ordered
a man, " Hitch up the best team in the stable,
and drive this man to Nile as quick as you can
drive him there without injuring the horses."
"Give me four dollars, and jump in. I will send
your trunk to-morrow." I arrived home about
half past ten o'clock. I found my father alive.
He said he had been waiting for me for some
time. He was perfectly rational, and we talked
about an hour about his sickness, and he could
not tell how it would turn with him. He was
then in his seventy-sixth year, and never had
been sick much. He said, " You had better go
to bed and rest, and we can talk more in the
morning." My next older brother was watch-
ing with him that night. At about daylight my
brother called at my door, and said, "Father
seems worse; you had better come down." I
dressed as quickly as I could and went to his
bed, only to find him dead. When the doctor
called in the morning, he said, "I think he
HOME AGAIN 105
would have died before, only for the hope of
seeing you once more. After seeing you, he
yielded to the disease, and died right away.''
He had made his will. We had many relatives
about the country. I had arrived in time to see
him alive, and help arrange for the funeral and
to notify the friends. The funeral over, a new
order ot things had to come into being. The
will was read. He had not appointed an exec-
utor. He had willed his home to his wife, and
made provision for her. As I had done some
business in that line, the heirs all decided that
I should be appointed administrator to settle the
estate. I had two estates on my hands then to
look after and to close up as soon as the law
would allow. I finally consented, and was ap-
pointed by the court. His business was in good
shape, as he had no debts against him except
his doctor's bill and funeral expenses; but some
of his claims were in such shape that it took
some time to collect them in. As fast as I -got
in money, I paid it to the heirs according to their
demands, 7?;y> rata^ and when I got through, all
were satisfied.
My mother's house was not near so nice as
mine, so I sold it, and she and her youngest
daughter, who was not married yet, moved into
mine, and 1 made it my home with them for a
106 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
time. Finally my young sister married, and
moved to Wisconsin. This rather broke up my
mother's housekeeping. So she sold her house
to her oldest daughter's husband, they agreeing
to give her a home and support her during her
lifetime. He afterward sold the house and
bought another place, and moved and took her
with them. He was taken suddenly sick and
died. She was never happy after that, and was
sorry she ever sold her home. After this she
made it her practice to go from place to place
and live with her children. Before the young-
sister married, I took my mother and this sister
with me on a journey to New York and on to
Rhode Island to make a visit, and back to New
York, and was there when the Prince of Wales
visited that city. We then returned home. But
she was never satisfied to think she ever sold her
home, and finally died in her eighty-sixth year.
I remained a widower seven years. During
that time I settled up all the business on my
hands except the one estate of Dr. Clark, which
they desired I should hold in my hands until the
only son should become of age. During that
time I kept up my travels a good deal of the time.
I had business in New York and Rhode Island.
I had a nephew, the only son of my oldest
brotlier, who died wdien this boy was young.
HOME AGAIN 107
He was now in his teens. I told him I was
going to New York and Rhode Island. As he
had never been away from home, I told him if
he would like to go with me I would pay his fare.
He gladly accepted the offer. We went to New
York and then on east and made a visit among:
our relatives, and he had a good time. We
returned to New York and took in the sights.
I then purchased him a ticket, and he returned
home.
I took the cars up to Troy, N. Y., stopped
overnight, and in the morning took the stage
over the mountain to Berlin and Petersburg,
Rensselaer County, N. Y., about twenty miles.
The scenery was fine, and as we arrived at the
top of the mountain, and began to break toward
the valley beyond, the grand scenery increased.
As we cast our eyes down into the deep valley,
and gradually raised our eyes up and down the
valley beyond, hill after hill and mountain after
mountain soared above each other until the
Hoosick Mountains soared beyond, higher than
all the rest, so beautiful that no traveler need
begrudge the time and cost to make the trip.
Many crooks and turns had to be made to land
us among our friends in the village of Berlin.
I remained here several days, and when 1
decided to leave, an uncle of my wife drove me
108 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
to Petersburg and left me to take stage early in
the morning to the railroad station for Rutland,
Yt., on my way to Montreal, Canada. As I
had a few hours at Petersburg, I took up my
time in climbing one of the mountains east of
the valley,, where the snow lay in a deep gorge
in the mountain the year round. It was rather
a tiresome climb, but then I was younger and
more vigorous than now. I returned to the hotel
at night to be ready for the stage in the morning.
XXII
TRAVELING IN CANADA
I AVENT by stage to the station for Rutland and
Montreal. Arriving at Rutland before night,
I had an opportunity to look over the town.
The train was to leave early in the morning, so
that I had to hurry to the station before the
people got up on the cars. As I was about to
enter the cars, the conductor said, ''Take a
seat in the sleeper until the passengers get up
and get regulated." Thanking him, I did so,
as there were empty seats in the sleeper. After
a little time the sleepers began to get up and
have their berths made up. I observed one
large and gentlemanly looking man take his seat
after his berth was made up. I knew that
Joshua R. Giddings was a representative of our
government, and stationed at Montreal at this
time. I took the liberty to walk to his seat, and
I inquired if his name was Joshua R. Giddings.
" Yes, sir. But what do you know about Joshua
R. Giddings ?" ' ' I have known you many years,
and have read many of your speeches in Con-
gress, yet never saw you before." " Where do
you live, and what is your name?" " 1 live in
10<»
110 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Allegany County, N. Y. My name is E. Lan-
phear. I am an antislavery and temperance
man, and so are you. I liave known something
of the struggles you have had in Congress in
favor of the right, so much so that I almost felt
that I knew you before I ever saw you." " Sit
down, sit down. Where are you going ?" ' ' To
Montreal." " That is my home at present, and
I am on my way home now. You must stay
with me right here through to Montreal." We
passed the time together very pleasantly, and
talked over the questions at issue in our na-
tion as if we were old friends. I felt it a
great privilege to associate with such a man for
the knowledge I could gain. It w^as a pleasant
day, and when we were nearing our day's jour-
ney we crossed the river through the Grand
Trunk bridge into the city. '•iS'ow," he said,
"you had better go to such a hotel. When I
get my office straightened up I shall want you
to visit me. I shall call for you." I went to
said hotel, engaged my room, etc., and took a
little survey of the city. In the evening I heard
a rap at my door. 1 answered the call, and
there I found that Mr. Giddings and several of
his friends had come to make me a call. He
introduced me to his friends, and we had a
social chat for the evening, and talked over the
TRAVELING IN CANADA 111
scenery that I would be likely to take an interest
in. Mr. Giddings said the eight-mile drive
around the mountain and to its summit was fine,
and the scenery from the summit was grand.
"If I can get time," said he, " I will take you
on this drive before you leave. You must visit
the cathedra], of course." I stayed there two
days. I visited the cathedral. It was a new
thing to me, although an old building, built with
stone from bottom to highest pinnacles, with a
chime of bells high up in the belfry. The cen-
ter bell was the next largest then in the known
world. The custom was to have the sexton or
some one else go with visitors to show them
through the building, but the doorkeeper handed
me a guide and said, "Take your own time, and
go where you please." I spent probably three
hours in looking the building over. I went to
the top of the steeple and among the bells.
The scenery from that point up and down the
river was fine. The order of worship was new
to me, though everything in order. There was
a continual going and coming of worshipers:
they would drop before the fountain, wet their
finger and make a cross on their forehead, then
kneel before the Virgin Mary, looking as ear-
nestly at her figure as if they were looking in
the face of a god.
112 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
I finished my visit at Montreal, and decided
to make mj way home. I went to the depot,
called for a ticket to Kingston, and handed over
New York State safety fund money. " We do
not take that kind of money here. " '' Why not ?
It is our best money, and all that I have."
''Can't help it; I am not allowed to take it."
" What can I do? I am anxious to be on my
way home in western New York." " I would
go aboard the train and take my chances," said
the ticket agent. I went aboard, and soon the
ticket man came around for the tickets. I told
him I hadn't any, as the agent at the office would
not take my money, so I concluded to come
aboard and take my chances. " Where do you
wish to stop off?" "At Kingston." "Have
you any silver?" "Only a few shillings."
" Let me have that, and we will get along some
way." He seemed like a gentleman, and now
and then would come around and sit down and
chat with me. When we were nearino^ Kino:ston,
he came around, and said, "Let me have one of
your bills now, and we will fix your fare." He
stepped off the cars at a brokers office and got
it changed and brought me my change all right.
I stopped off at Kingston and crossed over to
Sackett's Harbor on a small steamer through the
Wolf Island canal. This cut off saves several
TRAVELING IN CANADA 113
miles' sail from going around the island. This
canal runs through a lake on the island; and
here on this lake I saw the greatest show of wild
ducks I ever saw. The lake was literally cov-
ered with a great variety of them. How
I wished I had my old shotgun. I crossed
by rail to the Erie railroad, and soon found
myself safely at home.
XXIII
A TRIP TO WISCONSIN TO ATTEND A
GENERAL CONFERENCE
I WAS reared a Sabbath-keeper from childhood,
and consequently was associated with the Sev-
enth-day Baptist denomination. I was accus-
tomed to attend their conferences and associa-
tions, probably having attended thirty or forty
sessions in the different States. I have the
names of one hundred and sixty Seventh-day
Baptist ministers that I have been personally
acquainted with. In ray travels I have visited
many of their churches. I was a member of
the Western Ministerial Conference several
years, and was their secretary for a nuinber of
years before I left the West for New Jersey.
I used to take part in their discussions, and now
and then was appointed to write an essay on
various subjects.
I had decided to attend a conference at Mil-
ton, Wis. Young Clark, the son of Dr. Paul
Clark, deceased, learning that I was going to
make a trip West, desired to go with me, as he
had not been able to see much of our country.
1 told him if his mother wished him to go, I
114
A TRIP TO WISCONSIN 115
would take him along. She said if I would take
the charge of him, she would like to have him
go. So we arranged to go on to the conference.
After the meetings adjourned, we spent sev-
eral days visiting friends in that section of the
State, then took the cars to the Mississippi
River, where we took a steamer up the river.
The steamer was so crowded that there was
scarcely sleeping room on the deck floors.
There was a jolly set on board, and there was
not much chance for sleep; but we rested as
much as possible through the night.
Wishing to find a cousin of young Clark's,
when we arrived at the mouth of St. Croix River
at Hastings, we changed to a small steamer,
going up this river to Hudson, Wis., bordering
on the little lake through which the river passed.
There were but few passengers on board, as the
steamer ran only up to Hudson. There were
plenty of wild geese along the river and on the
lake. The ofticers usually kept shotguns on
board the boat for shooting game. The officers
said if the passengers were not in a hurry to get
through, they would have a little sport by shoot-
ing game on our trip. This proposition pleased
us, especially young Clark. The geese and
ducks were in flocks usually on the water.
The pilot would observe a flock in the distance,
IIH MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and would head his boat in that direction, put
on a full head of steam, and get up a good motion,
then throw off the steam, and let the boat run
as quietly as possible until arriving in gunshot,
when one would shoot at the flock on the water,
and the other when the flock arose from the
water. They would usually wound one or more
geese; but to catch them after wounded was no
small task, as they would usually put for shore
and into the bushes if they could get there.
The boys would jump into a small boat for a
chance to catch them. When they would get
80 near that they thought they could grab them
by the neck and pull them into the boat, down
the geese would dive under water, and when
they appeared again, they might come up ten to
fifteen rods away. They are hard to kill in the
water, and unless you kill at first shot, you are
not sure of your game. The hunt was quite
exciting, and occasionally the pilot would run
us aground, and we would have to push off.
But we got through and found our friend, and
the boys had a good time for a day or two.
Then we hired a man to row us over the lake,
where we took stage across the country some
ten miles to the Mississippi River, and crossed
over to St. J^auL
XXIV
WE GO IP TO MINNEAPOLIS FALLS
At that time there were but small towns on
each side of the river with the falls between.
Only a few sawmills and a gristmill were run
from the power of the falls at that time. The
river was so low that the few mills used the most
of the water of the river, so that we crossed on
the dam. But few people then thought it was
to be the greatest mill plant in America, and
St. Paul had no idea that Minneapolis would
ever outdo it in business. We returned to St. .
Paul and took in the scenery, finally taking
stage to Faribault, Minn., and that region.
Here we found a minister and his family
of our acquaintance. He formerly lived and
preached at Nile. We stopped with them over
the Sabbath and a few days. His son and young
Clark had quite a good time hunting sand-hill
cranes. We paid the preacher a few dollars
to drive us several miles to a stage route that
would take us to Rochester, Minn. There
we bade him good-by, thanking him for his
kindness. He returned, and we were soon in
the stage for Rochester. We stopped over a
117
118 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
day or two, and found several people there who
formerly lived in Allegany County, N. Y. We
had a good visit with them. They all felt
pleased with their prospects, as they had just
completed a railroad from Winona to that
place. We took the first train back to Winona,
which is located on the Mississippi River. Here
also we found old acquaintances from Allegany
County.
We crossed the river into Wisconsin, and
went by rail north toward Grand Kapids as
near as we could go; then by stage to Marquette
County, stopping at Cartwright to look up
friends; thence by stage to Portage, where we
took cai-s for Milwaukee and Chicago, only
stopping a few days; thence by the Lake Shore
Railroad to Toledo, Cleveland, Dunkirk, Sala-
manca, Olean, Friendship, and home. We had
a pleasant trip, and found all well, and our
friends glad to see us.
XXV
THP] POLITICS OF OUR COUNTRY GETTING
INTO BAD SHAPE
The Democratic party had split, the two fac-
tions being called Hunkers and Barnburners.
One part was proslavery and for the extension
of slavery, the other against the extension.
The Whigs were divided, one part being called
Silver-gravs, the other Woolly-heads, — one pro-
slavery, and the other antislavery. Each old
party was anxious to keep in power, and thus
was ready to compromise over the slavery ques-
tion for the sake of the Southern vote.
The Southern States were growing jealous
of the Northern States. They had asked for
a vote representation ou their slaves, which
was granted by allowing the slaveholders three
votes for every five slaves and one for them-
selves. But this did not satisfy them. Xext
they asked for the Missouri Compromise line
to be repealed, so that they might extend
slavery into Kansas and all new territories.
This was granted, and then the struggle began
in earnest, for the slaveholders began moving
their slaves into Kansas, and the free-State men
119
120 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
from the Northern States began to rush into
Kansas with a view to make it a free State,
helping the slaves on to Canada, where they
became free. This maddened the slavery
States, and they then demanded a fugitive
slave law. The law was granted under Fill-
more's administration, and was indorsed by
both old parties. This made every man a
slave catcher if called upon to help catch
runaway slaves, and made every man a criminal
that fed, harbored, or in any way aided or
abetted a runaway slave, making him liable
to fine and imprisonment. This was too great
a pill for the Northern people to swallow, and
they largely refused to obey the law. The
slaves continued to run away by the thousands.
The South began to threaten secession
and disunion, and soon the border ruffian
war began in Kansas in earnest. President
Buchanan sent soldiers there to keep the peace.
He also sent three governors there to govern
the people ; they all turned in favor of the
free-State men. Some pretty hard fighting took
place, near Ossawatomie, and one of John
Brown's sons was killed there, which nearly
crazed John Brown himself, and made him
more desperate against the whole system of
slavery. The soldiers had captured ten of the
THE POLITICS OF OUR COUNTRY 121
free-State men, and held them as prisoners in
camp up on the prairie near Lecompton, near
where they first decided to build the capitol
buildings.
Lawrence seemed to be the headquarters for
the free-State men and was the home of Jim
Lane and several of my acquaintances. Jim
Lane was a dare-devil sort of man. He called
for thirty volunteers, and he would have our
ten prisoners back. His call was immediately
filled, and tliey were on the move, following
up the river. They kept concealed among the
bluffs until they neared Lecompton, when they
marched up a gulch that led up near in front
of the soldiers' camp, where they formed in
line, sent a flag of truce to their camp, and de-
manded our prisoners, as they were prepared to
take them by force. The soldiers, thinking
they had a large force back in the gulch, de-
livered the men, and Lane marched his men
and prisoners back to Lawrence, leaving the
rebel army to meditate over the game Lane had
played upon them. Lane was really the leader
at the head of danger against all border ruffian
interference.
The Missourians all along the border were
in favor of the slave power, and made the free-
State men a great amount of trouble. They
122 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
held great grudges against the people of Law-
rence, and were laying plans to capture the
town. There was a large cornfield below
Lawrence. They planned to cross the river
below that field, there organize out of sight,
and then move suddenly upon the town and
capture it; but Jim and the leaders were on
the watch. They placed some thirty or forty
men out of sight between the town and the
cornfield, and took about the same number
and marched up the gulch or little valley that
made up back of Mt. Horeb where their school-
house building now stands, where they could
keep out of sight, and unobserved spy out the
situation on the plain below the cornfield.
Just as the Missourians were about to move, the
signal was given from Mt. Horeb, and the
bullets poured down the mountain like hail,
and the shots played through the cornfield as if
two hailstorms had met, and the Missourians
without orders made for the river and across
as best they could, and concluded that there was
not much hope in their case, for they had too
many Yankees on their side.
XXVI
TO KANSAS BY WAY OF ST. LOUIS, MO.
I wAts interested in the atfairs of Kansas. I
had helped educate a young man at Alfred, a
cousin of my wife. He was graduated from
that school, and married a young lady that was
graduated also. They decided to go to Kansas
Territory to settle. He had means enough to
get them there, and to pay for 160 acres at
governujent price. I advanced him i^l.OOO to
get under way at farming. Of course I was
interested in the situation, as to how he was
likely to succeed, and as to how the question of
slavery was to be decided in the Territory.
I started for that country, arriving at St.
Louis Nov. 30, 1859. I took passage on a
steamer up the Mississippi River to Hannibal,
thence by Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad to
St. Joseph.
I chanced to form an acquaintance with one
Dr. A. S. Fredrick, a slaveholder from Ken-
tucky, and as I speak of him, I speak of him as a
gentleman. I had the pleasure of his company
from St. Louis to Leavenworth, Kan. He was
ready to talk on the slavery question, temper-
123
124 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
ance, and all reformatory matters, without get-
ting excited. When he learned tliat I kept the
seventh-day Sabbath, he seemed to take greater
interest in me, and said, " I once had a girl to
teach in my family two years, from Allegany
County, that kept the Sabbatli, by the name
of Miss Elvira Kenyon; and she was a fine
girl, too. You may have known something of
her.'' ''Certainly. Her parents live only one
mile fronj me when I am at home.'' He said:
" As you know my friends and I know yours,
now we will be friends. How far are you travel-
ing?"' ''I am going to Kansas." "That is
where I am going. Now we will keep to-
gether." He was a very pleasant man to
travel with.
We arrived at St. Joseph early in the even-
ing, and put up at the largest hotel. This was
the evening of the night before John Brown
was to be hanged. Great excitement existed,
and the barroom was crowded with border
rufiians and the lower class of slaveholders,
swearing they could kill more d d abolition-
ists than anyone else, and flourishing their dirks
and pistols. We worked our way through the
crowd to the register's office, and registered our
names. The doctor said: " Lanphear, follow
me." The sitting room was a long way oft' at
TO KANSAS BY WAY OF ST. LOUIS 125
the end of the barroom. The doctor started
through the crowd. As lie went he slapped
every man in his wa}% sajing, " Get out of the
way, you rough trash;" and walked into the
sitting-room and sat down. '^ There, Lanphear,
that is the way to go it in the slave States.
This rough trash will never touch a gentleman;
they know better."
The slave to be hanged the next day was a
young colored boy nineteen years old, naturally
very smart. He had made up his mind to run
away, as they were selling many of the smart
slaves to go to the Southern States, where they
could not run away so easily. He and another
slave were making their arrangements to run
away soon, and had managed to get each a
pistol for their defense. This boy carried his
with him all the time, and had it with him when
he was sold and delivered to his new master.
His new master took him into his buggy to
take him to the place where he collected his
slaves. He gave the lines to the slave and told
him to drive the horse. The boy took the lines,
and they passed on until his master dropped
to sleep. The slave thought, now was his time,
if ever. He drew his pistol and put a bullet
through the head of his master and killed him
dead. He left for the woods and secreted him-
126 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
self until after dark, and then attempted to
follow the north star for freedom. But after
a few nights he lost his compass and got con-
fused and wandered about until he was finally
arrested and taken back. He once broke jail
and ran away again; but was overtaken, taken
back, tried, and found guilty of murder, and
was to be hanged the day that John Brown
was hanged in Virginia for treason against that
State government.
Not caring to see the slave hanged, the next
morning we took stage for Leavenworth, Kan.
Arriving there I found an Allegany young man
clerking in an office, and I decided to stop
there a few days. The doctor was going an-
other way. So we had a good-by talk. He in-
vited me to come and see him and stay a week
if I ever came to Kentucky, and it should not
cost me a cent. He said he would like to have
me see how his girls and boys (slaves) lived.
He said that he had never separated man and
wife, or sold a child from his parents, nor he
never would. He did not believe in the slave
system, but they were entailed to him, and he
was under obligation to take care of them. His
slaves did not care to run away and leave him.
He kept their houses either painted or white-
washed, and made them keep them clean.
XXYII
AT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS.
The war had subsided in Kansas as far as
bloodshed was concerned, and now the fight
was as to whether the Territory should be ad-
mitted as a slave or a free State. Three con-
stitutions had been drawn up, — one for free
State, one for slavery, and one conditional, etc.
While I was there, Abraham Lincoln came
over from Illinois and lectured two nights in a
large temporary hall for the occasion, in favor
of making it a free State. This was the first
time I ever saw Lincoln, although I felt ac-
quainted with him from reading his lectures
when stumping his own State with S. A. Doug-
las. They were great friends, though differing
in politics. The interest among the people
caused a large turn-out among the settlers all
along the borders.
Lincoln looked like a great, tall greenhorn
as he appeared upon the platform. But he
walked back and forth on the platform for five
or ten minutes as if he was trying to fool the
people until he began to warm up; then he let
himself out on the enormity of the sin of slav-
127
128 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
ery as he probably had never done before.
The pictures he drew were soul searching.
Though he did not propose to interfere with
slavery where it existed, the idea of making
free territory slave States was awfully wicked,
and contrary to the spirit of our national Con-
stitution and Declaration of Independence. He
was a master hand to tell stories in his lectures.
He could almost draw tears from the hardest
sinner's eyes, and in the next story might bring
cheer after cheer from the saddest heart. The
South had already thrown out threats of seces-
sion and rebellion; but in regard to that he
said there was no more of that than "there was
of soup made of a starved-to-death chicken."
He had not then even thought of ever becom-
ing president of the United States. But the war
spirit increased, and James Buchanan was then
president and an old-bachelor Democrat, and
did not claim to know of any law to check or
put down a rebellion. But fortunately for our
country, while parties were quarreling over
supremacy, Lincoln was nominated and elected.
This was an awful dissatisfaction to the South-
ern States, and Lincoln found that he had a
bigger chicken soup on his hands than he had
dreamed of when he made his speeches in
Kansas.
AT LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS 129
But Kansas was admitted as a free State
and settlers rushed into the State. Although
it had rather a hard time for a few years
from the effects of drought and grasshoppers,
yet no new State has ever been prospered more
than Kansas, and this past year it has raised
a greater crop of corn than ever before, or than
any other State in the Union has raised in
one year.
I left Leavenwortli for Lawrence. 1 dropped
a note to my friend that I expected to arrive
at Lawrence by stage the next day, that he
might meet me there and take me to his home
one and a half miles from Lawrence out on the
prairie. He met me with a big sixteen-hands
team and a large farm wagon. One of the
horses was a large bay that was captured by
John Brown from a border rufiian Missourian
that came over during the attack against the
free-State men. Brown kept the horse as his
saddle horse until the Kansas war subsided
and the old owner came over and claimed his
horse. My friend purchased the horse to
match a large one he had, and many a ride did
I take about the country after that large team
while I remained in Kansas. At that time I
ate my first buffalo steak at the first brick hotel
at Lawrence. At this time the Indians, male
130 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and female, could be seen galloping over the
prairies of Kansas, and many a stamping ground
of the buffalo could be found that was stamped
so hard that it was next to impossible to break
it up with a four-horse team. We were driven
up to Lecompton, where Lane captured his ten
free-State men from the army.
Previous to this the people had decided to
make Lecompton the capital of the State, and
quite a quantity of material had been delivered
on the ground for buildings; but the settlers
began to come into the State so fast that
they changed their minds, and moved it to
Topeka, — a fine decision for the State. Things
had become quiet in the State, although the
proslavery men seemed to hold a grudge
against the free State men and abolitionists that
aided and abetted the free-State men by fur-
nishing them with guns and ammunition to
fight their battles for freedom. It is a ques-
tion whether they would have succeeded as well
as they did had it not been for the help tley
received from Gerrit Smith and other abolition-
ists. But I must 'leave Kansas for the time
being.
XXYIIT
LEAVE LAWRENCE, KAX.. FOR JEFFERSON
CITY. MO., THE CAPITAL OF THE STATE
We took stage to Kansas City and stopped
overnight. It was then a city "f shanties and
tents, scattered among the bluffs between the
two rivers, the Kansas and the Missouri. Only
one street had then been graded'. I staid over-
night and took the stage for Independence, Mo.
On that day there was a slave sale. South-
ern slaveholders came to the more northern slave
States to purchase new stocks of slaves, as
Northern drovers purchase cattle. The North-
ern slaveholders would sell off the smartest
slaves for fear they would run away, and aid
each other in running away. They were accus-
tomed to lock up the smart slaves nights to keep
them from getting together to lay plans for run-
ning away. The slaves got an idea that John
Brown was hanged for their liberty, and they
were much harder to manage than before. The
place of sale was in front of the courthouse.
The negroes were herded in a log hut back of
the courthouse, and were brought forward in
turn as they were wanted to be sold, and placed
upon a goods box.
132 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
The sale passed off quietly until the last one
for the day, which was a little girl nearly as
white as common white children, and only six
years old. As the child was brought forward
and placed upon the box, the mother was al-
lowed to follow to within twenty or twenty-five
feet of the auction block to take the last look
of her child. The sale started off at two hun-
dred dollars. The auctioneer went on to give
the fine qualities, and what a nice gentleman's
lady waiter she would make when she grew up,
etc. The price ran up to six hundred dollars,
and the hammer dropped. " Gone, gone at
six hundred dollars ! '' And as the hammer
dropped the mother dropped in a faint, while the
child reached out its hands, with a cry of " One
more kiss, mamma." The mother was dragged
back into the hut, and the child was taken away.
This was a scene of common occurrence and
had often been practiced by and under the laws
of the United States, that professed to be a free
country. To me it was one of the most awful
sins and scenes that had occurred in my tiavels
in the slave States. But I observed that the
scene touched the hearts of some, even of the
slaveholders. And I must say that it was hard
for a man that had a soul of humanity in him,
to hold in.
LEAVE LAWRENCE, KANSAS 138
The next day eight of us got into the stage
for Boonville, — all Southerners but one, besides
myself. It was a cool, clear, December day,
but the government furnished fine and com-
fortable stages. As we got inside, and were
about ready to start off, an officer came to the
driver and delivered a poor sick slave and pa-
pers for delivery to a new owner at Boonville.
The poor fellow was ordered to climb upon top
of the stage for his journey. Off went our four
mule teanj on the jump for the next ten-mile
station. It was a beautiful country of rivulets,
with clear water flowing over pebbles as clear
as a crystal, with beautiful oaks, and '* it was
called the blue-grass region '' I said, "This
looks as if it might be a fine stock country."
'' Yes," says one, "they raise mules, hogs, and
niggers here." By this time our company be-
came quite sociable. (By the way, the South-
erner is inclined to be quite sociable and liberal
hearted.) The question of the slave sale of the
day before came up. An old Frenchman spoke
of the sale of the child that was sold from its
mother, and said, " That was too cruel for any-
thing. I don't own slaves, but if I did, I never
would separate parents and children, or hus-
band and wife. But I do not believe in slavery
anyway."
134 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
As we passed along, one said, ''There, near
that tree, a slave was once burned to death at a
stake for only what hundreds of slaveholders
have done and gone clear." By this time the
poor slave on top of the stage had the ague so
that he fairly made the stage rattle, and all save
one pitied him so that we thought we ought to
let him get inside. But ''No," said the one,
"I will not ride in a stage with a nigger any
day." But finally we persuaded him to let him
get in. After a time he began to warm up so
that he could talk. He was ragged and dirty.
One said, " Why don't you wash yourself and
put on clean clothes? " " Me can't; I so sick,
and I have no clean clothes" ''Why don't
your master see to it?'' '' OhI master don
care for a poor nigger if they do freeze to
death.'' "Where are you going?" "Don't
know; master say I go to Boonville and new
master take me dare."
We were nearing the last station before Boon-
ville, and we stopped for a change of horses.
As we entered for a start, I observed that one
of our company brought in a bottle of brandy.
He was seated opposite me. After a little he
opened his bottle and passed it to me. I said,
" You will have to excuse me, as I don't use it."
We had talked over matters of reforms North
LEAVE LAWRENCE, KANSAS 135
and South quite freely and pleasantly. He
passed the brandy on to the next one, and the
next excused himself, and so it passed on
around, and all refused, and my friend was
mad, concluding that all refused because I did,
and said: " ])o you think you are a better man
than I am, that you should refuse to drink with
me?" "Not at all, not at all. I have been
brought up dift'erently, probably," Now a dis-
cussion foUowed on the drink question, and
everyone took sides with me that I was right,
and said: "If we had always let it alone, we
might have been well off now in the world."
The poor fellow got over his pet, and was
ashamed of his bottle, and did not know what
to do with it. But before we got to Boonville,
he slid the curtain carefully, and dropped it out
into the street.
One of my companions said to me, "I will
show you one of the most beautiful slaves you
ever saw when we get to Boonville." We
finally arrived where we were to put up over-
night. The poor slave was delivered, and we
entered the hotel, which was a good one for the
first on this route. Supper was ready, and we
partook of a good meal. We returned to the
gentleman's room, and my companion said:
"Have you seen the slave I spoke of yet?
IST) MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Have yoii not noticed the lady that waited on
us at the table ^ She is a slave.'' "Why, she
is whiter than I am. Can it be possible ? "
"Yes, and she belongs to the landlord, and he
has been offered one thousand dollars for her."
" Is it not a fair price for a slave ? " "Yes, but
to be plain about it, he does not like to sell his
own daughter. He intends to set her free some-
time.'' "But suppose he should die before he
did that, what then'C " " Then she would have
to be sold with his estate, and if that should be
so, nearly all the aristocratic slaveholders would
be on hand to bid on her, and possibly would
bid her up to five thousand dollars for her
beauty."
We passed on to Jefferson City, the capital,
and as the Legislature was in session, we
stopped a few days.
XXIX
AT JEFFERSON CITY
As the Legislature was in session we con-
cluded to stop a few days. The slavery ques-
tion was the topic of everyone, as slaves were
running away nearly every day, and getting
more bold, and some of the whites were afraid
they would rise against the whites and against
their masters, and really danger was already
here. At that time there were five representa-
tives in the Legislature that could neither read
nor write; and it was said that thirteen in the
Texas Legislature could not do either.
While I was stopping there a bill was intro-
duced to drive every free colored man out of
the State, of whom there were many, and some
of them were wealthy and highly respected.
One I learned of was a slave at St. Joseph
previous to this time. About the time they
were making up companies to go to California
in pursuit of gold, his master asked him if he
would like to go with the company and dig gold.
" Yes, massa, I go if you want me to; if de com-
pany wish me to go with them.'^ He fitted him
out, and he went with the company. He was
137
138 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
gone four years, and came back and brought
his master one thousand four hundred dollars
in gold. For his integrity his master gave
him his freedom, and gave him a small planta-
tion near St. Joseph. At the time I was there
he was furnishing more produce for the town
than any other man. One man that was stop-
ping at the same hotel with me said he would fight
for that man as long as he had a drop of blood
left before he should be driven out of the State.
But the bill passed both houses, and it required
every free colored man to leave the State in ten
months after the passage of the bill, or he
should be sold into slavery again. But it so
happened that a young man who lived in
Belfast, Allegany Co., N. Y., left there years
ago, and went to Missouri, and they had elected
him governor of their State, and he vetoed the
bill.
I left the capital for Tipton with a view to
take the cars from there to St. Louis, as
they had a railroad that far West. This was
a sort of headquarters for gathering slaves that
were sold to be taken South. As the train was
starting out, I discovered that they had a
car load of slaves attached to the train. We
took the liberty to pass through the train to
view the condition of the slaves. Some of
AT JEFFERSON CITY 139
them were jolly and making the best of their
situation; others were sad, ragged, and in tears;
and others were dressed in silks and satins,
especially the white and yellow girls, as they
were for different markets, and dressed by their
owners to make them attractive. I learned of
many wicked practices by slaveholders, and
other men, with young slaves on the journey.
At St. Louis I took the cars for Cincinnati,
Ohio, where I crossed over into Kentucky to
look for a friend by the name of Bailey, who
edited a paper called the Free South. I found
my friend, but a few nights before a proslavery
mob had raided him, and tumbled his press and
type into the Licking Kiver. He never was
able to issue his paper again. Some that are
now living, will remember that Cassius M.
Clay was a victim of the rebel mob, and his
press tumbled into the Ohio River. I passed
on through several States to Washington. This
was during the holidays. It was customary for
the slaves to have a week of rest and visiting,
and go to the trains to bid good-by to others
that had been sold to go to other States where
they did not expect to ever see each other
again. Wives and husbands were to part;
brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, were
shaking hands with each other, with a "God
140 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
bless joiJ,'' and as the trains would pass out
from the station, rows would stand along the
line waving good-by with their hands, while
tears could be seen trickling down their cheeks-
All this was in our so-called Christian country.
Well, we have improved some on what I
have described since our war; but other evils
exist that have taken the place of slavery, and
we old men are asking ourselves, Will the
country and the professed Christian church ever
dispossess our country of political corruption
at such an expense as it cost us to rid ourselves
of the curse of slavery ? Certainly it is a
greater curse than slavery ever was; for it
destroys both souls and bodies of men.
I arrived at Washington and stopped over
one week, as Congress was then in session, and
the war spirit was running high; but I could
not tarry long, as I was wanted at home. I
went by way of New York, and soon was at
home again.
XXX
AT HOME. AGAIN
Our countrj had ere this time been splitting
up politically both North and South, and good
men were discussing the question as to the need
of a new party upon which all Union men might
work together for reform and the maintaining
of the Union. One A. X. Cole, of Allegany
County, N. Y., the county in which I resided,
called a convention of all Union men to meet
at Friendship to consider this question of a new
party upon which all Union men could agree.
He was the editor of the Free Press of that
county. The convention was not a large one;
but of the best men of our county. They came
together in the Baptist church in that town.
They organized, and discussed the situation,
passed resolutions of principles that they all
could indorse. But they had no name for the
party. It was suggested that we draft our prin-
ciples, send tliem down to Horace Greeley, and
tell him that we had indorsed them as principles
for a new party, but had no name for it. He
said, '' Call it Republican,'' and it was so or-
dered. He indorsed the same, and advertised
141
142 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
it in the Trihune. Here is wliere the Repub-
lican party started. It was antislavery in senti-
ment, but did not propose to interfere with
slavery where it then existed, but utterly op-
posed its extension; it was also for maintain-
ing the union of the States.
Freemont was its first nominee for president,
but was defeated by Buchanan, the Democratic
candidate; but the Republican vote was so
large that the South saw plainly that the trend
of the people was toward sustaining the Union,
and against the threatened rebellion. Buchanan
show^ed weakness, and rather favored Southern
democracy, and his cabinet plainly showed their
favoritism, and they and the president seemed
to be in sympathy that way, and rather aided
the Southern States in getting in possession of
our Southern forts and the power of the nation's
defense. South Carolina declared herself inde-
pendent of the national government, and one
State after another seceded, declaring them-
selves independent. The Republicans fortu-
nately nominated Abi-aham Lincoln for presi-
dent. The Democrats w^ere divided, and put
two candidates in the field. Thus Lincoln was
elected. Secession was declared, and the South
organized as independent States under a presi-
dent and congress of their own make. Bu-
AT HOME AGAIN 143
chaiian made no special effort to put clown the
rebellion, and in his weakness said he knew of
no ''law'' to put down a rebellion.
The siege of war was begun. Fort Sumter
was fired upon, and the possessors were not able
to defend it, and were compelled to surrender
it. Before Lincoln could get seated in Wash-
ington as president, the rebels were in readiness
to capture the capital and take possession of
the capitol. The situation was unfavorable for
Lincoln, but he issued a call for seventj-tive
thousand men as volunteers. He was illy pi-e-
pared to use the men when called, but the
excitement was w^onderful, both North and
South. Volunteers were in readiness all over
the North.
I had occasion to go to Boston, and was
there when the Fourth Artillery and Seventh
Kegiment organized, and stai'ted out for
Washington. They had a drill on the com-
mons, and a sham tight with great enthusi-
asm, and than a rest for an hour, when hun-
dreds of women and young wives came to the
commons to see their husbands and friends off to
the war. The scene was a sad one, when young
wives appeared on the green, with plates of food,
and spread their little spreads on the ground
and placed their cakes and pies there, and set
144 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the baby down by their side; and when the
order was given to rest, men leaped like deer
to their sides, and there ate and wept together
until the bugle blast came, '' To arms, to arms."
Every man to his feet, a kiss to the wife and
the baby, and a good-by, and like wild deer
they leaped for their places, when they were
soon in the ranks and on their way for the
battlefield, casting a backward look, not know-
ing whether they should meet again on earth.
Two long trains of cars were in readiness to
take them on to Washington to defend their
country.
The Bull Run battles followed with defeat
to our forces; and every friend of his country
seemed sad, and many a cowardly man said :
*' We can never conquer the rebels and put
down the rebellioi)." I left Boston on the
train with the soldiers as far as Albany, and
then took another train to Geneva, N. Y., to
visit my sister and family for a week or so.
They were getting up a regiment of volunteers
there at that time. As the news of defeats
came, groups of men were gathered to talk
over the probabilities, and you could tell the
politics of men by their faces, and whether they
favored the rebels or the Union army. While
listening to the conversation, a smart-looking
AT HOME AGAIN 145
colored man stood by listening, and said, "Do
you suppose that God is going to let this
rebellion end yet ? Why, they have not reached
the cause of the war 3^et, and he will not end
this war until my people are reached. Even
the Republican party does not propose to
liberate the slaves, neither are they willing to
receive a colored man as a volunteer yet, and
many a man says he will not fight by the side
of a nigger." But the war continued, and
thousands were shot down, and were dying in
the swamps with malaria and other diseases.
I returned home; great excitement prevailed
everywhere, and calls for volunteers were being
made all about me.
XXXI
VOLUNTEERING OF MY NEIGHBORS
My brother and nephew, and some twenty or
more of my neighbors, volunteered in the
Eighty-fifth New York Volunteers. Afterward
my boy, that I had brought up from three years
of age, became old enough to volunteer, and
went on and joined the regiment. The boys
decided that I ought to remain at home and look
after their families. My brother had a wife and
four children to leave behind. I decided to do
so, and many soldiers made arrangements to
send their money to me and have me look after
their families, and deal out their money to them,
and make it hold out as best I could to keep
them comfortable if possible. Most of the
women were imprudent, and some would use it
up foolishly if all were paid over at once.
Quite a number of the Eighty-fifth regiment
were killed or wounded at the battle of P'air
Oaks. My brother was wounded by the burst-
ing of a shell, a piecs striking him on the side
of his head, while two of his comrades were
killed by his side; but as it was in the nighttime,
he did not realize that he was wounded until
14(5
VOLUNTEERING OF MY NEIGHBORS 147
daylight came, and all the scattered men of the
Eightj-fifth were ordered to gather at a certain
point in the morning. Then he was asked what
was the matter with his head, as they saw the
blood had been running down his back from his
head. He took off his cap only to find a hole
cut in his cap and quite a gash cut in his scalp.
He had been so excited in the battle that he did
not know he was wounded.
Some of our boys were picked up by the reb-
els, and lay for two months, helpless, without
medical attendance. One lay there with a
broken limb until the flies laid their eggs and
hatched them. He was alive with worms, and
yet he was able to write to his mother his con-
dition. She sent another son to the rebel lines
with her last gold dollar to offer to the rebels
to allow him to go for her suffering son that
was within their lines. He was permitted to
take him away, and after he got him home, had
his leg amputated and saved his life. I think
the man is living now, a merchant in Pennsyl-
vania, getting about on a wooden leg.
I made a trip to Washington with a view to
get a permit to go across their lines to bring or
aid some of our boys to our lines, and if possi-
ble to bring them home; but it was of no avail;
they would not allow me to do it. I was at
148 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Washington when the permit was given to
wounded and sick that were not able to do serv-
ice to come home to vote. I was permitted to
come on the train with them. It was a sad sight.
Nearly every wound that could be thought of
could be seen. One could be seen on a stretcher
with his spine broken with a bullet. Another
officer said that on going to the war he thought
of being wounded in nearly every way; but the
way he was finally wounded did not occur to
him. A ball struck him on the side of his head
and passed through his head just back of his
eyes, knocking out both eyes from his head.
His daughter had been on to care for him until
he was able to be taken home. I might go on
and mention the various wounds we had to care
for; but this is enough to satisfy me that war
is a cruel business, even in a professed Chris-
tian land.
We went by the way of Harrisburg, Pa.,
through to Elmira, and stopped there to change
the soldiers on the various roads to their homes.
They were taken into the depot there, some
able to walk, some on stretchers, who were
placed on the floor here and there, and one man
able to walk about with both arms gone. Men
would come in and look on the various victims
of the war, and break down in tears, and some
VOLUNTEERING OF MY NEIGHBORS 149
would go around and hand the poor fellows a
few dollars, or shillings, as they chanced to have
on hand. The poor fellows would receive it
thankfully, with a "God bless you." But the
poor man without arms and hands could not
pocket a dime without help, and had to have a
friend along to wait upon him and receive for
him and feed him.
But I here left the poor victims, and went on
to my home. While I am writing up these
notes of things that have transpired in a man's
lifetime of eighty-two years, I think of the wars
that have been going on for the last two years,
and are still going on, and the hand our nation
has taken and is taking in this death-dealing
business. We ought to be ashamed to call our-
selves a Christian nation.
XXXII
THE EIGHTY-FIFTH ALL TAKEN PRISONERS
After the Eighty-fifth had fought nearly three
years, their term of enlistment had nearly
expired, the rebels surrounded them at New-
bern, and the rebel ram, so-called, came down
the river and completely cornered them in
where there was no chance of escape. They
were compelled to surrender or be cut to pieces
with bullets. They surrendered, and were all
marched to Andersonville prison. There were
at one time thirty-four thousand prisoners in
the stockade, without shelter or a shade tree to
protect them from storm or the hot sun, and
without the necessaries of life. Only seven
out of the twenty-three of my neighbors and
relatives that enlisted early in the war, that I
referred to in a former chapter, ever lived to
return home again. They were really starved
to death. My brother and adopted son and a
widow's son were among those that lived to
return. They were all rather small eaters at
home, and consequently could live on smaller
rations. These boys had hard stories to relate
after their return. Their regiment divided up
ir)0
EIGHTY-FIFTH ALL TAKEN PRISONERS 151
into squads of about fifteen, and cooked their
rations as best they could. The small eaters
would divide up with the heartier eaters in order
to help them along. There were usually two
boys detailed from their regiment to go out-
side and into the woodland and cut wood and
bring it back into the stockade for them to
whittle up into shavings to cook their food.
They were under restrictions not to talk with
any outsider or the slaves.
This is the story of the widow's son: "We
had to go half to three fourths of a mile for our
wood. We would usually cut a chunk about as
large as each could carry, and take it on our
shoulders, and march to and inside the stock-
ade. We went to the woods one day and found
a young creature feeding around in the bushes.
We caught the creature and killed it, and we
carried that whole creature to the boys and did
not get caught at it. We cut the creature up
into pieces. We would cut off the butt of a
tree, split it into halves, chop out the inside in
shape of a trough, put the meat inside, and
then put the log together with grape vines, to
keep.it together. Then we shouldered it and
marched into the stockade as honestly as starv-
ing boys could consistently be under the cir-
cumstances."
152 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Another time when out, they came across a
colored man with a bag of peanuts on his
shoulder. They inquired of him as to what he
had in his bag, and learned that he had pea-
nuts. They proposed to purchase them, and
offered him some little notions they had in
their pockets; and he decided to let them have
the peanuts. But the next thing was to get
them to the boys and not get caught at it.
But necessity is the mother of invention. They
cut down a hollow tree, cut off a chunk at the
butt, turned in the peanuts, stuffed in some
rotten wood on top, mudded over the wood,
shouldered the chunk of log, and marched in
as usual without suspicion. While the meat
and nuts lasted, the boys fared pretty well.
The stockade got so crowded that they decided
to remove some of the prisoners to Charleston
prison, and a notice was given that all prisoners
of the Eighty-fifth that were able to move would
be taken. Some had died, and some were too
feeble. My nephew had the scurvy so badly
that he could not walk; but he did not wish to
be left, so my brother dragged him into the
open cars and took him along. At the Charles-
ton prison the women were allowed to visit the
soldiers, and by their nursing he improved and
got upon his feet again. But soon the order
EKiHTY-FIFTH ALL TAKEN PK180NEKS 153
came that thej were to be moved to FloreDce
prison, South Carolina. Here he ran down
and soon died, and hundreds died there, and I
never knew where ray friends' bones were laid.
The living were kept in prison nearly eleven
months before they were exchanged, and when
that was done they were taken to Charleston to
be shipped to Washington. They were nearly
starved to death, and some had to be dragged
into the boat. They were so starved that it
was not thought best to give them but little to
eat at first, for fear they would kill themselves
eating. So they gave nothing but raw pork at
first, as that would satisfy them very quickly.
Many of tliem ate themselves to death when
they got to Washington and got their money.
I remember well how the poor boys looked when
they arrived at their homes, — ^not much but
skin and bones. Their hands looked more like
birds' claws than human hands.
XXXIII 1
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSOXVILLE
The prison consists of a lot containing about
"fifteen acres, inclosed by a stockade made of
hewn timbers, set in the ground close together,
of sufficient depth to make them firm, and reach-
ing about fifteen feet above the ground. Xear
the top of these timbers once in eight or ten
rods, is erected a scaft'old for a sentinel post.
The entrances to this paradise are two massive
double gates, at two difterent points. On the
inside there is a dead line, consisting of strips
of boards nailed to posts about three feet high
all the way around, twenty feet from the stock-
ades. The penalty for crossing the line is death,
if the sentinel is a good marksman. Tlieir
orders are to shoot all who cross without chal-
lenging them. Four were shot dead, to my
knowledge, and many others fired at and
wounded. Near the center of the prison from
north to south is a small stream of water, run-
ning from west to east, which divides the camp
nearly in the middle, making two distinct camps.
This stream is from three to six feet wide, and
1 J'liis cliapt er was written on scrMi)s of paper by my brother
wliile in prison, and sent home to me at his lirst opportunity.
l.-)4
NATHAN LANPHEAR
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSON VILLE 157
runs quite rapidly. On the margin of the
stream, the ground is soft and swampy for a
number of rods on each side, and in many
places it is impassable for man or beast. From
the borders of the swamp, the ground com-
mences to rise quite abruptly, making the camp-
ing grounds steep hillsides; so much so that
considerable digging is required for a man to
get into a horizontal position.
About the condition of the men in this in-
closure: soon after my arrival with the other
Plymouth (N. C.) prisoners, I ascertained that
there were about twelve thousand men confined
here. Those who had been lucky enough to
save a blanket, could erect a kind of shelter to
protect them somewhat from the sun and storms;
those who had them not, had to do without, as
the rebels furnished nothing in the line of shel-
ter, except for hospitals, which were very lim-
ited, as in the order of things inside. The men
were counted off into detachments of two hun-
dred and seventy each, and these were divided
into three messes of ninety each, under the com-
mand or supervision of a sergeant, who drew
their rations, and got them out to roll call in the
morning, when the rebel sergeant came around
to see if any were missing. As to regulations
there were none; brute strength was king, and
158 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
consequently a great deal of fighting was going
on to see who was governor. Robbing, steal-
ing, etc., were everyday occurrences. Gam-
bling of many kinds could be seen at any time
or any place in the camp. There were regularly
organized gangs of raiders, who made it a busi-
ness to prowl about nights, and take by force
things they could find; but occasionally they
were caught, and handled pretty roughly. The
water in the stream mentioned was used for
drinking, cooking, washing clothes, and every-
thing that water is needed for; and at any hour
of the day, from one hundred to five hundred
men could be seen crowded around the stream,
striving to get a little of one of the free ele-
ments of nature. In consequence of the diffi-
culty of getting water, and lack of perseverance,
many gave up washing at all. Such could
hardly be distinguished from colored men (of
which there were a few here). The camps were
not properly policed. Sinks were not prepared,
every place was a nuisance, and the swamp was
a pest hole not to be described by the English
language. The average deaths per day, while
the hospitals were kept inside, was about twenty,
mostly old prisoners, who wintered in Richmond.
I entered this place on the 30th day of April,
1864. The first week our rations consisted of a
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSONVILLE 15l>
large pint of coarse unsifted corn meal, a quarter
of a pound of raw bacon, and a teaspoonful of
salt per day, for each man. No dishes or wood
was furnished us to cook these. But the most
of us had a tin cup, so that by paying five cents
for a small armful of wood, we managed to live.
After about one week the rebels had prepared a
cook house outside, so that we got cooked ra-
tions about half of the time. When we drew
cooked rationp, we got about a pound and a
half of corn bread made of half-ground meal,
and the husks thrown in, and about the same
amount of bacon as before. A portion of the
time we got mush in lieu of bread, and once
each week beans or rice, which were very filthy
looking. I never ate any of them, and saw but
few that did, who had money to buy anything
else with. Twice a month, the first month only,
we drew a substance called soap, which no one
would suspect from its looks. Three men drew
enough to wash one shirt. About the 20th day
of May, the number of prisoners had increased
to sixteen or seventeen thousand, making it
very crowded. The hospitals were moved out-
side. The bread rations were reduced nearly
one half, making it a pretty close thing to live.
There was a class of old prisoners who had
established a trade with the guards and outsid-
IGO MEMORIES OF EIGH'IY-TWO YEARS
ers, bj whicli some necessaries were brought in
for sale. I will give the prices of a few of
them, as sold by one prisoner to another, for
greenbacks: Eggs, $8 to $4 per dozen; onions,
fair size, $1 each; salt, two spoonfuls for 25
cents; flour, 75 cents per pint; ginger cakes,
not weighing a quarter of a pound, 50 cents;
molasses, $1.50 a pint, and an inferior article of
soap, fS2 to $5 per bar, etc. In Confederate
money the cost was five times the amount men-
tioned. By the 8th of June, the number of
prisoners had increased to twenty thousand, I
think. It seemed as if every available foot of
ground was occupied. It was almost impossi-
ble to get through the camp on account of the
crowd, and to make things much worse, it rained
every day during the first twenty-three days of
June, and the camp was flooded the most of the
time. Thousands had to lie down in mud and
water to sleep, when they were exhausted, which
in all probability cost hundreds of lives.
About this time some improvements were
made. Our rulers opened their hearts, and
offered men (prisoners) double rations if they
would ditch the swamp, prepare sinks, and do
other police duty, the filthiest of all work. But
there were hungry men enough to do it, and
the condition of things in some respects im-
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSONVILLE 161
proved. Several prisoners made their escape
while we were confined there, — some by tun-
neling under the stockade; some, with the aid of
the guards, were drawn over the stockade by
ropes; and still others were carried out on
stretchers as dead. This the rebels think the
worst Yankee trick of all. The captain in com-
mand threatened to put a ball and chain on
every man that died, until he found out whether
he was dead or "playing possum." The most
of these men were recaptured. The moment
that a man is missed, a lot of bloodhounds are
let loose on the track, and all the men in the
neighborhood — not soldiers (which were not
plenty), but old men — shoulder their shot-
guns, mount their horses, and away to the
chase. Such are the chances, that few get
away. I saw some who were badly mangled
by the hounds after being caught. They were
surrounded, and the dogs of war set on them
to gladden the heart of the Southern chivalry.
The last of June found over twenty-six thou-
sand men in the pen, and the condition of things
can be imagined, but can not be told; for it
was impossible for a man to get about the camp
to see. The crowd was so great that the rebels
did not pretend to come in to call the roll, and
only came to the gates with rations. I learned
162 MEMOKIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
from men who were in the hospitals that the
average of deaths for the month of June was
over thirty per day. The largest number in
one day was sixty-four. In the month of June
there was a sutler's shop established by the
rebels on their side, near one of the gates, in
which Hour, vegetables, soap, tobacco, etc.,
were sold. The prices did not vary much
from those before mentioned.
On the first of July, about one half of the
prisoners were moved into a new stockade of
about ten acres adjoining the old one on the
north end. The first night the boys cut nearly
all the divisions down, and carried them off for
wood. The captain commanding the prisoners
was very wrathy, and said that we should not
have any more rations until the timber was
carried back. But no one carried any back.
We got rations only about half the time for a
few days; but I think the reason was that they
had none to give us, for what we did get seemed
to be the sweepings of the cook-house, and not
fit for a dog to eat.
About this time, the raiders, or robbers and
murderers, had became so bad that they would
kill a man in broad daylight for his money. A
man was nearly cut to pieces, and was just
alive when carried out. The case was reported
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSONVILLE 163
to the captain, who took the matter in hand,
and said, "The raiders must be cleaned out,
and no rations or anything else will be issued
until they are delivered at the gate." He sent
in the guards to protect the men in hunting
and capturing them. There were enough men
of principle to go into the thing, when they
found that they would be protected by the
authorities outside. They soon armed them-
selves with clubs, and went in; and a lively
time we had, for about two days, drumming them
out. I think nearly one hundred were caught
and delivered over. The leaders were put in
stocks outside, and a jury of twelve men (ser-
geants) was taken from among the prisoners to
try them; and what they said should be done
with them, should be carried out, so said the
captain. It was reported that they were hanged,
but the truth I do not know. Under the tents
of some of them large amounts of money,
watches, clothes, blankets, and two dead bodies
of men that they had murdered, were found.
After this it was quiet times, and the usual
night cries of raiders were hardly heard.
After writing the foregoing in regard to the
leaders of the gang spoken of, I am prepared
to give their destiny. On the 11th of July, a
scaffold was built on the inside of the stockade,
164 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and at 5 r. m. six of them were brought into
the gates by the captain under guard. He told
the prisoners that the men had had a fair trial
by their own men, and had been sentenced to
be hanged. He would now deliver them over
to the prisoners, and they could do as they saw
fit with them; he would have no more to do
with the matter. Accordingly they were deliv-
ered over to the regulators, marched to the
scaffold, and there before an audience of twenty-
five thousand men, were all launched into
eternity at one time. Two incidents occurred
during the execution: one of the men refused
to have his hands tied, broke away, and ran
across the swamp; but he found willing hands
to bring him back. He begged for his life, but
found no mercy, and was hanged with the rest.
The other incident was the breaking of one of
the ropes, which let one man fall to the ground.
He was soon swung up again. Thus six young
men were launched into eternity, I think justly.
They were allowed the benefit of the clergy,
but had but very little to say.
The first of August found nearly thirty-five
thousand men here. The mortality for July
and the first days of August was nearly one hun-
dred per day. About the fifteenth of August
the rebels seemed to be alarmed about an attack
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSONVILLE 165
on the place; accordingly, about one hundred
negroes were sent here to fortify it. Since
then they have made it quite a stronghold,
well supplied with artillery.
On the ninth of August occurred the heaviest
thunderstorm that I ever witnessed. It washed
out the stockade in a number of places; the val-
ley was full of water: sinks, wells, and every-
thing washed out. It was an awful time; gut-
ters four feet deep were cut through the camp,
so that in places it was impossible to get around.
Much suffering was caused, and a good deal of
trouble to the rebels to watch the breaks and
fix them up. When they found that the stock-
ade was giving way, they commenced firing
their artillery; and we had warning before, that
if any attempt was made to break out, they
would fire into the camp indiscriminately with
grape and canister. No attempt to escape was
made.
The first of September finds some of us here
still; but I think that over eight thousand have
died during the month of August. The loss by
deaths has not been made good by captures, so
that there are less prisoners here than one'month
ago. About the first of August they 4 com-
menced issuing fresh bread to us, of a poor qual-
ity, — about half rations, — but soon reduced
166 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY- TWO YEARS
it, SO that our rations consisted of a quarter of
a pound of raw beef, an ounce of bacon, and
half a pint of meal. To cook these, we had,
for a week's rations, one stick of wood, four
feet long and eight inches thick, not enough to
cook one day.
On the eleventh day of September, in com-
pany with the most of our regiment, I left the
prison at Andersonville, and went to Charles-
ton, S. C. During our stay at Andersonville,
out of four hundred and forty-two men one hun-
dred and thirty died, and about fifty were left
sick in the hospital, the most of whom, I doubt
not, are dead ere this. Who is to answer for
this great sin ? The most of these men were
actually murdered, or starved to death. Medi-
cine was not to be had nor proper food. I have
heard men in their last agonies cry for some-
thing to eat. I have sometimes thought that
if it was in the power of some of our orthodox
ministers to portray to their congregations the
horror of this place as approximating that of
hell, or a future place of punishment, the com-
parison would result in immediate repentance
on the part of their hearers. In conclusion, I
will say, if there is a worse hell, may God in
his mercy keep me from it. Of my further im-
prisonment, I will say no more at present, hop-
THE REBEL PRISON AT ANDERSONVILLE 167
ingthat my government will do something soon
to relieve us. N. Lanphear,
Co. Sergt. Eighty-fifth N. Y. Y.
Charleston, S. C, Sept. 20, I864.
A separate letter of his says, "I think the
most of the boys left are dead before now. Of
the boys from Nile, all are dead but two. Silas
Clark died October 28, and O. E. Lanphear,
October 29. Two were left at Florence, S. C."
XXXIV
MY SECOND MARIUAGE
'•It is not good that the man should be alone."
Gen. 2 : 18.
I HAD now been a widower nearly seven years,
and had traveled much alone about our coun-
try. I had many friends and relatives, and en-
joyed visiting them; but when I got weary, I
had no place or family to call my own, or my
home. I was lonesome sometimes, and longed
for some one to share my secrets.
Mrs. Clark, the widow of my cousin, Dr. Paul
Clark, had been living a widow some six years,
and was now living alone, her son having gone
away. I had always looked after lier, her hus-
band's estate, and the boy and his interest. I
stated to her that I was getting rather lonesome
of living a single life, and hinted the question
as to how it was with her. She said it did
sometimes seem rather lonely. It did not take
long to arrange for a wedding. We decided ta
have it take place Aug. 23, 1865, at her home
at Nile. At that time Rev. Thomas B. Brown,
of Little Genesee, came over and tied the knot.
Our arrangements were made to take a trip
east. So that afternoon we took the cars to
168
ETHAN LANI4IEAR AND PRESENT WIFE
Thirty-five years ago."
MY SECOND MARRIAGE 171
Elmira, N. Y. The next day we went to New
York and stopped a few days; thence by
steamer down the Sound to Stonington, Conn,,
thence by cars to Westerly, and by team to Pot-
ter's Hill, my birthplace. Here we attended the
Seventh-day Baptist General Conference held
at the First Hopkinton church near that place.
We visited among our friends and relatives
several days, and returned to New York. Go-
ing to Plainfield, N. J., we visited friends there
for a week or more. Plainfield then was only
a small town; but the country was beautiful.
We returned home at Nile not as lonesome
as we were, and we began to lay plans some-
what for travels after arranging our business.
XXXV
A SAD JOURNEY FOR ME
My brother older than myself had become a
Seventh-day Adventist, and had withdrawn
from the Seventh-day Baptist church. He had
become an Elder in the Adventist church, and
was an active member, usually attending the
conference to which he belonged. His health
had ratlier failed. Desiring to attend a confer-
ence that was to be held in the northern part of
the State of Xew York, he decided to drive his
horse and sulky, thinking it might be for his
health.
All went well until he was about eight miles
from Canandaigua, N. Y. As his horse was
trotting along on a fair pace, the harness broke,
and let the thills drop, which caused my brother
to pitch forward over the dashboard. The horse
being scared, kicked hini, and fractured one of
his limbs, and otherwise hurt him, probably in-
wardly. The people living near by took him in
and sent for a physician. The doctor thought
he would be able to return home in a few days
on the cars. He sold his horse to pay his ex-
penses. Expecting to go home soon, he thought
better not to write, as that would worry his
172
A SAD JOURNEY FOR ME 173
family and friends. He was soon out of his
head, however, and died suddenly. He had
not told them his name or where he lived.
The neighbors came in with a minister and
the doctor. They talked over the situation, to
see what was best to be done. It was decided
to get a coffin for him, and keep him a few
days, to see if anything should come to light
about him. It was suggested that they look
over his clothes and papers in his traveling bag,
and see if they could find hie name and where
he was from. Fortunately, they found his name
and address. They immediately telegraphed to
his family. I was at church when the dispatch
came. I hurried to the first train that left
in the afternoon, and telegraphed to the man
where he died that I was on my way. I went
to Elmira, thence to Canandaigua by cars, and
hired a team to take me to that place early in
the evening. It was a sad time for me.
The people were very kind, and ready to do
all they could for me. I settled up all bills,
and they took me and the corpse to Canan-
daigua, where I had the corpse put in the morgue
until morning for the first train to Elmira, in
readiness for the early express for Friendship
and Nile. I telegraphed at Elmira to Friend-
ship that I would be there on the express. On
17-i MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
arriving at Friendship, the people of Nile, with
teams, and the undertaker were on hand to
meet me, and escort me and friends to take the
remains to his family and to his former home.
The reception was a sad one to us all. The
people turned out by hundreds to his funeral,
as he was an old resident, and I don't think he
had an enemy in the world.
The funeral over, it was decided that I should
settle his estate, and look after the interest of
the family, as I was in that kind of business.
He left a widow, three daughters, and a little
son. I had difficulty with only one man, Elder
Fuller. He had furnished my brother with
many books, and brought in his bill of quite a
large amount, stating that he had only charged
the same as they charged him at the office at
Battle Creek. He made affidavit to his bill,
and I paid it; but I was satisfied in my mind
that his bill was extravagant, so I copied the
bill, and sent it to the office at Battle Creek,
and they compared it with the original bill on
their books. They saw readily that he had
charged extravagantly, and made a false report.
They immediately sent me a draft for the
amount, and I think he was soon dismissed
from their chui'ch. I always have had confi-
dence in them for doing it.
XXXVI
A CHAPTER FROM MV SCRAPBOOK
We left Allegany County by way of rail to
Hornellsville, October, 1867. Here we changed
our course, taking the first train to Portage, and
OS on to Buffalo. Not having much spare time,
we only made short sketches and observations
in that city. However, we learned that Buffalo
was quite a grain market, and that much was
done in the cattle business from the West, and
we should judge that Buffalo had few equals in
the use of ''lager beer."
We left Buffalo by way of the Central Rail-
road to Albany. Here we put up at Stanwix
Hall. Having a little leisure, the convention
being in session, we visited that body at the
capitol buildings. They seemed quite busy in
writing, reading, and making short speeches,
and one might think they were working for
some great object; yet in accomplishments we
could not see it. Feeling that we had no power
to control such a body, we took passage on the
Hudson River Railroad for New York.
One of the most distinguished persons on our
train was Horace Greeley. I speak of him
more particularly because he occupied a seat
175
176 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
directly before me; and every time he raised
his right hand, I could but think of it as signing
the bail bond for Jeff Davis. He, however,
left us at Poughkeepsie, the city of Eastman's
humbug school, or business college. I say
humbug because we see so many boys and
young men who are graduated at that school,
coming out into the country, representing them-
selves as college graduates; putting on a good
amount of style, when, in reality, they are not
as well prepared for business as graduates from
log school houses in Allegany forty years ago.
But an iron horse hurried us along, and we
were soon thinking of something else, and
viewing the scenery as we passed along. As
we chanced to raise our eyes in the direction of
the southwest, our vision caught a glimpse of
an apparent thunder cloud arising in that direc-
tion. As we neared it, point after point loomed
up higher and higher, and then just beyond,
through the dim, smoky atmosphere, we could
see the outlines of another point still higher; a
little nearer, the sight became truly grand and
sublime; and we were gazing with wonder,
when a whitish cloud passed in the sunshine
between, for a moment, and then appeared a
clear view, and we were looking at one of the
grandest scenes of earth, — the Catskill Moun-
A CHAPTER FROM MY SCRAPBOOK ITI
tains,— at about forty miles' distance. Our train
seemed almost possessed of wings, it flew along
in such a hurrj; and this grand scene passed
out of sight in the distance, and we had only a
few moments for reflection.
We were passing at a rapid rate, going from
one point of land to another, cutting this bend
and that in the river, so much so that one could
scarcely tell whether running by land or water;
we cast our eyes ahead, when another beautiful
scene appeared in the distance. There loomed
up another range cf mountains. There shot up
a point resembling the dome of some State capi-
tol, and just over beyond another in imitation
of some church steeple, soaring as it were up to
heaven. There seemed to be one running off
in another direction trying to imitate a hog's
back. Over a little beyond stood two more
seemingly tied together by a slight ridge be-
tween. These mountains being dotted with
evergreens and difl'erent kinds of shrubbery,
casting forth each its different colored foliage,
with here and there a crag of rocks projecting
forth, made this scene grand beyond description.
As we passed along to the nearest point, there
came up one point before us, high, craggy, and
yet beautiful, as if determined to tip over and
dam up the river. We were not allowed to stop
178 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
here to philosophize; so we took another glance,
saw that they were based on a rocky foundation,
and concluded that they would stand yet a while;
for they are the everlasting hills to be seen by
a trip up or down the Hudson River in the day-
time. A whistle from the engine, and a toot !
toot I and we were landed in the great city of
New York, at the Hudson River depot.
We took the first horse car for the Astor
House, and then we walked down Broadway to
Cortland Street and put up at the Western Ho-
tel. This house being a rendezvous for West-
ern men we met several of our Allegany mer-
chants and other friends from the West.
Our business done in the city, we stepped
aboard the ferry boat for the New Jersey Cen-
tral Railroad. We made a call at Plainfield,
twenty-four miles from the city. The town is
one of the pleasantest in New Jersey, but not
a city yet. Our visit made here, we took the
cars back to New York, thence by N. Y. &
Erie R. R. home to Allegany, thanking our stars
for the invention of railroads, especially when
there are no accidents.
XXXVII
A SHORT EXCURSION IX THE FALL OF 1860
We took cars at FrieDdship, and straightway
started for Elmira. The following day we went
on our way to Geneva. After tarrying a few
days there with our friends, we took passage
by railroad to Albany, and finding a boat bound
for Staten Island, we went aboard and set sail.
Now when we discovered Jersey City on the
right, we sailed to the left, and landed in New
York, for there the boat was to unload her
burthen. Finding friends there, we tarried one
day; visited the home of the friendless, and
other benevolent institutions, and when we
had accomplished the day, we went aboard the
boat which brought us on our way to Stoning-
ton, and soon thereafter landed at Pawtucket,
R. I. Now, finding ourselves in the land of
rocks, and good people, we spent a few days
visiting, until it was time for the Seventh-day
Baptist societies to come together to hold their
annual conference.
When the multitude had come together, there
were found among them four and twenty elders,
besides a multitude of deacons and laymen.
Allegany was well represented. There were
179
ISO MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Nathan, the son of Richard; Jonathan, the Star
of the West, and son of Abraham; Darwin E.,
the son of a blind man, who was renowned for
the radical speeches he made in the counsels of
state ; Nathan, the son of a Baptist deacon,
who had been on a mission to China; Thomas
B., tiie son of a prophet; and Joel F., who was
a renowned singer. There were many others
from other tribes, of whom I will briefly make
mention : There were James, the son of Eli;
George B., the son of a deacon, and renowned
as an editor and financier; William B., the
aged, who gave instruction to all; also Alfred,
Joshua, Walter, Halsey, and Sherman, who was
renowned for his attacks upon old-school
orthodoxy and the Star of the West. After
much business w^as done, Nathan, the son of
Richard, preached, setting forth the principles
of love, showing clearly that " love worketh no
ill to his neighbor." The next day, business
was resumed and completed. The meetings
were very pleasant, excepting the continual
boring of two or three individuals with bigger
stomachs than heads, who seemed to think
themselves blessed with great business faculties.
The next day after the meeting closed, an
excursion was had to Watch Hill beach. At
the time appointed the people commenced col-
A SHORT EXCURSION 181
lecting together, until they numbered between
two and three hundred, and set sail down Paw-
tucket River. Many timid ones took passage
by land. We sailed joyfully down the river till
we hove in sight of Stonington on the right,
Watch Hill on the left, and Sandy Point in
front, when we came into a dead calm. And
now it came to pass, that much labor came by
the oars, and Halsey, a preacher, renowned for
invention, discovering our condition, boarded
a boat with a few strong men, came to our as-
sistance, and soon towed us into port. Our
company were soon on the march over the
sand banks and hills to the bathing-houses,
prepared for the accommodation of visitors.
Yery soon we found ourselves in a jollification
meeting in the ocean. In fifteen minutes, some
fifty to one hundred men, women, and children,
dressed in garments prepared for bathing, were
kicking, splashing, and thrashing in the surf.
A system of ducking was adopted by some of
the strong ones, in which most were compelled
to engage by influences which they had little
power to control. Chief among the duckers
were Jonathan, the Star of the West; James,
the son of Eli. and Stephen, the young preacher.
Great was the laughter and enjoyment of the
company looking on from the shore. After the
182 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
bathing was over, the company repaired to the
large hotel, kept by Captain Nash, where a
dinner was served up to about three hundred,
after which the company strolled wherever each
one's curiosity seemed to direct. The day was
a very pleasant one, and passed off without
accident. Now when all hands returned to
Pawtucket, many took leave of their friends,
and that evening departed for Troas (which
being interpreted is New York) , and some
remained with friends to depart on the morrow.
This is not one of the excursions we read of in
the Acts of the Apostles, but one long to be
remembered.
XXXYIII
CUSTOMS IN THE SOX THERN STATES
While I attempt to give a short sketch of
the customs and habits of the Southern people,
I am aware of the fact that people went South
from the Northern States, and returned telling
different stories as to the condition of the people,
slaves, etc. This is not strange, or to be won-
dered at. Society differs very materially as we
pass from one neighborhood to another, and
from one State to another. A person could
learn but very little of the workings of slavery
by merely traveling through the borders of the
slave States. I found the aspect materially
changed as I passed into the interior of the
States. However, mankind by nature is about
the same the world over. Education, of course,
or customs regulate their actions. Men in the
slave States treated their slaves much as North-
ern men do their cattle or horses. We have
some farmers who take pride in keeping their
stock looking sleek and healthy, and their out-
houses clean and comfortable, while others seem
to care but little about those matters; their stock
go half starved, and suffer intensely for want
18:;
184: MEMORIES OF EIUHTY-TWO YEARS
of proper care and comfortable outbuildings to
keep off cold storms and bleak winds of winter.
So with the slaveholders of the South in rela-
tion to their slaves. Neighborhoods, counties,
and States differed there as well as here. We
find, in passing through the Northern States,
that some towns, counties, and States, have far
excelled others in improvement and the appear-
ance of their stock. So it was in the slave
States in reference to the slaves. I am inclined
to the opinion, however, that the Southern peo-
ple were not for improvement in regard to the
comfort of the slaves, which the Northern peo-
ple are for their cattle.
There were three kinds, or classes, of slave-
holders, that came under my observation while
traveling in the slave States. First, the gentle-
man, in the common acceptation of the term.
He was usually free and social in conversation,
liberal as to his gifts, and treated his friends
well, and with courtesy. He treated his slaves
quite well (to say nothing of his restraining
them of their liberties). He saw to it that their
shanties were kept in a clean and comfortable
condition, and that they had proper food and
clothing, and sometimes gave them the use of
a small piece of land to raise melons, vegeta-
bles, etc., to add to their comfort. The slave
CUSTOMS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 185
had his task to perform; after that he was al-
lowed the privilege of working in the garden,
or working on the plantation, and having paj
for it. Many of the slaves earned from one to
four shillings per day after their task was done.
They usually paid out their money for extra
clothing, jewelry, and saved a little to pay the
fiddler for a dance, or regular "shove down,"
as they called it. Some of them paid theirs
for whisky. This depended upon the custom
of their masters. If the master used whisky,
his slaves were very apt to do the same.
These first-class slaveholders were in the habit
of giving their slaves occasionally a day for
recreation or amusement. The slave looked
forward to those days of recreation w4th great
pleasure, which they seemed to enjoy much.
The slaves aimed just as high as their masters,
and usually no higher. If the slaveholders got
together and held meetings, the slaves would
do the same. If they had drinking sprees, or
dances, the slaves would try to imitate; by the
way, they could do well at imitation. I am of
the opinion that there is no class of people
that enjoys a dance better than did the slaves.
They were sometimes permitted to go ten or
fifteen miles to hire them a fiddler; sometimes
he was a white man. When they got a white
186 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
man to play for them, they seemed to think
they were about equal to white folks. It was
rather amusing to see them in the dance, they
seemed to enjoy it so well. I never saw a
white person, in the Northern States, who could
turn on his heel, throw down a quarter, and cry
out, ''Go it, fiddler!" with more ease than a
slave. The slaves who enjoyed these privileges,
I noticed, seemed much more contented than
those that did not have them; besides, they
were much more faithful to the interest of
their masters.
The second class of slaveholders has been so
well represented by Mrs. Stow^e, in " Uncle
Tom's Cabin," in the character of Lagree, that
it will not be necessary for me to say much
about them. They usually did their business
on the regular knockdown system. They
knocked and kicked their slaves about, very
much as some farmers do their cattle, etc., giv-
ing them just food enough to keep soul and body
together, and then, as the saying is, browsed
them through the winter, thick and thin, all
kinds of weather, leaving their shanties to be
repaired only as the slaves had time to do it
after their tasks were done. Some of their
shanties were so open that windows were un-
necessary to let in light; and it would not have
CUSTOMS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 187
been a very difficult task to throw a cat through
between the logs. The slaves owned by such
masters did not seem to have any regard for
truth or honesty. If they could steal a young
pig, turkey, or goose, and have a good time
over it through the night, and lie themselves
out of a flogging in the morning, they thought
they had done well; and if they got a flogging
in the morning, they did not mind it much, as
they became accustomed to it. These second-
class slaveholders usually had but very little
education. Many of them could not so much
as write their names, or even read their names.
Yet they owned large plantations stocked with
slaves. They knew but little about what was
going on in the world except on their own and
neighboring plantations. Some of them lived
old bachelors all their lifetime, dwelling in the
shanties with their negroes, and seemed to be
contented to live in that heathenish way. It
was rather difficult, sometimes, to tell which was
master or slave, unless you saw their faces, for
some of the slaves were about as white as the
masters.
The master, thus associated with the slaves,
became fashioned much like them, as to actions
and manner of expression. As for intelligence,
the difference is not worth mentioning. They
188 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and the poor class of whites had some curious
notions about the Northern States. They had
an idea that there was no country equal to their
own, and that the Northern States were all
Alleghany Mountains, and that the snow re-
mained on the ground nearly the year round.
They thought also that the people here were in
a starving condition, the most of them, the year
round, and were it not for what little they got
from the South now and then, they would have
starved to death. One of them, in a conversa-
tion, asked me this question: '' What do you do,
when you are at home, in order to get money
enough together to pay your expenses to come
to this country'^ " When I told him there was
more money and wealth in the North than in
the South, he thought I was trying to humbug
him. They were taught to believe that the peo-
ple of the North were worse off than the people
of the South, and even worse off than the slaves
of the South.
The third class of slaveholders compared well
with our Northern loafing jockeys. They loit-
ered about the groggeries, drinking whisky and
trading mules, horses, and old broken-down ne-
groes. They did not usually own lands, but
hired a nook or corner on some plantation, con-
taining an old log hut for their families to live
CUSTOMS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 1S9
in. Their capital stock was usually an old
broken-down negro, or blind mule. Tliej
seemed to appear about as aristocratic as any
you find. They usually got little jobs of the
large planters, and traded mule and negro for
their livelihood, ran to do errands, etc. They
traded mule for negro, and negro for mule
without much distinction as to value. While
we stopped to change horses at a station at one
time, we found a lot of this class that had come
togetiier for trade, and to have a good time.
Two men would propose a trade of negro or
mule. The referees got together. The old
mules were hitched around to fence posts and
the old negroes were seated around on logs in
place of stools, etc. One man led out his old
horse and switched him around to make him
appear to be a valuable animal, and the next
man called out his old negro, and said,
^'Come, Jo, slap around, and show how smart
you are.'' The trade was closed. The ref-
erees decided that the man that got the mule
must furnish one gallon of whisky for the
crowd as boot-money. The property was ex-
changed, and the trade went on. But we were
off on the stage. To listen to such dealings
and conduct, it was hard to tell whether one
were in a civilized or in a heathen country.
XXXTX
A CONTINUATION OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE
SLAVE STATES
Slaves seldom complained of their condition
in the presence of their masters. Thej would
usually say they did not wish to be free. They
almost always said "good master " in their pres-
ence. Really, if they wished to be free ever so
bad, they would be watched, and possibly might
be locked up nights. If a slave is to be whipped
(that is, what is called a regular breaking in), he
is taken inside some old building, out of sight,
especially if strangers are about. I heard the
crack of the whip, and the shrieks of the slave,
some time before I arrived at the old building.
I never knew what he was whipped for; but to
hear was enough to make one's blood run cold.
It was not customary for slaveholders to build
near the highways. They usually built one or
two miles away, in order to keep the slaves
away from the traveling public. Some planta-
tions were quite large, perhaps from one thou-
sand to fifteen hundred acres. Many of the
planters' dwellings looked far better at a dis-
tance than near by.
I chanced at one time to be travelins: on foot
190
MOKE SOUTHERN CUSTOMS 191
from one plantation to another. I got a little
hungry, and as I saw a fine-looking white house
in the distance, I decided to call that way. As
I neared I readily saw things were not kept up
in Yankee style. But I had started for a lunch,
and I was bound to get it. As I neared the
house I observed that the cow yard, hog pen,
and the mule yard was all combined in one,
and that all was a sort of annex to the kitchen
door, and reminded one of the stamping grounds
of the buffalo on some of our large prairies in
earlier days. But I worked my way to the door,
and was admitted. I stated that I had called to
see if I could get a lunch, as 1 was journeying
through the country. The lady was quite pleas-
ant, and said she could accommodate me in
fifteen or twenty minutes. I took a seat, and
while waiting, I had an opportunity to spy out
the situation. It was quite a large house with-
out a single partition, with shelves around the
walls, and a row of barrels along one side, and
a bed or two oft" in one corner. She hoisted a
leaf to the table, placed a sort of bake pan over
the fire, and went to one of the barrels and
pulled up a large chunk of pork, and cut two
slices and placed them in the frying pan. She
brought forward a loaf of hoecake, or sort of
Indian bread. She set a chair to the table and
192 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
said, "'Sit along and help yourself.'' I sat
along, of coarse. Those two large slices of
pork were floating around in a large platter of
grease. I thought I was hungry when I started
for the liouse, but I found I was not as hungry
as I thought I was; but I paid my bill, and said
good day, with thanks.
These are part of the travels and observations
of a man's lifetime of eighty-two years. It was
in a fine section of Missouri. While I thus
speak of Missouri, I will not leave them with
bad impressions compared with southern Illi-
nois; for some of the Iloosiers, so called in her
early days, can match Missouri or most any of
the southwestern States as to habits of living.
The early settlers of much of our country started
rather coarse in the way of living; and yet we
have a wonderful country. We were not much
ahead of the Cubans or of the Filipinos. Our
people made a great mistake by tolerating slav-
ery so many years against the laws of God, our
own Declaration of Independence, and the prin-
ciples set forth therein. What a great mistake !
That mistake cost our nation millions of dollars,
and thousands upon thousands of our best men.
And now we are tolerating a greater curse than
that, the saloon and drink tratfic, only for the
sake of a little revenue. What a shame !
XL
•A SHORT CHAPTER FOR THE GAMRLER
In a once flourishing town, in Allegany
County, N. Y., not a great distance from the State
line of Pennsylvania, a certain class of men ac-
quired a foolish habit of assembling themselves
together in a certain grocery, or store, in the vil-
lage, for a little diversion in the way of playing
cards, and occasionally taking a little of the
"Oh, be joyful.'' The habit seemed to grow
upon them; so much so that they would often
spend half, and sometimes nearly all, of the night
in gambling and drinking at this place of resort,
until some of their wives concluded that such
neglect on the part of their husbands was intol-
erable, and they would stand it no longer. They
concluded they would make a visit to the place
of resort, and see what was the cause of attrac-
tion.
On arriving at the spot (it being in the dead
of the night), one of the ladies rapped at the
door, demanding admittance. This being de-
nied, she stepped back into the street a few
steps, set her child down on the ground, then
taking an ax in hand, walked up to the door
13 ~ H)3
194 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and repeated in good earnest her demand for
admittance. The inmates were pretty drunk,
but not so much so but that they could in a
measure realize their danger. They blowed out
their lights, thinking to hide themselves from
their pursuers. Some of them hid themselves
under the counters, and some scampered up
stairs, running their heads into rag sacks and
under buffalo robes, like young partridges, —
got their heads out of sight, and thought they
were safely hidden. Admittance was soon
gained by those outside. They soon struck a
light for a hunt. The captain (the one using
the ax) made her way up stairs, commenced
hauling over boxes, sacks, and buffalo robes,
hauling out one man after another, until she got
hold of a pair of boots, and cried out, " I have
found my husband's boots, and I guess he is
here." She pulled him out by the hair of his
head; she cuffed his ears, dragged him down
stairs and into the street, giving him to under*
stand that she had better business for him at
home, and had been w^aiting for him for a long
time. I think the women all found their hus-
bands, and got them home; but the rumpus had
called out some of the neighbors to see how the
matter would end. I would not vouch for all of
this report, but there might be niuch more of it
A SHORT CHAPTER FOR THE GAMBLER 195
if all were written. Reports do not yet say
whether the men had the women arrested for
assault and battery or not. The question of
women's rights has been well discussed of late.
XLI
A LITTLE JOURNEY EAST
In the fall of 1S67, we made a trip to New
York, and Plainfield, N. J. Plainfield was then
a pleasant little village. We had friends and
relatives residing there, and on account of the
beanty of the place people were coming there
and purchasing village lots, with a view to mak-
ing it their home. It was twenty-four miles
from New York City, and city people were com-
ing there to build themselves homes, and the
prospect looked good for building up a nice
town. We decided to purchase a lot or two,
also. I had purchased a lot the year before for
my wife's son, then a minor, on the outskirts of
the town, three fourths of an acre, and paid six-
hundred dollars for it, thinking it would gain in
value for him when he became of age.
Now we decided to purchase a half square
between Central Avenue and a new street bor-
dering on Fifth Street. This lot was fenced
with a rail fence, quite ragged with bushes
and briars. I paid one thousand dollars for it,
and set men at work to build a house and clear
up the lot. We returned home. I sold some
196
A LITTLE JOURNEY EAST 197
property, left family there, and returned to
Plainfield, and worked with my men until the
house was nearly finished. I returned and ar-
ranged my business to move to Plainfield.
I had an auction, and sold off the goods we
did not desire to take with us, packed our
goods and shipped them to Plainfield. When
we arrived there, our house was ready to move
into, and we did so; and before we had remained
in it three weeks, we were offered $y,000 for it,
and also pay for the fruit trees we had put out
on the place. I thought it a fair profit, so let
it go, and moved out.
I then hired two good carpenters to work with
me, and commenced the house that we now live
in. We boarded that summer until we got a
part of the house finished so that we moved in
in the fall. I continued work until the house
was finished the next spring. And here we
are, now writing without glasses, over four-
score years of age, and with beautiful surround-
ings in the central part of the beautiful city of
Plainfield, N. J.
I entered the commission business, or contin-
ued that business for several years, and made
it a paying business, until I felt that I was get-
ting too old to handle produce, and so gave it
p. I built the third house on the lot, after a
198 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
few years, which I rented until it paid for itself,
then sold it for what it cost, as I did not care
to have the trouble to look after it; since that
time we have traveled considerably, as this book
will show.
LUCY P. LANPHEAR MAXSON
Wife of E. K. Maxsoii, M. D., Pii. D., of Syracuse, N. Y.
XLII
AX EXCURSION TO THE THOUSAXJ) ISLANDS,
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, ETC.
We leave home by the way of the Delaware
Gap, over the Pennsylvania Mountains, by
Scranton to Binghamton, thence to Syracuse,
N. Y., where we stop over a few days to visit
my sister, Dr. E. R. Maxson's wife, and family.
On Sunday the doctor hitches up and we drive
up the Onondaga Valley Indian Reservation.
The remnant of this tribe still owns three miles
square of land in this beautiful valley. They,
as a people, have become largely civilized, and
have adopted the customs of the whites, and
farm their lands much after the fashion of their
white neighbors. They live in nice houses, and
have mostly adopted the manner of the whites
in dress. Their modes of living and farming
are so near like the whites that one can scarcely
tell when he crosses the line into their territory;
and really, some of the people have become so
whitened out, that it is somewhat difficult to tell
on which side of the line they belong. Re-
ligiously, they are about half and half Christian
and pagan, so called. There is one Presbyte-
201
ji02 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
rian and one Methodist Episcopal church.
These embrace about half of the tribe. Each of
these churches has rather small, but fine, church
edifices, the Methodist having a fine parsonage
for a white minister. We attended services at
the Methodist church. The person who usually
preaches being away to the Thousand Islands,
one of the Indians preached. He preached in
their own language. Although we could under-
stand but little of his language, yet his earnest-
ness, good rhetoric, and elocution were so fine
and complete that one could but be interested,
and catch the spirit or inspiration.
These two churches hold their regular services
at the same time — at eleven o'clock a. m. The
pagans hold their regular services at two o'clock
p. m. in their Council Hall. These seem to
hold the controlling of the tribe, being possessed
of the greater wealth. Some, both males and
females, are quite wealthy. On inquiry of an
intelligent Indian as to their methods of worship
and doctrines of faith, he replied that he
thought, if properly interpreted, it would be
nearer like the Koman Catholic worship of this
country. They are rather polite and courteous
in their manners, and many of them speak good
English. They are quite zealous in their reli-
gion, though sometimes loose in their morals.
ANOTHER EXCURSION 203
It is said that as a rule, the pagans are the most
reliable. They still hold on to many early tra-
ditions, and have a desire to worship the Great
Spirit. They all seem to have a liking for strong
drink, and were it not kept from them by pro-
hibition, they might soon come to ruin. They
keep up their old custom of the war dance and
performance over the white dog. Among them
are some fine singers and musicians, and they
have a fine brass band, and but few whites can
compete with them. Upon the whole, they
seem like an intelligent people. We returned
to the city after spending the day with these
friendly Indians. The doctor was well ac-
quainted with the most of the leaders.
Now for the Thousand Islands. My sister
and son, the young doctor, decide to take the
trip as far as Quebec with us, and arrange ac-
cordingly. We go by the way of Watertown,
and by boat to the Thousand Islands. The
weather is delightful. We put up at the Thou-
sand Island Hotel. The sails by the little
steamer among and around the Islands are fine
and delightful. The small steamer makes two
trips each day of some fourteen to twenty miles
amid the Islands, and to Alexandria Bay, and
stopping ofi: on the Canada side one trip each
day. The visitors at the Islands were many.
204 MEMOKIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
And now we are ready to depart for Mont-
real. No traveler should make up bis mind
that he has seen the greatest beauties of land
and water until he has visited the Thousand
Islands (so called, although, in fact, there are
over one thousand six hundred scattered up and
down the St. Lawrence). The variety is very
marked. The Thousand Island Park can
scarcely be excelled in beauty by any watering
place on our eastern coast. One should spend
a few days and take a trip on the "Mayflower"
among the Islands before undertaking to de-
scribe their beauty.
XLIII
ON OUR WAY TO MONTREAL
Aug. U, 1885.— We left the Park about ten
A. M., our boat being about two hours behind
her regular time; but our sail was grand. Soon
passing Ogdensburg, we entered the first rapids,
and soon thereafter others. These rapids are
rough enough to exhilarate and prepare one for
the larger ones that follow. It is difficult to
express one's feelings while running the rapids.
Our boat being behind, she had to anchor sev-
eral miles above Montreal, as no attempt is made
to run the rapids below this point in the night-
time, or in a fog.
But all was fair the next morning, and at half-
past four we were in motion. The first rapids
were rough, and the water white with foam, but
all had become somewhat accustomed to them
the day before. It was so exhilarating that
nearly every one desired a place on deck.
Our boat rocks and reels and pitches about
in mud and seething torrent, but we go safely
through, and surge on in the boiling torrent be-
low\ Within a few minutes it became calm
again, and so on until we reached the Lachine
207
208 MEMOKIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
rapids. These are the roughest in the great
river, and it requires a skillful hand at the wheel
to run a boat safely through. Indian City is
now on the right, and Lachine on the left. Our
boat comes to a standstill. A little boat pushes
out from the Indian shore. " There he comes!
There he comes I" passed around among the
passengers, as the Indian pilot approaches, and
climbs on board. He has run these rapids for
over forty years, and now all feel safe. But as
the vessel rushes on, no steam is needed. The
current takes her along at the rate of fifteen
miles per hour, and as she moves down, down,
amid rocks and foam, one thinks of Niagara,
and the whirlpool below. Women turn pale,
and no man can afford to leave the scene for
the sake of breakfast. This is the most excit-
ing time of the whole trip.
All things are lovely, and we are soon swung
around the rapids under the Grand Trunk bridge
and landed at Montreal about eight a. m. We
breakfast, and next roam over Mt. Royal and
the stone built city, the best of all Canada's
towns. The lookout from the top of Mt. Royal
is grand. It is over five hundred feet above
the city and country below, and outdoes our
Plainfield Washington Rock iu grandeur beyond
description.
BAPTISTE, THE INDIAN PILOT.
ON OUR WAY TO MONTREAL 211
As we start off for Quebec, we observe that
we are getting awfully mixed up with French,
Indian, and Canadian names. Our nephew,
the young doctor, has studied French, so we
have to use him as our interpreter. But when
we came in contact with the intermixture of
French and Indian, he was stuck, for neither
he nor anyone else could understand them, as
they have a distinct language of their own.
We are now on the steamer "Quebec,"
bound for the old walled city. The country
from Montreal to Quebec is not so attractive
nor the scenery so beautiful as from the islands
to Montreal; but as we journey we have to take
the variety as it comes.
The Quebec steamer lands us here on the fif-
teenth, and it being the Sabbath (Saturday), we
rested from our journeyings, putting up at the
St. Louis hotel on the mountain in the inclosed
walls of the city. I think this is the only
walled city on the American continent. The
city is divided, and is called Upper and Lower
Quebec. The walls surround Upper Quebec,
and are some two hundred feet above the river.
Lower Quebec includes all below bordering on
the St. Lawrence and St. Charles Kivers. All
of the landings are outside the walls, and the
markets and business are largely outside also.
212 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
The streets are narrow and the buildings
nearly all come snug up to the walks. The
streets leading to the upper and walled part are
very steep and crooked, and many of them so
narrow that the sun's rays scarcely ever reach
them. This is a wonderful city in history.
War, lire, and pestilence have marked it in days
past. The struggles of war have left many a
soldier buried in her soil.
We have spent the day visiting the places of
interest to the world. Tourists visit the place
by hundreds and thousands. Place d'Armes,
Durham and Dufferin Terrace, one thousand
four hundred feet long, and Governor's Garden
are among the places visited to-day. There is
Quebec's joint monument to Wolfe and Mont-
calm. The inscription thereon is in French.
My nephew, the young doctor accompanying
us thus far from Syracuse, N. Y., being pretty
good in French, deciphered the inscription to
us. We went to the Ursuline Convent, and
called at the house where Montgomery was laid
out, a very ancient old building, built by the
French; thence to the esplanade, citadel. Par-
liament building, Mastello Towers, Thistle La-
crosse grounds, and the Wolfe monument on
Abraham's Plains, so called by reason of a man
of that name who made the first settlement;
ON OUR WAY TO MONTREAL 213
thence we got to where Wolfe fell in battle;
next to the Grand Battery, Laval University,
French Cathedral, Seminary Chapel, where are
paintings by Champagne, etc.; thence we pro-
ceed to the English Cathedral, Montcalm's head-
quarters, opposite St. Louis hotel, where we are
stopping.
We trok a ride of eight miles through the
country to the Falls of Montmorency. This was
a grand ride among the ancient farm and town
dwellings. These are mostly one story, and
built of stone. Many of them have been in the
same families for several generations, and many
of the farms have been divided among children,
and children's children, until the farms are in
appearance like a lot of long lanes; for where
they divide, they divide the whole length of the
farm. This land is usually well cultivated, and
nearly every nook and corner is used for some-
thing. The crops look well, healthy, and heavy.
At last the Falls are reached. They are majes-
tic and beautiful. A trip to this place will well
repay the tourist for the expense and trouble.
To this place is the most popular drive from
Quebec for town's people and visitors.
We visited several of the large churches and
cathedrals. I think the French cathedral rather
excels in beauty, though none of them equal,
214 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Notre Dame and other churches in Montreal.
The lookout from the fortification and upper
walls of the city is grand. Many other places
we have visited, such as prisons, hospitals, col-
leges, etc., too numerous to mention. Montreal
is a larger place or city, but the history of Que-
bec makes her more interesting, and we are loth
to leave her walls. Every visitor should visit
the citadel and the places where the soldiers
live. Their houses are built in the walls that
surround the citadel. When they are at liberty,
they like to show visitors about the departments,
and will take you to the top of the walls where
the cannons are set, pointing in every direction
up and down the river.
Much might be said about the Falls, but time
and space wdll not allow. Montmorency River
pours off the mountain several hundred feet into
the St. Lawrence eight miles down the river
toward the Gulf, and is a beautiful scene.
But time is hurrying us, and we must leave
her walls, the great St. Lawrence River, and
its beautiful scenery, and get ready to depart
for the White Mountains to-morrow. The
weather is cool, and a sheet and two blankets
is not burdensome at night. Our sister and son
have decided to leave us and return to Montreal
by boat to-night, and thence to their home in
ON OUR WAY TO MONTREAL 215
Syracuse, N. Y. We see them off with a good-
by, and their steamer puffs away up the river.
We cross the river to Point Levi in order to take
the early train on our journey. We visited the
asylum for the poor children and the homeless.
This institution is conducted wholly by women.
We found some four hundred children well
cared for here. August 18 we left on the
South Shore Grand Trunk Kailroad.
XLIV
ON OUR JOURNEY TO THE WHITE
MOUNTAINS
Our train takes lis through a country of rocks,
swamps, and marshes in Canada, until we reach
the Connecticut Kiver Valley, when we enter
one of the finest dairy and stock-raising coun-
tries. We were delayed somewhat so that we
did not arrive at Newport, Vt., until nearly
ten o'clock. We put up at tlie Memphremagog
Hotel, the manimoth hotel of the place. It bor-
ders on Memphremagog Lake, and its prome-
nades give guests a fine view of the lake, moun-
tains, and surroundings. It is a summer resort,
and its life ends with the hot season. This is
across the line into A^ermont, and we are de-
lighted to find ourselves in our own land, after
many days in the Queen's dominion, the Cana-
dian colonies.
We leave Canada w^ith no regrets that w^e have
visited her cities, rivers, and scenery. We have
always been treated with politeness by both
P'rench and English. We leave this afternoon
for Portland, Me., by way of St. Johnsbury,
where we cross into New Hampslnre. As the
216
JOURNEY TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS 2l7
engine pushes along up the valley, we soon
observe hills gathering on each side, and then
the White Mountain range appears in the dis-
tance as clouds in the heavens. We distinguish
one peak soaring up beyond another, and by
this time all tourists became interested. Win-
dows and doors are opened, and all are gaz-
ing to pick out Mt. Washington, the highest of
all. The conductor is a pleasant and obliging
man, and seems interested to make everything
pleasant to all on board. On the train rushes,
up, up, toward the summit of the mountains.
These mountains are located in Coos County,
New Hampshire, and consist of a number of
peaks from four to six thousand feet high. The
most elevated is Mt. Washington, which rises
to an altitude of six thousand two hundred and
forty-three feet above the level of the sea,
and not very far from the sea at that. This
is the center of attraction for tourists in this re-
gion, and around it are clustered many points
of interest, each having its peculiar charm.
The notch at the summit is a narrow gorge,
the entrance being only twenty feet wide, as two
enormous cliffs extend for a distance of two miles,
abounding in cascades and precipices. Wonder-
ful curiosities excite and attract visitors. One
of these is the Flume, a waterfall of two hun-
218 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
dred and fifty feet. At a height of a thousand
feet is a peculiar combination of five massive
blocks of granite, which represents the form of
a man's face. This is called the " old man of
the mountain," because of the profile of a hu-
man face. The conductor is on hand with the
names of the scenes as we came to them, thus
making them more interesting. Tucker's Ra-
vine, Oak's Gulf, The Devil's Den, Gibbs's Falls,
Falls of the Ammonoosuc, and other attractions
are pointed out, and we became nearly as much
enthused as when running through the rapids
of the St. Lawrence.
We step out on the platform and cast our eyes
upward at the clift's perpendicular at our right,
but the tops are beyond the stretch of our vision.
We turn our eyes to the left, and downward
into the abyss below hundreds of feet. We see
trees in vain trying to push their tops to the
sight of daylight above. Just across, the moun-
tains rise in steep, majestic form, as if trying
to outdo everything around. The train is thun-
dering along on its rocky bed without steam,
moving by gravitation like a hand sled running
down a hill. It is wild in the extreme, and as
wicked as the company might have been, no one
cried for the rocks and hills to fall upon us to
hide us from Him who created us; or that we
JOURNEY TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS 219
might be cast into the pit or abyss below. We
come out safe and sound, though severely jolted
as we sped along the crooked, rock-bound track.
Most magnificent hotels are located at or near
all the most interesting points through the moun-
tains. Some of these hotels are cut into the
mountains. Mt. Washington had a peculiar
railroad to transport up and down. It produces
a peculiar sensation, it is said, but my better
half was too tired to attempt the excursion, so
we did not experience the enthusiasm desired.
There is a liouse on the top of this mountain,
built for the pleasure-seeker. From this point
the view of the mountain peaks and landscape
is grand, extending for many miles away into
Vermont, Canada, and to the ocean; but of this
I can not tell from experience. The train is
rushing on, meeting excursion train after train,
with people by the thousands, interested in see-
ing nature's work. The scenery here is the ex-
treme opposite to that viewed from the walls of
old Quebec, though each place brings most glo-
rious recollections to the tourist.
But we pass on to Portland, in which there is
not a single licensed grog-shop or distillery.
We are very tired, so in sweet slumber we rest
until the morning, and are ready for the next
day's scenes on the Atlantic Coast.
XLV
IN PORTLAND, MAINE
We stop in Portland, as we have ever been
interested in the State of Maine, from the fact
that her people had common sense enough to
banish the traffic in strong drink bj a vote of
the people, and from the fact that that State
has been lied about as much as any State in the
Union. Many church people, as well as drink-
ing men, brewers, and distillers, have said that
prohibition did not prohibit in Maine, and have
said the same of every prohibition State in the
Union. Yet these very classes continue to fight
prohibition at every opportunity in the United
States. I am satisfied that no righteous law wa&
ever passed but what the devil would find some
persons among these classes mean enough to
break it in some way. We have no good law
on our statute books but that there is some man
or woman to be found to break it. But would
it be consistent with the people to abolish such
laws, because somebody will break them ? As
I have traveled in most of the prohibition States,,
I have taken pains to make inquiries as to the
effect of such laws.
220
IN PORTLAND, MAINE 221
The devil is ready to suggest to wicked men
and women. A woman can be used by the devil
as well as a man, and in Maine I learned of one
game played by a woman, that outwitted all
officers of the law for a long time. Men visited
her house often, and would be seen coming
away drunk. Officers were set to watch, and
finally the house was searched and no liquor
found. But men came away from there drunk.
The landlady was a large and portly woman.
The neighbors had observed that she passed
from her house to an old building on the back
of the lot quite often. The officers made up
their minds to arrest and search the old lady;
and what do you think they found ? They found
that she had a rubber bag or bottle that she wore
under her outside garments that she kept filled
with liquor that she could draw from at any
time liquor was wanted. She could step into a
pantry or any side room and turn the faucet to
her rubber bag or bottle without being observed
by any stranger. This was kept up for a long
time, until the people began to make inquiry as
to what she went to the old outbuilding so often
for. But the devil did out after a while, and the
public turned the faucet on the old woman.
I remember the first time I visited Maine after
the Maine liquor law was passed. It was won-
222 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
derful how many ways were resorted to by the
liquor men in order to get or have their liquors
concealed. They went into the most ridiculous
methods to keep up the sale of liquors. Why
did they go into all their fraudulent tricks if
the law did not prohibit ? Some of you readers
may possibly remember the Maine member
of Congress that died at Washington. If the
statement was true, he told them he desired no
liquor used at his funeral. But for all that, it
was said that the representatives that went on
the special train with his remains to Maine filled
their canteens or other storage with liquor to
drink on their journey, and that they stopped
on the way before getting into the State of Maine
and had them refilled, so as to have their liquor
on hand when they arrived in that prohibition
State.
I remember that at one time when I was in
Washington in time of the session of Congress,
it was said there were but three members who
were not in the habit of taking their strong
drinks every day. Why, it is said at the present
time that there are more men in the county of
Union, the county in which I reside in New Jer-
sey, arrested for drunkenness and disorderly con-
duct, than are in all the jails in the State of
Kansas, and yet it is said that prohibition " does
IN PORTLAND, MAINE 223
not prohibit." I know that Maine liquor people
went to the potteries and had bottles made in
the shape of Bibles and Testaments to carry in
their pockets so that they could fool honest peo
pie and make them think they were honest
church-going people, and at the same time take
their liquor secretly along with them. We have
too many such members in our churches of to-
day, especially church politicians.
But I must leave for Boston, working on up
the coast. It is a splendid trip for a tourist,
but as I have been over these grounds before, I
will not spend more time here now. So we push
on to Providence and Westerly, my birthplace,
and rest a little with friends; thence by boat
from Stonington to New York, and home. Any
person fond of travel can not but enjoy such a
trip. At home again.
XLVI
NOW FOR A TRIP ACROSS THE CONTINENT
We left Plainfield on the evening of the 25th
of April, 1886. We entered our palace car at
Elizabeth at 7:43 o'clock, and were off for the
southwest, but darkness closed in upon us and
the scenes for the evening, as we took our berths
for the night. Our trip was by the way of
Philadelphia. The following day dawned upon
us, and we found ourselves in Harrisburg, and
we were soon at the brink of the Allegany
Mountains, climbing around the horseshoe and
winding our way up the mountain, when a dense
fog settled around us, almost shutting our vision
from the deep chasms and gorges below and
above; but our train pushed on up near the top,
when we were reminded of the fiery furnace
into which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were cast; for here is one of the iron furnaces
or smelting establishments, with its seething,
hot flame to be seen through the doors, and the
real sheet of flame of apparent madness lapping
up the dark fog from its many chimneys. But
we rush on, and our train glides into the tunnel
into the inner darkness; but in a short time day-
224
NOW FOR A TRIP ACROSS THE CONTINENT 225
light appears and we are on the other side of
the Alleganies. And now we are making hooks
and crooks down, and on our way toward Pitts-
burg, the scenery being grand and exhilarating
to the observer. We are reminded in a small
degree of what we may see ere our journey is
ended amid the Rocky Mountains. The fog is
lifting, and we are turned down the mountain
and deep valley in the direction of Pittsburg,
and behold the smoke from the soft coal used
in manufacturing, ascending and hanging over
the city, reminding us of the " Valley of
Hinnom,'- or the place we read of where " their
torment ascendeth up forever and ever."
But our train pushes on and arrives at the
station, where a stop of thirty minutes for break-
fast is made. We are now over the Allegany
Mountains, and not one in ten on board has
thought or known of the grand scenery and the
awful chasms that surround us, and did not know
what we had passed over and through until we
landed in Pittsburg. Pittsburg is situated on the
point where the Allegany and Monongahela
Rivers come together, thus forming the Ohio.
A hearty breakfast is partaken of, and our train
moves on out from under the cloud of smoke
and fog. But soon we emerge from the moun-
tains, and are pushing on through the beautiful
15
226 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
State of Ohio toward Columbus, and thus on
into Indiana to Indianapolis. Now darkness
covers the earth, but our train rushes on and
out of Indiana into Illinois and through the low-
lands of what used to be called the Southern
Egypt of Illinois, on account of its lowlands, and
the heathen darkness of its early settlers.
On the next morning we found ourselves in
East St. Louis, where the late strike made such
havoc of life and business; but all is now quiet.
The soldiers in their tents were still remaining
here to protect the bridge, etc. Our train now
moves over the bridge, through the tunnel under
the city, and we are at the depot in St. Louis,
where we take a bus to the great and commo-
dious Southern Hotel, where we drop off for a
season, and then pass on to Kansas. We stop
off in this old city of conservatism a day or two,
and visit a young doctor of our acquaintance.
He took time to show us about the city, and we
bid him good-by. His wife was the first white
child born in Kansas.
XLVII
ON OUR JOURNEY TO KANSAS
Twenty- SEVEN years ago there were but a few
thousand white people settled along the border
towns. The Indians on their trails rode their
ponies into the border towns in long trains, and
buffaloes, elks, and deer roved over the vast
prairies and woodlands. On my first trip to
Kansas I remember eating my first buffalo steak,
and I would not mind if I had a cut for break-
fast nowadays. Kansas now has a population
of over one hundred thousand, and no State has
ever made a greater progress than bleeding Kan-
sas (so-called). IS'o State in the Union has ever
raised so great a crop of corn as Kansas the past
year. She was largely settled by people from
the Eastern States in the first settlements. They
are well educated people, with good morals, so
that our free institutions and religious ideas
have kept the lead, and she has ever proved
herself an example for other States in our nation
and for the world. Her prohibition laws are
proving a wonderful success. No rum shops
have I been able to find in the interior of the
State.
227
228 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
We are on our way through the State from
Jefferson City, Mo., to Leavenworth, Lawrence,
and so on to Atchison, where we take a train
for Nortonville to visit my sister who married
O. W. Babcock, and settled there when the
Santa Fe Railroad was first opened. At that
time I think only one house and a little depot
was in existence where the city of Nortonville
is located now. He is now the president of the
National Bank in that city.
I stop here several days, leave my wife with
my sister, and go to Topeka, Hartford, and
other towns to visit special relatives and friends,
and to see what improvements have been made
since I first visited Kansas. I stop at Emporia
a little time, and then return to Nortonville, and
finish up my visit preparatory for our journey
on toward the Pacific Coast. We finally bade
our friends good-by, take our train back to
Atchison, thence north until we reach the Mis-
souri Pacific Railroad, where we change for Den-
ver, Colo., by way of Lincoln, Neb. We travel
through Nebraska mostly in the night, but day-
light finds us still on the prairies and plains of
that State.
Colorado is quite new as to settlements, and
we saw probably thousands of carcasses of dead
cattle on this line. The winter before had been
ON OUR JOURNEY TO KANSAS 229
a cold, hard one, and thousands of Texas cattle
had been driven up here to winter. These cat-
tle had not been educated to pick their living
in deep snow, and there came a hard blizzard,
driving these cattle over the bluffs down by the
railroad where they were drifted under, and
there died. Many of these cattle had been
skinned to save their hides, and there they lay
along the line for miles, their flesh dried to their
bones. It seems that the atmosphere of that
region is such that the flesh dried to that extent
that we did not suffer from any bad smell there-
from.
But our train is now on the plains of Colo-
rado, and as we cast our eyes southward we see
an object reaching heavenward, and we are led
to make inquiry, and we are told that it is Pike's
Peak, one hundred miles away. As we pass
on, the range of the Rocky Mountains begin to
appear in the distance, and we all begin to be-
come more and more interested.
As our train shoots ahead, it almost feels as
if we are being shot through the heavens. Now
the snow-capped Rockies appear for hundreds
of miles away, and we feel almost as if we were
in a new world. We cast our eyes south, and
Pike's Peak seems to be drawing near us. The
foothills of the Rockies begin to appear, and
230 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the glitter of the sun begins to shine upon the
white-capped mountains of snow one hundred
miles away. We drop our eyes lower down on
the plains; we can see flocks of wild animals
feeding on the plains, but our train is rushing
along at lightning speed, as if it might bunt
against the Rocky Mountains. However, the
road is smooth and the country level, and we
think we will take our chances with the rest.
We look ahead, and the city of Denver appears.
Soon we arrive at the Denver depot, and are in
the new city of the West.
XLVIII
IN DENVER, COLORADO
Denver is called the "Athens of America."
We have just returned from a ride about the
city, visiting the capitol buildings, the noted
opera house, the cathedral, the smelting M^orks,
the principal business streets, and most popular
yards and dwellings of the city, and its highest
point. Stop and imagine the landscape in vdew
and cry out, "Hallelujah in the highest!"
We cast our eyes to the southv^^ard, and there
looms up Pike's Peak some fifty to seventy-five
miles away ; thence swing around northward,
passing us on the west, following the snow-
capped mountains perhaps one hundred miles,
or as far as the eye can distinguish light from
darkness, or white snow and the naked moun-
tains bordering on the plains, and you have the
landscape of the world, outstripping the White
Mountains of the East, the Catskill or Allegany,
that we have heretofore looked upon with
delight. Here we feel that we are almost in
a new world.
Denver is situated on the plain, some fourteen
miles, or possibly more, from the foothills or
231
232 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
brink of the range of the mountains. Its eleva-
tion is 5,196 feet above the sea level. It is the
queen city of the West. It is the capital of the
State and county seat of Arapaho County, with
a population of about 75,000 at that time. Its
streets are broad and kept clean, with pure
water flowing in nearly every street gutter in
the city, from which all yards and gardens can
be irrigated by ditch or fountains.
The water is forced from artesian wells into
canals or fountains, and these can be forced
eighty feet higher than the streets at the high-
est point. The buildings are largely of stone
and brick, substantial and beautiful, with large
stores and business buildings, well supplied
with stocks of the best qualities. The hotels
are magnificent, and nearly equal our Eastern
hotels. Seven railroads center here, and it is
estimated that seven hundred people arrive here
daily. It is a wonderful city for one of only
twenty years' growth. The soil of the surround-
ing country will not compare with Kansas and
Nebraska; though by irrigation it produces
good crops of wheat, oats, and other small
grains, but can not be depended upon for corn.
The Rocky Mountains at the nearest point to
the city are fourteen miles distant. Long's
Peak, James Peak, Gray Peak, and Pike's Peak
IN DENVER, COLORADO 233
are Id plain view, connected by the gleaming ser-
rated line of the snowy range. The day is
clear and brilliant, and the sun upon the white-
capped mountains forms variegated shades be-
yond description.
I must draw this chapter to a close, as we are
out in the marvels of the world, and our pen can
not tell of all there is to be seen. We must
leave the beauties of Denver and her surround-
ings, for we are bound for the Rockies, Salt
Lake, the desert, the Sierra Nevadas, and the
Pacific Ocean, and we have a great amount of
work for our pen to do, and we must be off with
the next train.
XLIX
FROM DENVER TO SALT LAKE
May 19, 188().— We left Denver in the morn-
ing on the Denver & Rio Grande Narrow
Gauge Railroad; at twelve o'clock we reached
Lake Divide. This is a most beautiful lake,
being supplied with water through pipes from
the mountains six miles away. A neat cottage
has been erected here, making a fine watering
place, and a resort for picnics, excursions, etc.
At 12:30 p. M. we landed at Pueblo.
The country along the route is rather poor,
although fine crops are raised where irrigation
can be obtained; but where this can not be done,
but little use is made of the land.
Lines of canals can be seen extending for
miles along tlie brink of the mountains, supplied
from melting snow, and many rivers flow through
the valleys. These are tapped by small canals
and small channels that distribute through the
plowed lands, meadows, and pastures. There
are many cattle ranches along the line, and some
of them extend high up in the mountains.
There does not seem to be as much fodder
on one thousand acres as there is on a five- acre
234
FROM DENVER TO SALT LAKE 235
lot in the East. There are thousands of cattle
to be seen, and most of them appear half-
starved; but the people say, " the cattle fatten
very quickly when grass comes; the grass cures
without cutting, having no rain to bleach it."
They do well through the winter, the past year
being exceptional, as they pretend; but I am a
little inclined to think there is a little humbug
about this ranch business in some of the moun-
tains.
We push on until we reach the Arkansas; and
well up the river, we enter the Arkansas canon,
the wonder of the world. This is called the
Royal Gorge, and is a wonder of the age, as
its grandeur still remains. After its depths, the
train moves slowly along the side of the Arkan-
sas River and around the projecting shoulders
of the dark-hued granite, deeper and deeper
into the heart of the earth. The crested crags
grow higher, the river madly foaming along its
rocky bed, and anon the way becomes a mere
fissure of light through the heights. Far above
the road the sky forms a deep blue arch of light;
but in the gorge below hang dark and somber
shades which the sun's rays have never penetra-
ted. The place is a measureless gulf of air with
solid walls on each side. Here the cliffs are a
thousand feet high, smooth and unbroken by
236 MEMORIES OF EIUHTY-TWO YEARS
tree or shrub; and here and there a pinnacle soars
skyward for thrice the distance. No flowers
grow, and the birds care not to penetrate into
the deep solitude. The river, somber and swift,
breaks the awful stillness by its roar. Soon the
canon becomes more narrow, the treeless cliffs
higher, and the river closely confined, and where
a long iron bridge hangs suspended from the
smooth walls, the grandest portion of the canon
is reached.
Man becomes dwarfed in the sublime scene,
and nature is exalted in the power she possesses.
To describe it is beyond our scope of descrip-
tion. One must pass through and experience
for himself; but then he can not tell it. This
canon is the work of ages, doubtless from the
time of the flood.
Emerging from the gorge, the narrow valley
of the Upper Arkansas is covered with high
snow-capped peaks, but we can not mention
their names. As we proceed, we begin to scale
the heights of Marshall Pass, the wonderful
pathway over the continental divide; and as we
cast our eyes upward, we see that we are coming
into a snowstorm, and begin to draw our wraps
around us. Our train is divided. One engine
takes two cars and goes ahead as a feeler, to
ascertain whether all is right along the track.
FROM DENVER TO SALT LAKE 237
Two engines are attached to the balance of the
train, and are pushing us up the mountain, twin-
ing and worming on a grade of twenty-five feet
to the mile, through snowdrifts and snowsheds,
in the midst of a severe snowstorm. We
stopped for tea at Summit Pass under the iron
snowshed, in which people live who are engaged
in looking after the road and feeding the peo-
ple. While we were waiting, news came that
there was a washout ahead, but that men were
busy repairing the bed, and that we would soon
be able to pass.
Our small train started out slowly, " feeling
its way," and soon news came back that we
had passed over the washout safely. Our train
then moved on slowly, and as we were in the
rear car, we, as everyone else, were somewhat
exercised in the matter. But the train passed
over safely, though I thought I felt the track
settling as we went over. It was a dangerous
season of tlie year on account of the melting
snow that formed rapid streams and suowslides,
and caused bowlders to loosen from their former
positions, and fall upon the track. But we suc-
ceeded in getting down the mountain safely.
The next day brought us news by dispatch that
soon after we passed over the washout, the track
had been washed away, and down some two or
238 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
three hundred feet, and that our train was the
last over. We passed through the Black Canon
of the Gunnison in the night by moonlight, so
that we can not give the grandeur in detail, and
so pass on, for nature has created everything
on a grand scale; detail is supplemented by
magnificence, and appeals to one's deepest
feelings.
Emerging from the deep canon, the railroad
climbs Cedar Divide, and on we travel and open
out upon the desert for about one hundred miles.
This desert is a desert indeed. For a greater
part of the way not a green thing appears, save
now and then a bunch of wild sage, and a beau-
tiful flower or wild cactus. The inhabitants
consist mostly of French and Chinese, and the
prairie dog, living in the ground. The houses
are built in the ground in shape of a potato hole.
But we soon pass through Marshall Pass and
Cattle Gate. This is a wonder; two columns
stand out in bold relief, one on one side of the
river and the other on the opposite, fairly pro-
jecting over our heads, one four hundred feet,
and the other five hundred feet high.
We now begin to climb the second mountain,
and up we go through stone gorge to the height
of seven thousand feet. Now we begin to de-
scend the mountain, and finally open out into
FROM DENVER TO SALT LAKE 289
the Utah valley, where we find ourselves amid
fruit-tree blossoms aud in a most fertile country.
Everything looks fresh and green, though the
surrounding mountains are decked with snow,
and bring a chill over us when leaving the cars
and entering the bus for our hotel in the noted
city of Mormons, Salt Lake City. We feel the
need of rest, for we have exerted ourselves in
watching the wonders of nature along our jour-
ney. And we were glad that the Sabbath day
followed, that we might get rest.
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from
Denver to this place is a fine specimen of archi-
tectural beauty, combined with nature; and its
route surveys a wonder of man's perseverance
and American genius. The road doubtless runs
through the deepest canons and gorges of the
earth, and rises heavenward as it passes over
the Rocky Mountains. It is a beautifully
equipped road; all that is possible is done by
the company to make the traveler comfortable
and happy. But I will close this chapter, as I
have written at great length; but it is a long way
from Denver to Salt Lake by so many ups and
downs. Forgive me, and possibly I may do bet-
ter after I stop over and attend the Mormon
church.
IN SALT LAKE CITY
Salt Lake City reads larger on paper perhaps
than it really is, when we look face to face at
things as they are. The city is located about
fourteen miles from the lake. The lake is about
sixty miles in length, and to all appearance is
like other lakes, save the salt on its shores.
There are some curiosities about it for the
reader to solve for himself, if he can.
There are numerous large rivers that empty
into this lake. There is no appearance of an
outlet, and it is said that the water is receding
year by year. The city is the most noted place
for Mormons in the world, the population being
about two thirds Mormon. They are usually
industrious in habits. We attended Sunday
service in their commodious building. It will
seat about twelve thousand persons. I should
judge there were present that day between five
thousand and six thousand people, and over one
thousand of these were other than Saints. It
was sacrificial day, and the communion was
offered to all present — men, women, and chil-
dren. They use bread and water in place of wine.
240
IN SALT LAKE CITY 241
It took about two hours to go through the cere-
mony. During this ceremony the speaker dwelt
upon the persecutions, there being twenty-seven
of the leaders now imprisoned for polygamy
and treason against the government. This was
in the year 1886. The governor has proposed
their pardon if they will renounce the plurality
of wives and submit to the laws of the govern-
ment; but they will not do this. The speaker
endeavored to prove from their standpoint that
it was appointed by God, and that under our
Constitution they had the right to practice it,
and if need be, they should fight for it as part
of their religion. Their temple proper is not
completed, and it is a question whether it ever
will be. It has been some forty years in prog-
ress, with the opposition they are meeting at
present. Their public buildings are inclosed
in a high wall with four gates, and show that
an immense amount of money has been ex-
pended here. But we conclude that it is a
wicked city, and accept the warning that was
given to Lot and his family to flee to the moun-
tains from Sodom, and straightway we took the
cars for Ogden and arrived safely.
The next day we took a trip by carriage up
the Ogden liiver Caiion to the boiling springs,
and saw the scores of beautiful springs and
16
242 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
streams that gush forth from the cliffs of the
canon. Our driver told interesting stories of
the capture of the black, yellow, and grizzly
bears in this cailon. At T o'clock p. m. we
took our departure, passing northward around
the end of the lake, and the next morning
opened upon the great desert and a long tedious
day was ours. For three or four hundred miles
scarcely a green thing was to be seen to cheer
our vision, save where the railroad company
had by irrigation supplied nature by setting a
few trees and starting vegetation. Near every
station the Indians appeared, begging for money,
and sometimes would have a papoose covered
that they would offer to show for a nickel. They
afforded much amusement to the weary tourist.
But we traveled on, passing Golconda and
Wadsworth, and took tea at Keno; then came
to Turkey River and retired for the night, while
our cars climbed the mountains. But slumber
was disturbed a little after midnight by a sud-
den stop, for we had bunted against a snow-
and land-slide in the dreary snowshed of the
mountains some five thousand feet above the
level of the sea.
The high atmosphere and dampness of the
snowsheds from melting snow, choked our
breathing apparatus, and we felt as if our breath
IN SALT LAKE CITY 243
went out through a goose- quill, and was not in-
clined to come back again. But we did the best
we could, for we had to remain in this torment
for nearly six hours, until morning, for the slide
to be cleared away; and then a dreary gloom
was over our whole train, for we had yet to pass
through about fifty miles of snowsheds, shut
out from daylight, only as we peeped through
ventilation cracks and holes. But we finally
opened out into a new world, and were on the
down grade toward the Sacramento Yalley.
When at nine o'clock we breakfasted amid the
roses and flowers, and in hope of better things
to come, we were a happy set of tourists again.
We now come to the old gold fields where
thousands of acres of mountain had been dug
over until gold had ceased to be profitable to
mine, and abandoned for that purpose; but
streams that have been raised for washing gold
were turned to account for irrigation, and now
the mountains and valleys blossom as the rose,
with vineyards and fruit gardens that make us
all smile and give glory that we are again in a
primitive world. We pass Cape Horn as we
descend, at our left, and take a glance at the
sleek and fat cattle upon the thousand hills,
and we are glad of our delay, as otherwise we
should have passed these scenes in the night-
244 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
time. At noon we arrived at Sacramento City,
and dine in the beautiful Sacramento Yalley —
the glory of the Western world. Some of our
company leave us here, and invite us to stop
over also and rest up with them a few days;
but we decide to go on with the train, so we
push on amid fields of grain and newly made
hay, and herds of cattle and horses are seen all
along the way, while we breathe the wholesome
air of California. We cross over to Oakland,
and thence by ferry, and land in the wonderful
city of San Francisco, where we put up at that
notable structure of the world, the Pacific Hotel.
It is now May 19.
LI
IN THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Friday, May 21. — Yesterday we spent in
sight seeing. The facilities for getting around
are easy and convenient, for cable cars, horse
cars, and dummy engines run in every direction,
giving transfer tickets to any point you wish to
visit at a cost of five cents, whether it be one or
ten miles. Yesterday we visited Sea Cliff, the
native home of the seals, where hundreds could
be seen on the high rocks near the shore, rolling,
roaring, and tumbling in their native glory; and
the black whale now and then shows his back
to the thousand and one visitors. The Cliffs,
just outside of Golden Gate, is the great resort
of the West, the same as Watch Hill or New-
port is to the East on the Atlantic Ocean. We
took a drive through the Menlo Park, out to the
Soldier's Home and to the Gate, returning by
the Celestial City, or the part occupied by the
Chinese. They own and occupy quite a large
section of the city, and their markets and trade
are truly a wonder to behold. Their places of
worship are many, and for a fee of twenty-five
cents to one dollar they will go through their
245
246 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
method of worship, burning incense, and smok-
ing pipes to your satisfaction; and it pays the
tourist to visit their quarters. They are all
quiet and attentive to their business. Their
great aim is to save, and they live on about ten
cents' worth per day. Some are rich, but many
are poor, and live in disgraceful places, some
of them in the mountain caves back of their
business places. They have their joss houses,
so-called, in various locations, and make all
the money they can out of them.
San Francisco is a place worth a visit from
all tourists. We have now crossed the conti-
nent from one ocean to the other; have entered
the caverns and canons of the earth to the depth
of thousands of feet, ascended the Rocky Moun-
tains to the highest heights that any engine ever
soared, — 10,000 to 12,000 feet. We have de-
scended into the valley of the desert and landed
in San Francisco, and have visited and viewed
the Pacific Ocean and her coast. Our friends
that have traveled with us so far are stopping
near us at our hotel or those near by. But the
Sabbath is drawing on; this is P'riday, and we
decide to go over to Oakland and spend Sab-
bath over there, and attend Sabbath service
with the Seventh-day Adventists at their church.
Oakland is a beautiful city, very much to San
IN THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO 24Y
Francisco as Brooklyn is to New York. Many
live over there and do business over in the city.
It is nearly three miles over the bay from one
city to the other. They have the finest ferry
boats I ever rode upon, and pass every half hour.
We crossed over and put up at a hotel near the
Adventist church. I called on some of them
that I was acquainted with. They have a large
church there, and a large publishing house,
where the Sig^is of the Times is published and
much other printing and publishing is done.
We attended church on Sabbath. Elder E. J.
Waggoner, whose father, Elder J. H. Wag-
goner, had stopped with us in Plainfield, N. J.,
when attending the Seventh-day Baptist confer-
ence in that place, preached. He called on us
before we left, and brought us some reading
matter to take with us when we left for Port-
land, Ore.
We crossed back over to the city to finish up
our visit preparatory to leaving in a few days.
We looked up some of our friends, and made
another survey of the city, and went over to the
cliffs, etc., and had a good time. They have
fine hotels, and take much pains to please their
guests. Nearly every evening we went out,
and on return would find a nice bouquet or
a fine show of fruit in our room. This city is
24:8 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
nearly snrrounded by water, and has a fine har-
bor. From the front of the city on the bay or
harbor, it is about eight miles over across the
city to the cliffs or ocean. The Golden Gate is
out and around the northern part of the city to
the ocean, where all steamers and other crafts
pass out and in to the harbor.
We have now spent all the time we can really
afford to in this city and section, and we had
made up our minds that we would like to visit
Portland, Ore., before we returned East. But
there is no railroad yet from this place to that,
so we decide to take an ocean steamer to get
there.
LII
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO PORTLAND, ABOUT
SEVEN HUNDRED MILES, BY WATER
We left San Francisco on the ocean steamer
"Columbia." She is a fine steamer, well
equipped for the safety and comfort of the trav-
eler, and the voyage on the ocean for two days
and nights was deliglitful; the waters were calm
and smooth, though the fog shut down upon us
the first night, which caused a little delay; and
the fog horn kept up her music of toot, toot, to
the annoyance of some of the sleepers, though
we were not especially disturbed. We slept
well, and lost not a meal while on board; neither
I nor my wife were seasick on the journey. The
fog disappeared in the morning, and the sun put
in appearance iu its beauty and glory, as the
waves rolled around us. We were out of sight
of land as our steamer cut the waves, and as we
looked out upon old Pacific, we could now and
then see a whale rise and spout, while the gulls
followed in the wake of our steamer to pick up
their living from the refuse that was dropped
overboard by the waiters from the sumptuous
tables. On the third morning we crossed the
249
250 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
bar and landed at Astoria, in tlie mouth of the
Columbia River, on the Oregon side. The ocean
trip was fine, and the otficers seemed to take
delight and pride in looking , after the comfort
of the traveling public. Only one thing seemed
unpleasant. There were some twenty or thirty
merchant drummers on board, — men who pre-
tended to know about all that is worth knowing
in the world; and in fact many of them did know
considerable, but they did not always know
what was good manners, for a lot of them would
gather around the piano in the parlor, and play
and sing bacchanalian songs, and keep it right
up to the discomfort and displeasure of nearly
all on board, until the late hours of the night.
A temperance worker by the name of Miss
White was on board, and many would have
been glad to hear an address from her; but she
had no desire to make a speech, so long as this
set of loafers occupied the parlor. They were
a regular bore to the respectable part of the
passengers. There are hundreds of such in the
world. There are, however, among drummers
some real gentlemen.
The mouth of the Columbia Kiver is about
nine miles wide, and the same steamer takes us
up the river one hundred miles, and thence up
the Willamette, ten miles to Portland, Ore.
FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO PORTLAND 251
The Columbia is a beautiful stream, and divides
between Oregon and Washington, and is the
great salmon fishery of the world, where the
most of our canned salmon is put up. The can-
ning establishments can be seen on each side
of the river all along the shore, besides some
floating establishments that float up and down
the river. Many of the people along the shore
make fishing their livelihood. The canners pay
five to six cents per pound for fish delivered,
and it is no small show to see the large fish
hauled from the boats up into the canning es-
tablishments. The valley up the Columbia is
rather narrow, and the hills are heavily tim-
bered with red and spruce pine, mixed with
other hard and soft timber, and the lumber busi-
ness is quite extensive for home and the Euro-
pean markets. The banks of the river are
usually full from the melting snow from the
mountains, at this season, — the last of May and
in June. The scenery on each side is usually
fine and wild, the different shades of evergreen
mixed with hard-wood and shrub, putting forth
their varied foliage, adding much to the beauty;
and now and then the white-capped mountains
put in their appearance fifty to one hundred
miles away, adding much interest to the tourist
as he glides up this beautiful river. The high-
252 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
est mountains in Washington Territory are, Ta-
coina, which is 14, 4M feet above the level of
the sea; Mount Hood, 11, 325 feet; Baker, 10,800
feet; St. Helena, 11,750 feet; and Adams, 9,5Y0
feet. These are usually white with snow the
year round. We land at Portland at 4:30
o'clock, after a beautiful sail of the day from
Astoria, and put up at the Hotel Holton for a
rest. Portland is situated on the west side of
the Willamette Piver, some ten miles from its
mouth where it empties into the Columbia. It
is an enterprising town with an estimated popu-
lation of 34,000. We decide to stop over Sab-
bath for a rest, etc. We find a church of Sev-
enth-day Adventists located here on the east
side of the river.
LIII
IN PORTLAND, OREGON
This is an enterprising town. It has one of
the finest public school buildings in the West,
and, perhaps, can not be excelled in our coun-
try. Their report shows total expenditures to
be $214,362.20. The building is located on an
elevation in the western part of the city near
the mountains, and from its tower nearly every
building in the city can be seen, and the view
up and down the river is fine. The school popu-
lation numbers 7,158 at this time of our visit,
two hundred and fifty-two of these being Chi-
nese children. Their school is free to all classes
between the ages of six and twenty-one. One
part of the city is largely occupied by China-
men. They have their stores, theaters, joss-
houses, and markets, and do business much in
the same order as in San Francisco. They are
industrious, saving, and usually sober and quiet.
The Baptists have a mission among them, and
we attended service with them one evening.
There were no white people but the missionary
and wife and ourselves in the congregation.
They sang the Moody and Sankey songs, talked
253
254 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and prayed, using the English language quite
well, and seemed quite devoted and understand-
ing. The speaker gave Bible readings mostly
that evening. They seem quite as reliable as
the Americans or other people, and are largely
depended upon for house work as well as out-
door help. They are ready to work cheap for
cash. One came to our room to solicit washing,
and we left twenty-two pieces with him. We
left for Salem, the capital of the State, to be
gone a few days. There is a railroad fifty-two
miles in length, running through the Willam-
ette River valley between Portland and Salem.
This valley is heavily timbered.
I remembered a friend of mine left the East
forty years before, traveling overland to Oregon,
it taking him over six months to make the jour-
ney. He went to Salem. I knew he must be
an old man if living; but I made up my mind
to find him if he was living. He was a brother
to a man that married my mother's sister, and a
very fine man.
Salem is beautifully situated in the plain of
the broad valley, finely laid out, but is no com-
parison to Portland in trade, population, and
commerce.
In coming to this place, we stopped at the
hotel, and inquired if they knew of a man
IN PORTLAND, OREGON 255
Darned Paul Crandall. First we did not find
anyone that seemed to know him. Finally one
said, "Go to the bank where he used to do
business, and you may get track of him." I did
so, and learned that he had given up business
in the city and gone nine miles into the country
up in the mountains to live with his wife's peo-
ple, and that he had a farm up there in the
mountains.
I returned to the hotel and inquired at the
stable what they would charge to drive us up
there and let us stay a few hours, and then bring
us back. He said that would depend on how
many times he had to pay toll to cross the river.
One of his young men spoke up and said, ''We
do not have to cross the river at all to go there.
I worked for the old gentleman one season up
there, and I would like to drive them up there."
Then he said, ''I will send you up there for
three dollars." I said, " Get your team ready,
and we will be ready as soon as we eat dinner."
Soon the young man came around with a fine
turnout, and we were off in good shape. Our
driver was a nice, gentlemanly fellow, well
posted about the country. The day was delight-
ful and roads good, though quite hilly, but our
team was master of the situation, and made the
nine miles in a little over one hour. Much of
256 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the country was hilly. It seemed to be a great
wheat country. The young man knew just
where to go, and we were soon landed at the
front door. The young man inquired for Uncle
Paul, and was told that he had gone with his
stepson-in-law down to the river after a load of
sand, about one and one-half miles. The young
man said, "These people are friends of Uncle
Paul from the East, and have called up to see
him a little while.*' His wife, a second wife
that he had married since he lived in that coun-
try, after losing his first wife, said, "Come in,
come in, he will be glad to see you." "Yes,"
says the young man, "and I will drive down
and fetch him home," and off he drove, and
very soon drove into the back yard. The old
gentleman got out, and I met him, and gave
him my hand, and said, "I don't suppose you
know me." "No, I do not," said he. "Do
you remember Uncle Samuel Lanphear back
East in Rhode Island, and afterward in Alle-
gany Co., N. Y. ?" "Yes, yes, but that was
many years ago." "Do you remember that
he had a son, Ethan?" "Yes, very well."
"Well, I am that son," said I. The old man
grabbed me, and gave me a good shaking.
'' O, how glad I am to see you ! I have not
seen a man before from the East that knew my
IN PORTLAND, OREGON 257
friends there for the forty years I have lived
here since leaving that country. How did you
happen to come to see me?" "Well, we were
on a tour in the western world, and came to
Portland, and knowing that you came to Salem,
Ore., I thought we would try and find you, and
when we got to Salem, we learned where you
were. We thought we would drive up and see
you for two or three hours."
"You are not going to leave here this day."
"I suppose our man will have to take us back
when he goes." He turned to the young man,
and said, " Put your horses in the stable and
feed them all you please, then you can go home;
but you are not going to take these people away
this day. When it is necessary for them to
leave, my wife and I keep horses and a carriage,
and we will attend to that."
So we decided to stay over with them until
the next day. We were not acquainted with
his wife and family; but they all seemed very
glad to see us, and that we took the pains to
come and look up the old gentleman, and now
you may guess that we had some tall visiting.
The old lady and the young folks were for do-
ing everything to please us. We did not desire
anything extra got up on our account; but such
meals as they gave for us were good enough
17
258 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
for a king; and my wife said they had five kinds
of sauce, and pies and cakes enough to feed a
small camp-meeting. I had made arrangements
to take the cars at Salem the next day at one
o'clock for Portland.
Be assured we visited nearly all night. They
wished us to remain a few days so they could
take us around to see the country. Where they
lived was up on the highlands, and from their
back yard we could look up and down the Wil-
lamette valley and see parts of three counties;
and the whole valley and the hills around
seemed to look like one vast wheat field of thou-
sands of acres. About ten o'clock the next day
I said, '' I guess we had better be off for Salem
soon." The old gentleman said, ''When you
say you must go, I will order up the carriage."
"I guess we had better be off so as not to have
to hurry." The old man ordered the best team
hitched up and drove to the door, and we were
notified that the team was ready. We went
out to get in, and the old gentleman and his
wife followed and got into the carriage. He
said, " Wife and I are going to drive you to
town so that we can visit as long as we can."
We had a pleasant time, and a great many ques-
tions were asked, I assure you. The old gentle-
man said, '' I shall think of a great many things
IN PORTLAND, OREGON 259
to inquire about after you are gone." We drove
up at the hotel, and we got out. I said to them,
" Now get out, have the horses put in the sta-
ble, and you stop and take dinner with us. The
old man broke down, and said, "I can not do
it," picked up the lines, shook hands, said good-
by, and drove away to their home; and at one
o'clock we took our train back to Portland,
where we stopped at our hotel for the rest of
the day and night.
Reader, such visits as these can never be for-
gotten. We strolled about town in the evening,
and walked down around the Chinese theater.
They are a singular people in their perform-
ance. One act is kept up for a month before
they are through with it.
We returned to our hotel, when a gentleman
called, and brought me a beautiful large paint-
ing of their school building as a present, as I
had spoken so well of the building. I folded
it and placed it in our valise, and I have it now
hanging in a frame at my home, for friends to
see what Western people do in the school line.
This is a great wheat country, but the wheat
is usually mortgaged before it is grown. The
most of it is shipped to Europe. Morning
comes and we go next to the Great National
Park.
LIV
NOW OFF FOR THE NATIONAL PARK
We leave Portland, Ore., crossing the Wil-
lamette River by ferry, and board the cars east-
erly bound, and my better half begins to talk
of home as v^^e head that v^ay. We examine
our guidebook and map, and find ourselves
3,232 miles from home. People talk about go-
ing west to Kansas and the Mississippi States;
but west is not far away until one goes beyond
the Rocky Mountains, and to the Pacific Coast.
We have now traveled more than 4,000 miles
on our journey, and we are tired and weary of
seeing. My wife says, ''I wish I were home; I
have looked and admired until it seems as if
I could look no more.'' But our train is rush-
ing on, we come to the Columbia River, and
our route is up by its side two hundred and
forty miles. The river divides between Wash-
ington and Oregon. The snow-capped moun-
tains put in their appearance in the distance,
the highest some 1,400 feet high. The country
is mountainous, and usually high, the railroad
track being at their brink, and for long dis-
tances cuts in the rocky ledges thousands of
260
NOW OFF FOR THE NATIONAL TARK 261
feet above our heads. The river rushes by
our side at times, and then it widens and is
more placid and calm, the scenery wild and
new.
When we have passed some thirty miles up
the river, the conductor passes through the
train and announces that the train will stop
fifteen minutes for the people to get out and
view the falls. The train halts; everybody
gets out, and as tired as we may have been,
everybody's neck is stretched upward, and do
you wonder? for here was a stream pouring
over mountains 816 feet high, and only strik-
ing once in the whole distance, only a little
distance from our train, and then passes under
the track into the main river. It is of such
beauty and wildness that for a moment one
forgets all weariness of seeing. The distance
of fall is such that the whole stream breaks
into a perfect spray, and spreads out as it
extends; so much so that it takes the name of
Horsetail Falls, it so resembles the tail of a
white horse. The fifteen minutes' time ex-
pires too soon, the bell rings, but our pleasant
conductor waits till he sees the last passenger
aboard before he orders train to move. Then
on we go, everyone chatting about the beauti-
ful scene.
262 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
The scenery continues wild, and the river
spreads out like little lakes, while rocks stand
out from the shore hundreds of feet high, like
pyramids, looking as if they might topple
over by a rush of wind; but they are on a
solid foundation, and the probabilities are that
they have had the dash of waters from the time
of the flood. Beyond, on the border of the
river loom up monster trees, foui* to eight feet
in diameter, and soaring upward 200 to 250 feet
high, and some of them 100 to 1Y5 feet to the
first limbs, the body being straight as an arrow.
Washington is noted for her large trees and tall
timber. As we pass on, we come to the dalles,
so called. We enter a narrow gorge in the
rocky cliffs, thousands of feet above our heads,
and the river in seeming madness beneath our
feet, roaring and tumbling amidst the points of
rocks that seem determined not to yield to
the torrents that have been fighting her right
of way for thousands of years, and the tight
still goes on to excite the thousands of travel-
ers who pass through her exciting warfare.
The valley is most of the way, thus far, so
narrow, and the mountains so high, that we
are shut out of the sight of the world beyond.
A few fishermen are settled along the river,
and now and then a few Chinamen are settled
NOW OFF FOR THE NATIONAL PARK 263
along to look after the railroad track. Some
of them have fine gardens in the nooks and
corners among the rocks around their houses.
There is not much room for farming for a long
distance; but now and then appears a plot of
cultivated land amid the foothills, the water
being pumped from the river for irrigation
by force pumps driven by a large water-wheel
set in the channel near the bank of the river
and extending out into the stream. These
were curiosities at first, as there were no
buildings or persons near them. Necessity is
the mother of invention, and thus the land is
fed with water without clouds, and made to
bring forth fruit for the world. But darkness
sets in, and trusting ourselves in the hands
of our faithful officers and the strength of the
iron horse, we retire.
Morning dawns, and we review our chart
and find we have passed dangers seen and un-
seen. We have crossed the gulch bridge and
many a wild way, and find ourselves south of
the great bend of the Columbia Kiver; we
halt at Coleville Lake, Sprague, and other towns,
crossing rivers and dales, and scenery wild, to
Spokane Falls, and find ourselves crossing
the north part of Idaho, amid rocks and hills
rough and smooth, with settlers here and there
264 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
in tents and huts, and some living in their
wagons, and endeavoring to put in crops and
make a start for a future home and happi-
ness; and sure here is quiet, and real frontier
life. We passed a little northwest of Walla
Walla, where the Adventists now have a large
school or college. We stopped at a little
town a short time, and afterward found we
had passed our niece and her husband. Elder
D. T. Fero, who had just arrived there as mis-
sionaries sent by the Seventh- day Adventists.
If we had known it, how glad we would have
been to stop off and make them a short visit.
They are now stationed at Seattle.
The country looks rather barren yet; the cat-
tle of the ranches are to be seen upon and
amid the thousand hills, and all goes to show
that the earth was made for man. Our train
pushes on, and we are left to consider the in-
ventions of the age, and to think of what the
next generation will bring to light in our land.
But our train does not stop for us to think, and
we soon find ourselves in Montana Territory,
but bordering on the Cceur d' Alene Mountains,
the Bitter Root, and enter the northern end of
the Rockies. Up and on we go, across prairie,
into the valleys amid mountains and through
tunnels into the depths of the earth. We are
NOW OFF FOR THE NATIONAL PARK 265
on the up grade for the summit and mountain
pass. We are tired of seeing, and yet every-
thing is new and wild; we are in a new world
to us, and out to see, and see we must, and the
thousands of cattle, horses, and mules of the
ranchers are enough to astonish the natives,
and especially an Eastern man. We cast our
eyes north, south, east, and west, and think of
where we have been, and of the old saying that
"Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a
farm." We have passed through the rich val-
ley of Idaho, where the big potatoes grew that
took the premium at the great Philadelphia
show. Being compelled to sleep one night in
Montana we lost much of the scenery along the
road. We crossed the big gulch bridge 226
feet high and 8,685 feet long, and did not know
it at the time; but our eyes were resting for the
scenes of the morning. Morning comes and
we are nearing the summit pass. The moun-
tains are high, as we follow up the stream, our
passageway being cut in the side of the rocky
cliffs which extend hundreds of feet above our
heads, while deep below are the dalles, where
spray and mists ascend from her fighting
stream forever and ever. But our faithful en-
gines, like the donkeys of the tourists, hug tight
to the pathway, and we are brought safely to
266 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the summit pass, 5,555 feet above the level of
the sea, the highest point made on the North-
ern Pacific Railroad. Our engines plunge into
a tunnel, and next we find ourselves on the
eastern slope pushing toward the Yellowstone
valley. We halt at a little town of some 1,500
inhabitants, built upon the grounds of the once
famous gold diggings, where the hills had been
made low and level in pursuit of the precious
metal. Some of the surrounding hills are yet
mined. The name of this town has slipped our
mind, as many others have along the line. One
of our engines is loosed from the train, as one
can manage our train on the down grade. The
way is rough and montainous, the clear-water
brooks made from the snow-capped mountains
rushed down amid the hills, and I thought of
speckled trout, and if I were a boy again I
would like to try my luck. But our train was
not on a fishing excursion, and did not stop for
fish or game. The grass looked more fresh and
green, and the cattle and herds looked in better,
condition than on the other side of the moun-
tains, as we neared the Yellowstone valley.
We arrived at Livingston at 2:30 o'clock p. m.
This is the junction to change for the Yellow-
stone National Park, and we stop ofl' with a
view to visit that place. This is our only op-
NOW OFF FOR THE NATIONAL PARK 267
portunity for ev^er visiting her curiosities, as we
are getting to be old folks. It is now the first
day of June, and we learn that the regular open-
ing season is not usually until the 15th, and the
trains did not run for Cinnabar, the nearest
point by rail to the Park, only once a day, and
it had gone for that day. So we made up our
minds to lay over, and pass the time as best we
could. The morning came and a train left early
in the day. The railroad is a narrow gauge.
It is fifty-two miles to Cinnabar, and then eight
miles to the only cottage yet regularly opened,
and we had to be taken that distance by big
teams, as it was up hill and hard to climb.
The route is up the Little Yellowstone valley.
This valley is quite broad as we leave the Big
Yellowstone valley, and is beautiful and fertile.
The cattle herds and donkeys looked sleek and
fine, the bunchgrass being abundant, and said
to be the best for stock. The mountains are
high an each side, and as we follow up the
stream they seem to draw together nearer and
nearer. We come to Devil's Slide (so called
by the Indians). This strange freak of nature
is peculiar. The mountain is high at our right,
and looks as if it had sometime slid out for
a long distance, leaving two solid walls at
even distance from each other from top to bot-
268 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
torn of the mountain, standing out in bold re-
lief, as if made by hands, of the best material
and masonry, like a walled street 20 to 50 feet
high on each side.
We pass on and enter a deep gorge and
canon where we are shut in from daylight, only
as we look upward thousands of feet through
the narrow channel os^er our heads. Then we
open out into broader space, and Electric Peak
is before us, so called from its being largely
stocked with iron ore and other metals that
attract lightning in time of storms, and can
be seen flickering around its peak thousands
of feet in the heavens. Our train comes to
a stop, the mountains have headed her off.
She is at Cinnabar, and can go no farther.
Here we find a big stage and four-horse teams
to take freight and passengers and everything
that is needed for all uses in the Park and
to live upon. They take us the eight miles,
and we are landed at the big hotel and cottage.
It has been an up-hill business; but we are
here in the great National Park all the same.
The road is up and down; but Uncle Sam owns
the Park, and has made the roads as smooth
as possible.
LV
AT THE GREAT NATIONAL PARK
We had read of the National Park before we
left home, and in our minds we compared it
to Eastern parks. But when we arrive here,
it is altogether beyond our comprehension.
My pen is not able to tell it. We are told it
is fifty miles wide and seventy-five miles long,
and located in as wild part of the Rocky
Mountains as could be selected; bounded on
the west by Idaho, on the north by Montana,
and on the east by Wyoming.
It is now the 3d day of June, and we have
had a good rest. The sun has risen, and
stretches its rays of light over the heavens
and mountain peaks into my window as we
arise. The heavens are clear as a sunbeam,
our eyes are dazzled; for before us for miles
up and d( wn the valley, the great mammoth
springs appear up and down the mountain,
with trellis after trellis hundreds of feet above
each other, extending across the valley, glisten-
ing in the sun like mountains of marble of the
finest white; and others tinged with streaks and
spots of red and purple, yellow and blue,
269
270 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
according to color of formation emanating
from the various springs that have been send-
ing forth their sediment from tlie earth for
thousands of years, with her boiling water of
hot, hotter, and hottest, up and down the
mountains above and below us, with hot steam
ascending into the clear sky, as if emanating
from the bottomless pit. We are awe-struck;
we have never read of or seen such sights be-
fore. We are in the great National Park I We
would be glad to describe, but it is impossible
— one must see for himself in order to appre-
ciate. It is doubtless the greatest curiosity of
nature in our nation or perhaps in the world,
and it was wisdom in the nation to set it apart
to ever remain in its natural state as the great
show of the nation and for the world.
I will give the altitude of some of the highest
mountains in the Park, some of which are cov-
ered with snow at all seasons of the year.
Sphinx, 10,880; Emigrant Peak, 10,620; Elec-
tric Peak, 11,121; Mount Everts 7,600; Bun-
sen's Peak, 9,500; Quadrant Mountain, 10,127;
Mount Washington, 10,310; Danraven Peak,
8,868; Grand Teton, Idaho, 13,691; the high-
est just outside the Park, as I understand.
Other mountains are intermixed, and amid and
on top are geysers and hot and cold springs
AT THE GREAT NATIONAL PARK 271
constantly pouring forth, some shooting con-
stant streams high up into the heavens, in
forms of beauty and rainbow in the sunlight,
while others spout by intervals, as if shot up
by explosives below, or as a wounded whale
might spout. These have piled up forma-
tions of various and variegated colors in trel-
lis or mounds of great beauty. Many locations
are to be found where the geyser or spring has
dried up or sunk away, leaving caves seventy-five
to one hundred and fifty feet deep, and some of
them are provided with ladders to descend. We
entered one of these with a cowboy pilot, but
the damp smell and darkness discouraged us
long before we reached bottom; but my pilot
proceeded and brought up a specimen of the
formation one hundred feet below. These for-
mations are very hard in and about the old
dry geysers or springs, though open, somewhat
resembling the open fresh burr stone (mill-
stone). The water from the Mammoth Springs
seem clear as it boils up, yet there is a sediment
that settles as it spreads out and settles much
resembling slacked lime or magnesia. This
forms in basin form, and hardens, the water
cooling and disappearing. Thus the trellises are
formed from mountain to mountain referred to.
The big Mammoth Spring is nearly three
272 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
miles up the mountain from the river, and it
flows each way, covering acres, and produces
coral-like formations of great beauty as the
water evaporates and passes away. Springs
exist all the way down the distance to the river,
and the valley is nearly tilled with their forma-
tions, at a depth that no one knows, and not a
drop of water from all these springs ever
reaches the river below; all disappear in this
porous formation.
The great hotel is built upon this formation,
and near the basin holes of several old dry gey-
sers or hot springs, large and deep, and all un-
derneath seems like a shell. While excavating
preparatory for the foundation for the hotel, a
man fell into the abyss below, and from the
poisonous atmosphere nearly suffocated before
he could be got out. We visited one cave that
we could look down into, where the atmosphere
was so poisonous that birds and animals that
chanced to enter fell dead at the bottom. Trees
can be found imbedded in this formation, and
only now and then a limb is seen outside. A
horse shoe or a wire basket hung where this
water can drip on it a few days will become
covered, and look like coral, or sea-willow that
grows on the rocks in the bottom of the ocean.
The boys make it a business to make them for sale
AT THE GREAT NATIONAL PARK 273
to visitors. Northwest of this valley of springs,
another valley of springs and formations ap-
pears. From this valley comes a stream of
pure cold water running into this valley of
formations that would naturally disappear;
but to save it for use, a large flume, or
spout, is built that brings this pure water over
this formation down in front of the big hotel;
that supplies the hotels, dwellings, cattle, horses
and every want, and empties into one of the
great geyser holes and forever disappears.
The sights as we are driven from Cinnabar
are wild, and the streams rush along down the
mountains pure as crystal, foaming as it fights
its way amid the rocks; and now and then
a man or boy may be seen sitting on the point
of some rock fishing. He throws his line down
among the rocks and foaming water, and we
watch him, and soon you will see him pulling
hand over hand, and then comes a fine large
fish, flopping, and it is made fast and out goes
his line again. This takes our attention, and
we forget the roughness and crookedness of the
road. The roads at places are steep, and the
teams have to scratch as if life were at stake to
pull us up. There are some three hundred or
four hundred miles of drives or streets among
these mountains for carriages, and as many
18
274 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
miles of narrow tracks up and around the
mountains for horseback riding, and for packed
mules whereby provisions are taken to visitors
that camp up high in the mountains. Besides
this, there are footpaths cut up and around the
mountains for pedestrians to climb as high as
their strength will allow. All this is done at
the expense of Uncle Sam.
These streets are laid out and named as accu-
rately as they are in any of our cities. Thou-
sands of people visit the park from home and
abroad, some spending the whole warm sea-
son, tenting out in rented tents, and have their
provisions brought to them on pack mules or
donkeys. 1 have met Europeans that say, " I
wonder how it is that Americans come to Eu-
rope for scenery, when they do not know what
they have in their own country."
The laws are as strict in and about the park
as they are in our cities. No person is allowed
to cut a tree, disfigure any natural formation,
or to kill any bird, squirrel, or other wild ani-
mal (unless it be in self defense). Everything
was presumed to be protected in its natural
state, and to violate willfully makes a person
liable to a heavy fine or imprisonment. Thus
squirrels and other small animals, the quail, the
partridge, and other birds become as domesti-
AT THE GREAT NATIONAL PARK 275
cated, and will cross your path or run among the
people without fear.
It is said a few buffalo, bears, and other
large animals live in some of the wild and high-
est parts of the park, and that if chased outside
the park return to the park for protection. I
did not visit in their domain. There is no law
against catching fish, as the fish follow up the
streams in abundance.
Persons are allowed to save specimens of the
formations through which they cut roads or
streets, or to get specimens from the dry geyser
holes. Visitors that wish to tent and shun the
warm season here must get a license to pitch a
tent on such a street or mountain, and if they
desire to move to some other locality, must have
a permit. Some localities are heavily timbered,
and deer as well as other animals roam unmo-
lested. We could not see all the fine scenery,
as it was early in the season and the roads had
not become settled. But a person to take in all
needs to spend a month or two. For me to
think of writing up all that we saw in the time
we remained there would make a book of itself,
so I shall liave to leave that for others to write
up or others to go to see for themselves. There
are lots of cowboys about the park ready to
inform you all about it, and the country, and
276 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the ranches, etc. Some of them own fifty to
one hundred donkeys, mules, or horses all
equipped with saddles and bridles for renting to
visitors, to ride or carry provisions. One of
these young men was at liberty most of the time,
and was ready to do all he could for our accom-
modation. He was an Eastern boy, and had
been in the ranch and cattle country for eight
years, and now owned about seventy-five horses
and donkeys, and seemed to be well off. He
said he intended to go East and get him a wife
sometime. When we took the stage to leave, he
mounted one of his ponies and followed us to
Cinnabar, eight miles, where we took the cars.
When we arrived in the Park, we were igno-
rant of the laws, as they had not yet put up
the warning notices for the season about the
hotels, etc. I got up one morning, ate my
breakfast, and decided to climb the mountain
to the great mammoth spring, where I could
take a broad view of the mountain scenery. I
of course was looking for specimens of curi-
osity. I wound my way up and around bluffs
and mountains until I arrived at the mammoth
spring, which was the highest of all. This
spring covers an acre or two on the top of the
mountain. The spring boils up and flows out-
ward, forming a rim around, and now and then
AT THE GREAT NATIONAL PARK 277
overflows, forming basins, and this overflow
brings with it this sediment that flows out, the
water evaporating, leaving this sediment in
formations most beautiful in the shape of fern-
leaves, and sometimes in the shape of a lady's
hand and as white as marble when hardened.
While strolling around this spring, I ob-
served one of these beautiful formations, and
thought to myself I would like to break this
loose as a beautiful specimen to take down to
our hotel for a show, I found a piece of wood
that I could use, and set myself at work to
break around it, and save it in its beauty. I
finally succeeded. Across another mountain
about one mile away some of the officers live-
They could look across the valley and see me
at work at my specimen. I was violating the
law, all this time, but did not know it, and as
I came down the mountain, I was carrying it
on my hand showing it to everyone I met, all
admiring its beauty. The ofiicers talked it
over, and an under officer said to a higher
oflicer, "What shall we do with that man? I
think he does not understand the law; if he
did, he would keep it out of sight, and not be
showing it to everyone."
This under officer was boarding where I was
stopping.
278 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
"Well, you talk with him; and if you find
him innocent, tell him to go and ' sin no more.' "
said the other officer.
When I arrived at the hotel, I had it in my
hand; and showing it to the cowboys and
others, said if I had that at my home just as
perfect as now, I would not take five dollars
for it. One of the boys spoke up, and said,
"If the officers should catch you with it, it
might cost you ^500. It is against the law to
break any formation of any kind. The people
would not allow it in the house lest they should
be accused of violating the law."
The officer came down for his dinner, and
we sat at the same table as usual. After I had
finished, I got up and walked into the sitting
room, and sat down; and soon the officer came
in and sat down by me, and said, "You were
up at the mammoth spring this forenoon, were
you not? "
"Yes, sir," said I.
'• You broke off a specimen up there, did you
not ? "
"Yes, sir."
"Did you not know you were violating the
laws of the park ? "
"No, sir."
"We saw you all the time from where we
AT THE GREAT NATIONAL PARK 279
were, and concluded you were innocent, or you
would keep it out of sight, and not be show-
ing it to everybody. I asked the head officer
what was best to do with you. He said, talk
with him, and if you find him innocent, tell him
*to go and sin no more.' "
They were gentlemen, and I could readily see
that the law was just, for if there were no law,
the thousands of people that go there might dis-
figure every beauty of the park. But now the
week is passing away, and our time is about up
to be on the move again. Let everybody go
and see the beauties of nature in the great Na-
tional Yellowstone Park. We must be off for
Minneapolis and St. Paul.
LVI
OFF FOR MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL
This is now Friday afternoon. We take the
stage to Cinnabar, where we take the car for
Livingston, and change on to the Northern Pa-
cific road and run to Billings, about one hun-
dred miles, and stop over until Sunday. We
are now in the Big Yellowstone valley, one of
the finest valleys of the Northwest. It is a
broad valley. The mountains are far away, but
we can see the herds of cattle, horses, mules,
and sheep by the thousands away on the hills
and mountains far and near. One must learn
to measure distances by his eyes, somewhat.
This can be done by a little practice and obser-
vation. If the cattle look very small, you may
know that they are miles away. It is deceiv
ing as to distances until we learn. A stranger
stopped oft' at Livingston overnight to wait for
the cars the next day, about eight or nine
o'clock. He got up in the morning, and said
to the landlord that he guessed he would take
a walk up on the mountain while waiting for
breakfast and the cars.
" Well," said the landlord, ''if you are going
280
OFF FOR MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL 281
up there you had better take along your din-
ner
t''
'' Why, how far is it?"
"Only about fourteen miles." He did not
go.
I am now at Billings. This is a great cattle
market. The cattle from north for one hun-
dred to two hundred miles clear up to British
Columbia possessions are driven here for mar-
ket. Here we meet cowboys from that northern
country, from whom we are able to learn much
about that country and the manner of doing
business. We learn that in that section the
winters are very severe and changeable; mer-
cury drops to fifty degrees below zero; yet the
cattle get their own living. They are accli-
mated to the country, and learn to watch the
weather and guard against storms, and from
instinct seem to judge of coming storms better
than men themselves. In that region the hills
are not very high, and the valleys are usually
narrow. The changes are very sudden; mer-
cury may drop down to fifty degrees, and in an
hour a western breeze may strike the moun-
tains, and the snow be melting on the hills, and
before the men would think of a change they
would see the cattle flocking from the valleys
to the hills. On the hills the blizzards blow
282 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the snow off the ground, and as soon as the
warm breeze strikes them, it is good picking for
the cattle. They graze liere until there are
indications of a blizzard coming. Then they
seem to understaad it, and rush into the val-
leys, and there remain, rooting around in the
snow, picking the high grass as best they can,
until another change comes, when they rush to
the hills again.
The cowboys live in dugouts (so called) built
up inside with logs to keep it from caving, cov-
ered with poles, then brush, then with almost
two feet of earth, which makes a warm hut of
it. Every ranch has a house of this kind, and
the boys have jolly times in getting together.
All have their bronchos to ride back and forth,
and to look after the herds. This whole coun-
try is divided up into ranches. Sometimes two
or three men will herd together, and occupy
eight or ten thousand acres. Every herdsman
has a special mark for his cattle. They have
strict laws among themselves, and if any owner
of cattle should disfigure the mark on any other
man's cattle, they drive him from the country.
In the spring they hire a man that goes through
the herds and marks every calf after the mark
of its mother. That calf may grow up and its
owner never see it.
OFF FOR MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL 283
When the cattle get fat, ready for market,
the ranchmen get together and appoint one or
two men to go to Billings, and contract the
cattle for that whole section of country. The
drov^ers go to Billings, where they meet these
salesmen. The drovers inquire of them as to
how many cattle they can furnish from their
section of country that will average so and so.
They answer from one to four thousand, as they
think or know. A bargain is closed, and the
salesmen return and send word to all the own-
ers of cattle to select all their cattle that will
average so and so, and drive them to such a
ranch. All the cattle are got together, and the
salesmen and a few cowboys with their dogs
drive this big herd to Billings. This saves
great expense to what it would be for each
herdsman to deliver his own cattle. These cat-
tle are weighed and entered on a book to the
credit of the man that the mark indicates. The
whole account is figured up together, and the
salesman takes the money and goes home, and
calls all the stock owners together, and every
man is paid his money according to the weight
of cattle that is placed to his credit. Each
man pays his proportion of costs to the market.
The business is done as accurately as a banking
house does its business.
284 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
We left Billings in the evening, and thus
lost much of the beauty of the Yellowstone
valley. The naorning brought us to Glendive
Mountain, and at 8: 30 we crossed the line into
Dakota. We stopped at Medora, the great beef-
packing town, on the little Missouri Kiver.
While stopping at this point the passengers
were amused by a cowboy attempting to break
a wild pony to the saddle. Some of their po-
nies are very wild and high tempered, but when
one is conquered, it makes the best and most
durable animal for ranch use. The pony was
lassoed and brought into a straw stable, sad-
dled and bridled, with lasso on the horn of the
saddle; another boy astride his pony came out
of the stable to lead or follow in the strides, as
the case might develop. The wild pony was let
loose, and it was with difficulty tliat he could be
kept still enough for the boy to get into his sad-
dle. But he finally succeeded. No sooner
done than the animal was bounding to get him
off. Of all the kicking, jumping in the air, side-
wise and every way, down on the ground and
up again; and sometimes it would seem that
every foot was in the air at the same time.
The scene became terrible and terrific, and
everyone seemed breathless as they looked upon
it, when suddenly the animal threw himself,
OFF FOR MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL 285
rolled over, rolling his rider off, jumped up so
quickly that the boy r-ould not gain his saddle-
The pony was oft' quick as a jift'; the boy grabbed
the end of the rope that uncoiled from the horn
of the saddle, was dragged a short distance, but
was compelled to let loose to save his life.
Now for the chase. The boy on the pony let
loose his steed at the best of his speed, with
lasso in hand, and was away with lightning
speed to lasso and bring back the wild pony.
They crossed the plain around the bluft' out of
sight, in the mountains, and our conductor
cried out, "All aboard," and our train was off.
However anxious, we never knew any more
about the fracas.
I forgot to tell you about the herds of sheep
of Montana, as we came through. They were
to be seen by the thousands along the plains
and foot hills of the mountains, and what at-
tracted us most was to see a woman on her
pony, and her shepherd dog, galloping along the
mountains above and beyond the sheep, back
and forth, to protect the sheep from wild ani-
mals, and the prairie wolf from stealing away
the young lambs. It was an interesting sight.
How would our Eastern girls like the shepherd
girl's life!*
We are on the move again. We make short
286 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
stops at Tiickerton, Bismarck, and other small
towns that have sprung up like mushrooms of a
night, in Dakota. We are in a land of beautiful
lakes and prairies, and amid the remarkable
wheat fields of the Northwest; crossing one said
to be fourteen miles across. Talk about wheat
fields in the East — nonsense ! Go to Dakota
if you want to see how business is done on a large
scale. The elevators along the railroad are a
sight to behold. It was told me that one man
could weigh ten thousand bushels of wheat into
one of the enormous storehouses in two hours.
The wheat is taken up by elevators to the top
of the building, and emptied into a hopper or
bin that holds one thousand bushels at a time.
This is set on scales. The wheat is weighed,
the bottom drops out, and the grain falls below,
when the bottom closes, and it is ready for the
next thousand, and so on until the storehouse is
filled, and there remains until the market calls
for it.
But we pass on overnight, and the morning
finds us amid the woodlands and lakes of Min-
nesota, and next at Anoka, where we strike the
Mississippi River in the lumber region and
amid the mammoth sawmills of our nation. The
river is filled with saw-logs and timbers. But
we pass on and soon arrive at Minneapolis, the
OFF FOR MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL 28T
great city of "new process flour " of the world,
and we stop to rest, and visit our friend, T. E.
Brown, who visited us at the time of the Cen-
tennial show at Philadelphia, Pa., and who
used to be our neighbor in Nile, Allegany
County, N. Y.
LVII
IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
We feel now we are near home, though some
eleven hundred miles awaj. We are on ground
we have trod upon before, some twenty-five
years ago when the population was only
about two thousand. Now it has about one
hundred and fifty thousand, and is the leading
town of the northwest. At my first visit St.
Paul was in the lead by several thousand in-
habitants; but now Minneapolis is in the lead
some five thousand. The towns started nine
miles apart; now the north line of St. Paul is
the south line of Minneapolis. The water
power of the falls at Minneapolis has given it
the advantage. The great wheat country and
lumber give them the stock and opportunity to
excel in manufacturing more fiour and lumber
than any other city on our continent, if not in
the world. Each of these cities has spread out
so that their street lamps meet each other, and
practically they are one city, though they hate
each other with a hatred that makes the devil's
animosity to holy water seem the tenderest
affection. Minneapolis, it is said, has the facili-
288
IN MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 289
ties for putting up seven thousand barrels of
flour per day, and all the mills combined can
put up thirty thousand in twenty-four hours.
The saw mills do business upon about the same
scale. It is a marvel to see them handle every-
thing by machinery. They utilize even every
slab into lath or kindling wood. Their public
buildings are becoming enormous.
We stop to reflect. We have now crossed
the continent by way of Denver, Colo., over the
Rocky Mountains by the Rio Grande Railroad
to Utah and Salt Lake City; across the desert,
over the Sierra Nevadas to Sacramento, Gal.,
and San Francisco; up the Pacific Ocean six
hundred miles; thence up the Columbia River
to Portland, Ore. ; to Salem, the capital, by
rail; thence by the Northern Pacific Railroad
to Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., and now
as we move eastward, we cross the Mississippi
River and find ourselves in Wisconsin, on terri-
tory that I traversed or visited beyond the
lakes, as long ago as IHtttt. We make a short
stop at Milwaukee and a short time at Chicago,
and now what do I see compared to what we saw
then ? Then a city of only about eleven thou-
sand or twelve thousand inhabitants. What a
change I
But we are oft' now for home, and our train
19
290 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
lands us in New York, and we arrive at our
home after making a journey of about 8,000
miles without accident or sickness to lay us up
during the whole round and distance. Found
all things in order at home, and were very
thankful that we had had so pleasant a journey
all around.
LVIII
SARATOGA, LAKE CHAMPLAIN, MONTREAL,
AND THE THOUSAND ISLANDS
This trip is a pleasant one for the warm sea-
son. We left New York by the New York
Central Railroad to Troy; thence to Saratoga
Springs, where we stop over for a few days.
This is a beautiful little town, and a great place
of resort for pleasure and public gatherings; for
politicians, picnics, and social gatherings. The
springs and the shady groves and fine drives
make it very entertaining, and thousands resort
here for pleasure and comfort. Lake George
and the Adirondacks are conveniently near,
and Lake Charaplain near by makes a pleasant
resort for sailing, fishing, etc.
We stopped a few days at the Springs, and
then at the lake, and on to Rouse's Point, where
we cross the line into Canada, thence by cars
to a town called Prairie, thence through the
little narrow farms that have been cut up by par-
ents for their children until the land looks like
narrow fenced roads for miles. This seemed
strange to me until I learned the cause, and then
it seemed to me that if all were good neighbors
291
292 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
thej might dispense with the crooked rail fences
and save expense, and could cultivate the land
much better. The population seemed to be a
mixture of Indians, French, and Canadians; but I
could not understand a word from an j of them, so
passed on to the Grand Trunk Railroad bridge,
which is nearly two miles long, over to Montreal.
Montreal is not a new place to visit for ns, yet
it is a rather delightful city to stop in, in warm
weather. A drive around the mountain, eight
miles, is fine almost anytime, and the churches
and cathedrals, stores, and public drives near
the river are cool and bracing, and altogether a
traveler can spend a few days quite comfort-
ably.
But we, of our make-up, like to see, and pass
on to see something new. So we take the cars
on the Canadian side up the river through the
farming lands, cattle- raising and cheese-making
country to the Thousand Islands, and stop over-
night in a rather dull town of plenty of saloons.
But we kept sober, and early the next morning
we took the first boat over through the Islands,
and landed at Round Isle, where we found in
waiting for us, my sister, Lucy Maxson, who
married Dr. E. R. Maxson, who owns a cottage
on that island for a place of resort in the hot
season. The hot season was drawing to a close,
SARATOGA, LAKE CHAMPLAIN, ETC. 293
and many of the visitors were leaving the
Islands; but we stopped a few days and enjoyed
our stay, while our sister gathered up things for
removal for the season to her home in Syra-
cuse, N. Y. All things ready, we all board the
train by way of Watertown to Adams Center,
and we stop over with a friend, while sister con-
tinues on her journey home to prepare for our
reception to make her family a visit for a few
days.
We leave Adams Center by cars for Syracuse,
and arrive in good season and find all well.
The old doctor and son practice together, and so
arrange their business that we have a chance at
visiting and sight-seeing. Our visit closes and
we are off for home by way of Binghamton and
on to New York, and thence home. And now
the heat of the season is over, and we settle
down for our business and for the winter. Try
the trip, and see how you like it.
LIX
A CHAPTER FROM OUR NOTE ROOK
We left Plainfield by the Central Railroad to
the Junction, changed cars to the Delaware &
Lackawana, when we soon crossed the Dela-
ware River, passing the beautiful scenery
through the gap, and on beyond into the moun-
tains of Pennsylvania. Our engine puffed and
tugged up this and that gorge, around this
curve and that, across deep gulches, through a
country which for miles was made seemingly
for no other purpose than to hold the earth
together, as it is so poor that man can not raise
anything to subsist upon; consequently human
beings are scarce in this region. Yet it is a
romantic route, and after traveling nearly forty
miles by the railroad one can look distinctly
down through the gap from the mountain top,
a scene most beautiful to behold.
As we rush on, peak after peak looms up to
the right and to the left, and the small brooks
ripple among the rocks, making the scenery
grand to behold; and I thought if I were
a boy again I would like to turn angler, and
try my luck at fishing for the beautiful speckled
294
A CHAPTER FROM OUR NOTE BOOK 295
trout as of yore. But I can an old boy now,
and no time to fish; and we push on up, up,
and now we begin to see what this part of the
world was made for; for here we are in the
coal and iron mines, and lumber region of
Pennsylvania, and soon we arrive at Scranton.
And sure, this is a city set on a hill; but had it
not been for the coal and iron in that region
the world would never have received any bene-
fit or light therefrom. But as it is, it proves of
great value to the world, and the wealth thereof
is unbounded.
But we pass on down the mountains, amid
crags and rocks, brooks and turns, as if the
breeching on the engine was broken, and we
find ourselves steaming up the beautiful and
fertile valley of the Susquehanna Kiver, and
stop at the pleasant town of Binghampton.
There we cross the Erie Railroad, and pass on
northerly through a most beautiful country
toward Syracuse, the city noted for catching
slaves during the time of the fugitive slave
law. We lived in the State of New York at
that time, and no w of what we write, and
know that some of the slave catchers came
pretty near smelling gunpowder, and did not
get many negroes there, either.
But we stopped short of that city, and put
296 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
up for the night at Cortland. The weather was
beautiful, and in the morning we took cars on
the Oswego branch of the Midland Eailroad
through the beautiful dairy country to Deruyter.
This place is beautifully situated in Madison
County. The good people long ago reared a
large stone edifice for an academy, and for
years kept it alive; but a large proportion of
the inhabitants about this place were fond of
whisky and horse racing, and now the academy
is dead, and two or three licensed taverns are
in full blast there.
Near this place the S. D. Baptist denomina-
tion held their annual conference the week we
were there. Delegates were there from many
of the churches in the United States, and over
one thousand of this persuasion were together
there. On leaving the place, we went for tlie
cars, it being the next day after the close of the
conference. The road not being informed,
they were not prepared with coaclies to take
such a crowd, so baggage and flat cars were
arranged with seats from the depot as best
could be done, and on to Norwich we did go.
We took seats with the dominies on the plat-
form car, where we had a chance to view the
beautiful landscape, and we greatly enjoyed it,
the weather being beautiful. Our engine puffed
A CHAPTER FROM OUR NOTE BOOK 297
and blowed, as the grade to the mile sometimes
was eighty-four feet.
At Norwich the party divided, some for the
west, Dorth, and south, but we took the Midland
road to the east, and on we went over hill and
dale, sometimes apparently on stilts of iron one
hundred feet high, and then on solid mountains
made of stone, mortar, and clay by the great
Jehovah. As we passed along on the high-
lands, we could look down in the deep valleys
and on the hillsides beyond, and see mapped
out the beautiful dairy farms, with flocks of
cows of ten to one hundred or so, for the hills
in this section are cultivated as well as the val-
leys below. In these valleys are made the big
cheeses found in our cities, some of which also
go to Europe. But our engine does n't wait for
us to sketch landscape, for on it must go, as a
hard road is before us before we reach the cities
by the seashore. On we go, up, up, and a big
mountain appears before. We come to a stand-
still, as if this was the end, and we were never
to go ahead any more. But a switch is turned
behind us, and we are backing up the hill on the
other side.
We arrive at tlie summit, and a switch is
turned ahead of the engine, and soon on the
plain of the mountains we were going lightning
298 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
speed; but we soon came to a halt, for we were too
high up for the plain below, so we were switched
down as before, and now we find ourselves in a
more desolate-looking place or country, apparent-
ly new and wild. But the engine does n't wait; it
is down grade, and it goes on with thundering
strides. She plunges into mountains of dark-
ness, but always fetches us out safe on the other
side. And now we find ourselves on the east
branch of the Delaware, in a wild wilderness
world. We look up, and it is rocks and crags
over our heads, and beneath is the river bottom,
with her rocks and eelpots as set by some wild
man. But we don't stop here to lament or
mourn, for it is some of God's creating, and his
foundation is strong. But up we go out of this
valley, and down we come on to the beautiful
farm lands near Middleton, where we strike the
Erie road. Here we change cars into Erie,
when we are jerked through to New York,
mostly after dark, without observation, and we
skedaddle for our humble home in Plainfield,
the beautiful city of the plains.
\. JUDSON HALL AND FAMILY
Mr. Hall
Edna Hall
Mrs. Hall
Dudley Hall
A. Judson Hall came to me at three years of age, a fatherless boy. 1
brought liim up, ana he was a faithful and trusty boy. At nineteen years
of age he enlisted in the Eig:hty-fifth New York Volunteers. Was taken
prisoner, and was eleven months in Southern prisons, where he came near
to his death.
LX
OVER THE HILLS IN THE OIL REGIONS
We left our beautiful citj of Plainfield July
1, 1878, for a mountainous and cooler clime.
We passed over the mountains by Wilkesbarre,
thence on to Elmira and Hornellsville, and
thence into Allegany County among the hills of
my boyhood. Here is the tip-top summit of
the Erie Kailroad. We remain a few days, and
find the mountain breezes refreshing, and the
nights so cool as to require two blankets to
make one comfortable. And did n't we sleep
sweetly after leaving New Jersey's heat of 95° ?
But we are out for a strike, and pass on to
Glean, Cattaraugus County; and here is the
Allegany River, and a busy town; for here is
a receiving basin for the pipes from the oil re-
gion. But not being satisfied, we take passage
on the narrow gauge railroad, and for two hours
we worm ourselves over the mountains, through
cities of oil derricks, of which it is said, there
are nearly five thousand in this region, and we
arrive at the town of Bradford, eighteen miles
from Olean. This is a wonderfully rough and
good-for-nothing country, save for the oil stored
301
302 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
away in the rocks thousands of feet below the
surface. But Providence made nothing in vain,
and so thousands of people find employment
here, while they must subsist upon the products
of a more fertile country.
Here we find ourselves in the midst of a
lively city of about ten thousand inhabitants.
It is a city made up of representatives from all
nations, and a poor place for one of unsettled or
unsteady habits; for grog-shops are more plen-
tiful, if possible, than in Plainfield. Oil is so
plenty and prices so low that the storage will
not hold the flood. Oil is wasting by the thou-
sands of gallons. At Tarport, I saw quite a
river of oil running down the mountain, and
the small streams are covered. Were oil worth
$1.50 per barrel, men could make fortunes in
dipping it from the streams. It is said there
are pools of oil in places ten feet deep. There
is a network of pipes in every direction, and it
seems as if the earth is becoming saturated for
a great conflagration all through this region.
Oil is worth here to-day about sixty-eight cents
per barrel.
But I must prepare to worm myself out of
this region over the Allegany Eiver and up to
its head waters for a rest, for we are after the
cool breezes of the highlands, and we intend to
OVER THE HILLS IN THE OIL REGIONS 303
cross over to the head waters of the Genesee
River before we return to Plaintield. The coun-
try on our trip thus far has been beautiful. The
hills and woodlands are of a lovely green, and
the late rains have given a wonderfully healthy
growth to the crops on the fertile hillsides and
in the rich valleys which we have passed over
in our journey. The apple crop, which was
thought to be nearly destroyed by the late frost,
does not seem to be affected on the highlands,
where there is a prospect of an abundant crop.
The dairy country seems to flow abundantly
with milk, cheese, and butter; but the farmers
grieve awfully at selling cheese for five or five
and a half cents per pound, and butter at one
shilling.
We stop off in Little Genesee, N. Y. We
are still among the mountain breezes. This
town is situated among the head waters of the
Allegany and Genesee Rivers, and it is border-
ing on the north line of Pennsylvania, and was
once one of the heaviest-timbered sections in
western Kew York; but now since the lumber
is nearly cut away, it has become one of the
most fertile towns in this section. The farmers
are largely in the dairy business and stock rais-
ing, and go in for the best of stock in cattle and
horses. I was shown a one-year-old colt that
304 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
weighed 1,100 pounds. I have not seen so heavy
crops in any township since leaving New Jer-
sey. There is one remarkable thing about this
town: It has been settled nearly seventy years,
and has never granted a license to sell ardent
spirits, and never has furnished a pauper for the
poorhouse. The early settlers of this town were
largely New Englanders, and quite largely S.
D. Baptists, and for a time it was called Little
Rhode Island. The putting down of oil wells
has largely spread over the southern part of
Allegany Co. They have come to a scientific
method in putting down wells, and working
them. They bore down until they strike the
right kind of sand rock and oil, if they have to
go down 2,000 feet. They then sink a torpedo
box, or nitroglycerine blast to the bottom, con-
nected with a wire that ignites the torpedo.
This shatters and shakes up the sand rock, and
if a good well, the oil will immediately begin to
flow. The rock in which the oil is found is of a
porous and sandy nature, and the oil flows out
much like molasses draining from a sugar cask,
until it becomes dry, leaving no vacuum or hole
in the rock or earth from which the oil is taken.
The excitement follows wherever oil is struck,
much as it does where gold is discovered in the
gold regions. Owners of land, good or poor, if
OVER THE HILLS IN THE OIL REGIONS 305
oil is struck on or near, immediately begin to
count on their wealth, and at such times the men
that sell out while the excitement is kept up
make the most money. On the whole, I am
inclined to think there is more money lost than
made out of the oil speculation. But it is time
I returned home to look after business matters,
and home I go.
20
LXI
OUR SECOND TRIP TO CALIFORNIA
We left the citj of Plainfield April 28, 1889,
making our first stop at Washington, D. C,
thence on to Richmond, a place familiar during
the Civil war. We cross the Potomac near
Georgetown, and the various battlefields are
revived in our memory, and also the many
hardships which the boys in blue had to pass
through to save our Union from dismember-
ment and death. The country is usually poor,
having been worn out by poor cultivation and
slave labor, though occasionally a fine mansion
and plantation appear. Richmond is situated
on the James River, and has a population of
nearly 100,000. To us it did not seem a very
enterprising city, though considerable manu-
facturing seemed to be carried on. When we
crossed the river, it was rather grand, as it was
very high from recent heavy rains. I was told
that there were some fine farming lands up the
river a few miles. If so, I tliink it must be an
exception to the general rule.
We passed on through light timbered land
dotted with negro huts, and crossed into North
306
OUR SECOND TRIP TO CALIFORNIA 30T
Carolina and South Carolina by waj of Wil-
mington and Charleston. The former has a
population of about 21,000; the latter some
60,000; both are rather dull towns. These
States, especially near the coast, are of a sandy
soil, or swampy, with considerable pine. The
negroes occupy largely, many of them being
engaged in the manufacturing of tar, resin, and
turpentine, the manufacturing establishments
being of the modest kind. This business is
said to be very hard on the timber, the tapping
killing the trees in a few years. Northern
men have come to this pine country and are
making the lumber business a success, and
some of them have become quite wealthy, and
prove a great blessing to the poor people, as
they find employment for them. The method
of farming is rather novel to the Northerner;
one sees colored men and women, also poor
whites, plowing with a cow, steer, or poor mule
harnessed to a wooden plow running through
the sand. To us it did not look as if anything
could grow, but it was said that melons, es-
pecially, flourished finely in this sand. Their
market is a journeying one, and includes a har-
nessed steer, cow, or mule, very lean, hitched
to a two-wheeled cart. The dwelling places
are quite novel; some of them are constructed
308 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
with logs or poles, others of crotched timber
with poles overhead covered with bark of trees,
slabs, or brush, open all round, often situated
on a small island in the swamps, or near the
borders of the swamp. The people seem happv,
and as we passed along in the early morn we
often saw the men sitting in front with a flock
of children, while the women were busy ap-
parently preparing their morning meal.
As we pass into Georgia there was, to a cer-
tain extent, a sameness; pine timber and saw-
mills were common. The scenery changes
somewhat as we near Savannah. This city
manifests considerable enterprise, and has a
population of nearly 50,000. The country
possesses plenty of sand, resembling the soil
along the Jersey shore. From Savannah we
went to Jacksonville, Fla., of which we may
have more to say in another chapter.
LXII
AT JACKSONVILLE
From Savannah to Jacksonville we found it
rather dull; but we found some old slavehold-
ers and a sheriff of Georgia County on board,
who were quite sociable. The late war was
talked over, and its results. All agreed that
good to the whole country had come of it.
Said one of the old slaveholders: " It was the
best thing that could have happened to our
young men of the South, as they were coming
up in idleness, with no idea of ever doing any-
thing for themselves; they made no calcula-
tion of earning their own living. Now they
are compelled to do something or starve, as
they can not now look for a living from slave
labor." The sheriff said, " The greatest curse
to the country now is the politicians, as they
corrupt the common people both black and
white." The ladies chatter about the beautiful
lilies and other flowers in and along the
swamps, until we reach Jacksonville.
Jacksonville is a sort of central place for
Northern people to visit, especially in the
winter and spring seasons. The town has not
809
310 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
entirely recovered the setback from the late
fevers. Many people shy around the place,
but we had no cause to shun the old town.
We stopped at the Delavan House, off and on,
for about one week. This town reports 20,-
000 population, which are largely of the col-
ored race, and of rather intelligent people.
We crossed the St. Johns and visited the
Mitchell garden and orange grove, and others
along the beautiful banks, and called on a
friend that once lived in Plaiiifield. The
Mitchell grove and garden are among the finest
along the St. Johns. We find ripe fruit yet on
the trees, while the new fruit has set thickly.
By railroad we go southerly to St. Augustine.
This is one of the oldest towns of the State,
beautifully situated on the coast. The old
French or Hessian forts still remain standing,
and there, with other buildings, represent the
town to be nearly three hundred years old.
The place was once walled, but the walls have
been mostly removed, and the material has
been used for other purposes. The walls of
the east gate yet stand as a landmark. The
streets of the old part of the town are very nar-
row, some only seven to fourteen feet wide.
The place is distinctly marked where the Indi-
ans, Hessians, and soldiers of the early wars
AT JACKSONVILLE 311
were buried. This town is destined to be in
ages to come, one of the most interesting towns
and resorts of the South. One northern man has
already invested some $4,000,000 here, and
intends to spend some $2,000,000 more to
make the town attractive. He has already
built three hotels, one of which is called the
''Ponce de Leon." It was closed for the sea-
son at this time, but we were permitted to enter
its courts and the dining-room, and lower floor.
Its magnitude and beauty we shall not attempt
to describe. We have visited the Palace hotel
of San Francisco, the best hotels in Chicago,
New York, and other cities of the United
States, and have not seen its equal. St. Augus-
tine reports at present but about three thousand
inhabitants, but is probably filling up faster
than any other town in the State.
We pass on southerly to Halifax Kiver and
on to a town called Daytona. The country is
flat and swampy, and much of the way is cov-
ered with tall, slim, sap pine, with a low pal-
metto called the cabbage palmetto, and the
magnolia. But little grass grows through this
region. Now and then we see small herds of
cattle, very scrawny looking. The native cows
are about as large as a fair-sized one-year-old
calf in the North, and give from one to twa
312 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
quarts of milk per day. As we near the Hali-
fax River the timber changes largely to tall
palmetto and live oak, the oak being spread out
with broad and huge limbs beautifully draped
with long, swinging moss in clusters from ten
to twenty feet long. This moss is gathered in
many places and manipulated until the outside
ceases to cling to the inside, which resembles
horse-hair, and which is used for upholstering.
The palmetto grows tall and straight, from ten
to fifty feet high without a limb, with broad
leaves flowing from the top somewhat in the
shape of an umbrella. Its growth is different
from that of any other tree; it grows from the
inside, or heart, instead of next to the bark like
other trees. It drinks in its life largely from
the atmosphere, instead of the earth. The body
is so full of fiber that it can not be split, neither
can it be utilized for anything save to be driven
into the ground for piles. One may trim the
outside or girdle the bark without affecting the
growth, so long as he does not interfere with
the heart. The moss spoken of seems to live
on the atmosphere, as it has no roots. It
merely wraps itself around the trees or what-
ever it touches. Sometimes the wind breaks it
loose, and it lodges on the orange trees, or other
fruit trees, and it is claimed that if it is left
AT JACKSONVILLE 313
there it saps the atmosphere and hinders the
growth of the tree and fruit.
The town of Dayton a fronts on the Halifax
River. The river empties into the ocean sev-
eral miles to the north, and it is full of fish, of
various kinds, and the town is well supplied
with a great variety caught with nets. The fish
are sold at five cents a pound. The town is
beautifully laid out in native groves, with orange
groves intermixed, which make the drives pleas-
ant and beautiful. A descendant of John Smith,
who owns some fine orange groves, oft'ered his
services to take us on a drive, one day, and we
were taken to the finest groves miles away. In
this region we saw some of the finest groves in
the State, especially those in what is called the
hummock lands. The hummock lands are the
lower lands or hollows between the sand ridges,
the ridges not being so fertile. The oranges and
other native fruits of Florida require much care,
cultivation, and feeding in order to be a success.
Neglect will quickly show itself by the leaves'
turning yellow, and by poor fruitage. I should
judge that not over one seventh part of Florida
can be made to pay for cultivation. Indeed,
the State is probably as poor a State as any in
the United States; yet its climate is balmy, and
it is a pleasant resort for Northern people to
314 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
spend the winters and their money, without
which the people of the State would have to
emigrate or starve.
We return to Jacksonville, and the next morn-
ing we leave on our journey by way of Talla-
hassee, Pensacola, and Mobile. The route is
rather a pleasant one. We pass through the
sand hills amid the multitude of little cottages
where the subjects of the plague of yellow fever
were cared for. The country is strewn with
sandhills, swamps, and some plantations well
cultivated, that seemed quite productive. Tal-
lahassee is a fine town set on a hill, and sur
rounded with trees, shrubs, and flowers, with a
population of nearly 4,000, and is the capital of
the State. Pensacola is a larger town, and has
a population of some 12,000. The country has
a sort of sameness through Florida. Native
trees, shrubs, and flowers attract the eye, and the
colored people in their rude huts and with their
methods of living, make the journey one of
interest.
As we enter Alabama night overtakes us, and
we lose much of the sight-seeing as we enter
Mobile. This city is quite large for a Southern
coast city, and has a population of nearly 50,000.
It is rather a beautiful city. Morning finds us
nearly across the southern part of Mississippi,
AT JACKSONVILLE 315
and we enter Louisiana. We are crossing the
lowlands as we near New Orleans. We enter
the room for a chat with the conductor, who puts
us on our watch for alligators as we pass bayous
and canals along the road and the marshes.
We did not have to wait long before seeing them
by the dozen and score, floundering about in
mud and water. Eight o'clock brings us into
New Orleans, where we put up at the St. Charles
Hotel for rest.
LXIII
IN NEW ORLEANS, LA.
We had formed rather an unfavorable opinion
of this city; but people sometimes change their
minds by visiting a country or city. We hire
a polite coachman, and tell him to take us
through the best sight-seeing part of the town,
and especially to their burying grounds, the
levees, and the Horticultural Gardens. His
first stop is before the mansion that General
B. F. Butler confiscated for his headquarters
while in command at New Orleans during the
Civil war. Our guide gave us full details of
the General, and said that the people thought him
a hard old tyrant at the time, but now as they
look back, they decide that he was the instru-
ment of greater reforms to the city, in morals
and sanitary measures, than any man who has
entered it before or since. Tlie monument of
General Lee is conspicuously situated at the head
of the most beautiful streets and drives. To the
lovers of nature and art the Horticultural Build-
ing is one of decided interest. The old French
part of the town, its streets and merchants, seem
somewhat odd and ancient; but the old city is
316
IN NEW ORLEANS, LA. 317
becoming AmericaDized; things have wonder-
fully changed since the war. Some of the
streets are broad, with horse railroads in the
center, with drives on each side, and a row of
trees with lawn between the drives. The lawns
are covered with most beautiful white clover,
which seems natural to the soil about the city
and surrounding country. The city proper lies
in a horseshoe shape made by a circle of the
river, and from sailing crafts one may look
down through the streets of the city. The
drainage or outlet of the water in the city is
quite convenient to the Gulf Stream, so that
stagnant waters pass out more readily than one
would suppose. The water lies near the sur-
face of the ground all over the city, con-
sequently the people can have no wells or
cellars. The city depends wholly on cistern
water for family use, nearly every house having
a cistern above ground, reaching nearly to the
roof. The dead are buried above ground in
graves arranged one above the other in stone
or brick cemented walls, the mouth of each
vault being cemented to air tightness. The
St. Charles Hotel is conducted by gentlemen.
Guests are treated with politeness, and are well
fed at reasonable prices.
It is now Friday, and we take a short trip up
318 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the Illinois Central Railroad to a settlement
among the pines, called Hammond, near the
northern border of the State, where some
Northern and Eastern people of our acquaint-
ance have settled on account of the ''healthful-
ness of the| climate,*' they say. The route is
level, and for a time the crops and herds of
stock look fine. White and red clover grow
most luxuriantly, but we soon run into swamps
and lakes, while now and then a dry spot ap-
pears. On these more eligible sites negro huts
of the rudest kind are seen. The negroes settle
here because the land is cheap, and by laboring
on the road, or fishing, they eke out a scanty
livelihood. Alligators are a common sight in
this region. We pass on up to the pine lands,
where Northern people have started a settle-
ment, and here are several families of my
acquaintance. Quite a hotel for winter resort
has been built here, but was closed so far as
feeding the public was concerned. It would
only rent rooms for long or short terms; but
that did not suit our habits of life, as we had
been accustomed to eating as well as sleeping.
However, we soon found reception in a private
family, and spent a few days of rest quite com-
fortably. The people claimed to have come
here largely for health. This they may possibly
IN NEW ORLEANS, LA. 319
obtain, but I fear they will not gain much else.
From appearances I should judge that this sec-
tion was once a large swamp, and had been
cleared up for occupation by the French or
Hessians two or three hundred years ago, but
had been deserted and left to grow up to pine
again. It is very Hat, and heavy rains are apt
to flood the lands, consequently they can have
DO cellars. They are commencing to cultivate
fruit, especially strawberries, with apparent suc-
cess, and find a ready market by shipping to
New Orleans or to Chicago.
We witnessed a scene of rather a novel char-
acter near the hotel. The owner had builded
an iron fence, making a yard or pen around a
large shade tree. In this inclosure a black
bear and an alligator lived together in har-
mony, kept for a show and a curiosity. A
large pen of alligators are kept in New Orleans
on one of the main streets, and men from
abroad take delight in visiting them.
Figs grow wild in the woodland in this
section of country, and the people take up the
fig trees, or bushes, and set them in yards and
gardens, and cultivate them with success. This
town is located on the New Orleans & Chicago
Kailroad some fifty miles from New Orleans.
The people are cultivating sweet potatoes here,
320 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and I saw Irish potatoes, but they looked rather
sickly. The people seemed happy here, and
we attended church with them on Sabbath day,
and they seemed as devoted as most of the
Northern churches, and brotherly love seemed
to prevail.
But we return to New Orleans. The colored
men seemed rather lazy in this country, and
I judge that they had rather fish and hunt while
the women do the work. The average popula-
tion to each shanty— I judge from outside appear-
ances— may be from eight to fifteen. I think
it better for my health to settle where wheat,
corn, and other grains would grow, than to
depend upon a few native fruits for a living,
and for health. We bid adieu to our friends,
and return to New Orleans, and find our way
to our hotel, where we rest after our journey.
It seems strange that people should build a city
on such low grounds. Eeally, the surface of
the land is lower than the natural river flow of
the Mississippi River, so that they are compelled
to fortify by a heavy embankment for thirty or
forty miles up the river to protect the city from
an overflow in times of flood. Morning comes
and we are rested, and we are off for El Paso,
Texas.
LXIV
ON OUR WAY TO EL PASO
It is said that El Paso is just half-waj between
New Orleans and San Francisco, about 1,200
miles. But we are off. The sun shines bril-
liantly, and we cross the widespread Missis-
sippi Kiver, and are on the beautiful plains and
plantations of Louisiana. The country is level,
the soil tolerably rich, and under good cultiva-
tion, as far as the eye can see. The cultivation
of corn, cane, and the fruitage of the land is
being conducted by blacks and whites inter-
mixed, as well as by horses, mules, and ox
teams.
We cross the Sabine River into the State of
Texas. Texas is a large State, nearly one thou-
sand miles long; it has, indeed, been said that
if it were divided up into half-acre lots, and all
the people of the globe were divided up into
families of five, each family could be supplied
with a half-acre lot by Texas alone. We find
ourselves now in one of the richest sections in
our country. We pass Houston, rather an old
town of some 17,000 inhabitants. Our route
takes us south of Austin, the State capital, to
21 321
322 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
San Antonio. Austin is said to be a most
beautiful city of 25,000 inhabitants. Our route
passes through a wonderfully rich country; level,
with a soil black and equal to any we have ever
seen in our country. It is now the 14th of May,
and we see corn to the top of the horses' backs
as they are working in it, with sugar cane and
other tropical crops in proportion. San Antonio
is a large government post, and is an interesting
town of over 30,000 inhabitants.
As we continue our journey, the country
changes, and we tind our route brings us through
the great cattle ranches of Texas. The lands
are level, with small lakes and swamps inter-
spersed with several varieties of timber, with
grasses quite abundant, with large heads of the
large-leaved cactus of different types or varieties,
sometimes in form of small trees or shrubs, and
again in the shape of eggs. The varieties make
them a peculiarly interesting sight. These
cattle ranches are usually fenced with wire
fences in from 1 to 10,000 acre lots, and the
cattle are numbered by tens of thousands. The
Texas cattle proper have very long and broad
horns, measuring two or more feet long, and I
think some steers' horns might measure five to
six feet from tip to tip, and cows' in proportion.
We pass Spofford Junction, south of Eagle
ON OUR WAY TO EL PASO 323
Pass, on the road to Old Mexico City and as we
near the Rio Grande River, the country becomes
rough and more barren and mountainous, and
we enter the canons and deep gorges, following
the river for several miles, the rocks and moun-
tains on either side being quite picturesque. As
we were passing amid the bluffs, we observed
sentinels standing on these points. I could not
understand why these men were thus standing
with guns, as there were no wars being carried
on in these parts. But soon we discovered men
in chain gangs, or dragging a large ball, at
work, and were told that they were State crimi-
nals hired by the State to do work on the roads,
and these sentinels had to watch them, and
shoot them down if they attempted to escape.
Across the Rio Recos River, after which the
river and line of Old Mexico bears south from
our route for one hundred miles or more, the
country is rather rough, rocky, barren, and
thinly settled; cowboys and cattle ranches are
to be seen only where water is to be found; but
as we near El Paso, the river makes up to onr
route, and along the valley we find plenty of
adobe houses, with a variety of nationalities
intermixed, and the lands more productive and
better cultivated.
LXV
AT EL PASO, TEXAS
El Paso is situated on the Texas side of
the Rio Grande River, bordering on Old Mex-
ico. Its population is a little over 1,000 —
rather a small town, yet a noted point on our
route. Its water supply for all purposes is
from the river. This river is so dirty at this
point that one may be pardoned for saying
that it almost dams itself in moving. The
water is pumped up into a reservoir on a hill
back of the town, and there left to settle. It
is then run into another, and filtered down into
the town for us to drink. When it reaches the
table, ice cold, it looks as clear as crystal; but
when I heard that the carcasses of thirteen
dead infants had been found in cleaning the
last reservoir, I concluded that I would prefer
the driven-well water of Plainfield.
I don't think that the morals of the people of
El Paso are much ahead of our Eastern cities,
and we think some of them are not fit to bring
up children in. They are accustomed to attend
bull fights on Sundays instead of going to
watering places in the mountains, or along the
324
AT EL PASO, TEXAS 325
coast, as is the fashion in the East. It is said
that one man owns one half of the town, and is
rich. He has fitted up grounds for bull-fights
for the recreation of the general public. The
fights are not confined to bulls; many other
animals meet in the arena — sometimes a bull
and a stallion, a jack and a stallion, a man and
a bull, or several men and a woman and a
bull. The bull usually gets worsted by men,
as he always closes his eyes when he makes a
charge, thus giving the person a chance to
dodge, and while the bull passes, the man
strikes with his weapon. Men fighting bulls
are bound by as strict rules as if fighting as
pugilists in a ring. This proprietor takes great
pleasure in arranging fights, and it was said
that he was making ready to soon have a fight
between two of the largest and most venomous
snakes that can be found in the country. Some
people attend church Sunday morning and the
bull fight in the afternoon.
We made a trip over the river to the town
called Paso Del Norte, in Old Mexico. This is a
town whose buildings are of mud, or adobe, one
story high; the walls, roof, and floors are all of
the same material, brick made without straw,
and baked in the sun. The brick are, I judge,
about twelve inches by twenty-four, and from
326 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
six to eight inches thick — possibly much like
the brick that the Egyptians compelled the
Israelites to make. These Mexicans are a dirty
looking people; some not half clad, and many
of the children in a garb resembling an under-
shirt. They appear about as heathenish as the
Indians in our various Territories. Go back
into the country and some of the children are
about as naked as when they came into the
world. The ladies think we had better take
the next train back, and we do so, excusing
ourselves from Old Mexico, and return to our
hotel to make ready for our journeying. The
dwelling places are very different, as every
individual is his own architect, and some of the
houses are of the rudest manufacture. Some
drive rows of stakes the size they want their
edifice, then weave in brush up to the eaves,
then set posts and put long poles across and
cover with brush and a thick covering of mud.
Others dig holes in the ground, cover with
poles, brush, and dirt. But I will not give
details. If people wish to learn how other
people live in this world, they must go around
among them. We do not decide to settle in
El Paso, in Texas, or over in Old Mexico,
so we decide to leave for Los Angeles, Cal.
LXVI
ON OUR WAY FROM EL PASO TO LOS
ANGELES, CAL.
We cross into New Mexico, passing Deming,
in the southern part of the State, and Lords-
burg, and soon cross the line into Arizona.
Thence we go on to Benson, and across the
State, passing over the Colorado River into
California. The route is very mountainous and
barren. In some places the valleys are broad,
and the distant rocky cliffs in beautiful shapes
appear, representing different faces. Some are
pyramidlike, some like castles and old forts;
all change in feature as we continually shift
our position and rush along up the grade. But
little water is to be found for long distances.
Stations have to be supplied by water trains.
The country is barren and poor, though we
often saw flocks of antelopes, with ten or a
dozen in each squad, with now and then a jack
rabbit and coyote or prairie wolf. It is said
that there are rich mines along this line, but
that because of lack of water they can not be
worked.
In passing along this dull and dreary route,
327
328 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the snow-capped mountains appearing in the
distance are the only thing to break the mon-
otony. The wild cactus tree and other plants
appear amid the rocks of the desert; they seem
to have a liking for life in places where nothing
else can subsist. As we near the Maricopa
the mountains narrow and converge together,
and at one time it was said that we were some
6,000 feet above the level of the sea. Even at
this great height we find an artesian well that
supplies the garden and the station; and the
native plants, whose special feature is a great
variety of cactus, which were examined with
closest curiosity by passengers, as the train
made quite a long stop at this station.
But 'all aboard'' is the order, and our train
is on the move, and now comes down grade for
many miles, and very steep at that. The val-
ley is narrow, the mountains are high, rocky,
and abrupt. The valley is barren, save for the
cactus trees — we might say ''stubs,'' as many
of them are tall, without a single branch.
The valley looks as if the flood had just left the
earth, as stones, rocks, and gravel seem to be
strewn in every direction. The grade is so
steep that they can not get back again. Some-
times it looks as if we were going back up the
valley, and as we cross from side to side of
ON OUR WAY TO LOS ANGELES 829
the mountains, we often see the railroad track
down the valley, and think that it is another
railroad that has found its way into this wilder-
ness, but in time we find an engine crawling
around a short curve on the same rails. Not a
drop of water is to be seen for many miles,
neither cow-boys nor cattle, nor Indians, nor
white men, save those connected with the rail-
road.
We are nearing California's southern bor-
ders. Don't get the idea that all California is a
paradise, or a garden of flowers ; for if you do
you will be likely to change your mind on
entering it by the southern route. The State,
you must remember, is very long, and its
domains are extensive. You cross the Colorado
river to get into it. After crossing the river }'0U
do not lose sight of desolation for forty to fifty
miles. The country may be rich with mines,
but there is a great lack of cultivation. As we
near Los Angeles, however, the daylight of life
appears, and we clean up our lunch basket for
a stop in the beautiful town, where we are to
rest for a few days, and see the town and its
beautiful surroundings.
LXVIl
IN LOS ANGELES, CAL.
Los Angeles is situated in southern Califor-
nia, four hundred and ninety-six miles south of
San Francisco, and fourteen miles from the
Pacific Ocean, on the Pacific route. It is in a
broad valley. The old town proper was built
on the south side of a large and broken bluff,
entirely separate from the surrounding moun-
tains ; but the new town has spread out on the
broad plains, while streets and drives have been
cut through and over the bluffs, and have been
lined with fine residences, lawns, and fiower-
gardens, with groves of bananas, oranges, and
other tropical fruits. Los Angeles is no mean
city, although some think that it has been
overextoUed. It has fine stores and public
buildings; the people are considerably mixed as
to nationalities, yet civil and well-behaved. The
town has had its boom, like many other cities,
and extravagances in the way of speculations
have used up many men who lacked friends
and good backing to tide them over. Even
these, however, are rallying above embarrass
ment, and the town is hoping for another boom
880
IN LOS ANGELES, CAL. 331
and a rush of business again. It has a popula-
tion of about 50,000, and can not be otherwise
than an interesting place.
Men of our present and fast age are quite
anxious to become suddenly rich, and conse-
quently often become suddenly poor, in West-
ern cities as well as Eastern. One man's mis-
fortunes often make opportunity for the next
man; for when one man falls and is in the
hands of the sheriff, the next man takes the
property at half its original cost, and goes to
prosperity, and the town is built up accordingly.
So it has been in Los Angeles. As our custom
is, we hire a coachman to take us by the hour.
He first drives out of town among the orange
groves, and fruits, and flower gardens owned by
rich and retired men. Many of the late fruit
trees, even for shade along the walks and streets,
are as common as apple trees in the East.
We are now boiled along the avenues of the
city, and as we near the heights, we can take
in a most beautiful survey of the country. Our
driver takes us upon the higliest point of the
bluff, and points westward, telling us that open-
ing in the bluff is fourteen miles away, and that
you can see the ocean just beyond. Here is
where the men of our navy landed and marched
with the American flag to demand a surrender
332 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
of the Pacific Slope to the American govern-
ment. Off yonder, in the gap of the mountain,
is where Fremont came through in the dead of
the night, stealing his way around back of the
bluff above the town, and right here is where
he planted his brass cannon. In the early
dawn, as the old Spanish town arose, there was
the American flag floating, and the brass cannon
shining in the morning sun, demanding surren-
der, and there was no alternativ^e. The guns
were in a masterful position. We met one man
on our route who had been in our navy at the
time of all the skirmishes along the coast, and
he said that if ever men fared hard, they did.
There were often hand-to-hand fights with great
odds against them. At one time they charged
and routed the enemy by fording a stream, waist
deep.
The older inhabitants of our country well re-
member the hardships of Fremont's men in
crossing the Rockies, and the struggles to gain
the gold regions of California and the Pacific
Slope; and the younger blood of America ought
to bear in mind that the privileges they now
enjoy in our own large donjains cost their fore-
fathers much hardship. The patriots were
compelled to live on mule meat and carcasses of
dead animals; their feet were often blistered
IN LOS ANGELES, CAL. 338
from want of shoes to protect them from jagged
rocks and cruel crags and the sands of the
desert. This is sacred ground, here in Los
Angeles. General Fremont is always greeted
with greatest reverence and ovations whenever
he enters this city. We descend to the plains
and take in the beauties of the stores and public
buildings, and return to our hotel for prepara-
tions for our journey away from Los Angeles,
which makes a good show on the Californian
slope. We called on a young doctor settled
here that journeyed with us on our first trip
from Denver to California, that had at that
time been East and married a wife, and was
taking her home with him.
Now we are off again; the cars are crowded,
but succeeded in getting a position, as usual, in
a palace car, and we are on our way through
the broad and beautiful valley, perhaps the
cream of California. Night, however, over-
takes us, and to our berths we are reconciled
for a time. We are soon awake again and demand
a blanket or two, for the night is cool, and one
rests and sleeps refreshingly under thick cover-
ing. Indeed, so chilly is the night air that
sealskin cloaks do not come amiss for a time in
the early morning. At six o'clock we are up, and
we promptly begin our ablutions to avoid the
384 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
later risers. All equipped for the day, we
dropped into the waiting room while our berth
is being made up. The train halts at a station,
and in steps a young man who proves to be Mr.
Potter, a cousin. The meeting, of course, was
pleasant and unexpected. He is in business in
San Francisco, on a business trip, and on his
way home. As we chat gayly, our train is
rushing on through the beautiful valley of
orchards, vineyards, and golden fields of grain
ripening for the harvest. Already theniachines
are clicking in the wheat fields and hay fields.
We are nearing the beautiful city of Oakland,
and the large bay that divides San Francisco
from that beautiful city. We are soon aboard
the large ferry boat, and in half an hour are
landed in the Pacific city, San Francisco. We
board the cable cars up to the Palace Hotel,
and cross over a block to the Occidental, which
was our home during the greater part of our
stay in this city on our former tour three years
ago.
LXVIII
IN SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN
The proprietor of the Occidental Hotel at San
Francisco knows just how to treat his guests in
order to hold the traveling public and the
Eastern tourist. We took in the city mainly
three years ago, when we visited the Pacific
Slope by a route different from the one jour-
neyed this time, and returned by the Northern
Pacific.
The eye is never satisfied of seeing, so we
take the cable cars up over the bluff' to the park
some four miles, thence by dummy cars four
miles farther to the Ocean Cliff House, high
up above the sea level, while other hotels are
scattered along the beach near the edge of the
beautiful Pacific Ocean, and we find ourselves
on the extreme western coast, again watching
the seals at their home upon the massive rocks
just beyond the shore. It is no new thing to
us, yet it is interesting to see them by hundreds
bark and fight and tumble off the high rocks
into the deep water of the ocean. These seals
are protected from harm by the United States
335
336 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
government, the same as are animals in the
great Yellowstone Park.
We make our way up to the beautiful gar-
dens on the cliffs, belonging to the Cliff House;
but we are getting tired, and take another look
back over old ocean, then board the cars and
round by the Golden Gate, the Soldiers'
Home and gardens, — nine miles for ten
cents, — to our hotel. We go to our room,
and what do we find ? A large dish of fruits,
including the finest oranges and cherries, just
the thing to quench our thirst and refresh our
weary bodies.
The next day we cross over the bay to Oak-
land and stop overnight with the family of our
cousin. Oakland is the city of flowers, situated
on a sort of plain as level as our city of
Plainfield, and has a population of 35,000 or
40,000. It is to San Francisco a sort of sleep-
ing place. Business men have their offices in
San Francisco, and reside over the bay two or
three miles away, crossing by ferry boats
morning and night, and thus rest in happy
homes, out of the noise and bustle of a busi-
ness city. We return to our room, and now
comes a basket of beautiful flowers, including
roses, of which my better half is particularly
fond. The card reads, "Compliments of the
IN SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN 337
proprietor.'" We make a trip to the sand hills,
or Chinatown; view over again the Chinese
theaters, banks, and other public buildings,
their joss houses, or places of worship, and
purchased a few trinkets for the children.
Not finding much change in this part of the
city, we make our way back home again and
for other sight-seeing.
San Francisco is on the bay, and is nearly
surrounded by water, a neck of land being all
that connects the south end of the island with
the mainland. The bay is large, lying on
the east, and its waters extending around the
north, through Golden Gate, out to the ocean
near rocky cliffs and the resort for visitors to
the ocean. In or near the middle of the bay
is quite a large island, and it is contemplated
to build a bridge across from city to city,
passing over this island, which would make a
beautiful construction, and lessen the crowd
that now crosses the ferries. There are but two
lines of ferries, and they have the largest ferry
boats I have ever seen in any country. They
ply every half hour, and are often crowded,
from the fact that all railroad passengers that
enter the city must enter by the ferries.
The traveler that has an eye to the curiosities
of nature and art will find much to interest him
338 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
in visiting these cities. As we visited these
cities three years ago, a somewhat lengthy ac-
count of which appears elsewhere, we will
omit further notes.
The traveler usually speaks most of the best
side of the country in writing up notes of
travels. I would not pretend that all is lovely
and beautiful in California, nor that riches
drop into one's pocket here without exertion.
The man that comes to California expecting to
get rich by doing nothing will probably be dis-
appointed. It was the divine edict that man
should live by the sweat of his brow, and the
man that won't work should not eat. It wants
men of push to succeed in the West. The
Chinaman will outstrip the lazy man in money-
making in the West, as well as in the East, as
he lives cheaply, scarcely ever drinks strong
drink, and saves his earnings with a view to
sending it back to China to his family. But
many of them have become rich and are worth
their hundreds of thousands of dollars, and are
as correct in business habits as our American
citizens, or other foreigners that come to our
shores, and it seems a shame that they are
treated as they are, while the rabble of all other
nations is allowed to come to our shores and
become voters before they learn their A B C's.
IN SAN FRANCISCO AGAIN 339
To be sure, the Chinaman smokes his pipe, but
he is somewhat sensible about it, while other
foreigners largely drink strong drink, get up
fights, labor strikes, and cause more delay and
trouble than all others combined.
We must gather up and be working eastward
before the weather gets to much heated, so we
are off.
We cross the ferry to Oakland, and thence
start on our back track toward Los Angeles,
about four hundred miles to Mojave. This
gives us a beautiful view of the country that
we passed in the night time coming from Los
Angeles. The whole valley seems productive;
and while fruit, wheat, and oats, and other
small grains grow finely, many of the farmers
are engaged in raising hay for baling. There
is a large demand for hay on the various rail-
roads where no hay will grow, which makes
the hay crop more profitable than other crops
at present prices.
There is much complaint among farmers
about low prices all through the West, and the
farm that is mortgaged under these circum-
stances is hard to free from incumbrance. Our
train is going with a rush, and night overtakes
us before we reach Mojave and the junction,
when we retire. We arise in the morning and
340 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
look out and see that we are in a poor, rocky,
desert-looking country; and we inquire where we
are. We are told that we are yet in California,
and that we are in a rich country of mines;
but they can not be worked successfully for
want of water. Well, there is no use of claim-
ing that the State is all paradise, so will close
this chapter right here in this desolate point
while we attend to our breakfasting.
LXIX
ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC
When we left Mojave, on the Central
Pacific we struck a new route, which takes us
perhaps one hundred and fifty miles into Cali-
fornia, crossing Arizona north of its center
and on to Albuquerque, N. M., to the Santa Fe
Eailroad.
Our last chapter closed, leaving us in the
desert part of California, eating our breakfast.
We had a good one, though not a particle of
it was grown in that country. Every article of
food eaten there by men or beasts has to be
transported by railroad. But our engine never
tires, and rushes on, drawing human freight,
and at the same time its own food and water.
We are now running down grade into the
midst of rocks and mountains as dry as a
powder-house, but as we continue our descent
in the valley we discover signs of vegetation.
It seems almost like being penned in low down
in the mountains. It is very hot. We take a
peep at the thermometer that hangs over our
heads. Whew ! The mercury stands at 106
degrees, this being much the hottest we have
341
342 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
found on our journey. Then we strike the Colo-
rado River and cross it at what is called the
Needles, and here we find a few families of
Mormons, and some vegetation. Now our
route is up grade through poor country, but
our engine puffs away, and it seems that every
puff makes the weather seem hotter. Night
overtakes us at last, and the porters make up
our berths with small screens in the windows,
and we retire in a great deal of a swelter.
Ere long, however, as we ascend higher, we
begin to feel around for the blanket, and
before break of day we close our screen and
double our blanket. At six o'clock we arise. It
seems very cool, and we look at the thermom-
eter; the mercury stands at 50°, a fall of 53° in
about fourteen hours, and our overgarments
came into play.
We are 6,000 feet high up in the mountains
of Arizona. This State is a poor one for culti-
vation, but it is said to consist of many rich
mines. In some sections cattle ranches appear,
and with the Indians we often see the cowboy
around the railroad stations; and right here let
me say that a most exciting scene occurred.
A wild horse, saddled and bridled, had in some
way broken loose from his rider, and is seen
coming down the mountain as if kicked by
ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 343
seventeen mules and donkies, and two cowboys
on horseback, with lassoes in hand, with light-
ning speed are endeavoring to capture the run-
away. Pass after pass is made, but somehow
they failed to rope him; they strike into the
valley and the dry dust fills the air. Our train
rushes on; the race passes a point of brush and
timber, and the end is not yet, and we know
not; but every passenger would have been glad
to have had the train stop long enough to see
how the affair came out. This was not the
only race of the kind under an observation.
They are always wonderfully exciting to our
human nature. This State is usually thinly
settled. We pass on and across the Little Colo-
rado Kiverin the mountains to Mojave Springs,
and cross the line into New Mexico at Allen-
town, southeast of Utah, perhaps one hundred
miles or more. We crossed the southern part,
or southwest corner of New Mexico and Ari-
zona on our way west on the Southern Pacific
route, but now we are passing through the.
northern part of these States.
In passing through Texas and New Mexico
we were reminded of the war between our
country and Mexico, when General Taylor was
the head of the forces, and Santa Anna the
head of the Mexican forces. Santa Anna was
344 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
a courageous fighter, and conducted his battle
by systematic warfare. He was the best offi-
cer Mexico could furnish. General Taylor was
of a different make-up; he was ready to retreat
or pitch battle at any time in order to take
advantage of the enemy and save his men, but
was never ready to surrender. Santa Anna
once said he whipped Taylor often, but Taylor
never knew when he was whipped, but seemed
always on the watch to strike him in the rear
when he least expected an attack, not so much
for statesmanship as for war.
Taylor was elected president, not so much
for statesmanship as for his bravery and tactics
in war, but did not live long to occupy the
chair. There was some intimation that he was
put out of the way by his enemies. The United
States forces, as their custom is, won the day,
and in consequence Texas was ceded to the
United States.
But we are now in New Mexico, and we shall
soon enter the Indian reserves ; and lo, the
poor Indian! He has been driven from pillar
to ,post from his good hunting grounds. The
buffalo and antelope, deer and fishing, have
been destroyed, and now they are packed
in the barren mountains and valleys of the
poorest part of our country to starve and die
ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 345
away. As we pass along through the little vil-
lages of adobe huts, these tents and wigwams
and dwelling places in the rocks, the women
and children appear half clad, begging for
bread, ten cents, or are trying to sell some
trinkets of their own make to help keep soul
and body together. The men appear in the
distance poorly clad, barefooted, bareheaded,
with long black hair parted in the middle,
hanging over their shoulders, and many of
them with painted faces that make them look
more savage than is their nature. The men
scarcely ever do. any work, save to hunt and
fish ; the squaws invariably carry the burdens.
They look lean and dirty, as well as their cattle,
broncos, donkeys, and other animals.
The valleys are usually narrow and rocky.
Now and then a spot is found, where, by irri-
gation by some spring or ravine or rivulet,
they raise a few vegetables, but for one hun-
dred miles or more there is but little water and
but little chance for irrigation. But as we pass
out of the mountains, the country opens out
into wider valleys, through which passes a
small stream or river, from which the land is
irrigated, and they seem to farm it quite sys-
tematically. They live in adobe houses mostly,
some of them being mere walls on three sides,
346 MEMORIES OE EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
roofed over with the same material, and on one
side open like an Eastern cattle shed.
The country looks much better to live in
as we near the Rio Grande River and cross the
junction of the Sante Fe Railroad, and pass up
the Albuquerque, a little north of the center of
the State. The town is rather a handsome
place, and business seems quite lively, but we
pass on up into the southern part of the Rocky
Mountains to Los Yegas. Here in the moun-
tains in open valleys the soil is of a reddish
color, and is well cultivated wherever a spot is
found worth attempting, and many of these
patches were well tilled, being irrigated by
springs and rivulets coming from the moun-
tains. Again night overtakes us, and we retire
to our berths in the midst of the mountains of
New Mexico. Morning dawns upon us. We
have had a comfortable and cool rest, and find
ourselves in Colorado, near the La Junta cross-
ing the southern corner of the State just in
sight of Pike's Peak, and not far from the Col-
orado Springs and Pueblo valley, which was
passed in our former trip over the Rockies to
Salt Lake City and on to California. We fol-
low on the Arkansas River and cross into Kan-
sas, near Granada, and now we are in " bleed-
ing" Kansas, ''grasshopper" Kansas, "star-
ON THE CENTRAL PACIFIC 347
vation " Kansas, " border ruffian " Kansas, and
now "prosperous" Kansas, and "prohibition"
Kansas; yet we are not discouraged, but follow
on up the river, the stream being nearly dry,
caused by canals for irrigation of its beautiful
prairies spread out miles away, covered with
wheat, oats, and corn, and cattle by the thou-
sands, until we reach Dodge City, a place that
bears the name of having some rather " hard-
shelled " characters. But we stop off, and put
up at the Delmonico Hotel for rest and peram-
bulating southern Kansas, and to look up
some old friends settled there.
LXX
AT DODGE CITY, KAN.
We arise in the morning, and find we have
had a shower during the night, the first that
has happened on our journej since we left
Washington, D. C, April 29. Dodge City has
a population of about 4,500, and is situated in
a large prairie country, with some timber along
the rivers.
We are now for a side trip off our regular
route. We wish to look np our nephew that
settled in Seward County, the southwest county
in the State some fifty miles away. We have
to cross the river and take the Kansas City
cars on another railroad. We take the omni-
bus to the depot; but there had been a heavy
rain that had delayed the train, and we had to
wait, so were late in getting to a stage station
thirteen miles from my nephew's. But we
hired a man to drive us through with a fine
livery, and we had a nice ride across the
prairies, and found our friends all well, and
looking for our arrival. If there is anything
disagreeable, it is waiting for the cars that
delay us on our journey. My friend lives in
H48
AT DODGE CITY 349
a sod house of his own building. You would
think that would be very unpleasant, but nearly
all do that in a new-settled prairie country.
From his home at that time I think as many as
fifty sod houses could be seen scattered over
the prairie. They are warm in winter, and cool
in summer. They are built up with square blocks
of sod making a wall some eighteen or twenty
inches thick, and covered with the same mate-
rial, and lathed and plastered inside, many of
them, and you would hardly know that you
were in a sod house when inside.
This is a beautiful prairie country, but from
some cause they are not safe for a good crop to
average over once in three years. That sec-
tion is liable to hot winds, and when that strikes
almost any crop when in the blossom, it blasts
the whole crop. Then they are liable to long
drought any season. Their failures have driven
nearly all the settlers from that part of the
State at a loss of all expenditures, and now my
friend lives here, and has a cattle ranch of sev-
eral thousand acres. He has a deep well that
pumps by a windmill for himself and cattle and
others for miles around.
We enjoyed our visit for a few days. There
was a great boom over this part of Kansas
a few years before, by entering claims, and
350 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
grabbing for homesteads, not a section was left
unclaimed for miles around; but now the old
sod house is left as a remembrance of what has
been, and now it is a free country to cattle and
wild beasts. The town and county seat have
been torn down and drawn away. We slept
just as soundly in a sod house as we did in the
Occidental, or Delmonico; but this is real
frontier life, and is good for one's soul, for in
this way he learns the difference of country,
and how people live.
Our friends seem a little lonesome, as they
are alone from their relatives; but we must
leave them. So our friend, his wife, and a
neighbor that we had become acquainted with,
formerly from the East, arranged to take us to
the nearest station ten miles away. It was an
awful windy day and my wife had about all she
could do to hold herself and clothing together
in the open carriage. But we succeeded, and
got safely through to the station, and found
that we had two hours to wait for our train to
take us to Dodge City; so we went to a hotel,
and I engaged dinner for ourselves and com-
pany. We took dinner together, and went to
the depot where we bade each other good-by,
and we were off for Dodge City, where we put
up for the night. On the morrow we will be
AT DODGE CITY 351
off, by the way of Topeka and on to Norton-
ville, where we stop for a time with our sister
and brother-in-law Babcock.
As I have written quite largely on Kansas in
former chapters, I will omit further on this
prosperous State. But as I have some securi-
ties in Nebraska, I leave my wife here and
make a trip into that State. I go to Atchison,
thence northward into that State by the way of
Lincoln, thence to North Loup, up the Loup
valley toward the county seat and northerly
toward Omaha, thence back to North Loup.
Well, I found some of my securities were worth
about as much as so much clear sky. Really,
1 found out that a man had better not invest
much on other people's word; for some people,
though professed Christians and church mem-
bers, do not always tell the truth when they
wish to get money pretty badly. So I left
North Loup, and took a different route and
looked up a brother-in-law and family that
had settled in that State, and had a good
visit; and then his son, my namesake, Ethan
L. Wadsworth, drove me four miles to the near-
est station where I took cars for Atchison, Kan. ;
thence back to Nortonville for a stop-over and
rest, and to visit some friends about that part
of the State.
LXXI
AT NORTONVILLE, KANSAS
We leave Nortonville, go back to Topeka,
call on a few friends, then take the cars for
Kansas City, Mo. Here we stop a few days,
and what a change since my first visit here in
1844, when there was not much else but tents
and shanties among the bluffs. But we must
be oft" toward our Eastern home.
We take the cars by the Rock Island route,
and change off and go up to Milton Junction,
Wis., where a friend meets us and takes us to
his home at Milton.
After a few days we proceed to Chicago, and
make a short stop. What a great city, all built
up in a man's lifetime. But we pass on into
Michigan by way of Battle Creek, thence to
Jackson, where we stop over Sabbath with a
brother-in-law, and attend meeting with a small
church of Sabbath keepers. On Sunday a min-
ister invited me to attend service with him at
the State prison. The preacher invited me to
take a seat with him on the rostrum. I must
confess I felt a little queer to sit there before
352
AT NOKTONVILLE 353
an audience of victims for crime; but two guards
sit with us, with their guns bj their side, to
shoot down the victims if they should make any
move toward an insurrection. But all behaved
quietly. Some were fine-looking men, and
seemed to me ought not to be in such a place;
but unfortunately for them they had yielded to
bad company, as thousands of others have
done, and got led into crime before they real-
ized what bad company led to. But here they
were, mixed up with the wickedest men of our
land, to suffer disgrace brought to their parents,
perhaps, by first disobeying them. I noticed
some shedding tears, some smiling as if they
had lost all shame. Young man, take heed,
lest you fall!
We leave Jackson by way of Detroit, croSs
over the river and take cars on the Canadian
R. R. by way of London to Suspension Bridge;
cross over, run up to the Falls, and stop over-
night, and thence by way of Rochester and Au-
burn to Syracuse and stop over a few days with
our sister and her husband and son, rest up a
little, and thence by the West Side Railroad to
New York, where we stop over until morning.
We are a little anxious to see home after a jour-
ney across the continent by two dift'erent routes,
making about nine thousand miles, without
33
354 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
accident or sickness to lay us up on the whole
journey. We find ourselves at our home again,
having great reason to thank the good Lord for
his care and protection.
LXXII
OBSERVATIONS IN STATES AND NATION
It has been my custom to visit Washington
occasionally, and some of our State capitals, to
learn the character of men, and how they do
business. We had some very able statesmen
in my early days. I well remember the days of
Jackson and the Adamses, Calhoun, Henry Clay,
Joshua R. Giddings, Z. Taylor, Wm. H. Har-
rison, Seward, Gerrit Smith, Horace Greeley,
and lots of other able men, and as smart as
they were, most of them had their weak points.
Horace Greeley was not so much of a statesman
as he was a politician and editor. He was at
one time considered almost a prophet in politics.
He was a strong Whig and afterward a Republi-
can, and in fact he named the Republican party.
The party principles were gotten up in my town,
the town of Friendship, Alleghany Co., N. Y.
A. N. Cole, the editor of the Free Press, of
that county, formerly a Democrat, but then a
Free Soiler, called a convention to be held in
Friendship to consider the question of a new
party, as both old parties had yielded to the
slave power for the sake of votes and power;
355
356 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
that it was time something should be done to
save our country from the hands of wicked men.
The convention was made up of the best of citi-
zens. Not a proslavery man or an intemper-
ate man was in the convention. A set of
principles was drawn up and adopted. But
the convention did not know what to call it.
It was suggested that the platform of principles
be copied and sent to Horace Greeley, and tell
hiin that we had indorsed them as a set of
principles for a new party, but we did not know
what to call it. He replied, " Call it Republi-
can." So it was so called, and has been to this
day; but oh! how the party has fallen from
grace, and what a different set of men rule the
party to-day!
The Republican party of to-day has as com-
pletely sold out to the rum or saloon power, as
did the old Whig and Democratic parties to
the slave power. This is not only national, but
our State Legislatures are governed by the
same influence, and State and nation are in a
worse condition morally and religiously than
we were before the Rebellion over the slavery
question. The fact seems to be now for power
rather than for principle. I really believe
from my observation that we never have had
an administration in power in America that has
OBSERVATIONS IN STATES AND NATION 357
stolen from appropriations more than the pres-
ent. I have observed from Grant's second
term down to the present time that from State
and national governments, and even small
municipalities, but few appropriations have
been made for any object but that somebody
has become a millionaire or very wealthy out of
it. Politicians seem combined to help each
other in their steals.
And I see no prospect of reform from a moral
point of view from the professed church of
Christ in our land, for the politics of our land
seems to hold perfect control over church and
people, and church politicians are in the church
for the control and what they can make from
the church, and in fact there seems to be more
churchanity than Christianity in our country.
In my estimation, a church politician is liable to
draw more men, young and old, astray than
any other class of men. And so long as the
church and politics are combined as they are,
the church will never remove the curse of rum
from our land any more than did the church
remove slavery from our land. God allowed
slavery to exist until the mass of the people,
regardless of the church, were compelled to
rise up en masse and put down the slave power
and the curse in order to save themselves and
358 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the nation. But at what a cost of lives and
treasury ! God bears the wickedness of a
church and people until it becomes unbearable,
and when that comes, it must go at whatever
cost. If these offenses are allowed by a church
or nation, "Woe to that man by whom the
offense cometh."
LXXIII
OUR GREAT AND SMALL CITIES
The great and small cities in our land have
mostly been built up in a man's lifetime of 82
years. I well remember my first visit to New
York City when quite young. The retail busi-
ness was mostly done in the lower end of the
town, about Fulton street and that vicinity,
and Park Kow. Castle Garden then stood out
from shore, and to visit it we had to cross on a
bridge to get on to it. Merchants from the
West, so called, came by the packet boats on
the Erie Canal one or twice a year to purchase
goods. I remember the first merchant that
opened a store at Baker's Bridge, so called
from the fact that a man by the name of Baker
built the first bridge across the stream with
poles. The place is now called Alfred Station.
He started with a stock of $500. His name
was Samuel Russel, and he came from New
Haven, Conn. His store was a little larger
than a fair-sized smoke-house. And I also
remember the first framed house and barn in
in the town of Alfred, and the log school-house
where I commenced my college education.
3o9
360 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
They did not teach boys grammar in those
days, so I never studied grammar a day in my
life.
What a change in a man's life, in eighty-two
years. Now fine farms, fine orchards, fine
houses, fine schools, and a fine university in
the town. Where deer, bears, and Indians
then roamed, not one would dare venture now.
Go to New York on a canal packet ! Whew ! Get
on the cars at night, and get your breakfast in
New York in the morning. Now it is Greater
New York, extended up many miles beyond
Harlem, and includes Brooklyn, and it is said
to be the greatest city in America, and some
say it is the wickedest. We will not decide
that question; but it is evident that Tammany
usually rules the city, and also it is evident
that sin rolls as a sweet morsel under their
tongues from the saloons and gambling-houses
to be seen all over her domain.
As we pass on to the Lakes and to Chicago
the same push and progress appear. But
what is the result ? Scarcely a city or town but
has its curse of rum and the saloon on nearly
every square to damn men's souls and bodies,
as well as its church steeples; that send ten
men to perdition while the church saves one.
Push on to Chicago, and what do we find.
OUR GREAT AND SMALL CITIES 361
Where great Chicago now stands, when I was
born, only a few French and Indians were
mixed there in the mud.
The first time I visited Illinois, in 184^1:,
there were about 11,000 population, largely liv-
ing in little houses built on piles driven into
the ground to keep them above the mud. But
what now ? The next largest city in our country,
with churches, colleges, big hotels, and saloons,
and places of damnation that reach miles on
the road to condemnation, where hell fire rolls
under their tongues; and if the forces of New
York should be joined to Chicago, it is a ques-
tion whether there is water enough in the lake
adjoining to quench the fire after getting it
started.
Go on to the Rocky Mountains, across the
American desert, to San Francisco, and to the
Pacific Ocean, and you will find this curse of
drink supported by our government. Go north
to our northern borders and the lakes, and you
will find it; go south to our southern climate
and the balmy land of flowers, and there the
curse hangs on American authority. Come
back to the capital of the nation, and we find
dens of death on the beautiful avenues ready
to damn every person from our homes or from
abroad that shall call at our capital. Go into
362 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
both houses of Congress, and there jou will
find the rum bars where all kinds of liquors are
dealt out to our lawmakers as they want. Go to
the White House, and look upon the table of
the president, and see the decanters and glasses
filled to the brim with the drinks of death to
himself and all his guests, and then do you
wonder at the wicked laws that are made? Go
to our soldiers^ homes in our land, and see the
liquid fire that is sold to them to drink. Then
go on to our war department, and see the can-
teens of liquor dealt out; and then after you
have got around, listen to the voices all over
our land, " Where is my wandering boy to-
night?" Why do not my husband and son
come home to-night ?
HARRIET A. LANPHEAR BABCOCK
Wife of Orson W. Babcoek. president of national ]>ank
Mortonville, Kan.
LXXIV
AN ESSAY BY SISTER HARRIET A. LAN-
PHEAR BABCOCK
" Seaech the Scriptures; for in them ye think
ye have eternal life: and they are they which
testify of me." John 5:39. Here we have
a plain command to study God's Word, to
search it, that we may learn our duty to him
and to our fellow men.
The Sabbath-school has been instituted as
a help in acquiring a knowledge of the Scrip-
tures, and it has proved a valuable aid. Par-
ticularly to the young is a well-organized and
properly conducted Sabbath-school of untold
value. Its influence in a community is also
great; how great, we are not able to calculate.
Since the days w^ien the Sabbath-school was
first instituted the work has been progressive.
It has advanced from one degree of excellence
to another until it has become a power in the
land. It is but recently that lesson leaves and
other helps were introduced. Some think we
should dispense with these. If there are no
wiser hands than ours, I agree with that class.
But I think most of us may properly receive
365
366 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
instruction from those whose time and atten-
tion are wholly given to the study of the
Word.
From infant classes, I would exclude the
lesson leaves and substitute other methods of
instruction. A skillful teacher will know how
to meet the wants of children. The mind of
the child is easily molded, hence the necessity
of exercising great care in the choice of instruc-
tors. The teacher's influence by what he is is-
more than by what he says. If he loves and
honors God, he will inculcate right principles
and teach by example, which is far better than
precept. Parents and teachers should co-operate.
They should have the same end in view, the
formation of a noble, Christian character. They
are co-laborers in the great work of training
the children for usefulness and happiness here
and hereafter in the world to come, which the
natural eye hath not seen, but where, by the
eye of faith, we behold God, our Father, to-
gether with his holy angels.
Oh, that the hearts and minds of the children
might be molded perfectly and beautifully after
the image of our divine Master! Some of my
readers have long enjoyed the privileges of the
Bible school. The question arises, Have we
appreciated them? We have had ample time
AN ESSAY 367
to search the Scriptures; have we improved it ?
Have we grown great in goodness, been puri-
fied and strengthened by laboring for the good
of others ?
There is work for the Christian everywhere.
It begins in our own homes. Indeed, I believe
here is where our true character is most tested.
If an individual is not a Christian around his
own fireside, and in the discharge of home
duties, he is not one anywhere. There are
many heroic Christian souls who are scarcely
known beyond the home circle; souls that toil
on through trials and sufferings, ever hopeful
and cheerful. Life has its trials, its disappoint-
ments, and its sorrows. Dark shadows some-
times cross our pathway. Cherished schemes
fail, and the goal is never reached. Friends,
dear to our hearts, are removed by death's
relentless hand; others, perchance, prove false.
Happy are we if, while passing through these
vicissitudes of life, we have Christ for our
friend, and can say with the psalmist, " The
Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He
maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he
leadeth me beside the still waters."
Life is not all shadow; and it has often been
said that even the clouds have a silver lining,
and flowers grow all along our pathway, but
S6S MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
we do not always stop to gather them. We
hasten on, seeking some that are better or
fairer. If we would be happy, we must be the
arbiters of our own moods, God or nature will
not help us to cheerfulness unless we help our-
selves. Happy is the individual who has a life
within that is independent of the ups and downs
of fortunes, and who can at all times and under
all circumstances, say, ''Thy will, O Lord, not
mine, be done.'*
The hope of eternal life gives endurance and
courage to the Christian heart. It sheds a
brightness over all life's pilgrimage, and leads
us on to that '' better land,'' our Father's home,
where the many mansions are.
Teachers and laborers in the Bible school,
yours is a noble work. Toil bravely and pa-
tiently on, remembering that in heaven there
will be great rejoicing over one sinner that you
may bring into the fold. And thus may we all
labor cheerfully and well in whatever sphere
our duties may be, and when the sands of time
have run their course, and we approach the
golden gate, may we not appear empty handed,
bearing a few precious sheaves to lay at our
Masters feet.
LXXY
A CHAPTER ON THE LAXPHEARS
This goes back to my Grandfather Lanphear.
His name was Nathan, and he was born in
New England. I am not able to give dates.
He was married two or three times. He had
three children by his first wife: one son and
two daughters. His son's name was Ethan;
he left no children. One daughter married
Nathan Stillman. He and Ethan moved to
Brookfield, N. Y., in the early settlement of
that county. Nathan had three sons, Ephraim,
Nathan, and Richard, and several daughters;
but all are dead, so far as I know.
Samuel Burdick married a daughter. She
had sons and daughters; but all are dead.
There are Babcocks, Potters, and Burdicks,
descendants of that family, scattered over our
country.
Elishah married a Potter, and he left three
sons and two daughters; but all are dead.
Elisha left three sons and one daughter. Two
sons are still living, so far as I know. The two
daughters are both dead. The older married
a man by the name of Star, and they left a
daughter, who married Dr. Stillman. She is a
24 369
370 memorip:s of eighty-two years
widow, and now resides at Plainfield, N. J.
The other daughter married a Baptist preacher,
and I think lives in Brooklyn, but has no
children.
Thomas Lanphear left a son and daughter,
who live in or near Phenix, R. I. Harris left
one son, who now lives at Rockville. His
name is N. Henry Lanphear.
Enoch Lanphear left two daughters, Mrs.
Carpenter and Mrs. Gavet, now living in
Westerly, R. I. Two sons, Rowland and Capt.
Clark Lanphear. Rowland is dead, and Clark
lives at Waterford, Conn. One daughter died
in Wisconsin, several years ago. Uncle Enoch
was a large man, and weighed over three hun-
dred pounds.
Samuel and Hezekiah were twins. Samuel
moved west to Alfred, N. Y., quite early,
and raised up ten children; Emory, Avery,
Ethan, Nathan, Hannah, Sarah, Lavinna, Lucy,
Mary, and Harriet. Ethan (myself), Nathan,
Lucy, Mary, and Harriet are now living. Lucy
is the wife of Dr. E. R. Maxs, of Syracuse,
N. Y. Mary is the widow of Benjamin L.
Wight, deceased, and Harriet is the wife of
Orson W. Babcock, president of the National
Bank of Nortonville, Kan. Nathan is still
living in Nile, Allegany County, N. Y., a vet-
A CHAPTER ON THE LANPHEARS 371
eran of our Rebellion, and was a prisoner nearly
eleven months.
Hezekiah had two sons and three daughters,
all now dead but one son, George R. Lanphear,
who lives with his family in Westerly, R. I.
William, his brother, left a widow, and I think
two or three sons and one daughter, near Rich-
mond Switch, R. I.
William Lanphear, my uncle, was married
three times. By his first wife he had two
children, a son and daughter, both now dead;
by the second, two or three daughters, all now
dead but one. Achas moved to Alfred, I
think, in 1827 or 1828. He married Miss
Weltha Stillman. They raised three sons,
Joseph, David, and Daniel; two daughters,
Eliza and Emma. All the family are now dead
but Daniel. He lives I think in West Almona,
N. Y. His mother lived to be over ninety
years of age.
Joseph Lanphear, Sr., left one son Ethan,
and one daughter, Lovina, both dead. I think
Hannah, G. H. Utter's wife, of Westerly, R. I.
is a descendant of Lovina.
Simeon Lanphear left three daughters and
one son. The daughters were all mutes, and I
think there was one other daughter, who mar-
ried Clark Sanders, but died long ago. But
372 MEMOKIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the whole family is dead now. One daughter,
that we called Aunt Amy, married a man by
the name of Truman. I think Miss Hannah
Crandall is the only descendant of that family,
and daughters of Joseph and Emeline Cran-
dall. I think that Grandfather Lanphear had
two or three other daughters that I can not
bring to mind, who died when I was quite
young, if not before I was born.
My grandfather, I think, had a half-brother
by the name of Maxson Lanphear. He had, I
think, three sons, Truman, Jonathan, and
Ephraim, and two daughters, Nancy and
Clarissa; Is^ancy married Thomas Burdick, and
Clarissa married Ezekiel Sanders, and they all
moved to Alfred, X. Y., and all died there,
leaving some descendants to follow them.
One daughter by the name of Barsheba, mar-
ried a widower in Westerly. He died, and
she is living in that town at the present time.
Another sister of my father comes to mind,
who married Wait Clarke. They had five
sons and three daughters: William, Ephraim,
Paul, Thomas, and Ezekiel, Abigail, Mary, and
Genette. All these married, and some of them
left children; but they themselves have all died.
There was another Lanphear, cousin to my
grandfather. He had three sons and one
A CHAPTER ON THE LANPHEAKS 373
daughter. The daughter married a man by the
name of Richard Hull. They all emigrated
early to Alfred, N. Y., and settled in what is
now called Lanphear's Valley, taking the name
from these Lanphears. Their names were, as
I remember, Nathan, Jonathan, and Silas.
Nathan was twice married. By his first wife
he had one son and two daughters; the son and
one daughter are dead. The younger daughter
married Daniel F. Langworthy, a cousin of
mine. He is dead, but she is living in the
same valley. There is a son by the second
wife; he married a niece of said Daniel F.Lang-
worthy, and lives near by. liichard Hull, that
married these Lanphears' sister, was quite poor,
and had but little education, but he decided to
preach, and was ordained before he could
scarcely read and write, and yet was quite an
acceptable preacher for those times. He
preached the first sermon I ever heard in my
childhood, in a schoolhouse. This was before
they had any church edifice in the town. He
had no coat to his back, or shoes to his feet,
and people came on foot for miles through the
woodlands by marked trees to hear him preach.
My father and David Stillman considered the
matter, and the next Sabbath the preacher had
some shoes.
374 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Elder Hull and his wife raised live sons, and,
I think, four daughters. Nathan, Varnum,
Oliver P., and Hamilton all became preachers,
and were ordained. Richard was a physician.
Martha, Hannah, and the other two girls made
great exhorters. The older married a German
by the name of Ernst. They raised one son,
and he is a preacher. Jonathan and Silas,
of the three brothers, died many years ago. I
do not remember whether they left any chil-
dren or not. This is an imperfect report of the
Lanphears, as it is all written up from memory.
LXXVI
A CHAPTER ON THE POTTERS
My mother was a Potter. Her father was
Nathan Potter. He had three brothers,
Thomas, Joseph, and Henry, and several sisters,
and all lived at what has always since been
called Potter's Hill. He had cousins by
scores. Nathan, my grandfather, had five
sons, Nathan, David, Elisha, Albert, and Ezra.
Daughters, Hannah (my mother), Cynthia,
Susan, and Milla.
Cynthia married Amos Crandall. They
moved, with my parents, to Alfred, with the
goods of both families all on one wagon,
drawn by one yoke of oxen. They had no
children then. They raised two sons and two
daughters, Ezra and Almond, Mary Ann and
Julia, now all dead. Amos Crandall died a
few years ago, over ninety years of age.
Susan married Daniel Langworthy. He
died, and left her with two sons, Daniel F. and
Russel, Lucy and the three other girls (I for-
get their names). Lucy married a man by the
name of Lewis in 1840. I chanced to be in
Rhode Island at that time and attended their
375
376 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
wedding, and he made arrangements with me
to rent a farm for him. I did so, and they
moved to Alfred the next spring. He died,
and left her with three boys. Two of them are
physicians in New York City, and the other is
in business in Philadelphia, Fa., and the widow
is now in Alfred, about eighty-six years of age.
The rest of the family moved to Alfred after
this, where Aunt Susan died. She lived with
her son, Daniel F., who married a Lanphear
girl, the daughter of N. Lanphear. Aunt
Susan's family all married, but are now all
dead.
Milla married a man by the name of Isaac
Fenner. They moved to Alfred about 1830 or
1832, where they both died. They left three
sons and three daughters. Andrew is a mer-
chant in Almond, N. Y. ; William lives in
Auburn, N. Y., and Elisha is in the cheese
business, in Alfred. Susan married a man by
the name of Smith, who is a farmer in Alfred-
One of the other girls married a professor,
and they are in a school in the West. The
other married a minister by the name of Davis,
and lives in Milton, Wis. All have living
heirs.
Nathan Potter built a carding and cloth-
dressing mill, but by accident fell under the
A CHAPTER ON THE POTTERS 377
water wheel aiid was killed. He left two or
three sons and a daughter; but I think the
family are all dead.
David ran a foundry in Almond, Allegany
Co. He married Lavinna Stillman, of Alfred.
They had one daughter, but the family are all
dead now. Elisha married Miranda Maxson
for his first wife, and they had one daughter,
and she married Dr. Crandall, and he died,
leaving one daughter in Wellsville, N. Y.
Uncle Elisha built a factory for making
cloth. His first wife died, and he married a
young woman by the name of Sheppard, at
Shiloh, N. J. He died, leaving one son by
his last wife. I met him in California nine
years ago, where they now are, I suppose.
Albert married a lady by the name of Sweet.
He was a farmer, and lived on the old home-
stead of his father and mother in Alfred, near
Five Corners. He died, leaving two sons
one daughter, and his wife. One son lives on
the old farm with his mother, is married, and
has several children. The other son is in Cali-
fornia. The mother is now about eighty-five
years of age.
Ezra Potter married Content Sisson. They
are both dead, leaving one daughter, who mar-
ried Freborn Hamilton, and lives near Alfred
378 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
station, in Alfred. They have a son and a
daughter. Albert also left one daughter, who
married a man named Davis, and lives near
Mr. Hamilton's.
The Potters intermixed by marriage largely
with the Lanphears, Langworthys, Babcocks,
Cottrells, and Clarks, so that it is difficult to
decipher our relationship. The old stock of
Babcocks at Potter's Hill and the Valley,
Daniel Babcock, Jacob, and Oliver, were of our
kin, for their mother was a Potter. They are
all dead and gone, but they have left children
to shake our hand, and say, "How do you do,
Cousin Ethan ? " It is a good place to visit
around my old birthplace at Potter's Hill and
in Rhode Island, because of this relationship.
As to my own family, my older brother,
Emory, died many years ago, leaving a wife
and one son, a little boy that grew up partly
under my care. When the Pebellion broke out
in our country, he enlisted in the Eiglity-Fifth
New York Regiment, and unfortunately, when
that regiment was taken prisoners at Newbern,
S. C, he was taken with the rest, and died in the
Rebel prison.
My brother Avery was an Adventist preacher
during the last of his life, and died from the
kick of a horse while on his way to attend a
DR. EMORY LANPHEAR
Son of Avery Lanpliear, deceased, now leading surgeon at College
of Medicine and Surgery. St. Louis, Mo.
A CHAPTER ON THE POTTERS 381
conference in the northern part of the State of
New York. He left three daughters and one
joung son that was named after his uncle
Emory. His oldest daughter married an Ad-
ventist who died a few years ago, leaving her
in good circumstances, and she has gone to
Kansas to care for her mother in her old age.
Arvilla married D. T. Fero, and is with him
as a missionary under the auspices of the
Seventh-day Adventists at Seattle, Wash. They
have one child and a grandchild. Seraphene
married a man by the name of Fuller, he being
a practicing physician at Hartford, Kan.
Emory studied medicine with his step-father,
attended medical college in St. Louis; was grad-
uated, taking first and third premiums among
the students ; commenced practice in Kansas;
married; lost his wife, leaving him one daugh-
ter. After this he went to Europe to gain all the
medical knowledge he could; came back, and
married again, and began practice in Kansas
Oity; issued a medical journal for a few years,
making surgery a specialty, and is now the
leading surgeon in the medical college in St.
Louis, Mo.
A. Judson Hall was given to me by his
mother when three years old, after his father
<lied. He was a good boy, and when he be-
382 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
came eigliteen years of age he enlisted in the-
army in the Civil war, but unfortunately with
others was taken prisoner, and was confined in
a rebel prison for eleven months, but is living,
yet.
LXXVII
MY RELATION TO THE SEVENTH-DAY-
BAPTISTS
I WAS born of Sabbath-keeping parents, and
brought up to attend church. I was at the
raising of the first Seventh-daj Baptist church
in Alfred, N. Y., when a small boy, and as I
grew up, 1 attended that church. I was brought
up to read the Bible, and to believe what the
preachers preached. The first Seventh-day
Baptist church edifice in this country was built
at Newport, R. I. The second I think in old
Hopkinton, R. I. The first general conference
I attended in Rhode Island was at that church.
After that, however, I attended at other
churches in that State, and on one occasion I
went with a company to Newport to visit the
old first church.
This first church was built over two hundred
years ago. Rhode Island seems to be the
mother of Seventh-day Baptists in this coun-
try. My relatives were mostly Sabbath-keep-
ers. Rhode Island was a small State, and
emigration began, and Seventh-day Baptists
88:}
384 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
as well as others desired to emigrate. My
father fell into line to leave the rocky coast of
his old State. He was the first man that went
from Westerly, R. I., to Alfred on foot, five
hundred miles, to seek a new home. This was
in 1816, the year called the cold season. He
and his brother-in-law, Amos Crandall, after
that traveled up there on foot, selected land,
put up log huts, and went back and gathered
up their substance, put them on one wagon,
drawn by a yoke of oxen, moved through the
wilderness to Alfred, and were among the first
organizers of the first church of Alfred. Here
I resided in Allegany County until I came to
Plainfield to live, thirty-one years ago.
In reading my Bible for myself I found that
God created the Seventh-day Sabbath and none
other, and that the Sabbath was made for man.
As I was a man, and a part of God's creation,
and as the Sabbath was created for men, I
decided that I would be man enough to observe
it; so I have never observed any Sabbath
created by man. As I have been permitted to
travel over the most of our country, I have
endeavored to keep the Sabbath day with Sab-
bath keepers wherever I could find them, and
when I could not find them, 1 would try to
keep it with my Creator.
THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS 385
I have been permitted to attend many con-
ferences with the S. D. Baptists, and in this
way have kept myself fairly well posted as to
their progress and failures. I have been per-
sonally acquainted with over one hundred and
sixty Seventh-day ministers, and for the benefit
of the younger people, I will mention some of
the ministers with whom I was familiar when I
was young: Elder Amos Saterly, Wm. Saterly,
Elder Clark, Daniel Coon, Stillman Coon, Ray
Green, Henry Green, John Green, the great
evangelist Joel Green, Wm. Green, Thomas
Sweet, Richard Hull, the father of Nathan,
Yarnun, O. P. Hull, and Hamilton, now all
dead; Daniel Babcock, Elder Chester, and
ethers. They were mostly godly men. I will
mention Elder E. S. Bailey, as he was a phy-
sician of men's bodies as well as their souls.
Elder W. B. Maxson was a peacemaker and
scholar of his time. It seems that they were
more progressive in the way of converting souls
than preachers of this day are in the Seventh-
day Baptist denomination.
Preachers had no stipulated salary in those
days. They took what the people could do for
them, and trusted in God for the rest. At any
rate there seemed to be a greater growth in
those days in the denomination in proportion
386 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
than now. They just about hold their own as
to numbers, about ten thousand. They con-
tinue to preach endless torment of the wicked,
that people go to their destiny at death, that
heaven is full of infants, and that parents will
find their infants full grown in heaven when
they get there. At least some of the leaders
preach this. They are as bad as some of the
old Methodist preachers were, who preached
that "there were infants in hell not a span
long."
The old Seventh-day Baptists, as ignorant as
they were, would not have allowed their members
to unite with secret societies or a thousand and
one other societies, without the permission of
the church; but to-day ministers, as well as the
members, join those societies for the sake of
popularity and gain; and what time and money
have they for the church after giving them to
these outside societies? Really, I believe that
politicians rule the churches with more power
than Christians. The man that preaches
against the most wickedness gets the most
curses. I know of a church not many miles
away whose pastor preached against members'
joining these societies, and it raised a breeze.
Some said that it was none of his business
how many societies they belonged to, and if
THE SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS 387
he was going to preach thus, he might as well
move.
Under the preachings of those old preachers
men of awful wickedness would brake down in
tears on account of sin. But, as now, if they
can be preached to heaven as quickly as they
die, what have they to shed tears for ? I have
made up my mind to write and preach against
sin where I find it, whether in the church or
out of it, and of course I am out of it.
LXXVIII
ACQUAINTANCE AND OBSERVATIONS OF
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
The people of this denomination were origi-
nally First-day Advents, and were called Miller-
ites, from the fact that Miller, who was a strong
believer in the second coming of Christ, and
made it the study of his life, from his stand-
point of reckoning time, set a day when Christ
would come to receive his own.
I learned much of his character from one
Elder Leman Andrews, a First-day Baptist
preacher, who afterward became a Seventh-day
Baptist. He lived a neighbor to Miller in
Niagara County, N. Y., about 80 miles distant
from my home in Allegany County.
He said that he and Miller had spent many
hours at night, studying the prophecies of the
Bible; that Miller was an honest man, and a
good scholar. He believed that Miller was
correct in reckoning time when he set the day
for Christ to appear. But when the day came,
Christ did not appear. Although this was a
great disappointment to him and his followers,
they did not give up the idea that he would
:}88
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS 389
come, but went to work to learn how and why
they had made their mistake. The decision
was that they were correct in reckoning time , but
their mistake was as to what would happen at
that time. The event to take place at that
time was the preparation, or cleansing, of the
temple.
Elder White, with other Adventists, lived in
the Eastern States, and kept up their service of
worship. It so happened that a Seventh-day
Baptist school-teacher from New York State
was hired to go there to teach school. She
attended their meetings, and they learned from
her that they were not keeping the Bible Sab-
bath; so, as all honest people ought to do,
they began keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.
However, the Adventists were divided over
this question.
Elder White was a man of remarkable
power, and proved to be a great financier.
He printed a little paper, advocating the true
Sabbath and the Advent doctrines. He after-
ward removed to Rochester, N. Y., with his
little publishing concern. Finally some Sev-
enth-day Adventists settled at Battle Creek,
Mich., and he decided to move there with his
little press. This is a short outline as to my
first knowledge of Seventh-day Adventists,
390 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
and may be imperfect. This was about fifty
years ago. To learn of their success to this
date, one has only to read their annual reports.
Carloads of printed matter are sent out daily
from their publishing houses all over our land
and to other countries. I have been in receipt
of their literature for years.
Two of their ministers came to my town and
wished to set up a tent and hold meetings, but
all refused to allow them to use their land, as
they considered them wicked men and danger-
ous to the public. They came to me, as I had
a good location, and I permitted them to pitch
their tent, only a little way from the Seventh-
day Baptist church, that was built on my farm
near the village. Elder Wheeler and another
man were the preachers; they were able men
and gentlemen. I was a member of the Sev-
enth-day Baptist church, and of course I was
censured some; but I believed in a free gospel,
free speech, and a free religion.
They held their meetings several weeks,
until the tent was usually well filled. When
the Seventh-day Baptists held service, they
would adjourn their meetings and come to our
church service. My brother Avery was a dea-
con in our church at that time.
I had been studying their doctrine some-
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS 391
what, and had come to favor some of their
teachings, and the more I heard and read, the
more I believed, and my brother and several
others became more and more interested. An
Adventist minister then living at Friendship,
began to come to our service after the tent was
removed. His name was Kobbins, and he was
finally called to fill our pulpit, and preached
acceptably for them for about eleven years;
but some of our old orthodox churches found
fault, and he moved away to ]S^orthern Michi-
gan. My brother finally became a strong
Adventist, and was ordained by them as a
preacher, and died one.
In one of my journeys West I stopped at
Lansing, Mich., and attended one of their
general conferences in a large tent that would
seat thousands of people. Elder White and
his wife and other preachers were there, and
I was treated kindly by them, and when
I left, my prejudice against them was gone.
But I must say that some of our Seventh-
day Baptist churches have ever manifested
a strong opposition to them, while they, the
Adventists, were willing to co-operate with the
Seventh-day Baptists as far as they did agree;
but the Seventh-day Baptists, in annual con-
ference, by vote refused to further co-operate
392 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
by sending an exchange of delegates, and the
church at Flainfield and some other churches
refused to allow Adventist preachers to preach
in their churches.
Elder Andrews, one of their missionaries,
stopped over with me on his way to Europe. Eld-
ers White, Waggoner, and others have stopped
over with me, but none of them were invited to
preach in our church. With all the opposition
the Seventh-day Adventists have, and are meet-
ing, I know of no denomination that has
made greater progress during the fifty years
they have been in existence than they have;
and 1 think it is generally admitted that they
are doing more to Christianize the world, and
to ameliorate the condition of the world, accord-
ing to their numbers, than any other denomi-
nation.
Go to Battle Creek and visit their college,
sanitarium, publishing house, medical school,
and old people's home, and watch the carloads
of Bibles and reading matter shipped every day.
Go to Oakland and see their publishing house
there. Go and see their ship " Pitcairn" when
she leaves our shores loaded down with Bibles,
missionaries, and books and other reading mat-
ter, to go to the islands of the seas, nearly all
the civilized nations of the world, and to dark
THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS 393
Africa. Observe the publishing houses, and
publications in the different languages. Remem-
ber the schools and the health institutions they
have established in America. Read the statis-
tics and see hov7 they have multiplied in fifty
years, nearly fifty thousand constituency, and
probably thirty thousand to forty thousand fol-
lowers that are scattered over the v^orld where
churches are not yet organized; and then listen
to the complaints made against this people for
keeping the commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus; and these complaints come from
a class professing to be of the church of God.
Here we have a sample of pious people, of
what they would do in Arizona. A short time
ago the Methodist minister and the Methodist
bishop of this district tried three times to have
some of our brethren [Seventh-day Adventists]
in Solomonville arrested for Sunday work and
for holding meetings in a public building
there; but the judge finally got tired, and
asked them if the Adventists had molested
them in any way. They said, "No." Then
he asked them if the Adventists had interrupted
their service or religious meetings; and they
said, "No." Then he said, "You go home,
and mind your business, and let them alone."
It seems that some judges have more religious
394 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
sense than some Methodist ministers and
Methodist bishops.
If some preachers and bishops would read
the declaration of our national Independence,
they might find a better theology than they are
teaching from their heathen theology. I have
often observed that people hated most those
that preached a doctrine that they could not
confute, or one that condemned their practice.
The Adventists are an aggressive people; they
do not stop to quarrel with any people; they
take but little part in politics further than
to show up their sins; and I know of no
periodical that does that so perfectly as the
American Sentinel^ published by them. Really,
I fear that politics and secret societies are kill-
ing the Seventh-day Baptist denomination of
to-day, and I believe that nearly all Christian
churches in our land are suffering from these
sources and the liquor traffic. Our national
liberty is in danger from the same sources.
We can not serve God and mammon. This
sketch is written from memory.
LXXIX
A PLEASANT JOURNEY TO LOST CREEK, W.
YA., TO ATTEND A GENERAL CON-
FERENCE OF SEYENTH-DAY
BAPTISTS
This trip was by the way of the Baltimore &
Ohio Kailroad. As a large delegation from the
East desired to attend, we got reduced fare and
specific tickets. Our train took us by way of
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Harper's
Ferry, Clarksburg, on to our destination. It
was a large gathering, as it was not often that
a conference was held in Yirginia.
On our return trip we were allowed to stop
off one day to visit Washington. But few of
the delegates had ever visited Washington.
Myself being somewhat acquainted, a company
of the friends decided that I should remain
with them and pilot them during the day. I
consented with pleasure. Of course I had to
hustle them to get around. First we went to
the capitol building, patent office, library, sol-
diers' home, the white house or the president's
home, to Georgetown, back to the treasury
■building, Washington monument, and up to see
395
396 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
how they made greenbacks at the money de-
partment, the musuem, post office, and then to
the horticultural garden, and other places of
interest, and by this time all were tired, and
concluded they could go no farther.
One of the pleasantries at Washington, when
you have time, is to take the street cars to the
station at the Potomac, take a steamboat to
Mount Yernon, Washington's old home, where
one can spend a whole day, and enjoy it. This
trip we could not take in the same day.
Washington has some of the finest avenues
in our country, if not in the world. A trip
over to the long bridge and to the militia de-
partment will pay when one has time; but for
one day it can not all be seen and learned of
Washington. My company was so well pleased
that they offered to pay me for my day's work;
for, as they said, they could not have learned
and seen one half that they had without a
pilot. But so far as I was concerned, I could
enjoy no better pay than to help others to
enjoy seeing the beauties of nature and art as-
I have seen and enjoyed, myself.
It is interesting to take a company around-
in this way, and see the contrast in different
individuals as to their taste and curiosity, for
different kinds of scenery. Mankind is mad&
ATTEND A GENERAL CONFERENCE 397
lip of about the same material, but how differ-
ently put together. But I think it a blessed
thing that it is so. Our company was ready
for the sleeping car when the train started at
nine o'clock to take them on their journey
home, though tired, yet satisfied with the meet-
ing, and the Virginia scenery, and the good
time they had in Washington, and their jour-
ney home.
LXXX
CHRIST'S RELIGION AND THE WAR SPIRIT
OF OUR LAND.
Christ came to bring peace on earth and
good will to men. He came to save life, not
to destroy. His religion was based upon love, —
love to God and love to our fellow men. His
instruction was to liis disciples, "Go ye inta
all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned " (condemned). Not a hint is given
to go into the world with rifles and bullets,
ships of war and cannon, torpedoes, and other
weapons of death to compel men to accept his
religion or be shot down on the spot.
Peter, with his wonderful zeal for his Master,
drew his sword and cut off a man's ear, but
Christ performed a miracle right there, proving
that it was better to heal than to wound. The
whole teaching of Christ's gospel was a gospel
of love. Love thy neighbor as thyself, and to
love even your enemies, and those that despite-
fully use you. And if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. And he condemned the man that
898
RELIGION AND THE WAR SPIRIT 399
hateth his neighbor or his brother, and calls him
a " murderer."
How different do we find the church of
to-day, and the nations that profess to be civil-
ized and Christian ! Instead of using the gos-
pel of Christ, that is said to be " sharper than a
two-edged sword," they are using carnal weap-
ons of this world of their own make, and send-
ing thousands upon thousands of men to the
front to be slaughtered or to slaughter each
other, and the nations that do not conform to
our interest and to our religion, and yet claim-
ing to be religious after the teachings of our
Saviour that came into the world to save, not to
condemn or take life. And we hear our pas-
tors and teachers praying for the success of our
armies in slaughtering thousands upon thou-
sands of our fellow men created in the image of
our God. And many of our preachers preach
men that are killed thus fighting, or belong to
their church, right to heaven as fast as they are
killed or die.
O, shame, shame for such teachers, preach-
ers, and churches in the world ! Stop a mo-
ment, and read up statistics of our late war
with Cuba, and the islands of the sea, the
thousands of our own men, and the thousands
of the heathen or half-civilized people of these
400 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
islands that have been murdered without a con-
version to Christ's religion that I have heard;
but what do we find ? If reports are true, there
are now ten drunkards on these islands to one
before the war, and they are made by the
establishment of the American saloon, and
the introduction of the canteen in our armies,
and this right in the face of Christ's gospel,
that says no drunkard can enter the kingdom
of heaven, and the woe that is promised to him
that putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips and
maketh him drunken, etc. Yet our preachers
are praying for success in this warfare. If you
keep posted on the English war against the
Boers in South Africa, you will observe that
England acknowledges that they have lost over
15,000 men. They claim to be a civilized
nation, and religious. How do they accord
with Christ's religion?
LXXXI
THE WAR SPIRIT OP THE WORLD
You older people will remember that the
nations, especially those professing religion
and civilization, became quite zealous for
peace, and conventions were held denouncing
wars, and the cry was peace, peace, arbitrate,
arbitrate; but no sooner had the amens ended
than nearly all the nations began to prepare
for war, and our enlightened nations, that have
so long boasted of their civilization and religious
rights, are ready to kill and slay the heathen
in the islands of the sea for expansion and pos-
session in order to hold control over other
nations as much as possible, and to do it under
the name of love for Christ and his religion,
and for the salvation of the poor heathen in
Africa and on the islands of the sea.
What better are we as a nation than were the
scribes and Pharisees, when Christ pronounced
the woe unto them, — scribes and Pharisees, etc.,
— or the man that went up into the temple to
pray, that said: "God. I thank thee that I am
not as other men are, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast
26 401
402 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I
possess" ? Does not this represent our nation ?
Are we not a wonderful tithing people ? Do
we not pay ten dollars to support wars to one
dollar paid to missions to convert the world ?
What is the condition of the world to-day ?
Is it not a time of wars and rumors of wars?
What are the signs of the times ? Are not the
people and the nations ''waxing worse and
worse ? " Was there ever a time when the rich
were oppressing the poor more than now ? Was
there ever a time when there were more banks
empty than now ? and more defaulters among
bank officers and men in high places? Was
there ever a time when more murders were com-
mitted, and other crimes ? Was there ever a
time when our jails and prisons were more
crowded, and a time when more criminals were
running at large because of much money paid to
judges and lawyers ? and was our politics ever
more wicked, and men ready to buy and sell
water ? Was there ever a time when the rum
and saloon power controlled the church and
people more than now ? and is there not as
much danger now from that power as there was
from the slave power before our late war and
the Rebellion, and was there ever a greater time
of trouble by strikes in every kind of business?
THE WAR SPIRIT OF THE WORLD 403
and is not business for the common working
people and small capitalist being more and more
cornered in by large capitalists and combines ?
Let the reader consider these things politically
and religiously.
LXXXII
EDUCATING OUR BOYS AND YOUNG MEN
FOR AVAR
While we profess to be a Christian nation,
we educate our children that it is right to pre-
pare for war. While our school laws make no
provision for such education, many of our
schools have adopted the idea of forming the
boys and young men into military companies,
dressed them in military dress, and furnished
them with all the paraphernalia for drill and
parade, and to learn the tactics of war, and the
school boards provide a place for them to drill
at the expense of the taxpayers without regard
to law or common sense; and I know some
churches that have introduced the soldier drill,
with the equipage, into their Sunday schools
in order to attract their boys to attend the Sun-
day school, Ep worth League, etc., and in that
way get the young men and boys into the
church. But what are such young men good
for when thus attracted to join the church ?
Their education is more for athletics and sol-
diers' drill than for an interest in Bible educa-
tion; drills, games, and sociables, dances, and
404
EDUCATING OUR YOUNG MEN FOR WAR 405
attending clubs than anything else. Then
wonder why our young people do not take more
interest in church services and the prayer and
conference meetings of the church.
Some of our States have passed laws on the
subject of intemperance, and the evil effects of
alcohol upon the human system, etc., and that
their evil effects should be taught to our chil-
dren; but their evils are scarcely heard of in our
schools, while the sin of drunkenness prevails in
nearly every district in our State; our boys are
often drunk and arrested, lined or imprisoned
in our jails. And the saloon doors are opened
to them by the people, and our boys come up
drunken politicians, and then the parents and
people wonder that their boys and girls take
such a bad course. As the twig is bent, the
tree is inclined, and how and by whom is the
twig bent ?
LXXXIII
"TRAIN UP A CHILD IX THE WAY HE SHOULD
GO: AND WHEN HE IS OLD, HE WILL
NOT DEPART FROM IT "
The world has met with many changes in a
man's lifetime of eighty-two years. Probably
the most of our children are born in cities and
large towns now. The father goes to his bus-
iness in the larger cities. He leaves early in
the morning and returns late at night. The
mother bears the children, but she does not
want the care of them, and turns them over to
the servants, and may not see them more than
once or twice a day. She is in her parlor, a
sort of piece of furniture, receives company,
makes calls, and attends the sociables of the
church and neighborhood. Some attend balls
and golf clubs, and others go to euchre parties,
where they keep a little champagne for their
stomach's sake, and to have a good time; and
most of these think they must be fashionable,
and go to the seashore or some other resort or
watering place. The children are often left at
home with the servant girl, or the servant girl
is taken along to care for the children, while
40G
PROVERBS IN A NUTSHELL 407.
the mother sits on the balcony of her cottage,
reads novels, and chats vrith the aristocracy, so-
called, and passes off the season as a sort of an
aristocrat herself.
The husband goes home once a week or so,
leaves instruction with the servant girls, and
sees the children for a little time, just long
enough to know how many he has, and to know
his own. The next week he may spend a day
or so for his health, and see how his wife is get-
ting along. She of course is getting along
nicely, has many favored friends, both gen-
tlemen and ladies. If the children are there,
she will send for the servant to come and tell
how she is getting along with the children.
"Oh! yes, yes," says the nurse, "getting
along nicely, save George got a little sick once,
but I took him to the doctor and he is nicely
now."
Tlie outing season is over and mother and
children are at home again. The husband
comes from his business as of old, sleeps over-
night, and off to his business early in the morn-
ing, and possibly does not see the children at
all further than to see them in their cots long
enough to count them, and says good-by to his
wife, and tells her to have John take the chil-
dren to school with the team if it is stormy.
408 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
He may come home for Sabbath; but so many
things are needed to be looked after that he can
not attend church, but says, "Wife, have John
take the children to Sabbath-school, and let the
servant go along to look after them.'' So the
children attend the school under the care of the
servants, and possibly they are put in classes,
and under teachers that don't know whether
Christ was born of a woman, or came into the
world with a spiritual body or a fleshly one, or
both. Leaving me to judge, I would say that
a teacher to instruct children religiously and
morally should understand the meaning of the
gospel, of the two better than a superintend-
ent.
The time has come when the children of our
country do not wish to live and remain in the
country on the farms, but desire to go into the
towns and cities, and to the high schools and be
supported without much labor, and as they grow
up, they can be seen hanging around the corners
of the streets watching for something to turn
up instead of pulling out to find something to
turn up. Many turn up in the jail, all from poor
training while young.
LXXXIV
NATURE AND ART THE BEAUTY OF
THE WORLD
God created the world for man's occupancy,
and he created man in his own image, capable
of improvement by invention. Thus art and
nature brought together make up all beauty in
the world.
It is man's privilege to enjoy the beauty of
this world, but not to abuse it. I have been
permitted to live a long life, and have been
permitted to enjoy seeing much of the beauties
of our own land, and the products of other
lands. I attended the World's Fair in New
York many years ago, when the Crystal Palace
was erected there, and climbed to the height of
that observatory where the beauties of earth,
cities, bay, and ocean could be seen with the
naked eye; and by the use of the glass, I could
see far away and see steamboats and other
crafts of art floating over the rolling billows of
the ocean.
In my earlier days I climbed to the inside
height of Trinity church steeple. I early
learned that the eyes were never satisfied of
400
410 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
seeing; but were looking for something more
beautiful just beyond. At least my eyes seemed
to be that way.
I visited many State fairs, and attended the
National Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
This was at that time the wonder of the world,
and I can never forget my feelings when I set my
eyes on the mammoth engine there set up to run
all the manufacturing machinery invented and
brought there to show to the world what art
and invention were doing to help on the beau-
ties and benefits for the world. This engine
was all manufactured piece by piece before being
brought there, and every part so perfect that
when the power was attached, the monster
moved like clock-work, without a jar or
break, and when the machinery was attached,
everything moved in its order as if it was of
God's world of revolutions. As I stood and
looked, it almost seemed as if that monster
engine could talk. As we moved around from
place to place, from one nation's department
to another, and saw the manufactured things
of art of every nation, I concluded that our
Creator must have known that every nation
could be of use in the world he had created.
We passed around to the horticultural depart-
ment, and there found the beauties of nature by
NATURE AND ART 411
■cultivation had outstripped for beauty every-
thing earthly, if not the beauty of the stars in
heaven. We crossed over to a separate tent,
and when inside what did we see? — A tent of
rhododendrons of all hues and colors, that the
works of art had set in rows and beds, inter-
mixed with colors in such a way as to make the
whole inside represent one great enormous
flower. When I found this tent, I hurried
around to the ladies' department to find my
better half and her special friends to come and
see, and I will not attempt to represent the
expressions of the ladies, for flowers are nearly
always the delight of women, but you may
judge from what you know of women when
wonderfully delighted. But it will not do to
stay here too long, for some people are in a
hurry and desire to see everything in one day
or one week, so we pass on, and step into a
New England eating house supplied with baked
beans and the old ways of cooking, by old New
Englanders, with johnny cakes baked on a board,
and the hasty pudding as of old, with crust
coffee and huckleberries for sauce. It was rather
novel for these days, but we made it pass, and
we pass on and into the art galleries and halls,
and now it was rather difficult to keep our com-
pany together, as some would wish to learn all
412 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the particulars about this man and that picture,
and another would wish to stop and read Abra-
ham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation all
through, and others would like to know more
about " Uncle Tom's Cabin," etc. So you may
imagine what trouble it was to pilot much of a
company under such circumstances.
•"3
I
CHILDREN OF ETHAN L. WADSWoKl 11
My nephew and namesake, living at Geneva Lake, Wis.
LXXXV
THE WORLD'S FAIR AT CHICAGO
We were getting old, but the people of our
country and the countries abroad are all alive
for the World's Fair, and our curiosity pulled
that way. It is but a little distance now to
Chicago to what it seemed to be when I first
came down the lakes to Buffalo on a steamer,
before railroads ran cars along the lake shores,
in 1844:, when the population was only about
11,000. So we dropped a note to a certain
landlord near the Fair grounds, to learn if he
could save us old folks a good room for a few
weeks while we attended the Fair. He re-
sponded in the afiirmative, and said, " Come
on." So we arranged our matters and took a
palace car for Chicago, and went through with-
out a change, and were landed as near our hotel
as the cars went, and then by carriage we were
delivered at the hotel door, and we entered
therein, and were waited upon into the reception
room, when I went to the office and inquired if
he had reserved a room for an old couple com-
ing from Plainfield, N. J.
415
416 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
" What is your name, sir? " said he.
"Ethan Lanphear/'
" Yes, sir," said the landlord, "and we will
have your room in order very soon. Be seated
a few minutes."
Our room was a fine one, located in front and
on the second floor, where we could see the
Ferris wheel move from our bay window. The
house was kept on the European plan, so that
we did not have to get in at special mealtimes.
After getting fairly settled, I said to the
landlord, " I suppose you have mostly strangers
to put up with you; and you must be governed
by strict rules lest some slip away without
paying their bills. What shall I deposit in
advance, as 1 am a stranger ! "
"Not a farthing, sir; a man that carries the
face you do can stop as long as you please, and
pay when you get ready."
He did not explain what he thought of my
physiognomy, but I stayed until I got ready to
leave before I paid my bill.
The street cars and stages passed our door
every ten or fifteen minutes back and forth to
the Fair grounds, so that we could go and come
early or late as we desired, and now we were
ready for business, and could take our own
time.
LXXXVI
NOW FOR SIGHT-SEEING
As we were accustomed to traveling and
sight-seeing, we decide to take our time. So
we took a trip on the cars around the grounds
first and got our bearings, and set our compass
so that we should not get our heads set on the
wrong side of our shoulders as some do in large
cities or crowds. If a person keeps his head
level, he wil] know which way to go home at any
time. Next we go inside and take a survey of
the streets and locations of State and national
buildings by our map, so that we can take in
all departments as we go along without too
much travel.
Now we are ready, and we stop first in front
of the Washington State building, and the first
surprise was to see the building with the first
story built up with Washington's mammoth
trees, squared about two to three feet square,
and one hundred feet long, laid top of each
other in cob-house fashion. We had seen
these wonderful trees in our travels in that
country; but the query was, How did they ever
get them to Chicago? But it has been said,
27 417
418 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
where there is a will there is a way. And
again it has been said that "money makes the
mare go." And our nation is the most invent-
ive of any nation in the world. But there
were inventions long ago, or the ancients could
not have moved the cedars of Lebanon by land
and water to Jerusalem as they did to build the
temple. I presume the inventive power existed
very early, only wanting circumstances and
demand to draw them to the surface.
The Creator knew all things before they
were created, but brought them into use only
when mankind needed them. Possibly I am
getting into deep water, and will change the
subject by viewing the productions of that new
State. To tell all about them is out of the
question; but to see logs fifty to seventy-five
feet long, four to six and eight feet in diameter,
is a little fishy. Well, one might get up quite
a fish story from the Columbia River bordering
the State of Washington, but there is too much
of real things at the World's Fair to stretch
much from the reality. So we step into the
Iowa State building, and here we find corn and
other grains turned into beautiful calico all
over the walls to show the corn, etc., that they
raise, with all colors and shades, and what they
can do with it to make a show.
NOW FOR SIGHT-SEEING 419
Wife says, "It is now near noon. Had we
not better go to our lunch ? " So we go for the
ladies' department and the eating saloon. " Oh,
for all the world," sajs she, "we can never
get anything in such a crowd as this." We
wait an hour and a half, and we decide to go
outside the grounds, and there we find every
restaurant crowded, and we get on the cars and
go to our hotel, where everybody eats on the
European plan, and here we find every table
full; but the landlord took us into another
room, where we were well served.
We continued our visits to the grounds from
day to day for a week (save Sabbath day).
We found something new every day, and I
presume we traveled ten miles each day, would
get awful tired every day, but would rest up
every night; and my wife would follow all day,
for she was ambitious to see all that could be
seen, and every day .would bring something
new. And as we visited minerals, and came to
Lot's wife in a statue of salt, she thought that
awful, and said, "Who would have thought
that anyone would make this figure in salt to
attract attention to his business in the manu-
facture of salt?"
We will let this chapter rest here, and after
we get rested, will try to go over the grounds
again.
LXXXVII
OUR LAST WEEK AT THE FAIR
We have a hard task before us. The people
pour in by the thousands, and really it seems
almost impossible to get about from building
to building. The streets, alleys, and whole
grounds seem alive with people; everybody
seems to wish to see everything before they go
home. But we make up our minds that the
Fair belongs to us as much as to anyone else,
if we pay our fare and behave ourselves as
well. Here let me say, that of all the crowds
of people I was ever in, I never saw a better
behaved crowd in my life. I was in New
York when the Prince of Wales entered that
city. It was an awful crowd. Everybody
wished to get a sight of the Prince as he was
driven through Broadway. For two or three
miles, every old box was covered with people.
Some climbed lamp posts, and men paid hun-
dreds of dollars for the right of a window, and
some climbed to the housetops, and it was
almost an impossibility to cross the street any-
where. It was pull and haul, and a knock
420
OUR LAST WEEK AT THE FAIK 421
down here and there, and it reminded me of
the seals on the rocks at the cliffs in a quarrel
to see who should occupy the best place over
at the Kocky Cliffs at San Francisco. But here
at the Fair everyone seemed to be happy,
good natured, and acted as if he wished
everybody to see what he saw. All nation-
alities met and passed each other good na-
turedly; though they might not speak a word
to be understood, their faces showed that they
were all of one blood, and of God's creation.
The Fair was a big thing, and all of God's
creation, or of men that he had created. We
tried to get over the ground again, and every-
where we went we saw something new, and
just bej'ond was something else, and we made
up our minds that the iS'ational Fair was too
big for one man to comprehend, and make
note, yet of no comparison to God's creation,
so decided to let everyone take notes for him-
self, for we were getting awfully tired, but
pass around to a few of the outside, with a
view to get ready to go home. From the good
order kept on the grounds, one might conclude
that Chicago might be a city of good morals,
and religious. But as we took a drive about the
city before leaving, we discovered that there
was a plenty of Sodom outside of the grounds,
42^ MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
80 we settled our bill, took a sleeper for the
night on the cars, and the next morning found
ourselves nearly half way home, somewhat
rested.
We arrived home all safely. To tell the
truth, we were glad we went to the Fair, but it
was a hard task on our old bodies, and we were
more tired than we were on our return from
either trip to California, or any journey of our
lives.
LXXXVIII
LEARN TO GOVERN YOURSELF
Self-government is a wonderful trait of
character, and saves a person a great amount
of trouble in the world. I have studied to do
this all through life, and it doubtless has been
the saving of many quarrels in this world.
To keep cool under all circumstances is a won-
derful virtue. It takes more than one person
to get up a quarrel. But few men will strike a
cool-headed man. Use cool and kind words,
and ten chances to one you will conquer your
enemy, and often will make him your best
friend.
Ever carry good humor with you, and you
are not in much danger. I speak from obser-
vation and experience. 1 never have had a
man strike me in all my journeying through
life. It requires much decision to do this under
all circumstances. No man can make a great
reformer without he learns this trait of char-
acter. I at one time had great abuse heaped
upon me in the presence of a minister. He
said to me, " You have a wonderful power to
control yourself under all circumstances. I
423
424 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
could not do it under such abuse." The man
or person that does tliat will gain friends among
enemies, and sometime evil men will come to
jour relief.
Christ and his disciples suffered many perse-
cutions; but they brought sinners to Christ and
Christianity by their exemplary life as well as
by preaching. If thine enemy hungers, feed
him. In so doing, you will ^'heap coals of
fire upon his head." Christ's teaching almost
invariably was of love. Love your neighbor
as you would yourself, under the same circum-
stances; and pray for your enemies. If all
mankind could drop all sellisliness and self-
righteousness, there would be but little trouble
in the world. The man that has the spirit of
love for God and his fellow man will not use
carnal weapons, but will use the sword of the
Spirit, or the gospel, that is sharper than a
two-edged sword. Try it, and see how it will
work.
LXXXIX
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION
The saloon is not the only temptation that
leads us and our children astray and to drunk-
enness and death. Many people, innocently,
possibly, lead their own children to drunken-
ness without forethought. But the government
can have no excuse, for its officers know of the
crimes that come of the drink traffic and the
saloon tolerated by them for the revenue they
receive. But I must not excuse the church for
her wickedness. Possibly with some it may be
the sin of ignorance.
I mean now the use of soft drinks, so called,
dealt out at our drag stores, and delivered by
bottling establishments to families. These are
usually called innocent beverages. But they
are the initial steps that lead to bad habits
and death. These are not of the things of
nature, but the things of habit and of sociabil-
ity or fashion. The deacon of the church or
other member may stand behind the drug-
store counter and deal out these flavored
drinks, while he may stand in the prayer meet-
ing in the presence of young and old, and pray
425
4:26 MEMORIES OF EIOHTY-TWO YEARS
for temperance reform and the salvation of
men, and pass himself off as a Christian man,
and he may be accepted as a Christian man in
the church. Possibly he may do this inno-
cently if he has not studied this question. The
more religious the man, the better his influence;
for the young and old would not stop to con-
sider what it was leading to.
But these soft drinks are like the soft wood
that we start the fire with; when it gets up 9,
blaze, then it is ready for the hard wood, or
stronger liquors. Really, giving these soft
drinks to our children is fitting them for the
saloon. When the habit is formed for the soft
drinks, if they should not be able to get them,
a whisky sling or a little wine would likely be
substituted. A young man once told me that
soft drinks and the consent to drink a glass of
beer was the cause of his being a drunkard. It
is much like playing innocent games that lead
men and boys to become gamblers. This sub-
ject will bear deep thought among professed
Christians, and some pastors.
xc
THE WICKEDNESS OF THE DRINK TRAFFIC
IN OUR COUNTRY
A LIFE of eighty-two years has given me
great opportunities of observation and experi-
ence as to tlie enormity of this curse in our
land. I have traveled in all our States but
one or two, and most of our Territories,
crossed our continent four different routes,
sailed on both oceans, and most of our
navigable lakes and rivers, and visited most
of our larger cities and many small cities
and towns; thus I have had quite a chance for
observation. When I first visited New York
city in 1840, its retail business was mostly done
about Park Kow, Fulton and Cortland Streets,
and the Battery. But what do we find now ? It
has spread out miles beyond Harlem, the Sus-
pension Bridge has spanned East River, and
Brooklyn has been annexed, and it is called
Greater New York, and is the largest city in
America, commercially and otherwise, and some
think it the wickedest city in the nation, mostly
ruled by a Tammany King. But we will not
decide as to that matter.
427
428 MEMORIES OF EIUHTY-TWO YEARS
While New York has grown up as it has,
our wilderness from ocean to ocean has been
broken up, and the wilderness made to blossom
as the rose. But have our country's morals
and religion kept pace with the prosperity of
the country? Now follow me on westerly to
the lakes, and on to Chicago. All the way
along, cities and towns have sprung up, and
Chicago has been built up since my birth.
The first time I visited that part of our country,
in 1844, it had but about 11,000 population,
and now as we look about, we find it to be the
next largest city in our nation. And what else
do we find? As in New York, there are thou-
sands of saloons and bad houses to capture
innocent boys and girls and young men, to
start them on the road to death and hell.
As we continue our journey all along the
line of cities and towns, we see on the corners
of our streets license to sell all strong drinks
by city ordinance or by united government.
But we pass on westerly, cross the Mississippi
Kiver, and reach the Rocky Mountains, and
we find the signs of perdition in nearly every
town and city. Cross over the Rockies to Salt
Lake and the Mormon city, and pass on to
Ogden, and across the desert, and over the
Sierra Nevada Mountains to California. Stop
THE DRINK TRAFFIC IN OUR COUNTRY 429
at the capital; all the way we find this signal of
death. We pass down to Oakland, a beautiful
city on the plain, and we see men staggering
on the streets, special representatives of the
drink habit, and subjects for jails and prisons.
Take the large ferryboat over the bay to San
Francisco, the new city of the Pacific Coast;
take cars over to the Rocky Cliffs, the great
place of resort, and the signal of death is found
all along the line. And we return by the way
of the Northern States bordering on British
Columbia and the Canadas, and we find only
now and then a town but that has its saloons.
We keep on and cross the Niagara River, and
pass on to the cities on our borders and follow
the St. Lawrence to the Thousand Islands, and
cross over the river to Montreal, and to Quebec,
and then we find the American saloon kept by
Americans for the love of money, etc.
You may pass on to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
and around the coast to Portland, Me., and to
Boston, and on to New York, and what do we
find ? We only find one State, that of Maine,
and a few towns, but that hang out their signs
for the saloons. What do you think of the
journey and the prospect as to good morals and
Christianity in our land ? But let us pass on,
following the Jersey shore, and stop oft" and
430 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
make a short visit in the Quaker City, Phila-
delphia, where our forefathers held counsel to-
gether for the good of our land, and see if this
monster has not got a foothold here; but let us
pass on to Baltimore, that old secession town,
and you will find the black sheep there in black
bottles by the wholesale.
Let us pass on to Washington, the capital of
these United States, where we send men to
make our laws. Let us take a peep through
the corridors of both houses of the capitol build-
ings, and tell what you can see. There you will
doubtless see a saloon for each house, and while
you have a little time, listen for the ringing
of certain bells, and then see the waiter boys
deliver glass and decanter to that desk where
the ring of the bell came from. Then look over
both houses and see the blotched faces and
blotched bodies that we, as a professed Chris-
tian nation, send to Washington to make our
laws. Take a little trip southward to the balmy
breezes of flowers and fruits for a winter's rest,
and there you will find extravagant hotels well
supplied with intoxicants to deal out to the
Northern visitor that takes a little in the North
to keep him warm, and big drinks in the South
to keep him cool. You may follow the coast
around to New Orleans, and on to El Paso.
THE DRINK TRAFFIC IN OUR COUNTRY 481
But we will stop, for there is no end to the
American rum power. We will go back to
our national capital. Pass through the White
House, and see how you will find the president
supplied in his larders. You need not take
notes of the different kinds of liquors, but pass
out through the dining room and see glasses
and decanters to satisfy every guest. When
you have done this, visit ever State capital in
our country and see if you do not see the word
" saloon " on nearly every block, and a fashion-
able hotel close by every capital supplied with
the best of liquors. Then pass on to the front
of our armies at Cuba and other islands, and
wonder how it is that the canteen is furnished
for every soldier, and that there are ten times
as many drunkards on those islands now as
there were before the American saloons were
introduced by American authority.
Please sum up this chapter and then listen !
"Where is my wandering boy to-night?"
Listen again, ''Why does not my husband
come home to-night?" All this comes for the
love of money, love of strong drink, and the
revenue therefrom.
XCI
OWE NO MAX ANYTHING
This command, carried out, would add much
to the happiness of this world. No man should
ever neglect his promise. Every man, before
entering into an agreement, should sit down
and count the cost, and then look to his finances
to see whether he will be able to meet the
demand when it shall become due. If every
man would do this, there would be much less
trouble, and there would be but little use for
lawyers in the world. Then how much happier
mankind would be in the world.
Every man should endeavor to make his
word as good as his note would be. If that
was done there would be but little use for
bankruptcy laws. No bankrupt ever paid an
honest debt; but oh, how many a man and
woman has suffered loss of nearly all their
dependence of living by dishonest bankrupts !
These bankrupts are as apt to be found in our
churches as out of them, and yet they pass
themselves of^' as Christians, and say that they
have obeyed the laws of our land, and are thus
free from all obligations, though they have only
432
m^ ^.
MRS. MARY R. LANPHEAR WRIGHT
Widow of the late Benj. L. Wright, Nile, Allegany County, N. Y.
28
OWE NO MAN ANYTHING 435
paid ten cents, twenty cents, or fifty cents on a
dollar to that poor woman or man that they bor-
rowed money of. At the same time they made
arrangements to hold in reserve secreted capital
enough to keep right on as extravagantly as
before they made the assignment, while his
creditors are compelled to work hard to make
ends meet and keep out of the poorhouse.
I hardly think there will be any bankrupt
laws in heaven, and I question whether there
will be any provisions made for the bankrupt
in the new heaven and earth, unless he is con-
verted and ready to pay all he has wronged
in this world, as Zaccheus was after his conver-
sion.
Is is much cheaper for every man to pay as
he goes, if he has to curtail a little on his
extravagance. Better wear his old clothes over
again than to run in debt for new. No man
will respect the person that wears better clothes
than he does if he is owing him ten dollars
or twenty-five dollars for the clothes on his
back. I have observed many a man trying
to ape the rich or put on airs of aristrocracy
that was doing it on other people's money.
But it will out what the real character of the
person is, and men will shun him.
I made up my mind in my early days that it
436 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
was best to be honest with all mankind, and
pay as I go, and thus far I have never given
my note and signed with other men but twice,
and then I had their debts to pay. That ended
that business. I have done thousands of dol-
lars in business, and have always had the
money to make my word as good as if I had
given my note, and to this day I do not know
that I owe a dollar to any living being. I never
thought it prudent to spend money before I
earned it. I never have taken a glass of strong
drink since I was nine years of age, but did use
tobacco for a few years when young because
others did so, thinking, as fools do sometimes,
that it was smart. But common sense soon
taught me better. I think that no person can
rest better than the person that can conscien-
tiously lay his head down on his pillow realiz-
ing that he owes no person anything but love
and good will.
XCII
BE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED TOGETHER
WITH UNBELIEVERS
This act being entered into without proper
consideration has brought thousands of miser-
able families into the world. The married life in
its intent means a lifetime of happiness or
misery. Every person, young man or woman,
should study character well before entering
upon such an agreement, lest after it is done,
it will be too late to repent.
Often persons become too anxious for mar-
ried life, and do not stop to count the cost, and
accept the first offer; and many a regret comes
after the honeymoon passes by. You had bet-
ter wait a little, for you had better marry one
both deaf and dumb, than one of those dandies
that like to drink rum. I would advise every
young lady to consider it well before consent-
ing to marrying a rich man's fool because his
father has gold; for when father is dead and
his gold is gone, she may be left with a large
family of children, and possibly some may be
as weak in nature as their father has been,
and she left to mourn her condition without a
4:37
438 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
dollar coming in. Such circumstances have
happened many times in a man's lifetime of
eighty-two years.
There are Sabbath-keepers and Sunday-keep-
ers mixed up in the world; for such to inter-
marry is liable to bring discord, contention,
and possibly separation. If not, and you raise
up a family, some may side with father, and
some with mother, and ten chances to one
the children come up, nothingarians, good for
nothing to the church, world, or themselves. Be
not then so unequally yoked together with
unbelievers, or with a contrary mind.
XCIII
CHURCH AND STATE
Church and state are distinct institutions,
having no spiritual relations with each other.
The church is under the order of Christ, and
for the building up of Christ's kingdom, and
for the salvation of the world. The state is of
an earthly origin, and for the regulation and
protection of mankind in this world. The
business of state or nation is to protect the
church or every individual in the enjoyment
of his religion, so long as he does not interfere
with the religious rights of others.
God is no respecter of rights and privileges.
He made all provisions for the salvation of all
men that would accept the conditions. Christ's
religion is of free grace: " Come unto me, and
I will give you rest." He compels no man to
accept salvation. It is a free offering. Eepent
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and ye
shall be saved; and his command to his disci-
ples was to go into all the world and preach the
gospel, he that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved, and he that believeth not shall be
damned (condemned).
439
440 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
The state might send officers of state and
naval authority; but they could not compel any
person to become a Christian or compel him to
join any church of Christ's establishing, or
compel him to repent of his sins. There is but
one way of salvation, — that by repentance to
God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He
that attempts to climb up some other way is
a "thief and a robber."
A statesman can be a Christian, but being a
statesman does not make him a Christian. If
our States had more respect for Christianity,
and would choose men to make our laws that
would rule in the fear of God, there might be
a great revolution in our States and nation.
Christian statesmen would do well to take this
into account.
XCIV
WAR AND GREAT CONFUSION IN THE WORLD
The church, State, and nation are attempting
to run religion by state and national authority.
The church seems to keep up a form of godli-
ness, but seems to have lost its power. They
are attempting to compel men to be religious by
State and national laws instead of converting
men to keep the commandments of God and
the faith of Jesus Christ.
Men are asking Congress to have God in-
serted in our national Constitution, and in
many of the States the churches are asking
their Legislatures to pass Sunday laws to com-
pel all men and women to keep Sunday as the
Sabbath by state or national law. God has
created all men free and equal under the law,
and has never asked State or nation to aid or
compel men to observe his or any other law.
To compel men to be religious, or to keep
any day in particular, would be robbing them
of their free moral agency, and to reduce them
to the condition of a beast, and rule them by
worldly force and power, and thus assume
themselves to be as gods.
441
442 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
Really, the church and preachers and priests
would be more severe than was Constantine
in his the first edict for observing Sunday.
He only required the city or town people to
observe the sun's day; but allowed the coun-
try people to labor, and save their crops that
there might be no loss in case of storm,
etc. If Constantine did not compel the common,
or working, people to observe the sun worship
day, why should the church people of to-day
attempt to compel working men to observe the
heathen Sunday ? Is it any wonder that the
people of to-day refuse to be compelled to
observe Sunday or any other day.
Our nation, as well as other professed civil-
ized nations, has stepped in front of Jehovah
himself and decided to convert the islands of
the sea by gunpowder, cannon, and bullets;
and already they have murdered thousands of
the poor heathen as well as thousands of our
own young men and soldiers, and caused
thousands more deaths by starvation and dis-
ease, and opened the door of hell by the can-
teen and the American saloon that they have
established in Cuba and the Philippine Islands.
This seems to be America's way of making
Christians, but I can not see any Christ reli-
gion in it.
xcv
ESTIMATE OF THE COST OF ONE SALOON IN
THE CITY OF PLAINFIELD
Rent of building per year $ 600
Fixtures 300
Bar tender 200
Servants and other labor 3G0
Support of family 1,100
Paid for supplies for liquors 5,000
Fuel and lights 100
City license 700
Government license 25
Profits in bank, low estimate 1,100
$9,425
We have eighteen saloons. Multiply this by
$9,425, and we find our eighteen saloons cost
the city $169,650 per year. This amount must
be made on the profits of the liquors sold by
the saloon keeper in order to make his ends
meet and save his $1,100 profit. This amount
must come out of the drinkers' pockets, and
largely from the working class, and the poli-
ticians, the taxpayers and church people have
to pay all the expense from crime and disor-
derly conduct growing out of the business.
Yet the church voter goes to the polls wath the
saloon keeper and rum drinker, and votes the
same ticket and with the same party men that
443
444 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
grant these licenses, while they continue to
praj for reform, and say to the honest temper-
ance man, '^ I am as good a temperance man
as you are, but — " That " but " may shut the
doors of heaven against such inconsistencies.
XCVI
PROFESSION WITHOUT POSSESSION
This world is full of professions, and thou-
sands are building their hope of salvation upon
an old hope of profession that they made when
they were young. Profession will never save
a soul from death. It is possession and the life
that is lived within and without that saves.
The practical, everyday life counts. Without
that you are without hope and without God in
the world, and no man can give a real reason
for his hope.
There are thousands that have made a pro-
fession in their early days, and perhaps their
name is on the roll of the church book, and
possibly have not attended a Sabbath school or
prayer meeting of the church in ten years, or
paid a dollar for the benefit of the church dur-
ing the ten years. A person might have his
name on a dozen church rolls, but that will not
save him. I know of men that belong to a
half dozen secret or other societies and the
church, and yet show no Christianity in their
character. Christian is that Christian does.
If he has Christianity within, it will show itself
445
446 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
without. What is pure and undefiled religion?
— It is to visit the fatherless and the widow,
and to keep yourself unspotted from the world.
The real Christian w^ill be looking for some-
thing that he can do for the poor, sick, and
afflicted, and will endeavor to bring sinners to
repentance, and to real faith in the Saviour
Jesus Christ.
When the disciples found Christ, thej were
anxious to tell it to their friends and brothers,
and invited them to come and see. That is the
nature of Christ's religion. The world is full
of religions, but not of Christ's, and yet they
have a sort of hope. In Plainfield, N. J., we
have some three hundred organizations, and
some men belong to a half score of them, and
call that their religion. They might belong to
one hundred; but that would not save them.
It is the person that lives riglit that will be
saved. There are thousands of people on the
church roll that you would never think of
as church members without looking over the
record. They may attend now and then some
church festival, soiree, or grabbag sociable
where they have a good supper, euchre parties,
and a jolly good time.
The churches have fallen into this somewhat
in order to call out this class of membership
PROFESSION WITHOUT POSSESSION 447
when they which to raise a little money for
some purpose. But it is not common for
revivals to follow such gatherings, and I heard
a minister say publicly that the churches of
nearly all denominations had so far departed
from the original plan that the ministry did not
average only about two converts annually. If
that be true, where is the hope of the church?
XCVII
"THE FOOL HATH SAID IX HIS HEART, THERE
IS NO GOD"
This statement is wisely stated, as no man
of intelligence would make such a statement,
after having lived in this world any great
length of time, and having seen the things that
exist, and observed the revolutions of the earth,
and how it moves in immensity of space in that
regularity that its motion is such that it attracts
everything toward the center of the earth, to
that extent of power that its motion holds us
and all creation from slipping off into immen-
sity of space. Then all growth has its order,
the tree grows upward, while its roots grow
downward; so that the roots draw life from
below, while the tree draws sustenance from
the atmosphere above. Everything created
seems to be surrounded with its necessities, so
that everything lives and acts in and of itself
without dependence upon anything else.
Man, it is said, was created in the image of
God; but if there is no God, nor word of God,
then what we call man can not be anything
more than a mere animal; and if all things
448
■, ►"^^'/A'-.-
The Children of a deceased sister, Lavinna P. Lau-
phear Willard, wife of D. C. Willard, all grown
up now.
THE fool's saying 451
came by chance, then there might chance to be
mistakes, and the chance man may as well be
called a mule or fool instead of a man.
I ask the fool man that says there is no God,
if he knows that he has a brain, and that that
brain controls his thoughts; also if he can tell
us from what comes the power that causes him
to walk, or use his hands? No man can move
without a power behind him. How could one
but a God create thought and action combined
80 as to act together ? Can man or angels do
this ? How does man's thoughts go and come,
only by the power of God ? Let God withdraw
his power from man, and what is he but apiece
of clay ?
" What is man, that thou art mindful of him ?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him ? "
If there is no God, there is no hope for man
but to lie down and die like the beast of the
forest, without hope in the future.
XCVIII
GOD WILL BE JUST, FOR HE DOETH ALL
THINGS WELL
In a life of eighty-two years I have observed
many professions among men, and nearly all
persons that believe the Bible to be God's word
read and search to find something to support
their belief and practice. They do not search
the Scripture so much to find out whether their
faith and practice are wrong, but to find some-
thing to prove that they and their church are
right. This is probably the cause of so many
denominations in the world,, and so nmch con-
tention over the doctrine of the Bible; and
possibly the cause of so much high and low
criticisms on the Bible.
Some men believe that all men will be saved,
regardless of what their lives have been; others
that men will be punished according to their
deeds, then saved; others that men are punished
in this life for all their deeds, and at death
their souls are saved. Infidels do not believe
in any judgment, but that men die as animals
do, and that is their end. The atheist, or fool,
says there is no God; he has no arguments, as
452
HE DOETH ALL THINGS WELL 453
he does not believe in any man or God that
knows any more than himself, and consequently
is not much else than an automaton, or self-
moving machine, that lacks knowledge of him-
self, or of anything else.
All these differences of opinion can never
change God or his word; for he was in the
beginning and he will be in the ending, of all
things in this world, from everlasting to ever-
lasting, without end. He is the same yester-
day, to-day, and forever, '^ Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end.'' As to his word,
listen: '^ Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5: 18. "Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall
not pass away." Matt. 24 : 35. God and his
word are unchangeable. If there is any mis-
take in the Bible, it is not of God, but has
been placed there by translators or false theo-
logians, and doubtless from selfish ends. He
that addeth to or taketh away from God's
Word, shall receive the penalty thereof. God
will be just with all men.
XCIX
ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL
If this advice was more adhered to, much
less sorrow and crime would come to maukind
in this world. Mankind do not usually begin
at first with great evils, but yield first to some
trivial evil, that most people would scarcely
stop to notice. But when a person yields to
some little foolish thing, it opens the door of
sin; and when once started in the wrong road,
little by little his conscience gets seared, and if
he does not stop and right about face, he may
become a thief or a murderer. Great oaks from
little acorns grow. A person does not usually
start as a drunkard, or expect to become such
by the first drink; but one starting wrong is
liable to end wrong. Thus the necessity of
abstaining from the first drink. The yielding
of a child to the temptation to take some small
thing that does not belong to him, if not
checked in the bud, may lead to the worst kind
of thievery. Thus parents should watch and
guard their children. ''As the twig is bent,
the tree is inclined." I have known parents
that passed for good neighbors, who seemed to
454
ABSTAIN FROM ALL APPEARANCE OF EVIL 455
hold no restraint over their children; never go
to church or train their children to go; spend
the Sabbath day fishing, hunting, or wandering
about the woods after nuts, etc., or make the
Sabbath a day for visiting. You speak to such
a person about his children running so loosely
and wild, and he may say they must sow their
wild oats. I have observed that such children
often sow to the wind and reap the whirl-
wind, and the parents are left in sorrow to
mourn over a wayward son or daughter that
has gone to wreck in character, and fetched up
in jail or prison. I have known a man and his
sons to become drunkards on hard cider. They
raised their own apples, and made their own
cider, and would keep it in the cellar the year
round, and never realized that it had become
hard enough to make them drunken; and I
heard the wife and mother say that she had
rather not an apple should grow on the farm
on account of what usually followed. Her
husband, toward the close of his life, kept
drunk nearly all the time, whicli made it very
unpleasant for her and her family. If you
would be wise, ''abstain from every appear-
ance of evil."
c
SIGN THE PLEDGE
To sign a pledge against the use of strong
drink is a good thing to do, for old or joung.
But many refuse to do it, and say, "I can
drink or let it alone. I never drink enough to
do me any harm.'' But I have known many a
person of this kind that got to that pass that
he did not let it alone, and finally died with
delerium tremens; and I must say that such a
death seems the next thing in suffering to that
of a person who has been bitten by a rabid dog,
and possibly worse, for it lasts longer before
death comes. Suppose a man can govern him-
self so as not to become a perfect sot, what is
his example to those around him that have not
that firmness that he has ? If he attempts to
follow your example, and falls out by the way
as a drunkard, and is shut out of the kingdom
of heaven, can your conscience be clear before
God and your neighbors? Had you signed the
pledge you might have saved that man, and
possibly others of your neighbors. A man of
such will power carries a wonderful influence
in a community either for evil or good. "He
which converteth the sinner from the error of
456
SIGN THE PLEDGE 457
his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall
hide a multitude of sins."
A man that signs a pledge that he will not
use strong drink, does not harm himself. It
may cause others to do the same, and possibly
save his own soul. His pledge is his honor that
he will not use it; and when temptation comes,
this pledge of his honor is before him, and if
he thinks anything of his honor he will refrain.
It helps the man as does profession of Christ's
religion by baptism. Your baptism is a pledge
before the world that in the future you will
endeavor to live a Chistlike life. When temp-
tation comes, you will likely remember the
pledge you made before the world, and if you
have any regard for your honor before the
world, it will be a help to you in overcoming
evil.
Some men say, " I am not going to sign away
my liberties." You have liberty to sign away
all evil that presents itself to you or your
neighbors. You have no right to do a thing
that may cause your neighbor or yourself to
stumble. You may say, "Am I my brother's
keeper ? " I say, yes, so far as you are able to
keep him from danger.
CI
TO YOUNG MEN AND GIRLS: START RIGHT, DO
RIGHT, AND KEEP RIGHT, AND YOU
WILL COME OUT RIGHT
In mj life of eighty-two years I have seen
many young people start out in life: some have
started wrong, and some have started right;
but three fourths of them are dead and gone
now. Many of them started wrong. They
decided to have a good time by sowing their
wild oats, thinking that some time they would
reform in time to save their souls from death;
but before that time came the seed that they
had sown had brought them to a drunkard's
grave. Others had become tired of home and
being dictated to by parents, and had asked
their father to give them their share, and let
them go into the world for themselves. The
father getting tired of his son's uneasiness and
dissatisfaction with home life, fits him out; and
while his mother is weeping, he starts off with
his traveling bag for a good time with the cow-
boys in the Western world, or some other place
where he can find companions of wild and jovial
character in sowing wild oats.
458
TO YOUNG MEN AND GIRLS 459
But time wears away, and his substance is
gone; and now, like the prodigal, he hungers,
and is compelled to eat of the pods the swine
did eat. But he is too proud to return as did
the prodigal, and is left to become a tramp and
a vagabond. Most of such class come, first by
disobedience to parents; and I know of young
men now in New Jersey that are paying the
penalty of crime in prison for disobedience to
parents, and running away from a good home.
My experience in knowing such cases has been
quite large, as when I was overseer of the poor
in our city I had the charge of our station
house. At that time our city was quite benevo-
lent toward the tramps, and would allow them
to stop overnight in the station house, and in
the morning give them a half loaf of bread.
The tramps seemed to understand our benevo-
lence, and when a cold storm came on, they
would pull for Plainfield. Once the storm
became very severe, and when it was time to
close doors, eighty tramps were on file. The
next morning the weather was so severe that it
was thought best not to turn them out that day.
We kept a good fire, and plenty of water was
at hand, and they took this opportunity to wash
up, etc. They went out and begged or pur-
chased meat, eggs, and other eatables, and
460 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
cooked them on the stove, and enjoyed the day
the best they could.
This gave me an opportunity to learn the cause
of their becoming tramps. Almost invariably
it came first from disobedience to parents, and
then falling into bad company. Often they
would say, " My parents had a good home, and
I know I would be welcome back again; but
when I left home I was well dressed, and now
my clothing is dirty and ragged, and I am
ashamed to go home." So they stay away,
and resort to every kind of life to keep soul
and body together. One told me that he ran
away when young. " If I had remained at home,
my father would doubtless have set me up in
business, or have given me a farm; but now
probably I will get nothing, as I am looked
upon as a vagabond and spendthrift." How
many thousands we have tramping about in
the world, — all from disobedience to begin
with. If you started wrong, better return as
did the prodigal, and ask forgiveness, and possi-
bly you may be redeemed, and your soul be
saved. Try it.
Many of our girls and young women are on
the road to destruction from the same source,
and thousands of mothers are weeping to-day
over their disobedient daughters. It seems
TO YOUNG MEN AND GIRLS 461
necessary sometimes for girls to leave home as
servants to help support themselves and parents,
but when they get away from under mother's
teaching, they fall in with other servants, and
think they can do as they please, and forget
home instruction. They fall in with bad asso-
ciates, become night walkers, associate with
bad young men, become bad characters them-
selves, and finally fetch up in the houses of ill-
fame. Of such there are many found in and
around our large cities.
Parents should watch their daughters, and
know of the company they keep. Bad young
men are very deceptive, and young women are
likely to be deceived, and drawn into a trap
unawares. Parents should look well to the
reading matter of their girls. Bad pamphlets
and wicked reading matter have brought many
a girl to ruin, when a closer watch over them
by the parents might have saved them from dis-
grace and shame.
Parents and guardians, save your sons and
daughters from night walking and club houses.
Children, obey your parents, and become a
blessing to them and a blessing to the world
you live in, and thus be prepared for the bless-
ings prepared for the righteous in the world to
come.
CII
A CHAPTER OF MY OWN LIFE
It may seem strange that a man should write
up his own life. Of course no one would like
to expose all the wicked things he has done in
a life of eighty-two years. That is not neces-
sary; for no man, but one, in this world, has
lived without sin, and he was the God-man.
" He that says he is without sin is a liar," says
the Word. Every man alike needs a Saviour.
I was brought up to believe that my mother
was an exemplary woman, and the mother
largely establishes the character of her chil-
dren. My mother always taught her children
that it was wicked to use profane language,
and so impressed it on my mind that I do not
remember of taking the name of God in vain
but twice in my life, and for that she dealt with
me in such a way that I never forgot it. She
used to warn us boys, when going away from
home, to be careful of what company we kept.
My father was a church man, but not so
strict in teaching the children, but loved his
children dearly. My mother many a time took
me by the hand and led me to the church, fol-
462
ETHAN LANPHEAR AND HIS PRESENT WIFE
Standing in the front entrance to their home, he as he came from
his writing deslc.
A CHAPTER OF MY OWN LIFE 465
lowing footpaths and marked trees through
the woods. When I was nine years old, she
took me with her through the woods a mile and
a half to a schoolhouse where Dr. John Collins
was to give a lecture against drinking strong
drink, and where he offered a pledge for all,
old and young, to sign. There I signed that
pledge for life, and have not drunk a glass to
this day. That pledge always came into mind
when the temptation to drink was offered. I
was always proud of that pledge.
When I was nineteen years of age, I made a
profession of religion, and was baptized, and
thus said to the church and the world that I
would try to live a Christian life. From that
time I have ever studied to know the right side
of every moral and religious question. I was
an early abolitionist when it was an unpopular
position to take, and my home was a resting-
place for many a poor slave that was endeavor-
ing to find freedom. I harbored Frederick
Douglass when a slave; also a man by the
name of Logan, who became a bishop in the
Methodist Church, and the pastor of a large
colored church in Syracuse, N. Y. , after he was
liberated from slavery; also the two Harris
brothers, represented in Mrs. Stowe's book,
" Uncle Tom's Cabin " ; and many others while
466 MEMORIES OF EIGHTY-TWO YEARS
the fugitive slave law was in force, and before
the proclamation of freedom by Abraham Lin-
coln. I ever intended to stand by what I
believed to be God's will and for the good of
our fellowmen. I believed it was my duty to
obey God rather than man, and never to sur-
render a principle in the church or out for the
sake of peace and popularity.
I always believed in paying dollar for dollar
in my dealings with men, and I never took
stock in any bankrupt laws for the use of poli-
ticians and bankrupts, in the church or out of
it. I ever believed in economy, and not to
spend money before it was earned, but to help
the poor and every benevolent institution as
God has prospered me, and to treat every man
as an honest man until he has proved himself
to the contrary, and even then feed him and
pray for him, even if he is my enemy. I do
not owe any man a dollar to this day, to my
knowledge.
I believe in man's freedom everywhere, as
long as he does not interfere with other men's
rights, and a free religion to every man accord-
ing to his own conscience. I believe that pure
and undefiled religion should be exempt from
all State and national interference, which exists
solely to protect every citizen in his religious
A CHAPTER OF MY OWN LIFE 467
and civil rights. Religion is for every man to
settle for himself with his God.
Thus far in life I have had no man strike me
with a view to injure me. I believe in living
peaceably with all men as much as within me
lies; and as long as any man controls himself
there is not much danger of getting hurt.
I never have had an opportunity for high
school education. I well remember my first
school days in a log schoolhouse, when I sat on
a little stool by the side of the school teacher.
Her name was Thankful Odall. The benches
were made of split basswood logs, fiat side up,
with stool legs. Writing tables were slabs
fastened to pegs driven into the logs. I studied
spelling and reading, writing, and also a little
in geography, but never studied a day in gram-
mar in my life. Yet I have written for over
sixty periodicals, and have now over fifteen
hundred printed articles in my scrap books.
When I wrote my two former books, I had no
idea of writing this. The readers of the former
books will find some repetition io this one, in
order to connect circumstances in this. This is
probably my last writing, as I have now passed
the usual age allotted to men.
1 Of\ry
1
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