mrm: mM^mmm ^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ^^' Shelf..AdV:-lJi:i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^[^ ^^•^'=^^7^S 110 m6 SKETCHES. GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND. Founder of the City of Cleveland. 1796. SKETCHES OP WESTERN LIFE £Y HARVEY RICE BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK : CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM, 1887. Copyright, 1886 By Harvey Rice. All rights reserved. / PREFATORY NOTE. -.o:- The following sketches were written chiefly with reference to incidents and traits of character that marked the transition of the Western Reserve from a wilderness to the proud eminence of a civilized land. Similar incidents and traits have marked the advance of civilization from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As elements of history, they all have an interest that increases with the lapse of time — a his- tory that will never repeat itself. ''Woman and Her Sphere," and the Sketches that follow, are in- cluded in the volume for the reason that they pertain to achievements of western enterprise and have an import that is worthy of consideration. Cleveland, June ii, 1886. CONTENTS. GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND ii MAJOR LORENZO CARTER 29 REV. JOSEPH BADGER 49 HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS 77 WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS 103 FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM 129 WOMAN AND HER SPHERE 149 LAND OF FLOWERS 197 CAREER OF DE SOTO 206 FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE 231 Gen. Moses Cleaveland. ,.^'' GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND. In attempting to solve the problem of life, General Moses Cleaveland had a purpose and lived for a pur- pose. In his career, though controlled by circum- stances, he manifested an unusual degree of wisdom and foresight. Among other achievements he found- ed a city — the beautiful city that inherits his name and cherishes his memory with a pride that ap- proaches reyerence. His ancestry is of historical interest, and has been traced to a remote period. The name ** Cleaveland" is shown to be of Saxon origin, and was the name of a distinguished family in Yorkshire, England, be- fore the Norman conquest. This family originally occupied an extensive landed estate that was singu- larly marked by open fissures in its rocky soil, known to the Saxons as '* clefts" or ''cleves." This pecu- liarity of the estate induced the rural population of the vicinity to speak of its occupants as the **Cleff- lands," a name which the family accepted. This 12 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. name, like many others, as time elapsed, came to be spelled in a variety of ways — Cleffland, Clifland, Cleiveland, Cleaveland, Cleveland. An antiquarian of repute states that William Cleveland of York, England, who died at Hinckley, in Leicestershire, in 1630, was the remote ancestor of the American Clevelands. It is also shown that a lineal descendant of his, whose name was Moses, and who was a house- wright or builder by trade, emigrated from England and landed at Boston in the year 1635, where he re- mained for several years. He then, in connection with Edward Winn and others, founded the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, where both he and Winn permanently settled. This Moses Cleveland was a man of intelligence and enterprise. He aspired to full citizenship, and became, in 1643, what was then called a ''freeman." The qualifications of a freeman required that he should be of * ' godly walk and conversation, at least twenty-one years of age, take an oath of allegiance to the government of Massachusetts Bay colony, be worth ^200, and consent to hold office if elected, or pay a fine of forty shillings, and vote at all elections or pay the same fine." The restrictions and condi- tions were so onerous that many who were eHgible preferred not to become freemen, being more free as MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1 3 they were. But this Moses, who had now become a freeman, feeling that he had ancestral blood in his veins of a superior quality, thought that it ought to be transmitted, and after a brief courtship married, in 1648, Anne Winn, the daughter of his friend, Ed- ward Winn of Woburn. In taking this step " Moses ** did not make a "mistake." The result was that he became the accredited progenitor of all the Cleve- lands born in the United States — a race not only numerous, but noted for great moral worth and many noble traits of character. General Moses Cleaveland, the subject of this sketch, was born January 29, 1754, in the town of Canterbury, Windham county, and State of Connec- ticut. He was the second son of Colonel Aaron Cleaveland, who married Thankful Paine. Both his father and mother were persons of culture. They saw promising traits of character in their son Moses when he was but a child, and resolved to give him a hberal education. At the proper age they sent him to Yale college, where he graduated in 1777. He then adopted the legal profession, and commenced the practice of law in his native town with marked success. The abilities of the young lawyer soon attracted public attention, and induced congress to recognize his merits by appointing him, in 1779, 14 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. captain of a company of sappers and miners in the army of the United States, The following is the commission he received: The United States of America in Congress assembled. To Moses Cleve- land, Esquire, Greeting: We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct and fidelity, do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be a captain in the companies of sappers and miners in the Army of the United States, to take rank as such from the second day of August, 1779. You are, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of a captain, by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belong- ing. And we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under your command to be obedient to your commands as captain. And you are to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the United States, or for the time being of the Army of the United States, or any other superior officer, according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you. This commission to continue in force until revoked by this or a future Congress, the committee of Congress before mentioned, or a committee of the States. Entered in the war office, and examined by the board. Attest. Witness : His Excellency Samuel Huntington, Esq. , President of the Con- gress of the United States of America, at Philadelphia, the fourteenth day of February, 1780, and in the fourth year of our independence. Sam. Huntington, President. Ben. Stoddert, Secretary of the Board of War. Captain Cleveland is hereby, at his own request, discharged from the services of the United States. By His Excellency's command. Teuch Tilghman, Aid-de-Camp. New W^indsor, June 7, 1781. He accepted the commission, but in the course of MOSES CLEAVELAND. I 5 a few months, as appears, resigned the office. No reason is given. He doubtless preferred the practice of law, to which he returned. He was not an office- seeker in a political sense, yet he was a member of the Masonic fraternity and held the position of grand marshal of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. He was several times elected a member of the state legislature, and in this capacity acquired an enviable reputation as a statesman. In 1794 he married Esther Champion, a young lady of rare accomplishments, and the daughter of Henry Champion. Early in 1796, after having risen rapidly through the subordi- nate military grades, he was advanced to the general- ship of the Fifth brigade of the state militia. In regard to the subsequent career of General Cleaveland, it should be remembered that Connecti- cut, when a colony, acquired by grant of King Charles II. of England, in 1662, a vast tract of ter- ritory lying between the same parallels with the col- ony, and extending west from "sea to sea," or from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. When Connecti- cut was admitted into the Union as a state, she claimed this territory as her rightful domain. In adjusting the claim, congress allowed her to retain only that part of the territory now known as the 1 6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. ** Western Reserve." This she accepted in full dis- charge of her claim. The Western Reserve embraces the northeastern part of Ohio, and contains three millions and eight hundred thousand acres. In 1792 the state donated five hundred thousand acres of this land, since known as the ''Firelands," to citizens who had suffered by fire in the Revolution; and, in 1795, authorize.d a sale of the remaining part of the Reserve and ap- pointed a committee to effect the sale. This remain- der was sold within a few months for $1,200,000, which the state appropriated as a permanent fund for the support of her common schools. The pur- chasers of the land were sundry wealthy citizens known as the ** Connecticut Land company." The individuals comprising the company held different shares, and with a view to convenience in the trans- action of business, conveyed their respective interests to three trustees, John Cadwell, John Morgan and Jonathan Brace. In accordance with articles of agreement entered into by the land company, the general management of its affairs was confided to a board of seven directors, Oliver Phelps, Henry Cham- pion, Moses Cleaveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Eph- raim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger New- bury. On the twelfth day of May, 1796, the follow- MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1/ m.?^ commission was issued by the board of directors to Moses Cleaveland, who was a shareholder in the land company : To Moses Cleaveland, Esq., of the County of Windham and State of Connecticut, one of the directors of the Connecticut Land company, Greeting . We, the board of directors of said company, having appointed you to go on to said land as superintendent over the agents and men sent to sur- vey and make locations on said land, and to make and enter into friendly negotiations with the natives who are on said land, or contiguous thereto, and may have any pretended claim to the same, and secure such friendly intercourse amongst them as will establish peace, quiet and safety to the survey and settlement of said lands not ceded by the natives under the authority of the United States. You are hereby, for the foregoing purposes, fully authorized and em- powered to act and transact all the above business in as full and ample a manner as we ourselves could do ; to make contracts on the foregoing matters in our behalf and stead, and make such drafts on our treasury as may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing object of your appointment. And all agents and men by us employed and sent to survey and settle said lands, to be obedient to your orders and directions ; and you are to be accountable for all moneys by you received, conforming your conduct to such orders and directions as we may from time to time give you, and to do and act in all matters according to your best skill and judgment, which may tend to the best interest, prosperity and success of said Connecticut Land company, having more particularly for your guide the articles of association entered into and signed by the individuals of said company. Oliver Phelps, \ Henry Champion, ( directors Roger Newbury, \ ^^^^ctors. Samuel Mather, Jr., ) Thus commissioned, General Cleaveland led the first surveying and exploring party into the wilds of 1 8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. the Western Reserve, or ''New Connecticut," as it was then called. The entire party consisted of Gen- eral Cleaveland, agent of the land company ; Augus- tus Porter, principal surveyor ; Seth Pease, astrono- mer and surveyor ; Moses Warren, Amos Spafford, John M. Holley and Richard M. Stoddard, assistant surveyors ; Joshua Stow, commissary ; Theodore Shepard, physician ; Joseph Tinker, boatman, and Seth Hart, chaplain, accompanied by thirty-seven employes and a few emigrants. There were but two women in the party. They were married women who came with their husbands. The whole party numbered just fifty. They brought with them thir- teen horses and several head of horned cattle. The individuals composing the expedition concen- trated at Schenectady, N. Y., early in June, 1796. A few took charge of the horses and cattle and pro- ceeded by land through the interior wilds of the state to Buffalo, while the others procured boats and as- cended the Mohawk river, and when they reached Fort Stanwix, now Rome, transferred their boats from the Mohawk over the portage to Wood creek, passed down the creek to Oneida lake, thence across the lake and its outlets, and down the Oswego river to Lake Ontario. From this point they coasted along the south shore of Ontario to the mouth of the Ni- MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1 9 agara river, thence up that river to Queenstown, and after crossing the " seven mile " portage reached Chippewa, and from thence pursued their way along the Niagara river and shore of Lake Erie to Buffalo, where they were met by the detachment having charge of the horses and cattle. Here General Cleaveland found a delegation of Seneca and Mohawk Indians, headed by Red Jacket and Colonel Brant, who had been awaiting his arrival, with a determina- tion to oppose the further progress of the expedition to the Western Reserve, claiming that it was terri- tory which rightfully belonged to them. The In- dians consented to hold a " talk " with the general, who succeeded in quieting the claim by making them a donation of goods, valued at twelve hundred dol- lars. The expedition then continued westward along the southeastern shore of Lake Erie in two divisions, one division in boats, and the other by land, and ar- rived on the fourth of July, 1796, at the mouth of Conneaut creek, in the Western Reserve, and on arrival gave *' three deafening cheers " and christened the place *' Port Independence." It was a pleasant day. The party felt patriotic, and resolved to celebrate not only the day but the event. They flung the American flag to the breeze. Tables were extemporized and made to groan under 20 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. the weight of a superabundance of baked pork and beans and other luxuries, all of which were partaken of with a keen relish. Salutes were fired by platoons of musketry, speeches were made, and several pailfuls of grog were imbibed in response to the following toasts or sentiments: i. *'The President of the United States." 2. *'The State of New Connecti- cut." 3. ** The Connecticut Land Company." 4. *'May the Port of Independence and the fifty sons and daughters who have entered it this day be suc- cessful and prosperous." 5. '' May these sons and daughters multiply in sixteen years sixteen times fifty." 6. ''May every person have his bowsprit trimmed and ready to enter every port that opens." The celebration was prolonged until the stars ap- peared. It was the first celebration of the kind that had occurred in the Western Reserve. At its close, the hilarious ''fifty" retired to their boats and tents in as good order as could be expected. The next day was devoted to the erection of a log structure or two, designed for the immediate accommodation of the party and their supplies. The Indians in the vicinity now became inquisitive, and demanded to know why it was the white men had encroached upon their domains. A council was called and the central seat assigned to General Cleaveland, as the great MOSES CLEAVELAND. 21 white chief. Proceedings were commenced by gravely smoking the **pipe of peace." Cato, the son of the old Indian chief, Piqua, then addressed the great white chief, who, in his reply, conciliated the In- dians by giving them a few glass beads and a keg of whiskey. The surveys were then allowed to pro- ceed. The general assigned to each detachment of surveyors their special work, and told them where to commence it. In the course of two weeks after this General Cleaveland left Conneaut in company with a select fev/ of his staff, and coasted in an open boat along the southwestern shore of Lake Erie until he came to the mouth of a river, which he took to be the Cuyahoga. He ascended the stream for some dis- tance, amid many embarrassments arising from sand- bars and fallen trees, when he discovered his mistake, and found that it was a shallow river of minor im- portance and not noted on his map. This perplexity and delay so chagrined him and his staff that he named the river ''Chagrin," a designation by which it is still known, and continuing the voyage he entered the mouth of the veritable Cuyahoga on the twenty-second of July, in the same ever memorable year of 1796, and landed on its eastern bank near its entrance into the lake. He at once with his staff as- 22 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. cended the steep bank, and beheld for the first time an elevated plain of surprising beauty that extended far away to the east, west and south of him, and that was clad with a luxuriant growth of graceful forest trees. The scene charm.ed his eye, and the spot where he stood, skirted as it was by the Cuyahoga river on the west and by Lake Erie on the north, suggested to him that, with these natural advantages, the locality was destined, at no distant day, to be- come the site of a great commercial city. In accordance with this impression, he directed the locality to be surveyed into city lots. It included an area of a mile square. Two surveys were made of the land, under the superintendence of Augustus Porter — one by Seth Pease and the other by Amos Spafford. Each presented a separate map of his work. The one is known as '* Pease's map," and the other as *'Spafford's map." These original maps differ somewhat in detail, yet both are accepted as authoritative. The surveys were completed early in October, 1796. The surveyors gave to the new-born city the name of " Cleaveland," in honor of their chief. The general, with characteristic modesty, ac- cepted the compliment. The city, at its birth, contained three log cabins that had been erected by the surveyors for their own MOSES CLEAVELAND. 23 accommodation on the hillside next to the river, and near a spring that furnished an ample supply of pure water. The resident population that settled in Cleveland in 1796 vi^as but four; in 1797 the popu- lation increased to fifteen; in 1800 it was reduced to seven by removals elsewhere, on account of the in- salubrity of the locality. In 1820, the population increased to 150; and in 1830, at the taking of the first United States census, it was found that the popu- lation had advanced to 1,075. I^ 1^27 the Ohio canal, with its terminus at Cleveland, was put in successful operation. This improvement so enlarged the facilities of commerce as to inspire confidence and give assurance of the city's future prosperity. It was in 1830 that a newspaper called the Cleveland Advertiser was established. In preparing to issue the first number the editor discovered that the ** heading" was too long to fit the ''form," and so, in order to adjust it he dropped out the letter "a," in the first syllable of the word Cleaveland, and made it read ** Cleveland." The public at once ac- cepted this change in orthography. It is indeed somewhat marvelous that the city of Cleveland from a sickly infancy, and within less than a century, has now grown to such gigantic propor- tions as to possess a population of nearly two hundred 24 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. and fifty thousand. Its present rate of growth in pop- ulation renders it impossible for any one, however much of a prophet he may be, to predict what will be the aggregate of its population a hundred years hence. It is said that when General Cleaveland founded the city, he predicted that the time would come when it would contain a population as large as that of old Windham in Connecticut, which at that time was about fifteen hundred. If the general could now see "what has come to pass," it would be interesting, if not amusing, to witness his expression of surprise. Whatever else may be said of General Cleaveland, it is evident that he not only led an honorable life but achieved a great work. He was a man of few words and of prompt action. His morality was an outgrowth of Puritanism and as rigid as it was pure. He was manly and dignified in his bearing, and so sedate in his looks that strangers often took him for a clergyman. In complexion he was somewhat swarthy, so much so that the Indians claimed him as akin to their own race. In personal appearance he was of medium height, erect, thick set and portly, had black hair, a quick, penetrating eye, muscular limbs, and a military air in his step, indicating that he was born to command. In the social circle he MOSES CLEAVELAND. 2^ was pleasant and agreeable In his style of manners, and was always received as a welcome guest. He was a friend to everybody, and everybody seemed to be his friend. In his opinions he was decisive and could readily give a logical reason for them. He was also a man of true courage amid threatening dangers, and as shrewd in his tactics and manage- ment as he was courageous. In the midst of his usefulness and crowned with honors, he died at Canterbury, Conn., November i6, 1806, at the age of fifty-three years. He was the father of four chil- dren, Mary Esther, Francis Moses, Frances Augusta and Julius Moses Cleaveland, three of whom sur- vived him. His was not only a career of unusual in- terest, but a mission that transformed a wilderness into a civilized land. In a word, his life-work com- mands our admiration and deserves commemoration. The city that bears his name, and whose founder he was, could hardly do a more appropriate or graceful thing than to erect a statue to his memory as an ex- pression of her appreciation of his character and public services, and thus by honoring him honor herself. Major Lorenzo Carter. MAJOR LORENZO CARTER. History is indebted to biography for the greater part of its interest and value. It is not so much what a man thinks or beHeves as what he does, that gives him character. It was physical strength and a fearless spirit that distinguished the brave and the bold in the heroic age of the Greeks. It was these traits of character that gave Lorenzo Carter his re- nown as a valiant pioneer in the early settlement of the Western Reserve. Lorenzo Carter, familiarly known as Major Carter, was born at Rutland, Vermont, in 1767. He received but a limited education, but was endowed by nature with sound sense and a ready mother wit. At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Rebecca Fuller, a worthy young lady of his native town. The mar- riage took place on the twenty-eighth of January, 1789. Within a few years after the marriage the happy pair conceived the idea of making themselves 30 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. Still happier by removing to the "far west" — the mystic land of golden promise. In accordance with this resolution, young Carter and family, accompanied by Ezekiel Hawley, bade adieu to Rutland, in the fall of the year 1 796, with a view to a permanent settlement at some eligible point in the unbroken wilderness of the Western Reserve. When they reached Lake Erie they crossed over with their families and spent the winter in Canada. Hawley was the brother-in- law of Carter, and both were desirous of selecting permanent homes near each other. In the spring of 1797, both Carter and Hawley, with their families, recrossed the lake, and arrived in Cleveland on the second day of May. They were highly pleased with the appearance of the country, and especially with the beautiful valley of the Cuya- hoga river. Hawley and family settled on the ele- vated land bordering this river, and about a mile from the lake. Carter preferred the eastern hillside, near the mouth of the river, where he erected a log cabin, which was located a little north of the present viaduct or bridge at the terminus of Superior street. Here he and his family commenced their career in the wilds of the Western Reserve, amid wild beasts and still wilder men. The Indians at this time were numerous in the region of the Cuyahoga. Its valley LORENZO CARTER. 3 1 was, in fact, the "Indians' paradise." The river that winds so gracefully along the vale abounded with fish, ducks and geese, while the adjoining forests af- forded countless numbers of deer, bears, wild turkeys and other game, all of which were regarded by the Indians as their natural inheritance, and hence they viewed the encroachment of white men with sus- picion. The Cuyahoga originally ran through what is now called the old river bed, and discharged its waters into the lake at a point west of the new breakwater. At that early day there stood a huge Indian mound near the mouth of the river where it now runs, which, it is said, must have had originally a diameter at the base of one hundred feet, and an elevation of fifty feet. When the river left its old bed, it ploughed a new channel in a direct line to the lake, and ran so near the east side of the mound that it soon undermined it and swept it away. The exist- ence of the mound was well known to the early set- tlers. Several large trees, of a hundred years' growth or more, were standing on the top of the mound in 1796, but the natives of the forest who were found here at that date knew nothing of the origin of the mound, or of the race who built it. In all proba- bility it was built by the ancient Eries, who occupied 32 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. the southern shore of the lake east of the Cuyahoga, in an age that has no written record. The time has been, doubtless, when the lake shore at Cleveland extended several miles into the lake north of its pres- ent boundary. It is well known that the lake has encroached on the land, at Cleveland, nearly half a mile within the last eighty years. The mound was doubtless the sepulchre of some acknowledged chief who, in the lost ages, was the sovereign of the beau- tiful valley of the Cuyahoga. In the fall of 1796, the original site of the city of Cleveland was surveyed into town lots by Moses Cleaveland and staff. The surveyors erected at that time two or three log cabins for their own accommo- dation. These cabins constituted the nucleus of what has now become a great and beautiful city. The cabin built by Carter in the following year was much more pretentious in its size and style of architecture than the humble cabins erected by the surveyors. It had two apartments on the ground floor, and a spacious garret for lodgers. Near the cabin flowed a spring of pure water, cool and clear as a crystal. Thus provided with a rustic but happy home for himself and family. Carter felt that he must engage in some employment that would afford him a liveli- hood. The first thing he did was to build a boat LORENZO CARTER. 33 and establish a ferry across the river at the foot of Superior street for the accommodation of pubUc travel. In connection with this, he kept in his house a small stock of goods adapted to the Indian trade, including whiskey. When a boy he became an expert hunter, and knew that he could rely on his rifle in an emergency, and hence he devoted more or less of his time to hunting for the purpose of obtain- ing valuable furs and peltries, and securing a supply of wild meat for his family. He soon distinguished himself as a successful hunter in all the region round about him. The Indians found in him an overmatch as a marksman, and a superior in physical strength. He had the muscular power of a giant, and not only knew his strength but knew when and how to use it. He stood six feet in his boots, and was evidently born to command. His complexion was somewhat swarthy and his hair long and black. He wore it cut square on the forehead and allowed it to flow behind nearly to the shoulders. He had a Roman nose, and the courage of a Roman. Yet he was as amiable in spirit and temper as he was brave. He dressed to suit himself and as occasion required. In times of danger he always found in his rifle a reliable friend. He not only enjoyed life in the wilderness, but soon became master of the situ- 34 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. ation. He loved adventures and encountered dangers without fear. On one occasion, as tradition says, he returned from a hunting excursion and found that the Indians had broken into his warehouse, knocked in the head of a barrel of whiskey and imbibed so freely as to become drunk and dangerously belligerent. He marched in among them, drove them out, kicked and cuffed them about in every direction, and rolled sev- eral of them, who were too drunk to keep their legs, into the marshy brink of the river. The Indians did not relish this kind of treatment, and, meditating revenge, held a council the next day and decided to exterminate Carter. They selected two of their best marksmen and directed them to follow his footprints the next time he entered the woodlands to hunt, and shoot him at the first favorable opportunity. This the delegated assassins attempted to do, and, think- ing to make sure work of it, both fired at him at the same time, but failed to hit him. In an instant Carter turned on his heel and shot one of them, who fell dead in his tracks ; the other uttered a terrific war whoop and fled out of sight. This dire result overawed the Indians. From that time no further attempts were made to take Carter's life. His rifle was the law of the land. The Indians became sub- LORENZO CARTER. 35 servient to his will, and were confirmed in the belief that he was the favorite of the Great Spirit and could not be killed. It was in this way that Carter obtained an unbounded influence over the Indians. He always treated them, when they behaved as they should, with kindness and generosity, and when they quarreled among themselves, as they often did, he intervened and settled their difficulties. Not long after Carter had located at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, David Bryant estabhshed a distillery near his cabin at the foot of the hill. This distillery soon became the favorite resort of both white men and Indians. In a drunken frolic which occurred on the hillside one sunny afternoon among the Indians, the chief. Big Son, charged Menompsy, the medicine man, with having killed his squaw by administering witchcraft medicine, and threatened to kill him. Me- nompsy, knowing that he, as medicine-man, priest and prophet, was regarded as invulnerable, replied, **me no 'fraid," and when he, at nightfall, was pass- ing down Union lane on his return to the west side of the river, where his tribe was encamped, he was met by Big Son, who, with professions of friendship, saluted him, and then drew a knife and killed him on the spot. The friends of Menompsy, on hearing of the murder, came over from the west side with the 36 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. intention of killing Big Son, who secreted himself and could not be found. The " war whoop " was sounded, and a demand made for the surrender of the murderer. The Indians occupying the east and west sides of the river were hereditary enemies, and the danger became imminent that, unless Big Son was surrendered, a bloody fight would ensue between them. At this juncture Carter appeared and nego- tiated a compromise by which the friends of Big Son agreed to give the friends of Menompsy a gallon of whiskey. But, as it happened, no whiskey could be obtained, and the ** war whoop " was renewed. Carter then effected a second negotiation by agreeing upon two gallons of whiskey to be forthcoming on the next day. Bryant put his distillery into opera- tion at once, and the two gallons of whiskey were furnished as agreed. The friends of Menompsy then returned to their camp on the west side of the river and indulged in a drunken jollification that entirely allayed their thirst for revenge. At the August term of the territorial court, held at Warren, in 1801, Carter was granted a license to keep a tavern at Cleveland on paying into the county treasury the sum of four dollars. The entire Re- serve was then included within the limits of Trum- bull county, and the county seat established at War- LORENZO CARTER. 37 ren. The state constitution was adopted in 1802. At the first state court, held at Warren, after the adoption of the constitution, Lorenzo Carter of Cleveland, as it appears of record, was indicted for assault and battery. He was greatly astonished when the officer arrested him and said he must take him to Warren for trial. The friends of Carter were still more astonished than he was, and resolved that he should not be taken to Warren, and proposed to resist the sheriff, asserting that Carter was and always had been an upright and peaceable citizen. The sheriff was obliged to summon aid, and finally suc- ceeded in producing him bodily in court. It was known at Warren that Carter enjoyed the reputation of being a brave, bold and daring frontiersman, and it was supposed by the citizens of Warren that he must therefore be a dangerous fellow. But when ar- raigned before the court his quiet and manly appear" ance created a favorable impression. The charge made against him proved to be a.s frivolous as it was revengeful in spirit. It grew out of a dispute be- tween him and one of his Cleveland neighbors who owned a favorite dog. Carter had discovered that the dog was in the habit of stealing into his milk- house, at the spring, and lapping up the cream from the pans. He finally caught the dog in the act, and 38 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. chastised the brute. The owner declared his dog in- nocent. Carter declared the dog guilty. The owner then pronounced Carter a liar. Carter instantly re- turned the compliment by slapping his accuser in the face. Carter frankly plead ''guilty "to the indict- ment. The court readily comprehended the char- acter of the quarrel, and ordered him to pay a fine of six cents and costs. This he did forthwith. He was received on his return home by his many friends with such open demonstration of joy and triumph as to convince his accuser that the sooner he removed from Cleveland the better it would be for his per- sonal safety. The name of Lorenzo Carter had now become well known throughout the Reserve. He was highly re- spected as a worthy citizen, and was, in fact, the famous pioneer of the Cuyahoga valley. He not only had the confidence of white men, but acquired an unbounded influence over the Indians. When Carter first came to Cleveland, in 1797, there were but seven persons residing in the town. Its popula- tion increased but slowly during the next ten or twelve years. It was Carter's enterprise that built the first frame house in Cleveland. He also built the first warehouse. During the early part of his career at Cleveland, his spacious log cabin on the hillside LORENZO CARTER. 39 was regarded as headquarters. It served as a hotel for strangers, and as a variety shop of hunting sup- pHes. It was also a place of popular resort, where the denizens of the town and surrounding country held their social festivities. The first social dance or ball that occurred at Cleve- land took place at Carter's renowned log cabin, July 4, 1 80 1. The party consisted of fifteen or sixteen couples. They came from town and country, some on foot and some on horseback, and were dressed in all sorts of style. They occupied the front room, or parlor of the cabin. It had a puncheon floor, and its walls were decorated with deer-horns, powder- horns, rifles and shotguns. The dance began at an early hour. Mr. Jones was the violinist, who, after attuning his instrument, struck up *'Hie, Bettie Mar- tin," the favorite air of that day. The mazy dance was executed with marvelous agility, and with a still more marvelous variety of steps. The refreshments were substantial in their character, consisting mainly of baked pork and beans, plum cake and whiskey, and were partaken of with a keen relish and in liberal quantities. The dance was continued until daylight the next morning, when the party dispersed, and returned in merry mood to their rustic homes. It was doubtless the fruitful result of this public ball 40 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. which brought with it, on the next Fourth of July, the first wedding that occurred in Cleveland. The nuptials were celebrated at Carter's cabin, in the same decorated parlor in which the first dance had transpired. The happy twain whose ''hearts beat as one," and who wished to become one, were Wil- liam Clement of Canada, and Cloe Inches, the hired girl in Carter's family, whom he had brought with him from Canada to Cleveland. The preparations were by no means elaborate or expensive. The bride was dressed in colored cotton, and the bridegroom in domestic sheep's gray. No cards were issued, nor were any costly gifts pre- sented. When the guests had assembled, and the hour arrived, the affianced couple simply arose and "took the pledge" in the exacting language of the Puritanic formula of New England. Rev. Seth Hart officiated. He was from Connecticut, and was in the employ of the land company, and the only clergy- man who could be found to officiate on that occasion. Whether he was the first one who, in accordance with modern practice, saluted the bride with a "holy kiss" at the close of the ceremony, does not appear in the traditionary lore of the times. At a special election held in August, 1804, a-t the house of James Kingsbury, Carter was elected to the LORENZO CARTER. 4I office of major in the state militia, and from that date was always spoken of as ''Major Carter." This advancement to one of the enviable honors of his time not only increased his popularity, but enlarged his business prospects. In 1808 he built the first vessel constructed at Cleveland, named the Zephyr thirty tons burden and designed for the lake trade. The county of Cuyahoga was organized in 1809, and Cleveland made the county-seat. The popula- tion of the town at that time was but forty-seven. Nearly three years elapsed before the county erected a court house and jail. In the meantime a small room in a private dwelling, located on the north side of Superior street, was used as a court room and the garret of Major Carter's log cabin as a jail. The Indian, John O'Mick, who murdered two white men in the year 18 12, was incarcerated in this garret, where he remained chained to a rafter for several months previous to his trial. The major assumed the responsibilities of jailer and deputy-sheriff. The Indian was tried for his crime at the April term of the court, found ''guilty," and sentenced to be hung on the twenty-sixth of June following. When the day arrived on which the execution was to take place, a one-horse lumber wagon, containing a coffin made of rough boards, appeared at the door 42 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. of the major's cabin, ready to receive the convict and transport him to the gallows on the Public Square, where he was to be executed. O'Mick had frequently, after his conviction, said to the major that he would show the white men how bravely an Indian could die, and that the executioner need not tie his hands, but simply adjust the rope, and he would leap from the scaffold and hang himself He decorated himself with paint and war plumes, and when led from the garret, sprang nimbly into the wagon and sat down on his coffin with an air of stolid indifference. He was then taken under a military escort that marched to the music of fife and muffled drum to the PubHc Square, where a large crowd of citizens had gathered to witness the execution. Soon as the convict arrived he was taken by Sheriff Baldwin, who, with the aid of Carter, forced him to ascend the ladder to the scaffold, where the rope was adjusted about his neck and an appropriate prayer offered by Rev. Mr. Dar- row. At the close of the prayer and at the moment the sheriff proceeded to let fall the fatal trap, O'Mick sprang and seized a side post of the gallows with an iron grasp the sheriff could not disengage. Carter, who spoke the Indian language with ease, reminded O'Mick of his professed bravery and tried to per- suade him to let go the post, and finally succeeded LORENZO CARTER. 43 in compromising the matter with him by giving him a pint of whiskey. O'Mick drank the whiskey, and said he was ready to swing. The sheriff attempted to proceed when O'Mick played the same trick a second time, and again compromised for another pint of whiskey, which was given him, and while he was swallowing it the trap was let go and down went the ''poor Indian" with a jerk that broke his neck and the rope, and left him on the ground writhing in the apparent agonies of death. At this fearful mo- ment a terrific thunder storm, attended with violent wind and rain, burst overhead and compelled the crowd to disperse in haste. In the meantime the remains of O'Mick, whether dead or alive, were hast- ily buried beneath the gallows by direction of the sheriff. On examination the next morning the body could not be found. Some thought that O'Mick had resurrected himself and fled. Others thought the medical profession had secured the prize. At any rate his skeleton was, some thirty years afterwards, known to be in the possession of the late Dr. Town of Hudson. What has since become of it is not known. Major Lorenzo Carter was the right man in the right place for the times in which he lived. No man, perhaps, could have accomplished more, or executed 44 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. his life's work better than he did, under the sanae circumstances. He accumulated a handsome prop- erty, and in the latter part of his life purchased a large farm, which he improved, and which lay on the west side of the Cuyahoga river, nearly opposite the termination of Superior street. This farm, after his death, became the property of his son, Alonzo Car- ter, who occupied it for many years, when it was sold to the Buffalo Land company and cut up into city lots. It has now become an important business part of the city of Cleveland. The major died Feb- ruary 7, 1 8 14, at forty-seven years of age. He was the father of nine children, three sons, Alonzo, Henry and Lorenzo, and six daughters, Laura, Re- becca, Polly, Rebecca (2d), Mercy and Betsey. Lo- renzo and both Rebeccas died in infancy. Henry was drowned when but ten years old in the Cuyahoga river. The other children attained maturity and led exemplary lives. His wife died October 19, 1827. The descendants of the major are numerous, and are not only worthy but highly respected citizens. His grandsons, Henry, Lorenzo, Charles and Edward Carter, reside in the Eighteenth ward, and others of his descendants reside in the vicinity, or at no great distance, and are connected by marriage with promi_ nent families — the Rathburns and Northrops of 01m- LORENZO CARTER. 45 stead Falls, the Akins of Brooklyn, the Abies of Rockport, the Cathans of Chagrin Falls, the Rath- burns of Newburgh, the Peets of Ridgeville, Mrs. Crow of Newburgh, and others. Major Carter and his wife Rebecca were consigned to their final resting place in the Erie Street cemetery, near its western entrance. Two marble headstones mark the spot, and also bear upon their face a brief record that is worthy of a reverent remembrance. Rev. Joseph Badger. REV. JOSEPH BADGER. There have been but few men in the clerical pro- fession who have made a worthier or more exemp- lary life record for themselves than Rev. Joseph Badger. He fought for liberty in the Revolution, and for Christianity in the wilds of the Western Re- serve. In the one case he fought with the musket, in the other with the sword of the spirit. Whether serving as a soldier or as a missionary, he proved himself sincere and steadfast in his devotion to duty. Rev. Joseph Badger was born at Wilbraham, Mass., February 28, 1757. He was a lineal descend- ant of Giles Badger, who emigrated from England and settled at Newburyport, not far from Boston, about the year 1635. The father of Joseph was Henry Badger, who married Mary Landon. They were both devoutly pious, and equally poor in this world's goods. They instructed their son, Joseph, at an early age, in the catechism of the Puritan faith, and 50 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. gave him such further elementary education as they were able at the domestic fireside. He grew strong in the faith as he grev/ to manhood, when he began to realize that, in sharing life with his parents, good and kind as they were, he shared their poverty. In consulting his mirror he was often painfully reminded of the fact that his garments, patched as they were, displayed about as many colors as the coat of his ancient namesake. Inspired with the patriotic senti- ment of the times, and desiring not only to provide for himself but to obtain sufficient money to give himself a liberal education, he enlisted in 1775, when but eighteen years of age, in the Revolutionary army, as a common soldier, and was assigned to the regiment commanded by Colonel Patterson. The regiment was stationed at Fort No. 3, near Litch- more's Point, in the vicinity of Boston. At the bat- tle of Bunker's hill this regiment was posted on Cob- ble hill, in a line with the front of the American bat- tery, and about half a mile distant, where every man of the regiment could see the fire from the whole line, and enjoy the fun of seeing the British break their ranks, run down the hill, and then reluctantly return to the charge. On their third return, as luck would have it, they carried the works at the point of the bayonet. This was the first time after his enlistment JOSEPH BADGER. 5 I that young Joseph had an opportunity to smell the smoke of British gunpowder. It was some time in September of the same year he enlisted, that the British landed three or four hundred men on Litch- more's Point to take off a herd of fat cattle. Colonel Patterson ordered his regiment to attack the maraud- ers and prevent them from capturing the cattle. A sharp conflict ensued, in which Joseph tested the vir- tues of his musket and poured into the enemy nine or ten shots in rapid succession and with apparent effect. Several were killed and others wounded on both sides. Joseph escaped unharmed. But soon after this skirmish he took a violent cold, attended with a severe cough. His captain advised him to re- turn home until he could recover. This he did, and within twenty days came back and rejoined his regi- ment quite restored to health. The British evacuated Boston on the seventeenth of March, 1776. On the next day Colonel Patterson's regiment, with several other regiments, was ordered to New York, where they remained for three weeks, and were then ordered to Canada. They were trans- ported up the Hudson to Albany, and thence by way of lakes George and Champlain to St. Johns and thence to La Prairie on the banks of the St. Lawrence and in sight of Montreal. On the way the troops suffered 52 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. severely from exposure to rain storms and snow- storms, and from want of provisions. They arrived at La Prairie late in the day, and in a state bordering on starvation, and there they encamped supperless. The next day each soldier received a ration of a few ounces of mouldy bread for breakfast, and a thin slice of stale meat for supper. Joseph accepted his share of the dainty feast without a murmur, but doubtless thought the wayfaring soldier had a pretty *' hard road to travel." A part of Colonel Patterson's regiment was then ordered up the river to a small fort at Cedar rapids, which was besieged by a British captain with one company of regulars and about five hundred Indians, led by Brant, the famous Indian chief. The Indians were thirsting for blood. A fierce conflict ensued, which lasted for an hour or more, when the enemy was compelled to retreat towards the fort. At this juncture a parley was called and the firing ceased. A number were killed and more wounded. It so happened that the fifth company, to which Joseph belonged, did not arrive in time to participate in the fight, though they had approached so near the scene as to hear the firing and see the rolling cloud of battle-smoke. Joseph expressed his regret that he had lost so good an op- portunity to give his flint-lock a second trial. The JOSEPH BADGER. 53 detachment was now ordered to retreat to La Chine, a French village about six miles above Montreal. Here they were reinforced by the arrival of eight hundred men, under command of General Arnold. The entire force advanced to the outlet of Bason lake, at St. Anns, where they embarked on board the boats and steered for a certain point about three miles distant. In passing, the force was fired upon by the enemy, armed with guns and two small cannon. A shower of shot seemed to come from every direction, and, as the boats containing the Americans were about to land at the point sought, they received, amid hideous yells from the Indians in ambush, a hailstorm of bullets that rattled as they struck the boats, and slightly injured some of the men. The men in the boats returned the fire as best they could. It was marvelous that none of the Americans were killed or seriously injured. "It appeared to me," said Joseph, "a wonderful, providential escape." A British captain by the name of Foster, was shot in the thigh. It was now nearly sunset when Gen- eral Arnold ordered a retreat. The night was spent in making preparations for the morrow. It was near morning when Captain Foster came over to General Arnold and agreed with him to a cartel by which cer^ tain prisoners were exchanged. The American pris- 54 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. oners were returned in a destitute and forlorn condi- tion. Tlie pitiful sight deeply excited the generous sympathies of the kind hearted Joseph, who did what he could to comfort them by dividing his own supplies with them. General Arnold now returned with his troops to Montreal, exercising great vigilance to avoid further surprise. He then crossed the St. Lav/rence and encamped at St. Johns. Here the small-pox appeared in camp. In order to avoid the severity of the dis- ease, Joseph procured the necessary virus and inoc- ulated himself with the point of a needle, which produced the desired effect. Two days after the disease had appeared in camp, the troops were ordered to Chambly. The British hove in sight and began to land on the opposite side of the bay. The invalids were numerous and continued to increase. They were directed to march back to St. Johns, a distance of twelve miles. Most of them could hardly carry gun, catridge-box and blanket, and were often obliged to sit down and rest by the wayside^ Joseph among the rest. In the course of a few days the sick were transported to Isle aux Noix, at which place all the shattered army were collected under command of General Heath. From this place the troops, including the sick, proceeded amid sundry JOSEPH BADGER. 55 embarrassments to Crown Point, where they en- camped. Here the small-pox spread among the men, and in its most aggravated form, with fearful rapidity. The scene in camp soon became appalling. The groans and cries of the sick and dying were heard night and day without cessation. As it hap-* pened, the surgeons, for want of medicines and hospital stores, could render but little aid, In some instances as many as thirty patients died in a day, and were buried in a single vault or pit, for the rea- son that there were not well men enough to bury them in separate graves. The humane and philan- thropic Joseph, who had previously inoculated him- self with success, and thus avoided further danger from the contagion, now devoted himself to nursing and caring for his sick companions- in-arms with unwearied assiduity. As soon as the contagion began to abate, the sick were transferred in boats to Fort George, while the men fit for service were ordered to Mount Independence, opposite Ticon- deroga, to erect works of defense. The mount was covered with forest trees, loose rocks, and dens infested with rattlesnakes, which often crept into camp and were killed. At this time Joseph suffered for want of the clothes he had lost in the retreat from Canada, and had, in fact, worn the only shirt S6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. he had for six weeks, and was so incommoded with vermin that he was compelled to take off his shirt, wash it without soap, wring it out, and put it on wet. He was also scourged with an irritating cutaneous disease, which induced him to retire some distance from camp, fire a log-heap and roast himself, after anointing with a mixture of grease and brimstone. The camp was destitute of indispensable conven- iences, and the hospital in which lay the sick had not a dish of any kind in which could be adminis- tered a sup of gruel, broth, or a drink of water. Resort was had to wooden troughs, or dishes, cut out with a hatchet or penknife. The colonel, in passing through the hospital, said : " I wish there was a man to be found here who can turn wooden dishes." Joseph, who understood the art, replied: '* Furnish me the tools and I will do it." The tools were furnished, and Joseph soon turned from the aspen poplar an ample supply of wooden cups and trenchers. He was also often employed in making bread, and, in fact, was a sort of universal genius and could do almost anything. At the instance of General Washington he was also employed at times to aid in negotiating treaties of friendship with the Indians. But, after being transferred several times from one military point to another, and suffering JOSEPH BADGER. 5/ more or less from hardships, his health became so impaired that the principal surgeon gave him a dis- charge, and he returned to his home in Massachu- setts. He soon afterward so far recovered that he reenlisted and served as an orderly sergeant in defence of the seaport towns till the first of January, 1778, when his time expired, and he returned to his father's house once more, having been in the service a little more than three years. He received, on retiring from the army, about two hundred dollars in paper currency, which was so depreciated that he could not purchase, with the whole of it, a decent coat. He then (for the next six months) engaged in the business of weaving on shares, and during that time wove sixteen hundred yards of plain cloth. This enabled him to clothe himself decently, and to spend the ensuing winter in improving his education. At this time, as he said, he "had no Christian hope," but continued to labor and study during the year 1779, when a religious revival occurred, and he acquired a Christian hope with a determination to fit himxself for the ministry. Encouraged by his friend. Rev. Mr. Day, he prosecuted the requisite prelimi- nary studies, and at the same time taught a family school in order to meet his expenses. He entered college in 178 1 and graduated in 1785. He then 58 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. Studied theology and was licensed to preach in 1786. He soon received a call and was ordained as pastor of the church at Blandford, Mass. He had previ- ously married Miss Lois Noble, who was a young lady of refinement and exemplary piety. In Octo- ber, 1800, he resigned his pastorship at Blandford and received a regular dismissal. The Connecticut Missionary society, whose central office was at Hartford, had formed a high estimate of the character and piety of Rev. Joseph Badger, and at once tendered him the appointment to go, under the auspices of the society, as a missionary to the Western Reserve. This was the kind of Christian labor in which he preferred to engage. He therefore accepted the appointment, and, leaving his family at home until he could explore somewhat his new field of service, he took his departure on horseback, November 15, 1800, bound for the Western Reserve. He took what was then called the southern route, crossed the Alleghany mountains in the midst of a snow storm, and, after a weary journey, arrived at Pittsburgh on the fourteenth of December. Here he rested for a day or two, and then resumed his " jour- ney through the wilderness," and, after a weary ride of nearly a hundred miles, reached Youngstown, one of the earliest settlements in the Reserve, on Satur- JOSEPH BADGER. 5^ day night at a late hour, and was kindly received. The next day he preached at Youngstovvn his first sermon in the Reserve. The town at that time con- sisted of some half-dozen log cabins. His audience included nearly every soul in town, though but a handful, who had assembled in one of the larger cab- ins, and wlio seemed pleased to receive from his lips " the glad tidings of great joy." Gratified with his reception at Youngstown, and resolving to lose no time in expediting his missionary labors, he rode the next day to Vienna, where but one family had set- tled ; thence to Hartford, where but three families had settled, and thence to Vernon, where he found but five families. In making these successive visits he did good work. While at Vernon he was informed that Mr. Palmer, the head of the family settled at Vienna, had been taken suddenly sick and was not expected to live. There was no doctor residing in all that region of country. Rev. Mr. Badger hastened at once to the relief of the sick man and nursed him for eight days, when he so far recovered that his providential nurse could safely leave him. In this way Rev. Mr. Badger visited, in the course of the year 1801, every settlement and nearly every family throughout the Western Reserve. In doing this he often rode from five to twenty-five or thirty miles a 60 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. day, carrying with him in saddle-bags a scanty supply of clothing and eatables, and often traversing pathless woodlands amid storms and tempests, swimming un- bridged rivers, and suffering from cold and hunger, and at the same time here and there visiting lone families, giving them and their children religious in- struction and wholesome advice, and preaching at points wherever a few could be gathered together, sometimes in a log cabin or in a barn, and sometimes in the open field or in a woodland, beneath the shadows of the trees. At about this time he preached the first sermon ever heard in Cleveland. In response to all this benevolent work he had the satisfaction of know- ing that he was almost universally received with a heartfelt appreciation of his services and with a lib- eral hospitality. Though most of the early settlers were poor, they cheerfully ** broke bread with him," and gave him the larger share of such luxuries as they happened to have at command. Even the In- dians, who were quite numerous, treated him kindly and with respect. He took especial pains to enlighten and instruct them, and soon acquired such a knowl- edge of their language as enabled him to communi- cate readily with them. In September of 1801, he jouraeyed on horsebaclc to Detroit, with a view to extend the field of hi^ JOSEPH BADGER. 6 I missionary labors. On reaching the banks of Huron river, late in the evening, he stopped at an Indian hut, desiring to remain for the night. He was kindly received by the inmates — an aged Indian chief and his squaw. The squaw cut fodder from the cornfield and fed his horse, and soon presented him with a supper of boiled string-beans, buttered with bear's oil, in a wooden bowl that was cut and carved out from the knot of a tree with a hatchet and knife. Hungry as he really was, he relished the feast. She then spread for him, on the floor, a bed of bearskins and clean blankets, on which he enjoyed a refreshing night's sleep. In the morning she gave him for breakfast a corn bread cake, baked in the embers. It contained inside a sprinkling of black beans, and re- sembled plum cake. While he was eating, he ex- pressed his admiration of the bread. The squaw re- pHed : **Eat, it is good; it is such bread as God gives the Indians." He then resumed his journey to Detroit, where he remained a few days. While there, and while on his way to and from there, he held religious interviews with all he met, who were willing to converse in relation to their spiritual wel- fare, whether white men or Indians, but found no one, as he said, in all that region whom he could re- gard as a Christian, "except a black man, who ap- 62 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. peared pious." On his return he visited Hudson, where he found a few professors of religion. Here he organized a church, consisting of ten males and six females. This was the first church organized in the Western Reserve. The next morning, October 25, he took his departure from the Reserve, and re- turned by way of Buffalo to his family in New Eng- land, preaching as he went at such settlements as offered a favorable opportunity. He arrived at home January I, 1802, after an absence of thirteen months and fifteen days. He found his dear family all well, and, like David of old, blessed the Lord who had * 'redeemed his life from destruction and crowned him with loving kindness and tender mercies." Soon after his arrival, he visited Hartford and re- ported to the missionary society what he had done and the character of his work, and agreed to return with his family to the same field of missionary labor, and for such compensation as the society chose to allow him, which was but seven dollars per week. This was, at that time, considered a sufficient sum to meet the current expenses of himself and family. He exchanged his former homestead at Blandford for land in the Western Reserve. On the twenty-third of February, 1802, he started on his journey to the Western Reserve in a wagon drawn by four horses JOSEPH BADGER. 63 and loaded with a few household goods, his wife and six children, and himself driving the team. He took the route leading through the state of New York to Buffalo, and thence followed the southerly shore of Lake Erie to Austinburgh, in the Reserve, where he and his family were received with a hearty welcome to the home and hospitalities of his friend. Colonel Eliphalet Austin. He accom.plished the journey, a distance of six hundred miles, in sixty days. This was traveling at a pretty rapid rate, as was then thought. He remarked, when he had reached the hospitable home of his friend Austin, that he and his family seemed destined to share God's promise to his ancient Israel: "And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods." He now purchased a small lot of land in Austin- burgh, and soon, with the aid of a few kind settlers, erected a log cabin in which to shelter his family. He found it difficult to procure sufficient provisions, but soon succeeded in obtaining a sack of coarse flour in the vicinity, and hearing of a barrel of pork for sale at Painesville, he sent a man with a team thirty miles through the woods to purchase it, and paid twenty silver dollars for it, and found on open- ing it that it contained the " whole hog," feet, head, snout and ears, and weighed but one hundred and 64 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. seventy pounds. This, with the milk from two cows that were pastured in the woods and sometimes missed for a day or two, was all the provision he could make for his family when it became necessary for him to leave them and enter upon his missionary labors in other parts of the Reserve. He visited Mentor, Chagrin and other settlements. At Euclid he found a family by the name of Burke, who had resided in a lone situation in the woods for over three years in so destitute a condition that the wife had been obliged to spin cattle's hair and weave it into blankets to cover her children's bed and save them from suffering in cold weather. At Newburgh he visited five families, the only residents in the place, but discovered to his regret "no apparent piety among any of them. They all seemed to glory in their infidelity." He continued visiting families and preaching throughout the southeastern part of the Reserve, and establishing churches. He called on his return at ''Perkins' Station" in Trumbull county, where an election was pending and a goodly number of voters present. He was invited to dine with them. All took their seats and bec^an to helo themselves, when he interrupted them and remarked: ''Gentlemen, if you will attend with Christian de- cency, and hear me invoke the blessing of God, I JOSEPH BADGER. 65 will sit down with you, otherwise I cannot." Knives and forks were instantly laid down and a blessing invoked. The dinner was then discussed with a keen relish by the assemblage, who seemed to appreciate the fact that "blessings sometimes come in disguise." He then continued on his way home. Soon after this a revival commenced in most of the infant set- tlements, and his missionary labors were largely in- creased. In some of the settlements the revival was attended with miraculous power. In many instances the con- verts were stricken down in convulsions, groaned in apparent agonies, and tore their hair ; and in other instances they fell in a trance, saw visions, awoke and leaped for joy, shouting long and loud, "Glory to God." All this surprised the itinerant missionary and presented him with a problem which he could not solve; yet, being a disciple of the "Calvinistic school " and charitably inclined, he attributed the ' ' spasmodic demonstrations " to the mysterious work- ings of the Holy Spirit. The people far and near partook of the excitement and flocked to hear him. On one occasion he preached to an audience of five hundred. Though some scoffed, many professed to have experienced religion. The general impression was in those days that conversion consisted in expe- 66 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. riencing some sudden and mysterious shock — a Puri- tanic idea that is now held to be absurd — yet this wild excitement doubtless produced some good fruit, if not a "rich harvest." Be this as it may, Rev. Mr. Badger persevered in extending his labors and, between June i8 and July i of the year 1802, rode two hundred miles, preached eight sermons and administered two sacraments. In riding through the dense woodlands, especially after nightfall, he was often followed by hungry wolves and bears, manifest- ing a desire to cultivate a toothsome acquaintance with him. On one occasion, when riding through a dark and pathless forest late at night, along the banks of Grand river, and drenched with rain, he discov- ered by the sound of distinct footsteps that some large animal was following him. He stopped his horse, turned on the saddle, and with loud vocifera- tions and clapping of hands attempted to frighten the animal away, but, instead of the noise having the desired effect, the bear, as it proved to be, sprang towards him with hair standing on end and with eyes flashing fire. At this critical juncture, as Rev. Mr. Badger states in his diary: '*I had no weapon of defense. I thought best to leave the ground, turned to the left and walked my horse partly by the bear, when the brute stepped directly on behind me and JOSEPH BADGER. 6/ within a few paces. By this time it had become so dark that I could see nothing-, not even my hand holding the bridle, and the bear was still snapping his teeth and approaching nearer. I had in my hand a large, heavy horseshoe, took aim by his nose and threw the shoe, but effected no alarm of the enemy. To ride away was impossible in a pathless wood, thick with brush and fallen timber. I concluded to resort to a tree if I could find one. I reined my horse first to the right and then to the left, at which instant some sloping limbs brushed my hat. On feeling them I found them to be long, pliable beech limbs. I reined my horse again and came with his shoulder close to the tree. I tied the bridle to the limbs, raised myself on the saddle, and by aid of the small limbs began to climb. I soon got hold of a limb large enough to bear me, and at this instant the evil beast came to the tree with violent snuffing and snapping. I fixed my stand on the limb, took out a sharp knife, the only weapon I had, and prepared for battle. But I soon heard the bear snuffing near the horse's nose as he was crunching the boughs and leaves within his reach. I then ascended about forty feet, as near the top of the tree as I thought was safe, found a convenient place to sit on a hmb, and then tied myself with a large bandanna to the tree. 6S SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. SO as not to fall if I fell into a drowse. The bear continued smelling at the horse until he had passed around him to the opposite side of the tree, and all was still but the champing of the horse. By the roaring of the wind it appeared that a heavy gust was approaching. It soon began to rain powerfully, with wind and heavy peals of thunder. At this time the horse shook himself, which startled the bear to a quick rush for a few rods, when he stopped and vio- lently snapped his teeth, and there remained until a few minutes before daylight, when he went off. My horse, standing as he did at the foot of the tree, without moving a foot from the place where I left him, and in no way frightened by the approach and management of the bear, seemed to be peculiarly providential. This was the only time I was disturbed in camping out many times. As soon as I could see to take my course, I mounted my horse and arrived at my house, about six miles from my lodging place in the tree, with a pretty good appetite for breakfast. Having in my saddle-bags two volumes of the * Ohio State Laws,' it was remarked by some of my friends that the old bear did not like so near a 'union of church and state.' " Rev. Mr. Badger continued his missionary work with zeal and with highly encouraging prospects. JOSEPH BADGER. 69 He organized many churches and schools and dis- tributed many Bibles and school books, and often as- sisted the settlers in erecting their log cabins and in securing their harvests. In 1804 the missionary so- ciety reduced his compensation to six dollars a week, being the same they allowed their missionaries nearer home. This he did not relish, but accepted the re- duced pittance, remarking that he would go on with his work and trust to Him who *' feeds the ravens." At this time he was obliged to pay at the rate of six- teen dollars a barrel for salt pork, though the other provisions were comparatively cheap and plenty. Early in the spring of 1809 his house was burned, and nothing saved but two beds and a few articles of clothing. He at once built a small cabin, with the generous aid of his neighbors, and moved his family into it, without bedstead, table, knife, fork or spoon. In June of the same year he returned to Hartford, Connecticut, and made a final settlement with the Connecticut missionary society, and received an hon- orable discharge from further services as a missionary under its auspices. He then proposed to engage in missionary work among the Indians west of the Cuya- hoga, known as the Wyandots, and having, within a short time, received cash donations from the Massa chusetts Missionary society to the amount of over a 70 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. thousand dollars, he returned to the Reserve and commenced his missionary labors among the Indians at Upper Sandusky, which he regarded as a central point, and from which he extended his labors in the region round about so as to include all the Indian vil- lages in the vicinity of the lake, from the west side of the Cuyahoga river to the city of Detroit. This mission was called the "Wyandot Mission." His labors in this missionary field consisted mainly in visiting the Indians in their lodges, instructing them and their children in the elementary principles of Christianity and in the observance of peaceful rela- tions. He also gave them practical lessons in agri- culture and other arts of civilized life, and tried to reform their intemperate habits by condemning the use of whiskey. He was a staunch advocate of " tem- perance in all things," denounced slavish habits and also slavery long before the latter became the subject of political agitation. In 1812 he took a deep and active interest in the war, and accepted the position of chaplain in the command of General Harrison. He also exercised a wide influence over the Indians in preventing them from making alliances with the enemy. At the close of the war he resumed his missionary labors. In August, 18 18, his good wife died and left to him the care of their children. His JOSEPH BADGER. 7 I grief seemed inconsolable, but he soon so far over- came it as to marry in April, 1819, Miss Abigail Ely for a second wife. In the following June he took his ■n bridal trip with her to his old home in New England, and, after a brief but delightful visit, returned and devoted himself to preaching in the eastern part of the Reserve, where he soon settled as pastor of the church at Austinburg, a church which he had organ- ized, and which had become so large in the number of its communicants that it was generally known as the " mother church " of the Reserve. He subse- quently officiated as pastor of the church at Ashta- bula for some years, then at Kingsville, and lastly at Gustavus, Trumbull county, where he settled in 1825, and officiated not only as pastor of the parish but as postmaster, having been appointed to the latter office by the postmaster-general. In 1835 he resigned his position as pastor at Gustavus, and preached a fare- well sermon, taking the following words for his text: ''Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you." The sermon was a masterly one, and the audience was affected to tears. It was long remembered, and was never for- gotten by those who heard it. He had now become so enfeebled by age as to disqualify him for further 72 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. service as pastor of a church. From Gustavus he went to reside with his married daughter in the town- ship of Plain, Wood county, Ohio, where for eight or nine years, he devoted more or less time, as he was able, to missionary work in the vicinity. In 1844 he changed his residence and went to the neighboring town of Perrysburg, where he lived with his married granddaughter, and where he died in 1846, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-nine years. In six months afterward his wife died. But two of his six children survived him. In personal appearance Rev. Joseph Badger was tall, slim, erect, had blue eyes, brown hair, and a pleasing expression of face. In temperament and action he was quick and somewhat impulsive, yet he was considerate and slow of utterance, rarely, if ever, uttering an imprudent word. In his social intercourse he was sedate or facetious as the occasion seemed to require. He enjoyed hearing and telling amusing anecdotes. In his style of preaching he was apos- tolic, plain, simple and logical. In creed he was an othodox Presbyterian. He had but one grand aim in life, and that was to do what he could to advance the moral and spiritual welfare of man- kind. In a word. Rev. Joseph Badger, though dead, still lives and will ever live in memory as the early JOSEPH BADGER. 73 western missionary whose philanthropic and life-long labors were prompted by the spirit of a true Christian manhood. Homes in the IVilderness, HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. A little less than a century ago th'e Western Re- serve lay cradled in the silence of her own native solitude. It was General Moses Cleaveland who, in 1796, led the van of civihzation into the wilds of her untrodden recesses. The adventurers who followed this modern Moses came from the barren hills and narrow vales of New England. They were intelligent and enterprising agriculturists, who desired to become dwellers in a more fertile land, and who brought with them their families, with a view to permanent settlement. They purchased here and there wild farms, or tracts of land, throughout the Reserve, erected for themselves log cabins, and commenced life in the wilderness, with a determination to achieve success. A few of them, however, concentrated at different points and laid the foundations of prospective towns. In the wake of these primitive adventurers came a scanty supply of merchants and mechanics, who /S SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. located in the prospective towns. Immigration con- tinued to Increase. A tavern, a dry goods shop and a blacksmith shop, with as many log dwellings, con- stituted a village or town, and, of course, became the central point of association and trade. These central points were soon graced with accessions of more aristocratic pretensions. Saturdays and Sun- days were the social days of the week, in which the sparse population of the vicinity visited the towns for business purposes, or for the sake of hearing the news and having a social interview with each other. Not many years elapsed before these infant towns were supplied with a liberal endowment of lawyers and doctors, Interspersed with a few clergymen. They came with the hope of achieving professional success. The learned professions may be a public necessity. At any rate they seem to be mevitable appendages to an advancing civilization. Most of the early pioneers were comparatively poor, and came into the wilderness with slender outfits. In one sense, however, they were rich. They had brave hearts and strong hands. They brought with them their families and a few household goods, packed in canvas-covered wagons drawn by oxen or horses. Their journey from the east occupied from six to eight weeks. The route which most of them HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 79 took led through the wilds of western New York and along the southern shore of Lake Erie. Some came by way of the lakes, while others came by land. They encountered formidable embarrassments on the way, especially those who came by land. The roads were but old Indian trails, the mud deep and the rivers unbridged. On arriving at the home spot of their selec- tion in the wilderness, they at once, after erecting a log cabin, cleared away a patch of the forest about it, and let in a patch of sunlight to cheer the wild out- look of their isolation. The rivers abounded with fish and the woodlands with game. From these sources they were supplied with meat. From year to year they cleared a few additional acres of land, until a spacious and productive farm smiled about them, stocked with cattle, horses, hogs and sheep, and thus by dint of patient industry and the practice of a rigid economy soon acquired a healthful home- stead, together with all the substantial comforts of life. The log cabin and log barn gave place to a spacious frame house and barn, and in less than a half century every part of the Western Reserve became dotted with the happy homes of civilized life. In accomplishing all this, the original pioneers endured hardships and suffered privations which may be imagined, perhaps, but cannot be expressed in 8o SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. words. Some idea, however, of their career and per- plexing embarrassments may be derived from their experiences. The following citations from the his- tory of their times will illustrate, to some extent, their trials, haps and mishaps, while engaged in sub- duing the asperities of an inhospitable wilderness and converting it into a paradise of fruits and flowers and social enjoyment. David McConoughey was of Scotch descent. He removed in 1810 from Blandford, Massachusetts, to the Western Reserve, and brought with him his fam- ily, consisting of his wife and six children. He left Blandford in the month of November. The journey at that season of the year was extremely tedious and dreary. They traveled nearly six hundred miles through mud and snow, with one yoke of oxen and one horse attached to a wagon laden with the family and a few goods and supplies, and were fifty-three days on the way. No account has been given of what occurred while on their journey, save of the last night, which was spent in the woods in Bedford, the second town west of Bainbridge, where they encamped for the night, and were serenaded through the weary hours by a pack of hungry wolves that seemed chanting their own death-song, while the heroic members of the immigrant family assailed HOMES IN THE Wli^DERNESS. 8 I them with guns and clubs and exterminated most of them. On the first of January, i8ii, the family arrived at the cabin of Samuel McConoughey, a younger brother of David, who had settled in the northwestern part of Aurora in 1806. Here the family remained till the following November. In the early part of the year 181 1, David pur- chased one hundred acres of land of Benjamin Gor- ham, in the southeast corner of Bainbridge, Geauga county. Upon this land the father and sons com- menced clearing away a portion of the forest and build- ing a log cabin, which was soon ready for occupancy, and into which the family moved on Thanksgiving day, 181 1. It was a rudely constructed cabin, eighteen by twenty feet, with clieerless aspect, a puncheon floor made of split logs, and a fireplace built of stone, with a chimney laid up with flat sticks and plastered inside v/ith clay-mortar to prevent its taking fire, a chamber without floor, a roof of stave-like shingles held in place by long, heavy poles, an outside door on wooden hinges with the latch-string ** hanging out," and open apertures for windows which, for want of glass, were curtamed with thin white cloth, admitting but a faint light. The crevices between the logs in the walls of the cabin were wedged with split sticks and plastered over with clay-mortar to exclude the wind and drift- 82 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. ing snows of winter. All the furniture they had was a few articles which they brought with them from New England. These were by no means adequate to their necessities. They supplied the deficiency by manufacturing for themselves rude stools for chairs, a high bench for a table, and poles interlaced with ropes of twisted bark for bedsteads. The cabin fire- place was broad and deep, so as to receive huge back logs, which were drawn into the cabin through the doorway in winter on a handsled, and often by horse power. The small wood was then piled in front, and in this way a comfortable fire was kept up by day and preserved in the burning back log during the night. For a time this McCon- oughcy family were the only inhabitants in the town- ship of Bainbridge. Their nearest neighbor was a brother located in Aurora township, six miles dis- tant. The dense forest intervening was infested with bears and wolves and intersected with deep muddy creeks and black-ash swamps. This made an inter- change of visits hazardous. McConoughey's wife was a remarkable woman, possessed of great energy and practical good sense. She contrived to make her cabin home as cozy and pleasant as possible for herself and family, and succeeded in proving that life in the wilderness may be a happy one. HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 83 At this time wild turkeys, deer, bears, wolves, wildcats, raccoons, opossums, porcupines, elk and rattlesnakes still abounded in almost every part of the Western Reserve. There were also several frag- mentary tribes of Indians, The sons of the white immigrants soon became experts in the art of hunt- ing and trapping wild game. A son of McConoughey named Porter and his cousin, Jarvis White, discov- ered, while on a hunting excursion, a large hollow tree lying on the ground with a hole in its side. The boys, thinking there might be wild game in the log, fired several shots into the hole, when the dog rushed into it and attacked a bear that had been wounded. The howls and growls that followed were agonizing, and the hunters feared that the bear would kill the dog. The father of one of the boys arrived just at that moment, threw off his coat, crawled into the hollow log, seized the dog by the hind legs, and slowly backing, with the aid of his son drew the dog, whose teeth held the bear, out with him — dog, bear and all. It was "a. long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether" that did it. The bear was then killed with a bear-lance. It was a large, fat she-bear, weighing over four hundred pounds. The hollow in the prostrate tree on examination was found to con- tain two more bearSj or cubs^ half the size of the 84 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. mother, which were also seized and killed The flesh and skins of the bears were utilized, and furnished both food and bedding for the family. Fat bear-meat, when salted, was regarded by the pioneers as a good substitute for salt pork. In these early times verit- able salt pork cost from sixteen to twenty-five dol- lars a barrel, while salt by the barrel was equally expensive. From necessity the primitive settlers sought out **many inventions." In want of steel traps they constructed log traps in which they caught wolves and bears. These traps were four-sided, made of logs and pinned at the ends. On one side was a slid- ing door which could be raised by a spring pole with a bait attached, so that when the animal entered the inside of the trap and disturbed the bait the door would instantly descend and catch him. In this way thousands of wolves and bears were caught and ex- terminated. In one instance a bear was caught in Geauga county in a very different manner. Two men were engaged in a sugar-camp, making maple sugar. They had left syrup in the kettle at night for three successive nights, and in the morning found the syrup had as regularly disappeared. They suspected the thief They were well armed with a jug of whiskey, and on HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 85 the next night poured a Hberal quantity of it into the syrup, tasted it and found the mixture pretty strong, but sweet and palatable. They drank freely of it themselves, and then wrapping their blankets about them camped for the night and enjoyed an unusually sound sleep. One of the men awoke before the other in the morning, and saw, to his surprise, a huge bear lying along side his companion and both dead asleep. The toddy had proved too much for the bear as well as for the men. The wakeful man seized an axe and dispatched the thief who had stolen the syrup, and then awoke his slumbering companion. Both men congratulated themselves on the result of their strata- gem, and doubtless renewed their faith in the virtues of whiskey. Thomas Umberfield and wife emigrated from Con- necticut to the Western Reserve in 1798, with a fam- ily of several children, and were the first family that settled at Burton. The proprietors of the township gave Mrs. Umberfield sixty acres of land as an in- ducement to settle there, and though it was an un- broken wilderness at that time. Burton was declared to be in point of soil and natural beauty of location a second garden of Eden. The family came from Buffalo by boat to Fairport, sailing thence three milei up the river where they landed, and whence they S6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. proceeded to Burton on a rude sled drawn by oxen. They arrived at Burton, in June, where they pitched their tent. Mrs. Umberfield was a beautiful woman with a young family of promising sons and daughters. In a few days, with the aid of friendly settlers from distant points who had heard of their arrival, a log cabin was speedily constructed for the family. Not long afterward the friendly Indians of that vicinity camped near the house. The chief saw Mrs. Qmber- field's oldest daughter, Liney, and was smitten with her beauty. She was then but fifteen years old. The chief proposed to buy her and offered $i,ooo and his own son for her. The offer being declined, he intimated that he would steal her. For a Ions: time her mother would not permit her to go out of the house alone. Yet the younger children often played with the Indian children, and were fond of swinging in the loop of a wild grapevine that hung from the treetops near the cabin. The Indian boys would give the swing a violent push, send it high, and then set their dogs after it, and laugh to see the dogs puzzled and foiled in attempting to catch it. This sort of sport equally pleased the white children who sat in the swing. The children of the two races seemed to enjoy the society of each other with a relish. This pleased the Indian mothers and fathers, HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 8/ who were not only friendly to the white settlers, but showed a disposition to exchange visits with them in a social way. But the Indian chief, who was smitten with the pretty white girl, failed in his attempts to obtain her. Early in the spring of 1 8 12, a party of Indians en- camped in Hampden, Geauga county, and remained till falL The chief was a man of distinction among his people. His squaw was as gracious as she was beautiful, and received her white visitors with becom- ing dignity, arrayed in the richest style of decorative art known to her race. The article of dress which she most relied upon to give additional lustre to her native charms was a deer-skin cape, close fitting at the throat and flowing down gracefully about the waist. The cape was ingeniously wrought in singular devices with glass beads and porcupine quills. Hun- dreds of little silver brooches, with tongues like buckles, were interspersed artistically among the other devices on this cape or overgarment. In ad- dition to this her dainty pedal extremities were shod with a pair of deer-skin moccasins, ornamented in a style quite as elaborate as her outer robe. The white ladies were particularly fond of exchanging visits with this lady squaw, who soon became quite an adept in the practice of social civilities as known to civilized life. 88 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. The truth is, the Indian possesses many noble traits of character, and when treated with the consideration that is due him, he always proves true and faithful to his friends, whether they be of his own race or of the white race. The Indians affiliate in tribes. A tribe is regarded by its members as one common family or brotherhood. The rights of each tribe, and of each member of it, are sacred, and the entire tribe is bound to defend and protect these mutual rights. When one tribe infringes upon the rights of another the usual result is '*an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" in accordance with the divine law of the old Hebrews. But among members of the same tribe these children of the forest have a much higher re- gard for the rights of property and the practice of the moral virtues than exists in any civilized land of mod- ern times. When an Indian hunter within the terri- tory*of his tribe kills a deer, for instance, and hangs it by the heels to the limb of a tree with his mark upon it, until he can come for it, perhaps not until the lapse of several days, he is sure to find it untouched where he left it, and though another Indian of his tribe in a state of starvation may have found it, yet the starving Indian, seeing the mark of his tribe on the tempting carcass, would rather die than violate the rights of property vested in his tribal brother who HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 89 caught the game, and who might need it as much as he. But how is it in a civilized Christian community? We all know that if a neighbor should kill and dress a fat pig, hang him up by the heels and leave him hanging over night out of doors, ten to one the pig would be stolen before morning. Enos D. Kingsley, an emigrant from Massachu- setts, came to the Reserve in April, 1816, with a wife and two or three young children, and located at Bainbridge, where he built a log cabin, in which he and his young wife began life in the wilderness, with high hopes of success. In the following November his wife died. There was no graveyard in the town- ship. Her remains were carried by hand on a bier through the woods to Aurora for interment, a dis- tance of more than five miles. A pathway through the forest was cleared by axemen as the procession advanced. The pall-bearers, who were able-bodied men, became greatly fatigued, and frequently called the procession to a halt in order to give them time to recover the shoes they had lost in the mud and mire. Mr. Kingsley was so overcome by his sud- den bereavement that his friends advised him to return with his children to New England. This he did, but remained away but a short time, when he returned to his rude cabin in Ohio. go SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. It SO happened that Mr. Kingsley, in January, 1 8 19, was called from Balnbridge to Mentor, and, passing through Kirtland, he came to the Cha- grin river, which was overflowing its banks. It was an unbridged river. He was on horseback and attempted to ford it. When about half way across the stream, he discovered a lady attempting to cross on the trunks of two trees which had fallen from either bank and so interlapped as to form a kind of artificial bridge, though a very narrow and hazardous one. The lady had, with evident timidity, reached the midway point of the merciless stream, when the young widower hastened to shore, hitched his horse, ran to her relief, and assisted her to reach the shore in safety. Her name was Miss Mary Mann, a school teacher in the vicinity, who was returning home. She expressed to him her gratitude and he expressed to her his admiration of her fortitude. This novel introduction prolonged the interview somewhat on the bank of the turbulent, though un- listening river. The parties related to each other their histories, and became deeply interested. The young widower proposed on the spot, and was gra- ciously accepted. Within a few weeks afterward the happy pair were made still happier by a union in marriage. They at once assumed possession of the HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 9I log cabin which Kingsley had built in Bainbridge. She proved a kind and affectionate mother to his young children by the first wife, and bore him several I additional responsibilities that received the tenderest care and affection. In the course of three years after the marriage, Mr. Kinsley became so crippled with rheumatism that he could not attend to the business of cultivating and improving his new farm. He found in his school- marm wife, however, a helpmeet equal to any emer- gency. During his disability she not only spun, wove, and did her housework, but worked on the farm, chopped brush, cleared land, ploughed and sowed, and conducted the farmwork generally with wonderful success. In this instance she assumed man's rights from necessity, and that, too, without abandoning woman's rights, or indulging in political aspirations. She was a true woman in every sense of the word. Her husband, after some years recovered his health, and they both lived to acquire wealth and rear a happy family of children. Both died at a ripe old age, and side by side fill honored graves. Deacon Pomeroy, in 1809, awoke one morning and found that his cattle were all missing and started in pursuit of them. They had evidently strayed from his premises, been stolen, or frightened away. 92 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. He spent the day in searching for them through the forests of Hampden, Thompson and Montville townships, but did not find them. Night overtook him and he started on a direct line for home. A pack of hungry wolves scented his track and followed him with bloodthirsty intent. They approached him so closely that he was compelled to climb a tree to save himself from being devoured. He sprang into the branches of a wild plum tree. The wolves reached the tree at about the same moment. They snuffed their victim in the branches, howled and be- gan gnawing the trunk of the tree at the roots, as if expecting to cut the tree down. The deacon did not like his hungry, impatient associates, and began hallooing with all his strength of lungs for help, hop- ing some settler or belated hunter might hear his voice and come to his rescue. No one came. The nearest settler was John Quiggle, a mile distant or more. The deacon continued to halloo and the wolves to howl and gnaw at the root of the tree. At last the deacon was heard by Mrs. Quiggle and her children. Her husband was absent from home. She knew some one was lost in the forest and was in distress, but durst not venture out amid the darkness of night. She did what she thought the next best thing. She blew the dinner-horn — a conch shell — HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 93 loud and long at her cabin door in reply to the dea- con's oft repeated halloo. The deacon awaited relief in vain. He watched the wolves all night, and the wolves watched him. He did not like this kind of close communion service. It was too close. He was not relieved till broad daylight in the morning, when the wolves dispersed and he descended from the tree, struck a trail and found his way home in safety. He said the dinner horn that replied to his vociferations at intervals during the night, though it gave no re- lief, was the *' sweetest music" to his ear he had ever heard. On another occasion, in the same wild region of country and at about the same time, Mrs. Margaret King was returning home on horseback through the dense woodlands from a visit to a distant neighbor, when she discovered on the way a pretty looking lit- tle black animal which seemed playful and harmless. She fell in love with it, dismounted and caught it and began petting it kindly and clasping it to her breast, when it gave a significant outcry, and its mother, a huge bear, came rushing from the thickets to its res- cue. Mrs. King instantly dropped her pet, sprang into the saddle just in time to avoid serious results. The maternal bear took her cub by the nape of the neck and hastily retired into the depths of the forest 94 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. without manifesting any disposition to rebuke the affectionate regard that had been bestowed on her offspring by a lady. All this is but an epitome of what was generally true of pioneer life in the Western Reserve. The primitive settlers brought with them little else than their Puritanic faith — a faith in themselves, in schools, in churches, and in the practice of the moral virtues. A few of them came into the wilderness with money sufficient to purchase large tracts of land. Among the few was John Ford, He purchased two thousand acres of land in the township of Burton, in 1804. Other parties had purchased more or less land in the township at an earlier date, and several families had already settled at Burton. All felt a desire to establish not only a good common school, but a school of a higher order, an academy or college. As early as 1801 Rev. Joseph Badger, the itinerant missionary, sug- gested the idea of obtaining a charter from the legis- lature, authorizing the establishment of a college at Burton. In this project he was earnestly seconded by others, and a charter was granted in 1803. In the act the corporation was called **The Erie Literary Society." The first corporator named was Joseph Hudson and the last Rev. Joseph Badger. The Jos- ephs of those days seem to have abounded in good HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 95 works. Whether dressed in as many colors as their ancient progenitor, does not appear, but it is evident that they were men of earnest purpose, who sought to elevate mankind by the only true method — edu- cation. In 1806, William Law donated to this infant college eleven hundred and thirty acres of land with the reservation that if the college should be removed from Burton the land should revert to his heirs. A building 25 by 50 feet intended for school purposes was commenced in 1804 and finished in 1806. It was two stories high. The lower story was used for the common school, and the upper story for the double purpose of an academic school and for religious wor- ship on Sundays. John Ford, the rich landowner, cut and hewed most of the timber for the building. It was regarded as the most elegant and imposing edifice in the Western Reserve. Mr. Ford was the father of Seabury Ford, who was but a young lad at the time the school was established. Seabury re- ceived his elementary education at this school, and was fitted for college in its academic department. He was sent to Yale college where he graduated in 1825, and after distinguishing himself as a lawyer and statesman was elected governor of Ohio in 1848. He died at Burton in 1855. The first teacher in the Burton academy, as it was generally called, was g6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. Peter Hitchcock. He was a young lawyer, who af- terwards acquired renown in his professional career and was elevated to the supreme bench of the state. David Tod, the eminent war governor of Ohio, was also educated at Burton academy. There were many resolute young men and young ladies who, in the palmy days of the institution, walked five or six miles through the wilds of the forest to attend its classic course of instruction. The original building was burned in i8io. The trustees were seriously em- barrassed in obtaining the requisite funds to rebuild. They commenced, however, the work in 1817, and after many hinderances succeeded in finishing it in 18 19. The institution continued to maintain its col- legiate character until 1834, when, by the influence of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches of the Western Reserve, a theological department was added to the school, though strenuously opposed by the leading men of Burton. This introduction of sec- tarianism proved an embarrassment instead of a bene- fit, and soon so reduced the patronage of the institu- tion as to render its prospects of success discouraging, if not hopeless. This induced its removal as a col- lege to Hudson. It was for this reason that the land endowment it had received from William Law revert- ed to his heirs. It was now called " Western Reserve HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. p/ College." It remained at Hudson for nearly half a century, where It did good work and achieved a wide reputation. But, in 1882, a ''change came over its dream," when it struck its tent and migrated to the city of Cleveland where it assumed the ponderous title — Adelbert College of Western Reserve Univer- sity — and where it now considers itself comfortably and permanently settled for life. It is an aspiring institution and has the ability to accomplish high aims. Yet the primitive little town of Burton has the envl- able honor of being its birthplace. It was at Burton that the irrepressible spirit of western popular edu- cation was begotten — a spirit whose influence now pervades not only the Western Reserve but the entire state. Life in the wilderness was a life of toil, of suffer- ing, and of deprivation, inspired by hope. It was an educated civilization that came to subdue a wil- derness. It achieved its work within a comparatively brief period. Where roamed the wild beast and the savage, we now see a land of beauty and of plenty — a land characterized by a refined and intelligent population. All this has been achieved as if by magic. It is the golden fruit of pioneer labor and enterprise — a rich inheritance left to all subsequent generations. 98 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. The pioneers possessed a degree of Puritanic blood that made them invincible. They looked ahead and went ahead. They were, in fact, a peculiar people, self-reliant and ever hopeful amid discouragements, and ever triumphant amid adversities. Armed with the shield of faith and the panoply of the moral vir- tues, they fought the battle of life and won the vic- tory. In a word, they were an earnest race, evan- gelical in character, who migrated from New Eng- land, the centre of a refined civilization. They carried the gospel with them and practiced what they preached. Their women were not ideal, but real. They handled the distaff, spun, wove, baked and brewed, knit, patched and made garments, and mod- estly and lovingly devoted themselves to the duties of the domestic circle, the care of their children and the interests of their confiding husbands. It was the cheering '* light of their countenance " that illu- minated the interior of the log cabin and gave to it the charms of a palace. The women of that day were sufficiently well-bred to grace a palace, but were content to move in their appropriate sphere. They were not afflicted with ennui, nor with a desire for notoriety. They had no masculine aspirations, nor did they sigh for silks, satins and laces. They were intelligent as well as industrious, and social in their HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 99 habits. On extra occasions they dressed in English calico with nice check aprons, but ordinarily in short gowns and petticoats of domestic manufacture. Yet, with all this simplicity of apparel, they were generally supplied with a rich assortment of jewelry, which they, like the Roman matron, took great pride in exhibiting — their sons and daughters — jewels whose lustre, in a moral sense, not only at- tracts admiration still, but crowns the memory of an honored ancestry with a circlet of light as radiant as the stars. Western Reserve Jurists, WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. There are stars in history as well as in the depths of the sky. In the early history of the Western Re- serve there glitters a stellar group of legal talent that commands our reverent admiration. Yet of the many Western Reserve jurists who have adorned the bench and bar of the great state of Ohio, but few, if any, are entitled to take higher rank than Calvin Pease, Peter Hitchcock and George Tod, of the early times ; and Reuben Wood, Sherlock J. Andrews and Rufus P. Ranney, of the later times. These are all representative men. They well knew that education lies at the foundation of character. They therefore began life by securing for themselves the elements of success. They were all possessed of a high de- gree of native tact and talent which, coupled with enterprise and noble aims, enabled them to reach a professional eminence that is rarely excelled. They were, in fact, the architects of their own fortunes. 104 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. In working out the problem of life, each wrought, as it were, at the anvil with hammer in hand, and on his own account. " Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought ; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought." It is hardly necessary to say, perhaps, that bio- graphical sketches of these eminent jurists of the Western Reserve have already been written and pub- lished, and have in fact become a part of the history of their times and of the state. In this article, there- fore, nothing more will be attempted than simply to present these jurists in a group, with a brief outline of their career and the saHent points of character that distinguished them. JUDGE PEASE. Calvin Pease was born at Suffield, Connecticut, September 9, 1776. He received an academic edu- cation and excelled as a scholar, especially in classi- cal literature. He studied law with Gideon Granger, was admitted to the bar in 1798, and commenced practice at New Hartford in his native state. In March, 1800, he emigrated and settled in Youngs- town, Ohio, then but a small hamlet of log cabins hidden away in the wilds of the "far west," where WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. IO5 the law of might gave right. But this was not the kind of law he desired to practice, though well quali- fied physically to excel in it. He had nothing upon which to depend for gaining a livehhood but his hands and his wits. He did not seek office, but offices fell upon him like a shower of snowflakes. Soon after his arrival at Youngstown a postoffice was established there, and he received the appoint- ment of postmaster. The emoluments of the office consisted mainly in the honor it conferred. In August, 1800, he was appointed clerk of the terri- torial court of common pleas and general quarter sessions for the newly organized county of Trumbull. The county-seat was at Warren, where the court held its first session between two corn cribs for the want of better accommodations. The court in its novel surroundings assumed an air of dignity that partook largely of the comical. Pease was born a wit and a humorist, and highly appreciated the situation. He was regarded as a modest young lawyer of unusual promise. He disliked a mere clerk- ship, and in the following October was admitted to the western bar by the general court of the territory northwest of the Ohio river. Not long after this he removed from Youngstown to Warren. In 1803 the state of Ohio was admitted into the Union. The I06 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. legislature, in organizing the state government, divided the state into three judicial circuits and elected Pease, though but twenty-six years of age, to the office of president-judge for the third circuit, in which the county of Trumbull was included. He held the office for nearly seven years and acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction of the public, except in one instance, when a constitutional question arose under the act of 1805, relative to the jurisdiction of justices of the peace. Judge Pease held that certain provisions of the act were unconstitutional, and therefore null and void. The decision created an excitement which took a political turn, especially among members of the legislature who had passed the act, and who professed to think that the judge had not only exceeded his judicial power, but had unjustly cast a damaging reflection on the wisdom of the legislature. The case was taken to the su- preme court, where the decision of Judge Pease was affirmed. This unexpected result so vexed the agi- tators that they proceeded at once to procure the impeachment of both Judge Pease and the judges of the supreme court, but on hearing before the senate signally failed of success. The consequence was that the decision made by Judge Pease became standard authority, while his popularity as a judge was largely 'WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 10/ increased. But he was so disgusted with this attempt at impeachment that he resigned the judgeship and resumed the practice of law at Warren, where he resided. He was a favorite with the people of his county, who, in 1 8 12, elected him to the state senate. As a statesman he took a prominent stand and acquitted himself with eminent ability. In 1815 the legisla- ture elected him a judge of the supreme court for the term of seven years, and at the expiration of his term reelected him to the same office. He dis- charged the duties of supreme judge for fourteen years, and for the last seven years of his service was the chief-justice of the state. At the expiration of his second term he retired to private life. In 183 1 he was again elected to the legislature. This was the last public office he consented to accept. Judge Pease was a remarkable man in many re- spects, and happily adapted to the times in which he lived. He began life with a determination to achieve success. Nature had endowed him with enviable gifts. He excelled as a wit and a humorist, and for this reason was regarded as the sparkling centre of the social circle. He was a man of imposing presence and graceful manners, and always seemed to move in an atmosphere of sunshine. His purity of character I08 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. and integrity as a judge were never assailed or ques- tioned. He was quick in his perceptions, and could readily grasp the most perplexing questions, and as readily apply the great principles of law and equity in the solution of them. He would never allow a just cause to be sacrificed on the altar of legal tech- nicalities. His mind, like that of Lord Mansfield, was too comprehensive and too deeply imbued with a sense of right and love of justice to administer the law upon obsolete rules of special pleadings, especi- ally when their rigid application would make the court an instrument of wrong and injustice. He was an admirer of the English classics, and read them with a keen relish, especially Swift and Stearne, and could repeat many of the old English ballads. He often sang snatches of them to beguile the long and tedious journeys which he and his associates on the bench were compelled to make through native forests and muddy roads in order to meet appointments in holding court in the several counties of the state. They all rode on horseback, and often forded swollen rivers at the hazard of their lives, and when belated, as they sometimes were, in reaching their point of destination, were obliged to encamp for the night in the dense woodlands. They wore green baize leg- gins wrapped around their legs from their heels to WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. IO9 their knees to protect their boots and pantaloons from an unseemly accumulation of mud, and carried in saddlebags changes of linen and other supplies, and also carried in their heads the only law library to which they had access. New questions of law in- cident to a new country were constantly arising for the decision of which no precedent existed. The judges were therefore compelled to base their decis- ions more or less on their own intuitive sense of jus- tice and equity. It was in this way that they con- structed a system of western common law which is regarded as standard authority. Most of the decis- ions rendered by Chief Justice Pease, so far as now known, are contained in the first four volumes of 'Hammond's Reports.' These were the earliest law reports published by the state. The judicial career of Judge Pease terminated in 1830. He devoted the remaining part of his life to professional business and the management of his private affairs. He died September 17, 1839, at his residence in Warren. Whether viewed in the light of a judge and states- man, or in reference to his career as a lawyer and citizen, it must be conceded that he was a man of mark, and in all respects worthy of the enviable honors with which his life was crowned. no SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. JUDGE HITCHCOCK. Peter Hitchcock was born October 19, 1 78 1, at Cheshire, Connecticut. After receiving a common school education he taught a district school in winter and labored on a farm in summer, and in this way obtained sufficient means to give himself a liberal education. He graduated at Yale college in 1801, adopted the legal profession, and opened an office in his native town. In 1806 he married and removed to the Western Reserve, and settled on a new farm at Burton. He adapted himself to circumstances, and devoted his time to the improvement of his farm in connection with the practice of law, and for the want of a more productive employment engaged in teaching school in the winter months. In the course of a few years the population of the county so ad- vanced as to afford him a much broader field as a lawyer. He soon acquired an extensive practice, and became known as an able and an honest lawyer. His style of oratory was not as rhetorical as it was colloquial and logical. Everybody could understand him, and everybody believed in him. In arguing a cause, whether to a jury, a justice of the peace or before the judges of the higher courts, he was always listened to with profound attention. He never en- gaged in the management of a cause without having WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. Ill made a thorough and exhaustive preparation. In 1 8 10 he represented Geauga county in the lower branch of the legislature. In 1812 he was elected to the state senate, and in 18 14 reelected to the same position and chosen speaker. In 1816 he was elected to congress and took his seat in December, 18 17. In 1 8 19 the legislature of the state elected him a judge of the supreme court for the constitutional term of seven years, and in 1826 reelected him to the same office. At the close of his second term a change in politics relegated him to private life. Yet, like Ban- quo's ghost, he could neither be put down nor kept down. The people in 1833 returned him to the state senate, when he was again elected speaker. In 1835 he was restored to the supreme bench. For many years he occupied the position of chief justice. , At the close of his term adverse political influences re- lieved him from judicial service. But in 1845 he was again restored to the supreme bench, and in 1850, near the close of his judicial term, he con- sented to obey the popular voice, and accepted a seat in the convention called to revise the constitu- tion of the state. In this capacity he rendered val- uable service, and still continued to discharge his duties on the bench. When his term as judge ex- pired in 1852 he had reached the ripe age of three 112 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. score years and ten, and from choice, like Cincinna- tus, returned to the plough, after a public service of over forty years. He died March 4, 1854. Judge Hitchcock was beloved as a citizen, and was a truly great man as a statesman and a judge without being conscious of it. He never indulged in vain as- pirations. In his physical make-up he was a man of symmetrical proportions, erect and broad-chested, with a large head filled with solid sense. He had a sedate and Puritanic expression of face that gave him the air of a clergyman. In legal lore he was pro- found, plodding in research and acute in discrimina- tion. He sifted the wheat from the chaff in a law case with intuitive facility, and rarely erred in judg- ment. He was a man of few words, but when he did speak he always spoke to the point. He was revered by the bar, and was generally regarded as one of the ablest jurists of his times. His judicial decisions are not only esteemed as authority but as models of sound logic. They will ever remain a proud monument to his name and memory. JUDGE TOD. George Tod was born at Suffield, Connecticut, December II, 1773. He graduated at Yale college in 1795. He then studied law and was admitted to WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II3 the bar and practiced law for a few years at New Haven, in his native state. He married in 1797, took the prevalent western fever of that day, and in 1800 removed to Youngstown, Ohio, a central point at that time in the Western Reserve. Soon after his arrival Governor St. Clair of the northwestern terri- tory happened to m.ake his acquaintance, and was so much pleased with him as a young gentleman of polished manners and fine literary acquirements, that he at once appointed him his private secretary. This brought young Tod into public notice and gave him a high position in the social circle. He re- mained at Youngstown until 18 16, when he pur- chased a farm in the vicinity known as Briar Hill, where he permanently settled for life. At the first term of the court of common pleas and general quarter sessions of Trumbull county, held August 25, 1800, at Warren, young Tod was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county. His first offi- cial business at this term was to prepare indictments against Joseph McMahon and Richard Storer for the murder of two Indians at Salt Springs, near Warren. McMahon was arrested, put upon his trial and ac- quitted on the ground of acting in self-defense. Storer managed to escape. Tod, in discharging his duties as prosecuting attorney in the trial of McMa- 114 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. hon, displayed a degree of legal ability and a bril- liancy of oratory that surprised court and jury, and at once gave him prominence as a lawyer. In 1804 the county of Trumbull elected him a senator to the state legislature. In 1806 he was appointed a judge of the supreme court. At a session of the legisla- ture in 1808-9 an attempt was made to impeach him for affirming the decision made by Judge Pease rela- tive to the constitutionality of certain provisions of the act of 1805, defining the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, but on trial before the senate Judge Tod was honorably acquitted. Yet the political ex- citement connected with this attempt at impeach- ment induced the legislature at its next session, in 18 10, to legislate the judge, with several other state dignitaries, out of office. But the people of Trum- bull county would not permit the judge to remain in private life, and in the fall of 18 10 honored him with an election to the state senate. When the war of 18 1 2 was declared, President Madison tendered him a commission as major in the regular army, which he accepted. He proved himself a brave and gallant officer, and did not leave the service until the war closed. In the meantime he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Seventeenth regi- ment of United States infantry. When peace was WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II5 declared he resigned his commission and returned to the practice of law. In the winter of i8 15-16 the legislature appointed him president-judge of the third circuit for seven years. At the expiration of his term he was reappointed for a second term. After a service of fourteen years as the presiding judge of the circuit he again resumed his law practice. In 1836 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Trum- bull county, an office in which he consented to serve for a second time. This was the first and last office which he held in the circle of his official career. He died at Briar Hill, April ii, 1841. He was the father of David Tod, late governor of Ohio. Judge Tod was a gentleman whom nature had en- dowed with rich and rare gifts. She gave him a graceful figure, an eloquent tongue and the spirit of a true manhood. In his style of manners he was one of the most accomplished men of his times. He was always cheerful, cordial and overflowing with pleasantries. He ranked high at the bar as a brilliant lawyer, in the legislature as a wise statesman, and en the bench as an able, upright and descriminating judge. Among the people and in the society of his friends he was always a favorite. *' None knew him but to love him ; Nor named him but to praise." Il6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. JUDGE WOOD. Of the later times, or second series of eminent jur- ists, Reuben Wood was prominent. He was born in 1792, at Middletown, Vermont. He received an elementary education at home. His father died when he was quite young, and left him to the care of his mother. When he reached fifteen years of age he felt a stong desire to obtain a classical education, and went to Canada to reside with an uncle, and while there studied the classics with a Catholic priest, and at the same time read law with Honorable Barnabas Bid well. When war was declared in 18 12, an at- tempt was made by the Canadian authorities to sub- ject young Wood to military service against his own country. To this he would not submit, and, though placed under guard, succeeded, at the hazard of his life, in crossing Lake Ontario in a small boat, and in landing at Sacket's Harbor, within the borders of the state of New York, in safety. He then engaged in farm work for the summer at the old homestead, with a desire to aid, so far as he could, his widowed mother in supporting herself and the younger chil- dren left to her care. In the fall he was received into the office of an eminent lawyer at Middletown, where he completed his legal studies. He rr.arried, and in 18 1 8 emigrated to Ohio and settled at Cleveland, WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II/ where he engaged in the practice of law with en- couraging success. In 1825 he was elected a mem- ber of the state senate, and reelected in 1827 and in 1829 to the same position. In 1830 he was elected president-judge of the third judicial circuit, and in 1833 was elected a judge of the supreme court by a unanimous vote of the general assembly. In 1841 he was reelected to the supreme bench by a like vote. For the last three years while on the bench he was chief justice of the state. In 1850 he was elected governor of the state by a majority of eleven thous- and. In 185 1 he was reelected governor under the new constitution by a majority of twenty-six thousand. In the political field he was known as the " Cuyahoga Chief." In 1852 Marietta college conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. In 1853 he resigned the office of governor and accepted from the general government the appointment of consul to Valparaiso, South America, and for some time dur- ing his residence in that country discharged the duties, not only of consul, but of minister to Chili, to fill a temporary vacancy in the ministership, and was rec- ognized as such minister by both governments. In 1854 he resigned his consulship, returned home and devoted himself mainly to the cultivation and im-^ Il8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. provement of his beautiful farm in Rockport, known as "Evergreen Place." He died October i, 1864. Governor Wood was one of nature's noblemen, large-hearted and generous to a fault. Nature gave him a slim, tall figure, over six feet in height, and a head replete with brains and mother wit. He was quick in his perceptions, and could seldom, if ever, be entrapped or duped. He was an excellent clas- sical scholar, and could read Latin and Greek with about as much ease as English. He was a man of the people and honored by the people. As a lawyer he was not only prominent, but famous for his tact and shrewdness in defending criminals. In states- manship he exhibited an unusual degree of wisdom and forecast. On the bench he manifested a profound legal knowledge that commanded public confidence and secured the universal respect of the bar, and es- pecially of its younger members, to whom he would listen with deep interest when they were conducting a cause before him, and whenever he saw they felt embarrassed would aid them by timely suggestions. This encouraging condescension on his part was highly appreciated. His decisions while on the bench display a profound knowledge of law, and crown his life-work as one of the ablest jurists of the state. WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II9 JUDGE ANDREWS. Sherlock J. Andrews was born at Wallingford, Connectiout, November 17, 1801. He was liberally educated and graduated with honor at Union college in 1 82 1. He was an aspiring, bright young man, who had set his mark high with a determination to reach it. He chose the legal profession and perfected his studies at the law school in New Haven. He employed a part of his time while there in the service of the renowned Benjamin Silliman, as assistant pro- fessor of chemistry. At the close of his course he was admitted to the bar, and removed in 1825 to Cleveland, where he commenced the practice of law in connection with Samuel Cowles. Soon after this Mr. Cowles retired from professional life, and young Andrews formed a co-partnership with John A. Foot and James M. Hoyt, under the name of Andrews, Foot & Hoyt, a law firm which soon be- came celebrated and which maintained its celebrity for many years. Andrews was the gem of the firm, though the other members were regarded as able men. In 1840 Andrews was elected a representative to congress, but ill-health compelled him to decline a renomination. In 1848 he was elected j'udge of the superior court of Cleveland — a court of exclusive commercial and civil jurisdiction. In 1849 ^^ ^^^ 120 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. chosen a member of the convention to revise the constitution of the state. In 1852 the Western Re- serve college conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. In 1873 he was chosen a member of the second convention called to revise the consti- tution, and was solicited to accept the presidency of the convention, but declined to be a candidate. In aiding to frame the two constitutions, though the last was not adopted, he rendered invaluable service. He continued in the practice of law until his death, which occurred at his home in Cleveland, February II, 1880. Judge Andrews was a man of pure principles and noble aspirations. He was endowed by nature with her choicest gifts — wit, humor and vivacity of spirit. He delighted in the comic, even amid the serious, and could readily illustrate any argument or senti- ment of his own or of others, with an effective anec- dote or witticism. He was a fine literary and scien- tific scholar, and carried in his head a complete di- gest of legal knowledge. He had a quick percep- tion, and could read human character at a glance. His style of eloquence was persuasive and somewhat impassioned. He could '' point a moral," or make a "point" tipped with a flash of electric wit that would convulse both court and jury. In this way WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 121 he often secured for his client a verdict when hardly expected. This was emphatically a magic power peculiar to himself. He was not only kind and courteous, but a gentleman in every sense of the word. At the bar he was a brilliant advocate, and on the bench a model judge. JUDGE RANNEY. Rufus P. Ranney was born at Blandford, Hampden county, Massachusetts, October 30, 181 3. He is of Scotch and French descent. His father removed with his family, in 1824, from Blandford to Freedom, Portage county, Ohio, then a town in the wilderness with only here and there a log cabin. Rufus was but a young lad at that time. He worked with his father six years in clearing the new farm. The ele- mentary education he had received was obtained in a common school. He now resolved to acquire for him- self a liberal education. His parents approved his de- termination, but were unable to furnish him with the requisite pecuniary means. But this did not dis- courage him. He felt that he could help himself. He began by chopping cordwood for a merchant at twenty-five cents a cord. With the avails he pur- chased the necessary text books, and commenced the study of the Latin and Greek languages with Dr. 122 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. Bassett of Nelson. After completing his prepara- tory course of studies, he entered Western Reserve college, and supported himself by maruual labor and teaching school. In 1834 he left college, studied law two years and a half with Giddings & Wade of Ashtabula county, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice at Warren, Trumbull county. In the winter of 1836, Mr. Giddings, having been elected to congress, withdrew from the firm of Gid- dings & Wade, Avhose office was established at Jeffer- son. Mr. Wade then invited Ranney to take the place of Giddings in the firm, under the name of Wade & Ranney. This new firm soon acquired a wide reputation and enjoyed a lucrative practice. Ranney continued with Wade for ten years. In the meantime he married a daughter of Judge Warner. She was an accomplished young lady. In 1845 he left Jefferson and returned to Warren, where he en- gaged in the practice of his profession. He soon be- came generally popiular both as a man and a lawyer. In political faith he was a Democrat of the Jeffer- sonian school. His personal popularity and his acknowledged abilities made him a strong man in the estimation of his democratic friends, who insisted on his accepting a nomination for congress, in 1842, in what was then known as the Ashtabula district. WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. I23 After a change in the extent of districts, he was put in nomination for the same office in 1846, and, in 1848, in the Trumbull district. He accepted these nominations as a matter of duty, and not with any expectation of success or desire of office, well know- ing that the opposing party was largely in the ascen- dency. In discussing the political questions of the day in the several campaigns, however, he exhibited a degree of eloquence and tact of logic that was as forcible as it was unanswerable by his competitors. His efforts proved the fact that if you convince a man against his will, especially in politics, he will remain of the ^'same opinion still." Yet, in 1850, Ranney was triumphantly elected from his district a member of the state convention for revising the constitution. The convention made him chairman of the judiciary committee. He was, in fact, one of the leading spirits, if not the Hercules of the con- vention. In 185 1 he was elected by the legislature a judge of the supreme court to fill a vacancy. The new constitution was adopted the same year, wlien he was elected by the people to the supreme bench by a majority of over forty thousand votes. In the winter of 1856 he resigned and settled in Cleveland, where he resumed the practice of law under the name of Ranney, Backus & Noble. At about the 124 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. same time the President of the United States ap- pointed him district attorney for the northern district of Ohio — an office which he held for a few months and then resigned, for the reason that he found its duties required more attention than he could give in connection with his other more profitable law prac- tice. In 1859 the state Democratic convention put him in nomination for governor. The canvass Vv^as a spirited one, but the opposition won the victory by a small majority. He did all he could to avert the outbreak of the civil war, and, when the outbreak came, he devoted much of his time and talents in support of the Union. In 1862 his law partner, Mr. Backus, was nominated for judge of the supreme court by the Republican party. The Democratic party put Ranney in nomination for the same office. He declined, but the party continued his name on the state ticket, and he was elected. He accepted the position, but after a service of two years re- signed. He preferred the practice of law, because he found it quite as agreeable and much more remun- erative. In 1 87 1 the Western Reserve college be- stowed on him the honorary degree of doctor of laws. In 1876 he was chosen president of the board of managers who represented the interests of the state at the Philadelphia Centennial exposition. WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 1 25 At the presidential election of 1880, he was nomi- nated a senatorial elector by the Democratic state convention, and failed of an election because the party ticket was defeated. In the same year he was chosen by a state convention of lawyers to the pres- idency of the Ohio State Bar association. His ad- dress to the bar at the close of his term of office was regarded as a masterpiece of true eloquence and sound logic. He is now president of the board of trustees of the Case School of Applied Science, which has an endowment of a miUIon and a half of dollars bequeathed to it by the late Leonard Case of Cleve- land. The trust is one of honor as well as of great responsibility. Judge Ranney is still devoted to the practice of law at Cleveland. He is eminent In his profession and enjoys the confidence of the public. He seems to have been born a logician. Whatever may be the complexity of a legal question submitted to him, he at once subjects it to the test of logic and solves it upon logical principles. When he has done this it is like a nail driven In a sure place and clinched. His mental powers are gigantic and cannot be measured with rule or plummet. In a great case, complex as it may be, he always proves himself equal to its clear exposition and logical solution. Yet he is 126 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. modest, even to timidity, and does not seem to be conscious of his powers. He has all the qualities of a great statesman as well as jurist. As a politi- cian he is severely honest, and for the sake of office would not accept the presidency of the United States. He is one of the very few who never sought an office, yet has held many important offices. The offices he has held came to him without solicitation. In all of them he has acquitted himself with signal ability. As an advocate at the bar he is eloquent and forcible, and often rises to the sweeping majesty of a tidal wave. His law practice is chiefly con- fined to great cases, and is both lucrative and exten- sive. He is not only an adept in legal science, but is acquainted with the sciences generally as well as with classical and modern literature. He is familiar with the principles of the Justinian code and code Napoleon, and also with the leading decisions of the English and American courts. He can readily cite from memory the important legal authorities known to the profession, and is himself a legal authority. While on the bench of the supreme court he elevated the bench more than the bench elevated him. He has a dignified presence, and a moral character that is above reproach. In a word, he is a man who has ripened into a noble manhood. Footprints of Puritanism. FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. The civilization of the Western Reserve, though comparatively of modern origin, is characterized by- peculiarities that have been inherited from a renowned ancestry. It is a civilization scarcely less peculiar in its elements than it is progressive in its instincts. It aims high and has already achieved high aims. It began its career a little less than a century ago by conquering the rude forces of nature and securing for itself a land of beauty, of wealth, and of social refine- ment. The spirit of enterprise that transformed within so short a period an unbroken wilderness into a land of refined civilization, must have been not only invin- cible, but a spirit that has rarely, if ever, been ex- celled in the annals of human advancement. This can only be accounted for on the basis of inherited traits of character. The civilized life of the Western Reserve has Puritanic blood in its veins, or, in other 130 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. words, has a New England parentage. One age not only modifies another, but differs from another in its thought and in its aspirations as one star differs from another in its brilliancy and in its magnitude. Puritanism is of English origin. It was born of fanaticism — a fanaticism that believed in the right of free thought and of free action. The Puritan soon came to be a stubborn controversialist, and would neither submit to oppression nor brook persecution. The very name of " Puritanism " is significant. It was bestowed in derision by intolerant persecutors. Hence Puritanism in the land of its nativity found its environment unendurable, and, as a last resort, ex- patriated itself. Its subsequent footprints denote its civil and religious aims, its moral influence and the wide diffusion of its principles. The first colony of Puritans who expatriated them- selves and came to the new world, was the Plymouth colony, the veritable *' Pilgrim Fathers" of New England. They sailed from England in the ship Mayflower, one hundred and one souls, seventy of whom were women, children and servants. They were cradled on the deep, amid storms and tempests, for eight long, weary weeks ; yet, led by the " star of empire," they safely reached the "land of promise" in the bleak month of December, 1620, and cast FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 3 1 anchor in the harbor of Cape Cod. This entire coast was, at that date, included in what was then known as Northern Virginia. Before disembarking, all the voyagers who were qualified to exercise political rights held a consultation, agreed upon and subscribed their names to the following compact : In the name of God, amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., having un- dertaken, for the glor3'-of God and the advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern part of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and onte another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof, do enact, consti- tute and frame such just and equal laws and ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and conven- ient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due sub- jection and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the nth day of November (old style), in the year of our Sovereign Lord, King James, ,of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620. This compact embraces in its elementary principles the true ideal of a pure democracy. It was this ocean-born utterance that subsequently inspired the declaration of American independence. After sign- ing the compact the small boat was lowered, when as many of the voyagers as could be received sprang into it, eager to reach the land. The question now 132 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. arose as to which of them should have the honor of being the first to step on shore. The sterner sex — stern as they were — manifested their instinctive rev- erence for woman by according to Mary Chilton that honor. She was a bright, fascinating young lady, and the moment the boat reached the shore was the first to step on Plymouth Rock — ' ' The rock that's firmly planted by the sea, Prescribing bounds where proudest waves are stayed ; The landmark which was set to liberty When earth's foundations broad and deep were laid." If the maiden did not leave her footprint upon the rock she has certainly left it in history. The Pilgrim Fathers were, in fact, the sons of destiny, who did not comprehend the moral grandeur of their destiny. On the basis of their compact they constructed a civil government for themselves, and recognized the right of the majority to rule by elect- ing one of their deacons, John Carver, for governor, and Miles Standish to serve as captain of their fight- ing force. They selected a high ground facing the bay for a town site, and divided the entire colony into nineteen families, composed of about five persons each. And though a vast continent lay before them, they were so economical of land as to allow each family a town lot, containing for each person in the FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 33 family but a half pole in breadth and three poles in length, which was deemed sufficient for a house and garden. They first erected what they called a com- mon house, and then private dwellings. On the hill- side overlooking the infant town, in the direction of the bay, they planted a cannon for self-defence against the Indians. During the first winter fifty-five of the one hundred and one died for want of sufficient sup- plies, or from the effects of climate. But the remain- ing few, plucky in extremities, did not despair. They believed in God, in the efficacy of prayer, and especially in themselves. Their numbers were soon strengthened by immigration from their native land. They fought Indians and Indians fought them. Cap- tain Miles Standish proved him.self a valiant com- mander, and Plymouth colony proved a success. This led to the introduction of other Puritan colonies into the wilderness of New England, whose territory in the course of the next three or four decades was sprinkled with flourishing towns and settlements. All the colonies were founded upon a similar basis. In support of free principles they inaugurated free churches, free schools and free government. Yet they had some crotchets in their heads, peculiarities of creed and of opinion, which were the outgrowth of an elementary education obtained in England ; 134 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. hence they could not divest themselves of what was a part of themselves. And though they saw the light as ''from above," yet at times they saw it as *' through a glass, darkly." There was not a village in all England, two or three centuries ago, that did not have a ghost in it. The churchyards were all haunted, and almost everybody believed in ghosts, fairies and witchcraft. Hundreds were convicted of witchcraft and executed. With such a preliminary education, it is not surprising that the Puritans of New England believed in witchcraft as well as in the purification of church and state. But instead of ad- hering to a form of civil government purely demo- cratic, as projected in their original compact, they unwittingly accepted a theocracy. The civil law was interpreted with reference to the divine law, and the clergy, of course, became its recognized ex- pounders. It was for this reason that the colonies were controlled by ecclesiastical influences in matters of state as well as in matters of faith. In effect, church and state were united ; the only difference was that the church controlled the state. No man was a freeman or citizen who had not united with the church, nor could he vote or hold office until he had proved his sincerity as a Christian by what was called in those days, * * a godly walk and conversation. " This FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 35 over-righteous morality of the Puritans was charac- terized by a frosty rigidity that would be regarded as quite too chilling to be endured in these modern days of relaxed discipline and liberality of thought. But still it must be conceded that the Puritans were sincere in their aspirations and philanthropic in many of their endeavors. They sought to Christian- ize the Indians and to inaugurate among them a system of civil government. There were twenty small tribes located within the limits of the Plymouth colony. These tribes all spoke the same language. Rev. John Eliot took the lead in attempting their reclamation by establishing schools and churches in tlieir midst and translating the Bible into their tongue. The following is the title which he prefixed to his Indtan Bible: **Mamusse Wunneetupana- tamwe Up-Biblum God Naneeswe Nukkone Testa- ment Kah Wonk Wusku Testament." He was master of the language, and said he wrote the trans- lation with one pen. He afterwards wrote an Indian grammar and other Indian school books, and trans- lated ' Baxter's Last Call ' into the same language. This Indian Bible was a ponderous folio, and the first Bible ever printed in America. It was printed at Boston in 1685, at a cost for the edition of ;^900 sterHng. A copy of it is still preserved at Ply- 136 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. mouth. It is regarded as a great curiosity. There is not now a living Indian or white man who can read it. The language in which it was written is literally dead. Rev. John Eliot was the first Protestant clergy- man in America who devoted his life to missionary labor. He is deservedly known in history as the ''Indian Apostle." He insisted that the Indians were descendants of the Jews. He was born in England in 1603, was liberally educated, arrived at Boston in 163 1, officiated at Roxbury for a brief period as minister of the gospel, and then devoted the remaining part of his life to Indian misslonar). work. He died in 1690. These Christianized Indians at baptism received English names, many of which were names of distin- guished Englishmen. This pleased the Indians and elevated them, in their own estimation, to the grade of white men. In fact they were regarded by the Puritans not only as brethren of the same faith, but as citizens entitled to share the same equal rights and privileges. In the administration of civil government these Indians excelled the white men in brevity and prompt execution, if not in originality, as will be readily seen in the language of the following "war- rant," issued and directed by an Indian magistrate to an Indian constable : FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 37 I, Hihoudi, you, Peter Waterman, Jeremy Wicket, quick you take him, straight you bring him before me. Hihoudi. The Puritans were the friends of the Indians in times of peace, but in times of war were evidently actuated by a vindictive spirit. Such of the Indians as they could not Christianize they did not hesitate to exterminate, especially when they assumed a hos- tile attitude toward the colonies. In the course of the first century after the knding of the Pilgrim Fathers, thousands upon thousands of the original proprietors of the soil of New England fell in battle array against their relentless Christian invaders. Whether one race is justified in exterminating another for no better reason than that of acquiring a broader domain, is a great moral question which must be submitted to the arbitrament of theology for solution. In tracing the footprints of the Puritans, we cannot escape the conviction that they were as conscientious as they were absurd in many of their theories. They believed in witchcraft and resolved to exterminate it, nor would they tolerate a religious faith that was not in accord with their own. The history of their times, like the sun, has some dark spots in it. The darkest spot is their persecution of Quakers and exe- cution of innocent persons for witchcraft. Cotton 138 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. Mather, a doctor of divinity, was the prin&ipal insti- gator. But when the fanatical spirit of the times became so intrusive as to accuse and execute a mem- ber of the clerical profession for witchcraft, he changed his views and the tragic drama soon closed. The Puritans seemed to think that they were divinely commissioned to exterminate not only heresies, but all kinds of frivolities and immoralities, and to estab- lish in the new world a saintly government based on the principles of a pure theocracy. This ideal of theirs is sufficiently illustrated in a few examples taken from the early records of the colonial courts: GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 1639. Ordered that no garments shall be made with short sleeves, and such as have garments vi'ith short sleeves shall not wear the same, unless they cover the arms to the wrist ; and hereafter no person whatever shall make any garment for women with sleeves more than an ell wide. COURT HELD AT PLYMOUTH. 1638. It is ordered that if any man make a motion of marriage to any man's daughter or maid without first obtaining leave of her parents or master, he shall be punished, according to the nature of the offence, by a fine not exceeding five pounds, or corporal punishment, or both, at the discretion of the bench. Ordered that profane swearing shall be punished by sitting in the stocks three hours, or by imprisonment; and that telling lies shall be punished by a fine of ten shillings, or the stocks for two hours for each offence. Ordered that any person denying the Scriptures to be a rule of life shall suffer corporal punishment at the discretion of the magistrates, so it shall not extend to life or limb. FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 39 1640. Ordered that John Barnes pay a fine of thirty shillings for Sab- bath breaking and sit one hour in the stocks ; that Thomas Clarke pay a fine of thirty shinfngs for selling a pair of boots and spurs for fifteen shillings, which only cost him but ten shiUings; and that William Abbey be severely whipped at the post for working on Sunday. COURT HELD AT. NEW HAVEN. 1639. It is ordered thatt evwy one thatt beares arms shall be com- pleatly furnished with armes, (viz) a muskett, a sword, vandaleers, a rest, a pound of powder, 20 bullets fitted to their muskett, or 4 pound of pistoll shott, or swan shott, at lea'st, and be ready to show them in the market place on Monday the 6th of this moneth, before Captaine Turner and Lieutenant Seeley, under 20^ fine for every default or absence. 1643. Andrew Low, jun. for breaking into Mr. Lang's house, where he brake open a cupboard and took from thence some strong water, and 6d. in money, and ransackt the house from roome to roome, and left open doors, for which fact being committed to prison brake forth and escaped, and still remains horrible obstinate and rebellious against his parents, and incorrigible under all the means that have been used to reclaim him. Whereupon it was ordered that he shall be as severely whipt as the rule will bare, and wprk with his father as a prisoner with a lock upon his leg so that he may not escape. John Lawrence and Valentine, servants to Mr. Malbon, for Imbezilling their masters Goods, and keeping disorderly night Meetings with Will Harding, a Lewd and disorderly person, plotting with him to carry their masters' daughters to the farmes in the night, concealing divers unseemly dalliances, all of which they confessed and was whipt. 1660. Jacob M. Murline and Sarah Tuttle appeared, concerning whom the Governor declared, that the business for which they were warned to this court he had heard in private at his house, which he related to stand thus : On the day that John Potter was married Sarah Tuttle went to Mistress Murline's house for some thredd. Mistress Murline bid her go to her daughters in the other roome, where they felle into speeche of John Potter 140 SKETCHES OF V7ESTERN LIFE. and his wife, that they were both lame, upon which Sarah Tuttle said that she wondered what they would do at night. Whereupon Jacob came in, and tooke up or tooke away her gloves. Sarah desired him to give her the gloves, to which he answered he would do so if she would give him a kysse, upon which they sat down together, his arme being about her waiste, and her arme upon his shoulder or about his necke, and he kyssed her and she kyssed him, or they kyssed one another, continuing in this posture about half an hour, as Marian and Susan testified, which Marian, now in court, affirmed to be so. Mistress Murline, now in court, said that she heard Sarah say she wondered what they would do at night, and she replied they must sleep; but it was matter of sorrow and shame unto her. Jacob was asked what he had to say to these things, to which he answered that he was in the other roome, and when he heard Sarah speak those words, he went in, and when she having let fall her gloves he tooke them up and she asked him for them, he told her he would if she would kysse him. Further said he tooke her by the hand, and they both sat down upon a chest, but v/hether his arme were about her waiste, and her arme upon his shoulder or about his necke, he knows not, for he never thought of it since, till Mr. Raymond told him of ii at Manatos for which he was blamed and told he layde it to heart as he ought. But Sarah Tuttle replied that she did not kysse him. Mr. Tuttle replied that Marian denied it, and he doth not looke upon her as a competent witness. Thomas Tuttle said that he asked Marian if his sister kyssed Jacob, and she said not. Moses Mansfield testified that he told Jacob Murline that he heard Sarah kyssed him, but he denied it. But Jacob graunted not what Moses testified. Mr. Tuttle pleaded that Jacob had endeavoured to steal away his daugh- ter's affections. But Sarah being asked if Jacob had inveagled her, she said no. Thomas Tuttle said that he came to their house two or three times before he went to Holland, and they two were together, and to what end he came he knows not, unless it were to inveagle her. And their mother warned Sarah not to keep company with him. And to the same purpose spake Jonathan Tuttle. But Jacob denied that he came to their house with any such intendment, nor did it appeare so to the court. FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. I4I The Governor told Sarah that her miscarriage is the greatest, that a vir- gin should be so bold in the presence of others to carry it as she had done, and to speak such corrupt words, most of the things charged against her be acknowledged by herself, though that about kyssing is denied, yet the thing is prooved. Sarah professed that she was sorry that she carried it so sinfully and foolishly, which she saw to be hateful. She hoped God would help her to carry it better for time to come. The Governor also told Jacob that his carriage hath been very evil and sinful so to carry it towards her, and to make such a light matter of it as not to think of it, (as he exprest,) doth greatly aggravate, and for Marian, who was a married woman, to suffer her brother and a man's daughter, to sit almost half an hour in such a way as they have related was a very great evil. She was told that she should have showed her indignation against it, and have told her mother, that Sarah might have been shut out of doors. Mrs. Murline was told that she, hearing such words, should not have suffered it. Mrs. Tuttle and Mrs. Murline being asked if they had any more to say, they said no. Whereupon the court declared that we have heard in the Publique Ministry, that it is a thing to be lamented, that young people should have their meetings to the corrupting of themselves and one another. As for Sarah Tuttle her miscarriages are very great, that she should utter so cor- rupt a speeche as she did concerning the persons to be married, and that she should carry it in such a wanton, uncivil, immodest and lascivious man- ner as has been proved. And for Jacob his carriage hath been very corrupt and sinful, such as brings reproach upon the family and pladfe. The sentence therefore concerning them is that they shall pay either of them as a fine 20s. to the Treasurer. 1662. Edmund Dorman, plaintiff, entered an action of slander; or defamation, against Jeremiah Johnson, defendant. The plaintiff informed against him that he had heard that J. Johnson had reported at John Olvarde's house that he heard Dorman at prayer in a swamp for a wife, and being asked by John Olvarde who the person was, he answered that it was his mare. And there was other circumstances of scoffing &c. The defendant v.-as asked whether he graunted the thing or denied. The 142 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. defendant desired proof and that the witnesses might speeke apart. John Olvarde was first called, who tested that Johnson being at his house, he heard him say that he heard Edmund Dorman at prayer in a swamp, (by John Downes's,) for a wife ; and sayde, "Lord thou knowest my neces- sitie and canst supplie it. Lord bend and bow her wille and make her sensible of my condition or necessitie." He asked Jeremiah who it was ; he answered it may be his mare that she might be servi cable. John Olvarde being asked when it was, he said it was since harvest. Stephen Bradley being called also testified the same thing. The defen- dant being asked what he had to say for himself, said he thought Bradley did it out of revenge. But he was told he must prove him a false person upon the record, or perjured, or that he doth it out of revenge this time. The defendant further saiid he did expect some other persons that was present at John Olvarde' s ■vwould have been here, therefore did refuse to make his defense further this time ; and desired that the witnesses might not be sworn. Then Jeremiah was told that it is a fearful thing to come to that height of sin, as to sit in the seat of the scorner. Therefore the court told him they would defer this business, and warned him to attend the next partic- ular court to give answer hereunto. Most of the early colonial courts consisted of the governor and one or more assistants elected by the people. The general court consisted of representa- tives from the local courts. The governor or some of the subordinate dignataries conducted the exami- nation of witnesses. If there were lawyers in those days, they were but very few. Public sentiment was not inclined to tolerate them, owing to the scriptural denunciation, '* Wo unto the lawyers." The clergy were the great men of the times. They increased FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 43 their influence by assuming an air of gravity and dig- nity that seemed to overawe everyone, especially children, who felt when in their presence that they were in the divine presence. The people generally believed in them and revered them. They even be- lieved that clerical prayers could control or modify the action of divine Providence. Hence the clergy were often asked in dry weather to pray for rain, and in wet weather to pray for sunshine. Many of them, it is said, were sufficiently weatherwise not to do either unless the ^' signs in the heavens " indicated a favorable response to their prayers. The first union of the colonies took place in 1643, with a view to self-protection and defence. It was this inceptive idea of what constituted a central gov- ernment that led to the confederacy of the colonies and the subsequent union of all the American states. As the Puritans grew in numbers they grew in wis- dom. Their towers of strength were the church and school-house. Thus fortified they fought the battle of life with triumphant results. One of the colonies hid its charter of civil rights in the heart of an oak to preserve it, and did preserve it. Another cast rich freights of tea into the ocean rather than pay to royalty unreasonable exactions. The stamp act was treated with universal contempt by all the colonies. 144 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. All were agreed in the patriotic sentiment, " millions for liberty, nothing for tribute." It was this state of public feeling that awoke the spirit of '* seventy-six " — a patriotic flame that purified, as by fire, the land of golden promise from the dross of regal domi- nation. Though Puritanism has now outgrown most of its primitive peculiarities, yet many of its traits, like golden threads, are still apparent, not only in the texture of New England character but in the finish of Western Reserve character. It is this finishing touch that has given to Western Reserve life a moral power that wields a positive influence in the affairs of both church and state. It is a power, however, that "vaunteth not itself" The birth of the Western Reserve as a civilized land, occurred July 4, 1796, the day on which General Moses Cleaveland, with his company of surveyors, landed at Conneaut. Her territory is comparatively but a fraction of the great state of Ohio, and is located in the northeastern part of the state. It embraces but twelve counties, yet it has a population, at this time, 'of nearly six hundred thousand. The truth is, the Western Reserve, in more senses than one, has achieved a brilliant career, and still as- pires to a brilliant future. She can point, like the FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. I45 Roman matron, with a just pride to her jewels — her many accomplished men and still more accomplished women. She has furnished the state, in the course of her career, with five governors and thirteen su- preme judges, and the United States with four sena- tors and one President, to say nothing of several United States district judges and foreign ministers. She loves progress, and has literally begemmed her entire domain with school-houses, churches and col- leges. She believes in the rights of man and in her- self, and takes nothing for granted. She is as cau- tious as she is inquisitive, and never accepts novel theories, either in science or in morals, without first subjecting them to an uncompromising scrutiny, however attractive may be the drapery in which they are presented ; nor does she hesitate to assail sancti- fied errors simply because they are sanctified. And though she reveres her ancestry, she never allows the Puritanic element she has inherited to misguide her judgment in matters of faith or in freedom of action. In a word, she has acquired a character of her own that is as remarkable for its noble traits as it is for its originaHty — a character that is founded upon the broad principles of a dispassionate Christian philos- ophy. Woman and her Sphere. WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. Woman, like a flower, sprang to life in a garden of flowers — sprang from the side of her lord, and took her place at his side, as a meet companion to share his earth-life, his joys, and his sorrows. The Greeks believed that the gods collected every thing that is beautiful in nature, out of which they formed the first woman, and, having crowned her brow with sunshine, entrusted her with the irresist- ible power of fascination. It is certainly not less pleasant than natural to be- lieve that woman was made of a more refined mate- rial than man ; and it is doubtless true that every sincere worshiper of the beautiful delights to regard the "angel of his dreams " not only as an incarna- tion of all that is lovable, but as a divine spirituality — a vision from a brighter and holier sphere. An old writer remarks that, in order to make an entirely beautiful woman, it would be necessary to take tht head from Greece, the bust from Austria, the feet 150 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. from Hindostan, the shoulders from Italy, the walk from Spain, and the complexion from England. At that rate she would be a mosaic in her composition, and the man who married her might well be said to have " taken up a collection." However mystical may be the origin of woman, it is certain that we should look to the moral beauty of her life, rather than to her personal charms, in estimating the true value of her character. In her nature, woman is a loyalist — loyal to man and loyal to God. In all ages of the world, in all countries and under all circumstances, she has ever been dis- tinguished for her patience, her fortitude and her for- bearance, as well as for those still higher and diviner attributes, her love and her devotion. Endowed with charms which give her the power of conquest, woman ever delights in making con- quests ; and, though she may som.etimes ''stoop to conquer," she never fails to elevate the conquered. With the smile of love resting on her brow, she aims to fulfill her mission by scattering flowers along the pathway of life, and inspiring the sterner sex with reverence for her virtues and for the angelhood of her nature. The true woman exhibits a true womanhood in all she does, in all she says — in her heart-life and in her WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I5I world-life. Her love once bestowed on him who is worthy of it, increases with her years and becomes as enduring as her life — " In death, a deathless flame." Not only in the sincerity of her love, but in all her sympathies, in her quick sense of duty, and in her devotion to all that is good, right and just, she dis- closes without being conscious of it the divinity of her character. It is in sacred history that we find the earliest record of woman's virtues, acquirements and achieve- ments. It is there that we read of women who were not only distinguished for their exalted piety and exemplary habits of life, but who often excelled even the great men of renown in sagacity of purpose and in the exercise of sceptred power. It is in sa- cred history that we have the earhest account of the social and domestic relations of the human family, the most prominent of which is the institution of marriage. The first marriage of which we have any account took place in a garden, without the usual prelimi- naries and ceremonies which have marked its solem- nization in subsequent periods of the world's history ; yet we must believe that it was the most august and sublime wedding that ever occurred. The witnesses 152 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. of the ceremony were none other than the angels of God. Nature presented her choicest flowers, and the birds of Paradise sang the bridal hymn, while earth and sky rejoiced in the consummation of the ''first match made in heaven." It may be presumed, perhaps, that all matches are made in heaven ; yet, somehow or other, sad mis- takes occur when least expected. Even our first parents, though placed in a garden of innocence, encountered a serpent in their pathway. It need not seem very strange, therefore, that the "course of true love never did run smooth." Yet there are but few who would not concur with Tennyson in thinking — " 'Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all. " In affairs of the heart there is no such thing as accounting for the freaks of fancy or the choice of dissimilar tastes. Singular as it may be, most peo- ple admire contrasts. In other words, like prefers unlike ; the tall prefer the short ; the beautiful the unbeautiful ; and the perverse the reverse. In this way Nature makes up her counterparts with a view to assimilate her materials and bring harmony out of discord. It is from accords and discords that we judge of music and determine its degree of excel- WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 53 lence. In wedded life even discords have their uses ; since a family jar now and then is often attended with the happiest results, by bringing into timely exercise a higher degree of mutual forbearance, and inspiring the heart with a purer, sincerer and diviner appreciation of the "silken tie." There is no topic, perhaps, of deeper interest to a woman than that of wedlock. It is an event, when it does occur, which brightens or blasts forever her fondest hopes and her purest affections. The matri- monial question is, therefore, the great question of a woman's life. In deciding it, she takes a risk which determines the future of her heart-life. When the motive is stamped with the imperial seal of Heaven, it is certain the heart will recognize it as genuine and trust in it. The language of love speaks for itself, sometimes in mysteries, sometimes in reve- lations. It is a telegraphic language which every woman understands, though written in hieroglyphics. Hence the preliminaries to wedlock, usually called courtships, are as various in their methods as the whims of the parties. In many parts of the world these methods are as amusing as they are singular. In royal families matrimonial alliances are con- trolled by state policy, and the negotiations con- ducted through the agencies of ministerial confidants^ 154 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. In some Oriental countries, parents contract their sons and daughters in marriage while yet in their in- fancy, nor allow the parties an interview until of marriageable age, when the wedding ceremonies are performed, and the happy pair unveiled to behold each other for the first time. At such a moment "a penny for their thoughts" would be cheap enough. The philosophy of this absurd custom seems to be based on the classical idea that **love is blind." This may be true ; yet blind though it be, the heart will always have its preference, and contrive some way or other to express it. In some of the Molucca islands, when a young man is too bashful to speak his love, he seizes the first opportunity that offers of sitting near the object of his affection, and tying his garments to hers. If she allows him to finish the knot, and neither cuts nor loosens it, she truly gives her consent to the marriage. If she merely loosens it, he is at liberty to try his luck again at a more propitious moment. But, if she cuts the knot, there is an end of hope. In Lapland it is death to marry a girl without the consent of her friends. When a young man propo- ses marriage, the friends of both parties meet to wit- ness a race between them. The girl is allowed, at starting, the advantage of a third part of the race; WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I 55 if her lover does not overtake her, it is a penal of- fence for him ever to renew his offers of marriage. If the damsel favors his suit, she may run fast at first, to try his affection; but she will be sure to linger be- fore she comes to the end of the race. In this way all marriages are made in accordance with inclination ; and this is the probable reason of so much domestic ■ contentment in that country. In ancient times marriageable women were the subjects of bargain and sale, and were more gener- ally obtained by purchase than courtship. The prices paid in some instances seem incredible, if not extortionate. Of course, **pearls of great price" were not to be had for the mere asking. Jacob pur- chased his wife, Rachel, at a cost of fourteen years* hard labor. The Babylonians, who were a practical people, gathered their marriageable daughters once a year, from every district of their country, and sold them at auction to bachelors, who purchased them for wives, while the magistrates presided at the sales. The sums of money thus received for the beautiful girls were appropriated as doweries for the benefit of the less beautiful. Of course rich bachelors paid liberal prices for their choice, while poor bachelors, in ac- cepting the less beautiful, generally obtained the best 156 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. wives, with the addition of a handsome sum of money. In this way all parties were accommodated who aspired to matrimonial felicity. But in these modern times most of our young men instead of purchasing their wives, prefer to sell them selves at the highest price the market affords. For tune hunting is, therefore, regarded as legitimate In the mind of a fast young man wealth has a magi cal influence, which is sure to invest the possessor, if a marriageable young lady, however unattractive with irresistible charms. If his preliminary inquiry " Is she rich ? " be ansv/ered in the affirmative, the siege commences at once. Art is so practiced as to con- ceal art, and create, if possible, a favorable impres- sion. An introduction is sought and obtained. In- terview follows interview in quick succession. The declaration is made ; the diamond ring presented and graciously accepted ; consent obtained, and the happy day set. Rumor reports an eligible match in high life, and the fashionable world is on tiptoe with expectation. But instead of its being an ''affair of the heart," it is really a very different affair — nothing but a hasty transaction in fancy stocks. And if the officiating clergyman were to employ an appropriate formula WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 57 of words in celebrating the nuptials, he would address the parties thus : ** Romeo, wilt thou have this delicate constitution, this bundle of silks and satins, this crock of gold for thy wedded wife?" — ''I will." ''Juliet, wilt thou have this false pretence, this profligate in broadcloth, this unpaid tailor's bill, for thy wedded husband?" — *'I will. The happy pair are then pronounced man and wife. And what is the result ? A brief career of dissipa- tion, a splendid misery, a reduction to poverty, domestic dissension, separation, and finally a divorce. But how different is the result when an honest man, actuated by pure motives, marries a sincere woman, whose only wealth consists in her love and in her practical good sense. It is man who degrades woman ; not woman who degrades man. Asiatic monarchs have ever regarded woman, not as a companion, but as a toy, a picture, a luxury of the palace ; while men of common rank throughout Asia, and in many parts of Europe, treat her as a slave, a drudge, a "hewer of wood and a drawer of water," and make it her duty to v/ait, instead of being waited on ; to attend, instead of being attended. Out of this sordid idea of woman's destiny has grown, in all probability, the 158 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. custom of regarding her as property. Influenced by this idea, there are still some persons to be found among the lower classes, even in our own country, who do not hesitate to sell, buy, or exchange their wives for a material consideration. Someof our Ameri- can forefathers, in the early settlement of Jamestown, purchased their wives from England, and paid in tobbaco, at the rate of one hundred and fifty pounds each, and thought it a fair transaction. Perhaps this is the reason why ladies are so generally disgusted with the use of the *' Virginia weed." But the doctrine that woman was created the in- ferior of man, though venerable for its antiquity, is not less fallacious than venerable. It is simply an assertion which does not appear to be sustained by historical facts. It is true that woman is called in Scripture the " weaker vessel :" weaker in physical strength she may be, but it does not follow that she is weaker in mind, wit, judgement, shrewdness, tact or moral power. The sterner sex need not flatter themselves, there- fore, that superiority of muscle necessarily implies superiority of mind. History sufflciently discloses the fact that woman has often proved herself not only a match, but an over-match for man, in wielding the sceptre, the sword and the pen, to say nothing of the WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 59 tongue. Illustrations of this great fact, Jike corusca- tions of light, sparkle along the darkened track of the ages, and abound in the living present. But, in looking into the broad expanse of the his- torical past, we cannot attempt to do more than glance here and there at a particular star, whose un- diminished lustre has given it a name and a fame, not only glorious but immortal. As in all ages there have been representative men, so in all ages there have been representative women, who crowned the age in which they hved with honor, and gave tone to its sentiment and character. In the career of Semiramis, who lived about two thousand years before the Christian era, we have a crystallization of those subtle attributes of female character, which are not less remarkable for their diversity than extensive in their power and influence. It will be remembered that she was the reputed child of a goddess, a foundling exposed in a desert, fed for a year by doves, discovered by a shepherd, and adopted by him as his own daughter. When grown to womanhood, she married the governor of Nine- vah, and assisted him in the siege and conquest of Bactria. The wisdom and tact which she manifested in this enterprise, and especially her personal beauty, attracted the attention of the king of Assyria, who l60 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. mysteriously relieved her of her husband, obtained her hand in wedlock, resigned to her his crown, and declared her queen and sole empress of Assyria. The aspirations of Semiramis became at once un- bounded; and, fearing her royal consort might re- pent the hasty step he had taken, she abruptly extin- guished his life and soon succeeded in distinguishing her own. She levelled mountains, filled up valleys, built aqueducts, commanded armies, conquered neigh- boring nations, penetrated into Arabia and Ethiopia, amassed vast treasures, founded many cities; and, wherever she appeared, spread terror and consterna- tion. Under her auspices and by means of her wealth, Babylon, the capital of her empire, became the most renowned and magnificent city in the world. Her might was invincible ; her right she regarded as co-extensive with her power. Her prompt action was the secret of her success. When she was Informed, on one occasion, that Babylon had revolted, she left her toilette half-made, put herself at the head of an armed force, and In- stantly quelled the revolt. She was a woman of strong passions and of strong mind, and, what is now very uncommon, of strong nerves. And yet her peerless beauty and the fascination of her manners appear to have been as irresistible as the sway of her WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. l6l sceptre. The fatality of her personal charms, her inordinate love of power, and the evils which arise from the indulgence of vain aspirations, indicate the lessons which are taught by her career. In the twenty-fifth year of her reign, her life was suddenly terminated by the violent hand of her own son. After death she was transformed, as it was believed, into a dove, under the symbol of which she received divine honors throughout Assyria. It would seem that literary women were not less unknown in ancient times than at the present day. Sappho took her place in the galaxy of literary fame six hundred years before Christ. So sublime, and yet so sweet, were her lyric strains, that the Greeks pronounced her the tenth Muse. Longinus cites from her writings specimens of the sublime, and extols her genius as unrivalled. Beneficent as tal- ented, she instituted an academy of music for young maidens ; wrote nine books of lyric verse and many other compositions of great merit. But of all her writings, however, only one or two of her odes have survived. Her fate was an unhappy one. She be- came violently enamored of a young man of Mity- lene, who was so ungallant as not to reciprocate her attachment; and, being reduced to a state of hope- less despair, she precipitated herself into the sea 1 62 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. from the steep cliff of Leucate, ever since called the "Lover's Leap." In this connection we ought not to omit the name of Aspasia, who, at a period two centuries later than Sappho, emerged like a star in a darkened sky and charmed the age in which she lived with the fascina- tions of her rhetoric. She was not less stately and queen-like in her person than accomplished in her manners. It is said of her, that she possessed rhe- torical powers which were unequalled by the public orators of her time. She was as learned as eloquent. Plato says she was the instructress of Socrates. She also instructed Pericles in the arts of oratory, and afterwards married him. He was largely indebted to her for his finish of education and elegance of manners, for which he was so much distinguished. So charming were Aspasia's conversational powers that the Athenians sought every opportunity to in- troduce their wives into her presence, that they might learn from her the art of employing an elegant diction. On one occasion when the Athenian army had been disheartened, she appeared in the public assembly of the people and pronounced an oration, which so thrilled their breasts as to inspire new hopes and induce them to rally and redeem their cause. Among female sovereigns but few have evinced WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 63' more tact or talent in an emergency than Zenobia, queen of Palmyra. She was a native of Syria, a de- scendant of Ptolemy; married Odenatus, a Saracen, and after his death succeeded to the throne, about the year of our Lord 267. She had been highly educated ; wrote and spoke many different languages ; had studied the beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of Longinns, and was not less renowned for her beauty, melody of voice and elegance of manners, than for her heroic deeds. In the five years of her reign she conducted many warlike expe- ditions, extended her empire, compelling Cappadocia, Bithynia and Egypt to recognize her authority, and acknowledge her " Queen of the East," — a favorite title which she had assumed. Her power had now become so extended as to alarm the Roman govern- ment for their own safety, who sent Aurelian with a formidable army to subjugate and reduce her empire to a province. Zenobia, after being defeated in two severe battles, retired with her forces to Palmyra, her capital, fortified it and resolved never to sur- render. Aurelian invested the city with his entire army, and in the course of the siege was severely wounded by an arrow ; and being thus disabled, the progress of the siege was so far retarded as to give the citizens of Rome occasion to utter against him 164 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. bitter invectives, and to question the character of the ** arrow" that had pierced him. In other words, they accused him of compHcity. In his letter of self-justification to the senate, he says, ''The Roman people speak with contempt of the war I am waging against a woman. They are ignorant of the charac- ter and the power of Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations of stones and arrows, and every species of missile weapons. The walls of the city are strongly guarded, and artificial fires are thrown from her military engines. The fear of punishment has armed her with desperate courage. Still I trust in the gods for a favorable result." In this letter the stern and proud Roman general frankly admits the might of woman. FeeHng humil- iated and almost despairing of success, he now attempted to procure a surrender of the city by ne- gotiation, and offered the most liberal advantages to the queen. In her reply she said to him, *' It is not by negotiation but by arms that the submission you require of me can be obtained." This laconic reply was certainly worthy of a heroine and a queen. Yet after a protracted and desperate defence, and finding that her allies, instead of coming to her relief as they promised, had accepted bribes from the enemy to WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 65 remain at a distance, she saw that all was lost, and mounting her fleetest dromedary, sought to escape into Persia, but was overtaken on the banks of the Euphrates and captured. When brought into the presence of her conqueror, and asked how she dared resist the power of Rome, she replied, ** Because I recognize Aurelian alone as my sovereign," Zenobia was sent to Rome to grace the triumph of Aurelian. She entered the city on foot, preceeded by her own chariot, with which she had designed, in the event of having won the victory, to make her grand entry into Rome as the triumphant '' Queen of the East." But the fortunes of war subverted her ambitious scheme, and subjected her to the mortifi- cation of gracing a Roman triumph. Yet for this indignity she felt that she was somewhat compen- sated in knowing that her appearance in Rome would create a sensation. In the grand procession she followed her chariot, so laden with jewels and chains of gold as to require the support of a slave to prevent her from fainting beneath the weight. After enjoying the satisfaction of a triumph Aurel- ian treated his beautiful captive with kind consider- ation, and provided for her a delightful residence on the banks of the Tiber, where she passed the remain- der of her days, honored by all as a matron of rare 1 66 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. virtue and accomplishments. She Hved to educate her daughters, and to see them contract noble alli- ances. Her descendants were ranked among the first citizens of Rome, and did not become extinct until after the fifth century. Near the commencement of the fifteenth century, there appeared in France a brilliant meteor — a youthful maiden, whose development of character was as mystical as it was heroic. Joan of Arc was born of obscure parents, in an obscure village on the borders of Lorraine, and was bred in a school of simplicity. She possesed beauty, united with an amiable temper and generous sympathies. In her religious faith she was sincere, even angelic. Her love of country was ardent and irrepressible. Find- ing her countrymen distracted by a bitter partisan feeling, she identified herself with the patriots, and desired to secure the coronation of Prince Charles, as the only means, in her belief, of restoring the auth- ority of the legitimate government. The reigning king had become hopelessly demented, and anarchy prevailed in almost every part of his dominions. The rival houses of Orleans and Burgundy were contending for the supremacy, and had entered upon a career of murder and massacre, instead of adopting a regular system of warfare. Both parties invoked WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 6/ the aid of the English, and an army was accord- ingly sent from England ; but instead of relieving either of the contending parties, their interference only imposed still weightier calamities on the country. At this crisis a prophecy became current among the people, that a virgin would appear and rid France - of her enemies. This prophecy reached the ear of Joan of Arc, and inspired her with the belief that she was the chosen one of Heaven to accomplish the work. In confirmation of this belief, she heard mysteri- ous voices which came to her in her dreams, and which she regarded as divine communications, direct- ing her to enter upon her great mission. On confer- ring with her parents in relation to the matter, they advised her to abandon her mad scheme, and desired her to marry and remain with them in her native vil- lage ; but she declined, insisting that the current pre- diction — ''France shall be saved by a virgin" — allu- ded to her. The English army had already besieged Orleans, and all hope of saving the city seemed lost. Her friends, regarding her as endowed with super- natural powers, provided her with a war-horse and a military costume, and sent her with an escort to the court of Prince Charles, whom she had never seen, but whose cause she had espoused. 1 68 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. He received her with distrust, though he desired her proffered assistance. In order to avoid being charged with having faith in sorcery, he handed her over to a commission of ecclesiastics, to ascertain whether she was inspired of Heaven, or instigated by an evil spirit. Among other tests, the ecclesias- tics desired her to perform miracles. She replied, "Bring me to Orleans and you shall witness a mira- cle; the siege shall be raised, and Prince Charles shall be crowned king at Rheims." They approved her project, and she received the rank of a military commander. She then demanded a mysterious sword which she averred had been concealed by a hero of the olden time within the walls of an ancient church. On search being made, the sword was found and de- livered to her. In a short time, with this mysterious sword in hand, she appeared at the head of an en- thusiastic army, within sight of the besieged city of Orleans. The English army was astonished at the novel apparation. She advanced, and demanded a surrender of the city, but was indignantly refused; yet the citizens of Orleans were elate with joy at the prospect of relief Joan boldly assaulted the out- posts, and carried them. The besieged citizens, who had escaped outside the walls, now rallied under her WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 69 banner, and swelled the ranks of her army. Fort after fort was captured. The English fought with desperation. Joan, cheering on her brave forces, and calling on them to follow, seized a scaling-ladder, and ascended the enemy's breastworks, when she was pierced with an arrow in the shoulder, and fell into the fosse. Her undaunted followers rescued her ; when she, seeing her banner in danger, though faint and bleeding, rushed forward, seized and bore it off in triumph. The English army, amazed at this, and believing her more than human, became panic- stricken, and retreated in confusion. In their flight they lost their commander and many of their bravest men. Thus, in one week after her arrival at Orleans, she compelled the English to abandon the siege. In truth, she had performed a miracle, as her country- men believed, and as she had promised the ecclesias- tics she would do. For this brilliant achievement she acquired the title, ''Maid of Orleans." In addition to this, she subsequently fought sev- eral severe battles with the English and defeated them. Even the sight of her approaching banner often terrified the enemy into a surrender. In less than three months from the commencement of her career, she saw Prince Charles crowned king at Rheims. In gratitude for her preeminent and timely I/O SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. services in his cause, Charles issued his royal edict ennobling her and her family. Not long after this, the opposing faction of King Charles captured the Maid of Orleans, as she was now called, and impris- oned her in a strong fortress. She attempted to escape by leaping the walls, but was secured and transferred to the custody of the English. The Uni- versity of Paris, at the instance of dominant ecclesi- astics, demanded her trial on the charge of sorcery and the assumption of divine powers. The judges, intolerant as the priests, condemned her to be burnt at the stake. Her friends were overawed and failed to interfere in her behalf The only condition in her sentence was recantation and the acknowledment of the supremacy of the Church. In view of so terrific a death, she recanted ; but hearing the mysterious voices of her former dreams upbraid her, she re- asserted her faith in her divine mission ; was again seized at the instance of the priesthood, and the cruel sentence of death at the stake carried into ex- ecution. Never did a sadder fate overtake an Innocent, pat- riotic and noble-hearted woman. Her only crime was her love for her country, and her contempt for ecclesiastical assumption. Her purity of life was never questioned. It was said of her that she never WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I7I allowed a profane word to be uttered in her presence. Her religion was a religion of the heart, too exalted for the times in which she lived. So sincere was the belief of the populace in her sanctity, that many persons made pilgrimages from every part of the empire to touch her garments ; believing that, if they could be allowed the privilege, they would be espec- ially blessed, both in this life and in the life to come. There was no woman of the sixteenth century, perhaps, who was more conspicuous or more talented than Elizabeth, queen of England. Highly educated in the ancient and modern languages, as well as in phil- osophy, she embraced at an early age the Protestant faith, and in consequence of the religious jealousies of the times, encountered great opposition in her advent to the throne ; and, while yet in her girlhood, suffered a long imprisonment in the tower by order of her sister Mary, who was at that time the reigning queen. But events which transpired in 1558 resulted in the elevation of Elizabeth to the throne, at the age of twenty-five. So fearful were the Catholics of her influence in matters of faith that they sent to her a distinguished ecclesiastic, who demanded from her a declaration of her religious creed. To this intru- sive demand she, being an adept at rhyming, replied impromptu — 172 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. ' Christ was the word that spake it ; He took the bread and brake it ; And what that word did make it, That I beheve, and take it. " So frank and faultless was this avowal that it con- founded the artful priest, who, feeling rebuked, went away as wise as he came, if not a little wiser. In her personal appearance Elizabeth was stately and majestic, but by no means remarkable for her beauty, or amiableness of temper. Her good judg- ment and discrimination enabled her to call to her aid wise men for ministers and counsellors. She pat- ronized talent and intellect. It was during her reign that Spencer, Skakespeare, Raleigh, Bacon, and other eminent characters, flourished, giving to her times and to literature the distinction of the " Elizabethan age. " The leading events of her reign amply attest her capacity to grapple with emergencies in sustaining her prerogatives and in maintaining the defiant attitude of England. She loved money as well as power, and, though penurious, wielded her power with decis- ion; crushed domestic rebellion at a blow; removed her fears of Mary, queen of Scots, by consigning her to the block ; defied the power of Spain, and, with the timely assistance of a providential whirlwind, sank the Spanish armada in the depths of the sea. Though unattractive, her charms induced sundry WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1^3 propositions of marriage, particularly from the king of Sweden, from the king of Spain, and from a young prince of France, twenty-five years younger than her- self For this young prince, it is said, she entertained a sincere attachment, and went so far as to place publicly on his finger a costly ring as a pledge of their union ; but being taken soon afterwards by some strange whimsicality, dismissed him, and thus gave him leisure to reflect on the vanity of human aspira- tions. Yet, like most artful women, she delighted in flirtations, and always retained in her retinue a few special favorities, among whom were the Earls of Leicester and of Essex. On these men she bestowed official positions of high rank, and evidently desired to make great men of them ; but Leicester proved to be deficient in brains, and Essex turned traitor, and was finally executed. When advised to marry by her counsellors, she replied that she could not indulge such a thought for a moment, for she had resolved that the inscription on her tombstone should be: " Here lies a queen who lived and died a virgin.' In her seventieth year she died of grief, it is said, for having signed the death-warrant of Essex, for whom she entertained a sincere yet ''untold love." The events of her reign wrought great changes in 1/4 SKETCHES OF V/ESTERN LIFE. the destinies ot nations. By her firm adherence to the Protestant faith, she contributed much towards enlarging and strengthening the foundations of civil and rehgious hberty. She succeeded by her wisdom and diplomacy in circumventing the subtle machina- tions of rival powers. In few words, it may be said of her, that she was a noble specimen of manly womanhood. Catharine I., empress of Russia, was born of ob- scure parents, near the close of the seventeenth cen- tury. In girlhood she was known by the name of Martha, until she embraced the Greek religion, when her name was changed to Catharine. Her father died when she was but three years old, and left her to the care of an invahd mother in reduced circum- stances. When old enough to be useful, Catharine devoted her services to the care and support of her mother, and, in attaining to womanhood, grew to be exceedingly beautiful. Her mother had instructed her in the rudiments of a common education, which she afterwards perfected under the tuition of a neigh- boring clergyman. Among other accomplishments, Catharine acquired a knowledge of music and danc- ing, and soon became as attractive for her elegance of manners as she was celebrated for her beauty. In 1 701 she married a Swedish dragoon, and im- WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I75 mediately accompanied him to the military post assigned him in the war which had just broken out between Sweden and Russia. In a battle which soon followed, she was taken prisoner by the Russians. Her personal charms soon attracted the attention of Peter the Great. What became of her husband is not known, but may be imagined. At any rate, the emperor succeeded in winning her affections, acknowl- edged her as his wife, and placed the imperial dia- dem on her head and the sceptre in her hand. She soon proved herself to be a woman of wonderful tact, shrewdness and judgment, and obtained an unbounded influence over her husband. In fact, her advice controlled his action ; and in following it, he acquired the enviable and lasting title of ''Peter the Great." Like her, thousands of women have made their husbands great men, and often out of very in- different materials. After Peter's death, Catharine was proclaimed em- press and autocrat of all the Russias. Her reign, though short, was brilliant. Her frailties, if she had any, were few, and ought to be attributed to the character of her favorities rather than to herself She died at the early age of forty-two, after a brief xeign of a little less than two years as sole empress. Her native endowments constituted her brightest 176 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. jewels — modesty, simplicity and beauty. It was these angelic gifts which elevated her from the ob- scurity of rural life to the throne of a great empire. Here let us turn from the Old World to the New, and look into the parlor, instead of the palace, for specimens of true womanhood. It is in the private walks of life, in the domestic and social circles, that we must look if we would contemplate the character of woman in its purest and proudest development. It is in her daily exhibition of heart, soul, sympathy, generosity and devotion, that woman attains to per- fection and crowns herself with a diadem. Every- where in this great republic are thousands of women whose excellence of character challenges our admir- ation. Among those who have passed into the bet- ter life, and whose names are recorded on the tablet of every American heart, is Martha Washington. In her character we have the character of an ac- complished American lady. Few, if any, have ever excelled her. When the war of the Revolution commenced, she accompanied her husband, who had just been appointed commander-in-chief of the Amer- ican armies, to the military lines about Boston, and witnessed the siege and evacuation of that city. She was ever the guardian spirit of the general, and aided him materially in his military career by her WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 77 wise counsels and timely attentions. While he rea- soned logically and deliberately, she came to logical conclusions instantly, without seeming to reason, a faculty of logic which characterizes almost every woman. In her figure, Martha was slight ; in her manners, easy and graceful ; in her temper, mild, yet cheerful; in her conversation, calm, yet fascinating; in her looks, beautiful, especially in her youthful days. So universally admired and respected was she, that everybody spoke of her as "Lady Washington." She did the honors of the presidential mansion with polished ease, dignity and grace. Her connu- bial life with Washington was not less exemplary than it was happy. His regard for her was as pro- found as her devotion to him was sincere. So solic- itous was she for preserving his good name and fame, that, immediately after his death, she destroyed all the domestic letters which he had addressed to her, for fear they might, some day, be published, and be found to contain some word or expression of a political nature which might be construed to his prejudice. Faithful as a wife, as a friend, and as a Christian, she proved herself a model woman. She survived her husband but two years, and died at the age of 1/8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. seventy. In life she occupied a position which queens might envy; and in death, bequeathed a memory which will be cherished in a nation's heart, when the proud monuments of kings and queens have crumbled into dust and been forgotten. If it could be done without making invidious dis- tinctions, It would be no less delightful than instruc- tive to refer specifically to the names and deeds of many other American women who have graced the age in which they lived, and added lustre to . the annals of our republic. But we must content our- selves by alluding to them in general terms ; and, In doing this, we must admit the fact, that the noble deeds and exalted virtues of woman occupy a much less space in the world's history than they ought. It Is sufficiently evident to everybody that women, in all the relations of life, exhibit a keener apprecia- tion of right and wrong than men. Hence they are usually the first to approve what is right, and the last to concur In what is wrong. It was this devotion to principle which induced American women In the days of the Revolution to submit to the severest trials and deprivations, while they encouraged their sons, husbands and brothers to go forth to the bat- tle-field In defence of their country. In proof of their patriotism, these noble women, with their own WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 79 hands and with cheerful hearts, spun, wove, knit, and baked for the brave and suffering soldiers, and even made an offering of their jewels on the altar of liberty ; and rather than see the enemy enriched by traffic and unjust revenues, complacently approved the policy which cast rich cargoes of their favorite beverage into the depths of the sea. It was the same spirit, the same patriotism, which inspired the women of our own times, on a still broader scale, in the late struggle of the North to crush the rebeUion of the South, and sustain in all its purity, its honor and its glory, the dear old flag of the Union. This great work has been done manfully and nobly, and at immense sacrifices of treasure and of blood; but it could not have been done without the aid and encouragement of woman. It was woman who held the key and unlocked the hearts of twenty millions of people, and induced them, by her pleading appeals, to pour out their noble charities, as from floodgates, to supply the urgent needs of the largest and bravest army the world ever beheld. It was woman, whose delicate hand nursed the sick, the wounded, and the dying soldier, and whose sympathies and prayers soothed and cheered his departing spirit. In the sanitary commission, in the Christian com- I So SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. mission, woman was the master-spirit, the angel of mercy, the music of whose hovering wings animated the weary march of our gallant volunteers, and in- spired their souls with invincible courage. It is woman who weaves the only wreath of honor which a true-hearted hero desires to wear on his brow, and the only one worthy of his highest aspirations. It is an indisputable fact that the power, the patriotism, and the influence of woman, constitute the great moral elements of our republic, and of our civil and religious institutions. It is the educated and accomplished women of our country who have refined the men, as well as the youth of the land, and given tone to public sentiment. It is this class of women who have purified our liter- ature, and moulded it to harmonize with the pure principles of a Christian philosophy. In the fine arts, and even in the abstruse sciences, women have ex- celled as well as men. In the catalogue of distin- guished authors there are to be found, both in this country and in Europe, nearly as many women as men. From the facts which we have already ad- duced, it is evident enough that woman, in the exer- cise of intellectual, if not political power, is fully the equal of man, while in tact and shrewdness she is generally his superior. According to the old, but WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. l8l truthful saying, it is impossible for a man to outwit a shrewd woman ; and instead of asking what can a woman do, we should ask, what is there a woman cannot do? Whenever women are left to take care of them- selves in the world, as thousands are, they should not only have the right, but it is their duty, to en- gage in any of the industrial pursuits for which they are fitted. The principal difference between man and woman is physical strength ; and, for this reason, the lighter employments should be assigned to women. In whatever employment men are out of place, women should take their place ; especially in retailing fancy goods, in book-keeping, in telegraph- ing, in type-setting, in school-teaching, and in many other like employments ; nor need they be excluded from the learned professions. In fact, we already have lady clergymen and lady physicians ; and some think the character of the bar would be much ele- vated by the admission of lady lawyers. We can- not doubt that they would excel in prosecuting suits commenced by ''attachment," but in other cases their success is not assured, if we may judge from the following incident : A lady lawyer of presidential aspirations, in conducting a suit before Judge Carter iU the district court at Washington, was opposed by an 1 82 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. eminent lawyer of the other sex, who raised a vexed legal question which had not been ** dreamed of in the philosophy " of the lady lav/yer, and which so endangered her side of the case and perplexed her that, in the midst of her embarrassment, she ap- pealed to the judge for advice as to the course she had better pursue. The judge, who hesitates some- what in his utterances, replied : * * I think you had bet-bet-better employ a lawyer." If women choose to compete with men in any of the learned professions, or in any other pursuit, and are fitted to achieve success, there is nothing in the way to prevent them ; yet it does not follow that they can take the places of men in every thing, especially in those employments which require mas- cuHne strength and great physical endurance. Nor does it follow that women who pay taxes should therefore have the right of suffrage. The fact that they hold property does not change their status, nor does it confer political rights. The right of suffrage is a political right and not a natural right. The exercise of this political right carries with it the law-making power, the duty of protecting persons and property, and consequently of maintaining and defending the government. They who make the government are therefore bound to WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 83 defend it. Nature never Intended that women should become soldiers, and face the cannon's mouth In the battlefield ; nor did she give them strength to con- struct railroads, tunnel mountains, build war-ships, or man them. Yet women, prompted by affection or romantic sentiment, have been known to become soldiers In disguise, and perhaps have fought bravely in the battle-field; but this, of itself, proves nothing; it is merely an exception to a general rule, or. In other words, an eccentricity of character. In all ages of the world, as we have shown, the mere force of circumstances has occasionally unsphered woman, and placed her in unnatural situations. In which she has sometimes achieved a brilliant success — on the throne and off the throne, in peace and in war, in political life and in social life. Yet In stepping out of her sphere, whatever may be her success, every true woman feels that she **o'ersteps the modesty of nature." When woman glides into her natural position — that of a wife — It is then only that she occupies her appropriate sphere, and exhibits in its most attract- ive form the loveliness of her character. Marriage is an institution as essential to the stability and harmony of the social system as gravity is to the order and preservation of the planetary system. In Io4 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. the domestic circle the devoted wife becomes the centre of attraction, the ''angel of the household." Her world is her home ; her altar, the hearthstone. In her daily ministrations, she makes herself angelic by making home a heaven, and every one happy who may come within the '' charmed circle " of her kind cares and generous sympathies. In fact, there is no place like home, ''sweet home," when on its sacred altar burns the blended incense of harmonious souls — " Two souls with but a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one." It is certain that man and woman were never created to live independent of each other. They are but counterparts, and therefore incomplete until united in wedlock. Hence they who prefer single blessedness are justly chargeable with the "sin of omission," if not the "unpardonable sin." It Is difficult to estimate the fearful responsibilities of those fossilized bachelors who persist in sewing on their own buttons and in mending their own stock- ings. Yet these selfish gentlemen frankly admit that there may have been such a thing as ' ' true love " in the olden times, but now, they say, the idea has become obsolete ; and if a bachelor were to ask a young lady to share his lot, she would immediately want to know how large the 'Mot " is, and what is its WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 85 value. In further justification they quote Socrates, who being asked whether it were better for a man to marry or Hve single, replied, " Let him do either and he will repent it." But this is not argument, nor is it always true, even in a sordid marriage, as appears in the following instance. Not long since, in New York, a bachelor of twenty-two married a rich maiden of fifty-five, who died within a month after the nuptials, and left him a half million of dollars. He says he has never " repented " the marriage. The age in which we live is one of experiment and of novel theories, both in religion and in politics. In modern spiritualism we have entranced women, who give us reports from the dead. In modern crusades we have devout women, who visit tippling-houses and convert them into sanctuaries of prayer. In politics we have mismated and unmated women, who hold conventions, clamor for the ballot, and advocate the doctrine of ''natural selection." It is true that every marriageable woman has a natural right to select, if not elect, a husband; and this she may and ought to do, not by ballot but by the influence of her charms and her virtues. If all marriageable men and women were but crystallized into happy families, earth would soon become a par- adise. Yet, if this were done, we doubt not there 1 86 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. would still remain some "strong-minded" women, who would get up a convention to reform paradise. The truth is, the women will do pretty much as they please, and the best way is to let them. Yet all must admit that a woman of refinement is not only a ruling spirit, but "a power behind the throne greater than the power on the throne." Her rights are, therefore, within her own grasp. Among these she has the right, and to her belongs the re- sponsible duty, of educating her children in first prin- ciples, and in those sanctified lessons which have been revealed to man from heaven. It is the mother's precepts which constitute the permanent foundation of the child's future character. Hence no woman is really competent to discharge the responsible duties of a mother as she ought, unless she has first been properly educated. There can be no object more deserving of commiseration, perhaps, than a mother who is surrounded by a family of young children, and yet is so ignorant as to be unable to instruct them in the rudiments of a common school educa- tion and in the fundamental principles of a Christian life. The character of every child, It may be assumed, is essentially formed at seven years of age. The mother of Washington knew this, and felt it, and, in the education of her son, taught him at an early WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 87 age the leading truths of Christianity. She took the Bible for her guide, and taught him to take the Bible for his guide. His subsequent career proves that he adhered to the instructions of his mother. When he came to pay her a visit, at the close of the war, after an absence of seven long years, she received him, with the overflowing heart of a mother, as her dutiful son, and thought of him only as a dutiful son, never uttering a word in reference to the honors he had won as a military chieftain. Soon after this. Gen. Lafayette, wishing to make the acquaintance of the mother of Washington before returning to France, called at her residence in Virginia, and introduced himself He found her at work in the garden, clad in a homespun dress, and her gray head covered with a plain straw hat. She saluted him kindly, and calmly remarked, " Ah, Marquis, you see an old woman ; but come, I can make you welcome in my poor dwelling without the parade of changing my dress." In the course of conversation Lafayette complimented her as the mother of a son who had achieved the independence of his country, and acquired lasting honors for him- self The old lady, without the least manifestation of gratified pride, simply responded, "I am not sur- prised at what George has done, for he was always a 1 88 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. very good boy." What a noble response, in its moral grandeur, was this ? Certain it is that such a mother was worthy of such a son. A monument, plain, yet expressive in its design, has been erected at Fredericksburg to her memory. It bears this simple, yet sublime inscription: — Mary, the Mother of Washington. " The extent of woman's moral power can only be limited by the extent of her capacities. In every circle, whether domestic, social or political, the accomplished woman is a central power — ivipei'ium hi impcrio ; and, though she may not directly exer- cise the right of suffrage, yet her influence and her counsels, even an expression of her wish, enable her to control the political as well as the social destinies of men and of nations. It is in this way that she may ''have her way." It was the accomplished wife of Mr. Monroe who made him President of the United States. She was the first to propose his name as a candidate. Her influence with members of congress induced them to concur in advocating his election. He was elected. His administration, as we all know, was distinguished as "the era of good feeling." The prevalent idea that women need less education than men is a gross error, worthy of heathendom WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 89 perhaps, but entirely unworthy of Christendom. Let women be as generally and as liberally educated as men, and, my word for it, the question of women's rights would soon settle itself. The right of women to be thus educated cannot be doubted, because it is a divine right, and because God has made woman the maternal teacher of mankind, and the chief cornerstone of the social fabric. Yet she should be educated with reference to her proper sphere as woman — a sphere which is higher than that of man in the economy of Nature. Her capacities for industrial pursuits, such as are consistent with her physical abilities, should be developed so that she may be qualified to provide for herself, and to sustain herself in life's battle, if need be, without the aid of a ''companion in arms." Nevertheless, marriage is one of heaven's irrevoc- able laws. It is, in fact, the great law of all animal life, and even of plant life. Nowhere in nature is there a single instance in which this law is not obeyed, in due time, except in the case of mankind. Why is this ? It certainly would not be so if it were not for some grand defect in our social system — some false notions acquired by education, which are pecu- liar to our civilization, and which induce apostasy to truth and natural justice. Man was created to be the 190 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. protector of woman, and woman to be the helpmeet of man. Each, therefore, has an appropriate sphere ; and the obHgations of each are mutual, growing out of their mutual interest and dependence. The sphere of the one is just as important as the sphere of the other. Neither can live, nor ought to live, without the aid, the love, and the sympathy of the other. Whether so disposed or not, neither can commit an infraction of the other's rights, without violating a law of Nature. Whatever may be the evils of our present social or political system, it is evident that the right of suffrage, if extended to woman, could not afford a remedy ; but, on the contrary, would tend to weaken, rather than strengthen, mutual interests, by creating unwomanly aspirations and domestic dissensions, thus sundering the ties of love and affection which naturally exist between the sexes. In a word, it would be opening Pandora's box, and letting escape the imps of social and political discord, and finally re- sult in universal misrule. If not In positive anarchy. Modesty and delicacy are the crowning characteris- tics of a true woman. She naturally shrinks from the storms of political strife. Give her the right of suffrage — a boon no sensible woman desires — place her in office, In the halls of legislation. In the presi- WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I9T dentlal chair, enrobe her with the judicial ermine, or make her the executive officer of a criminal tri- bunal — and how could she assume the tender rela- tions of a mother, and at the same time officiate in either of these high places of public trust, in which the sternest and most inflexible duties are often re- quired to be performed ? It is not possible, however, that the erratic comets, whose trailing light occasionally flashes athwart our political sky, will ever acquire sufficient momentum to jostle the " fixed stars " out of place, because there is a fixed law of Nature which preserves them in place. There is also a law of Nature which makes man not only the protector, but the worshiper of woman — a worship which is as instinctively paid as recipro- cated, and which is by no means inconsistent with the worship of God, but, in truth, is a part of it. It is this kind of worship, this natural and holy impulse of the heart, which constitutes the basis of man's rights, and of woman's rights, and should harmonize all their relations in life. We see the instinctive exhibition of man's reverence for women almost every day of our lives, and often in a way that proves how ridiculous are modern theories in regard to woman's rights, when brought to the test in practical life. Not long since in one of 192 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. our cities where a woman's- rights convention was in session, a strong-minded female delegate entered a street railway car, when an old gentleman arose to give her his seat ; but, at that moment, suspecting her to be a delegate, asked, " Be you one of these women's righters ?" — "I am." — "You believe a woman should have all the rights of a man ?" — " Yes I do." — "Then stand up and enjoy them like a man." And stand up she did — the old gentleman coolly resuming his seat, to the great amusement of the other passengers. Whatever may be the pretensions of agitators, it is certain that no woman of refined culture, or of proper self-respect, will attempt to step outside of her appropriate sphere. This she cannot do if she would, without doing violence to the sensibilities of her nature. When true to herself, woman, like the lily of the valley, prefers the valley, where she can display her native loveliness in comparative retirement, secure from the inclemencies of a frowning sky ; while man, born with a more rugged nature, prefers, like the sturdy oak, to climb the hills and the mountains, where he delights to breast the assaults of storm and tempest, and to fling the shadow of his stately form over the valley, as if to protect the ethereal beauty of the lily from the too ardent gaze of the sun. And, WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 93 though a solitary flower may sometimes be seen climbing the mountain height, it is only the modest lily of the valley, the true woman, whose cheering smile man aspires to share, and whose virtue and purity call into exercise his noblest and holiest sym- pathies. Land of Flowers. LAND OF FLOWERS. Among the eminent Europeans who attempted to explore the southwestern region of the American continent was Ponce de Leon. He expected to find somewhere within its mystic domain the traditional fountain whose waters, as it was said, possessed the magical power of restoring old age to per- petual youth. It was the result of this attempt that foreshadowed the birth of a civilization that now gives character to western life. Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spaniard, born in the year 1460. He descended from an ancient family of renown. His parents, though reduced to compara- tive poverty, possessed a proud spirit which he inherited. In early life he served as page to the king. His education was derived principally from his surroundings. As he advanced in age he became ambitious, and indulged in aspirations as visionary as they were extravagant. When he had reached the age of manhood, he engaged in the wars against 198 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. the Moors of Granada, and distinguished himself as a valiant cavalier. In 1493 he accompanied Colum- bus in his second voyage to Hispaniola and was placed in command of its eastern province. In this position he soon acquired an overgrown fortune and organized a formidable military force with a view to protect and aggrandize himself in the exercise of absolute power. Feeling assured of his ability to extend his authority he sailed for Porto Rico, and after a lingering contest conquered the island and assumed its government. He ruled its inhabitants with a severity that soon became intolerable, and they appealed to the authorities of Spain for relief. The appeal, through the influence of the Columbus family, resulted in obtaining the removal of Ponce de Leon from office. This was a shadow thrown upon his pathway which, though it had a chilling effect, did not discourage him. It simply aroused a spirit of indignation within his breast that was coupled with a firm resolve to achieve still higher and worthier aims. Though crippled with the infirmities of age, he did not for that reason become inactive. He readily accepted as true the ancient tradition then prevalent among the Indians, that there existed in the isles of the sea north of Porto Rico a miraculous fountain LAND OF FLOWERS. 1 99 whose waters had the magic power of restoring old age to the vigor of youth. This change in his physi- cal condition was what he most desired. Hence he at once determined, if it were possible, to discover this mystic fountain and to avail himself of its regenerating influence, and at the same time acquire by conquest or otherwise the imperial government of these fairy isles, which, as * it was said, were begemmed with hills of gold, flowery vales, luscious fruits, and pleasant groves that were ever cheered by the song of beautiful birds and the smiling presence of still more beautiful women. Infatuated by this ideal of a restoration to youth and the acquisition of an earthly paradise, he ex- pended his entire fortune in procuring the prompt outfit of an expedition to explore a realm so delightful. The expedition consisted of three ships furnished with liberal supplies, and also with an efficient mili- tary force. He took command of the expedition and sailed from Porto Rico in March, 1512, and soon reached the Behamas, a group of islands at the north, which at that time had not been explored. Here he cruised about among the islands for a month or more, prosecuting his inquiries as to the locality of the traditional fountain and enjoying the luxuries of life in a summer cHme. 200 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. The natives received Ponce de Leon and his subor- dinates with reverential awe and with great kindness, and though they had never seen the fountain, they all entertained a vague belief that it existed and could be found far away in a western land that was fringed with the twilight of the setting sun. Though the explorer had made a fruitless search among the Behamas, he accepted this vague belief of the island- ers and directed his course westward, and after many days of sluggish sail on a slumbering sea, discovered land on Easter Sunday — a land crowned with a rich foliage and carpeted with a profusion of flowers. It was for this reason that he called it "Florida," or the land of flowers. He disembarked at a point a Httle north of St. Augustine, and took possession of the territory in the name of Spain. He penetrated the interior to some extent in search of the mystic fountain, drank of the waters of every spring and streamlet he could find, and bathed in them, but failed to rejuvenate himself as he had expected. He instituted inquiries among the natives, but none of them could give him any definite information in regard to the hidden fountain. They, in fact, regarded him and his followers as intruders, and though he attempted to conciliate them, they assumed a menac- ing attitude which resulted in frequent conflicts. LAND OF FLOWERS. 201 He coasted in a southerly direction, doubled Cape Florida, and discovered the Tortugas. He left one of his faithful adherents at the cape to retain posses- sion of Florida, and to continue the search for the fountain, while he, still suffering from increasing infirmities, returned to Porto Rico to report his discoveries. In achieving these brilliant results he not only acquired an enviable renown, but secured for Spain an enlarged empire, a jewel that enriched her crown and inflated her pride. Ponce de Leon, though depressed in spirits, assumed an air of cheer- fulness, and described in glowing language his won- derful discoveries to the King of Spain, who was so highly pleased with this new acquisition of empire that he acknowledged the eminent service of the explorer by appointing him, without solicitation, to the supreme governorship of the flowery land which he had discovered, on the condition that he would colonize it at his own expense. Though still a suf- ferer from the infirmities of age, as well as reduced in his financial resources, he gratefully accepted the honor of the appointment, and after the lapse of several years succeeded in so far replenishing his coffers and in gathering colonists as to be able to enter upon this new adventure with flattering pros- pects. 202 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. In 1 521 Ponce de Leon, clad in the robes of magis- terial authority, and commanding two ships laden with colonists and the requisite supplies, sailed for that paradise in the far west which he had discovered, and to which he had given the name of '' Florida." The voyage was soon accomplished. The colonists hailed the beautiful land as they came in sight of it, with exclamations of wonder and delight. They be- came impatient to disembark and take possession of a realm so beautiful and so inviting. They effected a partial landing, and began to select desirable locali- ties for permanent homes. The Indians soon dis- covered the object of the intruders, and rallied with a bloodthirsty resolution to exterminate them. A fearful battle ensued, in which a large number of both natives and colonists were killed. Ponce de Leon received a fatal wound from a poisoned arrow. Wounded in pride as well as in body, he was now driven with the remnant of colonists back to his ships. He lost not only many of the colonists, but most of their supplies. He returned with the fraction that survived to Cuba, where, amid sympathizing friends, he soon died of his wound. Though naturally vain. Ponce de Leon possessed many admirable traits of character. He loved adven- ture for the sake of adventure. His aspirations were LAND OF FLOWERS. 203 as lofty as they were characteristic. He" sought wealth and power as the chief instrumentality of securing self-aggrandizement. When the infirmities of age overtook him, he became the dupe of a blind faith in the rejuvenating fountain which he sought, but could not find. He was a generous cavalier, who scattered a fortune and reaped a prolific series of mis- fortunes. He made for himself, however, a proud and lasting record. He was the first man who re- ceived the appointment of territorial governor within the present limits of the United States. This was in itself an enviable honor. He enriched the world by his achievements, and was one of the few who were born to command. He loved nature, and it was he who discovered her favorite Land of Flowers — an achievement whose sequence embraced within its grasp the problem of human rights — a problem which has been solved by the birth of the Great Republic. And yet, though his destiny was a noble one, he led a life unsatisfactory to himself, and at his death left to his heirs but little else than his name and fame. Career of De Soto. CAREER OF DE SOTO. Hernando De Soto was born in Spain in the year 1490. He inherited a chivalric spirit and received a superior literary and scientific education. He ex- celled when young not only in his studies, but in athletic exercises. He exhibited traits of character that secured him the patronage of Pedrasias Davila, a distinguished citizen of Spain, who had accepted the governorship of the Isthmus of Darien. In 15 19 DeSoto accompanied his patron to Darien. Here he soon discovered that the citizens of the isthmus regarded the government of Davila as tyrannical and oppressive. This induced DeSoto to espouse the popular cause and take open action against the ad- ministration. In consequence of this action, De Soto incurred the displeasure of his patron and was dis- charged from his service. De Soto was ambitious and desired to accomplish some grand achievement on his own account. He undertook, in 1528, to explore the extensive territories 207 208 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE.' of Guatemala and Yucatan with the expectation of finding a water channel, that could be navigated, con- necting the Atlantic with the Pacific ocean ; but in this he was destined to disappointment. In 1532 he joined Pizarro in his expedition for the conquest of Peru, and distinguished himself in many a conflict as a brave commander. He possessed a spirit as hu- mane as it was heroic, and manifested it by exerting his utmost influence with Pizarro to spare the life of the unhappy monarch Atahualpa, who had been promised his freedom on the surrender of his vast ac- cumulation of gold. DeSoto, though more merciful, was not less avaricious than Pizarro. They shared the gold between them in such a way as to provoke an outspoken dissatisfaction among the subordinate officers and valiant soldiers whom they had led to victory. De Soto, fearing an outbreak that might deprive him of the liberal share of gold he had re- ceived, returned to Spain to enjoy his wealth and the honors he had won in Peru as a victorious military commander. In the meantime, extravagant rumors in regard to tlie riches of the new world pervaded Spain. Every- body became excited, and the return of De Soto to Spain laden with gold increased the intensity of the excitement. He became the central figure, not less CAREER OF DE SOTO. 20g of envy than of admiration, and was received, where- ever he went, with demonstrations of popular favor. In fact he was deemed the most fortunate man in Spain. He paid his addresses to the daughter of the nobleman Davila, his early patron, and married her. And, though he had incurred the displeasure of her father by criticisms on his administration of the gov- ernment in Darien, yet this happy alliance with his daughter allayed at once all former animosities. The King of Spain was among the first to manifest his ad- miration of De Soto. He paid him imperial honors and expressed a readiness to grant him any request he might chose to make. De Soto appreciated his opportunities, and being possessed of immense wealth, resolved to accomplish some grand achievement that would eclipse the name and fame of Pizarro and Cortes. He shared the cur- rent belief that there existed somewhere in the north- ern region of the new world, still undiscovered, as many rich cities, palaces, and treasuries overflowing w^ith gold, as had been found in the broad domain of the southern region. Influenced by this belief, he solicited the king to grant him permission to con- quer and colonize Florida at his own cost. The king not only gave him the permission desired, but author- ized him to exercise absolute jurisdiction over the 2IO SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. land of flowers. In addition to this, he appointed him governor of Cuba. No sooner was the contem- plated expedition for the conquest of Florida announ- ced, than hundreds of wealthy and aspiring adventu- rers applied to De Soto for permission to join him in the expedition. Among the adventurers were in- cluded a few women, and also a few priests and me- chanics. The fleet consisted of nine ships, freighted with seven hundred armed men, three hundred horses, a large herd of swine, and a dozen or more blood- hounds. Nearly a year was occupied in equipping the expedition with the requisite outfit, apart of which was furnished in Cuba, whence the fleet sailed with all the "pomp and circumstance of war," May i8, 1539, and reached Tampa bay, on the westerly coast of Florida, on the thirtieth of the same month. Here he landed his troops and marched into the interior. The first human being he met, was a Spainard who had been, eleven years previous to this time, captured by the Indians in a warfare with Narvaez, whose ex- pedition to Florida and the region northwest of it proved a sad failure. The name of the captured Spainard was Juan Ortiz When taken prisoner by the Indians, he was con- demned to suffer death at the stake. Fagots were prepared, and the firebrand applied, when the sympa- CAREER OF DE SOTO. 211 thetic daughter of the chief, appealed to her father to spare the victim's life, urging that it would be an honor to her father and to the tribe to hold the cap- tive in their service as a white slave. This suggestion pleased the stern old chief, who promptly ordered the victim's release. There might have been another and a tenderer motive that induced the maiden to make this appeal. De Soto was not less surprised than fortunate in meeting one of his own countrymen in the wilds of Florida at so unexpected a moment, who from his long captivity had become familiar with the Indian language, and was therefore able to give him much valuable informiation. Ortiz, however, had no knowledge of a definite character, relative to the existence of rich cities, or mines of gold, in the wilds of Florida, nor had he received any information of that kind from the natives. This did not discourag-e De Soto. He resolved to penetrate the wilderness, believing that he would, at no very great distance, reach a region of rich cities and still richer mines of gold. He had an insatiable thirst for gold that could not be quenched. It was with him a monomania. He pursued the phantom, accompanied by his fol- lowers, in a northwesterly direction, and fought his way as he advanced through the domains of hostile 212 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. tribes of Indians until his supplies were exhausted and his men reduced to extremities. They expressed their dissatisfaction and implored him to allow them to return to their own country. He refused to listen to their complaints and cut off all hopes of a speedy return by ordering his ships to leave the coast and sail for Cuba. He then inspired his followers with new courage by assuring them that they should share with him liberally the gold which they were certain to find, and declared that he would see with his own eyes the rich deposits of gold that lay hidden in the wild domain of which he was now the imperial governor. Thus stimulated they advanced, fighting the Indians on the way, and feeding on the maize which they took from them. The Indians were disgusted with the greed of the intruders, and for the purpose of ridding them- selves of them assured them that gold abounded in certain remote regions beyond the line of their tribal domains. This encouraged De Soto and his men to continue their search. They wandered amid suffering, sickness, and death, and were frequently attacked by the natives, during their first summer in Florida. They wintered in the vicinity of Apalachen bay, where De Soto communicated with Cuba, ordered a fresh supply of provisions, and sent his wife. Dona Isabella, CAREER OF DESOTO. 213 twenty Indian maidens to serve as her slaves, v^ith other tokens of regard, indicating the success and golden prospects of his enterprise — an impression he wished to create. In the spring of 1 540 he proceeded northward in the direction of a region occupied by still more num- erous Indian tribes. He compelled every tribe through whose domain he passed to contribute in turn not only sufficient maize to furnish his entire force with bread, but subjected them to serve as beasts of burden, and in order to secure their adherence to his service chained them neck to neck, in couples. He also appropriated their most comely women. Twelve Jesuit priests accompanied him, who performed reli- gious services daily, and who were clad in the glittering regalia of their order. They professed a love for the Indians and a desire to enlighten them in the principles of Christianity, but were by no means averse to the accumulation of gold and the free enjoyment of the luxuries of life. Rumor reported from tribe to tribe the advance of De Soto and his men. And though a successful resistance was hopeless, the Indians often attacked the intruders with a bravery that was rarely excelled. They were slain by hundreds, and the pathway of De Soto was strewn with skeletons. He discovered as he advanced that the natives 214 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. possessed large quantities of beautiful pearls. This intensified his desire for wealth — gold and pearls. He was now approached by an Indian queen, who took from her neck a massive string of beautiful pearls and threw it around his neck as a token of her rev- erential regard for so distinguished a visitor. She also presented him several mantles wrought of beau- tiful feathers and with thread, as fine as silk, which was manufactured from the bark of a tree. These he gracefully accepted and asked where the pearls were found. She replied that the graves of their village were full of them. He directed his men to open the graves. In doing this, they soon gathered three hundred and fifty pounds of pearls, a rich harvest for the despoilers. But their joy was changed to grief when on critical examination they discovered that the pearls had been perforated and worn as ornaments, and their beauty so marred and discolored by time as to render them valueless. Though the queen had received De Soto with liberal presents and with pro- found respect, he did not hesitate to retain her as a captive, and to subject her attendants to his service as slaves. The queen, however, managed to elude her guards and made her escape, taking with her a box of select pearls of great value. She was the queen of a powerful tribe of Floridians, who had CAREER OF DESOTO. 215 achieved a good degree of civilization. This was evi- dent from the advance they had made in the arts, the style of clothing in which they were clad, and the structure of their dwellings. The queen's village was located in the interior of the flowery land, about two days' journey from the Atlantic coast. Her subjects cultivated the soil to a considerable extent,and seemed disposed to maintain peaceful relations with the strangers, until their queen was restrained of her lib- erty and placed under guard. This aroused their in- dignation, and induced De Soto to take his departure from their domains. The adventurers, under the guidance of a friendly Indian, now pursued their way into the wilds of the northwest — the present region of Georgia. They noticed that the Indians they met had copper hatchets, and that the copper contained grains of gold, and, moreover, that the Indians understood the art of smelting ores. This indication of gold inspired the adventurers with renewed hope. Their Indian guide assured them that in the mountains at the north they would find rich mines of gold. But they doubted his sincerity, as they had so often been misled by the natives, who desired to rid themselves of their un- scrupulous visitors. The sagacious Indian guide, however, was truthful, and doubtless referred to the 2l6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. gold mines in the mountains of Georgia or North Carolina. Had they followed his direction they would have found gold, as in all probability the mines had been wrought by the Indians at a previ- ous period, perhaps for centuries. Yet they declined to proceed. They had become disgusted with the barrenness of the wild region in which they were wandering. They suffered intensely from sickness and destitution, and for this reason changed their di- rection to the southwest. The Indian guide also be- came disgusted with his slavish duties and affected insanity. The priest said ''a gospel over him" and he recovered. He was undoubtedly convinced that he must recover or be shot. In the course of their wanderings in the southwest, they passed through the northern parts of Georgia amd Alabama until they struck the headwaters of the Alabama river. They then followed the river in its southern direction towards the sea. In this region they were delighted to find an abundance of wild grapes, rich and ripe and ready at hand, and also maize in the field, to which they did not hesitate to help themselves. It was now the golden month of October. They had journeyed in the wilderness for many a weary month, and suffered grievous losses of men and property CAREER OF DE SOTO. 21/ without realizing their expectations or achieving any desirable results. Still De Soto, though sadly disappointed, did not despair of finding gold somewhere in the wilds of the west. He knew that he was governor of Florida, and believed he was still moving within the limits of his own jurisdiction. In his progress towards the ocean he now met an Indian who informed him that ships had arrived at the seacoast with supplies. This information he dared not disclose lest his men should revolt, and the news of his failure to find gold reach Cuba. In a few days afterward he encountered an Indian tribe who had achieved a partial civilization, and who resided in a village called Manilla, or Mobile, the name that has been applied to the bay and city of Mobile. This village was located on the river at a point nearly one hundred miles distant from the sea. It was built in circular form and surrounded by palisades for protection. The cabins were neat and comfortable, and constructed with a remarkable de- gree of artistic skill. De Soto and his followers were weary and worn, and desired rest in a comfortable camp. They con- cluded to occupy the village for this purpose. De Soto, with a few mounted men gaily equipped, en- tered the village with a view to inspect its accommo- 2l8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. dations and to negotiate with the chief. In passing the gate of the inclosure an Indian insulted one of the mounted cavahers, who struck him with a cutlass and killed him on the spot. This produced a sudden outbreak of hostilities. The chief betook himself to his citadel. De Soto luckily escaped with his attend- ants to the open fields, and then with his entire force returned to the village with a determination to cap- ture it and occupy it as a camping-ground for the coming winter. He and his force were met by a hailstorm of arrows. The Indians, finding they could not successfully resist the invaders, applied the fire- brand to their village and laid it in ashes. The Spaniards, though not defeated, were subjected to a serious loss. Eighteen of their mounted men with twelve horses were killed, and seventy more of the Spaniards wounded. The number of Indians who were slain in this terrible conflict was twenty-five hundred. The victory, though won by De Soto, proved a serious disaster. His baggage and supplies of food were all lost in the conflagration. Prior to this the number of his men had been reduced from seven hundred to less than five hundred by severe suffering and repeated conflicts with the natives. Surrounded as he now was by a scene of desolation, and destitute as his troops were of supplies, he be- CAREER OF DESOTO. 2ig came somewhat disheartened, but did not despair. In- stead of pursuing his way to the seacoast, he re- versed his direction, and, plundering the natives as he went of their maize and other provisions, reached the northern part of the present state of Mississippi late in the fall of the year 1540, where he encamped for the winter at a small village of the Chickasaws, on the western bank of the river Yazoo. The Indians were compelled to evacuate their village, in which De Soto and his troops quartered themselves in a very comfortable way. The winter was cold and stormy, but an abundance of maize was left standing in the open fields by the Indians, which the Spaniards ap- propriated without scruple. The Indians who had been driven from their village suffered intensely while the Spaniards luxuriated on the spoils taken from them. When the spring came in 1541 De Soto and his troops had so far replenished themselves with com- fortable fare as to recover their usual spirits and to feel encouraged v/ith the prospect of achieving ulti- mate success in the discovery of a region not far distant that would furnish them inexhaustible treas- ures of gold. Inspired by this sordid spirit, De Soto now resolved to continue his researches, and with this view ordered the chief of the Chickasaws to 220 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. furnish him two hundred men to carry the baggage of his troops. The chief did not relish this propo- sition, nor could he forget the injustice which he and his tribe had received at the hands of the Spaniards. Though bent on revenge, he assumed to comply with the order by sending a few of his tribe to the village, who were careful to arrive at midnight, and who on confronting the sentinels professed friendship and were allowed to enter the enclosure where the Spaniards were lost in profound slumbers. These Indian delegates, acting in concert, at once set fire to every wigwam and structure in the encampment. The Spaniards awoke, panic-stricken, amid the raging conflagration. The entire village with all its appurte- nances was soon reduced to a mass of cinders. Seven of the Spaniards were burned to death and many others disabled. Many of the horses were consumed in the flames while the remainder stampeded. Nearly every article of clothing belong- ing to the Spaniards, together with their supplies and equipments, was destroyed, and the entire village with its enclosure obliterated. The victory of the Indians was complete. Had they followed up their advantage they might have exterminated the entire Spanish force. De Soto and his men, though dismayed, did not CAREER OF DESOTO. 221 succumb. In the course of a week they contrived to clothe themselves with garments made of skins and blankets woven of ivy. They then repaired their military equipments and replenished their lost store of provisions by appropriating the remaining corn of the Indians. They also regained possession of their remaining horses, cattle and swine, and took up their line of march in a northwesterly direction, penetrat- ing dark forests and dismal marshes, and after seven days of perseverance and suffering reached the Indian villages in the vicinity of the Mississippi river. Here they were kindly received and furnished with Indian guides, who conducted them to the river near the Chickasaw Bluffs, where De Soto enjoyed the immor- tal honor of being the first white man to behold face to face the Father of Waters. Here the Spaniards remained for a month or more, and engaged in con- structing boats of sufficient capacity to cross the river or ascend it. This arrival of white men astonished the native tribes who resided in the vicinity of the Mississippi. They came in great numbers in canoes to look at the strangers, and gratify a curiosity that seemed as insatiable as it was taciturn. They were decorated in their gayest attire, plumes and fantastic garments of vivid colors, as if desirous of making an impression. Many of them were armed with 222 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. bows and arrows, as if meditating a hostile attack, but the evident superiority of the Spaniards overawed them, and they at once assumed a conciliatory attitude, and presented their strange visitors with a liberal supply of fish and with bread made of wild fruits. There were many hundreds of these natives, most of whom came down the river from villages located at different points along its bluffy banks. When they saw the Spaniards launch huge boats and embark with all their supplies, including horses, bullocks and swine, and cross safely over to the west side of the great river, they were astonished, and dispersing returned to their villages to report the marvels they had witnessed, and to express their fears as to the intentions of the white invaders — an unknown race, evidently superior to their own, and who, as they believed, had descended from the sun. De Soto was delighted with his discovery of this majestic river, and admired the sentinel forest trees that guarded its banks and gracefully flung their banners of gray moss to the fluttering breeze. He believed he had now reached the direct pathway to the long-sought region abounding in gold. In his attempt to ascend the western bank of the Mis- sissippi with his troops, he encountered extensive marshes, dense thickets, and many other embarrass- CAREER OF DE SOTO. 223 ments, but finally reached the high and dry rolling prairie lands in the vicinity of New Madrid. About the twentieth of June, 1541, he reached the northern- most point of his exploration up the Mississippi — a point not known, but which is supposed to be but a few leagues up the river from New Madrid. At any rate, it was a region that supplied an abundance of fish, wild game, and wild fruits. Here De Soto, with his famished followers, in- dulged in feasting for forty days, and then took a new direction and penetrated the wilderness westward two hundred miles or more, until he reached the mountain lands that skirt the White river. Here he expected to find gold, but found none. He now changed his course and took a southerly direction, passed through numerous Indian villages, and encamped for the winter near the hot springs on the banks of the river Washita, in Arkansas. In March, 1542, the explorer still hopeful descended the Washita to its union with the Red river, and thence down the crimson waters of that river to its junction with the Mississippi, where he arrived in May. Both he and his troops were sadly demoralized during their western wanderings, and had suffered untold miseries from hunger and sickness, and from losses by Indian attacks and other disasters. Here De 224 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. Soto encamped in the vicinity of Natchez, among Indian tribes whom he plundered and reduced to starvation. The condition of both Indians and Spaniards became desperate. De Soto now resolved to find his way to the sea. He inquired the distance, but none of the Indian chiefs could tell him. He sent out six horsemen to descend the banks of the river and report. They rode eight days through swamps and cane-brakes, and had advanced but thirty miles when they found it impossible to proceed further. They returned and reported that the descent to the sea along the banks of the river was impossible, the distance unknown, and the region uninhabited. This report sadly discouraged De Soto. His men and horses were dying around him from hunger and disease. The Indians had discovered his weakness and manifested a hostile disposition. How to extricate himself he did not know. He now realized for the first time his inability to help himself or to defend himself amid his savage enemies. Still he regarded the far west, which he had visited as a part of Florida, and himself as its rightful governor. He now endeavored, as a last resort, to inspire the Indians with the belief that he was a child of the sun, and therefore possessed divine power and could do whatever he pleased at a word. His object was to CAREER OF DESOTO. 22 5 overawe the Indians and thus induce them to furnish him and his men with the necessaries of Hfe. But the sagacious chief, of whom tribute was demanded, doubted the divinity of De Soto. *'You proclaim," said the chief, "that you are a child of the sun ; if so, dry up the river and I will believe you." De Soto found himself entrapped and declined to perform miracles. He at once sank into a gloomy state of mind, which was followed by a severe attack of fever. Anticipating a fatal result, he summoned his devoted followers to his bedside, and, with their consent, appointed Louis Moscoso de Alvaralo as his successor in command. On the following day, May 21, 1542, he died. A priest pronounced his eulogy and over his corpse the last requiem was chanted amid tears and lamentations. The remains were then secretly buried in the gateway of the camp, with a view to conceal his death from the Indians. But the suspicious appearance of a new-made grave was noticed by them, and seeing no more of De Soto they began to think he was dead. Fearing the Indians might disinter his remains, and thus prove that he was mortal instead of immortal, the Spaniards removed his body at mid- night and inclosed it in a sack with a heavy addition of sand, and sank it in the depths of the great river of which he was the first discoverer. The Indians 226 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. asked — "What has become of our lord, the white governor?" The Spaniards repHed that ''he had ascended Into the skies for a little while, but would soon return." No trace or relic of his remains has ever been found. Ihe Great River is his monument — a monument that is as enduring as it is impressive in its grandeur. Louis Moscoso, successor in command, now real- ized the forlorn condition of his men and their sur- roundings. They were destitute of physical comforts and anxious to return to New Spain. They had but few horses and swine left. They saw no prospect of relief, yet they had too much pride of feeling to return, poverty-stricken, to their friends. They had just heard from the Indians fresh rumors of gold and rich cities still to be found in the far west, and at once re- solved to attempt a realization of their golden dreams. Misled by Indian guides, they wandered in the wil- derness, west, north and south, suffering untold mis- eries, and after a zigzag ramble of a hundred and fifty leagues or more, returned to the banks of the Missis- sippi, where they arrived in winter, disgusted and ex- hausted, as well as disappointed, in their renewed at- tempt to discover gold. The Indians, hoping to rid themselves of the Spainards, had deceived them. Though destitute of almost every facility, the Spaniards CAREER OF DE SOTO. 22/ now contrived to build a sufficient number of boats to convey them with their scanty supplies down the Mississippi to the sea. They had killed and consumed the last of their horses and swine for food. Only three hundred and seventy-two persons of their original num- ber had survived the perils of their explorations. This remnant of the expedition of De Soto embarked on their voyage down the Mississippi, July 2, 1543, and after seventeen days of exposure and frequent attacks from the Indians, reached the Gulf of Mexico in safety, and thence coasting along the borders of Louisiana and Texas for fifty days, arrived at Panuco a Spanish colony, where they were received by sym- pathizing friends and supplied with the comforts of civilized life. Though reduced to poverty and depen- dence on the charity of their friends, they still cher- ished with pride the memory of De Soto, the impe- rial governor of Cuba and Florida, and lived to enjoy for many years the wide notoriety which they had ac- quired in the perilous service of their distinguished commander. Hernando De Soto was a man of destiny. He won honor as well as fame In running a career of dis- appointed ambition. He possessed a sanguine temper- ament, and yielded to the Influences of an insatiate love of power, and of gold as the basis of power. This 228 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. selfish and sordid trait of his character was matured, if not engendered, by the impressions he received while engaged with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. He desired to outrival Pizarro in the acquisition of wealth and fame. He believed in more worlds to conquer. He accepted the governorship of Cuba as a stepping-stone to the governorship of Florida whose extent of territory was at that time unknown. In fact, Florida was to him the dreamland of golden treasures. His search for gold cost him his life. His character was a mosaic of vice and virtue, and yet he was a man of broad views and lofty aspirations, and as stern in command as he was decisive in action. He never dreamed of defeat, but was sadly defeated in solving the great problem of his life. First Ship on Lake Erie, FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. There was once a far west, a land of mysteries, but the advance of civilization has now obliterated it. In the thought of New England, it embraced western New York and the Western Reserve. In the thought of primitive explorers, it embraced an unknown realm whose boundaries were fanciful. Of western explorers but few have achieved more successful or useful results than La Salle. The sal- ient points in his career have enriched the chronicles of western adventure, and crowned his memory with honor. It was he who built and launched the first ship that ever sailed the crystal waters of Lake Erie. Robert Cavelier de La Salle was born at Rouen, France, in 1643. He was of Norman ancestry and received his education in a school of the Roman church and became a Jesuit priest. At twenty-three he modified his religious faith, withdrew from the ranks of the priesthood, and emigrated to Montreal, Canada, where his brother resided, who was a priest 231 232 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. in the seminary of St. Sulpice. The superior of the institution was so favorably impressed with the per- sonal appearance, talents and high character of the young nobleman that he gave him a tract of eligible land with seignioral rights, lying near the rapids of the St. Lawrence. La Salle accepted the donation with expressions of gratitude, laid out the land in town lots, erected buildings, and named the village La Chine. He then commenced the study of the Lidian language, and in the course of two years was able to converse in seven or eight of these strange tongues. In this way he prepared himself to enter upon the fur-trade with the Indians and to explore the far west with a view to extend the commerce and enlarge the domain of France. He shared in the common belief that there existed somewhere in the western wilds a pathway, either by land or water, that led to the "South Sea," or to China. Inspired with this belief, and with a desire to explore the region of the great chain of northern lakes and the vast wilderness south of them, and at the same time to secure the fur trade with the natives and enlarge by new discoveries the domains of New France he applied to the governor, Frontenac, for authority to extend his explorations, which was cheerfully granted with the condition that he should defray the expense. FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 233 In order to do this, he was compelled to sell his seigniory. From imperfect maps and the indefinite information he had obtained from the Indians, he imagined the lakes at their western termination were connected with the Pacific, and that the Ohio river, of which he had heard vague rumors, flowed to the south and discharged its waters into the Gulf of Cali- fornia. He now resolved, with such means as he possessed, to commence extensive explorations and satisfy himself. In July, 1669, he, with four canoes and fourteen men, ascended the St. Lawrence, and after a weary voyage of thirty days reached Lake Ontario; and, coasting along its southern shore at a still more slug- gish rate, arrived at its western termination in safety, where he met an Indian guide who proposed to con- duct him to the Ohio river in six weeks. Though La Salle had commenced an exploration up the lakes, he now concluded to change his direction and trace the course of the Ohio. After experiencing many embarrassments, he, with his party, reached the head waters of the Allegheny, and thence passed in canoes down that stream to the Ohio river, and thence down the Ohio as far as the rapids, the present site of Louisville. Here he learned from the natives that the river ran a long distance and finally lost itself in 234 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. dismal swamps which were impassable. His canoe- men, fearing to proceed, deserted him and left him alone and destitute of provisions. This unfortunate occurrence induced him to retrace his steps as he best could to Canada — a distance of several hundred leagues through an untrodden wilderness. While returning, the wild game and fish which he caught, and the maize which he obtained from the Indians, furnished him with a scanty supply of food. He was taken sick on the way, but found shelter in the wig- wam of a friendly Indian, and finally so far recovered as to reach Canada late in the summer of 1670. He was much reduced in health and in his financial means, but did not despair of success in exploring other localities in the mystic wilds of the west. La Salle, after making such preparations as he was able, embarked, in 1671, at a point in the vicinity of La Chine with a few chosen men in canoes for the purpose of renewing his attempt to explore the chain of northern lakes. The Jesuits had preceded him, established missions at eligible points, and, while pro- fessing to Christianize the Indians, were engaged in manipulating a brisk fur trade with them and in filling their coffers with golden profits. This method of Christianizing the Indians was rebuked by La Salle, and as he proceeded from one lake to another, sharp FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 235 controversies ensued, which, in several instances, eventuated in open hostilities. La Salle was a man of nerve, and the Jesuits soon discovered that they could neither intimidate him nor defeat him in the execution of his projects. He continued friendly relations with the Indians as he proceeded, and obtained a share of the fur trade. He pursued his voyage until he reached the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, the present site of Chicago. He crossed by land to the Illinois river and descended that stream, as some writers assert, to its junction with the Mississippi. But this is questionable. He devoted several weeks to the fur trade at different points along the banks of the Illinois, and then re- turning to Montreal reported his discoveries to his friend. Governor Frontenac. La Salle now engaged for several years in the fur trade, with a view to improve his financial condition and secure to the commerce of France a monopoly of the trade as against other intruding nationalities. The scheme he projected was a wise one. It con- sisted in establishing forts, or trading posts,^at all de- sirable points along the great chain of lakes and navi- gable rivers in the west and south as a base of oper- ations and defense. The Jesuits united in opposing this scheme, alleging it to be a measure in conflct 236 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. with the true interests of their missions. La Salle, however, took decided steps in reference to his scheme, with the sanction of Frontenac. He had also expressed to Frontenac a desire to explore the Mississippi, but needed pecuniary aid to accomplish it. Frontenac approved the project and sent La Salle, in 1674, to France, commending him and his project to the king, Louis XIV. Thus commended, he visited the king, who received him with kind consideration. In recog- nition of his valuable services, the king bestowed on him the governorship of the new fort, Frontenac, in Canada, and granted him seignioral rights in an exten- sive tract of territory that surrounded it. His wealthy relatives at Rouen were proud of him, and gave him the ready means of maintaining the fort in accordance with the conditions of the royal grant. In the course of the next year he returned and took possession of his seigniory, improved its defences, and surrounded it with a numerous guard of brave Iroquois, on whom he could rely for protection. In the meantime the Jesuits had aroused a formidable opposition to his exercise of power, the effect of which was to divide the country into two distinct parties, with La Salle as leader of the one, and the Jesuits as leader of the other. The controversy involved the interests of both church and state. La Salle, with the aid of his faithful band of FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 23/ Iroquois, succeeded in controlling the fur trade and in circumventing the sordid machinations of the Jesuit priesthood to a degree that won respect. In 1678 he again visited France and received the grant of extended privileges from the king, and also obtained increased pecuniary aid from his many lib- eral friends and relatives. In the summer of the same year he returned to his garrison in Canada, prepared to enter upon a grand expedition by way of the lakes to the Mississippi. He selected his crew, and, accom- panied by Father Hennepin, embarked on Lake On- tario, bound on a voyage to the sea. It was late in the season. After a struggle of eight days with adverse winds, he anchored his ship in the placid waters of Toronto bay. Early in December he passed the mouth of the Niagara river, and was soon afterward shipwrecked in its vicinity. He was fortunate in losing but few lives. He saved most of his supplies and some parts of the ship. These were carried by thirty men up the rugged hillside of the Niagara, and then drawn by sledges twelve miles through drifting snows in the direction of Lake Erie and deposited at the mouth of Cayuga creek. The good Father Hennepin carried the sacred altar and his priestly robes strapped to his shoulders the entire distance, and though a heavy burden, bore it manfully and 238 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. with Christian resignation. On arrival at the creek, Father Hennepin held religious services in which the entire party joined in expressions of gratitude to God for the preservation of their Hves. This disaster, though a serious one, did not dis- hearten La Salle. He ordered a patch of land to be cleared and directed his carpenters to build a ship. The keel was soon laid and the work went bravely on, utilizing the remnants of the shipwrecked vessel so far as practicable. Two Indian hunters were employed to hunt wild game and build cabins for the party. An Italian called Tonty was one of La Salle's most faithful and useful adherents. He had a large exper- ience in western life and was familiar with several Indian languages and the peculiarities of Indian char- acter. He was also a shrewd tactician. This induced La Salle to regard him as a safe adviser and manager of affairs when needed. The Indians were numerous in the vicinity of Cayuga creek, where La Salle was building his ship, and most of them were unfriendly to the French, especially the Senecas. It was for- tunate, however, that the greater part of them had gone to their southern hunting grounds. A few lingered about the shipyard and at the creek from day to day, apparently with sinister motives, and beheld with wonder the ribs of the novel structure. A FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 239 squaw informed Tonty that the Indians intended to burn the huge monster, lest it might do them harm. La Salle was at this time absent, and had confided the management of affairs to his lieutenant, Tonty, who kept watch of the work night and day, as it pro- gressed. Father Hennepin attempted to avert the threatened calamity by preaching the gospel to the natives and performing imposing religious services be- fore the altar, which he had borne on his shoulders over a rugged pathway in order to save souls. In midwinter the provisions became exhausted, when the party meditated revolt. Tonty exercised a whole- some influence, and with the aid of the two Indian hunters soon secured sufflcient food to allay the fear of starvation. The carpenters and blacksmiths re- newed their efforts to complete the ship. La Salle had secured additional materials from the wreck of the old ship, which he had sent back by sledge to the creek. He now, with two attendants and a dog to drav/ his baggage, returned on foot upon the ice of Lake Onta- rio to Fort Frontenac, a distance of two hundred miles or more, to look after his interests at the fort and pro- cure necessary supplies to equip the new ship on the stocks. The only food the excursionists took vvith them was a small sack of parched corn and a few pounds of dried meat. This they exhausted on 240 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. the way, and after traveling two days without food arrived at their point of destination in a pitiable con- dition. They received a liberal welcome at the fort where they were soon replenished in the *Mnnerman," not forgetting the dog. La Salle was detained at Fort Frontenac for a much longer period than he had expected, in disentangling the embarrassments of his personal interests. In the meantime Tonty had very nearly completed the ship. She was of forty-five tons burden. He launched her early in the spring amid shouts and cheers, and the firing of cannon, crowned with the blessing of Father Hennepin. The entire French party and a few friendly Indians were allowed liberal potations of brandy, and, while under its influence, repeated their vociferations of joy again and again. The wonderful ship glided like a duck into the waters of the Niagara, safe from the threats of Indian incendiaries. An un- couth figure, half eagle and half lion, carved in wood, sat on her prow — a griffin — the armorial emblem of power adopted at the seigniory of Fort Frontenac. There were also five cannon thrusting their black noz- zles out from the portholes with a vindictive scowl that overawed the courage of her Indian enemies. The ship in response to the image that sat on her prow was named the Griffin, taken up the river and FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 24 1 moored at Black Rock, near Buffalo. Here she re- ceived her finishing touches and awaited the return of La Salle. After an absence of seven months he reached the scene of the shipwreck on Lake Ontario, accompanied by three friars and a few other persons. These friars were of the same faith professed by him- self and Father Hennepin, and felt as strong a desire to defeat the machinations of the Jesuits and diffuse among the Indians a purer gospel. While at the scene of the wreck they succeeded in obtaining the anchor and some other articles of value, which they transferred to Black Rock to be used in completing the equipments of the Griffin. La Salle had been so harassed by difficulties with his creditors that he did not rejoin his party at Black Rock with his new asso- ciates until after the first of August, when he was re- ceived with cheers followed by a general jollification. The Griffin was then towed up the river to a conven- ient landing on the bank of Lake Erie, near the site now occupied by the city of Buffalo. On the seventh of August, 1679, religious services were performed on the deck of the Griffin at an early hour, followed by the firing of cannon, when the ship, in command of La Salle, unfurled her wings to the favoring breeze and glided with the grace of a swan upon the rippling waves of Lake Erie, '* westward 242 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. bound. " Hers was the first keel that ever ploughed the broad expanse of this inland sea. She had en- tered upon a sublime enterprise — an attempt to pen- etrate the mysteries of a treacherous fresh water sea hitherto untraversed by the shipcraft of^a daring civili- zation. The natives along shore beheld the white- winged vision with amazement as it moved upon the waters like a *' thing of life." It was the aim of La Salle to monopolize the fur trade and discover a path- way to the Pacific. The Griffin touched at points along the southern coast of the lake, with a view to purchase furs from the natives, but failed. The natives fled into the interior, dismayed at the appa- rition. Wild fruits and wild game abounded on shore, and furnished the crew of the Griffin with the ''deli- cacies of the season." On the fourth day of her voyage the Griffin reached the strait of Detroit, and thence amid a wild and beautiful scenery on either side pursued her way through lake St. Clair to lake Huron. Here she encountered a violent storm. The crew despaired. Father Hennepin knelt and prayed the Holy Virgin, with unwonted fervor, to spare their lives. The storm straightway subsided. The skies became bright and peaceful. Nature smiled. This was regarded by all on board, and especially by Father Hennepin and his FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 243 priestly associates, as an instance in which the efficacy of prayer was fully proved. The Griffin sped on her way under the influence of a cloudless sky, and in the course of a few days arrived in safety at Mackinaw, the grand centre of the western fur trade. Her ap- proach had been watched with interest. Her cannon announced her arrival. The Ottawas were overawed, and thought her a messenger sent to them by the Great Spirit. The Jesuits had established a mission at this point and acquired a dominant influence over the Indians. In this way they had monopolized the fur trade ; and though they hated La Salle, yet they feared him, well knowing that he was sustained in his enterprise by Governor Frontenac. They had built a block-house for their own accommodation,and a chapel adjoining the village of the Ottawas. They received their distinguished visitor with respect at the chapel. La Salle, clad in the glitter of his official costume, knelt reverently before the altar in the midst of a motley assemblage whose devotion was greatly exceeded by an insatiable curiosity. When La Salle left the chapel and while returning to the Griffin, the Ottawas and Huronspaid him honors by firing a salute of musketry. The Griffin lingered at anchorage in the harbor for some days, surrounded by Indian canoes, attracted by idle curiosity or other motives. Though the Jesuits 244 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. had acquired by their teachings the dominant influ- ence over the minds of the Indians, they could not entirely control the fur trade. La Salle, however, was disappointed in his expectations of obtaining furs at Mackinaw. He had sent agents some nine months prior to his arrival to purchase furs for him, but they had squandered the means with which they were entrusted and disappeared, with the exception of one or two of them, who had proved faithful to his interests. He proceeded westward into lake Michi- gan and anchored at a small island in the vicinity of Green Bay. Here his agents sent to this point had accumulated a large stock of furs, which were promptly transferred to the Griffin. The ship was heavily freighted with a rich cargo. La Salle placed her in command of a faithful and skillful subordinate with orders to return to Niagara, sell the furs, pay the avails to his creditors, and then rejoin the expedition on lake Michigan. La Salle was a man of honor, and though his creditors had persecuted him, he desired to pay the ''utmost farthing" he owed them. It was on the eighteenth day of September, 1679, when the Griffin fired her parting gun and sailed on her return voyage from Green Bay. It was near nightfall. There were a few dark clouds, thunder- heads, rising above the horizon in the southwest. FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 245 The weather was sultry. A slight breeze danced upon the rippling waves. The Griffin sped on her way and disappeared in the darkness of a starless night. The gentle breeze soon swelled to a hurricane. The scowling thunder-clouds that were seen peering above the horizon now grew to gigantic dimensions. With tongues of fire they uttered terrific peals that appalled the courage of the stoutest hearts. The reverberations shook earth and sky. In an instant the Griffin was caught up and wrapped in the folds of the whirlwind by an invisible spirit — a spirit " That gave her to the God of Storms, The lightning and the gale !" Such was the sad fate of the Griffin, as tradition has it. Nothing more was ever heard of her. Not a reHc was ever found. Not a soul on board survived to tell the mystic tale of her catastrophe. Within an hour after the Griffin had sailed from Green Bay, La Salle took command of four canoes with fourteen men, and proceeded southward. Father Hennepin and a carpenter were assigned the smallest canoe, which was freighted with mechanics' tools and with other luggage, including the sacred altar and priestly vestments, so dear to Father Hennepin. The storm overtook them at the approach of night, scat- tered the little fleet of canoes, and created intense 246 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. anxiety. Though drenched with rain, they happily reached the cove of a neighboring island which shel- tered them from the blast of the " pitiless storm. " The Pottawatomies of the island received them kindly. Here they remained five days, when the storm abated and favoring skies re-appeared. Meanwhile La Salle and his party had been feasted with an ample supply of green corn cut from the cob and mixed with pump- kin and fried in bear's grease. It was now about the first of October. In proceeding on their voyage they continued to encounter storms and disasters, and though they landed at points along shore, they were at times reduced almost to a hope- less state of starvation. They did not reach the south- ern borders of Lake Michigan until November Here they remained at the mouth of St. Joseph's river for nearly a month, awaiting the arrival of Tonty with a detail of twenty men. It was expected they would bring news from the Griffin. Tonty, though long delayed, rejoined the expedition, but brought no tidings from the Gnffin. This created gloomy fore- bodings in the mind of La Salle as to her fate. Her cargo of furs sent to Niagara was valued at ten thou- sand crowns. She was expected to make a speedy voyage and bring back to Lake Michigan ship-building materials and other supplies required by La Salle to FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 24/ carry out his project of exploring the great valley of the Mississippi. Though hearing nothing from the Griffin he resolved to proceed and trust to the prov- idence of circumstances. Amid the snow and ice of December, 1679, he as- cended the St. Joseph, accompanied by thirty-three men in canoes, crossed the portage to the Illinois, a distance of about five miles, and passed down that river in the same direction he had taken on a previous trip. After a long and severe struggle with unex- pected embarrassments he arrived on New Year's day, 1680, at an Indian town of some five hundred wig- wams, near the present village of Utica. Here the party celebrated mass in commemoration of the day. In passing down the river the party soon encountered another Indian town through which the river flowed. The natives received the strangers with evident sus- picion. The Jesuits had been among them, and in- duced them to regard La Salle as an enemy in dis- guise. Attempts had been made to poison him while on the way. He still treated the Indians with great kindness accompanied with gifts, and in that way se- cured friendly relations with them. It was a cold winter. The river was sealed up by congelation. La Salle could not proceed. Six of his men deserted him. He now heard that the Griffin was lost with all on 248 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. board. All hope of receiving aid from her was now abandoned. Though defeat stared him in the face, he resolved to conquer success. He erected a fort near the town and named it ** Crevecceur," and di- rected his men to build a ship with which he intended to explore the great valley of the Mississippi. He then with but four of his party, an Indian guide and a small canoe, retraced his steps to Fort Frontenac. There he received information in respect to other in- terests, which was as unexpected as it was discourag- ing. A ship's cargo consigned to him from France had been lost in the St. Lawrence. His creditors be- came more importunate than ever. One disaster fol- lowed another in quick succession. Nearly all his agents at Frontenac, and at forts which he had estab- lished in the west, plundered him. Some of them conspired to take his life. He became aware of their machinations and thefts, and managed to capture most of them. He returned with such outfit as he could obtain to the valley of the Illinois. He saw as he passed down that river nothing but a silent scene of death and desolation. The Indian villages had been destroyed, and hundreds of the villagers lay dead upon the ground, a prey to the wolves, the eagles and the bears. He arrived at Fort Crevecceur on the fourth of November Here the Indian village had been oblit- FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 249 erated. The men he had left at the fort had plundered it and fled. Nothing remained but the unfinished keel of the ship which he had ordered to be built in his ab- sence. He had been absent nine months. In his absence the Iroquois had invaded the inheritance of the Illinois, burned their wigwams and slaughtered men, women, and children without stint or mercy. Both tribes were numerous, and for some reason nat- ural enemies. La Salle, with the small party that was now with him, descended the river to the Mississippi where he set up a landmark upon its bank in commemoration of the event, and then returned to the headwaters of the Illinois with a view to build another ship, and also to conciliate the Indians so as to secure their united force in defense of the French forts, and of his own interests in the fur trade. He succeeded in doing this by his masterly powers of persuasion. He was ever a spirit on the wing. He made frequent trips back and forth between the south and north during his explorations. It was mainly the fur trade and its profits that enabled him to sustain himself and party, and to procure indispensable supplies. Neither per- sonal friends nor the civil authorities contributed as much to aid him as he had reason to expect. He was compelled to resort to a great variety of expedients. 250 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. His men often proved faithless, and more or less of them deserted him. This compelled him to enlist new men in his service from time to time, who con- ducted themselves in a similar manner. In this way- he struggled for years without achieving satisfactory results. In September, 1682, he was at Mackinaw. In the following November he was building a fort at ** Starved Rock " on the Illinois river. This was a huge mass of elevated rock, peering above the val- ley with a frown upon its brow — a natural citadel of defense. Here he secured the safety of twenty thousand Illinois from the attack of the Iroquois. In the course of the next year he explored the valley of the Mississippi to the sea. He reported to the king of France his success. The jealousies of his enemies had prejudiced the king against him, by representing his discoveries as of no value. His personal inter- view with the king removed all prejudices, and re- stored him to favor. The king gave him an outfit of four ships, put him in command with directions to proceed by sea to the mouth of the Mississippi and plant a colony in its valley. He sailed from France July 24, 1684. The voyage was one of disasters, accompanied with insubordina- tion on the part of inferior officers. He finally FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 25 1 reached the Gulf of Mexico, skirted its shores, and passed the mouth of the Mississippi without discov- ering it. In his search for it he entered Matagorda bay, many leagues west of it. Here he landed with a part of the colony. Three of the ships, in com- mand of dissatisfied subordinates, returned at once to France, leaving La Salle and his adherents to their fate. The ship that remained was soon afterward wrecked on the coast with a loss of valuable supplies. La Salle erected a fort on the bank of the Lavaca, a small river that discharges its waters into the Bay of Matagorda. Here he located the colonists. They erected cabins of a frail and temporary character. They could do nothing better for want of materials. It was a desolate region with a barren soil. Years passed in gloom and anxiety. Though the colonists struggled to improve their condition, they still remained destitute of the comforts of life. La Salle saw the necessity of taking decided steps for their relief. He did not like the locality. He made repeated explorations, hoping to discover the mouth of the Mississippi river, but in vain. He attempted to return to Canada through the wilds of a dense forest to procure aid, but was taken sick in the swamps of Louisiana and compelled to abandon the enterprise with the loss of eight men. One year after another 252 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. passed in gloom and destitution. The brave little colony of two hundred was now reduced to forty-five souls. On the seventh of January, 1687, he took his final departure on foot from the fort on the Lavaca, accompanied by the remnant of the colonists, with the determination to push his way through the wilderness to Canada. He and his followers suffered untold deprivations as they proceeded. A few of them became mutinous, and rejoiced when one of their number waylaid and shot La Salle amid the ever- glades in the valley of the great river he had explored from its principal tributaries to its mouth. Thus fell, at the age of forty-four years, one of the most heroic and magnanimous explorers that ever attempted to penetrate the primeval mysteries of the far west. He achieved marvels. Their import could not, in his day, be comprehended. It was a day of strife and struggle among European monarchs to enlarge their empires and fill their coffers with the virgin gold of the new world. Spain, France and England were the gamesters. They moved adroitly upon the chessboard. Each claimed vast domains by right of discovery. Their claims were as conflicting as they were enormous in extent. Disputes arose, followed by hostilities. The FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 253 contest was prolonged for centuries. One century locked horns with another. The mastery seemed dubious. At last the contest became a question of popular rights. The star of empire — divine in its birth — appeared in the west. The eagle fixed his eye upon it and soared skyward in its blaze, flinging the shadow of his wings over the land, now a land of freedom, a sisterhood of states, free of foreign domin- ion, free to act, ever progressive, ever aspiring, ever prophetic, never satisfied — a grand republic, whose watchword is, '' In God we trust," and whose banner, begemmed with the stars of heaven, is ever des- tined to float in triumph "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." PIONEERS OF THE WESTERN RESERVE. By HAR VE V RICE. Price, gi.oo. NOTICES OF THE PRESS. " The name and character of Hon. Harvey Rice are sufficient guarantee that anything which comes from his hands is worthy of consideration, and it is with this assurance that in this work he has produced something of great historical value, as well as of interest in its style and incident, that we com- mend the work without hesitation." — Cleveland Leader. " The incidents of the book have not only real historic value, but they are of great interest as giving the present generation some idea of the hardships and privations to which the early pioneers of Ohio were subjected." — Sunday Gazette, Akron, Ohio. " Mr. Rice tells the story of the early struggles of the early settlers, their haps and mishaps, and gradual development, in a most interesting style." — T/te A merican, Waterbury, Co7m. " It is altogether an instructive and valuable book, and especially interesting to the people of our historic and noble state." — Christian Secretary, Hart- ford, Conn. " There is much that is fresh and interesting in the narrative, and much that helps the making of history, though it does not itself claim to rank as history." — Bosto7iJo7ir7ial. " The reader's interest is sustained by remarkable historic facts, heroic ad- ventures and thrilling incidents, which the author has taken pains to collect from authoritative sources." — Christian Ititelligencer, New York. Sent, postpaid, on receipt of Price. LEE <2r* SHEPARD, Publishers. Boston. 1886. SELECT POEMS. By HARVEY RICE. Illustrated Edition Price, $1.00. NOTICES OF THE PRESS. *• ' Select Poems,' recently published by Lee & Shepard, Boston, pp. 174, 12nio, are from the pen of Hon. Harvey Rice of Cleveland, O., and author of ' Nature and Culture,' piiblished by the same firm in 1875, and which contained several essays on those subjects worthy of the deepest consideration. " In the volume now before us, the same love and admiration of all things good, noble, patriotic, and beautiful, are to be observed; and we wish that some of our magazine-writers would take pattern by the plain, almost severe, Saxon verbiage in which the deepest thought and most vivid fancy find expression." — Journal of Commerce, Bostoji. "A second edition indicates the public estimate of these piquant, graceful, and, in many regards, beautiful creations. We still think that ' Unwritten Music ' rightfully fills the first place. It is simply ex.- q\\\&\ie." — Christian Leader, Boston. "Among the best of the long poems are 'The Mystery of Life,* •Mount Vernon,' 'Ancestral Portraits,' 'Home of my Youth,' and ' Freedom.' The short poems are all good, some of them being perfect gems." — Eastern Argus, Portland, Me. " A collection of original poems, all of which are pleasing in struc- ture, pure and elevated in sentiment, vigorous and refined in diction, and faultless in numbers. The religion is that of the natural man, the morality that of works, the sympathy tender, and the wit general. The lovers of good poetry will relish the feast." — Epis. Recorder, Phil. " Mr. Rice writes true poetry." — ]^ew - York Methodist. sent, postpaid, on receipt of price. LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers. Boston, Sept. l, 188G. l^OO \m ^M i * M^f l ^^ tiM r ii^Si »^ 4 m ». Wi IS m. .m.