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TALES OF TIOGA 
 
Tales of Tioga 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 and 
 
 Its People 
 
 By 
 
 ROBERT KENNEDY YOUNG 
 
 PRESS OF 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 EAST WASHINGTON SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA 
 
F/6'7 
 
 / 
 
 Copyright, 1916, by Robert K. Young, Wellsboro, Pa. 
 
 Set up by the North American 
 Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company 
 
 y 
 
 DEC 13 1916^ 
 
TO 
 
 Edwin A. Van Valkenburg 
 
 AND 
 
 Frederic W. Fleitz 
 
 CONTEMPORARY SPECIMEN PRODUCTS OF 
 
 TIOGA COUNTY 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The following articles — except the In- 
 dian paper — were written to break the 
 monotony of travel from Wellsboro to 
 Harrisburg during the last three years. 
 Nothing of the kind was needed during 
 the return trip, for merely to keep one's 
 destination in mind was sufficient to dis- 
 pel ennui. If any of my friends find in 
 reading, a tithe of the entertainment I 
 have found in writing these articles, I shall 
 be gratified. I entertain the hope that 
 they may direct the attention of some one 
 to the subject — Tioga County — who will 
 give it better and more serious treatment. 
 
 R. K. Y. 
 
 En route April, 1916. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. John Inscho Mitchell — An Ap- 
 preciation 11 
 
 II. A Sojourn with ''Queen Anne" 37 
 
 III. Lincoln — A Phase 68 
 
 IV. Thomas Hargadon, alias Thomas 
 
 Harden 78 
 
 V. The Last Aboriginal Inhabitant 
 
 OF Tioga County • 97 
 
 VI. Wellsboro — Tioga County .... 122 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 
 
 AN APPRECIATION 
 
 There have been greater Statesmen, for 
 he lacked intellectual initiative and the 
 power of formative thinking. There have 
 been greater jurists, for his reverence for 
 English jurisprudence, upon which ours is 
 based, was so profound that he was unable 
 to expand or adjust the spirit of the law 
 to meet the changing conditions of the 
 multitude. He was not a great leader, for 
 he lacked imagination and a quality of in- 
 tellectual and moral intrepidity essential 
 to great leadership. But no man ever 
 brought a loftier or more disinterested and 
 unselfish purpose to the discharge of pub- 
 lic duties ; and no man ever sat as a Judge 
 with a higher ideal of the sanctity of the 
 office and succeeded better in expressing 
 in the actual administration of the office 
 this ideal. 
 
 John Inscho Mitchell was born at Mit- 
 chell's Creek, Tioga Township, Tioga 
 County, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1838, and 
 died at Wellsboro in the same county, Au- 
 gust 20, 1907. 
 
 He was descended from Robert Mitchell, 
 
 11 
 
12 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 who came to America about the year 1751. 
 Some evidence indicates Ayrshire, Scot- 
 land, as the place of his ancestors' nativity. 
 He certainly came from the south of Scot- 
 land. This Robert Mitchell, the great 
 grandfather of John Inscho Mitchell, lo- 
 cated in what is now Orange County, New 
 York, and married Mercy Tyler. Three 
 sons were born of this marriage — Richard, 
 Thomas and Robert — all of whom in early 
 manhood removed to Southport, Chemung 
 County, New York. A year later Richard 
 and Thomas went up the Tioga River by 
 canoe and settled near the mouth of what 
 has since been known as Mitchell's Creek. 
 This stream is a tributary of the Tioga 
 River and joins it about four miles south 
 of Lawrenceville and about three miles 
 north of Tioga village, all in the present 
 county of Tioga, Pennsylvania. 
 
 In 1792 Richard Mitchell married Ruby 
 Keeney, born in Hartford, Connecticut, 
 daughter of Thomas Keeney, born in Scot- 
 land. Thomas Keeney was a Revolution- 
 ary soldier. 
 
 Richard and Ruby (Keeney) Mitchell 
 had six children. Thomas Keeney, the 
 second son and fourth child, was born 
 August 5, 1799, and was the father of the 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 13 
 
 subject of this memoir. The first daughter 
 of this union, Lovina Mitchell, married 
 John Inscho, after whom Judge Mitchell 
 was named. 
 
 Thomas Keeney Mitchell was a promi- 
 nent citizen in this community and spent 
 his entire life of sixty-two years in the 
 scenes of his childhood. On the homestead 
 farm in 1826 he erected the first brick 
 house built in Tioga County, the bricks 
 being made on his own farm. 
 
 In 1826 he married Elizabeth Anne Roe, 
 a native of Delhi, Delaware County, New 
 York, where she was born August 15, 
 1809. He died August 28, 1861. His 
 widow survived him until February 15, 
 1887. The family of Elizabeth Anne Roe 
 Mitchell were kin of Ethan Allen, of Revo- 
 lutionary fame. 
 
 Ten children were bom to this union as 
 follows : Marietta, Almira, Rowena, Ruby, 
 Thomas, Jefferson, John Inscho, Elizabeth, 
 Emily and Jane. All of the daughters ex- 
 cept one (Ruby, who died early) married 
 substantial men of the Northern Tier. 
 Emily married a young Scotchman whose 
 parents immigrated to this country while 
 he was still a child, and who is now Presi- 
 dent Judge of the Fourth Judicial District 
 
14 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 (Tioga County), Honorable David Cam- 
 eron. 
 
 John Inscho was the youngest of the 
 three sons. He got his elementary edu- 
 cation at the District School at Mitchell's 
 Creek. He then taught for a time a Dis- 
 trict School, a very educational experi- 
 ence in itself, and had gained this start in 
 life while still a minor. His preliminary 
 education was completed at Lewisburg 
 (now Bucknell) University, but before 
 graduation the beginning of the Civil War 
 altered his ambition and on August 16, 
 
 1862, he enlisted as a volunteer and was 
 mustered into service as Second Lieuten- 
 ant, Company K, 136th Regiment, Pa. Vol. 
 Inf. On March 16, 1863, he became cap- 
 tain of the company. He was honorably 
 discharged with his command May 29, 
 
 1863, at the expiration of the term of en- 
 listment. The most notable engagement 
 in which he and his regiment took part 
 was the battle of Fredericksburg. 
 
 After returning from the war Mitchell 
 studied law under F. E. Smith, Esq., of 
 Tioga, and was admitted to the Bar in 
 1864. 
 
 In 1869 he was elected District Attorney 
 and served a full term of three years. Dur- 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 15 
 
 ing this period he edited, for a time, the 
 Wellsboro Agitator. In October, 1871, he 
 was elected to the Pennsylvania House of 
 Representatives. He served continuously 
 in the annual sessions of that body by re- 
 election until the close of the session of 
 1876. In the fall of 1876 he was nomi- 
 nated and elected to the lower House of the 
 Congress, and was chosen as his own suc- 
 cessor in 1878. His term of office in the 
 House of Representatives at Washington 
 expired March 3, 1881, and on the follow- 
 ing day he took his seat in the upper House 
 of the Congress as a Senator of the United 
 States from Pennsylvania, having been 
 elected to that office by the Legislature, 
 February 23, 1881. His term in the Sen- 
 ate ended March 3, 1887, and he returned 
 home and resumed the practice of law. 
 The same year he was elected President 
 Judge of the Fourth Judicial District, com- 
 prising his native county, and took his seat 
 in January, 1888. At the end of a ten- 
 year term he was re-elected, the second 
 term beginning with January, 1898. In 
 1900 he was elected to the Superior Court 
 and took his seat on that bench in Janu- 
 ary, 1901. 
 
 During the first session of the Court 
 
16 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 after he entered it, which sitting was held 
 at Scranton, he was stricken with illness 
 from which he never recovered and which 
 totally incapacitated him physically and 
 mentally. 
 
 The foregoing catalogue of dates and 
 facts gives no indication of the character 
 of the man who fitted into these dates and 
 facts. They are the mile-posts of a very 
 remarkable life journey. But they might 
 he the record of the career of a successful 
 time-serving, office-seeking politician, 
 whereas they are not. It will be noted that 
 from the year 1869 to the year 1901, Mr. 
 Mitchell was almost continuously in pubKc 
 office, but it can be proved that during this 
 whole period he never, in the ordinary 
 sense of the term, was a candidate for 
 office. I doubt if the public career of any 
 man in American history affords a better 
 example of office seeking the man than in 
 his case. To illustrate how persistently 
 this fortune pursued him, I shall speak 
 only of those instances of which I had 
 some personal knowledge, more or less inti- 
 mate, at the time of their happening. 
 
 In the early fall of 1876, I accompanied 
 my father to the Centennial Exposition 
 at Philadelphia. He stopped on the way at 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 17 
 
 Williamsport to attend a congressional 
 conference for the nomination of a Repub- 
 lican candidate from the then Sixteenth 
 Pennsylvania District. The Honorable 
 Sobieski Boss, of Potter County, repre- 
 sented the district in Congress at the time 
 and was a candidate for re-nomination. 
 Being a lad, I was permitted to follow my 
 father into the room in the Park Hotel, 
 where the conference was held, this being 
 my first introduction to politics. The con- 
 ference nominated Judge Ross to succeed 
 himself. He and my father had been many 
 years previously fellow clerks in a land 
 office at Coudersport and had then formed 
 a close friendship which had endured. 
 After a formal motion had been adopted 
 making the nomination unanimous, my 
 father, a conferee from Tioga County, pro- 
 duced a letter from Judge Ross thanking 
 the conference and declining the nomina- 
 tion because of ill health. When the read- 
 ing of Judge Ross' letter was concluded, 
 my father presented the name of John I. 
 Mitchell, and he was speedily nominated. 
 Mitchell was in Philadelphia attending the 
 Exposition, having just finished the labors 
 of his sixth consecutive session in the 
 Pennsylvania Legislature. My father, and 
 
 2 
 
18 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 in fact all his friends in Williamsport, were 
 naturally desirous of informing Mitchell of 
 his new honors, but no one knew his ad- 
 dress. Jerome B. Potter, of Tioga County, 
 was also in Philadelphia at the time and 
 discovered next morning a news dispatch 
 from Williamsport announcing the nomi- 
 nation. Potter knew Mitchdl's address 
 and lost no time in bringing the dispatch 
 to his attention. Mitchell's reception of 
 the news as described by Potter was char- 
 acteristic. He showed considerable indig- 
 nation at the liberty taken with his name 
 by some unknown and irresponsible news- 
 paper reporter, repudiated the whole ca- 
 nard and marched himself off to the Expo- 
 sition grounds and was lost to the world 
 for the day. 
 
 In the legislative session of 1881 occurred 
 one of the most dramatic and fiercely con- 
 tested struggles for a seat in the United 
 States Senate which has enlivened the polit- 
 ical history of the State. The issue was 
 joined between the friends of Galusha A. 
 Grow, of Susquehanna County, and those 
 of Henry W. Oliver, of Allegheny County. 
 The term in the Senate of William A. Wal- 
 lace, Democrat, expired March 4, 1881. 
 The Legislature chosen at the November 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 19 
 
 election in 1880 was overwhelmingly Re- 
 publican. Grow, apparently the stronger 
 of the two candidates, was not supported 
 by the then acknowledged leader of the 
 Republican Party in the State, J. Donald 
 Cameron. The Allegheny delegation de- 
 clared for Oliver and they were joined by 
 the entire membership of both Houses 
 from Philadelphia under the leadership of 
 James McManus. This made a caucus 
 nomination of Grow impossible and the 
 result was a refusal on the part of Grow's 
 friends to participate in the party caucus. 
 The consequence of this action on the part 
 of Grow's friends was to make impossible 
 the election of Oliver, the party nominee. 
 And the bitterness engendered finally 
 reached a stage which prevented the elec- 
 tion not only of either of the avowed candi- 
 dates but of any person identified with 
 either of the contending factions. A de- 
 tailed narrative of this most exciting con- 
 test has been recently written by that very 
 painstaking and accomplished biographer, 
 Frank Willing Leach, in a sketch of the life 
 of the subject of this memoir. But the 
 facts above given are sufficient for the 
 writer's purpose. Inconclusive joint bal- 
 loting continued from January 4th to and 
 
20 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 including February 22nd. During this 
 deadlock a small group of the devoted 
 friends of Mitchell had not been idle. Lewis 
 Emery, Jr., a member of the State Senate 
 from the district embracing Tioga County 
 with others, Charles S. Wolfe, then and 
 for many years prior a Representative 
 in the Legislature from Union County, 
 Thomas V. Cooper, Representative from 
 Delaware County, and Jerome B. Niles 
 and Charles Tubbs, Representatives from 
 Tioga County, were all active in Mitchell's 
 behalf. Constantly on the ground and sup- 
 plementing their efforts were Hugh Young, 
 of Tioga, who had been a member of the 
 House in 1877, and who still retained an 
 intimate acquaintance with many persons 
 prominent in State politics; and David 
 Cameron, also of Tioga, Mitchell's law part- 
 ner and brother-in-law, whose acquaint- 
 ance was also extensive. These formed the 
 Board of Strategy of Mitchell's invisible 
 army. Charles S. Wolfe had been a fellow 
 student with Mitchell at Lewisburg and 
 had later served with him several terms 
 in the Legislature. A strong friendship 
 and admiration had long been maintained 
 between the two, partly, no doubt, because 
 they possessed certain qualities in common 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 21 
 
 and partly because each recognized that the 
 other possessed certain admirable quali- 
 ties lacking in himself. 
 
 Wolfe was a very active, resourceful, 
 bold and courageous man, and because 
 of these qualities and the great respect in 
 which he was held by his colleagues was 
 peculiarly adapted for leadership in such 
 a crisis. Meantime, Mitchell was pursuing 
 the unperturbed and even tenor of his ways 
 in Washington in the discharge of his 
 duties as a Member of Congress. 
 
 On February 23, 1881, he was elected to 
 the United States Senate on the first ballot 
 in which his name was mentioned. 
 
 In 1900 the Republican Party nominated 
 Josiah R. Adams, of Philadelphia, for 
 Judge of the Superior Court. Soon after 
 his nomination the North American news- 
 paper, of Philadelphia, impugned his fit- 
 ness for the position, and as the campaign 
 progressed this newspaper's accusations 
 increased with an intensity and particu- 
 larity never theretofore equaled in the 
 political history of the State. Shortly be- 
 fore the election Adams resigned the nomi- 
 nation under fire, and the duty of filling the 
 vacancy devolved upon the Republican 
 State Committee. The party leaders were 
 
22 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 badly demoralized by the North Ameri- 
 can's exposures and Adams' resignation. 
 This action on Adams' part was interpreted 
 by the people of the State as an admission 
 of guilt. This belief was a little later con- 
 firmed by Adams' suicidal death in the 
 Hotel Flanders. 
 
 William A. Stone, then Governor; John 
 P. Elkin, then Attorney General ; I. W. Dur- 
 ham, then political boss of Philadelphia, 
 and several other leaders met in Philadel- 
 phia to consider what was best to be done 
 in the crisis to save the party and to repair 
 the blunder made by the bosses in the 
 nomination of Adams. Quay was in 
 Florida, but as the election was only about 
 a month distant a call for a meeting of 
 the Republican State Committee must be 
 issued without delay. And, of course, 
 under the accepted order of things politi- 
 cal, all details great and small must be ar- 
 ranged for the State Committee in advance 
 of the meeting. In the exigency in which 
 the leaders found themselves they turned 
 to Mitchell with great unanimity. They 
 believed that his nomination would serve a 
 double purpose, the spiking of the guns 
 of the North American, and the rallying to 
 the Party standard of the independent ele- 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 23 
 
 ments throughout the State which had 
 been vigorously led by Mitchell, Charles S. 
 Wolfe, John Stewart, George W. Merrick, 
 George E. Mapes, and others, in 1881 and 
 1882, and in less degree during subsequent 
 years. Quay was reached in Florida and 
 assented to Mitchell's nomination. All 
 these machinations were conducted with- 
 out any communication with Mitchell what- 
 ever. His son-in-law, Frederic W. Fleitz, 
 was at the time Deputy Attorney General 
 and a member of the State Committee 
 from Lackawanna County. Fleitz was sum- 
 moned to Philadelphia. The plan was laid 
 before him and he strongly objected, view- 
 ing the matter with regard to Mitchell's 
 best interest. His objection is mentioned 
 because subsequent events proved the 
 soundness of his judgment. 
 
 Mitchell had been re-elected in Novem- 
 ber, 1897, to a full term on the Common 
 Pleas bench in Tioga County. He was not 
 in robust health and was financially unable 
 to contribute to a State campaign. These 
 were among the considerations which af- 
 fected Fleitz's judgment. However, Fleitz 
 yielded and was commissioned to locate 
 Mitchell and obtain his consent. He was 
 
24 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 found to be visiting his son, George D. 
 Mitchell, in a suburb of Washington. 
 
 When the proposition was unfolded he 
 met it with derision, denied the wisdom of 
 every argument in its favor and promptly 
 refused point blank. Fleitz, having been 
 enlisted in the cause, persisted with char- 
 acteristic loyalty, and finally Mitchell con- 
 sented on condition that his nomination 
 must come by unanimous action of the 
 State Committee, and that he would not be 
 expected to make any contribution of 
 money to the campaign. But even this 
 conditional consent was not obtained until 
 after Mitchell had exhausted his persua- 
 sive powers in favoring the nomination of 
 Judge Samuel W. Pennypacker, then of the 
 Philadelphia Common Pleas Courts. At a 
 meeting of the Committee a few days later 
 Mitchell was unanimously nominated, and 
 within a month thereafter was elected to 
 the Superior Court. 
 
 Judge Mitchell possessed a very thor- 
 ough and exact elementary education, 
 and in the metaphysical, juridical and 
 philosophical fields of knowledge he had 
 acquired profound learning. His natural 
 habit of mind was introspective — subjec- 
 tive rather than objective. And while to 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 25 
 
 his casual acquaintances his character may- 
 have appeared simple and easily under- 
 stoodi, it seemed to those who knew him 
 intimately to be made up of many com- 
 plexities and contradictions. Paradoxically 
 it may be said that he was energetic but 
 not industrious. He possessed the power 
 of intensive work, mental and physical, but 
 his energies were not systematically di- 
 rected nor well conserved Sedentary 
 meditation* environed in clouds of tobacco 
 smoke was an habitual indulgence. But 
 when by a prick of conscience or physical 
 inclination he was roused to action of any 
 kind his pace would have been a killing one 
 to the average man, and was unquestion- 
 ably deleterious to his own health. While 
 books were undoubtedly his most lasting 
 and constant pleasure in life, he had an- 
 other field of activity and relaxation only 
 less important. He had as a gift of nature 
 the skill of mechanical contrivance, the in- 
 ventive faculty in a marked degree. He 
 delighted in the use of all kinds of edged 
 tools, and he was not only a scientific but a 
 very practical gardener and flower cultur- 
 ist. He was fond of using his hands, and 
 they were very deft servants, whether 
 wielding a pen or a carpenter's hammer. 
 
26 TALES OF TIOGxA. 
 
 His early training in farming developed an 
 interest in all subjects relating to agricul- 
 ture which he never lost. And while on 
 the bench he was wont to break out from 
 time to time, especially during the Court 
 vacation in summer, with a series of ar- 
 ticles contributed to a local newspaper, on 
 some timely topic relating to farming, as, 
 for instance — the best means for prevent- 
 ing potato scale, or the use of the Bor- 
 deaux mixture for spraying fruit trees. 
 
 The farmer folk of the community, re- 
 membering his early training, never re- 
 garded his dissertations on farming and 
 kindred subjects as those of a theorist 
 merely, but gave his opinions great consid- 
 eration. And there can be no doubt that 
 his teachings left a lasting impression 
 upon the farming interests of the county 
 and helped to bring about the general im- 
 provement in the agricultural arts which 
 has been so obvious throughout the county 
 during the last twenty years. 
 
 Carpenters' tools as well as gardeners' 
 tools were within his province and he used 
 the former with as much skill as the latter. 
 The writer had the distinction of holding 
 such personal relations with him as to 
 enjoy his free discussion of his own lit- 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 27 
 
 erary efforts — perhaps an address prepared 
 for delivery before the faculty and student 
 body of his alma mater, or a contribution 
 to the North American Review, or some 
 important judicial opinion. But I never 
 knew him to express the same genuine 
 pleasure at any of these efforts as that af- 
 forded by the building of a certain wheel- 
 barrow, with his own tools, in his own 
 barn, with his own hands. 
 
 His was naturally an intensely religious 
 temperament, and his beliefs were of a 
 very simple and orthodox character. He 
 believed in the efficacy of prayer. But his 
 was not a conscious spiritual effort to har- 
 monize the laws governing his own soul 
 with those governing the universe. His 
 was not a prayer in the nature of an affir- 
 mation of his right to a needful portion of 
 the power which pervades all things and all 
 space, as often and whenever he could at- 
 tune his own nature to the Divine nature. 
 Nor was his of the kind of those who be- 
 lieve that the act of spiritual prostration, 
 self-confession of sinfulness, reacts upon 
 the person thus prostrated, resulting in a 
 spiritual uplift and strengthening of the 
 Divine spark within. His was the prayer 
 of the self -convicted sinner to a merciful 
 
28 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 personal God ; an appeal by a suppliant to 
 the bountiful and gracious giver of all good 
 and perfect gifts. His prayer was in the 
 nature of a supplication for a thing desired 
 to an all-wise Providence which gave con- 
 sideration to each separate appeal, and 
 granted or refused the prayer dependent 
 upon the spiritual well-being of the suppli- 
 ant in the Divine judgment. His was a 
 kind of primitive Christian piety, and his 
 religious impulse seemed to spring from a 
 belief in man's weakness rather than his 
 strength. His was a religion of humilities 
 rather than of masteries. 
 
 At a time when the Liquor License Court 
 had arrived in Tioga County, I encoun- 
 tered him one morning "in chambers'' 
 moving towards the court-room above. 
 His physical appearance startled me, be- 
 cause of his pallor of cheek and redness of 
 the eyelids. I asked after his health and 
 he replied that he felt very wretched, that 
 he had not slept at all and had spent the 
 greater part of the night on his knees in 
 prayer for Divine guidance in the discharge 
 of this dreadful extra-judicial duty which 
 an unwise law had imposed upon him. 
 
 Judge Mitchell was slightly above me- 
 dium height and had a well proportioned 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 29 
 
 body. His movements were vigorous and 
 sprightly, but always dignified. His large 
 and well-shaped head, covered by a shock 
 of tawny hair, which became white at an 
 early age, was, however, his most attract- 
 ive personal feature. Seated on the bench 
 with his well-rounded shoulders visible, 
 surmounted by his massive head and 
 slightly curling wealth of white hair ; with 
 his resonant and pleasant voice, dignified 
 poise of body and perfect patience and 
 courtesy of manner, he was in all outward 
 requirements an ideal presiding officer, and 
 was unquestionably a man of majestic 
 mien. 
 
 As a presiding officer in a Court of Jus- 
 tice he approached very nearly to the ideal. 
 His gracious dignity, inexhaustible pa- 
 tience, fine and unbiased judgment; his un- 
 swerving impartiality and profound legal 
 learning inspired confidence in suitors and 
 practitioners alike. The whole atmosphere 
 of the Court was pervaded with a feeling 
 of profound assurance that whatever hap- 
 pened the result would not be chargeable 
 to the fact that justice had not been judi- 
 cially administered. 
 
 In his Court those impartial eyes saw no 
 difference between rich or poor, the power- 
 
30 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 ful or the humble, old or young, black or 
 white, friend or foe. Even those solemn 
 words ''Listen to the sentence of the law 
 as pronounced by the Court," seemed to 
 the listener to have been uttered not by an 
 individual, but by an impersonal embodi- 
 ment of the law itself — passionless justice 
 tempered by mercy. 
 
 His views of the ethical relations be- 
 tween a presiding judge and the other 
 members of the same Bar were thought by 
 some to be too highly refined, too idealistic 
 to make them practicable as a set of work- 
 ing rules for the conduct of Court business. 
 His view was that a judge is selected by 
 the people of a district to preside over the 
 deliberations of **the gentlemen of the 
 Bar,'* all of whom (of whom the judge is 
 merely one discharging different functions) 
 are bound by the same oath, and should be 
 imbued with the same purpose — the dis- 
 covery of truth. So long as the individual 
 gentlemen of the Bar did nothing to de- 
 stroy his confidence this relation was main- 
 tained. And in any ex-parte proceeding, 
 any motion, writ, rule, order or decree was 
 signed or granted without question when 
 formally presented. But the slightest de- 
 ception or bad faith resulted in total loss of 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 31 
 
 confidence which was never restored. How- 
 ever, any loss of confidence did not extend 
 beyond the individual involved. As might 
 have been expected, this attitude towards 
 the Bar exerted a very beneficial influence 
 upon all who were worthy of such treat- 
 ment. Every practitioner was most par- 
 ticular about the preparation of his papers, 
 about drawing proposed orders, about 
 references to statutes, proofs of notice, etc. 
 For after-discovered laxness or careless- 
 ness, or worse, in these matters carried 
 with it a terrible retribution, consisting of 
 the most painstaking scrutiny thereafter 
 of the most trivial motion, and a refusal on 
 the slightest pretext until the motion was 
 correctly reformed. 
 
 The \vriter had cause, upon a certain 
 time to call at Chambers, and found the 
 Judge alone and meditating. He seemed 
 pleased at the interruption and without any 
 preliminary talk spoke in substance as fol- 
 lows: "Do you think we gentlemen of the 
 Bar meditate sufficiently upon our duties as 
 officers of the Court? Do you think we 
 keep uppermost in mind the fact that we 
 are seekers after truth — the truth with 
 which to promote justice — the justice upon 
 which our institutions must rest ? If there 
 
32 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 is any laxness on our part in this respect, 
 what can I do that is not being done to pro- 
 mote or create such an atmosphere ? . . . 
 We must remember that Plato says that 
 the shadow of truth is light." 
 
 Shall we say that from such ideas an 
 attempt to formulate a working rule of 
 conduct would result in futile idealism and 
 break down and vanish like the "baseless 
 fabric of (a) vision" ? "As a little leaven, 
 so incalculable is the effect of one personal- 
 ity on another," and merely to have con- 
 ceived such thoughts, though never ut- 
 tered, must have had a beneficent effect 
 upon the Bar — must still have and must 
 continue to have forever. 
 
 Slight allusion has been made already to 
 his skill in composition. He wrote with 
 precision and elegance. And what has 
 been said of Burke and Morley might have 
 been said of Mitchell — that literature lost 
 what public service gained. His legal opin- 
 ions, formal addresses and serious compo- 
 sitions are couched in very choice diction, 
 and he was a master to a very marked 
 degree of the difficult art of English com- 
 position. An article, entitled "Political 
 Bosses," contributed to the "North Ameri- 
 can Review" for October, 1882, is a notable 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 33 
 
 illustration of his skill and acquirements in 
 this high art. And his profound observa- 
 tions on the real problems of democracy- 
 seem upon re-reading to be as pertinent to 
 present conditions as they could have been 
 when the article was published. But we 
 are considering the vehicle and not the 
 message. 
 
 One of the facts most noteworthy in con- 
 nection with the deluge of printed matter 
 now flooding the English-speaking world is 
 the excellence, speaking generally, of the 
 writing itself. This is especially true of 
 the editorial writing in certain newspapers, 
 and of the contents of monthly magazines 
 generally. It would seem as if these writ- 
 ings were the result of the composite ef- 
 fort of many skillful hands, but they lack 
 the virile individuality of a few of the 
 present time writers, and of many in for- 
 mer times. Mitchell had this quality of 
 style and was capable of the sustained bril- 
 Hancy of Morley; in an effort at an his- 
 torical resume he was hardly excelled by 
 McMaster; in stating personal views and 
 opinions he was not inferior to Macaulay. 
 I would venture to bottom this opinion 
 upon the single article already referred to. 
 
 It has been agreed in substance that no 
 3 
 
34 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 man ever held in mind with firmer grasp at 
 one and the same time than did Burke the 
 problems of practical politics and a com- 
 prehensive vision of the problems of the 
 statesman. And yet he never attained to 
 supreme responsibility in government. 
 What is the explanation ? 
 
 MitchelFs public career was in a sense a 
 failure. With unquestioned ability of a 
 high order, with unimpeachable integrity, 
 he lacked some quality essential to great 
 leadership. What were the causes for this 
 partial failure? Not the proverbial in- 
 gratitude of democracies, for his career 
 tends to refute that absurd dogma. They 
 were to be found in his moral and intellec- 
 tual equipnient — in his temperament. He 
 lacked the intrepidity and power of forma- 
 tive thinking necessary. He was a student 
 of the philosophic foundations of the 
 science of jurisprudence. These studies 
 were ardently pursued during a lifetime 
 and tended to restrict and limit rather than 
 to widen and liberalize his vision. Consid- 
 ering his natural bent of mind this educa- 
 tion was unfortunate for his usefulness. 
 The result was that he became enmeshed in 
 a system of negatives, of taboos. "Thou 
 shalt not" rather than 'Thou shalt" seemed 
 
JOHN INSCHO MITCHELL 35 
 
 to govern all his processes, moral and intel- 
 lectual. Perhaps quite as serious a handi- 
 cap to popular leadership and maximum 
 usefulness was his insuperable diffidence 
 and self-consciousness in his contact with 
 others. This feeling amounted at times to 
 a positive dread of public meetings or 
 social functions. 
 
 These moral and intellectual character- 
 istics, and this social timidity would seem 
 to have been the controlling factors in his 
 career. 
 
 -He was always profoundly deferential 
 towards all with whom he came in contact, 
 and this was especially noticeable with per- 
 sons of intellectual distinction. But this 
 deference was merely the expression of 
 natural modesty and courtesy and did not 
 indicate any lack of self -appreciation and 
 self-esteem. For notwithstanding his unaf- 
 fected modesty he was always conscious of 
 his mental superiority, and never capitu- 
 lated. 
 
 No good purpose can be served in a 
 sketch of this kind by dwelling upon the 
 lingering years of his fatal illness. They 
 were a long agony not only for him but for 
 the ministering friends about him. His 
 mind was not completely overthrown; the 
 
36 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 embers flared up from time to time with a 
 mocking suggestion of the warmth and 
 brilliance of happier days, until finally the 
 end came. 
 
 By his life he left a great heritage to his 
 friends, his state and the country at large. 
 No person who knew him withheld esteem, 
 respect and even reverence. Nor were 
 these feelings qualified by any mental 
 reservation. For he was held blameless, 
 honest in the highest sense, good and wise. 
 "But you, Gods, will give us some faults 
 to make us men." 
 
A SOJOURN WITH ^^ QUEEN ANNE" 
 
 We were at ''Heartsease" in July and the 
 trout fishing was poor. The party for the 
 time being consisted of "the Guv," Louis, 
 Henry and the scribe. After numerous 
 private "Medicine Talks," Louie and Henry 
 unfolded a detailed plan for a night cam- 
 paign at the "Five Mile Dam" on Slate 
 Run. To the Guv and myself. Slate Run 
 was an unknown country, but we were as- 
 sured by both the others, volubly assured 
 by Louie, that below the apron of this dam 
 lived whales, leviathans, and even battle- 
 ships masquerading as brook trout. 
 
 We took the evening train for Slate Run 
 village at the mouth of the stream of that 
 name, and the Guv and myself were es- 
 corted by our guides to the leading hotel, — 
 Ah, me! which caravansary was in fact a 
 rum-shop kept for thirsty "hicks" (woods- 
 men) from the "Black Forest" towards 
 which we were headed. The bar was the 
 sole attraction, the food and beds being 
 vile. After our evening meal had been 
 experienced, some one was forehanded 
 enough to visit a lunch-room and procure a 
 dozen mammoth ham sandwiches against 
 the uncertainties of the next day. 
 
 37 
 
38 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 As the log train which was to transport 
 us to our destination started next morning 
 about six o'clock, we retired betimes, leav- 
 ing a five o'clock call with the bar-tender, 
 he being the only person in authority vis- 
 ible. But the charge seemed uncertain of 
 execution, as the **bar-keep" was certainly 
 overworked. 
 
 The Guv was assigned to an apartment 
 by himself, while the remainder of the 
 party were given another room with two 
 beds and one small window. We three drew 
 lots for the whole bed, and I was lucky. The 
 night was extremely warm, and the tem- 
 perature was heightened by the discovery 
 that the beds were made of a series of 
 dirty, brown, coarse woolen blankets. The 
 bare floors were pock-marked by the spiked 
 shoes of the timber-jacks. And we learned 
 upon inquiry that it was customary for 
 them to retire to their beds with their 
 clothes and shoes on — spikes and all. 
 
 I was lying awake, expecting an attack 
 from other occupants of the bed, when 
 there came a gentle tapping, tapping at my 
 chamber door — "Hello," I sang out, 
 "what's the trouble ?" From the Guv : "Is 
 that you. Bob?" "Yes," I replied. "Would 
 you," said the Guv, "mind giving me a 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 39 
 
 lift?" I tumbled out of bed and he ex- 
 plained to me that the dimensions of his 
 room were six by eight feet ; that the bed 
 stood the short way of the room, and that 
 as his long dimension was six feet four 
 inches he must either "jack-knife" all 
 night or maneuver the bed around to the 
 long way of the room. With the help of the 
 open door-space this feat was accomplished, 
 and the Guv was then enabled to run his 
 legs out between the rungs of the foot- 
 board a couple of feet or less at pleasure. 
 
 The next morning the bar-keep who had 
 taken our request for a five o'clock call 
 demonstrated that he was true to duty by 
 ringing a hand-bell about the size of a park 
 garbage-can^ through the narrow passage- 
 way, from five to ten minutes — long 
 enough, in fact, for us to make our meagre 
 toilets and for Louie to seize my revolver 
 and shout above the din that he was going 
 out to abate the nuisance. Fortunately for 
 the bar-keep, at that exact moment the 
 hand-bell subsided. 
 
 The log train started at the convenience 
 of the train crew, and consisted of six or 
 eight empty log cars drawn by a "stem- 
 winder" engine. We were indifferently al- 
 lowed by the crew to mount a car, taking 
 
40 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 our own chances on results. The weather 
 was fair and hot, and the ride pleasant, and 
 to the Guv and myself entirely novel, as we 
 were strangers in a strange land. The 
 railroad skirted the brink of a deep ravine, 
 at the bottom of which lay Slate Run. The 
 country through which we were passing 
 had been entirely denuded of timber but 
 was covered by a seemingly impenetrable 
 jungle of briars and other forms of small 
 vegetation, but no form of animal life or 
 human habitation was visible, and the soli- 
 tude was impressive. The railroad fol- 
 lowed the right bank of the stream from 
 the village, a distance of about six miles, 
 until it met a considerable tributary of 
 Slate Run called the Manifore. The road 
 coursed up the valley of the latter stream a 
 distance of a mile or more to a convenient 
 crossing place, where it doubled on itself, 
 running along the opposite bank back to 
 the valley of Slate Run, thence up this 
 stream for a distance of ten or twelve miles 
 farther to the heart of the logging oper- 
 ations in the Black Forest. 
 
 Although this chapter is intended to be 
 a literal transcript of actual happenings, 
 a digression is justified for a quest after 
 the etymology of the name *'the Manifore." 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 41 
 
 I had never heard the name until I saw the 
 stream, and it aroused my curiosity. It 
 sounded neither like one of our usually 
 beautiful Indian names nor was it prosaic 
 American. Two years of intermittent in- 
 quiries of those whom I thought might 
 know elicited the following: The logging 
 operations in progress at the time of our 
 voyage were confined wholly to hemlock. 
 The pine timber in the same region had 
 been removed sixty or perhaps seventy 
 years previously, and the pine lumbermen 
 were really pioneers. The first pine jobber 
 on Slate Run located a camp at the mouth 
 of the stream in question, then unnamed. 
 This jobber's name was Mannard, and his 
 crew, for convenience, began soon to call 
 the stream the Mannard Fork (of Slate 
 Run). These mouth-filling words were in 
 course of time quite naturally, it would 
 seem, contracted into one word suggestive 
 of the two originals, the facts being known, 
 but rather mysterious when standing by 
 itself — "The Manifore." I am reminded 
 very often in my journey through life of 
 an observation, oft repeated by one of my 
 early preceptors, Doctor Moses Woolson, 
 "If one knew the history of words one 
 would know the history of the world." 
 
42 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 Between the sides of the angle made by 
 the railroad at the crossing of the Mani- 
 fore, stood a rough board shack known to 
 the woodsmen and railroad: crew as 
 "Queen Anne's/' or "Queen Anne's Palace." 
 Louie had entertained us during a large 
 part of the journey that morning with 
 startling stories of the eccentric conduct 
 of the occupant of the palace ; of her fitful 
 moods backed by prompt and frequent gun- 
 play. He had been employed some years 
 before as clerk and storekeeper at some of 
 the camps in the forest above us, and his 
 impressions of this personage were gained 
 at that time from the lurid tales of the 
 hicks. 
 
 Our party alighted at this point — about 
 equi-distant (about six or seven miles) 
 from Slate Run village and the nearest 
 logging camp above us. 
 
 The Board of Strategy was immediately 
 convened, and it was resolved that Louie, 
 with his French manners and handsome 
 presence, should act as legate to the Queen, 
 although I never quite understood the pur- 
 pose of the embassy unless it was to find 
 temporary lodgment for our small supply 
 of sandwiches, blankets and lantern. 
 
 I think that in order to assist the very 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 43 
 
 limited number of persons for whom these 
 lines are intended, to understand the utter 
 lack of responsibility of the Guv and my- 
 self for the harrowing train of ensuing 
 events, the plan of campaign as originally 
 unfolded by Henry and Louie before we 
 left our own shanty should here be 
 sketched in outline, inasmuch as after we 
 reached Queen Anne's nothing happened 
 as planned. 
 
 The Plan: 
 
 The party having reached the crossing 
 of the Manifore was to separate into pairs, 
 one pair trying the lower end of the "Laf- 
 ferty," one of the tributaries of the Mani- 
 fore which falls into the Manifore near 
 Queen Anne's, and then fish down the 
 Manifore, a distance of a mile or more to 
 its mouth; thence down Slate Run to the 
 Five Mile dam, where the party was finally 
 to be reunited for the night campaign. 
 Upon reaching the mouth of the Manifore 
 a signal was to be left in shape of a pyra- 
 mid of stones at a place agreed upon for 
 the information of the other pair, if the 
 one pair should pass that point first; the 
 other pair being charged with the same 
 duty in case they should arrive first. The 
 
44 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 other pair were to retrace their course 
 along the railroad to a point above the 
 mouth of the Manifore, descend to the 
 main creek, and fish upstream as far as 
 might be with a view of returning in time 
 to reach the dam before dark, stopping en 
 route at the mouth of the Manifore to 
 leave the signal agreed upon in case the 
 one pair had not passed that point first. 
 So much for the plan ; what actually hap- 
 pened follows: 
 
 Louie sought and obtained an audience 
 with Queen Anne, and as a result of the in- 
 terview we were all ushered into her pres- 
 ence. She was probably about fifty-five 
 years old, tall, straight, broad and stout; 
 her heavy sallow face was surmounted by 
 a mass of dirty white hair worn "pompa- 
 dour." Her costume was marked by two 
 very striking features, the first being the 
 length of her dress which came barely to 
 the knees, her nether extremities being 
 covered and decorated with heavy stock- 
 ings with alternate green and white bands 
 running around horizontally, and heavy 
 high-topped shoes. The other and still 
 more striking feature was a broad leather 
 belt with a holster on either side, into each 
 of which was thrust a ''Colts 44" with an 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 45 
 
 eight-inch barrel. It seems that this belt 
 and hardware were worn as constantly as 
 the pompadour; nor were the guns orna- 
 mental merely. For the train crew gave us 
 vivid accounts of happenings before Queen 
 Anne's peculiarities were so well under- 
 stood; how that the hicks traveling to and^ 
 from the camps attempted to vary the mo-' 
 notony of the trip by loud salutations and 
 shady badinage, the same being promptly 
 responded to by a volley from one and 
 sometimes from both guns, resulting in a 
 disappearing act by hicks and train crew 
 behind the log cars. Agility of the tor- 
 mentors and bad marksmanship had so far 
 prevented fatalities. And the manners of 
 all passers-by had improved to the point of 
 absolute silence in that neck o' woods. 
 
 For historical exactness I must mention 
 the existence of the Queen's consort, a list- 
 less, cadaverous undersized manakin known 
 by the hicks as ^'Mr. Queen Anne." There 
 could be no doubt of Queen Anne's in- 
 sanity, and I think her consort was also de- 
 ranged, if he had sufficient mental machin- 
 ery to make derangement possible. They 
 were miserably poor, with no visible means 
 of support, although I learned that the 
 
46 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 consort had sometime been a "section 
 hand'* on the railroad. 
 
 We were made welcome after Louie had 
 satisfied Queen Anne that he was not the 
 person of the same name who had formerly 
 been employed in the woods above — all such 
 persons being contraband of war andl the 
 'season open the year round with her for 
 all timber jacks, real or imaginary. The 
 sandwiches, blankets and lantern were 
 temporarily left in the shanty for safe 
 keeping. The day still being young the 
 Guv and Louie fished the Lafferty above 
 Queen Anne's and Henry and I made for 
 the mouth of the Manifore and fished! to- 
 gether up Slate Run in perfectly clear 
 water, under a broiling sun for half a mile 
 or more with indifferent success. At this 
 point Morris Run puts in, and Henry de- 
 cided to try this stream while I continued 
 up the main stream. The agreement at 
 parting was that at the end of two hours 
 both were to turn back, reaching the 
 mouth of Morris Run as nearly at the same 
 time as the exigencies of the sport and 
 our separate voyages would permit. In 
 case we should not sight each other on ar- 
 rival, the one arriving first was to leave 
 the usual stone monument at a point 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 47 
 
 agreed upon and continue slowly down 
 stream to the mouth of the Manifore, 
 where a dead stop was to be made, if neces- 
 sary, until overtaken by the other. 
 
 After parting, the fishing improved as 
 might have been expected as the day de- 
 clined and the shadows lengthened and the 
 heat abated. At the end of two hours and 
 just as I was about to turn back, I sighted 
 a fisherman coming down stream who 
 proved to be a neighbor from the center of 
 the world, Wellsboro. He had started from 
 Leetonia village on Cedar Run that morn- 
 ing; had crossed the water-shed between 
 Cedar Run and Slate Run, striking the 
 head waters of the "Frying Pan," followed 
 this stream down to "The Cushman" ; had 
 fished down the Cushman to its confluence 
 with "The Francis," the two streams form- 
 ing Slate Run; thence down Slate Run 
 some four or five miles to the point of our 
 meeting. When we separated he turned 
 right-about, intending to retrace his steps. 
 I will not venture to guess at the distance 
 covered, but the feat was a good indication 
 that my neighbor's wind, muscle and en- 
 thusiasm were in good order. I must not 
 omit to mention here an episode which had 
 an important bearing on subsequent 
 
48 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 events. As an amenity due from one fish- 
 erman to another under such eminently 
 fitting circumstances, I produced what the 
 Guv had some years previously and upon 
 first sight declared to be "a capsule, such 
 as you get at a drug store," that same 
 containing about one (woman's) boot heel 
 of **nose paint." As I turned down stream 
 the sun was about setting, and I realized 
 that the fishing time for the day, at that 
 season, had just begun. 
 
 The sport was splendid, and but for a sub- 
 conscious feeling that my dallying might 
 lead to a catastrophe, I was oblivious of 
 everything but him "who with prodigious 
 flounces rose to the surface after flies." 
 I reached the mouth of Morris Run repre- 
 hensibly late, although still broad daylight. 
 But my twinges of conscience were suc- 
 ceeded by feelings of surprise when I failed 
 to find any signal denoting that Henry 
 was ahead. I thereupon built one myself, 
 grumbling meanwhile at Henry's reckless 
 depravity of conduct, and moved leisurely 
 down stream, confident that he would soon 
 overtake me. Some places on the stream 
 are rather hazardous to navigate alone, 
 but I arrived at the mouth of the Mani- 
 f ore without mishap. I hoped at this point 
 
SOJOURN WITH ''QUEEN ANNE" 49 
 
 to encounter the Guv and Louie, or at 
 least to get a message that they had passed 
 this point on their way to the Five Mile 
 Dam. But neither were signs visible nor 
 sounds audible. There is no valley at this 
 point, but merely a narrow canon cut by 
 the two streams through rock cliffs, the 
 wall on the opposite side from the mouth 
 of the Manif ore being very high and sheer. 
 Along the foot of the cliff, both above and 
 below the mouth of the Manif ore, is a long 
 reach of deep water with glassy surface, 
 and over the whole the trout were breaking 
 in countless numbers. I was kept busy. 
 As long as I could see the surface I took no 
 thought of the morrow, but at last, and as 
 if by magic, I realized that it was pitch 
 dark. I sat down on the narrow strand to 
 take account of — the absence of stock. I 
 had eaten nothing since leaving Slate Run 
 village. I had smoked a pipe in defense 
 against punkeys, contrary to habit, until 
 my tongue was too sore to smoke more; 
 I had no grub or nose paint, and investiga- 
 tion discovered but one match. I was 
 filled with envious disgust at the thought 
 of Louie and the Guv at the dam with the 
 sandwiches, the lantern and the blankets, 
 from all of which I was separated by two 
 
50 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 miles of an unknown and dangerous 
 stream enveloped in charcoal blackness. I 
 was by this time pretty well fagged, and 
 probably would have remained where I was 
 until morning but for the really harrowing 
 thought that Henry must be up Morris 
 Run with a broken leg or "setch like." The 
 latter thought filled me with a desperate 
 resolution to do something, but what? I 
 remembered that just above the mouth of 
 the Manifore near the point where Henry 
 and I struck the stream in the morning, 
 we had noticed a neat little cave about 
 four feet high, five feet wide and ten feet 
 deep, running parallel with the stream, not 
 more than ten feet from the water's edge 
 and facing Slate Run, which was not more 
 than fifty yards from the mouth of the 
 cave. Hanging from a protruding rock in 
 the roof of the cave was a barn-lantern, 
 apparently in good order. I proceeded 
 slowly by following the bed of the stream 
 and judging the distance by memory, to 
 the mouth of the cave, felt about until I 
 found the lantern, opened it without diffi- 
 culty and proceeded to strike my only re- 
 maining match. The match responded 
 bravely in the shelter of the cave, but the 
 lantern wick would not ignite, and I dis- 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 51 
 
 covered that, although the lantern was in- 
 tact, it was destitute of oil. 
 
 One of the characteristics of the Slate 
 Run Valley is an overabundance of rattle- 
 snakes. And I recalled, as my match went 
 out, the Queen's graphic account, given us 
 during our audience, of having shot three 
 under or near the palace, and of the con- 
 sort having killed two on the railroad near 
 by, all within a fortnight last past. I beat 
 a hasty retreat from the cave and plunked 
 into the middle of the Manif ore by way of 
 defense, filling both rubber hip boots at 
 the first dip. I remembered that not far 
 above was a log thrown across the chasm 
 of the stream which was used by the "tim- 
 ber jacks'' when negotiating their way on 
 foot to and fro between the camps above 
 and Slate Run village. By this means a 
 couple of miles or more were cut off from 
 the route of the railroad. I crawled cau- 
 tiously upstream until my waving arms 
 came in ^contact with the crossing-log, 
 which was flat on the upper side, drew my- 
 self up and lay on my back with one leg 
 at a time pointing skyward until the water 
 was well drained from my boots. For the 
 uninitiated it is here stated that wet rub- 
 ber boots pulled off are useless until dry. 
 
52 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 While sitting on the log, I "took down" my 
 rod, and knowing that the railroad was 
 somewhere up the mountain I dove into 
 the bush. I was as cold as a wedge when 
 I started, but by the time I had reached 
 the railroad I was boiling hot. The cause, 
 I think, was not so much from exertion 
 (although that was considerable) as from 
 apprehension as to what I might be tread- 
 ing on. When I reached the railroad my 
 difficulties had just begun. The track, 
 cheaply built, spanned numerous ravines 
 with heavy timbers thrown across; ties 
 laid helter-skelter on the timbers, and the 
 rails on the ties. The ties were separated 
 by distances varying from two to four feet, 
 so that it was necessary in the darkness to 
 locate each tie before taking the next step. 
 I headed toward Queen Anne's, for surely 
 the palace must contain a lantern, and 
 Henry must be located. After slow and 
 watchful progress, a glimmer of light an- 
 nounced my approach to the palace, and 
 my amazement may be imagined at the 
 sight which presently met my eyes. An 
 outside door was standing open, and by the 
 light of a small lamp I saw a small square 
 table covered with a brown oilcloth, and 
 seated on the four sides were Queen Anne, 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 53 
 
 Mr. Queen Anne, the Guv and Louie. A 
 few cracked pieces of crockery and steel 
 knives and forks were scattered about the 
 table, and through the door was emanating 
 a very penetrating and nauseating stench. 
 I was cordially made welcome and invited 
 to be seated at table. And I accepted the 
 invitation with mixed emotions. I soon 
 became partially accustomed to the odor 
 and began seeking for the cause. The 
 viands consisted of what appeared to be 
 shredded codfish and fried trout (the 
 latter furnished by my comrades). 
 These dishes were supplemented with 
 green tea. I tried both cod and trout, 
 but found it impossible to eat either 
 because of the substance in which they 
 had been cooked. I was informed by 
 Queen Anne that the tea, the cod and 
 the butter (?) (in which the cod and 
 trout were fried) had all come from 
 Sears & Roebuck, Chicago. And I am cer- 
 tain, as are the others, that the shipping 
 clerk had either by accident or design sub- 
 stituted axle grease for butter. The Guv 
 and Louie had been obliged to eat some- 
 what of each dish while being "dictated" 
 at by Queen Anne, gently but firmly with 
 a Colts 44. I successfully pleaded indis- 
 
54 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 position and loss of appetite, drank numer- 
 ous cups of tea, and mildly asked for one 
 of our own sandwiches. I was enthusias- 
 tically informed by Queen Anne that she 
 and the consort had eaten them all for 
 their mid-day meal and that they were 
 found to be very good. My hunger having 
 vanished (under the combined influence 
 of the soothing distention caused by quan- 
 tities of tea, dread of my surroundings, and 
 the odor of fried axle grease) , the haunting 
 thought of Henry returned, and I com- 
 municated my distress to the Guv and 
 Louie. I had learned meantime that hav- 
 ing found the fishing good and the going 
 bad, they had confined their efforts to the 
 Laflferty and to the Manifore below Queen 
 Anne's. 
 
 A meeting of the Board of Strategy was 
 hastily convened and it was resolved by 
 Louie that Henry was not on Morris Run 
 with a broken leg, but that he was at the 
 Five Mile Dam(n) him. I announced my 
 intention of settling his whereabouts, pro- 
 ceeded to light our lantern, and was about 
 to start when poor old Louie began to reach 
 for his wet wading shoes under the cook 
 stove. This was too much for the Guv 
 who followed suit, and I shall always re- 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 55 
 
 member with pleasure the ready sympathy 
 with my alarm of these two old vets, jaded 
 and weary as they were and nauseated by 
 forced drafts of Queen Anne's fried axle 
 grease. 
 
 We took to the railroad, and had not 
 gone more than a quarter of a mile when, 
 to our genuine relief and joy, we met 
 Henry, with piano-legs intact, cautiously 
 feeling his way along the ties as I had just 
 been doing. He was probably not more 
 than a quarter of a mile behind me when 
 I struck the track above the mouth of the 
 Manifore. Henry accounted for himself 
 thus: He had tarried longer in Morris 
 Run than he had intended, and finally hur- 
 ried down at top speed to the mouth, 
 glanced up and down the main stream for 
 me, and concluded that I must be below 
 him. He Kad been worried for fear our 
 plans would miscarry ; had forgotten in his 
 haste and anxiety about the signal, and 
 so rushed down stream until he reached 
 the mouth of the Manifore. Here, instead 
 of finding friends or news, all was silent, 
 and he therefore concluded that we three 
 had met and were preceding him — we, as 
 he thought, being under the impression 
 that he was preceding ^us. He accordingly 
 
56 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 navigated down stream to the dam and 
 found it deserted, except by the trout, 
 which were as numerous and sizable as he 
 and Louie had described them to be. But 
 he was haunted by misgivings, annoyed by 
 doubts, an empty stomach, absence of a 
 lantern, blanket, etc. And finally broke 
 for the trail to the railroad while he could 
 still avail himself of ''the last steps of 
 day.'' He has ever since plumed himself 
 upon the fact that he was the only man in 
 the party that did reach the dam, although 
 his stay was short. 
 
 Without delay the Board of Strategy 
 was again convened, and it was decided to 
 seek the shelter of Queen Anne's hospi- 
 table roof for the night. 
 
 The palace consisted of three very small 
 rooms, the one already mentioned, with 
 cook stove and table, at one end of the 
 building ; a so-called bedroom in the middle, 
 and ''the parlor" at the other end. We 
 were graciously assigned to the parlor, and 
 with the help of our blankets could have 
 made out very well on the floor. But this 
 we were not permitted to do. The Queen 
 took a hand; ordered the four wooden 
 chairs brought from the kitchen, placed 
 them two and two together backs outward. 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 57 
 
 caused two boards to be laid thereon, then 
 one of our blankets over the boards, and 
 ordered Louie and Henry to repose thereon. 
 As for the Guv and me, we fared less com- 
 fortably though more pretentiously. The 
 chief ornament of the parlor was an old 
 sofa with a rolling head and high back. 
 The two parlor chairs were placed with 
 backs against the wall, the front of the 
 sofa placed against these chairs and the 
 whole covered with our other blanket. The 
 Guv was assigned to that part of this con- 
 trivance nearest the back of the sofa, 
 which stood out in the room, while I was 
 expected to repose somewhere near the 
 juncture of the chairs and sofa. Every- 
 body appeared delighted while the Queen 
 was directing details, for such was our 
 dread of giving offense, with the probable 
 fatal consequences, that I think that even 
 that redoubtable old warrior, Louie, would 
 have attempted to stand on his head in the 
 corner all night if Queen Anne had made 
 a point of it. 
 
 In the d:ead hour when "night's swift 
 dragons cut the clouds full fast * * * and 
 ghosts wandering here and there troop 
 home to church yards," Sears & Roebuck's 
 axle grease began to take effect and the Guv 
 
58 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 had a longing to leave the house. I cannot 
 say that I was disturbed by his move- 
 ments ; nothing I think could: be said to be 
 disturbing to a person in my situation, but 
 I was aware of his movements. The little 
 lamp which did service in the kitchen had 
 been brought to the parlor as a special 
 mark of favor by Queen Anne's own hand. 
 This the Guv lighted, and with it departed. 
 With his feet thrust hastily into his big 
 canvas unlaced wading shoes, a blue flan- 
 nel shirt with skirt much too short to sug- 
 gest either pajamas or "nightie," and with 
 a red bandanna rakishly knotted at the 
 throat, the whole presented a spectacle cer- 
 tainly picturesque. His absence was brief 
 and his return was unannounced except by 
 labored breathing, indicating great exer- 
 tion or a high degree of excitement. What 
 had become of the lamp ? The whole party 
 were roused by vigorous shakes, and the 
 Guv announced in subdued but startling 
 tones that he had lost the lamp chimney, 
 and that search must be instantly or- 
 ganized, as recovery of the same was the 
 only alternative to a midnight flight for 
 Slate Run village and: the great world. 
 Louie was what Michael Angelo would 
 have recognized as an "emergency man" 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 59 
 
 and' located our lantern by the light of a 
 single match. 
 
 The posse was soon organized, the uni- 
 form consisting of wading shoes and flan- 
 nel shirts, varied in my case by rubber hip 
 boots, which I managed to crowd my bare 
 legs into, though the boots were still wet, 
 and varied as to the Guv by one bare foot, 
 one shoe having been lost in the lamp chim- 
 ney catastrophe. 
 
 The ground around the palace was 
 strewn with a profusion of sand-stone 
 boulders, emphasized by the diggings and 
 blastings necessary to preserve the rail- 
 road grade on one side of the palace. 
 Nearly the whole surface of the ground 
 and many of the boulders were covered 
 with a thick matting of the fire vine, and 
 so thick was the growth that it often con- 
 cealed completely not only great rocks but 
 also small pits or gulleys. 
 
 We learned that the Guv during his soli- 
 tary voyage unsuspectingly thrust his foot 
 into one of these pitfalls, toppled over ex- 
 tinguishing the light, losing the chimney 
 and his shoe. For the moment he struck 
 bottom, he ^'resolved on action fierce and 
 bold, although it made his blood run cold," 
 and yanked his foot up, leaving the shoe 
 
60 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 behind. For the mass of vines concealing 
 the hole had separated him from that not 
 inconsiderable piece of ponderable matter 
 above mentioned. When the posse filed out 
 for the rescue it was Indian fashion, the 
 Guv leading with the lantern and moving 
 gingerly with one bare foot. The chimney 
 was soon found cushioned on a bed of 
 vines — flawless, and the shoe was recov- 
 ered in due season. 
 
 Next morning we regaled ourselves with 
 more tea, and with trout roasted or friz- 
 zled without admixture of axle grease. 
 And the Board of Strategy was again con- 
 vened. The Guv and I were for legging 
 it to the village immediately, but those 
 battle-scarred veterans, our guides and 
 mentors, outvoted us ; Henry on the ground 
 of fond recollections of the Laff erty which 
 he had not been able to try the day before, 
 and Louis on the ground that before the 
 timber was removed the upper reaches of 
 the Manifore had been a paradise for fish- 
 ermen, and that at worst a part of these 
 old charms must still remain. The pairing 
 of the day before was reversed, and Henry 
 and the Guv wended their way up the Laf- 
 ferty and Louie and I up the Manifore. 
 
 As has been stated, the timber in the 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 61 
 
 lower Slate Run valley had been cut clean, 
 and for miles around hardly a tree re- 
 mained. Some years before the railroad, 
 instead of doubling on itself at Queen 
 Anne's, had continued up the Manifore for 
 several miles. But after the timber was 
 exhausted the rails had been taken up and 
 the region deserted. The old roadbed made 
 walking easy, but we had not gone a quarter 
 of a mile when we were met by a cat, com- 
 mon domestic variety, half or two-thirds 
 grown, coming down the road and crying 
 pitifully. Any distress signal was unbear- 
 able to Louie, even though coming from a 
 common cat, and after picking it up and 
 stroking it and addressing it with soothing 
 words and endearing names, he dropped it 
 gently over the edge of the embankment 
 into the soft vegetation at the bottom, and 
 then increased his pace for the purpose of 
 losing the cat. The scheme was a failure, 
 and presently it was at our heels again 
 with most doleful yowling. The bank was 
 here higher and I tried the same plan with 
 like result. The morning was broiling hot, 
 and the cat's yowling certainly raised our 
 temperature. Anything else was better 
 than this as we could not even talk with- 
 out effort. We next tried carrying the 
 
62 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 animal to quiet it, but it would not be held 
 and squirmed out of our arms. This dis- 
 tressing situation continued for a mile or 
 more, and until we broke down over the 
 edge of the dug-road toward the stream 
 and plunged into briars and brambles im- 
 penetrable to house cats. For the whole 
 bottom of the narrow valley was filled with 
 decaying tree-tops and all the debris of the 
 logging operations from the high hills on 
 either side. It was with great difficulty 
 that we even reached the stream, and after 
 following the bed for, say, two hundred 
 yards, we despaired of being able to fish 
 with comfort, and were slowly threading 
 our way through brush and tree-tops when 
 a black bear, that at first glimpse appeared 
 to me to be about the size of a team-load 
 of baled hay, got up in the bed of the creek 
 not more than three rods below us, scram- 
 bled up the bank and made a path through 
 the brush with as much apparent ease as a 
 sprinter on a race track. We decided then 
 and there to retrace our steps to the sort 
 of trail we had come down from the old 
 roadbed, and finally we were approaching 
 this true grade down hill, when to our 
 horror our ears were greeted by the yowls 
 of our late tormentor, and the following 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 63 
 
 conversation ensued: Louie — "Bob, this 
 cat is dying of hunger ; we have nothing to 
 give the poor little beast, and the humane 
 thing to do is to take it by the hind legs 
 and beat its brains out on a rock." Bob — 
 "Louie, you are exactly right, that will be 
 the humane thing to do — put the poor little 
 creature out of its misery." Louie — "I 
 wish I had a gun, it would then be over 
 with in a moment." Bob — "I've got a 
 good revolver in my pocket; take that." 
 Louie — "That's just the thing!" Louie 
 takes the revolver in one hand and coaxes 
 the cat into the other hand. "Now, Bob, 
 I think you had better shoot this cat. You 
 see, I never could shoot a revolver ; as long 
 ago as when I was in the army I was no 
 good with a revolver, and besides, there 
 are only four cartridges in this gun, and as 
 a cat has nine lives, when the gun has been 
 emptied, if I take one life with each shot 
 the job won't be half done." The revolver 
 was returned and we took turns trying to 
 carry the cat on the return trip. I shall 
 never forget the discomfort of that return 
 trip, resulting from the combination of 
 heat, fatigue and caterwaulings. 
 
 As we reached the angle of the railroad 
 above Queen Anne's we found a gang of 
 
64 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 track workers just putting their grub pails 
 away after the noon meal. I hailed them 
 generally with an offer of a quarter of a 
 dollar to any one who would feed the cat. 
 The foreman came forward and said there 
 was a slice of bread in his pail, probably 
 pretty well dried out by this time as his 
 pail had been setting in the sun all day. 
 Meantime Louie had stopped at the spring 
 near by and began dressing the small catch 
 of the morning, and fussing with the catch 
 of the day before. I found the slice of 
 bread, big, thick and homemade, and I 
 tried the cat with a small morsel of the 
 softest part. But the offer was refused, 
 and I proceeded to cut it in half with great 
 exactness, and sat down in the blazing sun 
 to devour my half. While thus engaged I 
 heard a vociferous outbreak from Louie, to 
 
 the effect that he was the biggest d d 
 
 fool that ever trod shoe leather; that he 
 must be getting softening of the brain, and 
 various similar and voluble expletives, all 
 directed against himself. When I objected 
 to the application of such language to the 
 character of a friend in my presence, he 
 explained that what ailed the cat and had 
 ailed it from our first encounter, was that 
 it wanted fish, fish! The cat was there- 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 65 
 
 after fed piece-meal about half a trout at 
 a time, the feeding being separated by 
 some minutes to avoid shock or collapse 
 or whatever it is that happens to animals 
 which eat too fast after fasting too long. 
 When the beast was finally satisfied I car- 
 ried it to Queen Anne and explained that 
 a stray cat taken in and harbored is a sure 
 mascot against ill fortune for a period of 
 one full year from the very day of the cat's 
 arrival. This alluring and innocent fable 
 appealed strongly to Queen Anne and the 
 cat episode closed with general satisfac- 
 tion. 
 
 The log train was supposed to pass 
 Queen Anne's about four in the afternoon, 
 but the uncertainty of the schedule and 
 the immense importance of connecting 
 with the train brought Henry and the Guv 
 to the fore soon after our arrival. Henry 
 was very curious about the condition of 
 the upper Manifore and accosted me for 
 news with his first greeting. I referred 
 him to Louie, who was well known for his 
 efficiency in picturesque profanity, and I 
 felt strongly how inadequate were my de- 
 scriptive powers to do justice to the sub- 
 ject. Louie promptly and cheerfully re- 
 sponded to Henry's requei^t, placed his 
 5 
 
66 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 back against a corner of the house, and 
 directed all his powers, mental and phy- 
 sical, to a description of the stream as we 
 found it. I remember the general tone of 
 the description with great vividness, but 
 I cannot reproduce it — language fails me. 
 Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, the home of 
 philosophers, once numbered among many 
 others, the late Jimmie Hart, who used to 
 say that "swearing is of two kinds, swear- 
 ing from the head and swearing from the 
 heart." Louie's was always swearing from 
 the head. 
 
 We were all greatly fagged from lack of 
 food, lack of sleep and the heat. The Guv 
 stole away and presently I found him ly- 
 ing on his back on the floor in the "parlor" 
 sound asleep. I joined him and dropped to 
 sleep thinking that the others would have 
 a sufficient sense of responsibility not to 
 do likewise. I was startled from my 
 slumber by the screech of the stem-winder 
 not a hundred feet away, and came to a 
 sitting posture before I was fairly awake. 
 Looking to the right and left I found my 
 comrades sitting in like postures and all 
 dazed by the imminence of disaster. The 
 Guv's executive instinct asserted itself and 
 he issued orders that some one throw a tie 
 
SOJOURN WITH "QUEEN ANNE" 67 
 
 across the rails and stop the train at all 
 hazards. Henry and Louie promptly car- 
 ried out the order literally, while we 
 brought our creels from the spring and 
 gathered the remainder of our traps. The 
 return trip to "Heartsease" was unevent- 
 ful, but I shall never forget the sense of 
 quiet comfort which our rude log cabin 
 impressed me with upon entering. I was 
 oblivious of the wide cracks between the 
 logs, the entire absence of so-called modern 
 conveniences. The bunks looked wonder- 
 fully inviting, the grub seemed bountiful 
 and of the daintiest quality. And here was 
 serenity and peace devoid of Colt's 44's 
 with eight-inch barrels, and crazy people — 
 only congenial friends tried by the exact- 
 ing intimacies of life in a log cabin, and 
 days and nights spent together on trout 
 streams. Those were the golden days and 
 those the friends without price, and the 
 memory of those days and the love of those 
 friends "time cannot wither, nor custom 
 stale." 
 
LINCOLN— A PHASE 
 
 Part of an address delivered before the 
 faculty and student body of lincoln 
 University, Pennsylvania, Febru- 
 ary 12th, 1914 
 
 From Runny mede, in the 12th Century, 
 to Appomattox, in the 19th Century, is cer- 
 tainly a far cry, but to the poKtical geneal- 
 ogist the descent is certain and the rela- 
 tion complete. From Magna Charta to the 
 Emancipation Proclamation the connecting 
 mountain range is almost all visible to the 
 eye of the historian. Some of the peaks 
 are just less imposing than the highest — 
 imperishable names like John Hampden, 
 John Endicott, John Winthrop and John 
 Brown — ^but even this class may not be 
 mentioned upon this occasion — only the 
 tallest. 
 
 The greatest social and political cata- 
 clysm on English soil in the struggle for 
 liberty by the Anglo-Saxon race resulted 
 in Cromwell and his Commonwealth. The 
 Commonwealth apparently had no ances- 
 tors and no descendants, and while Crom- 
 well was being execrated and anathema- 
 tized by the Kings throughout the world 
 as the greatest felon and most abhorrent 
 
 68 
 
LINCOLN— A PHASE 69 
 
 wretch in the annals of crime, the philos- 
 ophers and statesmen were wondering if 
 the upheaval known as the Commonwealth 
 really had any significance, and if so, what 
 it was — with a King coming just before 
 and a King coming just after. 
 
 The next chapter in this abridged ac- 
 count of the upward struggle for freedom 
 brings us to the revolt of the American 
 Colonies against the tyranny of Great 
 Britain. The greatest personal asset of 
 that struggle was Washington, and be- 
 tween Washington and Lincoln the relation 
 is instantly apparent. To the thoughtful 
 mind it must be accepted as an historical 
 truism that the path leading from Magna 
 Charta to Lincoln goes straight through 
 the heart of Cromwell and Washington, 
 and in the light of our twentieth century 
 ideas of civil and political liberty the 
 enigma of the English Commonwealth is 
 made plain. As only the convulsions of 
 nature produce towering peaks, so is it 
 with civilization, and Lincoln was the 
 product of such a convulsion. 
 
 It is opportunity that distinguishes the 
 great from the mediocre, and Lincoln 
 might have passed his life amid ordinary 
 scenes and the world would not have 
 
70 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 known what he was or what he might do. 
 It was the flash of lightning in the night of 
 the Nation's dread that revealed what the 
 daylight of a happier period might never 
 have discovered to the eyes of his country- 
 men. Our vision is no doubt still some- 
 what beclouded by the upheaval and the 
 din of the War of the Rebellion. "Great 
 captains with their guns and drums disturb 
 our judgment for the hour, but at last 
 silence comes." But the silence which is 
 essential to the writing of definitive his- 
 tory will not come until the last of the 
 generation engaged in that mighty conflict 
 shall have passed away; until the embers 
 of the seething passions roused by that 
 titanic struggle shall have died. When the 
 spirit of malign sectionalism shall have 
 given place to a serene and generous desire 
 by all our people north and south to scotch 
 error and to discover truth only, then will 
 mankind be able to assign to Lincoln his 
 final page in the history of humanity. 
 Even now, however, we are able to see 
 some things in their great outlines truly. 
 We see that before the close of the war 
 Lincoln became a great general; that be- 
 fore the close of the war he became a great 
 statesman ; that before the war began, and 
 
LINCOLN— A PHASE 71 
 
 as a gift of nature, he was a great diplo- 
 matist and negotiator; that he was both 
 poet and sage, and when we add to this 
 panoply the high and difficult art of perfect 
 English composition, we marvel at his 
 armament for usefulness to his country. 
 But even with this catalogue of powerful 
 attributes before us, we should miss his 
 most striking traits of character if we 
 omitted to mention the certainty of his 
 logic and the greatness and sanity of his 
 vision. 
 
 Let us see what was the elementary 
 training for the life work which lay before 
 this man whom we meet to commemorate. 
 We are all familiar with the stories of his 
 early struggles; of the rail splitting and 
 the corn hoeing, to be followed at night by 
 the best books obtainable to be read by the 
 flickering light of the pine knot. Meas- 
 ured by the standard of the college don, by 
 the restricted standard of the school and 
 of the university, he would probably be 
 said to have had no education whatever. 
 
 But let us inquire what these books read 
 at such disadvantage were. We are cer- 
 tain of the Bible, Pilgrim's Progress, of 
 Aesop's Fables, and of Shakespeare, And 
 let us see what kind of equipment these 
 
72 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 books well read and well re-read with all 
 Lincoln's tenacity of memory and capacity 
 of understanding really afforded. The 
 Romans had an adage, "Beware of the man 
 with one book," meaning, no doubt, that a 
 man who knows one book well is a more 
 dangerous antagonist than one who knows 
 many books superficially. Let us consider 
 then "the food that this our Caesar feeds 
 on that he is grown so great." He found 
 that model of the sententious expression 
 in Moses' account of the creation in the 
 book of Genesis; he found the sonorous 
 eloquence of the book of Isaiah ; he had the 
 acme of the religious exaltation of style in 
 the most perfect of all allegories, the Pil- 
 grim's Progress, and he had one of the best 
 specimens of the Greek Classics in Aesop's 
 Fables. 
 
 In this galaxy of jewels we still have 
 Shakespeare to mention. Goethe has said, 
 "that the final cause and consummation of 
 all natural and human activity is dramatic 
 poetry." 
 
 The critics have with unanimity placed 
 Shakespeare in a pre-eminent place in this 
 realm of dramatic poetry; they have done 
 more — they have assigned to him the same 
 exalted station among lyric poets. 
 
LINCOLN— A PHASE 73 
 
 We may then safely conclude that start- 
 ing with Lincoln's perfect equipoise of soul, 
 his ability to assimilate and to discriminate 
 with superior intelligence, the books which 
 supplied his elementary education afforded 
 a singularly perfect one for the work in 
 hand. 
 
 His writings and speeches are a part of 
 the priceless heritage which he has left 
 us, and his style was admirably adapted as 
 a vehicle for the message. 
 
 Probably the best known, most fre- 
 quently quoted and most celebrated of all 
 his writings or speeches is the Gettysburg 
 speech — and justly so. But when the ac- 
 cepted rules of English construction are 
 applied, when the rules of grammatical 
 analysis are invoked, the result is startling 
 to our prejudiced susceptibilities. Such an 
 analysis is not intended here, but let it 
 suffice to say that this speech, which Stan- 
 ton said — and who will dispute the asser- 
 tion — "will live as long as the English 
 language is spoken," is far less perfect as 
 a literary production than much else writ- 
 ten by Lincoln. Let me illustrate my 
 meaning : 
 
 It will appear upon examination that in 
 sixteen consecutive lines of this speech the 
 
74 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 adverb *'here" is repeated no less than 
 eight times, which is manifestly contrary 
 to the rules which govern the literary 
 craftsman. What significance is to be at- 
 tached to this fact? Does it mean that 
 there is, in truth, no correlation between 
 style and substance; that literature and 
 the literary art are something apart from 
 the expression of great thoughts and ideas, 
 and are understood and practiced by 
 scholars and bookmen only? We think 
 not, and we offer this explanation: 
 
 The speech at Gettysburg was the ex- 
 pression of a great soul imbued with a 
 great passion for a great and unselfish 
 cause, and we recognize and are moved 
 by the simple and irresistible eloquence of 
 the utterances all unconscious of and in 
 spite of any slight defects of the garment 
 in which the message is clothed. It is as 
 if a brilliant orb of light should be seen 
 through a scratched glass; the glorious 
 effulgence of the light would make us un- 
 aware of the defects of the glass ; it is the 
 bursting forth of a mighty spirit in a 
 solemn requiem to the dead and a solemn 
 summons to arms of the living. 
 
 An approximation to perfect speaking 
 and writing is the result of study and prac- 
 
LINCOLN— A PHASE 75 
 
 tice combined with industry along that 
 line. To believe otherwise is to discredit 
 art. I venture to assert that although the 
 Gettysburg speech was written under ad- 
 verse circumstances and in haste, as finally 
 given for publication, it had received as 
 careful revising and correcting as any of 
 Lincoln's writings other than his formal 
 State papers. This speech was made in 
 November, 1863, and exactly one year 
 later, in November, 1864, we have a prod- 
 uct of his pen, which, though not so well 
 known, is none the less admirable. It was 
 evidently written without premeditation — 
 on the impulse of the moment and without 
 revision. It was addressed to a person un- 
 known to liim except by surname — no 
 Christian name being given. I propose to 
 read the letter as a conclusion to these re- 
 marks, but before doing so I wish to call 
 attention to an interesting, a most note- 
 worthy fact. In the main corridor of one 
 of the most ancient colleges at Oxford 
 University, Brasenose, hangs a copy of this 
 letter substantially framed. It hangs there 
 for all the college world to see, by au- 
 thority of the faculty of this venerable seat 
 of learning, as a specimen of perfect Eng- 
 lish. A generous and noble tribute, indeed, 
 
76 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 to this self-educated man of the primitive 
 Western World, and a no less noble mani- 
 festation of wisdom and magnanimity on 
 the part of the faculty of the College. The 
 letter consists of but four sentences — 
 note how perfectly the first puts the reader 
 in possession of all that need be known to 
 understand what follows: 
 
 "Executive, Mansion, 
 Washington, Nov. 21, 1864. 
 
 "To Mrs. Bixby, 
 "Boston, Mass. 
 
 "Dear Madam: 
 
 "I have been shown in the files of the 
 War Department a statement of the Ad- 
 jutant General of Massachusetts that you 
 are the mother of five sons who have died 
 gloriously on the field of battle. I feel 
 how weak and fruitless must be any word 
 of mine which should attempt to beguile 
 you from the grief of a loss so overwhelm- 
 ing. But I cannot refrain from tendering 
 you the consolation that may be found in 
 the thanks of the Republic they died to 
 save. I pray that our Heavenly Father 
 may assuage the anguish of your bereave- 
 ment, and leave you only the cherished 
 
LINCOLN— A PHASE 77 
 
 memory of the loved and lost, and the 
 solemn pride that must be yours to have 
 laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of 
 freedom. 
 
 ''Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 
 
 "A. LINCOLN." 
 
 If the nations of the earth were asked to 
 contribute to the temple of immortal fame 
 all their best and greatest products for the 
 nineteenth century and our country should 
 offer the name of Abraham Lincoln alone, 
 her quota would be more than filled. "His 
 life was gentle, and the elements so mixed 
 in him that Nature might stand up and 
 say to all the world, This was a man.' " 
 
THOMAS HARGADON, ALIAS 
 THOMAS HARDEN 
 
 Thomas Harden was born at Leslea, 
 Dromahaire, County Lei trim, Ireland, in 
 1827, and died at Wellsboro, Tioga County, 
 Pennsylvania, October 15, 1898. He was 
 educated in Ireland for the profession of 
 civil engineer, but before his education was 
 completed the spirit of adventure seized 
 him, and at the age of twenty-one years 
 he clandestinely came to America, reach- 
 ing, what seemed to him, the unknown 
 Western World April 9, 1848. Many per- 
 plexing and discouraging adventures tried 
 his courage before he finally settled in 
 Wellsboro in 1858, where he spent the re- 
 mainder of his long and busy life. 
 
 He was descended from Patrick Har- 
 gadon, his father, and Bridget Keegan 
 Hargadon, his mother. They were each 
 married once only. Patrick Hargadon died 
 January 29, 1869, and Bridget Keegan 
 Hargadon died March 10, 1870. Both were 
 natives of County Leitrim, where they 
 lived and died. 
 
 The issue of this marriage was five sons 
 and three daughters, of whom three sons, 
 
 78 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 79 
 
 namely: Patrick, Thomas and Peter; and 
 two daughters, namely: Mary and Cather- 
 ine, came to America. The others, namely : 
 John, Owen and Bridget remained at home 
 in the place of their nativity. 
 
 After settling in Wellsboro he married 
 Miss McGovern, of Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
 vania, a sister of Thomas McGovern, for 
 many years a bishop of the Catholic 
 Church, presiding over the central diocese 
 of Pennsylvania, and residing in Harris- 
 burg, and John McGovern, a leading busi- 
 ness man of the city of Lancaster, both 
 now deceased. 
 
 The offspring of their marriage was one 
 child, a daughter, Margaret, a very charm- 
 ing and highly educated young woman, 
 who died at the untimely age of twenty- 
 one years, in the year 1884. The mother 
 died soon after, and the remaining four- 
 teen years of Mr. Harden's life were beset 
 with business disaster and blasted domes- 
 tic hopes, but toward his friends he re- 
 mained cheerful and companionable to the 
 last, and his rich and incomparable flow of 
 wit remained undiminished. 
 
 At the zenith of his business career the 
 volume and number of his transactions were 
 very large and easily made him the leading 
 
80 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 merchant of the town and probably of the 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Harden had a fine mind which had 
 been cultivated by years of constant famil- 
 iarity with English classic literature, and 
 he was especially fond of poetry, and more 
 especially of the Lake School of poets, and 
 of Pope. When in congenial surroundings 
 he was prone to quote from these poets, 
 which he was able to do extensively, cor- 
 rectly and with fine expression and evident 
 appreciation and pleasure. 
 
 He was a very companionable man and, 
 although not prepossessing in countenance, 
 his sprightliness and affability were engag- 
 ing and his pride of personal appearance, 
 as displayed by his neatness of attire, even 
 when old, forlorn, and somewhat broken 
 physically and financially, was always 
 noticeable. 
 
 Mr. Harden was active and instrumental 
 in establishing St. Peter's Roman Catholic 
 Church, of Wellsboro, and was constant in 
 his religious duties to the end. 
 
 As to his wit, I think it may be asserted 
 without fear of contradiction by those who 
 were his contemporaries, that there is no 
 knowledge or tradition in the community 
 of any man or woman who possessed such 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 81 
 
 an inexhaustible fund of original, unique 
 and timely wit. 
 
 The memory of a man of the prominence 
 of Thomas Harden in our communal life, 
 during a period of forty years, ought to be 
 preserved somewhere, and this sketch, 
 though meagre, contains all the biographi- 
 cal data obtainable. For although he was 
 the eldest but one of eight children, none 
 of his generation are now living, and even 
 of the next generation, I am informed, 
 that none are surviving except Mrs. Agnes 
 Murray, of Elmira, New York, daughter of 
 Mary Hargadon intermarried with James 
 Rourke ; John P. Harden, of Rexville ; Mrs. 
 Felix Chlossey, of Rochester; Isabelle 
 Harden, of Rexville, all of the State of 
 New York, and Frances Harden, of Toledo, 
 Ohio, children of the late Patrick Harden. 
 
 It will be interesting to those who knew 
 him and who happen to see this sketch to 
 learn that his family name was Hargadon 
 and not Harden, he having made the 
 change as a matter of convenience after 
 coming to this country, because of the 
 difficulty he found in getting his real name 
 properly pronounced by native Americans. 
 This fact was never known in our com- 
 munity until after his death, when it was 
 
 6 
 
82 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 discovered that his kin residing in Ireland 
 (all of whom are now deceased) inherited 
 a pro rata share of his estate as collateral 
 heirs under the family name of "Harga- 
 don." 
 
 He was not apt to make '"bulls," but 
 when he did they were as fine as might 
 have been expected. Here is a single 
 specimen. When financial disaster over- 
 took him he made an assignment for the 
 benefit of creditors, and John McGovern, 
 of Lancaster, was named an assignee. 
 Some real estate was saved from the 
 wreck, the income from which furnished 
 a competency for Mr. Harden in his latter 
 years. 
 
 Upon a certain occasion he wanted to 
 identify Mr. McGovern to a certain bank 
 clerk of the town, and with some spirit and 
 perfect gravity did so by exclaiming, 
 "Why, John McGovern, of Lancaster, is 
 the man that owns me property." Most 
 of his witticisms and! perhaps the best are 
 now forgotten, but some of his drolleries 
 survive and are here set down ; some were 
 received first hand and some are the com- 
 mon property of all old residenters who 
 enjoy fun. 
 
 The late Isaac M. Bodine was for many 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 83 
 
 years a justice of the peace in Wellsboro, 
 and kept his office in a second-story room 
 on the northwest side of Main Street. 
 Bodine was a great wag, witty, humorous 
 ^nd withal somewhat cynical. He used to 
 tell this story of Mr. Harden : One bitter 
 cold morning in mid-winter he was en- 
 gaged in writing in his docket the formal 
 statement of the business of the previous 
 day, when a man walked into his office who 
 lived some miles from town and whom he 
 knew well. The man backed up to the 
 stove in the corner to thaw out the chill 
 of his long morning ride. Presently in 
 walked Mr. Harden, and with his char- 
 acteristic cheery morning greeting to 
 Bodine and the traveler, who was a 
 stranger to him, took a place by his side 
 near the stove. Bodine sat facing the stove, 
 with the desk before him and head down, 
 apparently absorbed with his docket en- 
 tries, but in fact intently observant of 
 what was transpiring near the stove. The 
 stranger had a strikingly ugly face, with 
 prominent teeth, hook nose, red hair and 
 face covered nearly up to the eyes with 
 scrubby beard, *'the color of old rope." Mr. 
 Harden was at this time an elderly man 
 without family and living a very solitary 
 
84 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 life for one naturally so social and do- 
 mestic, and in the absence of other occu- 
 pation was in the habit of gathering all 
 local news and gossip in circulation. After 
 glancing at the stranger out of the **tail 
 of his eye," Mr. Harden began the follow- 
 ing monologue: 'Would you be finding 
 the sleighing good over your way?" No 
 response. ''Did you drive all the way from 
 your place this morning?" No response. 
 Then followed a good deal of rubbing of 
 one hand into the palm of the other, a 
 flushing of the face with righteous indig- 
 nation and a quick, angry turn of the head 
 in the direction of the stranger; "Well I 
 was just merely wishing to exchange salu- 
 tations with you," said Harden, "and if 
 you haven't the courtesy to reply that is 
 not my fault. I was simply inquiring 
 whether there is much sickness in your 
 neighborhood." Just at the conclusion of 
 the last inquiry the stranger, without tak- 
 ing any notice of Mr. Harden, walked 
 briskly past him within touching distance 
 and passed out of the office. The silence 
 was unbroken for several minutes, except 
 by the scratching of Bodine's pen, who, 
 with head down, was waiting results. Mr. 
 Harden: "Isaac, do you know that man 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 85 
 
 that just left your place of business?" 
 Mr. Bodine: "Why, no, Uncle Tommy, I 
 didn't notice who it was. Wasn't it one of 
 
 the 's, of Delmar?" Mr. Harden: 
 
 'It was not." Mr. Bodine: *T was very 
 busy here and didn't notice who it was. 
 Why do you ask?" Mr. Harden, still 
 smarting under the discourtesy: "Because, 
 Isaac, if I had that man's face I'd fight a 
 dog." At this he in turn hurried out of 
 the office, and Bodine never explained that 
 the unfortunate stranger had been totally 
 deaf and dumb from birth. 
 
 Although not devoid of a sense of humor 
 he never acquired, or, at any rate, never 
 affected the American habit of "telling 
 stories," or, in other words, he was not 
 prone to repeat anecdotes or witticisms or 
 humorous occurrences told by others. I 
 remember but one exception. During many 
 of the latter years of his life it was his 
 habit to call in the morning at our office. 
 He was never tedious and was always 
 polite and considerate, merely stepping in 
 and with a vigorous rubbing of one hand 
 into the other, and with a hearty morning 
 greeting and some observation about the 
 weather or about some matter of passing 
 interest, took his leave. 
 
86 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 One morning he came in as usual, and 
 finding me alone, said that while dressing 
 that morning he had remembered a boy- 
 hood experience that he thought would in- 
 terest me if I would spare time to hear it. 
 I assured him that I would be delighted to 
 listen, and although I cannot reproduce his 
 inimitable mannerisms and rich West Ire- 
 land brogue, I write the story as he gave 
 it. When I was a boy my father took me 
 to the county-town to see a criminal court 
 in session. An itinerant judge was hold- 
 ing what we called the assizes. Soon after 
 we entered the court-room a man was 
 called to the prisoner's dock charged with 
 some petty offense, and his Lordship on 
 the bench asked him if he had pleaded to 
 the charge of which he stood indicted. The 
 man answered that he had not, whereupon 
 his Lordship directed him to plead either 
 guilty or not guilty. At this the man said 
 he had noticed that Mr. Mulcahey was in 
 the court-room and he would like to ask 
 whether Mr. Mulcahey was going to be 
 sworn as a witness on behalf of the Queen. 
 His Lordship answered that he did not 
 know whether the public prosecutor in- 
 tended swearing Mr. Mulcahey, and asked 
 what difference it could make with his plea 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 87 
 
 whether Mr. Mulcahey was sworn or not. 
 To which the defendant answered : "Well, 
 if Mr. Mulcahey is going to be sworn, I 
 plead guilty. Not that I am, your Lord- 
 ship. I am as innocent as the child at 
 your wife's breast, but out of regard for 
 the salvation of Mulcahey's soul, I plead 
 guilty." 
 
 At the time of my earliest distinct 
 remembrance of Mr. Harden, say about 
 1875, he had two large store buildings with 
 well-filled cellars and warerooms in a rear 
 building, and did a very large business in 
 merchandising in boots, shoes, dry goods, 
 groceries and provisions of all kinds. A 
 certain man, whom I will call B. C. Hughes, 
 was at the time of this occurrence engaged 
 in a small way in the lumber business not 
 far from Wellsboro. He had formerly 
 been a customer of Mr. Harden's and was 
 still indebted to him in a pretty large sum. 
 One morning Mr. Harden called at the 
 store of one of his competitors, with whom 
 he was on friendly terms, and after hearty 
 morning salutations had been exchanged 
 the following conversation ensued: Mr. 
 Harden: 'T hope you will not think me 
 presumptuous, or that I am attempting to 
 interfere with your business, but I have 
 
88 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 observed Mr. B. C. Hughes frequenting 
 your place of business of late." The com- 
 petitor: "Why, yes; Hughes comes in 
 occasionally to do a little trading." Mr. 
 Harden : ''Exactly so, and may I ask does 
 he pay cash?" The competitor: "Why, 
 sometimes he pays cash and sometimes he 
 asks credit." Mr. Harden: "To be sure, 
 just as I expected. Now, my friend, I 
 want to give you a bit of advice in the 
 friendliest manner. It is my opinion that 
 
 Mr. Hughes is a d d fine man for you 
 
 to be making a stranger of." 
 
 Judging by the anecdote I am about to 
 relate, I conclude that Mr. Hughes never 
 paid Mr. Harden's account, for years 
 after the happening of the last told story, 
 in fact not long before his death, I met 
 Mr. Harden one morning as I reached my 
 office, standing on the sidewalk near the 
 curb. He saluted me as follows : "Robert, 
 do you observe the man facing us on the 
 opposite curb, and do you know him?" 
 To which I replied that I did observe and 
 did know the man, and volunteered the 
 information that it was Mr. B. C. Hughes. 
 "Indeed, indeed, you do know him," said 
 Mr. Harden. "But did you ever par- 
 ticularly observe his countenance?" Mr. 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 89 
 
 Hughes certainly had a very remarkable 
 physiognomy; large, smooth-shaven face, 
 large, straight, grinning mouth, and the 
 whole face deeply furrowed in every direc- 
 tion. Add to all the rest the fact that he 
 had a trick of closing one eye and of widen- 
 ing his large mouth in what appeared to 
 be a very sinister grin, by way of emphasis 
 to his conversation, and having noted all 
 this many times, I could and did without 
 hesitation reply to Mr. Harden that I had 
 particularly observed Mr. Hughes' counte- 
 nance. "Well," said Mr. Harden, ''having 
 observed it, you will agree with me that 
 it is a wonderful countenance, surely a 
 very wonderful countenance. Do you 
 know, Robert, if I was a constable and had 
 a warrant for the devil Td arrest that man 
 on suspicion." 
 
 Not long after my father, Hugh Young, 
 moved into the house which he built and 
 spent his declining years in, he gave a 
 dinner party to all of the men then living 
 who were residents of Wellsboro when he 
 came to the town to reside permanently, 
 in December, 1858. Thomas Harden was 
 one of these, and as he had never been in 
 the house before, he asked me to show 
 him about. I gladly took him from cellar 
 
90 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 to garret, and when the round was finished 
 he regaled me with the following: 
 
 "Robert, I am reminded of a little story, 
 and I am wondering whether I dare tell it 
 to your father. It was like this : A young 
 man in my town in Ireland studied for and 
 took holy orders. He came to Canada and 
 finally got a fine parish and lived in a fine 
 house. After a while his elder brother 
 came over from Ireland to visit him, and 
 after looking the house all over he said to 
 his brother, the priest: *Jock, it's a fine 
 house ye have. I hope ye come honestly 
 by it.' " 
 
 During the seventies, and probably 
 before and after, there lived in Wellsboro 
 an Irishman named Patrick Donehue, who 
 was very well known and only less witty 
 than Mr. Harden. Although not co-re- 
 •ligionists, they were great friends and 
 found much pleasure in each other's so- 
 ciety. Pat occasionally took what he 
 styled "Wee sup liquor," and, as this 
 occurred only at long intervals, a little 
 went a good ways. 
 
 Once upon a time Pat went to Harden's 
 store to buy a suit of clothes and was 
 waited on by the proprietor himself. Pat 
 made his selection and was told that the 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 91 
 
 price of the suit was $28.00 if charged and 
 $25.00 if paid when the clothes were taken. 
 Pat agreed to the terms and said he would 
 take the clothes then and pay the same 
 day. He took the clothes, but a couple of 
 months passed before he found it con- 
 venient to pay; and it so happened that 
 the very day he was moved to pay he was 
 earlier moved to take "wee sup liquor." 
 He learned from a clerk that the charge 
 was $28.00 and not $25.00, whereupon he 
 sought and found the proprietor, who con- 
 firmed the charge. Pat's recourse was 
 "billingsgate," which was replied to in 
 kind, until finally Harden, backed by his 
 corps of clerks, ordered Pat off the prem- 
 ises. As he came out of the store he spied 
 my father not far away and made for him 
 head on, red faced and wild eyed, much to 
 the latter's surprise, as previously Pat had 
 always carefully avoided him when "in his 
 cups." As soon as he was within hailing 
 distance Pat saluted my father as follows : 
 "Mr. Young, you know everything about 
 Ireland. How many Jews were there in 
 Ireland in 1847 ?" My father, though sur- 
 prised, was not disconcerted, and was cer- 
 tain that something good was coming if 
 he .made a prompt and definite reply. 
 
92 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 After a becoming pause for recollection he 
 replied by saying: *Tat, in 1847 there 
 were just three hundred Jews in Ireland." 
 Pat's rejoinder came instanter. ''Bedad, 
 there's only two hundred and ninety-nine 
 there now, for Tom Harden's come over 
 since." 
 
 There lived and still live in and about 
 Wellsboro members of a prominent and 
 numerous family named English, but their 
 name is misleading, as they were origi- 
 nally Irish by blood and characteristics. 
 The family was partial to a small number 
 of Christian names, including John, Rich- 
 ard, Robert, William and James, and they 
 were also prone to give members of their 
 own clan ''nick" names, partly from wag- 
 gishness and partly as a matter of con- 
 venience to distinguish one bearer of a 
 certain name from others of the same 
 name. Here are a few by way of illustra- 
 tion: Stiff neck Johnny, Delmar Dick, 
 Pussley Jim, Black Jim, Ihorn Jim, Rough 
 Bill, Bucktail Bill, Blatherskite Bill, 
 Drunken Willie, etc. 
 
 Blatherskite Bill prided himself much 
 on his military bearing and record, and 
 claimed to have been a member of the 
 "Queen's Royal Guards" during the Cri- 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 93 
 
 mean War and to have taken a prominent 
 part at Balaklava and at Inkerman 
 Heights. He was tall and very erect, and 
 spoke with a sharp, incisive twang. In 
 addition to his military accomplishments 
 he was also a "jack carpenter" and an all- 
 around scientist. Once upon a time he 
 became indebted to Mr. Harden for goods 
 and wares sold and delivered, and Harden, 
 despairing of getting cash, sought to get 
 the score closed with skilled labor. At the 
 time of which I write a mercantile busi- 
 ness of the dimensions of Mr. Harden's, 
 carried on in a community where currency 
 was scarce, made it desirable to exchange 
 one form of personal property for another, 
 and barter was very common. In this 
 manner Mr. Harden at times accumulated 
 lumber, cord wood and all kinds of farm 
 products taken in exchange for groceries, 
 clothing, etc. 
 
 At one time the alley-way and vacant 
 lot near the rear end of his store building, 
 having become congested with four-foot 
 fire wood and various sizes and kinds of 
 lumber, he decided to engage Blatherskite 
 Bill English to build him a sawhorse with 
 some of the lumber in the alley, and then 
 to get some of his unskilled debtors to 
 
94 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 convert the cord wood into stove-wood 
 length. Enghsh undertook the commis- 
 sion and proceeded with his tools, or, as 
 he would have styled them, "with the 
 proper utensils," to the lumber piles in 
 the rear. He found the only timber fit for 
 the sawhorse at the bottom of a pile, 
 which it was necessary to tear down. In 
 this operation the lumber was promis- 
 cuously strewn about the landscape, and 
 at this critical moment Mr. Harden ap- 
 peared on the scene. Harden being an 
 orderly man, and all kinds of lumber look- 
 ing alike to him, the havoc wrought by 
 English in the course of a few minutes 
 shocked him greatly, and he pitched at 
 that high-strung military gentleman with 
 the following tirade: ''God help me, Mr. 
 English, you're destroying me lumber, 
 you're destroying me property ! Come out 
 o' that! Me little daughter Maggie could 
 do better than this. Come out o' that this 
 minute. God help me!" 
 
 Mr. English, though highly indignant 
 and deeply injured as to his feelings, pre- 
 served his dignity, dropped his tools, 
 straightened himself to his full height, 
 removed the short-stemmed black clay 
 pipe from his mouth, worn bowl down, and 
 
THOMAS HARGADON 95 
 
 replied as follows: **Mr. Harden, sir, I 
 repel your base insiniations with scorn, 
 and I would have you to understand, sir, 
 that there's a devil of a pile of angles in 
 a sawhorse." And with this he gathered 
 up "the proper utensils" and went home. 
 
 A certain well-known man of our town 
 held a high, perhaps the highest, position 
 in a quasi-military organization, which 
 was part of a great fraternal society. The 
 military uniform of this organization was 
 brilliant and that of the officers exceed- 
 ingly gorgeous. I was standing with Mr. 
 Harden one day when the high officer in 
 question passed down the street on the 
 opposite side in full regalia, and the width 
 of the street, a hundred feet, was really 
 needed to give full effect to the uniform. 
 Mr. Harden called my attention to our 
 passing neighbor with the following excla- 
 mations: "Robert, do you observe the 
 military gentleman on the opposite side? 
 And do you observe his splendor, and isn't 
 it wonderful? Do you mind the fabulous 
 gold lace? Why, Napoleon wouldn't have 
 made a corporal to him." 
 
 This catalogue of droll stories might be 
 continued indefinitely, but they illustrate 
 but one phase of his character — one gift 
 
96 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 of nature. He possessed many other 
 attractive characteristics. He was a truly 
 pious man and very tolerant towards 
 others holding different religious beliefs 
 from his own. I remember having seen 
 him in an audience at a Methodist "re- 
 vival" meeting, when he gave respectful 
 attention during the whole session. His 
 whole life conduct was mixed with sympa- 
 thetic kindliness and acts of charity. He 
 kept his faith and lived truly according to 
 his lights. And although no foundations 
 have been created in his name and no 
 ''cloud-capped towers" have been builded 
 to his memory, yet his life made an impres- 
 sion for good upon our community and the 
 world is better for his having lived in it. 
 
AN INQUIRY AS TO THE LAST ABO- 
 RIGINAL INHABITANT OF 
 TIOGA COUNTY 
 
 Address delivered before the Tioga County 
 Historical Society, April 8, 1907 
 
 In the absence of a protest from the 
 Indian, I hope none of my hearers will 
 take umbrage at my reference to him as 
 our ^'fellow-countryman." I am reminded 
 of Bayard Taylor's anecdote of a trip on 
 foot into the interior of Bohemia in the 
 days before the American had become a 
 traveler abroad — a "globe trotter." He 
 stopped for the night at a country hamlet, 
 and being a stranger and evidently a for- 
 eigner, was an object of curiosity to the 
 villagers ; but when they were told by the 
 stranger that he was an American, their 
 curiosity was blended with incredulity and 
 suspicion, "for," said they, "we know bet- 
 ter; we are not ignorant; Americans are 
 red men." 
 
 The American Indian has been aptly 
 called a child of nature, but to make a dis- 
 criminating estimate of his seemingly 
 paradoxical character is not an easy task. 
 In him were united all the vices and all 
 
 7 97 
 
98 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 the arts which are resorted to the world 
 over by the weak as a defense against the 
 strong. And yet, blended with these vices 
 and these arts were many of those lofty 
 qualities which are always found asso- 
 ciated with strength and courage. The 
 first object of life was to sustain life, and 
 to do this meant endless struggle for daily 
 food. His life depended upon the skill with 
 which he encountered the strongest and 
 fiercest wild beasts or the expertness with 
 which he used his bow and arrow or his 
 tomahawk. Speaking generally, the abun- 
 dance of crops or the fertility of the soil 
 was no concern of his; but the skill and 
 deftness, the cunning and craft which 
 enabled him to outwit and circumvent the 
 most timid, the most keen-scented and 
 keen-sighted of the animals were vital to 
 his existence. 
 
 Men of races less gifted in woodcraft 
 were amazed at the ease with which he 
 followed a trail invisible to them. His 
 sight excelled that of the most practiced 
 mariner, and so surprising was his stealth 
 that he could walk with rapidity over a 
 cushion of fallen leaves and broken twigs 
 to the very side of a browsing deer. The 
 perfection with which he imitated the bark 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 99 
 
 of the wolf, the whistle of the deer, the 
 hoot of the owl and the scream of the 
 wildcat was wont to deceive not only men, 
 but the creature imitated. 
 
 Physical courage and a kind of moral 
 courage were to be found in him developed 
 to an amazing degree. He submitted to 
 the tortures of his enemies — tortures the 
 most dreadful which a ferocious and 
 imaginative race could devise — with per- 
 fect fortitude. A fortitude as perfect as 
 that exhibited by James Wolf on the plains 
 of Abraham, by Montcalm at the same 
 place on the same day, by Walter Raleigh 
 on the scaffold, or by others of the count- 
 less heroes who have "weathered the 
 cape," as it were, in the crucial test of a 
 violent death. 
 
 "While his ears were being lopped off, 
 while his nose was being slit, while slices 
 of flesh were being cut from his body and 
 the bleeding wounds smeared with hot 
 ashes, while his legs were roasting, while 
 his arms were being wrenched with red- 
 hot tongs, while his tormentors were 
 drinking his blood and the flames leaped 
 high about him, he shouted his death song 
 with a steady and defiant voice, until his 
 tongue was torn out, his heart was dug 
 
100 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 from his trunk or his brains knocked out 
 with a tomahawk."* 
 
 In an extremity of physical clanger, with 
 all opportunity for the exercise of dissimu- 
 lation, treachery or guile removed, the 
 Indian was a man of unquestionable 
 physical courage of the most sublime type. 
 If one could fancy an Indian breaking 
 silence at all under such circumstances, 
 one might easily imagine him using the 
 words of Caesar to the captain of the dis- 
 tressed vessel : "Fear not ; your ship bears 
 Caesar and his fortunes"; or under very 
 similar circumstances he might have used 
 the words of William of Orange, when in 
 a rowboat, buffeted by the ice and current 
 of the North Sea in the darkness and fog 
 of a winter's night, he rebuked the dis- 
 mayed and discouraged sailors with : "For 
 shame ! Are you afraid to die in my com- 
 pany?" 
 
 "The chief passion of this Indian of ours 
 was war. But as much as he loved war, 
 the open, bold, front-to-front warfare prac- 
 ticed by all civilized nations had no charms 
 for him. To his mind it was not only folly 
 but madness to kill an enemy at the risk 
 of his own life, when he might circumvent 
 
 *"McMaster's Hist. People U. S., Vol. I, pag-e 96. 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 101 
 
 him by cunning, overpower him by a sud- 
 den dash from an ambuscade or shoot him 
 in the back from behind a tree."* 
 
 At the battle of Steinkirk the King's 
 household troop formed part of Luxem- 
 bourg's command. The troop was com- 
 manded by a youth known as the Duke of 
 Charters, and the company was made up 
 of the scions of the most ancient families 
 in France, including, besides the com- 
 mander, two other princes of the blood 
 royal. After joining the army some days 
 were spent in frivolities and much display 
 of lace-trimmed velvet clothes. But sud- 
 denly the French were attacked by the 
 whole allied army. The attack must be 
 repelled, and finally, to their great joy, 
 Luxembourg consented that the King's 
 troop might lead the charge. Like butter- 
 flies, they were bedecked with lace and 
 baubles, and gaily and jestingly charged 
 an army in front. When the marshal gave 
 the word the troopers came on with their 
 carbines slung at their backs. *'No firing, 
 sword in hand," ran all through the ranks 
 of this terrible body. *'Do it with the cold 
 steel." Whatever of valor or heroism was 
 displayed by such conduct was not under- 
 
 *McMaster's Hist. People U. S., Vol I. page 97. 
 
102 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 stood by the American savage. By him 
 this would have been regarded as childish 
 unwisdom and unmitigated waste of life. 
 
 The greatest of all earthly pleasures for 
 him was when, in the stillness of the dead 
 hour of the night, he aroused his sleeping 
 enemies with that unearthly yell that has 
 come to be one of the synonyms of things 
 most dreadful, and scalped and massacred 
 them without respect to age or sex, in the 
 light of their burning homes. 
 
 We have testimony from many cool and 
 brave men, among them a man no less 
 renowned than Sir William Johnson, of the 
 horrid character of the Indian yell; how 
 that no number of repetitions could strip 
 it of its terrors; how that, even though 
 anticipated, no heart was stout enough to 
 resist a qualm at its dreadful utterance; 
 how that the most experienced and most 
 steadfast stood momentarily paralyzed at 
 the first sound of this fiendish note; how 
 that to the very last at the sound of it 
 the blood ran cold, thought as well as 
 action seemed suspended and the heart 
 seemed to cease beating. 
 
 The contrast which this savage nature 
 presented in peace and war is indeed 
 striking. In time of war, when the hatchet 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 103 
 
 was dug up, the pipe of peace broken, the 
 war dance danced out, the incantations 
 finished, the medicine men consulted and 
 the chiefs and sachems had ended their 
 "big talks," then all was activity. On the 
 warpath he was patient, tireless and 
 undaunted. He would tramp all day in 
 the depth of winter, wade morasses, ford 
 streams, breast snowdrifts waist deep, 
 and lie down at night hungry and tireless, 
 wrapt in a scanty robe, to his miserable 
 rest, with perfect stoicism. 
 
 But after the campaign had ended and 
 the peace pipe had passed around and the 
 wampum belts had been exchanged, then 
 it is that we see the other side of this 
 astonishing character. He is lazy and 
 filthy. He gives himself over to sleep, 
 gluttony, debauchery, gambling and sloth. 
 He is like a child in fancy, but unlike men 
 of other races in reason. To attribute to 
 him fancy, merely, is not sufficient. He 
 has more than fancy; he has imagination. 
 As is natural to a being with lively imagi- 
 nation, unrestrained or corrected by the 
 faculty of logical reasoning, he is intensely 
 superstitious. Everything animate and 
 inanimate is clothed by him with super- 
 natural attributes. 
 
104 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 But of the chivalrous attitude towards 
 the other sex, of the romantic sentiment 
 of love, he was an utter stranger. Misery 
 or illness, misfortune or the sight of suf- 
 fering excited no pity in him. Pity was ab- 
 sent from the Indian breast; affection for 
 children, affection for his squaw was never 
 manifested by any of the marks which 
 enable us to measure such sentiment. His 
 squaw was his slave, and he brought her 
 to his wigwam to perform the most 
 menial duties and to minister to his wants. 
 He exhibited no more affection for 'T<augh- 
 ing Waters" or ^'Starlight" than a rabbit 
 does for its mate, nor did he gratify the 
 mother by any seeming affection for his 
 offspring. If he traveled, as most did, the 
 squaw trudged along, bearing the principal 
 burden, including the papoose, and if the 
 brave possessed a horse it was led by the 
 squaw, who still carried the papoose, the 
 horse bearing the wigwam and the few 
 rude domestic utensils of stone or sun- 
 baked clay, the lord of the outfit stalking 
 ahead free handed. If in time of peace 
 and repose, the squaw gathered the fuel, 
 hetcheled the soil, planted the maize, cared 
 for it and harvested the crop. She deco- 
 rated her lord's clothing with that peculiar 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 105 
 
 bead and feather work so characteristic of 
 the race. War and the chase were his only 
 serious occupations, and all manual labor, 
 all domestic care and all drudgery fell upon 
 the squaw. 
 
 The poetical and chivalrous heroes whom 
 we meet in the novels and poems of Cooper 
 and Longfellow never existed elsewhere. 
 
 The Indian, male as well as female, was 
 exceedingly fond of bright colors. The 
 most stolid and sedate brave would go into 
 ecstacies at sight of a red flannel shirt or 
 a string of variegated beads, and he would 
 willingly purchase a piece of bright-hued 
 cotton cloth by paying many times its 
 value in fine furs. 
 
 While at the Buffalo Exposition in 1902 
 I visited the Indian village and spent some 
 time there well entertained. The chief 
 attraction of the Indian exhibit was the 
 United States Government's prisoner, the 
 famous Geronimo, the conquered chief of 
 the Apaches. General Miles, who finally 
 subdued him and his tribe after the most 
 protracted of all Indian campaigns, de- 
 scribed him as the most blood-thirsty and 
 cruel of mankind. After one of the shoot- 
 ing and riding exhibitions given regularly 
 every day, my brother and I slipped into 
 
106 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 the enclosure and got somewhat behind 
 the scenes. While standing near what 
 seemed to be a sort of storeroom, contain- 
 ing some brooms, paint pails, pieces of 
 lumber, barrels, etc., we were delighted to 
 observe Geronimo wandering aimlessly 
 toward us, being off duty between exhibi- 
 tions, and seemingly seeking solitude. He 
 walked into the little room, and, keenly 
 examining everything, spied a barrel half 
 filled with yellow ochre. He wet his index 
 finger, dipped it into the barrel, threw a 
 furtive glance our way, placed his finger 
 at the juncture of his eyebrows and drew 
 a wide, yellow band down his broad cop- 
 per-colored nose. He was then an old man, 
 and I was reminded of ^'ruling passion 
 strong in death." 
 
 But I am admonished that I must cease 
 my general observations and become more 
 specific. Before doing so, however, I wish 
 to venture an opinion that, speaking 
 largely, and taking the average member 
 of any race as the standard of measure, I 
 doubt if the most highly civilized people 
 present a more complex mental and moral 
 organization than this same American 
 savage. 
 
 At the period when Rene Robert Cave- 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 107 
 
 lier, Sieur de La Salle, parted with Count 
 Frontenac at Quebec, resolved to traverse 
 the Mississippi to its mouth, the Indians 
 east of that river might have been divided 
 into three great families, the Mobilian, the 
 Algonquin and the Iroquois. 
 
 'Toremost in war, foremost in eloquence, 
 foremost in the savage arts of policy stood 
 the fierce people called by themselves 
 Hoden-os-aunee, and by the French the 
 Iroquois."* This name has come to be ap- 
 plied to a whole family of the same blood, 
 but as originally applied it included only 
 those tribes which are of present interest 
 to us; those dwelling within the present 
 limits of the State of New York. The 
 Iroquois, in the limited application of the 
 name, and as we think of them, consisted 
 of five tribes distributed across the State 
 from east to west in the order named : the 
 Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the 
 Cayugas and the Senecas. 
 
 They were a stationary people and abode 
 along the banks of the Mohawk River, 
 around the ''finger lakes" of central New 
 York and near the southern shore of Lake 
 
 *"The Conspiracy of Pont'iac," Vol. I, page 99, 
 Parkman. 
 
108 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 Ontario and along the beautiful Genesee 
 River. 
 
 With all their mental superiority they 
 had not advanced in the arts of living 
 beyond their Algonquin neighbors, except 
 in the matter of agriculture, which had, 
 compared with the conditions of the same 
 art in Europe, reached no mean state of 
 development. Denonville, in 1687, and 
 Count Frontenac, nine years later, found 
 the maize fields extending fully six miles 
 from their villages, and found immense 
 stores of corn among the Seneca settle- 
 ments and at Onondaga. And General 
 Sullivan in 1779 spoke with astonishment 
 of the quantities of foodstuffs, consisting 
 of corn, beans and squashes, found among 
 the Cayuga and Seneca settlements, and 
 of the extent and number and age of the 
 apple orchards. 
 
 Their geographical location, in a com- 
 paratively level country, conveniently in- 
 tersected in all directions by rivers, lakes, 
 and the great inland seas, together with 
 their stationary habits and agricultural 
 arts, no doubt contributed largely to their 
 dominating superiority. ''But the true 
 fountain of their success is to be found in 
 their inherent energy, wrought to the most 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 109 
 
 effective action under a political fabric 
 well suited to the Indian life; in their 
 mental and moral organization; in their 
 insatiable ambition and restless ferocity.* 
 In their scheme of government, as in 
 their social customs and religious rites, 
 the Iroquois displayed, in full symmetry 
 and matured strength, the character- 
 istics which in other tribes are merely 
 indicated, or have been withered at the 
 root, or are faintly visible in an imperfect 
 germ. Each of the five tribes had an or- 
 ganization of its own. Each had sachems 
 and subordinate chiefs who regulated its 
 internal affairs. But when any matter 
 arose which concerned the whole confed- 
 eracy, when foreign powers were to be 
 l;reated with; war to be declared; peace 
 to be concluded; whenever deliberation 
 seemed to be desirable, then all the sach- 
 ems of the several tribes were convened 
 in the great Council House at Onondaga, 
 and no matter how great the excitement 
 or how momentous the occasion, the ses- 
 sions were conducted with a dignity and 
 decorum, with a strict and undeviating 
 adherence to immemorial customs and 
 
 *"The Conspiracy of Pontiac," Vol. I, page 11, 
 Parkman. 
 
110 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 rules of procedure, which would have ex- 
 cited the wonder and admiration of the 
 Sanhedrim of Jerusalem, the English 
 House of Lords or the United States 
 Senate. 
 
 But the true secret of the indestruc- 
 tible vitality of the Iroquois confederacy 
 (which recognized no law and no author- 
 ity to enforce law except the moral law 
 of tradition and custom or usage) was the 
 system of totemship. "It was this which 
 gave the structure its elastic strength, 
 and but for this, a mere confederacy of 
 jealous and warlike tribes must soon have 
 been rent asunder by shocks from without 
 or discord from within."* At some 
 period lost to history it is probable that 
 all the scattered tribes of the Iroquois 
 family formed a single nation. For it is 
 certain that notwithstanding their separa- 
 tion into tribes, beneath and irrespective 
 of their tribal union the whole family were 
 bound together by eight totemic clans. 
 These totemic clans (the word clan being 
 used to avoid confusion with tribe or fam- 
 ily) were bound together with the closest 
 possible ties of fraternity, and must not be 
 
 *"The Conspiracy of Pontiac," Vol. I, page 13, 
 Parkman. 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 111 
 
 confused with the tribal organization or 
 with the organization of the Iroquois con- 
 federacy. Thus the confederacy was knit- 
 ted together, not only by tribal ties and 
 the confederated ties of the five tribes, but 
 by the singular and mysterious totemic in- 
 stitution which formed an additional eight- 
 fold bond, and to this hour the remnants 
 of these clans cling together, even as 
 against their tribal allegiance, with invin- 
 cible tenacity. To different totems attach 
 different degrees of rank and dignity. 
 That of the bear may be entitled to name 
 the chief sachem of the tribe; or that of 
 the wolf may be entitled to perform cer- 
 tain mystic or religious rites, and so on; 
 but each man is proud of his badge, and 
 will maintain its dignity and claim to rank 
 with his eloquence or with his life. One 
 of the sage customs interwoven with this 
 system of moral government, the impor- 
 tance of which cannot be over-estimated 
 in any consideration of this unique polity, 
 was the custom of descent in the female 
 line. The rudiments of this custom seem 
 to have been general among all families 
 and tribes, but the Iroquois adhered to it 
 with great rigidity and with evident ad- 
 vantage. The office of Sachem must pass 
 
112 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 not to the last chief's son, but to his 
 younger brother, or to his sister's son, or 
 to some collateral kinsman descended in 
 the female line. Thus the Sachem's power 
 is constantly deflected into the collateral 
 branches of his family, and one of the 
 strongest temptations to ambition was cut 
 off. Members of the same totemic clan 
 never inter-married. And if a brave of 
 the totem of the otter married a squaw 
 of the totem of the eagle, their offspring 
 belonged to the totem of the eagle, and not 
 of the otter. As has been said, the order 
 of descent was a custom merely, but an 
 inflexible custom. The Indian had no laws, 
 and recognized no executive power author- 
 ized to coerce or discipline or punish him. 
 Every man was the avenger of his own 
 wrong, and even the great Council at 
 Onondaga had no power to compel the exe- 
 cution of its decrees. It is a remarkable 
 fact, and one highly to the honor of the 
 Indian character, that reverence for cus- 
 tom and ancient usage, mere moral power, 
 exercised an authority over him which he 
 would not yield to any other power on 
 earth. 
 
 A minute study of this marvelous de- 
 mocracy of the forest, with its cunning 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 113 
 
 restraints, balances and counter-balances 
 upon the elementary impulses of the 
 human soul, might raise an interesting 
 query as to whether this system does not 
 deserve a place in that galaxy of ideal 
 republics made up of More's "Utopia," 
 Bacon's "New Atlantis," Campanella's 
 "City of the Sun," etc. 
 
 When Jacques Cartier first saw the St. 
 Lawrence (as late even as when Samuel 
 Champlain first saw the enchanting lake 
 which bears his name), the field of activ- 
 ity, or, to use a phrase in vogue in diplo- 
 macy, the Iroquois' "sphere of influence," 
 was confined within the limits of the ter- 
 ritory now embraced by the state of New 
 York. But by the middle of the 17th cen- 
 tury they had reached their maximum in 
 the solidity and tenacity of their confed- 
 eracy ; had attained their greatest numeri- 
 cal strength and physical development; 
 had cultivated that insensate ferocity and 
 inordinate pride (which led them to regard 
 all other races or tribes as children or as 
 "women") to the highest imaginable de- 
 gree, and seemed in all essentials mature 
 as a race for that extraordinary quarter 
 century of conquest which, I venture to 
 suggest, has never been excelled in the 
 
114 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 matter of the territory covered in the an- 
 nals of history. Their geographical loca- 
 tion contributed to their success. On the 
 east, their natural territory adjoined those 
 New England tribes which occupied so 
 much of the attention of the early Puritan. 
 These New England tribes were all of the 
 Algonquin family. The same may be said 
 of the country on the northeast and north 
 of the Iroquois. On the northwest were 
 other tribes of the Iroquois family — the 
 Wyandottes or Hurons, the Neutrals, and 
 Tobacco or Didondadies nations. On the 
 west, in closest proximity came the Eries, 
 and southwest and south the Andastes, 
 both of which were also members of the 
 Iroquois family ; and southeast, that great 
 tribe known to themselves as the Lenni 
 Lenape and to the English as the Dela- 
 wares. 
 
 Thus we see that with the exception of 
 the Tuscaroras, far, far to the south, all of 
 the Iroquois family, in and out of the con- 
 federacy, may fancifully be said to have 
 formed an island entirely surrounded by 
 the great Algonquin family. In 1649 the 
 cyclone broke. The Hurons, their kindred, 
 and the allies of the French, were the first 
 to receive the onslaught of the Iroquois. 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 115 
 
 In a single winter's campaign the power 
 of the Hurons was broken; as a nation 
 they were destroyed; some took refuge in 
 the frozen regions of Lake Superior ; some 
 fled toward Quebec, where they found a 
 permanent refuge, and some were ab- 
 sorbed by the Iroquois, after the insensate 
 fury of the squaws had been satiated with 
 the tortures of the captives. 
 
 This custom of adoption by the Iroquois 
 was common, and was expressed by a word 
 which meant "flesh cut into pieces and 
 scattered among the tribes," the brave 
 being sent to one tribe, the squaw to 
 another and the papoose to still another. 
 
 The Neutrals were the next to fall, fol- 
 lowed by the Eries, who in turn were fol- 
 lowed by the Andastes, the Delawares, the 
 Abenakis and the Ottawas, a numerous 
 people inhabiting the borders of the river 
 bearing their name — all sank under the 
 relentless fury of the confederacy. In 
 the north, in the west, and in the south, 
 the Iroquois' conquests embraced every ad- 
 jacent tribe; and meanwhile, and at one 
 and the same time, their war parties were 
 harassing the French colonists in Canada 
 with reiterated and almost continuous in- 
 
116 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 roads, and were yelling the warwhoop 
 under the very walls of Quebec. 
 
 Thus, in a period of less than a quarter 
 century, the nations most brave and 
 powerful of the North American savages 
 yielded to the arms of the confederacy. 
 Nor did their triumphs end here. Within 
 the same short period they penetrated the 
 mountain fastnesses of the Cherokees and 
 Chocktaws in west Georgia and the Caro- 
 linas with repeated and devastating for- 
 ays; spread havoc and dismay among the 
 distant Illinois ; and on the east, the tribes 
 of New England fled in terror and without 
 resistance at the first peal of the demoniac 
 yell of the Mohawk. *'Nor was it the In- 
 dians alone who quailed before this fero- 
 cious valor." The Colony of New France, 
 the darling dream of the Grand Monarque, 
 was sport in their hands; they defied the 
 power of Denonville, they jeered at the 
 threats of the redoubtable Frontenac; all 
 Canada shook with the fury of their on- 
 set; the people fled to the forts for 
 their lives; the blood-besmeared conquer- 
 ors roamed from settlement to settlement 
 like howling wolves, and while they scoffed 
 at the power of the great Sun King, his 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 117 
 
 colony and his subjects trembled on the 
 brink of ruin. 
 
 When the year 1675 had been reached 
 every tribe and nation from Quebec to 
 Lake Superior; from the Mississippi to 
 the Atlantic; from the Ottawa on the 
 north to the regions of the Cherokees on 
 the south, acknowledged submission to the 
 savage fury, the merciless craft, and the 
 boundless pride of the confederacy. Even 
 the Delawares (pre-eminent in the Algon- 
 quin family, and respectfully referred to 
 by the honorable designation of grand- 
 father of the family) were paying annual 
 tribute to the confederacy at the very time 
 of the making of the famous treaty with 
 Penn under the oak at Kensington, and 
 publicly acknowledged their subjection and 
 humiliation by recognizing and responding, 
 when addressed by an Iroquois, to the des- 
 ignation of "women." 
 
 When we pause and consider the numer- 
 ical strength of this haughty power, and 
 discover that at the beginning of what 
 might be called their foreign conquests, 
 when they were undoubtedly more numer- 
 ous than at any other time; when we be- 
 come satisfied from the most reliable au- 
 thorities that the united cantons of the 
 
118 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 dreaded confederacy could not have mus- 
 tered more than four thousand fighting 
 men, *'we stand amazed at the folly and 
 dissensions among their victims which left 
 so vast a region the prey of a handful of 
 bold marauders." 
 
 Such ferocious rage for slaughter as is 
 presented by this picture gives justifica- 
 tion for the belief expressed, either by 
 Fiske or Parkman, that the advent of the 
 white man in America positively retarded 
 the destruction and prolonged the exist- 
 ence of the American aborigines — such 
 was the devastating fury of their inter- 
 tribal warfare. 
 
 I doubt if any territory in the United 
 States east of the Mississippi of equal ex- 
 tent is so destitute of Indian interests as 
 that triangle in Pennsylvania bounded 
 north by the New York boundary line, east 
 and southeast by the east branch of the 
 Susquehanna, and west and southwest by 
 the west branch of the Susquehanna. It 
 is mountainous, almost without lakes, and 
 difficult of travel on foot, except in certain 
 narrow trails, few in number. As a last 
 resort for big game it was ideal, and that 
 it was regarded by the Indian as a hunt- 
 ing ground merely, and that it contained 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 119 
 
 no important permanent settlement, seems 
 to be provable and admitted. 
 
 That there were at least three well- 
 known trails passing through the terri- 
 tory embraced within this county is easily 
 susceptible of proof, and that there were 
 many convenient stopping places, used 
 from year to year as camping grounds, is 
 also provable. These trails or footpaths, 
 and these camping- grounds, sometimes 
 long unused and sometimes busy thorough- 
 fares, will, I hope, form the subject of an 
 interesting paper by some member of the 
 Society. But owing to its growing length, 
 they must not be discussed in this paper, 
 and I shall finish this rather inconclusive 
 article with a few more general observa- 
 tions. 
 
 Can it be doubted that by the end of 
 the third quarter of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury the Iroquois roamed through our 
 county with the same feeling of security 
 and proprietary rights that he felt on the 
 shores of Cayuga Lake ? No North Ameri- 
 can savage could at that time presume to 
 trespass so near the seat of that dread 
 power. While it is true that the Iroquois' 
 sphere of influence was somewhat re- 
 stricted during the period between 1675 
 
120 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 and 1775, yet it was due to the encroach- 
 ments of the white man, and not to any 
 of their savage rivals. And the Iroquois 
 remained stationary for a longer period 
 and to a later date than any other of the 
 savage nations. By 1775 the most eastern 
 settlements of any consequence belonging 
 to the Delawares were on the Ohio, and 
 although their prowess and valor had re- 
 moved the stigma of "women," they never 
 assumed, unaided by the white man, to 
 question again the superiority of the Iro- 
 quois. 
 
 Can it be doubted that a people who 
 would joyfully undertake a journey on 
 foot, and perhaps in the winter season, to 
 the Maine woods, or to the savannahs of 
 Georgia, or to the shores of the Missis- 
 sippi, would regard our beloved hills and 
 valleys, distant fifty or a hundred miles 
 from their ancient seats, in much the same 
 sense that we regard our woodland park? 
 I think not. I think the popular belief 
 that the last of the aborigines to frequent 
 this territory were the Senecas is correct. 
 They were in closest proximity, their seats 
 being due north; nature had provided 
 them with a natural thoroughfare, which 
 was not the case with the other nations 
 
ABORIGINAL INHABITANT 1^1 
 
 of the confederacy; they were at all peri- 
 ods of the confederacy the most numerous, 
 being in fact more numerous than any 
 two of the other nations at the zenith 
 of the confederacy's strength, and com- 
 prising about nine-twentieths of the total 
 number of the confederated braves. 
 
 If the last visitation of the Indian to 
 Tioga County could have been realized at 
 the time as such, what interest the visit 
 should have excited! Who he was, what 
 tribe he descended from, when and where 
 the visitation occurred, would furnish a 
 subject for an interesting though per- 
 haps fruitless inquiry. But if some inter- 
 loper of the white race, imbued with the 
 spirit of this society, had asked this last 
 red man who he was, it is conformable to 
 the facts of history that his naturally 
 spare and athletic body would have been 
 straightened with the pride of conscious 
 superiority, the most striking character- 
 istic of his race ; that he would have tossed 
 his large and Tartar-like countenance in 
 the air and have announced, with a grunt 
 of condescension, *T am a Seneca." 
 
WELLSBORO— TIOGA COUNTY 
 
 Modesty and mental superiority are the 
 chief characteristics of the people of Wells- 
 boro and vicinity. Nay, the same is true 
 of the whole county of Tioga. They con- 
 stantly strive to avoid publicity. And it 
 is probably these characteristics that cause 
 them to think so complaisantly of the 
 blunder made by the "Conscript Fathers" 
 in locating the National Capital in a swamp 
 on the banks of the Potomac. But these 
 ''Conscript Fathers" were little traveled, 
 and ignorant of the fact that the Happy 
 Valley of Rasselas might verily have been 
 found in the center of what is now Tioga 
 County. While their failure to locate 
 Washington on the site of Wellsboro is, 
 no doubt, a great misfortune for the 
 nation at large, it is an ill wind that blows 
 nobody good, and the fortunate ones are 
 keeping very quiet about the matter in 
 order to avoid jealous regret in the less 
 fortunate. 
 
 Wellsboro was founded in 1806 by 
 William Hill Wells of the state of Dela- 
 ware. It is a matter of no small satis- 
 faction to the natives of Wellsboro that so 
 
 122 
 
WELLSBORO 123 
 
 distinguished a man should have founded 
 the capital of Tioga County, and given his 
 name thereto. 
 
 His ancestry is traceable straight back 
 to William the Conqueror. He was a 
 United States Senator from Delaware, 
 both before and after the founding of 
 Wellsboro. He was a bold and hardy pio- 
 neer, as well as a brilliant lawyer and 
 statesman, and some people living else- 
 where say that he stamped his own char- 
 acteristics on all who have come after him 
 in Wellsboro. Be that as it may, it is 
 well known that while none have sought 
 greatness many have had greatness thrust 
 upon them. The many in question, how- 
 ever, have been those who have been un- 
 able longer to conceal their great merits 
 and have been drafted, as it were, into 
 some great calling to serve the common- 
 weal. 
 
 Many facts might be marshaled in sup- 
 port of the theory that Senator Wells 
 stamped upon all who were to come after 
 him his own genius for office-holding, his 
 eloquence and bold initiative. Some of 
 these facts will be mentioned later. But 
 another theory has been latterly advanced, 
 fostered and promoted by certain bad- 
 
124 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 tempered people. In Froude's novel, "The 
 Two Chiefs of Dunboy," the Irish hero is 
 made to exclaim — "Why is it that no 
 Irishman can succeed in life until after 
 he has become expatriated?" Now these 
 evil-minded people referred to have the 
 effrontery to address this same inquiry to 
 the people of Tioga County — "Why is it 
 that no person born in Tioga County 
 can succeed until after he has left the 
 County?" Every one in or from Tioga 
 County knows that this theory is ridicu- 
 lous for two reasons — one being that no 
 one from that fortunate region ever was 
 or could become expatriated ; for no matter 
 what unkind necessity causes him to so- 
 journ elsewhere, he still lives and moves 
 and has his being in memory and affection 
 in Tioga County. This idea has been re- 
 cently expressed by a local poet through 
 the medium of prose much more eloquently 
 than I could do, and I therefore quote — 
 "Every Tioga County man or woman, no 
 matter where he may roam, score high, 
 score low, or score not at all, holds it in 
 his heart that some day he is coming back 
 home. The call of the hills is ever in his 
 blood. No matter what success he may 
 achieve, no matter what failure may be 
 
WELLSBORO 125 
 
 his, he is coming back to pass his re- 
 maining days in the rugged sweet envi- 
 ronment of his nativity. And, Hkely, if 
 he defers his coming till strength wanes 
 so that he cannot make it while alive, the 
 call of the hills is so keen in the blood that 
 it is among his last requests to be laid 
 away in the valleys of his boyhood, which 
 ever recall those happy days, that in some 
 way it may bring satisfaction to his life- 
 less clay." 
 
 And the other reason is that certain 
 ones find the pace too fast at home and 
 are pushed off the edge, as it were, and 
 go into new fields to seek their fortunes; 
 but even these are made happy by the 
 fond ambition to come back home to spend 
 their declining years, and to find decent 
 burial. 
 
 To the contrary, many facts may be 
 marshaled in support of the theory that 
 Senator Wells stamped his own character- 
 istics upon all of his spiritual descendants. 
 For although our people modestly strive 
 to avoid his tendency towards ofRce-hold- 
 ing and for doing bold and original things 
 generally, they are not, alas! always suc- 
 cessful. The truth could best be illus- 
 trated by facts about home folks; but to 
 
126 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 mention them would incur their displeas- 
 ure, because of their insuperable mod- 
 esty. And so I am driven to mention 
 some who repose in the cemeteries of 
 Tioga County, and some who hope to do 
 so — the former being indifferent, and the 
 latter, being widely scattered, unable to 
 protest in unison. The few referred to 
 are not mentioned with any attempt at 
 chronological order, professional grouping, 
 or otherwise than hit or miss, and I pre- 
 sume that the most distinguished will be 
 thoughtlessly omitted. At any rate here 
 goes: 
 
 Victor A. Elliott, the first Chief Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of Colorado; 
 Fred S. Bailey, who represented the City 
 of Denver in the Colorado Senate; Ben- 
 jamin F. Bush, at present President of 
 the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Denver 
 and Rio Grande Railroad, the St. Louis & 
 Iron Mountain Railroad, and the Western 
 Pacific Railroad, and who is regarded 
 as the greatest railroad manager in the 
 country; Mortimer F. Elliott, Chief Coun- 
 sel of the Standard Oil Company; B. F. 
 Puffer of the Aeolian Building, New York 
 City, who has revolutionized the art of 
 photography and easily leads all others 
 
WELLSBORO 127 
 
 in his calling; F. A. Van Valkenburg, 
 President of the Board of Mercantile Ap- 
 praisers of Philadelphia; Albert P. Cone, 
 Assistant to the Chief Engineer of the 
 Rock Island Lines; Jerome B. Niles, once 
 Auditor General of the State; and John 
 B. Cassoday, his cousin, author of "Cas- 
 soday on Wills," and once Chief Justice 
 of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. 
 
 One of the finest exhibitions of pro- 
 verbial Tioga County modesty and mag- 
 nanimity occurred in 1909. When Roose- 
 velt sent the battleship fleet around the 
 world all of the commanders of the 
 sixteen dreadnoughts should have been 
 chosen from our county if merit alone 
 counted, but out of consideration for the 
 remaining ninety millions of our people, 
 Tioga renounced her natural prerogative 
 and only one battleship was commanded 
 by a Tioga County man — Captain Nathan 
 E. Niles, of Wellsboro, Commander of the 
 Maine. 
 
 J. Philip Schmand, of Wellsboro, now so- 
 journing in New York City, is one of the 
 most distinguished portrait painters in 
 America, and numbers among his sitters 
 not only many prominent Americans but 
 many of the foreign potentates who have 
 
128 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 visited this country during the last ten 
 years. 
 
 Walter T. Merrick, for twelve years 
 Naval Officer of the Port of Philadelphia; 
 Dr. R. Y. Sullivan, one of the leading phy- 
 sicians of Washington, D. C. ; Dr. John 
 E. Bacon, now a State Senator, the lead- 
 ing surgeon in the State of Arizona, pro- 
 prietor of a private hospital at Miami, 
 which has become renowned throughout 
 the southwest ; Dr. H. J. Donaldson, Chief 
 Surgeon of the Williamsport General Hos- 
 pital, and whose reputation as a skillful 
 operator is more than State-wide; Dr. J. 
 B. Carnett of the faculty of the Univer- 
 sity of Pennsylvania, and one of the 
 most eminent surgeons of the State; Dr. 
 Mary Baldwin, who for many years has 
 been the leading physician in Newport, 
 R. I., and her sister, Dr. Kate Baldwin, who 
 is numbered among the leading physicians 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
 When President Wilson came to the 
 point of selecting a Cabinet it seemed 
 easy enough until he took up the new 
 portfolio, that of Secretary of Labor. 
 Where was he to find an expert to organ- 
 ize a new department of the National 
 Government? Where was he to find a 
 
WELLSBORO 129 
 
 man who knew best and understood most 
 perfectly the ambitions and desires of 
 Labor, and who also had due regard for 
 the relation of these ambitions and de- 
 sires to the welfare of the country at 
 large ? Quite naturally he turned for such 
 a man to the State where the most work 
 is done. And having invaded Pennsyl- 
 vania on such a mission his destination 
 was a foregone conclusion. He came to 
 Tioga County and took William B. Wilson 
 into his Cabinet. 
 
 In this connection it is worth while to 
 mention that at the wedding of Miss 
 Eleanor Wilson to Mr. McAdoo, the guests 
 invited to the White House were limited 
 to the number of sixty. This was said 
 to be due to the fact of the recent death 
 of the bride's mother. Well, as might 
 have been expected, Miss Agnes Wilson 
 of Tioga County was among the guests. 
 
 Either just north or just south of the 
 New York State line lies the farm and 
 homestead of Lawrence 0. Murray, for- 
 merly Controller of the Currency; but as 
 Elkland, Tioga County, two or three miles 
 distant, is his postofRce and shipping and 
 trading point, he desires to be numbered 
 among us, and we cheerfully consent. 
 
 9 
 
130 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 We might also mention William A. 
 Stone, a former Governor of Pennsyl- 
 vania; Eleanor Larrison, a distinguished 
 literary woman and lecturer, residing in 
 Chicago; Henry W. Williams, late a Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ; 
 Ada Bache Cone, famous as a journalist, 
 and for years a special correspondent from 
 Paris to leading English and American 
 magazines; Morton S. Bailey, at present 
 one of the Justices of the Supreme Court 
 of Colorado; Thomas A. Crichton, for- 
 merly Deputy Auditor General under two 
 administrations, and the present Cashier 
 of the State Treasury; H. H. Rockwell, 
 born in Lawrence Township, now residing 
 in Elmira, New York, and who formerly 
 represented in Congress the Schemung, 
 Gates, Steuben and Schuyler District; 
 Major Cassius M. Gillette, well known to 
 Philadelphians in connection with the 
 turning up of scandals growing out of the 
 Torresdale and Lardner's Point Filtration 
 Plants, and to the country generally in 
 connection with the conviction of Greene 
 and Gaynor on proofs furnished by him 
 to the War Department as to scandals in 
 Savannah and Charleston harbors; Dr. 
 Myra Reynolds, professor of English lit- 
 
WELLSBORO 131 
 
 erature, Chicago University; Frederic W. 
 Fleitz, who resigned as First Deputy At- 
 torney General of Pennsylvania after a 
 continuous service of eleven years to de- 
 vote himself to private practice ; Margaret 
 Bailey, instructor in German at Smith 
 College, Massachusetts; E. A. Van Val- 
 kenburg, President and Editor of 'The 
 North American" newspaper, Philadel- 
 phia; Timothy W. Evans, Assistant Gen- 
 eral Manager, New York Central Railroad, 
 with headquarters at New York; M. J. 
 McMahon, who although still a young man, 
 is General Traffic Manager, New Orleans 
 Great Northern Railroad, with headquar- 
 ters at New Orleans ; Fred E. Beauge, Sec- 
 retary, Central Pennsylvania Lumber Com- 
 pany, headquarters Williamsport. 
 
 Reminiscences of this kind would be 
 inexcusably careless if mention was omit- 
 ted of that remarkable triumvirate, our 
 Edwards boys. These brothers, Thomas 
 H., William C, and J. G. Edwards, have 
 held at different times pretty nearly all 
 the public offices in the State of Kansas, 
 from Governor down. They have been 
 Legislators, Registers of Wills, Post Mas- 
 ters of Wichita, Cabinet officers, etc. All 
 this might have happened at home, but 
 
132 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 they have done some things peculiar to 
 their surroundings. For instance, one of 
 them is a pioneer and one of the chief 
 promoters of the Dry Farming Congresses 
 which have revolutionized the State and 
 put it in the forefront of the agricultural 
 communities of the world. But this re- 
 markable Edwards family, true to the 
 Tioga County tradition, left the flower of 
 the flock at home. 
 
 During the session of the Legislature 
 of 1915, Governor Brumbaugh held sev- 
 eral conferences with leading members of 
 both Houses, in order to explain and dis- 
 cuss his legislative program. The pre- 
 siding officers and three other members 
 of each House were invited to these con- 
 ferences. No surprise was occasioned by 
 the fact that two of the three members 
 invited from the House were sons of 
 Tioga County — Henry L Wilson repre- 
 senting Jefferson County, and George W. 
 Williams of Wellsboro. 
 
 Dr. Isadore Unger of Ithaca, New York, 
 the leading physician (by common con- 
 sent) of that University town; Ray Pres- 
 ton Bowen, professor of Romance lan- 
 guages, Huron College, South Dakota; 
 Rev. Clayton R. Bowen, professor of the 
 
WELLSBORO 133 
 
 New Testament, Meadville Theological 
 College, Meadville, Pa.; Charles Grosvenor 
 Osgood, professor of English, Princeton 
 University; Augustus F. Shaw, professor 
 of Mathematics in the Missionary College, 
 Sao Paulo, Brazil; Benjamin J. Bowen, 
 Traffic Engineer and Director, New Eng- 
 land (Bell) Telephone Company, Boston; 
 Dr. Emily Reynolds, at one time Presi- 
 dent of Rockford College, Illinois; Henry 
 Hastings, nominally Auditor and Assist- 
 ant Treasurer of The Pittsburgh-Shaw- 
 mut Railroad Company, and who holds the 
 same offices in the Shawmut Mining Com- 
 pany, with headquarters at St. Mary's, 
 Pa. I am informed, however, by those 
 having knowledge of the facts upon which 
 to base such a judgment, that he is and 
 has been for many years the controlling 
 mind in both these prosperous and well- 
 managed corporations. 
 
 John I. Mitchell, one of the most promi- 
 nent figures in public life during the last 
 generation. Elected to a full term in the 
 United States Senate in 1881. Elected to 
 the Superior Court of Pennsylvania in 
 1900; George C. Signor, formerly super- 
 intendent of the Medico-Chirurgical Hos- 
 pital, Philadelphia, and at present Super- 
 
134 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 infendent of the State Institution for the 
 Feeble-Minded and Epileptic at Spring 
 City, Chester County. His administrative 
 methods in connection with this great in- 
 stitution have attracted the attention of 
 all persons connected with the executive 
 and fiscal departments of the State gov- 
 ernment, and the result of his manage- 
 ment has been to establish the high-water 
 mark for scientific efficiency and economy 
 of cost, as well as for intelligent, sympa- 
 thetic and humane treatment of the un- 
 fortunates under his care. 
 
 Simon B. Elliott at the age of eighty- 
 six is a very active member of the State 
 Forestry Reservation Commission. Mr. 
 Elliott's career has been very noteworthy. 
 Many years ago he was a member of the 
 Legislature from Tioga County and at 
 that time had established a reputation 
 for being the most skillful mining engi- 
 neer and the most learned geologist in the 
 northern tier. In 1883 he was employed 
 by the Bell, Lewis & Yates Coal Mining 
 Company to purchase and develop large 
 tracts of coal areas in the western part 
 of the State, and opened and operated as 
 General Manager what was for some 
 twenty years the largest producing mine 
 
WELLSBORO 135 
 
 in the world. Six years after Mr. Elliott 
 took charge of the operations of this com- 
 pany, it purchased the Buffalo, Rochester 
 & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company, and 
 Mr. Elliott was made General Manager 
 of this company also. After the con- 
 solidation the output of coal rose to the 
 enormous figures of 14,000,000 tons an- 
 nually, and never fewer than 5,000 miners 
 were employed. He is one of the most 
 widely learned men in the State, and his 
 interest in all current topics is unflagging. 
 Every faculty and function of body and 
 mind is fully preserved, and contact with 
 him is an educational pleasure. Henry 
 G. Kress, for many years owner and 
 editor of the Manitowoc Herald (Wis- 
 consin), one of the most influential news- 
 papers of the northwest. As postmaster 
 of that city he has just completed the 
 longest term ever held by any man in 
 the United States where Presidential 
 nomination and confirmation by the Sen- 
 ate is required. Hamlin E. Cogswell, 
 Supervisor of Music in the public schools 
 of the District of Columbia. 
 
 We are proud to mention as specimen 
 products of Tioga County, John B. Emery 
 and James Thomas, both of Williamsport, 
 
136 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 for many years past and at present among 
 the most prominent in business and civic 
 affairs in that model city; John W. Ryon, 
 who migrated to Pottsville, Schuylkill 
 County, acknowledged by the bar of the 
 State to have been the greatest land 
 lawyer of his time; Norman H. Ryan 
 (spelled by the other members of this 
 distinguished family ''Ryon"), who left 
 our county to locate in Illinois, where he 
 became one of the leaders of the Bar of 
 that State, and incidentally served in 
 many important public positions, includ- 
 ing Legislator, Presidential Elector, etc.; 
 Homer B. Howe, distinguished as one of 
 the highest authorities in the State on 
 scientific fruit culture, and now General 
 Manager of the Fleitz-Sproul farms in 
 Cumberland, Columbia and Wyoming 
 Counties; Edwin S. Potter, one of the 
 Editors of "Equity," one of the leading 
 journals of progressive thought in the 
 country ; Frank Hastings, President of the 
 Second National Bank of Altoona, one of 
 the ablest bankers in the State, and ad- 
 mittedly the most popular man in the city 
 of his adoption; Dr. Merton English, one 
 of the leading physicians of Washington, 
 D. C. ; Homer Cox, Chief Engineer of the 
 
WELLSBORO 137 
 
 Scranton Water & Gas Company; Harry 
 L. Dartt, Chief Engineer of the Scranton 
 Traction Company; George D. Mitchell, 
 one of the founders and the present editor 
 of "The Pathfinder," published at Wash- 
 ington, D. C. ; Alfred J. Niles, Assistant 
 City Solicitor of Philadelphia; Stephen 
 Stone, one of the leading corporation law- 
 yers of Pittsburgh and in the forefront 
 of the junior bar of the State; Charles N. 
 Kimball of Sistersville, West Virginia, 
 who, though still in middle life, has a 
 state-wide reputation as a lawyer and 
 publicist, and was one of the most potent 
 factors in bringing about prohibition of the 
 liquor traffic in that State; John C. Knox, 
 Judge Advocate of the United States 
 Army during the Civil War, Attorney 
 General of Pennsylvania, and Justice of 
 the Supreme Court. 
 
 The mention of distinguished emigrants 
 from Tioga who either have done or are 
 doing a large measure of the world's 
 work might be continued "till the cows 
 come home," and as stated in the begin- 
 ning probably the most distinguished 
 have been thoughtlessly omitted. All 
 fields of human activities have been sue- 
 
138 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 cessfully invaded — the so-called learned 
 professions, war, politics, the fine arts, 
 literature, and the sciences. 
 
 The records of the War Department re- 
 veal the fact that Pennsylvania furnished 
 more volunteer soldiers to the Union 
 Army during the Civil War, in propor- 
 tion to its population, than did any other 
 State, and that Tioga furnished a greater 
 proportion to its population than did any 
 other county in Pennsylvania. So much 
 for Tioga's fighting edge and patriotism. 
 
 It has been said by some one who spoke 
 with authority that central England is so 
 rich with legends and folklore that every 
 square mile would furnish themes for a 
 volume of poetry or romance. The same 
 might be said of every square furlong of 
 Tioga County. And but for the untimely 
 death of George W. Sears, better known 
 under his pen name ''Nessmuk," traveler, 
 woodcraftsman, philosopher, and our 
 local great poet, this wealth of raw ma- 
 terial would no doubt have been trans- 
 formed into "something rich and strange," 
 and Tioga would have come into her own. 
 Poor Nessmuk! Poor Humanity! With- 
 out education, except his knowledge of 
 
WELLSBORO 139 
 
 English Poetry and of the great book of 
 Nature; with a fragile body and poor 
 health; with nothing between him and 
 chill penury but the cobbler's trade, the 
 wonder is that he did so much in the realm 
 of true poetry. If his life had been lived 
 under fortunate auspices — I am not as- 
 suming to define what fortunate auspices 
 for a poet might be — the "Divine spark'' 
 which he certainly possessed might have 
 been kindled earlier and burned more 
 steadily. But instead of indulging in vain 
 regret, we should congratulate ourselves 
 that our heritage from Nessmuk is so 
 great. He has a following, a cult among 
 choice spirits which is nation wide — Si cult 
 as surely as has Browning or Walt Whit- 
 man. The devotees of Nessmuk delight 
 in the memory of his spirit, and of his 
 written word, and rejoice in their hearts 
 with a secret gusto at the consciousness 
 that nature has endowed them with the 
 spirit and the temperament to know and 
 love her from Nessmuk's peculiar angle 
 of vision. Nessmuk was not only a poet, 
 he was a naturalist, big game hunter, 
 trout fisherman, wise in woodcraft, and 
 a philosopher. His social views were ex- 
 
140 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 tremely radical — to use mild terms — and 
 were regarded by his conventional and 
 conservative neighbors as those of a near- 
 outlaw. I suspect that the extreme lan- 
 guage in which his opinions were often 
 expressed was somewhat of a pose, an 
 overexpression of his real views — but 
 the practice persisted, however, for a life- 
 time and colored much of his writ- 
 ings. Three characteristics overshadow 
 all others in his works, and the reader is 
 almost always conscious of all three, 
 whether the form be verse or prose. First, 
 is the poetic impulse, the Divine afflatus; 
 second, the wisdom of the great naturalist 
 and nature lover; and, third, his bitter and 
 cynically expressed dissatisfaction at the 
 existing social order. That these were the 
 most outstanding features of his character 
 may be easily demonstrated in the most 
 agreeable manner. James Whitcomb Riley 
 never saw Nessmuk in the flesh, but he did 
 know his poems; and just about the time 
 of Nessmuk's death Riley published on ode 
 to "Nessmuk." I incorporate the ode here 
 with the gracious permission of the author 
 and his publishers. How regrettable that 
 it did not meet Nessmuk's eye! 
 
WELLSBORO 141 
 
 *NESSMUK 
 
 "I hail thee, Nessmuk, for the lofty tone 
 Yet simple grace that marks thy poetry! 
 True forester thou art, and still to be, 
 
 Even in happier fields than thou hast known. 
 
 Thus, in glad visions, glimpses am I shown 
 Of groves delectable — "preserves" for thee, 
 Ranged but by friends of thine — I name thee 
 three. 
 
 First, Chaucer, with his bald old pate new-grown 
 With changeless laurel; next, in Lincoln-green, 
 
 Gold-belted, bowed and bugled, Robin Hood; 
 And next, Ike Walton, patient and serene; 
 
 These three, O Nessmuk, gathered hunter-wise. 
 
 Are camped on hither slopes of Paradise, 
 To hail thee first and greet thee, as they should." 
 
 What a complete understanding is herein 
 displayed ! Many chapters, a volume, might 
 and should be written about Nessmuk, but 
 the writer is mute after reading such an 
 exquisite summation, such a lyric gem, 
 such a perfect exemplification of "multum 
 in parvo." 
 
 In passing I must not fail to remark 
 that he did more to bring the attention 
 of the public to the Adirondack region than 
 
 *From the Biographical Edition of the Complete 
 Works of James Whitcomb Riley, Copyright 1913, 
 Used by special permission of the publishers, The 
 Bobbs-Merrill Company. 
 
142 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 any one else, except perhaps Murray; and 
 is also the author of ''Forest Runes," and 
 "Woodcraft," the latter now used as a 
 text-book by Boy Scouts. 
 
 Some worthy successor to Nessmuk is 
 certain to arise in our midst and find ready 
 at hand this mine of rough poetic jewels. 
 He will find his latitude great, ranging 
 from pastoral to epic themes. I am moved 
 to substantiate this assertion to those 
 blessed with imagination by giving a few 
 truthful tales which the most unsympa- 
 thetic and prosaic must admit are clothed 
 in a truly poetic atmosphere. The follow- 
 ing will be recognized as a bucolic theme. 
 
 A prominent man in Wellsboro, after- 
 wards prominent throughout the state, 
 owned a cow. Keeping a cow for domestic 
 needs is common with rich and poor in 
 Wellsboro. The cov/ got sick, and a local 
 cow doctor was called. He made an exam- 
 ination, pronounced the case grave and 
 requested the calling of another cow doc- 
 tor for consultation. All good cow doctors 
 are convivial. Consultation was had, but 
 no diagnosis agreed upon. In fact, a dis- 
 pute arose, one holding to ''wolf in the 
 tail," the other to "lost cud." The only 
 common opinion was that a third cow doc- 
 
WELLSBORO 143 
 
 tor, who owned a cow book, should be 
 called in consultation. This was done, and 
 after the cow book had been read aloud for 
 an hour by the light of a lantern, in the 
 presence of the other doctors and the cow, 
 the owner of the book pronounced the case 
 "hollerhorn." Each contended firmly for 
 his opinion, but all agreed that hot bran 
 mash mixed with spiritus frumenti (scien- 
 tific name for drug store whiskey) was 
 desirable for the cow under any theory of 
 disease. This was requisitioned, and later 
 in the evening the prescription was re- 
 filled. The consultation continued during 
 the entire night, and towards morning the 
 cow died. The doctors skinned the cow 
 and divided her raiment among them in 
 consideration for professional services. 
 The owner paid for a decent burial and 
 the medicine. The cause of death remains 
 a scientific mystery. 
 
 This tale, though certainly pastoral, may 
 be thought to be too tragic in its ending, 
 and I will, therefore, add a couple more 
 specimens against which this objection 
 cannot be urged by the future poet when 
 hunting material. 
 
 Uncle Jimmy Kelly was for many years 
 Station Agent of the old Fall Brook Rail- 
 
144 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 road, the first to penetrate our County, at 
 Tioga Village. Those were the "good old 
 days," .and customs were different from 
 those of the present time. Sixty years ago 
 Uncle Jimmy not only kept the station- 
 house, but in the same building he kept a 
 boardinghouse and inn, a grocery store and 
 grogshop. 
 
 In his latter years he lived with his 
 daughter, Mrs. Peter Donehue, near 
 Mitchell's Creek. He was possessed of 
 much native ability and had a rudimentary 
 education, as might be inferred from the 
 important position he held in the com- 
 munity for so many years. 
 
 Once upon a time, when Uncle Jimmy 
 was about ninety years of age, a friend 
 of mine and I found ourselves in Uncle 
 Jimmy's neighborhood. After visiting 
 scenes of many youthful exploits, my 
 friend proposed that we visit Uncle Jimmy, 
 in the hope of getting him to relate a par- 
 ticular bit of philosophy with which my 
 friend was familiar, but which I never 
 had heard at first hand. We tramped a 
 mile under the sun to Peter Donehue's 
 house and found the old man comfortably 
 seated in a commodious armchair, looking 
 hale and hearty. He greeted us cheerily 
 
WELLSBORO 145 
 
 and my friend began maneuvering to draw 
 the desired recital. Although we were con- 
 vinced that our host knew at once what 
 we wished, a full half hour was occupied 
 in backing and filling before the spirit 
 moved him, when he spoke as follows : "I 
 must tell you a bit of wisdom I learned 
 from Lord Chesterfield, the best-mannered 
 and finest gentleman in England. His son 
 was away at school and his father wrote 
 him like this : 'Me son (says Lord Chester- 
 field), as your going through life there's 
 but two alter-natives, says he, aither the 
 extreamest politeness or the sword; lave 
 janglin' to weemen.' " 
 
 The mention of Peter Donehue reminds 
 me of an anecdote of that dignified Irish- 
 man which should be here noted. Done- 
 hue's dwelling house was not far below 
 that of Captain Buel Baldwin, father-in- 
 law of the late Judge John I. Mitchell. In 
 a certain year the buckwheat crop in Tioga 
 County gave unusual promise of abund- 
 ance, but early in September there came a 
 killing frost and the buckwheat was laid 
 prostrate and completely ruined. Mr. 
 Donehue reviewed the havoc in his field 
 in the morning with a calm but sad heart. 
 He crossed the road and found the same 
 -. 10 
 
146 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 condition on the old Mulford farm, and 
 then moved up the road to Captain Bald- 
 win's. Just as he came to a view of the 
 ruin in the Captain's fields he encountered 
 the Captain himself, and the following 
 formal exchange took place : "Fine morn- 
 ing, Mr. Donehue," said Captain Baldwin. 
 "Fine morning. Captain Baldwin," said 
 Mr. Donehue. "Have you any other obser- 
 vation on the weather you would like to 
 make, Mr. Donehue?" said Captain Bald- 
 win. "I have no further observation to 
 make on the weather, Captain Baldwin," 
 said Mr. Donehue, "but I would like to 
 make one general observation." "What is 
 it, Mr. Donehue?" said Captain Baldwin. 
 "Allow me to observe. Captain Baldwin," 
 said Mr. Donehue, "that it is a wonderful 
 war when every man's killed." After 
 which cryptic utterance Mr. Donehue with- 
 out further delay betook himself home- 
 ward. 
 
 The next idyl suggests the lyric. 
 
 A certain well-known painter of our 
 town was possessed of intermittent bibu- 
 lous habits, which (it is just to state) have 
 been abandoned for more regular ones of 
 a less taxing nature. A prominent lady 
 made an engagement with the painter for 
 
WELLSBORO 147 
 
 a certain day to wax and polish floors. The 
 painter failed to appear and the lady- 
 lodged a protest with her husband, as if 
 he were a party to the transaction, about 
 the painter's non-appearance. The hus- 
 band suggested, by way of excuse, that he 
 had heard that a few days past the painter 
 had met with an accident, that he had 
 ''fallen off the water wagon." Nothing 
 more was said on the subject. But as the 
 particular sprinkling cart that passed 
 daily before the lady's house was very high 
 above the trucks, she was, as subsequent 
 events proved, sufficiently impressed. 
 
 A few days later the painter appeared. 
 He was made welcome and went to work. 
 The lady and painter being on friendly 
 terms, she congratulated him upon getting 
 so well over his accident. The painter, 
 without displaying his guilty conscious- 
 ness and being really curious to know what 
 the lady had in mind, asked what accident 
 she referred to. She replied that she had 
 heard that he had fallen off the water 
 wagon. The painter took in the situation 
 at a glance and gravely stated that he was 
 lucky to get off without broken bones, and 
 that in the future he would take no more 
 chances with a water wagon. Of course. 
 
148 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 it was the painter who gave the story cur- 
 rency, as he was the only person in pos- 
 session of all the fun at the beginning. 
 
 By means of a natural and orderly pro- 
 gression we may be said to have reached 
 the epic stage, and having reached it our 
 material is ready at hand. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS TREE AT MT. ZION 
 CHURCH 
 
 When the writer was a young man he 
 was elected Justice of the Peace at Wells- 
 boro and served a term in that ancient and 
 honorable office. Among other duties was 
 that of cutting the tips off the ears of 
 noxious animals killed by hunters for the 
 bounties as well as for the pelts. One 
 day about the middle of January, Mr. 
 Jonas Smith, a well-known resident of 
 Charleston Township, which lies adjacent 
 to Wellsboro on the east, came into my 
 office with a gunnysack over his shoulder 
 filled with fox pelts. Smith's personal ap- 
 pearance was indeed startling. One arm 
 was in a sling on his breast; one eye was 
 concealed by a bandage passing round the 
 head and tied at the back, while the other 
 eye, though open, was "black" down to 
 the cheek bone. The lower half of one ear 
 
WELLSBORO 149 
 
 seemed to be held in place with adhesive 
 plaster, and a patch of the same material 
 about an inch square adhered to the top of 
 a lump on the point of his jaw. 
 
 Smith was a very husky, two-fisted indi- 
 vidual, quiet and inoffensive enough when 
 sober, but quarrelsome and pugnacious 
 when drunk. He delighted in a brawl just 
 for the love of it, and without much care 
 as to consequences. He had a band of pals 
 living in the same neighborhood, of the 
 same general characteristics — all delight- 
 ing in whiskey and brawls in varying pref- 
 erence, some preferring whiskey to brawls, 
 some brawls to whiskey. 
 
 These enterprising citizens of Charles- 
 ton, for a period covering some years, 
 were wont to come down from their native 
 haunts from time to time and enliven the 
 pastoral quiet of the village, first by quick- 
 ening the stream of commerce at the sev- 
 eral hotel bars, and then beating up various 
 of our citizens, and usually getting, inci- 
 dentally, beaten up in return. 
 
 Time and wisdom have softened the 
 enthusiasm of these jolly souls and they 
 are now quite sedate and well-ordered; 
 that is, those who have not succumbed to 
 the unequal fight with booze. 
 
150 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 Upon the occasion of the fox pelts, 
 Smith dropped into a chair, apparently a 
 good deal exhausted by his walk into town, 
 and after I had looked him over with mani- 
 fest interest, the following conversation 
 ensued: "Was it a railroad collision?" I 
 said, to which Jonas replied with a mild 
 *'No." "Dynamite explosion?" I inquired, 
 to which he made the same laconic reply, 
 "No." "Were you run over by a traction 
 engine?" I ventured. Same rejoinder, "No." 
 My curiosity now being thoroughly en- 
 listed, I abandoned my suggestive form of 
 interrogatory and said: "Well, Jonas, what 
 was it?" To which he replied simply, 
 "Christmas tree up at Mount Zion 
 Church." 
 
 It is here stated for the benefit of those 
 unfortunates whose education is defective 
 by reason of unfamiliarity with Wellsboro 
 and vicinity that Mount Zion Church is a 
 modest Gothic temple crowning a height of 
 ground in the middle of a Maxfield Parish 
 landscape, and is distant about one mile 
 from the borough limits and about two 
 miles from the heart of the town. For 
 many years past, owing to the improved 
 means of conveyance and the number and 
 commodiousness of the village churches. 
 
WELLSBORO 151 
 
 services at Mount Zion Church have been 
 intermittent and mostly social or religo- 
 social in character, as, for instance, a 
 ''Christmas tree." 
 
 When Jonas informed me that the cause 
 of his battered and forlorn condition was 
 a Christmas tree at Mount Zion Church, 
 my surprise and amusement, though great, 
 were dissembled, for I wanted details, and 
 Jonas was in a serious mood and not dis- 
 posed to mirth. After considerable coax- 
 ing I got this plain, unvarnished tale: 
 
 "Well, it was like this: A few of the 
 boys — Archie LaMont, Duffy Jacobs, Mont 
 Bellinger, Dock Jones and myself — thought 
 we would come downtown and celebrate 
 Christmas Eve a little, but as there was 
 nothin' much goin' on down here we started 
 home early to hang up our stockin's, and 
 had to walk. When we got up to the Poor 
 House turn we noticed Mount Zion Church 
 all lighted up, and when we got up to the 
 church we peeked in the windows and saw 
 it was a neighborhood party. In one of 
 the front corners was a big Christmas tree 
 all covered over with gold and silver lace, 
 and lighted up with candles. There was 
 all kinds of presents on it, and some that 
 was too big to hang was huddled round 
 
152 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 under it. So we all walked in and took 
 seats in the front. Everything was going 
 along all right till one of the boys (Archie, 
 I think) asked Mrs. Schimpf whether 
 Santy Glaus had left anything particular 
 for him or whether he should just help 
 himself. Just after this I remember of 
 seein' John Ludlam reach up and pick off 
 a double-bladed axe handle with a pink 
 ribbon tied on it, and at the same time I 
 saw Frank Peake reach for a new Bissell 
 carpet sweeper with a blue ribbon tied on 
 it, and then I seen Gharley Schimpf reach 
 for a stove poker that didn't have any rib- 
 bon tied on it. When I came to, my head 
 was kind of muggy and it was dark. I 
 reached around and found wood on three 
 sides of me and first thought I was in a 
 coffin. But I reached up and found Archie 
 doubled over the back of a pew, and then 
 I knew the Ghristmas tree was over. I 
 found the other boys scattered round the 
 church, and when I made 'em understand 
 that the Ghristmas tree was over we 
 went home. I haven't heard from the 
 others, but Fve been abed ever since. This 
 is my first appearance. But vve certainly 
 had a livelier time than as if we had stayed 
 downtown." 
 
WELLSBORO 153 
 
 Upon glancing over the foregoing pages 
 I discover that in the Tioga output of world 
 figures the scientific group seems to be the 
 only one ''bogging down at the knees." 
 This apparent lapse is due to the chron- 
 icler and not to Tioga, however. It is pro- 
 posed to redeem this oversight with one 
 fell swoop. In 1869, in the town of Car- 
 diff, Onondaga County, near Syracuse, 
 New York, was discovered the Cardiff 
 Giant, which set the scientific world agog. 
 The giant was ten and one-half feet tall, 
 and was apparently a perfect specimen of 
 a prehistoric race. Some one was inquisi- 
 tive enough to saw the giant in two, 
 whereupon it was declared to be a solid 
 block of gypsum. In 1878 the Colorado 
 Giant was discovered in the state from 
 which it took its name. This discovery 
 also focused the attention of the scientific 
 world, for this was no gypsum block, but 
 a real antediluvian man, made of bones, 
 flesh, blood and the gray-matter of the 
 brain, and the scientific world was "backed 
 out of the ring." But some one got drunk 
 and peached, and the ''cat was out of the 
 bag." 
 
 George Hull was the sole inventor and 
 builder of both of these gigantic hoaxes. 
 
154 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 the Colorado Giant having been built in an 
 abandoned ice house on the main street of 
 Elkland, Tioga County, at a cost of $12,000. 
 It is worth noting that P. T. Barnum con- 
 tributed $2,000 to the fund. It is admitted 
 that the Colorado Giant is our great scien- 
 tific exploit and that Hull is our greatest 
 scientist and charlatan. In the latter capac- 
 ity he easily outclassed all contemporaries, 
 and "sufficient unto the day is the evil 
 thereof." Even genius cannot be expected 
 to anticipate the future, and Cassie Chad- 
 wick, Madame Humbert and Dr. Cook were 
 not as yet pacemakers in the world of 
 charlatanism — ''Honor to whom honor is 
 due." We remember George Hull grate- 
 fully. But ''something too much of this." 
 When this rambling and formless chap- 
 ter was begun the primary purpose was to 
 tell something of the scenic and atmos- 
 pheric beauties of Tioga County; of the 
 good-fellowship, charity and hospitality of 
 its people. For, notwithstanding their in- 
 tellectual triumphs, the cultivation of the 
 social amenities has always been held to be 
 the paramount consideration in life. To 
 do justice to the picturesque and unique 
 beauties of Wellsboro would require the 
 space of a volume and is far beyond my 
 
WELLSBORO 155 
 
 powers. Moreover, being "native here and 
 to the manner born," I might be accused 
 of partiality, and I shall, therefore, conclude 
 by quoting the words of a total stranger 
 as to the impressions made upon him by a 
 first visit. And I shall assure the reader 
 that the old town is not receiving more 
 than it deserves by quoting from the cyn- 
 ical and flint-hearted Optimist of the 
 North American, Mr. Leigh Mitchell 
 Hodges, who wrote as follows : '*My stock 
 of optimism was considerably enlarged the 
 other day. I paid a visit to Wellsboro, 
 which is in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. 
 * * * When the oldest locomotive en- 
 gineer in the country puts on the brakes 
 at Wellsboro depot, you are stunned. You 
 begin to wonder if the recent trip was 
 across the Styx instead of over the late 
 lamented Chauncey Depew's rails, for this 
 surely looks like what you pictured in your 
 mind when you used to bubble out the bass 
 of ''0, Paradise! 0, Paradise!" 
 
 The sleek conductor dispels your dream, 
 however, by shouting the name of the 
 place, and you have to accept the surround- 
 ings into which you have been jerked as 
 only a sample of what the upper story of 
 the hereafter will be like. 
 
156 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 And, having seen the sample, I'm going 
 to be as good as I know how to be. 
 * * * 'VVellsboro is a parcel of homes 
 dropped down in a lovely valley. On every 
 side of it are hills which look as if they 
 were hewn from massive emeralds, save 
 where yellow patches of grain shine gold- 
 like in the sun or fields of buckwheat 
 spread like snow along the slopes. 
 
 And there are elms in Wellsboro which 
 would make a Connecticut Yankee do some 
 tall thinking. I have an idea that the man 
 who invented ^'Spotless Town" was there 
 once. I know very well that the person 
 who wrote that wailful hymn about there 
 being a happy home "beyond this vale of 
 woe" was never there. 
 
 But, then, when one has seen some of 
 the small towns of our country, the Puritan 
 plan of placing all the pleasant things on 
 the other side of the river doesn't carry 
 much weight with it. 
 
 Wellsboro has a county jail for the ac- 
 commodation of unfortunates who live 
 elsewhere. From its grated windows is 
 just such a view as some folks travel to 
 Switzerland to get. The penal problem in 
 Wellsboro consists chiefly in devising 
 ways and means for keeping non-residents 
 
WELLSBORO 157 
 
 out of jail. So attractive are the sur- 
 roundings that sentimental persons from 
 New York State are constantly trying to 
 break in. 
 
 There are some hundred and some resi- 
 dences, large and small, in the place, and 
 every one of them is a home. 
 
 Because of this fine fact the back yards 
 are just as well kept as those in the front. 
 Folks take care of homes, you know. And 
 some of these homes are very handsome, 
 but that doesn't make a whit of difference 
 with the people who live in them. 
 
 So far as I could learn, there is only one 
 snob in Wellsboro, and that one is under a 
 slab of granite so gray in a cemetery so 
 pleasant that Fd rather be asleep in it 
 than awake in many another place. * * * 
 
 Wellsboro is noted for statesmen, celery, 
 cut glass and rich yellow cream; also for 
 its pretty women. To walk a block in the 
 town without meeting an ex or active offi- 
 cial of some high sort is almost as much 
 of an impossibility as to go the same dis- 
 tance without kind of wishing you had 
 joined the Mormons that time you had a 
 chance. 
 
 The most unpopular man in the place is 
 kindly treated by his neighbors, though I 
 
158 TALES OF TIOGA 
 
 don't think he deserves to be; and while 
 there is no such thing as poverty among 
 any of the inhabitants, there is charity 
 plus. The sort of charity that you find 
 only in small towns. The sort that makes 
 it a real privilege to be sick for a spell. 
 
 I've traveled through this land of ours 
 in several different directions. Within the 
 last nine months I've done some 22,000 
 miles of railroading and kept my eyes open 
 on the way, for I'm from Missouri and 
 want to be shown. And it's mighty satis- 
 fying to feel that right here, within the 
 borders of our own Keystone State, I've 
 found the prize town of its size."