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| after dark, and keeping out of
certain parts of the city when it was light, and
possessing moreover a powerful muscular physique, he
was blessed to escape being made a subject of "high
art." Scowls and cold shoulders were given him
in abundance. These he bore with equanimity;
and, as the cause of anti-slavery gradually
advanced, many a dollar was pri
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REMINISCENSES. - The above
sketch of Achilles Pugh is from a lady friend.
His family home was in Waynesville, his business point
Cincinnati, where I knew him for many years and greatly
valued him for his sound sense, integrity and social spirit.
I believe he was married into Quakerdom, and not born into
it. No Friends would naturally christen a son "Achilles."
He once said to me it was impossible to realize the
trying position of the old-time anti-slavery people.
To walk the streets and fell as you passed along that you
were hated by many in the throngs you met, looked upon as a
sort of moral firebrand sowing dissension between the North
and South, was by no means a comfortable position for any
man; and the natural effect upon the recipient was to
engender in return a bitter, defiant spirit.
To live under the ban of public opinion, even for a
righteous cause, requires a strength of moral heroism rarely
possessed, so withering is it to the spirits. King
David wrote, "In my haste I said all men are liars;" he
might have said with equal pungency, and been in no especial
hurry about the saying, "All men are moral cowards."
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Mr. Pugh was a high spirited, sensitive
gentleman, and would not tamely submit to a wrong.
On an occasion he was harshly attacked by a
newspaper managed by an association of printers for
the manner in which he conducted his own office.
He brought suit for libel, and was adjudged $500
damages. On being asked why he did not call
for the |
money, he replied. "I
don't want their money. My object was to
establish a principle."
This, by a sort of indirect association, reminded me of
an anecdote of John Van Buren, son of
Martin Van Buren. They called him "Prince
John." He was a brilliant, waggish young
lawyer, with no great |
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weight of moral
purpose, and when his father was nominated the
Freesoil candidate for President in1848 he took the
stump in advocacy of the "old gentleman's" cause.
The prince told the people he had now got hold of a
moral principal - FREE SOIL; it was the first
time in his life he had got hold of such a thing.
It was to him a novel sensation, quite refreshing,
and he was going to work that moral principle
for all it was worth.
In the sketch of Mr. Pugh is told how he scared
two wild Indians of the plains who were threatening
his life by taking out his set of false teeth,
moving them in both hands slowly toward them, at the
same time scowling ferociously. In telling me
of the incident he laughingly said, "Soon as I
did that they spurred up their ponies, and were out
of sight in a twinkling. I suppose they
thought the next thing to happen was I would take
off my head and throw it at them."
"How came you to think of it?" I inquired |
"I felt as though something must be done at once.
We were in great peril, unarmed, totally
defenceless, and from an incident of a few evenings
previous it flashed upon me to try my false teeth.
We three Friends commissioners were in a tepee in an
Indian village preparing to retire for the night.
The place was crowded with squaws and their children
was gazing in wonder when one of us took out his
teeth to clean, whereupon the whole crowd grunted
'ugh! ugh!' and rushed out panic-stricken.
It is the unknown that especially frightens savages,
which has a further illustration in an anecdote told
of a party of English circus men in Asia Minor, who,
discerning a body of wild Arabs riding down upon
them with hostile intent, their long spears at
charge, commenced turning summersaults from the
backs of their horses, and then looking at them from
under and between their legs, when the Arabs turned
and fled. |
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About three miles southwest of Waynesville, near the Little
Miami, stood, on April 29, 1836, a small log-house, and on
that day joy was under its roof, for there a boy babe was
born. The father was a Quaker, an Abolitionist; had
begun as a surveyor, then a teacher, and finally a farmer.
This new comer was to grow, and finally, when the Quaker
father had passed away, to thus write of him as - |
"His eye in pitty's tears
Would often saintly swim;
He did to others as he would
That they should do to him. |
"At rural toils, he strove;
In beauty, joy he sought.
His solace was in children's words,
And wise men's pondered thought." |
Of the
mother he also wrote, "She was of Scottish descent, a
practical, energetic lady, and handsome. Such were the
parents of WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE, LL.D., sometimes called
the Teacher Poet. He was born early enough to have a
part in the Harrison campaign of 1840. His father, an
old-time Whig, who had named him, after Gen. Harrison,
William Henry, took him to a mass-meeting in a grove
near Lebanon, and introduced him to the general, who patted
him on the head, and though but four years old he remembers
that interview, for long after that memorable day he wore a
Tippecanoe medal with a portrait of Harrison, and on
the other side a log-cabin, and the other boys called him
"Tip," much to his disgust.
When the Mexican war broke out he was ten years old,
and the air was saturated with anecdotes of Tom Corwin,
and even the small boys of Warren county could feel the
force of that great orator's eloquence, and enjoy the
ludicrous comicality of his grotesque faces. The
universal talk caused by Corwin's great speech
against the Mexican war infused even the children of that
period, for it was, Venable writes, "very violent
talk." He says: "I was going to school at Ridgeville,
and I remember some of the boys stained their hands and
faces blood-red with pokeberry juice, and then cried out,
'If I were a Mexican, as I am an American, I would welcome
the American soldiers with bloody hands to hospitable
graves.' Several of the big boys of the Ridgeville
school, Lew Staley, Amos Kelsey and Joe Githens,
enlisted and went to Mexico in 1846. One day some of
us 'little shavers' fancied we heard ominous booming sounds
of a cannon far away, and having vague ideas of distances we
fancied that a battle was going on at Monterey, and wondered
whether Joe Githens would be killed. |
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" I squander on a barren field
My strength, my life, my all;
The seeds I sow will never grow,
They perish where they fall."He sighed, and low upon his hands
His aching brow he pressed;
And o'er his frame ere long there came
A soothing sense of rest.
And then he lifted up his face,
But started back aghast -
The room by strange and sudden change
Assumed proportions vast.
It seemed a senate hall, and one
Addressed a listening throng;
Each burning word all bosoms stirred,
Applause rose loud and long.
The 'wildered teacher thought he knew
The speaker's voice and look.
"And for his name," said he, "the same
Is in my record book."
The stately senate hall dissolved,
A church rose in its place,
Wherein there stood a man of God,
Dispensing words of grace.
And though he heard the solemn voice,
And saw the beard of gray,
The teacher's thought was strangely wrought,
"My yearning heart of to-day
"Wept for this youth, whose wayward will
Against persuasion strove,
Compelling force, love's last resource,
To stablish laws of love."
The church, a phantasm, vanished soon:
What saw the teacher then?
In classic gloom of alcoved room
An author plied his pen.
"My idlest lad," the teacher said,
Filled with a new surprise -
"Shall I behold his name enrolled
Among the great and wise?"
"A miracle! a miracle!
This matron well I know
Was but a wild and careless child
Not half an hour ago.
"And when she to her children speaks
Of duty's golden rule,
Her lips repeat, in accents sweet,
My words to her at school."
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The scene was changed again,
and, lo!
The school-house rude and old;
Upon the wall did darkness fall;
The evening air was cold."A dream," the sleeper, waking, said,
Then paced along the floor,
And, whistling low and soft and slow,
He locked the school-house door.
And, walking home, his heart was full
Of peace and trust and love and praise,
And, singing slow and soft and low,
He murmured, "After many days."
LET'S
SHAKE
You thought you would take me, you say, by surprise!
You rascal! I knew you the moment my eyes
Lighted on your old back, Bill, I couldn't mistake
Your voice nor your motions. How are you?
Let's shake!
You are a friend that sticks to his friend,
Living or dying, world without end;
Through flood and through fire I'd go for your sake.
give us your hand here, old fellow,
Let's shake!
Don't it beat all? Now why did you wire
Me not to expect you, you measureless liar?
Come up to my den, and by jolly, we'll make
A night of it talking of old times -
Let's shake!
How have you been? Let me look in your face;
Have you won, have you lost, in life's dusty race?
Have you knocked the persimmons and taken the cake?
No? Here is my wallet - we'll share it -
Let's shake!
Here is my heart - it is truer than gold;
Hotter it grows as the world waxes cold;
Come, tell me your troubles, and let me par take
Your inmost perplexities, William -
Let's shake!
Tell me your sorrows, and talk of your joys;
Don't you remember the days we were boys?
What has become of Sam, Tom, Joe and Jake?
Shake to their memory, brother.
Let's shake!
Say, you are married, or are you in love?
Speak out, for you know we are like hand and glove;
I used to think you and Belle Esmond would wed.
Yes, yes, as I wrote you, the baby is dead;
I thought for a while that my wife's heart must break
Your hand, dear old comrade - dont' mind me,
Let's shake!
God bless you! I'm awfully glad you are here. |
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You must not make fun of
this womanish tear;
"Twas only a bay, scarce two Aprils old.
But, Billy, I tell you, they do get a hold
Of the heart-strings, these babies, and since ours went,
Why, somehow or other, we're not quite content. |
With this planet; but when all
the worry and strife
Are over, I hope we may strike a new life
Up yonder, where hearts never hunger nor ache
You'll give me the grip there, old fellow,
We'll shake! |
WAYNESVILLE is nine miles northeast of Lebanon, on the
Little Miami river, and a measured half mile from Corwin
Station on the P. C. & St. L. R. R.
Newspapers: Miami Gazette, neutral, T. J.
Brown, editor and publisher; News, Republican,
Drew Sweet, editor and publisher. Churches: 1
Methodist Episcopal; 1 Episcopal; 1 Christian; 2 Friends'
meeting houses. Banks: (T. H. Harris) J. J.
Mosher, cashier; Waynesville National, S. S.
Haines, president; W. H. Allen, cashier.
Population, 1880, 793. School census, 1888, 237.
Wm. M. Harford, school superintendent.
Waynesville was laid out in February, 1796, by
Samuel Highway, an emigrant from England, a guide and
three or four woodmen to cut a road from Columbia to the
projected town, there to make the first settlement.
The wagons were three or four days on the journey, arriving
at the site of the new town Mar. 8, 1797. Francis
Baily, a young Englishman, was with the party, and gives
an interesting account of the founding of Waynesville in his
"Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parts of North America
in 1796 and 1797." While the sound of the axe was
heard felling the trees for the first residences, Baily
and Dr. Banes went hunting and killed one bear and
two or three deer, and saw a great number of wild turkeys.
Francis Baily later became a celebrated astronomer,
and President of the "Royal Astronomical Society."
Rev. James Smith visited Waynesville Oct. 11,
1797, and found fourteen families settled there. He
says: "We lodged with a Mr. Highway, an emigrant from
England, who with a number of his country people suffered
inconceivable hardships in getting to this country. It
was curious to see their elegant furniture and silver plate
glittering in a small, smoky cabin." A large number of
the early settlers in this vicinity were Friends.
MORROW is ten miles southeast of Lebanon, on the
Little Miami river, at the junction of the Little Miami and
the C. & M. V. divisions of the P. C. & St. L. R. R.
Morrow was laid out by Wm. H. Clement and others
when the Little Miami R. R. was completed to the mouth of
Todd's Fork in 1844, and was named in honor of Gov.
Morrow, then president of the railroad.
Churches: 1 Catholic; 1 Methodist; 1
Presbyterian. Bank: Morrow (A. N. & Theo. Couden),
E. C. Dunham, cashier. Population, 1880, 946.
School census, 1888, 385; O. W. Martin,
superintendent schools.
HARVEYSBURG is twelve miles northeast of
Lebanon. It was laid out by William Harvey in
1828. Near the town are "the fifty springs" of mineral
waters.
Churches: 1 United Brethren; 1 Methodist
Episcopal; 1 Colored Methodist Episcopal; 1 Baptist; 1
Orthodox Friends; 1 Hicksite Friends. Population,
1880, 539. School census, 1888, 196.
SPRINGBORO is eight miles north of Lebanon.
Population, 1880, 553. School census, 1888, 188.
Springboro was laid out by Jonathan Wright in
1815, and took its name from one of the finest springs in
the State, the water of which has been utilized in running a
flouring-mill and woollen factory.
RIDGEVILLE was laid out in 1815 by Fergus
McLean, father of Justice John McLean, and is
situated on one of the most elevated ridges on the line of
the L. & N. R. R., in the north part of the county.
[Page 776]
BUTLERVILLE was laid out
by Abram B. Butler in 1838.
MURDOCH was named from
the distinguished actor and reader, who resided there about
twenty-five years. It is on the line of the L. M. R.
R., in the southeast corner of the county.
MASON is eight miles southwest of Lebanon, on
the C. L. & N. R. R. Population, 1880, 431.
School census, 1888, 178. It was lad out in 1815 by
Major William Mason, and first called Palmyra.
MAINEVILLE is nine miles
south of Lebanon. Population, 1880, 324. School
census, 1888, 132. It was first called Yankeetown,
being founded by emigrants from Maine, the first of whom,
Dr. John Cottle, came to 1818.
FOSTER'S CROSSINGS is ten miles southeast of
Lebanon, on the L. M. R. R., and long famous as a point for
the raising of sweet potatoes of the superior quality; and
KINGS MILLS, near it, also on the railroad and
river, where gunpowder is largely manufactured. |
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