Bureau County, Illinois - Chapter 18: Arthur Bryant, the Pioneer Forester and Horticulturist - About Trees Generally - First Planting in Bureau County, 1885

Chapter 18: Arthur Bryant, the Pioneer Forester and Horticulturist - About Trees Generally - First Planting in Bureau County

ARTHUR BRYANT, THE PIONEER FORESTER AND HORTICULTURIST - ABOUT TREES GENERALLY - FIRST PLANTING IN BUREAU COUNTY - BIST VARIETIES - SKETCH OF ARTHUR BRYANT, ETC., ETC.

THE pioneer " tree-man " was a boon of no mean magnitude to the people of the broad prairies of Bureau County. He must have been an enterprising, public-spirited man with an alert and active brain to anticipate the benefits and the good that would some day come from the culture here of trees. He saw here not long ago vast plains dotted with farm-houses, standing cheerless and treeless on the bleak expanse, which was inhabited by a people whose highest ambition was to grow corn and swine and cattle enough to furnish himself and family a livelihood, and also enable each to add a few more acres to the dreary homestead. The intelligent lover of trees set about the work to create in the people a taste for something higher and better - to teach them that even a northern prairie would grow the hardier fruit trees and the shade trees and flowering shrubs about their houses and thus double the beauty and money value of their homes; give them comforts and cash bountifully for this labor of love. They (possibly only he) must have realized that the way to do this successfully was to set the example, and thus tree-planting commenced.

Those who first planted trees here must have been amazed at the rapid growth they made, which continues to give evidence that there is no place that is possessed of a deeper or stronger soil than is this county; and now the towns and villages have beautified their streets, and the spreading branches of trees only twelve or fourteen years old offer their pleasing and shady bowers to the passer, and around every farm-house are fruit and shade trees that dot the broad prairies in every direction, and give to the eye of the beholder the most pleasing landscapes and enchanting views to be seen in all the world.

As to the question of what varieties of trees to plant, it was of easy solution as to shade and ornamental trees, because almost every variety yet planted had yielded a most rapid and healthy growth. The elm, the maple and box elder so far predominate, and many trees, especially elms, can now be found, not more than a quarter of a century j the best adapted fruit trees and vines for this locality was a more difficult one to solve, and perhaps something in this line - possibly very much - is, even after these fifty years of trials arid experiments, yet to be learned, because the successful prosecution of this industry requires some understanding of the soil and climate, and the habits of insects destructive to the trees and fruit, as well as a knowledge of the mode of best caring for the different varieties of fruit trees. The State, through the solicitations of the various societies, provided a competent entomologist, and he has done much in aiding fruit growers to understand the injurious insects, and to provide for their destruction.

We are indebted to the writings of Arthur Bryant, whose work on horticulture deservedly ranks high, for the following facts in reference to Bureau County:

The first attempt at fruit growing an Bureau County was in 1830 or 1831, it is not certain which, when John Hull sowed some apple seeds brought from Kentucky, and raised a few hundred seedlings. Small orchards of these were planted three or four years after by Christopher Corss, John Musgrove, Roland Moseley and some others. The fruit was better than the average of seedlings, but most of the trees have perished. Nurserymen have been accused of introducing the apple borer. The orchards above mentioned, and the nursery from which they were taken were attacked by the insects before fruit trees were brought here from any other part of the country, which would seem to be good evidence of its previous' existence in this section.

In the spring of 1833 John Belangee brought a lot of grafted apple trees from Belmont County, Ohio, and commenced a nursery near Princeton. During that and the following year orchards of these trees were planted by Cyrus, Arthur and John H. Bryant, Aaron and William Mercer, and a number of others whose namas are not recollected. None of these orchards were of any considerable size. At that time and for years after it was a prevalent opinion that it would never be an object to raise apples for market, and it was sometimes remarked when one was seen planting trees, that when those trees came into bearing, apples would not be worth more than a shilling a bushel. Mr. Bellangee introduced some of the best varieties now cultivated, as well as many that are rejected. He soon removed to Pover, where he continued tho nursery business for ten or fifteen years.

From 1841 to 1844 nurseries were commenced in Bureau County by James Bosley, Charles S. Boyd and Curtis Williams. Their stock was obtained from Mr. Curtis, a nurseryman in Edgar County. A few good varieties were brought here by them, and many that were worthless. The Milam, under the name of Winter Pearmain, constituted a large proportion of their stock - a variety which it was said Mr. Curtis propagated to a considerable extent by means of suckers. Their mode of obtaining suckers for grafting was to cut from trees taken up for sale such roots as were of suitable size - a practice copied from Mr. Curtis. Neither of them continued the business more than four or five years.

In 1846 Samuel Edwards commenced a nursery near Lamoille. He brought from near Cincinnati a considerable stock. A great part of it, however, was destroyed during the winter, which was very fatal to young fruit trees of almost every kind. In 1847 Arthur Bryant began a nursery upon a small scale near Princeton. Since then V. Aldrich, H. W. Bliss and John G. Bubach have established nurseries in the county; and Mr. Bubach now has a very extensive garden in the east part of Princeton. Bliss and Aldrich discontinued the business some years ago.

wholesale destruction of fruit trees. It was estimated that one- half of the bearing apple trees in Bureau County were destroyed or rendered nearly worthless. Most of the pear, plum, peach, quince and cherry trees (Morrellos excepted) likewise perished. This for some years greatly discouraged tree planting, especially fruit trees. All the orchards of any considerable size in the county have been planted since the hard winter of 1855-56. At this time (1869) the largest orchards are those of Arthur Bryant, V. Aldrich, Mrs. F. Moseley, J. G. Calef, and M. Greenan. Some years ago J. H. Bryant planted a large pear orchard, but it never amounted to anything, and now (1884) the trees are either dead or nearly worthless. It has been chiefly destroyed by fire blight.

Of early apples, Mr. Bryant, in 1869, says: Those principally cultivated are the Early Harvest, Eed Astrachan, and Early Pennock - the latter has hitherto been planted more than any other. Trees of this variety, however, appear to become unproductive from age sooner than most others. Maiden's Blush is highly esteemed.

The Snow Apple takes precedence of all others as a hardy, profitable and enduring apple for a fall apple. The Rambo is popular and productive, although less hardy. Haskell Sweet and Rumsdell's Sweet are two of the best fall varieties.

The varieties of winter apples best established with cultivators are the Jonathan, Willow Twig, and Domine. The Ben Davis has not been cultivated long enough to test its endurance, but already shows signs of deterioration on some of the older trees. Rawles' Janet, so much esteemed in the South, is here considered neither excellent nor profitable. It is feared that the Winesap, on rich prairie soil, will disappoint the expectation of cultivators. Sweet Vandever and Broadwell are two of the best winter varieties of sweet apples.

A committee of the State Horticultural Society in 1869 traveled over the important parts of the State. The committee visited Princeton, July 1. From their report we condense the following: "We examined the grounds of John H. Bryant, Arthur Bryant, Sr., and Arthur Bryant, Jr. At John H. Bryant's we were shown a tree of Early Pennock, planted in 1836, and afterward topgrafted with Early Harvest, which was thrifty and bearing a good crop. A Pennock rootgrafted, planted in 1836, is now twenty-five inches in diameter, and promises to endure many years.

"In the old orchard of Arthur Bryant we had an opportunity of taking notes on a considerable number of varieties. Mr. Bryant planted fifty trees in 1836, of which twenty are living and healthy. All these are root grafts. Mr. Bryant gives the following criticism: Newtown Pippin worth little; Early Harvest bears well every other year; Hoops of no value; Pennock, a large tree now twentyfour inches, has generally not borne well, but one year produced thirty bushels; Rambo the most profitable variety up to 1856; English Golden Russet of very little value; Maiden's Blush has borne well; Snow (of which Mr. Bryant planted the first tree in Illinois, 1837), is very good; Green Pippin not productive; Winesap.too small, not profitable; Early Pennock profitable; Golden Sweet productive.

" In the young orchard of Mr. Bryant were found still other varieties, the favorites being: Jonathan; this keeps here until April or May, although a late fall or early winter apple in southern Illinois; White Pippin good, bears well; Summer Sweet Paradise moderate bearer and fruit excellent; Early Strawberry, except being small, is excellent;

Haakell's Sweet, a large and productive September apple; Whitney's Russet, good; Danver' s Winter good, but bears poorly; Tallman's Sweet, drops badly; Mother, first-rate, bears tolerably; Northern Spy, top-grafted, tolerably good; Striped Gilliflower, showy, not first-rate; Ben Davis bears well. [In the heavy apple-growing district of southern Illinois the Ben Davis excels all others for profits, as it bears well, trees nearly always full, and keeps well, ships well, and very showy apple that always sells well. Last year (1883) any number of these trees the fruit was sold on the tree for $10 a tree in central Illinois. And often when all other varieties have totally failed there would be a fair crop of the Ben Davis. In flavor it is not one of the best, but for profits it so far excels all other apples in middle and southern Illinois.]"

In 1859 Mr. Bryant planted 350 trees of Winesaps, Willow Twig, Yellow Bellflower, Jonathan, and Bed Astrachan. These were planted in the spring. In the fall of the same year he planted 350 trees, 25x25 feet in a tract of six acres, surrounded by woods. The varieties are Jonathan, Willow Twig, and Ben Davis. The trees are grown with a leader and laterals instead of cutting out the center.

Arthur Bryant, Sr., commenced his nursery about 1845. He regarded himself as a farmer for many years after this, and the nursery business merely an aid in his farming and furnishing employment for his love of trees and flowers. But soon his nursery trade grew to unexpected proportions, and after he had moved it to where his son is now carrying on the business in the south part of town^ his son saw that it was of itself quite business enough, and now he has one of the most extensive and prosperous nurseries, containing sixty-five acres, crowded with all varieties of nursery stock, in which he employs a large force of men, and in the spring of the year his shipments are very extensive and nearly all over the country, but especially west to the Pacific Ocean. No man who came as a pioneer to Illinois did more for horticulture and tree-growing than did Arthur Bryant, Sr. He loved the trees, the woods, the flowers. They spoke their own language to his poetic soul. No man was so retiring in his nature. He turned instinctively from a public gaze, and in the noisy throng his refuge was to retire within himself. A nature quiet, pure and diffident. An intellect cultured, strong, manly and elevated, with the finest poetic imaginings. It was but natural with such a temperament to commune with himself, or pour out the fervor of his soul to the grand and beautiful in nature, in all her gorgeous decorations of landscape, trees and flowers. His education was real, profound and accurate in all its grand range from the highest Greek classics to the practical details of the counting room or the printing office, and to those who did not fully understand him it is passing strange, that from the first position in a leading daily newspaper in the city of New York, he could become a pioneer in the wilderness, with all its trials and deprivations and rough life. But not so to those who could better understand him. The brick walls and stony streets, the black pall and sooty cloud of a city, the noise, the vice, the crimes, the suffering, the selfishness, the shams and the whited sepnlchers of the metropolis repelled him, and he sought undisturbed nature. Where the sweet repose, the inviting field, the ethereal feast in the shady lawns called him and he could hear the birds upon the swinging limbs, carolling their notes of liberty and joy in the sweet sunshine of heaven. These shall be his fitting and immortal epitaph.

"Arthur Bryant, Sr. - The fashions that prevail among men often have a tendency to obliterate in our minds the true estimate of a manly character. So much is made to depend upon mere social position or political influence that the innate worth of a genuine manhood is in great danger of being overlooked. With the crowd, notoriety comes to be the thing sought for. Mere brazen noise too often drowns out the gentle utterances of a well-founded fame. It seems hard for many to understand that one may be great, worthy of the respect and even of the admiration of his fellows, and at the same time be only a private citizen, performing the ordinary duties of an ordinary life. With this delusion, that measures the man by his accidents, the crowd is very liable to be carried away. And it is a dangerous delusion. It tends to destroy all right ideals of living. It tends to dissuade men from pursuits that are really honorable and useful, and leads them into employments that are in themselves worthless and mean, for the arts of the sycophant and demagogue are essentially debasing.

"Humanity, therefore, owes a debt of gratitude to every man who by his life and character helps to correct this mistake. And such a man was the subject of this sketch. Fitted by natural abilities as well as by scholastic culture for a conspicuous position; enjoying in a more than ordinary degree the respect and confidence of those who knew him, he was still content to live quietly upon his farm, in no way distinguished from his neighbors in the same occupation, except as he was a better farmer and a wiser, more exemplary man than the average. Only once is it remembered that he held any public office. In the spring of 1837, when the

"The principal facts of his life are somewhat as follows! He was born in November, 1803, at the Bryant homestead, in Cummiiigton, Mass. He was originally of feeble constitution, being greatly troubled in early life with asthma. His father, an eminent and skillful physician, had little expectation of his living. But as he grew older the disease seemed to lose its hold upon him, and through his youth and manhood he suffered little from ill-health. During the years 1822 and 1823 he was fitted for college at Barrington, Mass., under the tutorship of his brother, William Cullen. In the winter of 1824 he received a cadet's warrant from John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War under James Monroe, and entered the military academy at West Point in June of that year. But a prolonged and severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism compelled his resignation in the following December. The season was a wet and cold one, and the long hours of guard duty, performed in the thin clothing rigorously prescribed at the academy, were too heavy a burden upon his slender frame. Early in 1826 he began the study of medicine, but by the advice of his brother William that study was abandoned, and in October of the same year he became a member of the sophomore class in Williams College. For some reason, now unknown, his course at Williams was terminated on the 3d day of March,

1829. The next six months were spent in New York City in the employ of his brother, who was then connected with the Evening Post,&ud had been since 1826. Here he made himself useful in a variety of ways, reading proof, etc. From November, 1829, until October,

This school was established in 1823 by Joseph G. Cogswell and George Bancroft, and in its day enjoyed the highest reputation. Its founders had examined the schools of England and the European continent, and availed themselves in founding their new institution, of all they had learned abroad. One of the results was that it attracted pupils from all parts of the country. And here Mr. Bryant labored as an instructor for about one year.

" On October 11, 1830, he set out upon his first journey to Illinois. At that time the trip was a very different affair from what it is now. The details of the early part of the journey are not at hand. But, by the help of the Ohio River, he at last reached Cairo. His objective point, however, was Jacksonville, in Morgan County, and the trip from Cairo to that place - a distance of 200 miles - was made on foot. In those days it must have been a tedious tramp, through brush and briar, over hill and stream, for we know that, through most of the distance named, the roads are even now none of the smoothest. The journey was accomplished, however, and Jacksonville was reached December 1, 1830. Here he addressed himself resolutely to the business of pioneer life, laboring industriously with his hands. Soon after his arrival he seems to have purchased a quarter- section of land, in the working of which he was afterward helped by his youngest brother, John, who arrived in Jacksonville in Maj, 1831. In the autumn of that year he returned to Massachusetts. His errand appears to have been an important as well as an interesting one, for we find that, on the 10th of May, 1832, he was married in the town of Richmond to Miss Henrietta Plummer. Of that event the fiftieth anniversary was most pleasantly observed at the home in Princeton, in 1882. And any one who was then present or who has witnessed the gentle and unremitting care with which Mr. Bryant was watched and succored during his last illness, must have been satisfied that the vows of that -marriage had been faithfully and affectionately kept.

"In September, 1833, Mr. Bryant came to Princeton, and settled upon the farm whereon he has ever since lived. Here he betook himself to the labor necessary to the subduing of the wild prairie and the building up of a comfortable and attractive home. Most of the work in which he was engaged was substantially the same as that performed by his neighbors. But it soon became evident that he looked at nature with more discerning eyes than the most of them. He was not satisfied with the annual crops, and the annual product of cattle and swine. Not that he neglected these, by any means; but he thought also of other things. He planted trees, not alone for wind-break, but also for ornament, in order to diversify and adorn the monotonous prairie. And there they stand to-day, the double row of splendid hard maples that line the street on either side, a conspicuous landmark - a place from which distances are reckoned and directions indicated. Besides these are the evergreens, the charming varieties of indigenous and exotic trees of many kinds, some very rare, which beautify the ground. They are living monuments, more expressive than any cut in marble or granite, of the essential refinement of the man.

"About the year 1845 Mr. Bryant engaged in tree culture as a business. His nursery soon became well and favorably known. His own name became identified with the movements organized for the propagation of fruit and forest trees. The Northwestern Pomological Society was set on foot about the year 1850, in the town of Princeton.

Library Of The

During its continuance he was one of its most prominent members. A few years thereafter it was merged in the Illinois State Horticultural Society. This association still exists, and is actively promoting its beneficent purposes. One of its specialties at the present time is the extension of forest culture. This object Mr. Bryant had much at heart. In the meetings of the society he seems to have been always quietly but efficiently active. His reports from the committees have about them an air of thoughtful honesty. At the urgent request of members of the Horticultural Society, he published, in 1871, a book with the title: ' Forest Trees, for Shelter, Ornament and Profit. A Practical Manual for their Culture and Propagation.' It is a smallish volume of 248 pages, containing as much downright practical sense, and as little of the opposite, on the designated subject, as one often finds in the same space. A careful reading of this book by the farmers of the Northwest would undoubtedly result in great blessing to the country, now and hereafter. The subject is one whose importance cannot be overstated. How to extend the forest area of these prairie States is a most vital question. On the way in which it shall be practically answered will depend the comfort, and even the civilization of the future dwellers upon these plains. And here, in this book, we have the practical instructions of an educated, sensible, practical man.

-' By the State Society, and by kindred associations, Mr. Bryant's death has been appropriately and, we may say affectionately noticed. His memory has been honored by fitting resolutions. Affectionate letters have been addressed to his bereaved family, by the co-laborers of years gone by. The Hon. (jr. W. Minier says: 'Our loss seems irreparable, especially at this crisis. We are organizing an effort to conserve our forests and to plant new ones. Our eyes turned to this veteran forester for counsel. We feel like Clan Alpine's men, and are ready to cry

" 'His place cannot be filled. Others may come, as wise, as earnest, as devoted, but the sincerity, the tenderness, and the patience were all his own.'

" Mr. Bryant was a thorough man. He was thorough in his scholarship, notably so in his knowledge of the Greek language. He was thorough in his botany. To his mind the trees which he handled had other significance than that which appeared upon his ledger. He felt impelled to look into their structure and laws of growth. He was thorough in his moral convictions and qualities. In his dealings with men he was upright beyond the shade of suspicion. He was always true, always correct, always clean.

" His death was caused by gangrene, which had proved fatal to some of his ancestors. The disease first appeared in one of his feet, and after about three months of gradual progress it attacked the vital organs, and the scene soon closed. His death was such as become him, calm and trustful. He died as he had lived, a firm believer in the Christian faith.

" Of his six children five remain. One, the second son, Col. Julian Bryant, who had already achieved some distinction as an artist, and who had faithfully served his country during the war of the Rebellion, was drowned on the Texan coast in 1865. " part of town, is now giving nearly all of his attention to small fruit, and is making this quite a successful industry. (See his biography.) Mr. Edwards, mentioned above, closed his nursery and removed to Mendota some time ago. A man named Aldrich at one time had a nursery near Tiskilwa; but since his death the business is discontinued. At one time Mr. Bliss also had a small nursery near Providence.

Arthur Bryant, Jr., is the leading horticulturist in the county, and, like his father, has expanded his business and kept even pace with the demands of the surrounding country, and by intelligent industry has promoted the industry and continues well the work left off by his father. He reports but little change in the leading varieties of apples and cherries from what is given in the foregoing report of 1869. He thinks the Ben Davis yet the best and leading apple for the general markets, but the trees are not as hardy in the way of a long life as are some others. The judg - ment of all the fruit growers of northern Illi nois now is that the late fruits are the most profitable; that the railroad communication with the South has completely changed the former advantages that there were in some of the earliest crops that would command often fancy prices in the city markets.

Mr. Bryant reports the Morello cherry as the only reliable variety that can be grown this far North. And that the grape production has decreased the past fifteen years. There is very little grape wine now made in the county, whereas a few years ago there were some good sized vineyards. But at this time, except about De Pue, the business has gone down to a great extent. He does not believe the black soil especially of the prairies profitable for grapes.

This is the great corn and grass belt - the land of fat and sleek horses, cattle and hogs. These will be the great leading industries of northern Illinois. And yet apples, cherries, and to a certain extent peaches, will in the end be successfully raised here and great profits made on each. But pears may so far be counted a failure.

In Tracy Reeve's yard we noticed a fine, thrifty chestnut tree, and on it a quantity of the real chestnut burs. We never saw a chestnut tree look more thrifty than this one, even in the chestnut regions of Pennsylvania. The timber growth all over the county bespeaks a soil and that moisture of the air that should encourage the people to busy themselves in the good work of tree-growing all over this part of Illinois. Already the beauties of landscape, the orchards, the artificial groves, the shaded avenues, the shrubbery and lawns that have added to the natural beauties of the country, are to be seen on every hand, and have added incalculably to the value of the whole county. They go far to demonstrate the inviting possibilities for this already favored land. Where trees will grow, as it is demonstrated they will here, men and women, strong and vigorous, will also grow and mature.

The first essential to each is a moist air, a bountiful rainfall. Animate and inanimate life seem fixed in their habits by the same law of soil and climate. An arid climate is not the best for either, and hence the interior of continents are the dry, sandy deserts. One recent writer of much ability contends that our prairies are the result of the dryness that once prevailed over the regions wher« prairies exist; that the rain belt and the tree belt are always the same. Recent investigations make it quite plain that animate and inanimate life is regulated more by the geological and meteorological surroundings than by anything else. There is growth and life in a moist atmosphere, and the opposite is true of an arid region. Among human beings this regulates the size of families. Every day you can hear people wondering why it is that the number of children in families now are so much less than among their fathers and grandfathers. Buckle tells us that the number of marriages among the nations of Great Britain, France and Germany are powfully influenced by the price of corn. In prosperous times there are more marriages than in hard times and as there are more marriages there will be a greater increase of population, but the number of children to each family is influenced by both the prosperous condition of the country and the moisture of the atmosphere, and probably more by the latter than the former. The largest average families of children in Europe is in England. On that moist island every portion is teeming with life. A recent naturalist tells us that certain birds that lay four eggs at each hatching there produce only two if transported to this country. The investigations of these subjects are important to the horticulturist, to the farmer generally and especially to the many stock- raisers in this county.

Chaptek Xix Magicians, Etc

leave men's minds as is the beliefs in witches, spooks and spirits, and the bobbing around of ghosts in the affairs of men. Almost any day you may read an account of some locality that is all torn up over a haunted house, where apparently a lot of fool ghosts meet every night and carry on a general idiotic drunken orgy. There are not a few people in the world who yet believe in witches. In another form, there is a class, very large, indeed, that publicly teach " Providential interference " in the daily and hourly affairs of men - punishing some, running errands for others, and cheating the doctors out of their patients constantly. The amount of ignorant credulity and the persistence with which it maintains its hold upon men presents, one of the strongest subjects for our consideration. In every city of the civilized world are nightly seances in which ghosts, most generally Indian shades, are made to do duty in the silliest imaginable roles. And this form of witch belief is found widespread and nearly everywhere. While it is palpable that all these beliefs are bordering closely on the idiotic, yet it is not true that all the people who thus dupe themselves and one another, are by any means fools on all subjects. Many and many of them are remarkably bright apparently, and some in fact are noted for strong and vigorous thinkers, when their minds are directed to almost any other subject save that of the ghosts or ghostly affairs. There is nothing new in this strange phase of the human mind. It has apparently existed always, and just as strong and as well defined as it is now. Education has no effect upon it, for it is found as common with the educated as among the illiterate. The strongest believers often in ancient and modern history, in the most stupid, silly and even infamous beliefs, have been the most earnestly advocated by the best educated and otherwise the strongest minded of their day. The most curious thing in. this world is men's beliefs. Any man will tell you in looking back over his life, that its course has been directed by the most trivial and singular circumstances. In fact, nearly every great life is fitly synonymized by a great river. At its source it may be turned by a straw or pebble out of its course, and when it has gathered its tributaries it moves with a swift and resistless force. But the same man will believe, nay, know in the most dogmatic way, that his judgment and beliefs are founded upon the eternal granite rocks - here there were no influences of circumstances; nothing but the iron of logic. While the truth is his bent of mind in youth, tfie most singular and inconsequential accidents have started him in a certain course, or changed his course, and again, like the river, in proportion to each mind's resources - its tributeries - does it become stronger and stronger, firmer and firmer in its judgments, whether they were right or wrong. The tenacity with which the most idle beliefs cling to the human race is most extraordinary. When the advance of civilized ideas force their way into men's minds - ideas that you feel certain cannot exist in the same mind with the crude beliefs of a barbarous people, they only drive out by a slow process the folly they find, and it appears at once in some other shape. And the superficial observer says the error is dead when it has only, like the actor, changed its dress, and while its appearance may be greatly improved it is essentially its original self. It is this genius for playing hide and seek that makes it nearly impossible to successfuly extinguish this strong bent of the human mind. When killed in one form in one age it is found in its new habiliments in the next age, denouncing its former self, exulting over its own destruction, and says, ' ' Look at me, I am the only truth in the world."

Is there a grown man or woman in the world of intelligence enough to partially understand their mother tongue, who has not had his or her mind twisted in infancy by ghostly or fairy stories of the most stupid and injurious kind ? ' 'As the twig is bent the tree inclines," whether it grows that way or not. You cannot read a newspaper without being confronted constantly with such stuff. From the lips of the prattling child and from trembling senility; in eloquent poetry or stately prose; in common conversation among all classes and in books and paintings, it may be found, in ugly blotches and in exquisite shadings and it is everywhere and at all times. In some of its Protean forms it is ubiquitous, among all nations, peoples, classes and conditions of life. Is it possible for a perfectly healthy mind to grow in such surroundings? Every other man you may meet in a day's walk, if he would be thoroughly honest with you, will tell you that he is an exception, perhaps the only one in the world, yet a miraculous exception to that human trait of beliefs that are either illogical or stupid. Of course he realizes in his neighbors, in all mankind except himself this fault and, therefore, he is certain that he is free from the common or universal error. In looking over the curious subject we are free to confess that with the spread of civilization the change that is constantly going on in the outward paraphernalia of injurious superstitions are, as a rule, an improvement of the new upon the old. For instance, the difference is by far to better the beliefs of our fathers in witches and witch burning and the same thing in its modern form of seances and spiritual materializing. The latter is innocent so far as legal faggot and murder are concerned. We say this without any exam- ination into the ultimate evils to healthy mind growth and their comparative effects in this line. We merely assert the palpable fact and leave results for others to examine.

But few localities in the Northwest, or for that matter in the Mississippi Valley, since the coming of De Soto and his hunt for the fountains of youth and the precious metals, but that have had attacks of the curious delusion over the reported discovery of gold, silver or lead mines. There were always men hunting and dreaming for such discoveries. There is a per cent of cranks all over the world on certain well -understood subjects, like perpetual motion, the end of the world, religion, or being President of the United States, beatification, or silver or gold mines. Of all these the mine-seeker is the one excusable being, because since and before historic times there have been found rich mines of various kinds that have yielded enormous fortunes to the lucky few, while the other victims of their heated fancies have invariably suffered only from long hopes deferred, or been put in straight- jackets by their friends.

Some of the early people were brought here in the pursuit of the gold and silver mine ignis-fatuus that beguiled De Soto and his followers to penetrate the wilderness and leave their bones scattered along their dreary route from Florida to Mexico. Indian traditions and idle pioneer stories lured many to the West in the hope of finding rich gold and silver mines. The great "Mississippi Bubble " ran its course in Europe and bankrupted its thousands and sent its hundreds to their graves as they followed up the Mississippi River and found their way to Illinois, in the faith that they would find the hidden treasures, and all over southern Illinois especially along the country adjacent to the Mississippi River, is to be found to this day the marks of their presence. At one time a Frenchman brought to Illinois 500 slaves to dig in the mines, and in the oldest settlements in the State flows Silver Creek, which got its name from the fact that along its banks the miners had flocked in crowds, and were digging and prospecting upon its hills from its source to its mouth. The relics of those superstitions about gold and silver were thus handed down to the early pioneers, and among some of our people the faith lingers to this day, and they dig yet in the hills and rocks, and to find a rock flecked with bits of mica is enough to set them wild, and renew the otherwise fading superstitions on this absorbing subject. The banks of the Wabash have been celebrated grounds, and the early settlers were sometimes provided, when they came, with precious "waybills." This consisted of a paper containing minute directions, by referring to certain streams and marks upon trees, by which the possesor of the way-bill could follow the route to a silver mine. They purported to come from the French, those people who were here before the English came, and who had been driven out of the country by the Indians, and these fugitives had prepared these "way-bills," it was said, in order that they or their posterity might, when the savage was out of the way, return and claim these secret stores of inexhaustible wealth. Hence, the man who possessed a way-bill was the happy heir apparent, to great fortunes, and he dreamed in want and poverty about his wealth of which some day he would take possession. He would not often openly go out and hunt for the route as his chart gave it, for fear that his envious neighbor might be watching his action and thus gain his great secret. Nothing could shake this faith in the original way-biller. And when he had spent his life in following the delusion, he would on his death-bed call his wife and children about him and tell them the story of the precious paper and bequeath it to them, and they would take up the pursuit and expend their lives in the same infatuation. One now can form but little idea of how general and wide-spread was this delusion here in former days. It is about extinct now, and the few faithful that yet linger among us will, as a rule, deny it stoutly when approached on the subject.

A friend tells us at some length of how the way-bill disease flourished for a long time in this section, and extended into surrounding counties. He speaks of one celebrated way-bill which came fromVincennes, and found its way here and for a generation or more attracted wide attention. The early hunters for game and silver reported finding many coke pits, and they were built on the bank of the river, about six feet deep and four feet wide, and were walled with rock, the bottom was oval in the shape of a kettle, and the walls showed they had been subjected to great heat. There had been work on almost every hillside, showing in places a vast amount of labor in the hunt for the mines. A five-pound lump of pure native copper was found. Other copper specimens were dug up and these were pronounced by geologists, so report says, to be blossoms of silver ore. Among the romantic fictions that fired the peoples' imagination was that of a man who came to the county and for two years hunted for his silver mine. He insisted that when a little boy he had been in a shaft which was worked deep under ground; that he came up from St. Louis, and after a little while returned to St. Louis. He remembered he came with some Frenchmen, and rode a mule, and he thought from his recollections he could go to the place, but after two years hunting he finally acknowledge his complete failure. Many think that some of the pioneers in their lonesome isolation from all fellowship with civilization, were easy victims to the wildest romance and story, and in the most inconsiderate way went to work digging holes here and there in the roughest parts of the country; and mines were traded for old horses, broken down wagons, and many of the caves and holes fell to the possession of counterfeiters, who largely supplied the people with pretty much all the currency of the realm. This money would for a long time pass current except at the government land office, and the people in their trades and sales would agree that the pay was to be in " land office money." That is when " land office money" was mentioned it simply meant it was to be good money.

In the central portion of the State lived an old reprobate who made the "Hull money." For years he plied his nefarious trade, and the " Hull money" was well known far and wide, and at one time there were people who honestly believed his money was better than the genuine. He was eventually sent to the penitentiary, and for years people hunted for his mine. They believed he dug out the pure silver and simply coined it, and his only crime was in making his money too pure; that he found the precious metal in such abundance that he could not afford to put any alloy in his coin, and much such worse thad idle stories went the rounds among the people of that day. We give this as one of the forms of credulity that was peculiar to the early settlers of our country. And we record its history because it may now be called a thing of the past.