Springfield Township (part 53 of 69)

Corporation/' An old account says : "The Crowell Publishing Company had its beginning at the old P. P. Mast and Company's plant; the first floor was given over to publishing The Farm and Fireside, and the second to the executive offices. After one year the concern moved to the Republic office on the site of the Bushnell building; it remained there six months. Then it purchased its present site, upon which today is one of the largest magazine publishing establishments in the world. P. P. Mast and Company became Mast, Crowell and Kirkpatrick, but after the death of Mr. Mast it became The Crowell Publishing Company."

The Crowell Publishing Company issues Farm and Fireside, Woman's Home Companion, American Magazine, Mentor, and until the World war it published Every Week, and is now publishing Collier's Weekly. The labor question is satisfactorily solved by assembling so many publications, making Springfield a mecca for printers. The Crowell Publishing Company is the biggest patron of the Springfield postoffice department, having a branch office in the plant, where the output is weighed and put into the mails. The Crowell Publishing Company furnishes eighty percent of the local mailing business ; it employs 1300 people, and it publishes 600,000 magazine copies each month. While it maintains its mechanical and subscription departments in Springfield, the editorial office is in New York City. It is a stock company, incorporated at $2,450,- 000, with some preferred stock held in Springfield.

The Hosterman Publishing Company publishes Poultry Success, a monthly periodical, and The Implement Age Company publishes The Implement and Tractor Age - a trade periodical twice a month - all other Springfield publications being monthly.

Dr. Isaac Kay and Samuel Miller have written much reminiscent matter that has been helpful in assembling data, and many have expressed a desire to have something carried along from the past of the eccentric Reuben Miller, one time a teacher and later a justice of the peace, who had the habit of scribbling original things on the margin of the court docket; since he was a member of the Methodist Church it has been suggested that there is little doubt about the accuracy of his notes, and July 6, 1866, a docket entry read : "I do hereby certify that John Maccabbee and Mary E. Sterling were legally united in marriage by me on the 5 day of July," and as was his custom, he appended the following bit of illuminating poetry:

While doing some plumbing in a basement in Springfield, George Ridenour discovered a book lying on the debris ready to be put in the furnace which he offered to the gleaner, but since it proved to be a collection of essays and sermons it was added to the Historical Society collection; the sermons are of the "fire and brimstone" variety, not the "sugar-coated" gospel so pleasing to the ear, and the theology of the past is preserved in them.

Reuben Miller had a son, John C. Miller, who had some inclination to write poetry, and typewritten copies of his poem : "A Rose From the Grave of Homer," are treasured in Springfield, the gleaner seeing the copy owned by Judge G. W. Tehan. Both father and son had marked ability - could put anything into rhythm - and while Reuben Miller did not acquire wealth he was a "consistent citizen and strong Methodist; he flourished in the '30s, '40s, '50s and died in the '60s - a good man in his day," and the epitaph of Reuben Miller written by him for his monument is found elsewhere in this history.

"I would build my house by the side of the road, Where the automobiles go by ; For their honk and kronk, and their merry whiz Is music to such as I.

"I mind not the dust of the speeding cars, Nor the noise of the big machines; I am fond of the smoke, (it is no joke) Of the burning gasoline.

"So I will live in my house by the side of the road As I cover life's brief span; For the honk of the auto sounds good to me - Aye, I am the gasoline man."

When Mrs. Lida Keck Wiggins was asked for a poem suited to the pages of history, she told of an incident in a chapel near North Hampton, a candle carried by J. N. Miller when her father, Rev. H. M. Keck, was the minister, and she contributed the following lines:

"Of pioneer days I am thinking tonight With heart touched e'en to the quick. For on my table, there stands as I write An old-fashioned candlestick.

And the story goes that in days gone by When my grandsire was in his prime, He carried this candlestick with him to church, At candle-lightin' time,

For so dim was the light in that chapel small, That one was obliged to hold The candlestick close to his singing-book, To read those dear hymns of old.

Oh candlestick old of my grandfather's day, You have taught me a truth sublime, Found in the tale of the service you wrought At candle-lightin' time.

Tis this - if we all with a smile of faith Through the world would bravely go, And each one. a candle might hold aloft That others might see and know.

Chapter Lvii

While in the past some pursuits and pleasures were open to men and others to women, time, the great leveler, has changed conditions and men and women engage in whatever suits their convenience or their fancy today; there is no sex intellectual or civic activities in Springfield and Clark County today. .

The Rev. Saul Henkle, who gave color to a good many phases of early community development in Springfield, wrote in 1828 that "A literary society was formed, but a few evenings ago it was found dead. The coroner said, 'Dropsy of the brain.' " In 1829 he referred to it again saying: "The reading room of the literary society formed a few weeks since is only kept from freezing by having newspapers wrapped about it; if it can be gotten through the winter, we hope to see it in a more prosperous state." The man with this keen edge of sarcasm walked into the community while his wife and infant child accompanied him riding a family horse, and he seemed to enter into everything.

Notwithstanding the Rev. Saul Henkle and his wholesale denunciations, in 1829 the Springfield Lyceum, organized November 22, 1832, attracted some of the foremost people in the community. E. H. Cummings, who studied law and later changed to the ministry, was president, and John A. Warder was secretary. While nothing is said about women, the society was organized to inject new social interest ; it adopted a constitution and a code of by-laws, and December 11, 1832, its first public meeting was held in the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Samuel Ellis, who was a Springfield public school teacher, discussed the question: "Is the reading of novels beneficial?"

In the chapter on libraries is mention of another lyceum organized with the specific purpose of promoting a Springfield library, and from a stray note it would seem that it might have been the rejuvenated lyceum organized in 1832, and at one time Horace Greeley appeared before this lyceum. He was in Springfield in 1849 and after that year there is no further record of the organization.

In writing of local social conditions, Charles S. Kay says : "Considerable opportunity to judge at first hand the growth of the community spirit in this immediate region, comprising the counties of Clark, Champaign and Logan, has convinced us that there is great promise of good in this respect. The various fraternal, social, business and church clubs, as well as municipal leagues and rural community centers, are contributing much to " the furtherance of good government, local enterprise and social solidarity. We have found in these localities enthusiastic bodies of men and women devoted to the cultivation of sound business and social ethics, progressive Americanism, and thoroughgoing cooperation. * * * In many communities there is a lack of cooperative effort looking to community betterment, largely owing to failure in bringing the

"The wave of influence going out from the resolute cultivation of the social element, directed by sane, broad-minded men, will be powerful for good; available for use in many ways, to enlarge the horizon of the members, and to bring about needed reforms in local administration, untrammeled by party ambitions and petty class jealousies. Communities that have not yet effected organizations should do so at once, and all attempts for the furtherance of selfish personal ambitions should be resisted ; patriotism, public spirit, fraternity and genuine friendship should be kept to the fore, and emphasized at all times."

While men and women long out of school hold membership in the intellectual and civic organizations, they are the type who recognize life as the true university ; however, those who had college training appreciate these social opportunities of personal improvement and advancement, and until comparatively recent years mention of a club reflected a woman's organization. The Woman's Relief Corps organized nationally in 1868 by Mrs. Olive Logan, soon had an organization in Springfield, and while it is not a study club, it is perhaps the oldest woman's organization in Clark County. It is the auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic, the men and the women being brought together socially immediately after the Civil war.

Although bearing a New York headline the following appeared in a Springfield newspaper: "Not so many years ago the man of eccentric or slovenly dress was just as apt as not to be a celebrity of some kind or other, and not an object of pity in his community," and genius in Springfield has been described in similar terms. "According to clothing merchants it took some time to change this idea, and to show that a neat appearance was not incompatible with the possession of real talent along professional lines; however, the thought is now rather common that a man's prosperity is reflected in his clothes. Manufacturers and dealers have advanced the argument," and the day has come when the banker is not necessarily distinguished from the farmer, nor is the country woman distinguished from the woman in the town by her gowns.

Why not credit the following to the clubs : "The matter of dress has been one of the prime lessons taken from the purely commercial field to professional life; the doctor, lawyer, architect, teacher and other professional men have come to realize that it is a matter almost of embarrassment to them to continue any dress eccentricity ; they must mingle at the club, in the theater and the restaurants - " and was the following ever true.: "Eccentricity of dress was a mild form of publicity for those denied other means of advertising themselves." A fashion squib says man's cupidity is blamed for immodest dress in women, declaring : "The length of the skirt, etc.," is a subject on which women are not consulted - that "The bared neck is nothing less than a trick of the furrier and the jeweler; the neck and chest are bared to give commercial tricksters an increased demand for their wares."

Prior to the first American Centennial in Philadelphia in 1876, and reflected in smaller way in Springfield, there was little social life; those who went in the foremost society when Springfield was a village knew nothing about card parties: they would have looked upon bridge whist and euchre parties as - while sometimes there were home games of cards, there was no prize money, and such a suggestion would have shocked them. They knew about quilting and apple-paring-and-cutting bees, but nothing about cards. "Martha, Martha, thou has troubled thyself about many things," and just as the costumes worn than are changed the amusements and pastimes have undergone evolution; they had not dreamed of galoshes and flappers. Once Springfield society made more of May Day and Hallowe'en, and each age is happy in its amusements. While some may suffer from decoritis - too much ornamental folderol - a platform woman says : "No woman looks well unless she understands posture and carriage; instead of dressing from the outside - " and the club does afford the woman some criterion, and the speaker said: "Women are in the habit of paying most for the dress they wear the least - the Sunday dress and the party gown," and many intellectual women leave such matters to their costumers.

Springfield society was more informal "years ago." Once guests came unexpectedly, but now they wait for invitations, and since intellectual life suggests the school, the church or the press - it is a safe statement that the clubs attract the wives of educators, pulpiteers, editors and advance thought women whatever their social station. An hour spent together in study means more to them than "just to run in with a sunbonnet on," as was once the universal custom. At a recent club when fifty Springfield women were present, it developed that only two served three meals a day in their homes, and thus they found time for social privileges and church duties; however, "mere men" find excellent lunchrooms in Springfield, and they willingly exempt their wives from the routine of meals in order that they may have time for mental pursuits.

There is a mental as well as a physical side to human nature, and while in the wilderness days the wife was a "helpmeet" to her husband, using her strength in overcoming pioneer conditions - the mothers of that period hoped for something better for their daughters - and wives are still "helpmeets," although the environment is changed and many men prefer their wives to enjoy social advantages unknown to their mothers. When the mothers made all the garments, worn in the family by hand, there were no theaters, no clubs, and as civilization advances the social status advances with it. When showers and announcement parties were unknown, there were more elopements - run away with a girl, quite the heroic thing - and the social set married younger "years ago."

When formal visits are made cards are left - certain rules governing the card question, cards for the husband and cards for the wives - and when formal visits are made the time is limited, and reputations are comparatively safe under such arrangements. A generation ago a woman brought her needlework or her knitting ; she had not thought about cards as necessary to impress upon her hostess the fact of her visit. The time was spent in gossip - discussion of possible rumors - because a liberal education had not yet revolutionized soicety. There were not so many newspapers and magazines, and the neighborly visit with its attendant conversation was then a physical necessity. Dancing parties had not yet claimed the attention of society - the best people did not dance - and when ladies began wearing decollette gowns their amusements were still in the nature of music and repartee and then nobody discussed the length - a woman's dress like a sermon, should be long enough to cover the subject. The modest women of a generation ago was very unlike the modest woman of today.

While there always have been families in Springfield who carried out social ideas on big scales, the women of the present have an environment very different from that surrounding their mothers; the hospital has relieved them from ministering to the sick, and the daily newspaper brings them tidings from the world. The telephone service relieves the woman from dressing for the street in planning social functions, and under the new order of things she has more time for self-improvement and culture. While some lament the passing of the old-fashioned hospitality and sociability, other welcome the change as a forward movement. When women confronted the suffrage question in 1920, the club woman knew more about nationalism and internationalism from having already established the study habit - were women of "steady habits" - and they handled ballots as readily as practiced voters.

While all political parties shared the support of the club women of Clark County, and a precedent is now established, the leaders in thought recognize the fact that womanhood must measure up to the high standards - that public servants must not be guilty of blunders - and they are fitting themselves for future opportunities of usefulness. In Springfield women have entered business, and they hold positions of much responsibility. Since they are equal to men the self-respecting women do not demand that men doff their hats, but the self-respecting men still have their chivalrous attitude toward womanhood. The modern woman who pursues the even tenor of her way, answers the question about the loss of femininity being a loss to society. The cabin woman smoked a pipe, and the flapper smokes cigarettes - fashion, comfort, habit - those who follow the crowd soon losing their identity, and there is need of both "conformation and transformation" with discretion, and women are studying the conditions confronting them.

"There's a crimson star on a field of white, And 'twas fashioned for poster roomy; This lovely old quilt of the long ago That grandmother's will left to me.

Many's the year since her fingers deft, Cut out the gay little patches; But her skillful work a token left; Which nothing that's modern matches.

Her 'blocks' completed, and neatly joined, Her lifts a lullaby lilting; She set up her frames in the siting room, And asked her friends to the quilting.

They came in their pretty, starched calicoes, And worked with bright faces glowing - So happy that under their fingers white, A beautiful thing was growing.

Today as I look at that star-decked quilt, I see in those departed, When each worked for all and all for each - The Women's Club getting started."

"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee," and the "mother of clubs" in Springfield failed to proclaim her identity - hence no definite information is available, further than the fact that the quilting once brought Springfield women together. Miss Anna B. Johnson, president of the City Federation of Women's Clubs, and sometime president of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs, in reviewing the work of 1921 in Springfield, said: "It has been our purpose to make our relationship to the community one of helpfulness and service. * * * We have accomplished some things and left undone others; there has been cooperation among club women which has made results possible.

"As we enter 1922 we think we see opportunity in which the eager intelligence, interest and general service of 5,000 women ought to be felt in our civic life; with the program enlarged to meet the plan of work suggested by the General Federation of Women's Clubs, we are confident the City Federation may enlarge its vision, and place to its credit a larger field of usefulness ; we hope to see in its ranks every woman's organiza- . tion in the city." There are twenty-one clubs in the federation which fostered two women candidates for membership in the Board of Education, and the women of Springfield usually attain to their aims. Miss Johnson outlined a proposed survey of the entire county in welfare work enlisting every social agency in discovering disabled and crippled persons, local organization to care for children, and the state to aid in the care of adults who need medical or surgical attention.

The City Federation of Clubs' members are Springfield boosters, and an admiring friend writes: "The club of the modern woman is not a thing to be ridiculed and scorned, as were many of the literary, sewing and bridge clubs of a few years ago. The club of the modern woman is a boon ; the home woman does not neglect it for the club, but she seeks the club for relaxation. The club women have been tried and not found wanting," and the newspaper reporter who writes of clubs appreciates uniformity in the size of Year Books, in preserving them for reference. While there are card and needle clubs, the City Federation includes study clubs with some definite plan, and writing on the subject some years ago, Mrs. E. L. Buchwalter speaks of New York and Boston as having clubs in 1868, although it is generally understood that the first public library and the first woman's club in the United States were at New Harmony, Indiana.

Mrs. Buchwalter relates that there were both men and women in Springfield's first literary club, but its records are a minus quantity. It existed in the '70s, when the Waverly novels were being read and their author as yet unknown. He was designated as the Great Unknown, and this Springfield club assumed that name - Great Unknown. Henry G. Rodgers read many papers, and Miss Helen McBeth, who was a musician, wrote poetry for the meetings. Mrs. Lott Clarke gave Shakespearean readings, and other members were the Warders, Brookes, and Bishops - just some remembered facts without any written data about it. In 1878 the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle was organized in Springfield by Mrs. Ruth A. Worthington, who was a teacher in the seminary. It was named the Worthington Chautauqua in her honor.

For many years the Chautauqua was known as the university of middle-aged women, and thirty Springfield women were charter members, the last being Miss Ellissa Houston. Mrs. Buchwalter credits the Worthington Chautauqua with having been a factor in raising the average of education and general intelligence in Springfield. It emanated from the Chautauqua Assembly, Chautauqua, New York, and as women completed the course of study others enrolled as members, a number of Springfield women receiving diplomas. The club movement had rapid growth in the 70s, increased in the '80s and '90s, and all phases of education, from the kindergarten to the college, have benefited from club research among the wives and mothers of the country. The Worthington Chautauqua and the Great Unknown were different in their appeal - the one study, and the other an amusement or entertainment center.

The first distinctively woman's club in Springfield was founded in 1888 by Mrs. J. W. Murphy - the Travelers' Club - with membership limited to thirty, and later increased to forty and finally to fifty, and it brought many noted platform speakers to Springfield, the Woman's Club performing an enlarged service of the same nature today. The Travelers' Club attested its appreciation of the Warder Free Library by placing a clock there for the benefit of the patrons. It was a voice in the social and civic life of Springfield.

The Travelers' Club paved the way and encouraged the formation of other clubs. In 1891 the Fortnightly Club came into existence, and it still functions as a bureau bringing many educators and professional musicians and readers into the community. There was the Monday Afternoon Club, the Tuesday Club - clubs all the week - and in October, 1894, the Springfield clubs entertained the club women of Ohio and dis- cussed the advisability of forming a state federation. Invitations were sent to ninety-eight Ohio clubs, and seventy-eight of them were represented at the conference in Springfield. Ohio was the sixth state to* federate the clubs, and Springfield was active in bringing about the result, since then furnishing the president of the state federation, and many Springfield women attended the 1921 session in Cincinnati.

It was the first state federation meeting after the women of Ohio had voted in a general election, and the twenty-sixth annual showing that Ohio women had been federated in their club activities a quarter of a century before suffrage became universal, and in the convention it was said: "Women came into political life with the thought that it is not only their right, but their duty to battle for the truth," and they heard these words : "Let us rather speak of the duty of man and woman - of the privilege of men and women giving to their country the best God has given to them," and emphasis was laid on the fact that suffrage effects the nature of the conversation between men and women. Within women's clubs were born those ideals and dreams of feminine progress which have found fruition in the civic, social and political emancipation of womanhood in America. Cincinnati welcomed the "hundreds of earnest, intelligent, forceful club women of Ohio doing constructive planning for the future," and Springfield women are active in federation efforts. The Woman's Club is without number limitation, and it fosters all advance movements having the right trend to them.

In writing about Woman's Work for Love, Mrs. Amaziah Winger refers to the Woman's Benevolent Society in the summary made by her in 1901, in which prominent Springfield women were engaged in welfare work now so well taken care of by the Social Service Bureau; when it assumed greater proportions it became an Associated Charity, and the amalgamation is elsewhere mentioned. The Needle Work Guild, as organized December 4, 1894, by Mrs. George Winwood, was similar in its operations to the Red Cross which was so active in Springfield in time of the World war. The Young Woman's Mission, organized in the late fWs, and now sponsor with the Woman's Club for the Springfield Day Nursery, grew out of the Woman's Benevolent Society. The Woman's Christian Association, organized in November, 1896, is mentioned in connection with the Young Woman's Christian Association - the Woman's Benevolent Society the mother of philanthropy in Springfield.

In summing up the work of Springfield women of the Civil war period in 1901, Mrs. C. M. Nichols said it corresponded in spirit and devotion to that done by the soldiers in active service. On December 3, 1863, a Soldier's Aid Society was organized and the women met in groups in their homes, sewing for the families of soldiers. The Springfield Aid Society contributed many garments to the Great Western Sanitary Fair in Cincinnati, the Clark County Auxiliary being awarded a silken banner for the largest donation which amounted to $5,580, there being $234,000 raised through the fair, and Mrs. Nichols declares that no history could do justice to the work of the women of Springfield. The same idea has been advanced in connection with Red Cross work in the military chapter - the women of the different periods always responding to the needs of the hour. At their leisure, these Civil war times women became members of the Woman's Relief Corps mentioned as among the oldest organizations for women. Club life was subordinated in the World war, while Clark County women were frequenting the Red Cross workshops.

In summing up the first 100 years of the activities of women in Springfield, Mrs. F. M. Hagan, in looking backward, notes a brave, courageous group who endured hardships with fortitude, saying that in the first half of the century their, influence radiated from two centers - the home and the church - and that the women of 1901 had pride in the same line of activities, adding: "The ruddy glow that shone from the windows in the first log cabins was the only thing that kept many a man in those early days from giving up in discouragement and despair, the struggle to wrest from the wilderness a home." Mrs. Hagan said further : "As the years rolled by, one by one, an increasing population has required of us a broader philanthropy then that centered in home and church ; times have been when our city made demands upon our devotion, our patriotism ; when great questions have inspired us to larger sacrifices of time and energy ; when growing intellectual activity spurred us into a broader field of literary attainment," and perhaps the City Federation of Woman's Clubs is the explanation.

At a meeting of the Woman's Club, when "Lights and Shadows of the Present Age," was the theme of the lecture by Dr. Edward Howard Griggs, he said the World war aroused people to thinking less of themselves, and more about all the world, but since the urge of the war he said many had drifted back to their own selfish way of looking at the problems confronting civilization. (No less a personage than Henry Van Dyke saying on the same subject that many American cities are now as wicked as Berlin before the war.) A Springfield woman editorial writer commented on the statement, saying: "Let us hold fast to this good thing that came out of the awful carnage of war," and she quoted : "'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel' of good will and unselfishness to all men," adding, "Then after a while that spirit which led us to fight together with other men of other races, creeds and colors will also lead us to live in peace with them."

When the Business and Professional Women's Club, numbering 250 members, brought Judge Florence E. Allen of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to Springfield, she said: "Cooperation of the women of America is necessary to maintain good government; the eyes of American women are turning toward Ohio," showing that she takes matters seriously, and not only Springfield women attended the lecture - there were court officials, and well known lawyers. The Business and Professional Women's Club has launched a publication, "The Snap," with Miss Anna Marie Tennant as editor-in-chief, and it is issued Under the direction of the educational committee.

Clark County women are meeting the suffrage question from all sides, a court regort saying: "The jury is equally divided as to sex, there being six men and six women," and a Lydia E. Pinkham advertisement champions the cause, saying : "Not until the telltale wrinkles become so deep, the figure stooped - " but Springfield women eliminate those features, and agree with the following translation:

"Our fathers on this point were people of great sense; Their women did not read, but knew well how to live. Their wisest conversation they drew out of their home; For books they had a needle, a thimble and some thread ; But the women of today this course have long forsaken."

Chapter Lviii

There is a masculine side to the intellectual as well as the civic life of Springfield and men were members of the Great Unknown, mentioned as the first literary club in the community. It was S. A. Bowman who took the initiative in organizing the Men's Literary Club, inviting several gentlemen to meet at his office, October 6, 1893, to consider its formation. It was to be for mutual intellectual improvement and the following responded : Dr. W. G. Bryant, E. L. Buchwalter, Judge F. M. Hagan, Dr. K. F. R. Hochdoerfer, Dr. R. B. House, Dr. Isaac Kay, Gen. J. Warren Keifer, T. F. McGrew, Dr. J. F. Marlay, O. T. Martin, Judge J. C. Miller, Dr. J. M. Miller, Dr. S. A. Ort, and T. J. Pringle. At the October meeting of the club in 1921 - the opening meeting of a new year - only Judge Hagan and General Keifer answered to their names at roll call of those who formed the club twenty-eight years earlier.

When the club was organized in the Bowman law office, General Keifer was temporary chairman and Mr. Pringle secretary. By-laws were adopted and in the course of years few changes have been necessary. Mr. Bowman was chosen as club president, and November 13 the first regular meeting was held in his home, when he presented the paper, "The Pacific Coast." The membership is limited to forty and since 1893 the club has held bi-weekly sessions, members regarding the club as a "previous engagement," and nothing of ordinary magnitude prevents regular attendance. Many Wittenberg professors have held membership, and a wide range of topics claims attention - literature, history, hobbies, and a few "talk shop" at the meetings. The Men's Literary Club meets in the homes and the host serves refreshments, caring for the physical as well as mental requirements.

The year book says: "No one can for any length of time have been a member of the club without counting it a genuine factor in those elements that go to make his life worth while to the community and himself." As vacancies occur other names are proposed and voted on by the members, and in the time of its existence the literary club has numbered some of the foremost citizens. It is a voice in the community.

On April 25, 1895, Mrs. Asa S. Bushnell organized Lagonda Chapter, D. A. R., in Springfield, with fourteen charter members and a roster of the chapter is to be seen in the rooms of the Clark County Historical Society. It is done in cross stitch with the zephyr yarn used in fancy work at the time. The objects of the chapter are: "To perpetuate the memory of the spirit of men and women who achieved American Independence by the acquisition and preservation of historic spots, and the erection of monuments; by the encouragement of historical research in relation to the Revolution, and the publication of its results; by the preservation of documents and of the records of the individual service of Revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of cele-

In 1912 Lagonda Chapter erected a shrine in Ferncliff Cemetery in memory of the men buried in Clark County who fought in the War of the American Revolution and in the military chapter their names are printed. A boulder at the entrance to Cliff Park, set with a bronze tablet, and inscribed: "Lest we forget our soldiers of Clark County, Lagonda Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1921," was dedicated November 11, 1921, and near it is a 40-foot flag pole given by Miss Bertha Thompson, from which a silk flag floats over the shrine - sacred to the soldiers of all wars, but erected as a tribute to World war soldiers. The boulder is brown and gray sandstone obtained from the Spinning farm east of Springfield. Almost every day wreaths of flowers were placed on this boulder as silent tributes, those remembering friends coming and going without the public having any knowledge of their tributes beyond the presence of the flowers.

Because of weather conditions, the dedicatory service was in Memorial Hall, and in presenting the flag Mrs. E. A. Carlisle, Regent, Lagonda Chapter, said: "Our Clark County boys played their part well and we are here to honor them and to entrust to the George Cultice Post of the American Legion the custody of this flag," and in accepting it, Warren W. Diehl, commander, replied: "We promise that we shall keep it sacred," and that promise involves much - an opportunity to teach the proper use of the American flag. While Clark County patriots had their rendezvous with death in different communities - perhaps, "Not a drum was heard nor a funeral note," Lagonda Chapter, D. A. R., has erected two shrines of patriotism honoring all of them. In the dedication of the Cliff Park monument J. B. McGrew said : "On November 11, 1918, the greatest war in history came to an end (three years ago). The anniversary of that day is one well worth observing. It is a day of much significance in our history. The first constitution based on the consent of the governed was written and signed in the cabin of the Mayflower. It seems appropriate that a war fought to vindicate the principles embodied in that document and in the Constitution of the United States should be brought to a conclusion on the anniversary of the day on which the Pilgrim document was written. * * * As a symbol of that ideal citizenship which constructs, defends and maintains in peace as in war this America of ours, we this day dedicate this monument."

In October, 1904, the Lagonda Club building was open to the members and while it is not denominated a "poor man's club," there is a democratic spirit that pervades it. It was built at a cost of $25,000 and affords facilities for both dances and banquets - is a social rather than an intellectual center and yet in its reading rooms copies of Springfield and metropolitan publications are available. When the Lagonda Club was incorporated it purchased the Cavalier corner - High and Spring streets - and it had in mind the social rather than the literary opportunities. It has rooms for indoor sports and the wives of members enjoy the social privileges. While it has both resident and non-resident members, in order to share its advantages members must own stock in the

Closely allied with the Men's Literary Club is the Young Men's Literary Club, organized in 1896, in Springfield. W. W. Witmeyer was the moving spirit in its organization, and thirty-five is the limit of membership. As its name implies, it is literary, although it embraces social features. It meets the second and fourth Friday nights of the month except in June, July and August, meeting in the homes of its members.

The Rotary Club is widespread as a civic organization and the Springfield branch is one of many. It was organized January 14, 1914, the membership limited by classification rather than numbers, although it has ninety-four enrolled, and its slogan "He profits more who serves best" reflects its attitude toward the community. It holds weekly meetings - always luncheons with programs - and sometimes it has out-oftown speakers. The membership committee is known only to the president and secretary and names are brought to the consideration of the club. Members are chosen from the different lines of business and professional life and thus viewpoints are different and the majority rules. The Rotary Club presidents have been : W. E. Copenhaver, C. L. Bauer, H. S. Kissell, J. L. Bushnell, J. S. Webb, R. C. Bancroft, G. R. Prout, Dr. C. L. Minor, and the latest roster: W. A. Bauer, president; G. B. Sheridan and Edward A. Tehan, vice presidents ; Harlan C. West, treasurer, and J. L. Dorst, secretary. At the Rotary luncheon James L. Baker discussed "Abrasives and the Grinding Wheel Industry," and thus the members understand the industries and the public questions in Springfield. Immense forward strides were made in the use of abrasives in time of the World war, and the Safety Emery Wheel Company was the first concern in the world to bring out the tapered collar as a means of protecting the operator.

The Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions and Exchange clubs all are civic and educational and all hold their meetings in connection with noonday luncheons. The husbands are together and the wives escape the dinner at home. These luncheons are a feature of the present day industrial life and momentarily the members forget their own little worlds while listening to the details connected with other enterprises. While the International Kiwanis Club was organized in 1913, the Springfield Kiwanis Club was organized January 1, 1919, admitting two members of one profession or business, and thus widening the possibility of knowledge from different sources. Its presidents have been : Dean C. G. Shatzer, George Metcalf, George H. Kelsey and E. J. Carmony, and its secretaries: E. J. Carmony, Ernest C. Jansen, C. G. Whitney and Dr. W. B. Seward. Its luncheon programs are each Tuesday. Brotherly love and service rules the conduct of the members, and specialists along different lines come together for an exchange of ideas and for better acquaintance. For instance, when Dr. R. R. Richison was the speaker he discussed health conditions from the social viewpoint and when the Rt. Rev. Monsignor D. A. Buckley was the speaker, in discussing welfare, he said: "There is no form of misery to which mankind is subject that cannot be relieved through one of the Catholic charities," and thus

Lionism is another name for opportunity. The Lions Club was organized June 1, 1920, in Springfield with a membership limit of seventy-five, and but one member from any one line or classification. The quota would easily be reached but the membership is conservative about soliciting new Lions. The name stands for character - the strength of the lion its symbol. The club is non-political, non-sectarian and each unit of the International Association has the cooperation of all the other units. Lionism promotes the principles of good citizenship - is interested in the civic, commercial, social and moral welfare of the community.

Springfield Lion Club members are wage-earners - must earn the money before they spend it - such as I have give I unto thee - and they are active in many public enterprises. Its presidents have been: R. H. Wetherbee, with H. S. Brooks as secretary, and C. John Morean, with L. E. Brown secretary. The Lions Club promoted municipal golf in Snyder Park and opened a summer camp for widows and children at Silver Lake and it has fostered business regulations in Springfield. It conducted a charity ball and contributed $1,000 to the Social Service Bureau, thus aiding organized charity. The Lions Club was planning for baseball diamonds in Snyder Park and considering aid for the Salvation Army. It meets at noonday luncheons and always has some definite program. It secures speakers of ability and current topics are frequently under consideration. Prof. J. M. Collins has just discussed Americanization from the standpoint of education.

The most recently organized civic club in Springfield is the Exchange, its charter having been obtained in March, 1921, although it was definitely organized April 11, 1911, in Detroit. In 1896, a number of Detroit business men began holding meetings - sometimes called themselves boosters and sometimes knockers - but they were congenial spirits and they discussed community affairs, but running along without organization until Charles A. Berkey called the group together, when they adopted the name Exchange and the slogan: "Unity for service." It is a growing organization in Springfield, the membership reaching fifty the first year. The membership is based on classification - one member representing one line or occupation, and any change of business or profession operates automatically as a club resignation.

Arthur R. Altick, who first called the Exchange Club together in Springfield, acted as temporary chairman, but Dr. D. I. Roush became the first regular chairman, with C. E. Winchell secretary. The local Exchange Club affiliates with the State and National clubs, and The Exchangeite is the official publication. The Springfield Exchange Club provides a medium for the exchange of ideas, methods, information and extends business and fraternal courtesies. All formalities are dispensed with, anil members address each other by Christian names. The Exchange Club cooperates in humanitarian and civic affairs, and is fostering the Boy Scout movement in Springfield. It helped to make

Someone remarked about the Elks, Eagles, Lions, Owls, Moose - zoological and ornithological titles to organizations of fraternal and benevolent nature, and noted the revival of the Ku Klux Klan and then Springfield was about to have an Optimist club, organized along similar lines to the Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions annd Exchange clubs. It dates back to 1916 as a national organization. While there was once a Travelers' Literary Club in Springfield, Champion City Council United Commercial Travelers is a protective organization, and there is the Young Business Men's Club with similar object in its organization. The Springfield Retail Grocers' Association holds annual banquets and considers matters of importance.

This is the day of organization and while they say of some communities that they are "clubbed" to death, men and women still come together in groups of comradeship and for community welfare. The Springfield Country Club, organized in 1906, is a recreation center devoted to out-of-doors sports, the growth of the idea due to the popularity of the Scotch game of golf. The Country Club was capitalized at $15,000 and purchased the Ward-Thompson farm consisting of valleys and uplands, and its greens overlook Mad River north of Springfield. Robert H. Foos was active in promoting the organization, and the club house built on a ridge is popular with Springfield society. It is a dual organization - the Country Club Company and the Country Club, the company owning the property and leasing it to the Country Club, but changes are imminent, members of the club being asked to become members of the company and men paying $50 and women $25 membership dues. A Springfield-Urbana Country Club was under consideration, Urbana desiring such an organization with or without Springfield.

The Sunset Civic League was planning a club house - the community house idea being widespread in Clark County. The Rose City Radio Association is a new organization of men making wireless methods a study, and "Service to the Community" is the keynote of the Clark County Federation of Community Clubs, of which the Hon. T. A. Busbey is president; Stanley Laybourne, vice president; John W. Dorst, secretary, and C. C. Hunter, treasurer, the official roster and the presidents of the clubs affiliating forming the executive committee.

While in some of the towns the women expend all their energies in the different church societies and in needle clubs, the Progress Club in New Carlisle was organized in 1894 and federated a year later. It issues a year book and observes special days as the Christmas party and ends the year with an annual outing, saying : "There is no medicine equal to a merry laugh, well mixed with fresh air," heeding the suggestion of Peter, who said: "I am going fishing," perhaps the first mention on record of recreation. However, in 1803, Griffith Foos and Archibald Lowry of Springfield established the precedent by accompanying their wives to Yellow Springs.

study and conducts a circulating library. It brings prominent lecturers and entertainer to Catawba. The club recently conducted an art exhibit, bringing pictures from the Cincinnati Art Academy. Following the 1913 flood, the club invited other women to sewings and they made and sent 100 garments to the sufferers in Columbus. In war time the club was active in the Red Cross workshop, and the members "Hooverized" on refreshments, giving the money saved to relief work. The Literary Club affiliates with the Catawba Community Club in promoting the annual Pleasant Township picnic and home-coming, supporting all efforts toward community improvements.

While some South Charleston women affiliate with Springfield clubs, there are no research clubs, although church acitivities claim attention. There is a Euchre club and opportunity for discussing "colds, cancers and cigarets," and there is no lack of hospitality. Albert Reeder tells of a pious invalid in South Charleston who had the hallucination that she was a poetess and "when Uncle Jesse Griffith called to inquire about her, she greeted him thus:

Springfield club women are considering a club house, as has been announced by Mrs. A. D. Hosterman of the Woman's Club, and Mrs. W. W. Keifer is chairman of a committee appointed to investigate the sentiment of the community. A questionnaire was in prospect to be submitted to the women of Springfield and in time the City Federation of Women's Clubs hopes to have its own place of meeting, where :

The oldest occupation is agriculture and there was a time when the social balance was in the country. The community clubs are co-operating with the Grange and Farm Bureau, and while economic questions predominate the rural population has its organized social life in Clark County. "America is just waking up to the facts of its brain power, and the sources of its leadership," and while the impression once prevailed that leaders were born in the country, that was in the era of the log cabin. In Who's Who, listing 2,200 leading Americans, it was found that two and one-half times as many hailed from the city as from the country in proportion to the population, and the explanation is that for so many years the city has attracted the best blood from the country. A Springfield writer raises this question:

While a good many books have been written in Springfield and a number of persons are classed as excellent musicians, and while the public schools and Wittenberg College teach art, as yet there have been few artists in the community. The papers speak of Walter Tittle of New York and Springfield - should be Springfield and New York - and local people have noted the fact that he recently painted a picture of President Warren G. Harding which will be hung with the portraits of his predecessors on the walls of the White House. Mr. Tittle made dry point etchings of many of the diplomats who attended the Disarmament Conference in Washington and when Marshal Foch saw the result he asked for a picture.

The Frankenstein family who emigrated from Germany in 1831 came from Cincinnati to Springfield in 1849 and the inquiry about local artists was answered by reference to an article in Howe's History relative to the family, the artist being Godfrey N. Frankenstein. The work of his life was his panorama of Niagara, where he spent twenty-two years, beginning it in 1844 and finishing it in 1866, depicting the water in the coldest winter and the hottest summer - by day and night and from every conceivable viewpoint. A year later he visited Europe and in 1869 he painted along the Little Miami near Cincinnati. In 1871, accompanied by his sister Eliza, who was an artist, Mr. Frankenstein went to the White Mountains, where they painted from nature.

In November, 1872, Mr. Frankenstein painted his last scene from nature along Mad River, calling it Ferncliffs. The site is three miles from Springfield. When he died, February 24, 1873, he still possessed all his original pictures save one. However, a line in Howe's History says: "No artist ever had more enthusiastic admirers than some of those who possess his works." Worthington Whittridge is mentioned as a Springfield artist, who attained success after leaving the community. The Mother Stewart portrait elsewhere mentioned was made by a Springfield artist, and investigation would reveal others - really meritorious work by persons too modest to call themselves artists.

Chapter Lix

While there always were ball games, running matches and jumping contests, there was little supervision of sports anywhere * until within the twentieth century. In 1879, Springfield had a baseball team and it was among the first Ohio cities to develop such sport. It sponsored the great American game early in its history. Springfield later gave two players to the world. Jack Glasscock and Guy Hecker of the original Springfield team later played in major leagues and both were stars. John Mitchell of the Springfield team was the first left-hand pitcher to curve the ball. He was a mystery to strikers who could not "get on to his curves/'

Springfield was in the Ohio State Baseball League in 1884 and won the pennant the first year. A local sport writer, Jack Reid, then a schoolboy in Springfield, was interested in the sport and he retained the League Guide of that year. In 1885 the League disbanded with Springfield recognized as the lead team. It was in the league again in 1889 and 1890, and in 1905-6-7 it was a member of the Central League. In 1912 Springfield rejoined the Central League and it was again in action in 1916-17, when the war came on and disorganized sports of all kinds - the players joining the ranks of the patriots and the fans going with them. At the time Mr. Reid furnished the above data there was a movement on to revive baseball enthusiasm in Springfield. A committee representing secret societies and civic organizations was planning to raise a fund of $10,000 by selling $10 shares of stock in a Fan's Association, hoping to gain a place in the Three Eye (Indiana, Illinois and Iowa) League. A number of Springfield boys have continued in the game when Springfield was not maintaining a league. They have joined other leagues and some of them are star players.

Golf is the game at the Country Club and there are municipal links in Snyder Park that attract many players, the course there being enlarged from nine to eighteen holes and tennis courts are to be seen in many places, with croquet still claiming attention. Football and basket ball are popular high school and college sports, athletics having been introduced into the Springfield high school when Prof. W. H. Weir was principal, and Prof. John S. Weaver superintendent. They fostered athletics and Prof. G. E. McCord, now superintendent of schools, was then the football coach. While there had been scrub ball teams, it was in 1901 that football was given attention by the high school faculty.

The twentieth century had dawned before local educators had taken definite steps to balance mental with physical training, and Superintendent McCord was active in bringing sports into the curriculum. Now all athletics are under supervision and a physical director is as necessary as a class room teacher - the educated mind having more value in a well developed body. Principal E. W. Tiffany has ruled that no player not a high school graduate will be permitted to play in the alumni lineup against the high school, thereby placing a premium on securing a diploma and silencing criticism about athletes not being good students. Football is the popular high school contest game and Springfield high school players meet any and all challengers.

Since 1915 basketball has been supervised and encouraged as a high school pastime and there are many good teams in Clark County schools outside of Springfield. The girls are active in basketball and among them are some good players. The Springfield high school gymnasium is a busy place, the classes having their turns under supervision and all having the same privileges there. Basketball teams are organized in the grades and they become expert players by the time they reach high school. The gymnasium is open Saturdays and it is an agency for occupying the time of boys that would otherwise be spent on the streets. Professor McCord has the idea that playing together teaches children the art of living together - makes them live-with-able - that nowhere do they recognize the rights and privileges of others quicker than when engaged in supervised sports.

While baseball has not enthralled Wittenberg at any time, since 1895 football has been under supervision, James Townsend being the coach who started it. Dr. A. F. Linn of Wittenberg is sponsor for athletics and E. R. Godfrey, the present coach, had his athletic training at Ohio State University, and he has been training some winners. Zimmerman athletic field is the scene of many games and Wittenberg shows up wen, many of the athletes having been stars in their high school days. Coach Godfrey hopes for engagements with the big eastern colleges, thereby bringing Wittenberg into recognition.

Since 1915 basketball has been popular at Wittenberg, there being teams among the girls as well as boys, and for two years the lead basketball team had not been defeated, but when it was announced that **A staunch admirer of the Lutherans would present the player scoring the greatest percentage of points during the season with $10," there was a storm of protest, saying: "When it becomes necessary to offer inducements to spur athletes to put forth their best efforts then you rob the game of its greatest asset." The Wittenberg girls are winners in many contests and some close games are played, Doctor Linn of the faculty arranging all engagements. Springfield, St. Raphael and St. Joseph high school basketball players meet all challengers in basketball contests and visiting teams are frequently seen in Springfield.

While trainers are maintained on the golf courses, it is a personal arrangement and is not classed as supervision, but the first steps toward the organization of a public recreational committee to have charge of all athletic work in Springfield were taken at a joint meeting of the public playgrounds committee and the golf commission in the office of City Manager Edgar E. Parsons, the plan embracing the centralization of control of all public recreational activities, the employment of a recreational director and the expression of public recreational activities, the board of education donating the use of school grounds as playgrounds in different communities. There are municipal golf links in Snyder Park and municipal swimming pools in Cliff Park are under consideration. In 1921 the municipal golf links netted more than $5,000 and members of the park board feel that anything that will get the people out into the open air for healthful exercise is a good thing.

Wrestling matches are staged in Springfield and for years it has been a horse race center. Some of the best track horses in the United States are trained on the Clark County Fair Grounds and in the past the fair association has offered purses that bring out the best horses. A public riding club is a possibility, enough persons becoming interested to insure a stable in Springfield. Horseback riding is an invigorating pastime and the country roads offer variety in the vicinity of Springfidd. A riding academy may be a reality. In summing up Springfield attractions, a local writer says : "Old King Winter has done his best to provide a season of good old-fashioned snow sports this year (1921-22), and everywhere one meets gay parties of coasters.

"Snyder Park has been thronged with numerous devotees of the skating art for the last few days. Every afternoon and evening the last week the hills surrounding the picturesque country dub have been ringing with the laughter of innumerable coasters. * * * Quite a few bright colored skating and coasting costumes are worn by the fair devotees of sport. While there are tweed knickers, the bright colored knitted sweaters, hats and scarfs, oftentimes with wool hose to match, predominate. Then there are the old-fashioned bob sled parties which were such gala events in mother and grandmother's day. These sturdy old horsedrawn sleds are hard to find and the man who possessed forethought enough to stow his away was wise, for groups of young and older people are scouring the country for them. Several bob sled parties are scheduled - provided the snow " but the pioneers had that

The amusements change with the times - each amusement has its day, and the only objection to sleighing ever voiced was that it came in January instead of July. The pioneers had little need of athletics when they were felling the trees in the forests and the town boy who sawed the four-foot wood into stove lengths had sufficient exercise, and it seems to hold true : "Sufficient unto the day are the 'special requirements and opportunities/ " the "evils" no longer being under consideration in Clark County.

Chapter Lx Yarnfest In Springfield Chamber Of Commerce

The day after Thanksgiving, A. D. 1921, the weather man was considerate of the aged men and women of Springfield and vicinity, invited to assemble that afternoon in the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce. It rained on Thanksgiving but Old Sol was benignant on Friday, although Jupiter Pluvius was in the saddle again on Saturday. The fair weather seemed to be sandwiched in on Friday because of rheumatism and ailments incident to age, when such persons overcame their human limitations. Sometimes the "wind is tempered to the shorn lamb" and "Friday the fairest" was a benediction.

Many men and women who do not often quit their homes were guests of the Chamber of Commerce and had part in a reminiscent meeting. They remembered Trapper's Corner ; they recalled when the first pavement was put down in front of Maddux Fisher's store; when it was nothing uncommon to see horses and wagons driven to the doors of the homes in Springfield when there were no lawns in front ; they remembered when Springfield was noted for its muddy streets; they knew all about Mill Rim and its relation to the industrial community. Those invited to the Yarnfest were to secure elevator passage to the ninth floor of the Fairbanks Building by saying: "Three-Score-and-Ten" to the women operating the elevators, and while the hours were from 1:00 till 4:00 the guests began arriving before 12 o'clock. One of the elevator operators said: "We are all strong for the part/' and another said: "We did not know that there were so many lovely old ladies in the world as were in Springfield that day. Some of them trembled and some would squeak when the elevator started, and it was the longest ride straight up any of them ever had taken."

The Springfield News said: "One of the most unique parties in the history of Clark County took place in the Chamber of Commerce rooms Friday afternoon when the old folks of the county held a party." Some topics suggested were: Who ever saw a deer in Clark County? Did you ever serve wild turkey to your family or guests ? Who ever "water witched" for a well? Who ever located a bee tree? Who ever cooked before the fire? Who ever came to Springfield by stage? Were you ever lost in the woods ? Would you like to live it all over again ? Some of them remembered the Good Samaritan sign at the Ludlow drug store ; they remembered the coverlet weaver by the name of Myers near Medway; they remembered going to a neighbor's house to borrow fire; they remembered pioneer conditions in Clark County.

While the settlers remained in their own neighborhood, their sons and daughters wander far - become globe trotters - although "See America first" influences some of them and in these days of rapid transit and automobile transportation, the Three-Score-and-Ten class are having their vacation periods, and seeing more of the country. The twentieth century was just rounding out its twenty-first year at the time of the Yarnfest and at the beginning of the century the people at the meeting had heard nothing of the aeroplane, wireless telegraphy, motion pictures, the automobile or the submarine, and they realized the swiftness with which time was carrying them toward eternity. There is nothing new under the sun and people at the Yarnfest told of a similar meeting when O. S. Kelly invited the aged men to be his guests at the Arcade Hotel some years ago. Those who came to the Yarnfest were "strangers in a strange land" because they were nine stories above terra firma, and they were not used to being so high up in the world. Some one writes : and that feat was accomplished at the Yarnfest. The guests remembered all about a deep water pond at High and Market streets, when the storekeepers and residents went about in boats, the overflow of Mill Run being the difficulty. They remembered the cyclones and the hurricanes, although Springfield has had few destructive fires. They remembered the log rollings, the clearings, the wool pickings, the apple cuttings, when they peeled, cored and quartered the apples for drying, and called the finished product snits. They remembered when girls were called Tomboys who were the "flapper" type of today, and some of them do not condemn the short skirt with sensible limitations, although women of that age have not conformed to the more recent styles; nor

"Early to bed and early to rise" had been the life rule of many who came to the Yarnfest and the program began half an hour early. Why wait for a crowd when the invited guests had assembled? While there may be older persons than those who attended the meeting, there are few more cheerful folk. Those who were able-bodieid and remained at home may take cold comfort in the fact that those who responded to the invitation enjoyed the meeting. How do men and women know when they are growing old? Because somebody calls them father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, and when they notice gray hairs in their heads, when some one offers them a seat in a crowded car or auditorium, when young people try to shield them from responsibility.

While all octogenarians and golden bridal pairs were asked to write their names with the necessary statistical information, many who were born since 1841 enrolled and it made a task for the tellers, C. E. Hansell and A. R. Altick of the Chamber of Commerce, who determined the prize winners from those entries. It was necessary to consume a good deal of time in completing the records of others who failed to give exact information. First, second and third prizes were offered and a fourth man was twenty-one days younger than the third oldest man present and a bridegroom was a winner until it developed that his wife had not accompanied - a condition set forth - the awards being for those in attendance. One golden bridal pair had penciled a border of yellow on the envelope containing their names, and another indicated : "The male is seventy-six while the female is seventy-five." One man aged eighty-one had penciled the word "Single" and another said in a note: "I am a Republican and a Methodist."

David King, Isaac M. Evans, Mrs. Helen S. Hoppes, Thomas S. Hess, L. M. Hartman, Mrs. Frances C. Vance, Mrs. Margaret Catharine Rhodes Berry, Mrs. Margaret Moore and John N. Austin. While those past seventy were invited, they were not asked to enroll at the meeting. Seventy is denominated as the "dead line," and when men and women cross it safely they frequently attain to four score years - become octogenarians, nonagenarians, and sometimes centenarians.

Some one writes: "When they pass ninety-five these dear old people are keen to live to the hundredth birthday," but Mrs. Coberly, who one Sunday in the previous August had dropped nine dimes, a nickel and a penny in the birthday box at the M. E. Sunday School in South Vienna, and who was proclaimed the oldest person at the Yarnfest, having been born August 29, 1825, said she was "old in body but young in spirit," and that was a happy condition. They crowded her so in the elevator coming to the Yarnfest that she did not have any chance to get light-headed, and she said afterward: "I do not know when I enjoyed myself so well as there among all those old folks." She never had seen General Keifer, but she recognized him from having seen his pictures. Mrs. Coberly never had heard the song, "Swing low, sweet chariot, coming to carry me home," and it was in her mind frequently.

John Cord was the oldest man present, although a short time later the newspapers carried the story that Rev. John Hunt, a member of the I. O. O. F. Home, was ninety-nine years old, and that he was said to be the oldest college graduate in the United States. In 1842 he graduated from Brown University. He was born October 17, 1822, at Lowell, Massachusetts. While Mrs. Coberly smokes, and said she did not care who knew it, Mr. Hunt never used tobacco or liquor in any form - so tobacco had nothing to do with longevity in either instance. The mother of Mr. Hunt had attained to 102 years, although she never lived in Clark County. When she was past ninety-five years old Mrs. Coberly cast her first ballot, saying: "I voted her straight," and when a war chest drive was on in the community, she volunteered her subscription, saying she had lived through two previous wars, and she was pensioned as the widow of Samuel Coberly, who was a Civil war soldier.

When seen in her home after the Yarnfest Mrs. Coberly said the Lord had been good to her; she was attending revival meetings every night - Methodist and Christian union service - saying: "We're putting our meetings together, and it just works fine," and she had just entertained the two ministers at dinner, saying: "It was not so much the dinner as that the oldest woman in Clark County cooked it for them; not many of my age could cook that dinner," and it should inspire others to greater activity. "Tales of the prodigious feats of centenarian and near centenarian ancestors have been handed down in many families for generations until now they are accepted only as fanciful dreams/' but many people will vouch for the truth of Mrs. Coberly's activities, knowing that the woman lives alone. She has her "second sight," and reads the newspaper without glasses.

In registering the golden bridal couples in attendance, two persons entered into the consideration; those present were: Mr. and Mrs., George Krapp, Mn and Mrs. G. W. Billow. Mr. and Mrs. George Braley, Mr. and Mrs. David Sheets, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Hess, Mr. and Mrs. George F. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Miranda, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Pearson, and Mr. and Mrs. Peter Overhulser. Most of the golden bridal pairs were also octogenarians ; they all seemed "happy though married" fifty years. Springfield merchants who had offered premiums in the different classes all report pleasant visits from the winners, although only Mr. and Mrs. Krapp, and Mrs. McMillan went from the meeting to claim the articles given them. The others were worn out and went to their homes, taking another day for claiming the premiums ; however, all presented their credentials - an order signed by Mr. Hansell of the Chamber of Commerce, and given them at the meeting.

At the Home Store A. J. Sutton waited on Mr. and Mrs. Krapp, who were accompanied by relatives, and he said: "Mr. dear sir, they were pleased; they went out as happy as if they had just established their love nest, and it were their first pair of blankets." They had been married sixty-six years, and the blankets were offered to the oldest bridal pair at the meeting. They have separate bank accounts, and the oldest golden bride collects her own rentals, and makes her own deposits. She inherited money from Germany some years ago. Mr. Krapp was a bandmaster in Germany, Louisville and Springfield ; he conducted a grocery store in Springfield, and acquired considerable property. When Mrs. Eliza McMillan of South Charleston claimed the house slippers given by the Horner Shoe Store to the third oldest woman at the Yarnfest, she wished she might live eighty-nine years longer and note the changes in the world ; she told them about stage coach days in Springfield.

When Mrs. Coberly had rested a few days she came to the Boston Store. C. E. Dahlgren, who had offered a shawl to the oldest woman at the meeting, waited on her himself. He introduced her to customers in the store, and she entertained them all. He said : "I never saw such an active woman so near the century mark; it was worth the donation to meet the woman," and Mrs. Coberly said of the shawl : "This streak of gray matches my hair, and while I have another shawl I wear this one." Mrs. Eliza Trout called at the Petot Shoe Store within a day or two, and arranged with R. W. Pickering for a return date, when she had more time. She was ninety-one years old, and claimed the prize offered the second oldest woman ; she walked from her home a mile and a half from the store. When Mrs. Trout came again, Mr. Pickering fitted her in shoes, saying she was a woman to be admired although a woman of few words.

When Peter Overhulser of Lawrenceville finally called at the John MacKee Store to claim the gloves offered the third oldest man, he was accompanied by relatives. He was two years old when he came to German Township where he had lived more than eighty-six years, and it developed that L. M. Hartman, who was born October 9, 1840, had lived continuously in one place, still lacking five years of attaining to the record of Mr. Overhulser. However, the oldest woman present - Mrs. Coberly - had lived ninety years in Clark County. When Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Billow called at the Hadley Store to receive the blankets awarded the second oldest bridal pair in attendance, they remained for a short visit and all enjoyed it. Their son, N. K. Billow, of Billow and Firestone in Columbus, had business relations with the Hadley Store Company. When Mrs. Billow missed a social gathering later, she was charged with remaining home to enjoy the blankets; the whole thing was a mystery to her.

When John Cord claimed the hat awarded the oldest man in attendance by the Buckeye Hatters, it was a case of "Actions speak louder than words." He said little, having never won a hat before, and he was pleased with it ; he was six years younger than the oldest woman. George Braley was winner in two classes ; he was the second oldest man and the third oldest bridegroom, and when A. C. Flora of the Arcade Shoe Store was fitting Mr. Braley with shoes, for the first time he heard about the log cabin: "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," being constructed in Springfield. At the Kresge Store, Mr. Braley had no trouble at all; a dozen towels would fit either Mrs. Braley or himself. In the picture of the eleven prize winners, Mr. Braley could not be in two places and he was seated with Mrs. Braley. While twelve persons were supposed to be winners, the nine prizes offered were won by eleven persons, since Mr. Braley doubled as the second oldest man and the third oldest bridegroom. One man aged eighty-eight years was heard to say he did not expect recognition, when so many older persons were at the meeting.

It was urged that if prizes had been offered for the handsomest men and women others might have been winners, and a Springfield milliner did covet the privilege of giving a bonnet to some aged woman, but when she made known her desire the list of prizes had already been announced ; then she wanted to give a bonnet to a spinster, but "bachelor maids" do not usually announce their ages - are sometimes sensitive about it. The Davis trio - quaint and ancient garb - attracted much attention; the sisters are daughters of Jacob Davis, who was a Mad River Township pioneer, and Mrs. Clarinda Mitman Serface was an octogenarian, while Mrs. Mary R. Hain and Mrs. Anna F. Cost were younger, Mrs. Cost wearing the wedding gown worn by their mother.

The 1920 census enrolled 3,500 persons in the United States who had passed the centenary, and while every community has its "oldest inhabitant," there was no record of a centenarian in Clark County. It is estimated that the average man who reaches four score years wastes two years putting on and taking off clothes, while a woman spends ten years dressing herself and undressing - full ten years before her mirror - but there must be exceptions. It was the wise man, Solomon, who said: "Boast not thyself of tomorrow," and yet those old persons assembled seemed to have been provident - no worry about the future. Some one writes :

"They call it going down the hill when we are growing old ; They speak with mourning accents when our tale is nearly told ; They sigh when talking of the past - the days that used to be, As if our future were not bright with immortality."

E. P. Thornton who attended the Yarn f est had known Griffith Foos, had seen him often ; they sawed wood together, and Mr. Foos said : "We are the only industrious boys in town." He had long, gray hair and told Mr. Thornton about the time when buffaloes and deer roamed along Buck Creek. While the people were assembled to tell stories :

"J'ever notice how, when the house gits still, An' yer feelin' sad an* lonesome, like yer sometimes will, Tears as ef the faces of yer boyhood days, Was looking out upon you from the black log's blaze; The flames leap in a hurry, just like you used to do, When a neighbor boy would whistle outside the door for you, An' yer can't help savin' : 'Tell you what it is, I want to go back wher' the old folks is,' "

The audience sang "America," and the invocation was by Dr. J. W. Gunn, who was a nonagenarian and known to all. When C. C. Williams arose to sing "My Old Kentucky Home," inquiry was made as to those present who were of Kentucky ancestry; while there was a showing of hands, the percentage was not so large as 120 years earlier when James Demint, Col. John Daugherty and Griffith Foos established the bounds of Springfield; then it was unanimous, although they never heard the song. N. E. T)eaton sang "Old Black Joe," and Mr. and Mrs. Deaton

S leased all with their rendition of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and Irs. R. W. Murray sang "Ben Bolt." When Samuel Deitrick, who had brought a violin, played "Nellie Gray," all joined in singing it - sang it like they used to sing it, and they enjoyed it. While one aged Springfield woman did not attend the Yarnfest because she did not want to see so many persons with only a few more years to live in the world, none who were present were gloomy about it.

It is known that Clark County maidens still have hope boxes; they still walk in the footsteps of their grandmothers, although when those who came to the Yarnfest were young they did not wear galoshes, nor were they called flappers. The water wave was an aquatic term, although now it is tonsorial - permanent waving admitting girls into select society. In grandmother's day: and a present day writer says : "Let us go back to the boys and girls of fifty years ago; except for a few silver spoon favorities in the few resi- dence avenues in a few cities, the young folks were not acquainted with luxuries. * * * Rural communities were not organized for recreation and entertainment in those days. No chautauquas, no band concerts, no intertown ball leagues, no community coliseums, no basket-ball games, no high school track meets ; far apart were the county fairs, and one circus a summer. Christmas tree at the church ; fire crackers on the Fourth, a magic lantern show at the Town Hall. * * * For weeks at a time every country lane and every towft street would be a mush of mud, or a jumble of frozen ruts; the speed rate of wheel vehicles was three or four miles an hour ; the town ten miles away was off in another world."

Those who came to the Yarn f est understood all about it ; the pioneer women did not have the matinee habit, nor did they waste money on cut flowers and jewelry; that is why their husbands accumulated, and were enabled to "buy all the land that joined them." These women attracted to the Yarnfest knew all about an early breakfast, and hanging their clothes on the line before their neighbors were ready. The fathers and the mothers of the past saved and planned economy for years, and their children scatter money to the four winds in shorter periods. Somebody rakes up the leaves before there is a bonfire, and the pioneers did it - did it gladly - they left fortunes in the broad acres in all parts of Clark County.

The Chamber of Commerce has this saying : "Agreeable acquaintance is a great asset," and it is demonstrated in Springfield every day that activity contributes to longevity. Dr. B. F. Prince, who presided at the Yarnfest, met his Wittenberg College classes every day, and Gen. J. Warren Keifer was in his office - neither was finding any time to grow old, notwithstanding the poet's invitation: "Come, grow old with me; the best of life is yet to be," and it is said that those who retire from activities invite dissolution. Both Doctor Prince and General Keifer are like Edward Everett Hale, who was "eighty years young." When Jacob's character and manner of life changed he was known as Israel, and when Simon became Peter he assumed a different personality, and were that true of men and women today it would be most confusing to history and directory publishers; however, many Clark County people have experienced change of heart and retained the same nomenclature.

While it is a good thing to look forward to a mirage of rest across a desert of work, and the man is fortunate who does not have to quit his bed when he has grown old at the call of an alarm clock, it is the consensus of opinion among scientific investigators that the man who retires at three score and ten practically signs his own death warrant; goes to pieces soon after his withdrawal from routine activities, and Doctor Prince and General Keifer are local examples classed with Luther Burbank and Thomas A. Edison, who keep themselves young by their close application to their chosen pursuits. No doubt there are other outstanding examples in Springfield, as may be noted in the list of octogenarians - Mrs. Coberly preparing a repast for guests when she was known to be the oldest citizen of Clark County. A local merchant sold one old man his last pair of boots several times, and when they were worn out he would take a new lease on life - invest in one more pair of boots. A woman who had her burial muslin ready for several years, would bleach it every changing season; it would "soon be one way or

In a published interview, Deacon Jonathan Dickinson Baker, who is the third generation in the deaconship of Knob Prairie Christian Church at Enon in a period covering 116 years, says: "Those who think the past is best, and who live in it are now old folks; we are living in the present with the young people of the village; we are young," and the man who said it was already seven years "on borrowed time," since the dead-line is placed at three score and ten years. It was John Kendrick Bangs, whose "Line O' Cheer" was published daily in Springfield, who said.

"When you have had your coffee, your oatmeal and your steak, Your dainty omelette souffle, and daily buckwheat cake, Just pause for say a minute - " and some one else says longevity is superinduced by lying awake half an hour, and planning the day's activhies while in bed. However, that rule was not followed by Clark County pioneers.

The Yarnfest was an afternoon devoted to the folklore of the community - Springfield and all Clark County - in their "younger days" the people present had been clever, they could pat their head with one hand and rub their stomach with the other, but now they are the people referred to when the Clark County Fair advertises a "Great gala day for old folks, admitting persons sixty-five years old and upward residing in Clark County, to attend Springfield Fair free one day," and the 1921 catalogue urges them to bring any relics or curiosities, as if the Clark County Historical Society had not already corraled all such things. They are specially urged to bring instruments of husbandry that were used long ago, but they were invited to the Yarnfest simply to revive the traditions and hitherto unpublished stories about Clark County. The Springfield News says : "More than 250 old folks of Clark County well beyond the three score and ten mark assembled and enjoyed an afternoon which brought back to them memories of the days when this county was infested with Indians."

There is a shoe shop at 45 West Washington Street, operated by David Frey, where men of three score and ten years assemble frequently. It is a discussion clearing house ranging from shoestrings to steam engines; from peanut stands to bank robberies, the men gathering there all have unfailing memories. They talk about overshot water wheels when Mill Run furnished the water power for Springfield industries. There was an overshot wheel at a starch factory on the site of the Regent Theater, and the children from a school on the site of the Warder Library came there to wash their slates ; the water came from the wheel with such force that many slates were lost, the force of the water dashing them from the hands of the children. A paper mill, hominy mill, the starch mill and a table factory all had overshot water wheels, but the starch mill had the biggest wheel in Springfield. It was burned in 1858, and was a distinctive loss to local industry. E. W. Simpson was one of Mr. Fry's daily visitors, and he had told the story of Mill Run at the

There were hearsay and definite stories at this shoe-shop information bureau, one man having seen the bullet marks made by Daniel Boone as a sharp shooter along Mad River, and another antedated the Dary surveyor story, saying John Paul was a chain man with a Government surveying party. There were pioneers who left no descendants - none to rescue their names from oblivion, save these aged men who frequently meet and discuss them. While the community is full of tablets commemorating prominent personages, the shoe-shop bureau of information paid tribute to many others ; while some would not talk before an historical society, they perpetuate many memories in limited circles, and it seems that sometimes men without local forebears - men who are their own ancestry, have often been community builders. They are closer sometimes to fundamentals than the sons of their fathers, who at the same time are the grandsons of the settlers. They say fortune runs out in the third generation, and that some in Springfield are in the sixth generation, and the fortune is "petering" out again."

In a booklet recently publisihed in connection with a church anniversary at New Carlisle, W. H. Sterrett writes of the settler, saying his cloth was homespun unless he had a pair of leather breeches considered in the nature of a luxury ; the deer skin properly tanned was pliable when worn as trousers, and when a man attending the quarterly conference used suspenders to support his buckskin trousers charges were preferred against him. When Elder McKendree opened the conference, he asked the question: "Are there any complaints?" One of the stewards said: "I have a complaint to make against Brother Cartwright (Peter Cartwright once preached there, and Elder McKendree asked him to specify, the steward answered : "Brother Cartwright is corrupting the morals of our young men in following the fashion." When Elder McKendree inquired "What fashion?" the steward of the church answered: "He is wearing a pair of galluses." Because of his own rotundity, the elder recognized the benefits of wearing "galluses," and the charge was not pressed against Cartwright.

Chapter Lxi

The old-fashioned Whatnot had a little of everything on it, and the Omnibus Chapter has a little of everything in it. A platform speaker once said that what he thought about afterward was often more worth while than the thoughts that came to him while he was on his feet and some of these stories would have fitted themselves in elsewhere, but were overlooked until the "elsewhere" door was closed against them; for instance, the high school auditorium was packed to hear the Lincoln address by Paul C. Martin, Springfield attorney. While the high school orchestra furnished the music, the outstanding historical feature, "The Gold and the Blue," the assembly song, was written by an alumnus, Mrs. Lucinda Hayes Cook, and the music was by B. D. Ackley of the Billy Sunday organization, who once visitecj Springfield. The fact should have been noted in the school chapter or in the chapter on music.

The old Southern mammies, who were famous cooks, did not always follow formulas in their culinary processes. They used "a little o' this and a little o* that," and their leftover dishes sometimes were their best productions. An Omnibus chapter always catches incidents overlooked in their proper connection, as the 1921 second crop of Hickory Jack, a toothsome fungus known as mushrheum very much relished in the spring. In November it was being used in Springfield.

As proof of the unusual winter, on January 9, 1922, when the gleaner accompanies W. W. Keifer to Fort Tecumseh battlefield, a toad was hopping about among the rocks on that hillside. While it seemed sluggish it was inclined to self-preservation. On February 11, while en route to Selma with Farm Bureau President E. W. Hawkins, people were fishing in the Little Miami. It is not polluted by the discharge from factories and anglers get results. The two incidents indicate that exiles from Clark County had not gained much by escaping local weather conditions.

Albert Reeder tells of the South Charleston boy who was sent to market with eggs. His mother instructed him to get twenty-five cents a dozen for them. The grocer offered him thirty cents, but he remembered his mother's admonition. When he returned he told her about it, saying he held out for twenty-five cents. Another egg story : When the South Charleston practical jokers were assembled in a grocery store, Joseph Winslow came in and Dr. Washington Atkinson said to him: "Uncle Joe, if you will suck three dozen eggs I will pay for the eggs and give you a quarter." Winslow answered : "Come on with the eggs," and without moving from his seat he performed the feat and collected the money.

With Wittenberg bridge the scene of holdups, it was recalled that in 1807 when the Indians were creating so much disturbance and a rifleball whizzed through the sunbonnet and grazed the throat of a Mrs. Elliott, who was getting firewood, a number of Clark County families went back to Kentucky to escape the reign of terror. It seemed that people avoided Wittenberg Bridge and Snyder Park because of banditry - still Indians there.

The oldest silver service owned in Clark County was brought to Mad River in 1804 by Mrs. Peter Smith. An old account says: "She had carried it around in all their wanderings as a memento of fine living in Jersey. She lived in the Carolinas and many other places before locating on Mad River. For every-day use in cabin life she found pewter more serviceable. Mrs. Smith died in 1831, leaving her silverware to her daughter, Mrs. Mary Keifer, the mother of Gen. J. Warren Keifer." When asked about it, W. W. Keifer said there were some solid silver spoons with that bit of history.

In the home of Miss Mary Spinning on Belmont Avenue are samples, slippers, vases and decorated china brought from eastern markets by Pierson Spinning in the early days of Springfield history. There are family portraits of the Knickerbocker style that are highly prized for their antiquity. There is a picture of Miss Harriet Spinning who died the promised bride of Griffith Foos, Jr., the two pioneer families being social leaders in Springfield.

The dread of the settler was the horse thief, while the bandits now steal Fords and other automobiles. When a farmer had a horse stolen in the spring, he could not plant his crops until he located the stolen horse or bought another. It was a hardship to lose a horse. Years ago there were horse traders drifting from one town to another, and swapping was practiced on the streets. As a boy, Samuel S. Miller was riding to Cincinnati with a man' who traded horses three times en route, and the last horse died the day he traded for it. The man gave a silver watch to a farmer for another horse, finally reaching Cincinnati. When there were hay markets there were horse traders, but parking places are now infested with automobile thieves, crime adapting itself to changed conditions. The book, David Harum, describes the horse trade epoch in history.

In 1840, when Gen. William Henry Harrison was to deliver a political address in Springfield, word reached him that caused him to leave the Werden Hotel, where he had dinner, and go to his home at Northbend. It rained that day and when the boys in the line of march broke ranks they were given a free dinner in the Springfield market house. Granny Icenberger was still in business and many bought cakes from her. A log cabin was built in the streets and other speakers were secured when General Harrison, who rode out of town in an open barouche, was not available. In 1921 Gen. J. Warren Keifer was the speaker when a monument was unveiled in hbnor of General Harrison at Northbend.

When William Palmer of Mad River Township heard some wolves among his sheep, he took down Old Cad, his trusty rifle, and loaded it. He fired it, killing two of his own oxen, but why grieve over spilled milk? As he loaded the gun again, he consoled himself, saying: "Old Cad always fetches them."

Adam Reid of Mad River Township was the first Clark County farmer to have rag carpet in his house and later on he was the first to have upholstered furniture. He came by water to Sandusky in 1826 and overland from there to Springfield.

Years ago when William Pretzman made candy in Springfield, he allowed a group of men who wanted something to occupy their time to wrap it, and eat as much as they wanted of it. They did it for pastime. Mr. Pretzman knew human nature, for in a short time these men swapped stories while wrapping candy and did not eat any of it. There

While the mill boys were reputed to balance the grain with a stone when going to mill with the sway-backed horse, it remained for a Pleasant Township farmer to balance harrow teeth with a stone, when he was taking them in a bag to the blacksmith to have them sharpened. When a school teacher married her recipe made such a large cake she could not use all of it. When a neighbor told her to divide it she asked whether it were long or short division - she could do either, but dividing a recipe perplexed her.

The first circus visited Springfield in the middle '30s and pitched its tent on Mill Rim east from Market street, the circus space extending from the site of the Arcade east to Limestone Street. There was horseback riding by the "limber boys" and strong men supported the 1,000- pound cannon. The ringmaster told the ladies not to be too alarmed when the cannon was fired and although assured of its harmlessness, the explosion frightened everybody. After the smoke cleared away four men came into the ring with spikes and carried the cannon and the frame outside. When the strong man changed from "all fours" to an upright position, it was the wonder of the show - the topic of conversation - but the people then had not seen the three-ring circus, the thrills of which are forgotten immediately, and a year later they go again.