H. H. Green 
 

-<''^r^. 
 
REV. H. H. GREEN. D. D. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE 
 
 OF A 
 
 COMMONER 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 BY 
 
 H. H. GREEN. D. D. 
 
 PRESS O » 
 
 PUBUIC OPINION 
 
 DECO«AM. IOWA 
 
y^' 
 
 '-1 
 
^0 yy^.^A d^cK ^^VUU/^(A. 
 
 
To My 
 
 Beloved Wife, 
 
 Who For Nearly Fifty Years. 
 
 Has Shared With Me. 
 
 The Vicissitudes of Life. 
 
 And To The Boys And Girls 
 
 Who Have Ever 
 
 Blessed And Brightened Our Home, 
 
 These Pages Are Affectionately Dedicated. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 (^HAPTER I 
 
 rp==|1N THE thirteenth day of 
 |B J March, in the year of our 
 jlfc^l Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and thirty-nine, I 
 was born in the village of Elsham, 
 Lincolnshire. England. Of my an- 
 cestry I have little knowledge. I 
 only know because I have been told 
 by good authority, that my paternal 
 grandfather, whose name was John 
 Green, and my grandmother, whose 
 maiden name was Ann .Johnson, 
 were both of the same county of 
 Lincoln, my grandfather dying at 
 the age of 7 2 and grandmother ten 
 years later, at the age of 71. 
 
 It is with a deep sense of grati- 
 tude to Almighty God for his pre- 
 serving care over me through the 
 years of my life, that I undertake at 
 the request of my beloved wife and 
 children, this brief record, well 
 knowing that I must of necessity 
 omit many things because they have 
 passed out of my remembrance, for 
 I never kept a diary of my doings 
 nor have I ever charged my memory 
 particularly with the incidents and 
 events of my life; suffice it to say 
 then, that in the absence of written 
 data I can only recall such things 
 as have stuck in my memory amid 
 the crowding events of passing 
 years. 
 
 Nor am I such a conceited oaf as 
 to imagine for a moment that any- 
 thing which may be set down in 
 these records could be of intere.st 
 to any one outside of my own fam- 
 ily, with possibly the exception of 
 some of my relatives or near per- 
 sonal friends. But even so I under- 
 take to narrate in as simple a man- 
 ner as I may be able to command 
 the few things which may seem to 
 me to be not altogether unworthy 
 of mention, all the while trusting 
 that whatever errors shall appear or 
 whatever incidents may be recalled 
 and written down, which may seem 
 to be too trivial to be worthy of 
 notice, will be generously over- 
 looked by my partial friends. 
 
 In my grandfather's family there 
 were five boys and one girl. The 
 names of the boys were William, 
 James, David, Samuel and Johnson, 
 and the name of the daug'hter was 
 Maria. 
 
 My father's name was Samuel, 
 who, as I am informed, was next 
 to the youngest. David emigrated 
 to America in 185 2 and settled in 
 Ohio. Some of his children now 
 reside at Dayton and others at Troy, 
 In that state. 
 
 My mother's maiden name was 
 Martha Nisson. She was married 
 twice, my father being her second 
 husband. She was the mother of 
 
THE flI.MPLK r>IFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 fourteen children, eleven by her 
 first husband, Mr. Leedhani, and 
 three by my father. Of the Leed- 
 hams, as far as I know, only two 
 are living at the present time, 
 William, who resides at Lyons. 
 Iowa, and Mary Ann, who married 
 .Joseph Messmer, and who have 
 teen residents of Florida many 
 years. My only brother died in in- 
 fancy, and my only sister, Clara, 
 has been living with her husband 
 and children in St. Louis, Missouri 
 for the past forty years. 
 
 The boys in my grandfather's 
 family were all musicians of some 
 local prominence. One of my earli- 
 est recollections is associated with 
 the musical penchant of my father 
 and his brothers: they were in the 
 habit of meeting for rehearsal oc- 
 casionally of an evening at the 
 tailor shop of one of my uncles, 
 and it was there my father would 
 take me when I could not have been 
 more than four or five years old. 
 snd I even at this late day recall 
 with sensations of pleasure the joy- 
 ous times spent at my uncle's tailor 
 shop listening to the music rendered 
 by the "Green Brothers" on those 
 far away winter evenings, some- 
 times diversifying the time when un- 
 observed, among the shears, pins, 
 buttons and other things scattered 
 about the shop to the horror of ray 
 uncle .Tames, until overcome by 
 drowsiness I would drop asleep and 
 my father would gently stretch me 
 out on one of the tables where I 
 would sleep the sleep of innocent 
 childhood until it was time to break 
 up the soiree, or whatever you may 
 please to call it, and depart for 
 home. 
 
 My father, who for many years 
 was a member of the church or- 
 chestra in Elsham, told me once of 
 
 a rather ludicrous incident, in which 
 1 am inclined to think he was him- 
 self one of the chief actors, though 
 he never said as much. It appeared 
 that on a certain Sunday, as was 
 the custom in England at that time, 
 and is now for aught I know to 
 the contrary, a household of rela- 
 tives and friends had been invited 
 to dinner and to spend the afternoon 
 in a home-like, social way. The 
 husband had gone i.o church as his 
 custom was, but the wife remained 
 at home to look after the guests and 
 prepare the dinner. For some rea- 
 s^on she became confused as to just 
 what preparation should be made, 
 especially concerning the dinner: 
 she wanted her husband's advice 
 about the meal, how she had better 
 prepare it. Now it so happened 
 that the boy she sent to make the 
 enquiry reached the church just 
 when the choir were singing the 
 opening hymn, and as there was no 
 time to spare, the little fellow, who 
 could sing a bit himself, stole up to 
 his father's side and joining his 
 childish treble voice with the voices 
 of the choir, sang in time and tune 
 his mother's request: 
 
 "Mother wishes you to say, 
 How she shall cook the meat today." 
 
 The response of the father in his 
 deep bass voice was prompt and in 
 perfect time: 
 
 "Sure, it will be right and foine. 
 To boil the leg and roast the loin." 
 
 It would be wholly impossible to 
 entertain anything like an intelli- 
 gent idea touching the origin and 
 age of our family, nor indeed is 
 it any great matter, in my thinking, 
 when or where we originated. 
 
 A relative of mine on r.iy mother's 
 side who was at the time a resident 
 of St. Paul, Minnesota, with whom I 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 became actiuainted through a cousin 
 in Ohio, visited England a few years 
 ago and at my request undertook to 
 look up my ancestry among the 
 records of the county of Lincoln. 
 He was able to trace the family 
 back through many generations but 
 finally lost it because of his inability 
 to follow on through the mazes of 
 the old English dialects which he 
 v/as unable either to read or 
 understand. So 1 rest content 
 with the belief that lij^e almost 
 everyone else I must have sprung 
 from the father of our race, the 
 first man, Adam, which is as far 
 back as any can venture. 
 
 However, if there is any great 
 honor attaching to this thing of 
 descent it is my opinion that Mr. 
 Charles Darwin is entitled to first 
 place, masniuch .as he has solemnly 
 assured us that his ancestors were 
 monkeys, an honor, which I venture 
 to say. few will be disposed either 
 to dispute or share with him. 
 
 In Lhe past, I think, as a rule, 
 Americans have shown less interest 
 in the genealogical tree than mof-t 
 of the other great nations of the 
 world, but even so, there appears 
 to be a growing interest among us 
 in the history of our families, which 
 will proba])ly increase as the years 
 go by. 
 
 As an illustration of this ten- 
 dency among Americans, the follow- 
 ing words by a well informed writer 
 concerning the poet Longfellow will 
 be apropos: 
 
 "The poet Longfellow was for- 
 tunate in his heredity. He came of 
 the best New England stock. Among 
 his ancestors on the paternal side 
 are Samuel Sewall, the first chief- 
 justice of Massachusetts, and Judge 
 Stephen Longfellow of Gorham, 
 Mass. His mother waj a lineal 
 descendant of .Tohn and Priscilla Al- 
 
 den of Mayflower fame; and she was 
 daughter of General Peleg Wads- 
 worth, a distinguished patriot and 
 brilliant soldier of Portland, Me. 
 
 Longfellow's father was an able 
 congressman and a lawyer of high 
 repute, noted for his hospitality and 
 his agreeable, courtly manners." 
 
 It is the proud boast of some that 
 they are descendants of the Pilgrim 
 Patherrf, and of others that their 
 forbears were the Cavaliers of Eng- 
 land. There is only one thing at- 
 taching to the place of my birth 
 which affords me any particular sa- 
 tisfaction, and that is that my na- 
 tive county was also the place of 
 the nativity of some very distin- 
 guished persons. 
 
 Lincolnshire, lying on the north- 
 east coast of England, was the birth 
 place of John Wesley, the founder 
 of Methodism: Charles Wesley, the 
 greatest hymn writer of the world: 
 Sir Isaac Nev/ton, the philosopher 
 and mathematician. William Cecil, 
 better known as Lord Burleigh, for 
 forty years prime minister and 
 secretary of state under Queen 
 Elizabeth; Alfred Tennyson, the 
 poet Laureate; Jean Ingelow, auth- 
 or of several volumes of poetry and 
 prose fiction; besides several others 
 of more or less note. Of the poems 
 "The High Tide on the Coast 
 of Lincolnshire," is probably the 
 best known; it posseses a beau- 
 ty and an uniqueness of ex- 
 pression peculiar to the sixteenth 
 century which is both forceful and 
 charming, while it describes; with 
 wonderful vividness one of those 
 events which may happen in low 
 countries, once in a thousand years. 
 I shall take the liberty of making 
 a quotation from this beautiful 
 poem which I am sure will be read 
 with pleasure since it samples the 
 whole composition: 
 
rilK SIMI'I.H LIF1-: Ol' A CO.M.MOXRK 
 
 Th*^ swanliords where their sedges 
 are 
 Moved on in sunset's golden 
 brfeath. 
 The shepherede lads I heard alar. 
 And my son's wife, Elizabeth: 
 Till floating o'er the grassy sea 
 Came downe that kyndly message 
 free. 
 The "Brides of Mavis Enderby." 
 
 Then some looked uppe into the sky, 
 And all along where . Lindis flows 
 To where the goodly vessels lie, 
 And where the lordly steeple 
 shows. 
 They sayde, "And why should this 
 thing be? 
 What danger lowers by land or 
 sea? 
 They ring the tune of Enderby! 
 
 For evil news from Mablethorpe, 
 
 Of pyrate galleys warping downe: 
 For shippes ashore beyond the 
 scorpe, 
 They have not spared to wake the 
 towne; 
 But while the west bin red to see. 
 And storms be none, and pyrates 
 flee, 
 Why ring "The Brides of Enderby?" 
 
 T looked without, and lo ray sonne 
 Came riding downe with might 
 and main; 
 He raised a shout as he drew on. 
 Till all the welkin rang again. 
 "Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" 
 
 (A sweeter woman ne'er drew 
 breath 
 Than my Sonne's wife. Elizabeth.) 
 
 'The olde sea wall." he cried, "is 
 downe. 
 The rising tide comes on apace. 
 And boats adrift in yonder towne 
 Go sailing uppe the market- 
 place." 
 He shook as one that looks on 
 death : 
 "God save you. mother!" straight 
 he saith; 
 "Where is my wife Elizabeth?" 
 
 "Good sonne, where Lindis winds 
 her way, 
 With her two bairns I marked hei 
 long; 
 And ere yon bells began to play 
 Afar I heard her milking song." 
 
 He looked across the grassy lea. 
 
 To right, to left, -Ho, Enderby!" 
 They rang "The Brides of Enderby " 
 
 With that he cried and beat his 
 breast: 
 For lo! along the river's bed 
 A mighty eygre reared his crest. 
 
 And uppe the T.indis raging sped. 
 It swept with thundtrous noise.s 
 loud : 
 Shaped like a curling snow-white 
 cloud. 
 Or like a demon in a shroud. 
 
 And rearing I>indis backward 
 pnessed 
 Shook all her trembling bankes 
 amaine; 
 Then madly at the eygre's breast 
 Flung uppe her weltering walls 
 agTiin. 
 Then banks came downe with ruin 
 and rout- — 
 Then beaten foam flew round 
 about — 
 Then all the mighty floods were out. 
 
 So far. so fast the eygre drave. 
 The heart had hardly time to beat 
 
 Before a shallow seething wave 
 Sobbed in the grasses at oure 
 feet; 
 
 The feet had hardly time to flee 
 Before it brake against the knee. 
 
 And all the world was in the sea. 
 
 That Americans, especially the 
 jieople of New England have an abid- 
 ing interest in the old county of 
 Lincoln, on account of historic re- 
 lationships is made clear by Mr. 
 William E. Curtis, who in one of his 
 letters from abroad makes the fol- 
 lowing statements: 
 
 The old town of Boston, an insig- 
 nificant seaport at the mouth of the 
 Witham River, in Lincolnshire, and 
 thirty miles south of Lincoln, is 
 considered the most sacred place in 
 the United Kingdom for New Eng- 
 landers. There John Cotton, vicar 
 of St. Botolph's Church, was con- 
 victed of "nonconformity," because 
 he administered the sacreraent to his 
 congregation while seated in the 
 pews instead of on their knees. He 
 was removed from his pulpit in 1633. 
 and with Richard Bellingham and 
 
THP: simple LIFK of a CO.M.MOXFlt 
 
 Thomas Leverett sailed for America 
 in the Grifln shortly after. They 
 landed at a place called Shawmut, 
 near Plymoutn, Mass., which was 
 then a thriving village, thirteen 
 years old, and soon after changed 
 the name to Boston as a tribute to 
 their native town. 
 
 The Church of St. Botolph is still 
 standing, and a picturesque pile it is. 
 Under the town hall, which is now 
 a second-hand furniture shop, were 
 the cells in which William Brewster. 
 William Bradford and other of the 
 pilgrim fathers were imprisoned for 
 i^everal months at the time their 
 original flight from England was ar- 
 rested. Richard Bellingham, Tho- 
 mas Leverett, Brewster and Brad- 
 ford all in their turn became gov- 
 ernors of Massachusetts. 
 
 The sleapy old village of Scrooby 
 is really the cradle of the pilgrim 
 colony. It is situated about thirty 
 miles north of the City of Lincoln, 
 a few miles south, of Doncaster, 
 where the St. Leger horse race oc- 
 curs every year, and about eighty 
 miles, almost in a direct line, from 
 .Manchester. 
 
 In addition to the office of post- 
 master', which was a gift of the 
 crown, William Brewster was ajp- 
 pointed bailiff of the county by Dr. 
 Sandys, archbishop of York, who re- 
 sided at the archiepiscopal mansion, 
 an imposing and spacious place. 
 Henry VIII. once spent a night under 
 his roof. Cardinal Wolsey visited it 
 frequently and passed several weeks 
 there in seclusion just before his ar- 
 rest in 1530. 
 
 At the neighboring village of Bab- 
 worth Rev. Richard Clyfton, a brilli- 
 tnt scaoiar and fervid oratoi-. at- 
 tracted a large congregation and 
 made a reputation by his remarkable 
 preaching. So popular v.as he that 
 the people of Scrooby frequently 
 walked five miles and back to hear 
 i;im. But his criticisms upon the 
 established church were so severe 
 that he was removed from the pulpit 
 and organized a congregation of his 
 cwn in the year 1602, which is be- 
 lieved to have been the first non- 
 (onforming church in England. 
 
 John Robinson at the same time 
 was preaching a similar gospel at 
 
 Gainsborough, twelve miles west of 
 Scrooby, and there met with similar 
 discipline because of his noncon- 
 formity. He, too, organized an in- 
 dependent congregation, and when 
 James I. came to the throne it was 
 the. only nonconforming church sur- 
 \ iving in the whole of England. 
 
 Those whom Clyfton and Robinson 
 had converted organized a reformed 
 church at Scrooby. of which Clyfton 
 became pastor, with Robinson as his 
 j'ssistant. They originally held 
 their meetings in one of the out- 
 buildings of the manor house of the 
 archbishop of York. This congrega- 
 tion, however, was not allowed to 
 worship in peace. The members, ac- 
 cording to the narrative of Willijiui 
 Bradford, "were hunted and perse- 
 cuted on every side, and seeing 
 themselves thus molested, by joint 
 consent, they resolved to go over to 
 the low countries, where they heard 
 there was freedom of religion for all 
 men. So. after they had continued 
 together for about a year, and kept 
 their meetings every Sabbath in one 
 I'lace or another, exercising the wor- 
 ship of God among themselves, not- 
 withstanding all the vigilance and 
 malice of their fdversaries, seeing 
 that they could no longer con- 
 tinue in that condition, they re- 
 solved to get over into Holland as 
 they could, which was in the years 
 1607 and 160S." 
 
 All that now remains of the old 
 manor house is a ruined wall and 
 the name. The property still be- 
 longs to the archbishop of York, and 
 on the west side of the presirm. 
 building is a brass tablet bearing 
 this inscription: 
 
 This tablet was erected by the 
 Pilgrim Society of Plymouth. 
 Mass., to mark the site of the 
 ancient Manor House, where 
 lived 
 
 WILLIAM BREWSTER 
 
 from 15 88 to 1608, and where 
 he organized the Pilgrim 
 Church, of which he became a 
 ruling elder, and with which, 
 in 1608. he removed to Amster- 
 dam, in 1609 to Leyden, and 
 in 1620 to Plymouth, where he 
 died, April 1 fi. 1^44. 
 
Till': SIMPIJ-: I.IFK OK A CO.MMOXKFi 
 
 VVilliain Bradford, first Governor 
 of Massachusetts and historian of the 
 colony, was born at Ansterfield, a 
 village three miles from Scrooby, in 
 1589, and the house is still stand- 
 ing. It is called the Manor House, 
 and visitors are shown a damp cellar, 
 '.it by only one window, and that 
 fifteen inches square. In which the 
 pilgrims used to hold services secret- 
 ly. Bradford's family, like Brew- 
 ster's, were people of wealth and 
 importance, and when his father 
 died in 1591 he was left to the 
 guardianship of his uncle, a schol- 
 arlj clergyman with a fine library 
 to which the boy had access in his 
 childhood. He acquired a familiar 
 Knowledge, as he tells us, with 
 "Dutch, French, Latin, Greek and 
 Hebrew; history, philosophy, anti- 
 (:uity and theology." But in spite 
 of the wrath of his uncle he, too. 
 "with a very deliberate and undei- 
 standing resolution, and the reading 
 of the scriptures, combined with the 
 illuminating ministry of Richard 
 Clyfden," took up the new movement 
 and became an ardent and active 
 member of the Reformed Church. 
 Bradford was editcaied to a higher 
 degree than any other of the pil- 
 .miras. 
 
 In 1902 a memorial church was 
 erected in the old town of Gains- 
 borough, on the River Trent, where 
 Kthelred the Great, had his castle, 
 and Alfred the Great, who married 
 his daughter, spent several years. 
 Here Sweyn, King of D3nmark, land- 
 ed for his invasion of England in 
 1013, and the traces of his fortifica- 
 tions may still be seen. And here, 
 it is claimed, that bold and vain 
 viking Canute made his celebrated 
 fittempt to exercise authority over 
 the wateis of the sea. All through 
 the ages events of iiuportance have 
 occurred at Gainsborough. George 
 Eliot made it the scene of her story. 
 •The Mill on the Floss." She calls 
 it "St. Oggs." 
 
 In 1896 Mr. Bayard, ambassador 
 of the United States, laid the corner 
 stone of the ".John Robinson Mem- 
 orial Church," to celebrate the 
 :!00th anniversary of the organiza- 
 tion of the pilgrim congregation in 
 Miat city. The church was completed 
 
 ;ind dedicated in 1902 and an ex- 
 planatory tablet was erected with 
 this inscription: 
 
 This tablet, unveiled June 
 11th, 1902, in the 300th year 
 after th3 formation of the 
 church in Gainsborough, with 
 v.hich the name of .lohn Robin- 
 son is associated, stands as a 
 record of the co-operation of 
 American with English Congre- 
 gationalists in erecting a build- 
 ing to commeaorate him, the 
 thought of whom stirs equal re- 
 verence in English and Amer- 
 ican hearts. 
 
 .lohn Robinson was a native of 
 (jainsbo rough, a son of the arch- 
 deacon of Lincoln Cathedral, born 
 in 157 5, educated at Coipus ChristI 
 College, Cambridge , ordained to the 
 ministry, was curate at Mundham 
 i;nd Norwich and was excommuni- 
 cated for heresy. His congregation 
 stood by him, "certain citizens being 
 excommunicated for resorting unto 
 and praying with him, who was ut- 
 terly reverenced by all the city for 
 the Grace of God that was in him." 
 .John Carver was also a resident 
 of Gainsborough before he took re- 
 fuge in Holland with the others in 
 1607-08, and became a deacon of 
 Mr. Robinson's church. Very little 
 can b.^ discovered about him. He 
 was of humble parentage, but "grave, 
 Iiious, prudent, self-denying and ju- 
 dicious." On the arrival of the pil- 
 grims in the New World he was 
 chosen the first governor, which in- 
 (iicates the respect in which he Vv^as 
 held, but he died of sunstroke in the 
 following yaar. the very day that the 
 Mayflower started upon her return 
 voyage. 
 
 Edward VVirslow car-e from Droit- 
 wich in the County of VVoicester, and 
 );is family were rich salt makers. He 
 did not come under the influence of 
 the pilgrims until he went to Levden 
 as a student at the university. There 
 he made the acquaintance of .lohn 
 Robinson, was converted by him and 
 .joined the pilgrim colony. 
 
 ,Tohn Winthj-op -was the son of a 
 lawyer and was born at Edwarlston 
 in 1587. He joined the movement 
 at Cambridge while he was a stu- 
 dent, left Groton, Avhere his familv 
 
TllK SIMPLE \AFE OF A ("OMMOXET! 
 
 wore living, and mailed i'loni South- 
 i.nipton in 1630, ten years after tlie 
 Alayflower. Groton is in Suffolk 
 County, seven miles from a railway 
 station, and ui the ancient churcl' 
 are several tablets to the memory of 
 members of the family, which indi- 
 cates their importance. 
 
 It is entirely probable that the re- 
 moval to Holland was suggested and 
 directed by William Brewster, be- 
 cause, shortly after his graduation 
 Ironi Cambridge, he became secre- 
 tary to William Davison, secretary 
 of state to Queen Elizabeth, and in 
 1585 acconipa.nied him on an em- 
 bassy to the Netherlands, where he 
 spent three months and was greatly 
 impressed with "the sight oi a brave 
 peoplo ir. arms for national and re- 
 ligious freedom." 
 
 Therefore, when the persecution 
 of the three congregaticns at Scroo- 
 liy. Gainsborough and Babworth be- 
 came intolerable, Brewster and 
 Bradford entered into negotiations 
 with a Dutch tea captain, who 
 agreed to take them across the chan- 
 nel. After they had gone aboard 
 with all their possessions, either 
 through fear or for a bribe, the 
 ^.kipper betrayed them lo the author- 
 ities, and they were arrested and 
 roughly hauled ashore — men, women 
 ;ind children. The Dutchman refus- 
 ed to repay their passage money, 
 ihey were robbed of almost all th'.»ir 
 funds and effects and several of them 
 were kept in prison for months be- 
 cause they were vnable to pay the 
 P.nps that were imposed upon them 
 lor attempting tc leave England 
 V ithout passports. 
 
 In the following spring, however, 
 many of those who had attempted to 
 leave Boston tried it again, and were 
 more successful. They embarked 
 upon a Dutch vessel at Grimsby 
 ''ommon. a tract of waste land near 
 the mouth of th? River Humber. 
 whither they ha'l made their way 
 by stealth in small parties. After- a 
 long and disagreeable passage they 
 reached Amsterdam and settled 
 cuietly down in the land of their 
 f.doption, "learning new handicraft 
 and ways of living in order to meet 
 their daily needs." Brewster taught 
 l<]nglish in the university at I.eyden. 
 
 He afterward set up a printing press 
 <"nd published several theological 
 works which could not be printed in 
 London. The English government 
 complained in 1619, and demanded 
 his arrest and extradition. The 
 Dutch government, homing special 
 reasons for wishing to be on friendly 
 terms with King James, at once 
 a.greed, and in duo ccur.se of time 
 arrested the wrong man, who was 
 sent to Lordcn for trial. Brewster 
 immediately took flight and returned 
 to London, which he considered the 
 ! afest hiding place. He received the 
 f.helter and assistance of Sir Edwin 
 Sandys, son of the archbishop of 
 York, who had been one of his child- 
 bood friends and playmates at Scroo- 
 by. Sandys was treasurer of the 
 Virginia Company, and through him 
 Brewster obtained a patent for a 
 tract of land .n that colony. 
 
 He returned to Holland, and, with 
 Bradford's cooperation, organized 
 the company of pilgrims and em- 
 barked them in two vessels, the May- 
 ^ower and the Speedwell. Before 
 they had gone far down the channel 
 the captain of the Speedwell refused 
 to continue the voyage on the ground 
 that his vessel was unseaworthy. His 
 passengers were transferred to the 
 Mayflower, and the voyage was con- 
 tinued tc Plvmouth, where addition- 
 al supplies were obtained. The name 
 of the port touched before plunging 
 into the unknown was therefore be- 
 stowed upon the rock upon which 
 they laid the foundation of the great- 
 est nation in the living world. 
 
 Few American tourists go to 
 Scrooby. The e is nothing about it 
 in the guide book and it does not ap- 
 pear in the ordinary itineraries, but 
 it should be the object of pilgrimage 
 to all patriotic Americans, and es- 
 pecially to the descendants of the 
 Mayflower colony. 
 
 The distinction of having been 
 born in a locality which gave birth 
 to so many persons of note can only 
 be equalled by that other one which 
 has become so prominent in recent 
 years. I refer to the coming of 
 titled foreigners to this country to 
 f^ecure American ,s;irls as their wives. 
 
THK SIMPLE TJFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 Xor do I, condemn this growing cus- 
 tom, as ihe manner of some is, but 
 rather look upon it as' one of the 
 ways by which Providence is to 
 eventually bring the nations of the 
 earth together, in the bonds of com- 
 ity, peace, and mutual good will. If 
 God made of one blood all the na- 
 tions of men, surely it was never 
 intended that they should hold each 
 other by the throat, the stronger 
 seeking the destruction of the weak- 
 er, or, at best, holding themselves 
 aloof from each other and striving 
 by every means in their power to 
 enlarge and enrich themselves at the 
 expense of their weaker and less 
 favored neighbors. No, I do not so 
 lead the Sermon on the Mount, nor 
 do I so interpret the Golden Rule. 
 If it be objected that some of these 
 marriages do not turn out well, why. 
 the same thing, in view of the alarm- 
 ing extent to which the divorce 
 courts are beseiged. may be said as 
 against any marriages at all in these 
 United States of America ; for it is 
 8n alarming fact that divorces are 
 becoming notoriously frequent and 
 the sacredness of the niarriage rela- 
 tion is being cheapened to woeful 
 extent. 
 
 As a foreigner, coming to the 
 United States, I became enamoured 
 of an American girl and in d>ie time 
 laid siege to her heart and hand; 
 only, between the alleged European 
 fortune hunters and myself there 
 are a few differences, which I will 
 take the liberty to point out, lest 
 my wife, after living with me for 
 nearly fifty years, might come to 
 think that my motive in seeking her 
 hand was of no loftier character than 
 that which is so freely ascribed to 
 these so-called "fortune hunters" of 
 the present time. If, like them, I 
 married an \merican girl, it was not 
 
 en account of her wealth in houses, 
 or lands, or gold, or stocks, or bonds, 
 tut because of her personal worth, 
 her great wealth in those womanly 
 virtues which are the chief adorn- 
 ment of the best type of woman- 
 hood, the world over; and which 
 constitute the only true and lasting 
 loundation of good citizenship, here 
 and everywhere. Besides, I had no 
 title from the Queen. I was not a 
 Baron, or a Lord, or a Duke, oi- 
 even a Knight. I had no coat of 
 arms to give in exchange for money, 
 nothing of the sort. I had the arms 
 right enough, also the coat, such as 
 it was; the arms were in the coat, 
 not on it, making a shield and an 
 encircling buckler whch may be sup- 
 I'osed to constitute a reasonable pro- 
 tection, against which nothing can be 
 said. 
 
 But. as the novelists say, of this, 
 more anon. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 When I had reached my sixth year 
 the family bid adieu to Elshani. and 
 taking ship at Hull, set sail for 
 London; passing down the river 
 Humber, out to the North Sea and 
 doMTi the east coast of England, we 
 entered the river Thames, and -'.ail- 
 ing up that noted stream, we passed 
 among the many places of historic 
 interest, the city of Woolwich, which 
 contains one of the finest dockyards 
 in the world, where the greatest 
 ships are launched. Woolwich is 
 also the seat of the chief arsenal of 
 England. A little farther up the 
 river, you come to Greenwich, well 
 known as the seat of the royal ob- 
 Fervatory, from which the longitud-- 
 of places is reckoned and markod on 
 all English charts. Arriving at Lon- 
 don in due time, conveyances were 
 secured and we were driven over 
 
THE ^MMFl.E LIFE OF A CO.MMOXEH 
 
 the London and Oxford turnpike 
 road through Uxbridge to Beacons 
 field, tv.enty-three miles westward 
 from London. Beaconsfield, (local- 
 ly pronounced Beckonsfield ) was a 
 town of about fourteen hundred peo- 
 ple, and is the place which gaw to 
 Kenjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister 
 of Great Britain under Queen Vic- 
 toria, his title of Lord Beaconsfield. 
 There we lived seven years on a 
 farm known as the Hyde farm, locat- 
 ed, as near as I can now remember, 
 tibout two miles from the village. 
 ! must confess that my memory is 
 clouded as to many things connected 
 with that period of my life; I can 
 cnly recall two or three thing; and 
 even chey may be of but little inter- 
 est. 
 
 My school life began in earnest 
 while we were at Hyde Farm, nnd I 
 may say that my experience during 
 those days v,as not unlike that of the 
 boys and girls who live on farms in 
 the United States and attend school 
 in adjoining towns or in country 
 1 .laces. 
 
 The school which I attended was 
 I. private institution kept by a Mr. 
 Russell, who had for a helper a 
 young man named William Tread- 
 way: we boys always called h.im 
 Billy Treddy, not because we had 
 rnything against him but because, 
 well, we were boys and it came 
 bandy. 
 
 In the morning, after an early 
 breakfast, I was gotten ready for 
 school either by my mother or my 
 half-sister, Mary Ann Leedham, and 
 I want to say right here that no boy 
 ever had a better sister than she has 
 been to me; from my earliest recol- 
 lection she always had me under her 
 care and would stoutly defend me 
 against all my enemies, no matter 
 whether I was In the right or wrong 
 
 of it; that made no difference to her, 
 she never stopped to make flua dis- 
 tinctions. I remember, on one oc- 
 casion, when I was a very little fel- 
 low, long before I had been made 
 happy with my first pair of pants, 
 that a little girl who was consider- 
 ably older than I and who was so 
 brimming full of mischief that it had 
 to have an outlet in some manner, 
 seemed to find great satisfaction in 
 making me the object of her mirth- 
 ful capers, and sometimes, I fear, 
 the victim of her angry resentment. 
 Be that as it may, I was easily fright- 
 ened by her threatening words or 
 looks, being a good deal of a coward, 
 but at the same time quite easily 
 stirred up by any real or fancied in- 
 tnilt which I would resent in the only 
 V, ay which seemed open to me. that 
 is. by angry tears. ^ly tormentor, 
 who perfectly understood my fail- 
 ings, plaj-ed upon them with intense 
 delight; she made faces at me, she 
 II ightened me with ghost stories and 
 threatened me with ail sorts of 
 direful things. But one day my 
 lister caught her teasing me in an 
 unmerciful manner which aroused 
 her indignation to the boiling point 
 and catching the girl after a long 
 chase, she settled accounts with her 
 for all time to come, to my great 
 satisfaction: but in doing so sadly 
 i;nsettled, for the time being, at 
 least, the friendly relations which 
 had hitherto existed between the 
 two families. 
 
 I carried my dinner in a little 
 basket as did three or four others 
 who lived far enough away from the 
 school to make it necessary for them 
 to take their dinner with them. 
 Among the many good things which 
 usually made my dinner was a fair 
 sized piece of rhubarb pie; now I 
 .,oiov oared for pie plant in any way. 
 
m 
 
 TKK SIMPLE IJKK OF A ('O.MMOXRK 
 
 aiul uiilil recfciilly I have hardly 
 ever touched it since my Beaconsfield 
 school days. I never said much about 
 it at home because I was always 
 looking for a chance to trade it off 
 at school for something more to my 
 liking, so that hunk of rhubarb pie 
 seldom failed to show up at the bot- 
 tom of my dinner basket. 
 
 There was one thing, however, 
 which made the matter a little hard- 
 er for me. One of the boys, who 
 like myself, carried his dinner to 
 school, always finished up with a 
 huge piece of mince pie which never 
 failed to make my mouth water: the 
 kid himself was almost an exact 
 counterpart of Dickens' fat boy, so 
 graphically pictured by the great 
 a\ithor in Pickwick Papers. My! 
 how 1 did hanker after that fellow's 
 pie. I tried to enlist his sympathies. 
 I offered him my pie plant for it, I 
 would joyously have parted with all 
 mine for half of his; 1 offered to 
 throw in some marbles a white ally 
 and four commoners; I coaxed him, 
 1 badgered him, and 1 would have 
 threatened him only I was fifraid to. 
 Nothing 1 could say or do ever in- 
 riuced him to let go of any portion 
 of that tempting mince pie, not even 
 a stingy bite of it. I was too honest 
 to steal it, too poor to buy it even 
 had it ever been in the market, and 
 I could not get trusted for it, so the 
 case was absolutely and utterly hope- 
 less. 1 never liked that boy. Even 
 at this late day. after so many years, 
 1 still think he might have let me 
 had just one bite. 
 
 Our studies at Air. Russell's 
 school were all elementary, as be- 
 fitted children of our age; we were 
 only to get ready, as Mr. Russell 
 was careful to remind us on every 
 fitting occasion, for greater things 
 later on. We were just entering 
 
 iipon the most wonderful times in 
 the world's history and we would 
 do well to get a good ready for what- 
 ever lay before us; we would have to 
 know a great deal more than our 
 fathers, because so much more would 
 be required of us, and so we were 
 spurred on from day to day. by the 
 inspiring words and the zealous ex- 
 ample of that good man who earned 
 for himself two shillings and six 
 pence a week, or whatever the mod- 
 est charge for our tuition might 
 have been. But alas! his oft re- 
 peated advice so kindly intended, 
 was lost to a great extent, I am 
 r.fraid, upon most of us because of 
 its very frequency; it became to us, 
 ad nmtsenm ad hoc and ad every- 
 thing else that was disagreeable. 
 
 The prevailing sentiment among 
 those embryo British citizens, whose 
 homes were to be their castles, in the 
 r.ot distant future, was that we 
 didn't care to know any more than 
 our dads. What was good enough 
 lor them was good enough for us, 
 rnd right there we planted our hob- 
 nailed shoes, feeling that we could 
 not do otherwise. But it must be re- 
 membered that we were %ery young. 
 
 Our chief was, on the whole, an 
 excellent teacher and a humane man. 
 He was by no means unduly given 
 to the rod when we consider the 
 times in which he lived and flourish- 
 ed, which was essentially a wallop- 
 ing age. Of course, he found it 
 i:ecessary to use his cane quite fre- 
 (luently w^hich to his younger pupils 
 was an instrument of terror, though 
 I am inclined to think it had a 
 wholesome influence on the warlik< 
 kids of that day, who very early 
 fame to think that the highest proof 
 of manhood was to be found in their 
 pugnacious propensities which were 
 very rarefully nurtured and prac- 
 ticed 
 
THK SIMI'LK \AFK OF A COM MOXKH 
 
 II 
 
 It was a virtue to stand up like 
 a man and give and talie what was 
 coming to us. To be sure we were 
 required to commit to memory that 
 wholesome advice given by the poet, 
 for the good of all beligerent young- 
 sters and had we at all times fol- 
 lowed it, many a hard fought battle 
 would never have occurred. It be- 
 gan in this way: 
 
 ■"Let dogs delight to bark and bite, 
 
 For God has made them so, 
 Let bears and lions growl and fight. 
 
 For 'tis their namre to; 
 But, children, you should never 1ft 
 
 Your angry passions rise; 
 Your little hands were never made 
 
 To tear each other's eyes." 
 
 1 have a distinct recollection of 
 having once, at least, passed under 
 the rod. Four of us boys who ate 
 our dinners on the school grounds, 
 conceived the brilliant thought one 
 fine summer afternoon when the sun 
 was shedding his golden rays warm 
 and bright overhead, the trees all 
 clothed in their summer verdure, the 
 song birds making melody in the 
 hedge-rows, the bees busily hum- 
 ming and gathering honey from the 
 flower gilded glebe; when all nature, 
 in a word, seemed to be beckoning 
 us away from the little stuffy school 
 room and its droning lessons to the 
 f;reen meadows where the cowslips, 
 daisies, buttercups and primroses 
 grew; where the air was made 
 fragrant with acres of sweet-smelling 
 violets which are found in such 
 abundance all over England, and 
 which to me are the loveliest of all 
 the flowers that grow. We were not 
 strong enough to resist the tempta- 
 tion that day: we stole away from 
 the school grounds after we had eat- 
 en our dinners and alas, did not re- 
 turn again till quite late in the after- 
 noon, when, after discussing the aw- 
 ful situation among ourselves, guilty 
 
 wietches thai we were, we finally 
 mustered up courage and made ;i 
 sneak for our seats. It was no go. 
 The eagie eye of the master was 
 upon us. We weie invited to make 
 cursc-lves more conspicuous; in other 
 words, to align ourselves on the 
 f^oor in froii.t of the whole school. 
 There was a little hesitancy at first 
 but it didn't last long; we may not 
 have been very apt .scholar-s in cer- 
 tain directions, but in others wc 
 were right smart, a very short space 
 of time found us all in a row with 
 the master in front of us and we fac- 
 ing the school. 
 
 It was the first time in rrry life 
 that I had been given the floor in 
 the presence of an intelligent and 
 sympathetic audience and that with- 
 out asking for it. 
 
 The master stood befcie us armed 
 with the insignia of ofl^ice. his baton 
 of power, his stern face bent down 
 upon us; there was a gleam in 
 his eye akin to that of the pirate 
 chieftain as he haughtily treads the 
 deck of the low-lying, long, rakish- 
 looking craft, striking terror into the 
 hearts of all about him — 
 
 "Hold out your right hand," said 
 he, in a voice thai made me ti-emble 
 with apprehension, as the instrument 
 of torture was raised over his right 
 shoulder to make it more impres- 
 sive. "Hold out your right hand." 
 I slowly and timidly produced the 
 required mamber from behind my 
 back where it was concealed for the 
 moment, and stretched it out in 
 front of me; down came the mei'ci- 
 less cane upon it just once, but that 
 was quite enough. I was or-dei-ed to 
 my seat and the others were served 
 in the same way. There was no pai*- 
 tiality shown any of us; we were all 
 equally guilty and merited equal 
 runlshment. 
 
I -2 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A co.NLMOXER 
 
 Tlie visible eftc'Ct produced was 
 not the same, however, one or two 
 of us cried over it, the others did 
 not; whereupon a discussion arose 
 after school was out over the ques- 
 tion as stated by one of the boys 
 who had always managed in one way 
 or another on many former occasions 
 to escape chastisement for his own 
 misdoings. "What's the use of cryin' 
 anyhow?" said he. He was prompt- 
 ly advised that he would have found 
 out if he had been one of the mar- 
 tyred four; it was one thing to sii 
 en your seat and see somebody else 
 get a lickin' and quite another thing 
 to get it yourself. I don't remember 
 whether I was one of the ""crybabies" 
 or not, no matter. I have seen some 
 very spunky people cry when they 
 were angry, the angrier they became 
 the harder they cried. In what other 
 way can a baby give expression to 
 its indignant feelings so effectively 
 as by squirming and kicking and cry- 
 ing? Nature has provided it with 
 that masterful v/eapon for practical, 
 not for esthetic purposes. Where is 
 the young man whose sister has not 
 .'^een the time when her greatest con- 
 solation was to retire to her own 
 front room, up stairs, and all by her- 
 self, intone the wail of the weeping 
 prophet of Israel, "O, that my head 
 were waters and mine eyes a fountain 
 of tears." .Job Trotter had a handy 
 faculty of producing them on de- 
 mand; he was an expert in the use 
 ot tears; even the attute Sam Weller 
 gazed upon .Job Trotter in admira- 
 tion when he was in tears. Tears 
 are no mean weapons, no matter by 
 whom or for what purpose they may 
 he used. 
 
 The curriculum at the Beacons- 
 tield school included memorizing and 
 reciting passages of Scripture; these 
 verses were called for on stated oc- 
 
 casions and they ceitainly served a 
 good purpose to me, at least, 
 for years afterward, upon en- 
 tering the ministry I found 
 that I was able to recall without 
 difficulty many texts which had been 
 fastened upon my mind in my child- 
 hood days at school. Three of them 
 I recall at this moment: Genesis 
 3-15, Numbers 2 4-17, and Isaiah 
 .-..3-6. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 In England in those days as in 
 other European countries, there was 
 a deep seated belief in ghosts and 
 other uncanny things, which, as 
 might be expected, exerted an ex- 
 ceedingly unhappy influence over 
 the children. Of course this wretch- 
 ed superstition where It existed 
 among grown up people was gener- 
 ally confined to the ignorant, it had 
 little place among those who could 
 lay claim to much intelligence. At 
 the same time its influence was felt 
 to some extent, even among those 
 who openly ridiculed the idea of 
 ghosts; they were loath to pass 
 through a gi-ave yard at night, or 
 even through a body of timber when 
 it was very dark. The servants 
 would tell their hideous, hobgoblin 
 yarns with such doleful, scarey 
 voices to the shivering children 
 that the poor little things almost 
 frightened to death, would not re- 
 cover from the effect produced up- 
 on their minds for years. I have 
 little patience with those heartless 
 dolts who deliberately frighten 
 children with ghost stories, or by 
 practical jokes endanger the peace 
 of mind and sometimes even the 
 lives of grown-up people. 
 
 On the farm where we lived there 
 was a body of timber skirting a 
 
Sl.MlM.K 
 
 KK OF A COMMOXKIJ 
 
 i:; 
 
 meadow through which 1 had to pass 
 on my way to and from school. One 
 evening after school, in company 
 with two or three other children of 
 my own age, I stopped to renew a 
 game of marbles which had been 
 interrupted when school called in 
 the afternoon. We all became so 
 deeply intersted in the game that 
 I lie time passed unobserved by us 
 till the shadows of evening began 
 to gather. I hastened on home as 
 fast as I could, but we had ling- 
 ered a little too long and it was 
 getting dark wiien I reached the 
 timber which had always been my 
 bugaboo at night. I whistled and 
 sang and made all the noise I could 
 to keep my courage up, but unfor- 
 tunately for me I could not keep 
 my eyes off the timber, try as hard 
 as I might, and oh, dreadful thing. 
 I saw a ghost, a veritable full grown 
 ghost. Now Roger Sainton used to 
 say that a white sheet made nine 
 parts of a ghost, and imagination 
 one part, but I th.nk that imagina- 
 tion makes all the ten parts of it if 
 there be ten parts to it, though I 
 did not think so then. 
 
 I saw the ghost with my own eyes, 
 there was no mistake about that. 
 It was not necessary that I should 
 linger to investigate more closely 
 the awful spectre. I did not tarry 
 for a single moment. I stopped 
 whistling and began to run, O. how 
 I did run, nor did I stop till almost 
 breathless and nearly frightened 
 out of my wits, I reached home to 
 be folded in my mother's arms. 
 The ghost I had seen proved to be 
 only an old white horse which had 
 been turned loose in the woods and 
 was innocently browsing on the 
 leaves of the trees, near the edge 
 of the timber, without a single 
 thought of the dire alarm he had 
 
 created in one small breast. 1 was, 
 very careful after that to pass those 
 woods in the daytime, when T was 
 alone. 
 
 Farm life in England as 1 remem- 
 ber it is essentially the same as in 
 the United States. Of course there 
 are differences arising out of local 
 conditions and customs, the intro- 
 duction of machinery, the improv- 
 ed means for transportation of the 
 products to market and newer 
 methods of labor, together with the 
 comparative length of time the 
 lands have been under cultivation; 
 but the actual living is the same in 
 all essential particulars. One of 
 the chief sources of income at Hyde 
 Farm was its fruit products, apples, 
 pears, plums and especially cherries, 
 never have I seen su€h quantities 
 and such varieties of cherries. Well 
 do I remember with what interest 
 we children looked forward to the 
 time when they would be ripe and 
 ready for market. Baskets shaped 
 like a half bushel measure were 
 made of willow twigs and lined with 
 fresh ferns. In these baskets The 
 cherries were carefully packed and 
 when they were filled the top was 
 covered with ferns, and sticks as 
 large as a lady's finger were crossed 
 over the baskets and fastened in 
 the sides: in this manner the cher- 
 ries kept fresh and oool, were car- 
 ried up to London and marketed. 
 At that time there were no railroads 
 in that immediate vicinity, so that 
 everything had to be hauled to 
 market in wagons and that gave me 
 an opportunity to make a good 
 many trips to T>ondop and see the 
 city. 
 
 If was my father's custom to take 
 a load of baled hay and cherries in 
 their season, at the same time, for 
 haled liav was always in demand 
 
14 
 
 'UK SI.MPl.H LIFK OF A ('(^MMON'ER 
 
 at the London hay market. We us- 
 ually left the farm in the evening 
 and travelling all night reached the 
 city next morning in time for the 
 opening of the market. 
 
 Those English farm wagons were 
 heavy, wide tired affairs, not unlike 
 the Pennsylvania wagon; much 
 larger and more cumbersome than 
 those used on an Iowa farm, and 
 inasmuch as all public roads were 
 macadamized and kept in thorough 
 repair, immense loads could be 
 hauled to market. The horses were 
 hitched one in front of the other 
 and driven tandem, generally three 
 or four of them, while the driver 
 found a seat on the thills close up 
 to the front wheel of the wagon, 
 on the nigh side. For this reason 
 teams always turned to the left in- 
 stead of I he right in passing each 
 other. Seated on the thills my 
 father rode with his long driving 
 whip in his hand, while T was made 
 secure on the off side, till I would 
 get too sleepy, in which event both 
 of us would drop off our perches 
 and trudge along beside the horses 
 until wearied out I would hail with 
 much rejoicing the suburbs of the 
 city, where we stopped for a rest 
 and a breakfast of mutton chops, 
 hot cross buns and coffee. 
 
 Out of school hours or during 
 vacation days ray chief occupation 
 was spudding thistles, a game at 
 which I became quite proficient, not 
 because it was enjoyable work, but 
 because much practice through 
 many days made me familiar with 
 all the finer points of the game, so 
 I could, under discouraging circum- 
 stances, like ^lark Tapley, be quite 
 jolly. If I had had a companion to 
 share my burdens occasionally, and 
 to talk to as the days went by it 
 might have been different : but 1 
 
 was alone and every thistle in th*^ 
 field was my mortal enemy, for ev- 
 ery one of them stood for a French- 
 man, and at that period, so soon 
 after the battle of Waterloo, every 
 English boy regarded with haughty 
 scorn the people across the channel 
 who had been their enemies, most 
 of the time ever since the days of 
 the Black Prince. An Englishman 
 was equal to three Frenchmen any 
 day. Let them come on, who cared; 
 those thistles were Frenchmen, and 
 this intrepid spudder warrior was 
 ready for them. He made nothing 
 of attacking them as they stood 
 there segregated from each other, 
 scattered over the field of battle, as 
 in single file, or in serried ranks 
 they stood before him; no matter, 
 they were his prey, and right royal- 
 ly did he wade into theiu with ail 
 a Briton's brawn, for just a little 
 while at a time. The lar.:<ost and 
 fiercest of them were coIonel"5 and 
 line ofllcers but they all fell, one 
 after another, ingloriously before 
 the prowess of that sturdy Briton's 
 good right arm, gallantly assisted 
 by his left. O, it was glorious in 
 imagination, but hardly so in fact, 
 for the nationality of those con- 
 temptible thistles with their utter 
 destruction furnished the opposing 
 troopless general with the only sat- 
 isfaction he was ever able to get 
 out of his campaigns. 
 
 During our years at the farm, 
 death entered the family and re- 
 moved two of its members, one, my 
 half brother, George I^edham, a 
 young man aged twenty-one, who 
 had been afflicted by a sad acci- 
 dent in his childhood, having been 
 scalded by the overturning of a ket- 
 tle of boiling water which threw 
 him into fits from which he never 
 recovered but which eventuallv was 
 
TllK SIMIM-K \AFK (W A CO.MMONl-^R 
 
 the cause of his deatli, for as he 
 was wandering about the place one 
 day one of those fits came on, and 
 it was my sad lot to find him lying 
 with his head and shoulders com- 
 pletely immersed in the mud and 
 water of a deep ditch into which he 
 had fallen, while his feet were ly- 
 ing on the bank. He had been 
 dead some time when I discovered 
 him. My poor mother, whose love 
 seemed to center on him because of 
 his misfortune, was nearly heart 
 broken over the sad accident; and 
 indeed it was a hard blow to all of 
 us for George was a gentle, kind 
 hearted, inoffensive young man, 
 whom we all deeply loved. About 
 the same time my infant brother. 
 Frederick, died of scarlet fever. 
 Thus we were called upon to suffer 
 a double bereavement which was a 
 great affliction to my parents. 
 
 The year 1851, which was our 
 last year at Hyde Farm, was mark- 
 ed by what was to me an event of 
 extraordinary importance — the first 
 World's Fair. The Crystal Palace 
 was heM that year in London and 
 it was my great privilege to see 
 it. It had been widely annouinced 
 that the entrance fee was to be re- 
 duced to one shilling on a certain 
 day, because on that day the royal 
 family was to be present and the 
 price of admission was placed low 
 so that the common people might 
 have an opportunity to see the 
 Queen. It so happened that my 
 father and I were in London that 
 day, but if the Queen was at the 
 show we did not happen to see her, 
 which was not at all surprising, 
 considering the vast crowds of peo- 
 ple in the vicinity of the palace and 
 the consequent difficulty of getting 
 about. However, we were not 
 greatly disappointed for we had 
 
 once seen Her Majesty in her car- 
 riage of state driving on the London 
 and Oxford road, on a previous oc- 
 casion. It is said that the royal 
 carriage is drawn by eight horses 
 and that no private family is per- 
 mitted to use that number. It is 
 the royal prerogative and must not 
 be infringed upon, for it is a dis- 
 tinguishing feature by which the 
 royal family en route is known 
 from all others, which I suppose is 
 a necessity. However, those who 
 have a desire to ape royalty can do 
 so if they choose by driving seven 
 horses and a mule, which I under- 
 stand is sometimes done. 
 
 The Crystal Palace, which as its 
 name imports, was built of glass and 
 iron, its floors only were of wood. 
 Of course it could not compare with 
 the great fairs which have follov/ed 
 in Europe or America in the matter 
 of dimensions or indeed in many 
 other respects, for it was only 1851 
 feet in length and covered an area 
 of only 21 acres. It was visited by 
 six million people. But when we 
 consider the fact that it was the 
 pioneer of the great fairs of the 
 world, it was certainly a wonder. 
 Passing a monstrous piece of coal 
 at one of the entrances, which was 
 too large to be carried inside, my 
 attention was caught by the great 
 Kohinour diamond, chiefly I think 
 on account of the extraordinary 
 care that was taken to guard it from 
 thieves, for I knew nothing of its 
 value. The Kohinour was at that 
 time the largest diamond in the 
 world, buit the enormous Cullinan 
 stone found by a Mr. Tom Cullinan 
 in the Transvaal is by far the largest 
 as yet discovered, for it is said to 
 be of 3,024 1-3 carats, or 1.37 lbs. 
 avordupois and is valued at $5,000,- 
 000. 
 
Hi 
 
 TIIK SI.MPIJ'] \AFK OF A COAfMOXKlt 
 
 But of all the things I saw that 
 day, there was one that so deeply 
 interested me that I have never for- 
 gotten its exact appearance. It was 
 a wonder to a boy of my age and 
 would be of considerable interest 
 even now. It was just a common 
 ordinary pocket knife with a bone 
 handle and lilades of steel, but it 
 contained 18iil of those steel blades, 
 from one to two feet long and pro- 
 portionally wide and thick, on down 
 of all sorts and sizes till the small- 
 est could not have been more than 
 a quarter of an inch long. They 
 were all open from the handle and 
 stood out in all directions like the 
 (luills on a porcupine's back when 
 he is on a war footing. Up to that 
 time that was the greatest sight I 
 had even seen. I have often thought 
 since, if that knife had been lost 
 for a thousand years and then 
 found by some antiquarian, what a 
 time the wiseacres might have had 
 over the monstrous size of a man, 
 who, in the middle of the nineteenth 
 century carried a pocket knife like 
 that. 
 
 There were other places and 
 things in London besides the Crys- 
 tal Palace which were of great in- 
 terest to me, not the least of which 
 was Trafalgar Square, where the 
 monument of the greatest of al! 
 English admirals, Lord Nelson, 
 stands: Paternoster Row, where 
 fifty years ago both sides of the 
 street were lined with book stores. 
 Cheapside, Fleet street, the Strand, 
 London Bridge, The Thames Tunnel, 
 through which I passed under the 
 river: The British Museum, West- 
 minster Abbey and many other 
 places of historic interest which are 
 the common property of all man- 
 kind. 
 
 One day as we were passing down 
 
 one of the principal thoroughfares, 
 my father pointed out a sign which 
 read: "BEN CAUNT, Champion of 
 England." This he told me meant 
 that ^Ir. Caunt w-as the greatest fist 
 fighter in England, a fact that I 
 was quite familiar with already, 
 though my father was not aware of 
 it. I have been told that one of 
 those champions of the prize ring, 
 before he entered upon his illustri- 
 ous career as an exponent of the 
 'manly art" was a brick mason, and 
 one day he decided to make a 
 change, so taking from his pocket 
 his old bulls eye silver watch he im- 
 bedded it in mortar, between two 
 bricks in the wall upon which he was 
 at work, saying as he did so: "From 
 this on I quit work and fight for a 
 living." Tradition has it that the 
 watch may be seen in the w-all to 
 this day, though Tom Sayers, the 
 man who put it there has been dead 
 for many years: however that may 
 be there can be no question that if 
 Mr. Sayers was desirous of fighting 
 for a living, it was not necessary 
 that he should leave the honest toil 
 of a brick mason to enter the roped 
 arena. Every man that gets an 
 honest living finds that he has to 
 fight for it, and generally he finds 
 foes worthy of the best that is in 
 him. 
 
 .\mong the well known public 
 buildings in London, few are better 
 known than the St. Paul Cathedral. 
 It is certainly a magnificent struc- 
 ture and is well worth a visit. Even 
 as a boy I w^as delighted with it 
 when on one occasion T visited it 
 with my father. To say nothing of 
 the building itself which has so of- 
 ten been described by tourists and 
 others, the great organ charmed me 
 beyond measure, for it was a won- 
 derful creation: I had never heard 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 of anything to compare with it nor 
 have I ever since heard its equal, 
 though at the present time there are 
 a few larger in Europe and also in 
 this country. On the dome or cu- 
 pola of the cathedral there is a hol- 
 low iron ball which viewed from the 
 ground appears to be not larger than 
 an ordinary tea kettle, but in real- 
 iiy is large enough to seat nine full 
 grown persons; my father was In- 
 side of it when there were seven 
 others and he said there was quite 
 room enough for another. 
 
 There is an Interesting story con- 
 nected with St. Paul's church which 
 was told me many years ago: A 
 horrible crime had been committed 
 in the vicinity of the cathedral 
 which was shown to have been com- 
 mitted at midnight. No trace of the 
 I'erpetrator of the deed could be 
 found though every effort was made 
 io uncover the criminal. Large re- 
 wards were offered for his appre- 
 hension and conviction but without 
 avail, he could not be found; at 
 length suspicion fell upon a certain 
 policeman whose beat covered the 
 place where the crime had been per- 
 petrated. The officer was not charg- 
 ed with the actual commission of the 
 crime, but with neglect of duty, for 
 which he was tried in court and 
 would have been convicted had it 
 not been for a most unusual occur- 
 ence. He was accused of being 
 asleep on his beat instead of being 
 awake and alert as he should have 
 been. To this charge he plead not 
 guilty, and in proof of his wake- 
 fulness declared that the clock on 
 St. Paul's church instead of striking 
 twelve at midnight, struck thirteen 
 times, a fact which upon investiga- 
 tion was corroborated by the testi- 
 mony of two other witnesses. 
 
 In the fall of 18."1, we left Hvde 
 
 Farm and moved to Wooburn Green, 
 a village in the same county of 
 Buckingham, where my father rent- 
 ed a public house which had over 
 its front door a swinging sign of 
 sheet iron upon which had been 
 painted many years before, so long 
 that the letters had become faded 
 and blurred wnth age, this legend: 
 "Old Bull Inn." The house had 
 been so called from the days of 
 Charles the Second, for aught I 
 know to the contrary. It was an 
 old fashioned English Inn, and for 
 that year we provided for the wants 
 Gf the traveling public, both man 
 and beast. 
 
 The year to me was uneventful 
 except for one or two things, one of 
 ti.ese was a dangerous illness from 
 typhus fever which came very near 
 proving fatal. It was only through 
 the skill of two excellent physicians 
 and my mother's constant loving 
 care, who watched over me night 
 and day as only a mother can or 
 would do, that after a long weari- 
 some period of hovering between 
 life and death, I was finally pulled 
 through to recovery. So near was 
 I to death's door that during my 
 unconscious mental wanderings, as 
 the crisis approached, I told my 
 mother I was going to die at twelve 
 o'clock that night. It was a strange 
 thing to say and it impressed all 
 who heard it: of course they thought 
 after that there was little hope, and 
 as the time drew near all wel"e filled 
 with anxiety. At exactly twelve 
 o'clock Dr. Rumsey, who had been 
 with me all the evening, looked at 
 the watch he held in his hand and 
 then at me, a sigh of relief escaped 
 him as he smilingly turned to my 
 mother and said: "Mrs. Green, your 
 son will get well." During the con- 
 valescent period I was seated at the 
 
IS 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 window overlooking the green, and 
 was allowed to watch the cricket 
 games between our fellows and the 
 neighboring towns. Of course I 
 was intensely interested in those 
 games, being a member of the junior 
 club. Great Marlow, a town about 
 eight miles distant, was one of our 
 chief opponents and I greatly en- 
 joyed, even in my weak condition, 
 a close game between the two clubs 
 in which our fellows finally pulled 
 out a victory. 
 
 The only very clear recollection of 
 my school days that year was the 
 presentation of a new testament to 
 me by my teacher which 1 have be- 
 fore me as I write. It has my name 
 on the fly leaf with the day it wais 
 given me, Oct. 14th, 18.51. 
 
 And now, a word about "the 
 stocks." This was an uncomfort- 
 able institution invented for the 
 punishment of minor offendors 
 against the law; it was used to 
 some extent even as late as the mid- 
 dle of the nineteenth century, and 
 may be at the present time in some 
 places for aught I know. There was 
 one of these machines at Wooburn 
 Green, and on a few occasions I 
 have seen it occupied, though not 
 often. It was an affair made of two 
 planks through which half circles 
 were made, which when they were 
 shut together formed round holes 
 large enough to admit a man's ankle, 
 but too small for his feet to pass 
 througfl. The offender was locked 
 in by his ankles and compelled to 
 sit on the ground in that uncom- 
 fortable position as long as his sent- 
 ence lasted. Of course such a spec- 
 tacle as a man in the stocks was a 
 source of immense amusement to 
 boys, especially if the unfortunate 
 sufferer happened to be there for 
 drunkenness, which was generally 
 
 the case. The boys made the most 
 of the amusement, it was away 
 ahead of any other diversion for the 
 baser sort and even those who rated 
 themselves as belonging to the bet- 
 ter classes were not averse to the 
 fun; so they would gather around 
 the unfortunate culprit, offering all 
 sorts of suggestions touching the 
 best way to "cut loose," making tho 
 absurdest remarks about his ap- 
 pearance. Was he as comfortable as 
 could reasonably be expected under 
 the circumstances? Would he like 
 to send a message to his friends? 
 Was there anything he thought he 
 might like to drink? Would he sing 
 to them, "Home, sweet home," if 
 they would join in the chorus? And 
 thus the young rascals worried and 
 pestered their helpless victim until 
 they were driven oft' by the con 
 stable. 
 
 One day, early in March, 18.5.1, 
 my father said to me, "Harry, do 
 you think you could paint some let- 
 ters on a board?" "Why, yes," I 
 replied, "I think I could." "Well," 
 he said, "I will tell you something, 
 we are going to leave England for 
 America as soon as we can get 
 things settled up here and we will 
 need some lettering on boxes; I will 
 have some made and then you can 
 try your hand on them." 
 
 So in a few days the chests were 
 made and sent to us, I took a brush 
 and some black paint which my 
 father had procured and painted in 
 pretty fair shape the following 
 words, "S. Green, Passenger to New 
 York." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 So we were to leave old England, 
 the land of my birth and my home 
 for the first fourteen years of my 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 19 
 
 life. I did not think much about 
 it at the time except that the an- 
 nouncement filled me with joyous 
 anticipations. I looked forward 
 rather than backward in that hour, 
 the backward looking came later. 
 We were going to America; where 
 was America; wliat was America? 
 ...y people seemed to know very lit- 
 tle about it except in a general way; 
 none of us had any clear concep- 
 tion of what America was like, we 
 were much befogged, as might be 
 expected. It was a plunge in the 
 Clark to us youngsters, but if the 
 older minds had serious doubts as 
 to tlie wisdom of the move, the 
 younger had none whatever. To me 
 it was a great occasion, I was go- 
 ing to America; if they had told 
 me we were going to Botany Bay it 
 would have bf^en the same to me, 
 I think. As it was, it was a lark, 
 a great trip, a big journey; we were 
 going to travel by land and also by 
 water, by stage, by cars, by ship, 
 by boat and in every other old way, 
 hip! hip! hip! hurrah! I was going 
 to America; it made me "chesty," 
 I sprang at once into a person of 
 consequence among the kids of our 
 town, and why shouldn't I? They 
 were not going to America, I was; 
 and I strutted around and made my- 
 self ridiculous overlording it among 
 my boy friends who began to look 
 at me with a kind of awe because 
 I was going to America. But how 
 would I like it? It would be so 
 different from all my experience. 
 Would there be good fishing, good 
 hunting, did they play cricket in 
 America, and did they have mince 
 pies there, because if they didn't I 
 wouldn't like it. 
 
 My father was pleased with the 
 idea of emigration to America, to 
 him it offered better opportunities 
 
 than were to be had at home, some 
 of which were afterward realized. 
 To my mother the prospect was not 
 flattering, the thought of breaking 
 away from the ties of a lifetime was 
 not a pleasant one. To her it meant 
 leaving home never to behold it 
 again, and going away to a far-off 
 land of which she knew little or 
 nothing, to begin again the battle 
 of Mfe under conditions which were 
 altogether unfamiliar to her and 
 really alarming; to be deprived of 
 the simple comforts to which she 
 had been accustomed all her life, to 
 make a new home in the wilderness 
 among strange people. It was a 
 hard thing to ask of a woman in 
 advanced years, whose affections all 
 clustered around her home and her 
 native land. You can transplant a 
 young tree and it will thrive, but 
 not an old one, for the old one does 
 not take kindly to new soil. Going 
 to America meant much more to her 
 than to any of the rest of us, and 
 she never lived to see the day, when, 
 comparing the new with the old, 
 she did not look back with sadness 
 to the hour she set sail for America. 
 If she ever became at all reconciled 
 to the change it must have been be- 
 cause her eldest son, William, had 
 been in the United States a year, and 
 had written back some accounts of 
 the country and the prospects for its 
 future development, so it was his 
 letters that opened the way for our 
 coming, little as they had to offer 
 in the way of inducement to my 
 mother. Another son, Thomas, who 
 was married and lived in London, 
 determined with his wife to go with 
 us, so the matter was settled and 
 all arrangements made for our de- 
 parture. 
 
 The good ship Sir Robert Peel was 
 lying at her dock in the Thames, 
 
THR SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 when we arrived in London. Im- 
 mediately going on board we were 
 passed into the steerage and there 
 our troubles began. If we had been 
 able to pay for our passage even in 
 the second cabin, it would have been 
 altogether different, there we would 
 have enjoyed some comforts, but my 
 father had met with misfortune, he 
 had lost almost all that he had 
 possessed, so that he was unable to 
 pay the high prices demanded for 
 cabin passage, and there was there- 
 fore nothing better for us than the 
 steerage. 
 
 The Sir Robert Peel was a sailing 
 vessel of eighteen hundred Ions 
 burthen, and for that day was a 
 good average craft. Her captain was 
 every inch a gentleman, a fine ca- 
 pable officer who won the respect of 
 all on board. Many years after- 
 ward, I happened to be a guest in 
 the home of Governor and Mrs. Lar- 
 rabee, at Clermont, Iowa. The con- 
 versation at the table turning upon 
 ocean voyages, the governor asked 
 me the name of the vessel on which 
 I had crossed the ocean. I replied: 
 "The Sir Robert Peel." "Why, he 
 said with a smile, "My brother was 
 captain of that ship." "At the time 
 we crossed the captain's name was 
 Chadwick," I replied. "Yes," he 
 assented, "at that time it was Cap- 
 tain Chadwick, and my brother was 
 first hiate; he afterward succeeded 
 to the command of the ship." Up- 
 on reflection I was able to recall Mr. 
 Larrabee as an efficient and gentle- 
 manly officer. The steerage was 
 crowded with passengers, who, like 
 ourselves, were bound for "the 
 States." There were four hundred 
 and fifty of them of various nation- 
 alities, quite enough to make it in- 
 teresting for the rest of us. If the 
 black hole of Calcutta was much 
 
 worse than that steerage, God pity 
 the poor wrevches wlio were shut 
 up in it. Of course the officers did 
 everything in their power to make 
 the place endurable, but the moral 
 and sanitary conditions were ter- 
 rible. It could not well be othei-- 
 wise, nearly five hundred people 
 crowded into so small a space, some 
 of whom were shamelessly filthy. 
 The stench at times became so un- 
 bearable that we complained to the 
 officers and the wretched crowd was 
 driven to the deck, and tar was 
 burned in the steerage to purify the 
 place; at that it was no worse than 
 other ships and quite likely it wns 
 much better than some of them. 
 
 From that time to this, after an 
 interval of over fifty years, I still 
 retain the remembrance of those 
 noisome emigrant odors. Indeed it 
 is inconceivable how^ any person who 
 has been obliged to endure it for 
 any length of time, could ever for- 
 get it; you would know it among 
 a thousand, wherever you might 
 chance to meet it. A few years ago 
 I was walking down Broadway, New 
 York, in company with a friend; we 
 were heading for Castle Garden, 
 hoping that we might witness the 
 docking of some incoming ocean 
 greyhound. Long before we reach- 
 ed the point we were aiming for I 
 suddenly stopped and began sniffing 
 the air. "What in the world are 
 you snuffing at," laughingly asked 
 my friend, "What is the matter?" 
 "Can't you smell it?" I excitedly 
 asked him. "Smell nothing," he re- 
 torted, "Are you crazy?" "Not on 
 your life," I indignantly cried, ".Just 
 wait a bit and you'll see." And sure 
 enough, in a few minutes they came 
 alongside, a large party of them; 
 they had just landed and with (heir 
 dunnage tied up in bundles and 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COM^fONER 
 
 elung over their shouldeis, were 
 making headway up the street, and 
 I eould scent them from afar, they 
 had come to America. 
 
 It was not long after we had gone 
 aboard that the ship having complet- 
 ed her lading, began slowly dropping 
 down the river in tow of a tug, care- 
 fully feeling her way amid the in- 
 iricate maps of river and sea-going 
 craft. Both sides of the Thames 
 were lined with cities and towns, on 
 down to its mouth. We wei'e leav- 
 ing the old country for the new. 
 To my younger sister and me it was 
 a picnic, it was great, but to all the 
 rest of the family it did not appear 
 just that way, to them it was full 
 of sadness, they never expected to 
 look upon those shores again. This 
 land of Poets, Philosophers, War- 
 riors, Statesmen, Preachers, Auth- 
 01 s. Painters, Sculptors and makeis 
 of homes; this land of green mea- 
 dows fragrant with the odors of 
 roses and violets, beautified with 
 the cowslip, the primrose, daisies 
 and buttercups; melodious with the 
 song of the thrush and the nightin- 
 gale. 
 "Green fields of England, whereso'er 
 
 Across this watery waste we fare. 
 Your image at our hearts we bear. 
 
 Green fields of England, every- 
 where." 
 
 Dear old England! We will never 
 forget thee. Night comes on and 
 the morning dawns; the good ship 
 Sir Robert Peel, bound from Lon- 
 don to New York, is well 0:1 her 
 way; she sails down the Kentish 
 coast, through the straits of Dover, 
 r.asr the Isle of Wight, or, as a na- 
 tive of Bucks would call it, "Oily 
 Woit," through the English Chan- 
 nel, passes Land's End and away to 
 the westward and the untried ex- 
 periences ci a new world. Iv was 
 
 not long before we began to pay tri- 
 tube to Neptune, all but my father 
 and my elder sister, Rebecca, 
 promptly and generously rendered 
 up our accounts, fully able to ap- 
 preciate that line: 
 
 "When the swallows upward fly." 
 We were exactly five weeks be- 
 tween London and New York, which 
 for a sailing vessel sixty years ago, 
 was considered a fair passage. We 
 were entertained nearly all the way 
 by a young lady of much talent. She 
 was a vocalist, possessing, as she 
 herself readily admitted, a voice of 
 much sweetness and power. The 
 lady was also blessed with a be- 
 nevolent disposition which induced 
 her to carol for the poor sailors in 
 the forecastle, most of whom ap- 
 peared greatly to enjoy her captivat- 
 ing musical ministrations, for they 
 seldom failed to respond with great 
 eclat. It must be admitted that her 
 repertoire was not as extensive, nor 
 was it as choice as it might hav? 
 been if considered from the stand- 
 point of the great artists. As a 
 matter of fact she appeared to know 
 only one song, but then it must be 
 said to her credit, that what was 
 lacking in variety, was more than 
 atoned for in zealous repetition. 
 There was never any doubt among 
 the passengers as to her familarity 
 with "Cheer, Boys, Cheer," which 
 she rendered with unflagging zeal, 
 and the sailors always responded 
 with salvos of applause and encored 
 time and again to her intense sat- 
 isfaction. Unfortunately however, 
 there was one drawback, which to 
 most artists would have been some- 
 thing of a handicap; she appeared 
 to have few if any admirers other 
 than the sailors before the mast. 
 The passengers were either deaf to 
 music or they were unable to appre- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ciate her particular rendition. I 
 noticed that this singular attitude 
 was most pronounced among the la- 
 dies, a fact which at the time deeply 
 impressed my juvenile mind. That 
 gifted lady was not to be silenced 
 by this cold indifference, however, 
 for she never ceased to warble till 
 we dropped anchor at the port of 
 New York. 
 
 Two or three j'oung whales were 
 righted at a distance, a shark fol- 
 lowed the ship for several days 
 which the sailors said was a sure 
 sign that there would be a death on 
 board before long, and they were 
 right. Schools of porpoises or sea 
 piges as they were called, frequently 
 appeared about the ship; acres of 
 them gambolling in the waters and 
 flashing in the sunlight, delighted 
 tiie passengers for hours at a time. 
 About four weeks after we sailed 
 and the novelty had worn off we be- 
 gan to get anxious to see land again. 
 I asked one of the sailors when we 
 would reach New York; he laid one 
 hand on my shoulder and with the 
 other pointing directly over the bow 
 of the ship, said. "Do you see that 
 hill yonder?" I replied that I did, 
 for it often appears as you look for- 
 ward at sea as though there was a 
 big hill which would have to be 
 climbed. "Well, sonny," he said, 
 "When we get to the top of that hill 
 we shall be in New York. "Where- 
 upon I thanked him for his cour- 
 tesy and slowly moved aft. 
 
 We experienced some very severe 
 storms on the passage, when it be- 
 came necessary to send all the pas- 
 sengers below and batten down the 
 hatches secure against the waves, 
 which swept over the ship quite four 
 feet deep, but like the statesman for 
 whom she was named, she always 
 managed to right herself and sail 
 
 serenely on. In due time the banks 
 of Newfoundland were reached. Of 
 course there was a fog prevailing, 
 there generally is a fog on the 
 "Banks" and it became necessary 
 to shorten sail and move cautiously 
 on account of the numerous fishing 
 smacks which are known to be ply- 
 ing their vocation in those waters 
 where cod abound. We passed the 
 banks in safety and after a voyage 
 of exactly five weeks, dropped an- 
 chor in New York harbor. 
 
 It was a warm afternoon toward 
 the last of May, the weather was all 
 that could be desired, and we were 
 able to get fine views of all that 
 could be seen as we entered the har- 
 bor. Wearied with the long tedious 
 voyage we were very glad to be 
 ashore once more and stretch our 
 legs on the soil or rather the pave- 
 ment of the new world. 
 
 It was an auspicious landing, ev- 
 erything promised well, but oh, how 
 hungry we all were, all but mother; 
 if she was hungry she gave no sign 
 of it for when we were shown a 
 place where we could get something 
 to eat after the ship biscuit, black 
 sugar, rice and bad tea we had been 
 living on so long, she ate nothing; 
 the rest of us ate heartily, I know 
 I did, and the food tasted good to 
 me, but then I did not know what 
 it was made of; it was mostly hash 
 and I was hungry. 
 
 We remained in New York only 
 long enough to procure tickets to 
 Buffalo, which we reached after a 
 pleasant run over the New York and 
 Erie railway, as it was then called. 
 The change from the Atlantic ocean 
 to terra firma, from the steerage of 
 the ship to the comfortable open 
 cars was a very agreeable one and 
 was enjoyed by all of us. At Buf- 
 falo we took steamer for Chicago. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 23 
 
 where we arrived after an unevent- 
 ful trip over the lakes. Chicago, at 
 that time just a common, ordinary 
 town located in a swamp on the 
 shore of lake :Michigan; not one of 
 us had the faintest idea of what it 
 was destined to become in the near 
 future. If we had known then what 
 afterward came to pass, it is quite 
 likely the destiny of our family 
 would have been quite different. 
 Chicago, metropolis of the west, 
 great commercial center of an em- 
 pire, synonym for all that means en- 
 terprise, push, energy, thrift, faith 
 and determination. For all these 
 things and for her marvelous growth 
 she has no rival in all the world. 
 
 We had already travelled more 
 than three thousand miles by water 
 since leaving London, but we were 
 by no means done with it yet, for 
 at Chicago we boarded a boat on the 
 Illinois-Michigan canal and once 
 more took up our pilgrimage, with 
 La Salle, Illinois, as our first objec- 
 tive point. We had gotten down to 
 a canal boat, what next? Don't 
 smile, the Illinois and Michigan 
 canal at that time was a very im- 
 portant thoroughfare, for it con- 
 nected Lake IMichigan with the na- 
 vigable waters of the Illinois river, 
 and that meant the Gulf of St. Lawr- 
 ence with the Gulf of Mexico. More- 
 over, it was a change and that was 
 something, besides, it gave us an op- 
 portunity to walk occasionally, and 
 after all the distance was not so 
 very great, only one hundred miles, 
 and after five weeks in the steerage 
 of a sailing vessel in the company 
 of four hundred other emigrants we 
 were ready for almost anything. 
 
 So we journeyed on till we reach- 
 ed La Salle. There we sojourned 
 for three weeks, which gave my 
 mother and sisters a much neerled 
 
 rest for they were almost worn out 
 with the long, continuous traveling 
 under such depressing conditions. 
 My father and I obtained employ- 
 ment during our stay at La Salle, 
 which had really become almost a 
 necessity for our funds were getting 
 lew. I was employed at a bakery 
 and was paid all that my services 
 were worth. Suddenly one evening 
 while strolling along the shores of 
 the canal a little good fortune came 
 upon me. I found several pieces of 
 silver amounting in all to between 
 two and three dollars; of course I 
 was greatly elated over what I had 
 found and I thought if America was 
 all like this it would not be so bad. 
 Soon after our arrival at La Salle 
 I was sent to a grocery store to 
 make some purchases for the house. 
 Among other things I was directed 
 to get a pound of treacle, but alas, 
 when I asked the groceryman for 
 it he was bewildered; I could not 
 make him understand what I want- 
 ed. He was all abroad and I was 
 completely at sea; he showed me 
 some pickles and wanted to know 
 if that was what I wanted and when 
 I said "no," he suggested crackers, 
 vinegar, salt, pepper and many 
 other things all good in their places, 
 but none of them was what I was 
 after. Then he wanted to know what 
 in blazes treacle looked like anyhow, 
 and what they did with it. I told 
 him it looked like — like — like trea- 
 cle, and they ate it when they could 
 get it, which had not been very 
 often of late. At that he became 
 quite uneasy, "could I see it any- 
 where, was it in any of them boxes 
 or packages?" I was confident it 
 was not, "Well," he said, "I'll be 
 durned." Happily, however, he was 
 saved from such a catastrophe for 
 just then I caught sight of a barrel 
 
21 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 which looked as though it might 
 contain what I wanled, so I sa:d: 
 "What's in that barrel?" "Molas- 
 ses." he replied. "It looks like it 
 might be treacle," I said, whereup- 
 on he went to the barrel and drew 
 a little of its contents on a piece of 
 white paper. "That's what I'm af- 
 ter," I said, at which he snapped 
 out. "Why didn't you say you 
 wanted molasses in the first place so 
 as not to make so much trouble, the 
 fool notion of callin' molasses trea- 
 cle and wantin' to buy it by the 
 pound; these blamed t'urriners don't 
 know nothin' nohow. " But there 
 was nothing the matter with the 
 molasses and I was already begin- 
 ning to learn things. 
 
 After the family had, as we 
 I bought, sufficiently recovered from 
 the fatigues of travel and my father 
 and I had earned enough with what 
 we had on hand to carry u.-? through, 
 preparations were made for an im- 
 mediate move still farther wesiv/ard, 
 in the van of the course of empire. 
 Taking passage on an Illinois river 
 boat at Peru, we were carried down 
 that stream past Peoria to Its mouth 
 at Grafton; then down the Missis- 
 sippi river to St. Louis, where we 
 c-anged to an up river boat whose 
 prow was pointed toward the north 
 star. We were now breasting the 
 current of the "Father of Waters," 
 pushing our devious passage up 
 stream, always keeping the channel 
 by day or by night, nosing our way 
 in and out among the snags and 
 sawyers, avoiding by ceaseless vigil- 
 ance every shifting treacherous 
 sandbar. The pilot was a prince 
 among men, who never failed to de- 
 mand or to receive the homage of 
 his subjects. 
 
 We were slowly nearing what was 
 to be our future home. A sailor on 
 
 the Sir Robert Peel had asked me 
 where we were going to settle when 
 we got to Amrica, and I had replied, 
 in Iowa. He appeared to be groggy 
 for a moment, but soon he got his 
 sea legs under him and righting ship 
 he said, "No, you ain't goin' to Iowa, 
 ther' ain't no sich place as Iowa, 
 you mean Ohio." I was staggered 
 for a moment but recovering I as- 
 sured him it was Iowa, and told him 
 my brother William had been there 
 a year and had written us where it 
 was and how to get there. And here 
 we were at last after nearly eight 
 weeks on the way, by land and by 
 sea, by railroad, by lakes, by canal 
 and by rivers, having journeyed over 
 four thousand miles. We walked 
 clov.n the gang plank of our steam- 
 er at a lively gait, and were warmly 
 greeted by our relatives at L,yon». 
 Iowa. Our journeyings were over 
 and the new life in this woria was 
 before us. If we could have run 
 direct across the state of Illinois 
 from Chicago as the Chicago an! 
 Northwestern railway now runs, we 
 would have been saved much time 
 and labor and worry, but there wen- 
 no railroads out of Chicago for Iowa 
 in those days, so we were obliged 
 to travel many hundreds of miles 
 out of the direct course. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Lyons at that time was well on 
 the frontier. It had a population 
 of three or four hundred. There 
 were three general stores, all on 
 the river bank, a weekly newspaper, 
 called the Clinton Mirror, which still 
 continues its weekly visits to its 
 patrons; there were two attorneys, 
 one of which became a great crim- 
 inal law^yer and noted politician; 
 there were also (wo physicians, a 
 few mechanics and a general popu- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A TOMMONER 
 
 •Jo 
 
 latioii such as was to be found in 
 all villages in a new country. 
 
 Concerning a house located a 
 short distance south of Lyons and 
 occnpied by a family with whom our 
 people became quite familiar, a cor- 
 respondent of a ^Minneapolis paper, 
 has this to say: 
 
 "A relic of ante-bellum days, be- 
 fore the proclamation of Abraham 
 Lincoln set free the black man, 
 exists in Clinton in the shape of an 
 ancient stone house on I^luff boule- 
 vard. 
 
 The house has the distinction of 
 having been used as an "under- 
 grcund slave station" during the 
 civil war. The name "underground 
 station" for slaves describes those 
 places of refuge in which runaway 
 s aves from the south, who had 
 made their way across the Mason 
 and Dixon line, were received and 
 sheltered. A black skin was an 
 open sesame to the "underground 
 stations." Now, after the passage 
 of nearly half a century few of these 
 luiildings are to be found, having 
 lest their identity as places of refuge 
 for the runaways. 
 
 The old house has been unten- 
 anted for many years. After the 
 war was over it acquired an unsav- 
 ory reputation as a resort for 
 tramps and vagrants. The super- 
 stitious, too, declared that the 
 spirits of negro slaves came back to 
 haunt the old house." 
 
 It was toward tne end of .Tune 
 when we arrived in Lyons and as 
 might be expected, there was little 
 of a pul)lic character to occupy at- 
 tention or furnish diversion. The 
 Fourth of .luly was, however, a day 
 to be remembered, it was the great 
 national holiday, the only day of 
 the entire year wholly given over to 
 patriotism and noise; Memoria,! 
 Day, which has largely supplanted 
 the Fourth of July, Labor Day and 
 Harbor Day were then unknown. 
 To be sure St. Patrick's Day was 
 celibrated wherever Irishmen were 
 
 to be found in any considerable 
 numbers, but that was not an 
 American institution, it was a mat- 
 ter to be left entirely to the wear- 
 ers of the green and their lively 
 enemies, the orange men, who 
 fought it out together on the lines 
 of "St. Patrick's Day" and the 
 "Boyne Water." We were going to 
 celebrate the "Glorious Fourth," 
 and it must be done in grand style; 
 preparations had been going on for 
 some time, committees had been 
 appointed to cover every thing ac- 
 tual and conceivable, so that noth- 
 ing would be overlooked; every 
 able bodied man in the village and 
 most of the women had a place 
 somewhere on some committee, so 
 that no one might have a reason- 
 able cause for complaint because 
 they had been overlooked, while 
 others no better than they had been 
 given places where they had a 
 chance to show off. 
 
 All arrangements were fina lly 
 completed, the morning of the 
 Fourth broke with the promise for 
 a beautiful day, the little town was 
 in gala attire, bunting was display- 
 ed on all buildings, a wheezy brass 
 bard had been dug up from some- 
 where and was industriously dis- 
 coursing patriotic music; delega- 
 tions came in from Camanche, Sa- 
 bula and from all the regions round 
 about, most of t)hem dressed in 
 their Sundny clothes and all bent 
 on having a good time. 
 
 "We're here to celebrate b'gosh, 
 an' we're goin" to do it right, yes, 
 siree." 
 
 The cannon which was of the an- 
 vil variety had been noisily booming 
 it's welcome from sunrise, fire 
 crackers were being judiciously ex- 
 ploded by the small boys who knew 
 well enough that it was necessary 
 
2(> 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 to be very economical with them, 
 they cost a lot of money and money 
 was hard to get hold of, so they 
 made them go as far as possible, 
 and when they were all gone they 
 looked sorrowful and sighed for 
 more. The giant cracker had not 
 been born then so there was not the 
 danger there is now, but there was 
 quite as much fun, it is not always 
 those who have the most to do with 
 that enjoy life the most. It is 
 claimed that the man with a com- 
 fortable substance has a happier 
 time then the millionaire. The lit- 
 tle girl with a rag doll enjoys that 
 better . than she does a costly wax 
 affair, and the boy with a bent pin 
 or a cheap hook attached to a 
 cheap line tied to a crooked pole 
 catches more fish than the other 
 person with his elaborate tackle and 
 all his swell outfit. "Ice cream and 
 lemonade made in the shade, only 
 five cents a glass, (no nickels in 
 circulation) only five cents, step 
 right this way gentlemen, bring up 
 your ladies, here you are, sir; yes, 
 sir, five cents a glass, all right, 
 thankee sir." 
 
 At precisely 10:. 30 a. m., the pro- 
 cession headed by the band took 
 up its line of march for the grove 
 where a platform had been erected 
 for the Speaker of the Day, 
 the Chaplain, the Band the 
 Vocalists and quite a number of 
 public functionaries besides one or 
 two Mexican war veterans and a 
 survivor of the war of 1812. Im- 
 mediately following the band came 
 a farm wagon on which was a hay- 
 rack nicely covered -with bunting; 
 seated on the hayrack were a suf- 
 ficient number of young masses to 
 represent the different states of 
 the Union, all of them dressed in 
 Avhite and carrying small flags; 
 
 next came the President of the Day, 
 the Orator, the Reader, and the 
 Chaplain in a carriage, and after 
 them a quartette of singers, (male 
 voices) and citizens on foot and in 
 carriages including honored quests 
 from the neighboring towns. The 
 program had been duly published in 
 two issues of the Clinton Mirror and 
 posters had been put up in promin- 
 ent places over the "city." One of 
 them was tacked to the front of the 
 platform where everybody could 
 see it: — 
 
 FOrilTH OF Jl LY. 
 
 Cii'juul Celebration at Lyons. 
 
 PatJ'iots to the Front. 
 
 The citizens of Clinton and Jack- 
 son counties will celebrate the Sev- 
 enty-seventh Anniversary of our 
 National Independence at Lyons, 
 Iowa, .July Fourth, 185.3. 
 
 Let Kver>')0(l.v Come. 
 
 President of the Day: Gen. 
 George Washington Stumbaugh. 
 
 Orator: Hon. Thomas Jefferson 
 Spindletcu, of Le Claire. 
 
 Then followed the names of the 
 chaplain, the reader of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence and a long list 
 of Vice Presidents representing the 
 the adjoining towns. Following the 
 several townships in the county, also 
 exercises in the grove, a big barbe- 
 cue dinner was to be served at 
 which an ox was to be roasted whole 
 and everybody would be welcome. 
 In the afternoon the Grand Unque- 
 d'l.nck would parade tli rough the 
 principal streets with his Ram- 
 shackle Pollywogs; all sorts of 
 games would follow the parade, in- 
 cluding a sack race, catching a 
 greased pig. and climbing a greased 
 pole. The whole to wind up v/ith a 
 grand display of fireworks in the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 evening and a big bowry dance; 
 come everybody, come all. 
 
 After the opening exercises which 
 consisted of patriotic music by the 
 band, a patriotic song by the male 
 quartette, a patriotic prayer by the 
 chaplain, another patriotic song by 
 the male quartette, dramatic read- 
 ing of (hat "immortal instrument, 
 the Declaration of Independence," 
 followed by another patriotic tune 
 by the band, the President of the 
 Day, "in a few well chosen remarks" 
 in the course of which he took oc- 
 casion to congratulate the "vast 
 ihrong" before him on their pres- 
 ence here today, showing by that 
 very presence that they were true 
 patriots, who loved their country 
 above all else, yes, sir, they could 
 point Avlth pride to the glorious fact 
 tliat they were descendents of the 
 men v/ho fought at Bunker Hill and 
 Yorktown. But he would not de- 
 lain them, he had no desire to 
 trench upon the time which belong- 
 ed to another. "You are here today 
 my friends to listen to an orator 
 whose fame has spread far beyond 
 the bounds of tlie state which he 
 honors by his residence in it. I 
 have the honor and pleasure, ladies 
 and gentlemen, of introducing to 
 you the Honorable Jefferson Spindle- 
 ton of Le Claire, who will address 
 you." (Prolonged cheers). 
 
 The Honorable Jefferson Spindle- 
 ton promptly arose and with a pro- 
 found bow to the president of the 
 day, stepped lightly to the front. 
 In appearance, he was decidedly out 
 of the ordinary; that he was no 
 common man was plain to be seen, 
 in fact he himself had said so on 
 more than one occasion when the 
 matter had been broached by his 
 friends. He was tall and thin, he 
 neemed to have been put together 
 
 in sections like a telescope and when 
 he unjointed himself he was a sur- 
 prise, he wore his hair very long 
 and sleek, a tawny mustache that 
 hung down below his chin on both 
 sides of his face made him look like 
 a telegraph pole with a yellov; 
 streamer on it at half mast; evi- 
 dently he was a great man, who 
 imagined himself to be no less a 
 personage than Uncle Sam himself, 
 who, according to Washington Irv- 
 ing, believed the earth tipped when 
 he went west: 
 
 "Mr. President, ladies and gentle- 
 men," began the orator. "With the 
 clear cut sentences of that immortal 
 instrument, the Declaration of In- 
 dependence which has just been so 
 finely read to us, (here he turned 
 and bowed to the reader), still ring- 
 ing in our ears, the shadow on the 
 dial goes backward for three quar- 
 ters of a century and we stand face 
 to face with the men and the times 
 that tried men's souls." He then 
 proceeded to outline the causes 
 which led up to the signing of the 
 Declaration of Independence and 
 the War of the Revolution. "A 
 grand principle," said he, was avow- 
 ed, but that principle was to become 
 a recognized fact on this continent 
 only after a mighty struggle with a 
 powerful foe running through years 
 of sacrifice, suffering and blood- 
 shed. After reviewing at length, 
 the progress which had been made 
 in the development of our national 
 resources, he uncovered a vein of 
 humor which greatly pleased his 
 listeners. The United States was 
 not only a free and independent peo- 
 ple, they represented a nation in 
 the vigor and grit and grip of young 
 manhood, a youth who has been 
 making great strides in the march 
 of progress. "He is close to the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO]\LMONER 
 
 front right now, a good looking, 
 tall, well built, manly nobleman of 
 nature, bis massive head covered 
 with nut-brown locks; he cultivates 
 a mustache (here the speaker fond- 
 ly passed his hand over his own 
 magnificently adorned upper lip), 
 i^corning a cigar but smoking a 
 corncob pipe, a slang phrase at his 
 tongue's end, and a good deal of lip 
 generally. Oh, yes, he is some, he 
 is, he can whip all creation, es- 
 pecially the blamed Britisher." 
 
 In this strain he went on for 
 some time to the intense delight of 
 his auditors. "Why," said he, con- 
 tinuing. "He points you to the bird 
 o'freedom and tells you that that 
 'ere bird can just put the tip of one 
 of his wings on the Green Moun- 
 tains and the other on the Rockies 
 and stretch himself across the con- 
 tinent; he can rest his bill on Pike's 
 Peak, and spread his tail feathers 
 over the District of Columbia, and 
 the tarnal critter can swoop down 
 and scream freedom in the ears of 
 kings and queens till they turn blue, 
 so he can." 
 
 After these touches of humor, Mr. 
 Spindleton, sniffing the odors of the 
 barbecue which distinctly reached 
 the platform with an appetizing fra- 
 grance and noting its effect on his 
 hungry audience, observed that he 
 was about to finish his remarks, 
 which he very soon did, closing with 
 a grand peroration in which he 
 dramatically declared that he saw a 
 vision of the future development 
 and glorious destiny of Ihis great 
 country. 
 
 Among other things, I learned 
 more about the naughtiness of 
 George the Third that day than I 
 had ever dreamed of before; it was 
 a great occasion to me, the barbe- 
 cue was a revelation. I had never 
 
 seen anything like it before, nor 
 have I seen anything like it since: 
 I began to think America was 
 "some." If I had missed any of 
 the inspiration at the stand, I cer- 
 tainly made up for the loss at the 
 barbecue, at which I proved beyond 
 all question that I was as good an 
 American as any native on the 
 ground. 
 
 Soon after the fourth my father 
 obtained employment aboul two 
 miles out of town at Fish's mill, 
 which was undergoing repairs, so 
 ti.e family moved out to the mill 
 and occupied the house of the miller 
 which happened to be vacant at the 
 time. For a few days all went well, 
 my time was occupied chiefly in 
 fishing in the mill-pond which was 
 well stocked with sunfish, also in 
 larrying .water to the workmen at 
 the mill, as well as in doing chores 
 about the house. We were getting 
 on nicely and really enjoying the 
 new life upon which we had enter- 
 ed, until cue day my sister, .Alary 
 Ann, was stricken with fever and 
 ague; that was something new in 
 our experience, it was a depres'ang 
 surprise. One after another we were 
 brought low, until all of us were 
 either burning with fever or shiver- 
 ing with cold. It was a grievous 
 thing that had befallen us and that 
 at a time when we were least pre- 
 pared to meet it. The cause was the 
 malarial conditions under which we 
 were living, breaking up of virgin 
 soil, decaying vegetation which was 
 extremely rank everywhere, and 
 finally drawing off all water from 
 the mill-pond. The demon was in- 
 termittent in his assaults for he 
 would pounce upon us today and 
 let us rest tomorrow; none of us 
 shook every day and in that was our 
 cnly consolation. Fortunately we 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO:\LMONER 
 
 1^9 
 
 were not all clown at the same time 
 so we took our turns in waiting on 
 cne another. My father woull 
 shake one day and work the next 
 until he became so reduced as to 
 be unable to work at all, and that 
 was really the case with all of us, 
 for my own part I distinctly re- 
 member that I could hardly get 
 about at all: so low had my sister 
 Clara and I become that we were 
 unable to climb over a stake and 
 rider fence, we could only crawl un- 
 der or through it. The doctors in- 
 sisted that the evil spirit of the 
 ague could only be expelled by calo- 
 mel, which was supposed to be a 
 purgative of great value, therefore 
 we were fed on calomel. Whatever 
 effect that powerful purgative may 
 have had on the ague it certainly 
 salivated us good and plenty: it 
 loosened our teeth, but that did not 
 matter very much under the circum- 
 stances, seeing we had little use for 
 teeth in the absence of an appetite. 
 In the course of time, however, all 
 fully recovered and had plenty of 
 time to philosophize over this new 
 feature of life in a new country. 
 ]\iark Twain has it that the shaking 
 ague is a wise provision of nature, 
 to enable a person to take exercise 
 without exertion. If that be true 
 nature must have been very kind to 
 us for we took an immense amount 
 of exercise that summer and had 
 no occasion for over exertion. 
 
 In the fall we moved back to town 
 and I entered the public school, 
 where, under the helpful stimulus 
 of the scholars, I soon began to 
 drop off my superfluous "aitches," 
 as I had previously done my En- 
 glish clothes. Some strong attach- 
 ments were formed in these school 
 days at Lyons, which remain to 
 this dav. Thev constitute one of 
 
 the brightest remembrances of my 
 life and will remain with me as long 
 as I live. The school building was 
 a little old brick one, containing 
 two rooms and was presided over 
 by a -Mr. Baker, at first. He was 
 an excellent teacher who managed 
 to inspire the scholars with a whole- 
 some respect for the rules and rea- 
 sonable desire to g'^-' on with their 
 studies. He was followed by a Mr. 
 Bell, a gentleman who filled the 
 position of principal of the school 
 with great acceptability. I have ever 
 felt myself to be greatly indebted 
 to Mr. Bell. He was a careful, 
 pains-taking, wise administrator 
 and was esteemed by the whole 
 school. Of course both sexes occu- 
 pied the same room, the girls on one 
 side, the boys on the other. It was 
 the custom when any of the scholars 
 had violated the rules of the school 
 to send them over to the opposite 
 side, a punishment thought to be 
 severe enough to reform the wrong- 
 doer. I think most of us underwent 
 that ordeal at one time or another, 
 and a few quite often, especially the 
 elder ones. Indeed I have known 
 instances where the punishment ap- 
 peared to sit rather lightly on the 
 offender, but being a foreigner, and 
 quite unaccustomed to American 
 ways, I may have been mistaken. 
 
 Friday afternoons were occasion- 
 ally given over to special exercises 
 in elocution, which, though they 
 were not considered a part of the 
 curriculum proper, were neverthe- 
 less of sufficient importance to com- 
 mand a good deal of attention, for 
 in these exercises the art of public 
 speaking was taught, and many a 
 youth was expected to lay the foun- 
 dation of future greatness at the 
 bar, on the platform, or in the pul- 
 pit, at those exercises. At the close 
 
•JO 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 of each school year elocutionalry 
 exhibits were made in the public 
 exercises which took place before 
 fond parents who viewed with par- 
 donable pride the efforts of their 
 boys and girls, fondly dreaming of 
 the future that lay before them, and 
 then and there determining that 
 they should be given every oppor- 
 tunity to make the most of them- 
 selves. For my own part, I did not 
 take kindly to some of the exercises 
 which were enjoined upon us. I 
 have never been able to commit to 
 memory with any degree of readi- 
 ness, so upon my urgent request the 
 teacher allowed me to debate some 
 subject with one of the other boys 
 instead of "speaking a piece." I 
 think now it would have been better 
 in some ways if I had taken my turn 
 with the others at "Ben Battle was 
 a soldier bold," "The boy stood on 
 the burning deck," "The Turk lay 
 dreaming of the hour," "Webster's 
 reply to Hayne," etc., etc., which 
 with many others were found in Mc- 
 Guffy's Fifth Reader and furnished 
 the staple of the orations. 
 
 Occasionally the school was hon- 
 ored with a visit from one of the 
 resident clergymen, which was al- 
 ways a time of interest to us for it 
 became an occasion for relaxation on 
 our part as well as an opportunity 
 lor the display of latent talent in 
 the way of cartoons and side re- 
 marks which were not always com- 
 plimentary to the minister, who sel- 
 dom failed to address us by request 
 of the teacher; not that there was 
 any disposition to be unruly or im- 
 pudent, for the clergymen were all 
 highly respected by us. We were 
 just youngsters full of mischief 
 which must have expression even at 
 the expense of the preacher. The 
 drift of the ministerial remarks was 
 
 generally toward the prospective, 
 the opportunities which lay before 
 us were faithfully set forth as well 
 as the sacrifices our parents were 
 making in our behalf and what they 
 and others were expecting of us. 
 We were all enjoying the happiest 
 days of our lives, but "'ould soon 
 have to leave the school and take 
 our places in the world to engage 
 in the activities of life. We were 
 complimented on the progress we 
 had made in our studies and on 
 our appearance and deportment dur- 
 ing school hours; we were assured 
 that it was within our power to 
 make of ourselves whatever we 
 would; we might all win success in 
 the world, some of us would surely 
 gain distinction among our fellow 
 men and women; indeed it was quite 
 within the range of possibilities for 
 us to become President of the Unit- 
 ed States some day. I must say, 
 however, that that statement was 
 always a stumper to me. I drew the 
 line on the presidency, for in the 
 first place there were several mil- 
 lion boys in the United States at 
 the time, a fact which it seemed to 
 me would bar most of us from the 
 coveted honor unless we lived to a 
 very great age, for even among the 
 great statesmen of the country, only 
 here and there one in a lifetime 
 has any chance whatever of being 
 elected to the presidency, no matter 
 how high his ambition or how well 
 fitted he may be for the place. Then 
 there was another thing which was 
 a death-blow to any interest I might 
 have had in the delusive prospect 
 iBo temptingly held out to us. I 
 knew I could have no lot nor part 
 in the matter, I was forever barred 
 by the constitution which requires 
 that the occupant of the presiden- 
 tial chair must be a native born 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 31 
 
 citizen of the United States; so 
 whenever the speaker reached that 
 part of hifi remarks my interest 
 naturally began to wane. Of course 
 the exploits of the immortal Wash- 
 ington were dwelt upon with mucli 
 fervour, his great achievements were 
 laid before us in vivid colors; the 
 cherry tree incident was made much 
 of, the sin of falsehood enlarged 
 upon in scathing terms; we were 
 reminded over and over again that 
 the lips of George Washington nev- 
 er uttered a lie, a fact upon which 
 a sceptical Scotchman is said to 
 have once slyly remarked that the 
 reason the lips of George Washing- 
 ton never uttered a lie was because 
 he talked through his nose, which 
 was doubtless a pleasant reference 
 to a habit said to be prevalent 
 among Americans. 
 
 One winter I attended a select 
 school opened by a clergyman in a 
 room in the large brick residence of 
 Elijah Buell, but it was not very 
 successful, so with others I returned 
 to the public school, where I remain- 
 ed for the year. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Cut off as we were from all com- 
 munication with the outside world 
 in the fifties, save by the river, it 
 was natural that the advent of a 
 steamer either up or down should 
 be an occasion of interest especially 
 to the younger portion of the com- 
 munity. It was a common thing 
 therefore for us youngsters to race 
 down to the landing when a steam- 
 boat whistle was heard and watch 
 the boat come in; indeed much of 
 our time when not necessarily oc- 
 cupied with our duties was spent 
 along the river bank, for the great 
 river always had a charm for us. 
 We became quite expert in the 
 
 knowledge of river craft, the names 
 of all the boats which regularly 
 plied the stream were familiar to 
 us. We could easily tell what boat 
 was approaching almost as far as 
 we could see it, either by its gen- 
 eral appearance, the chuffing of its 
 engines or some particular feature 
 which distinguished it from others, 
 but which would never be noticed 
 except by the closest and most ex- 
 perienced observer. It was really 
 wonderful how clever we became 
 and how we did astonish grown up 
 people by our skill; we seemed to 
 know what boat it was by the same 
 sort of mysterious observation as 
 that which enables a seaman to 
 know a distant sail or a hunter to 
 know the tribe of Indian warriors 
 his practical eye encounters on the 
 prairies of the west. There was the 
 G. W. Sparhawk, the New St. Paul, 
 the Editor, Audubon, Shenandoah, 
 and many .others the names of which 
 I cannot now recall. 
 
 The pilot was the great man of 
 the river, he was the autocrat of his 
 day; every one on the river and 
 ashore acknowledged the supremacy 
 of the river pilot, he was a much 
 greater man than the captain and 
 could command a much larger sal- 
 ary, and indeed he was worth it. An 
 exact knowledge of the river from 
 St. Louis to St. Paul, in those days 
 before the government had come to 
 the aid of the pilot with its charts 
 and lights, was an accomplishment 
 to be proud of. It was not surpris- 
 ing therefore, that to be a river pilot 
 was, in the mind of every boy that 
 lived along the river, the most desir- 
 able thing in the v/orld, far better 
 than to be president of the United 
 States. So we all laid out to be 
 pilots, but alas; not one of us ever 
 reached that proud distinction, it 
 
.'{l; 
 
 TIIK SI.MIMJ<: \AFK OF A COMMONER 
 
 was too far Ijcyoiid us till we luul 
 outgrown the desire. There was 
 plenty of good hunting and tishtng, 
 the river abounded in cat, buffalo, 
 pickerel, niuscalonge and various 
 other tribes of its finny denizens, 
 while the sloughs north of town 
 furnished an abundance of wild 
 game; there were plenty of ducks 
 and geese and quite a good sprink- 
 ling of wild turkeys. My chum, .Joe 
 Conway and I frequently made trips 
 Ml) the river about Turkey Slough 
 and the islands between Lyons and 
 Sabula, whei'e, in the spring when 
 the June rise had uprooted the 
 trees along the banks and sent them 
 down stream, and logs had been 
 loosened from rafts and set afloat, 
 we were able to bulla small raits 
 of these uprooted trees and floating 
 logs which no one owned or claimed, 
 and so realized enough from the 
 sale of them to pay us quite well. 
 We usually provisioned our boat for 
 a weel< or more and with o)ir hunt- 
 ing and fishing outfit and our dun- 
 nage, proudly sailed away to the 
 hunting and fishing grounds where 
 we stayed till our raft was complet- 
 ed and we had filled a barrel or two 
 Avith fish which we speared at night 
 when it was still and the water was 
 clear enough to see objects on the 
 bottom. These fish we thoroughly 
 cleaned and salted ready for market. 
 We got our ducks and geese in the 
 early morning and about dusk in 
 the evening. We, of course did our 
 own cooking, which was quite a 
 simple affair. Ready sale was al- 
 ways found for both fish and game, 
 while our rafts were easily disposed 
 of. 
 
 Speaking of successful hunting 
 and fishing it may not be out of 
 iilace at this point to mention a 
 noble catch of a huge channel cat, 
 
 1 made one evening al)Oul sundown. 
 1 had baited a large sized hook with 
 a good chunk of liver and fastened 
 it to a strong line, expecting if 1 
 caught anything at all where 1 in- 
 tended to fish it would be a big 
 one. So 1 leisurely rowed out to the 
 current and let the boat drift down 
 stream with one end of the line se- 
 curely tied to the stern and the oth- 
 er with a heayy sinker attached 
 dragging behind. 1 did not have to 
 wait long for a bite; after about ten 
 minutes my line suddenly began 
 whizzing through th(> water at a 
 tremendous rate and 1 knew at once 
 there was going to be something 
 doing. Fortunately the line was 
 both long and strong so there was 
 no fear of its breaking or unwinding 
 to its full extent. I patiently played 
 my catch; whenever the line slack- 
 ened I rapidly pulled it in hand ov- 
 er hand, and as promptly paid it oui 
 again when it began to tighten. It 
 dees not tal<e very long to tire a 
 tish out witli this sort of play, he 
 soon becomes exhausted and is 
 easily landed. After some elfoit 1 
 succeeded in getting my cat into 
 the boat and pulled for shore. When 
 I reached home and put him on the 
 scales, he weighed exactly twenty- 
 seven pounds. He was much the 
 largest fish I ever caught, and 1 was 
 quite proud of my success. 
 
 The manner of getting logs down 
 the river at that time was very dif- 
 ferent from the way it has been 
 done in recent years. Then the 
 crews were gotten together at St. 
 Louis or at various points along the 
 river and taken north to the piner- 
 ies on steamboats to such points on 
 the Wisconsin and St. Croix rivers, 
 as were convenient for collecting 
 together logs, which had been gotten 
 out th(> i)revious winter by crews of 
 
THE SIMPLE [JFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ;53 
 
 loggers ill the forests of Wisconsin 
 and Minnesota, and hauled down 
 to the river banks ready for rafting 
 as soon as the spring opened and 
 the streams were clear of ice. It 
 required large numbers of men to 
 handle some of those raft.-, whicli 
 were of enormous size; great skill 
 was also required to keep them in 
 the channel where they could float 
 down stream in safety, avoiding ob- 
 structions and keeping clear of the 
 sand bars, safely passing steamers 
 which were their inveterate foes, 
 but which were in mortal terror of 
 them, running the rapids unharmed, 
 which was no easy thing to do, and 
 holding together when the winds 
 blew hard and the waves ran high. 
 But all that has been changed, now 
 a small rafter managed by three or 
 four men is quite sufficient to handl ^ 
 the large rafts which are speedily 
 and safely tawed down the river. 
 The pineries of the north, however, 
 will soon be exhausted. At the rate 
 they have been depleted by the enor- 
 inous drafts which have been made 
 upon them, it will not be long be- 
 fore this great industry will have be- 
 come a thing of the past, unless 
 what little remains is carefully pro- 
 tected by the government. 
 
 Occasionally the town was visited 
 by celebrites of more or less prom- 
 inence, who seldom failed to receive 
 such patronage as tiiey deserved 
 from those who had the price for 
 tickets. Among those traveling no- 
 torities, I n.ay mention the Lombard 
 Brothers, who were great singers, 
 Mrs. Scott Sitdons, Artemas Ward, 
 who with the possible exception of 
 Josh Billings, was the greatest of 
 American humorists, and many oth- 
 ers. I remember A. Ward quite 
 well, happening to overhear a con- 
 versation between the lona haiied 
 
 oddity and two or ihree of our ci- 
 tizens on the relative attractiveness 
 of men and women, in which Mr. 
 Ward unblushingly declared that he 
 was never impressed with womanly 
 beauty but that he was always 
 charmed with a handsome man. I 
 looked upon him for. a moment with 
 an eye in which all the astonish- 
 ment and abhorrence of my boyish 
 nature was concentrated, and then 
 with a lofty air, I turned on my heel 
 and walked away, to the immense 
 amusement of the great humorist 
 and his friends. 
 
 In the memory of the oldest in- 
 reached. About 2:00 p. m., I start- 
 what is now the middle w^est, has 
 never been surpassed for severity 
 and suffering. For many weeks it 
 was intensely cold and the snow- 
 was quite four fe^t deep on the 
 level; in many places the highest 
 fences were entirely out of sight 
 for days. The Rev. Landon Taylor, 
 a prominent pioneer preacher of the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, who 
 had been sent as a missionary to 
 the settlers along the Missouri riv- 
 er in the fall of 185 6, says of the 
 situation in western Iowa: "On 
 the first d;).y of December, 18.') 6, 
 v.'inter commenced with snow from 
 the northwest, increasing in sever- 
 ity until the afternoon of the sec- 
 ond day, when the climax was 
 reached. About 2:i/u p. m., I start- 
 ed from my office for dinner about 
 ten rods distant. When about one 
 rod on my way I became lost, not 
 being able to see my hand before 
 me, and the storm cutting my 
 breath, I halted and queried; 
 strange if I should perish within 
 a few feet of my door. But I thought 
 as I am facing the storm northwest, 
 if I return ?outheast I will strike 
 my office, and this happy idea 
 
34 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 brcugut me into safe quarievs. The 
 storm continued for three days and 
 snow reached the depth of four feet 
 on the level, accompanied with a 
 crust so hard as to bear up a man. 
 This was truly a snow blockade, for 
 no one couid travel for weeks and 
 the people being short of provisions, 
 many had to subsist on hominy and 
 a few potatoes. Such was the depth 
 of snow during this win-'er that in 
 some instances it was dangerous to 
 venture far from home, in view of 
 the hungry wolves. A negro had 
 been out a little distance from home 
 chopping, when on his return he 
 was driven by a pack of wolves into 
 a fence corner, where his remains 
 and his axe were found, with six 
 dead wolves lying by his side." 
 
 While the houses of the poorer 
 people were mere shanties of boards 
 and very cold, there was always 
 plenty of fire wood so they could be 
 kept comparatively comfortable, ex- 
 cept in the extremest weather, when 
 it v/as impossible to keep warm 
 even by piling the old double-deck- 
 er cook stoves which also served as 
 heaters full of wood. We were liv- 
 ing at that lime in one of those 
 shanties which my father had put 
 up, in the hazel brush at the out- 
 skirts of the town. The severe cold 
 and deep snows had driven what 
 game had not already perished, in- 
 to the towns for food and shelter. 
 One morning just as my mother was 
 opening the back door to throw 
 out a pan of dish water, a flock of 
 quails which had been feeding near 
 the house flew up to escape threat- 
 ened danger. -Unfortunately just at 
 the moment when this occurred a 
 young hunter who had been on the 
 trail of the birds for some time, 
 raised his piece in a direct line for 
 qmails and the door and fired at 
 
 the moment when it opened, not 
 seeing my mother in his eagerness 
 to shoot the birds and taking no 
 thought of the danger of firing in 
 the direction of the house. It was 
 fortunate the gun was loaded with 
 nothing heavier tiian quail shot, for 
 if it had been, mother would surely 
 have been killed, as she received the 
 entire charge in her face, neck and 
 breast. It was a long time before 
 she fully recovered from the shock, 
 which, as may well be imagined, was 
 very severe; but we were all thank- 
 ful she escaped with her life. 
 
 At that time there were no rail- 
 roads in the state running west 
 from the Mississippi; all produce 
 was hauled to the river towns by 
 wagon, which wf.s a s;ow, tiresome, 
 expensive way of getting it to mar- 
 ket; it also entailed m.uch suffering 
 during the winter months for be it 
 remembered that there were no arc- 
 tics or fur-lined shoes, nor were 
 there any fur overcoats as at the 
 present time; so that farmers who 
 were obliged to haul their wheat, 
 pork and other products to market, 
 some of them fifty or sixty miles, 
 suffered intensely from frozen hands 
 pnd feet, and not infrequently from 
 lack of nourishing food, being sev- 
 eral days on the road, often hind- 
 ered by blizzards and the deep 
 snows, through which they were 
 compelled to shovel a iias-age for 
 their teams. Then, too, when they 
 had overcome all obstacles and 
 finally reached the river, prices were 
 so low that it took almost all the 
 load brought to pay their expenses. 
 As an illustration of the difficulties 
 connected with the transportation 
 problem, the farmers after killing 
 and dressing their hogs at home and 
 hauling them to Lyons, were oblig- 
 ed to cut off tlie heads and feet, 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 35 
 
 which Uiey sold or gave away to 
 anyone who would take them rather 
 tlian pay the expense of their Irans- 
 ]io'tation by boat to marlvct down 
 the river. This the steamboat peo- 
 ple were gl?d to have them do as 
 they were cften unable to meet the 
 demands upon their carrying capa- 
 city Also in r.ddition to these trou- 
 bles there was another very serious 
 embarrassment; the country was 
 without a stable currency, there was 
 not a sufficiency of coin to do its 
 business and its paper money was 
 decidedly unsafe. Much of it here 
 in the west was what was character- 
 ized as wild cat, red dog, shin plas- 
 ters, etc., which might be good to- 
 day and wcrthless tomorrow. It 
 became necessary for business men 
 to have at hand a bank note de- 
 tectcr, which was of some value if 
 the issue was the very latest, for 
 it gave the value of the paper 
 money at the time of issue, which 
 would be worth anywhere from ten 
 to ninety cents on the dollai'. It 
 also gave great opportunities for 
 dishonesty on the part of the buyer 
 if he was disposed to take undue ad- 
 vantage of the ignorance of the 
 farmer and unload on him depre- 
 ciated currency, the true value of 
 which the farmer would be ignor- 
 ant. It was therefore very dis- 
 couraging to men who had hauled 
 their grain fifty miles to market anri 
 sold it at night, to find the money 
 which was supposed to be good 
 when they were paid either utterly 
 worthless or not worth more than 
 forty or fifty cents on the dollar 
 next morning. Many of the mer- 
 chants issued their own paper in the 
 form of a due-bill which they after- 
 ward redeemed in cash or paid in 
 goods. In this way the money prob- 
 lem was partly solved for the time 
 
 being at least, for the residents of 
 the towns. 
 
 The fearful tragedy at Spirit 
 Lake, which so horrified the state 
 and concerning which so many dif- 
 ferent accounts have been given, oc- 
 curred the following spring. As it 
 is a part of the history of our state 
 in which every lowan is interested, 
 I take the liberty to quote from one 
 who was on the ground and may 
 therefore be reckoned as an author- 
 ity whose words may be received 
 without question. The Rev. Mr. 
 Taylor says: "The Indians having 
 camped near Smithland for the pur- 
 pose of hunting and fishing, oc- 
 casionally some few would pass 
 through the town. At this time, 
 three or four called in at a store, 
 with a few ears of corn gathered 
 up in a field thrown out to the com- 
 mons. A few of the whites or rath- 
 er roughs asked them where they 
 had obtained their corn, to which 
 the Indians frankly replied. No 
 more was said, but the whites went 
 out into a taicket, cut each one a 
 hickory, then returned, fell upon 
 the Indians and chased them into 
 their camp. The males, most of 
 them, being absent on a hunt, (he 
 whites gathered up all their guns 
 remaining and brought them to 
 Smithfield, having made them prom- 
 ise before they left, that on the 
 following day they would go down 
 and shake hands with the Omahas, 
 another tribe, which the Indians 
 knew would be certain death. When 
 the hunters returned and found 
 what had been done, they started 
 in the night for the Cherokee, and 
 commenced their depredations. 
 Some forty or fifty of the whites 
 were killed and several of the In- 
 dians. When I tell you that liquor 
 was the moving cause, my readers 
 
3(i 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 will not need any further explana- 
 tion. I have read several incorrect 
 statements in relation to the origin 
 of this massacre, but this is the first 
 so far as I know, that gives the 
 true history. If those roughs had 
 behaved themselves, the Indians 
 would have retired and this sad af- 
 fair would never have taken place." 
 
 During the summer months when 
 net at school, I was employed by a 
 Mr. Pease, a carriage painter, with 
 whom I learned something of the 
 business, though I never became an 
 expert at it. Mr. Pease was a fine . 
 mechanic who understood his busi- 
 ness thoroughly and had I remained 
 with him it is likely I would have 
 made a success of it; as it was I 
 learned only enough to make me 
 .lust an ordinary workman, which 
 after all, may have been quite as 
 well, all things considered. 
 
 There was a young fellow among 
 my associates, an easy going, good 
 natured, sentimental sort of a chap, 
 who was given to imagine that all 
 the girls were in love with him, his 
 personal attractions were so great, 
 he really thought he was irresisti- 
 ble. It must in justice be said, 
 however, that his mania assumed 
 9 mild form and did no other harm 
 than to make him the subject of 
 much amusement among the young 
 folks who seldom failed to enjoy 
 themselves at his expense.. He was 
 the owner of a guitar and fondly 
 imagined he was something of an 
 artist with that instrument, vain 
 thought. He never attempted any- 
 thing when any one was present ex- 
 cept the "Spanish Fandango," I be- 
 lieve he called it, and whenever he 
 wrestled with that he was thrown 
 quite as often as he downed it. But 
 he never became discouraged, he 
 stuck to it with a persistency worthy 
 
 of nobler things. It was his unfor- 
 tunate listeners who suffered; they 
 always became down hearted the 
 moment he began to twang the 
 strings, and one after another, it 
 seemed to be borne in upon them 
 that they had quite forgotten some- 
 thing down town which must be 
 attended to at once. 
 
 None of us, hov/ever, had any- 
 thing to boast of. We seldom felt 
 it to be quite safe to get gay at 
 one another's expense, for we were 
 all about equally ambitious to shine 
 in the musical world, or elsewhere. 
 AlasI that it should be so. O, how 
 we did torture the popular songs 
 of llie day. I have often thought 
 in later years, how "Annie Laurie," 
 ' Belle Brandcn" and " Rosalie, the 
 Prairie Flower" must have suffered 
 had they been conscious cf what we 
 were doing to them. What a deep 
 sense of injury must have pervaded 
 their souls and shocked their sen- 
 sibilities as we mercilessly tortured 
 them in our maddening attempts to 
 make any unfortunate, unhappy lis- 
 tener, who could not make his es- 
 cape acquainted with their virtues. 
 I am sure if those unfortunate 
 heroines had possessed the sense of 
 hearing and the powers of speech, 
 they would have indignantly pro- 
 tested against our well meaning, but 
 misdirected efforts to do them hon- 
 or. As it was they could do no 
 more than to suffer in silence while 
 we tortured the night air in their 
 praises. 
 
 I was now to embark for the 
 first time in a business enterprise on 
 my own account. All my life, I 
 had been quite well satisfied to work 
 for others, receiving such wages as 
 I might be able to earn, but seeing 
 as I thought, a good opening for 
 business on an unpretentious scale 
 
THE SniPLE EIFE OF A COIVIMONER 
 
 37 
 
 with a lair prospect of future 
 grcwth, I prevailed on one of my 
 friends to join me in tlae ice cream 
 and lemonade business. So we pool- 
 ed our ready money, wliich was very 
 little all told, and with what credit 
 we could get, bought what fixtures 
 we could neither rent nor borrow, 
 and securing a small room opened 
 our ice cream saloon. After a long 
 consultatior. witi- eacli other, dur- 
 ing which we thoroughly discussed 
 the matter, we concluded to have a 
 big send-off, a sort of grand open- 
 ing, at which our friends were to 
 be invited to drink lemonade and 
 tat ice cream at our expense. It 
 was a brilliant idea, there could be 
 no doubt about that, because all 
 the young people about town said 
 po. It was a master stroke and 
 would have been the making of us 
 had it not been for just one thing, 
 we had too many friends^ — that 
 night — mov^ than we had e^-er 
 dreamed of; more than we ever had 
 before by all odds and far mcT-e than 
 we ever had afterward. They came 
 singly, they came by twos, by threes, 
 by fours, they came in groups; they 
 came early, they stayed late; they 
 were hungry, they were thirsty. 
 Heavens! how they did eat that ice 
 cream and drink that lemonade; 
 Why, they simply ate and drank 
 everything there was in the shop 
 and rested not till the last saucer 
 had been emptied and the last glass 
 I'ad been drained to the dregs. And 
 there we were, as helpless victims 
 as were ever attacked by a mob. 
 Poor Jim, I will never forget his 
 woe-be-gone looks, the utter misery 
 upon his face when the last guest 
 had taken his departure and not a 
 cent in the drawer. What was to 
 he done? Nothing. We had ex- 
 hausted our resources the first night. 
 
 everything was cleaned out, we had 
 no future. Nothing to go on with, 
 no money, no credit, even our fix- 
 tures had been pledged for what we 
 had had to borrow to start with. 
 It was bad, no mistake about that. 
 \v^e were in much the same situation 
 as that of the base ball player who 
 declared that he had only one in- 
 nings to five outs--he was out at 
 the elbows, out at the toes, out of 
 money and out of clothes, out of 
 credit and in debt. Now what was 
 to be done, we were unable to bor- 
 row any more money. Somehow, 
 those who had any to loan, which 
 were not many, did not appear to 
 have unbounded confidence in our 
 business ability, while "our friends" 
 who had so promptly availed them- 
 selves of our hospitality kindly vol- 
 unteered the opinion that we were 
 "two fools who ought TO hav-^ known 
 better than to give away everything 
 we had, we deserved to fail." It 
 may have been very ungrateful of 
 us, but candor compels me to say 
 that these tenderly expressed senti- 
 ments did not tend to soothe our 
 lacerated feelings; they were not 
 like balmy days in June to us, and 
 in all the years that have followed 
 the remembrance of them has not 
 made for the development of gener- 
 ous impulses m the breasts of two 
 deluded mortals. So we went into 
 bankruptcy, closed up our shop, and 
 each went his way to earn by hard 
 knocks liis share of what we were 
 owing and get on his feet again. It 
 was a good lesson in some ways and 
 though dearly bought was worth all 
 it cost us; if we could have secured 
 a little help we might have pulled 
 through and gone on with the busi- 
 ness, but that was not to be had 
 and perhaps, after all, it was just 
 as well in the long run. 
 
3y 
 
 THE SliMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 In the early autumn of 18") 9, four 
 young men, Frank Lothrop, Freder- 
 ick Blakeley, William Blakeley and 
 the writer concluded to go south 
 and spend the winter, where, we 
 •were told, steady employment was 
 to be had for mechanics at much 
 better wages than were paid in the 
 north. Instead of going by steam- 
 boat, which was too expensive for 
 us, we concluded to purchase a sail 
 boat which we had heard could be 
 bought at a reasonable figure. The 
 boat would carry probably a ton 
 and a half, and we were told she 
 could easily be disposed of at Mem- 
 phis, where we intended to stop and 
 spend the winter, if we had no 
 further need of her. So after look- 
 ing her over we closed the bargain 
 and immediately ordered her on the 
 dry docks, where she was carefully 
 overhauled, caulked and given a 
 new coat of paint; we christened 
 her the "Morning Star." A canvas 
 covering after the style of the prai- 
 rie schooners so common in those 
 days was fitted on our boat to fur- 
 nish protection from the sun and 
 rain, and from the dews at night; 
 it was so arranged as to enable us 
 to put it on or off at our pleasure 
 without much trouble. The mast 
 was shipped with mainsail and jib, 
 and everything made ready for our 
 voyage of five hundred miles toward 
 the Gulf of Mexico. After we had 
 been properly provisioned, cooking 
 utensils provided, shot guns and 
 fishing tackle carried aboard, we 
 bid adieu to such of our friends as 
 had strolled down to the landing to 
 see us off unloosed the hawsei-, 
 hauled it aboard, ran up the flag 
 to the mast head and then amid 
 the cheers of our friends backed 
 cut into the stream, turned the prow 
 
 lo the south, hoisted the sails and 
 were off, singing as we went: — 
 "A life on the ocean wave, 
 A home on the rolling deep." 
 Inasmuch as there was no crying 
 need for our immediate presence in 
 the south, we determined to take 
 plenty of time to the trip and get 
 all the enjoyment we could out of 
 it. The first day out we were favor- 
 ed with a fair wind, enabling us to 
 make a splendid run, passing Ca- 
 manche and Le Claire with flying 
 colors, raising our spirits and fill- 
 ing us with exhilerating sensations 
 which were very pleasant indeed. 
 
 The river itself, with its ever 
 changing shores presented to cur 
 view a panorama of beauty which 
 was a constant delight, a series of 
 pictures painted by the skilled hand 
 of the Divine master artist one after 
 pnother revealed themselves to our 
 vision, challenging the admiration 
 of us all, appealing with a wondrous 
 power to that sense of beauty whicli 
 God has implanted in all His in- 
 telligent creatures; wide stretches 
 of table land reaching from the 
 river side inland, 'many a mile, suc- 
 cessively followed by gentle sloping 
 vistas winding backward among the 
 hills, disclosing the marvellous beau- 
 ty of the scenery as far as the eye 
 could reach. Then in their turn fol- 
 lowed by lofty, abrupt, rocky bluffs, 
 first on one side of the river, then 
 on the other, rising perpendicularly 
 to a great height, giving a sense of 
 strength and power, a massive 
 granduer worthy of the Great Archi- 
 tect of the universe, who spake, and 
 it was done. It was autumn and 
 the leaves of the trees were of many 
 colors, green, red, yellow and pur- 
 ple, gloriously tinted by the breath 
 of the wind, the lips of the sun, the 
 tears of the clouds, the gentle 
 
THE simflp: life of a commoner 
 
 39 
 
 toufhes of baby frosi and the con- 
 tinuous fondling of Father Time. 
 Noble old "Father of Waters," the 
 days of the years of thy life have 
 been neither few nor evil, rather 
 lav.e they stretched away through 
 all the generations of the past; aye, 
 in the long ago, before even the 
 moeassined feet of the red man had 
 pressed the golden sands upon thy 
 shores, or his canoe had lightly 
 ridden upon thy gentle billows, thy 
 laughing waters from the north, 
 r,radually swelling into a mighty 
 tcrrent, then sobering, deepe 'ng 
 and widening on its way till it 
 broadens and deepens into a solemn 
 flow, majestically gliding on its 
 course to the sea. 
 
 Then there was the handiwork of 
 man joined to the work of God, 
 touching the splendors of nature 
 with human life and energy and 
 clothing every mile of the way with 
 a delightful harmony, which was as 
 ennobling to the soul as it was en- 
 chanting to the eye. Every now 
 and then as we sailed on our cour-^e 
 charming little villages could be 
 seen nestling at the feet of Liie 
 bluffs as though they were seeking 
 shelter from the storms which swept 
 over the open prairie behind them, 
 or sitting at the feet of the great 
 rocks which towered above then as 
 a man would sit at the feet of God. 
 Interspersed with these villages, 
 larger and more pretentious places 
 would occasionally break upon our 
 view. They were to be the cities of 
 the future for even then foundations 
 were being laid which, later on be- 
 came evidences of the forethought 
 of their projectors. Large side- 
 wheel steamers and smaller stern- 
 wheelers on their way from Saint 
 Louis to Saint Paul, loaded with 
 merchandise for the rapidly increas- 
 
 ing populations of the northwest 
 and crowded with passengers, most 
 of them emigrants or home seekers, 
 who were soon, to become the lords 
 of the land; or returning from St. 
 Paul loaded down to the water's 
 edge with the products of the newer 
 country, but carrying fewer passen- 
 gers, were frequently met with on 
 the upper river, that is, north of 
 St. Louis. Great rafts which always 
 claimed, and never failed to receive 
 the right of way — the terror of the 
 boats, big or little, might be seen 
 almost any day, lazily floating down 
 stream like some monstrous turtle, 
 asking odds of no one and seldom 
 showing the least consideration for 
 any craft that might by chance get 
 in its way. It was only when tho 
 raftsmen and the steamboat men 
 happened to tie up for the night at 
 the same town, which they were 
 sometimes obliged to do when the 
 river was at a low stage of water 
 and the night was dark, that there 
 was any actual conflict. But when 
 they did thus come together, It sure 
 was a case of Greek meet Greek, 
 for after taking on a cargo of "forty 
 rod" as it was called, and both sides 
 had thus been placed on a war foot- 
 ing, hostilities began, and generally 
 they were continued all through the 
 night with necessary intermissions 
 to allow each side to replenish its 
 ammunition at the low down dog- 
 geries with which the river towns 
 abounded. The battle raged in 
 spite of all the authorities could do 
 to stop it, the drunken combatants 
 would blaze away at each other with 
 pistols, hammer one another with 
 their fists, with clubs or anything 
 they might be able to lay their 
 hands on, rendering the night hid- 
 eous with their brawling blasphemy 
 and their howls of pain as they were 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMIMONER 
 
 pummeled by their adversaries. 
 There was not much choice between 
 them, one side was as bad as the 
 other, so no one cared which had 
 the best of it. There was ahvays a 
 deadly feud between them in the old 
 days. They thrived on broils and 
 contentions. Bickerings and strifes 
 were their meat and drink, the river 
 and its shores were their battle 
 fields and in many instances their 
 graves. These affrays became so no- 
 torious as to become at last utterly 
 unendurable. 'ihe young men of 
 the towns were dragged into them 
 to some extent; low doggeries and 
 baudy-houses lined the river front 
 for an entire block, rendering it un- 
 safe for decent citizens in that neigh- 
 borhood after dark, for they were 
 always in danger of being robbed 
 or even murdered. 
 
 Finally it was determined to 
 .break up the foul dens and rid the 
 town of their presence. But as the 
 police force of the town which con- 
 sisted of a single watchman was not 
 strong enough for so great an un- 
 dertaking the problem was a com- 
 plicated one. It was solved at last, 
 however, by the members of the fire 
 company. Resolute No. 1, who vol- 
 unteered to do the work. It was a 
 serious undertaking, but the boys 
 were not deterred by the danger, 
 they were in dead earnest. So one 
 dark night near eleven o'clock, 
 when the orgies were at their 
 height, the company with bells on 
 the hose cart muffled and every pre- 
 caution taken to guard against 
 noises of any kind which would be 
 likely to alarm the revellers, swiftly 
 and silently made their way around 
 by side streets to the river front of 
 the block which was to be made the 
 object of attack. As soon as the 
 hose had been reeled off the cart 
 
 and borne up the river bank as near 
 the first point of attack as was 
 deemed necessary, word was given 
 and the stream began pouring 
 through an open window into a hall 
 on the first floor where a dance was 
 in full swing. Pandemonium at 
 once broke loose, the dancers were 
 terror stricken, they shouted and 
 cursed and screamed and ran in 
 every direction, only to be met by 
 a stream of water wherever they 
 went. It did not take long to clean 
 out that building nor the others 
 which were attacked with equal vig- 
 or, every one of them was soon 
 done for and the town was happily 
 rid of the loathsome pests. It came 
 very near being a much more serious 
 matter for me than I had anticipat- 
 ed, hov/ever, for it was my duty t^ 
 direct the play of the stream and 
 as I was doing so an old fellow who 
 kept a vile place next door to the 
 dance house crept out and mingl- 
 ing with the crowd, wormed his way 
 unobserved to the spot where I was 
 standing. His hand clutched a half 
 brick with which he doubtless 
 meant to kill me; he was standing 
 within ten feet of me and had rais- 
 ed his hand to hurl the brick, when 
 fortunately for me, he was seen by 
 the pipe-men, who instantly turned 
 the stream upon him, striking him 
 fairly in the chest and whirling him 
 head over heels in a complete som- 
 ersault. Had he not been seen in 
 time my career would most likely 
 have come to an end right then and 
 there. The following morning which 
 was Sunday, the citizens assembled 
 on the battle field, where addresses 
 were made congratulating the fire 
 company on the good work they had 
 done. 
 
 Many are the stories told of life 
 on the river in the early days, some 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 41 
 
 of which are unquestionably true, 
 others are legends of the olden 
 times. The late Doctor R. C. Am- 
 bler of Lansing, Iowa, made me 
 acquainted with the legend of O-ne- 
 o-ta, a beautiful Indian princess of 
 the lowas, and her lover Wau-kon- 
 a-ket, a young chief of the Winne- 
 bagos, a tribe which at the time of 
 this writing has its lodges near the 
 Minnesota line, not far from the 
 village of New Albin, Iowa, where 
 most of their trading is done. .Just 
 south of the village near the place 
 where the Oneota river empties into 
 the Mississippi, there is a rocky 
 bluff, known as Blackhawk's Point, 
 so named after a battle which it is 
 said was fought there between the 
 whites and that redoubtable war- 
 rior, during the Blackhawk war, the 
 truth of which seems to be corrobor- 
 ated by the fact that the skeletons 
 of men, Indian war implements and 
 other evidences of strife have been 
 exhumed in the vicinity at various 
 times, in sufficient numbers to war- 
 rant the belief that it was the scene 
 of a battle at some period, which, 
 with the traditions associated with 
 the locality would seem to leave lit- 
 tle room for doubt. 
 
 Wau-kon-a-ket and 0-ne-o-ta were 
 in love with each other, but sad to 
 relate the course of their love ran 
 far from smooth. The father of the 
 princess, old Decorah, swore by all 
 the traditions of his fathers and by 
 the great Manitou that a prince of 
 the Winnebagos should never wed 
 his daughter. But Wau-kon-a-ket 
 was a brave young chieftain, de- 
 scended from a race of warriors, 
 resolute of purpose, resourceful in 
 plans, determined and tireless in 
 their execution. So it was whisper- 
 ed about before many moons had 
 come and gone, that in spite of the 
 
 watchfulness of the old chief De- 
 corah, stolen interviews were held 
 between the young lovers, which be- 
 came so frequent that they could 
 no longer be concealed from the 
 irate father, who determined to 
 take the young chief's life. Hap- 
 pily he was overheard by a friend 
 of the young lovers, planning with 
 a rejected suitor of his own tribe, 
 for the destruction of Wau-kon-a- 
 ket. His purpose was at once re- 
 vealed to the young people, wiho, of 
 course immediately took measures 
 to prevent it. The young chief in 
 accordance with the custom of his 
 people was in the habit of showing 
 his attachment to the young prin- 
 cess by frequent presents of deer, 
 turkeys or the skins of wild animals 
 which he had killed in the chase. 
 To obtain these trophies which were 
 to be had In greater quantities to- 
 ward the rising sun, it was the hunt- 
 er's habit in the winter, to cross 
 the river on the ice in the morning 
 and return in the evening laden 
 with his game. This was well known 
 to Decorah, who had plotted with 
 two of his warriors to cut the ice in 
 the path of the hunter, so that when 
 he returned at dusk, he would fail 
 to observe the trap which had been 
 set for him, be plunged into the 
 waters and carried away under the 
 ice. It was a bold scheme and 
 would have succeeded had it not 
 been for the love and courage of the 
 faithful O-ne-o-ta, on the night 
 v.'hen the vengeful scheme was to be 
 carried out, who, having previously 
 by accident learned the details of 
 the plot, silently stole out of her 
 wickiup and climbing to the top of 
 Blackhawk's Point, concealed her- 
 self on its rocky summit till the 
 moment should arrive when her lov- 
 er would make his appearance on 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 the other side. As he approached 
 the fatal spot where the ice had 
 been cut a bright light suddenly 
 flashed from the summit of Black- 
 hawk's Point and O-ne-o-ta stood 
 revealed to his vision, a nymph of 
 the woods like some Houri of Para- 
 dise, her brilliant eyes aglow with 
 the fine excitement of the moment, 
 her beautiful face illumined with 
 enchantment, her coal black hair 
 streaming in the wind, her glorious 
 figure stretched to its utmost as she 
 swayed backward and forward, 
 gently waving in her shapely hands 
 a lighted torch, which warned her 
 lover of the danger to which he was 
 exposed, enabling him to pass in 
 safety around the treacherous place, 
 and in a few moments lay the fruits 
 of the chase at the feet of his be- 
 loved O-ne-o-ta. The old chief, 
 Decorah, who was really a magnifi- 
 cent specimen of the red men, 
 dearly loved his beautiful daughter, 
 and with a father's pride in her, 
 desired only to shield her from un- 
 worthy suitors. After the escape 
 of Wau-kon-a-ket from death on the 
 river, which he, not knowing the 
 part O-ne-o-ta had played in it, as- 
 cribed to the Great Spirit, withdrew 
 his opposition and in due time the 
 two tribes, the lowas and the Win- 
 rebagos were united by the mar- 
 riage of O-ne-o-ta and Wau-kon-a- 
 ket, whereby an old feud of long 
 standing was removed and happy 
 relations restored between the two 
 tribes. 
 
 Speaking of this legend to my 
 friend, the late John B. Kaye of Cal- 
 mar, Iowa, I asked him to make it 
 the subject of a poem, which, after 
 a little modest hesitancy, he con- 
 sented to do. Mr. Kaye, who was 
 the author of Songs of Lake Geneva, 
 Vashti and other books of poetry, 
 
 vv-as a gentleman of talent who is 
 best appreciated in the middle west 
 where he is well known. Mr. Kaye 
 begins his poem, which contains 
 thirty-one stanzas, with a descrip- 
 tion of t'he heroine which also marks 
 the style of the poem: 
 
 "Dark, dreamy eyes, skin like the 
 autumn leaves 
 When gold and crimson mellow 
 into one; 
 Hair like the midnight gathered in- 
 to sheaves; 
 A glance as bright and mellow as 
 the sun; 
 A smile which many a tall brave 
 had undone; 
 Sweet O-ne-o-ta, still her spell 
 she weaves." 
 
 I would be delighted to publish 
 the entire poem, which I am sure 
 would be greatly enjoyed by my 
 readers, and am only prevented 
 from doing so by the limits of this 
 work. 
 
 About noon of the second day out 
 from Lyons we reached Davenport, 
 where we spent several hours look- 
 ing over the town and forming some 
 pleasant acquaintances, concluding 
 our stay there we weighed anchor 
 late in the afternoon and pointing 
 sou-sou-west by sou-west, by west, 
 by sou-west, with a fair wind we 
 laid our course for Muscatine; night 
 overtook us, however, before we 
 made that port, so we ran into a 
 harbor where we were sheltered 
 frpm the wind and dropping anchor, 
 remained there throtigh the night. 
 Weighing anchor next morning af- 
 ter an early breakfast, we continued 
 on our way in good spirits. The 
 wind having freshened during the 
 night, was blowing great guns by 
 noon, but the Morning Star steadily 
 held on her course: with furled jib 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 43 
 
 and mainsail partly reefed she sped 
 before the gale; down into the 
 trough of the sea she suddenly 
 plunges, threatening to engulf us 
 beneath the angry waves, then ris- 
 ing again, tossing and dancing on 
 the crest of the wild billows she 
 dashes the spray in our faces, laugh- 
 ing at us like some elfish sprite, 
 she leaps from wave to wave as 
 though she would spring from under 
 us and be free. But the Morning 
 Star is a staunch little craft, always 
 obedient to the helm, full of cour- 
 r.ge and confidence in her abilities 
 to metst every emergency. Manned 
 by a crew that knows how to handle 
 ker, she flies past Muscatine on the 
 wings of the wind, showing a clean 
 pair of heels to every onlooker; 
 speeding on her way she gallantly 
 outrides the storm and we anchor 
 in safety at the close of another 
 day. That night the wind went 
 down and next morning the sun 
 rose bright and clear, a cloudless 
 sky overhead and the quiet waters 
 of the river beneath us. With all 
 the serenity of a glorious October 
 morning about us we watched the 
 flight of large numbers of ducks and 
 geese making their annual passage 
 from the virgin lakes of the north 
 to the rice fields of the south. The 
 smoke could occasionally be seen 
 lazily rising from the chimneys of 
 isolated log cabins or stone dwell- 
 ings on either shore, while now and 
 then a fisherman's house boat fas- 
 tened to the overhanging branch of 
 a tree, partly concealed by the clus- 
 tering foliage about it, might be 
 seen by a close observer as it lay 
 hard by the shore of some one of 
 the numerous islands in the great 
 river. 
 
 We had nothing to do but to en- 
 joy the day, which we did to the 
 
 fullest extent; without using either 
 sail or oar we quietly floated down 
 stream with the current. As every- 
 thing seemed to be favorable for a 
 night on the water, we resolved not 
 to tie up as we had been doing, but 
 to run all night, so, after a hearty 
 supper and a run on shore for an 
 hour, we fastened a red lantern to 
 the masthead and pulled into the 
 stream. In due time a watch was 
 set, which happened to be this old 
 salt, whose duty it was to promen- 
 ade the for-ard deck and keep a 
 sharp lookout till the next watch 
 came on, which was at eight bells, 
 or four o'clock in the morning. The 
 others turned in and were soon 
 snoring at a rate to awaken the 
 echoes along the shores and startle 
 the wild game from their uneasy 
 slumbers. All went well till about 
 three o'clock in the morning, when 
 Fomething happened for which no 
 provision had been made on the 
 ship's log-book. The poet of the 
 crew tells of it under the inspira- 
 tion of the moment in the following 
 inspiring words, which will no doubt 
 live as long as the annals of the 
 river in its earlier records shall be 
 written and sung: — 
 
 One sailor man awatch on deck. 
 His shipmates fast asleep — 
 
 Wist not the danger they were in, 
 A sailing on the deep. 
 
 Sail, ho! the lookout loudly bawls; 
 Wake up, ye lubbers, don't ye 
 hear 
 Yon steamboat, coming round the 
 bend. 
 My faith, she's drawing near. 
 
 Up! up! my hearties, man the yards. 
 Or 'neath these waves we sink; 
 
 For if that monster bumps us one. 
 She'll spill us in the drink. 
 
 Shiver my timbers! here she comes, 
 Hard on our leeward side; 
 
44 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO.MMOXER 
 
 Sheer off! sheer off! you chuffing 
 beast, 
 The channel's deep and wide. 
 
 Stand by, stand by, brave yankee 
 tars. 
 For by old Neptune's hairy lip. 
 By yon foul fiend we're nearly 
 swamped, 
 Stand by, to pump the ship. 
 
 And indeed it was necessary for 
 every one of us to move lively, for 
 the steamer, which was one of the 
 largest of the upper river boats had 
 passed .so close to us that the waves 
 from the wheels nearly filled our 
 boat before we could get out of her 
 way and we were in actual danger 
 of going to the bottom of the river. 
 As it was, however, we promptly 
 got the buckets at work and while 
 two of us bailed the boat, the other 
 two slowly rowed the water logged 
 craft to shore. 
 
 We were given no choice as to 
 what part of the channel we prefer- 
 red. The larger and stronger craft 
 always crowded the smaller and 
 weaker vessels out of their way; 
 they invariably claimed possession 
 of the channel. The right of way 
 was theirs and few of the weaker 
 boats were disposed to question the 
 right because they knew they would 
 only be swamped if they did, so 
 they cleared when they saw the big 
 fellows coming. Possession on the 
 river has always been nine points 
 of the law, even as it is said to be 
 elsewhere, but self possession is the 
 tenth, and self possession stood us 
 well in hand that night. 
 
 On shore we spent the rest of the 
 night and nearly all next day re- 
 pairing damages. Our provisions 
 were thoroughly soaked and a good 
 portion of them were utterly spoil- 
 ed. We were drenched to the skin, 
 so that we were obliged to strip our- 
 
 selves of everything we had on. 
 This we did and after building a 
 fire, hung them out to dry, while 
 four fresh water sailors in undress 
 attire, ran about and tumbled and 
 rolled in the sand and shouted and 
 sang and whistled and did every 
 other idiotic thing that four young 
 fellows, under such circumstances, 
 might be expected to do. Meanwhile 
 the clothes were drying around the 
 fire, what few provisions had not 
 been ruined were gotten into shai)e 
 for breakfast, the coffee began to 
 simmer in the pot, the bacon was 
 soon frying in the pan, the sweet 
 potatoes boiling in the kettle, and in 
 due time breakfast being over with 
 and morning breaking, we were 
 early on our way again, wiser, if 
 not more accomplished seamen. At 
 the next town our larder was re- 
 plenished and once more we all felt 
 equal to almost anything that might 
 happen to us. 
 
 Frequent stops were made as we 
 proceeded on our way down the riv- 
 er. At Hannibal, w-e spent a Sun- 
 day; at Nauvoo we went ashore to 
 see the town and view the ruins of 
 the old Mormon temple of which we 
 had heard much said. At Caron- 
 delet, five miles below St. Louis, we 
 spent a week, mostly in the city, 
 however, wliich gave us a much 
 needed rest and fine recreation. In- 
 deed there was hardly a town on 
 either side of the river that we fail- 
 ed to look over, spending from an 
 hour to a week, enjoying its attrac- 
 tions and incidentally picking up 
 quite a store of information of more 
 or less value to us. 
 
 There was excellent fishing all 
 the w^ay down and frequently good 
 hunting, all of which enabled us to 
 keep our larder well stocked with 
 fish and game. And so it came to 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 45 
 
 pass that after a most enjoyable 
 trip of four weeks, we at last reach- 
 ed the end of our voyage and drop- 
 ped anchor in the quiet waters just 
 above the city of Memphis. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Frank Lothrop did not remain at 
 Memphis. As soon as the boat was 
 sold, Vv'hich was done at some sacri- 
 fice, he said good bye to us and left 
 for Rome, Georgia, where I was af- 
 terward told, he entered the confed- 
 erate army and was killed at the 
 first battle of Bull Run. I think he 
 must have been forced into the rebel 
 army for he was a loyal citizen who 
 had come to lov/a from Massachu- 
 setts, where he was born, some 
 years before. Poor fellow, he was 
 as line spirited, kind hearted a man 
 as one could wish to know, and v/as 
 only one of the many who were 
 compelled to do battle against their 
 country in violation of their convic- 
 tions of right and duty. 
 
 The rest of us remained at Mem- 
 phis, where we soon found work at 
 our trades. The hotel where I board- 
 ed was kept by a Mr. Oldridge, a 
 former resident of Dubuque, so it 
 seemed a little mere like home to 
 me. When I applied to him for 
 board he said that though he was 
 pressed for room he would take me 
 in if I would bunk with another 
 young man whose room mate had 
 just left, provided it was agreeable 
 to him. This arrangement was 
 satisfactory to both of us, especially 
 as it had to be that or nothing. Af- 
 ter we had retired for the night I 
 asked my room mate whose name I 
 had learned through Mr. Oldridge, 
 what part of England he came from, 
 for I had early discovered by his 
 conversation that he, like myself was 
 an Englishman, by birth. When he 
 
 told me the county and town where 
 he was born and where he had lived 
 all his life before coming to Ameri- 
 ca, I was interested at once and be- 
 gan asking him questions about cer- 
 tain persons I had known in that 
 same town. After naming several 
 of the most prominent persons in 
 the place, including Mr. Russell, my 
 old school master, I finally asked 
 him if he knew Kit Williamson. 
 "Why," said he, "he is my brother," 
 a fact which I had already discover- 
 ed, but had kept to myself. Then 
 he wanted to know who in the 
 world I was. I told him I had lived 
 the greater part of my life in the 
 old country on the Hyde Farm; 
 that I had attended Mr. Russell's 
 school at Beaconsfield, when he was 
 a student there, that we had spun 
 tops, played marbles and hunted for 
 bird's eggs together; that we had 
 wrestled and quarrelled with each 
 other to our mutual delight; that 
 my name was Harry Green, and that 
 I was mighty glad to see him and 
 find in my room mate none other 
 than my old school mate, Sam Wil- 
 liamson of Beaconsfield. We were 
 not allowed to enjoy each others' 
 society very long, however, for Mr. 
 Williamson after a few days left 
 Memphis for Cleveland, Ohio, where 
 he was lost to me. I have never 
 heard of him from that time to this. 
 My sojourn at Memphis that win- 
 ter was not all I had been led to 
 believe it might be. In some re- 
 spects it was quite pleasant, but in 
 other and more important things it 
 was a grievous dissappointment 
 Young as I was, I was interested in 
 the social life of the South, which I 
 found to be altogether different 
 from what I had been accustomed to 
 in the North, where no caste lines 
 were visible. In Iowa, all homes 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 were open to me; lu Tennessee they 
 were closed against me. I did not 
 then understand why it was. I had 
 heard a great deal said about 
 "southern hospitality;" that winter 
 I discovered that so far as I w^as 
 personally concerned, there was 
 more hospitality in the North than 
 there was in the South. Later on 
 I came to understand more clearly 
 the animus of the southern attitude 
 toward northern strangers, and I 
 felt better as the reasons for it be- 
 came mere intelligible to me. 
 
 To a clear uiderstanding of ths 
 situation in the South at thr.t uivie, 
 it must be boi-nf- in mind that llii.-. 
 was the winter of 18.5 9, when John 
 Brown of Ossawatomie made his 
 celebrated raid into Virginia. It is 
 perhaps needless to say that every 
 city in the south was profoandly 
 stirred by the old man's moviirjient 
 against what they called " The Di- 
 vine Institution." It did not occur 
 to me at the time, but in viev/ of 
 what attorward came to pass, th^^re 
 is no doubt in my mind that the 
 citizens of Memphis firmly believed 
 that we northern boys were p^.rt of 
 an extensive influx of abolitionists, 
 who were making their way into 
 every part of the South, intending, 
 when a favorable opportunity pre- 
 sented itself, to strike a blow at 
 slavery. They seemed to have had 
 the impression that there was to be 
 a concerted movement all through 
 the southern states, in which .Tohn 
 Brown was a conspicuous factor; so 
 we were looked upon with suspicion. 
 I think we were closely watched, 
 our every movement was shadowed 
 at night, at least that was the im- 
 pression among us at the time and 
 it made us very careful what we 
 said and did. My letters from the 
 North were always opened and read 
 
 before I was permitted to receive 
 them. Of course I strenuously ob- 
 jected to what I regarded as an un- 
 warranted liberty, Indeed as an out- 
 rage. I protested against it to the 
 postmaster, but my protest was not 
 regarded, it did no good. He told 
 me there was a doctor, H. Green, 
 in the city, who claimed the letters. 
 
 "■Well," I said, "he ought to 
 know by this time that those letters 
 belong to me, he has been reading 
 enough of them already to have 
 found that out, besides, the post 
 mark ought to be sufficient." Then 
 I added another "H" to my name, 
 which I must admit compensated me 
 in some measure for the loss of so 
 many "aitches" the first year or two 
 after I came to America. 
 
 Rather queer, is it not, that Broth- 
 er Jonathan, who persistently 
 takes such unwarrantable liberties 
 with the final "g" and the letter "r," 
 should make merry over the infirm- 
 ity of John Bull anent the much 
 abused "h," but such is human nat- 
 ure, we are all slow to see ourselves 
 as others see us, the mote and the 
 beam play a large part in the af- 
 fairs of men. One evening during 
 my second year at Lyons, while play- 
 ing with some of my companions, my 
 arm was accidently driven against 
 a fence post and injured, so as to 
 cause me to c-'y out with the pain 
 of it; whereupon one of my com- 
 panions I^afe Sloan wanted to 
 know "What's the matter with 
 you?" "I've 'urt my helbow," I 
 said. "Aw," he yelped, "that's 
 nothin'; I thought somethin' hard 
 had hit ye the way you was a yellin' 
 and takin' on over it." 
 
 There is a story told of the late 
 Senators Hoar of IMassachusetts and 
 Blackburn of Kentucky, which ser- 
 ves to illustrate the local or rather 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 sectional peculiarities of speech in 
 some portions of the United States. 
 It is well known that Kentuckians 
 liave little use for the letter "r" as 
 a terminal, while, on the other 
 hand, the people of Massachusetts 
 are prodigal in its use. A Massa- 
 <husetts man will unblushingly as- 
 sure you that the battleship "In- 
 dianar" steamed into the harbor at 
 •'Havanar, Cubar," in plain sight of 
 the "Alamedar de Paular." One of 
 Mr. Blackburn's constituents who 
 was visiting in Washington was anx- 
 ious to see what .Judge Hoar, of 
 whom he had heard a great deal, 
 looked like. He knew that the two 
 senators were warm personal friends, 
 so he asked Mr. Blackburn one day 
 at the Capital, if Senator Hoar was 
 in the room. "No, suh, Mr. Black- 
 l)urn replied, "Senatoh Ho is not on 
 the flo, I saw him go out at that 
 do, at half past fo." 
 
 To resume my narrative, after 
 attaching the additional "H," I be- 
 came H. H. Green, and have been 
 so called ever since. But my let- 
 ters were opened by mistake by Dr. 
 H. Green, just the same in spite of 
 my most vigorous protests, an indig- 
 nity I was powerless to prevent, 
 which however went far to convince 
 me that I was not wanted in Mem- 
 phis at any rate. This conviction 
 was strengthened by a real misfor- 
 tune which was far more than a 
 mere affront, however unpleasant 
 that might be. I was thrown out of 
 employment, my boss summarily dis- 
 charged me with the bald statement 
 that my services would not be need- 
 ed any longer. This was to me a 
 serious matter, the cost of living 
 was unusually high that winter and 
 it had taken all I could earn to pay 
 my board and other necessary ex- 
 penses, so that I was literally 
 
 stranded on what was to me a for- 
 eign and hostile shore. The rea- 
 sons for my discharge whatever 
 they may have been were sufficient 
 to prevent me from obtaining work 
 at my trade with any other em- 
 ployer. That left me in a very 
 awkward position. I was indebted 
 to Mr. Oldridge a small amount for 
 board, which troubled me not a lit- 
 tle. I was in the woods and was 
 unable to see my way out. After 
 carefully considering the matter I 
 went to Mr. Oldridge and frankly 
 explained the situation to him and 
 finished by saying, "Now, Mr. Old- 
 ridge, I cannot leave Memphis till 
 spring, and if you can give me any- 
 thing to do about the hotel, I will 
 thankfully undertake it and do my 
 best to earn enough to pay what I 
 am owing you and also enough to 
 pay my way up the river again." 
 "Why," he said, after a moment's 
 thought. "There is nothing to do 
 about the hotel except the ordinary 
 work, washing dishes, making beds, 
 waiting on the table and caring for 
 the rooms; if you want to do that 
 I will take you on." "All right, 
 I can do that and will be glad to do 
 it." So I went to work, earning 
 enough to pay Mr. Oldridge what 
 I was owing him, and also saved up 
 enough to pay my passage up the 
 river in the spring. 
 
 I saw but little of the Blakeley 
 boys during the winter as they were 
 in another part of the city, nor do 
 I remember just when they returned 
 to the North. William, the young- 
 er, afterward enlisted in the 2 6th 
 Iowa Infantry and was killed at the 
 battle of Arkansas Post. 
 
 In the spring I bade good bye to 
 Mr. Oldridge, who had proven such 
 a good friend to me in trouble, and 
 taking passage on a steamer, made 
 
48 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 my way back again to Iowa, soon to 
 take part in tlie stirring events 
 which immediately preceeded the 
 great civil war. Indeed my depart- 
 ure from Memphis was not taken 
 any too soon, for already ominous 
 clouds were beginning to appear on 
 the political horizon, which were 
 larger than a man's hand and which 
 were destined soon to deluge the 
 land in fratricidal strife. It was 
 not till twenty years after my win- 
 ter in Memphis that an opportunity 
 was given me to square accounts 
 with some of the much mistaken 
 people of that city. 
 
 Near seven o'clock Sunday even- 
 ing, June 3rd, 1860, a party of four 
 young people, of whom I was one, 
 were leisurely making our way to 
 church when we were suddenly 
 startled by the appearance of a 
 horseman, who came riding by at 
 the top of his speed and shouting as 
 he passed, "Camanche is blown 
 down." 
 
 Immediately my brother William 
 drove up with his horse and light 
 wagon on his way to the storm 
 stricken town, eight miles distant. 
 Making our apologies to the girls 
 whom we left to proceed to church 
 alone, we boys jumped into the wa- 
 gon and when we reached Camanche 
 such a scene of utter ruin lay be- 
 fore us, as I hope no one who may 
 happen to read these words will ever 
 be called upon to witness. The 
 town, unfortunately lay in the di- 
 rect track of the tornado, which 
 had arisen somewhere about Hardin 
 county and sweeping eastward, 
 gathered in volume and power as it 
 tore along, ravaging the entire 
 country through which it passed, 
 carrying desolation and death in its 
 course. Trees were uprooted and 
 cast prone upon the ground, fences 
 
 and telegraph lines were leveled, 
 houses, barns and structures of ev- 
 ery sort were destroyed; men and 
 women, horses, cattle, almost every 
 living thing in the course of the 
 storm king was killed or woundea. 
 It was a time of great sorrow, the 
 like of which had never been known 
 in Iowa before. Had the popula- 
 tion of the state been as large as it 
 was twenty years later when Grin- 
 nell was smitten, the destruction 
 would have been much greater. 
 Upon reaching Camanche we im- 
 mediately set to work joining those 
 already on the ground, clearing away 
 the debris, uncovering dead bodies 
 which we laid side by side on the 
 floor of a hotel which had been left 
 standing. Men, women and chil- 
 dren, bruised and mangled, a pitiful 
 sight, heart-rending in the extreme. 
 The wounded were tenderly cared 
 for by loving hands, everything was 
 done for them that was possible un- 
 der the circumstances. All night 
 long and the next day the good 
 work went forward until every 
 dwelling had been thoroughly 
 searched and all the dead and in- 
 jured had been found and cared for. 
 The home of Mr. W. H. Bennett, 
 five miles east of DeWitt, was an old 
 fashioned log house to which was 
 attached a frame lean-to. When 
 they saw the storm approaching, the 
 family, with the exception of Mrs. 
 Bennett, who was in DeWitt at the 
 time, hastened into the lean-to for 
 shelter, having no conception of the 
 destructive force of the storm; that 
 part of the building however, was 
 utterly demolished and the family 
 buried under the ruins. Mr. Ben- 
 nett, who was uninjured, soon suc- 
 ceeded in extricating himself from 
 the debris and in liberating his 
 children, with the exception of the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 49 
 
 eldest daughter, who could not at 
 once be found. She finally made 
 them know where she was, however, 
 by working her fingers up through 
 the shingles of the roof under which 
 she was buried, when she was 
 promptly released. Two of the girls, 
 Mary and Martha were slightly in- 
 jured, happily no one seriously. I 
 did not know till long afterward 
 that at the time I was riding down 
 to Camanche that Sunday evening, a 
 young person who was to become 
 dearer to me than all others was 
 lying under the ruins of that lean-to 
 on the Wapsie Bottoms. 
 
 Numerous interesting stories are 
 told concerning the strange freaks 
 of the great storm, some of which 
 though doubtless true are of such a 
 whimsical nature as to place them 
 almost beyond the bounds of belief, 
 and were it not that they were 
 vouched for by persons who were 
 either participants in or observers of 
 the things they describe and are 
 entirely trustworthy, one would be 
 inclined to relegate what is related 
 to the realms of fiction. 
 
 The hired man on the farm of 
 Mr. Bennett happened to be the hero 
 of one of these queer freaks. He 
 was in the barnyard milking and 
 had filled his pail about two-thirds 
 full, when he was astonished to see 
 the cows suddenly drop to the 
 ground, their noses pointed to the 
 southwest. Almost instantly the 
 barn was demolished and he was 
 lifted up and carried through the 
 air nearly a tiuarter of a mile, then 
 gently set down on his feet badly 
 frightened, but entirely uninjured. 
 Whereupon he nonchalantly made 
 his way back to the house, carrying 
 in his hands the pail of milk of 
 which not a drop, as far as could 
 
 be seen, had been .=!i)illod on his 
 aerial flight. 
 
 The tornado is caused by the 
 concurrent action of two or more 
 currents of air coming in contact 
 with each other and producing a 
 spiral column which assumes a fun- 
 nel shape with the flange uppermost. 
 It whirls around with marvelous 
 force, drawing to itself or flinging 
 from it every moveable object with 
 which it comes in contact. It sel- 
 dom moves for any considerable dis- 
 tance on an even course, it generally 
 whirls through the air with a rotary 
 motion, now striking the earth, then 
 rebounding and flying upward, it 
 speeds on for a short distance, then 
 down to the earth again. In this 
 manner it pursues its course until 
 its force is expended. 
 
 Soon after the tornado I made an 
 engagement with Mr. G. W. Stum- 
 baugh as night watchman at his saw 
 mill. Mr. Stumbaugh had been un- 
 fortunate with his property; he had 
 built two mills previous to the one 
 I was to look after, both of which 
 had been destroyed by fire. These 
 unfortunate losses had seriously 
 crippled him and had given him 
 much concern as to the watchman 
 for the new mill, especially as he 
 believed both mills might have been 
 saved with proper care on the part 
 of the watchman. When my name 
 was proposed for the place there 
 was at first some hesitancy on his 
 part, as there was also on my own, 
 on account of my age and lack of 
 experience. These objections, how- 
 ever, were finally overcome and so 
 after receiving instructions con- 
 cerning my duties I went to work 
 with a decided feeling that I had 
 undertaken a big responsibility 
 which would demand my utmost 
 care. My duties began at six o'clock 
 
.JO 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 in the evening when the mills closed 
 for the day and continued till seven 
 in the morning. I generally began 
 my work by raking out the fire from 
 the furnaces, so as to lower the 
 pressure of steam as soon as pos- 
 sible; then I cleaned up the saw- 
 dust around the different saws for 
 we had Muly, Lath and Shingle as 
 well as Circular saws; after that 
 had been attended to the journals 
 were to be watered to cool them off, 
 and then carefully oiled. 
 
 At midnight my meal was eaten 
 without much ceremony and it al- 
 ways tasted good, for I was blessed 
 with a huge appetite and my moth- 
 er was a good cook and seemed to 
 find great satisfaction in catering to 
 my likes, which she perfectly un- 
 derstood. It is a great thing to be 
 blessed with a good mother. The 
 hours usually dragged slowly along, 
 making the night seem much longer 
 than it was, and always there was 
 a strong tendency to drop asleep, 
 especially toward morning. This 
 tendency caused by the drowsy at- 
 mosphere of the mill gave me no 
 little concern, but it made me all 
 the more alert so it was really a 
 thinly disguised blessing. When- 
 ever I felt it creeping over me I 
 took a turn in the yard outside, 
 where the cold air speedily awak- 
 ened and refreshed me. There were 
 two or three sources of danger to 
 the mill against which I was cau- 
 tioned to be particularly watchful. 
 One of them was the fear of in- 
 cendiary fires; the boss had all 
 along believed that at least one of 
 the fires before mentioned had been 
 caused by an enemy of his out of 
 revenge for some fancied injury, 
 and he feared the new mill might 
 be destroyed the same way. An- 
 other was the fear that hot jour- 
 
 nals might set the sawdust on fire 
 or the floor near them. I always 
 guarded against danger from this 
 source by pouring water on the 
 journals and on the floor near them 
 soon after the men quit work at 
 night, so there was little to fear 
 from over heated journals or from 
 the floor near them. 
 
 One of my most important duties 
 was to get on a full head of steam 
 in the morning in time to start up 
 the machinery as soon as the engin- 
 eer made his appearance. This 1 
 had always been careful to do with- 
 out any trouble, until one morning, 
 about five o'clock, with a good head 
 of steam on and big fires in the 
 furnaces, I discovered to my dismay 
 that the pump was out of order, 
 refusing to do its work; no water 
 was going into the boilers; an ex- 
 plosion would soon follow unless 
 something was done to prevent it. 
 So I threw open the furnace doors 
 and raked out all the fire, leaving 
 the doors open to cool off the inside 
 as soon as possible, then I ran to 
 the whistle which was located over 
 the boilers and began the biggest 
 and longest blow I ever made in 
 my life, which is saying a good deal. 
 There was no let up to it; it was 
 the long roll of an army in the 
 presence of an enemy. The old gen- 
 eral, owner of the mill, came tear- 
 ing down from his home on the hill 
 in his shirt sleeves; the engineer 
 and several of the workmen were 
 soon on the ground and measures 
 were promptly taken to set every- 
 thing to rights. I was. commended 
 for my timely discovery of the de- 
 fective pump, and on the work I 
 had done to safeguard the property. 
 Also on my personal escape from 
 destruction, for if the boilers had 
 burstPd while T had been standing 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 51 
 
 oviT tlHMH, there would not have 
 1)een enough of me left to hold a 
 wake over. My work at the mill 
 was continued until it closed down 
 for the winter, when my attention 
 was turned to o'ther things. 
 
 During the month of September 
 of that year in company with sev- 
 eral other young men, I became a 
 regular attendant at the Methodist 
 Episcopal Sunday School. One Sun- 
 day soon after the school opened, I 
 chanced to turn my head toward the 
 door at the moment a young lady 
 1 had never seen before, was enter- 
 ing the room. Turning to my near- 
 est classmate I said: "Will, who is 
 that girl?" "What girl?" he in- 
 (luired. "Why, that one who has 
 just come in." "O," he replied, 
 "her nam"> is Bennett, Mary Ben- 
 nett." "But who is she, where does 
 she live?" I asked. "Her people 
 live in the country, out near DeWitt, 
 somewhere, I believe, and she is 
 attending school at the seminary." 
 
 "Well, Will," I calmly said. "Let 
 me tell you something, if I ever get 
 married that girl will be my wife." 
 
 He turned toward me in astonish- 
 ment and assuming a rather pitiful 
 look, as though he suspected I had 
 suddenly been attacked with a weak- 
 ening of the brain or some other 
 misfortune equally as bad, slowly 
 said, as though speaking to himself: 
 "Well, I declare, can it be as bad 
 as that?" Then turning to the 
 others, he continued: "Say, boys, 
 r.reen has just been hit awful hard, 
 he is done for, sure as you live." 
 
 Explanations foil wed, whereupon 
 it was agreed among them that it 
 was all up with me, and indeed they 
 were not far out of the way as sub- 
 sequent events proved. T had no 
 opportunity to meet Miss Bennett 
 for some time after that, but the 
 
 arrow remained where the little God 
 had so discreetly lodged it, and 
 when the opportunity did come I 
 was prepared to make the most of 
 it. 
 
 One Sunday evening, soon after 
 her people had moved to town, I 
 saw her again at the church. She 
 was a member of the choir and that 
 evening had left her hymn book at 
 home. Ais soon as this was known 
 I requested permission to get it for 
 her, as a younger sister upon whom 
 she was depending to bring it failed 
 to do so. Permission was gracious- 
 ly granted, and the hymn book was 
 secured and received with many 
 blushes of modesty on her part and 
 much satisfaction on my own. That 
 incident led to an acquaintance upon 
 which my heart had been set from 
 the moment I saw her first in the 
 Sunday School. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The summer and fall of 1S60 
 were made memorable by the im- 
 portant political campaign which 
 resulted in the election of Abraham 
 Lincoln to the presidency of the 
 United States. For several years 
 preceeding the election of Mr. Lin- 
 coln the country had been in a con- 
 stant ferment. The political pot 
 was kept boiling over the fires of 
 an intense partisanship, the like of 
 which has never been equaled in 
 the United States. 
 
 Max O'Rell, the distinguished 
 Frenchman, who visited this coun- 
 try at that period declared that the 
 sole amusement of the Americans 
 was politics. He was not far out 
 of the way either, for politics was 
 the very breath of life; every man 
 was a politician. They talked poli- 
 tics in the morning, they thought 
 . politics through the day, and they 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 drank politics and fought politics 
 around the corner grocery at night. 
 The newspapers in those days were 
 political papers; eliminate politics 
 from them and little would have 
 been left. The preacher was sys- 
 tematically scolded by one party be- 
 cause he preached politics and by 
 the other party because he did not 
 preach politics. 
 
 Beginning with the campaign of 
 1848, in which General Zachariah 
 Taylor and General Lewis Cass were 
 pitted against each other for the 
 presidency, there was never a time, 
 till thirteen years later when the 
 great problems involved were per- 
 manently settled by the Civil War, 
 that the vehemency of partisanship 
 was allowed to moderate. In 1848 
 General Taylor led the Whigs. He 
 was the logical nominee of the iNIexi- 
 can War party, and he had for his 
 motto, "General Taylor never sur- 
 renders," .which I think, in view of 
 his war record was very appro- 
 priate. His opponent. General 
 Lewis Cass, represented the Demo- 
 cratic or Loco Foco party as it was 
 called. It was in that campaign 
 that the Barn Burners seceeded 
 from the Democratic party on the 
 issue of extending the slave terri- 
 tory in the United States by the 
 annexation of Texas, thus forming 
 the Free Soil party, of which Mar- 
 tin Van Buren was the candidate 
 in 1848, and which wais destined 
 later on, with the accession of the 
 Whigs to become the Republican 
 party. The term Barn Burners was 
 derisively applied to them because 
 of the circulation of a story of a 
 farmer who, it was said, burned his 
 barn to drive out the rats who were 
 eating his corn. 
 
 In the newspapers of the day 
 there was a wood cut of a monkey* 
 
 utilizing the paw of a large but 
 recalcitrant pussy cat to pull out 
 some chestnuts from a blazing 
 hearthstone fire which served as an 
 illustration for the following dog- 
 gerel : 
 
 "We Southerners want a Northern 
 man. 
 
 Or slavery will expire; 
 To plant it now where breathes the 
 free, 
 
 And pull us out the fire. 
 
 This Northern doughface is the man, 
 
 And when we touch the wire; 
 He is the very one to pull 
 Our chestnuts out the fire." 
 Then tuere was a cartoon repre- 
 senting a slave driver with a long 
 whip driving a chained gang of 
 slaves from slave territory into 
 free territory, acroes the Democratic 
 platform, which served as a gang 
 plank and was supposed to repre- 
 sent General Cass' opinion of the 
 practical effects of the Wilmot Pro- 
 viso, which was an amendment off- 
 ered by David Wilmot, representa- 
 tive from Pennsylvania in 1846, to 
 a bill before the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, calling for an appropria- 
 tion of $2,000,000 for the purchase 
 of Mexican territory. This amend- 
 ment provided that, "Neither slav- 
 ery nor involuntary servitude shall 
 exist in any part of the said terri- 
 tory." It was adopted by the House 
 but rejected by the Senate, from 
 which it will be seen that the slav- 
 ery question was preeminently in the 
 minds of the people. It steadily 
 grew in importance until it became 
 the all-absorbing question for the 
 statesmen of the day. Through the 
 presidency of Millard Fillmore, 
 Franklin Pierce and .Tames Buchan- 
 an, it ceased not to occupy all 
 hearts, until finally it culminated in 
 the election of Abraham Lincoln and 
 the War of the Rebellion. 
 
THE SIxMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 53 
 
 Among the most prominent of the 
 conspicuous actors of the times, on 
 either side of the great struggle, 
 were, W. H. Seward of New York, 
 the recognized leader of the Repub- 
 lican party; Charles Sumner of 
 Mass., the most able, active and 
 pronounced abolitionist at Washing- 
 ton; Brooks of South Carolina, who 
 with a budgeon dastardly assaulted 
 Sumner on the floor of the Senate, 
 leaving the mark of the beast on 
 his person; Joshua R. Giddings, 
 Ben Wade and Thomas Corwin of 
 Ohio, Horace Greeley and Henry 
 Ward Beecher, Owen Lovejoy of 
 Hlinois, whose brother Elijah, a 
 Presbyterian preacher was murder- 
 ed by a mob at Alton, Hlinois, be- 
 cause he incautiouisly expressed 
 opinions adverse to slavery; James 
 W. Grimes of Iowa, James Buchan- 
 an, who defeated the Pathfinder for 
 the presidency in 185 6; John F. 
 Potter of Wisconsin, who made 
 Roger A. Pryor of Virginia apolo- 
 gize for words spoken in congress 
 at a time when the domineering 
 spirit of the South was becoming 
 unendurable, and Northern men 
 were contemptuouisly called "Mud- 
 sills and "Black Republicans" by 
 their opponents. 
 
 There had been a great deal of 
 wrangling on the floor of the House, 
 derisive epithets had been fiercely 
 applied to each other, until Mr. 
 Pryor suddenly brought the conten- 
 lion to a crisis by challenging Mr. 
 Potter to a duel, a common resort 
 on the part of the slave holders. 
 Mr. Potter, to the astonishment of 
 Mr. Pryor and his friends, promptly 
 accepted, and chose bowie knives 
 ais the weapons, whereupon his ad- 
 versary declined on the ground that 
 the bowie knife was not a civilized 
 weapon. Thus a large bubble was 
 
 effectually pricked, to the advantage 
 of Northern men who were greatly 
 heartened by the incident. 
 
 There was Toombs of Georgia, the 
 rebel implacable, who vauntingly 
 declared that he would live to call 
 the roll of his slaves at the foot 
 of Bunker Hill monument; Jeffer- 
 son Davis of Mississippi and Alex- 
 ander H. Stephens of Georgia, who 
 afterward became vice president of 
 the Southern Confederacy, a small 
 man physically, but a giant in in- 
 tellect, the noblest as well as the 
 ablest of all the men of the South. 
 Then there was Stephen A. Doug- 
 lass of Illinois, and that greatest of 
 all Americans, Abraham Lincoln, 
 the memory of whose character and 
 services will live forever. 
 
 In the autumn of 1860, the Re- 
 publican National Convention as- 
 sembled at Chicago and held its 
 sessions in the Wigwam, a wooden 
 structure erected for that purpose. 
 At that convention Mr. Lincoln was 
 nominated over Mr. Seward, his 
 strongest competitor, and then and 
 there began the most important and 
 far-reaching political campaign ever 
 conducted in the United States. The 
 people of the west went wild over 
 the nomination; one of their own 
 number had been chosen, a man of 
 the people whom everybody loved, 
 and in whom they had the utmost 
 confidence. Organizations of "Wide 
 Awakes" were formed, consisting 
 of companies of young republicans, 
 whose interest was probably to some 
 extent enlisted by the semi-military 
 character of the organization. They 
 were provided with glazed caps a,nd 
 capes, which, though inexpensive, 
 were quite attractive; the boys 
 armed with torches making a fine 
 appearance as they went through 
 the evolutions, in which they were 
 
54 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 usuallj- quite well instructed. I 
 think something of a military spirit 
 was inculcated in the j'outh of the 
 North by the drills and parades of 
 the Wide Awakes, which came to 
 be of service a little later on. In 
 the meantime three other candidates 
 had been nominated, representing 
 the different factions of the Demo- 
 cratic party. Mr. Breckenridge of 
 Kentucky, .ludge Douglas of Illinois 
 and John Bell of Tennessee. As 
 the campaign proceeded, the inter- 
 est became so absorbing that the 
 people could think or talk of little 
 else. Our company of Wide Awakes 
 under command of a Mr. Watson, a 
 clothing merchant, was invited to 
 Chicago to attend a great gathering 
 of Republicans to be held there and 
 I succeeded in obtaining permission 
 to go with them, though my boss 
 at the mill was an enthusiastic 
 Democrat, and h.ad little use for 
 the Republican party, but he was 
 a good square man, always rea ly 
 to do the right thing. So we went 
 to Chicago and there we marched 
 and counter-marched and listened 
 to speeches, that is, some of us did, 
 and we drank lemonade and saw the 
 sights and had a good time, shout- 
 ing for "Honest Old Abe," hurrah- 
 ing for "The Rail Splitter of Illi- 
 nois," and getting thoroughly worn 
 out with our exertions and yet wish- 
 ing we could have such a campaign 
 every year. 
 
 S-o it went, day after day, night 
 after night, with music and speeches 
 and shoutings, till at last the great 
 day of election arrived, when the 
 American people were to record 
 their verdict on the problems of the 
 day at the polls. The occasion was 
 one of unusual interest to me, be- 
 cause, during the preceding March 
 I had come of age and was entitled 
 
 to a vote, as becometh the American 
 citizen. I was proud to reach that 
 distinction and was determined to 
 make the most of it. To be sure 
 I had never taken out naturaliza- 
 tion papers, because it was not 
 necessary, my lather having done 
 so before I became of age; and be- 
 sides nature had done for me all 
 the naturalizing that was needed. 
 Nevertheless, I was assured by my 
 boss that if I attempted to vote my 
 vote would be challenged and dire 
 consequences would follow if I per- 
 sisted in voting, and sure enough, 
 when I stepped up to the polls with 
 all the tremulous dignity of a new 
 made citizen and presented my bal- 
 lot, it was promptly challenged. I 
 raised my hand ready to swear it 
 in, when I was told with a laugh 
 to go ahead, I was all right. I 
 have always been proud of that vote, 
 for at the head of the ticket stood 
 the name of Abraham Lincoln of 
 Illinois, followed by that of Hanni- 
 bal Hamlin of Maine, who was the 
 candidate of the party for vice pres- 
 ident. 
 
 The attitude of the several par- 
 ties on the question of slavery at 
 the time of Mr. Lincoln's election 
 was about as follows: The repub- 
 lican party insisted that slavery 
 should be confined where it already 
 existed, i. e. within the territory 
 bounded by Mason and Dixon's line, 
 and that congress alone had power 
 to legislate it into the territories, 
 because the general government was 
 the only law-making and law-ad- 
 ministrating power in the territory. 
 It was, therefore, a constitutional 
 question, and would require a ma- 
 jority of three-fourths of the states 
 and of two-thirds of both Houses 
 of Congress to change the constitu- 
 tion and admit it into the terri- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 lories. The Southern wing of I he 
 Democratic party, represented by 
 Mr. Breckenridge, maintained that 
 under the constitution, it already 
 existed by right in the territories 
 of the United States and could only 
 be excluded by action of Congress. 
 The Northern wing of that party, 
 led by Judge Douglass, insisted that 
 the constitution was practically sil- 
 ent on this phase of the slavery 
 (luesiion, and that the troublesome 
 problem could not be settled by an 
 appeal to that instrument, that it 
 was a matter to be left for settle- 
 ment to the people of the territories 
 ihemselves, a doctrine which ^Ir. 
 Douglass called "squatter sovereign- 
 ty." Mr. Bell represented nothing 
 particularly, he was a mere go-be- 
 tween, who cut very little figure in 
 tlie campaign. A popular writer of 
 the day puts it in this way: "The 
 Lincoln party was in favor of vot- 
 ing slavery down in tlie western ter- 
 ritories. The Breckenridge party 
 was in favor of voting it up. Doug- 
 lass did not care whether it was 
 voted up or down and the Bell and 
 Everett party didn't know anylliing 
 about nothing." 
 
 The election of :\Ir. Lincoln over 
 the torn and disunited Democracy 
 sounded a grave note of alarm. 
 "Will it be made the pretext for 
 actual hostilities?" was the nervous 
 (|uestion asked over and over again. 
 Then it would be dismissed as a 
 fear that was utterly absurd. "Why, 
 the secession scarecrow has been 
 dangled before our eyes too many 
 years to produce any fright now," 
 said the North to itself, and then 
 as some one has said, "It would 
 sink back on its pillow of security 
 with a shamed face smile to think 
 that it had caught Itself dreaming 
 aloud." While tlio people of the 
 
 South were hanging over the preci- 
 pice of disunion and anxiously peer- 
 ing down to see what was hidden 
 in the valley below. If they could 
 have seen the awful torrent of 
 blood and tears that was to come, 
 that was destined to overwhelm the 
 nation, the raised right arms of 
 North and South alike, would have 
 dropped shuddering at their sides 
 and there would have been no war. 
 Jefferson Davis had declared in a 
 speech in the U. S. Senate delivered 
 in :\Iay, IS 60, that the South would 
 regard the simple election of a Re- 
 publican president as an overt act 
 of hostilities. Toombs of Georgia, 
 and Wigfall of Texas and other fire 
 eaters were even wore bitter, the 
 breach continued to widen till the 
 guns of Beauregard at Fort Sump- 
 ter awakened the sleeping North to 
 a realization of the fact that the 
 South was determined to make 
 good its boast. 
 
 Scenes like that which occurred 
 in the Ohio House of Representa- 
 tives were not uncommon in the 
 northern states. Gen. Cox says "a 
 senator ran in from the lobby in 
 an excited way and catching the 
 speaker's eye said, Mr. President, a 
 tele.gram announces that the seces- 
 sionists are bombarding Fort Sump- 
 ter." There was a solemn and 
 painful hush, but it was broken in 
 a moment by a woman's shrill voice 
 from the spectators seat, crying, 
 "Glory to God." It startled every- 
 one, almost as if the enemy was in 
 their midst, but it was the voice of 
 a radical friend of the slave, Abbey 
 Kelly Foster, who, after a lifetime 
 spent in public agitation, believed 
 that the freedom of the slave could 
 only be accomplished by blood atone- 
 ment. Then came the President's 
 proclamation calling for 7'), 000 
 
;)(j 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 men to serve for three months; very 
 few people thought the war would 
 last over three months. A war 
 spirit was aroused, war meetings 
 were held, patriotic speeches were 
 made, patriotic sermons were 
 preached, the flag was unfurled and 
 it floated from every public build- 
 ing; private residences were adorn- 
 ed with its beautiful folds, martial 
 music filled the streets, new songs 
 were made to fit the times, the 
 newspapers were filled with war dis- 
 patches, and war editorials, war was 
 in the air, red, bloody, cruel war; 
 men breathed it into their lungs, 
 women had it in their hearts; com- 
 panies were organized, regiments 
 were formed, rendesvous were ap- 
 pointed and officers were chosen. 
 And then as the hour of departure 
 drew on, kisses were lovingly ex- 
 changed between the dear ones so 
 soon to be separated, perhaps for- 
 ever. Blessings were tenderly pro- 
 nounced, promises were solemly 
 made by stalwart sons to anxious 
 mothers, yes, promises to be very 
 careful to keep out of danger and 
 not get hurt, very pitiful indeed 
 were these partings in many in- 
 i-'tances. O, it was war, war, war, 
 with a long and dreadful train of 
 consequences like a black cloud 
 speeding on its direful course, full 
 of civil omen. 
 
 Immediately upon receipt of the 
 news that Fort Sumter had been 
 fired upon by the seceeders, men 
 everywhere sprang to arms, offer- 
 ing their services to the government. 
 Republicans and Democrats alike 
 vied with each other in patriotic 
 fervor. 
 
 The Clinton County Guards, a 
 company of young men from Lyons 
 and Clinton, Iowa, and the sur- 
 rounding country was recruited un- 
 
 der the president's call of April l.'>, 
 1861, asKing for 7.5,000 volunteers 
 to serve for three months. The 
 company was not long in perfecting 
 an organization, which was effected 
 by the election of H. P. Cox, Cap- 
 tain; N. B. Howard, First Lieuten- 
 ant, and Thomas Snowden, Second 
 Lieutenant. Four Sergeants were 
 also chosen and four Corporals, of 
 whom 1 was one. The company was 
 enrolled May 6, 1861, and ordered 
 to report at Keokuk, Iowa soon af- 
 terward. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 There was much of romance 
 thrown around the enlistments of 
 the volunteers in those first days 
 of the war. We were feted and 
 feasted, lionized by our friends and 
 neighbors with all the glamour and 
 pomp and circumstance accorded 
 the Knights of old who were about 
 to embark on a crusade to the Holy 
 Land, under the far famed Richard 
 of the Lien Heart. The ladies of 
 Lyons and Clinton were quite as 
 patriotic and quite as enthusiastic 
 as were the men; they assembled at 
 the city hall and with needles and 
 thread and thimbles helped the tail- 
 ors to get us into uniforms as soon 
 as possible. We were presented 
 with a uniform of gray, the pants 
 were adorned with stripes of red, 
 quite three-fourths of an inch in 
 width and ran from the top to the 
 bottom. My goodness, how proud 
 we were; at first we strutted 
 around like so many turkey gob- 
 lers, puffed up by our finery. And 
 why not? Were we not soldiers of 
 the United States, and were we not 
 going to war? Yes, sir, and in 
 three months we would be back 
 again with the rebels whipped and 
 the rebellious states all in the 
 Union once more. 
 
TFIE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 57 
 
 The Lyons :\Iinor, whose editor, 
 Mr. W. D. Eaton, has been a per- 
 sonal friend of mine over fifty years, 
 speaks of an incident connected with 
 the first day of the company as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Co. I wa^ organized at Lyons, 
 with twenty-five men from Clinton, 
 and others from the surrounding 
 country, and failing to get into the 
 First Iowa under the three months 
 call, waited and entered the Second 
 for three years, many of its mem- 
 bers continuing in the field through 
 the war. 
 
 The files of the Mirror for those 
 days having been destroyed by the 
 fire of 1870, we fall back on the 
 Advocate of May 18th, 1861, in 
 which an account is given of the 
 dorarture of the company for Keo- 
 kuk, on the steamer Northerner, at 
 four o'clock on the morning of the 
 17th. After speaking of the infan- 
 try band visiting Clinton in the fore- 
 noon of th-e 16th. under escort of 
 the cavalry recruits afterwards be- 
 coming Co. B. First Iowa Cavalry, 
 the Advocate said: 
 
 In the afternoon they assembled 
 and marched to their narade ground, 
 accompanied bv the Hawkeye Rang- 
 ers, Capt. Leffingwell. and the fire 
 companies, when a beautiful silk 
 banner was presented them by the 
 Indies of the city. The presenta- 
 tion was made in behalf of the 
 ladies by Capt. W. E. Leffingwell, 
 who made a speech in his usvial 
 happy style perfectly appropriate to 
 the occasion. The banner was re- 
 ceived and a reply made in behalf 
 of the volunteers by Rev. A. .1. 
 Kynett. which was also one fitting 
 the occasion. The whole affair went 
 off pleasantly, and the d^y was one 
 long to be remembered in our city. 
 A very large number of people con- 
 gregated to witness the presenta- 
 tion and to bid adieu to the patri- 
 otic band about to depart for the 
 war. 
 
 Other like incidents followed, but 
 this first scene of the kind yet vivid- 
 ly remains in the memories of the 
 surviving participants. 
 
 The flag referred to by the Mirror 
 was of silk, it was nine feet long 
 
 and five feet wide and as I shall 
 speak of it in another place it will 
 net be necessary to make any furth- 
 er mention of it at this time. 
 
 Just before the company took its 
 departure for Keokuk, an incident 
 occurred which well illustrates the 
 intensity of feeling among the loyal 
 people of the North against those 
 who were opposed to the war at that 
 early day and who were afterwards 
 called "copperheads," because of 
 their secret machinations against 
 the government. "Copperhead" was 
 a venomous serpent of the rattle- 
 family, which however, is without 
 rattles and gives no warning before 
 it strikes. A prominent resident of 
 the town who was a man of consid- 
 erable influence but was persona 
 non grata to many on account of 
 his haughty ways, was known to be 
 a "copperhead," and inasmuch as 
 everyone was expected to allign him- 
 self on one side or the other, he 
 was requested to show his colors. 
 At tbis he became very indignant 
 and declared that he would do noth- 
 ing of the sort, not he, whereupon 
 he was waited upon by a squad of 
 the guards and notified that if the 
 flag was not flying from his resi- 
 dence within an hour, his home 
 would be torn down over his ears, 
 and since it was of brick, the con- 
 sequences might be serious. With- 
 in the hour, the flag was fluttering 
 in the breeze and the house was not 
 disturbed. The gentleman, how- 
 ever, not long afterward sold out 
 and left the town for more con- 
 genial associations. 
 
 Soon after this word was received 
 by the company to be ready to go 
 into camp at Keokuk. The steamer 
 upon which we were to take passage 
 was expected down from the North 
 nt sundown one Thursday evening 
 
o» 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 abcut the middle of May. As the 
 hour approached the company be- 
 gan to assemble with many of the 
 citizens at the landing, but word 
 was soon received that our boat was 
 delayed and there was no telling 
 just when she would arrive; and as 
 a matter of fact, she did not put in 
 an appearance till nearly morning; so 
 the night was spent in waiting for 
 the boat and visiting with our 
 friends, and it passed quickly 
 enough for some of us, for we were 
 very pleasantly engaged. At length 
 when the whistle blew announcing 
 the arrival of the boat, the strag- 
 glers hastily ran down to the land- 
 ing and all the boys were on hand 
 at the levee when she was made 
 fast and the gang planks were 
 pushed out. We were soon aboard, 
 having said our final farewell and 
 then at four o'clock in the morning, 
 amid the waving of handkerchiefs, 
 the shouts of our friends and the 
 whistling of the steamer, we backed 
 out into the stream with flags fly- 
 ing and the band adding to the en- 
 thusiasm the inspiring strains of 
 the "Star Spangled Banner." 
 
 It is said that during the Crimean 
 war, one night before the storming 
 of the Malakoff, the entire Biritish 
 army lying in the trenches before 
 Sebastopol joined their voices and 
 sang together the famous Scottish 
 ballad, "Annie Laurie." 
 "They sang of love and not of fame, 
 
 Forgot was Britain's glory: 
 Each heart recalled a different name, 
 
 But all sang 'Annie Laurie.' " 
 
 The scene on the steamer as I re- 
 call it after so many years was not 
 unlike that in one respect at least, 
 for though we were not yet in the 
 trenches we were on the way there, 
 and some of us in groups by our- 
 selves sang "Annie Laurie," while 
 others sang other favorites and all 
 
 were thinking of the loved ones we 
 were leaving behind us, wondering 
 whether we would ever see them 
 again. 
 
 In due time we reached Keokuk, 
 after a pleasant run down the river, 
 and were assigned quarters with 
 several other companies which were 
 already in rendezvous there. 
 
 Squad and company drill was be- 
 gun at once and was kept up with 
 a zeal that from the commanders' 
 standpoint was highly commendable, 
 but as those embyro soldiers view- 
 ed it, was declared to be "too much 
 of a good thing; there was no use 
 overdoing it; they didn't enlist to be 
 drilled and paraded around all day 
 long, they enlisted to flglit, and 
 they didn't see no sense in so much 
 drilling, nohow." But the drills 
 were continued with little regard to 
 the feelings or wishes of the men, 
 for we were to be made into real 
 soldiers and fitted as well as might 
 be for the serious work which lay 
 before us. Some of us lived to see 
 the day when drill and discipline 
 not only saved us from defeat, but 
 was largely instrumental in win- 
 ning for the Union forces one of 
 the most signal victories of the war. 
 
 The Clinton County Guards had 
 enlisted under President Lincoln's 
 first call for seventy-five thousand 
 men to serve for three months, but 
 very soon after we reached Keokuk 
 thirty companies were gathered 
 there, and as the state of Iowa had 
 only been asked for one regiment 
 as its quota, it dawned upon us that 
 our services might not be needed 
 after all. That, however, was an 
 error, which was soon dispelled, for 
 on the third day of May the presi- 
 dent issued his first call for men 
 to serve for three years or during 
 the war. The thirty companies in 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 o9 
 
 rt'iidezvous were divided into three 
 regiments, to be known as the First, 
 Second and Third Iowa Infantry; 
 the First alone being mustered in 
 for three months, the Second and 
 Third for ihree years. The Clin- 
 ton County Guards fell into the 
 Second, and from that time forward 
 ceased to be known by the name 
 under which it had been enrolled, 
 but was mustered into the service 
 of the United States as Company I, 
 Second Iowa Infantry Volunteers. 
 The field officers were immediately 
 elected by vote of the line officers 
 and men. Samuel R. Curtis, who 
 war? at that time the member of 
 Congress from the first district, was 
 elected Colonel; James M. Tuttle, 
 Lieut. Colonel and Marcellus M. 
 Crocker, Major. Lieut. N. P. Chip- 
 man was appointed Adjutant. Mr. 
 L. D. Ingersoll, author of "Iowa and 
 the Reliellion," speaks of the regi- 
 ment in the following complimen- 
 tary terms: "The Second Regiment 
 of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, one of 
 the most distinguished of our com- 
 mands, was organized at Keokuk 
 very soon after the commencement 
 of the war. It was the first regi- 
 ment of three years' men that our 
 Etate sent into the field, and the 
 first of all to leave Iowa for the 
 theatre of war. Its companies were 
 enrolled during that first splendid 
 uprising of enthusiasm which fol- 
 lowed the atrocious bombardment of 
 Fort Sumter, and they had within 
 their ranks many men of great tal- 
 ents and of considerable reputation 
 in the state. There never was, per- 
 haps, in any country a military 
 organization of equal numbers 
 which possessed more men of 
 merit." This kindly expressed es- 
 timate of the regiment is not be- 
 yond the facts, It is in no sense 
 
 overdrawn. It is fully sustained by 
 the record made by both officers 
 and men, a record of which the state 
 of Iowa has ever been proud. 
 
 S. R. Curtis soon became a Major 
 General, and for a time had com- 
 mand of the Department of the 
 Missouri. He commanded our army 
 at the battle of Pea Ridge which 
 he wen, greatly distinguishing him- 
 self there, as also subsequently dur- 
 ing the wair. Turtle, "Old Pap 
 Tuttle" as the boys called him, be- 
 came a Brigadier General, and was 
 known all through the western army 
 as a soldier worthy of his rank. 
 Crocker rose to the rank of Major 
 General and acquired great military 
 fame. at .Jackson and Champion's 
 Hill. Chipman was made an Aid- 
 de-Camp in the regular army with 
 the rank of Colonel, and was Judge 
 Advocate of the Court, which tried 
 the monster Wirz of Andersonville 
 prison fame. 
 
 The regiment left Keokuk on the 
 13th of June, disembarking at Han- 
 nibal, Missouri, and moving to the 
 western part of the state, with 
 headquarters at Saint Joseph. This 
 journey across the state was made 
 during what was known as the 
 "Reign of Terror" in northern Mis- 
 souri. We were given the duty of 
 guarding the railroad eastward from 
 St. Joseph, which was constantly 
 threatened by rebel citizens known 
 as "bridge burners," who made it 
 their mission to destroy the rail- 
 roads and gather in recruits for 
 General Jackson and the rebel army. 
 
 The Iowa State Register and 
 Leader of recent date contains an 
 interesting reference to this early 
 period of the war in Missouri, and 
 the part taken by the Second Iowa 
 in it, which, as it says, was entirely 
 overlooked in all reports made by 
 
GO 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO^mONER 
 
 oflicers to I he War Department at 
 Washington: 
 
 "Colonel Crosley, who has charge 
 of the compilation of the soldiers' 
 roster at the capitol, yesterday came 
 upon one of the most important offi- 
 cial reports among those made by 
 the Iowa officers, but no trace of 
 which, curious as it seems, is found 
 in the official records. By some 
 strange oversight it was not includ- 
 ed in the copies of official reports 
 published by Adjutant ' General N. 
 B. Baker, in either of the volumes 
 of his reports, during or after the 
 close of the war; neither can it be 
 found in the war of the rebellion 
 records published by the war de- 
 partment. 
 
 Yet it has reference to one of the 
 most important early events at the 
 west, with particular reference to 
 the beginning of the campaign in 
 Missouri in the spring and summer 
 of 1861. 
 
 This old report is dated "Camp 
 Lyon, St. Joseph, Mo., .Tune 27, 
 1861," and is addressed to "Brig. 
 Gen. N. Lyon, commanding," and 
 signed "Samuel R. Curtis, Col. Sec- 
 ond Iowa Volunteers, commanding 
 expedition." 
 
 It gives in detail and at length 
 the movement of the troops under 
 his command, but the vital feature 
 of the report relates to the manner 
 in which the Hannibal & St. .Toe and 
 the North Missouri railroads were 
 taken possession of by Colonel Cur- 
 tis. 
 
 It was on account of the remark- 
 able effectiveness and promptness 
 with \yhich Colonel Curtis accom- 
 plished this vital operation that he 
 was made immediately a brigadier 
 general, which led later to the rank 
 of ma.ior general. It, too, was the 
 beginning of the career of the gal- 
 lant Second Iowa which made an 
 unsurpaiSsed record. That a report 
 of the importance of Colonel Curtis 
 with respect to the capture of the 
 most important line of connection in 
 the northwest, and which would 
 have been destroyed had he delayed 
 a moment in executing its capture, 
 should have been overlooked hith- 
 erto is amazing to military experts 
 and to historians. 
 
 Colonel Crosley said yesterday 
 that the find was actually invalu- 
 able. Samuel R. Curtis resigned 
 from congress to take command of 
 the Second Iowa. He was a West 
 Pointer, and so thoroughly did he 
 instruct his men that the Second 
 was the first Iowa regiment to take 
 the field, the First regiment follow- 
 ing the next day, and the Third a 
 few days later. On June 13, 1861, 
 Colonel Curtis received a telegram 
 from Gen. Nathaniel Lyon ordering 
 him at once to move the troops un- 
 der his command into the state of 
 Missouri, with specific instructions 
 to take military control of the lines 
 of the Hannibal & St. Joseph and 
 North :Mi£Souri railroads. 
 
 Colonel Curtis states in his official 
 report to General Lyon, just now 
 discovered, that he received the 
 order at 1 o'clock a. m. and that 
 at .5 o'clock a. m. the Second Iowa 
 was embarked on board the steamer 
 Deans. Landing at Hannibal, Mo., 
 the same day, Colonel Curtis at once 
 proceeded to take military posses- 
 sion of the railroads indicatei, us- 
 ing for that purpose the Second 
 Iowa infantry, the First Iowa infan- 
 try — which had followed from Keo- 
 kuk and reached Hannibal on June 
 4th — a detachment of the Sixteenth 
 Illinois infantry, numbering 4 5 0, 
 and 2.5 Home Guards which he 
 found stationed at Hannibal upon 
 his arrival there, making in all a 
 force of about 2,700 under his com- 
 mand with which to execute the 
 order of General Lyon, a seemingly 
 imposisible task, considering the 
 length of the line along which this 
 small army was to be distributed, 
 but without hesitation the order was 
 obeyed. 
 
 As he advanced, small forces of 
 the enemy were encountered and 
 quickly overcome, flags, munitions 
 of war, prisoners and suipplies were 
 captured, and loyal and peaceable 
 citizens assured protection. Lea.v- 
 ing detachments to guard the 
 bridges, buildings and other rail- 
 road property from destruction, he 
 pressed forward, and at the conclu- 
 sion of this famous report sai'^1: 
 
 I arrived at St. Joseph June 15, 
 1861, and encamped a short dis- 
 
THE SniPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 (51 
 
 tanoe below the city on the bank of 
 the :\lissouri river. I had thus in 
 fifty-six hours from the time your 
 dispatch reached me at Keokuk tak- 
 en military possession of the entire 
 road and established a sufficient 
 guard along the line to protect it, 
 and at the same time scattered and 
 disorganized the rebel forces that 
 were mustering through this portion 
 of Missouri. 
 
 Upon his arrival at St. .Joseph, 
 Mo., he found a force of 6.^0 union 
 troops, which had been sent there 
 by General Lyon. When the expedi- 
 tion started from Hannibal, Colonel 
 Curtis was not aware of the pres- 
 ence of these troops at the other 
 end of the line. While they did not 
 directly co-operate in his expedition, 
 the fact that they were already in 
 possession of the city when he ar- 
 rived there was an important factor 
 in the success of this most remark- 
 able military achievement. 
 
 "The promptness with which the 
 order was obeyed alone saved this 
 important line of railroad for the 
 transroitation of union troops and 
 supplies, an-l prevented a more pro- 
 lon2;ed resip.tance by the rebel forces 
 in that portion of the state by I\Tis- 
 souri," says Colonel Crosley. "Colo- 
 nel Curtis was promptly promoted 
 to the rank of brigadier general and 
 la*^er was given the rank of major 
 general. 
 
 "The Second Iowa infantry thus 
 began its military career under an 
 able leader whose influence and ex- 
 ample was an inspiration to the 
 splendid officers who subsequently 
 became its commanders, succeeding 
 each other in vacancies caused by 
 promotion, by death on the battle- 
 field and by disabling wounds." 
 
 One evening soon after dark, 
 while part of the regiment was tem- 
 porarily stationed at Macon City an 
 accident occurred which filled us all 
 with sadness. We had all lain 
 down for the night, and quiet brood- 
 ed over the camp as mcst of the 
 boys were fast asleep, and those who 
 were still awake were so worn with 
 ceaseless vigil that they were n^t in 
 
 a humor for much excitement, be- 
 sides, we were in the enemy's coun- 
 try with a watchful foe close about 
 us. The guard had just been chang- 
 ed and those who returned to camp 
 found us lying on our arms, the 
 guns loaded and ready for immedi- 
 ate action. Unfortunately one of 
 the returning guards accidentally 
 struck his foot against the lock of 
 a loaded musket in such a way as 
 to cause its discharge. The bullet 
 entered the side of Albert Winchell, 
 one of the brightest and best boys 
 in the .company, who, when he en- 
 listed, was a student at Cornell Col- 
 lege. He lived only two or three 
 days. Just before dying, he said: 
 "Boys, if it had only been done in 
 battle I wouldn't have cared, but it 
 is hard to die this way." And in- 
 deed it was, but such are the for- 
 tunes of war, and the soldier must 
 submit. His body was sent home 
 and was interred with all the honors 
 of war, a large concourse attending 
 the funeral of the first of our com- 
 pany to fall. 
 
 Replying to a letter of inquiry 
 about Winchell, I wrote from St. 
 •Joseph a few days later: "Poor 
 fellow, he was asleep when he was 
 shot. I shall never forget the look 
 he gave me when he awoke. I 
 thought he would have died imme- 
 diately. I heard him mumbling 
 something: Mr. Pennyman said he 
 was praying. Mr. P. and I stayed 
 with him; the company was ord- 
 ered away and we two were left to 
 take care of him. I sat up with him 
 the first night; he was in great pain. 
 I started for St. Joseph the next 
 morning after our nurse and a 
 trunk with some changes of linen, 
 but before I could get back he was 
 dead. Mr. Bettesworth had been 
 sent on by the Captain to take him 
 home. I should have come with him 
 
()2 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COIMMONER 
 
 had I been there at the time, and 
 would never have left him if I had 
 known the end was so near." 
 
 Al Hunnewell occurred the death 
 of the first rebel at the hands of a 
 member of our regiment. We were 
 marching through the village and 
 one of the boys asked a young man 
 who happened to be standing near 
 ■a well, for a drink of water. His 
 request was not only refused, but 
 the refusal, it was reported, was 
 accompanied with an insulting re- 
 mark and at the same instant the 
 rebel attempted to fire a revolver 
 at our man. For some reason it 
 missed fire, and before he could 
 aim it again he was shot dead in 
 the presence of his poor old mother, 
 who was standing a few feet away 
 from him. It was a sad thing and 
 very wierd, but it was only an in- 
 cident of war and though it was the 
 first of its kind to us, it caused 
 only a passing flutter and was soon 
 forgotten in the stirring events 
 which followed. 
 
 A few evenings after that, while 
 an energetic German was on picket 
 guard, one of the boys thought he 
 would have a little fun at "Bill's" 
 expense, so he slipped outside the 
 line and made his way cautiously in 
 the direction of the lone sentinel, 
 who heard him coming, but the 
 night being dark, he could not see 
 who it was, so he shouted, "Halt 
 dare, halt dare, I tells you, advance 
 unt say, 'Alia Villa,' or by chinks I 
 blows de top of your head off al- 
 retty." It is needless to say that 
 the countersign, which was "Palo 
 Alta, was promptly given. During 
 the latter part of July the regiment 
 was ordered to Bird's Point, Mis- 
 souri, which lies just across the 
 IMississippi river from Cairo, at the 
 mouth of the Ohio, and geographic- 
 ally is to southeast Missouri what 
 
 fet. Joseph is to the northeasitern 
 part of the state. Here our duties 
 were similar to those we had been 
 performing at St. Joseph and vicin- 
 ity. It was at Bird's Point I re- 
 ceived my first promotion from Cor- 
 poral to Second Sergeant. After a 
 brief stay at the Point we broke 
 camp and prepared to leave for a 
 healthier location. We were glad to 
 do this for the regiment in a very 
 short time had become reduced by 
 malarial influences and camp diar- 
 rhoea from nearly one thousand 
 men to a little over four hundred 
 fit for duty. 
 
 The regiment was ordered to Pilot 
 Knob, a point about one hundred 
 miles southwest of St. Louis, which 
 place we reached in good time. All 
 the troops in that territory were 
 given an important stunt, which was 
 no less a task than to capture Jeff 
 Thompson, a noted rebel guerrilla, 
 who by his great activity and per- 
 tect knowledge of the country was 
 a constant annoyance to our men, 
 whom he pestered day and night. 
 The peripatetic Jeff slipped away 
 from us so often when we thought 
 we had him sure, that the boys at 
 last absolutely refused to believe in 
 the existence of any Jeff Thompson 
 in the flesh, and as freely expressed 
 their opinions to one another upon 
 the subject as did Betsy Prig to 
 Sairy Gamp, when she said concern- 
 ing the alleged former husband of 
 that lady, "I don't believe there's 
 no sich a person." But then there 
 was although he was like uncle 
 Ephraim's crow, Peter Jackson, 
 "when you cotched him sab, lie was 
 done gone clar way fum dar." 
 
 At Pilot Knob we found some 
 troops from Illinois and Missouri 
 under command of General B. M. 
 Prentis, who later won fame at 
 Pittsburg Landing. While there we 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO.\nrONER 
 
 n?, 
 
 were jrined by the Seventh Iowa, 
 which had jiist entered the service 
 and became a part of our brigade, 
 remaining with us till the close of 
 I he war. During our stay at Pilot 
 Knob it was reported that a. ques- 
 tion of rank had arisen between 
 General Prentis and General Grant, 
 who had received his commission as 
 Brigadier General at Cairo. Gen- 
 eral Grant had entered the service 
 as Colonel of the Twenty-first Illi- 
 nois Infantry and had been promot- 
 ed a? stated. The question was fin- 
 ally settled in Grant's favor, whose 
 commission, it was reported, was 
 dated but an hour or two before 
 il'.at of Gen. Prentis. Who shall say 
 tiiat this little difference of date 
 may not have had a far-reaching in- 
 liuence on tlie fortunes of the war? 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 We remained at Pilot Knob, or 
 Ironton, till the 2 7th of August, 
 wlien we were ordered to Jackson, 
 .Missouri, where the regiment ling- 
 ered till September Sth. From 
 Jackson we marched to Fort Jeff- 
 erson, Kentucky and there we stay- 
 id until September 2nrd, when we 
 were ordered back to our old camp- 
 ing ground at Bird's Point. In the 
 meantime Col. Curtis had been pro- 
 moted to Brigadier General; Tuttle 
 had been commissioned Colonel and 
 Crocker Lieutenant Colonel; he was 
 soon afterward, however, given the 
 Colonelcy cf the Thirteenth Iowa 
 Infantry and Captain Baker of Co. 
 "G" became Lieutenant Colonel 
 with Adjutant Chipman as Major. 
 
 There were many interesting feat- 
 ures connected with our tramps 
 about Missouri, some of which were 
 very pleasing. Soon after leaving 
 Ii'onton we met with a gratifying 
 surprise in the discovery of a large 
 orchard loaded wifh apples and 
 
 peaches. It was a delightful find 
 for the fruit was thoroughly ripe 
 and w,as really delicious. For a 
 long time after eating them my 
 mouth would water at the thought 
 of those peaches. Never in my lif(> 
 had I tasted anything that seenied 
 so good; they were even better than 
 English mince pie, and that is say- 
 ing a great deal. We all ate and 
 ate till we could eat no more and 
 then for a change we would eat an 
 apple just to prepare the way for 
 more peaches. I think it must have 
 been M'ith us as it is said to have 
 l)een with a certain individual, who, 
 upon being told that he might make 
 three choices of whatever he liked 
 best, chose first, plenty of whiskey: 
 second plenty of tobacco; third after 
 hesitating a moment, a little more 
 whiskey. We had only one cause 
 of regret which was not lessened in 
 any \degree because it was shared 
 by all: there was mourning that day 
 because there was a limit to our 
 capacities, we could ear no more. 
 Of course the comm'anding officers 
 were wroth with us; we were given 
 to understand that such depreda- 
 tions as we had committed must not 
 be repeated under any circum- 
 stances, that though we were in the 
 enemy's country, we must respect 
 the rights of property; all of which 
 was listened to with great respect, 
 but with very little inclination to 
 observe, for while we were disposed 
 to guard the property of Union men, 
 M-hose sympathies we knew were 
 with us, we had as little regard for 
 rebel sympathizers in the South who 
 lacked the courage to take up arms 
 and join their friends at the front, 
 as we had for copperheads of the 
 North, who were content to fire at 
 us from the rear. 
 
 The owner of the orcliard was a 
 rebel and that was quite enough for 
 
(i4 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 us; why should he not contribute 
 to our comfort? 
 
 In those first months of the 
 war of the rebellion there was 
 a great deal of unnecessary squeam- 
 ishness about the conduct of the 
 war, which gave way gradually as 
 the struggle progressed and as the 
 purposes, methods and strength of 
 our enemies were developed. We 
 became impressed with the thought 
 that there was in the minds of the 
 authorities at Washington, an un- 
 wholesome fear of unnecessarily of- 
 fending a large element in the North 
 whose sympathies were not openly 
 with us, who might be won over 
 by a mild conduct of the war but 
 be hopelessly driven from us by a 
 vigorous prosecution on the part of 
 our armies. That there was some 
 foundation for this feeling cannot 
 be denied. We were a heterogeneous 
 people, thrown together from many 
 countries, whose political notions 
 and social views were very differ- 
 ent in some important respects from 
 our own. Then there were also 
 commercial complications to be con- 
 sidered. Trade between the two 
 sections was of course utterly de- 
 stroyed except insofar as blockade 
 runners might be able to evade the 
 restrictions imposed by the conflict 
 and run their goods into southern 
 ports. The large manufacturers and 
 traders of New York as well as the 
 cotton factories of Manchester and 
 Leeds were suffering immense losses 
 through the war. It is not to be 
 wondered at therefore, that these 
 people with the thousands of mill 
 operatives and workmen generally 
 who were dependent upon trade 
 with the South, should feel unkind- 
 ly toward combatants who were, as 
 they understood it, responsible for 
 their troubles. In addition to these 
 
 considerations, hostilities were at 
 that period, confined almost entire- 
 ly to the border states. In the west 
 we had not yet pierced beyond Mis- 
 souri and Kentucky. Neither of 
 these states had formally seceded 
 from the Union, though efforts had 
 been made to carry them out with 
 the other seceding states. Gover- 
 nor Jackson of Missouri and Gover- 
 nor McGoffin of Kentucky had done 
 their utmost, but both of them had 
 signally failed, for in spite of all 
 they were able to do their geo- 
 graphical position made their states 
 the battle ground across which the 
 armies marched and fought all 
 through the war; especially was this 
 the case with Kentucky. Then, toe, 
 the people were much more nearly 
 equally divided in their sympathies 
 than was the case in the states 
 farther south. So it was quite dif- 
 ficult often to know who were union 
 men and who were rebels; who were 
 entitled to have their property 
 guarded a,nd who were not. In 
 view of all the facts, it must be con- 
 ceded that the officers in command 
 were acting wisely when they insist- 
 ed on recognizing the rights of prop- 
 erty, and punished severely any who 
 were found violating those rights. 
 In spite of all their efforts however, 
 the soldiers who were unable to ap- 
 preciate these considerations, moved 
 by a desire for something besides 
 hard tack and salt pork raided the 
 surrounding country and acquired 
 perishable property, as opportunity 
 migiht offer, paying for what they 
 got when convinced that the owners 
 were union men and "gobbling" it 
 when they were known to be rebels. 
 So upon leaving Ironton it came to 
 pass that there opened before us as 
 fine a field for this sort of enter- 
 prise as the heart of any soldier 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO^niONER 
 
 could wish for. Self appointed for- 
 aging parlies went out in all direc- 
 tions, scouring the fields and the 
 woods for game, returning to camp 
 loaded down with the fruits of the 
 chase. Surely the pigs did squeal, 
 the ducks did quack, the geese did 
 hiss and the turkeys did gobble. No 
 conference of ministers ever made 
 I he chickens roost higher than they 
 roosted on that memorable march. 
 Judging from pictures which ap- 
 peared in Harper's Weekly, repre- 
 senting scenes which were of every 
 day occurrence, one would almost 
 have to believe that Don Quixote 
 had risen from his grave to lead a 
 new onslaught en the flocks of geese 
 which would persistently dispute 
 our passage of many a Mis-ouri 
 Dardanelles. 
 
 One evening just about dark the 
 command reached a point where we 
 were to camp for the night. The 
 Ttnts were pitched near a farm 
 house, which was surrounded by 
 peach trees laden with fruit. Now, 
 it happened to be my turn to serve 
 as Sergeant of the Guard that night. 
 
 In the line of duty I had placed 
 the guard about the house which 
 was occupied as headquarters for 
 the officers, and in returning to my 
 tent jumped over a low stone wall 
 which served as a fence around the 
 house and orchard. I had jumped 
 the v.-all because it was the shortest 
 cut between the guard line and the 
 camp, and I was very hungry after 
 the all day march. It so happened, 
 however, that just as I went over 
 the wall Major Crocker, who was in 
 command of the regiment at the 
 time, came riding past. The Major, 
 not knowing I was on duty and 
 thinking I had been stealing 
 peaches, immediately opened on me 
 with his double shotted battery of 
 
 heavy verbal artillery. For a few 
 moments I was made the target for 
 a lot of hot shot that raked me fore 
 and aft. It was red pepper and 
 Greek tire combined. Of course I made 
 no reply, but when he had exhaust- 
 ed his ammunition and had ordered 
 me to my tent, I went directly to 
 my captain and told him what had 
 taken place. I did not enjoy being- 
 branded as a thief and had no in- 
 tention of resting under a charge 
 like that. Major Crocker was pos- 
 sessed of a quick temper, but he 
 was also a gentleman, and so when 
 Captain Cox went to him and ex- 
 plained the situation, how I came 
 to be in the orchard and why I had 
 jumped ovei- the wall instead of go- 
 ing around by the gate, he came at 
 once to our tent and calling me 
 out, apologized to me in the pres- 
 ence of all who happened to be 
 standing near. The action was 
 characterisiic of the man, for M. 
 M. Crocker was every inch a gentle- 
 man, a man of fine abilities as a 
 lawyer and a soldier, who became 
 one of the most distinguished of 
 our Major Generals. 
 
 It was at this point that I wit- 
 nessed for the first time the cere- 
 mony of drumming a man out of 
 camp. The offender had been 
 guilty of some disgraceful trans- 
 gression of military law which was 
 punishable by dishonorable dismis- 
 sal from the army. The troops were 
 formed into a hollow square and the 
 culprit, with coat turned inside out 
 and his hands tied behind him was 
 marched around the square between 
 two files of soldiers, to the tune of 
 "Rogue's March," after which he 
 was conducted outside the camp, 
 his hands untied and he wa^ told 
 to "git," which he did in short 
 order amid the shouts and jeers of 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 most of liis old comrades, who were 
 glad to be rid of him. 
 
 During our second sojourn at 
 P.iid's I^oint in Sept. 1861, General 
 •ioiin ('. Fr(>m;)nt, who was in com- 
 mand of the Department of the Mis- 
 souri, with headquarters at St. 
 I.ouis, issued a general order to the 
 effect that any slaves fleeing from 
 their masters and coming into our 
 lines were to be allowed their lib- 
 erty, sheltered, fed, and given every 
 assis'iance on their way to the North 
 and freedom. That order caused 
 no little stir among the Union 
 troops, some of whom rejoiced over 
 it, others were not at all pleased 
 with it; "they had not enlisted to 
 help free the niggers and they 
 didn't propose to do it, not much, 
 if the government wanted the nig- 
 gers freed It would have to get 
 Homebody else to do it, for tney 
 wouldn't." A few colored people 
 came into our lines, but they were 
 not encouraged in any way, and 
 General Fremont's order, which was 
 altogether untimely, was immediate- 
 ly countermanded from Washington 
 and Fremont was soon superseded 
 by General Halleck. Fremont's 
 heart. was right but he had assumed 
 a prerogative that belonged only to 
 the Commander in Chief of the 
 Army and Navy of the United States, 
 who in good time issued his great 
 proclamation of freedom to the 
 slaves of the South, which was de- 
 clared at the time to be a militai'y 
 necessity. 
 
 The winter of 18()1 was spent in 
 St. Louis recuperating and doing 
 provost guard duty in the city. It 
 was an agreeable change fi-om the 
 malarial camps of Missouri and 
 Kentucky, and was greatly enjoyed 
 by the regiment, as it gave us fine 
 opportunities to see the sights in 
 
 the city, which we were permitted 
 to do under the necessary restiic- 
 ticns imposed by military law. It 
 (annoi be denied that these restric- 
 tions were sometimes broken over; 
 tlie rules were not always complied 
 with as they should have been;- same 
 of the consequences of which were 
 seen after our first battle; but on' 
 the whole there was no. greater com- 
 plaint than might naturally be. ex- 
 pected under the circumstances. 
 
 There happened to be at that 
 time in the city a certain institution 
 known as McDowell's College, which 
 was being used as a prison for cap- 
 tured rebels. It was part of our 
 duty to guard the prisoners confin- 
 ed within its walls and I must con- 
 fess that we found them lo be as 
 pleasant a lot of fellows as you 
 would be likely to meet anywhere 
 en earth. There was one young fel- 
 low for w^hom I formed quite an 
 attachment, considering the few op- 
 portunities we had for seeing each 
 other, and I think my feelings were 
 reciprocated by him. I had render- 
 ed him some slight service, the na- 
 ture of wliicih has passed from my 
 memory long since, bint he appeared 
 to be very grateful for it, whatever 
 it was, and in return he gave me a 
 pipe which he had whittled out of 
 some .soft stone and marked with 
 various devices. It was all he had. 
 On one side of the bowl he had cut 
 the word "Liberty." on the opposite 
 side the words, "The South." On 
 the under side a flag; on the upper 
 side of the short stem, ".Jan 2Tth," 
 and on the under side the word, 
 "Mont;" on one side of the stem, 
 "McDowell's," and on the other, 
 "College." I have always kept that 
 young fellow in my mind, but have 
 never seen or heard of him since 
 that winter; but I still have the 
 pipe. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 It was generally supposed that 
 McDowell's College was a rebel in- 
 stitution, for its president, Dr. Mc-- 
 Lowell, was reported to be a sur- 
 jieon in the Confederate Army in 
 Texas, which was enough to dissi- 
 luite any respect that might other- 
 wise have been felt for- the school 
 as a seat of learning. Connected 
 witu the institution there was a 
 museum which contained numerous 
 specimens of natural history, such 
 as stuffed rabbits, dried bais, 
 mounted owls, toads, striped pigs 
 and various other uncanny things 
 which we were told weie to be sac- 
 redly guarded from vandalism. Un- 
 lortunately, however, there was a 
 hole in one of the walls through 
 wliich some scamp managed to 
 crawl and find his way into the 
 museum. Once there he appropriac- 
 ed several of the specimens, which 
 he disposed of down town in ex- • 
 change for such dainties a.s were not 
 to be had at the barracks. As soon 
 as the loss was discovered a great 
 hue and cry was raised over it, and 
 strenuous efforts were made to dis- 
 (over the pilferer. But do as he 
 v.ould the commanding officer, Gen- 
 cial Schuyler Hamilton was unable 
 lo uncover the offender. If anyone 
 knew who it was they would net 
 tell, Ko the guilty party went un- 
 punished. But General Hamilton 
 was not to be defeated in his pur- 
 pose if the party actually guilty of 
 I he trespass could not be found, 
 the regiment of which he was a 
 member should be made to feel the 
 weight of official displeasure. Now, 
 it so happened that all this took 
 place just as we were about to em- 
 bark for active service in the field 
 again. A general order was issued 
 in which the regiment was publicly 
 disgraced. Our march through the 
 
 city from Benton Barracks to the 
 steamboat landing was a queer af- 
 fair. It would have borne all the 
 ear marks of a funeral procession, 
 had it not been for the sense of 
 humor which pervaded a large por- 
 tion of the regiment. We were not 
 allowed to carry our colors, the flag 
 remained furled and we were ord- 
 ered to march without music, two 
 things that no true soldier could 
 endure without prottst. Even so, 
 we found a remedy. Every man 
 who happened to be the happy pos- 
 sessor of a pocket handkerchief fas- 
 tened it to the bayonet on his gun, 
 and it immediately became a flag. 
 Well, well; there were flags of all 
 shapes and sizes and colors, clean 
 and unclean, new and old fluttering 
 in the breeze and jauntily proclaim- 
 ing the independence of the boys 
 who carried them; but that was not 
 all. We keenly felt the loss of our 
 music, especially as one of the best 
 bands in St. Louis had enlisted and 
 joined the second Iowa. No, we 
 could not march without music, so 
 lo supply that difficulty, every man 
 who w^as able to get his mouth into 
 a pucker began to whistle "Yankee 
 Doodle," just as the procession 
 started and kept it up with more or 
 less zeal till we reached the levee. 
 'J'he city was all stirred up over it; 
 the rebel portion was in great glee 
 over what they were pleased to 
 term "the dishonor of the Yan- 
 kees," while the loyal people made 
 light of it. Windows were raised 
 on both sides of the streets, doors 
 were thrown open and men, women 
 and children waved little flaglets, 
 fluttered their handkerchiefs and 
 laughed and cheered and whistled 
 v.-itn us, and did everything they 
 could to cheer us up; for we had 
 acquired a popularity in St. Louis 
 
(;8 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 and had made many friends there. 
 It was an unjust punishment, but 
 the disgrace of it was soon to be 
 wiped out by what historians desig- 
 nate as one of the brightest and 
 bravest achievements to be found 
 anywhere in the annals of war. 
 
 The year 18 61 had not on the 
 whole been favorable to the Union 
 arms, the war had not been skill- 
 fully conducted. McClellan in west- 
 ern Virginia had gained some repu- 
 tation, Grant had gained a victory 
 and nearly lost it at Belmont, Butler 
 had achieved success in Hatteras 
 Inlet, Dupont had won Port Royal 
 and some other things that had kept 
 tue national heart from absolute 
 despondency, but taken together the 
 results were against us. But the 
 splendid campaigns in the west in 
 1862 more than atoned for all that 
 had been lacking in '61. The first 
 of these great victories and one of 
 the most inspiring of the whole war 
 w^as won on the west bank of the 
 Cumberland river on the 13th, 14th 
 and 15th of Feb. 1862. Gen Grant 
 had left Fort Henry on the Ten- 
 nessee on the 12th, with a force of 
 about 15,000 men. On the morning 
 of the 14th Lew Wallace joined him 
 Wiu.. 2,500 more and at the same 
 time Gen. Thayer of Nebraska was 
 steaming up the Cumberland with 
 six other regiments, all under con- 
 voy of the Ironclads, St. Louis, 
 Louisville and Pittsburg and of the 
 wooden boats Tyler and Conestoga, 
 making a total of 27,000 men all 
 told. 
 
 The Cumberland river runs north 
 instead of south and empties into 
 the Ohio above Paducah, Ky. It 
 was a spirited scene that trip up 
 the Cumberland, full of life and 
 stir and energy, the iron gunboats, 
 the loaded transports, the little 
 
 Government Dispatch boats, but a 
 little larger than one of those pretty 
 electric launches on the lagoon, with 
 their thin piping whistles they made 
 a queer contract to the hoarse fog- 
 horn blows of the larger craft; it 
 was a panorama of beauty of thrilling 
 interest to all who understood the 
 grim import of the trip. We were 
 on the way to Fort Donelson, which 
 we understood^ to be one of the 
 strongholds of the enemy in the 
 west. I think nearly all were anx- 
 ious to get there as soon as pos- 
 sible, the easy capture of Fort 
 Henry caused us to fear that a like 
 result might be reached at Donelson 
 before we could get there to have 
 a hand in it. Indeed, most of our 
 boys seemed to be in much the same 
 frame of mind as was a member of 
 the Twelfth Iowa, of whom the late 
 Capt. E. I. Weiser of the Third 
 Iowa once told me. The Twelfih 
 man was overheard by a comrade 
 just on the eve of the battle, pray- 
 ing with great apparent fervency, 
 that the enemy might give them "a 
 stout fight." It is needless to say 
 that his prayer was fully answered. 
 The Captain of the boat on which 
 we were being carried to the Fort 
 was a rank rebel sympathizer, 
 whose affinities came to the surface 
 at a time when the troops were in 
 no mood to condone them. On some 
 pretext he permitted the steam to 
 run low, unnoticed by the officers of 
 the regiment, and when his atten- 
 tion was called to it, he began to 
 make excuses, saying that the fuel 
 was nearly gone and wood was hard 
 to get, though we had passed sev- 
 eral wood piles on the river banks. 
 Col. Tuttle said very little; he had 
 noticed a large pile a short dis- 
 tance ahead of us, so he quietly 
 drew his revolver and pointing it 
 
THK SIMPLE \AFK OF A COMMONER 
 
 m 
 
 at the head of the Capiain, imiiiir- 
 ed of him; "Do you see that pile 
 of wood yonder on the right bank 
 of the river? \v ell, you get to that 
 wood and have it on board in short 
 order or your carcass feeds the 
 fishes in this river." We were soon 
 at the wood pile and the deck hands 
 and roustabouts had the help of all 
 the soldiers that could he used to 
 advantage in getting it aboard, and 
 we had no further trouble after 
 that. 
 
 Fort Donelson was a formidable 
 basticned work, well calculated for 
 a defensive position, built on a hill 
 about 100 feet above the waters of 
 the Cumberland and containing 
 nearly a hundred acres of land, lo- 
 cated on the west bank of the river. 
 On the south there is a small stream 
 called Indian Creek, which was fill- 
 ed and overflowing with back water 
 from the river: between Indian 
 creek and Dover a little town near 
 the Fort, there is now a national 
 cemetery containing a large number 
 of Union and Confederate graves. 
 To the north there is another stream 
 called Hickman's creek, which was 
 also filled with back water. The 
 ground was very rough, broken and 
 full of deep crevices or fissures, it 
 was nearly all covered with trees 
 which had been cut down so that 
 the tops lay outward from the 
 works and facing the Union army, 
 the limbs had been trimmed 
 and sharpened to a point, foi'ming 
 a very dangerous abattis over which 
 it was necessary to charge to reach 
 the intrenchments which extended 
 along a ridge about two miles long 
 and back from the river. The fort 
 was garrisoned l)y about 1^1,000 
 men under command of Floyd, 
 Pillow, Johnson, Buckner and 
 Forrest. fJranfs army was divided 
 
 into tiiree divisions. The firsi un- 
 dei- .McClernand, occupying out- 
 right, the second under J^ew Wal- 
 lace, holding the center, and the 
 left under C. F. Smith. The army 
 was made up of western men, chief- 
 ly from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and 
 Iowa with one regiment from 
 Nebraska and one from Missouri. 
 In one particular Fort Donelson was 
 unlike almost all the other great 
 battles of the war, four states fur- 
 nished nearly all the troops. To 
 illustrate the heterogeneity of the 
 Union army the composition of my 
 own company will serve as a sample 
 of the whole, we had nineteen dif- 
 ferent states and nationalities In it. 
 
 The Second Iowa which had dis- 
 embarked from the steamer McGill 
 about three miles below the fort 
 was assigned to Lauman's brigade 
 of Smith's division and occupied the 
 extreme left of the Union line. The 
 other regiments in the brigade were 
 the Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa, 
 the Twenty-fifth and Fifty-second 
 Indiana and Blrges' sharpshooters. 
 A short distance In the rear of the 
 brigade was Mrs. Crisp's house, a 
 one story log structure with an ad- 
 dition on one side, and a stone 
 chimney on the other. It was 
 
 Grant's headquarters. 
 
 On the 13th there had been some 
 heavy skirmishing all along the line. 
 The Illinois boys on the right had 
 a hard time getting the line of In- 
 vestment complete. About three in 
 the afternoon, Foote's gunboats 
 steamed up the river and engaged 
 the water batteries. We heard the 
 firing and It was music in our ears. 
 Our expectations were high; we re- 
 membered Fort Henry and the splen- 
 did work done there, but we were 
 doomed to disappointment, for one 
 after another the gunboats were 
 
ill 
 
 PHE S5MPT.E LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 disabled and di'opped down out of 
 range. Flag Officer Foote was 
 wounded and the rebels were jubil- 
 ant. It was a bitter disappointment 
 to us; we had expected so much and 
 our hopes were suddenly and cruel- 
 ly dashed to the ground. The boys 
 were filled with gloom, iand they 
 began to magnify the strength and 
 numbers of the enemy. Some blam- 
 ed Grant, some Halleck, some Foote, 
 nearly all praised the Confederate 
 officers and everybody wondered 
 what was to come next. In the 
 me?jntime it had grown intensely 
 cold, it was raining, sleeting and 
 freezing, we had no tents, no shel- 
 ter of any sort, not even a tree: we 
 had no blankets, no overcoats, it 
 was a fearful night, and we were 
 terribly exposed. God in heaven 
 only knows how some of those poor 
 fellows suffered that awful night: 
 a few froze to death, some contract- 
 ed ailments from which they died 
 before they left the fort, others died 
 in the hospital a few months later, 
 and some are carrying the effects 
 of that exposure to this day, and 
 will carry them to their graves. We 
 were not allowed to have any fires, 
 because that would draw the fire of 
 the enemy's guns, which were but 
 a short distance from us, and in 
 full range. 
 
 During that night a council was 
 held between Pillow, Floyd and 
 Buckner, which resulted in a deter- 
 mination to make a sortie in the 
 morning and cut their way out and 
 get away by Wynn's Ferry to Char- 
 lotte. So in the morning just at 
 daybreak, before our fellows had 
 time to get into line, the enemy 
 came pouring down on our extreme 
 right and struck Oglesby"s brigade 
 of :\IcClernand's division. The bat- 
 tle swung on till it reached Wal- 
 
 lace in the center. .McClernand's 
 men were rolled up in a mass. The 
 Eighteenth Illinois lost 4 4 killed 
 and 170 wounded: the others suf- 
 fered much, their ammunition gave 
 out, for in the early days of the 
 war neither side seemed to take in 
 all the necessities of the case, and 
 contingencies were not provided for 
 as they were later on. 
 
 When it looked as though all was 
 lost. Pillow w^as greatly elated. He 
 was a very vain man, and he thought 
 he had Grant's whole army before 
 him: so he sent a telegram to Syd- 
 ney .Johnson, commander of the 
 Confederate forces in the west: "On 
 the honor of a soldier the day is 
 ours." .Johnson sent it to Richmond 
 and it created great enthusiasm 
 there, but it was a mistake, the 
 day was not won by any means, 
 but it might have been; Napoleon 
 would have won it, so would Well- 
 ington, so would Grant, so would 
 Buckner. But Pillow was vascillat- 
 ing just when it required nerve, and 
 decision of character, and the day 
 was lost to the Confederates and aU 
 went with it. 
 
 When Grant found his men in re- 
 treat he simply said: "Gentlemen," 
 addressing himself to Wallace and 
 McClernand, "the posit. on on the 
 right must be re-taken." That was 
 all, a.nd then he galloped away. The 
 lines on the right were reformed 
 and preparations were made for a 
 new investment of the enemy's 
 works. Grant said to Webster, his 
 chief of staff, "some of our men are 
 pretty badly demoralized, but the 
 enemy must be more so, for he has 
 attempted to force his way out but 
 has fallen back; the one who at- 
 tacks first now will be victorious 
 and the enemy will have to be in 
 a hurry if he gets ahead of me." 
 
THH SLMl'lJ'] l.lFl^] OF A CQ.M.MONRR 
 
 Then he directed Col. \Vel)ster to 
 ride by his side and call oul lo the 
 men as they passed: "Fill your car- 
 tridge boxes quick and get into line, 
 the enemy is trying to escape and 
 he must not be permitted to do so." 
 And that did the business, it acted 
 like a charm, the enemy was forced 
 back into his works,, never to leave 
 I hem again except as prisoners of 
 war. 
 
 At two o'clock in the afternoon 
 General Smith received orders to 
 charge the works in his front, and 
 he selected Lauman's brigade to 
 Itad. It was a forlorn hope for 
 Colonel Shaw of the Fourteenth 
 lou-a, tcld me that General Smith had 
 no thought of carrying the works; 
 it was designed on the part of Grant 
 only as a feint till the right could 
 be reinvested. But something must 
 be done and that right (luick, so 
 General Smith said to Colonel Tat- 
 tle: "You are to assail yonder rifle 
 pits, can 1 depend on you?" "Sup- 
 port me promptly General," said Tut- 
 tle, "and in twenty minutes I'll go 
 in." Twenty minutes was the exact 
 time it took Marshall Soult to climb 
 the Pratzen slope at Austerlitz and 
 tiercely tight the column of Kallo- 
 rath. Twenty minutes, the destin- 
 ies of kingdoms and empires have 
 been decided in less time than that. 
 Twenty minutes at Waterloo meant 
 (vei-ything to Wellington. Twenty 
 minutes in a man's lifetime may not 
 mean much, but twenty minutes on 
 the field of battle means everything. 
 \\'ell, the column is leady, the line 
 is formed at a considerable distance 
 from the rifle pits, the Second Iowa 
 ;is in front, divided into two equal 
 parts, the left five companies lead- 
 ing, the right wing following one 
 hundred and fifty yards behind, then 
 comes the Fifty-second Indiana, the 
 
 Twenty-fifth Indiana and th(^ Four- 
 teenth and Seventh Iowa, while 
 Birge's sharpshooters are deployed 
 on our flanks as skirmishers and 
 right well they did the business, ev- 
 ery man of them was a preferred 
 marksman; they had learned how to 
 draw a bead on the prairies and in 
 the woods of the wild and wooly 
 west, they knew just how to bark a 
 squirrel, which required fine marks- 
 manship. They were armed with 
 long, globe-sighted Henry rifles, and 
 dressed in clothes neither blue nor 
 gray, nor butternut exactly, but a 
 kind of mixture between them all, 
 so they were not easily distinguish- 
 ed from surrounding objects. They 
 all wore coon skin caps witli the 
 tail, like Grimes' coat, "all hanging 
 down behind." They never maneu- 
 vered as a corps, though some of 
 them figui-ed as a corpse; every man 
 fought on his own hook, when the 
 time for action came it was "can- 
 teens full, biscuits for all day, all 
 right, hunt your holes," and away 
 they went like so many Indians. 
 They hid behind rocks and stumps, 
 they crawled into hollows, they 
 climbed into trees and stretched 
 themselves out along the limbs, and 
 in that way they did us some royal 
 service, for they made it very in- 
 teresting for the men that worked 
 the batteries on the other side. 
 
 Gen. Smith leads the column out 
 to a point where it debouches in full 
 view of the enemy and in easy 
 range of his musketry; yonder are 
 the rebel works full five hundred 
 yards away. There is a deep ditch 
 on the inside, on the outside of it 
 the works are thrown up forming 
 an embankment, behind w-hich the 
 defence conceals himself while he 
 shoots at the prosecution. There are 
 openings in the earth works, through 
 
Ill-: SI.MPIJO LIFE OF A CO.M.MONFR 
 
 whifh Uie artillery pours Its grape 
 and caniiister and shot and shell and 
 hell. All the hillside is covered with 
 the abattis already leferred to, so 
 dense that a rabbit would be both- 
 ered to get through it. The line is 
 formed, the officers draw their 
 swords, the men grasp their mus- 
 kets with a firmer grip. 
 Those old Belgian muskets, 
 Those smooth bore muskets. 
 Those time-honored muskets, 
 Those rust covered muskets, 
 We shot with that day. 
 
 Now the word is spoken, men 
 look into each others faces, just -for 
 an instant, some are pale, some are 
 flushed, some look wildly on before 
 them, many a silent prayer goes up 
 to God for protection and for suc- 
 cess, but never an oath is uttered, 
 no, no, eternity lies just over the 
 brow of that hill there, while death 
 lurks along its sides. It may be you, 
 it may be me, God save us. The 
 word is spoken, the column moves, 
 full of grim determination and not 
 without fear. A horse might be 
 free from fear at such a time, so 
 might a pig or an ox, but seldom a 
 man. Side by side the men push 
 on, they jostle each other, the fal- 
 len trees are in the way, the sharp 
 pointed limbs are dangerous hind- 
 rances, but the line is well preserv- 
 ed, not a word is spoken, not a gun 
 is fired on our side. Silent as the 
 grav(> and inexorable as death the 
 boys move on. Ping, ping, ping, 
 bang, ping, ping, ping, ping, bang, 
 bang — ^whiz, bang, bang, bullets 
 and grape, shot and shell, whistling, 
 screeching, screaming away on their 
 mission of death, but no man speaks, 
 no man halts, the column moves on. 
 Sergeant Doty is down, never to rise 
 again till God's resurrection call 
 shall awaken him from sleep. Oth- 
 ers are falling in quick succession. 
 
 some drop dead, shot through the 
 heart, through the head, mangled by 
 grape and torn by shell. Some are 
 only wounded: they lie still where 
 they have fallen. Some manage to 
 hobble away to the rear, some seek 
 a place where they may find shelter 
 and care for their wounds, but they 
 are killed before they can find it. 
 Not a groan is heard nor a cry; they 
 suffer in silence that they may not 
 dishearten their comrades: they die 
 like soldiers. There is no halt, no 
 liesilancy, no, not for an instant. 
 Like lions stealing on their prey the 
 left wing, and then the right wing 
 climb the steeps. Captain Cloutman 
 of Ottumwa drops dead with a bul- 
 let in his brain: twenty paces furth- 
 er on Slaymaker of Davenport is 
 instantly killed: so is Ueutenant 
 Harper, so are forty others. Tuttle 
 is wounded: so is Major Chipman: 
 so are one hundred and fifty-seven 
 others, some of them unto death. 
 Blood is streaming fi'om their faces, 
 bursting from their breasts, getting 
 down into their shoes, reddening the 
 trampled snow at their feet. Arms 
 drop lifeless at the side of the body, 
 limbs are torn away in an instant. 
 A cannon ball bears a head away 
 and leaves a lifeless trunk behind. 
 But now the rebels are flying, the 
 works are taken at the point of the 
 bayonet: our men leap the trenches 
 with a shout of victory, bayoneting 
 all that linger a moment behind, and 
 now for the first time Tuttle's voice 
 rings out clear and strong, "Give 
 
 them boys," and some one 
 
 writing of it afterwards said: "If 
 ever mortals inflicted the torments 
 of the damned upon the denizens 
 of earth, it was then and there in 
 obedience to that command." Colo- 
 nel Hanson and his Tennesseeans 
 made a splendid fight of it but they 
 
THE SIMPI-.K LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 were swept away like chaff from a 
 threshing floor, and Donelson was 
 ours. 
 
 Mr. Charles Boynton, an Iowa poet 
 sought to imortalize the charge of 
 the Second Iowa in a poem of many 
 stanzas, from which I have taken 
 I lie liberty to select the following 
 lines: 
 
 ■■The rebel flag o'er Henry waves 
 For but an hour, and o"er the graves 
 Of traitors pass the victorious bands, 
 Till Cumberland break? on the sight 
 And Donelson in waiting stands 
 Astride its rampart crowned height. 
 
 Where are the Winklerieds that now 
 Will scale the tempest crowned 
 
 brow. 
 Will raise again the inspiring cry — 
 •■.Make way for Liberty," and high 
 Upon the uprising shaft of fame 
 With him record their deathless 
 
 names. 
 
 Behold them here, the Alpine 
 
 heights 
 Ne'er nursed a bravei', bolder stock. 
 Than now as Freedom's chosen 
 
 knights 
 Spring forth to meet the battle 
 
 shock; 
 Up the steep hillside, on they press; 
 No faltering in their steps is seen. 
 Among their ranks each gleam the 
 
 less 
 From out the bright and starry sheen 
 Of bayonets glittering in the light, 
 Marks where the eternal morn has 
 
 risen 
 To greet the spirit of one whose 
 
 night 
 On earth has closed; whose flesh bar- 
 red prison 
 Has ope'd its door and let the soul 
 Pass upward to its destined goal. 
 
 Onward they press, the fiery tide 
 That meets their front lays low the 
 
 pride 
 Of many a hearth: still on they 
 
 sweep. 
 Till on the strong embattled steep 
 They meet the foe, and hand to 
 
 hand. 
 
 In tierce and desperate conflict 
 
 stand. 
 Then o'er the oi)posing ramparts 
 
 leap; 
 No earthly power can backward 
 
 keep. 
 The immortal band that dare 
 To plant the starry banner there." 
 
 The rebels fell back to an inter- 
 ior line of rifle pits and we held the 
 works we had taken. 
 
 Speaking of the part played by 
 the private soldier in the War of 
 the Rebellion, a distinguished orator 
 has said: "We may not forget that 
 many an humble individual inspired 
 by a purpose pure and noble, has 
 striven manfully against great odds 
 and without hope of other reward 
 than that of an approving consci- 
 ence. It is only in the seclusion of 
 the family circle or in the hearts 
 of a few firm friends that these 
 humble individuals receive the hom- 
 age which is their due and the tri- 
 bute of love which gratitude alone 
 can give. For all time the projec- 
 tors of great things, the leaders and 
 prominent actoi*s of the world have 
 received the homage of their fellow- 
 men; their lives have been filled 
 with the fragrance of their own good 
 deeds and of the emoluments and 
 honors which have been showered 
 upon them." It is the custom when 
 persons who have rendered great 
 public services yield up their lives, 
 to accord to them every meed of 
 praise their services merit, and 
 when men and women have towered 
 above their fellows in bravery, 
 charity and sacrifice pass away, an 
 appreciative people are swift to rec- 
 ognize their worth and to pour out 
 libations of love. In the halls of 
 legislation their achievements are 
 rehearsed by eloquent tongues, 
 panegyrics are pronounced from pul- 
 pit and platform, in the parlors of 
 
74 
 
 TIIIO SIMPLE lAFK OF A CO.M.MOXER 
 
 the wealthy, by the fireside of the 
 lowly, in homely phrase, the com- 
 mon people talk of the distinguished 
 dead and tell to each other the 
 story of their lives. Stately and 
 costly funeral trains convey the em- 
 balmed body and richly draped cas- 
 ket with all its elaborate adorn- 
 ments to the beautiful mausoleum 
 which awaits its reception. Great 
 cities contend with each other for 
 the honor of providing a burial 
 place for their bodies, costly monu- 
 ments are erected to their memory 
 and their tombs become the shrines 
 of a grateful people. History has 
 gieat things to say of Moses, Alex- 
 ander, Marlborough and Frederick, 
 who is called "The Great," of Na- 
 poleon and Wellington the "Iron 
 Duke." 
 
 I once saw a nol)le monument in 
 the heart of London, erected in 
 memory of England's great naval 
 hero Lord Nelson. I have stood at 
 the base of another, in the capital of 
 our own country, erected in honor of 
 the father of his country. I have 
 gazed in wonder upon the splendid 
 Egyptian obelisk in Central park, 
 called Cleopatra's needle, with its 
 vertical lines of incused hierogly- 
 phics, a shaft of enduring substance 
 Which has defied the ravages of time 
 and beat back the storms of cen- 
 turies, a noble tribute to the genius 
 of a once great people. It has been 
 my privilege to stand beside magni- 
 ficent statutes of Jackson, Lincoln 
 and Grant, shafts of fame worthily 
 put up by their fellow citizens, but 
 I think the most significent and com- 
 prehensive of all that I have ever 
 seen is that which came to us from 
 France, which looks upward and out- 
 ward from New York harbor, "Lib- 
 erty enlightening the world." It 
 stands for a great world-wide prin- 
 
 ciple, and grandly represents the 
 common, soldier of the Revolution 
 and the Rebellion, by whose prowess 
 tlie seeds of liberty were planted, 
 to be plucked when they shall have 
 developed into ripened fruit upon 
 every i)art of this American contin- 
 ent. 
 
 It is not easy to refer to one's 
 own experiences in the war with that 
 freedom which is nece.ssary to a 
 clear statement of the different sit- 
 uations in which you are placed and 
 your personal relation to conditions 
 and results, without an appearance 
 of egotism, which, though far from 
 existing in fact, nevertheless is lia- 
 ble to create an impression in the 
 mind of the reader prejudicial to 
 the modesty of the writer. 
 
 I have ever before me as I set 
 down these things the question of 
 that little girl, whose father was 
 speaking with great fluency of the 
 part he had taken in the struggle, 
 utterly unaware of the impression 
 he was making: "Father, couldn't 
 you get anyone to help you put down 
 the rebellion?" However, as these 
 records are intended for family peru- 
 sal rather than for the general read- 
 er, I am encouraged to believe my 
 loved ones will be inclined to con- 
 done any apparent outcropping in 
 this direction, and look with lenien- 
 cy upon what may be said of my own 
 personal part in the great conflict. 
 
 Just as we were passing over the 
 rifle pits of the enemy, I felt some- 
 thing strike my right leg as though 
 I had been hit with a switch or car- 
 riage whip; no great harm was done 
 however, as it was merely a musket 
 ball wliich had passed through my 
 trousers, making a rent which was 
 easily repaired. Immediately after 
 that five of us became separated 
 from the regiment; we had not un- 
 
THE SI.Ml'LK LIFK OF A f'OM.MONKR 
 
 rkrstood the orders, which were to 
 hold the line of intrenchnients we 
 had faptured and remain there. So 
 it fame to pass that we five, W. I^. 
 .Tcurney, Thomas Paine, Joseph Con- 
 way, C. H. Reeder and myself had 
 unwittingly exposed ourselves to a 
 deadly fire from the point to which 
 the enemy had retired. In less time 
 than it requires to speak of it, 
 Thomas Paine had received a wound 
 from which he died soon after the 
 battle. Conway and Reeder escaped 
 unhurt, but Journey, who was the 
 Orderly Sergeant cf the company, 
 was struck on the breast by a mus- 
 ket ball which though it did not 
 cause instant death would probably 
 have proven mortal had not his 
 death been caused a few moments 
 later. As it was the moment he was 
 hit he said to me: "Harry, I'm 
 shot," and dropping his gun he stag- 
 gered backward, falling into my 
 arms. Near where we were standing 
 there was a tent which had been oc- 
 cupied by some rebel officers, and 
 close to the side next to our lines 
 there was a trunk which had been 
 left by them in their haste to get 
 away. When Journey fell I caught 
 him and led him with as little pain 
 as possible behind the tent, thinking 
 we would be out of sight of the 
 enemy, and in less danger on that 
 account. AlasI I fear it was only 
 another instance of the ostrich hid- 
 ing his head in the sand. We were 
 either seen or they knew just where 
 we were. I had laid my arm on 
 the trunk with Journey's head rest- 
 ing on it while he was stretched on 
 the ground and was giving him a 
 drink of water from my canteen, 
 when one of the many bullets with 
 which the enemy was riddling the 
 tent, cut my coat sleeve and enter- 
 ing the brain of my comrade in- 
 
 stantly jellied him. I drew my arm 
 out from under him and as speedily 
 as possible made my way back to 
 our lines. Upon examining my cloth- 
 ing after the battle I was not a lit- 
 tle surprised to find no less than 
 nine bullet holes in them, one of 
 which had gone through my cap. 
 It has always seemed to me that 
 there was a great deal more suff- 
 ering and a greater loss of life in 
 that battle than was necessary. No 
 arrangements seem to have been 
 agreed on for the removal of the 
 wounded who were unable of them- 
 selves to leave the battlefield. To 
 my certain knowledge some of the 
 wounded who happened to fall be- 
 tween the lines were left on the 
 field all night in the frost and snow: 
 a cruelty which would not have been 
 permitted a few months later. Ed- 
 ward Banks, a private of Company I 
 was seriously wounded by a cannon 
 ball which had torn across his abdo- 
 men, exposing his bowels. So fright- 
 ful a wound would probably have 
 been mortal even with the best of 
 care, nevertheless there might have 
 been a chance to save him, if he 
 had been properly cared for. As it 
 was he was left on the field all night 
 lying within the lines of the enemy. 
 His brother Henry and I visited him 
 three times during that long night, 
 making him as comfortable as pos- 
 sible. On our third visit the rebel 
 guard, who seemed to be a kind 
 hearted fellow said to us: "Now 
 boys, this is the third time you have 
 been inside our lines tonight, and 
 it must be the last. You will have 
 to do the best you can for your 
 comrade and then leave him till 
 morning; it is too bad but I can't 
 help it, these are my orders." So 
 we did all we could for the poor boy 
 and then left him. In the morning 
 
Tin-] snFPLE [.iFE OF A co.m:\ioner 
 
 he was dead. Perhaps his wound 
 was too grievious- to admit of his 
 reiDOval and perhaps the surgeons 
 were all too busy with other cases 
 to give him attention. 1 know not. 
 Following is a specimen of a let- 
 ter written just after the battle, with 
 the response that followed four days 
 later: 
 
 Hospital, Feb. ISth, 1862. 
 I write with a great deal of pain, 
 
 dear girl, 
 I've not been able before since the 
 
 fight, 
 And my brain is si ill so much in a 
 
 whirl. 
 That 1 can tell you but little to- 
 night. 
 I'm wounded — don't start, 'tis not 
 
 very bad. 
 Or at least it might be worse, so T 
 
 said, 
 When I thought of you, I'm sure 
 
 she'll be glad, 
 To know that I'm only wounded, not 
 
 dead. 
 
 Sweet Home, Feb. 2 2, 1862. 
 I read your name in the terrible list. 
 But the tears froze back that sprang 
 
 to my eyes. 
 And a fearful pain that I could not 
 
 resist 
 Crushed my heart till I only longed 
 
 to die; 
 The blessed tears bye and bye came 
 
 again, 
 And I felt as you in your letter 
 
 said, 
 A feeling of gladness 'mid all my 
 
 pain. 
 That Robert was only wounded, not 
 
 dead. 
 That night an important Confed- 
 erate council was held inside the 
 works, at which it was agreed to 
 surrender the fort. Floyd, who was 
 in command said, that under the cir- 
 cumstances he would turn over the 
 command to General Pillow, who 
 said that there were no two men in 
 the' Confederacy the Yanks would 
 rather capture than himself and 
 Ceneral Floyd, so they turned it 
 
 over to Buckner, who was a real 
 soldier and a gentleman. Pillow 
 was afraid of his neck and so was 
 Floyd, who at the outbreak of the 
 rebellion was Buchanan's Secretary 
 of War, and he had so scattered 
 the little army of the United States 
 that it vvas distributed all C)ver the 
 (^■ountry. He had taken the arms 
 and munitions of war from the 
 North and placed them in the forts 
 and arsenals of the South. Indeed 
 he had done everything that he 
 could while still a member of Presi- 
 dent Buchanan's cabinet to deplete 
 and ruin the North and build up 
 the South. And so the change was 
 made, and then and there the trai- 
 tcr Floyd ended his infamous ca- 
 reei- of thievery, treachery and 
 cowardice, by stealing himself away 
 in the night with ,'5,000 men, and 
 Pillow went with him with more 
 men, while Forrest with 1,000 cav- 
 alry floundered his way out through 
 the mud and backwater and da>rk- 
 ness to Nashville. 
 
 On the following morning after 
 the Confederate council was held, 
 we were drawn up in line of battle 
 for another advance, a prospect 
 which, considering the carnage of 
 the day before, was very depressing; 
 but there was no desire to shirk so 
 far as covild be noticed; every man 
 appeared to be ready to move should 
 the word be given to advance. Hap- 
 pily, however, we were saved from 
 any further fighting in that battle, 
 for as the first gray streaks of moi'n- 
 ing light appeared in the east, a 
 bugle was sounded from the rebel 
 lines, which, though it was not at 
 first understood by us, was soon 
 greeted with cheers, for it was ac- 
 companied by a white flag, the ap- 
 pearance of which filled us with 
 hope. It meant a parley, to say the 
 
THH: SI.MIM.K \AFK OF A CO.M .MONl^^R 
 
 least, and Ihat niight result in all 
 we were hoping for: and it did. The 
 hugle announced an officer who was 
 carrying a letter from General Biick- 
 ner to General Grant, in which a 
 pioposition was made, suggesting 
 the appointment of commissioners 
 to agree upon terms of capitulation, 
 and at the same time proposing an 
 ai-mistice till neon. Grant's reply 
 to that letter was the first really 
 energetic war note the country had 
 heard from the field, and it thrilled 
 the whole land. It filled the army 
 with new courage and the count r.r 
 with new hope. "No terms except 
 an unconditional and immediate sur- 
 render can be accepted. I piopose 
 to move immedi9,tely upon your 
 works." General Buckner did not 
 hesitate to accept the terms offered, 
 indeed, there was nothing else left 
 for him to do. So he sent General 
 Grant the following reply: "The 
 (list riljution of the foi'ces under my 
 command, incident to an unexpected 
 change of commanders, and the over- 
 whelming force under your com- 
 mand, compel me, notwithstanding 
 the brilliant success of the Confed- 
 erate arms yesterday, to accept the 
 ungenerous and unchivalrous terms 
 you propose." 
 
 As the memory of the events of 
 those daj's come to me now, after 
 the passage of nearly half a century, 
 1 look back to Sunday, February 
 IGth, as one of the proudest days of 
 my life: for immediately after the 
 terms of surrender had been agreed 
 upon tile Union army proceeded to 
 take possession of the fort. I^au- 
 man s brigade, with the exception of 
 the Second Iowa, was formed in two 
 lines facing inward, so as to give 
 ample loom for men to march be- 
 tween them, four abreast: then we 
 were formed at the foot of the col- 
 
 umn and marched through the lines 
 to the head. Our hearts were light 
 and so were our steps, for we receiv- 
 ed such recognition that day as I 
 had never hoped or even dreamed 
 of. Each regiment, as we passed it 
 dropped its colors in salute, the 
 bands played and the men cheered 
 and cheered again. It was a great 
 ovation, such as seldom comes into 
 the lives of men, and we were hap- 
 py. As soon as we had reached the 
 place of honor at the head of the 
 column, our own band struck up the 
 "Star Spangled Banner" and follow- 
 ed by the entire army, entered and 
 quietly took possession of the fort. 
 The rebels who had been disarmed, 
 were standing around in all sorts of 
 attitudes gazing upon us with such 
 looks of dejection, as to move us 
 with pity for them. I am sure we 
 would gladly have done anything in 
 reason to make their lot less hu«iil- 
 iating. However, they were fortun- 
 ate in falling into the hands of a 
 generous foe, who was not disposed 
 to deal unkindly with them, for af- 
 ter all, were they not our prodigal 
 brothers. 
 
 The fort had surrendered and with 
 it a vast amount of stores, guns, am- 
 munition and implements of war. 
 13,5 00 prisoners were turned over 
 to Grant, the largest number that 
 had ever been taken in a single bat- 
 tle on the American continent up to 
 that time. Donelson was won, but 
 it had cost us dearly. MeClernand 
 lost 1,500 men killed and wounded, 
 Wallace lost 300, Smith lost 1.3 5 
 and later on his own life. It was 
 indeed a great victory, and the 
 country went wild with delight; all 
 sorts of extrava.g'ances were indulg- 
 ed in, even the coolest and wisest 
 heads were turned for the moment: 
 and little wonder. When Donelson 
 
THI-: SI.MP[>E \AFK OF A ('OAf-MONER 
 
 fell, Columbus and Fiowiinti Green 
 and Nashville went wiih it. Buell 
 had all along insisted that the union 
 army should make Nashville the 
 I)oint of attack instead of Donelson, 
 but Buell was wrong. 
 
 The Mississippi river was opened 
 up again as far as Island No. 10, 
 and it was demonstrated that the 
 iroops of the west were in every way 
 a match for the men of the South. 
 It -was Grant's opinion that if a com- 
 petent officer had been in command 
 of all the troops west of the Alle- 
 ghanles the whole southwest would 
 have been taken. In .lanuary it had 
 i)een said in Europe, "The faie of 
 the American government will be 
 sealed if February passes without 
 some great victory." Halleck had 
 telegraphed to McClellan: "Fori 
 Donelson is the turning point of the 
 war and we must take it at what- 
 ever cost." After the battle Grant 
 telegraphed to Halleck, after speak- 
 ing of the supplies captured, said of 
 rice: "I don't know that we will 
 want any more during the war. I 
 think I will send you the tail of the 
 elephant in the morning at farth- 
 est." And in his congratulatory ad- 
 dress to the army he said: "Fort 
 Donelson will hereafter be marked 
 in capitals on the map of our coun- 
 try." 
 
 Harper's Weekly on March 1st, in 
 an article entitled: "The Beginning 
 of the End," said of Donelson: "It 
 is probably the culminating point in 
 the struggle between the U. S. gov- 
 ernment and the malcontents." Ev- 
 en Mr. Lincoln shared the general 
 optimistic views of the country. 
 Harper's Weekly of March Sth said: 
 "The president assumes in his am- 
 nesty proclamation that the rebellion 
 has culminated and will henceforth 
 steadily decline, and undoubtedly 
 
 the general feeling is that the heart 
 of the difficulty has been pierced and 
 that nothing now remains for it but 
 to bleed to death." It was then that 
 Halleck created the phrase that was 
 so often referred to afterward: 
 "The backbone of the rebellion is 
 broken." 
 
 Lieutenant Snowden said to me: 
 "Well, Sergeant, we may as well go 
 home now, the war is about over." 
 Discharges were freely offered to 
 the sick and the wounded. Even 
 those who had been but slightly 
 hurt were offered a discharge. I was 
 offered one myself, and it was urged 
 upon me in lieu of a furlough, which 
 I greatly desired at that time. 
 
 In Richmond there was a reign of 
 terror. The union sentiment began 
 to assert itself: the city was placard- 
 ed with calls upon union men to 
 watch and wait. .Many of the lead- 
 ing citizens were arrested upon sus- 
 picion of being union men, and ev- 
 erything was at sea. 
 
 It was along about that time that 
 so many puns and riddles and jokes 
 began to be perpetrated about the 
 war. It was the success at Donel- 
 son that filled Mr. A. Ward so full 
 of patriotic enthusiasm, that he de- 
 clared he was willing to sacrifice all 
 his wife's relations. The greatest 
 feat of the day was "Footing it up 
 the Cumberland." They said that 
 many a man wno had a raging fever 
 before going into battle hart the 
 ague afterward. A civilian gravely 
 told a friend that a 74 pounder was 
 a cannon that sent a pound ball 7 4 
 miles. A dull and plausable man 
 was like an unrifled gun because he 
 was a smooth bore; while many a 
 man who was a quartermaster in 
 the army, had a wife who was a 
 whole master at home. 
 
TilK SI.MI'I.) 
 
 'K OK A CO.M.MOXKR 
 
 CHAPTER Xlll. 
 
 Of course Fort Donelson is not to 
 be coniparerl with some of the later 
 conflicts in many important particu- 
 lars. Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chica- 
 niauga and Gettysburg witnessed 
 the destruction of vastly more prop- 
 erty. Thousands more were killed 
 and wounded because more thou- 
 sands were engaged on these fields, 
 but in the whole range of military 
 operatic ns noi one ever surpassed 
 Fort Donelson in purely military 
 value, and so it has ever been re- 
 garded among military men. 
 
 Of the part taken by the Second 
 Iowa in this great victory, Mr. L. D. 
 Ingersoll, whom I have quoted else- 
 where, has this to say: "As for the 
 Second Iowa, it here won a reputa- 
 tion which can never fade from the 
 minds of mankind so long as the 
 victory of Fort Donelson shall be 
 remembered. In the fine army of 
 western troops, whose wonderful 
 gallantry wrested the stronghold 
 from the insurgents, and caused 
 even rebel writers and rebel officers 
 to admit that the volunteers of the 
 northwestern states and the terri- 
 tory of Nebraska were more than 
 a match for the best troops of the 
 South ; in all this fine array the 
 Second Iowa won the palm of the 
 most conspicuous and daring con- 
 duct. All the troops, with a sense 
 of justice which is ever character- 
 istic of brave men, gladly admitted 
 it, and the lines of the army rang 
 with loud praises of Colonel Tuttle 
 and his regiment, as well as of Gen- 
 eral Smith and Colonel Lauman, the 
 general officers who had charge of 
 the assault. More, the admirable 
 achievement of the regiment brought 
 forth enthusiasm from the imper- 
 turbable Halleck, a thing well nigh 
 as wonderful as the miracle of Moses 
 
 wliich brought forth living waters 
 from the barren rock of the wilder- 
 ness. He telegraphed as follows: 
 St. Louis, Feb. 16, 1862. Adjutant 
 General N. B. Baker: "The Second 
 Iowa Infantry proved themselves the 
 bravest of the brave. They had the 
 honor cf leading the column which 
 entered Fort Donelson.' H. W. 
 Halleck, Major General. I may add 
 that General Halleck was in com- 
 mand of the Department of the .Mis- 
 souri, which at that time included 
 the territory in which Fort Donelson 
 was located. Also that N. B. Baker 
 was Adjutant General of Iowa, un- 
 der Governor Kirk wood. Mr. Inger- 
 soll goes on to say: "It may well 
 be supposed that the fame of the 
 Second Iowa, borne on the swift 
 v.ings of the telegraph and the press, 
 soon penetrated every part of Iowa. 
 The General Assembly was in ses- 
 sion, and when a committee sent to 
 the field of battle to care for our 
 wounded, returned to the capital, 
 bearing with them the flag that had 
 been borne on the glorious field, 
 there was an outpouring of people 
 and of eloquence at Des Moines. The 
 flag was presented to the House, for 
 custody on the Speaker's desk until 
 the close of the session, then to be 
 turned over to the State Historical 
 Society. The Hon. Rush Clerk, 
 Speaker, received the flag and made 
 an address of which I quote but lit- 
 tle: "The valorous deeds of the 
 Second Iowa are already a part of 
 our national history, and make up 
 one of its most brilliant pages. It 
 would be vain to rehearse them now. 
 The unfaltering on?et of those gal- 
 lant men is written in the sleepless 
 memory of a million freemen. Noth- 
 ing can be abated, none of their 
 achievements forgotten." It was a 
 page of history, written in blood. 
 
so 
 
 THI'] Sl.MIMJO \AFK OF A COAFMONRR 
 
 lor of the six hundred and thirty 
 officers and men who formed the 
 storming party, which were all of 
 the regiment fit for duty at the time, 
 forty-one were killed outright and 
 one hundred and fifty-seven woand- 
 ed, many of Ihem so severely fhat 
 they died soon- afterward. 
 
 Of the events Immediately follow- 
 ing the battle I am wholly ignorant, 
 for the day after we marched into 
 the fort, my chum, Joseph Conway 
 and I went down to the river to 
 examine the water battery which 
 had played such havoc with Foote's 
 gunboats, and on cur way back I 
 was seized with a weakness for 
 which I was unable to account. My 
 limbs refused to sustain the weight 
 of my body, and had it not been 
 for my friend I would have fallen 
 to the ground. As it was a faintness 
 came over me and I could go no 
 farther. Fortunately we were not 
 very far from the camp: so that 
 after resting awhile, 1 managed 
 with the help of my friend, upon 
 whom 1 leaned, to get back to my 
 quarters. My illness proved to be 
 a severe case of pneumonia, brought 
 on by the exposure to the severe 
 weather from which so many suffer- 
 ed, and especially that of the night 
 of the 14th. We .had no sooner 
 reached the compaity quarters than 
 I lost all knowledge of what was 
 passing about me. The four weeKS 
 following were an utter blank to me 
 and Avill ever remain so, a fact which 
 on some accounts has always filled 
 me with regret. 
 
 ^Vhen I finally regained conscious- 
 ness, I found my self lying in a bunk 
 which had formerly been occupied 
 by a rebel, but it was none the 
 worse for that, and some of the time 
 following 1 was glad to be alive. 
 Even so, it was a rather sorrowful 
 
 awakening, in view of what was so 
 soon to follow. When I fir.-t open- 
 ed my eyes in consciousness they 
 rested on the face of my dear faith- 
 ful friend, .loseph Conway, who was 
 more than a brother to me; a great, 
 l)ig-hearled, whole-souled fellow, as 
 nol)le a hian as ever lived. From 
 the time of our first acquaintance in 
 our school days through all the 
 years which have followed, though 
 our pathways in life have been some- 
 what different, I have never foi- one 
 moment forgotten that splendid 
 man, cr thought of him with feel- 
 ing.? other than ihoso of the deepest 
 gratitude, for what he, on more than 
 one occasion, has done for me. God 
 ble-ss .Joe Conway. Poor fellow, he 
 has for years been entiiely deaf, an 
 affliction caused by the concus- 
 sion of cannon firing in the battle 
 of Corinth, which at times was very 
 severe. 
 
 ;My sickness had greatly reduced 
 me in flesh and left me very weak. 
 Also 1 was left alone, except when 
 my food was brought in. This food 
 which was the best that could be 
 procured at the time, consisted chief- 
 ly of coffee, army biscuit and salt 
 pork, all good enough in themselves 
 for a healthy marn, but not very 
 appetizing to a convalescent as weak 
 as 1 was. ?ilany times since then 
 have I been prone to make compari- 
 sons between an illness like that and 
 one equally severf under the loving 
 care of a mother or a wife at home 
 In comparison with my sufferings at 
 Fort Donelson it is a positive luxury 
 to suffer at home, with a devotea 
 wife and loving friends to care for 
 you, anticipate you*- needs, provide 
 you with food suitable to your con- 
 dition, and do for you in every way. 
 I have had occasion two or three 
 timers in my life to prove all tliis. 
 
THE SIMPLE EIFE OP A COMMONER 
 
 81 
 
 for I have seen the time when a 
 painful, serious illness was a posi- 
 tive enjoyment though it may seem 
 a strange thing to say. 
 
 Upon regaining consciousness I 
 learned that the regiment had gone 
 to Pittsburg Landing, on the Ten- 
 nessee river, having taken its de- 
 parture a few days before. A little 
 squad among whom was my friend 
 Conway had been left behind to take 
 by boat such camp equipage as 
 could not well be conveyed over 
 land. The boats were to proceed 
 down the Cumberland to the mouth 
 of the Ohio, then down that river 
 to the Tennessee and on up the 
 Tennessee to General Grant's camp 
 at Pittsburg Landing, where the 
 Union forces were gathering in great! 
 numbers. As soon as I was able to 
 crawl out of my bunk and pack Avhat 
 few things I possessed in my knap- 
 sack, I started for the river, where 
 1 was told a steamer was loading 
 with supplies to be carried to Pitts- 
 burg Landing. Securing a stick which 
 someone had thrown away, I began 
 my journey to the boat landing. Un- 
 able to- carry my knapsack, I seized 
 it by the strap and dragged it after 
 me, as I placed my stick in front 
 and managed to pull myself a few 
 steps forward; then unable to go any 
 further, I would drop to the ground 
 in utter helplessness and declare to 
 myself that it was no use, I could 
 not make the boat; I might as well 
 die right there as to make any fur- 
 ther effort. But then there was the 
 battlefield with all its scenes of 
 anguish and horror as vivid befoi'e 
 me as on the day it had been fought. 
 In my weak condition 1 could hear 
 the groans of the dying; I could see 
 the torn and mangled dead lying 
 around me as I had heard and seen 
 them on the day of the battle. It 
 
 was all fresh before me, and it was 
 utterly horrible. To one in a nor- 
 mal condition it would have made 
 little impression, comparatively, but 
 I felt it all and more. Then I would 
 think of home and the loved ones 
 there, and I would say to myself: 
 "Come, come, this won't do; I will 
 not give up, I will make another 
 effort," and getting to my feet 
 again after a struggle, would put 
 out my stick and drag myself for- 
 ward a few steps, only to collapse 
 and go down again utterly exhaust- 
 ed. It was fortunate for me that 
 it was down hill all the way, or I 
 never could have made it; as it was, 
 after giving up the struggle and 
 lying down to die several times, I 
 succeeded in finally reaching the 
 landing and found the boat I had 
 been told was there. Leaving the 
 fort some time in the morning, it 
 had taken the entire day to reach 
 the river, and the distance could not 
 have been much over half to three- 
 quarters of a mile. It was late in 
 the evening when I reached the 
 river. I was soon discovered by my 
 friend, Conway, who was greatly 
 astonished to find me there. I told 
 him I wanted to get away on that 
 boat to a hospital somewhere if pos- 
 sible. He immediately went to the 
 captain to obtain a passage for me, 
 but soon returned to say the cap- 
 tain had declared with an oath that 
 he would not have any sick men 
 aboard his boat. "Well, .Toe," I 
 said, "I am going on this boat, they 
 can do no more than throw me into 
 the river and if I am to go to hea- 
 ven now, it is just as near by water 
 as it is by land." "Yes," he replied, 
 "that's so, and I'll tell you what 
 we'll do. You stay where you are 
 till after dark, then I'll get you on 
 lioard unseen by the officers of the 
 
H2 
 
 THE SniPLE EIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 boat and you can hide under that 
 canvass (indicating some tenting 
 stuff that was piled upon the bow of 
 the boat) till she pulls out and after 
 that we must take our chances." So 
 I concealed myself under the tent 
 stuff until the boat backed out into 
 the river and headed down stream, 
 then crawling out of my hiding place 
 I appeared among the boatmen very 
 weary and very hungry. No man 
 knows how much he can endure un- 
 till he is put to the test. Disheart- 
 ened utterly, he may be confronted 
 with difficulties apparently insur- 
 mountable; he may time and again 
 be tempted to yield before them and 
 give up in despair, but if he possesses 
 good courage and holds to the an- 
 chor of his soul, he will eventually 
 overcome them all and then the vic- 
 tory will be the sweeter because of 
 the severe struggles which were con- 
 stantly required to master them. 
 
 It was fortunate for me that the 
 steward of the boat was a good 
 Union man and that he possessed a 
 kind heart, for he took pity on me 
 as soon as my condition was made 
 known to him. He made me some 
 excellent soup which did me much 
 good, and I felt very grateful for it. 
 When we reached Paducah I was 
 transferred to another boat and sent 
 down the Ohio river to Mound City, 
 Illinois, where a temporary hospital 
 had been provided in an old packing 
 house, where I found quite a num- 
 ber of sick and wounded soldiers, 
 who, like myself, had been tempor- 
 arily left there until some other dis- 
 position could be made of us. I was 
 detained at Mound City only until 
 word could be sent to my father, 
 who immediately came after me, and 
 obtaining a furlough took me home, 
 where I soon regained health and 
 strength. 
 
 During the period of my convales- 
 ence, the battle of Shiloh was fought 
 and as I knew the Second Iowa must 
 have been in the battle I was greatly 
 troubled about it until news from 
 the field reached us. The people at 
 home seemed to think I would know 
 all about it and I was bombarded 
 with all sorts of questions, none of 
 which I was able to answer, as I 
 knew no more about it than they. 
 I could only say that I thought it 
 highly probable a great battle had 
 taken place. Reports from the field 
 socn came in however, from which 
 it was learned that two privates of 
 Company "I" had been killed and 
 Captain Cox and another private 
 wounded. Immediately after the bat- 
 tle Captain Cox tendered his resigna- 
 tion and came home. Upon receiv- 
 ing the news from Shiloh, I hasten- 
 ed back to the regiment to learn 
 that during my absence I had been 
 promoted to the office of Orderly 
 Sergeant of the company. I found 
 the boys in good spirits and eager 
 for an advance farther into the 
 enemy's country. 
 
 There is little to be said of the 
 advance south from Pittsburg Land- 
 ing so far as active operations were 
 concerned. All the forces in that 
 section were concentrated under 
 Major General H. W. Halleck, with 
 Grant second in command. Halleck, 
 while possessing many soldierly 
 qualities, was not a great field com- 
 mander. Had Grant been given com- 
 mand of all the forces in the West 
 at that period the immediate results 
 would have been different. The ad- 
 vance from Shiloh to Corinth, twen- 
 ty miles away, which was the objec- 
 tive point held by Beauregard, the 
 Confederate General, was made dur- 
 ing the month of May. General Hal- 
 leck was over cautious; he was 
 
Till-: Sl.Ml'Ll-: LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 s:! 
 
 riiuid, and moved slowly when he 
 should have pressed the advantage 
 gained at Pittsburg Landing. A short 
 march would be made and then in- 
 trenchments thrown up at night, 
 the army sleeping on its arms and 
 kept in a state of constant alarm, 
 which in the light of subsequent 
 events seemed to have been quite 
 unnecessary. General Halleck had 
 arrived at Pittsburg Landing April 
 11th and assumed command of the 
 army in the field. Ten days later 
 General John Pope reached there 
 witn an army of .']0,00 men who 
 had just captured Island Number 
 Ten, on the Mississippi river. These 
 troops with the Army of the Ohio 
 under General Buell and the Army 
 of the Tennessee, under Grant made 
 an effective force of 120,000 men, 
 which far outnumbered those under 
 command of Beauregard, who stood 
 ready to evacuate Corinth just as 
 soon as Halleck was ready to make 
 a vigorous assault on the place. 
 
 One day as we were advancing in 
 line of battle, confronted by a heavy 
 skirmish line, a little incident which 
 was over in a moment startled me 
 and one or two others who happened 
 to notice it. When marching in line 
 of battle the Orderly Sergeant's 
 place is at the head of his company, 
 but the moment the command is 
 given to halt, he drops back in the 
 rear of the line. On the occasion 
 referred to I was marching in my 
 place as usual, when the order to 
 halt was given and I stepped back. 
 Now it requires but an instant for 
 the gap to fill when forty or fifty 
 thousand men are marching in line, 
 especially where the ground is rough 
 and broken as was the case at that 
 time. I had no sooner stepped back 
 and a little to one side than a bul- 
 let whistled through the vacancy. 
 
 cutting a twig in two which was 
 e.xactly in line where 1 had stood, 
 and would have entei-ed my body at 
 the left breast. It was a little thing 
 to be sure, but it turned some very 
 white faces in my direction for the 
 moment. What we are prone to call 
 little things, are sometimes among 
 the mightiest forces of the universe 
 in determining the destinies of the 
 world. 
 
 Inasmuch as oui brigade which 
 was now composed of the Second 
 and Seventh Iowa, the "Union Brig- 
 ade" made up of fragments oi the 
 Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth 
 Iowa regiments which had escaped 
 capture at Shiloh, and the Fifty-sec- 
 ond Illinois, was destined to spend 
 many months at Corinth, which 
 place was later to become the scene 
 of one of the great battles of the 
 war, I take the liberty to quote 
 from the Memoirs of General Grant 
 as to its location and the ease with 
 which it might have been taken, had 
 General Halleck pushed things: 
 "Corinth, Mississippi, lies in a south- 
 westerly direction from Pittsburg 
 Landing and about nineteen miles 
 away as a bird would fly, but prob- 
 ably twenty-two by the nearest wa- 
 gon road. It is about four miles 
 south of the line dividing the state 
 of Tennessee and Mississippi, and at 
 the junction of the Mississippi and 
 Chattanooga railroad with the Mo- 
 bile and Ohio road which runs from 
 Columbus to Mobile. From Pitts- 
 burg Landing to Corinth the land 
 is rolling, but at no point reaching 
 an elevation that makes high hills 
 to pass over. In 1862 the greater 
 part of the country was covered with 
 forest, with intervening clearings 
 and houses. Underbrush was dense 
 in the low grounds along the creeks 
 and ravines, but generally not so 
 
84 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A C'O^LMONER 
 
 tliifk on the high land as to prevent 
 men passing through with ease. 
 There are two small creeks running 
 from north of the town and connect- 
 ing some four miles south, where 
 they form Bridge Creek, which emp- 
 ties into the Tuscumbia river. Cor- 
 inth is on the ridge between these 
 streams and is a naturally strong 
 defensive position. The creeks are 
 insignificant in volume of water, but 
 the stream to the east widens out in 
 front of the town into a swamp, im- 
 passable in the presence of an enemy. 
 On the crest of the west bank of 
 this stream the enemy was strongly 
 intrenched. Corinth was a valuable 
 strategic point for the enemy to 
 hold, and consequently a valuable 
 one for us to posess ourselves of. We 
 ought to have seized it immediately 
 after the fall of Donelson and Nash- 
 ville, when it could have been taken 
 without a battle, but failing then, 
 it should have been taken without 
 delay on the concentration of troops 
 at Pittsburg Landing after the bat- 
 tle of Shiloh. In fact the arrival 
 of Pope should not have been await- 
 ed. There was no time from the 
 battle of Shiloh up to the evacuation 
 of Corinth when the enemy would 
 not have left if pushed. The de- 
 moralization among the Confederates 
 from their defeats at Henry and 
 Donelson; their long marches from 
 Bowling Green, Columbus and Nash- 
 ville and their failure at Shiloh; in 
 fact from having been driven out of 
 Kentucky and Tennessee, was so 
 great that a stand for the time 
 would have been impossible."' Thus 
 it was that one of the finest oppor- 
 tunities of the war was frittered 
 away through the dawdling tactics 
 of an over cautious commander. 
 
 At length, however, Corinth was 
 reached. Just before daylight on 
 
 the morning of May 30th, a com- 
 rade who had spent a sleepless night, 
 awakened me with a violent shake 
 and pointing away to the south in 
 the direction of Corinth, said: 
 "Harry, what does that mean?" 1 
 sprang to my feet as soon as I saw 
 what had arrested his attention and 
 running over to Captain Howard, 
 who was now in command of our 
 company, I woke him up with the 
 remark: "Captain, the enemy are 
 signalling with rockets, may it not 
 mean immediate action for us?" 
 "Yes," he replied, "I think we had 
 ijetter get ready for a forward move- 
 ment." The rockets had been seen 
 by ethers of course, and orders were 
 soon received from headquarters 
 which indicated an advance. The 
 entire army was at once called into 
 line of battle, but there was no con- 
 flict, ,for Beauregard had published 
 orders for the evacuation of Corinth 
 four days before. On the 29th his 
 army took its departure and the 
 rockets we had seen were simply a 
 notice that the rear guard with what 
 baggage had been left the day be- 
 fore, was now on its way to join the 
 main force again. So it came to pass 
 that we entered Corinth without op- 
 position. 
 
 Following the battles of Donelson 
 and Shiloh some changes had taken 
 place among the officers of the regi- 
 ment. Colonel Tuttle had been pro- 
 moted to Brigadier General, James 
 Baker was now Colonel, N. W. Mills, 
 Lieutenant Colonel and James B. 
 Weaver Major, v.ith G. L. Godfrey 
 Adjutant. Several changes had also 
 taken place among the line officers, 
 N. B. Howard was Captain of Com- 
 pany "I" in lieu of H. P. Cox, re- 
 signed; Thomas Snowden was First 
 Lieutenant and W. W. Stevens had 
 been promoted to the Second Lieu- 
 tenaiitcv. 
 
THE SI.MIM.E IJFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 85 
 
 The eneiny who had blown up a 
 vast amount of ammunition and 
 stores before leaving, was pursued 
 as far south as Booneville, but the 
 destruction of bridges and obstruc- 
 ticns so placed by the retreating 
 enemy as to delay us as much as 
 possible enabled them to get away 
 with very little less. The siege and 
 capture of Corinth had caused us but 
 little less either in men or stores so 
 that the experience gained was 
 cheap to ijs. It was not long after 
 this that General Grant was restored 
 to the command of the Army of the 
 Tennessee, of which he had been un- 
 justly deprived through the jealousy 
 of others. 
 
 The brigade upon returning from 
 pursuit of the enemy found excellent 
 quarters at Camp Montgomery. It 
 was located among trees which pro- 
 vided us with an excellent shade and 
 was in every way desirable. The 
 tents were pitched in regular order, 
 the grounds cleaned up, post hos- 
 pitals established, wells dug, which 
 supplied us with wholesome water, 
 and everything done to make things 
 comfortable and sanitary. Here we 
 remained with little to do except to 
 perfect ourselves in drill and occas- 
 ionally go on some expedition after 
 the rebel generals, Forest and 
 Rcddy, or the marauding bands of 
 guerrillas, who constantly hung 
 about our outposts and sought to 
 destroy communications, cut off sup- 
 plies and kill or capture straggler.-^ 
 or foragers sent out after supplies 
 from the surrounding country. This 
 latter, however was a vain hope for 
 the rebel army had been there so 
 long, nothing was left for us. 
 
 On the morning of September 
 18th the troops at Corinth under 
 command of General E. O. C. Ord 
 departed for Tuka, where a battle was 
 
 expected with the Confederates un- 
 der General Van Dorn. Arriving at 
 Burnsville on the Memphis and 
 Charleston railrcad, they left 
 the train and marched to a point 
 north of luka. Our regiment with 
 one from Ohio, numbering in all 900 
 men was left behind as a guard for 
 General Grant, who made Burnsville 
 his headquarters for the time, and 
 also as a reserve in case we should 
 be needed. During the progress of 
 the battle which took place on the 
 lOth, we received orders to push on 
 to luka, but we had not proceeded 
 far before General Grant, who had 
 gone on ahead, returned and order- 
 ed us back. "Boys," he said, "you 
 may return to Burnsville: the battle 
 is all over and you will not be need- 
 ed." Whereupon the column faced 
 about and made all haste back to 
 Corinth, where it was soon to be 
 needed in defense of that important 
 strategic point. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 On the morning of October 3rd, 
 with two days rations and one hun- 
 dred rounds of cartridges, we left 
 Camp Montgomery, and took up a 
 position on the outer line of the old 
 rebel rifle pits, two and a half miles 
 distant. Jtist as we started Lieuten- 
 ant Snowden said to me: "Sergeant, 
 I want you to do me a favor; we 
 are going into battle and I shall 
 never come out of it alive:" at the 
 same time taking his watch which 
 was a valuable one, from his pocket 
 he said: "After the ba.ttle is over 
 I want you to send this home to 
 my wife, and tell her how it hap- 
 pened." Under ordinary circum- 
 stances I would have cheerfully 
 rendered him any service in my 
 power, but I could not take his 
 watch, believing as I did that there 
 
THE SniPLE EIFR OF A CO^FMONER 
 
 was no greater reason to suppose 
 that he would he killed than myself, 
 and if I should be killed also, and 
 the watch found on my person, my 
 friends would never be able to ex- 
 plain the matter and thus an un- 
 just stain might rest upon me. I 
 was obliged to decline to take it and 
 I tried to make light of his fears. 
 All to no purpose, however, for 
 he was sadly depressed, not through 
 any physical fear, .or he was a brave 
 man, but under the occult influence 
 of that mysterious second sight or 
 premonition which sometimes comes 
 to the children of men. I do not at- 
 tempt to explain it: I know of no 
 philosophy that is able to unveil this 
 secret of mental forboding which, 
 under certain conditions assails us. 
 I only know that during my life I 
 have observed two inistances of its 
 influence and in both of them I have 
 been made to play a secondary part. 
 The first was the case of Lieutenant 
 Snowden, the second was that of my 
 own father, to which I shall refer in 
 its proper place. That God in His 
 infinite goodness has mercifully 
 withheld from us the time and the 
 circumstances connected with our 
 decease, as well as the exact condi- 
 tion of each individual in the future 
 state, is cause for thankfulness on 
 our part; for if we knew before- 
 hand all these things it would unfit 
 us for the part we are assigned in 
 this life. Therefore, let us be con- 
 tent to walk in mental darkness, 
 ■where we must, groping our way 
 among the profound mysteries of 
 the universe, only making the most 
 of what few rays of light may flit 
 athwart our pathway from the cra- 
 dle to the tomb; knowing full well 
 that in the hereafter these things 
 shall all be revealed to us and "We 
 
 shall know even as also we are 
 known." 
 
 The defensive works which we 
 were ordered to occupy had been 
 built by the enemy when they had 
 possession of the city before our ad- 
 vance from Pittsburg Landing. The 
 timber had been cut down and the 
 brush cleared away on our front so 
 that there was nothing to obstruct 
 the view. The enemy formed in the 
 woods on our immediate front, but 
 moved a little to our left and in 
 column by division charged the bri- 
 gade under command of General 
 Oglesby. It was a magnificent sight 
 and was bravely done. They moved 
 steadily forward even as we had 
 done at Donelson. They were met 
 by discharge after discharge of mus- 
 ketry from Oglesby's men; the can- 
 non in front poured its shrieking 
 shells among them; our brigade un- 
 der Hackleman poured a flanking 
 fire upon them when they were near 
 enough for us to reach them, but 
 notwithstanding the deadly fire on 
 their front and the enfilading fire 
 from our batteries they pushed their 
 way with great determination until 
 they had driven Oglesby from his 
 position on uie hill and caused our 
 entire line on that part of the field 
 to fall back and change its front. 
 This temporary success was not at- 
 tained, however, until after the gal- 
 lant Oglesby had been severely 
 wounded and many of his men had 
 fallen. Our new line was formed on 
 a ridge in the timber, where there 
 was a heavy growth of brush, under 
 cover of which both sides were part- 
 ly concealed. Very soon they open- 
 ed on us with an energetic fire from 
 their batteries, to which our people 
 responded with equal vigor. It was 
 under this cannonading that Ser- 
 
THK Sl.Ml'lvl'] ]AFK OK A ('O:\IMONER 
 
 seant Joseph Conway lost his hear- 
 ing, a misfortune referred to in 
 another place. After an artillery 
 play of about thirty minutes, the 
 enemy made ready to charge us 
 again with his infantry. We were 
 lying flat on the ground at this mo- 
 ment with quite a well defined dis- 
 position to "grab a root." The of- 
 ficers had charged us to hold our 
 tire until orders were given to shoot, 
 and with most commendable self- 
 control the men obeyed that com- 
 mand. Only one shot was fired be- 
 fore the word was given and that 
 was by a man who was unable to 
 control his nerves, and did no harm. 
 When the command was finally giv- 
 en just as the rebels came charging 
 upon us with their famous "rebel 
 yell," the entire Union line rose to 
 its feet and poured such a withering 
 fire upon them that unable to stand 
 before the bayonet charge which im- 
 mediately followed, they broke and 
 sought cover under the banks of a 
 little creek on our front, which 
 partly sheltered them. There they 
 made a stand and until darkness be- 
 gan to fall they stoutly maintained 
 their ground and did much execu- 
 tion among us, especially upon our 
 officers, who suffered severely 
 General Hackleman, commander of 
 our brigade, was killed; Colonel 
 Baker of our regiment was mortally 
 wounded and died soon after; Lieu- 
 tenants Huntington, Snowden and 
 Bing were also killed, with a large 
 number of non-commissioned officers 
 and privates killed and wounded. 
 Soon after the rebel onslaught 
 and their discomfiture, I noticed sev- 
 eral of the enemy moving about in 
 the timber near the creek, already 
 referred to, and turning to call the 
 attention of Lieutenant Snowden to 
 their movements, T was startled to 
 
 behold him stretched iipon his back 
 on the ground. His premonition had 
 become a verity; a bullet had pierc- 
 ed his brain and he had died in- 
 stantly. Almost at the same mo- 
 ment I felt a sharp blow on my 
 left side which I imagined at the 
 time to have been caused by a piece 
 of bark knocked from a tree near 
 which I happened to be standing at 
 the time. At the close of the battle 
 that evening, taking a "hardtack" 
 from my haversack I found a round 
 hole right through the center of it 
 which I knew had been made by a 
 bullet. Upon further examination I 
 discovered several other crackers 
 pierced in the same way, the bullet 
 had passed through five or six of 
 those biscuits and a piece of salt 
 pork and then had glanced off, after 
 striking another hardtack and pas- 
 sed through my haversack. Thus it 
 happened that those much maligned 
 army biscuits had protected me 
 against the assaults of foes without, 
 in addition to ministering to my 
 necessities from within; and I was 
 again thankful to that kind Provi- 
 dence which had continued to watch 
 over me for the marvellous preser- 
 vation of my life. After the battle 
 and pursuit of the enemy Colonel 
 T. W. Sweeney of the Fifty-second 
 Illinois, who assumed command of 
 the brigade upon the death of Gen- 
 eral Hackleman, made his report of 
 the part taken by the troops under 
 his command, from which I take 
 the following extract: "The regi- 
 ments composing the brigade were 
 posted as follows: The Fifty-sec- 
 ond Illinois on the right, the Sec- 
 ond Iowa on the left of the Fifty- 
 second, and the Seventh Iowa on the 
 left of the Second. The Union Bri- 
 gade came up at this point from 
 Danville and was posted on the left 
 
88 
 
 THE sniP[.E IJFR OF A COiM.MONER 
 
 of the battery, which was in posi- 
 tion on the left of the Seventh 
 Iowa." After referring to the ar- 
 tillery duel already mentioned he 
 goes on to say: "The enemy burst 
 from the woods in front in magnifi- 
 cent style in columns by divisions, 
 and moved swiftly across the open 
 field until within point-blank range, 
 when they deployed into and opened 
 a tremendous fire, moving steadily 
 to the front all the time. Our men, 
 who had been ordered to lie down, 
 now rose and poured in their fire 
 Avith such deadly effect that the foe, 
 after a short but sanguinary strug- 
 gle, reeled, broke and fled in dis- 
 may. Again they advanced, but were 
 forced back at the point of the bay- 
 onet with great slaughter, our men 
 driving them across the open field 
 and into the woods. It was in this 
 charge that brave Colonel Baker fell 
 mortally wounded. His last words. 
 "I die content; I have seen my regi- 
 ment victoriously charging the en- 
 emy," were worthy of him. The 
 enemy now receiving heavy rein- 
 forcements, the fighting between 
 them and the Fifty-second Illinois 
 and Second and Seventh Iowa be- 
 came desperately fierce, the right of 
 the Union brigade having given way 
 at the very beginning of the engage- 
 ment. Just at this juncture part of 
 Mower's brigade moved to our sup- 
 port, but before they could be de- 
 ployed into line they became panic- 
 stricken and broke in confusion. It 
 was while endeavoring to rally these 
 men that Generals Hackleman and 
 Oglesby were wounded. The former 
 received his death wound while thus 
 rallying troops to sustain his own 
 gallant brigade. His last words 
 were, "I am dying, but I die for my 
 country. If we are victorious, send 
 my remains home; if not, bury me 
 
 on the field." No nobler sentiment 
 was ever uttered by soldier or pa- 
 triot. After he fell the command of 
 the brigade devolved on me, and 
 the fight continued with unabated 
 fury until our ammunition was al- 
 most expended; but by this time the 
 enemy had almost disappeared from 
 our front, although it was evident 
 he was massing his troops on our 
 left, for the purpose of turning our 
 flank. About this time a regiment 
 of Colonel Mower's brigade relieved 
 the Fifty-second Illinois, which was 
 out of ammunition, and an order be- 
 ing received from General Davies a 
 few minutes after to fall back, we 
 retired in good order and took posi- 
 tions on the right of Fort Robinette. 
 It was now .5 p. m. and a fresh sup- 
 ply of ammunition was here dis- 
 tributed to the troops. About 10 
 p. m. I received an order to move 
 my brigade to the rear of General 
 Ord's old headquarters and form 
 line of battle facing to the north. 
 From this place I was ordered about 
 2:30 o'clock on the morning of the 
 4 th to take position on the Purdy 
 road, in the suburbs of the town, to 
 the north, the right of my brigade 
 resting on the redan occupied by Lieu- 
 tenant Green of the First Missouri 
 artillery, with four guns. Two more 
 were placed in th-^ interval between 
 the Fifty-second Illinois and Second 
 Iowa. Here the brigade stacked 
 arms in line of battle and bivouaced 
 until daybreak. From early dawn 
 until 8 a. m. a brisk fire was kept 
 up between our batteries and those 
 of the enemy until the latter were 
 silenced or captured." 
 
 This artillery engagement to 
 which Colonel Sweeney refers was 
 very expensive to the rebels. Dur- 
 ing the night they had placed one 
 battery in close range of our heavier 
 
Tlll<: Sl.Ml'IJO I.lFl^] OF A COMMONER 
 
 Si) 
 
 guns and we knew it would l)e des- 
 troyed in the morning: so we lis- 
 tened to them with great compla- 
 cency as they were getting it ready 
 lor action. Poor fellows, just as 
 soon as It was light enough to see 
 our battery Robinette opened on 
 them and at the first discharge their 
 guns were put out of commission 
 and all of those who served them 
 were either killed or wounded with 
 possibly one or two exceptions. At 
 the first opportunity a few of ua 
 boys went over to the place where 
 the battery had stood. The sight 
 was a sickening one, the dead artill- 
 erymen were piled on each other in 
 a heap as though they had been 
 purposely thrown together. Their 
 bodies were swollen to much beyond 
 their natural size and their faces 
 had turned black. It was one of the 
 most gruesome sights I ever beheld. 
 The impression it made on me re- 
 mains, an uncanny remembrance, to 
 this day. The Colonel goes on to 
 say: "I cautioned my men who 
 were lying on the ground, to re- 
 serve their fire until the enemy got 
 within point-blank range, and then 
 fire low and keep perfectly cool. It 
 was a terribly beautiful sight to see 
 the enemy's columns advance, in 
 despite of a perfect storm of grape 
 and cannister, shell and rifle ball: 
 still on they marched and fired, 
 though their ranks were perceptibly 
 thinned at every step. The brigade 
 stood firm as a rock, and the men 
 loaded and fired with the coolness 
 and precision of veterans, when all 
 of a sudden the troops on the right 
 of the redan (a brigade of Hamil- 
 ton's division) gave way and broke. 
 The First Missouri Artillery in the 
 redan and the two pieces on the left 
 of the Fifty-second, limbered up and 
 galloped off in wild confusion 
 
 through our reserves, killing several 
 of our men and scattering the rest. 
 .My line remained still unbroken, 
 pouring deadly volleys into the 
 enemy's ranks, who, taking advan- 
 tage of the panic on the right, mov- 
 ed their columns obliquely in that 
 direction and charged up the redan. 
 Unfortunately the officer in charge 
 of the Fifty-second Illinois, Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Wilcox, instead of meet- 
 ing the enemy boldly, ordered the 
 regiment to fall back without au- 
 thority, and before I could halt it 
 the regiment broke. The Union 
 brigade gave way simultaneously 
 with the Fifty-second, but portions 
 of the Second and Seventh Iowa still 
 held their ground and kept the 
 enemy in check until the rest of my 
 brigade was rallied, when I ordered 
 the coloi^s of the Second and Seventh 
 Iowa to fall back and form their 
 regiments on the side hill, out of 
 range of the enemy's fire, which they 
 did almost immediately. I now ord- 
 ered the line to charge on the enemy, 
 who had by this time gained the 
 crest of the hill on our front. With 
 a shout that was heard through our 
 whole lines the men of the first bri- 
 gade rushed upon the enemy. Those 
 who had given way a short time be- 
 fore, being evidently ashamed of the 
 momentary panic that had seized 
 them, seemed determined to wipe 
 out the stain upon their courage by 
 their reckless daring. The foe, re- 
 luctant to abandon the advantage he 
 had gained, fought stubbornly for 
 awhile, but was finally compelled to 
 give way, retreating in great confu- 
 sion through the swamps and abattis 
 to the woods, hotly pursued by our 
 men. In this charge we retook the 
 redan and the guns that were aban- 
 doned by the artillery. 126 prison- 
 ers, and 4 stands of colors. Among 
 
Tin-: SBIPLE T.IFE OF A COMMONKR 
 
 the prisoners were three Colonels, 
 four Captains and three Lieutenants. 
 Thus ended the battle of the 4th. 
 On Friday morning the brigade left 
 Camp Montgomery with 7 7 commis- 
 sioned officers and 1,0 21 enlisted 
 men. The Union brigade joined it 
 that afternoon with 1 .'> co'mmissloned 
 officers and o2 6 men, making a total 
 of 92 commissioned officers and 
 1,3 47 men. On Saturday night we 
 bivouaced on the field, so warmly 
 contested that day, with a loss of 
 31 commiissioned offi-cers and 386 
 enlisted men, thus showing a loss cf 
 one-third of the brigade during the 
 two days conflict of the 3rd and 
 4th. On Sunday morning we com- 
 menced the pursuit of the enemy, and 
 proceeded by the Chewalla road as 
 far as Ruckersville, from which 
 place w'e were ordered back, and 
 arrived at Camp Montgomery on the 
 12th much fatigued but in good 
 spirits. On the 5th instant the Sec- 
 ond and Seventh Iowa were detached 
 from my brigade and ordered back 
 to Corinth to report to General Rose- 
 crans." 
 
 The Second Iowa went into the 
 battle under command of Colonel 
 James Baker with 3 field, 2 staff 
 and 21 line officers and 320 enlist- 
 ed man, making an aggregate of 34 6. 
 Of this number, our aggregate loss 
 in officers and men amounted to 103, 
 which was one-third of our entire 
 number. The "part of Mower's bri- 
 gade," to which Colonel Sweeney 
 refers in his report as becoming 
 panic stricken and breaking in con- 
 fusion, must have been the Eighth 
 Wisconsin, for the Major command- 
 ing that regiment says in his report: 
 "In front of the right wing of my 
 regiment in the hollow, was an Iowa 
 regiment engaged with the enemy. 
 My position upon the ridge was ex- 
 
 posed to the long range guns of the 
 enemy and my left wing became 
 engaged and the right wing not en- 
 gaged, on account of the Iowa regi- 
 ment being in front and the Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel being wounded. At 
 this juncture I ordered the regiment 
 forward across the hollow, partially 
 ma&sing the right wing with the left 
 wing of the Iowa regiment." The 
 lov.a regiment referred to by Major 
 Jefferson in his report was the Sec- 
 ond Iowa. 
 
 I distinctly remember that when 
 our ammunition was exhausted on 
 the afternoon of the 3rd, and we 
 were ordered to fall back farther up 
 the hill where we were to receive a 
 new supply of ammunition and at 
 the same time be given an oppor- 
 tunity to recover as far as possible 
 from the effects of the charge we 
 had withstood, part of the Eighth 
 Wisconsin was ordered forward to 
 relieve us, but they did not remain. 
 As a matter of fact, I saw "Old 
 Abe," the eagle carried by that regi- 
 ment and so much talked about, 
 perched on a board borne by a 
 brawny soldier, about twenty paces 
 in front of us as we were moving 
 to the rear. The trouble did not 
 lie with the soldiers, it was a mis- 
 take of some officer, who instead of 
 advancing the Wisconsin boys in 
 column by company so as to have 
 made intervals for us to have march- 
 ed through in our passage to the 
 rear, he had evidently ordered them 
 forward in line of battle which caus- 
 ed so much confusion that they be- 
 came temporarily panic stricken and 
 broke to the rear ahead of us. The 
 Eighth Wisconsin was as good a 
 body of men as there was in the 
 field but some one had blundered. 
 
 The Second Iowa made a fine rec- 
 ord in the conflict at Corinth, as 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ill 
 
 also did ( thers, on both sides, in 
 that hotly contested battle which 
 will always rank as one of the great- 
 est of the war. The regiment suc- 
 ceeded in capturing 31 prisoners and 
 one stand of colors. At this point 
 it may not be out of place to re- 
 mark that during the whole war 
 Iowa lost five colonels, two of whom 
 were from the Second Iowa, viz: 
 Baker and I\Iills, for though Mills 
 was our Lieutenant Colonel at the 
 beginning of the battle he was com- 
 missioned Colonel before he died. 
 From what I have here set down it 
 must not be supposed that other 
 troops did not render equally meri- 
 torious services. I have mentioned 
 the part taken by the regiment of 
 which 1 was a member only because 
 to do more than that would require 
 greater space than could be allowed 
 within the limits of this volume, 
 which is designed to be nothing 
 more than a mere outline of those 
 events with which I happened to be 
 in seme measure connected. More- 
 over the history of the war has been 
 written by many competent hands 
 eome of whom enter into all its de- 
 tails and have written from many 
 and various points of view. 
 
 After a laborious pursuit of the 
 rebels from Corinth to Ruckersville, 
 which occupied seven days, we re- 
 turned and went into camp at Cor- 
 inth, operating fro'm that point 
 against the enemy, who kept us 
 quite busy. In the meantime I had 
 been recommended for a Captain's 
 commission which arrived in due 
 time, to my great satisfaction. It 
 stated that "Harry H. Green, hav- 
 ing been duly promoted to the office 
 of Captain of Company I, Second 
 Regiment Volunteer Infantry of the 
 state of Iowa, was duly commission- 
 ed Captain of said Company, to take 
 
 rank from the Twent y-fouri li day of 
 November, 1862." It was signed by 
 Samuel J. Kirkwo.od, governor of 
 Iowa. From this time forward my 
 responsibilities became weightier. 1 
 realized that I, like little Chad Bu- 
 ford, must "ack like a man now." 
 
 During the stay of the regiment at 
 Corinth several expeditions were 
 made after different rebel leaders 
 into the surrounding territory. The 
 first of these marches was to Little 
 Bear creek, four miles from Tus- 
 cumbia, Alabama, where after a 
 sharp engagement, General Roddy, 
 the rebel commander was routed, 
 the bridges burned, a lot of stores 
 of various kinds destroyed and 32 
 prisoners taken. On our side there 
 were no serious losses. The great- 
 er part of the month of December 
 was spent in expeditions after Gen- 
 erals Forrest and Roddy, intercept- 
 ing them in some of their maraud- 
 ing excursions into northern Ala- 
 bama. The following extract from a 
 letter written to a very dear friend 
 in the north, with whom I was cor- 
 responding, has reference to one of 
 those engagements: 
 
 Corinth, Miss., Dec. 15, 1862. 
 Dear M: — 
 
 Another of your ever welcome 
 letters is before me. I received it 
 last evening and now comes the 
 pleasant task of replying. We have 
 been on an expedition into Alabama 
 and have been away six days. Had 
 a very small fight, only one or two 
 men hurt in the regiment; chased 
 the Butternuts over fifteen miles, 
 keeping up a running fight with 
 them all the way. They finally 
 made a stand and opened on us with 
 artillery, but we soon made them 
 "skedadle," leaving us about thirty 
 killed and wounded and the same 
 number of prisoners. The latter we 
 
Till'] SIMPT.E T.IFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 brought to Corinth and paroled. We 
 marched all one night and the great- 
 er part of the day and was within 
 about twelve miles of Bragg's army. 
 It was a daring affair. We arrived 
 safely in camp last night very 
 tired." 
 
 The arrival of the mail with let- • 
 ters from home never failed to be 
 an occasion of rare interest to the 
 soldier boys at the front. Especial- 
 ly was this the case when, as so 
 often happened, long delays were 
 caused by the numerous accidents 
 and incidents met with in the army. 
 
 Corinth, Miss., .Jan. 6th, 186.']. 
 Dear M: — 
 
 After being deprived of the bene- 
 fits of intercourse with the whole 
 world generally and the United 
 States of America, particularly, the 
 Corinthians were suddenly surprised 
 last evening upon hearing the wel- 
 come sound of a locomotive whistle 
 just from Columbus. That engine 
 caused more happiness in the Second 
 Iowa than it has felt for some time 
 before, and why? Because it brought 
 our mail, and in that mail were let- 
 ters from, "well," the boys would 
 say, "no matter whom, I know that 
 I received one from — you know 
 whom." Anyone could have told 
 that had they but taken the pains 
 to watch my telltale countenance as 
 I anxiously gazed upon the P. M. 
 while he distributed them and then 
 to have seen the look of joy that 
 suddenly lit up my anxious face as 
 my eye rested upon the looked for 
 missive. To sum up the whole mat- 
 ter in a nutshell, our communica- 
 tions have been cut off for the last 
 three weeks, and last evening the 
 train made its appearance for the 
 first time during that period, bring- 
 ing in three weeks mall. We have 
 been out on two expeditions since I 
 
 wrote last, but could not catch the 
 rebels, I am sorry to say. We have 
 been living en half rations and for 
 three or four days have had little 
 else than parched corn and corn 
 coffee. But I guess all will be right 
 again in a few days. In your last 
 letter you speak ot coming south to 
 teach school. It would be the worst 
 thing you could do. I would not 
 let a dog stay down here. After 
 the war is over they would say it 
 was an abolitionist and kill it. They 
 hate everything northern, especially 
 northern people." 
 
 During the interval following the 
 writing of the foregoing letter and 
 the one which followed many things 
 of more or less importance had hap- 
 pened to us, which were so much 
 like others of which mention has 
 already been made that it will not 
 be interesting to speak of them es- 
 pecially as I am not writing more 
 than a mere summary of our own 
 participation in these things. 
 
 Smith's Bridge, May 6th, 1863. 
 Dear M: — 
 
 Once more it becomes my delight- 
 ful task to reply to another of your 
 ever welcome letters. Yours of the 
 nth of April was duly received, but 
 until now I have not had a moment 
 to spare. We have just returned 
 from an expedition into Alabama, 
 being absent about twenty days. It 
 Avas the hardest trip we have had 
 during the war. We skirmished 
 with Roddy, the rebel chief, for 
 twelve successive days. He would 
 fight and fall back. In the morning 
 our artillery would shell the woods 
 and through the day we would ad- 
 vance in line of battle most of the 
 time. At night our pickets would 
 be within speaking distance of 
 theirs. One night I was on picket 
 in command of my company and a 
 
THE SIMPI>E TJFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 StS 
 
 company of the Fifty-second Illinois. 
 We were stationed near a house 
 which was inhabited by a widow. 
 Between us and the rebels was a 
 creek and the widow had a son 
 standing on picket within fifty yards 
 of the house. She wanted to go 
 and see him but I could not permit 
 lier to do so. Rather hard, was it 
 not? She was a kind old lady. She 
 told me her son had been conscript- 
 ed. Such is war. The object of 
 the expedition was attained and now 
 we are all safely lodged in our old 
 quarters. They have commenced 
 giving- furloughs to enlisted men, 
 and I shall send two home right 
 away. I am happy to hear that you 
 have got your diploma. It should 
 l)e our aim in life to endeavor to 
 improve ourselves and attain the 
 highest success in life. It is a firm 
 belief of mine that almost any object 
 can be gained by proper application. 
 
 Several years ago at the request 
 of a soldier editor of a paper pub- 
 lished at Des Moines, I wrote up an 
 incident which I here reproduce: 
 
 "After the battle of Corinth, Oct. 
 .3rd and 4th, 1862, that part of the 
 army of the Tennessee known as the 
 left wing of the Sixteenth army 
 corps, remained at and near Corinth 
 until the summer of 1863, doing 
 garrison duty and frequently mak- 
 ing forced marches after Forrest 
 Rhoddy and other rebel raiders, thus 
 rendering indirect service to General 
 (;rant in his campaign against Vicks- 
 burg. It was during this period that 
 Companies A and I of the 2nd Iowa 
 Infantry, and part of a company ot 
 Illinois Cavalry were ordered on de- 
 tached service to guard a point on 
 the Tuscumbla river called Smith's 
 Bridge which was about five miles 
 southeast of Corinth, and was re- 
 garded from a military standpoint 
 
 as a place of considerable import- 
 ance at that time. Between Smith's 
 Bridge and the low swamp the 
 land was a dense body of timber 
 through this timber a small creek 
 runs at right angles with the Tus- 
 cumbla river; the road from Corinth 
 to the Bridge crosses this creek a 
 mile or thereabout north of the riv- 
 er and at the time of which I write 
 was made of corduroy through the 
 swamps, the whole furnishing an 
 excellent cover for guerillas with 
 which the whole country was at that 
 time infested; bands of as murder- 
 ous cut-throats as ever went un- 
 hung. These fellows would occa- 
 sionally leave their horses on the 
 south side of the ravine, cross on 
 an old tree that had fallen so as 
 to make a very fair bridge and 
 creeping up to the Corinth road lay 
 for stragglers, orderlies, mail car- 
 riers and others. In this way they 
 captured several of our men. 
 
 I had been detailed to serve on a 
 court martial in town, of which the 
 gallant Col. James Redfield of the 
 39th Iowa, who was thrice wounded 
 and died like the hero he was, in 
 defense of Allatoona — was Presi- 
 dent; we were holding one session 
 a day, which generally lasted from 
 ten in the morning till two in the 
 afternoon. It was my custom to 
 ride to town in time for the court 
 and then out to the Bridge again af- 
 ter adjournment. 
 
 Bayard, the horse I rode, had for- 
 merly belonged to the enemy, and 
 had his own notions about some 
 things, he used to remind me of 
 Mark Twain's mule, which Twain 
 said always looked as if he wanted 
 to lean up against a fence and 
 think. Perhaps this peculiar way 
 was due to climatic influences or 
 maybe it was because he had been 
 
£»4 
 
 THE SIMPLE TJFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 impressed into the government ser- 
 vice against his will; however he nev- 
 er complained of ill treatment, but 
 he always wore a melancholy look. 
 His great antipathy was thought to 
 be spurs; it was generally supposed 
 among the boys that it was consti- 
 tutional with him; he despised spurs 
 and yet nothing seemed to stimulate 
 him more. I think that was why 
 they called him Bayard; gently prod 
 him with a spur and for the moment 
 he appeared to freshen up like a 
 sensitive person under the bite of a 
 mosquito, he would come to a dead 
 stop and then leisurely turn and give 
 a most vicious snap at your foot, 
 but he was never in a hurry about 
 it, he always took time enough to 
 think before he snapped, he seemed 
 to enjoy it more that way. 
 
 Mounted u.pon this animal I was 
 returning one afternoon from town 
 and had proceeded without disturb- 
 ance to within about twenty yards 
 of the creek when I saw the head 
 and shoulders of a "citizen" peer- 
 ing out of the thick underbrush, the 
 citizen had a shotgun in one hand, 
 with the other he was pointing to 
 myself; naturally putting a hostile 
 interpretation upon these signs, I 
 immediately reached for my revolver 
 and then suddenly remembered with 
 alarm that I had forgotten to bring 
 it that day. As soon as my friend, 
 the citizen, saw that 1 had discover- 
 ed him he sprang forward and yell- 
 ed, "Here's the yankee," to 
 
 whicli a voice from the brush 
 
 promptly replied, "Shoot the ," 
 
 and in less than a minute I was com- 
 pletely surrounded by fifteen or 
 twenty guerrillas; two or three of 
 them could not have been more than 
 I five or six feet from me. The situa- 
 
 tion was by no means enviable, re- 
 sistance was of course out of the 
 
 question, unarmed as 1 was, but the 
 thought of capture by guerillas, to 
 be followed by a highly diverting 
 hanging bee or an exhilerating piece 
 of target practice in which I could 
 see myself contributing no insignifi- 
 cant part, made me low spirited. 
 Then too, there loomed up in the 
 distance the hospitable entertain- 
 ment of Captain Wirz of Anderson- 
 ville fame. I could easily dispense 
 with all of that and so, forgetting 
 under these delightful circumstances, 
 all about Bayard's constitutional an- 
 tipathies, I let him have both spurs 
 at once and that made him forget 
 them too. He sprang forward with 
 a prodigious bound and as I threw 
 myself flat on his back and seized 
 his mane with both hands, the dozen 
 or more shots that were fired, miss- 
 ed their mark and so amid a bedlam 
 of curses and shouts of disappoint- 
 ment I escaped untirely unhurt. To 
 say that I was badly scared is to 
 put it too mildly; the hair has never 
 laid perfectly smooth upon my head 
 since that day, but then cowlicks 
 never do. " 
 
 When Colonel Weaver heard of 
 my escape, he immediately sent for 
 me and insisted on relieving me 
 from further service on the court 
 maitial, but 1 plead so urgently to 
 be continued, feeling quite sure that 
 no further attempts would be made 
 to capture me, that he finally as- 
 sented to my continuance on the 
 court, on which I remained until its 
 work was finished. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 We made ourselves quite comfort- 
 able at the Bridge. The camp was 
 laid out on a rise of ground which 
 commanded a view of the surround- 
 ing country as far as the timber 
 would permit, and was located about 
 
THE SIMPLE IJFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 lialt' a mile from the Bridge. We 
 built our quarters out of shakes as 
 was the custom in that section 
 among the poor whites and negroes, 
 and they were very comfortable. We 
 also erected a large building of logs 
 which served as a fort, church, 
 dance and concert hall and was used 
 on frequent occasions for these diff- 
 erent purposes. The Chaplain of 
 the regiment came out from Corinth 
 on Sunday occasionally and preached 
 to us, and we had some very 
 good singers among the boys some 
 of whom were practical christians, 
 who were also reinforced by the na- 
 tives who seemed to heartily enjoy 
 those occasions. The religious ser- 
 vices were of interest to us and I 
 think were also generally profitable. 
 
 One Sunday afternoon while the 
 Chaplain was preaching, firing was 
 heard at the river, the alarm was 
 given, and the boys were ordered 
 to get on their cartridge boxes filled 
 with ammunition, secure their guns 
 and re-assemble at the church, 
 ready for whatever might happen. 
 When this had been done all return- 
 ed to the church and waited for re- 
 ports from our scouts at the river, 
 while the services proceeded as 
 though no interruption had occur- 
 red. It reminded me of the stories 
 that have come down to us from 
 the Revolutionary War and from 
 the early Indian outbreaks, where 
 the pioneers went to church carry- 
 ing their guns on their shoulders. 
 The firing at the river was done by 
 gueirillas, who had chased one of 
 our scouts sent out from Corinth, 
 and had overtaken him just as he 
 reached the Bridge. The poor fel- 
 low was badly wounded and died a 
 few days later in one of our cabins. 
 
 The officers of Company A at this 
 time were .1. Tj. Davis, a brother of 
 
 General .leff. C. Davis of our army. 
 Captain, L. Tisdale, First Lieutenant 
 and D. W. Ballinger, Second Lieu- 
 tenant. Company I was officered as 
 follows: H. H. Green, Captain, J. 
 F. Conway, First Lieutenant and 
 Orange Langford, Second Lieuten- 
 ant. Captain Davis was in com- 
 mand of the post and Capt. Green 
 second in . command. This left me 
 in charge quite frequently dur- 
 ing the absences of Captain Davis. 
 
 On onfe of these occasions I receiv- 
 ed a communication from General 
 Dodge, who was in command of the 
 left wing of the Sixteenth Army 
 Corps, notifying me that a company 
 of guerrillas were tearing up the 
 track of the Memphis and Charles- 
 ton railroad, and ordering me to 
 march at once with a force sufficient 
 to destroy or capture them. I im- 
 mediately proceeded to carry out 
 this order. Leaving Lieutenant Tis- 
 dale at the Bridge with a force suffi- 
 cient to defend it in my absence in 
 event of an attack, I made my way 
 with about fifty men to the railroad 
 where the enemy was supposed to 
 be getting in his work. My advance 
 guard discovered him and immedi- 
 ately returned and informed me of 
 his numbers and of his proceedings. 
 I never knew whether General 
 Dodge had been misinformed as to 
 the situaition or whether it was 
 meant simply to ascertain whether 
 we at the Bridge were sufficiently 
 alert to be relied on in case of sud- 
 den great need. I only know the 
 "enemy" proved to be a squad of 
 harmless negroes, who were at work 
 repairing a break in the road. In 
 my report of the affair to headquar- 
 ters at Corinth, which I made as 
 elaborate as possible, 1 treated it 
 quitg as a practical joke and I was 
 afterward informed by Majoi- How- 
 
m 
 
 TflE sniPT.E T>1FE OF A COMIMOXRK 
 
 aid, who was at Dodge's headquar- 
 ters in the capacity of a staff officer, 
 thai; my report created a good deal 
 of amusement. . It might have been 
 a serious affair, however, for at that 
 time Grant had Pemberton bottled 
 up in Viclvsburg and Johnston, who 
 was supposed to be maiving efforts 
 to relieve him, migliit have attempt- 
 ed a diversion by moving against 
 Corinth, which would have livened 
 up things at Smith's Bridge. Re- 
 ports of the presence of guerrillas 
 in the vicinity were generally well 
 founded as the death or capture of 
 a straggler from camp occasionally 
 abundantly proved. We lost several 
 men in this way, while others, who 
 were pursued, escaped and came in 
 with their reports. Capt. Holmes of 
 Company C, who had come out to 
 the .Bridge from Oorinth, was cap- 
 tured and taken to Andersonville 
 prison, but later on escaped or 
 was exchanged. Negroes and loyal 
 citizens, of whom there were a few, 
 kept us well informed of the move- 
 ments of these marauding bands 
 who were unattached, sometimes 
 enemies of both sides, though usual- 
 ly they were in sympathy with the 
 South, as might naturally be expect- 
 ed. It was their custom to annoy 
 our pickets, whose exact location 
 wiis disclosed by disloyal citizens 
 who made it their business to find 
 out just where our lines were locat- 
 ed and where each picket might be 
 found. Under cover of the darkness 
 they would steal up at night, shelt- 
 ered and hidden by the timber, and 
 either shoot or knife our boys if 
 they were not discovered in time. 
 Knowing the country as thoroughly 
 as they did and having friends every- 
 where in that section it became a 
 very difficult matter to get near them 
 
 in sufficient force to do fheni any 
 damage. 
 
 One evening in .Tuly, while I was 
 writing a letter home, I was inter- 
 rupted by a report that the enemy 
 was approaching us in force. The 
 next night the letter was resumed 
 as follows: "Was compelled to stop 
 writing last evening. Was left in 
 command of the post yesterday. In 
 the morning I sent out a company 
 of cavalry on a scout. They were 
 gone all day and returned at night. 
 They did not see any Rebs, but 
 Lieutenant Tisdale of Co. A was out 
 alone and the citizens told him that 
 there were fifteen guerrillas lying in 
 wait for him when he returned. I 
 sent out about a dozen of my own 
 company after them and fully ex- 
 pected a skirmish before morning, 
 but the Secesh could not be found. 
 
 I will tell you how I spend my 
 evenings now. I have built a house 
 12x12, one story high out of shakes 
 as they call them down here. They 
 are oak shingles about four feet long 
 and ten inches wide. My windows 
 are made of canvass. I have a good 
 porch in front which keeps the sun 
 off. If you could take a peep some 
 evening you would see me very busi- 
 ly engaged studying phonography. 
 I sent to Cincinnati for a phono- 
 graphic work which I am diligently 
 studying every evening. So you see 
 I am not idle, nor is my time spent 
 without profiit. There are just fifty 
 men in the company now and three 
 commissioned officers. We have for- 
 ty present and fit for duty." 
 
 During the period of our detached 
 service at Smith's Bridge we made 
 a good many friends among the citi- 
 zens, with whom we exchanged salt, 
 coffee, sugar and such other eatables 
 as we could spare for butter, eggs 
 and fruits, which was an arrange- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 in 
 
 :iiieilt iiuitually helpful. The young 
 people were especially kind to us, 
 for we had treated them with con- 
 sideration. -A certain young lady 
 whom I will call Jane Brown be- 
 cause that was not her name, was 
 
 .a person of superior attainments 
 whose home was nearly two niiles 
 from the Bridge and whose father 
 was a repute'd guerrilla chieftain, 
 was said to have become a convert 
 to the cause of >the Union. At the 
 time of our going to the Bridge she 
 was an acknowledged rebel and was 
 repoiited to be a spy of much ability. 
 It was said that the troops who had 
 preceeded us at the Bridge had just 
 
 ithen joined the forces at Corinth 
 and were "disposed to deal harshly 
 with the citizens of rebel sympa- 
 thies, in consequence of which they 
 suceeded in getting themselves 
 thoroughly disliked. It was said 
 
 'that a squad of those new comers 
 went to the guerrilla chieftain's 
 home and broke open the smoke 
 house, from which they tried to car- 
 ry off some choice hams and should- 
 ers, but Miss Jane was not to be 
 robbed without making a Spartan 
 defense of her property. While 
 her mother was bewailing their loss 
 in loud lamentations. Miss Jane, 
 armed with an old fas.hioned mop 
 stick, charged the would be ham 
 stealers with great dash and spirit, 
 beating them over the head and 
 shoulders with such energy as to 
 cause them to make an inglorious 
 retreat. Of course she became very 
 popular after that, while the ham- 
 stealers never ceased to hear about 
 their repulse as long as they remain- 
 ed in the vicinity. Over two years 
 in active service had taught us many 
 things, not the least of which was 
 that unnecessary harshness toward 
 our enemies -should be avoided and 
 
 a .spirit of conciliation .and kindness 
 exercised toward all non-combatants 
 whenever it could be done without 
 prejudice to our cause. Assuming 
 this attitude toward the non-combat- 
 ants around Smith's Bridge, made us 
 many friends, and no doubt saved us 
 some lives. 
 
 A few days before our departure 
 from the Bridge for La Grange, Ten- 
 nessee, where we were ordered to 
 rejoin the regiment, a twenty days' 
 leave of absence was given me and 
 I went home for a brief visit among 
 my friends. The boys had a great 
 time on the evening of their depart- 
 ure from Smith's Bridge, for on the 
 day they left the citizens came in 
 from every direction and such a time 
 they had not seen -since Co. I left 
 Lyons. The girls were all crying 
 while the men and boys acted as 
 though they were about to part with 
 their dearest friends forever. The 
 camp was literally filled w'ith citi- 
 zens who came to say "goodbye." As 
 an instance of the forlorn feeling 
 pervading the camp, one young lady 
 who had been doing the washing for 
 the officers was particiilarly demon- 
 strative. Lieutenant Conway tried to 
 console her; telling her he would 
 send the money for the washing as 
 soon as we were paid off. Then 
 the poor girl broke down entirely. 
 She told him it was not the money 
 for the washing she was concerned 
 about, he might keep that if the 
 soldiers woilld only stay at the 
 Bridge, "For if you remain here," 
 she said, "we know we shall be well 
 treated, but if you go away and 
 others come in your place, it may 
 not be well with us." This feeling 
 shared by nearly all the citizens 
 in the vicinity. Secessionists as well 
 as Unionists, had its influence on our 
 boys, who were loath to depart from 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMOXEK 
 
 among a people many of whom had 
 shown such a friendly feeling toward 
 them. 
 
 The time at home passed very 
 speedily, as may well be imagined. 
 It was without any marked incident 
 until the moment arrived for me to 
 take my departure for the front. I 
 had been home twice before on sick 
 leave, once from Bird's Point, Mis- 
 souri and next from Mound City, 
 Illinois, hospital. On both occasions 
 when I said goodbye to my father, 
 he manifested no unusual emotion, 
 simply advising me to do my duty 
 as a soldier and saying such things 
 as a father naturally would under 
 such circumstances. But on this oc- 
 casion as the time of my departure 
 drew near he became greatly de- 
 pressed in spirit, looking at me with 
 a tenderness and a longing which 
 greatly impressed and moved me. 
 To this day I can see him as he ap- 
 peared to me then. He not only 
 went with me down to the river 
 where I took the ferry to cross over 
 to Illinois, as he had done before, 
 hut he seemed loath to leave me, 
 crossing the river and going aboard 
 the oar with me. Then he broke 
 down completely and throwing his 
 arms around my neck, with the 
 tears streaming down his cheeks, he 
 said, "O, Harry, my boy, I shall nev- 
 er see you again; I am parting with 
 you forever." "Why father," I said, 
 thinking he feared the dangers to 
 which I was exposed, "1 have no fear 
 of being killed, and will return 
 home again safe and sound when 
 my time is out or when the war is 
 over." "I don't know," he replied 
 "but I feel certain I shall never see 
 you again." There were a large 
 number of passengers on the car who 
 witnessed it all, but there was not 
 a dry eye among them. My father 
 
 was right. I never saw him again. 
 He met with death by accident the 
 following winter, while in the dis- 
 charge of his duty. After parting 
 with him in this pathetic manner, 1 
 proceded by rail to Cairo, Illinois, 
 and from there to La Grange, Ten- 
 nessee, where I rejoined the regi- 
 ment. From that place I addressed 
 a letter home, from which I make a 
 few brief extracts: 
 
 La Grange, Tenn., Sept. .">, \S6?,. 
 "My dear M: — 
 
 I have at last reached my destina- 
 tion, leaving Lyons on Monday and 
 arriving here yesterday noon. I 
 spent one day in Cairo and one day 
 and two nights in Memphis, stopping 
 at the Gaycso House, an old hostelry 
 of considerable repute. 1 had regis- 
 tered my name and retired for the 
 night, when who should walk into 
 my room but Lieutenant Joe Con- 
 way, who came up to my bed and 
 pulled me out. We had a good old 
 time that night, as you may well 
 believe. He had come up to Mem- 
 phis to draw his pay. 
 
 Sept. 6th. 
 
 Yesterday I was compelled to stop 
 writing very suddenly, an order hav- 
 ing come for me to take thirty men 
 and go to Collierville to guard the 
 paymaster. We returned today, 
 having stayed at Collierville through 
 the night. 1 had over one and a 
 half million dollars in my care; a 
 good time to run away, eh I * * * * 
 The Chaplain of the First Tennessee 
 (colored) preaches to us this after- 
 noon. We have two negro regiments 
 here, the First and Second Tennes- 
 see. Our boys seem to delight in 
 having fun with them, but the Afri- 
 cans are very patient, and do not 
 say much. I.,a Grange is quite a 
 pretty little place, about the size of 
 Clinton, though very little business 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 H»» 
 
 is done here now. I acknowledge 
 with thanks the receipt of that little 
 llower. There are uio flowers here 
 at present, so I miss my boquet. I 
 used to get one quite often at the 
 Bridge." 
 
 It was during our encampment at 
 La Grange that a letter was written 
 and a response received which fixed 
 the domestic destiny of all the after- 
 life of two persons at least. I shall 
 not reproduce its contents here, for 
 I hold with another, that next in sac- 
 redness to heaven — inspired words 
 are human love letters, and those 
 who read the love letters of another 
 commit a sacrilege. So on principle, 
 I withhold the opportunity in these 
 writings and thus remove the temp- 
 taticn from all eyes. I need only 
 say that these letters contained an 
 abundance of such ardent expres- 
 sions as lovers have been using and 
 writing to each other, the world over 
 from time immemorial, and will con- 
 tinue to say and write as long as the 
 world stands. 
 
 On the first of November the Sec- 
 ond and Fourth divisions of the Six- 
 teenth Army Corps under command 
 of General G. M. Dodge left La 
 Grange and moved eastward toward 
 Chattanooga, forming the rear guard 
 of General Sherman's Army of the 
 Tennessee. As fortune would have 
 it we did not get to Chattanooga for 
 the campaigns about that city, hav- 
 ing been ordered by General Grant 
 to another service, to which he re- 
 fers in his memoirs as follows: 
 
 "Sherman's force made an addi- 
 tional army with cavalry, artillery 
 and trains, all to be supplied by the 
 single track road from Nashville. 
 All indications pointed also to the 
 probable necessity of supplying 
 Burnside's command in eastern Ten- 
 nessee, twenty-five thousand men by 
 
 the same route. A singh' tracli could 
 not do this. 1 gave, therefore, an 
 order to Sherman to halt General 
 (L M. Dodge's command of about 
 eight thousand men at Athens, and 
 subsequently directed the latter to 
 arrange his troops along the railroad 
 from Decatur north towards Nash- 
 ville, and to rebuild that road. The 
 road from Nashville to Decatur 
 passes over a broken country, cut up 
 with innumerable streams, many of 
 them of considerable width, and 
 with valleys far below the road-bed. 
 All the bridges over these had been 
 destroyed, and the rails taken up 
 and twisted by the enemy. All the 
 cars and locomotives not carried off 
 had been destroyed as effectually as 
 they knew how to destroy them. All 
 bridges and culverts had been des- 
 troyed between Nashville and Deca- 
 tur, and thence to Stevenson, where 
 the Memphis and Charleston and the 
 Nashville and Chattanooga roads 
 unite. The rebuilding of this road 
 would give us two roads as far as 
 Stevenson over which to supply the 
 army. From Bridgeport, a short dis- 
 tance farther east, the river supple- 
 ments the road. General Dodge, be- 
 sides being a most capable soldier, 
 was an experienced railroad builder. 
 He had no tools to work with except 
 those of the pioneers — axes, picks 
 and spades. With these he was able 
 to intrench his men and protect 
 them against surprises by small par- 
 ties of the enemy. As he had no 
 base of supplies until tlie road could 
 be completed back to Nashville the 
 first matter to consider after pro- 
 tecting his men was the getting in 
 of food and forage from the sur- 
 rounding country. He had his men 
 and teams bring in all the grain 
 they could find, or all they needed 
 and all the cattle for beef, and such 
 
110(» 
 
 THE SBIPT.E TJTFR OF A CO?iniONRTi 
 
 other food as could be found. Mill- 
 ers were detailed from the ranks to 
 run the mills along the line of the 
 army. When these were not near 
 tenough to the ,troops for protection, 
 .they were taken down and moved up 
 ,the line of the road. Blacksmith 
 shops, with a;il the ^iron and steel 
 found in them, were moved up in 
 like manner. Blacksmtths were de- 
 tailed and set to work making the 
 tools necessary in railroad and 
 bridge :building. Axemen were put 
 to work getting out timber for 
 bridges and cutting fuel for loco- 
 motives when the road should be 
 completed. Car-bviildeps were set to 
 work repairing the locomotives and 
 .cars. Thus every branch of raiilroad 
 building, making tools ,to work with, 
 and supplying the workmen with 
 food, was all going on at once, and 
 without the aid of a mechanic or 
 laborer except what the command it- 
 self furnished. But rails and cars 
 the men could not make without ma- 
 terial, and there was not enough 
 rolling stock to keep the road we al- 
 ready had worked to its full capac- 
 ity. There were no rails except 
 those in use. To supply these de- 
 ticiencies I ordered eight of the ten 
 engines Genera:! McPherson had at 
 Vicksburg to be sent to Nashville, 
 and all the cars he had except ten. 
 I also ordered the troops in West 
 Tennessee to points on the river and 
 on the Memphis and Charleston 
 road, and ordered the cars, locomo- 
 tives and rails from all the railroads 
 except the Memphis and Charleston 
 to Nashville. The military manager 
 of railroads also was directed to fur- 
 nish more rolling stock, and, as far 
 as he could, bridge material. Gen- 
 eral Dodge had the work assigned 
 him finished within forty days after 
 Teceiving his orders. The number 
 
 of bridges to rebuild was one huit- 
 dred and eighty-two, many of them 
 over deep and wide chasms. The 
 length of the road repaired was one 
 hundred and two miles." 
 
 When General Dodge received 
 these orders from General Grant he 
 made his headquarters at Pulaski, 
 Tennessee, seventy miles south of 
 Nashville. My first letter from Pul- 
 aski was written Nov. 19, 1863, and 
 among other things which were of a 
 purely personal character, ran as fol- 
 lows: "On the 31st of October our 
 brigade left La Grange and went di- 
 rect to luka, Mississippi, on the cars. 
 We stayed there three days waiting 
 for the main body to come up. I did 
 not leave our camp with the regi- 
 ment, having been ordered to re- 
 main at La Grange in command of 
 the rear guard and follow the army 
 as soon as everything was in readi- 
 ness. Unfortunately, on one of the 
 tra;ins which carried the troops there 
 had been Ibaded a few barrels of 
 whiskey belonging to the commis- 
 sary and medical departments. Some 
 of the members of my company 
 which, for the time being was under 
 command of Lieutenant Langford, 
 discovered the liquor and at once de- 
 termined to appropriate it to their 
 own use. So they managed to get 
 possession of a small gimlet, and 
 boring a hole in one of the barrels, 
 inserted a goose quill or pipe stem 
 and drew off enough to fill their can- 
 teens, then carefully plugging up 
 the hole they proceded to imbibe 
 the stuff, which by the time luka 
 was reached, began to get in its 
 work. As a matter of fact several of 
 the boys were soon riotously drunk 
 and some of them in a very ugly 
 humor. I had no sooner reached my 
 tent than the Colonel sent for me, 
 demanding an explanation, which 
 
THE sniPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 lol 
 
 when made, of course satisfied him 
 that I was in no sense responsible 
 tor the disgraceful occurrence. Re- 
 turning to the company quarters I 
 called for Sergeant Sloan and with 
 'him went through every tent, secur- 
 ing the canteens which contained 
 whiskey and quietly poured the stuff 
 out on the ground. One or two of 
 the ugliest of the boys, while not 
 daring to physically resist, neverthe- 
 less threatened me with what would 
 be done to me when we got into 
 battle again, but it was only the 
 \aporings of a drunken man, to 
 which no attention was paid, and 
 the next day they and others man- 
 fully apologized for their conduct, 
 and ncthing more was ever said or 
 thought of it. 
 
 Sergeant L. T. Sloan was one of 
 the best men I ever knew. From 
 my earliest knowledge of him as a 
 boy at Lyons, where we were inti- 
 mate with each other, I have ever 
 remembered him as a choice spirit, 
 thoroughly clean and trustworthy in 
 every way, a soldier and citizen 
 alike. He has never failed to com- 
 mand the respect of his associates. 
 
 After the balance of the division 
 had reached luka, the expedition, 
 which composed the left wing of the 
 Sixteenth Army Corps under com- 
 mand cf Major General G. M. Dodge, 
 who had eirrered the service as Col- 
 onel of 'the; Fourth Iowa Infantry, 
 started for Chattanooga as we 
 thought. We crossed the Tennessee 
 river at Eastport on transports, our 
 regiment crossing about midnight. 
 We remained on the east side until 
 7:00 o'clock next morning and then 
 began a long march, passing through 
 Waterloo, Lauderdale and several 
 other towns, the names of which I 
 have forgotten. The natives in that 
 section were nearly all Secessionists. 
 
 The country in that vicinity would 
 be considered rathei' poor, estimated 
 from an Iowa standpoint, but it was 
 watered by some very beautiful 
 streams, and possessed many other 
 redeeming qualities. We arrived at 
 Pulaski on the 11 th inst. and the 
 next day our regiment with the 
 Twelfth Illinois was detailed to act 
 as convoy to a train of two hundred 
 and forty wagons, w-hich were sent 
 to Columbia under command of Col- 
 onel .J. B. Weaver after supplies, re- 
 turning last night after an absence 
 of seven days. The country between 
 Pulas.ki and Nashville is one of the 
 finest I have seen in the South and 
 the people appear to be quite gener- 
 ally loyal, which makes it seem 
 more like home than any place I 
 have seen since leaving Iowa." 
 
 We camped near the house where 
 General Van Dorn was shot and 
 killed by Dr. Peters. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 We camped near the house where 
 General Van Dorn was shot and kill- 
 ed by Dr. Peters. This General Van 
 Dorn was the commander of the 
 Rebel forces that made the attack on 
 Corinth in the fall of 1862. He was 
 one of the greatest soldiers in the 
 Confederate army. At the time of 
 his murder, w^hich occurred in 
 March, 18 63, a body of Rebels under 
 his command were cam,ped near 
 Franklin, a town between Nashville 
 and Columbia and were watching a 
 brigade of Federals located in that 
 vicinity. 
 
 It appears that a Confederate 
 Lieutenant had asked General Van 
 Dorn for a pass through the lines, 
 that he might visit the home of a 
 young lady in the neighborhood. The 
 General refused his request, where- 
 upon the T^ieutenant went to his 
 
Ktii 
 
 THE SIMPT.E I.TFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 quarters and later made his way 
 through the lines without a pass, 
 proceeding directly to the home of 
 the young lady, where he encounter- 
 ed General Van Dorn himself. Van 
 Dorn was no sooner aware of the 
 Lieutenant's presence than he flew 
 into a rage, demanding why he had 
 come there. The Lieuitenant, Dr. 
 Peters, thoug:ht he had as good a 
 right there as General Van Dorn. 
 Hot words immediately followed, 
 with the result that Dr. Peters final- 
 ly drew his revolver and shot the 
 General, killing him instantly. The 
 body was taiken through the Union 
 lines under a flag of truce to Nash- 
 ville, where it was buried. The tra- 
 gic death of Va.n Dorn was but one 
 of the many unfortunate occurrences 
 which are the inevitable inheritances 
 of war. 
 
 And now I will again take up the 
 letter which I had laid aside for the 
 iiiOnient to set down this explana- 
 tion. "The railroad is operated from 
 Nashville to Columbia, a distance of 
 about forty miles. Our business is 
 to finish it through to Decatur, Ala- 
 bama, so that supplies can be for- 
 warded to Sherman's and Hooker's 
 armies. It is the opinion of those 
 who are best informed that it will 
 require about three weeks to com- 
 plete it from Columbia to Pulaski. 
 I have no idea what service we will 
 be called upon to render after that 
 has been done, but possibly we may 
 serve as a reserve to Sherman. 
 
 Pulaski is a very pretty place, and 
 is about the size of Lyooas. There 
 was formerly a female seminary here 
 in full blast, but when we arrived it 
 was discontinued and the building is 
 now used as a hospital. Most of the 
 residences are surrounded with ever- 
 greens and present a beautiful ap- 
 pearance. Inclosed find a leaf of 
 
 magnolia, I think it does not grow 
 in the North. There are many flow- 
 ers here in full bloom; it is like May 
 in Iowa. We are about one hundred 
 and ninety miles from Memphis and 
 seventy-five miles from Nashville. 
 
 Now I think if you could look in- 
 to my tent you would have a good 
 laugh at my expense. The tent is 
 about six feet square and about five 
 feet high. For the want of a bed- 
 stead our blankets are spread on the 
 ground and for the want of a table 
 Lieutenant Langford and myself are 
 writing on our trunks. On one side 
 of the tent is lying in rich profusion 
 coats, candles, a chair, ouv swords, 
 a knapsack, two or three pair of 
 boots, a canteen, two pair of gloves, 
 a table cloth, a looking glass, a 
 broom, two old hats and a variety 
 of other things which I need not 
 name. .Just behind the tent are a 
 couple of young, unbleached Ameri- 
 cans, singing and telling each other 
 stories as happy as they can be. 
 "Billy," my boy, has just joined 
 them. He is Major General of all 
 the young darkies in the camp. They 
 congregate around my tent and gen- 
 erally stay there, serenading me, un- 
 til I have to go out and drive them 
 off. 
 
 I am decidedly in favor of the 
 president's proclamation. It is made 
 for the purpose of raising troops to 
 fill the places of those mustered out 
 next spring. Keep up your spirits, 
 for I think we have great cause to 
 rejoice at the success of the Federal 
 arms so far. The war must go on 
 till the last armed Rebel is con- 
 quered. * * * * It is the duty 
 of every American citizen to stand 
 by his country in adversity as well 
 as in prosperity, and any one who 
 will not do this is unworthy of the 
 name of an American This is a war 
 
THE SIM PI. K T.IFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 10?, 
 
 lor Cod and humanity, a war for 
 human freedom. The world has nev~ 
 er witnessed a war of such vast im- 
 portance to humanity. Why, it were 
 better to spill every drop of blood 
 on this continent than that the re- 
 bellion should succeed." 
 
 The winter of 1863-64 is said by 
 the natives to have been one of the 
 coldest ever experienced in the 
 South. At Pulaski the streams froze 
 over so that ice formed of sufficient 
 thickness to bear a heavy weight and 
 was improved by the soldiers, who 
 delighted to sport themselves there- 
 on. Of course the extreme cold was 
 laid at the door of the Yankees, who 
 were said by the so'ithem people to 
 produce a chill wherever they went, 
 though I am of the opinion that they 
 sometimes made it warm enough 
 even for the hot blooded southern- 
 ers. During our stay at this place 
 the monotony of camp life was brok- 
 en occaiS'ionally by a ball game be- 
 tween the Fifty-second Illinois and 
 the Second Iowa. A select number 
 of players were chosen from each 
 regiment and under rules which 
 were made for the occasion, the boys 
 "got into the game." I remembei- 
 those games the more clearly for 
 having been an active participant on 
 the side of the Second Iowa. It was 
 my part to play the important role 
 of catcher for our side, which I did 
 to my own satisfaction at least, for 
 if no other honors accrued to me, 
 there is at least one which can nev- 
 er be taken from me. I carry to 
 this day a broken finger on my left 
 hand, received in one of those en- 
 gagements at Pulaski: an honorable 
 scar caused by the impact from a 
 pitched ball, which I could not fairly 
 guage on account of the sun which 
 shone in my eyes causing a tempor- 
 ary blindness. Many years afterward 
 
 in an address at New Hampton, 
 Iowa, I took occasion to speak in an 
 incidental way of those ball ga.mes 
 so many years before, when to my 
 astonishment, at the close of the 
 address, a gentleman in the audiience 
 stepped up to me and said: "I was 
 very much interested in your account 
 of those ball games at Pulaski, for 
 I was the catcher for the Fifty-sec- 
 ond Illinois." Then I showed him 
 my finger and we enjoyed a good 
 laugh together over the crudities of 
 those undisciplined ball games in 
 1863. 
 
 And now I come to an event which 
 plunged our family into the depths 
 of a great sorrow; a sad tragedy 
 wihich to this very day I cannot re- 
 call without a deep feeling of chas- 
 tened grief, although it occurred so 
 long ago. One afternoon toward the 
 end of December, 186?., a member of 
 the company came to my tent with 
 a copy of the Lyons Mirror, a news- 
 paper published in our town, w^hich 
 he quietly placed in my hands and 
 left the tent without a word. Upon 
 opening the paper, my attention was 
 at once directed to a column an- 
 nouncing the death of my father, 
 and containing a lengthy account of 
 the painful manner in which it had 
 come about. 
 
 My father, who possessed but lit- 
 tle of this world's goods, had, in 
 the absence of anything better, been 
 employed during part of the winter 
 as night watchman at a distillery 
 owned and operated by a man of 
 the name of Hawn, wiho was a Ken- 
 tuckyian, but who had been a resi- 
 dent of Iowa for some years. It was 
 the watchman's business to guard 
 the property from the time of the 
 night closing to the morning open- 
 ing when the business of the day 
 began. One bitterly cold night be- 
 
1(»4 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 tween Christmas and New Years of 
 that memorable winter, the wind was 
 sweeping down the Mississippi river 
 filling the air with fine particles of 
 ice and snow, making it almost im- 
 possible to keeip one's footing on 
 level, unobstructed ground, and real- 
 ly perilous for any one to be out 
 in the storm. Sometime during the 
 night my father, as was his custom, 
 was passing ovei- some planks laid 
 across large vats which were nearly 
 filled with hot oil and liquid refuse 
 from the distillery. He had always 
 been very careful when passing over 
 those dangerous planks, knowing 
 full well that his feet were liable to 
 slip at any moment on their oily sur- 
 face, and so he would carefully make 
 his way over them each night by the 
 light of his lantern. On the night 
 in question, as he was making his 
 rounas as usual, the light of his lan- 
 tern was suddenly extinguished by a 
 gust of wind amd he was left upon 
 those dangerous planks in uttei> 
 darkness. Almost instantly his feet 
 slipped from under him and he was 
 precipitated into the hot oil below. 
 In falling his hands caught on the 
 side of the vat and though he was 
 buried in the oil nearly up to his 
 neck, he had just strength enough 
 to drag himself up and over the side 
 of the vat,' falling out upon "the 
 frozen ground, where he lay uncon- 
 scious until the engineer — the same 
 man who had come to my relief 
 when I was watching at the Stum- 
 baugh sawmill a few years earlier — 
 found him in the morning. Mr. Al- 
 ban immediately gave the alarm and 
 he was taken home at once, where 
 everything was done for him that 
 skill and love could suggest. He 
 lived nearly four days, most of the 
 time quite conscious, suffering great 
 agony, scalded and frozen as the 
 
 flesh was, it would fall from his 
 body, as it continued to do until he 
 died. He was a good man and had 
 great reverence for hoiy things, 
 though, to the best of my recollec- 
 tion he was never connected with 
 any branch of the Christian church. 
 He was a constant reader of the 
 Bible and had a profound knowledge 
 of its contents. Thus in the fifty- 
 fourth year of his life Samuel Green 
 passed away, who for the preceding- 
 ten years as a resident of Lyons, had 
 been recognized by his neighbors us 
 "A man among men." 
 
 Upon reading the account of his 
 death in the Mirror I immediately 
 applied for a leave of absence that 
 I might go home to attend the fun- 
 eral. To obtain a furlough which 
 is given to ncn-commissioned officers 
 and enlisted men, or a leave of ab- 
 sence, given to commissioned officers, 
 certain formulas required by the reg- 
 ulations must be ' conformed with. 
 In my application I followed the re- 
 quired routine, but was unceremon- 
 iously turned down by General Swee- 
 ney at division headquartfers. Noth- 
 ing daunted however, I took my pa- 
 pers and went over to General 
 Dodge's quarters, determined to see 
 him in person and explain my earn- 
 est desire to go home for a few days. 
 The guard en duty poiitely but posi- 
 tively refused to give me access to 
 General Dodge, stating that the Gen- 
 eral was very busy just then and 
 could not be disturbed on any ac- 
 count. Of course I persisted, but 
 could not induce the man to yield. 
 Finally in despair for precious time 
 v.'as being wasted, I took the Mirror 
 from my pocket and calling for the 
 Orderly, requested him to take it in 
 to General Dodge and tell him how 
 desirous I was to see him. In a 
 very few minutes I was called in and 
 
THE SIMPLE TJFE OF A CO:\IMONER 
 
 105 
 
 General Dodge with a kindly syni- 
 patliy that touched me deeply, after 
 inquiring more particularly about 
 my father and our home, said: 
 ■'Well, Captain, we are not granting 
 many leaves just now, but you may 
 go to your quarters and I will im- 
 mediately wire Sherman for you." 
 Before dark I had my leave and 
 started for home. My first Lieuten- 
 ant, J. F. Conway, who at the time 
 was temporarily attached to the 
 staff of Brigadier General E. W. 
 Rice, procured two horses and to- 
 gether we. set out for Columbia, 
 where I took the cars for Nashville; 
 arriving at that place I went directly 
 lo a hotel and engaged a cot for the 
 night. The rooms were all occupied 
 and the train for Louisville did not 
 leave until the next morning at eight 
 o'clock. The colored boy who made 
 ready my cot and was to have awak- 
 ened me in time for breakfast and 
 the train, either forgot to do so, or, 
 as he insisted, "Ah shook yo sah, an 
 yo ans'd me, so Ah thought yo was 
 awake fo sho." It was vei-y annoy- 
 ing as it caused me to waste an en- 
 tire day and my leave was only for 
 twenty days. The next morning, 
 however, I got away and in due 
 time reached home, but alas, too 
 late to see my father who had been 
 buried two days before. 
 
 The few days at home were soon 
 expended among friends and rela- 
 tives and once more my eyes were 
 turned southward. A little incident 
 occurred on the train near Louisville 
 which never fails to give me pleas^ 
 ure whenever I recall it, and at the 
 same time admonishes me of the 
 folly of blotting from memory the 
 past events in our lives or of brush- 
 ing them aside as things of little 
 consequence in the more engrossing 
 matters of the present. The things 
 
 that we may have said oi- done in 
 all the years of the pas;t are not 
 alone the heritage we leave to our 
 families and to general posterity, 
 they should also be ever present, 
 abiding incentives to the joyful per- 
 formance of daily good, for we can 
 neither call to mind the pleasant 
 things strewn along life's pathway or 
 live over again the happier moments 
 of years long gone by without being 
 the taller and richer for the experi- 
 ence. 
 
 When the train pulled out of 
 Louisville every seat was occupied 
 and even the aisles were filled with 
 passengers who were unable to ob- 
 tain seats. There was an immense 
 amount of going to and fro in the 
 border states during the war, and 
 the carrying capacity of the railroads 
 in those sections was wholly in- 
 adequate to meet the demands made 
 upon them. I had fortunately ob- 
 tained a seat sometime before the 
 train left the Louisville depot, so I 
 felt entirely comfortable, but at the 
 first station after leaving the city 
 several persons boarded the train, all 
 men, comparatively few women tra- 
 veled much in the South at that 
 time for obvious reasons. Among 
 the new comers was a feeble old 
 man, hardly able to make his way 
 in the crowd. Without a second's 
 thought I arose and invited the old 
 gentleman to take my seat. At first, 
 noticing my uniform, he declined, 
 but upon being pressed he thanked 
 me and took the seat, while I stood 
 in the aisle, thinking no more about 
 it. Almost immediately, however, a 
 gentleman who was standing near 
 the front of the car and had wit- 
 nessed the incident, came to me and 
 to my surprise, extended his hand in 
 a friendly way and said: "Captain, 
 I saw you rise and give you'ah seat 
 
km; 
 
 THE SIMPLE TJFE OF A ro:M:^ioxEU 
 
 to that po" old man. 1 want to 
 thank yo, suli. If all the Yankee 
 officers were like you, this wah 
 would soon be ovah, suh." Of course 
 I blushed and thanked the gentle- 
 man for his courtesy, at the same 
 time, gently insisting that "Yankee" 
 officers should not be thought of as 
 strangers to acts of common human- 
 ity or to ordinary politeness. My 
 friend soon left the train and as far 
 as I know I have never seen him 
 from that day to this. Close con- 
 nections were made for the South at 
 Nashville, and at Pulaski I rejoined 
 my company and received a warm 
 welcome from the boys. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Nothing occurred to break the 
 monotony of camp life until about 
 the middle of March; for three or 
 four weeks the different regiments 
 had been strengthened by recruits 
 from the North, who were much 
 needed to fill up the ranks which 
 had been depleted by death, from 
 wounds received in battle, sickness 
 and various other causes, until in 
 some regiments comparatively a 
 small proportion of those who had 
 enlisted at the beginning of the war 
 remained. Doubtless among the 
 troops of all nations, recruits arc 
 treated much the same, as are fresh- 
 men at college; they are compelled 
 to undergo a system of hazing or 
 nagging imposed upon them by the 
 veterans of the regiment, who have 
 great enjoyment from the sport. I 
 do not call to mind however, any 
 instance where the hazing in the 
 army, if so it may be called, was 
 carried to such extremes as it is in 
 some of our colleges. This I sup- 
 pose was because the old soldiers 
 were less barbarous in disposition, 
 more refined in manners and of a 
 
 kinder heart than is .'■ometinifS 
 found among college students, who 
 never enjoyed the advantages of the 
 camp and the field. A brief extract 
 from a letter written to a friend in 
 the North will hint at the worries 
 of our recruits in those days: "Our 
 recruits have all been busy building 
 quarters today. They are mostly 
 young, stout, healthy looking fel- 
 lows, and will soon learn the ropes. 
 The old soldiers take every occasion 
 that offers to play jokes on them; 
 they tell them some of the biggest 
 lies and make them believe almost 
 everything they say. * * * * The 
 recruits keep me informed of every- 
 thing that goes on; they are contin- 
 ually running up here with some 
 complaint. Sometimes the old mem- 
 bers steal their rations, another time 
 a gun or a cartridge box is missing; 
 then it is that they have been insult- 
 ed by one of the old members of 
 the company. The cooks do not give 
 them their share of the rations and 
 I know not what. I generally send 
 them to the Orderly Sergeant, but 
 they seldom get satisfaction. Today 
 I had the Orderly Sergeant read the 
 articles of war to the company. I 
 think a few months in the service 
 will teach them some very useful 
 things." As I have already said 
 these tenderfoots were seldom sub- 
 jected to any very serious assaults, 
 it was merely good natured badinage 
 or comparatively innocent tricks 
 played on them by the old fellows; 
 a canteen emptied and then filled 
 v.'ith some distasteful liquid, a clean, 
 highly polished gun upon which 
 much time and labor had been ex- 
 pended by its owner, quietly stolen 
 from a tent and carried out on 
 guard on a rainy night and a dirty 
 rusty musket left in its place. Or 
 it might be a handful of blank cart- 
 
THE SIMPLE IJEE OF A COMMONER 
 
 10- 
 
 ridges thiown down the short mud 
 chimney of the tent in the dead of 
 night causing a series of explosions 
 tliat would instantly wake up the 
 sleeping inmates, who in the excite- 
 ment of the moment imagined that 
 the enemy wais among them, and in- 
 deed he was in a mild way. Nothing 
 ever came of these pranks except a 
 fist fight once in awhile in which no 
 great harm was done, for the fight 
 was generally stopped by the officers 
 before it had proceded far. Never- 
 theless in spite of all orders and the 
 waJchfulness of the officers on duty, 
 it would sometimes happen that a 
 recruit, who was being tortured be- 
 yond all endurance, would throw oft 
 his coat and sail into his tormentor 
 v.ith blood in his eye. Then the two 
 belligerants, with their friends, 
 would steal away to some quiet 
 nook, where they felt comparatively 
 safe from interference and fight it 
 out until one or the other had had 
 enough. They fought on the prin- 
 ciples of Gurth, the swine-herd and 
 Miller of Sherwood forest, who 
 wielded their quarter-staffs so effi- 
 ciently at the time of the "Gentle 
 and Joyous'" tilts of the Knights at 
 Ashley de la Zouche in King Rich- 
 ard's day. 
 
 On the fifteenth day of March we 
 were treated to a diversion which 
 was for the most part, comedy, con- 
 cerning which I wrote as follows: 
 "Today at half past twelve o'clock 
 all the troops in this command were 
 ordered out and drawn up in line 
 along the principal street of the 
 town to witness the disgrace of -four 
 soldiers who had been found guilty 
 of an offense against military law. 
 It required nearly an hour to get 
 everything in readiness for the func- 
 tion. Our brigade commanded by 
 Colonel E. W. Rice of the Seventh 
 
 Iowa occupied the right of the line, 
 v.ith the second brigade under Colo- 
 nel Massy of the Ninth Illinois on 
 our left. When all was in readiness 
 the charges and specifications were 
 read, together with the finding and 
 sentence of court martial. There 
 were four of the pri-oners, all of 
 whom had been found guilty of rob- 
 bing a citizen of Tennessee. They 
 were sentenced to have their heads 
 shaved, the buttons all cut off their 
 clothes, to be drummed out of the 
 service, and two of them to serve 
 five years in the penitentiary at 
 Nashville; the other two for the bal- 
 ance of their term of enlistment. All 
 four belonged to the Eighteenth Mis- 
 souri Infantry. Accordingly at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon the prison- 
 ers, with their heads shaved, button- 
 less clothes, each one with his hands 
 tied behind him and a board fasten- 
 ed to his back, upon which was 
 painted in large letters the word, 
 "Robber," were conducted by a 
 squad of fourteen soldiers under the 
 supervision of Colonel Weaver, and 
 in charge of Captain Davis, Provost 
 Martial, and Captain Duckworth, 
 Post Officer of the Day, to the start- 
 ing point at the right of the line. 
 When everything was in readiness 
 the Second Iowa band, which had 
 been detailed for the occasion, struck 
 up the Rogue's March, and the front 
 file of guards came to a "Shoulder 
 Arms," with the prisoners behind 
 them, followed by the rear file of 
 guards at a charge bayonet. In this 
 order the procession marched the 
 entire length of the line, the rogues 
 bareheaded, exposed to the gaze of 
 all the soldiers and citizens of pulas- 
 ki. After the march was over they 
 were conducted back to the jail. To^ 
 morrow they will be sent to Nash- 
 ville to serve out their time at hard 
 
lOS 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 labor in the military prison at that 
 place. Two of them appeared to be 
 utterly indifferent to all that was 
 going on while the other two acted 
 very much as if they had been 
 caught in bad company and were 
 heartily ashamed of it. I could not 
 help a feeling of sorrow for them.' 
 During that winter the Seventh 
 Kansas cavalry captured Samuel 
 Davis, a rebel spy, also several oth- 
 ers, among whom were Joshua 
 Brown and General Braggs chief of 
 scouts and secret service, Colonel S. 
 Shaw. General Dodge states that 
 Davis had been chosen to be the 
 bearer of all the information that 
 had been obtained by the other 
 scouts, to General Bragg, who was 
 an.xlous to possess accurate knowl- 
 edge of the situation in middle Ten- 
 nessee. If our people had known 
 who Colonel Shaw was, Davis would 
 have been sent north and treated 
 as a prisoner of war, and Shaw- 
 would have suffered the penalty of 
 the spy. Every effort was made by 
 General Dodge to induce Davis to 
 state where and from whom he had 
 obtained the information and papers 
 found in his possession, but this he 
 steadily and persistently refused to 
 do, knowing that Colonel Shaw 
 would surely be hung as a spy if his 
 identy should become know^n to the 
 Union Army. He chose rather to 
 suffer the death penalty himself than 
 to betray his superior officer. He 
 was tried by court martial, found 
 guilty of being a spy and sentenced 
 to death by hanging. It is a gru- 
 some sight to witness the hanging of 
 a man under any circumstances: it 
 was particularly so in this instance 
 and the proceedings were viewed 
 with sadness by all who were ac- 
 quainted with the case. The pri- 
 soner was handcuffed, placed on his 
 
 coffin and driven to the place of exe- 
 cution. A rope was carefully placed 
 around his neck and then in the 
 presence of the army, he was launch- 
 ed into eternity. .Just as the drop 
 fell I turned my head aside and 
 when I again turned to the scaffold 
 the victim was dangling in the air 
 and passing the portals of the gates 
 which never open in this direction. 
 From the following which I find in 
 a northern paper, it appears that 
 measures have been taken to per- 
 petuate the memory of the brave 
 young spy. This will meet with the 
 hearty approval of every federal 
 soldier who witnessed the tragic end 
 of the heroic rebel: 
 
 "Monuments are useful in bringing 
 examples of heroism and honor to 
 the attention of the living that they 
 may inspire courage and patriotism. 
 
 Forty-five years after his death, it 
 is proposed to unveil a monument at 
 Nashville to the memory of Samuel 
 Davis, Confederate scout and spy. 
 With papers — duplicates of Gen. 
 Grant's — giving the field positions of 
 the federal troops, he was captured 
 within the federal lines at Pulaski, 
 Tenn., November 22, 1863, and 
 brought before Gen. Dodge to ex- 
 plain from whom he had received 
 them. The general offered him his 
 horse, side arms and an escort to 
 the federal lines if he would yield 
 the name of the traitor. Seated on 
 the edge of his coffin and condemn- 
 ed to be hanged he replied: "Had 
 1 a thousand lives 1 would lose them 
 all before I would betray my 
 friends." He was a 21 year old hero. 
 They cut the buttons from his 
 weatherworn jacket and he handed 
 them to the chaplain to be sent to 
 his mother and sisters at Ruther- 
 ford, Tennessee, with a message of 
 love. .1. C. Kennedy, now a member 
 
THK SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 lOil 
 
 of the nionunient committee, then a 
 lad, and Oscar Davis, brother of 
 yanuiel, were sent to Pulaski by the 
 mother to get the body. The pro- 
 vost marshal gave them the assist- 
 ance of soldiers in removing the cof- 
 fin froiii the grave and at Columbia 
 a federal ferry boat was pressed into 
 service to transport team, wagon 
 and contents across the river, while 
 the federal soldiers stood with bow- 
 ed heads as the body of the scout 
 passed by. Their own experience 
 had taught them the honor due to 
 courage." 
 
 Toward th© last of April all the 
 troopis under command of General 
 Dodge left Pulaski for Chattanooga, 
 passing through Huntsville, Ala- 
 bama, where there are some of the 
 finest springs I ever saw, beautiful 
 clear water of great depth and large 
 area, which should make of that 
 place a popular resort for health 
 seekers who desire a moderately 
 warm climate. Most of the boys who 
 were to be mustered out during the 
 month of May were left behind 
 guarding bridges and helping to 
 Keep open the line of communica- 
 tion between Nashville and the 
 front. I was the only officer with 
 the company when we left Hunts- 
 ville. My First Lieutenant, J. C. 
 Conway, being on the staff of Gen- 
 ejal Rice, and my Second Lieuten- 
 ant, O. M. Langford remaining with 
 the non-veterans. When we had ar- 
 rived within hailing distance of 
 Chattanooga and camped for the 
 night, I wrote home as follows: 
 Lookout :\Iountain, May 4th, 1864. 
 My Dear M: — 
 
 I again improve an opportunity to 
 write you a few lines. We left Hunts- 
 ville on Monday morning and march- 
 ed about fifteen miles, then camped 
 for the night; next morning we re- 
 
 sumed our march and that day cov- 
 ered twenty-two mile-, when we 
 camped for the night. This morn- 
 ing we took the cars on the Mem- 
 phis and Charleston railroad and to- 
 night finds us at Chattanooga. The 
 program was changed after we left 
 Huntsville, or we would have had to 
 march all the way. The original plan 
 was an expedition by Sherman to- 
 ward Atlanta, on a grand scale, but 
 information has been received by 
 General Thomas that the rebels are 
 about to attack him in force, hence 
 the change. We are undoubtedly on 
 the eve of very stormy events. The 
 Twelfth Army Corps under General 
 Hooker and the Fifteenth under 
 General Logan are on the way here. 
 I think a big battle will be fought 
 somewhere near Ringgold. Only a 
 small force has been left to guard 
 the railroad between here and Pu- 
 laski: all the forces available seem 
 to be concentrating at this point.' 
 
 My last letter from the army was 
 written at Kingston, Georgia, May 
 liOth, 18 64, in w^hich was briefly 
 noted a few of the stirring events 
 which rapidly followed each other at 
 that period. 
 •My dear :M : — 
 
 I have not until now had ajj op- 
 portunity for writing you. Since my 
 last letter we left Chattanooga and 
 proceded southward, arriving at 
 Snake Creek Gap about ten days 
 ago. We have a large army, com- 
 manded by General Sherman. It is 
 divided into several columns, one 
 under General Schofield, operating 
 on our extreme left: one under Gen- 
 eral Thomas, in the center: one un- 
 der Hooker; one acting independent- 
 ly, -and our own, composed of the 
 Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps under 
 :McPherson. At Snake Creek Gap 
 we began skirmishin? with the en- 
 
110 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 emy. We advanced slowly, driving 
 him baclv until we arrived at Resac- 
 ca, where he made a stand; at this 
 place our army united and prepared 
 for battle. The Rebel army under 
 General Johnston numbered, as near 
 as we could find out, 60,000 men. 
 We skirmished and fought with him 
 for four days, though no general en- 
 gagement took place; the Rebels 
 would not fight. Scarcely more than 
 a brigade would be engaged at a 
 time. On the morning of Sunday, 
 the fifteenth, they evacuated, and 
 are now skedadling toward Atlanta, 
 where we are following them as fast 
 as possible. Our loss at Rosacea will 
 probably be about five thousand. The 
 Rebel loss, I think, will be much 
 greater. The Second Iowa did not 
 lose a man, killed or wounded, 
 though we were in one or two rath- 
 er hard places. Johnston is report- 
 ed to have made a speech to his 
 troops just before the battle, telling 
 Ihem that our army was composed 
 of niggers and hundred day men, 
 and that if they would make one 
 good charge we would all run. King-s 
 ston is about sixty miles from Atlan- 
 ta and fifteen miles from Rome. We 
 arrived at this place last night. The 
 Rebels left it in the morning, so you 
 see our advance is close after them. 
 They had not time to destroy the 
 railroad bridges, and this morning 
 we were surprised to see a train of 
 cars coming into Kingston; we keep 
 the road open as we advance. The 
 Twenty-sixth Iowa lost about thirty 
 killed and wounded at Resacca. Ser- 
 geant Watson was slightly wounded. 
 We have been marching day and 
 night since the battle, scarcely get- 
 ting more than an hour or two of 
 sleep out of twenty-four; I don't 
 know whether they will make a 
 stand at Atlanta or not, but I am in- 
 
 clined to think they will and if they 
 do we will no doubt have a desperate 
 fight." 
 
 At Rome Cross Reads the regi- 
 ment was again under fire, but met 
 with no serious loss, the enemy fail- 
 ing to make a decided stand on our 
 front. 
 
 My last important action in the 
 service of Uncle Sam was rendered 
 at Lay's Ferry on the Oustonaula 
 river, where I was given command of 
 a body of troops wihich were order- 
 ed out to protect Captain Reese, 
 chief engineer of the army of the 
 Tennessee, who with a party of 
 bridge builders was laying a pon- 
 toon bridge across the river. Two 
 or three were wounded before the 
 bridge was completed, but I don't 
 remember that any fatalities occur- 
 red. It was, however, an awkward 
 situation for the men at work to be 
 placed in as they had no opportunity 
 to return the fire of the enemy which 
 was delivered mostly by sharp shoot- 
 ers from behind trees and stumps, 
 and by distant artillery. 
 
 Soon after this time all that was 
 left of the regiment was strength- 
 ened by a remnant of the Third 
 Iowa, which was consolidated with 
 it and so the two regiments as one 
 remained until the close of the war. 
 It has always seemed to me to be a 
 pity that so .noble a body of men as 
 those who composed the Third- Iowa 
 Infantry should lose their regimen- 
 tal identity,, as one writer has said: 
 "It was fortunate the members re- 
 maining were assigned to so fine a 
 regiment as the Second, but after 
 all it would have been better and 
 more just, to have allowed the com-> 
 mand to retain its identity and its 
 name." 
 
 Toward the end of the month I 
 was sent back to Pulaski with sev- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 111 
 
 eral other officevs, whose terms of 
 service had expired. It was hard to 
 leave the regiment with which 1 
 had so long been identified and with 
 which I had so many times under- 
 gone the hardships of the march, the 
 sickness of the camp and the hospi- 
 tal, the perils of the battlefield, hun- 
 ger and thirst with all the privations 
 inseparable from a soldier's life. 
 And now I had come to the end of 
 it all and must say farewell to 
 the few of my comrades who were 
 to remain for nearly another year 
 and participate in the march to the 
 sea. It was hard to leave the regi- 
 ment and say farewell to my com- 
 rades, but the fact that there was a 
 surplus of commissioned ofl^cers to- 
 gether with other considerations that 
 need not be mentioned here, induced 
 me to surrender my commission, af- 
 ter having served something over 
 three years, from the line of the 
 Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad in 
 northern Missouri to Kingston, Geor- 
 gia. So on the 2 8th day of May, 
 1864 at Pv.laski, Tennessee, I was 
 mustered out of the service and im- 
 mediately departed for my home in 
 Iowa, bearing in my body some of 
 the marks of a soldier's life. 
 
 As to the regiment itself, one of 
 the historians of the Iowa troops, 
 has this to say: "The Second Iowa 
 Infantry was one of the most noted 
 of Iowa regiments — distinguished on 
 account of its distinguished men. 
 The command which gave Curtis, 
 Tut'tle and . Crocker to the service 
 must remain forever memorable in 
 our annals. Nearly all of its field 
 officers — Baker, Mills, Weaver, How- 
 ard, Chipman and Hamil — were 
 wounded in battle, and two sealed 
 their gallantry with their death. 
 Among the line officers, yea, among 
 the "rank and file" of this regiment. 
 
 as was indeed the fact with most 
 Iowa regiments, there were men who 
 would have adorned any society. It 
 was distinguished for its gallant 
 deeds. It has best comported with 
 the plan of this work to give prom- 
 inence to the first great battle in 
 which the command took part. But 
 it fought no less gallantly elsewhere, 
 the officers and men on all occasions 
 when called upon to encounter the 
 enemy, displaying coolness, courage 
 and enthusiastic gallantry fully 
 equal to what was to be expected of 
 those who were conscious of having 
 to sustain the reputation of the 
 heroes of Fort Donelscn — "The brav- 
 est of the brave." And I may add 
 that what is here said of the Sec- 
 ond Iowa might also be as truth- 
 fully said of all Iowa regiments and 
 indeed of American soldiers gener- 
 ally. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Soon after my return to Lyons I 
 purchased an interest in a grocery 
 store, which was owned and operat- 
 ed by Mr. G. W. Hammond. The 
 building was a wooden structure lo- 
 cated on the northwest corner of 
 Main and Sixth streets. Mr. Ham- 
 mond was an honorable business 
 man, who enjoyed the confidence of 
 the entire community -and our rela- 
 tions were always pleasant and sat- 
 isfactory. 
 
 We did a gocd business, all things 
 consi-lered, and I have ever regard- 
 ed with grafiflcation that business 
 venture. It was a time when high 
 prices ruled in all American mar- 
 kets on certain classes of goods. 
 Some thinss were affected by the 
 war much more than others, but al- 
 most everything felt the influence of 
 
Ill 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 the times, unless it was farm pro- 
 ducts, such as butter and eggs, 
 which were not materially affected. 
 Cotton goods, sugar and turpentine 
 were among the most sensitive of alL 
 because they were products of the 
 Soutnern states and were so univer- 
 sally in demand. We never kept 
 on hand more sugar than was abso- 
 lutely needed to meet the demands 
 of our customers from day to day, 
 because when a barrel had been 
 sold we were unable • to replace it 
 with another at the same cost. We 
 made a specialty of butter, which 
 was brought in by fanners as far 
 west as Maquoketa and sold by us 
 for home consumption. The price 
 was governed by the quality, there 
 being three or four grades: of course 
 our customers all thought they made 
 as good or better butter than their 
 neighbors, while as a matter of fact 
 there was a vast difference in the 
 goods they brought us. Some of it 
 was soft and white and frowsy 
 with occasional hairs scattered 
 through it to hold it together, 
 though often it did appear to have 
 strength enough to meet every rea- 
 sonable demand that might have 
 been made upon it, but the most of 
 what came to us was of good quali- 
 ty and some of it was excellent. One 
 day a stranger drove up to the store 
 and inquired if we wanted any but- 
 ter. I said "Yes;" then said he — 
 "I have some here; I will leave it 
 till I go on down town and sell my 
 "Wheat, then I will come back and 
 settle for it on my way out. I 
 want some groceries. "What are 
 you paying for butter?" I gave him 
 the average price, and he went away 
 satisfied. After he had gone I ex- 
 
 amined the butter which was pack- 
 ed in five gallon jars and found it 
 to be of the finest quality, so when 
 he returned I said to him: "Mr. 
 Evans, your butter is worth two 
 cents per pound more than I told 
 you, it is so much better than the 
 average that we can afford to pay 
 you more for it, which I am glad to 
 do." He was both surprised and 
 pleased and thereafter became one 
 of our regular customers. The 
 transaction also brought forth fruit 
 in another way to which reference 
 will be made in another place. 
 
 On the 8th day of November, 
 1864, the day on which Abraham 
 Lincoln was elected for the second 
 time to the presidency of the United 
 States, the unexpected happened. 
 Now there are some people who say 
 that it is only in war that the unex- 
 pected happens. In love and other 
 domestic calamities there is always 
 a relative who knew it all the time. 
 However that may be, an important 
 incident quite unexpected to most of 
 our friends, took place on the afore- 
 mentioned day, I was married to Miss 
 Mary Margaret Bennett, the young 
 lady I had seen for the first time in 
 the Sunday school four years before 
 and with whom I had maintained an 
 affectionate correspondence while in 
 the army; thus fulfilling the decla- 
 ration: "If I ever get married 
 that girl will be my wife.". The 
 wedding was a simple affair.. 
 
 By a previous arrangement the 
 ceremony was performed by the Rev. 
 S. N. Fellows, pastor of the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal church, at the home 
 of Mrs. .Tohn Sloan, a mutual friend 
 at whose house a church sociable 
 was being held. Mrs. Bennett was 
 not at all favorable to the arrange- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ii;5 
 
 luent; she did not like to have her 
 ('aiighter married away from home, 
 but after entering her protest final- 
 ly consented to our whim as she cal- 
 led it, with the understanding that 
 a reception must afterward be held 
 at the Bennett home, which was of 
 course cheerfully agreed to. 
 
 The people at the sociable were 
 completely surprised when in the 
 course of the evening the minister 
 called the company to order and re- 
 quested their attention for a few mo- 
 ments. Everything in readiness, we 
 pas-ed from an adjoining room into 
 the presence of the company and 
 were joined together in holy wedlock 
 The bride was simply and plainly 
 clad for the occasion; the chief fea- 
 ture cf the bridal outfit being a 
 calico dress, which was regarded as 
 a very sensible object lesson at a 
 time when economy in dress was a 
 consideration cf importance among 
 all save the rich. Even so, the ma- 
 terial in that dress cost fifty cents 
 per yard and fifty cents was harder 
 to get at that time than five times 
 that amount at the present time. 
 However, it is not to be supposed 
 that the matter cf expense was ser- 
 iously considered. There was no 
 greater hesitancy among young 
 people about entering upon the mar- 
 ried life on account of the expense 
 of living than there is at the present 
 time. Perhaps with reason, there was 
 not near so much. 
 
 In the month of February follow- 
 ing our marriage, largely through 
 the influence of my wife and her 
 christian parents, I was led to give 
 my heart to God and enter upcn the 
 Christian life, a step which was des- 
 tined to mould my character and in- 
 fluence all my subsequent career. At 
 the time this all-important step was 
 
 taken, special religious services were 
 being held in the city, in which all 
 the evangelical churches were en- 
 gaged. It was at one of those meet- 
 ings I tcok the decisive stand, en- 
 rolling myself as a soldier of the 
 Lord JesiTS Christ. 
 
 I immediately united with the 
 Methodist Episcopal church, on pro- 
 bation, and six months afterward, 
 was received into full connection in 
 that church. During the fall of the 
 same year I was constituted a local 
 preacher and almost immediately be- 
 gan to "exercise my gifts." The 8th 
 of September, 1865, was a red letter 
 day to us, for on that day, our first 
 babe was born. It was a girl, whom 
 we named Anna Louise. 
 
 My first attempt to hold a religious 
 service and preach a sermon was an 
 event of great moment to me, as 1 
 think it must be to every young 
 preacher. I had reason to fear that if 
 my old cronies discovered the time 
 and place of my first effort they 
 would be out in force and cause me 
 much embarrassment. So I fixed up- 
 on a school house about four miles 
 frcm town in a rather secluded lo- 
 cality as the place where it would be 
 safest to fire my first gun. The ser- 
 vice was to be held on a Sunday af- 
 ternoon. At the time appointed I 
 slipped out of town and shyly made 
 my way out to the school house. A 
 fair sized congregation was on hand, 
 curious to find out what sort of a 
 figure Harry Green would present in 
 the pulpit. They found out. I had 
 announced the first hymn, offered 
 prayer, read a scripture lesson and 
 was just starting the second hymn, 
 when, to my chagrin, there came 
 marching into the school house a 
 dozen or so of my old chums from 
 town. I was completely upset for 
 
114 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 the moment, but covered my con- 
 fusion as best I could and proceeded 
 with the service. It must have been 
 a crude affair from beginning to end. 
 When it came to the text: "Prepare 
 to Meet thy God," I announced it in 
 a weak voice and then with fear and 
 trembling, proceeded to tell what I 
 did not know aibouit it. At the 
 conclusion of the service, which 1 
 somehow reached through the men- 
 tal mist, one of the boys said to me: 
 "Well, Harry, I don't think it will be 
 necessary for you to preach any 
 more." "Why, what do you mean?" 
 "Well," he replied, "You began at 
 the first of Genesis and went clear 
 through to the last of Revelation. ' 
 And I was in no condition to deny it. 
 I held a few services after that in 
 different places; and during the year 
 it was borne in upon me that I must 
 become a minister of the gospel. I 
 did not contend aigainst this impres- 
 sion, especially as it was re-inforced 
 by the opinion of the Presiding El- 
 der, Pastor and several of the lead- 
 ing members of the church ait Lyons. 
 So in the fall of the year, 1866, I at- 
 tended the session of the Upper Iowa 
 Conference, which, was held at De- 
 corah, and was entertained at the 
 home of Mr. Simeon Leach, on the 
 west side of the river. 
 
 To reach Decorah, I was obliged 
 to go to Cedar Rapids on the C. & 
 N. W. railroad, thence to Dubuque, 
 from Dubuque by boat to McGregor, 
 thence by rail to Conover and from 
 Conover by stage to Decorah. 
 
 I did not unite with the conference 
 at that session, but "took work un- 
 der the Elder," who appointed me 
 to Summer Hill Circuit, a wide area 
 located in Jackson and Clinton 
 counties, embracing all the teritory 
 
 lying between Maquoketa and Elk 
 river. 
 
 I had previously disposed of my 
 interest in the store, and having 
 purchased a horse and buggy was 
 ready to move to my work. John 
 Holroyd, a member of the church, 
 living on the charge, volunteered to 
 move our things out to the parson- 
 age, distant some thirty-five miles; 
 so our stuff was loaded on the wag- 
 ons and the procesicn started. Hol- 
 royd got away in good shape and ar- 
 rived at the parsonage without ac- 
 cident. Not so the other two teams; 
 their drivers had evidently forgot- 
 ten the lessons taught them in the 
 Sunday school, for we who followed 
 them in our buggy some hours lat- 
 er, discovered the teams hitched in 
 front of a saloon just outside of 
 town, while the drivers were inside 
 drinking. I remarked to my wife, 
 "I am afraid we shall have trouble 
 with those fellows before we have 
 done with them." And indeed we 
 did for when they reached the par- 
 sonage the next day about thirty-five 
 dollars worth of carpet was missing 
 and the furniture was badly broken 
 up, several of the new chairs were 
 nearly destroyed and of one of the 
 jars of fruit wihich the preacher'.s 
 wife had so carefully prepared there 
 was little left; the bedding suffered 
 severely and in fact nearly every- 
 thing on those two wagons was more 
 or less injured. xae teamsters had 
 evidently gotten thoroughly drunk 
 and had been racing their teams, 
 for some people on the road told us 
 afterward how they had heard them 
 whooping and yelling like mad men 
 as they drove past. Evidently there 
 was need of missionary work in that 
 country. 
 
 The parsonage,- which was locat- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 115 
 
 ed in an isolated position at a bleak, 
 dreary spot on the top of a hill 
 which had once been covered with 
 timber, was surrounded with scrub- 
 by underbrush. It was distant nine 
 miles from Maquoketa, the nearest 
 town. A barn-like structure, which 
 was a mere shell; it defied all efforts 
 to render it anything like comfort- 
 able in the winter; so we suffered 
 from those piercing blasts which 
 swept over the exposed country, 
 driving their way pitilesly through 
 the cracks and crevices into the 
 house and freezing everything that 
 could not be kept close to the stove. 
 I used to wonder why it was not 
 called Winter Hill instead of Sum- 
 mer Hill. 
 
 The people were very kind, how- 
 ever, and kept us well provided with 
 fuel, so we survived the winter. 
 When we arrived on the charge 
 there were five preaching places, all 
 of them school houses, but during 
 my second year two more were ad- 
 ded, so I was kept busy supplying 
 the work. The drives were from 
 five to twenty miles long and as Mrs. 
 Green almost always went with me 
 when the weather would at all per- 
 mit; we did not always return home 
 on Sunday evening, but remained 
 over and visited among the people 
 for two or three days, frequently 
 meeting with wholesome adventures 
 and having some rare experiences. 
 The long drives in the summer, 
 through the timber and across the 
 prairies, were greatly enjoyed by us. 
 The preacher's wife, who was a fine 
 singer in those days, possessing a 
 beautiful voice which had been care- 
 fully trained, would sing hymn af- 
 ter hymn, while I, who knew but 
 little about music, would help to 
 swell the volume of sound, and en- 
 
 joyed it, I think quite as much as if 
 I had known more of the science. 
 
 One of my preaching places 
 which was known as the Deep Creek 
 appointment was situated about mid- 
 way between the parsonage and Ly- 
 ons. Near the school house lived 
 Mr. and Mrs. Evans, the people 
 whose butter I had bought while in 
 the store. They were not members ot 
 our church but they were among 
 our best friends and their home was 
 always open to us when we were in 
 that neighborhood, as indeed were 
 most of the homes on the charge and 
 that without regard to chuch affini- 
 ty. So free was the hospitality on 
 Summer Hill circuit that it was ut- 
 terly imposible for us to respond to 
 all the invitations we received from 
 our parishioners; not infrequently 
 would we be gone from home two or 
 three weeks at a time, making ac- 
 quaintences, holding meetings and 
 visiting among the people. 
 
 On the 24th of March, 1866, our 
 second babe was born. It was another 
 girl, whom in a rare burst of state 
 pride, we named Iowa, though just 
 why we should have been so patri- 
 otic at that particular time, I am un- 
 able to say. 
 
 The last Quarterly Conference ot 
 the year met early in September and 
 recommended the preacher to the 
 Annual Conference for "Admission 
 on Trial;" and the recommendation 
 presented by the Presiding Elder, 
 Rev. R. W. Keeler, at the ensuing 
 session, which was held at Iowa City, 
 September 18th, Bishop E. S. 
 .lanes, presiding. It so happened 
 that mine was the last of the Quar- 
 terly Conferences on the district 
 t-iat year, and at its close I started 
 for the Annual Conference in com- 
 
IK) 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A CO.MMOXER 
 
 pany with the Presiding Elder. We 
 were obliged to remain over night at 
 the home of one of my members. 
 The chamber assigned to us for a 
 sleeping apartment had never been 
 lathed and plastered and as the 
 house happened to be over run with 
 rats we had plenty of company most 
 cf the night. However, as both ot 
 us were feeling pretty well worn out 
 we soon fell asleep. I do not know 
 how long we had been sleeping, but 
 sometime in the night I was sud- 
 denly awakened by a sharp pain in 
 my upper lip. Instantly raising my 
 head I was astonished to discover 
 a monstrous rat, which, on being 
 alarmed by liiy action, at once jump- 
 ed from the bed to the floor. The 
 brute had caught my lip between his 
 teeth and had bitten clean through it. 
 In the morning I discovered that the 
 bosom of my shirt was spotted with 
 blood and that my lip was badly 
 swollen. Our hosts were greatly 
 surprised at my appearance and pro- 
 fusely apologized for the incident 
 which was only trivial after all and 
 my face soon recovered its wonted 
 aspect. 
 
 At the Annual Conference in com- 
 pany with ten others I was admitted 
 on trial , and at the end of the ses- 
 sion was read oif for Summer Hill 
 Circuit, for the second year, which 
 was entirely satisfactory to me and 
 to my wife and was not, I believe, 
 displeasing to the people en the cir- 
 cuit. 
 
 I may say here that the Annual 
 Conference is composed of all the 
 Traveling Preachers within the 
 bounds of a given territory; of these 
 there are what are termed Effective, 
 Supernumerary and Superannuated 
 Preachers; also there are the Li- 
 centiates or young men on trial in 
 
 the conference. Every preacher is 
 required to pass an examination on a 
 four year's course of study; after 
 serving two years on probation he is 
 received into full connection by vote 
 of the conference and ordained Dea- 
 con, then after having "travelled'" 
 two years mere he is ordained 
 Elder. 
 
 In the case of young men who are 
 to enter the missionary field, an ex- 
 cepticn is made and they may be 
 ordained at one \ under what is 
 termed "The Missionary Rule." 
 Preachers are also received from 
 other denominations. The ordina- 
 tion papers of those who are in ord- 
 ers in Evangelical churches are rec- 
 ognized by us and upon assent, in 
 open conference, to the doctrines 
 and discipline of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church, they are admitted to 
 full membership by vote of the Con- 
 ference. There has been some talk 
 in recent years about admitting lay- 
 men to the Annual Conference, but 
 up to the present time nothing has 
 been accomplished and at this time 
 it does not appear what good pur- 
 pose their admission could serve. 
 
 It was with many misgivings that 
 I entered upon my second year at 
 Summer Hill. My first year had not 
 been very satisfactory, and certainly 
 the charge was an exceedingly diffi- 
 cult one to serve. I think it was 
 looked upon as one of the least de- 
 sirable in the Conference. Most ot 
 the preachers would have felt it a 
 hardship had they been sent there. 
 It was scattered over so much terri- 
 tory, in a rough, hilly country and 
 the homes of the members were dis- 
 tant from each other, rendering it 
 extremely difficult to do pastoral 
 visitation. 
 
 At one point there were several 
 feuds among the members, some of 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ir 
 
 them of long standing, which had 
 brciight the cause of Christ into dis- 
 repute. In not a few instances these 
 dissensions were caused by intense 
 partisanship in politics, while in 
 others that prolific mischief maker 
 in country precincts, the line fence, 
 was responsible for our troubles. 
 With regard to politics I may say 
 that the neighborhood had been 
 largely democratic during the war 
 and the people were outspoken in 
 the expression of their prejudices. 
 The democrats were still called "cop- 
 perheads" and the republicans "nig- 
 ger worshippers," and other pet 
 names in vogue in war times; the=e 
 things in addition to the fact that 
 there was not a single church build- 
 ing on the w^iole charge, the salary 
 of the preacher so meager that 
 he could not have supported his fam- 
 ily had it not been for the donations 
 he received in firewood, edibles, etc.. 
 tended to discourage a young, 
 inexperienced preacher and make the 
 circuit un'^esirable. Donations were 
 not to be depended upon, for if the 
 preacher, likewise Mrs. preacher 
 happened to "take well," very gen- 
 erous donations were made, but if 
 it chanced that either of them were 
 not well likei, donations were light 
 and airy. They were an uncertain 
 quantity, and no dependence could 
 be placed on them, still it was quite 
 the custom on country charges to fix 
 the salary at a given figure with the 
 understanding that a donation would 
 be adied, the size of which when 
 it came off, depended on conditions, 
 over which the Quarterly Conference 
 had no jurisdiction. It was our cus- 
 tom on those first fields of labor to 
 keep two or three pigs and a lot of 
 chickens which added materially to 
 OUT income, and at Summer Hill 
 there w^as nothing to prevent our 
 doing so. When we were away from 
 
 home a neighbor, who lived just 
 across the road was engaged to look 
 after our live stock, so we were nev- 
 er uneasy about them. We could 
 leave home with the comfortable 
 feeling that everything on the farm 
 would be cared for in our absence. 
 I do not remember that we ever lost 
 anything except on one occasion 
 when rats, or weasels, or some other 
 marauding little beasts made a raid 
 on our chickens and destroyed every 
 one of them, nearly one hundred in 
 all. 
 
 As already stated, we entered up- 
 on the second year of our ministry 
 with fear and trembling on my part. 
 I was worried over what I regarded 
 as a want of success the year before, 
 and began to be troubled with ser- 
 ious doubts about the genuineness 
 of my call to the ministry. Had 1 
 and my friends been mistaken about 
 my "call?" Had I been listening to 
 the wrong voice? I thought about 
 it day and night; I prayed over it, 
 but said nothing to anyone about it. 
 It was a long time before the matter 
 was solved to my satisfaction. How- 
 ever, when a conclusion was finally 
 reached, it settled the question for- 
 ever. I resolved that unless that 
 year was productive of results in 
 the way of conversions, I should as- 
 sume that I had mistaken my call- 
 ing and go back to some secular 
 pursuit at the end of the year. Hav- 
 ing reached this conclusion, I dis- 
 missed the matter from my mind as 
 far as possible and went on with my 
 work. 
 
 Before me as I set down these 
 things, lies the marriage license of 
 the first couple I joined in wedlock. 
 It was issued for the marriage of 
 .Tames H. Blakesley and Mary M. 
 T^^lwood, and was signed by Alfred 
 L. Palmer, county judge, in his of- 
 fice at Andrew, which was then the 
 
118 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 county seat of Jackson county, on 
 December 26, 1876. Since that 
 time I have officiated on many sim- 
 ilar occasions, but the first wedding 
 is in some respects like the coming 
 of the first babe in the home. It 
 makes an epoch in the ministerial 
 life. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Nothing out of the ordinary oc- 
 curred on the charge until winter. 
 It had been the custom to hold 
 prayer meetings at tae school house 
 nearest the parsonage on Thursday 
 evenings. I always attended those 
 meetings when at home. There had 
 been nothing to indicate any unusual 
 religious interest on the part of the 
 people, either there or elsewhere on 
 the circuit, so far as I could observe, 
 until one evening in early winter 1 
 went to the prayer meeting as usual 
 and to my astonishment found the 
 school house filled with people, some 
 of whom were entire strangers to 
 me. As I was passing up the aisle 
 to the front, Ben Jones, the class 
 leader, pulled my sleeve and whis- 
 pered to me: "Brother Green, you 
 must preach tonight." It was not 
 the custom for the minister to preach 
 a sermon at the week day prayer 
 meeting, so I had not come prepared 
 to do so. "Why," I replied, "I can't 
 do that, I have made no preparation 
 whatever, and I can't preach without 
 preparation." "Oh, never mind 
 that," he said, "you will do well 
 enough; you don't need to preach 
 much, just go ahead and do the best 
 you can." 
 
 So I went up to the desk and 
 gave out a hymn, and while they 
 were singing it I selected a scripture 
 lesson, after which I offered the 
 opening prayer. Then, after reading 
 the lesson, I announced another 
 
 hymn, which was one of the longest 
 of the mcst familiar hymns in the 
 book, and all this time I could not 
 make a choice of a text, try as I 
 might. I really did not know what 
 to do, the more I tried to think of 
 one the more befogged I became, un- 
 til, getting desperate as the congre- 
 gation remorselessly neared the end 
 of the hymn and I saw no way out 
 of my dilemma, it suddenly occurred 
 to me to open the bible and grapple 
 with the first verse upon which my 
 eye should rest. Well, I do not now, 
 nor have I ever thought that God 
 intended a minister to appear before 
 a congregation without having made 
 due preparation. It used to be a 
 theory with some good people that 
 study for the pulpit was not neces- 
 sary on the part of the preacher; 
 some of my parishoners on Summer 
 Hill circuit held that view. They 
 believed that to make special prep- 
 aration was to fly in the face of 
 Providence. All that was necessary 
 was to open the mouth and God 
 would fill it. The Holy Spirit would 
 give you a message if you only left 
 the matter in His hands. Of course 
 I have never believed that God could 
 encourage laziness in the ministry, 
 any more than in any other calling. 
 I am sure a preacher should make 
 every reasonable exertion to fit him- 
 self for his work, and other things 
 being equal, the man who does this 
 and then when he gets into the pul- 
 pit stretches himself on his theme, 
 will, with the blessing of God, be 
 far more effective than the preacher 
 who assumes that he has only to 
 open his mouth and God will fill it 
 without any preparation on his part. 
 When the congregation had finish- 
 ed the hymn and was seated, I open- 
 ed the book with a silent prayer for 
 Divine help and looking down upon 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 119 
 
 it I saw before me those suggestive 
 words of St. Luke, Acts 2:21: "And 
 it shall come to pass that whosoever 
 shall call on the name of the Lord, 
 shall be saved." I had found my 
 text. It was wonderful; I might 
 have searched the bible from begin- 
 ning to end and found nothing more 
 simple or more suggestive than the 
 words before me. They were exactly 
 fitted to the occasion and furnished 
 me with just what I needed for the 
 congregation. To be sure I was at 
 first all at sea as to what I should 
 say, and what I did finally say, I 
 know not. 1 remember at this dis- 
 tant day, over forty years afterward, 
 that the text seemed to suggest it- 
 self to me. 1 saw the word "saved," 
 and that meant salvation, which was 
 uppermost in my thought at the 
 moment, and 1 talked about it much 
 as a preacher would do now, 1 
 think, who was in dead earnest. 
 Then there was the word "call," 
 which meant prayer, a very 
 nece&sary thing in the acquirement, 
 or in the maintenance of the relig- 
 ious life, and 1 urged the necessity 
 and importance of prayer on my 
 congregation. Finally the univer- 
 sality of the offer of salvation was 
 before me in the text, represented in 
 the word "whosoever." These three 
 things 1 saw at a glance and I tried 
 hard to make the people see them. 
 Surely it was an impressive occasion 
 and the audience was thoughtful and 
 expectant. 1 announced a hymn and 
 invited any who desired to be saved 
 to stand during the singing of the 
 hymn. Two men rose, a son and a 
 son-in-law of the class leader, Ben 
 Jones. At the conclusion of the 
 hymn I called upon the congrega- 
 tion to pray, and asked Brother 
 Jones to lead us. He responded most 
 fervently and was followed by oth- 
 ers, whose petitions were interspers- 
 
 ed with songs, as was the custom in 
 the prayer meeting. Before closing 
 the service 1 asked the people if they 
 would attend another meeting the 
 next night and nearly all said they 
 would, so I announced services for 
 the following evening. 
 
 That night there were some con- 
 versions and the next night there 
 were more. The word went out over 
 the country that there was a pro- 
 tracted meeting at the Falrtield 
 school house and the people began 
 to gather in from all sections until 
 the building was crowded to suffoca- 
 tion, it could hold no more. One 
 night the jam was so great that 
 some one broke one of the windows 
 to let in fresh air. In the meantime, 
 the meetings were constantly grow- 
 ing in interest, conversions were tak- 
 ing place every night, some ot them 
 being very remarkable. The "mourn- 
 ers' bench" was crowded on Doth 
 sides; people were on their knees 
 wherever there was room in any part 
 of the house, and where they could 
 not find room to kneel down they 
 prayed Vvhere they sat or where they 
 stood. It surpassed anything I had 
 ever seen before, it was wonderful. 
 Some would be singing, some crying 
 for mercy, others silently and 
 thoughtfully looking on, but all in- 
 tensely interested. The meetings 
 continued for nearly two months and 
 between seventy and eighty were 
 added to the church at that appoint- 
 ment. The converts were almost 
 without exception either elderly peo- 
 ple or young married people; very 
 few children v/ere among the first 
 fruits of the revival. I think that 
 was because they were generally left 
 at home during the meetings on ac- 
 count of the cold and the limited 
 capacity of the school house. I^ater 
 on many of them were added to the 
 number who joined to the church. 
 
120 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 One night when the crowd was 
 greatest and the interest high as I 
 was speaking to a woman kneeling 
 at the mourner's bench, she sudden- 
 ly cried out: "Oh, Mr. Green, go 
 and speak to my husband." I saw 
 him near the door looking very 
 solemn; he, like many others in the 
 neighborhood, was originally from 
 the north of Ireland. I said to him: 
 "Mr. M., don't you think you had 
 better go and join your wife at the 
 altar?" Faith, I believe I had," he 
 replied and darted off like a shot, 
 dropping on his knees beside his 
 v.-ife, where both of them were soon 
 converted. There were several in- 
 stances where radical changes were 
 wrought in the character and man- 
 ner of life of many housenolds, 
 which at the present time could 
 hardly occur in any but the most 
 crude of the backwoods settlements. 
 In one instance the reformation was 
 so marked that I cannot refrain 
 from making mention of it, though 
 it was by no means an exceptional 
 case, for there were others of like 
 character, though none quite so 
 prominent. 
 
 It was a family who lived nearly 
 two miles from the school house, on 
 a farm among the hills. The moth- 
 er was a good, intelligent woman 
 who wanted her children to grow up 
 in the enjoyment of better advan- 
 tages than had fallen to her lot. She 
 was a neat, clean housekeeper, but 
 had little to do with because of the 
 husband, who was not a bad man at 
 heart, was unable to resist the liquor 
 habit which had fastened itself upon 
 him. The consequence was that 
 whenever he took the produce of the 
 farm to market, which was distant 
 forty miles from his home, and re- 
 quired an absence of two d?ys and 
 a night, he almost always fell into 
 
 bad company and generally squand- 
 ered in the saloons about all he had 
 received for his wheat or other pro- 
 duce. Before the revival, his wife 
 told me when I asked her why the 
 children never came to Sabbath 
 school, that they were without de- 
 cent clothes, the girls had no shoes, 
 and the older ones were ashamed to 
 appear barefooted among the other 
 children, so she w^as obliged to keep 
 them at home. The revival changed 
 all that. One night I noticed the 
 father at the rear of the school house 
 and going to him, I took him by the 
 hand and said: "Come." Without 
 a word he followed me to the front 
 of the school house where he fell up- 
 on his knees and was soundly and 
 happily converted to God. It wag a 
 joyous night for his family, for they 
 soon began to reap the fruits cf his 
 conversion. One of the first things 
 he did was to go to market with a 
 load of grain and with the money 
 he received for it, he bought shoes 
 and other necessary things for his 
 wife and children. The change 
 wrought in that home was complete 
 and happy. No more drunKeii hus- 
 band. No more heart-broken wife. 
 No more shoeless children. From 
 that time forward it was a christian 
 home. There was plenty to eat and 
 plenty to wear. The family became 
 regular attendants at church; a 
 mortgage which had been placed on 
 the farm and which would have grad- 
 ually eaten it up was eventually paid 
 off; the property was redeemed as 
 well as its owner. The Northwest- 
 ern Christian Advocate was subscrib- 
 ed for and the family was supplied 
 with good reading, and what had 
 been but a short time before a scene 
 of poverty, squalor and wretched- 
 ness, became, under the power of the 
 gospel, a happy home. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 121 
 
 After the meetings had been going 
 on for several weeks I began to feel 
 worn and feared I would have to 
 bring them to a close unless help 
 could he had. I had been compelled 
 to provide a new sermon every day 
 for a long time and in view of my 
 ignorance and inexperience it was a 
 tax on my energies that none but 
 those who have been placed in like 
 circumstances can appreciate. The 
 drain was beginning to tell on my 
 health and I felt that something 
 must be done to relieve the strain. 
 So I sent to Maquoketa, where the 
 Rev. William Lease was pastor, and 
 urged him to come over Into my 
 Macedonia and help me. He kindly 
 consented to do so, and was with me 
 for three or four nights, preacliing 
 each evening and otherwise assisting 
 in the meetings, thus giving me a 
 much needed rest. But it soon be- 
 came apparent to him, and indeed to 
 others, that it was not great sermons 
 that was needed in that meeting, for 
 the interest suddenly began to sag 
 and the work was stayed in large 
 measure. Brother Lease, whose 
 heart was in the work, easily recog- 
 nized the situation, and explaining 
 it to me declared that he thought he 
 was doing us no good and the wisest 
 thing for him to do would be to re- 
 turn home. Of course I tried to 
 dissuade him, but without avail and 
 he took his departure, leaving the 
 meetings entirely on our hands 
 again. Then it came to pass that 
 the christian workers, who had to 
 some extent ceased their efforts 
 while he was with us, thinking they 
 were not needed so much, took a 
 new hold and the glorious work 
 several important things. It was rich 
 several important things. It was rich 
 in its related fruitage. First, there 
 was the large number of conversions 
 
 in a sparcely settled country, where 
 attendants were compelled to travel 
 long distances. Some of the conver- 
 sions were very remarkable as to the 
 character of the persons saved as 
 well as the far reaching results to 
 their families and friends. The 
 question of politics which had dis- 
 turbed and divided the community so 
 long was for the time being relegat- 
 ed to the rear. A new adjustment 
 was made in the matter of line 
 fences so that they no longer divided 
 families as well as farms. A new 
 church was built to take the place 
 of the old school house as a house 
 of worship, and what to me person- 
 ally was of supreme importance was 
 that I had received my answer to the 
 great question that had so troubled 
 me during the preceding year. For 
 all time there could no longer be any 
 question in my mind as to my call 
 to the work of a minister of the gos- 
 pel. On that question I was at rest 
 and from that time to this I have 
 never been distured about it. If I 
 had been a great preacher or an ex- 
 perienced evangelist there might 
 have been room for doubt, but in my 
 case there could be none whatever, 
 for that revival was clearly the work 
 of God and God alone, and to him 
 only have I ever a-^cribed it. I say 
 now as I have ever said, that con- 
 sidering the condition of things as 
 they had existed in that community 
 for years, that first Thursday even- 
 ing prayer meeting when so many 
 Btrans-ers who were not in the habit 
 of attending Divine worship any- 
 where were present, without any ap- 
 parent special reason for being 
 there; the unusual beginning of the 
 meeting, the strange finding of the 
 text and the remarkable results fol- 
 lowing: all the^e things have ever 
 tended to humble me as an Instru- 
 
122 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ment in the hands of God, to whom 
 be all the glory. 
 
 At the close of our special meet- 
 ings the parsonage was visited by a 
 great crowd of people who came to 
 us with donations. They brought al- 
 most everything that could be of 
 use in a rural family at that period 
 and some things that could not. 
 Load upon load of wood, enough to 
 last us for a year was piled up at 
 our back door and afterward men 
 came and cut it up into stove lengths. 
 Hay, corn and oats for the horses, a 
 lot of chickens and a turkey or two, 
 great loaves of bread, hop yeast and 
 salt rising, some of it rye but most 
 of it wheat, hams and shoulders of 
 pork, vegetables of all kinds, jellies 
 and juices, apples, tea, coffee and 
 sugar; dre'^s goods for the preacher's 
 wife and little things for the babies. 
 Oh, it was great. The way they 
 hustled about, lurking here and 
 there, laughing and jesting with one 
 another, pushing and jostling each 
 other in the crowded rooms. Great 
 long tables were improvised out of 
 planks and wooden horses which had 
 been brought in for the occasion, 
 stretching from one end of the big 
 room which served for parlor, din- 
 ing room and kitchen to the other. 
 Time after time the table was loaded 
 with good things and then cleared 
 an"d loaded again. It was a feast of 
 fat things and a time of rejoicing. 
 Baby smeared from head to foot 
 with grease and molasses was having 
 the time of her life; the women all 
 said she looked just like her papa, 
 which, considering her appearance 
 just at that time was rather a doubt- 
 fvil compliment. Mamma was made 
 much of, just as she deserved, for 
 she was a model wife for a preacher, 
 or for anybody else for that matter; 
 a woman whom almost everyone lov- 
 
 ed and all esteemed. There never 
 was a better to my notion. But all 
 earthly things must come to an end, 
 and our first donation was no ex- 
 ception. It was very late when it 
 finally broke up and the people with 
 many hearty expressions of good 
 will, departed for their homes, ap- 
 parently happy. 
 
 Soon after the close of the special 
 revival services I began to urge the 
 need of a church building for that 
 community. Then there was trouble. 
 Everyone saw the need of a church, 
 but the trouble arose over the loca- 
 tion. There were two points in the 
 patronizing territory, either of which 
 would do very well. They were not 
 more than a mile and a half from 
 each other, but the patronage was 
 so evenly divided that it was difficult 
 to determine which place to select. 
 Both sides wanted the church and 
 eaoh side seemed determined to se- 
 cure it. In order to decide the 
 matter with as little friction as pos- 
 sible, I proposed that two subscrip- 
 tion papers be presented to each per- 
 son, thus giving everyone an oppor- 
 tunity to subscribe to either paper 
 or both if they chose the site receiv- 
 ing the largest subscription to have 
 the church. There was some de- 
 murrage at first, but it was finally 
 agreed to and I immediately began 
 to take subscriptions. After canvass- 
 ing every home in the neighborhood 
 and it was found that one of the 
 sites was chosen by a good margin, 
 we at once laid plans for the erection 
 of the building. In due time it was 
 completed and dedicated under the 
 name of Center Church, which it 
 retains to this day. The Annual 
 Conference that fall was held at An- 
 amosa, beginning September 3rd, 
 Bishop Matthew Simpson presiding. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 123 
 
 At the closing session my name was 
 read off for Sumner Hill circuit for 
 the third time, and I returned in 
 good spirits to resume my work 
 among old friends. 
 
 Special services were held during 
 the winter at Charlotte and Deep 
 Creek, with quite good results. At 
 Charlotte, especially, where quite a 
 number were converted and added 
 to the church. 
 
 On February 5th, 1869, our first 
 boy baby was born, whom we named 
 Samuel William, after his two grand- 
 fathers. The poor little fellow had 
 a hard time of it the first year of 
 his life, for he suffered a long time 
 with a severe attack of brain fever, 
 which came very near ending his 
 earthly career. It was only because 
 his mother gave him the very best 
 of care that he finally pulled 
 through, but it was a hard struggle 
 and it was a long time before he 
 fully recovered. 
 
 The last Quarterly Conference of 
 the year was held in the new cnurch, 
 under the direction of the Rev. Elias 
 Skinner, who had been appointed 
 Presiding Elder the fall before. 
 
 As it was understood that we were 
 to leave the charge for a new field 
 at the approaching Conference, our 
 friends were present Vn large num- 
 bers to say good bye, and bid us God 
 speed in our work. I am sure most 
 of the people would have been glad 
 if we could have remained longer, 
 but the law of the church was 
 against a pastorate of more than 
 three years in succession on the 
 same charge, so we were prepared 
 to move. 
 
 At the Annual Conference, which 
 was held at Independence, I was 
 ordained Deacon by Bishop D. W. 
 
 Clark and appointed to Mill Rock 
 circuit. 
 
 Upon reaching my new field of 
 labor I found five school houses, but 
 no church, neither was there a par- 
 sonage, so we made our home with 
 an old couple at Maquoketa, renting 
 part of their house, although the 
 nearest appointment was ten miles 
 distant. It made a hard day's work 
 on Sunday, for I held three and part 
 of the time four services, and had a 
 ride of between thirty and forty 
 miles, leaving home in the morning 
 and not getting back until late at 
 night. Of course we saw some hard 
 times that winter, suffering severely 
 at times from the cold, but then I 
 enjoyed g^ood health and with a 
 mind to work we got along quite 
 well. A revival at Monmouth during 
 i*he winter was quite successful, re- 
 sulting in something like thirty ad- 
 ditions to the church. The follow- 
 ing summer a parsonage was built 
 at Monmouth which was ready for 
 occupancy by my successor in the 
 fall. 
 
 One of the old time camp meet- 
 ings was held that year, it continued 
 for several days and was attended 
 by preachers and members from 
 neighboring charges, as well as by 
 the home people. It was a new ex- 
 perience to me; also it was an occa- 
 sion to be remembered. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 My next appointment was Maquo- 
 keta Circuit, which at that time was 
 looked upon as one of the most desir-, 
 able of its class in the Conference. 
 It included the territory of what has 
 since been known as the Elwood and 
 the Delmar charges. For a change, 
 I found three churches and a first 
 class parsonage as my heritage. 
 
124 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 There were also four school house 
 appointments, so I found plenty to 
 do, but as the churches and school 
 houses were comparatively near to 
 each other, the long cold rides I had 
 been accustomed to on the previous 
 charges were not required. I was 
 accorded a warm welcome on my 
 first appearance at the different ap- 
 pointments and was at once made to 
 feel that I was among friends. Sure- 
 ly, to me, the lines had fallen in 
 pleasant places. 
 
 A Methodist minister who moves 
 from place to place meets with ex- 
 periences seldom found in the lives 
 of other men. At one of the churches 
 upon stepping down from the pulpit 
 at the close of my first service, a 
 benevolent looking old gentleman 
 cam-e up to me and grasping my 
 hand shook it warmly, as he said 
 with great apparent sympathy: 
 "Well, Brother Green, don't be dis- 
 couraged. Brother Milner didn't 
 preach any better than you do when 
 he first came here." 
 
 The Rev. R. W. Milner, who was 
 my predecessor had been much be- 
 loved and deservedly so, for he was 
 a kind hearted, genial, everyday 
 sort of a man who made friends and 
 retained them. Between Brother 
 Milner and myself there sprang up 
 a friendship which continued until 
 his death, which took place at Belle 
 Plaine in 1898. At his request which 
 was made years before, I conducted 
 his funeral services, in the presence 
 of a great congregation, for he had 
 many friends, and it seemed to me 
 almost as if I was officiating at the 
 obsequies of a member of our own 
 family. 
 
 Of course I knew that the old 
 gentleman was disposed to let me 
 down easy and was wholly sincere. 
 
 It was clear he meant his greeting to 
 be for my encouragement, though I 
 must say that his way of coming at 
 me nearly took my breath away, 
 even with the instant conviction that 
 though his name was not Nathaniel, 
 I had before me, "An Israelite, in- 
 deed, in whom there was no guile." 
 And so it proved, for as long as I 
 remained in that country I had no 
 better friend than that same artless 
 brother. 
 
 There was at that time residing on 
 the circuit a considerable number of 
 River Brethren, as they were called; 
 a sect of Bunkers or German Bap- 
 tists, a simple, unpretending people, 
 highly respected by their neighbors 
 because of their honesty and integ- 
 rity. They were generally quite well 
 off financially, living in good, com- 
 fortable homes and having large 
 farms which were always kept in a 
 high state of cultivation. One of the 
 peculiar religious ceremonies of the 
 River Brethren was the washing of 
 each other's feet in their public gath- 
 erings, a ceremony which never fail- 
 ed to attract large audiences, drawn 
 together by curiosity and other mo- 
 tives not always commendable. I 
 made it a rule to attend the meetings 
 of the "Brethren" whenever I could 
 do so without interfering with my 
 own work, for I had great respect 
 for those good people and seldom 
 failed to get good from their ser- 
 vices. 
 
 One Sunday evening I had taken 
 our little six year old girl, Anna with 
 me and had chosen a seat well to- 
 ward the front of the church. Upon 
 invitation of one of the preachers, 
 however, I took a seat on the plat- 
 form, leaving my little girl where 
 she had been seated. She was quite 
 contented to remain where she was 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 12;} 
 
 through the opening ceremonies and 
 during the sermon, but when the 
 brethren began to wash the feet of 
 the men, and the sisters approached 
 each other with the same Intent, 
 Anna took alarm, which w^as greatly 
 increased, when, as she thought, she 
 saw one of them, a sister of immense 
 proportions approaching in her direc- 
 tion with bowl and towel. I had no- 
 ticed that for some little time she 
 had appeared quite uneasy, figeting 
 about in her seat and looking around 
 her as if seeking a way of escape. 
 I had thought little about it, assum- 
 ing that her uneasiness arose from 
 the fact that she had been sitting in 
 the crowded seat so long and was 
 getting tired. But that was not the 
 trouble as I soon learned, for when 
 she could stand it no longer the lit- 
 tle thing sprang to her feet and with 
 a cry of alarm which startled all 
 who were sitting near, she ran up to 
 the platform crying: "Papa, papa, 
 I don't want them to wash my feet." 
 I lifted her to my knees, at the same 
 time assuring her that they were not 
 going to wash her feet, whereupon 
 she settled down on my lap and soon 
 dropped asleep. Ihe incident caused 
 a broad indulgent smile on many 
 faces, but the services were not in- 
 terrupted at all. 
 
 The class leader at one of the 
 preaching places entertained a vio- 
 lent prejudice against the use of an 
 organ in the church, and as the 
 young people insisted on having one 
 and had raised the money among 
 themselves to purchase it there was 
 war for a time. The old class leader 
 fought against it with all his might. 
 He was almost alone in his opposi- 
 tion to be sure, but that made no 
 difference, he sturdily maintained 
 his ground. He hurled invectives at 
 
 it, he was sarcastic, intractible, con- 
 tumacious, cantankerous. He called 
 it a mule and declared that he would 
 never consent to its braying in the 
 church. He became so bitter that I 
 was really alarmed, fearing his obs- 
 tinacy might cause a division in the 
 church. He complained to me that 
 the young people were no longer at- 
 tending his class meetings and said 
 the organ was to blame for it; the 
 devil was using it to lead them away 
 from the church; it was causing 
 them to backslide. I said to him: 
 "John, I am really afraid you are 
 yourself to blame for the absence of 
 the young people from class meet- 
 ing. They have set their hearts on 
 1 aving an organ to steady their voi- 
 ces and to improve the church music, 
 and if an organ can be used to ad- 
 vantage in other places I don't see 
 why it should be tabood here 
 We must not drive our young peo- 
 ple away from us just because of a 
 foolish prejudice." "Well," he re- 
 plied, "I don't believe in worshiping 
 God by machinery." "Oh," I said, 
 "as to that you could oppose the use 
 of written music and even of hymn 
 books in the church on the same 
 grounds. Now if you will withdraw 
 your open opposition to the organ, 
 even though it be a cross to listen to 
 it, I will guarantee that your young 
 people will come back to the class 
 meetings and the dove of peace will 
 again spread her white wings over 
 us." And it came to pass even so, 
 for all opposition to the organ was 
 withdrawn, the class meetings were 
 again attended by the young peo- 
 ple and we heard no more of the 
 war. 
 
 During the winter of that year I 
 held protracted meetings at three or 
 four different places. Some of them 
 
12fi 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 were quite fruitful, but one at least 
 was disappointing. It was at Brook- 
 field. The weather was bitterly cold, 
 which interfered with the attend- 
 ance, giving us small congregations. 
 One night as I entered the church 
 I discovered one of the members, an 
 old Englishman, cramming the 
 stoves with hard, dry, second growth 
 hickory, which his hired man had 
 hauled from the timber north of 
 Maquoketa. The stoves were red 
 hot, and the room was fast becoming 
 uncomfortably warm, still the old 
 man was busy pushing in the wood, 
 while half a dozen old cronies, who 
 had come early, were looking on 
 with much apparent interest. I saw 
 at a glance that something was up, 
 so as soon as I had thrown off my 
 overcoat I went to him and slapping 
 him on the back, I said: "Johnny" 
 (everybody called him Johnny) 
 "what in the world are you trying 
 to do?" At that he slowly straighten- 
 ed up and with a queer twist upon 
 his face and a twinkle in his eye, he 
 said: "Haw, I thon't if we was go- 
 ing to 'ave hany 'eat in the church, 
 we'd got to get it hout of the stoves, 
 there's none in the pulpit," and with 
 that he gave an extra twist to his 
 broad face, quietly took his seat and 
 was real good for the rest of that 
 night. It was not very long how- 
 ever, before the old fellow, who, 
 with all his jollity was subject to 
 occasional fits of melancholy, came 
 to me and without giving any rea- 
 son whatever, said: "You may take 
 my name hoff o' the class book." I 
 looked at him a moment and then 
 s?id: "All right, off it goes." He 
 seemed to be surprised for a mo- 
 ment, but said nothing, and turning 
 on his heel walked away. His regu- 
 lar seat was in the "Amen corner," 
 
 up at the front of the church and to 
 one side of the pulpit: The next 
 Sunday after telling me to take his 
 name from the record, he took a 
 seat at the extreme end of the church 
 nearest the door, and as soon as ser- 
 vices were over took his departure 
 without saying a word to anyone. 
 The following Sunday he was again 
 at church and took a seat just half 
 way toward the front, leaving again 
 at the close of the service in cold 
 reserve. The third Sunday he was 
 present again and this time marched 
 boldly up to the front and took his 
 old seat in the "Amen corner." As 
 I stepped down from the pulpit after 
 the sermon, he waddled up to me and 
 with considerable anxeity wanted to 
 know if I had "taken it hoff." "No," 
 I replied, "of course I have not." His 
 face brightened at once and he said: 
 "Well, you needn't." Poor old man; 
 if I had erased his name from the 
 church records and deprived him of 
 membership in the church, it would 
 have broken his heart and I very 
 well knew it. 
 
 It was the custom of the old man 
 to make the preacher a present each 
 year of two half grown Chester 
 White pigs, a breed which he stoutly 
 maintained was the finest and most 
 profitable in the world. Many a 
 heated argument have I heard be- 
 tween him and breeders of other 
 kinis of swine touching the merits 
 of their favorites. I used to pick 
 up a gocd deal of information listen- 
 ing to those arguments, but I always 
 favored the Chester White, which 
 was not to be wondered at, I think. 
 
 The parsonage property which 
 formerly belonged to a congregation- 
 al minister from whom it had been 
 purchased by our people, included 
 five acres of ground, the house, barn 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 12' 
 
 and a fine apple orchard occupied 
 two acres while the other three were 
 under cultivation. In the spring I 
 had it plowed and sowed with oats 
 and grass seed. The grain yielded 
 us a fine crop of oats, followed in 
 due season by good pasture for my 
 horse and cow, which was of con- 
 siderable help toward the expenses 
 of the family. We have never lived 
 more comfortably in any parsonage 
 than on Maquoketa circuit, and in- 
 deed at the present time there are 
 few outside of the larger churches 
 that can compare with it. Of course 
 it lacked some modern improvements 
 which are considered a necessity at 
 the present time, but it made up for 
 that in some degree, by other com- 
 forts which few have in these days. 
 It was a happy change after the 
 crude house at Sumner Hill and the 
 cramped apartments of the preced- 
 ing year. It was there our youngest 
 daughter, Lucy, was born on the 8th 
 of February, 1871, and nearly three 
 years later, our second son, whom 
 we named Schuyler Emory. 
 
 The Annual Conference in the fall 
 of 1871 was held at Clinton, with 
 Bishop E. R. Ames presiding. It 
 will be remembered that five years 
 earlier he had presided at the De- 
 corah Conference. He was also to 
 be with us again later on. 
 
 In view of my extended acquaint- 
 ance at Lyons and Clinton, I was re- 
 quested by the pastor of the Clinton 
 church to spend a few days before 
 Conference in that city, and assist 
 him in looking up places of enter- 
 tainment for the ministers during 
 their stay at the session. This I was 
 glad to do since it gave us an oppor- 
 tunity to make a brief visit among 
 relatives and friends at Lyons, before 
 the session opened. 
 
 One day while passing up Main 
 street I heard some one shouting 
 across the street, and upon looking 
 in that direction, who should I see 
 but Jake, a colored boy who came to 
 us in the army. Jake, who was a 
 stout young fellow of twenty-four or 
 twenty-five, had made his escape 
 from his southern master while we 
 were in Mississippi or Alabama, and 
 at his urgent request, I had engaged 
 him more for his accommodation 
 than my own, for already I had one 
 boy, Billy, whom I had inherited 
 from Captain Howard, my predeces- 
 sor, so that my needs were not very 
 pressing. However, I took Jake, 
 who stayed with Colonel Howard, af- 
 ter I had left the service. He proved 
 to be a faithful fellow in every re- 
 spect and I came to think a great 
 deal of him. Billy did not at firet 
 take kindly to the arrangement; he 
 was disposed to regard Jake as an 
 interloper, who had come to oust 
 him out of his position or at least 
 to trample upon his rights, and in- 
 asmuch as he was free born and had 
 never been a slave, while Jake was 
 "nothin' but a no 'count nigger," 
 who had never been free until he 
 ran away and came to us, Billy 
 would turn up his sable nose in de- 
 rision whenever Jake's virtues were 
 spoken of. But as Jake, who was 
 much older than Billy, was a good 
 nature^ fellow and seldom resented 
 his remarks, there sprang up a 
 strong attachment between them and 
 they got along nicely together. "Fob 
 de law's sake Marse Cap'n, am dat 
 you?" "Why, yes, Jake," I said, 
 "where in the world did you come 
 from?" "I'se up f'om de Souf, sah, 
 and 'deed I'se mightly glad to see 
 you lookin' so peart." "And I am 
 real glad to meet you again, Jake, 
 
128 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 my boy; the North seems to agree 
 with you." "Ahm likin' dis heah 
 country; ahm livin' in Clinton; ahm 
 married, Caipt'n." "So.so, I hope 
 you are enjoying your married life. 
 What has become of Billy?" I asked. 
 "Don't know sah, nebber seed him 
 since you left de army, ah reckon he 
 'lined some other company." "Well, 
 good bye Jake, we may see each 
 other again and have a chat. I am 
 to be in Clinton about a week," I 
 said, but that was the last I ever 
 saw of him. 
 
 At the General Conference of 1868 
 provisions had been made for the en- 
 try of Lay Delegates to that body, 
 which up to that time had been com- 
 posed of ministers only, so that 
 every Conference was required to 
 elect two Lay Delegates, in addition 
 to its ministerial representation. In 
 compliance with this new law D. N. 
 Cooley of Dubuque and Hiram Price 
 of Davenport were chosen; each An- 
 nual Conference being allowed one 
 ministerial delegate for every forty- 
 five members, and one for a fraction 
 over thirty. It was at that session 
 I was ordained Elder, having com- 
 pleted my studies in the course and 
 served four years as a traveling 
 preacher. No change was made in 
 my appointment , for I was returned 
 to Maquoketa circuit for another 
 year, which greatly pleased my 
 wife, as she was loath to leave the 
 fine parsonage and the kind friends 
 she had made on the circuit. 
 
 During the year following, the 
 Iowa, Midland railroad, running 
 from Clinton to Anamosa, was built. 
 Most of the way it followed the old 
 roadbed of what was formerly known 
 as the "Calico Road," a line wliich 
 had been projected and partly grad- 
 ed as early as 1858, but which had 
 
 been abandoned for want of sUiffi- 
 cient funds to complete it, or for 
 some other unknown reason. It had 
 been dubbed the "Calico Road," be- 
 cause what little the workmen re- 
 ceived was paid them in orders on 
 the stores, instead of cash, which 
 was difficult to obtain in those days. 
 It was said at the time that two or 
 three men acquired much wealth out 
 of the scheme at the expense of many 
 others. The Midland first touched 
 my territory at a point a mile or so 
 east of the parsonage and seven 
 miles from Maquoketa. The road 
 was built and has always been oper- 
 ated by the Chicago and Northwest- 
 ern. 
 
 While the road was in process of 
 construction it occurred to me that 
 we might make a little money out 
 of it toward the payment of a debt 
 on the parsonage. So I went down 
 to Clinton and interviewed the au- 
 thorities there. I was quite well 
 acquainted with some of them, so I 
 had no trouble in arranging for an 
 excursion from the end of the line to 
 Clinton and return. I contracted 
 with them for six passenger ears, 
 also arranging for a short excursion 
 on the Mississippi river as part of 
 the trip. It was planned that on the 
 night before the day on which the 
 excursion was to take place the train 
 should run out to Monmouth, the 
 starting point, and remain there un- 
 til six o'clock next morning. I then 
 advertised the trip thoroughly in the 
 Maquoketa papers and from my own 
 pulpit, awaiting with much anxiety 
 the time for the start. Five or six 
 of my friends went with me to Del- 
 mar .Junction, where we took the 
 train for Monmouth. The road-bed 
 west of Maquoketa being then in 
 course of construction was so un- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 r->!t 
 
 even that we were obliged to move 
 with great caution. Frequent stops 
 were made to let down fence rails 
 which had been placed across the 
 road to keep the cattle off the track. 
 In the morning these rails were all 
 removed and there wa nothing to 
 interfere with the running of the 
 train, so at the appointed time, with 
 a goodly number from Monmouth 
 and adjacent country, amid much 
 blowing of whistles and great mer- 
 riment among the passengers, we 
 made the start. The train filled up 
 as we pushed on, until at Delmar the 
 cars became so jammed that the 
 crowd overflowed into the express 
 car against the protest of the train- 
 men, bit as we assurred them that 
 we would be responsible for any 
 damage that might occur, they final- 
 ly, good naturedly assented, and 
 everything passed off to our satis- 
 faction. After several hours in Clin- 
 ton and on the river, the excursion 
 returned with a noisy, happy throng 
 in the evening. We cleaned up some- 
 thing over four hundred dollars from 
 the venture, which was very gratify- 
 ing. 
 
 Socn after the completion of the 
 Midland, another line was built by 
 the C, M. and St. P. from Daven- 
 port to Maquoketa. It intersected 
 the Midland at Delmar. Still later, 
 the same company pushed its main 
 line west from Savannah to Omaha, 
 crossing the other two roads at Del- 
 mar, which wa^ the name given the 
 new railroad center. It was reported 
 at the time that the name was chosen 
 by the authorities of the Midland 
 read from the names of the first six 
 lady passengers who rode over it; 
 the first letter of their surnames 
 making the word "Delmar." I can- 
 not vouch for the truth of the story. 
 
 I give it only as it was reported at 
 the time. 
 
 The coming of the railroads rend- 
 ered the building of a church at Del- 
 mar a necessity, and I began to get 
 busy. The official members at that 
 end of the circuit were called to- 
 gether and steps were taken toward 
 securing a subscription. Unfortun- 
 ately the night for which the meet- 
 ing was called turned out to be one 
 of the coldest of the winter and only 
 three or four were present. How- 
 ever, after talking the matter over, 
 we concluded to build a small church 
 suited to present needs, but capable 
 of enlargement whenever the popula- 
 tion of the town increased sufficient- 
 ly to call for it. I made no attempt 
 to secure the amount required by the 
 law of the church, that is two-thirds 
 of the sum estimated as necessary 
 for the erection of the structure, be- 
 fore beginning to build, for I was 
 quite sure money enough could be 
 raised at the dedication to pay for 
 it. As a starter, however, those who 
 were present at the meeting gave me 
 exactly thirty-seven dollars, which 
 we thought would be necessary for 
 some small expenses. With that sum 
 in hand we began the erection of the 
 first church in Delmar on a suitable 
 plat of ground which had been 
 donated to us by the owners of the 
 town site. I made no further effort 
 to secure funds until the church was 
 completed and ready for occupancy. 
 On the day of dedication the entire 
 indebtedness was easily provided for. 
 A few years later it became neces- 
 sary to enlarge the building and re- 
 cently a new and beautiful structure 
 was erected on the site of the old 
 cne. I had the pleasure of attending 
 the dedication, where I met a few of 
 mv old friends who were still living, 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 but most of them had gone to their 
 reward. 
 
 Among the many other reasons for 
 which we shall always remember 
 Maquoketa circuit is the large num- 
 ber of weddings I was called to at- 
 tend. It is safe to say that I per- 
 formed more marriage ceremonies 
 that second year than in any other 
 twelve months of my ministerial life, 
 except perhaps, during my pastorate 
 at Toledo, which was a county seat. 
 
 One afternoon a young couple 
 came to the parsonage to be married 
 and after the ceremony the bride- 
 groom began diving down into the 
 pockets of his trousers in search of 
 the fee, which, after several joyous 
 efforts he finally succeeded in un- 
 loau-ng on the table in front of him. 
 The fee, which he made three dol- 
 lars was all in nickels; there were 
 sixty of them and it required sev- 
 eral excusions down into the capa- 
 cious depths of his Sunday trousers 
 before he managed to get them all 
 fished up and stacked on the table, 
 but he seemed to enjoy his labors 
 and I am quite sure the preacher 
 and his wife did, while the little 
 ones looked on with interest, and 
 the bride blushed very prettily and 
 said: "Why, John," and John ex- 
 plained that he had been saving up 
 the nickels for a long time expecting 
 to make five dollars worth, but they 
 came so slowly that after three dol- 
 lars worth had been accummulated 
 he found he could not wait any long- 
 er. We had a good laugh over the 
 incident, while John and Mrs. John 
 took their departure to all appear- 
 ances quite happy in the possession 
 of each other. God bless John and 
 his bride. May their number never 
 decrease. May the American home 
 
 never become less stable or less hap- 
 py than it is this day. 
 
 By the end of the year the circuit 
 had become too large and unwieldly 
 for one man to handle, so it was 
 thought best to divide it, therefore 
 at the Conference which was held at 
 Clinton that fall, the division was 
 made. The name Maquoketa circuit 
 was dropped and in its place appear- 
 ed Elwood, which embraced the west 
 end and Delmar the east. O. D. 
 Bowles was appointed to Elwood and 
 H. H Green to Delmar. The division 
 made Elwood much the strongest fin- 
 ancially, but there was that parson- 
 age again, and as Delmar was yet in 
 its infancy, requiring some nursing 
 it was thought that the old pastor, 
 who was familiar with the ground, 
 might be better fitted to cope with 
 the problem of its development than 
 a stranger, who knew nothing of 
 existing conditions. The year passed 
 very pleasantly for us, nothing of 
 special interest occurred and at the 
 following Conference we were as- 
 signed to Wyoming, our first station, 
 where there was but one preaching 
 place. Arriving at Wyoming, where 
 there was no parsonage, we rented a 
 comfortable house, which became 
 our home for the next three years. 
 We were pleasantly received by the 
 Methodist people, and at once enter- 
 ed upon our work in good heart. 
 
 There were only two churches in 
 the town, the Presbyterian and our 
 own. It did not take us long to dis- 
 cover that the relations between the 
 churches were not as cordial as they 
 might have been. For some reason 
 they were not working together har- 
 moniously; no serious trouble, only 
 just a little friction, hardly discern- 
 ible beyond a few of the leading 
 members in each church, and yet suf- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 i:n 
 
 ficiently acute to attract attention 
 and cause remarks. Upon making 
 this discovery, I at once opened ne- 
 gotiations with the Presbyterian 
 minister, the Rev. A. K. Baird, 
 whose garden cornered with mine. It 
 was our custom to assemble our- 
 selves at the corner and with our 
 hoes in our hands, discuss the situa- 
 tion as we leaned over the fence on 
 a summer afternoon. Of course we 
 soon came to an understanding with 
 each other. A warm friendship g]-ew 
 up between us, which continued un- 
 marred as long as we remained in 
 the same town. Whatever friction 
 had existed between the churches 
 was gradually removed and we all 
 worked together in the common 
 cause We were blessed with gocd 
 revivals each winter, which greatly 
 strengthened the church and added 
 many to its membership. It was dur- 
 ing the second year at Wyoming that 
 our third son was born, August 3rd, 
 18 75. Mother and the children in- 
 sisted on naming him Harry, after 
 his father, and for a second name it 
 was decided to call him Joseph, in 
 honor of Joseph Conway, my old 
 schoolmate and most intimate friend, 
 who it will be remembered was also 
 my First Lieutenant in the army. 
 
 In the spring of our third year at 
 Wyoming I made an appointment to 
 preach at a school house several 
 miles northeast of town, holding ser- 
 vices there every alternate Sunday 
 afternoon. I found, however, that 
 this addition to my regular work was 
 too much for me, and was obliged to 
 give it up after my health had be- 
 come so impaired as to require a lay- 
 off for a time. 
 
 Our people kindly gave me a vaca- 
 tion, which I spent with the family 
 of Mr. and Mrs. M. D. Fox, relatives, 
 
 who were living on a farm in Sac 
 county. It was harvest time and I 
 thought to help the folks what little 
 I could in the fieLl. I don't tinnk 
 .Mr. Fox had very much confidence in 
 my usefulness as a field hand, and as 
 a matter of fact I had very little my- 
 self; however he thought I might be 
 able to drive the team on the reaper, 
 and I thought so too, so I mounted 
 the throne and we began the work. 
 What with the use of the whip which 
 I flourished a good deal in the air 
 over the team, and by dint of much 
 shouting at the horses we managed to 
 get on fairly well. It was my mis- 
 fortune however, to do too much 
 shouting in the open air. Now forty 
 years ago when a young minister was 
 received into an Annual Conference, 
 he was required to promise several 
 things, one of which was this: "Will 
 you endeavor not to speak too long, 
 nor too loud?" Had I remembered 
 that requirement amid the wheat 
 fields of Sac county it would have 
 been well for me, but alas, I remem- 
 bered it not, and was punished for 
 my remissness in the loss of my 
 voice; gradually it went from me 
 until I was finally unable to speak 
 above a whisper. Now forty or fifty 
 years ago a Methodist preacher with- 
 out a voice was not rated very high ; 
 indeed there were some ungodly per- 
 sons who went so far as to say that 
 the Methodist preachers of the earlier 
 day were about all voice. That there 
 may have been some grounds for 
 these animadversions would appear, 
 if we may judge from a discussion I 
 once heard between two preachers of 
 our Conference, who were certainly 
 authorities upon the subject. No one 
 who ever heard either Richard 
 Swearengen or S. Y. Harmer, would 
 question for an instant their fitness 
 
132 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 for such discussion It was at a min- 
 isterial meeting at Maquoketa, where 
 Brother Swearengen was pastor, the 
 subject under discussion was "The 
 Preacher's Voice," and Brother Har- 
 mer replying to some remark made 
 by Brother Swearengen said: "When 
 he is preaching here in Maquoketa 
 with the windows of his church open, 
 and I am preaching with mine open 
 at Sabula, our voices meet on the 
 top of Sumner Hill." 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 I attended Conference which was 
 held at Maquoketa that fall, but it 
 was with many misgivings. The out- 
 look for the future was discouraging 
 to say the least; unable to talk aloud 
 I was useless as a preacher. Bishop 
 Foster, who was the presiding officer, 
 told me at the opening of the Confer- 
 ence that he would reserve a place 
 until the close of the session and 
 then if I thought I would be able to 
 do the work within a reasonable time 
 he would give me a charge. I was 
 told that two churches had asked 
 for me and were willing to take their 
 chances on my becoming efficient. 
 After carefully pondering the matter, 
 however, I concluded that it would 
 be wrong to burden any church with 
 so helpless a preacher as I was at the 
 time, and so at the close of the Con- 
 ference I concluded to ask for a 
 superannuated relation, which was 
 readily granted me. 
 " How to support my wife and six 
 small children through the winter 
 was the problem that confronted me. 
 With nothing to live on save a small 
 amount which would be exhausted in 
 a few days. I was much troubled 
 over the situation, not knowing what 
 to do or where to turn my hand. For 
 seven years I had been extolling the 
 
 beauties of faith, exhorting my con- 
 gregations to trust in God in the 
 hour of trial, and now in my own 
 case, conditions were such as to call 
 for the kind of faith that would 
 move mountains. Such a measure of 
 faith was given not to me alone, for 
 in those days there was always a 
 tower of strength right by my side; 
 a noble example of patient submis- 
 sion, a splendid courage, a bright, 
 cheerful, happy disposition and bear- 
 ing that, utterly unmindful of self, 
 sought only to encourage her hus- 
 band and lead him to put unwaver- 
 ing trust in God. He is a happy 
 man, who is blessed with such a 
 helpmate. We began our super- 
 annuated life by renting and moving 
 into a cheaper house, as many an- 
 other has done before us, as many 
 another has since done and as others 
 will continue to do in future years. 
 But we got along very comfortably in 
 our smaller house. The superanuate's 
 wife was a good manager; she made 
 everything go as far as possible. \ve 
 lived economically, and were quite 
 happy. There was no danger of our 
 suffering in any way, for we were 
 hardly settled in our new home be- 
 fore we were surprised by a visit 
 from our friends, who, regardless of 
 church relations came in great num- 
 bers and literally filled the house 
 with such things as were need- 
 ed for the winter, including fuel, 
 food of all kinds, and clothing for 
 the family. Our hearts were filled with 
 gratitude to God and to those good 
 people. But that was not all. Mr. 
 J. K. Bronson, a prominent merchant 
 of the town offered me a clerkship in 
 his store, which I thankfully accept- 
 ed, for it promised to place us on our 
 feet again. My voice gradually came 
 back to me and before the winter 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 133 
 
 was more than half gone I was as 
 well as ever. One morning Capt. A. 
 M. Loomis, a dry goods merchant 
 just across the street, who was a 
 member of the Presbyterian church 
 and a fine singer, came to me and 
 said: "Brother Green, now that you 
 have recovered your voice, I have a 
 proposition to make to you. All 
 around Wyoming there are churches 
 and school houses where, it seems to 
 me we might do some good work in 
 the way of revival meetings. Now 
 I can sing and you can preach. I 
 have a good horse and cutter, and if 
 you say so, I will obtain permission 
 to use the buildings, and we will 
 start out a la Moody and Sankey and 
 see what good we can do. We 'can 
 leave here in time in the evening, 
 ani returning after services be ready 
 for business next morning." Of 
 course I readily assented and we 
 beean our meetings in the Presby- 
 terian church at Onslow. We met 
 with good success there and leaving 
 the meetings to be continued by 
 others, we began in another place, 
 west of town. For several weeks 
 meetings were held in different 
 places, until the entire surrounding 
 country was awakened and many 
 were converted and added to the dif- 
 ferent churches. In the spring, soon 
 after the meetings were closed, a 
 purse of money was presented to me 
 by the people at the places where 
 the meetings had been held, a slight 
 token of their appreciation as they 
 said. 
 
 It was about this time that I re- 
 ceived a letter from the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Lease, Presiding Elder of the 
 Marshalltown district, offering me 
 the pastorate of the church at Tole- 
 do which had become vacant through 
 the resignation of the preacher, who 
 
 had received and accepted a call to 
 a pulpit in Baltimore. I gladly ac- 
 cepted the invitation and at once 
 went to Toledo, where I was to offi- 
 ciate the following Sunday, by way 
 of a trial. Our people there said 
 they thought I might do and so the 
 following week we removed to the 
 new field. How little we know of 
 what is before us, and how true are 
 the words of Israel's great bard: 
 "Weeping may endure for a night, 
 but joy cometh in the morning." It 
 proved so to me for the future that 
 I had so much dreaded the autumn 
 before and had entered upon with 
 so many misgivings, proved to be 
 very different from what I had pic- 
 tured it. So far from suffering in 
 any way from lack of funds to pro- 
 vide fcr the family, as I had feared, 
 the year, all things considered, prov- 
 ed to be one of the very best of my 
 ministerial life. We received more 
 money and were presented with more 
 useful and valuable gifts than ever 
 before, and so the days passed hap- 
 pily and busily until we took our de- 
 parture for the new field. After that 
 experience I often used as a text 
 those blessed words of Paul, which 
 were shown to be so true in our own 
 case: "And we know that all things 
 work together for good to them that 
 love God." 
 
 Among the many friendships we 
 enjoyed at Wyoming there were none 
 that we more highly prized than that 
 of Dr. M. H. Calkins and family, who 
 were so kind to us in our lime of 
 need. 
 
 Our pastorate at Toledo was not 
 marked by anything deserving of 
 special mention, so far as the work 
 in the home church was concerned. 
 Special religious meetings were held 
 each winter but without any extra- 
 
134 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ordinary results. There were sev- 
 eral colored people connected with 
 the church, some of whom were old 
 fashioned Methodists, who had been 
 slaves before the war. One of them, 
 a local preacher by the name of 
 Lewis, occasionally officiated among 
 his own people at Des Moines and 
 other places farther south where 
 there were colored people in num- 
 bers sufficient to form congregations. 
 "Mammy" Lewis, his wife, was a de- 
 voted friend of the preacher's fam- 
 ily for whom she was always trying 
 to do something in her motherly 
 way. She never seemed to forget 
 the relations between the whites and 
 the negroes in the South, and was 
 always respectful as in the olden 
 times. She insisted on doing our 
 washing and taking care of the chil- 
 dren. Mrs. Green delighted to have 
 her with us. It reminded her of her 
 childhood when she was cared for 
 by an old colored nurse in a border 
 state, to whom she became much at- 
 tached. "Mammy " Lewis steadily 
 refused to take pay for her services 
 and it was seldom we could induce 
 her to take money or anything more 
 than some half worn clothing, or a 
 little corn bread and bacon. She was 
 a good hearted old soul who com- 
 pletely won our hearts by her un- 
 selfish devotion to the family. What 
 a picture she presented seated at the 
 back door of the parsonage, croon- 
 ing over the children and liumming 
 over the old, old hymns of her slave 
 days to them. 
 
 The Musquakees, a tribe of the 
 Sac and Fox Indians, anout three 
 hundred in number, having their 
 abiding place on a reservation south- 
 west of Tama, on the Iowa river, 
 regularly visited Toledo, where they 
 were paid their annuity by the gov- 
 
 ernment agent. Major Free. Always 
 the merchants of the town gave 
 them credit for goods which were 
 invariably paid for when they re- 
 ceived their money from the gov- 
 ernment, once a month. Mr. W. F. 
 .Johnston, one of the leading mer- 
 chants, told me that he had never 
 lost anything by the Indians except 
 in one instance. The red men were 
 honest. It was an interesting sight 
 to witness the invasion of the town 
 by these people. They Invariably 
 rode in on their ponies, the squaws 
 carrying their papooses in baskets 
 - strapped to their backs, a aroll sight 
 to one who had never before wit- 
 nessed it. Their entry into the city 
 was signalized by the barking of 
 dogs. Every dog in the town would 
 set up a howl upon their a'pproach 
 and immediately disapf)ear, seeking 
 shelter under the house or anywhere 
 else to get out of sight of the dread- 
 ed enemy. And well they might, for 
 they very well knew that they were 
 in constant danger. There was 
 neither safety nor peace for them so 
 long as an Indian was lurking in the 
 vicinity. The dog feared the Indian 
 as much as he would fear a moun- 
 tain lion, for he knew the Musqua- 
 kee loved him, alas, "not wisely but 
 too well." As the time would ap- 
 proach for the great annual dog 
 feast of the tribe which was a great 
 occasion, for Lo, the reign of terror 
 for the canine with the yellow hide 
 began, and it continued while the 
 feast lasted, rendering life utterly 
 miserable for the yellow hided vic- 
 tim of those perverted palates. 
 
 One day I witnessed the writhings 
 of terror displayed by one of those 
 yellow canines, who was a captive in 
 the toils of a full grown Indian. 
 The dignified native had made the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 135 
 
 capture somewhere in the outskirts 
 of the town and was making his way 
 with his prize to the place of ren- 
 devous. With a short rope tied 
 around the dogs neck he was lead- 
 ing, or rather dragging the unwill- 
 ing victim along with an admirable 
 abandon and utter disregard of 
 what people might say or think. To 
 be sure he bravely maintained an 
 outward calm, which he may or may 
 not have felt. He never once looked 
 either to the right or left or behind 
 him, while the wretched candidate 
 for the soup kettle hung back, as 
 well he might, and at every other 
 step or so gave out a blood-curd- 
 ling, "yep, yep," which ought to 
 have touched the on-lookers heart 
 and moved it with pity. But evi- 
 dently it did not; the poor captive 
 had no friends among the pale faces. 
 What yellow dog ever had? He was 
 led away to the torture and the 
 slaughter in the way that many of 
 his forefathers had gone before him. 
 There was quite a large backyard 
 and garden connected with the par- 
 sonage, in which there were several 
 full grown apple trees. It made a 
 nice playground for the children, 
 who enjoyed it fully. One afternoon 
 while working with my hoe in the 
 garden, I was startled by the rattle 
 of a rattlesnake under one of the 
 trees near where our younger chil- 
 dren Schuyler and Harry were play- 
 ing with a neighbor's little *)oy. Of 
 course I was badly frightened, fear- 
 ing it might strike one of the chil- 
 dren before I could prevent it. I 
 called to them to run to the house 
 which they did at once, while I 
 managed to strike off the head of 
 his snakeship with my hoe. It was 
 well I heard him in time for he was 
 getting ready for the strike, which 
 
 would most likely have been the 
 death of one of the little ones, and 
 I was very grateful to the kind 
 Providence which shielded them in 
 that most imminent danger. 
 
 The year of 187 8 was made mem- 
 orable in certain parts, of the South 
 on account of the ravages of that 
 terrible scourge, the yellow fever, 
 which came near depopulating cer- 
 tain towns along the Mississippi 
 river, where it was most severe. 
 Memphis, Natchez, Port Gibson and 
 New Orleans were among the great- 
 est sufferers, although in proportion 
 to the number of inhabitants, some 
 of the smaller towns and villages 
 were even more sorely aiflicted, 
 some of them were almost anninilat- 
 ed. It was the most frightful plague 
 in the history of our country. 30,000 
 people died in its relentless grip, 
 6,000 in less than sixty days. Mem- 
 phis, it was said, was reduced from 
 45,000 to less than 3,500 by death 
 and stampede. The reports which 
 came to us in the North indicated 
 that the children were dying by the 
 hundreds. It seemed to me that 
 something ought to be done by our 
 people in common with other places 
 in the state for the relief of these 
 smitten ones. So at my suggestion, 
 a meeting of the citizens was held 
 at the Methodist church one Sunday 
 evening. The mayor, Mr. L. G. 
 Kinne, was called to the chair and 
 brief speeches were made by prom- 
 inent citizens, setting forth the 
 pressing need of immediate help af- 
 ter whicli a committee was named 
 to have the matter in charge, while 
 representatives from the different 
 churches and other organizations 
 were appointed to raise funds. In 
 this way a goodly sum was collected 
 and sent to the sufferers. But what 
 
136 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 specially appealed to me was the 
 great mortality among the children, 
 60 after carefully thinking the mat- 
 ter over I wrote as follows to Mr. 
 Edward Russell, editor of the Da- 
 venport Gazette, who I felt sure 
 would render all the assistance in 
 his power: 
 
 Toledo, Iowa, Aug. 30, 1878. 
 Ed. Russell, Esq., Dear Sir: — As 
 I have read the reports from strick- 
 en towns in the South, from day to 
 day in The Gazette, and so many 
 children are among the sufferers, it 
 has occurred to me that a collection 
 in all the Sabbath schools of the 
 state for their benefit would be an 
 appropriate and fitting thing to be 
 done. Let the children of Iowa have 
 an opportunity to show their sym- 
 pathy in this substantial way. Both 
 giver and receiver would be benefit- 
 ed. I propose the first Sunday in 
 September as the day. Should this 
 meet your approval, will you please 
 call attention to it through The 
 Gazette, and name some one to 
 whom the collections may be sent to 
 be forwarded South. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 H. H. GREEN, 
 Pastor M. E. Church. 
 The next day I received the fol- 
 lowing personal letter from Mr. Rus- 
 sell, approving the suggestion and 
 proposing a change from the first to 
 the third Sunday in September for 
 the collection: 
 
 Davenport, la., Aug. 31, 1878. 
 Rev. H. H. Green, Toledo, Iowa, 
 Dear Sir and Bro.: — Your welcome 
 favor of the 30th received. The sug- 
 gestion is most opportune and com- 
 mendable. In the Gazette of Mon- 
 day it shall be duly presented and 
 urged; modified, however, to read 
 the third Sunday in September. To- 
 morrow is the first Sunday. Time 
 should be given for notices in the 
 schools, which cannot be now pos- 
 sible until one week from tomorrow. 
 Hence, the liberty of my alteration 
 in your suggestion, which will, I 
 
 trust, meet your approval. Be sure 
 that the aid then raised will be as 
 fully needed as now. Beyond doubt 
 the culmination of this fearful 
 scourge in the South has only been 
 approached, not reached. As only a 
 sharp frost was ever known to real- 
 ly stop the ravages of yellow fever, 
 we may make up our minds that six 
 weeks of woeful suffering in the 
 South are yet ahead. May God 
 move all hearts to sympathy. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 EDWARD RUSSELL. 
 
 P. S. I thank you heartily for 
 the suggestion. Please consider The 
 Gazette at your command whenever 
 you have any communication upon 
 any subject to offer. Yours, E. R. 
 
 The next issue of the Gazette in 
 which my letter was published, con- 
 tained also the approval of the edi- 
 tor in which he said: 
 
 "Intended as a private note only, 
 the importance of the suggestion 
 offered justifies the publication of 
 the entire letter, as above. The ac- 
 tion recommended will, we are sure, 
 meet with wide spread approval. 
 The wisdom of an appeal to the 
 Sunday schools of the country for 
 aii to the afflicted people of the 
 south cannot be questioned. It is 
 always wise to afford opportunity 
 to the young to manifest practical 
 sympathy for the suffering and to 
 engage in works of real benevolence. 
 Quite aside from the resulting dona- 
 tion to be obtained by the proposed 
 appeal, the influence certain to re- 
 sult to the young donors cannot fail 
 to be wholly palutory and beneficial. 
 Unfortunately, there Is certain to be 
 demand for all the aid that can pos- 
 sibly be rendered to the yellow fever 
 sufferers for some weeks to come. 
 Only a frost — yet certainly six weeks 
 distant — can really stop the ravages 
 of the scourge. Hence, the sugges- 
 tion now made is very timely. To 
 act upon it will be to effectively sup- 
 plement efforts for the sick and 
 bereaved now being exerted. Let all 
 the church pastors and every Sunday 
 school superintendent and teacher, 
 give notice to their congregations. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 L37 
 
 schools and classes on next Sunday 
 Sept. 8th, that on the following Sun- 
 day, Sept. 15th, the collection for 
 the victims of yellow fever in the 
 South, will be taken up, with a de- 
 termined purpose to make its resul- 
 tory aggregate as large as possible. 
 Such a general appeal will be effec- 
 tive in securing a grand result. 
 
 For the Iowa schools we suggest 
 that all subscriptions be at once sent 
 to Ex-Governor Samuel Merrill, 
 president of the Citizens National 
 Bank, Des Moines. 
 
 From that central treasury the re- 
 mittance to the South will be, we 
 may all be as Hired, promptly and 
 wisely made. 
 
 In accordance with the above sug- 
 gestion, on the fifteenth of Septem- 
 ber, the offering was made in most 
 of the schools of the state and sent 
 to Ex-Governor Merrill at Des 
 Moines, who forwarded it to the 
 most needy places. In due time I 
 received a letter from New Orleans 
 containing an account of the moneys 
 received and how they were expend- 
 ed, also expressing the gratitude of 
 the recipients. The writer declared 
 that such acts of brotherly kindness 
 and disinterested benevolence would 
 do much toward cementing together 
 the peoples of the two sections of 
 the country. I regret the loss of 
 this letter and my consequent in- 
 ability to reproduce it here, as I 
 would have been glad to do. How- 
 ever, I had been given an opportun- 
 ity to be revenged on Memphis for 
 what it had done to me in 18.59 and 
 the opportunity had been improved. 
 
 The following year was our last 
 at Toledo, because the law of the 
 church at that time permitted a stay 
 of only three years in succession at 
 one place. Early in August the To- 
 ledo Chronicle, edited by INIr. J. B. 
 Hedge contained the following kind 
 appreciation: 
 
 "Rev. H. H. Green preaciied his 
 farewell sermons last Sunday to 
 crowded audiences. He has served 
 the Methodist Episcopal church in 
 Toledo for the past two and a half 
 years in a most satisfactory manner 
 and his leaving is regretted by all. 
 The church gave him a month's va- , 
 cation and a ticket to the moun- 
 tains and return for himself and 
 wife. They started Wednesday morn- 
 ing on their trip west and will prob- 
 ably take in Denver, Colorado 
 Springs, Greeley, the Garden of the 
 Gods, etc., etc., before they return. 
 The best wishes of the people of 
 Tole-lo will go with Mr. and :\Irs. 
 Green wherever their future lot mav 
 be." 
 
 Several letters were written for 
 publication during that trip but as 
 so much has been said of the Colo- 
 rado country in recent years, I will 
 reproduce but one of my own, which, 
 as it was written over thirty years 
 ago, and consequently has to do with 
 things as they r-ppeared at that time 
 to one during a hasty passage 
 through the country, may not be en- 
 tirely void of interest even at the 
 present time: 
 Pueblo, Colo., Aug. 30th, 1879. 
 
 The A. T. & S. F. traverses- two 
 distinct sections and unites two dis- 
 tinct interests, that is to say: the 
 agricultural interests of southeast- 
 ern Kansas and the stockraising in- 
 terests of southwestern Kansas, and 
 southeastern Colorado with the min- 
 ing interests cf the mountain region. 
 It requires but a short time to 
 "round up" stock which may be seen 
 from the car window in herds of 
 thousands on these vast plains, feed- 
 ing and fattening on the rich juicy 
 grasses, which does away utterly 
 with all need of corn, and finding 
 plenty of good water in the great 
 Arkansas which for ovei: 400 miles 
 runs parallel with the railroad.' The-e 
 res-ions miitually dependent, one for 
 its markets the other for its sup- 
 nlies, are .ioined together by the iron 
 bonds of this great thoroughfare of 
 
138 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 the west. Of course a trip over this 
 popular road is full of interest to 
 the traveler. 
 
 Arriving at Atchison via the C. R. 
 I. & P. at 1:28 a. m. you step from 
 the cars just across the track and 
 on to the A. T. & S.- F. and after 
 about twenty minutes the brakeman 
 cries out, "All aboard," the whistle 
 blows and you are off for Topeka, 
 reaching here at 12:40 p. m. you 
 take dinner and then on again for 
 the west. 
 
 Topeka is a fine young city with a 
 population of 15,000, the capital of 
 the state, containing many fine 
 buildings, among which is the state 
 house, public school, colleges and 
 machine shops of the A. T. & S. F. 
 R. R. covering four acres of ground, 
 important as a railway center. Tne 
 home of Gov. St. John, a kind heart- 
 ed, philanthropic gentleman, highly 
 esteemed by his fellow citizens, and 
 who is winning golden praise from 
 all good people as well as the grati- 
 tude of the colored refugees who are 
 pouring into this state by thousands, 
 as they flee away from the cruel op- 
 pression of the ex-slave driver, and 
 find here a home and a field of use- 
 fulness. 
 
 Pushing southward and westward 
 from Topeka, at something over 
 twenty miles an hour you "see the 
 country." The question of fences 
 will never trouble the Kansasan. 
 This problem is easily solved by the 
 regular thrifty hedges which you 
 see all along the line. I have never 
 seen such handsome and effective 
 hedg'es, either in this country or in 
 Europe, and this, as every farmer 
 knows is a consideration of great 
 importance. Another thing you can- 
 not fail to notice, and that is the 
 hundreds of "prairie schooners" 
 moving in all directions, seeking 
 homes on these broad prairies. How 
 long will it be before this "Great 
 American Desert" will blossom like 
 a rose. Bright new towns, built up 
 by sturdy, thrifty, enterprising set- 
 tlers, greet you every ten or fifteen 
 miles along the whole length of the 
 railroad, some of which are begin- 
 ning to assume metropolitan airs; 
 what with their daily papers, lamp 
 
 lit streets, their lines of busses to 
 and from the principal hotels, etc. 
 
 Occasionally you see a "dug-out" 
 of which so much has been said, 
 but like the traditional log cabin, 
 the dug out in this section at least, 
 is fast giving place to the more pre- 
 tentious houses of brick and stone, 
 which are springing up as if by 
 magic on every hand. Passing on 
 toward the Colorado line, along the 
 banks of the Arkansas, you are sur- 
 prised to see great heaps of sun- 
 bleached bones of buffalo and ante- 
 lope gathered along the track to be 
 shipped east for fertilizing and other 
 purposes. Herds of antelopes may 
 be seen in the distance, grazing 
 quietly as you pass along, and vil- 
 lage after village of prairie dogs, 
 saucily barking at you from the tops 
 of their houses, queer little squirrel- 
 like looking animals full of life and 
 fun. Buffalo trails leading from the 
 river not more than twelve inches 
 wide, excite surprise in one not ac- 
 quainted with the habits of this 
 monarch of the prairie. Like his 
 untutored master, he carefully puts 
 one foot down before the other and 
 walks in single file, and hence these 
 narrow trails; but buffalo are not 
 numerous now, we did not catch a 
 glimpse of one in all our long ride. 
 
 An incident on the train after we 
 were well out in Colorado, though 
 not uncommon, is worthy of men- 
 tion. An old gentleman fell into 
 the hands of "three card monte" 
 men, and was mulcted to the tune 
 of forty-five dollars. He made a fuss 
 about it, and the passengers, whose 
 sympathies were arousea, interfered, 
 and the gamblers were persuaded to 
 return to his wife all but ten dol- 
 lars, which it was agreed was a fair 
 price for the "experience." Strange 
 is it not, that with so many warn- 
 ings in the papers, people will still 
 insist on being such consummate 
 fools. 
 
 And now yonder to the west, sev- 
 enty-five miles away we catch our 
 first sight of the mountains. Like 
 a dark blue cloud they rise up in 
 majesty before us; to the south is 
 Spanish Peak, to the west Green- 
 horn, Hard Scrabble Canon, leading 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 139 
 
 off, I am told to Rosita, Lost Dos 
 and Pikes Peak rising up away to 
 the nortliwest. "No other state or 
 territory presents such an embattled 
 hcst of lofty mountain peaks. Her 
 canons or mountain passes, like deep 
 furrows ploughed to depths of two 
 thousand feet and more, rank all 
 others on the continent. Her glassy 
 lakes of crystal waters borne upward 
 8,000 to 11,000 feet, meet and kiss 
 the very skies, waking the jealousy 
 of all the sister lakes of the terri- 
 tories and other states." But hark, 
 the whistle blows and the brakeman 
 cries Pueblo, and we pull up at the 
 western terminus of the main line 
 of this magnificent railroad at 2:30 
 p. m. Pueblo is a place of history; 
 formerly a trading post of Gen. Fre- 
 mont's on the old St. Louis and 
 Sante Fe route, but now a city of 
 6,000 inhabitants, full of life and 
 vim, the railroad center of the 
 mountains. Has two riaily papers, 
 fine water works, good hotels and 
 everything that goes to make up a 
 thriving town. Here is the depot 
 of supplies for the mines, the assay 
 office and unfortunately gambling 
 hells in profusion. Here you take 
 trains for all points of interest in 
 this young and vigorous state: Colo- 
 rado Springs, Manitou, the "Garden 
 of the Gods," mountains, mines and 
 pleasant resorts. Stage lines going 
 where railroads have not yet been 
 built; every facility is offered for 
 the comfort, convenience and pleas- 
 ure of the traveler. 
 
 Upon returning from our trip to 
 the mountains, which we greatly en- 
 joyed, preparations were made for 
 our departure from what had been 
 one of the most delightful charges, 
 to our new field of labor. 
 
 At the Conference which was held 
 at Davenport that fall under the 
 pr'esidency of Bishop W. L. Harris, 
 I was appointed to Nashua, where 
 we remained one year, making some 
 very pleasant acquaintances, among 
 whom was Dr. Troy and family. Sen- 
 ator W. B. Perrin and that kind 
 
 htarted, genial newspaper man, Mr. 
 J. VV. Grawe, editor of the Post, for 
 whom I have always entertained the 
 warmest friendship. 
 
 For several weeks during the win- 
 ter of 1879-80, the town of Nashua 
 was sorely afflicted with a dreaded 
 scourge, diphtheria. The knowledge 
 of medical science was not as far 
 advanced at that time as it is now, 
 and the physicians were for a long 
 time unable to arrest the progress 
 of the disease, which, in spite of 
 their best efforts carried off large 
 numbers of children. In some fam- 
 ilies all the younger children died, 
 and in others, where life was saved, 
 the poor liLcle things were smitten 
 with blindness, or were crippled for 
 life in one way or another. In one 
 family where I had been called to 
 bury a child, another had died be- 
 fore we returned from the cemetery 
 From another home we carried away 
 two at one time and the next day 
 the third, the only one left died; and 
 so it went on, day after day, until 
 nearly every house in the town 
 which had been happy in the posses- 
 sion of little people, became a house 
 of mourning. 
 
 Of course no extended religious 
 services were held in any case; we 
 hastened the dead to the cemetery 
 as rapidly as we could, for the dis- 
 ease was contagious, and parents 
 were very anxious. We had our 
 own little ones to think of and some 
 of our friends thought I was doing 
 wrong to expose them as I seemed 
 to be doing, but both mother and I 
 felt it to be our duty to bury the 
 dead, whether they belonged to 
 families in our church or not, 
 trusting in God and suffering noth- 
 ing. My good friend Dr. Troy gave 
 us directions about sanitary meas- 
 
140 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ures, which we tried to follow to 
 the letter. I wore a long overcoat 
 whenever I was called to the house 
 of a stricken family, and upon re- 
 turning home, threw it upon the 
 clothes line outside. The doctor 
 kept the house thoroughly disinfect- 
 ed and we passed through the ordeal 
 without harm. None of our children 
 caught the infection and for this we 
 were profoundly and humbly grate- 
 ful. 
 
 Before we left Nashua our fourth 
 son Robert was born, a dear little 
 fellow, whose years on earth were 
 few, but very fragrant of love. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 The conference in the fall of ISSvl 
 was held at Osage under the presi- 
 dency of Bishop Andrews, whom I 
 had learned to esteem very highly for 
 his many excellent qualities of mind 
 and heart. Bishop Andrews had 
 spent a Sunday in our family at 
 Wyoming, preaching for me both 
 morning and evening. He had also 
 been with us one Sunday at Toledo, 
 preaching for me on Children's Day, 
 and had endeared himself to us all. 
 I was greatly pleased, therefore, 
 when I learned that he was to pre- 
 side at the Conference that fall. It 
 was at Osage I preached my first 
 sermon before the Conference. I 
 had been appointed to preach the 
 annual missionary sermon at Cedar 
 Rapids, but a felon on my thumb 
 had put me out of business at that 
 Conference, so the Rev. Dr. Charles 
 \Ventworth, a missionary who had 
 served several years in China had 
 taken my place on the program, 
 which was a happy thing for all con- 
 cerned, for he preached a magnifi- 
 cent sermon, which delighted the 
 preachers and no doubt accomplished 
 
 laiuch good for the cause. I had 
 for my subject at Osage, "Christ, the 
 Light of the World." I was by no 
 means satisfied with my effort, and 
 I am inclined to think I had plenty 
 of company in my estimate of the 
 sermon. 
 
 It is a well known fact that there 
 is no jollier class of men in the 
 world, than a Conference of Metho- 
 dist preachers, for while they have 
 a great many problems on their 
 minds, serious enough to sober the 
 most frolicsome among them, the 
 annual reunion at Conference is a 
 time of real joyous hilarity, often 
 mingled with deep religious fervor, 
 which is very helpful m providing a 
 new equipment for the unKnown ex- 
 periences of a new year of toil and 
 care, and often of pain as well as 
 triumph. So there is little wonder 
 and no cause for regret that occa- 
 sionally a few harmless pranks are 
 indulged in and once in a while a 
 practical joke is perpetrated upon 
 some brother who is known to be par- 
 ticularly susceptible to such things. At 
 one of our conference? a good broth- 
 er who had for some time been an 
 enchanted listener to the Presiding 
 Elder bee which had been loudly and 
 pereistently buzzing in his bonnet, 
 was considered by some of the wags 
 as legitimate prey and inasmuch as 
 he was thought to be an easy mark, 
 three or four of those blithesome 
 humorists got together and upon sev- 
 eral sheets of foolscap paper made 
 out a list of appointments for the 
 coming year. The list contained some 
 very remarkable adjustments but no 
 matter for that, the chief thing about 
 it was that the name of the brother 
 who had been selected as the victim 
 was set opposite one of the principal 
 districts as its Presiding Elder. Then 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 141 
 
 the list was carefully rolled up and 
 a rubber band placed around it. It 
 was given in charge of the chief con- 
 spirator who shrewdly dropped it 
 near the house where the bishop was 
 being entertained and where he knew 
 the victim would find it. It all hap- 
 pened as planned. The vvouid-be 
 Presiding Elder soon approached the 
 place where the document had been 
 dropped and espying it where it lay, 
 he eagerly pounced upon it and then 
 seeing his own name at the head cf 
 a district he hastened away with it 
 to the bishop to whom he presented 
 it with the remark, "I think. Bishop, 
 you have dropped something here 
 which is of great importance. I 
 found it on the sidewalk, near the 
 house." The bishop took the papers, 
 and glancing over them, saw at cnce 
 that the brother had been made the 
 unconscious subject of a practical 
 joke, whereupon, with one of his 
 kindly smiles he handed them back, 
 saying as he did so, "No, my brother, 
 I never saw these papers before; 
 there must be some mistake." It 
 was really an inexcusable jest, but 
 no harm was intended and doubtless 
 in the long run it bore good fruit. 
 
 Just before Conference I had re- 
 quested my Presiding Elder to ar- 
 range for our removal to a new 
 field of labor for the ensuing year. 
 This was because I was far from be- 
 ing satisfied with the results of the 
 year at Nashua, and also because the 
 family, for other reasons, desired a 
 change. My Presiding Elder said he 
 could do no better than to send me 
 to Janesville, a small village down 
 the road. "Very well," I said," let 
 it be Janesville." 
 
 We were not long in getting moved 
 and from the first we were made to 
 feel that we "had fallen .among 
 
 friends. Our congregations were al- 
 ways good, and each year witnessed 
 the addition of considerable numbers 
 to the church. While the town was 
 quite small, the population was much 
 above the average of country places 
 in intelligence, indeed it would be 
 difficult to find a community any- 
 where that could make a finer snow- 
 ing of bright young people than the 
 village of Janesville and the sur- 
 rounding country at that time. 
 
 Among the young people were 
 many who had fitted themselves for 
 teachers. The normal school at 
 Cedar Falls furnished a fine oppor- 
 tunity for any who cared to improve 
 it. There were also several good 
 musicians in the village, notably the 
 Wyant family, who had charge of the 
 music in the church. Carl, Mabel 
 and Wylie Wyant were all superior 
 singers. Mabel was also a fine organ- 
 ist, while both Carl and Wylie were 
 succe:sful composers of music. As 
 an instance of the ability of our peo- 
 ple in this direction, the choir, under 
 the direction of Carl Wyant, assisted 
 by other young people of the com- 
 munity, rendered Mozart's "Twelfth 
 Mass" with such success as to win 
 high praise from musical people who 
 were present from Waterloo, Cedar 
 Falls and Waverly. It occurred to 
 me that with the large amount of 
 talent the village afforded something 
 ought to be done to utilize it for 
 the good of the young people. After 
 talking the matter over with them, 
 an association was formed which we 
 named the "Janesville Literary So- 
 ciety." We held weekly meetings 
 for the study of history and kindred 
 topics, which we interspersed with 
 music. Every alternate week, how- 
 ever, the evening was given over to 
 a session of congress, and as I had 
 been chosen president cf the society, 
 
142 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 it became my duty to fill the role of 
 Speaker of the House, a most diffi- 
 cult and trying position. Of course 
 the members represented the differ- 
 ent states, some of which were re- 
 publican, others democratic, also two 
 cr three greenbackers. Bills were 
 introduced, discussed and disposed 
 of as is done in congress. ^Nluch 
 enthusiasm was shown on different 
 occasions when the importance of the 
 measure and the familiarity of the 
 members with its provisions would 
 interest them. Occasionally the mem- 
 bers would become so deeply inter- 
 ested, that when the hour for ad- 
 journment was reached, I could with 
 difficulty prevail upon them to 
 "quit." We all found those sessions 
 of congress to be wonderfully allur- 
 ing, especially to the young men. I 
 think much good came of them as 
 also of the other exercises in one way 
 or another. It must be remembered 
 that this was prior to the institution 
 of the Epworth League or any of 
 the young peoples' societies in the 
 church. Even now, I am not sure 
 that something of that kind would 
 not be of value in addition to the 
 strictly religious exercises of the 
 Epworth League. 
 
 At the Osage Conference I had 
 been appointed one of the Triers of 
 Appeals for the western states and 
 in December was called to Freeport, 
 Illinois, where the court was held. 
 I had been there but a few days when 
 a telegram came, calling me to the 
 bedside of my wife who was very ill. 
 Reaching home I found her delerious 
 with erysipilas, and in a serious con- 
 dition. For four weeks she was con- 
 fined to her bed, ten days of the 
 time unconscious, and for several 
 days hovering between life and 
 death. It was a close call, only the 
 skill of Dr. Bradford and the con- 
 
 stant attentions of our friends who 
 watched by her bedside day and 
 night, enabled her to pull through it 
 without leaving any serious conse- 
 quences. 
 
 The following year our two young- 
 er children, Harry and Robert were 
 taken down with that dreaded 
 scourge, scarlet fever. They both 
 recovered, but it was only after a 
 long and tedious illness, and not 
 without bearing the marks of the 
 fever, from which neither of them 
 ever entirely recovered. 
 
 It was during the second year at 
 Janesville that our youngest child, 
 Marion, was born, March 8th, 1882. 
 
 Among the members of the church 
 whom we learned to esteem very 
 highly was Mrs. Col. Dougherty, a 
 lady who became a warm friend of 
 the family. Our near association was 
 severed by the removal of Mrs. 
 Dougherty from Janesville to a dis- 
 tant town but before her departure 
 she made me a present of a silk 
 sash, which she" desired me to keep 
 as a remembrance. The sash is re- 
 ferred to in the following item taken 
 from the Decorah Republican: 
 
 The unveiling of a statute at 
 Washington last Wednesday, of a 
 monument to the memory of Gen. 
 James Shields, brings out an inter- 
 esting local fact. Rev. H. H. Green 
 has in his possession a silk military 
 officer's scarf, which Gen. Shields 
 wore in the Mexican war. It's his- 
 tory is this: After going through 
 that war, it lay in disuse until the 
 War of the Rebellion broke out, 
 when it was presented by Gen. S. to 
 Col. Dougherty of the 22nd Illinois 
 Volunteer Infantry, and was worn 
 by that offi'cer at the battle of Bel- 
 mont. Col. D. was wounded in that 
 battle, and spots, darker than the 
 rest of the sash, are to be seen upon 
 it tv>at are believed to be the blood 
 of the dead officer, caught by the 
 sash at that time. It was presented 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 143 
 
 to ]\Ir. Green some fifteen years ago 
 when he was pastor at Janesville, 
 Bremer county, Iowa, by the widow 
 of Col. D., who gave him the fore- 
 going history. Gen. Shields is a his- 
 toric character in many respects. Be- 
 sides serving ably in two wars, he 
 was an orator and a statesman. He 
 is the only person in American his- 
 tory who served as a senator from 
 three different states. His longest 
 service was for Illinois, but he sub- 
 sequently was sent to that body, for 
 short terms by Minnesota and ]\Iis- 
 souri, and it is probable that had he 
 lived longer California would have 
 honored him in a similar manner. 
 
 For several years prior to 187 8 
 there had been growing within the 
 state of Iowa, a sentiment demand- 
 ing the entire suppression of the 
 liquor traffic, and in response to this 
 demand the Eighteenth and Nine- 
 teenth General Assemblies had voted 
 to submit to the people an amend- 
 ment to the constitution, forbidding 
 the manufacture and sale of intoxi- 
 cating liquors, to be used as a bev- 
 erage, within the bounds of the 
 state; and on the 27th of June, 1882 
 at a non-partisan election, the propo- 
 sition was carried by a majority of 
 29.759. But on a technicality said 
 to have arisen from an error by an 
 engrossing clerk, the supreme court 
 declared the question had not been 
 legally submitted by the legislature, 
 and so the will of the people was de- 
 feated. 
 
 It was then proposed to make it a 
 matter of statutory legislative enact- 
 ment, and at the regular election in 
 the fall of 1883 the liquor question 
 was uppermost in the choice of mem- 
 bers for the approaching session of 
 the legislature. 
 
 The county of Bremer, where there 
 was a considerable foreign element, 
 had given a majority against the 
 nmendment, and was opposed to any 
 action curtailing the liquor interests. 
 
 The Republicans were generally 
 favorable to tue amendment, while 
 the Democrats were as generally op- 
 posed to it, and as far as they were 
 able made it a parti an measure, so 
 Bremer county became strongly 
 fien:oc" atic. It was generally believ- 
 ed that a Republican would have lit- 
 tle chance of election in that county, 
 especially one with pronounced tem- 
 perance proclivities. 
 
 It was under these conditions that 
 my name was proposed as a candi- 
 date for Representative. I was great- 
 ly surprised when the matter was 
 first broached by some of my Janes- 
 ville friends, and I could hardly take 
 it seriously. That a preacher, and 
 especially a Methodist preacher, who 
 had been a resident of the county 
 but a short time could be elected in 
 a democratic, anti-amendment dis- 
 trict was positively absurd, so it 
 seemed to me, and in fact to a good 
 many others also, but there were a 
 few people who thought differently, 
 and they insisted on my becoming a 
 candidate. At the primaries to my 
 surprise I received the nomination 
 and became the candidate of the Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 The Waverly Republican in its ac- 
 count of the convention said: 
 
 The delegates to the Republican 
 County Convention met at the court 
 house yesterday morning and nom- 
 inated a ticket that we trust, after 
 the disappointments and vexations 
 incident to the necessary defeat of 
 some of the aspirants, will be admit- 
 ted to be satisfactory to all parts of 
 the county. The convention was com- 
 posed of men who generally seemed 
 to be filled with the desire to serve 
 the best intere-ts of the party. The 
 result at the Primaries proved that 
 Capt. H. H. Green was the strongest 
 candidate for Representative and 
 that gentleman was therefore given 
 the nomination. Capt. Green has not 
 a general personal acquaiutance with 
 
144 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 many of the delegates, but after his 
 happy little speech in accepting the 
 nomination his remarks were ap- 
 plauded as though the gentlemen of 
 the convention recognized the fact 
 that their candidate had struck the 
 key-note of the campaign. 
 
 Per contra, the Democrat had this 
 to say: 
 
 "The issue in this campaign is now 
 fully made up, each party has put in 
 nomination, candidates who stand 
 squarely on their platform. The 
 Democrats nominating for the Legis- 
 lature a gentleman whose interests 
 are identified with the people of the 
 county, who has resided in the coun- 
 ty for many years, is known of all. 
 The Prohibitionists have nominated 
 a gentleman who perhaps has been 
 succe sful in his calling, that of 
 preaching the Methodist doctrine. He 
 is a comparative stranger to the peo- 
 ple, except his congregation. He came 
 here by the appointment of his 
 church, has not invested in anything 
 permanent in the county, has no ties 
 to hold him here, has contributed 
 nothing to the material wealth of 
 the county and is in the position to 
 say, give me an office and I will stay, 
 if not, I will go somewhere else, if 
 my church so orders. Which will 
 you have to represent you, gentle- 
 men, in the next Legislature? 
 
 And so the campaign opened. Hap- 
 pily for me there were also two in- 
 dependent candidates, both of them 
 old residents of the county, and also 
 old campaigners. To this tact I 
 owed my election. It would have 
 been impossible to have succeeded 
 had there been only one candidate 
 against me. My friends did every- 
 thing in their power to encourage 
 those two independent gentlemen to 
 "also run," and the result of the 
 election proved the wisdom of their 
 action. Moreover, I was told that 
 the regular . nominee of the Demo- 
 crats, who was by no means an advo- 
 cate of the saloon, preferred me to 
 either of the other gentlemen, so 
 
 that all in all it was probably one of 
 the most complicated situations of 
 that campaign, and I believe was so 
 regarded in the state. I was fortun- 
 ate in my friends, to whose efforts 
 I was indebted for my election, and 
 to no one more so than to Mr. Ed- 
 ward Knott of Waverly, who ren- 
 dered the Republican party great ser- 
 vice that fall. When the votes were 
 counted it appeared that I had re- 
 ceived a plurality of nearly 300 over 
 my opponents, which was very grati- 
 fying to the Republicans of the 
 county. 
 
 Among the many references to 
 that contest, I select one which may 
 be taken as a sample of all. I do 
 this because there are not a few 
 well meaning people who nold that 
 ministers should take no public part 
 in the affairs of the state or nation, 
 at least in any partisan sense: 
 
 "Today is Sunday, and as the elec- 
 tion is now over it is to be hoped 
 the preachers will come back from 
 politics to resume the preaching of 
 the gospel." — Dubuque Herald. 
 
 We know of one who will until 
 the meeting of the Legislature in 
 .lanuary, when he will take his seat 
 in that body as "the member from 
 Bremer," and vindicate his right, 
 and the right of preachers in general, 
 to exercise all the privileges of an 
 American citizen. The Reverend gen- 
 tleman from Bremer will also be 
 found to be a good speaker and de- 
 bator, and if he is not endowed with 
 as much good, practical common 
 sense as any member there we miss 
 our gue s. The fact that the demo- 
 cratic party regarded preachers as 
 having no political rights that the 
 people are bound to respect, has hurt 
 that party, and will continue to hurt 
 it PS long as it harbors such sense- 
 less bigotry. Will the Herald please 
 n^ake a note cf the fact that Rev. 
 H. H. Green, a Methodist preacher, 
 will represent Bremer in the next 
 Legislature. — Dubuque Times. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 Ui 
 
 Having been pastor ait Janesville 
 three years, I was obliged under the 
 laws of the church, to move to a new 
 field. 
 
 At the next Conference I was 
 given Plainfield, a small charge in 
 the same county, so that I might 
 remain in the district which had 
 elected me to the Legislature. As 
 it was necessary for me to De away 
 from my charge during the winter, I 
 engaged the services of the pastors 
 at Waverly and Nashua to fill my 
 appointments at the Plainfield and 
 Warren churches, the two preaching 
 places, while I was gone. 
 
 Arriving at Des Moines a few days 
 before the opening of the session, I 
 found the House nearly equally di- 
 vided politically, it consisted of fifty- 
 one Republicans and forty-nine 
 Democrats, which gave the Republi- 
 cans control by a margin too close 
 for comfort in view of the great 
 moral interests at stake. The record 
 of the opening session, which was 
 held in the old state house was this: 
 "Hall of House of Representatives, 
 Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 14, 1884. 
 
 Pursuant to law the House of 
 Representatives of the Twentieth 
 General Assembly met at 2 o'clock 
 p. m., and were called to order by 
 Mr. Tuttle of Polk county. Prayer 
 by Hon. H. H. Green of Bremer. On 
 motion of Mr. Clayton of Pottawat- 
 tamie county, E. E. Haynes of Ap- 
 panoose county was appointed Chief 
 Clerk, pro tem." 
 
 At the next session Judge Wolfe 
 of Cedar county was elected Speaker, 
 and all the other officers, including 
 Sidney A. Foster, Chief Clerk, were 
 chosen. 
 
 I was greatly pleased to find 
 among the members of the House a 
 few old friends and acquaintances. 
 
 among whom were General Tuttle, 
 formerly Colonel of the Second Iowa; 
 Ex-Governor C. C. Carpenter, who 
 was a member of General Dodge's 
 staff during the war; Dr. M. H. Cal- 
 kins of Wyoming and N. A. Merrill 
 of De Witt. 
 
 The new capital building had been 
 completed so far as to be ready for 
 occupancy by the Twentieth General 
 Assembly and arrangements for re- 
 moval from the old building to the 
 new were accordingly made as socn 
 as the Senate and House had been 
 organized. The new capital was 
 dedicated with appropriate cere- 
 monies on January 17th, at which 
 time the Governor elect, Buren R. 
 Sherman, and the new Lieutenant- 
 Governor O. H. Manning, the man 
 who gave to the state the famous 
 epigram, "A school house on every 
 hilltop and no saloon in the valley," 
 were inaugurated. The exercises were 
 held in the rotunda of the new capi- 
 tal, in the presence of a throng 
 which crowded it to its utmost capac- 
 ity. Prayer was offered by Bishop 
 J. F. Hursit of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church, who was at that time a 
 resident of Des Moines. The dedi- 
 cation address was delivered by the 
 Hon. John A. Kasson, one of the 
 most eloquent statesmen of the 
 country, and the inaugural address 
 by the governor elect. In the even- 
 ing the new capital was lighted and 
 a public reception was given to the 
 Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and 
 Speaker of the House. 
 
 The next day we assembled for 
 the last time in the old State House 
 and from there marched in a body 
 with the Senate to the new capital, 
 where each body took possession of 
 its chamber. At the drawing of 
 seats which immediately took place, 
 
14() 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 I was fortunate in obtaining seat 
 number 4, directly in front of the 
 Speaker's desk. It was a very good 
 location and I was very well pleased 
 with it. 
 
 The members soon began to get 
 busy, and it was not long before 
 we were flooded with billiS, resolu- 
 tions, petitions, etc., as is always the 
 case. The Third House as the lobby 
 is called, came in force, and the 
 machine was soon grinding out its 
 grist. 
 
 In the assignment of committees I 
 was given the chairmanship of the 
 Soldiers' Home, was second on the 
 committee for the suppression of in- 
 temperance, and was also placed on 
 the judiciary, medicine and surgery, 
 public buildings, sitate university and 
 the penitentiary at Anamosa. 
 
 My first bill was known as House 
 Pile, No. 5. It was a bill for an act 
 to reward the persons who captured 
 the Barber brothers, reputed mur- 
 derers of Marion Shepard, sheriff of 
 Fayette county. 
 
 The persons who made the cap'^ure 
 were German residents of Bremer 
 county, where, after a desperate 
 struggle, in which one of the men 
 who was engaged in the capture, was 
 killed and several others wounded, 
 the barbers, two brothers, were fin- 
 ally overcome and taken to Waverly. 
 Sometime during that night a party 
 from the locality where the arrest 
 was maae went to Waverly and 
 lynched. the murderers, hanging them 
 to a tree near the city. It did not 
 appear, however, that any one con- 
 nected with the lynching was in any 
 way associated with those who ha'I 
 made the arrest, for if it had, no 
 reward would have been voted by the 
 legislature. The bill was recommend- 
 ed for passage by the committee on 
 
 appropriations and was passed by a 
 vote of ninety-one for and two 
 against. 
 
 Several other measures of more or 
 less importance were also introduced 
 by me, some of which were enacted 
 into law, while others were defeated. 
 Thus my experience as a legislator 
 was not greatly different from that 
 of the average member. 
 
 The winter was very pleasantly 
 spent at Des Moines. I made many 
 acquaintances among public men, 
 and also enjoyed meeting with num- 
 erous old army friends, whom I had 
 not seen since leaving the service. 
 
 One day, toward the close of the 
 session, my attention was called to 
 an editorial in a newspaper recom- 
 mending me for the office of Secre- 
 tary of State. It was a great sur- 
 prise, for the thought had never en- 
 tered my own mind, but it appeared 
 that some of my friends, after can- 
 vassing the matter had concluded 
 that I could be nominated and elect- 
 ed, and without my knowledge had 
 announced me as a suitable person 
 for that office. The matter was 
 taken up by the papers of the state, 
 some of which gave me a strong en- 
 dorsement. Several of the members 
 of the legislature were kind enough 
 to voluntarily offer me their supyrrt, 
 should I desire the nomination. !• o\v- 
 ever, I could not see my way clear to 
 leave the ministry even temporarily 
 and so withdrew my name from 
 further consideration. I wrote to this 
 effect to the Iowa State Register, 
 and the next day that paper pub- 
 lished my letter, and with it the fol- 
 lowing comment: 
 
 The Hon. Harry H. Green, Repre- 
 sentative in the Legislature from 
 Bremer county, has been proposed 
 for the next Republican nomination 
 for Secretary of State, and the sug- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 14" 
 
 gostion was received with great pop- 
 ular favor, many of the papers cf 
 Northern Iowa declaring warmly in 
 his favor. Those who knew him" felt 
 that his candidacy would represent 
 unusual personal merit and entire 
 competency and fitness. Captain 
 Green has lived in Iowa over thirty 
 years, and has established a name of 
 which any citizen of the state would 
 be proud. He was a captain in the 
 Second Iowa Infantry, and made a 
 gallant record. Popular opinion has 
 been turning directly toward him as 
 the man for Secretary of State. But 
 by the following letter it will be seen 
 that he declines to be a candidate: 
 
 Des Moines, :\larch 13. — Ed. Reg- 
 ister: My name having been men- 
 tioned in connection with the office 
 of Secretary of State, and having re- 
 ceived many strong and cordial en- 
 dorsements from the press, as well 
 as personal letters, from different 
 portions of the state, urging me to 
 become a candidate, it gives me 
 great pleasure to say that while I 
 cannot allow myself to yield to these 
 kind solicitations, my friends have 
 my most grateful thanks for their 
 kind intentions and cheerful offers 
 of aid and support. Respecitfully, 
 
 H. H. GREEN. 
 The captain's decision will be re- 
 ceived with a great deal of regret, 
 he had such a strong following ready 
 to support him for the position. 
 
 It would probably have been wiser, 
 all things considered, had the matter 
 been permitted to rest with the pub- 
 lication of this letter. However, 
 there were those who thought other- 
 wise, for immediately following its 
 appearance I received many expres- 
 sions of regret from different parts 
 of the sitate, and not a few sugges- 
 tions from my friends urging me to 
 re-consider my declination and re- 
 enter the race. This, after many con- 
 sultations with friends, I concluded 
 to do which was doubtless a mistake. 
 After my withdrawal other arrange- 
 ments were made and I had little 
 chance of a nomination. Neverthe- 
 
 less in the convention I was given a 
 fine complimentary vote of about two 
 hundred, which under tne circum- 
 stances was entirely satisfactory. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 At the Conference of 188 4 I re- 
 ceived my first appointment as Pre- 
 siding Elder of the Dubuque District, 
 and at once moved into the district 
 parsonage at Epworth. We were for- 
 tunate in our place of residence, be- 
 cause that village was the seat of a 
 seminary under control of the 
 church, and as our older children 
 were sufficiently advanced to enter 
 the school we were pleased to make 
 Epworth our home while on the dis- 
 trict. During the second year our 
 eldest daughter, Anna, became a 
 member of the faculty, as a teacher 
 in the art department, where she 
 gave instructions in painting. 
 
 We were hardly settled in our new 
 home before Mrs. Green was made 
 president of the Woman's Home Mis- 
 sionary Society, a position altogether 
 new to her. At the first meeting of 
 the society following her election, 
 she presided for the first time in her 
 life over any deliberative body of 
 the kind, and naturally felt nervous 
 about it. Upon returning home after 
 the session, she inquired of Marion, 
 the baby, whom she had taken with 
 her, how she had made out while In 
 the chair. Now, however it may be 
 with grown up people, it is said that 
 children always tell the truth. So 
 in reply to his mother's inquiry the 
 little fellow promptly said: "Well, 
 mamma, it was plain to be seen you 
 were not onto your job." An opin- 
 ion, which, though it was not at all 
 complimentary, was certainly honest 
 and quite ingenious. 
 
 The Presiding Eldership was en- 
 
148 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 tirely new to me and I entered upon 
 its duties with many misgivings. I 
 felt that in the conference there were 
 many far better preachers, and not a 
 few, whom I believed, were better 
 equipped in other ways for that im- 
 portant work, but Bishop Bowman 
 and his advisors had made the ap- 
 pointment, and I must do the be=t 
 I could. The preachers received me 
 kindly and were very considerate in 
 their judgment of the new "Elder," 
 while the laity gave me much en- 
 couragement. 
 
 My first Quarterly meeting was 
 held at Lamont, where the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Montgomery was pastor. I was 
 not well pleased with this meeting, 
 nor do I think the people felt partic- 
 ularly interested either, however, 
 whatever their impressions may have 
 been, they considerately kept them 
 to themselves. 
 
 I was much worried over the Main 
 street, Dubuque church, and really 
 dreaded to go there. I had heard so 
 much said about the unpopularity of 
 Presiding Elders with that church, 
 that it had made me very timid, and 
 so I postponed my first appearance 
 in Dubuque as long as I possibly could 
 But the time came when it could be 
 no longer delayed, so on a Sunday 
 evening I quietly slipped into the 
 city from Reed's chapel, where ser- 
 vices had been held in th morniU:^, 
 and made my way to the parsonage. 
 The pastor. Dr. A. H. Ames, at once 
 made me feel that 1 was among 
 friends. The pastor's family was 
 very cordial, and did everything in 
 their power to make things pleasant 
 for me. At the close of the service 
 the doctor invited the congregation 
 to come forward and take me by the 
 hand, which they did in large num- 
 bers, at the same time expressing 
 
 their good will in so kind and warm- 
 hearted a way, that I was deeply 
 touched, and was then and there 
 drawn to them as I have seldom been 
 to any people. 
 
 One hot afternoon, before the 
 Eighth street car line had been built, 
 I was slowly making my way up 
 Julian avenue toward West Dubuque, 
 where I was due to hold a Quarterly 
 Conference, and when about half way 
 up the hill I was confronted by a 
 ragged little urchin. Who, eyeing my 
 grip, stopped me with the question: 
 "Have ye'es anythin' to sell?' Tak- 
 ing in the humor of the situation, 1 
 replied, "No, my boy, I have nothing 
 to sell. What was it you were want- 
 ing to buy?" "Well," he replied, 
 "Oi tought ye'es moight have tred 
 or somethin'." "No," I said, "I am 
 not selling thread, nor buttons, nor 
 pins, nor needles, I am just on my 
 way up the hill," and I moved ou 
 while the little fellow flitted away 
 down the avenue whistling, "St. Pat- 
 rick's Day in the Morning," or some 
 other popular tune. 
 
 I found many old soldiers on the 
 district who never failed to give me 
 a comrade's grip and a pleasant 
 word. During my term of service on 
 that field I had many opportunities 
 to talk with them about the old army 
 days in Decoration Day addresses and 
 Memorial services. I have often 
 thought much of what General B. M. 
 Prentis of Shiloh fame, one said to 
 me: "Captain, whenever you have 
 an opportunity to address the soldier 
 boys, improve it by talking to them 
 about Christ as well as the army 
 life." This advice came to me as a 
 surprise, for I had heard that Gen- 
 eral Prentis bore the reputation, 
 while in the army, of being one of 
 the most profane of our officers. Af- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 149 
 
 ter leaving the service it appears 
 that he had been converted and at 
 once became a zealous soldier of the 
 cross. 
 
 With nie it has for many years 
 been a problem hard to solve, why 
 so many good men in other ways, 
 should be unchaste or profane in 
 their conversation, a ha'oit, which, 
 correctly or not, is charged to the 
 soldier, who is said to be particular- 
 ly given to it. I can understand why 
 a person under strong temptation 
 may utter a falsehood, a man may be 
 driven into theft to save himself 
 from some impending calamity, may 
 even commit murder under strong 
 provocation, but I cannot see any 
 reasonable excuse for the vile habit 
 of profane swearing. It certainly 
 adds nothing either to the beauty or 
 strength of language, but it detracts 
 from both. Moreover, it is a confes- 
 sion of weakness, and puts the user 
 on the defensive; he places himself 
 in the attitude of one who fears he 
 will not be believed if he simply ex- 
 presses himself in pure, plain Eng- 
 lish. So he thoughtlessly, if not de- 
 liberately, lowers himself from the 
 dignified manliness of unsullied 
 speech into the gutter, where he 
 rakes up the muck and the slime and 
 the filth, with which he befouls his 
 utterances. Nevertheless, there are 
 people who seem to regard profanity 
 and obscenity as real accomplish- 
 ments, as though it were a manly 
 thing to be able to swear shockingly, 
 to boast and swagger in the foul and 
 vicious mouthings of the slums. How- 
 ever, decent people generally shun 
 this vice as a thing unworthy of 
 them, and in their hearts unsparing- 
 ly condemn it. 
 
 As the fact that I had been a sol- 
 dier opened the way for me among 
 
 the old veterans, so, also, to some 
 extent, the fact that I had been a 
 member of the legislature the pre- 
 ceding winter and had taken some 
 part in its work in behalf of temper- 
 ance was in my favor, especially 
 among the prohibitionists who have 
 always been found in large numbers 
 in the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 I had, therefore, no reason to com- 
 plain of my field of labor. I found 
 the district well manned with an ex- 
 cellent corps of preachers, some of 
 whom afterward reached distinction 
 in the conference. 
 
 In the spring we organized a Dis- 
 trict Conference, which was a new 
 departure for the district, for before 
 that time the semi-annual gatherings 
 were simply Ministerial Associations, 
 whose functions were purely literary. 
 At the first session of the newly or- 
 ganized body, which was held at In- 
 dependence, there were sixty-five 
 members present, and it was voted a 
 success, for it was a profitable ses- 
 sion and gave great satisfaction. This 
 organization known as the District 
 Conference, had been authorized by 
 the General Conference, a few years 
 previous, and was by that body in- 
 vested with certain privileges and 
 clothed with certain powers, which 
 were designed to aid in the adminis- 
 tration of the discipline of the 
 church. It is composed of all the 
 traveling and local preachers within 
 the bounds of the district, together 
 with the District Stewards, one Class 
 Leader, one President of an Epworth 
 League chapter, and one Sunday 
 School Superintendent from each 
 pastoral charge. The literary feat- 
 ures of the old Ministerial Associa- 
 tion are still retained, but the more 
 important functions of the District 
 Conference are to license local 
 
150 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 preachers, examine them in the 
 course of studj-, and recommend such 
 as are believed to be suitable candi- 
 dates for the Traveling Connection, 
 for Admission on Trial, in an Annual 
 Conference. The body meets semi- 
 annually and usually its sessions 
 cover two or three days. 
 
 It was during our second year on 
 the district that our eldest daughter, 
 Anna, was married to Mr. J. D. May- 
 nard of Janesville, Iowa. The cere- 
 mony took place at our home in Ep- 
 worth, September 9th, 1886. It was 
 witnessed by several of our preach- 
 ers and their wives as well as a large 
 number of relatives and friends from 
 out of town. 
 
 In the fall of 1887 the Annual 
 Conference assembled at Clinton, 
 and as the General Conference was to 
 convene the following spring, an 
 election was held for the choice of 
 delegates to that body, which result- 
 ed in the selection of A. J. Kynett, 
 W. F. King, H. H. Green, J. T. Crip- 
 pen and G. W. Brindell from the 
 ministry, and J. P. Farley of Du- 
 buque and E. A. Snyder of Cedar 
 Falls from the laity. The General 
 Conference which convened in New 
 York City, May 1, 1888, was com^ 
 posed of representative men from all 
 parts of the world. Each Annual 
 Conference is allowed one delegate 
 for every fortj'-five members and one 
 for a fraction of thirty or over. 
 
 The General Conference meets 
 every four years. It is presided over 
 by tiie Bishops, who take the chair 
 in the order of seniority of election. 
 They are not members of the body, 
 and have no vote or voice on the 
 floor, except by courtesy of the mem- 
 bers. This is the law making body 
 of the church, and the results of its 
 actions are embodied in the Disci- 
 
 pline, which is the code of the 
 church, 
 
 It is considered a great honor to 
 be elected a delegate to the General 
 Conference. Charges have sometimes 
 been made by unfriendly persons, 
 that unworthy methods are employed 
 in the selection of delegates. While 
 these charges are not true In the 
 sense of being in any way criminal, 
 it is nevertheless to be regretted that 
 unseemly scrambles occasionally mar 
 these elections, which certainly give 
 color to the criticisms which are so 
 frequently offered by persons on the 
 outside. There is nothing in any way 
 dishonorable in the desire to serve 
 the church in its law making body. 
 The ambition is entirely commemi- 
 able, and no fair minded person will 
 be disposed to criticise the friendly 
 competition which characterizes an 
 election, either among the ministers 
 or the laymen. 
 
 When the time arrived for our de- 
 parture for New York, it was agreed 
 among some of the western delegates 
 to meet at the Book Rooms in Chi- 
 cago, and proceed in a body by way 
 of Baltimore, Washington and Phila- 
 delphia. So at the time appointed 
 we gathered there and selected one 
 of our number, a minister from Illin- 
 ois, to act as our chaperon, not for 
 considerations of propriety so much 
 as for considerations of economy, a 
 move which proved to be a wise one 
 long before we reached our destina- 
 tion. Our chaperon purchased the 
 tickets over the Baltimore and Ohio 
 railroad, and right glad was I that he 
 had chosen that route, for the scen- 
 ery was varied and beautiful. 
 
 Among our party was an old pio- 
 neer preacher from Idaho, who be- 
 came very friendly to this tender- 
 foot, and was not at all backward in 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 151 
 
 relating his experiences . in the far 
 west, much to our delight. He was 
 a good conversationalist and seldom 
 failed to entertain us. One day as 
 we were passing over the Cumber- 
 land Mountains, I incautiously call- 
 ed his attention to the fact and with 
 considerable enthusiasm spoke of the 
 great height of the mountains. The 
 old man turned to me with what 
 seemed to be a look of pity, and 
 partly of scorn, which made me feel 
 kind of creepy like, as though I had 
 been guilty of some breach of pro- 
 priety or something about as bad and 
 he said: "Mountains, do you call 
 them mountains? Why they ain't 
 nothin' but gopher hills. If you want 
 to see mountains just take a run out 
 to Idaho, where I hit the trail, an' 
 you'll see 'em for sure. Why you 
 are as ignorant of what a real moun- 
 tain is as a native, a friend of mine 
 once encountered over in England. 
 My friend had been traveling in 
 Scotland, and when he had done that 
 country, he proceded on to England. 
 Passing the border in due season, he 
 fell in with a native of the north of 
 England, who became interested in 
 him, asking many questions about 
 the United States, also about the 
 places he had visited and the things 
 he had seen during his rambles in 
 Scotland. Among other things the 
 Briton wanted to know the route the 
 American had taken in his journey 
 south. He was informed as to the 
 route taken, also given a description 
 of the scenes and experiences along 
 the way. 'Why, then,' said his new 
 friend, 'You must have crossed the 
 mountains.' 'Mountains, mountains,' 
 replied the American, 'I didn't see 
 no mountains.' 'O, but you must 
 have seen them,' said the English- 
 man, 'why there was Ben Lomond 
 
 and Ben Nevis right in your way, 
 you could hardly have gone around 
 them.' 'Wal, now you speak of it, 
 I remember I did see some risin' 
 ground back there a piece, but there 
 warn't no mountains.' " After a 
 hearty laugh at his story the old man 
 settled down in his seat, muttering 
 to himself about "the greenness of 
 these yere eastern tenderfeet, who 
 had never seen nothin' worth while 
 nohow," after which deliverance he 
 soon dropped into a doze and we left 
 him to his dreams. 
 
 Passing through Harper's Ferry, 
 immortalized as the place where 
 John Brown met his death at the 
 hands of enraged slave holders, we 
 pushed on to Baltimore and Wash- 
 ington. 
 
 At Washington we remained sev- 
 eral days, visiting the places of in- 
 terest, and meeting many of the pub- 
 lic men of the nation, among whom 
 was Senator Leland Stanford, by 
 whom with his lady we were given 
 a reception at their elegant home 
 and made to spend a very pleasant 
 evening. 
 
 Arriving in New York we found 
 ourselves assigned to the Grand Cen- 
 tral Hotel on Broadway, where we 
 were to remain for the session. There 
 we found many delegates, mostly 
 from the west and middle west, prob- 
 ably two hundred and fifty in all. 
 
 The General Conference was held 
 at the Metropolitan opera house, at 
 that time, I think, the finest building 
 of the kind in the city. In the as- 
 signment of seats it was the custom 
 to write the names of the conferences 
 on slips of paper and place them 
 in a box, from which they were 
 drawn by some one appointed for 
 the purpose and seats were chosen 
 by the delegation in the order from 
 
lo2 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 which they came from the box. The 
 chairman of each delegation made 
 the choice for his conference, but in 
 his absence the person next on the 
 list made the selection. Now it so 
 happened that when the assignments 
 were made, which was done the even- 
 ing before the organization of the 
 body, Dr. Kynett, the chairman of 
 our delegation was absent, as was 
 also Dr. King, so that it fell on me 
 to act for our delegates. I did not 
 know they were not present, and was 
 taken by surprise when the first pa- 
 per drawn from the box was an- 
 nounced as the Upper Iowa Confer- 
 ence. However, I selected a seat 
 well to the front, which proved to 
 be quite satisfactory to our people. 
 Right across the aisle from where 
 we sat was the opera box of Mrs. 
 General U. S. Grant, which, on the 
 first day of the session was occupied 
 by Colonel F. D. Grant, her son, and 
 Dr. J. P. Newman, pastor of the 
 Metropolitan church at Washington, 
 whom I had met in that city a few 
 days before. Beckoned across the 
 aisle by Dr. Newman, I stepped over 
 to where they were seated and was 
 introduced to Colonel Fred Grant, 
 who gave me a very cordial greeting 
 and a hearty invitation to call on his 
 wife and mother, who were living in 
 New York at that time. Of cour-e I 
 was delighted with this invitation, 
 for I had served under the great sol- 
 dier from the earliest days of the 
 Civil War, until he was taken from 
 the west and given command of all 
 the armies of the United States. Like 
 almost everyone else I had the great- 
 est admiration for his manly and sol- 
 dierly qualities, so of course T was 
 greatly pleased to have this oppor- 
 tunity of meeting Mrs. Grant and her 
 daughters. Fixing upon an evening 
 for my call, I invited my chum, the 
 
 Rev. J. T. Crippen, who had also 
 served in the army as chaplain of a 
 regiment from New York state, to ac- 
 company me. We were kindly re- 
 ceived by Mrs. Grant and her daugh- 
 ter and spent a delightful evening 
 with them, for they did everything 
 in their power to make it pleasant 
 for us. Nearly all the valuable pres- 
 ents General Grant had received 
 while abroad on his trip around the 
 world had been presented to the 
 government and were on deposit at 
 Washington, but there was a mag- 
 nificent picture of General Philip 
 Sheridan which had been painted by 
 a great artist in France, that had 
 been highly eulogized by connoisseurs 
 and indeed by all who had seen it 
 when it first reached this country. 
 Mrs. Grant called our attention to it 
 quietly saying: "When the General" 
 — she always spoke of her husband 
 as the General — "turned over the 
 other things to the government, I in- 
 sisted that this picture should be 
 reserved, for General Sheridan was 
 his favorite officer and I could not 
 part with it." Then while Dr. Crip- 
 pen was being entertained by Mrs. 
 F. D. Grant, she said to me: "Now 
 draw up your rooking chair, and we 
 will have a comfortable visit togeth- 
 er." She had much to say about her 
 experiences in Virginia at the time 
 of the later campaigns in that state, 
 where she quite frequently went to 
 the front to be with her husband. 
 
 Immediately following the election 
 of Dr. J. P. Newman to the episco- 
 pacy, there was some talk about the 
 means which it was said had been 
 employed to bring it about. Some 
 went so far as to say that he could 
 not have been elected except through 
 the influence of General Grant, who 
 was his warm personal friend. It 
 was urged that Dr. Newman had on 
 
THK SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ir,:{ 
 
 one occasion declined to serve as pas- 
 tor of a church to which he had been 
 appointed by the authorities of the 
 church, and that alleged insurbor- 
 dination was used against him when 
 his name was proposed for the epis- 
 copal office. 
 
 Just before the election of bishops 
 I received a letter from one of the 
 preachers on my district, urging me 
 to do everything in my power to pre- 
 vent his election. The letter reached 
 me just after my visit at Mrs. Grant's 
 home, and I speak of it only be- 
 cause it expressed a feeling, however 
 mistaken, which existed among some 
 of the preachers. That IMrs. Grant 
 vvas interested in the election of Dr. 
 Newman is true enough, indeed she 
 greatly desired it, for he had been 
 her pastor while they were at Wash- 
 ington, and also afterward in New 
 \ork. Of course they became at- 
 tached to him and to Mrs. Newman, 
 who was one of the elect ladies of 
 Methodism, Mrs. Grant freely ex- 
 pressed her hope that he might be 
 chosen as one of the new bishops. 
 
 She asked me if I thought there 
 would be any impropriety in making 
 her interest in the matter known to 
 the delegates. I assured her that 
 in my judgment it would be very 
 pro>per. I said: "Mrs. Grant, you are 
 a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church and you have the same rights 
 in the church as have other mem- 
 bers; we all have our choice in these 
 matters, nor can any one reasonably 
 object to an expression of this choice. 
 There are two men whose election I 
 greatly desire because I believe they 
 are worthy, and I propose to do what 
 I can in an honorable way to bring 
 it about. One is Dr. A. J. Kynett 
 and the other is Dr. J. P. Newman." 
 "Well," she said, "T am glad to hear 
 you speak so, for I am expecting the 
 
 members of the General Conference, 
 who were soldiers to spend an even- 
 ing with me, and I should like to 
 have them know how we feel toward 
 Dr. Newman, but I should hesitate 
 to do so unless I was assured it 
 would be entirely proper." 
 
 A few evenings later most of the 
 soldier delegates paid their respects 
 to Mrs. Grant, and from that inci- 
 dent, word went out over the church 
 that it was the soldiers in the Gen- 
 eral Conference who elected Newman 
 bishop, just to please Mrs. Grant. 
 Of course that was sheer nonsense, 
 for the soldier delegates as well as 
 others voted for .1. P. Newman be- 
 cause they recognized in him bishop 
 timber, and because some of them at 
 least felt that the opposition to him 
 was born and nurtured by a narrow- 
 ness which had no proper place in 
 the Methodist Episcopal church. That 
 their choice was a wise one, was 
 fully justified by the record of Bishop 
 Newman during his Episcopal career, 
 for the office was magnified in him. 
 
 The all-absorbing question before 
 that General Conference, however, 
 was the eligibility of women as dele- 
 gates. It was claimed by some that 
 the word "Laymen," in the Disci- 
 pline should be interpreted so as to 
 mean both sexes, while others stout- 
 ly maintained that it could only ap- 
 ply to men. Two women had been 
 elected as delegates and were pres- 
 ent seeking admission. The question 
 of their legal status as to seats in 
 the body was before us and it must 
 be fairly met and dealt with. A few 
 great speeches were made on either 
 side of the question by representative 
 men of the church which would have 
 done honor to the Senate of the 
 United States, or the Parliament of 
 Great Britain in their palmiest days. 
 It was finally agreed that the ques- 
 
154 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 tion should be submitted to a vote 
 of the Annual Conferences, inasmuch 
 as it involved a change in one of the 
 restrictive rules which could not be 
 made until acted on and agreed to 
 by the Annual Conferences. The 
 necessary steps were taken and wo- 
 man was finally admitted to the Gen- 
 eral Conference, to her great satis- 
 faction. So many preliminary steps 
 were necessary however, before it 
 could be accomplished, that she did 
 not take her seat until twelve years 
 later. 
 
 I greatly enjoyed that month in 
 New York. The sessions of the Con- 
 ference were held in the forenoon 
 and committee meetings in the af- 
 ternoon, while the evenings were oc- 
 cupied with addresses by distinguish- 
 ed members of the body, and by not- 
 ed visitors and representatives of 
 other churches. I had been placed 
 on the committee on Itinerancy and 
 on the Freedmen's Aid Society, as- 
 signments which pleased me well. 
 The committee on Itinerancy ranking 
 second only to that of Episcopacy, 
 which is always given to the chair- 
 man of the delegation. 
 
 A good many of my evenings were 
 spent at the Florence Mission on 
 Bleecker street, which was open all 
 night, every evening in the week. 
 Here were gathered the thugs and 
 tihieves and cut-throats of the Bow- 
 ery, and the slums of the city. Fallen 
 women in great numbers were 
 brought in and everything done to 
 rescue them from the awful life they 
 were living, that love could suggest 
 or means provide. A good lady of 
 great wealth had charge of the mis- 
 sion and she devoted her time to bet- 
 tering the condition of the under- 
 current of the city, among whom she 
 was exceedingly popular, and it was 
 said that she could go anywhere in 
 
 any part of the city at any time, day 
 or night, alone, without fear of 
 molestation. The worst characters 
 of the slums were her protectors and 
 would have given their lives in her 
 defense. The room in which the 
 meetings were held was always filled 
 to overflowing. The singing and 
 praying and much of the speaking 
 was done by those who had been res- 
 cued and converted. Men and women 
 would come in and go out again just 
 as it pleased them, all night long, 
 without in any way disturbing the 
 meeting, and it was said much good 
 was done in that mission, of which 
 I have not the slightest doubt. 
 
 Of course I visited Central Park, 
 Bedloe's Island and the Statue of 
 Liberty, the Brooklyn cemetery, 
 where I stood beside the grave of 
 Henry Ward Beecher, besides many 
 other places of interest usually visit- 
 ed by strangers in the city. As long 
 as I can remember, anything and 
 everything pertaining to nautical 
 affairs has had an unusual Interest 
 for me; the busy scenes to be viewed 
 in the great harbors of the world 
 posesses peculiar attractions; the 
 great ocean steamers, the sailing ves- 
 sels of all sorts and sizes, sea going 
 craft plying between the sea ports 
 of the world, laden with men and 
 merchandise, also river craft of all 
 kinds are exceedingly interesting to 
 me, therefore I spend much time 
 about the wharves whenever oppor- 
 tunity offers. 
 
 Noticing one day in a city paper 
 that the City of Rome had just arriv- 
 ed from Europe, I was seized with a 
 desire to explore the great ship, so 
 I suggested to a brother preacher 
 that we make a pilgrimage to the 
 harbor and if possible get permission 
 to look her over. He readily assent- 
 ed and together we proceeded to the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 155 
 
 waterside. Upon application to the 
 officer in charge, he politely detailed 
 another officer to show us over the 
 vessel. The gentleman was very 
 courteous, showing us everything of 
 interest about the ship and explain- 
 ing what we did not understand. Of 
 course we were deeply interested in 
 the magnificent ship, for she was a 
 noble vessel and well worthy to be 
 called the "Ocean Greyhound." Nev- 
 er had I seen such a magnificent 
 creature; I was delighted with her, 
 and well I might be for she was at 
 that time the largest and finest 
 steamship plying the seas. 
 
 A few days afterward I learned 
 that the Palgrave, said to be the 
 largest sailing vessel afloat was lying 
 at her moorings in Brooklyn. Noth- 
 ing would do but I must board her 
 as I had done the City of Rome, so 
 I crossed over to Brooklyn and made 
 my way down to the pier wnere I 
 soon discovered her a giant among 
 pygmies, lying at anchor in the quiet 
 harbor. One of the mates took me 
 in hand and showed me over the ves- 
 sel. From him I learned that she 
 was engaged in the China tea trade, 
 and had only reached port a day or 
 two before. Fortunate indeed was I 
 in the opportunity and pleasure of 
 inspecting these two marvels of ship- 
 craft, and once again, after a period 
 of thirty-five years, testing my teeth 
 on pilot bread. 
 
 Upon returning to the hotel my 
 thoughts began to run something 
 after this sort: Suppose these two 
 big ships were to weigh anchor and 
 make to sea at precisely the same 
 hour, reaching the open sea and pro- 
 ceeding on their way abreast of each 
 Kjther; the Palgrave propelled by a 
 strong fair wind and the City of 
 Rome by steam. In this way they 
 proceed on their voyage, no appre- 
 
 ciable difference appearing between 
 them, until after a time, the wind 
 gradually falls away and the sails of 
 the Palgrave flap loosely and idly 
 against her masts, causing her to 
 lose her speed and drop behind, 
 while her consort moving steadily 
 forward, speeds on her way across 
 the sea. It is then that the vast 
 disparity between the two great ships 
 appears. The steamer is superior to 
 the sailor only in the pre-eminence 
 of her propelling power, for in all 
 other respects they are equal. The 
 City of Rome is moved by an inward 
 force, which renders her practically 
 independent of outward conditions, 
 she is driven from within, and needs 
 only to keep her furnace fires burn- 
 ing, while the Palgrave is wholly de- 
 pendent on influences from the out- 
 side. When these outward influences 
 are favorable, she moves rapidly and 
 consistently forward, but when they 
 are adverse, when she faces a head 
 wind she tosses about, hither and 
 yon unable to make headway, or even 
 to hold her own, and alas, when the 
 wind goes down she is utterly help- 
 less for she can only drift or lie idly 
 on the bosom of the sea. 
 
 Men and women are quite like 
 ships on the ocean, some are actuated 
 by living principles within, which en- 
 able them to move resolutely for- 
 ward regardless of opposing forces 
 from without, overriding all oppo- 
 sition, steadily pursuing their way, 
 and holding the true course In life 
 because they have faith and courage 
 and patience, all the graces of the 
 Spirit to hold and direct them even 
 in the wildest tempest or the dead- 
 liest calm. Others there are, who 
 seem to be almost wholly the crea- 
 tures of circumstance. They allow 
 themselves to be controlled by out- 
 ward conditions, they are weak 
 
15(3 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 where tney should be strong, because 
 unlike the sailing vessel, they have 
 been given dominion which might 
 be employed even as others employ 
 it. They permit themselves to be- 
 come inert, becalmed, when imme- 
 diate action is called for, where the 
 other kind would assert themselves 
 by their own innate force of char- 
 acter, and pursue their way superior 
 to wind and wave. 
 
 The year following was the twen- 
 ty-fifth anniversary of our wedding 
 and some of the preachers on the 
 district knowing of it, arranged to 
 help us celebrate the occasion. They 
 joined with the people of Epworth 
 and took matters into their own 
 hands, and nearly all the preachers 
 of the district, also a large company 
 from Epworth and other places were 
 present. In the afternoon. Dr. J. S. 
 McCord, pastor at Dubuque, on be- 
 half of the preachers presented us 
 with a beautiful silver water set, 
 and in the evening we were made 
 the recipients of an elegant tea set 
 of silver by the citizens of Epworth 
 and other parts of the district. It 
 was a most enjoyable occasion, cer- 
 tainly our family appreciated the 
 kindness shown us, not only in the 
 beautiful gifts but more in the hear- 
 ty congratulations which were' show- 
 ered upon us on every hand. 
 
 The following Sunday I conducted 
 a love-feast in one of our churches, 
 and in my opening remarks made 
 grateful reference to the goodness of 
 God, as manifested in the preserva- 
 tion of our lives, incidentally speak- 
 ing of the wedding anniversary and 
 the gift of silver which we had re- 
 ceived. I had no sooner taken my 
 seat, however, than the preacher, 
 who was one of the most beautiful 
 characters I have ever known, wheth- 
 er intentionally, or otherwise, has 
 
 never api eared, began to sing, "I 
 care not for riches, neither silver 
 nor gold," etc. There was a smile 
 on many faces at the words, appar- 
 ently so artlessly uttered, but the 
 love-feast proceeded as usual and a 
 rare good time it was. 
 
 There are many occasions in the 
 life of a Methodist minister when 
 the regular routine is brightened by 
 some happy incident or by the humor 
 of some brother who bubbles over 
 with kindly wit. At one of our Dis- 
 trict ■ Conferences a preacher who 
 was holding down a nearby charge, 
 in his report, which was given verb- 
 ally, talked so long and so dismally 
 about the spiritual condition of his 
 church, that everyone \\:as out of 
 1 atience with him, and his gloomy 
 representation. At length, however, 
 when he had wearied everybody out, 
 he sat down in the midst of a pro- 
 found silence. No sooner had he 
 taken his seat, than the Rev. John 
 W. Clinton, who was our secretary 
 and was seated by my side, slowly 
 arose and with an expression on his 
 face somewhere between a smile of 
 innocence and a grim of derision, 
 raised his hand as though he wanted 
 to command particular attention, 
 and then pointing his finger at the 
 brother who had been speaking, be- 
 gan in his own inimitable way to 
 quote the hymn: 
 
 "Hark! from the toombs a doleful 
 sound. 
 
 My ears, attend the cry: 
 Ye living men, come view the ground 
 
 Where you must shortly lie." 
 
 He was not allowed to go any 
 futher than the first stanza, for such 
 a storm of applause, such clapping 
 of hands and such shouts of laughter 
 filled the house as I have seldom 
 heard anywhere, and though the 
 doleful one tried over and over again 
 to make himself heard in his own 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 defense, no one would listen to him, 
 so he was finally obliged to give it 
 up and take his medicine as many a 
 one before him has done. The re- 
 ports which followed took on a 
 brighter hue, as well they might, for 
 however necessary it may be to un- 
 cover the soil where deposits are to 
 be found which are not pleasant to 
 the eye, or to the taste, it is not ab- 
 solutely necessary, nor is it always 
 wise to expose them to the public 
 gaze. There are some things which 
 had better be let alone 'entirely, and 
 some other things which should be 
 handled gingerly, but not cowardly. 
 
 The General Conference at New 
 York had made some changes which 
 affected both Presiding Elders and 
 Pastors. The term of the Pastor was 
 extended from three years to five 
 years and the term of the Presiding 
 Elder from four to six years. My 
 term on the Dubuque District did not 
 therefore expire until the fall of 
 1890. 
 
 I had been elected a trustee of 
 Epworth Seminary and also of Upper 
 Iowa University, during my first 
 year on the district. Upon my re- 
 moval from Epworth, I asked to be 
 relieved from the trusteeship of the 
 seminary, but was continued on the 
 board of Upper Iowa University. 
 
 Our last year at Epworth was sad- 
 dened by the death of our little son 
 Robert. His mother and I were away 
 from home attending a church meet- 
 ing at Independence, when he was 
 taken ill. Toward the close or the 
 meeting word came to us that he was 
 very sick and we hastened home to 
 find him sick beyond recovery. The 
 dear little fellow was suffering with 
 peritonitis and died after a brief ill- 
 ness of four days, at ten years of 
 age. He was a bright, loveable boy, 
 and his loss was a sore grief to us, 
 
 but our faith in God and His prom- 
 ise.s concerning the future has ever 
 been a comfort to us for we have 
 the hope that we shall meet him 
 again sometime. 
 
 The Annual Conference was for 
 the second time held at Decorah, in 
 the autumn of 1890, with Bishop S. 
 M. Merrill presiding. The sessions 
 of the cabinet, that is the meetings 
 of the Bishop and Presiding Elders 
 were held at the home of Mr. An- 
 drew Groves, where the Bishop was 
 entertained. 
 
 The Presiding Elders, who are the 
 advisors of the Bishop, assist him 
 in making the appointments of the 
 preachers. Many of the appoint- 
 ments, however, are arranged as far 
 as possible by the Presiding Elders 
 before they reach the seat of the con- 
 ference. Each Elder is expected to 
 look after his own district, and see 
 that both churches and preachers 
 are properly cared for. Generally, 
 on all the districts a majority of 
 the preachers are successful and 
 these he seeks to retain, but those 
 who for any reason are undesirable, 
 he is willing to part with, and is 
 always ready to exchange for some 
 other man he likes better. But these 
 exchanges are not always easy to 
 bring about. Naturally each Presid- 
 ing Elder seeks after the best men 
 and when he secures one who is 
 desirable, he retains him as long as 
 he can do so without doing him an 
 injustice, by standing in the way of 
 his promotion. Considerable diplo- 
 matic skill, if not the highest grade 
 of piety is needed in the making of 
 appointments, and even then, after 
 the very best in the judgment of the 
 appointing powers has been done, a 
 few of the preachers and a few of 
 the churches will inevitably feel ag- 
 grieved. 
 
158 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 It is chiefly in the higher grades 
 of appointments that the Bishop 
 figures most conspicuously, for it is 
 almost always concerning these 
 stronger charges that contentions 
 arise. They are of course the most 
 desirable, the larger churches want 
 the best preachers, and the best 
 preachers want the larger churches, 
 which is all natural enough, provid- 
 ed the campaign is conducted in the 
 right spirit, and it usually is. The 
 Bishop acts in the capacity of a judge 
 or arbitrator, and when occasion 
 calls for his interference, which is 
 quite often, he decides the points at 
 issue between the Presiding Elders, 
 and from his decision there 'is no 
 appeal. As one of the bishops face- 
 tiously remarked: "The Presiding 
 Elders make the appointments, and 
 the Bishops fix them," which is un- 
 doubtedly true, at least the preach- 
 ers sometimes think so. 
 
 It is customary among our bishops 
 at the opening session of the cabinet, 
 to inquire if there are any formal 
 complaints against any of the preach- 
 ers, and there are any to take such 
 steps as may be necessary for an 
 investigation. The next thing is to 
 make such changes in the boundaries 
 of the districts or circuits as may be 
 deemed advisable. After these things 
 have been attended to, the work of 
 making the appointments of the 
 preachers begins, and is generally 
 done in the following order: The 
 list of charges in each district are 
 carefully gone over and the preach- 
 ers who are to return for another 
 year are agreed upon. Next it is 
 ascertained who may go back with- 
 out detriment to the work, in case 
 the wisest adjustments of the con- 
 ference seem to demand their return. 
 
 Finally, all cases where it seems 
 advisable that the preacher should 
 
 remove to another field of labor are 
 considered, and such dispositions 
 are made as appear to be for the 
 greatest good of all concerned. Al- 
 ways it requires every afternoon, and 
 often some of the evenings to per- 
 form the work of the cabinet, toward 
 which the eyes of every preacher and 
 every church are turned, for vast in- 
 terests are at stake, often far reach- 
 ing in their consequences. 
 
 We received many expressions of 
 good will from the preachers and 
 churches of the district at the close 
 of our term, which were very highly 
 prized by us. Following is one which 
 was adopted at the last District Con- 
 ference: 
 
 RESOLUTION. 
 
 Adopted with a unanimous vote by 
 the Dubuque District Conference, at 
 its Eleventh Semi-Annual Session, 
 held at Independence, June 30 to 
 July 2, 1890. 
 
 Whereas, our beloved brother. 
 Rev. H. H. Green, is now closing his 
 sixth year as Presiding Eledr of Du- 
 buque District of the Upper Iowa 
 Conference, therefore. 
 
 Resolved, that we, the members 
 of this Disrtict Conference, take 
 pleasure in bearing testimony to the 
 able and successful manner in which 
 he has administered the work of the 
 district, the uniform christian cour- 
 tesy, impartiality, kindness and zeal 
 that have characterized our brother 
 in private, social and official rela- 
 tions, and if the law of the cnurch 
 permitted, we would gladly have 
 him continue longer in office. 
 
 As by the order of the church his 
 official relations must soon cease, 
 we assure him that he will carry with 
 him our love, our esteem, and our 
 prayers. 
 S. N. Felt.ows Nathaniel Pye 
 
 A. M. MolNTOSH L. L. LOCKARD 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 lo'l 
 
 After my report had been made to 
 the Conference, Dr. J. S. McCord, on 
 behalf of the ministers of the dis- 
 trict, presented me with a gold 
 watch, saying some very touching 
 things, to which I responded as well 
 as I could, for the beautiful gift. 
 
 There happened to be three Dis- 
 trict vacancies that fall, Cedar 
 Rapids and Decorah changing as well 
 as Dubuque. J. B. Albrook was ap- 
 pointed to the Cedar Rapids District 
 and J. H. Rigby to the Dubuque Dis- 
 trict. Several preachers serving 
 charges on the Decorah District had 
 been prominently mentioned in con- 
 nection with that vacancy and as all 
 of them were good, capable men, it 
 was not so easy to make a selection. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon. Bishop 
 Merrill said to me: "Brother Green, 
 do you think you can stand it if I 
 don't settle your appointment until 
 Monday morning; will it interfere 
 with your enjoyment of the Sab- 
 bath?" "Not at all," I replied, "the 
 matter is in your hands and what- 
 ever you do will no doubt be for the 
 best." 
 
 On Monday morning the cabinet 
 was called together for its final ses- 
 sion and the Bishop said to us: 
 "Well, brethren, I have decided to 
 place Brother Green on the Decorah 
 District; let us go to the church." 
 
 The appointments were then read, 
 and I found myself at the head of 
 another district, on which I was des- 
 tined to remain for the next six 
 years. 
 
 The transfer of a Presiding Elder 
 from one district to another without 
 an interval in the pastorate, was 
 something quite unusual in the econ- 
 omy of Methodism at that time. My 
 new appointment, therefore, came as 
 a surprise to most of the preachers. 
 Methodist ministers are among the 
 
 most loyal people in the world, and 
 with the exception of a little hand- 
 ful — -some of whom were themselves 
 aspirants for the office — the action 
 of the Bishop was quite well re- 
 ceived. 
 
 Knowing that we must of neces- 
 sity leave Epworth, our goods were 
 already packed when Conference ad- 
 journed. Nothing remained there- 
 fore, but to charter a car, get our 
 goods on and move to our new field, 
 making our home at Decorah, where 
 I had already rented a house, which 
 we afterward purchased, and occu- 
 pied during my term on the district. 
 
 I discovered in this new field of 
 labor a few places which had never 
 been occupied by Methodism, and a 
 few others where formerly churches 
 flourished, but had been abandoned, 
 for various reasons, chiefly on ac- 
 count of the removal of our people 
 to other sections of the country. In 
 nearly every instance they would sell 
 to foreigners, either German, Bohem- 
 ian or Norwegian, who were not al- 
 ways in sympathy with us. The Ger- 
 mans and Bohemians were generally 
 Roman Catholics and the Norwegians 
 principally Lutherans. Nevertheless, 
 a goodly number of the Norwegians, 
 as well as other Scandinavians, are 
 to be found in our Methodist 
 churches. 
 
 We were not given any missionary 
 money by the Parent Missionary So- 
 ciety, so we were compelled to grap- 
 ple with these problems in our own 
 strength, alone. To me it was a ser- 
 ious matter, and I cast about for 
 ways and means to meet it. As there 
 was at that time no help to be had 
 from the Womans' Home Missionary 
 Society of the church, I resolved to 
 appeal to the women of the district, 
 and enlist their co-operation as far 
 as possible, so I organized what we 
 
160 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 called "The Womans' Christian Com- 
 pact," a new departure, which prov- 
 ed quite successful and elicited much 
 commendation from the authorities 
 of the church. Following is the pact: 
 AGREEMENT. 
 
 We, whose names are hereunto at- 
 tached, do enter into agreement with 
 our sifters of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church, and with all who love 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, under the 
 name of, "THE WOMAN'S CHRIS- 
 TIAN COMPACT OF DECORAH DIS- 
 TRICT," and having for our ouject 
 the furtherance of the gospel within 
 the bounds of the said district, being 
 impressed with the imperative needs 
 of places adjacent to our stations and 
 circuits which are without the gos- 
 pel, and of others where the gospel 
 is not preached in the English l?,n- 
 guage: and still others where flour- 
 ishing Methodist or other protestant 
 churches once existed, but which 
 have been abandoned on account of 
 removals of our English speaking 
 people. We, the women of Decorah 
 District, adopt the following as our 
 motto: "Redeem the Waste Places 
 and Extend the Redeemer's King- 
 dom," and we will each contribute 
 without prejudice to the regular 
 benevolences of the church, not less 
 than one dollar yer year, to be ap- 
 plied: 
 
 First. In the purchase of a large 
 tent which shall be capable of seat- 
 ing at least four hundred people, to 
 be used in the work of Evangeliza- 
 tion in neglected places during the 
 summer months. 
 
 Second. To establish and main- 
 tain regular services in localities 
 where there is now no preaching in 
 the English tongue. 
 
 Third. To re-occupy abandoned 
 fields and put the gospel again before 
 the people. 
 
 Each Local Compact shall select 
 annually at such time and place as 
 may be most convenient, one of its 
 number, who shall act as Custodian 
 of the Funds, and shall receive from 
 the members their contributions, giv- 
 ing her receipt for the same. She 
 shall forward to the Presiding Elder 
 of the district, quarterly, such funds 
 
 as may be in her possession, and his 
 receipt shall be her voucher. She 
 shall also report at each annual 
 meeting the amounts of money re- 
 ceived, who from, and what disposi- 
 tion has been made of it. 
 
 The Presiding Elder of the dis- 
 trict, who shall have general charge 
 of the work, shall direct in the judi- 
 cious expenditure of the funds, but 
 no moneys shall be paid out without 
 the concurrence of the pastors and 
 custodians of the funds on the two 
 charges nearest or most convenient 
 'o the place where it is proposed to ex- 
 Fend the said funds; except such ex- 
 penses as may be incurred for print- 
 ing, stationery, etc., which shall be 
 raid by the Presiding Elder out of 
 any frn-^s in his hands. The Presid- 
 ing Elder shall report annually to 
 each Local Compact, during the 
 month of September of October, giv- 
 ing a full account of the work done, 
 and also of all moneys received and 
 expended. He shall also give his re- 
 ceipt to each pastor before the ses- 
 sion of the Annual Conference for 
 the amount received from the charge. 
 
 By signing this Agreement and 
 paying one dollar per year, you be- 
 come one of us. 
 
 I forwarded a copy of this Agree- 
 ment to Dr. Arthur Edwards, editor 
 of the Northwestern Christian Advo- 
 cate at Chicago, who strongly com- 
 mended it. The "Northwestern" had 
 this to say of it: 
 
 The Forum for February has a 
 suggestive article about "The Farm- 
 er's Changed Condition." The author, 
 who happens to be our personal 
 friend, Mr. Rodney C. Welch of this 
 city, says that New England farmers 
 desert their farms because the latter 
 are no longer remunerative, whereas 
 farmers in Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois 
 and other states move into town be- 
 cause the rent of their farms is 
 enough to support them in towns in 
 which they can the better educate 
 their children. He says that in these 
 states the actual occupants of farms 
 are coming to be, as in parts of 
 Europe, a distinct peasant class, that 
 the English languare is seldom heard 
 outside the large towns, and that in 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 Kil 
 
 the country church services and in- 
 struction in schools are in foreign 
 tongues. It is certain that this testi- 
 mony concerning the inrush of for- 
 eigners is confirmed in some of our 
 Methodist Conferences in the north- 
 west. Rev. H. H. Green, who is in 
 charge of the Decorah District, Upper 
 Iowa Conference, thus alludes to the 
 change now in process: 
 
 The inclosed paper, contains, as I 
 trust, a partial solution of a perplex- 
 ing problem with which we are con- 
 fronted. Methodism in many places 
 is very weak, especially in the river 
 counties. Our people have sold out, 
 and German Lutherans and Roman 
 Catholics have bought in. In several 
 places our churches have been aban- 
 doned, while in others our members 
 are few in numbers and widely scat- 
 tered. These weak places must be 
 strengthened immed'ately or given 
 up. Then, too, some places almost 
 wholly German are asking for the 
 gospel in the English language, and 
 are willing to help support Metho- 
 dist preaching. This demand comes 
 chiefly from the children of foreign- 
 born citizens, who are not in sym- 
 pathy with the religious views and 
 methods of their parents. These 
 young people must be cared for soon, 
 or they will go to the bad and carry 
 our American young people with 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Green incloses a copy of an 
 agreement to which he seeks to at- 
 tach the names of .5 00 women in his 
 district who will pledge a definite 
 sum each, for work to reoccupy waste 
 places of Iowa Methodism. The 
 money will be used to support 
 preaching at points where there are 
 no services in the English tongue, 
 and to purchase a large tent for sum- 
 mer use in neglected places in which 
 worship may be conducted by earn- 
 est men. A tent has already been 
 bought, and there now is seai-ch for 
 just the right man to preach in it. 
 We shall hope for much from this 
 effort in that aggressive district. If 
 we expect to push our mission work 
 in foreign countries in which we 
 sometimes are scarcely welcome, 
 how much more ought we to urge 
 our message among peoples right at 
 our doors. We must not hesitate to 
 
 occupy the beautiful hills of Iowa 
 when we are forming lines of ass:iult 
 on the mountain tops of China 
 and India. We believe in this brave 
 attempt on the banks of the Missis- 
 sippi, and are sure that the whole 
 church will hail the dutiful cam- 
 paign. 
 
 One of the first fruits of this effort 
 was the re-purchase of a church at 
 Fort Atkinson, which had been built 
 by the Methodists of that place, and 
 afterwards sold to the Baptists, who 
 were able to maintain services in it 
 for a few years, but had finally been 
 so weakened by the same cause which 
 had operated against the Methodists, 
 that the church had been closed. 
 There remained a few of our people 
 at the Fort, who had escaped the 
 exodus, among them being a physi- 
 cian named Fallows, a brother of 
 Bishop Fallows of the Reformed 
 Episcopal church, also a Mr. Sum- 
 mers, who owned and operated a 
 hotel there. These gentlemen with 
 their families were about all that 
 were left to us. It was not long 
 after we had obtained possession of 
 the church and had established reg- 
 ular religious services there that Dr. 
 Fallows, much to our regret, moved 
 from the town with his family, 
 which was a great loss to us. The 
 Fort was attached to Calmar circuit, 
 and has remained as one of its ap- 
 pointments to the present time. 
 
 As soon as practical I secured the 
 appointment of the Rev. F. H. Linn, 
 and instituted services at Guttenberg, 
 among a people almost wholly Ger- 
 man. I was told that no sermon had 
 ever been preached in that town in 
 the English language, also that the 
 outcome of my attempt would be 
 very doubtful. Undismayed In the 
 face of discouragement however, Mr. 
 Linn and his wife began their diffi- 
 cult task and prosecuted it in the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 spirit of tile Master. Tliey rented 
 two small rooms in the rear of a 
 saloon building, which they occupied 
 as a temporary home. For a church 
 they secured a long room connected 
 with the same building, which had 
 been used as a dance hall. It was 
 in that hall that I conducted the first 
 Quarterly Meeting ever held in Gut- 
 tenberg. I had suggested before 
 opening the work there that it might 
 be well to secure a preacher who 
 would be able to speak in German as 
 well as in English, but the sugges- 
 tion met with no favor. An Ameri- 
 can physician whose wife was a 
 member of the Congregational 
 church, and our chief support at 
 first, strongly advised against my 
 sending them a German preacher, or 
 conducting services in that language. 
 He said we could only hope for suc- 
 cess among the younger element, and 
 they had all the German they wanted 
 already. They proposed to be Ameri- 
 cans, not Germans, and would at- 
 tend Methodist preaching in the Eng- 
 lish language only, a view which I 
 found to be entirely correct. 
 
 During the second year of Mr. 
 Linn's pastorate an eligible site was 
 secured and a nice little church 
 erected. Rev. Linn was succeeded at 
 the end of his second year by C. A. 
 Parkin, an energetic young man, who 
 had been a clerk in the store of Mar- 
 shall Field in Chicago, but feeling 
 himself called to the ministry, had, 
 through a mutual friend, applied to 
 me for work in Iowa and had come 
 direct from his clerkship. During 
 his pastorate, a parsonage was built 
 on a lot adjoining that on w^hich the 
 church stood, giving us a fairly good 
 hold on Guttenberg, which has been 
 maintained to the present time. 
 
 In the spring of 1893 I was hon- 
 
 ored with the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity, which was conferred upon 
 me by the Iowa Wesleyan University, 
 and the University of the Northwest, 
 now ]\Iorningside College. 
 
 It was during that summer that 
 my wife and I visited the great 
 World's Fair at Chicago, accompan- 
 ied by the Rev. L. N. Green, a 
 preacher on the district and his wife. 
 It was a wonderful show, and was to 
 us a constant delight. A marvelous 
 advance it was over the Crystal 
 Palace I had seen when a boy in 
 London, forty-two years before. 
 Nothing could have more clearly 
 marked the advance the world had 
 made in the arts, sciences, commerce 
 and in all material fields of endeavor 
 than the great exhibition of 1893. 
 Truly we are living in an age of 
 revelations, wherein the most amaz- 
 ing strides succeed each other with 
 bewildering rapidity. The memory 
 of our visit to the Columbian Expo- 
 sition will remain with us, cherished 
 as one of the most delightful experi- 
 ences of our lives. It was there in 
 the Transportation building that I 
 met my cousin, George Green, of 
 whose existence I was ignorant but 
 a month previous. His father, my 
 uncle David had come with his fam- 
 ily to the United States in 1851, and 
 had settled in Ohio. I had not known 
 of this and was of course surprised 
 when I learned of it through an ac- 
 quaintance of both families, a resi- 
 dent of Lyons, who had been visiting 
 some friends in Troy, Ohio, where 
 my cousin was living. George and 
 two of his brothers had been in the 
 army, members of an Ohio regiment. 
 One of them was killed at the battle 
 of Resaca, George had lost a leg in 
 another engagement, and the other 
 returned to Ohio at the close of the 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 l(i3 
 
 war and at the time of the exposi- 
 tion was living at Dayton in that 
 state. 
 
 By this time the members of our 
 family had nearly all departed from 
 under the old roof tree to shift for 
 themselves. Anna was married and 
 was living at Janesville, where her 
 husband was engaged in the drug 
 business. Samuel was at Grand Junc- 
 tion, and Schuyler at Waukon, both 
 of them clerks in drug stores. Iowa 
 and Lucy were in Colorado, and 
 Harry was a student in Upper Iowa 
 University, from which he afterward 
 graduated with honor, leaving only 
 Marion at home. 
 
 On the 24th of October, 1894, our 
 daughter, Iowa, who had returned 
 from Colorado, was married at our 
 home in Decorah, to Mr. Edward 
 Lincoln Jennings, youngest son of 
 Mr. Samuel Jennings of Janesville, 
 Iowa. 
 
 On the 2 5th of May, 189 5, the 
 wedding of our second son, Schuyler, 
 and Miss Maude Hurlburt, daughter 
 of Dr. and Mrs. Celia Hurlburt of 
 Marion, Iowa, was solemnized at the 
 home of Mrs. Hurlburt in that city. 
 The ceremony was conducted by the 
 writer, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Hurl- 
 burt, now pastor of the Delaware 
 avenue Methodist Episcopal church 
 of Buffalo, New York. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 During the winter of 1895, feeling 
 the need of some relaxation from my 
 arduous toil, I spent a few weeks in 
 Florida with my sister, Mrs. Messmer 
 and her husband. I had not been 
 in the south since the close of the 
 war and was therefore unacquainted 
 with the changes that had taken 
 place during the intervening years, 
 except so far as I had learned of 
 them through the papers and from 
 
 people who had some knowledge of 
 them. 
 
 Leaving Decorah with two of my 
 friends, who, like myself, were head- 
 ed for the south, we proceeded to 
 St. Louis, ana from there via Louis- 
 ville and Nashville to Atlanta and to 
 Montgomery, the birthplace of the 
 rebellion. My friends had left the 
 train at Atlanta, so I proceeded alone 
 to Jacksonville, and from there to 
 Cisco, where my relatives had made 
 their home. 
 
 I was heartily welcomed by my 
 sister and her husband, who gave me 
 to understand that I was there to 
 enjoy myself and was to make the 
 most of my sojourn in the south, 
 which I proceeded to do at once. 
 
 The climate was magnificent, flow- 
 ers in bloom on every hand, the air 
 vocal with the songs of birds and 
 the melodies of the negroes. This was 
 summer in mid-winter. Transplaned 
 in just a few hours from the frosts, 
 snows and wintry blasts of the 
 north, where dearth and death were 
 everywhere rife, chilling the very 
 pith "in your body, to the glorious 
 sunshine of that semi-tropic clime, 
 is indeed a grateful migration in the 
 month of February. Also it is an 
 impressive suggestion of that resur- 
 rection, which shall overtake these 
 perishing bodies of ours, when they 
 that are in the grave shall hear His 
 voice and come forth, "Changed and 
 fashioned like unto His own glorious 
 body." 
 
 St. Augustine, touched by the 
 fingers of time, where the old has 
 not yet been supplanted by the new, 
 said to be the oldest city in the 
 United States, is surely a place of 
 antiquities. The site of which Ponce 
 de Leon visited in 1512, in search of 
 the fabled "Fountain of Youth," was 
 permanently settled by Don Pedro 
 
164 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 Menendez de Olles some fifty years 
 later, who with 1,500 followers took 
 possession of the country in the name 
 of his soverign. King Philip II. of 
 Spain. Here stands old Fort Marion, 
 at the present time little more than 
 a mass of ruins. It was at first call- 
 ed by the Spaniards, the Castle of 
 St. Mark, and was upward of one 
 hundred years in construction. Here 
 too, is the old sea wall built of 
 coquina as early as 1690. Yonder 
 may be seen the oldest church in 
 the United States, which had been 
 partly burned just before I saw it, 
 and from the ruins I picked up a 
 large spike of wrought iron, which 
 they told me had been made in Spain 
 over 300 years before, which was 
 doubtless true. I have it yet, though 
 I cannot say that it possesses 
 any saintly qualities, nor do I know 
 that any such claims are made for 
 these ancient relics by the present 
 population of the town. 
 
 The oldest house in the United 
 States stands on a narrow street two 
 blocks west of the river. It was built 
 in 1562. It has been described as a 
 "bit of the sixteenth century carried 
 over into the twentieth. The house 
 was built by French Huguenot im- 
 migrants, who came to a new world 
 to seek religious peace they could 
 not find at home. While they were 
 rearing its walls of sea shells and 
 mortar, Michael Angelo was building 
 the famous dome of St. Peter's in 
 Rome. Back across the Atlantic the 
 forefathers of Washington and Lin- 
 coln were living in England, unmind- 
 ful of the unborn descendants who 
 were to make their name imperish- 
 ably illustrious." 
 
 Passing down the narrowest street 
 in the country and crossing the 
 Matanzas river on the big bridge, we 
 found ourselves on Anastasia Island, 
 
 where, after visiting the government 
 light house, we made our way down 
 to the water and waded out — -not 
 very far — into the Atlantic Ocean, 
 where we gathered shells and things 
 to our hearts content. 
 
 Returning to St. Augustine, we 
 explored the great Ponce de Leon 
 hotel, prying into the numerous 
 places of interest and taking in 
 everything that might appeal to our 
 curiosity. 
 
 By this time it was evening, so my 
 brother-in-law said: "Let us go over 
 to the Alcazar; there is going to be 
 a cake-dance by a lot of negroes, 
 which you will enjoy seeing, I 
 think." The cake-dance was pro- 
 nounced good, and I presume it was. 
 Some of the negroes assumed airs 
 supposed to be befitting a grand duke 
 and his grand duchess, and the most 
 "airy" took the cake. 
 
 Before going south I had been 
 reading in one of the magazines 
 about a trip up the Ockiawaha river 
 made by some tourists from the 
 north, which had interested me and 
 given me a desire to make the same 
 trip, so one day, my brother-in-law, 
 Mr. Joseph Messmer and I went 
 down to Palatka from Cisco, and 
 engaged passage on the steamer 
 Okehumpkee which plied the river 
 at that time. A run of twenty-five 
 miles up the St. John's brings you 
 to the Ockiawaha, which you enter 
 at its mouth and slowly push your 
 way up stream. The water appears 
 black as ink. The river is quite 
 deep and very narrow, in some places 
 only just wide enough for the pas- 
 sage of the boat. It actually rubs 
 the banks on both sides, while the 
 passengers need to be careful lest 
 they are brushed from the deck by 
 the overhanging branches which 
 sweep it from either side. The Ok- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 l(ir> 
 
 ehumpkee is a stern-wheeler, strong- 
 ly built. She has no center-board, 
 and her wheel is protected in such 
 a way as to enable her to ride over 
 logs, branches of trees and whatever 
 other obstructions might be found 
 in the river, without the slightest 
 danger from accident or injury. 
 
 The country adjacent to the river 
 as I saw it was low-lying, mostly 
 covered with timber, with only here 
 and there a few miles of higher hum- 
 mock land. Noticing a stretch of 
 this open country off to our right, I 
 inquired of a native by whose side 
 I was seated, if there was any game 
 in the vicinity. "O, yes, sah," he 
 replied, plenty of game sah, mostly 
 beah and deah, but they don't do 
 much shooting down heah." 
 
 A little further on our boat pulled 
 up at a primitive landing where a 
 few of the crackers were gathered 
 to see us come in. I happened to be 
 seated near the bow of the boat 
 watching an ungainly, sickly homo, 
 a mere boy in appearance, but prob- 
 ably much younger than he looked. 
 His pale, putty face carried a deathly 
 aspect; his mouth was filled with 
 tobacco, from which little yellow riv- 
 ulets were meandering down from 
 its sides, ad libitum ad nauseum; his 
 unkept hair hung about his head, a 
 tangled mass of faded yellow strands 
 jumbled together in confusion looked 
 as though it had never known the 
 use of a brush or a comb, and might 
 have been designed as a covert for 
 ithe uncanny creeping things w^hich 
 are said to inhabit the southern 
 swamp. There he stood, with his 
 feet wide apart and his hands thrust 
 down deep into his trouser pockets, 
 as though he would fain bury them 
 out of sight, his eyes fixed upon us 
 with benumbed, dejected, disappoint- 
 ed, stupifled look, which I have never 
 
 been able to efface from my memory. 
 
 "What is the matter with that fel- 
 low?" said a voice behind me, and 
 turning around I immediately recog- 
 nized Mr. Robert M. La Follette of 
 Wisconsin, at that time a member of 
 congress, and at present United 
 States Senator from the Badger 
 state. 
 
 "Why," I replied, I would think 
 it might be due to malaria and to- 
 bacco. He looks as though he might 
 be the subject of one and a devotee 
 of the other." 
 
 "Yes," he remarked, "it certainly 
 looks like it; life must be a grue- 
 some thing in these swamps; poor 
 fellow, he hasn't much chance here." 
 
 "You are Mr. La Follette, are you 
 not?" I inquired. 
 
 "That's my name. Where have I 
 met you?" he asked. 
 
 Then I told him that I had heard 
 him in a political speech at Manches- 
 ter, Iowa not long before, and called 
 his attention to an interruption that 
 had occurred in the meeting. Uncle 
 Henry Barr, an old fashioned Irish 
 Methodist, (since deceased) who was 
 present was greatly pleased with 
 something Mr. La Follette had said, 
 and in his quick, impulsive way, 
 shouted, "Amen." The speaker, not 
 catching what he said, turned toward 
 the old man with an inquiring ex- 
 pression upon his face and said, 
 "eh?" 
 
 "Oi said Amin," uncle Henry 
 answered with a pleased look. 
 
 "Oh." And the speech was con- 
 tinued as though nothing had occur- 
 red to interrupt it. 
 
 "I remember it quite well," Mr. 
 Lafollette said, "I thought at first it 
 was a democrat who wanted to con- 
 fuse me." 
 
 A few miles further up the river 
 
16() 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 we were given an opportunity to be- 
 come acquainted with thfe postal fa- 
 cilities enjoyed by the residents along 
 the river. As our boat approached a 
 shiall landing, a little stir caused me 
 to look up, when I saw one of the 
 hands tying two or three letters and 
 a paper or two to the end of a long 
 pole all ready for delivery. As we 
 passed without stopping at the land- 
 ing, the pole was swung out over the 
 side of the boat, the mail was seized 
 by a man who was standing ready, 
 and deftly placed another little 
 bunch on the end of the pole in place 
 of that he had removed as we slowly 
 passed by. That was rural delivery 
 in embryo. 
 
 At the head of the Ocklawaha is 
 the magnificent Silver Spring, nine 
 miles long, its water a beautiful 
 blue, and so transparent that you can 
 easily see the fish sporting about at 
 a distance of 80 feet below you. 
 
 The heavy frosts of the preceding 
 winter had practically destroyed the 
 orange groves of the peninsula, 
 which was so severe a blow as to ut- 
 terly ruin tne orange growers in the 
 northern part of the state. These 
 people became so discouraged that 
 many of them left Florida, returning 
 to their old homes, and other parts 
 of the north. There seemed to be 
 little hope for the future; it was like 
 the aggression of the potato bug in 
 Colorado, and the invasion of north- 
 western Iowa by the grasshoppers at 
 an early day. It was disheartening, 
 but only a temporary set-back. The 
 country has long since entirely re- 
 covered and the people are full of 
 hope for the future of their state. 
 
 I returned home by the same route 
 I had taken in going down, and, as 
 it was night when we passed through 
 southern Georgia, I could see noth- 
 ing of the country, but in returning 
 
 we were favored with daylight and 
 the weather being clear and pleas- 
 ant, I had a fine opportunity to see 
 the country, which I improved to the 
 utmost. "Way Down Upon the Suwa- 
 nee River," I hummed over to myself 
 as we crossed a deep and narrow 
 stream, which I was told was the 
 river celebrated in the negro song; 
 but for the life of me I could see 
 nothing in that black sluggish water 
 to inspire a poet or to cause a desire 
 in any breast to return to it after 
 once getting away. The country all 
 through that section was covered 
 with orchards of pear trees, any- 
 where from half an acre to two hun- 
 dred acres or more could be seen on 
 either side of the railroad. Unques- 
 tionably this is the great pear belt 
 of the United States. Of course these 
 orchards are planted and cultivated 
 by negro labor, which, a few years 
 ago, was comparatively inexpensive. 
 I was amused to note the colored 
 children, so numerous all along the 
 railroad, living in little rough wood- 
 en huts or rude cabins raised two 
 or three feet from the ground, to 
 let the air pass under them. These 
 pickanninies, clothed only with a sin- 
 gle garment of colored calico, that 
 failed to cover the knees, would 
 creep out from under the cabins like 
 a litter of little black pigs, or peep 
 around the corner of the she.d, grinr 
 ning at us with eyes and mouths 
 wide open, showing, the whitest of 
 teeth and the merriest .faces, queer 
 little things, from the baby on up to 
 the first born of the family. And 
 what families there were, from the 
 smallest, consisting of not more than 
 two or three, to the largest in view, 
 which were too numerous to count 
 as we raced past on our way to 
 yankee land. Indeed in some in- 
 stances it was almost impossible to 
 say whether you were looking at a 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 107 
 
 private family or a STinday Fchoal 
 picnic, only there were no grown-up 
 people in sight. 
 
 At Waycross there was a gang of 
 negro convicts with chains about 
 their limbs, at work on the road un- 
 der a guard, who saw that they wast- 
 ed no time in idleness. Practically, 
 they were slaves, who, under a sys- 
 tem of peonage, had been hi^'-'d out 
 by their creditors to the city, to do 
 work for the corporation. My sym- 
 pathies were aroused at the sight of 
 these men, who, in a boasted land 
 of freedom, were still wearing the 
 shackles of bondage according to 
 law. But as we were unable to 
 change these conditions, we passed 
 on and in due time arrived at Nash- 
 ville, where I left the main line and 
 proceded on my way to Clarksville, 
 spending a night in that city. Upon 
 inquiry, I was told that on the fol- 
 lowing day a steamer would leave 
 Clarksville for down river, so I en- 
 gaged passage for Dover, which, af- 
 ter a delightful run I reached in the 
 early evening. 
 
 My purpose in making this diver- 
 sion was to look over the old battle- 
 field of Fort Donelson, which was 
 close by Dover. So, upon landing I 
 proceded at once to an old hotel near 
 the river, determined to enjoy a 
 day or two at that historic place 
 which held so deep an interest for 
 me. At Clarksville I had obtained 
 a letter of introduction to a Dr. 
 Steger of Dover, whom I met soon 
 after reaching there. I found in the 
 doctor a very pleasant gentleman, 
 who took special pains to make 
 things pleasant for me. 
 
 The first time I went to the table 
 at the hotel, the proprietor, whose 
 father was managing it at the time 
 of the battle, said to me; "Now I 
 will seat you at the exact spot where 
 
 General Grant sat when he received 
 from General Buckner the surrender 
 of Fort Donelson." 
 
 "Thank you; you are very kind," 
 I replied, "and now I will surrender 
 myself to these good things you have 
 set before me, which I am sure must 
 be far more palatable than those 
 upon which Grant and Buckner fed 
 when they were here." 
 
 Reference to this visit to the old 
 battlefield, which I copy from the 
 Decorah Republican, contains all 
 that need be said touching the mat- 
 ter of that visit: 
 
 "When Dr. Green returned home, 
 in referring to his visit to the Don- 
 elson battlefield, he spoke in the 
 warmest terms of the unexpected 
 kindness and courtesy of a gentle- 
 man named Steger, the editor of the 
 local paper. This gentleman was a 
 surgeon in the rebel army, and to- 
 gether Dr. Green and he rambled 
 over the field and picked out the 
 spots where the battle raged the hot- 
 est. In speaking of Mr. Steger's cour- 
 tesy he remarks that a brother could 
 not have been more kind or more 
 hospitable. Not only was he in the 
 rebel army, but he has remained on 
 the spot, and the Elder regards it 
 great good fortune that he fell into 
 the hands of so competent a guide. 
 
 Now comes a copy of the Stewart' 
 Courier, published at Dover, by Dr. 
 Steeer, which says this of his visit: 
 
 "We had the pleasure last week 
 of forming the acquaintance of Capt. 
 H. H. Green of Decorah, Iowa, an old 
 federal veteran, who, for the first 
 time since the battle of Fort Donel- 
 son, visited this old battleground, 
 an-l even after the lapse of time and 
 changes consenuent thereto, he rec- 
 oa:nized the point at which he charg- 
 ed through the Confederate lines 
 with his regiment. We believe it 
 was the 2nd Iowa — (Col. Tuttle of 
 this regiment, and others), who 
 drove Col. Hansen and his brave 
 Kentuckians from the entrenchment 
 on the extreme right of the Rebel 
 line. Gen. Buckner was away with 
 all of his command, except three 
 regiments. which were in the 
 
168 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 trenches from Indian to Hickman 
 creeks, a distance of a mile and a 
 half. Where Col. Hansen was, the 
 earth works are detached — leaving 
 in some places along the line a dis- 
 tance of a hundred feet. 
 
 The Captain at the time of the 
 battle was a sergeant in his com- 
 pany and afterwards was promoted 
 to the captaincy, and since the war 
 to the position of Presiding Elder in 
 the M. E. church. 
 
 We obtained several nice hickory 
 walking sticks on the battlefield, and 
 visited the water battery, getting up 
 at various places, souvenirs of this 
 historic conflict. He told us of a 
 funny incident that happened while 
 the battle was hottest. After getting 
 through the Rebel lines his company 
 fell back from an exposed position 
 and he undertook to assist a wound- 
 ed comrade. It soon became uncom- 
 fortable, and in double-quickening 
 back to his company, he got under 
 such a headway, that he failed to 
 halt in line and passed on to the 
 rear. There, after becoming a 
 little composed, he examined himself 
 and found he had nine bullet holes 
 through his clothes, one of which 
 was through his cap. Several of his 
 comrades rest in our cemetery. We 
 find brother Green quite companion- 
 able indeed, and hope he will renew 
 his visit. We know of but one man 
 we would not show like courtesy, 
 and that is Commander W^alker.' 
 
 The comrade referred to in this 
 incident was hit a second time and 
 killed by a bullet in the brain while 
 in the arms oi Dr. G. He abandoned 
 him only after seeing the second 
 wound, which had cut the sleeve of 
 Dr. Green's coat, was a fatal one. 
 Then the Elder admits he did run 
 as he never ran before." 
 
 At the expiration of my term of 
 service as Presiding Elder of Decorah 
 District, I was appointed pastor at 
 Iowa Falls. It was not an unwel- 
 come change, for after twelve con- 
 secutive years in district work I be- 
 gan to feel the need of a rest from 
 the strain which it imposed, espe- 
 cially as Decorah District during 
 those years had been very difficult 
 
 to serve, owing to the want of facil- 
 ities for reaching many points which 
 were distant from the railroad. 
 
 We were kindly received by the 
 people at Iowa Falls, who from the 
 first made us feel that we had fallen 
 amcng friends. I felt quite a little 
 timidity over the prospect of resum- 
 ing the work of a pastor, having 
 been out of it so long, but this feel- 
 ing soon wore off, due, I am sure, to 
 the help given by the preacher's wife 
 who cheerfully assumed many bur- 
 dens, which in the past she had been 
 unable to do on account of the caroo 
 of the family. She was to me a tower 
 of strength and a helpmeet indeed. 
 I really do not know what I would 
 have done without her when it came 
 to calling upon the people, and vis- 
 iting them at their homes. I used 
 to think she was sometimes over- 
 doing it, for she would drag me out 
 every afternoon, rain or shine and 
 would listen to no excuses, however 
 urgently I might plead to be let off 
 for just one day. I had to go wheth- 
 er or no, nor did it take long to 
 find out that she had the sympathies 
 of the people, who seemed to enjoy 
 her calls, and who made much of her 
 in many ways. It is no wonder, 
 therefore, that she became very pop- 
 ular, and was the means of accomp- 
 lishing much good. 
 
 It was during our second year at 
 Iowa Falls, that the marriage of our 
 daughter, Lucy, and also of our son, 
 Harry, were celebrated. Lucy, who 
 had remained in Colorado, returned 
 to Iowa during the summer of 1898, 
 for a brief stay, and on July 7th of 
 that year she was married at the 
 parsonage, to Mr. Guy V. Johnson, a 
 merchant of Evanston, Wyoming, a 
 gentleman well known for his many 
 generous qualities. 
 
 Harry, who, after leaving the Uni- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 Ki 
 
 verslty at Fayette, had purchased a 
 half interest in the Public Opinion, 
 a newspaper which had just been 
 established at Decorah, was married 
 August ijrd, to Miss Alice A. Tracy, 
 at the home of her parents in De- 
 corah. We all attended the wedding, 
 and I performed the ceremony as- 
 sisted by the Rev. A. Lincoln Shute 
 of Chicago, uncle of the bride. As 
 a parent interested in the career of 
 his children, it will not be improper 
 for me to add, in this connection, 
 that the Public Opinion, of which 
 Harry has for several years been 
 the sole owner and publisher, has 
 become one of the leading papers of 
 northeastern Iowa, and ranks well 
 up among the newspaper fraternity. 
 
 Among the many friendships form- 
 ed at Iowa Falls, I cannot refrain 
 from mentioning Dr. 'SI. H. Hill, Mr. 
 S. P. Smith, Mr. T. F. Rigg, Mrs. 
 Clark and their families, w^ho with 
 many others w^e shall have occasion 
 to remember as long as we live. 
 
 Judge S. M. Weaver, now Chief 
 .Justice of the Supreme Court, with 
 whom I became acquainted while a 
 member of the legislature, was our 
 Sunday School Superintendent 
 
 In the autumn of 1898, I was ap- 
 pointed for the second time to the 
 Presiding Eldership of Dubuque Dis- 
 trict, which for some reasons, was 
 a gratification to the family. Mov- 
 ing to Dubuque immediately after 
 the adjournment of Conference, we 
 soon became closely associated with 
 the Rev. Dr. William A. Shanklin, 
 pastor of St. Luke's church, who, 
 with Mrs.- Shanklin, has ever remain- 
 ed among our most loved and valued 
 friends. 
 
 Our youngest son, Marion, who 
 had entered the seminary at Ep- 
 worth, when we moved to Dubuque, 
 soon developed an unusual talent 
 
 for vocal music, which in a short 
 time became so absorbing as to dom- 
 inate hi, being and life. As soon as 
 we made this discovery he was re- 
 c?:lled from the seminary and placed 
 with Prof. W. H. Pontius, one of 
 the most accomplished instructors in 
 vocal music in the United States, 
 where he immediately gave promise 
 of that remarkable ability which has 
 since rcade his name known all over 
 the country, as one of the greatest 
 basso cantantas before the public. 
 
 The district parsonage at Epworth 
 having been disposed of, we made 
 our headquarters at Dubuque, which 
 was much more convenient for us in 
 every way. 
 
 Nothing out of the ordinary course 
 of events occurred during those six 
 years at Dubuque. No less than 
 twelve of the preachers who had 
 been with me before at different 
 times, had been appointed to charges 
 on the district, so that I was not 
 only familiar with the churches, but 
 was also acquainted with the preach- 
 ers and their families. There was 
 one, however, whose absence I keen- 
 ly felt because he had been with me 
 during the entire period of my two 
 previous terms as Presiding Elder: 
 the Rev. E. J. Lockwood, D. D., who 
 began his ministry as pastor at May- 
 nard, went from there to Edgewood, 
 thence to Postville, and from that 
 church to Osage, where he remained 
 until 189 6, when, at the close of my 
 term on the Decorah District, he was 
 appointed to Cedar Falls, where he 
 made a fine success. In the fall of 
 1898, he was transferred to St. 
 Paul's church- at Cedar Rapids, 
 where he still remains as pastor. 
 
 The Rev. R. F. Hurlburt, D. D., 
 to whom I have referred in another 
 place, also began his ministry in the 
 Upper Iowa Conference. After grad- 
 
170 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 uating at the Boston Theological 
 school, I secured him for the pas- 
 torate at Epworth, during my first 
 term on the district. He served the 
 church with marked ability and also 
 a portion of the time as Principal 
 of Epworth Seminary, filling a va- 
 cancy caused by the resignation of 
 the principal. Dr. Hurlburt, after 
 filling some of the prominent pulpits 
 in the west, was called to a pastor- 
 ate in Buffalo, New York, where he 
 has distinguished himself as one of 
 the finest pulpit orators in the east. 
 
 But to mention by name the breth- 
 ren whose friendships we have high- 
 ly prized would include so large a 
 list of preachers, extending from the 
 time of our entering the ministry to 
 the present, that I can only name a 
 few with whom we have been the 
 more intimately associated in recent 
 years: Doctors J. W. Bissell, T. E. 
 Flemming, J. C. Magee, .J. B. Al- 
 brook, W. F. Pitner and C. H. Tay- 
 lor, among the Presiding Elders, 
 with some of whom I sat in the cab- 
 inet for several years. Also J. S. 
 McCord, H. O. Pratt, L. L. Lockard, 
 B. D. Smith, F. P. Cassidy, A. M. 
 Mcintosh, B. W. Soper, John Gam- 
 mons and many others who are held 
 in loving remembrance. 
 
 Wilson S. Lewis, who became 
 Principal of Epworth Seminary dur- 
 ing my first term on Dubuque Dis- 
 trict, afterward President of Morn- 
 ingside College, and elected a Bishop 
 at the General Conference at Balti- 
 more in 1908, has been, from our 
 first acQuaintance with him. a very 
 dear friend. 
 
 Dr. H. D. Atchison, who succeeded 
 Dr. Shanklin in the pastorate of St. 
 Luke's church, and Mrs. Atchison, 
 we shall continue to remember for 
 their many beautiful traits of char- 
 acter, as well as their kindnesses to 
 
 us personally. The services at St. 
 Luke's church were always attrac- 
 tive, and the superior sermons 
 preached by the pastors, as well as 
 the high class music rendered by the 
 great choir, mu.ch of the time one of 
 the finest in the country, never failed 
 to delight the large audiences which 
 usually filled the church. 
 
 In the fall of 1899 I was elected 
 a delegate to the General Conference, 
 which met the ensuing spring in 
 Chicago, holding its sessions at the 
 auditorium. In the assignment of 
 committees I was given Itinerancy 
 and Book Concern, both of which ap- 
 pointments pleased me for I wanted 
 to bring some things to the atten- 
 tion of each of them. 
 
 1 engaged a room at the Auditor- 
 ium, and, while It was expensive, it 
 gave me an opportunity to mingle 
 with the leading members of the 
 body, among whom were some of the 
 most prominent men of the country, 
 both in church and state; I felt that 
 this was due to my conference as 
 well as myself. With the exception 
 of two or three afternoons I gave 
 my entire time to the work of the 
 General Conference, taking some 
 part in its deliberations. 
 
 The Upper Iowa Conference had 
 memorialized the superior body 
 touching the matter of supernumer- 
 ary preachers. Up to the year 1900 
 it was permissable for a preacher to 
 be placed on that list — which is a 
 provision intended for the relief of 
 temporarily disabled preachers — and 
 be continued there from year to year, 
 at the option of the conference of 
 which he was a member. Under this 
 provision there had been instances 
 where preachers had engaged in sec- 
 ular work for years, while still hold- 
 ing the relation of supernumerary 
 preacher in an Annual Conference. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 171 
 
 The Memorial asked that the law 
 of the church be changed so as to 
 permit a preacher to hold this rela- 
 tion for only five consecutive years, 
 when he should be required to be- 
 come effective, which is the technical 
 term for active service: or superan- 
 nuate, which means permanent re- 
 tirement, or withdraw from the Con- 
 ference. At my request the :\Ienior- 
 ial was sent to the Committee on 
 Itinerancy, where it was placed in 
 the hands of a sub-committee, be- 
 fore which I appeared and explained 
 more fully the purpose of the Me- 
 morial, after which it was reported 
 to the full committee and recom- 
 mended, to the General Conference 
 for passage. In due time it was 
 reported from committee, adopted 
 and incorporated into the Discipline 
 as one of the laws of the church. 
 
 There can be no question as to the 
 wisdom of this action, for it serves 
 a good purpose in checking some 
 abuses which have crept into the 
 conferences. In the earlier years of 
 our history it frequently became 
 necessary for the preachers who had 
 been assigned to the weaker charges, 
 to ask for the supernumeracy rela- 
 tion for a year or two, that thev 
 might have opportunity to earn 
 something in some secular employ- 
 ment for the support of their fam- 
 ilies, and for the payment of debts, 
 v;hich had accumulated by reason 
 of the inadequate salaries paid them. 
 The preachers themselves were in no 
 wise to blame for the meagreness 
 of these "allowances," nor should 
 the people be censured, for generally 
 speaking, they were poor themselves 
 and had little to spare. But the 
 temptation to continue as a super- 
 numerary, extending the relation in- 
 definitely in some instances became 
 so great as to seriously impair the 
 
 efficiencv of the work in some of 
 the newer conferences, where al- 
 ways great sacrifices are demanded 
 on the part of both preachers and 
 people. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 I had been deeply impressed in 
 my visits among the churches by 
 what I had believed to be an urgent 
 need for a new hymnal, which would 
 meet the call of the times in the 
 smaller churches and country con- 
 gregations. The Hymn and Tune 
 book had been in use for nearly 
 thirty years, and while it was un- 
 questionably the best that had ever 
 been compiled by any church, and 
 was so rated among competent 
 judges, it had, nevertheless, outlived 
 its greatest usefulness in the small- 
 er churches, especially in the west, 
 and had been supplanted in many 
 of these churches by the cheap pro- 
 ducts of mere rhymesters, which had 
 become an offense to the more culti- 
 vated minds in our congregations, 
 who had found it very hard to endure • 
 them. 
 
 The Decorah District Conference, 
 which held its spring session a few 
 days prior to the assembling of the 
 General Conference, had, at my re- 
 quest, passed some strong resolu- 
 tions favoring a new Hymnal. These 
 resolutions I presented to the Gen- 
 eral Conference, and on my motion 
 they were referred to the Committee 
 on Book Concern. Shortly afterward 
 several other papers touching the 
 same subject were sent in from diff- 
 erent sections of the country, some 
 of which were referred to the Com- 
 mittee on State of the Church. 
 
 When Upper Iowa was reached on 
 the call of Conferences, I presented 
 a resolution calling for a new hym- 
 nal, and moved that it, and all other 
 
172 
 
 THE SI.MPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 papers upon that subject be refer- 
 red to the Committee on Book Con- 
 cern, which, after some discussion, 
 was agreed to. All papers having 
 reference to the Hymnal were placed 
 in the hands of a sub-committee, of 
 which I had been appointed chair- 
 man, and that committee, after faith- 
 fully considering the matter, formu- 
 lated a report which was agreed to 
 by the full Committee on Book Con- 
 cern, and was reported through the 
 chairman. Governor L. M. Shaw, and 
 adopted by the General Conference 
 with almost no opposition. 
 
 The Board of Bishops was author- 
 ized to appoint a committee to carry 
 out the action of the General Con- 
 ference, which, in due time was 
 done, not, however, in the manner 
 intended by that body. Evidently the 
 gentlemen appointed to prepare the 
 new Hymnal misapprehended the de- 
 sign of the General Conference, for, 
 instead of giving the church a Hym- 
 nal containing three or four hun- 
 dred hymns, available for use in the 
 smaller churches, Sunday schools, 
 prayer meetings, etc., and which it 
 was hoped, would drive out the 
 cheap trash which had for years been 
 flooding the church to its hurt, the 
 appointees of the Bishops, acting in 
 conjunction with a similar commit- 
 tee from the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, Sout.., entirely ignored the 
 great need of the church in the 
 country districts, and in the face of 
 repeated statements from gentlemen 
 well acquainted with the intention 
 of the General Conference, projected 
 upon the church a book, which, 
 though of undoubted quality, was 
 not what had been asked for, and 
 was, therefore, something of a dis- 
 appointment to all our people who 
 were alive to the pernicious influence 
 of much of what for years had been 
 
 supplanting the best hymns of the 
 great religious poets of our own and 
 other churches. 
 
 This feeling was strongly enunci- 
 ated by Dr. J. M. Buckley, editor of 
 the Christian Advocate, in private 
 correspondence, and also through 
 the columns of his paper. I had had 
 some correspondence with promin- 
 ent men in the east, who, when it 
 leaked out what the probable action 
 of the revi.-al committee would be, 
 had written me, inquiring what was 
 in the minds of those members of 
 the General Conference who had 
 been actively engaged in pushing for 
 a new hymnal. To all of these gen- 
 tlemen I replied, answering their in- 
 quiries to the best of my ability, 
 finding at the same time, from their 
 letters, that they had understood the 
 purpose of the General Conference 
 to be as I had written them. 
 
 The foregoing with what follows 
 from Dr. Buckley will be quite 
 enough to show what was in the 
 minds of those chiefly interested in 
 the matter which I have deemed to 
 be of sufficient importance to be 
 given so much prominence in these 
 recollections: 
 
 In April, 1902, an editorial on the 
 new Hymnal appeared in the Chris- 
 tian Advocate of New York, in which 
 a delegate from Wisconsin was given 
 the credit of having introduced the 
 matter in the General Conference. 
 This article had caught the atten- 
 tion of the Rev. E. V. Claypool of 
 Waverly, Iowa, who, unknown to me 
 had written Dr. Buckley, calling his 
 attention to the error contained in 
 the editorial. Replying to Dr. Clay- 
 pool, Dr. Buckley gave this explana- 
 tion: 
 
 New York, April 22, 1902. 
 My dear Brother: 
 
 When T prepared my editorial I 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 IT.J 
 
 went through the Journal by the 
 index. The index was incomplete, 
 so far as I can find. You are slight- 
 ly in error in saying that Dr. Green 
 introduced his motion two days be- 
 fore. The Hart motion was intro- 
 duced on the morning of May 10th, 
 and the Green motion on the morn- 
 ing of May 9th; but it was introduc- 
 ed, though not indexed correctly. An 
 attempt was undoubtedly made to 
 index it, for the index calls for 
 something relating to the Hymnal 
 and locates it on page 184, whereas 
 it should have been page 188. The 
 index does not give under "Hymnal" 
 what the matter was, but simply 
 says "Hymnal." It is a pleasure to 
 me now to have made the mistake, 
 for Dr. Green made a most excel- 
 lent speech on the subject, which I 
 shall publish in full, e-pecially as it 
 supports, as you say, the view that 
 I take. Yours truly, 
 
 J. M. BUCKLEY. 
 
 A few days subsequent to the re- 
 ceipt of this letter by Dr. Claypool, 
 the Christian Advocate contained the 
 following editorial: 
 
 "In the recent editorial in this 
 paper on "What Was Our Hymnal 
 Committee Appointed to Do?" there 
 was an error for which we are hardly 
 responsible. Our history of the dis- 
 cussion in the General Conference 
 assumed that the first resolution on 
 the subject was presented by the 
 Rev. Frank L. Hart on May 10, and 
 we affirmed that subsequently on the 
 same day, later in the session, the 
 Rev. H. H. Green, D. D., of the 
 Upper Iowa Conference, presented a 
 memorial relative to the Hymnal 
 which was referred to the Committee 
 on the Book Concern. In tracing the 
 discussion we referred to the index 
 of the "Journal," which gives the 
 order without stating the phase 
 treated, as follows: "Hymnal, new, 
 184, 204." On page 184 there is no 
 reference whatever to the Hymnal, 
 and after looking at two or three of 
 the preceding and foiiowing pages 
 
 we concluded that there had been a 
 mistake in indexing. Dr. Green's 
 resolution was presented later in the 
 session of May 9, and should have 
 been indexed under page ISS; but 
 no reference whatever is made to it 
 in the index. 
 
 We are not sorry for the error, for 
 the resolutions and speeches of Dr. 
 Green are of such a nature as to 
 show conclvsively what was meant. 
 It appears that one or two memorials 
 relating in some way to the Hymnal 
 had been passed to the secretary on 
 May 5, and referred to the Commit- 
 tee on the State of the Church. There 
 had been one or two others relatTng 
 to the Flymnal passed to the secre- 
 tary, and one at least had been re- 
 ferred to the Committee on the Book 
 Concern. This is the acco-nt of the 
 'proceedings as contained in "The 
 Daily Advocate:" 
 
 H. H. Green, Upper Iowa: "I have 
 a paper to present which the secre- 
 tary will please read. 
 
 " ' Whereas, It is thought by many 
 that the Hymnal now in use does not 
 meet the present wants of the church 
 in some important particulars; there- 
 fore, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the Committee 
 on the Book Concern be instructed to 
 inquire into the expediency of having 
 prepared a new hymn book in which 
 the defects (if there are any) in the 
 book now being used may be reme- 
 died. 
 
 " 'H. H. Green, 
 L. M. Shaw, 
 J. C. Magee.' " 
 J. W. Van Cleve: "I think that 
 that subject has been referred to a 
 committee and a subcommittee ap- 
 pointed on it, and it ought to go to 
 that committee." 
 
 The Bishop: "Is the statement of 
 Dr. Van Cleve, that it has been re- 
 ferred, correct?" 
 
 W. F. Corkran: "This subject has 
 been referred to a committee, and it 
 is now before the sub-committee. It 
 is before the sub-committee on gen- 
 eral reference, appointed by the 
 Book Concern Committee." 
 
 H. H. Green: "It is not the design 
 of this resolution to do away with 
 the present Hymnal. That would be 
 a calamity. 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 "It is the best book that has ever 
 been compiled, and we have no 
 thought of doing away with it. 
 
 ••The purpose of this resolution is 
 to provide for some defects. The 
 Hymnal now in use is the best we 
 can get for the larger churches, but 
 the deficiency exists in the fact that 
 the words and the music are separat- 
 ed from each other. :My thought is 
 to provide a Hymnal that shall elim- 
 inate the larger number of hymns 
 trom the present book, and publish 
 another in which there shall be about 
 three hundred hymns, which certain- 
 ly is all that is being sung in the 
 churches at the present time, and 
 that the words and the music shall 
 be placed together so that the rising 
 generation shall sing the hymns. At 
 the present time they are not being 
 sung in the smaller churches nor in 
 our country congregations. The sci- 
 ence of music is being taught in our 
 public schools, and a generation of 
 young people is coming on that de- 
 mands that we shall have a book in 
 which they can read the notes and 
 sing these hymns. It is for this pur- 
 pose that I wanted this resolution 
 referred. Our Conference has been 
 passed by, as you know, for three or 
 four days, and this resolution has 
 been delayed for that reason. I beg 
 that it may go to the committee, in 
 order that they may inquire espe- 
 cially into the cost of such a Hymnal 
 as I have been speaking of." 
 
 The Bishop: "The motion is to 
 refer the paper to the Committee on 
 Book Concern." 
 
 E. J. Gray: "We have a Commit- 
 tee on State of the Church, and they 
 are considering that question, and I 
 move that this paper be referred to 
 the Committee on the State of the 
 Church." 
 
 The Bishop put the motion made 
 by H. H. Green, that it be referred 
 to the Committee on the Book Con- 
 cern, and it prevailed. 
 
 Dr. Green was himself a member 
 of the Committee on the Book Con- 
 cern. It will be seen that this com- 
 mittee reported in exact accordance 
 with the speech with which he ac- 
 companied his original resolution. 
 
 It will also be noticed that Gover- 
 nor Shaw, the Chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on the Book Concern, who re- 
 
 ported the final action to the Gen- 
 eral Conference, was one of the sign- 
 ers of the original resolution pre- 
 sented by H. H. Green. 
 
 There is no ground for supposing 
 that the General Conference propos- 
 ed the compilation of a general 
 Hymnal to displace the present offi- 
 cial Hymnal." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 As 1 have already indicated in a 
 preceding chapter the way had been 
 prepared for two important changes 
 in the personel of the General Con- 
 ference. One of these was the ad- 
 mission of women to a seat in the 
 body, the other was an enlarged rep- 
 resentation of the Laity. 
 
 A majority of the members of the 
 Annual Conferences had voted favor- 
 ably on both propositions, so that it 
 only required a vote of two-thirds of 
 the members of the General Con- 
 ference to consummate these changes. 
 
 This was done as early in the ses- 
 sion as practicable and for the first 
 time in the history of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church, a woman took her 
 seat in its law making body, amid 
 great cheering. At the same time an 
 equal number of laymen were seated 
 from each Annual Conference with 
 their brethren in the ministry. It 
 was a great Conference, containing 
 some of the most prominent men in 
 the church from all parts of the 
 world. There were also present fra- 
 ternal delegates representing aearly 
 all the great christian bodies in the 
 world. 
 
 It may weL be believed, therefore, 
 that it was with fear and trembling, 
 I made my way to the platform to 
 plead for a new hymnal; never had 
 I stood before such an audience, and 
 here I will venture to say that in 
 the United States of America, no 
 more eminent body, all things con- 
 sidered, ever assembles, than a Gen- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 175 
 
 eral Conference of the Methodist 
 Episcopal church. However, I was 
 told afterwaid by some of my friends 
 seated in the rear of the great build- 
 ing, that they could hear everything 
 I said, and that I had done very well 
 indeed, which, partial though their 
 words may have been, certainly 
 calmed my troubled breast. 
 
 In addition to the work already 
 referred to, that General Conference 
 made several other important 
 changes, among which was the re- 
 moval of the "time limit," which 
 hitherto had restricted the pastorate 
 to a limited term of serv'ce on each 
 charge. The action of the General 
 Conference of 1900 enables preach- 
 ers to remain as pastors of the same 
 church, year after year, as long as 
 things are mutually satisfactory, and 
 the general interests of the churches 
 do not suffer. It is true, efforts have 
 been made to induce a return to the 
 old rule, but they have not met with 
 much encouragement, nor is there a 
 probability that they ever will, for 
 the present arrangement appears to 
 work quite well. 
 
 My associates on the delegation 
 from the Upper Iowa Conference 
 were all men of ability, well known 
 to the church which they had long 
 served with distinction. The min- 
 isters were H. O. Pratt, formerly a 
 member of Congress; Homer C. 
 Stuntz, now one of the secretaries of 
 the Missionary Society; .J. C. Magee 
 and J. B. Albrook, for many years 
 Presiding Elders and S. C. Bronson, 
 professor in Garrett Biblical Insti- 
 tute. The laymen were A. E. 
 Swisher, J. F. Merry, T. B. Taylor, 
 .7. J. Clark, W. F. Johnston and D. 
 B. Snyder, with all of whom, except- 
 ing Mr. Clark, I had formerly been 
 more or less intimately associated. 
 
 Capt. John F. Merry, Assistant 
 
 General Passenger Agent of the Il- 
 linois Central railroad, who was a 
 resident of Dubuque, was my col- 
 league on the Book Concern Com- 
 mittee, where he rendered the church 
 excellent service and was highly 
 esteemed by his brethren. 
 
 After the adjournment I returned 
 to Dubuque and immediately resum- 
 ed my work on the district. 
 
 An incident at the close of the ser- 
 vice at one of the churches on a Sun- 
 day afternoon caused not a little 
 amusement. I had just stepped down 
 from the pulpit, when a fine looking, 
 middle aged man approached me, 
 offering polite, though" rather effu- 
 sive congratulations on the way the 
 service had been conducted, saying 
 some very pleasant things about it. 
 He had no sooner turned away, how- 
 ever, than a loyal friend of mine 
 stepped up, and in an earnest, con- 
 fidential way said: "You must not 
 pay any attention to what he says; 
 he isn't right in his head." His 
 daughter, who happened to be stand- 
 ing near us and had heard what the 
 other man had said, was quite put 
 out at what she considered her fath- 
 er's mistake. "Why, Pa," she said, 
 "he was saying some very nice and 
 polite things to Mr. Green about the 
 services, and here you are going to 
 spoil it all." And then we all had 
 a good hearty laugh over the inci- 
 dent, from which apparently nothing 
 harmful resulted. 
 
 The life of most ministers who 
 have been long in the service is re- 
 plete with incidents, both humorous 
 and pathetic, all of which have 
 their places and doubtless serve 
 some wise purpose, for it is hard to 
 believe that any of the events of our 
 lives are altogether purposeless. I 
 recall at this moment one of those 
 aft'ecting things which occurred dur- 
 
17(1 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 ing the earlier years of my minis- 
 try; a lady, a member of a sister 
 church, who was the mother of two 
 beautiful little girls came to our 
 house one day and with tears 
 streaming down her face begged me 
 to interest myself in her husband, 
 who had taken to drinking. The 
 habit had so fastened itself upon 
 him that its baleful effects were al- 
 ready visible, and she feared it 
 would not be long before he would 
 become a helpless victim to its de- 
 stroying power. They were well-to- 
 do people; the husband was one of 
 the prominent business men of the 
 town and the' wife was highly es- 
 teemed in the social and religious 
 circles of the place. It was no won- 
 der, therefore, that the poor woman 
 was crushed under the blighting 
 curse which had fallen upon them. 
 "O, Mr. Green," she said, "is there 
 not something you can do to save 
 my husband?, he likes you and I 
 feel sure you can help him." 
 
 "You may depend upon it, I will 
 do everything in my power to help 
 him," I replied, "I will see him at 
 once." 
 
 I immediately went over to his 
 place of business and began a social 
 chat with him on the news of the 
 day, but carefully avoided any ref- 
 erence to the subject nearest my 
 heart. These calls were continued 
 for several days and were pleasant 
 occasions to both of us. Finally I 
 carefully broached the subject which 
 was uppermost in my mind, and, 
 knowing him to be sensitive touch- 
 ing things of so personal a nature, 
 as is only natural to all of us, I 
 cautiously felt my way to his heart, 
 encouraged to find in him a ready 
 and acquiescent listener. It was 
 much easier than I had feared it 
 would be. I talked with him about 
 
 his devoted wife and the two beau- 
 tiful little girls, about the fine rec- 
 ord he had made while in the army, 
 also his success in business and the 
 prospects before him, and then I 
 tried to make clear to him the awful 
 consequences of a blasted life upon 
 his lamily as well as himself. When 
 I ceased speaking he was crying like 
 a child; he was much affected and 
 spoke in very tender words of his 
 wife and children. Then I said: 
 
 •'Tom, I have a proposition to 
 make you; I don't know how it will 
 strike you, but as an old comrade 
 and a friend I am going to take the 
 liberty to state it. My proposal is 
 that you draw up a paper pledging 
 both of us to abstain from the use 
 of liquor for one year, what do you 
 say." After pondering over it for 
 some little time he said, with a 
 look of determination on his face: 
 
 "Mr. Green, I will do it, and God 
 lielping me I will keep it. You can 
 draw up the paper right here and 
 now, and we will both sign it." 
 
 This was promptly done and the 
 paper was carefully laid away in his 
 safe. I then went out and told a 
 few of his friends what we had done, 
 and requested them to drop into his 
 place of business occasionally and 
 have a chat with him, carefully 
 avoiding any reference to the drink 
 habit in a general way. I called in 
 every few days at first and did what 
 I could to brace him up. The re- 
 sult was all we had hoped for, he 
 kept his promise. His business 
 prospered and his family was made 
 happy once more. 
 
 Toward the close of my term on 
 the district I was holding a quarter- 
 ly meeting in one of the country 
 churches, where the congregation 
 was composed almost exclusively of 
 Irish people or their immediate de- 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 177 
 
 scendants. They were a thoroughly 
 reliable folk, honest, industrious, 
 prosperous and faithful to all the 
 interests of the church, but some of 
 them had their own ideas about a 
 few things, which were not always 
 in accord with the customs of the 
 preachers, and whenever this was 
 the case a mild eruption would be 
 sure to occur when they came to- 
 gether, and when it was over with 
 the preachers generally found that 
 they had been in collision with a 
 snag and had gotten the worst of it. 
 On the occasion referred to, the 
 pastor, who was conducting a love 
 feast, innocently ran against one of 
 those snags which stopped him with 
 a suddenness that quite staggered 
 him. He had announced the open- 
 ing hymn, and then thinking to 
 recognize and honor one of the 
 faithful old servants of the church, 
 he said: 
 
 "After we have sung this hymn I 
 will ask Brother R. to lead us in 
 prayer." 
 
 Brother R., an old gentleman who 
 was quite deaf, was seated just in 
 front of the pulpit, and v/ith his 
 hand to his ear was listening in- 
 tently to what was being said. He 
 failed to catch all the words of the 
 pastor, however, hearing only just 
 enough to understand that he was 
 in some way concerned, so he peered 
 over the top of the pulpit in a comi- 
 cal way and almost shouted: 
 
 "What is that ye are saying?" 
 The pastor repeated his request in 
 a little higher tone of voice, where- 
 upon the old gentleman shotted: 
 
 "I'll not do it, there's two o' ye 
 preachers here an' ye may do your 
 own prayin'. What are ye here for 
 anyhow? Ye're paid to do the 
 preachin' an' the prayin' an' I'll not 
 do it for ye." 
 
 So the pastor, with a smile he 
 could not repress, turned to the con- 
 gregation and said: 
 "Let us pray." 
 
 I have mentioned these incidents 
 only as examples of the many things 
 that enter into the experiences of a 
 minister of the gospel, not a few of 
 which tend to lighten his burdens 
 and brighten his life. 
 
 At the Cedar Rapids Conference 
 in the fall at 1903, I was chosen one 
 of the reserve delosates to the Gen- 
 eral Conference, to be held at Los 
 Angeles the following spring. I felt 
 very grateful to my brethren in the 
 ministry for this expression of their 
 kindness, coming as it did so near 
 the close of my effective relations 
 to them and my active work in the 
 ministry. I was not able to attend 
 however, much as I would have been 
 pleased to do. 
 
 As the end of my term on the 
 district drew near, I became convinc- 
 ed that my ministerial labors must 
 soon come to a close. The exposures 
 iru.ident to an active army life dur- 
 ing the Civil War, together with 
 the wearing demands .of the Presid- 
 ing Eldership for so many years had 
 so told upon my health, that 1 felt 
 it would not be prudent for me to 
 attempt to continue longer in the 
 work, for I would not be able to 
 render such service as would reason- 
 ably be expected of me. So, in jus- 
 tice to the church and to myself, I 
 determined to retire at the approach- 
 ing session of the Conference. 
 
 Before leaving Dubuque for De- 
 corah, which was to become our fut- 
 ure home, the Social Union of St 
 Luke's church arranged a very pleas- 
 ant function for Mrs. Green. It v,as 
 a farewell reception, participated in 
 by the ladies of the church and other 
 friends in the city. On every side 
 
178 
 
 THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 regrets were expressed that the time 
 had arrived for her departure from 
 the church and the city, where the 
 relations had been so pleasant for 
 the preceding six years. Some beau- 
 tiful souvenirs were presented to 
 her, and these she cherishes as 
 among the most valued of lier treas- 
 ures. Some very dear and lasting 
 friendships were formed in Dubuque, 
 none of which are more highly prized 
 than those of Mr. and Mrs. F. H. 
 Wood and family; I\Irs. A. C. Max- 
 well; Mr. and Mrs. J. F. McFarland 
 and Miss Jennie Jackson, with whom 
 Mrs. Green was more intimately as- 
 sociated. 
 
 We arrived at the seat of the Con- 
 fernce at Davenport on the Saturday 
 before the opening of the session, 
 and were entertained at the home of 
 our relatives, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. 
 Milligan, old residents of the city. 
 
 On Sunday morning, at the request 
 of the pastor, the Rev. Dr. Fayette 
 L. Thompson, I occupied the pulpit 
 of St. John's church, having for my 
 text, 116 Psalm, 1-2 verses. Our 
 son, Marion, had been engaged to 
 give a song recital at the church 
 during the session of the Conference, 
 which he did, to the great satisfac- 
 tion of the large, music loving audi- 
 ence. 
 
 Just before the close of the Con- 
 ference I asked for a change of rela- 
 tion from the effective to the super- 
 numerary ranks, and my request was 
 granted by vote of my brethren. This 
 action was followed by a few pleas- 
 ant words from Bishop Joyce, in ref- 
 erence to my retirement, after which 
 came the following, which I copy 
 from the official records. 
 
 "Dr. T. E. Fleming addressed the 
 Conference in reference to the re- 
 tirement of Dr. H. H. Green from 
 the effective ranks, alluding appre- 
 ciatively to his distinguished ser- 
 
 vices as a soldier, a legislator, and 
 an official of the church, concluding 
 with a motion that he be granted a 
 supernumerary relation. This was 
 granted. 
 
 E. J. Lockwood presented, and the 
 Conference adopted, the following 
 resolution: 
 
 inasmuch as Rev. H. H. Green, 
 D. D., in asking for a supernumer- 
 ary relation, now closes thirty-six 
 years of service in the Upper Iowa 
 Conference, eighteen years of which 
 he has served most efficiently as a 
 Presiding Elder; be it 
 
 RESOLVED, That we hereby ex- 
 press to him our appreciation of his 
 fidelity to the interests of our Con- 
 ference, of his brotherly spirit, his 
 unfailing courtesy, uniform fairness, 
 untiring industry and valuable coun- 
 sel. 
 
 We pray that the blessing of God 
 may abound unto him in his new 
 relation, and assure him that our 
 esteem and affection shall abide with 
 him. 
 
 W. W. CARLTON, 
 F. P. SHAFFER, 
 E. J. LOCKWOOD." 
 
 Up to the present time I have been 
 able to attend, with two exceptions, 
 all the meetings of the Conference, 
 and in the temporary absence of the 
 Presiding Bishop, have, on several 
 occasions, been called upon to pre- 
 side over its deliberations, at which 
 times my brother preachers have 
 been very considerate and very pa- 
 tient. 
 
 After adjournment of the Confer- 
 ence we returned to our home at 
 Decorah, where among many friends, 
 we settled down to enjoy the peace 
 and quiet of the evening of life. 
 
 I take the liberty to insert here 
 the following parting shot from St. 
 Luke's Record, an appreciation, 
 which, while it may be very partial, 
 is most highly prized: 
 
 We are glad to present to our 
 readers this excellent portrait of our 
 beloved Presiding Elder, Rev. H. H. 
 Green, D. D., who has just closed his 
 
THE SIMPLE LIFE OF A COMMONER 
 
 six years' term as Presiding Elder of 
 the Dubuque District. It will not 
 seem at all natural to hear a new 
 Presiding Elder. Dr. Green suited 
 us perfectly. His counsel has always 
 been wholesome, sane and brotherly 
 — never withheld when needed, nev- 
 er obtruded when not needed. His 
 demeanor has always been dignified 
 as well as genial. His sermons have 
 been always thoughtful and helpful. 
 His interest in St. Luke's has been 
 something more than professional, 
 and his admiration of its abundant 
 life and its manner of doing things 
 has been sincere. He has often 
 spoken of St. Luke's both at the Dis- 
 trict Conference and at the Annual 
 Conference in terms of generous 
 praise. For all these things, as well 
 as for his personal worth, we love 
 him. Mrs. Green has been one of 
 the most valuable and beloved of our 
 tlock — abundant in labors and un- 
 heralded ministries she has been a 
 veritable deaconess among us. The 
 prosperous and the poor alike love 
 her, and her place will always be 
 vacant. The prayers and cordial 
 God-speed of the entire congregation 
 go with these beloved servants of 
 the Lord in their retirement from 
 the active work of the Methodist 
 Episcopal itinerancy. 
 
 It was four years after our retire- 
 ment from the active duties of the 
 ministry, that we received the an- 
 nouncement of the approaching wed- 
 ding of our eldest son, Samuel Wil- 
 liam, to Miss Claudia Wells of Val- 
 entine, Nebraska. The ceremony was 
 solemnized by the father of the 
 bride, the Rev. Mr. Wells, rector" of 
 the Protestant Episcopal church of 
 Valentine. Immediately following 
 the wedding Mr. and Mrs. Green be- 
 gan housekeeping at Ewing, Nebras- 
 ka, where they now reside, and 
 where ' Sam" is a well-to-do drug- 
 gist. 
 
 On Saturday, April 2, 1910, oc- 
 curred the wedding of our youngest 
 son, Marion, concerning which I 
 make the following extract from an 
 
 account of the occasion, which was 
 given by the Chicago Tribune: 
 
 "The first of the group of wed- 
 dings for spring was celebrated yes- 
 terday. The largest of these perhaps 
 v/as the one in which both the musi- 
 cal and the society circles were in- 
 terested — that of ^liss Ethelwynne 
 Sattley, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. 
 Elliott R. Carpenter, 4413 Oaken- 
 wald avenue, and ]\Ir. Marion Green, 
 which was celebrated in the evening 
 at the Carpenter residence. The 
 groom's father, the Rev. H. H. Green 
 of Decorah, Iowa, performed the 
 ceremony." 
 
 And now I must bring my story to 
 a close in grateful acknowledgement 
 of all I owe, under the blessing of 
 God, to my beloved wife, the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal church and the many, 
 many kind friends, who, through all 
 the years of my life, have done much 
 to make my pathway very pleasant 
 and life itself worth while. Happy 
 also in the thought that our children 
 have grown up to be honorable and 
 useful men and women in the world 
 — fathers and mothers of a new gen- 
 eration of boys and girls, who are to 
 perpetuate and extend this genea- 
 logy. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth Parentage and Early Days at Elsham, England. A Musical 
 Family. The County of Lincoln— Birthplace of Distinguished Men and 
 fccene of Historic Events. 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 The Family Removes from Elsham to Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire;. 
 Sciiool Days at Beaconsflehl. 
 
 CHAPTER ni. 
 Hyde Farm. Journeys to London. Spudding Thistles. Death Twice 
 Enters the Family. The Crystal Palace. St. Paul's Church, 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Wooburn Green. (Joing to America. The Sir Robert Peel. Five 
 Weeks on the Atlantic. Half Way Across the Continent. I Make a Pur- 
 chase. Arrive at Lyons. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Independence Day. Fish's Mill — Fever and Ague. School Days at 
 Lyons. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Steamboating, Hunting and Fishing on the Mississippi. A Channel 
 Cat. Rafting on the River. Artemas Ward. The Winter of '56-'57. 
 ;\;y Mother is Accidentally Shot. Marketing Produce. Depreciated Cur- 
 rency. The Spirit Lake Massacre. My First Business Venture. 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Down the River to Memphis. Magnificent Scenery. Boatmen and 
 Raftmen. Resolute, No. 1 in Action. The Legend of Oneota. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 At Memphis I Meet With an Old Acquaintance. Some Unpleasant 
 Experiences Caused by Unusual Conditions. Return North in the Spring. 
 The Great Tornado of I80O. I Become a Night Watchman. Cupid's Dart. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Political Campaigns Leading Up to the Election of Lincoln in 1860. 
 The Slavery Question Pre-eminent. Some Noted Men of the Day. Nomin- 
 ation and Election of Abraham Lincoln. Declaration of War. The Clinton 
 County Guards. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Our First Uniforms. The Comi any is Presented With a Flag. De- 
 
 f,rf — - for the Sea. of War. Organization of the Second Iowa Intantry. 
 
 th Missouri. Bridge Burners. Death of Albert WMnchell. The 
 
 ing of r Rebel. At Bird's Point. .Jeff. Thompson. At Pilot Knob. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Ironton Peach Orchard — Some Reflections Thereon. Foraging 
 Forbidden. Am I a Thief? Drummed Out of Camp. General Fremont 
 Issues a General Order. Provost Guard Duty at St. Louis — McDowell's 
 College. My Rebel Friend. Vandalism. We Leave for the Field Under 
 Censure. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Battle of Fort Donelson. Charge of the Second Iowa. Sur- 
 render of the Fort. Capture of Fort Donelson, the First Great Union 
 Victory of the War. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 After the Battle. Pneumonia Caused by Exposure. A Hard Time 
 Getting Away From the Fort. In Hospital at Mound City, Illinois. Home 
 on a Furlough. The Battle of Pittsburg Landing. The Advance on Cor- 
 inth. Camp Montgomery. The Battle of luka. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A Premonition. The Battle of Corinth. I Am Promoted. After 
 Forrest and Rnoddy. At Smith's Bridge. A Narrow Escape. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 History Repeats Itself. A Futile Expedition. Guerrillas. Miss Mary 
 Jane. On Leave of Absence. A Sad Parting With My Father. At La 
 Grange, Tennessee. An Important Letter and its Answer. We Leave 
 La Grange for Other Fields. An Unlooked for Incident. . 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Tragic Death of General Van Dorn. A Cold Winter. The Fifty- 
 Second Illinois vs. The Second Iowa. An Accident Causes the Death of 
 My Father Amid Great buffering. I Obtain Leave of Absence. An Inci- 
 dent on the Cars. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Recruits Are Nagged by Veterans. Severe Punishment of Thieves. 
 Hanging of Samuel Davis, the Rebel Spy. The Regiment Leaves Pulaski 
 tor the Front. Snake Creek Gap. Resacca, Kingston. Mustered Out. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 I Engage in business at Lyons. Married to Miss Mary M. Bennett. 
 The Great Change. First Sermon. Attend Conference. My First Appoint- 
 ment is Summer Hill Circuit. A Night Adventure. Admitted on Trial in 
 the Upper Iowa Conference. Second Year at Summer Hill. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 A Great Revival With Blessed Results. We Build a Church. The 
 Solving of a Doubt. Third Year at Summer Hill Circuit. Birth of Samuel 
 William. I am Appointed Pastor of Mill Rock Circuit. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Preacher in Charge of Maquoketa Circuit. A Kindly Greeting. The 
 River Brethren. The Class Leader and the Organ. Trying to Warm Up. 
 A Fine Parsonage. I Meet an Old Acquaintance. Lay Delegates. The 
 Midland Railroad. A Profitable Excursion. The First Church Building. 
 A Wedding. Wyoming. Birth of Harry Joseph. I Meet With a Serious 
 Loss. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 I Become a Superannuate. Among Kind Friends. Revival Meetings. 
 Pastor at Toledo. Musquakee Indians. The Taking of a Dog. The Great 
 Yellow Fever Scourge. I am Revenged on Memphis. A Trip to the Moun- 
 tains. We go to Nashua. The Pest of Diphtheria. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 My First Sermon Before the Conference. Waggish Preachers. Janes- 
 ville — Literary and Musical Talent. Birth of Marion, March 8th, 1882. 
 A Souvenir of Two Wars. Campaign for Temperance Legislation. I am 
 Elected Representative From the Sixty-Second District. I am Appointed 
 to Plainfield. Opening of the Twentieth General Assembly. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Presiding Elder of Dubu()ue District. ]\lain Street, Dubuque. Pro- 
 fane Swearing. Marriage of Our Eldest Daughter. Elected Delegate to 
 the General Conference of 1888. The Man from Idaho. I Meet Colonel 
 F. D. Grant. J. P. Newman Elected Bishop. The Woman Question. The 
 Florence Mission. Two Great Ships. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A Wedding Fee. Wedding Anniversary. "Hark From the Tomb." 
 Death of Robert. Conference at Decorah. Presiding Elder of Decorah 
 District. Waste Places. The Columbian Exposition. I Meet My Cousin 
 George. Marriage of Schuyler and of Iowa. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 A Trip to Florida. Saint Augustine. The Ocklawaha. Along the 
 Railway. I visit the Fort Donelson Battlefield. Pastor at Iowa Falls. 
 Marriage of Lucy and of Harry. Re-appointed Presiding Elder of Dubuque 
 District. The General Conference of 1900. A Change in the Supernum- 
 erary Relation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The General Conference of 1900 — Continued — The New Hymnal. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Women Are Admitted to a Seat in the Great Law Making Body of 
 the Church. Layment Are Admitted in Equal Numbers With the Ministry. 
 Removal of the Time Limit. An Amusing Incident. A Pathetic Incident. 
 Up Against a Snag. Elected Reserve Delegate to General Conference of 
 1904. Marriage of Samuel WMniam. Marriage of Marion Bennett. Re- 
 tirement. 
 
 The author acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. L. D. Ingersoii, 
 author of "Iowa and the Rebellion," from whose book he has made quota- 
 tions; also to the Clinton (Iowa) Mirror; Memoirs of General Grant; 
 The Chicago Journal: Mr. William E. Curtis, late correspondent of the 
 Chicago Record-Herald, and to Ex-Governor William Larrabee. 
 
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