EDITORIALANA. |
VOL. XX. No. 4. |
|
OCTOBER, 1911. |
GENERAL BRINKERHOFF. Elsewhere in this Quarterly we give notice of the death of General Brinkerhoff with an extended account of his busy and useful life and many of its prominent achievements. But no written record of the life of such a man can adequately present what he really was to the world in which he lived. The inestimable outflow of a beautiful and true character, ever loyal to the highest ideals of life, cannot be recorded, cannot be duly valued, cannot in the fullest extent be appreciated. Back of all he did, broad and lasting as it may have been, is the man. Therein lay his power, his sway, over fellowmen. Sweet and gentle in dispo- sition, ever courteous and urbane in manner, tenacious of his own convictions, when once formed, but tolerant of the views and beliefs of others, his life was a benign atmosphere, soothing and strengthening to all with whom he came in contact. He loved men, he loved children, he loved nature in all her varied forms, and buoyed by a hopeful and optimistic temperament, he rose above the petty annoyances of everyday experience and above the greater trials and disappointments in effort and ambition. He was ever a thoughtful and sincere student. All realms of knowledge attracted his receptive and capacious mind. He studied men and knew human nature. He read books and absorbed their contents. The problem of life was ever fresh and deeply interesting to him. The greater query of the future was his constant meditation. He was unhampered by the dogmas of narrow sectarians, but he was steadfast in the belief of a divine and supreme intelligence and the adjustment in a better and unseen world of all that seemed wrong or awry in this. He had a deep sense of responsibility. Every duty that came to him was earnestly and painstakingly discharged. He sympathized with the distressed and the unfortunate. It was ever his chosen task to help others by word or deed.. Selfishness found no lodging in his makeup. Such men live the highest life in this world of flesh and blood and accomplish things for themselves and others, and the memory of such men is a lasting impetus to those who survive them. Through a period of nearly twenty years the present writer knew, admired and respected Roeliff Brinkerhoff. Many a delightful hour have we spent in his presence, an auditor to his rare and interesting reminiscences, a recipient of his helpful cheer and a beneficiary of the (466) |
Editorialana. 467
stimulation of his firm assurance that
all is well here below and all will
be better in the world beyond. His life
was above reproach, his career
an inspiration. None knew him but to
love him, none named him but to
praise.
No organization with which he was
connected seemed to give
him greater pleasure than the
Archaeological and Historical Society.
Its field of investigation, its province
of collecting and preserving the
records of the past and its work of
storing the same for future gen-
erations of students, particularly
appealed to his intellectual activities
and his fondness for knowledge of what
has been, what is and what may
be. In the pantheon of those who have
been most potent in the origin
and growth of this Society-the memory of
no one will be more per-
manent or more revered than that of
Roeliff Brinkerhoff.
SITE OF FORT GOWER.
An interesting and informing volume
could be written on Little
Journeys to Historic Sites in Ohio, and
it is one of the dreams of the
Editor of the Quarterly to some
day put forth such a volume. Mean-
while, as time permits such "little
journeys" are being made. It was
on a brilliant day last August (1911)
that the Editor "tripped" to what
in some respects is one of the most
historic sites in Ohio. Many articles
have been penned and published on the
pioneer forts of Ohio. No
state in the Northwest Territory can
boast of as many stockades in
the early days as can the Buckeye
commonwealth. Romantic, dramatic
and patriotic are the records of many of
them. The French fort of
1745 at the mouth of the Sandusky, the
scene of Nicholas' conspiracy;
the stockade defense at Loramie's on the
Pickawillany, the scene of
the prelude of the contest between the
French and the British for the
Northwest Territory; the first fort
built by the Americans, in the
American Revolution, the famous Fort
Laurens near the present site
of Bolivar; Fort Stephenson (Fremont) on
the Sandusky, the scene of
the siege of Croghan's little band
attacked by Proctor and his British
veterans aided by Tecumseh and his horde
of western savages, in the
War of 1812; there are few stories in
warfare equal to it for display of
bravery and patriotism. But the fort
least known to general history
-for it is not mentioned by any of the
leading historians-and yet
most significant in western annals, for
an event connected therewith,
is Fort Gower at the mouth of the
Hocking, or Hockhocking, as it was
once called from the Indian name
"Hockin-hockin."
It was the year 1774 in the month of
June that the English Parlia-
ment passed the detested Quebec Act-an
affirmation of the previous
so-called Quebec Act of 1763. This act
of 1774, provided a government
for the Province of Quebec, embracing
the territorial domain west
and north of the Ohio River-known later
as the Northwest Territory.
468 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
This arbitrary and oppressive
jurisdiction covered the scattered western
traders' posts and more firmly than ever
excluded any control over it or
interest in it by the sea-board
colonies. Settlements from the American
colonies were forbidden in this
territory. The Pennsylvanians did not so
seriously protest at this Quebec Act as
the Pennsylvanians desired that
the Indians be left in undisputed and undisturbed
possession of the trans-
Ohio empire, to the end that the fur
trade, extensive and lucrative
to the Quaker provincials, might be
undiminished. But with the Vir-
ginians it was different. They claimed,
by right of their charter, that
a large part of the Ohio country
belonged to Virginia. They claimed
the right to invade the Ohio country and
make settlements therein. This
is not the place to enter upon a
discussion of the motives and pur-
poses of Dunmore's War-so-called-which
followed on the heels of
the Quebec Act. Suffice it to say, Lord Dunmore, the royal
governor
of Virginia, decided upon a hostile
expedition across the Ohio, the
main ostensible purpose being to
chastise the Ohio Indians for their
aggressive incursions across the Ohio
River. We cannot follow the
details of this so-called war. They will
be found in an article by the
writer in the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society Quar
terly for October, 1902. Dunmore raised
an army of some three thousand
Virginia soldiers. This force was
divided into two divisions, fifteen hun-
dred of the contingent were placed under
General Andrew Lewis, and
following down the Kanawha reached Point
Pleasant October 6th, where
four days later the battle was fought in
which Cornstalk, the head
of the Shawnee Confederacy, with over a
thousand Indian braves,
was defeated and driven back across the
Ohio. Lewis then, in accord-
ance with instructions received from
Lord Dunmore, crossed the Ohio
and began his march to the Pickaway
Plains, there to unite with Dun-
more's division which was encamped on
Sippo Creek. It is the Ohio
invasion of Dunmore's troops that has to
do with Fort Gower. While
Andrew Lewis was pursuing the course
mapped out for him by Dun-
more, the latter had rendezvoused his
division at Pittsburg, whence he
embarked on the Ohio in a flotilla of a
hundred canoes, besides keel boats
and pirogues, with George Rogers Clark,
Michael Cresap, Simon Girty
and Simon Kenton-then known as Simon
Butler-as scouts and guides.
The army moved down the river until it
reached the mouth of the
Hocking, at which point the soldiers
left the flotilla and built a stockade
which Dunmore called Fort Gower, after
Earl Gower, a personal friend
of Dunmore in the British House of
Lords. Leaving a garrison of one
hundred men to guard the fort, on
October 11th, with White Eyes.
the Delaware chief as an extra guide,
Dunmore began his march up
the Hocking Valley, which he followed by
way of the present sites of
Athens and Logan, thence he struck a
little south of west to the Pick-
away Plains, finally establishing his
camp, called Charlotte, on the north
bank of the Sippo. Here took place the
famous conference between the
Editorialana. 469
Virginia general and Cornstalk and his
accompanying chiefs, the Mingo
Logan refusing to participate. The
treaty of Charlotte was the result.
The "war" was over and
Dunmore, breaking camp on October 31st,
proceeded on his return march to the
Ohio. He reached Fort Gower
on the 5th of November. Here the
soldiers learned, for the first time,
of the action taken by the first
Continental Congress, which had assem-
bled at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774.
The officers of the army
thereupon held a meeting and passed
resolutions which we here insert in
full from the American Archives, 4th
Series, Vol. 1, p. 962:
"GENTLEMEN:-Having now concluded
the campaign, by the assist-
ance of Providence, with honor and
advantage to the colony and our-
selves, it only remains that we should
give our country the strongest
assurance that we are ready, at all
times, to the utmost of our power,
to maintain and defend her just rights
and privileges. We have lived
about three months in the woods without
any intelligence from Boston,
or from the delegates at Philadelphia.
It is possible, from the groundless
reports of designing men, that our
countrymen may be jealous of the use
such a body would make of arms in their
hands at this critical juncture.
That we are a respectable body is
certain, when it is considered that we
can live weeks without bread or salt;
that we can sleep in the open air
without any covering but that of the
canopy of heaven; and that our
men can march and shoot with any in the
known world. Blessed with
these talents, let us solemnly engage to
one another, and our country in
particular, that we will use them to no
purpose but for the honor and
advantage of America in general, and of
Virginia in particular. It
behooves us then, for the satisfaction
of our country, that we should
give them our real sentiments, by way of
resolves, at this very alarming
crisis.
"Whereupon the meeting made choice
of a committee to draw up
and prepare resolves for their
consideration, who immediately with-
drew, and after some time spent therein,
reported that they had agreed
to and prepared the following resolves,
which were read, maturely con-
sidered and, agreed to, nemine
contradicente, by the meeting, and on
dered to be published in the Virginia
Gazette:
"Resolved, That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to His
Majesty, King George the Third, whilst
His Majesty delights to reign
over a brave and free people; that we
will, at the expense of life, and
everything dear and valuable, exert
ourselves in support of his crown,
and the dignity of the British Empire.
But as the love of liberty, and
attachment to the real interests and
just rights of America outweigh
every other consideration, we resolve
that we will exert every power
within us for the defense of American
liberty, and for the support of
her just rights and privileges; not in
any precipitate, riotous or tumul-
tuous manner, but when regularly called
forth by the unanimous voice
of our countrymen.
470 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
"Resolved, That we entertain the greatest respect for His
Excellency.
the Right Honorable Lord Dunmore, who
commanded the expedition
against the Shawnese; and who, we are
confident, underwent the great
fatigue of this singular campaign from
no other motive than the true
interest of this country.
"Signed by order and in behalf of
the whole corps.
"BENJAMIN ASHBY, Clerk."
These resolutions were virtually a
Declaration of Independence on
Ohio soil, by Virginian backwoodsmen,
six months before the shot was
fired at Concord that was "heard
'round the world," and more than a year
and a half before the Liberty Bell of
Independence Hall pealed forth
the freedom of the Colonies. Is there a
spot in Ohio or in the North-
west so deserving of a monument as this
historic site of Fort Gower?
Hockingport, to-day, is indeed an
"out of the way" place. It is on no
highway of travel, either of steam or
electric conveyance. It can only be
reached by ferry across the Ohio from
the almost houseless Harris
Station in West Virginia or by a drive
or auto whisk from the little
station of Coolville on the
south-western division of the B. & O. The
drive from Coolville, a distance of some
six miles, is through a most
picturesque country of hill, dale and
river, for the route lies along the
north bank of the Hocking river. It was
early on the August morning
that we pulled into the little cluster
of houses that the inmates designate
as Hockingport. The Ohio at this point
takes a plunge due south.
which the Hockhocking, or Hocking, as it
is generally known, enters the
Ohio by a curve from the west. The exact
location of the almost for
gotten stockade enclosure, as determined
by the best traditionary lone
obtainable, "on the spot," by
the present writer, was upon the east or
north side of the Hocking, on the
elevated bank of the Ohio, from
which its garrison could overlook the
broad, placid sweep of the
majestic river, which is here flanked on
the Virginia side by a chain
of graceful hills, the tip land of a
spur of the Alleghany range. Our
pilot, a scholarly gentleman of many
years residence in the town, led
us into the midst of a field covered
with tall corn stalks and pointed
out a few heavy stones, which, it is
verily believed, were portions of the
magazine receptacle of the fort. The
palisaded earthworks, long since
ploughed away, lay on the outskirts of
the present burg, a little sleepy
hamlet of only a score and a half
scattered dwellings, in which abide
some six score inhabitants, who live the
simple life "far away from the
madding crowd's ignoble
strife." Surely Hockingport awaits
a just
renown, when it shall be the mecca of
historical students, for within its
precincts assembled the Virginia
frontiersmen who, of all the Colonists,
were the first to declare their
willingness, if called upon, to unsheathe
their swords "for the defense of
American liberty."
Editorialana. 471
THE ICE AGE IN NORTH AMERICA.
The Bibliotheca Sacra Company, Oberlin,
Ohio, has recently issued
a fifth and revised edition of "The
Ice Age in North America, and Its
Bearings Upon the Antiquity of
Man." The author is Professor G.
Frederick Wright, President of the Ohio
State Archaeological and
Historical Society. No writer could be
better qualified for such a schol-
arly and informing work. Professor
Wright has been a most consci-
entious and broad student of theology,
and the language and literature
of the Old and New Testaments. For some
ten years he was professor
in Oberlin College, on the harmony of
science and religion. Professor
Wright is also an accomplished scholar
in geology and relative natural
sciences. He was assistant on the Pennsylvania and United States
Geological Surveys and is the author of
several works of a geological
character, bearing upon the formation of
the earth's surface, not only
in America but Europe and Asia, which
countries he has visited at length
in order to procure his material at
first hand. Especially have his studies
been directed to the American Continent
and for this work, now reissued
in enlarged and revised form, the author
has given the ripest and best
part of his life. When the first edition
of this work was issued, in 1889,
Professor Wright had been for fifteen
years prominent in glacial in-
vestigations. He had published numerous
articles in the scientific jour-
nals recounting his discoveries in New
England, had traced the south-
ern boundary of the glaciated region in
America from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Mississippi River, and
published the results in Vol. Z.
of the Pennsylvania Reports, and in
Tract No. 60, of the Western
Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland,
which had kept him in the
field for three years. His delineation
of the glaciated boundary east
of the Mississippi is that found on all
maps at the present time. Later
he completed investigations in this area
and published the results in
Bulletin No. 58 of the U. S. Geological
Survey. In 1886, the oppor-
tunity came for him to visit Alaska and
make protracted observations
on the Muir Glacier, which though
beginning to be visited by tourists
had not been subjected to scientific
scrutiny, and it was four years before
any other scientific investigations of
the glacier were carried on. He
was then invited to give a course of
Lowell Institute Lectures in Boston
upon the subject that is the title of
this book. Thus it appears that
Professor Wright was unusually prepared
for his work, so that it was
not strange that his book took rank at
once as the standard publication
on the subject. The first edition of
1,500 copies, though sold at $5.00
a copy, was disposed of during the first
season. Since then three more
editions have been called for and the
demand was such that the author
has felt justified in spending a large
amount of time and money in
bringing the treatise up to date in this
fifth revised and enlarged edition.
Speaking of the fifth and latest
edition, the veteran geologist, Pro-
472 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
fessor Charles H. Hitchcock, says
"It is the most convenient compendium
in existence of the features of the
Glacial period." Professor Boyd
Dawkins, of England calls it "a
valuable addition to the geography and
geology of North America." The Journal of Education says "No
specialist in geology in any part of the
world ever thinks of being with-
out this book, which is now in its fifth
edition greatly enlarged, revised
up to the latest contribution of the
science." The London Daily News
says that "it forms an almost
complete study of glacial formations not
merely in America but over most of the
known world." The Springfield
Republican speaks of it as "one of
the most important scientific publi-
cations of the present year. . . . The
volume should be given a place
in every important public and school
library." The San Francisco Bul-
letin says "The volume is a classic
in the field of geology, and the new
edition, printed in good, clear type, on
the very best of paper, will be
welcomed by geologists throughout the
world."
The new material in the book is
specially abundant concerning the
glaciers of British Columbia, Alaska,
and Greenland, and concerning the
glacial deposits in Pennsylvania, Ohio,
the Missouri Valley, and the valley
of the Red River of the North, while the
discussion of the cause and
the date of the Glacial period, and of the
remains of glacial man have
been greatly enlarged.
It is interesting to note that the main
conclusions at which Pro-
fessor Wright had arrived in the first
edition are amply supported by
later investigations. His inference that
the front of the Muir Glacier
had retreated twenty or twenty-five
miles between the visit of Vancouver
in 1794 and Professor Wright's visit in
1886 in fully confirmed by the
fact, (shown by photographs and later
reports) that the front has receded
seven miles since 1886. The late date of
the close of the glacial period
is supported by a great array of facts
discovered during the last twenty
years, especially by the author's own
new investigation of the age of
the Niagara Gorge, and of the small amount
of post glacial corrosion
which has taken place since the ice
withdrew from Northern Ohio, and
by Dr. Warren Upham's investigation of
the age of the shore lines about
glacial Lake Agassiz-a body of water
which occupied the valley of the
Red River of the North while the
continental glacier was melting back
from the Canada line to Hudson Bay. The
existence of man in America
before the close of the Glacial period,
so fully discussed in the first
edition, is made still more certain by a
number of subsequent discoveries.
Professor Wright is confident, however,
that this does not indicate so
great an antiquity as is commonly
supposed. He believes he has evidence
to prove that glacial man in America was
contemporary with highly
civilized man in the valleys of the Nile
and of the Euphrates, and in
Central Asia.
Thus much of the work and the impression
it has created on the
leaders of scientific scholarship.
Editorialana. 478
It is not the purpose of the Editor of
this Quarterly to review in
any detail the contents of this
"Ice Age in North America." The atten-
tion of the readers of the Quarterly is
called to this work because aside
from its value to the scientific world
it has both a geological and archae-
ological bearing upon the State of Ohio.
Prof. Wright describes at length
the location, movement and geological
results of the glacial epoch in
what is now the Buckeye State, the north-western
two-thirds of which
was in the Ice Age submerged beneath the
great ice flow from the north.
The edge, or terminal moraine, of this
covering, is clearly defined in an
oblique line, reaching from New Lisbon
to Cincinnati. The territory
south-east of this line remained
"dry." Prof. Wright deals most inter-
estingly, and in phraseology the layman
can easily comprehend, with all
the scientific features of this ice
covered region; the testimony of the
terminal moraine; the marks of the
deposits by knobs and kettle holes;
the great boulders brought down from
Canada and scattered here and
there, gigantic and imperishable records
of the ice flood, its direction and
extent; all the great results of this
tremendous epoch are related and,
as far as science can do so, explained.
One of the most interesting features of
this work to the Ohio reader
is the archaeological proof of the
existence of the glacial man in Ohio.
This is found in the chapter on
"Man in the Glacial Period." The wit-
nesses of the presence of the original
ice man in this State are few
but their evidence seems to be
convincing to Professor Wright. In 1844,
Dr. C. L. Metz, of Madisonville, near
Cincinnati, found "an implement
chipped from a pebble of black
flint" embedded in the gravel, eight feet
below the surface. This paleolith is
about the size of a man's hand, and
is almost a replica, in size, shape and
material, of one found by Dr.
Abbott in the Trenton (N. J.) gravel. In
1887 Dr. Metz found another
paleolith in an excavation in a similar
deposit in the north-east corner
of Clermont county, near Loveland. In
October, 1889, Mr. W. C. Mills,
then president of a local Archaeological
Society at Newcomerstown, and
now Curator of the Ohio State
Archaeological and Historical Society,
found a flint implement of paleolithic
type fifteen feet below the surface
of the glacial terrace bordering the
valley at Newcomerstown. This
paleolith, Prof. Wright states, is a
duplication, in all respects, to one from
the valley of the Somme, France, and
which was placed in the pos-
session of Prof. Wright by Dr. Evans of
London. There seems to be
no doubt in the minds of Dr. Metz and
Mr. Mills that the paleoliths came
to the places of their lodgment by
natural means, and therefore there
can be nothing artificial about their
testimony. All this is most interest-
ing and, as the daily journals often say
in their head-lines, "important if
true." The entree to, and existence
in, the precincts of Ohio seems to
rest upon these three paleolithic
proofs. Are they enough, is the query
suggested to the legal mind, trained to
the weighing of evidence? If the
ice man was really here as an
inhabitant, why not other, indeed num-
474 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
erous, similar testimonials in other
regions covered by the glacial flow?
But this question is not for us to
discuss. We leave the debate to the
learned gentlemen of the scientific
arena.
Prof. Wright's book is not a "dry
as dust" volume of technical
lore. It is written in a clear, simple,
entertaining style; holds the reader,
young and old, the collegiate and one
only endowed with "common sense,"
with equal intent. It is at once a most
successful contribution to the
scientific and popular lore concerning
the period, when the ice man
of the north went forth and gripped with
his frigid fingers a large por-
tion of the earth. It was a wonderful
conquest and Prof. Wright tells
the story in a manner at once charming
and scholarly. The work is
printed in clear, legible type and is
embellished with copious illustrations
and maps.
THE WILDERNESS TRAIL.
One of the most valuable contributions
to the historical literature
of the West, issued in recent years, is
one entitled "The Wilderness
Trail," or "The Ventures and
Adventures of the Pennsylvania Traders
on the Allegheny Path," with some
annals of the "Old West, and the
Records of Some Strong Men and Some Bad
Ones." The work, pub-
lished by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York,
is in two volumes of four
hundred pages each. There are numerous
pictures and portraits, a few
of the latter from rare originals, never
before reproduced; there are
also many maps, reduced replicas, from the
originals in the government
archives. The author of this work is Mr.
Charles A. Hanna, whose
extensive account of "The
Scotch-Irish" published some years ago, gave
the author a most favorable introduction
to the public. Mr. Hanna is
an Ohio man, having been born and raised
in Harrison county, though
for many years he has been a resident of
New York City. The work
deserves a more extended and detailed
review than our space will permit.
It has met with a most complimentary
reception at the hands of the
literary and historical critics. Mr.
Hanna has put forth a monumental
production. Possessed of an intense
interest in the early history of the
great west, especially the Ohio Valley,
endowed with the temperament
and taste of a man of letters, Mr. Hanna
has with almost overzealous
application to details and an
indefatigible devotion to accuracy accumu-
lated a well nigh overwhelming fund of
historical matter. Indeed Mr.
Hanna's volumes present an amplitude of
facts that almost bewilder the
reader. But the data acquired through
great labor and patience has
been secured from authoritative sources
and has the inestimable value
of accuracy. The sources of information
are freely stated and original
documents, archives, inaccessible to the
ordinary writer, and rare au-
thorities are drawn upon and much
historical information, hitherto un-
Editorialana. 475
published is placed at the command of
the book buyer. For the his-
torical student, for the teacher and the
writer on historical topics cov-
ered by the reach of the book, it has no
equal, indeed no substitute or
equivalent. But for the mere reader,
seeking a consecutive narrative,
for entertainment as well as knowledge
the volumes will not fill so wide
a field. But this latter evidently was
not the ambition or purpose of the
author. He has accomplished what he set
forth to do-placed a store-
house of historical material at the
command of those wishing to draw
therefrom. The subjects treated by the author cover the numerous
Indian tribes ranging from Eastern
Pennsylvania to the Illinois river.
The tribal differences and hostile
relations are related. The great chiefs
and sachems are brought to view. The
chief network of the volumes is
the outlining of the Indian paths, the
great wilderness trails, that formed
the highways, east and west, north and
south, in the territory mentioned
above. No such complete and accurate
literary and historical surveying
has been done by any other author. The
many forest paths of the aborig-
ine and the pioneer trader have been
heretofore more or less labyrinthian
even to the student of aboriginal days.
Mr. Hanna, however, has traced
these out, fully described them and
descriptively platted their direction and
extent. The Indian villages and trader
centers are designated and the lead-
ing traders and adventurers who trod
these paths are again led through
their negotiations and adventures. The
rivers and streams, the waterways
of the same period are completely
described, along the banks of which
waterways and through the paths of the
forest interiors move the figures
of the red and the white man of the
earliest historic times; personages
of whom we read so often cursorily in
the general histories and legend-
arily or pictorially in the romances and
stories of imaginative writers.
But in the pages of Mr. Hanna we get the
specific data concerning these
actors in the earliest western events. A
great host of Indian chiefs and
sachems are noted and all the leading
traders and scouts. An idea of the
detail scope of the work is intimated by
the fact that in the pages of
the work some three hundred rivers and
as many creeks are mentioned
by name and some five hundred Indian
towns are designated. The
Indian names of these creeks, rivers and
towns are given and in great
numbers of cases the English equivalent.
The brief but illuminating
sketches and notes concerning the
historic Indians and traders not only
give much fresh knowledge to the reader
but correct in innumerable
instances well established errors
prevailing heretofore in the popular
literature bearing upon the people and
events touched upon by Mr.
Hanna. In short "The Wilderness
Trail" is a great work-a vast col-
lection of historic lore which greatly
increases our accessible knowledge
of the Indian tribes, their living
centers, their movements, their leaders,
their wars; and their pale face enemies
and friends, the trader with his
pack-horses, the scout as the forerunner
of tribal encounter or bloody
contests between the redman and his
invading pale face. Mr. Hanna
476 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
has done a unique and stupendous service
in the field of western historic
lore. These volumes will soon be beyond
the reach of the purchaser as
but one thousand copies were
printed-"from type and the
type de-
stroyed"-say the publishers.
Scarcity will therefore soon add to the
value of the work.
A BUCKEYE BOYHOOD.
A very delightful and entertaining
little volume of two hundred
pages, recently published by The Robert
Clarke Company, Cincinnati, is
"A Buckeye Boyhood," by
William Henry Venable. The mention of the
author's name is assurance of the
literary excellence of the story and
the charming nature of the narrative.
Mr. Venable early won high place
among the Ohio men of letters by his
"Beginnings of Literary Culture
in the Ohio Valley," now a classic
in Ohioana. His numerous other
books of poetry, history, fiction and
essay bespeak the range of his in-
tellectual wealth and the versatility of
his talent, thought and study.
A dozen or more volumes on various
themes, all gems in their way,
attest the popular place Mr. Venable has
attained among the readers not
only of Ohio but the country at large.
This last volume is a "veiled
autobiography"-a renaissance of the
life and times of the author's
boyhood; much of the recital being his
own personal experience. The
story is given in a simple, lucid style
of "everyday" English-render-
ing the pages fascinating alike to young
and old. In the rush and whirl
of our present day life the literature
that seems most in demand is
that either of the purely informing
kind-the knowledge more or less
heavy or technical that men and women
seek for practical purposes-
or the highly imaginative or sensational
class that stimulates the emotions
and is read, much as narcotics and
intoxicants are taken, to deaden for
the moment the oppressions and cares of
an overwrought nervous ex-
istence. The Buckeye Boyhood is a
reversion- evidently delightful to
the author and hence also to the
reader-to the simple rural life of a
generation or two ago; the struggle on
the farm, for a plain living,
with its attendant enjoyment of the
freedom and beauties of nature; the
toil arduous but simple, and unhampered
by the exactions and high
pressure of the "get there"
ambitions and superfluous luxuries. The
fields and woods and streams and hills
and dales were the boy's arena
-the country school with its elemental
studies, the glimpses of the
village and city life and the wider
range of vision they opened for
the lad; his books and reading and his
amusements; all these are set
forth by the pen of Mr. Venable as with
the brush of a master upon
the canvas of memory by an artist not an
impressionist but a realist.
The chapter on "religious
experience" is especially readable as it typi-
fies the crucial trial through which
nearly all thoughtful and serious
Editorialana. 477
minded boys must pass. The
"experience" is not unique but universal,
the awakening of the expanding soul to
the mysteries of an unseen but
nevertheless a real world; the working
of an irresistible spirit upon the
troubled waters of a soul seeking to
reconcile the natural inherent re-
ligion with the dogmatic or conventional
creed of the church. This
reconciliation must be solved by each
youth in his own way, influenced
or aided by his own peculiar
environment. How the Buckeye Boy
wrought out his great problem and found
his permanent foothold in
a natural faith is told with unaffected
candor and reverential delicacy.
This review of youthful times-the
backward look of a half a century
or more--is a rare and precious
playspell in the later days of a mature
and fruitful literary life
POEMS ON OHIO.
We believe it was Isaac Walton in his
"Complete Angler" who spoke
of "old fashioned poetry, but
choicely good." There are of
course
poets and poets, and good, bad and
indifferent. The little volume en-
titled "Poems on Ohio,"
collected and annotated by Professor C. L.
Martzolff, and published by the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society offers a variety in degree of
excellency in the quality of the
effusions by the rhyming writers who
have taken Ohio, localities therein
and historical incidents and characters
connected therewith, as their sub-
jects. Some of these poems are by
authors whose names are fixed in
the literary firmament; others of these
poems will be classed by the
critics as mere rhyming productions, a
few verging towards the class
designated as doggerel, but all are
interesting and from some point of
view
deserving of preservation. They number in this volume some
hundred and thirty and reflect the
sentiment and culture of the early
pioneer days. It was well worth while
for Prof. Martzolff to gather
up these stray poems and put them in
permanent form. The editor's
annotations are of great value for they
embrace brief biographical
notices of the authors, whose names,
many of them at least, would
otherwise have been lost in the shades
of oblivion. Mr. Martzolff is
well qualified for his part in the
publication, for he has been for years
a zealous student of Ohio history and
his many valuable articles in the
volumes of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society have
made for him a recognized place in the
literature of the history of Ohio.
This volume should be in every public
library in the State and to the
teachers it will be of great use on
occasions commemorative of historic
events and in exercises of a patriotic
nature. The volume retails for
$1.00 and is sold by the Society
publishing it.
EDITORIALANA. |
VOL. XX. No. 4. |
|
OCTOBER, 1911. |
GENERAL BRINKERHOFF. Elsewhere in this Quarterly we give notice of the death of General Brinkerhoff with an extended account of his busy and useful life and many of its prominent achievements. But no written record of the life of such a man can adequately present what he really was to the world in which he lived. The inestimable outflow of a beautiful and true character, ever loyal to the highest ideals of life, cannot be recorded, cannot be duly valued, cannot in the fullest extent be appreciated. Back of all he did, broad and lasting as it may have been, is the man. Therein lay his power, his sway, over fellowmen. Sweet and gentle in dispo- sition, ever courteous and urbane in manner, tenacious of his own convictions, when once formed, but tolerant of the views and beliefs of others, his life was a benign atmosphere, soothing and strengthening to all with whom he came in contact. He loved men, he loved children, he loved nature in all her varied forms, and buoyed by a hopeful and optimistic temperament, he rose above the petty annoyances of everyday experience and above the greater trials and disappointments in effort and ambition. He was ever a thoughtful and sincere student. All realms of knowledge attracted his receptive and capacious mind. He studied men and knew human nature. He read books and absorbed their contents. The problem of life was ever fresh and deeply interesting to him. The greater query of the future was his constant meditation. He was unhampered by the dogmas of narrow sectarians, but he was steadfast in the belief of a divine and supreme intelligence and the adjustment in a better and unseen world of all that seemed wrong or awry in this. He had a deep sense of responsibility. Every duty that came to him was earnestly and painstakingly discharged. He sympathized with the distressed and the unfortunate. It was ever his chosen task to help others by word or deed.. Selfishness found no lodging in his makeup. Such men live the highest life in this world of flesh and blood and accomplish things for themselves and others, and the memory of such men is a lasting impetus to those who survive them. Through a period of nearly twenty years the present writer knew, admired and respected Roeliff Brinkerhoff. Many a delightful hour have we spent in his presence, an auditor to his rare and interesting reminiscences, a recipient of his helpful cheer and a beneficiary of the (466) |