Ohio History Journal

THE McGUFFEY SOCIETY AT FORT HILL

 

 

BY JOHN R. HORST

 

The McGuffey Society of Columbus, Ohio, met at

Fort Hill in Highland county, on Saturday, September

12th, 1925, as previously announced in the newspapers.

Fort Hill is the name of a hill located about three

miles north of Sinking Spring. Surrounding the crest

of the hill is an ancient fortification, apparently for de-

fense, the building of which is credited to the Mound

Builders.  It contains about forty acres within the

boundary of the fort. Just within the earth works

which constitute the fort is a deep ditch, from ten to

twelve feet below the top of the fort. Much stone has

been gathered and piled upon the slopes of the fort; and

it is surmised that these were used for defense against

a foe attempting to attack from below. It may easily

be imagined that the non-combatants were herded in the

center of the enclosure. However, the greatest stretch

of the imagination can not describe or picture the motley

assemblage of human beings there gathered. How were

they attired? What did they eat? How was their food

prepared for eating? How was it carried to their mouth

for eating? What language did they speak? Or, if

they did not speak, how did they communicate one with

the other? What was their social life? What was their

worship? No doubt, because of the great serpent in

graceful coils lying but a short distance to the south, the

serpent was the basis of it. But oblivion has closed all

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doors that might have given us light on these things.

We may only surmise and then be in darkness still. And

the century old trees that now stand on wall, in the ditch,

and within the enclosure, too, keep well the secret. It is

only their size and age that betray an inkling of the lapse

of time.

In the absence of the President of the Society, Mr.

John R. Horst, the Vice-President, conducted the exer-

cises. The picnic dinner was first in order. The dinner

was spread upon the grass under the great trees within

the enclosure of the Fort. The eighty-mile drive and

the half-mile climb up the hill had given all a keen appe-

tite; and the dinner was greatly relished.

After the dinner, the presiding officer called the meet-

ing to order, and announced that the primary purpose of

the meeting was to call the attention of the people of the

State to Fort Hill, that the same should be taken over

by the State for the preservation of the ancient fortifi-

cation, and as well for the preservation of the forest that

covers its slopes and crest.

The first number on the program was the reading of

"God's First Temples", by Mrs. Stanley S. Stewart.

There was a peculiar solemnity, that gripped the listen-

ers as, standing under a mighty tree, she read: --

The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned

To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,

And spread the roof above them, -- ere he framed

The lofty vault, to gather and roll back

The sound of anthems,--in the darkling wood,

Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down

And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks

And supplication."

This selection was read from McGuffey's Fourth

Reader, Edition of 1837. Although eighty-five years

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The McGuffey Society at Fort Hill      607

have passed since William  Holmes McGuffey selected

for his reader, this poem, it is still a masterpiece. There

are none better.

This was followed by a short talk on "An Extinct

Race," by Mr. John R. Horst of Columbus. He called

attention to the fact that the meeting was being held on

a memorial to a race that had passed into the great be-

yond without a trace except what could be gleaned from

memorials such as these, and from the graves of its

people. He emphasized that they should be owned by

the State and preserved for all time. He said that the

graves of a people of a distinct civilization, a civiliza-

tion of which we may know nothing, are all around and

about us; and closed with reading from "Thanatopsis."

"The hills,

Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun; the vales,

Stretching in pensive quietness between;

The venerable woods; rivers that move

In majesty, and the complaining brooks

That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,

Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste,

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man. The golden sun,

The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,

Are shining on the sad abodes of death,

Through the still lapse of ages."

The selection is from McGuffey's Rhetorical Guide,

Edition of 1844.

Mr. C. B. Galbreath of the State Archaeological and

Historical Society was unable to be present. He had,

however, prepared a short address on the Mound Build-

ers which was read by Mr. Ira Crum of Columbus. This

address consisted of a description of the things that we

have learned about this strange people from the many

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mounds that were left by them. It also contained an in-

teresting description of Fort Hill.

Mr. J. J. Crumley of the State Forestry Department

followed with an address on the "Preservation of our

Forests". He talked most entertainingly upon what the

State of Ohio had already done towards the purchase of

land for forestry preserves, and outlined what more

would probably be done in the near future. He explained

the purposes for which land may be taken over, for the

preservation of the forest alone, or for the purpose of

a state park including the preservation of the forest.

Fort Hill would come under the latter classification

since it includes the ancient fortification as well as the

timber that covers the hill. The Society was delighted

with his address.

The extinct race which we for the want of the true

name call "Mound-Builders" was followed by another

race, the North American Indians. Even in 1844, it

was known that this race, too was doomed to extinction.

Mr. J. W. Johnson of Circleville not being at the meet-

ing, the reading of "The North American Indians" was

assigned to Mr. Olin J. Ross of Columbus. It was read

from McGuffey's Fifth Reader, Edition of 1844. It was

impressively read.

"Not many generations ago, where you now sit, encircled with

all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle

nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared.

Here, lived and loved another race of beings. Beneath the same

sun that rolls over your head, the Indian hunter pursued the pant-

ing deer;--gazing on the same moon that smiles for you, the

Indian lover wooed his dusky mate. Here, the wigwam-blaze

beamed on the tender and helpless, and the council-fire glared on

the wise and daring".

"The Indian of falcon glance and lion bearing, the theme

of the touching ballad, the hero of the pathetic tale, is gone; and

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his degraded offspring crawls upon the soil, where he walked in

majesty, to remind us how miserable is man, when the foot of the

conqueror is on his neck."

 

The last number on the program was the reading by

Miss Lucy Harvey of Columbus, of "The Death of the

Flowers", from McGuffey's Fourth Reader, Edition of

1844. The fourth verse was most fitting for the day,

and was beautifully rendered.

And now, when comes the calm, mild day,

As still such days will come,

To call the squirrel and the bee

From out their winter home;

When the sound of dropping nuts is heard,

Though all the trees are still,

And twinkle in the smoky light

The waters of the rill.

The south wind searches for the flowers

Whose fragrance late he bore,

And sighs to find them in the wood

And by the stream no more.

 

This closed the exercises. An hour was then spent

in encircling the Fort under the direction of Mr. Crum-

ley. There is a trail on the top of the embankment that

may be followed, except the southern portion covered

with underbrush. The Look-out to the south should

not be over-looked. The approaching enemy could there

have been discovered at a great distance. Perhaps, with

strong lenses, one could see the Great Serpent to the

west of the south. The trees now interfere with vision.

It was not so when the sun shone on this strange people.

The party then drove through Sinking Spring to The

Serpent Mound Park. Here the Great Serpent lay

peacefully, undisturbed by the presence of the Society,

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610       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications as it has lain for unknown centuries, and will lie for all time, a mystery of mysteries. A picnic supper was enjoyed from the left overs of the picnic dinner; and then came the drive home. September 14, 1925.

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