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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606 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
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
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
608 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
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
The McGuffey Society at Fort
Hill 609
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,
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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