OHIO STATE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
CATHERINE FAY EWING, ORIGINATOR OF
CHILDREN'S HOMES*
Children's Homes throughout the country
have at-
tracted deserved attention as
child-saving institutions.
They not only save life; they educate
to usefulness.
The Ohio law is simple. It was enacted
in 1866, and
in 1871 thirty-seven homes were
organized under it.
They were established and conducted by
counties and
intrusted to the care of three trustees
by the county
commissioners. All neglected or
destitute children, not
insane, imbecile, or affected by
contagious diseases, are
received into them on proper
certificate. The effort is
to make the homes for them all that the
word implies.
From these homes they are committed to
families. At
first when the children were placed in
families the offi-
cers did not follow them with care
systematically. Now
they inspect each child annually under
an amendment
to the law made in 1889.
These beneficent homes originated with
Mrs. Cath-
erine Fay Ewing. Mr. Fay, her
father, in the early
history of Marietta College, moved with
his family
from Westboro, Mass., where Mrs. Ewing
was born.
* Reprinted
from Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1903,
Vol. II, pp. 1309-1310.
(241)
242
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
He came to the neighborhood both to aid
the struggling
college and to give his sons the
benefit of its advan-
tages.
Miss Catherine Fay became a teacher and
after a
time a missionary to the Indian
Territory. She says
that in the fall of 1853, while
laboring as a missionary
among the Choctaw Indians, a physician
called upon
her and asked her to visit a poor
family where the
mother, a New England woman of culture
and refine-
ment, had died leaving five small
children. These little
ones he had committed to his care, and
he was trying
to find homes for them, their drunken
father having
deserted them. He wished her to adopt a
beautiful
little girl two years old, and she
longed to do it; but she
was a poor teacher, hundreds of miles
from home, and
it seemed impracticable. The little one
was taken by
a man and his wife who soon after began
to sell whisky
to the Indians. One day there was a
drunken fight, and
the child was thrown down the steps of
the house and
killed. This affected Miss Fay so
deeply that the de-
termination was made in her mind to
have a home of
her own where she could care for such
orphan and
homeless children. After this time every effort was
directed to that object; every dollar
was laid away with
care for this purpose. She taught two
years in Ken-
tucky, and with the money bought 15
acres of land
about 10 miles from Marietta. There was
a house of
two small rooms on the land. About this
time she re-
ceived two legacies, from an uncle and
aunt, and began
at once to build a larger house. Her
plan was to adopt
poor children and support them
herself. She went
to the county infirmary and found 26
children associ-
Reviews, Notes and Comments 243
ated constantly with older people, many
of them of the
vilest character.
This was more than she could bear. She
wanted
to take them all, but she could not
hope to support so
many by her own efforts. She went to
the directors of
the infirmary and asked them to let her
take them at
one dollar per week. The first few
weeks were very hard
ones, and the trustees of the district
school refused
to allow the children to attend school because
they were
paupers, and they were unwilling to
have their own
children associate with them, although
after a lawsuit
she obtained permission to send them to
school, but the
children were taunted and made unhappy
by being
treated as poorhouse children. After
the war for the
Union broke out many soldiers' children
were added to
the number in her care. At one time she had 35 of
these, and she felt that they deserved
something better
from their country than had been
provided, and became
exceedingly desirous that the effort
might be entirely
separated in name and in fact from the
poorhouse, and
have a distinct appropriation for its
use. In 1864 she
conferred with the commissioners about
the expediency
of applying to the legislature to bring
this change about.
The bill was presented that year, but
failed. In 1865
it was again presented and rejected,
but in 1866 it be-
came a law; so the plan which she at
first thought of
only as a relief to her own Children's
Home became in
the course of Providence the means of
planting homes
in different counties of the State.
244 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
EQUITATION IN AND ABOUT COLUMBUS
Mr. Frank Tallmadge, a life member of
the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society, a prominent
citizen of Columbus and the dean of
equitation in cen-
tral Ohio, has written a book entitled Horseback
Riding
in and around Columbus, 1774-1924. It is neatly printed
and bound, interestingly written and a
unique addition
to local history. The
"foreword" is written by Henry
M. Neil of Columbus. The book is published
by the Co-
lumbus Riding Club.
Following is the editorial estimate of
the book in
the Ohio State Journal of April
1, 1925:
HORSEBACK RIDING
No other man is better fitted to compile
and write the history
of horseback riding in Columbus than
Frank Tallmadge, whose
volume will come from the publishers in
a few days. From
his early boyhood he has been an
enthusiastic lover of the horse
and for more than a half century he has
owned and ridden saddle
horses over the highways and along the
byways of the city and
county. He has known and ridden with all
the lovers of horses
in Columbus in that long period of time.
He never was more
enthusiastic over that form of exercise
and sport than he is today
and to his outdoor life in the saddle he
attributes much of the
good health that he has enjoyed.
He has made his book complete, certain
to interest the lovers
of the saddle horse, and equally certain
to interest many others
because most people love to read a story
of horses, or stories in
which the horse has a real part. The
story covers horseback
riding from the time the first settlers
reached the present site
of Columbus, riding their horses along
the Indian trails in the
wild country. Months of patient work has
been done in going
through all the histories of the early
days to secure the material
for the book. The story is told in an
entertaining way, names of
many early and present-day people are
used and their part in
the outdoor exercise is given, bits of
personal experience and
incidents that give historical value and
personal interest to the
story. The book was made possible
through the generosity of
Reviews, Notes and Comments 245
the Columbus Riding Club, a group of men
and women who love
horses and know the joy of a long ride
or a quick gallop.
Horseback riding is done by fewer people
than in the (lays
prior to the coming of the auto, but in
and about the cities all
over the land there are riding clubs and
enthusiastic members.
These people know the joy of association
with a fine saddle
horse and do not propose to deny
themselves that pleasure. It
is no easy or simple task to become a
good rider. Courage and
persistence are required and an
understanding of horses is nec-
essary, but there is a physical
advantage and mental pleasure
that is large reward for all that is
given in mastering the task.
The volume by Mr. Tallmadge will
interest those who care for
a good story well told.
Professor Homer C. Hockett, of the Ohio
State Uni-
versity faculty, and Professor Arthur
M. Schlesinger,
formerly of Ohio State but now a member
of the teach-
ing force at Harvard, have written a
two volume work
entitled Political and Social
History of the United States
which will be issued by the Macmillan
Company in the
near future.
Dr. Hockett is author of the first
volume which
deals with American history from the
time of the dis-
covery by Columbus to 1828. The second
volume, by
Professor Schlesinger, covers the
period from 1829 to
date.
In the preliminary announcement the
statement is
made that "major emphasis in the
work has been placed
on political factors, although the
social, economic and
cultural phases are given due
consideration. In contrast
with earlier books, American history
from Colonial
times is treated as part of the stream
of world events
and not as separate matter."
We hope in a future issue to publish a
review of
this important work.
246 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
There has recently come to the library
of the Society
a copy of a very interesting one volume
history of the
United States entitled The Nation's
History by Arthur
R. Leonard, head of the department of
history in the
High School of Commerce, and Bertha E.
Jacobs of the
North High School of Columbus, Ohio.
The introduc-
tory sentences of the preface explain
the purpose of the
work:
A seventh and eighth grade text book in
American history,
to be valuable, needs to meet two
fundamental requirements.
First it must present the subject
honestly. To do this it must
show our history as a part of world
history, with a continuity of
cause and effect that will explain how
the past created the
present. Secondly, such a text must be a
tangible and reliable
help in the study hour. Many pupils waste time during that
period because they have neither a
definite study plan nor a way
to measure their accomplishment. The Nation's History is an
attempt to satisfy these two demands.
The book is amply illustrated, and
while intended as
a text for the schools will be found a
valuable and usable
manual for the shelves of the public or
private library,
especially for the person who wishes to
make brief ref-
erence to important events in our
history. The work
closes with carefully written
biographical sketches of
the prominent actors in the history of
our Republic.
The city of Akron will celebrate its
centennial anni-
versary the week beginning July 19,
1925. The growth
of Akron in all that makes a
progressive and prosperous
city has been substantial and
phenomenal--especially
in recent years. We hope to publish in the October
QUARTERLY an extended account of the
celebration.