150 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY those "born out of due time." There were not enough kindred spirits to support them, nor had there as yet been a great enough accumulation of wealth to enable them to carry out their plans. It takes time; and a good deal of it, to gather the money needed to materialize the dreams of seers like Drake and his companions. The Growing Desire for Culture. It was in these larger and more ambitious schemes that the growing desire for culture revealed itself the most conspicuously ; but it was to be seen, also, in the aspirations and struggles of other refined and noble souls to forward educational institutions of a private character, for example, 1. The female boarding school of the Misses Bailey which was said to have been the oldest establishment of the kind for the education of women, and its greatest pride was that Frederick Eckstein, the father of Cincinnati art, was one of its instructors. 2. The Cincinnati Female Academy established by Dr. John Locke in 1823 with a fine corps of teachers, among whom in 1829, J. Tosso, the musician, was numbered. The daughters of the most distinguished citizens were enrolled among its pupils, and in 1824 Amanda Drake, Mary Longworth and others, received rewards for preeminence in their work. 3. The Cincinnati Female School, conducted by Messrs. Albert and T. W. Picket. Both brothers were well known in the educational world, and Albert was president of the College of Teachers. 4. The school established and conducted by Alexander Kinmont. Kinmont was an eccentric but gifted man, known as an apostle of classical learning because he was familiar with the entire library of Greek and Latin learning,. and insisted upon this sort of knowledge as essential to true culture. He was offered a position in the Cincinnati College at a high salary ; but finding that he would be under subjection to the authority of trustees, declined and started this school of his own. "Think," exclaimed the rugged old man, "of my being told how to teach by a set of professional donkeys !" The number of such schools in so small a city is impressive and they shine like a constellation in the twilight of those early days, but among them, it remains to be said, a great central luminary, Lane Seminary, had recently arisen. Lane Seminary. As early as 1819 the brothers Elnathan and Peter Kemper set apart a few acres of land on Walnut Hills for elementary educational purposes, quite unconscious of the final use to which they would be put. In 1828 the idea of a school for the training of students of theology was proposed by some of the leading citizens who felt the need of educating candidates for the ministry in order to supply the needs of the rapidly growing west. Various plans were earnestly discussed, both as to its location and its denominational standing, and Elnathan Kemper came. to the front at last with an offer of sixty acres as a "free gift for this purpose and forty others, at a low price." His offer was eagerly accepted and the institution incorporated February 11, 1829.1 In order to promote the efficiency of the Theological Seminary it was decided to have a preparatory and collegiate department also. About $15,000 more was subscribed by local sympathizers and this fund was increased by gifts of $20,000 CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 151 from Arthur Tappan of New York, $10,000 by Dr. Tappan of Boston and $4,000 by his sister. With these funds a building costing $35,000 was erected and operatioins begun under the administration of George C. Beckwith of Lowell, Mass. A condition of Arthur Tappan's gift, that Dr. Lyman Beecher should be secured as an instructor in the new institution, was the means of bringing to Cincinnati one of the most remarkable men of its history, and for that matter of the age in which he lived. Dr. Beckwith soon resigned and Dr. Beecher, installed in his place, began to infuse into the institution his own indomitable spirit. As coadjutors, he had the help and sympathy of two other men of only a little less unusual gifts, Dr. Thomas J. Biggs and Dr. Calvin E. Stowe. From 1832 to 185o the old "war horse" pulled at his load, shedding luster upon the school and upon the city, by his wit, his learning and his piety. The conditions were primitive, of course. The work was hard and the fare frugal. The type of scholarship and of religion was dogmatic and narrow. Smoking tobacco was abhorred and forbidden. In order to solemnize the thoughts of the students, a cemetery was located near by for the following naive reason : "Inasmuch as those who are studying for the ministry need time and opportunity for meditation and self examination, a cemetery in the neighborhood will afford a favorable retirement for that purpose !" The influence of this school of the higher learning, through its students its professors and its distinguished head, became profound and wide reaching. As an instructor Dr. Beecher was effective because of his learning and ability to impart knowledge. As a preacher (part of the time, "at large" and the rest as pastor of the Second Presbyterian church) he was a dynamic influence in the community. As a theologian, he gave a new breadth to thought. In social life he shone by means of gifts whose brilliance could hardly be exaggerated. Besides his own influence upon the general life, that of his family (one of the most remarkable ever produced in America) told powerfully for all that was good and charming. It was a great day for the little city when Lyman Beecher entered its gates. The name of Dr. Daniel Drake had gone abroad ; but was known, of course, in a limited sphere—the sphere of scientific research. But here was a man who labored in the sphere of morals and religion. The questions which he discussed were those which encircled the life of all men living. Upon the great issues of human rights and duties this Boanerges thundered. He stood for righteousness, temperance and judgment to come and his trumpet never gave uncertain sounds. From one end of the country to another his eloquent voice was heard, and through him more than through any other and perhaps through all other persons, Cincinnati acquired a national fame. The effect of his life is a mighty lesson in the greatest of modern municipal arts, publicity. A municipal railroad, a Probasco fountain, a Springer music hall, public art galleries—all such features advertise a city. But to be known, to be respected, to be admired, to become famous, there is nothing like having one great man for a citizen. One Themistocles, one Cicero, one Dante, one Shakespeare, one Hugo, one Carlyle, one Emerson, one Henry Ward or Lyman Beecher can make the name of an obscure village reverberate in the ears of the world. 152- CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY   If Lane Seminary was the great central luminary; two other stars of the first magnitude soon rose above the horizon to disclose and demonstrate the existence of the growing desire for the higher and finer things of life. High Schools. There are no two institutions in the city now, and have not been, and are I not likely to be, around which cluster more fond, sweet memories ; nor any nobler hopes than Hughes and Woodward high schools, and the stories of their origin must forever possess a charm for all good Cincinnatians. They, also, began to be, in this period of intellectual efflorescence and furnish another illustration of the noble sentiments and ideals of these two remarkable decades. On a little farm of twenty-seven acres running up the sides of the hills to the north of the city there lived in the first decade of the last century an obscure and lonely person by the name of Thomas Hughes. Very little is known about him, but two distinct theories for his solitude prevailed ; one that his life had been practically wrecked by an unhappy marriage and the other that he grieved inconsolably for a wife whom he had loved and lost. The lonely recluse dwelt in a log cabin and his only intimates were a sorrel dog "Dick," a sorrel pony "Joe," a pet hen "Molly," and several other chickens. Above his door hung a little sign which informed the public that his business was repairing shoes. One day a neighbor, Mr. Melindy, found him still in bed at a late hour, and discovering that he was ill, succeeded in getting him to go to his own home. Once there, he was unable to return and upon. the 26th day of September, 1824, died quietly, unnoticed and unknown. In the will which he drew up during his last illness Thomas Hughes left his property to William Woodward, William Greene, Nathan Guilford. and Jacob Williams as trustees "to be applied to the support and maintenance of institutions for the education of our youth." Although the property was not large and never grew to a value of more than $2,000 per annum, it became the foundation of a school which has achieved a high distinction in the educational world and is now housed in a building whose beauty is almost incomparable. To stand for a few moments in contemplation of its almost perfect lines ; to watch the egress of 1,500 children at the close of a day's session ; to enter and behold the perfect administration under the conduct of that grand old nestor of our school life, Professor Coy, and then remember .that it is to be credited to an obscure old cobbler who, but for the kindness of a neighbor, might have died alone in a log cabin, is to be profoundly impressed by the vicissitudes, the contrasts, and the enormous possibilities of a single human life. To what degree the benevolence of Thomas Hughes excited the same spirit in William Woodward, one of the trustees of his will, may be impossible to tell, but at all events in 1826 this good man's thoughts were running in the same channel and, a little later, he turned over seven acres of valuable land (afterwards increased by one more) to Samuel Lewis, Osmond Cogswell and John Pancoast "as trustees of the Woodward Free Grammar School." If the gift of Thomas Hughes must forever reveal a pathetic aspect of our human existence, that of William Woodward will as constantly disclose the element of romance. In 180i James Cutter, an early pioneer, was killed on his farm near the present site of the city hospital by a party 'of Indians, and his CINCINNATI—TEE QUEEN CITY - 153 daughter, Abigail, fifteen years of age, became the ward of William Woodward, a young and rising. Cincinnatian. It was not long before the intimate relations into which he was thrown with this charming young lady ripened into love and she became his wife, bringing him quite a fortune for her father had been "well to do." With the passing years the wealth of the thrifty and upright couple grew and grew until at last they were reckoned among the most substantial people in the city. Nor did they hoard their money, but gave largely to benevolent enterprises, and especially to Lane Seminary and the old First Presbyterian church, of which they both were active members, and to the poor, so many of whom lived all about them. By this noble compassion for the unfortunate Mr. Woodward was led into a blunder which had to finally be corrected. In the document by means of which he made his gift, he announced his purpose to have the proceeds of the funds especially devoted to the education of "poor children," a stipulation more creditable to his humane sentiments than to his business judgment, for of course the more prosperous people kept their children away, and the objectionable discrimination had to. be removed. On the 31st day of October, 1831, the work of constructing a building for the new school had progressed so far that the opening exercises could be held, and Mr. Woodward, living until January 23, 1833, had the pleasure of watching the auspicious beginning of a school which has since become one of the principal glories of our city. The names of the pupils who have graduated from this school (culminating in that of President Taft) and of the teachers who have been its instructors make a most illustrious list. Among the latter are those of T. J. Wheelock, Claudius Bradford, H. L. Rucker, Dr. Joseph Ray (author of the Mathematical Series), Thomas Johnson Matthews (father of Justice Stanley Matthews, Judge Samuel R. Matthews, C. Bentley Matthews and Charles E. Matthews), Thomas J. Biggs (of Cincinnati College and Lane Seminary), William Holmes McGuffy (McGuffy's Readers). Several efforts were made to unite these two schools .upon a single foundation and also to combine them with the Cincinnati College, but fortunately they were left to work out their own individual destiny and glory. Public Schools. Important as were all these enterprises theywere lesss so perhaps than that of the inauguration of the public school system which took place as the result. of a general movement in the state, .culminating in a bill to enable cities to levy taxes for this purpose. In this general movement three of our citizens achieved for themselves an imperishable claim upon our honor and our gratitude. It seems unfair to pass entirely over the other achievements of Nathan Guilford, Samuel Lewis and Micajah Williams and simply credit them with a single deed, however great it is. But, it was for their devotion to the education of our children that we owe them our deepest gratitude. Through their influence (and that of many others equally as earnest no doubt) the city's charter was amended in 1828-1829 so as to enable it to undertake the work of public instruction. A school board was established and two buildings erected, one on the river near the Front Street Pumping Works, and the other at the corner of Sycamore and Fifth. A little later a third was built on Franklin street; a fourth on Congress street, and a fifth on Fourth, near Smith. They were wretchedly in- 154 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY adequate, however, and George Graham, one of Cincinnati's most distinguished citizens, dissatisfied with such miserable architecture, built a model building of his own accord, to set an example of better things and ways. In order to Make it beautiful he crowned it with a cupola, and when it was completed offered it to the city at cost. The council refused at first to accept it at all ; but finally agreed to take it off the builder's hands if he would deduct the price of the cupola! George Graham. To pass this incident without commenting upon the inconceivable parsimoniousness of the council would be as impossible as to refrain from paying a tribute of sincere admiration to the generosity and tact of the donor, whose method of administering a rebuke and carrying a lesson was like that of Michael Angelo. Instead of criticising the work of his pupils that great artist drew perfect circles beside their imperfect ones, declaring that he "preferred to teach by example." In this case the method worked admirably, for the council soon erected nine other buildings upon the same model at a cost of $96,000. If that first little model schoolhouse had been preserved and put in a glass case in some obscure corner of the present Hughes High School where it could stand without being at all in the way, the contrast would be a striking proof of the progress made in the seven decades that have intervened. Churches. If this period of the city's life (remember that we are considering the years from 1819 to 1839) was rich in the unfolding of the intellectual life through schools, it was not less so in that of the spiritual life through the churches. Through it all, one great central figure stood out as the living embodiment of those ideals which our Puritan forefathers had brought over from old England. It was the figure of Joshua L. Wilson who proclaimed from the pulpit of the old First Presbyterian church "the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus" and the everlasting antipathy of God to every form of human evil. Other men came and went, but he remained, the pole star of orthodoxy and of noble living. The spiritual condition of the community was not always, of course, at a high level ; but had its ebbs as well as flows. At times a tide of religious emotion uplifted the people to an exceptional height of worship and service, and a signal example of these periodical upheavals occurred in 1827. The religious revival of that year was evidently a sincere and profound movement, for it left an ineffaceable mark upon the morals of the city. In temporal interests the churches made continual and rapid progress. In 1829 the Second Presbyterian church erected a commodious building on the south side of Fourth street, between Vine and Race, and there, beginning in 1830, Lyman Beecher thundered forth those sermons that echoed all over America. The walls of this same building reverberated also with the fierce declamations of the protagonists of the old and new schools when the Rev. Dr. Wilson brought about. the trial of the Rev. Dr. Beecher for heresy. It was a bitter theological struggle and left its impress ineradicably upon the Presbyterian church in Cincinnati, where such controversies have been all too common. But it was an evidence of the fervor of the religious convictions of the day, a fervor which CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 155 found expression not only in heresy trials, but in great debates like that between Archbishop Elder and Alexander Campbell, who contended for their systems of faith with an enthusiasm and eloquence that attracted as large and as enthusiastic crowds as any spectacular show. But the First and Second churches were not the only Presbyterian societies which attained influence in this period. The Third sprang into existence in 1828-29; the Fourth soon after ; the Fifth, in '31 ; and the First, on Walnut Hills, dated as far back as 1819. The progress of Methodism was also very marked. The old brick church, called, sometimes, "Brimstone Corner," was built in 1822, and proving inadequate to hold the crowds, was replaced in 1831 by the simple but commodious and noble Wesley chapel. Asbury chapel and McKendre followed and other minor ones. To Methodism the good and great Bishop Morris was what Joshua Wilson was to Presbyterianism. Nor were the Baptist churches far behind their sisters ; but constantly increased in numbers and influence, while the central idea of their system, baptism by immersion, attained an increased vogue through its propagation by the disciples of Alexander Campbell, who formed an organization which came to be popularly known by his name. It proved to possess remarkable vitality and its spread was truly wonderful. The Episcopalians, conservative but aggressive, were not behind the others, either. "Christ Church" erected a fine new building in 1835 ; St. Paul's had sprung from the mother parish in 1828 ; and Bishop Philander Chase ( from 1819 to 1831) and Bishop Mcllvaine ( from 1832 to 1873) advanced their position by consecrated lives, and were vital forces in the community. The Roman Catholic church, which had struck deep. root in the early days of the city's life, became each year a greater and ever greater factor in the religious world. The early settlers in Cincinnati were Protestants from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and it is a rather strange fact that the town was almost thirty years old before a Catholic church was formed. In 1819 the first little society had about one hundred members, but no priest here. In 1823 Dr. Fenwick was made bishop of Cincinnati and a small frame church was dedicated on Sycamore street above Sixth, which has been a Catholic centre ever since and today is the site of the big St. Xavier's church and school. In 1826 a brick church was built and there were a bishop and four priests in the town. Soon some sisters came from Europe and opened a school' which numbered sixty pupils. In 1831 the Athenaeum was started, which is now St. Xavier college. Some years later, in 1839, the present St. Peter's cathedral was commenced and finished five years afterwards. Eighteen hundred and thirty-two was one of the cholera years and in it died the good Bishop Fenwick. He was succeeded by Bishop Purcell who; in 1850, became archbishop and one of the great men not only of his church but of the community. So though .the Catholic church did not come early, it grew rapidly and strongly. A Jewish society was organized as early as 1822. The congregation of the Children of Israel (Reformed) was organized in 1830. In 1835 a synagogue was located on Fourth street between Sycamore and Broadway. Vol. I-41 156 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY As early as 1814 a little German Lutheran congregation sprang into existence, and in 1836-37 there were two vigorous churches of this denomination. A Universalist church was established in 1827. The First Congregational church (Unitarian) entered upon a distinguished career in 1824, and in 1830 a building was dedicated at the southeast corner of Fourth and Race, and the clergymen ministering to it during this period were men of extraordinary talents. It would be hard to find a church of any denomination in any city of America that could furnish an unbroken series of such remarkable preachers. The conspiracy of forces that attracted them one after another from so many different places to this hitherto unknown temple of worship in a still crude metropolis of a yet undeveloped empire in a wilderness must always remain a riddle of our history. While it would be a pleasure to dwell on their characters and accomplishments, it is not a necessity, for the bare recital of their names recalls to all intelligent readers the outlines of well-known careers. The Rev. E. B. Hall, its first pastor, was succeeded by Ephraim Peabody (editor of Western Messenger) ; Adam Bancroft ( father of the historian) ; Cyrus Augustus Bartol (for three-quarters of a century a leader of the denomination) ; James Freeman Clarke (a distinguished preacher and author) ; Christopher Breese Cranch (also a poet and painter) ; Henry Whitney Bellows (a theologian of national renown) ; and (in 1839) by William Henry Cl vanning (nephew of Channing the Great). These two decades were apparently the banner ones in the religious life of our city. Cincinnati is not pre-eminently a religious community. At least it is not distinctly ecclesiastical. The churches have had to struggle against a deeply seated skepticism at once philosophical and practical. The very considerable Jewish population, whose sacred day is Saturday, has helped to secularize the Christian Sabbath by turning it into a day of business or of pleasure. The German element has always antagonized the Puritanical conception of the Christian life and contended for an easier orthodoxy and a less rigid.code of personal conduct. The whisk#y and the brewing interests have been in deeper conflict still with the conception of duty taught in the churches, and as they increased in extent and influence did not a little to render the work of the churches hard and inefficient. In some periods this work has been difficult to the point of discouragement ; but in these two decades, after the first impulse of lawlessness had been repressed, and before the other influences had been fully developed, the religious life of the community reached what seemed to be its highest water mark. Theaters. A study of the intellectual life of any city at any period must reckon with many other institutions than those of the schools and the churches. There are, for example, the theaters. Whatever may be their ultimate effect upon the community (and they vary enormously as the tastes of the people change), they are always a mighty factor in the formation of public opinion and public morals. It cannot be forgotten that while the city was still a wretched little village and there were no better places "to hold the mirror up to nature" than barns and ballrooms, the leading people were so anxious to behold real life reflected on the CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 157 stage that (because they could not afford to import professionals) they became actors themselves. Grotesque as their efforts sometimes were, no doubt, a taste for the drama was so highly developed that when, in 1819, a meeting of citizens was held to inaugurate a movement for erecting a building for theatrical purpose, the greatest interest was shown. It is true that the opposition of church people burst forth once more with a violence equal to that of a former occasion, but when Alexander Drake and his wife, two actors of unusual attainments, pledged themselves to maintain the highest possible standards in the selection and presentation of plays, the project was enthusiastically inaugurated and successfully carried out. Upon the 8th of March, 1820, a fine building located between Main and Sycamore on Second street, and dedicated solely to the drama, was opened with imposing ceremonies. It was capable of seating 8o0 people and for a time drew crowds. The Drakes were the principal attractions, and their talents, according to E. D. Mansfield and Mrs. Trollope, were worthy of favorable comparison with the best. Nor were they the only actors of unquestionable genius. Among those who played the minor parts, there was a sixteen-yearteold boy by the name of Edwin Forest, who began to divide their honors and who subsequently made the world resound with his praises. The Drakes were faithful to their promise and every effort was made to keep the drama pure ; but in a community so small and so remote, it was found to be impossible to secure talented enough actors to make the great plays attractive. In every institution (sacred as well as profane) the germs of deterioration are implanted ; and the theater is certainly not less generously stocked with these destructive microbes than the rest. As the efforts of the idealists and purists relaxed under the burden and strain of keeping it clean, the inherent elements of decay began to operate. By 1825 the business ran down to so low an ebb that the building was sold for taxes. In the hands of its purchasers it suffered a precarious existence for fourteen years as a place of cheap amusement, and was finally destroyed by fire on the night of April 4, 1834. In 1836 another theater of less importance suffered the same calamity, and as the city was in consequence without any accommodations for the drama, a number of progressive people attempted to erect a building through popular subscriptions, but failed, and, at last, John Bates, the owner of the Exchange bank, came to the rescue. In less than two months' time he built and opened on the east side of Sycamore, between Third and Fourth, one of the most important amusement houses in America, and for many years it maintained the best traditetions of the stage. Within those walls were heard and seen the most distinteguished actors and actresses of the age. There the world of fashion was frequently gathered in assemblages of the greatest brilliance. Whatever benefit the representation of life's realities by the imitative art can possibly confer upon the race was felt to the full in that beautiful edifice, and minds that are sensitive to the appeals of past glories are often subdued to reminiscence and gentle melancholy while passing the old National theater which has since become a warehouse. A desire for culture so general, but so imperfectly understood, and guided as that which we are striving to portray, will not confine itself within narrow limitatetions, but break out in many different directions. 158 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY Museums. To Dr. Drake and other leaders of opinion it occurred that a museum of curious and wonderful things would enlarge the public mind, and through their earnest and unselfish efforts one was established at the corner of Pearl and Main. No matter how chaste and carefully selected an exhibit of this kind may be at first, it is more than likely to become grotesque, if not immoral in the long run. In this particular case it did ; and one of the monstrous features of the exhibit was a representation of the infernal regions, prepared (it has been both affirmed and denied) by Hiram Powers, a young artist whose name has since become illustrious. But this museum was scarcely a circumstance compared to the "Bazaar" of Mrs. TIrollope. This gifted but eccentric woman had come to America with, we know not how many, curious and false ideas of what its life might be. Ignorant of the habits, the tastes and, above all, the spirit of the American people, she fell into absurd and disastrous errors. That feature of our life which obtrUded itself most violently upon European visitors was a certain tendency to extravagance and exaggeration. Well, thought Mrs. Trollope, beholding only the superficial qualities of her new neighbors and utterly ignorant of that deeper judgment of values (that common-sense perception of the inner realities of things so characteristically American), if they want the grotesque they shall have it ! And thereupon she built that bazaar, which might better have been called bizarre, so gross a caricature was it of all the elements of architectural beauty. Within it (to dazzle the eye and tempt the purse of her' ignorant ( ?) patrons) she gathered a pot pourri of nondescript articles of every kind. For a short time the glamor of her name and the dazzling character of the display both of the building and its contents attracted crowds ; but eventually the common sense of the people prevailed and they treated the whole affair with good-natured indifference. A saner effort to cater to those natural cravings for the unrealities of the world of imagination was made in 1826, when Frederick Eckstein inaugurated his "New Academy of Fine Arts." He was a man of real culture and possessed some genuine works of art which were increased in number by others loaned him by public-spirited citizens. A fund of money was raised, or pledged at least; a room was rented ; Eckstein was appointed director ; some little interest was shown at first, but the times were not yet ripe for such ambitious experiments, and it gradually declined. Various Organizations for Promoting Culture. Besides such educational forces as these, at work like yeast in the fresh dough of the city's life, there were many others of a kindred nature. There was the "Society for Investigation" founded (in 1822) with the ambitious purpose of solving the profoundest problems of life. "The Franklin Society" of 1825 was for scientific research, and the Lyceum in 1830 for public debate and "The Inquisition" for the study of literature and the foundation of a library. A still more ambitious organization was "The Semi-Colon Club" which met in the magnificent residence of John E. Foote at the northeast corner of Third and Vine, in the membership of which were to be found most of the leading men and women of the city. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 159 It was in 1833 that the College of Teachers was established, one of the most remarkable organizations in the history of our own, or any city. Its purpose was the cultivation of the newest and best methods of pedagogy and it attracted, inspired and refined the strongest and most cultivated minds of the city. In its membership were twenty men, among whom Albert Picket, Alexander Kinmont, C. B. McKee, Stephen Wheeler, Nathaniel Holley, Caleb Kemper, Cyrus Daventeport, Thomas J. Matthews and the two Talbots were conspicuous. Out of this movement grew a second and still more important one, the establishment of "The Western Literary Institute and College of Professional Teachers," the proceedings of which were of consequence enough to have been published and preserved (1834-1840) in six volumes. At the various meetings addresses were delivered by such distinguished persons as Dr. Drake, Joshua L. Wilson, James H. Perkins, Professor Stowe, Lyman Beecher, Dr. Alexander Campbell, Thomas Smith Grinke and a host of others. The range of subjects, the brilliance of distecussion, the progressiveness of ideas revealed in the records, may well humble the pride of some of the conceited educators of the present time who labor under the delusion that wisdom began and will die with them. But convincing as are all these evidences that a new life was stirring in the bosom of the growing city, there yet remains the most conclusive proof of all in the story of that celebrated Buckeye Club, of which Dr. Drake was the founder and presiding genius. He was living at the time when these famous gatherings began (in 1833) on Vine street at the corner of Baker, and it was in his home that they were held—a home which the doctor had christened "Buckteeye Hall," on account of his love for the tree and its fruit. The account which E. D. Mansfield has given us of these gatherings has become one of the classics of our local literature and will be quoted by every one who writes the story of these early days. "The plan of entertainment and instruction was peculiar. It was to avoid the rigidity and awkwardness of a mere literary party and yet to keep the mind of the company occupied with questions for discussion, or topics for reading and composition. Thus the conversation never degenerated into mere gossip, nor was it ever forced into an uninteresting and unpleasant gravity. We used to assemble early—about half past seven—and when fully collected, the doctor, who was the acknowledged chairman, rang his little bell for general attention. This caused us no constraint but simply brought us to a common point, which was to be the topic of the evening. Sometimes this was appointed beforehand, sometimes it arose but of what was said or proposed on the occasion. Some evenings compositions were read on topics selected the last evening. On other evenings nothing was read, and the time was passed in a general discussion of some interesting question. Occasionally a piece of poetry or a story came in to diversify and enliven conversation. These however were rather interludes than parts of the general plan, whose main object was the discussion of interesting questions belonging to society, literature, education and religion. "The subjects were always of the suggestive and problematical kind ; so that the ideas were fresh, the debate animated and the utterance of opinions frank and spontaneous. There in that little circle of ladies and gentlemen I have heard many of the questions which have since occupied the public mind talked over with an ability and a fullness of information which is seldom possessed by 160 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY larger and more authoritative bodies. To the members of that circle these meetings and discussions were invaluable. They were excited to think deeply of what many think of but superficially. They heard the ring of the doctor's bell with the pleasure of those who delight in the communion of spirits and revel in intellectual wealth. Nor was that meeting an unimportant affair, for nothing can be unimportant which directs minds whose influence spreads over a country ; and such were here. I do not say what impressions they received; but I know that persons were assembled there in pleasant converse such as seldom meet in one place and who since going out into the world have signalized their names in the annals of letters, science and benevolence. I shall violate no propriety by naming some of them, for those whom I shall name have long been known to the public. Dr. Drake was himself the head of the circle, whose suggestive mind furnished topics for others and was ever ready to incite their energies and enliven the flagging conversation. General Edward King was another who in spirit, manners and elocution was a superior man, having the dignity of the old school and the life of the new. He was a son of Rufus King, one of the early and able statesmen of our country, who did much to form our constitutions and whose name will live in the annals of history. General King was bred a lawyer and came out to Ohio, as many aspiring young men did. He married the (laughter of Governor Worthington, practiced law at Chillitecothe and became speaker of the Ohio legislature. Removing to Cincinnati he became a member of our literary circle—both witty and entertaining. His wife, since known as Mrs. Peter, has become more widely known than her husband, for her social and active benevolence and as the founder of institutions and a leader in society. She had read a good deal, had a strong memory, and was remarkable for the fullness of her information. She wrote several essays for our circle and was a most instructive member. The activity, energy and benevolence of her mind accomplished in the next forty years probably more of real work for society than any one person, and that work has made her widely known both at home and abroad. Judge James Hall, the editor of the Western Monthly magazine, whose name is both known in Europe and America, was also there. Professor Stowe, unsurpassed in biblical learning, contributed his share to the conversation. Miss Harriet Beecher (now Mrs. Stowe) was just beginning to be known for her literary articles, and about that time contributed several of her best stories to the press. She was not a ready talker, but when she spoke or wrote showed both the strength and the power of her mind. Her sister, Miss Catherine Beecher, so well known for her labors and usefulness in the cause of female education, was a more easy and fluent conversationalist. Indeed few people have more talent to entertain a company or keep the ball of conversation going than Miss Beecher ; and she was as willing as she was able. "Conspicuous in both person and manners was Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, whom none saw without admiring. She was what the world calls charming, and though since better known as an authoress, was personally quite remarkable. She and her highly educated husband (a man on some subjects quite learned, but of such retiring habits as hid him from the public view) were then keeping a female seminary in Cincinnati. They were among the most active and interesting of our coterie. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 161 "I might name others whose wit or information contributed to the charms of our intercourse ; but I should want the apology which public fame has given to the mention of these. In the current of public life, it often happens that those the most unknown to the public are the most genial and inspiring spirits of the social circle. Like the little stream which flows among the lofty hills they sparkle as they flow and shine in the shade. We had more than one such ; and while memory sees first the fame covered hill, it dwells longest and closest with those who cast sunshine on our path and made life happy and bright." If there were no other evidence to prove that true culture existed in the city of Cincinnati, in the early part of the last century, this passage alone would be convincing; but there are so many that in despair we must limit ourselves to a single one, the newspapers and the literary journals. Newspapers and Journals. This period abounded in efforts to establish all sorts of periodicals, but the lives of most of them were brief and many of them tragic. There were the Western Spy, the Inquisitor and Cincinnati Advertiser; The Literary Cadet; The National Republican and Ohio Political Register; The Independent Press and Freeman's Advocate; The Advertiser; Liberty Hall; The Gazette; The Emporium; The National Union Pantheon; The Western Tiller Saturday Evening Chronicle; The Cincinnati Mirror; The Republican,; The Daily Herald; The English Tattler; The Morning Star; The Catholic Telegraph; The Western Christian Advocate; The Philanthropist; The Western Temperance Journal; The Hesperian; Rose of the Valley and Family Magazine; to say nothing of those which were printed in the German language. Our interest cannot possibly be profound, in many of them, for they melted away like snowflakes, clouds and other unsubstantial things. It is because they furnish an indubitable evidence of the passionate striving of the souls of our forefathers for self-expression ; for attainment of the higher life that their names are mentioned here. For, it is not with the inefficient and the futile that we are concerned. It is the thing, the person, the institution that survived or that exerted influence, with which historians have to deal. We must, therefore, however regretfully, (for the stories of some of these enterprises are thrilling), confine our attention to a few of those whose importance was permanent, either simply because they survived in the struggle for existence, or really possessed an exceptional value from their contents, or because of the peculiar talents of their editors. Gazette. We begin with the Cincinnati Gazette, the first number of which was published on July 15, 1815, by Thomas Painter. To follow its history is like a study in the transmigration of souls, for it was combined with Liberty Hall on December 11, 1815. In 1822 The Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette was published weekly and semi-weekly by Morgan Lodge & Co., the "Company" being Isaac G. Burnet, who edited it for several years. He retired in favor of Benjamin Powers. a brother of the sculptor, and he in turn gave way to Charles Hammond, whose influence upon the life of the city was inferior to few men of his time, and perhaps to none, unless to Dr. Drake. He came to the city 162 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY from Wheeling, West Virginia, having won consideration by publishing in the Scioto Gazette of Chillicothe a noble' defence of General Arthur St. Clair, then at the ebb tide of his fortunes. He was admitted to the bar in 1801; but in addition to the duties of his prOfession, edited the Ohio Federalist in Belmont county, and was also a member of the Ohio house of representatives. He came to Cincinnati in 1822. and was appointed in 1826 to the office of reporter to the supreme court, which office he held until his death. By a series of articles published in the National Intelligencer, signed "Hampdon" he .achieved a national reputation. In 1823 he became an editorial writer of the Cincinnati Gazette and editor-in-chief in 1825, winning in this capacity that extraordinary encomium of Daniel Webster "the greatest genius that ever wielded an editorial pen." As if this were not distinction enough, he gained a great fame in the law and was known as "the Alexander Hamilton of the West." Throughout his life he was an uncompromising foe of evils of every kind and particularly of slavery. The great ideas which he cherished and convictions which he held were advocated with such simplicity and power as to give him pre-eminence everywhere, and from 1825 to 1840 he may be said to have formed the opinions of the ablest men and women in the city. Advertiser. Another of the papers of that far off period still survives under the name of the Enqarer. At that time it was well known as the Cincinnati Advertiser and Ohio Phenix and was edited by Moses Dawson, a man of scarcely inferior talents to Mr. Hammond. He was less cultivated; but not less highly endowed by nature and possessed a hammer and anvil style which drove his ideas irresistibly home. His paper was the leading democratic organ and Mr. Dawson and Mr. Hammond were continually engaged in wars of words to the immense delight of their readers. The political antagonism of these two fighting editors appeared not to have made them personal enemies, however, for they often met in the greatest good humor and forgot their wrangles in their toddies. The Chronicle. In 1826 there was established a paper called the Cincinnati Chronicle, which was edited for a time by two young men whose names will ever be held in honor in the city whose character they did so much to shape. These men were Benjamin Drake, a younger brother of the great doctor, and E. D. Mansfield, a son of the distinguished general. They had made a considerable reputation by the publication in 1826 of their immortal "View of the City" and naturally enough drifted into journalism and became the principal attractions on the staff of the Chronicle. Drake remained with the paper almost until his death in 1841, and Mansfield continued as sole editor until 1848, and resumed his labors, after an interruption in 1850. Among the contributors to this journal were Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe ; Henry B. Blackwell ; James H. Perkins ; Mrs. Sigourney ; Mary De Forest and Lewis J. Cist, and it was in one of the minor positions that Richard Smith (who afterwards on the Gazette and Convmercial-Gazette became one of the leading editors of America) began his career. There must have been a noble quality in the paper but the very grandeur of the sentiments CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 163 of the editors and publishers (all being unalterably opposed to both slavery and liquor), made the struggle for existence a hard one. The Mirror. The Cincinnati Mirror is another paper which must always be of special interest to us because William D. Gallagher, one of the greatest literary lights of that period, was its editor. To trace the current of its life through its consolidation with the Chronicle, its reappearance (after a collapse) as The Buckeye and its resuscitation under the name of the Chronicle, would only divert us from recognition of the gifts and achievements of Gallagher himself. Born in Philadelphia in 1808; educated in a log house near the home of the Carey sisters, and at Lancaster Academy, he finally entered a small printing house in Postoffice alley, west of Main, and there acquired the art of setting type. In 1826 he was employed on the Western Tiller and drifted from one paper to another, as such young fellows do, aimlessly and often hopelessly, until his real chance arrived. In 1828 he made a trip into Kentucky, which he described so charmingly in a series of letters to the Chronicle, as to secure a local fame and the friendly interest of Nicholas Longworth, who encouraged his aspirations and helped him to build a home. This home he subsequently sold to raise money to enable him to establish a paper in Xenia ; but as this scheme fell through, he was invited to take editorial charge of the Mirror, among whose contributors were numbered Timothy Flint, J. A. McClurg, Morgan Neville, Benjamin Drake, Mrs. Dumont and Mrs. Hentz. During this period he delivered many popular lectures and published a book of poems. In 1836 he edited the Western Literary Journal, which was soon merged with the Western. Monthly Magazine. Five issues proved its inability to survive, and Gallagher went to Columbus to connect himself with the Ohio State Journal. It was in 1838, however, that he began the most brilliant effort of his life, the publication of The Hesperian. The first two numbers appeared in Columbus, but the third in Cincinnati, "from a little room 10 x 12 feet with a single door and window, on Third street east of Main." In the few brief months of its existence The Hesperia'', attracted the admiring attention of a large public through the contributions of its editors and a band of talented associates including Sherer, Perkins, Neville, Dr. and Benjamin Drake, Prentice, N. G. Symmes, Hildreth, Cranch and Robert Dale Owen. To what dignity and glory this magazine might have attained and what influence it might have exerted upon the literary development of the west, had its financial backing been adequate, are matters of interesting speculation. That backing was most inadequate, however, and Gallagher was soon compelled to abandon the sinking ship and take editorial passage with Charles Hammond on the Ga.s.ette. Up to 1850 he labored ceaselessly for the public good as editor, poet, lecturer and philanthropist. After that time he removed to. Kentucky and passed the remainder of his life in a lonely spot called Pewee Valley, not far from Louisville, for one of whose papers, The Courier, he wrote much, but unacceptably often, because of his ardent opposition to slavery. So clear and determined were his views upon this question as to subject him to persecution from his neighbors. In 1881 he published a volume of poems entitled "Miami Woods and Other Poems." He lived and labored and loved until 1894, when he died, respected and admired, by even those whose hatred he had evoked. 164 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY Commercial Register. The life of the Commercial Register was so brief that it would have sunk into oblivion but for the ever memorable editorship (in 1826) of Morgan Neville, whose devotion to literature, art and every form of public welfare has entitled him to permanent admiration. He died in 1840 and his library which was sold for $800 was the foundation of the Ohio Mechanics Institute. Western Magazine and Review. In 1827 a diminutive pamphlet called the Western. Magazine and Review was published by one of the most important personages in our history. Timothy Flint was a man of remarkable talents, who, after graduating at Harvard College, was ordained to the Christian ministry and came to Cincinnati in 1815. His social connections and his personal talents made him a welcome guest in the homes of the leaders of society and business. After spending the winter here, he wandered westward and having roamed around for five uneventful years, returned to New England and published his "Recollections of the Last Ten Years in the Valley of the Mississippi." The success of the volume encouraged him to write the novel "Francis Berrian." Returning to Cincinnati in 1825, he began the publication of the magazine which did much to awaken an enthusiasm for good literature. The influence of this strong man cannot be measured by the length of his stay, which was brief, for in 1833 he again returned east to succeed Charles Trenno Hoffman as editor of The Knickerbocker Magazine. For a few years more he struggled nobly against a life long feebleness of body and died in 1840. Mrs. Trollope regarded him as the most attractive personality she had met in Cincinnati and he certainly was one of the moulders of its destiny. James Hale. The richness of this period in the characters and labors of editors finds another illustration in the career of James Hale, a native of Philadelphia. After participating in the War of 1812 he settled in Pittsburgh where he became acquainted with Morgan Neville, then editing The Pittsburgh Gazette. In 1820 he took a trip down the Ohio, a description of which in print was republished in England. He spent a number of years practising law in Illinois, where in 1829 he issued the first literary annual of the Ohio valley, the well known Western Souvenir. In 183o he issued the first number of the Illinois Magazine, and after two years removed to Cincinnati and began to edit the Western Monthly Magazine. Besides his editorial labors he found time to write and publish books, the best known of which are "Legends of the West" and "Romance of Western History." Nor did such efforts consume all the strength of his genius. He became the cashier of the Commercial Bank and in 1843, its president, which position he held until he died in 1868. The Literary Cadet. In 1819 The Literary Cadet, which Professor Venable calls the "pioneer literary leaf of the Ohio valley" appeared and survived for six short months. In the early part of 1821, the Olio was launched through the enthusiasm of Robert T. Lytle, Sol. Smith, John H. James and Lewis Noble. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 165 A little later the "Literary Gazette" entered upon a brief but famous career, its best known contributor being Thomas Pierce, whose poetical effusions as "Horace in Cincinnati" convulsed the community and portrayed its life with extraordinary accuracy. Pierce was a Quaker merchant, but possessed of keen observation and a remarkable facility for rhyming, which he used to lampoon in a merciless but good humored style the vices of the day and to caricature the peculiarities of the people. A single sample must suffice, but it could be multiplied indefinitely. "Our citizens had long Unfearing fortune's evils, With cards and wine and song Enjoyed their midnight revels. They grew more free and bold Nor thought to be molested; At length a tale was told And every man arrested. "Blush jurymen with shame For wantonly commanding Some hundred men of fame, Renown and lofty standing To quit their favorite sports, Renounce their gambling errors And stand before the Court In all its mighty terrors." The Philanthropist. We have a right to feel an honest pride in these early efforts at self expression, and especially in that most important periodical of all, the Philanthropist, edited by James G. Birney and published by Achilles Pugh, from the northwest corner of Seventh and Main. It was not distinguished for its literary style but for its moral character. And yet it acted perhaps as the most powerful stimulus to the intellectual as well as ethical life of the community, for it provoked discussion of the most fundamental problems of human existence. After a few issues, opposition began to awaken and through its entire history its editor met with hatred and persecution. But with unflagging energy and indomitable perseverance Mr. Birney hammered away at the great vice that was destroying the political unity as well as the ethical nature of our country. In spite of themselves the people were compelled to think profoundly and seriously about the spiritual aspects of individual life and national character. So much so in fact that his influence upon the "soul of the city" was not second, we believe, to any man who ever lived and labored in it. If we were alive to the significance and value of the great formative influences of our municipal life, we should erect some worthy memorial of that great paper, of its editor and of its equally great publisher. 166 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY The Religious Journals. Nor were the periodicals altogether secular and literary. A long essay of the greatest interest and value could be written about the influence of the religious journals upon our municipal life. In such productions the city has always abounded, and in the first . period which we are studying some of the greatest and best were born. In 1831 The Baptist Weekly Journal of the Mistesissippi Valley appeared, and in 1834. The Cross.. The Western Christian Advocate was established in 1834. The Western Messenger, a religious as well as literary journal and organ of the Unitarian church, began its career in 1835 and continued to exert a powerful influence until its extinction in 1841. Its allegiance was divided between Cincinnati and Louisville; but it was our own city's real child, and was, in Prof. Venable's judgment, the precursor of the Boston Dial. Medical Journals. From the religious journals we turn to the medical. It was inevitable that a city so distinguished as Cincinnati for its great doctors and its medical schools should develop first-class medical journals. Two efforts to do this had been made and failed, previously to 18a6; but in that year a temporary success was achieved by the Ohio Medical Repository, which in a year or so passed into the hands of Dr. Drake and reappeared as the Western Medical and Physical Journal. It lived, while other organs gasped and died and in 1842, too late to be counted in this period, the Western Lancet, a very important paper, saw the light. The German Papers. A great and formative influence of this period is to be found in the life and labors of the Germans, and one of them became the founder, in 1836, of the Volksblaat, by which so many of his countrymen have sworn during seven decades of its existence. The name of this man was Charles Reemlin, who came to Cincinnati from Heilbrun, the city of his birth, in 1833, and threw himself eagerly into the work of promoting the interests of his fellow countrymen. When Der Deutsch Franklin (a paper published in the German language), renounced its democratic principles in 1836, Reemlin started an opposition paper, the Volksblatt, which at once commanded respect, and has since continued to be one of the great forces of our metropolitan life. It must seem plain, from even so partial a view of the situation as this, that from 1819 to 1839 there were remarkable men and remarkable movements in a city, so young and so small as Cincinnati was. There was wonderful opportunity for invention, for leadership, for influence. In the later periods of a city's growth the crystallized forms of life become obstacles to the development of individuality, and the free spirit of progress. People are hampered and intimidated by traditions and often bound hand and foot by entrenched evils. But in these two decades all the ingredients were pliable and responsive. They answered quickly to the potent touch of a moulding hand. That the moulding hands were generally master hands is a fact that must not be lost sight of, of course. It is not always a proof that men are great because they have produced great results ; for if they stand at the fountain sources of history they may turn its contents into almost any channel, as a child CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 167 may turn the course of a river in any direction if it stands close enough to the spring where it heads. But these men and their contemporaries in many other fields seem great to us, apart from the fortunate position which they happen to occupy. They were great in natural endowments and character as well as achievements. But while giving full credit to their influence, we cannot forget the other forces that contributed to the growth and development of the city from 1819 to 1839. New currents of life were being poured into the body politic. High and invigorating tides of immigration were perpetually flowing in—not the confusteing and bewildering elements with which we have to deal today, and which we assimilate with so much difficulty. The immigration came largely from the east and consisted of people of the same race and customs. Most of them were young or in the full vigor of life. They were in genuine sympathy with those traditions of government and religion which had been already established. They made no effort to bring about revolutionary changes. They built upon the foundations already laid, a fact particularly true of the German and the Irish immigrants. The former were industrious and thrifty, accepting the new world in good faith, and determined to identify themselves sincerely with it, while still retaining the language and customs of their native land. The latter were full of joy and hope in the midst of customs affording so favorable a contrast to the oppression and poverty of their native land. They were poor in purse, but strong in body and fresh in spirit. With a strange and almost uncanny art, they seized upon and began to work the political machinery of our government, even while digging the ditches and doing the menial labor. The sprinkling of Jews that came added an element of distinctive value in the commercial world. They were shrewd and quick to seize upon the neglected opportunities for acquiring wealth. The only element that could not be fused was the colored one. The natural antipathy of the white race for the black and the incessant irritation of the slave owners over any kindness shown the colored people, whether free or fugitive, kept society in a state of apprehension and upheaval. But this was only a minor obstacle after all to the homogeneous development of the social life of the community, and on the whole that development was as normal and healthy as it was free and vigorous. The city was not so large but that all the leading people could know each other and be known of everyone. Men and women of talent were not lost sight of, as in the present day. There comes a time in the growth of every great metropolis when even people of the most exceptional charm or power are crowded into obscurity. There are so many remarkable people in a city of a hundred thousand (to say nothing of a million), population that not all can shine, and it causes every true lover of his fellow men a genuine pain to think how few of these gifted men and women who live in the same town with him, he can possibly know. But in a city like that of Cincinnati before the "forties" it was different. The little town was the unquestioned mettibpolis of a vast region. The lightest deeds and words of the principal citizens resounded for many miles. A first class surgical operation by Dr. Drake ; a learned argument by Bellamy Storer ; a brilliant sermon by Lyman Beecher ; a worthy poem by Thomas Pierce ; or a rattling editorial by Hammond would be the talk .of the town and the region. 168 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY About a situation like this, there is something charming. The incentives it furnishes are very great and the pleasures it offers very real. No thoughtful and sensitive person can fail to be overcome at times by the vastness and incomprehensibleness of a city, even no bigger than our own. He realizes that he is but a drop in an ocean of 350,000 souls; that nothing he can do or say can awaken a great deal of interest; that his personal influence must be infinitesimal; that he will be forgotten almost as soon as he is buried; that the life around him is too big for his measurement ; that a thousand items of burning interest escape him daily ; that there are hundreds of men and women whose personal talents and charm would add immeasurably to the wideness of his experience but whom he can never, possibly, know. If he is not often overpowered and saddened by this vastness and complexity; if. he does not often think that fond regrets and even painful longing of the "good old days" when an alert citizen could get a bow from every pretty woman; exchange a friendly nod with every capable man ; be "familiar with every important incident and able to retail every charming bit of gossip; it would be strange indeed. Upon the period when single individuals counted for so much and could be so well known, the door is rapidly closing. Already, as the first half century of the city nears its end, the life is becoming hopelessly complex. The population had climbed to 46,000. Sects and parties had multiplied. Social distinction had been established. Conflicting interests had created irreconcilable antagonisms. The bare fact that a person was the idol of one set insured his becoming the bete noir of another. And then, the interests had multiplied as well as conflicted. There were too many matters of importance to be comprehended or enjoyed by everybody. The canal, for example, divided the city into two almost distinct and separate sections. On the north side of it dwelt the Germans almost exclusively, and "Over .the Rhine" there was what had gradually become a sort of foreign city, with interests of its own—ideals, aspirations, prejudices, passions, of which the people on the other side knew almost nothing. The emotions with which we say farewell to this period of simplicity and of unity are mingled ones, of course. We shall regret the intimacy of contact and the accuracy of knowledge which so small a city renders possible. The delightful charm of familiarity with places, persons, things, will vanish. We shall no longer glide down a quiet, narrow stream; but float out upon the surface of a noisy and forever widening river. We shall be bewildered by multiplicity; we shall be confounded by complexity.   The Race Problem. While the commercial, religious and educational life of the city thus went on expanding normally, a situation was being slowly developed that became increasingly ominous with every year and threatened even greater catastrophes than it actually precipitated. It was a moral and political situation created by a geographical ow. Cincinnati lay so near to the South (of which it was and is the natural gateway) that slaves were forever escaping into it for refuge, and free blacks found it a convenient place to make their homes. As early as 1829 it was discovered with apprehension that there were 2,258 colored people residing within the city limits. So great was the antipathy felt toward what CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 169 seemed at that time an undesirable element that mobs formed and assailed the negroes whenever they could be attacked with impunity. So many were killed or wounded in these melees that more than half the number of these unfortunate creatures fled from a situation so full of peril, and those who remained were naturally the lowest and the worst. If the sentiment against them had been solid, their perils would have been less great. It was, however, very much divided, and there was a host of noble people whose souls burned within them at witnessing that injustice and those barbarities. From the first settlement of the city there had always been a few who were ready to harbor and to assist the miserable creatures who appealed for help to escape the degradations of slavery and their numbers steadily increased. As early as 18ro a sentiment in favor of abolition had become incarnate in Benjamin Lundy, who founded the Union Humane Society in St. Clairville, in 1815. His "Genius of Universal Emancipation" appeared in 1821, and three years later the Ohio legislature passed resolutions in favor of solving the terrible problem of slavery by that radical method. This sentiment grew rapidly and the Connecticut "Western Reserve" in northern Ohio and the city of Cincinnati, in southern, became the centers of earnest and determined opposition to the bondage of the black man. In Cincinnati, the abolition sentiment found its most significant expression •in one of its educational institutions. Founded in 1829, Lane Seminary had become an important factor in the city's life as early as 1834, and owing to the radical opinions of the great Professors Beecher and Stowe, the discussion of the ethical problems of the South's great and growing evil was open and earnest. In that year a debate was organized among the seminary people to thresh out the problem of slavery, and so deep was the interest in the discussion that it lasted for eighteen consecutive nights, and awakened so burning an anti-slavery sentiment that Sunday and day schools for the education of negro children were founded and opposition to the abnormal institution grew apace. With the opposition to slavery the opposition to that opposition kept step, and threats were made to put Lane seminary to the torch. As a matter of course internal dissensions sprang up in that school of sacred learning itself, and in August, 1834, the trustees, taking advantage of the temporary absence of Professors Beecher and Stowe, voted to suppress discussion of a subject that threatened to destroy the very existence of the seminary. As a result of this action (together with the dropping of John Morgan from the preparatory faculty) Asa Mahan, a trustee, resigned, and fifty-one of the students left the school in a body. At this, the antagonisms grew hotter and outside influences attempted to break up the Anti-Slavery society of Lane seminary on the ground that it was a "public menace." On the other hand, the friends of tilt abolition element grew more courageous, and James C. Ludlow (whose daughter was afterward married to Salmon P. Chase) proffered a home of his own, to shelter the bolting students. While Lane seminary was thus helping to quicken the public conscience in the South, Oberlin college co-operated in the North and (principally) as the result of their activities the Ohio Anti-Slavery society was formed in 1835. Opinions which had thus crystallized in an organization must needs possess an organ, and a man raised up for the purpose suddenly appeared. In 1835 James 170 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY G. Birney had tried to establish an anti-slavery paper in Danville, Kentucky; but finding the opposition too great to be overcome, lie crossed the river to New Richmond, Ohio, where he succeeded in issuing a few copies ; but determined to move once more, and this time to Cincinnati. This was in the spring of 1836, and for a little time The Philanthropist appeared without exciting special opposition. But when it became evident at last that the commercial interests of the city were being imperiled by the animosity excited in the breasts of its southern patrons, a violent storm broke out. As any peril to the pocketbook of the individual or the community produces consternation and blunts the human conscience, there was an instantaneous outburst of passionate opposition and protest against the paper and its editor. To consolidate and voice this opposition a great meeting was arranged, and the mayor, Samuel W. Davis, took the chair with many of the most promigent citizens as vice presidents. So great was the unanimity of feeling amongst the attendants, a resolution that "no abolition paper be published or distributed in the town" was quickly and ardently adopted. To such men as Birney the mere passage of a resolution by however important a bOdy, is not likely to cast a momentary shadow across the pathway they pursue, and he kept straight on about his business. But the animosity of his antagonists was of a most determined character, and, enraged at his obduracy, on the evening of the 14th of July, 1835, a crowd gathered at the office of Achilles Pugh, where Th'e Philanthropist was printed. In Cincinnati a crowd becomes a mob at a certain temperature as water becomes steam, and, bursting into the office, they began to wreck the material and machinery. As the destruction was only partial the indomitable Birney reassembled the fragments and the paper appeared and reappeared as usual. The mayor of the city knew his people and through fear of still more serious outbreaks, issued a proclamation of warning to the voters ; but blunted the edge of it by sending word to Birney that he held him guilty of provoking the people to violence by his contumacy, and earnestly besought him not to make any more trouble. To publish his paper appeared to Birney to be his mission—not "to prevent trouble"—and that inflammatory organ continued to appear as regularly as the changes of the moon. It was not the rabble alone that opposed Mr. Birney; but to a considerable degree the best people in the city. They were as anxious to avoid trouble as anyone, and determined to try once more to bring the cantankerous abolitionist to reason ; and, therefore, on the 28th (of July) they attempted peaceably to convince the editor and his friends that they ought to cease their efforts because they were "damaging the city." It was little enough that Birney cared what became of this city or any city as long as the infamy of slavery existed, and he paid no more attention to their threats than as if they were so many snarling dogs. On the night of the 29th, therefore, a vast crowd assembled and once more marched to the office of the paper (No. 106 Main street) determined this time to settle its destiny and have done with it. It took but a few moments to dismantle the office, wreck the fixtures and fling the press into the river. The passion for destruction, now thoroughly awakened, drove the crowd from one part of the city to another as if swept by a tempest. They rushed from the office of Mr. Pugh to his home, and then to those of Donaldson, Birney and Colby, making the night hideous CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 171 as they went, and after having refreshed themselves in the restaurant of the Cincinnati Exchange hotel, betook themselves with a new fury to the office of the Gazette, against whose editor, Charles Hammond, they felt a grievance because he had denounced their methods. Before a deed so desperate as destroying his very valuable property, they paused and were easily diverted to Church alley, a region where the colored people dwelt in numbers. To their astonishment and dismay, as they rushed in to pillage and destroy, they were received with powder and bullets, and, although only two shots were fired, the mob staggered. That they could have been easily driven back had the blacks pursued their first advantage was likely if not certain, but the timid defenders of their homes, becoming frightened, fled and left their property to be destroyed. It was of little value and easily demolished, and when there was nothing left but a piteous heap of fragments, the mob dispersed, proud of an evening's work for which posterity holds them in everlasting contempt. Disgusted and angered with these miserable wretches for such infamous proceedings an attempt was made by the lawteabiding element to hold a mass meeting to repudiate and condemn their deeds ; but in spite of the best efforts of such men as Charles Hammond, E. D. Mansfield, Wm. M. Corry and Salmon P. Chase, it came to nothing, or to very little, for it was so packed by pro-slavery sympathizers that the nobler sentiments could not find expression. Disgraceful as the riot was, it served, as so often happens in the mysterious economy of events, an unexpected and valuable purpose in the life of the city, for it consolidated the scattered opponents of slavery who, up to that time, knew but little of each other's sentiments or even existence. Salmon, P. Chase. Among those opponents were many beautiful and noble spirits whose virtues the pen of any historian might feel it an honor and joy to record, although but a single one can receive an extended notice here. So great a luster has, however, been shed upon our city by the life and labors of Salmon P. Chase that to omit the story of his career entirely would be fatal to the very end we seek, the end of inspiring ourselves to emulation of all those great characters who have ennobled the life of our town. We turn aside, therefore, from the narrative of events, to trace the career of an illustrious individual who helped to form them. While serving his state in the senate in 183o, Judge Jacob Burnet became deeply interested in young Chase, who was then attempting to establish a school in the capital city. It was up hill work for him, and when the judge urged him to give it up and go out to Cincinnati and practise law, he followed the counsel of his distinguished adviser. It was not his first acquaintance with the city, for when a mere boy, he had been taken to it by Bishop Chase (his uncle), and placed in the Cincinnati College. There he had remained but a little while, drifting back to New England, his birthplace, and being graduated from Dartmouth College. From Dartmouth he went to Washington and from Washington to Cincinnati, where he arrived on the 30th of March in 1830. Such were the personal charms of the man himself, so flattering the recommendations he brought from his former homes and so pleasant the memories Vol. I-12 172 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY still cherished of him by the many prominent people who had known him during his former residence that Mr. Chase was enthusiastically welcomed in the most select circles of society. For a few years his social successes were far more brilliant than his professional; but as his powers matured, ,he gained an ever widening recognition as a man of unusual talents. In 1832 he published a collection of the then existing laws of Ohio and prefaced them with a historical sketch of the state, an achievement which gave him at once a permanent place in the esteem of scholars. As his fame grew, his business increased. He formed favorable partnerships ; contracted a happy marriage; and thought but little, we presume, of the strange career that was being shaped for him by the events which were taking place in connection with the evils of slavery. But a clear vision of those evils was being widely disclosed to multitudes, and it came, at last, to him. In his great soul there was a keen sense of justice which received a shock, profound indeed, at the sight of the outrages committed against peaceful, law abiding black folks and against their loyal friends, the whites, whose beautiful characters and noble lives he knew first hand. To his own astonishment he suddenly found himself thoroughly identified with the antiteslavery movement; so thoroughly, indeed, as to have participated in the great meeting for protest just described, and to have become a man marked for destruction by the mob. On one occasion, indeed, when the riotous crowd approached the hotel where he boarded and demanded the person of Mr. Birney, Mr. Chase suddenly appeared in the doorway and frightened them off by the mere determination with which he commanded them to depart. "From this time on," he said of himself, "although not technically an abolitionist, I became a decided opponent of slavery and its power." The evolution of the social leader into the champion of human rights was now continuous and rapid.. As early as 1841 and up to 1849, he was the leader of the abolitionist party in Ohio; senator from 1849 to 1855 ; governor from 1855 to 186o; second most prominent candidate to Lincoln for the presidency in 186o; secretary of the treasury from 186o to 1864; and chief justice of the United States from that time until his death in 1873. With this great career as a whole we are not concerned, but only with that portion of it which affected and was affected by the life of our city. It was here that the convictions were formed which made Salmon P. Chase one of the pillars of the state in our greatest national crisis. It was here that he grew into the beauty as well as strength of his life. He helped to show us the path of duty and to keep us in the way of righteousness. Many great and worthy men . were developed in the two decades which terminated the first half century of our city's existence, but he was the noblest Roman. of them all, and no single individual did so much to clarify the civic conscience. There was a mysterious and powerful foment at work in the soul of the city, in these two decades. In every sphere of life there was progress. Politically, morally, religiously, intellectually, aesthetically the city grew. But when we come to a careful analysis, it was the discussion of the question of human rights and duties with regard to the slave traffic, that most powerfully affected the inner and higher life of the community. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 173 All unconsciously the country was drifting steadily towards the great testing time of character, and those heroic souls which stood the fierce trial were being fitted for the crucial hour. Institutions were being established; organizations founded; buildings erected and great improvements made which counted enormously in the development of the town; but then, as ever, it was the opinion, convictions and ideals which were slowly taking form, out of sight, sometimes, that were of the greatest interest and importance. As we look back upon those years between 1819 and 1839, we clearly see that they were in the "highest degree formative, and that the next period was to be but the result of conclusions come to in the questionings and debates that grew out of the discussion of those elemental principles of the divine and human government, as interpreted by the institution of human slavery. Let it be observed, now, that the end of this period was also the end of the first half century of the city's existence. The fourth decade of the individual life has been called "the old age of youth and the youth of old age." Cincinnati, if cities are like persons, had reached the old age of its youth and the youth of its old age. It was fitting, therefore, that the 5oth anniversary should be properly observed ; and on the 26th day of December, 1838 (because it was then supposed the landing took place on that date instead of the 28th), a dignified and worthy celebration was held. At sunrise, at noon and at night, salutes were fired. There was a magnificent parade in the streets and a crowded assemblage of citizens in the old First Presbyterian church, where prayers were offered by Drs. Wilson and Burke, and a magnificent oration (of three hours and twenty minutes' duration), delivered by Dr. Drake. At its close a banquet was held in the "Pearl Street House," where toasts were eloquently responded to by distinguished orators. It was a great and glorious clay and celebrated the close of a distinct and definite period. But, after all, such lines of demarcation are purely artificial. There is no real break or interruption in the onward flow of events in the lives of nations and cities as there is none in the onward flow of a river. Occasionally great movements are brought to an abrupt close ; old conceptions vanish and, even, burst as bubbles do ; swift and radical transitions in business, politics and religion occur ; great men and even groups of great men die ; but the panorama continues to unroll. Not for a moment can it stop. by day or night. Forever and forevermore, the present gives birth to the future. The happenings of today inaugurate the movements of tomorrow. The new is forever issuing from the old; the future from the past. The celebrants of the great festival retired at night with the feeling that the curtain had been rung down upon a finished act ; but already the scenery for the next had been arranged and the drama was going forward. Old truths will once more be reiterated ; old errors will again struggle to be accepted ; old battles will be renewed. The web will he forever in the spinning. CHAPTER X. THE CITY FROM 1839 TO 1861. THE DECADE FROM 1839 TO 1849 ONE OF GREAT DEVELOPMENT-CIST'S DIRECTORY PUBLISHED IN 1841-RACE. RIOTS AND OTHER DISTURBANCES-THE RACE PROBLEM-MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS-LINCOLN, STANTON-RALPH WALDO EMERSON, KOSSUTH, WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, CHARLES DICKENS, GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT, RUTHERFORD B. HAYES AND A HOST OF OTHER NOTABLES. We have now arrived at a point in the history of Cincinnati where the city may be said to have begun 'to find itself." The decade from 1839 to 1849 was that of the greatest development in every direction which it had yet known, and although the growth as measured by figures declined, the evolution of the interior forces—the ideas, the aspirations, the purposes of the people went steadily forward until at last in the great crisis of the Civil war all were melted into a solution out of which they emerged recrystallized. As a matter of course, our sources of information about this much more recent period have increased in numbers, in accuracy and in fulness until our trouble is no longer to discover facts ; but to eliminate them. So copious has become the fund of knowledge, in fact, that its very repletion tends to choke the stream of narration. From this moment and on until the last word is written, the historian cannot help but feel a sense of guilt because by reason of his inviolable space limitations he must exclude from his annals incidents, events, and people of surpassing interest. He cannot record all that he would, and is certain that he will not record all that he ought. Every historian's sense of the relative importance of the various items which he has to consider, is imperfect. Always and everywhere his personal likes and dislikes ; affinities and antipathies ; struggles and weaknesses must influence his selections and rejections. What you would be interested in might be of the least concern to me, while what I am fascinated by may seem to you intensely dull and stupidly exaggerated. For this grief of realizing that his records are thus certain to be inadequate, the historian has a melancholy consolation in the fact that other tellers of the great story will arise to give their due importance to the things which he has magnified or minimized. The lawyer, the educator, the journalist, the physician, the banker, each of whose thoughts are colored by his own experience, will stretch out a hand over the flood of oblivion in which other authors have permitted scenes and people to sink, and save them for future remembrance. This essay is but an interpretation in which the dominant purpose is to seize upon strategic movements, portray critical incidents, bring forward creative spirits and show the psychology of the city's growth, with the distinct and definite aim of pointing out the kind of people and the sort of movements that count for progress and good citizenship. - 175 - 176 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY We stand here, then, at the beginning of the second half century, meekly enough trying to pick out the most shining threads in the warp and woof of the evertegrowing fabric. It is the fact of growth, indeed, that strikes us with everteincreasing force. The consciousness that a city is a living organism, with a spirit and character of its own, intensifies with every period of advance. Like a gigantic creature of the prehistoric ages, the mysterious entity feeds and grows until its magnitude awakens awe. With insatiable hunger it swallows little settlements that once had a life and character of their own, assimilating them as a leviathan does its food. It reaches out its great tentacles, fastens upon new acres of forest; of farm; of hilltop and valley, and overspreads them with its mighty bulk, consisting of homes and stores ; of shops and mills ; of churches and schools. Through its ever new and numerous veins and arteries of street and boulevard flow the ever-increasing streams of life blood, the drops of which are individual men and women and children. That sense of mystery which one feels at surveying the growth of a plant deepens into awe as he watches the growth of a city. The shrewdest intellect can do nothing more than guess the direction or quality of this growth, for sometimes a pebble may turn it aside, while at others a mountain cannot successfully oppose its progress. A new invention; a remarkable personality ; a different route of travel will alter its habits and even its character. No single individual can absolutely impose upon it the laws of its being ; none can eliminate ; few can influence them. By some internal force and in accordance with some heaven-imposed ordinances the growth goes forward ; but through and by the intellect and will of the people, for they are its spirit ; they are its will. At the beginning of its second half century, Cincinnati stood seventh among the great cities of America (they were all small then) and bade fair to attain a higher rank in the future. Everybody in the country believed this and its own inhabitants had the most boundless faith in its_ destiny. One of them (a little later on), J. W. Scott, went so far as to prophesy that by the middle of the year 2000 it would be the greatest city in the world ! No wonder that he thought so, for, at any rate, history had preserved no other record of a growth so great in a time so short. In 1840 there were 46,338 inhabitants ! Several good accounts of the general appearance of the town and of its people in the first few years of the sixth decade have been preserved. W. G. Lyford, a traveler from the east ; Rev. J. I. Buckingham, an Englishman, and a most distinguished countryman of his, Charles Dickens, visited and recorded impressions in which there is a striking agreement. They found the city substantially and beautifully built. The houses were comfortable and sometimes elegant and generally enclosed by spacious grounds. The streets were thronged with busy and prosperous people. The public landing was a fascinating place and the sight of as many as thirty great steamboats coming in and going out or lying at the dock made the scene most picturesque. Dickens "was charmed with the appearance of the town and its adjoining suburb, Mt. Auburn, from which the city, lying in an amphitheater of hills, forms a picture of remarkable beauty and is seen to advantage." In 1841 Charles Cist issued the first of his remarkable directories, from which a realistic conception of the city, physical, mental, moral, educational and CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 177 religious, may be drawn. Out of the encyclopedic mass of information we select at random, almost, the facts that in the current year $5,2oo,000 were invested in commercial houses and $14,541,182 in manufactures ; that there were five incorporated and two unincorporated banks ; that there were seven insurance companies; that there were twenty-nine periodicals ; that the common schools contained 4,000 pupils under the guidance of sixty teachers ; that the churches were increasteing and prospering. In 1851 came the second of the directories, and the city had then arisen to the rank of the fifth (instead of the seventh) great city. It had reached to the number of sixteen wards and included the space between Mill creek on the west ; the river on the south and east and McMillan street, on the north and northeast. The total number of buildings was 16,286. The turnpikes had been immensely improved and extended. The Miami and White Water canals were doing an enormous business. The Little Miami ; the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton were in process of construction. Nine hotels were entertaining innumerable guests, the chiefest being the Burnet House, "acknowledged to be the most spatecious and, in its interior arrangements, the finest hotel in the world." Horace Greeley is quoted as saying in the Tribune in 1850, "It requires no keenness of observation to see that Cincinnati is destined to become the focus and market for the grandest circle of manufacturing thrift on the continent. Her delightful climate; her unequaled and ever-increasing facilities for cheap and rapid commercial intercourse with all parts of the country and the world ; her enterprising and energetic population ; her own elastic and exulting youth ; are all elements which predict and insure her electric progress to giant greatness. I doubt if there is another spot on earth where food, cotton, timber and iron can all be concentrated so cheaply—that is at so moderate a cost of human labor in producing and bringing them together—as here. Such fatness of soil, such a wealth of immense treasures—coal, iron, salt and the finest clays for all purposes of use—and all cropping out from the steep and facile banks of placid, though not sluggish navigable rivers. How many Californias could equal in permanent worth the valley of the Ohio !" The third and last of Mr. Cist's books was issued just before the war, in '59, and the story is still one of great though not so extraordinary expansion. There were sixteen public schools (besides the two high schools), with 17,685 pupils. One hundred and eighty Christian societies and six Jewish synagogues are enumerated. There were fifty-three periodicals, sixteen local insurance societies ; the manufactured and industrial products attained a total of $112,254,400, the imports reached to $74,348,758, and the exports to $47,497,095. As for the political aspects of the situation it may be said that the ever-expanding life of this great, growing and beautiful city was presided over by several mayors, all of whom deserve mention because of their official position, and some for their personal traits. 1833-1843. Samuel W. Davies, who was first elected in 1833, was re-elected again and again, holding office until his death in 1843. He was indeed a most remarkable person, being "nearly six feet in height and endowed with intellectual, moral and spiritual characters of the highest type." 178 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY 1843-1851. Henry E. Spencer, his successor, was the son of that pioneer boy who was captured by the Indians, Oliver M. Spencer. He held his office for four terms and stood for the best things in the city's life. 1851-1853. Mr. Spencer gave way to Mark P. Taylor in 1853, who, being an invalid at the time of his election and continuing to be so, did not make a distinguished success. 1853-1855. David T. Snelbaker came next in the line and his administration was unsatisfactory for reasons which subsequently proved to be not so much attributable to himself as to circumstances. 1855-1857-1857-1859. James J. Farran, whose principal career was that of an editor, followed Snelbaker and was universally respected for his gifts, his achievements, and so, also, was Nicholas W. Thomas, who succeeded him in 1857. During his life he held almost every office in the gift of the people and was identified with most of the great movements for civic betterment. 1859— The last incumbent before the civil war, Richard M. Bishop (who subsequently (1878-1879) occupied the'governor's chair in Columbus) entered upon his work in a most eventful period and was called upon to take part in several great events, e. g., making the address of welcome to the visiting legislatures of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, and also to President Lincoln, who passed here on his way to Washington. During this era, questions of the greatest importance arose and were settled; movements of the ufhiost consequence began and were completed ; incidents of the greatest dramatic interest happened and individual characters of the greatest charm were developed. To speak of those which bulked the largest shall be our purpose now, and we begin with brief accounts of the changes which occurred in the various departments of the city government ; those public service agencies which are the enduring elements ; the abiding factors of a city's being : but which are subject to such perpetual changes that they demand a reconsideration in every single period of the city's growth. Police. In 1840 there came about a radical change in the method of policing the city. Before that time the watch had been appointed by the council ; but afterward their selection was entrusted to the direct choice of the people. This watch, it must be remembered, acted only at night, and it was not until 1842 that the council created a day watch, consisting of two men (selected by itself) and guaranteed to each officer the munificent reward of $1.25 per diem ! A second reorganization of the police force, consisting principally of its enlargement, took place in 1850; but in 1853 there occurred a change which foreshadowed the present elaborate system. At that time a chief was appointed, with CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 179 six lieutenants, and the force was increased to six officers for each of the sixteen wards—in addition to which there were six river watchmen, two canal watchtemen, two watch houses and two station house keepers. A third reorganization occurred at the close of the period as a result of the act of the legislature passed in 1859, by virtue of which a board of police commissioners was constituted, to consist of the mayor himself and four persons appointed by the mayor, the police judge and the city auditor. They were to serve without pay, to appoint chief and officers and to formulate rules and regulations. This plan was devised to do away with the office of "marshal" which had become a public peril by means of the gradual increase of fees to an amount which offered too great a temptation for the virtue of the average man. During most of the time, the duties of the police were neither difficult nor dangerous ; but emergencies occasionally arose when their courage was put to severest test, as, for example, in the race riots of this period. Race Riots-1841. The excitement about slavery which was forever smouldering in the breasts of Cincinnatians broke out in two serious disturbances in 1841, the first occurring on the 25th of June. On that day, Cornelius Burnett (not Burnet), his three sons and three other persons, were arrested on the charge of assault and battery upon Robert Black, a constable, and the owner of a slave who had been traced to Burnett's residence. The Burnetts resisted the attempt to capture the fugitetive and were arrested and sent to jail. during their detention in which place a mob attacked their home, but were dispersed before they had done much damage. This was a small affair, however, compared with another which occurred in September of the same year and was precipitated by the antagonism which had always existed between the Irish and the negroes, two parties of whom met at the corner of Sixth and Broadway one day and, as usual, picked a quarrel with each other. It was not of serious proportions at that time, but brooding over it, awakened a desire to put the issue to the test of brute strength. The next month the trouble broke out again and upon the Irish demanding the surrender of one of the negroes as a hostage or a prisoner, his companions joined him in his resistance, and still more blood was shed. The next evening the tumult began afresh, and finally, on Friday morning, a mob composed largely of river men and Kentucky toughs, took possession of Fifth street, where the esplanade is now, and so terrorized the police and citizens as to be able to hold their ground, and finally to demolish a negro house. This act of violence, however, consolidated the black people of the neighborhood and a large band of them, well armed, appeared upon the scene. So ominous was the situation, then, that J. W. Piatt, and after him Mayor Davies, attempted to allay the excitement by an appeal to reason ; but their voices were drowned in a tumult of derision, and finally the whites, charging upon the blacks, were met with a deadly volley of firearms. The fighting continued, at intervals, and at midnight a sixtepound cannon was planted in the streets by the rowdy element and frequently discharged in the direction of the negro settlement. On Saturday morning J. W. Piatt, J. C. Avery, Bellamy Storer and W. T. Disney addressed a public gathering, denouncing the mob ; but adding fuel to 180 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY the flames by also denouncing the abolitionists. Each day and hour the frenzy increased, and every plan to allay the excitement failed. The negroes gave bonds to keep the peace, but even this did not avail, and they were finally taken under military escort into the jail, where alone they appeared to be secure. Their disappearance did not cause the mob to disperse, however, and rushing hither and thither, they finally concentrated their attacks upon the office of the Philanthropist, which they demolished and threw the pieces into the river. So great had become the peril by this time that Governor Corwin was obliged to 'come to the city in person, and before the mob could be finally quelled, as many as twenty or thirty had been seriously wounded, and several had been killed. This brief recital of those deeds of violence will afford conclusive proof that the police force of that period were not mere supernumeraries and will, also, excite a curiosity as to the nature of that inflammable substance in the soul of: our city which was forever bursting forth into deeds of violence. Riot of '42. As another illustration, there was the bank riot of 1842. On the evening of the preceding day, the Miami Exporting Company made an assignment, and in the morning the Bank of Cincinnati closed its doors. As soon as these facts were known a panic occurred and crowds of excited citizens, rushing together, began to break open the doors and to destroy the property. Mayor Davies, for some reason or other, proved incompetent to meet the emergency with the force at his command ; but Captain 0. M. Mitchell, with ten of the city guards, rushed to the scene and with threats dispersed the crowd, which, however, reassembled and had finally to be broken up by a rattling fire in which two or three citizens were wounded. Riot of '48. There also was the riot of 1848, the circumstances of which were truly dramatic. Two soldiers of the Mexican War had turned up in the city, possessed of land warrants whose value was great enough to tempt an old German and his wife, with whom they boarded, to a horrible crime. Having failed to persuade the soldiers to part with the warrants in any other way, they coached their daughteter to charge them with an assault upon her virtue. This charge they spread abroad in order to provoke the arrest of the soldiers, and thus enable themselves to get possession of the coveted documents. At the trial, public opinion rose to a fever heat, and a crowd of impassioned citizens would have sacked the jail and lynched the soldiers but for the courage of Sheriff Weaver. Fearing that the force at his command was insufficient he summoned the "Citizens' Guard" and "The Grays" to his aid, and when, after repeated warnings to the crowd to disperse, they still persisted in their determination to seize his prisoners, the faithful officer ordered the soldiers to fire. The volley was so well directed that eleven persons in the crowd were shot to death, some, as usual, being innocent. At first the tide of public opinion turned against the sheriff ; but when it was at last discovered that had the crowd succeeded in their purpose they would have hung two entirely innocent and entirely respectable men, a swift reaction followed. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 181 Riot of '53. The famous Bedini riot occurred in the same period. In 1853 there came to America and to Cincinnati a distinguished prelate of the Roman Catholic church the Papal Nuncio Bedini—and his 'arrival was the signal for a violent outbreak of passion among the Germans. In 1850, out of a population of 115,438, more than 51,000 were German born or of a German parentage, among whom were many heroic spirits that had been imbittered by those injustices which had provoked the rebellion of 1848. In their hearts they cherished an undying resentment towards anyone who had attempted to suppress their liberties in their home land and, believing that the papal nuncio was such a man, they assembled in a mass meeting and demanded that he should leave the town. Some of them, upon its adjournment, were impelled by their excitement towards the home of the archbishop on Eighth and Elm, where Bedini was a guest, but at the Eighth street park they encountered the entire police force, headed by the chief, who was actteing under the orders of Mayor Snelbaker. Instantly, trouble began. Heads were broken with clubs and shots were fired with such effect that fourteen people were wounded before the crowd gave way. The Germans were wild, and at a subsequent meeting sent a committee of one hundred to demand the resignation of the mayor. Upon his refusal to yield to their childish demands, a half formed determination to go and compel him to do so was defeated by the eloquence of Bellamy Storer, who persuaded the angry Germans that they were transgressing the boundaries of their rights. Riot of '55. Another riot occurred in 1855 and was precipitated by political and racial animosities, excited by an election. The story was noised about that the Germans "over the Rhine" proposed to prevent the casting of ballots for J. D. Taylor the mayoralty candidate of the American, or "Know-nothing" party. This rumor was a match in a powder mine and before long a crowd consisting of thoutesands of excited people were barricading the streets. So confused were the elements in conflict and so complicated the situation that no definite plan of action was evolved, and the crowd dispersed, apparently because it did not understand and, therefore, could not properly handle itself. The Fire Department. The story of the fire department is not so bloody as that of the police, but neither is it less dramatic and is, in fact, one of the most instructive chapters in the history of our city's life. At the beginning of the second half century the work of extinguishing fires was purely voluntary. A system so crude in a town so large seems quite incomprehensible until we realize the social and political power and prestige of those remarkable organizations, the fire companies. So great it was, that the leading men of the city regarded it as a privilege and a pleasure to be enrolled among the members. That sort of pleasure and excitetement, and that kind of opportunity for personal advancement and achievements which men discover now in the modern "clubs" was found at that time in these powerfuloorganizations for fighting fire. They possessed all sorts of power in almost every sphere, social, commercial, and particularly political. In their engine houses the destinies of individuals and movements were often settled. Among the presidents of different companies (of which there were fourteen in 182 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY 1841) were: M. P. Taylor, Josiah Stratton, Miles Greenwood, Samuel H. Taft, A. Trowbridge, Fenton Lawson, David Griffin, and James Lowden, all of them among the most important people in the city. Of the many influences which kept the ranks full and the men in a state of interest and excitement was that of rivalry. To be first at a fire was a sort of glory, like that of being first over an intrenchment in a battle. When an alarm sounded, the companies hastened to the scene of conflagration and nothing suited them better than to encounter and oppose each other's progress in a fight. Slowly but surely the primary reason for their existence became secondary. To get to the fire first, and not to put it out, was the dominant motive, and not infrequently the flames were permitted to destroy the burning building while the firemen battled for priority in the streets below. The brilliant costumes, the resplendent engines, the wild excitement and the acknowledged prestige conspired to make men perform feats of strength and heroism that money could not buy. The achievements of these volunteer organizations were remarkable indeed, and their fame was heralded in every city on the continent. Those old handtepumps would seem but feeble instruments today, but operated by these fire demons of that far distant period, they accomplished miracles, and they had great conflagrations to deal with, too. In 1843, for example, there was a terrible fire at Pugh & Alvord's packing house, when an explosion of gas destroyed the lives of eight or nine and wounded a dozen more. With all its capabilities and glories, however, the volunteer system was doomed to pass away. "The old order changeth." New conditions and a great invention soon made the hand engine antiquated and the unpaid organization incompetent. Among the young men who were quietly doing their work in obscure positions in the shops of Cincinnati was one by the name of A. B. Latta, whose fertile mind gradually worked out a design for a fire extinguisher to be run by steam, and a machine was constructed in accordance with his model in the shpps of John H. McGowan in the years 1852te53. Although a crude affair compared with the perfected engines of the present day, it was a usable and effective piece of machinery, and the first of its kind to be put into permanent and successful use. At the time of its completion Joseph S. Ross was chairman of the "committee on the fire department" and possessing the sagacity to see the value of this invention, he purchased it for the city. A few experiments with it convinced the farthest seeing minds that it was destined to produce a revolution in implements and organizations, both. They saw, among other things, that it had struck the death knell of the old volunteer system, and began immediately to plan for its overthrow and the substitution of a paid department. That this plan should encounter determined opposition will seem incredible to us .children of a later time, until we remember what prestige the old order possessed ; how powerful its interests were ; how delightful its pleasures ; how great its influence ; how fond its memories. Every entrenched institution dies hard and this was no exception. In fact, the most heroic measures and the most courageous men were required to kill it. To four of these men, Jacob Wykoff Piatt, Miles Greenwood, James H. Walker and Joseph S. Ross, the fame of this great achievement must be given. Walker and Ross belonged to the council, and when the fight grew hot had to be attended to its meetings with a body-guard. These CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 183 reformers boldly described the weakness and the evils of the old engines and the old methods ; argued eloquently for the new, and finally secured the adoption of the resolution to organize a paid department. But this was easier said than done. Everybody knew that it meant quarreling, fighting and possibly bloodshed. To head this movement there must be some man found of a power and courage altogether peculiar. And such a man there was, as true a hero as ever led a charge in battle. His name was Miles Greenwood and nature had endowed him with an almost gigantic body, an indomitable will and inexhaustible powers of endurance. He was a foundryman and a most.successful one. Not only was he a succespublictespiriteder, but a most public-spirited citizen. He was a prominent supporter of the Ohio Mechanics Institute and of many other institutions ; but, above all, he was the idol of the fire department. If, the persuaded to desert the old order for the new and especiall would be assured. The case was laid before him. He consi e, he could be it, success ulted and consented. A new department was organized and the next conflagr ion awaited with desire and apprehension. It broke out on Sycamore street above Fourth. The bell rang ; a crowd gathered at the engine house ; everything else was ready, but there was not a man in the department who had courage to mount the box and drive into the zone of danger. It is in crises like this that the souls of men are tested. Without an instant's hesitation Mr. Greenwood leaped into the empty seat, seized the reins and swung the horses out into the streets. Inspired by firetemenence and example, the firemen in their splendid uniforms followed in the wake of the engine and, along with them, went the workmen from Mr. Greenwood's shops and a crowd of Irishmen whom Mr. Piatt had enlisted for the purpose. They knew well enough that this was no dress parade and were not astonished when they encountered an army of their rivals lying in wait to meet them. With grim determination the two contingents sprang into the lists and a fight began that would have resulted in a terrible tragedy but for the courage and firmness of the gigantic foundryman. Leaping into the midst of his antagonists like another Thor, he broke so many heads in so short a time as to start a panic and produce a rout. Beaten at one of their own games, the humiliated volunteers attempted to play the other, of showing their pre-eminence as fire fighters, if not of men fighters. That same night two other conflagrations occurred, and they did their best ; but superiority of the apparatus and the new system were so apparent that all the companies clamored to be incorporated into the new order. To thus reorganize the whole system was a work of great difficulty and Greenwood labored at it like a giant. In order to succeed, he loaned the city fifteen thousand dollars of his own money, and raised as much more from his friends. His family had just moved to Avondale, but for eighteen months he only spent six nights in his new home, being compelled to sleep down town so as to be ready for any emergency. In order to give all his time to this great task he hired a man to take his place in the shop at a salary of $1,5oo, and the $i,000 salary which the city paid to him he turned over to the Mechanics Institute as a contribution. We doff our hats to Miles Greenwood and should like to live in a city where there are a few hundred or a thousand like him. 184 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY Water Works. The story of the changes in the water works lacks the dramatic interest of those of the police and fire department ; but is not, therefore, less important. It has come to be a philosophical commonplace of history that it is not only in the scenes in which "the garments of men are rolled in blood" that catastrophic changes occur, but also in those in which the habits of thought, of feeling and of action are transformed in the quiet of home and shop and farm. Our progress in the supply and distribution of the element that with earth lots institutes the Holy Trinity of the physical world, has been quiet and low and steady. Up to June 25, 1839, the business had been in private hands, but on that date the city took possession of the existing plant which it had purchased from its owner and began the experiment of furnishing the citizens with water itself. For $300,000 it secured the tracts of land lying between Front and High streets, east of the Kilgour line, together with the lot on the south of Front street, running to the river (where was the pumping house) ; the reservoir on High street; the pumping house on Front street, and the two pumping ,engines "Vesta" and "Betsy," together with nineteen miles of wooden and three and one-half miles of iron pipe. The management of the system became the subject of many futile experiments, but in 1847 the legislature placed the control in a board of trustees to be elected annually. In 1844 a new and larger reservoir was required, and another in 1849, to meet the increasing needs of the ever-growing city. It was in 1847 that the wooden pipes were practically abandoned for iron. By 1860 the plant was so improved as to be worth two and a quarter millions. It was not perfect; but it was vastly better than it had ever been before. Post Office. With these improvements going on in every other sphere it was certain that the handling of mail would not be long inadequately managed. In 1839 the office, located on Third and Vine, received about eighty mails each week. In 1831 a new building on East Third, between Main and Sycamore, housed the office, but in 1849 it was again removed, this time to the Art Union building on the northwest corner of Sycamore and Fourth. In 1853 it was transferred to a building erected by the government at the corner of Fourth and Vine. Up to 1839 there had been but five postmasters in Cincinnati,—Abner M. Dunn, William Maxwell, Daniel Mayo, William Ruffin and William Burke. In 1841 Burke was displaced by William H. H. Taylor, son-in-law of President Harrison. Mr. Taylor was removed in 1845 and George Crawford appointed in his place. In 1845 Crawford gave way to Major William Oliver, and he to Dr. John L. Nattier in 1853, who was displaced in favor of J. J. Farran for a time, but reappointed in 1859. Of all these figures by far the most picturesque was William Burke, who served under Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren and Harrison. He was an eccentric, but incorruptible and useful citizen ; a minister by profession, he had drifted into secular life on account of talents peculiarly fitted to certain needs in the community. Mr. Mansfield characterizes him in a few words so well chosen as to excite an undying curiosity in his person and his career. "He CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 185 seemed to have lost his voice and always spoke in low and gutteral tones. He was always chewing tobacco and, being a postmaster, was always a Democrat. He was a strong Methodist and seemed an amiable man." With increased facilities for transportation, the exchange of mail with east and west, with north and south, became a simple matter. Very abrupt and very fragmentary these statements seem, no doubt, to the mind which hungers for details. Abrupt and fragmentary they are, for enough is known about every one of these departments of public service to fill a volume. But the average human mind is so constituted that it either must lose a consciousness of the whole of anything by a minute familiarity with its innumerable parts, or sacrifices a multitude of those parts in order to acquire a consciousness of the whole. It is the whole we seek, a concept of the entire city; familiarity with the current of the river rather than its little eddies. Hoping, therefore, that these few bold strokes have helped to paint this picture clearly and ineffaceably, we turn to other aspects of the epoch—to buildings, organizations, incidents, accidents, anything and everything that makes a dead past live. And, first, we take the courts. The Courts. In 1839 the first superior court was established, with David K. Este as the judge and Daniel Gano as clerk. The "Old Court House," which had been the seat of justice since 1819, was burned to the ground on Monday, July 9, 1849, and a landmark of the greatest interest and sanctity. thus vanished forever. Temporary quarters were secured on the northwest corner of Court street and St. Clair alley, and in 1851 the county commissioners signed a contract for a building not to exceed $200,000 in cost, but finally accepted a bid for $695,253.20, and the building erected housed the courts and the city documents until 1884, ,when it was destroyed by a mob. Up to 1861 the old jail, which had served for forty years, still stood on Sycatemore between Hunt and Abigail. The Bethel. The Union Bethel was founded in 1839, and the Chamber of Commerce, also. Young Men's Mercantile Library. In 1840 the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association (organized in 1822) moved into the College building. Gas. In 1841 the city council gave to James Conover a twenty-five year franchise for the use of the city streets for gas, and the company which he formed, passing through various changes of course, qtill supplies the city with its light. Horticultural Society. At the home of Robert Buchanan in February of 1843, was organized the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, which for many years was a great feature of the city's life. Much of its importance grew out of the fact that during this period, (owing to the enthusiasm of Nicholas Longworth) grape culture had 186 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY been carried to a high degree of success. This culture promised for a time to grow into one of the great industries of the region, and the Ohio valley seemed likely to become another Rhine when, to the astonishment and grief of everybody, a mysterious blight destroyed the vines and the industry was abandoned. Those most interested came to a natural, but as time has shown, unjustifiable conclusion, that the soil or climate or both were unfavorable to the growth of the vine. That this was a mistake, and a most unfortunate one, the following letter from the Agricultural Bureau will demonstrate : WASHINGTON, D. C., January 31, 1911. Rev. Charles F. Goss, 637 Lexington Ave., Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio. DEAR SIR :—That part of your letter of January 26th stating that in the middle of the last century the culture of the grape was carried on successfully in your city and asking what was the real reason of its failure and whether grapes can be successfully grown there now by better methods, has been referred to me for reply. Would say the grape history of Cincinnati is quite familiar to me. The reason why grape culture resulted as it did in Cincinnati was due to the "black rot" which destroyed the grape crops and. which the grape growers were not familiar with and did not know how to counteract. The results were so disastrous at the time from this that the growers became disheartened and quit grape culture and no systematic efforts to revive the industry in that section have since been made. flack rot and other troubles then unknown are well known now and means to counteract them also. If varieties suited to the soil, climatic and other conditions are selected and the proper methods of training, culture, fertilizing and spraying be followed, there is no reason whatever why grape culture should not be successfully carried on in that section. Under separate cover am having some bulletins on grape matters sent you which may be of interest to you. If I can be of further service, let me know. Yours very truly, GEO. C. HUSMAN, Poinologist in, charge of Viticultural Investigations. The Observatory. One of the greatest of all the achievements of this period was the establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1842. The story is a romance, and the hero of it, General Ormsby M. Mitchell, might well be chosen as our supreme ideal of patience, courage, tact, intelligence, resourcefulness and charm. At least, he is the most knightly figure of this period. To try and sketch his beautiful character, romantic career and remarkable achievements in a few words is probably a hopeless task ; but we must try. Born in 1809 in Kentucky, he died in 1862 in South Carolina, a victim of yellow fever, while a soldier in the Civil war. Professor Mitchell was educated in Lebanon, Ohio, and afterwards in the United States Military Academy where he stood fifth in a class which included Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnson. After holding several military positions he came to Cincinnati where, while studying law, he also filled the CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 187 office of chief engineer of the Little Miami Railroad, then in process of construction. Subsequently he became professor of mathematics, philosophy and astronomy in the Cincinnati College, and during this incumbency achieved a national renown as an astronomical lecturer and builder of a great observatory. Conceiving a desire to possess a fine telescope he began by striving to awaken interest in the subject of astronomy through a series of lectures. The first was heard by sixteen people ; but the last was listened to by an enraptured audience of two thousand ! Availing himself of the enthusiasm thus generated, he organized the Cincinnati Astronomical Society with three hundred members at twenty-five dollars each, and started for Europe to find his telescope. His search was long, but successful and, returning, he plunged into the struggle to secure a suitable observatory. in the person of the eccentric but immensely catepable Nicholas Longworth he found a helpful coadjutor. Upon the land which was donated by Mr. Longworth (located on the summit of Mt. Adams) Professor Mitchell began the foundation of his building and John Quincy Adams, then more than seventyteseven years of age, delivered an address at the laying of the.corner stone. At this period of his undertaking the plucky little professor (for.he was small in stature and most delicately formed) had collected but $3,000, and $6,500 was necessary to complete his work. The times were hard and the subscriptions came in so slowly that he determined to collect them in person. Where money could not be procured he took provisions or anything in the world that had negotiable value. This pot pourri of valuables he marketed and turned into cash as best he could. Nor was this all that the indefatigable professor had to do. Many of his subscriptions being in work and materials no collectors would accept them as assets and he undertook to make them available by buying all the materials, hiring all the men and superintending all the work, at which task he labored like a miniature Titan. The ascent to the place of construction was steep and drayage high. Therefore he built a kiln and burned the lime ; he purchased a sand pit also and often shoveled its contents into the wagon with his own hands. These Herculean labors, arduous as they were, constituted but the avocation of the busy man for, all the time, he carried on his classes, teaching five hours a day from eight until one. Each Saturday exhausted his funds and on Monday he had to begin collecting again. But, nothing daunted or discouraged the invincible enthusiast stuck resolutely to his task until it was done, and in March, 1845, he had the satisfaction of hoisting his telescope into place. There was no salary attached to the office of astronomer in this new observatory and the consecrated star-gazer supported himself by civil engineering on the route of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad and by lecturing anywhere and everywhere. By these lectures, (among the most brilliant ever delivered in America) and by his original research in the heavens he acquired a more than national fame and placed his name among the immortals. Of course there came calls for service in other places, and for a time the city lost his inspirational presence, for in 1859 he accepted the position of astronteomer of the Dudley Observatory in Albany, New York, (a position which he held until 1860 although he did not wholly relinquish his connection with the one which he had built in Cincinnati. Vol. I-13 188 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY When the war broke out the scholar, whose patriotism was a passion, turned soldier. He happened to be in New Yark when the news of the fall of Sumter came and, being asked to speak at a public meeting, poured out the deep emotions of his fervid soul in a passionate appeal whose eloquence produced an effect like that of the orations of Demosthenes, Cicero and Burke. Men and women wept aloud; the cheering drowned his words and the speech he made has ever been regarded as worthy to be placed alongside of those of Lincoln, Sumner, Phillips and Beecher. His previous record and this great address procured for Mr. Mitchell a high position in the army and his glorious career as a soldier then began. To follow it is to feel the heart swell at invincible courage, unquenchable hope and inexhaustible resource. To describe it would require a volume instead of a paragraph ; but into that paragraph one can put his whole hearted admiration and pay a tribute to a pure and lofty soul whose light was extinguished all too soon. A few brief notices of the inception of other great enterprises must serve to conclude the proof that these were days of the greatest enlargement of interest in the things pertaining to the higher life. Historical Society. In August, 1844, the Cincinnati Historical society was organized with James H. Perkins as its first president. In 1849 the Historical and Philosophical society of Ohio, was combined with it and removed to Cincinnati ; W. D. Gallagher becoming the first president. Spring Grove Cemetery. On August 28, 1845, Spring Grove cemetery was consecrated. Law Library—New England Society. In 1846 the Cincinnati Law Library was organized as was also the New England society. Ohio Mechanics Institute. In 1848 the corner-stone of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute was laid. Organized in 1828, it had many ups and downs ; but had been given new impetus by Miles Greenwood, Marston Allen and John P. Foote. Literary Club. The Literary club was started on October 29, 1849, by Robert Buchanan, I. C. Collins, Nelson Cross, Stanley Matthews, Martin L. Sheldon, A. R. Spofford, Reuben H. Stephenson, Algernon S. Sullivan, H. G. Wade, M. Hazen White, Peyton C. Wyette and John C. Zachos. House of Refuge—City Infirmary—Gymnastic Association—Pioneer Association. The House of Refuge was opened October 7, 1850; the City Infirmary was opened in 1852 ; the Young Men's Gymnastic association was opened in 1853; and the Pioneer association, November 23, 1856. William Perry, president and John L. Vattier, vice president. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 189 Public Library. In July, 1856, the Ohio School Library, the predecessor of our present library (which had been organized under a law of 1853, by virtue of an arrangement with the Ohio Mechanics' Institute), opened its quarters in the building of that institution at the corner of Sixth and Vine, with 11,630 volumes, over half of which was the property of the Ohio Mechanics' institute. In contemplating a great city; the question as to what forces really pretedominated in its upbuilding, perpetually occurs. No one of them is likely to have been sufficient of itself, unless in an exceptional case like that of Mecca, which sprang up as a shrine for pilgrims ; or of St. Petersburgh, which was built by the will of a single man ; or Washington, which grew because it was a political capital ; or Leadville because it was the center of a mining region. In the average city the net results are attributable to a conspiracy of forces, and in our own there were three belonging to a single order which were, each in turn, of crucial importance. In one era, river navigation and at another, canalteboating made the most important contribution to our expansion. But we have come now to the era in which the railroad was pre-eminent as a factor of development. Railroads. It was in 1846 that the first of these arteries of trade connecting the city with the great outside world was finally completed, although thirty miles had been opened to the public in 1843 and thirty-eight more (to Xenia) in 1844. Its construction was not accomplished without overcoming difficulties and obstacles of every kind and of course the principal one was to persuade incredulous individuals that the new method of transportation could be superior to the old one by canal. Apprehensions of all sorts abounded and the timid populace would not permit an engine to enter the city for fear it would set it afire with its sparks !, In 1846, however, the great project was completed and passengers were whirled at what seemed lightning speed from Cincinnati through to Springfield. In 1848 the Sandusky branch was completed and in 185o connection was also made with Columbus at Xenia. In 1849 one daily train carried passengers northward and enabled them by boat connection on the lakes and canals to reach New York and Boston. In 1851 another daily train was added and passengers were sent through to the coast in forty-eight hours, sleeping the first night in a lake steamer and the second on a Hudson river boat. Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton. So brilliant had been the success of the Little Miami that when it was proteposed to construct the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton in 1846, the project was hailed with unbounded enthusiasm and the stock subscribed for by the people in the city and along the route, in breakneck haste. It was begun in 1848, opened for use in 1851 and at once poured a tide of passengers and freight into Cincinnati. Ohio & Mississippi. The project of a western connection now began to excite attention and plans were made to reach St. Louis. The difficult task of securing charters in three 190 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY states was undertaken in 1849, but it was not until 1857 that the road was finally completed. Nor was this the end. The dream of reaching the east by a more direct route haunted the minds of the men who had visions, and a road running up to Marietta from Loveland (where it touched the Little Miami), was chartered under the name of the Belpre & Cincinnati railroad and completed in 1857. This slow outstretching of these great tentacles of the mighty organism was a most majestic movement. It was as if a living creature, feeling a necessity for longer arms to reach its food, should have developed them by its own volition and by some mysterious power inherent in itself, extended them in all directions. A clear conception of the import of this closer connection of the isolated city with the great world is most impressive. Had the distance between it and the coast been shortened by an actual shrinkage of the continent, the effect could not have been more startling, and it was small wonder that the city awoke to larger life. Along every nerve a new thrill ran. A closer contact with the nation at large produced broader conceptions and awakened grandambitions in the minds of those whose views were of necessity somewhat provincial. Street Railroads. Next to the steam cars, perhaps the most effective instruments of progress in the evolution of cities is the street railroad. It takes some little time for villagers who have walked back and forth from their homes to their places of business, or have gone on foot to make their social calls, to realize the limitations which they suffer, as the village grows into a city and these distances .gradually increase. This idea dawned slowly upon Cincinnati ; but its people awakened at last to a poignant realization that the blood was not circulating rapidly enough. It took too long for those individual drops, the people, to get about. Omnibuses and stage lines had quickened the circulation a little ; but had already proven inadequate. The citizens were rapidly growing restless and chafed under the fatigue of those slow journeyings along the streets and up the hills ; but it was not until 1859 (at the very close of this period), that the determination to correct the evil was definitely formed. On July 13th of that year six routes for a system of street railroads were laid out ; the first running to Brighton House ; the second to Western Row; the third to Broadway via Liberty (which was not constructed) ; the fourth to Freeman and back ; the fifth to Front and Washington ; the sixth to Vine and Hamilton road ; the sixth on Front street to the east line of the city. Very diminutive they seem to us now. The idea of such transportation once having impregnated the minds of the people, it became a sort of fever and five different companies were organized to seize these valuable franchises, while routes innumerable were laid out on paper. It would have seemed as if so unbounded an enthusiasm would have swept everything before it ; but there are always reactions in such violent movements. The fact that every one of these lines ran for a little way along Fourth street caused a sudden alarm in the, breasts of the owners of property on that busy thoroughfare. They trembled for fear a congestion of traffic would diminish the value of their property and rushed into conference to arrest the progress of the movement. Strange as it may seem many of the most prominent and intelligent men of the city were the victims of this irrational apprehension- CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 191 among them George Carlisle, S. N. Pike, L. B. Harrison, Robert Mitchell, Winthrop B. Smith, John Shillito, John Carlisle and others. They protested to the council that, under pretense of serving the public, the builders of the roads were exploiting the owners of property ; that traffic would be interfered with ; that business would be driven away and they actually secured an injunction from Judge Bellamy Storer ! It was not long, however, before their unsettled judgment recovered its equilibrium so that the construction of the roads went rapidly forward and all the people felt that it was a great event, when, on the 14th day of September, 1859, the first car, drawn by four beautiful gray horses, went clattering over the rails, conveying the officers of the company, the mayor, the councilmen and members of the press. But the trip itself was not accomplished without at least a shadow of misfortune, for in the midst of the general jollification, a depressed rail shunted the car off the track and the dignified and chastened passengers were compelled to dismount and pushed it back by literally "putting their shoulders to the wheel." From that day (auspicious in spite of this accident), the development of facilities for street car transportation went steadily forward toward the still greater revolution when electricity was substituted for steam. Pork Packers. Among the great businesses of this period no one was more interesting and none more important than that of the pork packers. Corn was the chief prodteuct of the region of which Cincinnati was the center ; but the poor roads rendered its transportation by the existing means of conveyance practically impossible. It was necessary, therefore, either to reduce its bulk or make it ship itself, and the native wit of the people actually solved both problems. Some of it they turned into whiskey and the rest into hogs ! The former could be carried in wagons while the latter walked to market on its own legs. Whiskey and hogs ! Both businesses were the natural (and probably inteevitable) outgrowths of the existing conditions and both contributed enormously to the financial prosperity of Cincinnati. Just how much the former has done to deflect the city from the path of virtue and to destroy the ideals of American municipalities, it is rather the business of the moralist than the historian to discover; but even the historian must declare that there is not a phase of our life that does not show the marks of its deteriorating influence. In no other city in America has the liquor power been stronger, and in no other has the effort required to maintain a pure political system, a high ethical standard and an active spiritual life been harder. The latter business, pork packing, was wholly beneficial in its influence, and we can only regret that it was ever permitted to decline. We should even be willing to bear the heavy burden of that odious name "Porkopolis" for the sake of winning back from our rival on Lake Michigan, our lost prestige. Pork packing began here as long ago as 1820 and in 1845 Mr. Cist declared that "our pork packing business is the largest in the world, not even excepting Cork or Belfast in Ireland." In 1840te41, 200,000 hogs were slaughtered. Seven years later the number had risen to 475,000, and although it declined for a time, it rose to 608,0oo in the first year of the war. Up to 188o we maintained our preeminence and deals of ten, twenty, and even forty thousand dollars in canned 192 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY or smoked goods were of no uncommon occurrence. Such transactions laid the foundations of the fortunes of the Davises, Beresfords, Rogers, Swifts, Cunninghams, Evanses, Kahns and Forbeses. The largest number of hogs packed in any single year was in 1878 when it aggregated 786,000, but soon after, Chicago began to steal our trade away. We have lost the first place in this industry but it still continues to be an enormous source of wealth. Thc Race Problem. In every period of rapid growth in cities there is almost certain to be some sort oliritual fermentation, the collision of interests being so constant and irritating as to force upon people the consideration of the great problems of personal rights and duties. In the period now under consideration it was the problem of the ethical relations of the white and black races that all the time and everywhere disturbed and agitated the minds of men. As has been over and over again observed, the situation of the city involved it in unusual difficulties, and as the "irrepressible conflict" approached, Cincinnatians became more and more excited over the issue. A procession of runaway slaves was forever passing through this "gateway to the north" and their masters were forever pursuing them. The little band of agitators who read the Philanthropist and clamored for abolition grew apace, while the numbers of those who catered to the South because of its trade, multiplied with a rapidity but little less. There was much at stake with them and they busied themselves in organizing meetings to denounce the doctrines of the American AntiteSlavery Society and to point out that the only method of solving the question was by "the colonization of the whole race in Africa." No better guarantee of the sincerity of this movement could be given than that of the names of the men who were its principals. When Judge Burnet, Daniel Gano, Jesse Justice, Robert T. Lytle, and William McGuffy acted, they did so conscientiously and they constantly 'took part in these efforts. That they were misguided it is easy enough for us to see and as easy to realize that the true heroes of the period were men like D. F. Meader, W. T. Truman, Nathan Guilford, James G. Birney, Salmon P. Chase, Levi Coffin and a host of others who submitted to abuse and suffered in fortune because their souls could not endure the infamy of African slavery. But in those farteoff days a veil hung over the eyes of many of the noblest members of the social body. As the years rolled slowly on, the conflicts of opinion often degenerated into those of brute force as in the riots of 1842 and 1843. When these street battles were not occurring to agitate the people, lawsuits over the capture of the escaped slaves served the purpose quite as well. A volume could be filled with the story of these trials and there have been none more exciting in the courts of any age. In all such great conflicts of opinion, certain individual men and women, either because of their exceptional talents or unusual advantages, embody the different opinions and become the gathering points for parties. There were two of these in Cincinnati, men who made history and whose careers demand from us an especial notice. One of them was Salmon P. Chase, whose activities have already been described and the other was Levi Coffin, who came to Cincinnati on the 22d of April, 1847. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 193 Levi Coffin. He was of Quaker ancestry and from his earliest years bitterly opposed to slavery. Born in North Carolina and in 1798, he removed to Wayne county, Indiana, where in 1826 he opened a store which soon became a rendezvous for runaway slaves. At a convention of people who had covenanted to handle only "free-labor" goods Coffin was appointed to open a store for their sale in Cincinnati and came here for that purpose in 1847. His business proved a great success and furnished him ample means to carry on the work of the "underground railway," of which he came to be regarded as the national president. Before long his name was known all over the south and a stream of fugitives claimed his interest and protection. The story of his devotion and helpfulness will ever adorn our annals and to tell it in detail would be a priyilege indeed. What romantic accounts those are, of the shrewdness of the old Quaker who fooled the sharpest minions of the law and who never turned his back on a slave who claimed his chivalrous protection ! The skill with which the good man would walk along the very edge of a lie without falling over was a miracle, as was also that genius by which he extricated his proteges from apparently inextricable difficulties. To one of the emissaries of the law who inquired if he had seen a slave boy pass his gate, he replied that he had ; but shrewdly omitted to explain that it was to enter instead of to go by! Another of them asked at his door for a runaway girl and was adroitly detained until she had time to put on a fine silk dress, a fashionable bonnet and a veil, in which attire she followed her pursuer down the street until she found an alley by which she turned of into a negro settlement. On a memorable occasion the wily Quaker organized an escaping band of twenty-eight fugitives into a funeral procession which marched not only to a cemetery, but far beyond to another station in the "Railway !" At another time, he went to the Pork House of Henry Lewis, one of his "stock holders" to ask for money to defray the expenses of a "passenger.' In the office were three slave-holding customers and so eloquent was Coffin's appeal for money "to help some poor people" (of whose color he thoughtfully omitted to speak) that the customers cheerfully contributed and never knew, until sometime afterward, that their money had been used to liberate runaway slaves ! At still another time he had a young slave girl dressed up as a nurse maid, put a dummy baby in her hand, and sent her boldly out upon the street to seek her liberty. A white man who protested against his business he converted by taking him to his house and exhibiting the wounds made upon a slave's back by the lash of the driver. Undoubtedly Mr. Coffin came as near to deception as the law allows ; but undoubtedly he never passed over. In his soul there was a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and courage. Not everybody can appreciate his kind of virtue. Multitudes regarded him then, and probably do today, with hatred and contempt because the objects of his charity belonged to a despised race ; while there are other multitudes of us in whose judgment this is his highest title to honor. Coffin did not labor alone, of course, and those faithful friends who helped him have always deserved and shall here receive a generous share in his honors. Among those loyal men were Joseph Emery, Henry Lewis, John J. Jolliffe, Robert Birney, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Harwood, Samuel Reynolds, John H. Coleman and a family of Englishmen by the name of Burnett. 194 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY Nor were the good women of the city behind the men. They were Mrs. Sarah H. Ernst, Miss Sarah O. Ernst, Mrs. Henry Miller, Mrs. Dr. Ayedelott, Mrs. Julia Harwood, Mrs. Amanda E. Foster, Mrs. Elizabeth Coleman, Mrs. Mary Mann, Mrs. Mary M. Guild, Miss K. Emery and they performed their services of love by means of sewing societies where clothes were made for the almost naked wretches who fled to Coffin for protection. Of course the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 served to increase the difficulties and dangers of the business of these heroic people, for it gave .a sudden impetus to the search for fugitives, some of whom had lived in the North for many years. Many of these were brought to Cincinnati for trial and their cases are famous in the history of this great struggle between the enemies and friends of the blacks. Among these were the M'Queery case before Justice John McLean of the Supreme Court of the United States August 16th and 17th, 1853 ; the case before Commissioner S. S. Carpenter in 1853 ; the Rosetta case in 1855 ; the Margaret Garner case in 1856; the Connelly case in 1859 and the Early case in 1859. John Jolliffe, J. W. Caldwell, Salmon P. Chase, Ex-Governor Corwin, and a young attorney with a name which afterwards became one of the shining ones of our history, Rutherford B. Hayes, were the lawyers who did the most to defend these miserable victims of one of the greatest of the injustices of all time. In many, if not all, these trials, rescues and returns the shrewd old Quaker, Levi Coffin, had a hand. His tact, his humor, his courage, his patriotism, his persistence, were all of the highest order. Not for a moment did he and his heroic wife relax their efforts to assist the objects of their charity, until at last the emancipation of the slaves rendered such efforts forever unnecessary. Mr. Coffin resided in a house on the property where the Woodward High School stands, and tardy justice was done to his great and honored name when in the month of May, this current year 1911, a beautiful bronze tablet was erected in the corridor of the schoolhouse to commemorate his name and deeds. These stirring and often bloody scenes were premonitory of the great tragedy so soon to be enacted and the student of those memorable days feels himself borne forward by an irresistible current towards the gulf of Civil war. Events in other cities were not less important ; but few were more so. Notable Events. The events of history are of two fold character, sporadic and. symptomatic. Sporadic events are often of dramatic interest and merit telling because they depict the fullness and variety of the life of the nation, the individual or city. Floods, fires, pestilences and a hundred other similar happenings belong to this order. But it is the symptomatic events that are of greatest value—those which grow out of the characters of the people ; out of their inner life. They. reveal and they explain the very essence of the organization, institution or person. Concerning the exclusively sporadic events we feel inclined to say but little.; but there are certain ones which although of an almost accidental character, do still disclose essential elements of the hidden life. Among them are the visits of distinguished people, because the manner of their reception is an indication CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 195 of the mental attitude of the citizens toward the central figures on the stage of action. Dickens. In this period—from 1839 to 1860—the appearance of world-famous people cut a greater figure than at present, when so many distinguished visitors slip into and out of cities without attracting even a passing attention. But in 1842 when Charles Dickens, then at the height of his glory, arrived in Cincinnati, it was ari event of the first magnitude and the populace went wild with interest and pleasure. He staid too short a time, however, to give an opportunity for public functions, and they were bitterly disappointed. Kossuth. In 1852 Kossuth, the great Hungarian patriot, arrived and furnished a welcome occasion to the Queen City to show her appreciation of goodness and greatness. The daily papers reported his every movement. Kossuth hats and Magyar caps were for sale. Banquets were given ; speeches were made ; processions were formed ; receptions were tendered and the ordinary events of life were thrown completely into the shade. Unfortunately, the mania for "lion hunting" and jollification interfered most seriously with the plans of the great patriot to secure a large fund for the assistance of his fellow countrymen and caused him bitter disappointment. W. H. Harrison. One of the greatest events in the city's history was the election to the presidency of the United States of W. H. Harrison who, although residing at North Bend, was practically a Cincinnatian. That a man in so obscure a spot should have risen to this eminence, affects the mind with a deep sense of the vicissitudes of fortune in a democratic government. His home, constructed originally of logs, became a symbol of simplicity and his election to the most exalted position in the new world, an inspiration. He had been considered an available candidate at the previous election ; but was not yet strong enough to secure the nomination. In 1840, however, he was swept triumphantly into office. The campaign was, of course, a matter of all absorbing interest in Cincinnati. For months everythirig else was eclipsed. All the peculiarities of the movement elsewhere were repeated and exaggerated here. Processions in which the "Log Cabin," "Coon Skin Caps," "Hard Cider" and songs celebrating the hero's achievements were almost a part of the every day life of the city. Mr. Harrison had lived so long among the inhabitants and was known and beloved by so many, that his selection was a matter of civic pride and when, at last, he began his triumphant journey to the national capital the emotions of the populace were those of mingled joy at his success and grief at his departure. His old companions in arms shed tears and the whole city, turning out to see him go, stood with uncovered heads and listened with rapt attention to his fond farewells. Among the thousands not one, perhaps, experienced a premonition of the altered scene to be presented in a few short months, for, scarcely had the new 196 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY president arrived at the capital before his health suffered a complete collapse and on the 4th of April he died of pneumonia. It was fitting that his old friends and neighbors should bring his body back to his home for burial and a distinguished committee composed of Judge Jacob Burnet ; J. C. Wright ; T. D. Carneal; Charles S. Clarkson; Edward Woodruff; L. Whiteman ; A. Dudley ; D. C. Powell ; A. McAlpin ; John Reeves and Rufus Hodges did so. Upon its arrival in the city the body lay in state at the house of W. H. H. Tayler, hissonteintelaw,, (on the north side of Sixth street just east of Lodge) and his noble face was gazed upon by thousands whohadd known and loved him. Suitable religious services were held and the body, conveyed to. a boat, was taken by water to a quiet spot near the home he had so recently abandoned and placed in a tomb which it still continues to consecrate. The land upon which the sepulchre stands was subsequently deeded by the second President Harrison to the State of Ohio on condition that it should be properly cared for. To the shame of our great state this has not been done and no true patriot can visit that lonely and (architecturally) hideous sepulchre without a feeling of pain. There, within a stone's throw of each other lie the ashes of two men whom any city on earth might be proud to honor, William Henry Harrison and John Cleves Symmes—the latter's grave defended by a crumbling fence and identified by an inadequate monument. It is hard indeed to refrain from bitterness and denunciation, when standing in those neglected places and contemplating our lack of appreciation for our local heroes. In no other circumstances could the greatest lesson we have to learn as a city be more forcibly driven home—the lesson that we owe as much if not more to our local than even our national divinities ! It cannot but follow (as the significance of our environment is slowly disclosed to our dull minds) that we shall come to feel an overpowering and ever increasing interest in the great figures of our city's history. To know every incident of its life; to be familiar with all the forces which moulded its character ; to know with loving intimacy the deeds of its great men and women will, sometime, become the pride as it is the duty of its citizens. For one, I dare to say, that it is of as great importance to teach local history in our public schools as national history and affirm that no pupil has a right to be graduated from any one of them without a clear conception of the leading events in our city's life and a reasonable familiarity with the distinguished figures who have shaped it. The reflection that people seldom appreciate the significance of events except in retrospect, perpetually forces itself upon the mind of the historical student. Those which seem immense become trivial and those which are trivial immense, as time goes by and new light is thrown upon them, by the ever altering circumstances of life. Lincoln and Stanton. For example, in 1855 two of the great figures of the Civil war encountered each other in Cincinnati without exciting any special interest on their own parts or that of other people. Both of them wereattorneysteattelaww known to but a few people of the limited spheres where they had inconspicuously revolved. They had been retained in a law suit (McCormick vs. Marmy) —Edwin M. CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 197 Stanton coming from Pittsburgh, Pa., and Abraham Lincoln from Springfield. Ill. It had been arranged that they should be associated in the case on equal terms; but circumstances (not altogether understood, at present) prevented the combination. They were of such a nature at any rate as to give rise to the story that Stanton upon seeing Lincoln declared that "he would not be associated with such a damned, gawky, long armed ape as that" and that "if he could not have a man who was a gentleman in appearance associated with him in the case, he would abandon it altogether." Whether this somewhat apocryphal story is to be accepted or rejected, we have another from the pen of Ralph Emerson of Rockford, Illinois, which is entitled to our utmost confidence. Mr. Lincoln, he declares, was bitterly disteappointed over the turn affairs had taken and decided to go home, without delay. He was finally persuaded, however, to remain and listened with profound attention to the arguments of the lawyers in the case. After a while his friends observed that he had fallen into one of his melancholy moods and he told them that he was going back to Springfield to begin his life again. Mr. Emerson was astonished and asked him why this should be necessary when he already stood at the head of the Illinois bar. "I do occupy a good position there," he replied, "and I think I can get along with the way things are done there, now. But these collegetetrained men who have devoted their whole lives to the study of law are coming west, don't you see, and they study their cases as we never do. They have got as far as Cincinnati, now. They will soon be in Illinois. I am going home to study law. I am as good as any of them and when they get out to Illinois I will be ready for them." Mr. Lincoln visited Cincinnati again in 1859. On Friday, September 9th, Senator Douglas had spoken to seven thousand people in Court House Square and on the Saturday following Lincoln delivered his well known "Cincinnati speech" from the balcony of Mr. Kinsey's house, in Fifth street, Market Square. Ralph Waldo Emerson. In January, 1859, Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered his lecture on "The Conduct of Life" in Smith and Nixon's hall, and was entertained by the Literary Club. General Winfield Scott. In April of the same year General Winfield Scott was the guest of the city and excited great enthusiasm. A week later the city went wild with rapture over the singing of Jenny Lind, the Swedish nightingale. 1860 Prince of Wales. Perhaps no other visitor ever inspired more interest or was more elaborately entertained than the Prince of Wales, who arrived in the city on the 28th of September, 1860. He made his headquarters at the Burnet House ; but was banqueted at the elegant home of Robert B. Bowler and feted in the Pike Opera House, where a sumptuous ball was given in his honor. The Prince opened the entertainment with Mrs. Samuel Pike as his partner and successively danced 198 - CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY with Miss Rebecca Groesbeck, Miss Mattie Taylor of Newport, Miss Hattie McGregor of Mt. Auburn, Miss Alice Hilton and Miss Edith Burnet. On Sabbath morning the royal party worshipped in St. John's Church at Seventh and Plum and in the evening left for Pittsburgh. The pleasure of people in the visits of these distinguished guests seems naive to those of us who live in these more sophistic,ged days ; but it is easy to understand how, although such events were only sporadic and accidental, they after all exerted a not inconsiderable influence in widening the horizon and refining the life of the ever growing city. And, at any rate, they eloquently reveal the craving of a young, vigorous, halftebaked but aspiring city for encounter with genius, with celebrity, with power, with the currents of the larger life of the world. For the contemplative mind, there is a perpetual oscillation of interest from events to persons and from persons to events. For a time we may be absorbed with the agitations of the sea of life considered as mere abstractions, as we watch the waves upon an ocean, or the bubblings of a caldron. Sooner or later, however, it is the consciousness that the source of all these activities are the lives of individual men and women and to know them ;—their characters, motives and careers, becomes an unappeasable hunger. As this yearning grows upon the reader, so does the consciousness of the difficulty of its satisfaction upon the writer. In this period of such great achievement how many illustrious people were at work ! In what various pursuits and missions were they engaged! If even Homer was driven to desperation for some method other than showing them to the reader's eye, in action, and had to resort to. the make shift scheme of having Helen enumerate and describe them, it cannot be a literary crime for a plain, prosaic annalist to confess his inability to do anything more than to name and characterize a few of them in brief and simple words. "If I ever lose interest in my fellow men," exclaimed Jean Paul Richter, "I pause before the next human being I meet and gaze a little longer than usual upon his face !" It is that extra moment; the gaze a little more protracted and intimate than usual, which reveals the imperishable and mysterious charm of the individual soul. There is a similar experience in studying history. The ghostly procession of spectral figures rising vaguely out of the past, may seem to lack vitality amidst the living beings of the present world ; but we have only to bestow upon them that "little longer gaze than usual" to find ourselves infatuated with their words, their deeds, their selves. Stanley Matthews. Take such a man, for example, as Stanley Matthews, the son of a celebrated professor in Woodward College and Transylvania University—Thomas J. Matthews. Born in Cincinnati July 21, 1824 ; educated at Kenyon College, he went forward upon the pathway of achievement by leaps and bounds. Dividing his efforts between the law and journalism, he became illustrious in both. When the war broke out, his love of his country and hatred of slavery turned him into a soldier and he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel in the 23d Ohio Infantry, the Colonel of which was W. S. Rosecrans and the Major, Rutherford CINCINNATI—THE QUEEN CITY - 199 B. Hayes. Subsequently he became a Colonel of the 51st Ohio and while in camp in 1863 was elected judge for the superior court in Cincinnati, having for his associates Storer and Hoadley. Resigning this office in 1865, he at once became prominent as a lawyer. Upon the resignation of Mr. Sherman to go into the cabinet of President Hayes, he was selected to fill out Sherman's unextepired term in the senate and in 1881 was appointed to the Supreme Bench and served until his death in 1889. The facts that he possessed a brain of the most extraordinary capacity and was a man of prodigious learning and most exalted character have never been challenged. Among the greatest men he would have been distinguished. Rutherford B. Hayes. Take such a man as Rutherford B. Hayes, whose early manhood is one of the richest treasures of our municipal life, for up to his removal to Fremont, Ohio, he practiced in the courts of Hamilton county and took part in all the activities of those strenuous years of the war and afterwards. Born in Delateware, Ohio, 1823, graduated at Kenyon and Harvard, he came to Cincinnati in 1849. His culture gave him entrance into the highest circles and in the Literary Club he was associated with Chase, Ewing, Corwin, Matthews, Conway, Force and other leaders in thought and action. Proving himself to be their equal, he rose from one position of honor to another and when the war broke out, became captain of the military organization formed in the Literary Club. He served throughout the war with great distinction and before its close attained the rank of Major General. At different times he served the state in congress and as governor and finally was elevated to the highest office in the gift of the people. Of his personal purity, his Christian charity, his unselfish patriotism, too much cannot be said and during his stay among us he added enormously to the richness of our life. J. B. Stallo. In such a list of worthies, the name of Johan Bernhard Stallo always must be placed. Born of a race of schoolmasters in Oldenberg, he came to Cincintenati in 1831 and secured a position in St. Xavier College. His talents soon became known and lie acquired so wide a recognition that he was called to St. John's College in New York, where he remained for four years and during them published a work entitled "General Principles of the Philosophy of Nature." Returning to Cincinnati, he studied law and became so proficient in its practice as to be soon appointed to succeed Stanley Matthews as judge of the common pleas court and was afterwards elected to the office. That he did much to bring this court into national renown by his argument to sustain the school board in its ordinance forbidding the reading of the Bible to the pupils, (an argument which was published and widely distributed) is matter of common knowledge. In 1855 he was appointed minister to Italy and resided there until his death in Two. The high esteem in which the Germans of America held this great jurist, author and statesman was shared by all true judges of worthy manhood.