950 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY W. D. Howells in his sketch of Keeler in the Atlantic Monthly, in 1874, prefaces his article with the quotation, "His memory scarce can make me sad." He tells of Keeler attending Kenyon College, Gambrier, O., "then rested from his studies long enough to earn $181, on which he spent two years in Europe, chiefly at Heidelberg University." Keeler tells of his European experiences in an article published in The Atlantic in 1870, under the title of "A Tour of Europe for $181 in Currency." Next to his "Vagabond Adventures" and his life as a minstrel, this narrative relates one of his most remarkable exploits beginning when he was past twenty. In this article Keeler says, that after his college days at Kenyon, "I had served, I recollect, but a few months in the post office of Toledo, 0. (probably the early summer, of 1862) when I took a deliberate account of my savings one morning and was gratified. Counting my money over and over, I could make no less of it than $181. * * * So I resigned 'mine office,' not with the heartbreaking feeling of Richelieu, in the play, but still, like him with the lingering cares of Europe on my mind. * * * But the city of Toledo is situated about 700 miles from the sea, and it now became an interesting question how this distance was to be compassed for nothing." The result was, that through a friend at the Toledo Union railroad station, young Keeler ingratiated himself into the good graces of one of the drovers of a cattle train from the West for an eastern market; engaged himself as a helper, and secured a pass permitting him to ride in the cattle train "caboose." He managed to get his trunk checked through to New York on a regular passenger train, without a demand to show his ticket. At New York, Keeler took a steerage passage and arrived at London during the World's Fair. Here, he observes in his narrative : "My whole life there might be written down under the general title of 'The Adventures of a Straw Hat,' for the one which I wore was the signal for the sharpers of all that great city to practice their arts upon me. By the advice of a friendly police detective, I purchased a new English hat and with this as a sort of Aegis, passed out of the British Dominion without being robbed." At Paris, after witnessing the fetes of the emperor, Keeler took a third class coach for Strasburg and Heidelberg. Here, practicing the strictest economy, he spent a good part of his time while abroad, observing that, "by matriculating at the great University of Heidelberg, I became endowed with all the time honored privileges of the students." This gave him many advantages. During his long vacations and after he left Heidelberg altogether, he visited the Tyrol, Switzerland, Italy and then turned back into France. Had he dressed as an American tourist and been charged double prices for his accommodations, he could never have truthfully written his story of his travels on only $181 in currency. But he adopted the costume of a Handwerksburche and went about in a way which probably no American has ever traveled before or since; in the disguise of a wandering tradesman, attired in a blouse of their class, something like our Western "wampus." His general appearance was in harmony with his blouse. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 951 Keeler's versatility as a linguist, for he could talk eight languages, was also of great advantage. He said that in Switzerland, where ordinary travelers paid from ten to thirty francs a day, he journed sumptuously, thanks to his disguise, for thirty sous a day. The wandering tradesman, the Handwerksburschen, with whom he associated and mingled in his travels, he described as a sort of fossil remains of feudalism. Young fellows, half journeymen, half apprentices, who were obliged to wander for two or three years from city to city, working at their trades, and who finally return to their homes, of course poor, but ready to make their "masterpieces," which entitled them to style themselves masters of their trade. Let Keeler be quoted further about these fellows : "I have spent many a happy hour, toiling along the road with them, listening to their stories and merry songs. If I meet one of them on the highway, he stops, offers me his hand, and exchanges a kindly nod. He takes out his pipe, asks me to fill mine from his tobacco pouch, and tells me all he knows of the road passed over. He never lodges in a city, unless he has work there. The village inn is his castle ; here he obtains his bed at night and his breakfast in the morning for seven kreutzersnot quite four cents ; and trudges on, smoking and singing, through all Europe. This is the Handwerksbursche, poor but merry ; the knight errant of the bundle and staff ; the troubadour and minnesinger of the nineteenth century." As Keeler walked over the old roads of Europe, no doubt there many times came up before him the morning when as a child and an orphan, he fled Toledoward from his birthplace, and dreamily pondered over his great adventures following. What a wonderful background for future writings, these experiences of Keeler ! This inimitable character, born on the then frontier prairie, with deep forests encompassing it ; then in school a while, then a cabin boy on the lakes, going from this experience to a newsboy service on a railroad and coming in contact with human nature in its unalloyed naturalness ; again a wandering minstrel in the old days on the Mississippi ; then within the spiritual environment and teachings of the good Jesuit fathers of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and under the influence of Father Ryan at Saint Vincent's College ; next at Kenyon College and soon to Heidelberg University and this tour in Europe. And finally at the fountain of letters and literature in Boston, the very air pregnant with the influence of such characters as Clemens, Howells, Fields, Aldrich, Bret Harte and others ; this to polish the crudeness and rough spots. Where was there a writer better equipped to make a name in America than Ralph Keeler, had his career been permitted to work itself out? However, fate did not prevent him from producing his literary gems, where they may yet be found and read. While Keeler toured Europe on $181, he earned small amounts from articles sent to American newspapers, and sketches for a magazine in London and one in Edinburgh. He next hied himself to California, where he taught school, engaged in journalism and took the lecture platform with some success. Here is 952 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY where he first met Clemens. In a way Keeler knew the Mississippi as well as Mark Twain did, and he knew its large tributaries better. In their later intercourse, one can well understand the hours and days they spent together talking about their California experiences, their days on the Mississippi and incidents connected with their life on the lecture platform. A biographical sketch of his older brother, William Olmstead Keeler, who late in life was a merchant at Custar and Milton Center, Wood County, Ohio, speaks of Keeler's book, "Gloverson and His Silent Partners." The biography also says he translated from the French "Le Marquis de Villener" by George Sand (Armadine Lucile Dudevant), and refers to the story of "Owen Brown's Escape from Harper's Ferry," which was published in the Atlantic after Keeler's disappearance. Owen Brown was a son of the immortal John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame. Keeler met Owen Brown on Put-in-Bay island in Lake Erie, where the latter lived when Keeler visited him and got Brown's story. This was about the time that he also visited the site of his birthplace at Weston, without disclosing his identity and to gather material for his book, "Vagabond Adventures." Ferris Greenslet's "Life of Thomas Bailey Aldrich" has this : "Every Saturday was shifted from the field in which it had made its success under Fields and Osgood, and converted into a large, illustrated weekly, a competitor of Harper's Weekly. * * * From the first, Aldrich seemed to have had his misgivings, and even for a time listened to the suggestions of Lowell and Professor Francis J. Child, that he should accept an instructorship in belles letters at Harvard. In the end, however, the project fell through, fortunately we may believe for American poetry, and Aldrich continued his editorial relations with Every Saturday for a little longer. "The new scope of the paper was the cause of another inspiring acquaintance destined to a tragic termination. Ralph Keeler, the vivacious author of papers in the Atlantic on 'Three Years as a Negro Minstrel,' and 'A Tour of Europe on $181,' was appointed art editor of Every Saturday after its sea charge, and soon came to terms of comradeship with Aldrich and Mr. Howells. In the course of a few years, however, the exciting progress of a Cuban insurrection became too strong for Keeler's spirit of adventure, and despite the remonstrance of his friends, he set out for Cuba as a special correspondent of the New York Tribune. Before his departure, Aldrich exacted from him the promise that when, with a halter about his neck, he should be carted out of the public square at Havana for execution, he would utter as his last words, 'Ladies and gentlemen, if I had taken the advice of my friend, T. B. Aldrich, author of "Marjorie and Other People," I should not now be in this place.' The pleasantry turned to grisly earnest. Keeler was lost at sea—probably murdered as a result of a political intrigue before he reached the Cuban shore." Howells, in writing that Keeler's "Vagabond Adventures" showed "literary growth," followed by saying, "I hoped that it would prove the germ of an American novel in the manner of Gil Blas, for writing which TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 953 its author gave distinct promise. He often talked of such a work, and he confirmed belief in his powers in this direction, by a study called `Confessions of a Patent Medicine Man.' " Keeler went to Europe again in 1872, was at Geneva at the time of the Alabama claims conference at which Judge Waite, another Toledoan, was a prominent figure, and wrote several interesting papers about Switzerland for Harper's Magazine, one on "Geneva" and another "Around. Lake Leman." Then during the Spanish revolution came the Cuban insurrection. The Virginius, an American vessel, became engaged in the unlawful business of carrying arms and other contraband of war to the Cuban insurgents. The vessel was captured by a Spanish warship and the crew and passengers were shot after a summary trial. There was serious trouble over this affair between the United States and Spain. Some in this country advocated retaliatory measures. But the Spanish, although hasty in their actions, were evidently within the limits of international law and the matter passed without further complications. This was in 1873. It was the year Keeler went to Cuba as a correspondent of the New York Tribune, to investigate the matters for that paper. Howells here again says, "His letters from Cuba to the Tribune hastily and interruptedly written, fairly rose from the level of journalism to that of literature. He was getting rid of that uneasiness of which he was comically aware and which sometimes seemed to present itself as anxiety to know what were the feelings of men who had not been Negro minstrels in their youth." This observation evidently referred to the letters written by Keeler before his last start for Cuba from New York. It was in December, 1873, that Keeler saw his native soil for the last time, when he took a Spanish vessel for Havana, and then Manzanillo. One of Keeler's last remarks to Howells before his final leave of his home shores and the last time Howells saw him, was, "Put your finger on the present moment and enjoy it ; it's the only one you've got or ever will have." This, in a way, was Ralph Keeler's philosophy of life, and coming just before what followed so soon, seems almost intuitive. One can imagine how such an enthusiast and so daring a character in his anxiety for inside information, might put himself in a dangerous position. It is surmised that, posing as, or being taken for a Frenchman by Spanish officers on board, the latter revealed to Keeler information that was compromising. When the officers found Keeler was an American newspaper correspondent, they evidently believed the easiest way out was to get rid of the American. It is presumed Keeler was stabbed and thrown overboard. For the ship made no landing from Santiago to Manzanillo, and Ralph Keeler was never heard of again. He was last seen alive the night before the vessel reached Manzanillo. One account states that the captain of the Spanish steamer said that Keeler walked off the vessel in the middle of the night when asleep. His baggage, such as he had, and personal effects, were found in his stateroom the next morning when the steamer docked. T. B. Aldrich, under date of Jan. 3, 1874, wrote to the New York Tribune: "We honor the man, who, starting in life, a poor, friendless, 954 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY boy, became through his own exertions, a millionaire—a millionaire and nothing more. What honor, then, should we pay to a man like Ralph Keeler, who, without aid or example, lifts himself from out of the most demoralizing associations ; works, starves, struggles for culture as a man struggles for gold, and wins at last a noble foothold ; the master of five or six languages and the possessor of a great store of useful knowledge." The final tribute of the Rev. George B. Pratt of Chicago, Keeler's classmate at Kenyon, is this : "The years have flown like thistle downs of an autumn day. Yet even thistle downs have their seeds. By writing these words of Keeler, perhaps like seeds they have planted themselves in the minds and hearts of some of Kenyon's present boys and inspired them to a greater courage, love and duty." Albert Bigelow Paine in his delightful Biography of Mark Twain, in his chapter on Clemens' lecturing days, speaks of the "Boston group" of literati and of the Lyceum headquarters in School street, "where there was always congenial fellowship—Nasby, Josh Billings and the rest of the peripatetic group that about the end of the year (1871) collected there. * * * Redpath's lectures put up at Youngs hotel and spent their days at the bureau, smoking and spinning yarns." Paine then says : "Among the Boston group was Ralph Keeler, an eccentric, gifted and altogether charming fellow, whom Clemens had known on the Pacific slope. Keeler had been adopted by the Boston writers and was gratified and happy accordingly. He was poor of purse but inexhaustibly rich in the happier gifts of fortune. He was unfailingly buoyant, light-hearted and hopeful. Of an infinitesimal capital he had made a tour of many lands and had written of it for the Atlantic. "In that charmed circle he was overflowingly happy, as if he had been admitted to the company of the gods. Keeler was affectionately regarded by all who knew him and he offered a sort of worship in return. He often accompanied Mark Twain on his lecture engagements to the various outlying towns, and Clemens brought him back to his hotel for breakfast, where they had good, enjoyable talks together." (Paine should have added that Keeler also lectured with success.) Paine here relates this : "Once, Keeler came eagerly to the hotel and made his way up to Clemens' room. " 'Come with me,' he said, 'quick.' " 'What is it? What has happened?' " 'Don't wait to talk. Come with me.' "They tramped through the streets till they reached the public library, entered, Keeler leading the way, not stopping till he faced a row of shelves filled with books. He pointed at one of them, his face radiant with joy. " 'Look,' he said, 'do you see it?' "Clemens looked, carefully now, and identified one of the books as a still-born novel Keeler had published. " 'This is a library,' said Keeler eagerly, 'and they've got it.' "His whole being was aglow with the wonder of it. He had been in- TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 955 vestigating, the library records showed that in two years the book had been there it had been taken out and read three times ! It never occurred to Clemens even to smile. Knowing Mark Twain, one would guess that his eyes were likely to be filled with tears." This story of Paine's undoubtedly refers to Keeler's "Gloverson and His Silent Partners." His "Vagabond Adventures" had a much finer reception and he was rapidly coming into his own when his prospective great career was suddenly snuffed out. But at that he left many delightful literary memories in his passing. In his final tribute to Keeler, Howells says : "In a way his life seems to me heroical * * * and though it is not an example, it is full of lessons of patience, perseverance and honorable aspiration. He had done everything for himself ; he had even made the friends who helped him, and he had accomplished a good deal, more than most men who succeed more spectacularly. Peace to his kindly spirit." While Keeler's success was perhaps not as spectacular as accorded to some men, few lives have been crowded with so much of human interest and a certain quality of appeal. Had he lived as long as Clemens and Howells and the rest of the Boston group, his name might today be chiseled in the literary hall of fame along with his associates. A more intimate glimpse of Keeler in California, together with side lights of his career, are gathered from an article which appeared in the National Magazine of October, 1905, entitled, "Ralph Keeler of Vagabondia," written by the lecturer and author, Charles Warren Stoddard, who says : "A certain fraternal society had announced a ball for a charitable object, and Ada Clare and I had been begged 'of our pity' to bear witness to it. She was not yet inured to wild western ways, and the friend who accompanied us felt sure that she, at least, would enjoy the spectacle. San Francisco was then (about 1865) a trifle frisky. "We had not been long in the hall as spectators when a cotillion was announced, and the floor was soon blocked off in hollow squares, where the four sets of partners faced one another and impatiently awaited the beginning of the fray. "In the set nearest our seats there was a sprightly youth who, by his spirited antics, soon attracted our undivided attention. He was of medium height, slender, wiry, with a head that seemed a little too large for the body, but feet that were as agile as a rope dancer's. If he at first awakened our interest and surprise, it was not long before he startled and amazed us. He pirouetted like a master of the opera ballet ; he leaped into the air and alighted upon the tips of his toes ; he skipped among the dancers as airily as a puff of thistle down, and, on occasions, gave a toss of the toe that must inevitably have dislocated the halo of his partner, had she worn one, and, as it was, caused her to duck instinctively and resolve herself into a convenient and apologetic courtesy. One friend knew him and knew something of his history, and told it to us while the unconscious subject was still capering nimbly. * * * "The music and dancers having come to a full stop, our friend went 956 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY in search of the object of our interest and curiosity, and very shortly presented him as Ralph Keeler, professor of modern languages in a fashionable private school on the once aristocratic but now decidedly democratic Rincon Hill. "Besides being a professor of modern languages, Ralph Keeler was a weekly contributor to the columns of the Golden Era—at that time the cleverest literary weekly on the Pacific coast. His feuilleton was always readable, and he wrote with much spirit and freedom, signing his contributions `Alloquiz.' Occasionally a graceful bit of verse appeared under his own name—but he preferred to use a pen name which was the merest ghost of a disguise, it being pretty generally known that Ralph Keeler and `Alloquiz' were one and the same. "Our meeting that evening was a happy one, and our friendship soon warmed into an intimacy that we both enjoyed. At this time Ralph was in travail with a novel and, as is apt to be the case, it seemed to him and to me a matter of very great pith and moment. The coming novelist believed—as, I suppose, all coming novelists do—that he had solved a problem that has puzzled and confounded all the novelists that have ever tried and failed. 'The trouble with the novel is,' said Ralph to me, one day, 'that it is written for one person only, or one kind of person ; now, it should appeal to us all ; not all of it to all, which would of course be quite impossible, since no two of us are exactly alike in taste or preference—but one person should like it for one thing in it and another for another, and thus all the world of readers will find something somewhere within its pages that strikes home to his heart and makes the book forever precious to him.' * * * "The book was called `Gloverson and His Silent Partner.' The scene was laid in San Francisco ; the time about 1860. There was a plot which we had often discussed together ; there was humor for those who love to laugh ; and pathos for those who prefer to weep. There was a song composed and sung by Mr. Lang, the score of which—really from the pen of J. R. Thomas—is printed in the text of the story, and a footnote announces that, 'This song is also published in sheet music with an accompaniment for the pianoforte.' Toward the end of the volume the song is heard issuing from a subterranean music hall, and the voice of the singer is recognized by passers by ; this naturally leads to the discovery and rescue of one so necessary to the development of the story and the happy climax, which could not have resulted, had there been no second advent after the hero's mysterious disappearance. "Sometimes, lounging in the reading room of the old Mercantile Library, Ralph would drop in upon me, and seizing me by the shoulders, would say : 'Come with me ! I have another chapter finished. You must hear it.' And away we would go to his lodgings in Minna Street and there he would read to me, carefully studying my facial expression the while. I appreciated humor, and he was well aware of the fact ; if his humor did not awaken in me an appreciative response it had to be touched up until it was irresistible. He knew me for a sympathetic fellow, and so hoped to touch me to tears at intervals ; yet he held women in higher estimation and counted chiefly upon their emotional natures for his TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 957 success in pathos. Having read his touching chapter to them, if they wept not, that chapter was rewritten until it touched the high water mark. * * * "In 1867, I went upon the stage in Sacramento, California, making my first appearance as Arthur Apsley in 'The Willow Copse,' to the Luke Fielding of the late W. C. Couldock. * * * "Ralph Keeler had just made his first appearance as a lecturer, and, looking upon ourselves as, in a certain sense, public characters, out of my misery I wrote to congratulate and encourage him in his new and promising career. * * * "Keeler cut loose from the California that he always loved and went to Boston to enter the literary arena. On the back of one of his lecture circulars he writes : " 'I have stricken it rather rich in the lecturer biz. I don't think the book will be out before next September.'" Keeler's circular reads thus : Toledo, November 25, 1867. To Lecture Committees : Ralph Keeler, of San Francisco, the special correspondent of the Daily Alta Californian, has prepared and is ready to deliver before the Lecture Associations of the country, a lecture entitled, VIEWS BAREFOOTED ; Or, The Tour of Europe for $181 in Greenbacks. For terms and particulars address John H. Doyle, Toledo, Ohio. In March, 1868, he wrote to Stoddard : I have delayed answering your glorious letter till Nasby [D. R. Locke, Toledo Blade] should have finished his lecture tour and I should have gone to Toledo. I have nothing new to tell you. Since my lecture tour closed, I have been quietly domesticated here in the woods, rewriting that everlasting novel. I have three offers for it from publishers, but do not feel very much encouraged withal. The next publishing season is September and that will be in the height of the election excitement. Blast the president, say I; I may have to wait on his account—whoever he may be—till next January. I have worked too hard on the thing to feel like giving it the disadvantage of a dull market. Tell me more little gossip about the Occident. Everything is interesting that comes from California. I have almost made up my mind to go to Boston in a week or so to meet and hear Dickens. Mr. Fields, I believe, will do me the favor to introduce me, and I shall at last have the honor of clasping the hand that forged the iron hook of "Captain Cuttle, Mariner." You wouldn't tell me, I suppose, but I would like to know how big an ass I have made of myself in my Alta letters and just exactly what the Pacific literati think of them. I have your little book of poems on my table here and I open it many times, finding something new and always beautiful in them at each new reading. At a farm house in this county not long since I picked up an old New York Independent and saw for the first time that glorious notice of your book in it ; you have of course seen the notice. Wasn't it 958 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY generous and whole souled? I couldn't have felt better if it had all been written about myself. Give my love to Harte. Lovingly, Ralph. (The "woods" Keeler refers to was in the vicinity of Custar, Milton Center and Weston, Ohio. He spent some time on occasions with his brother W. O. Keeler at Custar and did some of his writing there. John H. Doyle was the late honorable Judge Doyle, well known in Toledo and the country at large, as an able jurist.—Editor.) Here are further letters to Stoddard : Boston, May, 1868. I send you a copy of "Gloverson!" (his novel just out) —Now Charley, I want you to send me the copy of the Overland Monthly that has a notice of "Gloverson," if that periodical does use anything of the kind. Write to me. I preached last night in these precincts. The people were easy to please. Love in haste. Ever yours, Ralph. And here is a letter written in "the Woods" to Stoddard : Custer, Wood Co., Ohio, June, 1869. My dear boy : I have just been reading your "Utopia" in the Overland and am so delighted with it and your manifest growth in practical ways and things, that I forgot you never acknowledged the receipt of the book I sent you("Gloverson"—my speedy acknowledgment went astray) and hasten to congratulate you with all my soul. I am sure that I have grown out of the book and all conceit in it ; but I hate to have you and all my California slide out from under me ; you see I can't walk on thin air. Let me hear from you for the memory of old times. The Custar letter, continues Stoddard, was written on the back of one of his circulars, announcing his lecture entitled "Views Barefooted" and also an "entirely new lecture" entitled "Broken China." This postscript was written on the face of the circular : "God bless Bret Harte for his stories of mountain life. There is nothing in the range of art to be compared with them, except, maybe, Jefferson's acting in Rip Van Winkle. I have just been reading `Miggles' to a room-full and we have all been crying like babies." While on Keeler's lecture tour to Stoddard : Portland, Whiteside Co., Ill. Aug. 8, 1869. Your letter reached me here, bringing with it all the cheer of a remembered S. F. day. Everything, indeed, that comes from that favoured coast of yours, and of ours, has an electrical shock in it. The earth must move slower to the acre, everywhere out here east of the Rocky Mts. He is happier who lives a beggar in S. F., than the cold blooded, purple and fine linen rascals of these even tempered regions. Don't think of leaving that millenial spot, Charley ; you will regret it if you do. * * * I have no idea what my prospects are for the coming lecture season, but it is my intention to come to you (California) in the Spring or early TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 959 Summer, after I have published a little book that I am thinking of but have not yet touched. Certain literary people whom I have never seen (one of them, by the way, your aged brother poet John Neal of Portland, Maine) have written to me advising me to write my life in the same off hand way as I wrote my Minstrel article, and I may do it after I have published "Views Barefooted" in the Atlantic. I think of calling it "Memories of a Vagabond," or something of that ilk, and have it end at the age of 22, which was my age when I returned from Europe. Ralph. To Stoddard again : Oct. 3rd, 1869. I don't know when I shall have time to get at my "Memories of a Vagabond." I got another letter yesterday from old John Neal of Portland, Maine, from which I quote this comforting sentence apropos of the subject in question : (P. T. Barnum, Geo. Francis Train, the Count Johannes, and ever so many more threaten us with their autobiographies.) Have you read John Neal's "Recollections" ? I shall have to read them before meeting their author, if I lecture at Portland this Winter. I have never seen the venerable John. Do you remember how Lowell gives it to him in his "Fable for Critics" ? My lecture prospects are favorable enough, but I think this is the last Winter I shall be in that line. I am going into legitimate literature—to starve, perhaps, but there must be a certain consolation in starving for high art. In the Spring I propose to point for one of two places with a view to settling ; either in Ithaca, N. Y., where there are lakes and a library and a pretty country ; or S. F., where a man's head is always clearest and his body always soundest. When I came back here I found that some inconsiderate power that be had sent me an appointment to a desk in one of the departments of Washington. It purported to come from the secretary of the treasury and was sent to me by young Stanton. I was, of course, very grateful, but respectfully declined. You see how earnest I am in my resolve to starve for the Muses' sake. R. K. (The above was evidently written from Toledo or vicinity.) To Stoddard—two final complete letters : Carlo Mio : Your delightful letter came to me while I was in the thick of my late lecture skirmishes. I have carried it in my pocket just four thousand, five hundred miles. I have made considerably more miles than money, my boy. When you are aware that I have been forced to go nearly a week at a time without finding a chance to get shaved, you may know that I have had little nerve for any kind of writing—and I have done none at all. In the course of my travels from the upper Mississippi to Boston and New York, you should have seen me in the palace cars, unshaved and unshorn, foul of face and linen, but with my boots scrupulously polished every morning by the porter. Whenever it was necessary to put up an appearance of respectability, I had to hide my head and elevate my feet. 960 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY The foregoing is somewhat personal, but goes, I fancy, to establish the sincerity of my apology for not writing as soon as I hungered to do. Ralph. Feb. 27, 1870. Carlo Mio : Since your last good letter was written I have been many miles with dire Winter, way up in Minnesota on a lecture skirmish ; hence the interim in the present correspondence. Had two railroad accidents inside of six hours and oh ! such lots of that kind of fun ; but I like the Minnesotans for all that ; they are more like Californians than any people among whom I have journeyed yet. I think you will have no little satisfaction in remembering that you were polite and kind enough to speak well of my bad "Second Vision of Judgment," when you know that it is my permanent adio to verse making. Howells writes me that I made sad work with three syllable rhymes. How could I help it when I know nothing about prosody? Howells also tells me in a little note, just come to hand, that my European experiences—considerably rewritten by yours truly and transmitted to the Atlantic a week or so ago—will be published, he thinks, in the July number of that magazine. This will form the third or concluding portion of my prospective "Memoirs of a Vagabond," which I hope to have done and published some time during the present year. This, I think, is all the shop news I have to tell you about myself. R. K. "After Ralph Keeler's debut in San Francisco," continues Stoddard's story, "Bret Harte, in the Evening Bulletin, thus wrote of his 'Views Barefooted' : " 'The lecture was instructive, entertaining and graceful, without flippancy, slang or coarseness. Those who expected, from its somewhat sensational title, any corresponding effect in style or subject matter, were disappointed. While relating his adventures with a good deal of quiet humor, the lecturer never lost his self respect or dignity, nor for a momentary applause sacrificed his sense of literary propriety. He told in good English, with frequent epigrammatic terms and playful illustrations, the story of his wanderings, his student life in Germany, and those ingenious shifts of a barefooted traveler, which were the theme and motif of his lecture. The pleasant ripple of his narrative only changed when the quieter depths of pathos or sentiment demanded it.' " Stoddard further remarks : "Surely the passage above quoted—it appeared on every circular that was issued so long as Ralph was in the lecture circuit—should interest the lovers of Bret Harte. "It is in its way a curiosity and sounds to me just a little bit as if the young writer had been conscientiously giving his days and nights to the study of Addison—as recommended by the ponderous Doctor Johnson, who might have easily crushed Addison with a single adjective. How happy could Bret have been with either were t'other dear charmer away; and how much more profitable he was when he soared above them both. "Keeler seemed to step down from the lecture platform quite TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 961 naturally, and no doubt did so with a sense of relief. He probably never liked the wear and tear of that strenuous round, with its thin houses and foul weather to be encountered at frequent intervals. He tried his best to spare me a disappointment in that line of disappointments and nobly succeeded. "Keeler went abroad for a season, and while in London had a comedietta produced at one of the local theaters. Prentice Mulford, who saw much of him at the time, told me that Ralph's chief concern was not whether the play was to be 'booed' by the playgoing booers, but what clothes he should wear when called before the curtain by the rapturously applauding house. He tried on various suits for Mulford to pass judgment upon them as to their cut and fit, and if they harmonized with his complexion. And then the hat—what kind of hat to carry in his hand and just how to carry it—this was a perplexing question. Should he, as it were, snatch it hastily from his head, as if he were urged before the curtain by sympathetic players who were so proud of his success, and then bow his thanks while he crushed the hat in modest confusion? Or should he stalk down to the footlights with calm indifference, with no thought of hat or apparel or anything else in particular—as if this were, after all, an old story and hardly worth the bother? * * * "Upon his return to the States Keeler was employed by the publishers of the Atlantic Monthly. This was a rise for a young man alone in the world, from juvenile clog dancing in a strolling negro minstrel troupe to the assistant editorial chair in the first literary organ in the land. He called himself the 'Cub-Editor,' when for a little while he was left in charge of the magazine, and it was then I wrote to him concerning an article of mine which had been accepted and paid for, but had not yet made its appearance in print. I began to feel that it was not profitable to receive pay for articles that were apparently never to see the light. Better no pay at all than to be thus cast into oblivion without the glance of one friendly eye. "Keeler wrote me : " 'I have been under the weather and the bed clothes pretty constantly since your last arrived—which is my excuse for delay and present brevity. I write now to tell you for Mr. Howells that he will publish your article as soon as he can ; that Mr. Fields left lots of stuff in his hands—some that has been five years in an unpublished state ; but yours will appear as soon as possible.' "I suppose it did, but the interesting fact remains that one of the `South Sea Idyls'—`A Tropical Sequence'—included in the Scribner's edition of the 'Idyls,' remained seven years in the office of the Atlantic Monthly before it found its way into print. "Ralph wrote me concerning a little sketch of mine called 'My Long Lost Brother,' in which I had ventured to suggest a change in the stage business of the closing scenes of 'Hamlet,' hoping, if possible, to relieve the stage at the final curtain fall of some of its dead. "He says : " 'That Hamlet finale of yours is a good idea; did you think it out by yourself ? It is much better than some of Fechter's amendments—which, 962 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY by the way, I was surprised to see at their fountain head the other day in Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister." I have sold myself body and soul to the Atlantic and Every Saturday. I get the same wages whether I write little or much, but I can't write for anything else. In this chartering, however, I have a vivid idea that I am not the party that is "sold." I never made so much money before in my life and it will be some time, at least, before I shall be worth what I get.' "He made a long tour with A. R. Waud, the artist, and together they did articles now incorporated in Appleton's 'Picturesque America.' Finally he started for the West Indies as a special correspondent to report one of the revolutions that seem indigenous to the climate and the soil, and the next that was heard of him is embodied in the following paragraph that went the rounds of the press like lightning : SUPPOSED DEATH OF RALPH KEELER Havana, Dec. 26, 1874.—Ralph Keeler, a special correspondent of the New York Tribune, mysteriously disappeared from the steamer Cienfuegos on the passage from Santiago de Cuba to Manzanillo, and nothing has since been heard of him. His baggage was on board the steamer on her arrival at Manzanillo and was delivered by the captain to the United States consul there. Consul General Hall and the Havana agent of the Associated Press have inquired by the telegraph and mail in all directions for the missing man, but without result. It was at first supposed that Ralph Keeler had been accidentally left at Santiago, but another steamer arrived today from that port without bringing any tidings as to his whereabouts. It is now feared that he fell overboard from the Cienfuegos. "For a very long time," said Stoddard in closing, "I hoped against hope that Ralph would some day reappear with a book of wondrous adventure, telling all that had happened since his startling disappearance. But the years pass by and there is neither sign nor signal concerning the fate of him who had so endeared himself to his friends that they must ever mourn his absence, and now, alas if we would resurrect his precious bones, I fear we must look for them in the port of missing ships." As soon as Keeler's disappearance became known, the State Department at Washington and his relatives in the United States, immediately put in motion measures to ascertain the facts. One of the most active private citizens engaged in the matter was his brother-in-law, C. H. Machin, husband of his sister Grace, and who was then a prominent attorney of New York. The following correspondence and articles are taken mostly from the New York Tribune, published in that journal at the time of the tragedy. RALPH KEELER Correspondence Relative to the Missing Correspondent It will be seen by the following letters and official documents that every effort has been made to clear up the mystery attending the death of our correspondent, Ralph Keeler, who disappeared in such an unaccountable manner from the steamer Cienfuegos between Santiago and Manzanillo. Thus far nothing has been discovered that throws any clear light upon the tragedy; but it is pretty conclusively shown that no ground exists for the violent supposition thrown out in some quarters that Mr. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 963 Keeler jumped overboard in a fit of sudden insanity. The first letter is addressed by one of Mr. Keeler's relatives to the Secretary of State, asking for an official investigation. Our efficient Consul General at Havana, however, Mr. H. C. Hall, had anticipated the instructions of our Government, and already set on foot a thorough inquiry. Mr. Machin to Secretary of State Fish, Washington No. 21 Park Row, New York, Jan. 8, 1874. Sir: I have the honor to address you relative to the supposed death of Mr. Ralph Keeler, my brother-in-law, who disappeared from the Spanish mail steamer Cienfuegos on the night of Dec. 14, 1873, while enroute from Santiago de Cuba to Havana. Mr. Keeler left New York Nov. 25, last, as correspondent of the New York Tribune, and after stopping a few days in Havana, proceeded to Santiago. While pursuing his mission there, he became apprehensive that he was being followed by spies, and applied to Captain Braine, commanding the United States sloop-of-war Juniata, for protection. (See correspondence hereunto annexed marked Exhibit A.) He remained on board the Juniata, two or three days, during which time he went ashore at his pleasure. On the 14th of December he left Santiago on the Cienfuegos, and between that port and Manzanillo disappeared, and has not since been heard from. I annex hereto, marked Exhibit B, a general press dispatch from Havana, dated Dec. 26, giving the intelligence of the disappearance, together with the report of the occurrence brought by the New York Herald correspondent from Santiago, and published Dec. 29, as also a telegram received from the New York Tribune correspondent at Havana, dated Dec. 31. I also annex as Exhibit C copies of extracts from the correspondence of the United States consul at Manzanillo relating to the subject, which extracts were forwarded from Havana by the Tribune correspondent at that place. As regards the statements in one of these extracts that "sundry remarks of Mr. Keeler in his note-book, memoranda, and other papers lead some to suppose that he was not quite right in his mind," I have to say that the memorandum on the first page of his private records, namely, "If anything happens to the bearer of this book, Ralph Keeler of Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A., write to my brother-in-law, Mr. C. H. Machin, lawyer, No. 322 Broadway, New York City, U. S. A.," was written therein, long before he went to Cuba, and was simply a precautionary measure that any prudent man would take who, like Mr. Keeler, was a traveler, and certainly is no evidence of insanity. The finding of the American passport dated London, April 13, 1872, and signed by Minister Schenck, is not a very remarkable circumstance, as it was an old passport that Mr. Keeler had while in Europe in 1872, and which had been left in his trunk. Those who knew Mr. Keeler best do not credit the theory of insanity, and on this point I refer you to the letters hereunto annexed of Captain Braine and Mr. Gerald McKenny of the New York Herald. From all the circumstances surrounding the case we are forced to the conclusion that Mr. Keeler was murdered on the Cienfuegos, between Santiago and Manzanillo; whether for political reasons, his profession or his money, can only be surmised. The opinion of Captain Braine on this point, as stated in his annexed letter, is deemed worthy of consideration. Mr. Keeler was born in Ohio, and was well and favorably known throughout the country as a writer of marked ability. On behalf of his afflicted relatives and numerous friends, I present this case to you and respectfully request that a thorough investigation may be had, and, if possible, the mystery brought to light. I have the honor, to be, Sir, very respectfully your obedient servant, C. H. MACHIN. To the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Manzanillo Letter U. S. Agency at Manzanillo, Dec. 16, 1873. Last night the steamer Cienfuegos arrived here with the passenger and American citizen Mr. Ralph Keeler, missing. After information received by Captain Lavin of the Cienfuegos, the Adjutant of Marine here, Mr. Juan Van Halen, requested me officially to be present at taking a list of the baggage of said American subject. It 964 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY is difficult to say in what manner Mr. Keeler has disappeared, whether he is dead or still alive. All I can do for the present is to inclose copy of official investigation and request you for instructions of what I am to do with the baggage, of which I likewise inclose copy of inventory. Sundry remarks of Mr. Keeler, in his note-book memoranda, and other papers, lead me to suppose that he was not quite right in his mind. On the first page of his private records, it says: "If anything happens to the bearer of this book, Ralph Keeler, of Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A., write to my brother-in-law, Mr. C. H. Machin, lawyer, No. 322 Broadway, New York City, U. S. A." Moreover, among his effects I found an American passport, entirely in proper and legal order, dated London, April 13, 1872, and signed by Minister Robt. Schenck. Awaiting your instructions, I remain, * * * WM. LAUTEN. P. S. Of the above investigation I could not obtain a copy here, but at your request it will be laid before you at the Marine Authority's Office at your port, where they sent it today. W. L. Reply of the Department of State to Mr. Machin Department of State, Washington, Jan. 10, 1874. Sir : Your letter of the 8th inst. respecting the disappearance of Mr. Ralph Keeler from the steamer Cienfuegos while on a recent voyage from Santiago de Cuba to Havana, has been received. In reply I have to state that a copy of the papers was sent by the mail, leaving the Department yesterday, to the Consul-General at Havana, with instructions to make most diligent inquiry concerning the fate of Mr. Keeler, and to report such information as he may obtain to the Department. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, J. C. B. DAVIS, Assistant Secretary. Letter from the Consul at Santiago de Cuba to Mr. Hall, U. S. Consul-General, Havana Santiago de Cuba, Dec. 24, 1873. My dear Sir : I will give you all I have been able to learn concerning the mysterious disappearance of Mr. Ralph Keeler. He represented himself as a civil engineer, while here, in the employ of an English firm, and so expressed himself to the numerous Spanish officers he conversed with; but they found out before he left that he was a Tribune correspondent, and I think he was closely watched. There was a young Spanish lieutenant who came with him in the same steamer from Havana, stopped at the same hotel, and left the same day as Mr. Keeler. He seemed very intimate with Mr. K. at our hotel, and told Mr. K. he was a Carlist sent out here for punishment, and that he expected to be sent into the country in a few days; but I am not certain when the officer did go. The captain of the Cienfuegos testified that the last he saw of Mr. Keeler was at 12, midnight, just as he, the captain, was retiring. Mr. K. asked for a glass of cognac—the captain called a boy to give it to him and then retired; and he knew nothing further until next morning when the supercargo called on all the passengers for their passage tickets, just before arriving at Manzanillo, when it was found that Mr. Keeler was missing. Instant search was made all over the vessel, but he could not be found. Brigadier Morales de los Rios was on board the Cienfuegos on his way to Havana. Yours very truly, A. N. YOUNG. To the Hon. Henry C. Hall, Havana. INVESTIGATION BY THE SPANISH AUTHORITIES An official investigation, continues the Tribune, has meanwhile been instituted by the Spanish authorities at Santiago, and copies of a part of the proceedings have been forwarded to the Spanish Consul-General at New York, by whom they have been transmitted to us. Mr. Sidney Webster, in the name of the Consul-General, has also invited us as well as the friends of Mr. Keeler to submit to the authorities any facts that may possibly throw light upon the case, and his suggestion has been followed. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 965 From the correspondent of The Tribune at Havana we have received the following letter, and minutes of the official proceedings at Manzanillo : Havana, Jan. 1, 1874. Dear Sir : Inclosed you will please find the latest information concerning the disappearance of Ralph Keeler. I called upon Captain-General Jovellar, the Political Governor of this Department, and the Captain-General's chief of staff, and asked for information. They all said they knew nothing, but supposed from the circumstances that he must have been lost overboard. They, however, took memoranda and said that they would make inquiries. Inquiries were made, however, with no satisfactory results, as the officials in the interior knew nothing of his disappearance. STATEMENTS OF CAPTAIN AND OFFICERS OF THE STEAMER The Captain of the merchant steamer Cienfuegos, Valentin Lavin, made the following statement of the disappearance of Ralph Keeler to the Adjutant of Marine at Manzanillo : I inform you that at 9 A. M. on the morning of the 15th of December, the time for collecting the fares of the passengers coming from Santiago de Cuba, we missed the passenger named Ralph Keeler (according to his passport). We immediately searched every part of the vessel without finding Keeler. Immediately after the search, I took possession of everything which I found in his stateroom. The articles in the stateroom belonging to him consisted of a valise and an overcoat. A trunk was in the hold. The contents of the latter we did not ascertain. These facts I communicate to you for your information. God preserve you many years. VALENTIN LAVIN. On the same day, an investigation was instituted by the Adjutant of Marine, and Captain Lavin affirmed the foregoing statement, adding that the disappearance of Keeler was noticed at 8 o'clock on the morning of the date already stated. At the time of collecting the fares Keeler's passport was left over, and when his name was called there was no response. There was an immediate search for him throughout the vessel, but he could not be found. The purser of the steamer Cienfuegos, charged with the collection of the fares, recognized the cedula or passport which distinguished him. The cedula stated that Keeler was single, merchant-traveler, age 33 years. This passport had been duly presented to and vised by the authorities of Santiago. Jose Bocardi said that at the time of leaving Santiago he was with the purser when Keeler approached, and in French asked the dinner hour on board. He then left. Returning again, he saw him at dinner as they were seated opposite to each other, but Keeler left before dinner was finished. At about 8 o'clock on the same day, he called on the deponent, and requested him as a favor to ask the Captain to allow his (Keeler's) trunk to be passed from the hold to his stateroom. This was denied by the Captain. Deponent did not see Keeler again, and did not pay sufficient attention to him to learn whether he was in his right mind, or insane by reason of actual dementia, or from other causes. The steward, Cipriano Laureire, deposed that he saw Keeler up to 81/2 at night talking with the passenger Jose Bocardi, but did not overhear the conversation. He did not see Keeler during the hours of his watch from 1 to 3 A. M. The last time witness saw Keeler was at 81/2 at night. Keeler had no arguments or quarrels, nor had he heard anyone say anything to that effect. The witness supposed the disappearance of Keeler was attributable to the fact that he had fallen overboard, as he did not know that anything else could have happened. He did not speak to Keeler. Jesus Cigarrau testified to the same effect as his companion, and none of the passengers could throw any light upon the matter. In making the inventory, a note-book was discovered which stated on the fly-leaf, "If anything happens to the bearer, Ralph Keeler of Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A., write to my brother-in-law, Mr. C. H. Machin, lawyer, at No. 322 Broadway, New York City, U. S. A." This is all that is known of the disappearance of Ralph Keeler, and the Judge has directed that the brother-in-law of Keeler be communicated with. 966 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY LETTER FROM CAPTAIN BRAINE TO MR. MACHIN U. S. Steamer Juniata, Navy-Yard, N. Y., Jan. 6, 1874. Dear Sir : I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2d inst. received on the evening of the 5th inst., relative to Mr. Ralph Keeler. You desire answers to the following questions: 1. Your opinion (mine) as to the sanity of Mr. Keeler when you last saw him. When I last saw Mr. Keeler I believed him to be perfectly sane. 2. Your (mine) opinion, based upon your well-known acquaintance with Cuba and Cubans, and from what you saw on your last visit there as to the manner of Ralph Keeler's death? I believe that he met with foul play aboard the steamer on which he took passage from Santiago de Cuba, which opinion is based upon the well-known treachery of these people, in connection with the fact that he desired protection and came on board this ship on Dec. 12, where he remained until Dec. 14, when he left to take passage on the steamer; and no doubt his stay on board assured him of a safety on shore with these people which after events proved, in my opinion, not warranted and most unfortunate. I inclose you a copy of Mr. Keeler's letter to me, dated Dec. 12; also copy of my letter to Consul A. N. Young relative to Mr. Keeler, dated Dec. 13; also copy of Consul A. N. Young's letter to me in response to my communication of that date. Very respectfully, your obt. servant, D. L. BRAINE, Com. U. S. N., Commanding U. S. S. Juniata. To Charles H. Machin, esq. MR. KEELER TO CAPTAIN BRAINE Santiago de Cuba, Dec. 12, 1873. Sir : I am sorry to be obliged to inform you that in the present state of affairs in this city, and in the face of facts which have been brought to my notice on trustworthy authority, I feel my forced stay in Santiago de Cuba to be no longer safe. Therefore, as a native American citizen, with all my papers in order, I am constrained to throw myself upon your protection, and most respectfully to beg that you will allow me to remain on board your ship until some safe means of leaving this island shall be presented. Very respectfully yours, RALPH KEELER. To Commander Baine, commanding the U. S. sloop-of-war Juniata. LETTER FROM THE NEW YORK HERALD CORRESPONDENT Herald Office, New York, Jan. 15, 1874. Dear Sir : I beg leave to state that I saw Mr. Ralph Keeler, the correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune, on several occasions at Santiago de Cuba during the month of December, 1873. In conversation with him on the evening of his departure for Havana by the mail steamer Cienfuegos, the thought of his being in the slightest degree deranged never once occurred to me. Yours faithfully, GERALD MCKENNEY, Correspondent N. Y. Herald. To C. H. Machin, esq. CONSULAR AGENT LAUTEN TO CONSUL-GENERAL HALL U. S. Consular Agency at Manzanillo, Dec. 18, 1873. * * * I beg to accompany copy of my last communication to Consul Al. N. Young, St. Jago, by which you will observe what occurred to the American citizen Ralph Keeler on his voyage from St. Jago to this port, on board the Spanish steamer Cienfuegos. I leave it to your good care to inform per wire or in writing Mr. C. H. Machin, New York, of the case, which I could not do by some other way sooner. As soon as I shall receive a reply from Consul Young, who must have known Mr. Keeler; with respect to the latter's stay at St. Jago, his intention when leaving there, his state of mind as observed by his friends, and with what amount of money about him TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 967 when he started, I shall be placed in a position to form a more exact opinion of the case. It appears strange that among his effects only a few American paper dollars have been found, and the question remains open whether he had all his Spanish money on his person or not, because some amount he must have been provided with in order to pay his passage. WM. LAUTEN, Acting Consul. BY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE Havana, Dec. 31.—The captain of the steamer Cienfuegos testifies that he saw Ralph Keeler on the vessel at midnight, and that when the passengers were assembled next morning he was missing. He believes that Mr. Keeler went overboard. GENERAL PRESS DISPATCH Havana, Dec. 31.—No satisfactory replies have been received to the telegram and letters of the agent of the New York Associated Press, inquiring as to the whereabouts of Mr. Ralph Keeler. It is known conclusively that he embarked on the steamship Cienfuegos at Santiago de Cuba. The captain of the Cienfuegos saw him on the deck of that vessel at midnight, and in the morning he had disappeared. It is now considered certain that he was lost overboard. Captain-General Jovellar has ordered a strict inquiry into the circumstances of his disappearance. While all the correspondence is not available, enough is given by the writer of this story of Keeler to show the extent of the investigation with no definite results, and as no proofs of foul play were ever discovered, the matter faded into tragic history. A letter published in the New York Tribune from Keeler, dated at Santiago de Cuba, December 14, 1873, gives a description of the place at Santiago where the American prisoners of the steamer Virginius were shot, the details of which were recited earlier in this story. The New York Tribune published a tribute to Keeler from the pen of Thomas Bailey Aldrich, from which the following further quotations are given : "It was in the Summer of 1868, if I remember, that Mr. Keeler came to me with a letter of introduction from a friend in California. He was at that time very slight and boyish of figure, with that flourish in manner and conversation with which a certain kind of shy man always fails to blind one to his shyness. He was, in fact, at once curiously shy and aggressive. His instantaneous assumption that I was deeply interested in all his affairs, was so fresh a trait of character to me, that I lacked the heart to dispel his illusion until it was too late ; for I ended by becoming very deeply interested. "After remaining in Boston three or four weeks Mr. Keeler departed abruptly. I heard of him from time to time delivering lectures in various towns, East and West, but did not see him again until the following year, when he returned to Boston, and finally made his home in Cambridge—if it can be said of Keeler that he made his home anywhere. To state it correctly, he secured a room in the old University town, and occupied it at regular intervals during the next five or six years. It was at this period that professional work and inclination brought us frequently in company. * * * "In spite of his varied knowledge of life—gained in long and curious pilgrimages beyond the sea, as well as by extensive travel in his own land—Mr.. Keeler retained in many things the innocence and simplicity of inexperience. His unworldliness and want of tact, socially, often led 968 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY conventional people to underrate his sterling qualities. He had a hundred small faults in this sort, but looking back upon them now, I see how they were more than atoned for by an amiability so unforced and sweet that it could have flowed only from a loyal and generous heart. "I never knew a man with so little bitterness in his nature. His childhood, as we have seen, was marked by neglect ; adverse fates must have rocked his cradle ; he was adrift upon the world when he was only 10 years old. The world is a hard stepmother for strong men and women—but for a little child ! He suffered cold and hunger, and knew none of the pleasures of boyhood ; he had no boyhood. He was a little sharp-faced old man from the first ; it was only afterward that he grew young. Human nature must not have seemed to him bubbling over with sympathy and kindness in those days ; but he cherished no resentment. He never lost faith in the goodness of human nature. He remembered, with an excess of gratitude, only the persons who had been kind to him when he was a waif. * * * "He has left behind him neither book nor verse that adequately represent his ability. He has, perhaps, done better than that—he has left us the heroic example of a man who might have evaded danger without incurring any special reproach, but who preferred to face death rather than shrink from the duties he had assumed." Under the title of "Lost at Sea," Aldrich, on the Christmas morning following Keeler's disappearance, wrote these verses, which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly : "The solemn head that Guido drew Looks down from out its leafy hood— The holly berries, gleaming through The pointed leaves, seem drops of blood. "Above the cornice, round the hearth, Are evergreens and spruce tree boughs; 'Tis Christmas morning, Christmas mirth And joyous voices fill the house. "I pause, and know not what to do, I feel reproach that I am glad ; Until today, no thought of you, O Comrade, ever made me sad. "But now the thought of your blithe heart. Your ringing laugh, can give me pain, Knowing that we are worlds apart, Not knowing we shall meet again. "For all is dark that lies in store ! Though they may preach, the brotherhood; We know just this, and nothing more, That we are dust, and God is good. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 969 "What life begins when death makes end? Sleek gownsman, it's so very clear ? How fares it with us?—Oh, my Friend, I only know you are not here! "That I am in a warm, light room, With life and love to comfort me, While you are drifting through the gloom, Beneath the sea, beneath the sea! "O wild green waves that lash the sands Of Santiago and beyond, Lift him, I pray, with gentle hands, And bear him on—true heart and fond ! "To some still grotto far below The washings of the warm Gulf Stream Bear him, and let the winds that blow About the world not break his dream ! "I smooth my brow. Upon the stair I hear my children shout in glee, With sparkling eyes and dancing hair, Bringing a Christmas wreath for me. "Their joy, like sunshine deep and broad, Falls on my heart, and makes me glad; I think the face of our dear Lord Looks down on them, and seems not sad !" From the New York Tribune's "Obituary of Ralph Keeler" are taken the following further facts about his career, which that journal interspersed with other observations : "When he returned to Heidelberg on Christmas, after his tour of Europe in the dress of the Handwerksburschen (German apprentice) his $181 about which he wrote his story was gone. At Heidelberg he fortunately received first $25 and then $50 for articles he had written for American magazines, and he started down the Rhine. He traveled through Belgium and Holland and brought up in a garret in the Quartier Latin in Paris. In Paris he met George Alfred Townsend, who suggested that he write for some English magazine, which he did, and his articles were accepted. On the proceeds he went to Florence and remained there some time, and finally shipped to America again and reached Toledo, from where he had started on his tour with the '$181 in currency' he earned in the Toledo post office. This was about the year 1863, when Keeler was twenty-three years old. "Soon after his return he sailed for San Francisco, where he remained about two years, engaged in teaching foreigners English and writing for the Alta California, the Golden Era, and The Californian, besides lecturing. When he came east again he acted as correspondent for the Alta 970 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY California. In the early part of 1869, when he was lecturing and gravitating between his various boyhood haunts, Toledo, Weston and Custar, Ohio, at which latter place his only brother, W. 0. Keeler, lived, he sent to the Atlantic Monthly his story entitled 'Three Years as a Negro Minstrel.' This was published in July that year, and a few months later he sent to the Atlantic his 'Tour of Europe on $181,' and received for this article nearly as much as his European trip cost him." The Tribune puts the date as late summer, 1869, that Keeler received a position on the staff of the Atlantic, for which he wrote reviews and revised proof-sheets. In January, 1870, says the Tribune article, when Keeler became art editor of Every Saturday, then an illustrated periodical, he engaged in a tour of the picturesque pertaining to the Mississippi River. He was accompanied by Mr. A. R. Waud, and was remarkably successful. The first article he wrote appeared in the issue of May 20, of Every Saturday, and succeeding articles were published almost consecutively until November that year, and nearly every important city on the Mississippi was described. Keeler also wrote brilliant articles describing the great Chicago fire. When Every Saturday ceased to be an illustrated paper, Keeler again went to Europe. He resided five months at Geneva, partly engaged in reporting the proceedings of the Geneva High Court of Arbitration on the Alaskan boundary dispute, and also devoted several months to travel and writing for American magazines as heretofore alluded to. The Tribune also says Keeler was correspondent in the summer of 1873 for that paper, at Kelley's Island, a fashionable western summer resort in Lake Erie ; and when there seemed a likelihood of war with Spain (over the Virginius matter) he was engaged again as the Tribune correspondent. These points in the Tribune "Obituary" are prefaced with the following words : "It seems impossible longer to resist the conclusion that the waters of the Gulf have closed over the young and gifted man of letters who represented the Tribune during the last few weeks at Santiago de Cuba. Ralph Keeler had probably not an enemy in the world and the news of his death will convey a pang of sorrow wherever he was known. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 971 He was a man of such sunny, cheerful nature, such perfect health and active frame, such genial and hopeful views of life, that the thought of an untimely death seem incongruous with him. He had led a life of independent and unconventional wandering, but carried through it all an unspotted character and a youthful simplicity of manner unusual in men of his experience. He had a strong, natural, literary capacity, cultivated by reading and study, which already gave promise of a brilliant career. His life was short but unstained by any vices, and filled with honest work and kindly deeds done in his own independent way." One of the best sources of information pertaining to the life of Ralph Keeler from any Toledo resident of late years, who knew him and about him, came from his aunt, Mrs. Sarah M. Keeler, a most delightful and accomplished lady, who died in Toledo in 1927, and whose husband was the late George Grinnell Keeler, who died in 1923. A woman of remarkable memory for details, she had stored up a vast fund of facts absorbed from a subject that was always uppermost in the minds of the Keeler family regarding the life and fate of a beloved grandson, nephew and brother, whose memory was always deeply cherished. "Two occasions stand out above all the rest in my memory, of meeting Ralph," said Mrs. Keeler, when interviewed a few months before her death, as she gazed fondly upon a portrait in oil of the ill-fated author and writer which hung upon the wall of the room where the interview took place. "The first was on my wedding day, June 30, 1873. My husband and I, with our escorts, were driving to the old Union Depot on the Middle Grounds, Toledo. We were on our way to a family gathering at the home of W. O. Keeler, the brother of Ralph, at Custar, Ohio. As we crossed the Swan Creek bridge, I noticed three people standing on the bridge, and as we passed, they all smiled and waved their hands, and Ralph took off his hat and bowed gracefully, the way he could in his French fashion, while they bid 'God speed' to the blushing bride and groom. The other occasion, and the last time I saw Ralph, was when my husband and myself, in the fall of the same year, were walking down Madison Avenue, Toledo. Our honeymoon had just sunk below the horizon and we were beginning to think of the serious business of getting settled. I had seen very few of my new relatives and suddenly came face to face again with Ralph, who warmly grasped my husband by the hand and saluted him as 'Uncle' and turned and called me 'Aunt.' And I, not to be outdone, returned the compliment by calling him 'Nephew.' Much badinage passed, one reason being that I, as his aunt, was at least two years his junior. He had spent a good part of this last summer of his life pleasantly with his brother at Custar, and was busily engaged in writing when there. His two sisters, Mrs. Amelia Seeley of Illinois and Mrs. Grace Machin of New York City, were also visiting in this locality, and the four and his much loved sister-in-law, William 0. Keeler's wife, spent many happy days together and visited the old farmstead at Weston and many spots in a way endeared to their childhood ; although it had for Ralph many bitter memories. Everybody who knew Ralph regarded him kindly and he was beloved by the most of them, for he had a way that was charming and fascinating—an undercurrent of simplicity that aroused one's sympathy." 972 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Mrs. Keeler said that, as the years rolled by, the possibility that he might be detained in some Spanish prison as a spy, and would yet come back to them, was a hope that gradually faded and finally became obliterated from their minds. Resurrection's dawn only will reveal the facts. His grandmother nursed and cherished this hope of return long after it had been abandoned by every one else. Between his grandmother and Ralph there existed a deep and true affection from his earliest boyhood. She was a typical New England home lover of fine mind and large heart ; the mistress of the "red brick" mansion, Coleman I. Keeler, Ralph's grandfather, had built in embryo Toledo, and in the wilderness back from the river front. While Ralph was always welcome there, and he had a deep regard for his grandparents, the farm life, such as was theirs then, gave him no promise of advancement. He craved activity and knowledge of the outside world. He was dutiful in a way, used to milk the cows, did boy's work about the home, even peddled fruit and garden products. But the location was too far away from the river activities and the attractions of the wharfs with lake boats arriving and clearing with their cargoes, and where he could listen to fascinating "sea tales" from the lips of grizzly old captains and sailors. Nevertheless, in all his later years, until the marriage of his older brother in 1858, when a new attachment sprang up between his sister-in-law, Mrs. W. 0. Keeler, and himself, he unfailingly remembered the fireside of the "old red brick," where there always burned a welcoming light. When it was thought best to place him in school at Buffalo, as he relates, his home in that city was in an aristocratic section- with his aunt, Mrs. Sarah Bond, his father's sister, whose husband was a Buffalo merchant. The climax of his running away from school there came from a "switching" his aunt gave him, which he considered from his point of view unjustified and the punishment unmerited. Ralph Keeler had a habit through all his life of jotting down his thoughts and feelings. It is gleaned from these notes that while he was naturally of a sunny disposition, he had spells of depression and short seasons of melancholia. Evidently it was finding among his papers, when he was declared missing, some of these notes set forth below, that "gave the Spanish authorities the excuse for declaring that he "was not right in his mind," and that he had destroyed himself by jumping overboard from the ship. For example, among some of the "scrap notes" from loose book pages, handed over to the writer by Mrs. Sarah Keeler, is found a notation evidently made while he was in school at Kenyon, which reads : "Dec. 26—Tired and dumpish. Have earned seventy-five cents by manual labor, besides my regular salaried work. (The word 'salaried' is underscored.) Now sitting in Parshall's room and thinking on my unhappy lot. Oh me ! Miserable ! Which -Way shall I—" (obliterated). Another memorandum is headed "Acct. with Kenyon College, Milnor Hall, Wednesday, 17th—'57." Then follow rather rambling notes about supper, one collar, one coat, one shirt, etc., and illegible figures about prices. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 973 When he was evidently boarding himself, he made these entries : "Week commencing Monday, May 10. Tuesday—bread—.15 ; Wed. bread —.10 ; Thursday eggs—.12." Later entries : "Butter—.25 ; candy—.05 ; bread, bread, bread." On the opposite side of the sheet are entries of shirts, towels, handkerchiefs and other necessities purchased. Then come entries of "Ralph Keeler commenced at Mrs. Thurston's," with cash paid at intervals, of amounts ranging from $2.95 to $6, with a credit "by services up to date, $66.68/3." On the same page is written the following : "Milnor Hall, Sept. 19-'57. For a wonder I am tonight a little homesick. Nearly two years ago I wrote in this book my account with the 'Floating Palace,' and now, if I do right, I will write an account of my expenses at this institution." True enough, there are sheets containing his account with the Floating Palace which recite that "according to agreement, I give my services to the manager of the Floating Palace for six months for one hundred dollars or $16.66 2/3 per month or 55 5/9 cents per day. Salary to commence on Monday, 27th of August, 1855. Reckoning 30 days for every month, or 360 days per year, 180 days I have to serve." This memorandum is followed with charges of salary to January 1, 1856, and credits of small amounts of cash, and below these words : "Speak not to me I speak to thee." Another page contains an entry with debits and credits between "Johnny Booker and pupil" of the date of November, 1854. Again he is evidently overcome with one of his seasons of depression, as he writes, "Oh how I have abused this book ! It were a shame for such outrageous scribbling to be seen (in) a book. It would be difficult for a person to know my motives from the sight of this scribbling, scribbling, scribbling." On another page he records what is apparently a copy of a letter he wrote to his "Dear Sister Melia," in which he says he received her letter at Cincinnati, but "has nothing of note to write about," and that as he could not do justice in describing the scenery on the Ohio River, he would not try. While from his very earliest years Keeler evinced a longing for intercourse with men and people who did more than graze cattle and clear openings in the virgin western forests, this ambition had not taken matured form and was coupled with a spirit of adventure and restlessness. But when he was yet a "negro minstrel" on the Mississippi, and about fourteen years old, a definite purpose and fixed ideals seemed to have entered his soul and it took the form of wanting to become a writer. He realized that to attain his object, he needed an education. This is clearly shown by a letter he wrote to a Lieutenant Bond of Fort Ridgley, of which he evidently kept a copy, which is here given : "My letter to Lieut. Bond of Fort Ridgley." Wheeling, June 4 (probably 1855). Dear Sir : Perhaps it would not be worth your time to read the supplication of a poor and young navigator on the sea of life; therefore I shall be brief. Fulwell I know that I am approaching one far superior to myself in rank and accomplishments; but I am doing as Lord Chesterfield directs. 974 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY For the last two years I have been striving to lay by money enough to send myself to school, but have not been able to procure a sufficient quantity to send myself for any length of time. For it takes all the salary I can command to procure clothes and other necessities. I have been striving also to find or think of any way by which I could get schooling by labor instead of money; but have found no such way, nor have I had any idea of one until a few days since I became acquainted with a boy that once lived with Captain Hayden of your Fort. The boy's name was John Lloyd. He told me that officers frequently took boys to live with them. I need not tell you that such a situation would be all that I would ask? Surely, you or some of your colleagues, have been cast out into the world when young; and know what a young voyager has to suffer and contend with. You know how easily he is led into profanity! Nov you can imagine how I feel, alone in the world, with no Christian adviser, just old enough to form my character for life (be it either good or bad). Then can you refuse me at least your influence among your fellow Officers? If you will favor me with an answer ; and tell me of some way to get to the Fort; or of some officer that will take me, I will give you all that I can give, viz: my undissembling thanks! I hope you will overlook the imperfections of this letter, especially the Grammar. For all my knowledge of Grammar I have just picked from public and private libraries. I trust that I may some day be instructed in Grammar by the Faculty of Fort Ridgley. Direct your letter to Master Ralph Keeler, Cincinnati, Ohio. To Lieut. Bond, Fort Ridgley Minnesota Territory via Traverse Des Sioux. No comment is necessary upon the composition of this letter, written by a fifteen-year-old lad who had traveled thus far on life's journey under the conditions the story itself relates. The penmanship is marvelously fine, better than even that of 75 per cent of men of maturity of today. There is no record obtainable as to whether this boy, hungry for knowledge, ever received a reply from Lieutenant Bond, but later, as he relates, in going up the Mississippi, he saw the students of St. Vincent's College, out in the shade of the trees at Cape Girardeau, and at the first opportunity he put himself under the care of Father Ryan of that institution, and then to Kenyon and later to old Heidelberg. In regard to a New Year's address he wrote for the Toledo papers, there is found on a slip this notation : "Written for the Toledo Times, Jan. 1, 1860. After much dunning, got $5 for my pay." Even while across the Atlantic and at old Heidelberg, Keeler did not forget his beloved grandmother, the widow of Coleman I. Keeler. Here is a letter he wrote her and his uncle, George Keeler : Heidelberg, Baden, Jan. 15/63. Dear Grandma and George: I have not written you as I promised I would because I knew that you had other means of hearing from me. I suppose you see all my letters published in the Toledo Commercial. If you do you are more fortunate than I am; for as yet I have not seen one of them. I write to you now not to say much in addition to what I have said in my published letters, but to assure you that I am as prosperous as I could hope to be, five thousand miles from home and in the land of strangers. In a letter to a newspaper, I could not tell you that I am very near making my living here after so short a sojourn. I teach English to Germans and use my pen in all sorts of ways for the TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 975 American press. If it were not for the discount on and depreciation of American money, I would be at this time earning my own living and pursuing my studies at the same time. I have reason to hope, therefore, that I shall be able to support myself here and see the whole of Europe. * * * I have heard nothing more from either of you since I left, than that George is in the post office. But I want you both to write me as soon as you get this and tell me everything that has happened. I know all the political news. I get this from the Paris and German papers every day, but I don't know anything about Toledo news. George must send me an occasional Blade. I received a letter from Amelia and Grace (his sisters) a few days ago. I suppose you know that my uncle Brown and family have moved to Washington. Auntie was not well. If you ever see anything of Doctor Burrett's folks, you will please remember me kindly and gratefully to them. Do you ever hear anything from George Church? I hope the poor fellow is not killed. How goes it on the farm? How does George like it in the post office? Does Billy Clark work in the Delivery yet? Where is Gus? The New Year's address which I wrote this year for the Toledo Commercial was received too late. They had made their arrangements before it came. I wish George would send me one or both of the New Year's addresses of the Toledo papers this year. * * * Living is wonderfully cheap here and everything generally agreeable, yet I often think of both of you—much oftener than you do of me. If I had not been buffeted about the world so long, the good living and good treatment I experienced at your hands last winter would have thoroughly spoilt me —would have made me subject to homesickness. But as it is, I keep a 'stiff upper lip,' and look forward with pleasure to the day when we shall all meet again. I hope Grandma has been well all winter. Remember me kindly to the Kelseys and all the neighbors. Give the accompanying letter to Sukey Stebbins and receive my best and most grateful wishes for your health and happiness away across the sea. Write to me directly and direct to me at this city, Ingrimstrasse. Yours affectionately, RALPH KEELER. Doctor Burrett was a well known physician of the Perrysburg, Maumee and lower valley section. George Church was an employe on the Coleman I. Keeler farm, did enter the Civil war and was killed ; while "Gus" Keeler mentioned, remains unidentified. The Kelseys were a prominent old Toledo family. One of Keeler's articles to the Toledo Commercial is dated from Munich, June 9, 1863, and says : "We are way up here 1,600 feet above the level of the sea and in sight of the Alps. The ride in the cars from Stuttgart here was particularly agreeable and interesting. * * * "The second consideration which rendered the ride from Stuttgart to Munich uncommonly pleasant was the glorious scenery through which it conducted us. As we wound along the green valleys of the Oberland and the Suabian Alps, the scenes which spread themselves out before us, in continual variety, formed such a lovely panorama as we shall never forget. The higher peaks of old castles or watchtowers would frown down from their beetling crags, while on the more gentle slopes an occasional shepherd and his dog might be seen leading his flock. Here, then, was a realization of pastoral poetry, and one instance at last where reality is more poetical than poetry. All the bucolics that were ever written, from B_____ and Virgil to Pope and Phillips, can not equal the sublime word-painting of nature in the fertile dales and green, sunny slopes of the Suabian Alps. "We stopped about an hour at the old city of Ulm, whose immense 976 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY fortifications loom up on all sides. My pilgrim feet came very near leading me into difficulty here. I had a great curiosity to see the old cathedral, and started thither on foot. Having obtained my object, I made the depot, more by running than walking, just in time to find my 'coupe' locked, and the train on the point of starting. By a judicious use of the root of all evil, and a little affectionate persuasion, I prevailed upon the conductor to open the 'coupe' again, and restore me to the arms (figuratively) of the perplexed ',Teems,' who had come to conclude that I had terminated my pilgrimage by taking the veil, or, at least getting my head shaved. Before I had time to explain to ',Teems' what had kept me so long, and to convince him I was true to the faith of my fathers, we had crossed .the Danube, and were whirling toward the old Imperial city of Augsburg. We followed the mighty river for miles. I say mighty, because, if it is not so wide and deep here, as it is further towards its mouth, it is still the same great Danube that pours its world of waters into the Black Sea, and it is indeed mighty in its historical associations. It formed for a long time, as some of your readers know, the frontier line of the Roman dominion. Its valley has been the high road of the barbarous hordes of Attila, and of the armies of Charlemagne, Gustavus Adolphus, Solyman the magnificent, Marlborough and Napoleon. Its shores have echoed at one time with the hymns of the pilgrim of the Cross, and at another with the enthusiastic shouts of the turbaned followers of the Prophet ; and its waters have been dyed, in turn, with the blood of Romans, Huns, Swedes, Germans, Turks, French and English. "We did not remain long in Augsburg. Many and many a century looks down from the dingy old spires and gables we saw from the windows of the car ; but I felt thoroughly cured of short pilgrimages from railway stations, and gave over all further sightseeing until I shall reach Munich. Now we are here in this Elysium of art and beer, and have seen so much, and yet have so much to see, that I at present feel unable to go on with my story. * * *" There were a number of Northwestern Ohio residents who still remembered Keeler when this story was written. Most of the incidents they related about him were when he visited this locality for the last time before he went to Cuba in 1873 ; although Solon Davis, an old civil engineer residing at Weston, Ohio, said that he attended school with Ralph, at Perrysburg, for a time when they were boys, evidently before Keeler started on his negro minstrel venture. J. A. Holmes, president of the First National Bank of Weston, said he remembered well of seeing Keeler during the season he spent about his old haunts in gathering material for some of his later writings. He described Keeler as rather small of stature and having the dress and bearing of a French count, carrying a cane which he flourished conspicuously while gracefully walking along the street. Burton Dewese, cashier in the same Weston bank, related that his grandfather, Amos Dewese, worked for Ralph's father, Olmstead Keeler, on the old prairie which stretched northeastward from the present townsite, the first job Dewese had when he located in Wood County. The late George E. Pomeroy, one of Toledo's prominent citizens, told TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 977 that his most vivid recollection of Ralph Keeler was when the latter returned from Europe and attended a dinner at the Boody House, given in his honor before he left for Cuba, and at which Keeler was the king pin with his wit and humor and his interesting account of his experiences abroad. There was the usual levity and badinage, in which Keeler joined heartily. Those present, besides Keeler and Pomeroy, were Ralph Osborn, William L. Malcom and Fred Shoemaker. George Grof was then the proprietor of the Boody. Ralph Osborn was the son of the then prominently known attorney, J. R. Osborn. Malcom was the general passenger agent of the Wabash Railroad, and Shoemaker was prominent in Toledo affairs, a banker and capitalist, and well known until a comparatively late date. From an authentic source it is learned that Keeler had expressed the desire and had even made a will providing for the education of a nephew, Ralph Keeler, his namesake, still living when this story was penned ; and also made provision that any income from his copyrights and future writings should go to Kenyon College. Little information could be gained from the nephew of value about his uncle, although he had received funds from the source indicated for academy schooling. Keeler also was once offered an important place in the foreign diplomatic service by his home government, the nature of which is not now known. But such matters were not to his liking, and he respectfully declined. In his "Vagabond Adventures" he hints of a boyhood Toledo romance, as referred to in an earlier chapter, and while it was a harmless affair, it is passed over without names being given or comment. From people intimate with his life, the statement was made that he was also betrothed to a young lady of a New York family when he last sailed for Cuba, but there are no authentic records that would warrant publication of the details here. Several quotations have been made from Keeler's "Book of Thoughts and Reveries," he carried with him all through the years of his career ; when he was a "negro minstrel" on the Mississippi, when he was at St. Vincent's College, then Kenyon and Heidelberg, and which was among his rescued effects when he met his death in Cuban waters. On the last loose page of this book, in Keeler's characteristic, flourishing style, is scrawled the following : "One blank page left in this old book ! What shall I write on it? Eight years have passed since you came into my possession, old book. We have been companions on long journeys. Our companionship has outlived Empires and Republics. May it not outlive our Republic. Heidelberg, Saturday 6, September 1862." What a wonderful tale this little scrap of paper might tell, could it only give up its hidden secrets ! But it will ever be dumb as to what stilled the hand that penned these lines. And finally, as this narrative ends, let the mind for a moment wander back to the site of the old homestead, where, by the spring still flowing at the foot of the ridge the poplars and weeping willows grew, Keeler wrote about after his last visit. For poplars and willows and maples yet grow 978 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY about the same spot where the little sister placed the whip in the ground which grew into a "tall tree." And let them be dedicated, along with the marble shaft, to the memory of the little boy who was so lonely after the death of his father and mother and sister, and who so craved parental affection and the ties of kinship that were his no more, that it made his young life unbearably restless, a restlessness he never entirely overcame. RALPH KEELER MONUMENT, WESTON OHIO CEMETERY Mr. Keeler was born at Weston in 1840, lost at sea, 1873; probably thrown overboard by Spaniards. CHAPTER LVIII EDUCATIONAL FIRST SCHOOLS-EARLY MAUMEE AND SANDUSKY SCHOOLS-FIRST SCHOOL SYSTEM-HIGHER EDUCATION-COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. In spite of the severe handicaps experienced by the early settlers of Massachusetts—the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled Plymouth, Salem and Boston, from 1620 to 1630—those pioneers did not neglect to provide promptly for the education of their children. Five years after the settlement of Boston-1835—the Boston Grammar School was organized. Sixteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Harvard University was established While those early schools were not free nor open to "all the children of all the people," yet they influenced the spread of education throughout the thirteen original colonies and demonstrated the possibilities of a school system which would enable every young person, regardless of wealth or social standing of their parents, "to secure an education." Facilities for education in the colonies were very limited prior to the Revolutionary war. Of course, quite a number of educational institutions were established in different colonies prior to the Revolutionary war, but most of them were dependent for their maintenance upon the tuition paid by students who attended them. Comparatively few of the youth of the colonies were able to pay tuition, consequently, a very small per cent of the young people could attend the institutions or obtain an education. Immediately after the Revolutionary war, the people began to migrate to the "West," and certain portions of the Northwest Territory became quite populous within a few years. The early settlers in Ohio were so busy erecting rude habitations, felling trees, burning off the heavy timber, fencing the clearings, guiding the plow through the rooty ground, and making passable highways to mill and market that, for a time, the school interests of - 979 - 980 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY their children were neglected. However, in most of the pioneer settlements, as soon as provision had been made for housing, feeding and clothing the members of the families, some form of educational service was started. In the vicinity of Marietta where Ohio was first settled, schools were started as early as 1789. In 1790 schools were started at Fort Washington (now Cincinnati) . A school was opened near Lebanon, Ohio, in 1797. In other parts of this territory, which became the state of Ohio in 1803, some form of education followed promptly the settlement of the country. The most of the early schools were supported by subscriptions of parents who had some financial means to help support a school. The children of parents who lacked financial means could not attend the schools. Such children were wholly dependent for education upon the few things which parents might be able to teach them. The term of the early school was quite short—often but a few weeks during the year. Most of the earliest teachers were selected more on account of their unfitness to perform manual labor than by reason of their intellectual qualifications. The few schools established were oftentimes taught by cripples, worn-out old men and women physically unable to scotch hemp and spin flax, or constitutionally opposed to such labor. Often educational sentiment was at low ebb, and demanded from instructors of children no higher qualifications than could be furnished by the merest tyro. The estimation in which the teacher was held in the community at large was not such as to induce any young man or woman of spirit and worth to enter upon teaching as a vocation. "The teacher was regarded as a kind of pensioner on the bounty of the people, whose presence was tolerated because county infirmaries were not then in existence. The capacity of a teacher to teach was rarely a reason for employing him. Often he was selected as teacher because he could do nothing else."1 The people's demand for education was fully met when their children could write a tolerably legible hand, when they could read the Bible or an almanac, and when they were so far instructed in arithmetic as to be able to determine the value of the farm produce. The parts of Ohio peopled by settlers from New England demanded better educational facilities—broader courses of instruction and better qualified teachers. In such localities the teacher was on an equal footing with the physician and minister. 1 Burn's Educational History of Ohio. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 981 Society welcomed him as an honored member. His periodic visit to the homes of his pupils was regarded as quite an event by each household where he "boarded out" the share of any patron of his school. His evenings were spent with the family. Many an inspiring youth was led into new fields of thought by coming in contact with the master in the home circle. In the early schools a male teacher was employed for the winter term and a female teacher taught the summer term. The mode of government was simple. The hickory stick, or the birch, was the chief implement in managing the children. The nature of the child was assumed to be constant. There was a code of rules which applied to old and young, boy and girl alike, with a fixed penalty for each violation. In spite of such limited school facilities, many people migrated from the Thirteen Original Colonies (even from Massachusetts, the "mother of education,") to the Great Northwest where it was said that "the children of the poor, as well as the children of the rich, have the opportunity to secure an education." In Northwestern Ohio, prior to 1825, the facilities for education were, perhaps no better than those described above in parts of Ohio which were settled immediately after the Revolutionary war. Comparatively few of the youth were being educated in the limited "subscription schools." In 1825 the General Assembly authorized County Commissioners to make a levy to provide school facilities for all the youth of school age in the school districts of the county. In Wood County in 1826 the County Commissioners ordered a levy of 1/2 mill for school purposes. In 1827 this levy was continued. But the legislation of 1825 made levy for school purposes optional with the County Commissioners. In Wood County the commissioners ignored this tax in 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831. In 1832 the County Commissioners levied one mill for school purposes. During the next few years nothing whatever was done toward levying a school tax. In 1827 the General Assembly passed legislation which authorized the sale of school lands. In the most of Northwestern Ohio the sale of such lands did not begin until about 1837. About the same time legislation was passed which compelled county commissioners to make a levy for public schools in the districts of the county. As stated, the qualifications of many early teachers were negligible. They were not required to have a certificate to teach. Their qualifications were determined by the local committee. Examin- 33-VOL. 1 982 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY ers were first provided for by law in 1825. The Common Pleas Court was required to appoint three suitable persons as school examiners. In 1826 the number of examiners was increased to not exceed the number of organized townships in the county. In 1834 the number of examiners was made five, and in 1836 the number was reduced to three. The early teachers were supervised by the clerk of the school committee. Later the board of education was authorized to appoint any competent person as township superintendent. The employment of a superintendent was optional, however, and, until about 1895, few township districts had supervision. From about 1890 to 1914 many townships employed school superintendents. Since 1914, as the law provides, there has been a county superintendent in every county. Many counties employ one or more assistant county superintendents. Many of the one-room rural schools of Northwestern Ohio have been centralized. In Wood County since 1914 the number of one-room schools has been reduced from 182 to three. We now have laws which provide financial support for weak school districts within a county. In addition to the provision for equalization within the county districts, Ohio appropriates annually about $3,500,000 to aid the weak districts in the poorer counties of Ohio. In Ohio school districts that do not maintain high schools the tuition of high school students is paid to enable them to attend high school in other school districts. Transportation is also provided for high school students who live more than four miles from a high school. This enables every Ohio child to obtain a high school education even though his home may not be able to finance his education. Many other states are equally generous in providing school facilities for all of their children.—By Prof. H. E. Hill, County Superintendent of Schools of Wood County. Further information concerning the early educational situation in this section of Ohio can be gleaned by referring to the work of the early missionaries. And the stories of the pioneer log cabin schools and the various local educational developments, are told in the histories of the various counties. Early efforts towards higher education and the establishment of such schools are also set forth. The Maumee and Sandusky section has seven highly developed educational institutions, represented by Bowling Green State TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 983 College; Heidelberg College, Tiffin ; Toledo University; St. John's University, Toledo; Defiance College; Bluffton College, and Findlay College. BOWLING GREEN STATE COLLEGE In 1910 the General Assembly passed an act authorizing the Governor to appoint a commission to locate two new normal schools, one in Northwestern Ohio and one in Northeastern Ohio. The commission selected Bowling Green as the location of the school for Northwestern Ohio. On June 30, 1911, the Board of Trustees, appointed by the Governor, organized and on February 16, 1912, elected Dr. H. B. Williams of Sandusky President of the College. Early in the history of the College, a general building plan was adopted; also plans for the improvement of the grounds so as to preserve the natural beauty of the site and add to its attractiveness by artistic treatment. These plans have been developed from time to time by the construction of drives, entrance gates, and walks ; also by grading, planting, and the treatment of the native trees, until the main features of the original design are practically completed, and the campus is now one of remarkable beauty and just pride. The Eighty-eighth General Assembly at its regular session in 1929 enacted the Emmons-Hanna bill which went into effect on July 3, 1929. This bill changed the legal name of the institution to the Bowling Green State College and extended the scope of the College to include courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts and to the degree of Bachelor of Science. The College is now organized into two divisions of coordinate rank, covering the fields of Liberal Arts and Education. In the College of Liberal Arts courses are offered in Arts and Science leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts and to the degree of Bachelor of Science. The College of Education offers four-year courses in Elementary, Secondary, and Special Education leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education, and two-year Diploma Courses in Elementary Education. The campus and grounds are located at the eastern edge of the city and cover an area of 105 acres. Seven college buildings, a central heating plant, president's home, engineer's cottage, and a group of farm buildings comprise the present plant. An appropriation of $300,000 was made in 1929 for the erection of an additional building for the accommodation of the department of mu- TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 985 sic and the department of commerce, and work on this building will be started in the near future. The buildings have all been erected since 1914 and represent an expenditure of over $2,000,000. The group idea has been carried out in the style of architecture and material used, so as to give a pleasing unity and harmony of design in the general appearance of buildings. The most recent buildings are the Library and the Physical Education building. The Library is a three-story structure of appropriate design with ample stackroom space, main reading room 42 feet by 150 feet, freshman reading room, and all conveniences for administering a college library. Its well selected collection of books and periodicals affords superior opportunities for reference and study. The Physical Education building has a playing floor 150 feet by 90 feet, running track, handball courts, corrective rooms, team rooms, general locker room, examination rooms, classrooms, offices, and a complete equipment for indoor athletics for men. It is provided with furniture for the accommodation of large audiences and is the center for large social gatherings. The outdoor facilities for games and athletic sports are complete. The aim is to interest every student in some form of healthful exercise. Tennis courts, running track, and playing fields are provided for both men and women, but only men students participate in intercollegiate contests. The outstanding features of the State College are its rapid growth both in enrollment and physical plant, and its high standing for scholarship and conduct. It takes just pride in the personal attention that is given to its students and in the excellent morale that characterizes both faculty and students. Student participation in government is fostered within reasonable limits, and the moral tone is stimulating and wholesome. The enrollment has steadily increased each year except for a short period during the World war. For the current year, 1928-1929, there were enrolled 957 for the regular academic year, 874 for the first summer term and 348 for the second summer term, thus making a total enrollment of nearly 2,200 for the year. The addition of the College of Liberal Arts will doubtless double the enrollment before many years. The College has been a member of the North Central Association for many years and is ranked as a Class A institution by the American Association of Teachers' Colleges. It has been the policy of the management to keep the expense of college training as low as is consistent with 986 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY accepted standards of work. Students find it possible to live comfortably and keep their college bills within $300 per year. The resume of the development of the State College would be incomplete without particular mention of the faithful and efficient service of the Board of Trustees. This body of five citizens, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, has been composed of progressive, capable persons who have never allowed any personal or factional considerations to influence them in the performance of their function in the management of the institution. The College has, therefore, been singularly free from any outside interference or internal dissension. This attitude has inspired confidence and promoted a feeling of stability that has been an important factor in the success of the college. The first Board was composed of the following members one of which, Mr. D. C. Brown, has served almost continuously up to the present time ; J. E. Collins, Fremont; D. T. Davis, Findlay; D. C. Brown, Napoleon; John Begg, Columbus Grove ; J. D. McDonel, Fostoria. The Board at present (1929) is staffed and organized as follows: Dr. H. J. Johnston, president, Tontogany; Mrs. Myrtle B. Edwards, secretary, Leipsic; D. C. Brown, Napoleon, treasurer; T. C. Mahon, Kenton ; Judge Orville Smith, Cleveland, Dr. H. B. Williams, was elected president of the College on February 16, 1912 and has served continuously in that position to the present time. He has been an untiring worker every day in the year for its success and is counted one of the most able administrative college men of the country. Housed in the College Museum, is a valuable ornithological and mammal collection. One of the most valuable relics is the bell from the old Maumee Indian Mission, established on the Maumee River in 1822. HEIDELBERG COLLEGE Heidelberg College located at Tiffin, Ohio, in a beautiful situation containing over thirty acres, is one of the oldest institutions of learning in the Middle West. It was opened to students on November 11, 1850. The school was established and has been fostered by the Reformed Church in the United States. While attached to a religious denomination, the institution is in no sense sectarian. Its courses are liberal and students of all religious beliefs receive equal consideration and equal opportunities. This institution, as now organized, includes the College of Liberal Arts, the Academy, the Department of Pedagogy, the De- 988 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY partment of Oratory, the Conservatory of Music, and the Art Department. This college has done faithful work throughout the years, turning out annually those who have done much to advance the work of the world, not only in Ohio, but throughout the length and breadth of the United States. During the past years under the direction of its energetic president, Charles E. Miller, it has taken wonderful strides not only in the increased attendance of students but also in the general equipment of the institution and the standards of work done. Heidelberg is one of the standard colleges in Ohio belonging, ever since its organization, to The Ohio College Association. Heidelberg is also a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and is approved by the Association of American Universities, as a college of the first rank. In 1901, when President Miller assumed the office of president, there were five buildings, eight acres of campus, an annual budget of $13,700 and an enrollment of 314. In 1929 there are twelve buildings, twenty acres of campus, an annual enrollment of over 700. Among the buildings are Willard Hall, one of the best equipped women's buildings in the Middle West; a science building, a library building, and France Hall, a new dormitory for women and a gymnasium. These buildings have had a wonderful influence in transforming the life and work of the institution, which now includes besides College Hall, Sarah Keller Cottage, Conservatory Cottage and College Commons, a new building for men. The Conservatory of Music has in the past few years also made wonderful progress. The methods employed in voice and on the organ, piano and violin, are the most modern and progressive and there is no doubt but that the character of work now being done in this department is deserving of the great appreciation already manifested by the rapid increase in students. This institution is aiming to give a thorough preparation for life's responsibilities, laying deep the foundations of culture. It seeks to send young men and women out into the world not only equipped with knowledge but also established in moral principle. It does not pretend to do what it is not equipped to do. It is not a technical school ; but much of the work done at technical schools of engineering, etc., in the first two years can be done profitably at Heidelberg, at a lower expense and amid better moral surroundings. TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 989 The standards of Heidelberg are everywhere recognized and her credits have been received without question when taken for advance work at Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, and other universities of similar rank. The institution has a peculiar field in Northwestern Ohio since no school having the same general purposes is found in that part of the State. With an endowment of over a million dollars and with a fine equipment and strong faculty, Heidelberg ranks with the best institutions of learning in the country. ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY, TOLEDO, OHIO St. John's University, for thirty years Toledo's main institution of higher learning for Catholic youth, owes its origin to the Rt. Rev. Ignatius F. Horstman, third Bishop of Cleveland. A great champion of education, he had an intimate knowledge of the various systems followed by schools both at home and abroad, and of these he felt a special preference for the educational system of the Jesuits; for he was aware of its long trial and proverbial success. The system is guided by the principles set forth in a body of rules and suggestions outlined by the most prominent Jesuit educators in 1599, revised in 1832, and attended up to the present day with unfailing success. The educational system in use at St. John's University is substantially the same as that employed in 227 educational institutions conducted by the Society of Jesus in nearly all parts of the world. Truly psychological in its methods, and based upon the very nature of man's mental processes, it secures on the one hand that stability so essential in educational thoroughness, while on the other hand it is elastic and makes liberal allowance for the widely varying circumstances of time and place. While retaining as far as possible all that is unquestionably valuable in the older learning, it adapts and incorporates the best results of modern progress. As understood by the Jesuits, education in its complete sense is the full and harmonious development of all those faculties that are distinctive of man. It is more than mere instruction or the communication of knowledge. The requirement of knowledge, though it necessarily pertains to any recognized system of education, is only a secondary result of education itself. Learning is an instrument of education which has for its end culture, a mental and moral development. 990 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY Consonant with this view of the purpose of education, it is clear that only such means as science, language, and the rest, be chosen both in kind and amount as will effectively further the purpose of education itself. The student cannot be forced, within the short period of his school course and with his immature faculties, to study a multiplicity of languages and sciences into which the vast world of knowledge has been scientifically divided. It is evident therefore that the purpose of the mental training given is not proximately to fit the student for some special employment or profession, but to give him such a general, vigorous, and rounded development as will enable him to cope successfully even with the unforeseen emergencies of life. While affording mental stability, it tends to remove the insularity of thought and want of mental elasticity which is one of the most disheartening results of specialization on the part of students who have not brought to their studies the uniform mental training given by a systematic school course. The studies therefore are so graded and classified as to be adapted to the mental growth of the student and to the scientific unfolding of knowledge. They are so chosen and communicated that the student will gradually and harmoniously reach as nearly as may be that measure of culture of which he is capable. It is fundamental in the Jesuit system that different studies have distinct educational values. While recognizing the importance of mathematics and the natural sciences, the Jesuit system of education has unwaveringly kept language in the position of honor, as an instrument of culture. Mathematics and the natural sciences bring the student into contact with the material aspects of nature and exercise the deductive and inductive powers of reason. Language and history effect a higher union. They are manifestations of spirit to spirit, and by their study and for their acquirement the whole mind of man is brought into widest and subtlest play. The acquisition of language especially calls for delicacy of judgment and for a constant, keen, and quick use of reasoning powers. Furthermore, the Jesuit system does not share the delusion of those who imagine that education, understood as an enriching and stimulating of the intellectual faculties, has of itself a morally elevating influence in human life. While conceding the effects of education in energizing and refining the student's imagination, taste, understanding, and powers of observation, it has always held that knowledge and intellectual development, of themselves, have no moral efficacy. Religion alone can purify the TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 991 heart and guide and strengthen the will. This being the case, the Jesuit system aims at developing side by side the moral and intellectual faculties of the students, and sending forth into the world men of sound judgment, of acute and rounded intellect, of upright and manly conscience. It maintains that to be effective morality is to be taught continuously; it must be the underlying basis, the vital force supporting and animating the organic structure of education. It must be the atmosphere that the student breathes; it must suffuse with its light all that he reads, illuminating what is noble and exposing what is base, giving to the true and the false their relative light and shade. In a word, the purpose. of Jesuit teaching is to lay a solid substructure in the whole mind and character for any superstructure of science, professional and special, as well as for the upbuilding of moral life, civil and religious. Fully convinced of the excellence of the Jesuit system of education and its good results, Bishop Horstman, who had long desired the erection of a college for the education of the Catholic youth of Toledo, earnestly pressed the Jesuit Fathers in 1898 to undertake the new enterprise. Having purchased a site with a suitable building, the Jesuits opened St. John's College in September, 1898,—a momentous event in Toledo's history of education. The first classes were conducted in a stately mansion located at the corner of Superior and Walnut streets. As in less than three years this building, which is now the Faculty Building, proved entirely inadequate to accommodate the rapidly expanding enrollment, a much larger building, thoroughly equipped and better fitted for teaching purposes, was erected in 1901. This new addition, which has a frontage of over seventy feet on Superior Street and a depth of ninety feet, included large and commodious lecture rooms, a gymnasium, a library, and a chapel. Incorporated as a college on May 22, 1900, the institution, on August 29, 1903, in accordance with the general law of the State of Ohio had its original charter amended and the corporate title changed into "The St. John's University of Toledo, Ohio," with power to confer such academic degrees and honors as are conferred by similar institutions in the United States. In September, 1907, another building, which offered more extensive facilities, was opened to the incoming classes. It is a six-story structure of imposing design. Additional class rooms, assembly halls, and laboratories are some of the features of this construction. To meet the high requirements of the national and 992 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY state associations that regulate the conditions for entrance into the professional schools and for the admission to State examinations, the physical, chemical and biological departments, with their respective laboratories were enlarged and equipped with the most modern appliances. A well-furnished meteorological department was also added. On the top floor is an exceptionally well-stocked museum. The collection of coins is singularly rare. Some three thousand are on exhibition, of which a splendid series of 823 pieces, obtained from the Vatican Library, are Roman coins, ranging from the year 300 B. C. to 400 A. D. In 1909 Westminister Church, situated at the corner of Superior and Locust streets, became the property of St. John's. In its remodeled state, besides serving as a hall for entertainments and meetings, it is a gymnasium with a roomy and unobstructed basketball court which is considered one of the finest in the city. It is one of the decided advantages of the system followed at St. John's that the student may begin his studies in the high school connected with the college and then pass on through the college course to graduation. In addition to the moral influence thus gained, this secures a uniform homogeneous course of teaching and training. The results of such a course of study are a continuous and normal development of the mental faculties along well-defined lines and the possession of a clear and coherent system of principles upon which any special course may afterwards safely rest. Students of any denomination are admitted to the courses; only the Catholic students, however, are required to attend the Religion courses. In 1924 the spacious Pomeroy residence at the corner of Walnut and Huron Streets was acquired and converted into a department distinctively for college classes. It was much enlarged in 1928. The Jesuit property in the heart of the city now includes the entire block bounded by Superior, Walnut, Huron, and Locust streets. In 1926 there was affiliated to St. John's University as the College of Women, Mary Manse College—an institution under the immediate management of the Ursuline Sisters. Degrees are conferred upon graduates of the College of Men and of the College of Women at the joint commencement exercises in June. The Teachers' College of St. John's University was organized in the spring of 1922. Previous to that time St. John's University had conducted courses for Sisters at the main building on Superior Street and in the Mother Houses of the Notre Dame TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 993 and Ursuline Orders. The Teachers' College was established by the diocesan school authorities in conjunction with St. John's University in order to place at the disposal of the Sisters the maximum educational resources of the diocese. It is a department of St. John's University and the quality of the work done in the various courses is certified by that institution. It is accredited by the Ohio Department of Education as a teacher training institution, its graduates being eligible to provisional state teaching certificates. Throughout its whole career St. John's University has been in the hands of a succession of men of unselfish and loyal devotion to the cause of higher education in Toledo, who united scholarly attainments with a breadth of view and worldly wisdom which spell success. Not only has the institution improved and expanded its buildings and facilities, but the assiduous efforts of the faculty have always been to advance and elevate the standard of scholarship. The students have access to well-stocked libraries in the College, High School, and Faculty buildings. Various college activities, such as literary, oratorical, dramatic, orchestral, scientific, athletic, and religious societies, have recently been given new impulse. Very satisfactory results have crowned the labors of the Jesuit Fathers in their educational work at St. John's University. Thousands of students have gone through its classic halls since its foundation thirty years ago. Its alumni are to be found in the most varied walks of life, holding honorable and distinguished positions in the ministry, in the professions, in scientific and mercantile vocations. St. John's University, besides conducting the St. John's High School, includes at present three college departments—College of Men : St. John's College, address, 807 Superior Street. College of Women : Mary Manse College, address, 2413 Collingwood Avenue. Teachers' College, address, 2535 Collingwood Avenue. The executive officers are : William H. Fitzgerald, S. J., president; William J. Engelen, S. J., Dean of St. John's College; Sister St. Margaret, 0. S. U., Dean of Mary Manse; Francis J. Macelwane, A. M., Dean of Teachers' College; Charles J. Wideman, S. J., Faculty Director of Athletics; Godfrey Schulte, S. J., Chaplain; Charles F. Wolking, S. J., Librarian; Edward F. Mohler, A. M., Registrar. It was in October, 1920, that the Rt. Rev. Joseph Schrembs, then Bishop of Toledo, who heartily desired that St. John's ex- 994 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY pand on a much broader scale, transferred the ownership of a twenty-six acre plot of land with a frontage of 1,280 feet on Bancroft Street, and 900 feet on Parkside Boulevard, to the Jesuit Fathers, for a sum far below its actual value. This site, the most ideal and picturesque in the city, will eventually be the future location of the Greater St. John's University.   With the purchase of the new college property the St. John's Endowment League, consisting of hundreds of Catholic laymen, was organized for the purpose of providing an outside means of establishing, maintaining, and developing a Catholic University in the City of Toledo, second to none in this part of the country. The Rt. Rev. Samuel A. Stritch, second Bishop of Toledo, has shown himself keenly interested in the constructive measures taken by the college authorities and fervently hopes that the days will be shortened until their realization. The Faculty of St. John's and the members of the Endowment League are now eagerly awaiting the propitious time to launch forth upon the expansive movement and erect the first building of the new and Greater St. John's University.   Defiance College.—Located on both banks of the Maumee, midway between Toledo and Fort Wayne, the City of Defiance has for its slogan, "The Central Market of the Maumee Valley." Equally fitting for Defiance College from the standpoint of situation would be the slogan, "The Central College of the Maumee Valley."   The buildings of Defiance College are located in a beautiful grove of natural trees in North Defiance—just near enough to the business part of the city to be readily accessible, and just far enough away to be sufficiently exclusive for effective educational work. These buildings consist of the Central Heating Plant; the administration and library building, known as Defiance Hall; the large and well-furnished dormitory for women, named Trowbridge Hall because of the generosity of Lyman P. Trowbridge; the auditorium, recitation and music building known as Weston Hall, so named in honor of John B. Weston, well-known educator, late member of the Defiance College Faculty, and at one time a co-worker with Horace Mann ; the gymnasium and the three story dormitory for men, made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Ardella Blade and named Sisson Hall in honor of her sister, Mrs. Anna B. Sisson ; the Sutphen Memorial Home for the president, the gift of the heirs of the late Hon. Silas T. Sutphen; and the large, modern science building, which has been named Tenzer   996 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY   Science Hall in honor of Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Tenzer whose gifts made the building possible.   Just when the idea of an institution of higher education in Defiance had its beginning none can tell. Very likely such an idea was entertained by those who were with General "Mad Anthony" Wayne while building the famous fort which gave to the city of Defiance its name. At any rate, we know that by 1850 such an idea had sufficient endorsement to secure by act of the General Assembly of Ohio the setting aside of certain tracts of land for the purpose of establishing the Defiance Female Seminary. This land was sold, and in 1884 a large building, later known as Defiance Hall, was erected. Various efforts to run a school in this building met with only partial success, but made clear the need of a more efficient organization.   Dr. J. H. Latchaw, who became head of the school in 1896, took definite steps to prepare the way for the establishment of such an organization, which under the leadership of his successor, Dr. P. W. McReynolds, became an accomplished fact in 1903 when by act of the Ohio General Assembly the school was reorganized and given the legal name of Defiance College.   But at this time the institution had very limited resources. There was only one building, a very small faculty, a few students, and almost no endowment. With tireless energy and inspiring enthusiasm, up to the very day of his tragic accidental death in 1917, President McReynolds gave himself to the building up of Defiance College. As a result of his efforts, the Christian Biblical Institute of Stanfordville, New York, was moved to Defiance College campus and later consolidated with the college under the name of the Christian Divinity School. Surrounded by a devoted group of self-sacrificing assistants, Dr. McReynolds was constantly strengthening the faculty, perfecting the organization, increasing the student enrollment, gathering funds and constructing college buildings—in fact the contract for erecting the last building to be constructed on the campus was let only a few days before his death.   But the sudden death of President McReynolds left incomplete much of the work undertaken for the College. The building program was still in progress, and only in part had provision been made to meet the financial obligations incurred, and, furthermore, there was pressing need for money to purchase equipment for the new buildings.   The responsibility of carrying forward this work fell upon the   TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 997   shoulders of Dean A. G. Caris, who had been intimately associated with President McReynolds during almost the whole of his administration. Dean Caris became acting president in 1917 and president in the following year. Under his administration Tenzer Science Hall was built, the McReynolds Memorial Endowment fund completed, numerous changes in the organization made, and numerous constructive programs undertaken.   Although a small college, with limited resources and a brief history, Defiance College has already made a commendable record. It is a member of the Ohio College Association and is in good standing with leading special graduate schools and universities in some of whose advanced classes Defiance College graduates have achieved distinction. Successfully engaged in the various vocations will be found members of the College Alumni. Perhaps the majority of these will be found in the professions, legal, medical, ministerial and educational.   With reference to its ideal in education, it may be said that Defiance College believes in and works for an education that is cultural but not impractical, scholarly but not impersonal, economical but not cheap, religious but not sectarian. While it believes in a training that prepares one to make a living, its ideal is an education whose spirit is service and whose purpose is the enlargement and enrichment of life.—George C. Enders.   Findlay College.—The first steps toward the establishment of Findlay College were taken during the session of the General Eldership of the Churches of God, in May, 1881, held in Findlay. This body meets quadrennially, and is composed of ministers and lay delegates elected by the various annual elderships throughout the United States.   The question of founding an institution of learning had been agitated aiming the Churches of God almost from their founding in 1825. The founder, John Winebrenner, was one of the best educated men in the ministry of the German Reformed Church before he began the organization of Churches of God. During the first fifty years of the history of this church in America the ministers were drawn largely from the denominations, or were trained in various colleges which had a tendency to draw them away from the church and cause various groups to divide on questions of doctrine. To overcome these difficulties it was thought best to establish a college similar to those of other religious bodies, in order to secure a trained ministry as well as to furnish an institution where the young people of the churches could secure   998 - STORY OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY   a scientific or professional training with an environment to their own liking.   To show the zeal of the churches for a college a special session of the Eldership was held devoted entirely to the consideration of this project. Enthusiasm ran high and by a unanimous vote it was decided to establish a college. The action taken was the authorization of the founding of a college "for promotion of such branches of science, art, literature and such theological instruction as the trustees might elect." Steps were immediately taken to secure money and a suitable location. Several thousand dollars was subscribed at once toward a building. Under the leadership of A. C. Heck and George Pendleton, the citizens of Findlay, offering ten acres of ground and $20,000, secured the location of the college in Findlay.   The Committee on Education of the General Eldership, C. H. Forney, George Sandoe, W. B. Allen, J. H. Besore, and T. Koogle, decided that the name of the school should be "Findlay College." They adopted Articles of Incorporation and elected as incorporators : J. M. Carvell, Robert L. Brynes, Isaac Schrader, T. Koogle, J. M. Cassel, A. C. Heck, J. C. Strickler and G. F. Pendleton.   The college was incorporated on the 28th of January, 1882. The corporation held a meeting for the election of trustees February 8, 1882, resulting in the choice of Isaac Frazer, E. G. DeWolf, A. C. Heck, E. P. Jones, Thomas Metzler, A. Blackford, Samuel Howard, D. J. Cory, Isaac Steiner, John Ruthrauff, and T. Koogle of Ohio ; J. H. Redsecker, J. F. Stoner, D. M. Bare, J. B. Henderson, of Pennsylvania ; R. M. Paige, of Indiana; John Stare, of Illinois, and John Huff of Iowa.   Agents went into the field to secure funds for erecting a college building with the result that after two or three years spent among the churches a total of more than $60,000 was raised. The cornerstone of the main building was laid ih 1884. Soon after the building was completed. It stood in the center of an eleven acre. campus that bordered on the main street of the city. It was a large building for that time and purpose, being 172 feet long and 107 feet in depth. It was four stories high and contained an auditorium seating 800 people. There were two large literary society halls, library, class rooms, offices, etc., making it when complete what was said to be the "finest college building in the Northwest."   The college opened its doors to students September 1, 1886, closing the year June 23, 1887, with a faculty of thirteen and 170 students enrolled.   TOLEDO AND THE SANDUSKY REGION - 999   While arrangements were being made to establish the college, the board elected Dr. C. H. Forney of Pennsylvania as president. Upon his resignation in 1886 Dr. J. R. H. Latchaw was chosen to fill the vacancy. The school grew for a number of years but the small endowment fund and the ever increasing deficit due to current expenses caused Doctor Latchaw to resign and Dr. W. N. Yates, also of Pennsylvania took the position. Dr. Yates was a scholarly man with wonderful oratorical ability. He stirred up enthusiasm among the churches, built up a strong student body and after pulling the college through some trying times he resigned in 1895 to be succeeded by Dr. C. T. Fox the present Dean of the college. Doctor Fox acted as president and refused to accept the position of president though it was offered to him more than once by the Board of Trustees. Doctor Fox stayed on the job at the college and all things were going well except the grow- ing debt due to insufficient income from endowment and other sources.   In the fall of 1896 the Board elected Dr. Chas. Manchester "President of the Faculty." There were some trying times in store for him and the college for the next few years. Every pos-