The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1870-07-21
BY TIE EDITOR.

VINO Will aJteSI tnhJ suCh IIdue was
made and carried out in this county be.
tween Ellison Accord and Nick Allen,
less than forty years ago.
Married people in this county forty
years ago were not always the most
happy in their domestic relations, al
though our court records perhaps do
not show as many divorce cases in pro-
portion 10 the population as they do at
the present time.
Often when l pass an old deserted
house, or place where cabin once has
stood, perhaps only little pile ofrough
stones marking the spot where the
chimney has once been, | have wonder
ed who lived there-what were their
trials, their misfortunes and their sor-
rows. When pass such place, and
remember when the cabin was standing,
and that knew the persons who resided
there when l was a little boy, then !
see passing before my memory. years
of time, including the most minute cir
cumstances and incidents Of long ago.
A year ago last January, when | was
at a fox chase near the home OF my
childhood, / passed an old ''improve-
ment" of this kind. There was the
spring of water, and the alder bushes
still grow thick below it. Two or three
rods north of the spring once stood a
very humble log cabin Several rods
north of the cabin stood the stable, and
all around il was a thicket of hazel bush
es, where, in the early fall, gathered
the brown nuts, and from the hulls of
which my home made linen shirt bosom
received many an ugly stain Two
acres of ground were cleared below the
cabin. This improvement was known
as Congress Improvements" that is,
it was on land belonging to the Govern
ment.
In this cabin lived an old man and
his wife. They had been married in
Virginia, but had disagreed and sepa-
rated. The old woman had been 0
widow. She had three sons by hel
former husband, and she resided with
her youngest son, quarter of a mile
south west from the little cabin / have
mentioned. The old man came from
Virginia after a while, and these old
folks concluded that they would once
moro try to live together So they re,
sided in this cabin. But their domcs
tic life was far from happy one. They
quarroled and fought frequently. They
appeared to have DO government what
ever over their tempers. Each strov'
to have the last word. Their residence
was from a quarter TO half mile from
my fathers house, and we could often
hear them quarreling and fighting
One day we could hear the old woman
screaming with unusual vigor, for some
time. After a while the old man came
to fathers house and sat down on the
door step and cried and told my father
and mother about his troubles He sale
his wife took up a crock of butter, after
breaking several of the dishes, and rails
cd it as high as she could, and was just
going to smash it upon the hearth
when he caught her arms to preven
her from doing what she threatened
She then screamed "murder," as louC
as she could. He would then let he
go, when she would again raise tn
crock, and he would again prevent he
from breaking it, and she would agail
scream murder" | shall always re
member the words of the old man as h,
left that day. They shocked me at tn
time, as being fearfully profanc' Sai'
he: "often when look at her, in he
rage, think pore critteri no soone
dead than damned"
These old people have been lonl
time dead, and as the present inhabit
ants of that vicinity pass the little oil
improvement, aud the spring with th
alder bushes growing below it, and th
little pile of stones that mark the spc
where the chimney of the little cabi
fell down more than a third Of centur
ago, not one in a thousand of such pass
ers by have any personal recollection
Of the turmoils, the strifes, and the bicI
, erlngs of the two old folks who ono
, resided there.
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Wo,, T., Eu.onn