Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1871-10-26
q sssss-, Ssss Vol. L,,7No. 10.

poor wanderer, with the gift of gen.
ius and eloquence, who believes with
the faith Of apostles and martyrs
that God has appointed him a miss
ion in the Wilderness to preach the
Gospel of love, and plant apple seeds
that shall produce orchards for the
benefit of men and women and little
children whom he has never seen.
If there is q sublimer faith or more
genuine eloquenee in richly decora-
ted cathedrals and under brocade
yestments, it would be worth long
journey to find it.
Next to his advocacy of his pc
culiar religious ideas, his enthusi-
asmfor the cultivation of apple-trees
in what he termed "the only proper
way''-that is, from the seed-was
the absorbing object of his life. Up
on this, as upon religion, he was
eloquent in his appeals. He would
describe the growing and ipening
fruit as such rare, and beautiful.
gift of the Almighty with words
that became pictures, until his hear
ers could almost see its manifold
forms of beauty present before
them. To his eloquence on this
subject, as well as to his actual la
bors in planting nurseries, thecoun-
try over which he travelled for so
many years is largely indebted for
its numerous orchards. But he de-
nouhced as absolute wickedness all
devices of pruning and grating,
and would speak of the act of cut
ting a tree as if it were cruelty in
fiicted upon a sentient being. i y
Not only is he entitled to the
fame of being the earliest colporteur
ON the frontiers, but in the work of
protecting animals from abuse and
suffering he preceded, while, in his
smaller sphere. he equaled the zeal
of the good Mr., Bergh- Whenever
Johnny saw an animal abused, or
heard of it, he would purchase it
to some more, humane settler, on
condition that it should be kindly
treated and properly cared for. 1t
frequently happened that the long
journey into the, wilderness would
cause the new settlers to be encum-
bered with lame and broken down
horses, that were turned loose to
die. In the autumn Johnny would
make diligent search for all such
animals, and gathering them up, he
would bargain for their food and
shelter until the next spring, when
he would lead them away to some
pasture for the summer If they re-
covered SO as to be capable of work
ing, he would never sell them, but
would lend or give them away stip-
ulating for their good usage. His
conception, of the absolute sin of in
'fiicting pain or death upon any crea-
ture was not limited to the higher
forms of animal life, but everything
that had being was to him, in the
fact of its life, endowed with SO
much of the Divine Essence that to
wound or destroy it was to inflict
an injury upon some atom Of Di-
vinity, No Brahmin could be more
concerned for the preservation of
insect life, and the only occasion on
which he destroyed a venomous
reptile was a source of long regret,
to which he could never refer with,
out manifesting sadness. He had
selected suitable place for planting
apple seeds on a small prairie, and
in order to prepare the ground he
was moving the long grass, when
he was bitten by rattlesnake. In
describing the event he sighed
heavily, and said, "Poor fellow, he
only just touched me, when I, in the
heat of my ungodly passion, put
the heel Of my scythe in him, and
went away. Some time afterward
went back, and there lay the poor
fellow dead" Numerous anecdotes
bearing upon his respect for every
form of life are preserved, and from
the staple of pioneer recollections.
On one occasion, a cool autumnal
night, when Johnny, who always
camped out in preference to sleeping
in a house, had built a fire near
which he intended to pass the night,
he noticed that the blaze attracted
large numbers of mosquitoes, many
Of whom flew too near to his fire
and were burned. He Immediately
brought water and quenched the fire,
accounting for his conduct afterward
by saying, "God forbid that should
build a fire for my comfort which
should be the means of destroying
any of His creatures r' At another
time he removed the fire he had built
near hollow log, and slept on the
snow, because he found that the log
contained bear and her cubs, whom
he said, he did not wish to disturb.
And this unwilIingness to inflict
pain or death was equally strong
when he was o sufferer by it, as the
following will show. Johnny had
been assisting some settlers to make
a road through the woods, and in
the course of their work they acci-
dentally destroyed a hornets nest.
One of the angry insects soon found
a lodgment under Johnny's coffee
sack cloak, but although it stung
him repeatedly he removed it with
the greatest gentleness. The men
who were present laughingly asked
him why he did not kill it. To
which he gravely replied that at
would not be right to kill the poor
thing, for it did not intend to hurt
me" .Aa--i- '. i'-iii-
theoretically he was as methodi-
cal in matters of business as any
merchant. In addition to their pic
turesqueness, the locations of his
nurseries were all fixed with a view
to a probable demand for the trees
by the time they had attained suf-
icient growth for transplanting. He
would give them away to those who
could not pay for them. Generally,
however, he sold them for old cloth
ing or supply Of corn meal; but
he preferred to receive a note pay
able at some indeinine period.
When this was accomplished he
seemed to think that the transac-
tion was completed in business
like way; but if the giver of the
note did not attend to its payment,
the holder of it never troubled him