The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-08-26
THE OLD FELLOWS.



They Met ana Parted to Meet Again.
On Thursday the Old Settlers Society OF Ii
Sale county held their Sth Annual Reunion an'
Picnic In Ho,s's grove in this city. The dal
broke as many before 1t did, clear, dry and no
as that famous valley near Jerusalem so offer
referred to. utncither the penetrating dust tina
everywhere abounds nor the intense heat of tn,
morning, prevented the influx Of people to TIT
city and the grounds. They came from all quar-
sers in their trim carriages, neat buggies ant
lumber wagons ladies dressed in their pretty
white linen looked fresh and charming, and the
gentlemen, young and old, in their sunday
best" all bent on making day Of it, And they
aid, for all of the 5000 visitors who came entered
into the spirit of the occasion and made it the
day of the year to be remembered. By 10 o'clock
the grounds were crowded with the happy
crowd, old men and women, their SONS and
daughters TO the third and fourth generation,
their friends from near and far, ana strangers
from many strange quarters.
At half past ten, the vast assembly was called
to order and the formal exercises opened by mu-
sic and a prayer by Rev. W. Bstcheller, OF Free
dom. Then came the reception speech by Hon.
Elmer Baldwin and the response by the Pres-
dent, Mr. John Miller, of Freedom, which un-
happily are too long for us to insert to-day.
These exercises were closed by music, and the
crowd dispersed from the stand to meet and talk
over the old times with their friends, to cat their
good things and to enjoy themselves in hun
bred ways known only TO those determined to
enjoy themselves.
At / 80 p. NJ. the assembly was again called to
order to listen to short speeches from old settlers
on "old times"
HON. Il. c. COOK ....
WAS the first speaker to take the stand. He SAID,
they talked OF men coming into this county so
years ago. If they would make it 40 he might be
counted, for Al years ago last June he came to
Ottawa The changes are great The old men
OF then are gone; the middle aged men are gone;
the boys arc now men. Other Changes are won.
derful He used to wonder If these prairles
would ever be settled, but he never thought to-
see them as they are to-day. Then they used to
chase deer just north of town and south Of the
city; only few widely separated houses could
he seen; but now all is settled and looks like an
old established community Once he use to be
very deep in politics for one so far out now, ana
he noted the great change in the old leaders of
county politics. And Of tne able aud brilliant
bar Of those days scarce one remans,-of them
all he alone perhaps was left. He remembered
once hearing, in the old Mechanics Hall, Rev
Batchcller preach, then young man Of 20 odd
years, now it is Fathcr Batchcllcr What a
grand position is that OF an honest old man who
can look back on a life spent in the service and
for the benefit Of his fellow mani He came to
see has old friends and having seen them extend |
ed to them his earnest wishes for their well be |
ing-and good bye. He was followed by
HON. j. o. GLOVER.
Coming here ii years ago with Mr.. Cook, he
remembered looking into this valley when he
thought one Of the lovelest spots he had ever
seen. He gave some curious "reminiscences Of
the early mail facilities. How they waited for
the stage to come with its mail and then all ran
to the postofice. Perhaps one had letter tell
ing Of It friends coming TO live among IL EN-. All
turned out 10 build him house and have every
thing ready for him. Then one might have a.
letter from the east. "How much postage " "A
quarterw And then the work to pay IT, Re.
membered running all over the town to borrow
u luhl tCi w -tl OuI tOpy Vi JuCh5OH \ uOcu-
ments, which had been 20 days coming from n Y
Noted the great changes of the administration o.
the laws. On one occasion man was drowned
IN the Fox river at the ford. A coroncr's Jury
was impannelled. They searched the man, find. |
ing is cents In his old leather pocket book.
With this and the s or 10 cents the book sold
for, the jury bought whisky which they drank,
and returned verdict of accidental drowning.
Having no other place to keep the body they
put II in the jail, which caused Boston man,
who saw it all, to say in paper in the east that
"out wcst they put men in Jail for committing
suicide! Shortly after II murder occurred, and
the murderer was tried in Iroquois Co., (the first
trial in the county, before Judge Ford. The
court room was two unhewcd logs for the Jury
and 81 80 stand for the Judge who carried his |
docket in his hat and held court In the open air,
smoking clay pipe. The man was tried and
hung. Well, the Boston man saw that too, and
Published a suitable account of it; and with
nearly wishes for their future prosperity he babe
them goodbye
The next speaker was
DAVID GREEN, or DAYTON.
FL said he could not help contrasting the din
1er ct today with one he saw in 1882 eaten by
the Indians. 1t was the time when the young
swallows were almost ready to fly. The Indians
mad gathered large number Of Them and made
them ready. Some had their feathers on, some
had but few, and some had nothing on. These
were thrc~n into pot and boiled and after.
wards swallowed with as much relish as one
would swallow oysters, which bill OF fare was
supplemented by grand war dance! There is |
great Improvement in many things but in whole
souled liberaty there is no change in these peo
PIE. Vet he often wished himself back in those
Ola days where there was none OF the "spread
eagle hospitality OF today The first time he
saw Glover was in SS at an election challenging
Democratic voters, and that was another thing
IA "hith there was no change! One night dur.
ing the Soc war the people in the fort at Day.
son' thinking it the better part Of valor, came to
Ottawa with everything except what the women
Sad made into bullets. Most of the children