The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-06-08

GQ6 lOIb.
The pleasant notes of the stage
drivers bugle from the top of the
numbering old coach as it ratified in
to town. has given waylto the wits
tie Of the locomotive as it thunders
alongits iron track.
Handsome residences now stand
where the travelling Snowman used
to spread his teats. Well graded
streets have taken the place of half
grayeled dirt roads, and well paved
sidewalks have supplanted the mar
row plank upon which tho belated
citizen formerly sought his subur-
ban home, after the lodge had closed.
Thirty years ago n tree in the street
was looked upon as evidence that
the town was still in the woods, and
the only protection that the pedes.
TRAN had from the rays of the sun,
was the shadow cast by a horseback
or a sign post. The beautiful rows
of maple trees that now line our
streets tell the story of a change in
public sentiment.
Every church in the town but one
has Seen built within 20 years, and
that one has been remodeled, and its
cupola is a relic of the coal oil boom.
Aukerman's wood has succumbed
to the advance of improvement, and
the ground upon which it stood is
dotted With pleasant homes
The festive hog that once luxuri-
ated in the puddle or the gutter OF
our streets is long since dead, and
his descendants are no longer per-
mitted to rove at their own sweet
will, under penalty of being impound-
ed until the owner balls them out
This cozy little Hall and the of.
fees and engine room below, IS well
as the steam fire engine itself, are
realities of which our citizens only
dreamed a 0 of years ago. It is
doubtful if Bro. j. p. A. and others
who arun with the machine when
boys, even dreamed that they would
live tic see a little steam fire engine
throw more water upon q fire in a
minute, than the old "Monarch'
could have thrown in an hour In its
palmiest days.
Those of us who remember the ole
National Hotel, that stood on the
ground now occupied by most o
Commercial Block, and the old RAJ
harbor that stood on the corner o
Main and Barron streets, can testi
fy That disastrous fires are sometimes
blessings is disguise. Even the mag
nifcent Hall in which we met to
day has risen, Phoenix like, from
the ashes of a far less beautiful lodg'
room. 4f
The advance in which perhaps "
should all feel greatest interest, i
that made by our public schools
From an old frame school house tina
stood somewhere in the rear of TIL
Barron street school building, and il
which there are those present, proba
bly,, who received their earliest edu
cation, to two large and commodiou
school buildings, is ar advance t
which we may well point with pride
The forward movement in the faeili
ties for, imparting education to tn
youthful mind is even more marked
The solitary individual school mas
ter who stood, monarch of oil he sui
reyed,
scepter, and a Webster's elementaf
spelling book, a copy book and
Talbot's or Davies arithmetic, out {
which he was expected to aid his pu
pills in mastering the three "R's'-
Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmet;c-
have been succeeded by the Super
intendent with his corps of teachers
supplied ad Abitum with books blacl
boards, maps, charts, and apparatu
oferery kind known to modetn in
~structors.
have no intention of trespassin
upon ground already covered b
those who have preceded me, but q
the risk. of doing so to some exten'
1 cannot refrain from speaking of
few men who met together in
- on May 23d, 1874, to irst
tute Eaton Lodge No. 80, l. 0. Oh
From that small beginning, 38year
ago, the Lodge has grown until tn
number that have been initiated int
the mystic rites ofthe Order throug
this Lodge has reached, of which
alas! but - remain. Some hat
moved away and are still alive, br
the larger proportion of those VII
are no longer here have passed ava
and sleep the sleep that knows n
waking. OF that little squad VIII
instituted the Lodge, but to remain
They + gone, but their works liv
after them. Through years of bite
opposition from those who fougt
them, because ignorant of the mob
aims and purposes that inspire
them, they struggled on to victor.
and now, after SO years, the spler
did building where we met to-da
; stands as a monument to the until
ing energy of the founders of tn:
Lodge and those who succeede
them. But that structure, the pri6
of the town, siuks into insignificant
when compared with the grande
nobler, and far more lasting work
the Order. O sufferings alleviate
of hunger appeased, of griefs ass
!; aged. of tears wiped away, of wan
relieved, it is not my purpose
speak. When that building to whit
o l have alluded, with all its conten
shall have crumbled into dust, the
more glorious monuments to Oddf,
lowship will still live, recorded
u books kept by the Angels of God.
s The Half Breeds are indulging
\ some very plain talk, these days. A
thurs course in turning out of off
S the Garfield men to make room 1
d Stalwarts, has brought forth a We
hitter article from N Rondout NJ :