The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-01-25
PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS.
BY D. MACKLEY.

~tHere Was poslClVely Ho esiueAIo'
one way or the other; but he said
there is nothing more unreasonable in
such state of existence than there is
in our present state of existence; all
is mys'e-y.
Who would have believed fifty years
ago that news could be transmitted
instantaneously half way around the
earth? Who would have believed ten
years ago that I can sit by my stove,
at my desk, in my fine office, and con-
verse with my children, and my
grandchildren, at their several homes,
a quarter of mile from my Office
can recognize their several voices iust
the same as if they were in my room?
Are these wonders Of electricity any
more marvellous or mysterious than
the electricity of the human recollec-
tion? It is neither bounded nor linn
,ited, by time nor space.
publish letter from my cousin,
John Mackley, now of Kansas. When
I see that bold, firm, beautiful hand
writing, by man nearly eighty years
Of age, my recollection flies back fifty
five years in time, and thirteen miles
in space. There I see my cousin and
myself at the little log school house
he young man, and La little boy.
We had no ruled paper, store ink,
or metallic pens. The paper was not
much inferior to the paper now in
use, but it was not ruled. We ham,
mered piece of lead to a thin end,
like the blade Of a case-knife, and
with this ruled the lines. Our pens
were made of goose-quills, and our
ink of maple bark and copperas. We
would hew the outer, or rough bark,
from water maple tree, then peel off
The inner bark and boil it in rain wa
ter, and add about table spoonful of
copperas to pint of the water, and
put in small quantity of milk and
suger to give it gloss. 1t made beau
tiful black ink. We used the juice of
the pokeberry for red ink, tied up a
handful Of grass in stout linen rag
and pounded it, and then squeezed out
the juice for green ink. Blue ink
was made with indigo.
John Mackley had the most beau
tiful copy-book used in school. He
wrote the finest hand of any pupil in
school, and he had his copy book en-
bellished with colored inks. His
writing now is very fne-no signs of
the tremulousness caused by age, as is
generally seen in men Of his age.
My cousin killed the bear perhaps
before 1 was born, but 1 have often
heard it spoken Of. 1t was the last
bear ever killed in Jackson County,
save one. The last one was killed
since my recollection. Bill Whit, a
young man, shot and wounded it, and
while pursuing it two or three Of the
Massey boys struck its trail, pursued
it, and killed it. When Whit came
up the Masseys had the bear, and re-
fused to give it up. Whit sued them
and recovered the price Of the bear.
do not not now recollect whether the
case was tried before my uncle, Solo
mon Mackley, Johns father, or before
old John Horton. They both served
as justices Of the peace many years in
Jefferson Township, between fifty and
sixty years ago.
How distinctly do I recollect that
about forty-five years ago Solomon
Mackley, jr., younger brother of
John Mackley, built log cabin very
near the place where the bear was
killed. His cabin was about two hun
dred yards west of the property re-
Gently sold by T. L. Hughes to John
G. Davis. I took up a corner at the
raising Of this cabin.
All the creeks, branches, hills, &c.,
had their technical, local names in the
early days. My father settled about
mile from the residence of his
younger brother, Solomon Mackley, a
little south Of west from him. By
going over a hill, the path was nearly
straight, but by turning first to the
left, and then to the right, up the
hollow near the head of which the
bear was killed, we had a much more
level path. We would speak of going
to uncle's sup the Fur Way Hollow,
1--WE always in those days called far
fur,) or over the Nigh Way Hill"
The early settlers were natural phi
losophers, and always knew that
straight line was the shortest distance
between two points. Old Doctor Nc
Neel was the first one who shook my
faith in this fundamental principle in
philosophy. He took my mothers
teakettle and raised the bale, or ham
die, which was a half circle, and said
we would suppose this to be the Nigh
Way Hill" Then he laid the bale
down and said we would suppose this
to be the level road up 'The Fur Way
Hollow" ''Now," said he, ''how
much do you gain, in time and space,
and labor, by walking over the hill?"
Nearly a mile east Of where we
lived was a piece Of woods called "TheA