Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-06-02

as a result of the panic of 1857 the
Stemler family, consisting of Joseph,
his wife Ellen, their sons Joseph and
David, and their daughter Nellie, start
ed from Paramount with Mrs. Stemler's
sister, Elizabeth Carter, for Aligan coun-
ty, Michigan, where they settled upon
tract Of land, and for a number of
years successfully carried on farming,
says the Philadelphia Times. The fam
lily, with the exception of Dave, have
all passed to that bourn from which
no traveller returns" Dave came into
possession of the farm and married a
charming daughter of the "Woolly
West" and took her mother home to
live with them.
Dave returned east a few months ago
and after visiting the neighborhood
where. his boyish tricks got him into
no end Of trouble, moved out on the
state road in Montgomery county,
where he entertained a number of his
neighhors at dinner yesterday.
Dave never writes his name David,
for the reason, he says, that his name
is simply Dave. While on the shady
side Of 60, he is still fond of fun, and
nothing pleases him more than to be
surrounded by a company of friends
to listen to some of the experiences
he has had.
In his house he has one room fitted up,
as he calls it, for a Refractory" an
idea unique as it is original Into this
room he conducted his guests last eve
ming after dinner The room is papered
in black, while the ceiling is in scarlet,
with figures in silver. The hangings
at the windows are Of heavy black
plush, while the windows are glazed
in glass of dark purple. At night the
room is lit up by gasoline, the reser-
voir being located in the room above,
while the burners extend through the
center Of the ceiling and form chan
delier, the lights being surrounded with
globes and shades of bottle-green color.
After all had entered the door was
closed, giving the surroundings ghoul-
ish and most dismal aspect Request
ing his guests to be seated the host
opened a cabinet on one side of the
room, and, lighting Il number of red
wax taperS, exhibited the contents to
the aWe-struck visitors.
This" he said, taking up a hand
someiy carved paper-cutter, lis a part
Of my dear mother-in-law's mortality.
When she died l sold her body to the
doctor, or rather traded it off for a
yearling calf, on condition that after he
got through dissecting the remains he
would clean the bones and return them
to me. This paper-cutter is from one
of her ribs. the one doctor said was
nearest her honest old heart. This, ~
exhibiting lace-like article resembling
an open fan, lis one Of her shoulder
blades, and this" taking up a curiously
wrought canoe, 81 made from her now
quoted jaws. l worked for many an
hour in forming and cutting out the
pattern.
Here is the top of her Uranium that
used to throb in unison with the pull
satiOn of her gigantic brain every time
she issued her mandates to her loving
son-in-law. These little mallets or ham
merS should never recognize as being
made from her once ily-white hand;
each represents joints of her fingers.
They are from her right hand. the hand
she used to clutch in my hair and help
me in the house when I'd come home
from the lodge"
Stepping to another side of the room
he opened another cabinet, from which
he took good sized box. This he
carried to the table in the center of
! r lo;I
tents on the table.
This set Of chessmen," he said, II
carved from my departed mother-in-
laws bones. l never use them, for,
some cause or other, have never been
able to checkmate an opponent if these
are used. I think the cause of my fail
ure is due to my thinking more Of the
former owner Of the bones than of the
game. You can't imagine what a relief
il is for me to shut myself up in this
refractory and think over the past My
/ wife tried hard to get me to tell Wheth-
err I knew what became of her mother
body the night after the good lady died.
All the satisfaction / could give her
was that somebody broke into the room
and stole the corpse. Then after the
doctor had finished dissecting it, l
fixed it in hole down near the south
end of the farm, and made her believe
that a pack of wolves ha come into the
house while we slept, and dragged the
that a pack of wolves had come into the
hole. We gathered up the remains,
my hired man and I, and putting them
in a box, buried them.
Il kept the bones the doctor gave
me, packed in a barrel Of bran in the
stable, and never touched them till af-
ter my wife went down to Chicago on
visit. Sometimes I think that she
suspected that I had traded her mo-
TIERS body for the calf by the way she
| hated that innocent animal She hated
! it so much that one day when I was
about 10 miles from home looking after
something, for when l got home the
calf was as dead as the former owner
of these articles Of polished bone.
Here" said Stemler, as he stepped to
the opposite side of the room, care
some ornaments I've made out of the
calf. These little bottles are made from
| the horns, while this miniature table
is from its skull. These little urchins
are from the shin bones and the tiny
boats they sail in are from the Polished
huffS.'
When asked by one of the visitors ii
the present Mrs. Stemler did not object
to the uncanny object being kept in
the house, he replied.
| ssRlnSS you no WHY she's inst as