The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-12
LIFE OF EXPERIENCES.

4
Those days for farmer boys were vastly
different from the present. AT the age
: of 10 he took his little AK and with bis
3 eldest brother went four miles to tht
; woodland belonging to the farm ano
! split rails and posts ali day with the
/, snow knee deep. The dinner they took
with them was frozen hard as bone
when they come TO eat it at noon. Ar
irving home In the evening they had q
lot of cattle TO stable and feed, and
would get into the house about 8 o'clock,
there to pore over old Cobbs spelling
book, Pixies arithmetic, Smiths English
gra nmar, and the old Rhetorical reader
until II o'clock or later, so as not to be
kept IN after school next day. Tie old
log school house with its slab benches,
your feet eight to ten inches from the
floor, didn't have the charms of your
present school buildings. But all that
made no difference. Their father said:
Boys, get ready for your school"
That was law and without argument,
and if it was storming badly then father
would go to the barn, bring out 'Old
Mike" the horse, put young Zeller upon
his back, and head him for school
Upon arriving at the old log educational
building, he would turn Old Nike loose
and he would return home in the same
tracks he made coming, and the boys
were left to get home after school as
best they could. More than once. in a
winter evening, when Zeller took off his
boots and stockings, he had his feet so
| frosted that the skin of his toes came off
/ with the stockings.
At 13 his father sent Zellcr to New
! Berlin seminary, and from there TO Lew
isburg academy. In the fall of 1861 he
attended the teachers examination,
passed, received a certificate. and imme-
diately went into an adjoining county
and procured a school in small village,
for four months at ST. per month, and
paid So. 30 per month board.
On Aug. 6, 1862, Zeller's folks were
the afternoon. When they arrived
home Zelltr had his little pack on the
table ready for tie army, (as per his
own previous arrangement by playing
hockey out of school week beforehand
to complete his plans. lie said, Faith
Ell | am going to the army His father
of course used logical argument to keep
him at home and in school, and told him
ne was too young and not constitution
ally strong enough for the hardships of
soldier, etc., but Zeller had determined
to go. He wanted to march under the
folds of that great and glorious old flag.
Finally his father said, "Well if you will
and must so, l guess it will be So"
Zeller started that very evening, and on
departing his father grasped his hand
with both of his, and with tears coursing
down his cheeks, he said, "lIy boy, be
a good boy and don't come home shot in
the back. God bless you; good by"
After partaking in the battles of
South Mountain, Antietam, Sept. Il. |
when he was wounded, Fredericksburg,
Dec. Is, and five days fight at Chancel- |
liSville, in May 1868, he was discharged,
returned home, went to Pittsburg, Penn |
sylvania, commercial college and grad. !
uating returned home and in the spring |
of 1864 re-inlisted in the army. After |
the war closed he found nothing invit- |
ing for him to engage in, so he conclud- |
ed to take Horace Greely's advice; con- |
sequently he said 10 young lady Of his |
choice: 81 am going west, if you will |
go with me, will assure you that YOU |
will always have a place to sleep and
not go hungry" The reply came, Il
can go where you can" In less
than a week they were married
at o'clock a. IN. and took the 9 o'clock
a. m. train the same day for Missouri,
(this was in June 1861 With no partic-
ular point in view, .hey landed at JEFF
ferson City, Mo-, remained there eight
days to find location, finally decided |
70 go to Bonneville City in Cooper coun-
ty; went there, rented a small house at
81 per month, used the box their little |
traps were packed into for a table and |
cupboard for over six months. Zeller |
did not know a soul when he first went
to Boonvilie, but lie liked The city, local
ty and surrounding country. He went
out ana made it known that he had loca-
ted there and intended 10 stav: that lie
was financially poor, that he did not in
tend to steal, rob anyone, commit muir
der or do anything unlawful. but he had
to live and would work. it mattered not
the kind, he was willing TO DO any
thing.
bonneville City was largely German in
population and with his Pennsylvania
German blood it did not take him long
TO form acquaintance.
After he had been there Just three
days he was employed by the county
clerk to straighten out pile of the road
books, from before tile war.
at fifty cents per day. Re worked in
that office six weeks at fifty cents per
day. the best III sight. The latter part
Of the summer he was appointed by the
county conrt, superintendent of public
schools. No school organization existed
in the county, it being Immediately az
ter the war. Accordingly he set TO
work, organized every school district in
the county, and had teachers for ali
that fall He taught a school three mile,
from the city himself that winter. and
the next season taught the city school.
In the meantime, during his school
attendance in the east he also read law.
and was admitted 10 practice in Deem
Der, 1860
lie also held a commission as first lieu
tenant and al infant ,,,a,r Co. !